Establishing multiple connections between a user equipment and wireless access network nodes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9578671-B2
Application number	US-201313837819-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Feb 21, 2017
Grant date	Feb 21, 2017

Abstract

A control plane connection is established between a user equipment (UE) and a first wireless access network node. Signaling in the control plane connection is used for establishing a plurality of connections between the UE and corresponding additional plurality of wireless access network nodes, to communicate user plane data between the UE and the additional wireless access network nodes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
establishing a control plane connection over a wireless link between a user equipment (UE) and a first wireless access network node;
establishing a plurality of upper layer connections over wireless links between the UE and a set of wireless access network nodes using signaling in the control plane connection, the signaling in the control plane connection comprising control messages received by the UE from the first wireless access network node instructing the UE to establish the plurality of upper layer connections with respective protocol stacks in the UE for communicating user plane data over wireless links between the UE and the set of wireless access network nodes, each protocol stack of the protocol stacks including an independent upper protocol layer at or above a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, wherein the set of wireless access network nodes includes at least a second wireless access network node and a third wireless access network node;
determining whether a portion of the user plane data is to be offloaded to the second wireless access network node;
sending a message to the second wireless access network node to request offloading of the portion of the user plane data to the second wireless access network node, the message comprising information identifying radio access bearers to be offloaded to the second wireless access network node; and
in response to the second wireless access network node accepting the request, sending a message in the control plane connection to the UE instructing the UE to establish an upper layer connection with the second wireless access network node.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each protocol stack of the protocol stacks includes a respective independent MAC layer.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least two of the plurality of upper layer connections use a same carrier frequency or use different carrier frequencies.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
communicating data over at least two of the plurality of the upper layer connections using at least two simultaneous physical layer connections.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the UE has a transceiver to communicate data over at least two of the plurality of the upper layer connections in a time division multiplexing (TDM) manner.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
communicating data packets of a bearer over at least two of the upper layer connections.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
associating two different bearers with two different upper layer connections separately.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user plane data communicated over the upper layer connections is distributed by a data distribution entity in the first wireless access network node, the first wireless access network node separate from the second and third wireless access network nodes.

9. A first wireless access network node comprising:
a communication component to communicate with a plurality of secondary wireless access network nodes that are separate from the first wireless access network node;
at least one processor configured to:
establish a control plane connection over a wireless link with a user equipment (UE);
establish a plurality of upper layer connections using respective protocol stacks in the UE over wireless links between the UE and the secondary wireless access network nodes using signaling in the control plane connection between the first wireless access network node and the UE, each protocol stack of the protocol stacks including an independent upper protocol layer at or above a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, the signaling comprising control messages sent by the first wireless access network node instructing the UE to establish the plurality of upper layer connections that communicate user plane data between the UE and the secondary wireless access network nodes,
determine whether a portion of the user plane data is to be offloaded to a selected one of the secondary wireless access network nodes;
send a message to the selected secondary wireless access network node to request offloading of the portion of the user plane data to the selected secondary wireless access network node, the message comprising information identifying radio access bearers to be offloaded to the selected secondary wireless access network node, and
in response to the selected secondary wireless access network node accepting the request, send a message in the control plane connection to the UE instructing the UE to establish an upper layer connection with the selected secondary wireless access network node; and

a data distribution entity to distribute the user plane data across the plurality of upper layer connections.

10. The first wireless access network node of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
determine whether to remove an upper layer connection between a given secondary wireless access network node of the secondary wireless access network nodes and the UE;
send a message to the given secondary wireless access network node to indicate that the given secondary wireless access network node is to no longer communicate a portion of the user plane data; and
send a message in the control plane connection to the UE instructing the UE to disconnect from the given secondary wireless access network node.

11. The first wireless access network node of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
route at least one bearer to the selected secondary wireless access network node.

12. A method comprising:
establishing, by a first wireless access network node, a control plane connection over a wireless link between a user equipment (UE) and the first wireless access network node;
coordinating a transmission configuration for a group of wireless access network nodes for serving the UE, wherein the group comprises two or more wireless access network nodes other than the first wireless access network node, wherein coordinating the transmission configuration further comprises assigning a group identifier to at least two of the wireless access network nodes in the group; and
controlling, by the first wireless access network node, establishment of a plurality of physical layer connections over wireless links between the UE and the group of wireless access network nodes, wherein the plurality of physical layer connections are for communicating user plane data between the UE and the group of wireless access network nodes, wherein the controlling comprises:
determining whether a portion of the user plane data is to be offloaded to a selected wireless access network node of the wireless access network nodes in the group,
sending a message to the selected wireless access network node to request offloading of the portion of the user plane data to the selected wireless access network node, the message comprising information identifying radio access bearers to be offloaded to the selected wireless access network node, and

in response to the selected wireless access network node accepting the request, sending a message in the control plane connection to the UE instructing the UE to establish an upper layer connection with the selected wireless access network node.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein coordinating the transmission configuration comprises coordinating transmission of reference signals sent by the wireless access network nodes in the group.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the coordinating is performed by a controller selected from among a central controller integrated into the first wireless access network node, a central

Assignees

• Research In Motion Ltd
• Blackberry Ltd

Inventors

• Blankenship Yufei Wu
• Gao Shiwei
• Xu Hua
• Cai Zhijun

Classifications

• H04W36/04

  Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells · CPC title

• H04W76/025 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W28/08

  Load balancing or load distribution (transferring a connection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12) · CPC title

• H04W36/28

  involving a plurality of connections, e.g. multi-call or multi-bearer connections · CPC title

• H04W36/00695

  using split of the control plane or user plane · CPC title