IP based cellular communication system utilizing advanced tunnels and encapsulation methods useful in conjunction therewith

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9668195-B2
Application number	US-201214004310-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2012
Priority date	Mar 10, 2011
Publication date	May 30, 2017
Grant date	May 30, 2017

Abstract

A dynamic hierarchical cellular system implementing multi-hop encapsulation, wherein in at least one message destined for an individual base station functionality, the individual base station functionality's header is encapsulated within an individual mobile station functionality's header, so as to allow said message to be routed by said router to the individual base station functionality, via the individual mobile station functionality.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An Internet Protocol (IP)-based cellular communication system operative in conjunction with a moving relay, the system comprising:
an IP connectivity gateway coupled to a network router and to a mobility management entity; and
a router configured to:
route, to the gateway, at least one packet designated to an IP address of at least one first moving relay, wherein
the router is configured to: (i) use a tunneling protocol other than a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) tunneling protocol, and (ii) bounce packets back and forth between itself and the gateway, to allow creation of at least one multi-level tunnel that can support multi-level relay deployment on a standard network,
the first moving relay comprises base station functionality, a radio manager and mobile station functionality, all co-located,
the base station functionality is operative to communicate via antennae with at least one mobile station thereby defining a first radio link there between, and
said base station functionality having a physical connection to the co-located radio manager,
the mobile station functionality communicates via antennae with a unit which has base station functionality thereby to define a second radio link,
the radio manager comprises:
a radio resource manager; and functionality for exchanging information with radio managers included in moving relays other than the first moving relay,
the radio manager is configured to use the exchanged information to select, for at least one individual mobile station which seeks to be served by establishing a standard connection, one of: a static base station; and a base station functionality, to which to connect the individual mobile station in order to provide cellular communication services thereto,
the system is configured to support multiple relay scenarios with dynamic topology, in which relay connections vary over time, in that at least one mobile station functionality, UE, with plural potential connections to plural nodes respectively, is provided in at least one relay, with IP level relayed information regarding various of said plural potential connections via at least one relay that said UE is currently connected to, the plural nodes including at least one of (a) base stations and (b) relay nodes' base station functionalities;

and decision making functionality is provided to:
dynamically derive from said information, a correct IP routing over multiple relays, from among multiple alternative routes available for a one to one entity connection, which will connect said UE to a given final destination via a suitable number of available relay nodes, given a current topology of said available relay nodes, and
dynamically select a relay for the UE to be served by, from among said plural potential connections, accordingly.

2. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a mobile management entity (MME) configured to store at least (i) IP addresses of plurality stationary relays, (ii) IP addresses of mobile relays and the IP address of a linked relay that each individual mobile relay is anchored to, and (iii) IP addresses of mobile stations and the IP address of a linked relay that each individual mobile station is anchored to.

3. The system according to claim 2 wherein said MME comprises a single MME configured to store at least (i) IP addresses of plurality stationary relays, (ii) IP addresses of mobile relays and the IP address of a linked relay that each individual mobile relay is anchored to, and (iii) IP addresses of mobile stations and the IP address of a linked relay that each individual mobile station is anchored to.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein packets are bounced back to the IP connectivity gateway by the router.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein packets are bounced back to the gateway, which is a P/S-GW gateway, internally in the IP connectivity gateway by virtue of the IP connectivity gateway recognizing a destination IP address as its own address.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the gateway is aware of all UEs and rUEs in relays' addresses.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein
said router is configured to allow for a varying number of layers of encapsulations by the gateway, and
said varying corresponds to a number of relay layers a packet needs to go through to reach said final destination, given the current topology.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the router is aware of whether a given destination address refers to a particular static base station or a UE or a rUE and responsively bounce packets back to the S/P-GW for encapsulation when the destination is found to be a connected UE or rUE.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the gateway comprises a standard legacy S/P-GW.

10. A dynamic hierarchical cellular system implementing multi-hop encapsulation, the system comprising:
a core including a mobility management entity (MME) and an IP connectivity gateway interfacing therewith,
at least one static base station coupled to the mobility management entity and the IP connectivity gateway in the core,
at least one individual moving relay coupled to at least one individual static base station and including a mobile station functionality and a base station functionality; and
at least one mobile station coupled to at least one of the static base station and the moving relay, wherein
the core comprises an encapsulating router, whose routing operations encapsulate messages to and from the at least one mobile station, without resorting to use of a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) tunneling protocol,
the encapsulating router is coupled to the IP connectivity gateway, to the mobility management entity and to the individual static base station via which the individual moving relay connects to the core, and the router is: (i) operative for re-routing, to the gateway, at least packets designated to an IP address of one of the moving relays, and (ii) configured to bounce packets back and forth between itself and the gateway, to allow creation of at least one multi-level tunnel that can support multi-level relay deployment on a standard network, wherein
the system is configured to:
implement multi-hop encapsulation, such that, for at least one message destined for an individual base station functionality, the individual base station functionality's header is encapsulated within an individual mobile station functionality's header, so as to allow the message to be routed by the router to the individual base station functionality, via the individual mobile station functionality,
support multiple relay scenarios with dynamic topology, in which relay connections vary over time, in that at least one mobile station functionality, UE, with plural potential connections to plural nodes respectively, is provided in at least one relay, with IP level relayed information regarding various of said plural potential connections via at least one relay that said UE is currently connected to, the plural nodes including at least one of (a) base stations and (b) relay nodes' base station functionalities; and provide decision making functionality to:
dynamically derive from said information, a correct IP routing over multiple relays, from among multiple alternative routes available for a one to one entity connection, which will connect said UE to a given final destination via a suitable number of available relay nodes, given a current topology of said available relay nodes, and
dynamically select a relay for the UE to be served by, from among said plural potential connections, accordingly.

11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the router is conf

Assignees

• Sherman Itay
• Elta Systems Ltd

Inventors

• Sherman Itay

Classifications

• H04B7/15542 Primary

  Selecting at relay station its transmit and receive resources (selection of wireless resources by user or terminal H04W72/02; arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path by two-dimensional division of the resources H04L5/0003, or by allocating sub-channels H04L5/003) · CPC title

• H04W72/21

  in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network · CPC title

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W72/30

  Resource management for broadcast services · CPC title

• H04W84/045

  using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B · CPC title