System and method for multiple point transmission in a communications system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9838089-B2
Application number	US-201113269475-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2011
Priority date	Oct 7, 2011
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

A system and method for multiple point transmission in a communications system are provided. A method for multiple point transmission operation comprises modifying a configuration of a radio bearer for use in a multiple point transmission to a user equipment according to operating condition information of the user equipment, reconfiguring the radio bearer according to the modified configuration, and initiating a multiple point transmission to the user equipment using the reconfigured radio bearer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
modifying, by a first transmission point, a configuration of a single radio bearer for transmission from multiple transmission points to a user equipment,
traffic of the single radio bearer being split and forwarded by a single convergence protocol entity serving the multiple transmission points to multiple associated radio link control (RLC) protocol entities, without going through another convergence protocol entity,
each of the multiple transmission points having at least one of the multiple associated RLC protocol entities,
the split traffic being forwarded by the multiple associated RLC protocol entities to multiple associated media access control (MAC) entities, and
the single convergence protocol entity operating at a packet data convergence protocol layer, each of the multiple associated RLC protocol entities operating at a respective RLC layer, and each of the multiple associated MAC entities operating at a respective MAC layer;

reconfiguring, by the first transmission point, the transmission of the single radio bearer according to the modified configuration, wherein the modified configuration comprises an identification information of the single radio bearer and one or more of:
capability information of the user equipment;
configuration parameters of the multiple associated RLC protocol entities;
configuration parameters of the multiple associated MAC entities; or
a list of cells on a secondary transmission point; and

initiating, by the first transmission point, the reconfigured transmission of the single radio bearer to the user equipment.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving operating condition information from the user equipment for use in modifying the configuration of the single radio bearer.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein modifying the configuration of the single radio bearer comprises adding a new transmission point, removing an existing transmission point, or a combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein reconfiguring the transmission of the single radio bearer comprises:
determining that the modified configuration is acceptable to an involved transmission point; and
implementing the reconfigured transmission of the single radio bearer at the involved transmission point.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein determining that the modified configuration is acceptable comprises:
transmitting a first message comprising information regarding the modified configuration to the involved transmission point; and
receiving a positive response from the involved transmission point.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein implementing the reconfigured transmission of the single radio bearer comprises:
transmitting a second message comprising information regarding the reconfigured transmission of the single radio bearer to the involved transmission point.

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising finalizing the reconfigured transmission of the single radio bearer.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein finalizing the reconfigured transmission of the single radio bearer comprises receiving a third message confirming the reconfigured transmission of the single radio bearer from the involved transmission point.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmission is a coordinated multiple point (CoMP) transmission.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration of the single radio bearer includes a selection of transmission points to carry the single radio bearer, a quality of service parameter of the single radio bearer, a radio resource parameter of the single radio bearer, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 2 , wherein the operating condition information from the user equipment comprises channel condition measurement information.

12. The method of claim 5 , wherein the information regarding the modified configuration comprises a quality of service parameter of the single radio bearer, a radio resource parameter of the single radio bearer, or a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 5 , wherein the information regarding the modified configuration comprises identifying information for the involved transmission point, identifying information for the user equipment, or a combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 6 , wherein the information regarding the reconfigured transmission of the single radio bearer comprises a quality of service parameter of the single radio bearer, a radio resource parameter of the single radio bearer, or a combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first transmission point is co-located with a multiple point transmission controller.

16. The method of claim 6 , wherein implementing the reconfigured transmission of the single radio bearer further comprises receiving a positive response from the involved transmission point.

17. The method of claim 6 , wherein the information regarding the reconfigured transmission of the single radio bearer comprises one or more of:
information of the user equipment;
the configuration parameters of the multiple associated RLC protocol entities;
the configuration parameters of the multiple associated MAC entities; or
identifying information of the involved transmission point for the reconfigured transmission of the single radio bearer.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the identifying information of the involved transmission point comprises identifying information of a cell.

19. A first transmission point comprising:
a processor configured to:
modify a configuration of a single radio bearer for a transmission from multiple transmission points to a user equipment,
traffic of the single radio bearer being split and forwarded by a single convergence protocol entity serving the multiple transmission points to multiple associated radio link control (RLC) protocol entities, without going through another convergence protocol entity,
each of the multiple transmission points having at least one of the multiple associated RLC protocol entities,
the split traffic being forwarded by the multiple associated RLC protocol entities to multiple associated media access control (MAC) entities, and
the single convergence protocol entity operating at a packet data convergence protocol layer, each of the multiple associated RLC protocol entities operating at a respective RLC layer, and each of the multiple associated MAC entities operating at a respective MAC layer; and

reconfigure the transmission of the single radio bearer according to the modified configuration, wherein the modified configuration comprises an identification information of the single radio bearer and one or more of:
capability information of the user equipment;
configuration parameters of the multiple associated RLC protocol entities,
configuration parameters of the multiple associated MAC entities; or
a list of cells on a secondary transmission point; and

a transmitter coupled to the processor, the transmitter configured to initiate the reconfigured transmission of the single radio bearer to the user equipment.

20. The first transmission point of claim 19 , further comprising a receiver configured to receive operating condition information from the user equipment for use in modifying the configuration of the single radio bearer.

21. The first transmission point of claim 19 , wherein the processor is configured to determine that the modified configuration is acceptable to an involved transmission point, and to implement the recon

Assignees

• Bi Hao
• Sun Yishen
• Futurewei Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Bi Hao
• Sun Yishen

Classifications

• H04W72/52

  based on load · CPC title

• H04W72/23

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

• H04W28/0263

  involving mapping traffic to individual bearers or channels, e.g. traffic flow template [TFT] · CPC title

• H04L5/0035

  Resource allocation in a cooperative multipoint environment · CPC title

• H04L5/006

  Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling · CPC title