Mobile communications network, infrastructure equipment and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9923681-B2
Application number	US-201314373761-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2013
Priority date	Jan 31, 2012
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

A mobile communications network includes a core network including infrastructure equipment, and a radio network including plural base stations to provide a wireless access interface for communicating data to/from communications terminals. One base station operates as a serving base station to one of the communications terminals, to establish one or more communications bearers for communicating user data to/from the communications terminal via the core network and the radio network via the serving base station, and to co-operate with at least another base station to communicate the user data to/from the communications terminal. The mobile communications network can monitor a state of a radio communications channel between the co-operating base station and the communications terminal, and upon predetermined conditions, establish a communications bearer from the core network to the co-operating base station for communicating the user data to the co-operating base station transmitting the user data to the communications terminal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A mobile communications network for communicating data to and/or from one or more communications terminals, the mobile communications network comprising:
a core network part including infrastructure equipment and a serving gateway; and
a radio network part including a plurality of base stations that provide a wireless access interface for communicating the data to and/or from the one or more communications terminals, each base station of the plurality of base stations being separate from the infrastructure equipment and the serving gateway, wherein
at least one of the plurality of base stations is configured to:
operate as a serving base station to a first communications terminal of the one or more communications terminals;
establish, in co-operation with the first communications terminal, a first communications bearer to the first communications terminal for communicating user data to and/or from the first communications terminal; and
co-operate with a co-operating base station of the plurality of base stations to communicate the user data to and/or from the first communications terminal,

the co-operating base station is configured to:
receive the user data for communicating with the first communications terminal via an interface between the serving base station and the co-operating base station; and
selectively transmit the user data to the first communications terminal according to a state of a radio communications channel established via the wireless access interface between the co-operating base station and the first communications terminal,

the serving gateway is configured to:
monitor the state of the radio communications channel;
determine whether the state of the radio communications channel satisfies predetermined conditions; and
when the serving gateway determines that the state of the radio communications channel satisfies the predetermined conditions:
establish a second communications bearer from the core network to the co-operating base station for communicating the user data to the co-operating base station for transmitting the user data by the co-operating base station to the first communications terminal; and
control the serving base station to execute a handover of transmitting the user data to the co-operating base station; and
discontinue the second communications bearer when the state of the radio communications channel no longer satisfies the predetermined conditions, and

the predetermined conditions include at least one of
a set-up time for establishing the first communications bearer,
a quality of service which is required to communicate the user data to the first communications terminal,
a rate of change of the state of the radio communications channel, and
an integration time for which the state of the radio communications channel remains within a predetermined communications quality range.

2. The mobile communications network as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the serving gateway is further configured to determine the rate of change of the state of the radio communications channel,
the predetermined conditions include the rate of change of the state of the radio communications channel, and
when the rate of change of the state of the radio communications channel is below a predetermined rate and an average is above a predetermined threshold, the second communications bearer is established for communicating the user data to the first communications terminal via the co-operating base station.

3. The mobile communications network as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the integration time is determined in accordance with the set-up time, the set-up time including a time required to determine a current state of the radio communications channel, to communicate the current state of the radio communications channel to the core network part, and a time required to establish the second communications bearer to the co-operating base station.

4. The mobile communications network as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the integration time is a function of the quality of service required to communicate the user data to the first communications terminal.

5. The mobile communications network as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the serving gateway is further configured to
monitor respectively the state of the radio communications channel and a state of a first radio communications channel between the serving base station and the first communications terminal,
select, depending on the state of the radio communications channel and the state of the first radio communications channel, one or both of the serving base station and the co-operating base station to communicate the user data to the first communications terminal, and
selectively communicate, depending upon the selection, the user data via the first communications bearer or via the second communications bearer.

6. The mobile communications network as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the core network part includes a mobility manager,
the serving base station is configured to
receive an indication of a relative state of the radio communications channel, and
receive an indication of a relative state of a second radio communications channel between the serving base station and the first communications terminal, and the mobility manager in combination with the serving base station is configured to
identify whether to establish the second communications bearer according to whether the radio communications channel satisfies the predetermined conditions, and
establish, when to the predetermined conditions are satisfied, the second communications bearer.

7. The mobile communications network as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the serving base station is configured to communicate an indication of the state of radio communications channel to the serving gateway via in band signalling.

8. A mobile communications network for communicating data to and/or from one or more communications terminals, the mobile communications network comprising:
a core network part including a serving gateway; and
a radio network part including a plurality of base stations that provide a wireless access interface for communicating the data to and/or from the one or more communications terminals, each base station of the plurality of base stations being separate from the infrastructure equipment and the serving gateway, wherein
at least one of the plurality of base stations is configured to:
operate as a serving base station to a first communications terminal of the one or more communications terminals;
establish, in co-operation with the first communications terminal, a first communications bearer to the first communications terminal for communicating user data to and/or from the first communications terminal; and
co-operate with a co-operating base station of the plurality of base stations to communicate the user data to and/or from the first communications terminal,

the co-operating base station is configured to transmit the user data to the first communications terminal according to a state of a radio communications channel established via the wireless access interface between the co-operating base station and the first communications terminal,
the serving gateway is configured to:
monitor the state of the radio communications channel;
determine whether the state of the radio communications channel satisfies predetermined conditions; and
when the serving gateway determines that the state of the radio communications channel satisfies the predetermined conditions:
establish a second communications bearer from the core network to the co-operating base station for communicating the user data to the co-operating base station for transmitting the user data by the co-o

Assignees

• Sca Ipla Holdings Inc

Inventors

• Zakrzewski Robert
• Tesanovic Milos

Classifications

• H04W72/542

  using measured or perceived quality · CPC title

• H04W72/23

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

• H04W92/20

  between access points · CPC title

• H04W72/042

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W72/04

  Wireless resource allocation · CPC title