Systems and methods for establishing and maintaining multiple cellular connections and/or interfaces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9949189-B2
Application number	US-201214232195-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2012
Priority date	Jul 11, 2011
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing multiple connections or interfaces at the same time may be disclosed herein. For example, in an embodiment, a first RRC connection may be established between a wireless transmit and receive unit (WTRU) or user equipment (UE) and network node such as an eNB and a second RRC connection may be established between the WTRU or UE and the network node such as the eNB or another network node such as another eNB. The first RRC connection and the second RRC connections may then be maintained in parallel (e.g. at the same time).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing multiple connections, the method comprising:
establishing, at a wireless transmit and receive unit, a first (RRC) connection with a first network node associated with a core network;
establishing, at the wireless transmit and receive unit, a second RRC connection with a second network node associated with the core network, wherein the first and second RRC connections are configured to be maintained in parallel such that a component in the core network is configured to coordinate the first and second RRC connections between the wireless transmit and receive unit and the first and second network nodes;
receiving, at the wireless transmit and receive unit, data simultaneously from the first and the second network nodes via the first and second RRC connections configured to be maintained in parallel; and
sending, from the wireless transmit and receive unit, data simultaneously to the first and second network nodes via the first and second RRC connections configured to be maintained in parallel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second network node is the same network node as the first network node.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first network node is a first eNB and the second network node is a second eNB.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the wireless transmit and receive unit is attached to the core network via the first network node and a first bearer is established between the wireless transmit and receive unit and the core network via the first network node, wherein a second bearer is established between the wireless transmit and receive unit and the core network via the second network node, and wherein no connection exists between the second network node and the core network.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the core network establishes the second bearer via the second network node using signaling via the first network node.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the second bearer is modified using signaling via the first network node.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a message to the core network indicating that the first RRC connection and the second RRC connection have been established.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first RRC connection is associated with a first bearer and the second RRC connection is associated with a second bearer, and wherein the first and second bearers are independent of each other.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising moving the first bearer associated with the first RRC connection to the second RRC connection.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising moving at least a portion of an IP flow from the first RRC connection to the second RRC connection.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
attaching to the core network in response to an attach request after establishing the first RRC connection and the second RRC connection.

12. A wireless transmit and receive unit for providing multiple connections, comprising:
a memory; and
processor configured to:
establish a first radio resource control (RRC) connection with a first network node associated with a core network;
establish a second RRC connection with a second network node associated with the core network wherein the first and second RRC connections are configured to be maintained in parallel such that a component in the core network is configured to coordinate the first and second RRC connections between the wireless transmit and receive unit and the first and second network nodes;
receive data simultaneously from the first and the second network nodes via the first and second RRC connections configured to be maintained in parallel; and
send data simultaneously to the first and second network nodes via the first and second RRC connections configured to be maintained in parallel.

13. The wireless transmit and receive unit of claim 12 , wherein the first network node is a first eNB and the second network node is a second eNB.

14. The wireless transmit and receive unit of claim 12 , wherein the processor is configured to: provide a message to the core network indicating that the wireless transmit and receive unit has established the first RRC connection and the second RRC connection.

15. The wireless transmit and receive unit of claim 12 , wherein the first RRC connection is associated with a first bearer and the second RRC connection is associated with a second bearer, and wherein the first and second bearers are independent of each other.

16. The wireless transmit and receive unit of claim 12 , wherein the wireless transmit and receive unit is further configured to request that at least a portion of an IP flow be moved from the first RRC connection to the second RRC connection.

17. A method for providing multiple connections, the method comprising:
establishing, at a wireless transmit and receive unit, a first radio resource control (RRC) connection associated with a first bearer with a first network node associated with a core network;
establishing, at the wireless transmit and receive unit, a second RRC connection associated with a second bearer with a second network node associated with the core network, wherein the second bearer is independent of the first bearer, wherein the first RRC and second RRC connections are configured to be maintained in parallel such that a component in the core network is configured to coordinate the first and second RRC connections between the wireless transmit and receive unit and the first and second network nodes;
receiving, at the wireless transmit and receive unit, data simultaneously from the first and the second network nodes via the first and second RRC connections configured to be maintained in parallel; and
sending, from the wireless transmit and receive unit, data simultaneously to the first and second network nodes via the first and second RRC connections configured to be maintained in parallel.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the second network node is the same network node as the first network node.

19. The method of claim 17 , further comprising providing a message to a network indicating that the wireless transmit and receive unit has established the first RRC connection and the second RRC connection.

20. The method of claim 17 , further comprising requesting that the first bearer associated with the first RRC connection be moved to the second RRC connection.

21. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
attaching to the core network in response to an attach request after establishing the first RRC connection and the second RRC connection.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first RRC and second RRC connections are established to be maintained in parallel in response to at least one of the following: a request or a condition.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second RRC connections are geographically spaced apart.

24. The method of claim 1 , wherein different tunnels are established in parallel via the first and second RRC connections.

25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the component comprises a mobility management gateway (MME), and wherein the first and second RRC connection are established and maintained at the higher layer of the core network by the mobility management gateway (MME).

Assignees

• Reddiboyana Murali
• Tomici John L
• Chitrapu Prabhakar R
• Reznik Alexander
• Interdigital Patent Holdings Inc

Inventors

• Reddiboyana Murali
• Tomici John L
• Chitrapu Prabhakar R
• Reznik Alexander

Classifications

• H04W36/0027

  for a plurality of data sessions of end-to-end connections, e.g. multi-call or multi-bearer end-to-end data connections · CPC title

• H04W76/22

  Manipulation of transport tunnels · CPC title

• H04W76/15 Primary

  Setup of multiple wireless link connections · CPC title

• H04W76/025

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W76/041

  Electricity · mapped topic