Method and apparatus for MAC layer inverse multiplexing in a third generation radio access network

1. A radio network element for communicating to a mobile user equipment a higher rate data flow received from a core network entity, the higher rate data flow being provided to the radio network element at a higher rate than user equipment can accept on a single channel, the radio network element comprising:

a) a radio link control sublayer including a radio bearer service, responsive to the higher rate data flow, to provide a corresponding radio link control data flow for downlink to the user equipment;

b) a media access control sublayer, responsive to the radio link control data flow, to provide a plurality of corresponding media access control data flows at a rate low enough to be acceptable to the user equipment;

c) a framing protocol layer, responsive to the media access control data flows, to provide corresponding transport network layer data flows; and

d) an admission control, responsive to radio access bearer parameters provided by the core network entity, to provide commands to the media access control sublayer specifying how the media access control sublayer is to allocate resources so as to communicate the higher rate data flow to the user equipment;

wherein the media access control sublayer in the radio network element comprises a channel inverse multiplexer/multiplexer, responsive to the radio link control data flow, to provide the plurality of corresponding media access control data flows at a rate low enough to be acceptable to the user equipment, and to include with each lower rate data flow information indicating how the lower rate flows are to be combined by the user equipment, the lower rate data flows being suitable for transmission by the framing protocol layer according to a standard protocol not taking into account that the lower rate data flows are in combination the radio link control data flow corresponding to the higher rate data flow.

2. The radio network element of claim 1 , wherein in sending to a core network entity a plurality of transport network data flows received from the user equipment, the channel inverse multiplexer/multiplexer is further responsive to a plurality of corresponding media access control data flows, and is configured to provide, at the direction of the admission control, a single corresponding radio link control data flow for transmission to the core network entity as a higher rate data flow.

3. A radio access network including a Node B and also including a radio network element according to claim 1 .

4. A radio access network including a Node B and also including a radio network element according to claim 2 .

5. A method by which a radio network element communicates to a mobile user equipment a higher rate data flow received from a core network entity, the higher rate data flow being provided to the radio network element at a higher rate than the user equipment can accept on a single channel, the method comprising:

a) a radio link control sublayer including a radio bearer service, responsive to the higher rate data flow, providing a corresponding radio link control data flow for downlink to the user equipment;

b) a media access control sublayer, responsive to the radio link control data flow, providing a plurality of corresponding media access control data flows at a rate low enough to be acceptable to the user equipment;

c) a framing protocol layer, responsive to the media access control data flows, providing corresponding transport network layer data flows; and

d) an admission control, responsive to radio access bearer parameters provided by the core network entity, providing commands to the media access control sublayer specifying how the media access control sublayer is to allocate resources so as to communicate the higher rate data flow to the user equipment;

wherein the media access control sublayer in the radio network element performs a channel inverse multiplexing/multiplexing using a channel inverse multiplexer/multiplexer, responsive to the radio link control data flow, and in so doing provides the plurality of corresponding media access control data flows at a rate low enough to be acceptable to the user equipment, and includes with each lower rate data flow information indicating how the lower rate flows are to be combined by the user equipment, the lower rate data flows being suitable for transmission by the framing protocol layer according to a standard protocol not taking into account that the lower rate data flows are in combination the radio link control data flow corresponding to the higher rate data flow.

6. The method of claim 5 , further wherein in sending to a core network entity a plurality of transport network data flows received from the user equipment, the channel inverse multiplexer/multiplexer is further responsive to a plurality of corresponding media access control data flows, and provides, at the direction of the admission control, a single corresponding radio link control data flow for transmission to the core network entity as a higher rate data flow.

7. A radio access network element for supporting communications to a mobile user equipment at a first data flow rate received from a core network entity, the first data flow rate being provided to the radio network element at a higher rate than user equipment can accept on a single channel, the radio network element comprising:

a media access control sublayer, responsive to a radio link control data flow from the core network entity at the first rate, to provide a plurality of corresponding media access control data flows, each at a lower rate than the first rate, for communication to the user equipment, and responsive to commands specifying how to allocate resources so as to communicate the radio link control data flow to the user equipment, and for including with each lower rate data flow information indicating how the corresponding media access control data flows are to be combined by the user equipment; and

an admission control, responsive to radio access bearer parameters provided by the core network entity, to provide the commands to the media access control sublayer specifying how the media access control sublayer is to allocate resources so as to communicate the radio link control data flow to the user equipment.

8. The radio access network element of claim 7 , wherein the media access control sublayer is further responsive to a plurality of media access control data flows from the user equipment, and is configured for providing, at the direction of the admission control, a single corresponding radio link control data flow for transmission to the core network entity.

9. A radio access network including a Node B and also including a radio access network element according to claim 7 .

10. A radio access network including a Node B and also including a radio access network element according to claim 8 .

11. A system, comprising:

a radio network controller including a radio access network element as in claim 8 ; and

a Node B communicatively coupled to the radio network controller, for wirelessly communicating the media access control data flows to the user equipment according to a wireless communication protocol.

12. A radio access network element for supporting communications to a mobile user equipment at a first data flow rate received from a core network entity, the first data flow rate being provided to the radio network element at a higher rate than user equipment can accept on a single channel, the radio network element, comprising:

media access control sublayer means, responsive to a radio link control data flow from a core network entity at the first rate, for providing a plurality of corresponding media access control data flows, each at a lower rate than the first rate, for communication to the user equipment, and responsive to commands specifying how to allocate resources so as to communicate the radio link control data flow to the user equipment, and for including with each lower rate data flow information indicating how the corresponding media access control data flows are to be combined by the user equipment; and

admission control means, responsive to radio access bearer parameters provided by a core network entity, for providing the commands to the media access control sublayer specifying how the media access control sublayer is to allocate resources so as to communicate the radio link control data flow to the user equipment.

13. The radio access network element of claim 12 , wherein the media access control sublayer means is further responsive to a plurality of media access control data flows from the user equipment, and is configured for providing, at the direction of the admission control means, a single corresponding radio link control data flow for transmission to the core network entity.

14. A method, comprising

receiving a radio link control data flow at a first rate from a core network for communication to a user equipment;

preparing a plurality of media access control data flows, at a media access sublayer, each of a lower rate than said first rate, so as to convey the radio link control data flow to the user equipment;

including with the plurality of media access control data flows information indicating how the media access control data flows are to be combined by the user equipment into the radio link control data flow; and

providing the plurality of media access control data flows for communication to the user equipment.

15. A method as in claim 14 , further comprising receiving a plurality of media access control data flows from the user equipment, and providing, at the direction of an admission control, a single corresponding radio link control data flow for transmission to the core network entity.

16. The radio access network element of claim 7 , wherein the admission control is implemented in layer 3 of the radio access network element.

17. The radio access network element of claim 12 , wherein the admission control means implements a layer- 3 function of the radio access network element.