Granted Patent B2

US 9,173,147 · App. 13/745,051 · Granted Oct 27, 2015

Abstract

Claims (64)

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a local wireless access network node, a request to offload at least a portion of data traffic for a user equipment from a macro wireless access network node to the local wireless access network node, wherein the user equipment is to maintain a first wireless connection to the macro wireless access network node after the offload;

sending, by the local wireless access network node, a response to indicate that the local wireless access node has accepted the request;

performing, by the local wireless access network node with the user equipment, a procedure to establish a second wireless connection between the local wireless access network node and the user equipment, the second wireless connection to communicate the at least a portion of data traffic for the offload, and the procedure establishing the second wireless connection using control information sent to the user equipment by the macro wireless access network node over the first wireless connection between the macro wireless access network node and the user equipment.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

sending, by the local wireless access network node, a cancellation request to the macro wireless access network node to cancel an existing offload for the user equipment.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local wireless access network node is a first local wireless access node, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the first local wireless access network node, a message indicating that handling of the at least a portion of the data traffic is to be removed from the first local wireless access network node, to cause transfer of the at least a portion of the data traffic to another local wireless access network node.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the message identifies radio access bearers that are to be removed from the first wireless access network node.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein receiving the message is part of a user equipment transfer from the first wireless access network node to the another wireless access network node.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request identifies at least one radio access bearer to offload from the macro wireless access network node to the local wireless access network node.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request identifies plural radio access bearers to offload from the macro wireless access network node to the local wireless access network node, and wherein the response indicates acceptance of just a subset of the plural radio access bearers.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the response includes random access channel configuration information of the local wireless access network node and random access preamble information to be sent by the macro wireless access network node to the user equipment, the control information used to establish the second wireless connection including the random access preamble information.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

receiving, by the local wireless access network node, a physical random access signal based on the random access information sent by the user equipment to establish the second wireless connection with the local wireless access network node.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

receiving, by the local wireless access network node, downlink data from the macro wireless access network node; and

sending, by the local wireless access network node, the downlink data to the user equipment.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

sending, by the local wireless access network node, uplink data received from the user equipment to the macro wireless access network node.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the control information sent to the user equipment by the macro wireless access network node is based on control information included in the response sent from the local wireless access network node to the macro wireless access network node.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local wireless access network node provides a small cell within a coverage area of a macro cell provided by the macro wireless access network node, the macro wireless access network node to communicate control plane data to user equipment for a plurality of local wireless access network nodes that provide respective small cells within the coverage area of the macro cell.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local wireless access network node communicates user plane data with the user equipment over the second wireless connection but communicates no control plane data associated with the user plane data.

15. A macro wireless access network node, comprising:

a first communication interface to establish a wireless connection with a user equipment that is moveable between coverage areas of different wireless access network nodes;

a second communication interface to communicate with a local wireless access network node; and

at least one processor to:

send a request to offload at least a portion of data traffic for the user equipment from the macro wireless access network node to the local wireless access network node, wherein the user equipment is to maintain the wireless connection to the macro wireless access network node after the offload, and wherein the request identifies radio access bearers to offload from the macro wireless access network node to the local wireless access network node; and

receive, from the local wireless access network node, a response indicating acceptance of the request, the response identifying less than all of the radio access bearers identified in the request.

16. The macro wireless access network node of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is to configure the user equipment to perform measurement of at least one carrier frequency used by local wireless access network nodes.

17. The macro wireless access network node of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is to further:

in response to the response from the local wireless access network node indicating acceptance of the request, send, to the user equipment, a control message to cause the user equipment to establish a second wireless connection with the local wireless access network node in addition to the wireless connection between the user equipment and the macro wireless access network node.

18. The macro wireless access network node of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is to further send, to the local wireless access network node, downlink data for the user equipment.

19. The macro wireless access network node of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is to further send, to the local wireless access network node, a sequence number of a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) packet data unit (PDU).

20. The macro wireless access network node of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is to further receive, from the local wireless access network node, uplink data of the user equipment.

21. The macro wireless access network node of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to further direct the local wireless access network node to receive or transmit data for the user equipment from or to a core network node.

22. The macro wireless access network node of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is to further:

send a respective request to offload a corresponding portion of data traffic to each of plural local wireless access network nodes;

receive a response accepting the respective request from each of the plural local wireless access network nodes;

select one of the plural local wireless access networks, and

accept the response received from the selected local wireless access network node; and

send a cancel message to each of local wireless access network nodes of the plural local wireless access network nodes other than the selected local wireless access network node, the cancel message indicating to each of the local wireless access network nodes receiving the cancel message that the respective request is to be cancelled.

23. The macro wireless access network node of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is to further:

send a reconfiguration message to the local wireless access network node to add or remove a portion of data traffic for the user equipment to be handled by the local wireless access network node.

24. The macro wireless access network node of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is to further:

in response to the response from the local wireless access network node indicating acceptance of the request, send, to the user equipment, a control message to establish a second wireless connection with the local wireless access network node to communicate user plane data of the radio access bearers identified in the response indicating acceptance of the request.

25. The macro wireless access network node of claim 24 , wherein receiving the response comprises receiving control information in the response, and wherein the control message sent to the user equipment includes the control information to be used by the user equipment in establishing the second wireless connection.

26. A user equipment comprising:

a first communication interface to establish a first wireless connection with a macro wireless access network node;

a second communication interface to communicate with a local wireless access network node; and

at least one processor to:

in response to detecting a radio link strength of the local wireless access network node exceeding a threshold after the user equipment has moved into a coverage area of the local wireless access network node, send, to the macro wireless access network node, measurement data of a radio link of the local wireless access network node;

receive, over the first wireless connection from the macro wireless access network node, an offload control message relating to performing offload of at least one radio access bearer for the user equipment from the macro wireless access network node to the local wireless access network node; and

use information in the offload control message to establish a second wireless connection with the local wireless access network node, while maintaining the first wireless connection with the macro wireless access network node;

communicate data of the at least one radio access bearer over the second wireless connection; and

communicate data of at least another radio access bearer over the first wireless connection.

27. The user equipment of claim 26 , wherein the user equipment is configured to maintain a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with just the macro wireless access network node while concurrently communicating data of corresponding radio access bearers over the first and second wireless connections.

28. A method for wireless communication between a network with a user equipment, the method comprising:

receiving a control plane data stream and a user plane data stream for the user equipment at a network component;

determining, by an inter-cell scheduler based on a measurement report from the user equipment, that a subset of the data plane data stream is to be sent to the user equipment via a local wireless access network node, wherein the local wireless access network node is connected to the network component via a backhaul link;

sending, by the network component, the subset of the data plane data stream to the local wireless access network node;

sending, by the local wireless access network node, the subset of the data plane data stream over a first wireless connection to the user equipment, wherein the first wireless connection is established between the local wireless access network node and the user equipment; and

communicating, by the network component, the control plane data stream over a second wireless connection to the user equipment, wherein the second wireless connection exists simultaneously with the first wireless connection.

29. The method of claim 28 , wherein the network component includes a macro wireless access network node, and the control plane data stream is communicated by the macro wireless access network node to the user equipment, and wherein the macro wireless access network node provides a macro cell, and a small cell provided by the local wireless access network node is within a coverage area of the macro cell.

Assignments (10)