Apparatus, system and method of communicating between a cellular manager and a user equipment (UE) via a WLAN access device
View Patent ↗Some demonstrative embodiments include devices, systems and/or methods of communicating between a cellular manager and a User Equipment (UE) via a Wireless Local Area network (WLAN) access device. For example, an air interface to communicate with a User Equipment (UE) via a cellular link; a controller to route at least part of downlink traffic to the UE via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access device; and an access device interface to send to the WLAN access device a general packet radio service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol User Plane (GTP-U) packet including the downlink traffic for the UE, and transport bearer information to identify a transport bearer between the eNB and the UE.
1. An evolved Node B (eNB) comprising:
an air interface to communicate with a User Equipment (UE) via a cellular link;
a controller to control routing of downlink traffic to the UE via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access device; and
an access device interface to send to the WLAN access device a general packet radio service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol User Plane (GTP-U) packet comprising the downlink traffic routed to the UE via the WLAN access device, the GTP-U packet comprising transport bearer information to identify a transport bearer between the eNB and the UE, the transport bearer information comprises a WLAN Media Access Control (MAC) address corresponding to the UE.
2. The eNB of claim 1 , wherein said access device interface is to receive from the WLAN access device a GTP-U packet comprising WLAN link information corresponding to a WLAN link between the WLAN access device and the UE.
3. The eNB of claim 2 , wherein the WLAN link information comprises an average data rate corresponding to the WLAN link.
4. The eNB of claim 2 , wherein the WLAN link information comprises link quality information corresponding to the WLAN link.
5. The eNB of claim 2 , wherein the WLAN link information comprises a WLAN buffer status corresponding to the WLAN link.
6. The eNB of claim 2 , wherein the WLAN link information comprises delivered and lost Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) information.
7. The eNB of claim 2 , wherein said controller is to control routing of the downlink traffic via the WLAN access device, based at least on the WLAN link information.
8. The eNB of claim 1 , wherein the transport bearer information comprises a Tunnel Endpoint Identifier (TEID) corresponding to the UE.
9. The eNB of claim 1 comprising:
a plurality of antennas;
a memory; and
a processor.
10. A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access device comprising:
an Evolved Node B (eNB) interface to receive from an eNB a general packet radio service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol User Plane (GTP-U) packet comprising downlink traffic for a User Equipment (UE), the GTP-U packet comprising transport bearer information to identify a transport bearer between the eNB and the UE;
a controller to determine a WLAN bearer between the WLAN access device and the UE based on the transport bearer information; and
a UE interface to send the downlink traffic to the UE via the WLAN bearer.
11. The WLAN access device of claim 10 , wherein said eNB interface is to send to the eNB a GTP-U packet comprising WLAN link information of a WLAN link corresponding to the WLAN bearer.
12. The WLAN access device of claim 10 , wherein the transport bearer information comprises a Tunnel Endpoint Identifier (TED) corresponding to the UE.
13. The WLAN access device of claim 10 , wherein the transport bearer information comprises a WLAN Media Access Control (MAC) address corresponding to the UE.
14. The WLAN access device of claim 10 comprising:
a memory; and
a processor.