IP Library Granted Patent US 10,277,638
Granted Patent B2
US 10,277,638 · App. 15/047,855 · Granted Apr 30, 2019

Providing bonded services at a non-anchor node

Inventors: Praveen Vasant Muley (Cupertino, CA); Laurent Thiebaut (Antony, FR); Wim Henderickx (Westerlo, BE); Thierry Van De Velde (Antwerp, BE); Vachaspathi P. Kompella (Cupertino, CA)
Assignees: Nokia of America Corporation; Alcatel Lucent
H04L65/1069H04L12/2863H04L12/66H04L43/062H04L43/0876H04L61/2007H04L61/2514H04L61/6077
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,277,638
App. No.
15/047,855
Granted
Apr 30, 2019
Kind
B2
Abstract

The disclosure relates generally to supporting bonded services at non-anchor nodes. A non-anchor gateway device is configured to support service bonding for a user device and communication with an anchor node of the user device. The non-anchor gateway device is configured to associated a set of user device data plane connections of the user device to form a bonded session for the user device where the set of user device data plane sessions includes a first user device data plane connection associated with a first access network and a second user device data plane connection associated with a second access network. The non-anchor gateway device is configured to map user device traffic of the user device between the user device data plane connections of the bonded session and a user device data plane session between the gateway device and the anchor node for the user device.

Claims (61)

1. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

associate, at a gateway device, a set of user device data plane connections of an intended user device to form a bonded session for the intended user device, the set of user device data plane connections including a first user device data plane connection associated with a first access network and a second user device data plane connection associated with a second access network; and

map, at the gateway device, user device traffic of the intended user device between the user device data plane connections of the bonded session and a user device data plane session between the gateway device and an anchor node for the intended user device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

obtain an address for the bonded session for the intended user device; and

associate the address with the bonded session for the intended user device.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein, to obtain the address for the bonded session, the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

select the address from a respective set of addresses assigned by the anchor node for the respective user device data plane connections.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the address comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the user device traffic comprises downstream traffic intended for delivery to the intended user device, wherein, to map the user device traffic between the user device data plane connections of the bonded session and the user device data plane session, the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

determine an allocation of the user device traffic to the user device data plane connections of the bonded session; and

provide the user device traffic to the user device data plane connections of the bonded session based on the allocation of the user device traffic to the user device data plane connections of the bonded session.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the allocation of the user device traffic to the user device data plane connections of the bonded session is determined based on at least one of policy information associated with the intended user device or traffic monitoring information determined based on monitoring of the user device traffic.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the allocation of the user device traffic to the user device data plane connections of the bonded session is indicative of respective portions of the user device traffic to be transported by the respective user device data plane connections of the bonded session.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the user device traffic comprises upstream traffic provided by the intended user device via the bonded session, wherein, to map the user device traffic between the user device data plane connections of the bonded session and the user device data plane session, the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

provide the user device traffic received via the user device data plane connections of the bonded session to the user device data plane session between the gateway device and the anchor node for the intended user device.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the user device traffic comprises upstream traffic provided by the intended user device via the bonded session, wherein, to map the user device traffic between the user device data plane connections of the bonded session and the user device data plane session, the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

combine respective portions of the user device traffic received via the user device data plane connections of the bonded session to form combined user device traffic; and

provide the combined user device traffic to the user device data plane session between the gateway device and the anchor node for the intended user device.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first user device data plane connection comprises a wireless connection and the first access network comprises a wireless access network, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

support a non-relocation handover of the intended user device using a handover procedure configured for handover between wireless access points.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the intended user device comprises a customer premises equipment (CPE) device or a wireless user device.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first access network is a wireline access network and the second access network is a wireless access network.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the wireline network comprises a cable network or a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, wherein the wireless network comprises a cellular network or a wireless local area network (WLAN).

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first access network is a first type of wireless access network and the second access network is a second type of wireless access network.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the first type of wireless access network is a cellular network and the second type of wireless access network is a WiFi network.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

associate, at a gateway device associated with an anchor node for a user device to form a bonded session for the user device, a set of user device data plane connections including first and second user device data plane connections associated with respective first and second access networks, wherein the bonded session for the user device has associated therewith for use by the first user device data plane connection and the second user device data plane connection an address assigned by the anchor node for use by the first user device data plane connection;

map user device traffic of the user device between the user device data plane connections of the bonded session and a user device data plane session between the gateway device and the anchor node;

detect a non-relocation handover of the user device; and

determine, based on a determination as to whether the non-relocation handover of the user device is associated with the first user device data plane connection or the second user device data plane connection, whether to obtain a new address for the bonded session.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

based on a determination that the non-relocation handover is associated with the first user device data plane connection, propagate from the gateway device toward the anchor node a request for a new address for the first user device data plane connection; and

associate the new address with the bonded session for use by the first user device data plane connection and the second user device data plane connection.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

associate, at a gateway device associated with an anchor node for a user device to form a bonded session for the user device, a set of user device data plane connections of the user device including first and second user device data plane connections associated with respective first and second access networks, wherein the first user device data plane connection comprises a wireless connection and the first access network comprises a wireless access network;

map user device traffic of the user device between the user device data plane connections of the bonded session and a user device data plane session between the gateway device and the anchor node;

detect a relocation handover of the user device that is associated with the first user device data plane connection; and

propagate, from the gateway device toward the anchor node, a message configured to trigger a handover of the first user device data plane connection from the gateway device to a second gateway device associated with the anchor node.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least:

associating, at a gateway device, a set of user device data plane connections of an intended user device to form a bonded session for the intended user device, the set of user device data plane connections including a first user device data plane connection associated with a first access network and a second user device data plane connection associated with a second access network; and

mapping, at the gateway device, user device traffic of the intended user device between the user device data plane connections of the bonded session and a user device data plane session between the gateway device and an anchor node for the intended user device.

20. A method, comprising:

associating, at a gateway device comprising a processor and a memory, a set of user device data plane connections of an intended user device to form a bonded session for the intended user device, the set of user device data plane connections including a first user device data plane connection associated with a first access network and a second user device data plane connection associated with a second access network; and

mapping, at the gateway device, user device traffic of the intended user device between the user device data plane connections of the bonded session and a user device data plane session between the gateway device and an anchor node for the intended user device.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

associate, at a gateway device, a set of user device data plane connections of an intended user device to form a bonded session for the intended user device, the set of user device data plane connections including a first user device data plane connection associated with a first access network and a second user device data plane connection associated with a second access network, the first user device data plane connection being supported by a data plane connection between the gateway device and an anchor node for the intended user device;

receive, at the gateway device, user device traffic intended for the intended user device; and

allocate, at the gateway device, the user device traffic to the user device data plane connections of the bonded session for the intended user device.

Assignments (6)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Feb 15, 2019
From: ALCATEL-LUCENT USA INC.
To: NOKIA OF AMERICA CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 048356/0171 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE SPELLING OF THE SECOND ASSIGNOR'S NAME PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 038250 FRAME 0320. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNMENT. Recorded Jul 20, 2017
From: MULEY, PRAVEEN VASANT; KOMPELLA, VACHASPATHI P.
To: ALCATEL-LUCENT USA INC.
Reel/Frame 043274/0941 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 12, 2017
From: ALCATEL-LUCENT BELL N.V.
To: ALCATEL LUCENT
Reel/Frame 042240/0023 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 12, 2016
From: MULEY, PRAVEEN VASANT; KOMELLA, VACHASPATHI P.
To: ALCATEL-LUCENT USA INC.
Reel/Frame 038250/0320 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 12, 2016
From: THIEBAUT, LAURENT
To: ALCATEL-LUCENT
Reel/Frame 038250/0355 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 12, 2016
From: HENDERICKX, WIM; VAN DE VELDE, THIERRY
To: ALCATEL-LUCENT BELL N.V.
Reel/Frame 038250/0417 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62147516 · Apr 14, 2015
Related Publication 20160308918A1 · Oct 20, 2016