Bearer mobility and splitting in a radio access network-based, 3rd generation partnership project network having an integrated wireless local area network

摘要

A wireless local area network (WLAN) point-to-point communications link between an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network node B (eNB) and a user equipment device (or simply UE) is identified by UE/eNB media access control (MAC) identifiers on a per UE or per data radio bearer (DRB) basis for offloading cellular data from a long term evolution (LTE) link to the WLAN point-to-point communications link. A wireless local area network tunneling protocol (WLTP) includes packet formats and network protocol stack arrangements to support functions facilitated by the WLAN point-to-point communications link, such as, for example, identification of control and data traffic messages, DRB identification for WLTP packets, quality of service (QoS) delay and packet loss measurement, support of bearer splitting, and support of a general framework for offloading cellular traffic at different depths of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network protocol stack.

主权项

1. A user equipment (UE) for communicating cellular data and control traffic, the UE comprising:
circuitry configured to:
communicate cellular control traffic with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network node B (eNB) through an air interface of a long term evolution (LTE) wireless network;establish in a wireless local area network (WLAN) a WLAN point-to-point communication link with the eNB for communication of cellular data traffic with the eNB through the WLAN point-to-point communication link;split the cellular data traffic at a depth in an internet protocol (IP)-based user-plane tunneling protocol stack below that of an IP layer in the protocol stack; andcommunicate the cellular data traffic to the eNB through the WLAN point-to-point communication link and in WLAN tunneling protocol (WLTP) tunneling layers defined below a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer that is below the IP layer, the WLTP tunneling layers including a WLTP transport layer encapsulated by a WLTP encapsulation layer.