Patent ID: 9749903
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: H04W

Claim:
1. A method of switching, the method comprising: receiving, by a user equipment, a Data Radio Bearer, DRB, reconfiguration message from a macro eNB, wherein the DRB reconfiguration message is transmitted by the macro eNB after the macro eNB transmits a bearer setup request message for the user equipment to at least one local eNB; and maintaining, by the user equipment, Packet Data Convergence Protocol, PDCP, layers corresponding to all downlink or/and uplink DRBs of a control plane and a user plane at the macro eNB, and switching other layers than the PDCP layers corresponding to a part or all of the downlink or/and uplink DRBs of the user plane to the at least one local eNB, wherein the DRB reconfiguration message is a Radio Resource Control, RRC, reconfiguration message: and the switching, by the user equipment, the other layers than the PDCP layers corresponding to a part or all of the downlink or/and uplink DRBs of the user plane to at least one local eNB comprises: configuring, by the user equipment, the other layers than the PDCP layers corresponding to the downlink or/and uplink DRBs of the user plane according to configuration information in the received RRC reconfiguration message: wherein configuring, by the user equipment, the other layers than the PDCP layers corresponding to the downlink or/and uplink DRBs of the user plane comprises: configuring, by the user equipment, new Radio Link Control, RLC, entities according to the configuration information in the RRC reconfiguration message, creating a mapping relationship between original PDCP and new RLC entities, activating a set of a Physical, PHY, entity and a Media Access Control, MAC, entity dedicated to the downlink or/and uplink DRB, and being synchronized, through the activated PHY entity and MAC entity, with newly connected local eNB after switching, wherein after the macro eNB transmits the DRB reconfiguration message to the user equipment, the method further comprises: if the macro eNB is a transmitter of a downlink or/and uplink DRB in an Acknowledgment Mode, AM, or a transmitter of a downlink or/and uplink DRB in a Un-acknowledgment Mode, UM, then Sequence Number, SN, and all status variables are preserved on the macro eNB, and all states and algorithms of encryption, integrity protection and header compression are maintained by the macro eNB.