Abstract:
In order to transmit data packets in multi-RAT networks, a method and a system of network controllers are proposed comprising:
       simultaneous establishment of radio connections over multiple different Radio Access Technologies or RATs, with a User Equipment or UE  13,  being one radio connection firstly established over one primary RAT under a single PDP context and one or more radio connections established over at least one secondary RAT, different from the primary RAT, and under the same single PDP context;   simultaneous transmission of data packets over the different RATs towards the UE  13  and combination of the transmitted data by higher layer protocols at the UE  13.         
 
     In the present method/system, a connection is established for user plane transmission on the same PDP context between a primary network controller  11  of the primary RAT and the secondary network controller  12  of a secondary RAT. More than one secondary RAT may be involved.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to broadband wireless communications systems (2G, 3G and beyond 3G networks) supporting multiple radio access technologies (RATs). 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Radio Access Technology (RAT) indicates the type of radio technology to access the Core Network (CN). Examples of RAT are the UTRA (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access), e-UTRA (evolved UTRA also called Long Term Evolution), CDMA2000®, DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Technology), GERAN (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network), etc. 
         [0003]    The different radio access technologies (RATs) are designed to fulfil specific requirements and characteristics in terms of throughput, data rate, range, mobility etc. Nowadays, third generation (3G) mobile communication systems based on a WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) RAT is being deployed all over the world. Furthermore, new RATs are being considered for evolved-3G (LTE) and other so-called fourth generation (4G) wireless telecommunication systems. The amount of RATs able to work in different frequency bands is increasing and being standardized. 
         [0004]    One key capability of RATs such as 3G and LTE is that they can provide truly mobile broadband, i.e. the combination of high capacity, full mobility and coverage for the provision of data services. 
         [0005]    New RATs or the evolution of those RATs are mainly focused on increasing the capability of the users to receive more and more data (increasing mobile broadband capabilities). 
         [0006]    There are multi-RAT capable User Equipments (UEs) which perform searches (at switch on or following recovery from lack of coverage), for a registered or equivalent Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) using all RATs that the UE supports, one RAT after another. All frequencies in all bands belonging to each RAT are searched, signal strength measured in order to connect the UE to a suitable cell(s) in a suitable PLMN(s) Cell/PLMN selection is usually based on the signal strength, i.e., signal to interference ratio (SIR) or signal to noise ratio (SNR), of candidate cells. 
         [0007]    However, the achievable user throughput is limited by the amount of spectrum allocated to one specific RAT technology as well as by the current traffic experienced over that technology on a determined moment in time. This is due to the fact that the current system architectures keep focusing in establishing a connection for a single UE over a single RAT at the time. 
         [0008]    In spite of spare capacity can be available on a RAT technology (spectrum) different from the single one currently used, there is currently no means to aggregate data from different RATs and their radio spectra cannot be used as a boost for data connection. Since just only one single RAT at the time can be used, the existing approaches to reach higher throughput are either providing higher amount of spectrum over the used RAT (2G, 3G or LTE), either the load on a specific carrier has to be decreased. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    The invention relates to a method for transmitting data packets in a wireless telecommunication network according to claim  1 , to a system according to claim  11  and to a network controller according to claim  13 . Preferred embodiments of the system and of the method are defined in the dependent claims. 
         [0010]    The present invention serves to solve the aforesaid problem by providing means for signalling and transport of the different data streams to be aggregated over several Radio Access Technologies (RATs) at the same time, carrying the data in the same radio spectrum or using different spectra for the different RATs. The data connection is established over a single RAT (primary RAT), preferably, 3G WCDMA, as data connection establishment is normally carried out on current networks, but the invention allows packets of data belonging to the same Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context to be sent over different RATs (secondary RATs). The proposed solution is opposed to any macro-diversity combining principle, in which the same data are sent over the same RAT and combined at the User Equipment (UE). The invention specifies system architecture and the needed call set-up flow which make possible to handle data of a single PDP context over multiple RATs and its combination at the UE. By doing so, the user throughput can be boosted far beyond the capabilities of one single specific Radio Access Technology. 
         [0011]    The radio entity (a Radio Network Controller: RNC) in charge of the primary RAT (primary RNC) is capable of establishing additional radio connections over different RATs and relaying over these secondary RATs at least part of the data streams to be carried. The primary RNC or RAT controller is also in charge of establishing and maintaining the PDP context connection with the packet Core Network (CN) of the immediately higher Non Access Stratum (NAS) entity, e.g. by talking to the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) in 2G and 3G for PDP context management. In addition, this primary RNC communicates with one or more RAT controllers (secondary controllers) in charge of managing the transport of the selected data streams over the secondary RATs. 
         [0012]    Said communication between the primary RNC and the secondary RAT controllers can be carried out on lur-like interfaces. These interfaces can be either external, either internal. The following scenarios are cases where the interface is internal:
       In case a single RNC/BSC controller exists, communication between BSC and RNC is done internally in the node.   In a flat 3G Radio Access Network architecture (the RNC is integrated into the NodeB so that the base station can communicate directly with the Gateway GPRS Support Node—GGSN—), there is the possibility of having a Single Baseband at Base Station level (a base station supporting 3G and LTE technologies; i.e., NodeB and eNodeB are implemented at the same node). In such as scenario the communication between the primary and the secondary RAT controllers is performed internally in the same controller.       
 
         [0015]    The primary RAT Controller ensures that a data flow is established over at least a secondary RAT, different from the primary RAT, using appropriate signalling flow with the User Equipment (UE), which is able to receive/send data from different RATs (and possibly different frequencies) at the same time. Thus, the primary RAT Controller routes the data stream associated to the same PDP context by mapping it into multiple streams of data (e.g., one stream per RAT) which are then combined in the UE. 
         [0016]    When a call for a UE is set-up, the primary RAT Controller (e.g., a 3G RNC) to which the UE has a connection established through the Radio Access Network (RAN) via the primary RAT (e.g., a HSPA data connection), can decide to off-load part of the call data into other (secondary) RATs (e.g., LTE and/or GPRS/EDGE/EDGE+). This decision is based on the Radio Access Bearer (RAB) request parameters received by the primary RAT Controller (the RAB request parameters include traffic class, maximum bit rate and a forecast of the average throughput) as well as on the traffic load in the other RATs. This primary RAT Controller sends all or some packets for the call progress towards the UE by using the established interfaces with the secondary RATs (e.g., with 2G BSCs and LTE eNodeBs). 
         [0017]    Once a multiRAT transmission/reception has been established, the UE mobility is handled independently by the different involved RATs, as if Multi-RAT transmission were not used. 
         [0018]    When the established interface between the primary and secondary controllers cannot be used any longer for carrying secondary data flow, then a new interface between the involved controllers must be established before the a handover procedure is executed; the handover switches the call from one of the controllers into another one currently providing the UE with proper service coverage. 
         [0019]    An aspect of the invention refers to a method for transmitting data packets over multiple Radio Access Technologies in wide area mobile networks comprising the following steps: 
         [0020]    i) Establishing several radio connections with a multi-RAT capable User Equipment (UE) over a plurality of Radio Access Technologies (RATs) simultaneously. A radio connection is firstly established over one primary RAT activating a single PDP context. Then one or more radio connections are established under the same PDP context over one or more secondary RATs. The secondary RAT is different from the primary one and can use the same or different radio spectra. The radio connection over the secondary RAT can be established if a suitable cell is found with radio signal quality exceeding a minimum quality threshold. 
         [0021]    ii) Transmitting the data packets over the different RATs simultaneously. When establishing the radio connection over the at least one secondary RAT, a connection for user plane transmission of data packets under the same PDP context is established between a primary network controller of the primary RAT and at least one secondary network controller of a secondary RAT. The primary RAT controller commands each secondary RAT controller to establish the radio connections with the UE. This primary RAT controller splits the data packet flow corresponding to the same PDP context into a primary data packet flow to be transmitted over the primary RAT and at least one secondary data packet flow to be transmitted over the at least one secondary RAT. The secondary data packet flow is routed through the connection between the primary and the secondary network controllers and then relayed over the secondary RAT, via radio connection between the secondary network controller and the UE. The primary data packet flow is transmitted over the primary RAT through the radio connection between the primary network controller and said UE. 
         [0022]    iii) Combining all the data packets transmitted through a single PDP context towards the UE by higher layer protocols at said UE. All the data packets from the primary and secondary data packet flows are combined after demodulation so that the higher layer protocols can perform the relevant operations in order to reconstruct the initial data packet flow of the multi-RAT call to the UE. 
         [0023]    Additionally, this method comprises sending to the UE a request for performing radio measurements on cells belonging to at least one secondary RAT which are able to provide relevant service coverage to said UE. These radio measurements can include parameters such as radio signal quality and load of the cell. If there is at least one cell of a secondary RAT with a measured radio signal quality which exceeds a minimum quality threshold and at the same its measured load is below a maximum load threshold, the radio connection over this secondary RAT, different from the primary RAT, can be established. 
         [0024]    Another aspect of the invention deals with a system which comprises the primary RAT controller, at least one secondary RAT controller and the connection means establishing a communication interface between a pair of primary RAT and secondary RAT controllers, and performs the method described before. The primary RAT controller of the system is a network controller (2G BSC, 3G RNC or LTE eNodeB) which comprises radio connection means over a primary Radio Access Technology with a multi-RAT call capable UE. Each secondary RAT controller of the system is a network controller different from the primary one (2G BSC, 3G RNC or LTE eNodeB) comprising radio connection means over a secondary Radio Access Technology with the same UE. Also, the system comprises connection means between the primary network controller and the at least one secondary network controller. 
         [0025]    Another aspect of the invention deals with a network controller (2G BSC, 3G RNC or LTE eNodeB) which is the primary network controller, in charge of the primary RAT, in the above defined system. 
         [0026]    The primary RAT controller is configured for:
       sending by the radio connection means to the User Equipment a request for retrieving radio measurements on cells able to provide coverage to the User Equipment over the secondary Radio Access Technology;   comparing the radio measurements with a coverage quality threshold;   retrieving load measurements on the cells whose radio measurements are higher than the coverage quality threshold;   comparing the load measurements with a load threshold and, if load measurements on the cells of a secondary Radio Access Technology with radio measurements higher than the coverage quality threshold are lower than the load threshold:
           commanding the User Equipment by the radio connection means to activate multi-RAT call in a selected cell, band and frequency of the secondary Radio Access Technology;   commanding by the connection means to the at least one secondary network controller to establish a radio connection between the at least one secondary network controller and the User Equipment;   splitting the data packet flow associated to the call into a primary data packet flow to be transmitted through the radio connection means of the primary network controller and at least one secondary data packet flow to be transmitted through the radio connection of the at least one secondary network controller;   transmitting the at least one secondary data packet flow through the connection means from the primary network controller to the at least one secondary network controller;   
           otherwise, transmitting the whole data packet flow of the call by the radio connection means of the primary network controller with the User Equipment.       
 
         [0036]    A last aspect of the invention deals with a computer program comprising program code means which execute the method described before, when loaded into processing means of a network controller (primary RAT controller). 
         [0037]    The invention works on both downlink (receiving and combining data packets at the UE) and uplink (transmitting data packets from the UE through any of the established radio connections over any of the supported Radio Access Technologies which are selected by the primary RAT controller in accordance to the radio measurements performed by the UE). 
         [0038]    A major advantage of present invention is the achievement of higher user plane throughput whilst maximizing the available traffic capacity over different Radio Access technologies/frequency bands. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0039]    To complete the description that is being made and with the object of assisting in a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, in accordance with a preferred example of practical embodiment thereof, accompanying said description as an integral part thereof, is a set of drawings wherein, by way of illustration and not restrictively, the following has been represented: 
           [0040]    FIG.  1 .—It shows block architecture of a system for transmitting data streams over multiple Radio Access Technologies, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
           [0041]    FIG.  2 .—It shows a protocol stack representation of the network entities involved in the system for transmitting data streams over multiple Radio Access Technologies, according to a possible embodiment of the invention. 
           [0042]    FIG.  3 .—It shows a protocol stack representation of the network entities involved in the system for transmitting data streams over multiple Radio Access Technologies, according to another possible embodiment of the invention. 
           [0043]    FIG.  4 .—It shows a schematic representation of channel mapping between Radio Access Technologies in uplink, according to a possible implementation. 
           [0044]    FIG.  5 .—It shows a schematic representation of channel mapping between Radio Access Technologies in downlink, according to a possible implementation. 
           [0045]    FIG.  6 .—It shows a message flow diagram of the method for transmitting data streams over multiple Radio Access Technologies, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0046]      FIG. 1  shows a network architecture which is 3GPP compliant and implements the throughput boost via multi-RAT parallel data flows proposed here. The network comprises a core network  10  connected through a core packet switching interface  20 , e.g., IuPS specified by 3GPP or Gb interface of 2G GPRS or S1 interface in LTE, to a primary network controller  11  which is, in a preferred example, a 3G RNC. The core network  10  serves as gateway to internet, connecting the RNC to a SGSN/GGSN, performs session and paging control, and is in charge of NAS signalling. The primary network controller  11  performs Radio Resource Control signalling, Radio Resource Management and Mobility Management and the functions of Radio Link Control, in order to set up the PDP context connection with the Core Network  10 . The network further comprises at least one secondary network controller  12  which has the same functionalities as the primary controller  11  aforementioned and connects with the Core Network  10  through said primary controller  11 , using a lur-like interface  22  defined for signalling and user plane of the, internal or external, communication between the pair of primary  11  and secondary controllers  12 . Each primary  11  and secondary  12  controller manages one or more base station,  14 ,  14 ′,  15 , with their respective radio access technology, via the corresponding standardized interface  21 ,  23 ; e.g., Abis if the base station is 2G BTS controlled by a BSC acting as primary or secondary controller, lub for NodeB controlled by 3G RNC or the internal interface of eNodeB in LTE. 
         [0047]    For example, the network entities shown in  FIG. 1  can be, depending on the supported radio access technologies:
       the controllers  11  and  12  respectively of primary and secondary radio access technologies: the BSC in 2G, the RNC in 3G and the eNodeB in LTE;   the base stations  14 ,  14 ′,  15  respectively of primary and secondary radio access technologies: the BTS in 2G RAN, the NodeB in 3G FDD or TDD UTRAN, the eNodeB in FDD or TDD LTE system.       
 
         [0050]    The primary controller  11  is connected to each secondary controller  12  via the interface  22  that carries signalling to establish and control the Multi-RAT call, as well as provides the User Plane data for the secondary flow established trough the secondary RAT. 
         [0051]    The other interfaces, respectively with the Core Network  10  and the User Equipment (UE)  13 , are the standard interfaces defined in the 2G or 3G or LTE architecture. 
         [0052]    The UE  13  is a user terminal with simultaneous multi-RAT capability, provided with a primary RAT receiver/transmitter  13 A and at least one secondary RAT receiver/transmitter  13 B. 
         [0053]      FIG. 2  shows a possible implementation of the protocol stacks in the primary and secondary controllers  11 ,  12  for data routing in a network scenario where the primary RAT managed by the primary controller  11  is 3G WCDMA, the secondary RAT provided by the secondary controller  12  is LTE and all the RAN nodes receive IP packets from the SGSN/GGSN of the Core Network  10 . In this example, these primary and secondary controllers  11 ,  12  have a common protocol layer  30  which is IP layer, so that the incoming IP packets from the Core Network  10  are sent by the primary controller  11 , i.e., the RNC, to the NodeB via lub interface and, through the interface  22 , sent to the secondary controller  12  towards the eNodeB. The amount of packets to be sent towards the WCDMA physical layer  33  of the primary RAT or the OFDMA physical layer ( 33 ′) of the secondary RAT, through the RLC-3G/MAC-3G and RLC-LTE/MAC-LTE layers  31 ,  32 ,  31 ′,  32 ′ respectively, is dynamically adjusted by the RNC, for example, according to the flow control information feedback received through the RNC-eNodeB interface. Whenever erroneous packets remain after RLC retransmission, which is infrequent, those packets are handled by the above application layers, usually triggering TCP retransmissions. Packet Data Convergence Protocol—PDCP—can be used to compress the IP headers by the primary controller ( 11 ). As an example, in the case of using 3G as primary RAT and LTE as secondary RAT, it is necessary to perform IP headers compression in the primary RAT by the RNC, because this functionality in LTE is included in Core Network Nodes but not in the eNodeB. Thus, the RNC as primary controller  11  acts as a router that receives the IP flow through IuPS interface and relays the IP packets splitting the data flow into to the RLC-3G and the RLC-LTE to be sent to the NodeB and the eNodeB. Therefore, in this case, data combination is carried out above the RLC layers. 
         [0054]    Another possible implementation consists of combining the data from IP packets of the same PDP context below the RLC level, as performed by the protocol stacks shown in  FIG. 3 . The preferred primary RAT is 3G WCDMA and the secondary RAT is LTE. The RNC is the controller node provided with IP layer as common protocol layer  30  between the entities of primary and secondary controllers  11 ,  12  and a common protocol for the radio part  31  which is the RLC 3G layer. In this case, the RNC playing the role of primary controller  11  routes but also combines itself the data received from the Core Network  10 . The RNC is transmitting normally some of the 3G-RLC PDUs and other data stream of PDUs is then routed to the eNodeB, which encapsulates the 3G-RLC PDUs over MAC-LTE layer. Then the UE  13  takes all the 3G-RLC PDUs as they are numbered and performs reordering in order to rebuild the packets from the two different RATs used for data routing into the original IP packet data stream. Basically, in this preferred implementation, the RNC maps the RLC 3G channels into the Transport Channels of LTE: In uplink, as shown in  FIG. 4 , the Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) in LTE defined by 36.300 Technical Specification of the 3GPP standards can be mapped into the uplink 3G logical channel which carries Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH).  FIG. 5  shows mapping in downlink, the Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH) of 3G maps onto Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH) used as transport channel in LTE. 
         [0055]      FIG. 6  shows a diagram of the messages interchanged by the network entities in the call set-up signalling process for the proposed multi-RAT transmission.
       1) Call setup  40  and user plane transfer  41  are normally carried out between the primary network controller  11  and the UE  13 . During the RRC connection setup complete of the normal call set-up  40 , the UE  13  sends a signalling message with a 3GPP UE capabilities field which includes new Information Element (IE) indicating the UE ability to support a dual-RAT call or multi-mode in general and indicating frequency bands which multi-RAT transmitting/receiving is carried over.   2) Establishment of the call, or call setup  40 , over a primary RAT is processed as usual, including PDP context establishment, Authentication and the normal procedures executed by the Core Network  10  Nodes that are connected to the primary controller  11 . The primary controller  11 , RNC in the 3G case, also intervenes normally in all the procedures for call setup  40 , including the ciphering, over its primary RAT.   3) The primary controller  11  seeks info on the cells belonging to other RATs that are capable to provide coverage to the UE  13 . This is achieved by using a standard 3GPP measurement control command  42  for requesting the UE  13  to perform radio measurements over the cells of the different RATs which are neighbour cells of the one currently providing service to this UE  13 . The UE  13  takes radio signal measurements of neighbouring cells and compares these cell measures to each other and to the radio signal of the current cell in order to determine which cell provides the best signal strength/quality. Typical radio measurements can include: in 3G, the energy per chip (Ec) and the spectral noise power density (No) received by the UE  13  to determine the ratio Ec/No, also RSSI or path loss may be measured; in 2G, the UE  13  measures the received signal strength (RxLev).   4) The primary controller  11  retrieves info on the available load  44  in the different-RAT cells whose coverage quality is higher than a minimum quality threshold. The information retrieval implies contacting via a set of interfaces the secondary controllers  12 , e.g., the eNodeBs in the case of LTE and the BSCs in the case of 2G/EDGE, under which the cells with relevant coverage to the UE are handled.   5) The primary controller  11  decides, based on the received measurement report  43  from the UE  13  and the load info response  45  from each secondary controller  12 , whether a second—or third . . . —data flow has to be established in basis of all the received info.   6) If the primary controller  11  decides to use a secondary or more RATs, the UE  13  is notified to activate the second receiver  46 , or the needed receivers, over a specific band, frequency and cell.   7) At the same time, the primary controller  11  sends a request to the selected secondary controllers  12  to establish a connection  47  between them for user plane transmission to a specific UE  13 , as well as to send a paging  48  to the paging group which the selected UE  13  belongs to.   8) Each secondary controller  12  sends a paging to the UE  13 , the UE  13  answers as per a normal call setup procedure  49  defined on the RAT used by the secondary controller  12 , and a Radio connection is finally established  50  between the UE  13  and each secondary controller  12  selected to carry part of the data flow. Transfer of user plane data  51  comes to pass normally between the UE  13  and each secondary controller  12 . The UE  13  receives the information of the channel setup and, as for example of  FIG. 3 , this info is directly mapped to the same layer that receives the RLC PDUs in the primary controller  11 . Also, every secondary controller  12  executes its ciphering procedure. Once completed, the secondary controller  12  signals that it is ready to receive data to the primary controller  11 .       
 
         [0064]    9) The primary controller  11  starts routing some of the packets received from the core network  10 , by SGSN/GGSN, to each secondary controller  12  which connection is established to, via the established interface between them. 
         [0065]    10) The packets are combined by the UE  13  once received. 
         [0066]    Note that in this text, the term “comprises” and its derivations (such as “comprising”, etc.) should not be understood in an excluding sense, that is, these terms should not be interpreted as excluding the possibility that what is described and defined may include further elements, steps, etc.