Lossless data delivery at route changes in wireless radio networks
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
InventorsMilap Majmundar, Thomas Novlan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The described technology is generally directed towards lossless delivery of data when there are route changes, e.g., in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) multi-hop relay network. When a route changes is to occur, the last unchanged node in a multiple hop route preserves the data (e.g., copies unacknowledged and unsent PDCP PDUs from the protocol stack corresponding to the radio link control layer of the failed relay hop, and populates a replacement protocol stack for the node in the new route with the preserved data. Also described is pre-emptive detection of link failure, which triggers a route change based on monitoring retransmissions to detect a deteriorating link, which can occur before complete link communication failure.
Claims20
A method, comprising,
- detecting, by network equipment comprising a processor in a first hop of a multiple hop relay network, a request for a route change with respect to a second hop adjacent to the first hop;
- copying, by the network equipment, data maintained in an existing protocol stack at the first hop, wherein the data corresponds to communication information with respect to the second hop, and comprises unacknowledged and unsent packet data convergence protocol protocol data unit (PDCP PDU) data;
- selecting, by the network equipment, a third hop adjacent to the first hop as a replacement hop for the second hop;
- establishing, by the network equipment, a new protocol stack, different than the existing protocol stack, corresponding to the third hop;
- populating, by the network equipment, the new protocol stack with the data corresponding to the communication information with respect to the second hop;
- and
- communicating, by the network equipment, with the third hop to facilitate the route change, wherein the communicating comprises transmitting the unacknowledged and unsent PDCP PDU data to the third hop before transmitting any new data that is received from an incoming link to the third hop.
Network equipment, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
- rerouting communications with respect to a second hop node adjacent to a first hop node in a multiple hop relay network to a third hop node adjacent to the first hop node, wherein the network equipment corresponds to the first hop node of the multiple hop relay network, the rerouting comprising:
- copying data maintained in a current protocol stack maintained at the first hop node with respect to the second hop node to obtain copied protocol stack data, wherein the copied protocol stack data comprises unacknowledged and unsent packet data convergence protocol protocol data unit (PDCP PDU) data;
- establishing an updated protocol stack maintained at the first hop node with respect to the third hop node;
- populating the updated protocol stack with the copied protocol stack data;
- and
- transmitting at least part of the copied protocol stack data to the third hop node, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the unacknowledged and unsent PDCP PDU data to the third hop node before transmitting any new data that is received via an incoming link to the third hop node.
A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a network device of a first hop node in a multiple hop relay network, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
- detecting a request for a route change with respect to a second hop node neighboring the first hop node;
- and
- rerouting communications with respect to the second hop node to a third hop node neighboring the first hop node in the multiple hop relay network, the rerouting comprising:
- copying data maintained in a deployed protocol stack maintained at the first hop node with respect to the second hop node to obtain copied protocol stack data, wherein the copied protocol stack data comprises unacknowledged and unsent packet data convergence protocol protocol data unit (PDCP PDU) data;
- maintaining the copied protocol stack data in a replacement protocol stack, to replace the deployed protocol stack, and to be established at the first hop node with respect to the to the third hop node;
- and
- transmitting at least part of the copied protocol stack data in the replacement protocol stack to the third hop node, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the unacknowledged and unsent PDCP PDU data to the third hop node before transmitting any new data that is received from an incoming link to the third hop node.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.