Interworking with legacy radio access technologies for connectivity to next generation core network

A first core network serving node within a first core network, comprising:

• an interface communicatively coupled to a first wireless access network via the first core network, the first wireless access network utilizing a first radio access technology (RAT);
• a memory;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled to the interface and the memory, the processor configured to:
• receive a handover request for performing a handover of a user equipment from the first wireless access network to a second wireless access network utilizing a second RAT, the handover request including an identifier of a target cell within the second wireless access network;
• identify a second core network serving node within a second core network supporting the second RAT based on the identifier of the target cell;
• and
• forward the handover request to the second core network serving node to complete the handover;
• wherein the first RAT provides connectivity to one or more data networks via the first core network based on at least one or more Data Network Session (DNS) connections, each including one or more data flows;
• wherein the second RAT provides connectivity to the one or more data networks via a second core network based on one or more Packet Data Network (PDN) connections.

A first core network serving node apparatus within a first core network supporting a first radio access technology (RAT), comprising:

• means for receiving a handover request for performing a handover of a user equipment from a first wireless access network utilizing the first RAT to a second wireless access network utilizing a second RAT, the handover request including an identifier of a target cell within the second wireless access network;
• means for identifying a second core network serving node apparatus within a second core network supporting the second RAT based on the identifier of the target cell;
• and
• means for forwarding the handover request to the second core network serving node apparatus to complete the handover;
• wherein the first RAT provides connectivity to one or more data networks via the first core network based on at least one or more Data Network Session (DNS) connections, each including one or more data flows;
• wherein the second RAT provides connectivity to the one or more data networks via a second core network based on one or more Packet Data Network (PDN) connections.

A method for interworking between radio access technologies in a communication network, comprising:

• receiving mapping information for a user equipment at a core network serving node within a core network supporting a first radio access technology (RAT) after handover of the user equipment from the first RAT to a second RAT, wherein the mapping information indicates a mapping between one or more data flows within one or more Data Network Session (DNS) connections for communicating over the core network and one or more corresponding Generic Tunneling Protocol (GTP) tunnels within one or more corresponding Packet Data Network (PDN) connections for communicating over a wireless access network utilizing the second RAT;
• receiving a packet data unit (PDU) at the core network serving node;
• if the PDU comprises an uplink PDU:
• decapsulating the uplink PDU from a GTP tunnel of the one or more GTP tunnels within a PDN connection of the one or more PDN connections to produce a decapsulated PDU;
• mapping the decapsulated PDU to a data flow of the one or more data flows based on the mapping information to produce a data flow PDU;
• and
• routing the data flow PDU to a user plane gateway serving the data flow within the core network.

An interworking core network serving node for interworking between a first core network supporting a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second core network supporting a second RAT, the interworking core network serving node comprising:

• an interface coupled to a wireless access network that utilizes the second RAT;
• a memory;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled to the interface and the memory, the processor configured to:
• receive mapping information for a user equipment after handover of the user equipment from the first RAT to the second RAT, the mapping information indicating a mapping between one or more data flows within one or more Data Network Session (DNS) connections for communicating over the first core network and one or more corresponding Generic Tunneling Protocol (GTP) tunnels within one or more corresponding Packet Data Network (PDN) connections for communicating over the wireless access network;
• receive a packet data unit (PDU);
• if the PDU comprises an uplink PDU:
• decapsulate the uplink PDU from a GTP tunnel of the one or more GTP tunnels within a PDN connection of the one or more PDN connections to produce a decapsulated PDU;
• map the decapsulated PDU to a data flow of the one or more data flows based on the mapping information to produce a data flow PDU;
• and
• route the data flow PDU to a user plane gateway serving the data flow within the first core network.

An interworking core network serving node apparatus for interworking between a first core network supporting a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second core network supporting a second RAT, the interworking core network serving node apparatus comprising:

• means for receiving mapping information for a user equipment after handover of the user equipment from the first RAT to the second RAT, the mapping information indicating a mapping between one or more data flows within one or more Data Network Session (DNS) connections for communicating over the first core network and one or more corresponding Generic Tunneling Protocol (GTP) tunnels within one or more corresponding Packet Data Network (PDN) connections for communicating over a wireless access network utilizing the second RAT;
• means for receiving a packet data unit (PDU);
• if the PDU comprises an uplink PDU:
• means for decapsulating the uplink PDU from a GTP tunnel of the one or more GTP tunnels within a PDN connection of the one or more PDN connections to produce a decapsulated PDU;
• means for mapping the decapsulated PDU to a data flow of the one or more data flows based on the mapping information to produce a data flow PDU;
• and
• means for routing the data flow PDU to a user plane gateway serving the data flow within the first core network.