Apparatus, system and method for forwarding user plane data

A system for forwarding user plane data applicable in the universal mobile telecommunication system network, comprising a first network element and a second network element, wherein the first network element uses a first transfer mode and the second network element uses a second transfer mode, the system for forwarding user plane data further comprises a user plane gateway, wherein the user plane gateway comprises:

• a first receiving module, configured to receive data from the first network element;
• a converting module, configured to convert the transfer mode of the data from the first transfer mode to the second transfer mode, wherein the first transfer mode is asynchronous transfer mode and the second transfer mode is IP transfer mode;
• or the first transfer mode is IP transfer mode and the second transfer mode is asynchronous transfer mode;
• and
• a sending module, configured to send the converted data to the second network element;
• wherein the network element using the asynchronous transfer mode is a Node B, and the network element using the IP transfer mode is a Radio Network Controller (RNC);
• or
• the network element using the asynchronous transfer mode is an RNC, and the network element using the IP transfer mode is a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN).

A method for forwarding user plane data applicable in the universal mobile telecommunication system network comprising:

• a user plane gateway receiving data which comes from a first network element and uses a first transfer mode;
• converting the transfer mode of the data from the first transfer mode to a second transfer mode, wherein the first transfer mode is asynchronous transfer mode and the second transfer mode is IP transfer mode, or the first transfer mode is IP transfer mode and the second transfer mode is asynchronous transfer mode;
• and
• sending the converted data to a second network element using the second transfer mode;
• wherein the network element using the asynchronous transfer mode is a Node B, and the network element using the IP transfer mode is a Radio Network Controller (RNC);
• or
• the network element using the asynchronous transfer mode is an RNC, and the network element using the IP transfer mode is a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN).