Method and apparatus for establishing and using PDN connections
AssigneeTelefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
InventorsDinand Roeland, Zu Qiang, Stefan Rommer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Establishing and controlling a tunnel for carrying a PDN connection between a first node and a second node. The first node sends a request to set up a tunnel, the request including a first identifier. The first node then receives a second identifier for use in identifying the tunnel when receiving data sent from the second node to the first node. Data packets are sent from the first node, the data packets including the first and/or second identifiers for identifying the tunnel from the first node to the second node. Data packets are received from the second node, the data packets including the second identifier from the second node to the first node.
Claims26
A method, the method comprising:
- a first node sending to a second node a request to set up a tunnel for a specific Packet Data Network (PDN) connection, the request including a first identifier, wherein the second node supports a plurality of Media Access Control (MAC) addresses for multiplexing multiple PDN connections;
- receiving, at the first node, a response from the second node to the tunnel setup request, the response comprising a second identifier for use in identifying the tunnel, said second identifier for use in identifying the tunnel being a selected one of said plurality of MAC addresses supported by the second node;
- and
- after receiving the response, receiving, at the first node, a data packet transmitted by the second node, the data packet comprising i) a MAC header comprising the first identifier and the second identifier for use in identifying the tunnel and ii) user plane data.
A first node for use in a communication network, comprising:
- a processor arranged to generate a request message for establishing a tunnel between the first node and a second node for a PDN connection, the request including a first identifier, wherein the second node supports a plurality of Media Access Control (MAC) addresses for multiplexing multiple PDN connections;
- a transmitter for sending the request message to the second node;
- and
- a receiver for receiving a response to the request transmitted by the second node, the response comprising a second identifier for use in identifying the tunnel, wherein
- said second identifier for use in identifying the tunnel is a selected one of said plurality of MAC addresses supported by the second node, and
- the processor is arranged to include the second identifier in all subsequently sent data packets sent via the tunnel towards the second node.
A method of establishing a tunnel between a user equipment (UE) and an access gateway (AG), the method comprising:
- the UE sending to the AG a request for setting up a tunnel between the UE and the AG for a specific PDN connection, wherein the AG supports a plurality of MAC addresses for multiplexing multiple PDN connections;
- the UE receiving from the AG a response to the request, the response comprising a first connection identifier (CID) assigned to the specific PDN connection, wherein the first CID included in the received response and assigned to the specific PDN connection is an AG MAC address, said AG MAC address being one of the plurality of MAC addresses supported by the AG for multiplexing multiple PDN connections;
- the UE maintaining a mapping between the specific PDN connection and said AG MAC addresses assigned to the specific PDN connection;
- after receiving the AG MAC address in the response, the UE sending to the AG first user plane data for the specific PDN connection, wherein the step of sending the first user plane data for the specific PDN connection to the AG comprises the steps of:
- (1) the UE generating a first link layer frame comprising the first user plane data and a first link layer frame header comprising the received AG MAC address in a destination address field of the first link layer frame header and (2) transmitting the generated first link layer frame to the AG;
- and
- after receiving the AG MAC address in the response, the UE receiving from the AG a second link layer frame comprising second user plane data and a second link layer frame header comprising the AG MAC address in a source address field of the second link layer frame header.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.