Customer premises equipment that generates network prefixes

Abstract

A CPE receives a network assigned prefix of the CPE via a first connection with a wireless network. The CPE creates a prefix based on a subset of bits from the network assigned prefix. The CPE transmits the prefix created by the CPE as a WAN prefix of the LAN router device and transmits the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device via a second connection with a LAN router device.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application serial number 17 / 455,882, filed on November 19, 2021, entitled "NETWORK PREFIX-GENERATING CUSTOMER PREMISES EQUIPMENT," which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background Art

[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to customer premises equipment that supports prefix sharing of connected devices.

[0004] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide a variety of telecommunication services, such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcast. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

[0005] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate at city, country, region, and even global levels. An example of a telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR). 5G NR is part of the continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with the Internet of Things (IoT)) and other requirements. 5G NR includes services associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communication (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). Certain aspects of 5G NR may be based on 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards. It is necessary to further improve 5G NR technology. In addition, these improvements may also be applicable to other multiple access technologies and telecommunication standards that employ these technologies. Summary of the invention

[0006] A simplified summary of one or more aspects is presented below to provide a basic understanding of these aspects. This summary is not an extensive summary of all contemplated aspects, and is neither intended to identify key or important elements of all aspects, nor to describe the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description presented later.

[0007] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for wireless communication at a customer premises equipment (CPE) is provided. The method may include: receiving a network assigned prefix of the CPE via a first connection with a wireless network; creating a prefix based on a bit subset from the network assigned prefix; and transmitting the prefix created by the CPE as a wide area network (WAN) prefix of the LAN router device and transmitting the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device via a second connection with a local area network (LAN) device.

[0008] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for wireless communication at a customer premises equipment (CPE) is provided. The method may include: receiving a network assigned prefix of the CPE via a first connection with a wireless network; creating a prefix based on a bit subset from the network assigned prefix; and transmitting the prefix created by the CPE as a wide area network (WAN) prefix of the LAN router device and transmitting the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device via a second connection with a local area network (LAN) device.

[0009] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a device for wireless communication at a CPE is provided. The device includes: a memory; and at least one processor, the at least one processor is coupled to the memory, the memory and the at least one processor are configured to receive a network assigned prefix of the CPE through a first connection with a wireless network; create a prefix based on a bit subset from the network assigned prefix; and transmit the prefix created by the CPE as a WAN prefix of the LAN router device and transmit the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device through a second connection with a LAN device.

[0010] In one aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for wireless communication at a CPE is provided. The apparatus includes: a means for receiving a network-assigned prefix of the CPE via a first connection with a wireless network; a means for creating a prefix based on a bit subset from the network-assigned prefix; and a means for transmitting the prefix created by the CPE as a WAN prefix of the LAN router device and transmitting the network-assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device via a second connection with a LAN device.

[0011] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code for wireless communication at a first CPE is provided. The code, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to: receive a network-assigned prefix of the CPE via a first connection with a wireless network; create a prefix based on a bit subset from the network-assigned prefix; and transmit the prefix created by the CPE as a WAN prefix of the LAN router device and transmit the network-assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device via a second connection with a LAN device.

[0012] To achieve the foregoing and related ends, one or more aspects include the features fully described below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the accompanying drawings set forth in detail some illustrative features of one or more aspects. However, these features are merely indicative of some of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects may be employed, and this specification is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and access network according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 2A is a diagram illustrating an example of a first frame according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0015] Figure 2B is a diagram illustrating an example of DL channels within a subframe according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 2C is a diagram illustrating an example of a second frame according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 2D is a diagram illustrating an example of UL channels within a subframe according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and a user equipment (UE) in an access network according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and an access network including an outdoor equipment unit (ODU) and an indoor equipment unit (IDU) according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an access network including CPE / ODUs and routers / IDUs that are not configured to handle prefix sharing in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an access network including CPE / ODUs and routers / IDUs configured to handle prefix sharing by generating dummy network prefixes in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an access network including a CPE / ODU and a router / IDU configured to handle prefix sharing by generating two dummy network prefixes in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 8 is a network connection flow diagram illustrating a CPE / ODU handling prefix sharing by generating a dummy network prefix to communicate with a router / IDU.

[0024] Fig. 9 is a network connection flow diagram illustrating a CPE / ODU handling prefix sharing by generating two dummy network prefixes to communicate with a router / IDU.

[0025] Fig.10 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication at a CPE according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] Fig.11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an example apparatus according to various aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] For connectivity using certain network protocols, some routers may expect the network to support prefix delegation. For example, a wide area network (WAN) interface may delegate a prefix different from the prefix assigned to the WAN interface to a device connected to the WAN, or a system may assign a first prefix to the WAN interface and assign a second prefix to its local area network (LAN) client. However, some networks may not be configured to delegate multiple prefixes to customer premises equipment (CPE) connected to such routers. In some aspects, the CPE may be an ODU, and the LAN device may be an IDU. The various aspects given herein enable the CPE to generate additional prefixes to be delegated to the LAN based on a single network assigned address received from a wireless network that does not support prefix delegation. The CPE may generate one or more prefixes that may be delegated to a router or any other device connected to the CPE. The generated prefix may be created based on a network assigned prefix to prevent traffic from being accidentally dropped and / or to prevent possible downlink traffic failures. In some aspects, the CPE may perform IPv6 network address translation (NAT) of the generated prefix. By creating one or more virtual network prefixes using a subset of the bits of the network assigned prefix, the CPE ensures that any IPv6 addresses assigned to the IDU / router WAN, any prefixes assigned to the IDU / router LAN (for delegated prefixes), and / or the IPv6 address of the interface on which the server is running (e.g., a LAN gateway interface) are all on the same network.

[0028] The detailed description set forth below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations with which the concepts described herein may be practiced. In order to provide a thorough understanding of the various concepts, the detailed description includes specific details. However, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring these concepts.

[0029] Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements"). Such elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether these elements are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0030] For example, an element, or any part of an element, or any combination of elements can be implemented as a "processing system", which includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems on chip (SoCs), baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform various functionalities described throughout the present disclosure. One or more processors in a processing system can execute software. Whether it is referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language or other names, software should be widely understood to mean instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, processes, functions, etc.

[0031] Accordingly, in one or more examples, the described functions can be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented with software, the functions can be stored or encoded on a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include computer storage media. Storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. As an example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage devices, magnetic disk storage devices, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of these types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer-accessible instructions or data structure forms of computer executable code.

[0032] Although aspects and embodiments are described in this application by illustrations of some examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that additional embodiments and use cases may be generated in many other arrangements and scenarios. The various aspects described herein may be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, specific implementation and / or use may be generated via integrated chip specific implementation and other devices based on non-module components (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail / purchase equipment, medical devices, artificial intelligence (AI) enabled devices, etc.). Although some examples may or may not be specifically for each use case or application, the wide applicability of the described aspects may occur. Specific implementation may be in the range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level specific implementation, and further to the range of aggregated, distributed or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) equipment or systems containing one or more aspects of the described aspects. In some actual environments, the equipment merging the various aspects and features described may also include additional components and features for implementing and practicing the claimed and described aspects. For example, the transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily include multiple components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antennas, RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processors, interleavers, adders / accumulators, etc.) The aspects described herein are intended to be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, aggregated or disaggregated components, end-user devices, etc., of various sizes, shapes, and configurations.

[0033] Figure 1 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and access network. The wireless communication system (which is also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) includes a base station 102, a UE 104, an evolved packet core (EPC) 160, and another core network 190 (e.g., a 5G core (5GC)). The base station 102 may include a macro cell (a high-power cellular base station) and / or a small cell (a low-power cellular base station). A macro cell includes a base station. A small cell includes a femto cell, a pico cell, and a micro cell.

[0034] Base stations 102 configured for 4G LTE, which are collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), may interact with EPC 160 via a first backhaul link 132 (e.g., S1 interface). Base stations 102 configured for 5G NR, which are collectively referred to as Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN), may interact with core network 190 via a second backhaul link 184. Base stations 102 may perform one or more of the following functions, among other functions: transmission of user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate directly or indirectly with each other (e.g., via the EPC 160 or the core network 190) via the third backhaul link 134 (e.g., an X2 interface). The first backhaul link 132, the second backhaul link 184 (e.g., an Xn interface), and the third backhaul link 134 may be wired or wireless.

[0035] In some aspects, the base station 102 or 180 may be referred to as a RAN and may include aggregated components or disaggregated components. As an example of a disaggregated RAN, the base station may include a central unit (CU) 106, one or more distributed units (DU) 105, and / or one or more remote units (RU) 109, such as Figure 1As shown. The RAN can be decomposed by using the split between RU 109 and the aggregated CU / DU. The RAN can be decomposed by using the split between CU 106, DU 105 and RU 109. The RAN can be decomposed by using the split between CU 106 and the aggregated DU / RU. The CU 106 and one or more DUs 105 can be connected via an F1 interface. DU 105 and RU109 can be connected via a forwarding interface. The connection between CU 106 and DU 105 can be called a mid-haul, and the connection between DU 105 and RU 109 can be called a forwarding. The connection between CU 106 and the core network can be called a backhaul. The RAN can be based on the functional split between various components of the RAN (e.g., between CU 106, DU 105 or RU 109). The CU can be configured to perform one or more aspects of a wireless communication protocol (e.g., one or more layers of a protocol stack), and the DU can be configured to handle other aspects of the wireless communication protocol (e.g., other layers of a protocol stack). In different embodiments, the split between the layers handled by the CU and the layers handled by the DU may occur at different layers of the protocol stack. As a non-limiting example, the DU 105 may provide a logical node for hosting at least a portion of the radio link control (RLC) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, and the physical (PHY) layer based on the functional split. The RU may provide a logical node configured to host at least a portion of the PHY layer and radio frequency (RF) processing. The CU 106 may host, for example, higher layer functions above the RLC layer, such as the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer. In other embodiments, the split between the layer functions provided by the CU, DU, or RU may be different.

[0036] The access network may include one or more integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes 111, which exchange wireless communications with UE 104 or other IAB nodes 111 to provide access and backhaul to the core network. In an IAB network of multiple IAB nodes, an anchor node may be referred to as an IAB donor. An IAB donor may be a base station 102 or 180 that provides access to a core network 190 or EPC 160 and / or control of one or more IAB nodes 111. An IAB donor may include a CU 106 and a DU 105. An IAB node 111 may include a DU 105 and a mobile terminal (MT). The DU 105 of an IAB node 111 may operate as a parent node, and the MT may operate as a child node.

[0037] Base station 102 or 180 can communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each of base stations 102 or 180 can provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell 102' may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations (e.g., 102). A network including both small cells and macro cells may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home evolved Node B (eNB) (HeNB), which may provide services to a restricted group referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG). The communication link 120 between base station 102 and UE 104 may include an uplink (UL) (also referred to as a reverse link) transmission from UE 104 to base station 102 and / or a downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmission from base station 102 to UE 104. The communication link 120 may use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link may be through one or more operators. For each carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to YxMHz (x component carriers) for transmission in each direction, the base station 102 / UE 104 may use a spectrum of up to YMHz (e.g., 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz, 100MHz, 400MHz, etc.) bandwidth. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL ​​compared to UL). The component carrier may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

[0038] Some UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use DL / UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). The D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communication systems, such as, for example, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

[0039] The wireless communication system may also include a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a Wi-Fi station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154, e.g., in a 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum, etc. When communicating in an unlicensed spectrum, the STA 152 / AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communication to determine whether a channel is available.

[0040] The small cell 102' may operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed spectrum, the small cell 102' may employ NR and use the same unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz, etc.) as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102' employing NR in the unlicensed spectrum may improve the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network.

[0041] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified with the frequency range names FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as the "sub-6 GHz" band in various documents and articles. A similar naming issue sometimes occurs with respect to FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "millimeter wave" band in documents and articles, although it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz) identified as the "millimeter wave" band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0042] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designations FR3 (7.125GHz-24.25GHz). The bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, so the features of FR1 and / or FR2 can be effectively extended to mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operations to more than 52.6GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR2-2 (52.6GHz-71GHz), FR4 (71GHz-114.25GHz) and FR5 (114.25GHz-300GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0043] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used in this article, the term "sub-6 GHz" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies that can be less than 6 GHz, can be within FR1, or can include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "millimeter wave" and the like are used in this article, it can broadly refer to frequencies that can include mid-band frequencies, can be within FR2, FR4, FR2-2 and / or FR5, or can be within the EHF band.

[0044] The base station 102, whether a small cell 102' or a large cell (e.g., a macro base station), may include and / or be referred to as an eNB, a gNodeB (gNB), or another type of base station. Some base stations, such as gNB 180, may operate in the traditional sub-6 GHz spectrum, in millimeter wave frequencies, and / or near millimeter wave frequencies to communicate with the UE 104. When the gNB 180 operates in millimeter wave or near millimeter wave frequencies, the gNB 180 may be referred to as a millimeter wave base station. The millimeter wave base station 180 may utilize beamforming 182 with the UE 104 to compensate for path loss and short range. The base station 180 and the UE 104 may each include multiple antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and / or antenna arrays, to facilitate beamforming.

[0045] The base station 180 may transmit beamformed signals in one or more transmit directions 182' to the UE 104. The UE 104 may receive the beamformed signals from the base station 180 in one or more receive directions 182". The UE 104 may also transmit beamformed signals to the base station 180 in one or more transmit directions. The base station 180 may receive the beamformed signals from the UE 104 in one or more receive directions. The base station 180 / UE 104 may perform beam training to determine the best receive direction and transmit direction for each of the base station 180 / UE 104. The transmit direction and receive direction of the base station 180 may be the same or different. The transmit direction and receive direction of the UE 104 may be the same or different.

[0046] The EPC 160 may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a serving gateway 166, a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) gateway 168, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) 170, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway 172. The MME 162 may communicate with a home subscriber server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the EPC 160. Typically, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are transmitted through the serving gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN gateway 172. The PDN gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. The PDN gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to IP services 176. The IP services 176 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), a PS streaming service, and / or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functionality for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmissions, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services in a public land mobile network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to base stations 102 belonging to a multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) area that broadcasts a specific service, and may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and collecting eMBMS-related billing information.

[0047] The core network 190 may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a session management function (SMF) 194, and a user plane function (UPF) 195. The AMF 192 may communicate with a unified data management (UDM) 196. The AMF 192 is a control node for processing signaling between the UE 104 and the core network 190. In general, the AMF 192 provides QoS flow and session management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are transmitted through the UPF 195. The UPF 195 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. The UPF 195 is connected to an IP service 197. The IP service 197 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), a packet switching (PS) stream (PSS) service, and / or other IP services.

[0048] Base stations may include and / or be referred to as gNBs, Node Bs, eNBs, access points, base transceiver stations, radio base stations, radio transceivers, transceiver functions, basic service sets (BSSs), extended service sets (ESSs), transmit receive points (TRPs), or some other suitable terminology. Base stations 102 provide access points to EPC 160 or core network 190 for UEs 104. Examples of UEs 104 include cellular phones, smart phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), satellite radios, global positioning systems, multimedia devices, video devices, digital audio players (e.g., MP3 players), cameras, game consoles, tablet devices, smart devices, wearable devices, vehicles, electric meters, gas pumps, large or small kitchen appliances, healthcare devices, implants, sensors / actuators, displays, or any other similarly functional devices. Some of UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking meters, gas pumps, toasters, vehicles, heart monitors, etc.). UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, mobile station, subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, mobile phone, user agent, mobile client, client or some other appropriate term. In some scenarios, the term UE may also be applied to one or more companion devices, such as in a device constellation arrangement. One or more of these devices may access the network together and / or individually.

[0049] Reference again Figure 1 In some aspects, the UE 104 may be a customer premises equipment (CPE), such as an outdoor equipment unit (ODU) 113 that provides a connection between a WAN and a router, such as an indoor equipment unit (IDU) 103. In some aspects, the ODU 113 may include an IPv6 address component 199 that is configured to receive an IPv6 address through a first connection with a wireless network, the IPv6 address including a network assigned prefix of the CPE. The IPv6 address component 199 may create or generate a prefix based on a subset of bits from the network assigned prefix. Once the prefix is ​​created, the IPv6 address component may transmit the created prefix created by the IPv6 address component as a wide area network (WAN) prefix for a LAN router device and transmit the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix for the LAN router device through a second connection with a local area network (LAN) device. Although the following description may focus on 5G NR, the concepts described herein may be applicable to other similar fields, such as LTE, LTE-A, CDMA, GSM, and other wireless technologies.

[0050] Figure 2AFIG200 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G NR frame structure. Figure 2B is a diagram 230 illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G NR subframe. Figure 2C is a diagram 250 illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G NR frame structure. Figure 2D is a diagram 280 illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G NR subframe. The 5G NR frame structure can be frequency division duplex (FDD) (wherein, for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within the subcarrier set are dedicated to either DL or UL), or can be time division duplex (TDD) (wherein, for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within the subcarrier set are dedicated to both DL and UL). Figure 2A , Figure 2C In the example provided, the 5G NR frame structure is assumed to be TDD, where subframe 4 is configured with slot format 28 (most of which are DL), where D is DL, U is UL, and F is flexible between DL / UL, and subframe 3 is configured with slot format 1 (all of which are UL). Although subframes 3 and 4 are shown with slot formats 1 and 28, respectively, any particular subframe may be configured with any of the various available slot formats 0 to 61. Slot formats 0 and 1 are DL and UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mix of DL, UL and flexible codewords. The UE is configured with the slot format (dynamically configured by DL control information (DCI) or semi-statically / statically configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling) through the received slot format indicator (SFI). Note that the following description also applies to the 5G NR frame structure as TDD.

[0051] FIG. 2A to FIG. 2DThe frame structure is illustrated, and various aspects of the present disclosure are applicable to other wireless communication technologies that may have different frame structures and / or different channels. A frame (10ms) can be divided into 10 subframes of the same size (1ms). Each subframe may include one or more time slots. A subframe may also include a microslot, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. Each time slot may include 14 or 12 symbols, depending on whether the cyclic prefix (CP) is normal or extended. For a normal CP, each time slot may include 14 symbols, and for an extended CP, each time slot may include 12 symbols. The symbol on the DL may be a CP orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) (CP-OFDM) symbol. The symbol on the UL may be a CP-OFDM symbol (for high throughput scenarios) or a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) extended OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbol (also known as a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbol) (for power-limited scenarios; limited to single-stream transmission). The number of slots within a subframe is based on the CP and the parameter set. The parameter set defines the subcarrier spacing (SCS) and effectively defines the symbol length / duration, which is equal to 1 / SCS.

[0052]

[0053] For normal CP (14 symbols / slot), different parameter sets μ0 to 4 allow 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 slots per subframe, respectively. For extended CP, parameter set 2 allows 4 slots per subframe. Accordingly, for normal CP and parameter set μ, there are 14 symbols / slot and 2 μ timeslots / subframe. The subcarrier spacing can be equal to 2 μ *15kHz, where μ is parameter set 0 to 4. Thus, the subcarrier spacing for parameter set μ=0 is 15kHz, and the subcarrier spacing for parameter set μ=4 is 240kHz. The symbol length / duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. FIG. 2A to FIG. 2D An example of a parameter set μ=2 with a normal CP of 14 symbols per slot and 4 slots per subframe is provided. The slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is about 16.67 μs. Within a frame set, there may be one or more different bandwidth parts (BWPs) that are frequency-division multiplexed (see Figure 2B ). Each BWP can have a specific parameter set and CP (normal or extended).

[0054] A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each slot includes a resource block (RB) (also called a physical RB (PRB)) extending over 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into a number of resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0055] like Figure 2A As shown in , some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for the UE. The RS may include a demodulation RS (DM-RS) (indicated as R for one specific configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include a beam measurement RS (BRS), a beam refinement RS (BRRS), and a phase tracking RS (PT-RS).

[0056] Figure 2B Examples of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame are illustrated. A physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs) (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs), each CCE including six RE groups (REGs), each REG including 12 consecutive REs in one OFDM symbol of an RB. A PDCCH within a BWP may be referred to as a control resource set (CORESET). The UE is configured to monitor PDCCH candidates in a PDCCH search space (e.g., a common search space, a UE-specific search space) during a PDCCH monitoring opportunity on a CORESET, wherein the PDCCH candidates have different DCI formats and different aggregation levels. Additional BWPs may be located at higher and / or lower frequencies on the channel bandwidth. A primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of a particular subframe of a frame. The PSS is used by UE 104 to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identification. A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of a particular subframe of a frame. The SSS is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identity group number and the radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine the physical cell identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the DM-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the master information block (MIB) can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block (also called SS block (SSB)). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information (such as system information blocks (SIBs)) that is not transmitted through the PBCH, and paging messages.

[0057] like Figure 2CAs illustrated, some REs carry DM-RS (denoted as R for a particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may transmit the DM-RS of the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and the DM-RS of the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The PUSCH DM-RS may be transmitted in the first or first two symbols of the PUSCH. Depending on whether a short PUCCH or a long PUCCH is transmitted and depending on the specific PUCCH format used, the PUCCH DM-RS may be transmitted in different configurations. The UE may transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS). The SRS may be transmitted in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may transmit the SRS on one of the combs. The SRS may be used by the base station for channel quality estimation to achieve frequency-dependent scheduling of the UL.

[0058] Figure 2D Examples of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame are illustrated. The PUCCH may be located at a position as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement (ACK) (HARQ-ACK) feedback (i.e., one or more HARQ ACK bits indicating one or more ACKs and / or negative ACKs (NACKs)). The PUSCH carries data and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and / or UCI.

[0059] Figure 3 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in an access network communicating with a UE 350. In some aspects, the UE 350 may be an ODU, e.g. Figure 1160. In the DL, the IP packets from the EPC 160 may be provided to the controller / processor 375. The controller / processor 375 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The controller / processor 375 provides: RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., MIB, SIB), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with transmission of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0060] The transmit (TX) processor 316 and the receive (RX) processor 370 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1 (which includes the physical (PHY) layer) may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) decoding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316 processes the mapping to the signal constellation diagram based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-order phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-order quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The decoded and modulated symbols may then be divided into parallel streams. Subsequently, each stream may be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., a pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially pre-coded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulation schemes, as well as for spatial processing. Channel estimates may be derived from reference signals and / or channel state feedback transmitted by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318TX. Each transmitter 318TX may modulate a radio frequency (RF) carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0061] At the UE 350, each receiver 354RX receives a signal through its corresponding antenna 352. Each receiver 354RX recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to a receive (RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processor 356 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial stream destined for the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350, they can be merged into a single OFDM symbol stream by the RX processor 356. The RX processor 356 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbol on each subcarrier and the reference signal are recovered and demodulated by determining the signal constellation point most likely to be transmitted by the base station 310. These soft decisions can be based on the channel estimates calculated by the channel estimator 358. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted on the physical channel by the base station 310. The data and control signals are then provided to a controller / processor 359 which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

[0062] The controller / processor 359 may be associated with a memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as a computer readable medium. In the UL, the controller / processor 359 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the EPC 160. The controller / processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and / or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

[0063] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with DL transmissions performed by the base station 310, the controller / processor 359 provides: RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with transmission of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0064] The TX processor 368 may use channel estimates derived by the channel estimator 358 from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 310 to select appropriate coding and modulation schemes and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antennas 352 via respective transmitters 354TX. Each transmitter 354TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

[0065] UL transmissions are processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver functionality at the UE 350. Each receiver 318RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 320. Each receiver 318RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a RX processor 370.

[0066] The controller / processor 375 may be associated with a memory 376 that stores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as a computer readable medium. In the UL, the controller / processor 375 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 350. The IP packets from the controller / processor 375 may be provided to the EPC 160. The controller / processor 375 is also responsible for error detection using ACK and / or NACK protocols to support HARQ operations.

[0067] At least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359 may be configured to perform operations related to Figure 1 Various aspects related to the IPv6 address component 198.

[0068] Figure 4 4 is a diagram 400 illustrating an example of an ODU 404 that may provide a network connection to an IDU 408. In some aspects, customer premises equipment (CPE) such as 5G CPE and / or mmWave CPE may include an outdoor unit (ODU 404) attached to a home router indoor unit (IDU 408) via a connection supporting an Internet layer protocol such as an Ethernet and / or Wi-Fi connection 406.

[0069] The ODU 404 can be connected to a carrier network 422 by establishing one or more WWAN connections 402 via a base station 424. The carrier network 422 can provide a connection to another network (e.g., the Internet 420), thereby allowing the ODU 404 to send and receive Internet packets via one or more WWAN connections 402. The ODU 404 can be located outside a building, such as on the roof of a house, and the IDU 408 can be located inside such a building. The ODU 404 can also be located inside a building, or the ODU 404 and the IDU 408 can be coupled together to be located in a single unit inside or outside a building. The ODU 404 located inside the building can be able to communicate with the base station 424. In some aspects, the ODU can use non-millimeter wave communication (such as below 6 communication) to communicate with the base station. The ODU 404 can communicate with the IDU 408 via a wired connection or a wireless connection (e.g., via an Ethernet line (e.g., 406) and / or via a Wi-Fi connection (e.g., 406)). Wi-Fi and Ethernet are just two examples, and the connection may be based on other radio access technologies (RATs). The connection between ODU 404 and IDU 408 may support the use of IPv6 protocol to transmit packets. LAN client 410 may be connected to IDU 408 via a similar mechanism, such as through an Ethernet line (e.g., 409) (solid line) or through a Wi-Fi connection (e.g., 409) (dashed line). Examples of LAN clients include, among others, desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), multimedia devices, smart devices, video devices, digital audio players (e.g., MP3 players), cameras, game consoles, wearable devices, vehicles, electric meters, gas pumps, large or small kitchen appliances, healthcare devices, implants, sensors / actuators, displays, or any other similarly functional device configured to communicate with a router using a network protocol (such as IP).

[0070] The ODU 404 may include a CPE, which in some aspects may be a 5G CPE, configured to provide IPv6 support to an off-the-shelf router, such as an IDU 408 connected to the ODU 404. To provide IPv6 connectivity, an off-the-shelf home router, such as the IDU 408, may be configured to expect to receive two prefixes from the ODU 404, one for its WAN interface and another to be delegated to LAN clients. In a network where the ODU 404 is connected to a carrier network 422, such as a cellular network, Figure 4In the illustrated ODU-IDU configuration, carrier network 422 may provide a single prefix to ODU 404 via WWAN connection 402. However, providing a single prefix to ODU 404 via WWAN connection 402 may reduce the IPv6 functionality of an off-the-shelf home router IDU, such as IDU 408, when such IDU is connected to ODU 404 without adapting ODU 404 to provide two prefixes to IDU 408.

[0071] When the network infrastructure of the WWAN connection 402 does not support prefix delegation, aspects presented herein enable the ODU 404 to provide prefix sharing using a single prefix provided by the WWAN in order to provide IPv6 connectivity to the LAN clients 410 of the IDU 408. If the ODU 404 is not configured to handle prefix delegation or prefix sharing, the LAN clients 410 of the IDU 408 may not receive any IPv6 addresses.

[0072] Figure 5 5 is a diagram 500 illustrating an example of a CPE / ODU 504 that may not be configured to handle prefix sharing when communicating with an IDU / router 508 that is configured to communicate using the IPv6 protocol. The IDU 508 may be connected to the ODU 504 in any suitable manner. For example, an off-the-shelf router may support multiple options for configuring a WAN interface (such as router WAN interface 511) for IPv6 Internet connectivity, such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or auto-configuration. Although the CPE 504 may be described as an ODU 504, the CPE 504 may be indoors or may be any UE configured to communicate with a base station (such as base station 524) and with a router (such as IDU 508).

[0073] For IPv6 connectivity, the IDU 508 may be configured to select at least two options from a DHCPv6 server: Non-temporary Address Identity Association (IANA) and Identity Association for Prefix Delegation (IAPD). A DHCP request with the selected IANA option may be referred to as an IANA request, and a DHCP request with the selected IAPD option may be referred to as an IAPD request.

[0074] The IDU 508 may be configured to request an IANA address, which may include a 128-bit IPv6 address for the router WAN interface 511. When the user sets the configuration of the IDU 508 to DHCP, the IDU 508 may request an IANA address. When the user sets the configuration of the IDU 508 to auto-configuration, the IDU 508 may configure the address for the router WAN interface 511 using a prefix received from a router advertisement (RA) transmitted from the ODU 504. The IDU 508 may transmit a router solicitation (RS) message to the ODU 504 via the RA to request a prefix, and the ODU 504 may be configured to transmit a unicast RA to the IDU 508 in response. The ODU 504 may be configured to periodically broadcast RAs to connected devices via the link 506, which may then be received by the router WAN interface 511. The IDU 508 may use the RA prefix to configure its WAN, for example, by using a stateless address auto-configuration (SLAAC) process.

[0075] The IDU 508 may be configured to request the IAPD IPv6 prefix from the ODU 504. The IDU 508 may be configured to request the IAPD prefix from the ODU 504 in DHCP or auto configuration. However, the ODU 504 may not be able to delegate the individual prefixes to the router LAN gateway 513 of the IDU 508 because the ODU 504 has a single prefix that may have been delegated to the router WAN interface 511 of the IDU 508.

[0076] When the ODU 504 is connected to a base station 524 (such as a cellular network base station), the base station 524 may assign a 64-bit network-assigned global IPv6 prefix to the ODU 504 and transmit the network-assigned global IPv6 prefix via a communication link 525 (such as a WWAN connection). When initiating IPv6 backhaul, the CPE ODU 504 may receive a single 64-bit prefix from the network via the base station 524. The cellular WAN interface 505 on the ODU 504 may then use the prefix to configure an IPv6 address for the cellular WAN interface 505, for example, via SLAAC. The LAN gateway interface 507 may be configured to transmit an RA of the same 64-bit prefix to any connected device (e.g., to the router WAN interface 511 or the LAN client 520) via the communication link 506.

[0077] When a home router (such as IDU 508) is connected to ODU 504, ODU 504 may transmit the same 64-bit network assigned prefix via communication link 506. IDU 508 may then configure an IPv6 address on router WAN interface 511 via a RA with the same 64-bit network assigned prefix. In other words, router WAN interface 511 of IDU 508 may receive a RA via communication link 506 with the same 64-bit IPv6 prefix that cellular WAN interface 505 received from base station 524 via communication link 525.

[0078] The IDU 508 may also transmit an IANA request and an IAPD request to the ODU 504. Such requests may originate from the router WAN interface 511. The ODU 504 may reply from its DHCPv6 server, and the IDU 508 may use the IANA response to configure its IPv6 address on the router WAN interface 511, and may use the IAPD response to assign addresses to the LAN client 510 of the IDU 508 via the link 509. In other words, the LAN client 510 may transmit an RS to the router LAN gateway 513, and the router LAN gateway 513 may respond with an RA using the prefix of the IAPD response. Since the ODU 504 may have a single prefix, which may be a full 64-bit prefix, for example, which may not be further divided into subnets, additional prefixes that may be delegated to the router LAN client 510 may not be provided in the IAPD response. This situation may exist when the cellular network (not shown) to which the base station 524 is connected does not support prefix delegation. This may reduce or destroy IPv6 functionality. The ODU 504 may not respond to the IAPD request from the IDU 508 because the ODU 504 does not have an additional prefix to delegate. Alternatively, the ODU 504 may respond to the IAPD request using the same network assigned global IPv6 prefix transmitted in the RA message (i.e., broadcast or unicast response) or used to respond to the IANA request, which may cause routing problems because IPv6 uses prefix-based routing and the LAN client 510 and the router WAN interface 511 may have the same prefix.

[0079] Although the cellular network connected to the base station 524 may not support prefix delegation, the various aspects presented herein can provide prefix delegation on the CPE / ODU to share the same network prefix with the LAN of the IDU router to achieve smooth end-to-end IPv6 functionality. This configuration can allow full IPv6 functionality to be enabled for off-the-shelf routers when connected to the CPE in an ODU-IDU configuration. This configuration can also be relevant to other systems.

[0080] Figure 6A diagram 600 with an example of an illustrated CPE / ODU 604 that can be configured to handle prefix sharing by generating a dummy network when communicating with an off-the-shelf router / IDU 608 configured to communicate using the IPv6 protocol. The network infrastructure of the communication link 625 may not support prefix delegation. The ODU 604 can be configured to handle prefix delegation using a network assigned prefix provided by a WWAN base station 624 via the communication link 625. This configuration can also provide IPv6 connectivity to a LAN client 610 of an IDU router 608. Although the CPE 604 can be described as an ODU 604, the CPE 604 can be indoors, or can be any UE configured to communicate with a base station (such as a base station 624) and configured to communicate with a router (such as an IDU 608). Although the term "dummy network" is used herein, as an alternative, the prefix can be referred to as an ODU generated prefix, a temporary ODU generated prefix, etc.

[0081] When the ODU 604 is connected to a base station 624 (e.g., a 5G or mmWave cellular network base station), the base station 624 may assign a 64-bit network-assigned global IPv6 prefix to the ODU 604 via a communication link 625 (such as a WWAN connection). In other words, when initiating IPv6 backhaul, the ODU 604 may receive a single 64-bit prefix from the network via the base station 624 via the communication link 625. The cellular WAN interface 605 on the ODU 604 may then use the network-assigned prefix to configure an IPv6 address for the cellular WAN interface 605 using any suitable means (e.g., through SLAAC).

[0082] The ODU 604 may utilize the 64-bit network assigned prefix provided by the base station 624 to generate a dummy network using the first x bits of the 64-bit network assigned prefix. x may be any number between 1 and 63 and indicates the number of 64-bit prefixes that may be generated by the ODU 604. For example, in the case of x=62, the ODU 604 may generate a :: / 62 dummy network using the first 62 bits of the 64-bit network assigned prefix, thereby allowing the ODU 604 to generate four 64-bit prefixes, one of which is the network assigned prefix provided by the base station 624, and three of which may be dummy networks different from the network assigned prefix. In the case of x=6, the ODU 604 may generate a :: / 58 dummy network using the first 58 bits of the 64-bit network assigned prefix, thereby allowing the ODU 604 to generate sixty-four 64-bit prefixes, one of which is the network assigned prefix provided by the base station 624, and sixty-three of which may be dummy networks different from the network assigned prefix. The LAN gateway interface 607 or the router WAN interface 611 of the ODU 604 can be assigned a prefix from the :: / x virtual network. Since the 64-x bits of the :: / x virtual network remain unassigned, 2^x different 64-bit prefixes can be assigned as a part of the :: / x virtual network. The ODU 604 can be configured to not assign the 64-bit network assignment prefix to a 64-bit address generated in the 64-bit address generated by the :: / x virtual network. The ODU 604 can be configured to assign the 64-bit network assignment prefix in the IAPD response to the router, which allows the IDU 608 to configure the LAN client 610 using the network assignment prefix. Each of the LAN gateway interface 607 of the ODU 604 and the router WAN interface 611 of the IDU 608 can also receive a 128-bit complete address using the prefix from the :: / x virtual network. The ODU 604 may be configured to use a prefix from the :: / x dummy network to assign a static IPv6 address to the LAN gateway interface 607. Doing so allows the ODU 604 to run a DHCPv6 601 server on the LAN gateway interface 607, thereby providing an IPv6 address that the DHCPv6 601 server can use to bind to the interface.

[0083] The ODU 604 may also have a DHCPv6 server 601 configured to assign IPv6 addresses to the WAN interface of the IDU (such as the router WAN interface 611 of the IDU 608). The DHCPv6 server 601 may also be configured to ensure that the prefix assigned to the router WAN interface (e.g., via RA or IANA request) is different from the prefix assigned to the router LAN client (e.g., via IAPD request). In this case, the DHCPv6 server 601 may provide an RA with a prefix N:: / x to the router WAN interface 611 via link 606, and may provide the IAPD network assignment N:: / 64 prefix to the IDU 608 via link 606 for use by the LAN client 610. Doing so may prevent downlink traffic failures of the router LAN gateway 613 due to prefix-based routing. When the router WAN interface 611 is assigned an IPv6 address from the :: / x network, the IPv6 NAT 602 may be configured to provide SNAT / DNAT services. For uplink traffic from the router WAN interface 611, IPv6 NAT 602 may be configured to change the source address (SNAT) to the address for the cellular WAN interface 605. For downlink traffic to the router WAN interface 611, IPv6 NAT 602 may change the destination address (DNAT) to the address of the router WAN interface. In some aspects, IPv6 NAT 602 may not be performed for uplink or downlink traffic from the LAN client 610, because the IPv6 address may be assigned to the LAN client 610 using the network assigned global N:: / 64 prefix received from the base station 624 via the link 625.

[0084] As an example, a data call may be initiated to connect the ODU 604 to the base station 624. The base station 624 may transmit a 64-bit prefix of 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:: / 64 to the ODU 604 via a communication link 625, which may be a WWAN communication link. The ODU 604 may then use the first 54 bits of the prefix to generate a :: / 54 dummy network (i.e., 2002:c023:9c17:1c00:: / 54). Since the prefix does not yet belong to any device, the prefix may be used by the IDU router WAN interface 611 and the ODU LAN gateway interface 607. In other words, the ODU 604 may assign a static IPv6 address from the :: / 54 dummy network to the LAN gateway interface 607. The RA generator 603 may broadcast the prefix for the :: / 54 dummy network as an RA signal along any link in the link 606. WAN-facing traffic using the dummy network prefix may then be forced to go through the IPv6 NAT.IPv6 NAT 602 may be configured to perform IPv6 SNAT / DNAT of traffic using the dummy network prefix.

[0085] In this example, when a network (such as a cellular network) assigns a 64-bit prefix to the cellular WAN interface 605 of the ODU 604 via the base station 624, the ODU 604 can use the 64-bit prefix 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:: / 64 to configure its 128-bit global IPv6 address as 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:95e:1e88:d351:a9c0 / 128 using SLAAC. The ODU 604 can then use the :: / 54-bit dummy network 2002:c023:9c17:1c00:: / 54 to assign a static 128-bit address (such as 2002:c023:9c17:1c00::1000 / 128) to the LAN gateway interface 607. ODU 604 may then bind DHCPv6 server 601 to the IPv6 address 2002:c023:9c17:1c00::1000 / 128. Through DHCPv6 server 601, addresses from the :: / 54 dummy network 2002:c023:9c17:1c00::1f00 / 128, for example, may then be assigned to router WAN interface 611 using the :: / 54 dummy network 2002:c023:9c17:1c00::1f00 / 128. Since IDU 608 may transmit a request for an IAPD prefix to ODU 604, DHCPv6 server 601 may respond by assigning a 64-bit network assignment prefix 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:: / 64. The DHCPv6 server may also generate an IPv6 address pool based on the :: / 54 fictitious network 2002:c023:9c17:1c00: / 54 for IANA requests from IDU 608. In either case, LAN clients 610 connected to router LAN gateway 613 via communication link 609 may then configure their own addresses in any suitable manner (e.g., by using SLAAC).

[0086] Router WAN interface 611 may communicate using a dummy network prefix where traffic is translated by IPv6 NAT 602 , while LAN client 610 may communicate using a network assigned prefix where traffic is not translated using IPv6 NAT 602 .

[0087] The ODU 604 may be configured to use the dummy network prefix to respond to the IAPD request from the IDU 608. For this example, the IPv6 NAT 602 may translate traffic from the LAN client 610 because an IPv6 address using the dummy network prefix may be assigned to the LAN client 610. This example may be applied in the case where several routers are connected to the ODU 604, and using a different dummy prefix for the IAPD request of each router may prevent LAN clients from different routers from being assigned the same IPv6 address.

[0088] As another example, the ODU / CPE 604 may receive a network assigned global address from the base station 624 via the communication link 625. When a data call is initiated between the ODU 604 and the base station 624, the ODU 604 may receive a 64-bit prefix of 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:: / 64. The ODU may then create a dummy network based on the 64-bit prefix by matching the first few bits of the prefix. For example, a 52-bit network may be created by matching the first 52 bits of the 64-bit prefix (2002:c023:9c17:1000:: / 52), or a 56-bit network may be created by matching the first 56 bits of the 64-bit prefix (2002:c023:9c17:1f00:: / 56). In fact, an even smaller subnet may be created by matching the first 63 bits of the 64-bit prefix (2002:c023:9c17:1f2c:: / 63). In such a 63-bit network, there may be two networks in the subnet, namely the fictitious network 2002:c023:9c17:1f2c:: / 64 and the network assigned prefix 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:: / 64 received from the base station 624 via the communication link 625.

[0089] The DHCPv6 server 601 may use a 63-bit dummy network subnet for configuration. The ODU 604 may also assign IPv6 addresses using dummy prefixes to other devices, such as the LAN gateway interface 607 and the router WAN interface 611. For example, 2002:c023:9c17:1f2c:: / 64, 2002:c023:9c17:1f2c::1 / 128 (statically), 2002:c023:9c17:1f2c::10 / 128 (by IANA), and 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:: / 64 (by IAPD). In other words, the LAN gateway interface 607 may be assigned a static address of 2002:c023:9c17:1f2c::1 / 128 and may transmit an RA of 2002:c023:9c17:1f2c:: / 63. When an IANA request is sent to the ODU 604, the DHCPv6 server 601 may return 2002:c023:9c17:1f2c::10 / 128, and when an IAPD request is sent to the ODU 604, the DHCPv6 server 601 may return 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:: / 64.

[0090] In this configuration with a small 63-bit dummy network subnet, the router LAN client 610 may be able to configure its own address using the network assigned prefix 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:: / 64. The IPv6 NAT 602 may add an IPv6 NAT rule for the router WAN IPv6 address, and the RA may be sent with the dummy prefix 2002:c023:9c17:1f2c:: / 63.

[0091] Figure 7 A diagram 700 with an example of an illustrated CPE / ODU 704 that can be configured to handle prefix sharing by generating two or more virtual networks when communicating with an IDU / router 708 configured to communicate using the IPv6 protocol. The network infrastructure of the communication link 725 may not support prefix delegation. The ODU 704 can be configured to handle prefix sharing using a single network assigned prefix provided by a WWAN base station 724 via the communication link 725. This configuration can provide IPv6 connectivity to a LAN client 710 of an IDU router (e.g., 708). Although the CPE (e.g., 704) can be described as an ODU 704, the CPE can be indoors or can be any UE configured to communicate with a base station (such as base station 724) and with a router (such as IDU 708).

[0092] Similar to Figure 6The ODU 704 of the CPE 704 may be configured to connect to a base station 724 (such as a cellular network base station). The base station 724 may assign a 64-bit network-assigned global IPv6 prefix to the ODU 704 via a communication link 725 (such as a WWAN connection). When initiating IPv6 backhaul, the CPE ODU 704 may receive a single 64-bit prefix from the network via the base station 724 via the communication link 725. The cellular WAN interface 705 on the ODU 704 may then use the prefix to configure an IPv6 address for the cellular WAN interface 705 using any suitable means (e.g., via SLAAC).

[0093] ODU 704 can utilize the 64-bit network assignment prefix provided by base station 724 to generate one or more dummy networks of any number of bits. In the example shown in diagram 700, two dummy networks are shown as being created by ODU 704 having 52 bits and 56 bits respectively. However, ODU 704 can be configured to generate one dummy network or more than two dummy networks, and still retain IPv6 functionality. Similarly, ODU 704 can be configured to generate dummy networks of any size (such as 12 bits, 20 bits, and 32 bits) between 1 bit and 63 bits.

[0094] As shown in diagram 700, ODU 704 can use the first 52 bits of the 64-bit network assignment prefix to generate a :: / 52 virtual network and use the first 56 bits of the 64-bit network assignment prefix to generate a :: / 56 virtual network. The LAN gateway interface 707 of ODU 704 can be designated as a part of the :: / 52 virtual network, and the router WAN interface 711 of IDU 708 can be designated as a part of the :: / 56 virtual network. Since the 16-bit :: / 52 virtual network remains unassigned, 2^16-1 different 64-bit prefixes can be designated as a part of the :: / 52 virtual network. ODU 704 can be configured not to assign the 64-bit network assignment prefix as a prefix in the prefix of the :: / 52 virtual network. Since the 12-bit :: / 56 virtual network remains unassigned, 2^12-2 different 64-bit prefixes can be designated as a part of the :: / 56 virtual network. The ODU 704 may be configured to not assign the 64-bit network assignment prefix as one of the prefixes for the :: / 56 dummy network, and may be configured to not assign the 64-bit prefix selected for the LAN gateway interface 707 as one of the prefixes for the :: / 52 dummy network. The LAN gateway interface 707 of the ODU 704 may also receive a 128-bit full address from the :: / 52 dummy network.

[0095] The ODU 704 may have a DHCPv6 server 701 configured to assign IPv6 addresses to the WAN interface of the IDU (such as the router WAN interface 711 of the IDU 708). The DHCPv6 server 701 may be configured to ensure that the IPv6 address assigned by the DHCPv6 server 701 to the router WAN interface 711 is on a part of the same network as the prefix used for delegation and the IPv6 address of the interface on which the server is running (e.g., the ODU LAN gateway interface 707). The router LAN client 710 may use the same prefix as the network assigned prefix to prevent the network from dropping traffic originating from another prefix. The prefix used for the router WAN interface prefix (e.g., for 711) may be different from the prefix used by the router LAN client 710 to prevent prefix-based routing from causing possible downlink traffic failures of the router LAN of the IDU 708.

[0096] ODU 704 may also be configured to ensure that the 64-bit router WAN interface prefix assigned to router WAN interface 711 is different from the 64-bit dummy address of LAN gateway interface 707. When router WAN interface 711 is assigned an IPv6 address from a :: / 56 network, IPv6 NAT 702 may be configured to provide SNAT / DNAT services. For uplink traffic from router WAN interface 711, IPv6 NAT 702 may be configured to change the source address (SNAT) to the address for cellular WAN interface 705. For downlink traffic to router WAN interface 711, IPv6 NAT 702 may change the destination address (DNAT) to the address of the router WAN interface. For uplink or downlink traffic from LAN client 710, IPv6 NAT 702 may not be performed because the network assigned global N:: / 64 prefix received from base station 724 via link 725 may be used to assign IPv6 addresses to LAN client 710.

[0097] As an example, a data call may be initiated to connect the ODU 704 to the base station 724. The base station 724 may transmit a 64-bit prefix of 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:: / 64 to the ODU 704 via a communication link 725, which may be a WWAN communication link. The ODU 704 may then use the first 52 bits of the prefix to generate a :: / 52 dummy network (i.e., 2002:c023:9c17:1000:: / 52), and the ODU 704 may use the first 56 bits of the prefix to generate a :: / 56 dummy network (i.e., 2002:c023:9c17:1f00:: / 56). Since the prefix does not yet belong to any device, the prefix is ​​available to the IDU router WAN interface 711 and the ODU LAN gateway interface 707. In other words, ODU 704 may assign a static IPv6 address from the :: / 52 virtual network to LAN gateway interface 707. RA generator 703 may broadcast prefixes for the :: / 56 virtual network to allow connected devices (such as router WAN interface 711) to assign addresses from the :: / 56 virtual network to themselves. WAN-facing traffic using these virtual prefixes may then be forced to pass through IPv6 NAT. IPv6 NAT 702 may be configured to perform IPv6 SNAT / DNAT.

[0098] In this example, when a network (such as a cellular network) assigns a 64-bit prefix to the cellular WAN interface 705 of the ODU 704 via the base station 724, the ODU 704 can use the 64-bit prefix 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:: / 64 to configure its 128-bit global IPv6 address as 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:95e:1e88:d351:a9c0 / 128 using SLAAC. The 128-bit global IPv6 address can be assigned to the cellular WAN interface 705 of the ODU 704. The ODU 704 may then use the :: / 52-bit dummy network 2002:c023:9c17:1000:: / 52 to assign a static 128-bit address (such as 2002:c023:9c17:1000::1000 / 128) to the LAN gateway interface 707. The ODU 704 may then bind the DHCPv6 server 701 to the IPv6 address 2002:c023:9c17:1000::1000 / 128. Through the DHCPv6 server 701, the :: / 56 dummy network 2002:c023:9c17:1f00:: / 56 may then be used to assign an address from the :: / 56 dummy network (such as 2002:c023:9c17:1f00::1f00 / 128) to the router WAN interface 711. Since the IDU 708 may transmit a request for an IAPD prefix to the ODU 704, the DHCPv6 server 701 may respond by providing a 64-bit network assigned prefix 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d: / 64. The DHCPv6 server may also generate an IPv6 address pool based on the :: / 56 dummy network 2002:c023:9c17:1f00: / 56 for the IANA request from the IDU 708. In either case, the LAN client 710 connected to the router LAN gateway 713 via the communication link 709 may then configure its own address using the network assigned global IPv6 prefix 2002:c023:9c17:1f2d:: / 64 in any suitable manner (e.g., by using SLAAC).

[0099] Since a router (such as IDU 708) can use RA to determine the default gateway, and as a means for failure detection, ODU 704 can be configured to not completely block RA. RA generator 703 can be a daemon configured to send RA along any link in link 706 with a dummy :: / 56 prefix (such as 2002:c023:9c17:1f00 / 56 in the above example). Although IDU 708 is shown here as providing a network assigned prefix to LAN client 710, ODU / CPE 704 can be configured to provide an IAPD dummy prefix (such as a 64-bit prefix generated for a dummy :: / 60 prefix) to IDU 708, which can allow IDU 708 to use the other dummy network prefix to provide the IPv6 address configured by the client. Traffic using the dummy network can then be converted by IPv6 NAT 702. In other examples, CPE / ODU 704 may be able to use any network or any unique local address (ULA).

[0100] Figure 8 A network connection flow chart 800 is illustrated, which illustrates an ODU 804 handling prefix sharing from a prefix transmitted 810 from a base station 802 to an ODU 804. The base station 802 may be connected to any suitable network, such as an intranet or the Internet. When the base station 802 and the ODU 804 establish a connection with each other, the base station 802 may transmit a 64-bit network assigned global IPv6 prefix to the ODU 804 in a message 810. The ODU 804 may use the network assigned global IPv6 prefix to configure its 128-bit global IPv6 address (e.g., by using SLAAC), which may be assigned to its own WAN interface. The ODU 804 may generate a virtual network to be used when communicating with the IDU 806 based on the prefix transmission message 810. The ODU 804 may resolve the 64-bit IPv6 prefix into sub-prefixes of any suitable bit length between 1 and 63. For example, the ODU 804 may determine an additional prefix of 81248 bits to generate a :: / 48 virtual network. The ODU 804 may be configured to use the additional prefix to assign an IPv6 address to, for example, a LAN gateway interface of the ODU 804 or a WAN interface of the IDU 806.

[0101] The ODU 804 may be configured to transmit an RA 814 based on the additional prefix. The message of the RA 814 may be transmitted periodically to all connected devices or in response to an RS from the IDU 806. The IDU 806 may use the prefix from the RA 814 to configure its own WAN address. The ODU 804 may also be configured to transmit an IANA address to the IDU 806 in a message 816, wherein the IANA address is generated based on the additional prefix. The ODU 804 may also be configured to transmit an IAPD prefix to the IDU 806 in a message 818. The IAPD prefix may be a network assigned prefix. The IANA address and / or the IAPD address may be transmitted by a DHCPv6 server on the ODU 804.

[0102] When the IDU 806 and the ODU 804 transmit a message 820 using the additional prefix, the IPv6 address based on the additional prefix can be used to identify the source address and the destination address of the device (such as the router WAN interface) using the additional prefix. In this way, the ODU 804 can use the additional prefix to easily identify the source device and the target device using the additional prefix. The ODU 804 can also convert the message 820 using the additional prefix between the ODU 804 and / or the IDU 806, and convert the message 826 using the network assigned global IPv6 prefix between the ODU 804 and the base station 802 using IPv6 SNAT and DNAT 824.

[0103] The IDU router LAN gateway of the IDU 806 may transmit a RA 822 with a network assigned prefix to the IDU LAN client 808. The IDU LAN client 808 may then configure an IPv6 address using the network assigned prefix and communicate using the IPv6 address using the network assigned prefix via a message 823. When the IDU 806 transmits a message 825 using the network assigned prefix with the ODU 804, the IPv6 address based on the network assigned prefix may be used to identify the source address and the destination address, such as the IDU LAN client 808. Such messages may be passed directly to the ODU 804 via the IDU 806 and may not be converted using the IPv6 SNAT / DNAT 824. Thus, for devices using the network assigned prefix, such as the IDU LAN client 808, the IPv6 SNAT / DNAT 824 may not be performed.

[0104] Fig. 9A network connection flow chart 900 is illustrated, which illustrates an ODU 904 that handles prefix sharing from a prefix transmitted 910 from a base station 902 to an ODU 904. The base station 902 may be connected to any suitable network, such as an intranet or the Internet. When the base station 902 and the ODU 904 establish a connection with each other, the base station 902 may transmit a 64-bit network assigned global IPv6 prefix to the ODU 904 in a message 910. The ODU 904 may use the network assigned global IPv6 prefix to configure its 128-bit global IPv6 address (e.g., by using SLAAC), which may be assigned to its own WAN interface. The ODU 904 may generate two or more virtual networks to be used when communicating with the IDU 906 based on the prefix transmission message 910. The ODU 904 may parse a 64-bit IPv6 prefix into two sub-prefixes of different bit lengths. For example, the ODU 904 may determine 912 a first prefix of 52 bits to generate a :: / 52 virtual network and may determine 914 a second prefix of 56 bits to generate a :: / 56 virtual network. The ODU 904 may be configured to use the first prefix to assign an IPv6 address to, for example, a LAN gateway interface of the ODU 904 or a WAN interface of the IDU 906. The ODU 904 may be configured to use the second prefix to assign an IPv6 address to, for example, a router WAN interface.

[0105] The ODU 904 may be configured to transmit a RA 915 based on the second prefix. The message of the RA 915 may be periodically broadcast to all connected devices or broadcast in response to the RS from the IDU 906, or may be unicast in response to the RS request. The IDU 906 may use the prefix from the RA 915 to configure its own WAN address. The ODU 904 may also be configured to transmit an IANA address to the IDU 906 in a message 916, wherein the IANA address is generated based on the second prefix. The ODU 904 may also be configured to transmit an IAPD prefix to the IDU 906 in a message 918, wherein the IAPD prefix may also be generated based on the network assigned prefix. The IANA address and / or the IAPD prefix may be transmitted by a DHCPv6 server on the ODU 904.

[0106] When the IDU 906 and the ODU 904 transmit a message 920 using the second prefix, the IPv6 address based on the second prefix can be used to identify the source address and the destination address using the second prefix, such as a router WAN interface. In this way, the ODU 904 can use the second prefix to easily identify the source device and the target device connected to the IDU 906, and can use the first prefix to easily identify its own device, such as a DHCPv6 server. The ODU 904 can also convert the message 920 between the ODU 904 and the IDU 906 and / or convert the message 926 between the ODU 804 and the base station 902 using IPv6 SNAT and DNAT 924 based on the second prefix.

[0107] The IDU router LAN gateway of the IDU 906 may transmit a RA 922 with a network assigned prefix to the IDU LAN client 908. The IDU LAN client 908 may then configure an IPv6 address using the network assigned prefix and communicate using the IPv6 address using the network assigned prefix via a message 923. When the IDU 906 and the ODU 904 transmit a message 925 using the network assigned prefix, the IPv6 address based on the network assigned prefix may be used to identify the source address and the destination address, such as the IDU LAN client 908. Such messages may be passed directly to the ODU 904 via the IDU 906 and may not be converted using the IPv6 SNAT / DNAT 924. Thus, for such LAN clients, the IPv6 SNAT / DNAT 924 may not be performed.

[0108] Fig.10 1000 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a UE such as an ODU or a CPE (such as UE 104, ODU 113, 404, 504, 604, 704, 804, 904; device 1102). The method may enable a CPE to generate one or more prefixes for use with a local router when the CPE is connected to a network that is not configured to support delegation of multiple prefixes to the CPE (such as a base station providing a WWAN connection).

[0109] At 1002, a CPE may receive a network-assigned prefix of the CPE via a first connection with a wireless network. For example, Figure 6 The CPE 604 in may receive a 64-bit network assigned global IPv6 prefix from the base station 624. The CPE 604 may use the 64-bit network assigned global IPv6 prefix to generate a 128-bit address for its cellular WAN interface 605 in any suitable manner (eg, via SLAAC).

[0110] At 1004, the CPE may create a first prefix based on a subset of bits from the network assigned prefix. For example, 1004 may be performed by the IPv6 address component 1140 to create the first prefix using the first 52 bits of the 64-bit network assigned global IPv6 prefix (e.g., instead of the remaining 8 bits). Alternatively, Figure 6 The CPE 604 in may generate a first prefix of x (where x is less than 64) bits using the first x bits of the 64-bit network assignment global IPv6 prefix (eg, but not the remaining bits) to create a first prefix.

[0111] At 1006, the CPE may transmit the first prefix created by the CPE as the WAN prefix of the LAN router device and transmit the network assigned prefix as the LAN prefix of the LAN router device through a second connection with the LAN device. Figure 6 In the example, the LAN gateway interface 607 may be configured to transmit an x-bit prefix as an RA to the router WAN interface 611, or may be configured to provide an IANA dummy address from a :: / x dummy network.

[0112] In some aspects, the LAN router device may be a router IDU, and the CPE may be an ODU that provides a connection between the router IDU and the WWAN. For example, Figure 6 ODU 604 and IDU 608.

[0113] An IPv6 address may include a 128-bit address. A network assigned prefix may have a 64-bit network assigned prefix for an IPv6 connection. For example, a network assigned global prefix may be assigned via Figure 6 The transmission link 625 is transmitted from the base station 624 to the ODU 604.

[0114] In some aspects, a first prefix created by a CPE and transmitted to a LAN router device may include a dummy network prefix based on 56 bits from a 64-bit network assigned prefix. The first prefix may be created based on a first subset of bits from the network assigned prefix. With this first prefix, the CPE may create a second prefix based on a second subset of bits from the network assigned prefix. The CPE may also assign an address to a LAN gateway interface of the CPE based on the second prefix. For example, Figure 7 The CPE (eg, 704) may assign an address based on the second prefix to the LAN gateway interface 707. IPv6 NAT may not be used to translate messages transmitted from the LAN client 710 of the router LAN gateway 713, as these messages may use the network assigned prefix.

[0115] In some aspects, the second subset of bits may be smaller than the first subset of bits. The second subset may also overlap with the first subset of bits of the network assigned prefix. For example, the bit subset N:: / 52 for the LAN gateway interface 707 may be smaller than the bit subset for the Figure 7 The RA transmitted by router WAN interface 711 is the bit subset N:: / 56.

[0116] In some aspects, the first subset of bits may include 56 bits of the 64-bit network assigned prefix. The second subset of bits may include 52 bits of the 64-bit network assigned prefix.

[0117] In some aspects, the CPE may receive an IANA request from the LAN router device; and receive an IAPD request from the LAN router device. To transmit the first prefix and the network assigned prefix to the LAN router device, the CPE may transmit the first prefix in response to the IANA request and transmit the network assigned prefix in response to the IAPD request. In some aspects, to transmit the first prefix and the network assigned prefix to the LAN router device, the CPE may transmit the first prefix in a router advertisement. For example, the CPE may transmit the first prefix from the LAN gateway interface 607 to the router advertisement. Figure 6 The RA of the router WAN interface 611 has the prefix N:: / x.

[0118] In some aspects, the CPE may perform NAT of uplink traffic from the LAN router device to translate between the first prefix and the network assigned prefix. Such NAT may be performed, for example, by Figure 6 An IPv6 NAT 602 implementation is shown.

[0119] Fig.111100 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a device 1102. The device 1102 may be a UE, a component of a UE, or may implement UE functionality. For example, the device 1102 may be an ODU, a component of an ODU, or may implement ODU functionality. The device 1102 may also or alternatively be a CPE, a component of a CPE, or may implement CPE functionality. In some aspects, the device 1102 may include a baseband unit 1104. The baseband unit 1104 may communicate with the UE 104 via a cellular RF transceiver 1122. The baseband unit 1104 may include a computer-readable medium / memory. The baseband unit 1104 is responsible for general processing, including executing software stored on a computer-readable medium / memory. The software, when executed by the baseband unit 1104, causes the baseband unit 1104 to perform the various functions described above. The computer-readable medium / memory may also be used to store data manipulated by the baseband unit 1104 when executing the software. The baseband unit 1104 also includes a receiving component 1130, a communication manager 1132, and a transmission component 1134. The communication manager 1132 includes one or more illustrated components. The components within the communication manager 1132 may be stored in a computer-readable medium / memory and / or configured as hardware within the baseband unit 1104. The baseband unit 1104 may be a component of the UE 350 and may include a memory 360 and / or at least one of the following: a TX processor 368, an RX processor 356, and a controller / processor 359.

[0120] The communication manager 1132 includes an IPv6 address component 1140 that receives a network assigned prefix and generates a new prefix based on the received network assigned prefix, for example, as combined with Fig.10 As described in 1004.

[0121] The device may include executing Fig.10 Each box in the flowchart of the algorithm is an additional component. Fig.10 Each block in the flowchart of can be performed by a certain component, and the device may include one or more of these components. These components can be one or more hardware components, which are specifically configured to perform the process / algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to perform the process / algorithm, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

[0122] As shown, the device 1102 may include a variety of components configured for various functions. In one configuration, the device 1102, and specifically the baseband unit 1104, includes means for: receiving an IPv6 address including a network assigned prefix through a first connection with a wireless network; creating a first prefix based on a bit subset from the network assigned prefix; transmitting the first prefix created by the CPE as a wide area network (WAN) prefix of a LAN router device and transmitting the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device through a second connection with a local area network (LAN) device; creating a second prefix based on a second bit subset from the network assigned prefix; performing prefix-based routing using the second prefix created by the CPE as a CPE LAN prefix of the CPE; receiving a non-temporary address identity association (IANA) request from the LAN router device; receiving a prefix delegation identity association (IAPD) request from the LAN router device; creating a second prefix based on a second bit subset from the network assigned prefix; and / or performing prefix-based routing using the second prefix created by the CPE as a CPE LAN prefix of the CPE. The means may be one or more of the components of the apparatus 1102 configured to perform the functions recited by the means. As described above, the apparatus 1102 may include a TX processor 368, an RX processor 356, and a controller / processor 359. Thus, in one configuration, the means may be the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359 configured to perform the functions recited by the means.

[0123] The disclosed CPE / ODU / UE device can be used to improve a network configuration system with a cellular network access point (such as a base station), which can provide a single prefix (e.g., a 64-bit prefix) to the CPE. Such a system may not be configured to support IPv6 prefix delegation, especially when used to bridge 5G or millimeter wave network systems. By providing a CPE device that generates a prefix based on a received single network assigned prefix, the CPE can provide end-to-end IPv6 functionality to any attached device (such as an IDU). In addition, such a CPE can be configured to ensure that all IPv6 traffic transmitted to the base station utilizes the network assigned prefix supplied by the base station. Doing so can prevent the cellular network from potentially collapsing a data call if the base station receives an IP packet with an IPv6 prefix that is not assigned to the CPE. Doing so can also prevent the cellular network from reconfiguring its base station infrastructure to support IPv6 prefix delegation, a task that can be difficult and can cause the base station to become inactive while the installation professional updates the base station infrastructure.

[0124] Using this system, in addition to assigning a dummy prefix to the router WAN, the CPE can also assign a dummy prefix to the router LAN. However, doing so may result in IPv6 NAT of the LAN clients, which includes more processing by the CPE. In some aspects, it may be more efficient to assign the network assigned prefix to the router LAN clients. By assigning the network assigned prefix to the LAN clients, the CPE can eliminate or skip NAT of the LAN clients. NAT can be used for the router WAN interface IPv6 address created using the dummy prefix.

[0125] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for wireless communication at a customer premises equipment (CPE) may include: receiving an IPv6 address through a first connection with a wireless network, the IPv6 address including a network assigned prefix of the CPE; creating a first prefix based on a bit subset from the network assigned prefix; transmitting the first prefix created by the CPE as a wide area network (WAN) prefix of a local area network (LAN) router device and transmitting the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device through a second connection with a LAN device. By generating the first prefix based on a bit subset from the network assigned prefix, the CPE can provide different prefixes to the LAN router device while preventing packets from being potentially lost if the generated prefixes do not share the bit subset.

[0126] The LAN router device may be a router indoor unit (IDU), and the CPE may be an outdoor unit (ODU) that provides a connection between the router IDU and a wireless wide area network (WWAN). Depending on the location of the building in which the ODU-IDU network infrastructure is set up, the cellular phone WWAN system may be able to use the ODU-IDU network infrastructure to provide network connectivity in a cheaper and more efficient manner than other network infrastructures (such as cable or satellite ISPs).

[0127] The first prefix created by the CPE and transmitted to the LAN router device may include a virtual network prefix based on any number of bits (such as 56 bits) from the 64-bit network assigned prefix. The first prefix may be created based on a first bit subset from the network assigned prefix. With this first prefix, the CPE may create a second prefix based on a second bit subset from the network assigned prefix. The CPE may also use the second prefix created by the CPE as the CPE LAN prefix of the CPE to perform prefix-based routing. By generating two such prefixes, the CPE may be able to create two virtual networks that can be used to specify multiple device destinations for packets using the IPv6 protocol. One virtual network can be used to specify multiple prefixes for the CPE, while another virtual network can be used to specify multiple prefixes for an IDU that is functionally connected to the CPE network.

[0128] The method may also include receiving a non-temporary address identity association (IANA) request from the LAN router device; and receiving a prefix delegation identity association (IAPD) request from the LAN router device. Transmitting the first prefix and the network assigned prefix to the LAN router device may include transmitting the first prefix in response to the IANA request and transmitting the network assigned prefix in response to the IAPD request. Transmitting the first prefix and the network assigned prefix to the LAN router device may also include transmitting the first prefix in a router advertisement. Configuring the CPE to broadcast the first prefix in a router advertisement and also constructing an IANA address using the first prefix in response to the request allows an out-of-the-box router without special configuration to self-assign multiple IPv6 compatible network addresses using standard DHCP or autoconfiguration settings.

[0129] The method may also include performing network address translation (NAT) of uplink traffic from any device (e.g., a router WAN interface) using the dummy prefix to convert between the first prefix and the network assigned prefix. Providing NAT services, particularly SNAT and DNAT services, allows the CPE to maintain its customized IPv6 infrastructure using prefixes it generates without performing special configuration on either a network base station providing Internet connectivity to the CPE or a standard IDU router connected to multiple IPv6 compatible devices.

[0130] It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of the blocks in the disclosed process / flowchart is only an illustration of the exemplary method. It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of the blocks in the process / flowchart can be rearranged based on design preferences. Further, some blocks can be combined or omitted. The attached method claims present the elements of each block in a sample order, but are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

[0131] The foregoing description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other aspects. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but to conform to the full scope consistent with the language claims, wherein the elements mentioned in the singular are not intended to represent "one and only one", unless specifically so stated, but "one or more". Terms such as "if", "when ......" and "while ......" should be interpreted as "under the conditions of ......", rather than meaning an immediate time relationship or reaction. That is, these phrases, such as "when", do not mean a direct action in response to the occurrence of an action or during the occurrence of an action, but simply imply that if the conditions are met, then the action will occur, but no specific or immediate time limit is required to make the action occur. The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "used as an example, instance, or illustration". Any aspect described as "exemplary" herein is not necessarily interpreted as being preferred or having advantages over other aspects. Unless otherwise specifically stated, the term "some" refers to one or more. Combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B and C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” include any combination of A, B, and / or C, which may include multiple A, multiple B, or multiple C. Specifically, combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B, and C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” may be only A, only B, only C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, where any such combination may include one or more members of A, B, or C. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout the disclosure that are known or later become known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Furthermore, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly stated in the claims. Words such as "module," "mechanism," "element," "device," etc. cannot replace the word "component." Therefore, no claim element will be understood as a functional component unless the element is explicitly stated using the phrase "component for..."

[0132] The following aspects are merely illustrative and may be combined with other aspects or teachings described herein without limitation.

[0133] Aspect 1 is a method for wireless communication at a CPE, comprising: receiving a network assigned prefix of the CPE via a first connection with a wireless network. The method for wireless communication at the CPE also includes creating a first prefix based on a subset of bits from the network assigned prefix. The method for wireless communication at the CPE also includes transmitting the first prefix created by the CPE as a WAN prefix of the LAN router device and transmitting the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device via a second connection with a LAN device.

[0134] Aspect 2 is a method according to aspect 1, wherein the LAN router device is an IDU, and the CPE is an ODU or UE that provides a connection between the router IDU and the WWAN.

[0135] Aspect 3 is a method according to any one of Aspect 1 or Aspect 2, wherein the network assigned prefix includes a 64-bit network assigned prefix of an IPv6 connection, and the first prefix includes less than 64 bits from the network assigned prefix and remaining bits as dummy bits.

[0136] Aspect 4 is a method according to aspect 3, wherein the first prefix is ​​created based on a first bit subset from the network assigned prefix. The method of wireless communication at the CPE also includes creating a second prefix based on a second bit subset from the network assigned prefix. The method of wireless communication at the CPE also includes performing prefix-based routing using the second prefix created by the CPE as a CPE LAN prefix of the CPE.

[0137] Aspect 5 is a method according to aspect 4, wherein the second subset of bits is smaller than the first subset of bits and overlaps with the first subset of bits of the network assigned prefix.

[0138] Aspect 6 is a method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 5, further comprising: receiving a DHCPv6 request from the LAN router device, the DHCPv6 request comprising an IANA request and an IAPD request, wherein transmitting the first prefix and the network assigned prefix to the LAN router device comprises transmitting the first prefix in response to the IANA request and transmitting the network assigned prefix in response to the IAPD request.

[0139] Aspect 7 is a method according to any one of aspects 1 to 6, wherein transmitting the first prefix and the network assigned prefix to the LAN router device includes transmitting the first prefix in a router advertisement.

[0140] Aspect 8 is a method according to any one of aspects 1 to 7, further comprising performing IPv6 Network Address Translation (NAT) of uplink traffic from the WAN port of the LAN router device to convert between the first prefix and the network assigned prefix.

[0141] Aspect 9 is an apparatus for performing wireless communication at a CPE, the apparatus comprising a memory and at least one processor, the at least one processor being coupled to the memory, the memory and the at least one processor being configured to implement any one of aspects 1 to 8.

[0142] In aspect 10, the apparatus of aspect 9 further comprises at least one antenna coupled to the at least one processor.

[0143] In aspect 11, the apparatus according to aspect 9 or aspect 10 further comprises a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor.

[0144] Aspect 12 is an apparatus for wireless communication, comprising means for implementing any one of aspects 1 to 8.

[0145] In aspect 13, the apparatus according to aspect 12 further comprises at least one antenna coupled to the means for implementing any one of aspects 1-8.

[0146] In aspect 14, the apparatus according to aspect 12 or aspect 13 further comprises a transceiver.

[0147] Aspect 15 is a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable code, wherein the code, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement the method according to any one of aspects 1 to 8.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication at a customer premises equipment (CPE), the method comprising: receiving a network assigned prefix of the CPE via a first connection with a wireless network; creating a first prefix based on a subset of bits from the network assigned prefix; Transmitting the first prefix created by the CPE as a wide area network (WAN) prefix of the LAN router device and transmitting the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device through a second connection with the LAN router device; as well as The LAN router device is communicated with using the first prefix as the WAN prefix of the LAN router device and using the network assigned prefix as the LAN prefix of the LAN router device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the LAN router device is an indoor equipment unit (IDU), and the CPE is an outdoor equipment unit (ODU) or a user equipment (UE) providing a connection between the IDU and a wireless wide area network (WWAN).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network assigned prefix comprises a 64-bit network assigned prefix for an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) connection, and the first prefix comprises less than 64 bits from the network assigned prefix and remaining bits as dummy bits.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein creating the first prefix comprises creating the first prefix based on a first subset of bits from the network assigned prefix, the method further comprising: creating a second prefix based on a second subset of bits from the network assigned prefix; as well as An address is assigned to a LAN gateway interface of the CPE based on the second prefix. 5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the second subset of bits is smaller than the first subset of bits and overlaps with the first subset of bits of the network assigned prefix.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving a DHCPv6 request from the LAN router device, the DHCPv6 request including a first non-temporary address identity associated with an IANA request and a second prefix delegation identity associated with an IAPD request, Wherein transmitting the first prefix and the network assigned prefix to the LAN router device includes transmitting the first prefix in response to the IANA request and transmitting the network assigned prefix in response to the IAPD request.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the first prefix and the network assigned prefix to the LAN router device comprises transmitting the first prefix in a router advertisement (RA).

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: performing Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) network address translation (NAT) of first uplink traffic from the LAN router device to translate between the first prefix and the network assigned prefix for a first communication based on the first prefix; as well as Performing IPv6 NAT of second uplink traffic from the LAN router device for a second communication based on the network assigned prefix is ​​abandoned.

9. An apparatus for wireless communication at a customer premises equipment (CPE), the apparatus comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and based at least in part on instructions stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor configured to: receiving a network assigned prefix of the CPE via a first connection with a wireless network; creating a first prefix based on a subset of bits from the network assigned prefix; Transmitting the first prefix created by the CPE as a wide area network (WAN) prefix of the LAN router device and transmitting the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device through a second connection with the LAN router device; as well as The LAN router device is communicated with via the first prefix as the WAN prefix of the LAN router device and the network assigned prefix as the LAN prefix of the LAN router device.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the LAN router device is a router indoor unit (IDU), and the CPE is an outdoor unit (ODU) or user equipment (UE) providing a connection between the IDU and a wireless wide area network (WWAN).

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the network assigned prefix comprises a 64-bit network assigned prefix for an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) connection, and the first prefix comprises less than 64 bits from the network assigned prefix and remaining bits as dummy bits.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein to create the first prefix, the at least one processor is configured to create the first prefix based on a first subset of bits from the network assigned prefix, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: creating a second prefix based on a second subset of bits from the network assigned prefix; and An address is assigned to a LAN gateway interface of the CPE based on the second prefix.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the second subset of bits is smaller than the first subset of bits and overlaps with the first subset of bits of the network assigned prefix.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receiving a DHCPv6 request from the LAN router device, the DHCPv6 request including a first non-temporary address identity associated IANA request and a second prefix delegation identity associated IAPD request; and The first prefix is ​​transmitted in response to the IANA request and the network assigned prefix is ​​transmitted in response to the IAPD request.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein to transmit the first prefix and the network assigned prefix to the LAN router device, the at least one processor is further configured to: The first prefix is ​​transmitted in a router advertisement RA.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: performing Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) Network Address Translation (NAT) of first uplink traffic from a WAN port of the LAN router device to translate between the first prefix and the network assigned prefix for a first communication based on the first prefix; and Performing IPv6 NAT of second uplink traffic from the LAN router device for a second communication based on the network assigned prefix is ​​abandoned.

17. An apparatus for wireless communication at a customer premises equipment (CPE), the apparatus comprising: means for receiving a network assigned prefix of the CPE via a first connection with a wireless network; means for creating a first prefix based on a subset of bits from the network assigned prefix; means for transmitting the first prefix created by the CPE as a wide area network (WAN) prefix of a local area network (LAN) router device and transmitting the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device through a second connection with the LAN router device; as well as means for communicating with the LAN router device using the first prefix as a WAN prefix of the LAN router device and using the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the LAN router device is a router indoor unit (IDU), and the CPE is an outdoor unit (ODU) or user equipment (UE) providing a connection between the IDU and a wireless wide area network (WWAN).

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the network assigned prefix comprises a 64-bit network assigned prefix for an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) connection, and the first prefix comprises less than 64 bits from the network assigned prefix and remaining bits as dummy bits.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the means for creating the first prefix comprises means for creating the first prefix based on a first subset of bits from the network assigned prefix, the apparatus further comprising: means for creating a second prefix based on a second subset of bits from the network assigned prefix; and Means for assigning an address to a LAN gateway interface of the CPE based on the second prefix.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the second subset of bits is smaller than the first subset of bits and overlaps with the first subset of bits of the network assigned prefix.

22. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising: means for receiving a DHCPv6 request from the LAN router device, the DHCPv6 request comprising a first non-temporary address identity associated with an IANA request and a second prefix delegation identity associated with an IAPD request, Wherein the means for transmitting the first prefix and the network assigned prefix to the LAN router device comprises means for transmitting the first prefix in response to the IANA request and transmitting the network assigned prefix in response to the IAPD request.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for transmitting the first prefix and the network assigned prefix to the LAN router device comprises means for transmitting the first prefix in a router advertisement (RA).

24. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising: means for performing Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) Network Address Translation (NAT) of first uplink traffic from a WAN port of the LAN router device to translate between the first prefix and the network assigned prefix for a first communication based on the first prefix; and Means for forgoing performing IPv6 NAT of second uplink traffic from the LAN router device for a second communication based on the network assigned prefix.

25. A computer readable medium storing computer executable code at a customer premises equipment (CPE), which code, when executed by at least one processor, causes the CPE to: receiving a network assigned prefix of the CPE via a first connection with a wireless network; creating a first prefix based on a subset of bits from the network assigned prefix; Transmitting the first prefix created by the CPE as a wide area network (WAN) prefix of the LAN router device and transmitting the network assigned prefix as a LAN prefix of the LAN router device through a second connection with the LAN router device; as well as The LAN router device is communicated with based on the first prefix as the WAN prefix of the LAN router device and the network assigned prefix as the LAN prefix of the LAN router device.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the LAN router device is a router indoor unit (IDU), and the CPE is an outdoor unit (ODU) or user equipment (UE) providing a connection between the IDU and a wireless wide area network (WWAN).

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the network assigned prefix comprises a 64-bit network assigned prefix for an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) connection, and the first prefix comprises less than 64 bits from the network assigned prefix and remaining bits as dummy bits.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein to create the first prefix, the code, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the CPE to create the first prefix based on a first subset of bits from the network assigned prefix, wherein the code, when executed by the at least one processor, further causes the at least one processor to: creating a second prefix based on a second subset of bits from the network assigned prefix; and An address is assigned to a LAN gateway interface of the CPE based on the second prefix.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the second subset of bits is smaller than the first subset of bits and overlaps with the first subset of bits of the network assigned prefix.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the code, when executed by the at least one processor, further causes the CPE to: receiving a DHCPv6 request from the LAN router device, the DHCPv6 request including a first non-temporary address identity associated with an IANA request and a second prefix delegation identity associated with an IAPD request; Wherein to transmit the first prefix and the network assigned prefix, the code, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to transmit the first prefix in response to the IANA request and to transmit the network assigned prefix in response to the IAPD request.

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