Base Station Router Inter-Working for Heterogeneous Wireless QoS
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current Mobile-IP technologies face high control overhead and inefficiencies in providing Quality of Service (QoS) across heterogeneous wireless access networks, especially with high mobility users, due to frequent notifications and system complexity, which complicates network architecture and inter-working between different wireless generations.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that enable packet routing paths across cellular and wireless data networks to provide quality of service metrics and mobility information, using a Base Station Router (BSR)-based architecture for inter-working between 3GPP and IETF protocols, allowing backward compatibility and efficient QoS management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If Mobile-IP is used for micro-mobility support, then mobility management is provided, but control overhead becomes significantly high due to frequent notifications to the HA
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a Base Station Router (BSR) as an intermediary device between the mobile device and the Home Agent (HA). The BSR performs local mobility management and QoS handling, reducing the frequency and burden of notifications to the HA. This mediator approach allows mobility support while significantly lowering control overhead by distributing management functions locally at the base station level.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the mobility management function by introducing domain-specific routers that handle intra-domain mobility independently from inter-domain mobility handled by the HA. This segmentation allows frequent local handoffs to be managed without triggering frequent notifications to the HA, thereby reducing control overhead while maintaining mobility support.
2Reliability
If a new care-of address is acquired on every handoff, then QoS support is maintained, but system complexity increases due to establishment of new QoS reservations from HA to FA
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing QoS parameters and routing information at the Base Station Router before handoff occurs. The BSR maintains QoS state information locally, allowing seamless handoffs without requiring new QoS reservations from the HA to FA, thus maintaining QoS support while reducing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The BSR acts as an intermediary that handles QoS management locally, maintaining QoS parameters and routing decisions without requiring constant involvement of the HA. This reduces the complexity of establishing new QoS reservations on every handoff while ensuring QoS continuity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If Mobile-IP is used across heterogeneous wireless access networks, then inter-domain mobility is provided, but overhead related inefficiencies occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the Base Station Router a universal device that can function in multiple network domains (3GPP and IETF networks) with a single unified architecture. The BSR handles both intra-domain and inter-domain mobility, as well as QoS management, reducing the need for separate protocols and mechanisms in each domain, thereby improving overhead efficiency while maintaining inter-domain mobility capability.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for providing radio access in a communication system by inter-working between at least two packet-based networks, such as heterogeneous cellular networks including a cellular network and an Internet Protocol (IP)-based wireless data network. The method includes enabling a packet routing path across the cellular and wireless data networks to provide a quality of service metric and an indication for mobility information associated with a user of a mobile device. The method further comprises transferring the quality of service metric and the indication for mobility information on the packet routing path in response to a service request across the networks. To provide wireless radio access, an IP-based communication system may use a wireless router, such as a base station router (BSR) and an inter-working unit. The inter-working unit may enable a packet routing path to provide a Quality of Service (QoS) metric and an indication for mobility information, such as mobility context information, associated with a user of a mobile device. In this way, instead of using a Mobile-IP client of the mobile device, the inter-working unit may provide radio access to the cellular network and the wireless data network using the wireless router.