Cellular Offloading with Protocol Indication for Service Continuity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current 3GPP networks face challenges in maintaining service continuity and quality due to the inability to converge services after offloading them to non-3GPP networks, leading to poor user experience.
Innovation Solution
A method for downlink and uplink offloading and converging in wireless communications systems, where a cellular radio access device determines to offload data to a non-cellular network and sends a data frame with indication information to the user equipment (UE), allowing the UE to process the data using a cellular network protocol, ensuring service continuity and quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If services are offloaded from cellular network to non-cellular network, then network burden is reduced, but service continuity cannot be ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an access controller as an intermediary device between the non-cellular network and user equipment. This access controller enables service convergence by receiving data from the cellular network and forwarding it to the UE through the non-cellular network, while maintaining protocol compatibility. This mediator resolves the contradiction by allowing offloading to occur while preserving service continuity through coordinated control.
2Quantity of substance
If services are offloaded to non-cellular network, then network capacity is increased, but service quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the network architecture into distinct functional components: cellular radio access devices, non-cellular radio access devices, and access controllers. This segmentation allows different network segments to operate with optimized characteristics - the cellular network maintains control and quality of service management, while the non-cellular network provides capacity expansion. The access controller coordinates between segments to ensure service quality is maintained despite offloading.
3Adaptability or versatility
If data is offloaded using non-cellular network, then transmission flexibility is improved, but protocol compatibility is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The access controller serves as a protocol translation intermediary that receives data packets from the cellular network with cellular protocols, processes them, and forwards them through the non-cellular network with appropriate protocol encapsulation. This intermediary handles protocol conversion transparently, allowing the UE to receive data with maintained protocol compatibility while utilizing the flexibility of non-cellular transmission channels.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to the communications field and discloses a downlink offloading and converging method, an uplink offloading and converging method, and a device, to resolve a problem that low service quality and poor user experience are caused because UE service continuity cannot be ensured after some or all services of UE are offloaded. A specific solution is as follows: A cellular radio access device determines to offload data, in a cellular network, of UE served by the cellular radio access device to a non-cellular network; and the cellular radio access device sends, by using a non-cellular radio access device, a data frame to the UE served by the cellular radio access device, where the data frame includes a data packet that the cellular radio access device needs to send to the UE, and indication information used to indicate that the data packet is a cellular network data packet, and the indication information is used by the UE to process the data packet by using a cellular network protocol according to the indication information. The present invention is applied in an offloading and converging process.