CN1219370C - Communication method for performing all-tier protocol stack processing by base station side - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a communication method for completing the processing of each protocol layer by the base station side, the key point of which is: when a user terminal (UE) communicates with a core network, all user data or control signaling transmitted between the UE and the core network Each protocol is processed on the base station side, and the base station completes data analysis and signaling implementation. The method is suitable for high-speed data transmission, simplifies complex processing procedures, reduces delay, improves system efficiency, and ensures a fast response mechanism between the network and the UE.

Description

A communication method in which the processing of each protocol layer is completed by the base station side

technical field

The invention relates to a communication technology of a wireless access network in a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, in particular to a communication method in which each layer of protocol stack is processed by the base station side.

Background of the invention

In an existing wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, the network structure of the radio access network (RAN) is shown in Figure 1, and the radio access network 100 mainly includes a base station node (Node B) 102 and a radio network controller ( RNC) 101 two entities. One Node B 102 contains multiple cells 103, and one RNC 101 can control multiple Node Bs 102 at the same time, which is a typical centralized network structure.

For the current RAN structure, the protocol stack composition of the access layer is shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 . Figure 2 and Figure 3 are schematic diagrams of the distribution structure of the access layer protocol stack of the user plane and the control plane respectively, and the part on the left side of the dotted line in Figure 2 and Figure 3 represents the layered correspondence between the user terminal (UE), Node B and RNC In the relationship diagram, the part on the right side of the dotted line is the layered transmission model between UE, Node B and RNC, where Uu represents the interface between UE and Node B, and Iub represents the interface between Node B and RNC. It can be seen from the figure that the base station node (Node B) in the existing access network only processes the physical layer information, while the RNC processes the physical layer, medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC) layer, and All information of the radio resource control protocol (RRC) layer or the packet data compression protocol (PDCP) layer, wherein the RRC layer belongs to the control plane, and the PDCP layer belongs to the user plane. That is to say, the Node B of the existing access network only processes the physical layer information, and the high-level information of other access parts is completely controlled and processed by the RNC. Therefore, the communication process between the existing UE, Node B and RNC is generally as follows: when the UE has a service request, it first sends a request message to the Node B, and the Node B reports the request to the RNC, and the RNC performs resource management and scheduling and distribution, and control the realization of the entire business process, Node B is only responsible for physical connection and data signaling transmission during the entire process.

Since any data transmission and signaling control in the communication system depends on the support of protocols at various layers, then, based on the above-mentioned protocol stack structure, during the data transmission process, the UE side first compresses the data by PDCP before sending it to the RLC; RLC implements fragmentation and concatenation and sends it to MAC; MAC selects the appropriate transport format combination (TFC) according to the current data packet and the configured transport format combination set (TFCS); finally, the physical layer encodes according to the selected TFC After modulation, it is sent to the NodeB side; the Node B side sends the data to the RNC according to the determined encoding method by the physical layer; the RNC side uses the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer and PDCP layer to perform demodulation, decoding, decombination, and recombination of data in sequence And after decompression, the data packet sent by the UE is obtained.

Similarly, in the process of signaling transmission, RRC, RLC, MAC and PHY will encapsulate, fragment and concatenate signaling messages in turn on the UE side, select the appropriate TFC, and finally send them to Node B after being modulated according to the selected TFC code On the Node B side, the physical layer sends the signaling message to the RNC according to the determined encoding method; on the RNC side, the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, and RRC layer perform demodulation and decoding, decombination, reorganization, and decoding in sequence. After encapsulation, the signaling message sent by the UE is obtained, and then the RNC performs corresponding processing according to the signaling message.

However, in the above-mentioned transmission process, since the Node B in the existing protocol stack only handles the physical layer protocol, once the adaptive technology using resource management for judgment needs to be implemented in the RNC, the network to the terminal must go through the RNC to the Node B , from Node B to the terminal, and vice versa, resulting in a longer delay and reducing the processing capability of Node B. It can be seen that the protocol structure that puts all access layers in the RNC will not be suitable for high-speed data transmission. After adopting technologies similar to adaptive coordination and feedback control, this protocol structure cannot guarantee high speed and high efficiency, so it is difficult to adapt to high-speed data transmission. data transmission needs.

Contents of the invention

In view of this, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a communication method that completes the processing of each protocol layer by the base station side, so that it can be adapted to high-speed data transmission, simplify complex processing, reduce delay, improve system efficiency, and ensure A fast response mechanism is provided between the network and the UE.

In order to achieve the above object, technical solution of the present invention is achieved in that way:

A communication method in which the processing of each protocol layer is completed by the base station side, and a protocol layer corresponding to each protocol layer of the user terminal side is set on the physical layer of the base station side;

When the user terminal (UE) sends data to the network, the UE sends the data packets processed by its own protocol layers from its own physical layer (PHY) to the physical layer of the base station to which it belongs. After the data packet is processed, the original data packet sent by the UE is obtained, and then the base station sends the parsed user data to the core network through the network control unit;

When a user terminal (UE) sends a signaling message to the network, the signaling message is first processed by each protocol layer on the UE side, and then sent to the physical layer of the base station to which the UE belongs through the physical layer (PHY) on the UE side, and then passed through the base station The processing of each protocol layer on the side analyzes the signaling message, and then the base station performs corresponding processing according to the content of the signaling message, and then sends the processing result to the core network through the network control unit.

In the above method, when the UE sends user data, the processing of the user data by each protocol layer on the UE side specifically includes: the packet data compression protocol (PDCP) layer sequentially performs transmission control protocol/user datagram protocol/ The Internet Protocol (TCP/UDP/IP) header is compressed and sent to the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer; the RLC fragments and concatenates the data packet and sends it to the Media Access Control (MAC) layer; the MAC layer selects the appropriate Transport Format Combination (TFC); finally, the physical layer performs encoding and modulation according to the selected TFC, and then sends the processed data packet to the physical layer of the base station to which it belongs.

In the above method, when the UE sends user data, the processing of the data packet by each protocol layer on the base station side specifically includes:

a1. After the physical layer on the base station side receives the data sent by the physical layer on the UE side, it performs demodulation and decoding;

b1. The physical layer sends the decoded data to the MAC layer of the base station, and after the MAC layer removes the corresponding MAC control header, the corresponding data packet is sent to the RLC layer on the base station side;

c1. The RLC layer reassembles the fragmented and concatenated data, and then sends the data packet to the PDCP layer of the base station;

d1. The PDCP layer sequentially decompresses the compressed TCP/UDP/IP header to obtain the original data packet originally sent by the UE. After that, the base station sends the parsed data packet to the network through the bearer network between itself and the network control unit control unit.

In the above method, when the UE sends control signaling, the processing of the signaling message by each protocol layer on the UE side specifically includes: the radio resource control protocol (RRC) layer encapsulates the signaling message of this layer into a data packet and sends it to the RLC layer ;The RLC layer fragments and concatenates the data packet and sends it to the MAC layer; MAC selects the appropriate TFC; finally, the physical layer encodes and modulates the data packet according to the selected TFC, and then sends the processed data packet to the user terminal. The physical layer of the base station.

In the above method, when the UE sends the control signaling, the processing of the signaling message by each protocol layer on the base station side specifically includes:

a2. After the physical layer on the base station side receives the signaling message sent by the physical layer on the UE side, it performs demodulation and decoding;

b2. The physical layer sends the decoded data to the MAC layer of the base station, and after the MAC layer removes the corresponding MAC control header, the corresponding data packet is sent to the RLC layer on the base station side;

c2. The RLC layer reassembles the fragmented and concatenated data, and then sends the data packet to the RRC layer on the base station side;

d2. The RRC layer on the base station side analyzes the signaling message and performs corresponding processing. After the processing process is completed, the RRC layer on the base station side notifies the network control of the processing result of the signaling message through the bearer network between the base station side and the network control unit The RRC layer of the unit.

In the method of the present invention, the network control unit may be a radio network controller that does not have resource management and scheduling functions, and the base station side processes the analyzed user data or signaling messages through the radio network controller (RNC) sent to the core network. The network control unit is a combination of a wireless access network gateway responsible for processing the data part and a wireless network control server responsible for processing the control signaling part, and the base station routes the parsed data to the core via the access network gateway (RAN Gateway) network; the base station transfers the processing result of the signaling message to the core network via the radio network control server (RNCServer).

As can be seen from the above scheme, the key of the present invention is to move the processing of data or control signaling by the original RNC to the base station in each layer of the protocol stack, thereby simplifying and speeding up the communication process, and improving the connection between data and signaling. processing speed.

Therefore, the communication method that the base station side completes the processing of each protocol layer provided by the present invention has the following advantages and characteristics:

1) The access layer protocol stack structure adopted in the present invention retains the layered protocol of the WCDMA system and the function of each layer of protocol, but the original RNC is moved down to the base station to process the protocols of each layer, that is: for the user For information on the control plane, the base station implements PHY, MAC, RLC and RRC layer protocol processing, and the RNC only implements Partial RRC protocol processing. In this way, the communication processing process can be simplified, the transmission delay can be reduced, and the data and signaling processing speed and feedback speed can be improved, so that it not only supports high-speed data transmission, but also is suitable for access networks that optimize Node B and RNC functions.

2) The protocol layering adopted in the present invention can simplify the design of each entity by separating the user plane and control plane entities of the access layer, optimize the functions of RNC and base station, and make it more suitable for adopting distributed network structure The access network structure ensures a fast response mechanism between the network and the UE.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network structure of an existing access network;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an access layer control plane protocol stack in the prior art;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an access layer user plane protocol stack in the prior art;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an access layer user plane protocol stack in the present invention;

5 is a schematic structural diagram of the access layer control plane protocol stack of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a network structure of a novel wireless access network;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an access layer user plane protocol stack in the access network shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of the access layer control plane protocol stack in the access network shown in FIG. 6 .

Detailed ways

The present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

As shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5, in the present invention, when the UE sends data to the network, the UE sends the data packet processed by the PDCP, RLC, and MAC protocol stacks from the PHY to the PHY of the base station to which it belongs. After the processing of the MAC, RLC, and PDCP protocol stacks, the original data packets sent by the UE are obtained, and then directly sent to the core network through the network control unit. When the UE sends a signaling message to the network, the signaling message is first processed by the RRC, RLC, and MAC protocol stacks on the UE side, and then sent to the PHY of the base station through the PHY on the UE side, and passed through the MAC, RLC, and RRC protocols on the base station side. The processing of the stack parses out the message, and the base station performs corresponding processing according to the content of the message, and then sends the processing result to the RRC layer of the network control unit, and the network control unit transfers it to the core network. Similarly, the UE receives the data and signaling messages sent by the core network through the reverse process. It can be seen that the processing of data link layer MAC, RLC, PDCP and part of RRC processing in the present invention are all terminated at the base station.

In another patent of the inventor, a wireless access network structure suitable for high-speed packet data transmission was proposed, which consists of more than one wireless Internet base station subsystem (WIBS), as shown in Figure 6, each WIBS600 Including at least a radio network control server (RNC Server) 601 for processing control signaling between the core network (CN) and the wireless Internet base station (WIB); several radio access network gateways (RAN Gateway) 602 for processing For the user data flow between the core network and the wireless Internet base station, one RAN Gateway serves multiple WIBs; several wireless Internet base stations (WIB) 603 are used to manage one or more cells, and realize data and control with user terminals For the wireless transmission and reception of signaling, one WIB603 is only served by one RAN Gateway602; and the packet switching bearer network 604 is used to transmit the interactive information among RNC Server, RAN Gateway and WIB. RNC Server 601 and each RAN Gateway 602 are directly connected to CN, RNC Server 601, all RAN Gateways 602 and all WIBs 603 are respectively connected to the same packet switching bearer network 604 through their own logical interfaces, so that between WIBs, between WIBs and RAN Gateways, The RAN Gateway and the RNC Server can communicate with each other through their respective logical interfaces.

The above-mentioned access network structure is equivalent to replacing Node B with WIB, dividing the original RNC into two parts, RANGateway and RNC Server, and moving most of the resource management functions of RNC to WIB, and the data processing and control signaling of RNC itself Processing functions are also separated. RANGateway processes access layer user information, while RNC Server only processes control signaling. Figure 7 is the user plane access layer protocol stack model suitable for the access network structure shown in Figure 6. The part on the left side of the dotted line in Figure 7 represents the layered correspondence between the user terminal (UE) and the WIB, and the part on the right The part on the side is a layered transmission model between UE, WIB and RAN Gateway, where Uu represents the interface between UE and WIB. It can be seen that, for user plane data information, WIB can realize the processing of PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer and PDCP layer protocol, which is more conducive to the realization of functions in WIB and the improvement of efficiency. For example: the feedback retransmission mechanism suitable for the RLC layer is implemented in the WIB. In this embodiment, the WIB is the base station in the present invention, and the network control unit responsible for processing the data part is the RAN Gateway.

As shown in Figure 7, when the UE sends a user data packet to the network, the specific implementation process is as follows:

1) On the UE side, since the structure of the protocol stack has not changed, the process of sending data on the UE side is consistent with the original process of WCDMA, that is, the data packet is sent to the PDCP, and the PDCP performs transmission control protocol/user datagram protocol/ The Internet protocol (TCP/UDP/IP) header is compressed and sent to RLC; RLC fragments and concatenates the data packet and sends it to MAC; MAC selects the appropriate transmission according to the current data packet and the configured transmission format combination set (TFCS) Format combination (TFC); finally, the physical layer sends the processed data packet to the base station after encoding and modulating according to the selected TFC.

2) On the base station side, since the structure of the protocol stack is completely different, the data processing process on the base station side is also different, which is equivalent to moving all the processing from the original RNC side to the base station side, specifically including the following steps:

2a. The physical layer on the base station side performs demodulation and decoding after receiving the data sent by the physical layer on the UE side.

2b. The physical layer on the base station side sends the decoded data to the MAC layer of the base station. After removing the corresponding MAC control header, the MAC sends the corresponding data packet to the RLC layer of the base station.

2c. The RLC layer at the base station side performs a reassembly function, reassembles the fragmented and concatenated data, and then sends the data packet to the PDCP layer of the base station.

2d. The PDCP layer on the base station side sequentially decompresses the compressed TCP/UDP/IP headers to obtain the original data packet originally sent by the UE to the PDCP.

2e. The base station sends this data packet to the RAN Gateway through the transmission bearer, and it is routed to the core network for further processing.

Similarly, the UE receives the data packet sent by the core network to the UE through the reverse process.

Fig. 8 is a control plane access layer protocol stack model suitable for the access network structure shown in Fig. 6. The part on the left side of the dotted line in Fig. 8 represents the layered correspondence between the user terminal (UE) and the WIB, and the part on the right side of the dotted line The part of is the layered transfer model between UE, WIB and RNC Server, where Uu represents the interface between UE and WIB. It can be seen that, for control plane information, the WIB can implement the processing of the PHY layer, the MAC layer, the RLC layer and the RRC layer protocol, while the RNC only implements the processing of the RRC layer protocol. In this embodiment, the base station in the present invention refers to the WIB, and the network control unit responsible for processing the control signaling part is the RNC Server.

As shown in Figure 8, when the UE sends a high-level signaling message to the network, its specific implementation process is as follows:

1) On the UE side, since the structure of the protocol stack has not changed, the process of sending signaling messages on the UE side is consistent with the original process of WCDMA, that is: RRC encapsulates the signaling messages of this layer into data packets and sends them to the RLC layer; RLC fragments and concatenates the data packet and sends it to the MAC layer; MAC selects the appropriate TFC according to the current data packet and the configured TFCS; finally, the physical layer encodes and modulates the packet according to the selected TFC and sends it to the base station.

2) On the base station side, since the structure of the protocol stack is completely different, the process of processing signaling messages on the base station side is also different, which is equivalent to moving all the processing from the original RNC side to the base station side, specifically including the following steps:

2a. The physical layer on the base station side performs demodulation and decoding after receiving the signaling message sent by the physical layer on the UE side.

2b. The physical layer on the base station side sends the decoded data to the MAC layer, and the MAC removes the corresponding MAC control header, and sends the corresponding data packet to the RLC layer.

2c. The RLC layer at the base station side performs a reassembly function, reassembles the fragmented and concatenated data, and then sends the data packet to the RRC layer of the base station.

2d. The RRC of the base station usually directly parses this message and performs corresponding processing, such as connection establishment and measurement report.

2e. After a processing process is completed, the RRC at the base station side directly notifies the RRC layer of the RNC Server of the processing result through the transmission bearer of the message, and then transfers the message to the core network through the Iu interface through the RNC Server for processing.

Similarly, the UE receives the signaling message of the core network and the RRC signaling message of the access network through the reverse process.

In the above-mentioned protocol stack processing model, the RRC layer is implemented by the RNC Server and the base station respectively. In view of the different functions in RRC, functions such as fast connection establishment, fast feedback, and resource scheduling are implemented in the base station, while functions similar to some data management, Data storage and the content that needs to deal with multiple base stations are implemented in RNC Server.

The method of the present invention is also applicable to the optimized existing access network structure. The so-called optimized access network structure refers to: redividing the functions of Node B and RNC, and moving the functions related to resource management and scheduling in RNC to Node B Realized in the implementation, Node B itself controls the allocation of its own resources. In this case, the RNC is the network control unit, and the Node B is the base station. Regardless of whether the UE transmits data or control signaling, as shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5, the Node B performs the PHY layer and MAC Layer, RLC layer, and PDCP layer or RRC layer protocol processing, and then send the obtained UE original transmission data, or the processing result after completing the operation according to the signaling sent by the UE, to the RNC, and send it to the core network for further processing via the RNC.

The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (7)

1. A communication method for completing the processing of each protocol layer by the base station side, characterized in that a protocol layer corresponding to each protocol layer of the user terminal side is set on the physical layer of the base station side; When the user terminal sends user data to the network, the user terminal sends the data packets processed by its own protocol layers from its own physical layer to the physical layer of the base station to which it belongs, and each protocol layer on the base station side processes the received data packets. After processing, the original data packet sent by the user terminal is obtained, and then the base station sends the parsed user data to the core network through the network control unit; When a user terminal sends a signaling message to the network, the signaling message is first processed by each protocol layer on the user terminal side, and then sent to the physical layer of the base station to which the user terminal belongs through the physical layer on the user terminal side, and then passed through each protocol layer on the base station side. Layer processing parses out the signaling message, and then the base station performs corresponding processing according to the content of the signaling message, and then sends the processing result to the core network through the network control unit. 2. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the processing of user data by each protocol layer on the user terminal side specifically includes: The data packets to be sent are sequentially compressed by the transmission control protocol/user datagram protocol/internet protocol header by the packet data compression protocol layer and then sent to the wireless link control layer; the wireless link control layer fragments and concatenates the data packets After that, it is sent to the media access control layer; the media access control layer selects the appropriate transmission format combination; finally, the physical layer performs coding and modulation according to the selected transmission format combination, and then sends the processed data packet to the physical layer of the base station to which it belongs. 3. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that the processing of data packets by each protocol layer on the base station side specifically includes: a1. After the physical layer on the base station side receives the data sent by the physical layer on the user terminal side, it demodulates and decodes it; b1. The physical layer sends the decoded data to the media access control layer of the base station, and the media access control layer removes the corresponding media access control header and sends the corresponding data packet to the wireless link control layer of the base station side; c1. The wireless link control layer reassembles the fragmented and concatenated data, and then sends the data packet to the packet data compression protocol layer of the base station; d1. The packet data compression protocol layer sequentially decompresses the compressed transmission control protocol/user datagram protocol/internet protocol header to obtain the original data packet originally sent by the user terminal. After that, the base station passes the bearer between itself and the network control unit The network sends the analyzed data packet to the network control unit. 4. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the processing of signaling messages by each protocol layer on the user terminal side specifically includes: The radio resource control protocol layer encapsulates the signaling message of this layer into a data packet and sends it to the radio link control layer; the radio link control layer fragments and concatenates the data packet and sends it to the media access control layer; the media access control The layer selects the appropriate transmission format combination; finally, the physical layer performs coding and modulation according to the selected transmission format combination, and then sends the processed data packet to the physical layer of the base station to which the user terminal belongs. 5. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the processing of signaling messages by each protocol layer on the base station side specifically includes: a2. After the physical layer on the base station side receives the signaling message sent by the physical layer on the user terminal side, it performs demodulation and decoding; b2. The physical layer sends the decoded data to the media access control layer of the base station, and the media access control layer removes the corresponding media access control header and sends the corresponding data packet to the wireless link control layer of the base station side; c2. The radio link control layer reassembles the fragmented and concatenated data, and then sends the data packet to the radio resource control layer on the base station side; d2. The radio resource control layer on the base station side analyzes the signaling message and performs corresponding processing. After the processing process is completed, the radio resource control layer on the base station side passes the processing result of the signaling message through the bearer between the base station side and the network control unit The network notifies the radio resource control layer of the network control element. 6. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the network control unit is a radio network controller without resource management and scheduling functions; the base station side processes the analyzed data or signaling messages through the The radio network controller sends it to the core network. 7. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the network control unit is a combination of a wireless access network gateway responsible for processing the data part and a wireless network control server responsible for processing the control signaling part, and the base station will parse The outgoing user data is routed to the core network via the radio access network gateway; the base station transfers the processing result of the signaling message to the core network via the radio network control server.

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