PACKING SOURCE DATA PACKETS INTO TRANSPORTING PACKETS WITH FRAGMENTATION

US 20110033048A1
Filed: 09/20/2010
Published: 02/10/2011
Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2001
Status: Active Grant

First Claim

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1. A system for a subscriber unit which maps data bursts to an uplink frame and transmits the mapped data bursts over a communication link, the system comprising:

a first module configured to receive service data units (SDUs) and classify the SDUs in a plurality of queues based upon SDU characteristics, each queue for serving a service-specific connection established at the subscriber unit; and

a second module adapted to determine the length of a protocol data unit (PDU) for each connection based on one or more communication parameters characterizing the traffic on the respective connection, and to map the SDUs received from the respective queue into the respective PDU.

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Abstract

A communication system and method are disclosed for transmitting packets of information in at least one first format over a communications link that utilizes packets of information in a second format. In certain embodiments, the packets of information in a first format are converted to packets of information in the second format prior to transmission via the communications link by packing and fragmenting the information in the first format in a coordinated manner. Embodiments may also utilize packing subheaders and fragmentation control bits in the packing and fragmentation processes.

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36 Claims

1. A system for a subscriber unit which maps data bursts to an uplink frame and transmits the mapped data bursts over a communication link, the system comprising:
- a first module configured to receive service data units (SDUs) and classify the SDUs in a plurality of queues based upon SDU characteristics, each queue for serving a service-specific connection established at the subscriber unit; and
  
  a second module adapted to determine the length of a protocol data unit (PDU) for each connection based on one or more communication parameters characterizing the traffic on the respective connection, and to map the SDUs received from the respective queue into the respective PDU.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
- - 2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second module is configured to execute a packing operation by inserting one or more SDUs from a queue into a PDU.
  - 3. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second module is configured to execute a packing and fragmenting operation, wherein packing of SDUs into PDUs is coordinated with fragmenting of SDUs based on the length of the PDU as established for the respective connection, for maximizing the amount of data mapped to the payload field of the PDU.
  - 4. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for formatting PDUs on a connection that carries fixed length SDUs, the second module is configured to execute a packing operation by:
    - suppressing the header of the SDUs;
      
      packing one or more SDUs into the payload field of a PDU; and
      
      specifying in the header of the PDU the number and the length of the SDUs packed in the PDU,wherein the length of the PDU established for the respective connection is further adjusted so as to accommodate an integer number of SDUs.
  - 5. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for formatting a PDU for a connection that carries variable length SDUs, the second module is configured to execute a packing operation by:
    - packing the SDUs into the payload field of the PDU;
      
      inserting a packing sub-header in the payload field of the PDU for each variable length SDU packed in the PDU; and
      
      in the header of the PDU, specifying the length of the PDU and providing an indication that the PDU contains variable length SDUs.
  - 6. A system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the packing sub-header provides the length of the respective SDU.
  - 7. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second module executes a fragmentation and packing operation, by:
    - packing one or more SDUs into the payload field of the PDU;
      
      fragmenting a next SDU into a first and a second fragment, the first fragment having a length comparable to the length of a remaining field of the payload field of the PDU;
      
      mapping the first fragment to the remaining field; and
      
      inserting a fragmentation sub-header in the PDU to indicate the fragmentation state of the payload and to identify the first fragment as being a first fragment.
  - 8. A system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the PDU includes a fragmentation control field identifying the SDU fragment.
  - 9. A system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the second module is configured to continue the packing and fragmenting operation for formatting a next PDU by:
    - mapping the second fragment to the beginning of the next PDU; and
      
      inserting a fragmentation sub-header in the next PDU, to indicate the fragmentation state of the payload and to identify the last fragment as being a last fragment.
  - 10. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the second module is further configured to continue the packing and fragmenting operation for formatting the next PDU by:
    - further fragmenting the second fragment if the length of the second fragment is larger than the length of the payload field of the next PDU, to obtain a third fragment of a length comparable to the length of the payload field of the next PDU;
      
      mapping the third fragment to the beginning of the next PDU; and
      
      inserting a fragmentation sub-header after the PDU header of the next PDU, to indicate the fragmentation state of the payload and to identify the third fragment.
  - 11. A system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a third module for mapping the PDUs to the uplink frame.
  - 12. A system as claimed in claim 11, further comprising an encryption module which encodes the PDUs before mapping to the uplink frame, for secure transmission of the data carried by the PDUs.
  - 13. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said encryption module performs encoding over a physical layer information element (PI) comprised of a pre-defined number of bits.
  - 14. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the encryption module performs one or more of Reed-Solomon encoding, convolutional encoding, and turbo code encoding.
  - 15. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the third module is configured to perform a three stage mapping process comprising:
    - mapping the PDUs to fixed sized transport units;
      
      formatting each fixed sized transport units into a physical information element (PI); and
      
      mapping the PIs to physical slots (PS) of the uplink frame.
  - 16. A system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the number of PSs used for mapping a PI depends on the modulation format used for transmitting the PDU.
  - 17. A system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the third module fragments data carried by a PDU into a multiple integer number of transport units and an additional shortened transport unit, for creating a multiple integer number of PIs and a fractional and shortened PI.
  - 18. A system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the third module fragments data carried by a PDU into a multiple integer number of transport units to create a multiple integer number of PIs.

19. A method for mapping data bursts to uplink frames and transmitting the frames over a communication link from one or more subscriber units to a base station, comprising, at a subscriber unit:
- classifying service data units (SDUs) in a plurality of queues based upon SDU characteristics, each queue for serving a service-specific connection;
  
  determining the length of a protocol data unit (PDU) for each connection based on one or more communication parameters characterizing the traffic on the respective connection; and
  
  mapping the SDUs received from the respective queue into the respective protocol data units (PDUs).
- View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
- - 20. A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the SDU characteristics include a connection identification, a SDU type and a SDU length.
  - 21. A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the communication parameters include one or more of a connection type, a SDU type, a SDU length and an amount of bandwidth allocated currently to the connection.
  - 22. A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the communication parameters include one or more of a current bandwidth allocated to the respective connection, whereby the length of the PDU changes when the bandwidth allocated to the connection in the uplink frame changes.
  - 23. A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the step of mapping comprises packing one or more SDUs from a respective queue into the respective PDU.
  - 24. A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the step of mapping comprises a packing and fragmenting operation, wherein packing of SDUs into PDUs is coordinated with fragmenting of SDUs based on the length of the PDU as established for the respective connection, for maximizing the amount of data mapped to the payload field of the respective PDU.
  - 25. A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein, for formatting a PDU for a connection that carries variable length SDUs, the step of mapping comprises:
    - packing the SDUs into the payload field of the PDU;
      
      inserting a packing sub-header in the payload field of the PDU for each variable length SDU packed in the PDU; and
      
      in the header of the PDU, specifying the length of the PDU and providing an indication that the PDU contains variable length SDUs.
  - 26. A method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the packing sub-header provides the length of the respective SDU.
  - 27. A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the step of mapping comprises:
    - packing one or more SDUs into the payload field of the PDU;
      
      fragmenting the next SDU into a first and a second fragment, the first fragment having a length comparable to the length of a remaining field of the payload field of the PDU;
      
      mapping the first fragment to the remaining field; and
      
      inserting a fragmentation sub-header into the PDU to indicate the fragmentation state of the payload and to identify the first fragment as being a first fragment.
  - 28. A method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the PDU includes a fragmentation control field identifying the SDU fragment.any SDU fragment includes a fragmentation control field identifying the SDU fragment.
  - 29. A method as claimed in claim 28, wherein step of mapping further comprises:
    - mapping the second fragment to the beginning of a next PDU; and
      
      inserting a fragmentation sub-header after the PDU header of the next PDU, to indicate the fragmentation state of the payload and to identify the last fragment as being a last fragment.
  - 30. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the step of mapping further comprises:
    - further fragmenting the second fragment if the length of the second fragment is larger than the length of the payload field of the next PDU, to obtain a third fragment of a length comparable to the length of the payload field of the next PDU;
      
      mapping the third fragment to the beginning of the next PDU; and
      
      inserting a fragmentation sub-header to indicate the fragmentation state of the payload and to identify the third fragment.
  - 31. A method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising mapping the PDUs to an uplink frame using a modulation format established based on a status of the communication link.
  - 32. A method as claimed in claim 31, further comprisingencoding the PDUs before mapping to the uplink frame, for secure transmission of the data carried by the PDUs;
    - andtransmitting the uplink frame over an air interface.
  - 33. A method as claimed in claim 31, wherein the step of mapping the PDUs to the uplink frame comprises:
    - mapping PDUs to fixed sized transport units;
      
      formatting each TC data unit (TDU) into a physical information element (PI); and
      
      mapping the PIs to physical layer slots (PS) of the uplink frame.
  - 34. A method as claimed in claim 33, wherein the number of PSs used for mapping a PI depends on the modulation format assigned to the connection on which the PDU is transmitted.
  - 35. A method as claimed in claim 33, wherein mapping PDUs to transport units comprises fragmenting data carried by a PDU into a multiple integer number of TDUs and an additional shortened TDU, for creating a multiple integer number of PIs and a fractional and shortened PI.
  - 36. A method as claimed in claim 33, wherein mapping PDUs to TDUs comprises fragmenting data carried by a PDU into a multiple integer number of TDUs to create a multiple integer number of PIs.

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Current Assignee
Quarterhill Inc. (f/k/a Wi-LAN Inc.)
Original Assignee
Quarterhill Inc. (f/k/a Wi-LAN Inc.)
Inventors
Stanwood, Kenneth L., Johnson, Robert M., Wang, Stanley

Granted Patent

US 8,311,040 B2
Time in Patent Office

Days
Field of Search
US Class Current

380/255
CPC Class Codes

H04L 1/0003   by switching between differ...

H04L 1/0042   Encoding specially adapted ...

H04L 5/0044   allocation of payload

H04L 69/04   Protocols for data compress...

H04L 69/22   Parsing or analysis of headers

H04W 28/0205   at the air interface dynami...

H04W 28/0263   involving mapping traffic t...

H04W 28/065   using assembly or disassemb...

H04W 72/04   Wireless resource allocation

H04W 72/0446   Resources in time domain, e...

H04W 72/23   in the downlink direction o...

H04W 76/10   Connection setup

PACKING SOURCE DATA PACKETS INTO TRANSPORTING PACKETS WITH FRAGMENTATION

First Claim

3 Assignments

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Abstract

146 Citations

36 Claims

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PACKING SOURCE DATA PACKETS INTO TRANSPORTING PACKETS WITH FRAGMENTATION

First Claim

3 Assignments

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0 Petitions

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Accused Products

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Abstract

146 Citations

36 Claims

Specification

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Solutions

Use Cases

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