US-12621254-B2 - Method and apparatus for a data transmission over a tunnel between donor distributed units

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to communication in an IAB network. According to some embodiments of the disclosure, a source donor distributed unit (DU) of a base station comprises a processor and a transceiver coupled to the processor. The source donor DU is coupled to a donor centralized unit (CU) of the base station, and the processor of the source donor DU is configured: to receive, from the donor CU of the base station, address information relating to at least one integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node; and to transmit, via the transceiver, a downlink packet to a target donor DU within at least one target donor DU, wherein the downlink packet is associated with the address information relating to the at least one IAB node.

Inventors

• Yibin ZHUO
• Mingzeng Dai
• Lianhai Wu
• Le Yan

Assignees

• LENOVO (BEIJING) LIMITED

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20211015

Claims (18)

1. 1 . A source donor distributed unit (DU) of a base station, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory, wherein the source donor DU is coupled to a donor centralized unit (CU) of the base station, and the at least one processor is configured to cause the source donor DU to: receive, from the donor CU of the base station, address information relating to at least one integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node; and transmit a downlink packet to a target donor DU within at least one target donor DU via a tunnel between the source donor DU and the target donor DU based on differentiating one or more downlink packets for the at least one IAB node from one or more downlink packets for a migration IAB node or a descendant IAB node, wherein the downlink packet is associated with the address information relating to the at least one IAB node.
2. 2 . The source donor DU of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the source donor DU to receive, from the donor CU, configuration information regarding a mapping relationship between a subset of the address information and the target donor DU, wherein the downlink packet is associated with the subset of the address information.
3. 3 . The source donor DU of claim 2 , wherein the at least one IAB node is: a migration IAB node, wherein the migration IAB node is migrated from the source donor DU to the target donor DU; or one or more descendant IAB nodes of the migration IAB node.
4. 4 . The source donor DU of claim 3 , wherein the address information includes at least one of: at least one internet protocol (IP) address of the migration IAB node; or at least one IP address of each of the one or more descendant IAB nodes of the migration IAB node.
5. 5 . The source donor DU of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive, from the donor CU, identification information relating to the at least one target donor DU.
6. 6 . The source donor DU of claim 5 , wherein the identification information includes at least one of: an identifier (ID) of a tunnel between the source donor DU and the target donor DU within the at least one target donor DU; or a peer internet protocol (IP) address of the target donor DU, wherein the peer IP address is associated with the tunnel between the source donor DU and the target donor DU.
7. 7 . A source donor centralized unit (CU) of a base station, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory, wherein the source donor CU is coupled to a source donor DU of the base station, and the at least one processor is configured to cause the source donor CU to: generate identification information relating to at least one target donor distributed unit (DU), so that a downlink packet can be transmitted from the source donor DU to a target donor DU within at least one target donor DU, wherein each target donor DU within the at least one target donor DU has a path to at least one integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, wherein the at least one IAB node is a migration IAB node which is migrated from the source donor DU to the target DU; receive, from a target donor CU, information regarding the at least one target donor DU in response to the migration JAB node performing an inter-CU migration procedure from the source donor DU that is connected to the source donor CU to the target donor DU that is connected to the target donor CU; and transmit the identification information relating to the target donor DU to the source donor DU.
8. 8 . The source donor CU of claim 7 , wherein the identification information includes at least one of: an identifier (ID) of a tunnel between the source donor DU and the target donor DU; or a peer internet protocol (IP) address of the target donor DU within the target donor DU, wherein the peer IP address is associated with the tunnel between the source donor DU and the target donor DU.
9. 9 . A source donor centralized unit (CU) of a base station, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the source donor CU to: receive identification information relating to at least one target donor distributed unit (DU), wherein the identification information identifies a backhaul adaptation protocol (BAP) address or a BAP routing identifier (ID) for each of the at least one target donor DU; and transmit indication information to an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, wherein the indication information indicating whether a tunnel between a source donor DU and the at least one target donor DU has been setup, wherein the source donor DU is a backhaul link destination of one or more uplink (UL) packets, and wherein the one or more UL packets are rerouted to the at least one target donor DU based on a current path between the IAB node and the source donor DU being unavailable and the indication information indicating that the tunnel between the source donor DU and the at least one target donor DU has been setup.
10. 10 . The source donor CU of claim 9 , wherein the indication information includes at least one of: configuration information regarding a backup BAP address for the BAP address of a target donor DU within the at least one target donor DU; configuration information regarding a backup BAP routing identifier (ID) for a BAP routing ID of the target donor DU; configuration information regarding an unavailable BAP address for the BAP address; or configuration information regarding an unavailable BAP routing ID for the BAP routing ID.
11. 11 . The source donor CU of claim 10 , wherein: if the BAP address identified by the identification information is of the at least one target donor DU and the tunnel between the source donor DU and the at least one target donor DU has been setup, the indication information includes the configuration information regarding the backup BAP address for the BAP address; if the BAP routing ID identified by the identification information is of the at least one target donor DU and the tunnel between the source donor DU and the at least one target donor DU has been setup, the indication information includes the configuration information regarding the backup BAP routing ID for the BAP routing ID; if the BAP address identified by the identification information is of a target donor DU of the at least one target donor DU and the tunnel between the source donor DU and the target donor DU has not been setup, the indication information includes the configuration information regarding the unavailable BAP address for the BAP address; and if the BAP routing ID identified by the identification information is of the target donor DU of the at least one target donor DU and the tunnel between the source donor DU and the target donor DU has not been setup, the indication information includes the configuration information regarding the unavailable BAP routing ID for the BAP routing ID.
12. 12 . The source donor CU of claim 9 , wherein the identification information is received from a target donor CU, in response to the IAB node performing an inter CU migration procedure from the source donor DU that is connected to the source donor CU to a target donor DU that is connected to the target donor CU within the at least one target donor DU.
13. 13 . A method performed by a source donor distributed unit (DU) of a base station, the method comprising: receiving, from a donor centralized unit (CU) of the base station, address information relating to at least one integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, wherein the source donor DU is coupled to the donor CU of the base station; and transmitting a downlink packet to a target donor DU within at least one target donor DU via tunnel between the source donor DU and the target donor DU based on differentiating one or more downlink packets for the at least one IAB node from one or more downlink packets for a migration IAB node or a descendant IAB node, wherein the downlink packet is associated with the address information relating to the at least one IAB node.
14. 14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising receiving, from the donor CU, configuration information regarding a mapping relationship between a subset of the address information and the target donor DU, wherein the downlink packet is associated with the subset of the address information.
15. 15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the at least one IAB node is: a migration IAB node, wherein the migration IAB node is migrated from the source donor DU to the target donor DU; or one or more descendant IAB nodes of the migration IAB node.
16. 16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the address information includes at least one of: at least one internet protocol (IP) address of the migration IAB node; or at least one IP address of each of the one or more descendant IAB nodes of the migration IAB node.
17. 17 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising: receiving, from the donor CU, identification information relating to the at least one target donor DU.
18. 18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the identification information includes at least one of: an identifier (ID) of a tunnel between the source donor DU and the target donor DU within the at least one target donor DU; or a peer internet protocol (IP) address of the target donor DU, wherein the peer IP address is associated with the tunnel between the source donor DU and the target donor DU.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to communication technology, and more particularly to a data transmission over a tunnel between donor distributed units (DUs) in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network. BACKGROUND Communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services, such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Communication systems may employ multiple access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of communication systems may include fourth generation (4G) systems, such as long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may also be referred to as new radio (NR) systems. To extend the coverage and availability of communication systems (e.g., 5G systems), the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) is envisioning IAB architecture for supporting multi-hop relays. In an IAB network, an IAB node may hop through one or more IAB nodes before reaching a base station (also referred to as “an IAB donor” or “a donor node”). A single hop may be considered a special instance of multiple hops. Multi-hop backhauling is beneficial because it provides a relatively greater coverage extension compared to single-hop backhauling. In a relatively high frequency radio communication system (e.g., radio signals transmitted in frequency bands over 6 GHz), relatively narrow or less signal coverage may benefit from multi-hop backhauling techniques. The industry desires technologies for handling communications in the IAB network. SUMMARY Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a source donor distributed unit (DU) of a base station. The source donor DU comprises a processor and a transceiver coupled to the processor. The source donor DU is coupled to a donor centralized unit (CU) of the base station, and the processor of the source donor DU is configured: to receive, from the donor CU of the base station, address information relating to at least one IAB node; and to transmit, via the transceiver, a downlink packet to a target donor DU within at least one target donor DU, wherein the downlink packet is associated with the address information relating to the at least one IAB node. Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a source donor DU of a base station. The source donor DU is coupled to a centralized unit (CU) of the base station. The method may include: receiving, from the donor CU of the base station, address information relating to at least one IAB node; and transmitting a downlink packet to a target donor DU within at least one target donor DU, wherein the downlink packet is associated with the address information relating to the at least one IAB node. Some embodiments of the present application provide an apparatus. The apparatus includes: a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions, a receiving circuitry; a transmitting circuitry; and a processor coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the receiving circuitry and the transmitting circuitry, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to implement the abovementioned method performed by a source donor DU of a base station. Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a source donor centralized unit (CU) of a base station. The source donor CU is coupled to a source donor DU of the base station. The source donor CU comprises a processor and a transceiver coupled to the processor; and the processor is configured: to generate identification information relating to at least one target donor distributed unit (DU), so that a downlink packet can be transmitted from the source donor DU to the target donor DU, wherein each target donor DU within the at least one target donor DU has a path to at least one IAB node; and to transmit, via the transceiver, the identification information relating to the target donor DU to the source donor DU. Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a source donor CU of a base station. The source donor CU is coupled to a source donor DU of the base station. The method may include: generating identification information relating to at least one target donor distributed unit (DU), so that a downlink packet can be transmitted from the source donor DU to the target donor DU, wherein each target donor DU within the at least one target donor DU has a path to at least one IAB node; and transmitting the identification information relating to the target donor DU to a source donor DU. Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a source donor CU of a base station. The source donor CU comprises a processor and a transceiver coupled to the processor; and the processor is configured: to receive, via the transcei