CN106171003A

CN106171003A - Data transmission method and equipment

Info

Publication number: CN106171003A
Application number: CN201480010657.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘菁; 曾清海; 戴明增
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Chongqing Ziteng Culture Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2014-11-14
Filing date: 2014-11-14
Publication date: 2016-11-30
Anticipated expiration: 2034-11-14
Also published as: CN106171003B; WO2016074222A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the present invention provides a kind of data transmission method and equipment, and the method includes that base station obtains downlink data, and downlink data includes that base station is sent to the protocol Data Unit of subscriber equipment；Base station sends protocol Data Unit to shunting device, the MAC address of base station and the MAC Address of subscriber equipment, the MAC Address of base station and the MAC Address of subscriber equipment are for branching to subscriber equipment via shunting device by WLAN by protocol Data Unit.The embodiment of the present invention ensure that the business continuance in branching process.

Description

Data transmission method and equipment

Technical Field

The present invention relates to communications technologies, and in particular, to a data transmission method and device.

Background

With the rapid development of smart phones, more and more mobile communication terminals integrate communication modules of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). On the other hand, as the demand for mobile broadband continues to increase, existing (e.g., wireless cellular) communication systems are under pressure for greater and greater data traffic.

The wireless cellular network has the advantages of wide coverage range, support of high-speed movement and the like, has the defects of low data rate, high price, large transmission power and the like, and is more suitable for scenes such as high-speed movement, outdoor large-range activities and the like. The WLAN has the advantages of high data rate, low price, low transmission power, and the like, and has a small coverage area, and is relatively suitable for scenes such as relative stillness, indoor small-range activities, and the like. In consideration of the respective advantages and disadvantages of the wireless cellular network and the wireless local area network, a feasible method is to fuse the wireless cellular technology and the WLAN technology, and utilize the WLAN to shunt the data traffic of the wireless cellular communication system, thereby improving the user experience and realizing efficient and low-cost communication.

At present, a communication technology is known, in which a User Equipment (User Equipment, UE for short) has access to an Evolved Packet Core (EPC for short) through a base station, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) connection is established through a Packet Data Network-Gateway (PDN-GW). Subsequently, the UE may Access the EPC through, for example, a Trusted Wireless Local Area Network Access Network (TWAN), and the TWAN may select a certain PDN-GW to create a PDN connection, thereby implementing mutual convergence of a Wireless cellular technology and a WLAN technology.

However, the technology cannot guarantee service continuity, and user experience is seriously affected.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a data transmission method and device, which ensure service continuity and improve user experience while implementing offloading.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for transmitting data, including:

a base station acquires downlink data, wherein the downlink data comprises a protocol data unit to be sent to user equipment by the base station;

the base station sends the protocol data unit to a shunting device, the Media Access Control (MAC) address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for shunting the protocol data unit to the user equipment through a wireless local area network via the shunting device.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, when the offloading device is a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP, the sending, by the base station, the protocol data unit to the offloading device, where a MAC address of the base station and a MAC address of the user equipment specifically include:

the base station sends the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, the MAC address of the user equipment is used for the WLAN AP to send the protocol data unit to the user equipment, and the MAC address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station.

With reference to the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, when the offloading device includes a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP and a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC, the sending, by the base station, the protocol data unit to the offloading device, where a MAC address of the base station and a MAC address of the user equipment specifically include:

the base station sends the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AC, and the base station is used for the WLAN AC to send the protocol data unit to the WLAN AP through a CAPWAP tunnel, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment, the MAC address of the user equipment is used for sending the protocol data unit to the user equipment, and the MAC address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station.

With reference to the first or second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the base station sends, to the WLAN AP or the WLAN AC, a bearer identifier for carrying the protocol data unit.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the base station sends a MAC address of the base station to the user equipment;

and the base station receives the MAC address of the user equipment sent by the user equipment.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to fourth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the MAC address of the base station is a source address, and the MAC address of the user equipment is a destination address.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to fifth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the base station sends an internet protocol, IP, address of the base station to the user equipment;

and the base station receives the IP address of the user equipment sent by the user equipment.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for transmitting data, including:

the base station sends the protocol data unit, the internet protocol IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment to the shunting equipment, and the protocol data unit is shunted to the user equipment through the wireless local area network by the shunting equipment.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, when the offloading device includes a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP and a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC, the sending, by the base station, the protocol data unit to the offloading device, where an IP address of the base station and an external network IP address of the user equipment specifically include:

the base station sends the protocol data unit to the WLAN AC, the IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment are used for the WLAN AC to send the protocol data unit to the WLAN AP, the IP address of the base station and the internal network IP address of the user equipment, the IP address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station, and the external network IP address of the user equipment is used for the WLAN AC to determine that the protocol data unit is to be sent to the user equipment and used for the WLAN AC to obtain the internal network IP address of the user equipment.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect,

and the base station sends a bearer identification corresponding to the protocol data unit to the WLAN AC.

With reference to the second aspect, or the first or second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the base station instructs the user equipment to send, to the base station through the wireless local area network, at least one of the following data packets:

an IP data packet, a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) data packet or a User Data Protocol (UDP) data packet;

the at least one data packet includes an intranet IP address of the user equipment.

With reference to the second aspect, or the first to third possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the base station sends an IP address of the base station to the user equipment.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the at least one data packet further includes a UDP port number of the user equipment and a UDP port number of the base station, or includes a TCP port number of the user equipment and a TCP port number of the base station.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a base station, including:

a receiving unit, configured to obtain downlink data, where the downlink data includes a protocol data unit to be sent by a base station to a user equipment;

a sending unit, configured to send the protocol data unit to a offloading device, where the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used to offload the protocol data unit to the user equipment through a wireless local area network via the offloading device.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, when the offloading device is a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP, the sending unit is specifically configured to:

and sending the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, wherein the MAC address of the user equipment is used for the WLAN AP to send the protocol data unit to the user equipment, and the MAC address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station.

With reference to the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, when the offloading device includes a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP and a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC, the sending unit is specifically configured to:

and sending the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AC, wherein the protocol data unit is sent to the WLAN AP by the WLAN AC through a wireless access point control and CAPWAP tunnel configuration, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for sending the protocol data unit to the user equipment, and the MAC address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station.

With reference to the third aspect, or in the first or second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the sending unit is further configured to:

and sending a bearer identifier corresponding to the protocol data unit to the WLAN AP or the WLAN AC.

With reference to the third aspect, or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the sending unit is further configured to send the MAC address of the base station to the user equipment;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive an address of the MAC of the user equipment sent by the user equipment.

With reference to the third aspect, or any one of the first to fourth possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the MAC address of the base station is a source address, and the MAC address of the user equipment is a destination address.

With reference to the third aspect, or any one of the first to fifth possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the sending unit is further configured to send an internet protocol, IP, address of the base station to the user equipment;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive the IP address of the user equipment sent by the user equipment.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a base station, including:

and the sending unit is used for sending the protocol data unit, the Internet protocol IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment to the shunting equipment and shunting the protocol data unit to the user equipment through the wireless local area network by the shunting equipment.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, when the offloading device includes a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP and a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC, the sending unit is specifically configured to:

and sending the protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment to the WLAN AC, wherein the protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the internal network IP address of the user equipment are sent to the WLAN AP by the WLAN AC, the IP address of the base station is used for determining that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station by the user equipment, and the external network IP address of the user equipment is used for determining that the protocol data unit is to be sent to the user equipment by the WLAN AC and obtaining the internal network IP address of the user equipment by the WLAN AC.

With reference to the fourth aspect, or in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the sending unit is further configured to:

and sending a bearer identifier corresponding to the protocol data unit to the WLAN AC.

With reference to the fourth aspect, or the first or second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the sending unit is further configured to instruct the user equipment to send, to the base station through the wireless local area network, at least one of the following data packets:

With reference to the fourth aspect, or in the first to third possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the sending unit is further configured to send the IP address of the base station to the user equipment.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the at least one data packet further includes a UDP port number of the user equipment and a UDP port number of the base station, or includes a TCP port number of the user equipment and a TCP port number of the base station. The embodiment of the invention provides a method and equipment for transmitting data, wherein in the data distribution process, a base station is used as a convergent point and a distribution point, and the base station is sensitive to the quality change of a network link of a wireless local area network, so that the service continuity is ensured, the user experience is improved, and the service discontinuity caused by insensitivity to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network when an EPC is used as the convergent point and the distribution point is avoided.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a scenario for transmitting data according to the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication relationship among protocol stacks in a base station, a UE, and a WLAN AP according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration structure of each protocol stack in a base station, a UE, and a WLAN AP according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of transmitting data in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 shows an architectural diagram of an implementation of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 4;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration structure of each protocol stack in the base station, the UE and the WLAN AP according to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in fig. 4;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration structure of each protocol stack in the base station, the UE and the WLAN AP according to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in fig. 4;

FIG. 8 illustrates an architecture diagram of another implementation of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 4;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration structure of each protocol stack in the base station, the UE, the WLAN AP and the WLAN ac according to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in fig. 4;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration structure of each protocol stack in the base station, the UE, the WLAN AP and the WLAN ac according to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in fig. 4;

FIG. 11 shows a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of transmitting data of a further embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 shows an architectural diagram of the further embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 11;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration structure of each protocol stack in the base station, the UE, the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC according to the further embodiment of the present invention shown in fig. 11;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The technical solution of the present invention can be applied to various communication systems of a wireless cellular network, for example: a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) System, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) System, a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) System, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) System, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) System, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) System, etc., which are not limited in the present invention.

In the embodiment of the present invention, User Equipment (UE), which may also be referred to as a Mobile Terminal (Mobile Terminal), a Mobile User Equipment, and the like, may communicate with one or more core networks through a Radio Access Network (RAN, for example), and the User Equipment may be a Mobile Terminal, such as a Mobile phone (or a "cellular" phone) and a computer having the Mobile Terminal, such as a portable, pocket, handheld, computer-embedded, or vehicle-mounted Mobile device, which exchange languages and/or data with the Radio Access Network, which is not limited in the present invention.

The Base Station may be a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in GSM or CDMA, a Base Station (Node B) in WCDMA, or an evolved Node B (eNB or e-Node B) in LTE, and the present invention is not limited thereto. The base station also includes control nodes of various access Network nodes, such as a Radio Network interface Controller (RNC) in UMTS, or a Controller for managing multiple small base stations, and the like.

In the embodiment of the present invention, in order to offload data of a Wireless cellular Network, in the communication system of the present invention, a Wireless Local Area Network Access Point (WLAN AP) needs to be set, and the Wireless Local Area Network Access Point may be, for example, an Access Point in Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), which is not limited in the present invention.

The WLAN AP in the embodiment of the present invention has two network architectures: an autonomic management architecture and a centralized management architecture. The autonomous management architecture is also called a fat AP architecture, and the WLAN AP is responsible for tasks such as user equipment access, user equipment disconnection, authority authentication, security policy implementation, data forwarding, data encryption, network management and the like, and autonomously controls the configuration and wireless functions of the WLAN AP. The centralized management architecture is also called as a "thin" AP architecture, and the management right is generally centralized on a Wireless Local Area Network Access Controller (WLAN AC). The WLAN AC manages the IP address, authentication, encryption and the like of the user equipment, and the WLAN AP only has the functions of encryption, data forwarding and radio frequency and cannot work independently. A Control And configuration Wireless Access point (CAPWAP) standard protocol is adopted between the WLAN AP And the WLAN AC. For downlink data transmission, for example, data to be sent to the UE is encapsulated by the WLAN AC and sent through the CAPWAP tunnel, and forwarding processing of the data to be sent to the UE is implemented by the WLAN AP. Optionally, the WLAN AP may be integrated with a base station. Since the embodiment of the present invention mainly relates to the data forwarding function of the WLAN AP, both network architectures of the WLAN AP described above can be applied. For ease of understanding and explanation, the autonomous management architecture, i.e., the "thin" AP architecture, is used as an example, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a scenario for transmitting data according to the present invention, which provides a high-speed and stable service to a user equipment by adopting a mutual convergence of a wireless cellular network and a wireless local area network for a multi-Stream Aggregation (MSA) communication mode. As shown in fig. 1, taking a WLAN AP as an example, a base station may serve as a splitting point and a converging point of data, and transmit data (including uplink data or downlink data) of a UE via the WLAN AP, and the process is described in detail later. The uplink data or the downlink data may be a protocol data unit (PDU for short) of a certain protocol layer in an air interface protocol stack of the wireless cellular network, which is not limited in the present invention.

In the following, the MSA scenario is explained:

in the embodiment of the present invention, for downlink data (hereinafter referred to as downlink transmission) transmitted by a base station to a UE, the downlink data may include a first part of downlink data and a second part of downlink data. The base station shunts the first part of downlink data to the WLAN AP and then sends the first part of downlink data to the UE through the WLAN AP, or the base station shunts the first part of downlink data to the WLAN AC and then sends the first part of downlink data to the UE through the WLAN AP; the second part of downlink data is directly sent to the UE by the base station through the wireless cellular network, so that the transmission capacities of the wireless cellular network and the WLAN network can be simultaneously utilized to realize higher UE downlink peak transmission rate.

For uplink data transmitted by the UE to the base station (hereinafter referred to as uplink transmission), the uplink data may include a first part of uplink data and a second part of uplink data. The UE shunts the first part of uplink data to the WLAN AP and then sends the first part of uplink data to the base station through the WLAN AP, or the UE shunts the first part of uplink data to the WLAN AP and then sends the first part of uplink data to the base station through the WLAN AC; the second part of uplink data is directly sent to the base station by the UE through the wireless cellular network, so that the transmission capability of the wireless cellular network and the transmission capability of the WLAN network can be simultaneously utilized, and the higher uplink peak transmission rate of the UE can be realized.

During downlink transmission, the base station may transmit data to be shunted to the WLAN AP or the WLAN AC, and send the data to the UE through the WLAN AP or the WLAN AC in combination with the WLAN AP; in uplink transmission, the UE may send data to be offloaded to the WLAN AP and send the data to the base station through the WLAN AP or the WLAN AC in combination with the WLAN AP. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, protocol stacks for implementing communication among base stations, WLAN ACs, and WLAN APs need to be configured, and similarly, protocol stacks for implementing communication among UEs, WLAN ACs, and WLAN APs need to be configured.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication relationship among protocol stacks in a base station, a UE, and a WLAN AP according to an embodiment of the present invention. The protocol stack of the WLAN AC may refer to the protocol stack of the base station or WLAN AP and is not specifically expanded.

And a wireless local area network communication mode is adopted between the UE and the WLAN AP. In the UE, a protocol stack for implementing the wireless local area network communication, for example, a WiFi protocol stack, may be provided. Because the UE and the WLAN AP adopt a wireless local area network communication mode, the time-frequency resources used by the wireless local area network communication mode are different from the time-frequency resources used by the wireless cellular network communication between the UE and the base station, and therefore data transmitted between the base station and the UE can be distributed.

The communication between the WLAN AP and the base station, between the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC, or between the WLAN AC and the base station may be implemented in combination with an underlying protocol, such as an ethernet transport communication, for example, to communicate between the WLAN AP and the base station, or between the WLAN AC and the base station.

As shown in fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration structure of each protocol stack in a base station, a UE, and a WLAN AP according to an embodiment of the present invention. The following describes the configuration of the protocol stacks in the base station, WLAN AP and UE, respectively.

Next, a protocol stack configuration structure in the base station will be described.

Optionally, the base station has a base station protocol stack. In the embodiment of the present invention, the base station protocol stack may have a first base station protocol stack and a second base station protocol stack, where the first base station protocol stack is used to implement data processing for communication with the user equipment on the base station side, and the second base station protocol stack is used to implement data processing for communication with the WLAN AP or the WLAN AC on the base station side.

It should be understood that the first base station protocol stack is only an exemplary one, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and other protocol stacks capable of implementing communication between the base station and the user equipment at the base station (or access network node) side all fall within the scope of the present invention. Moreover, the communication between the base station and the ue includes communication between an access network Node capable of functioning as the base station and the ue, for example, a protocol stack capable of implementing communication between a Relay Node (RN) and the ue also falls within the protection scope of the present invention.

As the second base station protocol stack, a communication method such as ethernet transmission may be used. It should be understood that the above communication method is only an exemplary one, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and other protocol stacks capable of implementing communication between the WLAN AP and the base station at the base station side all fall within the protection scope of the present invention. The second base station protocol stack may be directly aggregated on at least one protocol layer of the first base station protocol stack through the internal interface, which is not limited in the present invention.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the first base station protocol stack or the second base station protocol stack may include a user plane protocol stack, or may also include a user plane protocol stack and a control plane protocol stack, and the present invention is not particularly limited. Hereinafter, the first base station protocol stack or the second base station protocol stack will be described as an example of a user plane protocol stack.

As shown in fig. 3, in the embodiment of the present invention, by way of example and not limitation, the first base station protocol stack may include the following protocol layers:

a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Media Access Control (MAC) layer, and a Physical (PHY) layer. The PDCP layer is mainly used for compressing and decompressing, encrypting and decrypting information; the RLC layer is mainly used for implementing a related function of an Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), segmenting and concatenating information or recombining segmented and concatenated information; the MAC layer is mainly used for selecting a transmission format combination, and implementing related functions of scheduling and Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ); the PHY layer is mainly used to provide information transmission services for the MAC layer and the upper layer, and performs coding modulation processing or demodulation decoding processing according to a selected transport format combination.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the PDCP layer aggregated in the first base station protocol stack by the second base station protocol stack is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, in the embodiment of the present invention, the second base station protocol stack may be aggregated with any one of the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, or the MAC layer of the first base station protocol stack, or even with the IP layer above the PDCP layer. In this embodiment, for ease of presentation, the protocol layer of the first base station protocol stack that aggregates the second base station protocol stack is referred to as the aggregation layer. The aggregation layer of the base station protocol stack of this embodiment has functions of aggregating data and splitting data. For example, the aggregation layer may be configured to aggregate uplink data transmitted between the ue and the base station through the WLAN AP and uplink data transmitted between the ue and the base station through the wireless cellular network; or, for splitting: the aggregation layer may be configured to offload downlink data transmitted between the base station and the user equipment through the WLAN AP and downlink data transmitted between the base station and the user equipment through the wireless cellular network. In an embodiment of the present invention, the polymeric layer may be: PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, or IP layer. In the embodiment of the present invention, when the aggregation layer is a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, an MAC layer, or an IP layer, the corresponding aggregation layer entity may be a PDCP entity, an RLC entity, an MAC entity, or an IP entity.

The following takes an aggregation layer of a first base station protocol stack as an example:

in the uplink transmission process, the aggregation layer of the first base station protocol stack is used for aggregating a first part of uplink data sent by the UE through the WLAN AP and a second part of uplink data sent by the UE to the base station through the wireless cellular network; in the downlink transmission process, an aggregation layer of a first base station protocol stack is used for splitting data generated by the aggregation layer into a first part of downlink data and a second part of downlink data, the base station processes the first part of downlink data and then sends the first part of downlink data to the UE through the WLAN AP, and the base station sends the second part of downlink data to the UE through the wireless cellular network. The details will be described below.

Taking the example of the base station acquiring data from the core network and transmitting the data to the user equipment, the base station may connect to the core network using an S1 interface. And, data can be obtained from the core network through the S1 interface, and then processed by protocol layers from high to low through the first base station protocol stack, until reaching the aggregation layer of the first base station protocol stack. The base station gives the first part of downlink data output after the aggregation layer is processed to the second base station protocol stack for processing, and the second base station protocol stack sends the processed first part of downlink data to the WLAN AP, so that the WLAN AP can send the first part of downlink data to the UE or the WLAN AP sends the first part of downlink data to the UE through the WLAN AC in combination with a wireless local area network communication mode. The first base station protocol stack may also send the second portion of the downlink data to the UE via the wireless cellular network. The UE aggregates the first part of downlink data and the second part of downlink data received directly from the cellular network at an aggregation layer of the first user equipment protocol stack, and submits the two parts of data to a higher layer of the aggregation layer of the first user equipment protocol stack (if the aggregation layer is not the highest layer of the first user equipment protocol stack) after performing processing such as reordering on the two parts of data. Taking the first base station protocol stack or the first user equipment protocol stack as an LTE protocol stack as an example, the PHY/MAC/RLC/PDCP levels are sequentially incremented. For the first part of downlink data, for example, when the aggregation layer is the PDCP layer, the base station acquires the downlink data from the S1 interface, and then generates the first part of downlink data through the PDCP layer, and the first part of downlink data is handed to the second base station protocol stack for processing, so that the second base station protocol stack shunts the first part of downlink data to the WLAN AP or the WLAN AC. When the aggregation layer is the RLC layer, the base station acquires downlink data from the S1 interface, processes the downlink data through the PDCP layer, and sends the processed downlink data to the RLC layer. The RLC layer generates a first part of downlink data, and hands the first part of downlink data to a second base station protocol stack for processing, so that the second base station protocol stack shunts the data to the WLAN AP or the WLAN AC.

Taking the example that the base station receives data sent by the user equipment and sends the data to the core network, the base station may be connected to the core network using an S1 interface, and the WLAN AP may receive the first part of uplink data sent by the UE through a wireless local area network communication manner. Subsequently, the WLAN AP may send the first portion of uplink data to the base station through a communication protocol between the WLAN AP and the base station; alternatively, the WLAN AP may send the first portion of uplink data to the WLAN AC via a communication protocol between the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC, and the WLAN AC sends the first portion of uplink data to the base station. The base station aggregates the first part of uplink data and the second part of uplink data sent by the UE and received directly from the wireless cellular network at an aggregation layer of a first base station protocol stack, and submits the two parts of data to a higher layer of the aggregation layer of the first base station protocol stack after performing processing such as reordering (if the aggregation layer is not the highest layer of the first base station protocol stack), and then the higher layer sends the processed data to the core network through an S1 interface. For the first part of uplink data, taking the first base station protocol stack as an LTE protocol stack as an example, the PHY/MAC/RLC/PDCP are sequentially incremented in level, and when the aggregation layer is the PDCP layer, the PDCP layer aggregates the first part of uplink data and the second part of uplink data directly received from the wireless cellular network, and the processed base station sends the first part of uplink data to the core network through the S1 interface. When the aggregation layer is the RLC layer, the RLC layer aggregates and processes the first part of uplink data and the second part of uplink data received directly from the wireless cellular network, and then delivers the aggregated and processed uplink data to the PDCP layer, and the processed uplink data of the PDCP layer is sent to the core network through the S1 interface by the base station.

Next, a protocol stack configuration structure in the WLAN AP will be described.

Optionally, the WLAN AP has a WLAN AP protocol stack. In this embodiment, the WLAN AP protocol stack may have a first WLAN AP protocol stack and a second WLAN AP protocol stack. The first WLAN AP protocol stack is used for realizing data processing of communication between the WLAN AP side and the base station, and the second WLAN AP protocol stack is used for realizing data processing of communication between the WLAN AP side and the user equipment.

As the first WLAN AP protocol stack, a communication method such as ethernet transmission may be used. It should be understood that the above communication method is only an exemplary one, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and other protocol stacks capable of implementing communication between the WLAN AP and the base station on the WLAN AP side all fall within the protection scope of the present invention. In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the first WLAN AP protocol stack may include a user plane protocol stack, or may also include a user plane protocol stack and a control plane protocol stack, and the present invention is not particularly limited. The following description will take the first WLAN AP protocol stack as a user plane protocol stack as an example.

As the second WLAN AP protocol stack, a protocol stack for implementing the wireless local area network communication, for example, a WiFi protocol stack, may be cited. It should be understood that the WiFi protocol stack is only an exemplary one, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and other protocol stacks capable of implementing communication between the WLAN AP and the user equipment on the WLAN AP (or WLAN access node) side all fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 3, in the embodiment of the present invention, by way of example and not limitation, the WiFi protocol stack may include: a Media Access Control (MAC) Layer and a Physical Layer (PHY). The MAC layer has the main functions of providing reliable data transmission for users over unreliable media, providing distributed coordination function, centralized control access mechanism, and encryption service, interception and avoidance, power control, etc. The PHY layer mainly functions to perform a physical layer convergence procedure to map a data block to a suitable physical frame format, perform coding modulation processing or demodulation decoding processing, and the like.

Taking the example that the WLAN AP acquires data from the base station and transmits the data to the user equipment, the WLAN AP may acquire data that the base station needs to transmit to the UE through the first WLAN AP protocol stack; or the WLAN AP may acquire the data that the base station needs to send to the UE via the WLAN AC. The WLAN AP may then transmit the data to the UE via WLAN communication, and the process is described in detail later.

Taking the example that the WLAN AP acquires data from the user equipment and transmits the data to the base station, the WLAN AP may acquire data that the UE needs to transmit to the base station through a wireless local area network communication manner. Subsequently, the WLAN AP may send the data to the base station through the first WLAN AP protocol stack; or transmits the data to the base station via the WLAN AC, followed by a detailed description of the procedure.

Next, a protocol stack configuration structure in the UE will be described.

Optionally, the ue has a ue protocol stack, and in this embodiment, the ue protocol stack has a first ue protocol stack and a second ue protocol stack, and the first ue protocol stack is used to implement data processing for communication with the base station on the ue side. The second user equipment protocol stack is used for realizing data processing of communication between the user equipment side and the WLAN AP. Wherein the second user equipment protocol stack is connected with at least one protocol layer of the first user equipment protocol stack.

It should be understood that the first user equipment protocol stack is only an exemplary one, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and other protocol stacks capable of implementing communication between the base station and the user equipment on the user equipment side all fall within the protection scope of the present invention. And, the communication between the base station and the user equipment includes communication between an access network node capable of functioning as a base station and the user equipment. For example, a user equipment protocol stack capable of implementing communication between a Relay Node (RN) and a user equipment also falls within the scope of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 3, by way of example and not limitation, the first user equipment protocol stack may include the following protocol layers: a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Media Access Control (MAC) layer, and a Physical (PHY) layer. The PDCP layer is mainly used for compressing and decompressing/encrypting and decrypting information; the RLC layer is mainly used for implementing a related function of an Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), segmenting and concatenating information or recombining segmented and concatenated information; the MAC layer is mainly used for selecting a transmission format combination, and implementing related functions of scheduling and Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ); the PHY layer is mainly used to provide information transmission services for the MAC layer and the upper layer, and performs coding modulation processing or demodulation decoding processing according to a selected transport format combination.

As the second user equipment protocol stack, a protocol stack for implementing wireless local area network communication, for example, a WiFi protocol stack, may be cited. It should be understood that the WiFi protocol stack is only an exemplary one, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and other protocol stacks capable of implementing communication between the WLAN AP and the user equipment on the user equipment side all fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 3, in the embodiment of the present invention, by way of example and not limitation, the WiFi protocol stack may include: medium access control MAC layer, physical layer PHY. The MAC layer has the main functions of providing reliable data transmission for users over unreliable media, providing distributed coordination function, centralized control access mechanism, and encryption service, interception and avoidance, power control, etc. The physical layer mainly functions to execute a physical layer convergence procedure to map a data block to a proper physical frame format, perform coding modulation processing or demodulation decoding processing, and the like.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the second user equipment protocol stack is aggregated in the PDCP layer of the first user equipment protocol stack as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, in the embodiment of the present invention, the second user equipment protocol stack may be aggregated with any one of the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, or the MAC layer of the first user equipment protocol stack, or even the IP layer above the PDCP layer. In this embodiment, for ease of presentation, the protocol layer of the first user equipment protocol stack that aggregates the second user equipment protocol stack is referred to as the aggregation layer of the user equipment protocol stack. The aggregation layer of the user equipment protocol stack of this embodiment has functions of aggregating data and offloading data. For example, the aggregation layer may be configured to aggregate downlink data transmitted between the base station and the user equipment through the WLAN AP and downlink data transmitted between the base station and the user equipment through the wireless cellular network; or, for splitting: the aggregation layer may be configured to offload uplink data transmitted between the ue and the base station through the WLAN AP and uplink data transmitted between the ue and the base station through the wireless cellular network. In this embodiment, the polymerization layer may be: PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, or IP layer. In the embodiment of the present invention, when the aggregation layer is a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, an MAC layer, or an IP layer, the corresponding aggregation layer entity may be a PDCP entity, an RLC entity, an MAC entity, or an IP entity.

Taking the aggregation layer of the first user equipment protocol stack as an example:

in the uplink transmission process, an aggregation layer of a first user equipment protocol stack is used for splitting data generated by the aggregation layer into a first part of uplink data and a second part of uplink data, and the UE processes the first part of uplink data and then sends the first part of uplink data to a base station through a WLAN AP, and sends the second part of uplink data to the base station through a wireless cellular network. Or, the UE sends the first part of uplink data to the WLAN AP first, and then sends the first part of uplink data to the base station via the WLAN AC. In the downlink transmission, the aggregation layer of the first user equipment protocol stack is configured to aggregate a first part of downlink data sent by the base station through the WLAN AP and a second part of downlink data sent by the base station through the wireless cellular network. Or, the aggregation layer of the first user equipment protocol stack is configured to aggregate the first part of downlink data sent by the base station through the WLAN AC and the WLAN AP and the second part of downlink data sent by the base station through the wireless cellular network. The details will be described below.

Taking the example that the UE sends data to the base station through the WLAN AP, the UE may process the data from high to low protocol layers through the first user equipment protocol stack until the aggregation layer of the first user equipment. And the user equipment processes the first part of uplink data output after the aggregation layer is processed by the second user equipment protocol stack, and sends the first part of uplink data to the WLAN AP through the second user equipment protocol stack, so that the WLAN AP sends the first part of uplink data to the base station. Optionally, the user equipment sends the second part of uplink data output after the aggregation layer is processed to the base station through the wireless cellular network. The base station aggregates the first part of uplink data and the second part of uplink data received directly from the wireless cellular network in an aggregation layer of a first base station protocol stack, and delivers the aggregated first part of uplink data and the second part of uplink data to a higher layer of the aggregation layer of the first base station protocol stack after processing (if the aggregation layer is not the highest layer of the first base station protocol stack). The specific embodiment is similar to the base station side, and the detailed description of this embodiment is omitted here.

Taking the example that the UE receives the data sent by the base station through the WLAN AP, the UE may receive the first part of the downlink data sent by the WLAN AP through a wireless local area network communication manner. The UE aggregates the first part of the downlink data and the second part of the downlink data received directly from the wireless cellular network at an aggregation layer of a first user equipment protocol stack, and then delivers to a higher layer of the aggregation layer of the first user equipment protocol stack (if the aggregation layer is not the highest layer of the first base station protocol stack). The specific embodiment is similar to the base station side, and the detailed description of this embodiment is omitted here.

Hereinafter, the operations of the base station and the UE when performing data transmission according to the method for transmitting data according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. In order to make the following description of the method of transmitting data clearer and easier to understand, some concepts involved in the method are first explained as follows:

protocol data unit: in a communication system, data transferred between two adjacent protocol layers is referred to as a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) of a higher layer in the adjacent protocol layers. Taking the LTE protocol stack as an example, data that is delivered to the RLC layer after header compression, ciphering, and the like is referred to as PDCP PDU. Conversely, the data unit that the RLC receives the data delivered by the MAC layer, performs data segmentation, reassembly and reordering, and then delivers the data to the PDCP is also called PDCP PDU. For convenience of differentiation and for convenience of detailed description of a procedure of offloading through the WLAN AP, at the base station side, a first part of downlink protocol data units output for an aggregation layer of a first base station protocol stack is referred to as a first protocol data unit.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a protocol data unit that is shunted to the user equipment by the base station via the shunting device is referred to as a first protocol data unit.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the protocol data unit shunted to the base station by the user equipment via the shunting device becomes the second protocol data unit.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the bearer identifier is used to indicate a radio bearer to which the protocol data unit belongs. Taking downlink data as an example, in an implementation manner, a base station may send a first protocol data unit and a bearer identifier corresponding to a radio bearer to which the first protocol data unit belongs to a UE via a WLAN AP; at this time, the WLAN AP may forward the first protocol data unit and the corresponding bearer identification to the UE. In another implementation, the base station may send the first protocol data unit and the bearer identity corresponding to the radio bearer to which the first protocol data unit belongs to the UE via the WLAN AC and the WLAN AP. Specifically, the base station sends a first protocol data unit and a corresponding bearer identifier to the WLAN AC; the WLAN AC sends the received first protocol data unit and the corresponding bearing identification to the WLAN AP; and the WLAN AP sends the received first protocol data unit and the corresponding bearer identification to the UE. Therefore, the UE can map the shunted protocol data unit obtained from the wlan to the bearer corresponding to the bearer identifier according to the received bearer identifier.

In the embodiment of the present invention, one possible implementation manner is: and the base station indicates the UE to measure the surrounding WLAN APs according to the surrounding neighbor information list and reports the measurement result to the base station. And then, the base station selects one WLAN AP from the measurement results (for example, the UE measures that the WiFi network signal corresponding to the WLAN AP is strong) to perform data distribution. Another possible implementation is: the base station determines to perform offloading through the WLAN APs according to the network load and the distribution of the WLAN APs (for example, the WLAN APs are distributed in an area with a heavy network load).

It should also be understood that, for the WLAN network, the network side serving device is an AP and the user side terminal device is an STA, and for the wireless cellular network, the network side serving device is a base station and the user side terminal device is a UE. In the heterogeneous network scenario formed by the WLAN and the wireless cellular network according to the embodiment of the present invention, the user side terminal device may be referred to as UE or STA, and may receive services of the two networks, and for convenience of description, the UE is hereinafter referred to as UE.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the external network IP address may be understood as a globally unique network address allocated by IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) or an equivalent address registration Authority; the intranet IP address is an address independent of the public network IP address, and can be understood as an address allocated in the local area network.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a method for transmitting downlink data according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is performed by a base station in a communication system. The communication system can also comprise a WLAN AP, a WLAN AC and user equipment, and the data offloading between the base station and the user equipment can be realized through the WLAN AP or can be realized by the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC together. The method comprises the following steps:

401. a base station acquires downlink data, wherein the downlink data comprises a protocol data unit to be sent to user equipment by the base station;

402. the base station sends the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the shunting equipment, and the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for shunting the protocol data unit to the user equipment through the wireless local area network via the shunting equipment.

Fig. 5 is an architecture diagram of a first implementation manner in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, wherein the offloading device is a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP. For example, the base station may be directly connected to a wireless lan interface of the WLAN AP through a wire, or the base station and the WLAN AP may belong to the same network segment or the same lan through any means.

Fig. 5 in conjunction with fig. 6 shows that, in an alternative to the first implementation, a protocol stack in the base station for implementing data processing for communication with the WLAN AP on the base station side may include Layer 1(Layer 1, L1), Layer 2(Layer 2, L2) and an adaptation Layer. For example, L2 may be a MAC layer and L1 may be a PHY layer.

For the protocol stack, the adaptation layer may generate first data including the first protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the UE, and transmit the first data to the WLAN AP, as an example of the following behavior. Therefore, the WLAN AP may encapsulate the first protocol data unit into second data according to the MAC address of the UE in the first data, and then send the second data to the UE, where the second data includes a source address that is the MAC address of the base station and a destination address that is the MAC address of the UE. The second data may also include a MAC address of the sending address as WLAN AP and a MAC address of the receiving address as UE. After the UE receives the second data, it can know that the first protocol data unit is shunted to the UE from the base station via the WLAN AP according to the MAC address of the base station.

Optionally, the first data and the second data may further include a radio bearer identifier corresponding to the first protocol data unit.

Also for the above protocol stack, that is, the protocol stack in the base station for implementing data processing of communication with the WLAN AP on the base station side may include a layer 1, a layer 2 and an adaptation layer, taking uplink data as an example, the method for the UE to send uplink data includes:

the method comprises the steps that UE obtains uplink data, wherein the uplink data comprise a protocol data unit to be sent to a base station by the UE;

and the UE sends the protocol data unit to be sent to the base station, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, and the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for shunting the protocol data unit to the user equipment through the WLAN AP through the wireless local area network.

Optionally, the MAC address of the base station is used for the WLAN AP to send the protocol data unit to the base station, and the MAC address of the user equipment is used for the base station to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the UE.

Specifically, the UE encapsulates a protocol data unit (hereinafter, referred to as a second protocol data unit) to be sent to the base station in third data and sends the third data to the WLAN AP. The third data may include a source address of the MAC address of the UE and a destination address of the MAC address of the base station. The third data may further include a MAC address of the UE as the transmission address and a MAC address of the WLAN AP as the reception address. And the WLAN AP receives third data sent by the UE, acquires a second protocol data unit, and determines that the second protocol data unit needs to be forwarded to the base station according to the target address of the third data. Then, the WLAN AP encapsulates the second protocol data unit into fourth data, and sends the fourth data to the base station through the ethernet. Wherein, in the fourth data, the source address fills the MAC address of the UE, and the destination address fills the MAC address of the base station. And the base station receives the fourth data sent by the WLAN AP, acquires a second protocol data unit, and determines the UE sending the second protocol data unit according to the source address.

Optionally, the third data and the fourth data may further include a radio bearer identifier corresponding to the second protocol data unit.

Fig. 5, in an alternative to the first implementation, as shown in fig. 7, a protocol stack in the base station for implementing data processing for communication with the WLAN AP on the base station side may include a first IP layer, an adaptation layer, L2, L1. For the protocol stack, the first IP layer may generate an IP packet, which may include an IP address of the base station and the first protocol data unit. The first IP layer sends the IP packet to the adaptation layer, and the adaptation layer may generate the first data, which may include the IP packet, the MAC address of the UE and the MAC address of the base station, and send the first data to the WLAN AP. Therefore, the WLAN AP may send and encapsulate the first protocol data unit into second data according to the MAC address of the UE in the first data, and then send the second data to the UE, where the second data may include a source address that is the MAC address of the base station and a destination address that is the MAC address of the UE. The second data may also include a MAC address of the sending address as WLAN AP and a MAC address of the receiving address as UE. After the UE receives the second data, it can know that the first protocol data unit is shunted to the UE from the base station via the wlan ap according to the MAC address of the base station.

Optionally, the IP data packet may further include a wireless identifier corresponding to the first protocol data unit.

Optionally, in this implementation, the base station may obtain an IP address of the base station for implementing the internal communication of the wlan through the following approaches. For example: the IP address of the base station and the IP address of the WLAN AP belong to the same network segment through manual Configuration or by obtaining from a WLAN AC/Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. The same network segment may refer to the network address obtained by the phase and the subnet mask of the IP address of the base station, and is the same as the network address obtained by the phase and the subnet mask of the WLAN AP.

Optionally, in this embodiment, the base station sends its own IP address to the user equipment. Similarly, the UE may report its own IP address to the base station.

Also for the above protocol stack, a protocol stack in the base station for implementing data processing of communication with the WLAN AP on the base station side may include a first IP layer, an adaptation layer, L2, L1, taking uplink data as an example, and the method includes:

and the UE sends the protocol data unit to be sent to the base station, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, and the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for shunting the protocol data unit to be sent to the base station to the user equipment through the WLAN AP.

Optionally, for the uplink data, the MAC address of the base station is used for the WLAN AP to send the protocol data unit to the base station, and the MAC address of the user equipment is used for the base station to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the UE.

Specifically, the UE encapsulates the protocol data unit (hereinafter referred to as a second protocol data unit) to be sent to the base station in an IP packet through the first IP layer, and sends the IP packet to the WLAN AP through the third data. The IP packet includes the IP address of the UE. The third data may further include a source address being a MAC address of the UE and a destination address being a MAC address of the base station. The third data may further include a MAC address of the UE as the transmission address and a MAC address of the WLAN AP as the reception address. And the WLAN AP receives third data sent by the UE, acquires an IP packet, and determines that the IP packet needs to be forwarded to the base station according to the target address of the third data. Then, the WLAN AP encapsulates the IP packet into fourth data, and sends the fourth data to the base station through the ethernet. Wherein, in the fourth data, the source address fills the MAC address of the UE, and the destination address fills the MAC address of the base station. And the base station receives the fourth data sent by the WLAN AP, acquires a second protocol data unit in the IP packet, and determines the UE for sending the second protocol data unit according to the source address.

Optionally, the IP packet may further include a radio bearer identifier corresponding to the second protocol data unit.

As shown in fig. 8, fig. 8 is an architecture diagram of a second implementation manner in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, wherein the offloading device is a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC and a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP. For example, the base station may be directly connected to a wireless local area network interface of the WLAN AC through a wire, or the base station and the WLAN AC belong to the same network segment or the same local area network through any means.

Optionally, the sending, by the base station, the protocol data unit to the offloading device, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment specifically include:

the base station sends a protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AC, the protocol data unit is sent to the WLAN AP by the WLAN AC through a CAPWAP tunnel, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for sending the protocol data unit to the user equipment, and the MAC address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station.

Fig. 8, in conjunction with fig. 9, shows that in a possible implementation of the second implementation, a protocol stack in the base station for implementing data processing for communication with the WLAN AC on the base station side may include Layer 1(Layer 1, L1), Layer 2(Layer 2, L2), and an adaptation Layer. For example, L2 may be a MAC layer and L1 may be a PHY layer.

For the protocol stack, the adaptation layer may generate first data, which is sent to the WLAN AC via L2 and L1, as an example. The first data includes a first protocol data unit, a MAC address of the base station and a MAC address of the UE. Therefore, the WLAN AC may transmit the first protocol data unit to the WLAN AP according to the MAC address of the UE in the first data. For example, the WLAN AC may know the ue to which the first pdu needs to be forwarded according to the MAC address of the ue. And the WLAN AC sends second data to the WLAN AP through the control and configuration of the CAPWAP tunnel by the wireless access point, wherein the second data comprises the first protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment. Similarly, the WLAN AP obtains the UE to be sent by the first protocol data unit according to the MAC address of the UE, and encapsulates the first protocol data unit into third data to be sent to the UE, where the third data may further include a source address that is the MAC address of the base station and a destination address that is the MAC address of the UE. The third data may further include a MAC address with a sending address of the WLAN AP, and a receiving address of the UE. After the user equipment receives the third data, it can be known that the first protocol data unit is shunted to the user equipment by the base station via the WLAN AP according to the MAC address of the base station.

Optionally, the first data, the second data, and the third data may further include a radio bearer identifier corresponding to the first protocol data unit.

Also for the above protocol stack, that is, the protocol stack in the base station for implementing data processing of communication with the WLAN AC at the base station side may include L1, L2, and an adaptation layer, taking uplink data as an example, the method for the UE to send uplink data includes:

the method comprises the steps that UE obtains a Protocol Data Unit (PDU), wherein the PDU comprises the protocol data unit to be sent to a base station by the UE;

and the UE sends the protocol data unit to be sent to the base station, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, the WLAN AP sends the protocol data unit to the WLAN AC through the control and configuration of the CAPWAP tunnel by the wireless access point, and the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for shunting the protocol data unit to the base station through the WLAN AC through a wireless local area network.

Optionally, for the uplink data, the MAC address of the base station is used to send the protocol data unit to the base station, and the MAC address of the user equipment is used by the base station to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the user equipment.

Specifically, the UE encapsulates a protocol data unit (hereinafter, referred to as a second protocol data unit) to be sent to the base station in fourth data and sends the fourth data to the WLAN AP. The fourth data may include a source address of the MAC address of the UE and a destination address of the MAC address of the base station. The fourth data may further include a MAC address of the UE as the transmission address, and a MAC address of the WLAN AP as the reception address. And the WLAN AP receives fourth data sent by the UE, acquires a second protocol data unit, and determines that the second protocol data unit needs to be forwarded to the base station according to the target address of the fourth data. And then, after encapsulating the second protocol data unit into fifth data, the WLAN AP sends the fifth data to the WLAN AC through the CAPWAP tunnel. . In the fifth data, the source address fills the MAC address of the UE, and the destination address fills the MAC address of the base station. And the WLAN AC receives fifth data sent by the WLAN AP, acquires a second protocol data unit, and determines that the second protocol data unit needs to be forwarded to the base station according to the target address of the fifth data. And then, after encapsulating the second protocol data unit into sixth data, the WLAN AC sends the sixth data to the base station through the CAPWAP tunnel. In the six data, the source address fills the MAC address of the UE, and the destination address fills the MAC address of the base station. And the base station receives the sixth data sent by the WLAN AC, acquires the second protocol data unit, and determines the user equipment sending the second protocol data unit according to the source address.

Optionally, the fourth data, the fifth data, and the sixth data may further include a radio bearer identifier corresponding to the second protocol data unit.

Fig. 8, in conjunction with fig. 10, shows that in another possible scenario of the second implementation, a protocol stack in the base station for implementing data processing for communication with the WLAN AC on the base station side may include a first IP layer, an adaptation layer, L2, L1.

For the protocol stack, the first IP layer may generate an IP packet, which may include an IP address of the base station and the first protocol data unit. The first IP layer sends the IP packets to the adaptation layer, which may generate the first data and send to the WLAN AC via L2 and L1. The first data may include an IP packet, a MAC address of the UE and an address of a MAC of the base station. Therefore, the WLAN AC may learn, according to the MAC address of the UE in the received first data, that the first protocol data unit needs to be sent to the UE through the WLAN AP. And then, the WLAN AC encapsulates the first protocol data unit into second data and sends the second data to the WLAN AP through the CAPWAP tunnel, wherein the second data comprises a source address which is the MAC address of the base station and a destination address which is the MAC address of the UE. And after receiving the second data sent by the WLAN AC, the WLAN AP acquires a first protocol data unit from the second data, and determines that the first protocol data unit needs to be forwarded to the UE according to the target address of the second data. Then, the WLAN AP encapsulates the first protocol data unit into third data and forwards the third data to the UE. The third data may include a source address that is a MAC address of the base station and a destination address that is a MAC address of the UE. The third data may also include a MAC address of the sending address as WLAN AP and a MAC address of the receiving address as UE. After the UE receives the third data, it can know that the first protocol data unit is shunted to the UE from the base station via the WLAN AP according to the MAC address of the base station.

Optionally, the IP data packet may further include a radio bearer identifier corresponding to the first protocol data unit.

Optionally, in this implementation, the base station may obtain an IP address of the base station for implementing the internal communication of the wlan through the following approaches. For example: the IP address of the base station and the IP address of the WLAN AC belong to the same network segment through manual Configuration or by obtaining from a WLAN AC/Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server.

Also for the above protocol stack, that is, the protocol stack in the base station for implementing data processing of communication with the WLAN AC at the base station side may include a first IP layer, an adaptation layer, L2, L1, taking uplink data as an example, the method for the UE to send uplink data to the base station includes:

and the UE sends the protocol data unit to be sent to the base station, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, the WLAN AP sends the protocol data unit to the WLAN AC through the control and configuration of the CAPWAP tunnel by the wireless access point, and the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for shunting the protocol data unit to the base station through the wireless local area network.

Optionally, for the uplink data, the MAC address of the base station is used to send the protocol data unit to the base station, and the MAC address of the user equipment is used by the base station to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the UE.

Specifically, the UE encapsulates a protocol data unit (hereinafter, referred to as a second protocol data unit) to be sent to the base station in an IP packet through the first IP layer, and sends the IP packet to the WLAN AP through the fourth data. The IP packet includes the IP address of the UE. The fourth data may further include a MAC address of the UE as a source address and a MAC address of the base station as a destination address. The fourth data may further include a MAC address of the UE as the transmission address and a MAC address of the WLAN AP as the reception address. And the WLAN AP receives a fourth data unit sent by the UE, acquires the IP packet, and determines that the IP packet needs to be forwarded to the base station according to the target address of the fourth data. Then, the WLAN AP encapsulates the IP packet into fifth data, and sends the fifth data to the WLAN AC via the CAPWAP tunnel, where the fifth data includes the IP data packet, the destination address is the MAC address of the base station, and the source address is the MAC address of the UE. The WLAN AC learns that the IP data packet needs to be forwarded to the base station according to the destination address in the fifth data, encapsulates the IP data packet into sixth data, and sends the sixth data to the base station through the ethernet. In the sixth data, the source address fills the MAC address of the UE, and the destination address fills the MAC address of the base station. And the base station receives the sixth data sent by the WLAN AC, acquires the second protocol data unit in the IP packet, and determines the UE for sending the second protocol data unit according to the source address.

Optionally, the IP data packet may further include a radio bearer identifier corresponding to the second protocol data unit.

Optionally, in this embodiment, as a behavior example, the data or IP packet including the protocol data unit to be sent to the user equipment, where the source address is the MAC address of the base station, and the destination address is the MAC address of the user equipment, further includes a bearer identifier corresponding to the protocol data unit to be sent to the user equipment, so that the user equipment maps the received protocol data unit to a corresponding bearer.

Optionally, in this embodiment, in the above behavior example, the data or IP packet including the protocol data unit to be sent to the base station and having the source address as the MAC address of the user equipment and the destination address as the MAC address of the base station further includes a bearer identifier corresponding to the protocol data unit to be sent to the base station, so that the base station maps the received protocol data unit to a corresponding bearer.

Optionally, in this embodiment, the base station sends the MAC address of the base station to the user equipment; and the base station receives the MAC address of the user equipment sent by the user equipment. For example, when the UE is accessing the wireless cellular network, the base station may inform the UE of its own MAC address through Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. Similarly, the UE may report its own MAC address to the base station.

Optionally, in this embodiment, as an example of the following behavior, the MAC address of the base station is a source address, and the MAC address of the user equipment is a destination address. In the above example, the MAC address of the base station is the destination address, and the MAC address of the ue is the source address.

Optionally, a CAPWAP layer may be further disposed between the adaptation layer of the base station and the L2, and is used to implement transmission of the protocol data unit between the base station and the WLAN AP, or between the base station and the WLAN AC through a CAPWAP tunnel.

Optionally, a UDP layer and a second IP layer corresponding to the WLAN AC may be further disposed between the CAPWAP layer of the base station and the L2. In the following behavior example, the UDP layer of the base station is configured to generate a UDP port number with a destination port number being WLAN AC, and a UDP port number with a source port number being the base station; the second IP layer of the base station is used for generating the IP address of the target WLAN AC, and the source IP address is the IP address of the base station. In the above behavior example, the UDP layer of the base station is configured to obtain a UDP port number of the base station as the destination port number, and a UDP port number of the WLAN AC as the source port number; and the second IP layer of the base station is used for acquiring the target IP address as the IP address of the base station, and the source IP address as the IP address of the WLAN AC.

The data transmission method provided by the embodiment of the invention has the advantages that the base station is used as the convergent point and the shunting point, the base station is sensitive to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network, the service continuity is ensured, the user experience is improved, and the service discontinuity caused by insensitivity to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network when the EPC is used as the convergent point and the shunting point is avoided.

Fig. 11 is a schematic flow chart of a method for transmitting downlink data according to another embodiment of the present invention, which is performed by a base station in a communication system. The communication system can also comprise a WLAN AP, a WLAN AC and the user equipment, and data distribution is realized between the base station and the user equipment through the WLAN AC and the WLAN AP. The method comprises the following steps:

1101. a base station acquires downlink data, wherein the downlink data comprises a protocol data unit to be sent to user equipment by the base station;

1102. the base station sends the protocol data unit, the internet protocol IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment to the shunting equipment, and the protocol data unit is shunted to the user equipment through the wireless local area network by the shunting equipment.

Fig. 12 is an architecture diagram of the embodiment shown in fig. 11, in which the shunting devices are WLAN AC and WLAN AP. For example, the base station may be connected directly to the wireless wide area network interface of the WLAN AC through a wire, or the base station and the WLAN AC may belong to the same network segment through any means. Or, the base station may also be connected to a wireless wide area network interface of the WLAN AC through a router, and the communication between the base station and the WLAN AC may also be implemented, but the base station and the WLAN AC may belong to different network segments.

Optionally, the sending, by the base station, the protocol data unit to the WLAN AC specifically includes:

the IP address of the base station and the extranet IP address of the user equipment are used for the WLAN AC to send the protocol data unit to the WLAN AP, the IP address of the base station, the intranet IP address of the user equipment, and the IP address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station, and the extranet IP address of the user equipment is used for the WLAN AC to determine that the protocol data unit is to be sent to the user equipment, and is used for the WLAN AC to obtain the intranet IP address of the user equipment.

Optionally, the external network IP address of the user equipment is used for the WLAN AC to obtain the MAC address of the user equipment, so as to determine the user equipment receiving the pdu.

The protocol data unit to be sent to the user equipment is referred to as a first protocol data unit hereinafter.

Fig. 12, in conjunction with fig. 13, shows that in one implementation of this embodiment, the protocol stack used by the base station to implement data communication with the WLAN AC on the base station side may include IP layers, L2 and L1. For example, L2 may be a MAC layer and L1 may be a PHY layer.

For the protocol stack, the IP layer may generate a first IP packet, where the first IP packet may include an IP address of the base station, an outer network IP address of the user equipment, and a first protocol data unit. The IP layer sends the first IP packet to L2 and to the WLAN AC via L2 and L1. The WLAN AC converts an external network IP address of the UE into an internal network IP address of the UE, and transmits first data to the WLAN AP via the CAPWAP tunnel. The first data comprises a second IP data packet, the source address is the MAC address of the WLAN AC, and the target address is the MAC address of the UE. The second IP data packet includes a first protocol data unit, an IP address of the base station, and an intranet IP address of the user equipment. And the WLAN AP learns that the second IP data packet needs to be sent to the UE according to the target address in the received first data, generates second data and sends the second data to the UE. The second data may include a second IP packet, where the source address is the MAC address of the WLAN AC, and the destination address is the MAC address of the UE. The second data may also include a MAC address of the sending address as WLAN AP and a MAC address of the receiving address as UE. After the UE receives the second data, it can learn that the first protocol data unit is shunted to the UE from the base station via the WLAN AC and the WLAN AP according to the IP address of the base station, the MAC address of the WLAN AP, and the MAC address of the WLAN AC. In this scheme, the second IP packet is the converted first IP packet, that is, the external network IP address of the UE in the first IP packet is converted into the internal network IP address of the UE through the WLAN AC.

Optionally, the first IP data packet or the second IP data packet may further include a radio bearer identifier corresponding to the first protocol data unit.

Optionally, in this embodiment, the base station sends its own IP address to the user equipment. For example, when the UE accesses the wireless cellular network, the base station may send its own IP address to the UE through RRC signaling.

Optionally, the UE may send uplink data to the base station through the wireless local area network, so that the base station obtains an external network IP address of the UE. For example, the base station instructs the user equipment to send at least one of the following data packets to the base station via the wireless local area network:

Optionally, the at least one data packet further includes a UDP/TCP port number of the user equipment and a UDP/TCP port number of the base station. The UDP/TCP port number may further distinguish different UEs on the premise that the external network IP addresses of the UEs are the same.

Specifically, the base station may obtain the external network IP address of the UE by referring to the following ways:

after the UE randomly accesses the base station, the base station may select the WLAN AP according to the measurement report of the UE, and issue the selected WLAN AP information to the UE through an RRC reconfiguration message. Wherein, the RRC reconfiguration message at least includes any one of the following: and selecting the identification of the WLAN AP, the IP address of the base station, the UDP port number of the base station and the indication information.

The UE accesses the designated WLAN AP according to the identification of the selected WLAN AP, and sends any data packet to the base station through the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC through the wireless local area network after accessing the WLAN AP according to the indication information: TCP packet/UDP packet/IP packet (hereinafter referred to as first packet). The source port number of the first packet is a port number (such as a TCP port number or a UDP port number) of the UE, the destination port number is a port number (such as a TCP port number or a UDP port number) of the base station, the IP source address is an intranet IP address of the UE, and the IP destination address is an IP address of the base station.

For example, the WLAN AP extracts the first data packet from the third data sent by the UE, learns that the base station and the WLAN AP do not belong to the same network segment according to the IP destination address, encapsulates the first data packet into fourth data, and sends the fourth data to the WLAN AC through the ethernet. Wherein, in the fourth data, the source address fills the MAC address of the UE, and the destination address fills the MAC address of the WLAN AC.

And the WLAN AC learns the UE sending the first data packet according to the source address in the fourth data packet and converts the external network IP address of the UE into the internal network IP address of the UE. In addition, the WLAN AC may know, according to the IP destination address, that the first packet needs to be sent to the base station, and then send the converted first IP packet to the base station through the ethernet, so that the base station knows the external network IP address of the UE in the WLAN network.

Optionally, the Identifier of the WLAN AP may be a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) of the WLAN AP or a Service Set Identifier (SSID).

It should be understood that the Basic Service Set (BSS) is a Basic component of a WLAN network, and generally consists of an access point AP and a plurality of Stations (STAs). An Extended Service Set (ESS) is composed of multiple BSSs. Each BSS has a unique Identity (ID), i.e. BSS ID or BSS ID. Since the BSS usually has an Access point AP, the BSS identifier is usually an identifier of the Access point AP, and may be, for example, a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the AP.

Also for the above protocol stack, that is, the protocol stack used by the base station to implement data communication with the WLAN AC on the base station side may include an IP layer, L2 and L1, taking uplink data as an example, the method for the UE to send uplink data to the base station includes:

and the UE sends the protocol data unit to be sent to the base station, the IP address of the base station and the intranet IP address of the user equipment to the shunting equipment, and is used for shunting the protocol data unit to be sent to the base station through a wireless local area network.

Optionally, the sending, by the UE, the protocol data unit to be sent to the base station to the offloading device specifically includes:

and the UE sends a second protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the intranet IP address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, and is used for shunting the second protocol data unit to the user equipment through the WLAN, wherein the IP address of the base station and the intranet IP address of the user equipment are used for shunting the second protocol data unit to the base station through the WLAN AC through the WLAN.

Optionally, the intranet IP address of the user equipment is used for the WLAN AC to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the UE, and the protocol data unit is converted into the corresponding extranet IP address of the user equipment according to the intranet IP address, and then sent to the base station through the extranet IP address of the user equipment, so that the base station determines that the protocol data unit is sent by the UE according to the extranet IP address of the user equipment.

Specifically, the UE encapsulates a protocol data unit (hereinafter, referred to as a second protocol data unit) to be sent to the base station in an IP packet through an IP layer, and sends the IP packet to the WLAN AP through fifth data. The IP data packet also comprises an intranet IP address with a source IP address of the UE and an IP address with a target IP address of the base station. The fifth data may further include a source address being a MAC address of the UE and a destination address being a MAC address of the WLAN AC. The fifth data may further include a MAC address of the UE as the transmission address and a MAC address of the WLAN AP as the reception address. And the WLAN AP receives fifth data sent by the UE, acquires an IP packet, and determines that the IP packet needs to be sent to the WLAN AC according to the destination address of the fifth data. Then, the WLAN AP encapsulates the IP packet into sixth data, and sends the sixth data to the WLAN AC through the CAPWAP tunnel. The sixth data further includes a MAC address of the destination address WLAN AC and a MAC address of the source address UE. The WLAN AC converts the internal network IP address of the UE into an external network IP address according to the obtained IP packet, and learns that the second protocol data unit needs to be sent to the base station according to the IP target address in the IP packet. The WLAN AC then transmits the converted IP packet to the base station through the ethernet. And the base station receives the IP packet sent by the WLAN AC, acquires a second protocol data unit in the IP packet, and determines the UE for sending the second protocol data unit according to the IP source address.

Optionally, in this embodiment, as a behavior example, the IP packet includes a protocol data unit to be sent to the user equipment and an intranet IP address of the user equipment; or the IP packet including the protocol data unit to be sent to the user equipment and the external network IP address of the user equipment further includes a bearer identifier corresponding to the protocol data unit to be sent to the user equipment, so that the user equipment maps the received protocol data unit to the corresponding bearer.

Optionally, in this embodiment, in the above behavior example, the IP packet including the intranet IP address of the user equipment or the extranet IP address of the user equipment further includes a bearer identifier corresponding to a protocol data unit to be sent to the base station, so that the base station maps the received protocol data unit to a corresponding bearer.

A method for transmitting downlink data according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown below, which is performed by a user equipment in a communication system. The communication system may include a base station, a WLAN AP; further, the communication system may also include a WLAN AC. The base station and the user equipment realize the offloading via the WLAN AP, or realize the offloading via the joint participation of the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC. The method may be based on the architecture of fig. 5 or fig. 8, comprising:

the user equipment receives the protocol data unit sent by the base station and shunted to the user equipment through the wireless local area network by the shunting equipment, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment. The MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used to send the protocol data unit to the user equipment via the offloading device.

In this embodiment, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP, generation, transmission, and the like of related content, such as data, an IP packet, or a protocol data unit, of downlink data transmitted by a base station or uplink data sent by a user equipment may refer to the description in fig. 4, fig. 5, fig. 6, and fig. 7, and details are not described here again.

In this embodiment, when the offloading device is a WLAN AC and a WLAN AP, generation, transmission, and the like of a base station transmitting downlink data or a user equipment transmitting related content of uplink data, such as a protocol data unit, an IP packet, or data, may refer to the description in fig. 4, fig. 8, fig. 9, and fig. 10, and are not described herein again.

The following shows a method for transmitting downlink data according to another embodiment of the present invention, which is performed by a user equipment in a communication system, where the communication system may further include a base station, a WLAN AP and a WLAN AC, and data offloading is implemented between the base station and the user equipment via the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC. The method may be based on the architecture of fig. 12, comprising:

the user equipment receives the protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment, which are sent by the base station and are distributed to the user equipment through the wireless local area network by the distribution equipment. The IP address of the base station and the IP address of the external network of the user equipment are used for sending the protocol data unit to the user equipment through the offloading equipment.

In this embodiment, when the offloading device is a WLAN AC and a WLAN AP, generation, transmission, and the like of a protocol data unit, data, or an IP packet, for example, related contents of downlink data transmitted by a base station or uplink data transmitted by a user equipment may refer to descriptions in fig. 11, fig. 12, and fig. 13, and details are not described here again.

Optionally, the UE may also report its own IP address to the base station. For example, the user equipment may receive an indication of the base station, the indication instructing the user equipment to send any of the following data packets to the base station via the wireless local area network:

the arbitrary data packet includes an intranet IP address of the user equipment.

Optionally, the arbitrary data packet further includes a UDP/TCP port number of the user equipment and a UDP/TCP port number of the base station. The UDP/TCP port number can distinguish different user equipment on the premise that the external network IP addresses of the UE are the same. The base station may refer to the description of the base station side embodiment for acquiring the external network IP address of the UE, and details are not described here.

In the data transmission method provided by the embodiment of the invention, the base station is used as the convergent point and the shunt point in the data shunt process, and the base station is sensitive to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network, so that the service continuity is ensured, the user experience is improved, and the service discontinuity caused by insensitivity to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network when the EPC is used as the convergent point and the shunt point is avoided.

The following shows a method for transmitting downlink data according to another embodiment of the present invention, where the method is performed by a offloading device in a communication system. The communication system may further include a base station, a user equipment; further, the offloading device may be a WLAN AP, or further include a WLAN AC. The base station and the user equipment realize the offloading via the WLAN AP, or realize the offloading via the joint participation of the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC. The method may be based on the architecture of fig. 5 or fig. 8, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that shunting equipment receives a protocol data unit sent by a base station, an MAC address of the base station and an MAC address of user equipment;

and the shunting equipment sends the received protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the user equipment.

In this embodiment, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment may be used to send the protocol data unit to the user equipment through the offloading device.

Optionally, in an implementation manner, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP, the method includes:

the WLAN AP receives a protocol data unit sent by a base station, an MAC address of the base station and an MAC address of user equipment;

and the WLAN AP sends the received protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the user equipment.

Optionally, in another implementation manner, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP and a WLAN AC, the method includes:

the WLAN AP receives a protocol data unit, an MAC address of a base station and an MAC address of user equipment sent by the WLAN AC;

and the WLAN AP sends the received protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the user equipment, wherein the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are sent to the WLAN AC by the base station.

Optionally, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP and a WLAN AC, the method includes:

the WLAN AC receives a protocol data unit sent by a base station, an MAC address of the base station and an MAC address of user equipment;

the WLAN AC sends the received protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, and is configured to send the received protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the user equipment by the WLAN AP.

Optionally, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP, the WLAN AP receives a bearer identifier corresponding to a bearer protocol data unit sent by the base station, and the WLAN AP sends the bearer identifier corresponding to the bearer protocol data unit to the user equipment.

Optionally, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP and a WLAN AC, the WLAN AC receives a bearer identifier corresponding to a bearer protocol data unit sent by the base station, and the WLAN AC sends the bearer identifier corresponding to the bearer protocol data unit to the WLAN AP.

Optionally, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP and a WLAN AC, the WLAN AP receives a bearer identifier corresponding to a bearer protocol data unit sent by the WLAN AC, and the WLAN AP sends the bearer identifier corresponding to the bearer protocol data unit to the user equipment.

In this embodiment, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP, generation, transmission, etc. of the protocol data unit, which is related to downlink data of the base station transmitted via the WLAN AP or uplink data of the user equipment, may refer to descriptions in fig. 4, fig. 5, fig. 6, and fig. 7, and details are not described here again.

In this embodiment, when the offloading device is a WLAN AC and a WLAN AP, generation, transmission, and the like of the downlink data of the base station or the uplink data of the user equipment transmitted through the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC, such as a protocol data unit, data, or an IP packet, may refer to the descriptions in fig. 4, fig. 8, fig. 9, and fig. 10, and are not described herein again.

The following shows a method for transmitting downlink data according to another embodiment of the present invention, where the method is performed by a offloading device in a communication system. The communication system may further include a base station, a user equipment; further, the offloading device may be a WLAN AP, or further include a WLAN AC. The base station and the user equipment realize the offloading via the WLAN AP, or realize the offloading via the joint participation of the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC. The method may be based on the architecture of fig. 12, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that the shunting equipment receives a protocol data unit sent by a base station, an IP address of the base station and an external network IP address of user equipment;

In this embodiment, the IP address of the base station and the IP address of the external network of the user equipment are used to send the protocol data unit to the user equipment through the offloading device.

the WLAN AC receives a protocol data unit sent by a base station, an IP address of the base station and an external network IP address of user equipment;

the WLAN AC converts the received external network IP address of the user equipment into an internal network IP address of the user equipment;

and the WLAN AC sends the protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the intranet IP address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, and the WLAN AP is used for sending the received protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the intranet IP address of the user equipment to the user equipment.

Optionally, the WLAN AC acquires the MAC address of the user equipment according to the received external network IP address of the user equipment.

the WLAN AP receives a protocol data unit sent by the WLAN AC, an IP address of a base station and an intranet IP address of user equipment;

and the WLAN AP sends the received protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the intranet IP address of the user equipment to the user equipment.

The IP addresses of the protocol data unit and the base station are sent to the WLAN AC by the base station, and the intranet IP address of the user equipment is obtained by converting the WLAN AC according to the extranet IP address of the user equipment sent to the intranet IP address by the base station.

In this embodiment, when the offloading device is a WLAN AC and a WLAN AP, generation, transmission, and the like of the relevant content, such as a protocol data unit, data, or an IP packet, of downlink data of the base station or uplink data of the user equipment transmitted through the WLAN AC and the WLAN AP may refer to the description in fig. 11, fig. 12, and fig. 13, and details are not repeated here.

It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present invention, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present invention.

The offloading method according to the embodiment of the present invention is described in detail above with reference to fig. 1 to 13, and a base station according to the embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to fig. 14 to 17.

Fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention. The base station 1400 provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes a receiving unit 1401 and a transmitting unit 1402.

The receiving unit 1401 is configured to acquire downlink data, where the downlink data includes a protocol data unit to be sent by a base station to a user equipment;

a sending unit 1402, configured to send a protocol data unit to the offloading device, where the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used to offload the protocol data unit to the user equipment through the wireless local area network via the offloading device.

Optionally, when the offloading device is a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP, the sending unit 1402 is specifically configured to:

and sending the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, wherein the MAC address of the user equipment is used for sending the protocol data unit to the user equipment by the WLAN AP, and the MAC address of the base station is used for determining that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station by the user equipment.

Optionally, when the offloading device includes a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP and a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC, the sending unit 1402 is specifically configured to:

and sending the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AC, wherein the protocol data unit is sent to the WLAN AP by the WLAN AC through controlling and configuring a CAPWAP tunnel by the wireless access point, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for sending the protocol data unit to the user equipment, and the MAC address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station.

Optionally, the sending unit 1402 is further configured to:

and sending the bearer identification corresponding to the bearer protocol data unit to the WLAN AC.

Optionally, the sending unit 1402 is further configured to send the MAC address of the base station to the user equipment;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive the address of the MAC of the user equipment sent by the user equipment.

Optionally, the MAC address of the base station is a source address, and the MAC address of the user equipment is a destination address.

Optionally, the sending unit 1402 is further configured to send an internet protocol IP address of the base station to the user equipment; the receiving unit 1401 is further configured to receive an IP address of the user equipment sent by the user equipment.

The base station provided in the embodiment of the present invention can execute the technical solutions of the above method embodiments, and the implementation principles thereof are similar, and are not described herein again.

The base station provided by the embodiment of the invention is used as a convergent point and a shunt point, is sensitive to the quality change of a network link of a wireless local area network, ensures the service continuity, improves the user experience, and avoids the service discontinuity caused by insensitivity to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network when the EPC is used as the convergent point and the shunt point.

Fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 15, a base station 1500 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a receiving unit 1501, a transmitting unit 1502.

The receiving unit 1501 is configured to acquire downlink data, where the downlink data includes a protocol data unit to be sent by a base station to a user equipment;

a sending unit 1502, configured to send a protocol data unit, an internet protocol IP address of a base station, and an external network IP address of a user equipment to a offloading device, and configured to offload the protocol data unit to the user equipment through a wireless local area network via the offloading device.

Optionally, when the offloading device includes a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP and a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC, the sending unit 1502 is specifically configured to:

the protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment are sent to the WLAN AC, the protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the internal network IP address of the user equipment are sent to the WLAN AP by the WLAN AC, the IP address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station, and the external network IP address of the user equipment is used for the WLAN AC to determine that the protocol data unit is to be sent to the user equipment and used for the WLAN AC to obtain the internal network IP address of the user equipment.

Optionally, the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send a bearer identifier corresponding to the bearer protocol data unit to the WLAN AC.

Optionally, the sending unit 1502 is further configured to instruct the ue to send at least one of the following data packets to the base station through the wireless local area network:

at least one of the data packets includes an intranet IP address of the user equipment.

Optionally, the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send the IP address of the base station to the user equipment.

Optionally, the at least one data packet further includes a UDP port number of the user equipment and a UDP port number of the base station.

The base station provided in the embodiment of the present invention can execute the technical solutions of the above method embodiments, and the implementation principles and the like are similar, which are not described herein again.

The base station provided by the embodiment of the invention is used as a convergent point and a shunt point to realize the shunt between the user equipment and the base station, and the base station is sensitive to the quality change of a network link of a wireless local area network, so that the service continuity is ensured, the user experience is improved, and the service discontinuity caused by insensitivity to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network when the EPC is used as the convergent point and the shunt point is avoided.

Fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 16, the base station 1600 provided in this embodiment includes: a network interface 1601, a memory 1602, a processor 1603, and a bus 1604, the network interface 1601, the memory 1602, and the processor 1603 each being connected to the bus 1604, wherein:

the processor 1603 calls, via the bus 1604, a program 1605 stored in the memory 1602 for:

acquiring downlink data through a network interface 1601, where the downlink data includes a protocol data unit to be sent by a base station to a user equipment;

the protocol data unit is sent to the offloading device through the network interface 1601, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are accessed to the media, and the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for offloading the protocol data unit to the user equipment through the offloading device through the wireless local area network.

Optionally, when the offloading device is a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP, the protocol data unit is sent to the offloading device through the network interface 1601, which specifically includes:

the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are sent to the WLAN AP through the network interface 1601, the MAC address of the user equipment is used for the WLAN AP to send the protocol data unit to the user equipment, and the MAC address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station.

Optionally, when the offloading device includes a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP and a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC, the method for sending the protocol data unit to the offloading device through the network interface 1601 includes:

the base station sends the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AC, the protocol data unit is sent to the WLAN AP by the WLAN AC through a CAPWAP tunnel, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for sending the protocol data unit to the user equipment, and the MAC address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station.

Optionally, the processor 1603 calls the program 1605 stored in the memory 1602 through the bus 1604, and is further configured to send the bearer identifier corresponding to the bearer protocol data unit to the WLAN AC through the network interface 1601.

Optionally, the processor 1603 calls the program 1605 stored in the memory 1602 via the bus 1604 to further:

transmitting the MAC address of the base station to the user equipment through the network interface 1601;

the address of the MAC of the user equipment transmitted by the user equipment is received through the network interface 1601.

transmitting an internet protocol IP address of the base station to the user equipment through the network interface 1601;

the IP address of the user equipment sent by the user equipment is received through the network interface 1601. The base station provided in the embodiment of the present invention can execute the technical solutions of the above method embodiments, and the implementation principles thereof are similar, and are not described herein again.

The base station provided by the embodiment of the invention is used as the convergent point and the shunt point, is sensitive to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network, ensures the service continuity, improves the user experience, and avoids the service discontinuity caused by insensitivity to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network when the EPC is used as the convergent point and the shunt point.

Fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to still another embodiment of the present invention. The user equipment 1700 provided in this embodiment includes: a network interface 1701, a memory 1702, a processor 1703, and a bus 1704, the network interface 1701, the memory 1702, and the processor 1703 being connected to the bus 1704, respectively, wherein:

the processor 1703 calls, via the bus 1704, a program 1705 stored in the memory 1702 to:

acquiring downlink data through a network interface 1701, wherein the data comprises a protocol data unit to be sent to user equipment by a base station;

the protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station, and the IP address of the user equipment are sent to the offloading device through the network interface 1701, and used to offload the protocol data unit to the user equipment through the wireless lan via the offloading device.

Optionally, when the offloading device includes a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP and a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC, the protocol data unit is sent to the offloading device through the network interface 1701, and is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the processor 1703 invokes the program 1705 stored in the memory 1702 via the bus 1704, and further sends a bearer identifier corresponding to the bearer protocol data unit to the WLAN AC via the network interface 1701.

Optionally, the processor 1703 invokes the program 1705 stored in the memory 1702 via the bus 1704 and is further configured to instruct, via the network interface 1701, the ue to send at least one of the following data packets to the base station via the wlan:

Optionally, the processor 1703 invokes the program 1705 stored in the memory 1702 via the bus 1704 and is further configured to send the IP address of the base station to the user equipment via the network interface 1701.

When the base station provided by the embodiment of the invention is used as a convergent point and a shunt point, the shunt between the user equipment and the base station is realized, and the base station is sensitive to the quality change of a network link of a wireless local area network, so that the service continuity is ensured, the user experience is improved, and the service discontinuity caused by insensitivity to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network when the EPC is used as the convergent point and the shunt point is avoided.

The following shows a user equipment of a further embodiment of the present invention, which is applicable to a communication system including a base station and a WLAN AP; further, the communication system may also include a WLAN AC. The base station and the user equipment realize the offloading via the WLAN AP, or realize the offloading via the joint participation of the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC. The application may be based on the architecture of fig. 5 or fig. 8, the user equipment comprising:

and the receiving unit is used for receiving the protocol data unit which is sent by the base station and is shunted to the user equipment through the shunting equipment through the wireless local area network, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment.

The MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used to send the protocol data unit to the user equipment via the offloading device.

In this embodiment, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP, the base station may refer to the descriptions in fig. 4, fig. 5, fig. 6, and fig. 7 for the generation, transmission, and the like of the content, such as a protocol data unit, data, or an IP packet, that the base station transmits downlink data to the user equipment or the user equipment transmits uplink data to the base station, and details are not repeated here.

When the user equipment provided by the embodiment of the invention is used as the convergent point and the shunt point, the shunt between the user equipment and the base station is realized, and the base station is sensitive to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network, so that the service continuity is ensured, the user experience is improved, and the service discontinuity caused by insensitivity to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network when the EPC is used as the convergent point and the shunt point is avoided.

The following shows a user equipment according to a further embodiment of the present invention, which is applicable to a communication system including a base station, a WLAN AP and a WLAN AC, wherein data offloading is implemented between the base station and the user equipment via the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC. The application may be based on the architecture of fig. 12, the user equipment comprising:

and the receiving unit is used for receiving the protocol data unit which is sent by the base station and shunted to the user equipment through the wireless local area network by the shunting equipment, the IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment.

The IP address of the base station and the IP address of the external network of the user equipment are used to send the protocol data unit to the user equipment via the offloading device.

In this embodiment, when the offloading device is a WLAN AC and a WLAN AP, the base station may refer to the descriptions in fig. 11, fig. 12, and fig. 13 for transmitting downlink data to the user equipment or generating, transmitting, and the like of a protocol data unit, data, or an IP packet, which are related to the case that the user equipment transmits uplink data to the base station, and details are not described here.

Optionally, the ue further includes a sending unit, configured to report an IP address of the ue to the base station. For example, the receiving unit may receive an instruction from the base station, the instruction instructing the transmitting unit to transmit any of the following packets to the base station via the wireless local area network:

The following shows a offloading device of a further embodiment of the present invention, which is applicable to a communication system including a base station and a user equipment; further, the offloading device may be a WLAN AP, or further include a WLAN AC. The offloading between the base station and the user equipment is implemented via a WLAN AP, or via co-participation of the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC, and the application may be based on the architecture of fig. 5 or fig. 8.

In this embodiment, the shunting device includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a protocol data unit sent by a base station, an MAC address of the base station, and an MAC address of a user equipment;

and a sending unit, configured to send the received protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station, and the MAC address of the user equipment to the user equipment.

Optionally, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP, the WLAN AP includes:

Optionally, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP and a WLAN AC, the WLAN AP includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a protocol data unit sent by a WLAN AC, an MAC address of a base station, and an MAC address of a user equipment;

and a transmitting unit configured to transmit the received protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station, and the MAC address of the user equipment to the user equipment, where the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station, and the MAC address of the user equipment are transmitted from the base station to the WLAN AC.

Optionally, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP and a WLAN AC, the WLAN AC includes:

and the sending unit is used for sending the received protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, and the WLAN AP is used for sending the received protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the user equipment.

Optionally, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP, the receiving unit of the WLAN AP is further configured to receive a bearer identifier corresponding to the bearer protocol data unit sent by the base station, and the sending unit of the WLAN AP is further configured to send the bearer identifier corresponding to the bearer protocol data unit to the user equipment.

Optionally, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP and a WLAN AC, the receiving unit of the WLAN AC is further configured to receive a bearer identifier corresponding to the bearer protocol data unit sent by the base station, and the sending unit of the WLAN AC is further configured to send the bearer identifier corresponding to the bearer protocol data unit to the WLAN AP.

Optionally, when the offloading device is a WLAN AP and a WLAN AC, the receiving unit of the WLAN AP is further configured to receive a bearer identifier corresponding to a bearer protocol data unit sent by the WLAN AC, and the sending unit of the WLAN AP is further configured to send the bearer identifier corresponding to the bearer protocol data unit to the user equipment.

According to the distribution equipment provided by the embodiment of the invention, in the data distribution process, the base station is used as the convergence point and the distribution point, and the base station is sensitive to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network, so that the service continuity is ensured, the user experience is improved, and the service discontinuity caused by insensitivity to the quality change of the network link of the wireless local area network when the EPC is used as the convergence point and the distribution point is avoided.

The following shows a offloading device of a further embodiment of the present invention, which is applicable to a communication system including a base station and a user equipment; further, the offloading device may be a WLAN AP and a WLAN AC. The offloading between the base station and the user equipment is implemented via a WLAN AP, or via co-participation of the WLAN AP and the WLAN AC, and the application may be based on the architecture of fig. 12.

In this embodiment, the flow dividing device includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a protocol data unit sent by a base station, an IP address of the base station, and an external network IP address of a user equipment;

the processing unit is used for converting the received external network IP address of the user equipment into the internal network IP address of the user equipment;

and the sending unit is used for sending the protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the intranet IP address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, and the WLAN AP is used for sending the received protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the intranet IP address of the user equipment to the user equipment.

Optionally, the processing unit is further configured to obtain the MAC address of the user equipment according to the received external network IP address of the user equipment.

the receiving unit is used for receiving the protocol data unit sent by the WLAN AC, the IP address of the base station and the intranet IP address of the user equipment;

and the sending unit is used for sending the received protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the intranet IP address of the user equipment to the user equipment.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" herein is merely one type of association relationship that describes an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, and not to limit the same; while the invention has been described in detail and with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced; and the modifications or the substitutions do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions depart from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

A method of transmitting data, comprising:

a base station acquires downlink data, wherein the downlink data comprises a protocol data unit to be sent to user equipment by the base station;

the base station sends the protocol data unit to a shunting device, the Media Access Control (MAC) address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for shunting the protocol data unit to the user equipment through a wireless local area network via the shunting device.
The method according to claim 1, wherein when the offloading device is a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP, the base station sends the protocol data unit to the offloading device, where the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment specifically include:

the base station sends the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, the MAC address of the user equipment is used for the WLAN AP to send the protocol data unit to the user equipment, and the MAC address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station.
The method according to claim 1, wherein when the offloading device includes a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP and a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC, the sending, by the base station, the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the offloading device specifically includes:

the base station sends the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AC, and the base station is used for the WLAN AC to send the protocol data unit to the WLAN AP through a CAPWAP tunnel, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment, the MAC address of the user equipment is used for sending the protocol data unit to the user equipment, and the MAC address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station.
The method of claim 2 or 3, further comprising:

and the base station sends a bearer identifier corresponding to the protocol data unit to the WLAN AP or the WLAN AC.
The method of any of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

the base station sends the MAC address of the base station to the user equipment;

and the base station receives the MAC address of the user equipment sent by the user equipment.
The method of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein:

the MAC address of the base station is a source address, and the MAC address of the user equipment is a target address.
The method of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein:

the base station sends the IP address of the base station to the user equipment;

and the base station receives the IP address of the user equipment sent by the user equipment.
A method of transmitting data, comprising:

a base station acquires downlink data, wherein the downlink data comprises a protocol data unit to be sent to user equipment by the base station;

the base station sends the protocol data unit, the internet protocol IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment to the shunting equipment, and the protocol data unit is shunted to the user equipment through the wireless local area network by the shunting equipment.
The method according to claim 8, wherein when the offloading device includes a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP and a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC, the sending, by the base station, the protocol data unit to the offloading device, the IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment specifically include:

the base station sends the protocol data unit to the WLAN AC, the IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment are used for the WLAN AC to send the protocol data unit to the WLAN AP, the IP address of the base station and the internal network IP address of the user equipment, the IP address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station, and the external network IP address of the user equipment is used for the WLAN AC to determine that the protocol data unit is to be sent to the user equipment and used for the WLAN AC to obtain the internal network IP address of the user equipment.
The method of claim 8 or 9, further comprising:

and the base station sends a bearer identification corresponding to the protocol data unit to the WLAN AC.
The method of any of claims 8 to 10, further comprising:

the base station instructs the user equipment to send at least one of the following data packets to the base station through the wireless local area network:

an IP data packet, a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) data packet or a User Data Protocol (UDP) data packet;

the at least one data packet includes an intranet IP address of the user equipment.
The method of any of claims 8 to 11, further comprising:

and the base station sends the IP address of the base station to the user equipment.
The method of claim 12, wherein:

the at least one data packet further includes a UDP port number of the user equipment and a UDP port number of the base station, or includes a TCP port number of the user equipment and a TCP port number of the base station.
A base station, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to obtain downlink data, where the downlink data includes a protocol data unit to be sent by a base station to a user equipment;

a sending unit, configured to send the protocol data unit to a offloading device, where the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used to offload the protocol data unit to the user equipment through a wireless local area network via the offloading device.
The base station of claim 14, wherein when the offloading device is a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP, the sending unit is specifically configured to:

and sending the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AP, wherein the MAC address of the user equipment is used for the WLAN AP to send the protocol data unit to the user equipment, and the MAC address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station.
The base station of claim 14, wherein when the offloading device includes a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP and a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC, the sending unit is specifically configured to:

and sending the protocol data unit, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment to the WLAN AC, wherein the protocol data unit is sent to the WLAN AP by the WLAN AC through a wireless access point control and CAPWAP tunnel configuration, the MAC address of the base station and the MAC address of the user equipment are used for sending the protocol data unit to the user equipment, and the MAC address of the base station is used for the user equipment to determine that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station.
The base station of claim 15 or 16, wherein the transmitting unit is further configured to:

and sending a bearer identifier corresponding to the protocol data unit to the WLAN AP or the WLAN AC.
The base station according to any of claims 14 to 17, characterized by:

the sending unit is further configured to send the MAC address of the base station to the user equipment;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive an address of the MAC of the user equipment sent by the user equipment.
The base station according to any of claims 14 to 18, characterized by:

the MAC address of the base station is a source address, and the MAC address of the user equipment is a target address.
The base station according to any of claims 14 to 19, characterized by:

the sending unit is further configured to send an internet protocol IP address of the base station to the user equipment;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive the IP address of the user equipment sent by the user equipment.
A base station, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to obtain downlink data, where the downlink data includes a protocol data unit to be sent by a base station to a user equipment;

and the sending unit is used for sending the protocol data unit, the Internet protocol IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment to the shunting equipment and shunting the protocol data unit to the user equipment through the wireless local area network by the shunting equipment.
The base station of claim 21, wherein when the offloading device includes a wireless local area network access point WLAN AP and a wireless local area network access controller WLAN AC, the sending unit is specifically configured to:

and sending the protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the external network IP address of the user equipment to the WLAN AC, wherein the protocol data unit, the IP address of the base station and the internal network IP address of the user equipment are sent to the WLAN AP by the WLAN AC, the IP address of the base station is used for determining that the protocol data unit is sent by the base station by the user equipment, and the external network IP address of the user equipment is used for determining that the protocol data unit is to be sent to the user equipment by the WLAN AC and obtaining the internal network IP address of the user equipment by the WLAN AC.
The base station of claim 21 or 22, wherein the transmitting unit is further configured to:

and sending a bearer identifier corresponding to the protocol data unit to the WLAN AC.
The base station according to any of claims 21 to 23, wherein the sending unit is further configured to instruct the user equipment to send at least one of the following data packets to the base station through the wireless local area network:

an IP data packet, a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) data packet or a User Data Protocol (UDP) data packet;

the at least one data packet includes an intranet IP address of the user equipment.
The base station according to any of claims 21 to 24, wherein said sending unit is further configured to send an IP address of said base station to said user equipment.
The base station of claim 24, wherein:

the at least one data packet further includes a UDP port number of the user equipment and a UDP port number of the base station, or includes a TCP port number of the user equipment and a TCP port number of the base station.