JP2005520436A - Multi-stream wireless router, gateway, communication system, and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

For data packets transmitted between an end user device (42a) communicating through the intermediate communication network (46) and a remote server (30) coupled to the WAN (34), one of the intermediate communication networks (46) A communication system and method (FIG. 2) is provided that includes a gateway (50) and a router (59) using network layer tunneling through one or more channels (48a, 48b, 52a, 52b). This system allows a single user's data to be distributed across multiple channels (48a, 48b, 52a, 52b), resulting in greater maximum throughput and increased uplink and downlink ranges in CDMA networks. spread. In addition, the flow of data transmitted and received by a plurality of users can be concentrated and concentrated on a shared channel pool or a single channel, thereby increasing the system capacity in the CDMA wireless network. The system is portable to various wired and wireless networks and can use various network layer protocols. Network resources are allocated or deallocated as needed to ensure efficient network operation while maintaining sufficient QoS for user data.

Description

  One method for accessing a wide area network (WAN) to communicate with a remote server is to use a wireless network for the link between the end user device and the WAN. The WAN can be the Internet or any other packet data network. The end-user device can be a personal computer, portable computer, mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), or any device that can send packet data to and / or receive packet data from the network. The remote server can be any system that can send and receive packets over the WAN, such as a web server, a gateway to a sub-network, or other end-user device.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a user 26 may wish to communicate with a remote server 30 that can be accessed through a WAN 34. One way to establish such communications is to use a wireless network 46 that interfaces with the WAN 34. A user 26 using an end user device 42 establishes a wireless communication channel 48 as an interface to a wireless network 46, thereby completing between the user 26 and the remote server 30 through the wireless network 46 and the WAN 34. A communication system is formed by a route.

  The data transmission rate of the communication system of FIG. 1 is limited to some extent by the capacity of the radio channel 48. Conventional wireless networks are often designed such that the throughput of the wireless channel to the end user is appropriate for voice communications. Recently, wireless networks have been designed to provide high throughput for data, but the performance of wireless channels varies due to the nature of RF communications. The fact is that these networks are designed to work with battery-powered portable end-user devices that are small, use a single transceiver, and performance is further constrained. As a result, this new generation of wireless networks will not be able to provide throughput that is approaching the maximum theoretically achievable in many situations. Users often demand consistent and reliable quality of service (QoS) as well as greater throughput. Thus, in a communication system using a wireless network between an end user device and a WAN, users benefit from devices and methods that can provide not only greater throughput but also more consistent and reliable QoS. Will receive. The present invention allows end users to experience consistent and reliable high speed connections over wireless networks as well as wired networks.

  Tunneling is a technology that allows a second network to route data without solving the protocol header of the first network when the first network carries the data through the second network. Tunneling is sometimes referred to as encapsulation because it is a technique that wraps a protocol data unit (PDU) of a first network within a protocol data unit (PDU) that is defined to be carried by a second network. . For example, the conventional tunneling technology called PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) is a technique in which various organizations embed their own network protocols in TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) packets carried over the Internet. Can be used to transmit data between virtual private networks (VPNs). Other known tunneling techniques include L2F (Layer Two Forwarding) and L2TP (Layer Two Tunneling Protocol). Such a tunneling technique uses a single tunnel between the source and destination of a given pair of data packets. Therefore, in other conventional communication systems described above, the throughput is limited to some extent by the capacity of a single channel, even if conventional tunneling techniques are used. This is because many networks, especially wireless networks, are designed so that packets destined for a given network address (eg IP address) reach their destination via only one physical channel. Because it is. In the case of wireless networks, this limitation exists primarily because users are likely to access the network using devices that have only one transceiver.

  The present invention achieves greater throughput in a communication system that uses an intermediate network for the link between the end user's device and the WAN. If the intermediate network is a wireless network using WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) technology, delivering data transmissions to or from a single end user on multiple channels will cause the data transmission to be Benefits for down range.

  The present invention also allows data transmission to / from multiple end users to be concentrated on a single channel on the intermediate network. If the intermediate network is a WCDMA wireless network, this feature reduces transmission power, reduces radio interference, and increases overall capacity.

  The present invention provides portability over different wireless and wired network technologies by using tunneling at the network layer. These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

  The object of the invention is achieved by providing gateways and routers that use tunneling to transmit data across multiple channels on an intermediate communication network for data packets sent and received between a user and a remote server. The The intermediate network is preferably a wireless network, but the intermediate network may be a wired network. If the intermediate network is a wireless network, the router can be mobile. The gateway is preferably outside the wireless network, but may be configured as part of the wireless network interface to the packet switch network. Also, tunneling between routers and gateways can be extended through wireless networks and WANs. Routers and / or gateways can perform channel resource allocation as well as monitor throughput and transmission delay to obtain the desired QoS. It is desirable to use multiple channels, but to centralize data packet transmission to / from multiple devices across the channel's service pool, or to adapt to various throughput requirements It is possible to use various numbers of channels, such as to change from multiple channels to another number of channels or a single channel, or to use only a single channel. A wired or wireless LAN can be used to connect one or more user devices to the router.

  These and other features are described in the detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

  The present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  The present invention is applied to a communication system using an intermediate network as a link connecting an end user and a WAN. The intermediate network can be a wireless network or a wired network. Since packet data is transmitted and received for a single end user, a larger throughput can be obtained by communicating on a plurality of channels through an intermediate network. Since each communication channel only takes on a portion of the overall data flow, the total throughput is not limited by the capacity of each channel.

  For intermediate networks using WCDMA technology, assigning data transmission to or from a single end user to multiple channels also benefits the uplink and downlink ranges. In WCDMA networks, high speed channels are generally shorter in range than low speed channels. “Range” refers to the distance at which a certain level of throughput is still obtained even when the end user's device is away from the base station antenna. Delivering user data to multiple low-speed channels increases high-speed connectivity compared to delivering to a single faster channel. In the case of a WCDMA network, it will involve spreading a single user's data over multiple code channels and multiple 5 MHz carriers. Similar benefits are obtained with narrowband CDMA wireless networks.

  The present invention can aggregate data transmissions to or from a single user into a single channel of an intermediate network. If the intermediate network is a WCDMA wireless network, aggregating data transmissions to or from multiple users into a single faster channel would use a separate lower speed channel for each user Compared to the above, the total transmission power required is reduced. Reducing the required transmit power will reduce interference to other users accessing using the wireless network. Therefore, it increases the capacity of the WCDMA wireless network. Similar benefits are obtained in narrowband CDMA wireless networks.

  The present invention provides portability between various wireless and wired network technologies by using tunneling at the network layer. For example, many networks that use technologies related to various physical layers and data link layers use the Internet Protocol (IP) as a network layer protocol for data routing. By using a network layer protocol as a tunneling mechanism, the present invention can be ported to virtually any network regardless of the physical layer or data link layer technology used. The “IP” mentioned here refers to both IP version 4 (IPv4) and IP version 6 (IPv6). The present invention is compatible with both Internet protocols and is expected to be compatible with future versions of Internet protocols.

  If the protocol provides a means of point-to-point communication between two separate network layer addresses, the present invention may use either a connectionless or connection-oriented network layer protocol. it can. A point-to-point connection can be realized by specifying the source and destination addresses in the header of each network PUD or by establishing a virtual circuit between two network addresses. In the case of a connectionless network layer, tunneling is accomplished by encapsulating data packets in network PDUs having header information that specifies the source and destination network addresses that are considered the final point of the tunnel. In the case of a connection type network protocol, a virtual circuit is established between network addresses representing both ends of a tunnel.

  End user devices and remote systems (herein referred to as remote servers) communicating using the present invention can obtain each other's address using several methods. These methods may include, for example, a domain name system or static IP address assignment. The gateway can be integrated with other technologies such as, for example, a Mobile IP foreign agent or a virtual private network gateway.

  The term channel is used to represent a communication data link between a device (eg, a multistream router, etc.) and an intermediate network. As such, the particular embodiment of the channel of the present invention depends on the type of intermediate network used. For example, if the intermediate network is a public telephone network (PSTN), the term “channel” refers to a full-duplex dedicated connection using a copper telephone line that exists between the multi-stream router and the Internet service provider's modem bank. Would mean that. If the intermediate network is a WCDMA wireless network, the term “channel” means a dedicated communication channel established between the multi-stream router and the WCDMA network. A dedicated communication channel of WCDMA is a “logical” channel and can be a collection of logical resources, but is considered as a single channel in the present invention. Some wireless networks may use a technique called “frequency hopping”. This technique is a technique for changing a communication channel at a specific time interval, and such a channel is used as one channel in the present invention. New technologies, such as CDMA high data rate, have been developed that aggregate resources at the physical layer to increase throughput on a single channel or increase spectrum efficiency. The present invention is compatible with not only other alternative or future communication data link technologies, but also such technologies, giving end users devices greater throughput and further improving the efficiency of resources in intermediate networks. Can be used together with these techniques.

  In order to operate on multiple channels of an intermediate network, the hardware platform used to implement the multi-stream router has sufficient resources (eg, modem, transmitter, Receiver) etc. must be provided. Also, the intermediate network used must provide sufficient resources to operate the desired number of channels simultaneously. Of course, a multi-stream router must implement a network interface (eg, physical layer standard, network protocol, etc.) that is compatible with each intermediate network to be accessed. Further, the present invention functions even when a single channel is used. Such indications should be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, but are taken up here for clarity.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention uses multiple radio channels as an interface between a wireless network and an end user in a communication system between the end user device and a remote server via the WAN. The communication system uses a multi-stream router that tunnels packets through a plurality of channels and a corresponding multi-streaming gateway.

  Such a system can transmit and receive data packets on multiple channels instead of a single channel, thus providing the wireless device with greater throughput when compared to devices directly accessing the wireless system. The present invention is also portable to various wireless networks that use different standards because tunneling is done at the network layer, in this case the IP layer.

  In the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 2, a data packet originating from a remote server 30 and destined for an end user device 42 (or a plurality of end user devices indicated by 42a) passes through WAN 34 and is Flow to gateway 50. The multi-stream gateway 50 wraps a packet from the WAN 34 with an additional IP header (hereinafter referred to as a tunnel header), and addresses a plurality of IP addresses associated with the multi-stream router 54 in the tunneled data packet 52a. This method allows the multistream gateway 50 to efficiently deliver the tunneled packet 52a over multiple downlink channels established between the multistream router 54 and the wireless network 46.

  In the system of FIG. 2, packets originating from the remote server 30 are encapsulated by the multistream gateway 50 so that they can be delivered to the multistream router 54 using a plurality of downlink channels 48a. That is, the multi-stream gateway 50 attaches an additional header to each packet so that the packet is directed to a specific destination address associated with the multi-stream router 54. This additional header is one of many IP addresses recognized by the wireless network and includes the destination IP address associated with the multi-stream router 54. The destination IP address included in this header corresponds to a specific downlink radio channel 48a. Thus, the gateway efficiently routes the flow of IP packets, all directed to the same end-user device, by tunneling a subset of these packets to each IP address associated with the multi-stream router 54. Delivered to

  As shown in FIG. 2, the multi-stream router 54 interfaces with the wireless network 46 using a plurality of wireless communication channels 48 (48a and 48b). Each IP address of the multi-stream router 54 is accessed on various radio channels 48 (eg, downlink radio channel 48a). As described above, the multi-stream gateway 50 has an IP address for each packet that is tunneled in response to a data packet that flows from the multi-stream gateway 50 toward the multi-stream router 54, here called a downlink data packet. Is specified. For example, such a specific IP address is generally determined based on the current state (status) of the downlink radio channel 48a associated with each IP address and the channel status (condition). The multi-stream gateway 50 acquires information on the channel status and condition via information (for example, the MUX information message 140 shown in FIG. 7) periodically transmitted from the multi-stream router 54.

  After receiving the downlink data packet, the multi-stream router 54 removes the tunnel header added by the multi-stream gateway 50, thereby detuning the packet. The multistream router 54 then forwards the data packet directly to the end user device 42 according to the destination address specified in the original packet.

  Alternatively, in the communication system, the multi-stream router 54 directs the downlink data packet to one or more user devices 42a connected to the LAN via a local area network (LAN) 58. Can be configured. FIG. 2 represents both configurations. The LAN 58 can be a wired LAN using the Ethernet (registered trademark) standard, and can also be a wireless using the IEEE 802.11 or Bluetooth standard. Of course, the router 54 can interface to a single end-user device without a LAN.

  The flow of data from the end user device 42, the flow from 42a to the remote server 30, is called "uplink" or "reverse link". The multi-stream router 54 receives uplink data packets directly from the end user device 42 or indirectly through the LAN 58 from the end user device 42a. The multi-stream router 54 then delivers the uplink data to the uplink channel 48b towards the multi-stream gateway 50 that sends the data to the remote server 30 via the WAN 34.

The multistream router 54 adds a header to the uplink data packet in a manner similar to that taken by the multistream gateway 50 when adding the header to the downlink data packet. The header includes an IP address associated with the multi-stream gateway 50 as a destination address. In addition, the multi-stream router selects a radio channel to send each packet. The selection of such a specific channel is typically determined by, for example, the status of each radio channel accessible by the router, the channel condition, and the like. The multistream gateway 50 receives the uplink data packet, untunnels the packet by removing the additional header added by the multistream router 54, and then the destination specified by the destination address contained in the original packet header. Forward those packets.

  Here, the term “deliver” means that data sent from one network address or data sent to that address is routed to multiple links as at least part of the route to the destination. Represents the process to set. However, it should be noted that the term “multiplexing” is also considered to represent this process.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the end user subsystem 59 includes one end user device 42 directly connected to the multi-stream router 54 and / or an end user device 42 a connected to the multi-stream router 54 through the LAN 58. May be included. The end user subsystem 59 can be mobile due to the effect of the wireless interface with the multi-stream gateway 50. Thus, the end user subsystem 59 can provide access to the WAN 34 to users physically located in a moving car, train, bus, plane, or other vehicle.

  Of course, the end user subsystem 59 need not be mobile, but provides the user with better access to the WAN. For example, multiple wireless communication channels 48 can be used to provide greater throughput to WAN 34, even where it is possible to access a regular ground-based network, such as a telephone network, to gain WAN access. In order to obtain, the communication system of FIG. 2 can be implemented.

  As already mentioned, in the above configuration where data delivery occurs at the network layer, eg, the IP protocol layer, the communication system is compatible with various wireless technologies. The system can use any digital radio technology by delivering data at the IP layer. They can be digital radio technologies such as UMTS (WCDMA), CDMA2000, GPRS / EDGE, GSM / HSCSD, TDMA, narrowband CDMA technology, and other current or future radio protocols. The multi-stream gateway 50 can be located outside the infrastructure of the wireless network 46, and the implementation of the multi-stream gateway 50 does not require changing the equipment of a conventional wireless network service provider.

  Furthermore, if the gateway is located in the wireless network infrastructure or between the WAN and the wireless network, the wireless network and the WAN need not use the same network layer protocol.

  FIG. 3 shows a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. Here, one multi-stream gateway 50 can provide services to a plurality of multi-stream routers 54a. That is, a wireless service provider or an independent Internet service provider equipped with a multi-stream gateway 50 can provide services to a plurality of subscribers having multi-stream routers such as general carriers and individual end users.

  Multistream router 54 and multistream gateway 50 are suitable to allow end-user subsystem 59 to access WAN 34 using a wired ground-based network (eg, a public telephone network) instead of wireless network 46. Can be changed. Multistream gateway 50 and end-user subsystem 59 tunnel packets through a ground-based public telephone network. Such a configuration may be desirable when there is no access to a WAN that provides high throughput, such as a DSL or cable-based network.

  FIG. 4 shows a third preferred embodiment of the present invention. Unlike the specific example shown in FIG. 2 or 3, data packets flowing between the wireless network 46 and the WAN 34 do not flow through the multi-stream gateway 50. Instead, IP-in-IP tunneling extends through WAN 34. As in other embodiments, data packets flowing between the multi-stream gateway 50 and the remote server 30 extend through the WAN 34. Reference numeral 60 indicates a communication link between the multi-stream gateway 50 and the WAN 34 for this purpose. The communication link 60 is not limited to one physical channel, but can be implemented with hardware or software so that one or more communication channels can be provided between the multi-stream gateway 50 and the WAN 34. .

  The location of the multi-stream gateway 50 can be located in the wireless network 46, as shown in FIG. 5, except at the locations shown in FIGS. Typically, a wireless network has its own interface that connects directly to the WAN. For example, a network that supports UMTS has a GGSN (Gateway GPRS support node). A network corresponding to CDMA-2000 has a PDSN (packet data service node). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the functionality of the multi-stream gateway 50 may be implemented on the same hardware platform as the GGSN or PDSN.

  The preferred embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4 illustrates the use of a single intermediate network 46 to enable communication between the multistream router 54 and the multistream gateway 50. As shown in FIG. 16, multistream router 54 and multistream gateway can also tunnel packets across multiple intermediate networks 46a to 46z. To alleviate the congestion of a particular intermediate network 46 and obtain a higher throughput than when using a single intermediate network, a plurality of intermediate networks 46a to 46z are used using the tunnel method used in the present invention. At the same time, data of a single user can be delivered. The used intermediate networks 46a to 46z do not need to use the same physical layer technology or network layer protocol.

  FIG. 6 shows an exemplary configuration of the multi-stream router 54 and multi-stream gateway 50 and how data flows through it. For simplicity, FIG. 6 shows two uplink and downlink only radio channels. However, additional channels can be used. More specifically, the multistream router 54 includes an IP router 65, a MUX sublayer 66, and an IP protocol sublayer 67. Multistream gateway 50 includes a gateway application 68 and an IP protocol layer 69. In both the multi-stream router 54 and the multi-stream gateway 50, the protocol layer differs depending on the underlying radio and WAN technologies used, the protocol layer (not shown) below the IP in the protocol stack.

  Multi-stream router 54 and multi-stream gateway 50 use IP-in-IP tunneling to deliver tunneled data packets 52 over multiple wireless channels 48 in the communication system. Tunneled packet 52 is received by IP-MUX sublayers 66 and 67 in multistream router 54 and gateway application 68 in multistream gateway 50. The wireless network 46 manages and recognizes an IP address used in the tunnel header as a source address when the multi-stream router 54 tunnels an uplink packet. The wireless network 46 manages and recognizes the IP address that the multistream router 54 reports to the multistream gateway 50 and is used as the destination address in the tunnel header when tunneling downlink packets. The gateway application 68 uses the IP address known to the multi-stream router 54. The multistream router 54 can use a number of different methods to determine the IP address of the multistream gateway 50. For example, the IP address of the multi-stream gateway 50 can be configured as static in the multi-stream router. The multistream router 54 can then indicate its own IP address to the multistream gateway 50 by sending a MUX information message. More sophisticated methods may be used. The present invention is not limited to a specific method for determining the IP address of the multi-stream gateway 50.

  Uplink packets transmitted from the IP router 65 and received by the MUX sublayer 66 are tunneled to the gateway application 68 in the multi-stream router 54. In the downlink direction, IP packets 70 destined for the mobile device or application IP address from the remote server flow through the communication link 60 between the WAN 34 and the multi-stream gateway 50.

  In the multi-stream gateway 50, the gateway application 68 receives the downlink IP packet and determines the multi-stream router 54 or 54a (see FIG. 3) through which it passes to reach the destination IP address. The gateway application 68 then selects an available address associated with the multi-stream router 54 that sends the packet. The original downlink packet is then encapsulated by adding another IP address header (tunnel header). This tunnel header indicates the IP address selected as the destination address.

  Radio link conditions typically change during a communication session. Such an effect is expected to appear when the end-user subsystem 59 (FIG. 2) is moving. The multistream router 54 monitors the condition of the radio link and reports the link status to the multistream gateway 50. This information is used when the gateway selects which multi-stream router IP address to use as the destination address in the tunnel header of the downlink packet.

  From the perspective of the wireless network 46, the end user subsystem 59 looks like many common mobile end user devices. For example, a wireless modem using a plurality of communication channels. In order for a typical mobile end-user device to establish communication using the wireless communication channel 48, the multi-stream router 54 must request resources from the wireless network 46.

  The multi-stream router 54 monitors the allocation of resources to find congestion in each channel, cell or sector of the wireless network 46. The multi-stream router 54 also monitors other communication conditions such as channel error rates. The multistream router 54 determines the optimal allocation of uplink data in the channel based on the channel status (eg, congestion level, etc.).

  For embodiments where the multi-stream router 50 is outside the infrastructure of the wireless network, the multi-stream router 50 monitors the channel resource allocation in such a way that the multi-stream router 54 monitors the channel lease allocation. Can not do it. Therefore, the multi-stream router 54 periodically transmits feedback information (for example, the MUX information message 140) to the multi-stream gateway 50. This information includes currently allocated downlink or forward channel resources, error rate measurements and QoS characteristics for each allocated downlink channel 48a, and IP address. Also included is a list of IP addresses that can be used in the multi-stream router 54 not currently related to the allocated downlink channel. The multistream gateway 50 uses this feedback information to optimize data delivery when tunneling downlink packets to multiple IP addresses associated with the multistream router 54.

  One preferred embodiment for such a feedback loop is shown in FIG. In this scenario, communication is already established and the multi-stream gateway 50 delivers data to the multi-stream router 54 using IP-in-IP tunneling. The arrow representing the wireless communication channel 48a carrying the tunneled downlink packet 52a indicates the direction of the downlink data flow. The multi-stream router 54 transmits feedback information (for example, the MUX information message 140) to the multi-stream gateway 50 through the uplink channel 48b. Arrows representing the wireless communication channel 48b indicate the flow of uplink data. The multi-stream gateway 50 ensures that the tunneled downlink packet 52a is optimized and delivered to the downlink channel 48a based on the feedback information.

  In the above-described embodiment, the multi-stream gateway 50 and the multi-stream router 54 ensure the quality of service (QoS) required for each end user and application, guarantee the throughput level and the required maximum transmission delay ( In order to provide a transmission delay, data can be delivered to the communication channel 48 based on communication aspects such as congestion and error rate. The multi-stream gateway 50 and multi-stream router 54 also minimizes communication overhead and allows efficient use of radio bandwidth by quickly releasing resources when the required QoS is no longer needed. Data can be delivered to

  The distribution of data over the voice-data network channel is described next from the perspective of rate management, scheduling, resource management, and dispatch function. FIG. 8 shows data delivery in the multi-stream router 54. FIG. 9 shows data delivery at the multi-stream gateway 50. In this embodiment, various functions work together to provide the desired QoS for all users' traffic and to optimally use the radio frequency.

  The multi-stream router 54 receives the incoming data packet 74b from one end user device or via the router 65. As shown in Figure 8, the incoming data packet 74b is subject to the rate management function 80b, and suppresses data when the multistream router 54 is congested. Congestion occurs when not enough radio resources are allocated for incoming traffic for a service. The rate management function 80b receives a notification 84b from the resource management function 88b when the packet queue (queue) exceeds a certain threshold. In order to prevent excessive packet queuing in the multi-stream router 54, the rate management function 80b can appropriately suppress the data flow based on the notification 84b. The suppressed data packet then proceeds to schedule function 96b, as shown by arrow 92b in FIG. The scheduling function 96b determines delivery based on the resource profile 100b received from the resource management function 88b and the quality of service (QoS) of the packet so that the data packet flows optimally on the uplink radio channel 48b. An exemplary move of the scheduling function 96b is to reschedule packets that experience an excessively large error rate and are waiting to be sent on one channel to another channel. Each data packet 104b is placed in a message queue 108b corresponding to the uplink channel on which data is scheduled to be transmitted. The resource management function 88b monitors the packet level of the queue 108b based on the queue information 112b from the queue 108b. The management function 88b uses the queue information 112b to determine the type and amount of radio resources needed to provide the desired QoS. The resource management function 88b also considers the current error rate experienced on the radio link when allocating resources. Resource management function 88b requests the wireless network to allocate sufficient resources to ensure that all data pending transmission is transmitted successfully, based on the current error rate, in order to meet QoS requirements. To do. The resource management function 88b uses a service provided by the layer 2 / MAC 128 to receive or request resource allocation from the wireless network. The resource management function 88b sends a threshold notification 84b to the rate management function 80b when the message queue 108b exceeds a certain threshold, thereby avoiding resource exhaustion and the QoS of packets already in progress. To maintain. Packets 116b from queue 108b flow to a dispatch function 120b that removes queue packets 116b waiting for transmission from the queue. As shown in FIG. 8, in the multi-stream router 54, when transmission is possible, the function 120b transfers the packet 124b separated from the queue to the layer 2 / MAC 128. By doing this, data packets from one or more end users are collected in a stream based on the QoS requirements of the packets. It is then delivered on a pool of one or more channels based on channel capacity and status, and the QoS supported by the channel.

  The multi-stream gateway 50 receives the input data packet 70a from the remote server via the WAN 34. As shown in FIG. 9, the input packet 70a belongs to the rate management function 80a that suppresses data when the multi-stream gateway 50 is congested. Congestion occurs when the IP layer 130 cannot receive a data packet that is transmitted at a fast enough rate so that it does not lag the flow of incoming data packets 70a, and therefore does not create excessive queuing. The rate management function 80a receives a notification 84a from the resource management function 88a (described below) when the packet queue exceeds a certain threshold. The rate control function 80a can appropriately suppress the flow of data based on the notification 84a in order to avoid excessive queues at the multi-stream router 54 and the multi-stream gateway 50. The suppressed data packet is then processed into a scheduling function 96a as shown by arrow 92a in FIG. The scheduling function 96a determines how to optimally deliver data packets on the downlink radio channel based in part on the resource profile 100a received from the resource management function 88a and the QoS requirements of the packet. An exemplary schedule function 96a movement is to reschedule packets that experience an excessively high error rate and are waiting to be delivered to a channel to another channel. The resource profile 100a is derived from the MUX information 140 sent from the multi-streaming router 54. The resource profile 88a includes information about each downlink channel 48a (eg, maximum throughput, most recently measured frame error rate, etc.). Each downlink channel 48a is associated with one or more IP addresses that can be reached from that channel. When the scheduling function 96a determines the downlink channel 48a through which the packet is transmitted, the corresponding IP address associated with the channel is selected and used as the destination address in the packet's tunnel header. This process results in the wireless network 46 routing the tunneled packet to the appropriate downlink channel 48a towards the multi-stream router 54. Each data packet 104a is placed in the message queue 108a corresponding to the destination IP address to be tunneled by the multi-stream gateway 50. The resource management function 88a monitors the packet level of the queue 108a based on the queue information 112a from the queue 108a. The resource management function 88a uses the queue information 112a to determine what type of wireless resource is needed and how much to provide the appropriate QoS. The resource management function 88a also considers the current error rate experienced on the downlink channel 48a when allocating resources. The resource management function 88a determines which IP address the scheduling function 96a can use to tunnel downlink packets based on the current downlink conditions, downlink traffic volume, and QoS requirements. To do. The resource management function 88a sends a threshold notification 84a to the rate management function 80a when the message queue 108a exceeds a certain threshold, avoiding resource exhaustion and maintaining QoS for already processed packets To do. Packets 116a from queue 108a flow to a dispatch function 120a that removes queue packets 116a waiting to be transmitted from the queue. As shown in FIG. 9, in the multi-stream gateway 50, the dispatch function 120a sends the packet 124a with the appropriate tunnel header added and removed from the queue to the IP layer 69. In this way, data packets from one or more remote servers are collected into a stream based on the QoS requirements of the packets. The tunnel ring effectively delivers the packet to the pool of one or more channels, taking into account the channel capacity and status, and the QoS supported by the channel.

Although the embodiment of the present invention described above uses an IP-in-IP tunnel to a plurality of channels, a single channel may be used. In such a case, for example, a slower communication speed such as sending and receiving a short electronic mail message is easily accepted, and the requirement for data flow is satisfied by a single channel. If the intermediate network 46 is a WCDMA radio network, to collect a plurality of independent streams of data to a single high-speed radio channel is fast speed channel has a low E _{b /} N _o requirements than channel low speed This results in a larger total system capacity.

  FIG. 10 shows a preferred embodiment where a single channel meets the data flow rate requirements. Data packets from one or more end user devices are aggregated (multiplexed) into a single channel.

  In the uplink direction, the multi-stream router 54 receives data packets from one or more sources. Each uplink data packet has an IP header that includes an address representing each source and destination. The multi-stream router 54 encapsulates the data packet with an additional IP header (hereinafter referred to as a tunnel header) including a destination address for the multi-stream gateway 50, and transmits the data packet to the multi-stream gateway 50 on the same radio channel 48. To do. Each tunnel header attached by the multi-stream router 54 has the same source IP address, that is, the address corresponding to the radio channel in use, since the only uplink channel carries all uplink data packets. The multi-stream gateway 50 receives the tunneled uplink packet 52b, removes the tunnel header added by the multi-stream router 54, and then routes the packet through the WAN according to the parameters in the original IP header. Multiple independent packet streams have different source and destination IP addresses, but in this way, by tunneling all uplink packets through the wireless network 46, the same uplink radio You can share your channel.

  In the downlink direction, multi-stream gateway 50 receives data packets from one or more sources via WAN 34. Each downlink data packet has an IP header that includes an address corresponding to each source and destination. The multistream gateway 50 encapsulates the data packet with an additional IP header (tunnel header) including a destination address corresponding to the multistream router 54, and transmits the data packet to the multistream router 54 via the WAN 34 and the wireless network 46. Since only one downlink channel carries all data packets, each tunnel header added by the multi-stream gateway contains the same IP address, ie the address corresponding to the downlink radio channel used. The MUX sublayer 66 in the multi-stream router 54 receives the packet, removes the tunnel header added by the multi-stream gateway 50, and then routes the packet to the destination according to the parameters in the original IP header. Multiple independent packet streams have different source and destination IP addresses but share the same downlink radio channel by tunneling all downlink packets in this way through the radio network 46 be able to.

  The embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 6 uses a plurality of radio channels. The embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 10 uses a single radio channel. However, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to embodiments in which the number of channels used does not vary. Multi-stream routers and multi-stream gateways can include the ability to change, ie increase or decrease the number of channels used, according to packet traffic volume, QoS requirements, and resource availability.

  Many of the preferred embodiments of the invention described above describe radio channels as symmetrical (ie, the same number of uplink and downlink radio channels are used). Radio channel usage can also be asymmetric, meaning that the number of uplink channels 48b and aggregated uplink throughput values may differ from the number of downlink channels 48a and aggregated downlink throughput values. (Example: see FIG. 7). This property provides the flexibility of allocating an appropriate amount of bandwidth in the uplink and downlink directions. For example, such a feature may be useful when it is best to allocate a single channel for uplink traffic and multiple channels for downlink traffic. FIG. 11 illustrates such a distribution. Here, asymmetric channel allocation is used for tunneling.

  The issues related to the protocol are dealt with below. Different intermediate networks use different network layer protocols to support the transfer of packet data. Several wireless technology specific protocol issues suitable for implementing the present invention are described below.

  UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) was developed to support many network layers, but the protocol considered to be the most powerful is the Internet Protocol (IP). FIG. 12 shows a standard UMTS user plane protocol stack for packet switch data.

FIG. 13 represents how the UMTS protocol architecture may be adapted to support the present invention. A new layer, IP / MUX layers 66 and 67, is added to the UE protocol stack. This layer provides the following features:
・ Compression of IP header of uplink data (compression)
-Implementation of multi-stream router delivery, aggregation, and multiplexing processes-Add compressed IP tunnel header to uplink data and appropriate source address associated with selected radio channel 48, multi-stream gateway 50 Specify the destination address and set other header fields needed to ensure the desired QoS in the payload data. • Monitor radio resource allocation and performance. • Feedback to the multi-stream gateway (MUX). Transmission of information 140) reception of downlink packets sent from the multi-stream gateway 50, and non-tunneling, decompression of the IP header of downlink data packets
Forwarding downlink data packets to the destination specified by the destination address in the original packet header.

The gateway application layer 68 is a multi-stream gateway 50 and uses a standard IP layer service. In these embodiments, the multi-stream gateway 50 is located outside the wireless service provider's network. The multi-stream gateway 50 is directly connected to a WAN (for example, the Internet) and implements a standard IP layer. The protocol layers below the IP in the protocol stack are not shown. The gateway application layer 68 provides the following functions:
・ Compression of downlink header IP header ・ Implementation of multi-stream gateway delivery, aggregation, and multiplexing process ・ Add compressed IP header to downlink data and support multi-channel corresponding to target radio channel 48 Specify the appropriate destination IP address of the gateway stream router 54 and the source address of the multi-stream gateway 50 that sends the packet, and set other header fields that are required to ensure proper QoS in the payload data・ Record feedback data (MUX information 140) from the multi-stream router 54 used in the multi-stream gateway delivery, aggregation, and multiplexing process. ・ Receive uplink data sent from the multi-stream router 54 appropriately. And Non-tunneling • Uncompressing the IP header of the uplink data packet, and then transferring the uplink packet to the destination specified by the destination IP address in the original packet header.

  The major difference that exists between the IP / MUX layers 66, 67 in the multi-stream router and the gateway application layer 68 in the multi-stream gateway 50 is that the multi-stream gateway 50 uses multi-streams to make delivery and multiplexing decisions. Whereas the feedback from the router 54 (MUX information 140) is used, the multi-stream router 54 can directly measure the placement and performance of the radio channel.

  An additional IP header (tunnel header) must be attached to each packet (a technique known as “tunneling”) before being sent to the wireless network. This is because the IP address can be associated with a unique mobile terminal identifier that exists in the UMTS network. Since UMTS mobile terminals are designed to use a single transceiver, this effectively means that an IP address always corresponds to one radio channel. This indirectly results in binding the mobile device's IP address to a single channel. When the multistream router sends an uplink packet, the IP source address corresponding to the radio link sending the packet is used. Similarly, the downlink packets sent by the multi-stream gateway must include the destination IP address corresponding to the radio link to which these packets are sent. The additional IP header is compressed by the UMTS RNC Packet Data Compression Protocol (PDCP), so the added overhead is minimal.

  To further reduce the protocol overhead, there is a method of encapsulating a plurality of separate IP packets with a single tunnel header and tunneling the intermediate network (for example, UMTS network) 46 as a single IP packet. This method is very useful, for example, when there are very many small packets transferred across an intermediate network. The only limitation with this method is that all packets encapsulated in a shared tunnel header must be sent to the same radio channel 48. FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate example structures of downlink and uplink packets tunneled using IP-in-IP encapsulation, respectively. One or more IP packets 261a-261n and 263a-263n with different source and destination IP addresses can be encapsulated in one tunnel header 260,262 to create a single tunnel packet 264,265. Tunnel packets 264 and 265 are routed as a single packet to an intermediate network and are subject to fragmentation if the total length of tunnel packets 260 and 262 exceeds the maximum transport unit size of the traversing network. When encapsulating a plurality of packets 261a to 261n with a single tunnel header 260, 262, the multi-stream gateway 50 and the multi-stream router 54 consider the QoS parameters of each encapsulated packet. Only packets that share exactly the same QoS parameters are encapsulated in shared tunnel headers 260,262. The QoS parameters in the tunnel headers 260 and 262 are set by the multistream gateway 50 and the multistream router 54 so as to match the QoS parameters of the encapsulated packets 261a to 261n and 263a to 263n. This satisfies the QoS requirements of the respective encapsulated packets 261a to 261n, 263a to 263n. This method can be used with any type of intermediate network 46 that supports the QoS option in the packet header.

  The structure of packet data networks is very similar in UMTS, GPRS, and EDGE based networks. Therefore, embodiments of the invention operate in the same way for each of these techniques.

  FIG. 14 provides an overview of the standard CDMA-2000 packet data structure. The standard CDMA-2000 packet data structure can also support a connectionless network layer protocol (CLNP) in addition to the Internet protocol (IP). Embodiments of the present invention are similar to the previous embodiments of the present invention that operate on IP (as described above) (using CLNP encapsulation for tunnel packets over a CDMA-2000 network) at the network layer. It can operate using CLNP as the protocol.

FIG. 15 shows how a CDMA-2000 protocol using IP as a network protocol can be adapted to support an embodiment of the present invention. A new layer, IP / MUX layer 66, 67, is added to the mobile terminal protocol stack. This layer provides the following features:
Implementation of multi-stream router delivery, aggregation, and multiplexing processAdds IP header to reverse link data packet, appropriate source address for selected wireless channel 48 and destination for available multi-stream gateway 50 Specify the address and set other header fields required to ensure proper QoS for the payload data to be sent ・ Distribute radio resources and monitor performance ・ Multi-stream feedback (MUX information 140) Sending to gateway 50 ・ Reception and non-tunneling of forward link data packets sent by multi-stream gateway 50 ・ Forward link to destination specified by destination address in original packet header To transfer the Tapaketto.

A gateway application layer 68 is added to the CDMA-2000 IP layer 69. In these embodiments, the multi-stream gateway 50 is located outside the wireless service provider's network. The multi-stream gateway 50 is directly connected to the Internet and implements a standard IP stack. The gateway application layer 68 provides the following functions:
-Implementation of multi-stream gateway delivery, aggregation, and multiplexing processes-Add a compressed IP header to the forward link data and the appropriate destination IP of the multi-stream router 54 corresponding to the targeted radio channel 48 Specify the address and the source address of the multi-stream gateway 50 that transmits the packet, and set other header fields that are required to ensure appropriate QoS in the payload data. , And recording feedback data (MUX information 140) from the multi-stream used in the multiplexing process; reception and non-tunneling of the reverse link data transmitted by the multi-stream router 54; addressing in the original packet header Forwarding the reverse link packets to the destination IP address is specified.

  The major difference that exists between the IP / Mux layers 66 and 67 in the multi-stream router 54 and the gateway application layer 68 in the multi-stream gateway 50 is that the multi-stream gateway 50 determines the delivery and multiplexing decisions from the multi-stream router. Multi-stream router 54 can directly measure the placement and performance of radio channels.

  Additional IP headers must be attached to each packet (a technique known as “tunneling”) before each packet is sent to the wireless network. This is because an IP address can be associated with a unique mobile terminal identifier in a CDMA-2000 network. Since a CDMA-2000 mobile terminal is designed to use a single transceiver, effectively an IP address is always associated with one radio channel. This indirectly results in binding the mobile device's IP address to a single channel. When the multistream router sends a reverse link packet, the IP source address corresponding to the radio link to which the packet is sent is used. Similarly, forward link packets sent by multistream gateways must include a destination IP address corresponding to the radio link to which these packets are sent. When packets are encapsulated in the tunnel header, they are routed through the CDMA-2000 network like packets from a typical end user device. Therefore, standard compression and encryption supported by the CDMA-2000 network used can be adapted to these packets.

  Although the invention has been described with reference to several preferred embodiments, many variations and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, all such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

FIG. 1 shows a conventional communication system using an intermediate network (eg, a wireless network) as a link between an end user and a remote server accessible through the WAN. FIG. 2 shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a single multi-stream gateway that interacts with multiple multi-stream routers. FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention in which a multi-stream gateway communicates with an intermediate network through a WAN. FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention in which a multi-stream gateway is placed in an intermediate network. FIG. 6 illustrates the internal layers of the multi-stream router and multi-stream gateway and the use of IP-in-IP tunneling. FIG. 7 shows a feedback loop between the multi-stream router and the multi-stream gateway. FIG. 8 shows a data flow in the multi-stream router. FIG. 9 shows a data flow in the multi-stream gateway. Figure 10 depicts the internal layers of a multistream router and multistream gateway and the use of a single radio channel for data packet integration. FIG. 11 illustrates the use of IP-in-IP tunneling using multi-stream routers and inner layers of multi-stream gateways and asymmetric radio channels. FIG. 12 shows a conventional UMTS protocol stack used for packet switched data. FIG. 13 shows the structure of the UMTS protocol modified for the present invention. FIG. 14 shows a conventional CDMA-2000 protocol stack used for packet-switched data. FIG. 15 shows the structure of a CDMA-2000 packet data protocol modified for the present invention. FIG. 16 shows an embodiment of the present invention in which a multi-stream router and a multi-stream gateway communicate through a plurality of intermediate networks. FIG. 17 shows an example of a tunneling packet format for downlink data. FIG. 18 shows an example of a packet format for tunneling uplink data.

Claims (101)

  A communication system comprising a gateway and a router that use tunneling through a plurality of channels to transmit and receive data packets for a single user.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the tunneling is IP-in-IP tunneling.   The communication system of claim 1, wherein the tunneling is through a connectionless network layer protocol using PDU encapsulation.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the tunneling is performed through a connection type network layer protocol using a switch type virtual circuit between the router and the gateway.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the router is mobile.   The communication system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of channels include a radio interface and a component of a single radio network.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of channels include a radio interface and a plurality of radio network components.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the channels are uplink and downlink of a dedicated traffic channel of a WCDMA wireless network.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the channel is a forward link and a reverse link of a dedicated traffic channel of a CDMA-2000 wireless network.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the gateway interfaces between a wireless network and a packet switch type wide area network.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the packet transmitted between the router and the gateway is tunneled through a packet switch type wide area network.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the gateway is located in a wireless network.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the gateway and the router monitors a resource arrangement of an intermediate network.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the gateway and the router monitors a throughput level of one or more channels of an intermediate network.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the gateway and the router measures a frame error rate of one or more channels of an intermediate network.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein a feedback mechanism is used between the router and the gateway to report the status of channel arrangement, channel throughput and channel error rate of the intermediate network. .   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein an end user device communicates with the router through a local area network.   The communication network according to claim 1, wherein the gateway and the router change the use of a plurality of channels of the intermediate network to the use of another number of the plurality of channels of the intermediate network or a single channel. .   The communication network according to claim 1, wherein the gateway and the router change use of a single channel of the intermediate network to use of a plurality of channels of the intermediate network channel. A communication system comprising a router for transmitting and receiving data packets for a single user and a gateway for transmitting and receiving the data packets to and from a remote server,
The communication system, wherein the router and the gateway transmit / receive the data packet to / from each other using IP-in-IP tunneling in a plurality of channels of a wireless network.   The communication system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of channels include a plurality of wireless network interfaces and components.   The communication system according to claim 19, wherein the router is mobile.   The communication system according to claim 19, wherein the channels are uplink and downlink of a dedicated traffic channel of a WCDMA wireless network.   The communication system according to claim 19, wherein the channels are a forward link and a reverse link of a dedicated traffic channel of a CDMA-2000 wireless network.   The communication system according to claim 19, wherein the gateway communicates with the remote server through a packet switch type wide area network.   The communication system according to claim 19, wherein a packet transmitted between the router and the gateway is tunneled through a packet switch type wide area network.   The communication system according to claim 19, wherein the gate is located in a wireless network.   The communication network according to claim 19, wherein at least one of the gateway and the router monitors resource allocation by a wireless network.   20. The communication system according to claim 19, wherein at least one of the gateway and the router monitors a throughput level of one or more channels of the wireless network.   The communication system according to claim 19, wherein at least one of the gateway and the router measures a frame error rate of one or more channels of a wireless network.   The communication system according to claim 19, wherein a feedback mechanism is used between the router and the gateway to report the status of channel arrangement, channel throughput, channel error rate of the wireless network. .   The communication system of claim 19, wherein an end user device communicates with the router through a local area network.   20. The gateway and the router change use of multiple channels of a wireless network in use to use of another number of multiple channels or a single channel of the wireless network, respectively. The communication network described.   The communication network according to claim 19, wherein the gateway and the router change use of a single channel to a plurality of channels of the wireless network. A router used for communication between an end-user device and a remote server,
Means for receiving a first set of data packets from a single end-user device, said first set of data packets being directed to a single remote server; The device and the remote server are included in the first network and communicate with each other using data packets conforming to the first protocol;
Means for delivering the first set of data packets over a plurality of channels destined for the gateway, wherein the router and the gateway are included in a second network and conform to a second protocol The means for communicating with each other using data packets and delivering said means encapsulates said first data packet compliant with said first protocol into a second set of packets compliant with said second protocol Configured, each of the second set of packets having header information associated with the channel through which the encapsulated packet is transmitted;
Means for receiving, via the plurality of channels, a third set of data packets directed to the end-user device from the remote server that conforms to the first protocol, the third set of data packets Is encapsulated by the gateway into a fourth set of data packets compliant with the second protocol, and each of the fourth set of data packets carries the encapsulated packet. Means having header information for routing each packet through the channel;
Means for taking the third data packet set from the fourth packet set and transferring the third data packet set to the end user device. Means for receiving data packets from one or more end-user devices over a local area network;
35. The router of claim 34, further comprising: means for transferring data packets through the local area network to the one or more end user devices.   35. The router of claim 34, wherein the router is configured to communicate with the gateway through one or more dedicated traffic channels of a WCDMA wireless network.   35. The router of claim 34, wherein the router is configured to communicate with the gateway over one or more dedicated traffic channels of a CDMA-2000 wireless network.   35. The router of claim 34, wherein the second protocol is an Internet protocol (IP).   The router of claim 34, wherein the second protocol is a connectionless network layer protocol.   35. The router of claim 34, wherein the second protocol is a connection type network layer protocol.   35. The router of claim 34, further comprising means for monitoring channel resource allocation by the second network and transferring information indicating the channel resource allocation to the gateway. A gateway used for communication between an end-user device and a remote server,
Means for receiving a first set of data packets from a single remote server, said first set of data packets being directed to a single end-user device, wherein said remote server and said end-user The devices are included in the first network and communicate with each other using data data packets conforming to the first protocol; and
Means for delivering the first set of data packets on a plurality of channels destined for a router, the gateway and the router being included in a second network and compliant with a second protocol; Means for communicating with each other using packets and delivering said means encapsulating said first data packet conforming to said first protocol into a second set of packets conforming to said second protocol Configured, each of the second set of packets having header information for routing each packet through the channel through which the encapsulated packet is transmitted;
Means for receiving, via the plurality of channels, a third set of data packets directed to the remote server from the end-user device that conforms to the first protocol, the third set of data packets Is encapsulated by the router into a fourth set of data packets compliant with the second protocol, and each of the fourth set of data packets carries the encapsulated packet. Means having header information associated with the channel;
Means for extracting the third data packet set from the fourth packet set and transferring the third data packet set to the remote server.   43. The gateway according to claim 42, wherein the gateway is configured to be placed in the second network as an interface to a packet-switched wide area network.   43. The gateway of claim 42, wherein the gateway is configured to interface between a wireless network and a packet-switched wide area network.   43. The gateway of claim 42, wherein the gateway is configured to interface with a wireless network through a packet switched wide area network.   The gateway of claim 42, wherein the gateway is configured to communicate simultaneously with a plurality of routers.   43. The gateway of claim 42, further comprising means for receiving information representing channel resource allocation and channel performance from the router.   43. The gateway of claim 42, wherein the second protocol is an Internet protocol (IP).   43. The router of claim 42, wherein the second protocol is a connectionless network layer protocol.   43. The router of claim 42, wherein the second protocol is a connection type network layer protocol. A method of sending data packets between an end user and a remote server,
The end user sending a data packet through the router,
The router tunnels data packets through a plurality of channels of a communication network to a gateway;
The gateway comprising: detunneling the data packet and sending to the remote server.   52. The method of claim 51, further comprising monitoring resource allocation to the plurality of channels by at least one of a gateway and a router.   52. The method of claim 51, further comprising monitoring throughput levels on the plurality of channels by at least one of a gateway and a router.   52. The method of claim 51, further comprising monitoring frame error rates on the plurality of channels by at least one of a gateway and a router.   52. A feedback mechanism is used between the router and the gateway to report channel assignment, channel throughput, and channel error rate status in a communication network. Method.   52. The method of claim 51, wherein the router includes changing from using multiple channels to using a single channel. A method of sending data packets between an end user and a remote server,
The remote server sends data packets directed to a single end-user device via a gateway;
The gateway tunnels data packets through a plurality of channels of a communication network to a router;
The router comprising: untunneling the data packet and transmitting to the single user.   58. The method of claim 57, further comprising monitoring resource allocation of the plurality of channels by at least one of the gateway and the router.   The method according to claim 57, wherein a throughput level in the plurality of channels is monitored by at least one of the gateway and the router.   58. The method of claim 57, further comprising monitoring frame error rates on the plurality of channels by at least one of the gateway and the router.   58. The method of claim 57, wherein a feedback mechanism is used between the router and the gateway to report the status of channel assignment, channel throughput, and channel error rate in a communication network.   58. The method of claim 57, further comprising changing by the gateway from using the plurality of channels to using a single channel.   58. The communication system according to claim 57, wherein the channels are uplink and downlink of a dedicated traffic channel of a WCDMA wireless network.   58. The communication system according to claim 57, wherein the channel is a forward link and a reverse link of a dedicated traffic channel of a CDMA-2000 wireless network.   Communications comprising a gateway and a router that aggregate packet data traffic for multiple users into a single packet stream and forward the packet stream over a single channel using network layer tunneling system.   66. The communication system according to claim 65, wherein the tunneling is IP-in-IP tunneling.   66. The communication system of claim 65, wherein tunneling is through a connectionless network layer protocol using PDU encapsulation.   66. The communication system according to claim 65, wherein the tunneling is performed through a connection type network layer protocol using a switch type virtual circuit between the router and the gateway.   66. The communication system according to claim 65, wherein the router is mobile.   66. The communication system according to claim 65, wherein the channels are uplink and downlink of a dedicated traffic channel for a WCDMA wireless network.   66. The communication system of claim 65, wherein the channels are a forward link and a reverse link of a CDMA-2000 wireless network dedicated traffic channel.   66. The communication system according to claim 65, wherein the gateway interfaces between a wireless network and a packet switch type wide area network.   66. The communication system according to claim 65, wherein the packet transmitted between the router and the gateway is tunneled through a packet-switched wide area network.   66. The communication system according to claim 65, wherein the gateway is located in a wireless network.   The communication system according to claim 65, wherein at least one of the gateway and the router monitors the resource allocation of the intermediate network.   66. The communication system of claim 65, wherein at least one of the gateway and the router monitors a single channel throughput level of an intermediate network.   The communication system according to claim 65, wherein at least one of the gateway and the router monitors a frame error rate in a single channel of an intermediate network.   66. The communication system of claim 65, wherein a feedback mechanism is used between the router and the gateway to report the status of channel assignment, channel throughput, channel error rate in an intermediate network.   66. The communication system of claim 65, wherein the end user device communicates with the end user device through a local area network.   A gateway that aggregates packet data traffic between multiple end-user devices and multiple remote servers into multiple packet streams and delivers the multiple packet streams to a shared pool of intermediate network channels using network layer tunneling; and A communication system comprising a router.   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein the tunneling is IP-in-IP tunneling.   81. The communication system of claim 80, wherein the tunneling is through a connectionless network layer protocol using PDU encapsulation.   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein the tunneling is performed through a connection type network layer protocol using a switch type virtual circuit between the router and the gateway.   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein the router is mobile.   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein the intermediate network is a wireless network.   81. The communication system of claim 80, wherein the channels are uplinks and downlinks of dedicated traffic channels of a WCDMA wireless network.   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein the channels are forward links and reverse links of dedicated traffic channels of a CDMA-2000 wireless network.   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein the gateway interfaces between the intermediate network and a packet switch type wide area network.   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein a packet transmitted between the router and the gateway is also tunneled through a packet switch type wide area network.   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein the intermediate network is a circuit switched network.   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein the intermediate network is a packet-switched network.   81. The communication network according to claim 80, wherein the gateway is located in the intermediate network.   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein at least one of the gateway and the router monitors resource allocation of the intermediate network.   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein at least one of the gateway and the router monitors a throughput level of one or more channels of the intermediate network.   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein at least one of the gateway and the router monitors a frame error rate of one or more channels of the intermediate network.   81. The communication system of claim 80, wherein a feedback mechanism is used between the router and the gateway to report status of channel assignment, channel throughput, and channel error rate in an intermediate network. .   The communication system according to claim 80, wherein the end user device communicates with the router through a local area network.   The communication according to claim 80, wherein the gateway and the router change the use of the plurality of channels of the intermediate network to the use of another number of the plurality of channels of the intermediate network or a single channel. network.   The communication network according to claim 80, wherein the gateway and the router change use of a single channel of the intermediate network to use of multiple channels of the intermediate network. A method of handling packet data traffic in a communication system,
Suppressing incoming packets in case of congestion,
Directing the incoming packet to a transmission channel based on the quality of service requirements of the packet and the quality of service provided by the channel;
Monitor traffic volume and channel conditions and allocate or deallocate channel resources to meet packet quality of service requirements;
A plurality of incoming packets having similar quality of service requirements are aggregated into a single packet stream by tunneling together on one or more channels that meet the quality of service requirements of the packets. how to.

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