Transporting call data via a packet data network

Abstract

Transporting call data is disclosed. A first call data associated with a first communication session and a second call data associated with a second communication session are received. The first call data and the second call data are bundled into a single data packet for transport over a packet data network.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a typical GSM network.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a mobile network with packet data network backhaul.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) packet.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) packet used to bundle call data.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a slot data portion of the payload of a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) packet used to bundle call data.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for receiving and processing a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) packet used to bundle call data.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for bundling call data for multiple slots into a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) packet.

Claims

1. A method of transporting call data, comprising: receiving a first call data associated with a first communication session and a second call data associated with a second communication session; andbundling the first call data and the second call data into a single data packet for transport over a packet data network.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first call data and the second call data are included a plurality of received call data associated with a plurality of communication sessions, and the plurality of received call data is bundled in the single data packet.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first call data and the second call data are associated with time slots in time division multiplexing.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising sending the single data packet via the packet data network.

5. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein the single data packet is sent to an entity configured to process the single data packet and forward at least a portion of the processed data to a base station controller via an interface defined by a third party base station controller vendor.

6. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein the single data packet is sent to a base transceiver station.

7. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein the single data packet is sent to a base station controller.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising associating with the single data packet, a single call data transport protocol header.

9. A method as recited in claim 8, wherein the single call data transport protocol header includes information identifying data contained in the single data packet.

10. A method as recited in claim 8, wherein the single call data transport protocol header specifies a number of segments included in the single data packet.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein each of the segments that contain data includes an individual header specifying a sequence number associated with the corresponding data.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first call data includes control data.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the single data packet is a Real-time Transport Protocol packet.

14. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the single data packet includes an IP header, a UDP header, and an RTP header, and the RTP header includes an RTP sequence number indicating the place of the single data packet in a sequence of packets.

15. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the single data packet includes a plurality of segments that can contain call data, and bundling the first call data and the second call data into the single data packet includes placing at least a portion of the first call data into one of the segments and placing at least a portion of the second call data into another one of the segments.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein bundling the first call data and the second call data into the single data packet includes associating individual headers to each of the segments that contains call data.

17. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein each of the individual headers includes a sequence number associated with call data contained in the corresponding segment.

18. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein call data contained in different segments of the single data packet are associated with different communication sessions.

19. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein call data contained in the segments are associated with a time slot in time division multiplexing.

20. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the number of segments that can be contained in the single data packet is bounded by a specified maximum.

21. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the single data packet is sent via the packet data network at the earlier of (1) when all of the segments contain call data or (2) when a scheduled time is reached.

22. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first call data is associated with data received at a base transceiver station via a radio frequency transmission.

23. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the packet data network is used as a backhaul of a mobile communication provider network.

24. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first call data is a late arriving call data that should have been included in a previously bundled data packet, and the first call data is bundled in the single data packet after it is determined that the first call data is not late by a period that exceeds a prescribed threshold.

25. A system for transporting call data, comprising: a communication interface configured to receive a first call data associated with a first communication session and a second call data associated with a second communication session; anda processor configured to bundle the first call data and the second call data into a single data packet for transport over a packet data network.

26. A system as recited in claim 25, wherein the first call data and the second call data are associated with time slots in time division multiplexing.

27. A system as recited in claim 25, wherein each call data segment of the single data packet includes an individual header specifying a sequence number associated with the corresponding call data.

28. A computer program product for transporting call data, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for: receiving a first call data associated with a first communication session and a second call data associated with a second communication session; andbundling the first call data and the second call data into a single data packet for transport over a packet data network.

29. A computer program product as recited in claim 28, wherein the first call data and the second call data are associated with time slots in time division multiplexing.

30. A computer program product as recited in claim 28, wherein each call data segment of the single data packet includes an individual header specifying a sequence number associated with the corresponding call data.