Apparatus, system and method of steering data radio bearer traffic to a wireless local area network link

Abstract

Some demonstrative embodiments include devices, systems of steering data radio bearer traffic to a wireless local area network link. For example, a User Equipment (UE) may include a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) transceiver; a cellular transceiver to communicate traffic of a plurality of Data Radio Bearers (DRBs) via a cellular link between the UE and an evolved Node B (eNB); and a controller to establish at least one Point-to-Point (P2P) link with the eNB via a WLAN link between the UE and a WLAN Access Point (AP), and to steer traffic of one or more of the DRBs from the cellular link to the P2P link.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . An apparatus comprising logic and circuitry configured to cause a User Equipment (UE) to:
 communicate traffic of one or more Data Radio Bearers (DRBs) via a cellular link between the UE and an evolved Node B (eNB);   receive via the cellular link a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from the eNB comprising a plurality of parameters to initiate establishment of a Point-to-Point (P2P) tunnel between the UE and the eNB via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) link between said UE and a WLAN and via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface between the eNB and the WLAN; and   steer traffic of at least one DRB of said one or more DRBs from said cellular link to the P2P tunnel.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2  configured to cause the UE to, based on an indication from the eNB to configure Uplink (UL) traffic steering via WLAN, offload UL traffic of the DRB to the P2P tunnel. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3  configured to cause the UE to offload all UL traffic of the DRB to the P2P tunnel. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 2  configured to cause the UE to release the P2P tunnel upon receipt of a handover command to handover the UE to another cell. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the RRC message comprises a transport address of said eNB to identify a termination point of the P2P tunnel between the UE and the eNB. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6  configured to cause the UE to trigger establishment of the P2P tunnel via the WLAN to the transport address of the eNB. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7  configured to cause the UE to trigger establishment of the P2P tunnel according to a WLAN Control Protocol (WPC) using the transport address of the eNB as a termination point of the P2P tunnel. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the RRC message comprises WLAN identification information to identify a WLAN Access Point (AP), the apparatus configured to cause the UE to associate with the WLAN AP based on the WLAN identification information, and to establish the P2P tunnel via a WLAN link with the WLAN AP. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 2  configured to cause the UE to establish a single P2P tunnel for a plurality of DRBs. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 2  configured to cause the UE to transmit to the eNB WLAN measurement information of WLAN measurements corresponding to the WLAN. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 2  comprising a memory, a processor, and one or more antennas. 
     
     
         13 . An apparatus comprising logic and circuitry configured to cause an evolved Node B (eNB) to:
 communicate traffic of one or more Data Radio Bearers (DRBs) via a cellular link between the eNB and a User Equipment (UE);   transmit via the cellular link a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message to the UE comprising a plurality of parameters to initiate establishment of a Point-to-Point (P2P) tunnel between the UE and the eNB via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) link between said UE and a WLAN and via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface between the eNB and the WLAN; and   steer traffic of at least one DRB of said one or more DRBs from said cellular link to the P2P tunnel.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13  configured to cause the eNB to indicate to the UE to configure Uplink (UL) traffic steering to offload UL traffic of the DRB to the P2P tunnel. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14  configured to cause the eNB to indicate to the UE to offload all UL traffic of the DRB to the P2P tunnel. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the RRC message comprises a transport address of said eNB to identify a termination point of the P2P tunnel between the UE and the eNB. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the RRC message comprises WLAN identification information to identify a WLAN Access Point (AP) to be used for the P2P tunnel. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 13  configured to cause the eNB to trigger initiation of the P2P tunnel with the UE based on WLAN measurements from the UE corresponding to the WLAN. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 13  comprising a memory, a processor, and one or more antennas. 
     
     
         20 . A product comprising a tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one processor, enable the at least one processor to cause a User Equipment (UE) to:
 communicate traffic of one or more Data Radio Bearers (DRBs) via a cellular link between the UE and an evolved Node B (eNB);   receive via the cellular link a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from the eNB comprising a plurality of parameters to initiate establishment of a Point-to-Point (P2P) tunnel between the UE and the eNB via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) link between said UE and a WLAN and via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface between the eNB and the WLAN; and   steer traffic of at least one DRB of said one or more DRBs from said cellular link to the P2P tunnel.   
     
     
         21 . The product of  claim 20 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the UE to, based on an indication from the eNB to configure Uplink (UL) traffic steering via WLAN, offload UL traffic of the DRB to the P2P tunnel.