Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data via media access control protocol in mobile communication system

Abstract

Disclosed is a method and an apparatus for transmitting and receiving data via a MAC protocol in a mobile communication system. The method includes inputting at least one Service Data Unit (SDU) containing transmission data through a corresponding logical channel and generating at least one first Protocol Data Unit (PDU) that includes said at least one SDU without including multiplexing information for identification of the logical channel, by a first transmission entity; acquiring the first PDU and generating a second PDU including the first PDU in a payload of the second PDU, by a second transmission entity that operates between the first transmission entity and a physical layer; inserting the multiplexing information for identification of the logical channel corresponding to said at least one first PDU into header information of the second PDU; and transmitting the second PDU through the physical layer. The method can reduce load due to additional processing, such as a bit operation or memory copying, in a receiver requiring high speed data transmission.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for transmitting data via a MAC (Media Access Control) protocol in a mobile communication system, the method comprising the steps of:
 inputting at least one Service Data Unit (SDU) containing transmission data through a corresponding logical channel and generating at least one first Protocol Data Unit (PDU) that includes said at least one SDU without including multiplexing information for identification of the logical channel, by a first transmission entity;   acquiring the first PDU and generating a second PDU including the first PDU in a payload of the second PDU, by a second transmission entity that operates between the first transmission entity and a physical layer;   inserting the multiplexing information for identification of the logical channel corresponding to said at least one first PDU into header information of the second PDU; and   transmitting the second PDU through the physical layer.   
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the header information of the second PDU is configured to achieve byte alignment. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein, when the second PDU includes only one first PDU from a single logical channel, the multiplexing information is set to have a predetermined value indicating that logical channel multiplexing is not used. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the header information of the second PDU includes information of an identical size of said at least one first PDU, an N field indicating the number of first PDUs delivered from the logical channel, and an F field indicating if there exists a further information field constituting the header information. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the header information of the second PDU further includes a Version Flag field indicating a protocol version of the second PDU, a Queue Identifier field indicating a reordering queue of a receiver for storage of the second PDU, and a Transmission Sequence Number field of the second PDU. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the header information of the second PDU includes multiplexing information and format information, which are not repeated for multiple PDUs from one logical channel. 
     
     
       7. A method for receiving data via a MAC protocol in a mobile communication system, the method comprising the steps of:
 receiving, by a first reception entity, a first PDU including header information and a payload through a physical layer;   reading multiplexing information for identification of a logical channel corresponding to at least one second PDU contained in the payload and format information of said at least one second PDU, from the header information of the first PDU; and   identifying the second PDU from the payload based on the format information and delivering the identified second PDU to a second reception entity.   
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein the header information of the first PDU is configured to achieve byte alignment. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 7 , further comprising determining that the first PDU includes only one second PDU from only one logical channel, when the multiplexing information is set to have a predetermined value indicating that logical channel multiplexing is not used. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 7 , wherein the header information of the first PDU includes information of an identical size of said at least one second PDU, an N field indicating the number of second PDUs delivered from the logical channel, and an F field indicating if there exists a further information field constituting the header information. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the header information of the first PDU further includes a Version Flag field indicating a protocol version of the first PDU, a Queue Identifier field indicating a reordering queue of a receiver for storage of the first PDU, and a Transmission Sequence Number field of the first PDU. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 7 , wherein the header information of the first PDU includes multiplexing information and format information, which are not repeated for multiple PDUs from one logical channel. 
     
     
       13. An apparatus for transmitting data via a MAC protocol in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:
 a first transmission entity for inputting at least one Service Data Unit (SDU) containing transmission data through a corresponding logical channel and generating at least one first Protocol Data Unit (PDU) that includes said at least one SDU without including multiplexing information for identification of the logical channel; and   a second transmission entity for acquiring the first PDU and generating a second PDU including the first PDU in a payload of the second PDU, inserting the multiplexing information for identification of the logical channel corresponding to said at least one first PDU into header information of the second PDU, and transmitting the second PDU through the physical layer, the second transmission entity operating between the first transmission entity and a physical layer.   
     
     
       14. The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the second transmission entity configures the header information of the second PDU to achieve byte alignment. 
     
     
       15. The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein, when the second PDU includes only one first PDU from a single logical channel, the second transmission entity sets the multiplexing information to have a predetermined value indicating that logical channel multiplexing is not used. 
     
     
       16. The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the header information of the second PDU includes information of an identical size of said at least one first PDU, an N field indicating the number of first PDUs delivered from the logical channel, and an F field indicating if there exists a further information field constituting the header information. 
     
     
       17. The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the header information of the second PDU further includes a Version Flag field indicating a protocol version of the second PDU, a Queue Identifier field indicating a reordering queue of a receiver for storage of the second PDU, and a Transmission Sequence Number field of the second PDU. 
     
     
       18. The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the header information of the second PDU includes multiplexing information and format information, which are not repeated for multiple PDUs from one logical channel. 
     
     
       19. An apparatus for receiving data via a MAC protocol in a mobile communication system, the apparatus comprising:
 a first reception entity for receiving a first PDU including header information and a payload through a physical layer, reading multiplexing information for identification of a logical channel corresponding to at least one second PDU contained in the payload and format information of said at least one second PDU, from the header information of the first PDU, identifying the second PDU from the payload based on the format information, and outputting the second PDU; and   a second reception entity for delivering the second PDU to a higher layer entity.   
     
     
       20. The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the header information of the first PDU is configured to achieve byte alignment. 
     
     
       21. The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the first reception entity determines that the first PDU includes only one second PDU from only one logical channel, when the multiplexing information is set to have a predetermined value indicating that logical channel multiplexing is not used. 
     
     
       22. The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the header information of the first PDU includes information of an identical size of said at least one second PDU, an N field indicating the number of second PDUs delivered from the logical channel, and an F field indicating if there exists a further information field constituting the header information. 
     
     
       23. The apparatus of  claim 22 , wherein the header information of the first PDU further includes a Version Flag field indicating a protocol version of the first PDU, a Queue Identifier field indicating a reordering queue of a receiver for storage of the first PDU, and a Transmission Sequence Number field of the first PDU. 
     
     
       24. The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the header information of the first PDU includes multiplexing information and format information, which are not repeated for multiple PDUs from one logical channel. 
     
     
       25. A method for delivering data by a communication device in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:
 obtaining, by a first entity of the communication device, a plurality of service data units (SDUs);   generating, by the first entity of the communication device, a protocol data unit (PDU) comprising a header and a payload including the plurality of SDUs; and   delivering, by the first entity of the communication device, the PDU to a second entity of the communication device,   wherein the header of the PDU and the PDU are respectively byte aligned in length, and   wherein the header of the PDU includes a plurality of logical channel identifier fields corresponding to each of the plurality of SDUs, respectively, and a plurality of extension fields indicating whether more fields are present in the header or not.   
     
     
       26. The method of claim 25, wherein the header of the PDU further includes a plurality of length fields indicating length information of the plurality of SDUs. 
     
     
       27. A method for delivering data by a communication device in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:
 receiving, by a first entity of the communication device, a protocol data unit (PDU) comprising a header and a payload including a plurality of service data units (SDUs);   identifying, by the first entity of the communication device, a plurality of logical channel identifiers corresponding to the plurality of SDUs, respectively, based on the header of the PDU;   identifying, by the first entity of the communication device, the plurality of SDUs, based on the header of the PDU; and   delivering, by the first entity of the communication device, the identified plurality of SDUs corresponding to the identified plurality of logical channel identifiers to a second entity of the communication device,   wherein the header of the PDU and the PDU are respectively byte aligned in length, and   wherein the header of the PDU includes a plurality of extension fields indicating whether more fields are present in the header or not.   
     
     
       28. The method of claim 27, wherein the header of the PDU further includes a plurality of length fields indicating length information of the plurality of SDUs. 
     
     
       29. An apparatus for delivering data in a mobile communication system, the apparatus comprising:
 a first entity configured to obtain a plurality of service data units (SDUs), generate a protocol data unit (PDU) comprising a header and a payload including the plurality of SDUs, and deliver the PDU to a second entity; and   the second entity,   wherein the header of the PDU and the PDU are respectively byte aligned in length, and   wherein the header of the PDU includes a plurality of logical channel identifier fields corresponding to each of the plurality of SDUs, respectively, and a plurality of extension fields indicating whether more fields are present in the header or not.   
     
     
       30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the header of the PDU further includes a plurality of length fields indicating length information of the plurality of SDUs. 
     
     
       31. An apparatus for delivering data in a mobile communication system, the apparatus comprising:
 a first entity configured to receive a protocol data unit (PDU) comprising a header and a payload including a plurality of service data units (SDUs), identify a plurality of logical channel identifiers corresponding to the plurality of SDUs, respectively, based on the header of the PDU, identify the plurality of SDUs, based on the header of the PDU, and deliver the identified plurality of SDUs corresponding to the identified plurality of logical channel identifiers, to a second entity; and   the second entity,   wherein the header of the PDU and the PDU are respectively byte aligned in length, and   wherein the header of the PDU includes a plurality of extension fields indicating whether more fields are present in the header or not.   
     
     
       32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the header of the PDU further includes a plurality of length fields indicating length information of the plurality of SDUs.