Controlling traffic transmissions to manage cellular radio resource utilization

• US 10,165,576 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2018
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sen, Subhabrata, Spatscheck, Oliver, Gerber, Alexandre, Mao, Zhuoqing Morley, Qian, Feng, Wang, Zhaoguang
• Primary Examiner(s): Holliday, Jaime
• Application Number:
  US15/996,416
• Publication Number:
  US 20180279314A1
• Time in Patent Office: 207 Days
• Field of Search: 4554141-4144
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/53 based on regulatory allocation policies

Abstract

Techniques control traffic transmissions to manage radio resource utilization. When content is being streamed to user equipment (UE) and is at least initially intended to be streamed in real time at a constant bitrate, a communication management component can determine whether the content being transmitted to the UE can be delayed, instead of being transmitted in real time. In response to determining that the content can be delayed, the communication management component can facilitate buffering data and periodically streaming the data to the UE in data bursts to reduce use of UE power and radio resources. When transmitting a visual image to a UE, the communication management component can adjust resolution of a visual image to correspond to screen dimensions of the UE based on information indicating screen dimensions of the UE that can be received from the UE.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

with regard to content comprising a first portion of the content and a second portion of the content, and based on jitter information associated with the second portion of the content, determining whether a data transfer time for a second communication of the second portion of the content is permitted to be modified to delay the second communication via a second data burst for a defined amount of time after a first communication of the first portion of the content via a first data burst, wherein the jitter information indicates an amount of time delay from the data transfer time that is permitted; and

determining whether the first portion of the content and the second portion of the content are permitted to be communicated using separate data bursts comprising the first data burst and the second data burst based on a result of the determining whether the data transfer time is permitted to be modified.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the first portion of the content and the second portion of the content are permitted to be communicated between a first device and a second device using the separate data bursts;

communicating the first portion of the content via the first data burst; and

communicating the second portion of the content via the second data burst.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the content is initially scheduled to be communicated between a first device and a second device via a continuous stream at a defined bitrate, and wherein the determining whether the first portion of the content and the second portion of the content are permitted to be communicated using the separate data bursts comprises:

determining whether the first portion of the content and the second portion of the content are permitted to be communicated between the first device and the second device using the separate data bursts as an alternative to the first portion of the content and the second portion of the content being communicated between the first device and the second device via the continuous stream at the defined bitrate.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the jitter information comprises a jitter parameter that indicates the amount of the time delay from the data transfer time that is permitted, and wherein the operations further comprise:

modifying the jitter parameter to modify the amount of the time delay from the data transfer time that is permitted.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the modifying the jitter parameter comprises increasing the jitter parameter to increase the amount of the time delay from the data transfer time that is permitted to facilitate reducing a number of data bursts associated with data transfers.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

analyzing the jitter information, the data transfer time for the second communication of the second portion of the content, and a time period associated with the first communication of the first portion of the content with the first data burst, and

wherein the determining whether the data transfer time for the second communication of the second portion of the content is permitted to be modified comprises, based on an analysis result of the analyzing of the jitter information, the data transfer time, and the time period, determining whether the data transfer time for the second communication of the second portion of the content is permitted to be modified to delay the second communication of the second portion of the content via the second data burst for the defined amount of time after the first communication of the first portion of the content via the first data burst.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the data transfer time for the second communication of the second portion of the content is permitted to be modified comprises:

based on the jitter information and at least one defined traffic communication criterion, determining whether the data transfer time for the second communication of the second portion of the content is permitted to be modified to delay the second communication of the second portion of the content via the second data burst for the defined amount of time after the first communication of the first portion of the content via the first data burst,

wherein the at least one defined traffic communication criterion is at least one member of a group of defined traffic communication criteria that comprises a first traffic communication criterion relating to a subscription associated with the content, a second traffic communication criterion relating to a content provider policy, and a third traffic communication criterion relating a preference of a user identity associated with a device that is associated with communication of the content.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise scheduling communications of respective data transfers of respective portions of the content to a first device from a second device, and wherein the respective portions of the content comprise the first portion of the content and the second portion of the content.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the respective data transfers comprise a first data transfer, comprising the first portion of the content, and a second data transfer, comprising the second portion of the content, and wherein the scheduling of the communications of the respective data transfers comprises:

scheduling the first communication of the first data transfer, comprising the first portion of the content, from the second device to the first device to occur at a first time, wherein the first data transfer is communicated via the first data burst; and

in accordance with the jitter information, scheduling the second communication of the second data transfer, comprising the second portion of the content, from the second device to the first device to occur at a second time that is within a specified amount of time of a third transmission of a third data transfer, comprising different content, that is to be transmitted from a third device to the first device, to facilitate the second data transfer and the third data transfer being communicated in a same data burst of the separate data bursts, and wherein the same data burst is the second data burst.

10. A method, comprising:

with regard to a first portion of content and a second portion of the content, and based on a data transfer parameter associated with the second portion of the content, determining, by a system comprising a processor, whether a data transfer start time for a second communication of the second portion of the content is able to be adjusted to delay the second communication of the second portion of the content with a second data burst for a defined amount of time after a first communication of the first portion of the content via a first data burst, wherein the data transfer parameter indicates an amount of time deviation from the data transfer start time that is acceptable; and

determining, by the system, whether communicating the content via individual data bursts is acceptable, wherein the individual data bursts comprise the first data burst comprising the first portion of the content and the second data burst comprising the second portion of the content.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

in response to determining that the communicating of the content via the individual data bursts is acceptable;

communicating, by the system, the first portion of the content via the first data burst at a first data transfer time; and

communicating, by the system, the second portion of the content, via the second data burst at a second data transfer time that is determined to be compatible with the data transfer start time and the data transfer parameter.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the content is initially scheduled to be streamed to a device via a continuous stream at a specified bitrate, and wherein the determining whether the communicating the content via the individual data bursts is acceptable comprises determining whether the communicating of the content to the device via the individual data bursts is acceptable as an alternative to the content being communicated to the device via the continuous stream at the specified bitrate.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining whether the data transfer start time for the second communication of the second portion of the content is able to be adjusted comprises:

based on the data transfer parameter and a defined traffic communication criterion relating to presentation of the content without disruption, determining whether the data transfer start time for the second communication of the second portion of the content to a device is able to be adjusted to delay the second communication of the second portion of the content with the second data burst for the defined amount of time after the first communication of the first portion of the content, as part of the first data burst, to the device, without the disruption of the presentation of the content by the device.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein a first data transfer comprises the first portion of the content and a second data transfer comprises the second portion of the content, and wherein the method further comprises:

scheduling, by the system, the first communication of the first data transfer, comprising the first portion of the content, to a first device from a second device at a first time;

based on the data transfer parameter, scheduling, by the system, the second communication of the second data transfer, comprising the second portion of the content, to the first device from the second device at a second time that occurs within a specified amount of time of a third data transfer, comprising different content, to be communicated from a third device to the first device, to facilitate communicating the second data transfer and the third data transfer in a same data burst of the individual data bursts, wherein the same data burst is the second data burst;

communicating, by the system, the first data transfer in the first data burst; and

communicating, by the system, the second data transfer and the third data transfer in the second data burst.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the third data transfer is a periodic data transfer.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the periodic data transfer is associated with a periodicity parameter that indicates a defined period of time between two periodic data transfers associated with an application, and wherein the method further comprises:

adjusting, by the system, the periodicity parameter to adjust the defined period of time between the two periodic data transfers, comprising the periodic data transfer, associated with the application.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the third data transfer is an aperiodic data transfer.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

in response to determining that the communicating of the content via the individual data bursts is acceptable, storing, by the system, the second portion of the content in a queue to buffer the second portion of the content until the data transfer start time of the second communication of the second portion of the content with the second data burst.

19. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

with regard to content comprising a first subset of the content and a second subset of the content, based on a jitter parameter associated with the second subset of content, determining whether a data transfer time for a second transmission of the second subset of the content to a device is adjustable to delay the second transmission of the second subset of the content with a second data burst to the device for a defined amount of time after a first transmission of the first subset of the content with a first data burst to the device, wherein the jitter parameter indicates an amount of time adjustment from the data transfer time that is acceptable; and

based on a result of the determining whether the data transfer time for the second transmission of the second subset of the content to the device is adjustable, determining whether the content is transmittable to the device via separate data bursts comprising the first data burst and the second data burst.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the content is transmittable to the device via the separate data bursts;

transmitting, to the device, the first subset of the content with the first data burst at a first data transfer time; and

transmitting, to the device, the second subset of the content with the second data burst at a second data transfer time.