System, method, and apparatus for service grouping of users to different speed tiers for wireless communication

• US 10,432,798 B1
• Filed: 05/25/2018
• Issued: 10/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2018
• 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: Wong, Tony Wah-Tung, Cai, Lujing, Tazi, Abdellah, Barker, Stewart, Hurst, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Cai, Wayne H
• Application Number:
  US15/990,475
• Time in Patent Office: 494 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/61 based on the service used
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/765 Linked or grouped accounts, e.g. of users or devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8016 based on quality of service [QoS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/56 based on priority criteria

Abstract

A speed tier based pricing scheme is utilized to increase average revenue per user (ARPU). To offer a speed tier based pricing scheme, the radio environment at a location of the UE can be analyzed to determine the speed tiers that can be offered to the user. In one aspect, an outer-loop scheduler can be utilized to allocate radio bearers to the UE based on a target data throughout associated with a user-selected speed tier. The priority of the non-guaranteed bit rate (GBR) bearers of the UE can be dynamically adjusted to track the target data throughput. In another aspect, a throttling function can be implemented to limit the data throughput of the UE to the target data throughput.

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;

determining speed tier data indicative of respective speed tiers assigned to user equipment served by an access point device of a communication network, wherein the respective speed tiers specify target data rates for communication between the user equipment and the access point device; and

in response to determining that an observed data rate, associated with a first user equipment of the user equipment, is not less than a first target data rate, of the target data rates, that corresponds to first speed tier of the speed tiers assigned to the first user equipment, assigning a first priority to a first non-guaranteed bit rate bearer that is associated with the first user equipment, wherein the first priority is lower than a second priority that is to be assigned to a second non-guaranteed bit rate bearer that is associated with a second user equipment, of the user equipment, that has been assigned a second speed tier of the speed tiers, wherein the first speed tier is higher than the second speed tier, wherein the second user equipment is determined to not have exceeded a second target data rate of the target data rates that corresponds to the second speed tier, and wherein the first non-guaranteed bit rate bearer and the second non-guaranteed bit rate bearer belong to a common quality of service class.

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

allocating, to the first user equipment, a number of resource blocks within a defined time interval, wherein the number of resource blocks is determined based on the first target data rate.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the user equipment are stationary devices.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication network comprises a nomadic wireless network.

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

in response to determining that the first observed data rate is less than the first target data rate, assigning a third priority to the first non-guaranteed bit rate bearer, wherein the third priority is higher than the second priority.

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

implementing a throughput throttling function that prohibits the observed data rate from exceeding the first target data rate.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the implementing comprises allocating, for the first user equipment, a buffer having a size that corresponds to the first speed tier.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the implementing comprises controlling, based on the speed tier data, a segmentation size during segmentation of service data units.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the implementing comprises implementing the throughput throttling function in a radio link layer.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the implementing comprises implementing the throughput throttling function in a packet data convergence control layer.

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

in response to determining that a physical resource block utilization of the access point device satisfies a defined criterion, directing, to a network device of the communication network, feedback data indicative of the physical resource block utilization to facilitate management of the communication network.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the speed tiers are associated with respective billing fees.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication network is a fixed wireless communication network.

14. A method, comprising:

receiving, by an access point device comprising a processor, speed tier data assigned to a first user equipment, wherein the speed tier data is indicative of a first target data throughput associated with the first user equipment;

in response to determining that a monitored data throughput, associated with the first user equipment, is less than the first target data throughput, assigning, by the access point device, a first priority to a first non-guaranteed bit rate bearer that is associated with the first user equipment, wherein the first priority is higher than a second priority that is to be assigned to a second non-guaranteed bit rate bearer that is associated with a second user equipment that has been assigned a second target data throughput, wherein the first target data throughput is greater than the second target data throughput, and wherein the first non-guaranteed bit rate bearer and the second non-guaranteed bit rate bearer belong to a common quality of service class; and

in response to determining that the monitored data throughput is not less than the first target data throughput, assigning, by the access point device, a third priority to the first non-guaranteed bit rate bearer, wherein the third priority is lower than the second priority, and wherein the second user equipment is determined to not have exceeded the second target data throughput.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

in response to determining that the monitored data throughput has exceeded the first target data throughput, decreasing, by the access point device, a data throughput for a wireless communication to facilitate providing a consistent user experience.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

in response to determining that the monitored data throughput has exceeded the first target data throughput, temporarily halting, by the access point device, a transfer of data between the user equipment and the access point device.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the speed tier data from a home subscriber server.

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

determining speed tier data indicative of respective speed tiers assigned to user equipment served by an access point device, wherein the respective speed tiers are associated with target data throughput values for communication between the user equipment and the access point device;

in response to determining that an observed data throughput, associated with a first user equipment of the user equipment, is greater than a first value, of the target data throughput values, that corresponds to first speed tier of the speed tiers assigned to the first user equipment, assigning a first priority to a first non-guaranteed bit rate bearer that is associated with the first user equipment, wherein the first priority is lower than a second priority that is to be assigned to a second non-guaranteed bit rate bearer that is associated with a second user equipment, of the user equipment, that has been assigned a second speed tier of the speed tiers, wherein the first speed tier is higher than the second speed tier, wherein the second user equipment is determined to not have exceeded a second value of the target data throughput values that corresponds to the second speed tier, and wherein the first non-guaranteed bit rate bearer and the second non-guaranteed bit rate bearer belong to a common quality of service class; and

.

19. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the access point device comprises an access point device of a fixed wireless communication network.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the user equipment are stationary.