Enhancing quality of service for high priority services

• US 10,542,452 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2015
• Issued: 01/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Kiss, Krisztian
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassim, Khaled M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ali, Syed
• Application Number:
  US14/668,366
• Publication Number:
  US 20150358853A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,763 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0263 involving mapping traffic to individual bearers or channels, e.g. traffic flow template [TFT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0268 using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/543 based on requested quality, e.g. QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

Quality of service may be enhanced for high priority traffic. A UE may communicate within a packet switched system, e.g., an LTE network. The UE may use a first or default bearer for signaling messages of high priority services and a second bearer for messages of low priority services. For example, the first bearer may have a quality of service class identifier (QCI) value of 5 while the second bearer may have a QCI value other than 5, (e.g., 6-9). The first bearer may be used for signaling messages associated with voice over IP, video over IP, and/or SMS over IP, as desired. The second bearer may be used for messages (e.g., signaling messages) associated with other, lower priority services. For example, the second bearer may be used for presence messages or instant messages or other lower priority messages.

Claims

1. A method for operating a user equipment device (UE) communicating with a packet switched network, the method comprising:

at the UE;

establishing a first bearer having first quality of service (QoS) characteristics associated with a first priority, wherein the first bearer is a dedicated IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) signaling bearer used only for IMS signaling messages, wherein the first bearer is a default IMS signaling bearer, wherein the first QoS characteristics are identified by a QoS class identifier (QCI) value of 5;

establishing a second bearer having second QoS characteristics associated with a second priority lower than the first priority, wherein the second bearer is also a dedicated IMS signaling bearer used only for IMS signaling messages, wherein the second QoS characteristics are identified by a QCI value other than 5;

using the first bearer for communication for a first set of messages having the first priority; and

using the second bearer for communication for a second set of messages having the second priority.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of messages and the second set of messages are associated with a same application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the QCI value of the second QoS characteristics comprise one of 6-9.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of messages are associated with a first set of services, wherein the second set of messages are associated with a second set of services, wherein the first set of services is higher priority than the second set of services.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of messages are associated with voice over IP or video over IP signaling services.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of messages are associated with a SMS over IP service.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of messages are associated with a SIP presence service, a SIP instant messaging service, or other SIP services based on the SIP event notification framework.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet switched network implements long term evolution (LTE).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of messages are associated with a service having third QoS characteristics associated with a third priority lower than the first priority and higher than the second priority.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the second bearer is performed in response to the second set of IMS signaling messages.

10. A user equipment device (UE), the UE comprising:

a radio, comprising one or more antennas configured for wireless communication, wherein the radio is configured to communicate using at least a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the first RAT comprises a packet switched RAT; and

a processing element coupled to the radio;

wherein the radio and the processing element are configured to;

establish a first bearer having first quality of service (QoS) characteristics associated with a first priority, wherein the first bearer is a dedicated IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) signaling bearer used only for IMS signaling messages, wherein the first bearer is a default IMS signaling bearer, wherein the first QoS characteristics are identified by a QoS class identifier (QCI) value of 5;

establish a second bearer having second QoS characteristics associated with a second priority lower than the first priority, wherein the second bearer is also a dedicated IMS signaling bearer used only for IMS signaling messages, wherein the second QoS characteristics are identified by a QCI value other than 5;

using the first bearer for communication for a first set of IMS signaling messages having the first priority; and

using the second bearer for communication for a second set of IMS signaling messages having the second priority.

11. The UE of claim 10, wherein the first set of IMS signaling messages and the second set of IMS signaling messages are associated with a same application.

12. The UE of claim 10, wherein the first set of IMS signaling messages are associated with a first set of services, wherein the second set of IMS signaling messages are associated with a second set of services, wherein the first set of services is higher priority than the second set of services.

13. The UE of claim 10, wherein the first set of IMS signaling messages are associated with voice over IP or video over IP signaling services.

14. The UE of claim 10, wherein the first set of IMS signaling messages are associated with a SMS over IP service.

15. The UE of claim 10, wherein the second set of IMS signaling messages are associated with a SIP presence service, a SIP instant messaging service, or other SIP services based on the SIP event notification framework.

17. An apparatus for implementation within a user equipment device (UE), comprising:

one or more processing elements, wherein the one or more processing elements are configured to;

establish a default bearer for first IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) signaling messages, wherein the default bearer is a dedicated IMS signaling bearer used only for IMS signaling messages, wherein the default bearer is associated with first QoS characteristics identified by a QoS class identifier (QCI) value of 5;

use the default bearer for IMS signaling messages having a first priority;

in response to second IMS signaling messages of a second priority, lower than the first priority, establish a second bearer for IMS signaling messages, wherein the second bearer is also a dedicated IMS signaling bearer used only for IMS signaling messages, wherein the second bearer is associated with second QOS characteristics identified by a value other than 5;

use the second bearer for the IMS signaling messages of the second priority.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first IMS signaling messages are associated with voice over IP or video over IP signaling services.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first IMS signaling messages are associated with a SMS over IP service.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the second IMS signaling messages are associated with a one or more of SIP presence service or SIP instant messaging service.