Priority-based dynamic resource allocation method and apparatus for supply-demand systems

• US 20030018803A1
• Filed: 03/12/2002
• Published: 01/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HRL Laboratories LLC (The Boeing Co.)
• Original Assignee: HRL Laboratories LLC (The Boeing Co.)
• Inventors: Ryu, Bong, El Batt, Tamer
• Granted Patent: US 7,054,936 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/236
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/15 in relation to multipoint traffic arrangements for broadcast or multicast in data networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/72 using reservation actions during connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/788 Autonomous allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/803 Application aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/821 Prioritising resource allocation or reservation requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/823 Prediction of resource usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/56 based on priority criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A computer network uplinking system, method, and computer program product are presented for allocation of network resources. A controller tier includes a controller node 100 having a processor 102, a memory 104, and a communication interface 106. Also, an uplinking tier includes uplinking nodes 108, with a processor 110, a memory 112, and a communication interface 114. The nodes 108 communicate the controller node 100 in frames. Current and next frames are represented as K and K+1. The nodes 108 request reservations from the controller node 100 based on the data each needs to transmit. The controller node 100 generates a control signal based on the reservation requests to assign slots of a information subframe of the next frame K+1 to the nodes 108 based on the priority allocated to the node 108 and the data each needs to transmit. The nodes 108 then transmit in their assigned slots.

Claims

1. A computer network uplinking system comprising:

a. a controller tier including a controller node having a processor, a memory communicatively coupled with the processor, and a communication interface communicatively coupled with the processor;

b. an uplinking tier including a plurality up linking nodes, with each one of the plurality of uplinking nodes having a processor, a memory communicatively coupled with the processor, and a communication interface communicatively coupled with the processor, wherein the communication interface of each one of the plurality of uplinking nodes communicates with the communication interface of the controller node by transmitting and receiving data in a series of frames, with each frame including a reservation sub frame, including a plurality of reservation slots, and an information subframe, including a plurality of slots, and with a current frame represented as frame K and a next frame represented as a frame K+1;

c. wherein each uplinking node further includes at least one data application operating within its memory and processor, with the data application operative to generate data having a particular priority, and wherein the processor generates a reservation request based on the data generated by the data application and transmits the request to the controller node via the reservation subframe of the current frame K through the communication interface, with the reservation subframe of the frame K including the aggregate of the reservation requests of the plurality of uplinking nodes;

d. wherein the controller node is operative to receive the reservation subframe including the reservation requests of the plurality of uplinking nodes in the frame K, and wherein the controller node utilizes the priority of each data application as well as information about the data generated by the data application in order to allocate the slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1, and wherein the controller node sends a control signal to each of the uplinking nodes indicating the slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 in which the respective uplinking node is authorized to transmit; and

e. wherein each one of the plurality of uplinking nodes is operative to receive the control signal from the controller node, and to transmit data from the data application in the slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 in which the uplinking node is authorized to transmit.

2. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the uplinking nodes communicate with the controller node by means of a wireless channel.

3. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 2, wherein the uplinking nodes are terrestrial vehicles and wherein the controller node is a non-terrestrial vehicle.

4. A computer network up linking system as set forth in claim 2, wherein both the up linking nodes and the controller node are non-terrestrial vehicles.

5. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the controller node is a mechanism for allocating limited service resources to customers and where the uplinking nodes are means for requesting service resource allocations from the controller node based on customer requests where the customer requests have priorities.

6. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 5, wherein the uplinking nodes communicate with the controller node by means of a wireless channel.

7. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the controller node optionally serves as an uplinking node to higher-level controller node and wherein the uplinking nodes optionally serve as controller nodes for lower-level uplinking nodes, whereby a multi-tier computer uplinking system is formed as a tree-type structure.

8. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 7, wherein the uplinking nodes communicate with the controller node by means of a wireless channel.

9. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 1, wherein each data application transmits data in packets, and wherein the slots of the information subframe are allocated by the controller node via solving the following optimization problem:

10. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 9, wherein the solution to the optimization problem is given by the following equation:

11. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 10, wherein the uplinking nodes communicate with the controller node by means of a wireless channel.

12. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 11, wherein the uplinking nodes are terrestrial vehicles and wherein the controller node is a non-terrestrial vehicle.

13. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 10, wherein the controller node optionally serves as an uplinking node to higher-level controller node and wherein the uplinking nodes optionally serve as controller nodes for lower-level uplinking nodes, whereby a multi-tier computer uplinking system is formed as a tree-type structure.

14. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 13, wherein the uplinking nodes communicate with the controller node by means of a wireless channel.

15. A computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 14, wherein each of the uplinking nodes is selected from the group consisting of terrestrial vehicles and non-terrestrial vehicles, and wherein each of the controller nodes is selected from the group consisting of terrestrial vehicles and non-terrestrial vehicles.

17. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 16, wherein the controller node is configured to communicate with uplinking nodes by means of a wireless channel.

18. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 17, wherein the controller node is a non-terrestrial vehicle.

19. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 16, wherein the controller node is a mechanism for allocating limited service resources to customers based on customer requests at a plurality of uplinking nodes where the customer requests have priorities.

20. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 19, wherein the uplinking nodes communicate with the controller node by means of a wireless channel.

21. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 16, wherein the controller node optionally serves as an uplinking node to higher-level controller node whereby a multi-tier computer uplinking system is formed as a tree-type structure.

22. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 21, wherein the uplinking nodes communicate with the controller node by means of a wireless channel.

23. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 16, wherein each data application transmits data in packets, and wherein the slots of the information subframe are allocated by the controller node via solving the following optimization problem:

24. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 23, wherein the solution to the optimization problem is given by the following equation:

25. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 24, wherein the uplinking nodes communicate with the controller node by means of a wireless channel.

26. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 25, wherein the controller node is a non-terrestrial vehicle.

27. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 24, wherein the controller node optionally serves as an uplinking node to higher-level controller node whereby a multi-tier computer uplinking system is formed as a tree-type structure.

28. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 27, wherein the uplinking nodes communicate with the controller node by means of a wireless channel.

29. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system as set forth in claim 28, wherein each of the controller nodes is selected from the group consisting of terrestrial vehicles and non-terrestrial vehicles.

16. A controller node for use in a network uplinking system, the controller node comprising:

a. a processor, a memory communicatively coupled with the processor, and a communication interface communicatively coupled with the processor, with the communication interface operative for communicating with each one of a plurality of uplinking nodes by transmitting and receiving data in a series of frames, with each frame including a reservation subframe including a plurality of reservation slots, and an information subframe including a plurality of slots, and with a current frame represented as frame K and a next frame represented as a frame K+1;

b. wherein the controller node is operative to receive the reservation subframe including reservation requests of the plurality of uplinking nodes in the frame K, and wherein the controller node utilizes a data application priority as well as information about the data generated by a data application to allocate the slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1, and wherein the controller node sends a control signal to each of the uplinking nodes indicating the slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 in which the respective uplinking node is authorized to transmit.

30. An uplinking node for use in a computer network uplinking system, the uplinking node comprising:

a. a processor, a memory communicatively coupled with the processor, and a communication interface communicatively coupled with the processor, wherein the communication interface of each one of the plurality of uplinking nodes communicates with the communication interface of a controller node by transmitting and receiving data in a series of frames, with each frame including a reservation subframe, including a plurality of reservation slots, and an information subframe, including a plurality of slots, and with a current frame represented as frame K and a next frame represented as a frame K+1;

b. wherein the uplinking node further includes at least one data application operating within its memory and processor, with the data application operative to generate data having a particular priority, and wherein the processor generates a reservation request based on the data generated by the data application and transmits the request to the controller node via the reservation subframe of the current frame K through the communication interface, with the reservation subframe of the frame K including the aggregate of the reservation requests of the plurality of uplinking nodes; and

c. wherein each one of the plurality of uplinking nodes is operative to receive the control signal from the controller node generated based on the reservation request from the uplinking node, and to transmit data from the data application in the slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 in which the uplinking node is authorized to transmit.

31. An uplinking node for use in a computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 30, wherein the uplinking nodes are configured to communicate with the controller node by means of a wireless channel.

32. An uplinking node for use in a computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 31, wherein the uplinking nodes are selected from the group consisting of terrestrial vehicles and non-terrestrial vehicles.

33. An uplinking node for use in a computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 30, wherein the uplinking nodes are means for requesting service resource allocations from a controller node based on customer requests where the customer requests have priorities.

34. An uplinking node for use in a computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 33, wherein the uplinking node is configured to communicate with a controller node by means of a wireless channel.

35. An uplinking node for use in a computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 30, wherein the uplinking nodes optionally serve as controller nodes for lower-level uplinking nodes, whereby a multi-tier computer uplinking system is formed as a tree-type structure.

36. An uplinking node for use in a computer network uplinking system as set forth in claim 35, wherein the uplinking node is configured to communicate with a controller node by means of a wireless channel.

38. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 37, wherein the transmitting and receiving steps are all performed by means of a wireless channel.

39. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 37, wherein the controller node is provided as a means for allocating limited service resources to customers and where the uplinking nodes are provided as a means for requesting service resource allocations from the controller node based on customer requests where the customer requests have priorities.

40. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 39, wherein the transmitting and receiving steps are all performed by means of a wireless channel.

41. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 37, wherein the controller node is provided to optionally serve as an uplinking node to higher-level controller node and wherein the uplinking nodes is provided to optionally serve as controller nodes for lower-level uplinking nodes, whereby a multi-tier computer uplinking system is formed as a tree-type structure.

42. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 41, wherein the transmitting and receiving steps are all performed by means of a wireless channel.

43. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 37, wherein in the transmitting step, each data application transmits data in packets, and wherein in the allocating step, the slots of the information subframe are allocated by the controller node via solving the following optimization problem:

44. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 38, wherein for the allocating step, the solution to the optimization problem is given by the following equation:

45. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 44, wherein the transmitting and receiving steps are all performed by means of a wireless channel.

46. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 44, wherein the controller node is provided to optionally serve as an uplinking node to higher-level controller node and wherein the uplinking nodes is provided to optionally serve as controller nodes for lower-level uplinking nodes, whereby a multi-tier computer uplinking system is formed as a tree-type structure.

47. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 46, wherein the transmitting and receiving steps are all performed by means of a wireless channel.

49. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 48, wherein the transmitting and receiving steps are all performed by means of a wireless channel.

50. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 48, wherein in the transmitting step, each data application transmits data in packets, and wherein in the allocating step, the slots of the information subframe are allocated by the controller node via solving the following optimization problem:

51. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 48, wherein for the allocating step, the solution to the optimization problem is given by the following equation:

52. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking as set forth in claim 51, wherein the transmitting and receiving steps are all performed by means of a wireless channel.

54. A computer program product for facilitating uplinking as set forth in claim 48, wherein the transmitting and receiving steps are all performed by means of a wireless channel.

55. A computer program product for facilitating uplinking as set forth in claim 48, wherein in the transmitting step, each data application transmits data in packets, and wherein in the allocating step, the slots of the information subframe are allocated by the controller node via solving the following optimization problem:

56. A computer program product for facilitating uplinking as set forth in claim 48, wherein for the allocating step, the solution to the optimization problem is given by the following equation:

57. A computer program product for facilitating uplinking as set forth in claim 51, wherein the transmitting and receiving steps are all performed by means of a wireless channel.

37. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking comprising the steps of:

a. providing a controller tier including a controller node having a processor, a memory communicatively coupled with the processor, and a communication interface communicatively coupled with the processor;

b. providing an uplinking tier including a plurality uplinking nodes, with each one of the plurality of uplinking nodes having a processor, a memory communicatively coupled with the processor, and a communication interface communicatively coupled with the processor;

c. transmitting data between the controller node and the uplinking nodes in a series of frames, with each frame including a reservation subframe including a plurality of reservation slots, and an information subframe including a plurality of slots, and with a current frame represented as frame K and a next frame represented as a frame K+1;

d. operating a data application in the memory and processor of each uplinking node to generate data having a particular priority;

e. generating a reservation request in the processor of each uplinking node on the data generated by the data application;

f. transmitting the request from the uplinking node to the controller node via the reservation subframe of the current frame K through the communication interface of the uplinking node, with the reservation subframe of the frame K including the aggregate of the reservation requests of the plurality of uplinking nodes;

g. receiving, at the controller node, the reservation subframe including the reservation requests of the plurality of uplinking nodes in the frame K;

h. allocating slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 based on the priority of each data application as well as information about the data generated by the data application;

i. transmitting a control signal to each of the uplinking nodes from the controller node indicating the slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 in which the respective uplinking node is authorized to transmit; and

j. receiving the control signal from the controller node, at each one of the plurality of uplinking nodes; and

k. transmitting data from the data application in the slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 in which the uplinking node is authorized to transmit.

48. A method for facilitating computer network uplinking in a computer network comprising a controller tier including a controller node having a processor, a memory communicatively coupled with the processor, and a communication interface communicatively coupled with the processor and an uplinking tier including a plurality uplinking nodes, with each one of the plurality of uplinking nodes having a processor, a memory communicatively coupled with the processor, and a communication interface, communicatively coupled with the processor, the method comprising the steps of:

a. transmitting data between the controller node and the uplinking nodes in a series of frames, with each frame including a reservation subframe including a plurality of reservation slots, and an information subframe including a plurality of slots, and with a current frame represented as frame K and a next frame represented as a frame K+1;

b. operating a data application in the memory and processor of each uplinking node to generate data having a particular priority;

c. generating a reservation request in the processor of each uplinking node on the data generated by the data application;

d. transmitting the request from the uplinking node to the controller node via the reservation subframe of the current frame K through the communication interface of the uplinking node, with the reservation subframe of the frame K including the aggregate of the reservation requests of the plurality of uplinking nodes;

e. receiving, at the controller node, the reservation subframe including the reservation requests of the plurality of uplinking nodes in the frame K;

f. allocating slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 based on the priority of each data application as well as information about the data generated by the data application;

g. transmitting a control signal to each of the uplinking nodes from the controller node indicating the slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 in which the respective uplinking node is authorized to transmit; and

h. receiving the control signal from the controller node, at each one of the plurality of uplinking nodes; and

i. transmitting data from the data application in the slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 in which the uplinking node is authorized to transmit.

53. A computer program product for facilitating uplinking in a computer network comprising a controller tier including a controller node having a processor, a memory communicatively coupled with the processor, and a communication interface communicatively coupled with the processor and an uplinking tier including a plurality uplinking nodes, with each one of the plurality of uplinking nodes having a processor, a memory communicatively coupled with the processor, and a communication interface, communicatively coupled with the processor, the computer program product operative for facilitating steps of:

a. transmitting data between the controller node and the uplinking nodes in a series of frames, with each frame including a reservation subframe including a plurality of reservation slots, and an information subframe including a plurality of slots, and with a current frame represented as frame K and a next frame represented as a frame K+1;

b. operating a data application in the memory and processor of each uplinking node to generate data having a particular priority;

c. generating a reservation request in the processor of each uplinking node on the data generated by the data application;

d. transmitting the request from the uplinking node to the controller node via the reservation subframe of the current frame K through the communication interface of the uplinking node, with the reservation subframe of the frame K including the aggregate of the reservation requests of the plurality of uplinking nodes;

e. receiving, at the controller node, the reservation subframe including the reservation requests of the plurality of uplinking nodes in the frame K;

f. allocating slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 based on the priority of each data application as well as information about the data generated by the data application;

g. transmitting a control signal to each of the uplinking nodes from the controller node indicating the slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 in which the respective uplinking node is authorized to transmit;

h. receiving the control signal from the controller node, at each one of the plurality of uplinking nodes; and

i. transmitting data from the data application in the slots of the information subframe of the next frame K+1 in which the uplinking node is authorized to transmit.