Method in a communication system, a communication system and a communication device

• US 20040057412A1
• Filed: 09/25/2002
• Published: 03/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Curcio, Igor D., Hannuksela, Miska, Varsa, Viktor
• Granted Patent: US 8,161,158 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/341
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a communication system for transmission of multimedia streams. Multimedia streams are transmitted in the communication system from a sending communication device to a receiving communication device at least partly via a wireless communication network. Information about the multimedia stream is transmitted to the receiving communication device comprising at least one parameter of the transmission of the multimedia stream for reservation of network resources. The parameter is the maximum bit rate which is needed for the transmission or the maximum service data unit size to be used in the transmission. It is also possible that both the mentioned parameters will be transmitted as attributes of the session description protocol. In an advantageous embodiment the receiving communication device informs the sending communication device about the QoS profile parameters which the wireless communication network granted for the transmission.

Claims

1. A method in a communication system, in which multimedia streams are transmitted from a sending communication device to a receiving communication device at least partly via a wireless communication network, wherein the receiving communication device is informed of at least one of the following parameters of the transmission of the multimedia stream for reservation of network resources:

the maximum bit rate,

the maximum service data unit size.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein information about the multimedia stream is transmitted by using a session description protocol, and an attribute field of the session description protocol is used to inform the receiving communication device of said at least one parameter.

3. A method according to claim 1 comprising the step of selecting a multimedia stream for transmission to the receiving wireless communication device, the step of informing the sending communication device of the selection of the multimedia stream, the step of examining the maximum bit rate of the selected multimedia stream, the step of informing the maximum bit rate of the selected multimedia stream to the receiving wireless communication device, and the step of reserving communication resources for the receiving communication device for receiving the selected multimedia stream.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein in the step of reserving communication resources for the receiving communication device the reservation of resources is performed by using said maximum bit rate.

5. A method according to claim 3 wherein the selected multimedia stream is a streaming multimedia application.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the sending communication device is a server being in a data transmission connection with Internet, the streaming multimedia application is stored on said server, wherein the streaming multimedia application is transmitted from the server to the Internet and further to the wireless communication network, from which the streaming multimedia application is transmitted to the receiving wireless communication device by using the reserved resources.

7. A method according to claim 6 wherein the streaming multimedia application is transmitted from the server as serving data units having a defined maximum size, wherein the maximum size of the serving data unit is informed to the receiving wireless communication device, wherein the receiving wireless communication device reserves storage capacity for the serving data units according to the maximum serving data unit size.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein information on reserved communication resources for the receiving communication device is transmitted to the sending communication device comprising at least one of the following information:

the granted maximum bit rate,

the granted maximum service data unit size,

the granted transfer delay.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the selection of the multimedia stream is informed by using a describe message of the session description protocol, the maximum bit rate of the selected multimedia stream is informed to the receiving wireless communication device by using a “

200/OK”

message of the session description protocol, information on reserved communication resources for the receiving communication device is transmitted to the sending communication device by using a SETUP message or a PLAY message of a real-time transmission protocol.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the maximum bit rate parameter contains a value in kbits for the maximum bit rate.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the maximum service data unit size parameter contains an integer value for the maximum service data unit size.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein a suggested maximum transfer delay for any packet of the transmission is also informed.

13. A method for performing conversational multimedia application between a first wireless communication device and a second wireless communication device in a communication system comprising at least one wireless communication network, in which method multimedia streams of the conversational multimedia application is transmitted between said first and second wireless communication devices, resources are reserved from the wireless communication network for the transmission of the multimedia streams, information about selected resources is transmitted at least from said first wireless communication device to said second wireless communication device, wherein the second wireless communication device is informed of at least one of the following parameters of the transmission of the multimedia stream for reservation of network resources:

the maximum bit rate,

the maximum service data unit size.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein information about the multimedia stream is transmitted by using a session description protocol, and an attribute field of the session description protocol is used to inform the receiving communication device of said at least one parameter.

15. A communication system comprising a sending communication device, a receiving communication device, and a communication network to transmit multimedia streams from the sending communication device to the receiving communication device at least partly via a wireless communication network, wherein the communication system comprises:

a detector to define at least one of the following parameters of the transmission of the multimedia stream;

the maximum bit rate required by the transmission of the multimedia stream,

the maximum service data unit size, and

a transmitter to send at least said parameter to the receiving communication device for reservation of network resources.

16. A communication system according to claim 15, in which information about the multimedia stream is described with a session description protocol, wherein he communication system comprises a message composer to set an attribute field of the session description protocol to the value of the defined parameter.

17. A communication system according to claim 15, wherein the receiving communication device comprises a multimedia stream selector being arranged to select a multimedia stream for transmission to the receiving wireless communication device, and a transmitter being arranged to inform the sending communication device of the selection of the multimedia stream, said detector being arranged to examine the maximum bit rate of the selected multimedia stream, wherein the second communication device comprises a transmitter being arranged to transmit information about the maximum bit rate of the selected multimedia stream to the receiving wireless communication device, and the communication system further comprising radio access node being arranged to reserve communication resources for the receiving communication device for receiving the selected multimedia stream.

18. A communication system according to claim 17, wherein the radio access node is arranged to use said maximum bit rate with the reservation of communication resources for the receiving communication device for receiving the selected multimedia stream.

19. A communication system according to claim 17, further wherein the receiving communication device comprises means for transmitting to the second communication device information about the granted communication resources by the radio access node.

20. A communication system according to claim 15, wherein the multimedia stream is used in a streaming multimedia application.

21. A communication system according to claim 20, wherein the sending communication device is a server being in a data transmission connection with Internet, the streaming multimedia application is stored on said server, wherein the multimedia streams of the streaming multimedia application is transmitted from the server to the Internet and further to the wireless communication network, from which the multimedia stream is transmitted to the receiving wireless communication device by using the reserved resources.

22. A communication system according to claim 21 wherein the multimedia stream is transmitted from the server as serving data units having a defined maximum size, and the maximum size of the serving data unit is informed to the receiving wireless communication device, wherein the receiving wireless communication device comprises memory for reserving storage capacity for the serving data units according to the maximum serving data unit size.

23. A communication system according to claim 17, wherein a describe message of the session description protocol is arranged to be used to inform the selection of the multimedia stream, a “

200/OK”

message of the session description protocol is arranged to be used to inform the maximum bit rate of the selected multimedia stream to the receiving wireless communication device, information on reserved communication resources for the receiving communication device is transmitted to the sending communication device as a SETUP message or a PLAY message of a real-time transmission protocol.

24. A communication system comprising a first wireless communication device and a second wireless communication device, a wireless communication network to transmit streams of a conversational multimedia application between said first and second wireless communication devices, bearer services for the transmission of the multimedia streams in said wireless communication network, the first wireless communication device comprising a transmitter to transmit information about selected resources to said second wireless communication device, wherein the first wireless communication device further comprises:

a detector to define at least one of the following parameters of the transmission of the multimedia stream;

the maximum bit rate required by the transmission of the multimedia stream,

the maximum service data unit size, and

transmitter to send at least said parameter to the second wireless communication device for reservation of network resources.

25. A communication system according to claim 24, in which information about the multimedia stream is described with a session description protocol, wherein he communication system comprises a message composer to set an attribute field of the session description protocol to the value of the defined parameter.

26. A sending communication device to be used in a communication system to transmit multimedia streams from the sending communication device to a receiving communication device at least partly via a wireless communication network, and in which system information about the multimedia stream is described with a session description protocol, wherein the sending communication device comprises:

a detector to define at least one of the following parameters of the transmission of the multimedia stream;

the maximum bit rate required by the transmission of the multimedia stream,

the maximum service data unit size,

a message composer to set an attribute field of the session description protocol to the value of the defined parameter, and

a transmitter to send at least said attribute field to the receiving communication device for reservation of network resources.

27. A receiving communication device to be used in a communication system to receive multimedia streams transmitted from a sending communication device at least partly via a wireless communication network, wherein the receiving communication device comprises:

a selector to select a multimedia stream to be transmitted from the sending communication device to the receiving communication device.

a transmitter to send information on the selection to the sending communication device and to request information on at least one of the following parameters of the transmission of the multimedia stream;

the maximum bit rate required by the transmission of the multimedia stream,

the maximum service data unit size, and

a transmitter to send a request for reservation of network resources for receiving the selected multimedia stream.

28. A wireless communication device according to claim 27, further comprising means to send information on the granted network resources to the sending communication device including at least one of the following parameters:

the granted maximum bit rate,

the granted maximum service data unit size,

the granted transfer delay.

29. A wireless communication device to be used in a communication system comprising a wireless communication network to transmit streams of conversational multimedia application between said wireless communication device and another wireless communication device, bearer services for the transmission of the multimedia streams in said wireless communication network, the wireless communication device comprising a transmitter to transmit information about selected resources to said another wireless communication device, wherein the wireless communication device further comprises:

a detector to define at least one of the following parameters of the transmission of the multimedia stream;

the maximum bit rate required by the transmission of the multimedia stream,

the maximum service data unit size, and

transmitter to send at least said parameter to said another wireless communication device for reservation of network resources.