Reduction of QoS impairment during the hand-off process

• US 20040203831A1
• Filed: 04/11/2002
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation Of America (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Khan, Moinul H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,092,719 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/452.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/00 Hand-off or reselection arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

A cellular communication system with enhanced Quality-of-Service (QoS) during the hand-off process is disclosed. The system includes a plurality of cells, each including a corresponding base station. Based on the history of a mobile user'"'"'s positions, the base station of the cell in which the user is located predicts the user'"'"'s future position. If the future position is in an area covered by another base station (i.e., the target base station), the base station initiates QoS negotiations with the target base station. The target base station allocates resources according to the negotiated QoS if the mobile user enters the area covered by the target base station as predicted.

Claims

1. A method for providing a communication link for a user located in a first coverage area, the method comprising:

predicting a future position based on a history of the user'"'"'s positions;

determining whether the future position is in a second coverage area; and

negotiating link quality with a station of the second coverage area if the future position is in the second coverage area.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

reserving resources at the station of the other cell to establish the communication link with the negotiated link quality.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the history of the user'"'"'s positions is acquired from a global positioning system.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

choosing a predetermined look-ahead time by which the future position leads the user'"'"'s current position.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the future position is predicted using a linear prediction model.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the future position is predicted using a spline prediction model.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the link quality is negotiated for a pre-determined Quality-of-Service (QoS).

8. A system comprising:

a plurality of cells;

a plurality of base stations, wherein each of the plurality of base stations is located within and corresponding to each of the plurality of cells;

a position recorder in each of the base stations to record a mobile unit'"'"'s positions within the corresponding cell; and

a predictor coupled to each of the position recorders to receive the recorded positions and predict a future position based thereon.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein each of the base stations further includes reservation logics to reserve resources if the future position is predicted to be in the corresponding cell.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the reserved resources satisfy a Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirement.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the position recorder obtains the mobile unit'"'"'s positions from a Global Positioning System (GPS) device on the mobile unit.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the predicted future position leads the mobile unit'"'"'s current position by a predetermined look-ahead time.

13. The system of claim 8 further comprising a network that interconnects the base stations.

14. The system of claim 8 further comprising a wireless network that connects each of the base stations to mobile units in the corresponding cell.

15. A method comprising:

predicting a user'"'"'s future position based on a history of the user'"'"'s positions; and

reserving resources at a station that covers the user'"'"'s future position.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the resources are reserved to satisfy a Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirement.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the history of the user'"'"'s positions is acquired from a global positioning system.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

choosing a predetermined look-ahead time by which the future position leads the user'"'"'s current position.

19. A machine-accessible medium with executable instructions stored thereon that, when accessed, perform the following operations:

predict a user'"'"'s future position based on a history of the user'"'"'s positions; and

reserve resources at a station that covers the user'"'"'s future position.

20. The article of claim 19, the instructions further operable to cause the machine to reserve the resources to satisfy a Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirement.