Digital subscriber line user capacity estimation

• US 20050163057A1
• Filed: 05/11/2004
• Published: 07/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: Blackburn, Stuart Lynch
• Granted Patent: US 7,123,584 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2883 ATM DSLAM
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/142 using statistical or mathematical methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/007 Access interface units for simultaneous transmission of speech and data, e.g. digital subscriber line [DSL] access interface units DSL access multiplexers H04Q11/0478, and H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/00 Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them

Abstract

In a particular embodiment, the present disclosure is directed to a data communications system. The data communication system includes a plurality of digital subscriber lines, a digital subscriber line multiplexer coupled to each of the plurality of digital subscriber lines, and a data switch coupled to the digital subscriber line multiplexer via a communication link. The data communications system is configured such that the number of digital subscriber line users supported by the digital subscriber line multiplexer is determined based on an estimated maximum number of users, the estimated maximum number of users determined based on an average peak bandwidth per user value, a data communication capacity of the communication link, and a data transmission slowdown indicator. The communication capacity is based on a user type selected from a set of available user types.

Claims

1. A method of configuring a data network, the method comprising:

determining a bandwidth capacity of a communications link connecting a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) and an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch based on a first user type selected from a plurality of user types, each of the plurality of user types having a different bandwidth capacity;

determining an average peak bandwidth per user value based on the first user type;

determining a data transmission slowdown indicator that includes a slowdown amount and a probability of experiencing a slowdown event;

determining an estimated maximum number of users of the first user type for digital subscriber lines that may be supported by the DSLAM, where the estimated maximum number of users of digital subscriber lines is based on the average peak bandwidth per user value, the bandwidth capacity of the communication link, and the customer data transmission slowdown indicator; and

configuring the data network such that the DSLAM has a configured number of users of digital subscriber lines that is less than or equal to the estimated maximum number of users of digital subscriber lines.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated maximum number of users of digital subscriber lines is further based on a probability of a random user downloading data at a given period of time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated maximum number of users of digital subscriber lines is further based on an Erlang model calculation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication link is one or more DS3 type communication links or an OC3 type communication link.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated maximum number of users of digital subscriber lines is calculated with an assumption that a first set of users of the first user type download data at the same data transfer speed and a second set of user having a second user type download data at a different data transfer speed.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data transfer speed is about 1.5 Mbits/second and wherein the different data transfer speed is at least one of an integer multiple of 1.5 Mbits/second, an integer multiple of 384 kb/second, or an integer multiple of 192 kb/second.

7. A method of configuring a data network, the method comprising:

determining a user type selected from a set of available user types, each of the available user types associated with a different bandwidth capacity;

determining an average peak bandwidth per user value for the data network and based on the user type;

determining a capacity of a communication link connecting a remote terminal (RT) to asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch via an optical concentrator device, the capacity based on the bandwidth capacity associated with the user type;

determining a data transmission slowdown indicator that includes a slowdown amount and a probability of experiencing a slowdown event;

determining an estimated maximum number of users that may be supported by the RT, where the estimated maximum number of users is based on the average peak bandwidth per user value, the capacity of the communication link, and the customer data transmission slowdown indicator; and

configuring the data network such that the RT has a configured number of users of the subscriber lines that is less than or equal to the estimated maximum number of users that may be supported by the RT.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the communication link comprises a plurality of T1 transmission lines.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the communication link comprises one of an OC3 and one or more DS3 links.

10. A data communications system comprising:

a plurality of digital subscriber lines;

a digital subscriber line multiplexer coupled to each of the plurality of digital subscriber lines; and

a data switch coupled to the digital subscriber line multiplexer via a communication link;

wherein the data communications system is configured such that the number of digital subscriber line users supported by the digital subscriber line multiplexer is determined based on an estimated maximum number of users, the estimated maximum number of users determined based on an average peak bandwidth per user value, a data communication capacity of the communication link, and a data transmission slowdown indicator, wherein the data communication capacity is determined based on a type of user selected from a set of available user types.

11. The data communication system of claim 10, wherein one of the user types in the set of available user types has a lowest capacity value and wherein each of the other user types in the set of available user type has a capacity that is an integer multiple of the lowest capacity value.

12. A data communications system comprising:

a plurality of digital subscriber lines;

a remote terminal device coupled to each of the plurality of digital subscriber lines; and

a data switch coupled to the remote terminal device via a communication link;

wherein the data communications system is configured such that the number of digital subscriber line users supported by the remote terminal device is determined based on an estimated maximum number of users, the estimated maximum number of users determined based on an average peak bandwidth per user value, a data communication capacity of the communication link, and a data transmission slowdown indicator, wherein the data communication capacity is determined based on a type of user selected from a set of available user types.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the estimated maximum number of users of digital subscriber lines is further based on a probability of a random user downloading data at a given period of time.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the estimated maximum number of users of digital subscriber lines is further based on an Erlang model calculation.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the communication link is one or more DS3 type communication links, an OC3 type communication link, or one or more T1 type communication links.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the estimated maximum number of users of digital subscriber lines is calculated with an assumption that a plurality of different users having the same user type download data at the same data transfer speed.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the data transfer speed for the user type is about 1.5 Mbits/second.

18. They system of claim 16, where in the data transfer speed for the user type is about 384 kb/second.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the data transfer speed for the user type is about 192 kb/second.