Using watermarking to reduce communication overhead

• US 20060200673A1
• Filed: 04/26/2005
• Published: 09/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Interdigital Technology Corporation (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Interdigital Technology Corporation (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chitrapu, Prabhakar R., Zhang, Guodong
• Granted Patent: US 7,987,369 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/176
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/162 at the data link layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation

Abstract

A method for reducing overhead when transmitting an Internet Protocol (IP) packet begins by selecting a watermarking signature based on the IP address of the packet. The watermarking signature is applied to the packet and the IP address is removed from the packet. The packet is sent to a receiver, which looks up the IP address of the packet by using the watermarking signature. The watermarking signature can be a radio frequency watermarking signature or a digital watermarking signature. A similar method employing watermarking can be used to reduce medium access control header overhead.

Claims

1. A method for reducing overhead when transmitting an Internet Protocol (IP) packet, comprising the steps of:

selecting a watermarking signature based on the IP address of the packet;

applying the watermarking signature to the packet and removing the IP address from the packet;

sending the packet to a receiver; and

looking up the IP address of the packet at the receiver by using the watermarking signature.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the watermarking signature is a radio frequency watermarking signature.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the watermarking signature is a digital watermarking signature.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting step includes using a IP address to watermarking signature translator.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the looking up step includes using a watermarking signature to IP address translator.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the IP address to watermarking signature translator and the watermarking signature to IP address translator use a pre-agreed upon mapping of watermarking signatures and IP addresses.

7. A system for reducing overhead when transmitting an Internet Protocol (IP) packet, comprising:

a transmitter;

a receiver;

said transmitter including;

an IP address to watermarking signature mapping book; and

an IP address to watermarking signature translator, said IP to watermarking signature translator examining the IP address of a packet, looking up the IP address in said IP to watermarking signature mapping book, removing the IP address from the packet, and applying the watermarking signature corresponding to the IP address to the packet prior to transmitting the packet to said receiver;

said receiver including;

a watermarking signature to IP address mapping book; and

a watermarking signature to IP address translator, said watermarking signature to IP translator examining the watermarking signature of a received packet, looking up the watermarking signature in said watermarking signature to IP mapping book to retrieve the IP address of the received packet, and adding the IP address to the received packet prior to forwarding the received packet.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the watermarking signature is a radio frequency watermarking signature.

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the watermarking signature is a digital watermarking signature.

10. A method for using radio frequency (RF) watermarking to reduce medium access control (MAC) layer signaling in a wireless communication system, comprising the steps of:

assigning a unique RF watermarking signature to each user;

sending the RF watermarking signature to a receiver during connection signaling;

applying the RF watermarking signature to subsequent transmissions to the receiver; and

examining the RF watermarking signature at the receiver, whereby the watermarking signature is used to identify the user.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the assigning step includes assigning a watermarking signature having two parts, the first part being a user identifier and the second part being a mapping index for a communication characteristic.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the communication characteristic is selected from the group consisting of:

logical channel identifier, priority class, and queue identifier.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the examining step includes using the watermarking signature to identify the communication characteristic.

14. A system for using radio frequency (RF) watermarking to reduce medium access control (MAC) layer signaling in a wireless communication system, comprising:

a transmitter;

a receiver;

a network;

said network including a RF watermarking signature assignment device, said assignment device assigning a unique RF watermarking signature to said transmitter, said RF watermarking signature including a user identifier;

said transmitter including;

a storage, said storage storing said assigned RF watermarking signature;

a connection signaling device, said signaling device sending said assigned RF watermarking signature to said receiver; and

a RF watermarking signature application device, said application device applying said assigned RF watermarking signature to data to be transmitted; and

said receiver including;

a RF watermarking signature extractor, said extractor removing said assigned RF watermarking signature from a received packet and decoding said assigned RF watermarking signature to determine the user identifier, whereby the user identifier in the MAC header can be replaced by said assigned watermarking signature.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said network further includes:

a user identifier assignment device for assigning a user identifier; and

a logical channel assignment device for assigning a logical channel to the user;

wherein said watermarking signature assignment device receives the user identifier and the logical channel assignment and uses the user identifier and the logical channel assignment to create said assigned RF watermarking signature.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein said RF watermarking signature extractor further decodes said assigned RF watermarking signature to determine the assigned logical channel.