Apparatus, method, and computer program product providing persistent uplink and downlink resource allocation

• US 20070184842A1
• Filed: 02/01/2007
• Published: 08/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Pedersen, Klaus, Mogensen, Preben, Rosa, Claudio
• Granted Patent: US 8,452,295 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 based on quality criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/543 based on requested quality, e.g. QoS

Abstract

Apparatus, methods, computer program products, systems and circuits are provided that allow for persistent uplink and downlink resource allocations. A method includes: allocating resources to a user equipment for a data flow over a plurality of time intervals with a single signaling event at a wireless network radio network layer; and informing the user equipment of the allocated resources.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

allocating resources to a user equipment for a data flow over a plurality of time intervals with a single signaling event at a wireless network radio network layer; and

informing the user equipment of the allocated resources.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

informing a physical layer control/manager function of the allocated resources.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein informing the physical layer control/manager function of the allocated resources comprises using at least one CPHY control message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein allocating is performed in response to a new data flow being set up.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein informing the user equipment of the allocated resources comprises using radio resource control signaling.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein allocating comprises considering only information available in the radio network layer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein allocating comprises considering, at least in part, information obtained from at least one layer other than the radio network layer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the information comprises at least one of:

a cell-based measurement, a link-based measurement, a channel quality indication, a load per frequency resource pool, a load per time resource pool, and a modulation and coding scheme.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the information is obtained from a component of a physical layer.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the information is obtained from a component of a medium access control layer.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allocating at least one resource to accommodate fluctuations in radio resource requirements of the user equipment.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein allocating is performed in response to a Node B medium access control layer packet scheduler proposing one of a new allocation or a modification of an existing allocation.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a persistent allocation should be used or modified for a respective data flow, wherein allocating comprises in response to determining that a persistent allocation should be used or modified for a respective data flow, allocating the persistent allocation for the respective data flow.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether persistent allocation should be used or modified for the respective data flow comprises considering at least one of:

a type of the respective data flow, QoS requirements of a respective user equipment associated with the respective data flow, a total number of active user equipments in a cell, types of data flows currently in use by other user equipments, resource allocations of the other user equipments, and current load in an associated network.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of time intervals comprises a plurality of sub-frames.

16. A computer program product comprising program instructions embodied on a tangible computer-readable medium, execution of the program instructions resulting in operations comprising:

allocating resources to a user equipment for a data flow over a plurality of time intervals with a single signaling event at a wireless network radio network layer; and

informing the user equipment of the allocated resources.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein execution of the program instructions results in operations further comprising:

informing a physical layer control/manager function of the allocated resources.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein allocating is performed in response to a new data flow being set up.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein informing the user equipment of the allocated resources comprises using radio resource control signaling.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein allocating comprises considering, at least in part, information obtained from at least one layer other than the radio network layer.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the information comprises at least one of:

a cell-based measurement, a link-based measurement, a channel quality indication, a load per frequency resource pool, a load per time resource pool, and a modulation and coding scheme.

22. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the information is obtained from a component of a physical layer.

23. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein allocating is performed in response to a Node B medium access control layer packet scheduler proposing a new allocation or a modification of an existing allocation.

24. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein execution of the program instructions results in operations further comprising:

determining whether a persistent allocation should be used or modified for a respective data flow, wherein allocating comprises in response to determining that a persistent allocation should be used or modified for a respective data flow, allocating the persistent allocation for the respective data flow, wherein determining whether persistent allocation should be used or modified for the respective data flow comprises considering at least one of;

a type of the respective data flow, QoS requirements of a respective user equipment associated with the respective data flow, a total number of active user equipments in a cell, types of data flows currently in use by other user equipments, resource allocations of the other user equipments, and current load in an associated network.

25. A device comprising:

a radio network layer component configured to allocate resources to a user equipment for a plurality of time intervals with a single signaling event; and

a transmitter coupled to the radio network layer component, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit information indicative of the allocated resources to the user equipment.

26. The device of claim 25, wherein the radio network layer component is further configured to inform a physical layer control/manager function of the allocated resources.

27. The device of claim 25, wherein informing the user equipment of the allocated resources comprises using radio resource control signaling.

28. A system comprising:

a user equipment; and

a base station configured to;

allocate resources to the user equipment for a plurality of time intervals with a single signaling event at a wireless network radio network layer; and

inform the user equipment of the allocated resources.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the base station is further configured to inform a physical layer control/manager function of the allocated resources.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein informing the user equipment of the allocated resources comprises using radio resource control signaling.

31. A circuit comprising:

a manager function configured to allocate resources to a user equipment for a plurality of time intervals with a single signaling event at a wireless network radio network layer.

32. The circuit of claim 31, wherein the manager function is further configured to:

inform the user equipment of the allocated resources.

33. The circuit of claim 32, wherein the manager function is further configured to:

inform a physical layer control/manager function of the allocated resources.

34. The circuit of claim 32, wherein informing the user equipment of the allocated resources comprises using radio resource control signaling.

35. A wireless network component comprising:

a radio network layer comprising means for allocating persistent resources to a user equipment for a data flow; and

a communication means between the radio network layer and a physical layer for informing the physical layer of the allocated persistent resources.

36. The wireless network component of claim 35, wherein allocating comprises considering, at least in part, information obtained from the physical layer.

37. The wireless network component of claim 35, wherein allocating comprises considering, at least in part, information obtained from a medium access control layer.