ZERO-HEADER COMPRESSION FOR IMPROVED COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20080025312A1
• Filed: 07/27/2007
• Published: 01/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Kuppuswamy, Kalyan, Kapoor, Rohit, Jalali, Ahmad, Namgoong, June, Jayaraman, Srikant
• Application Number:
  US11/829,871
• Publication Number:
  US 20080025312A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• 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 84/06 Airborne or Satellite Networks space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185

Abstract

A communication system is disclosed in which a mobile terminal having limited power is able to communicate with a land-based network via a low-rate satellite communication link. To achieve VoIP communications via a low-rate link, link-layer assisted zero-header header compression techniques are employed to reduce VoIP packet overheads. Additionally, overheads introduced by link layer protocol layers are eliminated or reduced. A transmitting device strips RTP/UDP/IP header information from a stream of VoIP packets. The transmitting device then sends an initial context message providing the RTP/UDP/IP header information. The stripped zero-header VoIP packets are then transmitted via a satellite relay. A receiving device uses the initial context information to reconstruct the headers for the zero-header VoIP packets.

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising:

a wireless communication interface for communicating with a satellite; and

a processing circuit coupled to the wireless communication interface, the processing circuit configured to

obtain a stream of voice-over-IP (VoIP) packets;

strip an RTP/UDP/IP header from the VoIP packets to obtain zero-header VoIP packets; and

send an initial context message with the RTP/UDP/IP header information.

2. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to

send the zero-header VoIP packets to the satellite.

3. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the initial context message and zero-header packets are sent via a low-rate communication link of 4.8 kilobits per seconds or less.

4. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

strip Evolution-Data Optimize (EV-DO) link layer headers from the zero-header VoIP packets.

5. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the initial context message includes some, but not all, of the RTP/UDP/IP header information of the VoIP packets.

6. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the zero-header VoIP packets are sent in a pre-defined frame size associated with a particular type of application.

7. A method, comprising:

obtaining a stream of voice-over-IP packets;

stripping an RTP/UDP/IP header from the VoIP packets to obtain zero-header VoIP packets; and

sending an initial context message with the RTP/UDP/IP header information.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

sending VoIP packets to the satellite.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the initial context message and zero-header packets are sent via a wireless interface to a satellite.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the initial context message and zero-header packets are sent via a low-rate communication link of 4.8 kilobits per seconds or less.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

stripping Evolution-Data Optimize (EV-DO) link layer headers from the zero-header VoIP packets.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the stripping EV-DO link layer headers includes removing Quality of Service bits.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving an acknowledgment of the initial context message.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the initial context message includes some, but not all, of the RTP/UDP/IP header information of the VoIP packets.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the stream of voice-over-IP packets is received within a mobile terminal, and the initial context message is sent by the mobile terminal via a wireless interface.

16. The method of claim 7, wherein the stream of voice-over-IP packets is received by a gateway from an IP-based network, and the initial context message is sent by the gateway via a wireless interface to a satellite.

17. The method of claim 7, wherein the zero-header VoIP packets are sent in a pre-defined frame size associated with a particular type of application.

18. A communication device, comprising:

means for obtaining a stream of voice-over-IP packets;

means for stripping an RTP/UDP/IP header from the VoIP packets to obtain zero-header VoIP packets; and

means for sending an initial context message with the RTP/UDP/IP header information.

19. The communication device of claim 18, further comprising:

means for sending VoIP packets to the satellite.

20. The communication device of claim 18, wherein the initial context message and zero-header packets are sent via a wireless interface to a satellite.

21. The communication device of claim 18, wherein the initial context message and zero-header packets are sent via a low-rate communication link of 4.8 kilobits per seconds or less.

22. The communication device of claim 18, further comprising:

means for stripping Evolution-Data Optimize (EV-DO) link layer headers from the zero-header VoIP packets.

23. The communication device of claim 18, further comprising:

means for receiving an acknowledgment of the initial context message.

24. The communication device of claim 18, wherein the zero-header VoIP packets are sent in a pre-defined frame size associated with a particular type of application.

25. A processor readable medium having one or more instructions for facilitating zero-header compression in voice-over-IP communications, which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

obtain a stream of voice-over-IP packets;

strip an RTP/UDP/IP header from the VoIP packets to obtain zero-header VoIP packets; and

send an initial context message with the RTP/UDP/IP header information.

26. The processor readable medium of claim 25, further having one or more instructions which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

send the VoIP packets to the satellite.

27. The processor readable medium of claim 25, wherein the initial context message and zero-header packets are sent via a wireless interface to a satellite.

29. The processor readable medium of claim 25, further having one or more instructions which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

strip Evolution-Data Optimize (EV-DO) link layer headers from the zero-header VoIP packets.

30. The processor readable medium of claim 25, further having one or more instructions which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

receive an acknowledgment of the initial context message.

31. A processor comprising:

a processing circuit configured to

obtain a stream of voice-over-IP (VoIP) packets;

strip an RTP/UDP/IP header from the VoIP packets to obtain zero-header VoIP packets; and

send an initial context message with the RTP/UDP/IP header information.

32. The processor of claim 31, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to send the zero-header VoIP packets to the satellite.

33. The processor of claim 31, wherein the zero-header VoIP packets are sent in a pre-defined frame size associated with a particular type of application.

34. A communication device, comprising:

a wireless communication interface for communicating with a satellite; and

a processing circuit coupled to the wireless communication interface, the processing circuit configured to

receive an initial context message with the RTP/UDP/IP header information for a VoIP call session;

receiving one or more zero-header VoIP packets; and

regenerating a VoIP packet header based on the initial context information to reconstruct the VoIP packets.

35. The communication device of claim 34, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to

regenerate EVDO link layer headers for the zero-header VoIP packets.

36. The communication device of claim 34, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to

send an acknowledgement of the initial context message.

37. The communication device of claim 34, wherein the initial context message includes some, but not all, of the original RTP/UDP/IP header information of the VoIP packets.

38. The communication device of claim 34, wherein the zero-header VoIP packets are received in a pre-defined frame size associated with a particular type of quality of service.

39. The communication device of claim 34, wherein the RTP/UDP/IP header information is further reconstructed based on information from a radio link protocol (RLP) layer.

40. A method, comprising:

receiving an initial context message with the RTP/UDP/IP header information for a VoIP call session;

receiving one or more zero-header VoIP packets; and

regenerating a VoIP packet header based on the initial context information to reconstruct the VoIP packets.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

regenerating EVDO link layer headers for the zero-header VoIP packets.

42. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

sending an acknowledgement of the initial context message.

43. The method of claim 40, wherein the initial context message includes some, but not all, of the original RTP/UDP/IP header information of the VoIP packets.

44. The method of claim 40, wherein the zero-header VoIP packets are received in a pre-defined frame size associated with a particular type of application.

45. The method of claim 40, wherein the RTP/UDP/IP header information is further reconstructed based on information from a radio link protocol (RLP) layer.

46. The method of claim 40, wherein a lower layer Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) sequence number (SN) for a particular VoIP packet header is reconstructed based on

an initial sequence number in the initial context message;

and

a locally maintained sequence number that is incremented when new packets are received.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein an IP-ID field in the VoIP packet header is set to the RTP sequence number.

48. The method of claim 40, wherein a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) timestamp (TS) field in the VoIP packet header is reconstructed from either based on a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) sequence number or a time difference between consecutive VoIP packets received.

49. A communication device, comprising:

means for receiving an initial context message with the RTP/UDP/IP header information for a VoIP call session;

means for receiving one or more zero-header VoIP packets; and

means for regenerating a VoIP packet header based on the initial context information to reconstruct the VoIP packets.

50. The communication device of claim 49, further comprising

means for regenerating EVDO link layer headers for the zero-header VoIP packets.

51. The communication device of claim 49, further comprising

means for sending an acknowledgement of the initial context message.

52. The communication device of claim 51, wherein the initial context message includes some, but not all, of the original RTP/UDP/IP header information of the VoIP packets.

53. A processor readable medium having one or more instructions for facilitating zero-header decompression in voice-over-IP communications, which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

receive an initial context message with the RTP/UDP/IP header information for a VoIP call session;

receive one or more zero-header VoIP packets; and

regenerate a VoIP packet header based on the initial context information to reconstruct the VoIP packets.

54. The processor readable medium of claim 53, further having one or more instructions which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

regenerate EVDO link layer headers for the zero-header VoIP packets.

55. The processor readable medium of claim 53, further having one or more instructions which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

send an acknowledgement of the initial context message.

56. A processor comprising:

a processing circuit configured to

receive an initial context message with the RTP/UDP/IP header information for a VoIP call session;

receive one or more zero-header VoIP packets; and

regenerate a VoIP packet header based on the initial context information to reconstruct the VoIP packets.

57. The processor of claim 56, further having one or more instructions which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

regenerate EVDO link layer headers for the zero-header VoIP packets.

58. The processor of claim 56, further having one or more instructions which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

send an acknowledgement of the initial context message.