Accounting for Telecommunications Terminal Mobility in Call Admission Control

• US 20080031202A1
• Filed: 08/02/2006
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Benveniste, Mathilde
• Granted Patent: US 7,706,341 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/38 by fixed network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/06 based on traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/18 Management of setup rejection or failure

Abstract

A technique is disclosed to optimize the call admission control algorithm that governs a shared-communications channel, in which the algorithm accounts for the levels of mobility, on an individual basis, of one or more terminals that need to use the channel. Instead of determining the variation in the distribution of supported data rates aggregated across multiple terminals—which can result in a greater variance in the call admission criterion—the technique of the illustrative embodiment tracks the variation in the distribution, for each terminal, of the data rates for that terminal. In short, the technique of the illustrative embodiment accounts for the variance in data rates that is attributed to the mobility of individual, representative terminals and not to the variance that is attributed to the spatial distribution of multiple terminals.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving;

i) a plurality of data rate measurements, wherein the data rate measurements in said plurality are of the physical layer data rates that are supported over a shared-communications channel by one or more telecommunications terminals, and

ii) a data-transmission requirement for a call that is to involve a first telecommunications terminal, wherein said first telecommunications terminal has transmitted at least part of said data-transmission requirement via said shared-communications channel;

calculating a first measure of the variation in the distribution of a first set of data rate measurements taken from said plurality, wherein the data rate measurements in said first set are for a single telecommunications terminal; and

determining whether to admit said call on said shared-communications channel, based on (i) said first measure and (ii) said data-transmission requirement.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said first measure is one of (i) a standard deviation and (ii) a variance.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the data rate measurements in said plurality are of the physical layer data rates that are supported over said shared-communications channel by two or more telecommunications terminals when involved in calls.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein at least one terminal has a first level of mobility and at least one terminal has a second level of mobility.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said data-transmission requirement specifies a first codec to be used for said call by said first telecommunications terminal.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising inferring a level of mobility from said first codec specified by said data-transmission requirement.

7. The method of claim 1 the determination of whether to admit said call on said shared-communications channel is also based on a probability being greater than a threshold value that the channel occupancy of said shared-communications channel, as the result of admitting said call, will not exceed the available capacity, wherein said probability is derived from one or more probability distributions, wherein said one or more probability distributions comprise said first measure.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the available capacity is based on one or more utilization measurements of the shared-communications channel.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of data rate measurements, wherein the data rate measurements in said plurality are of the physical layer data rates that are supported over a shared-communications channel by one or more telecommunications terminals;

calculating a first measure of the variation in the distribution of a first set of data rate measurements taken from said plurality, wherein the data rate measurements in said first set are for a single telecommunications terminal; and

generating a first distribution function of the channel occupancy of said shared-communications channel, based on;

i) said first measure, and

ii) said plurality of data rate measurements.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving a data-transmission requirement for a call that is to involve a first telecommunications terminal, wherein said first telecommunications terminal has transmitted at least part of said data-transmission requirement via said shared-communications channel; and

determining whether to admit said call, based on said first distribution function;

wherein the generating of said first distribution function is also based on said first data-transmission requirement.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein determining whether to admit said call comprises evaluating a probability being greater than a threshold value that the channel occupancy of said shared-communications channel, as the result of admitting said call, will not exceed the available capacity, wherein said shared-communications channel is already carrying (N-1) calls, wherein said probability is conditional on the value of N.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein said first data-transmission requirement specifies a first codec to be used for said call by said first telecommunications terminal.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising inferring a level of mobility from said first codec specified by said data-transmission requirement.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said first distribution function is also based on said level of mobility.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the data rate measurements in said plurality are of the physical layer data rates that are supported over said shared-communications channel during two or more calls.

16. A method comprising:

generating;

a) a first distribution function of the physical layer data rates that are supported on a shared-communications channel; and

b) a second distribution function of the channel occupancy on said shared-communications channel, based on;

(i) said first distribution function, (ii) N calls concurrently using said shared-communications channel, wherein N is a positive integer, and (iii) a first level of mobility;

receiving an indication that a first telecommunications terminal is attempting to set up a call on said shared-communications channel, wherein said first level of mobility is associated with said first telecommunications terminal;

determining whether to admit said call on said shared-communications channel, based on said second distribution function, wherein said call is one of said N calls.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

receiving a first plurality of data rate measurements, wherein the data rate measurements in said first plurality are of the physical layer data rates that are supported over a shared-communications channel by a single telecommunications terminal; and

determining said first level of mobility from the variation in the distribution of said data rate measurements in said first plurality.

18. The method of claim 17:

receiving a second plurality of data rate measurements; and

determining a second level of mobility from the variation in the distribution of said data rate measurements in said second plurality;

wherein said second distribution function is also based on said second level of mobility.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein said first data-transmission requirement specifies a first codec to be used for said call by said first telecommunications terminal.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising inferring said first level of mobility from said first codec specified by said data-transmission requirement.