ASSURED PACKET DATA SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

• US 20080175263A1
• Filed: 01/22/2007
• Published: 07/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Maggenti, Mark, Chen, Jen Mei
• Granted Patent: US 8,477,606 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/431
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/11 Identifying congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/15 in relation to multipoint traffic arrangements for broadcast or multicast in data networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/72 using reservation actions during connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/745 Reaction in network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/762 triggered by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/803 Application aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/808 User-type aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/821 Prioritising resource allocation or reservation requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals

Abstract

A service for Public Safety (PS) and Law Enforcement (LE) users on commercial wireless networks which assure them access to packet data services. The service request is application based. The applications that are for official use, by the PS/LE users, could have a reserved priority level associated with them. The reserved priority level could be higher than a normal commercial user. The network could use the priority to distinguish users, and dynamically allocate and optimize network resources. The network could use priority level information to perform access, admission, and congestion control. The PS/LE user could use the official applications while on duty and un-official ones while off duty, thus, additionally freeing up network resources. The PS/LE users could then use advanced commercial packet data services, without the need for a private network, while at the same time making it feasible for commercial networks.

Claims

1. A method for providing packet data services, comprising:

receiving, at an access point associated with a communications network, a request from an access terminal requesting for access based on at least one application, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one of official use and unofficial use;

transmitting an acceptance for access to the access terminal, wherein the acceptance is based on the use associated with the at least one application; and

establishing at least one communication path with the access terminal for the at least one application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one application is further associated with at least one priority, and wherein the acceptance is further based on the at least one priority.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one application comprises:

a first application associated with an official use and a first priority; and

a second application associated with an un-official use and a second priority, and wherein the first priority is higher than the second priority.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one priority is associated with a range of priority levels, and further wherein the first priority is assigned from the top five priority levels of the range.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one quality of service (QoS), and wherein the acceptance is further based on the at least one QoS.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

allocating more resources to support the official use application than the un-official use application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the allocation comprises:

changing a QoS of at least one un-official use application already supported by the communications network.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the allocation comprises:

changing a data rate of at least one un-official use application already supported by the communications network.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the allocation comprises:

dropping the second application associated with an unofficial use already supported by the communications network.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

supporting both official use and un-official use applications.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the support comprises:

setting a limit on an amount of sector capacity for supporting official use applications.

12. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining whether the at least one application is associated with official use or un-official use based on the priority; and

managing subscriber accounts based on the determination of application.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting an acceptance for access to the access terminal, further comprises:

verifying the access terminal'"'"'s at least one application based in part on the access terminal'"'"'s QoS profile.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein the priority is used for access control.

15. The method of claim 2, wherein the priority is used for admission control.

16. The method of claim 2, wherein the priority is used for congestion control.

17. A method for acquiring packet data services associated with a communications network, comprising:

transmitting a request for access to the communications network based on at least one application, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one of official use and unofficial use;

receiving an acceptance for access from the communications network, wherein the acceptance is based on the use associated with the at least one application; and

establishing at least one communication path with the communications network for the at least one application.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one application is further associated with at least one priority, and wherein the acceptance is further based on the at least one priority.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one application comprises:

a first application associated with an official use and a first priority; and

a second application associated with an un-official use and a second priority, and wherein the first priority is higher than the second priority.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one priority is associated with a range of priority levels, and further wherein the first priority is assigned from the top five priority levels of the range.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one quality of service (QoS), and wherein the acceptance is further based on the at least one QoS.

22. An apparatus for providing packet data services, comprising:

means for receiving, at an access point associated with a communications network, a request from an access terminal requesting for access based on at least one application, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one of official use and unofficial use;

means for transmitting an acceptance for access to the access terminal, wherein the acceptance is based on the use associated with the at least one application; and

means for establishing at least one communication path with the access terminal for the at least one application.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one application is further associated with at least one priority, and wherein the acceptance is further based on the at least one priority.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the at least one application comprises:

a first application associated with an official use and a first priority; and

a second application associated with an un-official use and a second priority, and wherein the first priority is higher than the second priority.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the at least one priority is associated with a range of priority levels, and further wherein the first priority is assigned from the top five priority levels of the range.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one quality of service (QoS), and wherein the acceptance is further based on the at least one QoS.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

means for allocating more resources to support the official use application than the un-official use application.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the means for allocating comprises:

changing a QoS of at least one un-official use application already supported by the communications network.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the means for allocating comprises:

changing a data rate of at least one un-official use application already supported by the communications network.

30. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the means for allocating comprises:

dropping the second application associated with an unofficial use already supported by the communications network.

31. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising:

means for supporting both official use and un-official use applications.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the means for supporting comprises:

setting a limit on an amount of sector capacity for supporting official use applications.

33. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising:

means for determining whether the at least one application is associated with official use or un-official use based on the priority; and

means for managing subscriber accounts based on the determination of application.

34. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein means for transmitting an acceptance, further comprises:

means for verifying the access terminal'"'"'s at least one application based in part on the access terminal'"'"'s QoS profile.

35. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the priority is used for access control.

36. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the priority is used for admission control.

37. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the priority is used for congestion control.

38. An apparatus for acquiring packet data services associated with a communications network, comprising:

means for transmitting a request for access to the communications network based on at least one application, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one of official use and unofficial use;

means for receiving an acceptance for access from the communications network, wherein the acceptance is based on the use associated with the at least one application; and

means for establishing at least one communication path with the communications network for the at least one application.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the at least one application is further associated with at least one priority, and wherein the acceptance is further based on the at least one priority.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the at least one application comprises:

a first application associated with an official use and a first priority; and

a second application associated with an un-official use and a second priority, and wherein the first priority is higher than the second priority.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the at least one priority is associated with a range of priority levels, and further wherein the first priority is assigned from the top five priority levels of the range.

42. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one quality of service (QoS), and wherein the acceptance is further based on the at least one QoS.

43. A computer program product for providing packet data services, comprising:

machine-readable medium comprising;

code for causing a computer to receive, at an access point associated with a communications network, a request from an access terminal requesting for access based on at least one application, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one of official use and unofficial use;

code for causing a computer to transmit an acceptance for access to the access terminal, wherein the acceptance is based on the use associated with the at least one application; and

code for causing a computer to establish at least one communication path with the access terminal for the at least one application.

44. A computer program product for providing packet data services, comprising:

machine-readable medium comprising;

code for causing a computer to transmit a request for access to the communications network based on at least one application, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one of official use and unofficial use;

code for causing a computer to receive an acceptance for access from the communications network, wherein the acceptance is based on the use associated with the at least one application; and

code for causing a computer to establish at least one communication path with the communications network for the at least one application.

45. An apparatus for providing packet data services, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive, at an access point associated with a communications network, a request from an access terminal requesting for access based on at least one application, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one of official use and unofficial use;

a transmitting module, configured to transmit an acceptance for access to the access terminal, wherein the acceptance is based on the use associated with the at least one application; and

an establishing module, configured to establish at least one communication path with the access terminal for the at least one application.

46. An apparatus for acquiring packet data services associated with a communications network, comprising:

a transmitting module, configured to transmit a request for access to the communications network based on at least one application, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one of official use and unofficial use;

a receiving module, configured to receive an acceptance for access from the communications network, wherein the acceptance is based on the use associated with the at least one application; and

an establishing module, configured to establish at least one communication path with the communications network for the at least one application.

47. An apparatus for providing packet data services, comprising:

a processor configured to receive, at an access point associated with a communications network, a request from an access terminal requesting for access based on at least one application, wherein the at least one application is associated with at least one of official use and unofficial use, transmit an acceptance for access to the access terminal, wherein the acceptance is based on the use associated with the at least one application, and establish at least one communication path with the access terminal for the at least one application; and

a memory unit coupled to the processor for storing data.