TRIGGERING MULTI-CARRIER REQUESTS

• US 20090092055A1
• Filed: 10/02/2008
• Published: 04/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Sali, Vipin A., Balasubramanian, Srinivasan
• Granted Patent: US 8,867,378 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/30 in combination with information about buffer occupancy at either end or at transit nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/765 triggered by the end-points
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0284 detecting congestion or overload during communication monitoring arrangements H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/22 Negotiating communication rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate triggering multi-carrier requests at a mobile device and granting or denying the request at the access point. The mobile device can determine when to request additional carriers from the access point based on communication parameters, such as buffer levels, inflow/outflow data rates, PA headroom for handling an additional carrier, a timer for requesting the carrier, a maximum number of allocable carriers, and/or the like. Upon receiving the request, the access point can grant or deny the request based at least in part on subscriber level of the mobile device, available resources in the access point, reverse link throughput, and/or the like. Allocating additional carriers to the mobile device can increase throughput for communicating with the access point.

Claims

1. A method for requesting one or more additional carriers in a wireless communication network, comprising:

communicating with an access point over one or more carriers;

detecting a change in one or more communication parameters with respect to a threshold value for the communication parameters; and

requesting one or more additional carriers from the access point based at least in part on the detected change.

2. The method of claim 1, the one or more communication parameters comprise a level of a buffer that stores data for communicating to the access point.

3. The method of claim 2, the buffer is at a protocol layer and receives data from an application for transmission over the one or more carriers.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving the buffer level from the protocol layer via an interface.

5. The method of claim 2, the threshold value for the level of the buffer relates to a subscription type of a mobile device user.

6. The method of claim 5, the one or more communication parameters further comprise a current power amplifier (PA) headroom where the threshold value is a minimum PA headroom required to request the one or more additional carriers.

7. The method of claim 5, requesting one or more additional carriers from the access point further based at least in part on comparing a current time to a carrier request bar time during which requesting the one or more additional carriers is prohibited.

8. The method of claim 7, the carrier request bar time is specified by the access point in response to a previous request for the one or more additional carriers.

9. The method of claim 7, requesting one or more additional carriers from the access point further based at least in part on comparing a number of carriers currently utilized to a maximum number of carriers allowed.

10. The method of claim 1, the one or more communication parameters comprise a comparison between an inflow and outflow data rate measured respectively at an application layer and a protocol layer in communicating with the access point.

11. The method of claim 10, the inflow and outflow data rates are computed based at least in part on comparison between current and historical data rates.

12. The method of claim 10, the threshold value for the comparison relates to a subscription type of a mobile device user where a higher level subscriber relates to a lower threshold comparison value than a lower level subscriber.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the one or more additional carriers from the access point and utilizing the one or more additional carriers in subsequent communication with the access point.

14. The method of claim 1, communicating with the access point is performed over an evolution data optimized (EV-DO) network.

41. The apparatus of claim 38, further comprising a throughput level detector that compares throughput of the mobile device on a reverse link channel to a specified threshold.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, the carrier allocator allocates the additional carrier further based at least in part on the comparison.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, the specified threshold relates to the subscription level.

15. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

communicate with a base station over at least one assigned carrier;

monitor one or more communication parameters to detect change with respect to a threshold value for the one or more communications parameters; and

request an additional carrier assignment from the base station based at least in part on the detected change; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

16. A wireless communications apparatus that facilitates requesting additional carriers over a wireless network, comprising:

means for communicating with an access point over one or more assigned carriers;

means for determining change in one or more communications parameters with respect to a related threshold value; and

means for requesting at least one additional carrier from the access point based at least in part on the change.

17. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to communicate with an access point over one or more carriers;

code for causing the at least one computer to detect a change in one or more communication parameters with respect to a threshold value for the communication parameters; and

code for causing the at least one computer to request one or more additional carriers from the access point based at least in part on the detected modification.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver that facilitates communicating with an access point over one or more carriers;

a communication parameter evaluator that determines change in one or more communications parameters based at least in part on comparison to a respective threshold value; and

a carrier requestor that requests an additional carrier from the access point based at least in part on the determined change.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, the one or more communication parameters comprise a level of a protocol layer buffer that stores data for communicating to the access point.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, the respective threshold value for the level of the buffer relates to a subscription type of a user of the apparatus.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, the one or more communication parameters further comprise a current power amplifier (PA) headroom where the respective threshold value is a minimum PA headroom required to request the one or more additional carriers.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, the communication parameter evaluator further determines expiration of a carrier request bar timer during which requesting the one or more additional carriers is prohibited.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, the one or more communication parameters further comprise a number of carriers currently utilized where the respective threshold value is a maximum number of carriers allowed by the access point.

24. The apparatus of claim 18, the one or more communication parameters comprise a comparison between an inflow and outflow data rate measured at an application and protocol layer of the apparatus in communicating with the access point.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising a mobile interface for receiving at least the inflow data rate from the application layer.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, the communication parameter evaluator calculates the inflow and outflow data rates based at least in part on current and historical data rates.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, the respective threshold value for the comparison relates to a subscription type of a user of the apparatus where a higher level subscriber relates to a lower threshold value than a lower level subscribers.

28. A method that facilitates allocating additional carriers in wireless communication networks, comprising:

receiving a request for at least one additional carrier assignment from a mobile device;

determining a subscription level for the mobile device; and

allocating an additional carrier to the mobile device based at least in part on the subscription level and available resources.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising determining a number of carriers allocated to the mobile device.

30. The method of claim 29, allocating the additional carrier is further based at least in part on the determined number of carriers allocated.

31. The method of claim 28, further comprising comparing throughput of the mobile device on a reverse link channel to a specified threshold.

32. The method of claim 31, allocating the additional carrier is further based on the comparison.

33. The method of claim 32, the specified threshold relates to the subscription level.

34. The method of claim 28, further comprising receiving subsequent communication from the mobile device over the additional carrier.

35. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

communicate with a mobile device over one or more assigned carriers;

receive a request for allocation of an additional carrier from the mobile device; and

allocate an additional carrier to the mobile device based at least in part on the request, a determined subscription level of the mobile device, and available resources; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

36. A wireless communications apparatus for allocating additional carriers to one or more mobile devices, comprising:

means for receiving a request for an additional carrier assignment from a mobile device;

means for receiving a subscription level of the mobile device; and

means for assigning an additional carrier to the mobile device based at least in part on the subscription level.

37. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive a request for at least one additional carrier assignment from a mobile device;

code for causing the at least one computer to determine a subscription level for the mobile device; and

code for causing the at least one computer to allocate an additional carrier to the mobile device based at least in part on the subscription level and available resources.

38. An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver that communicates with a mobile device over one or more allocated carriers and receives a request for an additional carrier from the mobile device;

a subscription level detector that determines a subscription level of the mobile device; and

a carrier allocator that allocates an additional carrier to the mobile device based at least in part on the subscription level and available resources.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, the carrier allocator further determines a number of carriers allocated to the mobile device.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, the carrier allocator allocates the additional carrier further based at least in part on the determined number of carriers allocated.

44. The apparatus of claim 38, the transceiver receives subsequent communication from the mobile device over the additional carrier.