TRAFFIC SCHEDULING BASED ON RESOURCE CONTENTION

• US 20090225712A1
• Filed: 01/27/2009
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Gupta, Rajarshi, Stamoulis, Anastasios
• Granted Patent: US 9,042,385 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/566 of the information or information source or recipient
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/569 of the traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0875 with assigned priorities based access

Abstract

In a system where multiple resources are available for carrying traffic, a scheduler may give higher scheduling priority to those resources for which a RUM has been sent. For example, if a node has sent a RUM to reserve a specified carrier of a set of allocated carriers, the scheduler may first attempt to schedule traffic on the specified carrier since there may be less interference on this carrier as a result of the RUM.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

identifying a resource of a plurality of resources for which a node sent a resource utilization message; and

scheduling traffic destined for the node based on contention for the identified resource.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic is scheduled on the identified resource if the node has won the contention for the identified resource.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic is scheduled on another resource if the node has not won the contention for the identified resource.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the node has won the contention for the identified resource based on a priority of the resource utilization message and a priority of at least one other resource utilization message sent by at least one other node.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the node comprises an access point; and

the access point performs the scheduling.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the node comprises an access terminal; and

an access point associated with the access terminal performs the scheduling.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the node comprises an access terminal; and

the access terminal performs the scheduling.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource utilization message comprises an indication that specifies the identified resource.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified resource comprises at least one of a plurality of available carriers.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

each of the carriers comprises a plurality of subcarriers; and

the traffic is scheduled on at least a portion of the subcarriers.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling of traffic is further based on priority of the traffic.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the node is one of a set of nodes; and

the scheduling of traffic comprises scheduling the set of nodes to use the identified resource according to relative priorities of traffic flows associated with the set of nodes.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the relative priorities are based on at least one of:

traffic flow rate, amount of buffered traffic, resource utilization message priority, traffic flow type, head of line delay, or a quality of service parameter.

14. An apparatus for communication, comprising:

means for identifying a resource of a plurality of resources for which a node sent a resource utilization message; and

means for scheduling traffic destined for the node based on contention for the identified resource.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the traffic is scheduled on the identified resource if the node has won the contention for the identified resource.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the traffic is scheduled on another resource if the node has not won the contention for the identified resource.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the means for scheduling determines whether the node has won the contention for the identified resource based on a priority of the resource utilization message and a priority of at least one other resource utilization message sent by at least one other node.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:

the node comprises an access point; and

the apparatus is implemented within the access point.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:

the node comprises an access terminal; and

the apparatus is implemented within an access point associated with the access terminal.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:

the node comprises an access terminal; and

the apparatus is implemented within the access terminal.

21. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the resource utilization message comprises an indication that specifies the identified resource.

22. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the identified resource comprises at least one of a plurality of available carriers.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein:

each of the carriers comprises a plurality of subcarriers; and

the traffic is scheduled on at least a portion of the subcarriers.

24. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the scheduling of traffic is further based on priority of the traffic.

25. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:

the node is one of a set of nodes; and

the means for scheduling further schedules the set of nodes to use the identified resource according to relative priorities of traffic flows associated with the set of nodes.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the relative priorities are based on at least one of:

traffic flow rate, amount of buffered traffic, resource utilization message priority, traffic flow type, head of line delay, or a quality of service parameter.

27. An apparatus for communication, comprising:

a resource identifier configured to identify a resource of a plurality of resources for which a node sent a resource utilization message; and

a traffic scheduler configured to schedule traffic destined for the node based on contention for the identified resource.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the traffic is scheduled on the identified resource if the node has won the contention for the identified resource.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the traffic is scheduled on another resource if the node has not won the contention for the identified resource.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the traffic scheduler is further configured to determine whether the node has won the contention for the identified resource based on a priority of the resource utilization message and a priority of at least one other resource utilization message sent by at least one other node.

31. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein:

the node comprises an access point; and

the apparatus is implemented within the access point.

32. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein:

the node comprises an access terminal; and

the apparatus is implemented within an access point associated with the access terminal.

33. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein:

the node comprises an access terminal; and

the apparatus is implemented within the access terminal.

34. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the resource utilization message comprises an indication that specifies the identified resource.

35. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the identified resource comprises at least one of a plurality of available carriers.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein:

each of the carriers comprises a plurality of subcarriers; and

the traffic is scheduled on at least a portion of the subcarriers.

37. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the scheduling of traffic is further based on priority of the traffic.

38. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein:

the node is one of a set of nodes; and

the traffic scheduler is further configured to schedule the set of nodes to use the identified resource according to relative priorities of traffic flows associated with the set of nodes.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the relative priorities are based on at least one of:

traffic flow rate, amount of buffered traffic, resource utilization message priority, traffic flow type, head of line delay, or a quality of service parameter.

40. A computer-program product for communication, comprising:

computer-readable medium encoded with codes executable to;

identify a resource of a plurality of resources for which a node sent a resource utilization message; and

schedule traffic destined for the node based on contention for the identified resource.

41. An access point, comprising:

an antenna;

a resource identifier configured to identify a resource of a plurality of resources for which a node sent a resource utilization message; and

a traffic scheduler configured to schedule, based on contention for the identified resource, traffic destined for the node that propagates through the antenna.

42. An access terminal, comprising:

a resource identifier configured to identify a resource of a plurality of resources for which a node sent a resource utilization message;

a traffic scheduler configured to schedule traffic destined for the node based on contention for the identified resource; and

a user interface configured to output an indication based on the scheduled traffic.