RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN A RADIO ACCESS NETWORK

• US 20090262697A1
• Filed: 06/05/2009
• Published: 10/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ericsson Evdo, Inc. (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Airvana Incorporated (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: To, Philip, Eyceoz, Tugay
• Granted Patent: US 7,920,541 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/56 based on priority criteria

Abstract

In a radio access network, techniques for enabling the network to provide a service availability guarantee to a user of a premium service without requiring the network to identify a priority level of a connection with an access terminal associated with the premium service user prior to connection establishment.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

enabling a radio access network to provide a service availability guarantee to a user of a premium service without requiring the radio access network to identify a priority level of a connection with an access terminal associated with the premium service user prior to connection establishment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the enabling comprises:

establishing a session for the access terminal on the radio access network; and

identifying the priority level of the connection based on session information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the session is established prior to connection establishment.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the session is established after connection establishment.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the session information comprises an activated service identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the activated service identifier comprises a premium service identifier or a regular service identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority level of the connection is identified as one of at least two priority levels.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority level of the connection is identified as a low priority level or a high priority level.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the enabling comprises:

allocating a resource of the radio access network to the connection based on the priority level of the connection.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the enabling comprises:

establishing a connection with the access terminal; and

maintaining the connection for a period of time while the priority level of the connection is identified.

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

determining whether a resource of the radio access network is to be allocated to the connection based on the priority level identification.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the enabling further comprises:

determining whether a resource of the radio access network is available for allocation to the connection based on the priority level identification.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the enabling further comprises:

terminating the connection if the priority level of the connection cannot be identified within the period of time.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the enabling comprises:

terminating a first connection in order to reclaim an allocated resource of the radio access network for subsequent allocation to a second connection, the second connection having a relatively higher priority level than the first connection.

15. A method comprising:

in a radio access network having N resources of which M are reserved for new connection establishment, providing a service availability guarantee that enables the radio access network to allocate at least K resources to connections associated with users of premium services, and allocate up to N-M resources to connections associated with users of regular services.

16. A machine-readable medium that stores executable instructions for use at a radio node controller of a radio access network, the instructions causing a machine to:

provide a service availability guarantee to a user of a premium service without requiring the radio access network to identify a priority level of a connection with an access terminal associated with the premium service user prior to connection establishment.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions to cause the machine to:

establish a connection with the access terminal; and

maintain the connection for a period of time while the priority level of the connection is identified.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions to cause the machine to:

determine whether a resource of the radio access network is to be allocated to the connection based on the priority level identification.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions to cause the machine to:

determine whether a resource of the radio access network is available for allocation to the connection based on the priority level identification.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions to cause the machine to:

terminate the connection if the priority level of the connection cannot be identified within the period of time.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions to cause the machine to:

terminate a first connection in order to reclaim an allocated resource of the radio access network for subsequent allocation to a second connection, the second connection having a relatively higher priority level than the first connection.