METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRIORITIZING STATUS MESSAGES IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20090318152A1
• Filed: 06/15/2009
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Maheshwari, Shailesh
• Granted Patent: US 8,718,647 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/436
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1822 involving configuration of automatic repeat request [ARQ] with parallel processes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1835 Buffer management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0092 Error control systems characterised by the topology of the transmission link
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/02 Buffering or recovering information during reselection ; Modification of the traffic flow during hand-off

Abstract

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate scheduling for transmissions of status messages, such as Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) status messages or Radio Link Control (RLC) acknowledgement messages, in a wireless communication system. As described herein, at time periods at which transmission of status messages is desired, respective status signaling associated with a set of radio bearers, logical channels, or the like can be configured to be transmitted prior to conducting transmission(s) of data. By doing so, a receiving entity can obtain the status signaling at substantially the earliest possible opportunity, allowing the receiving entity to avoid unnecessary bandwidth and/or memory expenditure associated with re-transmissions of information. As further described herein, status information can be prioritized by the use of separate status bearers, respective indicators provided within information elements queued on respective radio bearers, a maintained list of respective radio bearers containing status information, and other similar mechanisms.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying data to be transmitted over one or more communication channels;

locating status information associated with respective communication channels among the identified data;

detecting a triggering event on which status information is to be transmitted; and

transmitting the located status information upon detecting the triggering event prior to transmission of at least a portion of remaining identified data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the status information comprises one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) status messages associated with respective communication channels.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the detecting comprises detecting a triggering event associated with a handover between respective cells in a wireless communication system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting respective PDCP status messages in a first transmission following communication of a handover complete message to a target cell for the handover.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the status information comprises one or more Radio Link Control (RLC) messages, the RLC messages comprising at least one of acknowledgement (ACK) or negative ACK (NACK) information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the detecting comprises detecting a triggering event associated with a communication session between a wireless communication network and a user served by the wireless communication network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises identifying a set of transmission queues comprising at least one transmission queue corresponding to status information and respective transmission queues corresponding to remaining identified data to be transmitted over respective communication channels;

the locating further comprises placing located status information into at least one transmission queue corresponding to status information; and

the transmitting comprises transmitting information placed into the at least one transmission queue corresponding to status information prior to transmission of information associated with respective transmission queues corresponding to remaining identified data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifying a set of transmission queues comprises identifying a common transmission queue corresponding to status information to be transmitted over a plurality of communication channels.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifying a set of transmission queues comprises identifying a set of transmission queues corresponding to status information that are associated with respective transmission queues for remaining identified data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises configuring respective identified data with an indicator that identifies the data as status information or remaining identified data; and

the locating comprises analyzing respective indicators provided with at least a portion of the identified data and locating status information within the analyzed data based at least in part on the respective indicators.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the locating further comprises analyzing indicators provided with respective data elements designated to be transmitted during a first transmission to occur over respective communication channels following the triggering event.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the configuring comprises setting a bit at a predetermined bit position within a data element to a first value upon determining that the data element comprises status information or to a second value upon determining that the data element does not comprise status information.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the locating comprises identifying a list of communication channels for which status information is present and locating status information associated with respective communication channels based at least in part on the identified list; and

the transmitting comprises transmitting respective listed status information over one or more communication channels for which the status information is present.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising discarding status information corresponding to at least one application for which status information is not desired prior to transmission of the status information.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by an access point in a wireless communication network.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by a user equipment unit (UE).

17. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

a memory that stores data relating to one or more radio bearers and respective information associated with the one or more radio bearers, the information comprising at least one of status messages or data; and

a processor configured to identify respective status messages among the information associated with the one or more radio bearers and to prioritize the respective status messages such that the status messages are transmitted prior to data associated with the one or more radio bearers.

18. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the status messages comprise Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) status messages associated with respective radio bearers.

19. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit respective status messages during a handover between respective cells in a wireless communication system.

20. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the status messages comprise Radio Link Control (RLC) messages, the RLC messages comprising at least one of acknowledgement (ACK) or negative ACK (NACK) information.

21. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit respective status messages during a communication session between the wireless communications apparatus and at least one of a wireless communication network or a user equipment unit (UE).

22. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein:

the memory further stores data relating to one or more data radio bearers (DRBs) associated with respective data elements and one or more status radio bearers associated with respective status messages; and

the processor is further configured to transmit prioritize respective radio bearers such that status messages associated with respective status radio bearers are transmitted prior to data associated with the one or more DRBs.

23. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 22, wherein the one or more status radio bearers comprise a common status radio bearer associated with status messages for a plurality of DRBs.

24. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 22, wherein the one or more status radio bearers comprise a set of status radio bearers that are respectively associated with corresponding DRBs.

25. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein respective data elements and status messages comprise an indicator that identifies the respective data elements and status messages and the processor is further configured to identify respective status messages among the information associated with the one or more radio bearers at least in part by analyzing indicators associated with respective data elements and status messages associated with the one or more radio bearers.

26. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 25, wherein respective indicators are set for a data element or status message by setting a predetermined bit position within the data element or status message to a predefined value, the predefined value being a first value to indicate a data element or a second value to indicate a status message.

27. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory further stores data relating to a set of radio bearers on which status messages are located and the processor is further configured to prioritize respective status messages located on the radio bearers in the set of radio bearers.

28. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to discard status messages relating to respective applications for which status messages are determined to be below a threshold level of utility.

29. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the wireless communications apparatus is a Node B.

30. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the wireless communications apparatus is a wireless terminal.

31. An apparatus operable in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising:

means for identifying information to be transmitted over one or more logical channels;

means for classifying the identified information into status signaling and data; and

means for assigning priority levels to the identified information such that information classified as status signaling is transmitted prior to information classified as data upon detecting a triggering event for status transmission.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the status signaling comprises one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) status messages associated with respective logical channels.

33. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the status signaling comprises one or more Radio Link Control (RLC) messages, the RLC messages comprising at least one of acknowledgement (ACK) or negative ACK (NACK) information.

34. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the triggering event is associated with at least one of a handover between respective cells in a wireless communication system or a communication session between the apparatus and at least one of a wireless communication network or a mobile terminal.

35. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein:

the means for identifying comprises means for identifying a set of radio bearers comprising one or more data radio bearers (DRBs) having respective data queued thereon and one or more status radio bearers having respective status signaling queued thereon; and

the means for assigning comprises means for assigning priority levels to the set of radio bearers such that status signaling queued on the one or more status radio bearers is transmitted prior to data queued on the one or more DRBs upon detecting a triggering event for status transmission.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the one or more status radio bearers comprise a common status radio bearer having status signaling associated with a plurality of DRBs queued thereon.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the one or more status radio bearers comprise a set of status radio bearers corresponding to with respective DRBs, the status radio bearers having status signaling associated with their respective corresponding DRBs queued thereon.

38. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the means for classifying comprises:

means for identifying respective indicators associated with the identified information, the indicators comprising one or more of status signaling indicators or data indicators; and

means for classifying the identified information into status signaling and data at least in part by classifying identified information associated with a status signaling indicator as status signaling and classifying identified information associated with a data indicator as data.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the respective indicators associated with the identified information comprise a predefined bit value located at a predetermined bit position within the identified information, the predefined bit value being a first bit value to provide a status signaling indication or a second bit value to provide a data indication.

40. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the means for classifying comprises:

means for maintaining a list of logical channels for which status signaling is present; and

means for classifying respective identified information as status signaling based at least in part on the maintained list.

41. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the apparatus is one or more of a Node B or a user equipment unit (UE).

42. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium, comprising;

code for causing a computer to identify one or more radio bearers and respective information queued on the one or more radio bearers, the information comprising at least one of status messages or data;

code for causing a computer to identify respective status messages among the information queued on the one or more radio bearers; and

code for causing a computer to prioritize the respective status messages such that the status messages are transmitted prior to data queued on the one or more radio bearers.

43. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the status messages are associated with respective radio bearers and comprise at least one of Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) status messages or Radio Link Control (RLC) acknowledgement (ACK) messages.

44. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the code for causing a computer to prioritize comprises code for causing a computer to prioritize the respective status messages with respect to a transmission of status messages associated with at least one of a handover between respective cells in a wireless communication system or a communication session between a wireless communication network and a user equipment unit (UE) served by the wireless communication network.

45. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein:

the code for causing a computer to identify one or more radio bearers comprises code for causing a computer to identify one or more data radio bearers (DRBs) on which respective data are queued and one or more status radio bearers on which respective status messages are queued; and

code for causing a computer to prioritize comprises code for causing a computer to prioritize the status messages queued on the one or more status radio bearers such that status messages queued on the one or more status radio bearers are transmitted prior to data queued on the one or more DRBs.

46. The computer program product of claim 45, wherein the one or more status radio bearers comprise a common status radio bearer on which status messages associated with a plurality of DRBs are queued.

47. The computer program product of claim 45, wherein the one or more status radio bearers comprise a set of status radio bearers that correspond to respective DRBs and on which status messages associated with the respectively corresponding DRBs are queued.

48. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the code for causing a computer to identify respective status messages comprises:

code for causing a computer to identify respective indicators associated with the information queued on the one or more radio bearers, the indicators comprising one or more of status message indicators or data indicators; and

code for causing a computer to identify respective status messages at least in part by identifying information associated with a status message indicator queued on the one or more radio bearers.

49. The computer program product of claim 48, wherein the code for causing a computer to identify respective indicators comprises:

code for causing a computer to analyze a predetermined bit position within respective information queued on the one or more radio bearers;

code for causing a computer to identify information having a first value at the predetermined bit position as status messages; and

code for causing a computer to identify information having a second value at the predetermined bit position as data.

50. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the code for causing a computer to identify respective status messages comprises:

code for causing a computer to maintain a set of radio bearers on which status messages are queued; and

code for causing a computer to identify status messages queued on one or more radio bearers indicated by the maintained list.