Methods and Nodes in a Communication System

• US 20110201267A1
• Filed: 12/06/2010
• Published: 08/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Synnergren, Per, Hannu, Hans
• Granted Patent: US 8,892,142 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0289 Congestion control load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load

Abstract

Embodiments herein include a method in a server for scheduling of an information transmission from an information providing device to a subscriber equipment in a communication system. The method comprises determining a moment in time at which the subscriber equipment desires information. Also, an estimation of the communication intensity in the communication system at the determined moment in time is obtained. If the estimated communication intensity exceeds a certain threshold value, an appropriate period in time for the information providing device to send desired information to the subscriber equipment is calculated, based on the communication intensity in the communication system. Furthermore, a trigger signal is sent to the information providing device, requesting the information providing device at what moment in time to provide information to the subscriber equipment. A method in an information providing device is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method in a server for scheduling of an information transmission from an information providing device to a subscriber equipment, the server, the information providing device, and the subscriber equipment comprised in a communication system, the method comprising:

determining a desired moment in time at which the subscriber equipment desires information to be received,

estimating the communication intensity in the communication system at the desired moment in time,

scheduling the information providing device to provide the information to the subscriber equipment at a determined moment in time, based on the desired moment in time and the estimated communication intensity at the desired moment in time, and

requesting the information providing device to provide the information to the subscriber equipment at the determined moment in time.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the scheduling is further based on an obtained priority value of the information providing device, the subscriber equipment, or the information to be transmitted.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising obtaining registration information related to the information providing device, said registration information comprising at least one of the location of the information providing device, the communication technology used by the information providing device, and information data related to the information providing device, and wherein the scheduling is further based on said registration information.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising obtaining registration information related to the subscriber equipment, said registration information comprising at least one of the location of the subscriber equipment, the communication technology used by the subscriber equipment, the traffic load in the part of the communication system that the subscriber equipment has access to, and information data related to the subscriber equipment, and wherein the scheduling is further based on said registration information.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the scheduling is further based on an estimation of the data size of information to be provided.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein estimating the communication intensity comprises estimating the number of transmissions within the communication system, measuring or estimating the traffic load within the communication system, or both.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said scheduling comprises comparing the estimated communication intensity at the desired moment in time with a threshold value and calculating another moment in time for the information providing device to provide information, if the estimated communication intensity exceeds the threshold value.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said scheduling comprises applying a distribution algorithm that distributes scheduled information transmissions in time, to thereby avoid load spikes within the communication system.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said requesting comprises requesting the information providing device to provide the information to the subscriber equipment via the server, and wherein the method further comprises:

formatting the information received from the information providing device into a format appropriate for further transmission to the subscriber equipment, and

sending the formatted information to the subscriber equipment.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information providing device comprises a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) device.

11. A server configured to schedule an information transmission from an information providing device to a subscriber equipment, the server, the information providing device and, the subscriber equipment comprised in a communication system, the server comprising:

a processing circuit configured to determine a desired moment in time at which the subscriber equipment desires information to be received, estimate the communication intensity in the communication system at the desired moment in time, and schedule the information providing device to provide information to the subscriber equipment at a determined moment in time, based on the desired moment in time and the estimated communication intensity at the desired moment in time, and

a sender configured to send a request to the information providing device, requesting the information providing device to provide the information to the subscriber equipment at the determined moment in time.

12. The server according to claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is configured to schedule the information providing device further based on an obtained priority value of the information providing device, the subscriber equipment, or the information to be transmitted.

13. The server according to claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is configured to schedule the information providing device by comparing the estimated communication intensity at the desired moment in time with a threshold value and calculating another moment in time for the information providing device to provide information, if the estimated communication intensity exceeds the threshold value.

14. The server according to claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is configured to schedule the information providing device by applying a distribution algorithm that distributes scheduled information transmissions in time, to thereby avoid load spikes within the communication system.

15. The server according to claim 11, wherein the information providing device comprises a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) device.

16. A method in an information providing device for enabling a server to schedule an information transmission from the information providing device to a subscriber equipment, the information providing device, the server and the subscriber equipment comprised in a communication system, the method comprising

receiving a request from the server requesting the information providing device to provide information to the subscriber equipment at a particular moment in time,

obtaining information according to the received request, and

transmitting the obtained information to the subscriber equipment at said particular moment in time according to the received request.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising providing registration information to the server, said registration information comprising at least one of the type of information to be sent, the radio access technology used by the information providing device, the type of the information providing device, a priority level of the information, and a priority level of the information providing device.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein the information providing device comprises a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) device.

19. An information providing device for enabling a server to schedule of an information transmission from the information providing device to a subscriber equipment, the information providing device, the server and the subscriber equipment comprised in a communication system, the information providing device comprising

a receiver configured to receive a request from the server requesting the information providing device to provide information to the subscriber equipment at a particular moment in time,

a processing circuit configured to obtain information according to the received request, and

a transmitter configured to transmit the obtained information to the subscriber equipment at said particular moment in time according to the received request.

20. The information providing device according to claim 19, wherein the information providing device comprises a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) device.