SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING OF USER QUALITY-OF-EXPERIENCE ON A WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20110211464A1
• Filed: 02/28/2010
• Published: 09/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kalyanaraman, Shivkumar, Chetlur, Malolan, Vishwanath, Arun, Dutta, Partha
• Granted Patent: US 8,385,221 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5067 Customer-centric QoS measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0835 One way packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0858 One way delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/087 Jitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0894 Packet rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/12 between access points and access point controllers

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide monitoring of the Quality-of-Experience (QoE) of a mobile user of a wireless network without introducing any additional packets or requiring user feedback. Furthermore, embodiments of the invention provide QoE information based on certain control messages that may be utilized for reporting, research, or monitoring purposes. As such, a service provider could utilize the QoE information provided by embodiments of the invention to, among other possibilities, manage, upgrade, or enhance their wireless network to ensure a quality network experience for end users.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

ascertaining at one or more monitors one or more wireless network characteristics selected from the group consisting of;

control messages of a wireless network;

one or more base station delay factors;

packet information from one or more packets transmitted over the wireless network; and

packet statistics; and

calculating quality of experience metrics at the one or more monitors using the one or more wireless network characteristics.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating quality of experience metrics at the one or more monitors further comprises utilizing the packet statistics and the control messages.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

estimating at the one or more monitors a packet arrival time for the one or more packets to arrive at a mobile station based on the packet information and the one or more base station delay factors;

wherein calculating quality of experience metrics at the one or more monitors further comprises utilizing the packet arrival time, the packet information, and the control messages.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the base station delay factors comprise one or more of:

a monitor to base station propagation delay;

a base station processing delay;

a base station queuing delay;

a base station transmission delay; and

a base station to mobile station propagation delay.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet information comprises one or more of:

a timestamp packet header field; and

a sequence number packet header field.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the packet information further comprises packet size information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the control messages comprise one or more of:

a minimum reserved traffic rate message;

a downlink physical service level message; and

an available radio resource in downlink message.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a base station estimated data flow rate is estimated at the one or more monitors utilizing the minimum reserved traffic rate message, the downlink physical service level message, and the available radio resource in downlink message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating quality of experience metrics at the one or more monitors further comprises utilizing a weighted sum of the packet statistics.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet statistics comprise one or more of:

a packet jitter value;

a packet loss rate;

an average end-to-end packet delay; and

a service flow rate.

11. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code being executable by the processor and comprising;

computer readable program code configured to ascertain one or more wireless network characteristics selected from the group consisting of;

control messages of a wireless network;

one or more base station delay factors;

packet information from one or more packets transmitted over the wireless network; and

packet statistics; and

computer readable program code configured to calculate quality of experience metrics using the one or more wireless network characteristics.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the computer readable program code configured to calculate quality of experience metrics is further configured to utilizing the packet statistics and the control messages to calculate quality of experience metrics.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the computer readable program code further comprises computer readable program code configured to estimate a packet arrival time for the one or more packets to arrive at a mobile station based on the packet information and the one or more base station delay factors;

wherein the computer readable program code configured to calculate quality of experience metrics is further configured to utilize the packet arrival time, the packet information, and the control messages to calculate quality of experience metrics.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein the base station delay factors comprise one or more of:

a monitor to base station propagation delay;

a base station processing delay;

a base station queuing delay;

a base station transmission delay; and

a base station to mobile station propagation delay.

15. The system according to claim 11, wherein the packet information comprises one or more of:

a timestamp packet header field; and

a sequence number packet header field.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the packet information further comprises packet size information.

17. The system according to claim 11, wherein the control messages comprise one or more of:

a minimum reserved traffic rate message;

a downlink physical service level message; and

an available radio resource in downlink message.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the computer readable program code further comprises computer readable program code configured to estimate a base station data flow rate utilizing the minimum reserved traffic rate message, the downlink physical service level message, and the available radio resource in downlink message.

19. The system according to claim 11, the computer readable program code configured to calculate quality of experience metrics is further configured to utilize a weighted sum of the packet statistics.

20. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to ascertain one or more wireless network characteristics selected from the group consisting of;

control messages of a wireless network;

one or more base station delay factors;

packet information from one or more packets transmitted over the wireless network; and

packet statistics; and

computer readable program code configured to calculate quality of experience metrics using the one or more wireless network characteristics.