SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING QUALITY OF SERVICE TO VOICE-OVER-IP TRAFFIC ON A WIRELESS RADIO ACCESS NETWORK

• US 20110222470A1
• Filed: 03/12/2010
• Published: 09/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clearwire Ip Holdings LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Clear Wireless LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: MEHTA, Dhaval Dipak, CANE, Richard Martin, SATAPATHY, Durga Prasad
• Granted Patent: US 9,025,505 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS

Abstract

In various embodiments, a system, network node, and method of providing voice communications in a wireless packet communications system includes registering a communications path between a gateway (GW) and a base station (BS); establishing a real-time service flow in the BS; activating the real-time service flow over an air interface between the BS and a terminal device; requesting, by the terminal device, that zero bandwidth be allocated by the BS to the activated real-time service flow in the absence of voice traffic to or from the terminal device; requesting, by the terminal device, that sufficient bandwidth be allocated by the BS to the activated real-time service flow when voice traffic to or from the terminal device is detected by the terminal device; and transmitting and/or receiving the voice traffic over the registered communications path via the activated real-time service flow.

Claims

1. A method of providing voice communications in a wireless packet communications system, the method comprising:

registering a communications path between a gateway (GW) and a base station (BS);

establishing a real-time service flow in the BS;

activating the real-time service flow over an air interface between the BS and a terminal device;

requesting, by the terminal device, that zero bandwidth be allocated by the BS to the activated real-time service flow in the absence of voice traffic to or from the terminal device;

requesting, by the terminal device, that sufficient bandwidth be allocated by the BS to the activated real-time service flow when voice traffic to or from the terminal device is detected by the terminal device; and

transmitting and/or receiving the voice traffic over the registered communications path via the activated real-time service flow.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice traffic is packetized Voice-Over-IP (VoIP) data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing one or more non-real-time service flows in the BS to manage the transmitting and/or receiving of the voice traffic.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining the activated real-time service flow at a zero bandwidth amount in the absence of voice traffic to or from the terminal device, wherein a bandwidth request for the activated real-time service flow of zero bandwidth is periodically sent to the BS to ensure that unsolicited bandwidth grants from the BS to the terminal device remain suspended until a voice call is made or received.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless packet communications system is a WiMAX system, wherein the method further comprises:

establishing three pairs of service flows between the BS and the terminal device,

wherein a first pair of service flows comprises a best effort (BE) service flow for VoIP control and statistics traffic,

wherein a second pair of service flows comprises a non-real-time service flow for VoIP signaling traffic, and

wherein a third pair of service flows comprises an extended real-time service flow with silence suppression for VoIP bearer traffic.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the three pairs of service flows each have different Quality-of-Service (QoS) parameters associated therewith.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising granting an unsolicited grant of bandwidth equal to a predetermined bandwidth value before the terminal device requests any zero or non-zero bandwidth from the BS.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the wireless packet communications system is a WiMAX system, the activated real-time service flow is a WiMAX extended real-time service flow, and the predetermined bandwidth value is equal to a Maximum Sustained Traffic Rate (MSTR) per an unsolicited grant interval.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless packet communications system is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G system.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising resuming an unsolicited grant of bandwidth equal to a predetermined bandwidth value after voice traffic to or from the terminal device is detected by the terminal device.

11. A network node in a wireless packet communications network, the node comprising:

a transceiver configured to selectively transmit and receive data over the wireless network;

a processor operatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to;

activate a real-time service flow over an air interface between the network node and another node in the wireless network;

process a request that zero bandwidth be allocated to the activated real-time service flow in the absence of voice traffic over the air interface;

process a request that sufficient bandwidth be allocated to the activated real-time service flow when voice traffic over the air interface is detected; and

passing the voice traffic to a different network via a registered communications path.

12. The network node of claim 11, wherein the voice traffic is packetized Voice-Over-IP (VoIP) data.

13. The network node of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to establish one or more non-real-time service flows to manage the voice traffic.

14. The network node of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to maintain the activated real-time service flow at a zero bandwidth amount in the absence of voice traffic over the air interface, wherein a bandwidth request for the activated real-time service flow of zero bandwidth is periodically processed to ensure that unsolicited bandwidth grants over the air interface remain suspended until a voice call is detected.

15. The network node of claim 11, wherein the wireless packet communications network is a WiMAX network, wherein the processor is further configured to:

establish three pairs of service flows over the air interface,

wherein a first pair of service flows comprises a best effort (BE) service flow for VoIP control and statistics traffic, wherein a second pair of service flows comprises a non-real-time service flow for VoIP signaling traffic, and wherein a third pair of service flows comprises an extended real-time service flow with silence suppression for VoIP bearer traffic.

16. The network node of claim 15, wherein each of the three pairs of service flows each have different Quality-of-Service (QoS) parameters associated therewith.

17. The network node of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to process an unsolicited grant of bandwidth equal to a predetermined bandwidth value before any bandwidth request is processed.

18. The network node of claim 17, wherein the wireless packet communications network is a WiMAX network, the activated real-time service flow is a WiMAX extended real-time service flow, and the predetermined bandwidth value is equal to a Maximum Sustained Traffic Rate (MSTR) per an unsolicited grant interval.

19. The network node of claim 11, wherein the wireless packet communications network is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system.

20. The network node of claim 11, wherein the network node is a WiMAX base station.

21. The network node of claim 11, wherein the network node is a WiMAX terminal device.

22. The network node of claim 21, wherein the terminal device comprises a WiMAX-capable mobile device.

23. The network node of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to resume an unsolicited grant of bandwidth equal to a predetermined bandwidth value after voice traffic is detected over the air interface.

24. A wireless packet communications system, comprising:

a communications path registered between a gateway (GW) and a base station (BS);

a real-time communications path established through the BS to a terminal device over an air interface,

wherein the terminal device requests that zero bandwidth be allocated by the BS to the real-time communications path in the absence of voice traffic on the air interface;

wherein the terminal device requests that sufficient bandwidth be allocated by the BS to the real-time communications path when voice traffic is detected on the air interface, and

wherein the BS forwards the voice traffic over the registered communications path to another network.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein said another network comprises the Internet.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the voice traffic is packetized Voice-Over-IP (VoIP) data.

27. The system of claim 24, further comprising one or more non-real-time service flows to manage the voice traffic over the air interface.

28. The system of claim 24, wherein the real-time communications path is provisioned with a zero bandwidth amount in the absence of voice traffic over the air interface, wherein a bandwidth request for the real-time communications path of zero bandwidth is periodically transmitted by the terminal device to ensure that unsolicited bandwidth grants over the air interface remain suspended until a voice call is detected.

29. The system of claim 24, wherein the wireless packet communications system is a WiMAX system, wherein the BS is configured to:

establish three pairs of service flows over the air interface,

wherein a first pair of service flows comprises a best effort (BE) service flow for VoIP control and statistics traffic, wherein a second pair of service flows comprises a non-real-time service flow for VoIP signaling traffic, and wherein a third pair of service flows is associated with the real-time communications path and comprises an extended real-time service flow with silence suppression for VoIP bearer traffic.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein each of the three pairs of service flows each have different Quality-of-Service (QoS) parameters associated therewith.

31. The system of claim 24, wherein the BS is configured to grant an unsolicited grant of bandwidth equal to a predetermined bandwidth value to the terminal device before any bandwidth request is processed.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the wireless packet communications system is a WiMAX system, the real-time communications path comprises a WiMAX extended real-time service flow, and the predetermined bandwidth value is equal to a Maximum Sustained Traffic Rate (MSTR) per an unsolicited grant interval.

33. The system of claim 24, wherein the wireless packet communications system is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system.

34. The system of claim 24, wherein the BS comprises a WiMAX base station.

35. The system of claim 24, wherein the terminal device comprises a WiMAX-capable terminal device.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the WiMAX-capable terminal device comprises a WiMAX-capable mobile device.

37. The system of claim 24, wherein the BS is configured to resume an unsolicited grant of bandwidth equal to a predetermined bandwidth value after voice traffic is detected over the air interface.

38. An article of manufacture comprising a physical computer-readable medium, said physical computer-readable medium containing computer instructions thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to carry out the functions of:

activating a real-time service flow over an air interface between a first network node and a second node in a wireless packet communications network;

processing a request that zero bandwidth be allocated to the activated real-time service flow in the absence of voice traffic over the air interface;

processing a request that sufficient bandwidth be allocated to the activated real-time service flow when voice traffic over the air interface is detected; and

passing the voice traffic to a different network via a registered communications path.