DYNAMIC MACHINE-TO-MACHINE COMMUNICATIONS AND SCHEDULING

• US 20120017216A1
• Filed: 07/13/2010
• Published: 01/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Chan, Yee Sin, Yang, Jin
• Granted Patent: US 8,345,546 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/102
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

A method may include obtaining traffic loading and resource utilization information associated with a network for the network time domain; obtaining machine-to-machine resource requirements for machine-to-machine tasks using the network; receiving a target resource utilization value indicative of a network resource limit for the network time domain; calculating a probability for assigning each machine-to-machine task to the network time domain, wherein the probability is based on a difference between the target resource utilization value and the traffic loading and resource utilization associated with the network; calculating a probability density function based on an independent and identically distributed random variable; generating a schedule of execution of the machine-to-machine tasks within the network time domain based on the probabilities associated with the machine-to-machine tasks and the probability density function; and providing the schedule of execution of the machine-to-machine tasks.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a device, traffic loading and resource utilization information associated with a network for a network time domain;

obtaining, by the device, machine-to-machine resource requirements for machine-to-machine tasks using the network;

receiving, by the device, a target resource utilization value indicative of a network resource limit for the network time domain;

calculating, by the device, a probability for assigning each machine-to-machine task to the network time domain, wherein the probability is based on a difference between the target resource utilization value and the traffic loading and resource utilization associated with the network;

calculating, by the device, a uniformly-distributed probability density function based on an independent and identically distributed random variable;

generating, by the device, a schedule of execution of the machine-to-machine tasks with respect to the network time domain based on the probabilities associated with the machine-to-machine tasks and the uniformly-distributed probability density function; and

providing, by the device to other devices, the schedule of execution of the machine-to-machine tasks.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

dividing the network time domain into time slots, wherein the time slots correspond to time periods smaller than the network time domain; and

generating the schedule of execution based on the time slots.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the calculating the probability is based on a ratio between the difference between the target resource utilization value and the traffic loading and resource utilization for one of the time slots and a summation of the difference between the target resource utilization value and the traffic loading and resource utilization with respect to the time slots.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining one or more machine-to-machine time domains based on a frequency associated with the machine-to-machine tasks.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the calculating the probability comprises:

calculating the probability to be zero when the target resource utilization value is less than the traffic loading and resource utilization with respect to one of the time slots.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning a machine-to-machine task to a time slot of the network time domain based on the probability associated with the machine-to-machine task and an equivalence of the probability to the uniformly-distributed probability density function;

receiving another network time domain;

calculating another probability for assigning each machine-to-machine task to the other network time domain; and

generating the schedule of execution of the machine-to-machine tasks with respect to the other network time domain based on probabilities associated with the machine-to-machine tasks and a uniformly-distributed probability density function.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein when generating the schedule of execution, a plurality of machine-to-machine tasks assigned to a same network time domain are scheduled to execute randomly within the same network time domain.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the machine-to-machine tasks based on the schedule of execution.

9. A device comprising logic configured to:

obtain traffic loading and resource utilization information associated with a network for a network time domain;

obtain machine-to-machine resource requirements for machine-to-machine tasks using the network;

receive a target resource utilization value indicative of a network resource limit for the network time domain;

calculate a probability for assigning each machine-to-machine task to the network time domain, wherein the probability is based on a difference between the target resource utilization value and the traffic loading and resource utilization associated with the network;

calculate a probability density function based on an independent and identically distributed random variable;

generate a schedule of execution of the machine-to-machine tasks within a time period of the network time domain based on the probabilities associated with the machine-to-machine tasks and the probability density function; and

provide the schedule of execution of the machine-to-machine tasks to one or more other devices.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the device includes a wireless node associated with an access network.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the logic is further configured to:

divide the network time domain into time slots, wherein the time slots correspond to time periods smaller than the network time domain; and

generate the schedule of execution based on the time slots.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the logic is further configured to:

assign a machine-to-machine task to at least one of the time slots based on the probability associated with the machine-to-machine task and an equivalence of the probability to the probability density function.

13. The device of claim 9, wherein the logic is further configured to:

calculate one or more resource usage values for the network time domain based on the traffic loading and resource utilization information.

14. The device of claim 9, wherein the difference between the target resource utilization value and the traffic loading and resource utilization associated with the network corresponds to available network resources, and when calculating the probability, the logic is further configured to:

calculate a ratio including available network resources for a time slot and a total of available network resources for all time slots.

15. The device of claim 9, wherein the logic is further configured to:

receive another network time domain;

calculate another probability for assigning each machine-to-machine task to the other network time domain; and

generate the schedule of execution of the machine-to-machine tasks with respect to the network time domain and the other network time domain based on probabilities associated with the machine-to-machine tasks and a uniformly-distributed probability density function.

16. The device of claim 9, wherein the machine-to-machine tasks relate to utility services.

17. A computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by at least one processor, the computer-readable medium storing instructions to:

obtain traffic loading and resource utilization information associated with a network for a network time domain;

obtain machine-to-machine resource requirements for machine-to-machine tasks using the network;

receive a target resource utilization value indicative of a network resource limit for the network time domain;

calculate a probability for assigning each machine-to-machine task to the network time domain, wherein the probability is based on a difference between the target resource utilization value and the traffic loading and resource utilization associated with the network;

calculate a probability density function;

generate a schedule of execution of the machine-to-machine tasks within the network time domain based on the probabilities associated with the machine-to-machine tasks and the probability density function; and

provide the schedule of execution of the machine-to-machine tasks to one or more devices.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further storing one or more instructions to:

divide the network time domain into time slots, wherein the time slots correspond to time periods smaller than the network time domain; and

generate the schedule of execution based on the time slots.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further storing one or more instructions to:

assign a machine-to-machine task to at least one of the time slots based on the probability associated with the machine-to-machine task and an equivalence of the probability to the probability density function.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-readable medium resides in a wireless node of an access network.