Group Call Control In A Wireless Broadband Communication Network

• US 20120033623A1
• Filed: 09/30/2010
• Published: 02/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Chu, Thomas P., Doumi, Tewfik, Nagarajan, Ramesh
• Granted Patent: US 8,422,448 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/00 Local resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A method and system for group call control in a broadband wireless network. A group call (push-to-talk) server initiates and regulates group call communication sessions. A wireless base station communicates with one or more group call participants. When a request to participate in a group call is received, it is examined to see if it contains a group call ID or other group call indicator. If not, regular call resources are allocated, if available. If so, it is determined whether another group member is attached to the base station. Group call resources are then reserved, if available, based on this determination. The resources allocated for the group call may also depend on whether the system supports multicast on the downlink to group members, or whether losing audio is supported. In some embodiments, network resources may be reallocated to support the group call.

Claims

1. A method for group call admissions control in an LTE wireless communication network, comprising:

receiving at a network base station a call setup request requesting that a bearer be set up from a UE to a PDN-GW;

determining whether the call setup request contains a group ID;

determining, if the call setup request contains a group ID, whether base station resources are already allocated to the identified group;

determining, if resources have already been allocated to the group, whether additional resources are required to set up the call; and

admitting the call if no additional resources are required, wherein admitting the call comprises establishing a bearer for communications between the UE and a PDN-GW.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether additional resources are required comprises determining how many group UEs are attached to the base station and determining whether a resource threshold has been met by the UE associated with the call setup request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether any additional resources required to set up the call are available.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising admitting the call if any additional resources required to set up the call are determined to be available.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising rejecting the call setup request if the required additional resources are not available.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising, prior to rejecting the call setup request, determining whether a portion of the required additional resources can be disregarded as non-essential so that the call setup may proceed.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising, prior to rejecting the call setup request, re-allocating resources reserved for other calls so that the call setup may proceed.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising reserving any additional resources determined to be required.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the base station is an eNodeB and the call setup request is a Create Bearer Request message.

10. A method for group call admissions control in a broadband wireless communication network, comprising:

receiving a call setup request;

determining whether the call setup request contains a group call indicator;

determining, if the call setup request contains a grout call indicator, whether the call set up request contains a group ID;

determining, if the call setup request contains a group ID, whether the group is active;

determining, if the group is not active, whether the resources required for the group call are available; and

admitting the group call if it is determined that the group is not active and the resources required for the group call are available.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising reserving the resources required for the group call.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising setting at least one resource allocation increment threshold.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining whether losing audio is to be supported for the group.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the determination of whether losing audio is to be supported is a function of whether the resources required for the call are available.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the determination of whether losing audio is to be supported is a function of the group ID associated with the call setup request.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the call setup request is received in a base station of the wireless communication network.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the determination of whether to allocate additional group call resources is based at least in part on system performance.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising setting a scheduling rule for the group applying semi-persistent scheduling to voice transmissions and dynamic scheduling to the transmission of control messages.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising releasing the group call resources associated with the group ID.

20. A base station for a broadband wireless communication network, comprising:

a controller;

a memory device;

an admission controller in communication with the controller and with the memory device, wherein the admission controller determines for every group call setup request received at the base station whether the group is active with the respect to the base station;

a resource allocation table for recording resources reserved for each group call active at the base station and any resource thresholds that have been set;

an allocation rules table for recording resource determination criteria; and

a transmission scheduler for prioritizing transmissions according to currently-set scheduling rules.