TAIL OPTIMIZATION PROTOCOL FOR CELLULAR RADIO RESOURCE ALLOCATION

• US 20120052814A1
• Filed: 08/31/2010
• Published: 03/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gerber, Alexandre, Mao, Zhuoqing, Qian, Feng, Sen, Subhabrata, Spatscheck, Oliver, Wang, Zhaoguang
• Granted Patent: US 8,744,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/67.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/005 Routing actions in the presence of nodes in sleep or doze mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/38 triggered by timers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Systems and methods for increasing the power and resource efficiency of a mobile network device are presented herein. More particularly, described herein is a novel Tail Optimization Protocol (TOP) and/or other mechanisms, systems and methods for enabling cooperation between a mobile device and an associated radio access network to eliminate idle periods (e.g., tails) when possible. Various systems and methods described herein can leverage the ability of applications and/or their associated connections to accurately predict a long tail time, from which a mobile device can notify an associated cellular network on such an imminent tail in order to allow the cellular network to immediately release tail resources. Various other aspects provided herein realize TOP via fast dormancy and/or other similar notification mechanisms, which enable a handset or other device to notify a cellular network for immediate resource release.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

utilizing at least one processor to execute acts comprising;

identifying at least one connection utilized for communication within a communication system;

obtaining information relating to respective predicted data transfer times associated with the at least one connection;

calculating an estimated inter-transfer time based on the respective predicted data transfer times; and

determining whether to trigger a transition to an idle communicative state independently of timing requirements associated with the transition to the idle communicative state at least in part by comparing the estimated inter-transfer time to a tail threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises triggering the transition to the idle communicative state if the estimated inter-transfer time is substantially greater than the tail threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the identifying comprises identifying a plurality of connections utilized for communication within the communication system; and

the calculating comprises;

identifying a current timestamp;

identifying an earliest predicted data transfer time from among the respective predicted transfer times; and

setting the estimated inter-transfer time to a time interval measured from the current timestamp to the earliest predicted data transfer time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the identifying comprises identifying at least one predicting connection that provides information relating to predicted data transfer time and at least one non-predicting connection that does not provide information relating to predicted data transfer time; and

the determining comprises;

determining an amount of elapsed time following a most recent data transfer conducted by the at least one non-predicting connection; and

triggering the transition to the idle communicative state if the estimated inter-transfer time is substantially greater than the tail threshold and the time elapsed following the most recent data transfer conducted by the at least one non-predicting connection is substantially greater than a guard time.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising setting the guard time based on at least one of an inactivity timer associated with a transition from a dedicated channel (DCH) state to a forward access channel (FACH) state or an inactivity timer associated with a transition from a FACH state to an idle state.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises electing not to trigger the transition to the idle communicative state if previous triggering to the idle communicative state has occurred within a predetermined time interval.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining comprises obtaining the information relating to respective predicted data transfer times associated with the at least one connection from respective network applications associated with the at least one connection.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising setting the tail threshold based at least in part on information obtained from the respective network applications.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting the tail threshold based on at least one of an inactivity timer associated with a transition from a dedicated channel (DCH) state to a forward access channel (FACH) state or an inactivity timer associated with a transition from a FACH state to an idle state.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting the tail threshold based at least in part on tail threshold information received within one or more data transfers conducted over the at least one connection.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises triggering the transition to the idle communicative state at least in part by transmitting one or more fast dormancy messages to an associated network controller.

12. A system, comprising:

a connection interface component that facilitates retrieval of information relating to one or more connections utilized for communication within a communication system;

a connection analysis component that identifies respective predicted data arrival times indicated by the one or more connections via the connection interface component and estimates an inter-transfer time for the one or more connections as a function of the respective predicted data arrival times; and

a state management component that determines whether to initiate a transition to an idle state independently of timing requirements associated with the transition to the idle state at least in part by comparing the inter-transfer time for the one or more connections to a tail threshold.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the state management component initiates the transition to the idle state if the inter-transfer time for the one or more connections is substantially greater than the tail threshold.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the connection interface component facilitates retrieval of information relating to a plurality of connections; and

the connection analysis component estimates the inter-transfer time for the one or more connections at least in part by identifying a current timestamp, identifying an earliest predicted data arrival time indicated by the plurality of connections, and computing the inter-transfer time for the plurality of connections as a time interval measured from the current timestamp to the earliest predicted data arrival time.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the connection interface component facilitates retrieval of information relating to one or more system-aware connections that indicate predicted data arrival time and one or more system-unaware connections that do not indicate predicted data arrival time;

the connection analysis component determines an amount of elapsed time following a most recent data arrival over the one or more system-unaware connections; and

the state management component initiates the transition to the idle state if the inter-transfer time for the one or more connections is substantially greater than the tail threshold and the amount of elapsed time following the most recent data arrival over the one or more system-unaware connections is substantially greater than a predefined arrival window.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the connection interface component facilitates retrieval of information relating to one or more connections via respective applications utilizing the one or more connections.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the state management component sets the tail threshold based at least in part on information relating to the one or more connections provided by the respective applications and obtained via the connection interface component.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the state management component sets the tail threshold based at least in part on data obtained from at least one content provider via the one or more connections.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the state management component initiates the transition to the idle state at least in part by conducting a fast dormancy messaging procedure with an associated network management entity.

20. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium, comprising;

code for causing a computer to identify one or more network connections;

code for causing a computer to obtain respective predicted data transfer times associated with the one or more network connections;

code for causing a computer to calculate an inter-transfer time based on the respective predicted data transfer times;

code for causing a computer to conduct a comparison of the inter-transfer time and a predetermined tail threshold; and

code for causing a computer to determine whether to facilitate transition to an idle state via invocation of a fast dormancy mechanism based at least in part on the comparison.