AUTONOMOUS NETWORK ACCESS CONGESTION AND COLLISION CONTROL

• US 20120163265A1
• Filed: 12/28/2010
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.), Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: KOTECHA, Lalit R., Rados, Steven R., Chang, Patricia Ruey-Jane, Rawat, Vikram K., Chan, Yee Sin
• Granted Patent: US 8,774,211 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A mobile terminal receives a class identifier and receives a broadcast message with a backoff period definition for multiple classes of mobile terminals. The mobile terminal applies the class identifier to the backoff period definition to determine a backoff interval for the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal sends, to a base station, a radio resource control (RRC) connection request using the calculated backoff interval. Different backoff intervals are assigned to different classes of mobile terminals to control network access congestion at the base station.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

receiving, by the mobile terminal, a class identifier for the mobile terminal;

receiving, by the mobile terminal, a broadcast message including a backoff period definition for multiple classes of mobile terminals;

applying, by the mobile terminal, the class identifier to the backoff period definition to determine a backoff interval for the mobile terminal; and

sending, by the mobile terminal and to a base station, a radio resource control (RRC) connection request using the calculated backoff interval.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting, from the broadcast message and based on the class identifier, a particular backoff definition for the mobile terminal.

3. The method of claim 1, where the class identifier includes one or more values in an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the mobile terminal.

4. The method of claim 1, where the class identifier is based on a type or function of the mobile terminal.

5. The method of claim 4, where the type or function of the mobile terminal is one of:

a machine-to-machine (M2M) terminal,

a game console,

an alarm device, or

a mobile handset.

6. The method of claim 1, where the backoff period definition is received via an overhead channel message of a wireless access network.

7. The method of claim 1, where the backoff period definition includes a generic equation that includes a class-dependent variable that is applied by the mobile terminal.

8. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions; and

a processor to execute instructions in the memory to;

identify a class assigned to the mobile terminal;

receive, from a base station of a wireless access network, a backoff period definition for the class;

calculate a backoff interval for the mobile terminal, based on the backoff period definition; and

send, to the base station, a radio resource control (RRC) connection request for the wireless access network using the calculated backoff interval.

9. The device of claim 8, where, when calculating the backoff interval for the mobile terminal, the processor is further to execute instructions in the memory to:

apply, to a variable of the backoff period definition, a value based on the class assigned to the mobile terminal.

10. The device of claim 8, where, when identifying the class assigned to the mobile terminal, the processor is further to execute instructions in the memory to:

receive, from the base station, a class randomizer definition that defines different classes for different segments of an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number, and

determine a random class for the mobile terminal based on the class randomizer definition.

11. The device of claim 9, where, when identifying the class assigned to the mobile terminal, the processor is further to execute instructions in the memory to:

retrieve, from an initialization setting, a class identifier, or

retrieve, from a pre-installed memory location, the class identifier.

12. The device of claim 8, where the device comprises a mobile terminal provided in a Long Term Evolution (LTE)-based network.

13. The device of claim 8, where the backoff period definition includes definitions for multiple classes of mobile terminals, and when receiving the backoff period definition for the class, the processor is further to execute instructions in the memory to:

select, from the definitions and based on the class identifier, a particular backoff definition for the mobile terminal.

14. The device of claim 8, where the backoff period definition is received via an overhead channel message of the wireless access network.

15. A method implemented by a base station in a wireless access network, the method comprising:

receiving, by the base station, one or more backoff period definitions for classes of mobile terminals associated with the wireless access network;

storing, in a memory associated with the base station, the one or more backoff period definitions;

selecting, by the base station, one of the one or more backoff period definitions to control a sequence of radio resource control (RCC) connection requests;

sending, by the base station and to mobile terminals within a signal range of the base station, the one of the one or more backoff period definitions; and

receiving, by the base station and from the mobile terminals, RCC connection requests sequenced by the classes based on the one of the one or more backoff period definitions.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

changing one of the one or more backoff period definitions, where the changing is based on;

instructions from a network operations center (NOC) associated with the base station, or

determining whether a threshold number of mobile terminals are connected to the base station.

17. The media of claim 15, where the classes of mobile terminals include one or more of:

classes based on a type of a mobile terminal,

classes based on a function of the mobile terminal, or

classes based on an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the mobile terminal.

18. The method of claim 15, where sending the one of the one or more backoff period definitions includes:

broadcasting the one of the one or more backoff period definitions via an overhead channel message of the wireless access network.

19. A device, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions; and

a processor to execute instructions in the memory to;

store, in a memory, a backoff period definition to control a sequence of radio resource control (RCC) connection requests from mobile terminals in a wireless access network;

broadcast, via an overhead channel associated with the wireless access network, the backoff period definition, where the backoff period definition assigns different backoff periods to different classes of mobile terminals; and

receive, from the mobile terminals, RCC connection requests sequenced by the different classes based on the backoff period definition.

20. The device of claim 19, where the device comprises a base station for the wireless access network.

21. The device of claim 19, where the backoff period definition includes a variable that is supplied by each of the mobile terminals based on a particular class of the different classes assigned to each of the mobile terminals.

22. The device of claim 19, where the different classes include one of:

randomly-defined classes,

classes based on a type of mobile terminal, or

classes based on a function of the mobile terminal.

23. The device of claim 19, where the backoff period definition includes one of:

a randomized backoff definition,

a generic backup definition, or

a class-specific backoff definition.