Balloon Clumping to Provide Bandwidth Requested in Advance

• US 20130303218A1
• Filed: 05/14/2012
• Published: 11/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Loon, LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Teller, Eric, Patrick, William Graham
• Granted Patent: US 9,826,407 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/507
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/829 Topology based
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/04 Traffic adaptive resource partitioning

Abstract

Methods and systems disclosed herein relate to determining a projected change in bandwidth demand in a specified area during a specified future time period, repositioning one or more balloons in a high-altitude balloon network based on the projected change in bandwidth demand, and providing, using the one or more balloons, at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining a projected change in bandwidth demand in a specified area during a specified future time period;

repositioning one or more balloons in a high-altitude balloon network based on the projected change in bandwidth demand; and

providing, using the one or more balloons in the high-altitude balloon network, at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises receiving an advance bandwidth request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises determining the projected change in bandwidth demand based on at least one of:

a natural disaster, an event, and a historical record of bandwidth demand.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises inferring a bandwidth demand based on available information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises at least one specified target user, wherein providing the at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period further comprises providing the at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period to the at least one specified target user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises a specified priority level, wherein providing the at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period further comprises providing the at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period based on the specified priority level.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein repositioning the one or more balloons in the high-altitude balloon network comprises controlling a target balloon network density in the high altitude balloon network substantially over the specified area based on the projected change in bandwidth demand and the specified future time period.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein repositioning the one or more balloons in the high-altitude balloon network comprises causing a plurality of balloons in the high-altitude balloon network to clump together substantially over the specified area based on the projected change in bandwidth demand and the specified future time period.

9. A system, comprising:

at least one balloon, wherein the at least one balloon is in a high-altitude balloon network;

a controller, wherein the controller is configured to;

i) determine a projected change in bandwidth demand in a specified area during a specified future time period; and

ii) control a respective position of the at least one balloon based on the projected change in bandwidth demand;

wherein the at least one balloon is configured to provide at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the controller is further configured to receive an advance bandwidth request and determine the projected change in bandwidth demand based on the advance bandwidth request.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to determine the projected change in bandwidth demand based on at least one of:

a natural disaster, an event, and a historical record of bandwidth demand.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured determine the projected change in bandwidth demand based on an inferred bandwidth demand, wherein the inferred bandwidth demand is based on available information.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises at least one specified target user, wherein the at least one balloon is further configured to provide the at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period to the at least one specified target user.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises a specified priority level, wherein the at least one balloon is further configured to provide the at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period based on the specified priority level.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the controller is further configured to control a target balloon network density in the high altitude balloon network substantially over the specified area based on the bandwidth demanded and the specified future time period.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by a computer system to cause the computer system to perform functions, the functions comprising:

determining a projected change in bandwidth demand in a specified area during a specified future time period;

causing a controller to reposition one or more balloons in a high-altitude balloon network based on the projected change in bandwidth demand; and

causing the one or more balloons in the high-altitude balloon network to provide at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein determining the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises receiving an advance bandwidth request.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein determining the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises determining the projected change in bandwidth demand based on at least one of:

a natural disaster, an event, and a historical record of bandwidth demand.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein determining the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises inferring a bandwidth demand based on available information.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises at least one specified target user, wherein causing the one or more balloons in the high-altitude balloon network to provide the at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period further comprises causing the one or more balloons in the high-altitude balloon network to provide the at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period to the at least one specified target user.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises a specified priority level, wherein causing the one or more balloons in the high-altitude balloon network to provide the at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period further comprises causing the one or more balloons in the high-altitude balloon network to provide the at least a portion of the bandwidth demanded in the specified area during the specified future time period based on the specified priority level.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein causing a controller to reposition one or more balloons in a high-altitude balloon network based on the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises controlling a target balloon network density in the high altitude balloon network substantially over the specified area based on the bandwidth demanded and the specified future time period.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein causing a controller to reposition one or more balloons in a high-altitude balloon network based on the projected change in bandwidth demand comprises causing a plurality of balloons to clump together substantially over the specified area based on the bandwidth demanded and the specified future time period.