NETWORK CONGESTION PREVENTION AND/OR MITIGATION

• US 20140162582A1
• Filed: 12/07/2012
• Published: 06/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2012
• 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: Daly, Brian Kevin, Musgrove, Charles Peter, Sennett, DeWayne A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,143,978 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0284 detecting congestion or overload during communication monitoring arrangements H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0289 Congestion control load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

Cell site congestion may result in dropped calls, time-outs on data sessions, web access problems, or the like. A network congestion status may be used to minimize network congestion. In an example embodiment, messages which are distributed via a network may be formatted based on the network'"'"'s congestions status and a device'"'"'s connection mechanism. Further, a network access may be based on the network'"'"'s congestion status and on a device'"'"'s connection mechanism.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a message, via a network, the message comprising an access request and a connection mechanism indicator;

determining a congestion status of the network;

determining a network connection mechanism based on the connection mechanism indicator; and

responding to the message based on the congestion status and the determined network connection mechanism.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining whether the congestion status is greater than a predetermined threshold; and

if the congestion status is greater than the predetermined threshold, responding to the message comprises;

waiting a predetermined time; and

granting the access request after the predetermined time elapses.

3. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining whether the congestion status is greater than a predetermined threshold; and

if the congestion status is greater than the predetermined threshold, responding to the message comprises granting a limited access to the network, wherein the limited access uses less resources of the network than the access request.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the access request comprises a request to access a video, and the limited access comprises access to audio associated with the video.

5. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining whether the congestion status is greater than a predetermined threshold; and

if the congestion status is greater than the predetermined threshold, responding to the message comprises providing at least one of an error message, a busy message, or a network status message to a user, wherein the user initiated the message comprising the access request.

6. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining whether the congestion status is greater than a predetermined threshold; and

if the congestion status is not greater than the predetermined threshold, responding to the message comprises granting the access request.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the access request originates from a mobile device via a wireless network.

8. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining whether the congestion status is greater than a predetermined threshold;

determining whether the network connection mechanism supports the access request; and

if the congestion status is greater than the predetermined threshold and the network connection mechanism supports the access request, responding to the message comprises granting the access request.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the network connection mechanism comprises an indirect network connection comprising at least one of a Wi-Fi connection or a femtocell connection.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the network connection mechanism is greater than a predetermined threshold;

determining whether the network connection mechanism supports the access request; and

if the congestion status is greater than the predetermined threshold and the network connection mechanism does not support the access request, responding to the message with at least one of an error message or a limited access.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the network connection mechanism is based on a user profile associated with a user of a device that initiated the message.

12. A method comprising:

receiving an indication of an emergency via a network;

in response to the indication, generating an emergency alert message;

determining a congestion status of the network;

formatting the emergency alert message based at least on the congestion status; and

distributing the formatted emergency alert message.

13. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising:

comparing the congestion status of the network to a predetermined threshold;

if the congestion status does not exceed the predetermined threshold, formatting the emergency alert message in accordance with a first format;

if the congestion status exceeds the predetermined threshold, formatting the emergency alert message in accordance with a second format that uses less resources of the network than the first format.

14. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising:

determining a connection mechanism of a device that is an intended recipient of the formatted emergency alert message;

determining whether the connection mechanism supports a message formatted according to a first format that uses more network resources than a message formatted according to a second format;

if the connection mechanism supports the first format, formatting the emergency alert message in accordance with the first format.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the connection mechanism comprises at least one of a femtocell connection or a Wi-Fi connection.

16. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising:

comparing the congestion status of the network to a predetermined threshold;

determining a connection mechanism of a device that is an intended recipient of the formatted emergency alert message;

determining whether the connection mechanism supports a message formatted according to a first format that uses more network resources than a message formatted according to a second format;

if the congestion status of the network exceeds the predetermined threshold and the

the connection mechanism does not supports a message formatted according to a first format, formatting the emergency alert message according to the second format.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the connection mechanism comprise at least one of a 3G connection or a 4G connection.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the formatted emergency alert message is distributed by an emergency call center.

19. A device comprising:

a memory comprising executable instructions; and

a processor in communciation with the memory, the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

generating a message;

determining a connection mechanism in which the device connects to a network, the connection mechanism associated with a data rate;

formatting the message based on the determined connection mechanism; and

providing the formatted message.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising:

if the connection mechanism comprises an indirect connection, providing the formatted message according to a first format; and

if the connection mechanism comprises a direct connection, providing the formatted messages according to a second format that uses less bandwidth than the first format.