HIERARCHICAL TRAFFIC DIFFERENTIATION TO HANDLE CONGESTION AND/OR MANAGE USER QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE

• US 20150009826A1
• Filed: 02/16/2013
• Published: 01/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VID SCALE Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ma, Liangping, Kaur, Samian, Reznik, Yuriy, Zeira, Ariela, Soni, Naresh, Karampatsis, Dimitrios, Rapaport, Avi, Gregory, Sternberg, Liu, Weimin
• Granted Patent: US 9,807,644 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0263 involving mapping traffic to individual bearers or channels, e.g. traffic flow template [TFT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0268 using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24
• 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 72/569 of the traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses and systems for performing hierarchical traffic differentiation and/or employing hierarchical traffic differentiation are provided. These methods, apparatuses and systems may be implemented to, for example, handle congestion and/or to manage user quality of experience (QoE). Performing the hierarchical traffic differentiation may include differentiating or otherwise classifying (collectively “differentiating”) traffic mapped to, or within, a bearer formed in accordance with a QoS class into multiple traffic sub-classes. Employing the hierarchical traffic differentiation may include scheduling and/or policing (e.g., filtering) the differentiated traffic for transmission based on a prioritization of, and/or policy for managing, the multiple traffic sub-classes.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining traffic mapped to a bearer formed in accordance with a quality of service (QoS) class;

differentiating the traffic within the bearer into multiple traffic sub-classes; and

scheduling the differentiated traffic for transmission based on a prioritization of the multiple traffic sub-classes.

6. The method of any of the claims 1-5, wherein differentiating the traffic comprises:

obtaining an indication of which traffic sub-class of the multiple traffic sub-classes to assign a packet of the traffic to.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the packet comprises the indication.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the packet comprises a header, and wherein the header comprises the indicator.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the header is in accordance with a general packet radio system (GPRS) tunneling protocol (GTP).

10. The method of claim 6, wherein obtaining an indication comprises:

receiving the indication via signaling.

11. The method of any of the claims 6-10, wherein the indication is indicative of a priority of the traffic class to assign the packet to.

12. The method of any of the claims 6-11, wherein the packet comprises a QoS class indicator (QCI) corresponding to the QoS class.

13. The method of any of the claims 6-12, wherein the indicator is a sub-QCI.

14. The method of any of the claims 1 and 6-13, wherein scheduling the differentiated traffic comprises:

adjusting a scheduled time of transmission of a packet the differentiated traffic based on the prioritization of the multiple traffic sub-classes.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein adjusting a scheduled time of transmission of a packet the differentiated traffic comprises:

delaying the scheduled time of transmission of the packet.

16. The method of any of the claims 1 and 6-13, wherein scheduling the differentiated traffic comprises:

scheduling the differentiated traffic for transmission based on a prioritization of the multiple traffic sub-classes in view of congestion.

17. The method of any of the claims 1 and 6-13, wherein scheduling the differentiated traffic comprises:

scheduling the differentiated traffic for transmission based on a prioritization of the multiple traffic sub-classes in view of a lack of resources.

18. The method of any of the claims 1 and 6-17, further comprising:

filtering the differentiated traffic based on the prioritization of the multiple traffic sub-classes.

19. The method of any of the claims 2 and 18, wherein filtering the differentiated traffic comprises:

filtering the differentiated traffic based on a prioritization of the multiple traffic sub-classes in view of congestion.

20. The method of any of the claims 2 and 18-19, wherein filtering the differentiated traffic comprises:

filtering the differentiated traffic based on a prioritization of the multiple traffic sub-classes in view of lack of resources.

21. The method of any of the claims 2 and 18-20, wherein filtering the differentiated traffic comprises:

filtering a packet from the differentiated traffic based on the packet being assigned to a traffic sub-class of the multiple traffic sub-classes having a priority less than a priority of at least one other traffic sub-class of the multiple traffic classes.

22. The method of any of the claims 2 and 18-20, wherein filtering the differentiated traffic comprises:

filtering a packet from the differentiated traffic based on the packet being assigned to a traffic sub-class of the multiple traffic sub-classes having a priority less than a priority of each of the multiple traffic classes.

23. The method of any of the claims 2 and 18-20, wherein filtering the differentiated traffic comprises:

filtering a packet from the differentiated traffic based on the packet being assigned to a traffic sub-class of the multiple traffic sub-classes having a priority in the order of precedence of the prioritization that is below a priority at which packets of the differentiated traffic are not filtered from the differentiated traffic.

24. The method of any of the claims 2 and 19-23, further comprising:

scheduling the filtered traffic.

25. The method of any of the claims 2 and 19-23, further comprising:

scheduling the filtered traffic for transmission based on the prioritization of the multiple traffic sub-classes.

26. The method of any of the claims 3 and 6-13, wherein scheduling the differentiated traffic comprises:

adjusting a scheduled time of transmission of a packet the differentiated traffic based on the policy for managing the multiple traffic sub-classes.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein adjusting a scheduled time of transmission of a packet the differentiated traffic comprises:

delaying the scheduled time of transmission of the packet.

28. The method of any of the claims 3 and 6-13, wherein scheduling the differentiated traffic comprises:

scheduling the differentiated traffic for transmission based on a policy for managing the multiple traffic sub-classes in view of congestion.

29. The method of any of the claims 3 and 6-13, wherein scheduling the differentiated traffic comprises:

scheduling the differentiated traffic for transmission based on a policy for managing the multiple traffic sub-classes in view of a lack of resources.

30. The method of any of the claims 3, 6-13 and 26-29, further comprising:

filtering the differentiated traffic based on the policy for managing the multiple traffic sub-classes.

31. The method of any of the claims 4 and 30, wherein filtering the differentiated traffic comprises:

filtering the differentiated traffic based on a policy for managing the multiple traffic sub-classes in view of congestion.

32. The method of any of the claims 4 and 30-31, wherein filtering the differentiated traffic comprises:

filtering the differentiated traffic based on a policy for managing the multiple traffic sub-classes in view of lack of resources.

33. The method of any of the claims 4 and 31-32, further comprising:

scheduling the filtered traffic.

34. The method of any of the claims 4 and 31-32, further comprising:

scheduling the filtered traffic for transmission based on the prioritization of the multiple traffic sub-classes.

35. The method of any of the claims 16, 19, 28 and 31, further comprising:

detecting the congestion.

36. The method of any of the claims 16, 19, 28, 31 and 35, wherein the congestion comprises user plane congestion in a radio access network (RAN).

37. The method of any of the claims 17, 20, 29 and 32, further comprising:

detecting the lack of resources.

38. The method of any of the claims 5-13, wherein the policy for handling the differentiated traffic comprises conditions derived from user subscription information.

39. The method of any of the claims 5-13 and 38, wherein the policy for handling the differentiated traffic comprises conditions derived from one or more operator policies.

2. A method comprising:

obtaining traffic mapped to a bearer formed in accordance with a quality of service (QoS) class;

differentiating the traffic within the bearer into multiple traffic sub-classes; and

filtering the differentiated traffic based on a prioritization of the multiple traffic sub-classes.

3. A method comprising:

obtaining traffic mapped to a bearer formed in accordance with a quality of service (QoS) class;

differentiating the traffic within the bearer into multiple traffic sub-classes; and

scheduling the differentiated traffic for transmission based on a policy for managing the multiple traffic sub-classes.

4. A method comprising:

obtaining traffic mapped to a bearer formed in accordance with a quality of service (QoS) class;

differentiating the traffic within the bearer into multiple traffic sub-classes; and

filtering the differentiated traffic based on a policy for managing the multiple traffic sub-classes.

5. A method comprising:

obtaining traffic mapped to a bearer formed in accordance with a quality of service (QoS) class;

differentiating the traffic within the bearer into multiple traffic sub-classes;

referring to a policy for handing the differentiated traffic; and

managing the differentiated traffic based on the policy.

40. An apparatus comprising:

a processor, wherein;

the processor is configured to obtain traffic mapped to a bearer formed in accordance with a quality of service (QoS) class;

the processor is configured to differentiate the traffic within the bearer into multiple traffic sub-classes; and

the processor is configured to schedule the differentiated traffic for transmission based on a prioritization of the multiple traffic sub-classes.

45. The apparatus of any of the claims 40-44, wherein the apparatus is any of (i) a wireless transmit and/or receive unit (WTRU), (ii) a base station, and (iii) a node of a core network, including a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW).

41. A apparatus comprising:

a processor, wherein;

the processor is configured to obtain traffic mapped to a bearer formed in accordance with a quality of service (QoS) class;

the processor is configured to differentiate the traffic within the bearer into multiple traffic sub-classes; and

the processor is configured to filter the differentiated traffic based on a prioritization of the multiple traffic sub-classes.

42. An apparatus comprising:

a processor, wherein;

the processor is configured to obtain traffic mapped to a bearer formed in accordance with a quality of service (QoS) class;

the processor is configured to differentiate the traffic within the bearer into multiple traffic sub-classes; and

the processor is configured to schedule the differentiated traffic for transmission based on a policy for managing the multiple traffic sub-classes.

43. An apparatus comprising:

a processor, wherein;

the processor is configured to obtain traffic mapped to a bearer formed in accordance with a quality of service (QoS) class;

the processor is configured to differentiate the traffic within the bearer into multiple traffic sub-classes; and

the processor is configured to filter the differentiated traffic based on a policy for managing the multiple traffic sub-classes.

44. An apparatus comprising:

a processor, wherein;

the processor is configured to obtain traffic mapped to a hearer formed in accordance with a quality of service (QoS) class;

the processor is configured to differentiate the traffic within the bearer into multiple traffic sub-classes;

the processor is configured to refer to a policy for handing the differentiated traffic; and

the processor is configured to manage the differentiated traffic based on the policy.