Enhancing Quality of Service for High Priority Services

• US 20150358853A1
• Filed: 03/25/2015
• Published: 12/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Kiss, Krisztian
• Granted Patent: US 10,542,452 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• 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 72/543 based on requested quality, e.g. QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

Quality of service may be enhanced for high priority traffic. A UE may communicate within a packet switched system, e.g., an LTE network. The UE may use a first or default bearer for signaling messages of high priority services and a second bearer for messages of low priority services. For example, the first bearer may have a quality of service class identifier (QCI) value of 5 while the second bearer may have a QCI value other than 5, (e.g., 6-9). The first bearer may be used for signaling messages associated with voice over IP, video over IP, and/or SMS over IP, as desired. The second bearer may be used for messages (e.g., signaling messages) associated with other, lower priority services. For example, the second bearer may be used for presence messages or instant messages or other lower priority messages.

Claims

1. A method for operating a user equipment device (UE) communicating with a packet switched network, the method comprising:

at the UE;

establishing a first bearer having first quality of service (QoS) characteristics associated with a first priority;

establishing a second bearer having second QoS characteristics associated with a second priority lower than the first priority, wherein the first bearer and the second bearer are used for a same type of messages;

using the first bearer for communication for a first set of messages having the first priority; and

using the second bearer for communication for a second set of messages having the second priority.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the class of messages comprises IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) signaling.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first QoS characteristics are identified by a QoS class identifier (QCI) value of 5, wherein the second QoS characteristics are identified by a QCI value other than 5.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the QCI value of the second QoS characteristics comprise one of 6-9.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of messages are associated with a first set of services, wherein the second set of messages are associated with a second set of services, wherein the first set of services is higher priority than the second set of services.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of messages are associated with voice over IP or video over IP signaling services.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of messages are associated with a SMS over IP service.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of messages are associated with a SIP presence service, a SIP instant messaging service, or other SIP services based on the SIP event notification framework.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet switched network implements long term evolution (LTE).

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first bearer comprises a default bearer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of messages are associated with a service having third QoS characteristics associated with a third priority lower than the first priority and higher than the second priority.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the first bearer comprises a default bearer, wherein establishing the second bearer is performed in response to the second set of IMS messages.

12. A user equipment device (UE), the UE comprising:

a radio, comprising one or more antennas configured for wireless communication, wherein the radio is configured to communicate using at least a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the first RAT comprises a packet switched RAT; and

a processing element coupled to the radio;

wherein the radio and the processing element are configured to;

establish a first bearer having first quality of service (QoS) characteristics associated with a first priority;

establish a second bearer having second QoS characteristics associated with a second priority lower than the first priority, wherein the first bearer and the second bearer are both used for IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) messages;

using the first bearer for communication for a first set of IMS messages having the first priority; and

using the second bearer for communication for a second set of IMS messages having the second priority.

13. The UE of claim 12, wherein the first set of IMS messages and the second set of IMS messages are IMS signaling messages.

14. The UE of claim 12, wherein the first QoS characteristics are identified by a QoS class identifier (QCI) value of 5, wherein the second QoS characteristics are identified by a QCI value other than 5.

15. The UE of claim 12, wherein the first set of IMS messages are associated with a first set of services, wherein the second set of IMS messages are associated with a second set of services, wherein the first set of services is higher priority than the second set of services.

16. The UE of claim 12, wherein the first set of IMS messages are associated with voice over IP or video over IP signaling services.

17. The UE of claim 12, wherein the first set of IMS messages are associated with a SMS over IP service.

18. The UE of claim 12, wherein the second set of IMS messages are associated with a SIP presence service, a SIP instant messaging service, or other SIP services based on the SIP event notification framework.

20. A non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor of a user equipment device (UE) to:

establish a default bearer for IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) messages;

use the default bearer for IMS messages having a first priority;

in response to IMS messages of a second priority, lower than the first priority, establish a second bearer for IMS messages;

use the second bearer for the IMS messages of the second priority.