Evaluation of Throughput of Aggregated Connections

• US 20160029233A1
• Filed: 03/08/2013
• Published: 01/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: TOMALA, Malgorzata, KOLLAR, Martin, YAO, Yi Zhi
• Granted Patent: US 9,967,763 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0098 Signalling of the activation or deactivation of component carriers, subcarriers or frequency bands
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

There are provided measures for evaluation of throughput of carrier aggregated user equipments. Such measures exemplarily include determining, per communication endpoint implementing carrier aggregation aggregating one primary connection and at least one secondary connection, a transmission volume with at least one activated secondary connection, determining, per communication endpoint implementing carrier aggregation aggregating one primary connection and at least one secondary connection, a time with transmission data in a transmission buffer and at least one activated secondary connection, and obtaining, per communication endpoint, a transmission throughput with at least one activated secondary connection, based on said transmission volume and said time.

Claims

1. A method, comprising

determining, per communication endpoint implementing carrier aggregation aggregating one primary connection and at least one secondary connection, a transmission volume with both the primary connection and at least one activated secondary connection,

determining, per communication endpoint implementing carrier aggregation aggregating one primary connection and at least one secondary connection, a time with transmission data in a transmission buffer and additional to the primary connection at least one activated secondary connection, and

obtaining, per communication endpoint, a transmission throughput with the primary connection and at least one activated secondary connection, based on said transmission volume and said time.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein

said transmission volume is determined per radio access bearer both for the primary connection and per each number of activated secondary connections within a range from one to a predefined maximum number,

said time is determined per radio access bearer both for the primary connection and per said each number, and

said transmission throughput is obtained per radio access bearer both for the primary connection and per said each number.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein,

in relation to said obtaining, the method further comprises

dividing, per communication endpoint and per radio access bearer, said transmission volume by said time, both for the primary connection and per each number of activated secondary connections within a range from one to a predefined maximum number,

increasing respective volume counters based on a size of successfully transmitted medium access control serving data unit frames.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein,

in relation to said determining said transmission volume, said method further comprises

increasing respective volume counters based on a size of successfully transmitted packet data configuration protocol serving data unit frames, delivering an inter-layer message indicating, per communication endpoint, activation or deactivation of a secondary connection, and

deducing, per communication endpoint and per radio access bearer, an actual number of activated secondary connections based on said inter-layer message.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein,

in relation to said determining said transmission volume, said method further comprises

modifying successfully transmitted medium access control service data unit frames by removing at least one of packet data configuration protocol headers, radio link control headers, medium access control headers, and hybrid automatic repeat request retransmissions, and

increasing respective volume counters based on a size of said modified frames, delivering an inter-layer message including at least information regarding current sizes of packet data configuration protocol headers and/or radio link control headers necessary for modification of medium access control service data unit frames.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

accumulating, for a predetermined evaluation period, each of said transmission volumes per communication endpoint and per radio access bearer both for the primary connection and per each number of activated secondary connections within a range from one to a predefined maximum number,

accumulating, for a predetermined evaluation period, each of said times per communication endpoint, and

calculating, from said accumulated transmission volumes and said accumulated times, average and/or peak transmission throughput per communication endpoint and per radio access bearer.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the method is operable at or by a base station or access node of a cellular system, and/or

the method is operable in at least one of a LTE and a LTE-A cellular system, and/or

said predefined maximum number is four, and/or

a connection is a cell or established via a cell.

33. A computer program product comprising computer-executable computer program code which, when the program is run on a computer, is configured to cause the computer to carry out the method according to claim 1, and a computer-readable medium on which the computer-executable computer program code is stored, and/or wherein the program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the processor.

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17. An apparatus, comprising

determining means configured to determine, per communication endpoint implementing carrier aggregation aggregating one primary connection and at least one secondary connection, a transmission volume with at least one activated secondary connection, and to

determine, per communication endpoint implementing carrier aggregation aggregating one primary connection and at least one secondary connection, a time with transmission data in a transmission buffer and at least one activated secondary connection, and

obtaining means configured to obtain, per communication endpoint, a transmission throughput with a primary connection and at least one activated secondary connection, based on said transmission volume and said time.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein

said transmission volume is determined per radio access bearer both for the primary connection and per each number of activated secondary connections within a range from one to a predefined maximum number,

said time is determined per radio access bearer both for the primary connection and per said each number, and

said transmission throughput is obtained per radio access bearer both for the primary connection and per said each number.

20. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising

dividing means configured to divide, per communication endpoint, endpoint and per radio access bearer, said transmission volume by said time both for the primary connection and per each number of activated secondary connections within a range from one to a predefined maximum number,

increasing means configured to increase respective volume counters based on a size of successfully transmitted medium access control serving data unit frames.

23. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising

increasing means configured to increase respective volume counters based on a size of successfully transmitted packet data configuration protocol serving data unit frames.

24. The apparatus according to claim 23, further comprising

delivering means configured to deliver an inter-layer message indicating, per communication endpoint, activation or deactivation of a secondary connection, and

deducing means configured to deduce, per communication endpoint, an actual number of activated secondary connections based on said inter-layer message.

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein

said actual number is deduced per radio access bearer.

26. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising

modifying means configured to modify successfully transmitted medium access control service data unit frames by removing at least one of packet data configuration protocol headers, radio link control headers, medium access control headers, and hybrid automatic repeat request re-transmissions, and

increasing means configured to increase respective volume counters based on a size of said modified frames.

27. The apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising

delivering means configured to deliver an inter-layer message including at least information regarding current sizes of packet data configuration protocol headers and/or radio link control headers necessary for modification of medium access control service data unit frames.

28. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising

increasing means configured to increase respective volume counters based on a size of successfully transmitted medium access control serving data unit frames.

29. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising

accumulating means configured to accumulate, for a predetermined evaluation period, each of said transmission volumes per communication endpoint, endpoint and per radio access bearer both for the primary connection and per each number of activated secondary connections within a range from one to a predefined maximum number, and to

accumulate, for a predetermined evaluation period, each of said times per communication endpoint and per radio access bearer both for the primary connection and per said each number, and

calculating means configured to calculate, from said accumulated transmission volumes and said accumulated times, average and/or peak transmission throughput per communication endpoint and per radio access bearer.

32. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein

the apparatus is operable as or at a base station or access node of a cellular system, and/or

the apparatus is operable in at least one of a LTE and a LTE-A cellular system, and/or

said predefined maximum number is four, and/or

a connection is a cell or established via a cell.

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