METHOD AND DEVICE FOR REQUESTING A QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

• US 20160105821A1
• Filed: 10/08/2015
• Published: 04/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Ngoc Dung Dao
• Inventors: Senarath, Nimal Gamini, Dao, Ngoc-Dung
• Granted Patent: US 10,321,361 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/543 based on requested quality, e.g. QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/00 Connection management

Abstract

Systems, devices and methods are provided for incorporating a quality of experience (QoE) assessment into requests or negotiations for a particular quality of service (QoS) for an application in a communications network. A network may provide service in accordance with a particular set of QoS parameters in order to meet a user'"'"'s requested QoE. A user may select a particular QoE for an application depending on costs associated with the corresponding sets of QoS parameters available from the network. Functionality to determine the correlation between a user'"'"'s QoE and sets of QoS parameters may be implemented primarily in a user'"'"'s electronic communications device, primarily in a network device, or in both of these devices. A separate device may be used for determining the QoE and corresponding sets of QoS parameters for various services or applications.

Claims

1. A method of establishing a connection in a communications network for provision of a service to a device associated with a user, the method comprising:

determining a set of quality of service (QoS) parameters in accordance with a requested quality of experience (QoE) level and a QoE to QoS map associated with a user; and

transmitting a request to establish a connection for provision of a service in accordance with the determined set of QoS parameters.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the QoE to QoS map is associated with both the user and the device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the service supports an application and wherein the QoE to QoS map is further associated with the application.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the requested QoE level is determined based on quality settings associated with the application.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

receiving from the communications network cost indications associated with multiple sets of QoS parameters available in the network;

determining one or more available QoE levels in accordance with the available sets of QoS parameters and the QoE to QoS map; and

determining the requested QoE level based on the available QoE levels and the cost indications associated with multiple sets of QoS parameters and cost settings and quality settings associated with the application.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

after provision of the service in accordance with the determined set of QoS parameters, receiving data indicative of the user'"'"'s perceived QoE for the application; and

updating the QoE to QoS map for the application based on the received data.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises, prior to determining the QoS level, receiving the requested QoE level from the user.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein receiving the requested QoE level comprises:

receiving from the communications network cost indications associated with multiple sets of QoS parameters available in the network;

determining one or more available QoE levels in accordance with the multiple sets of QoS parameters and the QoE to QoS map; and

presenting the one or more available QoE levels and associated cost indications to the user prior to receiving the requested QoE level.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a trigger to change the requested QoE level to a new QoE level;

determining a new set of QoS parameters in accordance with the new QoE level and the QoE to QoS map; and

transmitting a request to modify the connection for provision of the service in accordance with the new set of QoS parameters.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving service from the communications network in accordance with a different set of QoS parameters selected by the communications network, wherein the determined set of QoS parameters and the different set of QoS parameters are mapped to the same QoE level.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the set of QoS parameters in accordance with the requested QoE level and the QoE to QoS map comprises determining a set of QoS parameters having a minimum cost indication.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a context indicator indicative of an environment of the device, and wherein determining the set of QoS parameters comprises determining the set of QoS parameters in accordance with the requested QoE level, the QoE to QoS map and the received context indicator.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the set of QoS parameters in accordance with a second QoE level and a second QoE to QoS map associated with a second user, the second user being associated with a second device which receives data from the device.

14. A method of mapping a quality of experience (QoE) level and a set of quality of service (QoS) parameters, the method comprising:

providing a service for a communications device in accordance with a first set of QoS parameters;

receiving a quality of experience (QoE) assessment from a user based on the user'"'"'s perceived performance of the service;

creating a QoE to QoS map based on the first set of QoS parameters and the received QoE assessment.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising storing the QoE to QoS map in a location accessible to at least one of a device associated with the user, and a network node.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the service supports an application and wherein the QoE to QoS map is further associated with the application.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising receiving a QoE assessment from the user for each of one or more different categories of content supported by the application, and creating the QoE to QoS map based on the first set of QoS parameters, the received QoE assessments, and the corresponding one or more different categories of content.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the first set of QoS parameters is based on a default set of QoS parameters associated with the application, and wherein creating the QoE to QoS map comprises modifying a default QoE to QoS map associated with the application based on the first set of QoS parameters and the received QoE assessment.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the default QoE to QoS map associated with the application is generated by

testing the application with a plurality of users on a plurality of devices for a plurality of sets of QoS parameters,

determining a common QoE level associated with each set of QoS parameters based on QoE assessments received from the plurality of users, and

storing the common QoE level and associated sets of QoS parameters as the default QoE to QoS map.

20. The method of claim 14 further comprising varying values of the first set of QoS parameters to obtain a second set of QoS parameters, providing the service in accordance with the second set of QoS parameters, and updating the QoE to QoS map based on the received QoE assessment and the second set of QoS parameters.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising providing the service in accordance with multiple sets of QoS parameters in an offline test mode of the device, receiving a QoE assessment from the user for each set of QoS parameters, and creating the QoE to QoS map based on the multiple sets of QoS parameters and corresponding received QoE assessments.

22. The method of claim 14 further comprising receiving a QoE assessment from a user for each of a plurality of contexts in which the service is provided, and creating the QoE to QoS map based on the first set of QoS parameters, the received QoE assessment, and each of the plurality of contexts.

23. A communications device comprising:

a communications interface;

a processor; and

a memory including one or more non-transitory computer readable media having computer readable instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processor direct the communications device to;

determine a set of quality of service (QoS) parameters in accordance with a requested quality of experience (QoE) level and a QoE to QoS map associated with a user; and

transmit a request to establish a connection for provision of a service in accordance with the determined set of QoS parameters.

24. The communications device of claim 23 further comprising a user interface, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor further direct the communications device to

receive from a communications network cost indications associated with multiple sets of QoS parameters available in the network;

determine one or more available QoE levels in accordance with the multiple sets of QoS parameters and the QoE to QoS map;

present the available QoE levels and associated cost indications through the user interface.

25. The communications device of claim 23 further comprising a user interface, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor further direct the communications device to

provide the service for the device in accordance with a first set of QoS parameters;

receive a QoE assessment from a user through the user interface, the new QoE assessment being based on the user'"'"'s perceived performance of the service;

update the QoE to QoS map based on the first set of QoS parameters and the QoE assessment.