METHOD AND APPARATUSES FOR DISCONTINUOUS RECEPTION CYCLE ESTIMATION BY DATA PACKET MONITORING

• US 20160286487A1
• Filed: 08/28/2013
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: KERNEN, Ari, SACHS, Joachim, ARKKO, Jari, ERIKSSON, Anders E., RNNEKE, Hans Bertil
• Granted Patent: US 9,998,991 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/001 Synchronization between nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/04 Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A receiver electronic communication device and a sender electronic communication device are connected over a cellular network and the Internet. The receiver device uses discontinuous reception (DRX) to receiver data packets from the sender device. At least a starting time of an active period of a DRX cycle implemented at the receiver device is estimated responsive to monitoring the data packets transmitted from the sender device to the receiver device.

Claims

1. A method for data transmission between a sender device and a receiver device, the method comprising:

monitoring data packets transmitted from the sender device to the receiver device; and

on the basis of said monitoring, estimating at least a starting time of an active period of a discontinuous reception cycle implemented at the receiver device.

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

on the basis of said monitoring, estimating a length of the active period.

3. The method according to claim 1,

wherein said monitoring and said estimating are performed at the receiver device and on the basis of data packets received by the receiver device, and

wherein the receiver device indicates at least the estimated starting time to the sender device.

4. The method according to claim 1,

wherein said monitoring and said estimating are performed at the sender device and on the basis of on the basis of packet arrival times reported by the receiver device.

5. The method according to claim 1,

wherein said monitoring and said estimating are performed at the sender device and on the basis of acknowledgements sent by the receiver device to the sender device to acknowledge receipt of data packets from the sender device.

6. The method according to claim 1,

wherein said monitoring comprises determining inter-arrival times of data packets at the receiver device and, on the basis of the inter-arrival times, detecting bursts of data packets.

7. The method according to claim 1,

wherein said monitoring comprises measuring a transit time of data packets between the sender device and the receiver device.

8. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

controlling the timing of sending the data packets from the sender device according to at least the estimated starting time of the active period.

9. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

controlling the timing of sending data packets from the receiver device to the sender device according to at least the estimated starting time of the active period.

10. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

controlling acquisition of data to be transmitted in the data packets according to at least the estimated starting time of the active period.

11. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the sleep period of the discontinuous reception cycle is longer than 1 s.

29. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing program code executable by at least one processor of a receiver device to cause the receiver device to operate in accordance with a method according to claim 1.

30. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing program code executable by at least one processor of a sender device to cause the sender device to operate in accordance with a method according to claim 1.

12. A receiver device, comprising:

an interface for at least receiving data packets from a sender device; and

at least one processor, the at least one processor being configured to;

monitor the data packets received from the sender device, and

on the basis of said monitoring, estimate at least a starting time of an active period of a discontinuous reception cycle implemented at the receiver device.

13. The receiver device according to claim 12, comprising:

wherein the at least one processor is configured to estimate, on the basis of said monitoring, a length of the active period.

14. The receiver device according to claim 12,

wherein the at least one processor is configured to indicate at least the estimated starting time to the sender device.

15. The receiver device according to claim 12,

wherein said monitoring comprises determining inter-arrival times of data packets at the receiver and, on the basis of the inter-arrival times, detecting bursts of data packets.

16. The receiver device according to claim 12,

wherein said monitoring comprises measuring a transit time of data packets between the sender device and the receiver device.

17. The receiver device according to claim 12,

wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the timing of sending data packets to the sender device according to at least the estimated starting time of the active period.

18. The receiver device according to claim 12,

wherein the sleep period of the discontinuous reception cycle is longer than 1 s.

19. (canceled)

20. A sender device, comprising:

an interface for at least sending data packets to a receiver device; and

at least one processor, the at least one processor being configured to;

monitor the data packets transmitted to the receiver device, and

on the basis of said monitoring, estimate at least a starting time of an active period of a discontinuous reception cycle implemented at the receiver device.

21. The sender device according to claim 20,

wherein the at least one processor is configured to estimate, on the basis of said monitoring, a length of the active period.

22. The sender device according to claim 20,

wherein said monitoring and said estimating are performed on the basis of packet arrival times reported by the receiver device.

23. The sender device according to claim 20,

wherein said monitoring and said estimating are performed on the basis of acknowledgements sent by the receiver device to the sender device to acknowledge receipt of data packets from the sender device.

24. The sender device according to claim 20,

wherein said monitoring comprises determining inter-arrival times of data packets at the receiver device and, on the basis of the inter-arrival times, detecting bursts of data packets.

25. The sender device according to claim 20,

wherein said monitoring comprises measuring a transit time of data packets between the sender device and the receiver device.

26. The sender device according to claim 20,

wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the timing of sending the data packets according to at least the estimated starting time of the active period.

27. The sender device according to claim 20,

wherein the sleep period of the discontinuous reception cycle is longer than 1 s.

28. (canceled)