DYNAMIC TRAFFIC SHAPING FOR COMMUNICATION NETWORKS IN MOVING VEHICLES, SUCH AS TRAINS

• US 20170164379A1
• Filed: 11/28/2016
• Published: 06/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Icomera AB (ENGIE SA)
• Original Assignee: Icomera AB (ENGIE SA)
• Inventors: KARLSSON, Mats, EKLUND, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 11,272,519 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/021 in wireless networks with changing topologies, e.g. ad-hoc networks self-organizing networks H04W84/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/56 based on priority criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks

Abstract

A method and system for wireless communication between a moving vehicle, such as a train, and a remote server through at least one external mobile network are disclosed. The communication system includes at least one router in the train for receiving and transmitting wireless data communication to and from a stationary communication server outside the train through at least one exterior mobile network via at least one antenna. The router includes a control unit configured to allocate bandwidth according to a predefined packet policy to streams of data packets which are matched to the predefined packet policies, providing for a very efficient bandwidth management in a wireless network within a train. Hereby, is easy to prioritize voice-over-IP (VOIP) and/or VPN traffic over video traffic.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication between a moving vehicle and a remote server through at least one external mobile network, the method comprising:

providing at least one router in the moving vehicle for receiving and transmitting wireless data packets to and from a stationary communication server outside said moving vehicle through said at least one exterior mobile network via at least one antenna and to and from at least one client onboard the moving vehicle;

determining in said router if a stream of wireless data packets matches a predefined packet policy; and

allocating in said router, if said stream of wireless data packets matches said predefined packet policy, bandwidth and/or priority for the stream of wireless data packets according to the predefined packet policy.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allocating in said router, if said stream of wireless data packets does not match a predefined packet policy, bandwidth and/or priority for the stream of wireless data packets according to a default packet policy.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said predefined packet policy is a dynamic policy depending on available total bandwidth at a given time instance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining if a stream of wireless data packet matches a predefined packet policy comprises determining at least one of a source, a destination, a size and pattern of the wireless data packets, and using this for identification of a data packet or data stream type.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining if a stream of wireless data packet matches a predefined packet policy comprises identification of a data packet or data stream type for said data packet based on deep packet inspection.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining if a stream of wireless data packet matches a predefined packet policy comprises determining if the data packet is a video data packet, and wherein the predefined packet policy comprises at least one rule restricting allocated bandwidth and/or priority for video data packets.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining if a stream of wireless data packet matches a predefined packet policy comprises determining if the data packet is at least one of a voice-over-IP (VOIP) data packet and a VPN data packet, and wherein the predefined packet policy comprises at least one rule increasing allocated bandwidth for VOIP and/or VPN data packets.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined packet policy is client dependent.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the router is configured for receiving and transmitting wireless data to and from an aggregation server, using aggregated communication over at least two separate links.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the router is configured to estimate at least one of the quality of link(s) to communicate with the exterior network and available total bandwidth to the exterior network, and dynamically adjusting bandwidth and/or priority allocation to the clients based on this.

11. A wireless communication system for a moving vehicle, comprising:

at least one router in the moving vehicle, said router being configured for receiving and transmitting wireless data communication to and from a stationary communication server outside said moving vehicle through at least one exterior mobile network via at least one antenna, and for receiving and transmitting data to and from at least one client onboard the moving vehicle, said router including at least one control unit configured to;

determine if a stream of wireless data packets matches a predefined packet policy, and

allocating, if said stream of wireless data packets matches the predefined packet policy, bandwidth and/or priority for the stream of wireless data packets according to the predefined packet policy.