Multiple-access communication system capable of measuring and guaranteeing a service quality supplied for each service permitted to subscriber stations

• US 6,434,164 B1
• Filed: 05/07/1999
• Issued: 08/13/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Momona, Morihisa, Matsunaga, Yasuhiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Application Number:
  US09/306,916
• Time in Patent Office: 1,194 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329, 370/337, 370/341, 370/347, 370/348, 370/431, 370/439, 370/438, 370/442, 370/443, 370/468, 370/489
• US Class Current: 370/443
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/78 CATV [Community Antenna Television] systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/97 using uplink of the CATV systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/72 using reservation actions during connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/788 Autonomous allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 Transmission or handling of upstream communications

Abstract

In a multiple-access communication system where a center station dynamically allocates upstream bandwidth to subscriber stations, upon receiving a reservation information from a subscriber station, the center station obtains an upstream resource usage information of a service corresponding to an identifier added to the reservation information from an upstream resource usage control means. When a value of a guaranteed upstream rate of the service is above a value of measured average upstream rate, an upstream bandwidth is allocated immediately upon receiving the reservation information. On the contrary, when the guaranteed value is below the measured average upstream rate value, the upstream bandwidth allocation to the reservation information is deferred, resulting in preventing degradation of service quality of other subscriber stations.

Claims

1. A multiple-access communication system comprising;

a center station;

a subscriber station;

a broadcasting downstream channel; and

a multiple-access type upstream channel from the subscriber station to the center station, in which the center station permits the subscriber station to use guaranteed services of different qualities and assigns identifiers for each service to the subscriber station, and the subscriber station having an upstream data to send transmits reservation information made up of the identifier and an upstream bandwidth to request in a bandwidth permitted by the center station, and the center station allocates upstream bandwidth to the subscriber based on the reservation information received from the subscriber station,

wherein said center station, upon receiving said reservation information from said subscriber station, measures a service quality being supplied with regard to said identifier contained in said reservation information and compares a measured value with a guaranteed value of a previously assigned service quality, and if the measured value is below the guaranteed value, the center station immediately accepts said reservation information and allocates upstream bandwidth, and if the measured value is above the guaranteed value, the center station accepts a reservation information of other subscriber stations prior to accepting said reservation information, so as to prevent degradation of service quality to the other subscriber stations and reassure each quality of service to all said subscribers.

2. A multiple-access communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said center station holds, for each service it permitted to said subscriber station, a scheduled allocation time information determined from a guaranteed service quality and an reserved upstream bandwidth, and a permissible fluctuation quantity information of an allocation time when a current allocation time is earlier than a scheduled allocation time, and said center station, upon receiving said reservation information from said subscriber station, compares the current allocation time and the scheduled allocation time and, if the current allocation time is later than the scheduled allocation time, or if the current allocation time is earlier than the scheduled allocation time but later than a time adding the permissible fluctuation quantity of the allocation time to the scheduled allocation time, the center station immediately accepts said reservation information and allocates upstream bandwidth, and if the current allocation time is earlier than the time adding the permissible fluctuation quantity of the allocation time to the scheduled allocation time, the center station accepts reservation information of other subscriber stations prior to accepting said reservation information, so as to prevent degradation of service quality to the other subscriber stations.

3. A multiple-access communication system as claimed in claim 2, wherein supposing that an upstream rate which said center station guarantees said subscriber station is g bits/sec, a permissible fluctuation quantity of an allocation time is Tb seconds and the requested upstream bandwidth in said reservation information which said center station receives from said subscriber station is B bits, if the current allocation time is later than the scheduled allocation time, the center station immediately accepts said reservation information and updates the scheduled allocation time to a value adding (B/g) seconds to the current allocation time, or if the current allocation time is earlier than the scheduled allocation time but later than a time adding Tb to the scheduled allocation time, the center station immediately accepts said reservation information and updates the scheduled allocation time to a value adding (B/g) seconds to the scheduled allocation time, and, if the current allocation time is earlier than the time adding Tb to the scheduled allocation time, the center station does not update the scheduled allocation time and accepts reservation information of other subscriber stations prior to accepting said reservation information, so as to prevent degradation of service quality to the other subscriber stations.

4. A multiple-access communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said center station, when measuring a service quality being supplied for each service it permitted to said subscriber station, updates a statistical value of service quality from statistical values of service quality measured in the past and temporary values of service quality measured up to the present after updating a previous statistical value, and, if the statistical value of service quality is below a guaranteed value of a previously assigned service quality when receiving an upstream reservation information, the center station immediately accepts said reservation information and allocates upstream bandwidth, and if the statistical value of service quality exceeds the guaranteed value of the service quality, the center station accepts reservation information of other subscriber stations prior to accepting said reservation information, so as to prevent degradation of service quality to the other subscriber stations.

5. A multiple-access communication system as claimed in claim 4, wherein supposing that an interval of measuring a service quality being supplied for each service is Ti seconds, an upstream rate guaranteed to said subscriber station is g bits/sec, a statistical value of an average upstream rate for an upstream service is m bits/sec, a temporary upstream rate up to the present after updating a previous statistical value is r bits/sec, and a weighting average index is w, w being values between 0 and 1, the center station, when measuring a service quality, updates a value of the statistical value m of upstream rate to w*r+(1−

w)*m, and if m is below g when receiving upstream-bandwidth-request information, the center station immediately accepts said upstream-bandwidth-request information and allocates the upstream bandwidth, and if m is above g, the center station accepts reservation information of other subscriber stations prior to accepting said reservation information, so as to prevent degradation of service quality to the other subscriber stations.

6. A multiple-access communication system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said center station and said subscriber station divide an upstream channel into slots of ten and some bytes and up to some ten bytes, make reservation and allocate upstream bandwidth in a unit of said slot.

7. A multiple-access communication system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said center station assigns a priority for each service it permitted to said subscriber station and has queues to temporarily hold reservation information received for each priority, and when receiving said reservation information from said subscriber station, the center station inserts said reservation information to an tail of a queue of a priority corresponding to said identifier in the said reservation information and, when allocating the upstream bandwidth, the center station removes said reservation information from the head of the queue of a highest priority and compares a measured value of a service quality corresponding to said identifier of said reservation information with a guaranteed value of a previously assigned service quality, and, if the measured value is below the guaranteed value, the center station immediately accepts the reservation and allocates the upstream bandwidth, or if the measured value is above the guaranteed value, the center station inserts the reservation information to the tail of the queue of a lower priority, so as to prevent degradation of service quality to another subscriber station.

8. A multiple-access communication system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said center station holds the sum of requested upstream bandwidth contained in each reservation information in a queue for each priority, and, receiving a reservation information from said subscriber station, adds requested upstream bandwidth contained in the received reservation information to the current sum of requested upstream bandwidth, and, if the result is below a previously set upper limit of the sum of requested upstream bandwidth which each queue can hold, the center station inserts the received reservation information to a queue corresponding to a priority of said identifier in the said reservation information, and if the result exceeds the upper limit, the center station inserts the said reservation information to a queue of a lower priority.