IP QOS adaptation and management system and method

• US 6,654,363 B1
• Filed: 12/28/1999
• Issued: 11/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Li, Xiao-Dong, Zhuang, Jiandong
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): GELIN, JEAN ALLAND
• Application Number:
  US09/472,804
• Time in Patent Office: 1,428 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/349, 370/335, 370/342, 370/395.52, 370/395.53, 370/395.6, 370/441, 370/320, 370/352-356, 370/230, 370/235, 370/328, 370/278, 370/474, 370/469, 709/204, 709/231, 709/238
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2491 Mapping quality of service [QoS] requirements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation

Abstract

Provided is an IP QoS management mechanism for modern wireless networks to guarantee delivery of IP services with the required quality through the networks to customers. A layered QoS management architecture is provided which performs the QoS control over the entire communication protocol stack of a wireless network. The architecture consists of two levels of IP QoS management with an adaptation interface between them. These different functional and adapting levels are called from top to bottom, Upper Layer QoS Management (ULQM), IP QoS adaptation (IQA), and Lower Layer QoS Management (LLQM).

Claims

1. A QoS management architecture for delivering an incoming stream of packets over a wireless link with a QoS comprising:

a ULQM (Upper Layer QoS (quality of service) management layer) in an Upper Layer of a wireless network;

a LLQM (Lower Layer QoS management layer) in a Link Layer of a wireless network;

a IQA (IP QoS adaptation) sub-layer between the ULQM and the LLQM for perform packet adaptation such that QoS requirement parameters from the ULQM can be effectively translated and utilized by the LLQM; and

wherein the IQA comprises functionality to;

determine for each packet if it belongs to an existing stream or a new stream;

in the event the packet belongs to a new stream, map the QoS requirement parameters to corresponding wireless QoS parameters, coordinating the allocation of existing wireless resources to handle the new stream with the corresponding wireless QoS parameters, or coordinating service negotiation or re-negotiation if existing wireless resources are insufficient.

2. A wireless user terminal adapted to have the QoS management architecture of claim 1.

3. A base station adapted to have the QoS management architecture of claim 1.

4. A QoS management architecture according to claim 1 wherein the stream of packets are IP packets.

5. A QoS management architecture according to claim 4 wherein the wireless link is a cdma2000 (or variant, evolution thereof) wireless link.

6. The QoS management architecture of claim 1 further comprising:

in the IQA, labeling each packet with a first label identifying the packet stream it belongs to and then passing the packet to the LLQM.

7. The QoS management architecture of claim 1 wherein coordinating allocation of resources to handle the new stream comprises allocating a Link Layer logical resource to the new stream.

8. The QoS management architecture of claim 1 wherein coordinating allocation of resources to handle the new stream comprises allocating a Physical Layer resource to the new stream.

9. The QoS management architecture of claim 7 wherein coordinating allocation of resources to handle the new stream comprises allocating a Physical Layer resource to the new stream.

10. The QoS management architecture of claim 7 further comprising a label switching mechanism adapted to label each packet with a label identifying the particular stream.

11. The QoS management architecture of claim 10 further comprising a label processing mechanism in the Link Layer adapted to pass each packet to an appropriate Link Layer logical resource.

12. The QoS management architecture of claim 10 further mapping mechanism for passing packets on the basis of the label from the Link Layer logical resource assigned to a given stream to a Physical Layer resource assigned to the stream.

13. The QoS management architecture of claim 12 wherein a control component maintains a first mapping from the label to wireless QoS parameters, a second mapping from the first label to the Link Layer logical resource, and a third mapping from the Link Layer logical resource to the Physical Layer resource.

14. A QoS management architecture according to claim 1, wherein the IQA comprises a QAE (QoS Adaptation Entity) in the Data Plane of the cdma2000 communication protocol stack and a QACF (QoS Adaptation Control Function) in the Control Plane of the cdma2000 communication protocol stack.

15. A QoS management architecture according to claim 14 wherein the IQA has internal functions comprising for each packet:

examining endpoint and the QoS requirement parameters, generating a label with a mapping function from the endpoint information and the QoS requirement parameters, comparing the label with any previous labels to see whether they are identical, labeling the packet with new label and forwarding the packet to the Link Layer, and in the event they are not identical performing a mapping from the QoS requirement parameters to wireless QoS parameters and dealing with a resource control entity for making service requests and coordinating service negotiation or re-negotiation.

16. A QoS management architecture according to claim 15 wherein the mapping function is a one-to-one mapping, and is a function of source address, destination address, port, protocol, and QoS parameters.

17. A QoS management architecture according to claim 15 wherein the mapping function performs behavior aggregation by eliminating one or more of the parameters except the QoS requirement parameters from the mapping function, such that multiple streams with the same QoS requirement parameters are aggregated to receive the same QoS treatment.

18. A QoS management architecture according to claim 15 wherein a QoS requirement parameter delivery path comprising:

SRID→

Logical Channel ID→

Physical Channel ID is is established by the QoS management architecture.

19. An IP QoS adaptation sub-layer adapted for inclusion between Upper Layers and Lower Layers of a protocol stack for delivering an IP packet service over a wireless link, the protocol stack having a resource control entity, the IP QoS sub-layer comprising:

control plane functionality for coordinating with the resource control entity the allocation of existing logical channel and physical channel resources and/or establishment and allocation of new logical channel and physical channel resources to new IP packet flows, an IP packet flow being a sequence of packets with the same endpoint and QoS requirement parameters, and for maintaining or coordinating a mapping for each IP packet flow to the logical channel and physical channel resources thus allocated and/or established;

data plane functionality for adapting each packet in a manner which allows the Lower Layers to determine which previously allocated logical channel and physical channel resources to use for the packet through the use of said mapping.

20. A wireless user terminal adapted to have the QoS management architecture of claim 19.

21. A base station adapted to have the QoS management architecture of claim 19.

22. A cdma2000 compliant wireless user terminal according to claim 20.

23. A cdma2000 compliant base station according to claim 21.

24. A QoS management architecture for delivering an incoming stream of packets over a wireless link with a QoS comprising:

a ULQM (Upper Layer QoS (quality of service) management layer) in an Upper Layer of a wireless network;

a LLQM (Lower Layer QoS management layer) in a Link Layer of a wireless network;

a IQA (IP QoS adaptation) sub-layer between the ULQM and the LLQM for performing packet adaptation such that QoS requirement parameters from the ULQM can be effectively translated and utilized by the LLQM; and

wherein the IQA comprises functionality to;

map the QoS requirement parameters to corresponding wireless QoS parameters, coordinate the allocation of existing wireless resources to handle a new stream with the corresponding wireless QoS parameters, or coordinate service negotiation or re-negotiation if existing wireless resources are insufficient.