Load balancing between users of a wireless base station

• US 7,272,400 B1
• Filed: 12/19/2003
• Issued: 09/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smith Micro Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Core Mobility (Smith Micro Software Incorporated)
• Inventors: Othmer, Konstantin
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid; Lester G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Casca; Fred
• Application Number:
  US10/742,703
• Time in Patent Office: 1,369 Days
• Field of Search: 455/453, 455/450, 455/422.1, 4554561-4566, 455/445, 455/426.1, 455/446, 370/338, 370/112.2, 379/112.02, 379/112.04
• US Class Current: 455/453
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1886 with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

The load in a cell or a cell sector is balanced in the process of sending store and forward messages to multiple recipients located in a single cell or cell sector. When one or more messages are sent over a wireless communication network to one or more recipient devices, information about the identity of the base station and cell sector serving the recipient device(s) is obtained. A current load for the cell or cell sector can also be obtained and used to control the number of simultaneous message transmissions to the cell sector to avoid overloading the sector. Message transmission may be allocated according to predetermined transmission rules for a cell sector or by dynamically allocating message transmission according to fluctuating traffic loads in the cell sector. Accordingly, a first subset of messages may be transmitted to a single recipient, or a single message may be transmitted to a subset of intended recipient devices. Thereafter, message transmission takes place incrementally without overloading the cell or cell sector.

Claims

1. In a wireless communication network that includes a plurality of base stations, each base station providing wireless connectivity to different recipient devices, a method of balancing a traffic load on a base station included in the plurality of base stations, comprising:

a server receiving a message at a server to be transmitted to a plurality of wireless recipient devices, wherein the server is configured to communicate with the plurality of wireless recipient devices using base stations included in a network;

wherein the server connects an (Internet Protocol) IP network to a base station and is configured to process at least IP based traffic,

the server determining that the plurality of wireless recipient devices are operating with the same base station;

the server identifying the base station serving the plurality of wireless recipient devices from among the different base stations, wherein the plurality of wireless recipient devices derive wireless connectivity from the base station;

the server determining a current traffic load of the base station; and

the server balancing the traffic load of the base station by;

transmitting the message via the base station to a first subset of the plurality of recipient devices based on the current traffic load; and

thereafter

transmitting the message to one or more subsequent subsets of the plurality of recipient devices, based on the traffic load, to balance the traffic load on the base station, wherein the first subset of the plurality of recipient devices is less than or equal to the number of wireless recipient devices that can receive the message without overloading the base station.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining load restrictions of the base station, wherein the number of recipient devices in the first subset and the one or more subsequent subsets is based on the determined load restrictions.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising successively transmitting the message to subsets of the plurality of recipient devices until all of the plurality of recipient devices have received the message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission of the message to a next subset of the one or more subsequent subsets is initiated at a predetermined fixed time after transmission of the message to the first subset is initiated.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein transmission of the message to a next subset of the one or more subsequent subsets is initiated after the message has been completely transmitted to the first subset.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises a store and forward message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the store and forward message comprises an instant voice message.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the store and forward message comprises a multimedia messaging service message.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the store and forward message includes voice data.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the store and forward message includes multimedia data.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the message comprises a notification that a recipient has another message stored on a server.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of recipient devices includes a number of recipient devices within the signaling range of the base station that is larger than the number of recipient devices to which the base station is capable of simultaneously transmitting the message.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein:

identifying the base station comprises identifying a single cell sector of a cell served by the base station, wherein the plurality of recipient devices are located in the single cell sector; and

transmitting the message via the base station to the first subset and thereafter transmitting the message to the one or more subsequent subsets is performed to balance the load on the single cell sector.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the number of recipient devices included in the first subset and in the one or more subsequent subsets are determined using transmission rules associated with the cell sector.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining the number of recipient devices included in the first subset using load information specifying the load on the cell sector;

obtaining updated load information specifying the load on the cell sector; and

determining the number of recipient devices included in a next subset of the one or more subsequent subsets using the updated load information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the number of recipient devices included in the first subset is different from the number of recipient devices included in the next subset.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein

the base station serves a cell that is not sectorized;

and

transmitting the message via the base station to the first subset and thereafter transmitting the message to the one or more subsequent subsets is performed to balance the load on the cell.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient devices included in the first subset and the recipient devices included in the one or more subsequent subsets are selected based on a service level associated with a subscription of users of the recipient devices.

19. In a wireless communication network that includes multiple base stations communicating with different wireless recipient devices, a method of balancing a traffic load on a base station of the network, the method comprising:

a server logging in a wireless sending device and a plurality of wireless recipient devices to a store and forward messaging application, wherein the wireless sending device and the plurality of wireless recipient devices report a base station providing service to the wireless sending device and the plurality of wireless recipient devices using device identifiers, and wherein the server is connected with an IP (Internet Protocol) based network and configured to process at least IP based traffic;

the server receiving a message from the wireless sending device to be transmitted to the plurality of wireless recipient devices and receiving the recipient device identifiers along with the message;

the server recognizing that the plurality of wireless recipient devices are operating with the same base station based on the received identifiers;

the server receiving current traffic load information for the base station, the traffic load information associated with a number of messages being transmitted by the base station;

the server calculating a number of wireless recipient devices that can receive the message without overloading the base station using the current traffic load; and

the server transmitting the message via the base station to a first subset of the plurality of wireless recipient devices and thereafter transmitting the message to one or more subsequent subsets of the plurality of wireless recipients to balance the load on the base station using the recipient device identifiers, wherein the first subset of the plurality of wireless recipient devices is less than or equal to the number of wireless recipient devices that can receive the message without overloading the base station.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein transmission of the message to a next subset of the one or more subsequent subsets is initiated at a predetermined fixed time after transmission of the message to the first subset.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein transmission of the message to a next subset of the one or more subsequent subsets is initiated after the message has been completely transmitted to the first subset.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising successively transmitting the message to subsets of the plurality of recipient devices until all of the plurality of recipient devices have received the message.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the message comprises a store and forward message.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the plurality of recipient devices includes a number of recipient devices within the signaling range of the base station that is larger than the number of recipient devices to which the base station is capable of simultaneously transmitting the message.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein receiving information that the plurality of recipient devices are located within signaling range of a base station comprises receiving information that the plurality of recipient devices are located within a single cell sector of a cell served by the base station.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the number of recipient devices included in the first subset and in the one or more subsequent subsets are determined using transmission rules associated with the cell sector.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the number of recipient devices included in the first subset and in the one or more subsequent subsets are determined by an application server operating in the wireless communication network.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the number of recipient devices included in the first subset and in the one or more subsequent subsets are determined a network layer component operating in the wireless communication network.

29. The method of claim 19, wherein the base station serves a cell that is not sectorized.

30. The method of claim 19, wherein a maximum number of store and forward messages that may be transmitted simultaneously by a single sender to recipients in a single cell sector of the base station is predetermined.

31. The method of claim 19, wherein:

the specified load is predetermined; and

the number of recipient devices that can receive the store and forward message without exceeding the specified load is determined dynamically.

32. In a wireless communication network that includes multiple cells, each cell having at least one cell sector that communicates with wireless devices, a method of balancing a traffic load in a particular cell, the method comprising:

a server receiving a plurality of messages to be transmitted to one or more wireless recipient devices, wherein the server is part of an Internet Protocol (IP) network and is configured to process at least IP based traffic;

the server determining a base station and a cell sector assigned to the one or more wireless recipient devices that derive wireless connectivity from the cell sector;

the server determining that the plurality of messages are destined for the one or more wireless recipient devices operating within a particular cell sector;

the server determining a current traffic load of the particular cell sector;

the server determining a first subset of messages that can be transmitted to the one or more wireless recipient devices without overloading the particular cell sector based on the determined current traffic load;

the server transmitting the first subset of the messages via the base station to the one or more wireless recipient devices while storing one or more other subsets of the messages; and

the server transmitting the one or more subsequent subsets of the messages to the one or more recipient devices to balance the traffic load on the particular cell sector and base station.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the plurality of messages have been sent by a single sender to a single recipient device.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the plurality of messages have been sent by a single sender to multiple recipient devices.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the plurality of messages have been sent by multiple senders to a single recipient device.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the plurality of messages have been sent by multiple senders to multiple recipient devices.

37. The method of claim 32, wherein the messages included in the first subset and the messages included in the one or more subsequent subsets are selected based on a message type of the messages or content of the messages.