Method and arrangement for allocation of resources in a radio communication system

• US 7,286,832 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2005
• Issued: 10/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures II LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: IPWireless Inc. (General Dynamics Corporation)
• Inventors: Speight, Timothy James
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Phan, Huy Q.
• Application Number:
  US11/241,043
• Publication Number:
  US 20060030301A1
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• Field of Search: 455/453, 455/450, 455/509, 455/452.1, 455/452.2, 370/329, 370/232, 370/235
• US Class Current: 455/453
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation

Abstract

A method and arrangement for fair control of resources amongst users with different instantaneous throughputs in a radio communication system such as a UMTS system. Respective indications of users among whom resources are to be allocated are placed in a ‘round robin’ queue (200) and each user whose indication is at the head of the queue is allocated a number of resource units as a function of: β, a predetermined parameter determining the extent to which a fixed number of resource units should be allocated to the user and the extent to which a fixed volume of data should be transferred from/to the user; φ, the volume of data that the user is allowed to transfer if β=1; λ, the number of resource units that can be allocated if β=0; and θ, the number of information bits per resource unit that can be transferred to/from the user. This provides the following advantages: the resources can be allocated in the manner chosen by the operator, the function requires very few input parameters, and so is simple to operate.

Claims

1. A method for allocating data communication resource units by a communication infrastructure among a plurality of user equipment in a wireless communication system, comprising:

storing respective indicia of the plurality of user equipment among which data communication resources are to be allocated; and

allocating a number of resource units to each of the plurality of user equipment having a respective stored indicia, wherein the number, γ

, of resource units allocated to the user equipment is based at least upon;

φ

, the volume of data that the user equipment is allowed to communicate if a fixed volume of data is to be communicated with the infrastructure;

λ

, the number of resource units that can be allocated to the user equipment to communicate with the infrastructure if a fixed number of resource units is to be allocated to the user equipment;

θ

, the number of information bits per resource unit that can be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure; and

β

, a predetermined fairness parameter ranging from a minimum value to a maximum value that specifies the extent to which λ

resource units should be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure, and the extent to which a fixed volume of data, φ

, should be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the storing of the respective indicia of the plurality of user equipment among which resource units are to be allocated further comprises storing the indicia in a FIFO queue.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the storing of the respective indicia of the plurality of user equipment among which resource units are to be allocated further comprises storing the indications in a RAM memory with an associated pointer register.

4. The method of claim 1 performed in a radio network controller of the wireless communication system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the wireless communication system is a UMTS system.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein β

is normalized to range between zero and one.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the number, γ

, of resource units allocated to a user is substantially equal to the absolute value of [(1−

β

)*λ

+β

*(φ

/θ

)].

8. A method for obtaining a data communication resource unit allocation by user equipment in a wireless communication system having an infrastructure, comprising:

receiving data from a SIM of the user equipment;

communicating the data received from the user equipment'"'"'s SIM with the infrastructure; and

receiving at least one allocation, γ

, of resource units from the infrastructure, the allocation being based at least upon;

φ

, the volume of data that the user equipment is allocated to communicate with the infrastructure, if a fixed volume of data is to be communicated;

λ

, the number of resource units that can be allocated to the user equipment to communicate with the infrastructure, if a fixed number of resource units is to be allocated for communication between the user equipment and the infrastructure;

θ

, the number of information bits per resource unit that can be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure; and

β

, a fairness parameter ranging from a minimum value to a maximum value that specifies the extent to which λ

resource units should be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure, and the extent to which a φ

volume of data should be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising communicating data with the infrastructure according to the received resource unit allocation.

10. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for allocating data communication resource units by a communication infrastructure among a plurality of user equipment in a wireless communication system, comprising:

storing respective indicia of the plurality of user equipment among which data communication resource units are to be allocated; and

allocating a number of resource units to each of the plurality of user equipment having a respective stored indicia, wherein the number, γ

, of resource units allocated to the user equipment is based at least upon;

φ

, the volume of data that the user equipment is allocated to communicate with the infrastructure, if a fixed volume of data is to be communicated;

λ

, the number of resource units that can be allocated to the user equipment to communicate with the infrastructure, if a fixed number of resource units is to be allocated for communication between the user equipment and the infrastructure;

θ

, the number of information bits per resource unit that can be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure; and

β

, a predetermined fairness parameter ranging from a minimum value to a maximum value that specifies the extent to which λ

resource units should be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure, and the extent to which a φ

volume of data should be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising computer-executable instructions normalize β

to range between zero and one.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising computer-executable instructions to calculate the number, γ

, of resource units allocated to a user as substantially equal to the absolute value of [(1−

β

)*λ

+β

*(φ

/θ

)].

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising computer-executable instructions wherein the storing of the respective indicia of the plurality of the user equipment among which resource units are to be allocated further comprises storing the indications in a FIFO queue.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising computer-executable instructions wherein the storing of the respective indicia of the plurality of the user equipment among which resource units are to be allocated further comprises storing the indicia in a RAM memory with an associated pointer register.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the computer-executable instructions are configured to be executed by a processor in a radio network controller of the wireless communication system.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer executable instructions are configured to by executed by a processor in a radio network controller of a UMTS system.

17. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for obtaining a data communication resource unit allocation by user equipment in a wireless communication system having an infrastructure, the method comprising:

receiving data from a SIM of the user equipment;

communicating the data received from the user equipment'"'"'s SIM with the infrastructure; and

receiving at least one resource unit allocation, γ

, of resource units from the infrastructure, the allocation being based at least upon;

φ

, the volume of data that the user equipment is allocated to communicate with the infrastructure, if a fixed volume of data is to be communicated;

λ

, the number of resource units that can be allocated to the user equipment to communicate with the infrastructure, if a fixed number of resource units is to be allocated for communication between the user equipment and the infrastructure;

θ

, the number of information bits per resource unit that can be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure; and

β

, a fairness parameter ranging from a minimum value to a maximum value that specifies the extent to which λ

resource units should be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure, and the extent to which a φ

volume of data should be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising computer executable instructions to communicate data with the infrastructure according to the received resource unit allocation.

19. Wireless communication system infrastructure equipment configured to perform a method for allocating data communication resource units among a plurality of user equipment in a wireless communication system, comprising:

a memory for storing respective indicia of the plurality of user equipment among which data communication resources are to be allocated; and

a processor for allocating a number of resource units to each of the plurality of user equipment having a respective stored indication, wherein the number, γ

, of resource units allocated to user equipment is based at least upon;

φ

, the volume of data that the user equipment is allocated to communicate with the infrastructure, if a fixed volume of data is to be communicated;

λ

, the number of resource units that can be allocated to the user equipment to communicate with the infrastructure, if a fixed number of resource units is to be allocated for communication between the user equipment and the infrastructure;

θ

, the number of information bits per resource unit that can be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure; and

β

, a predetermined fairness parameter ranging from a minimum value to a maximum value that specifies the extent to which λ

resource units should be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure, and the extent to which a φ

volume of data should be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure.

20. The infrastructure equipment of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to normalize β

to range between zero and one.

21. The infrastructure equipment of claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured to calculate the number, γ

, of resource units allocated to a user as substantially equal to the absolute value of [(1−

β

)*λ

+β

*(φ

/θ

)].

22. The infrastructure equipment of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to store the respective indicia of the plurality of user equipment among which resource units are to be allocated in a FIFO queue.

23. The infrastructure equipment of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to store the respective indicia of the plurality of user equipment among which resource units are to be allocated in a RAM memory with an associated pointer register.

24. The infrastructure equipment of claim 19, further comprising a radio network controller of the wireless communication system.

25. The infrastructure equipment of claim 24, wherein the wireless communication is a UMTS system.

26. A user equipment configured to perform a method for obtaining a data communication resource unit allocation by a user equipment in a wireless communication system having an infrastructure, comprising:

a user equipment'"'"'s subscriber information module, SIM;

a wired receiver configured to receive data from the user equipment'"'"'s SIM;

a radio transmitter configured to transmit the data received from the user equipment'"'"'s SIM to the infrastructure; and

a radio receiver configured to receive at least one resource unit allocation, γ

, of resource units from the infrastructure, the allocation being based at least upon;

φ

, the volume of data that the user equipment is allocated to communicate with the infrastructure, if a fixed volume of data is to be communicated;

λ

, the number of resource units that can be allocated to the user equipment to communicate with the infrastructure, if a fixed number of resource units is to be allocated for communication between the user equipment and the infrastructure;

θ

, the number of information bits per resource unit that can be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure; and

β

, a fairness parameter ranging from a minimum value to a maximum value that specifies the extent to which λ

resource units should be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure, and the extent to which a φ

volume of data should be communicated between the user equipment and the infrastructure.

27. The user equipment of claim 26, further configured to communicate data with the infrastructure according to the received resource unit allocation.