Node, method and system for control of communication including a buffer

• US 8,111,623 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2007
• Issued: 02/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Balandin, Sergey, Gillet, Michel
• Primary Examiner(s): Ferris, Derrick
• Assistant Examiner(s): GHOWRWAL, OMAR J
• Application Number:
  US11/730,080
• Publication Number:
  US 20070237076A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,776 Days
• Field of Search: 370/229, 370/235, 370/236, 370/389, 370/412, 370/351
• US Class Current: 370/236
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/18 End to end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/30 in combination with information about buffer occupancy at either end or at transit nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/39 Credit based
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A node configured to communicate with at least one further node. The node includes a buffer configured to receive data transmitted from the at least one further node. The node also includes an output configured to transmit data to the at least one further network element. The data includes information about the ability for the buffer to receive further data transmitted from the further node.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a buffer configured to receive data transmitted from at least one node; and

an output configured to transmit data to the at least one node,

wherein the data comprises information about an ability of the buffer to receive further data transmitted from the at least one node wherein the information is not a size of available buffer space,

wherein the information about the ability of the buffer to receive further data transmitted from the at least one node is an end-to-end flow control signal located within an ATyp=xx field of a UniPRO standard data packet,

wherein the end-to-end flow control signal is configured to provide the at least one node with permission to send one portion of data, and

wherein the apparatus is configured to operate in a D-Phy network.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a detector arranged to indicate capacity within the buffer to receive the data from the at least one node.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the detector is configured to indicate when the capacity of the buffer is greater than or equal to a predetermined capacity value.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the predetermined capacity value is transmitted to the apparatus upon initialization of communication with the at least one node.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, further comprising reservation logic for reserving the predetermined capacity value within the buffer.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is arranged to communicate over a network within a user equipment.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to communicate over a network at least partially external to a user equipment.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the information about the ability of the buffer to receive further data transmitted from the node is binary value 10 in the ATyp=xx field.

9. An apparatus, comprising:

an input configured to receive information about an ability of a buffer of at least one node to receive further data transmitted from the apparatus wherein the information is not a size of available buffer space;

a detector configured to detect the information;

a counter configured to store a value to indicate the ability of the at least one node to receive further data packets transmitted from the apparatus;

an output configured to transmit further data to the node dependent on the counter value indicating that the at least one node has the ability to receive the further data,

wherein the information about the ability of the buffer to receive further data transmitted from the apparatus is an end-to-end flow control signal located within an ATyp=xx field of a UniPRO standard data packet,

wherein the end-to-end flow control signal is configured to provide the apparatus with permission to send one portion of data, and

wherein the apparatus is configured to operate in a D-Phy network.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein reception of the information about the ability of the buffer of the at least one node to receive further data is configured to increment the counter value.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, where in the counter is configured to increase the counter value dependent on the information about the ability of the buffer of the at least one node.

12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the counter is configured to decrement the counter value when the output transmits further data to the at least one node.

13. A system, comprising:

a first node and at least one further node,

wherein information about the ability of a buffer to receive further data is provided within data comprising a payload transmitted from at least one of the first node to the at least one further node, or the at least one further node to the first node wherein the information is not a size of available buffer space,

wherein the information transmitted about the ability of the buffer to receive further data is an end-to-end flow control signal located within an ATyp=xx field of a UniPRO standard data packet,

wherein the end-to-end flow control signal is configured to provide the at least one node with permission to send one portion of data, and

wherein the first node and the at least one further node are configured to operate in a D-Phy network.

14. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a first node, at least one further node, data comprising information about an ability of the first node to receive further data transmitted from the at least one further node wherein the information is not a size of available buffer space; and

detecting the information about the ability of the first node to receive further data transmitted from the at least one further node,

wherein the information transmitted about the ability of the first node to receive further data is an end-to-end flow control signal located within an ATyp=xx field of a UniPRO standard data packet,

wherein the end-to-end flow control signal is configured to provide the at least one node with permission to send one portion of data, and

wherein the first node and the at least one further node are configured to operate in a D-Phy network.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the method implements an end-to-end flow control mechanism.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:

transmitting further data from the at least one further node to the first node dependent upon the counter value; and

decrementing the counter value.

17. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the decrementing the counter value decrements the counter value dependent on the size of the further data transmitted from the at least one further node to the first node.

18. A method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising:

incrementing a counter value within the at least one further node dependent on the reception of data comprising information about the ability of the first node to receive further data transmitted from the further node.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein incrementing the counter value increments the counter value dependent on the value of the information.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program configured to operate a computer to implement a method comprising:

receiving, from a first node, at least one further node, data comprising information about an ability of the first node to receive further data transmitted from the at least one further node wherein the information is not a size of available buffer space; and

detecting the information about the ability of the first node to receive further data transmitted from the at least one further node,

wherein the information transmitted about the ability of the first node to receive further data is an end-to-end flow control signal located within an ATyp=xx field of a UniPRO standard data packet,

wherein the end-to-end flow control signal is configured to provide the at least one node with permission to send one portion of data, and

wherein the first node and the at least one further node are configured to operate in a D-Phy network.

21. A system, comprising:

a first node including a buffer configured to receive data transmitted from a second node, and an output configured to transmit data to the second node, wherein the data comprises information about an ability of the buffer to receive further data transmitted from the second node wherein the information is not a size of available buffer space; and

the second node comprising an input configured to receive information about an ability of the buffer to receive further data transmitted from the first node, a detector configured to detect the information, and a counter configured to store a value to indicate the ability of the second node to receive further data packets transmitted from the first node,

wherein the information about the ability of the buffer to receive further data transmitted from the second node is an end-to-end flow control signal located within an ATyp=xx field of a UniPRO standard data packet,

wherein the end-to-end flow control signal is configured to provide the second node with permission to send one portion of data, and

wherein the first node and the second node are configured to operate in a D-Phy network.

22. An apparatus, comprising:

buffer means for receiving data transmitted from at least one node; and

output means for transmitting data to the at least one node,

wherein the data comprises information about an ability of the buffer means to receive further data transmitted from the at least one node wherein the information is not a size of available buffer space,

wherein the information about the ability of the buffer means to receive further data transmitted from the at least one node is an end-to-end flow control signal located within an ATyp=xx field of a UniPRO standard data packet,

wherein the end-to-end flow control signal is configured to provide the at least one node with permission to send one portion of data, and

wherein the apparatus is configured to operate in a D-Phy network.

23. An apparatus, comprising:

input means for receiving information about an ability of a buffer means of at least one node to receive further data transmitted from the apparatus wherein the information is not a size of available buffer space;

detector means for detecting the information;

counter means for storing a value to indicate the ability of the at least one node to receive further data packets transmitted from the apparatus,

wherein the information about the ability of the buffer means to receive further data transmitted from the apparatus is an end-to-end flow control signal located within an ATyp=xx field of a UniPRO standard data packet,

wherein the end-to-end flow control signal is configured to provide the apparatus with permission to send one portion of data, and

wherein the apparatus is configured to operate in a D-Phy network.