Adaptive quality of service policy for dynamic networks

• US 8,259,566 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2005
• Issued: 09/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Chen, Liren, Steenstra, Jack, Taylor, Kirk S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao, Kwang B
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, ANH NGOC M
• Application Number:
  US11/231,396
• Publication Number:
  US 20070064604A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,541 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/229, 370/477, 370/468, 370/310, 370/389, 370/465, 370/254, 370/395.21, 370/395.42, 370/516, 370/235, 370/252, 370/332, 370/241, 370/253, 370/391, 370/392
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0002 by adapting the transmission rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0007 by modifying the frame length
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0017 where the mode-switching is based on Quality of Service requirement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0098 Unequal error protection

Abstract

A close-loop quality of service system is provided that collects real-time network performance indicators at the physical, data link and network layers. Using those indicators, the system dynamically controls the network traffic in order to achieve improved performance according to the priority and policy defined by a data user or system/network administrator. Several features of this quality of service system includes (1) dynamic maximum bandwidth reallocation, (2) dynamic maximum packet sizing, (3) adaptive policing, and/or (4) real-time link status feedbacks to make more efficient use of available bandwidth and adjust to transmission requirements.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an input interface to receive digital information transmitted on a dynamic communication link;

a processing unit coupled to the input interface, the processing unit configured to

organize the digital information into packets, each packet associated with one of a plurality of service classes;

monitor jitter and bandwidth of the dynamic communication link;

based on the monitoring, determine whether the jitter or the bandwidth has changed;

based on determining that the jitter has changed, adjust a maximum packet size of transmitted packets to maintain a maximum packet transmission time approximately constant; and

based on determining that the bandwidth has changed, dynamically adjust a quality of service policy of the plurality of service classes at least in part by proportionally reallocating a total bandwidth of the dynamic communication link according to previous maximum allocation percentages.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a status, including at least one of packet size, data rate or dropped packet statistics, of the dynamic communication link is retrieved by a network layer from a data link layer to determine an optimal policy for traffic on the dynamic communication link.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to monitor the jitter at least in part by measuring timing variations between received packets.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to monitor the jitter at least in part by monitoring a buffer.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to compare a current jitter to a previous jitter to determine whether the jitter has changed.

2. A communication gateway comprising:

means for receiving digital information transmitted on a dynamic communication link;

means for organizing the digital information into packets, each packet associated with one of a plurality of service classes;

means for monitoring jitter and bandwidth of the dynamic communication link;

means for determining, based on the monitoring, whether the jitter or the bandwidth has changed;

means for dynamically adjusting, based on determining that the jitter has changed, a maximum packet size of transmitted packets to maintain a maximum packet transmission time approximately constant; and

means for dynamically adjusting, based on determining that the bandwidth has changed, a quality of service policy of the plurality of service classes at least in part by proportionally reallocating a total bandwidth of the dynamic communication link according to previous maximum allocation percentages.

19. The communication gateway of claim 2, the means for monitoring the jitter including means for measuring timing variations between received packets.

20. The communication gateway of claim 2, the means for monitoring the jitter including means for monitoring a buffer.

21. The communication gateway of claim 2, the means for monitoring the jitter including means for comparing a current jitter to a previous jitter.

3. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing one or more instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

monitor jitter and bandwidth of a dynamic communication link having varying bandwidth;

determine whether the jitter or the bandwidth has changed;

based on determining that the jitter has changed, adjust a maximum packet size of digital information received via the dynamic communication link to maintain a maximum packet transmission time approximately constant; and

based on determining that the bandwidth has changed, proportionally reallocating a total bandwidth of the dynamic communication link according to previous maximum allocation percentages.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the one or more instructions when executed by the processor further cause the processor to dynamically adjust a quality of service policy associated with one or more of service classes assigned to the digital information, based on determining that the bandwidth has changed.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the dynamically adjusting the quality of service policy includes reallocating the total bandwidth of the dynamic communication link according to current traffic demands over the dynamic communication link.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the dynamically adjusting the quality of service policy includes denying service to new digital information in a service class if an allocated bandwidth is insufficient to support a minimum transmission rate for existing digital information in the service class.

7. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the dynamically adjusting the quality of service policy includes allocating a maximum bandwidth for each of the service classes that is equal to or greater than a minimum bandwidth necessary to support minimum transmission rates of information in each of the service classes.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein dynamically adjusting the quality of service policy further includes denying service to new digital information in a service class if an allocated bandwidth for the service class is insufficient to support a minimum transmission rate for existing digital information in the service class.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 3, the one or more instructions when executed to further cause the processor to:

segment the digital information into packets; and

transmit the packets over the dynamic communication link according to a quality of service policy associated with the digital information.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the quality of service policy is set at a network layer of a network stack.

22. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the one or more instructions when executed by the processor further cause the processor to monitor the jitter at least in part by measuring timing variations between received packets.

23. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the one or more instructions when executed by the processor further cause the processor to monitor the jitter at least in part by monitoring a buffer.

24. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the one or more instructions when executed by the processor further cause the processor to monitor the jitter at least in part by comparing a current jitter to a previous jitter.

11. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing one or more instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

receive digital information over a dynamic communication link having varying bandwidth;

segment the digital information into packets;

monitor jitter and bandwidth of a dynamic communication link;

determine whether the jitter or the bandwidth has changed;

based on determining that the jitter has changed, dynamically adjust a maximum packet length of the digital information to maintain a maximum packet transmission time approximately constant; and

based on determining that the bandwidth has changed, proportionally reallocate a total bandwidth of the dynamic communication link according to previous maximum allocation percentages.

25. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more instructions when executed by the processor further cause the processor to monitor the jitter at least in part by measuring timing variations between received packets.

26. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more instructions when executed by the processor further cause the processor to monitor the jitter at least in part by monitoring a buffer.

27. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more instructions when executed by the processor further cause the processor to monitor the jitter at least in part by comparing a current jitter to a previous jitter.

28. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more instructions when executed by the processor further cause the processor to dynamically adjust a quality of service policy associated with one or more of service classes assigned to the digital information, based on determining that the bandwidth has changed.

12. An apparatus comprising:

means for monitoring jitter and bandwidth of a dynamic communication link having varying bandwidth;

means for, based on the monitoring, determining whether the jitter or the bandwidth has changed;

means for, based on determining that the jitter has changed, adjusting a maximum packet size of digital information received via the dynamic communication link to maintain a maximum packet transmission time approximately constant;

means for, based on determining that the bandwidth has changed, proportionally reallocating a total bandwidth of the dynamic communication link according to previous maximum allocation percentages.

29. The apparatus of claim 12, the means for monitoring the jitter including means for measuring timing variations between received packets.

30. The apparatus of claim 12, the means for monitoring the jitter including means for monitoring a buffer.

31. The apparatus of claim 12, the means for monitoring the jitter including means for comparing a current jitter to a previous jitter.

32. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising means for dynamically adjusting a quality of service policy associated with one or more of service classes assigned to the digital information, based on determining that the bandwidth has changed.

13. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving digital information over a dynamic communication link having varying bandwidth;

means for segmenting the digital information into packets;

means for monitoring jitter and bandwidth of the dynamic communication link;

means for, based on the monitoring, determining whether the jitter or the bandwidth of the dynamic communication link has changed;

means for, based on determining that the jitter has changed, dynamically adjusting a maximum packet length of the digital information to maintain a maximum packet transmission time approximately constant; and

means for, based on determining that the bandwidth has changed, proportionally reallocating a total bandwidth of the dynamic communication link according to previous maximum allocation percentages.

33. The apparatus of claim 13, the means for monitoring the jitter including means for measuring timing variations between received packets.

34. The apparatus of claim 13, the means for monitoring the jitter including means for monitoring a buffer.

35. The apparatus of claim 13, the means for monitoring the jitter including means for comparing a current jitter to a previous jitter.

36. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising means for dynamically adjusting a quality of service policy associated with one or more of service classes assigned to the digital information, based on determining that the bandwidth has changed.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having one or more instructions for dynamically adjusting maximum bandwidth allocations of a communication system, which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

receive digital information;

classify the digital information into one or more service classes;

monitor real-time characteristics of a dynamic communication link having varying bandwidth;

dynamically adjust a quality of service policy for the one or more service classes according to the real-time characteristics of the dynamic communication link, the dynamically adjusting the quality of service policy of the one or more service classes including making a maximum bandwidth an integer multiple of a minimum required bandwidth for a particular one of the service classes;

determine whether jitter on the dynamic communication link has changed; and

if the jitter has changed, adjust a maximum packet size of the digital information to maintain a maximum packet transmission time approximately constant.