Method and system for efficient flow control in a spot beam satellite system

• US 8,675,486 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2005
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hughes Network Systems LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hughes Network Systems LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Friedman, Daniel, Torres, Robert, Stevens, Patrick, Schweinhart, Craig, Kannan, Mangala, Arur, Deepak, Lin, Peter, Butehorn, Matthew, Burrell, Ken
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): VU, HOANG-CHUONG Q
• Application Number:
  US11/130,985
• Publication Number:
  US 20060262724A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,227 Days
• Field of Search: 370/235, 370/412, 370/413, 370/316, 370/321, 370/322, 370/323, 370/325, 370/395.41, 370/395.42, 370/468, 455/428, 455/427, 455/421, 455/12.1, 455/430, 455/455, 455/429, 455/3.01, 455/3.02, 455/13.2, 455/13.3
• US Class Current: 370/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18582 Arrangements for data linking, i.e. for data framing, for error recovery, for multiple access
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• 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

An approach for providing flow control in a radio communication system is disclosed. A request from a non-satellite system specific side of a transport interface is made to a system specific side of the transport interface for a flow control allocation that specifies an amount of data to be stored in a queue of the system specific side of the transport interface. The system specific side supports a signaling function that is based on a transmission characteristic of the radio communication system. The flow control allocation is generated based upon availability of the queue, wherein the destination address is a link layer address of the satellite communication system. This arrangement has particular applicability to a satellite network (e.g., Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) network) that provides data communication services.

Claims

1. A method for providing flow control in a communication system, the method comprising:

receiving a dataflow at a satellite terminal from a host;

storing the dataflow in a queue of a system non-specific side of a transport interface of the satellite terminal;

determining at the satellite terminal whether the dataflow can be flow controlled;

if the dataflow can be flow controlled, obtaining a credit allocation corresponding to a queue of a system specific side of the transport interface,

wherein the system specific side is configured to directly communicate over a satellite link of the communication system, and wherein the system specific queue is configured for storing data to be transmitted over the satellite link, and the credit allocation specifies an amount of the dataflow to be sent to the system specific queue, and

wherein the system non-specific side of the transport interface includes a transport protocol layer configured to define protocols that operate across the transport interface, and to provide a logical partitioning of processes between satellite system specific characteristics and system non-specific characteristics of the communication system; and

transferring the dataflow, based at least in part on the credit allocation, from the system non-specific queue to the system specific queue for transmission over the satellite link.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the system specific queue is one of a plurality of system-specific queues corresponding to a plurality of classes of service or a destination region.

3. A method according to claim 2, further comprising:

classifying the dataflow according to one of the classes of service, wherein the system specific queue corresponds to the one class of service.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the dataflow includes spoofed traffic.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the communication system is a satellite network supporting a downlink spot beam, and the satellite link is associated with the downlink spot beam.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

periodically outputting the credit allocation to the system non-specific side.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information from the system non-specific side on arrival rate of the dataflow, wherein the credit allocation is based, in part, on the arrival rate information.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the system specific side determines the credit allocation based on a Medium Access Control (MAC) address.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium bearing instructions for providing flow control in a radio communication system, said instruction, being arranged, upon execution, to cause one or more processors to perform the method of claim 1.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein one queue is maintained for each dataflow with a flow control index associated with the credit allocation, a destination satellite terminal, and a traffic priority.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein a flow control index is mapped to a plurality of dataflows at the system non-specific side.

12. An apparatus for providing flow control in a communication system, the apparatus comprising:

a flow control logic configured to determine whether a dataflow from a host can be flow controlled; and

a transport interface including,

a system non-specific side that includes a queue for storing the dataflow, and

a system specific side configured to generate a credit allocation specifying an amount of the dataflow to be sent to a queue of the system specific side, wherein the system specific side is configured to directly communicate over a satellite link of the communication system, and wherein the system specific queue is configured for storing data to be transmitted over the satellite link,

wherein the system non-specific side of the transport interface includes a transport protocol layer configured to define protocols that operate across the transport interface, and to provide a logical partitioning of processes between satellite system specific characteristics and system non-specific characteristics of the communication system, and

wherein the dataflow is transferred from the system non-specific queue to the system specific queue for transmission over the satellite link.

13. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the system specific queue is one of a plurality of system-specific queues corresponding to a plurality of classes of service or a destination region.

14. An apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising:

a classifier configured to classify the dataflow according to one of the classes of service, wherein the queue of the system specific side corresponds to the one class of service.

15. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the dataflow includes spoofed traffic.

16. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the communication system is a satellite network supporting a downlink spot beam, and the satellite link is associated with the downlink spot beam.

17. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the credit allocation is periodically output to the system non-specific side.

18. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the credit allocation is based, in part, on arrival rate information associated with the dataflow, the arrival rate information being provided by the system non-specific side.

19. A method for providing flow control in a communication system, the method comprising:

receiving a request, at a satellite system specific side of a transport interface within a satellite terminal, for a flow control credit allocation that specifies an amount of a dataflow to be transmitted over a satellite link of the communication system, wherein the request is received from a non-satellite system specific side of the transport interface;

determining whether the dataflow can be flow controlled,

wherein the satellite system specific side is configured to directly communicate over the satellite link, and

wherein the non-satellite system specific side of the transport interface includes a transport protocol layer configured to define protocols that operate across the transport interface, and to provide a logical partitioning of processes between satellite system specific characteristics and system non-specific characteristics of the communication system; and

generating the flow control credit allocation based upon availability of a transmission queue of the a satellite system specific side of the transport interface.

20. A method according to claim 19, wherein the transmission queue is one of a plurality of satellite system-specific queues corresponding to a plurality of classes of service or a destination region.

21. A method according to claim 20, further comprising:

classifying the data according to one of the classes of service, wherein the transmission queue corresponds to the one class of service.

22. A method according to claim 19, wherein the dataflow is spoofed.

23. A method according to claim 19, wherein the satellite communication system utilizes a plurality of downlink spot beams, the transmission queue being assigned to a particular one of the downlink spot beams.

24. A method according to claim 19, further comprising:

periodically outputting a credit allocation to the non-satellite system specific side.

25. A method according to claim 19, further comprising:

receiving information from the non-satellite system specific side on arrival rate of the dataflow, wherein a credit allocation is based, in part, on the arrival rate information.

26. A method according to claim 19, wherein the flow control allocation is generated based on a Medium Access Control (MAC) address corresponding to the queue.

27. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium bearing instructions for providing flow control in a satellite communication system, said instruction, being arranged, upon execution, to cause one or more processors to perform the method of claim 19.

28. A method for providing flow control in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving a dataflow at a wireless communication terminal from a host;

storing the dataflow in a queue of a system non-specific side of a transport interface of the wireless communication terminal;

determining at the wireless communication terminal whether the dataflow can be flow controlled;

if the dataflow can be flow controlled, obtaining a credit allocation corresponding to a queue of a system specific side of the transport interface,

wherein the system specific side is configured to directly communicate over a wireless link of the wireless communication system, and wherein the system specific queue is configured for storing data to be transmitted over the wireless link, and the credit allocation specifies an amount of the dataflow to be sent to the system specific queue, and

wherein the system non-specific side of the transport interface includes a transport protocol layer configured to define protocols that operate across the transport interface, and to provide a logical partitioning of processes between wireless system specific characteristics and system non-specific characteristics of the wireless communication system; and

transferring the dataflow, based at least in part on the credit allocation, from the system non-specific queue to the system specific queue for transmission over the wireless link.

29. An apparatus for providing flow control in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising:

a flow control logic configured to determine whether a dataflow from a host can be flow controlled; and

a transport interface including,

a system non-specific side that includes a queue for storing the dataflow, and

a system specific side configured to generate a credit allocation specifying an amount of the dataflow to be sent to a queue of the system specific side, wherein the system specific side is configured to directly communicate over a wireless link of the wireless communication system, and wherein the system specific queue is configured for storing data to be transmitted over the wireless link,

wherein the system non-specific side of the transport interface includes a transport protocol layer configured to define protocols that operate across the transport interface, and to provide a logical partitioning of processes between wireless system specific characteristics and system non-specific characteristics of the wireless communication system, and

wherein the dataflow is transferred from the system non-specific queue to the system specific queue for transmission over the wireless link.