Priority allocation of contention resources

• US 8,717,981 B1
• Filed: 05/01/2008
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clearwire Ip Holdings LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Varma, Subir, Georgiou, George A., Satapathy, Durga Prasad
• Primary Examiner(s): Taha, Shaq
• Application Number:
  US12/113,615
• Time in Patent Office: 2,196 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/04 Error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02

Abstract

A first set of uplink contention slots is allocated for use by a first set of devices. A second set of uplink contention slots is allocated for use by a second set of devices. The first set of uplink contention slots and the second set of uplink contention slots may or may not share contention slots. The first set of uplink contention slots is communicated to the first set of devices. The second set of uplink contention slots is communicated to the second set of devices.

Claims

1. A method of allocating contention resources, comprising:

allocating by an access point a first set of uplink contention slots for use by standard subscriber wireless devices, wherein the first set of uplink contention slots comprises a first subset and a second subset;

allocating by the access point a second set of uplink contention slots for use by public safety wireless devices, wherein the second set of uplink contention slots comprises a first subset and a second subset and wherein the second set of uplink contention slots are non-overlapping with the first set of uplink contention slots;

communicating by the access point the first set of uplink contention slots to the standard subscriber wireless devices;

communicating by the access point the second set of uplink contention slots to the public safety wireless devices;

determining a number of public safety wireless devices registered with the access point;

determining a number of standard subscriber wireless devices registered with the access point;

determining a rate of bandwidth requests from the public safety wireless devices and a rate of bandwidth requests from the standard subscriber wireless devices;

re-allocating the first subset of the first set of uplink contention slots to the public safety wireless devices and the standard subscriber wireless devices when the number of public safety wireless devices registered with the access point increases and the rate of bandwidth requests from the public safety wireless devices increases, wherein the public safety wireless devices and the standard subscriber wireless devices share the first subset of the first set of uplink contention slots to request additional slot allocation;

re-allocating the first subset of the second set of uplink contention slots to the public safety wireless devices and the standard subscriber wireless devices when the number of standard subscriber wireless devices registered with the access point increases and the rate of bandwidth requests from the standard subscriber wireless devices increases, wherein the public safety wireless devices and the standard subscriber wireless devices share the first subset of the second set of uplink contention slots to request additional slot allocation;

communicating by the access point the re-allocated first subset of the first set of uplink contention slots to the public safety wireless devices and the standard subscriber wireless devices when the number of public safety wireless devices registered with the access point increases and the rate of bandwidth requests from the public safety wireless devices increases; and

communicating by the access point the re-allocated first subset of the second set of uplink contention slots to the public safety wireless devices and the standard subscriber wireless devices when the number of standard subscriber wireless devices registered with the access point increases and the rate of bandwidth requests from the standard subscriber wireless devices increases.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

granting by the access point a higher priority to a bandwidth request message from a public safety wireless device than to a bandwidth request message from a standard subscriber wireless device.

3. A method of allocating contention resources, comprising:

allocating at a first access point a set of first uplink contention slots for use by standard subscriber wireless devices, wherein the set of first uplink contention slots comprises a first subset and a second subset;

allocating at the first access point a set of second uplink contention slots for use by public safety wireless devices, wherein the set of second uplink contention slots comprises a first subset and a second subset and wherein the set of second uplink contention slots are non-overlapping with the first set of uplink contention slots;

communicating from the first access point the first set of uplink contention slots to the standard subscriber wireless devices;

communicating from the first access point the second set of uplink contention slots to the public safety wireless devices;

receiving a message from a second access point, wherein the message comprises an indication that the second access point re-allocated contention slots for use by public safety wireless devices based on a number of public safety devices registered with the second access point, a number of standard subscriber wireless devices registered with the second access point, a rate of bandwidth requests at the second access point from the public safety wireless devices registered with the second access point, and a rate of bandwidth requests at the second access point from the standard subscriber wireless devices registered with the second access node;

re-allocating the subset of the first uplink contention slots at the first access point based on the message from the second access point; and

communicating from the first access point the re-allocated first subset of the first uplink contention slots to the public safety wireless devices and the standard subscriber wireless devices, wherein the public safety wireless devices and the standard subscriber wireless devices share the first subset of the first uplink contention slots to request additional slot allocation.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

granting at the first access point a higher priority to a bandwidth request message from a public safety wireless device received within the re-allocated subset of the first uplink contention slots than to a bandwidth request message from a standard subscriber wireless device received within the re-allocated subset of the first uplink contention slots.