Accessing an application based on a level of service quality

• US 8,767,576 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2011
• Issued: 07/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Aguirre, Sergio, Bao, Derek Hongwei H., Kotecha, Lalit R., Chiang, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): LOPATA, ROBERT J
• Application Number:
  US13/211,894
• Publication Number:
  US 20130044614A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,049 Days
• Field of Search: 370/241, 370/252
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/20 Negotiating bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services

Abstract

A user device receives an instruction to access an application, of one or more applications being provisioned via one or more base stations; obtains service quality information, associated with the application, where the service quality information identifies one or more quality thresholds associated with one or more frequency bands to be used to access the application; measures a first level of service quality associated with traffic being received via a first frequency band and a second level of service quality associated with traffic being received via a second frequency band; and accesses the application using one of the first frequency band or the second frequency band based on a determination that another one of the first level of service quality or the second level of service quality is less than a threshold, of the one or more quality thresholds.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a device and from a plurality of base stations associated with a radio access network (RAN), traffic information that identifies traffic load conditions associated with the RAN;

identifying, by the device, based on the traffic information, one or more services being provisioned, by the plurality of base stations, to one or more user devices being served by the plurality of base stations;

obtaining, by the device and from a server device, one or more sets of service quality thresholds,

wherein each set of service quality thresholds is associated with a corresponding service, of the one or more services, and each set of service quality thresholds corresponds to one of one or more levels of performance associated with the corresponding service; and

transmitting, by the device and to the one or more user devices, the one or more sets of service quality thresholds,

where the one or more sets of service quality thresholds allow the one or more user devices to select a respective service, of the one or more services, to access.

2. The method of claim 1, where the one of the one or more levels of performance corresponds to a measure of availability associated with the corresponding service, and

where the measure of availability corresponds to a period of time that the corresponding service is expected to be available to be used by a user device relative to another period of time associated with a communication session, associated with the user device, to access the corresponding service.

3. The method of claim 1, where one of the one or more sets of service quality thresholds includes:

a first service quality threshold that corresponds to a first period of time that a user device waits for the corresponding service to become available,

where the first service quality threshold is less than a threshold, and

a second service quality threshold that corresponds to a second period of time that the user device waits for the corresponding service to become available,

where the second service quality threshold is not less than the threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to a first base station, of the plurality of base stations, a request to obtain the traffic information,

where the traffic load information identifies all or a portion of the one or more services that are being provisioned by the first base station and includes at least one of;

information associated with one or more frequency bands that are used, by the first base station, to provision all or the portion of the one or more services,

information that identifies a respective quantity of bandwidth being used, by the first base station, to provision all or the portion of the one or more services, or

information that identifies whether all or the portion of the one or more services are being provisioned, by the first base station, as unicast traffic, multicast traffic, or broadcast traffic.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining, from the one or more user devices, information that identifies levels of service quality being received, by the one or more user devices, when accessing the one or more services,

where a level of service quality, of the levels of service quality, being received by a first user device, of the one or more user devices, corresponds to at least one of;

a quantity of bandwidth being used, by the first user device, when accessing a service of the one or more services,

a data rate, associated with traffic, being received, by the first user device, while accessing the service, or

a quantity of dropped or mis-ordered packets, within a period of time, associated with the traffic being received, by the first user device, while accessing the service.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

transmitting, to a second user device of the one or more user devices, the information that identifies the levels of service quality being received by the one or more user devices, where transmitting the information, that identifies the levels of service quality being received by the one or more user devices;

allows the second user device to identify another level of service quality, of the levels of service quality, being received by a portion of the one or more user devices that are accessing another service of the one or more services, and

allows the second user device to determine whether to access the other service based on the identified other level of service quality.

7. A user device comprising:

a memory to store service quality information associated with one or more applications being provisioned via a plurality of base stations,

where the service quality information identifies one or more sets of quality thresholds, and each set of quality thresholds, of the one or more sets of quality thresholds, is associated with one of the one or more applications; and

a processor to;

receive an instruction to access a first application, of the one or more applications,

measure, as a result of the instruction, a first level of service quality, associated with traffic being received via a first frequency band associated with the first application and a second level of service quality, associated with traffic being received via a second frequency band associated with the first application,

identify a first threshold, associated with a first set of quality thresholds, of the one or more sets of quality thresholds, relating to the first frequency band, to which the first level of service quality corresponds,

identify a second threshold, associated with a second set of quality thresholds, of the one or more sets of quality thresholds, relating to the second frequency band, to which the second level of service quality corresponds, and

access the first application using one of the first frequency band or the second frequency band based on whether the first threshold is greater than the second threshold.

8. The user device of claim 7, where the processor is further to:

obtain, from a server device, the service quality information, and

store the service quality information in the memory.

9. The user device of claim 7, where, when measuring the first level of service quality and the second level of service quality, the processor is further to:

measure a first quantity of bandwidth associated with the traffic being received via the first frequency band, and

measure a second quantity of bandwidth associated with the traffic being received via the second frequency band.

10. The user device of claim 9, where, when identifying the first threshold to which the first level of service quality corresponds, the processor is further to:

determine that the first quantity of bandwidth is greater than the first threshold and less than a third threshold associated with the first set of quality thresholds relating to the first frequency band.

11. The user device of claim 7, where the processor is further to:

determine that the first threshold is greater than the second threshold, and

access the first application via the first frequency band based on a determination that the first threshold is greater than the second threshold.

12. The user device of claim 7, where the processor is further to:

determine that the first frequency band corresponds to multicast traffic and the second frequency band corresponds to unicast traffic,

access the first application, as the multicast traffic, based on a determination that the first threshold is greater than the second threshold, and

access the first application, as the unicast traffic, based on a determination that the first threshold is not greater than the second threshold.

13. The user device of claim 7, where the processor is further to:

determine that the first frequency band allows the first application to be accessed via a first base station of the plurality of base stations and the second frequency band allows the first application to be accessed via a second base station of the plurality of base stations,

access the first application, using the first frequency band and via the first base station, based on a determination that the first threshold is greater than the second threshold, and

perform a handoff, to the second base station, to access the first application, using the second frequency band and via the second base station, based on a determination that the first threshold is not greater than the second threshold.

14. The user device of claim 7, where the processor is further to:

present, for display and via a user interface, the service quality information associated with the first application,

where the user interface includes a service quality indicator that identifies the first level of service quality relative to the first set of quality thresholds and the second level of service quality relative to the second set of quality thresholds.

15. The user device of claim 14, where the processor is further to:

receive, from a user and via the user interface, selection of the first level of service quality, and

access the first application, using the first frequency band, based on the selection of the first level of service quality.

16. A user device, comprising:

one or more processors to;

receive an instruction to access a first application, of one or more applications being provisioned, via one or more base stations,

obtain, from a server device and as a result of the instruction, service quality information, associated with the first application,

the service quality information identifying one or more quality thresholds,

wherein each quality threshold, of the one or more quality thresholds, is associated with one of one or more frequency bands to be used to access the first application,

measure a first level of service quality associated with traffic being received via a first frequency band of the one or more frequency bands and a second level of service quality associated with traffic being received via a second frequency band of the one or more frequency bands, and

access the first application using one of the first frequency band or the second frequency band based on a determination that one of the first level of service quality or the second level of service quality is less than a quality threshold, of the one or more quality thresholds.

17. The user device of claim 16, where the one or more quality thresholds include at least one of:

a first quality threshold that corresponds to the first application being available, to be used by the user device, for a period of time that is greater than a first threshold,

a second quality threshold that corresponds to the first application being available, to be used by the user device, for another period of time that is not greater than first threshold and is greater than a second threshold, or

a third quality threshold that corresponds to the first application being available, to be used by the user device, for a further period of time that is not greater than the second threshold.

18. The user device of claim 16, where the one or more processors are further to:

determine that a level of service quality, associated with a second application, of the one or more applications, is less than another quality threshold, of one or more quality thresholds associated with the second application, and

access a third application, of the one or more applications, based on the determination that the level of service quality is less than the other quality threshold.

19. The user device of claim 16, where the first frequency band is used, by a first base station of the one or more base stations, to provision the first application as multicast traffic;

where the second frequency band is used, by the first base station, to provision the first application as unicast traffic; and

where the one or more processors are further to;

transmit, to the first base station, a first request to be handed off, from a second base station of the one or more base stations,

where the first request includes a first indication that the first application is to be accessed as multicast traffic based on a determination that the second level of service quality is less than the quality threshold, and

transmit, to the first base station, a second request to be handed off, from the second base station,

where the second request includes a second indication that the first application is to be accessed as the unicast traffic based on a determination that the first level of service quality is less than the quality threshold.

20. The user device of claim 16, where the one or more processors are further to:

determine, based on the service quality information, that a first level of service quality being received by other user devices that are accessing a second application, as multicast traffic, is less than a first minimum quality threshold, of the one or more quality thresholds, associated with the multicast traffic,

determine, based on the service quality information, that a second level of service quality being received by further user devices that are accessing the second application, as unicast traffic, is not less than a second minimum quality threshold, of the one or more quality thresholds, associated with the unicast traffic, and

access the second application, as the unicast traffic, based on a determination that the second level of service quality, being received by the further user devices, is not less than the second minimum quality threshold associated with the unicast traffic.

21. The user device of claim 16, where the service quality information includes the information identifying the one or more quality thresholds and at least one of:

information associated with the one or more frequency bands with which the one or more quality thresholds are associated,

information that identifies which of the one or more frequency bands allows the first application to be accessed as unicast traffic, multicast traffic, or broadcast traffic, or

information that identifies a manner in which the first application may be accessed, via the one or more base stations, using the one or more frequency bands.

22. The user device of claim 16, where the one or more processors are further to:

obtain, from the service quality information, information associated with a level of service quality being received by one or more other user devices while accessing the first application within a geographical area,

determine that the user device is entering a cell, associated with a base station, that is located within the geographical area,

access the first application, via the base station, based on a determination that the level of service quality, being received by the one or more other user devices, is greater than another threshold, of the one or more quality thresholds, and

access a second application, via the base station, based on a determination that the level of service quality, being received by the one or more other user devices, is not greater than the other threshold.

23. The user device of claim 22, where the one or more processors are further to:

present, for display and via a user interface, information associated with the level of service quality being received by the one or more other user devices while accessing the first application within the geographical area, where the user interface includes at least one of;

a service quality indicator that identifies the first level of service quality or the second level of service quality relative to the one or more quality thresholds,

a data item that represents a coverage area of one or more cells, associated with the base station that is located within the geographical area, or

the information associated with the level of service quality being received by the one or more other user devices.

24. The user device of claim 16, where, when obtaining the service quality information, the one or more processors are further to:

transmit, to a server device, a request for the service quality information associated with the first application, and

receive, from the server device and as a result of the request, the service quality information based on a customer-premises equipment (CPE) wide area network (WAN) management protocol (CWMP).

25. The user device of claim 24, where the one or more processors are further to:

store the service quality information in a memory associated with the user device, where storing the service quality information causes previous service quality information, that was stored in the memory when the user device was being fabricated or when the user device was being registered with a network, to be erased or over-written.