Quality of service, battery lifetime, and latency in wireless communication devices

• US 8,787,381 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2012
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Medapalli, Kamesh, Sollenberger, Nelson, Paulsen, Karl, Walley, John, Smith, Conrad
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, ANH NGOC M
• Application Number:
  US13/478,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20120314650A1
• Time in Patent Office: 790 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/310, 370/310.2, 370/315, 370/328, 370/338, 370/389, 370/392, 370/471, 370/473, 370/474, 370/475
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/028 switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/10 adapted for application session management, e.g. SIP [Session Initiation Protocol] connection management H04W76/00; arrangements for session management H04L67/14
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Embodiments for processing media over Internet Protocol (IP) packets in a wireless device are provided. Embodiments enable downlink and uplink media over IP flows within the wireless device that reduce the load on the application processor (AP) of the wireless device. In an embodiment, media over IP flows bypass the AP entirely allowing the AP to enter a power saving mode during media over IP sessions. This results in increased battery lifetime and reduced power consumption of the wireless device. In addition, the media over IP session quality is improved by the reduced latency resulting from bypassing the AP.

Claims

1. A wireless communications device, comprising:

an application processor (AP) configured to execute a protocol stack, including at least one of;

a session setup protocol, a media carrier protocol, a transport protocol, and an Internet Protocol (IP) of an IP stack; and

a processor, located outside of the AP, configured to implement an audio sniffer module,

wherein the audio sniffer module is configured to receive a first IP packet and to determine whether or not the first IP packet contains a first audio frame, the audio sniffer module further configured, if the first IP packet does not contain the first audio frame, to forward the first IP packet to the AP, and, if the first IP packet contains the first audio frame, to extract the first audio frame from the first IP packet and to forward the first audio frame to an audio processor, and

wherein the audio sniffer module is further configured to receive a second audio frame from the audio processor;

encapsulate the second audio frame in a first transport protocol packet and insert a predefined transport protocol port number;

encapsulate the first transport protocol packet in a second IP packet and insert a predetermined destination IP address; and

forward the second IP packet to a transmitter module of the wireless communications device.

2. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the audio sniffer module comprises:

an IP filter configured to examine the first IP packet to determine a first condition of whether a source IP address of the first IP packet matches a predetermined source IP address;

a second condition of whether the first IP packet encapsulates a second transport protocol packet of a defined type; and

when the first IP packet encapsulates the second transport protocol packet of the defined type, a third condition of whether a destination port number of the second transport protocol packet matches a predetermined transport protocol port number.

3. The wireless communications device of claim 2, wherein the protocol stack executing on the AP includes the session setup protocol, and wherein the IP filter receives at least one of the predetermined source IP address and the predefined transport protocol port number from the session setup protocol executing on the AP.

4. The wireless communications device of claim 2, wherein the defined type is User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

5. The wireless communications device of claim 2, wherein the audio sniffer module further comprises;

a thin IP/transport protocol module; and

a media carrier protocol module.

6. The wireless communications device of claim 5, wherein the IP filter is further configured, if the first IP packet does not satisfy at least one of the first, second, and third conditions, to forward the first IP packet to the AP, and, if the first IP packet satisfies all of the first, second, and third conditions, to forward the first IP packet to the thin IP/transport protocol module.

7. The wireless communications device of claim 6, wherein the first IP packet satisfies all of the first, second, and third conditions, and wherein the thin IP/transport protocol module is configured to process an IP header and a transport protocol header of the first IP packet to extract a media carrier protocol packet from the first IP packet and to forward the media carrier protocol packet to the media carrier protocol module.

8. The wireless communications device of claim 7, wherein the media carrier protocol module is configured to process the media carrier protocol packet to extract the first audio frame and to forward the first audio frame to the audio processor.

9. The wireless communications device of claim 5, wherein the media carrier protocol module is configured to receive the second audio frame from the audio processor, to encapsulate the second audio frame in a media carrier protocol packet, and to forward the media carrier protocol packet to the thin IP/transport module.

10. The wireless communications device of claim 9, wherein the thin IP/transport protocol module is configured to encapsulate the media carrier protocol packet in the first transport protocol packet, to encapsulate the first transport protocol packet in the second IP packet, and to forward the second IP packet to the transmitter module.

11. The wireless communications device of claim 10, wherein the protocol stack executing on the AP includes the session setup protocol, wherein the thin IP/transport protocol module receives the predefined transport protocol port number and the predetermined destination IP address from the session setup protocol, and wherein the thin IP/transport protocol module inserts the predefined transport protocol port number into the first transport protocol packet and the predetermined destination IP address into the second IP packet.

12. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the processor is located inside one of a wireless modem and a WiFi™

chip of the wireless communications device.

13. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the processor is integrated on a same chip as a wireless modem of the wireless communications device.

14. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the session setup protocol includes the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), wherein the media carrier protocol includes the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), and wherein the transport protocol includes the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) or the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

15. A method for processing packets in a wireless communications device, comprising:

receiving a first IP packet;

determining whether or not the first IP packet contains a first audio frame;

if the first IP packet does not contain the first audio frame, forwarding the first IP packet to an application processor (AP) of the wireless communications device;

if the first IP packet contains the first audio frame, extracting the first audio frame from the first IP packet and forwarding the first audio frame to an audio processor of the wireless communications device;

receiving a second audio frame from the audio processor;

encapsulating the second audio frame in a first transport protocol packet, including inserting a predefined transport protocol port number;

encapsulating the first transport protocol packet in a second IP packet, including inserting a predetermined destination IP address; and

forwarding the second IP packet to a transmitter module of the wireless communications device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining whether or not the first packet contains the first audio frame comprises:

examining the first IP packet to determine a first condition of whether a source IP address of the first IP packet matches a predetermined source IP address;

a second condition of whether the first IP packet encapsulates a second transport protocol packet of a defined type; and

when the first IP packet encapsulates the second transport protocol packet of the defined type, third condition of whether a destination port number of the second transport protocol packet matches a predetermined transport protocol port number.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the predetermined source IP address and the predefined transport protocol port number are provided by a session setup protocol executing on the AP.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the method is performed by a processor located inside a wireless modern of the wireless communications device or integrated on a same chip as the wireless modem of the wireless communications device.

19. A wireless communications device, comprising:

an application processor (AP); and

a processor, located outside of the AP, configured to implement an audio sniffer module,

wherein the audio sniffer module is configured to receive a Layer 2 (L2) packet and to determine whether or not the L2 packet contains an audio frame by inspecting a radio bearer of the L2 packet, the audio sniffer module further configured, if the L2 packet does not contain the audio frame, to forward the L2 packet to the AP, and, if the L2 packet contains the audio frame, to extract the audio frame from the L2 packet and to forward the audio frame to an audio processor of the wireless communications device.

20. The wireless communications device of claim 19, wherein the audio sniffer module is configured to receive radio bearer information that indicates radio bearers assigned to established audio sessions and to compare the radio bearer of the L2 packets to the assigned radio bearers.