Selection of wireless coverage areas and operating points of media codecs

• US 8,929,342 B1
• Filed: 12/21/2012
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Oroskar, Siddharth S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Elliott, IV, Benjamin H
• Application Number:
  US13/724,053
• Time in Patent Office: 746 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/328, 370/329, 370/331, 370/332, 370/431, 370/461, 455/436, 455/438, 455/439, 455/442, 455/443, 455/444, 455/452.2
• US Class Current: 370/332
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0044 of quality context information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0072 of resource information of target access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point

Abstract

A request to establish a call involving a wireless communication device (WCD) served by a radio access network (RAN) may be received. The WCD may receive signals from the RAN via a plurality of wireless coverage areas at respective signal strengths. The plurality of wireless coverage areas may be defined by the RAN. A media codec to use for the call and a target bitrate for the media codec to use during the call may be determined. Based on the target bitrate, a set of n wireless coverage areas through which the WCD and the RAN communicate during the call may be selected. The value of n may be between one and a predetermined maximum number. The set of n wireless coverage areas may be selected from the plurality of wireless coverage areas.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a radio access network (RAN), a request to establish a call involving a wireless communication device (WCD) served by the RAN, wherein the WCD receives signals from the RAN via a plurality of wireless coverage areas at respective signal strengths, wherein the plurality of wireless coverage areas are defined by the RAN;

determining a codec to use for the call and a target bitrate for the codec to use during the call; and

based on the target bitrate, selecting a set of n wireless coverage areas through which the WCD and the RAN communicate during the call, wherein n is less than or equal to a predetermined maximum number, wherein the set of n wireless coverage areas are selected from the plurality of wireless coverage areas, wherein selecting the set of n wireless coverage areas through which the WCD and the RAN communicate during the call comprises selecting two or more wireless coverage areas, and wherein the WCD and the RAN communicating during the call involves the WCD and the RAN communicating substantially simultaneously via the two or more selected wireless coverage areas.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the WCD and the RAN communicating substantially simultaneously via the two or more selected wireless coverage areas comprises:

during establishment of the call, the RAN assigning, to the WCD, respective traffic channels from each of the two or more wireless coverage areas; and

during an initial portion of the call, the RAN substantially simultaneously exchanging bearer traffic with the WCD via each of the assigned traffic channels.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the RAN transmits and receives identical copies of the same bearer traffic via each of the assigned traffic channels.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the WCD and the RAN communicating substantially simultaneously via the two or more selected wireless coverage areas comprises:

the substantially simultaneous communications traversing each of the two or more wireless coverage areas at approximately the same time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the WCD and the RAN communicating substantially simultaneously via the two or more selected wireless coverage areas comprises:

during establishment of the call, the RAN transmitting channel assignment messages to the WCD respectively via the two or more wireless coverage areas.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein n is based on the target bitrate.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein n is based on a sampling frequency used by the codec when operating at the target bitrate.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined maximum number is based on the target bitrate.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of wireless coverage areas includes a primary wireless coverage area and one or more secondary wireless coverage areas, wherein the WCD receives signals via the primary wireless coverage area at a primary signal strength, and wherein the WCD receives signals via the one or more secondary wireless coverage areas at respective secondary signal strengths, wherein selecting the set of n wireless coverage areas through which the WCD and the RAN communicate during the call comprises:

determining respective differences between the primary signal strength and the respective secondary signal strengths;

selecting (i) the primary wireless coverage area, and (ii) zero or more of the secondary wireless coverage areas for which the respective differences between the primary signal strength and the respective secondary signal strengths are less than a threshold difference.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, at a radio access network (RAN), a request to establish a call involving a wireless communication device (WCD) served by the RAN, wherein the WCD receives signals from the RAN via a plurality of wireless coverage areas at respective signal strengths, wherein the plurality of wireless coverage areas are defined by the RAN;

based on the respective signal strengths, selecting a set of n wireless coverage areas from the plurality of wireless coverage areas to support communications related to the call between the WCD and the RAN, wherein n is at least 2;

determining a codec to use for the call and a target bitrate for the codec to use during the call; and

removing at least one wireless coverage area from the set of n wireless coverage areas based on the target bitrate, wherein removing the at least one wireless coverage area from the set of n wireless coverage areas based on the target bitrate comprises (i) selecting a maximum number, m, of wireless coverage areas based on the target bitrate, (ii) determining that n is greater than m, (iii) in response to determining that n is greater than m, removing at least n−

m wireless coverage areas from the set of n wireless coverage areas.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the target bitrate is either (i) at or below a threshold bitrate, or (ii) above the threshold bitrate, and wherein selecting the maximum number, m, of wireless coverage areas based on the target bitrate further comprises:

selecting a first predetermined value for m when the target bitrate is at or below the threshold bitrate; and

selecting a second predetermined value for m when the target bitrate is above the threshold bitrate, wherein the second predetermined value is greater than the second predetermined value.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the threshold bitrate is 4,000 bits per second.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of wireless coverage areas includes a primary wireless coverage area and one or more secondary wireless coverage areas, wherein the WCD receives signals via the primary wireless coverage area at a primary signal strength, and wherein the WCD receives signals via the one or more secondary wireless coverage areas at respective secondary signal strengths, wherein removing the at least one wireless coverage area from the set of n wireless coverage areas based on the target bitrate comprises:

determining respective differences between the primary signal strength and the respective secondary signal strengths;

selecting one or more of the secondary wireless coverage areas for which the respective differences between the primary signal strength and the respective secondary signal strengths are greater than a threshold difference, wherein the threshold difference is based on the target bitrate; and

removing the selected one or more of the secondary wireless coverage areas from the set of n wireless coverage areas.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the target bitrate is either (i) at or below a threshold bitrate, or (ii) above the threshold bitrate, and wherein selecting the one or more of the secondary wireless coverage areas for which the respective differences between the primary signal strength and the respective secondary signal strengths are greater than the threshold difference further comprises:

selecting a first predetermined threshold difference as the threshold difference when the target bitrate is at or below the threshold bitrate; and

selecting a second predetermined threshold difference as the threshold difference when the target bitrate above the threshold bitrate, wherein the second predetermined threshold difference is less than the first predetermined threshold difference.

15. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer-readable medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request to establish a call involving a wireless communication device (WCD) served by a radio access network (RAN), wherein the WCD receives signals from the RAN via a plurality of wireless coverage areas at respective signal strengths, wherein the plurality of wireless coverage areas are defined by the RAN;

based on the respective signal strengths, selecting a set of n wireless coverage areas from the plurality of wireless coverage areas to support communications related to the call between the WCD and the RAN, wherein n is at least 2;

determining a codec to use for the call and a target bitrate for the codec to use during the call; and

removing at least one wireless coverage area from the set of n wireless coverage areas based on the target bitrate, wherein removing the at least one wireless coverage area from the set of n wireless coverage areas based on the target bitrate comprises (i) selecting a maximum number, m, of wireless coverage areas based on the target bitrate, (ii) determining that the set of n wireless coverage areas is greater than m, and (iii) in response to determining that the set of n wireless coverage areas is greater than m, removing at least n−

m wireless coverage areas from the set of n wireless coverage areas.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the plurality of wireless coverage areas includes a primary wireless coverage area and one or more secondary wireless coverage areas, wherein the WCD receives signals via the primary wireless coverage area at a primary signal strength, and wherein the WCD receives signals via the one or more secondary wireless coverage areas at respective secondary signal strengths, wherein removing the at least one wireless coverage area from the set of n wireless coverage areas based on the target bitrate comprises:

determining respective differences between the primary signal strength and the respective secondary signal strengths;

selecting one or more of the secondary wireless coverage areas for which the respective differences between the primary signal strength and the respective secondary signal strengths are greater than a threshold difference, wherein the threshold difference is based on the target bitrate; and

removing the selected one or more of the secondary wireless coverage areas from the set of n wireless coverage areas.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the target bitrate is either (i) at or below a threshold bitrate, or (ii) above the threshold bitrate, and wherein selecting the one or more of the secondary wireless coverage areas for which the respective differences between the primary signal strength and the respective secondary signal strengths are greater than the threshold difference further comprises:

selecting a first predetermined threshold difference as the threshold difference when the target bitrate is at or below the threshold bitrate; and

selecting a second predetermined threshold difference as the threshold difference when the target bitrate above the threshold bitrate, wherein the second predetermined threshold difference is less than the first predetermined threshold difference.