Scheduling of a communication base station

• US 8,929,354 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2011
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Pettersson, Jonas
• Primary Examiner(s): YEUNG, MANG HANG
• Application Number:
  US13/574,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20130100936A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,160 Days
• Field of Search: 370/348, 370/443, 370/447
• US Class Current: 370/348
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1221 based on age of data to be sent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of a base station, the method comprising: obtaining information about a service currently used by a communication terminal associated with the base station; performing predictive scheduling of transmissions from the communication terminal to the base station based on the obtained information, the predictive scheduling including determining an interval I which is the predicted maximal time period between consecutive transmission grants sent by the base station to the communication terminal; sending a first transmission grant to the communication terminal at the time t=0 in accordance with the predictive scheduling; sending a first SR inhibiting indicator to the communication terminal, preventing the communication terminal from sending a Scheduling Request (SR) to the base station unless a specified criterion is fulfilled; and sending a second transmission grant to the communication terminal at the latest at the time t=I. The invention also relates to the base station.

Claims

1. A method of scheduling of an electronic communication base station, the method comprising:

obtaining information about a service currently used by a communication terminal associated with the base station;

performing predictive scheduling of transmissions from the communication terminal to the base station based on the obtained information, the predictive scheduling including determining an interval I which is a predicted maximal time period between consecutive transmission grants sent by the base station to the communication terminal;

sending a first transmission grant to the communication terminal at a first time t=0 in accordance with the predictive scheduling;

sending a first Scheduling Request (SR) inhibiting indicator to the communication terminal, preventing the communication terminal from sending a Scheduling Request, SR, to the base station unless a specified criterion is fulfilled; and

sending a second transmission grant to the communication terminal at the latest at a second time t=I;

wherein the first transmission grant and the first SR inhibiting indicator are sent to the communication terminal together as parts of a first grant message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first grant message is a semi-persistent scheduling, SPS, grant message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the SPS grant message comprises an SPS interval which is at least as long as the predicted time interval I.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the SPS grant message comprises an SPS interval which is the longest SPS interval allowed by a communication standard used for communication between the base station and the communication terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the predictive scheduling further includes determining a transmission size X which is the predicted maximum amount of data generated by the service and buffered at the communication terminal for transmission to the base station during the time interval I, and including said transmission size X in the first transmission grant.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the specified criterion is one of the following:

the time t equals I;

the time t equals a specified time which exceeds I;

the amount of data buffered for transmission to the base station equals or exceeds X; and

data associated with a certain logical channel has arrived to the communication terminal for transmission to the base station.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first SR inhibiting indicator needs to be replaced within a limited time period, the method further comprising:

sending a second SR inhibiting indicator to the communication terminal prior to expiry of the limited time period.

8. An electronic communication base station comprising:

an information obtaining module with circuitry configured for obtaining information about a service currently used by a communication terminal associated with the base station;

a processing unit with circuitry configured for performing predictive scheduling of transmissions from the communication terminal to the base station based on the obtained information, the predictive scheduling including determining an interval I which is a predicted maximal time period between consecutive transmission grants sent by the base station to the communication terminal; and

a transmitter configured for sending a first transmission grant to the communication terminal at a first time t=0 in accordance with the predictive scheduling, for sending a first Scheduling Request (SR) inhibiting indicator to the communication terminal, preventing the communication terminal from sending a Scheduling Request, SR, to the base station unless a specified criterion is fulfilled, and for sending a second transmission grant to the communication terminal at the latest at a second time t=I;

wherein the transmitter is configured to send the first transmission grant and the first SR inhibiting indicator to the communication terminal together as parts of a first grant message.

9. The electronic communication base station of claim 8, wherein the first grant message is a semi-persistent scheduling, SPS, grant message.

10. The electronic communication base station of claim 9, wherein said base station is configured for setting an SPS interval of the SPS grant message to a time period which is at least as long as the predicted time interval I.

11. The electronic communication base station of claim 9, wherein said base station is configured for setting an SPS interval of the SPS grant message to a time period which is the longest SPS interval allowed by a communication standard used for communication between the base station and the communication terminal.

12. The electronic communication base station of claim 8, wherein the processing unit further comprises circuitry configured for determining a transmission size X which is the predicted maximum amount of data generated by the service and buffered at the communication terminal for transmission to the base station during the time interval I, and including said transmission size X in the first transmission grant.

13. The electronic communication base station of claim 12, wherein the specified criterion is one of the following:

the time t equals I;

the time t equals a specified time which exceeds I;

the amount of data buffered for transmission to the base station equals or exceeds X; and

data associated with a certain logical channel has arrived to the communication terminal for transmission to the base station.

14. The electronic communication base station of claim 8, wherein the transmitter is further configured for sending a second SR inhibiting indicator to the communication terminal prior to expiry of a limited time period within which the first SR inhibiting indicator needs to be replaced.

15. A communication system comprising:

a communication terminal; and

an electronic communication base station comprising;

an information obtaining module with circuitry configured for obtaining information about a service currently used by the communication terminal;

a processing unit with circuitry configured for performing predictive scheduling of transmissions from the communication terminal to the base station based on the obtained information, the predictive scheduling including determining an interval I which is a predicted maximal time period between consecutive transmission grants sent by the base station to the communication terminal; and

a transmitter configured for sending a first transmission grant to the communication terminal at a first time t=0 in accordance with the predictive scheduling, for sending a first Scheduling Request (SR) inhibiting indicator to the communication terminal, preventing the communication terminal from sending a Scheduling Request, SR, to the base station unless a specified criterion is fulfilled, and for sending a second transmission grant to the communication terminal at the latest at a second time t=I;

wherein the transmitter is configured to send the first transmission grant and the first SR inhibiting indicator to the communication terminal together as parts of a first grant message.

16. A computer program product stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium for controlling an electronic communication base station, the computer program product comprising software instructions which, when run on the base station, causes the base station to:

obtain information about a service currently used by a communication terminal associated with the base station;

perform predictive scheduling of transmissions from the communication terminal to the base station based on the obtained information, the predictive scheduling including determining an interval I which is a predicted maximal time period between consecutive transmission grants sent by the base station to the communication terminal;

send a first transmission grant to the communication terminal at a first time t=0 in accordance with the predictive scheduling;

send a first Scheduling Request (SR) inhibiting indicator to the communication terminal, preventing the communication terminal from sending a Scheduling Request, SR, to the base station unless a specified criterion is fulfilled; and

send a second transmission grant to the communication terminal at the latest at a second time t=I;

wherein the first transmission grant and the first SR inhibiting indicator are sent to the communication terminal together as parts of a first grant message.