Simultaneous communications over licensed and unlicensed spectrum
First Claim
1. A mobile device system to load balance communications connections, comprising:
- a processor;
a memory coupled to the processor and operable to store processor readable instructions;
a first radio configured to communicate over a wireless communications connection using bandwidth available over licensed spectrum;
a second radio configured to communicate over a wireless communications connection using bandwidth available over unlicensed spectrum, and having access to substantially similar endpoints as the wireless communications connection of the first radio;
a bandwidth monitor component, coupled to the processor, memory, first radio, and second radio, operable to monitor the available bandwidth over licensed spectrum from the first radio, and the available bandwidth over unlicensed spectrum from the second radio;
an optimizer component, coupled to the processor, memory, and bandwidth monitor, configuredto receive a bandwidth request from an application resident in the memory and running on the processor,to receive an indicator of the available bandwidth over licensed spectrum from the first radio and the available bandwidth over unlicensed spectrum from the second radio from the bandwidth monitor, andto generate a load balancing recommendation based on at least the bandwidth request, the available bandwidth over licensed spectrum from the first radio and the available bandwidth over unlicensed spectrum from the second radio; and
a load balancer component, coupled to the processor, memory, and optimizer component, and configured to receive a load balancing recommendation from the optimizer component and configured to satisfy the bandwidth request from the application with at least some available bandwidth over licensed spectrum from the first radio, and at least some available bandwidth over unlicensed spectrum from the second radio, based at least on the load balancing recommendation,wherein the bandwidth request includes an application originated load balancing recommendation of how to balance available bandwidth over licensed spectrum from the first radio and the available bandwidth over unlicensed spectrum from the second radio, andwherein the load balancing recommendation generated by the optimizer component is further based at least on the application originated load balancing recommendation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques to perform simultaneous communications over licensed and unlicensed spectrum are disclosed. A bandwidth monitor measures the amount of bandwidth available from a first communications connection over licensed spectrum, and the amount of bandwidth available from a second communications connection over unlicensed spectrum. Upon receiving a bandwidth request, an optimizer generates a recommendation on how to allocate bandwidth from the first and second communications connections. A load balancer then executes the allocation over the first and second communications requests based at least on the generated recommendation. Various optimization embodiments are further disclosed. Variations on bandwidth monitoring, including polling and notifications are also disclosed.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A mobile device system to load balance communications connections, comprising:
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a processor; a memory coupled to the processor and operable to store processor readable instructions; a first radio configured to communicate over a wireless communications connection using bandwidth available over licensed spectrum; a second radio configured to communicate over a wireless communications connection using bandwidth available over unlicensed spectrum, and having access to substantially similar endpoints as the wireless communications connection of the first radio; a bandwidth monitor component, coupled to the processor, memory, first radio, and second radio, operable to monitor the available bandwidth over licensed spectrum from the first radio, and the available bandwidth over unlicensed spectrum from the second radio; an optimizer component, coupled to the processor, memory, and bandwidth monitor, configured to receive a bandwidth request from an application resident in the memory and running on the processor, to receive an indicator of the available bandwidth over licensed spectrum from the first radio and the available bandwidth over unlicensed spectrum from the second radio from the bandwidth monitor, and to generate a load balancing recommendation based on at least the bandwidth request, the available bandwidth over licensed spectrum from the first radio and the available bandwidth over unlicensed spectrum from the second radio; and a load balancer component, coupled to the processor, memory, and optimizer component, and configured to receive a load balancing recommendation from the optimizer component and configured to satisfy the bandwidth request from the application with at least some available bandwidth over licensed spectrum from the first radio, and at least some available bandwidth over unlicensed spectrum from the second radio, based at least on the load balancing recommendation, wherein the bandwidth request includes an application originated load balancing recommendation of how to balance available bandwidth over licensed spectrum from the first radio and the available bandwidth over unlicensed spectrum from the second radio, and wherein the load balancing recommendation generated by the optimizer component is further based at least on the application originated load balancing recommendation. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method to load balance communications connections, comprising:
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receiving, on a mobile device, a bandwidth request from an application running on the mobile device, the bandwidth request comprising an amount of bandwidth; allocating to the application at least a portion of licensed bandwidth of a first wireless connection, the first wireless connection utilizing licensed spectrum; allocating to the application at least a portion of unlicensed bandwidth of a second wireless connection, the second wireless connection utilizing unlicensed spectrum, and having access to substantially similar endpoints as the first wireless communications; and simultaneously communicating over the licensed bandwidth of the first wireless connection and over the unlicensed bandwidth of the second wireless connection, such that the allocated licensed bandwidth and the allocated unlicensed bandwidth equals or exceeds the amount of bandwidth for the bandwidth request, wherein the allocations are performed at the mobile device. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for monitoring bandwidth, comprising:
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receiving a bandwidth request; measuring a first bandwidth for a first wireless connection, via a communications with a radio interface layer; measuring a second bandwidth for a second wireless connection, via a communications with a radio interface layer; receiving a message from a load balancer of a first bandwidth allocation on the first wireless connection and a second bandwidth allocation on the second wireless connection; and reducing queries to the radio interface layers by estimating the bandwidth remaining from the first bandwidth and the bandwidth remaining from the second bandwidth, based at least on the first bandwidth allocation and the second bandwidth allocation, wherein the load balancer is located at a mobile device, wherein measuring the first and second bandwidths, receiving the message and estimating the bandwidth are performed at the mobile device, wherein receiving a bandwidth request from an application resident in the memory and running on a processor of the mobile device, wherein measuring the first bandwidth or the measuring the second bandwidth is based on the received bandwidth request. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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19. A method to load balance communications connections, comprising:
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receiving, on a mobile device, a bandwidth request from an application running on the mobile device, the bandwidth request comprising an amount of bandwidth; allocating to the application at least some licensed bandwidth over a cellular communications connection; allocating to the application at least some unlicensed bandwidth of a Wi-Fi communications connection, and having access to substantially the same endpoints as the cellular communications connection; and simultaneously communicating over the licensed bandwidth of the cellular communications connection and over the unlicensed bandwidth of the Wi-Fi communications connection, such that the allocated licensed bandwidth and the allocated unlicensed bandwidth equals or exceeds the amount of bandwidth for the bandwidth request, wherein the allocations are performed at the mobile device.
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Specification