Network congestion control

• US 9,258,733 B2
• Filed: 06/24/2014
• Issued: 02/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Yang, Jin, Chan, Yee Sin, Hughes, Kent W., Venkatraman, Shankar
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Application Number:
  US14/312,790
• Publication Number:
  US 20150373577A1
• Time in Patent Office: 595 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0236 radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0289 Congestion control load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/06 based on traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality

Abstract

A method, a device, and a non-transitory storage medium to obtain a traffic volume value that indicates a volume of traffic to and/or from a radio node, a value that indicates a class of the radio node, or a received signal strength value that indicates a received signal strength of a macro signal received by the radio node; calculate a delay time value based on traffic volume value, the value that indicates the class, or the received signal strength value; and transmit the delay time value to the radio node, wherein the delay time value indicates a time period to wait, by the radio node, before attempting to authenticate and register with one or more network devices.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a network device, a traffic volume value that indicates a volume of traffic to and/or from a radio node, a value that indicates a class of the radio node, or a received signal strength value that indicates a received signal strength of a macro signal received by the radio node;

calculating, by the network device, a delay time value based on the traffic volume value, the value that indicates the class, or the received signal strength value; and

transmitting, by the network device, the delay time value to the radio node, wherein the delay time value indicates a time period to wait, by the radio node, before attempting to authenticate and register with one or more network devices, wherein when the value that indicates the class of the radio node is obtained, the method further comprises;

calculating a random number k based on a number of failed attempts by the radio node to authenticate and register; and

multiplying the random number k and a default time period t, wherein the default time period t is based on the class of the radio node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the traffic volume value is obtained, the method further comprises:

comparing the traffic volume value to one or more threshold traffic volume values; and

selecting the delay time value based on the comparing.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein when the radio node is unable to authenticate and register with the one or more network devices based on the delay time value that is calculated using one of the traffic volume value, the value that indicates the class or the received signal strength value, the method further comprises:

calculating another delay time value using a different one of the traffic volume value, the value that indicates the class or the received signal strength value; and

transmitting the other delay time value to the radio node.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the value that indicates the class corresponds to one of a residential class, a small enterprise class, a medium enterprise class, or a large enterprise class, and wherein each of the residential class, the small enterprise class, the medium enterprise class, and the large enterprise class has a unique default time period t.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

adding a time period T to a product of multiplying the random number k and the default time period t to calculate the delay time value, wherein the time period T is based on the class of the radio node.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using, by the radio node, the delay time value after an event occurs, wherein the event is one of a user-invoked power shutdown or a power outage, and wherein the radio node is one of a femtocell, a picocell, or a microcell.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein when the received signal strength value is obtained, the method further comprises:

comparing the received signal strength value to one or more threshold power values; and

selecting the delay time value based on the comparing.

8. A device comprising:

a communication interface;

a memory, wherein the memory stores instructions; and

a processor, wherein the processor executes the instructions to;

obtain a traffic volume value that indicates a volume of traffic from a radio node, a value that indicates a class of the radio node, or a received signal strength value that indicates a received signal strength of a macro signal received by the radio node;

calculate a delay time value based on the traffic volume value, the value that indicates the class, or the received signal strength value; and

transmit, via the communication interface, the delay time value to the radio node, wherein the delay time value indicates a time period to wait, by the radio node, before attempting to authenticate and register with one or more network devices, wherein when the value that indicates the class of the radio node is obtained, the processor further executes the instructions to;

calculate a random number k based on a number of failed attempts by the radio node to authenticate and register; and

multiply the random number k and a default time period t, wherein the default time period t is based on the class of the radio node.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein when the traffic volume value is obtained, the processor further executes the instructions to:

compare the traffic volume value to one or more threshold traffic volume values; and

select the delay time value based on a comparison between the traffic volume value and the one or more threshold traffic volume values.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein when the radio node is unable to authenticate and register with the one or more network devices based on the delay time value that is calculated using one of the traffic volume value, the value that indicates the class or the received signal strength value, the processor further executes the instructions to:

calculate another delay time value using a different one of the traffic volume value, the value that indicates the class or the received signal strength value; and

transmit, via the communication interface, the other delay time value to the radio node.

11. The device of claim 8, wherein the value that indicates the class corresponds to one of a residential class, a small enterprise class, a medium enterprise class, or a large enterprise class, and wherein each of the residential class, the small enterprise class, the medium enterprise class, and the large enterprise class has a unique default time period t.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:

add a time period T to a product of a multiplication of the random number k and a default time period t to calculate the delay time value, wherein the time period T is based on the class of the radio node.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the time period T for the large enterprise class is shorter than the time period T for the residential class.

14. The device of claim 8, wherein when the received signal strength value is obtained, the processor further executes the instructions to:

compare the received signal strength value to one or more threshold power values; and

select the delay time value based on a comparison between the received signal strength value and the one or more threshold power values.

15. The device of claim 8, wherein the device is a femtocell gateway or a femtocell management system device, and wherein the radio node is one of a femtocell, a picocell, or a microcell.

16. A non-transitory storage medium comprising instructions executable by a processor of a computational device, which when executed by the processor, cause the computational device to:

obtain a traffic volume value that indicates a volume of traffic from a radio node, a value that indicates a class of the radio node, or a received signal strength value that indicates a received signal strength of a macro signal received by the radio node;

calculate a delay time value based on the traffic volume value, the value that indicates the class, or the received signal strength value; and

transmit the delay time value to the radio node, wherein the delay time value indicates a time period to wait, by the radio node, before attempting to authenticate and register with one or more network devices, wherein when the value that indicates the class of the radio node is obtained, the instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the computational device to;

calculate a random number k based on a number of failed attempts by the radio node to authenticate and register; and

multiply the random number k and a default time period t, wherein the default time period t is based on the class of the radio node.

17. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, wherein when the traffic volume value is obtained, the instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the computational device to:

compare the traffic volume value to one or more threshold traffic volume values; and

select the delay time value based on a comparison between the traffic volume value and the one or more threshold traffic volume values.

18. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 17, wherein when the radio node is unable to authenticate and register with the one or more network devices based on the delay time value that is calculated using one of the traffic volume value, the value that indicates the class or the received signal strength value, the instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the computational device to:

calculate another delay time value using a different one of the traffic volume value, the value that indicates the class or the received signal strength value; and

transmit the other delay time value to the radio node.

19. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the computational device to:

add a time period T to a product of a multiplication between the random number k and the default time period t to calculate the delay time value, wherein the time period T is based on the class of the radio node.

20. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, wherein when the received signal strength value is obtained, the instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the computational device to:

compare the received signal strength value to one or more threshold power values; and

select the delay time value based on a comparison between the received signal strength value and the one or more threshold power values.

21. A method comprising:

powering up, by a radio node, subsequent to a power shutdown;

determining, by the radio node, whether the power shutdown was unexpected;

selecting, by the radio node, a congestion control method based on determining that the power shutdown was unexpected; and

calculating, by the radio node, a delay time value, wherein the delay time value indicates a time period to wait before attempting to authenticate or register with one or more network devices, wherein the calculating comprises;

calculating a random number k based on a number of failed attempts by the radio node to authenticate and register; and

multiplying the random number k and a default time period t, wherein a product of k and t is the delay time value.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the radio node is one of a femtocell, a picocell, a microcell, or a macrocell, and wherein the method further comprises:

waiting, by the radio node, the time period corresponding to the delay time value, before attempting to authenticate or register with the one or more network devices; and

transmitting, by the radio node, upon expiration of the time period, a request to authenticate or register with the one or more network devices.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein k is a random number between 2^h−

1 and 0, and h is the number of failed attempts.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the determining comprises:

determining that the power shutdown was a result of a power outage or a user-invoked power shutdown.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

selecting another congestion control method based on a value that indicates a limit to a number of failed attempts.