Method and system for using a proxy device to throttle communications between a tethered device and a network

• US 9,301,335 B1
• Filed: 07/31/2013
• Issued: 03/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Cerda, Sal, Williams, Stephen D., Schmitt, Christopher D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mew, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US13/955,559
• Time in Patent Office: 972 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6275 based on priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/566 of the information or information source or recipient
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

A method and system for managing the allocation of uplink transmission resources. A first subscriber device may communicate with a second subscriber device over a local communication link. The first subscriber device may also transmit data over an air interface to a radio access network (RAN) serving the first subscriber device, with the first subscriber device serving as a proxy between the second subscriber device and the RAN. In response to the data including first data originated by the first subscriber device and second data originated by the second subscriber device that is received by the first subscriber device from the second subscriber device over the local communication link, the first subscriber device may be arranged to apply a different transmission priority for the transmitting of the first data over the air interface than for the transmitting of the second data over the air interface.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

a first subscriber device communicating with a second subscriber device over a local communication link;

the first subscriber device transmitting data over an air interface to a radio access network (RAN) serving the first subscriber device, the data including (i) first data originated by the first subscriber device and (ii) second data originated by the second subscriber device and received by the first subscriber device from the second subscriber device over the local communication link; and

responsive to the first data being originated by the first subscriber device and the second data being originated by the second subscriber device and being received by the first subscriber device, the first subscriber device applying a higher transmission priority for the transmitting of the first data over the air interface than for the transmitting of the second data over the air interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the higher transmission priority for the transmitting of the first data than for the transmitting of the second data comprises transmitting more of the first data per unit time than the second data per unit time.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising maintaining in the first subscriber device a first output queue holding the first data and a second output queue holding the second data, and wherein transmitting more of the first data per unit time than the second data per unit time comprises outputting more data from the first output queue per unit time than from the second output queue per unit time.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the air interface defines a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) resource blocks allocated to carry transmissions from first subscriber device, and

wherein applying the higher transmission priority for the transmitting of the first data than for the transmitting of the second data comprises using a higher quantity of the resource blocks for the transmitting of the first data than for the transmitting of the second data.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the air interface defines a plurality of time slots allocated to carry transmissions from the first subscriber device, and

wherein applying the higher transmission priority for the transmitting of the first data than for the transmitting of the second data comprises using a higher quantity of the time slots for the transmitting of the first data than for the transmitting of the second data.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first subscriber device has the first data buffered for transmission over the air interface to the RAN, and the first subscriber device has the second data buffered for transmission over the air interface to the RAN, and

wherein applying the higher transmission priority for the transmitting of the first data than for the transmitting of the second data comprises transmitting the first data before transmitting the second data.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first data has a first service type and the second data has a second service type different than the first service type, and

wherein applying the higher transmission priority for the transmitting of the first data than for the transmitting of the second data is further responsive to the first data having a different service type than the second data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first service type is a real-time communication service, and where the second service type is a non-real-time communication service.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the local communication link is a wireless link.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon program instructions executable by a first wireless communication device (WCD) to cause the first WCD to perform functions comprising:

originating first data for transmission from the first WCD over an air interface to a radio access network (RAN) serving the first WCD;

receiving over a peer-to-peer local wireless communication link from a second WCD second data for transmission from the first WCD over the air interface to the RAN; and

responsive to the first data being originated by the first WCD and the second data being received from the second WCD, giving higher transmission priority to transmission of the first data over the air interface to the RAN than to transmission of the second data over the air interface to the RAN.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein giving the higher transmission priority to the transmission of the first data over the air interface to the RAN than to the transmission of the second data over the air interface to the RAN comprises transmitting more of the first data per unit time than the second data per unit time.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, the functions further comprising maintaining in the first WCD a first output queue holding the first data and a second output queue holding the second data, and wherein transmitting more of the first data per unit time than the second data per unit time comprises outputting more data from the first output queue per unit time than from the second output queue per unit time.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10,

wherein the air interface defines a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) resource blocks allocated to carry transmissions from first WCD, and

wherein giving the higher transmission priority to the transmission of the first data over the air interface to the RAN than to the transmission of the second data over the air interface to the RAN comprises using more of the resource blocks for the transmission of the first data than for the transmission of the second data.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10,

wherein the air interface defines a plurality of time slots allocated to carry transmissions from the first WCD device, and

wherein giving the higher transmission priority to the transmission of the first data over the air interface to the RAN than to the transmission of the second data over the air interface to the RAN comprises using more of the time slots for the transmission of the first data than for the transmission of the second data.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10,

wherein the first data has a first delay sensitivity and the second data has a second delay sensitivity different than the first delay sensitivity, and

wherein giving the higher transmission priority to the transmission of the first data over the air interface to the RAN than to the transmission of the second data over the air interface to the RAN is further responsive to the first delay sensitivity being higher than the second delay sensitivity.

16. A first subscriber device comprising:

a first communication module for engaging in communication with a radio access network (RAN);

a second communication module for engaging in communication with a second subscriber device;

at least one processor;

a data storage; and

program instructions stored in the data storage, wherein the program instructions are executable by the at least one processor to cause the first subscriber device to perform functions comprising;

communicating with the second subscriber device over a peer-to-peer local communication link;

transmitting data over an air interface to the RAN serving the first subscriber device, the data including (i) first data originated by the first subscriber device and (ii) second data originated by the second subscriber device and received by the first subscriber device from the second subscriber device over the peer-to-peer local communication link; and

responsive to the first data being originated by the first subscriber device and the second data being originated by the second subscriber device and being received by the first subscriber device, applying a higher transmission priority for the transmitting of the first data over the air interface than for the transmitting of the second data over the air interface.

17. The first subscriber device of claim 16, wherein applying the higher transmission priority for the transmitting of the first data than for the transmitting of the second data comprises transmitting more of the second data per unit time than the first data per unit time, the functions further comprising:

maintaining in the data storage of the first subscriber device a first output queue holding the first data and a second output queue holding the second data, and wherein transmitting more of the second data per unit time than the first data per unit time comprises outputting more data from the second output queue per unit time than from the first output queue per unit time.

18. The first subscriber device of claim 17, wherein applying the higher transmission priority for the transmitting of the first data than for the transmitting of the second data is further responsive to (i) the second output queue holding more data than the first output queue, (ii) the second data having a real-time communication service type, and (iii) the first data having a non-real-time communication service type.

19. The first subscriber device of claim 16, wherein the data is transmitted by the first subscriber device over an air interface selected from the group consisting of a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) air interface and a Long Term Evolution (LTE) air interface.