Mobile network congestion recognition for optimization of mobile traffic

• US 9,326,185 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2013
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Seven Networks LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Seven Networks LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Alisawi, Rami
• Primary Examiner(s): Liu, Siming
• Application Number:
  US13/956,174
• Publication Number:
  US 20140254359A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,000 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0215 based on user or device properties, e.g. MTC-capable devices services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] H04W4/70; wireless resource selection or allocation plan definition based on terminal or device properties H04W72/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0221 power availability or consumption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0231 based on communication conditions dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0247 based on conditions of the access network or the infrastructure network central resource management H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0284 detecting congestion or overload during communication monitoring arrangements H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0219 where the power saving management affects multiple terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0245 according to signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0254 detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/00 Technologies for an efficient end-user side electric power management and consumption
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Systems and methods for mobile network congestion recognition for optimization of mobile traffic are disclosed. A mobile device having a local proxy equipped with congestion recognition capabilities can sample time consumed to establish data connection between the mobile device and the mobile network, collect data including at least one of signal strength data, cell identifier, and location area code associated with the data connection between the mobile device and the mobile network, and anticipate network congestion, based at least on the time consumed and the collected data. On detecting mobile network congestion, the local proxy can apply a blocking policy to block all or low priority traffic from signaling the congested mobile network to ease the congestion.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a mobile device for congestion detection in a mobile network, the method, comprising:

sampling, at a mobile device, setup times for establishing a data connection between the mobile device and one or more base stations in the mobile network;

analyzing at least the sampled setup times and thereby detecting congestion at a base station from the one or more base stations in the mobile network; and

applying a blocking policy on traffic from the mobile device in response to detecting congestion at the base station,

wherein the analyzing comprises using a baseline determined from the sampled setup times to detect an increase in setup times associated with subsequent data connections established between the mobile device and the one or more base stations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, a setup time is measured as a difference between a timestamp associated with a data request at the mobile device and a timestamp associated with a transition of a radio state of the mobile device from an idle state to a connected or high state.

3. The method of claim 1, a setup time includes a radio access bearer reconfiguration time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, the mobile device includes a smartphone or a superphone, a tablet or a phablet.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a set of the setup times in a memory stack, wherein the analyzing is triggered when the memory stack is full.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, the increase in setup times is used as an indicator by the mobile device to detect congestion at the base station.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the baseline is calculated as a sum of a mean of a set of the setup times, a standard deviation of the set of the setup times and a sensitivity factor.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sensitivity factor adjusts sensitivity in detecting the increase in setup times.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting that the base station in the mobile network is congested based on a rejection message received in response to attempts to establish a data connection.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an amount of time to wait before attempting to connect or reconnect to the mobile network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the blocking policy allows high priority traffic from the mobile device to reach the base station in the mobile network.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

logging information on the detected congestion; and

periodically uploading the logged information to a remote server.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the logged data is processed to generate a congestion report.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the congestion report is provided to an operator or service provider of the mobile network.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the base station is a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile network.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein, the base station is a Node B in a 3G mobile network or an Evolved Node B in Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network.

17. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which when executed by a machine, causes the machine to:

aggregate setup times for connection requests in a mobile network to determine a baseline;

detect increase in setup times for subsequent connection requests in the mobile network from the baseline;

determine that a base station in the mobile network is congested based at least in part on the detected increase in setup times; and

apply a blocking policy to selectively block traffic from the mobile device from reaching the mobile network in response to determining that the base station in the mobile network is congested.

18. The medium of claim 17, wherein the machine uses reception quality associated with the subsequent connection requests to confirm that the base station in the mobile network is congested.

19. The medium of claim 18, wherein the machine further uses a distribution pattern of the subsequent connection requests to further confirm that the base station in the mobile network is congested.

20. The medium of claim 17, wherein the machine determines an amount of time to wait before attempting to connect or reconnect to the mobile network.

21. The medium of claim 17, wherein the blocking policy is applied for a predefined duration of time, or until a high priority data request is detected at the mobile device.

22. The medium of claim 19, wherein the distribution pattern of the subsequent connection requests is established using location area code and base station identifier information associated with the subsequent connection requests.

23. The medium of claim 17, wherein when a rejection message is received in response to any one of the subsequent connection requests, the machine determines that the base station in the mobile network is congested, and applies the blocking policy on traffic from the machine to reduce signaling to the mobile network.

24. The medium of claim 17, wherein the baseline is a statistical measure that adapts to network peculiarities.

25. A method for anticipating network congestion, comprising:

sampling time consumed to establish a data connection between a mobile device and a mobile network;

collecting data including at least one of signal strength data, cell identifier, and location area code associated with the data connection between the mobile device and the mobile network;

anticipating, based at least on the time consumed and the collected data, network congestion; and

blocking traffic from the mobile device to the mobile network in response to the anticipating network congestion.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

determining an amount of time to wait before attempting to connect or reconnect the mobile device to the mobile network.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

querying a modem of the mobile device to determine whether a data connection rejection message is received from the mobile network.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

anticipating network congestion on the mobile network regardless of the time consumed or the collected data when the data connection rejection message is received from the mobile network.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the time consumed to establish the data connection is based on the time difference between time of a data request and time of transition of the radio state to connected state from idle state.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the time consumed in establishing each data connection is compared to a threshold to detect a potential case of network congestion.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the time consumed to establish the data connection is based on time to complete a radio bearer reconfiguration procedure.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the threshold is a statistical measure derived from a dataset stored in a memory stack, wherein the dataset includes values of time consumed to establish data connection between the mobile device and the mobile network.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the threshold is adjustable by a parameter for conservative or aggressive detection of the potential case of network congestion.

34. The method of claim 25, wherein the signal strength data is evaluated against a predefined range or a threshold to determine whether to promote the potential case of network congestion to a confirmed case of network congestion.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein cell identifiers and location area codes associated with confirmed cases of network congestion are used to make a final decision on the confirmed cases of network congestion to anticipate network congestion.

36. The method of claim 25, wherein the traffic from the mobile device that is blocked from accessing the network includes low priority traffic.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the low priority traffic includes requests from background processes on the mobile device.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein high priority traffic from the mobile device is allowed to signal the mobile network.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the high priority traffic includes a phone call, an SMS, an MMS, an email, or other user initiated request.

40. The method of claim 25, wherein the mobile network uses any of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network communication technology.

41. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

generating a congestion report using at least some of the collected data; and

periodically uploading the congestion report to a server cloud.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein information in the congestion report and other congestion reports from multiple mobile devices associated with the mobile network is aggregated and provided to an operator of the mobile network.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the information in the congestion report provides near real time information on network congestion.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein the information in the congestion report provides packet call quality information relating to the mobile network.

45. The method of claim 25, wherein the network congestion is anticipated by the mobile device independent of other mobile devices on the mobile network.

46. The method of claim 25, wherein the network congestion is anticipated by the mobile device without incurring signaling load on the mobile network.

47. The method of claim 25, wherein establishing the data connection includes sending a radio resource control (RRC) connection request by the mobile device to a base station.

48. The method of claim 25, wherein the base station is one of a base transceiver station (BTS), evolved node B (eNodeB) or NodeB.

49. A mobile device equipped for managing data traffic to reduce network signaling, comprising:

a radio configured to send data connection requests to a mobile network;

a processor;

a memory unit having instructions stored thereon which when executed by the processor, causes the processor to;

detect increase in radio turn on time values associated with data connection requests;

determine whether the increase in radio turn on time values is due to congestion in the mobile network; and

on determining that the increase in radio turn on time values is due to congestion in the mobile network, manage outgoing data traffic on the mobile device by applying a blocking policy,

wherein the radio turn on time is measured as the difference between time of a data request from an application on the mobile device and time of radio state transition from an idle state to a connected state.

50. The mobile device of claim 49, wherein the increase is detected from comparison to a reference radio turn on time value.

51. The mobile device of claim 49, wherein on determining that the increase in radio turn on time values is due to congestion in the mobile network, the processor is caused to determine an amount of time to wait before attempting to connect or reconnect to the mobile network.

52. The mobile device of claim 49, wherein the blocking policy includes rules to block data traffic having low priority and allow data traffic having high priority to the mobile network.

53. The mobile device of claim 52, wherein the data traffic having high priority are from active applications on the mobile device, while the data traffic having low priority are from applications in background of the mobile device.

54. The mobile device of claim 49, wherein if the increase in radio turn on time values is not caused by congestion in the mobile network, the processor is further caused to allow outgoing data traffic from the mobile device to the mobile network.

55. The mobile device of claim 49, wherein signal strength information is used to reduce or eliminate effect of signal strength on the detected increase in radio turn on time values.

56. The mobile device of claim 49, wherein information relating to the base station and the location area code is used to reduce or eliminate effect of geographic mobility of the mobile device on the detected increase in radio turn on time values.

57. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein the reference radio turn on time value is based on radio turn on time values of a sample number of data connection requests.

58. The mobile device of claim 49, wherein the data connection requests are sent from the mobile device to one or more base stations in the mobile network.

59. A system for optimizing data traffic to reduce network signaling, comprising:

means for collecting a sample of radio turn on time values associated with data connection requests;

means for determining a baseline radio turn on time value from the sample of radio turn on time values;

means for comparing radio turn on time values of subsequent data connection requests to the baseline radio turn on time value to detect potential cases of network congestion;

means for evaluating the potential cases of network congestion using congestion confirmatory data and thereby detecting network congestion; and

means for optimizing data traffic from the mobile device to reduce network signaling in response to detecting network congestion.

60. The system of claim 59, wherein the means for evaluating further comprises:

means for promoting the potential cases of network congestion to confirmed cases of network congestion based on indications of signal quality associated with the potential cases of network congestion.

61. The system of claim 60, wherein the means for evaluating further comprises:

means for promoting the potential cases of network congestion to confirmed cases of network congestion based on a rejection message received from the network in response to one of the subsequent data connection requests.

62. The system of claim 59, wherein the means for evaluating further comprises:

means for taking a final decision on the confirmed cases of network congestion based number of the confirmed cases of network congestion per base station in the same location area code.

63. The system of claim 59, further comprising:

means for storing the sample of radio turn on time values associated with the data connection requests;

means for storing radio turn on time values associated the potential cases of network congestion.

64. The system of claim 59, further comprising:

means for determining radio turn on time value as the difference between time of a data request from an application on the mobile device to transition of the radio state from an idle state to a connected state.

65. The system of claim 59, further comprising:

means for determining radio turn on time value as time to complete a radio bearer reconfiguration procedure.

66. The system of claim 59, wherein the means for optimizing data traffic includes means for selectively blocking traffic from the mobile device based on status of applications from where the traffic originate.

67. The system of claim 66, wherein the traffic originating from applications that are running in the background are subject to blocking.

68. The system of claim 59, wherein the means for optimizing data traffic includes means for selectively blocking traffic from applications that are associated with high volume of transactions.

69. The system of claim 59, further comprising:

means for querying a mobile device component to detect rejection of an attempt to establish a data connection with a mobile base station.

70. The system of claim 69, further comprising:

means for selectively blocking traffic from the mobile device from traversing the mobile network to reduce signaling overload on the mobile network in response to detecting the rejection.