Methods and nodes in a communication system

• US 9,474,078 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2014
• Issued: 10/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Synnergren, Per, Hannu, Hans
• Primary Examiner(s): TOWFIGHI, AFSHAWN M
• Application Number:
  US14/532,548
• Publication Number:
  US 20150055464A1
• Time in Patent Office: 714 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• 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 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load

Abstract

Embodiments herein include a method in a server for scheduling of an information transmission from an information providing device to a subscriber equipment in a communication system. The method comprises determining a moment in time at which the subscriber equipment desires information. Also, an estimation of the communication intensity in the communication system at the determined moment in time is obtained. If the estimated communication intensity exceeds a certain threshold value, an appropriate period in time for the information providing device to send desired information to the subscriber equipment is calculated, based on the communication intensity in the communication system. Furthermore, a trigger signal is sent to the information providing device, requesting the information providing device at what moment in time to provide information to the subscriber equipment. A method in an information providing device is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method in a server for scheduling data to be transmitted from a plurality of information providing devices in a geographical area to a subscriber equipment, wherein the server, the information providing devices, and the subscriber equipment are comprised in a communication system, the method comprising:

determining two or more input parameters, including a time when the subscriber equipment desires the data from the information providing devices as well as one or more of;

a radio access technology utilized by the information providing devices;

the number of the information providing devices within the geographical area;

when the information providing devices are due to deliver data to the subscriber equipment;

a traffic model or measurement for human usage in the geographical area; and

an estimated load within the communication system; and

scheduling the information providing devices to provide data to the subscriber equipment at different times, based on the two or more determined input parameters;

wherein the information providing devices are machine-to-machine (M2M) devices, and the data from any given one of the M2M devices pertains to measurement data collected by that M2M device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the scheduling is further based on an obtained priority value of the information providing devices, the subscriber equipment, or the data.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising obtaining registration information related to the information providing devices, wherein the registration information related to any given one of the information providing devices comprises at least one of a location of the information providing device, the radio access technology used by the information providing device, and information data related to the information providing device, and wherein the scheduling is further based on said registration information.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising obtaining registration information related to the subscriber equipment, said registration information comprising at least one of a location of the subscriber equipment, the communication technology used by the subscriber equipment, a traffic load in the part of the communication system that the subscriber equipment has access to, and information data related to the subscriber equipment, and wherein the scheduling is further based on said registration information.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the scheduling is further based on an estimation of a size of data to be provided from different ones of the information providing devices.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said scheduling comprises scheduling the different ones of the information providing devices to transmit the data from those information providing devices at the different times, and further comprising requesting the different ones of the information providing devices to transmit the data at respective times.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving the data from the different ones of the information providing devices, and wherein said scheduling comprises scheduling the data received from the different ones of the information providing devices to be transmitted from the server to the subscriber equipment at the different times.

8. A server configured to schedule data to be transmitted from a plurality of information providing devices in a geographical area to a subscriber equipment, wherein the server, the information providing devices, and the subscriber equipment are comprised in a communication system, the server comprising a scheduling circuit configured to:

determine two or more input parameters, including a time when the subscriber equipment desires the data from the information providing devices as well as one or more of;

a radio access technology utilized by the information providing devices;

the number of the information providing devices within the geographical area;

when the information providing devices are due to deliver data to the subscriber equipment;

a traffic model or measurement for human usage in the geographical area; and

an estimated load within the communication system; and

schedule the information providing devices to provide data to the subscriber equipment at different times, based on the two or more determined input parameters;

wherein the information providing devices are machine-to-machine (M2M) devices, and the data from any given one of the M2M devices pertains to measurement data collected by that M2M device.

9. The server according to claim 8, wherein the scheduling is further based on an obtained priority value of the information providing devices, the subscriber equipment, or the data.

10. The server according to claim 8, wherein the scheduling circuit is further configured to obtain registration information related to the information providing devices, wherein the registration information related to any given one of the information providing devices comprises at least one of a location of the information providing device, the radio access technology used by the information providing device, and information data related to the information providing device, and to further base the scheduling on said registration information.

11. The server according to claim 8, wherein the scheduling circuit is further configured to obtain registration information related to the subscriber equipment, said registration information comprising at least one of a location of the subscriber equipment, the communication technology used by the subscriber equipment, a traffic load in the part of the communication system that the subscriber equipment has access to, and information data related to the subscriber equipment, and to further base the scheduling on said registration information.

12. The server according to claim 8, wherein the scheduling is further based on an estimation of a size of data to be provided from different ones of the information providing devices.

13. The server according to claim 8, wherein said scheduling circuit is configured to schedule the different ones of the information providing devices to transmit the data from those information providing devices at the different times, and to request the different ones of the information providing devices to transmit the data at respective times.

14. The server according to claim 8, wherein the server is configured to receive the data from the different ones of the information providing devices, and wherein the scheduling circuit is configured to schedule the data received from the different ones of the information providing devices to be transmitted from the server to the subscriber equipment at the different times.

15. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium and comprising computer program instructions that, when executed by a scheduling circuit of a server, cause the server to schedule data to be transmitted from a plurality of information providing devices in a geographical area to a subscriber equipment, wherein the server, the information providing devices, and the subscriber equipment are comprised in a communication system, wherein the computer program instructions cause the server to:

determine two or more input parameters, including a time when the subscriber equipment desires the data from the information providing devices as well as one or more of;

a radio access technology utilized by the information providing devices;

the number of the information providing devices within the geographical area;

when the information providing devices are due to deliver data to the subscriber equipment;

a traffic model or measurement for human usage in the geographical area; and

an estimated load within the communication system; and

schedule the information providing devices to provide data to the subscriber equipment at different times, based on the two or more determined input parameters;

wherein the information providing devices are machine-to-machine (M2M) devices, and the data from any given one of the M2M devices pertains to measurement data collected by that M2M device.