Cache-induced opportunistic MIMO cooperation for wireless networks

• US 9,560,694 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2013
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Original Assignee: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Inventors: Lau, Vincent Kin Nang
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tseng, Leon Y
• Application Number:
  US13/975,037
• Publication Number:
  US 20140201311A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,257 Days
• Field of Search: 709/213
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Cooperative caching systems incorporating Plug-and-Play base stations are described herein. Plug-and-Play base stations with large caching capacities are employed in a wireless network to perform cooperative transmission with macro base stations. Each Plug-and-Play base station can either have wireless backhaul or a low-cost wired backhaul connection to the macro base stations. Cooperative caching systems can direct traffic between the Plug-and-Play base stations and the macro base stations.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

at least one processor, coupled to at least one memory, that executes or facilitates execution of computer-executable components stored in the at least one memory, the computer-executable components, comprising;

a cache control component configured to instruct a first cache of a first access point (AP) device wirelessly coupled to a user equipment (UE) and a second cache of a second AP device wirelessly coupled to the UE to store common content based on an evaluation of data describing a statistic of a network; and

a scheduling component configured to;

receive, from the UE, a request to access a requested item;

in response to a requested portion of the requested item being determined to have been stored in the first cache of the first AP device and the second cache of the second AP device, assign a first scheduling priority to the UE for facilitating a cooperative multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) transmission to the UE, and

select a cooperative MIMO transmission mode comprising first instruction data instructing the first AP device and the second AP device to cooperatively transmit, according to the first scheduling priority, the requested portion of the requested item from the first cache of the first AP device and the second cache of the second AP device to the UE utilizing a common wireless transmission channel; and

in response to the requested portion of the requested item being determined to not have been stored in the first cache of the first AP device and the second cache of the second AP device, assign a second scheduling priority to the UE for facilitating a relay transmission to the UE, and select a relay transmission mode comprising second instruction data instructing the first AP device to individually transmit, according to the second scheduling priority, the requested portion of the requested item to the UE, wherein the first scheduling priority is greater than the second scheduling priority.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the cache control component is further configured to:

perform an evaluation of content of the first cache or the second cache; and

alter the content based on the evaluation of the content.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the cache control component is further configured to:

determine a popularity metric of a first item based on the data describing the statistic of the network; and

determine whether to alter content of the first cache or the second cache based on an evaluation of the content and the popularity metric of the first item.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the cache control component is further configured to:

in response to determining that the content is to be altered, remove at least a removed portion of a second item from the first cache or the second cache and add at least an added portion of the first item to the first cache or the second cache.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the second AP device comprises a macro AP device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the cache control component is further configured to alter the data describing the statistic of the network based on an updated set of data describing the statistic of the network.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the cache control component is further configured to determine, based on statistics of the data describing the statistic of the network, a cache control policy.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein data describing the statistic of the network describes a history associated with requested content.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the cache control component is further configured to:

instruct, based on the relay transmission mode, the first AP device to retrieve other data associated with the requested item via a backhaul connection.

10. A method, comprising:

evaluating, by a system comprising a processing device, data representing a statistic of a network;

in response to the evaluating, controlling caches of respective access point devices of the network;

in response to a requested item being determined to have been stored in the caches, assigning a first scheduling priority to a mobile device for facilitating a multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) transmission to the mobile device, and sending first instruction data to the respective access point devices directing the respective access point devices to cooperatively transmit, using a wireless transmission channel of a MIMO transmission mode, the requested item from the caches to the mobile device based on the first scheduling priority; and

in response to the requested item being determined to not have been stored in the caches, assigning a second scheduling priority to the mobile device for facilitating a relay transmission to the mobile device, and sending second instruction data to an access point device of the respective access point devices directing the access point device to transmit the requested item to the mobile device based on the second scheduling priority, wherein the first scheduling priority is higher than the second scheduling priority.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the controlling comprises altering content of a cache of the caches based on a determined popularity metric of items of the content.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the respective access point devices comprises a macro access point device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining a popularity metric associated with the requested item.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

comparing the popularity metric associated with the requested item with respective popularity metrics of a set of items stored in a cache of the caches; and

in response to the comparing, removing at least a portion of the second item from the cache and adding at least a portion of the first item to the cache.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a cache control policy based on history data representing a history of the data representing the statistic of the network.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

selecting a relay transmission policy in response to determining that a cache of the caches does not comprise the requested item, wherein the relay transmission policy comprises data that instructs at least one network device of the network to retrieve request data associated with the requested item via a backhaul connection.

17. A computer-readable storage device storing executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system comprising a processor to perform operations, comprising:

evaluating statistical data of a network;

modifying, based on the statistical data, content of caches of respective access point devices of the network;

in response to requested content being determined to have been stored in the caches, assigning a first scheduling priority to a mobile device for facilitating a multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) transmission to the mobile device, and sending first instruction information to the respective access point devices directing the respective access point devices to cooperatively transmit the requested content to the mobile device utilizing a common transmission channel of a MIMO transmission mode; and

in response to the requested content being determined to not have been stored in the caches, assigning a first scheduling priority to the mobile device for facilitating a relay transmission to the mobile device, and sending second instruction information to an access point device of the respective access point devices directing the access point device to transmit the requested content to the mobile device.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining respective priorities of a set of the transmissions associated with respective requests for accessing respective items, based on determining whether a cache of the caches comprises the respective items, and wherein a higher priority is associated with a subset of the set of the transmissions that are associated with a portion of the respective items determined to be in the cache relative to another subset of the set of the transmissions that are determined not to be in the cache.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

altering content of a cache of the caches based on a determined popularity metric of items of the content.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

based on the statistical data, determining a cache control policy with respect to a video on demand application.