Data caching in a communication network
First Claim
1. A communications network comprising:
- multiple base stations, each capable of communicating wirelessly with one or more wireless terminals; and
a network core communicatively coupled to the base stations, the network core comprising;
a data cache to which base stations can write data received from terminals, the data cache being accessible from outside the network core in such a way that users external to the network core can write data to the data cache at times that are not scheduled by the network core; and
a network controller capable of controlling the operation of the base stations, the network controller being configured to schedule a propagation to the terminals of data stored in the data cache by allocating base station transmission bandwidth for the transmission of the data to one or more of the terminals, the network controller being further configured to allocate the transmission bandwidth in dependence on a loading associated with the base station to which the one or more terminals are attached relative to a loading associated with others of the multiple base stations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A communications network comprising: multiple base stations, each capable of communicating wirelessly with one or more wireless terminals; and a network core communicatively coupled to the base stations, the network core comprising: a data cache to which base stations can write data received from terminals, accessible from outside the network core in such a way that users external to the network core can write data to the data cache at times that are not scheduled by the network core; and a network controller capable of controlling the operation of the base stations, the network controller being configured to schedule the propagation to the terminals of data stored in the data cache by allocating base station transmission bandwidth for the transmission of the data to one or more of the terminals.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A communications network comprising:
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multiple base stations, each capable of communicating wirelessly with one or more wireless terminals; and a network core communicatively coupled to the base stations, the network core comprising; a data cache to which base stations can write data received from terminals, the data cache being accessible from outside the network core in such a way that users external to the network core can write data to the data cache at times that are not scheduled by the network core; and a network controller capable of controlling the operation of the base stations, the network controller being configured to schedule a propagation to the terminals of data stored in the data cache by allocating base station transmission bandwidth for the transmission of the data to one or more of the terminals, the network controller being further configured to allocate the transmission bandwidth in dependence on a loading associated with the base station to which the one or more terminals are attached relative to a loading associated with others of the multiple base stations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A communications network comprising:
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multiple base stations, each capable of communicating wirelessly with one or more wireless terminals; a network core communicatively coupled to the base stations, the network core comprising; a data cache to which base stations can write data received from terminals, the data cache being accessible from outside the network core in such a way that users external to the network core can write data to the data cache at times that are not scheduled by the network core; and a network controller capable of controlling the operation of the base stations, the network controller being configured to schedule a propagation to the terminals of data stored in the data cache by allocating base station transmission bandwidth for the transmission of the data to one or more of the terminals, the network controller being further configured to allocate the transmission bandwidth in dependence on a loading associated with the base station to which the one or more terminals are attached relative to a loading associated with others of the multiple base stations; a cache controller configured to schedule updates to the data cache in such a way that base stations can write data received from terminals to the data cache immediately on receiving that data but a user external to the network core can only read that data at a time, wherein the cache controller is further configured to schedule the time at which the external user can read the data so that there is a delay between the base stations writing that data to the data cache and that data being available to be read by the external user; and an authentication unit, wherein the cache controller is further configured to pass the data to the authentication unit for authentication during the delay, the authentication unit being configured to authenticate the data as having originated from one of the terminals.
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15. A communications network comprising:
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multiple base stations, each capable of communicating wirelessly with one or more wireless terminals; and a network core communicatively coupled to the base stations, the network core comprising; a data cache to which base stations can write data received from terminals, the data cache being accessible from outside the network core in such a way that users external to the network core can write data to the data cache at times that are not scheduled by the network core; and a network controller capable of controlling the operation of the base stations, the network controller being configured to schedule a propagation to the terminals of data stored in the data cache by allocating base station transmission bandwidth for the transmission of the data to one or more of the terminals, the network controller being further configured to allocate the transmission bandwidth in dependence on a loading associated with the base station to which the one or more terminals are attached relative to a loading associated with others of the multiple base stations; a cache controller configured to schedule updates to the data cache in such a way that base stations can write data received from terminals to the data cache immediately on receiving that data but a user external to the network core can only read that data at a time, wherein the cache controller is further configured to schedule the time at which the external user can read the data so that there is a delay between the base stations writing that data to the data cache and that data being available to be read by the external user; and a billing entity configured to generate a billing record associated with the data during the delay.
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Specification