Controlling traffic transmissions to manage cellular radio resource utilization

• US 9,654,950 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2016
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gerber, Alexandre, Spatscheck, Oliver, Sen, Subhabrata, Qian, Feng, Wang, Zhaoguang, Mao, Zhuoqing Morley
• Primary Examiner(s): Ajibade Akonai, Olumide T
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOLLIDAY, JAIME MICHELE
• Application Number:
  US14/996,033
• Publication Number:
  US 20160127877A1
• Time in Patent Office: 488 Days
• Field of Search: 4554141-4144
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/53 based on regulatory allocation policies

Abstract

Techniques control traffic transmissions to manage radio resource utilization. When content is being streamed to user equipment (UE) and is at least initially intended to be streamed in real time at a constant bitrate, a communication management component can determine whether the content being transmitted to the UE can be delayed, instead of being transmitted in real time. In response to determining that the content can be delayed, the communication management component can facilitate buffering data and periodically streaming the data to the UE in data bursts to reduce use of UE power and radio resources. When transmitting a visual image to a UE, the communication management component can adjust resolution of a visual image to correspond to screen dimensions of the UE based on information indicating screen dimensions of the UE that can be received from the UE.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

in connection with content that is initially scheduled to be communicated using a continuous stream at a defined bitrate, determining whether it is permissible for the content to be received by a device using separate data bursts comprising respective portions of the content without using the continuous stream at the defined bitrate, wherein the separate data bursts comprises a first separate data burst comprising a first portion of the content and a second separate data burst comprising a second portion of the content; and

to facilitate the determining whether the content is permitted to be received by the device using the separate data bursts, determining whether a scheduled data transfer start time for communication of the second portion of the content is able to be adjusted to delay the communication of the second portion of the content with the second separate data burst for a defined amount of time after communication of the first portion of the content with the first separate data burst based on a jitter parameter associated with the second portion of the content, wherein the jitter parameter indicates an amount of time delay from the scheduled data transfer start time that is permitted.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining the content is permitted to be received by the device using the separate data bursts, receiving the respective portions of the content in respective separate data bursts of the separate data bursts.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the scheduled data transfer start time for the communication of the second portion of the content is able to be adjusted to delay the communication of the second portion of the content with the second separate data burst for the defined amount of time after the communication of the first portion of the content with the first separate data burst further comprises determining whether the scheduled data transfer start time for the communication of the second portion of the content is able to be adjusted to delay the communication of the second portion of the content with the second separate data burst for the defined amount of time after the communication of the first portion of the content with the first separate data burst based on the jitter parameter and a defined traffic communication criterion relating to a subscription associated with the content.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the content is scheduled to be streamed to the device using the continuous stream at the defined bitrate;

determining that a defined amount of delay of reception of the content by the device is permissible; and

in response to the defined amount of delay being determined to be permissible, receiving the respective portions of the content via respective data transfers as part of the respective separate data bursts of the separate data bursts.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise scheduling a transmission of respective data transfers of the respective portions of the content with a second device that is to provide the respective portions of the content.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the scheduling of the transmission of the respective data transfers comprises scheduling transmission of a first data transfer of the respective data transfers from the second device to occur within a specified amount of time of transmission of a second data transfer associated with different content from a third device to facilitate reception of the first data transfer and the second data transfer in a same separate data burst of the separate data bursts.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting information indicative of a display characteristic associated with the device;

receiving a visual image that has been modified based on the display characteristic associated with the device, wherein the visual image is received as part of a portion of the respective portions of the content; and

providing the visual image to a display screen of the device that is associated with the display characteristic to facilitate presentation of the visual image by the display screen.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the display characteristic comprises information indicative of a display screen dimension associated with the device.

9. A method, comprising:

in connection with content that is initially set to be communicated using a continuous stream at a specified bitrate, determining, by a system comprising a processor, whether the content is approved to be received by a device using individual data bursts that comprise individual portions of the content as an alternative to the content being received by the device using the continuous stream at the specified bitrate, wherein the individual data bursts comprise a first individual data burst comprising a first portion of the content and a second individual data burst comprising a second portion of the content; and

to facilitate the determining whether the content is approved to be received by the device using the individual data bursts, determining, by the system, whether an indicated data transfer start time for communication of the second portion of the content to the device is able to be modified to delay the communication of the second portion of the content with the second individual data burst for a defined amount of time after communication of the first portion of the content, as part of the first individual data burst, to the device based on a jitter parameter associated with the second portion of the content, wherein the jitter parameter indicates an amount of time deviation from the indicated data transfer start time that is acceptable.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

in response to determining that the content is approved to be received by the device using the individual data bursts, receiving, by the system, the individual portions of the content via the individual data bursts.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining, by the system, that the content is scheduled to be streamed to the device using the continuous stream at the specified bitrate;

determining, by the system, that a specified amount of delay of reception of the content by the device satisfies a condition; and

in response to the determining that the specified amount of delay satisfies the condition, receiving, by the system, the individual portions of the content via the individual data bursts.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the device is a first device, and wherein the method further comprises:

scheduling, by the system, communication of individual data transfers of the individual portions of the content with a second device that is to communicate the individual portions of the content to the first device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining whether the indicated data transfer start time for the communication of the second portion of the content to the device is able to be modified to delay the communication of the second portion of the content with the second individual data burst for the defined amount of time after the communication of the first portion of the content, as part of the first individual data burst, to the device comprises determining whether the indicated data transfer start time for the communication of the second portion of the content to the device is able to be modified to delay the communication of the second portion of the content with the second individual data burst for the defined amount of time after the communication of the first portion of the content, as part of the first individual data burst, to the device based on the jitter parameter and a defined traffic communication criterion relating to a communication network policy that relates to the content.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the device is a first device, and wherein the method further comprises:

scheduling, by the system, communication of a first data transfer of the individual data transfers to be received from a second device within a specified amount of time of communication of a second data transfer associated with different content to be received from a third device to facilitate communicating the first data transfer and the second data transfer in a same individual data burst of the individual data bursts; and

facilitating communicating, by the system, the first data transfer and the second data transfer in the same individual data burst.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

transmitting, by the system, information indicative of a display characteristic associated with the device to facilitate modifying a visual image of the content to a modified visual image to correspond to the display characteristic; and

receiving, by the system, the modified visual image based on the display characteristic associated with the device.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

in connection with content that is initially scheduled to be transmitted using a continuous stream at a defined bitrate, determining whether the content is transmittable to a device via separate data bursts comprising respective subsets of the content instead of transmission of the content using the continuous stream at the defined bitrate, wherein the separate data bursts comprise a first separate data burst comprising a first subset of the content and a second separate data burst comprising a second subset of the content; and

to facilitate the determining whether the content is transmittable to the device via the separate data bursts, determining whether a scheduled data transfer start time for transmission of the second subset of the content to the device is able to be modified to delay the transmission of the second subset of the content with the second separate data burst to the device for a defined amount of time after transmission of the first subset of the content with the first separate data burst to the device based on a data transfer parameter associated with the second subset of the content, wherein the data transfer parameter indicates an amount of time deviation from the scheduled data transfer start time that is acceptable.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the content is transmittable to the device using the separate data bursts, transmitting the respective subsets of the content to the device using the separate data bursts.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying the content is scheduled to be streamed to the device using the continuous stream at the defined bitrate;

determining that a specified amount of delay of transmission of a portion of the respective subsets of the content to the device is acceptable;

storing the portion of the respective subsets of the content in a buffer component to facilitate transmission of the portion of the respective subsets of the content in subsequent separate data bursts of the separate data bursts; and

transmitting the portion of the respective subsets of the content via respective data transfers as part of the subsequent separate data bursts, without exceeding the specified amount of delay.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise coordinating with the device to schedule transmission of respective data transfers of the respective subsets of the content to the device.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving information indicative of a display characteristic associated with the device in relation to provision of a visual image of the content to facilitate modification of the visual image to correspond to the display characteristic, wherein the information indicative of the display characteristic comprises a subset of the information indicative of a display screen size associated with the device;

modifying the visual image, based on the display characteristic, to generate a modified visual image; and

transmitting the modified visual image to the device.