Methods and systems for managing bandwidth for user devices on a transportation vehicle

• US 9,949,155 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2016
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Avionics Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Avionics Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Lin, Changhwa
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassim, Khaled
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALI, SYED
• Application Number:
  US15/004,235
• Publication Number:
  US 20170215095A1
• Time in Patent Office: 816 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0236 radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/06 based on traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks

Abstract

Methods and systems for a transportation vehicle are provided. One method includes collecting by a processor connection information for a plurality of user devices accessing a wireless network on a transportation vehicle; determining by the processor available bandwidth for the plurality of user devices depending on a connection type; monitoring currently used bandwidth by the plurality of user devices; receiving a request from a user device to access content via the wireless connection; determining by the processor additional bandwidth for accessing the content by the user device; and rejecting the request for accessing the content when the additional bandwidth and the currently used bandwidth equals or exceeds the available bandwidth for the plurality of user devices.

Claims

1. A machine implemented method, comprising:

collecting by a processor connection information for a plurality of user devices accessing a wireless network on a transportation vehicle using one or more connection protocols;

wherein each of the one or more connection protocols defines a maximum bandwidth for accessing the wireless network and the connection information identifies a connection type and a connection speed for each of the plurality of user devices that is stored by the processor in a data structure;

determining by the processor available bandwidth for the plurality of user devices depending on the connection type defined by the one or more connection protocols, wherein the available bandwidth is less than the maximum bandwidth defined by each of the one or more connection protocols;

wherein for bandwidth management on the transportation vehicle, at least two speed thresholds X and Y are maintained, and a bandwidth quota, Qx and Qy are assigned to each of the speed thresholds X and Y, and when a connection speed is slower than X and available bandwidth is less than Qy, then a bandwidth request is rejected, and when the connection speed is higher than Y, the bandwidth request is accepted until Qy is exhausted or not enough; and

wherein Qx and Qy are adjustable based on a percentage of wireless connections on the transportation vehicle connecting at speeds lower than X or Y;

monitoring currently used bandwidth by the plurality of user devices for accessing the wireless network;

receiving a request from a user device to access content via the wireless network, the user request providing an indication of additional bandwidth based on content type;

determining in response to the request, by the processor, the additional bandwidth required for accessing the content by the user device via the wireless network; and

rejecting the request for accessing the content when the additional bandwidth for the user request and the currently used bandwidth equals or exceeds the available bandwidth for the plurality of user devices to access the wireless network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transportation vehicle is an aircraft and the content is made available via an in-flight entertainment system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is to access an audio file.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is to access a video file.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional bandwidth is determined based on a request type.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor maintains a data structure for storing available bandwidth and currently used bandwidth information to determine if the additional bandwidth and the currently used bandwidth equals or exceeds the available bandwidth.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the transportation vehicle is one of an aircraft, automobile, a bus, a train and a recreational vehicle (RV).

8. A non-transitory, machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions comprising machine executable code which when executed by a machine, causes the machine to:

collect by a processor connection information for a plurality of user devices accessing a wireless network on a transportation vehicle using one or more connection protocols;

wherein each of the one or more connection protocols defines a maximum bandwidth for accessing the wireless network and the connection information identifies a connection type and a connection speed for each of the plurality of user devices that is stored by the processor in a data structure;

determine by the processor available bandwidth for the plurality of user devices depending on the connection type defined by the one or more connection protocols, wherein the available bandwidth is less than the maximum bandwidth defined by each of the one or more connection protocols;

wherein for bandwidth management on the transportation vehicle, at least two speed thresholds X and Y are maintained, and a bandwidth quota, Qx and Qy are assigned to each of the speed thresholds X and Y, and when a connection speed is slower than X and available bandwidth is less than Qy, then a bandwidth request is rejected, and when the connection speed is higher than Y, the bandwidth request is accepted until Qy is exhausted or not enough; and

wherein Qx and Qy are adjustable based on a percentage of wireless connections on the transportation vehicle connecting at speeds lower than X or Y;

monitor currently used bandwidth by the plurality of user devices for accessing the wireless network;

receive a request from a user device to access content via the wireless network, the user request providing an indication of additional bandwidth based on content type;

determine in response to the request, by the processor, the additional bandwidth required for accessing the content by the user device via the wireless network; and

rejecting the request for accessing the content when the additional bandwidth for the user request and the currently used bandwidth equals or exceeds the available bandwidth for the plurality of user devices to access the wireless network.

9. The non-transitory, machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the transportation vehicle is an aircraft and the content is made available via an in-flight entertainment system.

10. The non-transitory, machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the request is to access an audio file.

11. The non-transitory, machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the request is to access a video file.

12. The non-transitory, machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the additional bandwidth is determined based on a request type.

13. The non-transitory, machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the processor maintains a data structure for storing available bandwidth and currently used bandwidth information to determine if the additional bandwidth and the currently used bandwidth equals or exceeds the available bandwidth.

14. The non-transitory, machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the transportation vehicle is one of an automobile, a bus, a train and a recreational vehicle (RV).

15. A system, comprising:

a memory containing non-transitory, machine readable medium comprising machine executable code having stored thereon instructions; and

a processor module coupled to the memory, the processor module configured to execute the machine executable code to;

collect by a processor connection information for a plurality of user devices accessing a wireless network on a transportation vehicle using one or more connection protocols;

wherein each of the one or more connection protocols defines a maximum bandwidth for accessing the wireless network and the connection information identifies a connection type and a connection speed for each of the plurality of user devices that is stored by the processor in a data structure;

determine by the processor available bandwidth for the plurality of user devices depending on the connection type defined by the one or more connection protocols, wherein the available bandwidth is less than the maximum bandwidth defined by each of the one or more connection protocols;

wherein for bandwidth management on the transportation vehicle, at least two speed thresholds X and Y are maintained, and a bandwidth quota, Qx and Qy are assigned to each of the speed thresholds X and Y, and when a connection speed is slower than X and available bandwidth is less than Qy, then a bandwidth request is rejected, and when the connection speed is higher than Y, the bandwidth request is accepted until Qy is exhausted or not enough; and

wherein Qx and Qy are adjustable based on a percentage of wireless connections on the transportation vehicle connecting at speeds lower than X or Y;

monitor currently used bandwidth by the plurality of user devices for accessing the wireless network;

receive a request from a user device to access content via the wireless network, the user request providing an indication of additional bandwidth based on content type;

determine in response to the request, by the processor, the additional bandwidth required for accessing the content by the user device via the wireless network; and

reject the request for accessing the content when the additional bandwidth for the user request and the currently used bandwidth equals or exceeds the available bandwidth for the plurality of user devices to access the wireless network.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the transportation vehicle is an aircraft and the content is made available via an in-flight entertainment system.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the request is to access an audio file.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the request is to access a video file.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the additional bandwidth is determined based on a request type.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor maintains a data structure for storing available bandwidth and currently used bandwidth information to determine if the additional bandwidth and the currently used bandwidth equals or exceeds the available bandwidth.