Network channel allocation method and apparatus

• US 10,979,970 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2016
• Issued: 04/13/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wu, Zhen
• Primary Examiner(s): Khajuria, Shripal K
• Application Number:
  US16/313,813
• Publication Number:
  US 20190239153A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,748 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a network channel allocation method and apparatus. In one embodiment, a network channel allocation method includes determining, by a terminal, a candidate network channel based on a network request of a first application. The candidate network channel is a network channel on which a communications link port is allowed to be established. The method further includes allocating, by the terminal, a target network channel from the candidate network channel to the first application according to an attribute of the first application. The attribute comprises whether an application has a specified network channel, whether an application is a foreground application, an application priority level, or whether an application has a restricted network channel.

Claims

1. A network channel allocation method comprises:

determining, by a multi-channel terminal supporting multiple network channels simultaneously, among a number of network channels, candidate network channels based on a network request of a first application, wherein the candidate network channels are second network channels on a second network on which a communications link port is allowed to be established that is different from a first network channel on a first network over which traffic is sent by default by the terminal, wherein the second network is different from the first network, and wherein the second channels are network on which a communications link port has been established and do not reach a saturated state; and

allocating, by the terminal, a target network channel from the candidate network channel to the first application according to an attribute of the first application, wherein the attribute comprises;

whether an application has a specified network channel, whether an application is a foreground application, an application priority level, or whether an application has a restricted network channel;

wherein the allocating, by the terminal, a target network channel from the candidate network channels to the first application according to the attributes of the first application comprises;

determining, by the terminal, whether the first application has a specified network channel; and

allocating, by the terminal, according to a determination that the first application has no specified network channel, the target network channel from an available network channel of the candidate network channels to the first application, wherein the available network channel is a network channel on which a communications link port is allowed to be established and that is still comprised in the candidate network channels after a target network channel is allocated to a second application.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein allocating the target network channel from the available network channel comprises:

determining whether the first application is a foreground application; and

in response to determining that the first application is a foreground application, allocating, according to channel quality of the available network channel in a corresponding preset period, a network channel with highest channel quality from the available network channel, as the target network channel of the first application.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the determining whether the first application has a specified network channel, the method further comprises:

in response to determining that the first application has a specified network channel, allocating the specified network channel as the target network channel of the first application.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein before allocating the target network channel from the candidate network channel to the first application, the method further comprises:

determining an application priority in a preset period according to an application use frequency and degree in the preset period; and

determining network channel quality in a preset period according to a channel rate of a network channel in the preset period.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein after determining whether the first application is the foreground application, the method further comprises:

in response to determining that the first application is not the foreground application, determining an application priority level M of the first application in a preset period; and

in response to determining that the application priority level M is higher than or equal to a preset level H, allocating, according to channel quality of the available network channel in the corresponding preset period, a network channel with highest channel quality from the available network channel, as the target network channel of the first application.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein after determining whether the first application is the foreground application, the method further comprises:

in response to determining that the first application is not the foreground application, determining an application priority level M of the first application in a preset period; and

in response to determining that the application priority level M is lower than a preset level H, allocating, according to channel quality of the available network channel in the corresponding preset period, a network channel with lowest channel quality from the available network channel, as the target network channel of the first application.

7. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

in response to determining that the target network channel comprises a plurality of network channels, when the first application is the foreground application or an application priority level M of the first application is higher than or equal to a preset level H, allocating, to the first application, a network channel from the plurality of network channels, wherein a quantity of communications link ports on the allocated network channel is less than a quantity of communications link ports on another network channel from the plurality of network channel.

8. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

in response to determining that the target network channel comprises a plurality of network channels, when an application priority level M of the first application is lower than a preset level H, allocating, to the first application, a network channel from the plurality of network channels, wherein a quantity of communications link ports on the allocated network channel is less than a quantity of communications link ports on another network channel from the plurality of network channel.

9. The method according to claim 5, wherein after allocating the target network channel to the first application, the method further comprises:

determining whether the target network channel is the restricted network channel of the first application; and

in response to determining that the target network channel is the restricted network channel of the first application, and the first application is the foreground application or the application priority level M of the first application is higher than or equal to the preset level H, allocating, from the available network channel, a network channel with channel quality only second to the highest channel quality as a new target network channel of the first application.

10. The method according to claim 5, wherein after allocating the target network channel to the first application, the method further comprises:

determining whether the target network channel is the restricted network channel of the first application; and

in response to determining that the target network channel is the restricted network channel of the first application, and the application priority level M of the first application is lower than the preset level H, allocating, from the available network channel, a network channel with channel quality only higher than the lowest channel quality as a new target network channel of the first application.

11. A terminal comprising:

a processor;

a memory storing a program to be executed in the processor, the program comprising instruction when executed cause the processor to;

determine, among a number of network channels, candidate network channels based on a network request of a first application, wherein the candidate network channels are second network channels on a second network on which a communications link port is allowed to be established that is different from a first network channel on a first network over which traffic is sent by default by the terminal, wherein the second network is different from the first network, and wherein the second channels are network on which a communications link port has been established and do not reach a saturated state; and

allocate a target network channel from the candidate network channel to the first application according to an attribute of the first application, wherein the attribute comprises;

whether an application has a specified network channel, whether an application is a foreground application, an application priority level, or whether an application has a restricted network channel;

wherein the allocating, by the terminal, a target network channel from the candidate network channels to the first application according to the attributes of the first application comprises;

determining, by the terminal, whether the first application has a specified network channel; and

allocating, by the terminal, according to a determination that the first application has no specified network channel, the target network channel from an available network channel of the candidate network channels to the first application, wherein the available network channel is a network channel on which a communications link port is allowed to be established and that is still comprised in the candidate network channels after a target network channel is allocated to a second application.

12. The terminal according to claim 11, wherein the program comprises further instructions that cause the processor to:

determine whether the first application is the foreground application; and

in response to determining that the first application is the foreground application, allocate a network channel with highest channel quality from the available network channel, according to channel quality of the available network channel in a corresponding preset period, as the target network channel of the first application.

13. The terminal according to claim 12, wherein after determining whether the first application is the foreground application, the program comprises further instructions that cause the processor to:

in response to determining that the first application is not the foreground application, determining an application priority level M of the first application in a preset period; and

in response to determining that the application priority level M is lower than a preset level H, allocating, according to channel quality of the available network channel in the corresponding preset period, a network channel with lowest channel quality from the available network channel, as the target network channel of the first application.

14. The terminal according to claim 12, wherein in response to determining that the target network channel comprises a plurality of network channels, the program comprises further instructions that cause the processor to:

when the first application is the foreground application or an application priority level M of the first application is higher than or equal to a preset level H, allocating, to the first application, a network channel from the plurality of network channels, wherein a quantity of communications link ports on the allocated network channel is less than a quantity of communications link ports on another network channel from the plurality of network channel.

15. The terminal according to claim 12, wherein in response to determining that the target network channel comprises a plurality of network channels, the program comprises further instructions that cause the processor to:

when an application priority level M of the first application is lower than a preset level H, allocating, to the first application, a network channel from the plurality of network channels, wherein a quantity of communications link ports on the allocated network channel is less than a quantity of communications link ports on another network channel from the plurality of network channel.

16. The terminal according to claim 12, wherein after determining whether the first application is the foreground application, the program comprises further instructions that cause the processor to:

determine an application priority level M of the first application in a preset period in response to determining that the first application is not the foreground application; and

in response to determining that the application priority level M is higher than or equal to a preset level H, allocating, according to channel quality of the available network channel in the corresponding preset period, a network channel with highest channel quality from the available network channel, as the target network channel of the first application.

17. The terminal according to claim 16, wherein after allocating the target network channel to the first application, the program comprises further instructions that cause the processor to:

determine whether the target network channel is the restricted network channel of the first application; and

in response to determining that the target network channel is the restricted network channel of the first application, and the first application is the foreground application or the application priority level M of the first application is higher than or equal to the preset level H, allocating, from the available network channel, a network channel with channel quality only second to the highest channel quality as a new target network channel of the first application.

18. The terminal according to claim 16, wherein after allocating the target network channel to the first application, the program comprises further instructions that cause the processor to:

determining whether the target network channel is the restricted network channel of the first application; and

in response to determining that the target network channel is the restricted network channel of the first application, and the application priority level M of the first application is lower than the preset level H, allocating, from the available network channel, a network channel with channel quality only higher than the lowest channel quality as a new target network channel of the first application.