Communication system and method for shared context compression

• US 20020057716A1
• Filed: 03/21/2001
• Published: 05/16/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Johan Allden, Krister Svanbro
• Original Assignee: Johan Allden, Krister Svanbro
• Inventors: Svanbro, Krister, Allden, Johan
• Granted Patent: US 6,950,445 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/477
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/30 Compression speech analysis-synthesis for redundancy reduction G10L19/00; for image communication H04N; Expansion; Suppression of unnecessary data, e.g. redundancy reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/3079 Context modeling
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/6052 Synchronisation of encoder and decoder
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365

Abstract

A system, method, and apparatus for increasing the efficiency of the compression of a communication protocol for use over bandwidth limited communication links. One aspect of the present invention provides for the sharing of context information between a compressor and decompressor at each communication entity in a communication system. As a result, context information will be shared for each channel pair. In another aspect of the present invention, multiple communication sessions between communication entities may share the same context information for the compression and decompression of communication messages.

Claims

1. A communication entity for facilitating compressed message communication, said communication entity comprising:

a context table containing context information associated with at least one communication message;

a compressor, in communication with said context table, said compressor using said context information to compress at least one transmitted communication message; and

a decompressor, in communication with said context table, said decompressor using said context information to decompress at least one received communication message.

2. The communication entity of claim 1, wherein said context information comprises at least a portion of at least one information field of said at least one communication message.

3. The communication entity of claim 2, wherein said at least a portion of said at least one information field comprises at least one header field.

4. The communication entity of claim 3, wherein said at least one header field comprises at least one Internet Protocol header field.

5. The communication entity of claim 1, wherein said context information comprises a dictionary.

6. The communication entity of claim 1, wherein said at least one transmitted communication message is transmitted using a f irst communication channel and said at least one received communication message is received over a second communication channel, said first communication channel and said second communication channel comprising a channel pair.

7. The communication entity of claim 1, wherein said communication entity comprises a mobile terminal.

8. The communication entity of claim 1, wherein said communication entity comprises a base station.

9. The communication entity of claim 1, wherein said at least one transmitted communication message is compressed using a first context, and said at least one received communication message is decompressed using a second context.

10. The communication entity of claim 9, wherein said first context is substantially the same as said second context.

11. A method for facilitating compressed message communication, said method comprising the steps of:

maintaining a context table containing context information associated with at least one communication message;

compressing at least one transmitted communication message using said context information; and

decompressing at least one received communication message using said context information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said context information comprises at least one information field of said at least one communication message.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said at least one information field comprises at least one header field.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said at least one header field comprises at least one Internet Protocol header field.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein said context information comprises a dictionary.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said first communication channel and said second communication channel comprising a channel pair.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one of said first context information and said second context information comprises at least one information field of an Internet Protocol.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said at least one information field comprises at least one header field.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one of said first context information and said second context information forms an entry in a dictionary.

16. A method for facilitating compressed message communication, said method comprising the steps of:

compressing a first communication message having first context information to produce a first compressed message;

storing said first context information in a context table;

transmitting said first compressed message over a first communication channel;

receiving a second compressed message over a second communication channel;

decompressing said second compressed message to produce a second communication message having second context information; and

storing said second context information in said context table.

21. A method for facilitating compressed message communication between a first communication entity and a second communication entity, said method comprising:

compressing, at said first entity, at least a first communication message using a first context table;

compressing, at said first entity, at least a second communication message using said first context table;

transmitting to said second entity, by said first entity, said at least a first communication message using a first communication session, said first communication session having associated first context information;

transmitting to said second entity, by said first entity, said at least a second communication message using a second communication session, said second communication session having associated second context information, said first context information substantially equal to said second context information.

22. The method of claim 21, said method further comprising:

receiving, at said second entity, said at least a first communication message using said first communication session;

receiving, at said second entity, said at least a second communication message using said second communication session;

decompressing, at said second entity, said at least a first communication message using a second context table;

decompressing, at said second entity, said at least a second communication message using said second context table.