FEMTO CELL ACCESS POINT PASSTHROUGH MODEL

• US 20090279430A1
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Published: 11/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Brisebois, Arthur Richard, Huber, Kurt Donald, Flynn, Judson John
• Granted Patent: US 8,194,549 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/230.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0268 using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 based on quality criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/569 of the traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

The subject innovation provides system(s) and method(s) to supply fixed, differentiated quality of service (QoS) for packetized traffic (e.g., voice and data) intended for femto cell coverage when transmitted concurrently with external broadband traffic. Quality of Service differentiation is supplied without an external implementation. Femto cell coverage is prioritized over concurrent packetized traffic to deliver a rich user experience for delay and jitter sensitive applications. A passthrough configuration for a femto access point (AP) facilitates supplying hard QoS for data packet streams, or flows, intended for femto cell coverage or non-femto-cell coverage. The femto AP receives a consolidated packet stream through backhaul link(s) and distinguishes flow(s) for femto coverage and flow(s) for auxiliary broadband coverage. The femto AP routes the flow(s) intended for femto with hard QoS according to QoS policy which can be determined by a network operator or a subscriber.

Claims

1. A system that provides a fixed quality of service (QoS) for a femto cell coverage, the system comprising:

a communication platform that receives a packetized stream in the user plane;

an identification component that discriminates the packetized stream into a packet flow for femto cell coverage and a packet flow for background coverage; and

a traffic shaping component that provides a first fixed QoS for femto coverage differentiated from a second fixed QoS for background coverage without an external QoS implementation.

2. The system of claim 1, to provide the first fixed QoS for femto coverage differentiated from the second QoS for background coverage without an external implementation, the traffic shaping component processes the packet flow for femto coverage and the packet flow for background coverage based at least in part on mechanisms to retain, preempt, cache, or dynamically reformat packet data flows.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein at least a portion of the mechanisms include at least one of evaluation of radio link condition(s) or evaluation of available resources, the available resources include at least one of radio technologies or radio frequency carriers.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the shaping component further exploits at least in part a QoS policy to determine one or more fixed QoS profiles, wherein the QoS policy is defined by at least one of a network operator or a subscriber.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a switch component that routes the packet flow for femto cell coverage to a wireless communication component(s) for delivery over-the-air to one or more intended wireless devices.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the switch component further routes the packet flow for background coverage to a broadband interface for delivery through a broadband link to a component that supplies background coverage.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a component that conveys the packet flow for femto coverage and the packet flow for background coverage.

8. The system of claim 4, further comprising a configuration component that facilitates subscriber-based configuration of a QoS policy, wherein subscriber-based configuration includes at least one of generation of a new QoS policy or modification of an existing QoS policy.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein as part of composition of a QoS policy, configuration component receives a QoS policy directive, the QoS policy directive enters a QoS requirement for at least one of an application or a subscriber station, or removes existing QoS requirements.

10. A method comprising:

employing one or more processors to carry out the following acts;

receiving a packet stream in the user plane;

identifying a first set of packet flows in the packet stream;

providing a first quality of service (QoS) to each flow in the first set of packet flows;

identifying a second set of packet flows in the packet stream;

providing a second quality of service (QoS) to each flow in the second set of packet flows; and

conveying a packet flow within at least one of the first set of packet flows or the second set of packet flows according to a provided QoS.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each packet flow within the first set of packet flows in intended for femto coverage, and each packet flow within the second set of packet flows is intended for wired broadband coverage.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein providing the first fixed QoS includes processing each flow in the first set of packet flows based at least in part on mechanism to retain, preempt, cache, or dynamically reformat received packet data flows.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein at least a part of the mechanisms include evaluation of radio link condition(s), or evaluation of available resources, the available resources include capacity of a femto coverage area, radio technologies, or radio frequency carriers and associated bandwidth.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein providing the second fixed QoS includes processing each flow in the first set of packet flows based at least in part on mechanisms to retain, preempt, cache, or dynamically reformat received packet data flows.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising configuring a QoS policy for at least one of the first set of packet flows or the second set of packet flows.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein configuring the QoS policy includes at least one of receiving a QoS policy or receiving a QoS policy directive.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising retaining at least one of the received QoS policy or a QoS policy associated with the received QoS policy directive.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the QoS policy directive conveys a QoS requirement for at least one of an application or a subscriber station, or removes an extant QoS requirement from a QoS policy.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein retaining the QoS policy associated with the QoS policy directive include adding a QoS requirement to an existing QoS policy as a result of effecting the received QoS directive.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein retaining at least one of the received QoS policy or the QoS policy associated with the received QoS policy directive can include validating the retained QoS policy is normalized.

21. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the following acts:

receiving a packet stream;

identifying a first set of packet flows in the data stream and providing a first set of quality of service (QoS) to each flow in the first set of packet flows;

identifying a second set of packet flows in the data stream and providing a second set of quality of service (QoS) to each flow in the second set of packet flows; and

conveying a packet flow according to a provided QoS.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, further having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the following acts:

configuring a QoS policy for at least one of packetized traffic intended to be served through femto coverage or packetized traffic intended to be served through non-femto coverage;

discriminating a first packet flow intended for a device served through the femto coverage from a second packet flow intended for a device served through the non-femto coverage;

supplying a fixed quality of service to the first packet flow in accordance with the configured QoS policy; and

delivering the first packet flow with the provided QoS.

23. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a packet stream;

means for identifying a first set of packet flows in the data stream and providing a first set of quality of service (QoS) to each flow in the first set of packet flows;

means for identifying a second set of packet flows in the data stream and providing a second set of quality of service (QoS) to each flow in the second set of packet flows; and

means for conveying a packet flow according to a provided QoS.