ESTIMATING BANDWIDTH IN COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

• US 20100157825A1
• Filed: 12/23/2008
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommScope Technologies, LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Airvana Incorporated (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: ANDERLIND, ERIK E., RICHARDSON, ANDREW
• Granted Patent: US 7,995,493 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0667 Bidirectional timestamps, e.g. NTP or PTP for compensation of clock drift and for compensation of propagation delays arrangements for monitoring round trip delays in packet switching networks H04L43/0864
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0829 Packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/762 triggered by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/801 Real time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/823 Prediction of resource usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/12 between access points and access point controllers

Abstract

In general, a method includes monitoring, by a personal access point, an amount of backhaul bandwidth available for multimedia and signaling communications by measuring a level of latency associated with existing multimedia and signaling communications.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

monitoring, by a personal access point, an amount of backhaul bandwidth available for multimedia and signaling communications by measuring a level of latency associated with existing multimedia and signaling communications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring the level of latency comprises:

transmitting communications by the private access point, the communications comprising;

multimedia and signaling packets that are transmitted to a network gateway; and

a probe packet that is transmitted immediately after the multimedia and signaling packets, the probe packet being transmitted to a server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the personal access point records or receives both a time at which a first packet in the communications is transmitted, and an amount of bits transmitted in the communications.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the server applies a timestamp to the probe packet and transmits the probe packet back to the personal access point.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the personal access point calculates the level of latency using the difference between the time at which the first packet in the communications was transmitted, and the time at which the probe packet was timestamped by the server.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the personal access point determines an amount of backhaul bandwidth by dividing the amount of bits transmitted in the communications by the level of latency.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the personal access point determines whether to admit new sessions based on the monitored backhaul bandwidth.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the personal access point monitors the amount of backhaul bandwidth while supporting active sessions.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the personal access point can reduce an amount of low priority communications if the amount of backhaul bandwidth available for high priority communications is less than a predetermined amount.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the bandwidth of the backhaul bandwidth is monitored in an upstream or a downstream direction.

7. The method of 5, wherein the personal access point determines an amount of backhaul bandwidth by dividing the total amount of bits transmitted during one or more measurement periods by the aggregate latency over the same measurement periods.

12. A method comprising:

receiving, by a private access point, quality of service attributes associated with existing multimedia and signaling communications; and

determining, based on the received quality of service attributes, whether an amount of available backhaul bandwidth is available to support an additional session.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the quality of service attributes comprise levels of jitter, delay, or packet loss.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the quality of service attributes are extracted from real time control protocol reports and compared to predetermined thresholds.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the determination is performed in an upstream or downstream direction.

16. A system comprising:

a personal access point configured to monitor an amount of backhaul bandwidth available for multimedia and signaling communications by measuring a level of latency associated with existing multimedia and signaling communications.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein measuring the level of latency comprises:

transmitting communications by the private access point, the communications comprising;

multimedia and signaling packets that are transmitted to a network gateway; and

a probe packet that is transmitted immediately after the multimedia and signaling packets, the probe packet being transmitted to a server.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the personal access point records or receives both a time at which a first packet in the communications is transmitted, and an amount of bits transmitted in the communications.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the server applies a timestamp to the probe packet and transmits the probe packet back to the personal access point.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the personal access point calculates the level of latency using the difference between the time at which the first packet in the communications was transmitted, and the time at which the probe packet was timestamped by the server.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the personal access point determines an amount of backhaul bandwidth by dividing the amount of bits transmitted in the communications by the level of latency.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the personal access point determines whether to admit new sessions based on the monitored backhaul bandwidth.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the personal access point monitors the amount of backhaul bandwidth while supporting active sessions.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the personal access point can reduce an amount of low priority communications if the amount of backhaul bandwidth available for high priority communications is less than a predetermined amount.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the bandwidth of the backhaul bandwidth is monitored in an upstream or a downstream direction.

22. The system of 20, wherein the personal access point determines an amount of backhaul bandwidth by dividing the total amount of bits transmitted during one or more measurement periods by the aggregate latency over the same measurement periods.

27. A system comprising:

a personal access point configured to;

receive quality of service attributes associated with existing multimedia and signaling communications; and

determine, based on the received quality of service attributes, whether an amount of available backhaul bandwidth is available to support an additional session.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the quality of service attributes comprise levels of jitter, delay, or packet loss.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the quality of service attributes are extracted from real time control protocol reports and compared to predetermined thresholds.

30. The system of claim 27 wherein the determination is performed in an upstream or downstream direction.

31. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, for executing instructions on a processor, the computer program product being operable to cause a machine to:

monitor by a personal access point, an amount of backhaul bandwidth available for multimedia and signaling communications by measuring a level of latency associated with existing multimedia and signaling communications.

32. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein measuring the level of latency comprises:

transmitting communications by the private access point, the communications comprising;

multimedia and signaling packets that are transmitted to a network gateway; and

a probe packet that is transmitted immediately after the multimedia and signaling packets, the probe packet being transmitted to a server.

33. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the personal access point records or receives both a time at which a first packet in the communications is transmitted, and an amount of bits transmitted in the communications.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the server applies a timestamp to the probe packet and transmits the probe packet back to the personal access point.

35. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the personal access point calculates the level of latency using the difference between the time at which the first packet in the communications was transmitted, and the time at which the probe packet was timestamped by the server.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the personal access point determines an amount of backhaul bandwidth by dividing the amount of bits transmitted in the communications by the level of latency.

38. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the personal access point determines whether to admit new sessions based on the monitored backhaul bandwidth.

39. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the personal access point monitors the amount of backhaul bandwidth while supporting active sessions.

40. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the personal access point can reduce an amount of low priority communications if the amount of backhaul bandwidth available for high priority communications is less than a predetermined amount.

41. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the bandwidth of the backhaul bandwidth is monitored in an upstream or a downstream direction.

37. The computer program product of 35, wherein the personal access point determines an amount of backhaul bandwidth by dividing the total amount of bits transmitted during one or more measurement periods by the aggregate latency over the same measurement periods.

42. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, for executing instructions on a processor, the computer program product being operable to cause a machine to:

receive, by a private access point, quality of service attributes associated with existing multimedia and signaling communications; and

determine, based on the received quality of service attributes, whether an amount of available backhaul bandwidth is available to support an additional session.

43. The computer program product of claim 42 wherein the quality of service attributes comprise levels of jitter, delay, or packet loss.

44. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the quality of service attributes are extracted from real time control protocol reports and compared to predetermined thresholds.

45. The computer program product of claim 42 wherein the determination is performed in an upstream or downstream direction.