TRAFFIC PRIORITY FOR LONG TERM EVOLUTION NETWORKS

• US 20180027444A1
• Filed: 07/21/2016
• Published: 01/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Maria, Arturo
• Granted Patent: US 10,390,257 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2458 Modification of priorities while in transit
• 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 28/0289 Congestion control load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12

Abstract

A network processor may receive a request from an endpoint device to increase a priority of traffic associated with a first quality of service class indicator, which is associated with a first packet data session quality of service label, and may increase the priority of the traffic in response to the request by sending an instruction to a network element to adjust a mapping of the first quality of service class indicator to a second packet data session quality of service label for the traffic. The network element may label packets in the traffic with the second packet data session quality of service label instead of the first packet data session quality of service label, and components of the network may process the packets labeled with the second packet data session quality of service label with a greater priority than packets labeled with the first packet data session quality of service label.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a processor deployed in a network; and

a computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

receiving a request from an endpoint device to increase a priority of traffic associated with the endpoint device, wherein the traffic is associated with a first quality of service class indicator, and wherein the first quality of service class indicator is associated with a first packet data session quality of service label; and

increasing the priority of the traffic in response to the request, the increasing the priority of the traffic comprising;

sending an instruction to a network element in the network to adjust a mapping of the first quality of service class indicator to a second packet data session quality of service label for the traffic, wherein the network element labels packets in the traffic associated with the endpoint device with the second packet data session quality of service label instead of the first packet data session quality of service label, in response to the instruction, and wherein components of the network process the packets in the traffic labeled with the second packet data session quality of service label with a greater priority than packets labeled with the first packet data session quality of service label.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the first packet data session quality of service label and the second packet data session quality of service label comprise differentiated services code points.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the first packet data session quality of service label and the second packet data session quality of service label comprise type of service labels.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the request from the endpoint device to increase the priority of the traffic associated with the endpoint device includes at least one parameter comprising:

a minimum bandwidth;

a maximum latency;

a maximum jitter;

a maximum call blocking;

a maximum packet loss;

a second quality of service class indicator;

or

the second packet data session quality of service label.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the increasing the priority of the traffic further comprises:

sending, in response to the request, an instruction to a cellular base station of the network to override an access class of the endpoint device, when the access class of the endpoint device is determined to be one of a first plurality of access classes, wherein the network implements the first plurality of access classes and a second plurality of access classes, wherein the second plurality of access classes has a greater priority in the network than the first plurality of access classes.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the access class of the endpoint device is determined from a subscriber identity module of the endpoint device.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the request from the endpoint device to increase the priority of the traffic identifies a type of traffic, from among a plurality of different types of traffic, for which an increase to the priority of the traffic is requested.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the network element comprises:

a cellular base station;

a base transceiver station;

a NodeB;

an eNodeB;

a serving gateway;

or

a packet data network gateway.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the request from the endpoint device to increase the priority of the traffic identifies a destination for which the increase to the priority of the traffic is requested when the traffic is between the endpoint device and the destination.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the destination is identified by:

a network address;

a range of network addresses;

a subnet;

a uniform resource locator;

or

a telephone number.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

sending to the endpoint device a notification of a cost increase for the priority of the traffic associated with the endpoint device; and

receiving a response from the endpoint device confirming to incur the cost and to increase the priority of the traffic associated with the endpoint device.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

causing the cost to be charged to an account associated with the endpoint device.

13. The device of claim 12, further comprising:

tracking a total amount of costs charged to the account associated with the endpoint device for increases to the priority of the traffic associated with the endpoint device in a billing period; and

when the total amount of the costs exceeds a threshold cost, increasing the priority of the traffic for a duration of the billing period without causing further costs to be charged to the account associated with the endpoint device.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the request indicates a duration of time for the increase to the priority of the traffic.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

storing a user preference for at least one parameter associated with the traffic when the priority of the traffic is increased.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one parameter comprises:

a minimum bandwidth;

a maximum latency;

a maximum jitter;

a maximum call blocking;

a maximum packet loss;

a second quality of service class indicator;

or

the second packet data session quality of service label.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the second packet data session quality of service label is selected in accordance with the parameter.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

storing a plurality of user preferences for a parameter associated with the traffic when the priority of the traffic is increased;

requesting a selection of one of the plurality of user preferences for the parameter; and

selecting the second packet data session quality of service label in accordance with the selection.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processor in a network, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving a request from an endpoint device to increase a priority of traffic associated with the endpoint device, wherein the traffic is associated with a first quality of service class indicator, and wherein the first quality of service class indicator is associated with a first packet data session quality of service label; and

increasing the priority of the traffic in response to the request, the increasing the priority of the traffic comprising;

sending an instruction to a network element in the network to adjust a mapping of the first quality of service class indicator to a second packet data session quality of service label for the traffic, wherein the network element labels packets in the traffic associated with the endpoint device with the second packet data session quality of service label instead of the first packet data session quality of service label, in response to the instruction, and wherein components of the network process the packets in the traffic labeled with the second packet data session quality of service label with a greater priority than packets labeled with the first packet data session quality of service label.

20. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor in a network, a request from an endpoint device to increase a priority of traffic associated with the endpoint device, wherein the traffic is associated with a first quality of service class indicator, and wherein the first quality of service class indicator is associated with a first packet data session quality of service label; and

increasing, by the processor, the priority of the traffic in response to the request, the increasing the priority of the traffic comprising;

sending an instruction to a network element in the network to adjust a mapping of the first quality of service class indicator to a second packet data session quality of service label for the traffic, wherein the network element labels packets in the traffic associated with the endpoint device with the second packet data session quality of service label instead of the first packet data session quality of service label, in response to the instruction, and wherein components of the network process the packets in the traffic labeled with the second packet data session quality of service label with a greater priority than packets labeled with the first packet data session quality of service label.