Apparatus, methods and computer program products providing estimation of activity factor and enhanced radio resource management

• US 7,860,000 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2007
• Issued: 12/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Kolding, Troels E., Wigard, Jeroen, Laselva, Daniela, Boussif, Malek
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Faroul, Farah
• Application Number:
  US11/985,611
• Publication Number:
  US 20080212468A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,139 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/236, 370/236.1, 370/252, 370/342
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/28 using user profile, e.g. mobile speed, priority or network state, e.g. standby, idle or non transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/281 taking into account user or data type priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/286 during data packet transmission, e.g. high speed packet access [HSPA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 Access point controller devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/12 between access points and access point controllers

Abstract

In one non-limiting, exemplary embodiment, a method includes: estimating an activity factor for a priority class based at least in part on a provided bit rate for the priority class and a guaranteed bit rate of the priority class; and using the estimated activity factor to estimate at least one network-related parameter. In another non-limiting, exemplary embodiment, a method includes: obtaining a measurement for a priority class; and estimating an activity factor for the priority class based at least in part on the measurement and a quality of service attribute of the priority class. As a non-limiting example, exemplary embodiments of this invention employ a framework providing an estimation of effective activity factor per service priority indicator (SPI) class to provide, for example, enhanced quality of service awareness in radio resource management functionality, such as for estimation of the amount of power used per SPI class/group.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

estimating, by a processor, an activity factor for a priority class based on a provided bit rate for the priority class and a guaranteed bit rate of the priority class, wherein the activity factor defines a percentage of time that a user is active; and

using, by the processor, the estimated activity factor to estimate at least one network-related parameter.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the provided bit rate for the priority class comprises a high speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) provided bit rate for the priority class.

3. A method as in claim 1, wherein the estimated at least one network-related parameter is indicative of at least one of a power used for existing connections of the priority class, a power used for existing high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) connections of the priority class and a quality of service factor in terms of bit rate.

4. A method as in claim 1, further comprising:

utilizing the estimated network-related parameter as a factor in determining whether a user is admitted to a corresponding network.

5. A method as in claim 1, wherein the method is implemented by a network element of a wideband code division multiple access system.

6. A non-transitory program storage device readable by a computer, storing a program of instructions executable by the computer for performing operations, the operations comprising:

estimating an activity factor for a priority class based on a provided bit rate for the priority class and a guaranteed bit rate of the priority class, wherein the activity factor defines a percentage of time that a user is active; and

using the estimated activity factor to estimate at least one network-related parameter.

7. A non-transitory program storage device as in claim 6, wherein the provided bit rate for the priority class comprises a high speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) provided bit rate for the priority class.

8. A non-transitory program storage device as in claim 6, wherein the estimated at least one network-related parameter is indicative of at least one of a power used for existing connections of the priority class, a power used for existing high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) connections of the priority class and a quality of service factor in terms of bit rate.

9. A non-transitory program storage device as in claim 6, the operations further comprising:

utilizing the estimated network-related parameter as a factor in determining whether a user is admitted to a corresponding network.

10. A non-transitory program storage device as in claim 6, wherein the program storage device comprises a network element of a wideband code division multiple access system.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a memory configured to store a provided bit rate for a priority class and a guaranteed bit rate of the priority class; and

a processor configured to estimate an activity factor for the priority class based on the provided bit rate and the guaranteed bit rate, wherein the activity factor defines a percentage of time that a user is active,

wherein the processor is further configured to use the estimated activity factor to estimate at least one network-related parameter.

12. An apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the provided bit rate for the priority class comprises a high speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) provided bit rate for the priority class.

13. An apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the estimated at least one network-related parameter is indicative of at least one of a power used for existing connections of the priority class, a power used for existing high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) connections of the priority class and a quality of service factor in terms of bit rate.

14. An apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to utilize the estimated network-related parameter as a factor in determining whether a user is admitted to a corresponding network.

15. An apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the apparatus comprises a network element of a corresponding network.

16. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a processor, a measurement for a priority class; and

estimating, by the processor, an activity factor for the priority class based on the measurement and a quality of service attribute of the priority class, wherein the activity factor defines a percentage of time that a user is active, wherein the measurement comprises a measurement of a provided bit rate for the priority class, wherein the quality of service attribute comprises a guaranteed bit rate for the priority class.

17. A method as in claim 16, wherein the measurement is obtained by a Node B application part.

18. A method as in claim 16, further comprising:

utilizing the estimated activity factor in a power increase estimator.

19. A method as in claim 16, wherein the measurement comprises an enhanced uplink dedicated channel (E-DCH) provided bit rate.

20. A method as in claim 16, wherein the measurement comprises a high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) provided bit rate.

21. A non-transitory program storage device readable by a computer, storing a program of instructions executable by the computer for performing operations, the operations comprising:

obtaining a measurement for a priority class; and

estimating an activity factor for the priority class based on the measurement and a quality of service attribute of the priority class, wherein the activity factor defines a percentage of time that a user is active, wherein the measurement comprises a measurement of a provided bit rate for the priority class, wherein the quality of service attribute comprises a guaranteed bit rate for the priority class.

22. A non-transitory program storage device as in claim 21, wherein the measurement is obtained by a Node B application part.

23. A non-transitory program storage device as in claim 21, the operations further comprising:

utilizing the estimated activity factor in a power increase estimator.

24. A non-transitory program storage device as in claim 21, wherein the measurement comprises an enhanced uplink dedicated channel (E-DCH) provided bit rate.

25. A non-transitory program storage device as in claim 21, wherein the measurement comprises a high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) provided bit rate.

26. An apparatus comprising:

a memory configured to store a measurement for a priority class; and

a processor configured to estimate an activity factor for the priority class based on the measurement and a quality of service attribute of the priority class, wherein the activity factor defines a percentage of time that a user is active, wherein the measurement comprises a measurement of a provided bit rate for the priority class, wherein the quality of service attribute comprises a guaranteed bit rate for the priority class.

27. An apparatus as in claim 26, wherein the measurement is obtained by a Node B application part.

28. An apparatus as in claim 26, wherein the processor is further configured to utilize the estimated activity factor in a power increase estimator.

29. An apparatus as in claim 26, wherein the measurement comprises an enhanced uplink dedicated channel (E-DCH) provided bit rate.

30. An apparatus as in claim 26, wherein the measurement comprises a high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) provided bit rate.