Medium access control priority-based scheduling for data units in a data flow
First Claim
1. A method implemented in a radio base station for transferring data in a wireless communications system over a wireless interface between a radio network and a user equipment node (UE), comprising the base station performing the following steps:
- establishing a communication with the UE having at least one data flow;
receiving data units from a radio link control layer in another node other than the base station, where the radio link control layer is a higher protocol layer than a medium access control layer;
analyzing at the medium access control layer some or all of a radio link control layer header of a radio link control data unit received from the another node and associated with the one data flow;
based on the analysis, determining at the medium access control layer a priority of the data unit relative to other data units associated with the one data flow; and
scheduling at the medium access control layer transmission of higher priority data units associated with the one data flow before lower priority data units associated with the one data flow,wherein the radio network includes a radio network controller (RNC) coupled for communication with the radio base station, and wherein the higher radio link layer is a radio link control (RLC) layer implemented in the RNC and the medium access control layer is a high speed-downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) medium access control layer implemented in the radio base station, andwherein the method does not rely on priority-specific signaling from the RNC to the radio base station to perform the determining step.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A data communication having at least one data flow is established over a wireless interface between a radio network and a user equipment node (UE). A medium access control (MAC) layer located in a radio network node receives data units from a higher radio link control (RLC) layer located in another radio network node. Some or all of a header of a RLC data units associated with the one data flow is analyzed at the MAC layer. Based on that analysis, the MAC layer determines a priority of the data unit relative to other data units associated with the one data flow. The MAC layer schedules transmission of higher priority data units associated with the one data flow before lower priority data units associated with the one data flow. The priority determination does not require extra priority flags or signaling.
25 Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A method implemented in a radio base station for transferring data in a wireless communications system over a wireless interface between a radio network and a user equipment node (UE), comprising the base station performing the following steps:
-
establishing a communication with the UE having at least one data flow; receiving data units from a radio link control layer in another node other than the base station, where the radio link control layer is a higher protocol layer than a medium access control layer; analyzing at the medium access control layer some or all of a radio link control layer header of a radio link control data unit received from the another node and associated with the one data flow; based on the analysis, determining at the medium access control layer a priority of the data unit relative to other data units associated with the one data flow; and scheduling at the medium access control layer transmission of higher priority data units associated with the one data flow before lower priority data units associated with the one data flow, wherein the radio network includes a radio network controller (RNC) coupled for communication with the radio base station, and wherein the higher radio link layer is a radio link control (RLC) layer implemented in the RNC and the medium access control layer is a high speed-downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) medium access control layer implemented in the radio base station, and wherein the method does not rely on priority-specific signaling from the RNC to the radio base station to perform the determining step. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A node in a radio network for use in facilitating a communication includes at least one data flow over a wireless interface with a user equipment node (UE), where the node is a radio base station which comprises:
-
a medium access controller for receiving data units from a higher radio link controller included in a radio network controller (RNC), the medium access controller being further configured to; analyze some or all of a radio link control layer header of a radio link control data unit associated with the one data flow; determine, based on the analysis, a priority of the one data unit relative to other data units associated with the one data flow; and schedule transmission of higher priority data units associated with the one data flow before lower priority data units associated with the one data flow, wherein the medium access controller is a high speed-downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) medium access control layer implemented in the radio base station, and wherein the medium access controller is further configured to not rely on priority-specific signaling from a radio network controller (RNC) to the radio base station to determine the priority of the one data unit. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
Specification