Client-side scheduling for media transmissions according to client device states

• US 9,629,104 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2013
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gibbon, David Crawford, Basso, Andrea
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Parth
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHANG, KAI J
• Application Number:
  US14/092,092
• Publication Number:
  US 20150146697A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,238 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/373 Predicting channel quality or other radio frequency [RF] parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/382 for resource allocation, admission control or handover
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0221 power availability or consumption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0226 based on location or mobility handoff or reselection H04W36/00; mobile application services making use of the location of users or terminals H04W4/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/10 based on available power or energy
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0258 controlling an operation mode according to history or models of usage information, e.g. activity schedule or time of day
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/223 predicting future states of the transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/30 using constraints in the total amount of available transmission power
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A mobile device that incorporates the subject disclosure may perform, for example, obtaining performance characteristics for network segments of a network where the network segments are selected from a group of network segments of the network based on a trajectory of the mobile device. The mobile device can monitor power state transitions of the mobile device, and can predict a future power state of the mobile device based on the monitoring of the power state transitions. The mobile device can determine a target time for sending a request for transmission of a data packet over the network where the target time is determined based on the performance characteristics for the network segments and based on the future power state of the mobile device. The mobile device can schedule a time for sending the request for transmission according to the target time. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A mobile device comprising:

a processing system including a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations comprising;

obtaining performance characteristics for network segments of a network, the mobile device communicatively coupled to the network, the network segments selected from a group of network segments of the network based on a trajectory of the mobile device;

predicting a future transport characteristic and a future segment characteristic for the network segments based on the performance characteristics, the future segment characteristic being associated with a selected network segment of the group of network segments;

predicting a future transport characteristic and a future segment characteristic for the network segments based on the performance characteristics, the future segment characteristic being associated with a selected network segment of the group of network segments;

predicting a future power state of the mobile device based on monitoring a power state of the mobile device and requests for data transmission over the network, wherein the mobile device, upon performing a first power state transition from a low-power state to a high-power state responsive to sending a request for data transmission, is predicted to perform a second power state transition from the high-power state to the low-power state after a predetermined elapsed time;

determining a target time for sending a request for transmission of a data packet over the network, the target time being determined based on the future power state of the mobile device, the future transport characteristic and the future segment characteristic; and

scheduling a time for sending the request for transmission of the data packet according to the target time, wherein the sending of the request for transmission of the data packet is performed only while the mobile device is in the high-power state; and

wherein, responsive to the power state and the future power state both being the low-power state, the sending of the request for transmission of the data packet initiates a power state transition from the low-power state to the high-power state, thereby facilitating the sending of the request for transmission of the data packet.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the future transport characteristic comprises a predicted network traffic delay and a predicted available bandwidth, wherein the future segment characteristic comprises future availability of network elements of the network segments, and wherein the operations further comprise receiving and buffering the data packet for presentation of media content.

3. The mobile device of claim 2, wherein the target time is determined based on reducing a degradation in a viewing quality of media content to be displayed by the mobile device, wherein the trajectory of the mobile device is on a path having network elements that provide varying transmission rates to the mobile device, wherein the power state comprises a power off state, the high-power state or the low-power state, and wherein the operations further comprise:

determining an anticipated power state corresponding to the target time;

responsive to the anticipated power state not being the high-power state, determining a reschedule time corresponding to when the mobile device is predicted to be in the high-power state; and

rescheduling the time for sending the request for transmission according to the reschedule time.

4. The mobile device of claim 3, wherein the determining of the anticipated power state comprises monitoring power state transitions of the mobile device and predicting a transition between the high-power state and the low-power state, wherein the transition between the high-power state and the low-power state is predicted based on a first elapsed time from sending another transmission request or a second elapsed time from receiving a second data packet.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the predicting of the future power state comprises monitoring an elapsed time from sending a second request for transmission of a second data packet, wherein the second request is initiated by an application being executed by the processing system, and wherein the application is not associated with the request for transmission of the data packet.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the predicting of the future power state comprises monitoring an elapsed time from receiving a second data packet, wherein the second data packet is associated with an application being executed by the processing system, and wherein the application is not associated with the request for transmission of the data packet.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the performance characteristics for the network segments comprise historical performance data, wherein the network comprises first and second networks, wherein the mobile device is communicatively coupled with the first network and subsequently with the second network in accordance with availability of the second network, the second network being intermittently available, and wherein the operations further comprise predicting availability of the second network.

8. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the performance characteristics comprise historical performance data indexed by a time of day, and wherein the operations further comprise:

obtaining location information and movement information for the mobile device using a location receiver and a motion sensor of the mobile device;

determining the trajectory of the mobile device based on the location information and the movement information; and

wherein the obtaining of the performance characteristics for the network segments comprises obtaining transport characteristics of the network via a network map server remote from the mobile device.

9. The mobile device of claim 8, wherein the transport characteristics comprise network traffic and jitter, and wherein the future segment characteristic comprises an availability for each of the group of network segments.

10. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a processing system including a processor of a mobile device, performance characteristics for network segments of a network, the mobile device communicatively coupled to the network, the network segments selected from a group of network segments of the network based on a trajectory of the mobile device;

monitoring, by the processing system, power state transitions of the mobile device;

predicting, by the processing system, a future power state of the mobile device based on the monitoring of the power state transitions and based on determining a first elapsed time from sending a first request for transmission or a second elapsed time from receiving a first data packet, wherein the mobile device, upon performing a first power state transition from a low-power state to a high-power state responsive to sending the first request or receiving the first data packet, is predicted to perform a second power state transition from the high-power state to the low-power state after the first elapsed time or the second elapsed time respectively;

determining, by the processing system, a target time for sending a second request for transmission of a second data packet over the network, the target time being determined based on the performance characteristics for the network segments and based on the future power state of the mobile device; and

scheduling, by the processing system, a time for sending the second request for transmission according to the target time, wherein the sending of the second request is performed only while the mobile device is in a high-power state; and

wherein, responsive to a present power state and the future power state both being a low-power state, the sending of the second request initiates a power state transition in the mobile device from the low-power state to the high-power state, thereby facilitating the sending of the second request.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving and buffering, by the processing system, the second data packet for presentation of media content associated with the second data packet; and

determining, by the processing system, the trajectory of the mobile device based on historical location data associated with the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the performance characteristics comprise other transmission requests from other mobile devices and a future availability of network elements of the network segments.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining, by the processing system, an anticipated power state corresponding to the time for sending the second request; and

responsive to the anticipated power state not being the high-power state, rescheduling, by the processing system, the sending of the second request to a rescheduled time when the mobile device is predicted to be in the high-power state.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the first request for transmission is associated with a first application being executed by the mobile device, and wherein the second request for transmission is associated with a second application being executed by the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the first data packet is associated with a first application being executed by the mobile device, and wherein the second data packet is associated with a second application being executed by the mobile device.

16. A machine-readable storage device comprising executable instructions which, responsive to being executed by a processing system including a processor of a mobile device, facilitate performance of operations comprising:

obtaining performance characteristics for network segments of a network, the network segments selected from a group of network segments of the network based on a trajectory of the mobile device;

monitoring power state transitions of the mobile device;

predicting a future power state of the mobile device based on the monitoring of the power state transitions and requests for data transmission over the network, wherein the mobile device, upon performing a first power state transition from a low-power state to a high-power state responsive to sending a request for data transmission, is predicted to perform a second power state transition from the high-power state to the low-power state after a predetermined elapsed time;

determining a target time for sending a request for transmission of a data packet over the network, the target time being determined based on the performance characteristics for the network segments and based on the future power state of the mobile device; and

scheduling a time for sending the request for transmission of the data packet according to the target time, wherein the sending of the request for transmission of the data packet is performed only while the mobile device is in a high-power state; and

wherein, responsive to the power state and the future power state both being the low-power state, the sending of the request initiates a power state transition from the low-power state to the high-power state, thereby facilitating the sending of the request for transmission of the data packet.

17. The machine-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining an anticipated power state corresponding to the target time; and

responsive to the anticipated power state not being the high-power state, rescheduling the sending of the request to a rescheduled time at which the mobile device is predicted to be in the high-power state.

18. The machine-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the predicting of the future power state of the mobile device is based on determining a first elapsed time from sending a second request for transmission or a second elapsed time from receiving a second data packet.

19. The machine-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the request for transmission is associated with a first application being executed by the mobile device, and wherein the second request for transmission is associated with a second application being executed by the mobile device.

20. The machine-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise receiving the data packet for presentation of media content associated with the data packet, wherein the receiving of the data packet is associated with a first application being executed by the mobile device, and wherein the receiving of the second data packet is associated with a second application being executed by the mobile device.