Reverse link control to reduce forward link latency

• US 9,900,799 B2
• Filed: 08/16/2011
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Cherian, George, He, Linhai, Ghosh, Donna, Lott, Christopher Gerard, Attar, Rashid Ahmed Akbar
• Primary Examiner(s): Renner, Brandon
• Assistant Examiner(s): RANDHAWA, MANDISH K
• Application Number:
  US13/210,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20130044599A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,380 Days
• Field of Search: 370235, 370329, 370230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0205 at the air interface dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/569 of the traffic information

Abstract

Some implementations provide a method for prioritizing reverse link packets so that particular reverse link packets are transmitted with a reduced latency in order to improve spectral efficiency of the forward link. The method also optionally includes weighting packets according to their determined lengths, and transmitting packets based on the determined weights. In one implementation, the method includes sorting packets at least according to one of size, type and nature of the data in the packets. Accordingly, sorting of the packets includes at least one of determining the size and the type of each packet. In one implementation, sorting the packets includes deep-packet inspection to determine a respective priority value for each packet.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, at a mobile user equipment, an estimated impact on a wireless forward link packet to be received by the user equipment from an access point caused by a delay in sending at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point, the estimated impact including at least one of an estimate of an amount of time that the wireless forward link will be idle as a result of the delay in sending the at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point or an estimate of an amount of forward link traffic that will be generated in response to the at least one wireless reverse link packet, wherein the estimated impact is based on a size of the at least one wireless reverse link packet, a type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet, a nature of data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet, or any combination thereof;

determining, at the user equipment, a priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet for transmission from the user equipment to the access point when an indicator relating to the estimated impact breaches a corresponding threshold value;

refraining from assigning a priority to the at least one wireless reverse link packet when the indicator does not breach the corresponding threshold value,

wherein the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet is based on at least the estimated impact on a forward link packet to be received by the user equipment from the access point caused by a delay in sending the at least one reverse link packet to the access point; and

transmitting the at least one reverse link packet from the UE to the access point based on at least the determined priority for the at least one reverse link packet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises an indicator of a reverse link data rate, the method further comprising:

receiving the indicator of the reverse link data rate associated with a reverse link from the user equipment to the access point, wherein the determining the priority for the at least one reverse link packet is based at least in part on the indicator of the reverse link data rate.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising comparing the indicator of the reverse link data rate to a threshold value.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the threshold value includes a lower bound, below which the user equipment can expect lower than nominal data rates on the reverse link to the access point.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the threshold value is an upper bound, above which the user equipment can expect lower than nominal data rates on the reverse link to the access point.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising sorting the at least one reverse link packet when the indicator of the reverse link data rate meets the threshold value such that the user equipment expects lower than nominal data rate on the reverse link.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a size of the at least one wireless reverse link packet and a type of data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet includes:

determining a length of the at least one wireless reverse link packet; and

prioritizing the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined length of the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the prioritizing the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined length of the at least one wireless reverse link packet includes weighting the at least one wireless reverse link packet that is below a particular length threshold.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet includes:

determining a type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet; and

prioritizing the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined type of the at least one reverse link packet.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the prioritizing the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet includes weighting particular types of the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet includes:

performing deep packet inspection of data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet; and

prioritizing the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the deep packet inspection of the data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the prioritizing the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the deep packet inspection of the data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet includes weighting particular types of data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one wireless reverse link packet associated with a GET message for requesting advertising information in the wireless forward link packet is given a low priority.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein ACK messages for acknowledging a forward link transmission are given a higher priority than GET messages.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one wireless reverse link packet associated with a domain name system (DNS) query packet is given a relatively high priority.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet includes:

determining whether the at least one wireless reverse link packet is related to a foreground application or a background application; and

prioritizing the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on whether the at least one wireless reverse link packet is related to the foreground application or the background application.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the determining whether the at least one wireless reverse link packet is related to the foreground application or the background application is based at least in part on information from an operating system managing applications on the user equipment.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sorting the at least one wireless reverse link packet into respective queues for corresponding priority levels;

setting at least one frequency of service value for each priority level; and

servicing the respective queues based at least on the corresponding frequency of service value for the respective priority level.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one frequency of service value is based on a particular priority level and an indicator of a reverse link data rate.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the priority levels are ranked based at least on one of the estimated amount of time that the forward link will be idle or the estimated likelihood that the forward link will be idle.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one wireless reverse link packet comprises a transmission control protocol (TCP) ACK message, and wherein the wireless forward link packet comprises a TCP message generated in response to receiving the TCP ACK message.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises a reverse link data rate.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated impact includes an estimate of an amount of time that the wireless forward link will be idle as a result of the delay in sending the at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated impact includes an estimate of an amount of forward link traffic that will be generated in response to the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated impact is based on a size of the at least one wireless reverse link packet, a nature of data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet, or a combination thereof.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein a first GET packet for an advertisement is given a lower priority than a second GET packet for content for an application running at the mobile user equipment.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein a GET packet for first content for a first application running in a background at the mobile user equipment is given a lower priority than a GET packet for an application running in the foreground at the mobile user equipment.

29. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code for managing air-link connections, comprising code to:

determine, at a mobile user equipment, an estimated impact on a wireless forward link packet to be received by the user equipment from an access point caused by a delay in sending at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point, the estimated impact including at least one of an estimate of an amount of time that the wireless forward link will be idle as a result of the delay in sending the at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point or an estimate of an amount of forward link traffic that will be generated in response to the at least one wireless reverse link packet, wherein the estimated impact is based on a size of the at least one wireless reverse link packet, a type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet, a nature of data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet, or any combination thereof;

determine, at the user equipment, a priority for at least one wireless reverse link packet for transmission from the user equipment to the access point when an indicator relating to the estimated impact breaches a corresponding threshold value,

refrain from assigning a priority to the at least one wireless reverse link packet when the indicator does not breach the corresponding threshold value,

wherein the priority for the at least wireless one reverse link packet is based on at least the estimated impact on a wireless forward link packet to be received by the user equipment from the access point caused by a delay in sending the at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point; and

transmit the at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point based on at least the determined priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the indicator comprises an indicator of a reverse link data rate, the computer-readable medium further comprising code to:

receive the indicator of the reverse link data rate associated with a reverse link from the user equipment to the access point, wherein the code to determine the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet is based at least in part on the indicator of the reverse link data rate.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 30, further comprising code to compare the indicator of the reverse link data rate to a threshold value.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the threshold value includes a lower bound, below which the user equipment can expect lower than nominal data rates on the reverse link to the access point.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the threshold value is an upper bound, above which the user equipment can expect lower than nominal data rates on the reverse link to the access point.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, further comprising code to sort the at least one wireless reverse link packet when the indicator of the wireless reverse link data rate meets the threshold value such that the user equipment expects lower than nominal data rate on the reverse link.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 30, wherein the at least one wireless reverse link packet comprises a transmission control protocol (TCP) ACK message, and wherein the wireless forward link packet comprises a TCP message generated in response to receiving the TCP ACK message.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, further comprising code to determine a size of the at least one wireless reverse link packet and a type of data included in the packet.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the code to determine the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet further comprises code to:

determine a length of the at least one wireless reverse link packet; and

prioritize the at least one wireless reverse packet based at least on the determined length of the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the code to prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined length of the at least one wireless reverse link packet includes code to weight the at least one wireless reverse link packet that is below a particular length threshold.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the code to determine the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet further comprises code to:

determine a type of that at least one packet; and

prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, wherein the code to prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet includes code to weight particular types of the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the code to determine the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet further comprises code to:

perform deep packet inspection of data included in the at least one wireless reverse packet; and

prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the deep packet inspection of the data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the code to prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based on at least the deep packet inspection of the data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet further comprises code to weight particular types of data.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 42, wherein the at least one wireless reverse link packet associated with a GET message for requesting advertising information in the wireless forward link packet is given a low priority.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 43, wherein ACK messages for acknowledging a forward link transmission are given a higher priority than GET messages.

45. The computer-readable medium of claim 42, wherein the at least one wireless reverse link packet associated with a domain name system (DNS) query packet is given a relatively high priority.

46. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the code to determine the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet further comprises code to:

determine whether the at least one wireless reverse link packet is related to a foreground application or a background application; and

prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on whether the at least one wireless reverse link packet is related to the foreground application or the background application.

47. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the code to determine whether the packet is related to the foreground application or the background application is based at least in part on information from an operating system managing applications on the user equipment.

48. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, further comprising code to:

sort the at least one wireless reverse link packet into respective queues for corresponding priority levels;

set at least one frequency of service value for each priority level; and

service the respective queues based at least on the corresponding frequency of service value for the respective priority level.

49. The computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the at least one frequency of service value is based on a particular priority level and an indicator of a reverse link data rate.

50. The computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the priority levels are ranked based at least on one of the estimated amount of time that the forward link will be idle or the estimated likelihood that the forward link will be idle.

51. An apparatus comprising:

means for determining, at a mobile user equipment, an estimated impact on a wireless forward link packet to be received by the user equipment from an access point caused by a delay in sending at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point, the estimated impact including at least one of an estimate of an amount of time that the wireless forward link will be idle as a result of the delay in sending the at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point or an estimate of an amount of forward link traffic that will be generated in response to the at least one wireless reverse link packet, wherein the estimated impact is based on a size of the at least one wireless reverse link packet, a type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet, a nature of data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet, or any combination thereof;

means for determining, at the user equipment, a priority for at least one wireless reverse link packet for transmission from the apparatus to the access point when an indicator relating to the estimated impact breaches a corresponding threshold value and refraining from assigning a priority to the at least one wireless reverse link packet when the indicator does not breach the corresponding threshold value,

wherein the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet is based on at least the estimated impact on a wireless forward link packet to be received by the user equipment from the access point caused by a delay in sending the at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point; and

means for transmitting the at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point based on at least the determined priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

52. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein the indicator comprises an indicator of a reverse link data rate, the apparatus further comprising:

means for receiving the indicator of the reverse link data rate associated with a reverse link from the user equipment to the access point, wherein means for determining the priority for the at least one reverse link packet is based at least in part on the indicator of the reverse link data rate.

53. The apparatus of claim 52, further comprising means for comparing the indicator of the reverse link data rate to a threshold value.

54. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the threshold value includes a lower bound, below which the user equipment can expect lower than nominal data rates on the reverse link to the access point.

55. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the threshold value is an upper bound, above which the user equipment can expect lower than nominal data rates on the reverse link to the access point.

56. The apparatus of claim 53, further comprising means for sorting the at least one wireless reverse link packet when the indicator of the reverse link data rate meets the threshold value such that the user equipment expects lower than nominal data rate on the reverse link.

57. The apparatus of claim 51, further comprising means for determining a size of the at least one wireless reverse link packet and a type of data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

58. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein said means for determining the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet is configured to:

determine a length of the at least one wireless reverse link packet; and

prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined length of the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

59. The apparatus of claim 58, wherein said means for prioritizing the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined length of the at least one wireless reverse link packet is configured to weight the at least one wireless reverse link packet that is below a particular length threshold.

60. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein said means for determining the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet is configured to:

determine a type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet; and

prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

61. The apparatus of claim 60, wherein said means for prioritizing the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet is configured to weight particular types of the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

62. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein said means for determining the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet is configured to:

perform deep packet inspection of data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet; and

prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the deep packet inspection of the data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

63. The apparatus of claim 62, wherein said means for prioritizing the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the deep packet inspection of the data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet is configured to weight particular types of data.

64. The apparatus of claim 63, wherein the at least one wireless reverse link packet associated with a GET message for requesting advertising information in the wireless forward link packet is given a low priority.

65. The apparatus of claim 64, wherein ACK messages for acknowledging a forward link transmission are given a higher priority than GET messages.

66. The apparatus of claim 63, wherein the at least one wireless reverse link packet associated with a domain name system (DNS) query packet is given a relatively high priority.

67. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein said means for determining the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet is configured to:

determine whether the at least one wireless reverse link packet is related to a foreground application or a background application; and

prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on whether the at least one wireless reverse link packet is related to the foreground application or the background application.

68. The apparatus of claim 67, wherein said means for determining whether the at least one wireless reverse link packet is related to the foreground application or the background application is based at least in part on information from an operating system managing applications on an the user equipment.

69. The apparatus of claim 51, further comprising:

means for sorting the at least one wireless reverse link packet into respective queues for corresponding priority levels;

means for setting at least one frequency of service value for each priority level; and

means for servicing the respective queues based at least on the corresponding frequency of service value for the respective priority level.

70. The apparatus of claim 69, wherein the at least one frequency of service value is based on a particular priority level and an indicator of a reverse link data rate.

71. The apparatus of claim 69, wherein the priority levels are ranked based at least on one of the estimated amount of time that the forward link will be idle or the estimated likelihood that the forward link will be idle.

72. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein the at least one wireless reverse link packet comprises a transmission control protocol (TCP) ACK message, and wherein the wireless forward link packet comprises a TCP message generated in response to receiving the TCP ACK message.

73. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

determine, at a mobile user equipment, an estimated impact on a wireless forward link packet to be received by the user equipment from an access point caused by a delay in sending at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point, the estimated impact including at least one of an estimate of an amount of time that the wireless forward link will be idle as a result of the delay in sending the at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point or an estimate of an amount of forward link traffic that will be generated in response to the at least one wireless reverse link packet, wherein the estimated impact is based on a size of the at least one wireless reverse link packet, a type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet, a nature of data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet, or any combination thereof;

determine, at the user equipment, a priority for at least one wireless reverse link packet for transmission from a user equipment to the access point when an indicator relating to the estimated impact breaches a corresponding threshold value;

refrain from assigning a priority to the at least one wireless reverse link packet when the indicator does not breach the corresponding threshold value,

wherein the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet is based on at least the estimated impact on a wireless forward link packet to be received by the user equipment from the access point caused by a delay in sending the at least one wireless reverse link packet to the access point, and

transmit the at least one wireless reverse link packet based on at least the determined priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

74. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the indicator comprises an indicator of a reverse link data rate, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive the indicator of the reverse link data rate associated with a reverse link from the user equipment to the access point, wherein the configuration to determine the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet is based at least in part on the indicator of the reverse link data rate.

75. The apparatus of claim 74, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to compare the indicator of the reverse link data rate to a threshold value.

76. The apparatus of claim 75, wherein the threshold value includes a lower bound, below which the user equipment can expect lower than nominal data rates on the reverse link to the access point.

77. The apparatus of claim 75, wherein the threshold value is an upper bound, above which the user equipment can expect lower than nominal data rates on the reverse link to the access point.

78. The apparatus of claim 75, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to sort the at least one wireless reverse link packet when the indicator of the reverse link data rate meets the threshold value such that the user equipment expects lower than nominal data rate on the reverse link.

79. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a size of the at least one wireless reverse link packet and a type of data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

80. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein in order to determine the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet, the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine a length of the at least one wireless reverse link packet; and

prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined length of the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

81. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein in order to prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined length of the at least one wireless reverse link packet, the at least one processor is further configured to weight the at least one wireless reverse link packet that is below a particular length threshold.

82. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein in order to determine the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet, the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine a type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet; and

prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

83. The apparatus of claim 82, wherein in order to prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the determined type of the at least one wireless reverse link packet, the at least one processor is further configured to weight particular types of the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

84. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein in order to determine the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet, the at least one processor is further configured to:

perform deep packet inspection of data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet; and

prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the deep packet inspection of the data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet.

85. The apparatus of claim 84, wherein in order to prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on the deep packet inspection of the data included in the at least one wireless reverse link packet, the at least one processor is further configured to weight particular types of data.

86. The apparatus of claim 85, wherein the at least one reverse link packet associated with a GET message for requesting advertising information in the forward link packet is given a low priority.

87. The apparatus of claim 86, wherein ACK messages for acknowledging a forward link transmission are given a higher priority than GET messages.

88. The apparatus of claim 85, wherein the at least one reverse link packet associated with a domain name system (DNS) query packet is given a relatively high priority.

89. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein in order to determine the priority for the at least one wireless reverse link packet, the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine whether the at least one wireless reverse link packet is related to a foreground application or a background application; and

prioritize the at least one wireless reverse link packet based at least on whether the at least one wireless reverse link packet is related to the foreground application or the background application.

90. The apparatus of claim 89, wherein determining whether the at least one wireless reverse link packet is related to the foreground application or the background application is based at least in part on information from an operating system managing applications on the user equipment.

91. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

sort the at least one wireless reverse link packet into respective queues for corresponding priority levels;

set at least one frequency of service value for each priority level; and

service the respective queues based at least on the corresponding frequency of service value for the respective priority level.

92. The apparatus of claim 91, wherein the at least one frequency of service value is based on a particular priority level and an indicator of a reverse link data rate.

93. The apparatus of claim 91, wherein the priority levels are ranked based at least on one of the estimated amount of time that the forward link will be idle or the estimated likelihood that the forward link will be idle.

94. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the at least one wireless reverse link packet comprises a transmission control protocol (TCP) ACK message, and wherein the wireless forward link packet comprises a TCP message generated in response to receiving the TCP ACK message.