U.S. patent application number 15/057034 was filed with the patent office on 2016-08-25 for bandwidth management (bwm) operation with opportunistic networks.
This patent application is currently assigned to InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc.. Invention is credited to Prabhakar R. Chitrapu, Robert A. DiFazio.
Application Number | 20160249288 15/057034 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 49715242 |
Filed Date | 2016-08-25 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160249288 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
DiFazio; Robert A. ; et
al. |
August 25, 2016 |
BANDWIDTH MANAGEMENT (BWM) OPERATION WITH OPPORTUNISTIC
NETWORKS
Abstract
A bandwidth management (BWM) controller may provide the
capability to combine a lower speed, wide area network (WAN) that
may have connectivity with an opportunistic network (ONW) that may
have intermittent connectivity. This may be done, for example, to
generate a multi-connection service that may provide connectivity
that may take advantage of occasional high-speed ONW connection
events.
Inventors: |
DiFazio; Robert A.;
(Greenlawn, NY) ; Chitrapu; Prabhakar R.; (Blue
Bell, PA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. |
Wilmington |
DE |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
InterDigital Patent Holdings,
Inc.
Wilmington
DE
|
Family ID: |
49715242 |
Appl. No.: |
15/057034 |
Filed: |
February 29, 2016 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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13907833 |
May 31, 2013 |
9313766 |
|
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15057034 |
|
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61654169 |
Jun 1, 2012 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 72/085 20130101;
H04W 64/006 20130101; H04W 24/02 20130101; H04W 88/12 20130101;
H04W 48/20 20130101; H04W 88/08 20130101; H04W 84/12 20130101; H04W
64/003 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 48/20 20060101
H04W048/20; H04W 64/00 20060101 H04W064/00; H04W 24/02 20060101
H04W024/02; H04W 72/08 20060101 H04W072/08 |
Claims
1. A bandwidth management (BWM) controller comprising: a processor,
the processor configured to: receive a request for a data stream;
determine an opportunistic network access point (ONW AP) in
proximity to a route; and send a message to the ONW AP to cache a
portion of the data stream.
2. The BWM of claim 1, wherein the request for the data stream is
received from at least a wireless/transmit receive unit (WTRU), an
eNode-B, a core network, or a mobile access point.
3. The BWM of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured
to determine that the portion of the data stream should be received
via the ONW AP instead of a wide area network access point (WAN
AP).
4. The BWM of claim 3, wherein the request for the data stream
requests that the data stream be received via the WAN AP.
5. The BWM of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured
to determine that the portion of the data stream should be received
via an ONW AP by analyzing a characteristic of the request for the
data stream.
6. The BWM of claim 5, wherein the characteristic of the request
for the data stream is at least an identity of a user requesting
the data stream, a type of device requesting the data stream, a
type of data included in the data stream, a size of the data
stream, a source of the data stream, or a priority value.
7. The BWM of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured
to determine that the portion of the data stream should be received
via an ONW by determining that the ONW AP provides at least an
improved quality of service, an improved data rate, or a lower
latency than a WAN AP.
8. The BWM of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured
to: receive a first quality of service (QoS) measurement for a WAN
AP; receive a second QoS measurement for an ONW AP; and determine
that the portion of the data stream should be received via the ONW
AP using the first QoS measurement and the second QoS
measurement.
9. The BWM of claim 8, wherein the first QoS measurement includes
at least one of a time, a location, a WTRU identification, a map
identification, a vehicle identification, a transport system
terminal identification, a data rate, or a latency.
10. The BWM of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured
to determine that the portion of the data stream should be received
via an ONW by determining that the ONW AP provides data at a lower
cost than a WAN AP.
11. The BWM of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to
determine the ONW AP along the route by: determining a position for
a device that sent the request for the data stream; determining the
route using the position; and selecting the ONW AP from one or more
potential ONW APs in proximity of the route.
12. The BWM of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to
determine the ONW AP in proximity to the route by: determining a
current position and a direction of travel for a device that sent
the request for the data stream; determining the route by comparing
the current position and the direction of travel to a map of
routes; and selecting the ONW AP from one or more potential ONW APs
in proximity to the direction of travel.
13. The BWM of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to
determine the ONW AP in proximity to the route by: determining an
estimated time of arrival based on a current location and a
direction of travel for a device that sent the request for the data
stream; and determining the ONW AP using the estimated time of
arrival.
14. The BWM of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to
determine the ONW AP in proximity to the route using a table of
neighboring access points.
15. A bandwidth management (BWM) controller comprising: a
processor, the processor configured to: receive a request for a
data stream; determine an opportunistic network access point (ONW
AP) in proximity to a route; determine that a first portion of the
data stream should be received via the ONW AP and a second portion
of the data stream should be received via a wide access network
access point (WAN AP); receive the first portion of the data stream
via the ONW AP and the second portion of the data stream via the
WAN AP; and generate a reconstructed data stream from the first
portion of the data stream and the second portion of the data
stream.
16. The BWM of claim 15, wherein the processor is further
configured to send the reconstructed data stream to a device that
sent the request for the data stream.
17. The BWM of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to
generate the reconstructed data stream by: combining the first
portion of the data stream and the second portion of the data
stream to form a combined data stream; and generating the
reconstructed data stream by removing duplicate data and repairing
errors in the combined data stream.
18. The BWM of claim 15, wherein the processor is further
configured to determine that the first portion of the data stream
should be received via the ONW AP by analyzing a characteristic of
the request for the data stream.
19. The BWM of claim 15, wherein the processor is further
configured to determine that the first portion of the data stream
should be received via the ONW by determining that the ONW AP
provides an improved quality of service, an improved data rate, or
a lower latency than the WAN AP.
20. The BWM of claim 15, wherein the processor is further
configured to: receive a first quality of service (QoS) measurement
for the WAN AP; and receive a second QoS measurement for the ONW
AP.
21. The BWM of claim 20, wherein the processor is further
configured to determine that the first portion of the data stream
should be received via the ONW using the first QoS measurement and
the second QoS measurement.
22. The BWM of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to
determine the ONW AP along the route by: determining a position for
a device that sent the request for the data stream; determining the
route using the position; and selecting the ONW AP from one or more
potential ONW APs in proximity of the route.
23. The BWM of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to
determine the ONW AP in proximity to the route by: determining a
current position and a direction of travel for a device that sent
the request for the data stream; determining the route by comparing
the current position and the direction of travel to a map of
routes; and selecting the ONW AP from one or more potential ONW APs
in proximity to the direction of travel.
24. The BWM of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to
determine the ONW AP in proximity to the route by: determining an
estimated time of arrival based on a current location and a
direction of travel for a device that sent the request for the data
stream; and determining the ONW AP using the estimated time of
arrival.
25. A bandwidth management (BWM) controller comprising: a
processor, the processor configured to: receive a request for a
data stream; determine an opportunistic network access point (ONW
AP) in proximity to a route; determine that a first portion of the
data stream should be sent via the ONW AP and a second portion of
the data stream should be sent via a wide access network access
point (WAN AP); send the first portion of the data stream via the
ONW AP and the second portion of the data stream via the WAN
AP.
26. The BWM of claim 25, wherein the processor is further
configured to determine that the first portion of the data stream
should be sent via the ONW AP by analyzing a characteristic of the
request for the data stream.
27. The BWM of claim 25, wherein the processor is further
configured to determine that the first portion of the data stream
should be sent via the ONW by determining that the ONW AP provides
an improved quality of service, an improved data rater, or a lower
latency than the WAN AP.
28. The BWM of claim 25, wherein the processor is further
configured to: receive a first quality of service (QoS) measurement
for the WAN AP; and receive a second QoS measurement for the ONW
AP.
29. The BWM of claim 28, wherein the processor is further
configured to determine that the first portion of the data stream
should be sent via the ONW using the first QoS measurement and the
second QoS measurement.
30. The BWM of claim 25, wherein the processor is configured to
determine the ONW AP along the route by: determining a position for
a device that sent the request for the data stream; determining the
route using the position; and selecting the ONW AP from one or more
potential ONW APs in proximity of the route.
31. The BWM of claim 25, wherein the processor is configured to
determine the ONW AP in proximity to the route by: determining a
current position and a direction of travel for a device that sent
the request for the data stream; determining the route by comparing
the current position and the direction of travel to a map of
routes; and selecting the ONW AP from one or more potential ONW APs
in proximity to the direction of travel.
32. The BWM of claim 25, wherein the processor is configured to
determine the ONW AP in proximity to the route by: determining an
estimated time of arrival based on a current location and a
direction of travel for a device that sent the request for the data
stream; and determining the ONW AP using the estimated time of
arrival.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 13/907,833, filed May 31, 2013; which claims
the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/654,169,
filed Jun. 1, 2012; the contents of which are hereby incorporated
by reference herein.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Many transportation systems, public and private, offer their
customers Wi-Fi at their terminals and while in transit. The Wi-Fi
access point available while in transit may use a wireless WAN as
the backhaul, and that capacity may be shared among users. As a
result, the Wi-Fi performance may not be as good as provided by a
fixed access point, and the system operator may restrict the
services available to the users. When in or close to a transit
station, users may have to manually switch to a higher performance
fixed Wi-Fi system. Such actions may be disruptive, and may not be
deemed worthwhile for a short stop (compared to the transit times
between stops). The switch may interrupt data sessions and may
require the user to reconnect and restart one or more sessions.
SUMMARY
[0003] A bandwidth management (BWM) controller may be provided. The
BWM controller may include a processor that may be configured to
perform a number of actions. A request for a data stream may be
received. An opportunistic network access point (ONW AP) in
proximity to a route may be determined. A message may be sent to
the ONW AP to cache a portion of the data stream.
[0004] A BWM controller may be provided that may include a
processor configured to perform a number of actions. A request for
a data stream may be received. An ONW AP in proximity to a route
may be determined. It may be determined that a first portion of the
data stream may be received via an ONW AP and a second portion of
the data stream may be received via a wide area network access
point (WAN AP). The first portion of the data stream may be
received via the ONW AP and the second portion of the data stream
may be received via the WAN AP. A reconstructed data stream may be
generated from the first portion of the data stream and the second
portion of the data stream.
[0005] A BWM controller may be provided that may include a
processor configured to perform a number of actions. A request for
a data stream may be received. An ONW AP in proximity to a route
may be determined. It may be determined that a first portion of a
data stream may be sent via the ONW AP and a second portion of the
data stream may be sent via a WAN AP. The first portion of the data
stream may be sent via the ONW AP and the second portion of the
data stream may be sent via the WAN AP.
[0006] The Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts
in a simplified form that are further described below in the
Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key
features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor
is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject
matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to
any limitations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any
part of this disclosure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] A more detailed understanding may be had from the following
description, given by way of example in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings.
[0008] FIG. 1A depicts a system diagram of an example
communications system in which one or more disclosed embodiments
may be implemented.
[0009] FIG. 1B depicts a system diagram of an example wireless
transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the
communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A.
[0010] FIG. 1C depicts a system diagram of an example radio access
network and an example core network that may be used within the
communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A.
[0011] FIG. 1D depicts a system diagram of an example radio access
network and an example core network that may be used within the
communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A.
[0012] FIG. 1E depicts a system diagram of an example radio access
network and an example core network that may be used within the
communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A.
[0013] FIG. 2 depicts an ONW with a BWM added that may provide
improved performance.
[0014] FIG. 3 depicts wireless data access in a network that may
include multi-hop wireless links.
[0015] FIG. 4 depicts a public transit system that may include
access points (AP).
[0016] FIG. 5 depicts a bandwidth management server that may allow
for the use of multiple networks.
[0017] FIGS. 6A-C depicts configurations that may be used for a
mobile access point (MAP) and/or a WTRU connection.
[0018] FIG. 7 depicts receive data processing that may be performed
by a BWM entity.
[0019] FIG. 8 depicts transmit data processing that may be
performed by a BWM entity.
[0020] FIG. 9 depicts processing that may occur at an ONW AP.
[0021] FIG. 10 depicts processing that may occur at a MAP or a
WTRU.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0022] An opportunistic network (ONW) may be a system that may have
intermittent connectivity, for example, intervals of connectivity
interspersed with intervals of no connectivity. The intervals of no
connectivity may be longer than the intervals of connectivity. The
connectivity provided, when available, may be a reliable, high data
rate connection. ONWs may be used to intermittently transfer large
blocks of data.
[0023] ONWs may provide intermittent connectivity due to the
mobility of a user device, such as a wireless/transmit receive unit
(WTRU). For example, a series on non-overlapping wireless hotspots
may individually provide a connected and reliable service. When
viewed as a system that may be used by a mobile user that traverses
a path that comes into and out of the coverage of the hotspots, the
system may be referred to as an intermittent system, a system with
intermittent connectivity, or an ONW. Other implementations of ONW
may be possible. ONWs may provide intermittent connectivity due to
sharing of a resource, for example, spectrum that may be shared
among several systems or users, or hardware that may be shared
among multiple systems or users.
[0024] In current systems, if a user is in transit, the user may
not exploit the benefits of using multiple networks that may have
different characteristics: one which may be available frequently
with moderate QoS and one which may be available intermittently but
provides high QoS, such as an ONW. Current systems may choose to
ignore the ONW due to its intermittent characteristics. There may
not be a way for current systems to know that when one ONW
connection fails, another may be available in a short time. Even if
the information may be available, current systems have no mechanism
to use it. A current system may utilize the ONW when available;
however, the user may not realize that at certain times streaming
or large downloads are available. As a result, their online
behavior and experience may be consistent with a poorer continuous
connection rather than the aggregated network capability.
[0025] Embodiments described herein may utilize BWM to provide the
capability to combine a lower speed, wide area network (WAN) that
may have continuous connectivity with an ONW that may have
intermittent connectivity. This may be done, for example, to
generate a multi-connection service that may provide an enhanced
continuous connectivity that may take advantage of occasional
high-speed ONW connection events.
[0026] BWM Policy and multi-connection enhancements may be
provided. BWM policy management may be enhanced to use the Quality
of Service (QoS)/connectivity statistics of a continuous connection
and the QoS/connectivity statistics of an intermittent connection
as inputs to form decisions. These decisions may provide an
improved user experience compared to using just one of the two
networks.
[0027] BWM policy management may anticipate future connection
events of the ONW and may queue or cache a subset of data and data
requests from WTRUs in preparation for a connection event. BWM
policy management may use a known or a learned transportation route
or connectivity statistics to determine how much data may be queued
or cached from WTRUs in preparation for a connection event. BWM
policy management may use a known or a learned transportation route
or connectivity statistics to determine when data collection from
WTRUs may be stopped or throttled back. Connectivity statistics may
include, for example, bandwidth, throughput, duration, or total
quantity of data transfer estimated to be available at an
anticipated connection event.
[0028] BWM policy management may anticipate future connectivity
events of the ONW and may forward data to ONW network nodes to
cache in preparation for transmission to the WTRUs. BWM policy
management may use known or learned transportation route or
connectivity statistics to determine how much data to forward to
and cache at ONW network nodes in preparation for transmission to
WTRUs. BWM policy management may use a known or learned
transportation route or connectivity statistics to determine when
to stop or throttle back data collection from external networks.
Connectivity statistics may include, for example, bandwidth,
throughput, duration, or total quantity of data transfer estimated
to be available at an anticipated connection event.
[0029] A bandwidth management (BWM) controller may be provided. The
BWM controller may include a processor that may be configured to
perform a number of actions. A request for a data stream may be
received. The request for the data stream may be received from a
wireless/transmit receive unit (WTRU), an eNode-B, a core network,
a mobile access point (MAP), or the like. The request for the data
stream may request that the data stream be received via the WAN AP.
An ONW AP in proximity to a route may be determined. A message may
be sent to the ONW AP to cache a portion of the data stream.
[0030] It may be determined that a portion of the data stream may
be received via the opportunistic network access point (ONW AP)
instead of a wide area network access point (WAN AP). It may be
determined that a portion of the data stream may be received via an
ONW AP by analyzing a characteristic of the request for the data
stream. The characteristic of the request for the data stream may
be an identity of a user requesting the data stream, a type of
device requesting the data stream, a type of data included in the
data stream, a size of the data stream, a source of the data
stream, a priority value, or the like. It may be determined that
the portion of the data stream should be received via an ONW AP by
determining that the ONW AP provides an improved quality of
service, an improved data rate, or a lower latency than a WAN AP.
For example, a first quality of service (QoS) measurement may be
received from the WAN AP. A second QoS measurement may be received
for the ONW AP. The first QoS measurement and the second QoS
measurement may be used to determine that a portion of the data
stream should be received via the ONW AP. A QoS measurement may
include a time, a location, a WTRU identification, a map
identification, a vehicle identification, a transport system
terminal identification, or the like. It may be determined that a
portion of the data stream may be received via the ONW AP by
determining that the ONW AP provides data at a lower cost than a
WAN AP.
[0031] As disclosed herein, an ONW AP in proximity to a route may
be determined in a number of ways. For example, a position may be
determined for a device that sent the request for the data stream.
The route may be determined using the position. The ONW AP may be
selected from one or more potential ONW APs in proximity of the
route. As another example, a current position and a direction of
travel may be determined for a device that sent the request for the
data stream. The route may be determined by comparing the current
position and the direction of travel to a map of routes. The ONW AP
may be selected from one or more potential ONW APs in proximity to
the direction of travel. As another example, an estimated time of
arrival may be determined based on a current location and a
direction of travel for a device that sent the request for the data
stream. The ONW AP may be determined using the estimated time of
arrival.
[0032] A BWM controller may be provided that may include a
processor configured to perform a number of actions. A request for
a data stream may be received. An ONW AP in proximity to a route
may be determined. It may be determined that a first portion of the
data stream may be received via an ONW AP and a second portion of
the data stream may be received via a wide access network access
point (WAN AP). The first portion of the data stream may be
received via the ONW AP and the second portion of the data stream
may be received via the WAN AP. A reconstructed data stream may be
generated from the first portion of the data stream and the second
portion of the data stream. The reconstructed data stream may be
sent to a device that sent the request for the data stream.
[0033] As disclosed herein, the reconstructed data stream may be
generated in a number of ways. For example, the first portion of
the data stream and the second portion of the data stream may be
combined to form a combined data stream. The reconstructed data
stream may be generated by removing duplicate data and repairing
errors in the combined data stream.
[0034] A BWM controller may be provided that may include a
processor configured to perform a number of actions. A request for
a data stream may be received. An ONW AP in proximity to a route
may be determined. It may be determined that a first portion of a
data stream may be sent via the ONW AP and a second portion of the
data stream may be sent via a WAN AP. A first portion of the data
stream may be sent via the ONW AP and the second portion of the
data stream may be sent via the WAN AP.
[0035] It may be determined that a portion of the data stream may
be sent via the opportunistic network access point (ONW AP) instead
of a wide area network access point (WAN AP). It may be determined
that a portion of the data stream may be sent via an ONW AP by
analyzing a characteristic of the request for the data stream. The
characteristic of the request for the data stream may be an
identity of a user requesting the data stream, a type of device
requesting the data stream, a type of data included in the data
stream, a size of the data stream, a source of the data stream, a
priority value, or the like. It may be determined that the portion
of the data stream should be sent via an ONW AP by determining that
the ONW AP provides an improved quality of service, an improved
data rate, or a lower latency than a WAN AP. For example, a first
quality of service (QoS) measurement may be received from the WAN
AP. A second QoS measurement may be received from the ONW AP. The
first QoS measurement and the second QoS measurement may be used to
determine that a portion of the data stream should be sent via the
ONW AP. A QoS measurement may include a time, a location, a WTRU
identification, a map identification, a vehicle identification, a
transport system terminal identification, or the like. It may be
determined that a portion of the data stream may be sent via an ONW
AP by determining that the ONW AP provides data at a lower cost
than a WAN AP.
[0036] As disclosed herein, an ONW AP in proximity to a route may
be determined in a number of ways. For example, a position may be
determined for a device that sent the request for the data stream.
The route may be determined using the position. The ONW AP may be
selected from one or more potential ONW APs in proximity of the
route. As another example, a current position and a direction of
travel may be determined for a device that sent the request for the
data stream. The route may be determined by comparing the current
position and the direction of travel to a map of routes. The ONW AP
may be selected from one or more potential ONW APs in proximity to
the direction of travel. As another example, an estimated time of
arrival may be determined based on a current location and a
direction of travel for a device that sent the request for the data
stream. The ONW AP may be determined using the estimated time of
arrival.
[0037] FIG. 1A is a diagram of an example communications system 100
in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The
communications system 100 may be a multiple access system that
provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast,
etc., to multiple wireless users. The communications system 100 may
enable multiple wireless users to access such content through the
sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For
example, the communications systems 100 may employ one or more
channel access methods, such as code division multiple access
(CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division
multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier
FDMA (SC-FDMA), and the like.
[0038] As shown in FIG. 1A, the communications system 100 may
include wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c,
102d, a radio access network (RAN) 104, a core network 106, a
public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and
other networks 112, though it will be appreciated that the
disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base
stations, networks, and/or network elements. Each of the WTRUs
102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to
operate and/or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of
example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be configured to
transmit and/or receive wireless signals and may include user
equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber
unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant
(PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a tablet, a personal
computer, a wireless sensor, consumer electronics, and the
like.
[0039] The communications systems 100 may also include a base
station 114a and a base station 114b. Each of the base stations
114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly
interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to
facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as
the core network 106, the Internet 110, and/or the networks 112. By
way of example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be a base
transceiver station (BTS), a Node-B, an eNode B, a Home Node B, a
Home eNode B, a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless
router, and the like. While the base stations 114a, 114b are each
depicted as a single element, it will be appreciated that the base
stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base
stations and/or network elements.
[0040] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104, which may
also include other base stations and/or network elements (not
shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network
controller (RNC), relay nodes, etc. The base station 114a and/or
the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and/or receive
wireless signals within a particular geographic region, which may
be referred to as a cell (not shown). The cell may further be
divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell associated with
the base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in
one embodiment, the base station 114a may include three
transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. In another
embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input
multiple output (MIMO) technology and, therefore, may utilize
multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell.
[0041] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or
more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116,
which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio
frequency (RF), microwave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible
light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any
suitable radio access technology (RAT).
[0042] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system
100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more
channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA,
and the like. For example, the base station 114a in the RAN 104 and
the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio
Access (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using
wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols
such as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and/or Evolved HSPA
(HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA)
and/or High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA).
[0043] In another embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs
102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved
UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air
interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and/or LTE-Advanced
(LTE-A).
[0044] In other embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs
102a, 102b, 102c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE
802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
(WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1.times., CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim
Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim
Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications
(GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE
(GERAN), and the like.
[0045] The base station 114b in FIG. 1A may be a wireless router,
Home Node B, Home eNode B, or access point, for example, and may
utilize any suitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in
a localized area, such as a place of business, a home, a vehicle, a
campus, and the like. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and
the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE
802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In
another embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d
may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a
wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment,
the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a
cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, etc.)
to establish a picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 1A, the base
station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110.
Thus, the base station 114b may not be required to access the
Internet 110 via the core network 106.
[0046] The RAN 104 may be in communication with the core network
106, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice,
data, applications, and/or voice over internet protocol (VoIP)
services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. For
example, the core network 106 may provide call control, billing
services, mobile location-based services, pre-paid calling,
Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and/or perform
high-level security functions, such as user authentication.
Although not shown in FIG. 1A, it will be appreciated that the RAN
104 and/or the core network 106 may be in direct or indirect
communication with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN
104 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected
to the RAN 104, which may be utilizing an E-UTRA radio technology,
the core network 106 may also be in communication with another RAN
(not shown) employing a GSM radio technology.
[0047] The core network 106 may also serve as a gateway for the
WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet
110, and/or other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include
circuit-switched telephone networks that provide plain old
telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global
system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use
common communication protocols, such as the transmission control
protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) and the internet
protocol (IP) in the TCP/IP internet protocol suite. The networks
112 may include wired or wireless communications networks owned
and/or operated by other service providers. For example, the
networks 112 may include another core network connected to one or
more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a
different RAT.
[0048] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the
communications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities,
i.e., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple
transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks
over different wireless links. For example, the WTRU 102c shown in
FIG. 1A may be configured to communicate with the base station
114a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with
the base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio
technology.
[0049] FIG. 1B is a system diagram of an example WTRU 102. As shown
in FIG. 1B, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver
120, a transmit/receive element 122, a speaker/microphone 124, a
keypad 126, a display/touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130,
removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning
system (GPS) chipset 136, and other peripherals 138. It will be
appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of
the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an
embodiment.
[0050] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a
special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital
signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more
microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a
microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs),
Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of
integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. The
processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power
control, input/output processing, and/or any other functionality
that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The
processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be
coupled to the transmit/receive element 122. While FIG. 1B depicts
the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components,
it will be appreciated that the processor 118 and the transceiver
120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or
chip.
[0051] The transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to
transmit signals to, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g.,
the base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in
one embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be an antenna
configured to transmit and/or receive RF signals. In another
embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be an
emitter/detector configured to transmit and/or receive IR, UV, or
visible light signals, for example. In yet another embodiment, the
transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and
receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the
transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and/or
receive any combination of wireless signals.
[0052] In addition, although the transmit/receive element 122 is
depicted in FIG. 1B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include
any number of transmit/receive elements 122. More specifically, the
WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the
WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit/receive elements 122
(e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless
signals over the air interface 116.
[0053] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the
signals that are to be transmitted by the transmit/receive element
122 and to demodulate the signals that are received by the
transmit/receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have
multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include
multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU 102 to communicate via
multiple RATs, such as UTRA and IEEE 802.11, for example.
[0054] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may
receive user input data from, the speaker/microphone 124, the
keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal
display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED)
display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the
speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad
128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from,
and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the
non-removable memory 130 and/or the removable memory 132. The
non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM),
read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory
storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber
identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD)
memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118
may access information from, and store data in, memory that is not
physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home
computer (not shown).
[0055] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source
134, and may be configured to distribute and/or control the power
to the other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may
be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the
power source 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g.,
nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride
(NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and
the like.
[0056] The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset
136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g.,
longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU
102. In addition to, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS
chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information over the
air interface 116 from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a,
114b) and/or determine its location based on the timing of the
signals being received from two or more nearby base stations. It
will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may acquire location
information by way of any suitable location-determination method
while remaining consistent with an embodiment.
[0057] The processor 118 may further be coupled to other
peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and/or
hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality
and/or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals
138 may include an accelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite
transceiver, a digital camera (for photographs or video), a
universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television
transceiver, a hands free headset, a Bluetooth.RTM. module, a
frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a
media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, and
the like.
[0058] FIG. 1C is a system diagram of the RAN 104 and the core
network 106a according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN
104 may employ a UTRA radio technology to communicate with the
WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may
also be in communication with the core network 106a. As shown in
FIG. 1C, the RAN 104 may include Node-Bs 140a, 140b, 140c, which
may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with
the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The Node-Bs
140a, 140b, 140c may each be associated with a particular cell (not
shown) within the RAN 104. The RAN 104 may also include RNCs 142a,
142b. It will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any
number of Node-Bs and RNCs while remaining consistent with an
embodiment.
[0059] As shown in FIG. 1C, the Node-Bs 140a, 140b may be in
communication with the RNC 142a. Additionally, the Node-B 140c may
be in communication with the RNC 142b. The Node-Bs 140a, 140b, 140c
may communicate with the respective RNCs 142a, 142b via an Iub
interface. The RNCs 142a, 142b may be in communication with one
another via an Iur interface. Each of the RNCs 142a, 142b may be
configured to control the respective Node-Bs 140a, 140b, 140c to
which it is connected. In addition, each of the RNCs 142a, 142b may
be configured to carry out or support other functionality, such as
outer loop power control, load control, admission control, packet
scheduling, handover control, macrodiversity, security functions,
data encryption, and the like.
[0060] The core network 106a shown in FIG. 1C may include a media
gateway (MGW) 144, a mobile switching center (MSC) 146, a serving
GPRS support node (SGSN) 148, and/or a gateway GPRS support node
(GGSN) 150. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as
part of the core network 106a, it will be appreciated that any one
of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other
than the core network operator.
[0061] The RNC 142a in the RAN 104 may be connected to the MSC 146
in the core network 106a via an IuCS interface. The MSC 146 may be
connected to the MGW 144. The MSC 146 and the MGW 144 may provide
the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched
networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications
between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and traditional land-line
communications devices.
[0062] The RNC 142a in the RAN 104 may also be connected to the
SGSN 148 in the core network 106a via an IuPS interface. The SGSN
148 may be connected to the GGSN 150. The SGSN 148 and the GGSN 150
may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to
packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate
communications between and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and
IP-enabled devices.
[0063] As noted above, the core network 106a may also be connected
to the networks 112, which may include other wired or wireless
networks that are owned and/or operated by other service
providers.
[0064] FIG. 1D is a system diagram of the RAN 104b and the core
network 106b according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN
104b may employ an E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the
WTRUs 102d, 102e, 102f over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may
also be in communication with the core network 106b.
[0065] The RAN 104 may include eNode-Bs 140d, 140e, 140f, though it
will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of
eNode-Bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The
eNode-Bs 140d, 140e, 140f may each include one or more transceivers
for communicating with the WTRUs 102d, 102e, 102f over the air
interface 116. In one embodiment, the eNode-Bs 140d, 140e, 140f may
implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNode-B 140d, for example, may
use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and receive
wireless signals from, the WTRU 102d.
[0066] Each of the eNode-Bs 140d, 140e, 140f may be associated with
a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio
resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of
users in the uplink and/or downlink, and the like. As shown in FIG.
1D, the eNode-Bs 140d, 140e, 140f may communicate with one another
over an X2 interface.
[0067] The core network 106b shown in FIG. 1D may include a
mobility management gateway (MME) 143, a serving gateway 145, and a
packet data network (PDN) gateway 147. While each of the foregoing
elements are depicted as part of the core network 106b, it will be
appreciated that any one of these elements may be owned and/or
operated by an entity other than the core network operator.
[0068] The MME 143 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 140d,
140e, 140f in the RAN 104b via an S1 interface and may serve as a
control node. For example, the MME 143 may be responsible for
authenticating users of the WTRUs 102d, 102e, 102f, bearer
activation/deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway
during an initial attach of the WTRUs 102d, 102e, 102f, and the
like. The MME 143 may also provide a control plane function for
switching between the RAN 104b and other RANs (not shown) that
employ other radio technologies, such as GSM or WCDMA.
[0069] The serving gateway 145 may be connected to each of the
eNode Bs 140d, 140e, 140f in the RAN 104b via the S1 interface. The
serving gateway 145 may generally route and forward user data
packets to/from the WTRUs 102d, 102e, 102f The serving gateway 145
may also perform other functions, such as anchoring user planes
during inter-eNode B handovers, triggering paging when downlink
data is available for the WTRUs 102d, 102e, 102f, managing and
storing contexts of the WTRUs 102d, 102e, 102f, and the like.
[0070] The serving gateway 145 may also be connected to the PDN
gateway 147, which may provide the WTRUs 102d, 102e, 102f with
access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to
facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102d, 102e, 102f and
IP-enabled devices.
[0071] The core network 106b may facilitate communications with
other networks. For example, the core network 106b may provide the
WTRUs 102d, 102e, 102f with access to circuit-switched networks,
such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the
WTRUs 102d, 102e, 102f and traditional land-line communications
devices. For example, the core network 106b may include, or may
communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem
(IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the core network
106b and the PSTN 108. In addition, the core network 106b may
provide the WTRUs 102d, 102e, 102f with access to the networks 112,
which may include other wired or wireless networks that are owned
and/or operated by other service providers.
[0072] FIG. 1E is a system diagram of the RAN 104c and the core
network 106c according to an embodiment. The RAN 104c may be an
access service network (ASN) that employs IEEE 802.16 radio
technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102g, 102h, 102i over the
air interface 116. As will be further discussed below, the
communication links between the different functional entities of
the WTRUs 102g, 102h, 102i, the RAN 104c, and the core network 106c
may be defined as reference points.
[0073] As shown in FIG. 1E, the RAN 104c may include base stations
140g, 140h, 140i, and an ASN gateway 141, though it will be
appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of base
stations and ASN gateways while remaining consistent with an
embodiment. The base stations 140g, 140h, 140i may each be
associated with a particular cell (not shown) in the RAN 104c and
may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with
the WTRUs 102g, 102h, 102i over the air interface 116. In one
embodiment, the base stations 140g, 140h, 140i may implement MIMO
technology. Thus, the base station 140g, for example, may use
multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and receive
wireless signals from, the WTRU 102g. The base stations 140g, 140h,
140i may also provide mobility management functions, such as
handoff triggering, tunnel establishment, radio resource
management, traffic classification, quality of service (QoS) policy
enforcement, and the like. The ASN Gateway 141 may serve as a
traffic aggregation point and may be responsible for paging,
caching of subscriber profiles, routing to the core network 106c,
and the like.
[0074] The air interface 116 between the WTRUs 102g, 102h, 102i and
the RAN 104c may be defined as an R1 reference point that
implements the IEEE 802.16 specification. In addition, each of the
WTRUs 102g, 102h, 102i may establish a logical interface (not
shown) with the core network 106c. The logical interface between
the WTRUs 102g, 102h, 102i and the core network 106c may be defined
as an R2 reference point, which may be used for authentication,
authorization, IP host configuration management, and/or mobility
management.
[0075] The communication link between each of the base stations
140g, 140h, 140i may be defined as an R8 reference point that
includes protocols for facilitating WTRU handovers and the transfer
of data between base stations. The communication link between the
base stations 140g, 140h, 140i and the ASN gateway 141 may be
defined as an R6 reference point. The R6 reference point may
include protocols for facilitating mobility management based on
mobility events associated with each of the WTRUs 102g, 102h,
100i.
[0076] As shown in FIG. 1E, the RAN 104 may be connected to the
core network 106c. The communication link between the RAN 104c and
the core network 106c may defined as an R3 reference point that
includes protocols for facilitating data transfer and mobility
management capabilities, for example. The core network 106c may
include a mobile IP home agent (MIP-HA) 144, an authentication,
authorization, accounting (AAA) server 156, and a gateway 158.
While each of the foregoing elements may be depicted as part of the
core network 106c, it will be appreciated that any one of these
elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than the
core network operator.
[0077] The MIP-HA may be responsible for IP address management, and
may enable the WTRUs 102g, 102h, 102i to roam between different
ASNs and/or different core networks. The MIP-HA 154 may provide the
WTRUs 102g, 102h, 102i with access to packet-switched networks,
such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the
WTRUs 102g, 102h, 102i and IP-enabled devices. The AAA server 156
may be responsible for user authentication and for supporting user
services. The gateway 158 may facilitate interworking with other
networks. For example, the gateway 158 may provide the WTRUs 102g,
102h, 102i with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the
PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102g,
102h, 102i and traditional landline communications devices. In
addition, the gateway 158 may provide the WTRUs 102g, 102h, 102i
with access to the networks 112, which may include other wired or
wireless networks that are owned and/or operated by other service
providers.
[0078] Although not shown in FIG. 1E, it will be appreciated that
the RAN 104c may be connected to other ASNs and the core network
106c may be connected to other core networks. The communication
link between the RAN 104c the other ASNs may be defined as an R4
reference point, which may include protocols for coordinating the
mobility of the WTRUs 102g, 102h, 102i between the RAN 104c and the
other ASNs. The communication link between the core network 106c
and the other core networks may be defined as an R5 reference,
which may include protocols for facilitating interworking between
home core networks and visited core networks
[0079] Bandwidth management technology may be used to extend
opportunistic network (ONW) concepts. The ONWs may have short
intervals of very high speed, highly reliable connectivity
interspersed with long intervals of no connectivity.
[0080] FIG. 2 depicts an ONW with BWM added that may provide
improved performance.
[0081] BWM may provide the capability to combine a lower speed,
wide area network (WAN) that may have continuous connectivity, such
as at 220, with an ONW that may have intermittent connectivity,
such as at 218. The resulting multi-connection service may provide
a continuous connectivity that may provide occasional high-speed
ONW connections.
[0082] For example, a bus, such as the vehicle at 202, may include
an access point (AP), such as mobile access point (MAP) 204. MAP
204 may provide backhaul via both a cellular radio access network
(RAN), which may frequently be available, and a Wi-Fi connection,
that may be available at or near a bus stop. MAP 204 may include
modules WAN 206 and/or ONW 208. MAP 204 may use module WAN 206 to
communicate with a cellular RAN and may communicate with an
eNode-B, such as eNode-B 210. MAP 204 may use module ONW 208 to
communicate with ONWs, such as Wi-Fi access points.
[0083] As shown in FIG. 2, a Wi-Fi connection, such as one provided
by ONW 214, may be available over short time intervals while at the
bus stop. These connection events may occur at stops that may be
separated by longer intervals. Other use cases may be envisioned
where a user may have a WAN connection and may be mobile along a
predictable path, such as a highway or flight path, and may come in
and out of the coverage of high speed networks.
[0084] Though the system in FIG. 2 uses the example of LTE with an
eNode-B and Wi-Fi, the systems described in this and other examples
may use any combination of networks where one is a wide area
network and the other an ONW. For example, a wide area cellular
network such as a 3G WCDMA network and an ONW based on LTE
hotpsots; a combination of a persistent wide area LTE cellular
network and an ONW based on LTE hotspots; or other combinations of
persistent and ONWs may use the techniques described herein.
[0085] BWM Policy and multi-connection enhancements may be
provided. For example, MAP 204 may include module BWM 212, which
may include the BWM function that may include the BWM policy and
control and may provide multi-connection enhancements. As another
example, BWM policy and multi-connection enhancements may be
provided to MAP 204 by BWM Control 216.
[0086] BWM function, which may occur at 212 and/or 216, may use the
Quality of Service (QoS)/connectivity statistics of a continuous
connection and the QoS/connectivity statistics of an intermittent
connection as inputs to form decisions. These decisions may provide
an improved user experience compared to using one network.
[0087] For example, both the connection at 220 and the intermittent
connection at 218 may be maintained as active connections. As
another example, multiple active connections may be used to provide
a long-term improvement in average throughput that may have fewer
connection/disconnection/reconfiguration events.
[0088] The BWM function may anticipate future connection events of
the ONW and may queue or cache a subset of data and data requests
from WTRUs in preparation for a connection event. The BWM function
may use a known or a learned transportation route or connectivity
statistics to determine how much data may be queued or cached from
WTRUs in preparation for a connection event. The BWM function may
use a known or a learned transportation route or connectivity
statistics to determine when data collection from WTRUs may be
stopped or throttled back. Connectivity statistics may include, for
example, bandwidth, throughput, duration, or total quantity of data
transfer estimated to be available at an anticipated connection
event.
[0089] The BWM function, which may occur at 208 and/or 216, may
anticipate future connectivity events of the ONW and may forward
data to ONW network nodes to cache in preparation for transmission
to the WTRUs. For example, the BWM function may anticipate that
vehicle 202 is arriving at ONW 214. As another example, the BWM
function may detect that vehicle 202 is moving away from ONW 214
and may anticipate that vehicle 202 may arrive at ONW 222.
[0090] The BWM function may use known or learned transportation
route or connectivity statistics to determine how much data to
forward to and cache at ONW network nodes in preparation for
transmission to WTRUs. The BWM function may use known or learned
transportation route or connectivity statistics to determine when
to stop or throttle back data collection from external networks.
Connectivity statistics may include, for example, bandwidth,
throughput, duration, or total quantity of data transfer estimated
to be available at an anticipated connection event.
[0091] A multi-connection ID may be defined such that when one of
the connections may be intermittently disrupted, the
multi-connections may not either be defaulted to a single
connection or torn down. The characteristics of the intermittency
may be learnt in real-time, based on historical data, or a
combination thereof. The decision thresholds may be adapted to suit
the particular mobility scenario.
[0092] A system with intermittent connectivity that may know or
learn the transportation route used by vehicles or users that
traverse the network may use the information to forward data flows
and requests. A system with intermittent connectivity may gather
connectivity, QoS related statistics, arrival statistics, departure
statistics at a place with connectivity (e.g., "bus stop"), or the
like and may create a database containing the statistics.
[0093] An application on a WTRU, or enhancements to an existing
application (e.g., a connection manager), may identify use of the
intermittent network and/or may provide an indication to the user
of performance parameters of the individual and/or combined network
operation.
[0094] The embodiments described with regard to vehicles may be
extended to mobility in Small Cell Networks, where the Small Cell
connection may be intermittent due to user mobility. Additionally,
the embodiments may also be applied to augmented unreliable
networks such as TVWS or mmW links, such may be augmented by
Macro-Cellular links.
[0095] Access to an intermittent link may be orchestrated by an
opportunistic BWM server. Authentication and access to the
intermittent network may be done between the BWM server and a
cooperative network, such as Boingo. The opportunistic Wi-Fi
service may be provided to multiple operators who may have deployed
respective MAPs in a vehicle. The Wi-Fi bandwidth may be shared
across the multiple Operators and may be managed according to SLAs
between the Cellular Operators and the neutral Wi-Fi Host.
[0096] Maintaining continuous broadband connections for a mobile
user, particularly in a high-speed vehicle, may pose a challenge.
Cellular connectivity offers wide-area, but may be highly variable
throughput that may be dependent on a WTRU's position relative to
base stations and network congestion. Small cells may be a path to
increasing throughput, but building sufficiently dense
infrastructure along a transportation corridor may be costly and
may require a system with mobility and hand-off capability
consistent with high-speed vehicles rapidly moving in and out of
coverage of individual infrastructure devices.
[0097] Referring again to FIG. 2, an example of an ONW Access Point
may be shown at 214 and at 222 along a transportation route. The
coverage area of the ONW AP may be an area in and around the AP,
and may not be large enough to overlap with the coverage area of
the previous or next ONW AP along the route. Vehicle 202 may enter
the coverage area of ONW AP 214, achieve connectivity, and may lose
the connection on exiting the coverage area. The vehicle may enter
the coverage area of another ONW AP, such as ONW AP 222, and the
cycle may repeat. For example, coverage durations and outage times
between events may be an average dwell time of 26.0 seconds at a
stop and an average of 65.4 seconds between stops.
[0098] The ONW AP may be connected to the Internet, a local ONW
network, or the like. It may have connections to other ONR APs to
forward or receive user or control plane data for passengers or
control data for the ONW network.
[0099] The embodiments may improve user experience. For example,
consider a dwell time of 26.0 seconds and an inter-arrival time of
65.4 seconds, equal to the average values mentioned above. The WAN
may provide a continuous data rate of 5 Mbps for the full
26.0+65.4=91.4 seconds. This may allow a transfer of 57.1 Mbytes of
data. If the ONW connection may provide 100 Mbps for the 26-second
dwell time. This may provide a transfer of 325.0 Mbytes. The
average data rate may be (26.0+65.4=91.4 seconds) approximately 33
Mbps. A combination of the two RATs may provide a moderate level of
service continuously, augmented by good service intermittently. The
overall user experience may be better than either RAT alone and may
be transparent to the users.
[0100] The average performance may be insensitive to the
variability of the WAN network, which may be moving from cell
center to cell edge as base stations may be approached and passed,
and may see significant variation in its data rate. If the WAN rate
may be assumed to be 1 Mbps instead of 5 Mbps, the average rate may
decreases to about 29 Mbps from 33 Mbps.
[0101] Although embodiments disclosed herein may discuss the
combination of at least one WAN and at least one ONW (which may
comprises one or more ONW APs), the concepts may be extended to
multiple WANs and multiple ONW networks.
[0102] FIG. 3 depicts wireless data access in a network that may
include multi-hop wireless links. As shown in FIG. 3, ONW access
points, such as 304, 306, and 308 may be used to provide data to
WTRU 316 and WTRU 314 via AP 312. For example, WTRU 316 may be
located on vehicle 318, which may be traveling. WTRU 316 may be
able to communicate with AP 312. WTRU 316 may request a data stream
from AP 312. AP 312 may communicate the data stream request to
server 310 via ONW APs, 304, 306, and/or 308. AP 312 may
communicate the data stream request to server 310 via a cellular
connection. Server 310 may detect that vehicle 318 is near ONW AP
304, but is approaching AP 306. Server 310 may determine a first
portion of the requested data stream that may be sent to AP 312
while AP 312 may be within range of ONW AP 304. Server 310 may
determine a second portion of the requested data stream that may be
sent to AP 312 while AP 313 may be within range of ONW AP 306.
Server 310 may determine that the remaining portion of the
requested data stream may be sent to AP 312 while AP 313 may be
within range of ONW AP 308. ONW AP 304 may receive the first
portion of the requested data stream and may send the first portion
to the AP 312 and AP 312 may send the data to WTRU 316, may cache
the data, or may cache a portion of the data and may send a portion
of the data to WTRU 316. ONW AP 306 may receive the second portion
of the requested data stream and may cache the data. When AP 312
may be within range of ONW AP 306, ONW AP 306 may send the second
portion to AP 312. ONW AP 308 may receive the remaining portion of
the requested data stream and may cache the data. When AP 312 may
be within range of ONW AP 308, ONW AP 308 may send the remaining
portion to AP 312.
[0103] FIG. 4 depicts a public transit system that may include
access points (AP). Many transportation systems, public and
private, offer their customers Wi-Fi at their terminals, such as at
404 and 408, and while in transit. The Wi-Fi access point available
while in transit may use a wireless WAN as the backhaul, and that
capacity may be shared among users. As a result, the Wi-Fi
performance may not be as good as provided by a fixed access point
at a terminal, and the system operator may restrict the services
available to the users while in transit.
[0104] Currently, there are no mechanisms to provide continuity
between terminals and/or connections in transit. For example, when
vehicle 402 is in or close to a station, users may have to manually
switch to a Wi-Fi access points, such as AP 404 and 408. Or, a
connection manager in WTRU may switch to Wi-Fi access points, such
as AP 404 and 408, with or without the consent or knowledge of the
user. Such actions may be disruptive, and may not deemed worthwhile
for a short stop. The switch may interrupt data sessions and may
require the user to reconnect and restart one or more sessions.
[0105] FIG. 5 depicts a bandwidth management server, such as
bandwidth management server 512, that may allow for the use of
multiple networks.
[0106] As shown in FIG. 5, UE 502 and UE 504 may communicate with
BWM server 512 via network 506, network 508, and/or network 510.
Network 506, network 508, and/or network 510 may be a cellular
network, a network of ONW APs, or the like. BWM server 512 may
include QoS and Analytics 514, Policy Engine 516, Protocol 518,
Aggregation/Segregation 520, and IP Layer 522. QoS and Analytics
514 may provide QoS measurements and/or analysis of QoS
measurements for an AP within network 506, network 508, and/or
network 510. Policy engine 516 may provide rules, which are further
described herein, to enable BWM server 512 to determine what
network to use to deliver a data stream or a portion of a data
stream. Protocol 518 may provide protocols and/or interfaces that
may allow BWM server 512 to communicate with network 506, network
508, network 510, UE 502, and/or UE 504. IP layer 522 provide IP
related protocols and/or interfaces that may allowed BWM server 512
to communicate with network 506, network 508, network 510, UE 502,
and/or UE 504. Aggregation/Segregation 520 may allow BWM server 512
to aggregate or segregate one or more network to deliver data. For
example, Aggregation/Segregation 520 may allow BWM server to
deliver data using network 508 and network 510.
[0107] The embodiments disclosed herein may provide the capability
to use multiple networks simultaneously based on user policies,
operator policies, and preconfigured or measured parameters of a
network where at least one of the networks is an ONW. BWM, such as
BWM server 512, may be used with one network being a WAN and the
other being a set of ONW APs that may regularly connect and
disconnect.
[0108] BWM server 512 may enable continuously available WAN to be
combined with an intermittent broadband connectivity of ONWs in a
multi-connection system.
[0109] FIGS. 6a-c depicts configurations that may be used for a
mobile access point (MAP) and/or a WTRU wireless connection. For
example, FIGS. 6a-c shows various configurations that may be used
for wireless connectivity to passengers' WTRUs.
[0110] As shown in FIG. 6A, one or more WTRUs may connect to MAP
608 in vehicle 602 and MAP 608 may provide two backhaul
connections; a connection via WAN 610 to base station 610, and a
connection via ONW 612 to ONW AP 616.
[0111] In FIG. 6B there may be two MAPs in the vehicle, such as MAP
618 and MAP 622. MAP 620 may WAN backhaul via WAN 620 to base
station 626. MAP 622 may provide an ONW backhaul via ONW 624 to ONW
AP 628. There may not be BWM functionality in MAP 618 or MAP 622.
The BWM functions may be split between a BWM client in a WTRU, such
as WTRU 634, and BWM Control 636. This may be done, for example, to
make it be possible to use standard off-the-shelf devices for the
MAPs. For example, the WAN-based MAP may be a femto-access point
(FAP) and an ONW-based MAP may provide a Wi-Fi connection. As
another example, the WAN-based MAP may be a cellular relay, or
equipment similar to what automobile manufacturers have developed
for in-vehicle Wi-Fi. The WAN MAP may be any device that assists
the WTRUs in connecting to the WAN.
[0112] In FIG. 6C, there may not be a MAP and the WTRUs, such as
WTRU 640, may use their own RATs to connect to the WAN and ONW.
WTRU 640 may support both a cellular RAT and Wi-Fi. The cellular
RAT may provide the WAN connection and the Wi Fi may provide the
connection back to the ONW. This may be done, for example, to avoid
the usage of a MAP. WTRU 640 may include a BWM client that may
provide local BWM control, queuing of data for the separate RATs,
received data processing, or the like. BWM control may be at WTRU
640, BWM control 638, or split between WTRU 640 and BWM control
638.
[0113] As show in FIGS. 6A-6B, a vehicle, such as vehicle 602 and
vehicle 604, may be outfitted with a MAP, such as MAP 608, MAP 618,
or MAP 622, that may provide LAN connectivity to a WTRU. With
respect to FIG. 6C, LAN connectivity may occur between 630 and ONW
632. Referring again to FIGS. 6A-C, the LAN may be a Wi-Fi AP, FAP,
or may implement any other RAT. Access to the Internet may be
provided by a WAN RAT, an ONW RAT that may be part of the MAP, or
the like. Examples of the WAN RAT may be cellular or satellite
links. The ONW RAT may be cellular, Wi-Fi, or another wireless
technology that may provide a high data rate connection. The ONW
connection, rather than a RAT, may be a hardwired connection that
may be attached when the vehicle arrives at a terminal.
[0114] The WAN and ONW RATs may carry user or control plane data
that may traverse, or be used by, the WAN core network or an ONW
local network that may forward the data to the Internet or other
external networks.
[0115] A BWM server may be implemented as part of the MAP, such as
at BWM 614, and may control the flow of data between the WTRUs and
the RATs, such as WAN 610 and ONW 612. WTRUs, such as WTRU 634, may
have BWM client software to interact with one or more MAPs, such as
MAP 622 and 618.
[0116] A BWM server may be implemented apart from a MAP, such as
BWM Control 636 and 638. The BWM Control may be connected to the
WAN Core Network, the Internet, a local network associated with the
ONW, or the like. The BWM Control function may be implemented by an
operator that may provide the mobile wireless service to the users
in the vehicle. For example, if a cellular operator provides the
service, the BWM Control function may be connected to the Mobile
Core Network. If the transportation system operator provides the
services, the BWM server may be connected to a local ONW network.
If a third party provides the service, the BWM Control function may
be connected to the Internet.
[0117] FIG. 7 depicts receive data processing that may be performed
by a BWM entity, such as BWM Control 702. FIG. 7 shows several BWM
Control functions and interconnections, such as QoS Parameter
Analysis 704, QoS Parameter Database 706, Received Data Processing
708, and Transmit Data Processing 710. Though the functions may be
shown in one diagram, they may be separate functions implemented in
different places in the network, on different platforms. For
example, the received and transmit data processing may have more
latency constraints than the QoS processing since those functions
may be in the data path and those functions may be implemented on a
different, faster platform.
[0118] QoS parameter analysis may be provided by QoS Parameter
Analysis 704. The BWM Control may analyze QoS and other measurement
data that may be provided by a WAN system, an ONW system, Received
Data Processing 708, and/or Transmit Data processing 710. QoS
Parameter Analysis 704 may convert raw data to parameters and or
formats compatible with the QoS Parameter Database 706 architecture
or other subsequent functions. QoS Parameter Analysis 704 may
convert the parameters to values that require less storage and less
processing by subsequent functions. For example, the analysis may
include averaging, finding maximum values, finding minimum values,
computing standard deviations or other measures of variability,
tracking times, types of status updates, or the like. The QoS
Parameter Analysis 704 outputs may be stored in the QoS Parameter
Database 706, provided to the Received Data processing 708, or
provided to the Transmit Data Processing 710. The data may also be
provided to a System Monitoring function, or other process, that
may collect or display data related to overall system performance
for diagnostics, manual reconfiguration, or automatic
reconfiguration.
[0119] QoS Parameter Database 706 may store analyzed data, such as
Semi-Static data 712, Dynamic data 714, and Long Term Statistics
716. Other groupings of data elements that may facilitate overall
system design may be implemented. For example, the data may be
grouped by source (e.g., WAN, ONW AP number, etc.).
[0120] Semi-Static data 712 may be expected to vary occasionally.
Examples may be equipment online/offline indications, equipment
alarms, available capacity, parameters of particular RATs, or the
like.
[0121] Dynamic Data 714 may be expected to change quickly. Examples
may be data traffic volume statistics, traffic demand statistics,
status of data queues, vehicle arrival and departure times, vehicle
or user connection QoS values (e.g., data rate, data throughput,
latency, jitter, security), or the like.
[0122] Long Term Statistics 716 may be averages taken over hours or
days that represent parameters useful for overall system
configuration or reconfiguration. Examples may be inter-arrival
times between stations, dwell times at stations, average
time-of-day dependent data traffic, queue status, local user count,
mobile user count at stations, or the like.
[0123] The data entries in QoS Parameter Database 706 may be tagged
with time, location, WTRU ID, MAP ID, vehicle ID, ONW AP ID,
transportation system terminal ID, or other parameters that may be
associated with the source of the data, or may be useful for
sorting or subsequent processing.
[0124] Receive Data Processing 708 may accept data streams from the
WAN and ONW APs at 718 and may reconstruct the data stream or
streams associated with an end-to-end connection and may forward
the data along the appropriate path. This may involve reordering of
data, removing duplicate data, identifying missing data, discarding
incorrect data, deciding if missing data is too old such that
retransmission requests may no longer be worthwhile, or the like.
The outputs may include the reconstructed data streams, control
messages or signaling, and QoS or other measurement data. The
control data may include, for example, retransmission requests for
missing data.
[0125] Transmit Data Processing 710 may accept the data to be
delivered to a WTRU and may direct the data to the particular
network radio resources. For example, at 720 the data may be parsed
into queues for a WAN and/or several ONW APs. The operations may
include parsing of data, duplication of data for possible
transmission over multiple paths, retransmission of data that was
not received, or the like. Transmit Data Processing 710 may also
provide QoS and other measurement data as an output.
[0126] Transmit Data Processing 710 may have outputs, or
bidirectional flow/status control signals, that may be exchanged
with the source of the data to control the amount of data to be
accepted from the source for transmission. For example, QoS
Parameter Analysis 704 may predict the amount of data that may be
transmitted at an anticipated connection event and limit the total
data to be queued, or the depth of one or more queues. If the
restriction may be violated, or may be close to being violated,
Transmit Data Processing 710 may indicate to the data source that
no additional data may be accepted. It may also compute an
acceptable data rate, and may indicate that rate to the source,
thus may adapt the incoming data rate.
[0127] FIG. 8 depicts transmit data processing that may be
performed by a BWM entity. For example, FIG. 8 may depict an
example of Transmit Data Processing 708, shown with respect to FIG.
7, may operate. Referring again to FIG. 8, a stream of data
arrives, shown as blocks labeled 10 to 18. The control input may
identify data that may not have been received and may need to be
retransmitted. For example, data block labeled 3 may have been
retransmitted.
[0128] The transmit data processing 802 may direct blocks 10, 11,
3, and 18 to a WAN connection. Blocks 10 and 11 may be the first
two blocks that may be part of the incoming stream. Block 3 may be
a retransmission. Block 18 may be later in the stream.
[0129] Blocks 12 and 13 may be directed to both ONW AP #1 and ONW
AP #2. This decision may be based on achieving higher reliability
through diversity. Alternatively, the decision may be based on a
prediction of when a vehicle may arrive at ONW AP's #1 and #2,
along with information about current queue status both at this BWM
Control location and at the APs.
[0130] Blocks 14 and 15 may be directed to both ONW AP #2 and #3.
Blocks 16 and 17 may be directed to ONW AP #3.
[0131] ONW AP processing may be provided. FIG. 9 depicts processing
that may occur at an ONW AP, such as ONW AP 902.
[0132] At 904, ONW AP 902 may receive over-the-air data (control
plane and user plane) from the WTRUs and MAPS and may forward the
data to the Internet, Core Network, or other network. The ONW AP
may receive data from the BWM Control at 906 or other APs at 908
and may transmit the data to the MAPs or WTRUs.
[0133] For example, Transmit Data Processing, such as Transmit Data
Processing 802 shown with respect to FIG. 8 or Transmit Data
Processing 710 shown with respect to FIG. 7, may have data that may
have been queued and may not have been transmitted during a vehicle
connection event. Alternatively, it may have data that may have
been transmitted but the AP concludes that it may have not have
received it correctly. This may be due, for example, to a lack of
an ACK or reception of a NACK. Such data may be forwarded to other
ONW APs along the route to provide additional transmit
opportunities. The status of that data may be sent via a control
message to the BWM Control, which may determine how and if it may
be provided with additional transmit opportunities. Similarly, the
ONW AP may receive data forwarded from other ONW APs at 908.
[0134] ONW AP 902 may receive control data from the BWM Control
906. This may include configuration data, policy rules,
instructions for queues to discard or forward data, authentication
data, or the like.
[0135] ONW AP 902 may compute and may forward measurement data at
914 to the BWM Control function, and possibly to other ONW APs.
Similar to the QoS Parameter Database described herein,
measurements may be semi-static measurement data and/or dynamic
measurement data, though other groupings may be possible. The
measurements may include online/offline indications, alarms or
other equipment status, authentication data, indications of
compromised equipment (suspected rogue activity, viruses,
tampering, etc.), available traffic capacity estimates, location
data of the ONW AP, local AP traffic statistics, peak traffic
demand, average traffic demand, variance or other measurement of
variability of demand, peak packet delay, average packet delay,
variance or other measure of variability of packet delay, status of
data queues, vehicle data, vehicle ID arrival and departure times,
or the like. The measurements may also include connection and
disconnection times, connection statistics (peak, average, standard
deviation or other measure of variability), connection duration,
connection data rate, latency, location data, or the like.
[0136] The measurements may be time stamped, periodic, or event
triggered. Examples of events that may trigger reports may be data
changing by a certain percentage, a vehicle arrival, a vehicle
departure, a vehicle connection, a vehicle disconnection, an
equipment failure or other fault, authentication failure or
indication of compromised equipment or software, an alarm due to
tampering, or the like.
[0137] FIG. 10 depicts processing that may occur at a MAP or a
WTRU. A MAP or a WTRU may implement BWM functions described herein.
This may be done, for example to reduce complexity as a MAP may
service the WTRUs in the vehicle and may prepare for transmission
to the next ONW AP.
[0138] On the transmit side, at 1010, BWM Control 1002 may have
local policy inputs and may have policy inputs from network-level
BWM control. At 1008, BWM Control 1002 may receive control plane
and user plane data. The data to be transmitted may be directed to
either a queue for the WAN at 1004 or a queue for the next ONW AP
at 1006. This processing may implement any of the functions in the
transmit processing as described herein, such as transmit
processing function shown with respect to FIG. 8. Referring again
to FIG. 10, this may include, for example, duplication and
retransmission. It may also include queues that may be used to
prepare data for ONW APs that may be further down the
transportation route.
[0139] At 1012, received data may come from the WAN or from one or
more ONW APs. Received Data Processing 1014 may implement any of
the functions in the receive processing described herein with
respect to FIG. 7. Referring again to FIG. 10, for a WTRU, the
reconstructed data stream may be provided to the higher layers of
the protocol stack. For a MAP, the reconstructed data may be
provided to the LAN RAT for transmission to the WTRUs in the
vehicle.
[0140] BWM policy considerations may be provided. BWM Policy may be
implemented or enforced at the network level, at the MAP level, at
the WTRU level, or at the ONW AP. The BWM policy may be enforced by
the BWM Control entity, the BWM Server entity, or other entity in
the system. The policy may be enhanced to handle the different
characteristics of the WAN that may be expected to be continuously
available and the ONW that may be expected to be intermittent, but
when connected, may offer a higher data throughput.
[0141] The system may face applications that have widely different
QoS requirements. For example, Table 1 shows QoS Class Indicators
(QCIs) that may be used for the Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular
system.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 PACKET PACKET RE- DELAY ERROR SOURCE PRIOR-
BUDGET LOSS EXAMPLE QCI TYPE ITY (MS) RATE SERVICES 1 GBR 2 100
10.sup.2 Conversational voice 2 GBR 4 150 10.sup.-3 Conversational
video (live streaming) 3 GBR 5 300 10.sup.6 Non- conversational
video (buffered streaming) 4 GBR 3 50 10.sup.4 Real-time gaming 5
Non-GBR 1 100 10.sup.-6 IMS signaling 6 Non-GBR 7 100 10.sup.-3
Voice, video (live streaming), interactive gaming 7 Non-GBR 6 300
10.sup.-6 Video (buffered streaming) 8 Non-GBR 8 300 10.sup.-6
ICP-based (for example, WWW, e-mail), chat, FTP, p2p life sharing,
progressive video and others 9 Non-GBR 9 300 10.sup.-6
[0142] The system may choose to use a finer partition. For example,
QCI 8 includes e-mail, ftp, and chat. It may be acceptable to defer
large ftp downloads or e-mail to ONW connectivity events, or
service it at a very low data rate on the WAN with a sudden burst
during ONW connectivity. Chat, on the other hand, may not be a good
candidate for that type of deferral.
[0143] There may be other possible decisions on which RAT the
system may use to send a data flow. For example, the system may
send both directions of the flow on the WAN; the flow may achieve
the WAN QoS.
[0144] The system may send both directions of the flow on the ONW.
The flow may be queued between ONW connection events, but may get a
high-speed burst rate when a connection occurs.
[0145] The system may send part of the flow on the WAN and the rest
on the ONW. The WAN may provide a continuous connection. At an ONW
connection, a temporary high rate connection may be provided. The
system may use its knowledge of the transportation route, the
available capacity on a RAT and at the ONW AP, the arrival
statistics at ONW connection points, and other measurements to
predict the amount of data to forward to an ONW AP.
[0146] The system may send one direction on the WAN and the other
direction on the ONW. This may work well for a request/response
service where the response may have a high throughput requirement.
For example, a request for a large file downloads. The request,
which may be a small data block, may go out on the WAN. The
response may be queued for the ONW for a fast download during a
connection event. If the download may not complete during the
connection event, the data may be forwarded along the
transportation path to be downloaded at subsequent connection
events. The system may use its knowledge of the transportation
route to forward the data to the proper ONW APs.
[0147] The system may send one direction on the WAN and the other
direction on the ONW for a fixed time duration. The system may set
criteria for total time or average throughput for a flow. The
criteria may be expected to be achieved after, for example, two ONW
connection events. If that does not happen after the two events, or
timer expiring, the flow may be switched to the WAN, in both
directions. Similarly, if the WAN may not provide an adequate QoS
the system may change the parameters to utilize one or more ONW
connection events that may or may not be contiguous.
[0148] The system may send control plane data on the WAN and user
plane data on the WAN and ONW, or just the ONW. If there may be
more confidence in the reliability of the WAN, there may be an
advantage to sending control and measurements data on the WAN.
[0149] The system may send data, or parts of the data, based on the
security of the RAT. Security policies of the WAN, or certain ONW
APs, may be considered and it may be more acceptable to send data
through those connections. Security data may be collected as part
of the authentication processes between the ONW APs and the
network, which may exchange information such as authentication
failures, equipment alarms, or other indications of compromise or
failure. A policy input may be a parameter that indicates the trust
level of a RAT or an ONW AP.
[0150] The system may establish a threshold on data block size, at
or below the threshold use the WAN, above the threshold use the
ONW, or vice versa. The system may establish a threshold on data
latency. If estimated, predicted or measured performance may at or
below the threshold, the WAN may be used. Otherwise, the ONW may be
used, or vice versa. The system may establish a threshold on an
average data rate. If estimated, predicted or measured performance
may be at or below the threshold, the WAN may be used. Otherwise,
the ONW may be used, or vice versa. The system may establish a
threshold on average jitter. If estimated, predicted or measured
performance may be at or below the threshold use the WAN.
Otherwise, the ONW may be used, or vice versa. The system may
establish a threshold on average latency. If estimated, predicted
or measured performance may be at or below the threshold, the WAN
may be used. Otherwise, the ONW may be used, or vice versa
[0151] Combinations of the above policies may also be used. A
policy applied to a particular flow may be changed either due to a
failure to meet desired QoS, exceeding the desired QoS, network
conditions (connectivity, available capacity, etc.) that may impact
the selected policy decision, or a timeout that may be applied to a
policy.
[0152] A number of the policies may be based on setting a threshold
on a parameter. Other statistics related to the parameter may also
be used. Using data rate as an example, some alternatives may be a
threshold may be set on the average rate, on the peak rate, on the
minimum rate, on the standard deviation, or other measure of
variability or jitter, or on the percentage of the resource
available to the full network that is being consumed by the
particular flow.
[0153] Several of the policies may depend on measurements and
analysis of the measured data that may be computed as part of local
or network level BWM Control. For example, some of the policies may
use the estimated or predicted quantities, such as the
transportation route and the particular ONW APs along the route.
This may be done, for example, so that data may be forwarded along
the route. Connectivity and traffic statistics at an ONW connection
point may also be used. This may be done, for example, so that the
quantity of data that may be exchanged at a stop may be predicted.
The arrival times at ONW connection points may be used. This may be
done, for example, so that the latency or average throughput may be
estimated.
[0154] The transportation route of a vehicle through the network
may be provided based on known schedules. It may also be learned by
analyzing arrival and departure data tagged with vehicle or route
identification tags.
[0155] WTRU connection manager considerations may be provided.
WTRUs may have connection manager software, which may be enhanced
to support the combined WAN plus ONW system. If the system may be
branded by, for example, the transportation system operator, an
indication may be provided on the WTRU to advertise the system and
show that the combined network may be used. This may serve to
inform the WTRU user that the connection characteristics may be
good, but may not be the same as a continuous high-speed
connection. Indications on the WTRU may display when the multiple
connections may be available and the estimated time to the next
high speed connection event.
[0156] Single user heterogeneous network use may be provided.
Embodiments disclosed herein may provide for the combination of
continuously available connections and ONWs. Although the
embodiments may have been described in terms of a MAP that may
service multiple users in, for example, a bus, train, airplane or
other vehicle, the embodiments may also apply to a single user. For
example, the embodiments may apply to a single user that may
traverse a path that may come in and out of connectivity with, for
example, a series of hot spots or other small cells in a
heterogeneous network. In this case, there may not be a MAP, but
the BWM may interact on a single-user basis with the multi-RAT
capability of a WTRU. This may be similar to FIG. 6C.
[0157] For example, a person who travels the same route to work,
has cellular coverage during most of the trip, but may come in and
out of connectivity with a series of local hotspots. A BWM server
may recognize this pattern and may apply the technology. The
concept of a learned transportation route may be extended to any
approximately repeated mobility route.
[0158] As another example, a person on a long one-time trip along a
lengthy highway, may have cellular coverage during most of the
trip, but may come in and out of connectivity with a series of
non-overlapping small cells or hot spots that may provide high
throughput for short intervals as the vehicle passes through a
coverage area. The learning may be different here in that the BWM
system may infer the vehicle may be on the highway from the
connectivity events. Future connectivity events may be predicted
based on an assumption of the vehicle remaining on the highway. The
algorithms may include logic to conclude when the vehicle may exit
the highway, for example, by recognizing that the anticipated
connection events may not occur. This may cause the enhanced
multi-connection service to be dropped. The concept of the learned
transportation route may be based on characteristics of a known
highway that may be preconfigured, or learned based on data
collected from other vehicles.
[0159] Although features and elements are described above in
particular combinations, one of ordinary skill in the art will
appreciate that a feature or element can be used alone or in any
combination with the other features and elements. In addition, the
methods described herein may be implemented in a computer program,
software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium
for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of
computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted
over wired or wireless connections) and computer-readable storage
media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are
not limited to, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory
(RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices,
magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks,
magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks, and
digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association with
software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for
use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host
computer.
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