Dynamically switching between broadcast and unicast services for service continuity between wireless networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10375528-B2
Application number	US-201514795361-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 9, 2015
Priority date	Jul 9, 2015
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

Dynamically switching between broadcast and unicast services for service continuity between wireless networks is presented herein. A system can comprise a detection component configured to determine that a mobile device is receiving a broadcast transmission of broadcast data from a broadcast enabled access point device configured to send, via a broadcast service wireless coverage area, the broadcast data to multiple devices via a point-to-multipoint communication protocol. Further, the detection component can detect a movement of the mobile device from the broadcast service wireless coverage area to a unicast service wireless coverage area. A transfer component can initiate, in response to the detection, a unicast transmission of the broadcast data from a unicast enabled access point device to the mobile device—the unicast enabled access point device configured to send, via the unicast service wireless coverage area, the broadcast data to a single device via a point-to-point communication protocol.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
determining that a mobile device is receiving a broadcast transmission of broadcast data from a broadcast enabled access point device that is configured to send, via a broadcast service wireless coverage area, the broadcast data to multiple devices via a point-to-multipoint communication protocol;
receiving, upon a movement of the mobile device from the broadcast service wireless coverage area to a unicast service wireless coverage area, a message from the mobile device comprising reception information representing that the mobile device has detected a loss of reception of the broadcast data from the broadcast enabled access point device; and
in response to the receiving the message comprising the reception information representing that the mobile device has detected the loss of reception of the broadcast data,
obtaining, from the message, broadcast capability information representing a broadcast capability of a unicast enabled access point device corresponding to the unicast service wireless coverage area, and
in response to a resource allocation of the unicast enabled access point device being determined to satisfy a defined condition representing a reduction of a unicast transmission bandwidth corresponding to quality of service constraints of the broadcast transmission, initiating, based on a premium being charged to an account corresponding to the mobile device, an on-demand unicast transmission, via the unicast enabled access point device according to the quality of service constraints of the broadcast transmission, of the broadcast data to the mobile device utilizing a copy of the broadcast data that has been stored in a buffer of a configurable size, wherein the unicast enabled access point device is configured to send, via the unicast service wireless coverage area, the broadcast data to a single device via a point-to-point communication protocol, and wherein the initiating comprises establishing, via the unicast enabled access point device, a bearer communication channel corresponding to a quality of service of a broadcast bearer communication channel corresponding to the broadcast transmission.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the bearer communication channel comprises a dedicated bearer communication channel.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the initiating comprises:
in response to determining that dedicated bearer resources are not available in the unicast service wireless coverage area, establishing, via the unicast enabled access point device, a default bearer communication channel to carry the broadcast transmission.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the reception information represents that the mobile device has determined, based on a measurement of a signal that has been received from the broadcast enabled access point device, the movement from the broadcast service wireless coverage area.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the initiating comprises:
in response to detecting a handover request corresponding to the broadcast enabled access point device, initiating the on-demand unicast transmission.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the initiating comprises:
storing the copy of the broadcast data in the buffer.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the movement is a first movement, and wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to detecting a second movement of the mobile device from the unicast service wireless coverage area to the broadcast service wireless coverage area, re-initiating or continuing the broadcast transmission of the broadcast data from the broadcast enabled access point device to the mobile device.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the initiating comprises:
in response to determining that the unicast enabled access point device is configured to send the broadcast data using a carrier frequency compatible with the broadcast transmission, initiating the on-demand unicast transmission from the unicast enabled access point device.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the broadcast transmission comprises a long term evolution enhanced multimedia broadcast multicast service based transmission.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the unicast enabled access point device comprises a long term evolution based access point device configured to send an enhanced multimedia broadcast multicast service broadcast transmission.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the unicast enabled access point device is a universal terrestrial radio access network enabled access point device.

12. A method, comprising:
determining, by a system comprising a processor, that a user equipment is receiving a broadcast transmission of multimedia content from a broadcast access point device that is configured to send, via a broadcast wireless coverage area, the broadcast transmission to multiple devices via a point-to-multipoint wireless communication protocol;
receiving, by the system upon a movement of the user equipment from the broadcast wireless coverage area to a unicast wireless coverage area, a communication from the user equipment comprising first information indicating a loss of reception of the broadcast transmission from the broadcast access point device; and
in response to the receiving the communication comprising the first information indicating the loss of reception of the broadcast transmission,
obtaining, by the system, second information from the communication identifying a broadcast capability of a unicast access point device corresponding to the unicast wireless coverage area, and
in response to a resource allocation of the unicast access point device being determined to satisfy a defined condition representing a reduction of a unicast transmission bandwidth corresponding to a quality of service constraint of the broadcast transmission, initiating, by the system based on a premium being charged to an account corresponding to the user equipment, an on-demand unicast transmission, via the unicast access point device according to the quality of service constraint of the broadcast transmission, of a copy of the multimedia content that has been stored in a memory of a configurable buffer depth to the user equipment, wherein the unicast access point device is configured to send, via the unicast wireless coverage area, the on-demand unicast transmission to a single device via a point-to-point wireless communication protocol, and wherein the initiating comprises establishing, via the unicast access point device, a bearer communication channel based on a quality of service of a broadcast bearer communication channel of the broadcast transmission.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the initiating comprises:
in response to detecting a handover request corresponding to the broadcast access point device, initiating the on-demand unicast transmission.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the initiating comprises:
storing the copy of the multimedia content in the memory.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a system comprising a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
determining that a mobile device is receiving, from a broadcast access point device via a broadcast wireless coverage area, a broadcast transmission of a data stream via a broadcast bearer channel, wherein the broadcast access point device is configured to send, via the broadcast wireless coverage area, the broadcast transmission to m

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Kodaypak Rajendra Prasad
• Redfern Ryan
• Wang Jiansong
• Gupta Gaurav

Classifications

• H04W72/30

  Resource management for broadcast services · CPC title

• H04W72/005

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/06 Primary

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title

• H04W36/0007

  for multicast or broadcast services, e.g. MBMS (multicast or broadcast application services H04W4/06; resource management for broadcast services H04W72/30; connection management for selective distribution or broadcast H04W76/40) · CPC title