Estimating bandwidth in a heterogeneous wireless communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10944664-B2
Application number	US-201615254797-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 1, 2016
Priority date	Sep 1, 2016
Publication date	Mar 9, 2021
Grant date	Mar 9, 2021

Abstract

A base station provides, a first number of probe packets to an access point for transmission to a user equipment over an access network path. The base station receives information indicating a bandwidth of the access network path estimated by the user equipment. The base station determines which of the base station or the access point to use for communication with the user equipment based on the bandwidth. The user equipment receives a second number of packets over an air interface and determines inter-arrival packet delays for the second number of probe packets. The user equipment estimates the bandwidth of the air interface based on the inter-arrival packet delays, the first number, and a time interval for transmission of the first number of probe packets. The user equipment transmits information indicating the bandwidth.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing, from a base station, probe packets to an access point for transmission from the access point to a user equipment over an access network path;
receiving, at the base station, information indicating a bandwidth over the access network path estimated by the user equipment based on delays between packets received by the user equipment from the access point over the access network path, wherein the packets are generated by the access point using the probe packets; and
determining which of the base station or the access point to use for communication with the user equipment based on the bandwidth.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, from the base station, information indicating at least one of a sequence number associated with the probe packets, a number of probe packets, a probe interval during which the probe packets are transmitted, and sequence numbers associated with each of the probe packets.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining which of the base station or the access point to use for communication comprises determining which of the base station or the access point to use for communication based on a comparison of the bandwidth to a threshold value.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining which of the base station or the access point to use for communication comprises:
selecting the access point for communication with the user equipment via the access network path in response to the bandwidth being greater than or equal to the threshold value; and
selecting the base station for communication with the user equipment in response to the bandwidth being less than the threshold value.

5. A method comprising:
receiving, at a user equipment, a first number of packets over an air interface;
determining, at the user equipment, inter-arrival packet delays for the first number of packets;
estimating, at the user equipment, a bandwidth of the air interface based on the inter- arrival packet delays, a second number of probe packets used to generate the first number of packets, and a time interval for transmission of the second number of probe packets; and
transmitting, from the user equipment, information indicating the bandwidth.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein receiving the first number of packets comprises receiving the first number of packets from an access point that generates the first number of packets based on the second number of probe packets generated by a base station.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
switching from the access point to the base station for communication with the user equipment in response to the bandwidth being less than a threshold value.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein estimating the bandwidth comprises identifying a first subset of the first number of packets as aggregate packets including more than one probe packet and a second subset of the first number of packets as packets that include only one probe packet.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein estimating the bandwidth comprises determining a fraction of time in which the second subset is received by the user equipment and determining an average of the inter-arrival packet delays between the aggregate packets in the first subset.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein estimating the bandwidth comprises estimating the bandwidth based on the fraction of time, the average of the inter-arrival packet delays, and a modulation and coding scheme for downlink transmission over the air interface.

11. A base station comprising:
a transceiver to provide a first number of probe packets to an access point for transmission from the access point to a user equipment over an air interface and receive information indicating a bandwidth over the air interface estimated by the user equipment based on a second number of packets generated by the access point using the first number of probe packets; and
a processor to determine which of the base station or the access point to use for communication with the user equipment based on the bandwidth.

12. The base station of claim 11 , wherein the transceiver is to provide information indicating at least one of a sequence number associated with the first number of probe packets, the first number, a probe interval during which the first number of probe packets are transmitted, and sequence numbers associated with each probe packet in the first number of the probe packets.

13. The base station of claim 11 , wherein the processor is to determine whether to use the base station or the access point by comparing the bandwidth to a threshold value.

14. The base station of claim 13 , wherein the processor is to select the access point for communication with the user equipment over the air interface in response to the bandwidth being greater than or equal to the threshold value, and wherein the processor is to select the base station for communication with the user equipment in response to the bandwidth being less than the threshold value.

15. A user equipment comprising:
a transceiver to receive a first number of probe packets over an air interface; and
a processor to determine inter-arrival packet delays for the first number of probe packets and estimate a bandwidth over the air interface based on the inter-arrival packet delays, a second number of probe packets used to generate the first number of packets, and a time interval for transmission of the second number of probe packets, and
wherein the transceiver is to transmit information indicating the bandwidth.

16. The user equipment of claim 15 , wherein the transceiver is to receive the first number of packets from an access point that generates the first number of packets based on the second number of probe packets generated by a base station.

17. The user equipment of claim 16 , wherein the transceiver is to switch from the access point to the base station for communication with the user equipment in an unlicensed frequency band in response to the bandwidth being less than a threshold value.

18. The user equipment of claim 15 , wherein the processor is to identify a first subset of the first number of packets as aggregate packets including more than one probe packet and a second subset of the first number of packets as packets that include only one probe packet.

19. The user equipment of claim 18 , wherein the processor is to determine a fractional time interval in which the second subset is received by the user equipment, and wherein the processor is to determine an average delay interval between the aggregate packets in the first subset.

20. The user equipment of claim 19 , wherein the processor is to estimate the bandwidth based on the fractional time interval, the average delay interval, and a modulation and coding scheme for downlink transmission in an unlicensed frequency band.

Assignees

• Alcatel Lucent Usa Inc
• Alcatel Lucent Ireland Ltd
• Alcatel Lucent India Ltd
• Nokia America Corp
• Alcatel Lucent

Inventors

• Ling Jonathan
• Lopez-Perez David
• Kim Bongho
• Subramanian Vasudevan
• Kanugovi Satish

Classifications

• H04W48/14

  using user query {or user detection} · CPC title

• H04W48/20

  Selecting an access point · CPC title

• H04L43/16 Primary

  Threshold monitoring · CPC title

• H04L43/10

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• H04L43/0894

  Packet rate · CPC title