Method and arrangement for deterministic delivery of data traffic over wireless connection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11277807-B2
Application number	US-201816954231-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 11, 2018
Priority date	Jan 11, 2018
Publication date	Mar 15, 2022
Grant date	Mar 15, 2022

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to delivery of data traffic over a wireless connection. In more particular, it relates to methods, a tunneling unit ( 208 ), and system for emulating wired connectivity between two or more robot devices ( 202, 204 ) and a controller ( 222 ). Buffering ( 212 ) of data frames, from two or more robot devices, received up-streams a wireless access network ( 206 ) is performed. Based on the time-stamps extracted ( 210 ) from data frames a relative time offset is determined for the two or more robot devices. Buffered uplink frames are forwarded ( 216 ) to the controller in a pre-define order, enabling using the relative time offset when forwarding downlink frames ( 232 ), being received over the wireless access network ( 206 ), to said two or more robot devices, such the that the downlink frames reach each one of two or more robot devices simultaneously. A deterministic delivery of data frames over a wireless connection is provided.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of emulating wired connectivity between two or more robot devices and a controller, the method comprising a tunneling unit located up-stream of a wireless access network and down-stream of a controller:
receiving, over the wireless access network, uplink frames from each one of the two or more robot devices;
providing a time stamp of the uplink frames received from each one of the two or more robot devices;
buffering the uplink frames;
determining, for each one of the two or more robot devices, a relative time offset, based on the provided time stamps for the two or more robot devices; and
forwarding the buffered uplink frames towards the controller in a predefined order;
thereby enabling using the relative time offset when forwarding downlink frames, being received over the wireless access network, to the two or more robot devices, such the that the downlink frames reach each one of two or more robot devices simultaneously.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forwarding the buffered uplink frames comprises synchronously forwarding the buffered uplink frames towards the controller.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the buffering the uplink frames comprises buffering the uplink frames at least a first duration, where the first duration is based at least on an update time with which the uplink frames are received, and a time spread between the provided time stamps.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the relative time offset for each one of the two or more robot devices.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the time stamp comprises extracting the time stamp from uplink frames by deep packet inspection of uplink frames being received.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the time stamp comprises inserting a time stamp into the uplink frames.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the controller, downlink frames to be forwarded to the two or more robot devices;
retrieving the relative time offset for each one of the two or more robot devices;
inserting the relative time offset in the downlink frames; and
forwarding the downlink frames, over the wireless access network, towards the two or more robot devices.

8. A method of emulating wired connectivity between two or more robot devices and a controller, by providing deterministic delivery of data over a wireless access network between the controller and the two or more robot devices; the method performed in a system; the system comprising a tunneling unit located upstream of a wireless access network and downstream of a controller; the method comprising:
the tunneling unit:
receiving, over the wireless access network, uplink frames from each one of the two or more robot devices;
providing a time stamp of the uplink frames received from each one of the two or more robot devices;
buffering the uplink frames;
determining, for each one of the two or more robot devices, a relative time offset, based on the provided time stamps for the two or more robot devices; and
forwarding the buffered uplink frames towards the controller in a predefined order;
receiving, from the controller and over the wireless access network, downlink frames to be forwarded to the two or more robot devices;
retrieving the relative time offset for each one of the two or more robot devices;
inserting the relative time offset in the downlink frames; and

the method further comprising:
buffering the downlink frames a time period that is specific to each one of the two or more robot devices, where the time period is at least based on the relative time offset determined for each one of the two or more robot devices; and
forwarding the buffered downlink frames, over the wireless access network, towards the two or more robot devices at the end of the time period that is specific to each one of the two or more robot devices, such that the buffered downlink frames arrive at each one of the two or more robot devices simultaneously.

9. The method of claim 8 :
further comprising determining the time period; and
wherein the buffering the downlink frames comprises measuring a duration of the buffering and ending the buffering when the duration of the buffering has reached the determined time period.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the forwarding the buffered downlink frames comprises synchronously forwarding the buffered downlink frames to the two or more robot devices.

11. A tunneling unit operative to emulate wired connectivity between two or more robot devices and a controller, the tunneling unit being located upstream of a wireless access network and downstream of a controller and comprising:
processing circuitry; and
memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the tunneling unit is operative to:
receive, over the wireless access network, uplink frames from each one of the two or more robot devices;
provide a time stamp of the uplink frames received from each one of the two or more robot devices;
buffer the uplink frames;
determine, for each one of the two or more robot devices, a relative time offset, based on the provided time stamps for the two or more robot devices; and
forward the buffered uplink frames towards the controller in a predefined order;
thereby enabling a further tunneling unit to forward downlink frames using the relative time offset, to the two or more robot devices, such the that the downlink frames reach each one of two or more robot devices simultaneously.

12. The tunneling unit of claim 11 , wherein the instructions are such that the tunneling unit is operative to:
store the relative time offset for each one of the two or more robot devices;
receive, from the controller, downlink frames to be forwarded to the two or more robot devices;
insert, in the downlink frames, the relative time offset for each one of the two or more robot devices; and
forward the downlink frames with the inserted relative time offset over the wireless access network towards each one of the two or more robot devices.

13. The tunneling unit of claim 11 , wherein the instructions are such that the tunneling unit is operative to forward the buffered uplink frames synchronously towards the controller.

14. The tunneling unit of claim 11 , wherein the instructions are such that the tunneling unit is operative to buffer the uplink frames at least a first duration, where the first duration is based at least on an update time with which the uplink frames are received, and a time spread between the provided time stamps.

15. The tunneling unit of claim 11 , wherein the instructions are such that the tunneling unit is operative to store the relative time offset for each one of the two or more robot devices.

16. The tunneling unit of claim 11 , wherein the instructions are such that the tunneling unit is operative to provide the time stamp by extracting the time stamp from uplink frames by deep packet inspection of uplink frames being received.

17. The tunneling unit of claim 11 , wherein the instructions are such that the tunneling unit is operative to provide the time stamp by inserting the time stamp into the uplink frames.

18. A system operative to emulate wired connectivity between two or more robot devices and a controller, the system comprising:
a tunneling unit located upstream of a wireless access network and downstream of a controller, wherein the tunneling unit comprises:
first processing circuitry; and
first memory containing instructions executable by the first proc

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Rácz Sándor
• Reider Norbert
• Szabo Geza

Classifications

• H04W56/004 Primary

  compensating for timing error of reception due to propagation delay · CPC title

• H04W56/001 Primary

  Synchronization between nodes · CPC title

• H04L67/62

  Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests · CPC title

• H04L67/568

  Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching · CPC title

• H04L43/028

  by filtering · CPC title