Method and system for performance estimation of a communication link

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11943644-B2
Application number	US-202117516563-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 1, 2021
Priority date	Jul 13, 2012
Publication date	Mar 26, 2024
Grant date	Mar 26, 2024

Abstract

Described is a method for performance estimation of a communication device. The method comprises: executing active probing to determine active probing data; reading operational data which includes data related to channel and its noise condition, latency and counter values related to user data traffic between the communication device and another communication device, wherein the operational data is relevant to the current settings of the communication device; and training a performance estimation algorithm for the communication device according to the active probing data and the operational data.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A base station comprising:
a first interface that couples to a first plurality of smartphones in accordance with an cellular standard, the first interface couples to a first smartphone within the first plurality of smartphone and facilitates an estimation of a first channel quality corresponding to a first wireless channel within a plurality of cellular wireless channels, the first channel quality is measured using first active probing and first passive probing;
a second interface that couples to a second plurality of smartphones in accordance with a Wi-Fi standard, the second interface couples to the first smartphone within the second plurality of smartphones and facilitates an estimation of a second channel quality corresponding to a Wi-Fi channel, the second channel quality is measured using second active probing and second passive probing;
an optimization center integrated within the base station, the optimization center receives second data associated with the second active probing and second passive probing, the optimization center identifies when the second channel quality falls below a threshold and transitions connectivity to the first smartphone using a third wireless channel within the plurality of cellular wireless channels.

2. The base station of claim 1 wherein the first and second passive probing comprises counting a number of ACK messages received from the first smartphone.

3. The base station of claim 1 wherein the base station adjusts a power level of communication within the Wi-Fi channel based on the second passive probing.

4. The base station of claim 1 wherein the second active probing is initiated when the second channel quality falls below a passive probing threshold based on the second passive probing.

5. The base station of claim 1 wherein the optimization center further includes a measurement of interference in determining whether to transition connectivity of the first smartphone from the Wi-Fi channel to the third wireless channel.

6. The base station of claim 5 wherein the optimization center further includes a measurement of traffic pattern in determining whether to transition connectivity of the first smartphone from the Wi-Fi wireless channel to the third wireless channel.

7. The base station of claim 6 wherein the base station is a small cell base station.

8. A method for maintaining a plurality of wireless channels across a plurality of devices within a multi-cell environment, the method comprising:
receiving first active probing data at a cellular base station from a first device within the plurality of devices, the first active probing data corresponding to a first wireless channel within a first cell operating in accordance with a cellular standard;
receiving second active probing data at the cellular base station from the first device, the second active probing data corresponding to a second wireless channel within a Wi-Fi network;
assessing the first active probing data for a first performance estimation corresponding to the first wireless channel within the first cell, and assessing the second active probing data for a second performance estimation corresponding to the second wireless channel within the Wi-Fi network;
selecting the first wireless channel based on a comparison of the first performance estimation and the second performance estimation; and
monitoring at least one performance estimation characteristic of the first wireless channel using passive probing.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising a step of improving connectivity to the first device by transitioning to the second wireless channel to communicate with the first device if the at least one performance characteristics of the first wireless channel falls below a performance threshold.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the passive probing comprises counting a number of ACK messages received from the first device while communicating on the first wireless channel.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the second active probing data comprises sending beacons from the first device and using a beacon counter at the cellular base station.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising a step of adjusting a power level of communication within the first wireless channel based at least partially on the passive probing.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising a step of identifying when passive probing and active probing indicates a channel quality on the first wireless channel falls below a predefined threshold and switches to the second wireless channel.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the Wi-Fi network is supported by a Wi-Fi router within the cellular base station.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the cellular base station supports LTE and at least one other cellular standard.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein active probing is performed on the first wireless channel when passive probing on the first wireless channel indicates a corresponding channel quality falling below second threshold.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of an optimization center integrated within the cellular base station controlling transitions between the first wireless channel and the second wireless channel.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the base station is an integrated base station in a single geographical location.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the base station is distributed across at least two distinct geographical locations.

20. The method of claim 8 wherein the base station is a small cell base station.

Assignees

• Assia Spe Llc

Inventors

• Bhagavatula Ramya
• Song Guocong
• Kerpez Kenneth J
• Rhee Wonjong

Classifications

• H04W24/08 Primary

  Testing, {supervising or monitoring} using real traffic · CPC title

• H04L43/10 Primary

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

• H04L43/12

  Network monitoring probes · CPC title

• H04M3/2209

  for lines also used for data transmission · CPC title

• H04M11/062

  using different frequency bands for speech and other data · CPC title