Traffic aggregator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11991067-B2
Application number	US-202117558202-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2021
Priority date	Sep 22, 2021
Publication date	May 21, 2024
Grant date	May 21, 2024

Abstract

A system may include a client device running multiple client-side applications and server equipment running multiple server-side applications. One or more traffic aggregators may be provided between the client-side applications and the server-side applications. Each traffic aggregator may aggregate application traffic from the multiple applications to form one or more classes of aggregated data. Interfaces may be provided between the traffic aggregators and the applications to customize application traffic. Traffic aggregators in the system may be dynamically updated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. Wireless communication equipment comprising:
processing circuitry configured to run a first application that generates a first data stream and to run a second application that generates a second data stream;
a traffic aggregator configured to
receive, from an additional traffic aggregator external to the wireless communication equipment, configuration information that includes a set of parameters expected to be exhibited by a corresponding data stream of each traffic class of a plurality of traffic classes,
send a first request to the first application running on the processing circuitry to negotiate an attribute of application data traffic in the first data stream of the first application,
send a second request to the second application running on the processing circuitry to negotiate an attribute of application data traffic in the second data stream of the second application,
receive the first data stream from the first application and the second data stream from the second application, and
generate an aggregated data stream that includes periodic data bursts of aggregated data, the periodic data bursts of aggregated data including the application data traffic in the first data stream and including the application data traffic in the second data stream, and the periodic data bursts of aggregated data exhibiting the set of parameters for a given traffic class of the plurality of traffic classes included in the received configuration information; and

wireless circuitry configured to convey the aggregated data stream to the additional traffic aggregator.

2. The wireless communication equipment of claim 1 , wherein the received configuration information includes information indicative of the first data stream and the second data stream belonging to the given traffic class.

3. The wireless communication equipment of claim 1 , wherein the traffic aggregator is configured to generate an additional aggregated data stream that includes additional periodic data bursts of aggregated data of an additional traffic class of the plurality of traffic classes based on one or more additional data streams from one or more corresponding additional applications, the additional periodic data bursts of aggregated data exhibiting the set of parameters for the additional traffic class included in the received configuration information.

4. The wireless communication equipment of claim 3 , wherein the set of parameters for the given traffic class specifies a first periodicity of the periodic data bursts of aggregated data and the set of parameters for the additional traffic class specifies a second periodicity of the additional periodic data bursts of aggregated data that differs from the first periodicity.

5. The wireless communication equipment of claim 1 , wherein the wireless circuitry comprises a cellular radio component configured to convey the aggregated data stream using a cellular communication link.

6. The wireless communication equipment of claim 1 , wherein the traffic aggregator is configured to define periods of inactivity between the periodic data bursts of aggregated data, and a radio in the wireless circuitry is configured to operate based on the periods of inactivity.

7. The wireless communication equipment of claim 1 , wherein the wireless circuitry includes one or more processors configured to implement the traffic aggregator.

8. The wireless communication equipment of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry includes one or more processors configured to implement the traffic aggregator.

9. A method of handling application traffic comprising:
receiving, by a traffic aggregator in a wireless communication device and through a wireless link, an aggregated data burst including application data traffic for a first application executing on the wireless communication device and including application data traffic for a second application executing on the wireless communication device;
exchanging one or more messages between the traffic aggregator and the first application, the one or more messages specifying one or more characteristics of a first data stream from the traffic aggregator to the first application;
sending, by the traffic aggregator, the application data traffic for the first application in the first data stream to the first application based on the aggregated data burst, the first data stream exhibiting the one or more characteristics specified in the one or more messages;
exchanging one or more additional messages between the traffic aggregator and the second application, the one or more additional messages specifying one or more characteristics of a second data stream from the traffic aggregator to the second application; and
sending, by the traffic aggregator, the application data traffic for the second application in the second data stream to the second application based on the aggregated data burst, the second data stream exhibiting the one or more characteristics specified in the one or more additional messages.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein exchanging the one or more messages includes sending, by the traffic aggregator, a first message specifying the one or more characteristics of the first data stream to the first application and wherein exchanging the one or more additional messages includes sending, by the traffic aggregator, a second message specifying the one or more characteristics of the second data stream to the second application.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first message and the second message each specify at least a data stream data rate, a data stream data transfer protocol, a data stream data compression, or a data stream cadence.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the traffic aggregator is executed on one or more processors of the wireless communication device and the first application is executed on the one or more processors of the wireless communication device, the method further comprising:
storing, at the wireless communication device, the application data traffic for the first application as a downloaded file.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
after storing the downloaded file at the wireless communication device, streaming the downloaded file to the first application.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the wireless link is a cellular communication link.

15. A wireless communication system comprising:
a first wireless communication device having one or more processors configured to run a first application and to run a second application; and
a second wireless communication device communicatively coupled to the first wireless communication device via a first wireless communication link and having one or more processors configured to execute a traffic aggregator that
receives, from the first wireless communication device via the first wireless communication link, first application traffic in a first data stream for the first application,
receives, from the first wireless communication device via the first wireless communication link, second application traffic in a second data stream for the second application, and
transmits, to wireless communication equipment external to the first wireless communication device and external to the second wireless communication device, an aggregated data stream that includes the first application traffic and the second application traffic via a second wireless communication link communicatively coupling the second wireless communication device to the wireless communication equipment.

16. The wireless communication system defined in claim 15 , wherein the first wi

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Meyer Stefan
• Clevorn Thorsten
• Adler Bernd W
• Raaf Bernhard
• Hausner Josef

Classifications

• H04L45/245 Primary

  Link aggregation, e.g. trunking · CPC title

• H04W28/10 Primary

  Flow control {between communication endpoints} · CPC title

• H04W36/12

  Reselecting a serving backbone network switching or routing node · CPC title