Optimizing synchronization of audio and network tasks in voice over packet switched networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016094605-A1
Application number	US-201414500119-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 29, 2014
Priority date	Sep 29, 2014
Publication date	Mar 31, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A user equipment device (UE) comprises physical layer circuitry configured to transmit and receive radio frequency electrical signals with one or more nodes of a radio access network, an audio subsystem configured to generate frames of audio data, and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to calculate a time delay from generation of an audio data frame by the audio subsystem of the UE device to transmission of an audio data packet by the physical layer circuitry during a voice call, and decrease the time delay to a delay value that preserves a specified minimum time for delivery of the generated audio data frame to the physical layer circuitry to meet a scheduled transmission time of the audio data packet.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A user equipment device (UE) comprising:
physical layer circuitry configured to transmit and receive radio frequency electrical signals with one or more nodes of a radio access network; an audio subsystem configured to generate frames of audio data; and processing circuitry configured to:
calculate a time delay from generation of an audio data frame by the audio subsystem of the UE device to transmission of an audio data packet by the physical layer circuitry during a voice call, including a beginning of the voice call and when the voice call is active; and
decrease the time delay to a delay value that preserves a specified minimum time for delivery of the generated audio data frame to the physical layer circuitry to meet a scheduled transmission time of the audio data packet.

2 . The UE of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to initiate discarding of one or more pulse code modulation (PCM) samples by the audio subsystem during the voice call to decrease the time delay between the audio data frame generation and the transmission of the audio data packet.

3 . The UE of claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to detect one or more PCM samples corresponding to no speech activity and to initiate discarding of one or more of the detected PCM samples.

4 . The UE of claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to calculate a target synchronization value using the calculated time delay and to initiate discarding of a number of PCM samples equal to the target synchronization value to decrease the time delay.

5 . The UE of claim 4 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine a central tendency time period in which audio frames are generated by the audio subsystem and calculate the target synchronization value using the central tendency time period.

6 . The UE of claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to time a specified timeout duration during the voice call and initiate discarding of a specified number of PCM samples corresponding to speech activity when PCM samples corresponding to no speech activity are undetected upon expiration of the timeout duration.

7 . The UE of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to decrease a time duration between the generating of the audio data frame and a time slot scheduled for the transmission of the audio data frame.

8 . The UE of claim 7 , wherein the time slot is scheduled according to a connected discontinuous reception mode (C-DRX) with dynamic scheduling, wherein the time slot corresponds to an expected uplink grant time.

9 . The UE of claim 7 , wherein the time slot is scheduled according to a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) pattern.

10 . The UE of claim 7 , including MAC layer circuitry configured to send an indication to the physical layer circuitry to transmit a scheduling request to schedule transmission of the audio data frame before the MAC layer circuitry receives the audio frame from the audio subsystem.

11 . The UE of claim 7 , including MAC layer circuitry configured to send an indication to the physical layer circuitry to transmit a scheduling request to schedule transmission of the audio data frame before the audio subsystem generates the audio frame.

12 . The UE of claim 1 , wherein the radio network includes a cellular telephone network.

13 . The UE of claim 12 , wherein the UE is configured to communicate data using at least one of a voice over long term evolution (VoLTE) protocol or a high speed downlink/uplink access (HSDPA/HSUPA) protocol.

14 . A method of operating a UE device of an end-to-end communication network, the method comprising:
calculating a time delay from generation of an audio data frame by an audio subsystem of the UE device to transmission of an audio data packet by a physical layer of the UE device during a voice call, including a beginning of the voice call and when the voice call is active; and decreasing the time delay to a delay value that preserves a specified minimum time for delivery of the generated audio data frame to the physical layer to meet a scheduled transmission time of the audio data packet.

15 . The method of claim 14 , including detecting one or more pulse code modulation (PCM) samples corresponding to no speech activity and wherein decreasing the device delay includes discarding the detected one or more PCM samples during the voice call to decrease the time delay between the audio data frame generation and the transmission of the audio data packet.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein decreasing the time delay includes decreasing a time duration between the generating of the audio data frame and receiving an uplink (UL) grant.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein decreasing the time delay includes decreasing a time duration between the generating of the audio data frame and a time slot corresponding to a scheduled UL grant of a specified radio pattern.

18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein decreasing the time delay includes transmitting a scheduling request prior to the audio subsystem generating an audio data frame to be transmitted after receiving a requested UL grant.

19 . A wireless communication system comprising:
physical layer circuitry configured to transmit and receive radio frequency electrical signals with one or more nodes of a radio access network; one or more antennas electrically coupled to the physical layer circuitry; an audio subsystem configured to generate frames of audio data; processing circuitry configured to:
calculate a time delay from generation of an audio data frame by the audio subsystem to transmission of an audio data packet by the physical layer circuitry during a voice call, including a beginning of the voice call and when the voice call is active; and
decrease the time delay to a delay value that preserves a specified minimum time for delivery of the generated audio data frame to the physical layer circuitry to meet a scheduled transmission time of the audio data packet.

20 . The wireless communication system of claim 19 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to detect one or more pulse code modulation (PCM) samples corresponding to no speech activity and initiate discarding of the detected one or more PCM samples by the audio subsystem during the voice call to decrease the time delay between the audio data frame generation and the transmission of the audio data packet.

21 . The wireless communication system of claim 20 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to calculate a target synchronization value using the calculated time delay and to initiate discarding of a number of the detected PCM samples equal to the target synchronization value.

22 . The wireless communication system of claim 19 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to decrease a time duration between the generating of one or more audio data frames and receiving a user equipment uplink (UL) grant from the physical layer circuitry and to initiate the sending of a scheduling request by the physical layer circuitry to schedule transmission of the audio data frame before the audio subsystem generates the audio frame.

23 . A computer readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by hardware processing circuitry of a wireless communication device cause the wireless communication device to:
calculate a time delay from generation of an audio data frame by

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Dortmund Sven
• Giguet David
• Guilhaumon Benoit
• Perraud Eric
• Weingertner Philippe
• Parron Jerome

Classifications

• H04W56/00 Primary

  Synchronisation arrangements · CPC title

• H04J3/0697

  Synchronisation in a packet node · CPC title

• H04J3/0658

  Clock or time synchronisation among packet nodes · CPC title

• H04L65/1059

  End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication · CPC title

• H04J3/0632

  Synchronisation of packets and cells, e.g. transmission of voice via a packet network, circuit emulation service [CES] (queuing arrangements in packet switching elements H04L49/90; synchronising systems for the synchronous transmission of a pulse code modulated video signal with one or more other pulse code modulated signals H04N7/56) · CPC title