Rate adaptation during handoffs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016302128-A1
Application number	US-201615092147-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 6, 2016
Priority date	Apr 10, 2015
Publication date	Oct 13, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided. The apparatus may receive information indicating a potential handoff for another apparatus in communication with the apparatus. The apparatus may adjust, based on the information indicating the potential handoff, a communication parameter or a communication rate associated with the communication before the potential handoff occurs. The apparatus may identify a potential handoff during communication with another apparatus. The apparatus may cause, based on identifying the potential handoff, an adjustment to a communication parameter or a communication rate associated with the communication before the potential handoff occurs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for wireless communication, comprising:
receiving, by a user equipment (UE), information indicating a potential handoff of another UE in communication with the UE; and adjusting, by the UE and based on the information indicating the potential handoff, a communication parameter or a communication rate associated with the communication before the potential handoff occurs.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an expected value of the communication parameter, the expected value of the communication parameter being expected during the potential handoff; determining that the expected value of the communication parameter is within a threshold of a particular value of the communication parameter; and wherein adjusting the communication parameter or the communication rate further comprises:
determining, based on information stored in a data structure storing handoff information or the communication parameter, particular information associated with at least one of a communication delay or a jitter profile; and
adjusting the communication parameter or the communication rate based on the particular information and based on determining that the expected value of the communication parameter is within the threshold of the particular value of the communication parameter.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
utilizing a rate adaptation algorithm to determine an adjustment to the communication rate based on receiving the information indicating the potential handoff; and wherein adjusting the communication rate further comprises:
adjusting a video telephony encoder rate based on determining the adjustment to the communication rate.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the information indicating the potential handoff includes at least one of:
an estimated communication rate, an audio to video synchronization delay, an encoder buffer size, a decoder buffer size, an expected jitter value to influence a jitter buffer size, a predicted handoff time, a predicted handoff duration, or a predicted handoff type.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication parameter includes at least one of:
a jitter buffer size, a communication codec parameter, a codec frame per second rate, or a codec resolution.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an estimated uplink or downlink rate associated with the communication based on the information indicating the potential handoff; and adjusting the communication parameter or the communication rate, after receiving the potential handoff indication, based on the estimated uplink or downlink rate.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving information indicating that the potential handoff is not occurring; and adjusting the communication parameter or the communication rate based on receiving the information indicating that the potential handoff is not occurring.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving information indicating that the potential handoff is completed; adjusting the communication parameter or the communication rate based on receiving the information indicating that the potential handoff is completed; and wherein the information indicating the potential handoff or the information indicating that the potential handoff is completed is received via at least one of a real-time transport protocol (RTP) control protocol (RTCP) message or a generic application layer signaling message.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving information indicating an amount of jitter associated with the communication, wherein the amount of jitter is associated with the other UE undergoing the potential handoff, and wherein the amount of jitter is greater than an amount of jitter associated with the communication prior to the other UE undergoing the potential handoff; or receiving information indicating an amount of packet delay associated with the communication, wherein the amount of packet delay is associated with the other UE undergoing the potential handoff, and wherein the amount of packet delay is greater than an amount of packet delay associated with the communication prior to the other UE undergoing the potential handoff; and maintaining the communication rate after receiving the information indicating the amount of jitter or the information indicating the amount of packet delay.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication is a video communication, and wherein the communication rate is a video telephony rate.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the potential handoff is a potential inter-radio access technology (inter-RAT) handoff.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving information indicating an estimated time of the potential handoff occurring; and wherein adjusting the communication parameter or the communication rate further comprises:
adjusting the communication rate before the estimated time based on receiving the information indicating the estimated time of the potential handoff occurring.

13 . A device for wireless communication, comprising:
one or more processors; and memory in electronic communication with the one or more processors, the memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the device to:
receive information indicating a potential handoff of another device in communication with the device; and
adjust, based on the information indicating the potential handoff, a communication parameter or a communication rate associated with the communication before the potential handoff occurs.

14 . A method for wireless communication, comprising:
identifying, by a user equipment (UE), a potential handoff during a communication with another UE; and causing, by the UE and based on identifying the potential handoff, an adjustment to a communication parameter or a communication rate associated with the communication with the other UE before the potential handoff occurs.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
providing, to the other UE, information associated with the potential handoff before the potential handoff.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein providing the information associated with the potential handoff further comprises:
providing the information associated with the potential handoff via application layer signaling.

17 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
utilizing a rate adaptation algorithm to determine the adjustment to the communication rate.

18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein identifying the potential handoff further comprises:
identifying the potential handoff based on at least one of:
motion processor information,
signal strength information, or
radio access technology (RAT) signaling information.

19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein causing the adjustment to the communication parameter or the communication rate further comprises:
providing, before the potential handoff occurs, information associated with the potential handoff to the other UE to cause the other UE to adjust the communication parameter or the communication rate associated with the communication, wherein the information associated with the potential handoff includes at least one of:
an expected handoff time,
an expected handoff duration,
an expected handoff completion time,
a handoff type,
an estimated communication rate,
an audio to video synchronization delay,
an encoder buffer siz

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Anchan Kirankumar Bhoja
• Balasubramanian Srinivasan
• Santhanam Arvind Vardarajan

Classifications

• H04W72/20

  Control channels or signalling for resource management · CPC title

• H04L43/16

  Threshold monitoring · CPC title

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title

• H04W36/0083

  Determination of parameters used for hand-off, e.g. generation or modification of neighbour cell lists · CPC title

• H04W36/144

  over a different radio air interface technology · CPC title