Method and apparatus for available bandwidth estimation by a user equipment in idle and/or connected mode

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9301161-B2
Application number	US-201313871242-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2013
Priority date	Jul 27, 2012
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

A method and apparatus for determining available downlink bandwidth are described. The described aspects may include estimating an available link capacity of a cell for a user equipment. The described aspects may include estimating an available fraction of cell resources for the user equipment. The described aspects may include estimating available bandwidth of the cell for the user equipment as a function of the estimated available link capacity and the estimated available fraction of cell resources. Available bandwidth may be estimated for a cell in a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) system when the user equipment is in an idle mode and/or a connected mode. Available bandwidth may be estimated for a cell in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system when the user equipment is in an idle mode and/or a connected mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for determining available downlink bandwidth, comprising:
estimating a supported rate of a cell for a user equipment based at least in part on a measured signal energy of the cell, wherein a function of the supported rate comprises determining a total bandwidth corresponding to a total number of an available number of codes used by the cell for the supported rate;
estimating an available number of codes for the cell based at least in part on a number of codes per one or more past scheduling events, wherein a function of the available number of codes comprises scaling a total bandwidth based on at least one of an available number of codes;
estimating an available bandwidth of the cell for the user equipment as a function of the supported rate and the available number of codes; and
performing, by the user equipment, one or more network communications procedures with the cell based at least in part on the estimated available bandwidth.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cell is in a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) system.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more network communications procedures includes handover to the cell when the user equipment is in a connected mode.

4. The method of claim 3 ,
wherein the signal energy comprises a channel quality index generated at the user equipment;
and
wherein estimating the available bandwidth of the cell is further based at least in part on an observed connected mode throughput observed over the one or more past scheduling events.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining an available traffic-to-pilot (T2P) ratio for the cell; and
wherein at least one of estimating the supported rate or estimating the available number of codes is further based on the available T2P ratio.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining a measurement power offset (MPO) for the cell; and
wherein at least one of estimating the supported rate or estimating the available number of codes is further based on the MPO.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the MPO further comprises identifying a last used MPO, and using the last used MPO as the MPO, or using a given MPO as the MPO.

8. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining an available traffic-to-pilot (T2P) ratio for the cell;
determining a measurement power offset (MPO) for the cell; and
wherein estimating the supported rate is further based on at least one of the available T2P ratio, the MPO, and the channel quality index; and
wherein estimating the available number of codes is further based on at least one of the available T2P ratio or the MPO.

9. The method of claim 4 , further comprising determining the available number of codes for the cell according to one or more of:
averaging a served number of codes per past scheduling event based on one or more past scheduling events;
averaging a served number of codes per past scheduling event for the one or more past scheduling events over a time period when an amount of data received satisfied at least a minimum amount of data threshold;
a fixed amount of codes when the one or more past scheduling events do not meet a freshness threshold; or
receiving code information from at least one network entity.

10. The method of claim 4 , further comprising determining an available time-division multiplexing (TDM) fraction for the user equipment, according to one or more of:
averaging TDM fractions per past scheduling event based on one or more past scheduling events;
averaging TDM fractions per past scheduling event for the one or more past scheduling events over a time period when an amount of data received satisfied at least a minimum amount of data threshold;
a fixed TDM fraction when the one or more past scheduling events do not meet a freshness threshold; or
receiving TDM fraction information from at least one network entity
wherein estimating the available bandwidth of the cell is further based at least in part on the TDM fraction.

11. The method of claim 4 , wherein estimating the supported rate comprises:
determining the supported rate based on the channel quality index, and
wherein the function of the supported rate and the available number of codes comprises:
determining a partial bandwidth corresponding to a total number of codes used by the cell for the supported rate;
scaling the partial bandwidth based on at least one of an average served number of the available number of codes, a time-division multiplexing (TDM) fraction, and a ratio of T2Pavailable/MPO to determine the partial available bandwidth; and
combining the partial bandwidth to an observed connected mode throughput over one or more past scheduling events.

12. The method of claim 4 , wherein estimating an available number of codes comprises receiving the available number of codes from a network entity.

13. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more network communications procedures includes cell reselection to for the cell when the user equipment is in an idle mode.

14. The method of claim 13 ,
wherein the measured signal energy comprises a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a signal from the cell.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining an available traffic-to-pilot (T2P) ratio for the cell; and
wherein at least one of estimating the supported rate or estimating the available number of codes is further based on the available T2P ratio.

16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining a measurement power offset (MPO) for the cell; and
wherein at least one of estimating the supported rate or estimating the available number of codes is further based on the MPO.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining the MPO further comprises identifying a last used MPO, and using the last used MPO as the MPO, or using a given MPO as the MPO.

18. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining an available traffic-to-pilot (T2P) ratio for the cell;
determining a measurement power offset (MPO) for the cell; and
wherein estimating the supported rate is further based on at least one of the available T2P ratio or the MPO; and
wherein estimating the available number of codes is further based on at least one of the available T2P ratio or the MPO.

19. The method of claim 13 , further comprising determining the available number of codes for the cell according to one or more of:
averaging a served number of codes per past scheduling event based on the one or more past scheduling events;
averaging a served number of codes per past scheduling event for the one or more past scheduling events over a time period when an amount of data received satisfied at least a minimum amount of data threshold;
a fixed amount of codes when the one or more past scheduling events do not meet a freshness threshold; or
receiving code information from a network entity.

20. The method of claim 13 , further comprising determining an available time-division multiplexing (TDM) fraction for a particular user equipment, according to one or more of:
averaging TDM fractions per past scheduling event based on the one or more past scheduling events;
averaging TDM fractions per past scheduling event for the one or more past scheduling events over a time period when an amount of data received satisfied at least a minimum amount of data threshold;
a fixed TDM fraction when the one or more past scheduling events do not meet a freshness threshold; or
receiving TDM

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Vitthaladevuni Pavan Kumar
• Meylan Arnaud
• Sambhwani Sharad Deepak
• Burdge Brandon Allen
• Ramanujam Sridhar
• Mohan Siddharth

Classifications

• H04W24/02 Primary

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H04W48/18

  Selecting a network or a communication service · CPC title