Method and apparatus for recovering memory of user plane buffer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9459830-B2
Application number	US-201314061839-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 24, 2013
Priority date	Apr 26, 2011
Publication date	Oct 4, 2016
Grant date	Oct 4, 2016

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for recovering a memory of a user plane buffer and relates to the communication field. The method and apparatus are used to recover the memory of the user plane buffer immediately and quickly. The method for recovering a memory of a user plane buffer includes: monitoring memory usage of a buffer in real time; when the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, releasing the memory of the buffer, where the preset threshold is smaller than a memory capacity of the buffer. The solution of the present invention is applicable to any scenario where the memory of the buffer needs to be recovered.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for recovering a memory of a user plane buffer, comprising:
monitoring memory usage of a buffer in real time, comprising monitoring memory usage of a buffer of a data link layer in real time; and
when the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, releasing the memory of the buffer and releasing radio resources, wherein the preset threshold is smaller than a memory capacity of the buffer.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the monitoring the memory usage of the buffer in real time comprises:
monitoring memory usage of a buffer of a data link layer in real time at an uplink data entrance or a downlink data entrance or another entrance of the data link layer.

3. A method for recovering a memory of a user plane buffer, comprising:
monitoring memory usage of a buffer in real time; and
when the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, releasing the memory of the buffer, wherein the preset threshold is smaller than a memory capacity of the buffer, wherein the monitoring the memory usage of the buffer in real time comprises:
monitoring memory usage of a buffer of a data link layer in real time at an uplink data entrance or a downlink data entrance or another entrance of the data link layer, wherein the monitoring the memory usage of the buffer of the data link layer in real time at the uplink data entrance or the downlink data entrance or the another entrance of the data link layer comprises:
when uplink data reaches the uplink data entrance of the data link layer, checking the memory usage of the buffer of the data link layer at the uplink data entrance; or,
when downlink data reaches the downlink data entrance of the data link layer, checking the memory usage of the buffer of the data link layer at the downlink data entrance; or,

when uplink data/downlink data reaches the other entrance of the data link layer, checking the memory usage of the buffer of the data link layer at the other entrance.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the uplink data entrance is a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entrance; the downlink data entrance is a medium access control (MAC) entrance; and the other entrance comprises a radio link control (RLC) entrance.

5. A method for recovering a memory of a user plane buffer, comprising:
monitoring memory usage of a buffer in real time; and
when the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, releasing the memory of the buffer, wherein the preset threshold is smaller than a memory capacity of the buffer, wherein when the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to the preset threshold, the releasing the memory of the buffer comprises:
when the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to the preset threshold, reporting a message of a buffer memory exception to radio resource control (RRC);
after the RRC receives the message of the buffer memory exception, sending, by the RRC, an instruction for releasing all radio resources; and
after a data link layer receives the instruction, releasing all radio resources of the data link layer, including medium access control (MAC) configurations, and all radio link control (RLC) entities and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entities that have set up radio bearers (RBs).

6. An apparatus for recovering a memory of a user plane buffer, comprising:
a monitoring unit, configured to monitor memory usage of a buffer in real time, comprising monitoring memory usage of a buffer of a data link layer in real time;
a determining unit, configured to determine whether the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, wherein the preset threshold is smaller than a memory capacity of the buffer; and
a releasing unit, configured to release the memory of the buffer and to send an instruction to release radio resources in a case that the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to a preset threshold.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the monitoring unit is configured to monitor the memory usage of the buffer of a data link layer in real time at an uplink data entrance or a downlink data entrance or another entrance of the data link layer.

8. An apparatus for recovering a memory of a user plane buffer, comprising:
a monitoring unit, configured to monitor memory usage of a buffer in real time;
a determining unit, configured to determine whether the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, wherein the preset threshold is smaller than a memory capacity of the buffer; and
a releasing unit, configured to release the memory of the buffer in a case that the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, wherein the monitoring unit is configured to monitor the memory usage of the buffer of a data link layer in real time at an uplink data entrance or a downlink data entrance or another entrance of the data link layer, wherein the monitoring unit comprises:
a first monitoring subunit, configured to check the memory usage of the buffer of the data link layer at the uplink data entrance when uplink data reaches the uplink data entrance of the data link layer; or,
a second monitoring subunit, configured to check the memory usage of the buffer of the data link layer at the downlink data entrance when downlink data reaches the downlink data entrance of the data link layer; or,
a third monitoring subunit, configured to check the memory usage of the buffer of the data link layer at the other entrance when uplink data/downlink data reaches the other entrance of the data link layer.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the uplink data entrance is a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entrance; the downlink data entrance is a medium access control (MAC) entrance; and the other entrance comprises a radio link control (RLC) entrance.

10. An apparatus for recovering a memory of a user plane buffer, comprising:
a monitoring unit, configured to monitor memory usage of a buffer in real time;
a determining unit, configured to determine whether the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, wherein the preset threshold is smaller than a memory capacity of the buffer; and
a releasing unit, configured to release the memory of the buffer in a case that the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, wherein the releasing unit comprises:
a reporting subunit, configured to report a message of a buffer memory exception to radio resource control (RRC) when the memory usage of the buffer is greater than or equal to a preset threshold;
a sending subunit, configured for the RRC to send an instruction for releasing all radio resources, after the RRC receives the message of the buffer memory exception; and
a releasing subunit, configured to: in a case that a data link layer receives the instruction, release all radio resources of the data link layer, including medium access control (MAC) configurations, and all radio link control (RLC) entities and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entities that have set up radio bearers (RBs).

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hu Jianbo

Classifications

• H04W24/04

  Arrangements for maintaining operational condition · CPC title

• H04W80/02

  Data link layer protocols · CPC title

• H04L47/29

  using a combination of thresholds · CPC title

• G06F5/14 Primary

  for overflow or underflow handling, e.g. full or empty flags · CPC title

• H04L69/40 Primary

  for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection (management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06) · CPC title