Selectively allocating quality of service to support multiple concurrent sessions for a client device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9554389-B2
Application number	US-201314012956-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2013
Priority date	Aug 31, 2012
Publication date	Jan 24, 2017
Grant date	Jan 24, 2017

Abstract

In an embodiment, a server mediates a first group communication session with the user equipment (UE) by exchanging media for the first group communication session with the UE over a first link with a first level of Quality of Service (QoS) resources (e.g., either without a guaranteed bit rate (GBR) or a threshold amount of GBR) and exchanging non-media signaling data for the first group communication session with the UE over a signaling link that is either the same or separate from the first link. The server detects, while the UE continues participation in the first group communication session, that the UE has joined or is attempting to join a second group communication session. The server applies a policy for selectively allocating additional QoS resources to supplement the first level of QoS resources to the UE for concurrently supporting both the first and second group communication sessions in response to the detection.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a server configured to support group communication sessions for a user equipment (UE), comprising:
mediating, at the server, a first group communication session with the UE by exchanging media for the first group communication session with the UE over a first link with a first level of Quality of Service (QoS) resources and exchanging non-media signaling data for the first group communication session with the UE over a signaling link that is either the same or separate from the first link;
detecting, at the server, while the UE continues participation in the first group communication session, that the UE has joined or is attempting to join a second group communication session; and
executing, at the server, a policy that is based upon comparing a first priority of the first group communication session and a second priority of the second group communication sessions for selectively allocating additional QoS resources to supplement the first level of QoS resources to the UE for concurrently supporting both the first and second group communication sessions in response to the detection.

2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the first link and the signaling link are separate, and
wherein the first level of QoS resources reserves at least a threshold guaranteed bit rate (GBR) for the first link.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first link and the signaling link are mapped to a common link to which the first level of QoS resources is assigned.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first level of QoS resources is zero such that the common link does not have a guaranteed bit rate (GBR).

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first level of QoS resources reserves at least a threshold guaranteed bit rate (GBR) for the common link.

6. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the policy identifies a number of bearers and/or a second level of QoS resources required for the second group communication session, and
wherein the executing selects whether to allocate the additional QoS resources based on the identified number of bearers and/or the second level of QoS resources.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first link is a first QoS link and the first level of QoS resources reserves at least a threshold guaranteed bit rate (GBR).

8. The method of claim 7 ,
wherein the comparing indicates that the second priority of the second group communication session is a high priority,
wherein, based on the comparing, the executing allocates a second QoS link with a second level of QoS resources to the UE for supporting an exchange of media with the UE for the second group communication session.

9. The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the high priority of the second group communication session is based on the second group communication session being originated by the UE, and/or
wherein the high priority of the second group communication session is based on the second group communication session being a new session that the UE is attempting to join, and/or
wherein the high priority of the second group communication session is based on an indication that a user of the UE wishes to actively participate in the second group communication session by playing and/or transmitting media for the second group communication session, and/or
wherein the high priority of the second group communication session is based on an indication in an application layer signaling message on the signaling link indicating that the second group communication session has a higher priority than the first group communication session.

10. The method of claim 7 ,
wherein the comparing indicates that the second priority of the second group communication session is a high priority,
wherein, based on the comparing, the executing increases the first level of QoS resources on the first QoS link to a higher level in order to support an exchange of media with the UE for both the first and second group communication sessions on the first QoS link.

11. The method of claim 10 ,
wherein the high priority of the second group communication session is based on the second group communication session being originated by the UE, and/or
wherein the high priority of the second group communication session is based on the second group communication session being a new session that the UE is attempting to join, and/or
wherein the high priority of the second group communication session is based on an indication that a user of the UE wishes to actively participate in the second group communication session by playing and/or transmitting media for the second group communication session and/or
wherein the high priority of the second group communication session is based on an indication in an application layer signaling message on the signaling link indicating that the second group communication session has a higher priority than the first group communication session.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the executing includes determining that the first level of QoS resources on the first QoS link is sufficient to support an exchange of media with the UE for both the first and second group communication sessions, such that the executing does not allocate the additional QoS resources.

13. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the comparing indicates that the second priority of the second group communication session is a low priority,
wherein, based on the comparing, the executing includes determining to reject the second group communication session for the UE, such that the selectively allocating does not allocate the additional QoS resources.

14. The method of claim 13 ,
wherein the low priority of the second group communication session is based on the second group communication session being originated by another UE,
wherein the low priority of the second group communication session is based on the second group communication session being an existing call that the UE previously joined, and/or
wherein the low priority of the second group communication session is based on an indication that a user of the UE does not wish to actively participate in the second group communication session by playing and/or transmitting media for the second group communication session, and/or
wherein the low priority of the second group communication session is based on an indication in an application layer signaling message on the signaling link indicating that the second group communication session has a lower priority than the first group communication session.

15. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the comparing indicates that the second priority of the second group communication session is a higher priority than the first priority of the first group communication session,
wherein, based on the comparing, the executing includes re-allocating at least a portion of the first level of QoS resources from the first group communication session to the second group communication session, such that the executing does not allocate the additional QoS resources and a useable portion of the first level of QoS resources for the first group communication session is reduced.

16. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the comparing indicates that the second group communication session is a lower priority than the first priority of the first group communication session,
wherein, based on the comparing, the executing includes determining to permit the second group communication session to be supported for the UE without QoS, such that the executing does not allocate the additional QoS resources.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the policy i

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Anchan Kirankumar
• Santhanam Arvind V
• Paladugu Karthika

Classifications

• H04W72/54 Primary

  based on quality criteria · CPC title

• H04W8/186

  Processing of subscriber group data · CPC title

• H04W76/40 Primary

  for selective distribution or broadcast · CPC title

• H04W4/06

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title

• H04W76/002

  Electricity · mapped topic