Technique for setting network communication parameters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9602627-B2
Application number	US-82550610-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2010
Priority date	Jun 29, 2009
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for providing a bandwidth control interface that displays the relative amount of bandwidth assigned to each application executing at a computer device. By displaying the relative amount of bandwidth, the interface allows the user to easily determine how the available bandwidth is allocated among the applications, and whether the allocation provides for efficient network communication. The bandwidth control interface also allows the user to adjust the relative allocation of bandwidth to the executing applications. The user can thereby control the relative amount of bandwidth that is allocated to each application by a network interface device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for communicating via a network interface of a computer device, the method comprising:
simultaneously displaying on a graphical user interface a plurality of bandwidth adjustment slider interfaces, wherein each of the plurality of bandwidth adjustment slider interfaces includes a numerical field that indicates an associated percentage of an available bandwidth between the network interface of the computer device and a network, wherein the plurality of bandwidth adjustment slider interfaces include a first bandwidth adjustment slider interface and a second bandwidth adjustment slider interface;
receiving, via the first bandwidth adjustment slider interface at the computer device, a first user input indicating a first relative amount of bandwidth allocated to a first application executing at the computer device;
receiving, via the second bandwidth adjustment slider interface at the computer device, a second user input indicating a second relative amount of bandwidth allocated to a second application executing at the computer device,
wherein the first relative amount of bandwidth and the second relative amount of bandwidth are associated with percentages of the available bandwidth, and
wherein the second bandwidth adjustment slider interface is responsive, at least in part, to changes at the first bandwidth adjustment slider interface; and

regulating communication via the network interface of the computer device based, at least in part, on the first relative amount of bandwidth allocated to the first application and the second relative amount of bandwidth allocated to the second application.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a first bandwidth setting via the first bandwidth adjustment slider interface and a second bandwidth setting via the second bandwidth adjustment slider interface; and
determining a first adjustment to the first relative amount of bandwidth based, at least in part, on the first bandwidth setting and a second adjustment to the second relative amount of bandwidth based, at least in part, on the second bandwidth setting.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first relative amount of bandwidth is associated with a first percentage of the available bandwidth, and wherein regulating communication via the network interface comprises regulating an amount of information communicated between the first application and the network to no more than the first percentage of the available bandwidth.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first application comprises a first application instance and a second application instance, and wherein regulating communication via the network interface comprises regulating an amount of information communicated by the first application instance and the second application instance to be no more than a first percentage of the available bandwidth.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the second application is no longer being executed by the computer device; and
in response to said determining, automatically adjusting the first relative amount of bandwidth.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining initiation of a third application being executed by the computer device; and
in response to said determining, automatically adjusting the first relative amount of bandwidth and the second relative amount of bandwidth.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein automatically adjusting the first relative amount of bandwidth and the second relative amount of bandwidth comprises adjusting the first relative amount of bandwidth based, at least in part, on a ratio between the first relative amount of bandwidth and the second relative amount of bandwidth.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first bandwidth adjustment slider interface and the second bandwidth adjustment slider interface are part of a bandwidth control interface that also allows user allocation of bandwidth for a plurality of executing applications at the computer device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein regulating communication via the network interface comprises:
setting a first limit at the network interface of the computer device based, at least in part, on the first relative amount of bandwidth allocated to the first application; and
setting a second limit at the network interface of the computer device based, at least in part, on the second relative amount of bandwidth allocated to the second application.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein setting the first relative amount of bandwidth comprises setting a bandwidth allocation at the network interface.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first application and the second application share the available bandwidth between the computer device and the network via the network interface of the computer device.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said regulating communication via the network interface comprises setting a packet rate limit for the first application executing at the computer device.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said regulating communication via the network interface comprises buffering packets for the first application at a buffer associated with the network interface and retrieving packets from the buffer at a rate determined by the first relative amount of bandwidth.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting, at the computer device, when a new application is executed on the computer device or when an existing application executing on the computer device is halted;
automatically adjusting the relative amounts of bandwidth allocated to each of the plurality of applications in response to said detecting; and
regulating communication via the network interface of the computer device based, at least in part, on the adjusted relative amounts of bandwidth.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein said automatically adjusting the relative amounts of bandwidth includes adjusting the relative amounts of bandwidth allocated to each of the plurality of applications in a proportional adjustment based, at least in part, on a previous relative amount of bandwidth allocated to each of the plurality of applications.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program of instructions to manipulate a processor, the program of instructions comprising instructions to:
at a computer device:
simultaneously display on a graphical user interface a plurality of bandwidth adjustment slider interfaces, wherein each of the plurality of bandwidth adjustment slider interfaces includes a numerical field that indicates an associated percentage of an available bandwidth between a network interface of the computer device and a network, wherein the plurality of bandwidth adjustment slider interfaces include a first bandwidth adjustment slider interface and a second bandwidth adjustment slider interface;
receive, via the first bandwidth adjustment slider interface, a first relative amount of bandwidth allocated to a first application executable at the computer device,
receive, via the second bandwidth adjustment slider interface, a second relative amount of bandwidth allocated to a second application executable at the computer device,
wherein the first relative amount of bandwidth and the second relative amount of bandwidth are displayed as percentages of the available bandwidth, and
wherein the second bandwidth adjustment slider interface is responsive, at least in part, to changes at the first bandwidth adjustment slider interface; and

regulate communication via the network interface of the computer device based, at least

Assignees

• Welsh John Michael
• Huybregts Christopher
• Menchaca Ben
• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Welsh John Michael
• Huybregts Christopher
• Menchaca Ben

Classifications

• G06F3/04847

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title

• H04L67/322 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L69/32 Primary

  Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level · CPC title

• H04L67/61 Primary

  taking into account QoS or priority requirements · CPC title

• H04L2012/5603

  Access techniques · CPC title