Buffer status reproting
AssigneeNEC Corporation
InventorJagdeep Singh Ahluwalia
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system is proposed to provide buffer status reporting in a mobile telecommunications environment, particularly applicable to 3GPP networks, which allows the base station to perform Quality of Service aware uplink resource allocation. The system uses two types of buffer status reports—Absolute Buffer Status Reports and Relative Buffer Status Reports. Absolute Buffer Status Reports are sent at application start up or when the buffer level is above or below set threshold values. Otherwise Relative Buffer Status Reports are sent, which encode the present buffer level in terms of the difference from the last transmitted Absolute Buffer Status Report.
Claims37
A method of signalling buffer status information from a mobile communications device to a base station, the method comprising:
- determining current buffer status information for the mobile communications device;
- determining a relationship between the current buffer status information and one or more defined criteria;
- and
- sending an absolute buffer status report, indicating the current buffer status, or a relative buffer status report, indicating a change in the buffer status since a previous buffer status report, to the base station in dependence upon the determined relationship.
A method of allocating resources to a mobile communications device comprising:
- storing buffer status information previously received from the mobile communications device, which indicates a previous buffer status within the mobile communications device;
- receiving from the mobile communications device a relative buffer status report indicating a change in the buffer status within the mobile communications device since a previous buffer status report;
- using the stored buffer status information and the relative buffer status report to determine a current buffer status within the mobile communications device;
- and
- allocating resources to the mobile communications device in dependence upon the determined current buffer status within the mobile communications device.
A mobile communications device comprising:
- means for determining current buffer status information for the mobile communications device;
- means for determining a relationship between the current buffer status information and one or more defined criteria;
- and
- means for sending an absolute buffer status report, indicating the current buffer status, or a relative buffer status report, indicating a change in the buffer status since a previous buffer status report, to the base station in dependence upon the determined relationship.
A mobile communications device comprising:
- a controller operable under program control to:
- determine current buffer status information for the mobile communications device;
- determine a relationship between the current buffer status information and one or more defined criteria;
- and
- send an absolute buffer status report, indicating the current buffer status, or a relative buffer status report, indicating a change in the buffer status since a previous buffer status report, to the base station in dependence upon the determined relationship.
(canceled)
A base station comprising:
- means for storing buffer status information previously received from the mobile communications device and indicating a previous buffer status within the mobile communications device;
- means for receiving from the mobile communications device a relative buffer status report indicating a change in the buffer status within the mobile communications device since a previous buffer status report;
- means for using the stored buffer status information and the relative buffer status report to determine a current buffer status within the mobile communications device;
- and
- means for allocating resources to the mobile communications device in dependence upon the determined current buffer status within the mobile communications device.
A base station comprising:
- a controller operable under program control to:
- store buffer status information relating to a previous buffer status within the mobile communications device;
- receive from the mobile communications device a relative buffer status report indicating a change in the buffer status within the mobile communications device since a previous buffer status report;
- use the stored buffer status information and the relative buffer status report to determine a current buffer status within the mobile communications device;
- and
- allocate resources to the mobile communications device in dependence upon the determined current buffer status within the mobile communications device.
(canceled)
A method of signalling buffer status information from a mobile communications device to a base station, the method comprising:
- determining current buffer status information for the mobile communications device;
- determining a relationship between the current buffer status information and one or more defined criteria;
- sending a buffer status report indicating the current buffer status to the base station in dependence upon the determined relationship;
- and
- indicating in the buffer status report that the base station should switch between a talk spurt period and a silent period for a VoIP service.
A method of signalling buffer status information from a mobile communications device to a base station, the method comprising:
- transmitting different types of data from the communications device to the base station, each type of data being associated with a respective radio bearer group;
- buffering data to be transmitted in a transmit buffer;
- determining buffer status information for data buffered in the transmit buffer for each radio bearer group;
- sending a buffer status report indicating the current buffer status for each radio bearer group to the base station in dependence upon the determined buffer status information;
- and
- including an indication in the buffer status report that the base station should switch between a talk spurt period and a silent period for a VoIP service.
A method of allocating resources to a mobile communications device comprising:
- receiving data from a mobile communications device;
- receiving a buffer status report from the mobile communications device indicating that the base station should switch between a talk spurt period and a silent period for a VoIP service;
- and
- releasing or re-allocating persistently allocated uplink resources to the mobile communications device in dependence upon the received indication.
A method of allocating resources to a mobile communications device comprising:
- receiving different types of data from a mobile communications device;
- receiving a buffer status report from the mobile communications device having buffer status information for each type of data and an indication that the base station should switch between a talk spurt period and a silent period for a VoIP service;
- and
- releasing or re-allocating persistently allocated uplink resources to the mobile communications device in dependence upon the received indication.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.