Method and apparatus for a self-correcting bandwidth request/grant protocol in a wireless communication system

A method for allocating bandwidth in a wireless communication system, wherein the wireless communication system includes a plurality of customer premise equipment (CPE) in communication with associated and corresponding base stations, and wherein the base stations maintain uplink and downlink sub-frame maps representative of the bandwidth allocations in the uplink and downlink communication paths, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) determining an incremental bandwidth requirement for a selected CPE;
• (b) transmitting an incremental bandwidth request to a base station that is associated with the selected CPE, wherein the incremental bandwidth request contains information indicative of the incremental bandwidth requirement determined in step (a);
• (c) determining an aggregate bandwidth requirement for the selected CPE;
• (d) determining whether an aggregate bandwidth request should be transmitted to the base station associated with the selected CPE, wherein the aggregate bandwidth request contains information indicative of the aggregate bandwidth requirement determined in step (c), including
• (i) counting consecutive transmissions of incremental bandwidth requests;
• (ii) comparing the number of consecutive transmissions counted in step (a) to a pre-determined incremental bandwidth request threshold value;
• and
• (iii) indicating that an aggregate bandwidth request is required if the number of consecutive transmissions of incremental bandwidth requests equals the pre-determined threshold, else returning to step (a);
• and
• (e) if the aggregate bandwidth request is determined to be required in step (d), transmitting the aggregate bandwidth request to the associated base station and returning to step (a), else returning to step (a) without transmitting the aggregate bandwidth request.

A method for allocating bandwidth in a wireless communication system, wherein the wireless communication system includes a plurality of customer premise equipment (CPE) in communication with associated and corresponding base stations, and wherein the base stations maintain uplink and downlink sub-frame maps representative of the bandwidth allocations in the unlink and downlink communication paths, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) determining an incremental bandwidth requirement for a selected CPE.
• (b) transmitting an incremental bandwidth request to a base station that is associated with the selected CPE, wherein the incremental bandwidth request contains information indicative of the incremental bandwidth requirement determined in step (a);
• (c) determining an aggregate bandwidth requirement for the selected CPE;
• (d) determining whether an aggregate bandwidth request should be transmitted to the base station associated with the selected CPE, wherein the aggregate bandwidth request contains information indicative of the aggregate bandwidth requirement determined in step (c);
• and
• (e) if the aggregate bandwidth request is determined to be required in step (d), transmitting the aggregate bandwidth request to the associated base station and returning to step (a), else returning to step (a) without transmitting the aggregate bandwidth request;
• wherein bandwidth requests are transmitted to the associated base station using a bandwidth request message, and the bandwidth request message includes a Message Type ID field, a Connection ID/QoS field, a Request Type field, and an Amount Requested field.

An apparatus for allocating bandwidth in a wireless communication system, wherein the wireless communication system includes a plurality of customer premise equipment (CPE) in communication with associated and corresponding base stations, and wherein the base stations maintain uplink sub-frame maps representative of the bandwidth allocations in the uplink communication paths, comprising:

• (a) a bandwidth requirement calculator for calculating an incremental bandwidth requirement and an aggregate bandwidth requirement of a selected CPE;
• (b) a transmitter, operatively coupled to the bandwidth requirement calculator, for transmitting an incremental bandwidth request and an aggregate bandwidth request to a base station associated with the selected CPE, wherein the incremental bandwidth request is indicative of the incremental bandwidth requirement of the selected CPE, and wherein the aggregate bandwidth request is indicative of the aggregate bandwidth requirement of the selected CPE;
• and
• (c) an aggregate bandwidth request limiter, operatively coupled to the transmitter, for determining whether an aggregate bandwidth request should be transmitted to the associated base station and limiting a frequency of aggregate bandwidth requests to be less than a frequency of incremental bandwidth requests, wherein the aggregate bandwidth request limiter causes the transmitter to periodically transmit an aggregate bandwidth request when the aggregate bandwidth request limiter determines that the aggregate bandwidth request should be transmitted to the associated base station.

An apparatus for allocating bandwidth in a wireless communication system wherein the wireless communication system includes a plurality of customer premise equipment (CPE) in communication with associated and corresponding base stations, and wherein the base stations maintain uplink and downlink sub-frame maps representative of the bandwidth allocations in the uplink and downlink communication paths, comprising:

• (a) bandwidth requirement calculating means for calculating an incremental bandwidth requirement and an aggregate bandwidth requirement of a selected CPE;
• (b) transmitting means, operatively coupled to the bandwidth requirement calculating means, for transmitting an incremental bandwidth request and an aggregate bandwidth request to a base station associated with the selected CPE, wherein the incremental bandwidth request is indicative of the incremental bandwidth requirement of the selected CPE, and wherein the aggregate bandwidth request is indicative of the aggregate bandwidth requirement of the selected CPE;
• and
• (c) determining means, operatively coupled to the transmitting means, for determining whether an aggregate bandwidth request should be transmitted to the associated base station, wherein the determining means causes the transmitting means to periodically transmit an aggregate bandwidth request when the determining means determines that the aggregate bandwidth request should be transmitted to the associated base station, the determining means including:
• (i) means for counting consecutive transmissions of incremental bandwidth requests;
• (ii) means for comparing the number of consecutive transmissions counted by the counting means with a pre-determined incremental bandwidth request threshold value;
• and
• (iii) means for indicating that an aggregate bandwidth request is required whenever the number of consecutive transmissions of incremental bandwidth requests equals the pre-determined threshold.

A method for allocating bandwidth in a wireless communication system, wherein the wireless communication system includes a plurality of customer premise equipment (CPE) in communication with associated and corresponding base stations, and wherein the base stations maintain uplink and downlink sub-frame maps representative of the bandwidth allocations in the uplink and downlink communication paths, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) awaiting for the arrival of data for which bandwidth has not yet been allocated;
• (b) determining whether a first timer has expired, wherein the first timer is initially set to a number of frames that the communication system waits between transmission of aggregate bandwidth requests;
• (c) if the first timer is determined not to have expired in step (b), constructing an incremental bandwidth request indicative of an incremental bandwidth requirement of a selected CPE, else constructing an aggregate bandwidth request indicative of an aggregate bandwidth requirement of the selected CPE;
• (d) transmitting the bandwidth request constructed in step (c) to a base station that is associated with the selected CPE;
• (e) receiving an uplink sub-frame map that contains a bandwidth grant responsive to the bandwidth request transmitted in step (d);
• (f) determining whether the bandwidth grant contained in the uplink sub-frame map is appropriate;
• (g) if the bandwidth grant is determined to be appropriate in step (f), proceeding to step (h), else determining whether a second timer has expired, and if the second timer has expired, returning to step (e), else returning to step (b);
• (h) transmitting data;
• (i) determining whether the bandwidth grant received in step (e) fully satisfied the bandwidth request transmitted in step (d);
• and
• (j) if the bandwidth grant is fully satisfied, returning to step (a);
• else returning to step (e).