US 9,288,710 B1Granted

Method and system for limiting downlink data rates

AssigneeSprint Spectrum L.P.

InventorsRajveen Narendran, Ryan S. Talley

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Abstract

A wireless communication device (WCD) stores a mapping that maps each of a plurality of ranges of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) to a respective data rate indicator in a plurality of data rate indicators. Each data rate indicator is associated with a respective modulation-and-coding scheme (MCS) that supports a respective downlink data rate from a radio access network (RAN). The WCD selects a maximum data rate indicator based on a type of application on the WCD that is to receive downlink data, a priority of downlink data to be received by the application, an amount of downlink data to be received by the application, a device type of the WCD, or a subscription level of the WCD. The WCD selects an applicable data rate indicator based on a measured SNR and the mapping, such that the applicable data rate indicator does not exceed the maximum data rate indicator.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A method, comprising:

a wireless communication device (WCD) storing a mapping between a plurality of ranges of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and a plurality of data rate indicators, wherein the mapping maps each range of SNRs with a respective data rate indicator, and wherein each data rate indicator is associated with a respective modulation-and-coding scheme (MCS) that supports a respective downlink data rate, such that higher data rate indicators are associated with MCSs that support higher downlink data rates;
the WCD identifying an application on the WCD that is to receive downlink data from a radio access network (RAN);
the WCD selecting a maximum data rate indicator from among the plurality of data rate indicators based on at least a type of the application on the WCD that is to receive downlink data from the RAN, wherein the type of the application indicates an extent to which the application is bandwidth-intensive;
the WCD measuring a SNR of a signal transmitted by the RAN;
the WCD making a determination that the mapping maps the measured SNR to a data rate indicator that is higher than the maximum data rate indicator;
the WCD selecting an applicable data rate indicator, wherein the WCD selecting the applicable data rate indicator comprises the WCD selecting the maximum data rate indicator as the applicable data rate indicator based on the determination;
and
the WCD reporting the applicable data rate indicator to the RAN.

5 more elements

A wireless communication device (WCD) comprising:

a transceiver for wireless communication with a radio access network (RAN);
a processor;
data storage;
a mapping stored in the data storage, wherein the mapping maps each range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) in a plurality of ranges of SNRs to a respective data rate indicator in a plurality of data rate indicators, and wherein each data rate indicator is associated with a respective modulation-and-coding scheme (MCS) that supports a respective downlink data rate, such that higher data rate indicators are associated with MCSs that support higher downlink data rates;
program instructions stored in the data storage, wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to cause the WCD to perform functions comprising:
identifying an application on the WCD that is to receive downlink data from the RAN;
selecting a maximum data rate indicator from among the plurality of data rate indicators based on at least a type of the application on the WCD that is to receive downlink data from the RAN, wherein the type of the application indicates an extent to which the application is bandwidth-intensive;
measuring a SNR of a signal transmitted by the RAN and received by the transceiver;
making a determination that the mapping maps the measured SNR to a data rate indicator that is higher than the maximum data rate indicator;
selecting an applicable data rate indicator, wherein selecting the applicable data rate indicator comprises selecting the maximum data rate indicator as the applicable data rate indicator based on the determination;
and
causing the transceiver to report the applicable data rate indicator to the RAN.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.