QUALITY OF SERVICE
This application relates to quality of service. In particular, this application relates to enabling user-controlled alteration of the quality of service
Previously on existing circuit switched networks it has not been necessary or possible to select the quality of service (QoS) provided by the communications system to the user. Packet-switched networks such as General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced General Packet Radio Service (EGPRS) and Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) are now being implemented and, because the connection is achieved using a plurality of packets instead of by a dedicated circuit, there arises flexibility in the way the packets can be handled which can give rise to flexibility in the quality of service delivered.
There are different parameters that may be used to measure or evaluate quality of service. For instance, two important measurements of quality of service relate to the latency of the packets, i.e. how much delay packets experience, and the throughput or data rate, i.e. how much data can be transferred in a given time.
In general users do not have a mechanism for requesting a specific quality of service (QoS) from an Internet Protocol (IP) network. Although several different ways of QoS management have been proposed and there is no common standard for end-to-end QoS management. As a result, the user of a mobile application has no mechanism to alter application performance delivered by the subscriber device or User Equipment (UE) and is dependent on the scheduling algorithms, if any, present in the UE and admission control systems.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention there is provided a subscriber device having user controllable means operable to alter the quality of service
delivered in a wireless communication between the subscriber device and a communication system.
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method of altering quality of service in a network comprising: receiving a request for service from subscriber device; receiving a request for a specified quality of service; delivering the requested service at specified quality of service; receiving a request to alter specified quality of service; and altering the delivered quality of service in accordance with request.
For a better understanding of the present invention, and to show how it may be brought into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 shows an exemplary method in accordance with the invention;
Figure 2 shows a partial schematic drawing of a subscriber device in accordance with the invention.
The invention provides for user controllable selection or adjustment of the quality of service enabling the user to request a different level of quality of service, typically improved quality of service, from the network for a limited duration. Typically, an improved quality of service would mean increased bandwidth, lower latency or reduced jitter. Alternatively, a user may wish to request a lower quality of service, for example to conserve credit or reduce the cost of data transfer. The reduction of requested quality of service may be particularly advantageous for low priority applications.
In the simplest form of the invention, the user can request a "high" quality of service instead of "normal" quality of service. In more sophisticated forms of the invention the user may be offered a number of different quality of service increments or steps from which to select.
The user-controllable adjustment can be provided in a number of different ways. In one arrangement, the user-controllable adjustment is provided by manually controllable actuation, for example by manual pressure on/squeezing of part of the device or by a dedicated hardware implementation, for example, by a simple button, thumb wheel or switch. Alternatively, the user controllable adjustment may be provided using voice activation. Furthermore, the user-controllable adjustment may be provided as a menu option in the user interface of the subscriber device (UE).
In a particularly advantageous arrangement a manual quality of service booster button or switch is provided, which, when activated causes the UE to request increased bandwidth and/or lower latency and/or reduced jitter for a short period to allow an application to execute more quickly. On completion of the task, or at some other time, the button or switch may be released or de-activated causing the UE to negotiate with the network to return of the QoS class to its previous setting.
Billing systems can be notified of the use of the user-controllable adjustment or selection of the quality of service and corresponding changes made to the charging. For example, the billing system may be notified of the use of the QoS booster facility, and the user can be charged at a premium rate for the increased service.
Thus, the invention provides users with an easy method for altering application performance and/or billing via the selection or control of the quality of service without requiring any knowledge of the mobile operating system or the resource allocation algorithms of the radio access network.
In particular, it should be noted that the same method for altering application performance can be applied to a number of different technologies, for example General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), High Speed Circuit Switched Data
(HSCSD), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and Wideband CDMA (W- CDMA) transparently for the user.
The alteration in performance can be controlled by the user to take into account factors particular to the user of which the network has no knowledge. Thus a user who is about to board a plane or who is about to enter a tunnel or a meeting where it will not be possible to communicate with the network may use the booster function in accordance with the present invention to make sure that the communication with the network, such as a file download for example, is complete. The invention may also be used in the uplink direction (i.e. from the UE to the network) for example when sending an email or other data to the network.
Moreover, since the increased performance is directly under the control of the user, the user can be billed directly for the periods of enhanced QoS. This can provide additional revenue from corporate or other high-end users prepared to pay more for higher quality of service.
An exemplary method in accordance with the invention will now be described with reference to Figure 1. The method of the invention will be described with reference to an embodiment of the invention in which the UE is provided with dedicated turbo boost button to request improved QoS during a file download. However, clearly the invention is not limited to this arrangement.
In step 2 the user makes a file download request to the UE, for example by clicking on a link in a micro-browser page. On receipt of this request the operating system of the UE establishes a connection with the wireless network and requests a default quality of service class (step 4). On receipt of this request, the Radio Access Network (RAN) of the wireless network allocates the necessary capacity to provide the requested service at the required quality of service (step 6) and the UE commences download of the requested file (step 8).
The user is notified that the requested download is proceeding (step 10). This may be achieved, for example, by providing a data transfer completion bar on the UE display. The user may wish to speed up the data transfer, for example in order to complete the transfer before the user boards a plane or enters a tunnel. If so, the user activates the turbo boost button provided by the UE (step 12).
In response to the activation of the turbo boost button the UE requests increased bandwidth and reduced latency for the connection from the RAN (step 14). In addition, the UE may indicate to the user that a higher QoS class has been requested from the RAN in response to the activation of the turbo boost button (step 16), for example by illumination of a light emitting diode (LED) or a message displayed by the UE.
In response to the request from the UE in step 14, the RAN determines whether the requested extra resources are available, and if the extra resources are available they are allocated to the UE (step 18). The RAN also notifies the billing system of the use of the turbo facility and the allocation of extra resources to the UE (step 20) so that the user can be billed appropriately.
The file download now occurs at a faster rate (step 22) and this increase as a result of the use of the turbo facility can be notified to the user (step 24) for example faster filling up of the data transfer in progress completion bar.
The turbo button is then released (step 26) to indicate to the UE that the higher QoS is no longer required. This may be in response to the completion of the file download or the user may release or de-activate the button prior to completion of the download, for example if circumstances requiring the increased quality of service have changed. In response to the release or de-activation of the button or switch, the UE informs the RAN that the allocated capacity and QoS is no longer required (step 28), and the RAN releases the allocated capacity (step 30). The
RAN also informs the billing system that the use of the turbo facility has ceased (32), and the user tariff reverts to its previous setting.
Although the invention has been described with reference to the alteration of quality of service for a single application, it will be clear to a skilled person that the UE may have an operating system capable of supporting a plurality of applications, and the invention is intended to enable user-selection of the quality of service for each of the applications independently, as well as enabling user- selection of the quality of service for the UE as a whole.
A subscriber device (UE) in accordance with the invention is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 is intended to be a schematic drawing of a illustrative subscriber device 200 implementing the invention. A skilled person will understand that parts of the subscriber device not relevant to the explanation of the invention have been omitted for clarity.
The subscriber device 200 has an antenna 210 coupled to a transmit/receive section 220, for enabling communication with a communication system (not shown). The transmit/receive section 220 is controlled by a controller 230 operating under the control of an operating program 240 stored in memory 250. The operating program 240 has a quality of service program portion 240a for handling negotiation of quality of service with the communication system. The controller 230 is also coupled to a button 260, acting as a user-controllable means, via an interface 270. In this exemplary embodiment, button 260 is a turbo boost button as described above with reference to Figure 1.
When a wireless communication with the communication system is initiated, the controller operates under the control of the quality of service program portion 240a to negotiate a quality of service for the wireless communication, as set out in step 4 Figure 1. This is typically application-dependent, but the user has no
knowledge of or influence over the quality of service negotiations carried out by the quality of service program portion 240a.
A signal representing user activation of the button 260 (as in step 12 Figure 1) is passed to the controller 230 by the interface 270. In response, the controller again calls up the quality of service program portion 240a, and a quality of service negotiation is carried out to request additional resources to improve the quality of service as requested or selected by the user (as in Step 14 Figure 1 ).
Further, if the button 260 is de-activated to indicate that the improvement in quality of service is no longer required (as in step 26 Figure 1 ), for example, the controller again calls up the quality of service program portion 240a and the communication system is notified that the additional allocated capacity or quality of service is no longer required (as in step 28 Figure 1).
Clearly the subscriber device will typically have a display for communicating with the user, as described with reference to steps 10, 16 and 24 of Figure 1.
In addition, it will be apparent to the skilled person that modifications to the hardware and operating program 240 described would be necessary to implement the different embodiments of the invention, in particular the different embodiments of the user controllable means, as described above. Such modifications will be apparent to a skilled person and so will not be described in further detail.
As will be apparent to a skilled person, the invention could be implemented in a different form from that shown herein, and so the invention is intended to encompass all arrangements and variations within the scope of the appended claims.