GB2513591A - Methods and Apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A method comprises selecting at least one of scheduling information and data rate information for a data stream associated with an application in dependence on at least one of radio information and application information. In a particular embodiment, a scheduling priority indicator (SPI) and bit rate for data transmissions over the radio interface is selected based on application type or size and cell load or radio link conditions. A QoS scheduler is provided with the additional cell congestion information and application information in order to select the most appropriate SPI and nominal bit rate (NBR). Deep packet inspection is used to detect applications and provide that information to the RNC.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUS

Some embodiments relate to methods and apparatus and in particular but not exckisively to methods and apparatus used for scheduling.

A communication system can be seen as a facility that enables communications between two or more entities such as a communication device, e.g. mobile stations (MS) or user equipment (UE), and/or other network elements or nodes, eg. Node B, base transceiver station (BTS) or eNodeB, associated with the communication system. A communication system typically operates in accordance with a given standard or specification which sets out what the various entities associated with the communication system are permitted to do and how that should be achieved.

Wireless communication systems include various cellular or other mobile communication systems using radio frequencies for sending voice or data between stations, for example between a communication device and a transceiver network element, Examples of wireless communication systems may comprise public land mobile network (PLMN), such as global system for mobile communication (GSM), the general packet radio service (GPRS), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) and LTE (Long term evolution) A mobile communication network may logically be divided into a radio access network (RAN) and a core network (CN). The core network entities typically include various control entities and gateways for enabling communication via a number of radio access networks and also for interfacing a single communication system with one or more communication systems, such as with other wireless systems, such as a wireless Internet Protocol (IP) network, and/or fixed line communication systems, such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

A geographical area covered by a radio access network is divided into cells defining a radio coverage are provided by a transceiver network element, such as a base station or Node B. A single transceiver network element may serve a number of cells. A pluraIity-oHransceivernetwork-elements-is-typicallytonrrectetto-rcontmllr- network element, such as a radio network controller (RNC).

A user equipment UE or mobile station may download data which is transmitted by the base station via radio resources. Different UE may share a radio resource provided by the transceiver network element.

According to an embodiment, there is provided a method comprising: selecting at least one of scheduling information and data rate information for a data stream associated with an appucation in dependence on at least one of radio information and application information.

The scheduling information may control a priority with which said data transmission is scheduled.

The scheduling information may comprise a scheduling priority indicator.

The data rate information may comprise bit rate information.

The bit rate information may comprise a nominal bit rate.

The application information may comprise at least one of application type information, application size information, content delivered by an application; burstiness of data of an application; and average bit rate.

The scheduling information may provide a higher priority for said data stream for a larger application size.

The application type information may indicate if said application is a data streaming application or a file transfer application.

The radio information may comprise at least one of cell load information and radio link quality information.

The said cell loading information may be dependent on one or more of number of active user equipment in a cell and available transmission power.

The radio link quality information may be dependent on at least one of received signal code power, and link average signal to interference noise ratio.

If said radio information is indicative of a lower congestion in a cell, said scheduling information may provide a higher priority for said data stream.

The data stream may be provided to a user equipment.

According to another embodiment, there is provided an apparatus which is configured to perform the previous method (s), According to another aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising: means for selecting at least one of stheduling information and data rate information for a data stream associated with an application in dependence on at least one of radio information and application information, s The scheduling information may control a priority with which said data transmission is scheduled, The scheduling information may comprise a scheduling priority indicator, The data rate information may comprise bit rate information.

The bit rate information may comprise a nominal bit rate.

The application information may comprise at least one of application type information, application size information, content delivered by an application; burstiness of data of an application; and average bit rate.

The scheduling information may provide a higher priority for said data stream for a larger application size.

is The application type information may indicate if said application is a data streaming application or a file transfer application.

The radio information may comprise at least one of ccli load information and radio link quality information.

The said cefi loading information may be dependent on one or more of number of active user equipment in a ceO and available transmission power.

The radio link quality infom,ation may be dependent on at least one of received signal code power, and link average signal to interference noise ratio.

If said radio information is indicative of a lower congestion in a cell, said scheduling information may provide a higher priority for said data stream.

The data stream may be provided to a user equipment.

A computer program comprising program code means adapted to perform the method(s) may also be provided. The computer program may be stored and/or otherwise embodied by means of a carrier medium.

According to another embodiment, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: select at least one of scheduling information and data rate information for a data stream associated with an application in dependence on at least one of radio information and application information.

The scheduflng kifomiation may control a priority with which said data S transmission is scheduled.

The scheduling information may comprise a scheduling priority indicator.

The data rate information may comprise bit rate information The bit rate information may comprise a nominal bit rate.

The application information may comprise at least one of appcation type information, appflcation size information, content delivered by an apphcation; burstiness of data of an application; and average bit rate.

The scheduling information may provide a higher priority for said data stream for a larger application size.

The application type information may indicate if said application is a data is streaming application or a file transfer application.

The radio information may comprise at least one of cell load information and radio link quality infomiation.

The cell loading information may be dependent on one or more of number of active user equipment in a cell and available transmission power.

The radio link quality information may be dependent on at least one of received signal code power, and link average signal to interference noise ratio.

If said radio information is indicative of a lower congestion in a caD, said scheduling information may provide a higher priority for said data stream.

The data stream may be provided to a user equipment.

In the above, many different embodiments have been described. It should be appreciated that further embodiments may be provided by the combination of any two or more of the embodiments described above.

Embodiments are described below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a schematic general overview of a radio access network and a core network according to some embodiments; Figure 2 schematically shows a method of an embodiment; Figure 3 shows an apparatus of an embodiment; and Figure 4 shows an application server function.

Some embodiments may relate to Quality of Service (QoS) scheduling and priority selection in a communications network. In some embodiments, the usage s and combination of radio, subscriber and application information may be used for optimizing user data transmissions over a wireless network.

Data transmission over wireless networks can be challenging in where there is congestion. In such a scenario, many users may compete for the radio resources and the end user experience may be relatively poor.

In recent years, cellular operators across the world have seen a growth in mobUe broadband subscribers. At the same time, fne traffic volume per subsciber is also increasing. This has been influenced by the introduction of flat-rate data tariffs, new smart phones, and/or high-bandwidth demanding applications such as video streaming.

is At least some of the applications may not under the control of Communications Service Providers (CSPs) (that is network operator). The applications are sometimes referred to as Over4he-Top (OTT) applications and can be used over the network. This can cause difficulties if the application is one which has a relatively high resource consumption.

Some mobile broadband technologies, for example, 3G/High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) may provide a variety of services and a level of service personalization.

Quality of service (QoS) differentiation can be considered as the system's ability to provide required and sufficient treatment to different services or users in the most cost-efficient and/or resource efficient way. On the one hand, QoS provides a service experience to consumers that meet their expectations thereby increasing the probability of using it again and recommend it to friends or colleagues. On the other hand, the purpose of QoS is to achieve an optimum loading of an operator's network, thus ensuring the desired service experience is delivered for each customer while keeping the network capacity investments under control.

S

Some embodiments may provide a mechanism for better optimizing the data transmission over wireless networks and auow the CSPs to have more control of their network resources.

Some embodiments may be used where there are local break out and off load solutions. This may be in the context of a 3GPP radio environment or any other suitable environment. In some embothments, applications may be deployed to offload points using for example cloud style appcat1on deployments.

Local breakout function may provide a mechanism to serve traffic by local applications. In other words, Internet content or the hke is brought to a local breakout point. There are many use cases of localization. By way of example, this may be one or more of a local content deUvery network (ODN), local transparent caching, local content optimization for a mobile terminal and/or network, local hosting of other kind of sendces (used by mobile terminals), and local serving of machin&tomachine (M2M) terminals. for example aggregation functions or the Uke, is Loc breakout may be appUed alternatively or additionay to other types of radio networks, such as WiFi, WiMax and Femto network. In such embodiments the offload may be between core network and Internet transit/peering.

Some embothments may integrate a server module or function into the RAN (Radio Access Network). This appcation server function may be considered to be a RACS (Radio Appcations Cloud Server). It should be appreciated that this application server function may be a cloud server or any other suitable server. The RAN may he provided by one or more entities. In some embodiments, the RAN may comprise a 6Th (base transceiver station) to which RNC has been integrated or RNC (radio network controller) in a 3G networks, or an eNG (enhanced Node B) in LIE (Long term evolution). It should be appreciated that other embodiments may alternatively or additionaHy be used in conjunction with any other suitable standard or systemS The application server function may enable the deployment and hosting of local applications at the RAN side in a virtuazation computing environment and applying cloud technologies. The leaky bearer offload concept may be applied to gain access to the mobile bearer traffic flows. The traffic flows may he IP traffic flows. By way of exampe the P traffic flows may comprise one or more of PDP (packet data protocol) context and EPS (evolved packet system) bearer.

Local breakout scenarios are specified in 3GPP release IC) under the name SIPTO (selected IP traffic offload). One of the concepts for 3G networks is the so called leaky bearer traffic flow breakout, also ceDed TOF (Traffic offload), It aflows extracting or inserting P flows ol an existing moble bearer based on activated P flow traffic fiRers, This is a flexible breakout concept without involvement of or impact on the tJE (user equipment). The concept provides local access to mobile bearer traffic flows and in this way is used for the deployment and execution of applications at the RAN like CDN (content delivery network) solutions, content delivery optimization, caching solutions or others. These local applications may benefit from the proximity to the radio (e.g. location awareness, lower latency) and of having access to radio information, e.g. radio cell load, location, UEts specific radio condition, is It should be appreciated that some embodiment may alternatively or additionafly use different local breakout techniques other than those discussed above.

Reference is now made to Figure I which shows one example of a schematic architecture. In this example, an application server function 38 may be integrated at the RAN 39 level with an off load capabflity. The applications which may be supported by the architecture may have distributed and/or centralized components.

The network architecture broadly comprises a radio access side 32 and a mobile packet core 34. The radio access side comprises user equipment 1. The user equipment are configured to communicate with a respective radio access network. In Figure 1, a first, second and third radio access networks 39 are shown.

Each RAN may comprise one or more access nodes. The access nodes may comprise any suitable access node. Depending on the standard involved, the access node may be a base station such as a node B with at least some RNC functionality or an enhanced node B. The latter refers to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standardised by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project). A controller for the base stations may be provided. In some standards, the controller may he a radio network controller.

I

The radio network contro Her is able to control the plurafity of base stations, In other embodiments, a distributed control function is provided and each base station may incorporate part of that control funcflon.

Each of the RAN shown in Figure 1 may be provided with a server such as an S appcation server function, The appHcation server funcUon 38 may be provided by a separate entity or may be integrated with one or more other entities.

The application server function may be integrated with a base station having at least some RNC functionality and/or RNC or any other type of controfler, It should be appreciated that other embodiments are additionafly or alternatively envisaged such as where server functionaUty is integrated into a node of the RAN, for example the RNO or the base station having for example RNC functionality. In some embodiments, a physical realisation would be a RNC/base station plus server in a same integrated hardware, In some embodiments the physical reafisation or hardware may be different. A physical realization may be different (for example an is integrated one), even though the software functionality may be the same or similar, in some embodiments.

The mobile packet core 34 comprises mobile gateway node 46 and 48. The mobile gateway 48 may be a GGSN (gateway GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) support node) and the mobile gateway 48 may be a system architecture evolution (SAE-GW) packet gateway. These gateways are by way of example. One or more other types of gateway may additionally or alternatively be provided in different embodiments. Only one type of gateway may be provided in some embodiments. More than one type of gateway may be provided in other embodiments.

The mobile packet core 34 also comprises a mobile network control part 54.

This part comprises SGSNs (serving GPRS Support Node) and MMEs (mobile management entities) entities 58 and 58. in some embodiments, the mobile packet core 34 may comprise a function 60. This function may provide one or more of a lawful intercept function which allows authorised authorities to monitor communications, policy control function and charging control function, One or more of these functions may be provided separately and/or in different combinations.

The radio access part 32 is able to communicate with the moblie packet core via connectivity and transport function 62.

The application server function 38 may host applications, which can be accessed by subscribers via leaky bearer traffic offload, For example, a subscriber s can access applications hosted by the server 38 via the offload of respective IP flows of the subscribers mobile bearer to the corresponding application.

In some embodiments, the application server may be provided in any suitable locaUon. By way of example an applicaon server function may be provided between the RAN and the packet core, the application server function may be connected to the packet core via the RAN, the application server function may be integrated in one or more components of the RAN and/or the application server function may he part of the packet core, In some embodiments, the application server function may extract meaningful information from these applications, such us file size and/or average video bit rate.

Some embodiments may use the application server function to irnpmve the end user experience and/or to enable a better 005 differentiation.

Current quality of service (QoS) scheduling strategies use both service and subscriber itrmation in order to select the scheduling priorities (SPl) for data transmissions over the radio interface. The SR will control will control the scheduling priority of a data transmission.

3GPP QoS attributes may be used in 30 and LTE radio schedulers in order to define a certain SP1 which impacts the amount of resources that are given to a particular user or radio bearer. The SPI selection does not take radio information (eg., cell load) into account and application information is only used to promote or demote applications.

Some embodiments may provide a QoS scheduler that may take into account cell congestion information and/or application information. This may improve the SPI selection and corresponding resource allocation for UE data transmission.

Table I below shows an example of the QoS mapping table in a 30 Radio Network Controller (RNC), in which the SPI is derived based on the Traffic Class (TC), Traffic Handling Priority (THP) and Allocation and Retention Priority (ARP) parameters sent from the core network.

Nominal Bft Rate (NBR) for High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) to enable 003 differentiation for non-GBR (guaranteed bit rate) traffic, The NBR can be used as a targeted minimum bit rate which can be exceeded if there is unused ceO capacity. The scheduler may aim to provide the NBR even in high load situations, S however, the NBR is not guaranteed as in case of a GBR.

TC, THP, ARP Scheduling Pdority Guaranteed Bit Rate Indicator (SPI) (t3BR) / Nominal Bit Rate (NBR) ConversationS 14 GBR1 22 kbpso Streaming 13 GBR 256 kbps Interactive 12 NBR 512 Kbps 11 NBR 256 Kbps NBRI28Kbps 9 NBR 84 Kbps B Best effort 7 Best effort 20 8 Best effort Best effort 4 Best effort 3 Best effort

Background 2 Best effort

1 Best effort C) Best effort Table 1: QoS attributes mapping table n some embodiments aRemative and/or addftbna nforrnatbn may be provided to the QoS scheduer n order to ophmze schedufing decisbns. n parUcuar, ceO congestion hforniatbn as weD as appfication friformatbn is provided to the schedubr in order to sebct the most appropriate SP and NBR setting. An s exampe is shown in Tabe 2. n partictilar, the ceO congestion information and radio hnk lnformaUon may be used. The radio Onk information may be radio fink quafity information, TC4THP, ARP Apphcation Appfica-Radio Scheduk Guarant-type hon hiformaflon ing eed Bft Informa-Phorfty Rate lion (File lndbator (GBR) I size) (SPI) Nominal Bit Rate (NBR) Conversat 14 GBR 12.2 lonal kbps Streaming 13 GBR 256 kbps Interactive Youtubel CeO load C 12 NBR I HTTP Live Mm and Mbps streaming RLqual > Max Cell load > 11 NBR 512 Mm and kbps RLqual > Max CeO load 10 Best effort ii Max and RLquS Mn Mchat 11 Facebook 10 Twftter 9 Skype B MSN 7 messenger AppX 8 AppY 5 AppW 4 AppZ 3

Background AppBl 2

FTP I

P2P Fe size = CS oad < 2 NBR 512 arge Mk, and kbps RquS Max Fe &ze = Cefi bad 1 medkirn Mn and NBR 128 Rqua kbps Max Fe sze = CeO bad > 0 Best effort sma Max and ualc1j Table 2: Extended QoS attributes mapping table Deep packet inspection (DPI) is used to detect apphcations and provide that information to RNC.

S Alternatively or additionay radio informathn is used for SPI and NBR selection. The radio information may comprise one or more of ce bad and radio link (RL) quafity.

CeH load can be determined by any suitable method. For example, the cefi load may be based on one or more of number of active UEs in the ceO and available power for HSPA transmissions.

In some embodiment the RL quaHty indicator may be based on the received signal code power (RSCP) corresponding to the path loss of the user equipment of interest. Alternatively or additionally a link average signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) may be used.

as In some embodiments, semi-long-term indicators for the radio information and/or application information in order to provide a starling point for the NodeB scheduler.

The NodeB scheduler may allocate resources to the UEs on a UI (transmission Lime interval) basis based on shorter-term statistics, such as reported COls (channel quality indicator) and/or experienced user equipment throughput per UI.

In some embodiments, applications may be locally hosted on the RAN side by the application server function. The locally hosted applications may benefit from the proximity to the radio interface and/or from access to radio network information via a local radio API (applIcation programming Interface). The API may provide applicathn information to the radio network, This information may comprise one or more of file size, burstiness of the data and any other suitable information. This information may be used to fine tune the QoS attributes selection.

In some embodiments, operator apphcation policies can alternatively or additionally be taken into account. The operator appflcation policy may provide guidance on priorities of different type of traffic. For example an operator can decide that video streaming should have higher priority that P2P (peertopeer) traffic and S hence define different SF1 for different appUcaUon types.

Some embodiments may provide ratho knowledge to the scheduling priority selection. Some embodiments may use one or more of application, subscriber and radio information in order to optimize the SPI choice.

Some examples will now be described, in the context of the example Table 2.

to Consider a UE requesting a video file from a data streaming service, The data streaming may be HTTP live streaming. By way of example, the application may be VouTube, If the cell is not congested and the UE is in good radio conditions, then the RNC will provide a higher SPI (e÷g. SPI 12) and NBR (eg. 1Mbps), resulting in faster video download and superior end user experience. In this example the radio is information Indicates that the cell load is less than a minimum threshold value and the radio link quality is greater than a maximum threshold value.

On the other hand, the UE could be in relatively bad radio conditions and the ceH in congested state. In this situation, the SPI and NBR values are downgraded in order to avoid the UE from consuming too many resources. In the example of Table 2 if the cell load is greater than a maximum threshold value and the radio link quality is less than a minimum value then the SPI is 10 and the bit rate is best effort.

An intermediate case, between the above two cases, is where the cell load is greater than a minimum threshold value and the radio link quality is greater than a maximum threshold, the NBR will be 512kbps and the SPI will be 11.

Some embodiments may provide an effective means to indirectly control video quality for HTTP live streaming video. The video protocol may spht a video file In various chunks with a predetined quality. Depending on the link status, the client requests form the server different chunk qualities. Algorithms are cIientappIicathn specific and only take into account the client perceived quality. With the above method, the radio access network can indirectly impact the video client behaviour by dynamically modifying the SPI/NBR and thus the resource allocation for the UE. This will trigger a de4acto reduction/Increase of the UE allocated bandwidth that wifi in turn force the video chent to request a lower/higher quahty from the server.

In case of P2P (peer to peer) or FTP (file transfer protocol) download, it may be desirable to select the SR not only based on the radio conditions, but also on the file size. This way, larger file sizes can be given higher priority in order to speed up their downloading times, It can be further boosted by even providing a higher NBR value depending on the above mentioned conditions. For example, if the file size is relatively large then a higher SPI and NBR will be used as compared to if the file size is medium. A still lower SPI may be used for a smaller file with a best effort bit rate.

Alternatively or additkrnally, for a larger file size a smafler SPl may be used if the caD load is greater than a maximum threshold, Alternatively or additionally a larger SPI may be used for a smaller tile size of the cell load is less than a cell load minimum threshold.

The application server function, as mentioned previously, enables Pie is deployment and execution of applications at the radio access network (RAN) such as CDN solutions (content delivery), content delivery optimization, caching solutions or others. These local applications can benefit from the proximity to the radio (e.g. location awareness, lower latency and/or the like) and of having access to radio information. The application server function may be able extract information from these applications, for example, the minimum bit rate required for a smooth content delivery, such as the average video bit rate.

Some embodiments may take into account application information, such as the average required video bit rate.

As an example, in case of video streaming via the HTTP adaptive streaming protocol the manifest file containing the available video bit rates can be extracted via deep packet inspection (DPI) directly by the application server function andfor by the or any other function, Reference is made to Figure 2 which shows a method of an embodiment.

In step SI, for a transmission from for example the base station to the user equipment, the application type is determined. The application type may be based on a specific identified application such as Voulube or Twitter. Alternatively or additionally, the application type may be based on characteristics of the application.

For example, one appUcation type may be a video streaming type and another might be a flIe transfer type. However, it should be appreciated that this is by way of example, and the application type can be categorised In any suitable way.

In step S2, the application size is determined, This step may be dependent on s the determined type of the appflcaUon. Ttds step may be opUonaL This step may be combined with step SI. In some embodiments, any other information associated with an applicahon type may alternatively or additionafly be determined. By way of example the application information may alternatively or additionally comprise one or more of data burstiness, average bit rate, content delivered and any other suitable information.

In some embodiments, the application type and the application size, if applicable, may be determined by the application server function. The application type and/or application size may be determined in response to information received, by deep packet inspection or in any suitable way.

In step 53, radio information Is determined, This radio information may be determined In the radio access network. For example radio information may be determined in the RNC and/or LTE eNodeB. This radio information may be obtained and/or derived from UE reports.

It should be appreciated that steps SI, 32 and 83 may be carried out in any order and one or more of the steps can be carried out at the same time, Using the applkation type, optionally the application size and radio information, the SPI and bit rate are determined, in step 34. In some embodiments, this may be determined by using a mapping table such as shown in table 2.

Alternatively, step 34 may be carried out by an algorithm or the like.

In step 35, the determined SPI and bit rate are used in scheduling data transmissions to, for example, the user equipment and the associated bit rate to be used.

Reference is made to Figure 3 which shows an apparatus 106. The apparatus 106 comprises at least one memory 103 and at least one processor 104.

The memory 103 is arranged to store for example a table such as shown in table 2 Alternatively or additionally, an algorithm for providing the SPI and bit rate may be stored in the memory. The memory 103 is also arranged to store application type and size information 100. This may be received for example from the appflcation server function.

The radio information 102 is also stored in the memory 103. This may be provided by ror example a base station or radio network controer function. The s memory 103 may also store computer executable instructions which may be executed by the processor 104.

It should be appreciated that in some embodiments, the memory 103 may be provided by one or more separate memories. Where two or more memories are provided, the memory is may be the same type or of different types.

w The processor 104 is arranged to obtain from the memory the appflcahon type and information 100, and the radio information 102. Based on that information, the processor may obtain from the table stored in the memory, the scheduling priority indicator and bit rate. In some embodiments, the information of for example table 2, may be stored In a lock-up table.

is The processor 104 Is arranged to provide an output which comprises scheduling information 105. The scheduling information Is used to control scheduhng priority of a transmission to the user equipment and the bit rate which is used -The apparatus 106 may be provided as part of the radio access network. In some embodiments, the apparatus 106 may he provided in a radio network controller and or base station Reference is made to Figure 4 which schematicafly shows an application server function, In Figure 4, the RAN 39 is in communication with a mobile Gateway 324 via the application function 38. The mobile gateway 324 may allow connections to networks such as the Internet or the like. . A connection, for example in the form of the PDP context or radio access bearer 304 extends between the RAN and gateway and may be In either or both directions. For simplicity, a single connection 304 is shown. The data on the connection provided by the RAN or the gateway is intercepted by an off load router block 301. The data may for example be in the form of packets.

The packets are then provided to an off load function 312 of the offload router.

The offload function may implement selective offload using for example an appropriate filler rule set. The rules may be matching rules and may for example look at the header of each packet. Depending on the result of the filtering or the like of the offload function 312, packets may be routed to an appropriate appflcaUon. In this example, two appUcatlons are shown, application I and application 2. However, s It should be appreciated that the number of applications provided may be more or less than two. The appflcation may provide any suitable function, The traffic which is not to be off loaded is passed through. The packets which are to be offloaded may be subject to address translation at address translator 310.

For example, the address translator 310 may translate the user equipment address into an address which is used by an application in a virtual network domain in the application server function, The address translator 310 may provide a translation function on a packet when it has been offloaded and before the packet is directed to an appropnated application. The address translator 310 wifl reverse the address translation for packets which are provided by the respective application back to the is carried out on the input side.

In one embodiment, one of the applications, application I may provide the appcation type and function information, This may be based on a Deep packet inspection function provided by apphcation 1. It should be appreciated that in some embodiments the arrangement is bidirectional. Accordingly, packets provided by the gateway 324 wiU be input to the off load router 301 and may be offloaded to one or more of the applications. One or more of the applications may provide an output which is routed back to the offload router. The offload router and in particular the offload function 312 will control the routing of those packets. In some embodiments, the offload routing function 312 may route information from applications to the radio access network or back to the gateway. Packets provided by the RAN 39 will be input to the off load router 301 and may be offloaded to one or more of the applications. One or more of the appflcations may provide an output which is muted back to the offload router. The offload router and in particular the offload function 312 will control the routing of those packets. In some embodiments, the offload routing function 312 may route information from applications to the gateway or back to the RAN. is

In some embodiments, the application server function may extract relevant application information, such as the required application type or size by itself (for example using DPI) or obtains this information from another funcUon, II should be appreciated that embodiments can be applied to other technologies. By way of example, some embodiments may be used with Long Temi Evolution (LTE) or 3G or any other suitable technology. In this case, the eNodeB may have the apparatus 108 sith decision capabilities to modify the scheduling priorities.

Some embodiments have been described in relation to video data. It should to be appreciated that embodiment may he used with one or more different types of data in addition to or as an alternative to video data.

In some embodiments, as there is a local appilcation server in the RAN, it is possible to adapt the video defivery to the current radio conditions in a cell and for specific uses, Some embodiments have been described in the context of the arrangement of Figure 1 where the RAN has an application server function. It should be appreciated that alternative embodiments may be used where there application function is provided on the core network side instead of the RAN side.

Some embodiments have been described as using ceil congestion information and radio link information. It should be appreciated that other embodiments may only use one of ecU congestion information and radio link information, It should be appreciated that in other embodiments, alternatively or additionally any suitab'e one or more radio information parameters may be used.

It should be appreciated that the information of Table 2 is by way of example only. In some embodiments, more or less entries in the table may be provided. In some embodiments, for certain applications, a finer granularity may be defined. In some embodiments, the application information may vary depending on the appilcation type. For example, for FTP file size information is provided while for video streaming, an average bit rate may be provided.

Some embodiments are provided by a table. However in alternative embodiments, the information may he stored or provided in any suitabk-i manner.

An appropriatSy adapted computer program code product or products may be used for mpemenUng some embodiments, when oaded on an appropriate data processing apparatus, for exampe for determning geographca boundary based operauons and/or other contro operations. The program code product for providing the operaUon may be stored on, provided and embodkd by means of an appropriate carder medium, An appropriate computer program can be embodkd on a computer readabk record methum. A possibVty k to downoad the program code product va a data network. n gener&, the various embodiments may be mpkmented n hardware or speca purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof, Embodiments may thus be practiced in various components such as integrated circuit modules.

The design of integrated circufts is by and large a higHy automated process.

Compex and powerful software took are available for converting a logic level design into a semiconductor circuit design ready to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate.

It is also noted herein that while the above describes exemplifying embodiments of the invention, there are several variations and mod Wcations which may be made to the disclosed solution without departing from the scope of the present invention. C&ms

Claims (8)

1. A method comprising s&ectng at east one of scheduhng informaflon and data rate nformaUon for a data stream assocated with an appUcaUon n dependence on at east one of radb information and appkaUon information.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said scheduUng information controls a priority with which said data transmission is scheduled.

3. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said scheduling information comprises a scheduling priority indicator,

4. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said data rate Is information comprises bit rate information.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein said bft rate information comprises a nominal bit rate.

6. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said appUcation information comprises at least one of appUcation type information, application size information, content delivered by an appflcation; burstiness of data of an appUcation; and average bit rate.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said scheduling information provides a higher priority for said data stream for a larger application size.

8. A method as claimed in claim 6 or 7, wherein said apphcation type information indicates if said appUcation is a data streaming application or a file transfer 3° apphcation. 2:19. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said radio information comprises at least one of cell load information and radio link quality Information.10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said cell loading information is s dependent on one or more of number of active user equipment in a cell and available transmission power.Ii. A method as claimed in claim 9 or 10, wherein said radio link quality information Is dependent on at least one of received signal code power, and link average signal to interference noise ratio.12. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein if said radio information Is indicative of a lower congestion in a cell, said scheduling informaUon provides a higher priority for said data stream.13. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said data stream is to be provided to a user equipment.14. A computer program product comprising computer executable code which zc when run causes the method of any of the preceding claims to be performed.15. Apparatus comprising: means for selecting at least one of scheduling information and data rate information for a data stream associated with an application In dependence on at least one of radio Information and application information.16. Apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein scheduling information controls a priority with which said data transmission is scheduled.17. Apparatus as claimed in claim 15 or 18, wherein said scheduling information comprises a scheduling priority indicator.18. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 15 to 17, wherein said data rate informaton comprises bit rate Information, 19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein said bit rate information comprises S a nominal bit rate.20. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 15 to 19, wherein said appUcation hifomiation comprises at least one of appfication type information, application size information, content delivered by an appfication; burstiness of data of an appfication; io and average bit rate.21. Apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein said scheduling information provides a higher priority for said data stream for a larger application size.iS 22. Apparatus as claimed in claim 20 or 21, wherein said application type information Indicates if said application is a data streaming application or a file transfer appfication.23. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 15 to 22, wherein said radio information comprises at least one of cefi load Information and radio link quality information.24. A method as claimed in claim 23, wherein said cefi loading information is dependent on one or more of number of actIve user equipment in a cefi and available transmission power.25. Apparatus as claimed in claims 23 or 24, wherein said radio fink quality information is dependent on at least one of received signal code power, and link average signal to interference noise ratio.26. Apparatus as claimed in any of claU,is 15 to 25, wherein if said radio Information is Indicative of a lower congestion in a ccli, said scheduling information provides a higher priority for said data stream.27. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 15 to 28. wherein said data stream is to be provided to a user equipment.