HK1090786B - Determining grade of service and mobile telephone system - Google Patents

Description

Method for determining service grade and mobile telephone system

The present application is a divisional application of chinese patent application No.97198217.1 entitled "method for determining service class and mobile phone system" filed on 23/9/1997.

Technical Field

The invention relates to a method of determining a service level provided to a user of a mobile station by a mobile telephone system comprising a network part, the mobile station and a bidirectional radio link between the network part and the mobile station, said service level comprising a service class.

Background

In prior art mobile telephone systems, a user uses a mobile station to transmit voice or data over a wireless link. The network part does not optimize the capacity usage of the transmission connection it uses in any way, depending on whether the radio link used is for voice or data transmission, in principle providing the same level of service for all users. This results in a waste of capacity in the network part. Furthermore, existing mobile telephone systems cannot implement different charges for services according to the service class used.

For the further development of the existing GSM/DCS 1800 system and the developing UMTS system, as well as for other future mobile telephone systems, it must be possible to transmit therein data requiring a higher transmission capacity, such as changing video images, in addition to speech and data. Such advanced mobile phone systems cannot be constructed on the principle of existing systems, i.e. providing the same level of service to all users. This would be very expensive since the transmission capacity of the network part has to be determined according to the service requesting the maximum transmission capacity, for example according to the capacity required for transmitting the changing video images.

Advanced mobile telephone systems require the introduction of different methods enabling an efficient and optimized use of the transmission capacity in each particular case. These methods must be optimizable and they must also be cost-effective, providing the network operator with the flexibility to manage the different load situations of the network part.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art solutions.

The invention provides a method for providing service for a mobile station of a mobile telephone system, the method comprising: the network part of the mobile telephone system determines a level of service guaranteed for the mobile station based on a condition of the mobile telephone system, the condition comprising transmission capacity and being representative of characteristics of the mobile telephone system and use thereof; the network part assigning at least one traffic class to the mobile station based on the determined traffic class; and the network part allocates a bi-directional radio link to the network part for the mobile station in accordance with the allocated service class.

The present invention provides a mobile phone system comprising: at least one mobile station; and a network part configured to: determining a level of service guaranteed for the mobile station based on a condition of the mobile telephone system, the condition comprising a transmission capacity and being representative of characteristics of the mobile telephone system and use thereof; assigning at least one traffic class to the mobile station based on the determined traffic class; and assigning a bi-directional radio link to the network part for the mobile station based on the assigned traffic class.

The invention provides a method of determining the class of service offered to a mobile station user by a mobile telephone system comprising a network part, a mobile station and a bidirectional radio link between the network part and the mobile station, said class of service comprising a class of service, characterized in that the mobile telephone system guarantees a certain class of service to the mobile station user on the basis of its own circumstances, and that each user is assigned a class of service according to the class of service.

The invention also relates to a mobile telephone system comprising a network part, a mobile station and a bidirectional radio link between the network part and the mobile station, the service classes comprising service classes, characterized in that the mobile telephone system guarantees a certain service class to the mobile station users on the basis of its own circumstances, each user being assigned a service class according to the service class, the network part performing processing of parameters required for determining the service class, said parameters being pre-selected variables characterizing the properties of the mobile telephone system and its use.

The invention also relates to a mobile telephone system comprising a network part, a mobile station and a bidirectional radio link between the network part and the mobile station, the service class comprising a service class, characterized in that the mobile telephone system guarantees a certain service class to the mobile station user on the basis of its own circumstances, a service class being assigned to each user according to the service class, and the mobile station receives the service class from the network part.

The method of the present invention has several advantages. One of the greatest advantages is that the use of the network part is optimized according to the traffic class used by the user. Thus, a considerable expenditure can be saved in constructing the network part, since no additional capacity needs to be reserved, but rather the capacity is determined on the basis of the actual use. The invention implies an increase in the quality of service for the mobile station user, e.g. call set-up, which is more reliable than in the prior art. It is also possible to provide new services to the user, such as the transmission of changing video images, at a cost effective and even economical level. On the other hand, the user is charged according to the service class used by him, so that the user can select the service class that is most suitable and economical for him when needed. The class of service used by the user is clearly indicated by his mobile station. The user also receives other useful information on the used service class, such as the transmission rate. With the method, the network operator can flexibly control the use of the network part, thereby optimizing the cost caused by the use and the quality of service provided to the user.

The invention provides an apparatus for providing a service to a mobile station of a mobile telephone system, said apparatus comprising: means for determining a guaranteed level of service for a mobile station based on a condition of the mobile telephony system, the condition comprising transmission capacity and being representative of characteristics of the mobile telephony system and usage of the mobile telephony system; means for assigning at least one traffic class to the mobile station based on the determined traffic class; means for assigning the mobile station to a bidirectional radio link of the network part in accordance with the assigned traffic class.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus further comprises: means for assigning at least two traffic classes to the mobile station based on the traffic class, and wherein the mobile station selects one of the at least two assigned traffic classes. According to an embodiment, the device assigns a traffic class of one of voice, data transmission, high rate data transmission and video. According to an embodiment, the apparatus further comprises means for changing the transmission method used in the bidirectional radio link according to the characteristics of the traffic class.

According to an embodiment, the network part comprises at least one base station having a coverage area being a cell, and the condition is at least one of: the velocity of the mobile station relative to the base station, the distance of the mobile station from the base station, the load on the mobile telephone system and the cell type of the base station providing the bi-directional radio link.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus further comprises: means for investigating the speed of the mobile station in the form of absolute speed, the distance in the form of cell size relative to the base station, the load in the form of total cell capacity, and the cell type by using the existing architecture when determining the traffic class.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus comprises means for handling a condition with only a few different values.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus further comprises means for giving each condition a sliding value from minimum to maximum when determining the traffic class.

According to an embodiment, the device further comprises means for representing each traffic class with a different state in a state machine, wherein a transition from one state to another state is defined by calculating preselected variables, the preselected variables comprising at least one of: the velocity of the mobile station relative to the base station, the distance of the mobile station from the base station, the load on the mobile telephone system and the cell type of the base station providing the bi-directional radio link.

According to an embodiment, the device further comprises means for calculating a weighted average of the preselected variables and checking which transition condition is fulfilled at any given moment. According to an embodiment, the apparatus further comprises means for receiving from an administrator of the network part a weighting coefficient to be used in calculating the preselected variable. According to an embodiment, the apparatus further comprises means for using an adaptation method in the calculation of the preselected variable, the adaptation method varying the weighting coefficients to correspond to the mobile telephone system conditions at any given moment.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus further comprises: means for checking the transmission capacity when a new mobile station attempts to establish a new two-way radio link to the network part; means for checking if any mobile station is under-utilizing its traffic class by not using its full available capacity in the event that the amount of available transmission capacity is insufficient to establish a new two-way radio link to the network part; and means for reducing the traffic class of mobile stations underutilized for their traffic class in case there are mobile stations underutilized for their traffic class, whereby the traffic class is changed to the transmission capacity used by said mobile stations underutilized for their traffic class, thereby releasing the transmission capacity, and not allocating a bidirectional radio link to a new mobile station in case there are no mobile stations underutilized for their traffic class or in case the number of mobile stations underutilized for their traffic class is not sufficient to release sufficient transmission capacity for establishing said new bidirectional radio link; means for allocating a bidirectional radio link to the new mobile station according to its traffic class; wherein the process of checking and reducing the transmission capacity of a mobile station is repeated for a plurality of mobile stations as needed until there is sufficient transmission capacity available for the new mobile station.

Drawings

The invention will be described in detail below with reference to an example shown in the drawing, in which

FIG. 1 illustrates generally a mobile telephone system and its user;

fig. 2 shows in detail the essential components of a mobile telephone system;

FIG. 3 shows, by way of example, a state transition diagram in accordance with the present invention;

figure 4 shows the essential components of a base station controller;

fig. 5 shows the essential components of the mobile station.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 generally illustrates a mobile telephone system of the present invention. The mobile telephone system 100 includes a network portion 110, a mobile station 120, and a two-way wireless link 130, 136 between the network portion 100 and the mobile station 120, 126.

According to the invention, the mobile telephone system 100 guarantees a certain traffic class to the user 140 of the mobile station 120 and 126 based on its own circumstances, according to which the traffic class is divided into a plurality of traffic classes. Traffic classes include, for example, voice, data transmission, high rate data transmission, and video. The method uses as parameters pre-selected variables that characterize the properties of the mobile telephone system 100 and its use.

If the situation of the mobile telephone system 100 allows for a plurality of different traffic classes, the user 140 selects from them the one that is most economical and suitable for him.

The transmission capacity available to each of the mobile stations 120, 126, 140, 146 serves as a determinate variable in the traffic class. The use of the network part is optimized in such a way that the transmission method employed in the bidirectional wireless link 130 and 136 varies according to the service class attribute.

Another way of optimizing the use of the network part is to check how much transmission capacity is available to the network part 110 when a new user 146 attempts to establish a new bidirectional radio link 136 between a new mobile station 126 and the network part 110. If the available transmission capacity is sufficient, the bi-directional radio link 136 is assigned to the new user 146 according to its traffic class. If the available transmission capacity is not sufficient, it is checked if one of the users 140 and 144 is under-utilizing its traffic class, i.e. not using the full transmission capacity available to him. If so, the traffic class of the user 140 plus 144 is decreased, i.e. the traffic class is changed according to the transmission capacity used by the user 140 plus 144. This enables to free up part of the transmission capacity. The release of transmission capacity is repeated for as many users 140 and 144 as necessary, so that it is possible to release enough transmission capacity for the new user 146. If sufficient transmission capacity can be released, the bi-directional radio link 136 is assigned to the new user 146 according to its traffic class. If sufficient transmission capacity cannot be released, the entire transmission capacity of the network part 110 is used and the bidirectional radio link 136 cannot be allocated to the new user 146.

Fig. 2 shows the structure of the network part in detail. The network part 110 comprises at least one network management system 250, at least one network system 210 and at least one base station system 220. The network management system 250 is used to use, control and maintain the different functions of the mobile telephone system. The network operator receives quality information of functions and services provided through the network management system 250. The network management system comprises at least one operation and maintenance center 280. The network operator controls the operation of the mobile telephone system by adjusting various parameters of the mobile telephone system through the operations and maintenance center 280. The main task of network system 210 is call control; and thus it includes a mobile switching center 270. The base station system 220 is responsible for controlling the radio path and comprises at least one base station controller 230 and at least one base station 240. Base station 240 has a coverage area, cell 242. The parameters of the method are the velocity of the mobile station 120 relative to the base station 240, the distance of the mobile station 120 from the base station 240, the load of the mobile telephone system 100 and the cell 242 type of the base station 240 providing the bidirectional radio link 130.

The speed parameter is considered in absolute speed, the distance parameter is considered in relation to the base station cell size, the load parameter is considered in relation to the total capacity of the cell 242, and the cell type parameter is considered through existing architecture.

The calculation efficiency can be improved by the following method: each parameter has only a few different values, e.g. 3. On the other hand, if the traffic class needs to be accurately determined, a sliding value from minimum to maximum is given to each parameter. If the computational efficiency and accuracy needs to be optimized, some parameters have only a few different values, e.g. 3, while other parameters are given a sliding value from minimum to maximum.

Each traffic class is represented by a different state in a state machine in which the transition from one state to another is determined by parameter calculations. A weighted average of the parameters is calculated and it is checked at any given moment which transition condition is fulfilled. The administrator 260 of the network part 110 of the mobile telephone system 100, i.e. someone belonging to the operator of the network operator, determines the weighting factors for the parameters used in the calculation by means of the network management system 250, so that different parameters have different importance when determining the traffic class. In this case, even a change in a single parameter may cause a change in the traffic class. This makes the optimization of the use of the network part 110 easier, since different cases may have different combinations of weighting coefficients, which is called adaptation method.

Fig. 3 shows by way of example a state transition diagram according to the invention. The states of the state machine are, for example, video 300, data 302, and voice 304. Two inequalities can be derived from the state transition diagram, 1/4(a1V + a2R + a3L + a4C) > 1 and 1/4(b1V + b2R + b3L + b4C) > 2. For each parameter, speed V, distance R, load L and cell type C, three different categories, 0, 1 and 2, are determined. The parameters a1-a4 and b1-b4 are weighting coefficients, which can be freely defined by the network administrator. Assume that the initial state is optimized, i.e., video state 300. The inequality is solved at regular intervals or for some specific reason. If the result is less than 1310, the same state is maintained. If the result is greater than or equal to 1312, a transition is made to a poor data state 302 in which the user is no longer provided with transmission service for the video image. If the result is greater than or equal to 2, a transition is made directly to the worst state, i.e. the talk state 304, in which only speech can be transmitted. The data state 302 solves the inequality in a similar manner. If the result is less than 1314, transition is made to the video state. If the result is greater than or equal to 1 but less than 2316, the data state is maintained. If the result is 2318 or more, a transition is made to the talk state. Conversational state 304 solves the inequality in a similar manner. If the result is less than 2320, a transition is made to the data state. If the result is 2322 or more, the talking state is maintained. If the result is less than 1324, transition is made to the video state.

The network part 110 performs the processing of the parameters required for determining the service class. For example, the base station controller 230 in the network system 210 performs the functions according to the present method. Fig. 4 shows a simplified structure of the base station controller 230. The base station controller 230 comprises a group switching field 410, a transcoder 420 and a control unit 430. The group switch domain 410 is used for switching voice and data and for connecting signaling circuits. Transcoder 420 converts the different forms of digital speech coding used between the public switched telephone network and the mobile telephone network so that they are compatible. The control unit 420 performs call control, mobility management, gathering of statistics and signaling (air interface signaling and a-interface signaling). The simplest form of implementing the invention is to provide the control unit 430 with software that, in addition to standard operation, is able to determine the traffic class of each radio link 130 and 136 according to the method and to signal this traffic class to the mobile station 120 and 126 via the base station 240. The above-described functions may be implemented by a general-purpose processor or a signal processor, for example, or by different logic. The mobile switching center 270 or the base station 240 may also perform the functions of the method. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art how these devices can be used with the method of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other components of the network part 110 not mentioned herein may also perform the functions of the method.

The mobile station 120 receives the traffic class from the network part 110 via 126. Fig. 5 shows a simplified structure of a mobile station. The mobile station includes a user part 500, a radio part 520 and an antenna 570. The user element 500 acts as a mobile station user interface for the user 140 and 146. The wireless component 520 converts the signals to be transmitted into a form suitable for the wireless link 130 and 136, receives the signals and converts them into a form understandable by the user 140 and 146. The antenna 570 receives signals from the wireless link 130 and 136 and transmits signals to the wireless link 130 and 136. The user part 500 includes a speaker 502, a display 504, a keypad 506, and a microphone 508. The radio part 520 comprises a receiver 530, a transmitter 540, a control part 550 and a duplex filter 560. Receiver 530 includes demodulator 532, channel decoder 534, decryption device 536, and source decoder 538. The transmitter includes a source encoder 542, an encryption device 544, a channel encoder 546, and a modulator 548. The signal is received by an antenna 570 from which it passes through a duplex filter 560 to a receiver 530. First, the signal is demodulated in the demodulator 532. And then decoded in a channel decoder 534. Next, decryption is performed in the decryption device 536. Finally, the received information is converted into representable form in the source decoder 538, after which the speech information is transferred to the loudspeaker 502, where the signalling sent by the base station is processed in the control unit 550. If the information to be transmitted arrives at the transmitter 540 from the microphone 508 and the control unit 550, the speech information is digitized, a code word is generated from the digitized speech information and the signalling in the source encoder 542, and then encrypted in the encryption device 544. The information to be transmitted is then encoded in a channel encoder 546 and then modulated in a modulator 548. Finally, the information to be transmitted is passed through the duplex filter 560 to the antenna 570. An essential part of the invention is that the control unit 550 controls those units in the figure to which it is connected. The simplest way to implement the invention is to provide the control unit 550 with software that, in addition to standard operation, can interpret the signalling received by the base station via the source decoder 538. The mobile station 120 indicates the service level to the user 140 and 146 in a clear manner. Thus, the class of service is indicated to the user in an understandable form, for example by text, image, tone, or some other means well known in the art. In its simplest form, the control unit 550 has software that controls the display 504 to indicate the service level in a clear form. In addition to the service class, the user receives more specific service class information, such as transmission rate, transmission method, error correction method, charging related to the service class or other information related to the usage. The mobile station 120-. In its simplest form, the control unit 550 has software that receives the service level selected by the user 140 and 146 via their keypad 506. The above-described functions may be implemented by a general-purpose processor or a signal processor, for example, or by different logic.

Although the invention has been described above by way of example in the accompanying drawings, it is clear that the invention is not restricted thereto but it can be modified in several ways within the innovative concept disclosed in the appended claims.

Claims (13)

1. An apparatus for providing a service to a mobile station of a mobile telephone system, the apparatus comprising:

means for determining a guaranteed level of service for a mobile station based on a condition of the mobile telephony system, the condition comprising transmission capacity and being representative of characteristics of the mobile telephony system and usage of the mobile telephony system;

means for assigning at least one traffic class to the mobile station based on the determined traffic class;

means for assigning the mobile station to a bidirectional radio link of the network part in accordance with the assigned traffic class.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises: means for assigning at least two traffic classes to the mobile station based on the traffic class, and wherein the mobile station selects one of the at least two assigned traffic classes.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus assigns a traffic class of one of voice, data transmission, high rate data transmission, and video.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises means for changing a transmission method used in the bidirectional radio link according to a characteristic of the traffic class.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network part comprises at least one base station having a coverage area that is a cell, and the condition is at least one of: the velocity of the mobile station relative to the base station, the distance of the mobile station from the base station, the load on the mobile telephone system and the cell type of the base station providing the bi-directional radio link.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the apparatus further comprises: means for investigating the speed of the mobile station in the form of absolute speed, the distance in the form of cell size relative to the base station, the load in the form of total cell capacity, and the cell type by using the existing architecture when determining the traffic class.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises means for handling a condition with only a few different values.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises means for giving each condition a sliding value from minimum to maximum when determining the traffic class.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises means for representing each traffic class with a different state in a state machine, wherein a transition from one state to another state is defined by calculating preselected variables, the preselected variables comprising at least one of: the velocity of the mobile station relative to the base station, the distance of the mobile station from the base station, the load on the mobile telephone system and the cell type of the base station providing the bi-directional radio link.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus further comprises means for calculating a weighted average of the preselected variables and checking which transition condition is met at any given time.

11. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the apparatus further comprises means for receiving from an administrator of the network part weighting coefficients to be used in calculating the preselected variables.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus further comprises means for using an adaptation method in calculating the preselected variable, the adaptation method varying the weighting coefficients to correspond to the mobile telephone system condition at any given time.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

means for checking the transmission capacity when a new mobile station attempts to establish a new two-way radio link to the network part;

means for checking if any mobile station is under-utilizing its traffic class by not using its full available capacity in the event that the amount of available transmission capacity is insufficient to establish a new two-way radio link to the network part; and

means for reducing the traffic class of mobile stations underutilized for their traffic class in case there are mobile stations underutilized for their traffic class, whereby the traffic class is changed to the transmission capacity used by said mobile stations underutilized for their traffic class, thereby releasing the transmission capacity, and not allocating a bidirectional radio link to a new mobile station in case there are no mobile stations underutilized for their traffic class or in case the number of mobile stations underutilized for their traffic class is not sufficient to release sufficient transmission capacity for establishing said new bidirectional radio link;

means for allocating a bidirectional radio link to the new mobile station according to its traffic class;

wherein the process of checking and reducing the transmission capacity of a mobile station is repeated for a plurality of mobile stations as needed until there is sufficient transmission capacity available for the new mobile station.