WO2008052384A1

WO2008052384A1 - Method, user equipment and network entity in connection with a multimedia service transmission

Info

Publication number: WO2008052384A1
Application number: PCT/CN2006/002896
Authority: WO
Inventors: Johan Johansson; Michael Roberts
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2006-10-30
Filing date: 2006-10-30
Publication date: 2008-05-08
Anticipated expiration: 2009-04-30
Also published as: CN101536404A; CN101536404B

Abstract

The invention relates to a method in connection with a multimedia service transmission over a terrestrial wireless network, wherein the multimedia service transmission is sent from a wireless transmitter to at least one single receiver/transmitter user equipment, comprising the steps of: creating in said single receiver/transmitter user equipment, information relevant for said wireless multimedia service transmission, and feeding back said information to a network entity by using a different communications means separate from said terrestrial wireless network, so as to allow an adjustment of the multimedia service transmission in respect of said information, and where the process of feeding back said information is controlled by a network entity. The invention also relates to an user equipment and a network entity.

Description

METHOD, USER EQUIPMENT AND NETWORK ENTITY IN CONNECTION WITH A MULTIMEDIA SERVICE TRANSMISSION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method, an user equipment, and a network entity in connection with a multimedia service transmission where a network entity is used to control a process of feeding back, from a single receiver/transmitter user equipment, information relevant for the multimedia service transmission which information is created in said user equipment in order to allow adjustment of the multimedia service transmission.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART

To be able to detect performance problems, do troubleshooting and to be able to correctly tune configurable parameters in telecom systems, techniques of cyclic collection of data, typically statistics data and counters, are used. These kinds of techniques are used for all major terrestrial wide-area wireless systems of today, e.g. GSM or WCDMA systems. Typically such data would be collected from every network node at regular interval, e.g. every 15 minutes. Such data would then be post-processed in an operation and maintenance (O&M) system, which typically would Calculate Key Performance Indicators and maybe generate immediate operator alarms if performance drops below certain levels. Performance reports to be read by an human operator supervising e.g. the operation and maintenance (O&M) system would also be generated at regular intervals, to trigger manual corrective actions. Also, it could be possible to automatically generate input data to other systems to support tuning of the system. Typically, such data, in its post-processed create, would be used for troubleshooting, network tuning and network resource need determination in various scenarios, e.g. at initial network installation, at further equipment extension installations, to verify performance and correct operation after software upgrades and to detect problems that can otherwise not be detected. Such data collected in these ways, and used in these kinds of techniques are subsequently referred to as counters or statistics data.

In wireless systems of today that employ said data collection and performance evaluation techniques, the counters or statistics data collected are typically associated with successful, unsuccessful or uncompleted telecom procedures in the call control plane or user plane, e.g. number of detected Random Access Attempts, Number of successful Random Accesses, number of User Equipment (UE) sessions setup, number of dropped UE sessions in different UE states etc.

Typically, such counters or statistics data are maintained per network entity, e.g. per Cell, per location area, and not really maintained per session. Typically the UE itself does not directly collect or deliver or participate in any collection of such counters. The counters that are related to the wireless radio interface are collected in the network end. The UE does indeed do measurements that are reported to the network (Base Station etc), but those are generally not intended for O&M post processing and performance evaluation. UE measurements are instead usually used for real-time machine-implemented algorithms, e.g. to trigger a handover, to trigger an up-switch of bitrate etc. All counters or statistics data are typically collected from the network (Base Station etc). One main reason, in the past, to avoid that counters or statistics data are measured in and collected from UE is to avoid the extra load on the wireless interface for reporting.

Terrestrial broadcast services for small mobile devices with small antennas, e.g. for Mobile TV in mobile phones is an area that has gained a lot of attention, e.g. Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services (MBMS) has been defined and developed for GSM and WCDMA mobile systems. Also for CDMA2000 there is a similar concept. In addition, standalone broadcast systems has been developed, e.g. DVB-H. All of the these technologies, and related technologies, for terrestrial broadcast services for small ( = could be carried by a person) mobile devices, are subsequently referred to as MBMS or multimedia services.

It is possible to implement an MBMS system that is optimized for broadcast services, that only uses a Downlink (DL), i.e. non-duplex communication where information flows over the wireless interface only in the direction from Base-Station (BS) to UE. A particular benefit of a downlink only system is that no radio spectrum resources are needed for an uplink (UL). Radio carrier and spectrum resources are needed only for the DL. Another benefit is that the radio characteristics of an UL can be ignored, and thus, efficiency-optimized DL-only Base-Stations with high output power, and good coverage can be developed for such systems. Such MBMS systems, that only uses a wireless DL, is subsequently referred to as MBMS dedicated carrier (DC) systems or shortly Dedicated Carrier (DC) systems. Terrestrial wireless systems that have MBMS functionality or techniques, and also can handle

UL transmissions on radio spectrum resources that are either the same as for the DL, or paired with spectrum resources of the DL, are referred to as MBMS mixed carrier (MC) systems, or shortly mixed carrier (MC) systems. The UL in a MBMS MC system could be used for UL signalling and/or for non-MBMS services requiring an UL, e.g. unicast services, see below.

Terrestrial wireless systems that have the capability of point-to-point communication between the BS and the UE, UL or DL or both, are subsequently referred to as Unicast capable system, or shortly Unicast (UC) systems. Typical UC user services include voice-calls, video-calls, internet web-browsing, sending a message etc.

A common deployment scenario for MBMS DC systems is that such a system is overlayed on a

UC network, meaning that the DC and UC systems overlap in geographical coverage. The overlayed DC and UC systems may use the same or different network equipment and network resources or a combination. For example, such scenarios have been foreseen in discussions in

3GPP, where an MBMS DC system typically would be overlayed on a UC GSM, WCDMA, LTE

(Long Term Evolution) network, and a typical UE would be capable of MBMS services distributed by MC or DC, and UC services. As indicated earlier, network operators typically initiate network tuning based on results of statistics data collection and post-processing. This is how the network is optimized, e.g. protocol parameters are optimized to give best experienced user performance, radio and antenna parameters are optimized for good coverage etc. Network tuning for optimization is a continuous process in the operation of a network. Statistics data also has an important role in problem detection, e.g. if certain functions or certain resources fail completely, the network performance would drop to low levels. Such failures might be difficult to detect with other means than statistics data.

MBMS DC systems are particularly problematic in this respect. As there are no two way interactions over the wireless interface for such a system, there is also no statistics data counters to collect in the network that relates to the user experience of the transmission. There are no successful, unsuccessful, completed or uncompleted procedures in the wireless user plane or control plane to count.

Nevertheless MBMS DC systems have geographical coverage issues and a need for tuning of radio and antenna parameters. There are possibilities for function and resource failures that are hard to detect. Thus, there is a need for functionality that fulfils the same purposes as outlined for statistics data collection. Also for the MBMS MC systems, very little two way interaction over the wireless interface is needed for normal operation. Although there exists an UL, its usage in the context of MBMS is very limited. So, unless particular procedures are invented for the purpose of being able to maintain statistics data and counters in the network end, the issues of bad visibility of statistics problems are similar to the MBMS DC system.

Actually, to some extent all one-way transmission systems have these problems and these needs, although the problems are most prominent for terrestrial wireless systems, due to the complexities induced by terrestrial geography, and the distributed network implementation / architecture. Although not commonly used, the concept of a UE measuring and reporting statistics data is previously known. For 3GPP MBMS Rel-6, the UE can be requested to do a statistics report after session completion. The request is embedded in data that the UE receives at service discovery / service announcement. The existing mechanism includes the reporting of quality metrics such as Corruption Duration, Rebuffering duration, Initial buffering, Successive loss of RTP packets, Frame Rate deviation and Jitter Duration. The existing mechanism includes functionality for spreading reporting over time and to request only a fraction of the UEs to report, to reduce load peaks.

This known concept of a User Equipment collecting and reporting statistics data includes some problems such as: - Troubleshooting of the Radio Access Network and has not been considered. There are no means to correlate radio conditions to application layer quality problems. There are no means to correlate application layer problems with certain geographical areas. Only mobiles that actively receive MBMS transmission can be asked to report statistics measurement results.

- Load Control in the prior art is inadequate as it does not consider load control of the radio interface. Furthermore, load control in the statistics prior art is not adaptive w.r.t. the number of

UEs in the network, and

- Measurement requests are integrated into the service announcement / service discovery mechanisms, which could be read and remembered a long time in advance of the actual session, thus it is not possible to request immediate or on-demand measurements for troubleshooting. A single receiver/transmitter user equipment is defined in this description as being an user equipment that can only receive and/or transmit data on one radio carrier at any moment in time, but which allows for both transmission and reception of signals. A single receiver/transmitter user equipment can thus both receive and transmit signals.

A single receiver/transmitter MBMS UE , i.e. a MBMS single receiver/transmitter user equipment as defined above, can be able to perform requested MBMS measurements as discussed above, while receiving MBMS, or while not otherwise receiving MBMS, or while running UC applications.

However, a single receiver/transmitter UE may have problems reporting the results of the measurements while receiving MBMS (or possibly also while running a UC application), due to that the time required to report a measurement will most probably exceed the time between transmission bursts of MBMS data. As the single receiver/transmitter user equipment can not receive and transmit signals at the same time on the same carrier, it would be impossible to report a measurement result when receiving MBMS data without interrupting the MBMS data reception, this when only taking into account the MC scenario where MBMS and UC operations that coincide are executed on the same carrier. If we also consider the case when the MBMS DC is overlayed with a UC network on another radio carrier, the problem gets worse, as the required time gap for leaving the DC to perform UC operations (e.g. measurement reporting) is larger than when compared to staying on the same carrier (and within the same/similar Radio Access Technology).

SUMMARY OF THB INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a method in connection with a multimedia service transmission over a first terrestrial wireless network, wherein information relevant for the multimedia service transmission created in at least one user equipment having only one receiver/transmitter, is used to allow an adjustment of the multimedia service transmission. The above mentioned object is achieved for a method having the features stated in claim 1. These and other advantageous features will be apparent from the detailed description below.

The invention will now be described in more detail below with reference to the appended drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the device according to the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows schematically a system for multimedia service transmission and statistics reporting according to the invention,

Figure 2 shows schematically another embodiment of a system for multimedia service transmission and statistics reporting according to the invention, and

Figure 3 shows schematically a system for multimedia service transmission, statistics reporting, and user equipment measurement control according to the invention bypass segment according to one embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The same reference numerals are being used for similar features in the different drawings. Figure 1 shows schematically a system for multimedia service transmission and statistics reporting according to the invention.

According to the invention, the User Equipment (UE) shall perform performance related measurements and maintain counters that are related to the user experience and the radio transmission reception of MBMS transmission i.e. to create information relevant for the multimedia transmission, and the UE shall report i.e. feed back the results i.e. the statistics data and/or counters to the network entity. This makes it possible to detect, measure and analyze problems, related to the user experience and reception of transmission, to be able to correct/tune the radio access network, also in the case of MBMS DC for which the network itself cannot maintain such statistics data, and, in the case of MBMS MC, without having to employ particular procedures to maintain statistics data and counters in the network. Preferably, said data would be post-processed in an operation and maintenance (O&M) system.

In figure 1 is shown that the UE performs statistics measurements, and reports to the network.

As shown in the figure, the expected end receiver of data derived from the proposed UE statistics counters and measurements is not Radio Nodes in the wireless network, but instead a network entity, which could be supervised by an human operator, and possibly support tools used by the human operator.

The reference numerals in figure 1 refer to the following steps:

11. The UE is within expected coverage of MBMS. The UE may be receiving MBMS service, or the UE might not be receiving MBMS service. 12. The UE performs statistics measurements and maintain statistics counters with respect to MBMS reception, MBMS service and User experience of MBMS service.

13. The UE reports the results of the statistics measurements and counters to the network.

14. In the network, there may be several steps of data post processing and data conversion. The Radio Access network may be involved in post processing and data conversion to make it possible to optimize reporting by compression techniques that are specific to the Radio Access Technology.

15. The result of post processing is presented to a human operator, possibly in the create of statistical indicators where results of measurements from many UEs are combined, possibly also combined with results reported from other nodes, possibly combined over certain time periods. Results might also be converted into alarms in the case of drastic changes.

16. Other results of statistics post processing, e.g. more detailed geographical information might be input to support tools, that the operator could use for network tuning and troubleshooting. According to the invention, the UE uses a communication mechanism that is separate from

MBMS radio bearers or separate from the MBMS system, to report the result of statistics measurements and counters. In particular, it is possible that a UC system overlayed with a MBMS system can be used for reporting of results. This is especially interesting if the MBMS system is a DC system. In particular, for a MC system, it is proposed that the UE could use communication mechanisms related to UC and/or UC services for the reporting of results.

Figure 2 shows schematically another embodiment of a system for multimedia service transmission and statistics reporting according to the invention.

In figure 2 is shown that the UE can report results in different ways.

As shown in the figure, the communication mechanism that UE uses to report results is separate from the MBMS system. Except step 23 (a,b,c), where detail and alternatives has been added, figure 2 shows the same as figure 1.

The reference numerals 23a - 23c in figure 2 refer to the following steps: 23a. UE could use another, Unicast capable, wireless network, e.g. on another radio carrier for reporting. This alternative would be especially attractive when a DC system is overlayed with a UC network. 23b. If supported by the MBMS system (a MC system), UE could use UL resources on the same carrier as the MBMS system. These UL resources could be A UC data transport channel, not related to MBMS.

23c. Another, not specified mechanism, e.g. UE sends report when plugged in to internet by any means of connectivity.

In case there are optional measurements and counters, or optional ways to perform / calculate the measurements and counters, or optional ways to report the results, the network entity shall control which options shall be used. If there are parameters for the control of these options, the network entity shall decide the settings of the parameters. The UE might propose options and settings and provide its capabilities to the network entity.

It preferably is possible for the network entity to control, MBMS related UE measurements and counters by control information sent on the MBMS carrier. In particular, it preferably is possible for the network entity to control MBMS related UE measurements and counters by control information that is independent of the control information for the MBMS service or session. In particular, this preferably is possible by sending control information by regular control channels of this radio carrier or regular control channels for the MBMS service. In particular, these channels may be Common Control Channels, such as a broadcast control channel (3GPP BCCH) or a MBMS control channel (3GPP MCCH), or may be a dedicated control channel (3GPP DCCH).

It preferably is possible for the network entity to control MBMS related UE measurements and counters by control information sent on communication channels other than the MBMS carrier. In particular, it preferably is possible for the network entity to control MBMS related UE measurements and counters by control information that is independent of the control information for the MBMS service or session. In particular, for the MBMS DC deployments, this preferably is possible by sending control information by radio carriers of an overlayed UC wireless network, in particular if this wireless network is either of GERAN, UTRAN, LTE₅ CDMA2000, AIE, WiFi,

WiMAX. In particular, this preferably is possible by sending control information by regular control channels of the UC radio carrier or regular control channels for a MC MBMS service on the UC carrier. In particular, these channels may be Common Control Channels, such as a broadcast control channel (3GPP BCCH) or a MBMS control channel (3GPP MCCH), or a dedicated control channel (3GPP DCCH).

It preferably is possible to trigger measurements by Paging or Notification to one or several UEs. Either all control information related to the requested measurement could be sent in the paging/notification message, or the paging/notification message would just trigger the UE to use any of the other mechanisms mentioned above to obtain full control information for a particular measurement. Figure 3 shows schematically a system for multimedia service transmission, statistics reporting, and user equipment measurement control according to the invention bypass segment according to one embodiment of the invention.

In figure 3 is shown that UE Measurement Control can be done in several ways. The reference numerals in figure 3 refer to the following steps: 31. Operator Configures UE statistics measurement options and parameters by an O&M system. Operator could also select the control method, 33a or 33b, depending on use case. 32. O&M system distributes this control info to radio access network. 33a. For use cases that involves only UEs that monitors MBMS channels already, or when the MBMS wireless network is a MC network that supports also UC, UE statistics measurement options and parameters could be sent to UE by the MBMS wireless network. In particular, this control info could be sent to UE by. a. A Common Control channel related to the Radio Access Technology, e.g. the broadcast control channel (3GPP: BCCH). b. A MBMS Control Channel (3GPP: MCCH). c. A UE dedicated control channel (3GPP: DCCH), only for MC network configuration. d. Application level control channel carried e.g. by UC Packet Bearer or SMS cell broadcast, only for MC network configuration. e. A Paging/Notification message, or a combination of a paging/notification message and any of the methods 33a:a-d.

33b. For MBMS DC systems, for those use cases that involves UEs that do not currently monitor MBMS channels, e.g. those that are out-of-coverage or those that are currently not interested (maybe there is only test transmissions ongoing, or no transmissions), UE statistics measurement options and parameters would need to be partially of fully sent to UE by non-MBMS network, e.g. an overlayed UC network.

In particular, this control info could be sent to UE by: f. A UC Common Control channel related to the Radio Access Technology, e.g. the broadcast control channel (3GPP: BCCH). g. A MC MBMS Control Channel, if the UC network supports MBMS MC (3GPP: MCCH). h. A UC UE dedicated control channel (3GPP: DCCH) i. Application level control channel carried e.g. by UC Packet Bearer or SMS cell broadcast, j. A Paging/Notification message, or a combination of a paging/notification message and any of the methods 33a:a-d, 33b:a-d. It could be noted that all applications involving UEs that are involved in or related to multicast or broadcast services, and that require the UEs to respond to the network,could use mechanisms similar to what is proposed for statistics measurement reporting.

In addition to statistics data measurements, any interactive TV applications e.g. voting, and also UE counting for bearer reconfigurations for MBMS could be handled in similar ways. The concept of UE statistics data measurements could also be used for UC systems and services.

According to the invention, the UE shall do performance related measurements and maintain counters that are related to the user experience and the radio transmission reception of MBMS transmission, and the UE shall report the results to the network entity. This makes it possible to detect, measure and analyze problems, related to the user experience and reception of transmission, to be able to correct/tune the radio access network, also in the case of MBMS DC (for which the network itself cannot maintain such statistics data), and in the case of MBMS MC without having to invent particular procedures to maintain statistics data and counters in the network.

According to the invention, the network entity could control whether single-receiver/transmitter UEs, as defined above, need to report or not. This way, the impact to

MBMS application of measurement reporting could be minimized in total. First the network entity could attempt to get the required measurement reports from dual- receiver/transmitter UEs, i.e. user equipment operating in dual communication mode which means that they may receive and transmit signals at the same time, and only if this is insufficient, single-receiver/transmitter UEs would be required to report. According to the invention, the UE statistics measurement reporting can be delayed, i.e. the UE does not need to send a measurement report as soon as measurement results are available. It is further proposed that the time when to report statistics measurement results be selected in a opportunistic way, i.e. when a suitable opportunity occurs. This way, the impact to MBMS application of measurement reporting could be minimized, for single-receiver/transmitter UEs, e.g. if the UE anyway have to interrupt the MBMS application, e.g. to respond to UC paging, then the measurement report could be sent as well - at the same MBMS reception interruption gap, making the total User impact small, compared to if sending measurement report uncorrelated with the UC paging response. This way, further, the UE statistics measurement reporting is less dependent on UC network coverage. If the coverage is bad in the UC network, the UE can wait until is moves into better coverage to report.

In particular, There are lots of possible opportunity cases: E.g. based on user activity, when user switches channel, when user turns off reception, when user mutes the sound etc..

Actually, for many use-cases, statistics measurement reporting could be delayed for a long time, e.g. for regular performance monitoring. For these cases, it is proposed that the statistics data measurement reporting could be done at session end, or when the user turns off the UE. This way, the impact to MBMS application of measurement reporting could be minimized to zero, for single-receiver/transmitter UEs. Actually, in this way, a UE that does not have a WAN wireless uplink, or are completely out of UL coverage, could report statistics measurement results whenever it gets IP connectivity, by cable, by Bluetooth, by IR or similar.

For cases of delayed measurement reporting, it must be defined for how long the measurement of valid, and how UE shall manage its internal data storage space.

The use case: performance monitoring or troubleshooting etc, and the operation of the post-processing system would determine how long the maximum delay could be for delayed reporting. It is proposed that the time limit for last reporting possibility can be configured in the UE by the network, e.g. signalled together with other measurement control information. When the time limit has been exceeded for a measurement, the UE can discard the measurement results and do not need to report them. It can thus be avoided that the UE send too old reports that are not used (but discarded) by the network, and thus the load for useless reporting and usage of the storage space in the UE could be reduced. When the UE is out of storage space and need more data storage to save newly measured data it is proposed that the oldest stored measurement report data, or alternatively the data for which the expiry time is the closest in time, is overwritten. This maximizes the possibility that the statistics measurement report data in the UE is reported, and not deleted due to lack of reporting opportunity within the requested time limit.

It is further proposed that the network entity shall control whether a measurement report shall be sent when maximum allowed delay is approaching, regardless interference with other functions/applications, or if the measurement report shall be discarded if no suitable opportunity for sending occurs. For some use cases, e.g. troubleshooting, e.g. at times when there are few UEs operating, it could be useful to enforce the reporting of statistics data, to ensure that there is data from sufficient amount of UEs, possibly in combination with short maximum delay times.

Note that for statistics data / counters / measurements, the Radio Access Network is not the main recipient of the measurement results. Instead, the main recipient is the network entity and an O&M post-processing system. To handle MBMS DC scenarios, the reporting mechanism is proposed to be possible through various UC Radio Access technologies e.g. GERAN, UTRAN, 3GPP LTE, WiMax etc.

Thus, in order for this to be practically possible, it is very important that the implementation impact in the Radio Access Network is minimal w.r.t. support for the UE statistics data measurement reporting. Also, it is desirable to minimize the number of data conversions that are needed, for the O&M statistics post processing system to be able to process the measurement data from the UEs.

The invention thus relates to a method in connection with a multimedia service transmission over a terrestrial wireless network, wherein the multimedia service transmission is sent from a wireless transmitter to at least one single receiver/transmitter user equipment, comprising the steps of:

- creating in said single receiver/transmitter user equipment, information relevant for said wireless multimedia service transmission, and

- feeding back said information to a network entity, by using a different communications means separate from said terrestrial wireless network, so as to allow an adjustment of the multimedia service transmission in respect of said information, and where the process of feeding back said information is controlled by a network entity. According to the invention, the process of feeding back said information is preferably controlled by a network entity, where control of single receiver/transmitter user equipment and multiple receiver/transmitter user equipment can be separated, to avoid or minimize interruption of reception of the multimedia service in a single receiver/transmitter user equipment due to said single receiver/transmitter user equipment feeding back said information to said network entity, and where said information preferably comprises at least one of: a wireless network statistics data parameter such as a radio reception quality parameter related to e.g. received energy; a user quality statistics data parameter such as a user data quality parameter, e.g. block error rate or bit error rate; and/or geographical information, e.g. Cell ID. According to the invention, said network entity requests preferably only said multiple receiver/transmitter user equipment to report back to the network entity.

According to the invention, the single receiver/transmitter user equipment may be arranged not to report said information back to the network entity.

According to the invention, said network entity preferably controls the process of feeding back said information by the step of sending at least one request to said single receiver/transmitter user equipment, where said network entity may request the single receiver/transmitter user equipment not to report said information back to the network entity, or where said network entity may request the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity. According to the invention, said network entity may request the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity if the network entity has received insufficient reporting from multiple receiver/transmitter user equipment.

According to the invention, said single receiver/transmitter user equipment may be arranged to delay the reporting of said information back to the network entity, e.g by request from the network entity or by some other means, e.g. by the fact that this function is specified in the single receiver/transmitter user equipment.

According to the invention, said network entity may request the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity: when a suitable opportunity occurs, and/or within a specified time boundary. According to the invention, said single receiver/transmitter user equipment may be arranged to not to report said information back to the network entity after the specified time boundary has passed, and/or discard said information after the specified time boundary has passed.

According to the invention, said network entity may request the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity when a multimedia service transmission reception interruption occurs, e.g when the multimedia service transmission reception is interrupted due to reconfiguration of a channel initiated by user or network, or due to reception of paging.

According to the invention, the network entity may request the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity when a session ends, and/or when the single receiver/transmitter user equipment leaves a session.

According to the invention, the network entity may request the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity when the user equipment is turned off. According to the invention, the network entity may request the terrestrial wireless network to modify its transmission characteristics to allow an adjustment of the multimedia service transmission in respect of said information.

According to the invention, the multimedia service transmission may be intended for at least one receiver, or multiple receivers. According to the invention, the terrestrial wireless network may operate in down-link only mode.

The invention also relates to a single receiver/transmitter user equipment arranged to be able to receive a multimedia service transmission over a terrestrial wireless network, where the single receiver/transmitter user equipment is arranged to - create information relevant to the wireless multimedia service transmission, and to

- feed back said information to said network entity by using a different communications means separate from said terrestrial wireless network, so as to allow an adjustment of the multimedia service transmission in respect of said information.

According to the invention, the single receiver/transmitter user equipment preferably is arranged to receive a request from a network entity to create information relevant to the multimedia service transmission, and that said information preferably comprises at least one of: a wireless network statistics data parameter, an user quality statistics data parameter, and/or geographical information.

The invention further relates to a network entity for controlling a multimedia service transmission over a terrestrial wireless network, where the network entity is arranged to control a process of:

- creating in a single receiver/transmitter user equipment information concerning the wireless multimedia service transmission, and

- feeding back said information to said network entity, and

- requesting the terrestrial wireless network to modify its transmission characteristics to allow an adjustment of the multimedia service transmission in respect of said information

Claims

1. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission over a terrestrial wireless network, wherein the multimedia service transmission is sent from a wireless transmitter to at least one single receiver/transmitter user equipment, comprising the steps of: creating in said single receiver/transmitter user equipment, information relevant for said wireless multimedia service transmission, and feeding back said information to a network entity by using a different communications means separate from said terrestrial wireless network, so as to allow an adjustment of the multimedia service transmission in respect of said information, and where the process of feeding back said information is controlled by a network entity.

2. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission according to claim 1, characterized in, that the process of feeding back said information is controlled by a network entity, where control of single receiver/transmitter user equipment and multiple receiver/transmitter user equipment can be separated, to avoid or minimize interruption of reception of the multimedia service in a single receiver/transmitter user equipment due to said single receiver/transmitter user equipment feeding back said information to said network entity.

3. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in, that said information comprises at least one of: a wireless network statistics data parameter, a user quality statistics data parameter, and/or geographical information.

4. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission as claimed in any one of the above claims, characterized in, that said network entity requests only said multiple receiver/transmitter user equipment to report back to the network entity.

5. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission as claimed in any one of the above claims, characterized in, that said network entity controls the process of feeding back said information by the step of sending at least one request to said single receiver/transmitter user equipment.

6. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission according to claim 5, characterized in, that said network entity requests the single receiver/transmitter user equipment not to report said information back to the network entity.

7. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission according to claim 5, characterized in, that said network entity requests the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity.

8. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission according to claim 7, characterized in, that said network entity requests the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity if the network entity has received insufficient reporting from multiple receiver/transmitter user equipment.

9. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission according to claim 5, characterized in, that said single receiver/transmitter user equipment is arranged to delay the reporting of said information back to the network entity.

10. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission according to claim 9, characterized in, that said network entity requests the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity when a suitable opportunity occurs.

11. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in, that said network entity requests the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity within a specified time boundary.

12. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission according to claim 11, characterized in, that said single receiver/transmitter user equipment is arranged to not to report said information back to the network entity after the specified time boundary has passed.

13. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in, that said single receiver/transmitter user equipment shall discard said information after the specified time boundary has passed.

14. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission according to claim 9, characterized in, that said network entity requests the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity when a multimedia service transmission reception interruption occurs.

15. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission according to claim 14, characterized in, that said network entity requests the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity when the multimedia service transmission reception is interrupted due to reconfiguration of a channel initiated by user or network, or due to reception of paging.

16. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in, that the network entity requests the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity when a session ends.

17. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in, that the network entity requests the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity when the single receiver/transmitter user equipment leaves a session.

18. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in, that the network entity requests the single receiver/transmitter user equipment to report said information back to the network entity when the user equipment is turned off.

19. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission as claimed in any one of the above claims, characterized by the step that, the network entity requests the terrestrial wireless network to modify its transmission characteristics to allow an adjustment of the multimedia service transmission in respect of said information.

20. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission as claimed in any one of the above claims, characterized in, that the multimedia service transmission is intended for multiple receivers.

21. Method in connection with a multimedia service transmission as claimed in any one of the above claims, characterized in, that the terrestrial wireless network operates in down-link only mode.

22. Single receiver/transmitter user equipment arranged to be able to receive a multimedia service transmission over a terrestrial wireless network, characterized in that the single receiver/transmitter user equipment is arranged to create information relevant to the wireless multimedia service transmission, and to feed back said information to said network entity by using a different communications means separate from said terrestrial wireless network, so as to allow an adjustment of the multimedia service transmission in respect of said information.

23. Single receiver/transmitter user equipment according to claim 22, characterized in that the single receiver/transmitter user equipment is arranged to receive a request from a network entity to create information relevant to the multimedia service transmission.

24. User equipment according to claim 22 or 23, characterized in that said information comprises at least one of: a wireless network statistics data parameter, an user quality statistics data parameter, and/or geographical information.

25. Network entity for controlling a multimedia service transmission over a terrestrial wireless network, characterized in that the network entity is arranged to control a process of: creating in a single receiver/transmitter user equipment information concerning the wireless multimedia service transmission, and feeding back said information to said network entity, and requesting the terrestrial wireless network to modify its transmission characteristics to allow an adjustment of the multimedia service transmission in respect of said information.