Multi-RAT Admission Control via Global Resource Flag
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In multi-radio access technology (RAT) systems, existing admission control methods struggle to efficiently manage resource allocation across different RATs, leading to increased call blocking and session drops due to insufficient resource management, especially in integrated LTE networks with GSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA systems.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a global flag system for multi-RAT admission control (MRAC) that aggregates load information across all RATs, allowing service requests to be admitted if resources are sufficient in the overall system, rather than relying on individual RAT resource availability, using cross-layer cross-RAT communication to determine and maintain resource status information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If individual RAT admission control is performed based on local resource availability, then each RAT can independently manage its resources, but call blocking increases and resource utilization efficiency decreases in multi-RAT systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges admission control functions across multiple RATs by introducing a master RAT that performs centralized admission control for the entire multi-RAT system. The master RAT aggregates resource status information from all RATs and makes unified admission decisions, transforming individual independent admission controls into a combined system-wide control mechanism. This resolves the contradiction by enabling both efficient resource utilization through system-wide view and reduced call blocking through coordinated decision-making.
Solution Approach 2:
The master RAT performs multiple functions: it manages its own admission control, aggregates resource status from all other RATs, maintains system-wide resource availability flags, and makes admission decisions for all RATs. This multi-functional approach allows a single entity to optimize resource allocation across the entire multi-RAT system, improving both resource utilization efficiency and reducing call blocking simultaneously.
2Productivity
If cross-layer cross-RAT communication is implemented for global resource aggregation, then overall system resource utilization improves, but signaling overhead and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the multi-RAT system into a master RAT and slave RATs with clearly defined roles. The master RAT handles complex functions of global resource aggregation and unified admission control, while slave RATs perform simpler functions of providing resource status information and executing admission decisions. This segmentation reduces overall system complexity by distributing functions appropriately while still achieving improved resource utilization through the master RAT's global view.
Solution Approach 2:
The master RAT acts as an intermediary between the multiple slave RATs and the core network. It receives resource status information from slave RATs, aggregates this information, and makes unified admission decisions that affect all RATs. This intermediary role simplifies the communication architecture by centralizing cross-RAT coordination functions, reducing the complexity that would otherwise arise from direct peer-to-peer communication between all RATs.
Data Source
AI summary
A node of a multiple radio access technology (multi-RAT) system acquires resource status information associated with each RAT of the multi-RAT system. The resource status information of the RATs of the multi-RAT system can be acquired by sniffing higher layer protocol information pertaining to call setup requests and/or call terminated messages. The node further maintains a flag representing overall resource availability associated with the RATs of the multi-RAT system, based on the acquired resource status information, for use in admission control and/or load balancing. The flag is associated with a pre-defined set of overall resource availability states of the multi-RAT system, where the availability states are defined in terms of admission control decisions.