Communication Terminal Channel Quality Reporting for Voice Services
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication networks often prioritize throughput over voice quality, resulting in suboptimal voice quality due to high block error rates (BLER) during real-time communication services like speech transmission, which can be improved by adjusting channel quality reporting strategies.
Innovation Solution
A communication terminal determines the class of communication service and reports a reduced channel quality to the network, allowing for a lower BLER, thereby improving voice quality by indicating a lower quality value, which may impact throughput but is acceptable for voice calls with low throughput requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a high BLER (e.g., 10%) is used to optimize throughput, then throughput is improved, but voice quality deteriorates due to increased packet delay and errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different BLER targets for different communication service types. For voice communication services, a lower BLER target is used to ensure high voice quality, while data services can tolerate higher BLER for throughput optimization. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by tailoring the error rate parameter to the specific service requirements rather than using a uniform approach.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the BLER target based on the detected communication service type and current network conditions. The terminal reports channel quality indicators that reflect the actual service requirements, allowing the network to dynamically adapt modulation and coding schemes accordingly. This dynamic adjustment enables optimal performance for each service type without compromising voice quality.
2Reliability
If a low BLER is used to improve voice quality, then voice quality is improved, but throughput deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reserves the use of low BLER targets specifically for voice communication services where quality is paramount, while allowing higher BLER targets for data services where throughput is more important. This localized application of quality optimization ensures that throughput is not unnecessarily reduced across all services, only where voice quality requirements demand it.
3Productivity
If channel quality is reported accurately to maximize throughput, then throughput is optimized, but voice quality suffers due to higher packet error rates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of reporting the actual measured channel quality directly, the terminal inverts the approach by reporting a reduced channel quality indicator that corresponds to a lower BLER target. This inversion forces the network to use more robust modulation and coding schemes, thereby reducing packet errors and improving voice quality while maintaining acceptable throughput for voice services.
Data Source
AI summary
A communication terminal comprising a determiner configured to determine whether a communication service used by the communication terminal via a communication channel is of a predetermined class and to determine a channel quality of the communication channel to be indicated to a communication network based on whether the communication service is of the predetermined class and a transmitter configured to indicate the channel quality to the communication network.