Patent Application
20130297728
1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments relate to selectively exchanging metadata in a wireless communications system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bandwidth over communications systems, such as wireless communications systems, can be expensive or limited. Conventional mechanisms for reducing bandwidth consumption of a subscriber device include diverting the subscriber device to cheaper protocols (e.g., WiFi), accessing the wireless communication systems during off-peak hours and so on.
In an embodiment, data scheduled for transmission by an apparatus is determined to include multiple elements with (i) a first portion of substantially non-redundant information and (ii) a second portion with information that is redundant to each of the multiple elements. The apparatus generates a composite representation of the redundant information, and transmits the composite representation of the redundant information to a recipient. The recipient determines reconstruction information by which the composite representation of the redundant information can be used in conjunction with the first portions of the substantially non-redundant information to reconstruct the multiple elements. After obtaining the first portions of the substantially non-redundant information, the recipient reconstructs the multiple elements based on the first portions of the substantially non-redundant information, the reconstruction information and the composite representation of the redundant information.
A more complete appreciation of embodiments of the invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings which are presented solely for illustration and not limitation of the invention, and in which:
Aspects of the invention are disclosed in the following description and related drawings directed to specific embodiments of the invention. Alternate embodiments may be devised without departing from the scope of the invention. Additionally, well-known elements of the invention will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the invention.
The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. Likewise, the term “embodiments of the invention” does not require that all embodiments of the invention include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of embodiments of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Further, many embodiments are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be recognized that various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, these sequence of actions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of computer readable storage medium having stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions that upon execution would cause an associated processor to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects of the invention may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the embodiments described herein, the corresponding form of any such embodiments may be described herein as, for example, “logic configured to” perform the described action.
A High Data Rate (HDR) subscriber station, referred to herein as user equipment (UE), may be mobile or stationary, and may communicate with one or more access points (APs), which may be referred to as Node. Bs. A UE transmits and receives data packets through one or more of the Node Bs to a Radio Network Controller (RNC). The Node Bs and RNC are parts of a network called a radio access network (RAN). A radio access network can transport voice and data packets between multiple access terminals.
The radio access network may be further connected to additional networks outside the radio access network, such core network including specific carrier related servers and devices and connectivity to other networks such as a corporate intranet, the Internet, public switched telephone network (PSTN), a Serving General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN), a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN), and may transport voice and data packets between each UE and such networks. A UE that has established an active traffic channel connection with one or more Node Bs may be referred to as an active UE, and can be referred to as being in a traffic state. A UE that is in the process of establishing an active traffic channel (TCH) connection with one or more Node Bs can be referred to as being in a connection setup state. A UE may be any data device that communicates through a wireless channel or through a wired channel. A UE may further be any of a number of types of devices including but not limited to PC card, compact flash device, external or internal modem, or wireless or wireline phone. The communication link through which the UE sends signals to the Node B(s) is called an uplink channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link through which Node B(s) send signals to a UE is called a downlink channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink/reverse or downlink/forward traffic channel.
Referring back to
The RAN 120 controls messages (typically sent as data packets) sent to a RNC 122. The RNC 122 is responsible for signaling, establishing, and tearing down bearer channels (i.e., data channels) between a Serving General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN) and the UEs 102/108/110/112. If link layer encryption is enabled, the RNC 122 also encrypts the content before forwarding it over the air interface 104. The function of the RNC 122 is well-known in the art and will not be discussed further for the sake of brevity. The core network 126 may communicate with the RNC 122 by a network, the Internet and/or a public switched telephone network (PSTN). Alternatively, the RNC 122 may connect directly to the Internet or external network. Typically, the network or Internet connection between the core network 126 and the RNC 122 transfers data, and the PSTN transfers voice information. The RNC 122 can be connected to multiple Node Bs 124. In a similar manner to the core network 126, the RNC 122 is typically connected to the Node Bs 124 by a network, the Internet and/or PSTN for data transfer and/or voice information. The Node Bs 124 can broadcast data messages wirelessly to the UEs, such as cellular telephone 102. The Node Bs 124, RNC 122 and other components may form the RAN 120, as is known in the art. However, alternate configurations may also be used and the invention is not limited to the configuration illustrated. For example, in another embodiment the functionality of the RNC 122 and one or more of the Node Bs 124 may be collapsed into a single “hybrid” module having the functionality of both the RNC 122 and the Node B(s) 124.
UEs 1 and 3 connect to the RAN 120 at a portion served by a first packet data network endpoint 162 (e.g., which may correspond to SGSN, GGSN, PDSN, a home agent (HA), a foreign agent (FA), PGW/SGW in LTE, etc.). The first packet data network end-point 162 in turn connects, via the routing unit 188, and through the routing unit 188, to the Internet 175. Through the Internet 175, the UEs 1 and 3 can connect to any of application servers 1 . . . N 170 that are configured to provide one or more Internet-based services (e.g., streaming video, etc.). Also, through the Internet 175, UEs 1 and 3 can connect to any of web servers 1 . . . N (e.g., providing web-content or web browsing features), 186. UEs 2 and 5, . . . N connect to the Internet 175 via a different air interface 106, such as a WiFi or IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n interface via a local wireless access point or hotspot. UE 4 connects directly to the Internet 175 via a wired connection (e.g., a LAN or Ethernet connection), and through the Internet 175 can then connect to any of the system components described above.
Referring to
Referring to
Accordingly, an embodiment of the invention can include a UE including the ability to perform the functions described herein. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the various logic elements can be embodied in discrete elements, software modules executed on a processor or any combination of software and hardware to achieve the functionality disclosed herein. For example, ASIC 208, memory 212, API 210 and local database 214 may all be used cooperatively to load, store and execute the various functions disclosed herein and thus the logic to perform these functions may be distributed over various elements. Alternatively, the functionality could be incorporated into one discrete component. Therefore, the features of the UE 200 in
The wireless communication between the UE 102 or 200 and the RAN 120 can be based on different technologies or transport mechanisms, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), W-CDMA, time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) or other protocols that may be used in a wireless communications network or a data communications network. Accordingly, the illustrations provided herein are not intended to limit the embodiments of the invention and are merely to aid in the description of aspects of embodiments of the invention.
Referring to
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It will be appreciated that the configured logic or “logic configured to” in the various blocks are not limited to specific logic gates or elements, but generally refer to the ability to perform the functionality described herein (either via hardware or a combination of hardware and software). Thus, the configured logics or “logic configured to” as illustrated in the various blocks are not necessarily implemented as logic gates or logic elements despite sharing the word “logic.” Other interactions or cooperation between the logic in the various blocks will become clear to one of ordinary skill in the art from a review of the embodiments described below in more detail.
The various embodiments may be implemented on any of a variety of commercially available server devices, such as server 400B illustrated in
UEs can be configured to execute a number of different mobile applications that, when executed, are configured to interface with a number of external servers (e.g., the application servers 170, the web servers 186, etc.) via the RAN 120. For example, a mobile application for Facebook may be configured to contact a given application server 170 controlled by Facebook, a mobile web application may be configured to contact a number of different web servers 186 to retrieve web content, and so on.
Further illustrated in
Referring to
At 605, the POD 510A determines that the data that App X has requested to be uploaded to the target server includes multiple elements, with each of the multiple elements including a first portion with substantially non-redundant (e.g., unique) information, and a second portion with redundant information relative to other elements. For example, App X may be operated by a user that has just taken 150 pictures at a wedding reception. Each individual picture has image content that would fall under the first portion because each picture includes substantially non-redundant image data. On the other hand, each individual picture is also tagged with metadata that falls under the second portion. For example, a timestamp corresponding to the year that the 150 pictures were captured may be the same for each of the 150 pictures (barring a late wedding reception on New Years Eve), a geotag of the 150 pictures would be substantially the same (e.g., similar longitude and latitude coordinates for each of the 150 pictures), a weather-tag indicating weather conditions where the 150 picture were taken would likely be substantially the same, and so on. Of course, other types of metadata commonly associated with image files could vary from picture to picture, such as time of day and so on.
At 610, the POD 510A generates a composite representation of the second portions of the multiple elements and (optionally) reconstruction information by which the first and second portions of each element can be reconstructed. The generation of the reconstruction information can be optional at 610 because, in at least one example, one or more predefined reconstruction rules can be associated with the composite representation, in which case the POD 510A need not generate the reconstruction information from scratch. For example, using the picture example from above, an example of a predefined reconstruction rule can be to omit redundant metatags in successive pictures. Thus, if pictures 1 . . . 70 are each associated with a geotag at location #1 while pictures 71 . . . 150 are each associated with a geotag at location #2, the predefined reconstruction rule can be to assume that any picture without a geotag maps to the closest preceding geotag. Thereby, picture #1 includes a geotag for location #1 while pictures 2 . . . 70 include no geotag and are associated with the geotag for location #1 because picture #1's geotag is the closest preceding geotag, and picture #71 includes a geotag for location #2 while pictures 72 . . . 150 include no geotag and are associated with the geotag for location #2 because picture #71's geotag is the closest preceding geotag, and so on. However, in another example, the composite representation may be generated in a custom or data-specific manner, in which case the reconstruction information can be generated to ensure that the composite representation can be properly reconstructed into the first and second portions of each element.
In a first example of 610 of
With Table 1 as an example, the payload fields, weather tag fields and time of day fields vary between some of image files #1 through #5, and thereby these respective fields fall under the first portions of the multiple elements because their content cannot be generalized across the set of image files #1 through #5 to form a composite representation of each image file. On the other hand, the geotag and time of year fields are the same for each of image files #1 through #5. Thereby, the composite representation of image files #1 through #5 can be [Geotag: (Longitude X, Latitude Y), Time (Year): 2012], and the reconstruction information (e.g., which can be based upon one or more predefined reconstruction rules or generated at 720A in a custom manner as will be discussed below with respect to
After identifying the information to be contained in the composite representation at 610, the POD 510A selectively re-orders one or more data elements within the composite representation based on priority, 615. Generally, the re-ordering of 615 attempts to put higher priority fields within the composite representation before lower priority fields. The respective priorities of the fields can be established by default (e.g., a user identity of the cameraman is higher priority than an ambient weather field so that the user identity can be tagged by Facebook at the time of upload, whereby the weather where the picture was taken is of lower importance, etc.), or alternatively can be explicitly told to the POD 510A by the target server. For example, Facebook may place a high value on the locations where images are captured and may thereby allocate a higher priority to the geotag field as compared to the weather field. Further, the optional re-ordering of 615 may not only de-prioritize fields deemed to be less relevant to the target server, but may exclude these fields altogether in an embodiment. For example, assume that image files to be uploaded to a Facebook server for distribution over the Facebook social network are captured by a camera on UE 200 with a location field (or geotag). However, the user of UE 200 has privacy settings on Facebook that block location sharing. In this case, because Facebook is forbidden to gather or disseminate the location information, the location field itself can be omitted from the composite representation during the re-ordering of 615. It will be appreciated that the re-ordering of the fields within the composite representation is an optional procedure, and that in other embodiments all of the fields could simply be combined and compressed together in a non-ordered format that would not factor the individual priorities of the constituent fields.
The POD 510A transmits the composite representation and (optionally) the reconstruction information for the multiple elements to the MOD 515A at 620. The transmission of the reconstruction information is optional at 620 because in at least one embodiment the reconstruction information can correspond to one or more predefined reconstruction rules that do not need to be expressly conveyed from the POD 510A to the MOD 515A. Rather, the POD 510A can simply rely upon the MOD 515A to be aware of the one or more predefined reconstruction rules without expressly notifying the MOD 515A. Alternatively, the reconstruction information can be explicitly transmitted to the MOD 515A by the POD 510A at 620 (e.g., in case the POD 510A did not use predefined reconstruction rules to generate the composite representation, etc.). In either case, the transmission of 620 is sufficient to indicate the reconstruction information to the MOD 515A, although it will be appreciated that this indication can be implicit or explicit for the reasons noted above. Receipt of the composite representation (and potentially the reconstruction information as well) puts the MOD 515A on notice that the corresponding first portions of the multiple elements will be arriving at the MOD 515A and are to be combined (or reconstructed) using the composite representation based on the reconstruction information. Accordingly, the POD 510A transmits the first portion of each of the multiple elements to the MOD 515A, 625. In the example given with respect to Table 1 above, the first portions transmitted at 625 omit the geotag and time of year fields because these fields will be merged with (or reconstructed into) the image files by the MOD 515A using the composite representation. The MOD 515A then reconstructs the first and second portions of each of the multiple elements based on (i) the first portions, (ii) the composite representation and (iii) the reconstruction information, 630. Again, in the example given with respect to Table 1 above, the reconstruction includes populating the geotag and time of year fields from the composite representation into each of image files #1 through #5. The MOD 515A then transmits the reconstructed multiple elements to the target server, 635. Thus, the operation of the POD 510A and the MOD 515A is transparent from the perspective of both App X and the target server.
Referring to
At 705A, the POD 510A transmits App X's data download request to the MOD 515A. The MOD 515A receives App X's data download request and determines that the data that App X has requested to be downloaded from the target server includes multiple elements, with each of the multiple elements including a first portion with substantially non-redundant (e.g., unique) information, and a second portion with redundant information relative to other elements, 710A. The determination of 710A can be based on the type of files requested for download by the data download request from App X, or alternatively can be notified to the MOD 515A by the target server after the MOD 515A relays the data download request to the target server. For example, App X may be requesting download of a set of 150 pictures from a wedding reception that is stored on the target server. Each individual picture has image content that would fall under the first portion because each picture includes substantially non-redundant image data. On the other hand, each individual picture is also tagged with metadata that falls under the second portion. For example, a timestamp corresponding to the year that the 150 pictures were captured may be the same for each of the 150 pictures (barring a late wedding reception on New Years Eve), a geotag of the 150 pictures would be substantially the same (e.g., similar longitude and latitude coordinates for each of the 150 pictures), a weather-tag indicating weather conditions where the 150 picture were taken would likely be substantially the same, and so on. Of course, other types of metadata commonly associated with image files could vary from picture to picture, such as time of day and so on.
At 715A, the MOD 515A retrieves at least the second portions of the multiple elements from the target server. In the image file example, the MOD 515A may retrieve all metadata associated with each of the multiple elements at 715A. It is also possible (but not necessary) that the MOD 515A will also retrieve the first portions of the multiple elements. In particular,
Referring to
Similar to 610 of
After identifying the information to be contained in the composite representation at 720A, the MOD 515A selectively re-orders one or more data elements within the composite representation based on priority, 725A. Generally, the re-ordering of 725A attempts to put higher priority fields within the composite representation before lower priority fields. The respective priorities of the fields can be established by default, or alternatively can be based upon explicit or implicit user profile information associated with an operator or user of UE 200. For example, in the image file example, the location or geotag field may be de-prioritized if the target user does not frequently use this feature. Further, the optional re-ordering of 725A can not only de-prioritize fields deemed to be less relevant to the target server, but can exclude these fields altogether in an embodiment. For example, assume that image files to be downloaded to UE 200 includes a weather field indicating weather conditions where the respective images were captured, but that UE 200 is not capable of presenting weather information. In this case, the weather field itself can be omitted from the composite representation during the re-ordering of 725A. It will be appreciated that the re-ordering of the fields within the composite representation at 725A is an optional procedure, and that in other embodiments all of the fields could simply be combined and compressed together in a non-ordered format that would not factor the individual priorities of the constituent fields.
Referring to
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At 710C, the POD 510A reconstructs the first and second portions of each of the multiple elements based on (i) the first portions, (ii) the composite representation and (iii) the reconstruction information. Again, in the example given with respect to Table 1 above, the reconstruction includes populating the geotag and time of year fields from the composite representation into each of image files #1 through #5. The POD 510A then delivers the reconstructed multiple elements to App X, 715C, and App X processes and/or presents the multiple elements, 720C. Thus, the operation of the POD 510A and the MOD 515A is transparent from the perspective of both App X and the target server.
While each of the above-described embodiments are described whereby the POD 510A communicates directly with the MOD 515A (e.g., in
Those of skill in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.
Further, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.
The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
The methods, sequences and/or algorithms described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.
In one or more exemplary embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
While the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative embodiments of the invention, it should be noted that various changes and modifications could be made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and/or actions of the method claims in accordance with the embodiments of the invention described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the invention may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.
The present application for patent claims priority to Provisional Application No. 61/641,174 entitled “SELECTIVELY EXCHANGING METADATA IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM”, filed May 1, 2012, by the same inventors as the subject application, assigned to the assignee hereof and hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61641174 | May 2012 | US |
