Communications using adaptive multi-rate codecs
View Patent ↗A communications network includes a data network that is coupled to a wireless access network and other devices. The wireless access network enables access by mobile stations of the data network. Each mobile station, and optionally, one or more of other devices coupled to the data network, contains an adaptive multi-rate codec (coder/decoder) that can be set to operate at a plurality of rates. Based on the selected one of the plurality of rates, the mobile station or other device sets a quality-of-service (QoS) indicator value in a packet carrying data, such as real-time data, over the wireless access network and/or data network. By varying QoS requirements using the QoS indicator value for different codec rates, bandwidth requirements are varied so that more efficient usage of the data network is provided.
1. A method of communications, comprising:
determining one of plural rates to code data for communication over a network;
encapsulating the data in an Internet Protocol (IP) packet having a quality-of-service indicator field; and
setting one of plural differentiated services code points for the quality-of-service indicator field based on the determined one of plural rates.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein setting one of plural differentiated services code points for the quality-of-service field comprises:
setting a first differentiated services code point for the quality-of-service indicator field in the Internet Protocol packet if a first rate is determined; and
setting a second differentiated services code point for the quality-of-service indicator field in the Internet Protocol packet if a second rate is determined.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining one of plural rates comprises determining one of plural rates of an adaptive multi-rate codec.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality-of-service indicator field comprises a differentiated services field.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining one of plural rates to code data comprises determining one of plural rates to code real-time data.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining one of plural rates to code data comprises determining one of plural rates to code audio data.
7. A method of communications, comprising:
determining one of plural rates to code data for communication over a network;
encapsulating the data in an Internet Protocol (IP) packet having a quality-of-service indicator field;
setting one of plural differentiated services code points for the quality-of-service indicator field in the IP packet based on the determined one of plural rates; and
transmitting the packet over a wireless link.
8. An article comprising at least one storage medium comprising instructions that when executed cause a system to:
determine one of plural rates to code data for communication over a network; and
set one of plural quality-of-service values in an Internet Protocol packet, based on the determined one rate, to carry the data over the network, wherein setting one of the plural quality-of-service values comprises setting one of plural differentiated services code points.
9. The article of claim 8 , wherein the instructions when executed cause the system to determine one of plural rates by determining one of plural rates of an adaptive multi-rate codec.
10. The article of claim 8 , wherein the instructions when executed cause the system to set one of the plural quality-of-service values in a differentiated services field in the Internet Protocol packet.
11. The article of claim 8 , wherein the instructions when executed cause the system to determine one of plural rates to code one of audio data and video data.
12. A system comprising:
a codec adapted to code real-time data;
a controller adapted to vary a codec rate and to set one of plural quality-of-service indicator values in an Internet Protocol (IP) packet based on the codec rate, the plural quality-of-service indicator values comprising differentiated services code points; and
an interface to a wireless link to communicate the IP packet.
13. A system comprising:
a codec adapted to code real-time data; and
a controller adapted to vary a codec rate and to set one of plural quality-of-service indicator values in a quality-of-service field of an Internet Protocol packet based on the codec rate, the plural quality-of-service indicator values comprising differentiated services code points.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the codec comprises an adaptive multi-rate codec.
15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the controller comprises application software to set the one of plural quality-of-service indicator values.
16. The system of claim 15 , further comprising a network layer to encapsulate the data in a packet to carry the one quality-of-service indicator value.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the network layer comprises an Internet Protocol layer.
18. The system of claim 13 , further comprising a Real-Time Protocol module adapted to encapsulate the real-time data in a Real-Time Protocol packet.
19. A system comprising:
a network interface to receive plural Internet Protocol (IP) packets from a network;
a plurality of queues to store the IP packets, each IP packet containing a quality-of-service indicator, the plural IP packets containing different quality-of-service indicator values that correspond to different coding rates, the quality-of-service indicator values comprising differentiated services code points; and
a controller adapted to store each IP packet in one of the plurality of queues based on the quality-of-service indicator value in the IP packet.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the IP packets contain conversational data.
21. The system of claim 19 , wherein the coding rates comprise rates of an adaptive multi-rate codec.