Quality of Service (QoS) - aware wireless Point to Multi-Point (PtMP) transmission system architecture

1 - 12 . (canceled)

13 . A quality of service (QoS) aware, wireless point to multi-point telecommunications system comprising:

a wireless base station coupled to a first data network;

one or more host workstations coupled to said first data network;

one or more subscriber customer premise equipment (CPE) stations in wireless communication with said wireless base station over a shared wireless bandwidth using a packet-centric protocol;

one or more subscriber workstations coupled to each of said subscriber CPE stations over a second network; and

resource allocation device that allocates said shared wireless bandwidth among said subscriber CPE stations and that allocates said shared wireless bandwidth so as to optimize end-user QoS;

wherein said resource allocation device comprises:

an analyzing and scheduling device that analyzes and schedules an IP flow over said shared wireless bandwidth, wherein said IP flow includes at least one of:

a transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) flow, and

a user datagram protocol/internet protocol (UDP/IP) flow.

14 . The system according to claim 13 , wherein said analyzing and scheduling device comprises:

an identifier that identifies said IP flow, and

a characterizer that characterizes said IP flow,

wherein said analyzing and scheduling device comprises a prioritizing device that prioritizes said IP flow.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein said identifier comprises:

an analyzer device that analyzes packet header fields; and

an identifier device that identifies a new and an existing IP flow.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein said analyzer device comprises:

a buffering device that buffers packets of a plurality of IP flows;

a data extracting device that extracts data from packet header fields of each of said packets; and

a packet header field analyzer device that analyzes said packet header fields.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein said data extracting device comprises:

means for determining whether a packet of said IP flow is packet version IPv.4 or IPv.6; and

means for parsing said packet of said IP flow.

18 . The system of claim 16 , wherein said packet header field analyzer device comprises:

means for determining a source application type.

19 . The system of claim 13 , wherein said means for determining source application type comprises at least one of:

means for storing and retrieving a source application for a source address from a source application packet header table;

means for determining a source application from a type of service (TOS) packet header field; and

means for determining a source application from a differentiated services (DiffServ) packet header field.

20 . The system of claim 15 , wherein said identifier device comprises:

means for storing and retrieving said existing IP flow to and from an IP flow identification data table.

21 . The system of claim 15 , wherein said characterizer comprises:

means for determining whether an age of a packet is older than a threshold age;

means for anticipating client application IP flow discards based on said age of said packet;

means for determining a QoS requirement for said new IP flow; and

means for determining a subscriber identification for one of said one or more subscriber CPE stations associated with said new IP flow.

22 . The system of claim 21 , wherein said means for determining whether an age of a packet is older than a threshold age comprises:

means for analyzing a time to live (TTL) packet header field for determining said age of said packet.

23 . The system of claim 21 , wherein said means for determining a QoS requirement for said new IP flow determines said QoS requirement based on at least one of:

a source address;

a destination address;

a UDP port number, and

wherein said means for determining a QoS requirement for said new IP flow comprises:

means for storing and retrieving a QoS requirement for an IP flow from an IP flow QoS requirement table.

24 . The system of claim 14 , wherein said prioritizing device comprises:

means for taking into account hierarchical class based priorities (HCBPs) for said IP flow.

25 . The system of claim 14 , wherein said prioritizing device comprises:

means for taking into account virtual private network (VPN) priorities for said IP flow.

26 . The system of claim 14 , wherein said prioritizing device comprises:

means for taking into account service level agreement (SLA) based priorities for said IP flow.

27 . The system of claim 14 , wherein said prioritizing device comprises:

means for taking into account any type of service (TOS) priorities for said IP flow.

28 . The system of claim 14 , wherein said prioritizing device comprises:

means for taking into account any differentiated services (DiffServ) priorities for said IP flow.

29 . The system of claim 13 , wherein said resource allocation device comprises a packet scheduler.

30 . The system of claim 29 , wherein said packet scheduler is executed on at least one of:

said wireless base station; and

said one or more subscriber CPE stations.

31 . The system of claim 13 , wherein said wireless base station comprises a wireless access point (WAP).

32 . The system of claim 13 , wherein said resource allocation device is application aware including awareness of end user data applications and including awareness of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) end user data applications.

33 . The system of claim 13 , wherein said one or more subscribers CPE stations comprise a wireless local area network (LAN) station (STA).