METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO DETERMINING, COMMUNICATING, AND/OR USING DELAY INFORMATION
Methods and apparatus related to determining, communicating, and/or using delay information and described. A wireless terminal determines delay information corresponding to queued information that it intends to transmits. The delay information includes a minimum time to a transmission deadline indicating a minimum amount of time remaining before information will be discarded if not transmitted. The determined delay information is communicated to a base station in a control information report. Alternatives formats for the control information report are possible including a report type conveying only delay information and a report type conveying delay information and queue backlog count information jointly coded. A base station uses received delay information received from one or more wireless terminals to efficiently schedule uplink traffic channel segments.
1 . A method of operating a wireless terminal, comprising:
determining delay information corresponding to data to be transmitted, said delay information including at lest a minimum delay to a transmission deadline; and
communicating at least some of said determined delay information to a base station.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said minimum delay to a transmission deadline is a first minimum delay to a first packet transmission deadline, said first minimum delay corresponding to data to be transmitted by the wireless terminal that has been waiting in a first transmission queue.
3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
dropping at least one packet from said first transmission queue if no data is transmitted from said first transmission queue by the transmission deadline.
4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein determining delay information further includes:
determining a second minimum delay to a second packet transmission deadline, said second minimum delay to a transmission deadline corresponding to data to be transmitted by the wireless terminal that has been waiting in a second transmission queue; and
wherein communicating at least some of said determined delay information to a base station includes communicating said first and second minimum delays to the base station.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein said first and second transmission queues correspond to different traffic flows.
6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the first transmission queue corresponds to a voice traffic flow and the second transmission queue corresponds to a non-voice traffic flow.
7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein said first minimum delay is reported more frequently than said second minimum delay.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
communicating backlog information indicating an amount of data waiting to be transmitted.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein communicating at least some of said determined delay information includes transmitting said minimum delay in a delay information report transmitted over a wireless communications link; and
wherein communicating backlog information includes transmitting said backlog information over said wireless communications link in a backlog information report.
10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein communicating backlog information indicating an amount of data waiting to be transmitted includes:
jointly coding frame counts of data to be transmitted and delay information; and
transmitting the jointly coded information over a wireless communications link.
11 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining an aggregated backlog value indicating an amount of information corresponding to a plurality of data transmission streams waiting to be communicated.
12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining a timing constrained backlog amount indicating an amount of backlog waiting to be transmitted which satisfies a timing constraint.
13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
communicating the determined timing constrained backlog amount to a base station.
14 . A wireless terminal, comprising:
a transmission delay determination module for determining delay information corresponding to data to be transmitted, said delay information including at least a minimum delay to a transmission deadline; and
a wireless transmitter module for transmitting at least some delay information determined by said delay determination module.
15 . The wireless terminal of claim 14 , further comprising:
a first transmission queue for storing data to be transmitted;
memory including queue statistics including said determined delay information which includes said minimum delay to a transmission deadline, said minimum delay to a transmission deadline being a first minimum delay to a first packet transmission deadline, said first minimum delay corresponding to data to be transmitted by the wireless terminal that has been waiting in the first transmission queue.
16 . The wireless terminal of claim 15 , further comprising:
a queue management module for dropping at least one packet from said first transmission queue if no data is transmitted from said first transmission queue by the transmission deadline.
17 . The wireless terminal of claim 15 , further comprising:
a second transmission queue for storing data to be transmitted; and
wherein said queue statistics including said determined delay information further include a second minimum delay to a second packet transmission deadline, said second minimum delay to a transmission deadline corresponding to data to be transmitted by the wireless terminal that has been waiting in the second transmission queue; and
wherein said wireless transmitter is for transmitting said first and second minimum delays to the base station.
18 . The wireless terminal of claim 15 , wherein said first and second transmission queues correspond to different traffic flows.
19 . The wireless terminal of claim 18 , wherein the first transmission queue corresponds to a voice traffic flow and the second transmission queue corresponds to a non-voice traffic flow.
20 . The wireless terminal of claim 18 , further comprising:
a transmission control module for controlling the transmitter to transmit said first minimum delay to transmission deadline more frequently than said second minimum delay to transmission deadline.
21 . The wireless terminal of claim 15 , further comprising:
a backlog information generation module for generating information indicating an amount of data waiting to be transmitted.
22 . The wireless terminal of claim 21 , further comprising:
a coding module for jointly coding frame counts of data to be transmitted and delay information.
23 . The wireless terminal of claim 14 , further comprising:
a data unit count aggregation module for determining a total amount of data waiting to be transmitted, said data corresponding to a plurality of different data transmission streams.
24 . The wireless terminal of claim 14 , further comprising:
a constrained data unit module for determining an amount of data waiting to be transmitted that satisfies a transmission timing constraint.
25 . A wireless terminal, comprising:
a transmission delay determination means for determining delay information corresponding to data to be transmitted, said delay information including at least a minimum delay to a transmission deadline; and
a wireless transmitter means for transmitting at least some delay information determined by said delay determination module.
26 . The wireless terminal of claim 25 , further comprising:
first transmission queue means for storing data to be transmitted; and
memory means for storing queue statistics including said determined delay information which includes said minimum delay to a transmission deadline, said minimum delay to a transmission deadline being a first minimum delay to a first packet transmission deadline, said first minimum delay corresponding to data to be transmitted by the wireless terminal that has been waiting in the first transmission queue.
27 . The wireless terminal of claim 26 , further comprising:
a queue management means for dropping at least one packet from said first transmission queue if no data is transmitted from said first transmission queue by the transmission deadline.
28 . The wireless terminal of claim 26 , further comprising:
second transmission queue means for storing data to be transmitted; and
wherein said queue statistics including said determined delay information further include a second minimum delay to a second packet transmission deadline, said second minimum delay to a transmission deadline corresponding to data to be transmitted by the wireless terminal that has been waiting in the second transmission queue.
29 . The wireless terminal of claim 26 , wherein said first and second transmission queue means correspond to different traffic flows.
30 . The wireless terminal of claim 29 , further comprising:
a transmission control means for controlling the transmitter to transmit said first minimum delay more frequently than said second minimum delay; and
a backlog information generation means for generating information indicating an amount of data waiting to be transmitted.
31 . A computer readable medium embodying machine executable instructions for controlling a wireless terminal to implement a method, the method comprising:
determining delay information corresponding to data to be transmitted, said delay information including at least a minimum delay to a transmission deadline; and
communicating at least some of said determined delay information to a base station.
32 . The computer readable medium of claim 31 , wherein said minimum delay to a transmission deadline is a first minimum delay to a first packet transmission deadline, said first minimum delay corresponding to data to be transmitted by the wireless terminal that has been waiting in a first transmission queue.
33 . The computer readable medium of claim 32 , further embodying machine executable instructions for:
dropping at least one packet from said first transmission queue if no data is transmitted from said first transmission queue by the transmission deadline.
34 . The computer readable medium of claim 32 , further embodying machine executable instructions for:
determining a second minimum delay to a second packet transmission deadline, said second minimum delay to a transmission deadline corresponding to data to be transmitted by the wireless terminal that has been waiting in a second transmission queue, as part of said step of determining delay information; and
communicating said first and second minimum delays to the base station, as part of said step of communicating at least some of said determined delay information to a base station.
35 . The computer readable medium of claim 34 , wherein said first and second transmission queues correspond to different traffic flows.
36 . A device comprising:
a processor configured to:
determine delay information corresponding to data to be transmitted, said delay information including at least a minimum delay to a transmission deadline; and
communicate at least some of said determined delay information to a base station.
37 . The device of claim 36 , wherein said minimum delay to a transmission deadline is a first minimum delay to a first packet transmission deadline, said first minimum delay corresponding to data to be transmitted by the wireless terminal that has been waiting in a first transmission queue.
38 . The device of claim 37 , wherein said processor is further configured to:
drop at least one packet from said first transmission queue if no data is transmitted from said first transmission queue by the transmission deadline.
39 . The device of claim 37 , wherein said processor is further configured to:
determine a second minimum delay to a second packet transmission deadline, said second minimum delay to a transmission deadline corresponding to data to be transmitted by the wireless terminal that has been waiting in a second transmission queue, as part of said step of determining delay information; and
communicate said first and second minimum delays to the base station, as part of said step of communicating at least some of said determined delay information to a base station.
40 . The device of claim 39 , wherein said first and second transmission queues correspond to different traffic flows.