Systems and method for communicating priority information for use in scheduling the transmission of data

1. A method, performed by a first network node, for communicating to a second network node priority information that can be used by the second network node to schedule the transmission of downlink application data to a user equipment (UE), comprising:

(a) receiving, at the first network node via a network, a first packet transmitted from a device connected to the network, the first packet containing downlink application data (AD 1 ) intended for the UE;

(b) determining the priority of said downlink application data intended for the UE;

(c) creating a second packet comprising a header and payload, the payload of the second packet comprising at least some of the downlink application data; and

(d) transmitting, from the first network node, the second packet towards the second network node, wherein

the step of creating the second packet comprises including in the header of the second packet priority information identifying the priority determined in step (b), and

the step of transmitting the second packet comprises transmitting the second packet towards the second network node with at least some of the downlink application data and the priority information.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

creating a third packet comprising a header and payload, the payload of the third packet comprising the second packet, wherein

the third packet is an Internet Protocol packet and the header of the second packet is a user datagram protocol (UDP) or transmission control protocol (TCP) header that includes a port number field,

the step of including the priority information in the header of the second packet comprises placing at least some of the priority information in a port number field of the header of the second packet, and

the step of transmitting the second packet towards the second network node comprises transmitting the third packet towards the second network node.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the second packet is an Internet Protocol packet and the header includes a Differentiated Services (DS) field or Type of Service (TOS) field, and

the step of including the priority information in the header comprises placing at least some of the priority information in the DS or TOS field of the header.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

creating a third packet comprising a header and payload, the payload of the third packet comprising the second packet, wherein

the third packet is an Internet Protocol packet and the header of the second packet is a tunneling protocol header that includes a tunnel endpoint identifier (TEID) field,

the step of including the priority information in the header of the second packet comprises placing at least some of the priority information in the TEID field of the header of the second packet, and

the step of transmitting the second packet towards the second network node comprises transmitting the third packet towards the second network node.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the first packet includes a header containing a destination address, and

the step of determining the priority of the downlink application data comprises determining the destination address included in the header of the first packet and using the destination address to obtain policy information that includes the priority information or information from which the priority information can be derived by transmitting to a policy server a request for the policy information, wherein the request includes the destination address.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the step of determining the priority of the downlink application data comprises determining the application executing in the UE that is the intended recipient of the application data contained in the first packet.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the step of determining the priority of the downlink application data comprises inspecting the payload of at least the first packet to determine the type of content contained in the payload.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first network node is an edge router or edge gateway and the second network node is a base station.

9. An apparatus, comprising

a data storage system storing computer software;

a data processing system for executing the computer software; and

a transmit and receive module operable to receive a first packet containing downlink application data destined for a user equipment (UE), wherein

the computer software is configured such that when the computer software is executed by the data processing system the data processing system, in response to receiving the first packet, performs a process comprising the following steps:

(a) determining the priority of the downlink application data;

(c) creating a second packet comprising a header and payload, the payload of the second packet comprising at least some of the downlink application data; and

(d) transmitting the second packet towards a network node, wherein

the step of creating the second packet comprises including in the header of the second packet priority information identifying the priority determined in step (a), and

the step of transmitting the second packet comprises transmitting the second packet towards the network node with at least some of the application data and the priority information.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the process further comprises:

creating a third packet comprising a header and payload, the payload of the third packet comprising the second packet, wherein

the third packet is an Internet Protocol packet and the header of the second packet is a user datagram protocol (UDP) or transmission control protocol (TCP) header that includes a port number field,

the step of including the priority information in the header of the second packet comprises placing at least some of the priority information in a port number field of the header of the second packet, and

the step of transmitting the second packet towards the network node comprises transmitting the third packet towards the network node.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein

the second packet is an Internet Protocol packet and the header includes a Differentiated Services (DS) field or Type of Service (TOS) field, and

the step of including the priority information in the header comprises placing at least some of the priority information in the DS or TOS field of the header.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising:

creating a third packet comprising a header and payload, the payload of the third packet comprising the second packet, wherein

the third packet is an Internet Protocol packet and the header of the second packet is a tunneling protocol header that includes a tunnel endpoint identifier (TEID) field,

the step of including the priority information in the header of the second packet comprises placing at least some of the priority information in the TEID field of the header of the second packet, and

the step of transmitting the second packet towards the network node comprises transmitting the third packet towards the network node.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein

the first packet includes a header containing a destination address, and

the step of determining the priority of the application data comprises using the destination address to obtain policy information that includes the priority information or information from which the priority information can be derived by transmitting to a policy server a request for the policy information, wherein the request includes the destination address.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein

the step of determining the priority of the application data comprises determining the application executing in the UE that is the intended recipient of the downlink application data contained in the first packet.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein

the step of determining the priority of the downlink application data comprises inspecting the payload of at least the first packet to determine the type of content contained in the payload.

16. A method, performed by a first network node, for communicating to a second network node priority information, comprising:

(a) receiving, at the first network node, a first packet comprising a header and payload, wherein the payload comprises downlink application data (AD 1 ) intended for a particular user equipment (UE), and the header comprises priority information;

(b) after receiving the first packet, receiving from the particular UE uplink application data (AD 2 );

(c) after receiving the uplink application data, creating a second packet comprising a header and payload, wherein the payload of the second packet comprises at least some of the uplink application data; and

(d) transmitting the second packet towards the second network node, wherein

the step of creating the second packet comprises including in the header of the second packet said priority information that was included in the header of the first packet or bits derived from said priority information.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein

the second packet is an Internet Protocol (IP) packet and the header of the second packet includes a Differentiated Services (DS) field or Type of Service (TOS) field, and

the step of including in the header of the second packet said priority information or said bits derived from said priority information comprises placing said priority information or said bits in the DS or TOS field of the header of the second packet.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein

the first packet is an Internet Protocol (IP) packet and the header of the first packet includes a Differentiated Services (DS) field or Type of Service (TOS) field, and

at least some of said priority information is contained in the DS or TOS field.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein

the first packet is a UDP/IP or TCP/IP packet and the header of the first packet includes a port number field, and

at least some of said priority information is contained in the port number field.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein

the first packet is a tunneling protocol packet and the header of the first packet includes a tunnel end point identification (TEPI) field, and

at least some of said priority information is contained in the TEPI field.

21. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first network node is a base station operable to communicate wirelessly with the UE and configured to schedule the transmission of the downlink application data to the UE based, at least in part, on said priority information included in the header of the first packet and to schedule the transmission of the downlink application data to the UE based, at least in part, on said priority information included in the header of the first packet and a predetermined policy and to schedule an uplink transmission from the UE based, at least in part, on said priority information.

22. The method of claim 16 , wherein the step of creating the second packet comprises:

determining whether the uplink application data is addressed to the same application end point that originated the downlink application data; and

including in the header of the second packet said priority information that was included in the header of the first packet or bits derived from said priority information in response to determining that the uplink application data is addressed to the same application end point that originated the downlink application data.

23. A base station apparatus capable of communicating to a network node priority information that can be used by the network node to prioritize the transmission of a packet, comprising:

a data storage system storing computer software;

a data processing system for executing the computer software; and

a transmit and receive module operable to receive a first packet comprising a header and payload, wherein the payload comprises downlink application data intended for a particular user equipment (UE), and the header comprises priority information, wherein

the computer software is configured such that when the computer software is executed by the data processing system the data processing system, in response to receiving the first packet, performs a process comprising the following steps:

(a) after receiving the first packet, receiving from the particular UE uplink application data;

(b) after receiving the uplink application data, creating a second packet comprising a header and payload, wherein the payload of the second packet comprises at least some of the uplink application data; and

(c) transmitting the second packet towards the network node, characterized in that

the step of creating the second packet comprises including in the header of the second packet said priority information that was included in the header of the first packet or bits derived from said priority information.

24. The base station of claim 23 , wherein

the second packet is an Internet Protocol packet and the header of the second packet includes a Differentiated Services (DS) field or Type of Service (TOS) field, and

the step of including in the header of the second packet said priority information or said bits derived from said priority information comprises placing said priority information or said bits in the DS or TOS field of the header of the second packet.

25. The base station of claim 23 , wherein

the first packet is a UDP/IP or TCP/IP packet and the header of the first packet includes a port number field, and

at least some of said priority information is contained in the port number field.

26. The base station of claim 23 , wherein

the first packet is a tunneling protocol packet and the header of the first packet includes a tunnel end point identification (TEPI) field, and

at least some of said priority information is contained in the TEPI field.

27. The base station of claim 23 , wherein the base station is configured to schedule the transmission of the downlink application data to the UE based, at least in part, on said priority information included in the header of the first packet and to schedule an uplink transmission from the UE based, at least in part, on said priority information.

28. The base station of claim 23 , wherein the step of creating the second packet comprises:

determining whether the uplink application data is addressed to the same application end point that originated the downlink application data; and

including in the header of the second packet said priority information that was included in the header of the first packet or bits derived from said priority information in response to determining that the uplink application data is addressed to the same application end point that originated the downlink application data.