Apparatus, systems and methods for improved link quality evaluation of mobile cellular systems

1. A method, comprising:

at a user equipment (“UE”) connected to a network, wherein the UE communicates data to the network on an uplink (“UL”) link:

determining a requested buffer size for a UL communication;

determining a transport block size for the UL communication based on a primary set of allocation parameters;

comparing the requested buffer size to the transport block size to determine a data rate for the UL communication that is being supported by the network;

determining when the data rate for the UL communication satisfies a threshold;

when the data rate satisfies the threshold, identifying the UL link as a good quality link and sending acceptable link quality feedback to the network; and

when the data rate does not satisfy the threshold, performing a further action to test a quality of the UL link.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the primary set of allocation parameters includes at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (“MCS”) and a resource block allocation.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the further action includes:

determining when a transmit power value satisfies a transmit power threshold;

when the transmit power value satisfies the transmit power threshold, identifying the UL link as a good quality link and sending acceptable link quality feedback to the network; and

when the transmit power value does not satisfy the transmit power threshold, identifying the UL link as a poor quality link and sending poor link quality feedback to the network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the further action includes:

determining when a power headroom value satisfies a power headroom threshold;

when the power headroom value satisfies the power headroom threshold, identifying the UL link as a good quality link and sending acceptable link quality feedback to the network; and

when the power headroom value does not satisfy the power headroom threshold, identifying the UL link as a poor quality link and sending poor link quality feedback to the network.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the further action includes:

determining when a hybrid automatic repeat request (“HARQ”) retransmission rate satisfies a HARQ retransmission rate threshold;

when the HARQ retransmission satisfies the HARQ retransmission threshold, identifying the UL link as a good quality link and sending acceptable link quality feedback to the network; and

when the HARQ retransmission does not satisfy the HARQ retransmission threshold, identifying the UL link as a poor quality link and sending poor link quality feedback to the network.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

filtering the primary set of allocation parameters using one of a finite impulse response (“FIR”) filter and an infinite impulse response (“IIR”) filter.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying the UL link as a poor quality link; and

performing at least one of:

lowering an audio codec rate used on the UL link,

selecting a different UL link associated with a different radio access technology (“RAT”), and

triggering a hand-over to a neighboring node.

8. A user equipment (“UE”) connected to a network via an uplink (“UL”) link, comprising:

a processor configured to control establishing and releasing connections between the UE and a first wireless network and between the UE and a second wireless network;

a transceiver configurable to transmit and receive signals to the first wireless network according to a first wireless communication protocol and to the second wireless network according to a second wireless communication protocol; and

a non-transitory memory having a program stored thereon, wherein execution of the program causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

determining a requested buffer size for a UL communication;

determining a transport block size for the UL communication based on a primary set of allocation parameters;

comparing the requested buffer size to the transport block size to determine a data rate for the UL communication that is being supported by the network;

determining when the data rate for the UL communication satisfies a threshold;

when the data rate satisfies the threshold, identifying the UL link as a good quality link and sending acceptable link quality feedback to the network; and

when the data rate does not satisfy the threshold, performing a further action to test a quality of the UL link.

9. The UE of claim 8 , wherein the primary set of allocation parameters includes at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (“MCS”) and a resource block allocation.

10. The UE of claim 8 , wherein the further action includes:

determining when a transmit power value satisfies a transmit power threshold;

when the transmit power value satisfies the transmit power threshold, identifying the UL link as a good quality link and sending acceptable link quality feedback to the network; and

when the transmit power value does not satisfy the transmit power threshold, identifying the UL link as a poor quality link and sending poor link quality feedback to the network.

11. The UE of claim 8 , wherein the further action includes:

determining when a power headroom value satisfies a power headroom threshold;

when the power headroom value satisfies the power headroom threshold, identifying the UL link as a good quality link and sending acceptable link quality feedback to the network; and

when the power headroom value does not satisfy the power headroom threshold, identifying the UL link as a poor quality link and sending poor link quality feedback to the network.

12. The UE of claim 8 , wherein the further action includes:

determining when a hybrid automatic repeat request (“HARQ”) retransmission rate satisfies a HARQ retransmission rate threshold;

when the HARQ retransmission satisfies the HARQ retransmission threshold, identifying the UL link as a good quality link and sending acceptable link quality feedback to the network; and

when the HARQ retransmission does not satisfy the HARQ retransmission threshold, identifying the UL link as a poor quality link and sending poor link quality feedback to the network.

13. The UE of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:

filtering the primary set of allocation parameters using one of a finite impulse response (“FIR”) filter and an infinite impulse response (“IIR”) filter.

14. The UE of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying the UL link as a poor quality link; and

performing at least one of:

lowering an audio codec rate used on the UL link,

selecting a different UL link associated with a different radio access technology (“RAT”), and

triggering a hand-over to a neighboring node.

15. A method, comprising:

at a user equipment (“UE”):

comparing a first channel quality factor determined at the UE to a first threshold value, wherein the UE is connected to a network and communicates with the network on a link;

when the first channel quality factor satisfies the first threshold, identifying the link as a good quality link and sending acceptable link quality feedback to the network;

when the first channel quality factor does not satisfy the first threshold, comparing a further channel quality factor determined at the UE to a further threshold value;

when the further channel quality factor satisfies the further threshold, identifying the link as a good quality link and sending acceptable link quality feedback to the network; and

when the further channel quality factor does not satisfy the further threshold, performing a further action to test a quality of the UL link.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first channel quality factor includes at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (“MCS”) and a resource block allocation.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the further channel quality factor includes at least one of a transmit power value, power headroom value, and a hybrid automatic repeat request (“HARQ”) retransmission rate.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the further action includes:

comparing an additional channel quality factor determined at the UE to an additional threshold value;

when the additional channel quality factor satisfies the additional threshold, identifying the link as a good quality link and sending acceptable link quality feedback to the network; and

when the additional channel quality factor does not satisfy the additional threshold, identifying the link as a poor quality link and sending poor link quality feedback to the network.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

filtering the first channel quality factor using one of a finite impulse response (“FIR”) filter and an infinite impulse response (“IIR”) filter.

20. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

identifying the UL link as a poor quality link; and

performing at least one of:

lowering an audio codec rate used on the UL link,

selecting a different UL link associated with a different radio access technology (“RAT”), and

triggering a hand-over to a neighboring node.