Scheduling prioritized traffic in a scrambled coded multiple access (SCMA) system

1. A method comprising:

receiving packets, from one or more user devices, at a terminal;

placing the packets on a first input queue and/or a second input queue;

determining a priority and/or service class for each packet;

en-queueing the packets onto a plurality of output queues including at least a first output queue and a second output queue based, at least in part, on the determined priority and/or service class;

detecting one or more eligible scrambled and coded multiple access (SCMA) slots within a frame of a communication system;

identifying available SCMA slots, from the eligible SCMA slots, that are useable for transmitting data; and

de-queueing packets from the first output queue onto the frame via one or more SCMA bursts encompassing at least one available SCMA slot and/or via at least a portion of a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) burst assigned to the terminal,

wherein the SCMA burst and TDMA burst are transmitted on different channel frequencies.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving congestion feedback regarding traffic conditions on the communication system,

wherein en-queueing the packets is performed based, at least in part, on the congestion feedback.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

de-queueing packets from the second output queue, and any additional queues from the plurality of output queues, onto the frame via at least a portion of the TDMA burst assigned to the terminal.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting a first channel frequency prior to transmission of any SCMA bursts; and

selecting a second channel frequency prior to transmission of any TDMA bursts.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of output queues further comprises at least a streaming queue, a bulk queue, and/or a conversational queue.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein de-queueing comprises:

scheduling transmission of packets from the first output queue via scheduled SCMA slots selected from at least one of the available SCMA slots; and

de-queueing packets from the first output queue onto the frame via one or more SCMA burst encompassing the scheduled SCMA slots and/or at least a portion of the TDMA burst assigned to the terminal.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the scheduling is performed based, at least in part, on the capacity of a current TDMA burst.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the scheduling comprises:

applying a random SCMA scheduling process to schedule transmission of packets from the first output queue via the scheduled SCMA slots, if the capacity of a current TDMA burst is less than a total backlog of all output queues; and

applying a backward SCMA scheduling process to schedule transmission of packets from the first output queue via the scheduled SCMA slots, if the capacity of a current TDMA burst is greater than, or equal to, a total backlog of all output queues.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the first input queue and/or second input queue each comprise a plurality of sub-queues including at least a high priority sub-queue; and

packets from the high priority sub-queues are en-queued onto the first output queue, or en-queued onto the second output queue if the first output queue is full.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a communication unit configured, in part, to receive packets from one or more user devices, and place the packets on a first input queue and/or a second input queue;

an en-queueing unit configured to:

determine a priority and/or service class for each packet, and

en-queue the packets onto a plurality of output queues based, at least in part, on the determined priority and/or service class,

wherein the plurality of output queues include at least a first output queue and a second output queue;

a scheduling unit configured to detect one or more eligible scrambled and coded multiple access (SCMA) slots within a frame of a communication system, and identify available SCMA slots, from the eligible SCMA slots, that are useable for transmitting data;

a de-queueing unit configured to de-queue packets from the first output queue onto the frame via one or more SCMA bursts encompassing at least one available SCMA slot and/or via at least a portion of a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) burst assigned to the apparatus; and

a transceiver for transmitting and receiving frames of the communication system,

wherein the SCMA bursts and TDMA burst are transmitted on different channel frequencies.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the en-queueing unit is further configured to en-queue each packet based, at least in part, on congestion feedback regarding traffic conditions on the communication system.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the de-queueing unit is further configured to de-queue packets from the second output queue, and any additional queues from the plurality of output queues, onto the frame via at least a portion of the TDMA burst assigned to the apparatus.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the de-queueing unit is further configured to:

select a first channel frequency prior to transmission of any SCMA bursts; and

select a second channel frequency prior to transmission of any TDMA burst.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of output queues further comprises at least a streaming queue, a bulk queue, and/or a conversational queue.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein:

the scheduling unit is further configured to schedule transmission of packets from the first output queue via scheduled SCMA slots selected from at least one of the available SCMA slots; and

the de-queueing unit is further configured to de-queue packets from the first output queue onto the frame via one or more SCMA bursts encompassing the scheduled SCMA slots and/or at least a portion of the TDMA burst assigned to the apparatus.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein packets from the first output queue are scheduled for transmission based, at least in part, on the capacity of a current TDMA burst.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the scheduling unit is configured to:

apply a random scheduling process to schedule transmission of packets from the first output queue via the scheduled SCMA slots, if the capacity of a current TDMA burst is less than a total backlog of all output queues; and

apply a backward scheduling process to schedule transmission of packets from the first output queue via the scheduled SCMA slots, if the capacity of the current TDMA burst is greater than, or equal to, a total backlog of all output queues.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein

the first input queue and/or second input queue each comprise a plurality of sub-queues including at least a high priority sub-queue; and

the en-queueing unit is configured to en-queue packets from the high priority sub-queues onto the first output queue, or onto the second output queue if the first output queue is full.

19. A system comprising:

one or more terminals, each terminal comprising:

a communication unit configured, in part, to receive packets from one or more user devices, and place the packets on a first input queue and/or a second input queue,

an en-queueing unit configured to:

determine a priority and/or service class for each packet, and

en-queue the packets onto a plurality of output queues based, at least in part, on the determined priority and/or service class,

wherein the plurality of output queues includes at least a first output queue and a second output queue,

a scheduling unit configured to detect one or more eligible SCMA slots within a frame of a communication system, and identify available SCMA slots, from the eligible scrambled and coded multiple access (SCMA) slots, that are useable for transmitting data,

a de-queueing unit configured to de-queue packets from the first output queue onto the frame via one or more SCMA bursts encompassing at least one available SCMA slot and/or via at least a portion of a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) burst assigned to the terminal, and

a transceiver for transmitting and receiving frames of the communication system; and

a gateway configured to transmit/receive frames to/from the one or more terminals, and to broadcast congestion feedback regarding traffic conditions on the communication system to the one or more terminals,

wherein the SCMA burst and TDMA burst are transmitted on different channel frequencies,

wherein TDMA bursts are assigned to the one or more terminals based, at least in part, on current demand, and

wherein each terminal autonomously transmits its SCMA bursts.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein:

the en-queueing unit is further configured to en-queue each packet based, at least in part, on congestion feedback regarding traffic conditions on the communication system; and

the de-queueing unit is further configured to de-queue packets from the second output queue, and any additional queues from the plurality of output queues, onto the frame via at least a portion of the TDMA burst assigned to the apparatus.