Methods and aparatus related to determining, communicating, and/or using delay information in a wireless communications system

Abstract

Methods and apparatus related to determining, communicating, and/or using delay information are described. A wireless terminal determines delay information corresponding to queued information that it intends to transmit. The delay information includes a maximum queuing delay indicting a maximum amount of time data to be transmitted has been waiting to be 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 efficiently schedule uplink traffic channel segments.

1 . A method of operating a wireless terminal, comprising: 
 determining delay information corresponding to data to be transmitted; and    communicating at least some of said determined delay information to a base station.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining delay information includes: 
 determining a maximum queuing delay, said maximum queuing delay indicting a maximum amount of time data to be transmitted has been waiting to be transmitted.    
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining delay information includes: 
 determining a first maximum queuing delay, said first maximum queuing delay being a maximum period of time a packet in a first transmission queue has been waiting to be transmitted by the wireless terminal.    
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein determining delay information includes: 
 determining a second maximum queuing delay, said second maximum queuing delay being a maximum period of time a packet in a second transmission queue has been waiting to be transmitted by the wireless terminal; and    wherein communicating at least some of said determined delay information to a base station includes communicating said first and second maximum queuing delays to the base station.    
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein said first and second transmission queues correspond to different traffic flows.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , 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 maximum queuing delay is reported more frequently than said second maximum queuing delay.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , 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 maximum queuing 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; 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, said determined delay information including a first maximum queuing delay indicting a first maximum amount of time a packet in the first transmission queue has been waiting to be transmitted by the wireless terminal.    
     
     
         16 . 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 maximum queuing delay indicting a second maximum amount of time a packet in the second transmission queue has been waiting to be transmitted by the wireless terminal; and    wherein said transmitter is for transmitting said first and second maximum queuing delays to the base station.    
     
     
         17 . The wireless terminal of  claim 15 , wherein said first and second transmission queues correspond to different traffic flows.  
     
     
         18 . The wireless terminal of  claim 17 , wherein the first transmission queue corresponds to a voice traffic flow and the second transmission queue corresponds to a non-voice traffic flow.  
     
     
         19 . The wireless terminal of  claim 17 , further comprising: 
 a transmission control module for controlling the transmitter to transmit said first maximum queuing delay more frequently than said second maximum queuing delay.    
     
     
         20 . 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.    
     
     
         21 . The wireless terminal of  claim 20 , further comprising: 
 a coding module for jointly coding frame counts of data to be transmitted and delay information.    
     
     
         22 . 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.    
     
     
         23 . The wireless terminal of  claim 14 , further comprising: 
 a constrained data unit count module for determining an amount of data waiting to be transmitted that satisfies a transmission timing constraints.    
     
     
         24 . A wireless terminal, comprising: 
 transmission delay determination means for determining delay information corresponding to data to be transmitted; and    wireless transmitter means for transmitting at least some delay information determined by said delay determination module.    
     
     
         25 . The wireless terminal of  claim 24 , further comprising; 
 first transmission queue means for storing data to be transmitted; and    memory means for storing queue statistics including said determined delay information, said determined delay information including a first maximum queuing delay indicting a first maximum amount of time a packet in the first transmission queue means has been waiting to be transmitted by the wireless terminal.    
     
     
         26 . The wireless terminal of  claim 25 , 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 maximum queuing delay indicting a second maximum amount of time a packet in the second transmission queue means has been waiting to be transmitted by the wireless terminal; and    wherein said transmitter means is also for transmitting said first and second maximum queuing delays to the base station.    
     
     
         27 . The wireless terminal of  claim 25 , wherein said first and second transmission queue means correspond to different traffic flows.  
     
     
         28 . The wireless terminal of  claim 27 , further comprising: 
 a transmission control means for controlling the transmitter to transmit said first maximum queuing delay more frequently than said second maximum queuing delay; and    a backlog information generation means for generating information indicating an amount of data waiting to be transmitted.    
     
     
         29 . 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; and    communicating at least some of said determined delay information to a base station.    
     
     
         30 . The computer readable medium of  claim 29 , further embodying machine executable instructions for: 
 determining a maximum queuing delay, said maximum queuing delay indicting a maximum amount of time data to be transmitted has been waiting to be transmitted, as part of said step of determining delay information.    
     
     
         31 . The computer readable medium of  claim 29 , further embodying machine executable instructions for: 
 determining a first maximum queuing delay, said first maximum queuing delay being a maximum period of time a packet in a first transmission queue has been waiting to be transmitted by the wireless terminal, as part of said step of determining delay information.    
     
     
         32 . The computer readable medium of  claim 31 , further embodying machine executable instructions for: 
 determining a second maximum queuing delay, said second maximum queuing delay being a maximum period of time a packet in a second transmission queue has been waiting to be transmitted by the wireless terminal, as part of said step of determining delay information; and;    communicating said first and second maximum queuing delays to the base station as part of said step of communicating at least some of said determined delay information to a base station.    
     
     
         33 . The computer readable medium of  claim 31 , wherein said first and second transmission queues correspond to different traffic flows.  
     
     
         34 . A device comprising: 
 a processor configured to: 
 determine delay information corresponding to data to be transmitted; and  
 communicate at least some of said determined delay information to a base station.  
   
     
     
         35 . The device of  claim 34 , wherein said processor is further configured to: 
 determine a maximum queuing delay, said maximum queuing delay indicting a maximum amount of time data to be transmitted has been waiting to be transmitted, as part of said determining delay information.    
     
     
         36 . The device of  claim 34 , wherein said processor is further configured to: 
 determine a first maximum queuing delay, said first maximum queuing delay being a maximum period of time a packet in a first transmission queue has been waiting to be transmitted by the wireless terminal, as part of said determining delay information.    
     
     
         37 . The device of  claim 36 , wherein said processor is further configured to: 
 determine a second maximum queuing delay, said second maximum queuing delay being a maximum period of time a packet in a second transmission queue has been waiting to be transmitted by the wireless terminal, as part of said determining delay information; and    communicate said first and second maximum queuing delays to the base station as part of said communicating at least some of said determined delay information to a base station.    
     
     
         38 . The device of  claim 36 , wherein said first and second transmission queues correspond to different traffic flows.  
     
     
         39 . A method of operating a base station, comprising: 
 receiving delay information from a first wireless terminal, the delay information corresponding to data waiting to be transmitted by said first wireless terminal; and    scheduling wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal as a function of said received delay information.    
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39  further comprising: 
 receiving additional delay information from at least one additional wireless terminal, the received additional delay information from the at least one additional wireless terminal corresponding to data waiting to be transmitted by the at least one additional wireless terminal; and    wherein said scheduling of wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal is also performed as a function of said received additional delay information.    
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40 , further comprising: 
 receiving transmission backlog information from the first wireless terminal, said transmission backlog information indicating an amount of data waiting to be transmitted to said base station from the first wireless terminal; and    wherein said scheduling of wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal is also performed as a function of said received backlog information.    
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein the received delay information from the first wireless terminal includes delay information corresponding to a first transmission queue in said first wireless terminal.  
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 42 , 
 wherein the received delay information from the first wireless terminal further includes delay information corresponding to a second transmission queue in said first wireless terminal; and    wherein said scheduling of wireless terminal uplink transmissions is performed at at least one point in time using delay information corresponding to both said first and second queues.    
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 43 , wherein said first and second transmission queues correspond to first and second traffic flows, respectively, said first and second traffic flows corresponding to different types of traffic, the method further comprising: 
 receiving updated delay information corresponding to the first and second queues over a period of time, delay information corresponding to the first queue being received during said period of time more frequently than delay information corresponding to the second queue.    
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the first traffic flow is a voice traffic flow and the second traffic flow a non-voice traffic flow.  
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the delay information received from the first wireless terminal includes a maximum queuing delay, said maximum queuing delay indicting a maximum amount of time data waiting to be transmitted has been waiting.  
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein said delay information received from the first wireless terminal includes a minimum delay to a transmission deadline.  
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein said scheduling is further performed as a function of the amount of data to be transmitted by each of the first wireless terminal and said additional wireless terminal.  
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 48 , wherein said scheduling is further performed as a function of a first quality of service level to which the first wireless terminal corresponds and a second quality of service level to which the additional wireless terminal corresponds, the first and second quality of service levels being different.  
     
     
         50 . The method of  claim 40 , further comprising: 
 transmitting uplink traffic channel segment assignment information to the first wireless terminal to assign an uplink traffic channel segment corresponding to a point in time scheduled for uplink transmission of data by said first wireless terminal.    
     
     
         51 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein said received transmission backlog information includes both i) an aggregated backlog value indicating an amount of information corresponding to a plurality of data transmission streams waiting to be communicated and ii) a timing constrained backlog amount indicating an amount of backlog waiting to be transmitted which satisfies a timing constraint.  
     
     
         52 . The method of  claim 51 , wherein the base station receives the aggregated backlog value and the timing constrained value at different times.  
     
     
         53 . A base station, comprising: 
 a receiver for receiving delay information from a first wireless terminal, the delay information corresponding to data waiting to be transmitted by said first wireless terminal; and    a scheduling module for scheduling wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal as a function of said received delay information.    
     
     
         54 . The base station of  claim 53 , further comprising: 
 wherein said receiver is also for receiving additional delay information from at least one additional wireless terminal, the received additional delay information from the at least one additional wireless terminal corresponding to data waiting to be transmitted by the at least one additional wireless terminal; and    wherein said scheduling of wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal is also performed as a function of said received additional delay information.    
     
     
         55 . The base station of  claim 54 , further comprising: 
 a memory module for storing received transmission backlog information from the first wireless terminal, said stored transmission backlog information indicating an amount of data waiting to be transmitted to said base station from the first wireless terminal; and    wherein said scheduling module schedules wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said base station as a function of said received backlog information stored in said memory module.    
     
     
         56 . The base station of  claim 55 , wherein the stored delay information that was received from the first wireless terminal includes delay information corresponding to a first transmission queue in said first wireless terminal.  
     
     
         57 . The base station of  claim 56 , 
 wherein the stored delay information received from the first wireless terminal further includes delay information corresponding to a second transmission queue in said first wireless terminal; and    wherein said scheduling module schedules wireless terminal uplink transmissions as a function of the stored delay information corresponding to both said first and second queues.    
     
     
         58 . The base station of  claim 57 , wherein said first and second transmission queues correspond to first and second traffic flows, the first traffic flow is a voice traffic flow and the second traffic flow a non-voice traffic flow.  
     
     
         59 . The base station of  claim 55 , wherein the stored delay information received from the first wireless terminal includes a maximum queuing delay, said maximum queuing delay indicting a maximum amount of time data waiting to be transmitted has been waiting.  
     
     
         60 . The base station of  claim 55 , wherein the stored delay information received from the first wireless terminal includes a minimum delay to a transmission deadline.  
     
     
         61 . The base station of  claim 55 , wherein said stored received transmission backlog information includes both i) an aggregated backlog value indicating, an amount of information corresponding to a plurality of data transmission streams waiting to be communicated and ii) a timing constrained backlog amount indicating an amount of backlog waiting to be transmitted which satisfies a timing constraints.  
     
     
         62 . The base station of  claim 61 , wherein the stored aggregated backlog value and the timing constrained value were received by the base station at different times.  
     
     
         63 . A base station, comprising: 
 receiver means for receiving delay information from a first wireless terminal, the delay information corresponding to data waiting to be transmitted by said first wireless terminal; and    scheduling means for scheduling a wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said base station as a function of said received delay information.    
     
     
         64 . The base station of  claim 63 , further comprising: 
 wherein said receiver means is also for receiving additional delay information from at least one additional wireless terminal, the received additional delay information from the at least one additional wireless terminal corresponding to data waiting to be transmitted by the at least one additional wireless terminal; and    wherein said scheduling of wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal is also performed as a function of said received additional delay information.    
     
     
         65 . The base station of  claim 64 , further comprising: 
 memory means for storing received transmission backlog information from the first wireless terminal, said stored transmission backlog information indicating an amount of data waiting to be transmitted to said base station from the first wireless terminal; and    wherein said scheduling means schedules wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal as a function of said received backlog information stored in said memory module.    
     
     
         66 . The base station of  claim 65 , wherein the stored delay information that was received from the first wireless terminal includes delay information corresponding to a first transmission queue in said first wireless terminal.  
     
     
         67 . The base station of  claim 66 , 
 wherein the stored delay information received from the first wireless terminal further includes delay information corresponding to a second transmission queue in said first wireless terminal; and    wherein said scheduling means schedules wireless terminal uplink transmissions as a function of the stored delay information corresponding to both said first and second queues.    
     
     
         68 . The base station of  claim 65 , wherein the stored delay information received from the first wireless terminal includes a maximum queuing delay, said maximum queuing delay indicting a maximum amount of time data waiting to be transmitted has been waiting.  
     
     
         69 . The base station of  claim 65 , wherein the stored delay information received from the first wireless terminal includes a minimum delay to a transmission deadline.  
     
     
         70 . A computer readable medium embodying machine executable instructions for controlling a base station to implement a method, the method comprising: 
 receiving delay information from a first wireless terminal, the delay information corresponding to data waiting to be transmitted by said first wireless terminal; and    scheduling wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal as a function of said received delay information.    
     
     
         71 . The computer readable medium of  claim 70 , further embodying machine executable instructions for: 
 receiving additional delay information from at least one additional wireless terminal, the received additional delay information from the at least one additional wireless terminal corresponding to data waiting to be transmitted by the at least one additional wireless terminal; and    wherein said scheduling of wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal is also performed as a function of said received additional delay information.    
     
     
         72 . The computer readable medium of  claim 71 , further embodying machine executable instructions for: 
 receiving transmission backlog information from the first wireless terminal, said transmission backlog information indicating an amount of data waiting to be transmitted to said base station from the first wireless terminal; and    wherein said scheduling of wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal is also performed as a function of said received backlog information.    
     
     
         73 . The computer readable medium of  claim 72 , wherein the received delay information from the first wireless terminal includes delay information corresponding to a first transmission queue in said first wireless terminal.  
     
     
         74 . The computer readable medium of  claim 73 , 
 wherein the received delay information from the first wireless terminal further includes delay information corresponding to a second transmission queue in said first wireless terminal; and    wherein the computer readable medium further embodies machine executable instructions for:    performing said scheduling of wireless terminal uplink transmissions at at least one point in time using delay information corresponding to both said first and second queues.    
     
     
         75 . A device comprising: 
 a processor configured to: 
 receive delay information from a first wireless terminal, the delay information corresponding to data waiting to be transmitted by said first wireless terminal; and  
 schedule wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal as a function of said received delay information.  
   
     
     
         76 . The device of  claim 75 , wherein said processor is further configured to: 
 receive additional delay information from at least one additional wireless terminal, the received additional delay information from the at least one additional wireless terminal corresponding to data waiting to be transmitted by the at least one additional wireless terminal; and    wherein said processor is configured to: 
 perform said scheduling of wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal as a function of said received additional delay information.  
   
     
     
         77 . The device of  claim 76 , wherein said processor is further configured to: 
 receive transmission backlog information from the first wireless terminal, said transmission backlog information indicating an amount of data waiting to be transmitted to said base station from the first wireless terminal; and    perform said scheduling of wireless terminal uplink transmissions to said first wireless terminal as a function of said received backlog information.    
     
     
         78 . The device of  claim 77 , wherein the received delay information from the first wireless terminal includes delay information corresponding to a first transmission queue in said first wireless terminal.  
     
     
         79 . The device of  claim 78 , 
 wherein the received delay information from the first wireless terminal further includes delay information corresponding to a second transmission queue in said first wireless terminal; and    wherein the processor is further configured to: 
 perform said scheduling of wireless terminal uplink transmissions at at least one point in time using delay information corresponding to both said first and second queues.