Methods and apparatus related to determining, communicating, and/or using delay information

Abstract

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.