Devices, systems, and methods for managing multimedia traffic across a common wireless communication network

Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods are disclosed for managing multimedia traffic across a common wireless communication network. Embodiments may include content devices, end point devices, a network node, and a wireless dongle. The network node and the wireless dongle may have application functions transmitting and receiving application data streams including a video application. The video application may include a conversion engine to compress, expand, or convert video data. Further, both the network node and the wireless dongle may transmit downstream video streams and receive upstream video streams. In addition, the network node may have a master controller function and a node management function, and a dongle management function each managing video traffic streams and application data streams. In addition, the dongle management function controls admission of a video traffic stream originating from the wireless dongle to the wireless communication network.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A system for managing one or more types of traffic over a wireless communication network, the system comprising:
 (a) one or more content devices;   (b) a first wireless terminal and a second wireless terminal each coupled to the wireless communication network;   (c) a first end point device of one or more end point devices having an end point communication interface;   (d) a network node having:
 (i) one or more node communication interfaces wherein the network node is coupled to the one or more content devices, and the first wireless terminal through the one or more node communication interfaces; 
 (ii) one or more node application functions transmitting and receiving one or more application data streams including a node video application; 
 (iii) wherein the node video application includes a conversion engine, the node video application transmitting one or more downstream video streams and receiving one or more upstream video streams; 
 (iv) a master controller function and a node management function each managing one or more node video traffic streams and the one or more application data streams, transmitting the one or more downstream video streams and the one or more application data streams and receiving one or more upstream video streams and the one or more application data streams across the wireless communication network; 
 (v) a common operating system performing resource management and coupled to the one or more node communication interfaces, one or more application functions, the node video application, the master controller function and the node management function; 
   (e) a wireless dongle having:
 (i) one or more dongle communication interfaces wherein the wireless dongle is coupled to the second wireless terminal and the first end point device through the one or more dongle communication interfaces; 
 (ii) one or more dongle application functions transmitting and receiving one or more application data streams including a dongle video application; 
 (iii) wherein the dongle video application including a conversion engine the dongle video application transmitting one or more upstream video streams to and receiving one or more downstream video streams from the wireless communication network; 
 (iv) a dongle management function managing one or more application data streams and controlling admission of a dongle video traffic stream originating from the wireless dongle to the wireless communication network; 
 (v) a dongle common operating system performing resource management and coupled to the one or more dongle communication interfaces, the dongle video application and the dongle management function. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the node management function and dongle management function are selected from the group consisting of priority, policing, traffic shaping, scheduling, admission control, authentication functions and dynamic administration of one or more service level agreements. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the dongle management function is dynamically configured to implement quality-of-service requirements received from the master controller function. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the master controller and node management function provision a dongle management function application in the wireless dongle through the wireless communication network. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more types of traffic includes voice traffic corresponding to a first priority, video traffic corresponding to a second priority, best effort data traffic corresponding to a third priority, and background data traffic corresponding to a fourth priority, wherein a priority of the one or more types of traffic is dynamically configured to conform to quality-of-service requirements. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the dongle management function manages a set of video traffic streams that includes one or more upstream video traffic streams and one or more downstream video traffic streams, and the dongle management function configures one or more upstream video traffic streams as first priority based on one or more management commands received from the node management function in the network node. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the node management function registers the first end point device of the one or more end point devices into the wireless communication network and allocates a first peak data rate and a first mean data rate to the first end point device for transmission of data from the first end point device based on one or more types of traffic flowing across the wireless communication network and one or more wireless communication network requirements. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the node management function reallocates a second peak data rate and a second mean data rate to the first end point device for transmission of data from the first end point device based on a change in characteristics of the one or more types of traffic flowing across the wireless communication network and a change in one or more wireless communication network requirements. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the dongle management function implements a strict priority scheme to manage the one or more application data streams. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein:
 (a) the network node controls allocation of application data streams to the available wireless communication network bandwidth based on traffic type and characteristics of the application data streams using the master controller function and the node management function,   (b) the node management function allocates a video traffic bandwidth that is a subset of the wireless communication network bandwidth for one or more video traffic streams,   (c) the node management function and the dongle management function implements a time division multiplexing scheme on the video traffic bandwidth such that each of the one or more video traffic streams are assigned a time slot in the time division multiplexing scheme for transmission across the wireless communication network.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein a time slot allocated to an inactive video traffic stream is reallocated to one or more active application data streams. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a first terminal device traffic manager coupled to the network node and a second terminal device traffic manager coupled to the wireless dongle, each terminal device traffic manager performing traffic scheduling and having:
 (a) a management protocol processor that receives one or more data packets, traps one or more management protocol packets, processes the one or more management protocol packets, and transmits instructions to the wireless dongle to reallocate wireless communication network bandwidth based on processing the one or more management protocol packets, and verifies a quality-of-service for one or more transmission packets;   (b) a traffic policer verifying one or more traffic streams conforming to a respective service level agreement and performing traffic shaping on the one or more traffic streams using a queue;   (c) a scheduler engine that provides weighted round robin scheduling on scheduled traffic stream wherein weighted random early discard is performed based on excessive queue depth;   (d) a management protocol responder generating one or more control packets for a management function and responding to one or more trapped management protocol packets.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the node management function and the dongle management function perform a security function using a pseudo-random code to encrypt an secured traffic stream between the network node and the wireless dongle over the wireless communication network wherein a key associated with the pseudo-random code is dynamically configured. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more end point devices are selected from the group consisting of a personal computer, smartphone, electronic reader, television, video camera, and a wireless enabled appliance. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more application data streams is selected from the group consisting of voice traffic, video traffic, best effort data traffic, and background data traffic. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more content devices may include a cable modem, a DSL modem, a WiMax access device, a Passive Optical Networking access device, an Optical Networking Terminal, an Optical Networking Unit, a Long Term Evolution wireless access device, a satellite access device, a broadband access device, a set-top box, a DVR, a DVD player, a BluRay player, and an antenna tuner.