GB2481715B - Telecommunication networks - Google Patents

Abstract

A mobile telecommunications network includes a plurality of terminals 1200, a core 1218 and a radio access network 1214 having radio means for providing wireless communication resources to the terminals. The radio access network includes control means 700 operable to control the allocation of network resources to said mobile terminals, and wherein the control means is operable to gauge the radio conditions available to said mobile terminals and to control the transmission of data between the radio access network and the mobile terminals in dependence thereon. The control means may build and maintain a record of radio quality across a coverage area of the network (a cell in an embodiment), and may use this record to predict the radio conditions available to the mobile terminals within that coverage area. The control means may calculate the location and/or velocity of the mobile terminal and may control the transmission of data in dependence thereon. In the embodiment the control means uses the record of radio quality across the coverage area and the calculated location and velocity of one of the mobile terminals to estimate the radio conditions available to that mobile terminal at a future location and to thereby control the transmission of data between the radio access network and that mobile terminal. The assessment/prediction of radio conditions may be based on quality, capacity, load etc. In one embodiment available backhaul resources/capacity are taken into account in the assessment. In a further embodiment the control means is operable to trigger initialisation, suspension or termination of applications based on the predicted/measured radio conditions or backhaul capacity. A further embodiment involves optimising the distribution of data, such as video, such that a larger amount of data is transmitted which conditions are detected as good and a minimal amount of data (to maintain a minimum buffer occupancy at the mobile terminal) is transmitted when conditions are detected as poor.