Rivada’s Tiered Priority Access Patents: A Vital Enabler for “Ruthless Preemption” and Other Traffic-Shaping Strategies

Conventional telecommunication networks are designed to accommodate access requests on a best-effort basis. At times of emergency or crisis, network resources often become overtaxed due to predictable human responses to the situation. For example, during an emergency, an extraordinary number of wireless device users within a particular cell often attempt to access the network at the same time. These users may be attempting to alert emergency personnel of the emergency situation, alert friends or family members that they are safe, post social media updates, transmit images of the emergency condition (fire, accident, etc.) to news services or friends, etc. This predictable increase in call volume and network traffic can overwhelm a cellular communications network, particularly in the cell zone encompassing the emergency. This can render the network unreliable for emergency response personnel communication usage.

Rivada has developed and patented tiered priority access (TPA) technologies that overcome many of the limitations in conventional systems and provide wireless communications and resources to high priority users (e.g., emergency personnel) during times of emergency or high congestion. See, for example, U.S. Patent Nos.: 8,275,3498,611,8488,892,066; and 9,258,687.

On November 21, 2017, Rivada was awarded U.S. Patent No.: 9,826,557, which protects one of Rivada’s novel solutions for intelligently shaping the network activity of the mobile devices to further ensure that high priority users are able to access the network. In particular, the patent protects Rivada’s eNodeB component, which restricts originations of new sessions from the coupled mobile devices that are grouped into a low priority tier when the usage of the network resources exceeds a certain threshold. The eNodeB begins handing off mobile devices and/or terminating existing sessions when the usage of the network resources exceeds additional thresholds.

By shaping the network activity via the eNodeB, Rivada’s patented approach allows for faster detection and response times, improved efficiency, and more focused application of solutions. Further, since the eNodeB is outside of the core network, it can detect and respond to changes in network activity much faster than conventional solutions. And unlike conventional solutions, Rivada’s eNodeB approach can respond to changes in network activity and/or resource availability on a cell-by-cell or tower-by-tower basis—as opposed to applying the changes to an entire geographical area, updating network wide policies/controls, or applying restrictions to a specific subscriber or mobile device.

Rivada Networks is a leading designer, integrator and operator of wireless, interoperable communications networks. Its patented technology creates more efficient utilization of LTE networks, enabling new business models for commercial wireless services (i.e., wholesale, machine-to-machine, Internet of Things, etc.).

Contacts

Rivada Networks
Brian Carney, +1 929-245-8331
[email protected]

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