Rivada Networks Granted Two New Patents for LTE Prioritization

The first describes a method for monitoring network usage at the base stations on a 4G LTE network. That information can then be used to throttle lower-priority traffic when usage hits certain thresholds, to ensure that higher-priority traffic still gets through.

This real-time network management will be useful on any high-traffic LTE network, but for Public Safety, it could be a life-saver. “Rivada’s dynamic network-monitoring technology is vital to ensuring that first responders will have the network access they need on their future 4G networks,” said Clint Smith, Rivada’s Chief Technology Officer. “Plain-vanilla LTE prioritization won’t get the job done in an emergency when a network is overloaded.”

The second patent also enhances Rivada’s industry-leading Dynamic Spectrum Arbitrage technology. Rivada has developed the technology to allow one network to auction part of its capacity to the owner of another network, subject to availability. In this way, a mobile network operator can monetize its spare capacity, but retain the ability to claw it back if certain conditions are met—such as an unexpected surge in demand.

This ability is also vital for a 4G public-safety network that wants to realize the value of its spare capacity without jeopardizing its primary mission. But its promise goes beyond that application.

“Rivada’s latest patent,” CEO Declan Ganley explained, “allows any LTE network operator to profit from its spare capacity, without losing control of its network.” Ganley added: “Thus, wireless carriers could auction capacity on their networks at times when demand is predictably low, while still being able to reclaim that bandwidth if it faced a sudden and unexpected surge of demand in a particular location.”

This unprecedented flexibility will vastly increase the value of LTE networks, by ensuring that available capacity is always available for sale and use in near-real-time. “The paradox of today’s wireless networks,” Ganley said, “is that they have both too little capacity (at peak moments), and too much (at off-peak times). Dynamic bandwidth auctions can help solve both of these problems by matching buyers with sellers continuously in discrete, well-defined geographic areas.

“Wireless spectrum is too valuable, too scarce and too important to our economy,” Ganley added. “We can’t afford not to use every available bit of that resource. Rivada’s mission is making that possible, and these patents move us closer to that goal.”