T-Mobile USA, Inc.

Alejandro Aquirre

Ming Shan Kwok

Hsin Fu Henry Chiang

Hsin-Fu Henry Chiang

A component of a cellular communication system is configured to prioritize data packets based on packet tags that have been associated with the data packets. The packet tags may comprise an application identifier and a customer identifier, as examples. A Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer of a radio protocol stack receives a data packet and associated packet tags and assigns the data packet to a preferred transmission queue or a non-preferred transmission queue, based on the packet tags associated with the data packet. In order to manage queue overflows, data packets of the non-preferred transmission queue may be discarded when they have been queued for more than a predetermined length of time. Data packets of the preferred transmission queue, however, are retained regardless of how long they have been queued.

Tag-based data packet prioritization in dual connectivity systems

A cellular system having both 4-Generation (4G) and 5-Generation (5G) cellular networks may be configured to use Non-Standalone (NSA) dual connectivity, in which wireless data transmissions may be made using either 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or 5G New Radio (NR) radio access networks. Data packets submitted for wireless transmission are associated with one or more packet tags, such as an application identifier and a customer identifier. A radio protocol stack receives the data packets and associated packet tags and determines for each data packet, based on the associated packet tags, whether to transmit the packet using the LTE radio access network or the NR radio access network. This determination may be based in part on a routing policy that has been created and/or provided by a cellular services provider.

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Sammamish, WA, United States of America

Alejandro Aquirre