US-12628041-B2 - Method for outputting a signal as a function of a transmission path to be selected on the basis of prediction

US12628041B2US 12628041 B2US12628041 B2US 12628041B2US-12628041-B2

Abstract

A method for outputting a signal as a function of a transmission path to be selected, to transmit a data packet from a transmitter unit to a receiver unit connectable to the transmitter unit via at least two transmission paths. The method includes: ascertaining, in each instance, a prediction value of at least one transmission path parameter for each of the at least two transmission paths, using a short-term determination unit, to provide a transmission path information item including the predicted values, to a planning unit; selecting the transmission path to be used for transmitting the data packet, from the at least two transmission paths, using the planning unit, based on the ascertained transmission path information item; and outputting the signal using the planning unit to transmit the data packet from the transmitter unit to the receiver unit on the selected transmission path.

Inventors

Jens Schwardmann
Khaled Shawky HASSAN
Marie-Theres Suer
Philip Wette
Sascha Guebner

Assignees

ROBERT BOSCH GMBH

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20211208
Priority Date: 20201215

Claims (14)

1 . A method comprising: for each particular data packet of a plurality of data packets, responsive to the particular data packet becoming available for transmission by a transmitter: ascertaining, using a determination unit, a respective prediction value of at least one transmission path parameter for each of at least two transmission paths via which a receiver is connectable to the transmitter, wherein a transmission path information item including the prediction values is provided to a planning unit associated with the transmitter and wherein each of the prediction values is a value, which the determination unit predicts specifically for the particular data packet, will be present during a transmission of the particular data packet from the transmitter to the receiver; making a selection for the particular data packet, wherein: the selection includes selecting, using the planning unit and based on the transmission path information item, one transmission path of the at least two transmission paths; and the selected transmission path is selected to be used for transmitting the particular data packet; and outputting, using the planning unit and as a function of the selected transmission path, a transmission instruction signal that instructs the transmitter to perform the transmission of the particular data packet on the selected transmission path; wherein the planning unit performs the selecting specifically for transmissions from the transmitter independent of any path selection performed for other transmitters.
2 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the prediction value is associated with a predefined and/or specifiable confidence level indicating a probability that the predicted value will match an actual value observed during transmission of the particular data packet, the confidence level being defined for a time window of less than or equal to 1 s.
3 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the prediction value is associated with a predefined and/or specifiable confidence level indicating a probability that the predicted value will match an actual value observed during transmission of the particular data packet, the confidence level being defined for a time window of less than or equal to 100 s.
4 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the prediction value is associated with a predefined and/or specifiable confidence level indicating a probability that the predicted value will match an actual value observed during transmission of the particular data packet, the confidence level being defined for a time window of less than or equal to 20 s.
5 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the transmission path parameter includes at least one parameter from a group consisting of: latency of the transmission path; transmission rate of the transmission path; packet error rate and/or packet loss rate of the transmission path; number of repeat transmissions on the transmission path; and power demand for a transmission on the transmission path.
6 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the determination unit includes at least one neural network, which, in response to one or more input variables, is configured to ascertain, as an output variable, the prediction value of the transmission path parameter for at least one of the transmission paths, the input variable including one or more elements from a group consisting of: wireless technology of the transmission paths; current characteristic of the transmission paths; state of a network device contained by the transmitter unit; one or more measured or estimated values of a transmission path parameter of the transmission paths; packet characteristics of the packet to be transmitted; state and/or characteristic of the transmitter unit; and current time of day and current day of the week.
7 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the selected transmission path for the particular data packet is chosen as a function of: a predefined and/or specifiable threshold value for the prediction value, which is received by a data provision unit that supplies contents of the data packet; and/or a determination of which of the at least two transmission paths has a minimum prediction value.
8 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein; the transmission path information item is transmitted to a data provision unit supplying contents of the data packet; and contents and/or a transmission time and/or a transmission frequency of one or more additional data packets to be transmitted in the future within a predefined time frame are adapted to the prediction values included in the transmission path information item using the data provision unit and/or the planning unit.
9 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein for each of the transmission paths, the transmission path information item further includes another prediction value predicted for the particular data packet by a determination unit outside of the transmitter unit.
10 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium on which is stored a computer program for performing transmissions from a transmitter unit to a receiver unit connectable to the transmitter unit via at least two transmission paths, the computer program, when executed by a computer of the transmitter unit, causing the computer to perform the following steps: for each particular data packet of a plurality of data packets, responsive to the particular data packet becoming available for transmission by the transmitter unit: ascertaining a respective prediction value of at least one transmission path parameter for each of the at least two transmission paths via which the receiver unit is connectable to the transmitter unit, wherein each of the prediction values is a value, which the computer predicts specifically for the particular data packet, will be present during a transmission of the particular data packet from the transmitter unit to the receiver unit; making a selection for the particular data packet, wherein: the selection includes selecting, based on the ascertained prediction values, one transmission path from the at least two transmission paths; and the selected transmission path is selected to be used for transmitting the particular data packet; and outputting, as a function of the selected transmission path, a transmission instruction signal that instructs the transmitter unit to perform the transmission of the particular data packet on the selected transmission path; wherein the selecting is performed specifically for transmissions from the transmitter unit independent of any path selection performed for other transmitter units.
11 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising: monitoring a surrounding area of a vehicle, the monitoring being performed using a sensor system that includes at least one sensor that is positioned on the vehicle and that, based on the monitoring, generates sensor data, wherein the data packet includes the sensor data; performing, by the transmitter and in response to the output transmission instruction signal, the transmission of the data packet, including the sensor data, to the receiver; wherein: the transmitter is part of the vehicle; the receiver is external to the vehicle; the receiver, to which the data packet has been transmitted, is configured to output, as a function of the transmitted data packet, a control signal that controls the vehicle indirectly or directly.
12 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the short-term determination unit includes a neural network that has been trained to output the respective prediction values of the at least one transmission path parameter for each of the at least two transmission paths, the training comprising: providing the neural network with one or more input variables selected from a wireless technology of the transmission paths, a current characteristic of the transmission paths, a state of a network device of the transmitter unit, one or more measured or estimated values of a transmission path parameter of the transmission paths, packet characteristics of the data packet to be transmitted, a state or characteristic of the transmitter unit, and a current time of day or day of the week; and providing, as a setpoint output variable for the training, a measured value of the at least one transmission path parameter of the at least two transmission paths, the measured value being measured during a prior data packet transmission from the transmitter to the receiver.
13 . A system comprising: processing circuitry that includes at least one processor, wherein: the processing circuitry is configured to perform the following operations for each particular data packet of a plurality of data packets, responsive to the particular data packet becoming available for transmission by a transmitter: ascertaining, using a determination function, a respective prediction value of at least one transmission path parameter for each of at least two transmission paths via which a receiver is connectable to the transmitter, a transmission path information item including the prediction values being provided to a planning function executed by the processing circuitry and each of the prediction values being a value, which the determination function predicts specifically for the particular data packet, will be present during a transmission of the particular data packet from the transmitter to the receiver; making a selection for the particular data packet using the planning function, the selection including selecting, based on the transmission path information item, one transmission path of the at least two transmission paths, and the selected transmission path being selected to be used for transmitting the particular data packet; and outputting, using the planning function and as a function of the selected transmission path, a transmission instruction signal that instructs the transmitter to perform the transmission of the data packet on the selected transmission path; and the planning function performs the selecting specifically for transmissions from the transmitter independent of any path selection performed for other transmitters.
14 . The system as recited in claim 13 , further comprising: the transmitter, wherein the transmitter includes: a first wireless communication interface configured to transmit the data packet to the receiver on a first of the at least two transmission paths, in response to the output transmission instruction signal; and a second wireless communication interface configured to transmit the data packet to the receiver on a second of the at least two transmission paths in response to the output transmission instruction signal.

Description

FIELD The present invention relates to a method and a planning unit for outputting a signal as a function of a transmission path to be selected, in order to transmit a data packet from a transmitter unit to a receiver unit connectable to the transmitter unit via at least two transmission paths; as well a method to train a neural network for use in this method. The present invention also includes use of a neural network for selecting a transmission path and a system for outputting a signal as a function of a transmission path to be selected. In addition, the present invention includes a method for outputting a control signal as a function of a data packet transmitted from a transmitter unit of a vehicle to a receiver unit outside of the vehicle, with the aid of the receiver unit, in order to control the vehicle indirectly or directly on the basis of the outputted control signal. The present invention further includes a computer program and a machine-readable storage medium. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Methods, such as Multipath TCP (transmission control protocol) or Multipath QUIC (quick UDP Internet connections), with the aid of which different paths, such as WLAN and mobile radio communication, may be used for data transmission between two terminals, are available. In addition to further methods, a widespread scheduling method is based on measured packet round-trip times (RTT's). In light of these, individual channels, which are used for transmitting data streams, are selected in the scheduler. Since only measured RTT's are used, the values are delayed and do not describe the performance that data packets still to be transmitted would experience. This is also the case for similar scheduling methods. SUMMARY The present invention includes a method for outputting a signal as a function of a transmission path to be selected, in order to transmit a data packet from a transmitter unit to a receiver unit connectable, in particular, connected, to the transmitter unit via at least two transmission paths. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, the method includes a step of ascertaining, in each instance, a prediction value of at least one transmission path parameter for each of the at least two transmission paths, with the aid of a short-term determination unit, in order to provide a transmission path information item including the predicted values, to a planning unit; the prediction value being expected to be present during the transmission of the data packet from the transmitter unit to the receiver unit. In other words, this means that a prediction value of at least one transmission path parameter is ascertained for each of the at least two transmission paths; the prediction value representing a prediction of a value of the transmission path parameter expected to be present for the case of transmission of the data packet on the respective transmission path. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes a step of selecting, from the at least two transmission paths, the transmission path to be used for transmitting the data packet, on the basis of the ascertained transmission path information item, with the aid of the planning unit. This means, in other words, that on the basis of the ascertained transmission path information item, a transmission path, which is preferably to be used over a non-selected transmission path of the at least two transmission paths, is selected for transmitting the data packet. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes a step of outputting the signal as a function of the selected transmission path, with the aid of the planning unit, in order to transmit the data packet from the transmitter unit to the receiver unit, on the selected transmission path. In other words, this means that, in particular, in direct or indirect response to the outputted signal, the data packet is transmitted on the selected transmission path, from the transmitter unit to the receiver unit. The present invention also includes a method for outputting a control signal as a function of a data packet transmitted from a transmitter unit of a vehicle to a receiver unit outside of the vehicle, with the aid of the receiver unit, in order to control the vehicle indirectly or directly on the basis of the outputted control signal. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, the method includes a step of monitoring a surrounding area of the vehicle, using a sensor unit, which is positioned on the vehicle, monitors the surrounding area, and forms, in particular, an image, in order to supply the data packet, which includes sensor data that relates to the surrounding area of the vehicle and is generated by the sensor unit, to a planning unit of the transmitter unit, using a data preparation unit. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the steps of the above-