Radio communication system
First Claim
1. A radio communication system having a communication channel between a primary station and a secondary station, the primary and secondary stations having means for communicating according to first and second two-way communication modes, wherein the communication channel comprises at least one of an uplink and a down-link channel for the first mode and one of an uplink and a down-link channel for the second mode, the other channel for the second mode being absent, and means are provided for transmitting and receiving data normally routed via an absent channel of one mode via a respective channel of the other mode.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A radio communication system comprising a primary station (100) and a secondary station (110) operates according to two (or more) two-way communication modes. An uplink (124) and/or a downlink (122) communication channel is present for the first mode, but only one of an uplink and a downlink (126) channel is present for the second mode. Modifications to the protocols of the first and second modes enable the traffic for an absent communication channel of one mode to be carried by the corresponding channel of the other mode.
Such a system is particularly suitable for scenarios where there is significant asymmetry between traffic or data rates in the uplink (124) and downlink (122,126) communication channels.
In one embodiment the first mode is UMTS and the second mode is HIPERLAN/2, with both channels (122,124) present for the first mode and only a downlink channel (126) present for the second mode. The secondary station (110) therefore only requires a HIPERLAN/2 receiver (106), giving rise to a significant cost saving by the omission of a HIPERLAN/2 transmitter.
-
Citations
17 Claims
- 1. A radio communication system having a communication channel between a primary station and a secondary station, the primary and secondary stations having means for communicating according to first and second two-way communication modes, wherein the communication channel comprises at least one of an uplink and a down-link channel for the first mode and one of an uplink and a down-link channel for the second mode, the other channel for the second mode being absent, and means are provided for transmitting and receiving data normally routed via an absent channel of one mode via a respective channel of the other mode.
- 6. A primary station for use in a radio communication system having a communication channel between the primary station and a secondary station, wherein means are provided for communicating according to first and second two-way communication modes, the communication channel comprises at least one of an uplink and a down-link channel for the first mode and one of an uplink and a down-link channel for the second mode, the other channel for the second mode being absent, and means are provided for transmitting or receiving data normally routed via an absent channel of one mode via a respective channel of the other mode.
-
12. A secondary station for use in a radio communication system having a communication channel between a primary station and the secondary station, wherein means are provided for communicating according to first and second two-way communication modes, the communication channel comprises at least one of an uplink and a down-link channel for the first mode and one of an uplink and a down-link channel for the second mode, the other channel for the second mode being absent, and means are provided for transmitting or receiving data normally routed via an absent channel of one mode via a respective channel of the other mode.
-
15. A method of operating a radio communication system having a communication channel between a primary station and a secondary station, wherein the system supports communications according to first and second two-way communication modes, the communication channel comprises at least one of an uplink and a down-link channel for the first mode and one of an uplink and a down-link channel for the second mode, the other channel for the second mode being absent, and the method comprises transmitting and receiving data normally routed via an absent channel of one mode via a respective channel of the other mode.
Specification