Method and apparatus for message segmentation in a wireless communication system

• US 20030035440A1
• Filed: 08/16/2001
• Published: 02/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Rezaiifar, Ramin, Tiedemann, Edward G. Jr., Casaccia, Lorenzo
• Granted Patent: US 7,542,482 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/473
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0007 by modifying the frame length
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1628 List acknowledgements, i.e. the acknowledgement message consisting of a list of identifiers, e.g. of sequence numbers H04L1/1614 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1803 Stop-and-wait protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1809 Selective-repeat protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/188 Time-out mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 Access point controller devices

Abstract

Method for segmented message transmission wherein each message is first divided into segments and the segments are fragmented. A segment parameter is applied to each segment, and a segment identifier to each fragment. The fragments are provided to a lower level for preparation into frames for transmission. One embodiment is applied to the transmission of short duration messages, such as control messages.

Claims

1. In a wireless communication system having a base station controller and a plurality of base stations, a method comprising:

segmenting a message into a plurality of segments;

dividing the segments into a plurality of fragments; and

transmitting the fragments.

2. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

retransmitting one of the plurality of fragments.

3. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

applying a segment parameter to each segment.

4. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

applying a segment indicator to each fragment.

5. In a wireless communication system having a base station controller and a plurality of base stations, a base station, comprising:

means for building segments of a message from a plurality of transmitted frames;

means for identifying a missing segment of the message; and

means for requesting a retransmission of the missing segment.

6. The base station as in claim 5, further comprising:

means for segmenting a message to form a plurality of segments;

means for fragmenting the segments to form a plurality of fragments;

means for transmitting the plurality of fragments; and

means for retransmitting one of the plurality of fragments.

7. A method for receiving transmissions in a wireless communication system, comprising:

receiving a transmission frame having a plurality of segments, each segment having a plurality of fragments;

determining if any of the plurality of segments is missing;

if no segment is missing, reconstructing the message; and

if a segment is missing, requesting retransmission of the missing segment.

8. The method as in claim 7, further comprising:

processing fragments of the transmission frame.

9. The method as in claim 7, further comprising:

determining an end of a segment; and

reconstructing the segment.

10. The method as in claim 7, further comprising:

if a segment is missing, sending a negative acknowledge message to the transmitter of the transmission frame.

11. The method as in claim 7, further comprising:

if no segment is missing, sending an acknowledge message to the transmitter of the transmission frame.

12. The method as in claim 7, further comprising:

determining a start of a segment; and

storing information in a buffer from the start of the segment.

13. The method as in claim 12, further comprising:

if the buffer is not empty at the start of a segment, flushing the buffer.

14. The method as in claim 13, further comprising:

if a fragment is not a start of segment and the buffer is empty, marking the fragment as missing.

15. A wireless apparatus, comprising:

receiver for receiving a plurality of transmission frames;

segment extraction unit coupled to the fragment extraction unit, adapted to identify and reconstruct segments within a transmission frame; and

message reconstruction unit coupled to the segment extraction unit, adapted to determine any missing segment within a message and to request retransmission of the missing segment.

16. A computer data signal embodied on a carrier wave, characterized by:

a plurality of segments, each segment comprising;

a segment parameter; and

a plurality of fragments.

17. The computer data signal as in claim 16, wherein each of the fragments, comprising:

segment identifier; and

an information portion.

18. The computer data signal as in claim 17, wherein the segment identifier indicates if segmentation is active for transmission of the computer data signal.

19. The computer data signal as in claim 16, wherein the segment error rate is given as:

SER=1−

(1−

FER)^x

wherein FER is a frame error rate of the computer data signal, and x is the number of fragments in the plurality of fragments.

20. The computer data signal as in claim 19, wherein the message error rate is given as:

MER=1−

(1−

SER)^k

wherein k is the number of segments in the plurality of segments.