Data flow control between a base station and a mobile station

• US 20040203973A1
• Filed: 04/05/2002
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Khan, Farooq Ullah
• Granted Patent: US 7,079,856 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/517
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0002 by adapting the transmission rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/16 in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/266 Stopping or restarting the source, e.g. X-on or X-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A method of data flow control between a mobile and base station of a wireless communication system where the mobile is transferring wirelessly part or all of the data received from the base station to a local device in accordance with a standard such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The rate at which the mobile is receiving data from the base station is typically much higher than the rate at which the mobile is transferring the data to the local device. The mobile sends a STOP data flow control command to the base station causing the base station to either stop transmitting data or transmit data at a lower data rate thus prevention mobile buffer overflow and loss of data from occurring. When conditions are favorable for reception of data, the mobile sends START data flow control commands to the base station allowing the base station to resume transmitting data at a higher data rate. The higher data rate may be equal to the original established data rate.

Claims

1. A method of flow control between a UE and system equipment of a communication system, the method comprising the step of:

entering into a SUSPEND mode by the system equipment after the system equipment has transmitted an ACK-STOP confirmation in response to a STOP data flow control command received K times from the UE and the system equipment entering into a RECEIVE mode after transmitting an ACK-START data flow control command in response to a START data flow control command received L times from the UE where K, L are integers equal to 1 or greater.

2. The method of claim 1 where the step of entering into a SUSPEND mode comprises:

stopping transmission of data to the UE after having transmitted the ACK-STOP confirmation response and receiving HOLD data flow control commands during the SUSPEND mode; and

resuming transmission of data to the UE after having transmitted the ACK-START confirmation to the UE and received CQI information from the UE.

3. The method of claim 1 where the step of entering into a SUSPEND mode comprises:

reducing transmission of data to a data rate that is lower than an established data rate after having transmitted the ACK-STOP confirmation response and receiving HOLD data flow control commands during the SUSPEND mode; and

resuming transmission of data to the UE at the established data rate or at a higher data rate than the lower rate after having transmitted the ACK-START confirmation and received CQI information from the UE.

4. The method of claim 1 where the communication system is UMTS standard compliant where the STOP, START and HOLD data flow control commands are part of a set of TFRC signaling information that is sent over an HS-DPCCH and the ACK-START and ACK-STOP responses are sent over an HS-SCCH and where the system equipment is a Node-B.

9. The method of claim 1 where the step of entering into a SUSPEND mode comprises:

stopping transmission of data to the UE after having transmitted the ACK STOP confirmation response and receiving from the UE a confirmation response to the ACK-STOP confirmation response and further, receiving HOLD data flow control commands from the UE during the SUSPEND mode; and

resuming transmission of data to the UE after having transmitted the ACK-START confirmation to the UE and received from the UE a confirmation response to the ACK-STOP confirmation response and further, received CQI information from the UE.

10. The method of claim 1 where the step of entering into a SUSPEND mode comprises:

reducing transmission of data to a data rate that is lower than an established data rate after having transmitted the ACK-STOP confirmation response to the UE and receiving from the UE a confirmation to the ACK-STOP confirmation response and further receiving HOLD data flow control commands from the UE during the SUSPEND mode; and

resuming transmission of data to the UE at the established data rate or at a higher data rate than the lower rate after having transmitted the ACK-START confirmation and received from the UE a confirmation response to the ACK-START and further, received CQI information from the UE.

5. A method of data flow control between a UE and system equipment of a communication system, the method comprising the step of:

entering into a SUSPEND mode by the UE after having receiving an ACK-STOP confirmation from the system equipment in response to K transmissions of a STOP data flow control command by the UE and the UE entering a RECEIVE mode after having received and ACK-START confirmation from the system equipment in response to L transmissions of a START command by the UE where K and L are integers equal to 1 or greater.

6. The method of claim 5 where the step of entering a SUSPEND mode comprises:

stopping to receive data from the system equipment after having received the ACK-STOP confirmation from the system equipment and transmitting HOLD data flow control commands during the SUSPEND mode; and

resuming the reception of data from the system equipment after having received the ACK-START confirmation from the system equipment and after having transmitted CQI information to the system equipment.

7. The method of claim 5 where the step of entering a SUSPEND mode comprises:

receiving data from the system equipment at a lower rate than an established rate after having received the ACK-STOP confirmation from the system equipment and transmitting HOLD data flow control commands during the SUSPEND mode; and

resuming the reception of data at the established data rate or at a higher rate than the lower rate of the SUSPEND mode after having received the ACK-START confirmation from the system equipment and after having transmitted CQI information to the system equipment.

8. The method of claim 5 where the communication system is UMTS standard compliant where the STOP, START and HOLD data flow control commands are part of a set of TFRC signaling information that is sent over an HS-DPCCH and the ACK-START and ACK-STOP responses are sent over an HS-SCCH and where the system equipment is a Node-B.

11. The method of claim 5 where the step of entering into a SUSPEND mode comprises:

stopping to receive data from the system equipment after having received the ACK-STOP confirmation from the system equipment and transmitting to the system equipment a confirmation response to the ACK-STOP confirmation and further transmitting to the system equipment HOLD data flow control commands during the SUSPEND mode; and

resuming the reception of data from the system equipment after having received the ACK-START confirmation from the system equipment and transmitted to the system equipment a confirmation response to the ACK-START and further after having transmitted CQI information to the system equipment.

12. The method of claim 5 where the step of entering into a SUSPEND mode comprises:

receiving data from the system equipment at a lower rate than an established rate after having received the ACK-STOP confirmation from the system equipment and transmitting to the system equipment a confirmation response to the ACK-STOP and further transmitting to the system equipment HOLD data flow control commands during the SUSPEND mode; and

resuming the reception of data at the established data rate or at a higher rate than the lower rate of the SUSPEND mode after having received the ACK-START confirmation from the system equipment, transmitted to the system equipment a response to the ACK-START and further, after having transmitted CQI information to the system equipment.