Communicating in a reverse wireless link information relating to buffer status and data rate of a mobile station

• US 20040223455A1
• Filed: 03/12/2004
• Published: 11/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Li, Jun, Fong, Mo-Han, Vrzic, Sophie S., Iraqi, Ali, Chheda, Ashvin H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,142,548 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/365 Power headroom reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network

Abstract

A wireless communications network includes a mobile station and base station that are capable of communicating over a wireless link. Information relating to a status of a buffer in the mobile station and information relating to a data rate over a reverse wireless links is communicated over the reverse wireless link.

Claims

1. A method for use in a wireless communications network, comprising:

in a reverse wireless link, communicating information relating to status of a buffer in a mobile station; and

in the reverse wireless link, communicating information relating to a data rate used by the mobile station when transmitting over the reverse wireless link.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating information relating to the status of the buffer comprises communicating information relating to an occupancy of a data buffer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating information relating to the data rate comprises communicating information relating to a maximum data rate supportable by the mobile station over the reverse wireless link.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein communicating the maximum data rate supportable by the mobile station comprises communicating a traffic-to-pilot ratio to indicate the maximum data rate supportable by the mobile station.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting whether a trigger condition has occurred,

wherein communicating the information relating to the status of the buffer and the information relating to the data rate is performed in response to occurrence of the trigger condition.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein detecting whether the trigger condition has occurred comprises detecting whether one of plural trigger conditions has occurred.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein detecting whether one of plural trigger conditions has occurred comprises detecting for the following condition:

a maximum time duration has elapsed, and a buffer to contain data to transmit over the reverse wireless link is not empty.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein detecting whether one of plural trigger conditions has occurred comprises detecting for the following condition:

a minimum time duration has elapsed, and a buffer to contain data to transmit over the reverse wireless link is not empty.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein detecting whether one of plural trigger conditions has occurred comprises detecting for the following condition:

a current power headroom differs from a previous power headroom by greater than a predetermined amount, a predetermined time duration has elapsed from a time when information relating to a status of a buffer in the mobile station and information relating to a data rate over the reverse wireless link was last sent, and a buffer to store data for transmission over the reverse wireless link is not empty.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the information relating to a status of a buffer in the mobile station and information relating to a data rate over the reverse wireless link comprises communicating the information relating to the status of the buffer and information relating to the data rate in a reverse request message.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein communicating the reverse request message comprises communicating the reverse request message on a reverse request channel (R-REQCH).

12. The method of claim 11, wherein communicating the reverse request message comprises communicating the reverse request message containing a first field to represent a maximum traffic-to-pilot ratio, and a second field to represent a buffer status.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein communicating the reverse request message comprises communicating the reverse request message containing a third field having an identifier to represent at least one of a service instance and a service class associated with the reverse request message.

14. An article comprising at least one storage medium containing instructions that when executed cause a system in a wireless communications network to:

communicate, in a reverse wireless link, a message having at least two fields that contain information indicative of a data rate for transmission by a mobile station in the reverse wireless link, the information based at least on one of buffer occupancy and power headroom.

15. The article of claim 14, wherein communicating the message in the reverse wireless link comprises communicating a message having a first field containing data rate information and a second field for indicating whether the data rate information in the first field is based on buffer occupancy or power headroom.

16. The article of claim 14, wherein communicating the message in the reverse wireless link comprises communicating a message having a first field containing power-related data rate information and a second field containing buffer-related data rate informtion.

17. The article of claim 14, wherein communicating the message in the reverse wireless link comprises communicating a message having a first field containing power-related data rate information and a second field containing buffer occupancy information.

18. The article of claim 14, wherein communicating the message in the reverse wireless link comprises communicating a message having a first field containing traffic-to-pilot ratio information, a second field containing buffer occupancy information, and a third field containing an identifier of at least one of a service instance and a service class associated with the buffer occupancy information.

19. The article of claim 14, wherein communicating the message in the reverse wireless link comprises communicating a reverse request message on a code-division multiple access (CDMA) 2000 reverse request channel (R-REQCH).

20. A mobile station comprising:

an interface to communicate with a base station over a wireless link;

a buffer to store data for communication over the wireless link to the base station; and

a controller to send information relating to a status of the buffer and information relating to a data rate over the wireless link to the base station.

21. The mobile station of claim 20, wherein the controller is adapted to send data in the buffer on a reverse packet data channel (R-PDCH).

22. The mobile station of claim 21, wherein the controller is adapted to send the information relating to the status of the buffer and information relating to the data rate over the wireless link in a reverse request message on a reverse request channel (R-REQCH).

23. The mobile station of claim 22, wherein R-REQCH is a code-division multiple access (CDMA) 2000 R-REQCH.