Grant, acknowledgement, and rate control active sets

• US 20050030964A1
• Filed: 02/19/2004
• Published: 02/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Tiedemann, Edward G. Jr., Damnjanovic, Aleksandar, Malladi, Durga P., Wei, Yongbin, Chen, Tao, Sarkar, Sandip, Jain, Avinash, Gaal, Peter, Willenegger, Serge, Lundby, Stein, Oses, David Puig
• Granted Patent: US 7,126,928 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/431
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0002 by adapting the transmission rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0018 based on latency requirement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0025 Transmission of mode-switching indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0027 Scheduling of signalling, e.g. occurrence thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0028 Formatting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1671 the supervisory signal being transmitted together with control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1692 Physical properties of the supervisory signal, e.g. acknowledgement by energy bursts
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1819 with retransmission of additional or different redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1822 involving configuration of automatic repeat request [ARQ] with parallel processes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1845 Combining techniques, e.g. code combining
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/22 Negotiating communication rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/543 based on requested quality, e.g. QoS

Abstract

Embodiments disclosed herein address the need in the art for efficient management of grant, acknowledgement, and rate control channels. In one aspect, a list associated with a first station is generated or stored, the list comprising zero or more identifiers, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a message to the first station. In another aspect, sets of lists for one or more first stations are generated or stored. In yet another aspect, the messages may be acknowledgements, rate control commands, or grants. In yet another aspect, messages comprising one or more identifiers in the list are generated. Various other aspects are also presented. These aspects have the benefit of reduced overhead while managing grant, acknowledgment and rate control messaging for one or more remote stations.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory for storing a list comprising zero or more identifiers, the list associated with a first station, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a message to the first station.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the message is an acknowledgement.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the message is a rate control command.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the message is a grant.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is included in the first station.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is included in a station controller.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory stores a plurality of lists, the plurality of lists associated with the first station, each list comprising zero or more identifiers, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a message to the first station.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the message for one of the lists in the plurality of lists is an acknowledgement.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the message for one of the lists in the plurality of lists is a rate control command.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the message for one of the lists in the plurality of lists is a grant.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory for storing a list comprising zero or more identifiers, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of remote stations authorized for sending a first message; and

a receiver for receiving a plurality of signals from the plurality of remote stations identified in the list.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the plurality of received signals comprise one or more first messages.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first message is an acknowledgement.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first message is a rate control command.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first message is a grant.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a transmitter for transmitting in response to a received signal.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the transmitter transmits in response to a received acknowledgement.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the transmitter transmits at a rate adjusted in response to a received rate control command.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the transmitter transmits at a rate in accordance with a received grant.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor for generating a list comprising zero or more identifiers, the list associated with a first station, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a first message to the first station.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the list is generated in accordance with one or more predetermined criteria.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a receiver for receiving a measurement of a second station, wherein the processor includes an identifier associated with the second station in the list in accordance with the received measurement and in accordance with one or more predetermined criteria.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a transmitter for transmitting a second message to the first station, wherein the processor further generates the second message comprising zero or more of the identifiers from the list.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the second message identifies a list of identifiers for storing in the first station.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the second message directs the first station to add an identifier to a list of identifiers stored in the first station.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the second message directs the first station to remove an identifier from a list of identifiers stored in the first station.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a transmitter for transmitting a third message to a second station identified in the list, the third message authorizing the second station to transmit the first message to the first station.

28. A station controller, comprising:

a memory for storing a plurality of lists, each list associated with one of a plurality of first stations, each list comprising zero or more identifiers, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a message to the respective first station.

29. The station controller of claim 28, wherein the message is an acknowledgement.

30. The station controller of claim 28, wherein the message is a rate control command.

31. The station controller of claim 28, wherein the message is a grant.

32. The station controller of claim 28, wherein the memory stores a plurality of sets of lists, each set of lists associated with one of the plurality of first stations, each set comprising one or more lists, each list comprising zero or more identifiers, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a message to the respective first station.

33. The station controller of claim 32, wherein the message for one of the lists in the set of lists is an acknowledgement.

34. The station controller of claim 32, wherein the message for one of the lists in the set of lists is a rate control command.

35. The station controller of claim 32, wherein the message for one of the lists in the set of lists is a grant.

36. A communication system, comprising:

a memory for storing a plurality of lists, each list associated with one of a plurality of first stations, each list comprising zero or more identifiers, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a message to the respective first station.

37. A method for monitoring messages, comprising:

storing a list comprising zero or more identifiers, the list associated with a first station, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a message to the first station.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising sending one or more messages to the first station from one or more second stations identified in the list.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein one of the messages is an acknowledgement.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein one of the messages is a rate control command.

41. The method of claim 38, wherein one of the messages is a grant.

42. The method of claim 37, further comprising monitoring channels from the second stations identified in the list.

43. The method of claim 37, further comprising transmitting in response to an acknowledgement.

44. The method of claim 37, further comprising adjusting a transmission rate in response to a rate control command.

45. The method of claim 37, further comprising transmitting at a rate in accordance with a grant.

46. A method for monitoring messages, comprising:

generating a list comprising zero or more identifiers, the list associated with a first station, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a first message to the first station.

47. The method of claim 46, further comprising transmitting a second message to the first station, the second message comprising zero or more of the identifiers from the list.

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising storing the list of identifiers from the second message in the first station.

49. The method of claim 47, wherein the second message directs the first station to add an identifier to a list of identifiers stored in the first station.

50. The method of claim 47, wherein the second message directs the first station to remove an identifier from a list of identifiers stored in the first station.

51. The method of claim 46, further comprising transmitting a third message to a second station identified in the list, the third message authorizing the second station to transmit the first message to the first station.

52. An apparatus, comprising:

means for storing a list comprising zero or more identifiers, the list associated with a first station, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a message to the first station.

53. The apparatus of claim 52, further comprising means for sending one or more messages to the first station from one or more second stations identified in the list.

54. An apparatus, comprising:

means for generating a list comprising zero or more identifiers, the list associated with a first station, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a first message to the first station.

55. The apparatus of claim 54, further comprising means for transmitting a second message to the first station, the second message comprising zero or more of the identifiers from the list.

56. The apparatus of claim 54, further comprising means for transmitting a third message to a second station identified in the list, the third message authorizing the second station to transmit the first message to the first station.

57. A communication system, comprising:

means for storing a list comprising zero or more identifiers, the list associated with a first station, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a message to the first station.

58. The communication system of claim 57, further comprising means for sending one or more messages to the first station from one or more second stations identified in the list.

59. The communication system of claim 57, further comprising means for transmitting a second message to the first station, the second message comprising zero or more of the identifiers from the list.

60. The communication system of claim 57, further comprising means for transmitting a third message to a second station identified in the list, the third message authorizing the second station to transmit the first message to the first station.

61. Computer readable media operable to perform the following steps:

storing a list comprising zero or more identifiers, the list associated with a first station, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a message to the first station.

62. The media of claim 61, further operable to perform sending one or more messages to the first station from one or more second stations identified in the list.

63. Computer readable media operable to perform the following steps:

generating a list comprising zero or more identifiers, the list associated with a first station, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a first message to the first station.

64. The media of claim 63, further operable to perform transmitting a second message to the first station, the second message comprising zero or more of the identifiers from the list.

65. The media of claim 63, further operable to perform transmitting a third message to a second station identified in the list, the third message authorizing the second station to transmit the first message to the first station.