Systems and methods for multiplexing control data for multiple data channels onto a single control channel

• US 20050169211A1
• Filed: 09/27/2004
• Published: 08/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Malladi, Durga Prasad, Willenegger, Serge D., Zhang, Xiaoxia
• Granted Patent: US 7,613,144 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/264 for data rate control

Abstract

Systems and methods for communicating control data for multiple data channels using a single control channel. In one embodiment, a method is implemented in a WCDMA communications system. This method includes combining data rate information for a first data channel and data rate information for a second data channel in a mobile station, encoding the combined data rate information and transmitting the encoded combined data rate information from the mobile station to a base station via a single control channel. This method further includes receiving the encoded combined data rate information in the base station, decoding the encoded combined data rate information to produce the combined data rate information, and extracting the data rate information for the first and second data channels and decoding the first and second data channels using this information.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a mobile station of a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

combining data rate information for a first data channel and data rate information for a second data channel;

encoding the combined data rate information; and

transmitting the encoded combined data rate information via a single control channel.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting a first data rate for the first data channel and selecting a second data rate for the second data channel.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the data rate information for the first data channel comprises a first data rate indicator corresponding to the first data rate and the data rate information for the second data channel comprises a second data rate indicator corresponding to the second data rate.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein combining the data rate information for the first data channel and the data rate information for the second data channel comprises multiplexing the first and second data rate indicators into a set of data rate bits.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein multiplexing the first and second data rate indicators into the set of data rate bits comprises appending one of the data rate indicators onto the other of the data rate indicators.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein encoding the combined data rate information comprises covering the combined data rate information with spreading codes.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the combined data rate information comprises ten bits and the encoded combined data rate information comprises 30 bits.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the encoded combined data rate information is transmitted on the control channel in a 10 millisecond frame.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein two of the 30 bits of the encoded combined data rate information are transmitted in each of 15 slots within the frame.

10. A method implemented in a base station of a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving encoded combined data rate information via a single control channel;

decoding the encoded combined data rate information to produce combined data rate information; and

extracting data rate information for a first data channel and data rate information for a second data channel from the combined data rate information.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising decoding data received on the first data channel using the data rate information for the first data channel and decoding data received on the second data channel using the data rate information for the second data channel.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the combined data rate information comprises a set of data rate bits and wherein extracting the data rate information for the first data channel and the data rate information for the second data channel from the combined data rate information comprises dividing the set of data rate bits into a first data rate indicator and a second data rate indicator.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the combined data rate information comprises ten bits.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein bits of the encoded combined data rate information are received in each of a plurality of slots of a received frame.

15. A method implemented in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

combining data rate information for a first data channel and data rate information for a second data channel;

encoding the combined data rate information;

transmitting the encoded combined data rate information via a single control channel;

receiving the encoded combined data rate information via the single control channel;

decoding the encoded combined data rate information to produce the combined data rate information; and

extracting the data rate information for the first data channel and the data rate information for the second data channel from the combined data rate information.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising

transmitting a first frame of data on the first data channel at the first data rate and transmitting a second frame of data on the second data channel at the second data rate;

receiving the first frame of data on the first data channel and the second frame of data on the second data channel; and

decoding the first frame of data using the data rate information for the first data channel and decoding the second frame of data using the data rate information for the second data channel.

17. A mobile station for a wireless communication system comprising:

a transceiver subsystem; and

a processing subsystem coupled to the transceiver subsystem and configured to combine data rate information for a first data channel and data rate information for a second data channel, encode the combined data rate information, and transmit the encoded combined data rate information via a single control channel.

18. The mobile station of claim 17, wherein the processing subsystem is further configured to select a first data rate for the first data channel and select a second data rate for the second data channel.

19. The mobile station of claim 18, wherein the data rate information for the first data channel comprises a first data rate indicator corresponding to the first data rate and the data rate information for the second data channel comprises a second data rate indicator corresponding to the second data rate.

20. The mobile station of claim 19, wherein the processing subsystem is configured to combine the data rate information for the first data channel and the data rate information for the second data channel by multiplexing the first and second data rate indicators into a set of data rate bits.

21. The mobile station of claim 20, wherein the processing subsystem is configured to multiplex the first and second data rate indicators into the set of data rate bits by appending one of the data rate indicators onto the other of the data rate indicators.

22. The mobile station of claim 20, wherein the processing subsystem is configured to encode the combined data rate information by covering the combined data rate information with spreading codes.

23. The mobile station of claim 17, wherein the combined data rate information comprises ten bits and the encoded combined data rate information comprises 30 bits.

24. The mobile station of claim 23, wherein the processing subsystem is configured to transmit the encoded combined data rate information on the control channel in a 10 millisecond frame.

25. The mobile station of claim 24, wherein the processing subsystem is configured to transmit two of the 30 bits of the encoded combined data rate information in each of 15 slots within the frame.

26. A base station for a wireless communication system comprising:

a transceiver subsystem; and

a processing subsystem coupled to the transceiver subsystem and configured to receive encoded combined data rate information via a single control channel, decode the encoded combined data rate information to produce combined data rate information, and extract data rate information for a first data channel and data rate information for a second data channel from the combined data rate information.

27. The base station of claim 26, wherein the processing subsystem is further configured to decode data received on the first data channel using the data rate information for the first data channel and decode data received on the second data channel using the data rate information for the second data channel.

28. The base station of claim 26, wherein the combined data rate information comprises a set of data rate bits and wherein the processing subsystem is configured to extract the data rate information for the first data channel and the data rate information for the second data channel from the combined data rate information by dividing the set of data rate bits into a first data rate indicator and a second data rate indicator.

29. The base station of claim 26, wherein the combined data rate information comprises ten bits.

30. The base station of claim 26, wherein the processing subsystem is configured to receive bits of the encoded combined data rate information in each of a plurality of slots of a received frame.

31. A wireless communication system comprising:

a mobile station configured to combine data rate information for a first data channel and data rate information for a second data channel, encode the combined data rate information, and transmit the encoded combined data rate information via a single control channel; and

a base station configured to receive the encoded combined data rate information via the single control channel, decode the encoded combined data rate information to produce the combined data rate information, and extract the data rate information for the first data channel and the data rate information for the second data channel from the combined data rate information.

32. The wireless communication system of claim 31,

wherein the mobile station is configured to transmit a first frame of data on the first data channel at the first data rate and transmit a second frame of data on the second data channel at the second data rate;

wherein the base station is configured to receive the first frame of data on the first data channel and the second frame of data on the second data channel and to decode the first frame of data using the data rate information for the first data channel and decode the second frame of data using the data rate information for the second data channel.