Method of communicating neighbor base station information

• US 20050272403A1
• Filed: 05/10/2005
• Published: 12/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Jin, Yong Suk, Ryu, Ki Seon, Lee, Chang Jae
• Granted Patent: US 7,957,761 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/403
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0085 Hand-off measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

A method uses inter-base station control messages to provide neighbor base station information to mobile subscriber stations in a mobile communication system. The method includes obtaining, at a serving base station, physical channel information of neighbor base stations over a backbone network via, either directly or via a server; periodically transmitting the obtained physical channel information from the serving base station to a mobile subscriber station connected to the serving base station; and measuring, based on the updated physical channel information, signal quality of the at least one neighbor base station at the mobile subscriber station. Thus, the serving base station receives from the neighbor base stations the inter-base station control messages containing the neighbor base station information, updates the information, and provides the updated information to the corresponding mobile subscriber station(s), to be used for a specific purpose such as handover or network entry.

Claims

1. A method of communicating neighbor base station information in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:

obtaining, at a first base station, neighbor base station information from at least one neighbor base station, the neighbor base station information corresponding to the at least one neighbor base station and being provided to the first base station over a backbone network; and

transmitting the obtained neighbor base station information from the first base station to a mobile subscriber station connected to the first base station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile subscriber station uses the neighbor base station information for a specific purpose.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the specific purpose corresponds to a handover operation between the first base station and a target base station of the at least one neighbor base station.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the specific purpose corresponds to an instance of network entry.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the neighbor base station information includes physical channel information for connecting to the at least one neighbor base station.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the neighbor base station information includes a base station identifier, physical frequency information, an uplink channel descriptor, and a downlink channel descriptor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication system is a broadband wireless access system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first base station is a serving base station.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first base station obtains the neighbor base station information by exchanging with the at least one neighbor base station a plurality of inter-base station control messages over the backbone network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of inter-base station control messages include a base station information request for requesting the neighbor base station information and a base station information response responsive to the base station information request, the base station information request being transmitted from the serving base station to each of the at least one neighbor base station and the base station information response being transmitted from each neighbor base station to the serving base station.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the base station information response is also transmitted to neighbor base stations other than the at least one neighbor base station.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the base station information request includes respective fields for message type, sender base station identification, target base station identification, message authentication, and error correction.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the fields for message type, sender base station identification, target base station identification, and error correction are configured with 8 bits, 48 bits, 48 bits, and 32 bits, respectively.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the base station information request is transmitted, from the first base station to the at least one neighbor base station, via a server.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the server is a management function server.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the base station information response includes respective fields for message type, sender base station identification, target base station identification, physical frequency, configuration change count incremented for each change in neighbor base station information, hysteresis threshold, mobile-assisted handover report period, type-length-value-encoded information, message authentication, and error correction.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the fields for message type, sender base station identification, target base station identification, and error correction are configured with 8 bits, 48 bits, 48 bits, and 32 bits, respectively.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the base station information response is transmitted, from the first base station to the at least one neighbor base station, via a server.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the server is a management function server.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the neighbor base station information includes downlink center frequency information, an uplink channel descriptor, and a downlink channel descriptor.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the neighbor base station information is included in a message periodically transmitted to the mobile subscriber station.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the mobile subscriber station uses the message containing the neighbor base station information to identify a network and characteristics of the at least one neighbor base station for an instance of network entry.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the neighbor base station information is transmitted, for each change in the neighbor base station information, from the at least one neighbor base station to the first base station and to neighbor base stations other than the at least one neighbor base station.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the neighbor base station information is periodically transmitted, for each change in the neighbor base station information, from the at least one neighbor base station to the first base station and to neighbor base stations other than the at least one neighbor base station.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one mobile subscriber station uses the neighbor base station information to synchronize with the at least one neighbor base station.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the synchronization is performed without monitoring downlink/uplink channel descriptor broadcast transmissions from a target base station of the at least one neighbor base station.

27. A method of communicating neighbor base station information in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:

obtaining, at a serving base station, physical channel information exchanged over a backbone network using a plurality of inter-base station control messages, the physical channel information corresponding to at least one neighbor base station;

periodically transmitting the obtained physical channel information from the serving base station to a mobile subscriber station connected to the serving base station, the obtained physical channel information being updated for each transmission; and

measuring, based on the updated physical channel information, signal quality of the at least one neighbor base station at the mobile subscriber station.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the inter-base station control messages include a base station information request for requesting neighbor base station information and a base station information response responsive to the base station information request, the base station information request being transmitted from the serving base station to the at least one neighbor base station and the base station information response being transmitted from each of the at least one neighbor base station to the serving base station.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the base station information response is also transmitted to neighbor base stations other than the at least one neighbor base station.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the inter-base station control messages are exchanged directly between the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the inter-base station control messages are exchanged via a server functionally interposed between the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the inter-base station control messages are exchanged between the server and each of the at least one neighbor base station.

33. The method of claim 27, wherein the physical channel information is updated in the serving base station.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the physical channel information is updated in the at least one neighbor base station.

35. The method of claim 27, wherein the physical channel information is updated by the serving base station periodically requesting updated information from the at least one neighbor base station via the inter-base station control messages.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the at least one neighbor base station transmits the updated information to the serving base station in response to the request.

37. The method of claim 27, wherein the physical channel information is updated by transmitting neighbor base station information from the at least one neighbor base station to the serving base station.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the neighbor base station information is transmitted for each change in the physical channel information of the at least one neighbor base station.

39. A method of communicating neighbor base station information in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:

performing an initialization and registration process between a serving base station and a mobile subscriber station connected to the serving base station;

obtaining, at the serving base station, neighbor base station information by exchanging inter-base station control messages over a backbone network between the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station; and

updating the neighbor base station information, by periodically performing said neighbor base station information obtaining and transmitting to the mobile subscriber station the periodically obtained information from the serving base station.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the inter-base station control messages are exchanged directly between the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the inter-base station control messages include a base station information request for requesting neighbor base station information and a base station information response responsive to the base station information request, the base station information request being transmitted from the serving base station to the at least one neighbor base station and the base station information response being transmitted from each of the at least one neighbor base station to the serving base station.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein the inter-base station control messages are exchanged via a server.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the inter-base station control messages include a first base station information request, transmitted from the serving base station to the server, for requesting the neighbor base station information;

a second base station information request transmitted from the server to the at least one neighbor base station according to the first base station information request, a first base station information response transmitted from the at least one neighbor base station to the server in response to the second base station information request; and

a second base station information response message transmitted from the server to the serving base station according to the second base station information response.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein the server is a management function server.

45. A method of communicating neighbor base station information in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:

performing an initialization and registration process between a serving base station and a mobile subscriber station connected to the serving base station;

obtaining, at the serving base station, neighbor base station information by exchanging inter-base station control messages over a backbone network between the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station; and

updating the neighbor base station information, by periodically performing said neighbor base station information obtaining and transmitting to the mobile subscriber station the periodically obtained information from the serving base station, said updating being continuously performed according to a completion of the initialization and registration process.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the inter-base station control messages are exchanged directly between the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the inter-base station control messages include a base station information request for requesting neighbor base station information and a base station information response responsive to the base station information request, the base station information request being transmitted from the serving base station to the at least one neighbor base station and the base station information response being transmitted from each of the at least one neighbor base station to the serving base station.

48. The method of claim 45, wherein the inter-base station control messages are exchanged via a server.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the inter-base station control messages include a first base station information request, transmitted from the serving base station to the server, for requesting the neighbor base station information;

a second base station information request transmitted from the server to the at least one neighbor base station according to the first base station information request, a first base station information response transmitted from the at least one neighbor base station to the server in response to the second base station information request; and

a second base station information response message transmitted from the server to the serving base station according to the second base station information response.

50. The method of claim 48, wherein the server is a management function server.

51. A method of communicating neighbor base station information in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:

performing an initialization and registration process between a serving base station and a mobile subscriber station connected to the serving base station;

obtaining, at the serving base station, neighbor base station information by exchanging inter-base station control messages over a backbone network between the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station; and

updating the neighbor base station information, by periodically performing said neighbor base station information obtaining for each change in the neighbor base station information and transmitting to the mobile subscriber station the periodically obtained information from the serving base station, said updating being continuously performed according to a completion of the initialization and registration process.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the serving base station transmits the updated neighbor base station information to the mobile subscriber station for each transmission of a change in the neighbor base station information is received from any one of the at least one neighbor base station.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein the neighbor base station information is updated in the serving base station.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein the neighbor base station information is updated in the at least one neighbor base station.

55. The method of claim 51, wherein the inter-base station control messages are exchanged directly between the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein the inter-base station control messages include a base station information request for requesting neighbor base station information and a base station information response responsive to the base station information request, the base station information request being transmitted from the serving base station to the at least one neighbor base station and the base station information response being transmitted from each of the at least one neighbor base station to the serving base station.

57. The method of claim 51, wherein the inter-base station control messages are exchanged via a server.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the inter-base station control messages include a first base station information request, transmitted from the serving base station to the server, for requesting the neighbor base station information;

a second base station information request transmitted from the server to the at least one neighbor base station according to the first base station information request, a first base station information response transmitted from the at least one neighbor base station to the server in response to the second base station information request; and

a second base station information response message transmitted from the server to the serving base station according to the second base station information response.

59. The method of claim 57, wherein the server is a management function server.