Method and apparatus for receiving broadcast in a wireless multiple-access communications system

• US 20060028995A1
• Filed: 08/05/2004
• Published: 02/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Wu, Qiang, Agashe, Parag Arun, Sundaram, Senthilkumar Kaliannan, Canoy, Michael-David Nakayoshi, Kintada, Ramakrishna
• Granted Patent: US 8,570,880 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service

Abstract

An access terminal an a wireless multiple-access network monitors multiple broadcast soft handoff groups simultaneously in order to select the best logical broadcast channels to decode based upon broadcast contents selected by a user of the access terminal. When in a traffic state the access terminal is able to decode one or more broadcast channels by decoding a unicast channel from a traffic server during one time slot and then decoding a broadcast channel from a broadcast server during another time slot.

Claims

1. In a multiple-access network, a method of operating an access terminal to receive broadcast content, comprising:

receiving a plurality of transmissions of contents provided by a plurality of broadcast servers;

determining a weight for each of the broadcast servers by;

determining a weight for each content provided by the broadcast server;

combining weights for contents provided by the broadcast server to yield a broadcast server weight; and

ranking the broadcast servers by their respective broadcast server weights.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

decoding a transmission of content broadcast by the highest-ranking broadcast server.

3. The method of claim 1, further including decoding a transmission of content broadcast by a broadcast server selected from the ranked broadcast servers.

4. The method of claim 1, in which determining a weight for each content comprises:

determining a weight for each transmission of the content;

combining weights for transmissions of the content to yield a transmission weight for the content;

determining a value for at least one quality measure of the content; and

combining the transmission weight for the content with the value for at least one quality measure to yield a weight for the content.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each broadcast server is associated with a soft combine group of at least one serving server, in which each serving server of a soft combine group provides a transmission of a respective content provided by a broadcast server associated with the soft combine group, and

wherein determining a weight for each transmission comprises:

determining a value for at least one quality measure of the transmission for serving servers of a soft combine group.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one quality measure of the transmission is selected from the group including transmission type, transmission condition, and transmission power.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one quality measure of the content is selected from the group including content encoding rate, content timing, content cost, and content priority.

8. The method of claim 5, in which the transmissions are on forward traffic channels received by the access terminal.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

interrupting a unicast transmission on one of the forward traffic channels to receive a broadcast transmission on the forward traffic channel.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein interrupting includes periodically interrupting.

11. An access terminal for use in a wireless multiple-access network, comprising:

an RF section to receive a plurality of transmissions of contents provided by a plurality of broadcast servers;

a rank determination module adapted to determine a weight for each of the broadcast servers by;

determining a weight for each content provided by the broadcast server; and

combining weights for contents provided by the broadcast server to yield a broadcast server weight; and

a data structure adapted to arrange the broadcast servers by their respective broadcast server weights.

12. The access terminal of claim 11, further comprising:

means for decoding a transmission of content broadcast by the highest-ranking broadcast server.

13. The access terminal of claim 11, further comprising:

means for decoding a transmission of content broadcast by a broadcast server selected from the ranked broadcast servers.

14. The access terminal of claim 11, in which the rank determination module comprises:

means for determining a weight for each transmission of a content;

means for combining weights for transmissions of a content to yield a transmission weight for the content;

means for determining a value for at least one quality measure of a content; and

means for combining the transmission weight for a content with the value for at least one quality measure the content to yield a weight for each content.

15. The access terminal of claim 14, wherein:

each broadcast server is associated with a soft combine group of at least one serving server;

each serving server of a soft combine group provides a transmission of a respective content provided by a broadcast server associated with the soft combine group; and

the rank determination module comprises;

means for determining a value for at least one quality measure of the transmission for each serving server of a soft combine group.

16. The access terminal of claim 15, wherein the at least one quality measure of the transmission is selected from the group including transmission type, transmission condition, and transmission power.

17. The access terminal of claim 15, wherein the at least one quality measure of the content is selected from the group including content encoding rate, content timing, content cost, and content priority.

18. The access terminal of claim 15, in which the transmissions are on forward traffic channels of the wireless multiple-access network.

19. The access terminal of claim 18, further including means for interrupting a unicast transmission on one of the forward traffic channels to receive a broadcast transmission on the forward traffic channel.

20. The method of claim 19, in which means for interrupting is for periodically interrupting the unicast transmission.

21. In a cellular network, a method of operating an access terminal to receive broadcast content, comprising:

receiving a plurality of transmissions of broadcast contents provided by a plurality of base transceiver stations of the network;

determining a weight for each of the base transceiver stations by;

determining a weight for each content provided by the base transceiver station;

combining weights of contents provided by the base transceiver station to yield a base transceiver station weight; and

ranking the base transceiver stations by their respective base transceiver station weights.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

decoding a transmission of content broadcast by the highest-ranking base transceiver station.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

decoding a transmission of content broadcast by a base transceiver station selected from the ranked base transceiver stations.

24. The method of claim 21, in which determining a weight for each content comprises:

determining a weight for each transmission of the content;

combining weights of transmissions of the content to yield a transmission weight for the content;

determining a value for at least one quality measure of the content; and

combining the transmission weight for the content with the value for at least one quality measure to yield a weight for the content.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein:

each base transceiver station is associated with a soft combine group of at least one serving sector;

each serving sector of a soft combine group provides a transmission of a respective content provided by a base transceiver station associated with the soft combine group; and

determining a weight for each transmission comprises;

for serving sectors of a soft combine group, determining a value for at least one quality measure of the transmission.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the at least one quality measure of the transmission is selected from the group including transmission type, transmission condition, and transmission power.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the at least one quality measure of the content is selected from the group including content encoding rate, content timing, content cost, and content priority.

28. The method of claim 25, in which the transmissions are on forward traffic channels received by the access terminal.

29. The method of claim 28, further including interrupting a unicast transmission on one of the forward traffic channels to receive a broadcast transmission on the forward traffic channel.

30. The method of claim 29, in which interrupting includes periodically interrupting.

31. An access terminal for use in a wireless multiple access network, comprising:

an RF section to receive a plurality of transmissions of contents provided by a plurality of base transceiver stations;

a rank determination module adapted to determine a weight for each of the base transceiver stations by;

determining a weight for each content provided by the base transceiver station; and

combining weights of contents provided by the base transceiver station to yield a base transceiver station weight; and

a data structure adapted to arrange the base transceiver stations by their respective base transceiver station weights.

32. The access terminal of claim 31, further including means for decoding a transmission of content broadcast by the highest-ranking base transceiver station.

33. The access terminal of claim 31, further including means for decoding a transmission of content broadcast by a base transceiver station selected from the ranked base transceiver stations.

34. The access terminal of claim 31, in which the rank determination module includes:

means for determining a weight for each transmission of a content;

means for combining weights of transmissions of a content to yield a transmission weight for the content;

means for determining a value for at least one quality measure of a content; and

means for combining the transmission weight for a content with the value for at least one quality measure the content to yield a weight for each content.

35. The access terminal of claim 34, wherein:

each base transceiver station is associated with a soft combine group of at least one serving sector;

each serving sector of a soft combine group provides a transmission of a respective content provided by a base transceiver station associated with the soft combine group; and

the rank determination module comprises;

means determining a value for at least one quality measure of the transmission for each serving sector of a soft combine group.

36. The access terminal of claim 35, wherein the at least one quality measure of the transmission is selected from the group including transmission type, transmission condition, and transmission power.

37. The access terminal of claim 35, wherein the at least one quality measure of the content is selected from the group including content encoding rate, content timing, content cost, and content priority.

38. The access terminal of claim 35, in which the transmissions are on forward traffic channels of the wireless multiple-access network.

39. The access terminal of claim 38, further including means for interrupting a unicast transmission on one of the forward traffic channels to receive a broadcast transmission on the forward traffic channel.

40. The method of claim 39, in which means for interrupting is for periodically interrupting the unicast transmission.

41. A method of operating an access terminal in a wireless multiple-access network, comprising:

receiving a plurality of transmissions of broadcast contents provided by a plurality of broadcast servers of the network;

determining a plurality of serving servers of the network providing the plurality of transmissions;

combining magnitudes of RF components of transmissions provided by at least two of the plurality of serving servers; and

decoding broadcast content from the combined magnitudes.

42. An access terminal for use in a wireless multiple-access network, comprising:

means for receiving a plurality of transmissions of broadcast contents provided by a plurality of broadcast servers of the network;

means for determining a plurality of serving servers of the network providing the plurality of transmissions;

means for combining magnitudes of RF components of transmissions provided by at least two of the plurality of serving servers; and

means for decoding broadcast content from the combined magnitudes.