Relay system and method for cellular communication

• US 20060281404A1
• Filed: 06/13/2006
• Published: 12/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Yun, Sang-Boh, Lee, Yeon-Woo
• Granted Patent: US 8,423,015 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/11.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/26 Cell enhancers or enhancement, e.g. for tunnels, building shadow
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

A relay method is disclosed in a cellular communication system including an access node for providing an access service using resources of a licensed band to a particular terminal among a plurality of terminals with a partial licensed band of the full frequency spectrum, and a relay station for relaying communication between the terminal and an access node. The relay method includes performing base station-led resource allocation on a licensed band for a terminal and a relay station located in a service area of the base station, and performing relay station-led resource allocation on the licensed band and an unlicensed band for a terminal located in a service area of the relay station.

Claims

1. A relay system in cellular communication wherein for a plurality of terminals requiring frequency resources for communication, an access node allocates resources of a licensed band allocated to a corresponding system in a frequency spectrum pool, the relay system comprising:

at least one relay station, deployed in a cell boundary or a shadow area of the access node, for providing an access service for a base station with separate relay station frequency resources.

2. The relay system of claim 1, wherein the relay station frequency resources are resources of an unlicensed band.

3. The relay system of claim 2, wherein the licensed band is divided into a dedicated licensed band and a shared licensed band.

4. The relay system of claim 3, further comprising:

a global spectrum coordinator for analyzing and managing usage of resources in the frequency spectrum pool;

a first regional spectrum coordinator, installed in the base station, for analyzing and managing usage of resources of the licensed band; and

a second regional spectrum coordinator, installed in the relay station, for analyzing and managing usage of resources of the unlicensed band;

wherein the first and second regional spectrum coordinators generate a licensed band available-resource list and an unlicensed band available-resource list, respectively, and transmit the available-resource lists to the global spectrum coordinator, and the global spectrum coordinator generates a global available-resource list based on the licensed band available-resource list and the unlicensed band available-resource list and transmits the global available-resource list to the base station and the relay station.

5. The relay system of claim 4, wherein the relay station allocates available resources to a terminal based on the global available-resource list when there is a resource request from the terminal.

6. The relay system of claim 4, wherein the relay station allocates resources in order of the dedicated licensed band, the shared licensed band, and the unlicensed band based on the global available-resource list when there is a resource request from a terminal.

7. The relay system of claim 4, wherein the base station and the relay station periodically exchange with each other the licensed band available-resource list and the unlicensed band available-resource list.

8. The relay system of claim 7, wherein the relay station allocates resources in order of the dedicated licensed band, the shared licensed band, and the unlicensed band based on the licensed band available-resource list and its own unlicensed band available-resource list received from the base station.

9. A relay method in a cellular communication system including an access node for providing an access service using resources of a licensed band to a particular terminal among a plurality of terminals with a partial licensed band of a full frequency spectrum, and a relay station for relaying communication between the terminal and an access node, the relay method comprising the steps of:

performing base station-led resource allocation on a licensed band for a terminal and a relay station located in a service area of the base station; and

performing relay station-led resource allocation on the licensed band and an unlicensed band for a terminal located in a service area of the relay station.

10. The relay method of claim 9, wherein the relay station-led resource allocation step comprises:

determining whether a terminal is located outside the service area of the base station upon receiving a resource request from the terminal; and

allocating resources of the unlicensed band to the terminal, when the terminal is located outside the service area of the base station.

11. The relay method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether there is any available resource in the licensed band when the terminal is located inside the service area of the base station;

allocating the available resource in the licensed band when there is any available resource in the licensed band; and

allocating resources of the unlicensed band when there is no available resource in the licensed band.

12. The relay method of claim 9, wherein the licensed band is divided into a dedicated licensed band for supporting low-rate mobility and high-rate data transmission service, and a shared licensed band for supporting high-rate mobility and low-rate data transmission service.

13. The relay method of claim 12, wherein the relay station-led resource allocation step comprises:

determining whether a terminal is located outside the service area of the base station upon receiving a resource request from the terminal; and

allocating resources of the unlicensed band to the terminal, when the terminal is located outside the service area of the base station.

14. The relay method of claim 13, wherein the relay station-led resource allocation step comprises:

determining whether there is any available resource in the licensed band when the mobile station is located inside the service area of the base station;

allocating resources of the licensed band when there is any available resource in the licensed band; and

allocating resources of the unlicensed band when there is no available resource in the licensed band.

15. The relay method of claim 14, wherein the step of allocating resources of the licensed band comprises:

determining whether there is any available resource in the dedicated licensed band;

allocating the available resource of the dedicated licensed band when there is any available resource in the dedicated licensed band; and

allocating resources of the shared licensed band when there is no available resource in the dedicated licensed band,.

16. The relay method of claim 15, wherein the step of allocating resources of the licensed band comprises reporting information on the allocated resources to the system.

17. The relay method of claim 15, wherein the step of allocating resources of the shared licensed band comprises:

monitoring a beacon frame in the shared licensed band from neighbor relay stations; and

allocating resources of the shared licensed band based on priority of a flag bit in a detected beacon frame upon detecting the beacon frame from the neighbor relay stations

18. The relay method of claim 14, wherein the step of allocating resources of the unlicensed band comprises:

periodically sensing a channel in the unlicensed band to determine whether the channel in the unlicensed band is available;

calculating maximum data transmission power based on reception power from the terminal when the channel in the unlicensed band is available;

determining maximum beacon transmission power based on the maximum data transmission power;

broadcasting a beacon frame with the determined maximum beacon transmission power; and

allocating the channel in the unlicensed band to the terminal.

19. The relay method of claim 18, wherein the service area of the relay station is determined by the maximum data transmission power.

20. The relay method of claim 18, wherein the maximum beacon transmission power is calculated by multiplying the maximum data transmission power by a selected number.

21. The relay method of claim 18, wherein the step of allocating resources of the unlicensed band comprises:

monitoring a beacon frame from neighbor relay stations; and

adjusting the maximum data transmission power based on reception power of the detected beacon frame upon detecting a beacon frame from the neighbor relay stations.