Duplex operation in a cellular communication system

• US 20070041347A1
• Filed: 09/30/2005
• Published: 02/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: IPWireless Inc. (NVIDIA Corporation)
• Inventors: Beale, Martin, Jones, Alan
• Granted Patent: US 8,493,926 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/335
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2643 using time-division multiple access [TDMA] H04B7/2615, H04B7/2618 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1438 Negotiation of transmission parameters prior to communication modified according to link quality H04L1/0001
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/16 Half-duplex systems; Simplex/duplex switching; Transmission of break signals non-automatically inverting the direction of transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/16 Performing reselection for specific purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

A cellular communication system comprises a first base station serving at least a first user equipment. The base station comprises functionality for transmitting a base station duplex capability message to user equipments using a transmission format which is common to a plurality of duplex modes. A first user equipment comprises a transceiver which receives the base station duplex capability message. A RACH characteristics processor determines at least one transmit characteristic for an access message in response to the base station duplex capability message and a RACH transmit controller controls the transmission of an access message to the first base station in response to the at least one transmit characteristic.

Claims

1. A cellular communication system comprising base stations supporting user equipments, the cellular communication system comprising:

a first base station serving at least a first user equipment wherein the first base station comprises logic for

transmitting a base station duplex capability message to user equipments using a common transmission format, the common transmission format being common to a plurality of duplex modes.

2. The cellular communication system of claim 1 wherein a first of the plurality of duplex modes is a paired spectrum duplex mode using paired uplink and downlink frequency carriers and a second of the plurality of duplex modes is an unpaired spectrum duplex mode using a single frequency carrier for uplink and downlink.

3. The cellular communication system of claim 1 wherein a first duplex mode of the plurality of duplex modes is a half duplex mode and a second duplex mode of the plurality of duplex modes is a full duplex mode.

4. The cellular communication system of claim 3 wherein the first and second duplex modes are paired spectrum duplex modes.

5. The cellular communication system of claim 1 wherein the common transmission format comprises one or more common transmission parameters from the group consisting of:

a;

a channel bandwidth;

b;

a coding rate;

c;

a modulation scheme;

d;

an interleaving;

e;

a coding scheme; and

f;

a timing.

9. The cellular communication system of claim 1 wherein the first user equipment further comprises logic for transmitting a user equipment duplex capability characteristic to the first base station.

10. The cellular communication system of claim 1 further comprising a scheduler for scheduling communication for the first user equipment in response to receiving a user equipment duplex capability characteristic.

11. The cellular communication system of claim 10 wherein the user equipment duplex capability characteristic is indicative of a capability of the first user equipment to support a half duplex mode or a full duplex mode.

12. The cellular communication system of claim 11 wherein the half duplex mode and the full duplex mode are paired spectrum duplex modes.

13. The cellular communication system of claim 11 wherein the scheduler is arranged to schedule communication subject to an uplink and downlink time orthogonality restriction for the half duplex mode;

and to schedule communication with no uplink and downlink time orthogonality restriction for the full duplex mode.

14. The cellular communication system of claim 9 wherein the first user equipment is arranged to comprise the user equipment duplex capability characteristic in an access message.

15. The cellular communication system of claim 9 wherein the first user equipment is arranged to comprise the user equipment duplex capability characteristic in a communication confirmation message.

16. The cellular communication system of claim 1 further comprising logic for supporting a call setup procedure using a communication scheme common to the plurality of duplex modes.

17. The cellular communication system of claim 1 wherein the first base station is arranged to communicate with the first user equipment during a call setup process using a half duplex mode of operation until a duplex capability characteristic is received from the first user equipment.

18. The cellular communication system of claim 1 wherein the first base station is arranged to communicate with the first user equipment during a call setup process using a half duplex mode of operation.

19. The cellular communication system of claim 1 arranged to support communications in accordance with the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project Technical Specifications.

20. The cellular communication system of claim 1 arranged to support communications in accordance with the Global System for Mobile communication system Recommendations.

6. A cellular communication system comprising a first user equipment, wherein the first user equipment comprises:

logic for receiving a base station duplex capability message;

logic for determining at least one transmit characteristic for an access message in response to the base station duplex capability message; and

logic for transmitting the access message to the first base station using the at least one transmit characteristic.

7. The cellular communication system of claim 6 wherein the first user equipment further includes:

logic to determine a carrier frequency for the access message as a carrier frequency of the base station duplex capability message if the base station duplex capability message indicates that the first base station supports only an unpaired spectrum duplex mode operation, and

logic to determine the carrier frequency as a frequency paired to the carrier frequency of the base station duplex capability message if the base station duplex capability message indicates that the first base station supports a paired spectrum duplex mode operation.

8. The cellular communication system of claim 6 wherein the first user equipment further comprises:

logic for determining a duplex capability of the first base station in response to the base station duplex capability message; and

logic for evaluating a match criterion between a duplex capability of the first user equipment and the duplex capability of the first base station; and

wherein the first user equipment is arranged to only transmit an access message to the first base station if the match criterion is met.

21. A base station in a cellular communication system comprising base stations supporting user equipments, the base station comprising:

logic for transmitting a base station duplex capability message to user equipments using a common transmission format, the common transmission format being common to a plurality of duplex modes.

22. A user equipment in a cellular communication system comprising base stations supporting user equipments, the user equipment comprising:

logic for receiving a base station duplex capability message from a first base station;

logic for determining at least one transmit characteristic for an access message in response to the base station duplex capability message; and

logic for transmitting the access message to the first base station using the at least one transmit characteristic.

23. A method of operation in a cellular communication system comprising base stations supporting user equipments, the method comprising:

serving at least a first user equipment; and

transmitting a base station duplex capability message to user equipments using a common transmission format, the common transmission format being common to a plurality of duplex modes.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein a first of the plurality of duplex modes is a paired spectrum duplex mode using paired uplink and downlink frequency carriers and a second of the plurality of duplex modes is an unpaired spectrum duplex mode using a single frequency for uplink and downlink.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the common transmission format comprises one or more common transmission parameters from a group consisting of:

a;

a channel bandwidth;

b;

a data rate;

c;

a modulation scheme;

d;

an interleaving;

e;

a coding scheme; and

f;

a timing.

27. The method of claim 23 further comprising:

determining a duplex capability of the first base station in response to the base station duplex capability message; and

evaluating a match criterion between a duplex capability of the first user equipment and the duplex capability of the first base station; and

wherein the first user equipment is arranged to only transmit the access message if the match criterion is met.

28. The method of claim 23 further comprising transmitting a user equipment duplex capability characteristic to the first base station.

29. The method of claim 28 further comprising scheduling communication with the first user equipment in response to receiving a user equipment duplex capability characteristic.

30. The method of claim 23 wherein the cellular communication system operates in accordance with the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project Technical Specifications.

31. The method of claim 23 wherein the cellular communication system operates in accordance with the Global System for Mobile communication system Recommendations.

26. A method of operation for a user equipment of a cellular communication system comprising base stations supporting user equipments, the method comprising:

receiving a base station duplex capability message;

determining at least one transmit characteristic for an access message in response to the base station duplex capability message; and

transmitting the access message to the first base station using the at least one transmit characteristic.

32. (canceled)