Apparatus and method for supporting multi-link in multi-hop relay cellular network

• US 20070060050A1
• Filed: 09/14/2006
• Published: 03/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Cho, Jae-Weon, Lee, Mi-Hyun, Lee, Sung-Jin, Son, Yeong-Moon, Hong, Song-Nam, Kang, Hyun-Jeong, Kim, Young-Ho, Son, Jung-Je, Lim, Hyoung-Kyu, Joo, Pan-Yuh
• Application Number:
  US11/521,420
• Publication Number:
  US 20070060050A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/13.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15542 Selecting at relay station its transmit and receive resources selection of wireless resources by user or terminal H04W72/02; arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path by two-dimensional division of the resources H04L5/0003, or by allocating sub-channels H04L5/003
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2605 Symbol extensions, e.g. Zero Tail, Unique Word [UW]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

Provided is an apparatus and method for constructing a frame for transmitting a direct link and a multi-hop relay link signal in one frame in a multi-hop relay cellular network. The signals are multiplexed on a time-division multiplexing basis and a base station downlink and relay station uplink subframe are located in a conventional downlink subframe. Accordingly, the overhead for a relay station receive transition gap in the downlink subframe and a relay station transmit transition gap in the conventional uplink subframe are eliminated.

Claims

1. A relay station (RS) transmitter in a multi-hop relay cellular network, the RS transmitter comprising:

a frame constructor for constructing frames to be transmitted to a mobile station (MS) and a base station (BS) by sequentially positioning a ranging signal, a preamble and downlink (DL) bursts to be transmitted to the MS, and uplink (UL) bursts to be transmitted to the BS; and

a timing controller for providing a timing signal indicating the time to transmit the constructed frames to the MS and the BS.

2. The RS transmitter of claim 1, wherein the frame constructor constructs a BS ranging signal using the ranging signal, constructs a DL subframe using the preamble and the DL burst to be transmitted to the MS, and constructs a UL subframe using the UL burst to be transmitted to the BS.

3. The RS transmitter of claim 2, wherein the BS ranging signal, the DL subframe and the UL subframe are sequentially transmitted under the control of the timing controller.

4. A relay station (RS) receiver in a multi-hop relay cellular network, the RS receiver comprising:

a frame extractor for extracting a base station (BS) preamble, base station downlink (BS DL) control information, BS DL data from a DL subframe received from the BS and an RS uplink (UL) burst and an RS ranging signal a UL subframe received from a mobile station (MS); and

a timing controller for providing a timing signal for determining whether the DL subframe and the UL subframe are received through a direct link or through a relay rink.

5. The RS receiver of claim 4, wherein the UL subframe includes the RS UL burst and the RS ranging signal.

6. The RS receiver of claim 4, wherein the DL subframe includes the BS preamble, the BS DL control information and the BS DL data.

7. The RS receiver of claim 4, wherein the BS preamble, the BS DL control information, the BS DL data, the RS UL burst and the RS ranging signal are sequentially received at the frame extractor.

8. A base station (BS) transmitter in a multi-hop relay cellular network, the BS transmitter comprising:

a frame constructor for constructing a downlink (DL) frame to be transmitted to a mobile station (MS) and a relay station (RS) by using a preamble signal, control information and a DL burst; and

a timing controller for providing a timing signal indicating the time to transmit the constructed DL frame.

9. The BS transmitter of claim 8, wherein the frame constructor sequentially constructs the DL frame using the preamble signal, the control information and the DL burst.

10. A base station (BS) receiver in a multi-hop relay cellular network, the BS receiver comprising:

a frame extractor for receiving uplink (UL) frames from a relay station (RS) and a mobile station (MS) and splitting the received uplink (UL) frames into a ranging signal, a UL burst transmitted from the RS and a UL burst transmitted from the MS; and

a timing controller for providing a timing signal for determining whether to receive the UL frames.

11. The BS receiver of claim 10, wherein the ranging signal and the UL burst are sequentially received at the frame extractor.

12. The BS receiver of claim 11, wherein the UL burst includes the UL burst transmitted from the RS and the UL burst transmitted from the MS.

13. A method for receiving signals at a relay station (RS) in a multi-hop relay cellular network, the method comprising the steps of:

determining whether a downlink (DL) subframe is received from a base station (BS);

if the DL subframe is received, determining whether an uplink (UL) subframe is received from a mobile station (MS); and

if the UL subframe is received, switching into a transmission (TX) mode.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the DL subframe includes a BS preamble, BS DL control information, and a BS DL burst.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the BS preamble, the BS DL control information, and the BS DL burst are received sequentially.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the DL subframe is allocated a two-dimensional burst for transmitting data to the MS and the RS.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the UL subframe includes a UL burst and a ranging signal that are transmitted from the MS.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the UL burst and the ranging signal are received sequentially.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the UL subframe includes bursts for a plurality of RSs and a slot is allocated to each of the bursts on a time priority basis.

20. A method for transmitting signals from a relay station (RS) in a time-division multiplexing (TDM) multi-hop relay cellular network, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting a ranging signal to a base station (BS);

transmitting a downlink (DL) subframe to mobile stations (MS) after the transmission of the ranging signal;

transmitting uplink (UL) subframe to the BS after the transmission of the DL subframe; and

switching into a receiving (RX) mode after the transmission of the UL bursts.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the DL subframe includes an RS preamble and a DL burst.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the RS preamble and the DL bursts are transmitted sequentially.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the UL subframe includes BS UL bursts.

24. A method for transmitting signals from a relay station (RS) in a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) multi-hop relay cellular network, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting a ranging signal to a base station (BS);

transmitting a preamble signal to a mobile station (MS) after the transmission of the ranging signal;

after the transmission of the preamble signal, transmitting an uplink (UL) subframe and a downlink (DL) subframe respectively to the BS and the MS on an FDM basis; and

switching into a receiving (RX) mode after the transmission of the UL subframe and the DL subframe.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the UL subframe and the DL subframe are simultaneously transmitted using different frequencies.

26. A method for transmitting signals from a base station (BS) in a multi-hop relay cellular network, the method comprising the steps of:

constructing a downlink (DL) subframe to be transmitted to a relay station (RS) and a mobile station (MS) connected through a direct link to the BS and transmitting the DL subframe; and

switching into a receiving (RX) mode after the transmission of the DL subframe.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the DL subframe includes a preamble, control information and data.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the preamble, the control information and the data are transmitted sequentially.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the DL subframe is allocated a two-dimensional burst for transmitting data to the MS and the RS.

30. A method for receiving signals at a base station (BS) in a multi-hop relay cellular network, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting a receiving (RX) start section and a start point of an uplink (UL) subframe transmitted from a relay station (RS) and a mobile station (MS), when a ranging signal is received from the RS and the MS;

receiving the UL subframe if the start point is less than the RX start section; and

switching into a transmission (TX) mode after the receipt of the UL subframe.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the uplink subframe is received from the RS and is allocated a burst on a time priority basis.

32. A method for transmitting signals from a mobile station (MS) communicating with a relay station (RS) in a multi-hop relay cellular network, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting an uplink (UL) subframe to the RS;

transmitting a ranging signal to the RS after the transmission of the UL subframe; and

switching into a receiving (RX) mode after the transmission of the ranging signal.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the UL subframe includes a plurality of UL subframes for a plurality of RSs.

34. A method for receiving signals at a mobile station (MS) communicating with a relay station (RS) in a multi-hop relay cellular network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a preamble from the RS to obtain synchronization;

receiving a downlink (DL) subframe from the RS to detect DL data after obtaining synchronization; and

switching into a transmission (TX) mode after detecting the DL data.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the DL subframe includes a plurality of DL subframe such that the RSs can transmit data through respective links of the RSs.

36. A method for transmitting signals from a mobile station (MS) connected through a direct link to a base station (BS) in a multi-hop relay cellular network, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting a ranging signal to the BS;

transmitting an uplink (UL) subframe to the BS after the transmission of the ranging signal; and

switching into a receiving (RX) mode after the transmission of the UL subframe.

37. A method for receiving signals at a mobile station (MS) connected through a direct link to a base station (BS) in a multi-hop relay cellular network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a preamble from the BS to obtain synchronization;

sequentially receiving control information and a DL burst from the BS after obtaining the synchronization; and

switching into a transmission (TX) mode after receiving the control information and the DL burst.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the BS DL subframe includes a BS preamble, control information and DL data.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the BS preamble, the control information and the DL data are received sequentially.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the DL subframe is allocated a two-dimensional burst for transmitting data to the MS and the BS.

41. A method for constructing a frame for supporting a relay service in a multi-hop relay cellular network, the method comprising the steps of:

constructing a first subframe for performing a receiving (RX) operation of a relay station (RS) during a first section of the frame; and

constructing a second subframe for performing a transmission (TX) operation of an RS during a second section of the frame.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the first section includes a downlink (DL) subframe transmitted from a base station (BS) to the RS and a mobile station (MS) and an uplink (UL) subframe transmitted from the MS to the RS.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the DL subframe includes a preamble, control information and a DL burst.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein the UL subframe includes a UL burst and a ranging signal.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the ranging signal is located in an end region of the UL subframe.

46. The method of claim 41, wherein the second section includes a ranging signal transmitted from the RS and the MS to the BS, a downlink (DL) subframe transmitted from the RS to the MS, and an uplink (UL) subframe transmitted from the RS and the MS to the BS.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the DL subframe includes a preamble and a DL burst.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the preamble is located in a start region of the DL subframe.

49. The method of claim 46, wherein the UL subframe includes a UL burst.

50. The method of claim 41, wherein a guard region is interposed between the RX and TX sections for the RS.

51. The method of claim 41, wherein the first section includes a downlink (DL) subframe and an uplink (UL) subframe that are multiplexed on a time-division multiplexing (TDM) basis, and the second section includes a DL subframe and a UL subframe that are multiplexed on a time-division multiplexing (TDM) or a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) basis.