Method and apparatus for improving RF coverage area in a wireless network

• US 20070121567A1
• Filed: 11/15/2005
• Published: 05/31/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corporation Limited
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Venkatachalam, Muthaiah, Timiri, Shailender, Kibria, Masud
• Granted Patent: US 8,588,201 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/343
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/023 Multiplexing of multicarrier modulation signals multicarrier modulation H04L27/2601
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365

Abstract

Sub-channelization gain in an OFDMA-based wireless channel is enhanced by utilizing packet fragmentation when implementing a constant bit rate (CBR) real time (RT) packet application. A packet that would normally be transmitted using multiple sub-channels in a single OFDMA frame may be fragmented and delivered through the wireless channel over multiple frames. Because fewer sub-channels are used within each frame, sub-channelization gain is enhanced.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

fragmenting a data packet for transmission over a wireless orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) channel using multiple OFDMA frames to achieve a higher sub-channelization gain than would be achieved by transmitting said data packet within a single OFDMA frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

said data packet is a packet generated by a constant-bit-rate real time packet application that generates a stream of packets, said method further comprising repeating fragmenting a data packet for other data packets within said stream.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

said stream of packets has a substantially fixed interval between successive packets that is at least k times the length of a single OFDMA frame, wherein fragmenting a data packet includes fragmenting said data packet into k or less portions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

fragmenting a data packet includes fragmenting said data packet into portions that each fit within a single sub-channel of an OFDMA frame.

5. A method comprising:

determining that an uplink (UL) bandwidth allocation is needed for a wireless device to transmit a data packet to a wireless base station through an OFDMA channel;

when a predetermined condition is not satisfied, scheduling an unfragmented UL bandwidth allocation for said wireless device over a single OFDMA frame; and

when said predetermined condition is satisfied, scheduling a fragmented UL bandwidth allocation for said wireless device over multiple OFDMA frames to improve sub-channelization gain.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

said predetermined condition includes a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) assigned to said wireless device being a specific MCS.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

said predetermined condition further includes a maximum transmit power of said wireless device being above a predetermined threshold level.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein:

said specific MCS is quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) ½

.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a wireless OFDMA transmitter to transmit data to one or more subscriber stations within downlink subframes of OFDMA frames;

a wireless OFDMA receiver to receive data from one or more subscriber stations within uplink subframes of OFDMA frames; and

a scheduler to schedule communications between said one or more remote subscribe stations and said apparatus, said scheduler to schedule BW resources within multiple successive OFDMA frames for a first subscriber station to transmit a data packet to said apparatus, to enhance sub-channelization gain, when a predetermined condition is satisfied.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein:

said scheduler is to schedule BW resources within a single OFDMA frame for said first subscriber station to transmit said data packet to said apparatus when said predetermined condition is not satisfied.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein:

said predetermined condition includes a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) assigned to said wireless device being a specific MCS.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

said specific MCS is QPSK ½

.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

said predetermined condition further includes a maximum transmit power of said wireless device being above a predetermined threshold level.

14. A system comprising:

a dipole antenna;

a wireless OFDMA transmitter, coupled to said dipole antenna, to transmit data to one or more subscriber stations within downlink subframes of OFDMA frames;

a wireless OFDMA receiver to receive data from one or more subscriber stations within uplink subframes of OFDMA frames; and

a scheduler to schedule communications between said one or more remote subscribe stations and said apparatus, said scheduler to schedule BW resources within multiple successive OFDMA frames for a first subscriber station to transmit a data packet to said apparatus, to enhance sub-channelization gain, when a predetermined condition is satisfied.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein:

said scheduler is to schedule BW resources within a single OFDMA frame for said first subscriber station to transmit said data packet to said apparatus when said predetermined condition is not satisfied.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein:

said predetermined condition includes a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) assigned to said wireless device being a specific MCS.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein:

said predetermined condition further includes a maximum transmit power of said wireless device being above a predetermined threshold level.

18. An article comprising a storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computing platform, operate to:

determine that an uplink (UL) bandwidth allocation is needed for a wireless device to transmit a data packet to a wireless base station through an OFDMA channel;

when a predetermined condition is not satisfied, schedule an unfragmented UL bandwidth allocation for said wireless device over a single OFDMA frame; and

when said predetermined condition is satisfied, schedule a fragmented UL bandwidth allocation for said wireless device over multiple OFDMA frames to improve sub-channelization gain.

19. The article of claim 18, wherein:

said predetermined condition includes a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) assigned to said wireless device being a specific MCS.

20. The article of claim 19, wherein:

said predetermined condition further includes a maximum transmit power of said wireless device being above a predetermined threshold level.

21. The article of claim 19, wherein:

said specific MCS is quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) ½

.