WIRELESS COMMUNICATION METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COMMUNICATING VIA MULTIPLE INFORMATION STREAMS

• US 20070165566A1
• Filed: 10/31/2006
• Published: 07/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Khan, Farooq, Han, Jin-Kyu, Rensburg, Cornelius
• Granted Patent: US 8,064,389 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/022 Site diversity; Macro-diversity using two or more spaced independent antennas H04B7/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0669 using different channel coding between antennas space-time coding H04L1/0618
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2123 Variable assignment, e.g. demand assignment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0041 Arrangements at the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0045 Arrangements at the receiver end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0606 Space-frequency coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0618 Space-time coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0093 Point-to-multipoint
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/00692 using simultaneous multiple data streams, e.g. cooperative multipoint [CoMP], carrier aggregation [CA] or multiple input multiple output [MIMO] allocation of physical resources in CoMP or in CA H04L5/0035
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/18 for allowing seamless reselection, e.g. soft reselection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

A wireless communication system is disclosed wherein an information source communicates with a mobile station via multiple intermediary base stations located in respective cells of a broadcast zone. In one embodiment, each base station sends multiple information streams that may be received by a mobile station located in the broadcast zone. By receiving multiple information streams from multiple base stations, the mobile station may enhance reception. In one embodiment, each base station in a broadcast zone transmits an information stream that exhibits a first level of robustness and another information stream that exhibits a second level of robustness.

Claims

1. A wireless communication system, comprising:

an information source that provides an information content stream;

a plurality of base stations, coupled to the information source, that each transmit a respective first transmitted information stream derived from the information content stream and exhibiting a first level of robustness, and that each transmit a respective second transmitted information stream derived from the information content stream and exhibiting a second level of robustness; and

a mobile receiving station that receives some of the first transmitted information streams to provide first received information streams and that further receives some of the second transmitted information streams to provide second received information streams, wherein the mobile receiving station reconstructs the information content stream from both the first received information streams and the second received information streams if the mobile receiving station reliably receives the second transmitted information streams, the mobile station otherwise reconstructing the information content stream from the first received information streams.

2. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein the first level of robustness associated with the first transmitted information signals is greater than the second level of robustness associated with the second transmitted information signals.

3. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein each base station codes the first transmitted information stream thereof with a first code exhibiting a higher level of robustness than a second code with which each base station codes the second transmitted information stream thereof.

4. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein each base station modulates the first transmitted information stream thereof with a first modulation type exhibiting a higher level of robustness than a second modulation type with which each base station modulates the second transmitted information stream thereof.

5. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein each base station transmits the first transmitted information stream thereof at a higher radio frequency output power than the second transmitted information stream thereof.

6. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein the mobile receiving station receives a composite signal that includes first transmitted information streams and second transmitted information streams, the mobile receiving station decoding the first received information streams thus providing a decoded first information stream, the mobile receiving station cancelling the decoded first information stream from the composite signal, thus leaving the second received information streams, the mobile receiving station then decoding the second received information streams.

7. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein the base stations are situated in respective cells.

8. A method of transmitting and receiving information, comprising:

providing, by an information source, an information content stream to a plurality of base stations situated in respective cells;

transmitting, by the plurality of base stations, respective first transmitted information streams derived from the information content stream and exhibiting a first level of robustness;

transmitting, by the plurality of base stations, respective second transmitted information streams derived from the information content stream and exhibiting a second level of robustness;

receiving, by a mobile receiving station, some of the first transmitted information streams to provide first received information streams;

receiving, by the mobile receiving station, some of the second transmitted information streams to provide second received information streams;

testing, by the mobile receiving station, the second received information streams to determine if the mobile receiving station reliably received the second received information streams; and

reconstructing, by the mobile receiving station, the information content stream from the first received information streams and the second received information streams if the testing step determined that the mobile receiving station reliably received the transmitted second information streams.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the testing step comprises performing a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) on a second received information stream to determine if the second received information stream was reliably received.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first level of robustness of the first transmitted information streams is greater than the second level of robustness of the second transmitted information streams.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first transmitting step includes coding the respective first transmitted information streams with a code that exhibits a higher level of robustness than a code employed in the second transmitting step to code the respective second transmitted information streams.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the first transmitting step includes modulating the respective first transmitted information streams with a modulation type that exhibits a higher level of robustness than a modulation type employed in the second transmitting step to modulate the respective second transmitted information streams.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the first transmitting step includes transmitting the respective first transmitted information streams at a higher radio frequency power level than a radio frequency power level employed in the second transmitting step to transmit the respective second transmitted information streams.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first transmitted information streams and the second transmitted information streams together form a composite signal, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the mobile receiving station, the composite signal;

decoding, by the mobile receiving station, the first transmitted information streams thus providing a decoded first information stream;

cancelling, by the mobile receiving station, the decoded first information stream from the composite signal, thus leaving a received second information stream; and

decoding, by the mobile receiving station, the received second information stream.

15. A method of transmitting information, comprising:

providing, by an information source, an information content stream to a plurality of base stations situated in respective cells;

transmitting, by the plurality of base stations, respective first transmitted information streams derived from the information content stream and exhibiting a first level of robustness; and

transmitting, by the plurality of base stations, respective second transmitted information streams derived from the information content stream and exhibiting a second level of robustness;

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first level of robustness of the first transmitted information streams is greater than the second level of robustness of the second transmitted information streams.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the first transmitting step includes coding the first transmitted information streams with a code that exhibits a higher level of robustness than a code employed in the second transmitting step to code the second transmitted information streams.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the first transmitting step includes modulating the first transmitted information streams with a modulation type that exhibits a higher level of robustness than a modulation type employed in the second transmitting step to modulate the second transmitted information streams.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the first transmitting step includes transmitting the first transmitted information streams at a higher radio frequency power level than a radio frequency power level employed in the second transmitting step to transmit the second transmitted information streams.

20. A method of receiving information, comprising:

receiving, by a mobile receiving station, first transmitted information streams to provide first received information streams, the first transmitted information streams being transmitted by a plurality of base stations wherein the first transmitted information streams exhibit a first level of robustness;

receiving, by the mobile receiving station, second transmitted information streams to provide second received information streams, the second transmitted information streams being transmitted by a plurality of base stations wherein the second transmitted information streams exhibit a second level of robustness, the first and second transmitted information streams being derived from an information content stream that is supplied to the plurality of base stations;

testing, by the mobile receiving station, the second received information streams to determine if the mobile receiving station reliably received the second received information streams; and

reconstructing, by the mobile receiving station, the information content stream from the first received information streams and the second received information streams if the testing step determined that the mobile receiving station reliably received the transmitted second information streams.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first level of robustness of the first transmitted information streams is greater than the second level of robustness of the second transmitted information streams.