APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SELECTING FRAME STRUCTURE IN MULTIHOP RELAY BROADBAND WIRELESS ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20080137584A1
• Filed: 12/10/2007
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Cho, Jae-Weon, Chang, Young-Bin, Lee, Sung-Jin, Son, Yeong-Moon, Oh, Chang-Yoon, Kang, Hyun-Jeong, Lim, Hyoung-Kyu
• Granted Patent: US 8,681,743 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/155 Ground-based stations H04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

Apparatus and method for selectively using a frame structure adequate for a system environment in a multihop relay wireless communication system are provided. The method includes generating a control signal including the frame information; and transmitting the control signal to a child Relay Station (RS). Accordingly, the frame structure adequate for the system environment can be used, and the transmission delay and the tradeoff between the overheads in each frame structure can be freely selected.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting frame information at a serving node in a multihop relay wireless communication system, the method comprising:

generating a control signal including the frame information; and

transmitting the control signal to a child Relay Station (RS).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the serving node is a Base Station (BS) or a parent RS.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the frame information includes at least one of structure information of a frame used to communicate with the child RS and at least one Mobile Station in a service coverage area, and information of a time point for the child RS to commence a relay service using the frame structure.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the frame structure indicates whether the frame used to communicate with the child RS is a single frame or a super frame which unites at least two single frames.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the frame structure indicates a number of subframes constituting the frame used to communicate with the child RS.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the frame structure is determined according to system environment information including length information of the frame used in the wireless communication system.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

initially accessing the child RS according to an initial access request from the child RS,

wherein, before the initial access request is received from the child RS, in the process of the initial access to the child RS, or after the initial access to the child RS, a control signal containing the frame information is generated and transmitted to the child RS.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the control signal includes a Downlink Channel Descriptor (DCD) message or a control message of a last procedure of initial access procedures of the child RS.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when a frame structure used to communicate with the child RS is changed, confirming the changed frame structure and information of a time when accessing RSs change the frame structure; and

transmitting a control signal containing the changed frame structure and the change time information to the child RS.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the control signal is one of a DCD message, a DownLink (DL)-MAP message, and a frame structure change message.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the DL-MAP message includes a frame structure and the frame structure change time information as one of a field value, an Information Element (IE), and a physical (PHY) synchronization field value.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the DL-MAP message includes the changed frame structure by dividing into a number of frames used for the communication.

13. A method for confirming a frame structure at a Relay Station (RS) in a multihop relay wireless communication system, the method comprising:

when a control signal containing frame information is received from a serving node, confirming from the frame information a frame structure and time information for commencing a relay service using the frame structure; and

communicating using the frame structure at the time for commencing the relay service.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the serving node is a Base Station (BS) or a parent RS.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

requesting an initial access to the serving node and initially accessing the serving node,

wherein the control signal is received before the initial access to the serving node is requested, in the process of the initial access, or after the initial access to the serving node.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the control signal includes a Downlink Channel Descriptor (DCD) message or a control message of a last procedure of initial access procedures.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

when a control signal containing frame structure change information is received from the serving node while communicating using the frame structure, confirming from the control signal a changed frame structure and change time information of the frame structure; and

communicating using the changed frame structure at the frame structure change time.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the control signal is one of a DCD message, a DownLink (DL)-MAP message, and a frame structure change message.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the DL-MAP message includes the frame structure and the change time point information as one of a field value, an Information Element (IE), and a physical (PHY) synchronization field value.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the DL-MAP message includes the changed frame structure by dividing into a number of frames used for the communication.

21. A serving node in a multihop relay wireless communication system, the serving node comprising:

a frame structure confirmer for confirming a structure of a frame used to communicate with a child Relay Station (RS) or at least one Mobile Station (MS) in a service coverage area;

a message generator for generating a control message that includes the frame structure information; and

a transmitter for sending the control message to the child RS.

22. The serving node of claim 21, wherein the serving node is a Base Station (BS) or a parent RS.

23. The serving node of claim 21, wherein the frame structure confirmer confirms a frame structure selected based on a system environment that includes a length of the frame used in the wireless communication system.

24. The serving node of claim 21, wherein the message generator generates a message that includes the frame structure information and time information for commencing a relay service using the frame structure as one of a Downlink Channel Descriptor (DCD) message and a control message of a last procedure of initial access procedures, and

the message generator generates a message that includes the changed frame structure information and the frame structure change time information, as one of a DCD message, a DL-MAP message, and a frame structure change message.

25. The serving node of claim 24, wherein the message generator generates the DL-MAP message that includes the frame structure and the frame structure change time information, as one of a field value, Information Element (IE), and a physical (PHY) synchronization field value.