METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SERVICE IDENTIFICATION IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20080259879A1
• Filed: 12/21/2007
• Published: 10/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quarterhill Inc. (f/k/a Wi-LAN Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wi-LAN Inc.
• Inventors: Marsh, Gene, CONNORS, DENNIS P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,705,493 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/336
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, and systems for announcing services available in a macro-diversity region of a data frame broadcast by a plurality of base stations in a single frequency network to a plurality of subscriber stations, includes a data frame with at least a data region and a macro-diversity region. A media access control (MAC) management message is generated which identifies content and characteristics of the content in the macro-diversity region. Then the MAC management message is transmitted in the data region of the data frame, wherein the MAC management message is decoded by a client station to determine if there is content of interest to the client station in the macro-diversity region of the data frame.

Claims

1. A method of broadcasting content data to a plurality of client stations, the method comprising:

receiving information regarding a macro-diversity region in which at least one packet comprising content data is allocated;

generating a management message identifying the content data allocated to the macro-diversity region; and

transmitting a data frame comprising the macro-diversity region and a data region, wherein the management message is included in the data region of the data frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the management message comprises a broadcast channel identifier (CID) that identifies a broadcast service to which the content data belongs.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the management message comprises a broadcast service field.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating a management message further comprises generating a management message in which information regarding an encoding used in encoding the content data is included in the broadcast service field.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one packet comprising content data for each of a plurality of different content channels is allocated to the macro-diversity region, and wherein generating a management message further comprises generating a management message in which information for identifying each of the different content channels is included in the broadcast service field.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data frame is an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the data region and the macro-diversity region of the data frame using different modulation and coding schemes.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a map message for transmission in the macro-diversity region of the data frame wherein the map message comprises the broadcast channel identifier identifying the content data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of client stations are included in a single frequency network, and wherein transmitting the management message in a data region of the data frame comprises:

transmitting, by a base station in the single frequency network, a data frame comprising the macro-diversity region and the data region including the management message, wherein the transmission of the macro-diversity region by the base station is synchronized with a transmission of a macro-diversity region by at least one other base station in the single frequency network.

10. A method for identifying content data in a macro-diversity region of a data frame, the data frame comprising at least a data region and a macro-diversity region, the method comprising:

receiving the data frame;

decoding a management message in the data region, wherein the management message includes information identifying content data available in the macro-diversity region of the data frame; and

determining whether to decode at least a portion of the macro-diversity region of the data frame based on the information identifying the content data in the management message;

decoding at least a portion of the macro-diversity region to obtain content data if it is determined to decode the at least a portion of the macro-diversity region; and

providing the decoded content data for presentation to a user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the information identifying the content data in the management message comprises a broadcast channel identifier (CID) that identifies a broadcast service to which the content data belongs.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the management message comprises a broadcast service field.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein information identifying the content data in the management message comprises information regarding an encoding used in encoding the content data stored in the broadcast service field.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the content data in the macro-diversity region comprises content data for each of a plurality of different content channels;

and

wherein the information identifying the content data in the management message comprises information stored in the broadcast service field for identifying each of the different content channels.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving the data frame comprises receiving an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the data region and the macro-diversity region of the received data frame are encoded using different modulation and coding schemes.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the macro-diversity region of the received data frame comprises a map that includes a field storing a broadcast channel identifier identifying the content data.

18. A broadcast system for use in broadcasting content data to a plurality of client stations using a data frame, the data frame comprising at least a data region and a macro-diversity region, the system comprising:

a first interface configured to receive information regarding a macro-diversity region comprising at least one packet comprising content data;

a controller configured to generate a management message that includes information identifying the content data allocated to the macro-diversity region, wherein the management message is for transmission in the data region of the data frame; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the management message and the content data, wherein the management message is transmitted in the data region of the data frame and the content data in the macro-diversity region of the data frame.

19. The broadcast system of claim 18, wherein the management message comprises a broadcast channel identifier (CID) that identifies a broadcast service to which the content data belongs.

20. The broadcast system of claim 18, wherein the management message comprises a broadcast service field.

21. The broadcast system of claim 20, wherein the controller is further configured to include information regarding an encoding used in encoding the content data in the broadcast service field.

22. The broadcast system of claim 19, wherein the controller is further configured to include in the broadcast service field information identifying each of a plurality of different content channels allocated to the macro-diversity region.

23. The broadcast system of claim 19, wherein the data frame is an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) data frame.

24. The broadcast system of claim 19, wherein the macro-diversity region of the data frame further comprises a map message comprising the broadcast channel identifier identifying the content data.

25. A client station that receives services broadcast in a data frame, the data frame comprising at least a data region and a macro-diversity region, the client station comprising:

a receiver configured to receive the data frame;

a decoder configured to decode a management message in the data region of the data frame, wherein the management message identifies content data included in the macro-diversity region of the data frame; and

a processor configured to determine whether to decode at least a portion of the macro-diversity region based on the information identifying the content data and to provide an instruction to the decoder regarding whether to decode the macro-diversity region based on the determination; and

wherein the decoder is further configured to decode the at least a portion of the macro-diversity region based on receipt of the instruction from the processor.

26. The client station of claim 25, wherein the management message comprises a broadcast channel identifier (CID) that identifies a broadcast service to which the content data belongs.

27. The client station of claim 25, wherein the management message comprises a broadcast service field.

28. The client station of claim 27, wherein the decoder is further configured to obtain, from the broadcast service field, information regarding an encoding used in encoding the content data.

29. The client station of claim 27, wherein the decoder is further configured to obtain, from the broadcast service field, information identifying each of a plurality of different content channels transmitted in the macro-diversity region.

30. The client station of claim 25, wherein the data frame is an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame.

31. A broadcast system comprising:

means for receiving information regarding a macro-diversity region in which at least one packet comprising content data is allocated;

means for generating a management message identifying the content data allocated to the macro-diversity region; and

means for transmitting a data frame comprising the macro-diversity region and a data region, wherein the management message is included in the data region of the data frame.

32. A client station for retrieving content data from a data frame comprising at least a data region and a macro-diversity region, the client station comprising:

means for receiving the data frame;

means for decoding a management message in the data region, wherein the management message includes information identifying content data available in the macro-diversity region of the data frame; and

means for determining whether to decode at least a portion of the macro-diversity region of the data frame based on the information identifying the content data in the management message;

means for decoding at least a portion of the macro-diversity region to obtain content data if it is determined to decode the at least a portion of the macro-diversity region; and

means for providing the decoded content data for presentation to a user.