Method, a Device and a System For Duplex Communications

• US 20080279125A1
• Filed: 03/16/2004
• Published: 11/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Hottinen, Ari
• Granted Patent: US 8,842,581 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/281
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2615 using hybrid frequency-time division multiple access [FDMA-TDMA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/265 for channel frequency control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0003 by switching between different modulation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0009 by adapting the channel coding H04L1/1812 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/00 Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures

Abstract

A method, a device, and a system for duplex communications. Uplink and downlink frequencies are allocated in an orthogonal manner such that at one time instant a certain carrier frequency is used for uplink (downlink) transmission and at some other time instant for downlink (uplink) transmission. Correspondingly, at said one time instant a second carrier frequency is used for downlink (uplink) transmission and at said some other time instant optionally for uplink (downlink) transmission.

Claims

1. A method for duplex communications comprising the steps of allocating two or more frequencies for information transfer (304) and of transferring information in a first direction on a first number of frequencies belonging to said two or more frequencies and in a second direction (306, 406, 407) on a second number of frequencies belonging to said two or more frequencies but different from the first number of frequencies, characterized in that it further has the step of

transferring information at a certain time instant on a first frequency belonging to said first number of frequencies in the second transfer direction (308, 306, 406).

2. The method of claim 1, further having the step of transferring information at a certain time instant on a second frequency belonging to said second number of frequencies in the first transfer direction (407).

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein said time instant refers substantially to one or more time slots.

4. The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein on the basis of received information one or more parameters describing the transfer channel are established.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said received information includes data intended for channel estimation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein on the basis of received information one or more transmission parameters are adjusted.

7. The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein on the basis of received information transmission of information on a frequency substantially equal to the reception frequency is optimised.

8. The method of any of claims 4-7, wherein the received information includes a training sequence.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein said one or more transmission parameters relate to at least one of the following:

transmission power, a beam coefficient, rate control, scheduling.

10. The method of any of claims 1-9, wherein otherwise substantially unused time period is utilized for transferring channel information or test data for channel analysis purposes.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a device taking part to the communications is provided with the information indicating at least one of the following:

one or more frequency allocations for the device, one or more time period allocations for the device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein in the case of multiple cells and two or more base stations communicating with two or more wireless communications devices, at least one wireless communications device being located in each cell, information transfer within a cell is synchronized with information transfer in another cell.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein two or more base stations or wireless communications devices allocate one at a turn the same collectively available frequency or time resources.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein it is further checked whether the distance between a communications device and a network element with which the communications device is communicating, is above a certain predetermined limit, and if that is the case, constraining the communications device to use separate frequencies for said first and second transfer directions.

15. The method of claim 12 or 14, wherein a number of carriers or sub-carriers are further allocated to standard FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) communication.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the distance between the network element and the communications device is determined on the basis of at least one of the following:

path loss, channel status, required transmission power.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein allocation of transfer resources between said first and second transfer directions occurs dynamically.

18. The method of claim 1 or 17, wherein transmission capacity is allocated unequally between a first and second device involved in the communications.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein a frequency used in the information transfer is selected from at least two options on the basis of available channel information.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein said duplex communications is wireless communication.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said first or second transfer direction is substantially uplink or downlink direction in a wireless communications system.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said wireless communications system is substantially compatible with CDMA2000, GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), or WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) technologies.

62. A computer program comprising code means to execute the method steps of claim 1 or 23.

63. A carrier medium carrying the computer executable program of claim 62.

23. A method for duplex communications between a first and a second transceiver unit characterized in that it has the steps of

transferring information during a first time period on a first carrier frequency in a first transfer direction between said first and second transceiver units (406),

transferring information during said first time period on a second carrier frequency in a second transfer direction between said first and second transceiver units (407), and

transferring information during a second time period substantially on said first carrier frequency in said second transfer direction between said first and second transceiver units (308, 407).

24. A communications device comprising a transceiver (508, 608) for wireless duplex communication, further comprising processing (502, 602) and memory means (504, 604) for processing and storing instructions and data, characterized in that it is configured to

transfer information during a first time period on a first carrier frequency in a first transfer direction,

transfer information during said first time period on a second carrier frequency in a second transfer direction, and

transfer information during a second time period substantially on said first carrier frequency in said second transfer direction.

25. The device of claim 24, further configured to transfer information during said second time period substantially on said second carrier frequency in said first transfer direction.

26. The device of claim 24, wherein said first and second time periods refer substantially to two or more time slots.

27. The device of claim 24, configured to, on the basis of received information, establish one or more parameters describing the transfer channel.

28. The device of claim 24, configured to, on the basis of received information, adjust one or more transmission or reception parameters.

29. The device of claim 28, wherein said one or more parameters relate to at least one of the following:

transmission power, a beam coefficient, rate control, scheduling.

30. The device of claim 24, further configured to utilize otherwise substantially unused time period for transferring channel information or test data for channel analysis purposes.

31. The device of claim 24, configured to receive information indicating at least one of the following:

one or more frequency allocations, one or more time period allocations.

32. The device of claim 24, further configured to utilize separate frequencies for said first and second transfer directions provided the distance to another device involved in the communication is above a certain predetermined limit.

33. The device of claim 32, wherein the distance is determined on the basis of at least one of the following:

path loss, channel status, required transmission power.

34. The device of claim 24, configured to select a transmission frequency from at least two options on the basis of available channel information.

35. The device of claim 24, wherein said first or second transfer direction is substantially uplink or downlink direction in a wireless communications system.

36. The device of claim 24, configured to transmit information blocks over a plurality of frequencies, said information blocks comprising redundancy between them.

37. The device of claim 24, being substantially a mobile terminal.

38. A system comprising one or more transceivers (508, 608) capable of duplex data transfer, said system further comprising processing (502, 602) and memory means (504, 604) for processing and storing instructions and data, said system configured to allocate two or more carrier frequencies for information transfer characterized in that for the duration of a first time period a first carrier frequency is allocated for information transfer in a first direction and a second carrier frequency allocated for information transfer in a second direction, and for the duration of a second time period said first carrier frequency is allocated for information transfer in said second direction.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein said first or second time period substantially refers to one or more time slots.

40. The system of claim 38, further configured to establish one or more parameters describing the transfer channel on the basis of received information.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein said received information includes data intended for channel estimation purposes.

42. The system of claim 38, configured to adjust one or more transmission or reception parameters on the basis of received information.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein said one or more parameters relate to at least one of the following:

transmission power, a beam coefficient, rate control, scheduling.

44. The system of claim 38, configured to utilize otherwise substantially unused time period for transferring channel information or test data for channel analysis purposes.

45. The system of claim 38, configured to provide a device taking part to the communications with the information indicating at least one of the following:

one or more frequency allocations for the device, one or more time period allocations for the device.

46. The system of claim 38, configured to, in the case of multiple cells and two or more base stations communicating with two or more wireless communications devices, at least one wireless communications device being located in each cell, at least partially synchronize information transfer in a cell with information transfer in another cell.

47. The system of claim 38, configured to allocate frequency or time resources from collectively available frequency or time resources.

48. The system of claim 38, configured to check whether the distance to a communications device involved in the communication, is above a certain predetermined limit, and if that is the case, constraining the communications device to use separate frequencies for said first and second transfer directions.

49. The system of claim 48, configured to determine the distance on the basis of at least one of the following:

path loss, channel status, required transmission power.

50. The system of claim 38, configured to dynamically reallocate transfer resources between said first and second transfer directions.

51. The system of claim 40 or 41, configured to select a frequency for information transfer from at least two options on the basis of available channel information.

52. The system of claim 38, wherein said duplex communications is wireless communication.

53. The system of claim 38, wherein said first or second transfer direction is substantially uplink or downlink direction in a wireless communications system.

54. The system of claim 38, comprising a base station including at least one of said one or more transceivers.

55. The system of claim 38 or 54, further comprising a wireless communications device.

56. The system of claim 38, configured to transmit information blocks over a plurality of frequencies, said information blocks comprising redundancy between them.

57. The system of claim 42, wherein said received information is utilized for multi-user scheduling.

58. The system of claim 38, further comprising a plurality of transmission or reception antennas.

59. The system of claim 42 and 58, wherein said received information is utilized in selecting an antenna from said plurality of antennas or in computing an antenna related parameter value.

60. The system of claim 42, wherein said received information is utilized for calculating transmission or reception beams.

61. The system of claim 40, wherein the channel state information is used to select or prioritize at least one of the following:

transport format, a number of streams, transmission method, one or more users, and one or more services.