METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MULTI-CARRIER PACKET COMMUNICATION WITH REDUCED OVERHEAD

• US 20090232084A1
• Filed: 09/28/2006
• Published: 09/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Neo Wireless LLC (f/k/a CFIP NCF LLC) (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Neocific Incorporated
• Inventors: Lo, Titus, Huang, Haiming, Li, Xiaodong, Wang, Ruifeng
• Granted Patent: US 7,948,944 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/330
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0046 Determination of how many bits are transmitted on different sub-channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0064 Rate requirement of the data, e.g. scalable bandwidth, data priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0087 when data requirements change
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0091 Signaling for the administration of the divided path

Abstract

A method and system for minimizing the control overhead in a multi-carrier wireless communication network that utilizes a time-frequency resource is disclosed. In some embodiments, one or more zones in the time-frequency resource are designated for particular applications, such as a zone dedicated for voice-over-IP (VoIP) applications. By grouping applications of a similar type together within a zone, a reduction in the number of bits necessary for mapping a packet stream to a portion of the time-frequency resource can be achieved. In some embodiments, modular coding schemes associated with the packet streams may be selected that further reduce the amount of necessary control information. In some embodiments, packets may be classified for transmission in accordance with application type, QoS parameters, and other properties. In some embodiments, improved control messages may be constructed to facilitate the control process and minimize associated overhead.

Claims

1. A method of communication between base stations and mobile devices in a multi-carrier packet communication system that utilizes an airlink resource and covers a plurality of geographic cells, the method comprising:

allocating a zone in the airlink resource, wherein the zone is designated for a type of application and is capable of carrying two or more packet streams associated with the type of application, and wherein the portion of the airlink resource falling outside of the zone is capable of carrying two or more packet streams not associated with the type of application;

for at least some of the two or more packet streams within the zone, creating a control message associated with each packet stream wherein the control message is used in part to ensure proper communication of the packet stream;

aggregating the created control messages associated with each packet stream in accordance with a common characteristic of the packet streams; and

transmitting the control messages in a group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the common characteristic is the coding and modulation scheme of the packet streams.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the common characteristic is a location of the packet stream within the airlink resource.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding a header to the group of control messages, wherein the header comprises the number of control messages, the length of the control messages, and the common characteristics of the associated packet streams.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the zone in one geographic cell is assigned to a different time-frequency location in the airlink resource than the zone in a neighboring geographic cell in order to mitigate inter-cell interference.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning a basic connection identification (BCID) value to a packet stream communicated via the airlink resource;

assigning an application connection identification (ACID) value to a second packet stream communicated via the airlink resource, wherein the ACID value contains a lesser number of bits than the BCID value; and

incorporating the ACID value in the control message associated with the identified second packet stream.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein an ACID value may be reused by base stations or mobile devices.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein an ACID value may include additional information representing a location index within the airlink resource.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the two or more packet streams associated with the type of application utilize one of a plurality of modulation and coding schemes, and a modulation and coding scheme index associated with each packet stream carries information about the utilized modulation and coding scheme for the packet stream.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of modulation and coding schemes utilize a basic time-frequency resource unit and integer multiples of the basic time-frequency resource unit.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising using adaptive modulation and coding for the transmission of the group of control messages.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the modulation and coding for the group of control messages is the same as the modulation and coding used for the packet streams associated with the group of control messages.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the modulation and coding for the group of control messages is one level lower than the modulation and coding used for the packet streams associated with the group of control messages

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the common characteristic is the coding and modulation scheme of the packet streams and further comprising a header transmitted prior to the group of control messages to indicate the length of the group and the modulation and coding scheme used for the group.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein a starting time-frequency coordinate and an ending time-frequency coordinate are used to specify a location of a packet stream within the zone.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the zone is divided into a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns to thereby form a coordinate system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein a location of a packet stream within the zone may be specified by an offset from the origin of the zone.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein a location of a packet stream within the zone may be specified by a starting row and column coordinate and an ending row and column coordinate.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein a granularity of a time coordinate is an OFDM symbol and a granularity of a frequency coordinate is a subcarrier.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the airlink resource falling outside of the zone is treated as a second zone and wherein a resource allocation message pertaining to the second zone is communicated to a base station and a mobile station.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the resource allocation message identifies a connection identifier, a resource identification parameter, and a modulation and coding index for at least some of the packet streams in the second zone.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising dividing the second zone into a plurality of units, wherein the resource allocation message identifies at least some of the packet streams in the second zone based on the plurality of units.

23. A method of communication between base stations and mobile devices in a multi-carrier packet communication system that utilizes an airlink resource and covers a plurality of geographic cells, the method comprising:

allocating a zone in the airlink resource for voice-over-IP packet streams, wherein the zone is capable of carrying two or more packet streams and the packet streams are arranged sequentially in the zone;

for at least some of the voice-over-IP packet streams within the zone, creating a control message associated with each packet stream wherein the control message is used in part to ensure proper communication of the packet stream;

aggregating the created control messages associated with each packet stream in accordance with a common characteristic of the packet streams; and

transmitting the control messages in a group.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein packet streams are arranged sequentially in the zone starting at an origin.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the location of a packet stream in the zone is specified by an offset to the origin, wherein the offset is one or more units of airlink resource that is determined by a type of modulation and coding associated with the packet streams.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the offset is included in the control message associated with the packet stream.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the offset is not included in the control message associated with the packet stream and is instead calculated from the type of modulation and coding associated with other packet streams that precede the packet stream in the sequence of packet streams.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein an airlink resource associated with each of the two or more packet streams within the zone is allocated based on voice activity carried in the corresponding packet stream.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the allocated airlink resource is an initial amount of resource and adaptive modulation and coding with an adaptive multi-rate voice coding is used to improve voice quality carried in the packet stream.

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising reallocating an airlink resource associated with a first packet stream having a silent voice connection to a second packet stream having an active voice connection.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the second packet stream is the next packet stream in sequence after the first packet stream.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the second packet stream is the last packet stream in the sequence of packet streams.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the second packet stream is the last packet stream in the sequence of packet streams that has the same coding and modulation scheme as the first packet stream, and further comprising reallocating the packet streams subsequent to the second packet stream in the sequence of packet streams in order to fill the airlink resource that was vacated by the second packet stream.