Method and Apparatus for Discriminating Between Control Messages and Speech Payload

• US 20100014477A1
• Filed: 01/04/2008
• Published: 01/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Schliwa-Bertling, Paul, Johansson, Ingemar, Diachina, John Walter
• Granted Patent: US 8,369,273 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1268 of uplink data flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]

Abstract

A base station detects the transition of a mobile station from a DTX mode to a continuous transmission mode. The base station schedules an uplink transmission by the mobile station during an uplink transmission period while the mobile station is in DTX mode and receives an uplink LLC PDU from said mobile station during the scheduled uplink transmission periods. The base station determines the operating mode of the mobile station based on the size of the received uplink LLC PDU.

Claims

1. A method for detecting a change in an operating mode of a mobile station from a DTX mode to a continuous transmission mode, said method comprising:

scheduling an uplink transmission by said mobile station during an uplink transmission period while said mobile station is in said DTX mode;

receiving at least a portion of an uplink data packet from said mobile station during said scheduled uplink transmission period; and

determining an operating mode of said mobile station based on a size of said uplink data packet.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the operating mode of said mobile station based on the size of said uplink data packet comprises determining based on said size of said data packet whether the mobile station has transitioned from the DTX mode to the continuous transmission mode.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said mobile station is determined to be in the DTX mode when the size of said data packet is less than a predetermined amount.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising continuing scheduling uplink transmissions for the DTX mode if it is determined that said mobile station is in the DTX mode.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein said mobile station is determined to be in the continuous transmission mode when the size of said data packet is greater than a predetermined amount.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising scheduling uplink transmissions for the continuous transmission mode if it is determined that said mobile station is in said continuous transmission mode.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising detecting a change in the operating mode of said mobile station from said continuous transmission mode to a DTX mode based on the absence of a data packet during a scheduled uplink transmission period.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said uplink data packet comprises a Logical Link Control (LLC) frame and wherein determining an operating mode of said mobile station based on a size of said uplink data packet comprises determining a size of said LLC frame.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein receiving at least a portion of an uplink data packet from said mobile station during said scheduled uplink transmission period comprises receiving one or more RLC data blocks containing said LLC frame, and wherein determining a size of said LLC frame comprises determining the size based on header information in one or more of said RLC data blocks.

10. A base station comprising:

a base transceiver station for transmitting packet data to and receiving packet data from a mobile station;

a scheduler for scheduling an uplink transmission by said mobile station during an uplink transmission period while said mobile station is in a DTX mode; and

a detection unit for determining an operating mode of said mobile station based on a size of an uplink data packet received during said scheduled uplink transmission period.

11. The base station of claim 10 wherein the detection unit detects transition of said mobile station from said DTX mode to a continuous transmission mode based on the size of said data packet.

12. The base station of claim 11 wherein the detection unit determines the mobile station to be in the DTX mode when the size of said data packet is less than a predetermined amount.

13. The base station of claim 12 further wherein the scheduler continues scheduling uplink transmissions for the DTX mode if it is determined that said mobile station is in the DTX mode.

14. The base station of claim 11 wherein the detection unit determines the mobile station to be in a continuous transmission mode when the size of said data packet is greater than a predetermined amount.

15. The base station of claim 14 wherein the scheduler resumes a normal uplink scheduling for the continuous transmission mode if it is determined that said mobile station is in said continuous transmission mode.

16. The base station of claim 15 wherein the detection unit further detects a change in the operating mode of said mobile station from said continuous transmission mode to the DTX mode based on the absence of a data packet during a scheduled uplink transmission period.

17. The base station of claim 10 wherein said uplink data packet comprises a Logical Link Control (LLC) frame and wherein the detection unit determines an operating mode of said mobile station based on a size of said LLC frame.

18. The base station of claim 10 wherein said base station receives one or more RLC data blocks containing said LLC frame, and wherein the detection unit determines the size of the LLC frame based on header information in one or more RLC data blocks.