METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING INFORMATION

• US 20100272029A1
• Filed: 04/22/2009
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Jovicic, Aleksandar, Wang, Ying, Park, Vincent D., Laroia, Rajiv, Li, Junyi
• Granted Patent: US 8,902,800 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 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for efficiently communicating small amounts of information relatively frequently in a wireless communications system are described. An access point'"'"'s uplink timing frequency structure includes a set of dedicated uplink communications resources, e.g., expression advertisement interval air link resources, which may be in addition to regular traffic channel resources. The set of dedicated uplink communications resources comprises a small fraction of the total uplink communications resources. An individual one of the set of dedicated uplink communications resources can carry a small amount of information bits. An expression advertisement interval occurs relatively frequently. A wireless communications device, registered with the access point, is allocated one of the set of dedicated uplink resources. The wireless communications device can transmit information using its allocated resource in both a sleep state and an active state.

Claims

1. A method of operating an access point, the method comprising:

receiving information from a first wireless communications device in a first uplink communications resource while said first wireless communications device is operating in a sleep state with respect to the access point, said first uplink communications resource being dedicated to the first wireless communications device; and

processing the received information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information from a second wireless communications device in a second uplink communications resource while said second wireless communications device is operating in an active state with respect to the access point, said second uplink communications resource being dedicated to the second wireless communications device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said expression advertisement interval recurs in accordance with a predetermined schedule.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first uplink communications resource is a set of OFDM tone-symbols.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selectively forwarding at least some of the information received from the first wireless communications device in the first uplink communications resource.

7. An access point comprising:

means for receiving information from a first wireless communications device in a first uplink communications resource while said first wireless communications device is operating in a sleep state with respect to the access point, said first uplink communications resource being dedicated to the first wireless communications device; and

means for processing the received information.

8. The access point of claim 7, further comprising:

means for receiving information from a second wireless communications device in a second uplink communications resource while said second wireless communications device is operating in an active state with respect to the access point, said second uplink communications resource being dedicated to the second wireless communications device.

9. The access point of claim 7, wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval.

10. The access point of claim 9, wherein said expression advertisement interval recurs in accordance with a predetermined schedule.

11. The access point of claim 10, wherein the first uplink communications resource is a set of OFDM tone-symbols.

12. A computer program product for use in an access point, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive information from a first wireless communications device in a first uplink communications resource while said first wireless communications device is operating in a sleep state with respect to the access point, said first uplink communications resource being dedicated to the first wireless communications device; and

code for causing said at least one computer to process the received information.

13. An access point comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

receive information from a first wireless communications device in a first uplink communications resource while said first wireless communications device is operating in a sleep state with respect to the access point, said first uplink communications resource being dedicated to the first wireless communications device; and

process the received information;

and memory coupled to said at least one processor.

14. The access point of claim 13, wherein said at least one processor is further configured to:

receive information from a second wireless communications device in a second uplink communications resource while said second wireless communications device is operating in an active state with respect to the access point, said second uplink communications resource being dedicated to the second wireless communications device.

15. The access point of claim 13, wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval.

16. A method of operating a first wireless communications device, the method comprising:

generating a first information signal to be communicated to an access point; and

transmitting the first information signal to the access point in a first uplink communications resource while said wireless communications device is operating in a sleep state with respect to the access point, said first uplink communications resource being dedicated to the first wireless communications device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said expression advertisement interval recurs in accordance with a predetermined schedule.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first uplink communications resource is a set of OFDM tone-symbols.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the location of the set of OFDM tone-symbols is determined according to a predetermined hopping function.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving a signal from the access point indicating assignment of the first uplink communications resource to said first wireless communications device.

22. A first wireless communications device, comprising:

means for generating a first information signal to be communicated to an access point; and

means for transmitting the first information signal to the access point in a first uplink communications resource while said wireless communications device is operating in a sleep state with respect to the access point, said first uplink communications resource being dedicated to the first wireless communications device.

23. The first wireless communications device of claim 22, wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval.

24. The first wireless communications device of claim 23, wherein said expression advertisement interval recurs in accordance with a predetermined schedule.

25. The first wireless communications device of claim 24, wherein the first uplink communications resource is a set of OFDM tone-symbols.

26. The first wireless communications device of claim 25, wherein the location of the set of OFDM tone-symbols is determined according to a predetermined hopping function.

27. A computer program product for use in a first wireless communications device, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to generate a first information signal to be communicated to an access point; and

code for causing said at least one computer to transmit the first information signal to the access point in a first uplink communications resource while said wireless communications device is operating in a sleep state with respect to the access point, said first uplink communications resource being dedicated to the first wireless communications device.

28. A first wireless communications device comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

generate a first information signal to be communicated to an access point; and

transmit the first information signal to the access point in a first uplink communications resource while said wireless communications device is operating in a sleep state with respect to the access point, said first uplink communications resource being dedicated to the first wireless communications device;

and memory coupled to said at least one processor.

29. The first wireless communications device of claim 28, wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval.

30. The first wireless communications device of claim 29, wherein said expression advertisement interval recurs in accordance with a predetermined schedule.