METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING DYNAMIC INFORMATION IN A WIRELESS INFORMATION CHANNEL

• US 20110263250A1
• Filed: 04/23/2010
• Published: 10/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Schmidt, Andreas, Mueck, Markus
• Granted Patent: US 8,548,465 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/434
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/24 Arrangements for distribution of identical information via broadcast system and non-broadcast system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0007 for multicast or broadcast services, e.g. MBMS multicast or broadcast application services H04W4/06; resource management for broadcast services H04W72/30; connection management for selective distribution or broadcast H04W76/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0009 for a plurality of users or terminals, e.g. group communication or moving wireless networks user group management H04W4/08; processing of subscriber group data H04W8/186
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0033 with transfer of context information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for transmission of selected segments of information (such as system context information). In one embodiment, a cognitive pilot channel base station (CPC-BS) is disclosed that enables the distribution of context information to various user equipment and mobile devices in an efficient manner. The exemplary CPC-BS is also optionally capable of distributing sensing tasks to external entities, and compiling the data results from these distributed tasks for use in performing future CPC transmissions based e.g., on the operational mode of the system. On-demand provisioning of context information over both broadcast and peer-to-peer communications with served users is also disclosed. In addition to the distribution of context information via the use of a single CPC-BS, master-slave relationships between multiple CPC-BSs are also described, which permit for a distributed architecture in providing context information to served users.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting context information in a wireless network, comprising:

causing request of context information from one or more portable devices associated with the wireless network to be issued;

receiving the context information from the one or more portable devices substantially in response to the request;

assigning a sensing task to at least one of the one or more portable devices based at least in part on the received context information;

receiving data associated with the sensing task from the at least one of the one or more portable devices; and

transmitting the data associated with the sensing task to at least one of the portable devices if said at least one of the portable devices comprises a registered user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting at least a portion of the received context information along with the data associated with the sensing task.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the received context information and the data associated with the sensing task are transmitted in a substantially common data structure.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the received context information and the data associated with the sensing task are transmitted in one or more data structures having a toggled preamble.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting one or more portable devices in a coverage area.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more portable devices from which the data associated with the sensing task is received comprise the at least one portable device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the received context information is related to at least one of:

(i) Packet Error Rate (PER), (ii) link quality, (iii) quality of service (QoS), and/or (iv) jitter/packet loss rate or fraction.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the portable devices with which data associated with the sensing task is transmitted comprises a plurality of portable devices, the plurality of portable devices comprising a geographically grouped subset of users.

9. A context-adaptive base station for use in a wireless network, comprising:

a processing apparatus coupled to both a storage medium and a wireless network interface, the storage medium having at least one computer program stored thereon, the at least one computer program that, when executed by the processing apparatus;

store requests from one or more portable devices, the requests comprising a request for context information from the base station;

determine whether a response to the request for context information should be transmitted; and

where the determination indicates that a response should be transmitted, transmit the response according to a determined message type.

10. The base station of claim 9, wherein the determined message type is selected from the group consisting of:

a broadcast type, a multi-cast type and a unicast type.

11. The base station of claim 9, wherein the determination of whether a response should be transmitted comprises:

determination of the geographic location of one or more of the requests; and

evaluation of the need for context information based at least in part on the geographic location.

12. The base station of claim 9, wherein the determination of whether a response should be transmitted comprises determination of the operational mode of the network.

13. The base station of claim 12, wherein the operational mode is selected from the group consisting of:

(i) a mode where the base station has knowledge about its served portable devices;

(ii) a mode where the base station has no knowledge about its served portable devices; and

(iii) a mode where the base station has knowledge about only some of the served portable devices.

14. The base station of claim 9, wherein the at least one computer program is further configured to:

receive first context information from the one or more portable devices;

determine whether the first context information requires update; and

where the first context information requires update, cause the transmission of the response.

15. The base station of claim 14, wherein the transmission of the response comprises sending only a changed or updated portion of the context information.

16. The base station of claim 15, wherein the wireless network comprises a cellular network, and the changed or updated portion of the context information is transmitted via a pilot channel resource of the cellular network.

17. A context information system for use in a wireless network, comprising:

a master context information base station;

a slave context information base station; and

a portable device configured to receive context data from both the master context information base station and the slave context information base station;

wherein the context data received is prioritized by the portable device based on the context information base station type that transmitted the context data.

18. The context information system of claim 17, wherein the slave context information base station provides context data over a substantially smaller coverage area as compared with the master context information base station.

19. The contextual information system of claim 17, wherein if a first portion of the received context data conflicts with a second portion of the received context data, the first portion of the received context data is retained or discarded based at least in part on a prioritization of the first and second portions of the context data.

20. The contextual information system of claim 19, wherein the first portion of the received context data is generated by the master base station, and the second portion of the received context data is generated by the slave base station, and the first portion of the received context data is retained based at least in part on prioritization of the master base station over the slave base station.

21. The contextual information system of claim 19, wherein the first portion of the received context data is received at a first time, and the second portion of the received context data is generated at a second time earlier than the first time, and the first portion of the received context data is retained based at least in part on prioritization of the more recent first portion.

22. A method of efficiently providing context information over a wireless network, comprising:

receiving requests for context information from respective ones of user devices within the network;

identifying a common transmission mode for the context information based at least in part on the one or more requests;

aggregating a plurality of context information elements into a common data set; and

transmitting the common data set to the respective ones of the user devices using the common transmission mode.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the common transmission mode comprises a broadcast, and the common data set is provided to all users in a coverage area or individual network mesh.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the common transmission mode comprises a multicast, and the common data set is provided to only a subset of users in a coverage area or individual network mesh.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the receiving requests for context information from respective ones of user devices within the network comprises receiving the requests at different times, and the method further comprises waiting for a delay period before the transmission of the common data set.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the network comprises a cellular network, the act of transmitting is performed by a cognitive pilot channel base station (CPC-BS).

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the identification of a common transmission mode for the context information based at least in part on the one or more requests is made for individual ones of a plurality of requested context information elements.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the identification of a common transmission mode for the context information based at least in part on the one or more requests is based at least in part on a level of service associated with individual ones of the requesting user devices.

29. Base station apparatus adapted to conserve information channel resources within a wireless network, comprising:

first apparatus configured to receive context information from one or more requesting mobile devices; and

second apparatus in communication with the first apparatus and configured to determine if the received context information requires updating and, where updating is required, selectively encode a preamble of a message sent over the information channel so as to notify at least one of the one or more requesting mobile devices that decoding of at least a portion of a body of the message is required in order to update the context information.

30. Base station apparatus adapted to conserve information channel resources within a wireless network, comprising:

first apparatus configured to receive context information from one or more requesting mobile devices; and

second apparatus in communication with the first apparatus and configured to determine if the received context information requires updating and, based at least in part on the determination, selectively encode a preamble of a message sent over the information channel so as to allow at least one of the one or more requesting mobile devices to determine whether or not decoding of at least a portion of a body of the message is appropriate for them individually.