BASE STATION, COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, MOBILE TERMINAL, AND RELAY DEVICE

• US 20120113888A1
• Filed: 06/10/2010
• Published: 05/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pantech Corporation (Ideahub, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Takano, Hiroaki
• Granted Patent: US 8,989,077 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15 Active relay systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/155 Ground-based stations H04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/26 Cell enhancers or enhancement, e.g. for tunnels, building shadow
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1268 of uplink data flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1273 of downlink data flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/535 based on resource usage policies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

A base station is provided with a communication unit for communicating with a mobile terminal via a relay link between the base station and a relay device and an access link between the relay device and the mobile terminal, and a selection unit for selecting an allocation pattern of an uplink of the relay link, a downlink of the relay link, an uplink of the access link, and a downlink of the access link to frequency-time blocks from a plurality of allocation patterns that are different in delay occurring between the base station and the mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A base station comprising:

a communication unit for communicating with a mobile terminal via a relay link between the base station and a relay device and an access link between the relay device and the mobile terminal; and

a selection unit for selecting an allocation pattern of an uplink of the relay link, a downlink of the relay link, an uplink of the access link, and a downlink of the access link to frequency-time blocks from a plurality of allocation patterns that are different in delay characteristics occurring between the base station and the mobile terminal.

2. The base station according to claim 1,

wherein the communication unit receives information indicating an allocation pattern that the relay device is compatible with, and

wherein the selection unit selects the allocation pattern that the relay device is compatible with from the plurality of allocation patterns.

3. The base station according to claim 2,

wherein the selection unit selects the allocation pattern according to delay characteristics required for communication between the base station and the mobile terminal.

4. The base station according to claim 3,

wherein one radio frame is formed from a plurality of subframes, and

wherein a time slot of each of the frequency-time blocks corresponds to a time slot of a subframe.

5. The base station according to claim 3,

wherein one radio frame is formed from a plurality of subframes formed from a plurality of slots, and

wherein a time slot of each of the frequency-time blocks corresponds to a time slot of a slot.

6. The base station according to claim 3,

wherein the plurality of allocation patterns include

an allocation pattern where frequency-time blocks of the downlink of the relay link and the downlink of the access link are different in time, and frequency-time blocks of the uplink of the access link and the uplink of the relay link are different in time, and

an allocation pattern where frequency-time blocks of the downlink of the relay link and the downlink of the access link are different in frequency, and frequency-time blocks of the uplink of the access link and the uplink of the relay link are different in frequency.

7. The base station according to claim 6,

wherein the plurality of allocation patterns include an allocation pattern where frequency-time blocks of the uplink of the relay link, the downlink of the relay link, the uplink of the access link, and the downlink of the access link are same in time but different in frequency.

8. The base station according to claim 7,

wherein the plurality of allocation patterns include an allocation pattern where frequency-time blocks of the uplink of the relay link, the downlink of the relay link, the uplink of the access link, and the downlink of the access link are same in frequency but different in time.

9. The base station according to claim 8,

wherein the plurality of allocation patterns include an allocation pattern where frequency-time blocks of the downlink of the relay link and the downlink of the access link are different in time and frequency, and frequency-time blocks of the uplink of the access link and the uplink of the relay link are different in time and frequency.

10. A communication system comprising:

a mobile terminal;

a relay device; and

a base station including

a communication unit for communicating with the mobile terminal via a relay link between the base station and the relay device and an access link between the relay device and the mobile terminal, and

a selection unit for selecting an allocation pattern of an uplink of the relay link, a downlink of the relay link, an uplink of the access link, and a downlink of the access link to frequency-time blocks from a plurality of allocation patterns that are different in delay characteristics occurring between the base station and the mobile terminal.

11. A mobile terminal,

wherein the mobile terminal communicates with a base station via a relay device according to an allocation pattern selected by a selection unit, the base station including a communication unit for communicating with the mobile terminal via a relay link between the base station and the relay device and an access link between the relay device and the mobile terminal, and the selection unit for selecting an allocation pattern of an uplink of the relay link, a downlink of the relay link, an uplink of the access link, and a downlink of the access link to frequency-time blocks from a plurality of allocation patterns that are different in delay characteristics occurring between the base station and the mobile terminal.

12. A relay device,

wherein the relay device relays communication between a base station and a mobile terminal according to an allocation pattern selected by a selection unit, the base station including a communication unit for communicating with the mobile terminal via a relay link between the base station and the relay device and an access link between the relay device and the mobile terminal, and the selection unit for selecting an allocation pattern of an uplink of the relay link, a downlink of the relay link, an uplink of the access link, and a downlink of the access link to frequency-time blocks from a plurality of allocation patterns that are different in delay characteristics occurring between the base station and the mobile terminal.