COMMUNICATING ENCODED TRAFFIC DATA

• US 20140160926A1
• Filed: 12/11/2012
• Published: 06/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Gage, William Anthony, Mukherjee, Biswaroop
• Granted Patent: US 9,204,467 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access

Abstract

An electronic device encodes traffic data as a collection of codes. The electronic device sends the codes in random access resources or shared transmission resources over a wireless link to a wireless access network node, the codes providing an encoded representation of the traffic data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

encoding, by an electronic device, traffic data as a collection of codes; and

sending, by the electronic device over a wireless link to a wireless access network node, the codes in random access resources, the codes providing an encoded representation of the traffic data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the codes in the random access resources comprises sending the codes in physical random access channel (PRACH) resources.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the codes comprises sending physical random access channel (PRACH) preambles.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a sensor device, and wherein encoding the traffic data comprises encoding measurement data collected by the sensor device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

dividing the traffic data into plural chunks,

wherein the encoding comprises applying at least one encoding function to the plural chunks to produce the corresponding codes.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a size of at least one of the chunks corresponds to a number of codes available for encoding the respective chunk.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a number of available codes is configured by signaling from the wireless access network node.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein a number of codes available for encoding is the same for each chunk of the plural chunks.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein a number of codes available for encoding a first of the plural chunks is different from a number of codes available for encoding a second of the plural chunks.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the electronic device, a first uplink grant that specifies a first random access resource in a first transmission opportunity, wherein a first of the codes is sent in the first random access resource;

receiving, by the electronic device, a second uplink grant that specifies a second random access resource in a second transmission opportunity, wherein the second uplink grant is responsive to the first code; and

sending, by the electronic device to the wireless access network node, a second of the codes in the second random access resource.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the codes comprises sending the codes in-sequence or out-of-sequence.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein encoding the traffic data comprises encoding the traffic data along with an identifier of the electronic device, wherein the encoded representation represents the traffic data and the identifier of the electronic device.

13. A wireless access network node comprising:

a wireless interface configured to receive, from an electronic device, a collection of codes in random access resources from an electronic device, the collection of codes being a representation of traffic data from the electronic device; and

at least one processor configured to produce the traffic data from the collection of codes.

14. The wireless access network node of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to decode each of the codes to produce a respective chunk, wherein the chunks produced from the codes form the traffic data.

15. The wireless access network node of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to define plural groups of electronic devices, and wherein the plural groups of electronic devices are assigned respective different sets of codes to use for encoding respective traffic data.

16. The wireless access network node of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to identify distinct codes sent by plural electronic devices, and to assign further random access resources in response to the identified distinct codes.

17. The wireless access network node of claim 16, wherein the further random access resources are assigned based on a number of the distinct codes sent by the plural electronic devices.

18. The wireless access network node of claim 13, wherein the codes in the collection are from a first set of codes assigned for conveying traffic data, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

receive a further code in a second collection of codes;

determine whether the further code is part of the first set of codes or a second set of codes assigned for contention-based random access; and

in response to determining that the further code is part of the second set of codes, initiate a random access procedure.

19. The wireless access network node of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause truncation of original data to be transmitted by the electronic device, wherein the traffic data represented by the collection of codes is a truncated version of the original data to be transmitted by the electronic device.

20. The wireless access network node of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to selectively allocate further random access resources to a subset of electronic devices that are sending traffic data, wherein the selective allocation is based on a determination of whether codes received from the electronic devices meet one or more specified criteria.

21. The wireless access network node of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to constrain use of random access resources for carrying traffic data from electronic devices, as part of a load balancing procedure.

22. The wireless access network node of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to assign different transmission opportunities to different sensor devices.

23. A method comprising:

receiving, by a wireless access network node, codes in shared transmission resources in corresponding time intervals, the codes representing traffic data to be sent by electronic devices, wherein in a given one of the time intervals, a common code sent by at least two of the electronic devices are transmitted in a common shared transmission resource; and

decode the collection of codes to form decoded versions of the traffic data.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the codes are mapped from respective chunks of the traffic data, wherein each of the chunks is mappable to codes from a set of codes.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the codes are orthogonal codes.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising assigning different electronic devices to respective groups, wherein the groups are to use respective sets of codes for conveying encoded traffic data in respective shared transmission resources.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the codes are part of plural sequences of codes sent by the respective electronic devices, the method further comprising:

initially assigning a shared transmission resource in a first of the time intervals for use by the electronic devices in sending a first code of each of the plural sequences;

assigning a further shared transmission resource for a second time interval in response to receiving the first code of each of the plural sequences.