METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING A TIMER FOR PROCESSING DATA BLOCKS

• US 20150229573A1
• Filed: 04/24/2015
• Published: 08/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: YI, Seung June, YEO, Woon Young, LEE, So Young
• Granted Patent: US 9,231,880 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0604 with predefined switching scheme
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15507 Relay station based processing for cell extension or control of coverage area, network planning with network coordinated processing with regard to cell extension H04W16/26; network topologies using dedicated repeater stations H04W84/047; terminal devices adapted for relaying to or from an other terminal H04W88/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15535 Control of relay amplifier gain amplifier gain control in general H03G3/00; gain control reducing self - or loop interference H04B7/15578
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0071 Use of interleaving interleaving per se H03M13/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/06 using space diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1841 Resequencing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1845 Combining techniques, e.g. code combining
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1848 Time-out mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0096 Channel splitting in point-to-point links
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/28 in relation to timing considerations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/34 ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0042 intra-user or intra-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0083 symbol-by-symbol
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 : using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/143 : Downlink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/225 : Calculation of statistics, e.g. average, variance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/24 : using SIR [Signal to Interference Ratio] or other wireless path parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/241 : taking into account channel quality metrics, e.g. SIR, SNR, CIR, Eb/lo
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/242 : taking into account path loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/245 : taking into account received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/46 : in multi hop networks, e.g. wireless relay networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 : Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A timer for processing data blocks is proposed for a receiver of a mobile communications system. If the timer is not running, the timer is started based a data block. The data block has a sequence number higher than a sequence number of another data block that was first expected to be received. If the timer is stopped or expires, the timer is based on a highest sequence number of a data block among data blocks that cannot be delivered to a higher entity. The timer can be used to prevent a stall condition in mobile communications.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a stall avoidance in a reordering buffer of a communication device using at least one timer comprising:

(a) receiving a plurality of data blocks by the reordering buffer of a MAC-hs sub-layer of a medium access control (MAC) layer;

(b) placing each data block in the reordering buffer at a place indicated by each transmission sequence number (TSN) of each data block;

(c) starting the at least one timer when a data block is correctly received and the TSN of the data block is higher than the next expected TSN if the at least one timer is not active,

(d) delivering to a higher entity all correctly received data blocks up to and including TSN−

1 and all correctly received data blocks up to the next not received data block when the at least one timer expires; and

(e) starting the at least one timer for a data block having the highest TSN among those of the data blocks that cannot be delivered to the higher entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein only one timer is allowed to be active at a given time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one timer is stopped when the data block which was correctly received and which had the TSN greater than the next expected TSN can be delivered to the higher entity before the at least one timer expires.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is a mobile terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is a UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN).

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the UTRAN includes at least one node B.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the higher entity includes a MAC-d sub-layer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the higher entity includes a radio link control (RLC) layer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein there exists only one timer per reordering buffer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is a node B.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a period of the at least one timer is less than or equal to N*(TTI/2), wherein N is the range of transmission sequence numbers to be assigned to the data blocks, and TTI is the transmission time interval.

12. An apparatus for controlling stall avoidance, the apparatus comprising:

a reordering buffer configured to receive a plurality of data blocks and configured to place each data block in the reordering buffer at a place indicated by each transmission sequence number (TSN) of each data block; and

at least one timer, wherein if the at least one timer is not active, the at least one timer is configured to start when a data block is correctly received and the TSN of the data block is higher than the next expected TSN,

wherein all correctly received data blocks up to and including TSN−

1 and all correctly received data blocks up to the next not received data block are delivered to a higher entity when the at least one timer expires,

wherein at least one timer for a data block having the highest TSN among those of the data blocks that cannot be delivered to the higher entity is started.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein only one timer is allowed to be active at a given time.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one timer is stopped when the data block which was correctly received and which had the TSN greater than the next expected TSN can be delivered to the higher entity before the at least one timer expires.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus is implemented in a mobile terminal.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus is implemented in a UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN).

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the UTRAN includes at least one node B.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the higher entity includes a MAC-d sub-layer.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the higher entity includes a radio link control (RLC) layer.

20. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein there exists only one timer per reordering buffer.

21. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus is implemented in a node B.

22. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein a period of the at least one timer is less than or equal to N*(TTI/2), wherein N is the range of transmission sequence numbers to be assigned to the data blocks, and ITT is the transmission time interval.