Mobile data communication system

• US 6,208,855 B1
• Filed: 07/29/1998
• Issued: 03/27/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Tanaka, Masahiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thanh Cong
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thuan T.
• Application Number:
  US09/124,106
• Time in Patent Office: 972 Days
• Field of Search: 455/422, 455/59, 455/101, 455/102, 455/103, 455/17, 455/423, 455/501, 455/503, 455/513, 455/67.3, 455/63, 455/62
• US Class Current: 455/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/12 Frequency diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/42 in systems with time, space, frequency or polarisation diversity

Abstract

In data transmission from a base station to a mobile station, a received signal strength is monitored at the base station and the mobile station and, when the received signal strength reduces to less than a predetermined level, the base station concurrently transmits a plurality of radio signals each having a different frequencies and conveying the same data. At the mobile station, the original data is reproduced from the radio signals received from the base station.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting data from a base station to a mobile station in a mobile communication system, comprising the steps of:

a) preparing a plurality of predetermined frequencies;

b) monitoring a received signal strength in at least one side of the base station and the mobile station;

c) concurrently transmitting a plurality of radio signals from the base station to the mobile station when the received signal strength reduces to less than a predetermined level, wherein each of the radio signals has a different one of the predetermined frequencies and conveys the same data;

d) a transceiver at the mobile station transmits a mobile-to-base radio signal of frequency f_up to the base station and receives a base-to-mobile radio signal of frequency f_D1 from the base station, a receiver at the mobile station receives a base-to-mobile radio signal of frequency f_D2 from the base station and does not transmit a mobile-to-base radio signal, and

i. in a normal receive communication mode, power is supplied to the transceiver to perform normal communications with the base station, and power is not supplied to the receiver, and

ii. when radio communications through the transceiver are impaired, the mobile terminal changes from the normal receive mode to a receive-only mode in which power is supplied to both the receiver and the transceiver to receive the same data from the base station through two different frequency channels, such that base-to-mobile signals of frequencies f_D1 and f_D2 are concurrently received by the transceiver and the receiver.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the radio signals are concurrently transmitted when at the base station the received signal strength reduces to less than the predetermined level.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the radio signals are concurrently transmitted at a request of the mobile station when at the mobile station the received signal strength reduces to less than the predetermined level.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein

at the mobile station,

receiving the radio signals from the base station to produce streams of received data corresponding to the radio signals, respectively; and

selecting a data block of better quality from the streams of received data to reproduce original data.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein a communication mode of the mobile station switches to a receive-only mode before the radio signals are concurrently received from the base station.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the communication mode of the mobile station switches to the receive-only mode on an instruction of the base station.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein

at the mobile station,

transmitting a request for receive-only mode switch to the base station;

receiving receive-only mode switch permission from the base station; and

switching to the receive-only mode on the receive-only mode switch permission of the base station.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein

at the mobile station,

transmitting a request for receive-only mode switch to the base station;

and

switching to the receive-only mode.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein

at the base station,

receiving the request for receive-only mode switch from the mobile station;

and

concurrently transmitting the radio signals to the mobile station after a predetermined time period during which the mobile station switches to the receive-only mode has elapsed since reception of the request.

10. The method according to claim 5, wherein, when the mobile station has switched to the receive-only mode, an indicator of the receive-only mode is displayed on a display device provided in the mobile station.

11. The method according to claim 5, wherein, when the mobile station has switched to the receive-only mode, a power switch provided in the mobile station is inoperative until the receive-only mode is released.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein, when the mobile station has switched to the receive-only mode, a power switch provided in the mobile station is inoperative until the receive-only mode is released.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

d) monitoring quality of the data conveyed by the radio signals at the mobile station; and

e) transmitting a radio retransmission signal from the base station to the mobile station when the radio retransmission signal conveys a part of the data of quality lower than a predetermined quality level.

31. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

in the normal receive mode, the transceiver demodulates a base-to-mobile radio signal at frequency f_D1 to output received data S_R1 to a processor,

in the receive-only mode, the transceiver demodulates a base-to-mobile radio signal at frequency f_D1 to output received data S_R1 to a processor and additionally the receiver demodulates a base-to-mobile radio signal of the frequency f_D2 to output received data S_R2 to the processor, which conveys the same data as the base-to-mobile radio signal of the frequency f_D1 received by the transceiver, and

when the mobile station is set to the receive-only mode, the processor stores the received data S_R1 and S_R2 in frames in a memory, and performs error correcting to produce error rates ER₁ and ER₂ of the received data S_R1 and S_R2 in frames, and the error rates ER₁ and ER₂ are used to select better received data.

14. A method for transmitting data from a base station to a mobile station in a mobile communication system, comprising the steps of:

a) preparing a plurality of predetermined frequency channels;

b) monitoring a received signal strength in at least one side of the base station and the mobile station;

at the base station,

c) concurrently transmitting a plurality of radio signals to the mobile station through the predetermined frequency channels, respectively, when the received signal strength reduces to less than a predetermined level, wherein each of the radio signals conveys the same data in data blocks;

at the mobile station,

d) receiving the radio signals from the base station to produce streams of received data in data blocks, the streams of received data corresponding to the radio signals, respectively;

e) determining quality of data block for each of the streams of the received data;

f) determining whether a block of low-quality data of quality lower than a predetermined quality level exists in the streams of the received data;

g) transmitting a retransmission request for the block of low-quality data to the base station when the block of low-quality data exists;

at the base station,

h) transmitting a radio retransmission signal conveying data corresponding to the block of low-quality data to the mobile station;

at the mobile station,

i) a transceiver at the mobile station transmits a mobile-to-base radio signal of frequency f_up to the base station and receives a base-to-mobile radio signal of frequency f_D1 from the base station, a receiver at the mobile station receives a base-to-mobile radio signal of frequency f_D2 from the base station and does not transmit a mobile-to-base radio signal, and

i. in a normal receive communication mode, power is supplied to the transceiver to perform normal communications with the base station, and power is not supplied to the receiver, and

ii. when radio communications through the transceiver are impaired, the mobile terminal changes from the normal receive mode to a receive-only mode in which power is supplied to both the receiver and the transceiver to receive the same data from the base station through two different frequency channels, such that base-to-mobile signals of frequencies f_D1 and f_D2 are concurrently received by the transceiver and the receiver.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein, at the mobile station, the retransmission request is transmitted to the base station when the received signal strength is not smaller than the predetermined level.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the retransmission request is transmitted to the base station through a normally-used frequency channel.

32. The method according to claim 14, wherein:

in the normal receive mode, the transceiver demodulates a base-to-mobile radio signal at frequency f_D1 to output received data S_R1 to a processor,

in the receive-only mode, the transceiver demodulates a base-to-mobile radio signal at frequency f_D1 to output received data S_R1 to a processor and additionally the receiver demodulates a base-to-mobile radio signal of the frequency f_D2 to output received data S_R2 to the processor, which conveys the same data as the base-to-mobile radio signal of the frequency f_D1 received by the transceiver, and

when the mobile station is set to the receive-only mode, the processor stores the received data S_R1 and S_R2 in frames in a memory, and performs error correcting to produce error rates ER₁ and ER₂ of the received data S_R1 and S_R2 in frames, and the error rates ER₁ and ER₂ are used to select better received data.

17. A mobile communication system comprising a plurality of base stations and mobile stations, wherein a plurality of predetermined frequencies are available,

a base station comprising:

at least one receiver;

a plurality of transmitters each corresponding to a different one of the predetermined frequencies; and

a transmitting controller for controlling the transmitters respectively to concurrently transmit a plurality of radio signals to a mobile station communicating therewith when a received signal strength in at least one side of the base station and the mobile station reduces to less than a predetermined level; and

a mobile station comprising;

at least one transmitter;

a plurality of receivers for receiving the radio signals from the base station;

a processor for producing streams of received data corresponding to the receivers, respectively;

a transceiver at the mobile station transmits a mobile-to-base radio signal of frequency f_up to the base station and receives a base-to-mobile radio signal of frequency f_D1 from the base station, a receiver at the mobile station receives a base-to-mobile radio signal of frequency f_D2 from the base station and does not transmit a mobile-to-base radio signal, and

i. in a normal receive communication mode, power is supplied to the transceiver to perform normal communications with the base station, and power is not supplied to the receiver, and

ii. when radio communications through the transceiver are impaired, the mobile terminal changes from the normal receive mode to a receive-only mode in which power is supplied to both the receiver and the transceiver to receive the same data from the base station through two different frequency channels, such that base-to-mobile signals of frequencies f_D1 and f_D2 are concurrently received by the transceiver and the receiver.

18. The mobile communication system according to claim 17, wherein the base station further comprises a monitor for monitoring a received signal strength of a radio signal received from the mobile station, wherein at the base station the received signal strength reduces to less than the predetermined level.

19. The mobile communication system according to claim 17, wherein the mobile station comprises a monitor for monitoring a received signal strength of a radio signal received from the base station, wherein the base station concurrently transmits the radio signals at a request of the mobile station when at the mobile station the received signal strength reduces to less than the predetermined level.

20. The mobile communication system according to claim 17, wherein the processor switches a communication mode to a receive-only mode before the radio signals are concurrently received from the base station.

21. The mobile communication system according to claim 20, wherein the communication mode of the mobile station switches to the receive-only mode on an instruction of the base station.

22. The mobile communication system according to claim 17, wherein the processor selects a data block of better quality from the streams of received data to reproduce original data.

23. A mobile station in the mobile communication system according to claim 17, comprising:

at least one transmitter;

a plurality of receivers corresponding to the predetermined frequencies, wherein a predetermined one of the receivers is used for a normal receiving mode;

a display;

a keypad including a power switch;

a power controller for controlling power supply of a battery; and

a processor for reproducing original data from a plurality of streams of received data corresponding to the radio signals concurrently received by the receivers, respectively.

24. The mobile station according to claim 23, wherein the processor selects a data block of better quality from the streams of received data to reproduce the original data.

25. The mobile station according to claim 23, wherein the processor switches a communication mode of the mobile station from a normal mode to a receive-only mode before the radio signals are concurrently received from the base station, wherein the transmitter and the predetermined receiver are used to communicate with the base station in the normal mode.

26. The mobile station according to claim 25, wherein, when the mobile station has switched to the receive-only mode, the processor instructs the display to display an indicator of the receive-only mode on screen.

27. The mobile station according to claim 25, wherein, when the mobile station has switched to the receive-only mode, the processor makes the power switch inoperative until the receive-only mode is released.

28. The mobile station according to claim 26, wherein, when the mobile station has switched to the receive-only mode, the processor makes the power switch inoperative until the receive-only mode is released.

29. The mobile station according to claim 25, wherein, when in the normal mode, the processor controls the power controller so that power is supplied to the transmitter and the predetermined receiver and when in the receive-only mode, the processor controls the power controller so that power is supplied to all the receivers.

30. The mobile station according to claim 23, wherein the processor determines whether a block of low-quality data of quality lower than a predetermined quality level exists in the streams of the received data, and then controls the transmitter to transmit a retransmission request for the block of low-quality data to the base station when the block of low-quality data exists.

33. The mobile station according to claim 17, wherein in the mobile station:

in the normal receive mode, the transceiver demodulates a base-to-mobile radio signal at frequency f_D1 to output received data S_R1 to a processor,

in the receive-only mode, the transceiver demodulates a base-to-mobile radio signal at frequency f_D1 to output received data S_R1 to a processor and additionally the receiver demodulates a base-to-mobile radio signal of the frequency f_D2 to output received data S_R2 to the processor, which conveys the same data as the base-to-mobile radio signal of the frequency f_D1 received by the transceiver, and

when the mobile station is set to the receive-only mode, the processor stores the received data S_R1 and S_R2 in frames in a memory, and performs error correcting to produce error rates ER₁ and ER₂ of the received data S_R1 and S₂ in frames, and the error rates ER₁ and ER₂ are used to select better received data.