Wireless communications protocol

• US 6,304,559 B1
• Filed: 05/11/2000
• Issued: 10/16/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Northrop Grumman Corporation
• Inventors: Stratmoen, Scott Alan, Jacklin, William Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Ton, Dang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pizarro, Ricardo M.
• Application Number:
  US09/570,771
• Time in Patent Office: 523 Days
• Field of Search: 370/310, 370/312, 370/315, 370/316, 370/324, 370/241, 370/246, 370/321, 370/348, 370/349, 370/400, 370/437, 370/461, 370/277
• US Class Current: 370/321
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15528 Control of operation parameters of a relay station to exploit the physical medium
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2656 for structure of frame, burst

Abstract

A method for implementing a timed division multiple access protocol for digital communications between a radio transceiver and a repeater or another radio transceiver has the steps of dividing a radio communication into a plurality of frames having a predetermined length of time; dividing each frame into: a plurality of downlink slots, each downlink slot containing a transmission from the repeater to the transceiver; and a plurality of uplink slots, each uplink slot containing a transmission from the transceiver to the repeater.

Claims

1. A method for implementing a time division multiple access protocol for full duplex communication between a repeater and at least one radio transceiver, the method comprising the steps of:

a) segmenting a voice communication into a plurality of frames having a predetermined length of time;

b) segmenting each frame into;

i) a plurality of downlink slots each downlink slot for supporting the voice communication from the repeater to the transceiver(s) therein;

ii) a plurality of uplink slots each uplink slot for supporting the voice communication from the transceiver(s) to the repeater therein;

iii) wherein each of the downlink and uplink slots are segmented into;

(1) a bit synchronization field for timing acquisition;

(2) a slot field for slot acquisition;

(3) a header field for control information;

(4) a data field for digital audio and digital data information;

(5) a CRC field for error detection;

(6) a slot gap field for accommodating clock inaccuracies; and

c) transmitting the voice communication between the repeater and the transceiver(s) in full duplex transmission mode.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein step a) comprises segmenting a digital communication into the plurality of frames.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein step a) comprises segmenting a data communication into the plurality of frames.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein step b) comprises further comprises forming a frame gap intermediate adjacent frames to prevent adjacent frames from overlapping due to clock inaccuracies.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein step b) further comprises segmenting the header field into:

a) a message type field;

b) a message subtype field;

c) an ID field;

d) a reserved field;

e) a first modifier field; and

f) a second modifier field.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein step b) further comprises segmenting each of the downrank and uplink slots into a 16-bit CRC field.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein step c) further comprises:

a) the radio transceiver(s) transmitting information via an available uplink slot to the repeater; and

b) the repeater transmitting information via a corresponding downlink slot to the radio transceiver(s).

8. A method for implementing a time division multiple access protocol for full duplex communication between a repeater and at least one radio transceiver, the method comprising the steps of:

a) segmenting a communication into a plurality of frames having a predetermined length of time;

b) segmenting each frame into;

i) a plurality of downlink slots, each downlink slot for supporting the communication from the repeater to the transceiver(s) therein;

ii) a plurality of uplink slots, each uplink slot for supporting the communication from the transceiver(s) to the repeater therein;

iii) wherein each of the downlink and uplink slots are segmented into;

(1) a bit synchronization field for timing acquisition;

(2) a slot field for slot acquisition;

(3) a header field for control information, the header field being segmentable into an 8-bit message type header field for facilitating identification of at least 256 different message types;

(4) a data field for digital audio and digital data information;

(5) a CRC field for error detection;

(6) a slot gap field for accommodating clock inaccuracies; and

c) transmitting the communication between the repeater and the transceiver(s) in full duplex transmission mode.

9. A method for implementing a time division multiple access protocol for full duplex communication between a repeater and at least one radio transceiver, the method comprising the steps of:

a) segmenting a voice communication into a plurality of frames;

b) segmenting each frame into a plurality of downlink and uplink slots;

c) supporting the voice communication from the repeater to the transceiver(s) with each downlink slot;

d) determining when each uplink slot is available for access thereto via the repeater;

e) selectively accessing each uplink slot via utilizing a control algorithm for supporting the voice communication from the transceiver(s) to the repeater; and

f) transmitting the voice communication between the repeater and the transceiver(s) in full duplex transmission mode.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein step a) comprises segmenting a digital communication into the plurality of frames.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein step a) comprises segmenting a data communication into the plurality of frames.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein step a) comprises segmenting the communication into the plurality of frames each having a length of approximately 5.12 milliseconds.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein step b) comprises segmenting each of the frames into the plurality of paired downlink and uplink slots having corresponding indices.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the control algorithm is a Medium Access Control (MAC) algorithm.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein step b) further comprises:

a) defining a downlink slot D_o; and

b) the repeater transmitting information via the downlink slot D_o to the radio transceiver(s) without the uplink slots.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein step b) further comprises forming a frame gap intermediate adjacent frames to prevent adjacent frames from overlapping due to clock inaccuracies.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein step b) further comprises forming a frame gap intermediate adjacent frames to facilitate synthesizer re-programming in a frequency hopping spread spectrum system.

18. The method of claim 9 wherein step b) further comprises segmenting each of the downlink and uplink slots into:

a) a bit synchronization field for timing acquisition;

b) a slot field for slot acquisition;

c) a header field for control information;

d) a data field for digital audio and digital data information;

e) a CRC field for error detection; and

f) a slot gap field for accommodating clock inaccuracies.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein step c) further comprises segmenting the header field into:

a) a message type field;

b) a message subtype field;

c) an ID field;

d) a reserved field;

e) a first modifier field; and

f) a second modifier field.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein step a) further comprises segmenting each of the downlink and uplink slots into an 8-bit message type field to facilitate identification of at least 256 different message types.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein step b) further comprises segmenting each of the downlink and uplink slots into a 16-bit CRC field.

22. The method of claim 9 wherein step c) further comprises:

a) the radio transceiver(s) transmitting information via an available uplink slot to the repeater; and

b) the repeater transmitting information via a corresponding downlink slot to the radio transceiver(s).