Methods and apparatus for providing short RACH frames for fast latency
First Claim
1. A method for use in a remote terminal for improving access latency in a random access channel in a communications system including at least one base station, the method comprising the steps of:
- selecting a time duration associated with an access signal for transmission, the time duration being selected from among time durations which range from being substantially equivalent to a length of a transmission frame of the base station to being less than the length of the transmission frame; and
transmitting the access signal having the selected time duration associated therewith to the base station over the random access channel in a selected time offset slot associated with the channel.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides an improved RACH access burst arrangement and frame structure. That is, the invention provides methods and apparatus for supporting more than one access burst length in the UMTS access channel structure. Preferably, two access burst lengths are supported, e.g., 5 ms and 10 ms. Such an arrangement is advantageous in applications where it is beneficial to have fast access latency such as, for example, voice or other forms of real-time traffic. Also, the invention provides methods and apparatus for supporting multiple frame sizes. It is to be appreciated that further enhancement to access latency can be obtained by having the UMTS physical layer support multiple frame sizes. The access burst signal transmitted by a remote terminal over the RACH may be an access request or data packets in the case where the RACH is being utilized for UMTS short message services.
67 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method for use in a remote terminal for improving access latency in a random access channel in a communications system including at least one base station, the method comprising the steps of:
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selecting a time duration associated with an access signal for transmission, the time duration being selected from among time durations which range from being substantially equivalent to a length of a transmission frame of the base station to being less than the length of the transmission frame; and
transmitting the access signal having the selected time duration associated therewith to the base station over the random access channel in a selected time offset slot associated with the channel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 33, 34)
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9. Apparatus for improving access latency in a random access channel in a communications system including at least one base station, comprising:
a remote terminal configured for selecting a time duration associated with an access signal, the time duration being selected from among time durations which range from being substantially equivalent to a length of a transmission frame of the base station to being less than the length of the transmission frame, the remote terminal also configured for transmitting the access signal having the selected time duration associated therewith to the base station over the random access channel in a selected time offset slot associated with the channel. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 35, 36)
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17. A method for use in a base station for improving access latency in a random access channel in a communications system including at least one remote terminal, the method comprising the steps of:
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selecting a transmission frame time duration associated with a random access channel, the transmission frame time duration being selected from among one or more supported time durations; and
acknowledging a successful access signal transmitted by the remote terminal over the random access channel in a selected time offset slot associated with the channel. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. Apparatus for improving access latency in a random access channel in a communications system including at least one remote terminal, comprising:
a base station configured for selecting a transmission frame time duration associated with a random access channel, the transmission frame time duration being selected from among one or more supported time durations, the base station also configured for acknowledging a successful access signal transmitted by the remote terminal over the random access channel in a selected time offset slot associated with the channel. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
Specification