Communication structure with channels configured responsive to reception quality

• US 7,050,407 B1
• Filed: 11/28/2000
• Issued: 05/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: SOMA Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Mantha, Ramesh, Snelgrove, W. Martin, Frazer, Mark J., Van Heeswyk, Frank M., Kschischang, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky Q.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Juntima, Nittaya
• Application Number:
  US09/722,570
• Time in Patent Office: 2,002 Days
• Field of Search: 370/332, 370/342, 370/347, 370/335, 370/329, 370/338, 370/328, 370/465, 370/336, 370/474, 370/389, 455/513, 455/444, 455/446, 455/449, 455/452.2
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/543 based on requested quality, e.g. QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections

Abstract

A communication structure and method which allows connection-like and connectionless communications to be provided on a multiplexed link is provided. The structure and method can make efficient use of available transmission capacity and/or network resources while providing for both types of communication. Connection-like communications can be provided by a channel having allocated bandwidth dedicated to the communication while connectionless communication can be provided by a shared channel through which data can be transmitted to subscribers. In an embodiment, the shared channel transmits frames of packets addressed to one or more of the subscribers. The frames can have a robustly packaged header that can be received by all subscriber stations serviced by the base station while payload data in the frame can be packaged with a level of robustness appropriate for the intended subscriber station. Different packagings can include different encoding and/or modulation of the payload data. The allocation of bandwidth between the dedicated channels and the broadcast channel can be fixed, or can be managed to meet network or network operator requirements. The structure and method can also be managed by the network operator to permit prioritization of some communications over others. In another embodiment, two or more shared channels are provided. In another embodiment, dedicated channels can be created with different amounts of bandwidth and/or can employ modulation and/or encoding selected according to the reception-quality of the recipient subscriber station.

Claims

1. A method of recovering a frame transmitted from a network node to a plurality of subscriber stations over a multiple-access link, each of said subscriber stations having a reception-quality associated with said multiple-access link, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving said transmitted frame at a subscriber station;

recovering an identifier from said transmitted frame using a recovery operation corresponding to a lowest reception-quality of said subscriber stations;

recovering a header from said transmitted frame when said identifier indicates that said receiving subscriber station is within a range of reception-qualities, said header recovered using a recovery operation corresponding to a lowest reception-quality indicated by said identifier; and

recovering payload packets when said header indicates that said payload packets are addressed to said receiving subscriber station, said payload packet recovered using a recovery operation corresponding to a reception-quality of said receiving subscriber station.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein said identifier is packaged for recovery according to an error rate one order of magnitude lower than a target error rate for said frame.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein said identifier is packaged into said frame using a modulation operation.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein said identifier is packaged into said frame using an encoding operation.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein said payload packets are packaged into said frame using a modulation operation.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein said payload packets are packaged into said frame using a combination of an encoding operation and a modulation operation.

7. The method according to claim 6 wherein said encoding operation is rate 1/N convolutional encoding and N equals at least two.

8. The method according to claim 7 wherein the result of said encoding operation is punctured.

9. The method according to claim 6 wherein said modulation operation comprises M-ary QAM.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein said payload packets are packaged into said frame using an encoding operation.

11. The method according to claim 1 wherein said frame is transmitted over a CDMA channel.

12. The method according to claim 1 wherein said reception-quality comprises a measurement of signal-to-noise ratio.

13. The method according to claim 1 wherein said transmitted frame is received over a shared channel that is allocated a portion of the transmission capacity of said multiple access link, another portion of the transmission capacity of said multiple access link being allocated to a plurality of dedicated channels, each dedicated channel providing communication between said network node and one of said plurality of subscriber stations, and wherein at least one of said dedicated channels and said shared channel employs a packaging method for transmissions to a subscriber station that is selected according to the reception-quality of that subscriber station, said packaging method differing from a packaging method employed for transmissions to another subscriber station having a different reception-quality.