Methods and apparatus of enhancing performance in wireless communication systems
First Claim
1. A communications method, the method comprising the steps of:
- operating a wireless communications terminal to maintain a set of communications quality information for a plurality of different wireless communications channels which can be used to communicate information between a base station and said wireless communications terminal, at least one of the base station and wireless terminal including multiple antennas, said plurality of different wireless communications channels including at least a first communications channel and a second communications channel, the first and second communications channels having different quality characteristics which are a function of first and second transmission technologies used to establish said first and second communications channels, respectively, said first and second transmission technologies being different;
operating the wireless terminal to generate a signal as a function of the maintained communications channel quality information corresponding to at least said first and said second communications channels;
transmitting said signal to said base station;
making a measurement indicative of a rate of motion of said wireless terminal; and
operating one of the base station and wireless terminal to select a communications channel for use in communicating to said wireless terminal as a function of the measurement indicative of the rate of motion of said wireless terminal.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for supporting and using multiple communications channels corresponding to different transmit technologies and/or access technologies in parallel within a cell of a wireless communications system are described. Mobile nodes support multiple technologies and can switch between the technology being used at a particular point in time, e.g., from a first channel corresponding to a first technology to a second channel corresponding to a different technology which provides better transmission characteristics, e.g., a better perceived channel quality. Mobiles maintain at least two sets of channel quality information at any one point in time. Mobiles select the better channel and communicate the channel selection to the base station or communicate channel quality information for multiple channels to the basestation and allow the base station to select the channel corresponding to the technology providing the better conditions for the mobile. Different mobiles in the same cell may support different technologies.
191 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A communications method, the method comprising the steps of:
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operating a wireless communications terminal to maintain a set of communications quality information for a plurality of different wireless communications channels which can be used to communicate information between a base station and said wireless communications terminal, at least one of the base station and wireless terminal including multiple antennas, said plurality of different wireless communications channels including at least a first communications channel and a second communications channel, the first and second communications channels having different quality characteristics which are a function of first and second transmission technologies used to establish said first and second communications channels, respectively, said first and second transmission technologies being different; operating the wireless terminal to generate a signal as a function of the maintained communications channel quality information corresponding to at least said first and said second communications channels; transmitting said signal to said base station; making a measurement indicative of a rate of motion of said wireless terminal; and operating one of the base station and wireless terminal to select a communications channel for use in communicating to said wireless terminal as a function of the measurement indicative of the rate of motion of said wireless terminal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A wireless terminal comprising:
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means for making a measurement indicative of a rate of motion of said wireless terminal; a set of communications quality information for a plurality of different wireless communications channels which can be used to communicate information between a base station and said wireless communications terminal, said plurality of different wireless communications channels including at least a first communications channel and a second communications channel, the first and second communications channels having different quality characteristics which are a function of first and second transmission technologies used to establish said first and second communications channels, respectively, said first and second transmission technologies being different; means for generating a signal as a function of the maintained communications channel quality information corresponding to at least said first and said second communications channels, said signal providing information on the quality of at least one of said first and said second communications channels; a transmitter for transmitting said signal to said base station; and means for selecting a communications channel for use in communicating between said wireless terminal and said base station as a function of the measurement indicative of the rate of motion of said wireless terminal. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A base station comprising:
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means for transmitting signals corresponding to a plurality of different communications channels in parallel, at least two of said communications channels corresponding to different access technologies; means for receiving a signal from a wireless terminal which was generated as a function of signal quality information corresponding to at least two different communications channels, said two different communication channels corresponding to different communications technologies; means for making a measurement indicative of a rate of motion of said wireless terminal; and means for selecting a communications channel for use in communicating to said wireless terminal as a function of the measurement indicative of the rate of motion of said wireless terminal; and a channel segment allocator for allocating channel segments corresponding to the selected communications channel to said wireless terminal. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification