Opening a communications stream between a user terminal and a base station

• US 7,339,906 B1
• Filed: 03/20/2001
• Issued: 03/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: ArrayComm LLC (Ygomi LLC)
• Inventors: Dahlby, Douglas C., Trott, Mitchell D., Uhlik, Christopher R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao, Kwang Bin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wong, Warner
• Application Number:
  US09/812,770
• Time in Patent Office: 2,541 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329, 370/414, 370/466, 370/468, 370/463, 370/465, 370/467, 370/348, 370/328, 370/310, 370/336, 370/345, 370/431, 370/347, 370/337, 455/403, 455/422, 707/220, 707/227, 707/228, 445/450
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0866 using a dedicated channel for access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided that allow a communications stream to be quickly opened between two terminals. According to one aspect of the present invention, the invention includes registering the base station and the user terminal with each other by exchanging identification information and configuration information, sending a request to open a communications stream message from the user terminal to the base station, receiving a channel assignment message from the base station in response to the request message, the channel assignment message including an identification of an assigned communications channel for the communications stream, and sending data from the user terminal and receiving data from the base station over the assigned communications channel.

Claims

1. A method for opening a communications stream comprising:

registering a first radio with a second radio by sending identification information to the second radio;

sending a request message to the second radio based on the registration in an uplink random access slot of a time division multiple access frame to open a communications stream, the random access slot being assigned during registering;

receiving a channel assignment message from the second radio in a first time frame in response to the request message, the channel assignment message including an identification of an assigned communications channel for the communications stream, the assigned channel being in a slot of a repeating time frame; and

sending data to the second radio in response to the channel assignment message in the assigned slot in a second time frame, the second time frame immediately following the first time frame.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving data from the second radio in the assigned slot in the second frame.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the assigned channel is in a first slot for sending data to the second radio and in a second slot for receiving data from the second radio, the method further comprising receiving data from the second radio in the second assigned slot in the second frame.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a further request message to the second radio to open a further communications stream based on the registration;

receiving a further channel assignment message from the second radio in response to the further request message, the further channel assignment message including an identification of a further assigned communications channel for the further communications stream; and

sending data to the second radio in response to the channel assignment message.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising closing the first communications stream before sending the further request message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the request message comprises an extended training sequence to assist the base station in measuring spatial parameters.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the request message includes information about a power level with which the request message is transmitted and wherein the channel assignment message includes information about a power level with which the first radio should transmit on the assigned communications channel.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the channel assignment message includes a timing correction for the first radio to apply when sending data over the assigned communications channel.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a page from the second radio and wherein sending the request message comprises sending the request message in response to the received page.

10. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

registering a first radio with a second radio by sending identification information to the second radio;

sending a request message to the second radio based on the registration to open a communications stream, the request message being sent on a random access channel that was assigned to the first radio during registering and that is shared with other radios;

receiving a channel assignment message from the second radio in a first time frame in response to the request message, the channel assignment message including an identification of an assigned communications channel for the communications stream, the assigned channel being in a slot of a repeating time frame; and

sending data in response to the channel assignment message to the second radio in the assigned slot in a second time frame, the second time frame immediately following the first time frame.

11. The medium of claim 10, wherein the request message comprises an identification of the registration information.

12. A method for opening a communications stream comprising:

registering a first radio with a second radio by receiving identification information from the first radio and assigning a random access channel to the first radio, the assigned random access channel being shared with other radios;

receiving a request message from the first radio on the assigned random access channel based on the registration to open a communications stream, the request message comprising an identification of the registration and an extended training sequence;

sending a channel assignment message to the first radio in a first time frame in response to the request message, the channel assignment message including an identification of an assigned communications channel for the communications stream, the assigned channel being in a slot of a repeating time frame; and

using the extended training sequence to measure spatial Parameters of the request message;

sending data to the second radio based on the channel assignment message in the assigned slot in a second time frame, the second time frame immediately following the first time frame.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein sending the channel assignment message comprises sending the channel assignment message using the spatial parameters.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising sending a page to the first radio and wherein the request message is in response to the sent page.

15. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

registering a First radio with a second radio by receiving identification information from the first radio and assigning a random access channel slot to the first radio;

receiving a request message from the first radio on the assigned random access channel slot based on the registration to open a communications stream;

sending a channel assignment message to the first radio in a first time frame in response to the request message, the channel assignment message including an identification of an assigned communications channel for the communications stream, the assigned channel being in a slot of a repeating time frame; and

sending data to the second radio based on the channel assignment message in the assigned slot in a second time frame, the second time frame immediately following the first time frame.

16. The medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform further operations comprising receiving data from the first radio in the assigned slot in the second frame.

17. The medium of claim 15, wherein the assigned channel is in a first slot for sending data to the first radio and in a second slot for receiving data from the first radio, the medium further comprising instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform further operations comprising receiving data from the first radio in the first assigned slot in the second frame.

18. A method for opening a spatially directed radio communications stream comprising:

registering a first radio with a second radio by sending identification information and receiving a random access channel slot assignment from the second radio;

sending a request message to the second radio in the assigned random access channel slot based on the registration to open a communications stream;

receiving a spatially directed channel assignment message from the second radio in response to the request message, the channel assignment message including an identification of an assigned communications channel for the communications stream; and

sending data to the second radio and receiving spatially directed data from the second radio over the assigned communications channel in response to the channel assignment message.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the request message comprises an extended training sequence to assist the second radio in determining spatial parameters, and wherein receiving the channel assignment message comprises receiving the channel assignment message directed using the spatial parameters.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the channel assignment message comprises a training sequence and wherein the extended training sequence is at least twice as long as the channel assignment message training sequence.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the request message comprises an identification of the registration information.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the assigned communications channel is shared with other radios.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein registering further comprises sending configuration information including information regarding capabilities and communications environment of the first radio.