Method and communication station for transmitting data

• US 7,577,399 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2003
• Issued: 08/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks GmbH & Co. KG (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Siemens Networks GmbH & Company KG (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Eichinger, Josef, Giebel, Tobias, Lampe, Mattias, Rohling, Hermann, Schulz, Egon, Zirwas, Wolfgang
• Primary Examiner(s): Anderson, Matthew D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Aminzay, Shaima Q
• Application Number:
  US10/518,585
• Publication Number:
  US 20050272366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,255 Days
• Field of Search: 455/9, 455/7, 455/11.1, 455/13.1, 455/16, 455/18, 455/22, 455/24, 455/41.2, 455/445, 455/15, 455/428, 370/279, 370/315, 370/341, 370/349, 370/392, 714/748, 714/751
• US Class Current: 455/11.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15528 Control of operation parameters of a relay station to exploit the physical medium
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0054 Maximum-likelihood or sequential decoding, e.g. Viterbi, Fano, ZJ algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/16 in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0097 Relays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/243 using M+N parallel active paths
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

In a method for the error-monitored transmission of data via interfaces of a multi-step communication system, the data is transmitted from a transmitter station to a data-receiving station via at least two relay stations which are connected therebetween and receive and further transmit the data parallel to each other. The data is retransmitted if the transmission has been insufficient due to a request from the receiver end and/or due to the lack of a confirmation from the receiver end. In order to increase performance while reducing power consumption of the system, the request or confirmation is generated only by the receiver station and is sent back to the transmitter station. The relay stations consequently do not generate any confirmations or requests.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting data in a radio communication system, comprising:

transmitting data in parallel from a transmitting station to a data-receiving station over at least two relay stations, each relay station receiving and forwarding the data;

generating requests for retransmission if it is determined that the received data is not sufficiently free of errors, the requests for retransmission being generated only at the receiving station;

transmitting the requests for retransmission from the receiving station through at least one of the relay stations; and

retransmitting the data from the transmitting station if a request for retransmission is received through the at least one relay station from the receiving station.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein

at least one of the relay stations checks the data received from the transmitting station with regard to reception quality,

if the reception quality does not meet a determined level of quality of the received data, the relay station does not forward said data to the receiving station, and

if the reception quality meets the determined level of quality of the received data, the relay station does forward said data to the receiving station.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein

the relay stations receive the data in parallel and check the reception quality of the received data,

a first relay station receives the data with acceptable reception quality, and

only the first relay station transmits the data to the receiver station.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein error correction and/or error detection is performed in at least one of the relay stations prior to forwarding the data.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein

a plurality of the relay stations receive the data in parallel, check the reception quality of the data and produce a reception result, and

in at least a first relay station, a determination is made on whether or not to forward the data based on the reception result of the first relay station and based on the reception result of another relay station.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting station, the receiving station and at least some of the relay stations belong to a radio communication system communicating on a single frequency.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data is forwarded over different parallel paths via different relay stations, and the data is preemphasized and/or deemphasized in the relay stations.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data is forwarded over different parallel paths via different relay stations, and the data is decoded and/or encoded in the relay stations.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the data is transmitted in parallel over different paths, and

the data is received overlaid at the receiver station and processed jointly.

10. The method for transmitting data in a radio communication system, comprising:

transmitting data in parallel from a transmitting station to a data-receiving station over at least two relay stations, each relay station receiving and forwarding the data;

acknowledging receipt of the data with an acknowledgement by the data-receiving station;

transmitting requests for retransmission from the data-receiving station through at least one of the relay stations; and

retransmitting the data in the event of unsuccessful transmission of the data, when the acknowledgement is not received, retransmission of the data being controlled only by the transmitting station.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein

at least one of the relay stations checks the data received from the transmitting station with regard to reception quality,

if the reception quality does not meet a determined level of quality, the relay station does not forward said data to the receiving station, and

if the reception quality meets the determined level of quality, the relay station does forward said data to the receiving station.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein

the relay stations receive the data in parallel and check the reception quality of the received data,

a first relay station receives the data with acceptable reception quality, and

only the first relay station transmits the data to the receiver station.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein

error correction and/or error detection is performed in at least one of the relay stations prior to forwarding the data.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein

a plurality of the relay stations receive the data in parallel, check the reception quality of the data and produce a reception result, and

in at least a first relay station, a determination is made on whether or not to forward the data based on the reception result of the first relay station and based on the reception result of another relay station.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the transmitting station, the receiving station and at least some of the relay stations belong to a radio communication system communicating on a single frequency.

16. A relay station of a radio communication station, comprising:

a receiving device to receive data destined for a receiving station, the data being parallely transmitted from a transmitting station of the radio communication station;

an analyzing device to analyze said data with regard to its reception quality and produce a reception result; and

a transmitting device to selectively forward the data to the receiving station, depending on directly receiving the reception result of the analyzing device.

17. The relay station according to claim 16, wherein

the data is transmitted in parallel to a plurality of relay stations, and

the relay station forwards the data only if its data reception is superior to that of other relay stations.

18. The relay station according to claim 16, further comprising a processing device to preemphasize and/or deemphasize the data.

19. The relay station according to claim 16, further comprising a processing device to decode and/or encode the data.

20. The relay station according to claim 16, further comprising a processing device to decode the data, preemphasize and/or deemphasize the data and then re-encode the data.