Methods and apparatus for implementing and using a rate indicator
First Claim
1. A method of operating a base station in a wireless communications system including at least one wireless terminal which interacts with said base station via a wireless communications channel, the method comprising:
- transmitting a maximum uplink data rate indicator to said wireless terminal;
receiving uplink data rate information from the wireless terminal with data transmitted at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information, said received uplink data rate information being communicated by a pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said additional energy being energy beyond that used to communicate said data on said tone symbols at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information; and
determining the indicated data rate from said pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said pattern of additional energy being one of a plurality of predetermined patterns, each predetermined pattern corresponding to a different data rate.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A base station selects and assigns uplink segments to specific wireless terminals. The base station estimates potential system interference levels, selects, assigns, and transmits a maximum uplink rate indicator value to a wireless terminal indicating the maximum uplink data rate that the wireless terminal is permitted to use. The wireless terminal receives the maximum data rate indicator and selects an uplink data rate to use which is less than or equal to the maximum data rate indicator level. The selection includes consideration of data amounts, data importance, communications channel quality, changes affecting the channel and/or power information. The wireless terminal encodes information indicative of the selected used rate with the user data/information to be transmitted by placing additional energy on a subset of the uplink signals. The base station receives the uplink signals including user data/information and data rate. The base station extracts the data rate used and utilizes the data rate to demodulate and decode the uplink user data/information.
69 Citations
60 Claims
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1. A method of operating a base station in a wireless communications system including at least one wireless terminal which interacts with said base station via a wireless communications channel, the method comprising:
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transmitting a maximum uplink data rate indicator to said wireless terminal; receiving uplink data rate information from the wireless terminal with data transmitted at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information, said received uplink data rate information being communicated by a pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said additional energy being energy beyond that used to communicate said data on said tone symbols at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information; and determining the indicated data rate from said pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said pattern of additional energy being one of a plurality of predetermined patterns, each predetermined pattern corresponding to a different data rate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 60)
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13. A method of operating a base station in a wireless communications system including at least one wireless terminal which interacts with said base station via a wireless communications channel, the method comprising:
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selecting a maximum uplink data transmission rate to be used by said wireless terminal when transmitting at least some information to said base station, said maximum uplink data transmission rate being one of a plurality of possible transmission data rates; transmitting a maximum uplink data rate indicator to said wireless terminal, said maximum uplink data rate indicator indicating the selected maximum uplink data transmission rate which is the maximum uplink data transmission rate said wireless terminal is permitted to use when transmitting said at least some information; receiving from the wireless terminal, data communicated over the wireless communications channel, data transmitted at an uplink data transmission rate selected by the wireless terminal that is no greater than the selected maximum uplink data transmission rate indicated to said wireless terminal by the transmitted maximum uplink data rate indicator; receiving uplink data rate information from the wireless terminal indicating an uplink data transmission rate utilized by said wireless terminal to communicate data to said base station; said received uplink data rate information being received with data transmitted at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information; and wherein said received uplink data rate information is indicated by the location of additional energy beyond the energy used to communicate said data on a predetermined subset of one or more signals used to communicate the data, the subset corresponding to the uplink data rate used to communicate said data, said one or more signals being tones of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed signal. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A base station in a wireless communications system including at least one wireless terminal which interacts with said base station via a wireless communications channel, the base station comprising:
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means for transmitting a maximum uplink data rate indicator to said wireless terminal; means for receiving uplink data rate information from the wireless terminal with data transmitted at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information, said received uplink data rate information being communicated by a pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said additional energy being energy beyond that used to communicate said data on said tone symbols at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information; and means for determining the indicated data rate from said pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said pattern of additional energy being one of a plurality of predetermined patterns, each predetermined pattern corresponding to a different data rate. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of operating a wireless terminal in a wireless communications system including at least one base station which interacts with said wireless terminal via a wireless communications channel, the method comprising:
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receiving a maximum uplink data rate indicator from said base station, said maximum uplink data rate indicator indicating a maximum uplink data transmission rate said wireless terminal is permitted to use in an uplink communications segment to which said maximum uplink data rate indicator corresponds, said uplink communications segment being a segment of an uplink communications channel; selecting an uplink transmission data rate to use from a plurality of possible uplink transmission data rates which are less than or equal to said maximum uplink data transmission rate; transmitting data in said uplink communications segment to said base station along with uplink data rate information indicating the selected uplink transmission data rate used by said wireless terminal to communicate said data, said data being transmitted at said selected uplink data transmission rate indicated by said uplink data rate information, said uplink data rate information being communicated by a pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said additional energy being energy beyond that used to communicate said data on said tone symbols at the data rate indicated by said uplink data rate information, said pattern of additional energy being one of a plurality of predetermined patterns, each predetermined pattern corresponding to a different data rate. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 36)
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32. A method of operating a wireless terminal in a wireless communications system including at least one base station, the method comprising:
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receiving a maximum uplink data rate indicator from said base station, said maximum uplink data rate indicator indicating a maximum uplink data transmission rate said wireless terminal is permitted to use; selecting an uplink transmission data rate to use from a plurality of possible uplink transmission data rates which are less than or equal to said maximum uplink data transmission rate; transmitting data to said base station over a wireless communications channel using said selected uplink data transmission rate; and communicating uplink data rate information to said base station, said uplink data rate information indicating an uplink data transmission rate used by said wireless terminal; wherein communicating said uplink data rate information includes transmitting said uplink data rate information with the data transmitted at the indicated data rate; and wherein said uplink data rate information is indicated by placing additional energy beyond the energy used to communicate said data on a predetermined subset of signals used to communicate the data, the subset corresponding to the uplink data rate used to communicate said data. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35)
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37. A wireless terminal for use in a wireless communications system including at least one base station which interacts with said wireless terminal via a wireless communications channel, the wireless terminal comprising:
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means for receiving a maximum uplink data rate indicator from said base station, said maximum uplink data rate indicator indicating a maximum uplink data transmission rate said wireless terminal is permitted to use in an uplink communications segment to which said maximum uplink data rate indicator corresponds, said uplink communications segment being a segment of an uplink communications channel; means for selecting an uplink data transmission rate to use from a plurality of possible uplink data transmission rates which are less than or equal to said maximum uplink data transmission rate; and means for transmitting data in said uplink communications segment to said base station along with uplink data rate information indicating the selected uplink transmission data rate used by said wireless terminal to communicate said data, said data being transmitted at said selected uplink data transmission rate indicated by said uplink data rate information, said uplink data rate information being communicated by a pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said additional energy being energy beyond that used to communicate said data on said tone symbols at the data rate indicated by said unlink data rate information, said pattern of additional energy being one of a plurality of predetermined patterns, each predetermined pattern corresponding to a different data rate. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A base station for use in a wireless communications system including at least one wireless terminal which interacts with said base station via a wireless communications channel, the base station comprising:
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a processor configured to; control the base station to transmit a maximum uplink data rate indicator to said wireless terminal; control the base station to receive uplink data rate information from the wireless terminal with data transmitted at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information, said received uplink data rate information being communicated by a pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said additional energy being energy beyond that used to communicate said data on said tone symbols at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information; and control the base station to determine the indicated data rate from said pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said pattern of additional energy being one of a plurality of predetermined patterns, each predetermined pattern corresponding to a different data rate. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45)
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46. A computer readable medium embodying machine executable instructions for controlling a base station in a wireless communications system including at least one wireless terminal which interacts with said base station via a wireless communications channel, the computer readable medium comprising:
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instructions for causing the base station to transmit a maximum uplink data rate indicator to said wireless terminal; instructions for causing the base station to receive uplink data rate information from the wireless terminal with data transmitted at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information, said received uplink data rate information being communicated by a pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said additional energy being energy beyond that used to communicate said data on said tone symbols at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information; and instructions for causing the base station to determine the indicated data rate from said pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said pattern of additional energy being one of a plurality of predetermined patterns, each predetermined pattern corresponding to a different data rate. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48)
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49. A base station in a wireless communications system including at least one wireless terminal which interacts with said base station via a wireless communications channel, the base station comprising:
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a transmitter for transmitting a maximum uplink data rate indicator to said wireless terminal; a receiver for receiving uplink data rate information from the wireless terminal with data transmitted at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information, said received uplink data rate information being communicated by a pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said additional energy being energy beyond that used to communicate said data on said tone symbols at the data rate indicated by said received uplink data rate information; and an uplink data rate determination module for determining the indicated data rate from said pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data said pattern of additional energy being one of a plurality of predetermined patterns, each predetermined pattern corresponding to a different data rate. - View Dependent Claims (50)
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51. A wireless terminal for use in a wireless communications system including at least one base station which interacts with said wireless terminal via a wireless communications channel, the wireless terminal comprising:
a processor configured to; receive a maximum uplink data rate indicator from said base station, said maximum uplink data rate indicator indicating a maximum uplink data transmission rate said wireless terminal is permitted to use in an uplink communications segment to which said maximum uplink data rate indicator corresponds, said uplink communications segment being a segment of an uplink communications channel; select an uplink transmission data rate to use from a plurality of possible uplink transmission data rates which are less than or equal to said maximum uplink data transmission rate; and transmit data, in said uplink communications segment, to said base station along with uplink data rate information indicating the selected uplink transmission data rate used by said wireless terminal to communicate said data, said data being transmitted at said selected uplink data transmission rate indicated by said uplink data rate information, said uplink data rate information being communicated by a pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said additional energy being energy beyond that used to communicate said data on said tone symbols at the data rate indicated by said uplink data rate information, said pattern of additional energy being one of a plurality of predetermined patterns, each predetermined pattern corresponding to a different data rate. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53)
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54. A computer readable medium embodying machine executable instructions for controlling a wireless terminal for use in a wireless communications system including at least one base station which interacts with said wireless terminal via a wireless communications channel, the computer readable medium comprising:
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instructions for causing the wireless terminal to receive a maximum uplink data rate indicator from said base station, said maximum uplink data rate indicator indicating a maximum uplink data transmission rate said wireless terminal is permitted to use in an uplink communications segment to which said maximum uplink data rate indicator corresponds, said uplink communications segment being a segment of an uplink communications channel; instructions for causing the wireless terminal to select an uplink transmission data rate to use from a plurality of possible uplink transmission data rates which are less than or equal to said maximum uplink data transmission rate; and instructions for causing the wireless terminal to transmit data in said uplink communications segment to said base station along with uplink data rate information indicating the selected uplink transmission data rate used by said wireless terminal to communicate said data, said data being transmitted at said selected uplink data transmission rate indicated by said uplink data rate information, said uplink data rate information being communicated by a pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said additional energy being energy beyond that used to communicate said data on said tone symbols at the data rate indicated by said uplink data rate information, said pattern of additional energy being one of a plurality of predetermined patterns. each predetermined pattern corresponding to a different data rate. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56)
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57. A wireless terminal for use in a wireless communications system including at least one base station which interacts with said wireless terminal via a wireless communications channel, the wireless terminal comprising:
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a receiver for receiving a maximum uplink data rate indicator from said base station, said maximum uplink data rate indicator indicating a maximum uplink data transmission rate said wireless terminal is permitted to use in an uplink communications segment to which said maximum uplink data rate indicator corresponds, said uplink communications segment being a segment of an uplink communications channel; an uplink data transmission rate selection module for selecting an uplink data transmission rate to use from a plurality of possible uplink data transmission rates which are less than or equal to said maximum uplink data transmission rate; and a transmitter for transmitting data, in said uplink communications segment, to said base station along with uplink data rate information indicating the selected uplink transmission data rate used by said wireless terminal to communicate said data, said data being transmitted at said selected uplink data transmission rate indicated by said uplink data rate information, said uplink data rate information being communicated by a pattern of additional energy on tone symbols used to communicate said data, said additional energy being energy beyond that used to communicate said data on said tone symbols at the data rate indicated by said uplink data rate information, said pattern of additional energy being one of a plurality of predetermined patterns, each predetermined pattern corresponding to a different data rate. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59)
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Specification