Sub-band notification method and terminal apparatus

• US 8,010,049 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Kawasaki, Yoshihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Urban; Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): HANIDU, GANIYU A
• Application Number:
  US11/477,521
• Publication Number:
  US 20070232238A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,887 Days
• Field of Search: 455/67.11, 455/450, 455/515, 455/63.1, 455/66.1, 455/62, 455/63.3, 455/69, 370/486, 370/329, 370/208, 375/135, 375/260
• US Class Current: 455/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0085 when channel conditions change
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0096 Indication of changes in allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/06 Reselecting a communication resource in the serving access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/30 by measured or perceived connection quality data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/36 by user or terminal equipment

Abstract

The present invention relates to a sub band notification method and apparatus in which a terminal notifies a base station of an optimum sub band that is determined based on radio link quality of a plurality of sub bands. The terminal apparatus measures the radio link quality of a current sub band that is currently assigned to it, and the radio link quality of the sub bands on both sides of the current sub band, compares the radio link quality of each sub band, then generates sub-band-change-request data that specifies that the optimum sub band is the sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or the sub band having a lower frequency, and transmits that sub-band-change-request data to the base station.

Claims

1. A sub band notification method for notifying a base station from a terminal of an optimum sub band that is determined based on radio link quality of a plurality of sub bands, comprising:

measuring the radio link quality of a terminal for a current sub band which is currently assigned to the terminal and the radio link quality of the terminal for a sub band on each side of the current sub band;

comparing said link quality of each sub band, and generating sub-band-change-request data that specifies that the optimum sub band is a sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or a sub band having a lower frequency;

transmitting said sub-band-change-request data to the base station; and

specifying by said sub-band-change-request data whether said optimum sub band is the nth adjacent sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or the nth adjacent sub band having a lower frequency, and setting the value of n to a fixed value, or controlling the value of n according to the radio link quality.

2. The sub band notification method of claim 1 further comprising:

measuring by a terminal the radio link quality of all sub bands at the start of transmission and determining the sub band having the best quality to be the optimum sub band, then notifying the base station of an ID number of that sub band.

3. The sub band notification method of claim 1 wherein

said sub-band-change-request data comprises 2 bits, and whereby those 2 bits specify whether said optimum sub band is the sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or is the sub band having a lower frequency, or whether to maintain the current sub band as said optimum sub band.

4. The sub band notification method of claim 1 wherein

said sub-band-change-request data comprises 3 bits, and whereby those 3 bits specify whether said optimum sub band is a first or second adjacent sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or is a first or second adjacent sub band having a lower frequency, or whether to maintain the current sub band as said optimum sub band.

9. The sub band notification method of claim 1 comprising:

saving a sub-band ID number after the ID number of the sub band having the best radio link quality is received from the terminal, and transmitting data to that terminal using that sub band;

updating said saved optimum sub band based on received data when control data is received from said terminal specifying that the optimum sub band is a sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or a sub band having a lower frequency; and

transmitting data to the terminal using the updated sub band.

5. A sub band notification method for notifying a base station from a terminal of an optimum sub band that is determined based on radio link quality of a plurality of sub bands, comprising:

measuring the radio link quality of a terminal for a current sub band which is currently assigned to the terminal and the radio link quality of the terminal for a sub band on each side of the current sub band;

comparing said link quality of each sub band, and generating sub-band-change-request data that specifies that the optimum sub band is a sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or a sub band having a lower frequency;

transmitting said sub-band-change-request data to the base station;

monitoring whether conditions are met for changing from a first mode to a second mode, in the first mode the radio link quality of the current sub band is compared with that of the sub bands on both sides of the current sub band, and said sub-band-change-request data is transmitted to the base station from the terminal, and in the second mode the radio link quality of all of the sub bands are measured and the base station is notified of the ID number of the sub band having the best radio link quality;

measuring the radio link quality of all sub bands when said conditions are met, and notifying the base station of the ID number of the sub band having the best quality; and

then changing back to said first mode.

6. The sub band notification method of claim 5 comprising:

identifying in said second mode the sub band having the best radio link quality based on the average value of m number of radio link measurements, and setting the value of m to a fixed value, or controlling the value of m according to the radio link quality.

7. A sub band notification method for notifying a base station from a terminal of an optimum sub band that is determined based on radio link quality of a plurality of sub bands, comprising:

measuring the radio link quality of a terminal for a current sub band which is currently assigned to the terminal and the radio link quality of the terminal for a sub band on each side of the current sub band;

comparing said link quality of each sub band, and generating sub-band-change-request data that specifies that the optimum sub band is a sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or a sub band having a lower frequency;

transmitting said sub-band-change-request data to the base station;

determining whether the number of times that sub-band-change-request data has been continuously generated has reached a specified number of times k in a first mode, in which the radio link quality of the current sub band is compared with that of the sub bands on both sides of that sub band, and said sub-band-change-request data is transmitted to the base station from the terminal;

changing from the first mode to a second mode, when the number of times that said sub-band-change-request data has been continuously generated has reached said specified number of times k, measuring the radio link quality for all sub bands in the second mode, and notifying the base station of the ID number of the sub band having the best radio link quality; and

then changing back to said first mode.

8. The sub band notification method of claim 7 comprising

setting the value of k to a fixed value, or controlling the value of k according to the radio link quality.

10. A terminal apparatus for notifying a base station of an optimum sub band from among a plurality of sub bands that is determined based on radio link quality, and comprising:

a radio-quality-measurement unit that measures the radio link quality of a current sub band that is currently assigned to the terminal apparatus and the radio link quality of a sub band on each side of the current sub band;

an optimum-sub-band-determination unit that compares said link quality of each sub band, and determines whether the optimum sub band is a sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or a sub band having a lower frequency;

a sub-band-change-request data creation unit that generates sub-band-change-request data based on said determination; and

a transmission unit that transmits the sub-band-change-request data to the base station, wherein

the sub-band-change-request data creation unit generates the sub-band-change-request data that specifies whether said optimum sub band is the nth adjacent sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or the nth adjacent sub band having a lower frequency, and sets the value of n to a fixed value, or controls the value of n according to the radio link quality.

11. A terminal apparatus for notifying a base station of an optimum sub band from among a plurality of sub bands that is determined based on radio link quality, and comprising:

a radio-quality-measurement unit that measures the radio link quality of a current sub band that is currently assigned to the terminal apparatus and the radio link quality of a sub band on each side of the current sub band;

an optimum-sub-band-determination unit that compares said link quality of each sub band, and determines whether the optimum sub band is a sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or a sub band having a lower frequency;

a transmission unit that generates sub-band-change-request data based on said determination, and transmits that sub-band-change-request data to the base station; and

a measurement-mode change judgment unit that determines whether conditions are satisfied for changing to a second mode, in a first mode, the radio link quality of the current sub band and the sub bands on both sides of the current sub band are compared and said sub-band-change-request data is transmitted to the base station, and in the second mode the radio link quality for all of the sub bands are measured and the base station is notified of an ID number of the sub band having the best radio link quality, wherein

when said conditions are satisfied, said optimum-sub-band-determination unit refers to the radio link quality of all of the sub bands that are output from said radio quality-measurement unit, and determines the sub band having the best quality as the optimum sub band, and said transmission unit notifies the base station of the ID number of that sub band.

13. The terminal apparatus of claim 11 or claim 12 wherein, when in said second mode said optimum-sub-band-determination unit identifies the sub band having the base quality based on the average value of m number of radio link measurements, a unit is provided for controlling the value of m according to the radio link quality.

12. A terminal apparatus for notifying a base station of an optimum sub band from among a plurality of sub bands that is determined based on radio link quality, and comprising:

a radio-quality-measurement unit that measures the radio link quality of a current sub band that is currently assigned to the terminal apparatus and the radio link quality of a sub band on each side of the current sub band;

an optimum-sub-band-determination unit that compares said link quality of each sub band, and determines whether the optimum sub band is a sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or a sub band having a lower frequency;

a transmission unit that generates sub-band-change-request data based on said determination, and transmits that sub-band-change-request data to the base station; and

a measurement-mode change judgment unit for determining whether the number of times that sub-band-change-request data has been continuously generated has reached a specified number of times k in a first mode, in which the radio link quality of the current sub band and the sub bands on both sides of the current sub band are compared and said sub-band-change-request data is transmitted to the base station; and

wherein

when the number of times that said sub-band-change-request data has been generated has reached said specified number of times k, said optimum-sub-band determination unit changes a mode from the first mode to a second mode, and in the second mode, refers to the radio link quality of all of the sub bands that are output from said radio-quality-measurement unit, and determines the sub band having the best quality as the optimum sub band, and said transmission unit notifies the base station of an ID number of the optimum sub band.

14. The terminal apparatus of claim 12 comprising

a unit that controls said value of k according to the radio link quality.

15. A base station apparatus that uses a plurality of sub bands to perform frequency-division-multiplexing transmission for transmitting data to a plurality of terminals, and comprising:

a memory unit that, when a sub-band ID number is received from a terminal as the ID number of the sub band having the best radio link quality, saves said sub-band ID number in correspondence with the terminal;

an update-control unit that, when control data is received from said terminal specifying that the optimum sub band is a sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or is a sub band having a lower frequency, updates said saved optimum sub band based on that received data; and

a data-transmission unit that uses the optimum sub band for each terminal to transmit data to the terminal wherein

the terminal

     1) measures the radio link quality for a current sub band which is currently assigned to the terminal, the radio link quality for a nth adjacent sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band and the radio link quality for a nth adjacent sub band having a lower frequency, and compares said link quality of each sub band,

     2) generates the control data that specifies that whether said optimum sub band is the nth adjacent sub band having a higher frequency than the current sub band, or the nth adjacent sub band having a lower frequency, and sets the value of n to a fixed value, or controls the value of n according to the radio link quality and

     3) transmits the control data to the base station.