Managing channel configuration information in a wireless communication system

• US 8,014,376 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2006
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Myeong-Cheol
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo; Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): SAMUEL, DEWANDA A
• Application Number:
  US11/327,548
• Publication Number:
  US 20060146858A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,070 Days
• Field of Search: 370/432, 370/335, 370/337, 370/338, 370/312, 370/348, 370/331, 370/349, 455/437
• US Class Current: 370/348
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services

Abstract

The present invention provides for managing channel configuration information in a wireless communication system. Preferably, the present invention receives transport channel configuration information for configuring at least one transport channel currently not mapping a point-to-multipoint service, wherein the at least one transport channel is capable of mapping at least one new point-to-multipoint service at the start or before the stop of the at least one new point-to-multipoint service, determines whether to receive the at least one new point-to-multipoint service, and reads configuration information for the at least one new point-to-multipoint service at the start of the at least one new point-to-multipoint service if it is determined that the at least one new point-to-multipoint service is to be received.

Claims

1. A method for managing channel configuration information in a wireless communication system having a network and a mobile terminal that support a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), the method comprising:

receiving, in the mobile terminal, a physical channel configuration of a current cell the mobile terminal is located in to receive the MBMS service from the network; and

receiving, in the mobile terminal, the MBMS service from the network using the received physical channel configuration,

wherein the physical channel configuration comprises current cell configuration information of at least one transport channel on which no radio bearer is currently mapped and the at least one transport channel is capable of mapping to at least one radio bearer,

wherein the current cell configuration information is related to current cell point-to-multipoint radio bearer information,

wherein the physical channel configuration further comprises a list of transport channels that are mapped to a physical channel,

wherein the physical channel configuration relates to a point-to-multipoint radio bearer configuration used in the current cell in case one or more MBMS services are provided using one or more point-to-multipoint radio bearers, and

wherein each of the transport channels in the list is related to a list of radio bearers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical channel configuration is received periodically from the network.

3. A method for managing channel configuration information in a wireless communication system having a network and a mobile terminal that support a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), the method comprising:

transmitting, from the network, a physical channel configuration of a current cell the mobile terminal is located in to provide the MBMS service to the mobile terminal; and

transmitting, from the network, the MBMS service to the mobile terminal using the provided physical channel configuration,

wherein the physical channel configuration comprises current cell configuration information of at least one transport channel on which no radio bearer is currently mapped and the at least one transport channel is capable of mapping to at least one radio bearer,

wherein the current cell configuration information is related to current cell point-to-multipoint radio bearer information,

wherein the physical channel configuration further comprises a list of transport channels that are mapped to a physical channel,

wherein the physical channel configuration relates to a point-to-multipoint radio bearer configuration used in the current cell in case one or more MBMS services are provided using one or more point-to-multipoint radio bearers, and

wherein each of the transport channels in the list is related to a list of radio bearers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the physical channel configuration is transmitted periodically to the mobile terminal.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

the network configuring the physical channel configuration before transmitting the physical channel configuration to the mobile terminal.

6. A mobile terminal for managing channel configuration information in a wireless communication system, the mobile terminal comprising:

means for receiving a physical channel configuration of a current cell the mobile terminal is located in to receive a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) from a network; and

means for receiving the MBMS service from the network using the received physical channel configuration,

wherein the physical channel configuration comprises current cell configuration information of at least one transport channel on which no radio bearer is currently mapped and the at least one transport channel is capable of mapping to at least one radio bearer,

wherein the current cell configuration information is related to current cell point-to-multipoint radio bearer information,

wherein the physical channel configuration further comprises a list of transport channels that are mapped to a physical channel,

wherein the physical channel configuration relates to a point-to-multipoint radio bearer configuration used in the current cell in case one or more MBMS services are provided using one or more point-to-multipoint radio bearers, and

wherein each of the transport channels in the list is related to a list of radio bearers.

7. A network for managing channel configuration information in a wireless communication system, the network comprising:

means for transmitting a physical channel configuration of a current cell a mobile terminal is located in to provide a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) to a mobile terminal; and

means for transmitting the MBMS service to the mobile terminal using the provided physical channel configuration,

wherein the physical channel configuration comprises current cell configuration information of at least one transport channel on which no radio bearer is currently mapped and the at least one transport channel is capable of mapping to at least one radio bearer,

wherein the current cell configuration information is related to current cell point-to-multipoint radio bearer information,

wherein the physical channel configuration further comprises a list of transport channels that are mapped to a physical channel,

wherein the physical channel configuration relates to a point-to-multipoint radio bearer configuration used in the current cell in case one or more MBMS services are provided using one or more point-to-multipoint radio bearers, and

wherein each of the transport channels in the list is related to a list of radio bearers.

8. A method for managing channel configuration information in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving transport channel configuration information for configuring at least one transport channel currently not mapping a point-to-multipoint service, wherein the at least one transport channel is capable of mapping at least one new point-to-multipoint service at the start or before the stop of the at least one new point-to-multipoint service;

determining whether to receive the at least one new point-to-multipoint service; and

reading configuration information for the at least one new point-to-multipoint service at the start of the at least one new point-to-multipoint service if it is determined that the at least one new point-to-multipoint service is to be received,

wherein the configuration information for the at least one new point-to-multipoint service is not read if it is determined that the at least one new point-to-multipoint service is not to be received.

9. A method for managing channel configuration information in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

transmitting to a mobile terminal transport channel configuration information for configuring at least one transport channel currently not mapping a point-to-multipoint service, wherein the at least one transport channel is capable of mapping at least one new point-to-multipoint service at the start or before the stop of the at least one new point-to-multipoint service; and

transmitting the at least one new point-to-multipoint service according to the transmitted transport channel configuration information, wherein the mobile terminal reads the configuration information for the at least one new point-to-multipoint service at the start of the at least one new point-to-multipoint service if the mobile terminal determines to receive the at least one new point-to-multipoint service,

wherein the mobile terminal does not read the configuration information for the at least one new point-to-multipoint service if the mobile terminal determines not to receive the at least one new point-to-multipoint service.

10. A mobile terminal for managing channel configuration information in a wireless communication system, the mobile terminal comprising:

means for receiving transport channel configuration information for configuring at least one transport channel currently not mapping a point-to-multipoint service, wherein the at least one transport channel is capable of mapping at least one new point-to-multipoint service at the start or before the stop of the at least one new point-to-multipoint service;

means for determining whether to receive the at least one new point-to-multipoint service; and

means for reading configuration information for the at least one new point-to-multipoint service at the start of the at least one new point-to-multipoint service if it is determined that the at least one new point-to-multipoint service is to be received,

wherein the configuration information for the at least one new point-to-multipoint service is not read if it is determined that the at least one new point-to-multipoint service is not to be received.

11. A method for managing channel configuration information in a wireless communication system having a network and a mobile terminal that support a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), the method performed by the mobile terminal and comprising:

with respect to a current cell,

receiving, from the network via a MBMS point-to-multipoint Control Channel (MCCH), a MBMS Current Cell P-T-M RB information message containing a list of transport channels and configuration information for at least one transport channel on which no radio bearer is currently mapped, but is capable of mapping to at least one radio bearer, and

the configuration information relates to a point-to-multipoint radio bearer configuration used in the current cell in case one or more MBMS services are provided from the current cell using one or more point-to-multipoint radio bearers; and

with respect to a neighboring cell,

receiving, from the network via a MBMS point-to-multipoint Control Channel (MCCH), a MBMS Neighboring Cell P-T-M RB information message containing a list of transport channels and configuration information for at least one transport channel on which no radio bearer is currently mapped, but is capable of mapping to at least one radio bearer, and

the configuration information relates to a point-to-multipoint radio bearer configuration used in the neighboring cell in case one or more MBMS services are provided from the neighboring cell using one or more point-to-multipoint radio bearers.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of the MBMS Current Cell P-T-M RB information message and the MBMS Neighboring Cell P-T-M RB information message is received periodically from the network.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one transport channel on which no radio bearer is currently mapped shall have new MBMS services mapped thereto at the start of the new MBMS service.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration information for the at least one new MBMS service is not read, if it is determined that the at least one new MBMS service is not to be received.