Telecommunications frame structure accomodating differing formats
First Claim
1. A base station of a radio access network comprising:
- a transceiver configured for communicating a frame of information over an air interface with a wireless terminal participating in a connection with the base station;
a frame handler arranged to format at least a downlink portion of the frame in a manner whereby the frame can be perceived as a first format type frame if the wireless terminal is a first type of wireless terminal and perceived as an enhanced format type frame if the wireless terminal is a second type of wireless terminal, the frame handler being arranged to configure the frame as plural subframes, each subframe comprising a downlink burst followed by an uplink burst, the frame being configured to afford the second type of wireless terminal sufficient time to develop an acknowledgement for a message transmitted in a downlink burst of a frame, the acknowledgement being transmitted in a subframe which is within one frame length of the downlink burst of the message.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A radio access network (RAN) (20) comprise a base station (28) and a wireless terminal (30). The base station 28 comprises a transceiver (38) and a frame handler (40), the wireless terminal (30) comprises a transceiver (48) and a wireless terminal frame handler (50). The frame handlers (40, 50) handle a enhanced frame F having enhanced frame structure. At least a downlink portion of the frame is formatted and handled in a manner whereby the frame can be perceived as a first format type of frame if the wireless terminal is a first type of wireless terminal and perceived as an enhanced or second format type of frame if the wireless terminal is a second type of wireless terminal. The frame handler configures the frame as plural subframes, each subframe having a downlink burst followed by an uplink burst. The frame is preferably configured to afford the second type of wireless terminal sufficient time to develop an acknowledgement for a message transmitted in a downlink burst, the acknowledgement being sent to the base station in an uplink burst which is within one frame length of the message.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A base station of a radio access network comprising:
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a transceiver configured for communicating a frame of information over an air interface with a wireless terminal participating in a connection with the base station; a frame handler arranged to format at least a downlink portion of the frame in a manner whereby the frame can be perceived as a first format type frame if the wireless terminal is a first type of wireless terminal and perceived as an enhanced format type frame if the wireless terminal is a second type of wireless terminal, the frame handler being arranged to configure the frame as plural subframes, each subframe comprising a downlink burst followed by an uplink burst, the frame being configured to afford the second type of wireless terminal sufficient time to develop an acknowledgement for a message transmitted in a downlink burst of a frame, the acknowledgement being transmitted in a subframe which is within one frame length of the downlink burst of the message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 23)
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9. A wireless terminal which participates in a connection with a base station of a radio access network, the wireless terminal comprising:
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a transceiver configured for communicating a frame over an air interface with a base station; and
,a frame handler arranged to receive a downlink burst of the frame and to determine from the downlink burst that the frame comprises plural subframes, each subframe comprising a downlink burst followed by an uplink burst; an acknowledgement handler configured to develop an acknowledgement to the base station for a message transmitted in the downlink burst of the frame, the acknowledgement being transmitted in a subframe which is within one frame length of the downlink burst of the message. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 24)
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14. A method of operating a radio access network comprising a base station which communicates over a radio interface with plural types of wireless terminals using frames of information, the method comprising:
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formatting at least a downlink portion of the frames in a manner whereby the frames can be perceived as first format type frames by a first type of wireless terminal and perceived as enhanced format type frames by a second type of wireless terminal, the frames being formatted as plural subframes, each subframe comprising a downlink burst followed by an uplink burst; at the first type of wireless terminal, receiving a frame addressed to the first type of wireless terminal and processing the frame as if it were a first format type frame; at the second type of wireless terminal, receiving a frame addressed to the first type of wireless terminal and processing the frame as an enhanced format type frame; at the second type of wireless terminal, developing an acknowledgement to the base station for a message transmitted in a downlink burst of the frame, and transmitting the acknowledgement in a subframe which is within one frame length of the downlink burst of the message. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25)
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Specification