Method and apparatus for wireless multi-carrier communications

• US 8,169,953 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2006
• Issued: 05/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Damnjanovic, Aleksandar, Casaccia, Lorenzo
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): FOUD, HICHAM B
• Application Number:
  US11/435,573
• Publication Number:
  US 20060280142A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,177 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2615 using hybrid frequency-time division multiple access [FDMA-TDMA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2621 using frequency division multiple access [FDMA] H04B7/2615 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/264 for data rate control
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2659 for data rate control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/18 for allowing seamless reselection, e.g. soft reselection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management

Abstract

A Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network supports multi-carrier operation on the downlink and/or uplink for a mobile station. The mobile station receives an assignment of multiple carriers for a first link in the GSM network, receives an assignment of at least one carrier for a second link in the GSM network, and exchanges data with the GSM network via the multiple carriers for the first link and the at least one carrier for the second link. The first link may be the downlink and the second link may be the uplink, or vice versa. The mobile station may receive data on multiple carriers at the same time for multi-carrier operation on the downlink. The mobile station may transmit data on multiple carriers at the same time for multi-carrier operation on the uplink.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor to receive at a mobile station an assignment of multiple carriers for use exclusively for a first link in a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, to receive at the mobile station an assignment of at least one carrier for use exclusively for a second link in the GSM network, the at least one carrier for the second link being different from the multiple carriers for the first link, and to exchange data by the mobile station with the GSM network via the multiple carriers for the first link and the at least one carrier for the second link,

wherein the first link is a downlink and the at least one processor is configured to detect loss of a downlink anchor carrier, send to the GSM network an indication that the downlink anchor carrier is lost, and receive signaling from the GSM network via another one of the multiple carriers for the downlink that is designated as a new downlink anchor carrier; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second link is an uplink in the GSM network.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first link is an uplink and the second link is a downlink in the GSM network.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor receives multiple packet data blocks on the multiple carriers for the downlink and receives multiple bursts on one carrier for each of the packet data blocks.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor receives multiple packet data blocks on the multiple carriers for the downlink and receives multiple bursts on the multiple carriers in one frame for each of the packet data blocks.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor receives multiple packet data blocks on the multiple carriers for the downlink and receives multiple bursts in multiple frames on the multiple carriers for each of the packet data blocks.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor receives multiple flows of data on the multiple carriers for the downlink, and wherein each flow is sent on one carrier with a quality of service (QoS) selected for the flow.

8. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor sends data on only a subset of the multiple carriers for the uplink in a given transmission interval.

9. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor receives timing advance for the at least one carrier for the uplink from the downlink anchor carrier.

10. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor receives mobile-specific signaling for the mobile station from the downlink anchor carrier.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the mobile-specific signaling comprises acknowledgements for packets sent on the uplink, or resource assignment messages, or resource re-assignment messages, or a combination thereof.

12. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor receives a packet timing advance control channel (PTCCH) and a packet associated control channel (PACCH) on the downlink anchor carrier.

13. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein one of the at least one carrier for the uplink is designated as an uplink anchor carrier used to send signaling from the mobile station to the GSM network.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor exchanges voice data and packet data with the GSM network for a voice plus packet data call.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor exchanges voice data on one carrier for the first link and one carrier for the second link and moves the voice data to other carriers for the first and second links, if necessary, to achieve reliable exchange of the voice data.

16. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor exchanges voice data with the GSM network on the downlink anchor carrier and exchanges packet data with the GSM network on remaining downlink carriers.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor performs call setup via the downlink and uplink anchor carriers and sets up remaining carriers for the downlink and uplink via the downlink and uplink anchor carriers.

18. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor obtains measurements for each of the multiple carriers for the downlink and sends measurement reports for the multiple carriers to the GSM network.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the multiple carriers for the downlink are ranked, and wherein a highest ranking carrier is designated as the new downlink anchor carrier.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor performs frequency hopping for data sent on the multiple carriers for the first link based on a single frequency hopping sequence.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor performs frequency hopping for data sent on the multiple carriers for the first link based on multiple frequency hopping sequences having variable distance across frequency.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a first receiver to receive a first signal on a first set of at least one carrier from a first base station; and

a second receiver to receive a second signal on a second set of at least one carrier from a second base station.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the first and second receivers receive the first and second signals from the first and second base stations, respectively, during handover or cell reselection.

24. A mobile station integrated with the apparatus of claim 1.

25. A method, comprising:

receiving at a mobile station an assignment of multiple carriers for use exclusively for a downlink in a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network;

receiving at the mobile station an assignment of at least one carrier for use exclusively for an uplink in the GSM network, the at least one carrier for the uplink being different from the multiple carriers for the downlink;

exchanging data by the mobile station with the GSM network via the multiple carriers for the downlink and the at least one carrier for the uplink,

wherein one of the multiple carriers for the downlink is designated as a downlink anchor carrier used to send signaling from the GSM network to a mobile station;

detecting loss of the downlink anchor carrier; and

sending to the GSM network an indication that the downlink anchor carrier is lost.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving from the downlink anchor carrier timing advance for the at least one carrier for the uplink.

27. The method of claim 25,

wherein another one of the multiple carriers for the downlink is designated as a new downlink anchor carrier.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein one of the at least one carrier for the uplink is designated as an uplink anchor carrier used to send signaling from the mobile station to the GSM network, the method further comprising:

performing call setup via the downlink and uplink anchor carriers; and

setting up remaining carriers for the downlink and uplink via the downlink and uplink anchor carriers.

29. A mobile station configured to perform the method of claim 25.

30. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving at a mobile station an assignment of multiple carriers for use exclusively for a downlink in a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network;

means for receiving at the mobile station an assignment of at least one carrier for use exclusively for an uplink in the GSM network, the at least one carrier for the uplink being different from the multiple carriers for the downlink; and

means for exchanging data by the mobile station with the GSM network via the multiple carriers for the downlink and the at least one carrier for the uplink,

wherein one of the multiple carriers for the downlink is designated as a downlink anchor carrier used to send signaling from the GSM network to a mobile station;

means for detecting loss of the downlink anchor carrier; and

means for sending to the GSM network an indication that the downlink anchor carrier is lost.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising:

means for receiving from the downlink anchor carrier timing advance for the at least one carrier for the uplink.

32. The apparatus of claim 30,

wherein another one of the multiple carriers for the downlink is designated as a new downlink anchor carrier.

33. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein one of the at least one carrier for the uplink is designated as an uplink anchor carrier used to send signaling from the mobile station to the GSM network, the apparatus further comprising:

means for performing call setup via the downlink and uplink anchor carriers; and

means for setting up remaining carriers for the downlink and uplink via the downlink and uplink anchor carriers.

34. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor to assign multiple carriers for use exclusively for a first link to a mobile station in a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, to assign at least one carrier for use exclusively for a second link to the mobile station, the at least one carrier for the second link being different from the multiple carriers for the first link, and to exchange data with the mobile station via the multiple carriers for the first link and the at least one carrier for the second link,

wherein the first link is a downlink and one of the multiple carriers for the downlink is designated as a downlink anchor carrier used to send signaling from the GSM network to the mobile station, and the at least one processor is configured to receive from the mobile station an indication of loss of the downlink anchor carrier and designate another one of the multiple carriers for the downlink as a new downlink anchor carrier; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the second link is an uplink.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the at least one processor sends timing advance for the at least one carrier for the uplink on the downlink anchor carrier to the mobile station.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein one of the at least one carrier for the uplink is designated as an uplink anchor carrier used to send signaling from the mobile station to the GSM network, and wherein the at least one processor performs call setup with the mobile station via the downlink and uplink anchor carriers.

38. A base station integrated with the apparatus of claim 34.

39. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive at a mobile station an assignment of multiple carriers for use exclusively for a downlink in a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network,

code for causing the at least one computer to receive at the mobile station an assignment of at least one carrier for use exclusively for an uplink in the GSM network, the at least one carrier for the uplink being different from the multiple carriers for the downlink,

code for causing the at least one computer to exchange data by the mobile station with the GSM network via the multiple carriers for the downlink and the at least one carrier for the uplink;

code for detecting loss of a downlink anchor carrier;

code for sending to the GSM network an indication that the downlink anchor carrier is lost; and

code for receiving signaling from the GSM network via another one of the multiple carriers for the downlink that is designated as a new downlink anchor carrier.

40. A mobile station integrated with the computer program product of claim 39.