Interlace-based control channel balancing in a wireless communication network

• US 8,295,252 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2007
• Issued: 10/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Gorokhov, Alexei, Khandekar, Aamod
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nair, Sowmini
• Application Number:
  US11/750,215
• Publication Number:
  US 20080013485A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,986 Days
• Field of Search: 455/250.1, 370/329, 370/337, 370/342
• US Class Current: 370/337
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/281 taking into account user or data type priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/322 Power control of broadcast channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/343 taking into account loading or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/367 Power values between minimum and maximum limits, e.g. dynamic range
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load

Abstract

Systems and methodologies are described that provide interlace-based scheduling for control channels in a wireless communication system. One or more control channels for communication between a base station and a mobile terminal in the wireless communication system may be scheduled on one or more frame interlaces in the system based on one or more conditions of each frame interlace in the system. These conditions may include overhead balance between the frame interlaces, processing timeline optimization for the frame interlaces at the scheduling base station, and the desirability of discontinuous transmission (DTX) at a mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling control channels in a wireless communication system, comprising:

determining one or more of control channel loading and data channel loading for one or more frame interlaces, each frame interlace having a plurality of frames on a forward link and a reverse link;

determining power restrictions for one or more mobile terminals in the wireless communication system; and

scheduling one or more control channels for communication with a mobile terminal in the one or more mobile terminals on one or more frames of at least one frame interlace based at least in part on the determined power restrictions for the mobile terminal and one or more of the determined data channel loading for the frame interlaces and the determined control channel loading for the frame interlaces.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling one or more control channels includes scheduling a CDMA control channel.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the CDMA control channel corresponds to a CDMA control segment and the scheduling a CDMA control channel includes mapping the mobile terminal to a subsegment of the CDMA control segment.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining one or more of control channel loading and data channel loading includes determining control channel loading for each subsegment of the CDMA control segment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling one or more control channels includes scheduling an OFDMA control channel.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the OFDMA control channel corresponds to an OFDMA control segment and the scheduling an OFDMA control channel includes allocating a portion of the OFDMA control segment to the mobile terminal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling one or more control channels includes scheduling a CDMA control channel and an OFDMA control channel.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the scheduling one or more control channels includes scheduling the CDMA control channel and the OFDMA control channel on frames of one or more frame interlaces such that the mobile terminal does not transmit on both the CDMA control channel and the OFDMA control channel at a common frame.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling one or more control channels includes scheduling an acknowledgement channel.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the scheduling one or more control channels further includes scheduling an acknowledgement channel based at least in part on a Media Access Control Identifier (MAC-ID) for the mobile terminal.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving signaling from the mobile terminal at a frame in the reverse link using at least one control channel scheduled for communication.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving signaling from the mobile terminal includes:

receiving first signaling from the mobile terminal on a first control channel at a first block of the frame in the reverse link; and

receiving second signaling from the mobile terminal on a second control channel at a second block of the frame in the reverse link.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the signaling includes one or more of an acknowledgement, a negative acknowledgement, channel quality information, and a request.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling one or more control channels includes dynamically re-scheduling the one or more control channels for communication with a mobile terminal based at least in part on a change in the determined conditions for the frame interlaces.

15. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving at the mobile terminal an assignment for one or more control channels for communication with a base station on one or more frame interlaces; and

sending signaling to the base station using at least one assigned control channel.

16. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

a memory that stores data relating to one or more frame interlaces, each frame interlace having a plurality of frames on a forward link and a reverse link; and

a processor configured to determine at least one of loading conditions for the one or more frame interlaces and power conditions for one or more access terminals and to schedule a control channel for communication with an access terminal in the one or more access terminals on at least one frame in the one or more frame interlaces based on at least one of the determined loading conditions and the determined power conditions.

17. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to schedule at least one of a CDMA control channel, an OFDMA control channel, and an acknowledgement channel for communication with the access terminal on the reverse link.

18. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to schedule a CDMA control channel and an OFDMA control channel for communication with the access terminal on at least one frame in the one or more frame interlaces such that only one of the CDMA control channel and the OFDMA control channel may be used for communication on any of the scheduled frames.

19. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 16, wherein the memory further stores data relating to an identification code for the access terminal, and the processor is further configured to schedule the control channel based at least in part on the identification code for the access terminal.

20. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to schedule a control channel on one or more frame interlaces at least in part by accumulating a plurality of control channels on a frame interlace, thereby facilitating the use of discontinuous transmission at the access terminal.

21. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to schedule a control channel on one or more frame interlaces at least in part by minimizing a difference in loading conditions between the one or more frame interlaces or power conditions for the access terminal.

22. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 16, further comprising at least one access terminal, the at least one access terminal comprising:

a memory that stores data relating to an assignment for at least one control channel for communication with an access point on one or more frame interlaces; and

a processor configured to send control information to the access point on an assigned control channel.

23. An apparatus that facilitates the scheduling of control channels in a wireless communication system, comprising:

means for grouping frames on a reverse link into one or more frame interlaces;

means for determining loading on the one or more frame interlaces and power restrictions for a wireless terminal; and

means for scheduling one or more control channels for communication with the wireless terminal on at least one of the one or more frame interlaces based on at least one of the determined loading on the one or more frame interlaces and the determined power restrictions for the wireless terminal.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the means for grouping frames on the reverse link groups non-contiguous frames into the one or more frame interlaces.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein each of the one or more frame interlaces includes frames having a uniform distance from each other, the uniform distance corresponding to an interlace period.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the means for scheduling one or more control channels includes means for communicating the one or more scheduled control channels to the wireless terminal implicitly in a communication of data to the wireless terminal on a forward link.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the means for scheduling one or more control channels includes means for scheduling a control channel based at least in part on an identification code for the wireless terminal.

28. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the means for scheduling one or more control channels includes means for re-scheduling the one or more control channels based at least in part on an alteration in the determined loading on the one or more frame interlaces or power restrictions for the wireless terminal.

29. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for scheduling control channels in a wireless communication system, the instructions configured to cause an apparatus to perform operations comprising:

determining loading on one or more frame interlaces;

determining power conditions for a terminal;

assigning one or more control channels for communication with the terminal on one or more frames of at least one frame interlace based at least in part on the determined loading and power conditions; and

receiving control information from the terminal on the one or more assigned control channels.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the one or more control channels include at least one of a CDMA control channel, an OFDMA control channel, and an acknowledgement channel.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the instructions for receiving control information includes instructions for receiving first control information on a CDMA control channel on a first frame of an assigned frame interlace and instructions for receiving second control information on an OFDMA control channel on a second frame of the assigned frame interlace.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, the instructions further comprising:

receiving an assignment for one or more control channels; and

transmitting control information on the one or more control channels.

33. A processor that executes computer-executable instructions for assigning control channels in a wireless communication system, the instructions comprising:

scheduling one or more control channels for communication with a mobile terminal on one or more frame interlaces selected from a plurality of frame interlaces based at least in part on one or more of loading on the plurality of frame interlaces and power requirements for the mobile terminal; and

receiving signaling from the mobile terminal on the one or more scheduled control channels.

34. The processor of claim 33, wherein the loading on the plurality of frame interlaces include at least one of data channel loading on the plurality of frame interlaces and control channel loading on the plurality of frame interlaces.