Method and apparatus for signaling beacons in a communication system
First Claim
1. A method of broadcasting beacon signals in a frequency division multiplexing communication system, the method comprising:
- identifying a plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones in a single contiguous tone block for communicating beacon signals in the communication system, said plurality of disjoint subsets of available tones including a first beacon subset, a second beacon subset, and a third beacon subset within said contiguous tone block;
wherein tones in said first, second and third beacon subsets are interspersed in said tone block such that at least two tones of the first beacon subset have at least one tone of a different one of the plurality of disjoint beacon subsets between them;
selecting, from the first beacon subset, as a function of cell information and sector information, a first tone for use as a first beacon tone of a first indexed beacon slot, said first indexed beacon slot being part of a timing structure including a plurality of indexed beacon slots;
generating a first beacon signal; and
transmitting the generated first beacon signal on the first beacon tone in the first indexed beacon slot;
wherein none of the tones in said plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones are immediately adjacent another tone in said plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones; and
wherein tones in the first subset have a tone spacing of at least nine tones.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for improved beacon signaling in a wireless communication system are described. Information is encoded in the tone position of the beacon tone. The information encoded may include sector type, sector index and slope index, as well as some time index. The information is coded in the tone position so that any few of several beacons can be decoded in order to decode the information. The methods and apparatus described in the invention improve the robustness against frequency selective fading and do not require wireless terminals to establish synchronization for reliable base station detection.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method of broadcasting beacon signals in a frequency division multiplexing communication system, the method comprising:
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identifying a plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones in a single contiguous tone block for communicating beacon signals in the communication system, said plurality of disjoint subsets of available tones including a first beacon subset, a second beacon subset, and a third beacon subset within said contiguous tone block; wherein tones in said first, second and third beacon subsets are interspersed in said tone block such that at least two tones of the first beacon subset have at least one tone of a different one of the plurality of disjoint beacon subsets between them; selecting, from the first beacon subset, as a function of cell information and sector information, a first tone for use as a first beacon tone of a first indexed beacon slot, said first indexed beacon slot being part of a timing structure including a plurality of indexed beacon slots; generating a first beacon signal; and transmitting the generated first beacon signal on the first beacon tone in the first indexed beacon slot; wherein none of the tones in said plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones are immediately adjacent another tone in said plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones; and wherein tones in the first subset have a tone spacing of at least nine tones. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 30, 34)
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9. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying instructions for controlling a communications device to broadcast beacon signals in a frequency division multiplexing communication system, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising:
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instructions for controlling said device to identify a plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones in a single contiguous tone block for communicating beacon signals in the communication system, said plurality of disjoint subsets of available tones including a first beacon subset, a second beacon subset, and a third beacon subset within said contiguous tone block; wherein tones in said first, second and third beacon subsets are interspersed in said tone block such that at least two tones of the first beacon subset have at least one tone of a different one of the plurality of disjoint beacon subsets between them; instructions for controlling said device to select, from the first beacon subset, as a function of cell information and sector information, a first tone for use as a first beacon tone of a first indexed beacon slot, said first indexed beacon slot being part of a timing structure including a plurality of indexed beacon slots; instructions for controlling said device to generate a first beacon signal; and instructions for controlling said device to transmit the generated first beacon signal, on the first beacon tone in the first indexed beacon slot; wherein none of the tones in said plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones are immediately adjacent another tone in said plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones; and wherein tones in the first subset have a tone spacing of at least nine tones. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 31, 35)
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16. A wireless communication device for broadcasting beacon signals in a frequency division multiplexing communication system, the device comprising:
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means for identifying a plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones in a single contiguous tone block for communicating beacon signals in the communication system, said plurality of disjoint subsets of available tones including a first beacon subset, a second beacon subset, and a third beacon subset within said contiguous tone block; wherein tones in said first, second and third beacon subsets are interspersed in said tone block such that at least two tones of the first beacon subset have at least one tone of a different one of the plurality of disjoint beacon subsets between them; means for selecting, from the first beacon subset, as a function of cell information and sector information, a first tone for use as a first beacon tone of a first indexed beacon slot, said first indexed beacon slot being part of a timing structure including a plurality of indexed beacon slots; means for generating a first beacon signal; and means for transmitting the generated first beacon signal, on the first beacon tone in the first indexed beacon slot; wherein none of the tones in said plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones are immediately adjacent another tone in said plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones; and wherein tones in the first subset have a tone spacing of at least nine tones. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 32, 36)
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23. A wireless communication device for broadcasting beacon signals in a frequency division multiplexing communication system, the wireless communication device comprising:
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a processor configured to perform a method, the method comprising; identifying a plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones in a single contiguous tone block for communicating beacon signals in the communication system, said plurality of disjoint subsets of available tones including a first beacon subset, a second beacon subset, and a third beacon subset within said contiguous tone block wherein tones in said first, second and third beacon subsets are interspersed in said tone block such that at least two tones of the first beacon subset have at least one tone of a different one of the plurality of disjoint beacon subsets between them; selecting, from the first beacon subset, as a function of cell information and sector information, a first tone for use as a first beacon tone of a first indexed beacon slot, said first indexed beacon slot being part of a timing structure including a plurality of indexed beacon slots; and generating a first beacon signal; and a transmitter connected to the processor and configured to transmit the generated first beacon signal, on the first beacon tone in the first indexed beacon slot; wherein none of the tones in said plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones are immediately adjacent another tone in said plurality of disjoint beacon subsets of available tones; and wherein tones in the first subset have a tone spacing of at least nine tones. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 33, 37)
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Specification