Method and apparatus for reporting state information

• US 8,437,717 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2009
• Issued: 05/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Chen, Jian Feng, Li, Jun, Shi, Yun Tao, Liao, Ning
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hai V
• Application Number:
  US12/456,321
• Publication Number:
  US 20090325526A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,421 Days
• Field of Search: 455/226.1
• US Class Current: 455/226.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0029 Reduction of the amount of signalling, e.g. retention of useful signalling or differential signalling power control H04W52/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services

Abstract

A method for reporting state information is provided. The receiver device receives a service, which is encoded in at least two layers over a communication channel, through a subset of said at least two layers; it measures a channel quality parameter; and in response to the channel quality parameter reaching a predetermined threshold value, it receives the service through a modified subset of the at least two layers as a function of the measured channel quality parameter and transmitting state information of the receiver device. Thus, the signal overhead is reduced.

Claims

1. A method for reporting state information of a receiver device in a multicast or broadcast network, wherein a service is encoded into at least two layers by using layered coding technique and each layer corresponds to a predetermined threshold value indicating the eligibility to receive the layer in terms of channel quality, wherein predetermined threshold value of a higher layer among the at least two layers corresponds to a larger value, at the side of the receiver device,

deriving predetermined threshold values for all of the at least two layers;

Receiving a service through a subset of said at least two layers;

Measuring a channel quality parameter;

if the channel quality parameter increases to reach one of the predetermined threshold values, receiving said service through a modified subset of said at least two layers additionally including a higher layer that corresponds to the one of the predetermined threshold values but does not belong to the subset of said at least two layers, and if the channel quality parameter drops below another one of the predetermined threshold values, receiving said service through another modified subset of said at least two layers excluding a layer that corresponds to the another one of the predetermined threshold values; and

transmitting state information of the receiver device indicating a change to said modified subset of said at least two layers.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, said at least two layers comprising a base layer containing minimum information for intelligibility and at least one enhancement layer containing additional information that incrementally improves the overall quality of said service.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, the decode of an enhancement layer is dependent on said base layer and its preceding enhancement layer, wherein, said subset of said at least two layers is chosen in a way that any layer in said subset has its necessary preceding layer in said subset.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein, at least two other receiver devices are receiving services, characterized by comprising the step, for each of said at least two other receiver devices, in response to its channel quality parameter reaching said predetermined threshold value, transmitting its state information;

wherein, adding an enhancement layer or releasing an enhancement layer for a service based on all state information sent by all receiver devices.

5. A receiver device for reporting state information while receiving a service that is encoded into at least two layers by using layered coding technique in a multicast or broadcast network, and each layer corresponds to a predetermined threshold value indicating the eligibility to receive the layer in terms of channel quality, wherein predetermined threshold value of a higher layer among the at least two layers corresponds to a larger value, wherein, it comprises:

a reception condition providing module configured to providing predetermined threshold values for all of the at least two layers;

a channel estimation module configured to measure the channel quality parameter of downlink channel, over which a service encoded in at least two layers is received through a subset of said at least two layers; and

a service management module configured to transmit state information of said receiver device indicating a change to a modified subset of said at least two layers when changing to receive said service through said modified subset of said at least two layers, wherein if the channel quality parameter increases to reach one of the predetermined threshold values, receiving said service through a modified subset of said at least two layers additionally including a higher layer that corresponds to the one of the predetermined threshold values but does not belong to the subset of said at least two layers, and if the channel quality parameter drops below another one of the predetermined threshold values, receiving said service through another modified subset of said at least two layers excluding a layer that corresponds to the another one of the predetermined threshold values.

6. A device for resource allocation in a multicast or broadcast network, wherein, the network comprises at least two services and each service is encoded into at least two layers by using layered coding technique over a communication channel, and each layer corresponds to a predetermined threshold value indicating the eligibility to receive the layer in terms of channel quality, wherein predetermined threshold value of a higher layer among the at least two layers corresponds to a larger value, the device comprises:

a first module configured to receive state information from at least one receiver device, each receiver device is receiving a service through a subset of said at least two layers for the service, wherein the state information indicating change of subset of said at least two layers is transmitted by the receiver device when changing to receive said service through a modified subset of said at least two layers for the service, wherein if the channel quality parameter increases to reach one of the predetermined threshold values, receiving said service through a modified subset of said at least two layers additionally including a higher layer that corresponds to the one of the predetermined threshold values but does not belong to the subset of said at least two layers, and if the channel quality parameter drops below another one of the predetermined threshold values, receiving said service through another modified subset of said at least two layers excluding a layer that corresponds to the another one of the predetermined threshold values; and

a second module configured to adjust bandwidth resource allocation of all services based on at least one receiver device'"'"'s state information.