Method of improving throughput in a system including persistent assignments

• US 8,599,799 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2007
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Gorokhov, Alexei
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Jae Y
• Application Number:
  US11/846,984
• Publication Number:
  US 20070291691A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,288 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/337
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/04 Scheduled access hybrid access H04W74/02

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed that provide conditional assignments to access terminals over resources assigned to other access terminals. A plurality of resources having persistent assignments to the other access terminals are processed to determine a gap in transmissions. The resources that can be conditionally utilized by the access terminals are determined and a signal indicative of such conditionally assigned resources is transmitted. The access terminals receive the signal and accordingly utilize the conditionally assigned resources.

Claims

1. A method of assigning resources in a multiple access communication system, comprising:

determining which of a plurality of resources, selected from a generated map of unutilized conditionally assigned resources, not being currently utilized by a user and subject to conditional assignments are to be utilized by at least one conditional user, wherein the user is assigned a persistent assignment of the plurality of resources, wherein the plurality of resources have persistent assignments spanning multiple communications to one or more access terminals and are subject to conditional assignments to the at least one conditional user based on a determination of a gap in transmission of the one or more access terminals;

generating a signal indicative of one or more conditional resources from the plurality of resources that are to be utilized by the at least one conditional user; and

transmitting the signal to at least the conditional user,

wherein the one or more conditional resources are one or more traffic channels and one or more ACK (acknowledgement) resources assigned to the one or more traffic channels signaled to the at least one conditional user, wherein the traffic channels are idle during the persistent assignment,

wherein at least one of the traffic channels is a larger traffic channel corresponding to a node above a lowest tier of a channel tree and the ACK resources comprise at least a subset of ACK resources assigned to base traffic channels under the larger traffic channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the signal comprises transmitting the signal as part of a control channel transmission.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the signal comprises generating a map such that each location of the map corresponds to one of the resources subject to the conditional assignments that are to be utilized by the at least one conditional user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the map is a bit-map.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein number of positions on the map correspond to number of conditional users.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the signal comprises generating the signal to include only those conditional users to whom a no-information signal is not transmitted.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of resources has the persistent assignment spanning multiple communications to one or more access terminals.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a gain of each of the at least one conditional user and transmitting a no-information signal to the at least one conditional user based upon the gain.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the gain comprises determining the gain based upon pilots received from the at least one conditional user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the gain comprises determining the gain based upon channel information received from the at least one conditional user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing communications received over the one or more conditionally assigned resources from the at least one conditional user.

12. An apparatus for assigning resources in a multiple access communication systems comprising:

a memory;

a processor that generates a signal indicative of one or more conditional resources selected from a generated map of a plurality of resources not being currently utilized by a user and subject to a conditional assignment that are to be utilized by at least one conditional user, wherein the user is assigned a persistent assignment of the plurality of resources, wherein the plurality of resources have persistent assignments spanning multiple communications to one or more access terminals and are subject to conditional assignments to the at least one conditional user based on a determination of a gap in transmission of the one or more access terminals; and

a transmitter that transmits the signal,

wherein the one or more conditional resources are one or more traffic channels and one or more ACK (acknowledgement) resources assigned to the one or more traffic channels signaled to the at least one conditional user, wherein the traffic channels are idle during the persistent assignment,

wherein at least one of the traffic channels is a larger traffic channel corresponding to a node above a lowest tier of a channel tree and the ACK resources comprise at least a subset of ACK resources assigned to base traffic channels under the larger traffic channel.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor generates a map such that at least one location of the map corresponds to at least one of the conditional resources and number of positions on the map correspond to one or more conditional users.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, the generated signal comprises only those of one or more conditional users to whom a no-information signal has not been transmitted.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the map is a bit map.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor determines an approximate location of the at least one conditional user.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, the transmitter transmits the generated signal to the at least one conditional user based upon the approximate location.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor determines a channel quality of the at least one conditional user and instructs selectively transmitting the generated signal to the at least one conditional user based upon the channel quality.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, the ACK resources comprise at least one of a spreading code or a set of clusters employed by the at least one conditional user to send an ACK message.

20. The apparatus of claim 12, the traffic channels are base traffic channels in lowest tier of a channel tree such that each of the base traffic channels is mapped to one subcarrier set.

21. The apparatus of claim 12, at least one of the traffic channels is a larger traffic channel corresponding to a node above a lowest tier of a channel tree and the ACK resources comprise at least all ACK resources assigned to all base traffic channels under the larger traffic channel.

22. The apparatus of claim 12, at least one of the traffic channels is a larger traffic channel corresponding to a node above a lowest tier of a channel tree and the one or more ACK resources utilized to send an ACK comprise an ACK resource assigned to a base traffic channel associated with a lowest channel ID among all channel IDs specified by the generated signal corresponding to a given interlace.

23. A method of assigning resources in a multiple access communication system, comprising:

receiving a signal indicative of one or more conditionally assigned resources not being currently utilized by a user, selected from a generated map of unutilized conditionally assigned resources, wherein the user is assigned a persistent assignment of the one or more conditionally assigned resources; and

determining which of the conditionally assigned resources are to be utilized based on the received signal, wherein the plurality of resources have persistent assignments spanning multiple communications to one or more access terminals and are subject to conditional assignments to the at least one conditional user based on a determination of a gap in transmission of the one or more access terminals,

wherein the one or more conditionally assigned resources are one or more traffic channels and one or more ACK (acknowledgement) resources assigned to the one or more traffic channels signaled to the at least one conditional user, wherein the traffic channels are idle during the persistent assignment,

wherein at least one of the traffic channels is a larger traffic channel corresponding to a node above a lowest tier of a channel tree and the ACK resources comprise at least a subset of ACK resources assigned to base traffic channels under the larger traffic channel.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the received signal is a bit-map and the one or more conditionally assigned resources to be utilized are determined based on bits within the bit-map.

25. The method of claim 24, the signal indicates an access terminal conditionally assigned to the resources based on one or more positions on the map which are set in a predetermined pattern.

26. The method of claim 25, the signal indicates the access terminal on the bit-map only if the access terminal has not received a no-information signal.

27. The method of claim 25, the signal is received on an acknowledgement or signaling channel common to a group of access terminals.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising transmitting signals over the one or more conditionally assigned resources.

29. An apparatus for assigning resources within a multiple access communication system comprising:

means for generating a signal indicative of one or more conditional resources identified from a plurality of resources not being currently utilized by a user and for utilization by at least one conditional user, selected from a generated map of unutilized conditionally assigned resources, wherein the user is assigned a persistent assignment of the plurality of resources; and

means for transmitting the signal to at least the conditional user, wherein the plurality of resources have persistent assignments spanning multiple communications to one or more access terminals and are subject to conditional assignments to the at least one conditional user based on a determination of a gap in transmission of the one or more access terminals,

wherein the one or more conditional resources are one or more traffic channels and one or more ACK (acknowledgement) resources assigned to the one or more traffic channels signaled to the at least one conditional user, wherein the traffic channels are idle during the persistent assignment,

wherein at least one of the traffic channels is a larger traffic channel corresponding to a node above a lowest tier of a channel tree and the ACK resources comprise at least a subset of ACK resources assigned to base traffic channels under the larger traffic channel.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the means for generating the signal generates a map such that at least one location of the map corresponds to at least one of the one or more conditional resources and number of positions on the map corresponds to one or more conditional users.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, the generated signal comprises only those of the one or more conditional users to whom a no-information signal has not been transmitted.

32. An apparatus for assigning resources in a multiple access communication system, comprising:

means for receiving a signal indicative of one or more conditionally assigned resources not being currently utilized by a user, selected from a generated map of unutilized conditionally assigned resources, wherein the user is assigned a persistent assignment of the one or more conditionally assigned resources; and

means for determining which of the conditionally assigned resources are to be utilized based on the received signal, wherein the plurality of resources have persistent assignments spanning multiple communications to one or more access terminals and are subject to conditional assignments to the at least one conditional user based on a determination of a gap in transmission of the one or more access terminals,

wherein the one or more conditionally assigned resources are one or more traffic channels and one or more ACK (acknowledgement) resources assigned to the one or more traffic channels signaled to the at least one conditional user, wherein the traffic channels are idle during the persistent assignment,

wherein at least one of the traffic channels is a larger traffic channel corresponding to a node above a lowest tier of a channel tree and the ACK resources comprise at least a subset of ACK resources assigned to base traffic channels under the larger traffic channel.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, the received signal is a bit-map and the conditionally assigned resources to be utilized are determined based on bits within the bit-map.

34. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for carrying out the following acts:

determining which of a plurality of resources, selected from a generated map of unutilized conditionally assigned resources, is not being currently utilized by a user and subject to conditional assignments are to be utilized by at least one conditional user, wherein the user is assigned a persistent assignment of the plurality of resources, wherein the plurality of resources have persistent assignments spanning multiple communications to one or more access terminals and are subject to conditional assignments to the at least one conditional user based on a determination of a gap in transmission of the one or more access terminals;

generating a signal indicative of one or more conditional resources from the plurality of resources that are to be utilized by the at least one conditional user; and

transmitting the signal to at least the conditional user,

wherein the one or more conditional resources are one or more traffic channels and one or more ACK (acknowledgement) resources assigned to the one or more traffic channels signaled to the at least one conditional user, wherein the traffic channels are idle during the persistent assignment,

wherein at least one of the traffic channels is a larger traffic channel corresponding to a node above a lowest tier of a channel tree and the ACK resources comprise at least a subset of ACK resources assigned to base traffic channels under the larger traffic channel.

35. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 34, having stored thereon computer executable instructions for generating a map for the signal, such that each location of the map corresponds to one of the resources subject to the conditional assignments that are to be utilized by the at least one conditional user.

36. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 34, the plurality of resources subjected to conditional assignments are a plurality of traffic channels with a plurality of ACK resources associated therewith.

37. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 36, further comprising instructions to send multiple ACK messages if at least one of the traffic channels is a larger traffic channel having at least two of the plurality of ACK resources associated therewith.

38. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 36, further comprising instructions to use a larger traffic channel with multiple base traffic channels for a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transmission.

39. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for carrying out the following acts:

receiving a signal indicative of one or more conditionally assigned residual resources, selected from a generated map of unutilized conditionally assigned resources, that is currently not being utilized by a user, wherein the user is assigned a persistent assignment of the one or more conditionally assigned residual resources, wherein the plurality of resources have persistent assignments spanning multiple communications to one or more access terminals and are subject to conditional assignments to the at least one conditional user based on a determination of a gap in transmission of the one or more access terminals; and

determining which of the conditionally assigned resources are to be utilized based on the received signal,

wherein the one or more conditionally assigned residual resources are one or more traffic channels and one or more ACK (acknowledgement) resources assigned to the one or more traffic channels signaled to the at least one conditional user, wherein the traffic channels are idle during the persistent assignment,

wherein at least one of the traffic channels is a larger traffic channel corresponding to a node above a lowest tier of a channel tree and the ACK resources comprise at least a subset of ACK resources assigned to base traffic channels under the larger traffic channel.

40. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein the received signal is a bit-map and the residual resources to be utilized are determined based on bits within the bit-map.

41. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 40, further comprising instructions for setting one or more positions on the map in a predetermined pattern to indicate an access terminal conditionally assigned to the residual resources.

42. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 41, the residual resources comprise resources that are temporarily inactive during the persistent assignment to a first access terminal and are conditionally assigned to other users/access terminals during idle time.

43. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 41, further comprising instructions to transmit an ACK on an ACK resource associated with a lowest channel ID among all channel IDs indicated by the map corresponding to a given interlace.

44. An apparatus for assigning resources in a multiple access communication systems comprising:

a memory;

a receiver that receives a signal indicative of one or more conditionally assigned resources not being currently utilized by a user, selected from a generated map of unutilized conditionally assigned resources, wherein the user is assigned a persistent assignment of the one or more conditionally assigned resources; and

a processor that determines which of the conditionally assigned resources are to be utilized based on the received signal, wherein the plurality of resources have persistent assignments spanning multiple communications to one or more access terminals and are subject to conditional assignments to the at least one conditional user based on a determination of a gap in transmission of the one or more access terminals,

wherein the one or more conditionally assigned resources are one or more traffic channels and one or more ACK (acknowledgement) resources assigned to the one or more traffic channels signaled to the at least one conditional user, wherein the traffic channels are idle during the persistent assignment,

wherein at least one of the traffic channels is a larger traffic channel corresponding to a node above a lowest tier of a channel tree and the ACK resources comprise at least a subset of ACK resources assigned to base traffic channels under the larger traffic channel.