Methods and apparatus for communicating information

• US 8,902,800 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2009
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Laroia, Rajiv, Li, Junyi, Park, Vincent D., Wang, Ying, Jovicic, Aleksandar
• Primary Examiner(s): Taha, Shaq
• Assistant Examiner(s): Acolatse, Kodzovi
• Application Number:
  US12/427,883
• Publication Number:
  US 20100272029A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,050 Days
• Field of Search: 370/311, 370/322, 370/329, 455/574
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1268 of uplink data flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for efficiently communicating small amounts of information relatively frequently in a wireless communications system are described. An access point'"'"'s uplink timing frequency structure includes a set of dedicated uplink communications resources, e.g., expression advertisement interval air link resources, which may be in addition to regular traffic channel resources. The set of dedicated uplink communications resources comprises a small fraction of the total uplink communications resources. An individual one of the set of dedicated uplink communications resources can carry a small amount of information bits. An expression advertisement interval occurs relatively frequently. A wireless communications device, registered with the access point, is allocated one of the set of dedicated uplink resources. The wireless communications device can transmit information using its allocated resource in both a sleep state and an active state.

Claims

1. A method of operating an access point, the method comprising:

receiving information for broadcast to wireless communications devices from a first wireless communications device in an uplink communications resource while said first wireless communications device is operating in a sleep state with respect to the access point, said uplink communications resource being dedicated to the first wireless communications device, said uplink communications resource being an air link resource for which there is a corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource dedicated to said first wireless communications device;

processing the received information; and

transmitting the received information for broadcast to wireless communications devices in said corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource,

wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval and includes one OFDM tone for a predetermined fixed number of OFDM symbol transmission time intervals,

wherein said dedicated broadcast downlink resource is a downlink communications resource in a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression broadcast interval corresponding to said expression advertisement interval, and wherein the received information for broadcast to mobile wireless entities includes a device identifier identifying the first wireless communications device.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein said uplink communications resource corresponds to an expression advertisement resource identifier obtained by the first wireless communications device when registering with said access point.

3. The method of claim 1,

wherein said expression advertisement interval recurs in accordance with a predetermined schedule.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selectively forwarding at least some of the information received from the first wireless communications device in the first uplink communications resource.

5. An access point comprising:

means for receiving information for broadcast to wireless communications devices from a first wireless communications device in an uplink communications resource while said first wireless communications device is operating in a sleep state with respect to the access point, said uplink communications resource being dedicated to the first wireless communications device, said uplink communications resource being an air link resource for which there is a corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource dedicated to said first wireless communications device;

means for processing the received information; and

means for transmitting the received information for broadcast to wireless communications devices in said corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource,

wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval and includes one OFDM tone for a predetermined fixed number of OFDM symbol transmission time intervals,

wherein said dedicated broadcast downlink resource is a downlink communications resource in a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression broadcast interval corresponding to said expression advertisement interval, and wherein the received information for broadcast to mobile wireless entities includes a device identifier identifying the first wireless communications device.

6. The access point of claim 5,

wherein said uplink communications resource corresponds to an expression advertisement resource identifier obtained by the first wireless communications device when registering with said access point.

7. The access point of claim 5,

wherein said expression advertisement interval recurs in accordance with a predetermined schedule.

8. A computer program product for use in an access point, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive information for broadcast to wireless communications devices from a wireless communications device in a first uplink communications resource while said first wireless communications device is operating in a sleep state with respect to the access point, said uplink communications resource being dedicated to the first wireless communications device, said uplink communications resource being an air link resource for which there is a corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource dedicated to said first wireless communications device;

code for causing said at least one computer to process the received information; and

code for causing said at least one computer to transmit the received information for broadcast to wireless communications devices in said dedicated broadcast downlink resource,

wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval and includes one OFDM tone for a predetermined fixed number of OFDM symbol transmission time intervals,

wherein said dedicated broadcast downlink resource is a downlink communications resource in a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression broadcast interval corresponding to said expression advertisement interval, and wherein the received information for broadcast to mobile wireless entities includes a device identifier identifying the first wireless communications device.

9. An access point comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

receive information for broadcast to wireless communications devices from a first wireless communications device in a second uplink communications resource while said first wireless communications device is operating in a sleep state with respect to the access point, said second uplink communications resource being dedicated to the first wireless communications device, said uplink communications resource being an air link resource for which there is a corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource dedicated to said first wireless communications device;

process the received information; and

transmit the received information for broadcast to mobile wireless entities in said corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource; and

memory coupled to said at least one processor,

wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval and includes one OFDM tone for a predetermined fixed number of OFDM symbol transmission time intervals,

wherein said dedicated broadcast downlink resource is a downlink communications resource in a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression broadcast interval corresponding to said expression advertisement interval, and wherein the received information for broadcast to mobile wireless entities includes a device identifier identifying the first wireless communications device.

10. The access point of claim 9, wherein said uplink communications resource corresponds to an expression advertisement resource identifier obtained by the first wireless communications device when registering with said access point.

11. A method of operating a first wireless communications device, the method comprising:

generating a first set of information signals to be communicated to an access point for broadcast to wireless communications devices; and

transmitting the first set of information signals to the access point in a same first uplink communications resource for which there is a corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource dedicated to said first wireless communications device which occurs according to a predetermined schedule; and

monitoring for broadcast signals corresponding to wireless terminals of interest during an expression broadcast interval including said corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource,

wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval and includes one OFDM tone for a predetermined fixed number of OFDM symbol transmission time intervals,

wherein said dedicated broadcast downlink resource is a downlink communications resource in a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression broadcast interval corresponding to said expression advertisement interval, and wherein the received information for broadcast to mobile wireless entities includes a device identifier identifying the first wireless communications device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said expression advertisement interval recurs in accordance with the predetermined schedule, said predetermined schedule being a recurring schedule.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the location of the set of OFDM tone-symbols is determined according to a predetermined hopping function.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving a signal from the access point indicating assignment of the first uplink communications resource to said first wireless communications device.

16. A first wireless communications device, comprising:

means for generating a first set of information signals to be communicated to an access point for broadcast to wireless communications devices; and

means for transmitting the first set of information signals to the access point in a first uplink communications resource for which there is a corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource dedicated to said first wireless communications device which occurs according to a predetermined schedule; and

means for monitoring for broadcast signals corresponding to wireless terminals of interest during an expression broadcast interval including said corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource,

wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval and includes one OFDM tone for a predetermined fixed number of OFDM symbol transmission time intervals,

wherein said dedicated broadcast downlink resource is a downlink communications resource in a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression broadcast interval corresponding to said expression advertisement interval, and wherein the received information for broadcast to mobile wireless entities includes a device identifier identifying the first wireless communications device.

17. The first wireless communications device of claim 16, wherein said expression advertisement interval recurs in accordance with the predetermined schedule, said predetermined schedule being a recurring schedule.

18. The first wireless communications device of claim 17, wherein the location of the set of OFDM tone-symbols is determined according to a predetermined hopping function.

19. A computer program product for use in a first wireless communications device, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to generate a first set of information signals to be communicated to an access point for broadcast to wireless communications devices; and

code for causing said at least one computer to transmit the first set of information signals to the access point in a first uplink communications resource for which there is a corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource dedicated to said first wireless communications device which occurs according to a predetermined schedule; and

code for causing said at least one computer to monitor for broadcast signals corresponding to wireless terminals of interest during an expression broadcast interval including said corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource,

wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval and includes one OFDM tone for a predetermined fixed number of OFDM symbol transmission time intervals,

wherein said dedicated broadcast downlink resource is a downlink communications resource in a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression broadcast interval corresponding to said expression advertisement interval, and wherein the received information for broadcast to mobile wireless entities includes a device identifier identifying the first wireless communications device.

20. A first wireless communications device comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

generate a first set of information signals to be communicated to an access point for broadcast to wireless communications devices; and

transmit the first set of information signals to the access point in a first uplink communications resource for which there is a corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource dedicated to said first wireless communications device which occurs according to a predetermined schedule; and

monitor for broadcast signals corresponding to wireless terminals of interest during an expression broadcast interval including said corresponding dedicated broadcast downlink resource; and

memory coupled to said at least one processor,

wherein said first uplink communications resource is part of a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression advertisement interval and includes one OFDM tone for a predetermined fixed number of OFDM symbol transmission time intervals,

wherein said dedicated broadcast downlink resource is a downlink communications resource in a set of dedicated resources corresponding to an expression broadcast interval corresponding to said expression advertisement interval, and wherein the received information for broadcast to mobile wireless entities includes a device identifier identifying the first wireless communications device.

21. The first wireless communications device of claim 20, wherein said expression advertisement interval recurs in accordance with the predetermined schedule, said predetermined schedule being a recurring schedule.