Communication method and device of broadcast and/or multicast in radio network

• US 8,989,204 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2009
• Issued: 03/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales DIS France SA (Thales SA)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Wang, He, Chen, Yu
• Primary Examiner(s): Haile, Awet
• Assistant Examiner(s): MYERS, ERIC A
• Application Number:
  US13/266,746
• Publication Number:
  US 20120044851A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,156 Days
• Field of Search: 370/229, 370/235, 370236-2362, 370/252, 370/310, 370/312, 370328-330, 370335-337, 370/342, 370/345, 370347-348, 370/350, 370431-432, 370/437, 370441-444, 370464-465, 370/468, 370/498, 370/503, 370509-513, 370/522
• US Class Current: 370/432
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services

Abstract

The invention discloses a communication method and device of broadcast and/or multicast in radio network. The eNB determines dynamic scheduling control information of each service, according to the practical transmission of the broadcast and/or multicast service in one scheduling period, and provides, in a MAC packet data unit, the UE with the dynamic scheduling control information; the UE receives, in a MAC packet data unit, the dynamic scheduling control information, and receives the broadcast and/or multicast service data from the eNB in the scheduling period, according to the dynamic scheduling control information.

Claims

1. A method, in an eNB of radio communication networks, for providing a UE (User Equipment) with broadcast and multicast service, comprising:

determining dynamic scheduling control information of each service, according to the practical transmission of the broadcast and multicast service in one scheduling period,

wherein the dynamic scheduling control information comprises at least information about the practical ending subframe of the transmission of the service data in the scheduling period, wherein the information about the practical ending subframe of the transmission comprises the serial number of the practical ending subframe of the transmission in multicast subframes of the scheduling period, and

wherein padding is added only to the last subframe of each multicast channel in the scheduling period, and

wherein the remaining subframes not being practically occupied by Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service services transmission, discovered after the scheduling, are used for other services;

providing, in a MAC packet data unit, the UE with the dynamic scheduling control information; and

transmitting the broadcast and multicast service data to the UE in the scheduling period.

2. A method according to claim 1, the method further comprises:

providing the UE with information about the predefined starting subframe of the transmission of the service data in the scheduling period, as well as the MBSFN subframe allocation information predefined for at least one scheduling period.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein:

the information about the predefined starting subframe of the transmission comprises the multicast channel allocation pattern.

4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

allocating subframes not being used for practical transmission to other services, according to the predefined ending subframe of the transmission of the service data in the scheduling period and the practical ending subframe of the transmission of the service data in the scheduling period.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the radio communication network is based on transmission mode of Multimedia Broadcast Multicast service Single Frequency Network (MBFSN) of LTE, and the method further comprises:

determining the practical transmission of each service in the scheduling period, according to a content synchronization rule unified among each SFN belonging to the same region of MBSFN.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting to the UE the dynamic scheduling control information in the form of MAC Control Element (MAC CE), in the first subframe of the scheduling period, and retransmitting it within the scheduling period,

wherein all elements of claim 1 are repeated for every scheduling period.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the dynamic scheduling control information comprises at least the serial numbers of subframes, occupied by the service, in all subframes of the scheduling period.

8. A method, in a UE (User Equipment) of radio communication networks, for receiving broadcast and multicast service from an eNB, comprising:

receiving from the eNB, in a MAC packet data unit, dynamic scheduling control information of the broadcast and multicast service for one scheduling period, the dynamic scheduling control information indicating the practical transmission of service data within the scheduling period,

wherein the dynamic scheduling control information comprises at least information about the practical ending subframe of the transmission of the service data in the scheduling period, wherein the information about the practical ending subframe of the transmission comprises the serial number of the practical ending subframe of the transmission in multicast subframes of the scheduling period, and

wherein padding is added only to the last subframe of each multicast channel in the scheduling period, and

wherein the remaining subframes not being practically occupied by Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service services transmission, discovered after the scheduling, are used for other services; and

receiving the broadcast and multicast service data from the eNB in the scheduling period, according to the dynamic scheduling control information.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the dynamic scheduling control information comprises information about the practical ending subframe of the transmission of the service data in the scheduling period, and the method further comprises:

receiving, from the eNB, information about the predefined starting subframe of the transmission of the service data in the scheduling period, as well as the MBSFN subframe allocation information predefined for at least one scheduling period; and

wherein the process of receiving the broadcast and multicast service data from the eNB in the scheduling period, according to the dynamic scheduling control information, includes;

determining the starting subframe and the ending subframe of the transmission of the broadcast and multicast service data in the scheduling period; and

receiving, from the eNB, the broadcast and multicast service data, from the starting subframe to the ending subframe of the transmission.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the information about the practical ending subframe of the transmission comprises the serial number of the practical ending subframe of the transmission in multicast subframes of the scheduling period, the information about the predefined starting subframe of the transmission comprises the multicast channel allocation pattern, and determining the starting subframe and the ending subframe of the transmission of the broadcast and multicast service data in the scheduling period includes:

determining the starting subframe and the ending subframe of the transmission of the broadcast and/or multicast service data in the scheduling period, according to the multicast channel allocation pattern and the serial number of the practical ending subframe of the transmission in multicast subframes of the scheduling period, on the basis of broadcast and multicast subframe allocation information.

11. A method according to claim 8, wherein the radio communication network is based on transmission mode of MBSFN of LTE.

12. A method according to claim 8, further comprising:

receiving the dynamic scheduling control information in the form of MAC CE, in the first subframe of the scheduling period, and re-receiving it within the scheduling period,

wherein all elements of claim 8 are repeated for every scheduling period.

13. A method according to claim 8, wherein the dynamic scheduling control information comprises at least the serial numbers of subframes, occupied by the service, in all subframes of the scheduling period.

14. A device, in an eNB of radio communication networks, for providing a UE with broadcast and multicast service, comprising:

a determining unit, comprising at least a processor, configured to determine dynamic scheduling control information of each service, according to the practical transmission of the broadcast and multicast service in one scheduling period, wherein the dynamic scheduling control information comprises at least information about the practical ending subframe of the transmission of the service data in the scheduling period, wherein the information about the practical ending subframe of the transmission comprises the serial number of the practical ending subframe of the transmission in multicast subframes of the scheduling period, wherein padding is added only to the last subframe of each multicast channel in the scheduling period;

a first providing unit, comprising at least a processor, configured to provide, in a MAC packet data unit, the UE with the dynamic scheduling control information; and

a transmitter, for transmitting the broadcast and multicast service data to the UE in the scheduling period; and

an allocating unit, comprising at least a processor, for reallocating subframes not being used for practical transmission to other services, according to the predefined ending subframe of the transmission of the service data in the scheduling period and the practical ending subframe of the transmission of the service data in the scheduling period.

15. A device, in a UE of radio communication networks, for receiving broadcast and multicast service from an eNB, comprising:

a first obtaining unit, comprising at least a processor, configured to receive from the eNB, in a MAC packet data unit, dynamic scheduling control information of the broadcast and multicast service for one scheduling period, the dynamic scheduling control information indicating the practical transmission of service data within the scheduling period, wherein the dynamic scheduling control information comprises at least information about the practical ending subframe of the transmission of the service data in the scheduling period, wherein the information about the practical ending subframe of the transmission comprises the serial number of the practical ending subframe of the transmission in multicast subframes of the scheduling period, wherein, during practical transmission and dynamic scheduling, padding is added only to the last subframe of each multicast channel in the scheduling period, and

wherein the remaining subframes not being practically occupied by Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service services transmission, discovered after the scheduling, are used for other services;

a receiving unit, comprising at least a receiver, configured to receive the broadcast and multicast service data from the eNB in the scheduling period, according to the dynamic scheduling control information, wherein the receiving unit further comprises a processing unit, comprising at least a processor, for determining the starting subframe and the ending subframe of the transmission of the broadcast and multicast service in the scheduling period.