Methods and apparatus for flexible reporting of control information

• US 9,148,795 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2006
• Issued: 09/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Das, Arnab
• Primary Examiner(s): CASCA, FRED A
• Application Number:
  US11/333,813
• Publication Number:
  US 20070149228A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,542 Days
• Field of Search: 370/278, 370/282, 370/328, 370/330, 370/310, 370/310.2, 370/314, 370/344, 370/395.2, 370/329, 370/208, 370/241, 370/242, 370/254, 370/311, 370/315, 370/479, 455/403, 455/422.1, 455/517, 455/420, 455/456.2, 455/68, 455/450, 455/67.11, 455/452.2, 455/522, 455/67.13, 455/69, 455/452.1, 455/501, 455/509, 455/13.3, 455/511, 455/515, 455/63.1, 455/115.2, 455/115.3, 455/458, 375/228, 375/252, 375/141, 375/E1.001, 375/130
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports

Abstract

Reporting methods well suited for reporting control information in a wireless system are described. A wireless terminal reports information to a serving base station, e.g., a base station attachment point, according to a reporting schedule. The reporting schedule includes a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports which communicate information of a type dictated by the reporting schedule. The reporting schedule also includes flexible reports at predetermined locations within the reporting schedule. The wireless terminal selects the type of report to be communicated in the flexible report, e.g., as a function of a report prioritization operation. Information identifying the wireless terminal'"'"'s report type selection for the flexible report is jointly coded along with the report body information and communicated in the same dedicated control channel segment. The reporting schedule repeats over time. In some embodiments there are more fixed reports than flexible reports in one iteration of the schedule.

Claims

1. A method of operating a wireless terminal to report control information to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel, the method comprising:

reporting, by said wireless terminal, control information according to a reporting schedule, said reporting including;

transmitting a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule; and

transmitting flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected by said wireless terminal from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report,

wherein said plurality of different types of fixed type information reports are transmitted using uplink segments dedicated to said wireless terminal and which occur at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule which correspond to said fixed type information reports, said predetermined locations which correspond to said fixed type information reports being different from said predetermined locations in said reporting schedule at which said flexible reports are transmitted.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said flexible reports are also transmitted using uplink segments dedicated to said wireless terminal, said uplink segments used to transmit said flexible reports being the same size as uplink segments used to transmit at least one of said fixed type information reports.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of said uplink segments used to transmit flexible reports also include a fixed type information report.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said dedicated segments corresponds to a single logical tone which corresponds to a plurality of physical tones during different symbol transmission time periods, the method further comprising:

determining, based on stored tone hopping information, for transmission purposes, the physical tones corresponding to said logical tone at different points in time corresponding to the transmission of said dedicated segments.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said reporting schedule repeats over time and wherein there are more fixed type information reports than flexible reports in one iteration of said reporting schedule.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said reporting schedule includes at least 8 times as many fixed type information reports as flexible reports in one iteration of said reporting schedule.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein said reporting schedule includes, on average, less than one dedicated segment used to report a flexible report for each nine dedicated segments used to transmit a fixed type information report.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting for each flexible type report, a report type identifier indicating the type of flexible report being transmitted.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said flexible type report is transmitted in a segment in which said report type identifier is also transmitted.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said flexible type report and said report type identifier are, for at least one of said flexible reports, the only information communicated in a dedicated segment used to communicate said one of said flexible reports and said report type identifier.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein each flexible report identifier and corresponding flexible report are coded together in a single coding unit corresponding to the segment in which they are transmitted.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein said report type identifier is transmitted in a report which indicates the type of flexible report which corresponds to said report type identifier.

13. The method claim 7, wherein a report type identifier is not transmitted for fixed type information reports transmitted according to said transmission schedule.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein each of said communications segments is an OFDM communication segment.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting a plurality of different type of fixed type information reports includes transmitting said fixed type information reports in transmission segments without a report type identifier.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of said flexible reports are of the same type as a fixed type information report.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein said report prioritization operation also includes determining an amount of change in information previously reported in at least one report.

17. A method of operating a wireless terminal to report control information to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel, the method comprising:

reporting control information, by said wireless terminal, according to a reporting schedule, said reporting including;

transmitting a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule; and

transmitting flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected by said wireless terminal from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report,

wherein said plurality of different types of fixed type information reports includes at least two different report types, one of said at least two different report types providing signal interference information and a second one of said at least two different types of reports providing information on an amount of uplink traffic waiting to be transmitted by said wireless terminal.

18. A method of operating a wireless terminal to report control information to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel, the method comprising:

reporting control information, by said wireless terminal, according to a reporting schedule, said reporting including;

transmitting a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule; and

transmitting flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected by said wireless terminal from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report,

wherein said plurality of different types of fixed type information reports includes at least two of the following report types;

i) an uplink traffic request;

ii) a downlink saturation level of self noise signal to noise ratio;

iii) an absolute report of a downlink signal to noise ratio;

iv) a relative report of downlink signal to noise ratio;

v) an uplink transmit backoff report;

or vi) a downlink beacon ratio report.

19. A method of operating a wireless terminal to report control information to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel, the method comprising:

reporting control information, by said wireless terminal, according to a reporting schedule, said reporting including;

transmitting a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule; and

transmitting flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected by said wireless terminal from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report,

wherein a selection of a type of report to be transmitted in a flexible report is selected by said wireless terminal according to a function of a report prioritization operation, wherein said report prioritization operation includes considering an amount of uplink data queued for communication to said access node and at least one signal interference measurement.

21. A wireless terminal comprising:

memory for storing report transmission scheduling information indicating a reporting schedule used to control the transmission of reports to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel;

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

control transmission of a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule;

control transmission of flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report; and

a wireless transmitter for transmitting said plurality of different types of fixed type information reports using uplink segments of said communications control channel dedicated to said wireless terminal,

wherein said transmitter is also for transmitting said flexible reports using uplink segments of said communications control channel dedicated to said wireless terminal, said uplink segments used to transmit said flexible reports being the same size as uplink segments used to transmit at least one fixed type information report.

22. The wireless terminal of claim 21, wherein at least some of said uplink segments used to transmit flexible reports also include a fixed type information report.

23. The wireless terminal of claim 21, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

generate flexible type report identifiers to be communicated with flexible type reports, the report type identifier communicated with an individual flexible report indicating the type of flexible report being communicated.

24. The wireless terminal of claim 23, wherein said individual flexible type report is transmitted in a segment in with said report type identifier that is communicated with the individual flexible type report.

25. The wireless terminal claim 23, wherein a report type identifier is not transmitted for fixed type information reports transmitted according to said transmission schedule.

26. The wireless terminal of claim 21, further comprising:

a transmitter for transmitting said fixed type reports in transmission segments without a report type identifier.

27. A wireless terminal comprising:

memory for storing report transmission scheduling information indicating a reporting schedule used to control the transmission of reports to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel;

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

control transmission of a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule;

control transmission of flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report; and

a wireless transmitter for transmitting said plurality of different types of fixed type information reports using uplink segments of said communications control channel dedicated to said wireless terminal,

wherein each of said dedicated segments corresponds to a single logical tone which corresponds to a plurality of physical tones during different symbol transmission time periods,

wherein the at least one-processor is further configured to;

determine, based on stored tone hopping information, for transmission purposes, the physical tones corresponding to said logical tone at different points in time corresponding to the transmission of said dedicated segments.

28. A wireless terminal comprising:

memory for storing report transmission scheduling information indicating a reporting schedule used to control the transmission of reports to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

control transmission of a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule; and

control transmission of flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report,

wherein said reporting schedule repeats over time and wherein there are more fixed type information reports than flexible reports in one iteration of said reporting schedule, and

wherein said reporting schedule includes at least 8 times as many fixed type information reports as flexible reports in one iteration of said reporting schedule.

29. A wireless terminal comprising:

memory for storing report transmission scheduling information indicating a reporting schedule used to control the transmission of reports to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

control transmission of a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule; and

control transmission of flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report,

wherein said reporting schedule repeats over time and wherein there are more fixed type information reports than flexible reports in one iteration of said reporting schedule, and

wherein said reporting schedule includes, on average, less than one dedicated segment used to report a flexible report for each nine dedicated segments used to transmit a fixed type information report.

30. A wireless terminal comprising:

memory for storing report transmission scheduling information indicating a reporting schedule used to control the transmission of reports to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

control transmission of a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule; and

control transmission of flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report,

wherein said plurality of different types of fixed type information reports includes at least two different report types, one of said at least two different report types providing signal interference information and a second one of said at least two different types of reports providing information on the amount of uplink traffic waiting to be transmitted by said wireless terminal.

31. A wireless terminal comprising:

memory for storing report transmission scheduling information indicating a reporting schedule used to control the transmission of reports to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

control transmission of a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule; and

control transmission of flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report,

wherein said plurality of different types of fixed type information reports includes at least two of the following report types;

i) an uplink traffic request;

ii) a downlink saturation level of self noise signal to noise ratio;

iii) an absolute report of a downlink signal to noise ratio;

iv) a relative report of downlink signal to noise ratio;

v) an uplink transmit backoff report; and

vi) a downlink beacon ratio report.

32. A wireless terminal comprising:

memory for storing report transmission scheduling information indicating a reporting schedule used to control the transmission of reports to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

control transmission of a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule; and

control transmission of flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report, wherein said processor is further configured to make the selection of said report types from said plurality of types of reports according to a function of a report prioritization operation that considers an amount of uplink data queued for communication to said access node an at least one signal interference measurement.

33. A wireless terminal comprising:

means for storing report transmission scheduling information indicating a reporting schedule used to control the transmission of reports to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel;

means for controlling transmission of a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule; and

means for selecting and controlling transmission of flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report,

wherein said plurality of different types of fixed type information reports includes at least two different report types, one of said at least two different report types providing signal interference information and a second one of said at least two different types of reports providing information on the amount of uplink traffic waiting to be transmitted by said wireless terminal.

34. The wireless terminal of claim 33, further comprising:

means for transmitting said plurality of different types of fixed information type reports using uplink segments of said communications control channel dedicated to said wireless terminal.

35. The wireless terminal of claim 33, further comprising:

means for generating flexible type report identifiers to be communicated with flexible type reports, the report type identifier communicated with an individual flexible report indicating the type of flexible report being communicated.

36. The wireless terminal of claim 33, further comprising:

means for transmitting said fixed type information reports in transmission segments without a report type identifier.

37. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying computer executable instructions, for use in a wireless terminal, the computer readable medium comprising:

instructions for causing a computer to store report transmission scheduling information indicating a reporting schedule used to control the transmission of reports to an access node using dedicated segments of a communications control channel;

instructions for causing the computer to control transmission of a plurality of different types of fixed type information reports according to said reporting schedule, said fixed type information reports reporting information of a type dictated by said reporting schedule; and

instructions for causing the computer to control transmission of flexible reports at predetermined locations in said reporting schedule, said flexible reports being of report types selected by said flexible report control module from a plurality of types of reports which can be reported using a flexible report,

wherein said plurality of different types of fixed type information reports includes at least two different report types, one of said at least two different report types providing signal interference information and a second one of said at least two different types of reports providing information on the amount of uplink traffic waiting to be transmitted by said wireless terminal.