Communications systems, communications device, infrastructure equipment and method

• US 9,288,794 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2011
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SCA IPLA Holdings Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: SCA IPLA Holdings Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Beale, Martin Warwick
• Primary Examiner(s): Orgad, Edan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Willmore, Steven
• Application Number:
  US13/878,306
• Publication Number:
  US 20130272236A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,637 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329, 455/450
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

A communications system, including a mobile radio network including local base stations to communicate data to and from mobile communications devices via a wireless access interface. The mobile radio network is adapted to include a message processor and a message store, the message store arranged to store an indication of each of one or more message exchanges in a set of predetermined message exchanges between the base stations and one or more of the communications devices, each message exchange including a predetermined set of predetermined messages and requiring predetermined up-link and/or down-link communications resource for communicating the message exchange on the up-link and/or down-link, between a base station and the communications device.

Claims

1. A communications system, comprising:

a mobile radio network including one or more base stations that communicate data to and from communications devices via a wireless access interface, wherein

the one or more base stations include a message processor and a message memory,

the message memory stores an indication of each of one or more message exchanges in a set of predetermined message exchanges between the one or more base stations and one or more of the communications devices, each message exchange comprising a set of predetermined messages and requiring predetermined uplink and/or down-link communications resource for communicating the message exchange on the up-link and/or down-link between a base station and the one or more of the communications devices,

the message processor is configured to

generate, using each indication of the one or more message exchanges stored in the message memory, a conversation allocation message for communication to the one or more of the communications devices, the conversation allocation message providing an indication to the one or more of the communications devices of an allocation of the communications resource on the down-link and/or the up-link for communicating the one or more messages of the message exchange,

communicate the conversation allocation message to the one or more of the communications devices, and

transmit a broadcast signal that indicates the set of predetermined messages which are available for communication via the one or more base stations using the conversation allocation message, and

in response to the conversation allocation message, each of the one or more of the communications devices and a corresponding base station communicate the one or more messages of the message exchange using the communications resource allocated by the conversation allocation message.

2. The communications system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the message processor is configured to

respond to an indication that a particular message exchange is to be communicated via the wireless access interface,

determine whether the particular message exchange is one of the set of predetermined message exchanges, and

when the message exchange is one of the set of predetermined message exchanges, generate the conversation allocation message from the particular message exchange from the indication provided in the message memory.

3. The communications system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the message memory stores, for each message exchange, the conversation allocation message for allocating the up-link and/or down-link communications resource for communicating the message exchange.

4. The communications system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the message processor is configured to

receive, from a higher layer server, an indication of the message exchange, and

generate the conversation allocation message from the indication of the message exchange by retrieving the conversation allocation message using the indication of the message exchange.

5. The communications system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the message processor is configured to

recognise the message exchange by identifying a signalling message which is received from one of the communications devices or is to be transmitted to one of the communications devices, and

generate the conversation allocation message from the recognised message exchange.

6. The communications system as claimed in claim 5, wherein

the signalling message provides an indication of a handover of the one or more communications devices from one base station to another base station, and

the signalling message is communicated on the up-link or the down-link.

7. The communications system as claimed in claim 5, wherein

the message exchange includes a data message for communication on the up-link or the down-link, and

the indication of the message exchange is a length of the data message to be communicated to or from the one or more communications devices.

8. The communications system as claimed in claim 6, wherein

the message exchange includes a data message for communication on the up-link or the down-link, and

the conversation allocation message allocates the communications resource on one or both of a down-link or up-link shared channel for the communication of the one or more associated signalling messages and the data message.

9. A communications device for communicating data via a mobile radio network, the communications device comprising:

a transmitter/receiver; and

control circuitry that controls the transmitter/receiver to transmit data to and receive data from one or more base stations of the mobile radio network via a wireless access interface, wherein

the one or more base stations include a message processor and a message memory,

the message memory stores an indication of each of one or more message exchanges in a set of predetermined message exchanges between the one or more base stations and the communications device, each message exchange comprising a set of predetermined messages and requiring predetermined up-link and/or down-link communications resource for communicating the message exchange on the up-link and/or down-link between a base station and the communications device,

the message processor is configured to

generate, using each indication of the one or more message exchange stored in the message memory, a conversation allocation message for communication to the communications device, the conversation allocation message providing an indication to the communications device of an allocation of the communications resource on the down-link and/or the up-link for communicating the one or more messages of the message exchange,

communicate the conversation allocation message to the communications device, and

receive a broadcast signal that indicates the set of predetermined messages which are available for communication via the one or more base stations using the conversation allocation message, and

the control circuitry, in response to receiving the conversation allocation message from the message processor, controls the transmitter/receiver to communicate the predetermined message of the message exchange using the up-link and/or down-link communications resource allocated by the conversation allocation message.

10. The communications device as claimed in claim 9, wherein

the message exchange includes communicating a message on the up-link from the transmitter/receiver to the base station, and

the conversation allocation message is sent, from the message processor in response to a request for the communications resource to communicate the message, the request sent by the communications device to the base station.

11. The communications device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the conversation allocation message allocates the communications resource on one or both of a down-link or up-link shared channel for the communication of the message exchange.

12. An infrastructure equipment of a mobile radio network, the infrastructure equipment comprising:

a transmitter/receiver that communicates data to and from one or more communications devices;

a message memory that stores an indication of each of one or more message exchanges in a set of predetermined message exchanges between the infrastructure equipment and the one or more communications devices, each message exchange comprising a set of predetermined messages and requiring predetermined up-link and/or down-link communications resource for communicating the message exchange on the up-link and/or down-link, between the infrastructure equipment and the communications device; and

a message processor configured to

generate, using each indication of the one or more message exchanges stored in the message memory, a conversation allocation message for communication to the one or more of the communications devices, the conversation allocation message providing an indication to the one or more of the communications devices of an allocation of the communications resource on the down-link and/or the up-link for communicating the one or more messages of the message exchange,

communicate the conversation allocation message to the one or more of the communications devices,

transmit a broadcast signal that indicates the set of predetermined messages which are available for communication via the infrastructure equipment using the conversation allocation message, and

control the transmitter/receiver to communicate the message exchange with the communications device.

13. The infrastructure equipment as claimed in claim 12, wherein the conversation allocation message is generated by the message processor in response to a request for the communications resource to communicate a message, the request received from one of the communications devices.

14. The infrastructure equipment as claimed in claim 12, wherein

a signalling message provides an indication of a handover of the one or more communications devices from one base station to another base station,

the message exchange includes a data message for communication on the up-link or the down-link,

the signalling message is communicated on the up-link or the down-link, and

the conversation allocation message allocates the communications resource on one or both of a down-link or up-link shared channel for the communication of the one or more associated signalling messages and the data message.

15. The infrastructure equipment as claimed in claim 12, wherein

wherein the conversation allocation message allocates the communications resource on one or both of a down-link or up-link shared channel for the communication of the message exchange.

16. The infrastructure equipment as claimed in claim 12, wherein the message processor is configured to

respond to an indication that a particular message exchange is to be communicated via the wireless access interface,

determine whether the particular message exchange is one of the set of predetermined message exchanges, and

when the message exchange is one of the set of predetermined message exchanges, generate the conversation allocation message from the particular message exchange from the indication provided in the message memory.

17. The infrastructure equipment as claimed in claim 12, wherein the message processor is configured to

recognise the message exchange by identifying a signalling message which is received from one of the communications devices or is to be transmitted to one of the communications devices, and

generate the conversation allocation message from the recognised message exchange.

18. The infrastructure equipment as claimed in claim 17, wherein

the signalling message provides an indication of a handover of the one or more communications devices from one base station to another base station, and

the signalling message is communicated on the up-link or the down-link.

19. The infrastructure equipment as claimed in claim 18, wherein

the message exchange includes a data message for communication on the up-link or the down-link, and

the conversation allocation message allocates the communications resource on one or both of a down-link or up-link shared channel for the communication of the one or more associated signalling messages and the data message.

20. The infrastructure equipment as claimed in claim 17, wherein the message exchange includes a data message for communication on the up-link or the down-link, and

the indication of the message exchange is a length of the data message to be communicated to or from the one or more communications devices.

21. A method of communicating via a mobile radio network including one or more base stations that communicate data to and from communications devices via a wireless access interface, the method comprising:

storing, by circuitry of one of the one or more base stations, an indication of each of one or more message exchanges in a set of predetermined message exchanges between the base stations and one or more of the communications devices, each message exchange comprising a set of predetermined messages and requiring predetermined up-link and/or down-link communications resource for communicating the message exchange on the up-link and/or down-link between a base station and the one or more of the communications devices;

generating, by circuitry using each stored indication of the one or more message exchanges, a conversation allocation message for communication to the one or more of the communications devices, the conversation allocation message providing an indication to the one or more of the communications device of an allocation of the communications resource on the down-link and/or the up-link for communicating the one or more messages of the message exchange;

communicating, by the circuitry, the conversation allocation message to the one or more of the communications devices;

transmitting, by the circuitry, a broadcast signal that indicates the set of predetermined messages which are available for communication via the one or more base stations using the conversation allocation message; and

in response to the conversation allocation message, communicating, by the circuitry, the one or more messages of the message exchange to the one or more of the communications devices using the communications resource allocated by the conversation allocation message.