Reduced state transition delay and signaling overhead for mobile station state transitions

• US 20030040315A1
• Filed: 07/31/2002
• Published: 02/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Tsai, Shawn Shiau-He, Lundgvist, Patrik Nils, Yoon, Young C., Soong, Anthony C.K., Wiorek, Jonas, Khaleghi, Farideh
• Application Number:
  US10/210,634
• Publication Number:
  US 20030040315A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/435.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/40 during macro-diversity or soft handoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]

Abstract

A wireless communication network reduces its signaling overhead by recognizing when a mobile station transitions from an inactive state, such as Control Hold or quasi-active, back to an active state. Based on such recognition by the network, the mobile station begins sending desired traffic data without need for explicitly negotiating its return to active state, thereby reducing or eliminating higher-layer signaling, e.g., Layer 3 and above, that is otherwise required for return to active state operations. The network might further avoid explicit signaling by, for example, using transmitted reverse link Power Control Bits to indicate that an inactive mobile station should remain inactive. In this manner, inactive mobile stations may be allowed to return to active state without explicit signaling where appropriate, or held in the inactive state if needed, all without need for explicit network signaling.

Claims

1. A method of recognizing mobile-initiated state transitions in a wireless communication network comprising:

monitoring at least one reverse link channel associated with a mobile station at a base station while the mobile station operates in an inactive state; and

recognizing a mobile-initiated transition from the inactive state to an active state at the base station by detecting a characteristic change in the at least one reverse link channel associated with the mobile station.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising allocating selected resources for communication with the mobile station responsive to recognizing the mobile-initiated transition to the active state.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein allocating selected communication resources comprises allocating a reverse-link traffic channel to the mobile station.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the inactive state comprises a Control Hold state.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the inactive state comprises a quasi-active state.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring one or more of the reverse link channels comprises:

receiving at least one of a Reverse Pilot Channel (R-PICH) signal and a Reverse Traffic Channel (R-TCH) signal from the mobile station; and

detecting a received energy of at least one of the R-PICH and R-TCH signals.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein detecting a received energy of at least one of the R-PICH and R-TCH signals comprises coherently detecting the received energy of the R-PICH signal.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein detecting a received energy of at least one of the R-PICH and R-TCH signals comprises non-coherently detecting the received energy of the R-PICH signal.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein detecting a characteristic change of the at least one reverse link channel comprises detecting when a received signal energy for the at least one reverse link channel increases beyond an energy threshold.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein detecting a characteristic change of the at least one reverse link channel comprises detecting when the received energy of the R-TCH signal is above an energy threshold.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein detecting a characteristic change of the at least one reverse link channel comprises detecting when the received energies of the R-PICH and the R-TCH signals are above one or more energy thresholds.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring one or more of the reverse link channels comprises monitoring a Reverse Traffic Channel (R-TCH) associated with the mobile station for receipt of a valid data frame on a R-TCH signal.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein recognizing a mobile-initiated transition from the inactive state to the active state comprises recognizing the receipt of valid data in the R-TCH signal.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the at least one reverse link channel comprises monitoring a Reverse Common Channel (R-CCH) signal to detect a data burst transmitted by the mobile station, wherein the detection of the data burst on the R-CCH signal is recognized as indicating the mobile station has transitioned to the active state.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the at least one reverse link channel comprises monitoring a Reverse MAC Channel (R-MCH) signal for information transmitted by the mobile station.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein recognizing a mobile-initiated transition from the inactive state to the active state comprises recognizing a change in symbol modulation associated with the information transmitted by the mobile station on the R-MCH signal.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising implicitly signaling to the mobile station that it should not begin active state operation.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein implicitly signaling to the mobile station that it should not begin active state operation comprises signaling via one or more reverse link Power Control Bits (PCBs) transmitted from the network to the mobile station.

19. The method of claim 19, wherein signaling via one or more reverse link PCBs comprises transmitting a polarity pattern of reverse link PCBs to the mobile station.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising transmitting the polarity pattern of reverse link PCBs to correspond to a gated portion of a Reverse Pilot Channel (R-PICH) signal received as one of the one or more reverse link channels from the mobile station.

21. A base station for use in a wireless communication network to support mobile stations operating in active and inactive states, said base station operative to:

monitor at least one reverse link channel associated with a mobile station that is in an inactive state; and

recognize a mobile-initiated transition by the mobile station from the inactive state to an active state by detecting a characteristic change in the at least one reverse link channel.

22. The base station of claim 21, wherein the base station comprises one or more energy detectors, and wherein detecting a characteristic change in the at least one reverse link channel comprises detecting a characteristic change in received energy of one or more signals received on the at least one reverse link channel.

23. The base station of claim 22, wherein the one or more energy detectors comprise a non-coherent energy detector used by the base station to monitor a received signal energy of a pilot signal received from the mobile station on a reverse link pilot channel.

24. The base station of claim 22, wherein the base station uses the one or more energy detectors to detect energy changes in one or both a pilot signal and a data signal associated with the mobile station, such that the base station recognizes a characteristic increase in received energy as indicating a return by the mobile station to the active state.

25. The base station of claim 21, wherein the base station comprises a receiver operative to receive a data signal from the mobile station on the at least one reverse link channel, and wherein detecting a characteristic change in the at least one reverse link channel comprises detecting the receipt of valid data in the data signal.

26. The base station of claim 21, wherein the base station resumes active state communication with the mobile station based on recognizing the mobile-initiated transition to the active state at the base station.

27. The base station of claim 21, wherein the base station monitors a reverse pilot channel associated with the mobile station and recognizes the mobile-initiated transition to the active state by detecting a characteristic increase in received signal energy for the reverse pilot channel.

28. The base station of claim 21, wherein the base station monitors a reverse traffic channel associated with the mobile station and recognizes the mobile-initiated transition to the active state by detecting a characteristic increase in received energy for the reverse traffic channel.

29. The base station of claim 21, wherein the base station monitors reverse traffic and pilot channels associated with the mobile station and recognizes the mobile-initiated transition to the active state by detecting characteristic increases in received energies for the reverse traffic and pilot channels.

30. The base station of claim 21, wherein the base station monitors a reverse traffic channel associated with the mobile station and recognizes the mobile-initiated transition to the active state by detecting the characteristic change as a change from invalid to valid data received on the reverse traffic channel.

31. The base station of claim 21, wherein the base station transmits a Transition Acknowledgement (T-ACK) to the mobile station after recognizing the mobile-initiated transition to the active state, such that the mobile station is provided with an indicator that the mobile-initiated transition to the active state has been recognized by the network.

32. The base station of claim 31, wherein the base station does note transmit the T-ACK to the mobile station if active state operation by the mobile is undesirable.

33. The base station of claim 32, wherein if active state operation by the mobile station is undesirable, the base station transmits one or more reverse link power control bits (PCBs) to the mobile station that implicitly signal to the mobile station that the mobile station should return to the active state.

34. The base station of claim 21, wherein, if active state operation by the mobile station is not desired, the base station transmits one or more reverse link power control bits transmitted by the base station to the mobile station to implicitly signal to the mobile station that the mobile station should not return to the active state.

35. The network of claim 34, wherein the base station transmits valid and invalid power control bits to the mobile station, wherein one or more of the invalid power control bits carry implicit signaling information to the mobile station.

36. The network of claim 21, wherein the inactive state comprises a Control Hold state.

37. The network of claim 21, wherein the inactive state comprises a quasi-active state.

38. A mobile station for use in a wireless communication network, the mobile station operative to:

receive power control bits from a base station;

process the received power control bits as power control commands while the mobile station operates in a first state; and

process a first subset of the received power control bits as power control commands and a second subset of the received power control bits as implicit signaling bits while the mobile station operates in a second state.

39. A base station for use in a wireless communication network, said base station operative to:

transmit power control bits to a mobile station for controlling a reverse link transmit power of the mobile station; and

wherein the power control bits include one or more implicit signaling bits used for implicit signaling instead of reverse link power control.

40. The base station of claim 39, wherein the mobile station transmits a gated reverse link pilot signal to the base station during inactive state operation of the mobile station, and wherein the base station transmits the one or more implicit signaling bits at times corresponding to gated portions of the reverse link pilot signal.

41. The base station of claim 40, wherein the implicit signaling bits are used to indicate that the mobile station should not resume active state operations.