Selection of channel for radio resource control signaling in HSDPA

• US 7,885,662 B2
• Filed: 11/23/2005
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Nilsson, Johan, Lindoff, Bengt
• Primary Examiner(s): HUANG, WEN WU
• Application Number:
  US11/286,500
• Publication Number:
  US 20070049308A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,903 Days
• Field of Search: 455/450, 455/509, 455/456, 455/464, 455/451, 455/452
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 Access point controller devices

Abstract

A Radio Network Controller (RNC) is configured to send Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages to a mobile station using a selected downlink channel. Depending on the mobility rate of the mobile station, the RNC is configured to configure a signaling connection to use either a first downlink channel or a second downlink channel for transmitting the RRC messages. According to one embodiment, the RNC selects a dedicated channel when the mobile station has a high mobility rate, and selects a shared channel when the mobile station has a low mobility rate.

Claims

1. A signaling method implemented by a radio network controller, said method comprising:

determining a mobility rate of a mobile station;

selecting, when the mobility rate is low, a shared high speed downlink channel for sending both user data and in-band signaling of radio resource control messages on the same channel;

selecting, when the mobility rate is high, a dedicated downlink channel for sending the radio resource control messages while using the shared high speed downlink channel for sending the user data; and

configuring the signaling connection with the mobile station to use the selected downlink channel.

2. The signaling method of claim 1 wherein the mobility rate of the mobile station is determined based on a signal characteristic of the received signal from the mobile station.

3. The signaling method of claim 2 wherein the signal characteristic comprises a Doppler spread of the received signal from the mobile station.

4. The signaling method of claim 3 wherein the radio network controller receives Doppler spread measurements from a serving base station.

5. The signaling method of claim 2 wherein the signal characteristic comprises a signal strength of a received signal from the mobile station.

6. The signaling method of claim 5 wherein the radio network controller receives measurements of the signal strength from a serving base station.

7. The signaling method of claim 1 wherein the mobility rate of the mobile station is determined based on a handover frequency of the mobile station.

8. The signaling method of claim 1 wherein the dedicated channel comprises a Dedicated Physical Channel and wherein the shared channel comprises a High Speed Physical Downlink Shared Channel in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access system.

9. A radio network controller to control radio resources allocated to a mobile station, said radio network controller comprising:

a control unit configured to;

determine a mobility rate of the mobile station

select, when the mobility rate is low, a shared high speed downlink channel for sending both user data and in-band signaling of radio resource control messages on the same channel;

select, when the mobility rate is high, a dedicated downlink channel for sending the radio resource control messages while using the shared high speed downlink channel for sending the user data; and

;

configure the signaling connection with the mobile station to use the selected downlink channel; and

a signaling processor configured to exchange signaling messages with the mobile station over the signaling connection.

10. The radio network controller of claim of claim 9 wherein the mobility rate of the mobile station is determined based on signal characteristics of a received signal from the mobile station.

11. The radio network controller of claim 10 wherein the signal characteristics comprise a Doppler spread of the received signal.

12. The radio network controller of claim 10 wherein the signal characteristics comprise a signal strength of the received signal.

13. The radio network controller of claim 10 wherein the control unit is configured to receive measurements of the signal characteristics from a serving base station.

14. The radio network controller of claim 9 wherein the mobility rate of the mobile station is determined based on a handover frequency of the mobile station.

15. A computer readable medium storing code for controlling a radio network controller, said code including:

code for determining a mobility rate of a mobile station

code for selecting, when the mobility rate is low, a shared high speed downlink channel for sending both user data and in-band signaling of radio resource control messages on the same channel;

code for selecting, when the mobility rate is high, a dedicated downlink channel for sending the radio resource control messages while using the shared high speed downlink channel for sending the user data; and

;

code for configuring the signaling connection with the mobile station to use the selected downlink channel.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the code for determining a mobility rate of a mobile station analyzes a signal characteristic of a received signal from the mobile station.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein the code for determining a mobility rate of a mobile station determines the mobility rate based on the signal strength of the received signal.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein the code for determining a mobility rate of a mobile station determines the mobility rate based on the Doppler spread of the received signal.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the code for determining a mobility rate of a mobile station determines the mobility rate based on handover frequency.