Paging messages for power saving in a mobile WiMAX system

• US 8,185,138 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2008
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Chin, Tom, Lee, Kuo-Chun
• Primary Examiner(s): ZEWDU, MELESS NMN
• Application Number:
  US12/250,189
• Publication Number:
  US 20100093378A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,317 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.2, 455410-411, 455418-419, 455/422.1, 455/423, 4554561-4562, 4553431-3434, 455/458, 455500-503, 455/550.1, 455/556.2, 455560-561, 455/574, 455/127.5, 4553432-3434, 455/420, 455/426.1, 455/432.3, 455/434, 455/435.1, 455/435.3, 455/466, 455512-515, 455517-521, 370331-332, 370311-313, 370349-350
• US Class Current: 455/458
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure provide a paging schedule that may allow a WiMAX mobile device to return to a low power state prior to the end of a listening interval, thereby reducing power consumption. For certain embodiments, the paging schedule may be controlled by a base station using standardized paging messages, with paging messages targeting particular MSs in a group presented in an organized manner within a listening interval. An MS aware of this schedule may, thus, promptly return to a low power state prior to the end of a listening interval if it does not detect a paging message at its expected time within the listening interval.

Claims

1. A method of scheduling paging messages in a wireless communications system, comprising:

negotiating paging parameters for a paging group of mobile stations in idle mode, wherein the paging parameters comprise a common listening interval for the mobile stations in the paging group;

receiving paging messages targeting the mobile stations in the paging group;

grouping the mobile stations in the paging group into a number of sub-groups;

determining an order for transmitting the paging messages within the common listening interval, wherein the order specifies a sequential order for transmitting the paging messages targeting the mobile stations in different sub-groups of the paging group,

wherein the determining the order for transmitting the paging messages within the common listening interval comprises;

determining a sub-group associated with said each paging message based on a MAC address hash value generated from a MAC address of a targeted mobile station, and

determining an order of the sub-group based on a remainder of a quotient of a sum of the MAC address hash value of the targeted mobile station and an index of the common listening interval divided by the number of sub-groups; and

transmitting the paging messages, by sub-group, in the determined order using a base station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the index of the common listening interval is determined based on a frame number of a start frame of the common listening interval.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the number of sub-groups of mobile stations; and

transmitting the number of sub-groups to one or more of said number of sub-groups of mobile stations.

4. A method for monitoring for paging messages by a mobile station in a wireless communications system, comprising:

exiting a lower power state of an idle mode to monitor for the paging messages during a current listening interval;

determining a group number for the mobile station;

determining an order of group numbers that include the group number of the mobile station to receiving the paging messages in the current listening interval by determining a remainder of a quotient of a sum of a MAC address hash value generated from a MAC address of a mobile station and an index of the current listening interval divided by a total number of groups of mobile stations; and

returning to the low power state prior to the end of the current listening interval, in response to determining that a frame in the current listening interval contains a mobile page advertisement message that does not target the mobile station and does target a mobile station in a group that occurs later in the determined order of the group numbers than the group number determined for the mobile station.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining the group number for the mobile station comprises:

determining the group number for the mobile station based, at least in part, on the MAC address hash value generated from the MAC address of the mobile station.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein

different orders of group numbers based, at least in part, on an index of the current listening interval, such that different orders of group numbers are determined for different listening interval indexes.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a number M specifying the total number of groups of mobile stations; and

determining the group number for the mobile station based, at least in part, on the MAC address hash value generated from the MAC address of the mobile station and the number M.

8. A base station for scheduling paging messages in a wireless communications system, the base station comprising:

a memory; and

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

negotiating paging parameters for a paging group of mobile stations in idle mode, wherein the paging parameters comprise a common listening interval for the mobile stations in the paging group;

receiving the paging messages targeting the mobile stations in the paging group;

grouping the mobile stations in the paging group into a number of sub-groups;

determining an order for transmitting the paging messages within the common listening interval, wherein the order specifies a sequential order for transmitting the paging messages targeting the mobile stations in different sub-groups of the paging group,

wherein the at least one processor determines the order for transmitting the paging messages within the common listening interval by;

determining a sub-group associated with said each paging message based on a MAC address hash value generated from a MAC address of a targeted mobile station, and

determining an order of the sub-group based on a remainder of a quotient of a sum of the MAC address hash value of the targeted mobile station and an index of the common listening interval divided by the number of sub-groups; and

transmitting the paging messages, by the sub-group, in the determined order.

9. The base station of claim 8, wherein the index of the common listening interval is determined based on a frame number of a start frame of the common listening interval.

10. The base station of claim 8, in which the at least one processor is further configured for:

determining the number of sub-groups of mobile stations; and

transmitting the number of sub-groups to one or more of said number of sub-groups of mobile stations.

11. An apparatus for monitoring paging messages by a mobile station in a wireless communications system, comprising:

a memory; and

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

exiting a low power state of an idle mode to monitor for the paging messages during a current listening interval;

determining a group number for the mobile station;

determining an order of group numbers that include the group number of the mobile station to receiving the paging messages in the current listening interval by determining the remainder of a quotient of a sum of a MAC address hash value generated from a MAC address of a mobile station and an index of the current listening interval divided by a total number of groups of mobile stations; and

returning to the low power state prior to an end of the current listening interval, in response to determining that a frame in the current listening interval contains a mobile page advertisement message that does not target the mobile station and does target a mobile station in a group that occurs later in the determined order of the group numbers than the group number determined for the mobile station.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, in which the at least one processor is further configured for determining the group number for the mobile station by determining the group number for the mobile station based, at least in part, on the MAC address hash value generated from the MAC address of the mobile station.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor determines different orders of group numbers for different listening interval indexes.

14. The base apparatus of claim 11, in which the at least one processor is further configured for:

receiving a number M specifying the total number of groups of mobile stations; and

determining the group number for the mobile station based, at least in part, on the MAC address hash value generated from the MAC address of the mobile station and the number M.

15. An apparatus for scheduling paging messages in a wireless communications system, the apparatus comprising:

means for negotiating paging parameters for a paging group of mobile stations in idle mode, wherein the paging parameters comprise a common listening interval for the mobile stations in the paging group;

means for receiving the paging messages targeting the mobile stations in the paging group;

means for grouping the mobile stations in the paging group into a number of sub-groups;

means for determining an order for transmitting the paging messages within the common listening interval, wherein the order specifies a sequential order for transmitting the paging messages targeting the mobile stations in different sub-groups of the paging group,

wherein the means for determining the order for transmitting the paging messages within the common listening interval comprises;

means for determining a sub-group associated with said each paging message based on a MAC address hash value generated from a MAC address of a targeted mobile station, and

means for determining an order of the sub-group based on a remainder of a quotient of a sum of the MAC address hash value of the targeted mobile station and an index of the common listening interval divided by the number of sub-groups; and

means for transmitting the paging messages, by the sub-group, in the determined order.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the index of the common listening interval is determined based on a frame number of a start frame of the common listening interval.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising:

means for determining the number of sub-groups of mobile stations; and

means for transmitting the number of sub-groups to one or more of said number of sub-groups of mobile stations.

18. An apparatus for monitoring paging messages by a mobile station in a wireless communications system, the apparatus comprising:

means for exiting a low power state of an idle mode to monitor for the paging messages during a current listening interval;

means for determining a group number for the mobile station;

means for determining an order of group numbers that include the group number of the mobile station to receive the paging messages in the current listening interval by determining a remainder of a quotient of a sum of a MAC address hash value generated from a MAC address of a mobile station and an index of the current listening interval divided by a total number of groups of mobile stations; and

means for returning to the low power state prior to an end of the current listening interval, in response to determining that a frame in the current listening interval contains a mobile page advertisement message that does not target the mobile station and does target a mobile station in a group that occurs later in the determined order of the group numbers than the group number determined for the mobile station.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the means for determining the group number for the mobile station is configured to determine the group number for the mobile station based, at least in part, on the MAC address hash value generated from the MAC address of the mobile station.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the means for determining the order of the group numbers to receive the paging messages in the current listening interval determines different orders of group numbers for different listening interval indexes.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for receiving a number M specifying the total number of groups of mobile stations; and

means for determining the group number for the mobile station based, at least in part, on the MAC address hash value generated from the MAC address of the mobile station and the number M.

22. A computer-program product for scheduling paging messages in a wireless communications system, comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors and the instructions comprising:

instructions for negotiating paging parameters for a paging group of mobile stations in idle mode, wherein the paging parameters comprise a common listening interval for the mobile stations in the paging group;

instructions for receiving the paging messages targeting the mobile stations in the paging group;

instructions for grouping the mobile stations in the paging group into a number of sub-groups;

instructions for determining an order for transmitting the paging messages within the common listening interval, wherein the order specifies a sequential order for transmitting the paging messages targeting mobile stations in different sub-groups of the paging group,

wherein the instructions for determining the order for transmitting the paging messages within the common listening interval comprise;

instructions for determining a sub-group associated with said each paging message based on a MAC address hash value generated from a MAC address of a targeted mobile station, and

instructions for determining an order of the sub-group based on a remainder of a quotient of a sum of the MAC address hash value of the targeted mobile station and an index of the common listening interval divided by a number of sub-groups; and

instructions for transmitting the paging messages, by sub-group, in the determined order.

23. The computer-program product of claim 22, wherein the index of the common listening interval is determined based on a frame number of a start frame of the common listening interval.

24. The computer-program product of claim 22, wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for determining the number of sub-groups of mobile stations; and

instructions for transmitting the number of sub-groups to one or more of said number of sub-groups of mobile stations.

25. A computer-program product for monitoring paging messages by a mobile station in a wireless communications system, comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors and the instructions comprising:

instructions for exiting a low power state of an idle mode to monitor for the paging messages during a current listening interval;

instructions for determining a group number for the mobile station;

instructions for determining an order of group numbers that include the group number of the mobile station to receive the paging messages in the current listening interval by determining a remainder of a quotient of a sum of a MAC address hash value generated from a MAC address of a mobile station and an index of the current listening interval divided by a total number of groups of mobile stations; and

instructions for returning to the low power state prior to an end of the current listening interval, in response to determining that a frame in the current listening interval contains a mobile page advertisement message that does not target the mobile station and does target a mobile station in a group that occurs later in the determined order of the group numbers than the group number determined for the mobile station.

26. The computer-program product of claim 25, wherein the instructions for determining the group number for the mobile station comprise:

instructions for determining the group number for the mobile station based, at least in part, on the MAC address hash value generated from the MAC address of the mobile station.

27. The computer-program product of claim 25, wherein the instructions for determining the order of the group numbers to receive the paging messages in the current listening interval

determines different orders of group numbers for different listening interval indexes.

28. The computer-program product of claim 25, wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for receiving a number M specifying the total number of groups of mobile stations; and

instructions for determining the group number for the mobile station based, at least in part, on the MAC address hash value generated from the MAC address of the mobile station and the number M.