PLMN radio interface with upper layer supervision of layer one transport channels
AssigneeTelefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
InventorsStefan Eriksson, Arne Berglund, David Bladsjo
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Abstract
Flexibly configurable layer one transport channels produce radio blocks in response to communication information and extract communication information from radio blocks. One of the transport channels can be enabled to extract its associated communication information from a radio block while another of the transport channels is maintained disabled. The one transport channel provides the extracted communication information to a decision maker in a higher layer. In response to the extracted communication information, the decision maker decides whether the other transport channel should be enabled, and provides to the physical layer an indication of its decision.
Claims29
A radio communication apparatus, comprising:
- a physical layer portion and a higher layer portion coupled for communication therebetween;
- a radio block port for coupling to a physical radio channel, said radio block port for receiving a sequence of radio blocks that each include communication information associated with operations of said higher layer portion, each said radio block facilitating transmission of its associated communication information on the physical radio channel;
- said physical layer portion including a plurality of individually configurable transport channels coupled between said radio block port and said higher layer portion for interfacing between said radio block port and said higher layer portion, said transport channels collectively operable for extracting the communication information from said radio blocks, each of said transport channels including a configuration input for receiving transport format information associated with a current radio block of said sequence, said transport format information indicative of how the associated transport channel is to be configured for operation on the current radio block;
- each said transport channel having an enable input for selectively enabling and disabling said transport channel, each said transport channel operable when enabled for extracting from the current radio block an associated portion of the communication information in the current radio block and for providing the extracted communication information portion to said higher layer portion, each said transport channel, when disabled, refraining from extracting its associated communication information portion from the current radio block;
- a controller coupled to said enable inputs of said transport channels for enabling one of said transport channels while maintaining another of said transport channels disabled;
- and
- said higher layer portion including a decision maker responsive to the communication information portion provided by said one transport channel for deciding whether to enable said another transport channel, said controller coupled to said decision maker for enabling said another transport channel in response to an enable indication from said decision maker.
A method of supporting radio communication, comprising:
- providing in a physical layer a sequence of radio blocks that each include communication information associated with operations of a higher layer, each said radio block facilitating transmission of its associated communication information on a physical radio channel;
- in the physical layer, extracting the communication information from said radio blocks, including specifying for each radio block a plurality of extraction processing operations for extracting respective portions of the communication information from the radio block;
- applying one of said extraction processing operations to a current radio block of the sequence to extract therefrom a corresponding communication information portion, while refraining from applying another of the extraction processing operations to the current radio block;
- providing the extracted communication information portion to the higher layer;
- in the higher layer, deciding in response to the extracted communication information portion whether to apply said another extraction processing operation to the current radio block;
- and
- applying said another extraction processing operation to the current radio block in response to an apply indication from the higher layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.