US 6,377,809 B1Granted

Channel structure for communication systems

AssigneeQUALCOMM Incorporated

InventorsRamin Rezaiifar, Yu-Cheun Jou, Edward G. Tiedemann, Jr.

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Abstract

An improved channel structure for use in communication systems is disclosed. The channel structure utilizes two sets of physical channels, one for the forward link and another for the reverse link. The physical channels include data channels and control channels, and the data channels are further divided into fundamental channels and supplemental channels. Fundamental channels are used to transmit voice traffic, data traffic, high speed data, and other overhead information, and supplemental channels are used to transmit high speed data. The fundamental channels may be released when the remote stations are idle to more fully utilized the available capacity. The control channels are used to transmit paging and control messages and scheduling information. This abstract appears solely to satisfy requirements of 37 CFR 1.72 and is therefore not intended to be used for interpreting the scope of the claims.

Claims15

Dependent claims

In a telecommunications system in which spread spectrum techniques are used, and in which a channel structure supports a paging channel, wherein each paging channel is for transmitting paging messages to a plurality of remote stations, and in which the channel structure supports a supplemental channel, wherein each supplemental channel is for transmitting high speed data traffic, the channel structure comprising:

a fundamental channel for exchanging voice traffic and data traffic between a remote station of said plurality of remote stations and another base station, wherein said fundamental channel can be used only when said remote station is in a traffic state, and wherein said remote station is in said traffic state only when said remote station is not monitoring the paging channel;
and
a control channel for exchanging signaling information between said remote station and said another station, said control channel comprising control frames, wherein the length of each of said control frames is a fraction of the length of a traffic channel frame, and wherein said control channel can be used only when said remote station is in said traffic state, wherein a reverse link is used to transmit data from a remote station to a base station, and wherein a forward link is used to transmit data from a base station to a remote station, wherein control frames in the reverse link direction comprise one or more reverse link messages comprising:
erasure indication bits (EIBs) for informing said base station whether frames received on the forward link fundamental and supplemental channels were received as erasures;
inter-cell power level measurements for informing said base station of the pilot in said remote station's active set that was received with the highest energy-per-chip-to-interference ratio, and for identifying to said base station all pilots in said remote station's active set whose energy-per-chip-to-interference ratio are within a predetermined power level of the pilot received with said highest energy-per-chip-to-interference ratio;
inter-carrier power level measurements for informing said base station of the varying strength of pilots received by said remote station on different carrier frequencies;
and
a reverse link data request for requesting a supplemental channel for the transmission of high speed data traffic, wherein said reverse link data request contains a queue size associated with the amount of data ready for transmission on the reverse link, and wherein said reverse link data request contains a power headroom associated with the amount of remaining power that said remote station has available for transmission.

5 more elements

a fundamental channel for exchanging voice traffic and data traffic between a remote station of said plurality of remote stations and another base station, wherein said fundamental channel can be used only when said remote station is in a traffic state, and wherein said remote station is in said traffic state only when said remote station is not monitoring the paging channel;
and
a control channel for exchanging signaling information between said remote station and said another station, said control channel comprising control frames, wherein the length of each of said control frames is a fraction of the length of a traffic channel frame, and wherein said control channel can be used only when said remote station is in said traffic state, wherein said control frames in the forward link direction contain one or more forward link messages comprising:
forward link scheduling information for informing said remote station that said base station will be assigning a forward link supplemental channel to said remote station at a first data rate for a first duration;
reverse link scheduling information for informing said remote station that said base station will be assigning a reverse link supplemental channel to said remote station at a particular data rate for a particular duration;
supplemental channel base station assignment information for informing said remote station which base stations, from said remote station's active pilot set, will begin transmitting high speed data to said remote station on a supplemental channel;
erasure indication bits (EIBs) for informing said remote station whether frames received on the reverse link fundamental and supplemental channels were received as erasures;
and
a process fundamental channel indication for indicating whether said remote station should demodulate said fundamental channel for information.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.