Wireless access communications network

A method in a telecommunications network comprising a base station, an intermediate end user equipment, and an other end user equipment, the intermediate end user equipment having a frequency division duplex (FDD) transceiver for communicating directly with said base station over a FDD channel, a time division duplex (TDD) transceiver for communicating with the other end user equipment over a TDD channel and an interface for interfacing said FDD channel and TDD channel to establish a communication link between the base station and the other end user equipment, the method comprising the intermediate end user equipment establishing a relationship with the other end user equipment by the steps of:

• the intermediate end user equipment sending an ‘Anyone out there message?’ over the TDD channel on a timeslot allocated for that purpose by a controller of the network;
• the intermediate end user equipment receiving an acknowledgment of the ‘Anyone out there message?’ from the other end user equipment over the TDD channel;
• and
• the intermediate end user equipment sending a message to the base station via the FDD channel for registering the other end user equipment with the base station.

A method of communicating messages in a telecommunications network comprising a base station, an intermediate end user equipment and a terminal user equipment, comprising at least one of:

• (i) communicating an outgoing message from the base station to the terminal user equipment as a data packet by:
• the intermediate end user equipment receiving the outgoing message from the base station via a FDD channel;
• the intermediate end user equipment storing the outgoing message and reconfiguring the outgoing message for transmission over a TDD channel;
• the intermediate end user equipment transmitting the reconfigured outgoing message over the TDD channel directly or indirectly to the terminal user equipment;
• and
• (ii) communicating an incoming message from the terminal user equipment to the base station as a data packet by:
• the intermediate end user equipment receiving the incoming message directly or indirectly from the terminal user equipment over the TDD channel;
• the intermediate end user system storing the incoming message and reconfiguring the incoming message for transmission over the FDD channel;
• and
• the intermediate end user system transmitting the reconfigured incoming message directly over the FDD channel to the base station
• and in each of (i) and (ii) the method further comprises:
• configuring frames communicated over the TDD channel to have the same structure as frames communicated over the FDD channel;
• using the same coding and decoding scheme and the same modulation technique for data communicated over the TDD channel as are used for data communicated over the FDD channel,
• wherein the telecommunications network further comprises a second end user equipment and wherein the TDD channel is a first TDD channel, the method comprising at least one of:
• (iii) communicating the outgoing message from the base station to the terminal user equipment by the additional steps of:
• the intermediate end user equipment transmitting the reconfigured outgoing message directly over the first TDD channel to the second end user equipment and
• the second end user equipment relaying the message directly or indirectly over a second TDD channel to the terminal user equipment;
• and
• (iv) communicating the incoming message from the terminal user equipment to the base station by the additional steps of:
• the second end user equipment receiving the incoming message directly or indirectly from the terminal user equipment over the second TDD channel;
• and
• the second end user equipment relaying the incoming message directly over the first TDD channel to the intermediate end user equipment.

A method of communicating messages in a telecommunications network comprising a base station, an intermediate end user equipment and a terminal user equipment, comprising at least one of:

• (i) communicating an outgoing message from the base station to the terminal user equipment as a data packet by:
• the intermediate end user equipment receiving the outgoing message from the base station via a FDD channel;
• the intermediate end user equipment storing the outgoing message and reconfiguring the outgoing message for transmission over a TDD channel;
• the intermediate end user equipment transmitting the reconfigured outgoing message over the TDD channel directly or indirectly to the terminal user equipment;
• and
• (ii) communicating an incoming message from the terminal user equipment to the base station as a data packet by:
• the intermediate end user equipment receiving the incoming message directly or indirectly from the terminal user equipment over the TDD channel;
• the intermediate end user system storing the incoming message and reconfiguring the incoming message for transmission over the FDD channel;
• and
• the intermediate end user system transmitting the reconfigured incoming message directly over the FDD channel to the base station,
• and in each of (i) and (ii) the method further comprises:
• configuring frames communicated over the TDD channel to have the same structure as frames communicated over the FDD channel;
• using the same coding and decoding scheme and the same modulation technique for data communicated over the TDD channel as are used for data communicated over the FDD channel,
• wherein the telecommunication network further comprises a second end user equipment and the method comprises at least one of:
• (v) communicating the outgoing message from the base station to the terminal user equipment by the additional steps of:
• the intermediate end user equipment transmitting the reconfigured outgoing message directly or indirectly over the TDD channel to the second end user equipment;
• the second end user equipment storing the outgoing message and reconfiguring the message for transmission over a short range technology link, and transmitting the outgoing message directly via the short range technology link to the terminal user equipment;
• and
• (vi) communicating the incoming message from the terminal user equipment to the base station by the additional steps of:
• the second end user equipment receiving the incoming message directly via the short range technology link from the terminal user equipment;
• and
• the second end user equipment storing the incoming message and reconfiguring the message for transmission over the TDD channel and transmitting the outgoing message via the TDD channel directly or indirectly to the intermediate end user equipment.