US 8,300,597 B1Granted

Method and system of cell switching while ping-ponging

AssigneeSprint Spectrum L.P.

InventorsDebasish Sarkar, Sachin R. Vargantwar, Deveshkumar N. Rai

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Abstract

An access terminal may be operating in a first mode in which it sends DSC transmissions that each indicate a cell in which the access terminal will be requesting data after sending the transmission. The access terminal may then detect that it is located at a boundary between two cells. In response, the access terminal may switch from operating in the first mode to operating in a second mode by reducing a number of timeslots that each DSC transmission occupies and beginning to alternate between sending a DSC transmission indicating the first cell and a DSC transmission indicating the second cell. In turn, the BTSs serving the two cells may receive these DSC transmissions and responsively switch from operating in a first mode to operating in a second mode in which both BTSs continue receiving the access terminal's data (e.g., by suspending the sending of “ForwardStopped” messages to an RNC).

Claims18

Dependent claims

A method of operation of an access terminal in an access network, the method comprising:

sending to the access network, on a first reverse-link channel, transmissions for indicating a coverage area of the access network in which the access terminal is currently requesting data;
operating in a first mode in which the access terminal sends to the access network, on a second reverse-link channel, a first type of transmissions for indicating a coverage area of the access network in which the access terminal will be requesting data wherein the transmissions of the first type each occupies a first number of timeslots and each indicates a coverage area in which the access terminal will be requesting data after sending the transmission;
detecting that the access terminal is located at a boundary between a first coverage area and a second coverage area;
in response to detecting that the access terminal is located at the boundary, the access terminal switching from operating in the first mode to operating in a second mode in which the access terminal sends to the access network, on the second reverse-link channel, a second type of transmissions for indicating that the access terminal is located at the boundary between the first coverage area and the second coverage area, wherein the transmissions of the second type each occupies a reduced second number of timeslots and alternate between a transmission that indicates the first coverage area and a transmission that indicates the second coverage area;
and
while operating in the second mode, the access terminal sending the second type of transmissions.

3 more elements

A method of operation of an access network that includes a first base transceiver station (BTS), the method comprising:

receiving from the access terminal, on a first reverse-link channel of the first BTS, transmissions for indicating a coverage area of the access network in which the access terminal is currently requesting data;
receiving from the access terminal, on a second reverse-link channel of the first BTS, a first type of transmissions for indicating a coverage area of the access network in which the access terminal will be requesting data, wherein the transmissions of the first type each occupies a first number of timeslots and each indicate a coverage area in which the access terminal will be requesting data after sending the transmission;
while receiving the first type of transmissions on the second reverse-link channel of the first BTS, operating in a first mode in which the access network (1) provides data destined for the access terminal to the first BTS in response to receiving from the access terminal, on at least one of the first and second reverse-link channels of the first BTS, one or more transmissions each indicating the first coverage area and (2) ceases to provide data destined for the access terminal to the first BTS in response to (a) receiving from the access terminal, on the first reverse-link channel of the first BTS, one or more transmissions each not indicating the first coverage area and (b) receiving from the access terminal, on the second reverse-link channel of the first BTS, one or more transmissions each not indicating the first coverage area;
receiving from the access terminal, on the second reverse-link channel of the first BTS, a second type of transmissions for indicating that the access terminal is located at a boundary between the first coverage area and a second coverage area, wherein the transmissions of the second type each occupies a reduced second number of timeslots and alternate between a transmission that indicates the first coverage area and a transmission that indicates the second coverage area;
and
in response to receiving the second type of transmissions on the second reverse-link channel of the first BTS, switching from operating in the first mode to operating in a second mode in which the access network continues to provide data destined for the access terminal to the first BTS even in response to (a) receiving from the access terminal, on the first reverse-link channel of the first BTS, one or more transmissions each not indicating the first coverage area and (b) receiving from the access terminal, on the second reverse-link channel of the first BTS, one or more transmissions each not indicating the first coverage area.

3 more elements

An access terminal comprising:

a communication interface for communicating with an access network;
a processor;
data storage;
and
program instructions stored in the data storage and executable by the processor for:
sending to the access network via the communication interface, on a first reverse-link channel, transmissions each for indicating a coverage area of the access network in which the access terminal is currently requesting data;
operating in a first mode in which the access terminal sends to the access network via the communication interface, on a second reverse-link channel, a first type of transmissions for indicating a coverage area of the access network in which the access terminal will be requesting data wherein the transmissions of the first type each occupies a first number of timeslots and each indicates a coverage area in which the access terminal will be requesting data after sending the transmission;
detecting that the access terminal is located at a boundary between a first coverage area and a second coverage area;
and
in response to detecting that the access terminal is located at the boundary, the access terminal switching from operating in the first mode to operating in a second mode in which the access terminal sends to the access network via the communication interface, on the second reverse-link channel, a second type of transmissions for indicating that the access terminal is located at the boundary between the first coverage area and the second coverage area, wherein the transmissions of the second type each occupies a reduced second number of timeslots and alternate between a transmission that indicates the first coverage area and a transmission that indicates the second coverage area;
and
while operating in the second mode, sending the second type of transmissions via the communication interface.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.