HK1100380B - Method for transmitting specific information of wireless transmitter/receiver unit and wireless network controller - Google Patents

Description

Method for transferring specific information of wireless transmitting receiving unit and wireless network controller

Technical Field

The present invention relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) -specific information (WTRU-specific information) transfer method and system.

Background

In a wireless communication system implementing the third generation partnership project (3GPP) standards, a Radio Network Controller (RNC) maintains full transmission control over wtrus and is aware of the capabilities of each wtru. However, current systems often suffer from throughput and transmission latency problems. To improve the current system, the node B may be relied upon to schedule and allocate Uplink (UL) radio resources to the wtru. Even if the radio network controller maintains full control of the node B, the node B makes decisions and manages uplink radio resources more efficiently than the radio network controller on a short-term basis.

In order for a node B to allocate uplink radio resources to wtrus in Enhanced Uplink (EU) operation, the node B must know several wtru-specific parameters. Under the current third generation partnership project standards, only the rnc knows the wtru-specific parameters. The radio network controller obtains this information via a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message that conveys wtru-specific information. Therefore, this information must be forwarded to the node B for proper scheduling of radio resources in the enhanced uplink transmission.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is a method and system for transferring wtru-specific information to a node-B in a wireless communication system to support enhanced uplink operation. The rnc obtains wtru-specific information and transfers the wtru-specific information to the node-B. Each node B is configured to schedule uplink transmissions from a wtru and to use the wtru-specific information in an enhanced uplink transmission operation.

A method for transferring wireless transmit/receive unit specific information to support enhanced uplink operation, the method comprising:

the radio network controller obtaining wtru-specific information associated with an enhanced uplink with respect to the wtru; and

the rnc transfers the wtru-specific information to the node-B to activate the node-B to control enhanced uplink transmissions from the wtru based on the wtru-specific information.

The present invention discloses a radio network controller for transferring wireless transmit/receive unit specific information to support enhanced uplink operation, the radio network controller comprising:

means for obtaining wtru-specific information associated with an enhanced uplink with respect to the wtru; and

means for transferring the WTRU-specific information to a node-B to activate the node-B to control an enhanced uplink transmission from the WTRU based on the WTRU-specific information.

The present invention also discloses a method of transferring wtru-specific information to support high speed data packet architecture operations in a wireless communication system, the system comprising a radio network controller, a plurality of node-bs and a wtru, wherein each node-B is configured to schedule downlink transmissions to the wtru, the method comprising:

obtaining, by the radio network controller, wireless transmit/receive unit specific information; and

transferring the WTRU-specific information from the radio network controller to at least one node-B, such that the at least one node-B may use the WTRU-specific information when operating to enhance uplink transmissions.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a wireless communication system;

fig. 2 is a block diagram of transferring wtru-specific information between network entities in accordance with the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flow chart of a process for transferring wtru-specific information in accordance with the present invention.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, wherein like numerals represent like elements throughout.

Hereinafter, the term "wireless transmit/receive unit" may include, but is not limited to, a user equipment, a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a pager, or any other type of device capable of operating in a wireless environment. Hereinafter, the term "node B" when used in this specification includes but is not limited to a base station, a site controller, an access point, or any other interfacing device in a wireless environment.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system 100 in which a radio network controller 106 controls a plurality of node bs 104 (only one of which is shown), and each node B104 covers one or more cells 108a, 108B, 108 c. There is typically one "serving cell" serving the wtru 102, but the wtru 102 may be in soft handoff with several cells at a time. For example, in enhanced uplink operation, uplink transmissions are scheduled and radio resources are allocated to the wtru 102 by the node-B104 via a "serving" cell, e.g., cell 108c, to which the wtru 102 has established a connection. The wtru 102 may also be connected to other cells in support of soft handover.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a system 200 for transferring wtru-specific information to support enhanced uplink operation in accordance with the present invention. System 200 includes at least one wtru 202, at least one node-B204, and at least one rnc 206. The communication links support signaling 208, 210, 212 between the wtru 202, the node-B204, and the radio network controller 206. Initially, the radio network controller 206 uses the radio resource control message transmission 208 to obtain wtru-specific information from the wtru 202 during an initial connection. The information transferred from the wtru 202 that is required by the node-B204 is mainly physical transmission and reception capability information. The wtru-specific information is then forwarded from the rnc 206 to the node-B204 to be used for scheduling uplink transmissions for the wtru 202.

A new signaling procedure may be used to transfer information from the radio network controller 206 to the node B204. Alternatively, existing mechanisms (e.g., radio link setup procedures over the Iur and Iub interfaces) may be modified to cause the rnc 206 to forward relevant wtru-specific information to the node-B204. Although the particular protocol or format used to transfer information is not important to the present invention, by way of this example, information is transferred from the rnc 206 to the node B204 via the Iub interface 210 and the Iur interface. The rnc 206 transfers the wtru-specific information to the node-B204 via the Radio Network Subsystem Application Protocol (RNSAP) control procedure (over the Iur interface) and the node-B application part (NBAP) control protocol (over the Iur interface). This information may be sent with radio link setup procedures in the universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN).

The forwarding of wtru-specific information may occur in response to a detach event, for example, when the wtru 202 enters or establishes service in a service area covered by the rnc 206, or when the wtru 202 leaves the service area. Alternatively, the transfer of wtru-specific information may occur periodically during the lifetime of the wireless link, whereby the wtru 202 may update the wtru-specific information.

The transfer of wtru-specific information may be activated by the rnc 206 or the node-B204. If activated by the rnc 206, the wtru-specific information is transferred from the rnc 206 to the node-B204 when service activation or a change in the wtru-specific information is detected. Alternatively, the node B204 may request that information be transferred from the radio network controller 206 to the node B204, and the radio network controller 206 subsequently transfers the information upon receiving the request from the node B204.

Wtru-specific information includes, but is not limited to: a wireless transmit/receive unit pair capability to enhance the uplink; information affecting data rate and throughput; and information associated with physical and transport channel characteristics associated with the node-B assigned to the wtru.

Information that affects data rate and throughput includes, but is not limited to: a number of multiple codes supported for an uplink physical channel; a modulation scheme and a coding rate supported for an uplink physical channel; an automatic repeat request (ARQ) buffer or memory size in a wireless transmit/receive unit; a wireless transmit/receive unit power level; a number of hybrid automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) processes supported in the WTRU; available wtru memory patterns for enhanced uplink; supported bit rates and receivable bits per Transmission Time Interval (TTI) at layer 1(L1) or layer 2(L2) levels; and the ability of the wtru to simultaneously receive a particular channel on the non-enhanced uplink.

Physical and transport channel characteristic information includes, but is not limited to: maximum or minimum power setting of uplink or downlink physical channels; shared or dedicated physical channels allocated by the wtru (spreading and changing the coding frequency, time interval periodicity or counting when the wtru is available for use by the allocated shared channel); and high speed data downlink packet access wtru capability level information for downlink services.

The invention is applicable to both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) modes. Because of the commonality of the higher layer (radio resource control or via Iur/lub) signaling for both frequency division duplex and time division duplex modes, all of the parameters listed above also apply to time division duplex mode. For tdd applications, some tdd-only parameters should also be included, such as the number of enhanced uplink tdd service timeslots per wtru, the number of enhanced uplink tdd spreading codes per wtru and per timeslot, and the allowable and configurable power settings for the physical channels of the enhanced uplink tdd wtrus per timeslot and per wtru.

High Speed Data Packet Architecture (HSDPA) wireless transmit/receive unit capability for downlink data transmission has several common attributes to the enhanced uplink wireless transmit/receive unit capability for uplink data transmission. Because the node B provides downlink high speed data packet architecture and scheduling of uplink enhanced uplink services, the node B is able to dynamically allocate capabilities between uplink and downlink services on a potential transmission time interval basis, as well as better determine uplink and downlink transmissions and more efficiently use radio resources for improved quality of service (QoS).

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of a process 300 for transferring wtru-specific information in accordance with the present invention. The wtru 202 establishes a connection 212 to node B204 in an area covered by the rnc 206 (step 202). The rnc 206 sends the wtru-specific information obtained from the wtru 202 using a radio resource control message (step 204). The rnc 206 transfers wtru-specific information to the node-B204 (step 206). The transfer of wtru-specific information may be activated by the node-B204. The node B204 is configured to schedule uplink transmissions from the wtru 202 and to use wtru-specific information in enhanced uplink transmission operations.

Although the features and elements of the present invention are described in the preferred embodiments in particular combinations, each feature or element can be used alone (without the other features and elements of the preferred embodiments) or in various combinations with or without other features and elements of the present invention.

Claims (12)

1. A method for transferring wireless transmit/receive unit specific information to support enhanced uplink operation, the method comprising:

the radio network controller obtaining wtru-specific information associated with an enhanced uplink with respect to the wtru; and

the rnc transfers the wtru-specific information to the node-B to activate the node-B to control enhanced uplink transmissions from the wtru based on the wtru-specific information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wtru-specific information is updated each time the wtru-specific information changes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the wtru-specific information comprises at least one of: the wtru's ability to enhance the uplink, information related to high speed downlink packet access capabilities, information affecting data rate and throughput, and information about the physical and transport channel characteristics assigned to the wtru and associated with the node-B.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the information affecting data rate and throughput comprises at least one of: multiple number of supported codes for an uplink physical channel, modulation scheme and coding rate supported for the uplink physical channel, automatic repeat request buffer size in a wireless transmit/receive unit, wireless transmit/receive unit power class, number of hybrid automatic repeat request processes supported in the wireless transmit/receive unit, available wireless transmit/receive unit memory for at least one of enhanced uplink and high speed downlink packet access services, supported bit rate at layer 1 or layer 2 class and receivable bits per transmit time interval, and non-enhanced uplink specific channel capability simultaneously received by the wireless transmit/receive unit.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the physical and transport channel characteristic information comprises at least one of: a maximum or minimum power setting for an uplink or downlink physical channel, a shared or dedicated physical channel allocated by the wtru, and hsdpa wtru capability level information for a downlink service.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the WTRU-specific information further comprises at least one of: the number of enhanced uplink time division duplex service timeslots per wtru, the number of enhanced uplink time division duplex spreading codes per wtru and per timeslot, and the allowable and configurable power settings for the physical channels of the enhanced uplink time division duplex wtru per timeslot and per wtru.

7. A radio network controller for transferring wireless transmit/receive unit specific information to support enhanced uplink operation, the radio network controller comprising:

means for obtaining wtru-specific information associated with an enhanced uplink with respect to the wtru; and

means for transferring the WTRU-specific information to a node-B to activate the node-B to control an enhanced uplink transmission from the WTRU based on the WTRU-specific information.

8. The radio network controller of claim 7, wherein the wtru-specific information is updated each time the wtru-specific information changes.

9. The radio network controller of claim 7, wherein the wtru-specific information includes at least one of: the wtru's ability to enhance the uplink, information related to high speed downlink packet access capabilities, information affecting data rate and throughput, and information about physical and transport channel characteristics assigned to the wtru and associated with the node-B.

10. The radio network controller of claim 9, wherein the information affecting data rate and throughput comprises at least one of: multiple number of supported codes for uplink physical channels, supported modulation scheme and coding rate for uplink physical channels, wtru automatic repeat request buffer or memory size, power class, number of hybrid automatic repeat request processes supported in the wtru, any form of available wtru memory for enhanced uplink or high speed data downlink packet access services, supported bit rate and receivable bits per transmission time interval at layer 1 or layer 2 classes, and specific channel capability for the wtru to simultaneously receive non-enhanced uplink.

11. The radio network controller of claim 9, wherein the physical and transport channel characteristic information comprises at least one of: a maximum or minimum power setting for an uplink or downlink physical channel, a shared or dedicated physical channel allocated by the wtru, and hsdpa wtru capability level information for a downlink service.

12. The radio network controller of claim 9, wherein the wtru-specific information further comprises at least one of: the number of enhanced uplink time division duplex service timeslots per wtru, the number of enhanced uplink time division duplex spreading codes per wtru and per timeslot, and the allowable and configurable power settings for the physical channels of the enhanced uplink time division duplex wtru per timeslot and per wtru.