HK1114291A - Multiple paging channels for efficient region paging - Google Patents

Description

Multiple paging channels for efficient area paging

Priority of provisional application No.60/658,991 entitled "Multiple Paging channel for Efficient Region Paging" filed on 3, 4, 2005, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly to providing multiple multi-sector broadcast paging channels to provide improved spectral efficiency for large area paging of wireless devices.

Background

Orthogonal frequency division modulation or Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a protocol used to transmit and receive data in current wireless environments. OFDM modulates digital information onto an analog carrier electromagnetic signal and is used in accordance with the ieee802.11a/g WLAN standard. An OFDM baseband signal (e.g., subband) is a sum of multiple orthogonal subcarriers, where each subcarrier is independently modulated with its own data. Advantages of OFDM over other conventional wireless communication protocols include: ease in filtering out noise, ability to vary uplink and downlink speeds (by allocating more or fewer carriers for each purpose), ability to mitigate the effects of frequency selective fading, etc.

A mobile device, such as a cellular telephone, is paged in a wireless network using a paging channel to instruct the mobile device to connect to the network to obtain service. In conventional systems, the network only knows approximately the location of the mobile device prior to transmission of the page, and does not know the channel quality of the area in which the mobile device is located. Therefore, due to insufficient information, paging messages must typically be transmitted over large areas (e.g., multiple sectors) with low spectral efficiency. Thus, typical paging systems employ a paging channel transmitted independently from each sector in the paging area, which may be established based on the registration history of the mobile device. Pages can then be transmitted to the mobile device by sending a page message from each sector in the area. Paging transmissions are typically independent of each other when these paging messages can be transmitted at approximately the same time.

Some conventional systems employ known forward link soft handoff to improve performance. This technique allows multiple sectors to transmit paging signals to a mobile station when the network estimates the location of the device. However, even though the sectors may transmit the same signals, these signals are subject to sector-specific interference, which then requires the mobile device to receive and separately decode these signals, as well as combine the signal energy in the receiver after reception and separate decoding. Such a system does not have to increase device complexity and signal conversion overhead while reducing spectral efficiency.

In view of at least the foregoing, there is a need in the art for systems and/or methods that facilitate improving the spectral efficiency of paging signals within a transmitting sector, particularly near a sector boundary.

Disclosure of Invention

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more embodiments in order to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated embodiments, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all embodiments nor delineate the scope of any or all embodiments. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more embodiments in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

Embodiments include systems/methods that utilize multiple multi-sector broadcast (MSBC) paging channels to mitigate coverage gaps near area boundaries in a wireless network environment (e.g., OFDM, OFDMA.). For example, multiple MSBC paging channels may be assigned unique time slots so that although the channels may be the same, time may be used to separate the channels. Thus, these channels may overlap over areas where wireless device density is high and sufficient paging capacity is required. In addition, a single MSBC paging channel may be used in multiple occasions of the paging area, as long as the overlapping occasions of the single paging channel are minimized to reduce inter-channel interference.

In accordance with another particular embodiment, a method of providing multiple multi-sector broadcast (MSBC) paging channels to provide communication services in a wireless network includes providing multiple MSBC paging channels to transmit from multiple sectors of a paging area in the network to reduce service coverage gaps between the sectors, evaluating a paging list of devices to be paged in the paging area and a paging range of each device in the paging list, assigning one or more MSBC paging channels to each sector based at least in part on a number of devices to be paged in each sector, and transmitting pages to a subset of devices to be paged in each sector on the one or more MSBC paging channels assigned to each sector. The paging data may be modulated using OFDM modulation techniques and the paging channel may be assigned unique transmission slots to reduce inter-channel interference.

In another aspect, a method of generating a dynamic paging zone within an area in a wireless communication environment may comprise: receiving an input list of devices to be paged in the area, selecting one of a plurality of multi-sector broadcast (MSBC) paging channels to transmit pages in the area, allocating the selected MSBC paging channel to a null zone (empty zone), and forming the zone using a subset of the devices identified in the input list. Additionally, a distance-based registration technique may be used to help fill the zone with the subgroup of devices to be paged. Additionally, the method may further include transmitting a page on the single sector paging channel to devices whose registration data indicates that they are located near the perimeter of the area to ensure that paging signals are available in these peripheral areas.

In another aspect, a system that facilitates providing a plurality of dynamic multi-sector broadcast (MSBC) paging channel transmission zones in a wireless network area can comprise: a server that receives input information related to incoming pages of devices in a wireless network area, and a zone generation component that allocates an MSBC paging channel to at least one zone and populates the at least one zone with a subset of devices that are paged. The regional server can further include a scheduler component that allocates time slots for respective paging channels. The various zones associated with different paging channels may overlap to meet paging capacity requirements in a particular geographic area without increasing channel interference.

In another aspect, an apparatus that facilitates providing multiple paging channels for multi-sector broadcast (MSBC) paging channel transmission in a wireless network environment may include means for receiving a paging list including information related to devices being paged in a network region, means for parsing the paging list into subsets of devices based on device density in one or more geographic regions of the region, means for generating paging zones having unique MSBC paging channels that are separated in time to reduce interference, and means for transmitting pages to the subsets of devices in respective paging zones. In addition, the apparatus may include identifying means for identifying devices that cannot be assigned to a particular zone and transmitting pages to be transmitted to those devices on a single-sector paging channel.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more embodiments comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative aspects of the one or more embodiments. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various specific embodiments may be employed and the described embodiments are intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

Drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates a high-level system overview of a wireless communication network according to one embodiment.

Fig. 2 illustrates a linear representation of a wireless network with coverage gaps that occur when a single MSBC channel is used per wireless service area and that may be reduced by using and/or activating multiple MSBC paging channels in the area, according to one embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a diagram of a wireless network including two adjacent service areas, according to one embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a diagram of a network using multiple MSBC paging channels, according to one embodiment.

Fig. 5 illustrates multiple MSBC channels that may be used to help generate and/or maintain dynamic MSBC regions, according to one embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a diagram of a signal superframe including three independent MSBC paging channels according to one embodiment.

Fig. 7 is an illustration of a portion of a wireless network service area including zones in different service areas managed by respective MSBC zone servers, in accordance with one embodiment.

Fig. 8 is an illustration of an MSBC paging area in accordance with one embodiment.

Fig. 9 is an illustration of a system that facilitates utilizing multiple MSBC paging channels across one or more wireless network regions, in accordance with one embodiment.

Fig. 10 is an illustration of a system that facilitates dynamically generating one or more paging zones in a wireless network service area and one or more MSBC paging channels for paging transmissions in the one or more zones, in accordance with one embodiment.

Fig. 11 is an illustration of a system that facilitates providing multiple MSBC paging channels for paging transmissions in an area that uses dynamically generated paging zones, in accordance with one embodiment.

Fig. 12 is a diagram of a method for generating multiple MSBC paging channels that may be used to transmit multiple pages to a paging zone dynamically generated in one or more areas of a wireless communication network, according to one embodiment.

Fig. 13 illustrates a method of dynamically generating an MSBC paging zone that uses an MSBC paging channel to reduce interference and increase spectral efficiency over a paging area in a wireless communication network, in accordance with one embodiment.

Fig. 14 illustrates a method of dynamically generating paging zones within an area of a wireless network, according to one embodiment.

Fig. 15 is an exemplary communication system operating in a wireless environment, in accordance with one embodiment.

Detailed Description

Various embodiments are now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of one or more embodiments. It may be evident, however, that such embodiment(s) may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing one or more embodiments.

As used in this disclosure, the terms "component," "system," and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component can be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having different data structures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across the internet with other systems by way of the signal).

In accordance with one or more embodiments and corresponding disclosure thereof, various aspects are described in connection with providing multiple channels in each sector of one or more wireless network regions for multi-sector broadcast channel (MSBC) page transmission. As used herein, MSBC refers to synchronized network transmissions of the same waveform from multiple sectors in the network. As used herein, a Single Sector Paging Channel (SSPC) refers to a conventional paging channel in a sector that serves as a backup transmission technique to page users that cannot receive pages over MSBC-based paging channels.

In addition, various embodiments are described herein in connection with a subscription station. A subscribing station can also be called a system, a subscribing unit, mobile station, mobile, remote station, access point, base station, remote terminal, access terminal, user agent, or user device. The subscribing station may be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device having wireless connection capability, or other processing device connected to a wireless modem.

In addition, various aspects or features described herein may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips.), optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, memory stick, keyboard drive).

The implementation of the MSBC techniques described herein is limited by limitations related to, for example, MSBC boundary performance and paging set per region. For example, MSBC can improve spectral efficiency, in part because the combination of multiple sector energies can improve the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of paging messages, particularly at the sector edges. Since MSBC transmissions set spectral efficiency based on this assumption, some mobile devices, e.g., those located in sectors near the edge of the network area, may not be able to demodulate the MSBC waveform. In this case, mobile devices near the edge of the area may require paging services by the SSPCs. However, SSPC spectrum exhibits reduced efficiency compared to MSBC. In addition, when SSPC is attempted after attempting MSBC paging, the re-paging mechanism will reduce the battery life of the mobile device because such a sleeping mobile device must wake up twice per paging cycle. In order to maintain the performance improvements associated with using the MSBC paging channel, some attempts may be made to ensure that MSBC region boundaries are defined in regions that use a smaller number of mobile devices. However, this results in a large MSBC region that includes the entire city region.

A second limitation associated with the application of MSBC technology is that the same waveform is transmitted throughout the MSBC paging area, which results in pages being sent throughout the area even if the very precise location of the paged mobile device within the area is known. As will be described herein, various embodiments are presented that help improve the reception of paging signals at MSBC paging area boundaries, while allowing for the maintenance of smaller area sizes and allowing for dynamic changes of area boundaries.

The systems and methods described herein can help remove coverage gaps at or near area boundaries in wireless networks using the MSBC paging channel, which reduces the dependency on SSPC paging at area boundaries. SSPC paging techniques are spectrally inefficient compared to MSBC paging techniques, and such inefficiency results in reduced battery life for mobile devices at the zone boundaries. By using the MSBC paging channel, the wireless network enables improved flexibility in area boundary placement (e.g., in crowd dense areas), which allows for smaller areas to be defined and dynamic area control of the network to be enhanced.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 depicts a high level system overview of a wireless communication network incorporating one embodiment. This embodiment relates to a new system 100 that uses the MSBC paging channel to help improve spectral efficiency at or near sector boundaries in the wireless network service area. Although fig. 1 relates to improved paging signal strength at sector boundaries within a region, as shown with reference to the following figures, such improvements may be implemented throughout the region to include improving signal strength at region boundaries. Region 102 may be any service area and include any number of sub-regions, or sectors, each further including at least one base station (e.g., tower, transmitter). For example, sector 104 can include base station 106 that can transmit signals to mobile device 108 at sector 104.

Mobile devices, such as cellular telephones, typically register with the network periodically and/or in response to certain triggering registration events to inform the network of the location of the mobile device. For example, the distance or radius of the mobile device is predefined based on a distance registration method such that if the mobile device moves beyond a predetermined distance from the last registered geographic coordinates, the mobile device again registers with the network to inform the network of its location. Alternatively, zone-based registration may be used to trigger device registration. For example, movement of mobile device 108 across a sector boundary (e.g., from sector 104 to sector 110) may trigger mobile device 108 to transmit a signal to the network indicating that device 108 is currently in a new sector and thus that the network should attempt to page device 108 in the new sector.

The subject embodiments facilitate transmitting pages to mobile device 108 without specifically knowing the sectors within the area of mobile device 108. Rather, if the mobile device 108 is known to be within the service area 102, a single identical paging message may be sent from all of the base stations 106, 112, 118, 124 to provide a paging signal for all points within the area 102. For example, a single waveform can be generated and transmitted from a base station 106, 112, 118, 124 in each sector 104, 110, 116, 122.

Mobile devices 108 in sector 104 can receive a primary (if not all) transmitted signal from base station 106 in sector 104, as illustrated. Mobile devices 120 in sector 116 are located near the edge of sector 122 and are thus able to receive an aggregation of the signals broadcast by base stations 118 in sector 116 and 124 in sector 122. Such signal aggregation occurs over the air interface and does not require a special function for the receiver since the waveforms transmitted from base stations 118 and 124 in sectors 116 and 122 are identical. Similarly, mobile device 114 in sector 110 can receive signals from base stations 106, 112, and 118 in sectors 104, 110, and 116, respectively, rather than only sector 110. In this manner, the described embodiments facilitate high spectral efficiency near the sector edge where conventional systems providing different waveforms from each base station cannot operate.

According to a related aspect, the waveform transmitted from the base station can be modulated according to, for example, an OFDM protocol or similar protocol. In addition, a cyclic prefix can be appended to paging signals to adjust time delays that result from variations in the respective distances of a given mobile device from respective base stations. In this manner, signals from different sectors and/or base stations therein can be manipulated to help ensure that they arrive at the mobile device within a predetermined guard time (e.g., a time period in which interference is minimal and signal energy can aggregate). Thus, the receiving device need not be aware of the signal source, but rather is more concerned with demodulating the aggregation of the same paging signals transmitted. Additionally, system 100 may be used in conjunction with any number of suitable devices having wireless communication capabilities. For example, the system 100 can be used in a mobile phone, personal digital assistant, laptop, desktop computer, or similar device.

Fig. 2 shows a linear table of a wireless network 200 with coverage gapsThe coverage gap is shown to be generated when a single MSBC channel is used per wireless service area and may be reduced by using and/or activating multiple MSBC paging channels in the area. The graph depicts two paging channels "a" and "B" on which two different paging packets (e.g., "1" and "2") or waveforms may be transmitted. Thus, according to the figure, "X_i"denotes a paging packet i transmitted on channel X. It will be appreciated that the embodiments described herein are not limited to two paging channels and/or two paging packets, but may include any suitable number of channels and/or packets, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

According to the single MSBC paging channel scheme 202, a single channel a is used to transmit paging packets in both regions. For example, sectors 1 and 2 may be in the first region and sectors 3 and 4 in the second region. However, the coverage gap 204 is created near the edge of the area between sectors 2 and 3. Using multiple channels and allowing the channels to overlap near the edge of the area within a sector can reduce such coverage gaps.

For example, a multi-channel scheme 206 may be implemented whereby MSBC transmissions can overlap in sector 3, which reduces the coverage gap between paging packets 1 and 2. Channels a and B may be designed such that when not in use, channels a and B do not contribute to sector overhead. Thus, the overhead cost associated with multiple MSBC paging channels may limit the sectors in which multiple MSBC channels are actually used simultaneously. Also, sectors that are not at the edge of the area do not incur (overhead) increased overhead. In addition, the paging channels may be modulated using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) techniques and allow time slots to be associated with each paging channel. Each channel may have one or more unique time slots during which paging packets may be transmitted on the channel. If the paging channel is not used during its assigned time slot, the channel may be used for standard data and/or control transmissions in the sector, thus further reducing any increase in transmission overhead.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a wireless network 300 that includes two service areas 302 and 304. The service area 302 includes a plurality of sectors 306 that transmit the same paging waveform on an MSBC paging channel (e.g., channel a). Service area 304 includes a plurality of sectors 308 that transmit the same paging waveform on another MSBC paging channel (e.g., channel B). It will be appreciated that channels a and B may be the same channel in terms of frequency (if desired), in which case they may be allocated unique time slots so that they are not transmitted simultaneously, but rather sequentially. In this way, the channels for different regions may be separated in time, so that regions use different channels at the edge of the region. Sectors 310 near the edge of the zone may transmit an arbitrary permutation (periodicity) of the paging waveform, and this permutation may change each time the channel is used (e.g., during transmission of each slot). As such, sector 310 can transmit pages on channel a as well as channel B to facilitate paging mobile devices that are on or near the edge of one of first area 302 or second area 304. In sector 310, which broadcasts on two channels, the transmissions may be time-sliced to reduce inter-channel interference.

Fig. 4 is an illustration of a network 400, which is similar to that described above with reference to fig. 3. As shown, the network 400 includes a first region 402 associated with a first MSBC paging channel a. The second region 404 is associated with a second paging channel B. According to a simplified example, it is assumed that each paging channel can carry a single page. Regions 402 and 404 may be defined to delineate zones in which pages P1 and P2 are transmitted, respectively. The regions 402 and 404 may overlap and the sectors 406 near the edge of the region may transmit both paging channels a and B to ensure that the desired page is received regardless of the location of the mobile device anywhere in the region. For example, a mobile device receiving a first page 408 is illustrated in the first zone 402, while a mobile device receiving a second page 410 is illustrated in the second zone 404. According to this example, knowing the user's location helps define the paging area where pages 408 and 410 are delivered. However, if the location of the first user is known to overlap the location of the second user and the paging channel can only hold one page, then all sectors in the first area 402 may be defined to transmit on channel a and all sectors in the second area 404 may be defined to transmit on channel B. Sectors, such as sector 406, that fall within both regions are thus defined for transmission on channels a and B, where each channel transmits its respective page. It will be appreciated that the definition of the area around users will result in a non-overlapping area if they are sufficiently far from each other, in which case the same channel may be used in the first area to transmit a first page and in the second area to transmit a second page.

In addition, the first user receiving the first page 408 on channel a is shown traveling into the overlap region, as indicated by the right arrow in fig. 4. When the mobile device is in an overlapping region (e.g., edge, or overlap, sector 406), it is technically in both regions 402 and 404. However, because the sectors 406 in the overlap region still support page transmissions on channel A, mobile devices receiving the first page 408 do not need to re-register with the network (e.g., in the second area 404), which can reduce the "ping-pong" effect that occurs at the edge of the area in conventional systems. In this way, re-registration may be delayed until the mobile device enters a sector that does not support the last registration area.

Fig. 5 illustrates multiple MSBC channels used to help generate and/or maintain dynamic MSBC regions. From this figure, 3 different MSBC paging channels (A, B, and C) are defined and hatched in the diagonal, vertical, and parallel directions, respectively. Channel a is used in the first zone 502 and the second zone 504. The third and fourth zones 506 and 508 may transmit paging signals on the MSBC channel B, and the fifth and sixth zones 510 and 512 may use the MSBC paging channel C to deliver pages to users located therein. It is to be understood that fig. 5 is not intended to limit the number of regions that can be generated, the number of channels used per region, or the number of regions that can use a particular channel. Of course, fig. 5 will illustrate that different sizes (and shapes) of zones may be generated based on, for example, the paging density of a given area. For example, if the MSBC channel can transmit 1000 pages per transmission, without limitation, and 2500 incoming pages can be detected for an area or portion thereof, then 3 zones are generated and overlapped using 3 different MSBC channels to help efficiently send all incoming pages to users within the area.

To further illustrate this example, the main metropolitan area may exist in a shaded area where areas 502, 506, and 510 overlap. During the course of a work day, the density of mobile devices in such areas may increase, and thus the number of zones and/or the number of MSBC channels may need to be increased to help meet paging requirements at such times. On weekends and at night, when a metropolitan area has a smaller population density, a single area can effectively meet the paging requirement. The systems and methods described herein facilitate the generation of dynamic zones where zones may use the same MSBC paging channel when not overlapping each other, use a unique MSBC paging channel when zones overlap each other, and may be of any size and shape depending on the channel capacity and paging capacity of a given area. Overlap can generally be determined when a zone has one or more sectors (e.g., base stations). In addition, an MSBC region server (not shown) may be used to receive all paging needs in its region and generate and/or regenerate suitable regions in each paging cycle based on the paging need capacity and channel transmission capacity, which will be described in more detail below with respect to the following figures. The MSBC region server can serve an arbitrarily large region if the processing speed limited by the communication delay allows it.

In addition, each sector in the dynamic region may generate and transmit an overhead message that informs the receiving device of the identity of the MSBC paging channel on which the sector base station is broadcasting. The receiving device may read the overhead message and identify which particular channel should be demodulated. According to the three-channel example set forth above, there are 8 possible permutations of channel combinations that may be presented to the receiving device in the overhead message (e.g., 8 possible channel combinations that may be transmitted in a sector): A. b, C, AB, AC, BC, ABC, and 0 (e.g., indicating an empty set with no channels in use). Because the paging zones are dynamically generated and last for at least one transmission cycle, a sector can be assigned to one of eight states at any given time, and that state can be changed for the next transmission cycle.

Fig. 6 is an illustration of a single superframe 600 including 3 separate MSBC paging channels, labeled A, B, and C. Superframe 600 includes a preamble and 9 physical frames (labeled 0-8) each of which includes a plurality of symbols or modulated data packets. The last symbol of each physical frame may be associated with a particular MSBC paging channel. For example, frames 0, 3, and 6 may include OFDM symbols that identify and/or describe channel a. Similarly, channel B may comprise 3 OFDM symbols appended to each of frames 1, 4, and 7, respectively, and channel C may comprise OFDM symbols appended to each of frames 2, 5, and 8, respectively. Thus, in the example of this three-channel scheme, each MSBC paging channel may include 3 OFDM symbols, which may be the last symbol of 3 different physical frames. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that different numbers of MSBC paging channels, etc. may be described using superframes having different sizes.

A standard packet broadcast control channel may be used to indicate which MSBC paging channel is being used during a given paging cycle. If one or more MSBC paging channels are not used during a given paging cycle, as may occur, for example, when the paging capacity is low and/or may be handled by a single MSBC paging channel with a predefined transmission capacity, the OFDM symbols attached to the corresponding physical frame may be used by the physical frame as if it is operating normally. The superframe 600 may be used by a scheduler, or MSBC region server, to schedule packet formats according to whether the last symbol of a frame is occupied by OFDM symbols defining MSBC channels, which may help generate overlapping and independent MSBC regions. In addition, the edges of these regions are dynamically defined and/or redefined during a given superframe based at least in part on paging capacity. In addition, according to related aspects, any overflow paging load may be carried by SSPCs from sectors in the area.

Fig. 7 is a diagram of a portion of a wireless network service area 700 that includes zones in different service areas controlled by respective MSBC area servers. A region 702 in the first MSBC service area and a region 704 in the second MSBC service area are separated by an MSBC service area boundary 706. An access terminal 708 (e.g., mobile phone, laptop, personal computer, personal digital assistant..) is located near the border area of zone 702 and has a paging area that extends to the second MSBC service area. Access terminal 708 may be paged in zone 702 over an MSBC paging channel. Sectors in the border area 710 of the first MSBC service area may transmit pages to be sent to the access terminal 708 on both the MSBC paging channel and the SSPC to ensure that pages may be received in these areas. In addition, because the paging zone of the access terminal 708 extends into the zone 704 of the second MSBC server zone, the access terminal 708 can be paged from the zone 704 over an MSBC paging channel. In addition, sectors in the border area 712 of zone 704 can transmit pages to access terminal 708 on each of the MSBC paging channel and SSPC.

It will be appreciated that the area served by the MSBC region server (not shown) may be arbitrarily large, limited only by processing power and/or communication speed considerations. Likewise, area edges, such as edge 706, may be located in sparsely populated areas to reduce overhead in boundary sectors that may transmit pages on both the MSBC paging channel and the SSPC.

Fig. 8 is an illustration of an MSBC paging area 800, as described with reference to previous figures. Zone 800 may be defined such that it is ensured that it is large enough to be able to contain all paging areas 802 for paging access terminals within zone 800 over the MSBC paging channel. The size of the region 800 may be a function of the MSBC paging channel carrying capacity (e.g., the number of pages that can be transmitted on the MSBC paging channel during a given paging cycle) and may have any shape. For example, if the MSBC paging channel is capable of carrying 2000 pages per cycle, zone 802 may include a minimum of 2000 access terminal paging areas 802 (and associated access terminals), and this minimum may be a maximum when each terminal in zone 802 is paged simultaneously. When, for example, an MSBC region server (not shown) receives only 1000 pages for transmission, the server controls the region generation, which may extend to include other access terminals and their paging regions 802 until a channel paging capacity threshold (e.g., 2000 pages, 3000 pages, 10000 pages). In this manner, a region can be dynamically configured, the region having any size that depends on the channel capacity and the density of access terminals paged in a particular fractional region.

The paging area 802 may be defined as a defined circumference surrounding the last known registration point 804 for a particular access terminal. The prescribed circumference may have a predetermined radius used to delineate registration distance 806, such as used to facilitate distance-based registration algorithms commonly used to trigger mobile device registration. For example, if registration distance 806 is defined as one mile and the last time registration point 804 was known to be located at the center of the access terminal's paging area, the access terminal may move anywhere in its paging area 802 without registering with the network where the service is provided. However, when an access terminal exceeds the perimeter of its paging area 802 (e.g., a displacement of greater than a predetermined radius from the last registration point 804 is achieved), then registration of the terminal with the network can be triggered. It will be appreciated that the foregoing examples are illustrative in nature and are not intended to limit the size of registration distances that may be used to illicitly re-register from an access terminal. By using a distance-based registration technique, the registration load can be randomly distributed, which subsequently reduces the likelihood of registering hotspots. In addition, "ping-pong" registration, which occurs when an access terminal is at or near a sector or region boundary, can be reduced because there is a pre-set geographic registration boundary.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a system 900 that facilitates utilizing multiple MSBC paging channels across one or more wireless network regions. The system 900 includes an MSBC region server 902 that receives and/or identifies all pages to be transmitted in a region during a paging cycle. For example, the MSBC region server 902 may receive and/or generate a paging list based on incoming pages for devices located/registered within the region. Based on the incoming paging density and the known paging channel capacity, the zone generator 904 dynamically generates one or more zones within the area. It is to be appreciated that although the MSBC region server 902 and the zone generator 904 are depicted as separate components that are operatively coupled to each other, the MSBC region server 902 may include the zone generator 904 as an integral component. In addition, a zone generator 904 is operably coupled to one or more base stations 906 in each sector including the MSBC region server 902. The base station 906 transmits pages to the receiver 908 on the MSBC paging channel and optionally on the SSPC paging channel. For example, the SSPC paging channel may be used by base stations located on perimeter sectors of the area to ensure that the paging load in any such area is handled by the SSPC channel to ensure that pages are received at the receiver 908 in those areas.

According to an example, the MSBC region server 902 may determine that 1000 pages will enter the 16-sector region in the next paging cycle, and 500 of them will be sent to mobile devices, or receivers 908, within a range that includes 4 adjacent sectors of the 16 sectors within the region. If the paging channel capacity is known to be approximately 600 pages per channel per paging cycle, then region generator 904 may generate one region covering the entire area and a second region comprising 4 adjacent high capacity sectors. Base stations 906 in a first zone (all sectors within the area) generated by zone generator 904 may generate a first MSBC paging channel (e.g., channel a) that may be transmitted by all 16 base stations 906 from all 16 sectors. The base stations 906 in the second zone (4 adjacent sectors) may additionally generate a second MSBC paging channel (e.g., channel B) over which 500 pages of the second zone may be transmitted. According to the present example, the base station 906 in the second zone need not generate and/or transmit channel a in order to effectively serve receivers 908 that are already in the second zone, but rather allows the base station 906 to generate and transmit channel a in order to ensure that any receiver 908 that is moving into or near the second zone is still able to receive these pages to the receiver 908 during the paging cycle.

Fig. 10 is an illustration of a system 1000 that facilitates dynamically generating paging zones in a wireless network service area and generating one or more MSBC paging channels for page transmissions in one or more zones. The MSBC region server 1002 is operably coupled to and/or may include a region generator 1004. The MSBC region server 1002 can receive a paging list of access terminals and registration distances of access terminals within a region, and can map pages to target ranges within the region to identify high density paging ranges. The zone generator 1004 can accept paging density information from the MSBC zone server 1002 and can allocate an MSBC paging channel to base stations 1006 in a sector of the entire zone. The MSBC paging channel allocation may be a function of paging density and MSBC paging channel capacity in one or more sectors, which is then also a function of processor power and communication speed. The zone generator 1004 may use a dynamic zone algorithm to generate one or more zones within an area to provide sufficient paging capacity to handle the transmission of all pages in the paging list. The receiver 1008 may receive pages from the base station 1006 on one or more designated MSBC paging channels. In addition, base stations at or near the edge of the area may transmit pages on the SSPC paging channel to ensure that pages can be delivered to receivers 1008 located in these areas. The following example illustrates a simplified dynamic region algorithm:

Input：

-List of<AT>where each AT is represented by a

<point，radius>pair，where，

.point represents the location of the last

registration sector of the an AT，and

.the radius is the registration distance for the AT.

Output：

-A List of<dyn-zone>，where dyn-zone is a

.List of<channel，List of<AT>>pairs where

-channel is A，B，C or SSPC

-List of<AT>is a subset of the input list.

the MSBC region server 1002 may receive as input a list of access terminals to be paged within the region according to the dynamic region algorithm described above. Each access terminal may be represented by a point-radius pair, such as may be used in connection with a distance-based registration scheme, where "point" information includes last known registration coordinates and/or a sector of the corresponding access terminal, and "radius" information describes a registration distance (e.g., a maximum allowed displacement from a point at which registration is not required) for the access terminal. Based at least in part on the input information, the region generator 1004 can generate a dynamic region list, wherein a dynamic region is associated with a channel access terminal to the information list. The paired data in the list of channel access terminals may include, for example, a unique subset of the input list of access terminals, where each access terminal in the subset is identified and associated with one or more channels through which the access terminal can be paged. For example, according to the 3-MSBC paging channel example, each access terminal may be associated with a channel A, B for MSBC paging, and one or more of C and/or SSPC paging channels (e.g., if the access terminal is located near an area edge). It will be appreciated that more than one dynamic zone may use the same MSBC paging channel as long as there is no overlap between the dynamic zones.

In addition, an MSBC channel generator 1010 is operably coupled to one or more base stations 1006 and is capable of generating one or more MSBC paging channels using, for example, OFDM, OFDMA, or any other suitable waveform generation technique. To facilitate allocation of resources and/or pairing of access terminals with paging channels, the following example of an algorithm is provided:

.Set current-channel to A

.Set curr-dyn-zone to<current-channel，empty-AT-list>.

.Loop while AT is left in the input

-If curr-dyn-zone capacity is full

.Put curr-dyn-zone to output list

.Set curr-dyn-zone to<current-channel，empty-AT-list>.

-Select an AT from the input list whose point is

closest to the center of mass of the points in the

curr-dyn-zone and whose paging region does not overlap with previously

created dyn-zones of the same channel.

-If there is such an AT

.Move the selected AT from the input to the curr-dyn-zone.

-Else if current-channel！＝C

.Set current-channel to next channel

.Put curr-dyn-zone to output list

.Set curr-dyn-zone to<current-channel，empty-AT-list>.

-Else

.Exit loop

.End loop

.Perform SSPC paging for the remaining ATs

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a system 1100 that facilitates providing multiple MSBC paging channels to transmit pages throughout an area using dynamically generated paging zones. The system 1100 includes an MSBC region server 1102 that periodically repeats receiving a complete list of incoming pages for an entire paging region in the wireless service network. The paging list may include registration range information for all registered wireless devices (e.g., receivers) in the area. The MSBC region server 1102 may be operatively coupled to and/or may include a dynamic region generator 1104 that may receive paging density information from the MSBC region server 1102 and may allocate MSBC paging channels to base stations 1106 in sectors throughout the region. As detailed with respect to fig. 5, each base station 1106 can transmit sector overhead information identifying which MSBC paging channel(s) are being broadcast on the sector during a given transmission period. The MSBC paging channel allocation may be a function of paging density in one or more sectors and MSBC paging channel capacity, which in turn is a function of processor power and communication speed. The zone generator 1104 may use a dynamic zone algorithm, as described with respect to fig. 10, to generate one or more paging zones in an area to provide sufficient paging capacity to handle the transmission of all pages in a paging list. The receiver 1108 may receive pages from the base station 1106 on one or more designated MSBC paging channels.

The system 1100 further includes an MSBC paging channel generator 1110 that generates a paging channel whereby multiple identical paging channel waveforms may be broadcast from multiple sectors and allows for aggregation of signal strength near sector edges within a region in space near the sector edges to provide high spectral efficiency. Because the waveforms are identical, receiver 1108 may receive an aggregation of two or more such signals and demodulate the aggregation without requiring receiver 1108 to demodulate the individual signals prior to the aggregation of signal energy.

An MSBC algorithm data store 1112 is operatively coupled to each region generator 1104 and the MSBC paging channel generator. The algorithm data store may store information related to area paging lists, zone paging lists, channel generation algorithms, dynamic zone generation algorithms, and/or any other suitable information.

The MSBC region server 1102 additionally includes a scheduler component 1114 that facilitates allocating transmission slots for MSBC paging channel regions, and the like. By requiring each paging channel to transmit pages at different time slots, the paging signals are separated in time, thereby reducing interference therebetween. In this manner, zones using different MSBC paging channels may be allowed to overlap to provide more than one paging channel in a particular geographic area, thereby providing increased paging capacity. The scheduler component may use a synchronization technique to ensure that similar channels are transmitted simultaneously, with different channels being transmitted in different time slots.

Referring to fig. 12-14, methodologies relating to generating rough estimates of radio symbol boundaries in the time domain are illustrated. For example, a method may involve the generation of one or more multi-sector broadcast paging channels and/or dynamic paging zones in an OFDM environment, an OFDMA environment, a CDMA environment, or any other suitable wireless environment. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series of acts, it is to be understood and appreciated that the methodologies are not limited by the order of acts, as some acts may, in accordance with one or more embodiments, occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other acts from that shown and described herein. For example, those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that a methodology could alternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states or events, such as in a state diagram. Moreover, not all illustrated acts may be required to implement a methodology in accordance with one or more embodiments.

Fig. 12 illustrates a methodology 1200 for generating multiple MSBC paging channels that may be utilized to transmit multiple pages to dynamically generated paging zones in one or more areas of a wireless communication network. Pursuant to methodology 1200, at 1202, information related to an incoming paging list of a mobile device registered within a region can be received. At 1204, incoming paging information is analyzed to determine paging densities within various areas, e.g., paging areas. Each listed mobile device to be paged may be represented by a point-radius pair, such as may be used in conjunction with a distance-based registration scheme, where "point" information includes last known registration coordinates and/or sector of the corresponding access terminal and "radius" information describes the registration distance (e.g., maximum allowed displacement from the registration-free point) of the access terminal.

One or more MSBC channels are generated based at least in part on the information regarding the number of mobile devices to page estimated at 1204. For example, the number of MSBC paging channels is determined based on the total number of pages to be transmitted, taking into account the paging channel capacity. For example, if the paging channel can carry 500 pages and 1300 pages are to be transmitted, then 3 paging channels are generated at 1206. At 1208, one or more paging zones may be dynamically generated, wherein each zone is associated with a list of channel-access mobile device pair information. The paired data in the mobile device paging list received at 1202 can include, for example, a unique subset of the input mobile device list, where each mobile device in the subset is identified and associated with one or more channels generated at 1206 over which the mobile device can be paged at 1208. In addition, devices to be paged may be in sectors near the edge of the paging area on the SSPC paging channel as a precaution to ensure that the device receives a page. In this manner, method 1200 may dynamically allocate paging channels to the regions generated per transmission time to help improve the spectral efficiency of the entire paging area while reducing the network resource (e.g., bandwidth, required transmit power).

Fig. 13 illustrates a methodology 1300 for dynamically generating an MSBC paging zone that uses an MSBC paging channel to reduce interference and increase spectral efficiency over a paging area in a wireless communication network. At 1302, a list of mobile devices in a paging area can be received as described with respect to the previous figures. At 1304, a total MSBC paging channel can be generated for the channel capacity sufficient to transmit all pages identified in 1302. In addition, each paging channel is assigned a unique transmission time slot such that the channel transmissions are separated in time to reduce potential interference. At 1306, a data packet including a page to be transmitted may be generated for each paging channel and modulated using, for example, an OFDM modulation technique.

At 1308, one or more paging zones may be defined and assigned paging channels on which to transmit corresponding encoded and modulated paging data packets to mobile devices within the zone. A zone algorithm, as described with respect to fig. 10, may be used to generate a subset of wireless devices to page from the regional paging list received in 1302. At 1310, paging subsets may be transmitted in respective zones using the MSBC paging channel assigned to the zone. A single paging channel may be used for multiple zones as long as the zones do not overlap. Where two or more dynamically generated paging zones overlap, each zone may use a different paging channel. Because the paging channels are assigned transmit time slots at 1304, interference between two different paging channels transmitted at overlapping portions of their respective zones may be minimized (e.g., different paging signals may not be present at different overlapping portions and thus may not interfere with each other). In this way, the method 1300 helps improve spectral efficiency and dynamically generates paging zones that use multiple MSBC paging channels to improve large area paging capacity.

Fig. 14 illustrates a methodology 1400 for dynamically generating paging zones within an area of a wireless network. At 1402, a current MSBC channel is selected for allocation to a zone. For example, an MSBC paging channel (e.g., channel a) is generated and set up. At 1404, a current zone is generated and assigned a current MSBC paging channel (e.g., channel A) over which pages assigned thereto are transmitted, and a paging list including information related to a device to be paged is initiated and set to an empty state. At 1406, paging devices are assigned to the current zone for transmission on the MSBC paging channel. For example, when a page to be sent to a device is retained in the input list in the paging area, it is determined whether it is a current dynamic zone. To populate the paging list that serves as a front zone, a device may be selected from a device paging input list, where the selected device has a registration point closest to the center of all device registration points in the current dynamic zone generated, and a paging range that does not overlap with any previously generated zones (e.g., as explained with respect to fig. 8). At 1408, a determination is made as to whether the device is present (e.g., whether there is a device in the input registry that has a registration point in the current zone and a paging range that does not overlap with the previously generated, co-existing zone).

If it is determined 1408 that such a device is present, the device can be assigned 1410 to a current zone (e.g., a device paging list of the current zone, which is a subset of all pages to be sent to devices in the entire area). The method then returns to 1406 to repeat the device selection again to form the zone paging list. If no such device is detected and/or if the zone is full capacity (e.g., the zone paging list reaches the maximum transmission capacity of the MSBC paging channel assigned to the zone), the zone may be output at 1412, which may trigger transmission of pages for all devices in the zone paging list on the MSBC paging channel assigned to the zone at 1418. Once the zone in which to transmit the page listed therein is output at 1412, the method may proceed to 1416 where the next MSBC paging channel is set to the current channel to be allocated to the dynamic zone. The method then returns to 1404 where a new current channel is assigned to a new current dynamic paging zone having an empty device paging list, and the method continues through any number of iterations to provide for the generation of dynamic paging zones that are continuously generated for transmitting pages to users of the wireless network.

Additionally, the determination at 1408 that no selectable device is present is a result of the device not satisfying either of the two limitations described in 1406. For example, the determination may be based on the absence of any other wireless devices in the area list to page. In addition, the device to be paged may still exist in the paging list, but may have a paging range that overlaps with the coexistence area. Such devices may be paged on the SSPC paging channel at 1414 to ensure that all pages in the paging list are transmitted to the respective receiving device to which they are to be transmitted.

Fig. 15 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system 1500. The wireless communication system 1500 depicts one base station and one terminal for sake of brevity. However, it is to be appreciated that the system can include more than one base station and/or more than one terminal, wherein additional base stations and/or terminals can be substantially similar or different for the exemplary base station and terminal described below. In addition, it is to be appreciated that the base station and/or the terminal can employ the systems (fig. 9-11) and/or methods (fig. 12-14), and other aspects related to the other figures described herein, to facilitate wireless communication there between.

Referring now to fig. 15, on the downlink, at access point 105, a Transmit (TX) data processor 1510 receives, formats, codes, interleaves, and modulates (or symbol maps) traffic data and provides modulation symbols ("data symbols"). An OFDM modulator 1515 receives and processes the data symbols and pilot symbols and provides a stream of OFDM symbols. OFDM modulator 1520 multiplexes the data symbols and pilot symbols on the appropriate subbands, provides a signal value of zero for each unused subband, and obtains a set of N transmit symbols for the N subbands for each OFDM symbol period. Each transmit symbol may be a data symbol, a pilot symbol, or a signal value of zero. The pilot symbols may be transmitted continuously in each OFDM symbol period. In addition, the pilot symbols may be Time Division Multiplexed (TDM), Frequency Division Multiplexed (FDM), or Code Division Multiplexed (CDM). OFDM modulator 1520 may convert each set of N transmit symbols to the time domain using an N-point IFET to obtain a transformed symbol comprising N time-domain chips. OFDM modulator 1520 typically repeats a portion of each transformed symbol to obtain a corresponding OFDM symbol. The repeated portion is considered a cyclic prefix and is used to cancel the delay spread in the wireless channel.

A transmitter unit (TMTR)1520 receives and converts the stream of OFDM symbols into one or more analog signals and further conditions (e.g., amplifies, filters, and frequency upconverts) the analog signals to generate a downlink signal suitable for transmission over the wireless channel. The downlink signal is then transmitted via an antenna 1525 to the terminals. At terminal 1530, an antenna 1535 receives the downlink signal and provides a received signal to a receiver unit (RCVR) 1540. Receiver unit 1540 processes (e.g., filters, amplifies, or downconverts) the received signal and digitizes the processed signal to obtain samples. OFDM demodulator 1545 removes the cyclic prefix appended to each OFDM symbol, converts each received transformed symbol to the frequency domain using N-point FETs, obtains N received symbols for the N subbands for each OFDM symbol period, and provides the received pilot symbols to processor 1550 for channel estimation. OFDM demodulator 1545 further receives a frequency response estimate for the downlink from processor 1550, performs data demodulation on the received data symbols to obtain data symbol estimates (which are estimates of the transmitted data symbols), and provides the data symbol estimates to an RX data processor 1555, which demodulates (e.g., demaps the symbols), deinterleaves, and decodes the data symbol estimates to recover the transmitted traffic data. At access point 1500, the processing by OFDM demodulator 1545 and RX data processor is complementary to that performed by OFDM modulator 1515 and TX data processor 1510, respectively.

On the uplink, a TX data processor 1560 processes traffic data and provides data symbols. An OFDM modulator 1565 receives and multiplexes the data symbols with pilot signals, performs OFDM modulation, and provides a stream of OFDM symbols. Pilot symbols may be transmitted on subbands that have been allocated to terminal 1530 for pilot transmission, and the number of pilot subbands used for uplink may be the same as or different from the number of pilot subbands used for downlink. A transmitter unit 1570 then receives and processes the stream of OFDM symbols to generate an uplink signal, which is transmitted by the antenna 1535 to the access point 1510.

At access point 1510, an antenna 1525 receives an incoming uplink signal from terminal 1530 and processes the signal with a receiver unit 1575 to obtain samples. An OFDM demodulator 1580 then processes the samples and provides received pilot symbols and data symbol estimates for the uplink. An RX data processor 1585 processes the data symbol estimates to recover the traffic data transmitted by terminal 1535. A processor 1590 performs channel estimation for each active terminal transmitting on the uplink. Multiple terminals may transmit pilot concurrently on the uplink on their respective assigned sets of pilot subbands, where the pilot subband sets may be interlaced.

Processors 1590 and 1550 direct (e.g., control, coordinate, manage, etc.) operation of access point 1510 and terminal 1535, respectively. Each processor 1590 and 1550 may have a memory unit (not shown) that stores program code and data. Processors 1590 and 1550 may also perform computations to derive frequency and impulse response estimates for the uplink and downlink, respectively.

For a multiple-access OFDM system (e.g., an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system), multiple terminals may transmit on the uplink simultaneously. For such systems, the pilot subbands may be shared among different terminals. Channel estimation techniques may be used when the pilot subbands for each terminal span the entire operating band (possibly except for the band edges). Such a pilot subband structure may be desirable to obtain frequency diversity for each terminal. The techniques described herein may be implemented in various ways. For example, these techniques may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For a hardware implementation, the processor units used for channel estimation may be implemented by one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. As for software, it can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The software codes may be stored in memory unit and executed by the processors 1590 and 1550.

What has been described above includes one or more embodiments. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the aforementioned embodiments, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations of various embodiments are possible. Accordingly, the described embodiments are intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the word "includes" is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such word is intended to include variants similar to the word "comprising" as "comprising" is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.

Claims (57)

1. A method of providing communication services over a wireless network, comprising:

evaluating a paging list of devices to be paged in a paging area and a paging range of each device in the paging list;

assigning one or more paging channels to each sector based at least in part on the number of devices to be paged in each sector, wherein at least one paging channel is assigned to a plurality of sectors; and

pages are transmitted to a subset of devices to be paged in each sector on at least one paging channel assigned to the plurality of sectors.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a sector overhead message from each sector, the overhead message comprising information related to an identity of at least one paging channel allocated to a plurality of sectors and transmitted on the sector.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising modulating a paging message corresponding to a device to be paged using an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing modulation technique.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a transmission time slot to each of at least one paging channel assigned to a plurality of sectors.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a page on a single-sector paging channel in a sector at an edge of the area.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically generating paging zones within the area.

7. The method of claim 6, the paging list of devices to be paged identifies each device by a point-radius data pair.

8. The method of claim 7, the point data describing a last registered location of the device and the radius data describing a registered distance of the device.

9. The method of claim 8, the generating the dynamic paging zone comprising receiving the paging list and generating a zone list comprising channel-device data pairs that associate one or more devices in the paging list with a transmit channel on which the one or more devices are paged.

10. The method of claim 9, the transmit channel is at least one of the at least one paging channel allocated to multiple sectors and a single-sector paging channel.

11. The method of claim 9, the zone list is a subset of devices described in a paging list of the area.

12. The method of claim 6, further comprising generating a plurality of zones that transmit pages on the same at least one paging channel assigned to a plurality of sectors.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising geographically isolating a zone that transmits pages on the same at least one paging channel allocated to multiple sectors to reduce inter-channel interference.

14. The method of claim 6, further comprising generating a plurality of zones, each zone transmitting a page on a different one of the at least one paging channel assigned to the plurality of sectors.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising an overlap region that transmits pages on different paging channels to increase page transmission capacity within the overlap range of the regions.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one paging channel allocated to the plurality of sectors is a multi-sector broadcast (MSBC) paging channel.

17. An apparatus that facilitates generating dynamic paging zones within an area in a wireless communication network, comprising:

a zone server for receiving an input list of devices to be paged in the zone;

a channel generator for generating a plurality of paging channels for transmitting pages within the area; and

a zone generator for allocating the selected paging channel to an empty zone and populating the zone with the subset of devices identified in the input list.

18. The device of claim 17, the zone server to identify locations of devices in the input list using a distance-based registration mechanism.

19. The device of claim 18, the zone generator populates the zone by selecting from the input list a device having a registration point closest to a center of all devices in the input list of the zone, and verifying that a registration radius of the selected device does not overlap with a previously generated and co-existing zone.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, the zone generator to assign the selected apparatus to the zone.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising at least one transmitter that transmits pages to devices within the zone on a paging channel assigned to the zone.

22. The device of claim 21, the zone server to identify one or more devices in the input list having a registration radius that overlaps with a previously generated and co-existing zone.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, the at least one transmitter transmits pages to the one or more identified devices on a single-sector paging channel.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, the zone generator outputs the zone when the zone is full and transmits a page to devices assigned to the zone through at least one transmitter within the zone.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, the zone generator defines a maximum fill volume for devices assigned to the zone based at least in part on a transmission capacity of a paging channel assigned to the zone.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, the zone generator selects a new different paging channel after outputting the zone.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, the paging channel is a multi-sector broadcast paging channel.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, the zone generator allocates the new paging channel to a new empty zone, fills the new zone with remaining devices in the input list, and outputs the new zone for transmission when the new zone reaches a maximum number.

29. The apparatus of claim 17, the zone server further comprising a scheduler component that distinguishes each paging channel by assigning a unique transmission time slot to each paging channel to separate the same paging channel in time.

30. A system that facilitates generating a number of dynamic paging channel transmission zones in a wireless network, comprising:

a server for receiving input information related to an incoming page for a device in a wireless network area; and

a zone generation component for allocating a paging channel to at least one zone and populating the at least one zone with a subset of devices being paged.

31. The system of claim 30, the server comprising a scheduler component for assigning a unique transmission time slot to each paging channel and reducing inter-channel interference between paging channels.

32. The system of claim 30, the area comprising a plurality of sectors, each sector having a base station transmitting a page on a channel assigned to a zone to which the sector is assigned during a paging cycle.

33. The system of claim 32, the zone generating component generates a plurality of overlapping zones having different paging channel assignments.

34. The system of claim 33, one or more sectors are located within a zone overlap range.

35. The system of claim 34, a base station located in one or more sectors within the zone overlap range transmits pages to a subset of devices on each different paging channel allocated to respective ones of the plurality of zones.

36. The system of claim 32, each sector base station transmits a sector overhead message identifying one or more paging channels broadcast on the sector.

37. The system of claim 36, the one or more paging channels are at least one of an MSBC paging channel and a single sector paging channel.

38. The system of claim 30, a base station in a sector on an area edge transmits pages on both a multi-sector broadcast paging channel and a single-sector paging channel to increase paging signal availability for devices at the area edge.

39. An apparatus that facilitates providing multiple paging channel page transmissions in a wireless network environment, comprising

Receiving means for receiving a paging list, the list comprising information relating to devices to be paged in a network area;

resolving means for resolving the paging list to a subset of devices according to a density of devices in one or more geographical areas of the area;

generating means for generating a paging zone having unique MSBC paging channels, the paging channels being separated in the time domain to reduce interference; and

means for transmitting a page to a subset of devices in a respective paging zone.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising means for overlapping paging zones using different paging channels to meet geographic area paging requirements when device density exceeds the transmission capacity of one or more paging channels.

41. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising means for transmitting a page on each of a single-sector paging channel and a multi-sector broadcast paging channel within a sector at an area perimeter.

42. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising means for coordinating paging broadcasts over time to a subset of devices throughout the area.

43. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising means for modulating paging data in a paging channel transmission.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, means for modulating paging data comprises an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing modulation technique.

45. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising means for generating a sector overhead message indicating one or more paging channels on which sectors in a zone transmit pages, the one or more paging channels comprising at least one of a single-sector broadcast paging channel and one or more multi-sector broadcast paging channels.

46. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for:

identifying a device to be paged in a wireless communication paging area;

identifying at least one paging channel assigned to a plurality of sectors to transmit a page;

generating a dynamic paging zone associated with at least one paging channel allocated to a plurality of sectors; and

populating the dynamic paging zone with the identified subset of devices to page.

47. The computer-readable media of claim 46, further comprising computer-executable instructions for registering devices in the area using a distance-based registration mechanism.

48. The computer readable medium of claim 46, further comprising computer executable instructions for populating the dynamic paging zone with devices located within an area of highest device concentration.

49. The computer readable medium of claim 48, further comprising computer executable instructions for transmitting a page to a device populating the dynamic paging zone on at least one paging channel allocated to a plurality of sectors.

50. The computer readable medium of claim 46, further comprising computer executable instructions to transmit a paging message on a single sector paging channel to a device that does not populate the dynamic paging zone.

51. The computer readable medium of claim 46, wherein at least one paging channel assigned to a plurality of sectors is a multi-sector broadcast (MSBC) paging channel.

52. A microprocessor that executes instructions for dynamically generating paging zones, the instructions comprising:

identifying all devices to be paged in a paging area of a wireless communication network;

allocating a multi-sector broadcast (MSBC) paging channel to a zone;

assigning a subset of all devices to be paged to the zone, the subset based at least in part on device density and paging channel transmission capacity; and

transmitting a page to devices assigned to the zone on an MSBC paging channel assigned to the zone.

53. The microprocessor of claim 51, further comprising instructions to register devices within the area using a distance-based registration mechanism.

54. The microprocessor of claim 51, further comprising instructions for populating a dynamic paging area with devices located within an area of highest device concentration.

55. The microprocessor of claim 53, further comprising instructions for transmitting a page on a single-sector paging channel to a device not populating the dynamic paging zone.

56. The microprocessor of claim 51, further comprising instructions to assign a transmit time slot to each MSBC paging channel.

57. The microprocessor of claim 51, further comprising instructions for dynamically generating paging zones within the paging area.