HK1138711B - Demodulation of a subset of available link assignment blocks - Google Patents

Description

Demodulation of a subset of available link allocation blocks

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application entitled "A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USE A SHARED CONTROL MAC PROTOCOL" filed on 30.1.2007, serial No. 60/887,338. The entire contents of the above application are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to techniques for enabling an access terminal to decode a subset of Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) transmitted from a base station in a wireless communication system.

Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication; for example, voice and/or data may be provided via the wireless communication system. A typical wireless communication system or network may provide multi-user access to one or more shared resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). For example, the system may use a number of different multiple access techniques, such as Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Code Division Multiplexing (CDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and others.

Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple access terminals. Each access terminal may communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the access terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the access terminals to the base stations. The communication link is established by a single-input single-output, multiple-input single-output or multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system.

Wireless communication systems often employ one or more base stations to provide a coverage area. A typical base station can transmit multiple data streams for broadcast, multicast, and/or unicast services, wherein a data stream is a stream of data that can be received by an access terminal as desired. An access terminal within the coverage area of that base station can be configured to receive one, more than one, or all the data streams carried by the composite stream. Likewise, an access terminal can transmit data to the base station and another access terminal.

The base station may transmit Link Allocation Blocks (LABs) over the downlink. Each LAB provides assignment related information to a particular access terminal. Conventionally, an access terminal decodes each LAB transmitted over a downlink from a base station to determine a subset of LABs to send to a particular access terminal. However, a large number of decoded LABs are intended for different access terminals, and thus, resources (e.g., time, processor cycles.) of an access terminal can be significantly consumed when the access terminal employs common techniques to decode all or most of the LABs transmitted from a base station. These resource overheads can affect access end performance, for example, by reducing the data rate used to decode data actually intended for a particular access terminal.

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.

In accordance with one or more embodiments and corresponding disclosure thereof, various aspects are described in connection with assigning indices to Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) transmitted over a downlink. Indices in a first subset are assigned to shared LABs decoded by multiple access terminals. The unshared LABs are assigned indices in a second subset, each unshared LAB to be addressed to a particular recipient access terminal. Each unshared LAB can be assigned an index based on a hash value of an identifier corresponding to an intended recipient access terminal and/or access terminal capabilities. Moreover, the access terminal can decode LABs based upon the respective indices. LABs within a first range of indices can be determined to be shared LABs and decoded. Moreover, the access terminal can determine a second range of indices corresponding to unshared LABs to decode; the second range of indices includes fewer than all indices corresponding to unshared LABs transmitted by the base station in the frame.

According to related aspects, a method that facilitates transmitting a frame including a control message in a wireless communication system is described herein. The method includes assigning an index to a set of control messages. The method also includes restricting transmission of respective subsets of the control message to respective intended recipient access terminals based on the index.

Another aspect relates to a wireless communications apparatus. The wireless communications apparatus includes a memory that retains instructions related to; assigning an index to a set of control messages; and limiting and sending each subset of the control message to each target receiver access terminal according to the index. Further, the wireless communications apparatus can include a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions retained in the memory.

Another aspect pertains to a wireless communications apparatus that facilitates assigning indices to Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) and organizing LABs based upon the indices in a wireless communication environment. The wireless communications apparatus can include means for assigning indices to shared LABs. Moreover, the wireless communications apparatus can include means for assigning indices to unshared LABs as a function of hashes of identifiers of respective intended recipient access terminals and access terminal capabilities. Moreover, the wireless communications apparatus can comprise means for transmitting the shared LABs and the unshared LABs organized according to the assigned index.

Another aspect relates to a machine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-executable instructions for assigning an index to a set of control messages; respective subsets of the control message are restricted from being sent to respective intended recipient access terminals based on the index.

According to another aspect, an apparatus in a wireless communication system includes a processor configured to assign an index to a set of control messages. Further, the processor can be configured to restrict transmission of respective subsets of the control message to respective intended recipient access terminals based upon the index.

According to other aspects, a method that facilitates decoding a subset of control messages in a wireless communication system is described. The method includes receiving a set of indexed control messages. Moreover, the method includes decoding a subset of the indexed control messages determined according to the respective index.

Another aspect relates to a wireless communications apparatus that includes a memory that retains instructions related to: acquiring a set of indexed control messages; decoding a subset of the indexed control messages determined according to the respective index. The wireless communications apparatus can further include a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory.

Another aspect relates to a wireless communications apparatus that facilitates decoding a subset of received Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in a wireless communication environment. The wireless communications apparatus can include means for demodulating shared LABs identified based upon a first range of indices. Further, the wireless communications apparatus can include means for determining a second index range based upon the hash value of the access terminal identifier and the access terminal capacity measurement. Further, the wireless communications apparatus can include means for demodulating unshared LABs identified as a function of the second range of indices.

Another aspect relates to a machine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions for: receiving a set of indexed control messages; decoding a subset of the indexed control messages determined according to the respective index.

According to another aspect, an apparatus in a wireless communication system includes a processor configured to obtain a set of indexed control messages. Further, the processor is configured to decode a subset of the indexed control messages determined according to the respective index.

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 embodiments may be employed and the described embodiments are intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

Drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates a wireless communication system in accordance with various aspects set forth herein.

Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary system that indexes Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) for routing the LABs to particular access terminals.

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary system that organizes Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) for transmission in LAB segments in a wireless communication environment.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example methodology that facilitates transmitting a frame comprising a control message in a wireless communication environment.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example methodology that facilitates transmitting a frame comprising shared and unshared Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in a wireless communication environment.

Fig. 6 illustrates an example methodology that facilitates decoding a subset of control messages in a wireless communication environment.

Fig. 7 illustrates an example methodology that facilitates decoding a subset of Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in a wireless communication environment.

Fig. 8 illustrates an example access terminal that facilitates utilizing indexed Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in a wireless communication system.

Fig. 9 illustrates an example system that facilitates indexing Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in a wireless communication environment.

Fig. 10 illustrates an example wireless network environment that can be associated with the various systems and methods described herein.

Fig. 11 illustrates an example system that enables assigning indices to Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) and organizing LABs based upon the indices in a wireless communication environment.

Fig. 12 illustrates an example system that enables decoding a subset of received Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in a wireless communication environment.

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 application, the terms "component," "module," "system," and the like are intended to include a computer-related entity, such as, but not limited to, hardware, firmware, 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. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component. 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 various data structures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes in accordance with a signal that comprises one or more data packets (e.g., from one component coupled to another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or other system coupled via the signal via a network such as the internet).

Moreover, various embodiments are described herein in connection with an access terminal. An access terminal can also be called a system, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, user device, or User Equipment (UE). An access terminal may be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local area loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device having wireless connection capability, a computing device, or other processing device connected to a wireless modem. Moreover, various aspects are described herein in connection with a base station. A base station may be utilized for communicating with access terminal(s) and may also be referred to as an access point, a node B, or some other terminology.

Moreover, 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, a computer-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., EPROM, card, stick, key drive, etc.). In addition, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media that can be used to store information. The term "machine-readable medium" can include, without being limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, holding, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data.

Referring now to fig. 1, a wireless communication system 100 is illustrated in accordance with various embodiments herein. System 100 comprises a base station 102 that includes multiple antenna groups. For example, one antenna group can include antennas 104 and 106, another group can include antennas 108 and 110, and an additional group can include antennas 112 and 114. Although two antennas are shown in each antenna group; however, more or fewer antennas in each group may be employed. Base station 102 can additionally include a transmitter chain and a receiver chain, each of which can in turn comprise a plurality of components associated with signal transmission and reception (e.g., processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers, antennas, etc.), as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art.

Base station 102 can communicate with one or more access terminals, such as access terminal 116 and access terminal 122; it should be appreciated that base station 102 can communicate with substantially any number of access terminals similar to access terminals 116 and 122. For example, the access terminals 116 and 122 can be cellular phones, smart phones, laptops, handheld communication devices, handheld computing devices, satellite radios, global positioning systems, PDAs, and/or any other suitable device for communicating over the wireless communication system 100. As described above, access terminal 116 is in communication with antennas 112 and 114, where antennas 112 and 114 transmit information to access terminal 116 over forward link 118 and receive information from access terminal 116 over reverse link 120. In addition, access terminal 122 is in communication with antennas 104 and 106, where antennas 104 and 106 transmit information to access terminal 122 over forward link 124 and receive information from access terminal 122 over reverse link 126. For example, in a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, forward link 118 can utilize a different frequency band than that used by reverse link 120, and forward link 124 can employ a different frequency band than that employed by reverse link 126. Further, in a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, forward link 118 and reverse link 120 can utilize a common frequency band and forward link 124 and reverse link 126 can utilize a common frequency band.

Each group of antennas and/or the area in which they are designed to communicate can be referred to as a sector of base station 102. For example, antenna groups can be designed to communicate to access terminals in a sector of the areas covered by base station 102. In communication over forward links 118 and 124, the transmitting antennas of base station 102 can employ beamforming to improve signal-to-noise ratio of forward links 118 and 124 for access terminals 116 and 122. Moreover, when base station 102 employs beamforming to transmit to access terminals 116 and 122 that are randomly distributed throughout an associated coverage, access terminals in neighboring cells can be subject to less interference as compared to a base station transmitting through a single antenna to all its access terminals.

Base station 102 may transmit a plurality of Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) (e.g., Link Assignment Messages (LAMs)) on the forward link. A subset of these LABs can be shared LABs, which are messages that are decoded and/or demodulated by each access terminal 116, 122 within a geographic area covered by base station 102; the remaining LABs can be individual LABs (e.g., unshared LABs), each of which is intended for a corresponding one of access terminals 116, 122. Thus, each access terminal 116, 122 in the geographic area covered by base station 102 can be an intended recipient of a subset of LABs transmitted by base station 102.

A particular access terminal 116, 122 can discern whether a LAB is intended for the particular access terminal 116, 122 by decoding the LAB. For example, a particular access terminal 116, 122 can decode a LAB and determine an identifier associated therewith (e.g., the LAB can be scrambled using an identifier of a target access terminal 116, 122 of the LAB, where the target access terminal 116, 122 can or can not be the particular access terminal 116, 122 that decoded the LAB). A particular access terminal 116, 122 can utilize the content of the LAB (e.g., enable, transmit and/or receive assignment information included in the LAB based on the assignment information) if an identifier associated with the LAB matches an identifier of the particular access terminal 116, 122 decoding the LAB. Decoding, by a particular access terminal 116, 122, a subset of LABs in a set (e.g., a set of LABs transmitted in a Physical (PHY) frame) transmitted by base station 102, rather than decoding all or a majority of the LABs; similarly, other access terminals 116, 122 can also decode respective subsets of LABs transmitted from base station 102. Thus, base station 102 can determine which subset of LABs each access terminal 116, 122 will decode. Moreover, base station 102 can fail to direct LABs to a particular access terminal 116, 122 by communicating LABs in a determined subset corresponding to the particular access terminal 116, 122 (e.g., based upon index assignments).

LABs transmitted by base station 102 can be forward link assignment blocks and/or reverse link assignment blocks. A forward link assignment block is a message that informs an access terminal 116, 122 of a modification to resources used for communication on the forward link. Further, the reverse link assignment block is a message that informs the access terminals 116, 122 of a modification to resources used for communication on the reverse link. For instance, a LAB can inform a particular access terminal 116, 122 to employ a specified bandwidth for communicating over the forward link or reverse link. In addition, LABs can indicate packet formats to be employed for such communications over a specified bandwidth. In addition, each LAB can include an identifier that uniquely corresponds to a particular access terminal 116, 122 (e.g., the identifier can be encoded in the LAB). According to one example, the identifier can be a Media Access Control Identifier (MACID) of a particular access terminal 116, 122. According to another example, the identifier can be a broadcast MACID, in which case LABs that include the broadcast MACID can be demodulated by all access terminals 116, 122 in the sector.

Referring now to fig. 2, illustrated is a system 200 that indexes link assignment block LABs to enable LABs to be directed to particular access terminals. System 200 includes a base station 202 that can communicate with one or more access terminals, such as access terminal 1204. Base station 202 can transmit shared LABs and/or unshared LABs to access terminal 204 and 206 over a forward link. According to one example, base station 202 can transmit a set of LABs over a Shared Control Channel (SCCH). Further, forward link and/or reverse link communication can be effectuated between a target access terminal 204 and base station 202 of the LAB based upon the content of the LAB (e.g., assignment related information).

Base station 202 can further include a shared LAB indexer 208, an unshared LAB indexer 210, and a LAB transmitter 212. LABs transmitted by LAB transmitter 212 in each frame can be indexed by shared LAB indexer 208 and/or unshared LAB indexer 210. Shared LAB indexer 208 indexes each shared LAB and unshared LAB indexer 210 indexes each unshared LAB. By way of illustration, the indices can be utilized to order a sequence of LABs (e.g., shared LABs and unshared LABs) included in the frame. Moreover, it is contemplated that a common LAB indexer (not shown) can be employed in place of separate shared LAB indexer 208 and unshared LAB indexer 210; the common LAB indexer can index shared LABs and unshared LABs. LABs can be transmitted from base station 202 to access terminal 204 by LAB transmitter 212 after indexing is complete 206.

LABs transmitted by LAB transmitter 212 in each frame can be indexed according to various rules implemented by shared LAB indexer 208 and unshared LAB indexer 210. The total number of LABs that the LAB transmitter 212 may transmit in one Physical (PHY) frame may be referred to as MaxNumLABs (e.g., maxnumqpsklabs.). In addition, each LAB in each PHY frame can be assigned an index by shared LAB indexer 208 and/or unshared LAB indexer 210. A subset of the total number of LABs included in the frame can be shared LABs that are directed to each access terminal 204 in the coverage area of base station 202 for decoding 206. Thus, each access terminal 204-206 can decode shared LABs. The number of shared LABs may be referred to as MaxNumSharedLABs.

According to an example, shared LAB indexer 208 and unshared LAB indexer 210 can index LABs in set f, where f is 0. The set f includes two subsets: a first subset for shared LABs and a second subset for individual LABs (e.g., unshared LABs). Shared LAB indexer 208 assigns indices to shared LABs in the first subset; the index of these shared LABs may be f 0. The second subset includes indices assigned by unshared LAB indexer 210; the index of the second subset may be f ═ MaxNumSharedLABs, ·. Further, unshared LAB indexer 210 can partition indices in the second subset based upon capabilities of access terminal 204 and 206. The access terminal capabilities (e.g., access terminal capability measurements.) can give the number of LABs decoded by a particular access terminal (e.g., all access terminals 204-. For example, access terminal capabilities can be defined according to a capability protocol (e.g., stored in memory). By way of another example, the capabilities of access terminal 204 and 206 (e.g., from access terminal 204 and 206, a disparate base station, a network) can be transmitted to unshared LAB indexer 210.

The maximum number of individual LABs that one access terminal (e.g., access terminal 1204. ·, access terminal N206) can decode can be referred to as MaxNumIndivLABDec. Further, each access terminal 204-206 is associated with a corresponding MACID; the base station 202 assigns the MACID to the access terminal 204 along with 206 (e.g., the MACID assigned by the base station 202 can be part of the access grant message sent to the access terminal 204 along with 206). For example, the MACID can be a sector-specific access terminal identifier. Based on the MACID of the particular access terminal 204 and 206, notShared LAB indexer 210 assigns indices to LABs intended for particular access terminal 204 and 206. Thus, individual LABs intended for a given access terminal (e.g., access terminal 1204.) having a MACID m can be assigned indices based on the hash value of the MACID as follows: MaxumSharedLABs + f_HASH(MACID)、...、MaxNumSharedLABs+(f_HASH(MACID) + MaxMumIndivLABDec-1) mod (MaxMxNumLABs-MaxMdLABs). According to an example, a particular LAB (e.g., an unshared LAB) can be directed to an access terminal (e.g., access terminal 1204) that is assigned MACID 0. It is to be appreciated, however, that the claimed subject matter is not limited to sending unshared LABs to access terminal 1204 or assigning MACID 0 to access terminal 1204. Further, the hash value of MACID 0 may be 0. Thus, access terminal 1204 can decode LABs indexed from MaxNumSharedLABs to its capacity (e.g., MaxNumIndivLABDec) plus MaxNumSharedLABs, where capacity is the number of LABs that access terminal 1204 can decode. Thus, unshared LAB indexer 210 can assign indices to particular LABs in such ranges (e.g., MaxNumSharedLABs,.; MaxNumIndivLABDec + MaxNumSharedLABs) when the particular LABs are sent to access terminal 1204. In addition, LAB transmitter 212 can transmit particular LABs (and/or any other LABs) with corresponding indices over the forward link.

Each access terminal 204- "206 can further include a shared LAB decoder (e.g., access terminal 1204 can include shared LAB decoder 1214.,. the access terminal N can include shared LAB decoder N216) and an unshared LAB subset decoder (e.g., access terminal 1204 can include unshared LAB subset decoder 1218.,. the access terminal N206 can include unshared LAB subset decoder N220). In particular, shared LAB decoder 214-216 determines LABs indexed from 0 to MaxUMSharedLABs-1 as shared LABs. Moreover, shared LAB decoders 214 and 216 decode LABs that are determined to be shared LABs based on an estimation of the associated index. Thus, each access terminal 204-206 within the geographic area covered by base station 202 decodes multiple (e.g., MaxUMSharedLABs) shared LABs.

Unshared LAB subset decoders 218 and 220 can decode respective subsets of unshared LABs. According to an example, unshared LAB subset decoder 1218 can determine a subset of unshared LABs to decode by access terminal 1204 based on a hash function of a capacity of access terminal 1204 (e.g., a number of unshared LABs that access terminal 1204 can decode, which can also be referred to as maxnumindivladdec) and a MACID corresponding to access terminal 1204. For example, unshared LAB subset decoder 1218 can determine a range of LAB indices based on the capabilities and the MACID hash values; this range can extend up to the maximum number of unshared LABs that access terminal 1204 can decode. Further, unshared LAB subset decoder 1218 can decode LABs having indices that are within the determined range. Further, after decoding, unshared LAB subset decoder 1214 (and/or access terminal 1204 in general) can calculate whether the decoded LAB includes the MACID of access terminal 1204 (e.g., the MACID of access terminal 1204 is encoded in the LAB). Access terminal 1204 can utilize the contents of the LAB if the MACID is included in the LAB; otherwise, if the LAB does not include the MACID for access terminal 1204, the LAB is discarded from use. By decoding a subset of unshared LABs rather than decoding all or most of the unshared LABs as often occurs using conventional techniques, access terminal 1204 can decode only data intended for access terminal 1204 and not a large number of LABs not intended for access terminal 1204, thereby conserving resources. While unshared LAB subset decoder 1218 and access terminal 1204 are described above, it can be appreciated that any other unshared LAB subset decoder (e.g., unshared LAB subset decoder N220.) and/or access terminal (e.g., access terminal N206) can be substantially similar.

Referring to fig. 3, illustrated is a system 300 that facilitates organizing Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in LAB segments for transmission in a wireless communication environment. System 300 includes base station 202 that further includes shared LAB indexer 208, unshared LAB indexer 210, and LAB transmitter 212 as described above. Additionally, system 300 includes an access terminal 302 (e.g., access terminal 1204 in fig. 2, access terminal N206 in fig. 2.); although only one access terminal 302 is depicted, it is contemplated that system 300 can include any number of access terminals similar to access terminal 302. Access terminal 302 can further include shared LAB decoder 304 (e.g., shared LAB decoder 1214 in fig. 2, shared LAB decoder N216 in fig. 2), and unshared LAB subset decoder 306 (e.g., unshared LAB subset decoder 1218 in fig. 2, unshared LAB subset decoder N220 in fig. 2).

The base station 202 may further include: LAB segment assigner 308 to assign each LAB to a respective LAB segment. According to an example, LAB segment assigner 308 can work in conjunction with unshared LAB indexer 210 to determine indices to assign to unshared LABs to enable organizing such unshared LABs in LAB segments. A LAB segment is an OFDM resource (e.g., a time/frequency resource) used to transmit one or more LABs. LAB segment assigner 308 can combine LABs intended for a common recipient (e.g., access terminal 302.) into a common LAB segment. For example, LAB segment assigner 308 can group unshared LABs for access terminal 302 together and assign one LAB segment (or more than one LAB segment); thus, access terminal 302 can obtain all unshared LABs for access terminal 302 on this segment of LABs. LAB segment assigner 308 can minimize a number of LAB segments utilized to transmit unshared LABs to access terminal 302. Thus, the number of channel estimates associated with LAB segments performed by access terminal 302 in decoding LABs can be reduced.

Access terminal 302 also includes hash calculator 310. Hash calculator 310 analyzes a hash function based on the MACID of access terminal 302 while minimizing the number of LAB segments used to receive LABs transmitted from base station 202. For example, hash calculator 310 adjusts an output of a hash function to arrange indices of unshared LABs in a minimum number of LAB segments. In addition, hash calculator 310 can also know in advance the manner in which LAB segment assigner 308 assigns unshared LABs to LAB segments.

The following provides an example technique that can be implemented by LAB segment assigner 308 for assigning LABs to LAB segments. LAB segment assigner 308 can assign LABs to LAB segments for access terminal 302 and/or any number of disparate access terminals (not shown). In addition, hash calculator 310 can employ such techniques to identify LABs obtained from base station 202 to be decoded. For example, if the MACID of access terminal 302 hashes (hashes) to within an index range that spans two LAB segments, the hash function can be changed such that all LABs fall within one LAB segment.

According to this example, access terminal 302 can decode a forward link shared control channel (F-SCCH) block (i, j), where the value of i is in the range of 0,.. and min (MaxNumSharedLABs, maxcscchdecoded blocks) -1. If two LABs are transmitted in one LAB slot, the index j is 0 for the larger LAB, 0 or 1 for the smaller LAB, and so on. Further, if MaxSCCHDecodedBlocks > MaxNumSharedLABs, and MaxNumQPSKLABs > MaxNumSharedLABs, s (macid) may be defined according to the following. The total number of unshared LABs can be referred to as MaxNumUnsharedLABs, which is equal to the maximum number of LABs (e.g., MaxNumQPSKLABs) minus the maximum number of shared LABs (e.g., MaxNumSharedLABs). In addition, b ═ f_PHY-HASH(MACID) modMaxumUnshiharadLABs. Further, x is min (maxschdcodedblocks-MaxNumSharedLABs, maxnumunsafedlabs). L is_kCan be defined as a total number of LABs included in LAB segments indexed by k or less than k, except for shared LABs. For example, the index of the common segment is 0, and the index of the first LAB segment is 1; however, claimed subject matter is not so limited. The physical layer protocol specifies the concept of common segments and LAB segments and the number of LABs in each segment. Further, s may be such that L is satisfied_s-1Maximum integer value of < b.

If b + x-1 < L_sThen s (macid) may be defined to be equal to { b. If x is less than or equal to L_s-L_s-1And b + x-1 is not less than L_sThen s (macid) can be defined as follows: for odd MACID values, s (MACID) { L ═ L_s-1，...，L_s-1+ x-1 }; otherwise, s (macid) { L ═ L_s-x，...，L_s-1}. If x > L_s-L_s-1And b + x-1 < (R) >MaxUMUnshidredlabs, then S (MACID) may be defined as equal to { b. If x > L_s-L_s-1And b + x-1 is greater than or equal to MaxumUnshidredlabs, then S (MACID) ═ { b,. times, MaxumUnshidredlabs-1 }. U {0, 1.. times, x-1- (MaxumUnshidredlabs-b) }. Accordingly, the access terminal 302 (e.g., the shared LAB decoder 304 and/or the unshared LAB subset decoder 306 based on the computation generated by the hash calculator 310) decodes the F-SCCH blocks (maxnumshared LABs + i, j), where the value of i belongs to s (macid) given above.

Referring to fig. 4-7, methodologies relating to utilizing indices of LABs to optimize resource utilization in a wireless communication environment are illustrated. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are 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.

Referring to fig. 4, illustrated is a methodology that facilitates transmitting a frame including a control message in a wireless communication environment. At 402, an index is assigned to a set of control messages. For example, the control message can be a Link Assignment Block (LAB). Moreover, the set of control messages can include shared LABs and unshared LABs. At 404, respective subsets of the control message can be restricted from transmission to respective intended recipient access terminals based on the index. According to one example, the assigned index can be used to send a particular subset of control messages to a particular intended recipient access terminal. Further, each subset of control messages may be restricted to a subset of the set of time-frequency resources allocated for the set of control messages (e.g., tiles).

Referring to fig. 5, illustrated is a methodology 500 that facilitates transmitting frames comprising shared and unshared Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in a wireless communication environment. At 502, indices are assigned to shared LABs in a frame. Shared LABs are decoded by access terminals in a sector. For example, shared LABs are assigned indices from 0 to MaxNumSharedLABs-1. At 504, indices are assigned to unshared LABs in the frame based on hash values of identifiers corresponding to respective intended recipient access terminals. Unshared LABs (e.g., individual LABs.) are LABs that are intended for a particular recipient access terminal (rather than a group of intended recipient access terminals). According to an example, the identifier can be a MACID. Further, the unshared LABs can be assigned indices based on access terminal capabilities (e.g., a number of unshared LABs decodable by each access terminal in a given frame, maxnumindivvlabdedc.). By way of another example, hash values of identifiers can be adjusted to optimize index assignments for unshared LABs; that is, the index assignments can be altered based upon the adjusted hash values to minimize the number of LAB segments over which unshared LABs destined for a common access terminal are transmitted. At 506, a frame is transmitted that includes shared LABs and unshared LABs ordered according to the assigned index. For example, the frame may be transmitted over a forward link shared control channel (F-SCCH); however, claimed subject matter is not so limited. Moreover, shared LABs and/or unshared LABs can provide assignment related information (e.g., regarding a bandwidth to be employed, a packet format employed under such bandwidth) to a receiving access terminal. Accordingly, forward link and/or reverse link communications can be effectuated in accordance with shared LABs and unshared LABs that are transmitted.

Referring to fig. 6, illustrated is a methodology 600 that facilitates decoding a subset of control messages in a wireless communication environment. At 602, a set of indexed control messages may be received. These control messages may be, for example, Link Assignment Blocks (LABs). Moreover, shared LABs and/or unshared LABs can be acquired. At 604, a subset of indexed control messages determined from the respective index is decoded. The respective index may be determined based on a hash value of an identifier of the recipient access terminal and/or a capability of the recipient access terminal. Further, a subset of the decoded control messages may be restricted to a subset of the set of time-frequency resources (e.g., tiles) allocated for the set of indexed control messages.

Turning now to fig. 7, illustrated is a methodology 700 that facilitates decoding a subset of Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in a wireless communication environment. At 702, a frame comprising indexed LABs is received at an access terminal. Indexed LABs can include shared LABs and unshared LABs (e.g., individual LABs). In addition, an index associated with each LAB in the frame may be identified (e.g., the index of the LABs may be f 0.., MaxNumLABs-1). At 704, shared LABs determined based on the first range of indices can be decoded. The shared LABs can be decoded by access terminals in a common sector as well as other access terminals. Further, the first index ranges from 0 to a maximum number of shared LABs-1 (e.g., 0,.., MaxNumSharedLABs-1). At 706, a second range of indices is determined based at least in part on a hash value of an identifier corresponding to the access terminal. The second range of indices includes fewer than all indices corresponding to unshared LABs in the frame. For example, the identifier can be a MACID of the access terminal. Moreover, the second range of indices can be generated as a function of a capacity of the access terminal (e.g., a number of unshared LABs in a given frame that can be decoded by the access terminal, maxnumindivllab. Thus, the second index range may be MaxNumSharedLABS + f_HASH(MACID)、...、MaxNumSharedLABs+(f_HASH(MACID) + MaxUMIndIiddLABDec-1) mod (MaxUMLABs-MaxUMSharedLABs). By way of another example, the hash value of the identifier may be adjusted to operate on the second range of indices. According to this example, operating on the second range of indices can result in acquisition of unshared LABs over a minimized number of LAB segments (e.g., one LAB segment, two LAB segments, etc.), where the LAB segments are OFDM resources. At 708, unshared LABs determined from the second range of indices are decoded. For instance, after decoding, an identifier included in an unshared LAB can be identified (e.g., that can be employed to indicate an intended recipient access terminal)) And compares the identifier with an identifier corresponding to the access terminal. If the identifiers match, the access terminal can utilize the contents of the LAB; otherwise, the access terminal ignores the content of the LAB.

It is to be appreciated that, in accordance with one or more aspects described herein, inferences can be made regarding employing an index for transferring LABs. As used herein, the terms to "infer" and "inference" refer generally to the process of reasoning about or inferring states of the system, environment, and/or user from a set of observations as captured via events and/or data. Inference can be employed to identify a specific context or action, or can generate a probability distribution over states, for example. The inference can be probabilistic-that is, the computation of a probability distribution over states of interest based on a consideration of data and events. Inference can also refer to techniques employed for constructing higher-level events from a set of events and/or data. Such inference results in the construction of new events from a set of observed events and/or stored event data, whether or not the events are correlated in close temporal proximity, and whether the events and data come from one or more event and data sources.

According to one example, one or more methods presented above can include making inferences pertaining to selecting an index to assign to a LAB. By way of further explanation, inferences can be made regarding determining how to optimize a LAB within a LAB segment intended for a particular recipient. It will be appreciated that the foregoing examples are illustrative in nature and are not intended to limit the number of inferences that can be made or the manner in which such inferences are made in conjunction with the various embodiments and/or methods described herein.

Fig. 8 is an exemplary diagram of an access terminal 800 that facilitates utilizing indexed Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in a wireless communication system. Access terminal 800 comprises a receiver 802 that: receives a signal from, for example, a receive antenna (not shown), performs conventional actions on the received signal (e.g., filters, amplifies, downconverts, etc.), and digitizes the conditioned signal to obtain samples. Receiver 802 can be, for example, an MMSE receiver, and can comprise a demodulator 804 that can demodulate received symbols and provide them to a processor 806 for channel estimation. Processor 806 can be a processor dedicated to analyzing information received by receiver 802 and/or generating information for transmission by a transmitter 816; a processor that controls one or more components of access terminal 800; and/or a processor that both analyzes information received by receiver 802, generates information for transmission by a transmitter 816, and controls one or more components in access terminal 800.

Access terminal 800 can additionally comprise memory 808 that is operatively coupled to processor 806 and that can store data to be transmitted, received data, identifiers assigned to access terminal 800, information related to acquired LABs, and any other suitable information for selecting whether to decode an acquired LAB. Memory 808 can additionally store protocols and/or algorithms associated with parsing (decipher) whether to decode LABs and/or whether to use content in decoded LABs.

It will be appreciated that the data store (e.g., memory 808) described herein can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. By way of example, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory can include Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Electrically Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can include Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, and not limitation, RAM may take many forms, such as Synchronous RAM (SRAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM). The memory 808 of the subject systems and methods is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

Receiver 802 is also operatively coupled to a shared LAB decoder 810, where shared LAB decoder 810 decodes shared LABs acquired by receiver 802. Shared LAB decoder 810 can determine whether LABs included in a received frame are shared LABs. For example, shared LAB decoder 810 can analyze an index associated with a LAB to resolve whether the LAB is a shared LAB. In addition, shared LAB decoder 810 also uses decoded data included in the shared LABs. In addition, receiver 802 can be operatively coupled to unshared LAB subset decoder 812, where unshared LAB subset decoder 812 decodes unshared LABs acquired by receiver 802. Unshared LAB subset decoder 812 can determine a subset of indices corresponding to access terminal 800 based upon a hash function of an identifier associated with access terminal 800 and/or a capability of access terminal 800. In addition, unshared LAB subset decoder 812 can decode LABs (e.g., unshared LABs, individual LABs.) to which the subset of indices corresponds. Moreover, unshared LAB subset decoder 812 can analyze the content of each decoded LAB to determine whether access terminal 800 is the intended recipient (e.g., by computing an identifier scrambled within the LAB). Access terminal 800 further comprises a modulator 814 and a transmitter 816 that transmits the signal to, for instance, a base station, another access terminal, etc. Although depicted as being separate from the processor 806, it is to be appreciated that shared LAB decoder 810, unshared LAB subset decoder 812, and/or modulator 814 can be part of processor 806 or a number of processors (not shown).

Fig. 9 is an illustration of a system 900 that facilitates indexing Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in a wireless communication environment. System 900 includes a base station 902 (e.g., an access point), base station 902 having a receiver 910 for receiving signals from one or more access terminals 904 via a plurality of receive antennas 906; a transmitter 922 for transmitting to one or more access terminals 904 via transmit antenna 908. Receiver 910 can receive information from receive antennas 906 and is operatively associated with a demodulator 912, where demodulator 912 demodulates received information. Demodulated symbols can be analyzed by a processor 914 that is similar to the processor described above with reference to fig. 8, and the processor 914 can be coupled to a memory 916, which memory 916 can store information regarding an access terminal identifier (e.g., a macid.), data to be transmitted to or received from access terminal 904 (or a disparate base station (not shown)), e.g., a lab.), and/or any other suitable information for performing the various acts and functions set forth in the subject innovation. Processor 914 is further coupled to a shared LAB indexer 918 that assigns indices to a first subset of LABs (e.g., shared LABs) from the frame, wherein LABs in the first subset are intended to be shared among multiple access terminals 904.

Shared LAB indexer 818 is operatively coupled to unshared LAB indexer 920 and unshared LAB indexer 920 assigns indices to LABs in the second subset (e.g., unshared LABs, individual LABs.). Moreover, unshared LAB indexer 920 can assign an index to a hash value based on an identifier (e.g., a macid.) corresponding to an intended recipient access terminal of the plurality of access terminals 904. Further, unshared LAB indexer 920 can consider capabilities of an intended recipient access terminal when assigning indices. Further, unshared LAB indexer 920 (and/or shared LAB indexer 818) can provide frames of LABs ordered according to respective indices to a modulator 922. A modulator 922 multiplexes the frames for transmission by a transmitter 926 through antenna 908 to access terminal 904. Although depicted as being separate from processor 914, it is to be appreciated that shared LAB indexer 918, unshared LAB indexer 920 and/or modulator 922 can be part of processor 914 or a number of processors (not shown).

Fig. 10 illustrates an example wireless communication system 1000. For simplicity of illustration, the wireless communication system 1000 depicts one base station 1010 and one access terminal 1050. However, it is to be appreciated that system 1000 can include more than one base station and/or more than one access terminal, wherein additional base stations and/or access terminals can be substantially similar or different from example base station 1010 and access terminal 1050 described below. In addition, it is to be appreciated that base station 1010 and/or access terminal 1050 can employ the systems (fig. 1-3, 8-9, and 11-12) and/or methods (fig. 4-7) described herein to facilitate wireless communication there between.

At base station 1010, traffic data for a number of data streams is provided from a data source 1012 to a Transmit (TX) data processor 1014. According to one example, each data stream is transmitted over a respective antenna. TX data processor 1014 formats, codes, and interleaves the traffic data stream based on a particular coding scheme selected for that data stream to provide coded data.

The coded data for each data stream may be multiplexed with pilot data using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) techniques. Additionally or alternatively, the pilot symbols may be Frequency Division Multiplexed (FDM), Time Division Multiplexed (TDM), or Code Division Multiplexed (CDM). In general, pilot data is a known data pattern that is processed in a known manner and can be used at access terminal 1050 to estimate channel response. The multiplexed pilot and coded data for each data stream is modulated (symbol mapped) based on a particular modulation scheme (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM), etc.) selected for that data stream to provide modulation symbols. The data rate, coding, and modulation for each data stream may be determined by instructions performed or provided by processor 1030.

The modulation symbols for the data streams are provided to a TX MIMO processor 1020, which may further process the modulation symbols (e.g., for OFDM). TX MIMO processor 1020 then forwards N_TN are provided by a plurality of transmitters (TMTR)1022a through 1022t_TA stream of modulation symbols. In various embodiments, TX MIMO processor 1020 applies beamforming weights to the symbols of the data streams and to the antenna from which the symbol is being transmitted.

Each transmitter 1022 receives and processes a respective symbol stream to provide one or more analog signals, and further conditions (e.g., amplifies, filters, and upconverts) the analog signals to provide a modulated signal suitable for transmission over the MIMO channel. In addition, N from transmitters 1022a through 1022t_TEach modulated signal being from N_TThe antennas 1024a to 1024t transmit.

At access terminal 1050, the transmitted modulated signal consists of N_RAntennas 1052a through 1052r receive and provide received signals from each antenna 1052 to a respective receiver (RCVR)1054a through 1054 r. Each receiver 1054 conditions (e.g., filters, amplifies, and downconverts) a respective received signal, digitizes the conditioned signal to provide samples, and further processes the samples to provide a corresponding "received" symbol stream.

RX data processor 1060 from N_RA receiver 1054 receives N_RA received symbol stream and processing the symbol stream in accordance with a particular receiver processing technique to provide N_TA "detected" symbol stream. RX data processor 1060 demodulates, deinterleaves, and decodes each detected symbol stream to recover the traffic data for the data stream. The processing by RX data processor 1060 is complementary to that performed by TX MIMO processor 1020 and TX data processor 1014 at base station 1010.

As described above, processor 1070 periodically determines the available technologies to employ. Processor 1070 can also generate a reverse link message comprising a matrix index portion and a rank value portion.

The reverse link message includes various types of information regarding the communication link and/or the received data stream. The reverse link message is processed by a TX data processor 1038, which also receives traffic data for a number of data streams from a data source 1036, modulated by a modulator 1080, conditioned by transmitters 1054a through 1054r, and transmitted back to base station 1010.

At base station 1010, the modulated signals from access terminal 1050 are received by antennas 1024, conditioned by receivers 1022, demodulated by a demodulator 1040, and processed by a RX data processor 1042 to extract the reverse link message transmitted by access terminal 1050. Processor 1030 can also process the extracted message to determine which precoding matrix to use for determining the beamforming weights.

Processors 1030 and 1070 can direct (e.g., control, adjust, manage, etc.) operation at base station 1010 and access terminal 1050, respectively. Processors 1030 and 1070 can be coupled to memory 1032 and 1072 that store program codes and data, respectively. Processors 1030 and 1070 can also perform computations to derive frequency and impulse response estimates for the uplink and downlink, respectively.

It is to be understood that the embodiments described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, or any combination thereof. For a hardware implementation, the processing units may be implemented within 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.

When the embodiments are implemented in software, firmware, middleware, microcode, program code or code segments, they may be stored in a machine-readable medium, such as a storage component. A code segment may represent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a software package, a class, an instruction in any combination, a data structure, or a program statement. A code segment may be coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted using any suitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

For a software implementation, the techniques described herein may 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 units and executed by processors. The memory unit may be implemented within the processor or external to the processor, in which case it can be communicatively coupled to the processor via various means as is known in the art.

Referring to fig. 11, illustrated is a system 1100 that enables assigning indices to Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) and organizing LABs based upon the indices in a wireless communication environment. For example, system 1100 can reside at least partially within a base station. It is to be appreciated that system 1100 can be represented as including functional blocks, which can be functional blocks that represent functions performed by a processor, software, or combination thereof (e.g., firmware). System 1100 includes a logical grouping 1102 of electrical components that can act in conjunction. For instance, logical grouping 1102 can include an electrical component for assigning indices to shared LABs 1104. Moreover, logical grouping 1102 can include an electrical component for assigning indices to unshared LABs based upon the hash values of the identifiers of the respective intended recipient access terminals and the access terminal capabilities 1106. Moreover, logical grouping 1102 can include an electrical component for transmitting shared LABs and unshared LABs organized according to the assigned index 1108. For example, shared LABs and unshared LABs can be organized in a frame. Additionally, system 1100 includes a memory 1110 that stores instructions for performing functions associated with electrical components 1104, 1106, and 1108. While shown as being external to memory 1110, it is to be understood that one or more of electrical components 1104, 1106, and 1108 can exist within memory 1110.

Referring to fig. 12, illustrated is a system 1200 that enables decoding a subset of received Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in a wireless communication environment. System 1200 can reside within an access terminal, for instance. As stated above, system 1200 includes functional blocks that represent functions implemented by a processor, software, or combination thereof (e.g., firmware). System 1200 includes a logical grouping 1202 of electrical components that can act in conjunction. Logical grouping 1202 can include an electrical component for demodulating shared LABs identified based upon a first range of indices 1204. Additionally, logical grouping 1202 can include an electrical component for determining a second index range as a function of the hash value for the access terminal identifier and the access terminal capability measurement 1206. For instance, the access terminal identifier can be a MACID corresponding to the access terminal, and the access terminal capability measurement can be a number of unshared LABs that the access terminal can demodulate. Moreover, logical grouping 1202 can include an electrical component for demodulating unshared LABs identified based upon the second range of indices 1208. Additionally, system 1200 includes a memory 1210 that stores instructions for performing functions associated with electrical components 1204, 1206, and 1208. While shown as being external to memory 1210, it is to be understood that one or more of electrical components 1204, 1206, and 1208 can exist within memory 1210.

What has been described above includes examples of one or more embodiments. It is 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 embodiments described in this application 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 term "includes" is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as "comprising" is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.

Claims (54)

1. A method that facilitates transmitting a frame comprising a resource allocation control message in a wireless communication environment, comprising:

assigning an index to a non-shared Link Assignment Block (LAB) in a set of resource assignment control messages that is intended for an intended recipient access terminal based at least in part on an identifier corresponding to the intended recipient access terminal, wherein the identifier is assigned to the intended recipient access terminal by a base station;

restricting respective subsets of the resource allocation control message to respective intended recipient access terminals based on the index.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: restricting each of the respective subsets of the resource allocation control messages to a respective subset of the set of time-frequency resource groups allocated for the set of resource allocation control messages.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource allocation control message includes shared Link Allocation Blocks (LABs) and the unshared Link Allocation Blocks (LABs), the method further comprising:

assigning indices to shared LABs in a frame;

assigning indices to unshared LABs in the frame based on hash values of identifiers corresponding to the respective intended recipient access terminals;

transmitting the frame including the shared LABs and the unshared LABs ordered according to the assigned index.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the indices allocated to the shared LABs are in a subset ranging from 0 to MaxNumSharedLABs-1, where MaxNumSharedLABs denotes a maximum number of LABs decoded by a plurality of access terminals.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising: assigning indices to the unshared LABs in the frame based on access terminal capabilities and hash values of the identifiers.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the identifiers are Media Access Control Identifiers (MACIDs) corresponding to the respective intended recipient access terminals.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the indices assigned to the unshared LABs range from MaxNumSharedLABs+f_HASH(MACID) to MaxUMSharedLABs + (f)_HASH(MACID) + MaxMumIndivLABDec-1) mod (MaxMxNumLabs-MaxMumSharedLAbs), where MaxMumSharedLAbs represents the maximum number of LABs decoded by multiple access terminals, MaxMxNumIndivLABDec represents the maximum number of unshared LABs decoded by one access terminal, MaxMxNumLABs represents the maximum number of LABs transmitted in one Physical (PHY) frame, and f_HASH(MACID) is a hash value of the MACID.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising: adjusting hash values of the identifiers to optimize index assignments for the unshared LABs by minimizing a number of LAB segments over which unshared LABs intended for a common access terminal are transmitted.

9. The method of claim 3, further comprising: the frame is transmitted over a forward link shared control channel (F-SCCH).

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the shared LABs and the unshared LABs provide assignment related information related to at least one of bandwidth or packet format.

11. A wireless communications apparatus that enables assigning indices to Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) and organizing LABs as a function of the indices in a wireless communication environment, comprising:

means for assigning indices to shared LABs;

means for assigning indices to unshared LABs based on hashes of identifiers of respective intended recipient access terminals and access terminal capabilities;

means for transmitting the shared LABs and the unshared LABs organized according to the assigned indices.

12. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

means for restricting transfer of subsets of shared LABs and unshared LABs to respective subsets of a set of time-frequency resources.

13. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 11, wherein the indices allocated to the shared LABs are in a subset ranging from 0 to MaxNumSharedLABs-1, where MaxNumSharedLABs denotes a maximum number of LABs decoded by a plurality of access terminals.

14. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 11, wherein the identifiers are Medium Access Control Identifiers (MACIDs) of the respective intended recipient access terminals.

15. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 14, wherein the indices assigned to the unshared LABs range from MaxNumSharedLABs + f_HASH(MACID) to MaxUMSharedLABs + (f)_HASH(MACID) + MaxMumIndivLABDec-1) mod (MaxMxNumLabs-MaxMumSharedLAbs), where MaxMumSharedLAbs represents the maximum number of LABs decoded by multiple access terminals, MaxMxNumIndivLABDec represents the maximum number of unshared LABs decoded by one access terminal, MaxMxNumLABs represents the maximum number of LABs transmitted in one physical frame, and f_HASH(MACID) is a hash value of the MACID.

16. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 11, further comprising: means for adjusting hash values of the identifiers to optimize index assignments for the unshared LABs by minimizing a number of LAB segments over which unshared LABs intended for a common access terminal are transmitted.

17. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 11, wherein the shared LABs and the unshared LABs provide assignment related information.

18. An apparatus that facilitates transmitting a frame comprising a resource allocation control message in a wireless communication environment, comprising:

means for assigning an index to an unshared Link Assignment Block (LAB) in a set of resource assignment control messages that is intended for an intended recipient access terminal based at least in part on an identifier corresponding to the intended recipient access terminal, wherein the identifier is assigned to the intended recipient access terminal by a base station;

means for restricting transmission of respective subsets of the resource allocation control message to respective intended recipient access terminals in accordance with the index.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising: means for restricting each of the respective subsets of resource allocation control messages to a respective subset of time-frequency resource groups allocated for the set of resource allocation control messages.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the resource allocation control message comprises shared Link Allocation Blocks (LABs) and the unshared Link Allocation Blocks (LABs), the apparatus further comprising:

means for assigning indices to shared LABs in a frame;

means for assigning indices to unshared LABs in the frame based on hash values of identifiers corresponding to the respective intended recipient access terminals;

means for transmitting the frame including the shared LABs and the unshared LABs ordered according to the assigned index.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein indices allocated to the shared LABs are in a subset ranging from 0 to MaxNumSharedLABs-1, where MaxNumSharedLABs denotes a maximum number of LABs decoded by multiple access terminals.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising: means for assigning indices to the unshared LABs in the frame based on access terminal capabilities and hash values of the identifiers.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the identifiers are Medium Access Control Identifiers (MACIDs) of the respective intended recipient access terminals.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the indices assigned to the unshared LABs range from MaxNumSharedLABs + f_HASH(MACID) to MaxUMSharedLABs + (f)_HASH(MACID) + MaxMumIndivLABDec-1) mod (MaxMxNumLabs-MaxMumSharedLAbs), where MaxMumSharedLAbs represents the maximum number of LABs decoded by multiple access terminals, MaxMxNumIndivLABDec represents the maximum number of unshared LABs decoded by one access terminal, MaxMxNumLABs represents the maximum number of LABs transmitted in one Physical (PHY) frame, and f_HASH(MACID) is a hash value of the MACID.

25. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising: means for adjusting hash values of the identifiers to optimize index assignments for the unshared LABs by minimizing a number of LAB segments over which unshared LABs intended for a common access terminal are transmitted.

26. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising: means for transmitting the frame over a forward link shared control channel (F-SCCH).

27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the shared LABs and the unshared LABs provide assignment related information related to at least one of bandwidth or packet format.

28. A method that facilitates decoding a subset of resource allocation control messages in a wireless communication environment, comprising:

receiving a set of indexed resource allocation control messages;

decoding a subset of unshared Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in the indexed resource allocation control message based on an index determined from an access terminal identifier assigned by a base station.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the subset of decoded resource allocation control messages is restricted to a subset of time-frequency resource groups allocated for the set of resource allocation control messages.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the resource allocation control message includes shared Link Allocation Blocks (LABs) and the unshared Link Allocation Blocks (LABs), the method further comprising:

receiving, at an access terminal, a frame comprising indexed LABs;

decoding shared LABs determined from a first range of indices;

determining a second index range based at least in part on a hash value of an identifier corresponding to the access terminal;

unshared LABs determined from the second range of indices are decoded.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the first range of indices is from 0 to MaxNumSharedLABs-1, where MaxNumSharedLABs denotes a maximum number of LABs decoded by a plurality of access terminals.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the identifier is a Medium Access Control Identifier (MACID) of the access terminal.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising: determining the second index range according to the capacity of the access terminal and the hash value of the MACID.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the second range of indices includes fewer than all indices corresponding to unshared LABs in the frame transmitted by a base station.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the second range of indices is from MaxNumSharedLABs + f_HASH(MACID) to MaxUMSharedLABs + (f)_HASH(MACID) + MaxMumIndivLABDec-1) mod (MaxMxNumLABs-MaxMdLabs), where MaxMuMSharedLABs represents the maximum number of LABs decoded by multiple access terminals, MaxMxNumIndivLABDec represents the maximum number of unshared LABs decoded by the access terminals, MaxMxNumLABs represents the maximum number of LABs transmitted in one physical frame, and f_HASH(MACID) is a hash value of the MACID.

36. The method of claim 30, further comprising: adjusting the hash values of the identifiers to utilize the second range of indices to enable acquisition of unshared LABs over a minimum number of LAB segments, wherein a LAB segment is an OFDM resource.

37. The method of claim 30, further comprising: identifiers contained in the unshared LABs are computed to identify whether the access terminal is the intended recipient of each of the unshared LABs.

38. A wireless communications apparatus that enables decoding a subset of received Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in a wireless communication environment, comprising:

means for demodulating shared LABs identified based on a first range of indices;

means for determining a second index range based on the hash value of the access terminal identifier and the access terminal capacity measurement;

means for demodulating unshared LABs identified from the second range of indices.

39. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 38, wherein demodulated unshared LABs are restricted to a subset of a set of time-frequency resources.

40. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 38, wherein the first range of indices is from 0 to MaxNumSharedLABs-1, where MaxNumSharedLABs denotes a maximum number of LABs demodulated by a plurality of access terminals.

41. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 38, wherein the access terminal identifier is a Media Access Control Identifier (MACID) and the second range of indices is from MaxNumSharedLABs + f_HASH(MACID) to MaxUMSharedLABs + (f)_HASH(MACID) + MaxMumIndIvLABDec-1) mod (MaxMxNumLABs-MaxMdLabs), where MaxMumSharedLABs represents the maximum number of LABs demodulated by multiple access terminals, MaxMxNumIndIvLABDec represents the maximum number of unshared LABs demodulated by the access terminals, MaxMxNumLABs represents the maximum number of LABs transmitted in one physical frame, and f_HASH(MACID) is a hash value of the MACID.

42. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 38, wherein the second range of indices includes fewer than all indices corresponding to unshared LABs in the frame.

43. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 38, further comprising: means for adjusting the hash value of the access terminal identifier to utilize the second range of indices to enable acquisition of unshared LABs over a minimum number of LAB segments, wherein a LAB segment is an OFDM resource.

44. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 38, further comprising: means for comparing identifiers encoded in the unshared LABs to the access terminal identifiers to identify whether the access terminal is the intended recipient of each of the unshared LABs.

45. An apparatus that facilitates decoding a subset of resource allocation control messages in a wireless communication environment, comprising:

means for receiving a set of indexed resource allocation control messages;

means for decoding a subset of unshared Link Assignment Blocks (LABs) in the indexed resource allocation control message based on an index determined from an access terminal identifier assigned by a base station.

46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the subset of decoded resource allocation control messages is restricted to a subset of time-frequency resource groups allocated for the set of resource allocation control messages.

47. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the resource allocation control message comprises shared Link Allocation Blocks (LABs) and the unshared Link Allocation Blocks (LABs), the apparatus further comprising:

means for receiving, at an access terminal, a frame comprising indexed LABs;

means for decoding shared LABs determined from a first range of indices;

means for determining a second index range based at least in part on a hash value of an identifier corresponding to the access terminal; and

means for decoding unshared LABs determined from the second range of indices.

48. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the first range of indices is from 0 to MaxNumSharedLABs-1, wherein MaxNumSharedLABs represents a maximum number of LABs decoded by a plurality of access terminals.

49. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the identifier is a Media Access Control Identifier (MACID) of the access terminal.

50. The apparatus of claim 49, further comprising: means for determining the second index range based on a capacity of the access terminal and a hash of the MACID.

51. The apparatus of claim 50, wherein the second range of indices includes fewer than all indices corresponding to unshared LABs in the frame transmitted by a base station.

52. The apparatus of claim 50, wherein the second range of indices is from MaxNumSharedLABs + f_HASH(MACID) to MaxUMSharedLABs + (f)_HASH(MACID) + MaxMumIndivLABDec-1) mod (MaxMxNumLABs-MaxMdLabs), where MaxMuMSharedLABs represents the maximum number of LABs decoded by multiple access terminals, MaxMxNumIndivLABDec represents the maximum number of unshared LABs decoded by the access terminals, MaxMxNumLABs represents the maximum number of LABs transmitted in one physical frame, and f_HASH(MACID) is a hash value of the MACID.

53. The apparatus of claim 47, further comprising: means for adjusting the hash values of the identifiers to utilize the second range of indices to enable acquisition of unshared LABs over a minimum number of LAB segments, wherein a LAB segment is an OFDM resource.

54. The apparatus of claim 47, further comprising: means for computing identifiers contained in the unshared LABs to identify whether the access terminal is an intended recipient of each of the unshared LABs.