CN1832624A - Communication system, communication device, communication terminal, and communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

The communication method of the present invention transmits data from a base station to multiple terminals through a common channel, and simultaneously controls the transmission power of the base station to transmit data according to the receiving state of at least one terminal among the multiple terminals. Furthermore, the terminal transmits the reception capability information when the combination is selected, and at least one of the plurality of base stations receives the reception capability information when the combination is selected, and notifies a base station control device that controls the plurality of base stations. Furthermore, when there is a connection request to the terminal, if the base station control device judges that the dedicated channel cannot be allocated to the terminal based on the receiving capability information when the combination is selected, the base station control device refuses to allocate the dedicated channel to the connection request.

Description

Communication system, communication device, communication terminal, and communication method

This application is a divisional application of the parent application with the title of "communication system, communication device, communication terminal and communication method", the filing date is November 25, 2005, and the application number is 200480004785.4.

technical field

The present invention relates to a communication system, a communication device, a communication terminal and a communication method suitable for a broadcast or multicast type communication service in mobile communication.

Background technique

In a conventional mobile phone system, a one-to-one relationship between a base station and a terminal is assumed, and a service in which a base station simultaneously transmits data to a plurality of terminals is not considered. Conventionally, there is a method of notifying terminals in a cell at the same time using a common channel called notification information, but this method is for notifying control information and not for providing high-speed communication to users.

In recent years, multimedia services are expected as mobile communication services; in particular, interest in technologies for distributing sports broadcasts, weather forecasts, and wireless broadcasts to multiple users at the same time has been increasing. Information provision in conventional 1-to-1 communication requires securing necessary radio resources for each terminal. The broadcast-type multicast service aims to simultaneously transmit one item to multiple users in order to save radio resources, and allows multiple users to simultaneously receive the data transmitted by the service from the base station on a common channel. Specifically, in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP: ^3rd Generation Partnership Project), this technology is called MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service: Multimedia Broadcast or Multicast Service).

In conventional multimedia services, there is a problem of ensuring the quality when the signal becomes weak at the edge of a cell. As a solution to this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-188818 discloses quality assurance by transmission power control. Accordingly, the base station controls the transmission power so that the quality can be ensured even for the terminal at the edge of the cell with the smallest reception power, thereby ensuring the quality. However, since the transmission power is added to a channel that has no transmission power control function, the operation becomes complicated, and data can be stored even if the basis is at the edge of the cell. However, this selective combination requires the terminal to additionally receive the channel for selective combination of the portion for which selective combination is performed, and thus requires many receiving circuits, which tends to increase the scale of hardware. When a terminal with a small number of receiving circuits has an incoming call using a new dedicated channel in the selection combination, it must stop the selection combination and continue to receive MBMS data only by the channel from one base station. Then, the reception quality of the terminal drops sharply, so the base station has to increase the transmission power. As a result, the power allocated to other terminals such as an exclusive channel is reduced, and thus the communication capacity of the base station is reduced. There are big problems.

Contents of the invention

An object of the present invention is to obtain a communication system, a communication device, a communication terminal, and a communication method that can increase the communication capacity of the entire system by appropriately controlling new settings of dedicated channels when performing selective combination.

In the communication method of the present invention, the base station transmits data to a plurality of terminals through a common channel, and at the same time controls the transmission power of the base station to transmit data according to the receiving state of at least one terminal among the plurality of terminals. In addition, the terminal transmits the reception capability information when the combination is selected, and the reception capability information when at least one of the plurality of base stations receives the combination selection, and notifies a base station control device that controls the plurality of base stations. Furthermore, when there is a connection request to the terminal, if the base station control device judges that the dedicated channel cannot be allocated to the terminal based on the reception capability information when the combination is selected, the base station control device refuses to allocate the dedicated channel to the connection request.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a system composition diagram of W-CDMA in Embodiments 1 to 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a channel composition diagram of Embodiments 1 to 4 of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of MBMS selection combinations according to Embodiments 1 to 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing a terminal according to Embodiments 1 to 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing a base station according to Embodiments 1 to 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing a base station controller according to Embodiments 1 to 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing processing when dedicated channel communication occurs in the MBMS selection combination according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an example of UE Capabilities (user equipment capabilities) at the time of MBMS selection combination according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

9 is a flow chart showing the process of judging whether to use a dedicated channel based on UE Capabilities in the MBMS selection combination according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

10 is a flowchart showing a process of judging whether or not to use a dedicated channel based on whether or not there is an idle receiving unit during MBMS usage according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a process of judging whether to use an exclusive channel according to the type (communication rate) of the exclusive channel according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

Fig. 12 is a sequence diagram showing processing when dedicated channel communication occurs during MBMS selection combination according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention.

The best way to practice the invention

Embodiment 1

·System composition

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a multimedia communication system according to Embodiment 1. As shown in FIG. The terminal 100 is a communication device for a user to receive data from one or more base stations 101 . Each base station 101 communicates with a plurality of terminals 100 in a cell, and executes data transmission and reception. The base station control device 102 is connected to a plurality of base stations 101 and has a function of controlling each base station 101 . The base station control device 102 is also connected to the SGSN 103 (Service GPRS Support Node: GPRS service support node) responsible for packet communication, and relays the communication between each base station 101 and the SGSN 103. SGSN 103 handles authentication, service participation, route selection, mobility management, service restriction, device context management, billing information, etc. related to each user. GGSN (GPRS Gateway Support Node: GPRS gateway support node) has the function of the gateway to the external network (such as the Internet), ensuring the access of data packets entering and leaving the SGSN. In addition to the gateway function, GGSN104 also performs charging information accumulation, mobility management, QoS (quality of service) negotiation, traffic adjustment policy control and other processing. The service center 105 stores and distributes content for providing services, and transmits content-related data to the GGSN 104 in accordance with user requests. In the W-CDMA system, the terminal 100 is sometimes referred to as a UE, the base station 101 is referred to as a Node B, and the base station control device 102 is referred to as an RNC (Radio Network Controller: Radio Network Controller).

·channel

Next, channels used for packet communication such as MBMS will be described with reference to FIG. 2 .

First, a physical channel in the downlink direction from the base station 101 to the terminal 100 will be described. CPICH202 (Common Pilot Channel: Common Pilot Channel) is a channel for notifying all timing references to all cells. P-CCPCH 203 (Primary-Common Control Physical Channel: first centralized control physical channel) is a channel for notifying other notification information to each terminal 100, and is used as a channel BCH (Broadcast Channel: broadcast channel) for notification information. There is also an S-CCPCH 204 (Secondary-Common Control Physical Channel: Secondary-Common Control Physical Channel) for transmitting signaling and data to each terminal 100, and multiple such channels are allowed. Also, the PICH 205 (paging indicator channel) is prepared for transmitting the indicator for paging in the downlink direction.

As a common channel in the uplink direction from the terminal 100 to the base station 101, there is a RACH 206 (Random Access Channel: Random Access Channel). Finally, DPCH207 (Dedicated Physical Channel: Dedicated Physical Channel) is used as an uplink channel or a downlink channel for bidirectional use, and each is set to communicate with a specific terminal. The DPCH 207 is used for communication of voice, data, etc. (private data) and signaling of the high-end layer. DPCH207 has DPDCH (Dedicated Physical Data Channel: Dedicated Physical Data Channel) for sending data and DPCCH (Dedicated Physical Control Channel: Dedicated Physical Control Channel) for sending binary bits related to control. DPCH207 is used for each terminal, so it is called an exclusive channel; other channels are jointly formulated by multiple terminals, so they are called common channels.

In the above description, the channel configuration in the wireless zone between the base station 101 and the terminal 100 of the W-CDMA system has been described as an example, but it can also be used in other communication systems. Any channel may be used as long as the above-mentioned channel is a channel for transmitting the same data. For example, one channel may be shared by the above-mentioned plurality of channels.

・Data distribution operation

Next, the MBMS data distribution operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. There are cases where the service is requested from the terminal 100 side, but the case where data is sent from the content server side will be described here.

First, the content provider transmits multimedia data or the like (MBMS data) to the service center 105 . The service center 105 stores multimedia information, and at the same time transmits the multimedia data to the SGSN 103 that manages the terminals 100 using multimedia services via the GGSN 104 . SGSN 103 sends multimedia data to base station 101 via base station control device 102 , and base station 101 uses S-CCPCH channel 204 to distribute multimedia data. The terminal 100 receives a certain S-CCPCH of the base station 101, and acquires the multimedia data sent by the base station 101. At this time, the terminal 100 located at the edge of the cell and receiving the S-CCPCH from one base station 101 receives the S-CCPCH transmitted from another base station 101, and selects and combines two or more channels to improve Receive quality.

·Choose combination operation

Next, the selection combination operation will be described with reference to FIG. 3 . The base station control device 102 is usually connected to a plurality of base stations 101a and 101b, and transmits MBMS data having the same content to these base stations 101. When the terminal 100 is at the end of the cell (cell edge), when establishing a radio link with only one base station (for example, the base station 101a), the reception quality deteriorates due to weak reception power or the like. Then, terminal 100 receives MBMS data having the same content using a plurality of S-CCPCH 204a and S-CCPCH 204b which are common channels. The terminal 100 decodes each MBMS received, and selects the MBMS data with high reliability among multiple decoded MBMS data according to the reliability information of each MBMS data such as the check result of CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check). data, using selected MBMS data for application processing and the like. By combining such selections, the terminal 100 is more likely to receive correct MBMS data even when the reception quality is poor at a location such as the edge of a cell, so that good reception quality can be obtained.

·The composition of the terminal

Next, the configuration of the terminal 100 will be described in detail using FIG. 4 . FIG. 4 shows the composition of the terminal 100 for MBMS data selection combination. First, the application processing unit 400 performs conversion processing such as audio coding and decoding, image coding and decoding, human-machine interface processing such as input and screen display, and supplies the data to be transmitted to the uplink common channel transmitter 402 and the uplink exclusive channel transmitter 403, and transmits the data to be transmitted. request and other information. The protocol processing unit 401 performs processing related to communication control such as channel setting, release, and section switching in response to a request from the application processing unit 400 . For example, the transmission processing of the terminal 100 will be described: the application processing unit 400 accepts the telephone number input by the user, and requests the protocol processing unit 401 to make a call. The protocol processing unit 401 controls the uplink common channel transmitter 402 and the uplink dedicated channel transmitter 403 to connect to the base station 101 in accordance with the protocol specified in the communication specification in order to transmit necessary control information. The uplink common channel transmission unit 402 and the uplink dedicated channel transmission unit 403 perform encoding processing such as turbo encoding and transmission timing control on the transmission data, and output the encoded data to the modulation unit 404 . The modulation unit 404 uses the channelization code and the scrambling code generated by the code generator 405 to spread and modulate the signals output by the uplink common channel transmission unit 402 and the uplink dedicated channel transmission unit 403 . After the D/A converter 406 converts the modulated signal into an analog signal, the frequency conversion unit 407 converts it into an RF (Radio Frequency) signal. The power amplifier 408 amplifies the converted signal to a desired power, and outputs it to the antenna 409 . Antenna 409 transmits the amplified signal to base station 101 as a wireless signal.

Next, reception processing by the terminal 100 will be described. The weak signal received by the antenna 409 is amplified by the low noise amplifier 410 and then converted into a baseband signal by the frequency conversion unit 411 . Then, the A/D converter 412 converts the analog baseband signal into a digital signal, and outputs the digital signal to the receiving unit 413 and the search unit 417 .

The search unit 417 performs cell search and multipath detection based on the digital signal, and transmits the detected timing to each receiving unit 413 . The search finger assignment control unit 418 selects a path considered to be valid among the plurality of paths, and assigns it to the search finger unit 414 . Each receiving unit 413a, b, c has a plurality of search fingers 414 and combining unit 415, and after despreading the received signal of each path with the channelization code and scrambling code output by the code generator 416, the despreaded obtained signal As a result, multi-path combining is performed, thereby receiving the signal of the channel allocated to itself. Usually, a plurality of finger units 414 are provided to receive the signals of the paths allocated by the finger allocation control unit 418 . The combining unit 415 combines the outputs of the search fingers 414 and outputs them to the input memory 419 .

Next, the operation of the combination unit 415 when a combination is selected will be described. The search unit 417 performs cell search according to the received signal, and finds a plurality of cell areas (base stations). Then, the code generator 416 generates a scrambling code corresponding to each zone and a channelization code of a channel to be received. The control unit 430 that controls the operation of each circuit of the terminal instructs each receiving unit 413 to receive which channel of which zone. The control unit 430 is based on the channel quality information (CQI information) of the uplink/downlink channel of the decoding unit 420, the error rate of the CRC check, or/and received power such as signal power to interference signal received power ratio (for example, by comparing these values with the specified Threshold comparison) to decide whether to make a selection combination. When performing selective combination, the control unit 430 controls the code generator 416 so that the plurality of receiving units 413 receive the S-CCPCH for MBMS from different base stations. The terminal 100 in FIG. 4 has three receiving units 413, the receiving unit 413a receives the S-CCPCH for control information, and the receiving unit 413b receives the S-CCPH for MBMS. The receiving unit 413c receives the S-CCPCH for MBMS from another base station 101 in order to select a combination. Each receiving unit 413 can receive these channels at independent timing.

The decoding unit 420 reads the contents of the input memory 419 , performs decoding processing such as CRC check and turbo decoding of the data, and writes the result to the output memory 421 . Since decoders generally have a large hardware scale, one such decoder is often used in a time-division manner. However, when multiple decoders are installed, it is also possible to assign decoders to each cell or each channel. The memories 419 and 421 can be independent memories for each receiving unit 413 , or a large memory can be shared by multiple receiving units 413 .

Then, processing required for each channel is performed, and the notification information receiving unit 422 acquires necessary notification information from the BCH, and transmits it to the protocol control unit 401 . The downlink exclusive channel receiving unit 423 sends the decoded data to the application processing unit 400 when the decoded data is application data; and sends it to the protocol processing unit 401 if the data is control information. Selector 425 reads out the data received by a plurality of receivers 413b and c from output memory 421 respectively when it needs to select and combine, and outputs the correct data to the information common according to the CRC check result in decoding unit 420. The channel receiving unit 424 discards other data. When selection and combination are not performed, the selection unit 425 outputs the data received by the reception units 413 b and c to the downlink shared channel reception unit 424 without discarding them.

The downlink common channel receiving unit 424 is the same as the downlink dedicated channel receiving unit 423, and when the received data is application data or control information, it outputs the received data to the application processing unit 400 and the protocol processing unit 401, respectively.

S-CCPCH has S-CPPCH system information (Secondary CCPCH system information: the 2nd CCPCH system information) and S-CCPCH information (Secondary CCPCH information: the 2nd CCPCH information), and the diffusion rate, channelization code, Information required for demodulation such as timing offset. Any of the notification information receiving unit 422 , downlink dedicated channel receiving unit 423 and downlink common channel receiving unit 424 receives these parameters as control information and stores them in the protocol processing unit 401 . The protocol processing unit 401 sets these parameters in the receiving unit 413 , the code generator 416 , the search unit 417 , the search finger allocation control unit 418 and the like. Since the terminal 100 receives the S-CCPCH for control information from only one effective cell, the search finger allocation control unit 418 allocates only the multipath components from one cell to the search finger 414, and does not combine the multipath components from different cells. Signal.

FIG. 4 shows only part of the signal lines from the control unit 430 to each unit, but the actual control unit 430 also controls the processing of each unit whose signal lines are not drawn. The control unit 430 observes the signal (radio wave) from the base station received by the receiving unit 413, and transmits transmission power control information requesting an increase or decrease in transmission power to the protocol processing unit 401 based on the observation result. The protocol processing unit 401 transmits the transmission power control information to the base station 101 by using the uplink common channel transmission unit 402 or the uplink dedicated channel transmission unit 403 .

·The composition of the base station

Next, base station 101 (Node B) according to Embodiment 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 5 .

First, the processing of sending data from the terminal 100 will be described. First, various control information and data transmitted by the base station control device 102 are transmitted to transmission units 500 to 502 that transmit control information or data of each channel. The notification information transmitting unit 500 performs coding processing so that the notification information received from the base station controller 102 is carried on the P-CCPCH. Each terminal using the dedicated channel is provided with a downlink dedicated channel sending unit 501, and the sending unit 501 performs encoding processing, so that the data and control information of the dedicated channel are carried on the DPCH. Similarly, the downlink common channel transmission unit 502 also encodes control information and multimedia data to be carried on the S-CCPCH. There may be one S-CCPCH or multiple S-CCPCHs. The modulation unit 503 spreads the data encoded by the transmission units described above with a channelization code and a scrambling code for each channel, and outputs it to the D/A converter 505 . The channelization code and the scrambling code are generated by the code generator 504 . The D/A converter 505 converts the digital signal into an analog signal, and the frequency conversion unit 506 further converts the converted analog signal into an RF (Radio Frequency) signal. The RF signal is amplified to a desired power by the power amplifier 507 and transmitted through the antenna 508 . At this time, the power amplifier 507 controls the amplification ratio based on the transmission power control information received from the terminal 100 .

Next, processing for receiving a signal from terminal 100 will be described. The weak signal received by the antenna 508 is amplified by the low noise amplifier 509 and then converted into a baseband signal by the frequency conversion unit 510 . Then, the A/D converter 511 converts the analog baseband signal into a digital signal. The demodulation unit 512 separates the signals from each terminal 100 using the scrambling code generated by the uplink code generator 513, and separates the channels of the terminal 100 using the channelization code. The signals demodulated by the demodulation unit 512 are channel-decoded by the uplink dedicated channel receiving unit 514 and the uplink common channel receiving unit 515 respectively, and then sent to the base station control device 102 .

·Base station control device

Next, the configuration of the base station control device 102 will be described with reference to FIG. 6 . The base station control device 102 relays between the processing of the core network and the wireless line of the base station 101, and mainly manages wireless resources and instructs the base station 101 to establish and release channels. The transceiver processing unit 600 is connected to the core network and other base station control devices, and performs communication with core networks such as RANAP (Radio Access Network Application Part: radio access network components) and RASAP (Radio Access Network Subsystem Application Part: radio access network subsystem components) and other RNC communication protocol processing. The transmission and reception processing unit 601 of the base station performs communication protocol processing for the base station 101 such as NBAP (Node B Application Part: Node B Application Part). The QoS parameter mapping unit 602 acquires parameters of radio channels satisfying requirements according to a QoS (Quality of Service) instruction from the core network. The radio resource unit 603 performs processing related to radio resources, and also performs control and parameter notification to the terminal 100 by using RRC signaling. The radio link control unit 604 performs radio link buffering and retransmission control.

These function sharing is functional logic, not limited to clear separation in actual software and hardware installation.

·Connection control based on UE Capabilities notification

Next, the connection control of the first embodiment using the communication system described above will be described.

Consider the case where there is a connection using a dedicated channel from the network side during MBMS utilization, and a case where selection and combination of S-CCPCH for MBMS and reception of DPCH occur at the same time. In this case, terminal 100 needs to receive the S-CCPCH for control for MBMS, and needs to receive at least two S-CCPCHs for MBMS in order to select a combination. In addition, reception of the DPCH is also required. That is, the terminal 100 needs four receiving units 413 to receive a total of four channels. However, since the terminal 100 has many receiving units 413 , the hardware increases, and multiple receiving units 413 that are not frequently used are required, resulting in poor efficiency. On the other hand, it is also possible to stop the selective combination and make only one receiving unit 413b receive the S-CCPCH for MBMS and the other receiving unit 413c receive the DPCH among the two receiving units 413b and c for the selective combination. , there is a problem that the communication capacity is adversely affected. That is, in order to keep the reception quality of the terminal 100 good, the base station 101 always controls the transmission power. In terminal 100, when reception quality deteriorates, base station 101 increases transmission power to improve reception quality. However, when data is transmitted to a plurality of terminals 100 through a common channel like MBMS, the reception quality of each terminal 100 varies, and there is a problem that there are always terminals 100 with poor reception quality. Here, as described above, when the terminal 100 located at the edge of the cell stops selecting combinations and continues to receive data only by the S-CCPCH for MBMS from one base station 101, the reception quality of the terminal 100 is worse than when no combination is selected, so the base station 101 has to increase the transmission power. As a result, the power allocated to other terminals 100 is reduced, so that the communication capacity of other base stations 101 also has to be reduced. There are big problems. Therefore, the communication system of Embodiment 1 performs connection control when the terminal 100 does not perform selection and combination, and forms a link without setting up a dedicated channel, thereby solving the problem of reduced communication capacity of the entire system, and the hardware required by the terminal 100 can also be reduced.

Next, the operation sequence when the dedicated channel communication occurs in the MBMS selection and combination process will be described with reference to FIG. 7 . As an example, when there is an incoming voice call in the process of using MBMS, the case of determining whether to set a dedicated channel according to UECapabilities (User Equipment Capabilities) will be described.

The terminal 100 sends its receiving capabilities in the MBMS selection combination as UE Capabilities to the base station 101 (step ST100). Here, the terminal 100 reads out the receiving capability information set according to the capability of the receiving unit from the built-in memory, and transmits it through the common channel or the dedicated channel. As the reception capability information, various information such as a specific value such as the number of available channels, and a yes/no value indicating whether the S-CCPCH and the DPCH can be simultaneously received in the selected combination are included. An example thereof is shown in FIG. 8 . FIG. 8 shows an example of reception capability information when the MBMS selection and combination function is optional as a specification required for each terminal 100 . "Maximum number of S-CCPCHs for MBMS selection combination" indicates the maximum number of added S-CCPCHs that can be used for MBMS selection combination. When this value is equal to or greater than 1, it is a terminal 100 that supports selection combination (counted as the non-addition S-CCPCH and the number of all S-CCPCHs including one at the head end, then it supports selection combination when it is equal to or greater than 2). "Simultaneous reception of SCCPCH and DPCH during MBMS selective combination" is a parameter indicating whether a dedicated channel (DPCH) can be received during MBMS selective combination. "No" means not possible, "Yes/No" means optional, and "Yes" means always possible. In the terminal 100 that supports selective combining, this parameter can be used to specify whether to simultaneously receive dedicated channels during selective combining. When the dedicated channel (DPCH) cannot be received during the selection combination period, the "DPCH priority for MBMS selection combination" can be defined as an optional parameter indicating which service the user desires. When setting this parameter, not only can it be judged whether it can be used at the same time, but also it can control which service is prioritized according to the intention of the terminal side during competition, that is, whether to stop the service that is already communicating and give priority to other services. The priority is not so much the capability of the terminal as it is the intention of the user, and it can also be handled by signaling other than the UE Capabilities parameter. The above three parameters do not need to be used at the same time, and only the parameters required for the judgment processing described later can be sent.

The parameters shown in FIG. 8 are notified to the base station 101 by the terminal 100 sending a number indicating the level or directly sending each parameter. When the base station 101 receives UE Capabilities information (receiving capability information) (step ST101), it sends the information to the base station control device 102, and the base station control device 102 receives the information and stores it simultaneously (step ST102).

When the notification process described above is completed, the terminal 100 receives MBMS data from a plurality of base stations 101, and activates MBMS selection combination (step ST103). At this time, the terminal 100 notifies the base station 101 of the status information of the MBMS selected combination (step ST104). Specifically, the terminal 100 sends the channel number of the S-CCPCH actually used for selection and combination or information indicating whether selection and combination is being performed.

When the base station 101 receives the MBMS selection combination state information from the terminal 100 (step ST105), it transmits the information to the base station controller 102. The base station control device 102 stores the received status information in a memory or the like (step ST106).

On the other hand, when an incoming signal as a connection request is sent from the core network to the base station control device 102 (step ST107), the base station control device 102 judges whether to allow the setting of exclusive use based on the reception capability information and the status information of the MBMS selection combination. channel (step ST108). This step is described later. The base station controller 102 stores reception capability information and status information of MBMS selection combination for each terminal 100, and compares corresponding reception capability information and status information according to which terminal 100 the connection request is related to, and judges whether to allow connection. When it is not allowed to allocate a dedicated channel to the incoming signal, the base station control device 102 rejects the incoming call and notifies the core network of the rejection (step ST109). On the contrary, when it is allowed, the base station control device 102 responds to the incoming signal, and gives the base station device 101 the signaling to activate the DPCH (dedicated channel) (step ST110). Then, the base station apparatus 101 activates the dedicated channel (step ST111). Finally, the terminal 100 responds to the base station 101, activates the dedicated channel, and starts communication using the DPCH.

The judgment processing in the above step ST108 is as follows. FIG. 9 shows judgment processing by base station control apparatus 102 during selection of combinations. First, the base station controller 102 receives UE Capabilities (reception capability information) (step ST200). Next, the base station control device 102 checks from the UE Capabilities the parameter indicating whether the DPCH can be received during the combination selection period ("SCCPCH and DPCH are received simultaneously during the MBMS selection combination period"), and judges whether the dedicated channel and MBMS selection are allowed during the combination selection period according to the parameter. Combination (step ST201). If it is not allowed ("No"), the base station control device 102 notifies the core network of refusal to allocate the dedicated channel (step ST202). On the contrary, when it is permitted ("YES"), the base station control device 102 instructs the base station 101 to set an exclusive channel (step ST203).

The base station 101 controls the transmission power of the S-CCPCH for MBMS according to the reception quality of the terminal 100 or the power distribution balance with other channels. The combination of selections can be maintained and good reception quality can be maintained. Therefore, the transmission power of the S-CCPCH for MBMS transmitted by the base station 101 can be kept low.

To sum up, according to Embodiment 1, since the dedicated channel is set according to the receiving capability of the terminal 100 when selecting a combination, when the terminal 100 is near the edge of a cell, etc., it is necessary to select a combination due to poor reception quality. In this case, it is possible to suppress an extreme increase in transmission power caused by connecting to an exclusive channel, and to provide MBMS services with a small transmission power. Therefore, it is possible to effectively suppress the deterioration of the communication capacity of the entire communication system by excessively depressing other communication. Furthermore, since all terminals do not need to have large-scale hardware capable of receiving MBMS and dedicated channels at the same time, the increase in receiving hardware for selective combination can be suppressed, and terminals that can use multimedia services that meet user needs can be provided with small-scale hardware.

Embodiment 2

Next, an example of controlling the setting of the dedicated channel (DPCH) according to the maximum number of selected combinations of the terminal 100 will be described. The basic operation is the same as that of Embodiment 1, so differences will be described.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the determination process of the base station control device 102, showing the details of step ST108 in FIG. 7 .

First, the base station control apparatus 102 reads the number m of MBMS selection combinations in the terminal 100 received in step ST106 of FIG. 7 from the memory (step ST300). The base station control device 102 also reads from the memory the maximum number n of S-CCPCHs that can be received for MBMS ("the maximum number of S-CCPCH radio links for MBMS") according to the receiving capability information received in step ST102 of FIG. (here n is the value of adding the maximum number of S-CCPCHs + 1). Next, the base station control device 102 calculates the number n-m of available remaining receiving units (step ST302), and judges whether setting of a new dedicated channel (DPCH) is allowed in the selection combination (step ST303). That is, when n-m>0, it is judged that the terminal 100 has a margin for receiving a new dedicated channel, and the setting of the dedicated channel is permitted. Then, as in Embodiment 1, if not allowed, the base station control device 102 notifies the core network to refuse to allocate the dedicated channel (step ST304), and if allowed, instructs the base station to set the dedicated channel (step ST305).

The above judgment process is used when all terminals 100 can perform MBMS selection and combination. Therefore, it is not necessary to distinguish between the ability to select a combination and the ability not to make a combination like in the first embodiment.

In Embodiment 2 above, the number of S-CCPCHs that can be received when a combination is selected is used as the reception capability information, but it is not limited to the number of S-CCPCHs that can be received when a combination is selected (the maximum number of concurrent S-CCPCHs) can also be used to determine whether to allow connection Exclusive channel. That is, if the terminal sends the number m of S-CCPCHs currently received by the terminal to the base station control device, then comparing the number m of S-CCPCHs currently received by the terminal with the number n of receivable S-CCPCHs can determine whether the terminal 100 has the ability to receive a dedicated channel margin.

Embodiment 3

Next, an embodiment of judging whether to allow dedicated channel communication in the MBMS selection combination is described according to UE Capabilities, the number of S-CCPCHs during the current selection combination period, and the rate of the dedicated channel. The basic operation is the same as that of Embodiment 2, so differences will be described.

Depending on the situation, the terminal 100 may not use all of the receiving units 413 even during the combination selection period. However, in this case, when the rate of the exclusive channel is high, the decoding process exceeds the capability of the decoder, so a certain limit is set on the rate of the exclusive channel.

In FIG. 11 , the same symbols as those in FIG. 10 represent the same or equivalent processing as that in FIG. 10 . Therefore, the processing before step ST303 is the same as the processing in FIG. 10 . In step ST303, when the base station control device 102 permits the dedicated channel (DPCH) communication, then confirms the rate of the dedicated channel, and judges whether it is below a certain threshold (for example, 64 kpbs) (step ST400). Here, the threshold may be any fixed value, or may be a value received from the terminal 100 as the UE Capabilities parameter. It may also be a threshold set based on the number m of MBMS selection combinations read in step ST300 (for example, a threshold that changes in inverse proportion to m). Here, when the base station control apparatus 102 permits the dedicated channel communication, it moves to step ST305; when it does not allow it, it moves to step ST306.

According to Embodiment 3, the rate of transmission to the terminal 100 can be adjusted according to the decoding capability of the decoder, thereby suppressing the overflow of the terminal 100 .

Embodiment 4

Next, an embodiment of judging whether to allow dedicated channel communication according to the UE Capabilities selected by the user in the MBMS selection combination will be described. The basic operation of this embodiment is the same as that of Embodiment 1, so the differences will be described below.

The communication system of the present embodiment controls, for example, according to the user's selection: to reject incoming voice calls while using MBMS, or conversely, even if MBMS is being used, although the MBMS service is degraded, a call is made.

FIG. 12 shows the operation sequence of the communication system according to Embodiment 4, and the same symbols as those in FIG. 7 of Embodiment 1 indicate the same or equivalent processing. First, the user inputs the priority of MBMS and the dedicated channel to the terminal 100, and the application processing unit 400 of the terminal 100 accepts the setting value from the user (parameter in FIG. 8: "Priority of DPCH to MBMS selection combination"). Next, the terminal 100 sends the accepted setting value to the base station 101 as a partial UE Capabilities parameter (step ST501). The base station 101 receives the MBMS selected by the user and the priority parameters of the dedicated channel, and transmits them to the base station controller 102 (step ST502). The base station controller 102 stores the priority parameters of the MBMS and the dedicated channel selected by the user (step ST503).

In step ST509, the stored priority parameter is used to judge whether to allow setting of a dedicated channel (DPCH). That is, when the parameter is set so that the dedicated channel (DPCH) is given priority, the terminal 100 proceeds to step ST110 and instructs the base station 101 to set the dedicated channel even if the terminal 100 is selecting and combining. When an exclusive channel is set by the base station 101, the terminal 100 performs processing such that the MBMS reception process is interrupted, or the selective combination is interrupted, and one receiving unit 413 is assigned to the exclusive channel. Conversely, when the exclusive channel is not prioritized, the base station 102 does not permit the exclusive channel communication (step ST109).

Of course, it is possible to combine the judgment criteria of Embodiments 1 to 3 above and this priority. For example, in step ST509, as in Embodiment 1, it is possible to determine which one to receive based on the priority for a terminal which is configured not to receive the S-CCPCH and DPCH for MBMS at the same time. Also, as in Embodiments 2 and 3, when the base station control apparatus 102 judges that simultaneous reception is not possible according to respective criteria, it can be judged which one to give priority to based on the degree of priority.

To sum up, according to Embodiment 4, it is possible to continue to select and combine according to the user's intention, or to give priority to the setting of the exclusive channel, and to provide multimedia services that meet the user's needs. Furthermore, it is possible to respond to incoming voice calls and the like while using MBMS.

The parameter indicating whether to preferentially set the dedicated channel is not necessarily sent as UE Capabilities, but can also be sent by other signaling.

It should be noted that the determination processes of Embodiments 1 to 4 can be used in combination with each other.

The flow charts shown in each embodiment can be realized by an application-specific integrated circuit, or by a combination of a general-purpose processor (DSP, etc.) and software.

The program of each software may be recorded in a computer-readable recording medium, and may be downloaded by wireless or wired communication.

Each channel described in the embodiment can also be used for the same control channel and data transmission channel, and thus the names of these channels are not limited to the above description. Each component of the communication system shown in Fig. 4 to Fig. 6 can be realized by changing the processing based on the circuit and other hardware of the currently used wireless communication device. In particular, each functional component can be realized by a combination of a general-purpose processor (DSP, etc.) and software without using a dedicated circuit.

Since the hardware of the receiving unit is saved, the reception capability information and the control of the dedicated channel in the selection combination in the above embodiment are effective even when the base station does not actively perform MBMS power control according to the reception quality of each terminal.

The MBMS data of the present invention is not limited to multimedia data, and may be broadcast type data or multicast type data. Here, the multicast refers to communication limited to a specific group (a plurality of users) participating in a specific service.

The components of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be used in future communication technologies such as the content of specifications related to 3GPP MBMS to be defined in the future within a range not exceeding the gist of the present invention.

To sum up, according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the terminal 100 performs MBMS selection and combination, it properly controls the new setting of the dedicated channel, so that the communication capacity of the entire system can be improved.

Industrial Applicability

The invention can be used in a wireless communication system in which a terminal receives multiple data channels.

Claims (21)

1, a kind of communication means is carried out multimedia broadcasting that multi-medium data is sent to a plurality of communication terminals from the base station or multicast services (MBMS:Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) system, it is characterized in that, comprises

The multi-medium data that receives the multi-medium data that sends with the shared common channel of a plurality of communication terminals receive processing,

Reception use the private Data Receiving of the private data that private channel that the particular communication terminal in described a plurality of communication terminals is set sends handle and

Receive and handle and described private Data Receiving when handling will carrying out described multi-medium data simultaneously,, control the private channel setting processing of the setting of described private channel according to the receiving ability information of the receiving ability of the described particular terminal of expression.

2, the communication means described in claim 1 is characterized in that,

When multimedia receives the incoming call that produces private channel in the processing, carry out private channel setting and handle.

3, the communication means described in claim 1 is characterized in that,

Multi-medium data receive to be handled and also to be comprised the selection combined treatment of selecting the data that reliability is high in the multi-medium data that a plurality of base stations receive, and when producing the incoming call of private channel in described selection combined treatment, carries out private channel setting and handle.

4, the communication means described in claim 3 is characterized in that,

Receiving ability information is to be illustrated in the information that whether can receive private channel when selecting combination.

5, the communication means described in claim 3 is characterized in that,

But receiving ability information is the information of the receive channel number of relevant common channel when selecting combination.

6, the communication means described in claim 1 is characterized in that,

Receiving ability information comprise expression preferential carry out multi-medium data receive handle and the processing of private Data Receiving in which side information.

7, the communication means described in claim 3 is characterized in that,

Private channel setting is handled according to receiving ability information, stops selectively selecting combined treatment and carries out the processing of private Data Receiving and carry out and select combined treatment, and carry out the processing that multi-medium data receives.

8, the communication means described in claim 6 is characterized in that,

Also comprise and accept that multi-medium data receive to be handled and the priority of input that private Data Receiving is handled both priorities is accepted processing.

9, a kind of communication system, comprise the communication terminal that multi-medium data is sent to a plurality of communication terminals and use private channel that the particular communication terminal in described a plurality of communication terminals is set to send the base station of private data and receive described multi-medium data and described private data simultaneously with common channel, it is characterized in that

When the described communication terminal that receives described multi-medium data is sent described private data,, control the setting of described private channel according to the receiving ability information of the receiving ability of the described communication terminal of expression.

10, the communication system described in claim 9 is characterized in that,

Communication terminal is carried out the selection combined treatment of selecting the data that reliability is high from the multi-medium data that a plurality of base stations receive.

11, the communication system described in claim 10 is characterized in that,

Communication terminal according to receiving ability information, is carried out the setting control of described private channel when selecting Assemble Duration to produce the incoming call of private channel.

12, the communication system described in claim 9 is characterized in that,

Receiving ability information is to represent whether communication terminal when the selection combination of the multi-medium data that carries out receiving from a plurality of base stations, can receive the information of private channel.

13, the communication system described in claim 9 is characterized in that,

But receiving ability information is the information of the receive channel number of the common channel of relevant communication terminal when the selection combination of the multi-medium data that carries out receiving from a plurality of base stations.

14, the communication system described in claim 9 is characterized in that,

Receiving ability information comprise expression preferential carry out multi-medium data receive handle and the processing of private Data Receiving in which side information.

15, the communication system described in claim 9 is characterized in that,

Private channel is set according to the control from base-station control apparatus in the base station.

16, a kind of communication terminal, from with common channel multi-medium data being sent to a plurality of communication terminals and using the private channel that the particular communication terminal described a plurality of communication terminals is set to send the base station of private data simultaneously, receive described multi-medium data and described private data, it is characterized in that

Whether described communication terminal can receive the receiving ability information of described multi-medium data and described private data simultaneously according to expression, receive described multi-medium data during when setting described private channel, receive described multi-medium data and described private data simultaneously.

17, the communication terminal described in claim 16 is characterized in that,

Communication terminal is provided with the storage part of storage receiving ability information.

18, the communication terminal described in claim 16 is characterized in that,

Communication terminal has can be by a plurality of acceptance divisions that independently regularly receive many channels, also be provided with control part, the quality of the received signal that this control part is received according to described acceptance division, judge whether to carry out being included in the described received signal selection combination of the multi-medium data on the described common channel, and when selecting to make up, control described acceptance division, make it receive described common channel from different base stations.

19, the communication terminal described in claim 18 is characterized in that,

Receiving ability information is to be illustrated in the information that whether can receive private channel when selecting combination.

20, the communication terminal described in claim 18 is characterized in that,

But receiving ability information is the information of the receive channel number of relevant common channel when selecting combination.

21, the communication terminal described in claim 18 is characterized in that,

Acceptance division obtains when preferential in the private Data Receiving of private channel, stops the selection combined treatment of common channel, receives described private channel; Receive at the multi-medium data of described common channel and to obtain receiving described common channel when preferential.

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