JP2006515736A - Generalized rate control for wireless communication networks - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus and method for providing MAC logic that enables the use of two or more reverse link rate controllers simultaneously in one or more sectors of a wireless base station. This allows the base station to control reverse link loading via reverse link rate control while assigning the mobile station the type of reverse link rate control best suited to its needs. For example, the base station MAC logic implements both a common rate controller that generates sector unit rate control commands and a dedicated rate controller that generates user unit rate control commands, and a relatively loose reverse link service. Mobile stations with requests are assigned a common rate controller, while mobile stations with tighter reverse link service requests are assigned dedicated rate control. More than one rate control can be implemented, and exemplary choices include per-user, per-sector, per-group, and scheduled rate control in any combination.

Description

(Related application)
This application is 35U. S. C. Claim priority from the following provisional application under § 119 (e): Application serial number 60/439, 126 filed January 10, 2003, application serial number filed July 14, 2003 No. 60 / 486,938, application serial number 60 / 494,685, filed August 12, 2003. These applications are fully incorporated by reference herein.

  Evolving wireless standards, such as the upcoming release D of the IS-2000 standard for cdma2000 wireless networks, are becoming increasingly sophisticated while providing increasingly higher data rates for a range of wireless applications and corresponding quality of service. Performance and reliability are increased by considering the use of complex network entities. For example, base stations such as base station systems (BSS), radio base stations (RBS), etc. support voice and data users while maintaining efficient use of limited forward and reverse link resources And is expected to support a wide range of forward and reverse link packet data and quality of service (QoS).

  The present invention includes a method and apparatus for providing different rate control mechanisms for different mobile stations in a wireless communication network. In one exemplary embodiment, the radio base station includes generalized medium access control (MAC) with two or more rate controllers. For example, the MAC provides a sector unit rate control that generates a common rate control command based on the entire sector reverse link loading while simultaneously providing a user unit rate controller that generates a dedicated rate control command to each mobile station. Provide a bowl. The associated control logic assigns user unit rate control to one or more mobile stations while assigning sector unit rate controllers to one or more mobile stations. In addition, basic and auxiliary rate control can be assigned to a particular mobile station such that the reverse link rate control behavior of the particular mobile station is dominated or influenced by more than one rate control mechanism.

  Accordingly, in an exemplary embodiment, a wireless communication system includes physical layer resources that provide one or more wireless communication channels that communicate with a plurality of mobile stations, and medium access control (MAC) logic that controls the allocation of physical layer resources. And a MAC logic unit includes two or more reverse link rate controllers, each rate controller being different for one or more mobile stations supported by the RBS. Configured to provide a reverse link rate control mechanism. The two or more rate controllers include a group of two or more of the following rate controllers: a sector unit rate controller configured to provide a common rate control command on a sector basis, a dedicated rate on a mobile unit basis User unit rate controller configured to provide control commands, group unit rate controller configured to provide common rate control commands to a group of mobile stations, reverse link scheduled to one or more mobile stations A schedule rate controller configured to provide rates.

  The MAC logic includes or is associated with exemplary control logic that assigns each mobile station one or more available rate controllers of the MAC logic portion. For example, the base station control logic may be based on one or more service requests of the mobile station, for example, the specific type of MAC rate controller available at call authorization based on the application type with which the mobile station is involved. Assign one or more specific things to a specific mobile station. In this way, each mobile station is assigned rate control logic that best satisfies its particular needs, eg, required data rate, QoS constraints, and the like. Note that the exemplary MAC logic and associated control logic can be configured to dynamically change the rate controller assignment of individual mobile stations in response to changing mobile station service requests.

  Of course, satisfying the above control framework, the mobile station may be configured to develop the availability of a multi-rate controller. For example, although a specific mobile station is assigned to a rate controller for each user, a rate transmission command transmitted by a rate controller for each group or sector may be listened to. As described above, how to respond to the rate control command for each user that is received based on the rate controller command for each sector may be changed. Exemplary mobile stations may be configured to respond to other blends of different types of rate control commands.

  In general, the present invention includes a method of reverse link control for a wireless network base station based on providing two or more reverse link rate controllers, each rate controller being a different rate controller. Is configured to generate a reverse link rate control command different from the command generated by the at least one rate controller, and selectively associates each mobile station with at least one rate controller. Generates a reverse link rate control command and transmits the command to the relevant mobile station. The rate controller can be implemented in base station controller logic, radio base station logic, or some combination thereof.

  In any case, the exemplary base station system has two or more rate controls that generate different reverse link rate control commands for different mobile stations associated with different ones of the rate controllers available in a particular radio sector of the base station system. It is desirable to provide a vessel. The rate controllers available in a particular radio sector are of different types, eg per user and per sector, and may operate simultaneously. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the invention is not so limited and will recognize other variations, features and advantages upon reading the following description and viewing the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless communication network 10. Although network 10 is shown in a simplified form for convenience of explanation, those skilled in the art will recognize that network 10 also includes entities that are not shown, and that the illustrated entities also realize other complexity. Further, although network 10 includes a cdma2000 wireless communication network in one or more exemplary embodiments, the present invention is not so limited, and network 10 is based on other standards such as wideband CDMA (WCDMA). It should be understood that it may be.

  With the above in mind, network 10 communicatively couples mobile station 12 to one or more external networks 14, such as the Internet or other public data network (PDN) and / or switched telephone network (PSTN). Illustratively, in a simplified diagram, the network 10 includes a radio access network (RAN) 16 that is communicatively coupled to one or more core networks (CN) 18 and further provides communication with an external network 14. . The RAN 16 includes one or more base station systems (BSS), each including a base station controller (BSC) 30 and one or more related radio base stations (RBS) 32. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other BSS deployments are possible, for example, it is possible to move all or part of the BSC logic to the RBS level, and the present invention encompasses all such modifications. To do.

  Each RBS 32 provides wireless service for one, two, or more sectors—the illustrated RBS 32 provides coverage for three sectors, labeled S1, S2, and S3, respectively. As used herein, the term “sector” is given a wide range of configurations and should therefore be understood to mean a limited radio coverage range. In the exemplary definition, the term sector represents the intersection of a specific radio coverage range and a specific radio carrier. Thus, the illustrated RBS 32 uses two or more radio carriers to provide the overlapping sector. In any case, the above details are not central to an understanding of the present invention, and those skilled in the art will describe the per-sector rate control described hereinafter as a common rate control as applied to a specific radio coverage range. It can be recognized that it should be understood roughly.

  FIG. 2 illustrates an example base station including an example BSC 30 and one RBS 32, illustrated as simplified functional elements for clarity. It should be understood that the BSC 30 is generally configured to support multiple RBSs 32 and each RBS 32 can be configured to support one or more radio sectors.

  In any case, the BSC 30 is configured to provide call control logic for setting, maintaining, and terminating logical connections associated with voice and / or data calls that terminate and occur at various mobile stations 12 supported by the RBS 32. Control circuit 34, eg, one or more signal processors, microcontrollers, etc., and further, RBS 32, eg, backhaul interface circuit 36 for E1 / T1 line, interface circuit communicatively coupled to microwaves 36. The interface circuit 36 may include a different interface, perhaps different, that communicates with the CN 18, such as with a mobile switching center (not shown). Further, the BSC 30 may include or be associated with a packet control function (PCF) or similar entity that provides a radio packet (RP) interface between the packet side of the CN 18 and the RAN 16.

  RBS 32 includes forward / reverse link control and signal processing circuitry, collectively referred to herein as processing circuitry 40. RBS 32 further includes receive / transmit antenna elements 44 and 46 associated with transceiver resources 42 and one or more interface circuits 48 that are communicatively coupled to RBS 32 and BSC 30. The example processing circuit 40 includes one or more signal processors, such as DSP circuits, microprocessors / microcontrollers, etc., and associated support circuitry, while the transceiver resource 42 is forward (transmit) and reverse (receive). ) Including modulation / demodulation and code / decode circuitry used to implement the physical layer channel used to communicate with mobile station 12 on the link.

  In a broad sense, the base station system can be configured to implement an exemplary method of reverse link control, and under that control of a particular radio sector, it functions two or more reverse link rate controllers Providing reverse link rate control commands different from those generated by each other. Thus, one or more first mobile stations in a sector are commanded by a first one of the rate controllers, while one or more second mobile stations are commanded by a second one of the available rate controllers. .

  The exemplary method thus provides two or more reverse link rate controllers, each rate controller configured to generate a reverse link rate command that is different from the commands generated by the other rate controllers. Selectively relating at least one rate controller to each mobile station 12 and generating the reverse link rate control command using the one or more rate controllers and relating the command to the mobile station 12 to transmit.

  In this regard, providing two or more rate controllers includes providing control logic that implements two or more rate controllers in each radio sector of a radio base station included in the base station system. Including. The implementation includes providing medium access control (MAC) logic to the RBS 32, where the MAC logic is functionally configured to implement more than one rate controller in each radio sector of the radio base station. . However, such a function can be implemented other than the RBS 32. For example, the base station control logic can be implemented by providing a base station control logic in another network processing layer or a sublayer of the RBS 32, or the BSC 30. It is functionally configured to implement more than one rate controller in each radio sector of RBS 32.

  Furthermore, the term “logic” means a functional processing structure configured to perform the required processing and control operations. Accordingly, the logic used herein represents hardware, software, or any combination thereof configured to perform one or more limited operations. Thus, those skilled in the art will understand that the base station control logic and MAC logic described in detail later in this specification basically comprise any mixture of hardware and software, and as such, various types such as a microprocessor, etc. It is mounted with the processing circuit.

  Nevertheless, selectively associating at least one rate controller with an individual mobile station 12 is the rate for the individual mobile station upon call admission based on one or more service requests of the individual mobile station. Determining the controller association and further dynamically changing the rate controller association of the individual mobile stations 12 after call authorization based on the changing service requirements of the individual mobile stations. Such dynamic reassignment of individual mobile stations 12 to rate controllers also associates individual mobile stations 12 with their rate controllers after call authorization in response to changes in individual mobile station 12 service requirements. It can also be used to control reverse link congestion by changing dynamically.

  Further, the step of selectively associating at least one rate controller with an individual mobile station 12 is the required combination of control commands transmitted by the basic and auxiliary rate controllers for the mobile station reverse link rate control. The first of the rate controllers is associated with at least one mobile station to operate as a basic rate controller of the mobile station, and the second of the rate controllers is Operating as an auxiliary rate controller. Such basic and auxiliary rate control, including the steps of assigning primary and secondary rate controllers, are described in detail below in this description.

  Exemplary variations for providing multiple rate controllers are also described in detail herein below, but broadly, exemplary embodiments for providing more than one reverse link rate controller are A sector unit rate controller configured to provide a common rate control command on a sector basis for a particular radio sector; a group unit rate controller configured to provide a common rate control command on a group basis; User unit rate controller configured to provide dedicated rate control commands on a per user basis and scheduled rate control configured to generate reverse link rate control commands scheduled for a specific user or group of users And providing at least two rate controllers selected from the group comprising:

  More specifically, an exemplary sector unit rate controller generates a general use rate control command by a mobile station 12 in a particular sector of RBS 32. Of course, individual mobile stations 12 not associated with the sector unit rate controller may ignore or not know the command. Common rate control commands can be generated based on measured or evaluated reverse link loading, indicating the level of sector loading, or individually such as "UP", "DOWN", or "HOLD" Can be formed as a Reverse Activity Bit (RAB) that provides some form of command indication. Similarly, as used herein, the term group rate controller refers to a rate controller that, in the exemplary embodiment, generates a common rate control command intended for a limited group of mobile stations 12. Yes. Accordingly, two or more group unit rate controllers each generating different rate control commands for different mobile station groups may be active in the sector.

  Further, as used herein, the term user unit rate controller is, in the illustrated embodiment, a separate command indication (eg, UP, DOWN, HOLD) to each user (mobile station 12) associated with the controller. Represents a rate controller that generates dedicated rate control commands for individual users, preferably of the form As used herein, the term schedule rate controller is a rate controller that also generates a per-user rate control command in the illustrated embodiment, but the command generated by the schedule controller is a per-user rate control. It is an “absolute” rate control command in that it does not command incremental adjustments as performed at, but rather commands individual mobile stations 12 to perform a specific reverse link rate at a specific time. Is desirable. Of course, it should be understood that this definition framework is also subject to change, and those skilled in the art will appreciate that different types of rate control can be configured differently or have differences with respect to their exact control behavior. Admit.

  With the above in mind, the exemplary RBS 32 implements functions corresponding to layers 1 and 2 of the Open System Interconnection (OSI) standard 7-layer network reference model. In particular, RBS 32 uses transceiver resources 42 to provide a physical layer (layer 1) that defines the communication channel used to communicate with mobile station 12 through the air-to-air interface. The RBS 32 further provides a data layer (layer 2) in the form of a MAC sublayer and a link access control (LAC) sublayer. The higher layers, ie layer 3 and above, are located at the BSC level or above.

  As a non-limiting example, FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of these network layers, but it should be understood that different arrangements of layers and sub-layers can be used without departing from the invention. As a broad overview, layer 3, typically implemented in BSC 30, provides signaling that controls connections to individual mobile stations 12, while layer 2 is the "logical" channel and layer 1 used by higher layers. Provides an interface to the physical layer implemented by. In particular, the Layer 2 MAC sublayer performs scheduling and mapping of logical channels to Layer 1 transport channels. For a common transport channel—that is, a channel shared by one or more mobile stations 12 —the MAC sublayer may add address information to identify different data flows to different mobile stations 12. Good.

  More particularly, the MAC logic in the cdma2000 implementation includes the above schedule for best effort delivery over an air-to-air interface over the radio link protocol (RLP) and including channel multiplexing and QoS control services. And mapping provides a “control state” process for managing physical layer channel access by packet data and voice services. These features of MAC logic operations are well known in the art, and an understanding of the present invention does not require further details. Furthermore, the MAC logic may be changed depending on the network type, for example, cdma2000, WCDMA, etc.

  However, exemplary MAC logic in accordance with the present invention includes two or more so-called “rate controllers” that provide reverse link data rate control commands to mobile stations 12 supported by RBS 32. While reverse link rate control is generally known in the art, conventional rate control is only one control mechanism used to control the reverse link rate of mobile station 12, i.e. Only one rate control algorithm is provided at a particular time. Reverse link rate control provides the base station system (RBS 32 and BSC 30) with a mechanism to control base station loading, eg, reverse link rate can be reduced to reduce base station loading, It can be increased to increase. An example detail on base station loading measurement is named “Method for Dynamically Adjusting Target Load for Reverse Link Channel in a CDMA Network”. It exists in a co-application and commonly assigned US patent application. This patent application, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, was filed on November 11, 2003 and is identified by Attorney Document No. 4740-243.

  In accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the generalized MAC architecture includes different rate controllers, each of which can be different from the rate control commands being generated by other rate controllers. A rate control command to the station 12 is generated. As a non-limiting example, FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary MAC logic 50 according to one embodiment of the present invention, where MAC logic 50 includes three rate controllers 52-1 to 52-3 (RC1, RC2, and RC3 and Included). The MAC logic 50 includes or is associated with another control logic 54, which is located in the RBS 32 or preferably the BSC 30 and relates a particular one of the mobile stations 12 to one or more rate controllers 52. Provides assignment assignment and selection control. 52-1 to 52-3 represent rate controllers available in a particular sector of RBS 32, and other sectors of RBS 32 have more than one rate controller available therein, and the rate of a sector It should be understood that the controller does not have to be the same in number or configuration as other sectors. Further, it should be understood that one or more available rate controllers may be configured to operate across more than one sector.

  In this regard, it should be noted that processing logic implementing rate controller 52 may be provided anywhere in MAC logic 50, control logic 54, or base station system network architecture. For example, some or all of the control logic 54 may be implemented in the BSC 30 and the rate controller 52 may be implemented as part of that logic or in other processing logic of the BSC 30. Thus, rate control can also be implemented in layer 3, for example. Such a BSC implementation is particularly effective in terms of integrating rate controller assignment and reassignment along with ongoing caller authorization and congestion control logic that may also be implemented in BSC 30. BSC-based rate control is also particularly useful when signaling overhead between RBS 32 and BSC 30 is not an issue.

  Thus, for purposes of explanation, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the implementation of the rate controller 52 in the MAC logic 50 is an example, a non-limiting example, and the rate controller 52 somewhere in the base station system. It should be understood that implementations of the present invention are also contemplated by the present invention, such as implementation in different network layers within the RBS 32, or within the logical processing of the BSC 30. Further, an exemplary “set” of rate controllers 52 can be implemented in each of the one or more RBS radio sectors so that the generated rate control commands are used by the mobile station 12 of the corresponding radio sector. Should be understood. However, as described, one or more rate controllers 52 can be configured to generate rate control commands to mobile stations 12 in more than one sector of RBS 32.

  Returning to the illustrated embodiment, the MAC logic 50 includes RC1 configured as a per-user rate controller that generates a per-user rate control command to each of the assigned one or more mobile stations 12. RC2 is configured as a sector unit common rate controller that generates a common rate control command in RAB, for example, on a sector unit basis. These common rate control commands are preferably generated based on measured or evaluation loading of the RBS sector. Such a command (in sector or group) may indicate a plurality of loading areas delimited by one or more reverse link loading thresholds defined in RBS 32. It may be generated as a bit value. RC3 is configured as a group unit rate controller that generates a common rate control command for a limited subset of mobile stations 12 in the sector. In an actual implementation, there are multiple groups or subsets of mobile stations 12, and there are substantially different group rate controllers for each such subset. For example, with different user classes, such as gold, silver, bronze classes, each class has its own group unit rate controller, and higher user classes are usually given a higher group data rate and Favorable treatment during congestion.

  Continuing with the example, the network 10 can be configured by the BSC 30 and / or RBS 32 to allow the system operator to adapt the rate controller assignment logic according to the operator's specific requirements or desires. . Thus, if there is no user class and no QoS distinction (ie, a single class of best effort users), the mobile station 12 defaults to a rate controller 52 that is configured to provide sector-by-sector common rate control. Assigned. If there are multiple user classes and there is no QoS distinction, the allocation logic can be configured to use group unit common rate control, which can generate and send different group unit rate control commands or depending on group allocation This can be achieved by configuring different mobile stations 12 to respond differently to the same command. In this sense, since different mobile stations can be configured to respond differently to the common rate control command, one group unit rate controller 52 can effectively function as a plurality of group rate controllers.

  For best effort and / or jitter and throughput QoS, the mobile station 12 may be selectively assigned to common rate control, dedicated rate control, or some combination thereof. Additional user classes in this context can be accommodated by using group unit commands. Although there is no user class but for best effort / QoS considerations, the base station system can be configured to use a mixture of group-wide common rate control and mobile unit-specific rate control. In the same situation, but with multiple user classes, the base station system is configured to use group-wide common rate control, unit-specific rate control, schedule, and optionally a mixture of power boost / deboost Is possible. Finally, the base station system can be configured to manage the mobile station 12 only for QoS constraints based on schedule rate control.

  Frame error guarantees can be included in any of the above rate control method changes. For example, a power boost can be used that commands the mobile station 12 to increase the transmission power of its first transmission frame to obtain a low frame error rate (FER).

  As described elsewhere in this description, the assignment and reassignment of mobile station 12 to a specific rate controller 52 implemented in an exemplary base station system is based on admission control and / or congestion control logic. It can be linked closely with the process. For example, when group unit common rate control is being performed, congestion can be detected by monitoring reverse link loading as used to generate the corresponding RAB. Upon detecting congestion, the base station system—eg, processing logic 54 or other processor resource—disconnects the best effort user first (if a user class is defined), and / or Alternatively, it can be configured to reduce throughput guarantees for throughput-centric users, eg, QoS constrained users. In addition, the exemplary congestion detection can trigger an authorization control process that blocks users by class, resource needs, etc. When using only user unit rate control, for example, in the case of a mixture of user unit dedicated rate control in which incremental up / down / hold commands are transmitted in user units and schedule rate control by the rate of the user unit commands, The schedule rate controller is essentially usable to implement congestion control because it has complete control of the resources allocated to the scheduled user. The control can also be configured to be associated with or trigger an authorization control.

  In any case, in the illustrated configuration, the MAC logic 50 comprises three reverse link rate controllers that generate different, in this case, different types of reverse link rate control commands. Accordingly, the mobile stations MS1-MS3 are commanded on a user unit basis according to the dedicated rate control command generated by RC1, while the mobile stations MS6-MS8 are commanded on a group basis according to the group rate control command generated by RC3. The remaining mobile stations, MS4 and MS5, are commanded according to a common sector unit rate control command generated by RC2.

  Of course, it should be recognized that FIG. 4 illustrates only one possibility of providing multiple reverse link rate control with MAC logic 50. FIG. 5 illustrates a more complex mixed rate control implementation where the MAC logic 50 of the RBS 32 is configured to provide a plurality of different types of rate control commands to the mobile station 12 at a particular sector of the RBS 32. First, the RBS 32 generates a common rate control command on a sector basis. These common rate control commands are generally used by any mobile station 12 in the sector unless the mobile station 12 is assigned to any other MAC rate controller 52.

  In addition, the RBS 32 generates group-specific common rate control commands for each of the three different groups of mobile stations 12, denoted as groups 1, 2 and 3. RBS 32 also generates “scheduled” reverse link rate control commands for another group of mobile stations 12, labeled as group 4. Depending on the scheduled rate, the RBS 32 commands the individual mobile stations 12 in group 4 to operate at a specific reverse link data rate for a specific service period, and thus for the scheduled group of mobile stations 12. Thus, it is possible to schedule which users are transmitting at which rates to perform one or more service objectives such as proportional fair service, maximum throughput service, etc. Thus, one of the two or more rate controllers 52 of the MAC logic can be configured as a schedule rate controller that provides a reverse link rate schedule to a group of assigned mobile stations 12. The commonly assigned US patent application entitled “REVERSE LINK SCHEDULER FOR CDMA NETWORKS” includes details of one or more methods of reverse link scheduling. This patent application, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, was filed on November 14, 2003 and is identified by agent document number 4740-228.

  With respect to the dedicated rate control command generated by RC1, the command may be generated as an incremental adjustment command, eg, one rate up, one rate down, or keep the current rate. In the exemplary cdma2000 embodiment, RC1 generates new rate control commands for MS1, MS2, and MS3 for each reverse link frame or at other suitable frequent intervals. The rate control commands generated by RC1 are based on other criteria, such as base station loading and / or service QoS requirements, and RC1 sends and receives information between other rate controllers RC2 and RC3. The rate control command may be adjusted based at least in part on the operation.

  An example detail on one method of per-user dedicated rate control implemented by MAC logic 50 is called "PER USER RATE CONTROL FOR THE REVERSE LINK IN CDMA NETWORKS". It is described in the commonly assigned US patent application of the name joint application. The patent application, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, is filed on December 10, 2003 and is identified by agent management number 4740-231.

  Further, the MAC logic 50 may generate dedicated user unit rate control commands and other types of rate control commands based at least in part on feedback from the user, i.e., from the mobile terminal 12. For example, one or more mobile stations 12 may indicate whether they want to increase the reverse link rate and / or can increase the reverse link rate if so commanded. Feedback may be given. An example of one type of such feedback appears in a commonly assigned US patent application named “REDUCED SIGNALING POWER HEADROOM FEEDBACK”. The patent application, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, is filed on December 16, 2003 and is identified by agent management number 4740-235.

  Any mobile station 12 in a sector that is not assigned to another rate controller 52, i.e. not one of a group and not assigned to dedicated rate control, can receive a sector-by-sector common rate control command generated by the RBS 32. You may respond to. Indeed, one or more mobile stations 12 may be configured to respond to a plurality of different types of rate control commands. For example, a particular mobile station 12 may be configured to respond to both dedicated rate control commands and common rate control commands. For example, the mobile station 12 may adjust or tune the response to incoming dedicated rate control commands based on sector loading indicated by the common rate control commands.

  Conversely, the mobile station 12 serves as the primary reverse link rate control command for the sector unit common rate control command, but this also responds to the dedicated rate control command for that service sector, It may be configured. In another example, at the time of mobile handoff (SHO) of the mobile station 12, it listens to a sector unit common rate control command for one or more neighboring sectors and listens to a user unit dedicated rate control command from that service sector. May be. Thus, mobile station 12 may ignore or adjust its response to incoming dedicated rate control commands from its serving sector based on the status of common rate control commands being transmitted to nearby sectors. . The example mobile station 12 can be configured to perform the reverse link rate control behavior described above as a function to limit / control interference introduced to other sectors in soft handoff.

もちろん、本発明は上述した優先方式以外に他の基本／補助指令挙動を考慮している。考慮した挙動は、以下には限定されないが、補助指令を使用して移動局の応答を基本指令に調停する、補助（２次）指令が矛盾または特殊条件を指示していない限り基本（１次）指令に応答する、１次及び２次指令の重み付け平均を使用して移動局で「ネットの」逆方向リンク・レート指令を決定する、等を含む。 The MAC logic 50 may be configured to provide a rate control command to the mobile station 12 on the “basic” rate control channel and to provide an auxiliary rate control command on the “auxiliary” rate control channel. According to one embodiment, the auxiliary rate control command replaces the basic rate control command. Accordingly, the MAC logic 50 transmits the rate control command generated by another rate controller 52 to the mobile station 12 as an auxiliary rate control channel command, thereby changing the rate control command transmitted by a certain rate controller 52 to the mobile station 12. Priority is possible. Such an operation is useful, for example, for ensuring stable SHO operation and for control by a single (service) sector when the mobile station 12 is in SHO. An exemplary mixture of basic and auxiliary rate control appears in Table 1 below.

Of course, the present invention considers other basic / auxiliary command behaviors besides the priority scheme described above. The behaviors considered are not limited to the following, but basic (primary) unless the auxiliary (secondary) command indicates a contradiction or special condition, using the auxiliary command to arbitrate the mobile station response to the basic command. ) In response to the command, use a weighted average of the primary and secondary commands to determine the “net” reverse link rate command at the mobile station, and so on.

  In addition to user unit, group unit, sector unit, and scheduled rate control provided in essentially any combination by MAC logic 50, this also allows for autonomous mobile station operation, It can be configured to have varying degrees of voluntary operation. In autonomous operation, a particular mobile station 12 can transmit on the reverse link at any rate up to the maximum allowed autonomous rate, eg, 0 kbps, 9.6 kbps, 19.2 kbps, etc. In the autonomous operation, the mobile station 12 does not need to give any feedback to the RBS 32 when following the user unit control command. If the mobile station 12 complies with the sector unit or group unit command, the voluntary rate transfer may be initiated when the sector or group command indicates that the transfer is allowed.

  The maximum voluntary rate can be negotiated by each mobile station 12 at the time of call setup, and can be changed thereafter as necessary. Similarly, the specific rate controller 52 to which a specific mobile station 12 is assigned can be determined at call setup as part of the user authorization process. The allocation and selection logic, which may include a portion of the control logic 54 previously illustrated, is based on the needs of a particular mobile station 12, eg, the type or characteristics of the application that the mobile station 12 is executing. This logic can be implemented in RBS 32, BSC 30, or some combination of the two.

  For example, a mobile station 12 running a web browsing application typically has asymmetric forward and reverse link requests in that it normally receives more data than it transmits. In such applications, the reverse rate is usually not important and the mobile station 12 is therefore a good candidate for common rate control. Due to its relatively low processing and signaling overhead, the use of common rate control is desirable from a network perspective. Thus, the assignment of a particular mobile station 12 to a particular one of the two or more rate controllers 52 in the MAC logic 50 of the RBS 32 is call setup based on the type of application that the mobile station 12 is executing. Sometimes it may be decided.

  Further, control logic 54, or other processing logic of RBS 32 or BSC 30, can be configured to provide dynamic rate controller assignments based on changing mobile station requirements. For example, the reassignment of a mobile station 12 from one rate controller 52 to another, or a new association between a mobile station 12 and another rate controller 52 can be triggered by changing the application requirements of the mobile station 12 May be. As an example, a particular mobile station 12 is instructed to follow a sector-by-sector common rate control command upon initial authorization to the network 10, but subsequently launches a higher QoS and / or data rate application that does not match the common rate control. In response to the command to initiate the following dedicated rate control, group rate control, or schedule rate control command.

  Regardless of the particular mobile unit-to-controller assignment, RBS 32 may use any of one or more exemplary methods for sending rate control commands to mobile station 12. In one exemplary embodiment, the MAC logic 50 multiplexes rate control commands on one or more other channels. That is, the MAC logic 50 defines rate control “subchannels” on one or more other channels by time multiplexing the rate control information along with other information being sent on other channels.

  FIG. 6 illustrates a subchannel in which sector unit, group unit, and user unit rate control commands are multiplexed on the forward link common power control channel (F-CPCCH). In the cdma2000 system, the F-CPCCH provides power control commands (power control bits, or PCBs) to the mobile station 12 up to 800 Hz, and the channel is arranged as a series of repeating blocks of 16 power control groups (PCGs), each The PCG gives up to 24 different mobile station 12 index positions (slots). FIG. 6 illustrates one or more of these slots being used to transmit sector unit rate control commands to mobile stations MS1-MS5 and MS9 and to transmit group unit rate control commands to mobile stations MS6-MS8. One or more of these slots being used for the mobile station MS6, MS7, MS9 and MS10, and one or more of these slots being used to send user unit rate control commands. .

  Note that one or more illustrated mobile stations 12 are responsive to one or more type rate control commands, as previously described in detail. For example, the MS 6 listens to a user unit rate control command and listens to a limited group group rate control command of the mobile station 12. Similarly, MS7 listens to its own user unit commands and listens to group commands similar to MS6. The MS 8 listens exclusively for these same group commands. Meanwhile, the MS 9 listens to both specific user unit control commands and sector unit rate control commands, and the MS 10 listens only to user unit rate control commands intended to do so. Each mobile station 12 may point to the appropriate index position of the rate control subchannel that will send rate control commands as part of the call setup and thereafter as part of the dynamic rate control change. Other common channels can be used to multiplex the rate control information, and the most convenient channel used to carry rate control information to the mobile station 12 is different for different types of networks. You should understand that.

  It should be noted that the specific rate control multiplexing details can be changed as needed and a dedicated rate control channel can be used if available. In fact, two or more types of reverse link rate control are provided extensively in one or more sectors of RBS 32, essentially changing all of the above exemplary details without departing from the invention. Good. In this regard, it should be noted that the exemplary RBS 32 may operate in one sector or more than one sector, and that one, some, or all of the sectors can provide mixed rate control, with different mixing It should also be noted that rate control can be used in different sectors of the same RBS. Accordingly, the invention is not limited to the foregoing description, but is only limited by the scope of the following claims and their reasonable equivalents.

1 is a diagram of a wireless communication network of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The figure of example base station system details. FIG. 4 is an exemplary functional layout of generalized medium access control (MAC) according to one or more embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an illustration of an example network layer model implementing a multi-controller MAC according to one or more embodiments of the invention. FIG. 4 is an exemplary mixed control method using the generalized MAC of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an illustration of an example subchannel multiplexing method for transmitting mixed type rate control commands to different mobile stations.

Claims (27)

In a radio communication system including a radio base station (RBS), the RBS is
A physical layer resource providing one or more wireless communication channels for communicating with a plurality of mobile stations;
Medium access control (MAC) logic that controls allocation of physical layer resources, said MAC logic including two or more reverse link rate controllers, each rate controller being one supported by RBS Configured to provide different reverse link rate control mechanisms for the above mobile stations,
Wireless communication system. The system of claim 1, wherein
The two or more rate controllers are a group of the following rate controllers:
A sector unit rate controller configured to provide a sector unit reverse link rate control command, a user unit rate controller configured to provide a user unit reverse link rate control command, and a group unit reverse direction A group rate controller configured to provide a link rate control command and a schedule rate controller configured to provide a scheduled reverse link rate control command to one or more mobile stations;
A system comprising two or more rate controllers. The system of claim 1, wherein
The two or more rate controllers are configured to generate a sector unit reverse link rate control command configured to generate a sector unit reverse link rate control command and a group unit reverse link rate control command. One or more group unit rate controllers, a user unit rate controller configured to generate a user unit reverse link rate control command, and a reverse link rate scheduled for one or more mobile stations And a schedule rate controller configured to generate the system. The system of claim 1, wherein
The two or more rate controllers generate one or more group unit rate controller configured to generate a group unit reverse link rate control command and a sector unit reverse link rate control command. Scheduled to one or more mobile stations, one or more sector unit rate controllers configured to, a user unit rate controller configured to generate a mobile unit reverse link rate control command, and A schedule rate controller configured to generate a reverse link rate. The system of claim 1, wherein
The two or more rate controllers are configured to generate a user unit reverse link rate control command configured to generate a user unit reverse link rate control command and a sector unit reverse link rate control command. One or more sector unit rate controllers; a group unit rate controller configured to generate group unit reverse link rate control commands; and a reverse link rate scheduled for one or more mobile stations. A schedule rate controller configured to occur. The system of claim 1, wherein
The two or more rate controllers include three rate controllers, including a sector unit rate controller, a group unit rate controller, and a user unit rate controller, and the MAC logic executes the three rate controllers simultaneously. A system configured to provide three different rate control mechanisms for different mobile stations or groups of mobile stations supported by the RBS. The system of claim 1, wherein
A system in which MAC logic is configured to multiplex rate control commands from at least one of two or more rate controllers on a common power control channel.   The system of claim 1, wherein the physical layer resource is configured to provide one or more sub-channels on a common power control channel, and the MAC logic is configured to send one or more control commands from two or more rate controllers. A system that is configured to transmit on a subchannel. The system of claim 1, wherein
A system further comprising base station control logic configured to selectively assign one or more rate controllers to each mobile station. The system of claim 9, wherein
The base station control logic is configured to assign two of the two or more rate controllers to a particular mobile station so that the mobile station receives rate control commands from two different rate controllers of the MAC logic. . The system of claim 10, wherein
The first of the two rate controllers includes one of a sector unit rate controller, a group unit rate controller, a user unit rate controller, and the second of the two rate controllers is a group unit rate. A system comprising one of a controller, a sector unit rate controller, and a user unit rate controller. The system of claim 9, wherein
A system in which base station control logic is configured to assign one or more rate controllers to individual mobile stations based on the mobile station application type. The system of claim 9, wherein
A system in which base station control logic is configured to change which rate controller is assigned to a particular mobile station during ongoing service based on the changing application type of the mobile station.   10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a base station controller (BSC) that includes base station control logic.   The system of claim 9, wherein the base station control logic is configured to assign one or more rate controllers to the mobile station at call setup. In a method of reverse link control in a wireless communication network base station system,
Providing two or more reverse link rate controllers, each rate controller being configured to generate a reverse link rate control command that is different from the commands generated by the other rate controllers; The providing step comprising:
Selectively associating at least one rate controller with each mobile station;
Generating a reverse link rate control command using one or more rate controllers and transmitting the command to an associated mobile station;
A method of reverse link control in a wireless communication network base station system. The method of claim 16, wherein
Providing two or more rate controllers includes providing control logic that implements two or more rate controllers in each radio sector of a radio base station included in the base station system. The method of claim 17, wherein
Providing control logic for implementing two or more rate controllers in each radio sector of a radio base station included in the base station system includes providing medium access control (MAC) logic in the radio base station, Is functionally configured to implement more than one rate controller in each radio sector of the radio base station. The method of claim 17, wherein
The step of providing control logic for implementing two or more rate controllers in each radio sector of the radio base station included in the base station system includes the step of providing base station control logic in the base station controller included in the base station system. And the base station control logic is functionally configured to implement more than one rate controller in each radio sector of the radio base station. The method of claim 16, wherein
The step of selectively associating at least one rate controller with an individual mobile station determines the rate controller association with the individual mobile station at call authorization based on one or more service requests of the individual mobile station. A method comprising the steps of: The method of claim 20, wherein
The step of selectively associating at least one rate controller with an individual mobile station dynamically changes the rate controller association of the individual mobile station after call authorization based on the changing service requirements of the individual mobile station. The method further comprising a step. The method of claim 20, wherein
The step of selectively associating at least one rate controller with an individual mobile station dynamically changes the rate controller association of the individual mobile station after call authorization based on the changing service requirements of the individual mobile station. And further comprising controlling reverse link congestion. The method of claim 16, wherein
The step of selectively associating at least one rate controller with an individual mobile station is based on the required combined relationship of rate control commands in which the mobile station's reverse link rate control is transmitted by the basic and auxiliary rate controllers. The at least one mobile station is associated with a first one of the rate controllers to act as a basic rate controller for the mobile station, and the second one of the rate controllers is associated with the mobile station. Operating as an auxiliary rate controller. The method of claim 16, wherein
Providing two or more reverse link rate controllers comprises, for a particular radio sector of the base station system, a sector unit rate controller, a group unit rate controller, a user unit dedicated rate controller, and a schedule unit. Providing at least two rate controllers selected from the group comprising rate controllers. The method of claim 16, wherein
Providing two or more reverse link rate controllers comprises providing at least one group unit rate controller for a group of related mobile stations for a particular radio sector of the base station system. A sector unit rate controller for generating a common rate control command for the radio sector, a user unit rate controller for generating a dedicated rate control command for the mobile station concerned, and a schedule for the mobile station concerned Providing at least one other rate controller including a schedule rate controller for generating rate control commands. The method of claim 16, wherein
The step of providing two or more reverse link rate controllers is to provide at least one sector unit rate controller for a specific radio sector of the base station system to generate a common rate control command to the related mobile stations A group unit rate controller that generates a common rate control command for the mobile stations involved, a user unit rate controller that generates a dedicated rate control command for the mobile stations involved, or a mobile station Providing at least one other rate controller including a schedule rate controller for generating a further rate control command. The method of claim 16, wherein
The step of providing two or more reverse link rate controllers is to provide at least one user unit rate controller for a specific radio sector of the base station system to generate dedicated rate control commands to the relevant mobile stations A sector unit rate controller for generating a common rate control command for the mobile station concerned, a group rate controller for generating a common rate control command for the mobile station concerned, and a schedule for the mobile station concerned Providing at least one other rate controller including a schedule rate controller for generating rate control commands.

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