Patent Grant
7224683
The present invention relates to the field of radio communications between base stations and mobile terminals, using time-division multiplexing of logical channels on a carrier frequency.
Radio-communications systems with mobiles use two main methods for transferring the signaling between the mobile terminal and the radio infrastructure.
In the first method, the transmissions of radio-infrastructure signaling to the mobile terminal are not deterministic and the mobile terminal has to keep listening out for the control channel, demodulate all the messages transmitted by the infrastructure to the various mobile terminals and choose those which concern it by virtue of an addressing mechanism.
Another method consists in allocating, from the start of the transaction, a signaling logical channel which is entirely reserved for said transaction between the radio infrastructure and the mobile terminal. This is the method used, in particular, by the GSM radiotelephony system. The logical channel defined as a sequence of regular uplink and downlink timeslots in which the information from the infrastructure is transmitted to a particular mobile and the information from said mobile is transmitted to the radio infrastructure.
In the radiotelephony systems using this mechanism, all the logical channels dedicated to the transactions with the mobile terminals have the same throughput, i.e. the same frequency of occurrence of the timeslots belonging to the dedicated signaling channel.
This situation is well suited to the case of the public radiotelephony systems, the principal function of which is to set up calls between the mobile terminals and the infrastructure of the switched public network. The periodicity of the timeslots is then chosen so as to allow communication-establishment times which are as short as possible while offering a sufficient delay between the downlink transmission from the radio infrastructure to the mobile and the uplink transmission from the mobile terminal to the radio infrastructure, so that a response from the application is available and therefore that the timeslot is used in the most effective way possible.
This configuration of the dedicated signaling channel is much less suitable for the case of professional radio communications networks in which a greater variety of services is offered and for which a single choice of periodicity of the timeslots in the dedicated signaling channels may lead to inefficient use of the control channel.
An object of the present invention is to remedy this drawback so as to offer a quality of service which is always adapted to the telecommunications service implemented.
According to the invention, a method of radio communication is proposed between a base station and mobile terminals, wherein at least one carrier frequency is apportioned to timeslots, and logical channels are formed between the base station and mobile terminals to support services in connection with said mobile terminals, each of said logical channels consisting of recurring timeslots allocated to at least one mobile terminal on said carrier frequency. To implement one of said services which involves transmission of periodically updated information, a recurrence frequency is selected from a plurality of possible values, as being substantially the inverse of the updating period for said information, and a logical channel is formed between the base station and a mobile terminal by allocating timeslots having the selected recurrence frequency on the carrier frequency.
The method makes it possible to respond to varied transmission needs between mobile terminals and a radio infrastructure in the case of professional radio communications networks, in an effective way in terms of use of the bandwidth and of frequency of updating of the information. For each service, it is possible to choose the timeslot recurrence frequency, which determines the rate of updating of the information and/or the time of response to the service.
It is thus possible to manage transaction needs between the mobile terminals and the radio infrastructure, such as the establishing of a communication with the switched telephone network, for example, or automatic location of a mobile terminal, with variable periodicities depending on the operational conditions in which the vehicle containing the mobile terminal or the pedestrian carrying this terminal is placed. The method may further be used to offer an efficient messaging service to simplified terminals (of “pager” type) carried under the usual conditions for this type of terminals, without the other mobile terminals being disturbed by the provision of this messaging service.
In a preferred embodiment of the method, the recurrence frequency of the timeslots allocated to a mobile terminal when establishing one of the logical channels is selected from a set of values of the form 1/Tk (k=1, 2, 3, . . . ) such that Tk+1/Tk is an integer for any k, T1 being a basic timeslot periodicity on the carrier frequency.
The invention also relates to a radio communications base station, comprising means for multiplexing logical channels on at least one carrier frequency to support services in connection with mobile terminals, each of said logical channels consisting of recurring timeslots allocated to at least one mobile terminal on said carrier frequency, and channel-establishing means, arranged to establish at least one of said logical channels supporting a service which involves transmission of periodically updated information, by allocating timeslots on the carrier frequency, having a recurrence frequency selected, from a plurality of possible values, as being substantially the inverse of the updating period for said information.
According to another aspect of the invention, a mobile radio communications terminal is proposed, comprising means for communicating on at least one carrier frequency apportioned to timeslots, along at least one logical channel formed with a base station of a radio infrastructure to support a service in connection with the mobile terminal, said logical channel consisting of recurring timeslots allocated to the mobile terminal on said carrier frequency. These means are arranged to communicate along said logical channel, supporting a service which involves transmission of periodically updated information, in timeslots on the carrier frequency having a recurrence frequency selected, from a plurality of possible values, as being substantially the inverse of the updating period for said information.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the description below of non-limiting embodiment examples, by reference to the attached drawings, in which:
In the embodiment described here by way of example, the base station and the mobile terminal which are represented in
For each base station, on a particular frequency fCD, a downlink physical channel is defined, devoted to the sending of control information. Symmetrically, an uplink physical channel is defined on a frequency fCU for transmission of control information from the mobile terminals to the base station. These physical control channels are subdivided into logical control channels by time-division multiplexing. Some of these logical channels are common channels, shared by the mobile terminals within range of the base station. Others are dedicated channels, which the base station uses to communicate with particular mobiles.
The signal transmitted on each of the physical control channels takes the form of successive frames subdivided into K.M basic timeslots belonging to different logical channels. In the example illustrated by
The slots F have a duration d1′ and are repeated every K′.M basic timeslots, with d1′=d1 and K′=K=2 in the example of
The slots S0 have a duration d1′ and are repeated every K′.M basic timeslots. They contain system information necessary for coordination between the mobiles and the base station, comprising, for example: (i) a field H of 5 bits marking the position of the timeslot S0 in the current superframe (a superframe represents the smallest common multiple between the periodicity of the traffic channels and that of the control channels, i.e. 13×27 composite timeslots in the example considered, i.e. 14.04 s); (ii) a field X of 3 bits marking the position of the timeslot S0 in a longer period (hyperframe), such as an encryption period on the air interface (typically of the order of an hour); and (iii) a field R of 3 bits indicating the minimum field strength received for access to the cell (for example quantized in steps of 5 dB).
The slots P serve the base station for addressing messages to mobile terminals with which it is not communicating (paging). In the uplink, the basic timeslots left blank in
The slots Si (1≦i≦11) of the dedicated channels are used after an allocation procedure. They each occur twice per frame in the example considered. With the control frame being of 520 ms, a timeslot Si, for a given i, occurs on average every 260 ms, with a duration of 100 ms between the sending of a message by the base station on a downlink slot Si and the sending of the response by the mobile terminal on the next uplink slot Si, and a duration of 140 ms or 180 ms between the sending of a message by the mobile terminal on an uplink slot Si and the sending of the response by the base station on the next downlink slot Si.
The base station may further establish traffic channels with one or more mobile terminals situated within its range, after an establishment procedure carried out by means of a dedicated control channel Si. The traffic channel established with a terminal is downlink (frequency fTD) and/or uplink (frequency fTU). The traffic channel is multiplexed on a frequency fTD and/or fTU with associated signaling channels serving for exchanging signaling in the course of communication (for example measurements or commands for the control of the radio power transmitted by the mobiles, call signaling, requests and commands for changing cell, alternate pre-emption, etc).
The uplink and downlink traffic channels may have the frame structure represented in
In mode 1 illustrated by
In mode 2 illustrated by
In the scanning window of a traffic frame, the mobile terminal seeks to detect a synchronization pattern transmitted in the timeslot F of the control frame by the base station of a neighboring cell. It therefore demodulates the signal received at the frequency fCD used in this neighboring cell. If the synchronization pattern is detected, the terminal uses the same frequency fCD in the scanning window of a following frame, and seeks to extract the system information transmitted by the same base station in its slot S0. If this information is actually received, the mobile terminal is ready to change cell if necessary.
The scanning window has a duration d2 corresponding to a composite timeslot, i.e. K=2 basic slots. To be sure that, in a superframe, these windows cover the timeslots F and S0 of the downlink control frames of the neighboring cells, it is advisable for the periodicity of these timing windows, and that of the timeslots F and S0 on the physical control channel, expressed in terms of numbers of composite timeslots, to be mutually prime. In other words, with the periodicity of the scanning windows being Q composite slots, and that of the timeslots F and S0 being M composite slots, the numbers M and Q are chosen to be mutually prime, which is the case in the embodiment described where M=13 and Q=27. The mobile terminal then scans the various possible frequencies fCD at the superframe rate, until it detects the synchronization pattern transmitted in a neighboring cell.
Furthermore, with the timeslot S0 occurring p composite slots after the timeslot F on the carrier fCD, with p<M (p=1 in the example of
In
For reception on the control channel, the base station includes a demodulator 49 which demodulates the signal received relating to the carrier frequency fCU supplied by the module 38, and delivers, to the demultiplexer 51, the downlink binary frames having the structure represented in the lower part of
In addition to the physical control channel, the base station can establish a certain number of traffic channels with mobile terminals situated within its range. In the simplified example represented in
A modulator 41 modulates the digital signal produced by the block 40, which has the structure represented in the upper part of
When a traffic channel has been allocated, the frame-management and synchronization module 36 controls the modulator 41 and the demodulator 50 to activate the coding for the modulation and to apply the corresponding demodulation scheme only if mode 2 is required (
In practice, to provide for multiple access, the base station includes several modulators 41 and several demodulators 50 operating according to the various traffic frequencies.
The radio signals delivered by the modulators 37 and 41 are combined by the summer 42. The resulting signal is converted into analog at 43, then amplified at 44 before being transmitted by the antenna 45 of the base station. A duplexer 46 extracts the radio signal picked up by the antenna 45 of the base station, and supplies it to an amplifier 47. After digitizing 48, the received and amplified signal is supplied to the demodulators 49 and 50.
A mobile terminal communicating with the above base station may be in accordance with the block diagram of
When the demodulator 59 is operating at the frequency fCD,the digital-signal frames, which may have the structure represented in the upper part of
When a traffic channel is allocated, the demodulator 59 operates at the frequency fTD (except in the scanning windows), and its output signal is forwarded to the circuits 71 which process the traffic channel and the associated control channels (reception of channels DT, DL of
The modulator 72 of the mobile terminal, controlled by the module 60, receives either the stream delivered by the multiplexer 70 and the frequency fCU for transmission on the physical control channel, or else the stream delivered by the circuits 71 and the frequency fTU for transmission on the traffic channel. The output radio signal from the modulator 72 is converted into analog at 73, and amplified at 74 before being transmitted via the antenna 55.
When a traffic channel has been allocated, the frame-management and synchronization module 60 orders the modulator 72 and the demodulator 59 to activate the coding for the modulation and to apply the corresponding demodulation scheme only if mode 2 is required (
In the scanning windows, the frame-management and synchronization module 60 of the terminal indicates to the frequency-synthesis module 61 the frequency fCD to be supplied to the demodulator 59, separate from the frequency fCD of the serving base station. It further drives the demultiplexer 64 S0 that the demodulated signal is forwarded to the block 65 for detecting the synchronization pattern. If the synchronization pattern is not detected, the module 60 repeats the same process in the next scanning window, until the same frequency fCD has been scanned M times. When the synchronization pattern is detected in a scanning window (data A in
In the representation of
The reference 33a designates a module devoted to the processing and exchange of information on those of the dedicated control channels S1–S11 which constitute signaling channels used for establishing dedicated resources (connections) in response to the signaling exchanged on the common control channels. Such a signaling channel, used in a transient phase of connection establishment, typically consists of a reference channel. The module 33a carries out the operations required by the call setup protocols used in the network.
The reference 33b designates a module devoted to the processing and exchange of information on dedicated control channels which are used to support services involving periodic exchanges between the infrastructure and mobile terminals. Such a service uses the whole or only a fraction of a reference channel, depending on the periodicity of the exchanges which it requires between the infrastructure and the mobile terminal or terminals concerned.
The various possible periodicities for the services thus supported will be denoted Tk (1≦k≦N), with TN>TN−1> . . . >T2>T1=260 ms. These periodicities will preferably be chosen in such a way that, for 1<k≦N, Tk=Qk.Tk−1=Pk.T1 with Qk an integer and
To achieve the periodicity Tk (k≧1) within a reference channel Si, a timeslot Si will be used every Pk (with P1=1). An entire logical channel, or level-1 channel, corresponding to the reference channel Si, will be designated by C(i), and a subdivided logical channel of level k>1, consisting of one Si timeslot every Pk, will be designated by C(i, q2, . . . , qk), where i indexes the reference channel Si and the integers qn (1<n≦k) are such that 0≦qn<Qn and that the number
designates the position, modulo Pk, of the Si timeslots allocated to the channel in a multiframe of duration TN which may correspond to one or more superframes. Each channel C(i, q2, . . . , qk) of level k<N may, in turn, be divided into Qk+1 subdivided channels of level k+1, namely C(i, q2, . . . , qk, qk+1) for 0≦qk+1<Qk+1. Each periodicity Tk (1≦k≦N) is thus an integer multiple or a divider of the period of the superframes, which allows the stations in communication to identify the subdivided channels with respect to the synchronization of the system.
By way of example, the network may support a service for locating certain mobile terminals, with a periodicity which can be adjusted by the user. The mobile terminal may be associated with a GPS-type location receiver or the like, which supplies an estimate of its geographical position on the basis of signals picked up from a set of satellites. By periodically sending these estimates to the infrastructure, it is possible to carry out monitoring of the carrier of the mobile terminal. Depending on the user's needs, the transmitted information may be updated with a greater or lesser periodicity, for example as indicated in Table I, where the multiframe corresponds to two superframes of 14.04 s.
When a relatively lengthy period Tk has been chosen, a mobile terminal in communication is disturbed little by the location service. The break in the speech transmission due to the sending of the position-fixing message in one Si timeslot on the frequency fCU is 40 ms at each period Tk, which is imperceptible if Tk is of the order of one or a few tens of seconds, especially if account is taken of the interpolation capabilities of the majority of modern vocoders. It may be possible, in the call setup protocol, to make provision for the periodicity Tk of the location service to be increased while a voice communication is in progress.
The module 78, for its part, manages the allocation of the timeslots Si on the control frequencies fCD, fCU (entire and subdivided channels). When a connection-establishment request is received or sent to a mobile terminal by the module 32, a dedicated level-1 channel is first requested for carrying on the signaling dialogue. The management module 78 allocates this channel C(i) and indicates it to the module 33a for it to use it, and to the module 32 for it to notify it to the mobile terminal. If the request relates to a traffic channel, it is dealt with by the module 77. Otherwise, it is forwarded to the module 78 with the desired periodicity Tk which has been specified, by the infrastructure or by the mobile terminal, in the context of the call setup protocol. After the allocation of a logical channel C(i, q2, . . . , qk) of level k by the module 78, the establishing of the connection terminates with the sending of an identifier of this channel to the mobile terminal as well as to the module 33b so that it can be used for the transmissions required by the service in question.
This procedure, for each level n≦N, uses a list Ln of free channels of level n, designated by the indices i, q1, . . . , qn. Initially, the list L1 contains all the indices i of the timeslots Si, and each list Ln with n>1 is empty. In response to the request for a channel of level k≧1, the values of the iteration index n are run through in the decreasing direction from n=k (initialization 80) until a free channel of level n is found, after which the lists Ln to Lk are updated. At each iteration n, it is checked whether the list Ln is empty (test 81). If Ln is empty and if n=1 (test 82), the allocation procedure fails because of the unavailability of the requested resource. If Ln is empty and if n>1, the index n is decremented at stage 83 before coming back to test 81 for the following iteration. When the test 81 shows that the list Ln contains one or more free logical channels of level n, one of these channels C(i, q2, . . . , qn) is selected and withdrawn from the list Ln at stage 84, then the iteration index n is compared with the level k of the channel requested (test 85). If n=k, the procedure terminates with the allocation of the logical channel C(i, q2, . . . , qk) at stage 86. If n<k, all the sister channels of level n+1 which it is possible to obtain by subdivision of the channel C(i, q2, . . . , qn) (namely C(i, q2, . . . , qn, p) for 0≦P≦Qn+1) are placed in the list Ln+1 at stage 87, then the index n is incremented at stage 88 before coming back to test 81 for the following iteration.
In response to the request for releasing the channel C(i, q2, . . . , qk), the values of the iteration index n are run through in the decreasing direction from n=k (initialization 90) until n=1 so as to update the lists Lk to L1 if necessary. At each iteration n, the logical channel C(i, q2, . . . , qn) is placed back in the list Ln at stage 91, then index n is compared with 1 (test 92). If n>1, it is checked, at test 93, whether the list Ln contains all the sister logical channels of the channel which has just been placed back in this list Ln, namely all the channels C(i, q2, . . . , qn−1, p) for 0≦p≦Qn. If yes, all the channels C(i, q2, qn−1, p) are deleted from the list Ln at stage 94, then the index n is decremented at stage 95 before coming back to stage 91 for the following iteration. The releasing procedure is terminated when test 92 shows n=1 or when test 92 shows that an updated list Ln does not contain all the sister channels of the one which has just been reincorporated into this list.
Depending on the order in which the previously allocated subdivided channels are released, situations may arise in which the occupation of a few channels of relatively high level (with lengthy periodicity) which are badly distributed renders unavailable an excessive number of channels of a lower level. In order to avoid that, provision can be made for only some of the slots Si to supply subdivided channels and to be subjected to the allocation and releasing algorithm of
The same method can be used to implement a connected-mode messaging service (paging) intended for simplified terminals or pagers. These pagers may be specific terminals, the principal characteristics of which are small size, low consumption related to a frequent standby state which limits the average consumption by virtue of the turning-off of the majority of the circuits with the exception of a low-frequency clock which monitors the periodic waking and the presence of an antenna integrated into the casing of the terminal the efficiency of which is generally mediocre, with a gain generally less than 7 to 8 dB by comparison with the gain of the antennas of mobile terminals. In order to offer a coverage similar to that of the other mobile terminals, the radio communications system uses a specific channel coding for the transmission of data intended for pagers. This high-gain coding, thus offering a reduced data throughput, is different from that used for the other mobile terminals. Moreover, having regard to the low throughput levels which are necessary in this type of application, in which the message is generally a message for warning personnel in a standby situation, of a near-binary nature, a low periodicity of the timeslots reserved for this service will be chosen. By way of example, each of the slots contains 40 information bits obtained from 280 bits, by virtue of a coding with efficiency 1/7 which supplies the coding gain necessary to compensate for the reduced gain of the antenna of the pagers.
One of the dedicated subdivided channels C(ip, qp2, . . . , qpk) can be reserved for this messaging service. It would be possible, depending on the desired alert times, to choose a periodicity Tk ranging from 2.34 to 28.08 seconds, for example (T3 to T6 of Table I). With the above-described way of allocating the dedicated channels, it is sufficient to exclude the subdivided channel in question from the allocation procedure of
It is sufficient that, from time to time, a particular sequence of bits be transmitted on a timeslot reserved for the paging service for the messaging terminals to recognize the presence of this channel and to be synchronized for the subsequent reception of the information.
The applications of the subdivided dedicated channels described above are not limiting. It is also possible to use the method according to the invention to implement professional radio communications systems in which certain terminals are used for remote-control or telemetry functions with variable information-transmission or control periodicities, from one terminal to another or for the same terminal, depending on circumstances.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99 10261 | Aug 1999 | FR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/FR00/02210 | 8/1/2000 | WO | 00 | 4/24/2002 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO01/11803 | 2/15/2001 | WO | A |
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