Telecommunications method and system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10785774-B2
Application number	US-201213983402-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 1, 2012
Priority date	Feb 4, 2011
Publication date	Sep 22, 2020
Grant date	Sep 22, 2020

Abstract

A base station receiving uplink data transmitted from mobile terminals of first type and mobile terminals of second type over a radio interface using plural sub-carriers. The mobile terminals of first type transmit uplink data on a first group of the sub-carriers over a first bandwidth and the mobile terminals of second type transmit uplink data on a second group of the sub-carriers within the first group of sub-carriers over a second bandwidth that is smaller than the first bandwidth. The base station is configured to grant uplink radio resources in response to random access request messages transmitted by mobile terminals of first type transmitted on a first random access channel and to grant uplink radio resources in response to random access request messages transmitted by mobile terminals of second type transmitted on a second random access channel, which are transmitted on sub-carriers within the second group of sub-carriers.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A communication station, comprising:
circuitry configured to
receive data sub-frames transmitted from mobile terminals of a first type and mobile terminals of a second type over a radio interface using a plurality of sub-carriers, the mobile terminals of a first type being configured to transmit data frames on a first group of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers over a first bandwidth and the mobile terminals of the second type being configured to transmit data frames on a second group of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers over a second bandwidth, the second bandwidth being smaller than the first bandwidth; and
grant radio resources in response to random access request messages transmitted by mobile terminals of the first type transmitted on a first random access channel and to grant radio resources in response to random access request messages transmitted by mobile terminals of the second type transmitted on a second random access channel, wherein

the random access request messages transmitted on the second random access channel are transmitted on sub-carriers within the second group of sub-carriers,
the first group of sub-carriers including a first control region that spans all carriers of each of the data sub-frames for a predetermined number of symbols at a beginning of each sub-frame, and
in each of the data sub-frames, the second group of sub-carriers are a subset of the first group of sub-carriers and forms a virtual carrier including a location signal, at least one symbol period being between the first control region and the location signal of the data sub-frames, the location signal indicating resource elements of the virtual carrier and being fixed in at least one of a top corner and a bottom corner at an end of the virtual carrier in a respective sub-frame.

2. The communication station according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to signal a position of the second random access channel to mobile terminals of the second type on a signaling channel.

3. The communication station according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to transmit data to mobile terminals of the first type over a third group of sub-carriers over a third bandwidth and configured to transmit data to the second type of mobile terminals on a fourth group of sub-carriers over a fourth bandwidth, the fourth bandwidth being smaller than the third bandwidth and the fourth group of subcarriers being within the third group of sub-carriers.

4. The communication station according to claim 1 , wherein circuitry is further configured to communicate with the mobile terminals of the first and second types in accordance with 3GPP Long Term Evolution specifications.

5. The communication station according to claim 1 , wherein the location signal is at an opposite end of each sub-frame than the first control region.

6. The communication station according to claim 1 , wherein the location signal is fixed in the top corner at the end of the virtual carrier in the respective sub-frame.

7. The communication station according to claim 1 , wherein the location signal is included in the virtual carrier in each of the plurality of sub-frames.

8. A communication station comprising:
circuitry configured to
receive data sub-frames transmitted from mobile terminals of a first type and mobile terminals of a second type over a radio interface using a plurality of sub-carriers, the mobile terminals of a first type being configured to transmit data on a first group of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers over a first bandwidth and the mobile terminals of the second type being configured to transmit data on a second group of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers over a second bandwidth, the second bandwidth being smaller than the first bandwidth; and
grant radio resources in response to random access request messages transmitted by mobile terminals of the first type transmitted on a first random access channel and to grant radio resources in response to random access request messages transmitted by mobile terminals of the second type transmitted on a second random access channel, wherein

the random access request messages transmitted on the second random access channel are transmitted on sub-carriers outside of the second group of sub-carriers but within remaining sub-carriers of the first group of sub-carriers,
the first group of sub-carriers includes a first control region that spans all carriers of each of the data sub-frames for a predetermined number of symbols at a beginning of each sub-frame, and
in each of the data sub-frames, the second group of sub-carriers being a subset of the first group of sub-carriers and forming a virtual carrier including a location signal, at least one symbol period being between the first control region and the location signal in each of the data sub-frames, the location signal indicating a location of the virtual carrier and being fixed in at least one of a top corner and bottom corner at and end of the virtual carrier in a respective sub-frame.

9. The communication station according to claim 8 , wherein the random access request messages transmitted on the second random access channel are transmitted on a same group of sub-carriers of the first group of sub-carriers and at a same time as random access request messages transmitted on the first random access channel.

10. The communication station according to claim 9 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to distinguish between random access request messages transmitted from mobile terminals of the first type and random access request messages transmitted from mobile terminals of the second type by allocating access to the first random access channel to the mobile terminals of the first type during a first period of time and allocating access to the second random access channel to the mobile terminals of the second type during a second period of time.

11. The communication station according to claim 9 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to distinguish between random access request messages transmitted from mobile terminals of the first type and random access request messages transmitted from mobile terminals of the second type by allocating random access preambles of a first type to the mobile terminals of the first type and allocating random access preambles of a second type to the mobile terminals of the second type.

12. The communication station according to claim 8 , wherein the second plurality of sub-carriers form a virtual carrier inserted within the first bandwidth and remaining sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers form a host carrier.

13. The communication station according to claim 8 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to transmit data to mobile terminals of the first type over a third group of sub-carriers over a third bandwidth and transmit data to the second type of mobile terminals on a fourth group of sub-carriers over a fourth bandwidth, the fourth bandwidth being smaller than the third bandwidth and the fourth group of sub-carriers being within the third group of sub-carriers.

14. The communication station according to claim 8 , wherein circuitry is further configured to communicate with the mobile terminals of the first and second types in accordance with 3GPP Long Term Evolution specifications.

15. A method comprising:
receiving, at a communication station, data sub-frames transmitted from mobile terminals of a first type and mobile terminals of a second type over a radio interface using a plurality of sub-carriers, the mobile te

Assignees

• Mcnamara Darren
• Lillie Andrew
• Darwood Peter
• Beale Martin
• Sca Ipla Holdings Inc

Inventors

• Mcnamara Darren
• Lillie Andrew
• Darwood Peter
• Beale Martin

Classifications

• H04W72/21

  in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network · CPC title

• H04W72/51 Primary

  based on terminal or device properties · CPC title

• H04L5/0007 Primary

  the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A) or DMT · CPC title

• H04W74/0833

  Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access · CPC title

• H04W8/186

  Processing of subscriber group data · CPC title