Wireless communications system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9622166-B2
Application number	US-201214122049-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 13, 2012
Priority date	Jun 14, 2011
Publication date	Apr 11, 2017
Grant date	Apr 11, 2017

Abstract

A wireless communications system includes a base station, a plurality of intermediate devices and a terminal device. The base station is operable to wirelessly transmit downlink signals to the terminal device, the downlink signals including terminal control signals identifying one of the intermediate devices as a target device to which the terminal device is to direct uplink signals intended for the base station. The terminal device wirelessly transmits the uplink signals to the base station via the intermediate device identified by the terminal control signals. In this way, downlink communications may be provided directly from the base station to the terminal device, including control signals which instruct the terminal device where to send uplink data. This enables the base station to directly control scheduling of uplink communications, and in particular to define the uplink route from the terminal device to the base station via one or more intermediate devices.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wireless communications system, comprising:
a base station;
a plurality of intermediate devices; and
a terminal device;
wherein the base station is configured to wirelessly transmit downlink signals to the terminal device, the downlink signals comprising terminal control signals identifying a first intermediate device as a target device to which the terminal device is to direct uplink signals intended for the base station,
wherein the terminal device is configured to wirelessly transmit the uplink signals to the base station via the first intermediate device identified by the terminal control signals,
wherein, when the uplink signals from the terminal device to the base station are to be routed via more than one intermediate device, the base station is configured to wirelessly transmit intermediate control signals to the first intermediate device via which the uplink signals are to be routed from the terminal device to the base station, the intermediate control signals indicating a second intermediate device as a target device to which the first intermediate device is to direct the uplink signals, and
wherein the first intermediate device is configured to wirelessly transmit the uplink signals received from the terminal device to the second intermediate device identified by the intermediate control signals.

2. The wireless communications system according to claim 1 , wherein the base station is further configured to wirelessly transmit to the first intermediate device an indication that it is required to receive the uplink signals from the terminal device.

3. The wireless communications system according to claim 2 , wherein the indication specifies a radio resource at which the first intermediate device can expect the uplink signals to be transmitted to the first intermediate device by the terminal device or by another intermediate device.

4. The wireless communications system according to claim 1 , wherein the terminal control signals comprise scheduling information having more than one address field, the address fields comprising a transmitter address field identifying the terminal device and a receiver address field identifying the first intermediate device via which the uplink signals are to be transmitted.

5. The wireless communications system according to claim 1 , wherein the intermediate control signals comprise scheduling information having more than one address field, the address fields comprising a transmitter address field identifying the first intermediate device and a receiver address field identifying the second intermediate device to which the first intermediate device is to direct uplink signals intended for the base station.

6. The wireless communications system according to claim 1 , wherein the intermediate control signals comprise scheduling information having more than one address field, the address fields comprising a transmitter address field identifying the first intermediate device and a receiver address field identifying the second intermediate device.

7. The wireless communications system according to claim 4 , wherein the address fields are radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs): specified on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH): broadcast by the base station.

8. The wireless communications system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the intermediate devices are configured to generate respective predetermined beacon signals;
wherein the terminal device is further configured to receive a beacon signal from an intermediate device and to generate a respective measure of the radio link quality between the terminal device and the intermediate device using the received beacon signals; and
wherein the terminal device is further configured to transmit the measure of radio link quality to the base station within the uplink signals.

9. The wireless communications system according to claim 8 ,
wherein the terminal device is further configured to receive the beacon signals from plural intermediate devices and to generate, for each radio link between the terminal device and one of the intermediate devices from which a beacon signal has been received, a respective measure of the radio link quality using the received beacon signals; and
wherein the terminal device is further configured to transmit the respective measures of radio link quality to the base station within the uplink signals.

10. The wireless communications system according to claim 8 , wherein the base station is further configured to determine a transmission route from the terminal device to the base station via one or more of the intermediate devices in dependence on the received measures of radio link quality.

11. The wireless communications system according to claim 1 ,
wherein one or more of the base station, the intermediate devices and the terminal device are further configured to generate respective predetermined beacon signals;
wherein another one or more of the base station, the intermediate devices and the terminal device are further configured to receive the beacon signals and to generate a respective measure of the radio link quality corresponding to the radio link via which the beacon signal has been transmitted using the received beacon signals;
wherein the another one or more of the base station, the intermediate devices and the terminal device are further configured to transmit the measure of radio link quality to the base station within the uplink signals; and
wherein the base station is further configured to determine a transmission route from the terminal device to the base station via one or more of the intermediate devices in dependence on the measures of radio link quality.

12. The wireless communications system according to claim 11 , wherein the control signals comprise scheduling information, the scheduling information specifying one or more of a transmission power, data rate, transmission frequency, transmission timeslot and number of resource blocks for the uplink signals.

13. The wireless communications system according to claim 12 , wherein the scheduling information is set by the base station for each radio link based on the radio link quality measure reported for each radio link.

14. The wireless communications system according to claim 11 , wherein the base station is further configured to broadcast an indication of the radio resource over which each beacon signal is transmitted.

15. The wireless communications system according to claim 11 ,
wherein the uplink signals from the terminal device comprise uplink control signals indicating a radio link quality between the terminal device and neighbouring devices; and
wherein the base station is further configured to set one or more of an uplink route from the terminal device to the base station via one or more of the intermediate devices and transmission control parameters for controlling the transmission of data from each device in the uplink route in dependence on the received uplink control signals.

16. The wireless communications system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the intermediate devices are configured to generate respective predetermined beacon signals;
wherein the terminal device is further configured to receive a beacon signal from an intermediate device and to generate a respective measure of the radio link quality between the terminal device and the intermediate device using the received beacon signals;
wherein the terminal device is further configured to transmit the measure of radio link quality to the intermediate device; and
wherein the intermediate device is configured

Assignees

• Morioka Yuichi
• Sca Ipla Holdings Inc

Inventors

• Morioka Yuichi

Classifications

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W52/02 Primary

  Power saving arrangements · CPC title

• H04W40/22 Primary

  using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point · CPC title

• H04W40/08

  based on transmission power · CPC title

• Y02B60/50

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic