Method for radio resource control

Claim 2

A method according to claim 1, characterised in that the slots contained in the frame belong, according to the volume of the respective physical radio resources, to at least two different allowed size categories, and that in order to change the slot structure of a frame, a predetermined integral number of the slots of the first size category can be replaced by a predetermined integral number of the slots of the second size category.

Claim 3

A method according to claim 2, characterised in that the amount of allowed size categories is three, in which case the slot (16) of the largest size category is equal to two slots (17) of the next largest size category or to ten slots (18) of the smallest size category.

Claim 4

A method according to claim 2, characterised in that the amount of allowed size categories is four, in which case the slot of the largest size category is equal to two slots of the next largest size category, four slots of the third largest size category or eight slots of the smallest size category.

Claim 5

A method according to claim 1, characterised in that each frame is divided, in the direction of the first dimension, to a predetermined amount of time slots (15), and each time slot is further divided into slots.

Claim 6

A method according to claim 5, characterised in that each slot occupies the whole frequency range of the corresponding time slot but the length of each slot in the time dimension depends on its data transmission capacity.

Claim 7

A method according to claim 5, characterized in that time-frequency division is applied, whereby each slot occupies the whole chronological duration of the corresponding time slot but the width of each slot in the frequency dimension depends on its data transmission capacity.

Claim 8

A method according to claim 5, characterized in that time-code division is applied, whereby each slot occupies the whole chronological duration of the corresponding time slot but the data transmission capacity of each slot depends on the corresponding spreading code.

Claim 9

A method according to claim 1, characterised in that a predetermined non-negative integral number of consecutive frames forms a superframe (19), so that in consecutive superframes, such frames that are located in similar positions when starting from the beginning of the superframe correspond to each other with respect to the slot division, if changes have not occurred in the data transmission need of the radio connections in between the superframes.

Claim 10

A method according to claim 9, characterised in that each superframe contains both slots (I) meant for transmission of information and control slots (C) for realising logic control channels.

Claim 11

A method according to claim 10, characterised in that a downlink signal comprises a general logic control channel (47) provided for the signalling connected to slotwise radio resource control.

Claim 12

A method according to claim 10, characterised in that each control slot (C) belongs, according to the physical radio resources represented thereby, to one of the allowed size categories.

Claim 13

A method according to claim 1, characterised in that a predetermined frequency band is used to convoy both downlink slots and uplink slots according to a time-division duplexing scheme.

Claim 14

A method according to claim 13, characterised in that a predetermined non-negative integral number of consecutive frames forms a superframe (19) and each superframe contains a first number of downlink frames and a second number of uplink frames.

Claim 15

A method according to claim 13, characterised in that a predetermined first frequency band is used to convoy nominally downlink slots and a predetermined second frequency band is used to convoy nominally uplink slots, but in response to unsymmetrical traffic conditions in uplink and downlink direction, slots are cross-allocated so that nominally downlink slots are used to convoy uplink traffic or nominally uplink slots are used to convoy downlink traffic.

Claim 16

A method according to claim 1, characterised in that the base station subsystem maintains a reservation table in order to indicate the size and state of occupancy of the slots in the frames and in order to maintain an optimal rate of usage.

Claim 17

A method according to claim 16, characterised in that the base station subsystem evaluates the quality of at least one allocatable slot and makes a decision of allocating or non-allocating said slot to a connection on the basis of the transmission quality required by said connection.

Claim 18

A method according to claim 16, characterised in that it comprises in the base station subsystem the steps in which, as a response to a slot request, either uplink or downlink reservation table is chosen, a reservation table is chosen, a set of candidate time slots from the chosen reservation table is formed, a set of predetermined selection criteria is applied to find the best candidate time slot, the transmission quality offered by the selected best candidate time slot is checked and a decision to allocate a slot from the best candidate time slot is made.

Claim 19

A method according to claim 16, characterised in that the base station subsystem makes a decision of allocating the slots for the radio connections also on the basis on the information contained in the reservation tables of neighbouring base station subsystems.

Claim 20

A method according to claim 19, characterised in that the base station subsystem allocates slots on the basis of the transmission power used for communication by different mobile stations, so that a first mobile station that uses low transmission power to communicate with a first base station will be allocated a slot that coincides chronologically with a slot allocated to a second mobile station that uses high transmission power to communicate with a second base station.

Claim 21

A method according to claim 19, characterised in that the base station subsystem allocates slots on the basis of the communication type used by different mobile stations, so that circuit-switched and packet-switched connections have their own slots located in the reservation tables of adjacent base stations in optimal locations with respect to the total interference of the system.

Claim 22

A method according to claim 1, characterised in that for setting up an uplink radio connection between the base station subsystem and the mobile station the method comprises the steps of transmitting from the mobile station, in an allowed uplink capacity request slot, a capacity request (21, 35), where the mobile station indicates the amount of physical radio resources required by the radio connection, and making an allocation decision in the base station subsystem as a response to said capacity request.

Claim 23

A method according to claim 22, characterised in that the location and amount of the allowed uplink capacity request slots in relation to the frame structure is not constant and the base station subsystem transmits, in a predetermined downlink slot, an announcement indicating the location and amount of the allowed uplink capacity request slots.

Claim 24

A method according to claim 22, where the radio system additionally offers the mobile station realtime and non-realtime data transmission services, characterised in that in order to reserve radio resources for the use of a radio connection for uplink realtime data transmission services, the mobile station indicates in its capacity request (21) the required data transmission capacity.

Claim 25

A method according to claim 24, characterised in that the mobile station additionally indicates in its capacity request a predetermined set of parameters describing the required qualities of the radio connection.

Claim 26

A method according to claim 24, characterised in that when the data transmission capacity demand grows during an ongoing radio connection for uplink realtime data transmission services, the mobile station sends the base station subsystem a capacity request (24), where it indicates the required additional data transmission capacity.

Claim 27

A method according to claim 24, characterised in that when the data transmission capacity demand diminishes during an ongoing radio connection for uplink realtime data transmission services having several allocated slots, the mobile station leaves at least one of the allocated slots unused.

Claim 28

A method according to claim 24, characterised in that each mobile station has a certain temporary logic identifier in order to distinguish the mobile station from other mobile stations operating under the same base station subsystem, and in order to reserve radio resources for the use of a radio connection for parallel uplink realtime data transmission services, the mobile station sends the base station subsystem a capacity request where it indicates its temporary logic identifier the required parallel data transmission capacity, and an additional identifier, which distinguishes the parallel radio connection from other ongoing radio connections convoying realtime data transmission services.

Claim 29

A method according to claim 22, where the radio system additionally offers the mobile station realtime and non-realtime data transmission services, characterised in that in order to reserve radio resources for the use of a radio connection for uplink non-realtime data transmission services, the mobile station indicates in its capacity request (21) the amount of data to be transmitted.

Claim 30

A method according to claim 22, characterised in that in its allocation decision the base station subsystem has the freedom of directing the required radio connection into any available slot and after the allocation decision the base station subsystem transmits to the mobile station in a predetermined downlink access granting slot an indication of the granted slot or slots.

Claim 31

A method according to claim 1, characterised in that for setting up a downlink radio connection between the base station subsystem and the mobile station the method comprises the steps of making an allocation decision in the base station subsystem as a response to the detected need of a new downlink radio connection indicating the amount of physical radio resources required by the radio connection, transmitting from the base station subsystem to the mobile station a paging message (27, 28, 41, 42), that announces the location of the downlink slot or slots allocated to the radio connection in said allocation decision, as a response to a detected paging message, transmitting from the mobile station a paging acknowledgement message and as a response to a detected paging acknowledgement message, commencing downlink transmission from the base station subsystem.

Claim 32

A method according to claim 31, where the radio system additionally offers the mobile station realtime and non-realtime data transmission services, characterised in that in order to form a radio connection for downlink realtime data transmission services, the base station subsystem indicates in the paging message (27, 28), for the regularly repeated slots allocated to the radio connection, their location in relation to the frame structure.

Claim 33

A method according to claim 32, characterised in that when the data transmission capacity demand grows during an ongoing radio connection for downlink realtime data transmission services, the base station subsystem makes an additional slot allocation decision and sends the mobile station a paging message (27, 28, 41, 42), that announces the location of the additional downlink slot or slots allocated to the radio connection.

Claim 34

A method according to claim 32, characterised in that when the data transmission capacity demand diminishes during an ongoing radio connection for downlink realtime data transmission services having several allocated slots, the base station makes a slot deallocation decision concening at least one of the allocated slots and leaves the corresponding slots unused.

Claim 35

A method according to claim 32, characterised in that each mobile station has a given temporary logic identifier in order to distinguish the mobile station from other mobile stations operating under the same base station subsystem, and in order to reserve radio resources for the use of a radio connection for parallel downlink realtime data transmission services, the base station subsystem sends the mobile station a paging message, where it indicates the temporary logic identifier of the mobile station the location of the regularly repeated slots allocated to the parallel radio connection and an additional identifier, which distinguishes the parallel radio connection from other ongoing radio connections convoying realtime data transmission services.

Claim 36

A method according to claim 31, where the radio system additionally offers the mobile station realtime and non-realtime data transmission services, characterised in that in order to form a radio connection for downlink non-realtime data transmission services, the base station subsystem indicates in the paging message (41, 42) the location of the first slots for non-realtime data transmission services in relation to the frame structure, and to announce a change in either the location or the amount of the slots allocated for non-realtime data transmission services during the connection, the base station subsystem notifies the new location or amount of the slots by sending a new paging message.

Claim 37

A base station subsystem for a radio telecommunication system having base station subsystems and mobile stations, the base station subsystem having means for arranging the communicated information into chronologically consecutive frames, characterised in that the base station subsystem additionally comprises means for directing the communicated information of each radio connection into at least one cyclically repeated two-dimensional slot in the frames, in which case the data transmission capacity of each slot is determined by the dimensions of the slot, and at least one frame contains slots of different data transmission capacities, each slot represents a given share of the physical resources contained in the frame, a multitude of slots in each frame are each dynamically assignable for the use of a given radio connection for the duration of the frame, the first dimension of the slots is time and the second dimension of the slots is one of the following: frequency, code; and the size of said slot in relation to the size of a frame is dependent on the data transmission capacity required by the respective radio connection taking into account data transmission capacity changes during an ongoing radio connection.

Claim 38

A base station subsystem according to claim 37, characterised in that it further comprises means for maintaining a reservation table in order to indicate the size and state of occupancy of the slots in the frames and in order to maintain an optimal rate of usage.

Claim 39

A base station subsystem according to claim 38, characterised in that it further comprises means for communicating information concerning reservation tables with its neighbouring base station subsystems.

Claim 40

A base station subsystem according to claim 37, characterized in that in order to set up uplink connections it further comprises means for producing a general access slot location announcement and transmitting it to all mobile stations in a predetermined downlink slot in order to advice the mobile stations to send capacity requests in the announced access slot, receiving and interpreting capacity requests from the mobile stations, making slot allocation decisions that allocate slots to radio connections requested and identified in the capacity requests and producing access granting messages and transmitting them in a predetermined slot selectively to those mobile stations whose capacity requests were granted in the slot allocation decisions.

Claim 41

A base station subsystem according to claim 37, characterized in that in order to set up downlink connections it further comprises means for producing paging messages and transmitting them in a predetermined slot selectively to those mobile stations to which a downlink connection is to be established, said paging messages indicating at least one allocated downlink slot, receiving and interpreting paging acknowledgement messages from the mobile stations, and directing a downlink transmission into the allocated downlink slots indicated in the paging message.

Claim 42

A mobile station for a radio telecommunication system having base station subsystems and mobile stations, the mobile station having means for arranging the communicated information into chronologically consecutive frames, characterised in that the mobile station additionally comprises means for directing the communicated information of each radio connection into at least one cyclically repeated two-dimensional slot in the frames, in which case the data transmission capacity of each slot is determined by the dimensions of the slot, and at least one frame contains slots of different data transmission capacities, each slot represents a given share of the physical resources contained in the frame, a multitude of slots in each frame are each dynamically assignable for the use of a given radio connection for the duration of the frame, the first dimension of the slots is time and the second dimension of the slots is one of the following: frequency, code; and the size of said slot in relation to the size of a frame is dependent on the data transmission capacity required by the respective radio connection taking into account data transmission capacity changes during an ongoing radio connection.

Claim 43

A mobile station according to claim 42, characterized in that in order to set up uplink connections it further comprises means for receiving and interpreting access slot location announcements transmitted from a base station subsystem, producing a capacity request and transmitting it in an access slot identified in an access slot location announcement, receiving and interpreting an access grant message from the base station subsystem identifying at least one granted slot and directing information transmissions into said at least granted slot.

Claim 44

A mobile station according to claim 42, characterized in that in order to set up downlink connections it further comprises means for receiving and interpreting paging messages transmitted from a base station subsystem, said paging messages indicating at least one allocated downlink slot, producing a paging acknowledgement message and transmitting it in an acknowledgement slot, and receiving and interpreting downlink transmissions in said at least one allocated downlink slot.

Claim 45

A mobile station according to claim 44, characterised in that it further comprises means for identifying the acknowledgement slot on the basis of the information included in a paging message.

Claim 46

A radio telecommunication system having base station subsystems and mobile stations, the base station subsystems and mobile stations having means for arranging the communicated information into chronologically consecutive frames, characterised in that the base station subsystems and mobile stations additionally comprise means for directing the communicated information of each radio connection into at least one cyclically repeated two-dimensional slot in the frames, in which case the data transmission capacity of each slot is determined by the dimensions of the slot, and at least one frame contains slots of different data transmission capacities, each slot represents a given share of the physical resources contained in the frame, a multitude of slots in each frame are each dynamically assignable for the use of a given radio connection for the duration of the frame, the first dimension of the slots is time and the second dimension of the slots is one of the following: frequency, code; and the size of said slot in relation to the size of a frame is dependent on the data transmission capacity required by the respective radio connection taking into account data transmission capacity changes during an ongoing radio connection.