Abstract: Techniques for minimizing call setup latency are disclosed. In one aspect, a channel assignment message is sent with a flag to direct the use of previously negotiated service parameters. This aspect eliminates the need for service negotiation messages. In another aspect, a channel assignment message is sent with an active set identifier instead of an active set and its parameters. This aspect reduces the transmission time of the channel assignment message. In yet another aspect, call setup without paging is facilitated by a mobile station (106) sending a pilot strength measurement message between active communication sessions, such that a channel assignment message can be used for mobile station terminated call setup without the need for mobile station paging and related messages.

Abstract: A power control system for use in facilitating transition to an active state suitable for use in a wireless communication system. In one aspect, the system includes a first transceiver, such as a BTS, having the ability to initiate transmission of a power control function. The transceiver comprises a generator for generating a power control arrangement and a transmitter for transmitting the power control arrangement. The system further includes a second transceiver, such as a terminal, for receiving the power control arrangement and coherently combining the power control arrangement to determine a state transition indication. The second transceiver includes a transmitter that transmits a selected waveform subsequent to the coherent combining. The first transceiver receives the selected waveform, determines a power level associated therewith, and provides feedback to the second transceiver.

Abstract: Method and Apparatus for Processing Shared Sub-packets in a Communication System are disclosed. A communication system providing both voice and data services allows for a plurality of subscriber station to share a data sent in a unit of a forward traffic channel. To provide information required by the subscriber stations to determine that a unit of the forward traffic channel is shared, and to correctly decode the data, different control channel structures are described. Additionally, the control channel structures provides for more efficient signaling of code channel assignment.

Abstract: Transmissions on the dedicated channel are encoded using a set of paramaters that are picked from a large selection of potential parameters. If the remote station does not know the particular set of parameters that were used by a base station, then the remote station would have to attempt to decode the transmission using every set of parameters, until the transmission is decoded correctly. This is an inefficient methodology. Hence, transmission format information is typically transmitted on a broadcast channel so that a remote station could receive the transmission format information. However, the broadcast channel has reliability problems. New methods and apparatus are presented to allow a base station to determine an overlapping set of Walsh code sequences that can be used to send the transmission format information on the dedicated channel, rather than a broadcast channel. Using the overlapping set allows the remote station to decode the information.

Abstract: The contents of a counter at a remote station is used to select a Walsh cover, which is used to cover the acknowledgment or negative acknowledgment bits sent on a new reverse acknowledgment channel (R-ACKCH). In the new reverse acknowledgment channel, the value of the acknowledgment bits for the broadcast transmissions is used to select the Walsh code sequence that covers the acknowledgment bit for the dedicated transmissions. When a base station receives an acknowledgment message from the remote station, the base station checks the Walsh cover of the message and extracts the embedded counter content. If the embedded counter content of the received acknowledgment or negative acknowledgment differs from the local counter value, the base station determines that a synchronization problem occurred, such that the remote station is not operating with the current transmission format information. Hence, the counter values act as the sequence identifiers of the Walsh masks.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for recovery of particular bits in a frame are disclosed. An origination station forms a frame structure with groups of information bits of different importance. All the information bits are then protected by an outer quality metric. Additionally, the groups of more important information bits are further protected by an inner quality metric; each group having a corresponding quality metric. The frame is then transmitted to a destination station. The destination station decodes the received frame and decides, first in accordance with the outer quality metric, whether the frame has been correctly received, or whether the frame is erased. If the frame has been declared erased, the destination station attempts to recover the groups of more important information bits in accordance with the corresponding inner quality metrics.

Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method efficiently manage reverse link communication in a communication system having geographically distributed base stations. A base station functioning to at least one mobile station as a non-serving active base station estimates an expected coupled load due to the at least one mobile based on a previous total coupled load. The base station determines a total available capacity based on the difference between the total capacity of the base station and the estimated expected coupled load. The base station allocates reverse link resources to other mobile stations served by the base station so as not to exceed the total available capacity. Since the allocation of reverse link channels resources are controlled directly by the base station, delays due to communications with a central controller are eliminated. As a result, adverse effects of load scheduling based on obsolete reverse channel information are minimized.

Abstract: Techniques to reduce the amount of registration required by a mobile station in a wireless communication system, especially if the registration zones are defined to be small areas. In one scheme, a mobile station registers (e.g., at RR-level) with a network entity (e.g., a base station) each time it enters a new registration zone, which can correspond to an R-TMSI zone defined by GSM MC-MAP. The mobile station maintains a timer for each zone with which it has already registered but has since left. If the mobile station leaves a particular zone for a period longer than a time-out period, the registration with that zone times out, and the mobile station re-registers with that zone whenever it re-enters the zone. The mobile station may implement zone-based, timer-based, implicit, traffic channel RR, and some other registrations, or a combination thereof. Parameters to facilitate registration may be defined by a base station.

Abstract: A method for power control in a wireless communication system. An initial transmission of a data frame in the reverse link is received, and a first energy level of the data frame is measured. An energy deficit in the first energy level is then measured if the first energy level is insufficient to correctly decode the data frame, so that when the data frame is retransmitted with a second energy level equal to a difference between the first energy level and the energy deficit, the data frame can be correctly decoded with combined energy of the first energy level and the second energy level.

Abstract: Techniques for efficient signaling to and from a plurality of mobile stations are disclosed. In one embodiment, a subset of mobile stations may be allocated a portion of the shared resource with one or more individual access grants, another subset may be allocated a portion of the shared resource with a single common grant, and yet another subset may be allowed to use a portion of the shared resource without any grant. In another embodiment, an acknowledge and continue command is used to extend all or a subset of the previous grants without the need for additional requests and grants, and their associated overhead. In one embodiment, a traffic to pilot ratio (T/P) is used to allocate a portion of the shared resource, allowing a mobile station flexibility in selecting its transmission format based on T/P.

Abstract: The present invention encompasses a mobile station comprising a transmitter for transmitting outgoing signals from the mobile station and a receiver for receiving incoming signals, the receiver coupled to the transmitter and having N sub receivers, where N is an integer greater than one and each of the N sub receivers may independently be tuned to a desired frequency.

Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein address the need in the art for efficient management of grant, acknowledgement, and rate control channels. In one aspect, a list associated with a first station is generated or stored, the list comprising zero or more identifiers, each identifier identifying one of a plurality of second stations for sending a message to the first station. In another aspect, sets of lists for one or more first stations are generated or stored. In yet another aspect, the messages may be acknowledgements, rate control commands, or grants. In yet another aspect, messages comprising one or more identifiers in the list are generated. Various other aspects are also presented. These aspects have the benefit of reduced overhead while managing grant, acknowledgment and rate control messaging for one or more remote stations.

Abstract: A channel structure and mechanisms that support effective and efficient allocation and utilization of the reverse link resources. In one aspect, mechanisms are provided to quickly assign resources (e.g., a supplemental channel) as needed, and to quickly de-assign the resources when not needed or to maintain system stability. The reverse link resources may be quickly assigned and de-assigned via short messages exchanged on control channels on the forward and reverse links. In another aspect, mechanisms are provided to facilitate efficient and reliable data transmission. A reliable acknowledgment/negative acknowledgment scheme and an efficient retransmission scheme are provided. Mechanisms are also provided to control the transmit power and/or data rate of the remote terminals to achieve high performance and avoid instability.

Abstract: A novel and improved method for performing paging is described. In one embodiment of the invention a searcher is used to detect spread spectrum signals. Samples received RF signals are stored in a sample buffer. During standby mode, the samples are gathered during paging slots assigned to the mobile. A set of searches are performed on the samples, and if pilot signals are detected additional demodulation is performed to detect paging messages. The resulting set of demodulation data may be combined to increase detection. After a page message has been detected, additional demodulation resources may be activated to processes more complete page messages, or other information channels. In one embodiment of the invention, the searcher includes a demodulator to perform quick page detection without the use of finger elements to reduce idle mode power consumption.

Abstract: In wireless communications, it is necessary to monitor the transmission quality of communications channels to maintain system performance and operation. The invention provides a way of measuring bit error rates in channels at the receiver, without diminishing channel throughput by inserting quality monitoring data into the signal at the transmitter.

Abstract: In a communication system, a method and an accompanying apparatus determine a number of available fingers (110A-N) in a receiver (100). A controller (121) adjusts a threshold based on the determined number of the available fingers (110). The adjusted threshold may be one of, or any combination of, a pilot signal search threshold, a lock/unlock threshold, and a combine/un-combine threshold. The number of available fingers (110) may change after the threshold is adjusted.

Abstract: The invention is a method for limiting the peak transmit power in a CDMA communication system. At least one of first and second high transmit power regions are separated into a plurality of high transmit power subregions. The high transmit power subregions of the plurality of high subregions are shifted by time offsets of differing durations to provide a plurality of time offset subregions. First and second low transmit power regions are also provided. At least one of the first and second low transmit power regions is also separated into a plurality of transmit power subregions and the low transmit power subregions are shifted by time offsets of differing time durations. The subregions can be time offset by a predetermined time duration or by a random time duration.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for negotiating service configuration in a digital communication system is disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment the service negotiation system is implemented in a wireless spread spectrum communication system. The service configuration comprises data rates, frame formats and types of services. Types of service may include speech encoding, facsimile or digital data services. Further described herein is a digital transmitter and receiver using the service negotiation system to provide service configuration mutually acceptable at both ends of a communication link.

Abstract: The present invention is a novel and improved method and apparatus for supervising a potentially gated channel in a wireless communication system. The first method is an extension of the method used in IS-95 with empty frames simply ignored, but with potentially different thresholds. The mobile station maintains a counter of consecutive bad frames, COUNT1, and a counter of consecutive good frames, COUNT2. COUNT1 and COUNT2 are set to zero at the beginning of a call. For each frame received, the mobile station determines if it is a good frame, a bad frame, or an empty frame. If the received frame is a good frame, COUNT1 is reset to zero and COUNT2 is incremented by 1. If the received frame is a bad frame, COUNT1 is incremented by one and COUNT2 is reset to zero. If the received frame is an empty frame, COUNT1 and COUNT2 are unchanged. If COUNT1 reaches a threshold value, TH1, the mobile station shall disable its transmitter.

Abstract: In a communication system capable of variable rate transmission, scheduling of high speed data transmission improves utilization of the forward link and decreases the transmission delay in data communication. Each remote station is assigned one primary code channel for the duration of the communication with a cell. Secondary code channels of various types and transmission capabilities can be assigned by a channel scheduler for scheduled transmission of data traffic at high rates. Secondary code channels are assigned in accordance with a set of system goals, a list of parameters, and collected information on the status of the communication network. Secondary code channels can be grouped into sets of secondary code channels. Data is partitioned in data frames and transmitted over the primary and secondary code channels which have been assigned to the scheduled user.

Abstract: A pressurizing cap which may be readily attached and detached from the discharge neck of a bottle of carbonated liquid includes a housing having a first chamber proximate one end thereof and a skirt portion at an opposite end thereof which engages the bottle's neck. The first chamber retains a pressurized canister of innoxious gas such as carbon dioxide. The housing also comprises a second chamber. A first conduit leads from the first chamber to the second chamber, and a second conduit leads from the second chamber to the neck portion of the bottle. Means are provided within the second chamber for selectively connecting the first and second conduits whereby gas is released into the bottle. Liquid discharge means may also be provided which comprises a nozzle extending from the housing and a tube coupled at one end thereof to the nozzle and having an opposite end in communication with the liquid in the bottle. The cap is collinearaly mounted with the neck of the bottle.