Abstract: A cellular communication system (100) a first Radio Network Controller (107) supporting different communication service types. A first resource controller (203) controls resource allocation for a first communication service type from a first resource partition and a second resource controller (205) controls resource allocation for a second communication service type from a second resource partition. A partition processor (207) partitions a shared resource into at least the first and second resource partition in response to a first admission failure measure for the first communication service type. Optionally, the partition processor (207) may partition the shared resource into at least the first and second resource partition in response to a second admission failure measure for the first communication service type.

Abstract: A cellular communication system (100) a first Radio Network Controller (107) supporting different communication service types. A first resource controller (203) controls resource allocation for a first communication service type from a first resource partition and a second resource controller (205) controls resource allocation for a second communication service type from a second resource partition. A partition processor (207) partitions a shared resource into at least the first and second resource partition in response to a first admission failure measure for the first communication service type. Optionally, the partition processor (207) may partition the shared resource into at least the first and second resource partition in response to a second admission failure measure for the first communication service type.

Abstract: An outer loop power control method and apparatus for a radio communications system, for example a UMTS cellular radio communications system (60), comprising: determining that a plurality of different services are being communicated; performing a comparison with respect to the different services; and providing an inner loop power control performance target, for example a signal to interference ratio (SIR) target, in a manner dependent upon the comparison.

Abstract: This invention relates to a packet scheduler and method therefor and in particular a scheduler for a Code Division Multiple Access cellular mobile communication system. In packet base systems it is important to schedule transmissions of packets carefully in order to maximize the capacity of the system. The scheduler has a selection unit (233) for selecting a candidate set of packets. The candidate set is fed to a processor (235) for calculating transmit powers required by remote terminals to transmit the packets based on the candidate set. The calculated transmit powers are fed to a controller (237) for modifying the candidate set in response to the calculated transmit powers and the modified set is fed to a scheduler unit (239) for scheduling the packets of the candidate set for transmission. The scheduler is in particular appropriate for third generation mobile communication systems.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for estimating time of arrival of radio signals in particular as used for location determination. A known method of determining the location of a subscriber unit (401) calculates a number of ranges based on the distance from base stations (403,405,407) with known location. The ranges are calculated from time of arrival estimates of the signals from the different base stations but a significant source of error is the multipath signal components typical in for example cellular mobile communication systems. According to the invention, the effect of multipath is mitigated by selecting a subset of signals based on a time of arrival estimate of each of the signals. An averaged time of arrival estimate with improved accuracy is then determined from the selected subset. A typical use of the invention is for location determination in a cellular mobile communication system.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for estimating time of arrival of radio signals in particular as used for location determination. A known method of determining the location of a subscriber unit (401) calculates a number of ranges based on the distance from base stations (403,405,407) with known location. The ranges are calculated from time of arrival estimates of the signals from the different base stations but a significant source of error is the multipath signal components typical in for example cellular mobile communication systems. According to the invention, the effect of multipath is mitigated by selecting a subset of signals based on a time of arrival estimate of each of the signals. An averaged time of arrival estimate with improved accuracy is then determined from the selected subset. A typical use of the invention is for location determination in a cellular mobile communication system.

Abstract: This invention relates to an antenna array system. A problem with antenna array systems is that they provide rather inefficient use of hardware and have inflexible resource allocation. The invention provides a flexible antenna array system architecture, which has very flexible allocation of transceiver elements to beams. The invention comprise switching means (407) which associate transceiver elements (405) to beam ports of a beam former (403) connected to a antenna array (401). The association of transceiver elements (405) to beam ports are rearranged regularly, typically for each time slot, and the association is optimized for overall performance for all subscriber units. The invention is applicable for example to cellular communication systems such as GSM.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method of estimating a characteristic of a signal such as a time of arrival or a transmitter identity in particular in a cellular communication system. Most known techniques have limited performance as they rely on limited amounts of known data. The method of the invention comprise a first step (201) of receiving the signal at a subscriber unit. In a second step (203) the subscriber unit receives assistance data from the fixed network and in a third step (205) an expected signal is derived in response to this assistance data. For GSM the assistance data can be a frame number and a BSIC permitting an entire expected SCH burst to be derived. In a fourth (207) step the signal characteristic is determined by correlation of the received signal and the expected signal. The invention is particularly applicable to location determination in a GSM communication system.