Wireless Network Re-Entry Systems and Processes

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention include a fast network re-entry system that optimizes the network re-entry and bandwidth request process for wireless communications between a base station and a mobile or fixed station. In one embodiment a mobile station, in idle mode, transmits a single communication, including both control information and bandwidth request information, to a base station. The communication may proceed via an uncontested communication slot. Other embodiments are described herein.

Description

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/533,689 filed on Sep. 12, 2011 and entitled “ADVANCED WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNIQUES”, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Mobile Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a broadband wireless access technology based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard. Mobile WiMAX uses a scalable orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) scheme to deliver wireless broadband packet data services between a mobile station (MS) and a base station (BS) via a radio-based communication link (“air interface”).

With WiMAX and other communication protocols, a MS must gain “initial entry” into a BS based network before the MS can communicate within that network. The MS must also negotiate an allotted bandwidth (BW) to use during its communications within the network. Even after gaining initial entry and possibly communicating within the network using the MS's allotted BW, the MS may need to enter into an idle state to save power. Upon exiting from the idle state, the MS must seek “re-entry” into the network before again communicating within the network. Also, upon re-entry the MS must again negotiate BW to use during future communications within the network.

Given the potentially large number of MSs that may be attempting to participate in a BS based network, the potential for a large volume of entry/re-entry and BW negotiation related traffic exists. The efficiency of the network may rest on how to minimize or otherwise best handle this traffic.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features and advantages of embodiments of the present invention will become apparent from the appended claims, the following detailed description of one or more example embodiments, and the corresponding figures, in which:

FIG. 1 includes a wireless system in one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 includes a network re-entry system in an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 includes a network re-entry method in an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth but embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. Well-known circuits, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail to avoid obscuring an understanding of this description. “An embodiment”, “various embodiments” and the like indicate embodiment(s) so described may include particular features, structures, or characteristics, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular features, structures, or characteristics. Some embodiments may have some, all, or none of the features described for other embodiments. “First”, “second”, “third” and the like describe a common object and indicate different instances of like objects are being referred to. Such adjectives do not imply objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner. Also, while similar or same numbers may be used to designate same or similar parts in different figures, doing so does not mean all figures including similar or same numbers constitute a single or same embodiment.

In FIG. 1 wireless system 10 may be an OFDMA communication system in accordance with one embodiment. BS 12 may communicate wirelessly with MS 21. BS 12 includes wireless transceiver 14, which is coupled to controller 16 (e.g., a processor or a microcontroller) and storage 18 (e.g., semiconductor memory). Storage 18 may store a sequence of instructions 20 in some embodiments. MS 21 may include transceiver 22 coupled to controller 24 and storage 26. BS 12 and MS 21 respectively include, without limitation, an advanced base station and an advanced mobile station each of which may support the WirelessMAN-Advanced Air Interface standard and other wireless based communication standards not specifically addressed herein.

As mentioned above, a MS must gain entry and re-entry into a network before communicating within that network. In some communication protocols entry/re-entry involves a “ranging” process that allows, for example, the MS to acquire the correct timing offset of the network (so the MS can be aligned with frames received from the BS), request power adjustments, and/or burst profile changes, and the like.

FIG. 2 includes a network re-entry system in an embodiment of the invention wherein MS 221 (sometimes referred to as a “M2M Device”, which includes a MS that is capable of providing machine-to-machine (M2M) communication without human interaction) communicates wirelessly with BS 212. In element 230 MS 221 is in “idle” mode. “Idle mode” is a system mode in which system resources related to the MS will be released. If the MS wants to regain the resources, the MS may need to go back to a “connected mode.” In contrast to “idle mode”, a “sleep state” or “sleep mode” is a device status that exists in connected mode, where the MS tries to sleep for a while to save power but the system resource (e.g., connection between the BS and MS) is maintained. As used herein “idle mode” includes the MS being in the idle mode and/or transitioning from idle mode to connected mode.

In element 235 MS 221 issues a ranging code to BS 212. Ranging codes may include, for example, the OFDMA time symbols reference, subchannel reference, a frame number used to transmit the ranging code, and the like. In an embodiment the WirelessMAN-OFDMA PHY layer specifies a ranging subchannel and a set of special pseudo-random ranging codes. Subsets of codes shall be allocated for initial ranging, periodic ranging requests, and BW requests (BR) so BS 212 can determine the purpose of the received code by the subset to which the code belongs. MS 221 may select one of the codes and transmit it to BS 212.

In element 240 BS 212 issues a ranging response (RNG-RSP) message to MS 221. The RNG-RSP message may be sent by the BS in response to a received ranging code (e.g., to adjust the synchronization and transmit power of the MS in uplink (UL)) or may be transmitted asynchronously without prompting from MS 221. Depending on the protocol that is followed and the general network conditions, the RNG-RSP message may include varied content including, for example, timing adjust information, power adjust information, connection identifier (CID), and the like. As used herein, “message” and “communication” are interchangeable.

In element 245 MS 221 issues a ranging request (RNG-REQ) to, for example, deliver a MS identifier, determine paging parameters, determine network delay, request a power change, request a down link (DL) burst profile change, determine a ranging purpose indication (e.g., indicating to the BS the ranging is for a MS proceeding through handoff (HO) measures, MS is attempting network re-entry from idle mode to the BS, MS is initiating an idle mode location update process, initiation of an emergency call, and the like), and/or determine a power down indicator (e.g., indicates the MS is attempting to perform a location update due to power down). Element 245 is addressed further below after elements 250-265 are briefly addressed.

In element 250 BS 212 sends a RNG-RSP message to MS 221. This may be the second RNG-RSP message sent or the first RNG-RSP message sent depending on, for example, whether a previous RNG-RSP message was transmitted asynchronously. The RNG-RSP may include varied content such as, for example, CID changes or recognition, acknowledgement messages, group identity updates, and the like.

Based at least in part on the preceding messaging, at element 255 MS 221 and BS 212 may enter a “connected mode”. In an embodiment, this may affect various matters such as whether a geography based communication constitutes a location update (idle mode) or a HO (connected mode).

In element 260 BS 212 may send an uplink media access protocol (UL MAP) message to MS 221. The message may include a set of information that defines the access for a scheduling interval. Such information may include or pertain to, for example, a UL burst profile, allocation start time (e.g., an effective start time of the UL allocation defined by the UL-MAP), MAP information elements (IEs) that may define BW allocations, and the like. Through UL_MAP and DL MAP messages frame descriptions are used by BS 212 to allocate access to a communication channel for UL and DL.

In element 265 MS 221 may transmit data to BS 212 via an allocated channel that has characteristics based on the previous negotiations between MS 221 and BS 212.

Various communications between an MS and BS are the subject of standards such as IEEE 802.16™-2009, IEEE 802.16m™-2011, and the like. Turning away from FIG. 2 for the moment and generally addressing communication standards such as IEEE 802.16™ once a MS has a packet to send it may, if in idle mode, attempt a “random access procedure” to complete UL synchronization and request that the BS allocate a channel for a RNG-REQ message. A “random access procedure” may entail a network re-entry initialized by the MS that is not in response to paging from the BS. The MS may use a ranging code to perform the random access. Even in response to paging, the network re-entry may be through a random-access procedure. However, in response to paging the network re-entry may instead be through a non-random access procedure if the channel is allocated in the paging message for some optimization purpose. A random procedure may be “contested” because there may be multiple MSs trying to access a one channel resource whereas a non-random access procedure may be “non-contested” since it already has an allocated resource. With previous communication protocols the MS may only make a BW request (for channel allocation and data transmission) after having already transitioned from idle mode to connected mode. Doing so at such a time makes the BW request contention-based and thus subject to traffic restraints the BS may be experiencing.

However, the embodied system of FIG. 2 includes a fast network re-entry system that, for example only, optimizes the network re-entry and BW request process for MS 221. The embodiment of FIG. 2 allows a MS, while still in idle mode, to transmit in a single communication both control information and BW request information.

As a more specific but non-limiting example, the embodiment of FIG. 2 optimizes the network re-entry and BW request process by allowing MS 221 to embed its BW request in the RNG-REQ message (e.g., see message of element 245). Evidence of such a BW request may be indicated with, for example, a specific bit sequence in the RNG-REQ message to indicate whether a BW request is or is not present in the message. Also, the amount of desired BW may be represented by specific bit patterns in the request message or a message related thereto.

Then, in one embodiment the BS 212 can allocate a channel and BW for MS 221 using a UL MAP message, such as the message of element 260. Also, in an embodiment BS 212 can agree to grant the BW request, modify the BW request, or reject the BW request entirely (and give evidence of that decision) in any form of reply message such as, for example, a RNG-RSP message. The evidence may include a specific bit sequence indicating the full or partial BW grant or rejection.

As compared to previous communication protocols, an embodiment may reduce two random access procedures (e.g., one procedure for network re-entry (e.g., RNG-REQ) and one procedure for BW request) to a single random access procedure (e.g., one procedure for a “fast network re-entry” procedure). The saved random channel resource can then be used for more contention-based channel accesses by other MS devices (instead of being spent on a content based BW request from MS 221). Thus, an embodiment combines two processes into one process. In situations where each process is limited to a one packet transmission for the MS, then two independent transmissions are reduced to a single one packet transmission. This may reduce the number of random accesses per one packet transmission. Of note, for some M2M applications only a small amount of data may be sent in a packet (e.g., temperature/pressure meter, switch on/off command) so for a one time communication between the MS and BS a one packet transmission may be enough to carry a small amount of data (thereby conserving traffic and promote network efficiency).

Message combining may also reduce power consumption by reducing the “alive” or “awake” time of the MS. For example, the MS may transmit information via small packet transmission (e.g., a one packet transmission) wherein after a small data burst the device goes back into idle mode. Thus, a system may go into idle mode between separate network re-entry and BW request messages. However, when those messages are combined an idle mode entry/exit may be avoided (e.g., by not requiring the MS to be connected to send separate channel control and BW messages instead of a single message for both channel control and BW). Thus, in an embodiment a procedure flow is from RNG-REQ (which includes a BW request) to RNG-RSP to UL-MAP to data transmission. Thus, the MS will not go idle before getting the BW allocation and sending the data out using that BW allocation.

Furthermore, in previous communication protocols the independent BW request from the MS may be contention based. For example, to manage BW a BS may organize matters such that some messages are allowed to be transmitted to the BS via a contention slot while others may be sent via a non-contention slot. A non-contention slot may have BW allocated to it (e.g., dedicated ranging resources) whereas a contention slot may not have BW allocated to it. Therefore the contention slot is subject to traffic conditions and QoS factors as to whether/how quickly the message using the slot will be transmitted.

Accordingly, in some traditional protocols a MS may be forced to include its BW request in a contention slot. However, in an embodiment of the invention the BW request is moved from a contention slot-based message (e.g., an independent BW request based message) to a non-contention slot based message (e.g., a RNG-REQ message). In other words, the RNG-REQ message already has resources allocated to it and therefore can be sent via a non-contention slot. The MS may already know of those allocated resources based on an earlier message sent from the BS to the MS. The move of the BW request from a contention based message to a non-contention based message may make the BW request more likely to be transmitted and heard than would be the case if the BW request were included in a contention-slot based message.

These added efficiencies may save random access channel resources for other usage and generally promote network efficiency.

FIG. 3 includes a network re-entry method 300 in an embodiment of the invention. In block 305 a MS may include a BW request and control information (e.g., RNG-REQ) in a single communication (e.g., a single packet communication). In block 310 the MS transmits the communication, while the MS is in an idle mode (i.e., attempting to transition to connected mode), to the BS via a slot that already has allocated resources (i.e., an uncontested slot). In block 315 the MS receives a response from the BS regarding the BW request. The response may be in the idle mode, the connected mode, and/or multiple responses may be included in the idle and connected modes. As stated above, a reply such as an acknowledgement reply and/or other related BW grant content may be sent in a RNG-RSP message, a UL MAP message, and the like.

Embodiments of the invention may, at the MS and BS, include components configured for combined network re-entry and BW request processing. Embodiments may include an air interface where signaling related to a BW request is included in a control signal message or messages (e.g., RNG-REQ or other control signaling message). Also, BW related messaging is not limited to situations where the BS is communicating only to a single MS. Instead, a request for BW issued by a group of related devices still includes a request for BW for a single device. Also, a grant of BW to a group of related devices still includes a grant of BW to single BW. Furthermore, while MS is used an embodiment of the invention is equally applicable to stationary or fixed stations.

While several of the above embodiments at times use IEEE 802.16 based WiMAX network terminology for ease of discussion, embodiments described herein may be applied to various wireless networks and are not limited to WiMAX communications. Such networks/protocols/standards may include, without limitation, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), wireless metropolitan area networks (WMANs), wireless personal area networks (WPANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), Wireless wide area network (WWAN) systems, WWANs such as cellular networks, or combinations of any of these networks. Regarding 3GPP in particular, when the M2M user equipment (UE) is in idle mode in a 3GPP network and has a small amount of data to send, the M2M UE can embed the scheduling request in the control messages for network reconnection (instead of carrying such information in a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) communication) so the control signaling and procedure related to the scheduling request and channel allocation can be saved, and fast data transmission for M2M communication can be achieved. Also, at times terms such as “RNG-RSP” and “RNG-REQ”, “BS”, “MS” are used and are meant to include terms that are analogous thereto and terms that are variations thereof, such as related Advanced Air Interface versions including “AAI-RNG-RSP”, “AAI-RNG-REQ”, “A-BS”, “A-MS”, and the like. Further, inventive embodiments may be discussed in reference to wireless networks utilizing OFDM modulation. However, the embodiments of present invention are not limited thereto and, for example; the embodiments can be implemented using other modulation or coding schemes where suitably applicable. In such varied networks listed above the BW request can be embedded in other control signaling messages in idle mode. The control signaling messages may be analogous to a RNG-REQ message but use a different name, terminology, or differ in content in various ways while still serving a basic role of a mobile device attempting to simultaneously set up control information for a channel and seek BW on which to communicate over the channel (i.e., “simultaneous” means the control and BW information may be sent relatively near one anther while not necessarily perfectly simultaneously with each other).

Thus, viewed from the air interface perspective an embodiment provides an advantage considering in previous communication protocols the MS generally can request BW only after the MS is in the connected mode (where the connection between the BS and the MS is well established). However, various embodiments described herein allow the MS to save power and channel resources via the BW optimizations set out above.

The following inventive embodiments may be used in a variety of applications including transmitters and receivers of a radio system. Radio systems specifically included within the scope of embodiments include network interface cards (NICs), network adaptors, mobile stations, base stations, access points (APs), hybrid coordinators (HCs), gateways, bridges, hubs, routers, relay stations, repeaters, analog repeaters, and amplify and forward repeaters. Further, the radio systems within the scope of the invention may include cellular radio telephone systems, satellite systems, personal communication systems (PCS), two-way radio systems, and two-way pagers as well as computing devices including radio systems such as personal computers (PCs) and related peripherals, personal digital assistants (PDAs), personal computing accessories, mobile internet devices, mobile computing nodes, tablets, Smartphones, and all existing and future arising systems which may be related in nature and to which the principles of the inventive embodiments could be suitably applied.

The term “processor” may refer to any device or portion of a device that processes electronic data from registers and/or memory to transform that electronic data into other electronic data that may be stored in registers and/or memory. Embodiments may be implemented in code and may be stored on a storage medium having stored thereon instructions which can be used to program a system to perform the instructions. The storage medium may include, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, optical disks, solid state drives (SSDs), compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROMs), compact disk rewritables (CD-RWs), and magneto-optical disks, semiconductor devices such as read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs) such as dynamic random access memories (DRAMs), static random access memories (SRAMs), erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), flash memories, electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), magnetic or optical cards, or any other type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions.

Embodiments of the invention may be described herein with reference to data such as instructions, functions, procedures, data structures, application programs, configuration settings, code, etc. When the data is accessed by a machine, the machine may respond by performing tasks, defining abstract data types, establishing low-level hardware contexts, and/or performing other operations, as described in greater detail herein. The data may be stored in volatile and/or non-volatile data storage. For purposes of this disclosure, the terms “code” or “program” cover a broad range of components and constructs, including applications, drivers, processes, routines, methods, modules, and subprograms. Thus, the terms “code” or “program” may be used to refer to any collection of instructions which, when executed by a processing system, performs a desired operation or operations. In addition, alternative embodiments may include processes that use fewer than all of the disclosed operations, processes that use additional operations, processes that use the same operations in a different sequence, and processes in which the individual operations disclosed herein are combined, subdivided, or otherwise altered.

In one embodiment, use of the term control logic includes hardware, such as transistors, registers, or other hardware, such as programmable logic devices. However, in another embodiment, logic also includes software or code. Such logic may be integrated with hardware, such as firmware or micro-code. A processor or controller may include control logic intended to represent any of a wide variety of control logic known in the art and, as such, may well be implemented as a microprocessor, a micro-controller, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), programmable logic device (PLD) and the like.

An embodiment includes a method executed by at least one processor comprising: wirelessly transmitting a single first communication, from a mobile station to base station, that includes both communication control information and BW request information for allocating BW to the mobile station; and receiving a second communication, responsive to the first communication, that includes a response to the BW request information. In an embodiment the response to the BW request information includes one of granting of BW for the mobile station and refusal of BW for the mobile station. An embodiment includes transmitting the first communication via an uncontested communication channel. An embodiment includes transmitting the first communication via an uncontested communication channel, wherein resources for the uncontested communication channel were granted, by the base station, before transmitting the first communication to the base station. An embodiment includes transmitting the first communication while the mobile station is in an idle mode. In an embodiment the response to the BW request information includes one of a granting of BW for the mobile station and a refusal of BW for the mobile station; and the method comprises receiving the response while the mobile station is in a connected mode, the connected mode indicating the mobile station is wirelessly connected to the base station. In an embodiment the response to the BW request information includes one of a granting of BW for the mobile station and a refusal of BW for the mobile station; and the method comprises receiving the response while the mobile station is in the idle mode. In an embodiment when the response to the BW request information includes the granting of BW the method comprises the mobile station not requesting BW when in the connected mode; and when the response to the BW request information includes the refusal of BW the method comprises the mobile station requesting BW when in the connected mode. In an embodiment the control information includes wireless communication ranging related content. In an embodiment the ranging related content is indicative of one of (a) a handover event for the mobile station, (b) the mobile station attempting to re-enter a network based on the base station, (c) the mobile station transitioning from an idle mode, (d) the mobile station informing the base station of a location for the mobile station, and (e) the mobile station experiencing a power down event. An embodiment includes transmitting the first communication while the mobile station is attempting to re-enter a network based on the base station. In an embodiment the first communication is included in a single communication packet.

An embodiment includes at least one processor, coupled to at least one memory, to perform operations comprising: wirelessly transmitting a single first communication, from a mobile station to base station, that includes both communication control information and BW request information for allocating BW to the mobile station; and receiving a second communication, responsive to the first communication, that includes a response to the BW request information. In an embodiment the operations comprise transmitting the first communication via an uncontested communication channel. In an embodiment the operations comprise transmitting the first communication via an uncontested communication channel, wherein resources for the uncontested communication channel were granted, by the base station, before transmitting the first communication to the base station. In an embodiment the operations comprise transmitting the first communication while the mobile station is in an idle mode. In an embodiment the response to the BW request information includes one of a granting of BW for the mobile station and a refusal of BW for the mobile station; and the operations comprise receiving the response while the mobile station is in a connected mode, the connected mode indicating the mobile station is wirelessly connected to the base station.

All optional features of apparatus(s) described above may also be implemented with respect to method(s) or process(es) described herein. While the present invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate numerous modifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications and variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of this present invention.

Claims

1. At least one machine readable medium comprising instructions that when executed on a computing device cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

wirelessly transmitting a single first communication, from a mobile station to base station, that includes both communication control information and bandwidth request information for allocating bandwidth to the mobile station; and

receiving a second communication, responsive to the first communication, that includes a response to the bandwidth request information.

2. The at least one medium of claim 1, wherein the response to the bandwidth request information includes one of a granting of bandwidth for the mobile station and a refusal of bandwidth for the mobile station.

3. The at least one medium of claim 1, wherein the method comprises transmitting the first communication via an uncontested communication channel.

4. The at least one medium of claim 1, wherein the method comprises transmitting the first communication via an uncontested communication channel, wherein resources for the uncontested communication channel were granted, by the base station, before transmitting the first communication to the base station.

5. The at least one medium of claim 1, wherein

the response to the bandwidth request information includes one of a granting of bandwidth for the mobile station and a refusal of bandwidth for the mobile station; and

the method comprises wirelessly transmitting the single first communication while the mobile station is in an idle mode, and receiving the response while the mobile station is in a connected mode, the connected mode indicating the mobile station is wirelessly connected to the base station.

6. The at least one medium of claim 1, wherein:

the response to the bandwidth request information includes one of a granting of bandwidth for the mobile station and a refusal of bandwidth for the mobile station; and

the method comprises wirelessly transmitting the single first communication while the mobile station is in an idle mode, and receiving the response while the mobile station is in the idle mode.

7. The at least one medium of claim 1, wherein:

the method comprises wirelessly transmitting the single first communication while the mobile station is in an idle mode;

when the response to the bandwidth request information includes the granting of bandwidth the method comprises the mobile station not requesting bandwidth when in the connected mode; and

when the response to the bandwidth request information includes the refusal of bandwidth the method comprises the mobile station requesting bandwidth when in the connected mode.

8. The at least one medium of claim 1, wherein;

the control information includes wireless communication ranging related content; and

the method comprises wirelessly transmitting the single first communication while the mobile station is in an idle mode, and transmitting the first communication via an uncontested communication channel.

9. The at least one medium of claim 8, wherein the ranging related content is indicative of one of (a) a handover event for the mobile station, (b) the mobile station attempting to re-enter a network based on the base station, (c) the mobile station transitioning from an idle mode, (d) the mobile station informing the base station of a location for the mobile station, and (e) the mobile station experiencing a power down event.

10. The at least one medium of claim 1, wherein the method comprises comprising transmitting the first communication while the mobile station is attempting to re-enter a network based on the base station.

11. The at least one medium of claim 1, wherein the first communication is included in a single communication packet.

12. canceled

13. canceled

14. canceled

15. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor, coupled to at least one memory, to perform operations comprising:

wirelessly transmitting a single first communication, from a mobile station to base station, that includes both communication control information and bandwidth request information for allocating bandwidth to the mobile station; and

receiving a second communication, responsive to the first communication, that includes a response to the bandwidth request information.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the operations comprise transmitting the first communication via an uncontested communication channel.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the operations comprise transmitting the first communication via an uncontested communication channel, wherein resources for the uncontested communication channel were granted, by the base station, before transmitting the first communication to the base station.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the operations comprise transmitting the first communication while the mobile station is in an idle mode.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein:

the response to the bandwidth request information includes one of a granting of bandwidth for the mobile station and a refusal of bandwidth for the mobile station; and

the operations comprise receiving the response while the mobile station is in a connected mode, the connected mode indicating the mobile station is wirelessly connected to the base station.

20. canceled

21. The at least one medium of claim 1, wherein the method comprises transmitting the first communication while the mobile station is in idle mode.

22. A method executed by at least one processor comprising: receiving a second communication, responsive to the first communication, that includes a response to the bandwidth request information.

wirelessly transmitting a single first communication, from a mobile station to base station, that includes both communication control information and bandwidth request information for allocating bandwidth to the mobile station; and

23. The method of claim 22 comprising transmitting the first communication via an uncontested communication channel.

24. The method of claim 23 comprising transmitting the first communication while the mobile station is in an idle mode.