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, COUNT 1 , and a counter of consecutive good frames, COUNT 2 . COUNT 1  and COUNT 2  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, COUNT 1  is reset to zero and COUNT 2  is incremented by 1. If the received frame is a bad frame, COUNT 1  is incremented by one and COUNT 2  is reset to zero. If the received frame is an empty frame, COUNT 1  and COUNT 2  are unchanged. If COUNT 1  reaches a threshold value, TH1, the mobile station shall disable its transmitter. Thereafter, if COUNT 2  reaches a threshold value, TH2, the mobile station shall re-enable its transmitter. The mobile station resets its fade timer to X seconds whenever COUNT 2  is greater than or equal to TH3.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel and improved method and apparatus for supervising the performance of a potentially gated channel. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     The telecommunications Industry Association developed a standard for code division multiple access (CDMA) communications systems in the Interim Standard IS-95A, entitled “Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System”(hereafter IS-95). In IS-95 systems, the mobile station controls the energy of its transmissions by means of a combination of open loop and closed loop power control methods. In open loop power control, a mobile station measures the received energy of the forward link signal from a serving base station and adjusts the energy of its reverse link transmission in accordance with this measurement. In closed loop power control, the serving base station measures the energy of transmissions from the mobile station and sends a series of up/down commands based on this measurement to the mobile station which adjusts its transmissions in response. A power control system that employs the combined benefits of closed loop and open loop power control is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,109, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING TRANSMISSION POWER IN A CDMA CELLULAR MOBILE TELEPHONE SYSTEM”, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. 
     In IS-95, the mobile station is required to monitor the Forward Traffic Channel performance during a call. When the mobile station receives twelve (N 2m ) consecutive bad frames, the mobile station is required to disable its transmitter so that it will not jam the reverse link. Thereafter, if the mobile station receives two (N 3m ) consecutive good frames, it should re-enable its transmitter. The mobile station also maintains a fade timer. The fade timer is first enabled when the mobile station enables its transmitter at the beginning of a call, and it is reset for five (T 5m ) seconds whenever two (N 3m ) consecutive good frames are received on the Forward Traffic Channel. If the fade timer expires, the mobile station disables its transmitter and declares a loss of the Forward Traffic Channel and terminate the call. 
     The International Telecommunications Union recently requested the submission of proposed methods for providing high rate data and high-quality speech services over wireless communication channels. A first of these proposals was issued by the Telecommunications Industry Association, entitled “The cdma2000 ITU-R RTT Candidate Submission”(hereafter cdma2000). In cdma2000, the equivalents of the Forward Traffic Channel in IS-95 are the Forward Fundamental Channel (F-FCH) and the Forward Dedicated Control Channel (F-DCCH). The data frames transmitted on these channels can be either 20 ms or 5 ms in duration. For F-FCH, a frame (20 or 5 ms) is transmitted in every 20 ms interval aligned to the beginning of the CDMA System Time. For F-DCCH, the transmission can be discontinuous, such that there may not be  25  any data frame transmitted in a 20 ms interval aligned to the CDMA System Time. 
     The use of code division multiple access (CDMA) modulation techniques is one of several techniques for facilitating communications in which a large number of system users are present. Other multiple access communication system techniques, such as time division multiple access (TDMA) and frequency division multiple access (FDMA) are known in the art. However, the spread spectrum modulation technique of CDMA has significant advantages over these modulation techniques for multiple access communication systems. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled “SPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERS”, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, of which the disclosure thereof is incorporated by reference herein. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is further disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING SIGNAL WAVEFORMS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM”, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, of which the disclosure thereof is incorporated by reference herein. 
     CDMA by its inherent nature of being a wideband signal offers a form of frequency diversity by spreading the signal energy over a wide bandwidth. Therefore, frequency selective fading affects only a small part of the CDMA signal bandwidth. Space or path diversity is obtained by providing multiple signal paths through simultaneous links from a mobile user through two or more cell-sites. Furthermore, path diversity may be obtained by exploiting the multipath environment through spread spectrum processing by allowing a signal arriving with different propagation delays to be received and processed separately. Examples of path diversity are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,501 entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING A SOFT HANDOFF IN COMMUNICATIONS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM”, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,390 entitled “DIVERSITY RECEIVER IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM”, both assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. 
     In a communication system that provides data using a QPSK modulation format, very useful information can be obtained by taking the cross product of the I and Q components of the QPSK signal. By knowing the relative phases of the two components, one can determine roughly the velocity of the mobile station in relation to the base station. A description of a circuit for determining the cross product of the I and Q components in a QPSK modulation communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,865, entitled “PILOT CARRIER DOT PRODUCT CIRCUIT”, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. 
     There has been an increasing demand for wireless communications systems to be able to transmit digital information at high rates. One method for sending high rate digital data from a remote station to a central base station is to allow the remote station to send the data using spread spectrum techniques of CDMA. One method that is proposed is to allow the remote station to transmit its information using a small set of orthogonal channels, this method is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,396,804, entitled “HIGH DATA RATE CDMA WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM”, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. 
     New methods for supervising the F-DCCH are needed when F-DCCH is in this discontinuous transmission (DTX) mode because the mobile station must now decide whether a received frame is a good frame, a bad frame, or an empty frame (i.e.,no transmission). 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     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, COUNT 1 , and a counter of consecutive good frames, COUNT 2 . COUNT 1  and COUNT 2  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, COUNT 1  is reset to zero and COUNT 2  is incremented by 1. If the received frame is a bad frame, COUNT 1  is incremented by one and COUNT 2  is reset to zero. If the received frame is an empty frame, COUNT 1  and COUNT 2  are unchanged. If COUNT 1  reaches a threshold value, TH1, the mobile station disables its transmitter. Thereafter, if COUNT 2  reaches a threshold value, TH2, the mobile station re-enables its transmitter. The mobile station resets its fade timer to X seconds whenever COUNT 2  is greater than or equal to TH3. 
     In the second exemplary embodiment, the base station transmits a “supervisory frame” periodically (for example, at the beginning of every N-second interval aligned to the beginning of the CDMA System Time), if there is no data frame to be transmitted on the F-DCCH at that time. The supervisory frame is transmitted at the lowest data rate that has been negotiated between the base station and the mobile station. The mobile station then performs F-DCCH supervision on frames transmitted at such preset times in a way similar to that defined in IS-95, with potentially different values for various thresholds. The mobile station may also include other non-empty frames received for supervision purposes in addition to these periodic frames. 
     In the third exemplary embodiment, the base station transmits a “supervisory frame” whenever the number of consecutive empty frames exceeds a threshold, or when the number of empty frames (consecutive or not) in a given interval exceeds certain threshold. This ensures that the mobile station has some non-empty frames to perform supervision on every so often. 
     In the fourth exemplary embodiment, the mobile station transmits a message that requires reply from the base station (for example, the reply can simply be an acknowledgement) when the number of consecutive empty frames detected exceeds a threshold. This ensures that the mobile station will receive a non-empty frame upon which to perform supervision. 
     In the fifth exemplary embodiment, the mobile station transmits a message that requires reply from the base station (for example, the reply can simply be an acknowledgement) when the number of empty frames detected (consecutive or not) in a given interval exceeds a threshold. This ensures that the mobile station will get a non-empty frame to perform supervision on every so often. 
     In the sixth exemplary embodiment, the mobile station uses the received pilot strength (Ec/Io) of pilots in the Active Set to perform F-DCCH supervision. If the aggregated Active Set pilot Ec/Io is above a preset threshold, the mobile station considers the data, if sent in that frame, will be received correctly —therefore, a good frame. Otherwise, the mobile station considers the frame is bad. A supervision rule (with the above definition of good frame and bad frame) similar to that specified in IS-95 can then be used, with either the same thresholds or modified ones. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The features, objects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like reference characters identify correspondingly throughout and wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating the elements of a wireless communications system; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the base station of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of the remote station of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In  FIG. 1 , base station  2  transmits forward link signals  6  to mobile station  4 . Mobile station  4  transmits reverse link signals  8  to base station  2 . In the exemplary embodiment, forward link signals  6  and reverse link signals  8  are code division multiple access (CDMA) communications signals as contemplated by the Telecommunications Industry Association in the candidate submission to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) entitled “The cdma2000 ITU-R RTT Candidate Submission” and which has been further refined in the Interim Standard Draft Text entitled “Proposed Ballot Text for cdma2000 Physical Layer”. 
     Turning to  FIG. 2 , the elements necessary for the transmission of the F-DCCH on forward link signal  6  and for reception of reverse link signal  8  is illustrated in greater detail. Messages for transmission on the F-DCCH are generated in F-DCCH message generator (DCCH MSG GEN)  100 . These messages may include rate scheduling messages, handoff direction messages and response messages (as will be described further herein). As stated earlier, the F-DCCH is a DTX channel which is transmitted when there is a message to be transmitted and is not transmitted when no message to be transmitted on the F-DCCH is present. 
     The message is provided to F-DCCH processing element  102 . F-DCCH processing element  102  performs the necessary preprocessing and encoding of the F-DCCH message (when present) and channelizes the message for transmission on the F-DCCH of forward link signal  6 . The F-DCCH message is provided to CRC and tail bit generator  104 . In response CRC and tail bit generator  104  generates a set of cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits in accordance with the bits in the F-DCCH message and appends the CRC bits to the F-DCCH message. CRC and tail bit generator  104  then appends a series of tail bits to clear the memory of a decoder at the receiver and provides the resulting packet to encoder  106 . 
     In the exemplary embodiment, encoder  106  is a convolutional encoder. The design and implementation of which is well known in the art. It will be understood by one skilled in the art, the present invention is equally applicable to other encoders such as block coders and turbo coders. The encoded symbols are provided to interleaver  108 . Interleaver  108  reorders the symbols in a predetermined fashion in order to provide time diversity into the transmission  5  of the F-DCCH message. Errors in wireless communications systems typically occur in bursts. Decoders have significant performance advantages when dealing with errors that do not occur in bursts. The interleaving operation helps to spread the results of a error burst over the packet in order to improve the performance of the decoder at the receiver. 
     The interleaved symbols are provided to power control puncturing element  109 . Puncturing element  109  receives reverse link power control bits and punctures the power control bits into the interleaved symbol stream. The power control bits are transmitted to mobile station  4  and are used to adjust the transmission energy of reverse link signal  8 . 
     The symbols from puncturing element  109  are provided to de-multiplexer  110  which alternatively outputs the symbols onto two different processing paths. The first output of de-multiplexer  110  is provided to spreading element  112   a  and the next output of de-multiplexer  110  is provided to spreader  112   b , and so on. Spreaders  112  spread the de-multiplexed symbols in accordance with an orthogonal spreading function W DCCH . Orthogonal spreading is well known in the art and a preferred embodiment of spreaders  112  is disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459. The spread signals are provided to complex PN spreader  116 . 
     In addition to the dedicated control channel, base station  2 , in the exemplary embodiment, transmits a pilot channel to allow remote station  4  to coherently demodulate the received F-DCCH. Pilot symbols, typically the all ones sequence, are provided to spreading element  114 . The pilot symbols are spread in accordance with orthogonal spreading sequence W pilot , which is orthogonal to spreading sequence W DCCH . 
     The spread signals from spreading elements  112  and  114  are provided to complex PN spreader  116 . Complex PN spreader  116  spreads the signals from spreaders  112  and  114  in accordance with two pseudonoise (PN) sequences PN, and PN Q . Complex PN spreading is well known in the art and is described in detail in the cdma2000 candidate submission, the IS-2000 draft specification and the aforementioned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/856,428. The complex PN spread signal is provided to transmitter (TMTR)  118 . Transmitter  118  up-converts, amplifies and filters the spread signals for transmission through antenna  120  as forward link signal  6 . In the exemplary embodiment, transmitter  118  modulates the signal in accordance with a QPSK modulation format. 
     Turning to  FIG. 3 , forward link signal  6  is received at antenna  200  and provided through duplexer  202  to receiver (RCVR)  204 . Receiver  204  down-converts, amplifies and filters forward link signal  6 . In accordance with the exemplary embodiment, receiver  204  demodulates forward link signal  6  in accordance with a QPSK demodulation format and outputs the in-phase and quadrature-phase signals to complex PN despreader  206 . Complex PN despreader  206  despreads the received signal in accordance with the two pseudonoise sequences used to spread the signal (PN I and PN Q ). 
     The complex PN despread signals are provided to pilot filter  208 . Pilot filter  208  despreads the signal in accordance with the orthogonal spreading sequence W pilot . The despread pilot symbols are provided to Ec/Io calculator  214  and dot product circuit  216 . 
     The complex PN despread signals are also provided to demodulator  210 . Demodulator  210  demodulates the PN despread signals in accordance with the orthogonal spreading code W DCCH . The despread signals are then provided to dot product circuit  210 . Dot product circuit  210  computes the dot product of the F-DCCH and the pilot channel. Because both the pilot channel and dedicated control channel traverse the same propagation path they will experience the same phase shifts. By computing the dot product of the pilot and DCCH channels the result is a scalar set of magnitudes with the channel induced phase ambiguities removed. A preferred implementation of dot product circuit  216  is described in detail in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,865. 
     The resultant demodulated symbols from dot product circuit  216  are provided to de-interleaver/decoder  218  and empty frame detector  220 . Deinterleaver/decoder  218  de-interleaves and decodes the F-DCCH message and provides an estimate of the message or a signal indicating the declaration of a bad frame to DCCH control processor  222 . There are a number of ways that a bad frame can be detected. A first is to determine whether the cyclic redundancy bits when generated locally at remote station  4  check with the decoded CRC bits. A second is to compute the symbol error rate of the received symbols by comparing the received encoded symbols with a set of locally generated re-encoded symbols based on the decoded bits. 
     The demodulated symbols from dot product circuit  216  are also provided to empty frame detector  220 . In the exemplary embodiment, empty frame detector  220  computes the signal to noise ratio of the demodulated symbols and compares the measured signal to noise ratio to a threshold. If the signal to noise ratio is below the threshold an empty frame is declared. It should be noted that there are other methods of determining an empty frame, any of which may be employed without leaving the scope of the present invention. A method and apparatus for detecting empty frames is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 6,347,080, issued Feb. 12, 2002, entitled “ENERGY BASED COMMUNICATION RATE DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD”, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. 
     The data frames that are not empty are provided to DCCH control processor  222 , which extracts the punctured power control commands and sends a signal to transmitter  232  adjusting the transmission energy of reverse link signal  8  in response thereto. The loss of this power control command stream results in an inability to control the power of reverse link signal  8  and the potential for jamming the reverse link. 
     In a first embodiment of the present invention, the DCCH control processor  222  receives an indication from decoder  218  or detector  220  that a frame is either good, bad or empty. Two counters (CNT1)  224  and (CNT2)  226  are initialized to zero at the beginning of a call. If the received frame is a good frame, then counter  224  is reset to zero and counter  226  is incremented by one. If the received frame is declared a bad frame, then counter  224  is incremented and counter  226  is reset to zero. If the frame is declared empty then values of counters  224  and  226  remain unchanged. If the value of counter  224  reaches a threshold TH1 then DCCH control processor  222  sends a signal to transmitter  232  disabling the transmitter (i.e, output power is turned off). Thereafter, if the value of counter  226  reaches a threshold TH2, then DCCH control processor  222  sends a signal to transmitter  232  re-enabling the transmitter. 
     In the second exemplary embodiment, base station  2  transmits a frame, referred to herein as a supervisory frame, every N-second interval, if there is no data frame to be transmitted on the F-DCCH at that time. In the preferred embodiment, the supervisory frame contains pre-defined bits known to the mobile station and is transmitted at the lowest data rate that has been negotiated between base station  2  and mobile station  4 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , timer  134  tracks the N-second intervals and at the expiration of the interval sends a signal to control processor  132 . Control processor  132  determines whether there is a message for transmission and if not provides a signal to message generator  100  to generate a supervisory frame. The supervisory frame is transmitted on the F-DCCH channel as described with respect to other DCCH messages previously. Mobile station  4  then performs F-DCCH supervision on non-empty frames transmitted at such preset time in a way similar to that defined in IS-95, with potentially different value for various thresholds. Mobile station  4  may also include other non-empty frames received for supervision purpose in addition to these periodic frames. 
     In the third exemplary embodiment, base station  2  transmits a frame, referred to herein as a supervisory frame, whenever the number of consecutive empty frames exceeds a threshold. In the preferred embodiment, the supervisory frame contains pre-defined bits known to the mobile station and is transmitted at the lowest data rate that has been negotiated between base station  2  and mobile station  4 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , control processor  132  tracks the number of consecutive empty frames in accordance with signals from message generator  100 . When the number of consecutive empty frames exceeds the threshold values, then control processor sends a signal to issue a supervisory frame to message generator  100  to generate the supervisory frame. The supervisory frame is transmitted on the F-DCCH channel as described with respect to other F-DCCH messages. Mobile station  4  then performs F-DCCH supervision on all non-empty frames in a way similar to that defined in IS-95, with potentially different value for various thresholds. 
     In the fourth exemplary embodiment, mobile station  4  transmits a message that requires reply from base station  2  (for example, the reply can simply be an acknowledgement) when the number of consecutive empty frames detected exceeds a threshold. Referring to  FIG. 3 , control processor  222  receives an indication as whether a frame is empty from empty frame detector  220 . In this embodiment, counter  224  tracks the number of consecutive empty frame and is reset when a bad frame or good frame are detected. When the count of consecutive empty frames exceeds a threshold, control processor  222  sends a signal to message generator (MSG GEN)  229 , which in response generates a request message. The request message is encoded in encoder  228 , modulated in modulator  230 , and up-converted, amplified and filtered onto a predetermined channel of reverse link signal  8 . The request message can be any existing message that is already defined in the standard, which does not cause any base station action besides sending an acknowledgement. For example, the Power Measurement Report Message. The request message can also be a special message that causes the base station  2  to transmit a supervisory frame on the F-DCCH. 
     Turning to  FIG. 2 , the request message is received on antenna  8  and provided to receiver  124  which down-converts, amplifies and filters reverse link signal  8  and provides the received signal to demodulator  126 . Demodulator  126  demodulates the signal and decoder  128  decodes the demodulated symbols providing the request message to control processor  132 . In response, control processor  132  determines if a message is queued to be transmitted on the F-DCCH and if not sends a signal requesting that message generator  100  generate a message for transmission on the F-DCCH. In the exemplary embodiment, the message generated by generator  100  is simply an acknowledgement of the receipt of the request message from mobile station  4 . 
     In the fifth exemplary embodiment, mobile station  4  transmits a message that requires a reply from base station  2  when the number of empty frames detected within a predetermined number of received frames exceeds a threshold regardless as to whether the empty frames are consecutive or not. Referring to  FIG. 3 , control processor  222  receives an indication as to whether a frame is empty from empty frame detector  220 . Counter  224  tracks the number of empty frames in a moving accumulator fashion. When the count of empty frames in a predetermined number of received frames exceeds a threshold, control processor  222  sends a signal to message generator (MSG GEN)  229 , which in response generates a request message. The request message is encoded in encoder  228 , modulated in modulator  230 , and up-converted, amplified and filtered onto a predetermined channel of reverse link signal  8 . 
     Turning to  FIG. 2 , the request message is received on antenna  8  and provided to receiver  124  which down-converts, amplifies and filters reverse link signal  8  and provides the received signal to demodulator  126 . Demodulator  126  demodulates the signal and decoder  128  decodes the demodulated symbols providing the request message to control processor  132 . In response, control processor  132  determines if a message is queued to be transmitted on the F-DCCH and if not sends a signal requesting that message generator  100  generate a message for transmission on the F-DCCH. In the exemplary embodiment, the message generated by generator  100  is simply an acknowledgement of the receipt of the request message. 
     In a sixth exemplary embodiment, mobile station  4  uses the received pilot strength (Ec/Io) of pilots in the Active Set to perform F-DCCH supervision. If the aggregated Active Set pilot Ec/Io is above a preset threshold, mobile station  4  considers the data, if sent in that frame, will be received correctly —therefore, a good frame. Otherwise, mobile station  4  considers the frame as bad. A supervision rule with the above definition of good frame and bad frame similar to that specified in IS-95 can then be used, with either the same thresholds or modified ones. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the signal to noise ratio (Ec/Io) of the received pilot symbols is computed in Ec/Io calculator  214 . The Ec/Io value for the pilot signal of forward link signal  6  is combined with the Ec/Io value of pilots from other base stations in the Active Set of mobile station  4  to provide an aggregate Ec/Io. The Active Set of base stations is the set of base stations currently communicating with mobile station  4 . The aggregate pilot Ec/Io is provided to control processor  222  which compares the aggregate Ec/Io to a threshold value. If the aggregate Ec/Io exceeds a threshold a good frame is declared and if the aggregate Ec/Io is less than the threshold a bad frame is declared. This allows mobile station  4  to infer a received frame, if non-empty, is a good frame or a bad frame without decoding the frame. Based on these counts, mobile station  4  will enable or disable transmitter  232  as described previously. 
     The previous description of the preferred embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. The various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without the use of the inventive faculty. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.