WO2015196439A1

WO2015196439A1 - Control channel power allocation optimization

Info

Publication number: WO2015196439A1
Application number: PCT/CN2014/080922
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gaoshan LI; Yong Xie; Xuepan GUAN; Xiaopeng Li
Original assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date: 2014-06-27
Filing date: 2014-06-27
Publication date: 2015-12-30
Also published as: CN106465291A

Abstract

Described herein are various aspects related to determining power allocation for channels in wireless communications.A power for transmitting an enhanced random-access uplink control channel (ERUCCH) in a timeslot can be received,and another power for transmitting uplink dedicated channels in the timeslot is calculated. The ERUCCH can be prioritized in determining a power allocation for the ERUCCH in the timeslot, and a remaining power allocation can be assigned to the uplink dedicated channels for transmitting in the timeslot.

Description

CONTROL CHANNEL POWER ALLOCATION OPTIMIZATION

BACKGROUND

[0001] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency divisional multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

[0002] Devices communicating using TD-SCDMA can experience radio link failure ( LF) on an uplink (UL) control channel during a call where the control channel (e.g., enhanced random-access uplink control channel (ERUCCH)) coexists with a UL dedicated physical channel (DPCH) due to the control channel reaching a maximum allowed transmission number. This can occur more often and with greater ease than downlink (DL) dedicated physical channel (DPCH), which can result in poor performance for packet-switched (PS) calls (e.g., as compared to a circuit switched (CS) call). Prior solutions to this issue include scaling the power of all uplink physical channels in the timeslot so that the total transmission power is within the maximum allowed power.

SUMMARY

[0003] The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[0004] As described further herein, when a control channel and an uplink (UL) dedicated physical channel (DPCH) exist in the same slot (e.g., utilize a similar time slot for transmitting), the control channel is given higher priority to allocate power when the total power of uplink physical channels exceeds a maximum power. This can ensure the control channel is transmitted and can thus prevent radio link failure ( LF) at the control channel. Also, because the control channel transmissions occur with lesser frequency than UL DPCH transmissions, the UL DPCH transmissions will not see a large impact in this regard. Additionally, this can result in providing more robust packet switched calling in weak coverage wireless environments. Using this mechanism also allows for enduring much lower received signal code power (RSCP) before RLF happens. In addition, control channel re-transmission possibility is reduced before receiving the grant from network, which can increase throughput in the wireless network.

[0005] To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example wireless communications system according to the present disclosure;

[0007] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram comprising a plurality of functional blocks represent

example methodology of the present disclosure;

[0008] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram comprising a plurality of functional blocks representing an example methodology of the present disclosure;

[0009] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus employing a processing system;

[0010] FIG. 5 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a telecommunications system;

[0011] FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of an access network; and

[0012] FIG. 7 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a Node B in communication with a UE in a telecommunications system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

[0014] Various aspects described herein relate to providing a control channel with a higher priority than one or more other channels in allocating transmit power to ensure the control channel is transmitted in slots where the control channel and other channels coexist. In a specific example, a device transmitting the channels can determine whether the total transmission power for multiple channels is less than a maximum power, and if not can determine whether transmission power for the control channel is less than the maximum power. Where the transmission power for the control channel is less than the maximum power, power for other channels can be decreased according to a maximum power reduction (MPR) table such that the difference in power between the control channel and other channels is equal to a next power difference threshold in the MPR table. If the transmit power of the control channel and other channels is less than the maximum transmit power adjusted by the MPR, the transmit powers can be used to transmit the control channel and other channels. If the transmit power of the control channel and other channels is greater than the maximum transmit power adjusted by the MPR, the next power different threshold in the MPR table is attempted, and so on, until transmit powers for the channels below the maximum transmit power are achieved. This can ensure that the control channel receives its assigned power, and that the other channels can use any additional leftover power.

[0015] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system 100 for wireless communication, according to an example configuration. FIG. 1 includes a UE 102 operable to communicate with at least one network entity 104 for receiving access to a wireless network. For example, network entity 104 may provide one or more cells that facilitate communicating with one or more UEs 102 to provide the wireless network access. Though one UE 102 and network entity 104 are shown, it is to be appreciated that UE 102 can communicate with multiple network entities 104, network entity 104 can communicate with multiple UEs 102 in one or more provided cells, etc. [0016] UE 102 may comprise any type of mobile device, such as, but not limited to, a smartphone, cellular telephone, mobile phone, laptop computer, tablet computer, or other portable networked device that can be a standalone device, tethered to another device (e.g., a modem connected to a computer), and/or the like. In addition, UE 102 may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a mobile communications device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a terminal, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology. In general, UE 102 may be small and light enough to be considered portable and may be configured to communicate wirelessly via an over-the-air communication link using one or more OTA communication protocols described herein. Additionally, in some examples, UE 102 may be configured to facilitate communication on multiple separate networks via multiple separate subscriptions, multiple radio links, and/or the like.

[0017] Furthermore, network entity 104 may comprise one or more of any type of network module, such as an access point, a macro cell, including a base station (BS), node B, eNodeB (eNB), a relay, a peer-to-peer device, an authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) server, a mobile switching center (MSC), a mobility management entity (MME), a radio network controller (R C), a small cell, etc. As used herein, the term "small cell" may refer to an access point or to a corresponding coverage area of the access point, where the access point in this case has a relatively low transmit power or relatively small coverage as compared to, for example, the transmit power or coverage area of a macro network access point or macro cell. For instance, a macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area, such as, but not limited to, several kilometers in radius. In contrast, a small cell may cover a relatively small geographic area, such as, but not limited to, a home, a building, or a floor of a building. As such, a small cell may include, but is not limited to, an apparatus such as a BS, an access point, a femto node, a femtocell, a pico node, a micro node, a Node B, eNB, home Node B (FTNB) or home evolved Node B (HeNB). Therefore, the term "small cell," as used herein, refers to a relatively low transmit power and/or a relatively small coverage area cell as compared to a macro cell. Additionally, network entity 104 may communicate with one or more other network entities of wireless and/or core networks [0018] Additionally, network entity 104 can utilize one or more of wide-area networks

(WAN), wireless networks (e.g. 802.11 or cellular network), the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) network, ad hoc networks, personal area networks (e.g. Bluetooth®) or other combinations or permutations of network protocols and network types. Such network(s) may include a single local area network (LAN) or wide-area network (WAN), or combinations of LANs or WANs, such as the Internet. Such networks may comprise a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) system, and may communicate with one or more UEs 102 according to this standard. As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, various aspects described throughout this disclosure may be extended to other telecommunication systems, network architectures and communication standards. By way of example, various aspects may be extended to other Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) systems such as Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) and Time-Division CDMA (TD-CDMA). Various aspects may also be extended to systems employing Long Term Evolution (LTE) (in FDD, TDD, or both modes), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) (in FDD, TDD, or both modes), CDMA2000, Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX®), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth, and/or other suitable systems. The actual telecommunication standard, network architecture, and/or communication standard employed will depend on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system. The various devices coupled to the network(s) (e.g., UEs 102, network entity 104) may be coupled to a core network via one or more wired or wireless connections.

[0019] Referring to FIGs. 1-3, aspects of the present disclosure are depicted with reference to one or more components and one or more methods that may perform the actions or functions described herein. Although the operations described below in FIGs. 2 and 3 are presented in a particular order and/or as being performed by an example component, it should be understood that the ordering of the actions and the components performing the actions may be varied, depending on the implementation. Moreover, it should be understood that the following actions or functions may be performed by a specially- programmed processor, a processor executing specially-programmed software or computer- readable media, or by any other combination of a hardware component and/or a software component capable of performing the described actions or functions.

[0020] FIG. 1 includes a UE 102 with a communicating component 110 operable to perform functions described herein. For example, communicating component 110 can include a processor, transceiver, memory, and/or substantially any component of UE 102 specially-programmed or configured for performing the functions described herein. In an aspect, the term "component" as used herein may be one of the parts that make up a system, may be hardware or software or some combination thereof, and may be divided into other components. Communicating component 110 includes a transmit power determining component 112 for determining transmit power for transmitting channels from UE 102 to network entity 104. For example, UE 102 and network entity 104 can establish communications over one or more carriers, where the one or more carriers can include one or more channels defined by frequency and/or time resources. For example, in TD-SCDMA, the UE 102 and network entity 104 can communicate using control channels and/or data channels on the uplink and/or downlink. For example, such channels can include an enhanced random-access uplink control channel (ERUCCH) that the UE can utilize in requesting network access, uplink (UL) and/or downlink (DL) dedicated physical channels (DPCH) for communicating data between UE 102 and network entity 104, etc. In any case, transmit power determining component 112 can determine a transmit power to utilize in transmitting the one or more channels as described herein.

[0021] FIG. 2 illustrates an example method 200 for allocating power for transmitting channels. Method 200 includes, at Block 202, receiving a power for transmitting an ERUCCH in a timeslot. In an aspect, for instance, transmit power determining component 112 can include a control channel power receiving component 114 operable to receive a power for transmitting an enhanced random-access uplink control channel (ERUCCH) in a timeslot. In an aspect, control channel power receiving component 114 may obtain the transmit power for the control channel. For example, the transmit power for the control channel may be specified by the network entity 104 in a communication to the UE 102 (e.g., a broadcast or dedicated communication to the UE 102) to control the transmit power of the channel. For example, the control channel can be an ERUCCH in TD-SCDMA, as described, and the transmit power for the ERUCCH can be indicated by the network entity 104. Thus, for example, control channel power receiving component 114 can obtain the transmit power in signaling from the network entity. [0022] Method 200 also includes, at Block 204, calculating another power for transmitting uplink dedicated channels in the timeslot. For example, transmit power determining component 112 can include a physical channel power computing component 116 operable to calculate another power for transmitting uplink dedicated channels in the timeslot. In an aspect, physical channel power computing component 116 may calculate the transmit power for the dedicated channels. For example, calculating the power for the dedicated channels may also be based on power information received from the network entity 104 (e.g., a transmit power command (TPC), a determined path loss between the network entity 104 and the UE 102, the data format of UL DPCH, a size of a resource grant provided for the channels, a power class of the UE 102, the channel being transmitted, and/or the like. Transmit power determining component 112 can determine an actual transmit power for the control channel and/or dedicated channels based at least in part on a maximum transmit power level (MTPL). The MTPL can be received from network entity, specified based on a power class of the UE, and/or the like.

[0023] Method 200 also includes, at Block 206, prioritizing the ERUCCH in determining a power allocation for the ERUCCH in the timeslot. For example, transmit power determining component 112 can include a physical channel power computing component 116 operable to prioritize the ERUCCH in determining a power allocation for the ERUCCH in the timeslot. In an aspect, transmit power determining component 112 can prioritize the ERUCCH in this regard for determining the power allocation. For example, transmit power determining component 112 can specify a transmit power for the ERUCCH based on the power received by control channel power receiving component 114. In an example, transmit power determining component 112 can determine to utilize the received power for allocating power to the control channel for transmitting and can determine to utilize a remaining power allocation (e.g., up to the MTPL) in transmitting other channels.

[0024] Thus, method 200 also includes, at Block 208, assigning a remaining power allocation, if any, to the uplink dedicated channels for transmitting in the timeslot. For example, transmit power determining component 112 can include an MPR determining component 118 operable to assign a remaining power allocation to the uplink dedicated channels for transmitting in the timeslot. Since the control channel is transmitted at the received power, this control channel is prioritized over the other channels when allocating power to increase likelihood that this control channel is transmitted and successfully received by network entity 104. In one example, at Block 208, assigning remaining power to the uplink dedicated channels can include determining the remaining power such to satisfy a maximum power reduction (MPR). MPR determining component 118 can determine an MPR from an MPR table as described further herein. For example, MPR can specify a backoff to be applied in multi-code and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) 16 transmissions, and can be a function of ratio of powers of two code channels. MPR can be specified in terms of cubic metric (CM) of a channel configuration where:

CM = CEIL {[20 * loglO ((v iorm³)™) - 20 * loglO ((v^orm^ef⁵)^)] / k, 0.5} and where v norm is the normalized voltage waveform of the input signal, v norm ref is the normalized voltage waveform of the reference signal (e.g., 12.2 kpbs AMR speech), k is 1.68, and 20 * loglO ((v_norm_ref³)rm_S) = 1.22 dB. In some examples, MPR is quantized to 6 values, as shown in the below table.

Table 1: Maximum Power Reduction (MPR) table

[0025] In the above table, for example, power difference of different channel codes are arranged in different bins, where each bin corresponds to a power difference range. For example, BIN0 corresponds to the biggest power difference of the multi-channel code of < 40dB, and BIN5 corresponds to the smallest power difference of between 0 and 2dB. Thus, for example, transmit power determining component 112 can determine power for the other channels such that a difference between the power for the control channel and the other channels is within a power difference threshold in the MPR, and such that the total transmit power is less than the MTPL.

[0026] A specific but non-limiting example is depicted in FIG. 3, which illustrates an example method 300 for determining transmit powers for a ERUCCH and other channels, such as a UL DPCH. Method 300 includes, at Block 302, getting ERUCCH open loop power PI from a fast physical access channel (FPACH) decoding result. For example, control channel power receiving component 114 can obtain the FPACH from network entity 104 and can decode the FPACH to determine PI for the ERUCCH (which is specified in the FPACH). Method 300 also includes, at Block 304, calculating the other uplink physical channels' closed loop power P2. For example, physical channel power computing component 116 can calculate the power P2 for the other uplink channels based on the channels transmitted, power information received from network entity 104 (e.g., a transmit power command (TPC), a determined path loss between the network entity 104 and the UE 102, the data format of UL DPCH, a power class of the UE, a grant provided by network entity 104, determining an MPR from an MPR table, and/or the like.

[0027] Method 300 also includes, at Block 306, determining whether PI + P2 > MTPL.

As described, the MTPL can be received from network entity 104 and/or may be specific to communicating with network entity 104, a power class of the UE 102, etc. If PI + P2 > MTPL, method 300 includes, at Block 308, determining whether PI < MTPL. If so, method 300 includes, at Block 310, decreasing P2 to P2' to make ABS(P1 - P2) equal to the power difference threshold of a next power difference bin in an MPR table. As described, MPR determining component 118 can obtain the MPR table and determine a current MPR based on the current difference bin. Transmit power determining component 112 can determine the power comparisons and can accordingly decrease P2 based on the MPR table. For example, transmit power determining component 112 can determine a power difference threshold in a next power difference bin in the MPR table, and can determine P2 such that ABS(P1 - P2) is equal to the difference threshold. Method 300 also includes, at Block 312, determining whether PI + P2 < MTPL - Current MPR from the MPR table for the difference bin. If so, P2 is set to MTPL - Current MPR - PI at Block 314, and at Block 316, further processing for PI and P2 can occur if needed. Transmit power determining component 112 can utilize PI and P2 for transmitting the channels in the timeslot.

[0028] If PI + P2 is not less than MTPL - Current MPR at Block 312, then P2 = P2\ the current bin index = the next bin index in the MPR table, and the current MPR = the next MPR, at Block 318. The method then proceeds to Block 310 where P2 is decreased to P2' to make the ABS (PI - P2) equal to the power difference threshold of the next power difference bin in the MPR table, and so on until a usable P2 is chosen that results in PI + P2 within the MTPL. Transmit power determining component 112 can set the values in Block 314, and decreases P2 at Block 310, as described. [0029] Additionally, If PI + P2 is not > MTPL at Block 306, then PI and P2 can be kept unchanged at Block 320. If PI is not < MTPL at Block 308, PI is set to the MTPL and P2 is set to the minimum suppressed power at Block 322. Thus, where the control channel is to be transmitted in the same timeslot as other channels, this method 300 can ensure the control channel is transmitted at the requested power or at least at the MTPL.

[0030] FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus 400 employing a processing system 414 that includes communicating component 110 operable to perform the functions described herein. In some examples, the processing system 414 may comprise a UE or a component of a UE or any wireless communication device (e.g., UE 102 or network entity 104 of FIG. 1, etc.). In this example, the processing system 414 may be implemented with a bus architecture, represented generally by the bus 402. The bus 402 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the processing system 414 and the overall design constraints. The bus 402 links together various circuits including one or more processors, represented generally by the processor 404, computer-readable media, represented generally by the computer-readable medium 406, communicating component 110, etc. (see FIG. 1), which may be configured to carry out one or more methods or procedures described herein.

[0031] The bus 402 may also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art. A bus interface 408 provides an interface between the bus 402 and a transceiver 410. The transceiver 410 provides a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. Depending upon the nature of the apparatus, a user interface 412 (e.g., keypad, display, speaker, microphone, joystick) may also be provided.

[0032] The processor 404 is responsible for managing the bus 402 and general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium 406. The software, when executed by the processor 404, causes the processing system 414 to perform the various functions described infra for any particular apparatus. The computer-readable medium 406 may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor 404 when executing software.

[0033] In an aspect, processor 404, computer-readable medium 406, or a combination of both may be configured or otherwise specially programmed to perform the functionality of the communicating component 110, components thereof, or various other components described herein. For example, processor 404, computer-readable medium 406, or a combination of both may be configured or otherwise specially programmed to perform the functionality of the communicating component 110 described herein, and/or the like.

[0034] The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may be implemented across a broad variety of telecommunication systems, network architectures, and communication standards. By way of example and without limitation, the aspects of the present disclosure illustrated in FIG. 5 are presented with reference to a UMTS system 500 employing a W-CDMA air interface and including a User Equipment (UE) 510 having communicating component 110 operable to perform the functions described herein. A UMTS network includes three interacting domains: a Core Network (CN) 504, a UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) 502, and UE 510. In this example, the UTRAN 502 provides various wireless services including telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and/or other services. The UTRAN 502 may include a plurality of Radio Network Subsystems (RNSs) such as an RNS 507, each controlled by a respective Radio Network Controller (RNC) such as an RNC 506. Here, the UTRAN 502 may include any number of RNCs 506 and RNSs 507 in addition to the RNCs 506 and RNSs 507 illustrated herein. The RNC 506 is an apparatus responsible for, among other things, assigning, reconfiguring and releasing radio resources within the RNS 507. The RNC 506 may be interconnected to other RNCs (not shown) in the UTRAN 502 through various types of interfaces such as a direct physical connection, a virtual network, or the like, using any suitable transport network.

[0035] Communication between a UE 510 and a Node B 508 may be considered as including a physical (PHY) layer and a medium access control (MAC) layer. Further, communication between a UE 510 and an RNC 506 by way of a respective Node B 508 may be considered as including a radio resource control (RRC) layer. In the instant specification, the PHY layer may be considered layer 1; the MAC layer may be considered layer 2; and the RRC layer may be considered layer 3. Information hereinbelow utilizes terminology introduced in Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification, 3GPP TS 25.331 v9.1.0, incorporated herein by reference.

[0036] The geographic region covered by the SRNS 507 may be divided into a number of cells, with a radio transceiver apparatus serving each cell. A radio transceiver apparatus is commonly referred to as a Node B in UMTS applications, but may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a base station (BS), a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), an access point (AP), or some other suitable terminology. For clarity, three Node Bs 508 are shown in each SRNS 507; however, the SRNSs 507 may include any number of wireless Node Bs. The Node Bs 508 provide wireless access points to a core network (CN) 504 for any number of mobile apparatuses. Examples of a mobile apparatus include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a notebook, a netbook, a smartbook, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, a game console, or any other similar functioning device. The mobile apparatus is commonly referred to as user equipment (UE) in UMTS applications, but may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a mobile station (MS), a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal (AT), a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a terminal, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology. In a UMTS system, the UE 510 may further include a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) 511, which contains a user's subscription information to a network. UE 510 may also include a communicating component 110 for performing functions described in relation to FIGS. 1-3, above. For illustrative purposes, one UE 510 is shown in communication with a number of the Node Bs 508. The downlink (DL), also called the forward link, refers to the communication link from a Node B 508 to a UE 510, and the uplink (UL), also called the reverse link, refers to the communication link from a UE 510 to a Node B 508.

[0037] The core network 504 interfaces with one or more access networks, such as the

UTRAN 502. As shown, the core network 504 is a GSM core network. However, as those skilled in the art will recognize, the various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may be implemented in a RAN, or other suitable access network, to provide UEs with access to types of core networks other than GSM networks.

[0038] The core network 504 includes a circuit-switched (CS) domain and a packet- switched (PS) domain. Some of the circuit-switched elements are a Mobile services Switching Centre (MSC), a Visitor location register (VLR) and a Gateway MSC. Packet- switched elements include a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) and a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN). Some network elements, like EIR, HLR, VLR and AuC may be shared by both of the circuit-switched and packet-switched domains. In the illustrated example, the core network 504 supports circuit-switched services with a MSC 512 and a GMSC 514. In some applications, the GMSC 514 may be referred to as a media gateway (MGW). One or more RNCs, such as the RNC 506, may be connected to the MSC 512. The MSC 512 is an apparatus that controls call setup, call routing, and UE mobility functions. The MSC 512 also includes a visitor location register (VLR) that contains subscriber-related information for the duration that a UE is in the coverage area of the MSC 512. The GMSC 514 provides a gateway through the MSC 512 for the UE to access a circuit-switched network 516. The core network 504 includes a home location register (HLR) 515 containing subscriber data, such as the data reflecting the details of the services to which a particular user has subscribed. The HLR is also associated with an authentication center (AuC) that contains subscriber-specific authentication data. When a call is received for a particular UE, the GMSC 514 queries the HLR 515 to determine the UE's location and forwards the call to the particular MSC serving that location.

[0039] The core network 504 also supports packet-data services with a serving GPRS support node (SGSN) 518 and a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) 520. GPRS, which stands for General Packet Radio Service, is designed to provide packet-data services at speeds higher than those available with standard circuit-switched data services. The GGSN 520 provides a connection for the UTRAN 502 to a packet-based network 522. The packet- based network 522 may be the Internet, a private data network, or some other suitable packet-based network. The primary function of the GGSN 520 is to provide the UEs 510 with packet-based network connectivity. Data packets may be transferred between the GGSN 520 and the UEs 510 through the SGSN 518, which performs primarily the same functions in the packet-based domain as the MSC 512 performs in the circuit-switched domain.

[0040] The UMTS air interface is a spread spectrum Direct-Sequence Code Division

Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) system. The spread spectrum DS-CDMA spreads user data through multiplication by a sequence of pseudorandom bits called chips. The W-CDMA air interface for UMTS is based on such direct sequence spread spectrum technology and additionally calls for a frequency division duplexing (FDD). FDD uses a different carrier frequency for the uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) between a Node B 508 and a UE 510. Another air interface for UMTS that utilizes DS-CDMA, and uses time division duplexing, is the TD-SCDMA air interface. Those skilled in the art will recognize that although various examples described herein may refer to a WCDMA air interface, the underlying principles are equally applicable to a TD-SCDMA air interface.

[0041] Referring to FIG. 6, an access network 600 in a UTRAN architecture includes one or more user equipment (UEs) that have communicating component 110 operable to perform the functions described herein. In an example aspect, the UTRAN architecture may be associated with a network of UE 102 and network entity 104. The multiple access wireless communication system includes multiple cellular regions (cells), including cells 602, 604, and 606, each of which may include one or more sectors. The multiple sectors can be formed by groups of antennas with each antenna responsible for communication with UEs in a portion of the cell. For example, in cell 602, antenna groups 612, 614, and 616 may each correspond to a different sector. In cell 604, antenna groups 618, 620, and 622 each correspond to a different sector. In cell 606, antenna groups 624, 626, and 628 each correspond to a different sector. The cells 602, 604 and 606 may include several wireless communication devices, e.g., User Equipment or UEs, which may be in communication with one or more sectors of each cell 602, 604 or 606. For example, UEs 630 and 632 may be in communication with Node B 642, UEs 634 and 636 may be in communication with Node B 644, and UEs 638 and 640 (which may represent UE 102 of FIG. 1) can be in communication with Node B 646. Here, each Node B 642, 644, 646 is configured to provide an access point to a core network 504 (see FIG. 5) for all the UEs 630, 632, 634, 636, 638, 640 in the respective cells 602, 604, and 606. In an aspect, each of the UEs presented in FIG. 6 may comprise UE 102 of FIG. 1 and may include a communicating component 110, as described in relation to FIGS. 1-3, above.

[0042] As the UE 634 moves from the illustrated location in cell 604 into cell 606, a serving cell change (SCC) or handover may occur in which communication with the UE 634 transitions from the cell 604, which may be referred to as the source cell, to cell 606, which may be referred to as the target cell. Management of the handover procedure may take place at the UE 634, at the Node Bs corresponding to the respective cells, at a radio network controller 506 (see FIG. 5), or at another suitable node in the wireless network. For example, during a call with the source cell 604, or at any other time, the UE 634 may monitor various parameters of the source cell 604 as well as various parameters of neighboring cells such as cells 606 and 602. Further, depending on the quality of these parameters, the UE 634 may maintain communication with one or more of the neighboring cells. During this time, the UE 634 may maintain an Active Set, that is, a list of cells that the UE 634 is simultaneously connected to (i.e., the UTRA cells that are currently assigning a downlink dedicated physical channel DPCH or fractional downlink dedicated physical channel F-DPCH to the UE 634 may constitute the Active Set).

[0043] The modulation and multiple access scheme employed by the access network 600 may vary depending on the particular telecommunications standard being deployed. By way of example, the standard may include Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB). EV-DO and UMB are air interface standards promulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) as part of the CDMA2000 family of standards and employs CDMA to provide broadband Internet access to mobile stations. The standard may alternately be Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) employing Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) and other variants of CDMA, such as TD-SCDMA; Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) employing TDMA; and Evolved UTRA (E- UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, and Flash-OFDM employing OFDMA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE Advanced, and GSM are described in documents from the 3GPP organization. CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documents from the 3GPP2 organization. The actual wireless communication standard and the multiple access technology employed will depend on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system.

[0044] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a Node B 710 in communication with a UE 750, where the Node B 710 may be the first subscription network entity 104 in FIG. 1, and the UE 750 may be the UE 102 of FIG. 1. For example, UE 750 may include communicating component 110, in communication with or as a part of controller/processor 790 and/or memory 792, or otherwise configured to perform the functions thereof, as described in relation to FIGs. 1-3. In the downlink communication, a transmit processor 720 may receive data from a data source 712 and control signals from a controller/processor 740. The transmit processor 720 provides various signal processing functions for the data and control signals, as well as reference signals (e.g., pilot signals). For example, the transmit processor 720 may provide cyclic redundancy check (CRC) codes for error detection, coding and interleaving to facilitate forward error correction (FEC), mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM), and the like), spreading with orthogonal variable spreading factors (OVSF), and multiplying with scrambling codes to produce a series of symbols. Channel estimates from a channel processor 744 may be used by a controller/processor 740 to determine the coding, modulation, spreading, and/or scrambling schemes for the transmit processor 720. These channel estimates may be derived from a reference signal transmitted by the UE 750 or from feedback from the UE 750. The symbols generated by the transmit processor 720 are provided to a transmit frame processor 730 to create a frame structure. The transmit frame processor 730 creates this frame structure by multiplexing the symbols with information from the controller/processor 740, resulting in a series of frames. The frames are then provided to a transmitter 732, which provides various signal conditioning functions including amplifying, filtering, and modulating the frames onto a carrier for downlink transmission over the wireless medium through antenna 734. The antenna 734 may include one or more antennas, for example, including beam steering bidirectional adaptive antenna arrays or other similar beam technologies.

At the UE 750, a receiver 754 receives the downlink transmission through an antenna 752 and processes the transmission to recover the information modulated onto the carrier. The information recovered by the receiver 754 is provided to a receive frame processor 760, which parses each frame, and provides information from the frames to a channel processor 794 and the data, control, and reference signals to a receive processor 770. The receive processor 770 then performs the inverse of the processing performed by the transmit processor 720 in the Node B 710. More specifically, the receive processor 770 descrambles and despreads the symbols, and then determines the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the Node B 710 based on the modulation scheme. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by the channel processor 794. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data, control, and reference signals. The CRC codes are then checked to determine whether the frames were successfully decoded. The data carried by the successfully decoded frames will then be provided to a data sink 772, which represents applications running in the UE 750 and/or various user interfaces (e.g., display). Control signals carried by successfully decoded frames will be provided to a controller/processor 790. When frames are unsuccessfully decoded by the receiver processor 770, the controller/processor 790 may also use an acknowledgement (ACK) and/or negative acknowledgement (NACK) protocol to support retransmission requests for those frames. [0046] In the uplink, data from a data source 778 and control signals from the controller/processor 790 are provided to a transmit processor 780. The data source 778 may represent applications running in the UE 750 and various user interfaces (e.g., keyboard). Similar to the functionality described in connection with the downlink transmission by the Node B 710, the transmit processor 780 provides various signal processing functions including CRC codes, coding and interleaving to facilitate FEC, mapping to signal constellations, spreading with OVSFs, and scrambling to produce a series of symbols. Channel estimates, derived by the channel processor 794 from a reference signal transmitted by the Node B 710 or from feedback contained in the midamble transmitted by the Node B 710, may be used to select the appropriate coding, modulation, spreading, and/or scrambling schemes. The symbols produced by the transmit processor 780 will be provided to a transmit frame processor 782 to create a frame structure. The transmit frame processor 782 creates this frame structure by multiplexing the symbols with information from the controller/processor 790, resulting in a series of frames. The frames are then provided to a transmitter 756, which provides various signal conditioning functions including amplification, filtering, and modulating the frames onto a carrier for uplink transmission over the wireless medium through the antenna 752.

[0047] The uplink transmission is processed at the Node B 710 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at the UE 750. A receiver 735 receives the uplink transmission through the antenna 734 and processes the transmission to recover the information modulated onto the carrier. The information recovered by the receiver 735 is provided to a receive frame processor 736, which parses each frame, and provides information from the frames to the channel processor 744 and the data, control, and reference signals to a receive processor 738. The receive processor 738 performs the inverse of the processing performed by the transmit processor 780 in the UE 750. The data and control signals carried by the successfully decoded frames may then be provided to a data sink 739 and the controller/processor, respectively. If some of the frames were unsuccessfully decoded by the receive processor, the controller/processor 740 may also use an acknowledgement (ACK) and/or negative acknowledgement (NACK) protocol to support retransmission requests for those frames.

[0048] The controller/processors 740 and 790 may be used to direct the operation at the

Node B 710 and the UE 750, respectively. For example, the controller/processors 740 and 790 may provide various functions including timing, peripheral interfaces, voltage regulation, power management, and other control functions. The computer readable media of memories 742 and 792 may store data and software for the Node B 710 and the UE 750, respectively. A scheduler/processor 746 at the Node B 710 may be used to allocate resources to the UEs and schedule downlink and/or uplink transmissions for the UEs.

[0049] Several aspects of a telecommunications system have been presented with reference to an HSPA system. As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, various aspects described throughout this disclosure may be extended to other telecommunication systems, network architectures and communication standards.

[0050] By way of example, various aspects may be extended to other UMTS systems such as W-CDMA, TD-SCDMA, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) and TD-CDMA. Various aspects may also be extended to systems employing Long Term Evolution (LTE) (in FDD, TDD, or both modes), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) (in FDD, TDD, or both modes), CDMA2000, Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Ultra- Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth, and/or other suitable systems. The actual telecommunication standard, network architecture, and/or communication standard employed will depend on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system.

[0051] In accordance with various aspects of the disclosure, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented with a "processing system" that includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute software. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. The software may reside on a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may be a non- transitory computer-readable medium. A non-transitory computer-readable medium includes, by way of example, a magnetic storage device (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strip), an optical disk (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD)), a smart card, a flash memory device (e.g., card, stick, key drive), random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), a register, a removable disk, and any other suitable medium for storing software and/or instructions that may be accessed and read by a computer. The computer-readable medium may also include, by way of example, a carrier wave, a transmission line, and any other suitable medium for transmitting software and/or instructions that may be accessed and read by a computer. The computer-readable medium may be resident in the processing system, external to the processing system, or distributed across multiple entities including the processing system. The computer-readable medium may be embodied in a computer-program product. By way of example, a computer-program product may include a computer-readable medium in packaging materials. Those skilled in the art will recognize how best to implement the described functionality presented throughout this disclosure depending on the particular application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0052] It is to be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed is an illustration of exemplary processes. Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods or methodologies described herein may be rearranged. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented unless specifically recited therein.

[0053] The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one" unless specifically so stated, but rather "one or more." Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term "some" refers to one or more. A phrase referring to "at least one of a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, "at least one of: a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a; b; c; a and b; a and c; b and c; and a, b and c. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase "means for" or, in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase "step for."

Claims

1. A method for determining power allocation for channels in wireless communications, comprising:

receiving a power for transmitting an enhanced random-access uplink control channel (ERUCCH) in a timeslot;

calculating another power for transmitting uplink dedicated channels in the timeslot; prioritizing the ERUCCH in determining a power allocation for the ERUCCH in the timeslot; and

assigning a remaining power allocation to the uplink dedicated channels for transmitting in the timeslot.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the ERUCCH includes using a received power for the ERUCCH as the power allocation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning the remaining power allocation comprises selecting the remaining power allocation for the uplink dedicated channels such that the difference in the power allocation for the ERUCCH and the remaining power allocation satisfy a threshold power difference specified in a maximum power reduction (MPR) table.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising selecting a lower threshold power difference in the MPR table where the power allocation for the ERUCCH and the remaining power allocation exceed a maximum transmit power level, and wherein assigning the remaining power allocation comprises selecting the remaining power allocation for the uplink dedicated channels such that the difference in the power allocation for the ERUCCH and the remaining power allocation satisfy the lower threshold power difference.

5. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and memory coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one processor and memory being configured to perform a method in accordance with any of claims 1 to 4.

6. An apparatus comprising means for performing a method in accordance with any of claims 1 to 4.

7. A computer-readable medium storing computer executable code comprising at least one code for causing a computer or processor to perform a method in accordance with any of claims 1 to 4.