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Communication Systems

Abstract: A transmission method for use in a two-hop wireless communication system, the system comprising a source apparatus, a destination apparatus and an intermediate apparatus, said source apparatus being operable to transmit information along two links forming a communication path extending from the source apparatus to the destination apparatus via the intermediate apparatus, and the intermediate apparatus being operable to receive information from the source apparatus and to transmit the received information to the destination apparatus, the system having access to a time-frequency format for use in assigning available transmission frequency bandwidth during a discrete transmission interval, said format defining a plurality of transmission windows within such an interval, each window occupying a different part of that interval and having a frequency bandwidth profile within said available transmission frequency bandwidth over its part of that interval, each said window being assignable for such a transmission interval to said source or intermediate apparatus for use in transmission, the method comprising: employing said format to transmit information along the path as two successive transmission signals, link by link, said signals being transmitted using different transmission windows of a particular such transmission interval. [Fig. 2]

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Notices, Deadlines & Correspondence

Patent Information

Application #
Filing Date
09 February 2010
Publication Number
35/2010
Publication Type
INA
Invention Field
COMMUNICATION
Status
Email
Parent Application

Applicants

FUJITSU LIMITED
1-1, KAMIKODANAKA 4-CHOME, NAKAHARA-KU, KAWASAKI-SHI, KANAGAWA 211-8588

Inventors

1. MICHAEL JOHN BEEMS HART
136 COBBOLD ROAD LONDON, W12 9LL
2. YUEFENG ZHOU
20 BARNMEAD HAYWARDS HEATH, WEST SUSSEX, RH 16 1UZ

Specification

COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS This is a Divisional Specification drawn from the Original Patent Application No. 1774/CHE/2007 filed on l0"'August 2007. Introduction Currently there exists significant interest in the use of multihop techniques in packet based radio and other communication systems, where it is purported that such techniques will enable both extension in coverage range and increase in system capacity (throughput). In a multi-hop communication system, communication signals are sent in a communication direction along a communication path (C) from a source apparatus to a destination apparatus via one or more intermediate apparatuses. Figure 4 illustrates a single-cell two-hop wireless communication system comprising a base station BS (known in the context of 3G communication systems as "node-B" NB) a relay node RN (also known as a relay station RS) and a user equipment UE (also known as mobile station MS). In the case where signals are being transmitted on the downlink (DL) from a base station to a destination user equipment (UE) via the relay node (RN), the base station comprises the source station (S) and the user equipment comprises the destination station (D). In the case where communication signals are being transmitted on the uplink (UL) from a user equipment (UE), via the relay node, to the base station, the user equipment comprises the source station and the base station comprises the destination station. The relay node is an example of an intermediate apparatus (I) and comprises: a receiver, operable to receive data from the source apparatus; and a transmitter, operable to transmit this data, or a derivative thereof, to the destination apparatus. Simple analogue repeaters or digital repeaters have been used as relays to improve or provide coverage in dead spots. They can either operate in a different transmission frequency band from the source station to prevent interference between the source transmission and the repeater transmission, or they can operate at a time when there is no transmission from the source station. Figure 5 illustrates a number of applications for relay stations. For fixed infrastructure, the coverage provided by a relay station may be "in-fill" to allow access to the communication network for mobile stations which may otherwise be in the shadow of other objects or otherwise unable to receive a signal of sufficient strength from the base station despite being within the normal range of the base station. "Range extension" is also shown, in which a relay station allows access when a mobile station is outside the normal data transmission range of a base station. One example of in-fiU shown at the top right of Figure 5 is positioning of a nomadic relay station to allow penetration of coverage within a building that could be above, at, or below ground level. Other applications are nomadic relay stations which are brought into effect for temporary cover, providing access during events or emergencies/disasters. A final application shown in the bottom right of Figure 5 provides access to a network using a relay positioned on a vehicle. Relays may also be used in conjunction with advanced transmission techniques to enhance gain of the communications system as explained below. It is known that the occurrence of propagation loss, or "pathloss", due to the scattering or absorption of a radio communication as it travels through space, causes the strength of a signal to diminish. Factors which influence the pathloss between a transmitter and a receiver include: transmitter antenna height, receiver antenna height, carrier frequency, clutter type (urban, sub-urban, rural), details of morphology such as height, density, separation, terrain type (hilly, flat). The pathloss L (dB) between a transmitter and a receiver can be modelled by: L = b + lOn\ogd (A) Where d (metres) is the transmitter-receiver separation, b(db) and n are the pathloss parameters and the absolute pathloss is given by / = 10'°'. The sum of the absolute path losses experienced over the indirect link SI + ID may be less than the pathloss experienced over the direct link SD. In other words it is possible for: L(SI) + L(ID) < L(SD) (B) Splitting a single transmission link into two shorter transmission segments therefore exploits the non-linear relationship between pathloss verses distance. From a simple theoretical analysis of the pathloss using equation (A), it can be appreciated that a reduction in the overall pathloss (and therefore an improvement, or gain, in signal strength and thus data throughput) can be achieved if a signal is sent from a source apparatus to a destination apparatus via an intermediate apparatus (e.g. relay node), rather than being sent directly from the source apparatus to the destination apparatus. If implemented appropriately, multi-hop communication systems can allow for a reduction in the transmit power of transmitters which facilitate wireless transmissions, leading to a reduction in interference levels as well as decreasing exposure to electromagnetic emissions. Alternatively, the reduction in overall pathloss can be exploited to improve the received signal quality at the receiver without an increase in the overall radiated transmission power required to convey the signal. Multi-hop systems are suitable for use with multi-carrier transmission. In a multi-carrier transmission system, such as FDM (frequency division muhiplex), OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplex) or DMT (discrete multi-tone), a single data stream is modulated onto N parallel sub-carriers, each sub-carrier signal having its own frequency range. This allows the total bandwidth (i.e. the amount of data to be sent in a given time interval) to be divided over a plurality of sub-carriers thereby increasing the duration of each data symbol. Since each sub-carrier has a lower information rate, multi-carrier systems benefit from enhanced immunity to channel induced distortion compared with single carrier systems. This is made possible by ensuring that the transmission rate and hence bandwidth of each subcarrier is less than the coherence bandwidth of the channel. As a result, the channel distortion experienced on a signal subcarrier is frequency independent and can hence be corrected by a simple phase and amplitude correction factor. Thus the channel distortion correction entity within a multicarrier receiver can be of significantly lower complexity of its counterpart within a single carrier receiver when the system bandwidth is in excess of the coherence bandwidth of the channel. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a modulation technique that is based on FDM. An OFDM system uses a plurality of sub-carrier frequencies which are orthogonal in a mathematical sense so that the sub-carriers' spectra may overlap without interference due to the fact they are mutually independent. The orthogonality of OFDM systems removes the need for guard band frequencies and thereby increases the spectral efficiency of the system. OFDM has been proposed and adopted for many wireless systems. It is currently used in Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) connections, in some wireless LAN applications (such as WiFi devices based on the IEEE802.11a/g standard), and in wireless MAN applications such as WiMAX (based on the IEEE 802.16 standard). OFDM is often used in conjunction with channel coding, an error correction technique, to create coded orthogonal FDM or COFDM. COFDM is now widely used in digital telecommunications systems to improve the performance of an OFDM based system in a multipath environment where variations in the channel distortion can be seen across both subcarriers in the frequency domain and symbols in the time domain. The system has found use in video and audio broadcasting, such as DVB and DAB, as well as certain types of computer networking technology. In an OFDM system, a block of N modulated parallel data source signals is mapped to N orthogonal parallel sub-carriers by using an Inverse Discrete or Fast Fourier Transform algorithm (IDFT/IFFT) to form a signal known as an "OFDM symbol" in the time domain at the transmitter. Thus, an "OFDM symbol" is the composite signal of all N sub-carrier signals. An OFDM symbol can be represented mathematically as: x(t) = -Y.„.eJ""''',0t

Documents

Application Documents

# Name Date
1 324-CHE-2010-AbandonedLetter.pdf 2017-09-28
1 abs 324-che-2010 abstract 09-02-2010.jpg 2010-02-09
2 324-che-2010 form-5 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
2 324-CHE-2010-FER.pdf 2017-03-21
3 324_CHE_2010.pdf 2013-04-23
3 324-che-2010 form-3 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
4 324-che-2010 form-2 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
4 324-CHE-2010 FORM-13 22-04-2013.pdf 2013-04-22
5 324-CHE-2010 POWER OF ATTORNEY 22-07-2010.pdf 2010-07-22
5 324-che-2010 form-1 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
6 324-che-2010 claims 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
6 324-che-2010 form-3 31-05-2010.pdf 2010-05-31
7 324-CHE-2010 FORM-18 31-05-2010.pdf 2010-05-31
7 324-che-2010 drawings 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
8 324-che-2010 description(complete) 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
8 324-che-2010 form-3 07-05-2010.pdf 2010-05-07
9 324-che-2010 correspondence others 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
9 324-CHE-2010 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 07-05-2010.pdf 2010-05-07
10 324-che-2010 abstract 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
11 324-che-2010 correspondence others 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
11 324-CHE-2010 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 07-05-2010.pdf 2010-05-07
12 324-che-2010 form-3 07-05-2010.pdf 2010-05-07
12 324-che-2010 description(complete) 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
13 324-che-2010 drawings 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
13 324-CHE-2010 FORM-18 31-05-2010.pdf 2010-05-31
14 324-che-2010 form-3 31-05-2010.pdf 2010-05-31
14 324-che-2010 claims 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
15 324-che-2010 form-1 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
15 324-CHE-2010 POWER OF ATTORNEY 22-07-2010.pdf 2010-07-22
16 324-CHE-2010 FORM-13 22-04-2013.pdf 2013-04-22
16 324-che-2010 form-2 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
17 324-che-2010 form-3 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
17 324_CHE_2010.pdf 2013-04-23
18 324-che-2010 form-5 09-02-2010.pdf 2010-02-09
18 324-CHE-2010-FER.pdf 2017-03-21
19 abs 324-che-2010 abstract 09-02-2010.jpg 2010-02-09
19 324-CHE-2010-AbandonedLetter.pdf 2017-09-28

Search Strategy

1 search324_07-02-2017.pdf