Granted Patent B2

US 6,857,095 · App. 09/752,344 · Granted Feb 15, 2005

Abstract

Claims (24)

1. A method for making data transmission in a telecommunication network more effective, which comprises layer structure protocol means for data transmission, which protocol means comprise at least an upper layer and a lower layer, wherein the purpose of the lower layer ( 12 ) is at least to compose a data unit ( 6 ) to be transmitted to the upper layer ( 14 ) from one or more segments ( 9 a , 9 b ), in which method:

one or more errors ( 5 a ) occurring in the received segments 1 a , 1 b ) is detected,

wherein said data unit ( 6 ) to be transmitted to the upper layer is composed from one or more segments ( 9 a , 9 b ) which contain one or more errors ( 5 a ), and

wherein information on the location of one or more errors ( 5 a ) is also transmitted to the upper layer ( 14 ).

2. The method according to claim 1 , in which it is also detected that an entire data unit ( 1 a , 1 b ) to be received is missing, wherein the location of the segment ( 9 a , 9 b ) of said missing data unit ( 1 a , 1 b ) in the data unit ( 6 ) to be composed is interpreted as an erroneous area ( 5 a ).

3. The method according to claim 1 , in which the erroneous data units ( 1 a , 1 b ) are corrected in the lower layer ( 12 ) within a determined delay using acknowledgements and retransmissions,

wherein in the lower layer ( 12 ) the data unit ( 6 ) to be transmitted to the upper layer ( 14 ) is composed from segments ( 9 a , 9 b ) located in the received data units ( 1 a , 1 b ) after all data units ( 1 a , 1 b ) are received accurately, or when within a given delay there is not enough time to correct the erroneous or missing data units ( 1 a , 1 b ) by means of retransmission.

4. The method according to claim 1 , in which the size of the segment ( 9 a , 9 b ) located in the received data unit is determined in the upper layer ( 14 ),

wherein said error information to be transmitted to the upper layer ( 14 ) comprises the sequence number of the segments ( 9 a , 9 b ) located in the received data unit ( 1 a , 1 b ) and containing the error ( 5 a ), and

wherein in the upper layer ( 14 ) the areas ( 5 b ) containing the errors ( 5 a ) are calculated on the basis of the error information and the size of said segment ( 9 a , 9 b ).

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said segment ( 9 a , 9 b ) also contains at least control information ( 4 ) of the upper protocol layer or a header ( 3 ), and wherein the composed data unit ( 6 ) is discarded when the error ( 5 a ) is located at least partly in such a section of thee composed data unit ( 6 ) which contains control information ( 4 ) of the upper protocol layer or a header ( 3 ).

6. The method according to claim 1 , in which the starting point ( 5 a ) and the end ( 8 b ) of the segments ( 9 a , 9 b ) located in the received data units and containing one or more errors are determined in the upper layer ( 14 ),

wherein said error information to be transmitted to the upper layer ( 14 ) contains the sequence number of those segments ( 9 a , 9 b ) located in the received data units ( 1 a , 1 b ) in which the error ( 5 a ) is located, and

wherein the areas ( 5 b ) within which the errors ( 5 a ) are located are calculated in the upper layer ( 14 ) on the basis of error information and the starting point ( 8 a ) and the end ( 8 b ) of said segment ( 9 a , 9 b ).

7. The method according to claim 1 in which the starting point ( 7 a ) and the end ( 7 b ) of the error are determined in the lower layer ( 12 ), wherein said error information to be transmitted to the upper layer ( 14 ) comprises the starting point ( 7 a ) and the end ( 7 b ) of the error (Sa) of the composed data unit ( 6 ).

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the segment ( 9 a , 9 b ) also comprises at least control information ( 4 ) of an upper protocol layer or a header ( 3 ), and wherein the composed data unit ( 6 ) is discarded when the error ( 5 a ) is located at least partly in such a section of at least partly composed data unit ( 6 ) which contains control information ( 4 ) of an upper protocol layer or a header ( 3 ).

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said lower layer is an RLC layer and said upper layer is a PDCP layer.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said received data unit is an RLC PDU unit and said composed data unit is an RLC SDU unit.

11. Protocol means of a telecommunication network for data transmission, which layer structure protocol means comprise at least an upper layer and a lower layer,

wherein the purpose of the lower layer ( 12 ) is to compose a data unit ( 6 ) to be transmitted to an upper layer ( 14 ) from one or more segments ( 9 a , 9 b ) contained in the received data units ( 1 a , 1 b ) and to detect one or more errors (Sa) occurring in the received segments ( 1 a , 1 b ), and

wherein to make data transmission more effective, the purpose of said lower layer ( 12 ) is also to compose the data unit ( 6 ) to be transmitted to the upper layer from one or more segments ( 9 a , 9 b ) containing one or more errors (Sa), and also to transmit information concerning the location of said one or more errors (Sa) to the upper layer ( 14 ).

12. A wireless terminal arranged to function in a telecommunication network and comprising layer structured protocol means for data transmission, which protocol means comprise at least an upper layer and a lower layer,

wherein the purpose of the lower layer ( 12 ) is to compose a data unit ( 6 ) to be transmitted to an upper layer ( 14 ) from one or more segments ( 9 a , 9 b ) contained in the received data units ( 1 a , 1 b ) and to detect one or more errors ( 5 a ) occurring in the received segments ( 1 a , 1 b ), and

wherein to make data transmission more effective, the purpose of said lower layer ( 12 ) is also to compose the data unit ( 6 ) to be transmitted to the upper layer from one or more segments ( 9 a , 9 b ) containing one or more errors ( 5 a ), and also to transmit information concerning the location of said one or more errors ( 5 a ) to the upper layer ( 14 ).

Assignments (10)