Method of scheduling on downlink and transmitting on uplink dedicated channels

1. A method for scheduling uplink dedicated channels at a wireless network, comprising:

transmitting, from a network node, a scheduling grant message to trigger uplink transmissions, the scheduling grant message starting in any time slot of a frame for a downlink channel, the scheduling grant message not exceeding the length of the frame, the scheduling grant message starting time slot capable of varying from frame to frame, and

conducting a blind detection to determine the starting time slot of the scheduling grant message.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting step transmits the scheduling grant message on a downlink dedicated physical channel.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the transmitting step transmits one scheduling grant message per frame of the downlink dedicated physical channel at most.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting step includes transmitting scheduling grant messages for more than one user equipment over downlink respective channels such that the transmissions of the scheduling grant messages do not overlap in time.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the transmitting step transmits the scheduling grant message for each user equipment on a downlink dedicated physical channel associated with that user equipment.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the transmitting step transmits, at most, one scheduling grant message per frame of each downlink dedicated physical channel.

7. The method of clam 1 , wherein the downlink channel is a shared channel.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the transmitting step transmits scheduling grant messages for more than one user equipment over the shared channel.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the transmitting step transmits more than one scheduling grant message in the frame of the shared channel.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the scheduling grant message has a fixed duration.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scheduling grant message schedules transmission of high speed data on an uplink dedicated physical channel.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scheduling grant message includes a bit indicating that the uplink transmissions are scheduled.

13. A method for scheduling uplink dedicated channels at a wireless network, comprising:

transmitting, from a network node, at least one scheduling grant message over a downlink shared channel to trigger uplink transmission, the scheduling grant message starting in any time slot of a frame for the downlink shared channel, the scheduling grant message not exceeding the length of the frame, the scheduling grant message starting time slot capable of varying from frame to frame, and

conducting a blind detection to determine the starting time slot of the scheduling grant message.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the transmitting step transmits scheduling grant messages for more than one user equipment over the downlink shared channel.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the transmitting step transmits more than one scheduling grant message in the frame of the downlink shared channel.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the scheduling grant message has a fixed duration.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the scheduling grant message schedules transmission of high speed data on an uplink dedicated physical channel.

18. A method for scheduling uplink dedicated channels at a wireless network, comprising:

transmitting, from a network node, scheduling grant messages such that no more than one user equipment will begin transmitting on a respective uplink dedicated channel at a time, the scheduling grant message starting in any time slot of a frame for a downlink channel, the scheduling grant message not exceeding the length of the frame, the scheduling grant message starting time slot capable of varying from frame to frame, and

conducting a blind detection to determine the starting time slot of the scheduling grant message.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the scheduling grant messages schedule transmissions of high speed data on uplink dedicated physical channels.

20. A method of transmitting on an uplink dedicated channel from a user equipment, comprising:

detecting a scheduling grant message transmitted starting in any time slot of a frame for a downlink channel, the scheduling grant message not exceeding the length of the frame, the scheduling grant message starting time slot capable of varying from frame to frame, and

transmitting on the uplink dedicated channel in response to the detected scheduling grant message,

wherein the detecting of the scheduling grant message includes conducting a blind detection to determine the starting time slot of the scheduling grant message.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the transmitting step transmits on the uplink dedicated channel a predetermined period of time after an end of the scheduling grant message.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the predetermined period of time is at least equal to a time period for the user equipment to process the scheduling grant message.

23. The method of claim 20 , wherein the transmitting step transmits data on the uplink dedicated channel.

24. The method of claim 20 , wherein the length of the scheduling grant message is not fixed, the detecting of the scheduling grant message further comprising:

conducting a further blind detection to determine a length of the scheduling grant message.

25. The method of claim 20 , wherein the scheduling grant message includes a bit indicating that the uplink transmissions are scheduled.

26. A method of transmitting on an uplink dedicated channel from a user equipment, comprising:

transmitting, from a network node, on the uplink dedicated channel a predetermined period of time after an end of a received scheduling grant message, the received scheduling grant message starting in any time slot of a frame for a downlink channel and not exceeding the length of the frame, the scheduling grant message starting time slot capable of varying from frame to frame, and

conducting a blind detection to determine the starting time slot of the scheduling grant message.

27. The method of claim 26 , wherein the predetermined period of time is at least equal to a time period for the user equipment to process the scheduling grant message.

28. The method of claim 26 , wherein the transmitting step transmits data on the uplink dedicated channel.

29. A method of transmitting on an uplink dedicated channel from a user equipment, comprising:

transmitting, from a network node, on the uplink dedicated channel at a point in time synchronized to a beginning of a frame of the uplink dedicated channel in response to a received scheduling grant message, the received scheduling grant message starting in any time slot of a frame for a downlink channel and not exceeding the length of the frame, the scheduling grant message starting time slot capable of varying from frame to frame, and

conducting a blind detection to determine the starting time slot of the scheduling grant message.

30. The method of claim 29 , wherein the point in time synchronized to the beginning of the frame of the uplink dedicated channel is greater than or equal to a predetermined period of time after an end of the received scheduling grant message.

31. The method of claim 30 , wherein the predetermined period of time is at least equal to a time period for the user equipment to process the scheduling grant message.

32. The method of claim 29 , wherein the point in time synchronized to the beginning of the frame of the uplink dedicated channel is an integer multiple of a predetermined period of time from the beginning of the frame of the uplink dedicated channel.

33. The method of claim 29 , wherein the predetermined period of time is predetermined number of chips.

34. The method of claim 33 , wherein the predetermined number of chips is 256.

35. The method of claim 33 , wherein the predetermined number of chips is an integer fraction of a slot of the frame of the uplink dedicated channel.

36. The method of claim 29 , wherein the predetermined period of time is a slot of the frame of the uplink dedicated channel.

37. The method of claim 29 , wherein the transmitting step transmits data on the uplink dedicated channel.