Method and apparatus for radio link control padding for enhanced general packet radio service

1. A method comprising:

providing N bytes of data;

interleaving the N bytes of data using a turbo-interleaver;

pre-pending K bytes of zero padding; and

passing the interleaved N bytes and the pre-pended K bytes to a convolutional encoder to provide an output comprising a parity sequence adapted for further processing and providing a radio link control block for an enhanced general packet radio service 2-B mobile device.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the radio link control block includes a data portion and a padding portion, whereby a first transmission of a radio link control block can be combined and matched with a subsequent retransmission of the radio link control block.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising providing the radio link control block with: an EGPRS2-A radio link control block family A pad 6 including packet data block types DAS- 6 , DAS- 9 and DAS- 11 ; a EGPRS2-B radio link control block family A pad 6 including packet data block types DBS- 6 pad, DBS- 8 pad, and DBS- 10 pad, being adapted for use with Chase and incremental redundancy combining.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising selecting a highest data rate available consistent with a desired link quality.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: matching the packet data size defining a desired number of bytes for transmission and retransmission; and selecting a highest data rate available consistent with a desired link quality.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising providing the radio link control block with: an EGPRS2-A radio link control block family A including packet data block types DAS- 7 pad, DAS- 10 pad and DAS- 12 pad; a EGPRS2-B radio link control block family including packet data block types DBS- 6 , DBS- 8 , DBS- 10 and DBS- 12 , being adapted for use with Chase and incremental redundancy combining.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein further processing includes interleaving, puncturing and mapping.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising providing a signal in a header to provide notification to a mobile that a payload is a padded radio link control block.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the convolutional encoder provides three outputs comprising:

a first parity sequence of K bytes of zero padding followed by N bytes of an uncoded data sequence;

a second parity sequence that is the response of a recursive convolutional encoder to an input sequence consisting of K bytes of zero padding pre-pended N bytes of an uncoded data sequence; and

a third parity sequence that is the response of a recursive convolutional encoder to an input sequence consisting of K bytes of zero padding pre-pended to the turbo-interleaved N bytes of uncoded data in a sequence.

10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising combining a first transmission of a radio link control block with subsequent retransmissions of the radio link control block using at least one of Chase and incremental redundancy combining.

11. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising providing a switch with a first position for allowing K-bytes of zero-padding being clocked into a recursive convolutional encoder and a second position allowing N-bytes of turbo-interleaved data being clocked into the recursive convolutional encoder.

12. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising passing K-bytes of zero-padding being clocked into a recursive convolutional encoder at a first time and passing N-bytes of turbo-interleaved data being clocked into the recursive convolutional encoder at a second time.

13. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising passing K-bytes of zero-padding being clocked into a recursive convolutional encoder at a first time and passing N-bytes of turbo-interleaved data being clocked into the recursive convolutional encoder at a second time, and an output of a second recursive convolutional encoder is a third parity sequence P 2 ″.

14. A method comprising;

demodulating a padded radio link control block;

generating metrics for each systematic and parity bit contained in the padded radio link control block;

discarding the systematic and parity bit corresponding to encoded padding; and

in the event of a first transmission turbo decoding and in the event of a re-transmission, combining the systematic and parity bit with those of previous transmissions using Chase and incremental redundancy combining and then turbo decoding.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the generating step includes demapping, depuncturing and deinterleaving.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a controller configured to control operations of the apparatus;

a transceiver coupled to the controller, the transceiver configured to send and receive signals; and

a radio link control module coupled to the controller, the radio link control module configured to: demodulate a padded radio link control block; generate metrics for each systematic and parity bit contained in the padded radio link control block; discard the systematic and parity bit corresponding to encoded padding; and in the event of a first transmission, turbo decode and in the event of a re-transmission, combine parity metrics with those of previous transmissions using Chase and incremental redundancy combining and then turbo decode.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the radio link control module is further configured to demap, depuncture and deinterleave.