Method and apparatus for transmitting messages

1. A method for transmitting messages, comprising:

defining a transmission order for different services in a service area associated with a coordination entity and multiple base stations, wherein the multiple base stations include a first base station and at least one other base station;

defining an arranging order of different subsequent messages broadcast by the first base station in a Transport Block (TB) for a first message; and

generating and transmitting the first message carrying the transmission order for the different services and the arranging order of the different subsequent messages, so as to synchronize contents of the TB of the first message with contents of TBs of corresponding messages broadcast by the at least one other base station.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the coordination entity includes a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Coordination Entity (MCE), the method further comprising:

determining the transmission order for the different services at the MCE and carrying the transmission order in a second message for transmission to the multiple base stations; and

extracting the transmission order for different services from the second message at the first base station.

3. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising:

in the event of failing to receive the second message at the first base station, stopping the generation of the first message and muting the transmission of the first message until the second message is received.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

after an instruction for stopping a service session is received by the first base station, removing Radio Bearer (RB) information for the service session at a beginning of a next Modification Period (MP).

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting the first message from the first base station and the corresponding messages from the at least one other base station according to a same activating timing such that the multiple base stations transmit the first message and the corresponding messages at a same MP time point.

6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:

configuring, by the MCE, the activating timing based on a delay variation over an M2 interface and redundancy.

7. The method according to claim 6 , further comprising:

determining, by the first base station and the at least one other base station, a next MP time point closest to the activating timing as the MP time point for transmitting the first message and the corresponding messages.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the service area is a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area.

9. A first base station, comprising:

an interpreting unit configured to interpret a second message from a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Coordination Entity (MCE) and extract therefrom a transmission order for different services in a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area associated with the MCE and multiple base stations, wherein the multiple base stations include the first base station and at least one other base station;

a processing unit configured to define an arranging order of different subsequent messages broadcast by the first base station in a Transport Block (TB) for a first message; and

a message generating unit configured to generate the first message carrying the transmission order for the different services extracted by the interpreting unit and the arranging order of the different subsequent messages defined by the processing unit, so as to synchronize contents of the TB of the first message with contents of TBs of corresponding messages broadcast by the at least one other base station.

10. The first base station according to claim 9 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to remove Radio Bearer (RB) information for the service session at a beginning of a next Modification Period (MP) after an instruction for stopping a service session is received from the MCE.

11. The first base station according to claim 9 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to transmit the first message according to a same activating timing that the corresponding messages are transmitted from the at least one other base station such that the multiple base stations transmit the first message and the corresponding messages at a same MP time point.

12. The first base station according to claim 11 , wherein the MCE is configured to configure the activating timing based on a delay variation over an M2 interface and redundancy.

13. The first base station according to claim 12 , wherein the processing unit is configured to determine a next MP time point closest to the activating timing as the MP time point for transmitting the first message.

14. The first base station according to claim 9 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to, in the event of failing to receive the second message, instruct the message generating unit to stop generation of the first message and mute the transmission of the first message until the second message is received.

15. A Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Coordination Entity (MCE), comprising:

an order defining unit configured to define a transmission order for different services in a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area associated with the MCE and multiple base stations, wherein the multiple base stations include a first base station and at least one other base station; and

a transmitting unit configured to transmit a second message to the multiple base stations, the second message carrying the transmission order for the different services defined by the order defining unit to assist the multiple base stations in synchronizing contents of a transport block (TB) of a first message broadcast by the first base station with contents of TBs of corresponding messages broadcast by the at least one other base station, the TBs of the first message and corresponding messages carrying the transmission order for the different services and an arranging order of different subsequent messages to be broadcast by the multiple base stations, wherein the arranging order of the different subsequent messages is defined by the corresponding base station.

16. The MCE according to claim 15 , further comprising:

a timing configuring unit configured to configure an activating timing such that the multiple base stations transmit the first message and the corresponding messages at a same Modification Period (MP) time point, and

wherein the transmitting unit is further configured to inform the multiple base stations of the activating timing.

17. The MCE according to claim 16 wherein the timing configuring unit is configured to configure the activating timing based on a delay variation over an M2 interface and redundancy.

18. The MCE according to claim 15 , wherein the multiple base stations are configured to extract the transmission order for different services from the second message.

19. The MCE according to claim 15 , wherein, in the event of failing to receive the second message, the first base station is configured to stop generation of the first message and configured to mute transmission of the first message until the second message is received.

20. A system for Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), comprising

the first base station according to claim 9 and

the MCE associated with the MBSFN area, the MCE comprising:

an order defining unit configured to define the transmission order for the different services in the MBSFN area, and

a transmitting unit configured to transmit the second message to the multiple base stations, the second message carrying the transmission order for different services defined by the order defining unit to assist the multiple base stations in synchronizing contents of the TB of the first message broadcast by the first base station with contents of TBs of corresponding messages broadcast by the at least one other base station, the TBs of the first message and corresponding messages carrying the transmission order for the different services and the arranging order of the different subsequent messages to be broadcast by the multiple base stations, wherein the arranging order of the different subsequent messages is defined by the corresponding base station.