Methods and apparatus for power efficient broadcasting and communication systems

1. A transmission method for a base station in a cellular communication network of base stations and mobile stations, the method comprising:

forming a plurality of frames of fixed time length, each frame containing a plurality of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols;

forming a plurality of first frames and a plurality of second frames among the plurality of frames, wherein:

each of the first frames contains time-frequency resources used for content multicasting or broadcasting (MB) via a single frequency network (SFN), the SFN comprising base stations in multiple cells transmitting the same MB content using OFDM and employing a same time and frequency resource; and

each of the second frames contains time-frequency resources used for data unicasting without the use of a SFN;

transmitting a sequence of consecutive frames comprising first frames carrying MB content and second frames carrying unicasting data, wherein the first frames and the second frames are intermixed in accordance with an intermixing configuration pattern and the intermixing configuration pattern is predetermined or configured at the time of transmission; and

transmitting a scheduling signal containing scheduling information, wherein the scheduling information includes a bit-map indicating the intermixing configuration pattern by using a “1” in the bit-map to represent a first frame and a “0” in the bit-map to represent a second frame, or a “0” in the bit-map to represent a first frame and a “1” in the bit-map to represent a second frame.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scheduling signal is transmitted as needed, periodically, or according to a predetermined plan.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

partitioning the first frames into a first region and a second region, the first region preceding the second region in time, wherein:

the first region is used for data transmission without the use of SFN (non-SFN) and the first region comprises a first number of OFDM symbols, wherein the first number applies to each of the first frames; and

the second region is used for MB via SFN (MBSFN) and the second region comprises a second number of OFDM symbols, wherein the second number applies to each of the first frames; and

including in the scheduling information

an indication identifying the first region or the second region in each of the first frames; and

an index identifying a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used for the second region in each of the first frames.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second number is greater than the first number.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first number is 0, 1, or 2.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second number is 6, 8, or 12.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the indication identifies the start symbol of the second region.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scheduling information further includes a start frame number for the sequence of consecutive frames.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scheduling information further includes a length of the sequence of consecutive frames.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scheduling information further includes an MB stream index.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bit-map contains between 2 and 8 bits.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first frames further comprises time-frequency resources for MB via SFN (MBSFN) and time-frequency resources for data transmission without the use of SFN (non-SFN), wherein

the non-SFN time-frequency resources comprise a first group of subcarriers and the MBSFN time-frequency resources comprise a second group of subcarriers.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first frames further contain time-frequency resources used for data transmission without the use of SFN (non-SFN), and wherein the second frames or the non-SFN time-frequency resources in the first frames are used to transmit data application packets, control information, or transmit both data application packets and control information.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the control information is used for performing functions including updating a security key, establishing a network connection, paging, providing location updates, facilitating resynchronization, enabling power control, providing notification of data packet arrival, sending uplink data packets, providing channel quality information, or providing statistics on a packet error rate.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MB content comprises video, audio, or data.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmissions employ orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) or frequency division multiple access (FDMA); and

Time Division Duplexing (TDD) or Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) techniques.

17. A base station in a multi-cell wireless broadcasting and communication system using a frame structure, each frame containing a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, the base station comprising:

a signal generator configured to form a plurality of first frames and a plurality of second frames, wherein:

each of the first frames contains time-frequency resources used for content multicasting or broadcasting (MB) via a single frequency network (SFN), the SFN comprising base stations in multiple cells transmitting the same MB content using OFDM and employing a same time and frequency resource; and

each of the second frames contains time-frequency resources used for data unicasting without the use of a SFN; and

a transmitter configured to transmit:

a sequence of consecutive frames comprising the first frames and the second frames that are intermixed in accordance with an intermixing configuration pattern, the intermixing configuration pattern being predetermined or configured at the time of transmission; and

a scheduling signal containing scheduling information, wherein the scheduling information includes a bit-map indicating the intermixing configuration pattern by using a “1” in the bit-map to represent a first frame and a “0” in the bit-map to represent a second frame, or a “0” in the bit-map to represent a first frame and a “1” in the bit-map to represent a second frame.

18. The base station of claim 17 , wherein the signal generator is further configured to partition the first frames into a first region and a second region, the first region preceding the second region in time, wherein

the first region is used for data transmission without the use of SFN (non-SFN) and the first region comprises a first number of OFDM symbols, wherein the first number applies to each of the first frames; and

the second region is used for MB via SFN (MBSFN) and the second region comprises a second number of OFDM symbols, wherein the second number applies to each of the first frames; and

wherein the scheduling information further includes

an indication identifying the first region or the second region in each of the first frames; and

an index identifying a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used for the second region in each of the first frames.

19. The base station of claim 18 , wherein the second number is greater than the first number.

20. The base station of claim 18 , wherein the indication identifies the start symbol of the second region.

21. The base station of claim 17 , wherein the scheduling information further includes a start frame number for the sequence of consecutive frames.

22. The base station of claim 17 , wherein the scheduling information further includes a length of the sequence of consecutive frames.