Method and arrangement in a telecommunication system

1. A method of improved channel sounding transmissions between a base station in communication with a user equipment in a telecommunication system, said method comprising:

receiving sounding signals at a base station, as sent by one or more user equipments (UEs) that are configured to send sounding signals when they have uplink data to transmit and not send sounding signals when they do not have uplink data to transmit; and

further at the base station, scheduling uplink resources based at least in part on interpreting a re-starting of sounding signal transmission by a given user equipment as an implicit indication that the given user equipment has uplink data to transmit, and interpreting the stopping of sounding signal transmission by a given user equipment as an implicit indication that the given user equipment does not have uplink data to transmit.

2. A method of improved channel sounding transmissions between a base station in communication with a user equipment in a telecommunication system, the method being implemented by the user equipment and comprising:

receiving an assigned channel sounding transmission pattern from said base station; and

transmitting a channel sounding signal to said base station based on said assigned channel sounding transmission pattern and on available uplink data in said user equipment.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein transmitting the channel sounding signal based on said assigned sounding transmission pattern and on available uplink data comprises said user equipment transmitting said channel sounding signal if there is uplink data available for transmission in an uplink data buffer.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein transmitting the channel sounding signal based on said assigned sounding transmission pattern and on available uplink data comprises said user equipment not transmitting said channel sounding signal if said uplink data buffer is empty.

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

comparing the time duration of the available uplink data to a predetermined threshold value; and

transmitting the channel sounding signal if said duration is larger than said threshold value.

6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising said user equipment not transmitting said channel sounding signal if said uplink data buffer will become empty within said predetermined threshold value.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein said predetermined threshold value corresponding to a Round Trip Time (RTT) representative for the telecommunication system.

8. A method of improved channel sounding transmissions between a base station in communication with a user equipment in a telecommunication system, said method being implemented by the base station and comprising:

assigning a channel sounding transmission pattern to said user equipment; and

performing resource scheduling for said system based at least on a response to said assignment;

wherein said performing resource scheduling comprises interpreting reception of a response comprising a transmitted channel sounding signal from said user equipment as an implicit scheduling request.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

if a response from a UE does not include an expected channel sounding signal transmission:

interpreting the absence of the expected channel sounding signal transmission as an indication that there is no available uplink data at said user equipment; and

performing uplink resource scheduling without considering said user equipment.

10. A user equipment in a telecommunication system, said user equipment comprising:

a receiver unit for receiving assigned channel sounding transmission patterns from a base station; and

a transmitter unit for transmitting channel sounding signals to said base station based on said assigned channel sounding transmission pattern and on available uplink data in said user equipment.

11. The user equipment in claim 10 , wherein the user equipment includes a control unit for determining if there is available uplink data for transmission, and wherein the transmit unit is configured to only transmit said channel sounding signal if there is available uplink data.

12. The user equipment in claim 11 , wherein the control unit is further configured to compare the time duration of available uplink data and a predetermined threshold value, and the transmit unit is configured to only transmit said channel sounding signal if said time duration is larger than said predetermined threshold.

13. A base station in a telecommunication network, said base station comprising:

an assignment unit for assigning channel sounding patterns to user equipment in said network;

a receiving unit for receiving channel sounding signals based on said channel sounding patterns and available uplink data in said user equipment; and

a scheduler associated with the receiving unit, the scheduler being configured to interpret the reception of a channel sounding signal as an implicit scheduling request from said user equipment.

14. The base station according to claim 13 , wherein the scheduler is further configured to interpret the absence of an expected channel sounding signal as an indication that there is no available uplink data, and to perform uplink resource scheduling without considering said user equipment.

15. The base station according to claim 13 , wherein said base station comprises an eNodeB.