Apparatus, method, and system for channel selection and allocation in mobile communications
A mobile communication system ( 100 ) includes a plurality of mobile stations ( 104, 105 ), a serving base station ( 101 ) and, associated with the base station, a channel selector ( 220, 309 ) for selecting and allocating downlink wireless traffic communication channels, the selector being operable: (i) to obtain an estimate of a ready time when a downlink wireless traffic signal including traffic data received from a source remote to the base station to be sent to at least one of the served mobile stations will be ready for sending; and (ii) to select and allocate for sending the downlink traffic signal a downlink traffic channel which is the first downlink traffic channel available following the ready time.
1. An apparatus for use in a mobile communication system including a plurality of mobile stations and a base station operable to serve the mobile stations with wireless communications and, associated with the base station, a channel selector operable to select and allocate downlink wireless traffic communication channels for sending downlink wireless traffic signals by the base station to the served mobile stations, the apparatus comprising:
a channel selector that is adapted to: (i) to obtain an estimate of a ready time when a downlink wireless traffic signal including traffic data received from a source remote to the base station to be sent to at least one of the served mobile stations will be ready for sending; and (ii) to select and allocate for sending the downlink traffic signal a downlink traffic channel which is the first downlink traffic channel available following the estimated ready time.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further including a remote source that conveys traffic data to the channel selector to be sent to the at least one of the served mobile stations and which remote source comprises, operably coupled to the base station, another base station, a mobile station, or a fixed terminal other than a base station.
3. The apparatus according claim 1 , further including a ready time estimator that is operably coupled to the channel selector and that is operable to use an estimate of a transmission delay between the remote source and the base station to estimate the ready time.
4. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the apparatus is included in a base station and wherein the apparatus includes a memory operable to record estimates of transmission delays between different remote sources and the base station, and wherein the ready time estimator is operable to retrieve from the memory an estimate of the transmission delay between a particular remote source and the base station to use in estimating the ready time of a downlink traffic signal including traffic data from the particular remote source.
5. The apparatus according to claim 4 including, operably coupled to the memory, a transmission delay estimator operable to apply a test procedure to estimate a transmission delay between the base station and the remote source.
6. The apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the test procedure includes one or more of:
sending from the base station to the remote source a test data signal including a transmission time stamp indicating when the signal is transmitted; and
sending from the remote source to the base station a test data signal including a transmission time stamp indicating when the signal is transmitted.
7. The apparatus according to claim 6 wherein the test procedure includes the base station receiving a response signal sent from the remote source in response to receiving the test data signal from the base station and applying a reception time stamp to the response signal when received.
8. The apparatus according to claim 6 wherein the test procedure includes the base station receiving a time stamped response signal sent from the remote source in response to receiving the test data signal.
9. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the test procedure includes receiving, at one or more of the base station and the remote source, a test data signal that includes a transmission time stamp indicating when the signal is transmitted, applying a reception time stamp when the test data signal is received, estimating the one-way transmission delay using the transmission time stamp and the reception time stamp and recording the estimated delay.
10. A method of operation in a mobile communication system including a plurality of mobile stations, a base station operable to serve the mobile stations with wireless communications and, associated with the base station, a channel selector operable to allocate downlink wireless traffic communication channels for sending downlink wireless traffic signals by the base station to the served mobile stations, the method comprising:
obtaining an estimate of a ready time when a downlink wireless traffic signal including traffic data received from a source remote to the base station to be sent to at least one of the served mobile stations will be ready for sending; and
selecting and allocating for sending the downlink traffic signal a downlink traffic channel which is the first downlink traffic channel available following the estimated ready time.