Hopping hardware resources during paging in a wireless communications system

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention can be used to send a page from a base station to a user terminal using a hardware resource indicated by a hopping sequence. In one embodiment, the invention includes the base station selecting a hardware resource from a plurality of distributed and independent hardware resources, such as DSPs, based on a hopping sequence that indicates a sequence of hardware resources over periods of time. The base station can then transmit a page to a user terminal using the selected hardware resource.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for transmitting a page from a base station comprising: 
 selecting a hardware resource from a plurality of distributed and independent hardware resources based on a hopping sequence that indicates a sequence of hardware resources over periods of time; and    transmitting a page to a user terminal using the selected hardware resource.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the page is transmitted via a radio frequency (RF) resource associated with the selected hardware resource.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein a period of time comprises a frame divided into timeslots, and the RF resource comprises one timeslot of the frame on a carrier frequency, the timeslot and the carrier frequency comprising a communications channel.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising transmitting a second burst to a second user terminal in the timeslot on the carrier frequency associated with the selected hardware resource using a spatial channel.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the selected hardware resource is uniquely associated with the communications channel.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the communications channel hops carrier frequencies over time.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of hardware resources comprises a plurality of distributed and independent digital signal processors (DSPs).  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of hardware resources comprises a plurality of portions of a processor, each portion assigned to process signals on one conventional channel.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user terminal is associated with a unique paging identifier (PID), and the hopping sequence is a function of the PID.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the hopping sequence is uniquely associated with the PID.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein if the hopping sequence collides with a second hopping sequence used for paging a second user terminal in an initial period of time, then the hopping sequence does not collide with the second hopping sequence in a subsequent period of time.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the subsequent period of time is the next consecutive period of time with a sufficient statistical probability.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the hopping sequence indicates each hardware resource from the plurality of hardware resources evenly over time.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the page comprises a prompt to the user terminal to request access to the base station.  
     
     
         14 . A base station comprising: 
 a plurality of distributed and independent hardware resources;    a central processor coupled to the plurality of hardware resources to select one of the hardware resources based on a hopping sequence indicating a sequence of hardware resources over periods of time; and    an antenna array coupled to the plurality of hardware resources to transmit a page to a user terminal using the selected hardware resource.    
     
     
         15 . The base station of  claim 14 , wherein the page is transmitted from the antenna array via a radio frequency (RF) resource associated with the selected hardware resource.  
     
     
         16 . The base station of  claim 15 , wherein a period of time comprises a frame divided into timeslots, and the RF resource comprises one timeslot of the frame on a carrier frequency, the timeslot and the carrier frequency comprising a communications channel.  
     
     
         17 . The base station of  claim 16 , wherein the antenna array is further to transmit a second burst to a second user terminal in the timeslot on the carrier frequency associated with the selected hardware resource using a spatial channel.  
     
     
         18 . The base station of  claim 16 , wherein the selected hardware resource is uniquely associated with the communications channel.  
     
     
         19 . The base station of  claim 18 , wherein the communications channel hops carrier frequencies over time.  
     
     
         20 . The base station of  claim 14 , wherein the plurality of hardware resources comprises a plurality of distributed and independent digital signal processors (DSPs).  
     
     
         21 . The base station of  claim 14 , wherein the plurality of hardware resources comprises a plurality of portions of a processor, each portion assigned to process signals on one conventional channel.  
     
     
         22 . The base station of  claim 14 , further comprising a memory coupled to the central processor to store a paging identifier (PID) uniquely associated with the user terminal.  
     
     
         23 . The base station of  claim 22 , wherein the central processor selects the hopping sequence based of the PID.  
     
     
         24 . The base station of  claim 23 , wherein the central processor maps the PID to the hopping sequence hopping using mapping function.  
     
     
         25 . The base station of  claim 14  wherein if the hopping sequence collides with a second hopping sequence used for paging a second user terminal in an initial period of time, then the hopping sequence does not collide with the second hopping sequence in a subsequent period of time.  
     
     
         26 . The base station of  claim 25 , wherein the subsequent period of time is the next consecutive period of time with a sufficient statistical probability.  
     
     
         27 . The base station of  claim 14 , wherein the hopping sequence indicates each hardware resource from the plurality of hardware resources evenly over time.  
     
     
         28 . The base station of  claim 14 , wherein the page comprises a prompt to the user terminal to request access to the base station.  
     
     
         29 . A communications system comprising: 
 a plurality of conventional communications channels;    a plurality of spatial channels, at least one spatial channel occupying each communications channel;    a logical paging channel, wherein if the logical paging channel uses a spatial channel occupying a first conventional channel during a first time period, then the logical paging channel uses a spatial channel occupying a second conventional channel during a second time period.    
     
     
         30 . The communications system of  claim 29 , wherein each time period comprises a TDMA frame comprising a plurality of timeslots.  
     
     
         31 . The communications system of  claim 30 , wherein the conventional channel comprises an FDMA radio frequency carrier and a timeslot on the TDMA frame.  
     
     
         32 . The communications system of  claim 31 , wherein the conventional channel hops radio frequency carriers between each TDMA frame.  
     
     
         33 . The communications system of  claim 29 , wherein the conventional channel comprises a CDMA code.  
     
     
         34 . The communications system of  claim 29 , wherein the second conventional channel is indicated by a hopping sequence comprising a sequence of conventional channels over periods of time.  
     
     
         35 . A machine-readable medium containing data representing instructions, which when executed by a base station processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: 
 selecting a hardware resource from a plurality of distributed and independent hardware resources based on a hopping sequence that indicates a sequence of hardware resources over periods of time; and    transmitting a page to a user terminal using the selected hardware resource.    
     
     
         36 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 35 , wherein the page is transmitted via a radio frequency (RF) resource associated with the selected hardware resource.  
     
     
         37 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 36 , wherein a period of time comprises a frame divided into timeslots, and the RF resource comprises one timeslot of the frame on a carrier frequency, the timeslot and the carrier frequency comprising a communications channel.  
     
     
         38 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 37 , wherein the selected hardware resource is uniquely associated with the communications channel.  
     
     
         39 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 35 , wherein the plurality of hardware resources comprises a plurality of distributed and independent base station digital signal processors (DSPs).  
     
     
         40 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 34 , wherein the user terminal is associated with a unique paging identifier (PID), and the hopping sequence is a function of the PID.  
     
     
         41 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 34 , wherein if the hopping sequence collides with a second hopping sequence used for paging a second user terminal in an initial period of time, then the hopping sequence does not collide with the second hopping sequence in a subsequent period of time.  
     
     
         42 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the subsequent period of time is the next consecutive period of time with a sufficient statistical probability.  
     
     
         43 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 35 , wherein the hopping sequence indicates each hardware resource from the plurality of hardware resources evenly over time.