Multicast/broadcast single frequency network control information transmission

Abstract

A method for providing control information for a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) in network access equipment is provided. The method includes separating a multicast control channel of an MBMS transmission into a first portion and a second portion, placing in the first portion information related to the second portion, and placing in the second portion information related to receiving a multicast traffic channel portion of the MBMS transmission.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for providing control information for a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) in network access equipment, comprising:
 separating a multicast control channel (MCCH) of an MBMS transmission into a first portion and a second portion;   placing in the first portion information related to the second portion, wherein information in the first portion comprises modulation and coding information of the second portion; and   placing in the second portion information related to receiving a multicast traffic channel (MTCH) portion of the MBMS transmission,   wherein the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission is at least one of:   scheduling information for at least one MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission; or   modulation and coding information for at least one MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission.   
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information in the first portion related to the second portion includes one of:
 information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission; and   a pointer to a location of the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission.   
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the information in the first portion includes the pointer to the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission when the MBMS is one of a plurality of MBMSs being transmitted in a particular single frequency network. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the information in the first portion includes a plurality of pointers to a plurality of sets of information in the second portion, each of the plurality of sets of information related to one of the plurality of MBMSs. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission further comprises a blocked cell list. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information in the first portion directly includes the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission when the MBMS is the only MBMS being transmitted in a particular single frequency network. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information in the first portion further comprises at least one of:
 service advertisement information for the MBMS; and   session start information for the MBMS.   
     
     
       8. A user equipment, comprising:
 one or more processors configured to promote receiving a multicast control channel (MCCH) of a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) transmission, the MCCH comprising a first portion and a second portion, the first portion including information related to the second portion, wherein information in the first portion comprises modulation and coding information of the second portion, and the second portion including information related to receiving a multicast traffic channel (MTCH) portion of the MBMS transmission, wherein the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission is at least one of:
 scheduling information for at least one MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission; or 
 modulation and coding information for at least one MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission. 
   
     
     
       9. The user equipment of  claim 8 , wherein the information in the first portion related to the second portion further comprises at least one of:
 service advertisement information for the MBMS; and   session start information for the MBMS.   
     
     
       10. The user equipment of  claim 8 , wherein the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission further comprises a blocked cell list. 
     
     
       11. The user equipment of  claim 8 , wherein the information in the first portion directly includes the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission when the MBMS is the only MBMS being transmitted in a particular single frequency network in which the MBMS is being transmitted. 
     
     
       12. The user equipment of  claim 8 , wherein the information in the first portion includes a pointer to the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission when the MBMS is one of a plurality of MBMSs being transmitted in a particular single frequency network. 
     
     
       13. The user equipment of  claim 12 , wherein the information in the first portion includes a plurality of pointers to a plurality of sets of information in the second portion, each of the plurality of sets of information related to one of the plurality of MBMSs. 
     
     
       14. A network access equipment in a wireless telecommunications network for transmitting a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), comprising:
 one or more processors configured to promote transmission of a multicast control channel (MCCH) associated with a transmission of the MBMS, the MCCH comprising a first portion and a second portion, the first portion including information related to retrieving information in the second portion, wherein information in the first portion comprises modulation and coding information of the second portion, and the second portion including information related to receiving a multicast traffic channel (MTCH) portion of the MBMS transmission, wherein the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission is at least one of:
 scheduling information for at least one MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission; or 
 modulation and coding information for at least one MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission. 
   
     
     
       15. The network access equipment of  claim 14 , wherein the information in the first portion directly includes the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission when the MBMS is the only MBMS being transmitted in a particular single frequency network. 
     
     
       16. The network access equipment of  claim 14 , wherein the information in the first portion includes a pointer to the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission when the MBMS is one of a plurality of MBMSs being transmitted in a particular single frequency network. 
     
     
       17. The network access equipment of  claim 16 , wherein the information in the first portion includes a plurality of pointers to a plurality of sets of information in the second portion, each of the plurality of sets of information related to one of the plurality of MBMSs. 
     
     
       18. The network access equipment of  claim 14 , wherein the information in the first portion further comprises at least one of:
 service advertisement information for the MBMS; and   session start information for the MBMS.   
     
     
       19. The network access equipment of  claim 14 , wherein the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission further comprises a blocked cell list. 
     
     
       20. The network access equipment of  claim 14 , wherein the network access equipment is an enhanced node B. 
     
     
       21. A method for providing control information for a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) in network access equipment, comprising:
 separating a multicast control channel (MCCH) of an MBMS transmission into a first portion and a second portion;   placing in the first portion information related to the second portion, wherein information in the first portion comprises modulation and coding information of the second portion, wherein the modulation and coding information is selected from the group consisting of binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM); and   placing in the second portion information related to receiving a multicast traffic channel (MTCH) portion of the MBMS transmission.   
     
     
       22. A user equipment, comprising:
 one or more processors configured to promote receiving a multicast control channel (MCCH) of a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) transmission, the MCCH comprising a first portion and a second portion, the first portion including information related to the second portion, wherein information in the first portion comprises modulation and coding information of the second portion, wherein the modulation and coding information is selected from the group consisting of binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and the second portion including information related to receiving a multicast traffic channel (MTCH) portion of the MBMS transmission.   
     
     
       23. A network access equipment in a wireless telecommunications network for transmitting a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), comprising:
 one or more processors configured to promote transmission of a multicast control channel (MCCH) associated with a transmission of the MBMS, the MCCH comprising a first portion and a second portion, the first portion including information related to retrieving information in the second portion, wherein information in the first portion comprises modulation and coding information of the second portion, wherein the modulation and coding information is selected from the group consisting of binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and the second portion including information related to receiving a multicast traffic channel (MTCH) portion of the MBMS transmission.   
     
     
       24. A method for providing control information for a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) in a network access equipment, comprising:
 separating, by the network access equipment, multicast control information of an MBMS transmission into a first portion and a second portion;   placing, by the network access equipment, in the first portion information related to the second portion, wherein the information in the first portion comprises:
 modulation and coding information of the second portion; and 
 a pointer to a location of information related to receiving a multicast traffic channel (MTCH) portion of the MBMS transmission; 
   placing, by the network access equipment, in the second portion the information related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission,   wherein the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission comprises modulation and coding information for the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission; and   transmitting, by the network access equipment, the first portion and the second portion of the multicast control information to a user equipment (UE).    
     
     
       25. The method of claim 24, wherein the information in the first portion includes the pointer to the information related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission when the MBMS is one of a plurality of MBMSs being transmitted in a particular single frequency network.  
     
     
       26. The method of claim 24, wherein the information in the first portion refers to scheduling information for a plurality of MTCH portions of respective different MBMSs, the method comprising:
 transmitting, by the network access equipment, the plurality of MTCH portions.    
     
     
       27. The method of claim 24, wherein the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission further comprises a blocked cell list.  
     
     
       28. The method of claim 24, comprising:
 transmitting, by the network access equipment, a broadcast control channel (BCCH) that points to or contains the first portion.    
     
     
       29. The method of claim 24, wherein the modulation and coding information in the first portion is selected from the group consisting of binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) information, quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) information, and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) information.  
     
     
       30. A user equipment, comprising:
 one or more processors; and   a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable on the one or more processors to:
 receive multicast control information of a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) transmission, the multicast control information comprising a first portion and a second portion, the first portion including information related to the second portion, wherein the information in the first portion comprises:
 modulation and coding information of the second portion, and 
 a pointer to a location of information related to receiving a multicast traffic channel (MTCH) portion of the MBMS transmission, and 
 
 the second portion including the information related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission, wherein the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission comprises a blocked cell list and at least one of:
 scheduling information for at least one MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission; or 
 modulation and coding information for at least one MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission, and 
 
 use the pointer and the modulation and coding information in the first portion to retrieve the information in the second portion, and use the information in the second portion to receive the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission.  
   
     
     
       31. The user equipment of claim 30, wherein the information in the first portion related to the second portion further comprises at least one of:
 service advertisement information for the MBMS; or   session start information for the MBMS.    
     
     
       32. The user equipment of claim 30, wherein the instructions are executable on the one or more processors to:
 receive a broadcast control channel (BCCH) that points to or contains the first portion.    
     
     
       33. The user equipment of claim 30, wherein the modulation and coding information in the first portion is selected from the group consisting of binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) information, quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) information, and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) information.  
     
     
       34. The user equipment of claim 30, wherein the information in the first portion includes the pointer when the MBMS is one of a plurality of MBMSs being transmitted in a particular single frequency network.  
     
     
       35. The user equipment of claim 34, wherein the information in the first portion includes a plurality of pointers to a plurality of sets of information in the second portion, each of the plurality of sets of information related to one of the plurality of MBMSs.  
     
     
       36. A network access equipment in a wireless telecommunications network for transmitting a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), comprising:
 one or more processors; and   a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable on the one or more processors to:
 provide multicast control information associated with a transmission of the MBMS, the multicast control information comprising a first portion and a second portion, the first portion including:
 information related to retrieving information in the second portion, and 
 a pointer to a location of information related to receiving a multicast traffic channel (MTCH) portion of the MBMS transmission, 
 
 wherein the information in the first portion comprises modulation and coding information of the second portion, and the second portion including the information related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission, wherein the information in the second portion related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission comprises a blocked cell list and at least one of:
 scheduling information for at least one MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission; or 
 modulation and coding information for at least one MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission; and 
 
 cause transmission of the first portion and the second portion of the multicast control information to a user equipment (UE).  
   
     
     
       37. The network access equipment of claim 36, wherein the information in the first portion includes the pointer to the information related to receiving the MTCH portion of the MBMS transmission when the MBMS is one of a plurality of MBMSs being transmitted in a particular single frequency network.  
     
     
       38. The network access equipment of claim 37, wherein the information in the first portion includes a plurality of pointers to a plurality of sets of information in the second portion, each of the plurality of sets of information related to one of the plurality of MBMSs.  
     
     
       39. The network access equipment of claim 36, wherein the information in the first portion further comprises at least one of:
 service advertisement information for the MBMS; or   session start information for the MBMS.    
     
     
       40. The network access equipment of claim 36, wherein the instructions are executable on the one or more processors to:
 transmit a broadcast control channel (BCCH) that points to or contains the first portion.