Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving multimedia broadcast multicast services via a dedicated downlink carrier

Abstract

A method for receiving multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS) data and unicast data is disclosed. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) having a receiver switchable between reception on a MBMS carrier and a unicast carrier is provided. At least (K+υ) MBMS encoded packets per superframe are received via the MBMS carrier, where K is the number of packets to be recovered in a superframe and value υ is a positive integer. The received at least (K+υ) MBMS encoded packets per superframe are decoded to recover the K MBMS data packets.

1 . A method for receiving multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS) data and unicast data comprising:
 providing a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) having a receiver switchable between reception on a MBMS carrier and a unicast carrier;   receiving at least (K+υ) MBMS encoded packets per superframe via the MBMS carrier, where K is the number of packets to be recovered in a superframe and value υ is a positive integer determined based upon at least one of:
 a listening opportunity ratio, 
 a listening opportunity window, 
 a signal strength, 
 a channel quality indicator of anticipated reception quality in dedicated MBMS without interruptions, 
 an MBMS reception success rate, 
 an MBMS reception failure rate, 
 a success coherence, or 
 a frame number of erroneous frames; and 
   decoding the received at least (K+υ) MBMS encoded packets per superframe to recover the K MBMS data packets.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising switching from reception on the unicast carrier to reception on the MBMS carrier when no data is being received by the WTRU via the unicast carrier. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising switching from reception on the unicast carrier to reception on the MBMS carrier autonomously such that data transmitted via the unicast carrier may be lost. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising generating a hybrid automatic repeat request for retransmission of the lost data transmitted via the unicast carrier. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the decoding is performed with respect to encoded MBMS data packets that are encoded using rateless coding. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the decoding is performed with respect to encoded MBMS data packets that are encoded using low density parity check (LDPC) coding. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising receiving on the unicast carrier a discontinuous reception (DRX) pattern for unicast carrier transmission and switching to the MBMS carrier during discontinuous reception periods to receive at least (K+υ) MBMS encoded packets per superframe. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 notifying a Node-B that the WTRU has failed to receive encoded MBMS data packets on the MBMS carrier; and 
 receiving the MBMS data packets via the unicast carrier. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving on the unicast carrier at least one of a paging indicator channel (PICH), a paging channel (PCH), or a broadcast channel (BCH); and 
 
       thereafter switching to receive on the MBMS carrier.