1. A method of adapting a broadcast service in a cellular radio communication network, said method comprising:
receiving in a base station, indications of channel quality from users who are registered with the network and are receiving the broadcast service;
adapting broadcast transmission parameters by the base station to improve channel quality for the users when at least one of the received indications of channel quality indicates that channel quality needs to be improved;
adapting broadcast transmission parameters by the base station to decrease channel quality for the users when none of the received indications of channel quality indicates that channel quality needs to be improved;
determining whether there is a non-broadcast user being served by the base station; and
steering a null in the base station’s antenna beam pattern in the direction of the non-broadcast user during broadcast transmissions.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving indications of channel quality includes receiving in the base station, power control commands from the users, wherein each power control command indicates that an associated user requires the base station to increase or decrease transmit power for the broadcast service.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of adapting broadcast transmission parameters to improve channel quality includes increasing broadcast transmit power by the base station, and the step of adapting broadcast transmission parameters to decrease channel quality includes decreasing broadcast transmit power by the base station.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of increasing broadcast transmit power by the base station includes the steps of:
determining whether increasing the transmit power would exceed an upper threshold limit for broadcast transmit power;
when increasing the transmit power would not exceed the upper threshold limit, increasing broadcast transmit power; and
when increasing the transmit power would exceed the upper threshold limit, leaving the broadcast transmit power at a current level and increasing by the base station, a level of forward error correction (FEC) encoding for the broadcast service.
5. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of increasing broadcast transmit power by the base station includes the steps of:
determining whether increasing the transmit power would exceed an upper threshold limit for broadcast transmit power;
when increasing the transmit power would not exceed the upper threshold limit, increasing broadcast transmit power; and
when increasing the transmit power would exceed the upper threshold limit, leaving the broadcast transmit power at a current level and decreasing by the base station, a transmitted data rate for the broadcast service.
6. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of increasing broadcast transmit power by the base station includes the steps of:
determining whether increasing the transmit power would exceed an upper threshold limit for broadcast transmit power;
when increasing the transmit power would not exceed the upper threshold limit, increasing broadcast transmit power; and
when increasing the transmit power would exceed the upper threshold limit, leaving the broadcast transmit power at a current level and allowing broadcast channel quality to degrade for any users needing more broadcast transmit power.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving indications of channel quality includes receiving in the base station, error reports from the users.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of adapting broadcast transmission parameters to improve channel quality includes increasing by the base station, a level of forward error correction (FEC) encoding for the broadcast service, and the step of adapting broadcast transmission parameters to decrease channel quality includes decreasing by the base station, the level of FEC encoding for the broadcast service.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of adapting broadcast transmission parameters to improve channel quality includes decreasing by the base station, a transmitted data rate for the broadcast service, and the step of adapting broadcast transmission parameters to decrease channel quality includes increasing by the base station, the transmitted data rate for the broadcast service.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, before the step of receiving indications of channel quality, the steps of:
determining whether at least one user of a particular broadcast service is operating within a given service area of the base station; and
when no users of the particular broadcast service are operating within the given service area of the base station, decreasing transmit power by the base station to zero for the given service area.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising, before the step of receiving indications of channel quality, the steps of:
determining whether at least one user of a particular broadcast service is operating within a given service area of the base station; and
when no users of the particular broadcast service are operating within the given service area of the base station, de-allocating channel resources for the given service area.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising, before the steering step, the step of determining whether the non-broadcast user has a service requirement that requires a low interference level, wherein the steering step is performed only when the non-broadcast user has a service requirement that requires a low interference level.
13. A system in a base station for adapting a broadcast service in a cellular radio communication network, said system comprising:
means for receiving and analyzing indications of channel quality from users who are registered with the network and are receiving the broadcast service;
means for adapting broadcast transmission parameters to improve channel quality for the users when at least one of the received indications of channel quality indicates that channel quality needs to be improved;
means for adapting broadcast transmission parameters to decrease channel quality for the users when none of the received indications of channel quality indicates that channel quality needs to be improved;
means for determining whether there is a non-broadcast user being served by the base station; and
means for steering a null in the base station’s antenna beam pattern in the direction of the non-broadcast user during broadcast transmissions.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the means for adapting broadcast transmission parameters to improve channel quality includes utilizing at least one technique selected from a group consisting of:
increasing broadcast transmit power;
allocating channel resources;
increasing a level of forward error correction (FEC) encoding for the broadcast service; and
decreasing a transmission data rate for the broadcast service.
15. The system of claim 13, wherein the means for adapting broadcast transmission parameters to decrease channel quality includes utilizing at least one technique selected from a group consisting of:
decreasing broadcast transmit power;
de-allocating channel resources;
decreasing a level of forward error correction (FEC) encoding for the broadcast service; and
increasing a transmission data rate for the broadcast service.
16. A system in a cellular radio communication network for adapting a broadcast service, said system comprising:
a plurality of base stations serving users who are registered with the network and are receiving the broadcast service, each of the base stations including:
means for receiving and analyzing indications of channel quality from the users receiving the broadcast service;
means for adapting broadcast transmission parameters to improve channel quality for the users when at least one of the received indications of channel quality indicates that channel quality needs to be improved; and
means for adapting broadcast transmission parameters to decrease channel quality for the users when none of the received indications of channel quality indicates that channel quality needs to be improved;
means for determining whether there is a non-broadcast user being served by the base station; and
means for steering a null in the base station’s antenna beam pattern in the direction of the non-broadcast user during broadcast transmissions; and
a controlling network node for controlling the plurality of base stations, the controlling network node including means for coordinating the adaptation of broadcast transmission parameters among the plurality of base stations to minimize network resources utilized for the broadcast service.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the controlling network node is a base station controller.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An airlift pump design wherein the airlift pump remains totally submerged, comprising of multiple concentric sections of opened-ended pipe mounted vertically with the pipe section-diameters increasing from the bottom to the upper most section and the distance between the end of one pipe section and the beginning of the next is less than one meter.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the pipe’s cross sectional shape can be comprised of circular, rectangular or a polygon or other shape variation.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the radial increase between two adjoining pipe sections is less than one meter.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the volume of water in which it is used can be comprised of a river, natural pond, lake, dam or any engineered containment of water.
5. The method in claim 1, wherein the entrance of the pipe sections may include a flared portion to minimize hydraulic entrance losses and drag.
6. The method in claim 1, wherein the pipe sections may including an upward expanding taper in the pipe sections of less than two degrees to minimize the acceleration of water induced by the expansion of rising bubbles.
7. The method in claim 1, wherein the upper most section of the upper most pipe is flared to minimize exit turbulence.
8. The method in claim 7, wherein the flare may extend up to 2 meters radially in a horizontal or predominately horizontal direction to smooth the radial flow of water onto the surface.
9. The method in claim 7, wherein a flared \u201cV\u201d shaped object is inserted down the center line of the upper most pipe section to maximize laminar flow and minimize turbulence as the upward flow of water transitions to a radially dispersed horizontal flow on the water’s surface.
10. A method of increasing the aerobic activity of a body of water using one or more air lift pumps described by the preceding claims.