U.S. patent application number 13/223770 was filed with the patent office on 2012-03-08 for method and apparatus for hybrid automatic repeat request in a wireless communication system.
Invention is credited to Richard Lee-Chee Kuo.
Application Number | 20120057539 13/223770 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44674085 |
Filed Date | 2012-03-08 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120057539 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kuo; Richard Lee-Chee |
March 8, 2012 |
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HYBRID AUTOMATIC REPEAT REQUEST IN A
WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
Abstract
A method and apparatus for handling Hybrid Automatic Repeat
reQuest (HARQ) retransmission in a User Equipment (UE) includes
being configured with at least one Secondary Cell (SCell), sending
an UpLink (UL) transmission corresponding to an uplink grant, and
setting a HARQ FEEDBACK variable corresponding to the UL
transmission to Acknowledgement (ACK) if a HARQ feedback reception
corresponding to the UL transmission is prohibited due to RF
retuning.
Inventors: |
Kuo; Richard Lee-Chee;
(Taipei, TW) |
Family ID: |
44674085 |
Appl. No.: |
13/223770 |
Filed: |
September 1, 2011 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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61380331 |
Sep 7, 2010 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
370/329 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 24/10 20130101;
H04W 36/0094 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
370/329 |
International
Class: |
H04W 72/04 20090101
H04W072/04 |
Claims
1. A method for handling Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ)
retransmission in a User Equipment (UE) comprising: being
configured with at least one Secondary Cell (SCell); sending an
UpLink (UL) transmission corresponding to an uplink grant; and
setting a HARQ FEEDBACK variable corresponding to the UL
transmission to Acknowledgement (ACK) if a HARQ feedback reception
corresponding to the UL transmission is prohibited due to RF
retuning.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink grant is carried by a
physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) received from an eNB.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the HARQ FEEDBACK variable is
initialized with Negative Acknowledgement (NACK).
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the RF retuning occurs at SCell
activation/deactivation transitions.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the RF retuning occurs at
measurements on a deactivated SCell.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein a non-adaptive retransmission
corresponding to the UL transmission is not generated in the UE if
the HARQ FEEDBACK variable corresponding to the UL transmission is
set to ACK.
7. A User Equipment (UE) for use in a wireless communication
system, the UE comprising: a control circuit; a processor installed
in the control circuit; and a memory installed in the control
circuit and coupled to the processor; wherein the processor is
configured to execute a program code stored in memory to handle a
Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) retransmission by: being
configured with at least one Secondary Cell (SCell); sending an
UpLink (UL) transmission corresponding to an uplink grant; and
setting a HARQ FEEDBACK variable corresponding to the UL
transmission to Acknowledgement (ACK) if a HARQ feedback reception
corresponding to the UL transmission is prohibited due to RF
retuning.
8. The device of claim 7, wherein the uplink grant is carried by a
physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) received from an eNB.
9. The device of claim 7, wherein the HARQ FEEDBACK variable is
initialized with Negative Acknowledgement (NACK).
10. The device of claim 7, wherein the RF retuning occurs at SCell
activation/deactivation transitions.
11. The device of claim 7, wherein the RF retuning occurs at
measurements on a deactivated SCell.
12. The device of claim 7, wherein a non-adaptive retransmission
corresponding to the UL transmission is not generated in the UE if
the HARQ FEEDBACK variable corresponding to the UL transmission is
set to ACK.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present Application claims the benefit of U.S.
Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/380,331, filed on Sep.
7, 2010, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by
reference.
FIELD
[0002] This disclosure generally relates to wireless communication
networks, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for
Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) in a wireless communication
system.
BACKGROUND
[0003] With the rapid rise in demand for communication of large
amounts of data to and from mobile communication devices,
traditional mobile voice communication networks are evolving into
networks that communicate with Internet Protocol (IP) data packets.
Such IP data packet communication can provide users of mobile
communication devices with voice over IP, multimedia, multicast and
on-demand communication services.
[0004] An exemplary network structure for which standardization is
currently taking place is an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio
Access Network (E-UTRAN). The E-UTRAN system can provide high data
throughput in order to realize the above-noted voice over IP and
multimedia services. The E-UTRAN system's standardization work is
currently being performed by the 3GPP standards organization.
Accordingly, changes to the current body of 3GPP standard are
currently being submitted and considered to evolve and finalize the
3GPP standard.
SUMMARY
[0005] According to an aspect of the disclosure, a method for
handling HARQ retransmission in a User Equipment (UE) includes
being configured with at least one Secondary Cell (SCell), sending
an UpLink (UL) transmission corresponding to an uplink grant, and
setting a HARQ FEEDBACK variable corresponding to the UL
transmission to Acknowledgement (ACK) if a HARQ feedback reception
corresponding to the UL transmission is prohibited due to RF
retuning.
[0006] According to another aspect of the disclosure, a UE for use
in a wireless communication system includes a control circuit, a
processor installed in the control circuit, and a memory installed
in the control circuit and coupled to the processor. The processor
is configured to execute a program code stored in memory to handle
a HARQ retransmission by being configured with at least one SCell,
sending an UpLink (UL) transmission corresponding to an uplink
grant, and setting a HARQ FEEDBACK variable corresponding to the UL
transmission to Acknowledgement (ACK) if a HARQ feedback reception
corresponding to the UL transmission is prohibited due to RF
retuning.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a wireless communication system
according to one exemplary embodiment.
[0008] FIG. 2 shows a user plane protocol stack of the wireless
communication system of FIG. 1 according to one exemplary
embodiment.
[0009] FIG. 3 shows a control plane protocol stack of the wireless
communication system of FIG. 1 according to one exemplary
embodiment.
[0010] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a transmitter system (also
known as access network) and a receiver system (also known as UE)
according to one exemplary embodiment.
[0011] FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of a UE according to
one exemplary embodiment.
[0012] FIG. 6 shows a method for handling HARQ retransmission
according to an exemplary embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] The exemplary wireless communication systems and devices
described below employ a wireless communication system, supporting
a broadcast service. Wireless communication systems are widely
deployed to provide various types of communication such as voice,
data, and so on. These systems may be based on code division
multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA),
orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), 3GPP LTE
(Long Term Evolution) wireless access, 3GPP LTE-A (Long Term
Evolution Advanced), 3GPP2 UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), WiMax, or
some other modulation techniques.
[0014] In particular, The exemplary wireless communication systems
devices described below may be designed to support one or more
standards such as the standard offered by a consortium named "3rd
Generation Partnership Project" referred to herein as 3GPP,
including Document Nos. R2-104181 and R2-105220. The documents
listed above are hereby expressly incorporated herein.
[0015] An exemplary network structure of an Evolved Universal
Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) 100 as a mobile
communication system is shown in FIG. 1 according to one exemplary
embodiment. The E-UTRAN system can also be referred to as a LTE
(Long-Term Evolution) system or LTE-A (Long-Term Evolution
Advanced). The E-UTRAN generally includes eNode B or eNB 102, which
function similar to a base station in a mobile voice communication
network. Each eNB is connected by X2 interfaces. The eNBs are
connected to terminals or user equipment (UE) 104 through a radio
interface, and are connected to Mobility Management Entities (MME)
or Serving Gateway (S-GW) 106 through S1 interfaces.
[0016] Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the LTE system is divided into
control plane 108 protocol stack (shown in FIG. 3) and user plane
110 protocol stack (shown in FIG. 2) according to one exemplary
embodiment. The control plane performs a function of exchanging a
control signal between a UE and an eNB and the user plane performs
a function of transmitting user data between the UE and the eNB.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, both the control plane and the user
plane include a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a
Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer
and a physical (PHY) layer. The control plane additionally includes
a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer. The control plane also
includes a Network Access Stratum (NAS) layer, which performs among
other things including Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer
management, authentication, and security control.
[0017] The PHY layer provides information transmission service
using a radio transmission technology and corresponds to a first
layer of an open system interconnection (OSI) layer. The PHY layer
is connected to the MAC layer through a transport channel. Data
exchange between the MAC layer and the PHY layer is performed
through the transport channel. The transport channel is defined by
a scheme through which specific data are processed in the PHY
layer.
[0018] The MAC layer performs the function of sending data
transmitted from a RLC layer through a logical channel to the PHY
layer through a proper transport channel and further performs the
function of sending data transmitted from the PHY layer through a
transport channel to the RLC layer through a proper logical
channel. Further, the MAC layer inserts additional information into
data received through the logical channel, analyzes the inserted
additional information from data received through the transport
channel to perform a proper operation and controls a random access
operation.
[0019] The MAC layer and the RLC layer are connected to each other
through a logical channel. The RLC layer controls the setting and
release of a logical channel and may operate in one of an
acknowledged mode (AM) operation mode, an unacknowledged mode (UM)
operation mode and a transparent mode (TM) operation mode.
Generally, the RLC layer divides Service Data Unit (SDU) sent from
an upper layer at a proper size and vice versa. Further, the RLC
layer takes charge of an error correction function through an
automatic retransmission request (ARQ).
[0020] The PDCP layer is disposed above the RLC layer and performs
a header compression function of data transmitted in an IP packet
form and a function of transmitting data without loss even when an
eNB providing a service changes due to the movement of a UE.
[0021] The RRC layer is only defined in the control plane. The RRC
layer controls logical channels, transport channels and physical
channels in relation to establishment, re-configuration and release
of Radio Bearers (RBs). Here, the RB signifies a service provided
by the second layer of an OSI layer for data transmissions between
the terminal and the E-UTRAN. If an RRC connection is established
between the RRC layer of a UE and the RRC layer of the radio
network, the UE is in the RRC connected mode. Otherwise, the UE is
in an RRC idle mode.
[0022] FIG. 4 is a simplified block diagram of an exemplary
embodiment of a transmitter system 210 (also known as the access
network) and a receiver system 250 (also known as access terminal
or UE in a MIMO system 200. At the transmitter system 210, traffic
data for a number of data streams is provided from a data source
212 to a transmit (TX) data processor 214.
[0023] In one embodiment, each data stream is transmitted over a
respective transmit antenna. TX data processor 214 formats, codes,
and interleaves the traffic data for each data stream based on a
particular coding scheme selected for that data stream to provide
coded data.
[0024] The coded data for each data stream may be multiplexed with
pilot data using OFDM techniques. The pilot data is typically a
known data pattern that is processed in a known manner and may be
used at the receiver system to estimate the channel response. The
multiplexed pilot and coded data for each data stream is then
modulated (i.e., symbol mapped) based on a particular modulation
scheme (e.g., BPSK, QPSK, M-PSK, or M-QAM) selected for that data
stream to provide modulation symbols. The data rate, coding, and
modulation for each data stream may be determined by instructions
performed by processor 230.
[0025] The modulation symbols for all data streams are then
provided to a TX MIMO processor 220, which may further process the
modulation symbols (e.g., for OFDM). TX MIMO processor 220 then
provides N.sub.T modulation symbol streams to N.sub.T transmitters
(TMTR) 222a through 222t. In certain embodiments, TX MIMO processor
220 applies beam forming weights to the symbols of the data streams
and to the antenna from which the symbol is being transmitted.
[0026] Each transmitter 222 receives and processes a respective
symbol stream to provide one or more analog signals, and further
conditions (e.g., amplifies, filters, and upconverts) the analog
signals to provide a modulated signal suitable for transmission
over the MIMO channel. N.sub.T modulated signals from transmitters
222a through 222t are then transmitted from N.sub.T antennas 224a
through 224t, respectively.
[0027] At receiver system 250, the transmitted modulated signals
are received by N.sub.R antennas 252a through 252r and the received
signal from each antenna 252 is provided to a respective receiver
(RCVR) 254a through 254r. Each receiver 254 conditions (e.g.,
filters, amplifies, and downconverts) a respective received signal,
digitizes the conditioned signal to provide samples, and further
processes the samples to provide a corresponding "received" symbol
stream.
[0028] An RX data processor 260 then receives and processes the
N.sub.R received symbol streams from N.sub.R receivers 254 based on
a particular receiver processing technique to provide N.sub.T
"detected" symbol streams. The RX data processor 260 then
demodulates, deinterleaves, and decodes each detected symbol stream
to recover the traffic data for the data stream. The processing by
RX data processor 260 is complementary to that performed by TX MIMO
processor 220 and TX data processor 214 at transmitter system
210.
[0029] A processor 270 periodically determines which pre-coding
matrix to use (discussed below). Processor 270 formulates a reverse
link message comprising a matrix index portion and a rank value
portion.
[0030] The reverse link message may comprise various types of
information regarding the communication link and/or the received
data stream. The reverse link message is then processed by a TX
data processor 238, which also receives traffic data for a number
of data streams from a data source 236, modulated by a modulator
280, conditioned by transmitters 254a through 254r, and transmitted
back to transmitter system 210.
[0031] At transmitter system 210, the modulated signals from
receiver system 250 are received by antennas 224, conditioned by
receivers 222, demodulated by a demodulator 240, and processed by a
RX data processor 242 to extract the reserve link message
transmitted by the receiver system 250. Processor 230 then
determines which pre-coding matrix to use for determining the
beamforming weights then processes the extracted message.
[0032] Turning to FIG. 5, this figure shows an alternative
simplified functional block diagram of a communication device
according to one exemplary embodiment. The communication device 300
in a wireless communication system can be utilized for realizing
the UE 104 in FIG. 1, and the wireless communications system is
preferably the LTE system, the LTE-A system or the like. The
communication device 300 may include an input device 302, an output
device 304, a control circuit 306, a central processing unit (CPU)
308, a memory 310, a program code 312, and a transceiver 314. The
program code 312 includes the application layers and the layers of
the control plane 108 and layers of user plane 110 as discussed
above except the PHY layer. The control circuit 306 executes the
program code 312 in the memory 310 through the CPU 308, thereby
controlling an operation of the communications device 300. The
communications device 300 can receive signals input by a user
through the input device 302, such as a keyboard or keypad, and can
output images and sounds through the output device 304, such as a
monitor or speakers. The transceiver 314 is used to receive and
transmit wireless signals, delivering received signals to the
control circuit 306, and outputting signals generated by the
control circuit 306 wirelessly.
[0033] Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) is a scheme for
re-transmitting a traffic data packet to compensate for an
incorrectly received traffic packet. A HARQ scheme is used both in
UL and DL. In UL transmissions, for example, for each UL packet
correctly received by an eNB a positive Acknowledgment (ACK) is
transmitted on a Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) from
the eNB to the UE. If a packet is not received correctly, an eNB
HARQ entity transmits a Negative Acknowledgement (NACK) on the
PHICH in order to request a non-adaptive retransmission of the
erroneously received packet. Alternatively, the eNB may transmit a
PDCCH carrying an adaptive grant to request an adaptive
retransmission from the UE. Thus, the UE performs uplink
retransmission according to the HARQ feedback and PDCCH received
from the eNB. For implementation, the UE uses a HARQ FEEDBACK
variable to store the HARQ feedback received from the eNB and this
variable is initialized with NACK.
[0034] The LTE DownLink (DL) transmission scheme is based on
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), and the LTE
UpLink (UL) transmission scheme is based on Single-Carrier (SC)
Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)-spread OFDMA (DFT-S-OFDMA) or
equivalently, Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access
(SC-FDMA). LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), however, is designed to meet
higher bandwidth requirements both in the DL and UL directions. In
order to provide the higher bandwidth requirements, LTE-A utilizes
component carrier aggregation. A user equipment (UE) with reception
and/or transmission capabilities for carrier aggregation (CA) can
simultaneously receive and/or transmit on multiple component
carriers (CCs). A carrier may be defined by a bandwidth and a
center frequency.
[0035] There are several physical control channels used in the
physical layer that are relevant to CA operations. A physical
downlink control channel (PDCCH) may inform the UE about the
resource allocation of paging channel (PCH) and downlink shared
channel (DL-SCH), about HARQ information related to DL-SCH. The
PDCCH may carry the uplink scheduling grant which informs the UE
about resource allocation of uplink transmission. A physical
control format indicator channel (PCFICH) informs the UE about the
number of OFDM symbols used for the PDCCHs and is transmitted in
every subframe. A physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH)
carries HARQ ACK/NAK signals in response to uplink transmissions. A
physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) carries uplink control
information such as HARQ ACK/NAK signals in response to downlink
transmission, scheduling request and channel quality indicator
(CQI). A physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) carries uplink
shared channel (UL-SCH).
[0036] In LTE, a Primary Cell includes the cell operating in the
primary frequency in which the UE either performs the initial
connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection
re-establishment procedure, or the cell indicated as the primary
cell in the handover procedure. The UE also uses the PCell to
derive the parameters for the security functions and for upper
layer system information such as NAS mobility information. A
Secondary Cell (SCell) includes the cell operating on a secondary
frequency which may be configured once an RRC connection is
established and which may be used to provide additional radio
resources. System information relevant for operation in the
concerned SCell is typically provided using dedicated signaling
when the SCell is added to the UE's configuration. Basically a
PCell contains an uplink PCC and a downlink PCC, while an SCell
configured to a UE may contain a downlink SCC or an uplink SCC
along with a downlink SCC.
[0037] At Scell activation/deactivation transitions or measurements
on a deactivated Scell, the corresponding Radio Frequency (RF)
front end needs to be retuned to adapt the RF bandwidth for the
concerned SCell. During RF retuning, all other SCells sharing the
same RF front end as the concerned SCell would not be able to
receive the HARQ feedback from eNB for an UL transmission because
HARQ feedback reception by the UE is prohibited during RF retuning.
If the UL transmission has been received successfully, there is no
need for the UE to do a retransmission. Otherwise, retransmission
is needed. Without reception of the HARQ feedback, it is difficult
for the UE to know whether or not the UL transmission has been
received successfully to take proper action.
[0038] According to the various embodiments, the UE just sets the
HARQ FEEDBACK variable corresponding to an UL transmission to ACK
during RF retuning. Accordingly, the eNB has to decide whether
retransmission is needed. For example, the eNB can request an
adaptive retransmission by a PDCCH signaling if the UL transmission
is not successful.
[0039] Referring to FIG. 6, a method 400 for handling HARQ
retransmission according to an exemplary embodiment is shown. The
method 400 includes a UE being configured with at least one SCell
via a RRC procedure by an eNB at 402. The UE receives a PDCCH with
an uplink grant at 404 and accordingly sends an uplink transmission
at 406. The HARQ feedback corresponding to the uplink transmission
occurs at 408 during a period of RF retuning in the UE. If the HARQ
feedback reception corresponding to an UL transmission is
prohibited due to RF retuning, the UE sets the HARQ FEEDBACK
variable corresponding to the UL transmission to ACK at 410. Then,
at 412 the eNB may transmit a PDCCH with an adaptive uplink grant
to the UE if the uplink transmission has not been received
correctly by the eNB. Accordingly, the UE sends an uplink
retransmission at 414. No adaptive uplink grant will be received by
the UE if the uplink transmission has been received correctly by
the eNB.
[0040] In one embodiment, the HARQ FEEDBACK variable is initialized
with NACK. A non-adaptive retransmission corresponding to an UL
transmission will be generated in the UE if the HARQ FEEDBACK
variable corresponding to the UL transmission is set to NACK and no
PDCCH with adaptive UL grant for the UL transmission is received.
As a result, if the eNB has received the uplink transmission
correctly and the corresponding HARQ feedback of ACK is not
received by the UE due to RF retuning, the UE may generate a
non-adaptive retransmission corresponding to the UL transmission
unnecessarily and it may cause interference to other UE's
transmission. In contrast, a non-adaptive retransmission
corresponding to the UL transmission will not be generated in the
UE if the HARQ FEEDBACK variable corresponding to an UL
transmission is set to ACK. Therefore, by the UE setting the HARQ
FEEDBACK variable to ACK during RF retuning, the UE is no longer
concerned with not receiving HARQ feedback and unnecessary UL
retransmission as well as potential interference to other UE's
transmission can be avoided.
[0041] In another embodiment, the corresponding RF front end is
retuned to adapt the RF bandwidth at Scell activation/deactivation
transitions or measurements on a deactivated Scell.
[0042] Referring to FIG. 5, which is a functional block diagram of
a UE according to one exemplary embodiment, the UE 300 includes a
program code 312 stored in memory 310. The CPU 308 executes the
program code 312 to handle HARQ retransmission by being configured
with at least one SCell, sending an UpLink (UL) transmission
corresponding to an uplink grant, and setting the HARQ FEEDBACK
variable corresponding to the UL transmission to ACK if the HARQ
feedback reception corresponding to the UL transmission is
prohibited due to RF retuning. The CPU 308 can also execute the
program code 312 to perform the additional steps of method 400 as
described herein.
[0043] Various aspects of the disclosure have been described above.
It should be apparent that the teachings herein may be embodied in
a wide variety of forms and that any specific structure, function,
or both being disclosed herein is merely representative. Based on
the teachings herein one skilled in the art should appreciate that
an aspect disclosed herein may be implemented independently of any
other aspects and that two or more of these aspects may be combined
in various ways. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a
method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth
herein. In addition, such an apparatus may be implemented or such a
method may be practiced using other structure, functionality, or
structure and functionality in addition to or other than one or
more of the aspects set forth herein. As an example of some of the
above concepts, in some aspects concurrent channels may be
established based on pulse repetition frequencies. In some aspects
concurrent channels may be established based on pulse position or
offsets. In some aspects concurrent channels may be established
based on time hopping sequences. In some aspects concurrent
channels may be established based on pulse repetition frequencies,
pulse positions or offsets, and time hopping sequences.
[0044] Those of skill in the art would understand that information
and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different
technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions,
commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may
be referenced throughout the above description may be represented
by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or
particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination
thereof.
[0045] Those of skill would further appreciate that the various
illustrative logical blocks, modules, processors, means, circuits,
and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects
disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware (e.g., a
digital implementation, an analog implementation, or a combination
of the two, which may be designed using source coding or some other
technique), various forms of program or design code incorporating
instructions (which may be referred to herein, for convenience, as
"software" or a "software module"), or combinations of both. To
clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and
software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules,
circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of
their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as
hardware or software depends upon the particular application and
design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans
may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each
particular application, but such implementation decisions should
not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the
present disclosure.
[0046] In addition, the various illustrative logical blocks,
modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects
disclosed herein may be implemented within or performed by an
integrated circuit ("IC"), an access terminal, or an access point.
The IC may comprise a general purpose processor, a digital signal
processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC),
a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic
device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware
components, electrical components, optical components, mechanical
components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the
functions described herein, and may execute codes or instructions
that reside within the IC, outside of the IC, or both. A general
purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative,
the processor may be any conventional processor, controller,
microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be
implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a
combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of
microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a
DSP core, or any other such configuration.
[0047] It is understood that any specific order or hierarchy of
steps in any disclosed process is an example of a sample approach.
Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific
order or hierarchy of steps in the processes may be rearranged
while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. The
accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in
a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific
order or hierarchy presented.
[0048] The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection
with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in
hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a
combination of the two. A software module (e.g., including
executable instructions and related data) and other data may reside
in a data memory such as RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory,
EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a hard disk, a removable
disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of computer-readable storage
medium known in the art. A sample storage medium may be coupled to
a machine such as, for example, a computer/processor (which may be
referred to herein, for convenience, as a "processor") such the
processor can read information (e.g., code) from and write
information to the storage medium. A sample storage medium may be
integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may
reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in user equipment. In the
alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as
discrete components in user equipment. Moreover, in some aspects
any suitable computer-program product may comprise a
computer-readable medium comprising codes relating to one or more
of the aspects of the disclosure. In some aspects a computer
program product may comprise packaging materials.
[0049] While the invention has been described in connection with
various aspects, it will be understood that the invention is
capable of further modifications. This application is intended to
cover any variations, uses or adaptation of the invention
following, in general, the principles of the invention, and
including such departures from the present disclosure as come
within the known and customary practice within the art to which the
invention pertains.
* * * * *