U.S. patent application number 15/409206 was filed with the patent office on 2017-05-04 for simultaneous reporting of ack/nack and channel-state information using pucch format 3 resources.
The applicant listed for this patent is Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ). Invention is credited to Robert Baldemair, Jung-Fu Cheng, Mattias Frenne, Daniel Larsson.
Application Number | 20170126387 15/409206 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 45809551 |
Filed Date | 2017-05-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170126387 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Baldemair; Robert ; et
al. |
May 4, 2017 |
Simultaneous Reporting of ACK/NACK and Channel-State Information
using PUCCH Format 3 Resources
Abstract
A new uplink control channel capability is introduced to enable
a mobile terminal to simultaneously report multiple packet receipt
status bits and channel-condition bits. In an example embodiment
implemented in a mobile terminal the mobile terminal (first
determines that channel-state information and hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK
bits corresponding to a plurality of downlink subframes or a
plurality of downlink carriers, or both, are scheduled for
transmission in an uplink subframe. The mobile terminal then
determines whether the number of the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits is
less than or equal to a threshold number. If so, the mobile
terminal transmits both the channel-state information and the
hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits in physical control channel resources of
the first uplink subframe, on a single carrier. In some
embodiments, the number of the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits considered
in the previously summarized technique represents a number of
ACK/NACK bits after ACK/NACK bundling.
Inventors: |
Baldemair; Robert; (Solna,
SE) ; Cheng; Jung-Fu; (Fremont, CA) ; Frenne;
Mattias; (Uppsala, SE) ; Larsson; Daniel;
(Stockholm, SE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ) |
Stockholm |
|
SE |
|
|
Family ID: |
45809551 |
Appl. No.: |
15/409206 |
Filed: |
January 18, 2017 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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14884289 |
Oct 15, 2015 |
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15409206 |
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14459880 |
Aug 14, 2014 |
9191162 |
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14884289 |
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13499773 |
Apr 2, 2012 |
8837410 |
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PCT/SE2012/050152 |
Feb 14, 2012 |
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14459880 |
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61542503 |
Oct 3, 2011 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 1/1671 20130101;
H04L 1/1861 20130101; H04W 72/0446 20130101; H04W 72/0406 20130101;
H04L 1/003 20130101; H04L 1/0026 20130101; H04W 72/0413 20130101;
H04L 5/0055 20130101; H04W 88/02 20130101; H04W 88/08 20130101;
H04L 1/1621 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 5/00 20060101
H04L005/00; H04W 72/04 20060101 H04W072/04; H04L 1/18 20060101
H04L001/18 |
Claims
1. A method in a mobile terminal for simultaneous reporting of
channel-state information and hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK information in
uplink subframes, the method comprising, at each of a plurality of
reporting instances: determining that first channel-state
information and first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits corresponding to a
plurality of downlink subframes or a plurality of downlink
carriers, or both, are scheduled for transmission in a first uplink
subframe; determining whether the number of the first hybrid-ARQ
ACK/NACK bits is less than or equal to a threshold number; and
transmitting both the first channel-state information and the first
hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits in physical control channel resources of
the first uplink subframe, on a single carrier, in the event that
the number of hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits to be transmitted in the
first uplink subframe is less than or equal to the threshold
number; and, otherwise, dropping the first channel state
information and transmitting the first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits in
physical control channel resources of the first uplink subframe, on
a single carrier, in the event that the number of hybrid-ARQ
ACK/NACK bits to be transmitted in the first uplink subframe is not
less than or equal to the threshold number.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of the first
hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits represents a number of ACK/NACK bits after
ACK/NACK bundling.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold number, for each
instance, depends on the number of first channel-state information
bits scheduled for transmission in the first uplink subframe.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold number is 10.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK
bits and the first channel-state information are transmitted using
a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) format 3 resource in a
Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wireless system.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, before transmitting
both the first channel-state information and the first hybrid-ARQ
ACK/NACK bits: encoding the first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits using a
first encoder and separately encoding the first channel-state
information bits using a second encoder; and interleaving the
encoded first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits and the encoded first
channel-state information bits.
7. A mobile terminal configured for simultaneous reporting of
channel-state information and hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK information in
uplink subframes, the mobile terminal comprising a receiver
circuit, a transmitter circuit, and a processing circuit, wherein
the processing circuit is adapted to, for each of a plurality of
reporting instances: determine that first channel-state information
and first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits corresponding to a plurality of
downlink subframes or a plurality of downlink carriers, or both,
are scheduled for transmission in a first uplink subframe;
determine whether the number of the first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits
is less than or equal to a threshold number; and transmit both the
first channel-state information and the first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK
bits in physical control channel resources of the first uplink
subframe, on a single carrier, in the event that the number of
hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits to be transmitted in the first uplink
subframe is less than or equal to the threshold number; and,
otherwise, drop the first channel state information and transmit
the first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits in physical control channel
resources of the first uplink subframe, on a single carrier, in the
event that the number of hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits to be transmitted
in the first uplink subframe is not less than or equal to the
threshold number.
8. The mobile terminal of claim 7, wherein the number of the first
hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits represents a number of ACK/NACK bits after
ACK/NACK bundling.
9. The mobile terminal of claim 7, wherein the threshold number is
10.
10. The mobile terminal of claim 7, wherein the processing circuit
is configured to send the first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits and the
first channel-state information using a Physical Uplink Control
Channel (PUCCH) format 3 resource in a Long-Term Evolution (LTE)
wireless system.
11. The mobile terminal of claim 7, wherein the processing circuit
is further configured to, before sending both the first
channel-state information and the first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits to
the base station: encode the first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits using a
first encoder and separately encoding the first channel-state
information bits using a second encoder: and interleave the encoded
first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits and the encoded first channel-state
information bits.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 14/884,289, filed 15 Oct. 2015, which is a
continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/459,880, filed
14 Aug. 2014 and issued on 17 Nov. 2015 as U.S. Pat. No. 9,191,162,
which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
13/499,773, filed 2 Apr. 2012 and issued on 16 Sep. 2014 as U.S.
Pat. No. 8,837,410, which was a national stage entry of
international patent application Ser. No. PCT/SE12/50152, filed 14
Feb. 2012, which claimed the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent
Application 61/542,503, filed 3 Oct. 2011. The entire contents of
each of the foregoing applications are incorporated herein by
reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present invention relates generally to carrier
aggregation in a mobile communication system and, more
particularly, to an efficient use of resources for the physical
uplink control channel in wireless systems using carrier
aggregation.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Carrier aggregation is one of the new features recently
developed by the members of the 3rd-Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP) for so-called Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, and is
standardized as part of LTE Release 10, which is also known as
LTE-Advanced. An earlier version of the LTE standards, LTE Release
8, supports bandwidths up to 20 MHz. In LTE-Advanced, bandwidths up
to 100 MHz are supported. The very high data rates contemplated for
LTE-Advanced will require an expansion of the transmission
bandwidth. In order to maintain backward compatibility with LTE
Release 8 mobile terminals, the available spectrum is divided into
Release 8-compatible chunks called component carriers. Carrier
aggregation enables bandwidth expansion beyond the limits of LTE
Release 8 systems by allowing mobile terminals to transmit data
over multiple component carriers, which together can cover up to
100 MHz of spectrum. Importantly, the carrier aggregation approach
ensures compatibility with earlier Release 8 mobile terminals,
while also ensuring efficient use of a wide carrier by making it
possible for legacy mobile terminals to be scheduled in all parts
of the wideband LTE-Advanced carrier.
[0004] The number of aggregated component carriers, as well as the
bandwidth of the individual component carrier, may be different for
uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) transmissions. A carrier
configuration is referred to as "symmetric" when the number of
component carriers in each of the downlink and the uplink are the
same. In an asymmetric configuration, on the other hand, the
numbers of component carriers differ between the downlink and
uplink. The number of component carriers configured for a
geographic cell area may be different from the number of component
carriers seen by a given mobile terminal. A mobile terminal, for
example, may support more downlink component carriers than uplink
component carriers, even though the same number of uplink and
downlink component carriers may be offered by the network in a
particular area.
[0005] LTE systems can operate in either Frequency-Division Duplex
(FDD) mode or Time-Division Duplex (TDD) mode. In FDD mode,
downlink and uplink transmissions take place in different,
sufficiently separated, frequency bands. In TDD mode, on the other
hand, downlink and uplink transmission take place in different,
non-overlapping time slots. Thus, TDD can operate in unpaired
spectrum, whereas FDD requires paired spectrum. TDD mode also
allows for different asymmetries in terms of the amount of
resources allocated for uplink and downlink transmission,
respectively, by means of different downlink/uplink configurations.
These differing configurations permit the shared frequency
resources to be allocated to downlink and uplink use in differing
proportions. Accordingly, uplink and downlink resources can be
allocated asymmetrically for a given TDD carrier.
[0006] One consideration for carrier aggregation is how to transmit
control signaling from the mobile terminal on the uplink to the
wireless network. Uplink control signaling may include
acknowledgement (ACK) and negative-acknowledgement (NACK) signaling
for hybrid automatic repeat request (Hybrid ARQ, or HARQ)
protocols, channel state information (CSI) and channel quality
information (CQI) reporting for downlink scheduling, and scheduling
requests (SRs) indicating that the mobile terminal needs uplink
resources for uplink data transmissions. In the carrier aggregation
context, one solution would be to transmit the uplink control
information on multiple uplink component carriers associated with
different downlink component carriers. However, this option is
likely to result in higher mobile terminal power consumption and a
dependency on specific mobile terminal capabilities. Accordingly,
improved techniques are needed for managing the transmission of
uplink control-channel information in systems that employ carrier
aggregation.
SUMMARY
[0007] Even with the several uplink control channel techniques and
formats already standardized by 3GPP, problems remain. For
instance, an LTE mobile terminal operating in TDD mode and
configured with ACK/NACK multiplexing cannot simultaneously report
multiple ACK/NACK bits and a periodic CSI report. If such a
collision happens, the conventional approach is to simply drop the
CSI report, and transmit only the ACK/NACK bits. This behavior is
independent of whether the multiple ACK/NACK bits stem from
multiple subframes or multiple aggregated cells.
[0008] Periodic CSI reports for multiple cells are handled in
Release 10 with time-shifted reporting times, to minimize
collisions among CSI reports. To maintain roughly the same CSI
periodicity per cell, it is obvious that periodic CSI reports are
transmitted more frequently than in Release 8 systems. In each
subframe without PUSCH transmission where periodic CSI and
multi-cell ACK/NACK collide, the periodic CSI are dropped. Since
CSI reports are required for link adaptation, reduced CSI feedback
degrades downlink performance. This is in particular a problem for
TDD, where only a minority of the available subframes may be uplink
subframes.
[0009] Thus, without changes to current 3GPP specifications,
collisions between ACK/NACK transmissions and CSI reports will
likely lead to dropped CSI reports. The novel techniques described
herein enable simultaneous transmission of multiple ACK/NACK bits
and CSI. With the use of these techniques, fewer CSI reports are
dropped, which improves link adaptation and increases throughput.
More particularly, in several embodiments of the present invention,
these problems are addressed by introducing a new uplink control
channel capability that enables a mobile terminal to simultaneously
report to the radio network multiple packet receipt status bits,
(e.g., ACK/NACK bits) and channel-condition bits (e.g., CSI
reports). In some embodiments, this uplink control channel
capability also supports sending uplink scheduling requests from
the UE in addition to transmitting multiple packet receipt status
bits and channel-condition bits. In several embodiments, if the
mobile terminal does not have any channel-condition bits to report
in a given subframe, it may transmit ACK/NACK bits using an uplink
control channel transmission mode that does not allow such
simultaneous transmission.
[0010] In an example embodiment implemented in a mobile terminal,
the mobile terminal first determines that channel-state information
and hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits corresponding to a plurality of
downlink subframes or a plurality of downlink carriers, or both,
are scheduled for transmission in an uplink subframe. The mobile
terminal then determines whether the number of the hybrid-ARQ
ACK/NACK bits is less than or equal to a threshold number. If so,
the mobile terminal transmits both the channel-state information
and the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits in physical control channel
resources of the uplink subframe, on a single carrier. In some
embodiments, the number of the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits considered
in the previously summarized technique represents a number of
ACK/NACK bits after ACK/NACK bundling. In some embodiments, the
threshold number depends on the number of channel-state information
bits scheduled for transmission in the uplink subframe.
[0011] In a variant of these techniques, the mobile terminal
determines, for a different uplink subframe, that second
channel-state information and second hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits
corresponding to a plurality of downlink subframes or a plurality
of downlink carriers, or both, are scheduled for transmission. The
mobile terminal again determines whether the number of the second
hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits is less than or equal to the threshold
number. In this case, the answer is no, so the mobile terminal
drops the second channel-state information and transmits the second
hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits in physical control channel resources of
the second uplink subframe, on a single carrier, in response to
determining that the number of hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits to be
transmitted in the second uplink subframe is not less than or equal
to the threshold number.
[0012] In another variant, the mobile terminal determines, for a
different uplink subframe, that second channel-state information
and a second hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits corresponding to a plurality
of downlink subframes or a plurality of downlink carriers, or both,
are scheduled for transmission in a second uplink subframe. The
mobile terminal again determines whether the number of the second
hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits is less than or equal to the threshold
number. If not, the mobile terminal bundles the second hybrid-ARQ
ACK/NACK bits to produce a number of bundled ACK/NACK bits that is
less than or equal to the threshold number, in response to
determining that the number of hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits to be
transmitted in the second uplink subframe is not less than or equal
to the threshold number, and transmits both the second
channel-state information and the bundled ACK/NACK bits in physical
control channel resources of the second uplink subframe, on a
single carrier.
[0013] As discussed more fully below, the present techniques may be
implemented in a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wireless system, in
which case the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits and the channel-state
information are transmitted using a Physical Uplink Control Channel
(PUCCH) Format 3 resource. In some embodiments, the mobile terminal
encodes the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits using a first encoder and
separately encodes the channel-state information bits using a
second encoder, and interleaves the encoded hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK
bits and the encoded channel-state information bits before
transmission.
[0014] Complementary techniques for receiving and processing
information transmitted according to the techniques described above
are also disclosed in detail below. In addition, mobile terminal
apparatus and base station apparatus adapted to carry out any of
these techniques are disclosed. Of course, the present invention is
not limited to the above-summarized features and advantages.
Indeed, those skilled in the art will recognize additional features
and advantages upon reading the following detailed description, and
upon viewing the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a mobile communication
system.
[0016] FIG. 2 illustrates a grid of time-frequency resources for a
mobile communication system that uses OFDM.
[0017] FIG. 3 illustrates the time-domain structure of an LTE
signal.
[0018] FIG. 4 illustrates the positioning of PUCCH resources in an
uplink subframe according to Release 8 standards for LTE.
[0019] FIG. 5 illustrates the encoding and modulation of
channel-status information according to PUCCH Format 2.
[0020] FIG. 6 illustrates several carriers aggregated to form an
aggregated bandwidth of 100 MHz.
[0021] FIGS. 7, 8, and 9 illustrate the coding of multiple ACK/NACK
bits using channel selection.
[0022] FIG. 10 illustrates the encoding and modulation of multiple
ACK/NACK bits according to PUCCH Format 3.
[0023] FIGS. 11, 12, 13 are process flow diagrams illustrating
example methods for simultaneous reporting of channel-state
information and hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK information.
[0024] FIG. 14 is a process flow diagram illustrating an example
method for receiving and decoding simultaneously reported
channel-state information and hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits.
[0025] FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating components of an
example communications node according to some embodiments of the
invention.
[0026] FIG. 16 illustrates functional components of an example
mobile terminal.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0027] Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates an
exemplary mobile communication network 10 for providing wireless
communication services to mobile terminals 100. Three mobile
terminals 100, which are referred to as "user equipment" or "UE" in
LTE terminology, are shown in FIG. 1. The mobile terminals 100 may
comprise, for example, cellular telephones, personal digital
assistants, smart phones, laptop computers, handheld computers, or
other devices with wireless communication capabilities. The mobile
communication network 10 comprises a plurality of geographic cell
areas or sectors 12. Each geographic cell area or sector 12 is
served by a base station 20, which is referred to in LTE as a NodeB
or Evolved NodeB (eNodeB). One base station 20 may provide service
in multiple geographic cell areas or sectors 12. The mobile
terminals 100 receive signals from base station 20 on one or more
downlink (DL) channels, and transmit signals to the base station 20
on one or more uplink (UL) channels.
[0028] For illustrative purposes, several embodiments of the
present invention will be described in the context of a Long-Term
Evolution (LTE) system. Those skilled in the art will appreciate,
however, that several embodiments of the present invention may be
more generally applicable to other wireless communication systems,
including, for example, WiMax (IEEE 802.16) systems.
[0029] LTE uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
in the downlink and Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)-spread OFDM in
the uplink. The basic LTE downlink physical resource can be viewed
as a time-frequency grid. FIG. 2 illustrates a portion of the
available spectrum of an exemplary OFDM time-frequency grid 50 for
LTE. Generally speaking, the time-frequency grid 50 is divided into
one millisecond subframes. Each subframe includes a number of OFDM
symbols. For a normal cyclic prefix (CP) length, suitable for use
in situations where multipath dispersion is not expected to be
extremely severe, a subframe consists of fourteen OFDM symbols. A
subframe has only twelve OFDM symbols if an extended cyclic prefix
is used. In the frequency domain, the physical resources are
divided into adjacent subcarriers with a spacing of 15 kHz. The
number of subcarriers varies according to the allocated system
bandwidth. The smallest element of the time-frequency grid 50 is a
resource element. A resource element consists of one OFDM
subcarrier during one OFDM symbol interval.
[0030] Resource elements are grouped into resource blocks, where
each resource block in turn consists of twelve OFDM subcarriers,
within one of two equal-length slots of a subframe. FIG. 2
illustrates a resource block pair, comprising a total of 168
resource elements.
[0031] Downlink transmissions are dynamically scheduled, in that in
each subframe the base station transmits control information
identifying the mobile terminals to which data is transmitted and
the resource blocks in which that data is transmitted, for the
current downlink subframe. This control signaling is typically
transmitted in a control region, which occupies the first one, two,
three, or four OFDM symbols in each subframe. A downlink system
with a control region of three OFDM symbols is illustrated in FIG.
2. The dynamic scheduling information is communicated to the UEs
("user equipment," 3GPP terminology for a mobile station) via a
Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmitted in the
control region. After successful decoding of a PDCCH, the UE
performs reception of traffic data from the Physical Downlink
Shared Channel (PDSCH) or transmission of traffic data on the
Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), according to pre-determined
timing specified in the LTE specifications.
[0032] As shown in FIG. 3, LTE downlink transmissions are further
organized into radio frames of 10 milliseconds, in the time domain,
each radio frame consisting of ten subframes. Each subframe can
further be divided into two slots of 0.5 milliseconds duration.
Furthermore, resource allocations in LTE are often described in
terms of resource blocks, where a resource block corresponds to one
slot (0.5 ms) in the time domain and twelve contiguous subcarriers
in the frequency domain. Resource blocks are numbered in the
frequency domain, starting with 0 from one end of the system
bandwidth.
[0033] For error control, LTE uses hybrid-ARQ (HARQ), where, after
receiving downlink data in a subframe, the mobile terminal attempts
to decode it and reports to the base station whether the decoding
was successful (ACK) or not (NACK) via a Physical Uplink Control
Channel (PUCCH). In the event of an unsuccessful decoding attempt,
the base station (evolved NodeB, or eNodeB, in 3GPP terminology)
can retransmit the erroneous data. Similarly, the base station can
indicate to the UE whether the decoding of the PUSCH was successful
(ACK) or not (NACK) via the Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator CHannel
(PHICH).
[0034] In addition to the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK information
transmitted from the mobile terminal to the base station, uplink
control signaling from the mobile terminal to the base station also
includes reports related to the downlink channel conditions,
referred to generally as channel-state information (CSI) or
channel-quality information (CQI). This CSI/CQI is used by the base
station to assist in downlink resource scheduling decisions.
Because LTE systems rely on dynamic scheduling of both downlink and
uplink resources, uplink control-channel information also includes
scheduling requests, which the mobile terminal sends to indicate
that it needs uplink traffic-channel resources for uplink data
transmissions.
[0035] When a UE has data to transmit on PUSCH, it multiplexes the
uplink control information with data on PUSCH. Thus, a UE only uses
PUCCH for signaling this uplink control information when it does
not have any data to transmit on PUSCH. Accordingly, if the mobile
terminal has not been assigned an uplink resource for data
transmission, Layer 1/Layer 2 (L1/L2) control information,
including channel-status reports, hybrid-ARQ acknowledgments, and
scheduling requests, is transmitted in uplink resources (resource
blocks) specifically assigned for uplink L1/L2 control on the
Physical Uplink Control CHannel (PUCCH), which was first defined in
Release 8 of the 3GPP specifications (LTE Rel-8).
[0036] As illustrated in FIG. 4, these resources are located at the
edges of the uplink cell bandwidth that is available to the mobile
terminal for use. Each physical control channel resource is made up
of a pair of resource blocks, where each resource block in turn
consists of twelve OFDM subcarriers, within one of the two slots of
the uplink subframe. In order to provide frequency diversity, the
physical control channel resources are frequency hopped on the slot
boundary--thus, the first resource block of the pair is at the
lower part of the spectrum within the first slot of the subframe
while the second resource block of the pair is positioned at the
upper part of the spectrum during the second slot of the subframe
(or vice-versa). If more resources are needed for the uplink L1/L2
control signaling, such as in case of very large overall
transmission bandwidth supporting a large number of users,
additional resource blocks can be assigned, adjacent to the
previously assigned resource blocks.
[0037] The reasons for locating the PUCCH resources at the edges of
the overall available spectrum are two-fold. First, together with
the frequency hopping described above, this maximizes the frequency
diversity experienced by the control signaling, which can be
encoded so that it is spread across both resource blocks. Second,
assigning uplink resources for the PUCCH at other positions within
the spectrum, i.e., not at the edges, would fragment the uplink
spectrum, making it difficult to assign very wide transmission
bandwidths to a single mobile terminal while still retaining the
single-carrier property of the uplink transmission.
[0038] When a UE has ACK/NACK to send in response to a downlink
PDSCH transmission, it determines which PUCCH resource to use from
the PDCCH transmission that assigned the PDSCH resources to the UE.
More specifically, an index to the PUCCH resource for the UE is
derived from the number of the first control channel element used
to transmit the downlink resource assignment. When a UE has a
scheduling request or CQI to send, it uses a specific PUCCH
resource that has been pre-configured for the UE by higher layer
signaling.
[0039] Depending on the different types of information that PUCCH
is to carry, several different PUCCH formats may be used. The
data-carrying capacity of a pair of resource blocks during one
subframe is more than is generally needed for the short-term
control signaling needs of one mobile terminal. Therefore, to
efficiently exploit the resources set aside for control signaling,
multiple mobile terminals can share the same physical control
channel resource. This is done by assigning each of several mobile
terminals different orthogonal phase-rotations of a cell-specific,
length-12, frequency-domain sequence and/or different orthogonal
time-domain cover codes. By applying these frequency-domain
rotations and/or time-domain covering codes to the encoded control
channel data, as many as 36 mobile terminals can share a given
physical control channel resource in some circumstances.
[0040] Several different encoding formats have been developed by
3GPP to encode different quantities and types of uplink control
channel data, within the constraints of a single physical control
channel resource. These several formats, known generally as PUCCH
Format 1, PUCCH Format 2, and PUCCH Format 3, are described in
detail at pages 226-242 of the text "4G LTE/LTE-Advanced for Mobile
Broadband," by Erik Dahlman, Stefan Parkvall, and Johan Skold
(Academic Press, Oxford UK, 2011), and are summarized briefly
below.
[0041] PUCCH formats 1, 1a, and 1b, which are used to transmit
scheduling requests and/or ACK/NACK, are based on cyclic shifts of
a Zadoff-Chu sequence. A modulated data symbol is multiplied with
the cyclically Zadoff-Chu shifted sequence. The cyclic shift varies
from one symbol to another and from one slot to the next. Although
twelve different shifts are available, higher-layer signaling may
configure UEs in a given cell to use fewer than all of the shifts,
to maintain orthogonality between PUCCH transmissions in cells that
exhibit high frequency selectivity. After the modulated data symbol
is multiplied with the Zadoff-Chu sequence, the result is spread
using an orthogonal spreading sequence. PUCCH formats 1, 1a, and 1b
carry three reference symbols per slot (when normal cyclic prefix
is used), at SC-FDMA symbol numbers 2, 3, and 4.
[0042] PUCCH Formats 1a and 1b refer to PUCCH transmissions that
carry either one or two hybrid-ARQ acknowledgements, respectively.
A PUCCH Format 1 transmission (carrying only a SR) is transmitted
on a UE-specific physical control channel resource (defined by a
particular time-frequency resource, a cyclic-shift, and an
orthogonal spreading code) that has been pre-configured by RRC
signaling. Likewise, PUCCH Format 1a or 1b transmissions carrying
only hybrid-ARQ acknowledgements are transmitted on a different
UE-specific physical control channel resource. PUCCH Format 1a or
1b transmissions that are intended to carry both ACK/NACK
information and a scheduling request are transmitted on the
assigned SR resource for positive SR transmission, and are encoded
with the ACK/NACK information.
[0043] PUCCH Format 1/1a/1b transmissions carry only one or two
bits of information (plus scheduling requests, depending on the
physical control channel resource used for the transmission).
Because channel-state information reports require more than two
bits of data per subframe, PUCCH Format 2/2a/2b is used for these
transmissions. As illustrated in FIG. 5, in PUCCH formats 2, 2a,
and 2b, the channel-status reports are first block-coded, and then
the block-coded bits for transmission are scrambled and QPSK
modulated. (FIG. 5 illustrates coding for a subframe using a normal
cyclic prefix, with seven symbols per slot. Slots using extended
cyclic prefix have only one reference-signal symbol per slot,
instead of two.) The resulting ten QPSK symbols are then multiplied
with a cyclically shifted Zadoff-Chu type sequence, a length-12
phase-rotated sequence, where again the cyclic shift varies between
symbols and slots. Five of the symbols are processed and
transmitted in the first slot, i.e., the slot appearing on the
left-hand side of FIG. 5, while the remaining five symbols are
transmitted in the second slot. PUCCH formats 2, 2a, and 2b carry
two reference symbols per slot, located on SC-FDMA symbol numbers 1
and 5.
[0044] For UEs operating in accordance with LTE Release 8 or LTE
Release 9 (i.e., without carrier aggregation), it is possible to
configure the UE in a mode where it reports ACK/NACK bits and CSI
bits simultaneously. If the UE is using normal cyclic prefix, one
or two ACK/NACK bits are modulated onto a QPSK symbol on the second
reference signal (RS) resource element in each slot of the PUCCH
format 2. If one ACK/NACK bit is modulated on the second RS in each
slot, the PUCCH format used by the UE is referred to as PUCCH
Format 2a. If two ACK/NACK bits are modulated on the second RS in
each slot the PUCCH format used by the UE is referred to as PUCCH
Format 2b. If the UE is configured with extended cyclic prefix, one
or two ACK/NACK bits are jointly coded with channel-state
information (CSI) feedback and transmitted together within PUCCH
format 2.
[0045] As with PUCCH Format 1 transmissions, a pair of resource
blocks allocated to PUCCH can carry multiple PUCCH Format 2
transmissions from several UEs, with the separate transmissions
separated by the cyclic shifting. As with PUCCH Format 1, each
unique PUCCH Format 2 resource can be represented by an index from
which the phase rotation and other quantities necessary are
derived. The PUCCH format 2 resources are semi-statically
configured. It should be noted that a pair of resource blocks can
either be configured to support a mix of PUCCH formats 2/2a/2b and
1/1a/1b, or to support formats 2/2a/2b exclusively.
[0046] 3GPP's Release 10 of the LTE standards (LTE Release 10) has
been published and provides support for bandwidths larger than 20
MHz, through the use of carrier aggregation. One important
requirement placed on the development of LTE Release 10
specifications was to assure backwards compatibility with LTE
Release 8. The need for spectrum compatibility dictated that an LTE
Release 10 carrier that is wider than 20 MHz should appear as a
number of distinct, smaller bandwidth. LTE carriers to an LTE
Release 8 mobile terminal. Each of these distinct carriers can be
referred to as a component carrier.
[0047] For early LTE Release 10 system deployments in particular,
it can be expected that there will be a relatively small number of
LTE Release 10-capable mobile terminals, compared to many "legacy"
mobile terminals that conform to earlier releases of the LTE
specifications. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure the efficient
use of wide carriers for legacy mobile terminals as well as Release
10 mobile terminals, i.e., that it is possible to implement
carriers where legacy mobile terminals can be scheduled in all
parts of the wideband LTE Release 10 carrier.
[0048] One straightforward way to obtain this is by means of a
technique called carrier aggregation. With carrier aggregation, an
LTE Release 10 mobile terminal can receive multiple component
carriers, where each component carrier has (or at least may have)
the same structure as a Release 8 carrier. The basic concept of
carrier aggregation is illustrated in FIG. 6, which illustrates the
aggregation of five 20-MHz component carriers to yield an
aggregated bandwidth of 100 MHz.
[0049] The number of aggregated component carriers as well as the
bandwidth for each individual component carrier may be different
for uplink and downlink. In a symmetric configuration, the number
of component carriers in downlink and uplink is the same, whereas
the numbers of uplink and downlink carriers differ in an asymmetric
configuration.
[0050] During initial access, an LTE Release 10 mobile terminal
behaves similarly to an LTE Release 8 mobile terminal, requesting
and obtaining access to a single carrier for the uplink and
downlink. Upon successful connection to the network a mobile
terminal may--depending on its own capabilities and the network--be
configured with additional component carriers in the uplink (UL)
and downlink (DL).
[0051] Even if a mobile terminal is configured with additional
component carriers, it need not necessarily monitor all of them,
all of the time. This is because LTE Release 10 supports activation
of component carriers, as distinct from configuration. The mobile
terminal monitors for PDCCH and PDSCH only component carriers that
are both configured and activated. Since activation is based on
Medium Access Control (MAC) control elements--which are faster than
RRC signaling--the activation/de-activation process can dynamically
follow the number of component carriers that is required to fulfill
the current data rate needs. All but one component carrier--the
downlink Primary component carrier (DL PCC)--can be deactivated at
any given time.
[0052] Scheduling of a component carrier is done using the PDCCH or
ePDCCH (extended PDCCH), via downlink assignments. Control
information on the PDCCH or ePDCCH is formatted as a Downlink
Control Information (DCI) message. In Release 8, where a mobile
terminal only operates with one downlink and one uplink component
carrier, the association between downlink assignment, uplink
grants, and the corresponding downlink and uplink component
carriers is very clear. In Release 10, however, two modes of
carrier aggregation need to be distinguished. The first mode is
very similar to the operation of multiple Release 8 mobile
terminals, in that a downlink assignment or uplink grant contained
in a DCI message transmitted on a component carrier applies either
to the downlink component carrier itself or to a uniquely
associated uplink component carrier. (This association may be
either via cell-specific or UE-specific linking.) A second mode of
operation augments a DCI message with a Carrier Indicator Field
(CIF). A DCI containing a downlink assignment with CIF applies to
the specific downlink component carrier indicated by the CIF, while
a DCI containing an uplink grant with CIF applies to the indicated
uplink component carrier.
[0053] DCI messages for downlink assignments contain, among other
things, resource block assignment, modulation and coding scheme
related parameters, and HARQ redundancy version indicators. In
addition to those parameters that relate to the actual downlink
transmission, most DCI formats for downlink assignments also
contain a bit field for Transmit Power Control (TPC) commands.
These TPC commands are used to control the uplink power control
behavior of the corresponding PUCCH that is used to transmit the
HARQ feedback.
[0054] Transmission of PUCCH in a carrier aggregation scenario
(called "CA PUCCH" hereinafter) creates several issues. In
particular, multiple hybrid-ARQ acknowledgement bits need to be fed
back in the event of simultaneous transmission on multiple
component carriers. Furthermore, from the perspective of the UE,
both symmetric and asymmetric uplink/downlink component carrier
configurations are supported. For some configurations, one may
consider the possibility to transmit uplink control information on
multiple PUCCH, or on multiple uplink component carriers. However,
this option is likely to result in higher UE power consumption and
a dependency on specific UE capabilities. It may also create
implementation issues due to inter-modulation products, and would
lead to generally higher complexity for implementation and
testing.
[0055] Therefore, the transmission of PUCCH should have limited
dependency on the uplink/downlink component carrier configuration.
Thus, all uplink control information for a UE is transmitted on a
single uplink component carrier, according to the 3GPP Release 10
specifications. A semi-statically configured and UE-specific uplink
primary component carrier, which is frequently referred to as the
"anchor carrier," is exclusively used for PUCCH.
[0056] UEs operating in accordance with LTE Release 8 or LTE
Release 9 (i.e., without carrier aggregation) are configured with
only a single downlink component carrier and uplink component
carrier. The time-frequency resource location of the first Control
Channel Element (CCE) used to transmit PDCCH for a particular
downlink assignment determines the dynamic ACK/NACK resource for
Release 8 PUCCH. No PUCCH collisions can occur, since all PDCCH for
a given subframe are transmitted using a different first CCE.
[0057] In a cell-asymmetric carrier aggregation scenario (or
perhaps also for other reasons), multiple downlink component
carriers may be cell-specifically linked to the same uplink
component carrier. Mobile terminals configured with the same uplink
component carrier but with different downlink component carriers
(with any of the downlink component carrier that are
cell-specifically linked with the uplink component carrier) share
the same uplink PCC but may have different aggregations of
secondary component carriers, in either the uplink or downlink. In
this case, mobile terminals receiving their downlink assignments
from different downlink component carriers will transmit their HARQ
feedback on the same uplink component carrier. It is up to the
scheduling process at the base station (in LTE, the evolved Node B,
or eNB) to ensure that no PUCCH collisions occur.
[0058] When a mobile terminal is configured with multiple downlink
component carriers it makes sense to use the Release 8 approach
when possible. Each PDCCH transmitted on the downlink primary
component carrier has, according to Release 8 specifications, a
PUCCH resource reserved on the uplink primary component carrier.
Thus, when a mobile terminal is configured with multiple downlink
component carriers but receives a downlink assignment for only the
downlink primary component carrier, it should still use the PUCCH
resource on the uplink primary component carrier as specified in
Release 8.
[0059] An alternative would be to specify the use of a "carrier
aggregation PUCCH," or "CA PUCCH," which enables feedback of HARQ
bits corresponding to the number of configured component carriers,
for use whenever the mobile terminal is configured with multiple
downlink carriers, regardless of whether a particular assignment is
only for the downlink primary component carrier. Since
configuration is a rather slow process and a mobile terminal may be
configured with multiple component carriers often--even though only
the downlink primary component carrier is active and used--this
would lead to a very inefficient usage of carrier aggregation PUCCH
resources.
[0060] Upon reception of downlink assignments on a single secondary
component carrier or upon reception of multiple downlink
assignments, a special carrier aggregation PUCCH should be used.
While in the latter case it is obvious to use CA PUCCH--since only
CA PUCCH supports feedback of HARQ bits of multiple component
carriers--it is less clear that CA PUCCH should also be used in the
first case. First, a downlink secondary component carrier
assignment alone is not typical. The eNodeB scheduler should strive
to schedule a single downlink component carrier assignment on the
downlink primary component carrier and try to de-activate secondary
component carriers if only a single downlink carrier is needed.
Another issue is that the PDCCH for a downlink secondary component
carrier assignment is transmitted on the secondary component
carrier (assuming CIF is not configured) and, hence there is no
automatically reserved Rel-8 PUCCH resource on the uplink primary
component carrier. Using the Rel-8 PUCCH even for stand-alone
downlink secondary component carrier assignments would require
reserving Rel-8 resources on the uplink primary component carrier
for any downlink component carrier that is configured for any
mobile terminal that uses this uplink primary component carrier.
Since stand-alone secondary component carrier assignments are
atypical, this would lead to an unnecessary over-provisioning of
Rel-8 PUCCH resources on uplink primary component carrier.
[0061] It should be noted that a possible error case that may occur
with CA PUCCH arises when the eNodeB schedules a mobile terminal on
multiple downlink component carriers, including the primary
component carrier. If the mobile terminal misses all but the
downlink primary component carrier assignment, it will use Rel-8
PUCCH instead of CA PUCCH. To detect this error case the eNodeB has
to monitor both the Rel-8 PUCCH and the CA PUCCH in the event that
assignments for multiple downlink component carriers have been
sent.
[0062] The number of HARQ feedback bits that a mobile terminal has
to provide depends on the number of downlink assignments actually
received by the mobile terminal. In a first case, the mobile
terminal could adopt a particular CA PUCCH format according to the
number of received assignments and provide feedback accordingly.
However, one or more PDCCHs carrying downlink assignments can get
lost. Adopting a CA PUCCH format according to the number of
received downlink assignments is therefore ambiguous, and would
require the testing of many different hypotheses at the eNodeB.
[0063] Alternatively, the PUCCH format could be set by the carrier
activation message. A working group in 3GPP has decided that
activation and de-activation of component carriers is done with
Medium Access Control (MAC) layer control element and that
per-component-carrier activation and de-activation is supported.
MAC signaling, and especially the HARQ feedback signaling
indicating whether the activation command has been received
successfully, is error prone. Furthermore, this approach requires
testing of multiple hypotheses at the eNodeB.
[0064] Accordingly, basing the CA PUCCH format on the number of
configured component carrier seems therefore the safest choice.
Configuration of component carrier is based on Radio Resource
Control (RRC) signaling. After successful reception and application
of a new configuration, a confirmation message is sent back, making
RRC signaling very safe.
[0065] As noted earlier, feedback of ARQ ACK/NACK information for
two or more component carriers may require the transmission of more
than two bits, which is the most that can be handled by PUCCH
Format 1. Accordingly, PUCCH for carrier aggregation scenarios
requires additional techniques or formats. Two approaches were
specified in LTE Release 10 specifications. First, PUCCH Format 1
may be used in combination with a technique called resource
selection or channel selection. However, this is not an efficient
solution for more than four bits. Accordingly, another format,
PUCCH Format 3, has been developed to enable the possibility of
transmitting more than four ACK/NACK bits in an efficient way.
[0066] The first of these two approaches is often simply called
channel selection. The basic principle behind this approach is that
the UE is assigned a set of up to four different PUCCH format 1a/1b
resources. The UE then selects one of the resources according to
the ACK/NACK sequence the UE should transmit. Thus, the selection
of a particular one of the resources serves to communicate up to
two bits of information. On one of the assigned resources the UE
then transmits a QPSK or BPSK symbol value, encoding the remaining
one or two bits of information. The eNodeB detects which resource
the UE uses as well as the QPSK or BPSK value transmitted on the
used resource and combines this information to decode a HARQ
response for downlink cells associated with the transmitting
UE.
[0067] The use of channel selection to code ACK (A), NACK (N) and
DTX (D) for multiple component carriers is shown in FIG. 7, FIG. 8,
and FIG. 9, which apply to LTE FDD systems. A similar type of
mapping, but including a bundling approach, is done for TDD in the
event that the UE is configured with channel selection.
[0068] In FIG. 7, two ACK/NACK messages are transmitted and two
PUCCH resources are configured. In each resource, a BPSK modulated
symbol can be transmitted, as shown in the figure, hence in total
one out of four different signals can be transmitted. If PUCCH
resource 1 is selected, then one of the BPSK constellation points
indicates an ACK for primary cell codeword 0 (indicated as PCell
CW0 in the figures) and a NACK for secondary cell codeword 0 (Scell
CW0), or ACK and DTX respectively. This is shown as A/N and A/D in
FIG. 7. The other constellation point in this PUCCH resource 1
indicates NACK and NACK (or NACK and DTX) for the primary cell and
secondary cell respectively. Thus, a BPSK symbol transmitted in
PUCCH resource 1 indicates either ACK/NACK or ACK/DTX for the
primary cell and secondary cell, respectively, for a first value of
the BPSK symbol, and NACK/NACK or NACK/DTX for the primary cell and
secondary cell, respectively, for the other value of the BPSK
symbol. If PUCCH resource 2 is selected for transmission, on the
other hand, then the first value of the BPSK symbol indicate A/A
(ACK/ACK) for the primary and secondary cells, respectively, while
the second value indicates N/A (NACK/ACK) or D/A (DTX/ACK) for the
primary and secondary cells.
[0069] For example, if the mobile terminal wants to report an ACK
for the primary and a NACK for the secondary cell, then PUCCH
resource 1 is selected and the BPSK constellation point
corresponding to A/N is transmitted. Note that since this
constellation point also indicates A/D, there is no difference from
the eNB perspective whether the mobile terminal reports a NACK or
DTX for the transmission on the secondary cell. In FIGS. 8 and 9,
this principle is extended to 3 and 4 ACK/NACK bits, respectively.
Thus, three PUCCH resources are configured to send 3 ACK/NACK bits,
as shown in FIG. 8, while four PUCCH resources are configured to
send 4 ACK/NACK bits, as shown in FIG. 9. QPSK modulation is used
in both cases; thus a symbol transmitted in a given one of the 3 or
four PUCCH resources can indicate one of up to four different
combinations of ACK/NACK bits.
[0070] A second approach, which is more efficient when more than
four bits of information need to be transmitted, is called PUCCH
Format 3 and is based on Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)-spread
OFDM. FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of that design, for a single
slot. The same processing is applied to the second slot of the
uplink frame. The multiple ACK/NACK bits are encoded, using a
forward-error correction (FEC) code, to form 48 coded bits. The
coded bits are then scrambled, using cell-specific (and possibly
DFT-spread OFDM symbol dependent) sequences. 24 bits are
transmitted within the first slot and the other 24 bits are
transmitted within the second slot. The 24 bits per slot are then
mapped into 12 QPSK symbols, as indicated by the blocks labeled
"QPSK mapping" in FIG. 10, which appear in five of the OFDM symbols
of the slot (symbols 0, 2, 3, 4, and 6). The sequence of symbols in
each of these five symbols in the slot is spread with
OFDM-symbol-specific orthogonal cover codes, indicated by OC0, OC1,
OC2, OC3, and OC4 in FIG. 10, and cyclically shifted, prior to
DFT-precoding. The DFT-precoded symbols are converted to OFDM
symbols (using an Inverse Fast-Fourier Transform, or IFFT) and
transmitted within one resource block (the bandwidth resource) and
five DFT-spread OFDM symbols (the time resource). The spreading
sequence or orthogonal cover code (OC) is UE-specific and enables
multiplexing of up to five users within the same resource
blocks.
[0071] For the reference signals (RS), cyclic-shifted
constant-amplitude zero-autocorrelation (CAZAC) sequences can be
used. For example, the computer optimized sequences in 3GPP TS
36.211, "Physical Channels and Modulation," can be used.
[0072] Even with the several PUCCH formats already standardized by
3GPP, problems remain. For instance, an LTE mobile terminal
operating in TDD mode and configured with ACK/NACK multiplexing
cannot simultaneously report multiple ACK/NACK bits and a periodic
CSI report. If such a collision happens, the conventional approach
is to simply drop the CSI report, and transmit only the ACK/NACK
bits. This behavior is independent of whether the multiple ACK/NACK
bits stem from multiple subframes or multiple aggregated cells.
[0073] Periodic CSI reports for multiple cells are handled in
Release 10 with time-shifted reporting times, to minimize
collisions among CSI reports. To maintain roughly the same CSI
periodicity per cell, it is obvious that periodic CSI reports are
transmitted more frequently than in Release 8 systems. In each
subframe without PUSCH transmission where periodic CSI and
multi-cell ACK/NACK collide, the periodic CSI are dropped. Since
CSI reports are required for link adaptation, reduced CSI feedback
degrades downlink performance. This is in particular a problem for
TDD, where only a minority of the available subframes may be uplink
subframes.
[0074] In several embodiments of the present invention, these
problems are addressed by introducing a new uplink control channel
capability that enables a mobile terminal to simultaneously report
to the radio network multiple packet receipt status bits, (e.g.,
ACK/NACK bits) and channel-condition bits (e.g., CSI reports). In
some embodiments, this uplink control channel capability also
supports sending uplink scheduling requests from the UE in addition
to transmitting multiple packet receipt status bits and
channel-condition bits. In several embodiments, if the mobile
terminal does not have any channel-condition bits to report in a
given subframe, it may transmit ACK/NACK bits using an uplink
control channel transmission mode that does not allow such
simultaneous transmission.
[0075] In one non-limiting example embodiment, a situation may
arise where the total number of transmitted packet-receipt status
bits and channel-condition bits that can be reported with
satisfactory performance is limited. The combined reporting in this
embodiment is only enabled up to a certain number of packet-receipt
status bits. For example, if the number of packet-receipt status
bits to be transmitted is less than or equal to a predetermined
number (i.e., a threshold), then packet-receipt status bits and
channel-condition bits are reported simultaneously over the uplink
control channel. On the other hand, if the number of packet-receipt
status bits to be transmitted exceeds that number, then the
channel-condition bits may be dropped, i.e., discarded, and only
the transmitted packet receipt status bits are transmitted.
[0076] In another non-limiting example embodiment, if the mobile
terminal applies partial "bundling" of the packet-receipt status
bits, then the number of transmitted packet-receipt status bits
corresponds to the number of bits after bundling. If
channel-condition bits are scheduled for reporting and the number
of available packet-receipt status bits is larger than a
predetermined number, then the packet receipt status-bits are
bundled to produce that number of bits or fewer, which are then
transmitted together with the channel-condition bits.
[0077] In the discussion that follows, specific details of
particular embodiments of the present invention are set forth for
purposes of explanation and not limitation. It will be appreciated
by those skilled in the art that other embodiments may be employed
apart from these specific details. Furthermore, in some instances
detailed descriptions of well-known methods, nodes, interfaces,
circuits, and devices are omitted so as not obscure the description
with unnecessary detail. Those skilled in the art will appreciate
that the functions described may be implemented in one or in
several nodes. Some or all of the functions described may be
implemented using hardware circuitry, such as analog and/or
discrete logic gates interconnected to perform a specialized
function, ASICs, PLAs, etc. Likewise, some or all of the functions
may be implemented using software programs and data in conjunction
with one or more digital microprocessors or general purpose
computers. Where nodes that communicate using the air interface are
described, it will be appreciated that those nodes also have
suitable radio communications circuitry. Moreover, the technology
can additionally be considered to be embodied entirely within any
form of computer-readable memory, including non-transitory
embodiments such as solid-state memory, magnetic disk, or optical
disk containing an appropriate set of computer instructions that
would cause a processor to carry out the techniques described
herein.
[0078] Hardware implementations may include or encompass, without
limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, a reduced
instruction set processor, hardware (e.g., digital or analog)
circuitry including but not limited to application specific
integrated circuit(s) (ASIC) and/or field programmable gate
array(s) (FPGA(s)), and (where appropriate) state machines capable
of performing such functions.
[0079] In terms of computer implementation, a computer is generally
understood to comprise one or more processors or one or more
controllers, and the terms computer, processor, and controller may
be employed interchangeably. When provided by a computer,
processor, or controller, the functions may be provided by a single
dedicated computer or processor or controller, by a single shared
computer or processor or controller, or by a plurality of
individual computers or processors or controllers, some of which
may be shared or distributed. Moreover, the term "processor" or
"controller" also refers to other hardware capable of performing
such functions and/or executing software, such as the example
hardware recited above.
[0080] In the following descriptions of non-limiting examples of
the present invention, a mobile terminal operating according to the
LTE specifications for TDD is assumed, but the described techniques
and technology may be applied more generally.
[0081] A mobile terminal is configured to report multiple ACK/NACK
feedback bits using an uplink control channel, e.g., PUCCH, and an
encoding format that enables simultaneous transmission of multiple
ACK/NACK bits and CSI bits. This simultaneous transmission of
multiple ACK/NACK bits and CSI bits may include configuration of
new PUCCH resources, but not necessarily. One example of a PUCCH
mode that could be used for this transmission is the PUCCH mode
described in a co-pending U.S. patent application, filed on the
same date as the present application and entitled "Simultaneous
transmission of AN and CSI using PUCCH Format 3 resources," the
entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. A
mobile terminal feeds back multiple ACK/NACK bits if it has to
report ACK/NACK bits for multiple subframes and/or for multiple
cells. Configuration of the mobile terminal may be performed for
example using RRC signaling.
[0082] FIG. 11 is a process flow diagram that shows example
procedures for a mobile terminal in accordance with a first,
non-limiting example embodiment. As shown at block 1110, the
operation of the UE may depend on whether the UE has been
configured, e.g., by RRC signaling, to utilize a PUCCH mode that
supports simultaneous transmission of ACK/NACK bits and CSI. If
not, operation proceeds as illustrated at blocks 1120, 1130, and
1140. The UE first determines whether ACK/NACK bits and a CSI
report are both scheduled for transmission in a given subframe, as
shown at block 1120. In either case, as shown at blocks 1130 and
1140, the ACK/NACK bits are transmitted, using a PUCCH mode that
does not support simultaneous transmission of ACK/NACK bits. If a
CSI report is scheduled, however, this involves dropping, i.e.,
discarding, the CSI report and transmitting only the ACK/NACK bits
as shown at block 1140.
[0083] On the other hand, if the UE is configured to support a
PUCCH mode that supports simultaneous transmission of CSI reports
and ACK/NACK bits, the mobile terminal also determines whether
ACK/NACK bits and a CSI report are both scheduled for transmission
in a given subframe, as shown at block 1150, and may still use a
configured PUCCH mode that does not allow simultaneous CSI
transmission, as shown at blocks 1160, if the mobile terminal has
no CSI bits to report. But if a mobile terminal has ACK/NACK bits
and CSI bits to report in the uplink, then the mobile terminal may
use a configured PUCCH mode that enables simultaneous transmission
of multiple ACK/NACK bits and CSI bits. This PUCCH mode may even
support a scheduling request transmission in addition to
transmitting multiple ACK/NACK bits and CSI bits.
[0084] The process flow illustrated in FIG. 11 reflects the fact
that it may be desirable to also take into account a situation
where the total number of ACK/NACK and CSI bits that can be
reported with satisfactory performance may be limited. In that
case, combined reporting is enabled only up to a certain number of
ACK/NACK bits. Thus, as shown at block 1170, the UE determines
whether the number of ACK/NACK bits to be transmitted is less than
or equal to a threshold value, L. If so, then ACK/NACK bits and CSI
bits are reported simultaneously, using the new PUCCH mode, as
shown at block 1180. If the number of ACK/NACK bits exceeds L, on
the other hand, then the CSI bits may be dropped and the ACK/NACK
bits transmitted, as shown at block 1190, using a configured PUCCH
mode that does not supporting simultaneous CSI transmissions. The
number L may be any suitable integer, but one non-limiting example
is L=10. If the UE applies partial bundling, then the number of
ACK/NACK bits to be transmitted and compared to L is the number of
bits after bundling.
[0085] A flow chart in accordance with a second non-limiting
example embodiment that includes bundling is shown in FIG. 12. Most
of the flow chart is identical to that of FIG. 11. However, if
multiple ACK/NACK bits and a CSI report are scheduled for
transmission, and if the number of ACK/NACK bits for transmission
is greater than L, then the mobile terminal determines whether
ACK/NACK bundling is configured, as shown at block 1210. If so,
then the ACK/NACK bits are bundled to produce L or fewer bits, as
shown at block 1220. These bundled ACK/NACK bits are then
transmitted together with CSI bits. If not, the CSI bits are
dropped, and the ACK/NACK bits transmitted using a PUCCH mode that
does not support simultaneous ACK/NACK and CSI transmission, as
shown at block 1230.
[0086] FIG. 13 is another process flow diagram that illustrates,
more generally, a method for simultaneous reporting of
channel-state information and hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK information,
suitable for implementation by a mobile terminal. Of course, the
illustrated method should be understood within the context of
mobile terminal processing in general, and in the context of
forming and transmitting uplink control channel information, more
particularly. The pictured method may be carried out as part of the
processing carried out by a mobile terminal for each uplink
subframe, for example.
[0087] As shown at block 1310, the method begins with determining
whether channel-state information and hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits
corresponding to a plurality of downlink subframes or a plurality
of downlink carriers, or both, are scheduled for transmission in a
given uplink subframe. If not, then conventional techniques for
transmitting only ACK/NACK bits may be used, as shown at block
1340. On the other hand, if there is a "collision" between a
periodic CSI report and ACK/NACK bits, the method continues with an
evaluation of whether the number of the first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK
bits is less than or equal to a threshold number, as shown at block
1320. If not, conventional techniques for transmitting only
ACK/NACK bits may be used, in some embodiments. If there are no
more than a threshold number of ACK/NACK bits to transmit, however,
the channel-state information and the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits are
transmitted, as shown at block 1330, using physical control channel
resources of the first uplink subframe.
[0088] In some embodiments, where ACK/NACK bundling is employed,
the number of hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits, which is compared to the
threshold number, represents the number of ACK/NACK bits after
ACK/NACK bundling. Further, in some embodiments the threshold
number may vary, depending on the number of channel-state
information bits scheduled for transmission. For embodiments where
the threshold number is static, a suitable number might be 10, for
example.
[0089] Several variants of the technique illustrated in FIG. 13 are
possible. For example, as suggested by the flow diagram of FIG. 12,
if the number of ACK/NACK bits scheduled for transmission is
greater than the threshold, the number of bits may be reduced to a
suitable number, e.g., by employing bundling. The bundled ACK/NACK
bits may then be transmitted along with channel-state information
bits, using a control channel format that supports both.
[0090] Any of a number of techniques for encoding the channel-state
information and the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits can be used. In one
embodiment, the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits are encoded with a first
encoder and the channel-state information bits are encoded using a
second encoder. The encoded and hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits and the
encoded channel-state information bits are interleaved before
transmission. This approach allows the degree of error protection
to be allocated between the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits and the
channel-state information. Because faulty ACK/NACK data can cause
unnecessary re-transmissions, it may be advantageous to provide
more robust error protection to the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits, for
example.
[0091] FIG. 14 is a process flow illustrating a corresponding
technique for handling uplink control channel that has been
generated and transmitted according to the methods described above.
The method illustrated in FIG. 14 might be implemented in a base
station, for example, such as an LTE eNodeB. For a given subframe
the method begins, as shown at block 1410, with the receiving of an
uplink subframe that carries control channel information in one or
several physical control channel resources. As shown at block 1420,
the base station determines whether a number of expected hybrid-ARQ
ACK/NACK bits is less than or equal to a threshold number. If so,
the base station decodes both channel-state information and
hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits from each physical control channel
resource for which the number of expected hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits
is less than or equal to the threshold number, as shown at block
1430. Otherwise, the base station uses conventional techniques to
decode only ACK/NACK bits from the physical control channel
resource, as shown at block 1440.
[0092] In some cases, the threshold number varies, depending on a
number of expected channel-state information bits. In some
embodiments, where ACK/NACK bundling is used, the decoding of the
control channel information yields bundled hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK
bits, in which case the method further includes unbundling the
bundled hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits. In some systems, it may be the
case that not all mobile terminals are configured for simultaneous
reporting of channel-state information and hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK
information, even where they support the feature. Accordingly, the
process pictured in FIG. 11 may be preceded, in some instances, by
a determination that the mobile terminal of interest has been
configured, via Radio Resource Control signaling, for simultaneous
reporting according to the techniques described herein.
[0093] The functions in the flowcharts of FIGS. 11-13 may be
implemented using electronic data processing circuitry provided in
the mobile terminal. Likewise, the functions in the flowchart of
FIG. 14 may be implemented using electronic data processing
circuitry provided in a base station. Each mobile terminal and base
station, of course, also includes suitable radio circuitry for
receiving and transmitting radio signals formatted in accordance
with known formats and protocols, e.g., LTE formats and
protocols.
[0094] FIG. 15 illustrates features of an example communications
node 1500 according to several embodiments of the present
invention. Although the detailed configuration, as well as features
such as physical size, power requirements, etc., will vary, the
general characteristics of the elements of communications node 1500
are common to both a wireless base station and a mobile terminal.
Further, both may be adapted to carry out one or several of the
techniques described above for encoding and transmitting ACK/NACK
bits and channel-state information or decoding such information
from a received signal.
[0095] Communications node 1500 comprises a transceiver 1520 for
communicating with mobile terminals (in the case of a base station)
or with one or more base stations (in the case of a mobile
terminal) as well as a processing circuit 1510 for processing the
signals transmitted and received by the transceiver 1520.
Transceiver 1520 includes a transmitter 1525 coupled to one or more
transmit antennas 1528 and receiver 1530 coupled to one or more
receive antennas 1533. The same antenna(s) 1528 and 1533 may be
used for both transmission and reception. Receiver 1530 and
transmitter 1525 use known radio processing and signal processing
components and techniques, typically according to a particular
telecommunications standard such as the 3GPP standards for LTE
and/or LTE-Advanced. Because the various details and engineering
tradeoffs associated with the design and implementation of such
circuitry are well known and are unnecessary to a full
understanding of the invention, additional details are not shown
here.
[0096] Processing circuit 1510 comprises one or more processors
1540 coupled to one or more memory devices 1550 that make up a data
storage memory 1555 and a program storage memory 1560. Processor
1540, identified as CPU 1540 in FIG. 15, may be a microprocessor,
microcontroller, or digital signal processor, in some embodiments.
More generally, processing circuit 1510 may comprise a
processor/firmware combination, or specialized digital hardware, or
a combination thereof. Memory 1550 may comprise one or several
types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access
memory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage
devices, etc. Again, because the various details and engineering
tradeoffs associated with the design of baseband processing
circuitry for mobile devices and wireless base stations are well
known and are unnecessary to a full understanding of the invention,
additional details are not shown here.
[0097] Typical functions of the processing circuit 1510 include
modulation and coding of transmitted signals and the demodulation
and decoding of received signals. In several embodiments of the
present invention, processing circuit 1510 is adapted, using
suitable program code stored in program storage memory 1560, for
example, to carry out one of the techniques described above
encoding and transmitting ACK/NACK bits and channel-state
information or decoding such information from a received signal. Of
course, it will be appreciated that not all of the steps of these
techniques are necessarily performed in a single microprocessor or
even in a single module.
[0098] FIG. 16 illustrates several functional elements of a mobile
terminal 1600, adapted to carry out some of the techniques
discussed in detail above. Mobile terminal 1600 includes a
processing circuit 1610 configured to receive data from a base
station, via receiver circuit 1615, and to construct a series of
uplink subframes for transmission by transmitter circuit 1620. In
several embodiments, processing circuit 1610, which may be
constructed in the manner described for the processing circuits
1510 of FIG. 15, includes a hybrid-ARQ processing unit 1640, which
is adapted to determine that first channel-state information (from
channel-state measurement unit 1650) and first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK
bits corresponding to a plurality of downlink subframes or a
plurality of downlink carriers, or both, are scheduled for
transmission in a first uplink subframe, and to determine whether
the number of the first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits is less than or
equal to a threshold number. Processing circuit 1610 further
includes a channel state measurement unit 1650, which produces
channel-state information (CSI) bits based on observations of the
radio channel, and an uplink control channel encoding unit 1630,
which is adapted to send both the first channel-state information
and the first hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits in physical control channel
resources of the first uplink subframe, on a single carrier, in
response to determining that the number of hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits
to be transmitted in the first uplink subframe is less than or
equal to the threshold number. Of course, all of the variants of
the techniques described above are equally applicable to mobile
terminal 1600 as well.
[0099] Without changes to current 3GPP specifications, collisions
between ACK/NACK transmissions and CSI reports will likely lead to
dropped CSI reports. The novel techniques described herein enable
simultaneous transmission of multiple ACK/NACK bits and CSI. With
the use of these techniques, fewer CSI reports are dropped, which
improves link adaptation and increases throughput.
[0100] It will be appreciated by the person of skill in the art
that various modifications may be made to the above described
embodiments without departing from the scope of the present
invention. For example, it will be readily appreciated that
although the above embodiments are described with reference to
parts of a 3GPP network, an embodiment of the present invention
will also be applicable to like networks, such as a successor of
the 3GPP network, having like functional components. Therefore, in
particular, the terms 3GPP and associated or related terms used in
the above description and in the enclosed drawings and any appended
claims now or in the future are to be interpreted accordingly.
[0101] Examples of several embodiments of the present invention
have been described in detail above, with reference to the attached
illustrations of specific embodiments. Because it is not possible,
of course, to describe every conceivable combination of components
or techniques, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the
present invention can be implemented in other ways than those
specifically set forth herein, without departing from essential
characteristics of the invention. The present embodiments are thus
to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not
restrictive.
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