Uplink control signaling on a shared communication medium

• US 10,044,459 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2016
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Chendamarai Kannan, Arumugam, Luo, Tao, Patel, Chirag Sureshbhai, Kadous, Tamer Adel
• Primary Examiner(s): Abelson, Ronald B
• Application Number:
  US15/264,850
• Publication Number:
  US 20170126346A1
• Time in Patent Office: 692 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/1694 Allocation of channels in TDM/TDMA networks, e.g. distributed multiplexers Passive Optical Networks H04Q11/0062
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1469 using time-sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/02 Hybrid access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02

Abstract

Disclosed are techniques for accessing a shared communication medium. An aspect includes communicating over the shared communication medium in accordance with a Time Division Duplexing (TDD) frame structure defining a set of downlink subframes and a set of uplink subframes, each uplink subframe being divided into a transmission gap period, a contention-exempt period, and a contention-compliant period, performing a contention procedure for contending for access to the shared communication medium during the transmission gap period, selectively transmitting contention-compliant uplink control signals during the contention-compliant period, and transmitting one or more contention-exempt uplink control signals during the contention-exempt period. An aspect includes receiving a downlink subframe of the shared communication medium and transmitting an acknowledgment of the downlink subframe during an uplink subframe of the shared communication medium, the uplink subframe occurring at least a predetermined number of subframes and/or at least a predetermined amount of time after the downlink subframe.

Claims

1. A method of contending for access to a shared communication medium, comprising:

communicating over the shared communication medium in accordance with a Time Division Duplexing (TDD) frame structure defining a set of downlink subframes and a set of uplink subframes, each uplink subframe being divided into a transmission gap period, a contention-exempt period, and a contention-compliant period, wherein the set of uplink subframes comprises at least one subframe fully dedicated to uplink signaling, at least one subframe partially dedicated to uplink signaling with a downlink portion and an uplink portion, or a combination thereof;

performing a contention procedure for contending for access to the shared communication medium during the transmission gap period;

selectively transmitting one or more contention-compliant uplink control signals during the contention-compliant period based on an outcome of the contention procedure; and

transmitting one or more contention-exempt uplink control signals during the contention-exempt period regardless of the outcome of the contention procedure,

wherein the performing, the selectively transmitting, and the transmitting are performed over a first set of access terminal resources among a plurality of access terminal resources defined for each of the transmission gap period, the contention-exempt period, and the contention-compliant period.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink control signals correspond to a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission gap period, the contention-exempt period, and the contention-compliant period collectively span the entirety or only a portion of each uplink subframe.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the contention-exempt period precedes the transmission gap period and the transmission gap period precedes the contention-compliant period within each uplink subframe.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission gap period precedes the contention-compliant period and the contention-compliant period precedes the contention-exempt period within each uplink subframe.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the contention-compliant period precedes the contention-exempt period and the contention-exempt period precedes the transmission gap period within each uplink subframe.

7. An apparatus for contending for access to a shared communication medium, comprising:

a transceiver; and

at least one processor configured to cause the transceiver to;

communicate over the shared communication medium in accordance with a Time Division Duplexing (TDD) frame structure defining a set of downlink subframes and a set of uplink subframes, each uplink subframe being divided into a transmission gap period, a contention-exempt period, and a contention-compliant period, wherein the set of uplink subframes comprises at least one subframe fully dedicated to uplink signaling, at least one subframe partially dedicated to uplink signaling with a downlink portion and an uplink portion, or a combination thereof;

perform a contention procedure for contending for access to the shared communication medium during the transmission gap period;

selectively transmit one or more contention-compliant uplink control signals during the contention-compliant period based on an outcome of the contention procedure; and

transmit one or more contention-exempt uplink control signals during the contention-exempt period regardless of the outcome of the contention procedure,

wherein performance of the contention procedure, selective transmission of the one or more contention-compliant uplink control signals, and transmission of the one or more contention-exempt uplink control signals are performed over a first set of access terminal resources among a plurality of access terminal resources defined for each of the transmission gap period, the contention-exempt period, and the contention-compliant period.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the uplink control signals correspond to a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the transmission gap period, the contention-exempt period, and the contention-compliant period collectively span the entirety or only a portion of each uplink subframe.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the contention-exempt period precedes the transmission gap period and the transmission gap period precedes the contention-compliant period within each uplink subframe.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the transmission gap period precedes the contention-compliant period and the contention-compliant period precedes the contention-exempt period within each uplink subframe.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the contention-compliant period precedes the contention-exempt period and the contention-exempt period precedes the transmission gap period within each uplink subframe.

13. An apparatus for contending for access to a shared communication medium, comprising:

means for communicating over the shared communication medium in accordance with a Time Division Duplexing (TDD) frame structure defining a set of downlink subframes and a set of uplink subframes, each uplink subframe being divided into a transmission gap period, a contention-exempt period, and a contention-compliant period, wherein the set of uplink subframes comprises at least one subframe fully dedicated to uplink signaling, at least one subframe partially dedicated to uplink signaling with a downlink portion and an uplink portion, or a combination thereof;

means for performing a contention procedure for contending for access to the shared communication medium during the transmission gap period;

means for selectively transmitting one or more contention-compliant uplink control signals during the contention-compliant period based on an outcome of the contention procedure; and

means for transmitting one or more contention-exempt uplink control signals during the contention-exempt period regardless of the outcome of the contention procedure,

wherein performance of the contention procedure, selective transmission of the one or more contention-compliant uplink control signals, and transmission of the one or more contention-exempt uplink control signals are performed over a first set of access terminal resources among a plurality of access terminal resources defined for each of the transmission gap period, the contention-exempt period, and the contention-compliant period.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for contending for access to a shared communication medium, comprising:

at least one instruction instructing a device to communicate over the shared communication medium in accordance with a Time Division Duplexing (TDD) frame structure defining a set of downlink subframes and a set of uplink subframes, each uplink subframe being divided into a transmission gap period, a contention-exempt period, and a contention-compliant period, wherein the set of uplink subframes comprises at least one subframe fully dedicated to uplink signaling, at least one subframe partially dedicated to uplink signaling with a downlink portion and an uplink portion, or a combination thereof;

at least one instruction instructing the device to perform a contention procedure for contending for access to the shared communication medium during the transmission gap period;

at least one instruction instructing the device to selectively transmit one or more contention-compliant uplink control signals during the contention-compliant period based on an outcome of the contention procedure; and

at least one instruction instructing the device to transmit one or more contention-exempt uplink control signals during the contention-exempt period regardless of the outcome of the contention procedure,

wherein performance of the contention procedure, selective transmission of the one or more contention-compliant uplink control signals, and transmission of the one or more contention-exempt uplink control signals are performed over a first set of access terminal resources among a plurality of access terminal resources defined for each of the transmission gap period, the contention-exempt period, and the contention-compliant period.