Terminal-to-terminal communication

• US 10,051,454 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2014
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Zhu, Chenxi, Ito, Akira
• Primary Examiner(s): Blanton, John
• Application Number:
  US14/908,858
• Publication Number:
  US 20160183251A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,680 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0456 Selection of precoding matrices or codebooks, e.g. using matrices antenna weighting
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0639 Using selective indices, e.g. of a codebook, e.g. pre-distortion matrix index [PMI] or for beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/04 Error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/241 taking into account channel quality metrics, e.g. SIR, SNR, CIR, Eb/lo
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/242 taking into account path loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/243 taking into account interferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/001 Synchronization between nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0473 the resource being transmission power
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/56 based on priority criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data

Abstract

A method of enabling terminal-to-terminal communication includes organizing a cluster including a cluster head, a first cluster member, and a second cluster member. The first cluster member includes a first terminal. The second cluster member includes a second terminal. The cluster head is connected to the first cluster member and the second cluster member. The method further includes controlling a unicast communication from the first cluster member to the second cluster member via the cluster head.

Claims

1. A method of enabling terminal-to-terminal communication, the method comprising:

organizing a cluster including a cluster head, a first cluster member including a first terminal, and a second cluster member including a second terminal, the cluster head being connected to the first cluster member and the second cluster member; and

controlling a unicast communication from the first cluster member to the second cluster member via the cluster head, including;

receiving, at the cluster head from the first cluster member, a request for resources for a terminal-to-terminal data transmission from the first cluster member to the second cluster member;

transmitting, from the cluster head to the first cluster member and the second cluster member, a control indicator configured to identify allocated resources for the terminal-to-terminal data transmission, the allocated resources including;

terminal-to-terminal data transmission resources for data transmissions from the first cluster member to the second cluster member, and

terminal-to-terminal feedback resources for acknowledgement transmissions from the second cluster member to the first cluster member; and

receiving, at the cluster head via cluster-member-to-cluster-head feedback resources, feedback including;

a transmission status of the terminal-to-terminal data transmission, including a terminal-to-terminal data transmission queue status of the first cluster member for the data transmissions from the first cluster member to the second cluster member, and

a reception status of the terminal-to-terminal data transmission.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the cluster head includes a base station and transmitting the control indicator includes transmitting the control indicator via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the cluster head includes a third terminal and transmitting the control indicator includes transmitting the control indicator via a device-to-device physical shared channel (D2D-PSCH).

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a device-to-device unicast radio-network temporary identifier (D2D-U-RNTI) to the first cluster member and the second cluster member, the D2D-U-RNTI associated with the terminal-to-terminal data transmission.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocated resources further include:

a resource period; and

a resource duration.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the terminal-to-terminal feedback resources include device-to-device physical feedback channel (D2D-PFBK) resources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocated resources are allocated via semi-persistent scheduling.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the unicast communication from the first cluster member to the second cluster member via the cluster head further includes transmitting a power control command to at least one of the first cluster member and the second cluster member such that the first cluster member and the second cluster member experience a bidirectional link.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the unicast communication from the first cluster member to the second cluster member via the cluster head further includes transmitting a second identification of updated allocated resources.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein controlling the unicast communication from the first cluster member to the second cluster member via the cluster head further includes receiving a second feedback including a second transmission status of the terminal-to-terminal data transmission via the updated allocated resources.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein controlling the unicast communication from the first cluster member to the second cluster member via the cluster head further includes transmitting a termination signal.

12. A method of enabling terminal-to-terminal communication, the method comprising:

organizing a cluster including a cluster head, a first cluster member including a first terminal, and a second cluster member including a second terminal, the cluster head being connected to the first cluster member and the second cluster member; and

controlling a unicast communication from the first cluster member to the second cluster member via the cluster head, including;

transmitting, from the cluster head to the first cluster member and the second cluster member, a control indicator configured to identify allocated resources for a terminal-to-terminal data transmission, the allocated resources including terminal-to-terminal feedback resources for acknowledgement transmissions from the second cluster member to the first cluster member; and

receiving, at the cluster head via cluster-member-to-cluster-head feedback resources, feedback including a transmission status of the terminal-to-terminal data transmission, including a terminal-to-terminal data transmission queue status of the first cluster member for the terminal-to-terminal data transmissions from the first cluster member to the second cluster member.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein controlling the unicast communication from the first cluster member to the second cluster member via the cluster head includes:

receiving, at the cluster head from the first cluster member, a request for resources for a terminal-to-terminal data transmission from the first cluster member to the second cluster member; and

wherein the feedback further includes a reception status of the terminal-to-terminal data transmission.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the cluster head includes a base station and transmitting the control indicator includes transmitting the control indicator via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the cluster head includes a third terminal and transmitting the control indicator includes transmitting the control indicator via a device-to-device physical shared channel (D2D-PSCH).

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising transmitting a device-to-device unicast radio-network temporary identifier (D2D-U-RNTI) to the first cluster member and the second cluster member, the D2D-U-RNTI associated with the terminal-to-terminal data transmission.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the allocated resources further include:

a resource period; and

a resource duration.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the allocated resources are allocated via semi-persistent scheduling.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein controlling the unicast communication from the first cluster member to the second cluster member via the cluster head further includes transmitting a power control command to at least one of the first cluster member and the second cluster member such that the first cluster member and the second cluster member experience a bidirectional link.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein controlling the unicast communication from the first cluster member to the second cluster member via the cluster head further includes:

transmitting a second identification of updated allocated resources;

receiving a second feedback including a second transmission status of the terminal-to-terminal data transmission via the updated allocated resources; and

transmitting a termination signal.