Enhanced common downlink control channels

• US 10,063,351 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2015
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Blankenship, Yufei Wu, Gao, Shiwei, Xu, Hua
• Primary Examiner(s): Blanton, John D
• Application Number:
  US14/925,425
• Publication Number:
  US 20160065333A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,035 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0039 Frequency-contiguous, i.e. with no allocation of frequencies for one user or terminal between the frequencies allocated to another
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0041 Frequency-non-contiguous
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0082 at predetermined intervals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

A method is provided for communication in a wireless telecommunication system. The method comprises designating, by a network element, a first set of time-frequency resources for transmitting a first set of downlink control channels for a plurality of UEs, wherein the first set of time-frequency resources is known to the plurality of UEs, and wherein the first set of time-frequency resources varies from a first time interval to a second time interval. The method further comprises mapping, by the network element, a first downlink control channel to the first set of time-frequency resources. The method further comprises transmitting, by the network element, the first downlink control channel together with a downlink data channel in a frequency-division multiplexing manner.

Claims

1. A method for communication in a wireless telecommunication system, the method comprising:

mapping, by a network element, an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indicator channel (E-PHICH) to a plurality of resource elements comprising HARQ acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) response signals transmitted to user equipment (UEs), wherein resource blocks containing the E-PHICH are frequency-division multiplexed with resource blocks of a downlink data channel, and wherein a configuration of the plurality of resource elements for receiving the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals is signaled to the UEs before the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals are transmitted; and

transmitting the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals to the UEs via the E-PHICH,

wherein at least one of the resource elements for transmitting one of the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals is located adjacent to at least one resource element used for a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and at least another of the resource elements containing an enhanced physical control format indicator channel (E-PCFICH) is located adjacent to at least another resource element used for another DMRS.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein HARQ ACK/NACK response signals for a plurality of UEs are multiplexed with one another and mapped to a same set of resource elements.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a different orthogonal cover code is applied to each HARQ signal to allow HARQ ACK/NACK response signals for a plurality of UEs to be multiplexed and mapped to the same set of resource elements.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a resource element in a resource block is assumed to be unavailable for mapping the E-PHICH when the resource element is configured for a transmission of a reference signal, and wherein the network component is configured to allocate the E-PHICH to each resource element in the resource block not configured for transmission of reference signals.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the reference signal is specific to a transmission point.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals are generated and transmitted over a plurality of antennas utilizing transmit diversity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals are frequency-division multiplexed with an enhanced physical downlink control channel (E-PDCCH) of a subframe comprising a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the signals of the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals are time-division multiplexed with an enhanced physical downlink control channel (E-PDCCH) of a subframe comprising a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the signals of the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals are time and frequency division multiplexed with an enhanced physical downlink control channel (E-PDCCH) of a subframe comprising a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration of the plurality of resource elements for receiving the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals is signaled to the UEs in a broadcast manner.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration of the plurality of resource elements for receiving the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals is signaled to the UEs in a UE-specific manner.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

designating a set of time-frequency resources for at least a first region of an enhanced physical downlink control channel (E-PDCCH), wherein the first region is a localized transmission region that is exclusively for a UE-specific search space, and wherein a second region of the E-PDCCH is a distributed region in which consecutive available time-frequency resources are allocated for the UE-specific search space and a common search space in the E-PDCCH.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

mapping a first region and a second region of an enhanced physical downlink control channel (E-PDCCH) to a set of time-frequency resources for transmitting downlink control channels for the UEs, the first and second regions defining a common search space and a UE-specific search space, wherein the E-PDCCH occupies a pair of non-adjacent resource blocks (RBs) spanning two slots of a subframe containing the E-PDCCH, each RB in the pair allocating resource elements (REs) shared by the common search space and the UE-specific search space.

14. A method for communication in a wireless telecommunication system, the method comprising:

mapping, by a network element, an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indicator channel (E-PHICH) to a plurality of resource elements comprising HARQ acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) response signals transmitted to user equipment (UEs), wherein resource blocks containing the E-PHICH are frequency-division multiplexed with resource blocks of a downlink data channel, and wherein a configuration of the plurality of resource elements for receiving the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals is signaled to the UEs before the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals are transmitted; and

transmitting the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals to the UEs via the E-PHICH,

wherein resource elements containing the E-PHICH are grouped into modified resource element groups, wherein a modified resource element group (REG) is composed of an even number of consecutively available resource elements (REs) in one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in a resource block configured for potential transmission of the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals, wherein each modified REG contains only two REs.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein an REG consists of consecutively available REs in each OFDM symbol.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein an REG consists of available neighboring REs in two OFDM symbols containing demodulation reference signals.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals are mapped to an E-PHICH group comprising three modified REGs, and each modified REG contains only two REs.

18. A network element comprising:

a processor configured such that the network element maps an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ) indicator channel (E-PHICH) to a plurality of resource elements comprising HARQ acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) response signals transmitted to user equipment (UEs), wherein resource blocks containing the E-PHICH are frequency-division multiplexed with resource blocks of a downlink data channel, and wherein a configuration of the plurality of resource elements for receiving the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals is signaled to the UEs before the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals are transmitted; and

the processor further configured such that the network element transmits the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals to the UEs via the E-PHICH,

wherein at least one of the resource elements for transmitting one of the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals is located adjacent to at least one resource element used for a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and at least another of the resource elements containing an enhanced physical control format indicator channel (E-PCFICH) is located adjacent to at least another resource element used for another DMRS.

19. The network element of claim 18, wherein HARQ ACK/NACK response signals for a plurality of UEs are multiplexed with one another and mapped to a same set of resource elements.

20. The network element of claim 18, wherein the resource elements are grouped into resource element groups, wherein a resource element group (REG) is composed of an even number of consecutively available resource elements (REs) in one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in a resource block configured for potential transmission of the HARQ ACK/NACK response signals.