Data transmission method and base station

• US 10,085,167 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2016
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Li, Jian, Huang, Lei
• Primary Examiner(s): Lopata, Robert J
• Application Number:
  US15/362,832
• Publication Number:
  US 20170127308A1
• Time in Patent Office: 665 Days
• Field of Search: 370329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 Communication routing or communication path finding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/27 between access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/29 between an access point and the access point controlling device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 based on quality criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

The present invention relates to a data transmission method and a base station, the method includes: determining, by a base station according to channel state information CSI, a transmission path for forwarding first data to a first terminal, where if the base station determines that the first data needs to be forwarded by at least one small cell to the first terminal, the transmission path includes a path from the base station to a small cell and a path from the small cell to the first terminal; and sending, by the base station according to the transmission path, a first data frame to the first terminal via the at least one small cell. In the present invention, a macro base station performs centralized scheduling, and performs unified encapsulation according to a scheduled transmission path, thereby effectively simplifying processing by a forwarding node and reducing a delay.

Claims

1. A base station, wherein the base station comprises:

a processor, configured to determine, according to channel state information (CSI), a transmission path for forwarding first data to a first terminal such that when the processor determines that the first data needs to be forwarded by at least one small cell to the first terminal, the transmission path comprises a path from the base station to a small cell and a path from the small cell to the first terminal; and

a transmitter, configured to send, according to the transmission path determined by the processor, a first data frame to the first terminal via the at least one small cell, wherein the first data frame comprises resource assignment information and the first data, the resource assignment information comprises resource assignment information indicating resource assignment from the base station to the small cell and resource assignment from the small cell to the first terminal.

2. The base station according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:

perform information encapsulation for the first data according to the transmission path determined by the processor, to obtain backhaul link data, wherein the backhaul link data is data that needs to be forwarded by at least one small cell; and

assemble the first data frame by using the resource assignment information and the backhaul link data obtained by the processor; and

the transmitter is configured to send the first data frame assembled by the processor to a small cell in the transmission path, wherein the small cell is a next hop of the base station to enable the small cell to assemble a second data frame and to send the second data frame to the first terminal, or to send the second data frame to a next next-hop small cell, wherein the next next-hop small cell forwards the second data frame to the first terminal.

3. The base station according to claim 2, wherein if the processor determines that the first data is to be forwarded by one small cell to the first terminal, the backhaul link data in the first data frame assembled by the processor comprises access link data in the second data frame, and the first data is the access link data in the second data frame;

or

when the processor determines that the first data needs to be forwarded by at least two small cells to the first terminal, the backhaul link data in the first data frame assembled by the processor comprises backhaul link data in the second data frame, and the first data is the backhaul link data in the second data frame.

4. The base station according to claim 3, wherein the first data frame assembled by the processor comprises a control part and a data part, the resource assignment information is the control part, and the first data is the data part;

and

the resource assignment information in the first data frame further includes a type identifier and information indicating a resource assignment manner of the control part, and a type identifier and information indicating a resource assignment manner of the data part, so that, according to the type identifiers and the information indicating the resource assignment manners, the small cell that receives the first data frame respectively acquires information in the control part and information in the data part that are in the backhaul link data in the first data frame, and further maps the acquired information in the control part to a control part of the second data frame and maps the acquired information in the data part to a data part of the second data frame, to assemble the second data frame.

5. The base station according to claim 4, wherein the resource assignment information in the first data frame assembled by the processor further includes information indicating a mapping method for the small cell that receives the first data frame to assemble the second data frame, so that the small cell performs mapping according to the mapping method to assemble the second data frame.

6. The base station according to claim 1, wherein the transmitter is further configured to:

before the processor determines, according to the channel state information (CSI), the transmission path for forwarding the first data to the first terminal, send a CSI scheduling message to a terminal or a small cell within a service range of the base station; and

the base station further comprises;

a receiver, configured to receive the CSI feedback by the terminal or the small cell, wherein the CSI scheduling message comprises a specific frequency band at which the terminal or the small cell measures the CSI and a feedback manner that are configured by the base station, and the CSI feedback by the small cell comprises CSI obtained by the small cell by means of measurement, CSI sent by another small cell to the small cell and forwarded by the small cell to the base station, or CSI sent by another terminal to the small cell and forwarded by the small cell to the base station.

7. The base station according to claim 6, wherein the CSI scheduling message sent by the transmitter specifically comprises first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal to feed back the CSI to the small cell at a specified frequency band and forward the CSI to the base station in a data form via the small cell, so that the terminal that receives the CSI scheduling message feeds back the CSI in a manner indicated by the first indication information.

8. A small cell, wherein the small cell comprises:

a receiver, configured to receive a first data frame sent by a previous-hop node, wherein the first data frame comprises resource assignment information and data, the data comprising at least backhaul link data, the backhaul link data comprising first data to be sent to a first terminal, the resource assignment information comprising at least backhaul data resource assignment information, and the backhaul data resource assignment information comprising resource assignment information from the small cell to the first terminal;

a processor, configured to assemble a second data frame by using the backhaul link data in the first data frame received by the receiver, wherein the second data frame comprises resource assignment information and data, the data in the second data frame comprises at least one of the following;

access link data and backhaul link data, the resource assignment information in the second data frame comprises at least one of the following;

access data resource assignment information and backhaul data resource assignment information,

the access link data in the second data frame is data of a terminal served by the small cell in the backhaul link data in the first data frame, and

the backhaul link data in the second data frame is data that needs to be forwarded by a next-hop node in the backhaul link data in the first data frame, wherein

when the first terminal is a terminal served by the small cell, the first data is the access link data in the second data frame;

or

when the first terminal is a terminal served by another small cell, the first data is the backhaul link data in the second data frame; and

a transmitter, configured to send the second data frame assembled by the processor to the next-hop node or the terminal served by the small cell.

9. The small cell according to claim 8, wherein the first data frame or the second data frame comprises a control part and a data part, the resource assignment information is the control part, and the backhaul link data or the access link data is the data part;

the resource assignment information in the first data frame further includes type identifiers and resource assignment manners of the control part and the data part; and

the processor is specifically configured to;

according to the type identifiers and the information indicating the resource assignment manners, map information in the control part in the backhaul link data in the first data frame to the control part of the second data frame, and map information in the data part in the backhaul link data in the first data frame to the data part of the second data frame, to assemble the second data frame.

10. The small cell according to claim 8, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a channel state information (CSI) scheduling message sent by a base station or CSI sent by another node or another terminal;

and

the processor feeds back, according to the CSI scheduling message received by the receiver, CSI obtained by means of measurement to the base station by using the transmitter;

or the processor forwards the CSI received by the receiver to the base station, wherein the CSI received by the receiver comprises CSI sent by the another small cell to the small cell or CSI sent by the another terminal to the small cell.

11. A data transmission method, wherein the method comprises:

determining, by a base station according to channel state information (CSI), a transmission path for forwarding first data to a first terminal, such that when the base station determines that the first data needs to be forwarded by at least one small cell to the first terminal, the transmission path comprises a path from the base station to a small cell and a path from the small cell to the first terminal; and

sending, by the base station according to the transmission path, a first data frame to the first terminal via the at least one small cell, wherein the first data frame comprises resource assignment information and the first data, the resource assignment information indicating assignment from the base station to the small cell and resource assignment from the small cell to the first terminal.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the sending, by the base station according to the transmission path, a first data frame to the first terminal via the at least one small cell specifically comprises:

performing, by the base station, information encapsulation for the first data according to the transmission path, to obtain backhaul link data, wherein the backhaul link data is data that needs to be forwarded by at least one small cell;

assembling, by the base station, the first data frame by using the resource assignment information and the backhaul link data; and

sending, by the base station, the first data frame to a small cell in the transmission path, wherein the small cell is a next hop of the base station, to enable the small cell to assemble a second data frame and to send the second data frame to the first terminal, or to send the second data frame to a next next-hop small cell, wherein the next next-hop small cell forwards the second data frame to the first terminal.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein if the base station determines the first data is to be forwarded by one small cell to the first terminal, the backhaul link data in the first data frame comprises access link data in the second data frame, and the first data is the access link data in the second data frame;

or

when the base station determines that the first data needs to be forwarded by at least two small cells to the first terminal, the backhaul link data in the first data frame comprises backhaul link data in the second data frame, and the first data is the backhaul link data in the second data frame.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the first data frame comprises a control part and a data part, the resource assignment information is the control part, and the first data is the data part;

and

the resource assignment information in the first data frame further includes type identifiers and information indicating resource assignment manners of the control part and the data part, so that, according to the type identifiers and the information indicating the resource assignment manners, the small cell that receives the first data frame respectively acquires information in the control part and information in the data part that are in the backhaul link data in the first data frame, and further maps the acquired information in the control part to a control part of the second data frame and maps the acquired information in the data part to a data part of the second data frame, to assemble the second data frame.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the resource assignment information in the first data frame further indicates a mapping method for the small cell that receives the first data frame to assemble the second data frame, so that the small cell performs mapping according to the mapping method to assemble the second data frame.

16. The method according to claim 11, wherein before determining, by a base station according to channel state information (CSI), the transmission path for forwarding first data to a first terminal, the method further comprises:

sending, by the base station, a CSI scheduling message to a terminal or a small cell within a service range of the base station, and receiving the CSI feedback by the terminal or the small cell, wherein the CSI scheduling message comprises a specific frequency band at which the terminal or the small cell measures the CSI and a feedback manner that are configured by the base station, and the CSI feedback by the small cell comprises CSI measured by the small cell, CSI sent by another small cell to the small cell and forwarded by the small cell to the base station, or CSI sent by another terminal to the small cell and forwarded by the small cell to the base station.

17. A data transmission method, wherein the method comprises:

receiving, by a current node, a first data frame sent by a previous-hop node, wherein the first data frame comprises resource assignment information and data, the data comprising at least backhaul link data, the backhaul link data comprising first data to be sent to a first terminal, the resource assignment information comprising at least backhaul data resource assignment information, and the backhaul data resource assignment information comprising resource assignment information from the current node to the first terminal;

assembling, by the current node, a second data frame by using the backhaul link data in the first data frame, wherein

the second data frame comprises resource assignment information and data, the data in the second data frame comprises at least one of the following;

the access link data and the backhaul link data,

the resource assignment information in the second data frame comprises at least one of the following;

access data resource assignment information and backhaul data resource assignment information, the access link data in the second data frame is data of a terminal served by the current node in the backhaul link data in the first data frame, and the backhaul link data in the second data frame is data that needs to be forwarded by a next-hop node in the backhaul link data in the first data frame, wherein if the first terminal is a terminal served by the current node, the first data is the access link data in the second data frame;

or if the first terminal is a terminal served by another node, the first data is the backhaul link data in the second data frame; and

sending, by the current node, the second data frame to the next-hop node or the terminal served by the current node.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the first data frame or the second data frame comprises a control part and a data part, the resource assignment information is the control part, and the backhaul link data or the access link data is the data part;

the resource assignment information in the first data frame further includes type identifiers and resource assignment manners of the control part and the data part; and

the assembling, by the current node, a second data frame by using the backhaul link data in the first data frame specifically comprises;

according to the type identifiers and the information indicating the resource assignment manners, mapping, by the current node, information in the control part in the backhaul link data in the first data frame to the control part of the second data frame, and mapping information in the data part in the backhaul link data in the first data frame to the data part of the second data frame, to assemble the second data frame.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the first data frame or the second data frame is transmitted by using a user plane protocol stack, and the user plane protocol stack is formed by only a physical layer (PHY) layer.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein before the receiving, by a current node, a first data frame sent by a previous-hop node, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the current node, a channel state information (CSI) scheduling message sent by a base station, and feeding back, according to the CSI scheduling message, CSI obtained by means of measurement to the base station, or forwarding CSI received by the current node to the base station, wherein the CSI received by the current node comprises CSI sent by another small cell to the current node or CSI sent by a terminal to the current node.