Hybrid duplex communication method, BS and terminal

• US 10,327,237 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2014
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Yu, Bin, Zhang, Shichang, Sun, Chengjun
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Marcus
• Application Number:
  US14/911,250
• Publication Number:
  US 20160192355A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,778 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2656 for structure of frame, burst
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a hybrid duplex communication method and apparatus. Configuration information is obtained. The configuration information includes locations of special sub-frames on the first carrier, and a transmission direction of each sub-frame on the second carrier. Sounding Reference Symbol (SRS) is sent on a special sub-frame. when all sub-frames on the second carrier are UL sub-frames, the UE may communicate with the BS on the first carrier and the second carrier according to the FDD mode; when the second carrier is used for UL and DL transmission in time division multiplexing mode, the UE may communicate with the BS on DL resources of the first carrier and UL resources of the second carrier according to the FDD mode, and/or, the UE may communicate with the BS on DL resources of the second carrier and UL resources of the second carrier according to the TDD mode.

Claims

1. A hybrid duplex communication method by a terminal, comprising:

receiving, from a base station (BS), by the terminal capable of supporting a frequency division duplex (FDD) mode and a time division duplex (TDD) mode, configuration information comprising a first configuration of at least one special sub-frame on a first carrier and a second configuration of a transmission direction of each sub-frame on a second carrier, wherein the configuration information is received on the first carrier, and all sub-frames except the special sub-frame on the first carrier are downlink sub-frames;

sending a sounding reference symbol on the special sub-frame;

in response to the second configuration indicating that all sub-frames on the second carrier are uplink sub-frames, communicating with the BS on the first carrier and the second carrier according to the FDD mode; and

in response to the second configuration indicating that sub-frames on the second carrier comprises uplink sub-frames and downlink sub-frames, communicating with the BS by using at least one downlink sub-frame on the first carrier and at least one uplink sub-frame on the second carrier according to the FDD mode, and simultaneously communicating with the BS by using at least one downlink sub-frame and at least one uplink sub-frame on the second carrier according to the TDD mode,

wherein a timing relationship of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) or a timing relationship for scheduling is determined according to a number and locations of uplink sub-frames in a frame structure of the second carrier, when the terminal operates according to the FDD mode based on the second configuration, and

wherein the timing relationship of the HARQ or the timing relationship for the scheduling is determined according to a ratio of uplink and downlink sub frames and locations of uplink and downlink sub-frames on the second carrier, when the terminal operates according to the TDD mode based on the second configuration.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the special sub-frame comprises a first time slot, a second time slot, and a third time slot, wherein the configuration information comprises configuration of a length of each time slot in the special sub-frame, wherein the method further comprises receiving a downlink channel on the first time slot, wherein the second time slot is a guard time slot, and wherein sending the sounding reference symbol on the special sub-frame comprises sending the sounding reference symbol on the third time slot.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the downlink channel received on the first time slot comprises at least one of a physical downlink control channel, a physical downlink data channel, a physical synchronization channel, a physical broadcasting channel, or a physical hybrid automatic retransmission request indicator channel.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein obtaining the configuration information comprises obtaining indication information indicating a number of the at least one special sub frame, locations of the at least one special sub frame, and a configuration of each time slot in the at least one special sub frame from a control signal received on the first carrier, obtaining indication information indicating an uplink-downlink sub-frame ratio in the frame structure of the second carrier from a control signal received on the first carrier or the second carrier, and obtaining a frequency point location and bandwidth information of the second carrier from a control signal received on the first carrier.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the control signal comprises a signal sent in broadcast manner or a dedicated signal sent to the terminal.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the indication information obtained from the control signal comprises an index;

and

wherein the method further comprises obtaining corresponding configuration information based on a look-up table according to the index.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one special sub frame comprises at least one of a multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) sub-frames.

8. A terminal, comprising:

at least one processor configured to receive, from a base station (BS), configuration information comprising a first configuration of at least one special sub-frame on a first carrier and a second configuration of a transmission direction of each sub-frame on a second carrier, wherein the configuration is received on the first carrier, and all sub-frames except special sub-frames on the first carrier are downlink sub-frames; and

a transceiver configured to;

be capable of supporting a frequency division duplex (FDD) mode on one carrier and a time division duplex (TDD) mode on separate carriers,

send a sounding reference signal (SRS) on the special sub-frame,

in response to the second configuration indicating that all sub-frames on the second carrier are uplink sub-frames, communicate with the BS on the first carrier and the second carrier according to the FDD mode, and

in response to the second configuration indicating that sub-frames on the second carrier comprises uplink sub-frames and downlink sub-frames, communicate with the BS by using at least one downlink sub-frame on the first carrier and at least one uplink sub-frame on the second carrier according to the FDD mode, and simultaneously communicating with the BS by using at least one downlink sub-frame and at least one uplink sub-frame on the second carrier according to the TDD mode,

wherein a timing relationship of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARD) or a timing relationship for scheduling is determined according to a number and locations of uplink sub-frames in a frame structure of the second carrier, when the terminal operates according to the FDD mode based on the second configuration, and

wherein the timing relationship of the HARQ or the timing relationship for the scheduling is determined according to a ratio of uplink and downlink sub-frames and locations of uplink and downlink sub-frames on the second carrier, when the terminal operates according to the TDD mode based on the second configuration.

9. The terminal according to claim 8, wherein the special sub-frame comprises a first time slot, a second time slot, and a third time slot, wherein the configuration information comprises configuration of a length of each time slot in the special sub-frame, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive a downlink channel on the first time slot, wherein the second time slot is a guard time slot, and wherein sending a sounding reference symbol on the special sub-frame comprises sending the sounding reference signal on the third time slot.

10. A base station (BS), comprising:

at least one processor configured to generate a first configuration of at least one special sub-frame on a first carrier and a second configuration of a transmission direction of each sub-frame on a second carrier, wherein configuration information is received on the first carrier, and all sub-frames except special sub-frames on the first carrier are downlink sub-frames; and

a transceiver configured to;

be capable of supporting a frequency division duplex (FDD) mode on one carrier and in a time division duplex (TDD) mode on separate carriers,

transmit configuration information comprising the first configuration and the second configuration,

receive a sounding reference signal (SRS) on the special sub-frame,

in response to the second configuration indicating that all sub-frames on the second carrier are uplink sub-frames, communicate with a terminal on the first carrier and the second carrier according to the FDD mode, and

in response to the second configuration indicating that sub-frames on the second carrier comprises uplink sub-frames and downlink sub-frames, communicate with the terminal by using at least one downlink sub-frame on the first carrier and at least one uplink sub-frame on the second carrier according to the FDD mode, and simultaneously communicate with the terminal by using at least one downlink sub-frame and at least one uplink sub-frame on the second carrier according to the TDD mode,

wherein a timing relationship of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) or a timing relationship for scheduling is determined according to a number and locations of uplink sub-frames in a frame structure of the second carrier, when the terminal operates according to the FDD mode based on the second configuration, and

wherein the timing relationship of the HARQ or the timing relationship for the scheduling is determined according to a ratio of uplink and downlink sub-frames and locations of uplink and downlink sub-frames on the second carrier, when the terminal operates according to the TDD mode based on the second configuration.

11. The BS according to claim 10, wherein the special sub-frame comprises a first time slot, a second time slot, and a third time slot, wherein the configuration information comprises configuration of a length of each time slot in the special sub-frame, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive a downlink channel on the first time slot, wherein the second time slot is a guard time slot, and wherein sending a sounding reference symbol on the special sub-frame comprises sending the sounding reference signal the third time slot.

12. A hybrid duplex communication method by a base station (BS), comprising:

generating, by the BS capable of supporting a frequency division duplex (FDD) mode and a time division duplex (TDD) mode on separate carriers, a first configuration of at least one special sub-frame on a first carrier and a second configuration of a transmission direction of each sub-frame on a second carrier, wherein first and second configuration information is received on the first carrier, and all sub-frames except special sub-frames on the first carrier are downlink sub-frames;

transmitting configuration information comprising the first configuration and the second configuration;

receiving, from a terminal, a sounding reference signal (SRS) on the special sub-frame;

in response to the second configuration indicating all sub-frames on the second carrier are uplink sub-frames, communicating with the terminal on the first carrier and the second carrier according to the FDD mode; and

in response to the second configuration indicating that sub-frames on the second carrier comprises uplink sub-frames and downlink sub-frames, communicating with the terminal by using at least one downlink sub-frame on the first carrier and at least one uplink sub-frame on the second carrier according to the FDD mode, and simultaneously communicating with the terminal by using at least one downlink sub-frame and at least one uplink sub-frame on the second carrier according to the TDD mode,

wherein a timing relationship of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) or a timing relationship for scheduling is determined according to a number and locations of uplink sub-frames in a frame structure of the second carrier, when the terminal operates according to the FDD mode based on the second configuration, and

wherein the timing relationship of the HARQ or the timing relationship for the scheduling is determined according to a ratio of uplink and downlink sub-frames and locations of uplink and downlink sub-frames on the second carrier, when the terminal operates according to the TDD mode based on the second configuration.