Relay node operation with improved data throughput

• US 10,334,503 B2
• Filed: 06/05/2017
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Braithwaite, Richard Neil
• Primary Examiner(s): Kamara, Mohamed A
• Application Number:
  US15/614,214
• Publication Number:
  US 20170325152A1
• Time in Patent Office: 750 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/155 Ground-based stations H04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15507 Relay station based processing for cell extension or control of coverage area, network planning with network coordinated processing with regard to cell extension H04W16/26; network topologies using dedicated repeater stations H04W84/047; terminal devices adapted for relaying to or from an other terminal H04W88/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1816 with retransmission of the same, encoded, message
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1822 involving configuration of automatic repeat request [ARQ] with parallel processes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1893 Physical mapping arrangements physical resource mapping in general H04L5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0097 Relays
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/22 using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point
• 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 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

A combination of repeaters and relays is used to improve the data throughput for user equipment (“UE”) near the cell edge in a LTE network. Amplify-and-forward repeaters and decode-and-forward relays enhance the down-link and up-link, respectively. Relay assistance on the up-link occurs when the evolved Node B (“eNB”) requests a retransmission (HARQ) from the UE at which point the UE and relay transmit simultaneously in a cooperative fashion. The quality of the up-link signal received by the eNB is improved due to a favorable channel through the relay. An analysis shows that relay assistance improves the throughput for a cell-edge user when the average delay per data transport block is allowed to increase.

Claims

1. An apparatus of a relay node (RN) comprising:

processing circuitry configured to;

decode control information from an evolved Node-B (eNB) using cyclic redundancy check information scrambled by a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) associated with the eNB, the control information indicating a subframe configuration for time multiplexing eNB-RN transmissions and RN-user equipment (UE) transmissions,

wherein downlink transmissions from the eNB to the RN are indicated by the control information to be received during a first plurality of subframes, and downlink transmissions from the RN to a UE are indicated by the control information to be transmitted during a second plurality of subframes;

decode a downlink transmission received from the eNB during the first plurality of subframes; and

encode the downlink transmission received at the RN for transmission to the UE during the second plurality of subframes, wherein the first plurality of subframes are time multiplexed with the second plurality of subframes; and

memory configured to store the control information from the eNB.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of subframes and the second plurality of subframes are downlink subframes.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

decode the downlink transmission from the eNB, wherein the downlink transmission from the eNB occurs in a downlink frequency band; and

encode an uplink transmission from the UE for transmission to the eNB in an uplink frequency band.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the C-RNTI is indicative of at least one UE selected for relay assistance by the RN, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

select the UE from the at least one UE to receive the retransmission of the downlink transmission based on the determined C-RNTI.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

receive the control information via a control channel on a physical resource block (PRB), wherein the control channel is non-interleaved with other control channels in the PRB.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

decode an uplink transmission received from the UE and designated for the eNB; and

encode the uplink transmission for re-transmission to the eNB.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

decode a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) from the eNB for the uplink transmission, wherein the HARQ indicates at least failure of control information received by the eNB via an uplink control channel.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

encode the control information for transmission to the eNB using the uplink control channel.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

encode a HARQ for transmission to the eNB in response to the downlink transmission; and

in response to the HARQ, decode a re-transmission of the downlink transmission received from the eNB.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

encode a HARQ-acknowledgement (ACK) for transmission to the eNB in response to the downlink re-transmission.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more antennas; and

.

transceiver circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry and the one or more antennas, and configured to receive the control information from the eNB.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

encode the downlink transmission received at the RN for retransmission to the UE during the second plurality of subframes.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

demodulate the control information based on cell-specific reference signals from the eNB.

14. An apparatus of a relay node (RN), comprising memory coupled to processing circuitry, the processing circuitry configured to:

decode control information from an evolved Node-B (eNB) using cyclic redundancy check information scrambled by a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) associated with the eNB, the control information indicating a subframe configuration for time multiplexing eiNB-RN transmissions and RN-user equipment (LIE) transmissions, decode a downlink transmission received from the eNB during a first plurality of subframes; and

encode the downlink transmission for retransmission to the UE during a second plurality of subframes, wherein the first plurality of subframes are time multiplexed with the second plurality of subframes, and wherein the first plurality of subframes and the second plurality of subframes are downlink subframes.