Transmission of uplink control information in unlicensed spectrum

• US 10,461,895 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2016
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Rosa, Claudio, Tiirola, Esa, Hooli, Kari
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Shailendra
• Application Number:
  US15/574,953
• Publication Number:
  US 20180175973A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,274 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1671 the supervisory signal being transmitted together with control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1858 Transmission or retransmission of more than one copy of acknowledgement message
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/0006 Assessment of spectral gaps suitable for allocating digitally modulated signals, e.g. for carrier allocation in cognitive radio for spectrum sharing between different networks H04W16/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861

Abstract

Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for the transmission of uplink (UL) control information via unlicensed spectrum are provided. One method includes dynamically allocating, by a network node, control channel resources for transmitting of uplink control information (UCI). The method may also include scheduling a user equipment with multiple transmission opportunities for each hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement (A/N) on the control channel in multiple uplink subframes.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code,

wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to

transmit uplink control information in at least one of multiple transmission opportunities scheduled by a network node,

wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting, depending on a success of a listen-before-talk procedure, a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement on control channel resources allocated by the network node, and

wherein said multiple transmission opportunities are scheduled for each hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement on the control channel.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the uplink control information via an unlicensed or shared spectrum, via a licensed assisted access cell, or via a cell employing the listen-before-talk procedure.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user equipment is scheduled for downlink data in a downlink subframe #N and is guaranteed control channel resources in M consecutive uplink subframes.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein, when the listen-before-talk procedure performed by the user equipment before uplink subframe #N+K fails, the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to repeat the listen-before-talk procedure for next M−

1 uplink subframes.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, when the listen before talk procedure succeeds, the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to start transmission of the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement using the control channel resources determined for the downlink subframe #N.

6. The apparatus according to claims 1, wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement only once.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement multiple times.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to transmit the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement using a uplink control channel format capable of containing multiple bits, wherein bit positions are reserved for the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement for multiple downlink subframes.

9. The apparatus according to claims 1, wherein the user equipment is allocated the uplink control channel resource in multiple consecutive uplink subframes.

10. A method, comprising:

transmitting, by a user equipment, uplink control information m at least one of multiple transmission opportunities scheduled by a network node,

wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting, depending on a success of a listen-before-talk procedure, a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement on a uplink control channel resource allocated by the network node, and

wherein said multiple transmission opportunities are scheduled for each hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement on the control channel.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the uplink control information via an unlicensed or shared spectrum, via a licensed assisted access cell, or via a cell employing the listen-before-talk procedure.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the user equipment is scheduled for downlink data in a downlink subframe #N and is guaranteed control channel resources in M consecutive uplink subframes.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein, when the listen-before-talk procedure performed by the user equipment before uplink subframe #N+K fails, the method further comprises repeating the listen-before-talk procedure for next M−

1 uplink subframes.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein, when the listen-before-talk procedure succeeds, the method further comprises starting transmission of hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement using the control channel resources determined for the downlink subframe #N.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement only once.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement multiple times.

17. The method according to claim 10, further comprising transmitting the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement using a uplink control channel format capable of containing multiple bits, wherein bit positions are reserved for the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement for multiple downlink subframes.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code,

wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to

allocate control channel resources for transmitting uplink control information;

schedule a user equipment with multiple transmission opportunities for a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement; and

receive, depending on a success of a listen-before-talk procedure, the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement on a uplink control channel resource allocated by the apparatus, wherein said multiple transmission opportunities are scheduled for each hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement on the control channel.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to receive the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement only once.

20. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to receive the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement multiple times.