Transmission of control information in a wireless network with carrier aggregation

• US 10,524,262 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2016
• Issued: 12/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Damnjanovic, Jelena M., Chen, Wanshi, Montojo, Juan, Wei, Yongbin
• Primary Examiner(s): Lam, Yee F
• Application Number:
  US15/272,937
• Publication Number:
  US 20170013625A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,195 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/22 Repeaters for converting two wires to four wires; Repeaters for converting single current to double current
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• 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 5/0057 Physical resource allocation for CQI
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0058 Allocation criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0078 Timing of allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0091 Signaling for the administration of the divided path
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/32 Hierarchical cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• 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 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

Techniques for sending control information to support operation on multiple component carriers (CCs) are disclosed. A user equipment (UE) may be configured with multiple CCs for carrier aggregation. The multiple CCs may be associated with different uplink-downlink configurations and may have different downlink subframes and uplink subframes. In one aspect, uplink control information (UCI) for a secondary CC (SCC) may be sent on a primary CC (PCC) based on a UCI transmission timeline for the PCC (and not based on a UCI transmission timeline for the SCC). For example, a downlink grant for the SCC may be sent based on a downlink grant transmission timeline for the PCC. In another aspect, uplink grants for an SCC may be sent on the PCC based on an uplink grant transmission timeline for the PCC (and not based on an uplink grant transmission timeline for the SCC).

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

identifying a first component carrier (CC) and a second CC configured for a user equipment (UE) for carrier aggregation, wherein the first CC is associated with a first uplink-downlink configuration and a first uplink Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) timeline and the second CC is associated with a second uplink-downlink configuration, different than the first uplink-downlink configuration, and a second uplink HARQ timeline different than the first HARQ timeline, wherein the first and second uplink HARQ timelines each specifies one or more subframes in which uplink grants can be transmitted to schedule uplink data transmissions in one or more other specified subframes;

determining, based on a comparison of the first uplink-downlink configuration and the second uplink-downlink configuration, whether the first uplink HARQ timeline or the second uplink HARQ timeline is used; and

receiving, in a first subframe, an uplink grant on the first CC, scheduling uplink data transmission in a second subframe on the second CC, based on the determined first or second uplink HARQ timeline.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the first uplink HARQ timeline or the second uplink HARQ timeline is used comprises determining that the uplink HARQ timeline associated with the uplink-downlink configuration that includes more downlink subframes than the other uplink-downlink configuration is used.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink-downlink configuration for the second CC includes more uplink subframes than downlink subframes.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second uplink grant sent on the first CC for uplink data transmission on the first CC, wherein the second uplink grant is sent based on an uplink grant transmission timeline for the uplink-downlink configuration for the first CC.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending uplink data transmission on the second CC; and

receiving acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) for the uplink data transmission on the first CC in a subframe, the subframe being available to send the ACK/NACK and determined based on the first uplink-downlink configuration for the first CC.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a downlink grant sent on the first CC for downlink data transmission on the second CC, wherein the downlink grant is sent based on a downlink grant transmission timeline for the second uplink-downlink configuration for the second CC.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first CC is a downlink primary CC (PCC) and the second CC is an uplink PCC for the UE.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving downlink control information (DCI) on the downlink PCC; and

sending uplink control information UCI on the uplink PCC.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an assignment of the downlink PCC, or uplink PCC, or both for the UE.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first CC is a primary CC (PCC) and the second CC is a secondary CC (SCC) for the UE.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending uplink control information (UCI) for data transmission on the second CC, the UCI being sent on the first CC based on a UCI transmission timeline for the first CC.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending first uplink control information (UCI) on the first CC; and

sending second UCI on the second CC.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first UCI sent on the first CC is for data transmission on the first CC, and wherein the second UCI sent on the second CC is for data transmission on the second CC.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first UCI is sent on the first CC and the second UCI is sent on the second CC in same subframe.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the first UCI is sent on the first CC in a first subframe, and wherein the second UCI is sent on the second CC in a second subframe different from the first subframe.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the second subframe is a downlink subframe for the first CC and is an uplink subframe for the second CC.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine that the uplink HARQ timeline associated with the uplink-downlink configuration that includes more downlink subframes than the other uplink-downlink configuration is used.

17. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

identify a first component carrier (CC) and a second CC configured for a user equipment (UE) for carrier aggregation, wherein the first CC is associated with a first uplink-downlink configuration and a first uplink Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) timeline and the second CC is associated with a second uplink-downlink configuration, different than the first uplink-downlink configuration, and a second uplink HARQ timeline different than the first HARQ timeline, wherein the first and second uplink HARQ timelines each specifies one or more subframes in which uplink grants can be transmitted to schedule uplink data transmissions in one or more other specified subframes;

determine, based on a comparison of the first uplink-downlink configuration and the second uplink-downlink configuration, whether the first uplink HARQ timeline or the second uplink HARQ timeline is used; and

receive, in a first subframe, an uplink grant on the first CC, scheduling uplink data transmission in a second subframe on the second CC, based on the determined first or second uplink HARQ timeline; and

a memory coupled with the at least one processor.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the uplink-downlink configuration for the second CC includes more uplink subframes than downlink subframes.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive a second uplink grant sent on the first CC for uplink data transmission on the first CC, wherein the second uplink grant is sent based on an uplink grant transmission timeline for the uplink-downlink configuration for the first CC.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

send uplink data transmission on the second CC; and

receive acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) for the uplink data transmission on the first CC in a subframe, the subframe being available to send the ACK/NACK and determined based on the first uplink-downlink configuration for the first CC.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive a downlink grant sent on the first CC for downlink data transmission on the second CC, wherein the downlink grant is sent based on a downlink grant transmission timeline for the second uplink-downlink configuration for the second CC.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first CC is a downlink primary CC (PCC) and the second CC is an uplink PCC for the UE.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive downlink control information (DCI) on the downlink PCC; and

send uplink control information UCI on the uplink PCC.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive an assignment of the downlink PCC, or uplink PCC, or both for the UE.

26. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first CC is a primary CC (PCC) and the second CC is a secondary CC (SCC) for the UE.

27. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

sending uplink control information (UCI) for data transmission on the second CC, the UCI being sent on the first CC based on a UCI transmission timeline for the first CC.

28. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

sending first uplink control information (UCI) on the first CC; and

sending second UCI on the second CC.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the first UCI sent on the first CC is for data transmission on the first CC, and wherein the second UCI sent on the second CC is for data transmission on the second CC.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the first UCI is sent on the first CC and the second UCI is sent on the second CC in same subframe.

31. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the first UCI is sent on the first CC in a first subframe, and wherein the second UCI is sent on the second CC in a second subframe different from the first subframe.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the second subframe is a downlink subframe for the first CC and is an uplink subframe for the second CC.

33. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for identifying a first component carrier (CC) and a second CC configured for a user equipment (UE) for carrier aggregation, wherein the first CC is associated with a first uplink-downlink configuration and a first uplink Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) timeline and the second CC is associated with a second uplink-downlink configuration, different than the first uplink-downlink configuration, and a second uplink HARQ timeline different than the first HARQ timeline, wherein the first and second uplink HARQ timelines each specifies one or more subframes in which uplink grants can be transmitted to schedule uplink data transmissions in one or more other specified subframes;

means for determining, based on a comparison of the first uplink-downlink configuration and the second uplink-downlink configuration, whether the first uplink HARQ timeline or the second uplink HARQ timeline is used; and

means for receiving, in a first subframe, an uplink grant on the first CC, scheduling uplink data transmission in a second subframe on the second CC, based on the determined first or second uplink HARQ timeline.

34. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable code stored thereon for:

identifying a first component carrier (CC) and a second CC configured for a user equipment (UE) for carrier aggregation, wherein the first CC is associated with a first uplink-downlink configuration and a first uplink Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) timeline and the second CC is associated with a second uplink-downlink configuration, different than the first uplink-downlink configuration, and a second uplink HARQ timeline different than the first HARQ timeline, wherein the first and second uplink HARQ timelines each specifies one or more subframes in which uplink grants can be transmitted to schedule uplink data transmissions in one or more other specified subframes;

determining, based on a comparison of the first uplink-downlink configuration and the second uplink-downlink configuration, whether the first uplink HARQ timeline or the second uplink HARQ timeline is used; and

receiving, in a first subframe, an uplink grant on the first CC, scheduling uplink data transmission in a second subframe on the second CC, based on the determined first or second uplink HARQ timeline.