Providing a downlink control structure in a first carrier to indicate information in a second different carrier

• US 10,548,135 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2019
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Tee, Lai King, Song, Yi, Li, Jun, Tang, Yuqiang, Wang, Neng
• Primary Examiner(s): Elpenord, Candal
• Application Number:
  US16/255,126
• Publication Number:
  US 20190174499A1
• Time in Patent Office: 370 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A mobile station receives a downlink control structure in a first carrier, where the downlink control structure indicates that control information for the mobile station is on a second, different carrier. The mobile station decodes the control information in the second carrier, where the control information specitl.es resource allocation of a wireless link for the mobile station. More specifically, according to some implementations, the control channel in the first carrier specifies the resource allocation for an extended control channel in the second carrier, where the extended control channel specifies the resource allocation for traffic data of a wireless link for the mobile station.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor in communication with the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to;

generate instructions to cause transmission of control information in resource blocks (RBs) of a physical downlink shared channel region on a first component carrier among a plurality of component carriers to a mobile station, wherein the plurality of component carriers comprises the first component carrier and a second component carrier, wherein the physical downlink shared channel region is located within orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols following the physical downlink control channel region in a subframe, wherein the second component carrier is different than the first component carrier, wherein the control information indicates a resource assignment for the mobile station on the second component carrier, and wherein the second component carrier is identified in the control information of the first component carrier by a component carrier number; and

generate instructions to cause communication with the mobile station using the control information of the first component carrier and the resource assignment on the second component carrier.

2. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

generate instructions to cause transmission of higher layer signaling to the mobile station, the higher layer signaling indicating information for locating control information on at least the first component carrier among the plurality of component carriers.

3. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein each component carrier among the plurality of component carriers appears as a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) carrier.

4. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein each component carrier among the plurality of component carriers has a separate physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), and physical hybrid automatic repeat request indicator channel (PHICH).

5. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

generate instructions to cause transmission of data to the mobile station using both the first component carrier and the second component carrier.

6. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

generate instructions to cause communication with the mobile station to establish carrier aggregation of the plurality of carriers for the mobile station.

7. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the first and second component carriers are non-contiguous.

8. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the RBs are divided into resource element groups (REGs) and control channel elements (CCEs) that are configured for signaling to a plurality of mobile stations.

9. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate instructions to cause transmission of a downlink control structure to the mobile station that indicates that the control information is on the first component carrier;

wherein transmitting the control information is based on the downlink control structure.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor in communication with the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to;

receive, from a base station, control information in resource blocks (RBs) of a physical downlink shared channel region on a first component carrier among a plurality of component carriers, wherein the plurality of component carriers comprises the first component carrier and a second component carrier, wherein the physical downlink shared channel region is located within orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols following the physical downlink control channel region in a subframe, wherein the second component carrier is different than the first component carrier, wherein the control information indicates a resource assignment for the apparatus on the second component carrier, and wherein the second component carrier is identified in the control information of the first component carrier by a component carrier number; and

generate instructions to cause communication with the base station using the control information of the first component carrier and the resource assignment on the second component carrier.

11. The apparatus of claim 10,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive, from the base station, higher layer signaling indicating information for locating control information on at least the first component carrier among the plurality of component carriers.

12. The apparatus of claim 10,

wherein each component carrier among the plurality of component carriers appears as a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) carrier.

13. The apparatus of claim 10,

wherein each component carrier among the plurality of component carriers has a separate physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), and physical hybrid automatic repeat request indicator channel (PHICH).

14. The apparatus of claim 10,

wherein to communicate with the base station, the at least one processor is further configured to receive data from the base station using both the first component carrier and the second component carrier.

15. The apparatus of claim 10,

the at least one processor is further configured to establish carrier aggregation of the plurality of carriers for the mobile station.

16. The apparatus of claim 10,

wherein the first and second component carriers are non-contiguous.

17. The apparatus of claim 10,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive a downlink control structure from the base station that indicates that the control information is on the first component carrier;

wherein receiving the control information is based on the downlink control structure.

18. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

a mobile station,

receiving, from a base station, higher layer signaling indicating information for locating control information on at least a first component carrier among a plurality of component carriers;

receiving, from the base station, control information in resource blocks (RBs) of physical downlink shared channel region on a first component carrier among a plurality of component carriers based in part on the higher layer signaling, wherein the RBs including the control information are divided into resource element groups (REGs) and control channel elements (CCEs), wherein the plurality of component carriers comprises the first component carrier and a second component carrier, wherein the physical downlink shared channel region is located within orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols following the physical downlink control channel region in a subframe, wherein the second component carrier is different than the first component carrier, wherein the control information indicates a resource assignment for the mobile station on the second component carrier, and wherein the second component carrier is identified in the control information of the first component carrier by a component carrier number; and

performing communication with the base station using the control information of the first component carrier and the resource assignment on the second component carrier.

19. The method of claim 18,

wherein the RBs including the control information are not contiguous.

20. The method of claim 18,

wherein each component carrier among the plurality of component carriers appears as a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) carrier.