Flexible grant-free resource configuration signaling

• US 10,645,730 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2018
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Cao, Yu, Zhang, Liqing, Ma, Jianglei
• Primary Examiner(s): Sweet, Lonnie V
• Application Number:
  US15/868,657
• Publication Number:
  US 20180295651A1
• Time in Patent Office: 845 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

An embodiment method for grant-free resource configuration comprises configuring a first type of grant-free resource, wherein the first type of grant-free resource is cell-specific and is configured using broadcast signaling, and wherein the first type of grant-free resource is accessible to a UE without further configuration; and configuring a second type of grant-free resource, wherein the second type of grant-free resource is UE-specific and is configured using a combination of broadcast signaling and unicast/multicast signaling, and wherein the second type of grant-free resource is accessible to a UE only after the unicast/multicast configuration.

Claims

1. A method for grant-free (GF) transmissions, the method comprising:

receiving, by a user equipment (UE), a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signal specifying at least a UE-specific GF radio network temporary identifier (GF-RNTI), wherein the UE-specific GF-RNTI is different from a cell-RNTI (C-RNTI) for a grant-based initial transmission or retransmission of the grant-based initial transmission;

performing, by the UE, a GF uplink (UL) transmission in a transmission resource without receiving a downlink control information (DCI) signal for allocation of the transmission resource;

receiving, by the UE, a UL grant; and

Performing, by the UE, a grant-based UL retransmission of the GF UL transmission using the UL grant and the UE-specific GF-RNTI.

2. The method of claim 1, the receiving the UL grant comprising;

detecting, by the UE, the DCI signal in a search space of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) using the UE-specific GF-RNTI, the DCI signal comprising information about the grant based UL retransmission.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the DCI signal comprises GF specific configuration parameters.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

performing, by the UE, the GF UL transmission in response to the receiving the RRC signal and before the detecting the DCI signal.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the detecting the DCI signal in the search space of the PDCCH using the UE-specific GF-RNTI comprises:

descrambling, by the UE, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI signal in accordance with the UE-specific GF-RNTI; and

performing, by the UE, a CRC check of the DCI signal using the descrambled CRC.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to the receiving, performing, by the UE, initial access by sending a preamble through a random access (RA) channel (RACH).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing comprises:

performing, by the UE, the GF UL transmission using a contention transmission unit (CTU) selected based on the UE-specific GF-RNTI.

8. A user equipment (UE) for grant-free (GF) transmissions, the UE comprising:

a non-transitory memory; and

a hardware processor configured to;

receive a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signal specifying at least a UE-specific GF radio network temporary identifier (GF-RNTI), wherein the UE-specific GF-RNTI is different from a cell-RNTI (C-RNTI) for a grant-based initial transmission or retransmission of the grant-based initial transmission;

perform a GF uplink (UL) transmission in a transmission resource without receiving a downlink control information (DCI) signal for allocation of the transmission resource;

receive a UL grant; and

perform a grant-based UL retransmission of the GF UL transmission using the UL grant and the UE-specific GF-RNTI.

9. The UE of claim 8, the hardware processor further configured to receive the UL grant by:

detecting the DCI signal in a search space of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) using the UE-specific GF-RNTI, the DCI signal comprising information about the grant-based UL retransmission.

10. The UE of claim 9, wherein the DCI signal comprises GF specific configuration parameters.

11. The UE of claim 9, the hardware processor further configured to:

perform the GF UL transmission in response to receipt of the RRC signal and before detection of the DCI signal.

12. The UE of claim 9, wherein the hardware processor is configured to detect the DCI signal in the search space of the PDCCH using the UE-specific GF-RNTI by:

descrambling a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI signal in accordance with the UE-specific GF-RNTI; and

performing a CRC check of the DCI signal using the descrambled CRC.

13. The UE of claim 8, the hardware processor further configured to:

prior to receiving the RRC signal, perform initial access by sending a preamble through a random access (RA) channel (RACH).

14. A method for grant-free (GF) transmissions, the method comprising:

transmitting, by a base station to a user equipment (UE), a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signal specifying at least a UE-specific GF radio network temporary identifier (GF-RNTI), wherein the UE-specific GF-RNTI is different from a cell-RNTI (C-RNTI) for a grant-based initial transmission or retransmission of the grant-based initial transmission;

receiving, by the base station, a GF uplink (UL) transmission in a transmission resource without transmitting a downlink control information (DCI) signal to the UE for allocating the transmission resource;

transmitting, by the base station, a UL grant; and

receiving, by the base station, a grant-based UL retransmission of the GF UL transmission using the UL grant and the UE-specific GF-RNTI.

15. The method of claim 14, the transmitting the UL grant comprising:

transmitting, by the base station, the DCI signal comprising information about the grant-based UL retransmission, wherein the UE detect the DCI signal in a search space of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) using the UE-specific GF-RNTI.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the DCI signal comprises GF specific configuration parameters.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving, by the base station, the GF UL transmission in response to the transmitting the RRC signal and before the transmitting the DCI signal.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

prior to the transmitting the RRC signal, receiving, by the base station, initial access by receiving a preamble through a random access (RA) channel (RACH).

19. An apparatus for grant-free (GF) transmissions, the apparatus comprising:

a non-transitory memory; and

a hardware processor configured to;

transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signal specifying at least a UE-specific GF radio network temporary identifier (GF-RNTI), wherein the UE-specific GF-RNTI is different from a cell-RNTI (C-RNTI) for a grant-based initial transmission or retransmission of the grant-based initial transmission;

receive a GF uplink (UL) transmission in a transmission resource without transmitting a downlink control information (DCI) signal to the UE for allocating the transmission resource;

transmit a UL grant; and

receive a grant-based UL retransmission of the GF UL transmission using the UL grant and the UE-specific GF-RNTI.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, the hardware processor further configured to transmit the UL grant by:

transmitting the DCI signal comprising information about the grant-based UL retransmission, wherein the UE detect the DCI signal in a search space of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) using the UE-specific GF-RNTI.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the DCI signal comprises GF specific configuration parameters.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, the hardware processor further configured to:

receive the GF UL transmission in response to the transmitting the RRC signal and before transmitting the DCI signal.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, the hardware processor further configured to:

prior to transmitting the RRC signal, receive initial access by receiving a preamble through a random access (RA) channel (RACH).