METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SENDING DATA AND CONTROL INFORMATION IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20080090528A1
• Filed: 07/05/2007
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Malladi, Durga
• Granted Patent: US 8,374,161 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0004 applied to control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/001 applied to control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0057 Block codes H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0073 Special arrangements for feedback channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1671 the supervisory signal being transmitted together with control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/0008 arrangements for allowing a transmitter or receiver to use more than one type of modulation negotiating modulation type for two-way transmission paths H04L5/1453
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2613 Structure of the reference signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

Techniques for sending control information in a communication system are described. In an aspect, control information may be sent in a first frequency location (e.g., a first set of subcarriers) if data is not being sent and in a second frequency location (e.g., a second set of subcarriers) if data is being sent. In another aspect, control information may be processed in accordance with a first processing scheme if data is not being sent and with a second processing scheme if data is being sent. In one design of the first scheme, a CAZAC sequence may be modulated with each modulation symbol for control information to obtain a corresponding modulated CAZAC sequence, which may be sent on the first set of subcarriers. In one design of the second scheme, modulation symbols for control information may be combined with modulation symbols for data, transformed to frequency domain, and mapped to the second set of subcarriers.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor configured to send control information in a first frequency location if data is not being sent, and to send control information and data in a second frequency location different from the first frequency location if data is being sent; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive an assignment of subcarriers for downlink transmission, and to determine the first frequency location based on the assignment.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first frequency location corresponds to a first set of subcarriers assigned for sending control information, and wherein the second frequency location corresponds to a second set of subcarriers assigned for sending data.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send control information, or data, or both control information and data on contiguous subcarriers in each symbol period in which control information or data or both are sent.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein if data is not being sent the at least one processor is configured to generate symbols for control information and to map the symbols for control information to a first set of subcarriers corresponding to the first frequency location.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein if data is being sent the at least one processor is configured to generate symbols for control information and data and to map the symbols for control information and data to a second set of subcarriers corresponding to the second frequency location.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) symbols with control information mapped to the first frequency location if data is not being sent, and to generate SC-FDM symbols with control information and data mapped to the second frequency location if data is being sent.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send control information in different frequency locations in different time intervals with frequency hopping.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control information comprises at least one of acknowledgement (ACK) information and channel quality indicator (CQI) information.

10. A method comprising:

sending control information in a first frequency location if data is not being sent; and

sending control information and data in a second frequency location different from the first frequency location if data is being sent.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving an assignment of subcarriers for downlink transmission; and

determining the first frequency location based on the assignment.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the sending control information in the first frequency location comprises

generating symbols for control information, and

mapping the symbols for control information to a first set of subcarriers corresponding to the first frequency location.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the sending control information and data in the second frequency location comprises

generating symbols for control information and data, and

mapping the symbols for control information and data to a second set of subcarriers corresponding to the second frequency location.

14. An apparatus comprising:

means for sending control information in a first frequency location if data is not being sent; and

means for sending control information and data in a second frequency location different from the first frequency location if data is being sent.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

means for receiving an assignment of subcarriers for downlink transmission; and

means for determining the first frequency location based on the assignment.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the means for sending control information in the first frequency location comprises

means for generating symbols for control information, and

means for mapping the symbols for control information to a first set of subcarriers corresponding to the first frequency location.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for sending control information and data in the second frequency location comprises

means for generating symbols for control information and data, and

means for mapping the symbols for control information and data to a second set of subcarriers corresponding to the second frequency location.

18. A processor-readable medium including instructions stored thereon, comprising:

a first instruction set for sending control information in a first frequency location if data is not being sent; and

a second instruction set for sending control information and data in a second frequency location different from the first frequency location if data is being sent.

19. The processor-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising:

a third instruction set for receiving an assignment of subcarriers for downlink transmission; and

a fourth instruction set for determining the first frequency location based on the assignment.

20. The processor-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the first instruction set comprises

a third instruction set for generating symbols for control information, and

a fourth instruction set for mapping the symbols for control information to a first set of subcarriers corresponding to the first frequency location.

21. The processor-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the second instruction set comprises

a fifth instruction set for generating symbols for control information and data, and

a sixth instruction set for mapping the symbols for control information and data to a second set of subcarriers corresponding to the second frequency location.

22. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor configured to receive control information from a user equipment (UE) in a first frequency location if data is not sent by the UE, and to receive control information and data from the UE in a second frequency location different from the first frequency location if data is sent by the UE; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send an assignment of subcarriers for downlink transmission to the UE, and to determine the first frequency location based on the assignment.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein if data is not sent by the UE the at least one processor is configured to obtain received symbols from a first set of subcarriers corresponding to the first frequency location, and to obtain demodulated symbols based on the received symbols.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein if data is sent by the UE the at least one processor is configured to obtain received symbols from a second set of subcarriers corresponding to the second frequency location, to obtain demodulated symbols based on the received symbols, and to demultiplex the demodulated symbols to obtain demodulated symbols for control information and demodulated symbols for data.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one processor is configured to process received single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) symbols to obtain received symbols for control information from the first frequency location if data is not sent by the UE, and to process the received SC-FDM symbols to obtain received symbols for control information and data from the second frequency location if data is sent by the UE.

27. A method comprising:

receiving control information from a user equipment (UE) in a first frequency location if data is not sent by the UE; and

receiving control information and data from the UE in a second frequency location different from the first frequency location if data is sent by the UE.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

sending an assignment of subcarriers for downlink transmission to the UE; and

determining the first frequency location based on the assignment.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the receiving control information from the UE in the first frequency location comprises

obtaining received symbols from a first set of subcarriers corresponding to the first frequency location, and

obtaining demodulated symbols based on the received symbols.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the receiving control information and data from the UE in the second frequency location comprises

obtaining received symbols from a second set of subcarriers corresponding to the second frequency location,

obtaining demodulated symbols based on the received symbols, and

demultiplexing the demodulated symbols to obtain demodulated symbols for control information and demodulated symbols for data.

31. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor configured to process control information in accordance with a first processing scheme if data is not being sent, and to process control information in accordance with a second processing scheme if data is being sent; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein for the first processing scheme the at least one processor is configured to process control information to obtain modulation symbols, to modulate a CAZAC (constant amplitude zero auto-correlation) sequence with each of the modulation symbols to obtain a corresponding modulated CAZAC sequence, and to map each modulated CAZAC sequence to a set of subcarriers.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the CAZAC sequence is a Chu sequence or a Zadoff-Chu sequence of length M, where M is the number of subcarriers in the set of subcarriers.

34. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the CAZAC sequence has a small non-zero autocorrelation and small variations in amplitude.

35. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein for the second processing scheme the at least one processor is configured to process control information to obtain modulation symbols, to combine the modulation symbols for control information with modulation symbols for data, and to map the combined modulation symbols to a set of subcarriers.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the at least one processor is configured to multiplex the modulation symbols for control information with the modulation symbols for data to combine the modulation symbols.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the at least one processor is configured to puncture selected ones of the modulation symbols for data with the modulation symbols for control information to combine the modulation symbols.

38. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein for the second processing scheme the at least one processor is configured to transform the combined modulation symbols from time domain to frequency domain to obtain frequency-domain symbols, and to map the frequency-domain symbols to the set of subcarriers.

39. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the at least one processor is configured to obtain frequency-domain symbols for control information if data is not being sent and for control information and data if data is being set, and to generate single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) symbols based on the frequency-domain symbols.

40. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the control information comprises an acknowledgement (ACK).

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein for the first processing scheme the at least one processor is configured to map the ACK to a modulation symbol, to modulate a Chu sequence or a Zadoff-Chu sequence with the modulation symbol to obtain a modulated Chu sequence, and to map the modulated Chu sequence to a set of subcarriers.

42. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein for the second processing scheme the at least one processor is configured to map the ACK to a modulation symbol, to repeat the modulation symbol multiple times to obtain repeated modulation symbols, and to combine the repeated modulation symbols with modulation symbols for data.

43. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein for the second processing scheme the at least one processor is configured to map the ACK to a modulation symbol, to spread the modulation symbol with an orthogonal sequence to obtain spread modulation symbols, and to combine the spread modulation symbols with modulation symbols for data.

44. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate modulation symbols for control information based on a first modulation scheme if data is not being sent, and to generate the modulation symbols for control information based on a second modulation scheme if data is being sent.

45. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the first modulation scheme is a fixed modulation scheme and the second modulation scheme is used for data.

46. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the at least one processor is configured to encode control information based on a first coding scheme if data is not being sent, and to encode control information based on a second coding scheme if data is being sent.

47. A method comprising:

processing control information in accordance with a first processing scheme if data is not being sent; and

processing control information in accordance with a second processing scheme if data is being sent.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the processing control information in accordance with the first processing scheme comprises

processing control information to obtain modulation symbols,

modulating a CAZAC (constant amplitude zero auto-correlation) sequence with each the modulation symbols to obtain a corresponding modulated CAZAC sequence, and

mapping each modulated CAZAC sequence to a set of subcarriers.

49. The method of claim 47, wherein the processing control information in accordance with the second processing scheme comprises

processing control information to obtain modulation symbols,

combining the modulation symbols for control information with modulation symbols for data,

transforming the combined modulation symbols from time domain to frequency domain to obtain frequency-domain symbols, and

mapping the frequency-domain symbols to a set of subcarriers.

50. The method of claim 47, wherein the control information comprises an acknowledgement (ACK), and wherein the processing control information in accordance with the first processing scheme comprises

mapping the ACK to a modulation symbol,

modulating a Chu sequence or a Zadoff-Chu sequence with the modulation symbol to obtain a modulated Chu sequence, and

mapping the modulated Chu sequence to a set of subcarriers.

51. The method of claim 47, wherein the control information comprises an acknowledgement (ACK), and wherein the processing control information in accordance with the second processing scheme comprises

mapping the ACK to a modulation symbol,

combining the modulation symbol for the ACK with modulation symbols for data,

transforming the combined modulation symbols from time domain to frequency domain to obtain frequency-domain symbols, and

mapping the frequency-domain symbols to a set of subcarriers.

52. The method of claim 47, wherein the processing control information in accordance with the first processing scheme comprises generating modulation symbols for control information based on a predetermined modulation scheme, and wherein the processing control information in accordance with the second processing scheme comprises generating the modulation symbols for control information based on a modulation scheme used for data.

53. An apparatus comprising:

means for processing control information in accordance with a first processing scheme if data is not being sent; and

means for processing control information in accordance with a second processing scheme if data is being sent.

54. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the means for processing control information in accordance with the first processing scheme comprises

means for processing control information to obtain modulation symbols,

means for modulating a CAZAC (constant amplitude zero auto-correlation) sequence with each the modulation symbols to obtain a corresponding modulated CAZAC sequence, and

means for mapping each modulated CAZAC sequence to a set of subcarriers.

55. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the means for processing control information in accordance with the second processing scheme comprises

means for processing control information to obtain modulation symbols,

means for combining the modulation symbols for control information with modulation symbols for data,

means for transforming the combined modulation symbols from time domain to frequency domain to obtain frequency-domain symbols, and

means for mapping the frequency-domain symbols to a set of subcarriers.

56. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the means for processing control information in accordance with the first processing scheme comprises means for generating modulation symbols for control information based on a predetermined modulation scheme, and wherein the means for processing control information in accordance with the second processing scheme comprises means for generating the modulation symbols for control information based on a modulation scheme used for data.

57. A processor-readable medium including instructions stored thereon, comprising:

a first instruction set for processing control information in accordance with a first processing scheme if data is not being sent; and

a second instruction set for processing control information in accordance with a second processing scheme if data is being sent.

58. The processor-readable medium of claim 57, wherein the first instruction set comprises

a third instruction set for processing control information to obtain modulation symbols,

a fourth instruction set for modulating a CAZAC (constant amplitude zero auto-correlation) sequence with each the modulation symbols to obtain a corresponding modulated CAZAC sequence, and

a fifth instruction set for mapping each modulated CAZAC sequence to a set of subcarriers.

59. The processor-readable medium of claim 57, wherein the second instruction set comprises

a third instruction set for processing control information to obtain modulation symbols,

a fourth instruction set for combining the modulation symbols for control information with modulation symbols for data,

a fifth instruction set for transforming the combined modulation symbols from time domain to frequency domain to obtain frequency-domain symbols, and

a sixth instruction set for mapping the frequency-domain symbols to a set of subcarriers.

60. The processor-readable medium of claim 57, wherein the first instruction set comprises a third instruction set for generating modulation symbols for control information based on a predetermined modulation scheme, and wherein the second instruction set comprises a fourth instruction set for generating the modulation symbols for control information based on a modulation scheme used for data.

61. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor configured to obtain received symbols for a user equipment (UE), to process the received symbols in accordance with a first processing scheme to obtain control information for the UE if data is not sent by the UE, and to process the received symbols in accordance with a second processing scheme to obtain control information for the UE if data is sent by the UE; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

62. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein for the first processing scheme the at least one processor is configured to perform detection on the received symbols based on a CAZAC (constant amplitude zero auto-correlation) sequence to obtain demodulated symbols, and to process the demodulated symbols to obtain control information sent by the UE.

63. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein for the second processing scheme the at least one processor is configured to perform detection on the received symbols to obtain detected symbols, to transform the detected symbols from frequency domain to time domain to obtain demodulated symbols, and to process the demodulated symbols to obtain control information sent by the UE.

64. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein the at least one processor is configured to process received single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) symbols to obtain received symbols for N total subcarriers, where N is greater than one, and to provide received symbols from subcarriers assigned to the UE as the received symbols for the UE.

65. A method comprising:

obtaining received symbols for a user equipment (UE);

processing the received symbols in accordance with a first processing scheme to obtain control information for the UE if data is not sent by the UE; and

processing the received symbols in accordance with a second processing scheme to obtain control information for the UE if data is sent by the UE.

66. The method of claim 65, wherein the processing the received symbols in accordance with the first processing scheme comprises

performing detection on the received symbols based on a CAZAC (constant amplitude zero auto-correlation) sequence to obtain demodulated symbols, and

processing the demodulated symbols to obtain control information sent by the UE.

67. The method of claim 65, wherein the processing the received symbols in accordance with the second processing scheme comprises

performing detection on the received symbols to obtain detected symbols,

transforming the detected symbols from frequency domain to time domain to obtain demodulated symbols, and

processing the demodulated symbols to obtain control information sent by the UE.

68. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor configured to determine a frequency location to use for control information based on an assignment for downlink transmission, to process control information based on a CAZAC (constant amplitude zero auto-correlation) sequence to obtain modulated symbols, and to send the modulated symbols in the frequency location determined based on the assignment; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

69. The apparatus of claim 68, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate modulation symbols for control information, to modulate the CAZAC sequence with each of the modulation symbols to obtain a corresponding modulated CAZAC sequence of modulated symbols, and to send each modulated CAZAC sequence in the frequency location.

70. The apparatus of claim 69, wherein the CAZAC sequence is a Chu sequence or a Zadoff-Chu sequence.

71. The apparatus of claim 68, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send the modulated symbols in different frequency locations in different time intervals with frequency hopping.

72. A method comprising:

determining a frequency location to use for control information based on an assignment for downlink transmission;

processing control information based on a CAZAC (constant amplitude zero auto-correlation) sequence to obtain modulated symbols; and

sending the modulated symbols in the frequency location determined based on the assignment.

73. The method of claim 72, wherein the processing control information based on the CAZAC sequence comprises

generating modulation symbols for control information,

modulating the CAZAC sequence with each of the modulation symbols to obtain a corresponding modulated CAZAC sequence of modulated symbols, and

mapping each modulated CAZAC sequence in the frequency location.