Configurable Acknowledgement Processing in a Wireless Communication System

• US 20080253318A1
• Filed: 03/13/2008
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Malladi, Durga Prasad, Kim, Byoung-Hoon
• Granted Patent: US 9,294,231 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• 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 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements

Abstract

Techniques for sending and receiving acknowledgement (ACK) information in a wireless communication system are described. A base station sends control information and data to a user equipment (UE) and receives ACK information from the UE. The base station performs detection for the ACK information based on (i) a first hypothesis for the control information being missed by the UE and (ii) a second hypothesis for the control information being received correctly by the UE. In one design, the ACK information may have a variable size, and the base station may perform detection for the ACK information based on different block codes for the first and second hypotheses. In another design, the ACK information may have a fixed size, and the base station may perform detection for the ACK information based on a single block code and obtain a fixed number of bits for the ACK information for both hypotheses.

Claims

1. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

at least one processor configured to send control information to a user equipment (UE), to send data in accordance with the control information to the UE, to receive acknowledgement (ACK) information from the UE, and to perform detection for the ACK information based on a first hypothesis for the control information being missed by the UE and a second hypothesis for the control information being received correctly by the UE.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive channel quality indicator (CQI) information with the ACK information from the UE, the CQI and ACK information being jointly encoded by the UE based on a block code.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform detection for the ACK information based on a first block code for the first hypothesis, and to perform detection for the ACK information based on a second block code for the second hypothesis.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send one or two codewords of data to the UE, to perform detection for the ACK information based on a first block code if one codeword is sent to the UE, and to perform detection for the ACK information based on a second block code if two codewords are sent to the UE.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to obtain a first number of bits for the ACK information for the first hypothesis, and to obtain a second number of bits for the ACK information for the second hypothesis, the second number of bits being greater than the first number of bits.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send at least one codeword of data to the UE, and wherein the second number of bits is dependent on the number of codewords sent to the UE.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send one or two codewords of data to the UE, to obtain zero bits for the ACK information for the first hypothesis, to obtain one bit for the ACK information for the second hypothesis if one codeword is sent to the UE, and to obtain two bits for the ACK information for the second hypothesis if two codewords are sent to the UE.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform detection for the ACK information based on a single block code for both the first and second hypotheses.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to obtain a fixed number of bits for the ACK information for both the first and second hypotheses.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send at least one codeword of data to the UE, and to receive a fixed number of bits for the ACK information regardless of the number of codewords sent to the UE.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send two codewords of data to the UE, to obtain two bits for the ACK information from the UE, to detect for a first value of the two bits for the ACK information for the first hypothesis, to detect for second, third and fourth values of the two bits for the ACK information for the second hypothesis, to determine that the control information is missed by the UE if the first value is detected, and to determine decoding status of the two codewords based on the second, third and fourth values of the two bits for the ACK information.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine that the two codewords are decoded correctly by the UE if the second value is detected.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine that the two codewords are decoded in error by the UE if the third value is detected.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine that only one of the two codewords is decoded correctly by the UE if the fourth value is detected.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is configured

to receive M bits for channel quality indicator (CQI) information with the two bits for the ACK information from the UE, where M is one or greater, and

to detect for a fifth value for the ACK information based on the M bits for the CQI information.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send one codeword of data to the UE, to obtain two bits for the ACK information from the UE, to detect for a first value of the two bits for the ACK information for the first hypothesis, to detect for second and third values of the two bits for the ACK information for the second hypothesis, to determine that the control information is missed by the UE if the first value is detected, to determine that the codeword is decoded correctly by the UE if the second value is detected, and to determine that the codeword is decoded in error by the UE if the third value is detected.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform detection for the ACK information based on a third hypothesis when no control information and no data are sent to the UE.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform detection for the ACK information based on a third hypothesis when data but no control information is sent to the UE.

19. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

sending control information to a user equipment (UE);

sending data in accordance with the control information to the UE;

receiving acknowledgement (ACK) information from the UE; and

performing detection for the ACK information based on a first hypothesis for the control information being missed by the UE and a second hypothesis for the control information being received correctly by the UE.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the performing detection comprises

performing detection for the ACK information based on a first block code for the first hypothesis,

performing detection for the ACK information based on a second block code for the second hypothesis,

obtaining a first number of bits for the ACK information for the first hypothesis, and

obtaining a second number of bits for the ACK information for the second hypothesis, the second number of bits being greater than the first number of bits.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the performing detection comprises

performing detection for the ACK information based on a first block code if one codeword of data is sent to the UE, and

performing detection for the ACK information based on a second block code if two codewords of data are sent to the UE.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the performing detection comprises

performing detection for the ACK information based on a single block code for both the first and second hypotheses, and

obtaining a fixed number of bits for the ACK information for both the first and second hypotheses.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the sending data comprises sending two codewords of data to the UE, and wherein the performing detection comprises

obtaining two bits for the ACK information from the UE,

detecting for a first value of the two bits for the ACK information for the first hypothesis,

detecting for second, third and fourth values of the two bits for the ACK information for the second hypothesis,

determining that the control information is missed by the UE if the first value is detected, and

determining decoding status of the two codewords based on the second, third and fourth values of the two bits for the ACK information.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the sending data comprises sending one codeword of data to the UE, and wherein the performing detection comprises

obtaining two bits for the ACK information from the UE,

detecting for a first value of the two bits for the ACK information for the first hypothesis,

detecting for second and third values of the two bits for the ACK information for the second hypothesis,

determining that the control information is missed by the UE if the first value is detected,

determining that the codeword is decoded correctly by the UE if the second value is detected, and

determining that the codeword is decoded in error by the UE if the third value is detected.

25. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for sending control information to a user equipment (UE);

means for sending data in accordance with the control information to the UE;

means for receiving acknowledgement (ACK) information from the UE; and

means for performing detection for the ACK information based on a first hypothesis for the control information being missed by the UE and a second hypothesis for the control information being received correctly by the UE.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the means for performing detection comprises

means for performing detection for the ACK information based on a first block code for the first hypothesis,

means for performing detection for the ACK information based on a second block code for the second hypothesis,

means for obtaining a first number of bits for the ACK information for the first hypothesis, and

means for obtaining a second number of bits for the ACK information for the second hypothesis, the second number of bits being greater than the first number of bits.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the means for performing detection comprises

means for performing detection for the ACK information based on a single block code for both the first and second hypotheses, and

means for obtaining a fixed number of bits for the ACK information for both the first and second hypotheses.

28. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to send control information to a user equipment (UE);

code for causing the at least one computer to send data in accordance with the control information to the UE;

code for causing the at least one computer to receive acknowledgement (ACK) information from the UE; and

code for causing the at least one computer to perform detection for the ACK information based on a first hypothesis for the control information being missed by the UE and a second hypothesis for the control information being received correctly by the UE.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises:

code for causing the at least one computer to perform detection for the ACK information based on a first block code for the first hypothesis;

code for causing the at least one computer to perform detection for the ACK information based on a second block code for the second hypothesis;

code for causing the at least one computer to obtain a first number of bits for the ACK information for the first hypothesis; and

code for causing the at least one computer to obtain a second number of bits for the ACK information for the second hypothesis, the second number of bits being greater than the first number of bits.

30. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises:

code for causing the at least one computer to perform detection for the ACK information based on a single block code for both the first and second hypotheses; and

code for causing the at least one computer to obtain a fixed number of bits for the ACK information for both the first and second hypotheses.

31. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

at least one processor configured to send data to a user equipment (UE), to receive acknowledgement (ACK) information from the UE, and to perform detection for the ACK information based on whether or not control information for the data is sent to the UE and content of the control information if sent.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send control information for the data to the UE, and to perform detection for the ACK information based on a first hypothesis for the control information being missed by the UE and a second hypothesis for the control information being received correctly by the UE.

33. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send control information indicating number of codewords allocated to the UE, and to perform detection for the ACK information based on the number of codewords allocated to the UE.

34. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send no control information for the data to the UE, and to perform detection for the ACK information based on no control information being sent to the UE.

35. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

at least one processor configured to determine whether control information for data is received, to determine whether data is decoded correctly, and to generate acknowledgement (ACK) information based on whether or not control information is received, content of the control information if received, and decoding results for the data.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the at least one processor is configured to encode the ACK information based on a first block code if control information is not received, and to encode the ACK information based on a second block code if control information is received.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the at least one processor is configured to encode the ACK information based on a first block code if one codeword of data is received, and to encode the ACK information based on a second block code if two codewords of data is received.

38. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate zero bits for the ACK information if control information is not received, to generate one bit for the ACK information if one codeword of data is received, and to generate two bits for the ACK information if two codewords of data are received.

39. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate a fixed number of bits for the ACK information regardless of whether or not control information is received and regardless of the number of codewords of data received.

40. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate two bits for the ACK information, to set the two bits to a first value if control information is not received, to set the two bits to second, third or fourth value if control information is received, and to select the second, third or fourth value for the two bits based on whether one or two codewords of data are received and decoding results for the one or two codewords.

41. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

determining whether control information for data is received;

determining whether data is decoded correctly; and

generating acknowledgement (ACK) information based on whether or not control information is received, content of the control information if received, and decoding results for the data.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the generating the ACK information comprises

encoding the ACK information based on a first block code if control information is not received, and

encoding the ACK information based on a second block code if control information is received.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the generating the ACK information comprises

encoding the ACK information based on a first block code if one codeword of data is received, and

encoding the ACK information based on a second block code if two codewords of data is received.

44. The method of claim 41, wherein the generating the ACK information comprises

generating zero bits for the ACK information if control information is not received,

generating one bit for the ACK information if one codeword of data is received, and

generating two bits for the ACK information if two codewords of data are received.

45. The method of claim 41, wherein the generating the ACK information comprises

generating a fixed number of bits for the ACK information regardless of whether or not control information is received and regardless of the number of codewords of data received.

46. The method of claim 41, wherein the generating the ACK information comprises

generating two bits for the ACK information, setting the two bits to a first value if control information is not received,

setting the two bits to second, third or fourth value if control information is received, and

selecting the second, third or fourth value for the two bits based on whether one or two codewords of data are received and decoding results for the one or two codewords.