Harq Failure Indication Over Iub-Interface

• US 20080273454A1
• Filed: 01/26/2006
• Published: 11/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Pirskanen, Juho, Malkamaki, Esa
• Granted Patent: US 8,169,892 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/216
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0082 fields explicitly indicating existence of error in data being transmitted, e.g. so that downstream stations can avoid decoding erroneous packet; relays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1664 the supervisory signal being transmitted together with payload signals; piggybacking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1838 for semi-reliable protocols, e.g. for less sensitive applications such as streaming video buffer level management for video bitstream receiver H04N21/44004
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 Access point controller devices

Abstract

The specification and drawings present a new method, system, apparatus and software product for improving the performance of an uplink communication utilizing a hybrid automatic repeat protocol (HARQ) by an HARQ failure indication over Iub-interface (e.g., from a node B to a radio network controller, RNC) in mobile communication networks including a number of HARQ retransmissions before said failure occurred.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

attempting unsuccessfully to decode uplink data by a network element using a hybrid automatic repeat request protocol; and

selectively reporting to a further network element an indication of a HARQ failure of said attempting, wherein said indication comprises a number of HARQ retransmission attempts performed until the HARQ failure occurs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said hybrid automatic repeat request protocol is configured to use N retransmissions until the HARQ failure occurs, N being an integer of zero or more which does not exceed a maximum number of allowed retransmissions.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said attempting is interpreted as the HARQ failure by said network element using a predetermined criterion.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

further reporting a time when said HARQ failure occurred or was detected by the network element.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said HARQ failure is reported every time the HARQ failure is detected by the network element.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said network element is a node B of a mobile communication system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said reporting of said indication of the HARQ failure is performed using a frame protocol header.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said reporting of said indication of the HARQ failure is performed using a control frame.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said reporting of said indication of the HARQ failure is performed using a stand alone frame.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said HARQ failure is indicated by using a predetermined value for a one-bit flag.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said HARQ failure is indicated by using a predetermined value for a number of MAC-es protocol data units field.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein a value of zero is used for said number of MAC-es protocol data units field.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said HARQ failure is indicated by using a predetermined value for a data description indicator.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said data description indicator has a binary value 111111.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said reporting of said indication of the HARQ failure is performed using incorporating said reporting into a data frame containing decoded data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein for each said HARQ failure indication in the data frame, a number of subframes field is incremented by one.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said further network element is a radio network controller.

18. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage structure embodying computer program code thereon for execution by a computer processor with said computer program code, wherein said computer program code comprises instructions for performing the method of claim 1, indicated as being performed by component or a combination of components of said network element or said further network element.

19. A network element, comprising:

a HARQ decoder module, configured to attempt decoding uplink data using a hybrid automatic repeat request protocol; and

a failure reporting generator, configured to selectively report to a further network element an indication of a HARQ failure of said attempting, wherein said indication comprises a number of HARQ retransmission attempts performed until the HARQ failure occurs.

20. The network element of claim 19, wherein said hybrid automatic repeat request protocol is configured to use N retransmissions until the HARQ failure occurs, N being an integer of zero or more which does not exceed a maximum number of allowed retransmissions.

21. The network element of claim 19, wherein said failure reporting generator is configured to interpret said attempting as the HARQ failure using a predetermined criterion.

22. The network element of claim 19, wherein said network element is for mobile wireless communications.

23. The network element of claim 19, wherein said HARQ decoder module and said failure reporting generator are combined in one module.

24. The network element of claim 19, wherein said failure reporting generator is configured to report said HARQ failure every time the HARQ failure is detected by the network element.

25. The network element of claim 19, wherein said failure reporting generator is configured to report said indication of the HARQ failure using a control frame.

26. The network element of claim 19, wherein said failure reporting generator is configured to report said indication of the HARQ failure using a stand alone frame.

27. The network element of claim 19, wherein said failure reporting generator is configured to report said indication of the HARQ failure using incorporating said reporting into a data frame containing decoded data.

28. The network element of claim 27, wherein for each said HARQ failure indication in the data frame, a number of subframes field is incremented by one.

29. The network element of claim 19, wherein said HARQ failure is indicated by using a predetermined value for a one-bit flag.

30. The network element of claim 19, wherein said HARQ failure is indicated by using a predetermined value for a number of MAC-es protocol data units field.

31. The network element of claim 30, wherein a value of zero is used for said number of MAC-es protocol data units field.

32. The network element of claim 19, wherein said HARQ failure is indicated by using a predetermined value for a data description indicator.

33. The network element of claim 32, wherein said data description indicator has a binary value 111111.

34. The network element of claim 19, wherein said failure reporting generator is configured to report said indication of the HARQ failure using a frame protocol header.

35. A mobile communication system, comprising:

a user equipment, configured to transmit and retransmit an uplink data signal;

a network element, responsive to said uplink data signal, configured to decode uplink data contained in said uplink data signal using a hybrid automatic repeat request protocol, configured to provide a HARQ failure indication signal comprising indication of a HARQ failure of said attempting, wherein said indication comprises a number of HARQ transmission attempts performed until the HARQ failure occurs; and

a further network element, responsive to said HARQ failure indication signal.

36. The mobile communication system of claim 35, wherein said network element is configured to interpret said attempting as the HARQ failure using a predetermined criterion.

37. The mobile communication system of claim 35, wherein said failure reporting generator is configured to report said HARQ failure every time the HARQ failure is detected by the network element.

38. A network element, comprising:

means for decoding, for attempting to decode uplink data using a hybrid automatic repeat request protocol; and

means for reporting, for selectively reporting to a further network element an indication of a HARQ failure of said attempting, wherein said indication comprises a number of HARQ retransmission attempts performed until the HARQ failure occurs.

39. The network element of claim 38, wherein said means for reporting is a failure reporting generator which is configured to interpret said attempting as the HARQ failure using a predetermined criterion.