METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING A NEW DATA INDICATOR IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20100067468A1
• Filed: 09/08/2009
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Ho, Sai Yiu Duncan, Meylan, Arnaud
• Granted Patent: US 9,100,179 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]

Abstract

Systems and methodologies are described herein that facilitate techniques for managing respective original transmissions and re-transmissions of information within a wireless communication system. Various mechanisms are described herein for processing a new data indicator (NDI) associated with respective transmissions conducted for one or more Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) processes. For example, for a HARQ process shared between distinct scheduling schemes, an NDI associated with a latter transmission can be regarded as toggled irrespective of the value of the NDI upon recognizing that a utilized scheduling scheme (e.g., as indicated via a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) or the like) has changed between successive transmissions (e.g., from semi-persistent scheduling to dynamic scheduling), thereby allowing processing of the latter transmission as a transmission of new data. As additionally described herein, various techniques are described herein for NDI processing in the case of uplink grant and downlink assignment transmission.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying information relating to an initial transmission for a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process, the information comprising scheduling information and an initial new data indicator (NDI);

identifying information relating to a subsequent transmission for the HARQ process, the information comprising scheduling information and a subsequent NDI; and

processing the subsequent NDI as toggled from the initial NDI irrespective of a value of the subsequent NDI upon determining that the scheduling information changed between the initial transmission and the subsequent transmission for the HARQ process.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the identifying information relating to an initial transmission comprises determining whether semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) or dynamic scheduling is utilized for the initial transmission; and

the identifying information relating to a subsequent transmission comprises determining whether SPS or dynamic scheduling is utilized for the subsequent transmission.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the processing comprises processing the subsequent NDI as toggled from the initial NDI irrespective of a value of the subsequent NDI upon determining that SPS is utilized for the initial transmission and dynamic scheduling is utilized for the subsequent transmission.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the processing comprises processing the subsequent transmission as a transmission of new data.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the identifying information relating to an initial transmission comprises determining a scheduling technique utilized for the initial transmission based on a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the initial transmission; and

the identifying information relating to a subsequent transmission comprises determining a scheduling technique utilized for the subsequent transmission based on a RNTI associated with the subsequent transmission.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the initial transmission or the subsequent transmission comprises an uplink grant transmission.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the identifying information relating to a subsequent transmission comprises identifying information relating to an uplink grant for a given transmission time interval (TTI) received on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) associated with a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) or a temporary C-RNTI; and

the processing comprises considering the subsequent NDI to have been toggled regardless of the value of the subsequent NDI upon determining that the uplink grant is for the C-RNTI and that either an uplink grant has previously been received for an associated SPS C-RNTI or a configured uplink grant has occurred since a previous received uplink grant for the C-RNTI in association with the HARQ process.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the initial transmission or the subsequent transmission comprises a downlink assignment transmission.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the identifying information relating to a subsequent transmission comprises identifying information relating to a downlink assignment for a given TTI received on a PDCCH associated with a C-RNTI or a temporary C-RNTI; and

the processing comprises considering the subsequent NDI to have been toggled regardless of the value of the subsequent NDI upon determining that the downlink assignment is for the C-RNTI and that either a downlink assignment has previously been received for an associated SPS C-RNTI or a configured downlink assignment has been indicated to an associated HARQ entity since a previous received downlink assignment for the C-RNTI in association with the HARQ process.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying information relating to an initial transmission and the identifying information relating to a subsequent transmission are performed for multiple HARQ processes on a per-HARQ process basis.

11. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

a memory that stores data relating to a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process, a first transmission and a second transmission for the HARQ process, and a new data indicator (NDI); and

a processor configured to identify a scheduling format utilized for the first transmission and the second transmission for the HARQ process and to process the NDI as toggled between the first transmission and the second transmission irrespective of a value of the NDI upon determining that a scheduling format utilized for the first transmission and a scheduling format utilized for the second transmission differ.

12. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 11, wherein the scheduling format utilized for the first transmission and the scheduling format utilized for the second transmission respectively comprise semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) or dynamic scheduling.

13. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to process the NDI as toggled irrespective of the value of the NDI upon determining that the scheduling format utilized for the first transmission is SPS and the scheduling format utilized for the second transmission is dynamic scheduling.

14. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to process the NDI as toggled irrespective of the value of the NDI at least in part by processing the second transmission as a transmission of new data.

15. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to identify a scheduling format utilized for the first transmission and the second transmission for the HARQ process based at least in part on radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs) respectively associated with the first transmission and the second transmission.

16. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 11, wherein at least one of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises uplink grant information.

17. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to receive an uplink grant for a given transmission time interval (TTI) on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) associated with a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) or a temporary C-RNTI of the wireless communications apparatus and to consider the NDI to have been toggled regardless of the value of the NDI upon determining that the uplink grant is for the C-RNTI of the wireless communications apparatus and that either an uplink grant has previously been received for a SPS C-RNTI of the wireless communications apparatus or a configured uplink grant has occurred since a previous received uplink grant for the C-RNTI of the wireless communications apparatus in association with the HARQ process.

18. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 11, wherein at least one of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises downlink assignment information.

19. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to receive a downlink assignment for a given transmission time interval (TTI) on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) associated with a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) or a temporary C-RNTI of the wireless communications apparatus and to consider the NDI to have been toggled regardless of the value of the NDI upon determining that the downlink assignment is for the C-RNTI of the wireless communications apparatus and that either a downlink assignment has previously been received for a SPS C-RNTI of the wireless communications apparatus or a configured uplink grant has been indicated to a HARQ entity associated with the wireless communications apparatus since a previous received downlink assignment for the C-RNTI of the wireless communications apparatus in association with the HARQ process.

20. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to manage respective transmissions associated with a plurality of distinct HARQ processes on a per-HARQ process basis.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

means for identifying a first radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with a first transmission for a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process;

means for identifying a second RNTI, disparate from the first RNTI, associated with a second transmission for the HARQ process that occurs subsequent to the first transmission; and

means for processing a new data indicator (NDI) associated with the second transmission as toggled regardless of a value of the NDI.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein:

the means for identifying a first RNTI comprises means for identifying a RNTI associated with a scheduling technique utilized for the first transmission for the HARQ process, wherein the scheduling technique is selected from the group consisting of semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) and dynamic scheduling; and

the means for identifying a second RNTI comprises means for identifying a RNTI associated with a scheduling technique utilized for the second transmission for the HARQ process, wherein the scheduling technique is selected from the group consisting of SPS and dynamic scheduling.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the means for processing comprises means for processing the NDI associated with the second transmission as toggled regardless of the value of the NDI upon determining that SPS is utilized for the first transmission and dynamic scheduling is utilized for the second transmission.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising means for processing the second transmission for the HARQ process as a new transmission.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein at least one of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises an uplink grant.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein:

the means for identifying a first RNTI comprises means for identifying a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) or a temporary C-RNTI for which an uplink grant provided with the first transmission is received; and

the means for identifying a second RNTI comprises means for identifying a SPS C-RNTI on which an uplink grant provided with the second transmission is received.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein at least one of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises a downlink assignment.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein:

the means for identifying a first RNTI comprises means for identifying a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) or a temporary C-RNTI for which a downlink assignment provided with the first transmission is received; and

the means for identifying a second RNTI comprises means for identifying a SPS C-RNTI on which a downlink assignment provided with the second transmission is received.

29. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the means for identifying a first RNTI and the means for identifying a second RNTI are operable for multiple HARQ processes on a per-HARQ process basis.

30. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium, comprising;

code for causing a computer to identify a first radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) used for a first transmission associated with a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process;

code for causing a computer to identify a second RNTI, disparate from the first RNTI, used for a second transmission associated with the HARQ process that occurs subsequent to the first transmission; and

code for causing a computer to process a new data indicator (NDI) associated with the second transmission as toggled regardless of a value of the NDI.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein:

the code for causing a computer to identify a first RNTI comprises code for causing a computer to identify a RNTI associated with a scheduling technique used for the first transmission, wherein the scheduling technique is selected from the group consisting of semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) and dynamic scheduling; and

the code for causing a computer to identify a second RNTI comprises code for causing a computer to identify a RNTI associated with a scheduling technique used for the second transmission, wherein the scheduling technique is selected from the group consisting of SPS and dynamic scheduling.

32. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the code for causing a computer to process comprises code for causing a computer to process the NDI associated with the second transmission as toggled regardless of the value of the NDI upon determining that SPS is utilized for the first transmission and dynamic scheduling is utilized for the second transmission.

33. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing a computer to process the second transmission associated with the HARQ process as a new transmission.

34. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein at least one of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises an uplink grant.

35. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein:

the code for causing a computer to identify a first RNTI comprises code for causing a computer to identify a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) or a temporary C-RNTI for which an uplink grant provided with the first transmission is received; and

the code for causing a computer to identify a second RNTI comprises code for causing a computer to identify a SPS C-RNTI on which an uplink grant provided with the second transmission is received.

36. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein at least one of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises a downlink assignment.

37. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein:

the code for causing a computer to identify a first RNTI comprises code for causing a computer to identify a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) or a temporary C-RNTI for which a downlink assignment provided with the first transmission is received; and

the code for causing a computer to identify a second RNTI comprises code for causing a computer to identify a SPS C-RNTI on which a downlink assignment provided with the second transmission is received.

38. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the code for causing a computer to identify a first RNTI and the code for causing a computer to identify a second RNTI are operable for multiple HARQ processes on a per-HARQ process basis.

39. A method, comprising:

identifying at least one of a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) C-RNTI, or a temporary C-RNTI to be utilized at a given transmission time interval (TTI) in association with a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process;

identifying an uplink grant for the given TTI received on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) for the C-RNTI or temporary C-RNTI or an uplink grant for the given TTI received in a Random Access Response; and

considering a new data indicator (NDI) associated with the uplink grant to have been toggled regardless of a value of the NDI upon determining that the uplink grant is for the C-RNTI and either an uplink grant has been received for the SPS C-RNTI or a configured uplink grant has occurred since a previous received uplink grant for the C-RNTI for the HARQ process.

40. A method, comprising:

identifying at least one of a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) C-RNTI, or a temporary C-RNTI to be utilized at a given transmission time interval (TTI) in association with a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process;

identifying a downlink assignment for the given TTI received on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) for the C-RNTI or temporary C-RNTI; and

considering a new data indicator (NDI) associated with the downlink assignment to have been toggled regardless of a value of the NDI upon determining that the downlink assignment is for the C-RNTI and either a downlink assignment has been received for the SPS C-RNTI or a configured downlink assignment has been indicated to an associated HARQ entity since a previous received downlink assignment for the C-RNTI for the HARQ process.