SIGNAL TRANSMISSION METHOD AND APPARATUS IN A RELAY COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20120033603A1
• Filed: 04/07/2010
• Published: 02/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Seo, Han-Byul, Kim, Hak-Seong, Kim, Ki-jun, Kwon, Soon-Yil
• Granted Patent: US 9,112,644 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

The present invention relates to a data transmission/receiving method and apparatus in a relay communication system. In particular, the data transmission/receiving method through a backhaul link between a base station and a relay node in a relay communication system comprises: composing a backhaul subframe including a control signal transmission period to which a control signal is allocated and a backhaul signal transmission period to which a backhaul signal is allocated and then allocating the backhaul signal; transmitting configuration information about the backhaul subframe, the information containing symbol position or size data of the backhaul signal transmission period, to the relay node through an upper layer signal; and transmitting the backhaul signal having been allocated through the backhaul subframe to the relay node.

Claims

1. A signal transmission method, in a data transmission/receiving method through a backhaul link between a base station and relay node in a relay communication system, the method comprising:

composing a backhaul subframe including a control signal transmission period to which a control signal is allocated and a backhaul signal transmission period to which a backhaul signal is allocated and then allocating the backhaul signal;

transmitting configuration information about the backhaul subframe, the information containing symbol position or size data of the backhaul signal transmission period, to the relay node through an upper layer signal; and

transmitting the backhaul signal having been allocated through the backhaul subframe to the relay node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the backhaul subframe configuration information comprises a position of a first symbol and/or a position of a last symbol of the backhaul signal transmission period.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the backhaul subframe configuration information comprises the number of symbols and a position of a first symbol or a position of a last symbol of the backhaul signal transmission period.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the backhaul subframe configuration information comprises the number of symbols allocated by the relay node as the control signal transmission period.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the backhaul subframe is a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframe in which one or two symbols are allocated as the control signal transmission period.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the backhaul subframe further comprises an uplink signal reception period, and

wherein the backhaul subframe is a special subframe, located between a downlink subframe and an uplink subframe to transmit a downlink signal to the relay node during the backhaul signal transmission period and receive an uplink signal from the relay node during the uplink signal reception period.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the backhaul subframe configuration information is index information about one-to-one correspondence between the number of symbols allocated as the control signal transmission period and the backhaul subframe structure.

8. A signal transmission method, in a signal transmission/receiving method through a backhaul link between a base station and a relay node and an access link between the relay node and a terminal in a relay communication system, the method comprising:

determining a timing relation between a first subframe to which a backhaul signal transmitted/received through the backhaul link is allocated and a second subframe to which a signal transmitted/received through the access link is allocated;

transmitting position information related to the last symbol to which the backhaul signal of the first subframe is allocated based on the determined timing relation; and

forwarding the backhaul signal to the relay node through the first subframe,

wherein the first subframe variously changes in configuration by adjusting the number of symbols to which the backhaul signal is allocated according to communication environments.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first subframe is aligned with the second subframe with matching timing each other by setting a symbol preceding the last symbol of the first subframe as a last symbol position of the backhaul signal area.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the second subframe is aligned with delayed by a predetermined offset from the first subframe by setting the last symbol of the first subframe as the last symbol position of the backhaul signal area.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the transmitting of the last symbol position information is that Dedicated Reference Signal (DRS) pattern information used in the backhaul signal area is determined by the last symbol position.

12. A signal transmission apparatus, in a data transmission/reception apparatus through a backhaul link between a base station and a relay node in a relay communication system, the apparatus comprising:

a resource allocating unit to allocate a backhaul signal by composing a backhaul subframe, the backhaul subframe containing a control signal transmission period to which a control signal is allocated and a backhaul signal transmission period to which a backhaul signal is allocated; and

a transmitter to transmit configuration information about the backhaul subframe, the information containing symbol position or size data of the backhaul signal transmission period, and the backhaul signal allocated through the backhaul subframe to the relay node.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the backhaul subframe configuration information comprises at least one of a first symbol position and a last symbol position of the backhaul signal transmission period, the number of symbols of the backhaul signal transmission period and the number of symbols allocated as the control signal transmission period.

14. A signal transmission apparatus, in a signal transmission/reception apparatus through a backhaul link between a base station and a relay node and an access link between the relay node and a terminal in a relay communication system, the apparatus comprising:

a controller to determine a timing relation between a first subframe to which a backhaul signal transmitted/received through the backhaul link is allocated and a second subframe to which a signal transmitted/received through the access link is allocated; and

a transmitter to transmit position information related to the last symbol, to which the backhaul signal of the first subframe is allocated based on the determined timing relation, and the backhaul signal,

wherein the controller variously changes the first subframe configuration by adjusting the number of symbols to which the backhaul signal is allocated according to communication environments.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the controller aligns the first subframe and the second subframe to match timing thereof by setting a symbol preceding the last symbol of the backhaul signal area of the first subframe as the last symbol position, or aligns the second subframe with being delayed by a predetermined offset from the first subframe by setting the last symbol of the backhaul signal area of the first subframe as the last symbol position.