APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATION

• US 20120250604A1
• Filed: 10/05/2009
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Lunttila, Timo Erkki, Toskala, Antti Anton, Lindholm, Jari Olavi
• Granted Patent: US 9,204,484 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for communication are provided. The apparatus is configured to: communicate with a network via a cell created by a relay node; receive from the relay node information required in reception of backhaul transmission sent by a base station of the network to the relay node, the transmission including at least one data packet designated to the apparatus and in decoding of the at least one data packet; receive a backhaul transmission sent by a base station of the network to the relay node and decode the at least one data packet from the transmission.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured to:

communicate with a network via a cell created by a relay node;

receive from the relay node information required in reception of backhaul transmission sent by a base station of the network to the relay node, the transmission comprising at least one data packet designated to the apparatus and in decoding of the at least one data packet;

receive a backhaul transmission sent by a base station of the network to the relay node,

decode the at least one data packet from the transmission.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the apparatus being configured to send an acknowledgement to the relay node regarding a data packet successfully decoded from the backhaul transmission.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, the apparatus being configured to send no acknowledgement to a relay node regarding an unsuccessfully decoded data packet.

4. An apparatus configured to:

maintain a cell in a network;

receive a backhaul transmission from a base station of the network, the transmission comprising data packets designated to user equipment communicating with a relay node, and

receive acknowledgement from the user equipment relating to data packets the user equipment received directly from the base station.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the apparatus is configured to

transmit to the user equipment data relating to a channel and/or frame structure of the backhaul transmission.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the apparatus is configured to reserve transmission resources for the user equipment to transmit the acknowledgement.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the apparatus is configured to send the acknowledgement received from the user equipment to the base station.

8. A method comprising:

communicating with a network via a cell created by a relay node;

receiving from the relay node information required in reception of backhaul transmission sent by a base station of the network to the relay node, the transmission comprising at least one data packet designated to the apparatus and in decoding of the at least one data packet;

receiving a backhaul transmission sent by a base station of the network to the relay node,

decoding the at least one data packet from the transmission.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

sending an acknowledgement to the relay node regarding a data packet successfully decoded from the backhaul transmission.

10. A method comprising:

maintaining a cell in a network;

receiving a backhaul transmission from a base station of the network, the transmission comprising data packets designated to user equipment communicating with a relay node, and

receiving acknowledgement from the user equipment relating to data packets the user equipment received directly from the base station.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting to the user equipment data relating to a channel and/or frame structure of the backhaul transmission.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

reserving transmission resources for the user equipment to transmit the acknowledgement.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

sending the acknowledgement received from the user equipment to the base station.

14. An apparatus comprising:

means for communicating with a network via a cell created by a relay node;

means for receiving a backhaul transmission sent by a base station of the network to the relay node, the transmission comprising at least one data packet designated to the apparatus,

means for decoding the at least one data packet from the transmission.

15. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code and operatively connected to the processor,

the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to

communicate with a network via a cell created by a relay node;

receive a backhaul transmission sent by a base station of the net-work to the relay node, the transmission comprising at least one data packet designated to the apparatus,

decode the at least one data packet from the transmission.

16. A computer readable memory embodying a program of instructions executable by a processor to perform actions comprising:

communicating with a network via a cell created by a relay node;

receiving a backhaul transmission sent by a base station of the network to the relay node, the transmission comprising at least one data packet designated to the apparatus,

decoding the at least one data packet from the transmission.