METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SOFT BUFFER PARTITIONING IN TIME-DIVISION DUPLEXING SYSTEM

• US 20130051289A1
• Filed: 07/18/2012
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Hsieh, Chia-Wen, Lee, Chien-Min
• Granted Patent: US 8,885,525 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/280
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1822 involving configuration of automatic repeat request [ARQ] with parallel processes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1845 Combining techniques, e.g. code combining

Abstract

A method for partitioning a soft buffer in a time-division duplex system and an apparatus using the same are disclosed. The method includes the following steps. A total number of soft channel bits, a maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to a user equipment (UE) in a transmission time interval (TTI), a maximum number of downlink (DL) hybrid automatic retransmit request (HARQ) processes, and a configured maximum number of HARQ processes are determined. A partition size of the soft buffer is selected according at least to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI, the maximum number of DL HARQ processes, and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes.

Claims

1. A method for partitioning a soft buffer in a time-division duplex (TDD) system supporting multiple serving cells, the TDD system comprising a transceiver and a communication protocol module, the method comprising:

determining by the communication protocol module a total number of soft channel bits, a maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to a user equipment (UE) in a transmission time interval (TTI), a maximum number of downlink (DL) hybrid automatic retransmit request (HARQ) processes, and a preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes; and

selecting by the communication protocol module a partition size of the soft buffer according at least to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI, the maximum number of DL HARQ processes, and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each serving cell has a dedicated sub-block.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a summation of comparisons between a maximum number of DL HARQ processes of serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and a partition size of the soft buffer of an i-th serving cell is selected according to a total number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, and a comparison between a maximum number of DL HARQ processes of the i-th serving cell and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell to the UE is configured by higher-layer signalling or determined by a predefined function.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a comparison between the summation of maximum number of DL HARQ processes of serving cells and a preconfigured maximum number of DL HARQ processes storable in the soft buffer, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and a partition size of the soft buffer of an i-th serving cell is selected according to a total number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, and a comparison between an absolute maximum of the maximum number of DL HARQ processes among all of the serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell to the UE is configured by higher-layer signalling or determined by a predefined function.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and a partition size of the soft buffer of an i-th serving cell is selected according to a total number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, and a comparison between an absolute minimum of the maximum number of DL HARQ processes among all of the serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell to the UE is configured by higher-layer signalling or determined by a predefined function.

16. The method of claim 2, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and a partition size of the soft buffer of an i-th serving cell is selected according to a total number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, and a comparison between an average of the maximum number of DL HARQ processes among all of the serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell to the UE is configured by higher-layer signalling or determined by a predefined function.

19. The method of claim 2, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and a partition size of the soft buffer of an i-th serving cell is selected according to a total number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, and a comparison between a maximum number of DL HARQ processes of a primary serving cell and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell to the UE is configured by higher-layer signalling or determined by a predefined function.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the serving cells share the soft buffer.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a summation of comparisons between a maximum number of DL HARQ processes of serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the number of serving cells, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, and a comparison between the summation of maximum number of DL HARQ processes of serving cells and a preconfigured maximum number of DL HARQ processes storable in the soft buffer, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a comparison between an absolute maximum of the maximum number of DL HARQ processes among all of the serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

29. The method of claim 22, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a comparison between an absolute minimum of the maximum number of DL HARQ processes among all of the serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

31. The method of claim 22, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a comparison between an average of the maximum number of DL HARQ processes among all of the serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

33. The method of claim 22, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a comparison between a maximum number of DL HARQ processes of a primary serving cell and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

35. An apparatus for partitioning a soft buffer in a time-division duplex (TDD) system supporting multiple serving cells, comprising:

a transceiver, configured for receiving signals and transmitting signals between a user equipment (UE) and a base station in the TDD system; and

a communication protocol module, connected to the transceiver, configured for determining a total number of soft channel bits, a maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in a transmission time interval (TTI), a maximum number of downlink (DL) hybrid automatic retransmit request (HARQ) processes, and a preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes; and

the communication protocol module further configured for selecting a partition size of the soft buffer according at least to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the (UE) in the TTI, the maximum number of DL HARQ processes, and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein each serving cell has a dedicated sub-block.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a summation of comparisons between a maximum number of DL HARQ processes of serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

39. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and a partition size of the soft buffer of an i-th serving cell is selected according to a total number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, and a comparison between a maximum number of DL HARQ processes of the i-th serving cell and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

41. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell to the UE is configured by higher-layer signalling or determined by a predefined function.

42. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a comparison between the summation of maximum number of DL HARQ processes of serving cells and a preconfigured maximum number of DL HARQ processes storable in the soft buffer, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

44. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and a partition size of the soft buffer of an i-th serving cell is selected according to a total number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, and a comparison between an absolute maximum of the maximum number of DL HARQ processes among all of the serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

45. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

46. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell to the UE is configured by higher-layer signalling or determined by a predefined function.

47. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and a partition size of the soft buffer of an i-th serving cell is selected according to a total number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, and a comparison between an absolute minimum of the maximum number of DL HARQ processes among all of the serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

48. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

49. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell to the UE is configured by higher-layer signalling or determined by a predefined function.

50. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and a partition size of the soft buffer of an i-th serving cell is selected according to a total number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, and a comparison between an average of the maximum number of DL HARQ processes among all of the serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

51. The apparatus of claim 50, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

52. The apparatus of claim 50, wherein the number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell to the UE is configured by higher-layer signalling or determined by a predefined function.

53. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and a partition size of the soft buffer of an i-th serving cell is selected according to a total number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, and a comparison between a maximum number of DL HARQ processes of a primary serving cell and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

54. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

55. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the number of soft channel bits of the i-th serving cell to the UE is configured by higher-layer signalling or determined by a predefined function.

56. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the serving cells share the soft buffer.

57. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a summation of comparisons between a maximum number of DL HARQ processes of serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

58. The apparatus of claim 57, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

59. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a comparison between the summation of maximum number of DL HARQ processes of serving cells and a preconfigured maximum number of DL HARQ processes storable in the soft buffer, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

60. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

61. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a comparison between an absolute maximum of the maximum number of DL HARQ processes among all of the serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

62. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

63. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a comparison between an absolute minimum of the maximum number of DL HARQ processes among all of the serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

64. The apparatus of claim 63, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

65. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a comparison between an average of the maximum number of DL HARQ processes among all of the serving cells and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

66. The apparatus of claim 65, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

67. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the total number of soft channel bits is determined in accordance with a category of the UE, and the partition size of the soft buffer is selected according to the total number of soft channel bits, the maximum number of transport blocks transmittable to the UE in the TTI of the i-th serving cell, a number of serving cells to the UE, and a comparison between a maximum number of DL HARQ processes of a primary serving cell and the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes, wherein i is an index with real value to indicate the serving cell.

68. The apparatus of claim 67, wherein the preconfigured maximum number of HARQ processes is a constant which equals to a positive value or infinity, or a variable determined by a predefined function.

69. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the apparatus is part of at least one of the base station and/or the user equipment in the TDD system.