RADIO COMMUNICATION CONTROL METHOD, BASE STATION APPARATUS AND MOBILE TERMINAL APPARATUS

• US 20130070692A1
• Filed: 12/06/2010
• Published: 03/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Inventors: Miki, Nobuhiko, Ishii, Hiroyuki, Okubo, Naoto
• Granted Patent: US 9,137,803 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/003 Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/06 Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

The present invention provides a radio communication control method, in a communication system in which the system band is widened by aggregating a plurality of fundamental frequency blocks, that is suitable to transmit a downlink shared channel and its downlink control channel in different fundamental frequency blocks. According to this radio communication control method, a normal component carrier and an concatenated component carrier are selected for radio communication with a user terminal, and resources are allocated such that, in the event the user terminal is a terminal of LTE specifications which can support up to a fundamental frequency block, communication is made possible based on the LTE specifications using only the fundamental frequency block, and, in the event the user terminal is a terminal of the LTE-A specifications which can support up to the concatenated frequency block, communication is performed based on the LTE specifications using the concatenated frequency block.

Claims

1. A base station apparatus comprising:

a selection section configured to select a fundamental frequency block or a concatenated frequency block for radio communication with a user terminal, the fundamental frequency block corresponding to an existing system band, and the concatenated frequency block which is formed by concatenating an additional carrier to the existing system band, being located on a frequency axis;

a resource allocation section configured to perform resource allocation such that, when the user terminal is a terminal of a first specification and is able to support up to the fundamental frequency block, communication is performed based on the first specification using only the fundamental frequency block, and, when the user terminal is a terminal of a second specification and is able to support up to the concatenated frequency block, communication is performed based on the second specification using the concatenated frequency block; and

a communication section configured to perform radio communication with the user terminal in accordance with the resource allocation by the resource allocation section.

2. The base station apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the resource allocation section determines an RBG (Resource Block Group) size, which serves as a signaling unit of a resource block, which is a minimum radio resource allocation unit, in accordance with a table that is prepared in advance, the table defining RBG sizes stepwise in association with a plurality of system bands, and being configured such that the RBG size becomes the same between the fundamental frequency block and the concatenated frequency block.

3. The base station apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the resource allocation section allocates resources to the concatenated frequency block selected with respect to the user terminal of the second specification, such that a top resource block of the additional carrier is a starting position of a downlink shared data channel.

4. The base station apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the resource allocation section allocates resources to the concatenated frequency block selected with respect to the user terminal of the second specification, such that a starting position of a downlink shared data channel in the additional carrier is aligned with a starting position of a downlink shared data channel in the fundamental frequency block constituting a system band with the additional carrier.

5. The base station apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, with respect to the concatenated frequency block, the resource allocation section allocates a user-common search space and a user-specific search space to the fundamental frequency block, and calculates a size of the user-common search space based on a size of the fundamental frequency block.

6. The base station apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, with respect to the concatenated frequency block, the resource allocation section allocates radio resources, such that distributed transmission is supported within the fundamental frequency block and distributed transmission is not performed in the additional carrier.

7. The base station apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, with respect to the user terminal of the second specification, the resource allocation section allocates radio resources to an uplink, such that the uplink shared data channel is transmitted in the additional carrier of the concatenated frequency block.

8. A mobile terminal apparatus comprising:

a receiving section configured to receive a downlink signal in a fundamental frequency block or a concatenated frequency block, the fundamental frequency block corresponding to an existing system band, and the concatenated frequency block which is formed by concatenating an additional carrier to the existing system band, being located on a frequency axis; and

a communication control section configured to, when transmitting an uplink control channel in the concatenated frequency block, perform a frequency hopping on the control channel at both ends of the fundamental frequency block in the concatenated frequency block.

9. A mobile terminal apparatus comprising:

a receiving section configured to receive a downlink signal in a fundamental frequency block or a concatenated frequency block, the fundamental frequency block which corresponds to an existing system band, and the concatenated frequency block which is formed by concatenating an additional carrier to the existing system band, are located on a frequency axis; and

a communication control section configured to, when transmitting an uplink shared channel in the concatenated frequency block, perform a frequency hopping of the shared channel on the fundamental frequency block in the concatenated frequency block.

10. A radio communication control method comprising the steps of:

where a fundamental frequency block which corresponds to an existing system band, and a concatenated frequency block which is formed by concatenating an additional carrier to the existing system band, are located on a frequency axis, selecting the fundamental frequency block or the concatenated frequency block for radio communication with a user terminal;

performing resource allocation such that, when the user terminal is a terminal of a first specification and is able to support up to the fundamental frequency block, communication is performed based on the first specification using only the fundamental frequency block, and, when the user terminal is a terminal of a second specification and is able to support up to the concatenated frequency block, communication is performed based on the second specification using the concatenated frequency block; and

performing radio communication with the user terminal in accordance with the resource allocation by the resource allocation.