ACK-NACK Signaling Enhancements

• US 20130254613A1
• Filed: 11/27/2012
• Published: 09/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Somichetty, Gowrisankar, Rajagopal, Sriram
• Granted Patent: US 8,977,922 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/748
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1635 Cumulative acknowledgement, i.e. the acknowledgement message applying to all previous messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1864 ARQ related signaling H04L1/1607 takes precedence

Abstract

An ACK-NACK feedback message indicates which code words within a transport block that were received in error. The ACK-NACK message has a variable format based on the number of code words in the transport block and the number of code words received in error.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a receiver for receiving an inbound RF signal from a source device, the inbound RF signal including a plurality of code words forming a transport block;

a processing module for determining whether any of the code words within the transport block were received in error and generating an Acknowledgement-Negative Acknowledgement (ACK-NACK) message in response thereto, wherein when one or more of the code words were received in error, the ACK-NACK message indicates specific ones of the code words that were received in error; and

a transmitter for transmitting the ACK-NACK message to the source device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ACK-NACK message includes a first part indicating a number of code words received in error and a second part indicating the specific ones of the code words that were received in error.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein bits in the first part are coded more strongly than bits in the second part.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein a number of bits in at least one of the first part and the second part is variable based on a number of code words in the transport block and the number of code words received in error.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the number of bits in at least one of the first part and the second part is dynamically adjusted in real-time.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein a number of bits in the first part is two.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein a number of bits in the second part is zero when one or more of all of the code words in the transport block were received without error or more than two code words are received in error.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein a number of bits in the second part is six when at least one of the code words is received in error.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ACK-NACK message includes one bit for each code word in the transport block.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a receiver for receiving an inbound RF signal from a source device, the inbound RF signal including a plurality of code words forming a transport block;

a processing module for determining whether any of the code words within the transport block were received in error and generating an Acknowledgement-Negative Acknowledgement (ACK-NACK) message in response thereto that has a variable format based on a number of code words in the transport block and a number of code words received in error; and

a transmitter for transmitting the ACK-NACK message to the source device.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the ACK-NACK message includes a first part indicating a number of code words received in error and a second part indicating specific ones of the code words that were received in error.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein bits in the first part are coded more strongly than bits in the second part.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a number of bits in at least one of the first part and the second part is variable based on a number of code words in the transport block and the number of code words received in error.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the number of bits in at least one of the first part and the second part is dynamically adjusted in real-time.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a number of bits in the first part is two.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein a number of bits in the second part is zero when one or more of all of the code words in the transport block were received without error or more than two code words are received in error.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein a number of bits in the second part is six when at least one of the code words is received in error.

18. A method for Acknowledgement-Negative Acknowledgement (ACK-NACK) signaling, comprising:

receiving an inbound signal from a source device, the inbound signal including a plurality of code words forming a transport block;

determining whether any of the code words within the transport block were received in error;

generating an ACK-NACK message, wherein when one or more of the code words were received in error, the ACK-NACK message indicates specific ones of the code words that were received in error; and

transmitting the ACK-NACK message to the source device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the ACK-NACK message includes a first part indicating a number of code words received in error and a second part indicating the specific ones of the code words that were received in error.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein a number of bits in at least one of the first part and the second part is variable based on a number of code words in the transport block and the number of code words received in error.