DATA TRANSMISSION IN CARRIER AGGREGATION WITH DIFFERENT CARRIER CONFIGURATIONS

• US 20130343239A1
• Filed: 06/21/2013
• Published: 12/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Damnjanovic, Jelena, Chen, Wanshi, Gaal, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 9,497,747 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/280
• 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 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1469 using time-sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

Techniques are provided for aggregating carriers with different carrier configurations. The carriers may include both time division duplex (TDD) and frequency division duplex (FDD) carriers which may be configured such that control information for both carrier types is conveyed by the TDD carrier. In one aspect, an association between a set of subframes, including both TDD and FDD subframes, is determined. The association may operate to distribute control information for the FDD carrier over uplink subframes of the TDD carrier to achieve a load balancing. Alternatively, the association may operate to minimize a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback delay. The TDD carrier may provide resource grants for the aggregated carriers and the association may be used to identify subframes from both carriers which may be scheduled in a given DL subframe.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication by a mobile device configured for carrier aggregation (CA) of at least a time division duplexed (TDD) first component carrier and a frequency division duplexed (FDD) second component carrier, comprising:

determining an association between a set of downlink (DL) subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers and an uplink (UL) subframe of the first component carrier based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier;

generating control information associated with transmissions on the set of DL subframes; and

sending the control information on the UL subframe of the first component carrier based on the association, wherein each DL subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with a corresponding UL subframe of the first component carrier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the association comprises a distribution of the control information associated with one or more FDD subframes such that control information for not more than a predetermined number of FDD subframe(s) is associated with the UL subframe.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the predetermined number of FDD subframe(s) comprises one DL subframe.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the UL subframe comprises a closest succeeding UL subframe for providing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the transmissions on the set of DL subframes subject to a minimum HARQ processing time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the association specifies a distribution of HARQ feedback for the FDD subframes in relation to the uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the control information comprises HARQ feedback bits, and sending the control information comprises bundling the HARQ feedback bits for two or more subframes in the set of DL subframes.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the association comprises a mapping of HARQ feedback to bits of an UL control channel format.

8. A mobile device configured for carrier aggregation (CA) of at least a time division duplexed (TDD) first component carrier and a frequency division duplexed (FDD) second component carrier, the mobile device comprising:

means for determining an association between a set of downlink (DL) subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers and an uplink (UL) subframe of the first component carrier based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier;

means for generating control information associated with transmissions on the set of DL subframes; and

means for sending the control information on the UL subframe of the first component carrier based on the association, wherein each DL subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with a corresponding UL subframe of the first component carrier.

9. The mobile device of claim 8, wherein the association comprises a distribution of the control information associated with one or more FDD subframes such that control information for not more than a predetermined number of FDD subframe(s) is associated with the UL subframe.

10. The mobile device of claim 9, wherein the predetermined number of FDD subframe(s) comprises one DL subframe.

11. The mobile device of claim 8, wherein the UL subframe comprises a closest succeeding UL subframe for providing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the transmissions on the set of DL subframes subject to a minimum HARQ processing time.

12. The mobile device of claim 8, wherein the association specifies a distribution of HARQ feedback for the FDD subframes in relation to the uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier.

13. The mobile device of claim 8, wherein the control information comprises HARQ feedback bits, and the means for sending the control information is further configured for bundling the HARQ feedback bits for two or more subframes in the set of DL subframes.

14. The mobile device of claim 8, wherein the association comprises a mapping of HARQ feedback to bits of an UL control channel format.

15. A mobile device configured for carrier aggregation (CA) of at least a time division duplexed (TDD) first component carrier and a frequency division duplexed (FDD) second component carrier, the mobile device comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

determine an association between a set of downlink (DL) subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers and an uplink (UL) subframe of the first component carrier based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier, and

generate control information associated with transmissions on the set of DL subframes;

a transceiver configured to send the control information on the UL subframe of the first component carrier based on the association, wherein each DL subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with a corresponding UL subframe of the first component carrier; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor for storing data.

16. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the association comprises a distribution of the control information associated with one or more FDD subframes such that control information for not more than a predetermined number of FDD subframe(s) is associated with the UL subframe.

17. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the predetermined number of FDD subframe(s) comprises one DL subframe.

18. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the UL subframe comprises a closest succeeding UL subframe for providing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the transmissions on the set of DL subframes subject to a minimum HARQ processing time.

19. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the control information comprises HARQ feedback bits, and the transceiver is further configured to send the control information comprises bundling the HARQ feedback bits for two or more subframes in the set of DL subframes.

20. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the association comprises a mapping of HARQ feedback to bits of an UL control channel format.

21. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to determine an association between a set of downlink (DL) subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers and an uplink (UL) subframe of the first component carrier based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier;

code for causing the at least one computer to generate control information associated with transmissions on the set of DL subframes; and

code for causing the at least one computer to send the control information on the UL subframe of the first component carrier based on the association, wherein each DL subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with a corresponding UL subframe of the first component carrier.

22. A method of wireless communication by a mobile device configured for carrier aggregation (CA) of at least a time division duplexed (TDD) first component carrier and a frequency division duplexed (FDD) second component carrier, comprising:

receiving a resource grant in a DL subframe of the first component carrier;

determining an association between the DL subframe and a set of subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier; and

identifying, based on the association, a subframe in the set of subframes for transmitting or receiving data on in response to the resource grant, wherein each subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with a DL subframe of the first component carrier.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the association comprises a distribution of subframes scheduled by resource grants such that not more than a predetermined number of FDD subframes are scheduled by a given DL subframe of the first TDD component carrier.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the association comprises a distribution of subframes scheduled by resource grants that minimizes a scheduling delay between the DL subframe on which the resource grant is received and a scheduled subframe based on the uplink-downlink configuration.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the resource grant comprises a DL assignment, and the association enables scheduling DL subframes of the second component carrier corresponding to UL subframes of the first component carrier.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the resource grant comprises an UL grant, and the association enables scheduling UL subframes of the second component carrier corresponding to DL subframes of the first component carrier.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the resource grant schedules a subset of all subframes in a radio frame of the second component carrier.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the determining the association is based on an RRC configuration of the mobile device comprising a plurality of associations.

29. The method of claim 22, further comprising receiving downlink control information (DCI), wherein the determining the association is further based on the DCI, and the DCI comprises information indicating a designated component carrier and a designated subframe for the resource grant.

30. A mobile device configured for carrier aggregation (CA) of at least a time division duplexed (TDD) first component carrier and a frequency division duplexed (FDD) second component carrier, the mobile device comprising:

means for receiving a resource grant in a DL subframe of the first component carrier;

means for determining an association between the DL subframe and a set of subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier; and

means for identifying, based on the association, a subframe in the set of subframes for transmitting or receiving data on in response to the resource grant, wherein each subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with a corresponding DL subframe of the first component carrier.

31. The mobile device of claim 30, wherein the association comprises a distribution of subframes scheduled by resource grants such that not more than a predetermined number of FDD subframes are scheduled by a given DL subframe of the first TDD component carrier.

32. The mobile device of claim 30, wherein the association comprises a distribution of subframes scheduled by resource grants that minimizes a scheduling delay between the DL subframe on which the resource grant is received and a scheduled subframe based on the uplink-downlink configuration.

33. The mobile device of claim 32, wherein the resource grant comprises a DL assignment, and the association enables scheduling DL subframes of the second component carrier corresponding to UL subframes of the first component carrier.

34. The mobile device of claim 32, wherein the resource grant comprises an UL grant, and the association enables scheduling UL subframes of the second component carrier corresponding to DL subframes of the first component carrier.

35. The mobile device of claim 30, wherein the resource grant schedules a subset of all subframes in a radio frame of the second component carrier.

36. The mobile device of claim 30, wherein the means for determining the association is further configured for determining based on an RRC configuration of the mobile device comprising a plurality of associations.

37. A mobile device configured for carrier aggregation (CA) of at least a time division duplexed (TDD) first component carrier and a frequency division duplexed (FDD) second component carrier, the mobile device comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive a resource grant in a DL subframe of the first component carrier;

at least one processor configured to;

determine an association between the DL subframe and a set of subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier, and

identify, based on the association, a subframe in the set of subframes for transmitting or receiving data on in response to the resource grant, wherein each subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with a corresponding DL subframe of the first component carrier; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor for storing data.

38. The mobile device of claim 37, wherein the association comprises a distribution of subframes scheduled by resource grants such that not more than a predetermined number of FDD subframes are scheduled by a given DL subframe of the first TDD component carrier.

39. The mobile device of claim 37, wherein the association comprises a distribution of subframes scheduled by resource grants that minimizes a scheduling delay between the DL subframe on which the resource grant is received and a scheduled subframe based on the uplink-downlink configuration.

40. The mobile device of claim 39, wherein the resource grant comprises a DL assignment, and the association enables scheduling DL subframes of the second component carrier corresponding to UL subframes of the first component carrier.

41. The mobile device of claim 39, wherein the resource grant comprises an UL grant, and the association enables scheduling UL subframes of the second component carrier corresponding to DL subframes of the first component carrier.

42. The mobile device of claim 37, wherein the resource grant schedules a subset of all subframes in a radio frame of the second component carrier.

43. The mobile device of claim 37, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine the association based on an RRC configuration of the mobile device comprising a plurality of associations.

44. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive a resource grant in a DL subframe of the first component carrier;

code for causing the at least one computer to determine an association between the DL subframe and a set of subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier; and

code for causing the at least one computer to identify, based on the association, a subframe in the set of subframes for transmitting or receiving data on in response to the resource grant, wherein each subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with a corresponding DL subframe of the first component carrier.

45. A method of wireless communication by an access node supporting carrier aggregation (CA) of at least a time division duplexed (TDD) first component carrier and a frequency division duplexed (FDD) second component carrier for a mobile device, comprising:

receiving, from the mobile device on an uplink (UL) subframe, control information associated with transmissions on a set of downlink (DL) subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers;

determining an association between the set of DL subframes and the UL subframe based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier; and

decoding, by the access node, the control information in accordance with the association, wherein each DL subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with an UL subframe of the first component carrier.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the association comprises a distribution of control information associated with subframes of the second component carrier such that control information for not more than a predetermined number of FDD subframe(s) is associated with the DL subframe.

47. The method of claim 45, wherein the UL subframe comprises a closest succeeding UL subframe for providing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the transmissions on the set of DL subframes subject to a minimum HARQ processing time.

48. The method of claim 45, wherein the control information comprises bundled HARQ feedback, and decoding the control information comprises decoding the HARQ feedback for determining a status of the associated one or more FDD subframes.

49. The method of claim 45, wherein the association comprises a mapping of HARQ feedback to bits of an UL control channel format.

50. An access node configured for carrier aggregation (CA) of at least a time division duplexed (TDD) first component carrier and a frequency division duplexed (FDD) second component carrier, comprising:

means for receiving, from the mobile device on an uplink (UL) subframe, control information associated with transmissions on a set of downlink (DL) subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers;

means for determining an association between the set of DL subframes and the UL subframe based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier; and

means for decoding, by the access node, the control information in accordance with the association, wherein each DL subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with an UL subframe of the first component carrier.

51. The access node of claim 50, wherein the association comprises a distribution of control information associated with subframes of the second component carrier such that control information for not more than a predetermined number of FDD subframe(s) is associated with the DL subframe.

52. The access node of claim 50, wherein the UL subframe comprises a closest succeeding UL subframe for providing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the transmissions on the set of DL subframes subject to a minimum HARQ processing time.

53. The access node of claim 50, wherein the control information comprises bundled HARQ feedback and decoding the control information comprises decoding the HARQ feedback for determining a status of the associated one or more FDD subframes.

54. The access node of claim 50, wherein the association comprises a mapping of HARQ feedback to bits of an UL control channel format.

55. An access node configured for carrier aggregation (CA) of at least a time division duplexed (TDD) first component carrier and a frequency division duplexed (FDD) second component carrier for a mobile device, comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive, from the mobile device on an uplink (UL) subframe, control information associated with transmissions on a set of downlink (DL) subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers;

at least one processor configured to;

determine an association between the set of DL subframes and the UL subframe based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier, and

decode, by the access node, the control information in accordance with the association, wherein each DL subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with an UL subframe of the first component carrier; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor for storing data.

56. The access node of claim 55, wherein the association comprises a distribution of control information associated with subframes of the second component carrier such that control information for not more than a predetermined number of FDD subframe(s) is associated with the DL subframe.

57. The access node of claim 55, wherein the UL subframe comprises a closest succeeding UL subframe for providing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the transmissions on the set of DL subframes subject to a minimum HARQ processing time.

58. The access node of claim 55, wherein the control information comprises bundled HARQ feedback and decoding the control information comprises decoding the HARQ feedback for determining a status of the associated one or more FDD subframes.

59. The access node of claim 55, wherein the association comprises a mapping of HARQ feedback to bits of an UL control channel format.

60. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive, from a mobile device on an uplink (UL) subframe, control information associated with transmissions on a set of downlink (DL) subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers;

code for causing the at least one computer to determine an association between the set of DL subframes and the UL subframe based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier; and

code for causing the at least one computer to decode, by the access node, the control information in accordance with the association, wherein each DL subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with an UL subframe of the first component carrier.

61. A method of wireless communication by an access node supporting carrier aggregation (CA) of at least a time division duplexed (TDD) first component carrier and a frequency division duplexed (FDD) second component carrier for a mobile device, comprising:

determining an association between a DL subframe of the first component carrier and a set of subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier; and

sending a resource grant to the mobile device in the DL subframe, wherein the resource grant schedules transmission or reception of data by the mobile device with respect to a subframe in the set of subframes based on the association, and wherein each subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with a DL subframe of the first component carrier.

62. The method of claim 61, wherein the association comprises a distribution of subframes for scheduling by resource grants that minimizes a scheduling delay between the DL subframe and a scheduled subframe based on the uplink-downlink configuration.

63. The method of claim 61, wherein the resource grant comprises a DL assignment, and the association enables scheduling DL subframes of the second component carrier corresponding to UL subframes of the first component carrier.

64. The method of claim 61, wherein the resource grant comprises an UL grant, and the association enables scheduling UL subframes of the second component carrier corresponding to DL subframes of the first component carrier.

65. The method of claim 61, wherein the association comprises one or more subframe offsets relative to a subframe number of the DL subframe.

66. The method of claim 61, sending an RRC configuration message indicating a selection of the association from a plurality of associations.

67. An access node configured for carrier aggregation (CA) of at least a time division duplexed (TDD) first component carrier and a frequency division duplexed (FDD) second component carrier, the access node comprising:

means for determining an association between a DL subframe of the first component carrier and a set of subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier; and

means for sending a resource grant to the mobile device in the DL subframe, wherein the resource grant schedules transmission or reception of data by the mobile device with respect to a subframe in the set of subframes based on the association, and wherein each subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with a DL subframe of the first component carrier.

68. The access node of claim 67, wherein the association comprises a distribution of subframes for scheduling by resource grants that minimizes a scheduling delay between the DL subframe and a scheduled subframe based on the uplink-downlink configuration.

69. The access node of claim 67, wherein the resource grant comprises a DL assignment, and the association enables scheduling DL subframes of the second component carrier corresponding to UL subframes of the first component carrier.

70. The access node of claim 67, wherein the resource grant comprises an UL grant, and the association enables scheduling UL subframes of the second component carrier corresponding to DL subframes of the first component carrier.

71. The access node of claim 67, further comprising means for sending an RRC configuration message indicating a selection of the association from a plurality of associations.

72. An access node configured for carrier aggregation (CA) of at least a time division duplexed (TDD) first component carrier and a frequency division duplexed (FDD) second component carrier, the access node comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

determine an association between a DL subframe of the first component carrier and a set of subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier;

a transceiver configured to send a resource grant to the mobile device in the DL subframe, wherein the resource grant schedules transmission or reception of data by the mobile device with respect to a subframe in the set of subframes based on the association, and wherein each subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with a DL subframe of the first component carrier; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor for storing data.

73. The access node of claim 72, wherein the association comprises a distribution of subframes for scheduling by resource grants that minimizes a scheduling delay between the DL subframe and a scheduled subframe based on the uplink-downlink configuration.

74. The access node of claim 72, wherein the resource grant comprises a DL assignment, and the association enables scheduling DL subframes of the second component carrier corresponding to UL subframes of the first component carrier.

75. The access node of claim 72, wherein the resource grant comprises an UL grant, and the association enables scheduling UL subframes of the second component carrier corresponding to DL subframes of the first component carrier.

76. The access node of claim 72, wherein the transceiver is further configured to send an RRC configuration message indicating a selection of the association from a plurality of associations.

77. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to determine an association between a DL subframe of the first component carrier and a set of subframes including TDD subframes and FDD subframes of the respective first and second component carriers based on an uplink-downlink configuration of the first component carrier; and

code for causing at least one computer to send a resource grant to the mobile device in the DL subframe, wherein the resource grant schedules transmission or reception of data by the mobile device with respect to a subframe in the set of subframes based on the association, and wherein each subframe of the FDD second component carrier is associated with a DL subframe of the first component carrier.