METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING DOWNLINK CONTROL INFORMATION IN AN ASYMMETRIC MULTICARRIER COMMUNICATION NETWORK ENVIRONMENT

• US 20140064216A1
• Filed: 09/06/2013
• Published: 03/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: AGIWAL, Anil, NIGAM, Anshuman, CHANG, Young-Bin
• Granted Patent: US 10,033,504 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0031 Multiple signaling transmission H04L1/1664, F15 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0061 Error detection codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0041 Frequency-non-contiguous
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0092 Indication of how the channel is divided
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

A method for communicating Downlink Control Information (DCI) in an asymmetric multicarrier communication network environment, the method comprising: determining a carrier type corresponding to DCI to be transmitted to a mobile station from a plurality of carrier types, encoding the DCI in a DCI format, wherein the DCI format comprises a set of fields corresponding to the determined carrier type, and transmitting the DCI encoded in the DCI format to the mobile station through a downlink control channel on a primary carrier, wherein the DCI format comprises a carrier index field indicating type of the fields in the DCI format encoding the DCI and the carrier type corresponding to the encoded DCI.

Claims

1. A method for communicating Downlink Control Information (DCI) in an asymmetric multicarrier communication network environment, the method comprising:

determining a carrier type corresponding to DCI to be transmitted to a mobile station from a plurality of carrier types;

encoding the DCI in a DCI format, wherein the DCI format comprises a set of fields corresponding to the determined carrier type; and

transmitting the DCI encoded in the DCI format to the mobile station through a downlink control channel on a primary carrier, wherein the DCI format comprises a carrier index field indicating type of the fields in the DCI format encoding the DCI and the carrier type corresponding to the encoded DCI.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of carrier types comprises the primary carrier, a symmetric secondary carrier, and an asymmetric secondary carrier, wherein the DCI format comprises a first set of fields corresponding to one of the primary carrier and the symmetric secondary carrier and a second set of fields corresponding to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the encoded DCI indicates information on resources allocated to the mobile station for the determined carrier type.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the encoding of the DCI in the DCI format comprises:

encoding the DCI in the first set of fields of the DCI format when the determined carrier type is one of the primary carrier and the symmetric secondary carrier

encoding the DCI in the second set of fields of the DCI format when the determined carrier type is the asymmetric secondary carrier.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein sum of sizes of fields in the DCI format encoding the DCI corresponding to the asymmetric secondary carrier is equal to sum of sizes of fields in the DCI format encoding the DCI corresponding to the primary carrier or the symmetric carrier.

6. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a Downlink Control Information (DCI) communication module coupled to the processor, wherein the DCI communication module configured for;

determining a carrier type corresponding to DCI to be transmitted to a mobile station from a plurality of carrier types;

encoding the DCI in a DCI format, wherein the DCI format comprises a set of fields corresponding to the determined carrier type; and

transmitting the DCI encoded in the DCI format to the mobile station through a downlink control channel on a primary carrier, wherein the DCI format comprises a carrier index field setting carrier index, wherein the carrier index indicating type of the fields in the DCI format, wherein the carrier index corresponding to the determined carrier type.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the plurality of carrier types comprises the primary carrier, a symmetric secondary carrier, and an asymmetric secondary carrier.

8. A method for communicating Downlink Control Information (DCI) in an asymmetric multicarrier communication network environment, the method comprising:

determining a carrier type corresponding to DCI to be transmitted to a mobile station;

encoding the DCI in a DCI format corresponding to the determined carrier type;

generating a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) value of a downlink control channel in which the encoded DCI is to be transmitted;

masking the CRC value using one of a plurality of temporary mobile station identifiers corresponding to the determined carrier type; and

transmitting the encoded DCI with the masked CRC value in the downlink control channel to the mobile station on a primary carrier.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the encoded DCI indicates information on resources allocated to the mobile station for the determined carrier type.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

assigning the plurality of temporary mobile station identifiers to the mobile station,

wherein the temporary mobile station identifier assigned to the mobile station is specified by a carrier type assigned to the mobile station wherein the carrier type is one of the primary carrier, a symmetric secondary carrier, and an asymmetric secondary carrier;

assigning a temporary mobile station identifier specific to one or more asymmetric secondary carriers to the mobile station when the first asymmetric secondary carrier among the one or more asymmetric secondary carriers is activated; and

releasing the temporary mobile station identifier specific to the one or more asymmetric secondary carrier when the last asymmetric secondary carrier among the one or more asymmetric secondary carriers is deactivated.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the encoding of the DCI in the DCI format comprises:

encoding the DCI in the fields of the DCI format corresponding to the primary carrier and the symmetric secondary carrier when the determined carrier type is one of the primary carrier and the symmetric secondary carrier; and

encoding the DCI in the fields of the DCI format corresponding to the asymmetric secondary carrier when the determined carrier type is the asymmetric secondary carrier.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the masking of the CRC value using the temporary mobile station identifier corresponding to the determined carrier type comprises:

masking the CRC value using the temporary mobile station identifier specific to the primary carrier, if the DCI corresponds to the primary carrier or the symmetric secondary carrier; and

masking the CRC value using the temporary mobile station identifier specific to the asymmetric secondary carrier, if the DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of temporary mobile station identifiers comprises unicast Cellular-Radio Network Temporary Identifiers (C-RNTIs).

14. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a Downlink Control Information (DCI) communication module coupled to the processor, wherein the DCI communication module configured for;

determining a carrier type corresponding to DCI to be transmitted to a mobile station;

encoding the DCI in a DCI format corresponding to the determined carrier type;

generating a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) value of a downlink control channel in which the encoded DCI is to be transmitted;

masking the CRC value using one of a plurality of temporary mobile station identifiers corresponding to the determined carrier type; and

transmitting the encoded DCI with the masked CRC value in the downlink control channel to the mobile station on a primary carrier.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the DCI communication module is configured for:

assigning the plurality of temporary mobile station identifiers to the mobile station, wherein the temporary mobile station identifiers is specific to a carrier type assigned to the mobile station wherein the carrier type is one of the primary carrier, a symmetric secondary carrier, and an asymmetric secondary carrier.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein, in the encoding of the DCI in the DCI format, the DCI communication module is configured for:

encoding the DCI in the fields of the DCI format corresponding to the primary carrier and the symmetric secondary carrier when the determined carrier type is one of the primary carrier and the symmetric secondary carrier, and

encoding the DCI in the fields of the DCI format corresponding to the asymmetric secondary carrier when the determined carrier type is the asymmetric secondary carrier.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein, in the masking of the CRC value using the temporary mobile station identifier corresponding to the determined carrier type, the DCI communication module is configured for:

masking the CRC value using the temporary mobile station identifier specific to the primary carrier, if the DCI corresponds to the primary carrier or the symmetric secondary carrier; and

masking the CRC value using the temporary mobile station identifier specific to the asymmetric secondary carrier, if the DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

18. A method for decoding Downlink Control Information (DCI) in an asymmetric multicarrier communication network environment, the method comprising:

receiving a downlink control channel carrying unicast DCI on a primary carrier;

decoding the downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI;

determining whether the unicast DCI in the decoded downlink control channel corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier;

processing the unicast DCI according to a DCI format comprising fields corresponding to the asymmetric secondary carrier, if the unicast DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier; and

processing the unicast DCI according to a DCI format comprising fields corresponding to the primary carrier or the symmetric secondary carrier, if the unicast DCI does not correspond to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the decoding of the downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI comprises:

decoding the downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI using a temporary mobile station identifier assigned to the mobile station or plurality of temporary mobile station identifiers assigned to the mobile station, wherein each of the plurality of temporary mobile station identifiers is specific to a type of carrier assigned to the mobile station, wherein the type of carrier comprises the primary carrier, the symmetric secondary carrier, and the asymmetric secondary carrier.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the determining of whether the unicast DCI in the decoded downlink control channel corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier, comprises:

determining whether the unicast DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier based on a carrier index in the unicast DCI, wherein the carrier index indicates whether the unicast DCI corresponds to the primary carrier/symmetric secondary carrier or the asymmetric secondary carrier and the fields of the DCI format.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the determining of whether the unicast DCI in the decoded downlink control channel corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier, comprises:

determining whether the downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI is successfully decoded using the temporary mobile station identifier specific to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

22. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a Downlink Control Information (DCI) processing module coupled to the processor, wherein the memory includes a DCI processing module configured for;

receiving a downlink control channel carrying unicast DCI on a primary carrier;

decoding the downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI;

determining whether the unicast DCI in the decoded downlink control channel corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier;

processing the unicast DCI according to a DCI format comprising fields corresponding to the asymmetric secondary carrier, if the unicast DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier; and

processing the unicast DCI according to a DCI format comprising fields corresponding to the primary carrier or the symmetric secondary carrier, if the unicast DCI does not correspond to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein, in the decoding of the downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI, the DCI processing module is configured for:

decoding the downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI using a temporary mobile station identifier for the primary carrier or a plurality of temporary mobile station identifiers assigned to the mobile station, wherein each of the plurality of temporary mobile station identifiers is specific to a type of a carrier.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein, in the determining of whether the DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier, the DCI processing module is configured for:

determining whether the unicast DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier based on a carrier index in the unicast DCI, wherein the carrier index indicates whether the unicast DCI corresponds to the primary carrier/symmetric secondary carrier or the asymmetric secondary carrier and the fields of the DCI format.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein, in the determining of whether the unicast DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier, the DCI processing module is configured for:

determining whether the downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI is successfully decoded using the temporary mobile station identifier specific to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

26. A method for communicating Downlink Control Information (DCI) in an asymmetric communication network environment, the method comprising:

generating unicast DCI for transmitting the unicast DCI to a mobile station;

transmitting a downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI on a primary carrier in a first control region of a subframe, if the DCI corresponds to one of the primary carrier or a symmetric secondary carrier; and

transmitting a downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI on the primary carrier in a second control region, if the unicast DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the first control region is a legacy Packet Data Control Channel (PDCCH) region and the second control region is a Downlink Transport Channel (DL-SCH) region in a subframe of a radio frame, and

indicating location of the first control region and the second control region in a subframe of a radio frame to the mobile station during activation of a carrier, wherein the first control region is one of a legacy Packet Data Control Channel (PDCCH) region and a Downlink Transport Channel (DL-SCH) region in a subframe of a radio frame, wherein the second control region is one of a legacy PDCCH region and a DL-SCH region in a subframe of a radio frame.

28. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a Downlink Control Information (DCI) communication module coupled to the processor, wherein the DCI communication module configured for;

generating unicast DCI for transmitting the unicast DCI to a mobile station;

transmitting a downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI on a primary carrier in a first control region of a subframe, if the DCI corresponds to one of the primary carrier or a symmetric secondary carrier; and

transmitting a downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI on the primary carrier in a second control region, if the unicast DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the DCI communication module is configured for:

indicating location of the first control region and the second control region in a subframe of a radio frame to the mobile station during activation of a carrier.

30. A method for communicating Downlink Control Information (DCI) in an asymmetric communication network environment, the method comprising:

transmitting a first downlink control channel carrying a new DCI in a legacy Packet Data Control Channel (PDCCH) region on a primary carrier, wherein the new DCI indicates location of at least one control region in a downlink transport channel region of a subframe; and

transmitting a second downlink control channel carrying unicast DCI on a primary carrier in the control region of the downlink transport channel.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein one bit in the new DCI indicates whether the control region is reserved for transmitting DCI corresponding to the primary carrier or the symmetric secondary carrier, wherein one bit in the new DCI indicates whether the control region is reserved for transmitting DCI corresponding to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the transmitting of the first downlink control channel carrying comprises:

masking a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of the first downlink control channel carrying the new DCI using a temporary mobile station identifier for a primary carrier, if the control region is reserved for transmitting DCI corresponding to the primary carrier or the symmetric secondary carrier,

masking a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of the first downlink control channel carrying the new DCI using a temporary mobile station identifier for an asymmetric secondary carrier, if the control region is reserved for transmitting DCI corresponding to the asymmetric secondary carrier; and

transmitting the CRC masked downlink control channel carrying the new DCI to the mobile station on the primary carrier.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein new transmitting of the second downlink control channel comprises:

masking a CRC of the second downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI using a temporary mobile station identifier for the primary carrier,

masking a CRC of the second downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI using a temporary mobile station identifier for the primary carrier, if the unicast DCI corresponds to the primary carrier or the symmetric secondary carrier,

masking a CRC of the second downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI using a temporary mobile station identifier for an asymmetric secondary carrier, if the unicast DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier; and

transmitting the CRC masked downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI to the mobile station on the primary carrier.

34. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a Downlink Control Information (DCI) communication module coupled to the processor, wherein the DCI communication module configured for;

transmitting a first downlink control channel carrying a new DCI in a legacy Packet Data Control Channel (PDCCH) region on a primary carrier, wherein the new DCI indicates location of at least one control region in a downlink transport channel region of a subframe; and

transmitting a second downlink control channel carrying unicast DCI on a primary carrier in the control region of the downlink transport channel.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein one bit in the new DCI indicates whether the control region is reserved for transmitting DCI corresponding to the primary carrier or the symmetric secondary carrier, or the control region is reserved for transmitting DCI corresponding to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

36. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein, in the transmitting of the first downlink control channel carrying the new DCI in the legacy PDCCH region on the primary carrier, the DCI communication module is configured for:

masking a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of the first downlink control channel carrying the new DCI using a temporary mobile station identifier for a primary carrier, if the control region is reserved for transmitting DCI corresponding to the primary carrier or the symmetric secondary carrier; and

transmitting the CRC masked downlink control channel carrying the new DCI to the mobile station on the primary carrier;

wherein, in the transmitting of the first downlink control channel carrying the new DCI in the legacy PDCCH region on the primary carrier, the DCI communication module is configured for;

masking a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of the first downlink control channel carrying a new DCI using a temporary mobile station identifier for an asymmetric secondary carrier, if the control region is reserved for transmitting DCI corresponding to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein, in the transmitting of the second downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI on the primary carrier in the control region of the downlink transport channel, the DCI communication module is configured for:

masking a CRC of the second downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI using a temporary mobile station identifier for the primary carrier; and

transmitting the CRC masked downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI to the mobile station on the primary carrier,

wherein the DCI communication module masking the CRC of second downlink control channel configured for;

masking a CRC of the second downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI using a temporary mobile station identifier for the primary carrier, if the unicast DCI corresponds to the primary carrier or the symmetric secondary carrier; and

masking a CRC of the second downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI using a temporary mobile station identifier for an asymmetric secondary carrier, if the unicast DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

38. A method for communicating Downlink Control Information (DCI) in an asymmetric communication network, the method comprising:

generating unicast DCI for transmitting the unicast DCI to a mobile station;

transmitting a downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI on a primary carrier in a subframe in a radio frame, if the unicast DCI corresponds to one of the primary carrier and a symmetric secondary carrier; and

transmitting a downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI on the primary carrier in another subframe in a radio frame, if the unicast DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

signaling the subframe of the radio frame in which the downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI corresponding to one of the primary carrier and the symmetric secondary carrier is transmitted; and

signaling the subframe of the radio frame in which the downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI corresponding to the asymmetric secondary carrier is transmitted.

40. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a Downlink Control Information (DCI) communication module coupled to the processor, wherein the DCI communication module configured for;

generating unicast DCI for transmitting the unicast DCI to a mobile station;

transmitting a downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI on a primary carrier in a subframe in a radio frame, if the unicast DCI corresponds to one of the primary carrier and a symmetric secondary carrier; and

transmitting a downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI on the primary carrier in another subframe in a radio frame, if the unicast DCI corresponds to the asymmetric secondary carrier.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the DCI communication module is configured for:

signaling the subframe of the radio frame in which the downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI corresponding to one of the primary carrier and the symmetric secondary carrier is transmitted; and

signaling the subframe of the radio frame in which the downlink control channel carrying the unicast DCI corresponding to the asymmetric secondary carrier is transmitted.