METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DEVICE-TO-DEVICE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

• US 20140328329A1
• Filed: 04/30/2014
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Novlan, Thomas David, Ng, Boon Loong, Nam, Young Han, Papasakellariou, Aris
• Granted Patent: US 9,974,066 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/336
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0015 one node acting as a reference for the others
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/002 Mutual synchronization
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 for groups of terminals or users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

A method includes configuring one or multiple pools of Device-to-Device (D2D) communication resources by an eNodeB (eNB). The method also includes signaling of the configured pool(s) of D2D communication resources by the eNB to a first User Equipment (UE) and a plurality of UEs using a common broadcast channel; and sending a request for one or multiple D2D communication resources to an eNB by the first UE configured to transmit D2D messages. The method also includes determining one or multiple resources for D2D communication by an eNB for the first UE. The method also includes communicating D2D resource allocation information to the first UE. The method also includes communicating D2D resource allocation information by the first UE to multiple UEs; and transmitting D2D data by the first UE to multiple UEs. Methods for configuring and signaling D2D communication resources by relay or out-of-coverage UEs are also provided.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

configuring one or more pools of Device-to-Device (D2D) communication resources by an eNodeB (eNB);

signaling information regarding the one or more configured pools of D2D communication resources by the eNB to a first User Equipment (UE) and a plurality of UEs using a common broadcast channel;

receiving a request for one or multiple D2D communication resources by the eNB from the first UE, wherein the first UE is configured to transmit D2D messages;

determining one or multiple resources for D2D communication by the eNB for the first UE; and

communicating a D2D resource allocation information to the first UE, wherein the first UE is configured to communicate the D2D resource allocation information to one or more of the plurality of UEs and transmit D2D data to one or more of the plurality of UEs.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for one or more D2D communication resources from the first UE using one of;

a random access procedure, or a scheduling request message, or a higher layer message,

wherein for random access procedure, D2D resource request information is received in a Message 3 of the random access procedure,

wherein the D2D resource request information includes a priority of request, an amount of resources required, and a required length of resource reservation period.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the D2D resource allocation information comprises using a higher layer message or a layer 1 control signaling, and

wherein the layer 1 control signaling is carried by a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) with a predefined Downlink Control Information (DCI) format,

wherein the predefined DCI format is DCI format 0.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

identifying whether the DCI format is for a conventional purpose or for D2D resource allocation,

wherein the DCI format for D2D resource allocation is identified using at least one of a CRC mask and predetermined values for a set of parameters in the DCI format,

wherein a parameter of the set of parameters is at least one of;

a modulation and coding scheme and redundancy version,

wherein a parameter of the set of parameters is the number of physical resource blocks indicated by a resource block assignment and hopping resource allocation field.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein

the first UE communicates D2D resource allocation information to the one or more of the plurality of UEs using a D2D control channel before transmitting D2D data,

wherein the D2D control channel includes at least one of modulation and coding scheme information, time and frequency physical resources for D2D transmission and a transmission channel identity, corresponding to the D2D data to be transmitted.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein for the first UE, D2D signals and conventional UL signals are transmitted in a time-division multiplexing manner.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising

determining D2D transmit timing,

wherein D2D signals are transmitted using at least one of timing and frequency of the serving cell'"'"'s uplink transmission, if the first UE is within a network coverage;

wherein one or more synchronization signals are transmitted by the first UE if the first UE is out of network coverage;

wherein the one or more synchronization signals comprise of the Primary Synchronization Signals or the Secondary Synchronization Signals or a Zadoff Chu sequence.

8. A method comprising:

configuring one or more pools of D2D communication resources by an enhanced Node B (eNB); and

signaling, by the eNB, the configured one or more pools of D2D communication resources to a first user equipment (UE) and a plurality of UEs using a common broadcast channel, wherein in response to the signaling of the configured one or more pools of D2D communication resources, the UE is configured to;

choose from the D2D resource pools, one or more D2D resources for D2D transmissions;

communicate D2D resource allocation information to at least one UE of the one or more UEs; and

transmit D2D data to the at least one UE of the one or more UEs.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first UE can perform channel listening before choosing a resource for D2D transmission.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein

the first UE communicates D2D resource allocation information to the at least one UE of the one or more UEs using a D2D control channel before transmitting D2D data,

wherein the D2D control channel includes at least one of modulation and coding scheme information, time and frequency physical resources for D2D transmission and a transmission channel identity, corresponding to the D2D data to be transmitted.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein for the first UE, D2D signals and conventional UL signals are transmitted in a time-division multiplexing manner, the D2D signals comprising the D2D data.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising

determining D2D transmit timing,

wherein D2D signals are transmitted using at least one of timing and frequency of the serving cell'"'"'s uplink transmission, if the first UE is within a network coverage, the D2D signals comprising the D2D data;

wherein one or more synchronization signals are transmitted by the first UE if the first UE is out of network coverage;

wherein the one or more synchronization signals comprise of the Primary Synchronization Signals or the Secondary Synchronization Signals or a Zadoff Chu sequence.

13. A user equipment (UE) configured for D2D communication, the UE comprising:

a processing circuitry configured to;

receive configuration of one or more pools of D2D communication resources by an enhanced Node B (eNB) through a common broadcast channel;

send a request for one or more D2D communication resources to the eNB;

receive D2D resource allocation information from the eNB;

communicate D2D resource allocation information to one or more UEs; and

transmit D2D data to the one or more UEs.

14. The UE of claim 13, wherein a request for one or multiple D2D communication resources is sent using one of:

a random access procedure, or a scheduling request message, or a higher layer message,

wherein for random access procedure, D2D resource request information is transmitted in a Message 3 of the random access procedure,

wherein the D2D resource request information includes a priority of request, an amount of resources required, and a required length of resource reservation period.

15. The UE of claim 13, wherein D2D resource allocation information is received using a higher layer message or a layer 1 control signaling,

wherein the layer 1 control signaling is carried by a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) with a predefined Downlink Control Information (DCI) format,

wherein the predefined DCI format is DCI format 0.

16. The UE of claim 15, wherein the DCI format for D2D resource allocation is identified using at least one of CRC mask and predetermined values for a set of parameters in the DCI format,

wherein a parameter of the set of parameters is one of a modulation and coding scheme and redundancy version,

wherein a parameter of the set of parameters is a number of physical resource blocks indicated by a resource block assignment and hopping resource allocation field

17. The UE of claim 13, wherein the processing circuitry further is configured to:

communicate D2D resource allocation information to the one or more UEs using a D2D control channel before transmitting D2D data,

wherein the D2D control channel includes at least one of modulation and coding scheme information, time and frequency physical resources for D2D transmission and a transmission channel identity, corresponding to the D2D data to be transmitted.

18. The UE of claim 13, wherein D2D signals and conventional UL signals are transmitted in a time-division multiplexing manner, the D2D signals comprising the D2D data.

19. A user equipment (UE) configured for D2D communication, the UE comprising:

a processing circuitry configured to;

receive configuration of one or more pools of D2D communication resources by an enhanced Node B (eNB) through a common broadcast channel;

choose from the D2D resource pools, one or more D2D resources for D2D transmissions;

communicate D2D resource allocation information to one or more UEs; and

transmit D2D data to the one or more UEs.

20. The UE of claim 19, wherein the UE performs channel listening before choosing a resource for D2D transmission.

21. The UE of claim 19, wherein the processing circuitry further is configured to:

communicate D2D resource allocation information to the one or more UEs using a D2D control channel before transmitting D2D data,

wherein the D2D control channel includes at least one of modulation and coding scheme information, time and frequency physical resources for D2D transmission and a transmission channel identity, corresponding to the D2D data to be transmitted.

22. The UE of claim 19, wherein D2D signals and conventional UL signals are transmitted in a time-division multiplexing manner, the D2D signals comprising the D2D data.

23. An enhanced Node B (eNodeB) comprising:

a processing circuitry configured to;

configure one or more pools of Device-to-Device (D2D) communication resources;

signal information regarding the configured one or more pools of D2D communication resources to a first User Equipment (UE) and a plurality of UEs using a common broadcast channel;

receive a request for one or more D2D communication resources by the first UE configured to transmit D2D messages;

determine one or multiple resources for D2D communication for the first UE; and

communicate D2D resource allocation information to the first UE.

24. The eNB of claim 23, wherein a request for the one or more D2D communication resources is received using one of;

a random access procedure, or a scheduling request message, or a higher layer message,

wherein for random access procedure, D2D resource request information is received in a Message 3 of the random access procedure,

wherein the D2D resource request information includes the priority of request, the amount of resources required, and the required length of resource reservation period.

25. The eNB of claim 23, wherein D2D resource allocation information is transmitted to the first UE using one of:

a higher layer message or a layer 1 control signaling,

wherein the layer 1 control signaling is carried by a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) with a predefined Downlink Control Information (DCI) format,

wherein the predefined DCI format is DCI format 0.