HYBRID AUTOMATIC REPEAT REQUEST (HARQ) PAYLOAD MAPPING FOR SHORT PHYSICAL UPLINK CONTROL CHANNEL (PUCCH) ON A SHARED COMMUNICATION MEDIUM

• US 20170142705A1
• Filed: 11/17/2016
• Published: 05/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: CHENDAMARAI KANNAN, Arumugam, LUO, Tao, PATEL, Chirag Sureshbhai, KADOUS, Tamer Adel
• Granted Patent: US 10,645,679 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1614 using bitmaps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1685 the supervisory signal being transmitted in response to a specific request, e.g. to a polling signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1822 involving configuration of automatic repeat request [ARQ] with parallel processes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• 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

Abstract

Techniques for transmitting acknowledgments on a shared communication medium are disclosed. In an aspect, an access terminal receives, from an access point, a plurality of downlink subframes on a downlink channel of the wireless communication medium, the plurality of downlink subframes carrying data for a plurality of processes. The access terminal transmits, to the access point, acknowledgments for the plurality of downlink subframes on an uplink subframe of an uplink channel of the wireless communication medium on one or more occasions, the uplink subframe including a plurality of bits, the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of downlink subframes or the plurality of processes.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting acknowledgments on a wireless communication medium, comprising:

receiving, at an access terminal from an access point, a plurality of downlink subframes on a downlink channel of the wireless communication medium, the plurality of downlink subframes carrying data for a plurality of processes; and

transmitting, by the access terminal to the access point, acknowledgments for the plurality of downlink subframes on an uplink subframe of an uplink channel of the wireless communication medium on one or more occasions, the uplink subframe including a plurality of bits, the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of downlink subframes or the plurality of processes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink channel comprises a short physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of processes comprises a plurality of Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) processes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of HARQ processes comprises a plurality of code blocks.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a number of the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of downlink subframes is a function of a number of the plurality of downlink subframes and a number of the plurality of HARQ processes and the plurality of code blocks.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein an acknowledgment for an i^th subframe of the plurality of downlink subframes is conveyed in an i^th bit of the plurality of bits.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of downlink subframes map directly to subframe indices of the plurality of downlink subframes.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a number of the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of processes is a function of a number of the plurality of processes.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein an acknowledgment for an i^th process of the plurality of processes is conveyed in an i^th bit of the plurality of bits.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of processes map directly to process identifiers of the plurality of processes.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of bits within each of the plurality of processes map to code block identifiers within each of the plurality of processes.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein a number of the plurality of downlink subframes is less than a number of the plurality of processes, and wherein a number of the plurality of bits is equal to the number of the plurality of processes.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the access terminal sets bits of the plurality of bits corresponding to processes of the plurality of processes that are not received during the plurality of downlink subframes to indicate that the processes of the plurality of processes during the plurality of downlink subframes were not acknowledged.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the access terminal from the access point, a subsequent plurality of downlink subframes on the downlink channel of the wireless communication medium, the subsequent plurality of downlink subframes carrying data for the plurality of processes; and

transmitting, by the access terminal to the access point, a subsequent set of acknowledgments for the subsequent plurality of downlink subframes on the uplink subframe of the uplink channel of the wireless communication medium.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, for a downlink subframe of the plurality of downlink subframes that was not decoded before transmission of a corresponding acknowledgment in the plurality of bits of the uplink subframe, the access terminal sets a corresponding bit of the plurality of bits to indicate that the downlink subframe was not acknowledged.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the subsequent plurality of downlink subframes includes the downlink subframe of the plurality of downlink subframes that was not decoded before transmission of the corresponding acknowledgment in the plurality of bits of the uplink subframe.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the access point asynchronously polls the access terminal for an acknowledgment of the downlink subframe on a grant-based PUCCH.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving and transmitting occur during a transmission opportunity (TxOP) assigned to the access terminal.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein an acknowledgment comprises a positive acknowledgment (ACK) or a negative acknowledgment (NACK).

20. An apparatus for transmitting acknowledgments on a wireless communication medium, comprising:

a receiver of an access terminal configured to receive, from an access point, a plurality of downlink subframes on a downlink channel of the wireless communication medium, the plurality of downlink subframes carrying data for a plurality of processes; and

a transmitter of the access terminal configured to transmit, to the access point, acknowledgments for the plurality of downlink subframes on an uplink subframe of an uplink channel of the wireless communication medium on one or more occasions, the uplink subframe including a plurality of bits, the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of downlink subframes or the plurality of processes.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the uplink channel comprises a short physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the plurality of processes comprises a plurality of Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) processes.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the plurality of HARQ processes comprises a plurality of code blocks.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein a number of the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of downlink subframes is a function of a number of the plurality of downlink subframes and a number of the plurality of HARQ processes and the plurality of code blocks.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein an acknowledgment for an i^th subframe of the plurality of downlink subframes is conveyed in an i^th bit of the plurality of bits.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of downlink subframes map directly to subframe indices of the plurality of downlink subframes.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein a number of the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of processes is a function of a number of the plurality of processes.

28. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein an acknowledgment for an i^th process of the plurality of processes is conveyed in an i^th bit of the plurality of bits.

29. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of processes map directly to process identifiers of the plurality of processes.

30. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the plurality of bits within each of the plurality of processes map to code block identifiers within each of the plurality of processes.

31. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein a number of the plurality of downlink subframes is less than a number of the plurality of processes, and wherein a number of the plurality of bits is equal to the number of the plurality of processes.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the access terminal sets bits of the plurality of bits corresponding to processes of the plurality of processes that are not received during the plurality of downlink subframes to indicate that the processes of the plurality of processes during the plurality of downlink subframes were not acknowledged.

33. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive, from the access point, a subsequent plurality of downlink subframes on the downlink channel of the wireless communication medium, the subsequent plurality of downlink subframes carrying data for the plurality of processes, and

wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit, to the access point, a subsequent set of acknowledgments for the subsequent plurality of downlink subframes on the uplink subframe of the uplink channel of the wireless communication medium.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein, for a downlink subframe of the plurality of downlink subframes that was not decoded before transmission of a corresponding acknowledgment in the plurality of bits of the uplink subframe, the access terminal sets a corresponding bit of the plurality of bits to indicate that the downlink subframe was not acknowledged.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the subsequent plurality of downlink subframes includes the downlink subframe of the plurality of downlink subframes that was not decoded before transmission of the corresponding acknowledgment in the plurality of bits of the uplink subframe.

36. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the access point asynchronously polls the access terminal for an acknowledgment of the downlink subframe on a grant-based PUCCH.

37. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the receiving and transmitting occur during a transmission opportunity (TxOP) assigned to the access terminal.

38. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein an acknowledgment comprises a positive acknowledgment (ACK) or a negative acknowledgment (NACK).

39. An access terminal configured to transmit acknowledgments on a wireless communication medium, comprising:

a means for receiving configured to receive, from an access point, a plurality of downlink subframes on a downlink channel of the wireless communication medium, the plurality of downlink subframes carrying data for a plurality of processes; and

a means for transmitting configured to transmit, to the access point, acknowledgments for the plurality of downlink subframes on an uplink subframe of an uplink channel of the wireless communication medium on one or more occasions, the uplink subframe including a plurality of bits, the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of downlink subframes or the plurality of processes.

40. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code for transmitting acknowledgments on a wireless communication medium, the computer-executable code comprising:

at least one instruction to cause an access terminal to receive, from an access point, a plurality of downlink subframes on a downlink channel of the wireless communication medium, the plurality of downlink subframes carrying data for a plurality of processes; and

at least one instruction to cause the access terminal to transmit, to the access point, acknowledgments for the plurality of downlink subframes on an uplink subframe of an uplink channel of the wireless communication medium on one or more occasions, the uplink subframe including a plurality of bits, the plurality of bits corresponding to the plurality of downlink subframes or the plurality of processes.