Transmission or Reception of a Reference Signal in a Wireless Communication System

• US 20200136767A1
• Filed: 06/15/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Ernstrom, Per, Bjorkegren, Hakan, Frenne, Mattias, Lindbom, Lars
• Granted Patent: US 11,070,338 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2027/0026 Correction of carrier offset
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/0014 Carrier regulation of chaotic carriers H04L27/001; for multicarrier receivers H04L27/2657
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/005 of common pilots, i.e. pilots destined for multiple users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA

Abstract

A radio node (12, 14) is configured to transmit or receive reference symbols (18) of a reference signal (16) on respective radio resources, including first and second sets (S1, S2) of radio resources that differ in at least one radio resource. The reference signal (16) may be for instance a tracking reference signal (16) configured for time or frequency tracking. The first set (S1) of radio resources includes a first pair of radio resources that are separated from one another in a radio resource domain by a first separation distance (D1). The second set (S2) of radio resources includes a second pair of radio resources that are separated from one another in the radio resource domain by a second separation distance (D2). The radio resource domain may be a time domain or a frequency domain. In one or more embodiments, the second separation distance (D2) is at least twice as large as the first separation distance (D1).

Claims

1-32. -32. (canceled)

33. A method performed by a radio node configured for use in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

transmitting or receiving reference symbols of a reference signal on respective radio resources, including first and second sets of radio resources that differ in at least one radio resource, wherein the first set of radio resources includes a first pair of radio resources that are separated from one another in a radio resource domain by a first separation distance, with no reference symbol of the reference signal on any radio resource between the first pair of radio resources in the radio resource domain, and wherein the second set of radio resources includes a second pair of radio resources that are separated from one another in the radio resource domain by a second separation distance, with no reference symbol of the reference signal on any radio resource between the second pair of radio resources in the radio resource domain, wherein the second separation distance is at least twice as large as the first separation distance, wherein the radio resource domain is a time domain or a frequency domain.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the reference signal is a tracking reference signal configured for use in tracking receiver frequency offset.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the radio node is a wireless device, wherein transmitting or receiving the reference symbols comprises receiving the reference symbols, and wherein the method further comprises performing frequency offset estimation based on the received reference symbols.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the radio node is a radio network node, and wherein transmitting or receiving the reference symbols comprises transmitting the reference symbols.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein radio resources on which the reference signal is transmitted or received occur in periodically recurring bursts, wherein the first and second sets of radio resources are included in the same burst, wherein the first set occurs before the second set in the same burst.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein transmissions are performed in the wireless communication system according to a time slot structure in which each of multiple time slots includes multiple radio resources in time, wherein a burst spans multiple consecutive time slots.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein each of the consecutive time slots spanned by any given burst includes one or more pairs of radio resources on which reference symbols of the reference signal are transmitted or received, with radio resources of each pair in the time slot separated by the same separation distance, wherein any pairs of the radio resources that have different separation distances are included in different time slots of the given burst.

40. The method of claim 33, wherein the first set of radio resources is a subset of the second set of radio resources.

41. The method of claim 33, wherein the first set includes one or more pairs of radio resources that are each separated from one another in the radio resource domain by a respective separation distance, with no reference symbol of the reference signal on any radio resource between that pair of radio resources in the radio resource domain, wherein the first separation distance is a maximum separation distance among the one or more respective separation distances of the one or more pairs included in the first set, wherein the second set includes one or more pairs of radio resources that are each separated from one another in the radio resource domain by a respective separation distance, with no reference symbol of the reference signal on any radio resource between that pair of radio resources in the radio resource domain, wherein the second separation distance is a maximum separation distance among the one or more respective separation distances of the one or more pairs included in the second set.

42. The method of claim 33, wherein the radio resource domain is the time domain.

43. A radio node configured for use in a wireless communication system, the radio node comprising:

radio circuitry configured to transmit or receive reference symbols of a reference signal on respective radio resources, including first and second sets of radio resources that differ in at least one radio resource, wherein the first set of radio resources includes a first pair of radio resources that are separated from one another in a radio resource domain by a first separation distance, with no reference symbol of the reference signal on any radio resource between the first pair of radio resources in the radio resource domain, and wherein the second set of radio resources includes a second pair of radio resources that are separated from one another in the radio resource domain by a second separation distance, with no reference symbol of the reference signal on any radio resource between the second pair of radio resources in the radio resource domain, wherein the second separation distance is at least twice as large as the first separation distance, wherein the radio resource domain is a time domain or a frequency domain.

44. The radio node of claim 43, wherein the reference signal is a tracking reference signal configured for use in tracking receiver frequency offset.

45. The radio node of claim 43, wherein the radio node is a wireless device, wherein the radio circuitry is configured to receive the reference symbols, and wherein the radio circuitry is further configured to perform frequency offset estimation based on the received reference symbols.

46. The radio node of claim 43, wherein the radio node is a radio network node, and wherein the radio circuitry is configured to transmit the reference symbols.

47. The radio node of claim 43, wherein radio resources on which the reference signal is transmitted or received occur in periodically recurring bursts, wherein the first and second sets of radio resources are included in the same burst, wherein the first set occurs before the second set in the same burst.

48. The radio node of claim 47, wherein transmissions are performed in the wireless communication system according to a time slot structure in which each of multiple time slots includes multiple radio resources in time, wherein a burst spans multiple consecutive time slots.

49. The radio node of claim 48, wherein each of the consecutive time slots spanned by any given burst includes one or more pairs of radio resources on which reference symbols of the reference signal are transmitted or received, with radio resources of each pair in the time slot separated by the same separation distance, wherein any pairs of the radio resources that have different separation distances are included in different time slots of the given burst.

50. The radio node of claim 43, wherein the first set of radio resources is a subset of the second set of radio resources.

51. The radio node of claim 43, wherein the first set includes one or more pairs of radio resources that are each separated from one another in the radio resource domain by a respective separation distance, with no reference symbol of the reference signal on any radio resource between that pair of radio resources in the radio resource domain, wherein the first separation distance is a maximum separation distance among the one or more respective separation distances of the one or more pairs included in the first set, wherein the second set includes one or more pairs of radio resources that are each separated from one another in the radio resource domain by a respective separation distance, with no reference symbol of the reference signal on any radio resource between that pair of radio resources in the radio resource domain, wherein the second separation distance is a maximum separation distance among the one or more respective separation distances of the one or more pairs included in the second set.

52. The radio node of claim 43, wherein the radio resource domain is the time domain.