Method and apparatus for use in cooperative relays using incremental redundancy and distributed spatial multiplexing

• US 8,787,241 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2009
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pinheiro, Ana Lucia, Sfar, Sana, Chitrapu, Prabhakar R., Pietraski, Philip J., Reznik, Alexander, Zeira, Eldad M., Beluri, Mihaela C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hsu, Alpus H
• Assistant Examiner(s): LAM, YEE F
• Application Number:
  US12/498,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20100003977A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,841 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329, 370/338, 375/219, 455/11.1, 455/73, 455/452.2, 455/509, 714/750
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/38 Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/026 Co-operative diversity, e.g. using fixed or mobile stations as relays
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0632 Channel quality parameters, e.g. channel quality indicator [CQI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0669 using different channel coding between antennas space-time coding H04L1/0618
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0697 using spatial multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15 Active relay systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0618 Space-time coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1816 with retransmission of the same, encoded, message
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1819 with retransmission of additional or different redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0097 Relays

Abstract

A method and apparatus are used in cooperative relays with incremental redundancy (IR) and distributed spatial multiplexing. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) may listen to the base station (BS) transmission during Phase 1 of the communication, and use cooperation between a relay station (RS) and the BS for the data transmission during Phase 2 to improve performance. During Phase 2, both the BS and the RS may transmit data to the WTRU, using either distributed Space Time Block Codes/Space Frequency Block Codes (STBC/SFBC) or distributed spatial multiplexing.

Claims

1. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) comprising:

a receiver configured to receive, following a first phase transmission, a plurality of transmissions in a second phase, wherein each of the plurality of transmissions in the second phase are received from a base station (BS) over a BS link and a relay station (RS) over an RS link,

wherein each of the plurality of transmissions in the second phase contains a subset of bits transmitted in the first phase transmission and contains a plurality of bits coded with different redundancy versions (RVs),

wherein during the second phase transmissions, a first portion of the plurality of bits is received over the BS link and a second portion of the plurality of bits is received over the RS link,

wherein the RS link is allocated a greater proportion of the plurality of bits on a condition that a link Quality of the RS link is stronger than a link Quality of the BS link, and

wherein the BS link is allocated a greater proportion of the plurality of bits on a condition that the link quality of the BS link is stronger than the link quality of the RS link;

a processor configured to process the plurality of bits;

a buffer configured to combine the plurality of bits based on a link quality between the BS and the RS in the first phase transmission;

a decoder configured to decode the combined plurality of bits; and

a transmitter configured to transmit, in the second phase, a first channel quality index (CQI) feedback to the BS and a second CQI feedback to the RS.

2. The WTRU of claim 1, wherein the receiver is configured to receive the first phase transmission from the BS.

3. The WTRU of claim 2, wherein the receiver is configured to receive the first phase transmission coded with a first redundancy version (RV) and the plurality of transmissions in the second phase coded with a second and third RV.

4. The WTRU of claim 1 wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit the first CQI feedback based on a channel quality between the BS and the WTRU, and transmit the second CQI feedback based on a channel quality between the RS and the WTRU.

5. The WTRU of claim 3, wherein the receiver is configured to separate the bits based on the RV.

6. The WTRU of claim 1, wherein the receiver is configured to receive the bits in the second phase that are partitioned into systematic bits and a plurality of parity bits.

7. The WTRU of claim 6, wherein the receiver is configured to receive the plurality of parity bits that is assigned a higher priority based on a RV.

8. The WTRU of claim 6, wherein the receiver is configured to receive the systematic bits that are assigned a higher priority based on a RV.

9. The WTRU of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of transmissions in the second phase contains a bit coded with a subset of information in the first phase transmission.

10. A wireless communications method for a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) comprising:

receiving, following a first phase transmission, a plurality of transmissions in a second phase, wherein each of the plurality of transmissions in the second phase are received from a base station (BS) over a BS link and a relay station (RS) over an RS link,

wherein each of the plurality of transmissions in the second phase contains a subset of bits transmitted in the first phase transmission and contains a plurality of bits coded with different redundancy versions (RVs),

wherein during the second phase transmissions, a first portion of the plurality of bits is received over the BS link and a second portion of the plurality of bits is received over the RS link,

wherein the RS link is allocated a greater proportion of the plurality of bits on a condition that a link quality of the RS link is stronger than a link quality of the BS link, and

wherein the BS link is allocated a greater proportion of the plurality of bits on a condition that the link quality of the BS link is stronger than the link quality of the RS link;

processing the plurality of bits;

combining the plurality of bits based on a link quality between the BS and the RS in the first phase transmission;

decoding the combined plurality of bits; and

transmitting, in the second phase, a first channel quality index (CQI) feedback to the BS and a second CQI feedback to the BS.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first phase transmission is received from the BS.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first phase transmission is coded with a first redundancy version (RV) and the plurality of transmissions in the second phase is coded with a second and third RV.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first RV is equal to the second RV.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the second RV is equal to the third RV with distributed space time block coding (STBC) or space frequency block coding (SFBC) modulation.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the first CQI feedback is transmitted based on a channel quality between the BS and the WTRU, and the second CQI feedback is transmitted based on a channel quality between the RS and the WTRU.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the receiving includes separating the plurality of bits based on a RV.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of bits received in the second phase are partitioned into systematic bits and a plurality of parity bits.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of parity bits is assigned a higher priority based on a RV.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the systematic bits are assigned a higher priority based on a RV.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of transmissions in the second phase contains a bit coded with a subset of information in the first phase transmission.