Method and arrangement in a telecommunication system

• US 8,908,630 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2013
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Meyer, Michael, Torsner, Johan, Wiemann, Henning, Stattin, Magnus
• Primary Examiner(s): Towfighi, Afshawn
• Application Number:
  US13/958,698
• Publication Number:
  US 20130315179A1
• Time in Patent Office: 491 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/003 Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method in a cellular communication system, for avoiding errors in a HARQ process, wherein an NDI flag is used both for indicating either semi-persistent scheduling, SPS activation or SPS retransmissions, and also for indicating, by toggling of the flag, a new transmission in dynamic scheduling mode. The method comprises the steps of receiving, in a scheduling message, an indication that dynamically scheduled transmission will take place; if a semi persistent resource has occurred for the same HARQ process since a previously received indication for dynamically scheduled transmission, then considering the NDI flag to be toggled regardless of the value of the NDI flag. Thus, if the condition is fulfilled, a UE will always regard the NDI flag as indicating or requesting a new data transmission.

Claims

1. A method in a user equipment (UE) in connection with a base station in a cellular communication system, for avoiding errors in a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) process, wherein at least two scheduling modes are supported including a dynamic scheduling mode in which the UE receives scheduling messages from the base station indicating which resources have been allocated for uplink and downlink transmission, and a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) mode in which new transmissions are performed on pre-assigned resources, and wherein a New Data Indicator (NDI) flag included in a scheduling message for SPS mode is interpreted as indicating either SPS activation or SPS retransmissions, and an NDI flag included in a scheduling message for dynamic scheduling mode is interpreted as indicating, by toggling of the flag, a new transmission in dynamic scheduling mode, the method comprising:

receiving, in a scheduling message, an indication that dynamically scheduled transmission will take place for a first HARQ process; and

if a previous transmission that occurred for the first HARQ process before the indication was received used a semi persistent resource, then considering the NDI flag to be toggled regardless of the value of the NDI flag, whereby the received indication is interpreted as an indication of a new transmission.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said scheduling message comprises an uplink grant, by means of which the base station requests a new data transmission from the UE.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the UE uses one of the following as an indication that dynamically scheduled transmission will take place:

the scheduling message is addressed to the C-RNTI or to the Temporary C-RNTI, or was received in a Random Access response.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said scheduling message comprises a downlink assignment, by means of which the base station indicates a new data transmission to the UE.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the UE uses one of the following as an indication that dynamically scheduled transmission will take place:

the scheduling message is addressed to the C-RNTI or to the Temporary C-RNTI, or to the RA-RNTI, i.e. the Random Access RNTI.

6. The method according claim 1, wherein the UE receives the scheduling message on a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH.

7. A User Equipment (UE) connectable to a base station in a cellular communication system, said UE being configured to avoid errors in a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) process, wherein the UE supports at least two scheduling modes including a dynamic scheduling mode in which the UE receives scheduling messages from the base station indicating which resources have been allocated for uplink and downlink transmission, and a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) mode wherein new transmissions are performed on pre-assigned resources, and wherein a New Data Indicator (NDI) flag included in a scheduling message for SPS mode is interpreted as indicating either SPS activation or SPS retransmissions, and an NDI flag included in a scheduling message for dynamic scheduling mode is interpreted as indicating, by toggling of the flag, a new transmission in dynamic scheduling mode, the UE comprising:

a transceiver unit configured to receive, in a scheduling message, an indication that dynamically scheduled transmission will take place for a first HARQ process; and

a processing unit configured to check if a previous transmission that occurred for the first HARQ process before the indication was received used a semi-persistent resource and to consider the NDI flag to be toggled regardless of the value of the NDI flag if said condition is fulfilled, whereby the received indication is interpreted as an indication of a new transmission.

8. The UE according to claim 7, wherein said scheduling message comprises an uplink grant, by means of which the base station requests a new data transmission from the UE.

9. The UE according to claim 8, wherein the UE is configured to use one of the following as an indication that dynamically scheduled transmission will take place:

the scheduling message is addressed to the C-RNTI or to the Temporary C-RNTI, or was received in a Random Access response.

10. The UE according to claim 7, wherein said scheduling message comprises a downlink assignment, by means of which the base station indicates a new data transmission to the UE.

11. The UE according to claim 10, wherein the UE is configured to use one of the following as an indication that dynamically scheduled transmission will take place:

the scheduling message is addressed to the C-RNTI or to the Temporary C-RNTI, or to the RA-RNTI, i.e. the Random Access RNTI.

12. The UE according to claim 7, wherein the transceiver unit is configured to receive the scheduling message on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

13. A method in a base station in connection with a user equipment (UE) in a cellular communication system, for avoiding errors in a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) process, wherein a plurality of scheduling modes are supported including a dynamic scheduling mode in which the UE receives scheduling messages from the base station indicating which resources have been allocated for uplink and downlink transmission, and a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) mode in which new transmissions are performed on pre-assigned resources, and wherein a New Data Indicator (NDI) flag included in a scheduling message for SPS mode is interpreted as indicating either SPS activation or SPS retransmissions and an NDI flag included in a scheduling message for dynamic scheduling mode is interpreted as indicating, by toggling of the flag, a new transmission in dynamic scheduling mode, the method comprising:

indicating, in a scheduling message to the UE that dynamically scheduled transmission will take place for a first HARQ process; and

if a previous transmission that occurred for the first HARQ process before the indication was sent used a semi persistent resource, then setting an NDI flag in the scheduling message to any value and adopting this value as status for the HARQ process in question, whereby the sent indication indicates to the UE that a transmission corresponding to the sent indication will be a new transmission.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the step of setting the NDI value comprises setting a specific NDI.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the step of setting the NDI value comprises setting an arbitrary value of 0 and 1.

16. A base station connectable with a user equipment (UE) in a cellular communication system, configured to avoid errors in a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) process, wherein the base station supports a plurality of scheduling modes including a dynamic scheduling mode in which the base station transmits scheduling messages to the UE indicating which resources have been allocated for uplink and downlink transmission, and a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) mode in which new transmissions are performed on pre-assigned resources, the base station being configured to use a New Data Indicator (NDI) flag included in a scheduling message for SPS mode to indicate either SPS activation or SPS retransmissions, and an NDI flag included in a scheduling message for dynamic scheduling mode to indicate, by toggling of the flag, a new transmission in dynamic scheduling mode, said base station comprising:

a scheduling unit configured to schedule a dynamic transmission;

a transceiver unit configured to transmit in a scheduling message to said UE, an indication that dynamically scheduled transmission will take place for a first HARQ process; and

a processing unit configured to check if a previous transmission that occurred for the first HARQ process before the indication was sent used a semi persistent resource and to set an NDI flag in the scheduling message to any value and adopt this value as status for the HARQ process in question if said condition is fulfilled, whereby the transmitted indication indicates to the UE that a transmission corresponding to the sent indication will be a new transmission.

17. The base station according to claim 16, wherein the processing unit is configured to always set a specific NDI.

18. The base station according to claim 16, wherein the processing unit is configured to set the NDI value to an arbitrary value of 0 and 1.