Method and apparatus for transmitting downlink reference signal in wireless communication system that supports multiple antennas

• US 8,982,829 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2014
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Ko, Hyun Soo, Han, Seung Hee, Chung, Jae Hoon, Ihm, Bin Chul, Lee, Moon Il
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Brian D
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TOAN D
• Application Number:
  US14/218,338
• Publication Number:
  US 20140198871A1
• Time in Patent Office: 364 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329, 370/338, 370/341, 370/348
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0413 MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0626 Channel coefficients, e.g. channel state information [CSI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/216 Code division or spread-spectrum multiple access [CDMA, SSMA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 13/004 Orthogonal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0224 using sounding signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2601 Multicarrier modulation systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2613 Structure of the reference signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0016 Time-frequency-code
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0051 of dedicated pilots, i.e. pilots destined for a single user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0057 Physical resource allocation for CQI
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/325 Power control of control or pilot channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for transmitting a downlink reference signal in a wireless communication system that supports multiple antennas. The method for transmitting a reference signal for a maximum of eight antenna ports according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: in a base station, mapping part of a common reference signal for a maximum of four antenna ports into a downlink subframe that includes a 1^st slot and a 2^nd slot; in the base station, mapping a channel status information reference signal for the maximum of eight antenna ports into the downlink subframe, according to a preset pattern; and in the base station, transmitting the downlink subframe into which the common reference signal and the channel status information reference signal have been mapped, wherein the preset pattern defines the channel status information reference signal for the maximum of eight antenna ports to be mapped onto two OFDM symbols of the data region in the downlink subframe, and wherein part of the common reference signal for the maximum of four antenna ports is limited to the common reference signal for a maximum of two antenna ports.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting reference signals for 8 or fewer antenna ports at a base station, the method comprising:

transmitting common reference signals (CRSs) for four or fewer antenna ports and channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RSs) for the 8 or fewer antenna ports,

wherein the CRSs and the CSI-RSs are mapped to a downlink subframe including a first slot and a second slot,

wherein the downlink subframe has an extended cyclic prefix (CP) and has 12 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, wherein an OFDM symbol index starts from 0,

wherein a predetermined pattern for the CSI-RSs includes that the CSI-RSs are mapped to two consecutive OFDM symbols, wherein the two consecutive OFDM symbols are second and third OFDM symbols of the second slot, and

wherein the predetermined pattern for the CSI-RSs is allowed to be used only when the CRSs are configured for 2 or fewer antenna ports.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, if the CRSs are configured for 4 antenna ports, the predetermined pattern for the CSI-RSs is not allowed to be used.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the CRSs are mapped to first and fourth OFDM symbols of the first slot and first and fourth OFDM symbols of the second slot.

4. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the predetermined pattern for the CSI-RSs includes that the CSI-RSs are mapped to one or more of four subcarrier locations in each of the two consecutive OFDM symbols, in one resource-block pair, and

wherein the four subcarrier locations include “

n”

-th subcarrier index, “

n+k”

-th subcarrier index, “

n+2k”

-th subcarrier index, and “

n+3k”

-th subcarrier index,

wherein k=3 and where “

n”

is an integer, and 0≦

n≦

2.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the four subcarrier locations are shifted by 1 subcarrier on a per cell or cell group basis.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein, the four subcarrier locations are subcarrier indexes 0, 3, 6 and 9, or subcarrier indexes 1, 4, 7 and 10, or subcarrier indexes 2, 5, 8 and 11.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the CSI-RSs are mapped to 8 resource elements in the one resource-block pair.

8. The method according to claim 4, wherein the one resource-block pair is defined as 12 OFDM symbols and 12 subcarriers.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein a predetermined pattern for the CSI-RSs for 2 or 4 antenna ports is a subset of a predetermined pattern for the CSI-RSs for 8 antenna ports.

10. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the CSI-RSs for the 8 or fewer antenna ports are grouped into a total of four groups such that CSI-RSs for two antenna ports configure one group,

wherein the CSI-RSs for two antennas of each of the four groups are multiplexed at the same subcarrier location of the two OFDM symbols using a code division multiplexing (CDM) scheme, and

wherein the four groups are multiplexed at different subcarrier locations using a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) scheme.

11. A method of estimating a channel using channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RSs) for 8 or fewer antenna ports from a base station at a user equipment, the method comprising:

receiving common reference signals (CRSs) for four or fewer antenna ports and the CSI-RSs for the 8 or fewer antenna ports; and

estimating the channel using the CSI-RSs,

wherein the CRSs and the CSI-RSs are mapped to a downlink subframe including a first slot and a second slot,

wherein the downlink subframe has an extended cyclic prefix (CP) and has 12 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, wherein an OFDM symbol index starts from 0,

wherein a predetermined pattern for the CSI-RSs includes that the CSI-RSs are mapped to two consecutive OFDM symbols, wherein the two consecutive OFDM symbols are second and third OFDM symbols of the second slot, and

wherein the predetermined pattern for the CSI-RSs is allowed to be used only when the CRSs are configured for 2 or fewer antenna ports.

12. A base station for transmitting reference signals (RSs) for 8 or fewer antenna ports, the base station comprising:

a receiver;

a transmitter; and

a processor,

wherein the processor is configured to transmit common reference signals, (CRSs) for four or fewer antenna ports and channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RSs) for the 8 or fewer antenna ports,

wherein the CRSs and the CSI-RSs are mapped to a downlink subframe including a first slot and a second slot,

wherein the downlink subframe has an extended cyclic prefix (CP) and has 12 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, wherein an OFDM symbol index starts from 0,

wherein a predetermined pattern for the CSI-RSs includes that the CSI-RSs are mapped to two consecutive OFDM symbols, wherein the two consecutive OFDM symbols are second and third OFDM symbols of the second slot, and

wherein the predetermined pattern for the CSI-RSs is allowed to be used only when the CRSs are configured for 2 or fewer antenna ports.

13. A user equipment for estimating a channel using channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RSs) for 8 or fewer antenna ports from a base station, the user equipment comprising:

a receiver;

a transmitter; and

a processor,

wherein the processor is configured to;

receive common reference signals (CRSs) for four or fewer antenna ports and the CSI-RSs for the 8 or fewer antenna ports; and

estimate the channel using the CSI-RSs,

wherein the CRSs and the CSI-RSs are mapped to a downlink subframe including a first slot and a second slot,

wherein the downlink subframe has an extended cyclic prefix (CP) and has 12 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, wherein an OFDM symbol index starts from 0,

wherein a predetermined pattern for the CSI-RSs includes that the CSI-RSs are mapped to two consecutive OFDM symbols, wherein the two consecutive OFDM symbols are second and third OFDM symbols of the second slot, and

wherein the predetermined pattern for the CSI-RSs is allowed to be used only when the CRSs are configured for 2 or fewer antenna ports.