Method for transmitting control information in a carrier aggregation system, receiving method, and terminal

• US 8,995,368 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2010
• Issued: 03/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Moon, Sung Ho, Noh, Min Seok, Chung, Jae Hoon, Kim, So Yeon, Han, Seung Hee
• Primary Examiner(s): Hsu, Alpus H
• Assistant Examiner(s): DIVITO, WALTER J
• Application Number:
  US13/514,255
• Publication Number:
  US 20120243499A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,574 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329, 370/344, 370/431, 370/496, 455/450, 455/509
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0091 Signaling for the administration of the divided path
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method of transmitting control information in a carrier aggregation system is provided. The method includes: transmitting bandwidth information of a component carrier; configuring downlink control information including an additional indication field and an information field; mapping the downlink control information in any one of containing units having a plurality of predetermined different bit sizes in accordance with the bandwidth information; and transmitting the downlink control information mapped to any one of the containing units, wherein the information field is any one of a plurality of control information formats applicable to the component carrier, and the additional indication field includes information indicating a specific control information format to which the information field corresponds among the plurality of control information formats. Accordingly, the number of blind decoding attempts of a user equipment can decrease in a carrier aggregation system. Therefore, power consumption of the user equipment can decrease, and a decoding rate can increase.

Claims

1. A method of transmitting control information by a base station (BS) in a carrier aggregation system, the method comprising:

transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), bandwidth information of a component carrier;

generating downlink control information (DCI) using a DCI format among N different DCI formats which can be used in the component carrier, wherein the DCI comprises an additional indication field which informs the UE about the DCI format used to generate the DCI;

mapping the DCI to a DCI container among M different DCI containers; and

transmitting, to the UE, the DCI mapped to the DCI container so as to enable blind decoding of the DCI by the UE,

wherein each of the M different DCI containers has a predetermined bit size in accordance with the bandwidth information,

wherein at least 2 DCI formats among the N different DCI formats can be mapped to a same DCI container among the M different DCI containers,

wherein, if a bit size of the DCI container is greater than a total bit size of the DCI, different bits remaining after mapping the DCI in the DCI container are padded to a bit having a specific value, and

wherein N and M are natural numbers and M is smaller than N.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional indication field further includes:

a transmission mode indication field indicating a transmission mode for the component carrier or an antenna port indication field indicating an antenna port for the component carrier, and

a carrier indication field indicating the component carrier.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the additional indication field further includes an uplink-downlink indication field indicating for which link, between an uplink and a downlink, the information field is used as control information.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the additional indication field further includes a format indication field capable of identifying the DCI container.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional indication field is mapped to a predetermined fixed location in the DCI container.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein each of the M different DCI containers have a different predetermined bit size, and

wherein the additional indication field is mapped for all of the M different DCI containers with the same position and the same bit size.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein, if the component carrier comprises a plurality of component carriers, a common search space is configured only in some of the plurality of component carriers, and downlink control information for a plurality of user equipments is transmitted in the common search space, and

wherein the some of the plurality of component carriers are component carriers commonly assigned to the plurality of user equipments.

8. A method of receiving control information of a user equipment in a carrier aggregation system, the method comprising:

receiving bandwidth information of a component carrier;

receiving downlink control information (DCI) by monitoring M different DCI containers; and

blind decoding the received DCI,

wherein the DCI is generated using a DCI format among N different DCI formats which can be used in the component carrier, and the DCI comprises an additional indication field which informs the UE about the DCI format used to generate the DCI,

wherein the DCI is mapped to a DCI container among the M different DCI containers,

wherein each of the M different DCI containers has a predetermined bit size in accordance with the bandwidth information,

wherein at least 2 DCI formats among the N different DCI formats can be mapped to a same DCI container among the M different DCI containers,

wherein, if a bit size of the DCI container is greater than a total bit size of the DCI, different bits remaining after mapping the DCI in the DCI container are padded to a bit having a specific value, and

wherein N and M are natural numbers and M is smaller than N.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the additional indication field further includes:

a transmission mode indication field indicating a transmission mode for the component carrier or an antenna port indication field indicating an antenna port for the component carrier, and

a carrier indication field indicating the component carrier.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the additional indication field further includes an uplink-downlink indication field indicating for which link, between an uplink and a downlink, the information field is used as control information.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the additional indication field further includes a format indication field capable of identifying the M different DCI containers having a plurality of predetermined different bit sizes.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the additional indication field is mapped to a predetermined fixed location in the DCI container.

13. The method of claim 8,

wherein each of the M different DCI containers have a different predetermined bit size, and

wherein the additional indication field is mapped for all of the M different DCI containers with the same position and the same bit size.

14. A user equipment in a carrier aggregation system, the user equipment comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) unit configured to transmit and receive a radio signal; and

a processor coupled to the RF unit and configured to;

receive bandwidth information of a component carrier; and

receive downlink control information(DCI) by monitoring M different DCI containers; and

blind decoding the received DCI,

wherein the DCI is generated using a DCI format among N different DCI formats which can be used in the component carrier, and the DCI comprises an additional indication field which informs the UE about the DCI format used to generate the DCI,

wherein the DCI is mapped to a DCI container among the M different DCI containers,

wherein each of the M different DCI containers has a predetermined bit size in accordance with the bandwidth information,

wherein at least 2 DCI formats among the N different DCI formats can be mapped to a same DCI container among the M different DCI containers, and

wherein, if a bit size of the DCI container is greater than a total bit size of the DCI, different bits remaining after mapping the DCI in the DCI container are padded to a bit having a specific value, and

wherein N and M are natural numbers and M is smaller than N.