Method and apparatus for resource allocation with carrier extension

• US 9,276,710 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2010
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Damnjanovic, Jelena M., Montojo, Juan, Gaal, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Parth
• Application Number:
  US12/964,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20120014330A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,909 Days
• Field of Search: 370/208, 370/254, 370/235
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/003 Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

Techniques for supporting communication with carrier extension are described. In one design, a base carrier and at least one segment available to a user equipment (UE) for communication may be determined. At least one operating parameter for the UE may be determined based on a composite bandwidth of the base carrier and the at least one segment. The UE may communicate based on the at least one operating parameter, which may include a resource block group (RBG) size and/or a bitmap used for resource allocation on the downlink, a gap used for resource allocation with frequency hopping on the downlink, a number of hopping bits used for resource allocation with frequency hopping on the uplink, a subband size and/or a number of bandwidth parts used for channel quality indicator (CQI) reporting, a sounding reference signal (SRS) bandwidth and/or a SRS configuration for SRS transmission on the uplink, and/or other operating parameters.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

determining a base carrier covering a first range of frequencies and having contiguously numbered resource blocks and at least one segment covering a second range of frequencies different from the first range of frequencies and having contiguously numbered resource blocks continuing in number from a number of a last resource block of the base carrier, the base carrier and the at least one segment available to a user equipment (UE) for communication, wherein resource blocks in the base carrier and the at least one segment are numbered starting with resource blocks in the base carrier and extending to resource blocks in the at least one segment;

determining at least one operating parameter for the UE based on a composite frequency bandwidth of the base carrier and the at least one segment; and

communicating based on the at least one operating parameter for the UE.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a resource block group (RBG) size based on a bandwidth of the base carrier;

determining a bitmap based on the composite frequency bandwidth and the RBG size, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the bitmap; and

determining resource blocks allocated to the UE based on the bitmap.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a resource block group (RBG) size based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the RBG size; and

determining resource blocks allocated to the UE based on the RBG size.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a first resource block group (RBG) size based on a bandwidth of the base carrier;

determining a second RBG size based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the second RBG size;

determining resource blocks in the base carrier allocated to the UE based on the first RBG size; and

determining resource blocks in the at least one segment available to the UE based on the second RBG size.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second RBG size is an integer multiple of the first RBG size.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a gap based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the gap;

determining a set of virtual resource blocks (VRBs) allocated to the UE; and

mapping the set of VRBs to a set of physical resource blocks (PRBs) based on the gap.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a first gap based on a bandwidth of the base carrier;

determining a second gap based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the second gap;

mapping virtual resource blocks (VRBs) to physical resource blocks (PRBs) in the base carrier based on the first gap; and

mapping VRBs to PRBs in the at least one segment based on the second gap.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a first gap based on a bandwidth of the base carrier;

determining a second gap based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the second gap is an integer multiple of the first gap, and wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the second gap; and

mapping virtual resource blocks (VRBs) to physical resource blocks (PRBs) based on the second gap.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the base carrier and the at least one segment are for an uplink, the method further comprising:

determining resources for a Physical HARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) for a downlink based on the composite frequency bandwidth for the uplink.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the base carrier and the at least one segment are for a downlink, the method further comprising:

receiving a downlink grant from a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) sent on the base carrier;

determining a first control channel element (CCE) used to send the PDCCH; and

determining resources for sending acknowledgement (ACK) information on uplink based on the first CCE.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing frequency hopping within the base carrier for resources in the base carrier; and

performing frequency hopping within the at least one segment for resources in the at least one segment.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a number of hopping bits for signaling at least one frequency hopping mode to the UE based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one parameter comprises the number of hopping bits.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining a first frequency hopping mode for the base carrier based on at least a first subset of the hopping bits; and

determining a second frequency hopping mode for the at least one segment based on at least a second subset of the hopping bits.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at least one hopping bit signaling frequency hopping modes to the UE, wherein a number of hopping bits is determined based on a bandwidth of the base carrier;

determining a first frequency hopping mode for the base carrier based on the at least one hopping bit; and

determining a second frequency hopping mode for the at least one segment based on the at least one hopping bit.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a subband size based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the subband size; and

obtaining channel quality indicator (CQI) information for subbands of the subband size.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a first subband size based on a bandwidth of the base carrier;

determining a second subband size based on the composite frequency bandwidth or a bandwidth of the at least one segment, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the second subband size;

obtaining first channel quality indicator (CQI) information for subbands of the first subband size within the base carrier; and

obtaining second CQI information for subbands of the second subband size within the at least one segment.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a first number of bandwidth parts based on a bandwidth of the base carrier;

determining a second number of bandwidth parts based on a bandwidth of the at least one segment;

determining a third number of bandwidth parts based on the first and second numbers of bandwidth parts; and

obtaining channel quality indicator (CQI) information for the third number of bandwidth parts.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a sounding reference signal (SRS) bandwidth based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the SRS bandwidth; and

transmitting or receiving SRS based on the SRS bandwidth.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a first sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration for the base carrier;

determining a second SRS configuration for the at least one segment;

transmitting or receiving SRS on the base carrier based on the first SRS configuration; and

transmitting or receiving SRS on the at least one segment based on the second SRS configuration.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the base carrier includes a control region and a data region, and wherein the at least one segment comprises an extension of the data region.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a single grant allocating resources in the base carrier, or the at least one segment, or both at the UE.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the base carrier and the at least one segment, the determining the at least one operating parameter, and the communicating are performed by a base station for communication with the UE.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the base carrier and the at least one segment, the determining the at least one operating parameter, and the communicating are performed by the UE for communication with a base station.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the base carrier and the at least one segment are for downlink transmission.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the base carrier and the at least one segment are for uplink transmission.

26. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for determining a base carrier covering a first range of frequencies and having contiguously numbered resource blocks and at least one segment covering a second range of frequencies different from the first range of frequencies and having contiguously numbered resource blocks continuing in number from a number of a last resource block of the base carrier, the base carrier and the at least one segment available to a user equipment (UE) for communication, wherein resource blocks in the base carrier and the at least one segment are numbered starting with resource blocks in the base carrier and extending to resource blocks in the at least one segment;

means for determining at least one operating parameter for the UE based on a composite frequency bandwidth of the base carrier and the at least one segment; and

means for communicating based on the at least one operating parameter for the UE.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for determining a resource block group (RBG) size based on a bandwidth of the base carrier;

means for determining a bitmap based on the composite frequency bandwidth and the RBG size, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the bitmap; and

means for determining resource blocks allocated to the UE based on the bitmap.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for determining a gap based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the gap;

means for determining a set of virtual resource blocks (VRBs) allocated to the UE; and

means for mapping the set of VRBs to a set of physical resource blocks (PRBs) based on the gap.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the base carrier and the at least one segment are for an uplink, the apparatus further comprising:

means for determining resources for a Physical HARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) for downlink based on the composite frequency bandwidth for the uplink.

30. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for performing frequency hopping within the base carrier for resources in the base carrier; and

means for performing frequency hopping within the at least one segment for resources in the at least one segment.

31. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for determining a subband size based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the subband size; and

means for obtaining channel quality indicator (CQI) information for subbands of the subband size.

32. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for determining a sounding reference signal (SRS) bandwidth based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the SRS bandwidth; and

means for transmitting or receiving SRS based on the SRS bandwidth.

33. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

determine a base carrier covering a first range of frequencies and having contiguously numbered resource blocks and at least one segment covering a second range of frequencies different from the first range of frequencies and having contiguously numbered resource blocks continuing in number from a number of a last resource block of the base carrier, the base carrier and the at least one segment available to a user equipment (UE) for communication, wherein resource blocks in the base carrier and the at least one segment are numbered starting with resource blocks in the base carrier and extending to resource blocks in the at least one segment,

determine at least one operating parameter for the UE based on a composite frequency bandwidth of the base carrier and the at least one segment, and

communicate based on the at least one operating parameter for the UE; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

determine a resource block group (RBG) size based on a bandwidth of the base carrier,

determine a bitmap based on the composite frequency bandwidth and the RBG size, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the bitmap, and

determine resource blocks allocated to the UE based on the bitmap.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

determine a gap based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the gap,

determine a set of virtual resource blocks (VRBs) allocated to the UE, and map the set of VRBs to a set of physical resource blocks (PRBs) based on the gap.

36. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the base carrier and the at least one segment are for an uplink, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine resources for a Physical HARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) for downlink based on the composite frequency bandwidth for the uplink.

37. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

perform frequency hopping within the base carrier for resources in the base carrier, and

perform frequency hopping within the at least one segment for resources in the at least one segment.

38. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

determine a subband size based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the subband size, and

obtain channel quality indicator (CQI) information for subbands of the subband size.

39. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

determine a sounding reference signal (SRS) bandwidth based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the at least one operating parameter comprises the SRS bandwidth, and

transmit or receiving SRS based on the SRS bandwidth.

40. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to determine a base carrier covering a first range of frequencies and having contiguously numbered resource blocks and at least one segment covering a second range of frequencies different from the first range of frequencies and having contiguously numbered resource blocks continuing in number from a number of a last resource block of the base carrier, the base carrier and the at least one segment available to a user equipment (UE) for communication, wherein resource blocks in the base carrier and the at least one segment are numbered starting with resource blocks in the base carrier and extending to resource blocks in the at least one segment,

code for causing the at least one computer to determine at least one operating parameter for the UE based on a composite frequency bandwidth of the base carrier and the at least one segment, and

code for causing the at least one computer to communicate based on the at least one operating parameter for the UE.

41. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

determining a base carrier covering a first range of frequencies and having contiguously numbered resource blocks and at least one segment covering a second range of frequencies different from the first range of frequencies and having contiguously numbered resource blocks continuing in number from a number of a last resource block of the base carrier, the base carrier and the at least one segment available for communication, wherein resource blocks in the base carrier and the at least one segment are numbered starting with resource blocks in the base carrier and extending to resource blocks in the at least one segment;

determining a first operating parameter for a first user equipment (UE) based on a base bandwidth of the base carrier;

determining a second operating parameter for a second UE based on a composite frequency bandwidth of the base carrier and the at least one segment;

communicating with the first UE based on the first operating parameter; and

communicating with the second UE based on the second operating parameter.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

determining a first resource block group (RBG) size based on the base bandwidth, wherein the first operating parameter comprises the first RBG size;

determining a second RBG size based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the second operating parameter comprises the second RBG size;

allocating resource blocks to the first UE based on the first RBG size; and

allocating resource blocks to the second UE based on the second RBG size.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

determining a resource block group (RBG) size based on the base bandwidth;

determining a first bitmap for the first UE based on the base bandwidth and the RBG size, wherein the first operating parameter comprises the first bitmap;

determining a second bitmap for the second UE based on the composite frequency bandwidth and the RBG size, wherein the second operating parameter comprises the second bitmap;

signaling resource blocks allocated to the first UE based on the first bitmap; and

signaling resource blocks allocated to the second UE based on the second bitmap.

44. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

determining a first gap based on the base bandwidth, wherein the first operating parameter comprises the first gap;

determining a second gap based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the second operating parameter comprises the second gap;

allocating a first set of virtual resource blocks (VRBs) to the first UE;

allocating a second set of VRBs to the second UE;

mapping the first set of VRBs to a first set of physical resource blocks (PRBs) based on the first gap; and

mapping the second set of VRBs to a second set of PRBs based on the second gap.

45. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

performing frequency hopping within the base carrier for resources in the base carrier; and

performing frequency hopping within the at least one segment for resources in the at least one segment.

46. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

determining a first number of hopping bits for signaling a first frequency hopping mode to the first UE based on the base bandwidth, wherein the first operating parameter comprises the first number of hopping bits;

determining a second number of hopping bits for signaling a second frequency hopping mode to the second UE based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the second operating parameter comprises the second number of hopping bits;

determining the first frequency hopping mode for the first UE based on the first number hopping bits; and

determining the second frequency hopping mode for the second UE based on the second number of hopping bits.

47. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

determining a first subband size based on the base bandwidth, wherein the first operating parameter comprises the first subband size;

determining a second subband size based on the composite frequency bandwidth or a bandwidth of the at least one segment, wherein the second operating parameter comprises the second subband size;

receiving first channel quality indicator (CQI) information determined by the first UE based on the first subband size; and

receiving second CQI information determined by the second UE based on the second subband size.

48. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

determining a first number of bandwidth parts based on the base bandwidth;

determining a second number of bandwidth parts based on a bandwidth of the at least one segment;

determining a third number of bandwidth parts based on the first and second numbers of bandwidth parts; and

receiving channel quality indicator (CQI) information from the second UE for the third number of bandwidth parts.

49. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

determining a first sounding reference signal (SRS) bandwidth based on the base bandwidth, wherein the first operating parameter comprises the first SRS bandwidth;

determining a second SRS bandwidth based on the composite frequency bandwidth, wherein the second operating parameter comprises the second SRS bandwidth;

receiving a first SRS transmission sent by the first UE based on the first SRS bandwidth; and

receiving a second SRS transmission sent by the second UE based on the second SRS bandwidth.

50. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

determining a first sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration for the base carrier;

determining a second SRS configuration for the at least one segment;

receiving a first SRS transmission sent by the second UE on the base carrier based on the first SRS configuration; and

receiving a second SRS transmission sent by the second UE on the at least one segment based on the second SRS configuration.