User equipment, evolved node B, and method for multicast device-to-device communications

• US 9,544,099 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2012
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Etemad, Kamran
• Primary Examiner(s): PHUNKULH, BOB A
• Application Number:
  US13/716,919
• Publication Number:
  US 20140003319A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,485 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0025 Transmission of mode-switching indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1628 List acknowledgements, i.e. the acknowledgement message consisting of a list of identifiers, e.g. of sequence numbers H04L1/1614 takes precedence
• 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 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0073 Allocation arrangements that take into account other cell interferences for intercell interference mitigation or co-ordination in orthogonal multiplex systems H04J11/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0205 at the air interface dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/08 Load balancing or load distribution transferring a connection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0212 : managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0245 : according to signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/383 : power control in peer-to-peer links
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 : User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 : Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/046 : the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 : Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 : in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 : in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 : Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 : Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 : Inter-networking arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 40/60 : Superconducting electric elements or equipment; Power systems integrating superconducting elements or equipment

Abstract

Apparatuses and methods for supporting multicast device-to-device communications are described herein. A user equipment (UE) may transmit a request to a serving evolved Node B (eNodeB) for permission to transmit to a group of peer UEs. The UE may receive a resource assignment in response to the request. The resource allocation assignment may specify a group identifier. The group identifier may identify a group including the UE and the group of peer UEs. The UE may transmit a multicast transmission to the group of peer UEs using a resource assigned by the eNodeB with the resource assignment.

Claims

1. User Equipment (UE) comprising circuitry to:

transmit a request to a serving evolved Node B (eNodeB) for permission to transmit to a group of peer UEs, wherein the group of peer UEs is established using application layer signaling directly between peer applications running on respective peer UEs of the group of peer UEs, wherein the peer applications include one of a net meeting application, a group chat application, and Skype;

receive a resource allocation assignment in response to the request, the resource allocation assignment specifying a group identifier, the group identifier identifying a group including the UE and the group of peer UEs, wherein the group identifier is a multicast media access control-layer radio network temporary identifier (MC-RNTI) in accordance with a standard of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) family of standards for long term evolution (LTE); and

transmit a D2D multicast transmission to the group of peer UEs using a resource assigned by the serving eNodeB.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further arranged to transmit the request within a buffer status report (BSR), the request including a logical channel group identifier (LCGID) of the UE.

3. The UE of claim 1, wherein the resource is an uplink resource, and the resource comprises a physical resource block (PRB) of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

4. The UE of claim 1, wherein the resource comprises a physical resource block (PRB) of a frequency carrier specially designed for device-to-device communications.

5. The UE of claim 1, wherein the resource allocation assignment is received over a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or enhanced PDCCH (ePDCCH).

6. The UE of claim 1, wherein the resource allocation assignment is received through a broadcast of a device-to-device system information block (D2D SIB).

7. The UE of claim 1, further comprising processing circuitry to:

initiate signaling to configure the group of peer UEs and request that a peer UE be removed from or added to the group of peer UEs and wherein the group of peer UEs are within a proximity such that the group of peer UEs and the UE are within coverage of a same eNodeB.

8. The UE of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further arranged to:

request, using a logical group channel identifier (LGCID) of the UE, permission to transmit on the uplink resource, and upon receiving permission to transmit, transmit at least one multicast transmission frame using the uplink resource in response to a multicast transmission by a peer UE.

9. The UE of claim 8, wherein the circuitry is further arranged to:

receive notification that transmission privileges have been revoked; and

terminate use of the LCGID of the UE based on the notification.

10. An evolved Node B(eNodeB) to control group device-to-device communications, the eNodeB comprising:

a communications interface arranged to receive a request, from a user equipment (UE) served by the eNodeB, for permission to transmit a multicast message to a group of peer UEs, the group of peer UEs being served by the eNodeB, wherein the group of peer UEs is established using application layer signaling directly between peer applications running on respective peer UEs of the group of peer UEs, wherein the peer applications include one of a net meeting application, a group chat application, and Skype, one or more processors arranged to assign an uplink resource to the UE based on the request, a resource grant of the uplink resource specifying a group identifier for the group of peer UEs and a member identifier for the requesting UE, wherein the group identifier is a multicast media access control-layer radio network temporary identifier (MC-RNTI) in accordance with a standard of the 3<

sup>

rd<

/sup>

Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) family of standards for long term evolution (LTE), and coordinate requests, received from peer UEs in the group of peer UEs, for permission to transmit D2D multicast messages to the group of peer UEs.

11. The eNodeB of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are further arranged to determine that a UE of the group of peer UEs is leaving the geographical area served by the eNodeB, and the communications interface is further arranged to transmit coordination information to a second eNodeB, the coordination information including the group identifier for the group of peer UEs, the second eNodeB serving the UE that is leaving the geographical area served by the eNodeB.

12. A method, performed by user equipment (UE), for multicast device-to-device communications, the method comprising:

transmitting a buffer status report (BSR) to an evolved Node B (eNodeB), the BSR including a logical channel group identifier (LCGID) of the UE, to request permission to transmit to a group of peer UEs, wherein the group of peer UEs is established using application layer signaling directly between peer applications running on respective peer UEs of the group of peer UEs, wherein the peer applications include one of a net meeting application, a group chat application, and Skype;

receiving a resource allocation assignment in response to the transmission of the BSR, the resource allocation assignment specifying a group identifier for the group of peer UEs and a member identifier for the UE; and

transmitting a D2D multicast transmission, on an uplink device-to-device communication resource allocated by the resource allocation, to the group of peer UEs identified by the group identifier.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

initiating signaling to configure the group of peer UEs; and

receiving, in response to the initiating, the group identifier for the group of peer UEs.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

requesting that a peer UE be removed or added to the group of peer UEs.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the resource comprises a physical resource block (PRB) of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) on uplink frequency carrier or a physical resource block in a frequency carrier specially designed for device-to-device communications.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the resource allocation assignment is received over a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or enhanced PDCCH (ePDCCH) or through device-to-device system information broadcasting (D2D SIB).

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the resource allocation assignment further specifies a physical layer parameter, and the physical layer parameter includes at least one of a transmit power and scheme for modulation and coding.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

terminating use of a LCGID based on receiving a notification that transmission is no longer authorized.

19. A method, performed by an evolved Node B (eNodeB), for controlling group device-to-device communications, the method comprising:

receiving a request, from a user equipment (UE), for permission to transmit a multicast message to a group of peer UEs, the group of peer UEs being within a geographic area served by the eNodeB, wherein the group of peer UEs is established using application layer signaling directly between peer applications running on respective peer UEs of the group of peer UEs, wherein the peer applications include one of a net meeting application, a group chat application, and Skype; and

assigning an uplink resource to the requesting UE based on the request, a resource grant for the uplink resource specifying a group identifier for the group of peer UEs and a member identifier for the requesting UE, wherein the group identifier is a multicast media access control-layer radio network temporary identifier (MC-RNTI) in accordance with a standard of the 3<

sup>

rd<

/sup>

Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) family of standards for long term evolution (LTE).

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining that a UE of the group of peer UEs is leaving the geographic area served by the eNodeB; and

transmitting coordination information to a second eNodeB, the coordination information including the group identifier for the group of peer UEs, the second eNodeB serving the UE that is leaving the geographic area served by the eNodeB.