Telecommunications apparatus and methods

• US 9,585,122 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2014
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SCA IPLA Holdings Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Morioka, Yuichi, Barrett, Stephen John, Young, Phil, Beale, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Harper, Kevin C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Baron, Henry
• Application Number:
  US14/179,254
• Publication Number:
  US 20140161016A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0092 Indication of how the channel is divided
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services

Abstract

A method of communicating data between a base station and a plurality of terminal devices in a wireless telecommunications system. The method comprises transmitting data from the base station to the plurality of terminal devices in a multicast transmission and transmitting response signals from the terminal devices to the base station to indicate whether the respective terminal devices have successfully received the multicast transmission. The use of a multicast transmission provides an efficient mechanism for communicating the same data to a plurality of terminal device, for example as might be desired in a machine-type communication network. In combination with this, the use of individual response signals, such as ACK/NACK signalling, from the terminal devices allows the base station, or other entity, such as a machine-type communications server, to track which terminal devices have indicated successful receipt of the multicast transmission, and to instigate an appropriate re-transmission protocol accordingly.

Claims

1. A method of communicating data in a wireless telecommunications system, the method comprising:

transmitting data from a base station to a plurality of terminal devices in a multicast transmission; and

transmitting response signals from respective ones of the terminal devices to the base station in response to the multicast transmission to indicate whether the respective terminal devices have successfully received the multicast transmission,

wherein at least one of said transmitting data from the base station and said transmitting response signals from respective ones of the terminal devices is performed via a virtual carrier having a bandwidth less than a bandwidth of a host carrier carrying the virtual carrier,

wherein an amount of processing associated with the virtual carrier is less than an amount of processing associated with the host carrier, and

wherein a virtual carrier control region is provided in at least two consecutive final symbols of the virtual carrier.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising conveying to respective ones of the terminal devices an indication of an uplink transmission resource to be used for their response signal.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication of an uplink transmission resource is conveyed during a set-up procedure performed when the respective terminal devices connect to the wireless telecommunications system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the set-up procedure comprises a Radio Resource Connection request.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication of an uplink transmission resource is conveyed in association with the multicast transmission.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication of an uplink transmission resource is conveyed by explicit signalling.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication of an uplink transmission resource is conveyed by implicit signalling.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the indication of an uplink transmission resource is conveyed within a radio network identifier.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication of an uplink transmission resource comprises at least one of an indication of a transmission resource within an uplink sub-frame, an indication of an uplink sub-frame, and an indication of an uplink carrier.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the response signals are transmitted on a Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the response signals are transmitted in an uplink sub-frame of the wireless telecommunications system occurring at a time derived from the time of a downlink sub-frame containing the multicast transmission.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein different ones of the terminal devices transmit their response signals in different uplink sub-frames and/or carriers of the wireless telecommunications system.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining from the response signals received at the base station whether any terminal device has not received the multicast transmission, and if so, re-transmitting the data from the base station.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein response signals from different ones of the terminal devices are transmitted using different uplink transmission resources.

15. The method of claim 1,

wherein both of said transmitting data from the base station and said transmitting response signals from respective ones of the terminal devices are performed via respective virtual carriers,

wherein the host carrier and the virtual carrier for said transmitting data have a first frequency bandwidth and a third frequency bandwidth, respectively,

wherein the host carrier and the virtual carrier for said transmitting response signals have a second frequency bandwidth and a fourth frequency bandwidth, respectively,

wherein the wireless telecommunications system operates in downlink over the first frequency bandwidth and in uplink over the second frequency bandwidth,

wherein the multicast transmission is made using downlink transmission resources on frequencies selected from within the third frequency bandwidth which is smaller than and within the first frequency bandwidth, and

wherein the response signals from the terminal devices are transmitted using uplink transmission resources on frequencies selected from within the fourth frequency bandwidth which is smaller than and within the second frequency bandwidth.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first and second frequency bandwidths are the same width and/or the third and fourth frequency bandwidths are the same width.

17. A wireless telecommunications system comprising:

a base station; and

a plurality of terminal devices,

wherein the base station is configured to transmit data to a plurality of terminal devices in a multicast transmission,

wherein the terminal devices are configured to transmit response signals to the base station in response to the multicast transmission to indicate whether they have successfully received the multicast transmission,

wherein at least one of the transmitting data by the base station and the transmitting response signals from respective ones of the terminal devices is performed via a virtual carrier having a bandwidth less than a bandwidth of a host carrier carrying the virtual carrier,

wherein an amount of processing associated with the virtual carrier is less than an amount of processing associated with the host carrier, and

wherein a virtual carrier control region is provided in at least two consecutive final symbols of the virtual carrier.

18. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 17, wherein the base station is further configured to convey to respective ones of the terminal devices an indication of an uplink transmission resource to be used for their response signal.

19. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 18, wherein the base station is configured to convey the indication of an uplink transmission resource during a set-up procedure performed when the respective terminal devices connect to the wireless telecommunications system.

20. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 19, wherein the set-up procedure comprises a Radio Resource Connection request.

21. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 18, wherein the base station is configured to convey the indication of an uplink transmission resource in association with the multicast transmission.

22. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 18, wherein the base station is configured to convey the indication of an uplink transmission resource by explicit signalling.

23. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 18, wherein the base station is configured to convey the indication of an uplink transmission resource by implicit signalling.

24. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 23, wherein the base station is configured to convey the indication of an uplink transmission resource within a radio network identifier allocated to the respective terminal devices.

25. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 18, wherein the indication of an uplink transmission resource comprises at least one of an indication of a transmission resource within an uplink sub-frame, an indication of an uplink sub-frame, and an indication of an uplink carrier.

26. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 17, wherein the terminal devices are configured to transmit the response signals on a Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH.

27. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 17, wherein the terminal devices are configured to transmit the response signals in an uplink sub-frame of the wireless telecommunications system occurring at a time derived from the time of a downlink sub-frame containing the multicast transmission.

28. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 17, wherein different ones of the terminal devices are arranged to transmit their response signals in different uplink sub-frames and/or carriers of the wireless telecommunications system.

29. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 17, wherein the base station is configured to determine from the response signals whether any terminal device has not received a multicast transmission, and if so, to re-transmit the data.

30. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 17, wherein different ones of the terminal devices are arranged to transmit their response signals using different uplink transmission resources.

31. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 17,

wherein both of the transmitting data by the base station and the transmitting response signals from respective ones of the terminal devices are performed via respective virtual carriers,

wherein the host carrier and the virtual carrier for the transmitting data have a first frequency bandwidth and a third frequency bandwidth, respectively,

wherein the host carrier and the virtual carrier for the transmitting response signals have a second frequency bandwidth and a fourth frequency bandwidth, respectively,

wherein the wireless telecommunications system operates in downlink over the first frequency bandwidth and in uplink over the second frequency bandwidth,

wherein the base station is configured to transmit the multicast transmission using downlink transmission resources on frequencies selected from within the third frequency bandwidth which is smaller than and within the first frequency bandwidth, and

wherein the terminal devices are configured to transmit their response signals using uplink transmission resources on frequencies selected from within the fourth frequency bandwidth which is smaller than and within the second frequency bandwidth.

32. The wireless telecommunications system of claim 31, wherein the first and second frequency bandwidths are the same width and/or the third and fourth frequency bandwidths are the same width.

33. A method of operating a terminal device for the communication data in a wireless telecommunications system, the method comprising:

receiving data transmitted by a base station to a plurality of terminal devices in a multicast transmission; and

transmitting a response signal to the base station in response to the multicast transmission to indicate whether the terminal device successfully received the multicast transmission,

wherein at least one of said receiving data transmitted by the base station and said transmitting the response signal is performed via a virtual carrier having a bandwidth less than a bandwidth of a host carrier carrying the virtual carrier,

wherein an amount of processing associated with the virtual carrier is less than an amount of processing associated with the host carrier, and

wherein a virtual carrier control region is provided in at least two consecutive final symbols of the virtual carrier.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising obtaining an indication of an uplink transmission resource to be used by the terminal device for the response signal.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the indication of an uplink transmission resource is obtained from information conveyed to the terminal device during a set-up procedure performed when the terminal devices initiates a connection to the base station.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the indication of an uplink transmission resource is obtained from information conveyed to the terminal device by implicit signalling.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the indication of an uplink transmission resource is obtained from a radio network identifier allocated by the base station.

38. The method of claim 33, wherein the response signal is transmitted using uplink transmission resources which are specific to the terminal device.

39. A terminal device for receiving data in a wireless telecommunications system, the terminal device including circuitry configured to

receive data transmitted by a base station to a plurality of terminal devices in a multicast transmission, and

transmit a response signal to the base station in response to the multicast transmission to indicate whether the terminal device successfully received the multicast transmission,

wherein at least one of the receiving data transmitted by the base station and the transmitting the response signal is performed via a virtual carrier having a bandwidth less than a bandwidth of a host carrier carrying the virtual carrier,

wherein an amount of processing associated with the virtual carrier is less than an amount of processing associated with the host carrier, and

wherein a virtual carrier control region is provided in at least two consecutive final symbols of the virtual carrier.

40. The terminal device of claim 39, wherein the terminal device is configured to obtain an indication of an uplink transmission resource to be used for the response signal.

41. The terminal device of claim 40, wherein the terminal device is configured to obtain the indication of an uplink transmission resource from information conveyed during a set-up procedure performed when the terminal device connects to the wireless telecommunications system.

42. The terminal device of claim 41, wherein the set-up procedure comprises a Radio Resource Connection request.

43. The terminal device of claim 40, wherein the terminal device is configured to obtain the indication of an uplink transmission resource from information conveyed in association with the multicast transmission.

44. The terminal device of claim 40, wherein the terminal device is configured obtain the indication of an uplink transmission resource from information conveyed by explicit signalling.

45. The terminal device of claim 40, wherein the terminal device is configured obtain the indication of an uplink transmission resource from information conveyed by implicit signalling.

46. The terminal device of claim 45, wherein the terminal device is configured to obtain the indication of an uplink transmission resource from information conveyed within a radio network identifier allocated to the respective terminal devices.

47. The terminal device of claim 40, wherein the indication of an uplink transmission resource comprises at least one of an indication of a transmission resource within an uplink sub-frame, an indication of an uplink sub-frame, and an indication of an uplink carrier.

48. The terminal device of claim 39, wherein the terminal device is configured to transmit the response signal on a Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH.

49. The terminal device of claim 39, wherein the terminal device is configured to transmit the response signal in an uplink sub-frame of the wireless telecommunications system occurring at a time derived from the time of a downlink sub-frame containing the multicast transmission.

50. The terminal device of claim 39, wherein the terminal device is configured to transmit the response signal in a different uplink sub-frames and/or carrier of the wireless telecommunications system as compared to a corresponding response signal from another terminal device.

51. The terminal device of claim 39, wherein the terminal device is operable to receive a re-transmission of the data in the event the terminal device transmits a response signal indicating the multicast transmission was not successfully received.

52. The terminal device of claim 39, wherein the terminal device is configured to transmit the response signal using uplink transmission resources which are specific to the terminal device for the multicast transmission.

53. The terminal device of claim 39,

wherein both of the receiving data transmitted by the base station and the transmitting response signal from the terminal device are performed via respective virtual carriers,

wherein the host carrier and the virtual carrier for the receiving data have a first frequency bandwidth and a third frequency bandwidth, respectively,

wherein the host carrier and the virtual carrier for the transmitting response signal have a second frequency bandwidth and a fourth frequency bandwidth, respectively,

wherein the wireless telecommunications system operates in downlink over the first frequency bandwidth and in uplink over the second frequency bandwidth,

wherein the terminal device is configured to receive the multicast transmission using downlink transmission resources on frequencies selected from within the third frequency bandwidth which is smaller than and within the first frequency bandwidth, and

wherein the terminal device is configured to transmit the response signal using uplink transmission resources on frequencies selected from within the fourth frequency bandwidth which is smaller than and within the second frequency bandwidth.

54. The terminal device of claim 53, wherein the first and second frequency bandwidths are the same width and/or the third and fourth frequency bandwidths are the same width.