Base station and terminal

• US 9,641,228 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2012
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Shimezawa, Kazuyuki, Nogami, Toshizo, Imamura, Kimihiko, Nakashima, Daiichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Chu, Wutchung
• Application Number:
  US14/114,094
• Publication Number:
  US 20140050189A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,838 Days
• Field of Search: 370329, 370252, 370328, 455450, 4554521
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/024 Co-operative use of antennas of several sites, e.g. in co-ordinated multipoint or co-operative multiple-input multiple-output [MIMO] systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0016 Time-frequency-code
• 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

Abstract

In a radio communication system in which a base station and a terminal communicate with each other, the base station is capable of efficiently notifying the terminal of control information. The base station sets monitoring of a second control channel in the terminal through RRC signaling that is higher-layer control information, the second control channel being transmitted using a second transmit port different from a first transmit port used for transmission of a first control channel. The base station transmits control information for the terminal by mapping the control information to the second control channel. The first transmit port is a transmit port used for transmission of a cell-specific reference signal that is a reference signal common within a cell, and the second transmit port is a transmit port used for transmission of a terminal-specific reference signal that is a reference signal specific to the terminal.

Claims

1. A base station configured to communicate with a terminal in a cell, the base station comprising:

a control information generator configured to generate control information for the terminal; and

a transmitter configured

to transmit a higher layer signaling including at least subframe pattern configuration information to configure subframes which the terminal shall monitor a second control channel, and

to transmit the control information for the terminal on the second control channel in the subframes configured by the subframe pattern configuration information, the second control channel being transmitted using a second antenna port different from a first antenna port used for transmission of a first control channel, wherein

the first antenna port is an antenna port used for transmission of a cell-specific reference signal that is a reference signal specific to the cell;

the second antenna port is an antenna port used for transmission of a demodulation reference signal that is associated with the second control channel;

a sequence for the demodulation reference signal is generated based on a cell ID and a scrambling ID;

the cell ID is sent by the base station; and

the scrambling ID is a pre-defined value.

2. The base station according to claim 1, wherein the demodulation reference signal is generated based on an orthogonal code corresponding to the second antenna port, and based on a pseudo-noise sequence generated based on identification information configured in the terminal through Radio Resource Control signaling.

3. The base station according to claim 1, wherein the second control channel is transmitted using the second antenna port, the second antenna port being defined in advance.

4. The base station according to claim 1, wherein the terminal is configured with monitoring of the second control channel individually on a cell-by-cell basis.

5. The base station according to claim 1, wherein

the subframe pattern configuration information is a bit map with 40 bits which corresponds to 40 subframes, each bit of the bitmap indicating whether a corresponding subframe is configured to transmit the second control channel or not.

6. A base station configured to communicate with a terminal in a cell, the base station comprising:

a control information generator configured to generate control information for the terminal; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the control information for the terminal on a first control channel that is transmitted using a first antenna port or a second control channel that is transmitted using a second antenna port, wherein

in a case where the terminal is not configured with monitoring of the second control channel, the control information for the terminal is transmitted on the first control channel;

in a case where the terminal is configured with the monitoring of the second control channel, the transmitter is configured to transmit a higher layer signaling including at least subframe pattern configuration information to configure subframes which the terminal shall monitor the second control channel, and the control information for the terminal is transmitted on the first control channel or is transmitted on the second control channel in the subframes configured by the subframe pattern configuration information;

the first antenna port is an antenna port used for transmission of a cell-specific reference signal that is a reference signal specific to the cell;

the second antenna port is an antenna port used for transmission of a demodulation reference signal that is associated with the second control channel;

a sequence for the demodulation reference signal is generated based on a cell ID and a scrambling ID;

the cell ID is sent by the base station; and

the scrambling ID is a pre-defined value.

7. A terminal configured to communicate with a base station in a cell, the terminal comprising:

a receiver configured

to receive a higher layer signaling including at least subframe pattern configuration information to configure subframes which the terminal shall monitor a second control channel,

to monitor a control information for the terminal on the second control channel in the subframes configured by the subframe pattern configuration information, the second control channel being transmitted using a second antenna port different from a first antenna port used for transmission of a first control channel; and

a control information processor configured to process control information for the terminal that is transmitted on the second control channel, wherein

the first antenna port is an antenna port used for transmission of a cell-specific reference signal that is a reference signal specific to the cell;

the second antenna port is an antenna port used for transmission of a demodulation reference signal that is associated with the second control channel;

a sequence for the demodulation reference signal is generated based on a cell ID and a scrambling ID;

the cell ID is sent by the base station; and

the scrambling ID is a pre-defined value.

8. The terminal according to claim 7, wherein the demodulation reference signal is generated based on an orthogonal code corresponding to the second antenna port, and based on a pseudo-noise sequence generated based on identification information configured in the terminal through Radio Resource Control signaling.

9. The terminal according to claim 7, wherein the second control channel is transmitted using the second antenna port, the second antenna port being defined in advance.

10. The terminal according to claim 7, wherein the terminal is configured with monitoring of the second control channel individually on a cell-by-cell basis.

11. The terminal station according to claim 7, wherein

the subframe pattern configuration information is a bit map with 40 bits which corresponds to 40 subframes, each bit of the bitmap indicating whether a corresponding subframe is configured to transmit the second control channel or not.

12. A terminal configured to communicate with a base station in a cell, the terminal comprising:

a receiver configured to monitor a candidate of a first control channel or a candidate of a second control channel; and

a control information processor configured to process control information for the terminal, the control information for the terminal being transmitted on the first control channel that is transmitted using a first antenna port or the second control channel that is transmitted using a second antenna port, wherein

in a case where the terminal is not configured with monitoring of the second control channel, the receiver is configured to monitor the candidate of the first control channel, and the control information processor is configured to process the control information for the terminal;

in a case where the terminal is configured with the monitoring of the second control channel, the receiver is configured to receive a higher layer signaling including at least subframe pattern configuration information to configure subframes which the terminal shall monitor the second control channel, to monitor the candidate of the first control channel, and to monitor the candidate of the second control channel in the subframes configured by the subframe pattern configuration information;

the control information processor is configured to process the control information for the terminal;

the first antenna port is an antenna port used for transmission of a cell-specific reference signal that is a reference signal specific to the cell;

the second antenna port is an antenna port used for transmission of a demodulation reference signal that is associated with the second control channel;

a sequence for the demodulation reference signal is generated based on a cell ID and a scrambling ID;

the cell ID is sent by the base station; and

the scrambling ID is a pre-defined value.