Physical layer (PHY) design for a low latency millimeter wave (MMW) backhaul system

• US 9,781,738 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2014
• Issued: 10/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: IDAC Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pietraski, Philip J., Deng, Tao, Sahin, Onur, Pragada, Ravikumar V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lai, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Qin, Zhiren
• Application Number:
  US14/766,696
• Publication Number:
  US 20160007371A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/155 Ground-based stations H04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15528 Control of operation parameters of a relay station to exploit the physical medium
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• 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 72/046 the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1263 Mapping of traffic onto schedule, e.g. scheduled allocation or multiplexing of flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/27 between access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed for establishing a low latency millimeter wave (mmW) backhaul connection. A base station may receive a mmW relay schedule from an evolved Node B (eNB) within one Long Term Evolution (LTE) scheduling interval. The base station may decode the mmW relay schedule, and initialize a mmW radio transmission resource according to the mmW relay schedule. The base station may receive a data packet from a second base station in a mmW transmission time interval (TTI) based on the mmW relay schedule using the initialized mmW radio transmission resource, and may transmit the data packet to a third base station based on the mmW relay schedule using the initialized mmW radio transmission resource. The transmitting may begin before the reception of the data packet is complete.

Claims

1. A method for use in a base station for establishing a low latency millimeter wave (mmW) backhaul connection, the method comprising:

receiving a mmW relay schedule from an evolved Node B (eNB) within one Long Term Evolution (LTE) scheduling interval;

decoding the mmW relay schedule;

steering a receive beam and a transmit beam according to the mmW relay schedule;

receiving a data packet from a second base station in a mmW transmission time interval (TTI) based on the mmW relay schedule using the receive beam; and

transmitting the data packet to a third base station based on the mmW relay schedule using the transmit beam, wherein the transmitting begins before reception of the data packet is complete.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a length of the mmW TTI is based on a length and structure of the LTE scheduling interval.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the mmW relay schedule further comprises decoding downlink control information (DCI) in a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) region of an LTE sub-frame.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the mmW relay schedule is received in a mmW control channel, and wherein the DCI indicates at least one of a frequency allocation of the mmW control channel, a transport format of the mmW control channel, and at least one of a plurality of OFDM symbols in a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) region of the LTE sub-frame.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one of the plurality of OFDM symbols includes relay scheduling information for one mmW TTI and a frequency allocation for a mmW data channel, wherein the relay scheduling information includes at least one of a reception time, a receive antenna pattern, a frequency channel for reception, a transmission time, a transmit antenna pattern, a frequency channel for transmission and a transmit power.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the eNB, an eNB neighbor list that indicates a plurality of neighbor base stations of the eNB; and

receiving, from the eNB, a plurality of base station neighbor lists that indicate a plurality of neighbor base stations of each of a plurality of base stations.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the mmW relay schedule indicates a plurality of links, and wherein each link is identified by a transmitting base station and a receiving base station, wherein each of the transmitting base station and receiving base station is indicated by an index associated with one of the plurality of neighbor base stations on the eNB neighbor list or on one of the plurality of base station neighbor lists.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the mmW relay schedule indicates a delay between receiving the mmW relay schedule and receiving the data packet.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a sounding schedule;

performing a sounding procedure based on the sounding schedule; and

transmitting a sounding report to an eNB via the LTE link.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving an updated mmW relay schedule based on the sounding report.

11. A base station for establishing a low latency millimeter wave (mmW) backhaul connection, the base station comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a mmW relay schedule from an evolved Node B (eNB) within one Long Term Evolution (LTE) scheduling interval;

a processor configured to decode the mmW relay schedule;

the processor configured to steer a receive beam and a transmit beam according to the mmW relay schedule;

the receiver configured to receive a data packet from a second base station in a mmW transmission time interval (TTI) based on the mmW relay schedule using the receive beam; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the data packet to a third base station based on the mmW relay schedule using the transmit beam, wherein the transmitting begins before reception of the data packet is complete.

12. The base station of claim 11, wherein a length of the mmW TTI is based on a length and structure of the LTE scheduling interval.

13. The base station of claim 11, wherein receiving the mmW relay schedule further comprises decoding downlink control information (DCI) in a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) region of an LTE sub-frame.

14. The base station of claim 13, wherein the mmW relay schedule is received in a mmW control channel, and wherein the DCI indicates at least one of a frequency allocation of the mmW control channel, a transport format of the mmW control channel, and at least one of a plurality of OFDM symbols in a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) region of the LTE sub-frame.

15. The base station of claim 14, wherein the at least one of the plurality of OFDM symbols includes relay scheduling information for one mmW TTI and a frequency allocation for a mmW data channel, wherein the relay scheduling information includes at least one of a reception time, a receive antenna pattern, a frequency channel for reception, a transmission time, a transmit antenna pattern, a frequency channel for transmission, and a transmit power.

16. The base station of claim 11, wherein:

the receiver is further configured to receive, from the eNB, an eNB neighbor list that indicates a plurality of neighbor base stations of the eNB; and

the receiver is further configured to receive, from the eNB, a plurality of base station neighbor lists that indicate a plurality of neighbor base stations of each of a plurality of base stations.

17. The base station of claim 16, wherein the mmW relay schedule indicates a plurality of links, wherein each link is identified by a transmitting base station and a receiving base station, and wherein each of the transmitting base station and receiving base station is indicated by an index associated with one of the plurality of neighbor base stations on the eNB neighbor list or on one of the plurality of base station neighbor lists.

18. The base station of claim 11, wherein the mmW relay schedule indicates a delay between receiving the mmW relay schedule and receiving the data packet.

19. The base station of claim 11, wherein:

the receiver is further configured to receive a sounding schedule;

the processor is further configured to perform a sounding procedure based on the sounding schedule; and

the transmitter is further configured to transmit a sounding report to an eNB via the LTE link.

20. The base station of claim 19, wherein:

the receiver is further configured to receive an updated mmW relay schedule based on the sounding report.