Flexible time division duplex method and apparatus for communication system

• US 9,906,293 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2012
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Ji, Hyoungju, Cho, Joonyoung, Kim, Youngbum, Han, Jinkyu, Lee, Juho, Choi, Seunghoon
• Primary Examiner(s): Weidner, Timothy J
• Application Number:
  US13/417,880
• Publication Number:
  US 20120230232A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,178 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2656 for structure of frame, burst
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 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: H04L 5/1469 using time-sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A flexible Time Division Duplex (TDD) method and apparatus is provided for improving efficiency of communication system. A communication method of a base station supporting TDD includes transmitting, to a terminal, first information including at least one of a flag indicating whether flexible subframes are used and an indicator indicating a candidate flexible subframe set to an uplink subframe; transmitting, to the terminal, second information including a switch flag indicating whether to use the candidate flexible subframe as a downlink subframe; and transmitting, to the terminal, when the candidate flexible subframe is indicated to be used as the downlink subframe, the candidate flexible subframe as the downlink subframe.

Claims

1. A communication method by a base station supporting time division duplex (TDD), the method comprising:

transmitting, to a terminal, information indicating at least one subframe in a radio frame using radio resource control (RRC) signaling, wherein the indicated at least one subframe is configured for the terminal to monitor downlink control channel;

transmitting, to the terminal, first downlink control information in a first downlink control channel of a first subframe which is identified based on the information. wherein the first subframe corresponds to one among the at least one subframe; and

transmitting, to the terminal, downlink data in a downlink data channel of a second subframe and second downlink control information in a second downlink control channel of the second subframe, wherein the second subframe is identified as a downlink subframe based on the downlink control channel transmitted in the first subframe.

2. The communication method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to the terminal, TDD uplink-downlink configuration information for the terminal; and

transmitting, to the terminal, downlink data on a predefined subframe if the predefined subframe is indicated as the downlink subframe based on downlink control information, and if the predefined subframe is indicated as a special subframe based on the TDD uplink-downlink configuration information.

3. The communication method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the terminal, feedback information for the downlink data on a third subframe identified based on the RRC signaling.

4. The communication method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to a neighbor base station, overload interference information for at least one subframe indicated as the downlink subframe based on the second downlink control information.

5. The communication method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving overload interference information from a neighbor base station,

wherein the second downlink control information further includes scheduling information on downlink data determined, by the base station, based on the overload interference information.

6. A communication method by a terminal supporting time division duplex (TDD), the method comprising:

receiving, from a base station, information indicating at least one subframe in a radio frame in a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, wherein the indicated at least one subframe is configured for monitoring downlink control channel;

receiving, from the base station, first downlink control information in a first downlink control channel of a first subframe which is identified based on the information, wherein the first subframe corresponds to one among the at least one subframe; and

receiving, from the base station, downlink data in a downlink data channel of a second subframe and second downlink control information in a second downlink control channel of the second subframe, wherein the second subframe is identified as a downlink based on the downlink control channel received in the first subframe.

7. The communication method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, from the base station, TDD uplink-downlink configuration information for the terminal; and

receiving, from the base station, downlink data on a predefined subframe if the predefined subframe is indicated as the downlink subframe based on the downlink control information, and if the predefined subframe is indicated as a special subframe based on the TDD uplink-downlink configuration information.

8. The communication method of claim 6, further comprising:

transmitting, to the base station, feedback information for the downlink data on a third subframe identified based on the RRC signaling.

9. The communication method of claim 6, wherein the second downlink control information further includes scheduling information on downlink data determined by the base station based on overload interference information received from a neighbor base station.

10. A communication apparatus of a base station supporting Time Division Duplex (TDD), the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals; and

a controller coupled with the transceiver and configured to;

transmit, to a terminal, information indicating at least one subframe in a radio frame in a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, wherein the indicated at least one subframe is configured for monitoring downlink control channel;

transmit, to the terminal, first downlink control information in a first downlink control channel of a first subframe which is identified based on the information, wherein the first subframe corresponds to one among the at least one subframe;

transmit, to the terminal, downlink data in a downlink data channel of a second subframe and second downlink control information in a second downlink control channel of the second subframe, wherein the second subframe is identified as a downlink subframe based on the downlink control information transmitted on the first subframe.

11. The communication apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to:

transmit, to the terminal, TDD uplink-downlink configuration information for the terminal, and

transmit, to the terminal, downlink data on a predefined subframe if the predefined subframe is indicated as the downlink subframe based on the downlink control information, and if the predefined subframe is indicated as a special subframe based on the TDD uplink-downlink configuration information.

12. The communication apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to receive, from the terminal, a HARQ acknowledgement for the downlink data based on the RRC signaling.

13. The communication apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to transmit, to a neighbor base station, overload interference information for at least one subframe indicated as the downlink subframe based on the second downlink control information.

14. The communication apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to receive overload interference information from a neighbor base station, and

wherein the second downlink control information further includes scheduling information on downlink data determined, by the base station, based on the overload interference information.

15. A communication apparatus of a terminal supporting time division duplex (TDD), the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals; and

a controller coupled with the transceiver and configured to;

receive, from a base station, information indicating at least one subframe in a radio frame for monitoring downlink control channel;

receive, from the base station, first downlink control information in a first downlink control channel of a first subframe which is identified based on the information, wherein the first subframe corresponds to one among the at least one subframe; and

receive, from the base station, downlink data in a downlink data channel of a second subframe and second downlink control information in a second downlink control channel of the second subframe, wherein the second subframe is identified as a downlink subframe based on the downlink control channel received on the first subframe.

16. The communication apparatus of claim 15, wherein the controller is further configured to:

receiver, from the base station, TDD uplink-downlink configuration information for the terminal; and

receiver, from the base station, downlink data on a predefined subframe if the predefined subframe is indicated as the downlink subframe based on the downlink control information, and if the predefined subframe is indicated as a special subframe based on the TDD uplink-downlink configuration information.

17. The communication apparatus of claim 15, wherein the controller is further configured to transmit, to the base station, feedback information for the downlink on a third subframe identified data based on the RRC signaling.

18. The communication apparatus of claim 15, wherein the second downlink control information further includes scheduling information on downlink data determined, by the base station, based on overload interference information received from a neighbor base station.