Data transmission method and apparatus

• US 9,923,754 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2015
• Issued: 03/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Li, Yue, Guo, Xiaolong, Zhu, Song, Yang, Fei
• Primary Examiner(s): Mian, Omer S
• Application Number:
  US14/623,641
• Publication Number:
  US 20150163695A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,127 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0091 arrangements specific to receivers, e.g. format detection detection of data rate H04L25/0262; detection of coding rate H04L1/0046
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/71 Hardware identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/065 using assembly or disassembly of packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 for groups of terminals or users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/02 Data link layer protocols

Abstract

A data sending method is provided. Media access control MAC payloads corresponding to a plurality of user equipment (UEs) are encapsulated in one MAC packet data unit PDU, where the MAC PDU includes a header, the MAC payloads and identification information of each UE in the plurality of UEs; and the header includes a plurality of subheaders, the plurality of subheaders is subheaders respectively corresponding to a MAC payload corresponding to each UE in the plurality of UEs, the MAC payload corresponding to each UE includes a MAC control element CE and/or a MAC service data unit SDU, and the identification information is used for identifying each UE. The MAC PDU is sent. Correspondingly, a data receiving method and apparatus are also provided. In the foregoing solutions, transmission of a MAC PDU during multi-user cooperated communication is implemented.

Claims

1. A data sending method, comprising:

encapsulating, by a base station, media access control (MAC) payloads corresponding to a plurality of user equipments (UEs) in a MAC packet data unit (PDU), wherein the MAC PDU comprises a single MAC header associated with all of the plurality of UEs, a MAC payload section following the MAC header and comprising the MAC payloads without any additional MAC header, and identification information of each UE in the plurality of UEs, the MAC header comprises a plurality of contiguous subheaders, each subheader in the plurality of contiguous subheaders corresponds to one MAC payload of one UE in the plurality of UEs, each subheader in the plurality of contiguous subheaders that corresponds to a MAC control element (CE) has a R/R/E/LCID format and each subheader in the plurality of contiguous subheaders that corresponds to a MAC service data unit (SDU) has a R/R/E/LCID/F/L format, the MAC payloads comprise at least one kind of a MAC CE and a MAC SDU, and the identification information enables each UE to identify a MAC payload belonging to the UE; and

sending, by the base station, the MAC PDU to the plurality of UEs, the MAC PDU enabling each UE to retrieve a respective MAC payload,

wherein all contents of each MAC payload in the MAC payload section are contiguous and the subheaders corresponding to each MAC payload are contiguous.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein encapsulating MAC payloads corresponding to a plurality of UEs in one MAC PDU comprises:

encapsulating the MAC payloads corresponding to the plurality of UEs in the MAC PDU by taking all MAC payloads of each UE as a group, wherein positions of MAC payloads corresponding to one UE in the plurality of UEs are contiguous, and positions of subheaders corresponding to the MAC payloads of one UE are contiguous.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein:

the identification information comprises a MAC CE used for bearing a UE identifier, wherein each UE corresponds to one MAC CE used for bearing the UE identifier and corresponds to one UE identifier; and

a position of the MAC CE used for bearing the UE identifier in all the MAC payloads of one UE indicates a position of all the MAC payloads of the one UE in the MAC PDU.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the MAC CE used for bearing the UE identifier is located at a first or last one of all the MAC payloads of one UE.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

R/R in the R/R/E/LCID or R/R/E/LCID/F/L format indicates a plurality of reserved bits of each subheader; and

the identification information comprises a value represented by the reserved bits of each subheader, and the value represented by the reserved bits corresponds one-to-one to the plurality of UEs.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein all of the subheaders corresponding to each UE comprise a specific subheader, wherein the specific subheader serves as the identification information of each UE.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein:

the specific subheader comprises two reserved bits, the two reserved bits in the specific subheader are set to a first specific value, and first specific values in the specific subheaders corresponding to the plurality of UEs are the same; and

in the MAC header, the group corresponding to each UE appears in negotiated order, and the first specific value is the identification information and is used for determining all of the subheaders corresponding to each UE in the plurality of UEs;

or

the specific subheader comprises a logical channel identifier (LCID) field, the LCID field of the specific subheader is set to a first LCID, and in the MAC header, the group corresponding to each UE appears in negotiated order, wherein the identification information is the first LCID and first LCIDs in the specific subheaders corresponding to the plurality of the UEs are the same, and the first LCID is used for determining all of the subheaders corresponding to each UE in the plurality of UEs;

or

the specific subheader comprises a LCID field, the LCID field of the specific subheader is set to a second LCID corresponding to each UE, and the specific subheader does not correspond to any MAC payload, wherein the identification information of the UE is the second LCID, different UEs correspond to different second LCIDs, and the second LCID is different from a third LCID used for identifying the MAC payload.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the specific subheader is a first subheader or a last subheader among all of the subheaders corresponding to the MAC payloads of one UE.

9. A data receiving method, comprising:

receiving one media access control packet data unit (MAC PDU) encapsulating MAC payloads corresponding to a plurality of user equipment (UEs), wherein the MAC PDU comprises a single MAC header associated with all of the plurality of UEs, a MAC payload section following the MAC header and comprising the MAC payloads without any additional MAC header, and identification information of each UE in the plurality of UEs, the MAC header comprises a plurality of contiguous subheaders, each subheader in the plurality of contiguous subheaders corresponds to one MAC payload of one UE in the plurality of UEs, each subheader in the plurality of contiguous subheaders that corresponds to a MAC control element (CE) has a R/R/E/LCID format and each subheader in the plurality of contiguous subheaders that corresponds to a MAC service data unit (SDU) has a R/R/E/LCID/F/L format, the MAC payloads comprise at least one kind of a MAC CE and a MAC SDU, and the identification information enables each UE to identify a MAC payload belonging to the UE; and

determining a UE and a MAC payload corresponding to the UE by parsing the MAC PDU according to the identification information of each UE and the MAC header in the MAC PDU;

wherein all contents of each MAC payload in the MAC payload section are contiguous and the subheaders corresponding to each MAC payload are contiguous.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein determining a UE and a MAC payload corresponding to the UE comprises:

if the identification information comprises a value represented by a reserved bit of each subheader in the plurality of subheaders, determining the UE according to the value represented by the reserved bits;

or

if the identification information comprises a MAC CE used for bearing a UE identifier, determining a UE corresponding to the UE identifier, and determining, according to a position of the MAC CE used for bearing the UE identifier in all MAC payloads of the UE identified by the UE identifier, all the MAC payloads of the UE identified by the UE identifier;

or

if the identification information comprises a specific subheader, determining, according to an order of a plurality of specific subheaders in the MAC PDU, the UE corresponding to a specific subheader, and determining all MAC payloads of the UE corresponding to one specific subheader in the plurality of specific subheaders according to a position of the specific subheader in the MAC header, wherein the reserved bits in the specific subheader are set to a first specific value, and the first specific values in the specific subheaders corresponding to the plurality of UEs are the same; and

in the MAC header, the MAC payloads corresponding to the UEs appear by taking all MAC payloads of each UE as a group, an order of the groups is negotiated, and the first specific value is the identification information;

or

if the identification information comprises a specific subheader, determining, according to an order of appearance of a plurality of specific subheaders in the MAC PDU, the UE corresponding to a specific subheader, and determining all MAC payloads of the UE corresponding to the specific subheader in the plurality of specific subheaders according to a position of the specific subheaders in the MAC header, wherein a logical channel identifier (LCID) field in the specific subheader is set to a first LCID and the first LCIDs in the specific subheaders corresponding to the plurality of UEs are the same; and

in the MAC header, the MAC payloads corresponding to the plurality of UEs appear by taking all the MAC payloads of each UE as a group, and an order of the groups is negotiated;

or

if the identification information comprises a specific subheader, determining, according to values of LCID fields in a plurality of specific subheaders in the MAC PDU, the UE corresponding to the plurality of specific subheaders, and determining all MAC payloads of the UE corresponding to a specific subheader in the plurality of specific subheaders according to a position of the specific subheaders in the MAC header, wherein the value of the LCID field is a second LCID, the identification information of the UE is the second LCID, different UEs correspond to different second LCIDs, and the second LCID is different from a third LCID used for identifying the MAC payload, and in the MAC header, the MAC payloads corresponding to the UEs appear by taking all the MAC payloads of each UE as a group.

11. A base station, comprising:

a baseband processor, configured to encapsulate media access control (MAC) payloads corresponding to a plurality of user equipment (UEs) in a MAC packet data unit (PDU), wherein the MAC PDU comprises a single MAC header associated with all of the plurality of UEs, a MAC payload section following the MAC header and comprising the MAC payloads without any additional MAC header, and identification information of each UE in the plurality of UEs, the MAC header comprises a plurality of contiguous subheaders, each subheader in the plurality of contiguous subheaders corresponds to one MAC payload of one UE in the plurality of UEs, each subheader in the plurality of contiguous subheaders that corresponds to a MAC control element (CE) has a R/R/E/LCID format and each subheader in the plurality of contiguous subheaders that corresponds to a MAC service data unit (SDU) has a R/R/E/LCID/F/L format, the MAC payloads comprise at least one kind of a MAC CE and a MAC SDU, and the identification information enables each UE to identify a MAC payload belonging to the UE; and

a transmitter, configured to send the MAC PDU encapsulated by the baseband processor to the plurality of UEs, the MAC PDU enabling each UE to retrieve a respective MAC payload,

wherein all contents of each MAC payload in the MAC payload section are contiguous and the subheaders corresponding to each MAC payload are contiguous.

12. The base station according to claim 11, wherein:

the baseband processor is configured to encapsulate the MAC payloads corresponding to the plurality of UEs in the MAC PDU by taking all MAC payloads of each UE as a group; and

positions of MAC payloads corresponding to one UE in the plurality of UEs are contiguous, and positions of subheaders corresponding to the MAC payloads of one UE are contiguous.

13. The base station according to claim 12, wherein:

the identification information comprises a MAC CE used for bearing a UE identifier, and each UE corresponds to one MAC CE used for bearing the UE identifier and corresponds to one UE identifier; and

a position of the MAC CE used for bearing the UE identifier in all the MAC payloads of one UE indicates a position of all the MAC payloads of the one UE in the MAC PDU.

14. The base station according to claim 13, wherein the baseband processor is configured to encapsulate the MAC CE used for bearing the UE identifier in a first or last one of all the MAC payloads of one UE.

15. The base station according to claim 11, wherein:

R/R in the R/R/E/LCID or R/R/E/LCID/F/L format indicates a plurality of reserved bits of each subheader; and

the identification information comprises a value represented by the reserved bits of each subheader, and the value represented by the reserved bits corresponds one-to-one to the plurality of UEs.

16. The base station according to claim 12, wherein the baseband processor is configured to encapsulate a specific subheader respectively corresponding to each UE in the MAC header, wherein the specific subheader serves as the identification information of each UE.

17. The base station according to claim 16, wherein the baseband processor is configured to encapsulate the specific subheader respectively corresponding to each UE in the MAC header in one of the following manners:

setting reserved bits in the specific subheader to a first specific value, and encapsulating all of the subheaders corresponding to each UE by taking all MAC payloads of each UE as a group, wherein the first specific values in the specific subheaders corresponding to the plurality UEs are the same; and

in the MAC header, the group corresponding to each UE appears in negotiated order, and the first specific value is the identification information and is used for determining all of the subheaders corresponding to each UE in the plurality of UEs;

or

setting a logical channel identifier (LCID) field in the specific subheader to a first LCID, and encapsulating all the subheaders corresponding to each UE by taking all MAC payloads of each UE as a group, wherein the identification information is the first LCID and first LCIDs in the specific subheaders corresponding to the plurality of UEs are the same, and the first LCID is used for determining all of the subheaders corresponding to each UE in the plurality of UEs;

or

setting a LCID field of the specific subheader to a second LCID corresponding to each UE, wherein the specific subheader does not correspond to any MAC payload, the identification information of the UE is the second LCID, different UEs correspond to different second LCIDs, and the second LCID is different from a third LCID used for identifying the MAC payload.

18. The base station according to claim 16, wherein the baseband processor is configured to encapsulate the specific subheader in a first subheader or a last subheader among all of the subheaders corresponding to each UE.

19. A user equipment, comprising:

a receiver, configured to receive one media access control packet data unit (MAC PDU) which encapsulates MAC payloads corresponding to a plurality of user equipment (UEs), wherein the MAC PDU comprises a single MAC header associated with all of the plurality of UEs, a MAC payload section following the MAC header and comprising the MAC payloads without any additional MAC header, and identification information of each UE in the plurality of UEs, the MAC header comprises a plurality of contiguous subheaders, each subheader in the plurality of contiguous subheaders corresponds to one MAC payload of one UE in the plurality of UEs, each subheader in the plurality of contiguous subheaders that corresponds to a MAC control element (CE) has a R/R/E/LCID format and each subheader in the plurality of contiguous subheaders that corresponds to a MAC service data unit (SDU) has a R/R/E/LCID/F/L format, the MAC payloads comprise at least one kind of a MAC CE and a MAC SDU, and the identification information enables each UE to identify a MAC payload belonging to the UE; and

a baseband processor, configured to determine a UE corresponding to a MAC payload by parsing the MAC PDU according to the identification information of each UE and the MAC header in the MAC PDU received by the receiver;

wherein all contents of each MAC payload in the MAC payload section are contiguous and the subheaders corresponding to each MAC payload are contiguous.

20. The user equipment according to claim 19, wherein the baseband processor is configured to determine the UE and the MAC payload corresponding to the UE by parsing the MAC PDU in any one of the following manners:

if the identification information comprises a value represented by a reserved bit of each subheader in the plurality of subheaders, determining the UE according to the value represented by the reserved bit;

if the identification information comprises a MAC CE used for bearing a UE identifier, determining a UE corresponding to the UE identifier, and determining, according to a position of the MAC CE used for bearing the UE identifier in all MAC payloads of the UE identified by the UE identifier, all the MAC payloads of the UE;

if the identification information comprises a specific subheader, determining, according to an order of a plurality of specific subheaders in the MAC PDU, the UE corresponding to a specific subheader, and determining all MAC payloads of the UE corresponding to one specific subheader in the plurality of specific subheaders according to a position of the specific subheader in the MAC header, wherein the reserved bits in the specific subheader are set to a first specific value, and the first specific values in the specific subheaders corresponding to the plurality of UEs are the same; and

in the MAC header, the MAC payloads corresponding to the UEs appear by taking all the MAC payloads of each UE as a group, an order of the groups is negotiated, and the first specific value is the identification information;

if the identification information comprises a specific subheader, determining, according to an order of appearance of a plurality of specific subheaders in the MAC PDU, the UE corresponding to a specific subheader, and determining all MAC payloads of the UE corresponding to the specific subheader in the plurality of specific subheaders according to a position of the specific subheaders in the MAC header, wherein a logical channel identifier (LCID) field in the specific subheader is set to a first LCID and the first LCIDs in the specific subheaders corresponding to the plurality of UEs are the same; and

in the MAC header, the MAC payloads corresponding to the plurality of UEs appear by taking all the MAC payloads of each UE as a group, and an order of the groups is negotiated; and

if the identification information comprises a specific subheader, determining, according to values of LCID fields in a plurality of specific subheaders in the MAC PDU, the UE corresponding to the plurality of specific subheaders, and determining all MAC payloads of the UE corresponding to a specific subheader in the plurality of specific subheaders according to a position of the specific subheaders in the MAC header, wherein the value of the LCID field is a second LCID, the identification information of the UE is the second LCID, different UEs correspond to different second LCIDs, and the second LCID is different from a third LCID used for identifying the MAC payload, and in the MAC header, the MAC payloads corresponding to the UEs appear by taking all the MAC payloads of each UE as a group.