UPLINK COVERAGE ENHANCEMENTS

• US 20140119331A1
• Filed: 10/23/2013
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Ji, Tingfang, Gaal, Peter, Xu, Hao, Chen, Wanshi
• Granted Patent: US 10,306,594 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/330
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1268 of uplink data flows

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure provided techniques for enhancing uplink coverage. A method for wireless communications by a wireless device is provided. The method generally includes obtaining a payload of data to be transmitted to a base station, selecting at least one uplink control channel and a number of transmission time intervals (TTIs), and conveying the data in the at least one uplink control channel over the number of TTIs, wherein different portions of the data are conveyed in different TTIs.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communications by a wireless device, comprising:

obtaining a payload of data to be transmitted to a base station;

selecting at least one uplink control channel and a number of transmission time intervals (TTIs); and

conveying the payload of data in the at least one uplink control channel over the number of TTIs, wherein different portions of the payload of data are conveyed in different TTIs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one uplink control channel comprises a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

3. The method of claim 2, wherein different uplink control channel formats transmit different numbers of bits in each TTI.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining a starting subframe for conveying the payload of data over multiple TTIs.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determination is made based on radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the determination is made based on dynamic scheduling by the base station.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising deciding, by the wireless device, whether or not to transmit the PUCCH in a given TTI based on receiving a random access channel (RACH) response message from the base station.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one uplink control channel comprises a random access channel (RACH), and wherein different bits of information are conveyed via the use of at least one of:

different time resources, different frequency resources, or different codes.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is assigned a first frequency domain hopping pattern and a different wireless device is assigned a second frequency domain hopping pattern to provide intra-cell interference diversity.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless device transmits the at least one uplink control channel using resource blocks (RBs) in which transmissions from other wireless devices are not multiplexed.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying at least one of repetition code, Reed-Solomon code, convolutional code, tail-biting convolutional code, turbo code, and low-density parity-check (LDPC) code to the payload of data to provide gain.

12. A method for wireless communications by a base station, comprising:

receiving a payload of data from a wireless device, the payload of data received in at least one uplink control channel over a number of transmission time intervals (TTIs), wherein different portions of the payload of data are conveyed in different TTIs; and

processing multiple transmissions of the at least one uplink control channel received over the different TTIs to assemble the payload of data.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one uplink control channel comprises a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

14. The method of claim 12, wherein different uplink control channel formats transmit different numbers of bits in each TTI.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a format of the at least one uplink control channel is selected based on path loss between the wireless device and the base station.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein a format of the at least one uplink control channel is selected based on a target signal to noise ratio (SNR).

17. The method of claim 14, wherein a format of the at least one uplink control channel is selected based on a link budget of the wireless device.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein a type of the at least one uplink control channel is selected based on a number of wireless devices multiplexed on the same uplink control channel.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the conveyed payload of data begins in a determined starting subframe.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising indicating the starting subframe via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising dynamically signaling the starting subframe to the wireless device.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising indicating the starting subframe via a random access channel (RACH) response message.

23. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one uplink control channel comprises a random access channel (RACH), and wherein different bits of information are conveyed via the use of at least one of:

different time resources, different frequency resources, or different codes.

24. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one uplink control channel is received in resource blocks (RBs) in which transmissions from other wireless devices are not multiplexed.

25. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of repetition code, Reed-Solomon code, convolutional code, tail-biting convolutional code, turbo code, and low-density parity-check (LDPC) code is used for error protection of different portions of the payload of data across multiple TTIs.

26. The method of claim 12, wherein the payload of data is conveyed over a number of TTIs determined based on at least one of:

payload size of the data to be conveyed, interference level at the base station, a target latency, or a number of conveyed in each TTI.

27. The method of claim 12, wherein the wireless device is assigned a first frequency domain hopping pattern, and wherein the method further comprises receiving a payload of data from a different wireless device assigned a second frequency domain hopping pattern.

28. The method of claim 12, further comprising decoding each TTI using at least one of hard bits or soft log-likelihood ratio (LLR).

29. An apparatus for wireless communications by a wireless device, comprising:

means for obtaining a payload of data to be transmitted to a base station;

means for selecting at least one uplink control channel and a number of transmission time intervals (TTIs); and

means for conveying the payload of data in the at least one uplink control channel over the number of TTIs, wherein different portions of the payload of data are conveyed in different TTIs.

30. An apparatus for wireless communications by a base station, comprising:

means for receiving a payload of data from a wireless device, the payload of data received in at least one uplink control channel over a number of transmission time intervals (TTIs), wherein different portions of the payload of data are conveyed in different TTIs; and

means for processing multiple transmissions of the at least one uplink control channel received over the different TTIs to assemble the payload of data.