SYSTEM AND METHOD OF HANDLING UPLINK TRANSMISSION COLLISION FOR ENHANCED COVERAGE MODE UES

• US 20160094996A1
• Filed: 05/21/2015
• Published: 03/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Debdeep Chatterjee, Gang Xiong
• Inventors: Xiong, Gang, Han, Seunghee, Chatterjee, Debdeep
• Granted Patent: US 9,955,356 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/16 in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1671 the supervisory signal being transmitted together with control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1858 Transmission or retransmission of more than one copy of acknowledgement message
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/00 Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network

Abstract

An eNodeB (eNB), user equipment (UE) and method for operating in enhanced coverage (EC) modes are generally described. The UE may determine whether or not a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) signal and an uplink signal allocated to different resources in a particular subframe overlap. The uplink signal may comprise another PUCCH signal or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) signal. The PUCCH signals may comprise a scheduling request or acknowledgement response/retransmission request. The UE may select one of the overlapping signals and transmit the selected signal on a resource allocated to the other signal instead of on a resource allocated to the one of the overlapping signals. The other signal may or may not be transmitted dependent on whether it is a PUCCH or PUSCH signal.

Claims

1. User equipment (UE) comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals from an enhanced Node B (eNB) in a network; and

processing circuitry configured to;

configure the UE to be in one of a normal coverage mode and an enhanced coverage (EC) mode;

determine, in response to the UE being in the EC mode, whether or not a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) signal and an uplink signal allocated to different resource in a particular subframe overlap to form overlapping signals, the uplink signal comprising one of another PUCCH signal and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) signal;

select, in response to the overlapping signals being determined, one of the overlapping signals for transmission during the particular subframe; and

configure the transceiver to transmit the one of the overlapping signals on a resource allocated to another of the overlapping signals instead of on a resource allocated to the one of the overlapping signals.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to transmit at least one of the overlapping signals in another subframe in which the at least one of the overlapping signals does not overlap with the other of the overlapping signals.

3. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to transmit at least one of the overlapping signals in consecutive subframes, including the particular subframe.

4. The UE of claim 3, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to transmit the other of the overlapping signals in subframes surrounding the one of the overlapping signals.

5. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to refrain from transmitting the other of the overlapping signals on the resource allocated to the other of the overlapping signals.

6. The UE of claim 5, wherein:

the one of the overlapping signals comprises an Acknowledgment/Non-acknowledgment (ACK/NACK) and the other of the overlapping signals comprises a Scheduling Request (SR).

7. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to transmit the other of the overlapping signals on the resource allocated to the other of the overlapping signals.

8. The UE of claim 7, wherein:

the one of the overlapping signals comprises an Acknowledgment/Non-acknowledgment (ACK/NACK) and the other of the overlapping signals comprises the PUSCH signal, the PUSCH signal comprising data symbols surrounding demodulation reference (DM-RS) symbols,

the processing circuitry is further configured to puncture the data symbols adjacent to the PUSCH DM-RS symbols and insert the ACK/NACK.

9. The UE of claim 1, wherein:

the UE is a Machine Type Communications (MTC) UE restricted to communicate with the eNB over a limited set of subbands of a bandwidth spectrum over which the eNB is able to communicate, and

at least one of the PUCCH signal and uplink signal is repeated across multiple subframes to form the overlapping signals.

10. The UE of claim 1, further comprising an antenna configured to transmit and receive communications between the transceiver and the eNB.

11. An apparatus of an enhanced Node B (eNB) comprising:

processing circuitry configured to;

determine which of one of a normal coverage mode and an enhanced coverage (EC) mode the UE is in;

configure the transceiver to receive a plurality of signals from the UE over a same predetermined set of resource in different subframes, the plurality of signals in the subframes being expected to provide the same information in response to determining that the UE is in the EC mode;

decode the plurality of signals;

detect that the signals in at least one of the subframes differs from the signals in another of the subframes; and

determine that the signals in the at least one of the subframes comprise an overlapping signal of a different set of resource that has been received on the predetermined set of resource instead of being received on the different set of resource.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the plurality of signals comprise one of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) signal and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) signal and the signals in the at least one of the subframes comprise another PUCCH signal.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure a transceiver to receive the plurality of signals in consecutive subframes, including the at least one of the subframes.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to receive the signals in the at least one of the subframes in subframes surrounding the at least one of the subframes.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the signals in the at least one of the subframes are received in the at least one of the subframes instead of the signals in the other of the subframes.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the signals in the at least one of the subframes are received in the at least one of the subframes in addition to the signals in the other of the subframes.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein:

the signals in the at least one of the subframes comprises an Acknowledgment/Non-acknowledgment (ACK/NACK) and the signals in the other of the subframes comprises a PUSCH signal, the PUSCH signal comprising data symbols punctured adjacent to demodulation reference (DM-RS) symbols in which the ACK/NACK is inserted.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the UE is a Machine Type Communications (MTC) UE restricted to communicate with the eNB over a limited set of subbands of a bandwidth spectrum over which the eNB is able to communicate, and

at least one of the plurality of signals is repeated across multiple subframes.

16. The apparatus of 15, wherein:

the signals in the at least one of the subframes comprises an Acknowledgment/Non-acknowledgment (ACK/NACK) and the signals in the other of the subframes comprises a Scheduling Request (SR).

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) to configure the UE to communicate with an enhanced Node B (eNB), the one or more processors to configure the UE to:

operate in an enhanced coverage (EC) mode;

determine that a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) signal allocated to a first resource and an uplink signal allocated to a second resource, different from the first resource overlap in a particular subframe, the uplink signal comprising one of another PUCCH signal and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) signal; and

transmit the PUCCH signal on the second resource rather than on the first resource in the particular subframe.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein:

the PUCCH signal comprises an Acknowledgment/Non-acknowledgment (ACK/NACK),

the uplink signal comprises a Scheduling Request (SR), and

the ACK/NACK is transmitted instead of the SR.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein:

the PUCCH signal comprises an Acknowledgment/Non-acknowledgment (ACK/NACK),

the uplink signal comprises a PUSCH signal, and

data symbols of the PUSCH signal are punctured adjacent to demodulation reference (DM-RS) symbols and the ACK/NACK is inserted.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein:

the PUSCH comprises channel state information (CSI).