METHOD AND TERMINAL DEVICE FOR ALLOCATING RESOURCES IN A PLURALITY OF SUBFRAMES

• US 20170332360A1
• Filed: 07/27/2017
• Published: 11/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Europe (Amsterdam) BV (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Europe Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: MORIOKA, Yuichi
• Granted Patent: US 10,129,865 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/003 Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0091 Signaling for the administration of the divided path
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

A method operating a telecommunications system including a base station and plural terminal devices arranged to communicate over a radio interface supporting a downlink shared channel conveying user-plane data from the base station to the terminal devices and a downlink control channel conveying control-plane data from the base station to the terminal devices. The control-plane data conveys information on physical resource allocations for the downlink shared channel for respective of the terminal devices. The radio interface is based on a radio frame structure including plural subframes each including a control region supporting the downlink control channel and a user-plane region supporting the downlink shared channel. The method uses the control region of a first radio subframe to convey an indication of a physical resource allocation for a first terminal device on the shared downlink channel in the user-plane region of a second radio subframe subsequent to the first radio subframe.

Claims

1. A method of operating a terminal device, the method comprising:

receiving in a control region of a first radio subframe an indication of a physical resource allocation for the terminal device on a shared downlink channel in a user-plane region of a second radio subframe; and

subsequently receiving user-plane data on the physical resource allocation for the terminal device on the shared downlink channel in the user-plane region of the second radio subframe.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the second radio subframe after the first radio subframe.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving the second radio subframe after a duration which corresponds with a predefined number of subframes.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the second radio subframe a selectable interval after the first radio subframe; and

receiving the physical resource allocation for the terminal device in association with an indication of a selected interval.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving the physical resource allocation for the terminal device in association with an indication of the selected interval indicating a number of subframes.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a physical resource allocation for a further terminal device on the shared downlink channel in the user-plane region of the first radio subframe by using the control region of the first radio subframe.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the terminal device is a terminal device of a first type, the method further comprising:

receiving the physical resource allocation for the further terminal device, which is a terminal device of a second type that is different from the first type, on the shared downlink channel in the user-plane region of the first radio subframe by using the control region of the first radio subframe.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving the physical resource allocation for the terminal device using a first format for conveying control-plane data; and

receiving the physical resource allocation for the further terminal device in a second format for conveying control-plane data, the second format being different from the first format.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving the physical resource allocation for the terminal device using a first format for conveying control-plane data; and

receiving the physical resource allocation for the further terminal device in the first format for conveying control-plane data.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving in the control region of the first radio subframe the indication of the physical resource allocation for the terminal device, which is a machine-type communication device, on the shared downlink channel in the user-plane region of the second radio subframe.

11. A terminal device comprising:

circuitry configured to;

receive in a control region of a first radio subframe an indication of a physical resource allocation for the terminal device on a shared downlink channel in a user-plane region of a second radio subframe; and

subsequently receive user-plane data on the physical resource allocation for the terminal device on the shared downlink channel in the user-plane region of the second radio subframe.

12. The terminal device of claim 11, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive the second radio subframe after the first radio subframe.

13. The terminal device of claim 12, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive the second radio subframe after a duration which corresponds with a predefined number of subframes.

14. The terminal device of claim 11, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

receive the second radio subframe a selectable interval after the first radio subframe; and

receive the physical resource allocation for the terminal device in association with an indication of a selected interval.

15. The terminal device of claim 14, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive the physical resource allocation for the terminal device in association with an indication of the selected interval indicating a number of subframes.

16. The terminal device of claim 11, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive a physical resource allocation for a further terminal device on the shared downlink channel in the user-plane region of the first radio subframe by using the control region of the first radio subframe.

17. The terminal device of claim 16, wherein the terminal device is a terminal device of a first type, the circuitry is further configured to receive the physical resource allocation for the further terminal device, which is a terminal device of a second type that is different from the first type, on the shared downlink channel in the user-plane region of the first radio subframe by using the control region of the first radio subframe.

18. The terminal device of claim 16, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

receive the physical resource allocation for the terminal device using a first format for conveying control-plane data; and

receive the physical resource allocation for the further terminal device in a second format for conveying control-plane data, the second format being different from the first format.

19. The terminal device of claim 16, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

receive the physical resource allocation for the terminal device using a first format for conveying control-plane data; and

receive the physical resource allocation for the further terminal device in the first format for conveying control-plane data.

20. The terminal device of claim 11, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive in the control region of the first radio subframe the indication of the physical resource allocation for the terminal device, which is a machine-type communication device, on the shared downlink channel in the user-plane region of the second radio subframe.