Wireless communication base station device, wireless communication terminal device, and channel allocation method

• US 8,446,870 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2009
• Issued: 05/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sun Patent Trust
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakao, Seigo, Nishio, Akihiko, Imamura, Daichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): ADHAMI, MOHAMMAD SAJID
• Application Number:
  US13/057,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20110134874A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,383 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1822 involving configuration of automatic repeat request [ARQ] with parallel processes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• 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 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

Disclosed is a base station in which the frequency usage efficiency can be improved when the communication bandwidths are asymmetric in the uplink line and the downlink line. A base station (200) can communicate by using a plurality of downlink unit bands and a smaller number of uplink unit bands. A control unit (201) allocates uplink resource allocation information and downlink resource allocation information to a PDCCH which is arranged in each of the plurality of downlink unit bands, and allocates a response signal to the uplink line data to a PHICH which is arranged in the same number of downlink unit bands from the plurality of downlink unit bands as there are uplink unit bands. A transmit RF unit (212) transmits the resource allocation information or the response signal.

Claims

1. A user equipment comprising:

a receiver configured to receive downlink data on a plurality of downlink component carriers; and

a transmitter configured to transmit uplink data on one or more uplink component carrier(s), wherein a number of the one or more uplink component carrier(s) used for uplink data transmission is less than a number of the plurality of downlink component carriers used for downlink data reception,

wherein the receiver is configured to;

(a) receive downlink resource allocation information directed to the user equipment for a first downlink component carrier and uplink resource allocation information directed to the user equipment for the one or more uplink component carrier(s), from information included in a first channel of the first downlink component carrier, (b) receive downlink resource allocation information directed to the user equipment for a second downlink component carrier, which is different from the first downlink component carrier, from information included in a second channel of the second downlink component carrier, (c) receive the downlink data on the first downlink component carrier in accordance with the downlink resource allocation information included in the first channel of the first downlink component carrier, and (d) receive the downlink data on the second downlink component carrier in accordance with the downlink resource allocation information included in the second channel of the second downlink component carrier,

wherein the transmitter transmits the uplink data on the one or more uplink component carrier(s) in accordance with the uplink resource allocation information included in the first channel of the first downlink component carrier, and

wherein, after the uplink data transmission on the one or more uplink component carrier(s), the receiver receives a response signal for the uplink data on the first downlink component carrier but not on the second downlink component carrier.

2. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein the response signal for the uplink data is received in a third channel of the first downlink component carrier, the third channel being different from the first channel and the second channel.

3. The user equipment according to claim 2, wherein the first channel and the second channel are a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and the third channel is a physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel (PHICH).

4. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of downlink component carriers, on which the downlink data is received, includes one or more of the first downlink component carrier(s), and the number of the one or more uplink component carrier(s), on which the uplink data is transmitted, is equal to a number of the one or more first downlink component carrier(s) included in the plurality of downlink component carriers.

5. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein the first downlink component carrier is a downlink semi-reference component carrier used to broadcast information on the one or more uplink component carrier(s).

6. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein a bandwidth of the first downlink component carrier and a bandwidth of the second downlink component carrier are set independently from each other.

7. The user equipment according to claim 1, which is an LTE-advanced user equipment for which the second downlink component carrier is set.

8. A reception method to be performed by a user equipment, the method comprising:

receiving downlink resource allocation information directed to the user equipment for a first downlink component carrier, which is one of a plurality of downlink component carriers used for downlink data reception, and uplink resource allocation information directed to the user equipment for one or more uplink component carrier(s) used for uplink data transmission, from information included in a first channel of the first downlink component carrier,

receiving downlink resource allocation information directed to the user equipment for a second downlink component carrier, which is one of the plurality of downlink component carriers and is different from the first downlink component carrier, from information included in a second channel of the second downlink component carrier,

receiving the downlink data on the first downlink component carrier in accordance with the downlink resource allocation information included in the first channel of the first downlink component carrier,

receiving the downlink data on the second downlink component carrier in accordance with the downlink resource allocation information included in the second channel of the second downlink component carrier,

transmitting the uplink data on the one or more uplink component carrier(s) in accordance with the uplink resource allocation information included in the first channel of the first downlink component carrier, a number of the one or more uplink component carrier(s) used for the uplink transmission being less than a number of the plurality of downlink component carriers used for the downlink data reception, and

receiving, after the uplink data transmission on the one or more uplink component carrier(s), a response signal for the uplink data on the first downlink component carrier but not on the second downlink component carrier.