Method for sending and receiving control information, apparatus and communication system

• US 9,124,411 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2012
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2009
• 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: Yan, Zhiyu, Li, Yang, Wan, Lei, Ma, Sha, Ren, Xiaotao, Li, Chaojun
• Primary Examiner(s): Thompson, Jr., Otis L
• Application Number:
  US13/435,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20120188978A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,250 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0035 Resource allocation in a cooperative multipoint environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0051 of dedicated pilots, i.e. pilots destined for a single user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for sending and receiving control information, an apparatus and a communication system. The method for sending control information includes: setting respective control bits in a downlink control information (DCI) format to generate control information applied by a network side to a terminal, where the control bits include validity indication bits and transmission control bits, indication information indicating whether transmission control exercised by the network side on a transmission block is valid relative to the terminal is written into the validity indication bits, and the validity indication bits are located outside the transmission control bits; and sending the generated control information to the terminal. In the embodiments of the present invention improve efficiency of using an overhead required for transmitting the control information.

Claims

1. A method for sending control information, comprising:

setting respective control bits in a downlink control information (DCI) format to generate control information applied by a network side to a terminal, wherein the control bits comprise validity indication bits and transmission control bits, wherein the validity information comprises indication information that indicates whether transmission control on a transmission block is valid relative to the terminal, and the validity indication bits are located outside the transmission control bits; and

sending the generated control information to the terminal.

2. The method for sending control information according to claim 1, wherein:

indication information that indicates whether transmission control on a transmission block is valid relative to the terminal is written into at least one bit of the validity indication bits according to a predetermined mapping relationship between each of the validity indication bits in the DCI format and the transmission block.

3. The method for sending control information according to claim 1, wherein:

the validity indication bits are one of newly-added control bits in the DCI format, or original control bits in the DCI format, wherein indication information written into the original control bits is redundant indication information in a current transmission status.

4. The method for sending control information according to claim 3, wherein:

the original control bits in the DCI format, wherein indication information written into the original control bits is redundant indication information in a current transmission status comprise;

control bits into which indication information indicating whether to swap a corresponding relationship between a transmission block and a codeword is written, wherein the control bits are in the DCI format.

5. The method for sending control information according to claim 1, wherein:

control information other than an original transmission control indication of a corresponding transmission block is written into a transmission control bit into which the transmission control indication of the corresponding transmission block is originally written, wherein transmission control bit is in the DCI format, if the indication information written into the validity indication bits indicates that the transmission control exercised by the network side on the corresponding transmission block is invalid relative to the terminal.

6. The method for sending control information according to claim 1, wherein:

in a process of transmitting data to the terminal through at least two transmission blocks, if transmission control on part of the at least two transmission blocks in the DCI format changes from valid to invalid, and control information written into transmission control bits corresponding to a transmission block under valid transmission control is retransmission of old data, information about a transmission block to which the old data belongs, wherein the old data is retransmitted by the transmission block under valid transmission control, is written into transmission control bits corresponding to a transmission block under invalid transmission control, or control bits other than the transmission control bits in the DCI format.

7. The method for sending control information according to claim 1, wherein:

control information other than indication information indicating whether to swap a corresponding relationship between a transmission block and a codeword is written into a control bit into which the indication information indicating whether to swap a corresponding relationship between a transmission block and a codeword is originally written, wherein the control bit is in the DCI format, if a dedicated demodulation reference signal used to demodulate data is preconfigured by the network side for the terminal and respective codewords correspond to the same number of layers.

8. The method for sending control information according to claim 7, wherein:

the control information other than the indication information indicating whether to swap a corresponding relationship between a transmission block and a codeword comprises at least one of the following;

indication information that indicates whether transmission control on a transmission block is valid relative to the terminal;

indication information indicating an orthogonal reference signal occupied by the dedicated demodulation reference signal of the terminal;

information indicating locations of resources such as a time frequency occupied by the dedicated demodulation reference signal on scheduled resources of the terminal;

configuration information about the number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols occupied by physical downlink control channels of multiple cells under a coordinated multiple points transmission scheme;

the number of layers occupied by the terminal;

indication information indicating whether current control information is uplink control information or downlink control information;

indication information indicating component carriers of carrier aggregation; and

uplink feedback scheme indication information or uplink scheduling information.

9. The method for sending control information according to claim 5, wherein:

the other control information comprises at least one of the following;

indication information indicating an orthogonal reference signal occupied by the dedicated demodulation reference signal that is preconfigured by the network side for the terminal and used to demodulate data;

information indicating locations of resources such as a time frequency occupied by the dedicated demodulation reference signal on scheduled resources of the terminal;

configuration information about the number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols occupied by physical downlink control channels of multiple cells under a coordinated multiple points transmission scheme;

the number of layers occupied by the terminal;

indication information indicating whether current control information is uplink control information or downlink control information;

indication information indicating component carriers of carrier aggregation; and

uplink feedback scheme indication information or uplink scheduling information.

10. A method for receiving control information, comprising:

receiving control information sent by a network side, wherein control bits of a downlink control information (DCI) format of the control information comprise validity indication bits and transmission control bits, and the validity indication bits are located outside the transmission control bits; and

obtaining, from the validity indication bits, indication information that indicates whether transmission control on a transmission block is valid relative to the terminal.

11. The method for receiving control information according to claim 10, wherein:

the obtaining, from the validity indication bits, indication information that indicates whether transmission control on a transmission block is valid relative to the terminal comprises;

obtaining indication information carried in each of the validity indication bits according to a predetermined mapping relationship between each of the validity indication bits and the transmission block, and determining, according to the obtained indication information, whether transmission control exercised by the network side on a corresponding transmission block is valid relative to the current terminal.

12. The method for receiving control information according to claim 10, wherein:

the validity indication bits are newly-added control bits in the DCI format, or original control bits in the DCI format, wherein indication information written into the original control bits is redundant indication information in a current transmission status.

13. The method for receiving control information according to claim 12, wherein:

the original control bits in the DCI format, wherein indication information written into the original control bits is redundant indication information in a current transmission status comprise;

control bits into which indication information indicating whether to swap a corresponding relationship between a transmission block and a codeword is written, wherein the control bits are in the DCI format.

14. The method for receiving control information according to claim 10, further comprising:

from a transmission control bit into which an original transmission control indication of a corresponding transmission block is originally written, wherein the transmission control bit is in the DCI format, obtaining control information other than the original transmission control indication of the corresponding transmission block if the indication information obtained from the validity indication bits indicates that the transmission control exercised by the network side on the corresponding transmission block is invalid relative to the current terminal.

15. The method for receiving control information according to claim 10, further comprising:

in a process of transmitting data through at least two transmission blocks, if transmission control on part of the at least two transmission blocks in the DCI format changes from valid to invalid, and control information written into transmission control bits corresponding to a transmission block under valid transmission control is retransmission of old data, from transmission control bits corresponding to a transmission block under invalid transmission control, or from control bits other than the transmission control bits in the DCI format, obtaining information about a transmission block to which the old data belongs, wherein the old data is retransmitted by the transmission block under valid transmission control.

16. The method for receiving control information according to claim 10, further comprising:

obtaining control information other than indication information indicating whether to swap a corresponding relationship between a transmission block and a codeword from a control bit into which the indication information indicating whether to swap a corresponding relationship between a transmission block and a codeword is originally written, wherein the control bit is in the DCI format, if a dedicated demodulation reference signal used to demodulate data is preconfigured by the network side for the current terminal and respective codewords correspond to the same number of layers.

17. The method for receiving control information according to claim 16, wherein:

the control information other than the indication information indicating whether to swap a corresponding relationship between a transmission block and a codeword comprises at least one of the following;

indication information that indicates whether transmission control on a transmission block is valid relative to the terminal;

indication information indicating an orthogonal reference signal occupied by the dedicated demodulation reference signal of the terminal;

information indicating locations of resources such as a time frequency occupied by the dedicated demodulation reference signal on scheduled resources of the terminal;

configuration information about the number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols occupied by physical downlink control channels of multiple cells under a coordinated multiple points transmission scheme;

the number of layers occupied by the terminal;

indication information indicating whether current control information is uplink control information or downlink control information;

indication information indicating component carriers of carrier aggregation; and

uplink feedback scheme indication information or uplink scheduling information.

18. The method for receiving control information according to claim 14, wherein:

the other control information comprises at least one of the following;

indication information indicating an orthogonal reference signal occupied by the dedicated demodulation reference signal that is preconfigured by the network side for the current terminal and used to demodulate data;

information indicating locations of resources such as a time frequency occupied by the dedicated demodulation reference signal on scheduled resources of the current terminal;

configuration information about the number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols occupied by physical downlink control channels of multiple cells under a coordinated multiple points transmission scheme;

the number of layers occupied by the current terminal;

indication information indicating whether current control information is uplink control information or downlink control information;

indication information indicating component carriers of carrier aggregation; and

uplink feedback scheme indication information or uplink scheduling information.

19. A network side device, comprising:

a control information generating module, configured to set respective control bits in a downlink control information (DCI) format to generate control information applied by a network side to a terminal, wherein the control bits comprise validity indication bits, the validity indication bits comprise indication information that indicates whether transmission control on a transmission block is valid relative to the terminal, and the validity indication bits are located outside the transmission control bits; and

a control information sending module, configured to send the generated control information to the terminal.

20. A terminal side device, comprising:

a control information receiving module, configured to receive control information sent by a network side, wherein control bits of a downlink control information (DCI) format of the control information comprise validity indication bits and transmission control bits, and the validity indication bits are located outside the transmission control bits; and

a control bit resolving module, configured to obtain, from the validity indication bits, indication information indicating whether transmission control on a transmission block is valid relative to a current terminal.