Method and apparatus for allocating resources and processing confirmation information

• US 9,345,005 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2015
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2009
• 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: Guan, Lei, Xue, Lixia, Qu, Bingyu
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Jae Y
• Application Number:
  US14/951,059
• Publication Number:
  US 20160088605A1
• Time in Patent Office: 175 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1607 Details of the supervisory signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1896 ARQ related signaling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0466 the resource being a scrambling code
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• 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

A method and an apparatus for allocating ACKnowledgement (ACK)/Non-ACKnowledgement (HACK) channel resources and processing confirmation information are disclosed. The method includes: The network side determines one physical channel area among multiple physical channel areas to be used by an ACK/NACK channel, and notifies the determined physical channel area to a User Equipment (UE) so as to enable the UE to determine a channel for receiving or sending ACK/NACK information in the determined physical channel area according to a mapping rule. Moreover, the network side may send or receive ACK/NACK information on the physical channel area that includes the ACK/NACK channel. The method and apparatus improve the utilization ratio and flexibility of the ACK/NACK channel, and reduce the probability of conflict generated by the ACK/NACK channel.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a user equipment from a base station, one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on one downlink carrier in at least two downlink carriers, wherein the at least two downlink carriers are capable of being configured to receive downlink signal by the user equipment from the base station on at least one of the at least two downlink carriers;

determining, by the user equipment, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for carrying acknowledgement or non-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) in response to the one PDSCH on the one downlink carrier, wherein the PUCCH resource is determined from one PUCCH area of at least two PUCCH areas, each of the at least two PUCCH areas comprises at least two PUCCH resources, the at least two PUCCH areas comprises a long term evolution (LTE) PUCCH area and an LTE-A specific PUCCH area, and the one PUCCH area is dynamically located between a long term evolution (LTE) PUCCH area and an LTE-A specific PUCCH area;

transmitting, by the user equipment to the base station on the determined PUCCH resource, the ACK/NACK in response to the one PDSCH.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the user equipment from the base station, an indication indicating the one PUCCH area;

determining, by the user equipment, the one PUCCH area in accordance with the indication.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the indication is at least one of the following:

at least one bit in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and

a scrambling code in a PDCCH.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining, by the user equipment, a PUCCH resource comprises:

determining, by the user equipment, the PUCCH resource in the one PUCCH area according to a mapping rule, wherein the mapping rule is a principle of selecting a PUCCH resource for transmitting ACK/NACK information in a PUCCH area.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the LTE PUCCH area and the LTE-A specific PUCCH area correspond to different mapping rules.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein one mapping rule in the different mapping rules is that the PUCCH resource is indicated by a start offset information combined with a sequence number of a control channel element (CCE).

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the user equipment from the base station, the start offset information of the one PUCCH area.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the number of the at least two downlink carriers is larger than the number of uplink carriers used for the user equipment communicating with the base station.

9. An apparatus, comprising:

a storage medium including executable instructions; and

a processor;

wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to;

receive, via a receiver from a base station, one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on one downlink carrier in at least two downlink carriers, wherein the at least two downlink carriers are capable of being configured to receive downlink signal by the user equipment from the base station on at least one of the at least two downlink carriers;

determine a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for carrying acknowledgement or non-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) in response to the one PDSCH on the one downlink carrier, wherein the PUCCH resource is determined from one PUCCH area of at least two PUCCH areas, each of the at least two PUCCH areas comprises at least two PUCCH resources, the at least two PUCCH areas comprises a long term evolution (LTE) PUCCH area and an LTE-A specific PUCCH area, and the one PUCCH area is dynamically located between a long term evolution (LTE) PUCCH area and an LTE-A specific PUCCH area;

transmit, via a transmitter on the determined PUCCH resource, the ACK/NACK in response to the one PDSCH.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the processor further to:

receive, via the receiver from the base station, an indication indicating the one area;

determine the one PUCCH area in accordance with the indication.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the indication is at least one of the following:

at least one bit in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and

a scrambling code in a PDCCH.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to determine a PUCCH resource as follows:

determining the PUCCH resource in the one PUCCH area according to a mapping rule, wherein the mapping rule is a principle of selecting a PUCCH resource for transmitting ACK/NACK information in a PUCCH area.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the LTE PUCCH area and the LTE-A specific PUCCH area correspond to different mapping rules.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein one mapping rule in the different mapping rules is that the PUCCH resource is indicated by a start offset information combined with a sequence number of a control channel element (CCE).

15. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein

receiving, via the receiver from the base station, the start offset information of the determined physical channel area.

16. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the number of the at least two downlink carriers is larger than the number of uplink carriers used for the user equipment communicating with the base station.

17. A user equipment, comprising:

a transmitter,

a receiver, and

a processor coupled to the transmitter and the receiver, wherein

the receiver is configured to;

receive, from a base station, one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on one downlink carrier in at least two downlink carriers, wherein the at least two downlink carriers are capable of being configured to receive downlink signal by the user equipment from the base station on at least one of the at least two downlink carriers;

the processor is configured to;

determine a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for carrying acknowledgement or non-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) in response to the one PDSCH on the one downlink carrier, wherein the PUCCH resource is determined from one PUCCH area of at least two PUCCH areas, each of the at least two PUCCH areas comprises at least two PUCCH resources, the at least two PUCCH areas comprises a long term evolution (LTE) PUCCH area and an LTE-A specific PUCCH area, and the one PUCCH area is dynamically located between a long term evolution (LTE) PUCCH area and an LTE-A specific PUCCH area;

the transmitter is configured to;

transmit, to the base station on the determined PUCCH resource, the ACK/NACK in response to the one PDSCH.

18. The user equipment according to claim 17, further comprising:

receiving, by the user equipment from the base station, an indication indicating the one PUCCH area;

determining, by the user equipment, the one PUCCH area in accordance with the indication.

19. The user equipment according to claim 17, wherein the indication is at least one of the following:

at least one bit in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and

a scrambling code in a PDCCH.

20. The user equipment according to claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to determine a PUCCH resource as follows:

determining the PUCCH resource in the one PUCCH area according to a mapping rule, wherein the mapping rule is a principle of selecting a PUCCH resource for transmitting ACK/NACK information in a PUCCH area.

21. The user equipment according to claim 20, wherein the LTE PUCCH area and the LTE-A specific PUCCH area correspond to different mapping rules.

22. The user equipment according to claim 21, wherein one mapping rule in the different mapping rules is that the PUCCH resource is indicated by a start offset information combined with a sequence number of a control channel element (CCE).

23. The user equipment according to claim 18, wherein

the receiver is further configured to receive, from the base station, the start offset information of the one PUCCH area.

24. The user equipment according to claim 18, wherein the number of the at least two downlink carriers is larger than the number of uplink carriers used for the user equipment communicating with the base station.