Method and apparatus for allocating resources and processing confirmation information

• US 9,768,937 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2016
• Issued: 09/19/2017
• 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:
  US15/130,678
• Publication Number:
  US 20160352490A1
• Time in Patent Office: 522 Days
• 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 (NACK) 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, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), wherein the PDCCH indicates a resource for carrying a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on a downlink carrier of at least two downlink carriers and indicates a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) area or a second PUCCH area for the PDSCH, wherein at least one of the PUCCH areas comprises at least two PUCCH resources, wherein the first PUCCH area is for carrying ACK/NACK information in a long term evolution (LTE) system, and the second area is for carrying ACK/NACK information in a LTE-A system compatible with the LTE system;

receiving, by the user equipment from the base station, the PDSCH on the downlink carrier of the at least two downlink carriers; and

transmitting, by the user equipment to the base station on a PUCCH resource in the one PUCCH area, acknowledgement or non-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) in response to the PDSCH.

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

determining, by the user equipment, the PUCCH resource in the indicated PUCCH area according to a mapping rule that determines a PUCCH resource for transmitting ACK/NACK information in a PUCCH area.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first area and the second area correspond to different mapping rules.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein one mapping rule in the different mapping rules determines the PUCCH resource by a start offset information combined with a sequence number of a control channel element (CCE).

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the PUCCH first area and the second PUCCH area do not overlap or partially overlap.

6. An apparatus comprising:

a storage medium including executable instructions; and

a processor;

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

obtain a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) received from a base station, wherein the PDCCH indicates a resource for carrying a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on a downlink carrier of at least two downlink carriers and indicates a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) area or a second PUCCH area for the PDSCH, wherein at least one of the PUCCH areas comprises at least two PUCCH resources, wherein the first PUCCH area is for carrying ACK/NACK information in a long term evolution (LTE) system, and the second area is for carrying ACK/NACK information in a LTE-A system compatible with the LTE system;

obtain the PDSCH received from the base station on the downlink carrier of the at least two downlink carriers; and

determine acknowledgement or non-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK), on a PUCCH resource in the one PUCCH area, in response to the PDSCH.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the processor, further causes the processor to:

determine the PUCCH resource in the indicated PUCCH area according to a mapping rule, wherein the mapping rule determines a PUCCH resource for transmitting ACK/NACK information in a PUCCH area.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the first area and the second area correspond to different mapping rules.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the first PUCCH area and the second PUCCH area do not overlap or partially overlap.

10. 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, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), wherein the PDCCH indicates a resource for carrying a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on a downlink carrier of at least two downlink carriers and indicates a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) area or a second PUCCH area for the PDSCH, wherein at least one of the PUCCH areas comprises at least two PUCCH resources, wherein the first PUCCH area is for carrying ACK/NACK information in a long term evolution (LTE) system, and the second area is for carrying ACK/NACK information in a LTE-A system compatible with the LTE system; and

receive, from the base station, the PDSCH on the downlink carrier of the at least two downlink carriers;

the processor is configured to;

determine acknowledgement or non-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) in response to the PDSCH; and

the transmitter is configured to;

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

11. The user equipment according to claim 10, wherein

the processor is configured to determine the PUCCH resource in the indicated PUCCH area according to a mapping rule that determines a PUCCH resource for transmitting ACK/NACK information in a PUCCH area.

12. The user equipment according to claim 11, wherein the first area and the second area correspond to different mapping rules.

13. The user equipment according to claim 12, wherein one mapping rule in the different mapping rules determines the PUCCH resource by a start offset information combined with a sequence number of a control channel element (CCE).

14. The user equipment according to claim 10, wherein

the first area and the second area do not overlap or partially overlap.