Acknowledgement of control messages in a wireless communication system

Related application

This application is assigned to the assignee of this application and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. US provisional application No. 60 entitled "ASSIGNMENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FOR A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM" filed on December 4, 2006. Claim the priority of / 868,464.

The present disclosure relates generally to communications and, more specifically, to techniques for transmitting control messages.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, and broadcasting. These wireless systems are multiple access systems that can support communication to multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, and single carrier FDMA ( SC-FDMA) system etc.

Channel access systems typically use a method of allocating system resources to individual users of the system. It is desirable to send resource allocations as efficiently as possible in order to reduce the amount of overhead for sending allocations. In addition, it is desirable to send the allocation in a reliable way so that the allocated resources are properly used for data transmission. Reliability is especially important for permanent allocation over time rather than having a definitive expiration time.

Therefore, there is a need in the art for techniques for efficiently and reliably transmitting resource allocations.

Techniques for efficiently and reliably transmitting control messages, such as messages for resource allocation, are described herein. In one aspect, acknowledge the assigned message based on a linked or dedicated acknowledgment (ACK) resource. In one design, the terminal receives an allocation message from the base station and decides whether to acknowledge the allocation message. For example, when an allocation message is received on a control block that should be acknowledged, it acknowledges the allocation message. A control block is a logical resource that can be mapped to a physical resource. If the allocation message should be acknowledged, the terminal determines the ACK resource that should be used to acknowledge the allocation message. The ACK resource is linked to the control block in which the allocation message was received, or to the resource allocated by the allocation message. The ACK resource may also be a dedicated ACK resource previously allocated to the terminal. The terminal sends an acknowledgment over a linked or dedicated ACK resource.

In another aspect, the control message is acknowledged based on the control message or the ACK resource determined based on the control block in which the control message is transmitted. In some designs, several control blocks are available to send control messages. These control blocks are linked to an ACK resource that can be used to send an acknowledgment to a control message sent on several control blocks. The terminal determines the ACK resource based on the control message or control block. The ACK resource is linked to a control block or to a resource assigned by a control message. The terminal sends an acknowledgment to the control message on the ACK resource.

The various aspects and features of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below.

<figref num="1">FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a wireless communication system.</figref><figref num="2A">Figure 2A is a diagram showing the linked ACK resources.</figref><figref num="2B">Figure 2B is a diagram showing the linked ACK resources.</figref><figref num="2C">Figure 2C is a diagram showing a dedicated ACK resource.</figref><figref num="3">Figure 3 shows the design of the ACK resource.</figref><figref num="4">FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the design of the ACK channel.</figref><figref num="5">Figure 5 shows the design of the binary channel tree.</figref><figref num="6">Figure 6 shows the process for responding affirmatively to an allocation message.</figref><figref num="7">FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a device for affirming an allocation message.</figref><figref num="8">FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the process for sending an allocation message.</figref><figref num="9">FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a device for transmitting an allocation message.</figref><figref num="10">Figure 10 is be acknowledged to the control message is a diagram showing a process order.</figref><figref num="11">FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a device for affirming a control message.</figref><figref num="12">FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a process for sending a control message.</figref><figref num="13">FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a device for transmitting a control message.</figref><figref num="14">FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a base station and a terminal.</figref>

Detailed description of the invention

FIG. 1 shows a wireless communication system 100 having a plurality of base stations 110 and a plurality of terminals 120. A base station is a station that communicates with a terminal. Base stations are also referred to as access points, node B, or advanced node B, and so on. Each base station 110 provides communication coverage for a particular geographic area 102. The term "cell" refers to a base station and / or its coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. To increase system capacity, the base station coverage area is divided into several smaller areas, such as three smaller areas 104a, 104b, and 104c. Each smaller area is covered by its own base station subsystem. The term "sector" refers to the minimum coverage area of a base station and / or the minimum coverage area of a base station subsystem that is responsible for this coverage area. The techniques described herein can be used in systems with sectorized cells as well as systems with non-sectoralized cells. For clarity, in the following description, the term "base station" is used generically for stations in charge of sectors as well as stations in charge of cells.

The terminals 120 may be scattered throughout the system, and each terminal may be fixed or mobile. Terminals are also referred to as access terminals, mobile stations, user equipment, subscriber units, stations, and the like. Terminals include mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless communication devices, wireless modem cards, portable devices, laptop computers, cordless phones and the like. The terminal can communicate with zero, one, or multiple base stations on forward and reverse links at any moment. A forward link (or downlink) refers to a communication link from a base station to a terminal, and a reverse link (or uplink) refers to a communication link from a terminal to a base station.

In a centralized architecture, the system controller 130 couples to base stations 110 to coordinate and control these base stations. The system controller 130 is a single network entity or a collection of multiple network entities. In a distributed architecture, the base stations communicate with each other as needed.

The techniques described herein can be used in a variety of wireless communication systems such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, and SC-FDMA systems. The terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably. CDMA systems can implement wireless technologies such as cdma2000 and Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA). OFDMA systems can implement wireless technologies such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE802.16, IEEE802.20, and Flash-OFDM®. UTRA and E-UTRA are listed in a document from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are "3rd Generation Partnership Project" It is described in a document from an organization named "2" (3GPP2). These various wireless technologies and standards are known in the art. For clarity, some aspects of these techniques are described below with respect to UMB, and UMB terminology is used in most of the discussion below. UMB is a publicly available 3GPP2 C.S0084-001 and "Medium Access Control Layer For Ultra Mobile" named "Physical Layer for Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) Air Interface Specification" dated August 2007. It is described in 3GPP2 C.S0084-002 named "Broadband (UMB) Air Interface Specification".

System 100 uses various channels to carry traffic data and control information over forward and reverse links. Table 1 lists several channels of UMB and gives a short description of each channel. UMB also supports a variety of other channels on forward and reverse links, but they are not shown in Table 1 for clarity.<tables num="1"><img file="JP2010512122A_D0001.tif" /></tables>

The base station sends control messages to the terminal for various purposes. For example, a base station sends a control message that includes resource allocation for forward and / or reverse links, control information for data transmission over forward and / or reverse links, and so on. It is desirable to send control messages as efficiently and reliably as possible.

In one aspect, control messages are transmitted on a control block linked to the ACK resource used to acknowledge these control messages. Control messages are sometimes referred to as messages, packets, signaling, and so on. A control block is a logical resource used to send a control message, and is also called a control channel block, an F-SCCH block, or the like. Control messages are processed (eg, coded, interleaved, and modulated) and transmitted on the control block. Control blocks are mapped to physical resources given by time, frequency, sign, and so on. The ACK resource linked to the control block corresponds to several physical resources reserved to send an acknowledgment to the control message sent on the control block.

Figure 2A shows a design that uses a linked ACK resource to send an acknowledgment to a control message. In this design, multiple (T) control messages are processed and transmitted on T control blocks on the forward link. T is selected based on various factors such as the expected number of control messages to be sent, the amount of resources to reserve for the control block, and so on. All or one subset of the T control blocks are linked to the ACK resource. In the design shown in Figure 2A, the first L control blocks 1 to L are linked to ACK resources 1 to L, respectively, and the remaining TL control blocks are not linked to ACK resources. Here, in general, L T. For a control message sent on the control block l where l {1, ..., L}, an acknowledgment to the message is sent on the ACK resource l linked to the control block l. Control messages sent on the first L control blocks are acknowledged through their linked ACK resources. Messages sent on the remaining TL control blocks are not acknowledged through the linked ACK resource.

In one design, T available control blocks are divided into a common control block and a shared / multicast control block. The common control block is monitored by all terminals. The shared control block is further divided into groups, and a plurality of terminals are assigned to each group. Each terminal is assigned a specific group of control blocks, which in turn monitors shared control blocks as well as common control blocks. This design can improve the utilization of available control blocks by statistical multiplexing gain while reducing the number of control blocks monitored by each terminal. In one design, the common control block is linked to the ACK resource, but the shared control block is not linked to the ACK resource. In another design, only a subset of common control blocks are linked to the ACK resource. Since the common control block is monitored by all terminals, these designs allow the linked ACK resources to be shared by all terminals. In general, any number of control blocks and any available control block can be linked to an ACK resource. The identification information of the control block linked to the ACK resource is transmitted to the terminal via broadcast information and / or by other means.

Control blocks are commonly used to send unicast messages to specific terminals, multicast messages to groups of terminals, or broadcast messages to all terminals. The first L control blocks are considered important and are used to send a message for which an acknowledgment is desired. The remaining control blocks are used to send messages that can be done without an acknowledgment. L is selected based on various factors such as the expected number of messages for which an acknowledgment is desired, the amount of ACK resources to be reserved, and so on. Various types of messages can be sent on the control block, such as allocation messages, permissions, resource management and / or messages about other features.

Table 2 lists some quota messages that can be sent on the control block and gives a brief description of each quota message. In general, allocation messages are (i) forward link resource and / or reverse link resource allocation, (ii) new resource allocation, incremental / supplemental allocation of additional resources, or decremented allocation of previously allocated resources ( It is for (unassignment) and so on. In some designs, the allocation message contains a supplemental bit, which is set to "0" to indicate that the message is for new allocation, or the message is for incremental or decremental allocation. Set to "1" to indicate that. If more resources are allocated by the message than are currently allocated to the terminal, the terminal can determine that the allocated message is for incremental allocation. If the resources allocated by the message are less than the resources currently allocated, the terminal can determine that the allocated message is for decrement allocation.<tables num="2"><img file="JP2010512122A_D0002.tif" /></tables>

Figure 2B shows a design that uses an ACK resource linked to an allocation resource to send an acknowledgment to an allocation message. In this design, the allocation message for the terminal is sent on the control block. The allocation message conveys the forward link resource allocated to the terminal. The assigned forward link resource is linked to the ACK resource. The terminal receives the allocation message, determines the allocated forward link resource, and sends an acknowledgment to the allocation message on the ACK resource linked to the allocated forward link resource. The design shown in Figure 2B can be used for any type of allocation message, for example for all or a subset of the allocation messages shown in Table 2.

Figure 2C shows a design that uses a dedicated ACK resource to send an acknowledgment to an allocation message. In this design, the allocation message for the terminal is sent on the control block. The allocation message conveys the forward link resource allocated to the terminal. The terminal receives the allocation message, determines the allocated forward link resource, and sends an acknowledgment to the allocation message on the ACK resource previously allocated to the terminal. For example, the terminal is allocated some ACK resources to acknowledge the traffic data sent over the forward link, and the allocated ACK resources are used to acknowledge the allocated message. The design shown in Figure 2C can be used for any type of allocation message, for example for all or a subset of the allocation messages shown in Table 2.

Figures 2A through 2C show three designs that send an acknowledgment to an allocation message. It is desirable to acknowledge the allocation message to improve allocation reliability, improve scheduling, reduce lost or undecrypted packets, and / or gain other benefits. In addition, affirmative response to the allocation message reduces the number of allocations to be sent and increases the available resources and / or power allocation for other transmissions on the forward link.

The design of Figures 2A-2C allows efficient allocation and the use of ACK resources to acknowledge the allocation message sent by the base station. The ACK resource is linked to the control block used to send the allocation message (for example, as shown in Figure 2A), or to the assigned forward link resource (for example, as shown in Figure 2B). ) Linked. The ACK resource may also be a dedicated ACK resource for the terminal (eg, as shown in Figure 2C).

The terminal uses its dedicated ACK resource to acknowledge the forward link data (or data ACK), acknowledge the assigned message (or assigned ACK), and / or for other messages or transmissions sent to the terminal. Send an acknowledgment. The use of dedicated ACK resources for data ACKs and / or allocated ACKs varies, for example, the amount of dedicated ACK resources on the terminal, the type of allocated message received, whether the data is received on forward-linked data, and so on. It is controlled by factors. For example, if both forward link data and an allocation message are received, an acknowledgment will be given only to the forward link data, only to the allocation message, or to both the forward link data and the allocation message. Will be sent.

The system may utilize Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing (SC-FDM), and / or some other multiplexing scheme for forward and reverse links, respectively. it can. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the entire system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, also known as tones, bins, and so on. Each subcarrier is modulated with data. In general, modulated symbols are transmitted in the frequency domain in OFDM and in the time domain in SC-FDM.

In one design, the time-frequency resources on each link are divided into tiles. Each tile is a time frequency block of a predetermined size. On forward links, some tiles are used for control blocks and control messages are processed and sent on these tiles. On the reverse link, the ACK resource occupies all or part of some tiles and an acknowledgment is sent on the ACK portion of these tiles.

Control messages (eg, assignment messages) can be sent in a variety of ways. In some designs, control messages are treated as individual packets. Control messages are added with Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC), encoded, interleaved, repeated as needed, and mapped to modulated symbols. Modulation symbols are mapped to control blocks and then to one or more tiles. The processing of control messages is described in detail in the 3GPP2 C.S0084 document above. Control messages can be processed and sent in other ways.

Acknowledgments to control messages (eg, assignment messages) can also be sent in a variety of ways. In the design shown in Figures 2A and 2B, the linked ACK resource corresponds to a time-frequency resource or symbol that is not used for acknowledgment of traffic data by the terminal. Linked ACK resources are dynamically allocated and propagated, for example, by broadcast messages sent over forward links, system parameters, signaling exchanged during call preparation, and so on. In the design shown in Figure 2C, the dedicated ACK resource is assigned to a terminal or associated with a forward link resource assigned to a terminal.

In one design, the R-ACKCH contains all ACK resources available on the reverse link. Some of the available ACK resources are used as linked ACK resources for L control blocks, and the remaining ACK resources are allocated to terminals.

Figure 3 shows the design of the ACK resource. In one design, the tile covers 16 subcarriers in 8 symbol periods and contains 128 transmission units. A transmission unit is one subcarrier in one symbol period and is used to transmit one symbol, which may be real or complex. Pilot symbols are transmitted on some transmission units in the tile, other symbols are transmitted on the remaining transmission units in the tile. As used herein, a data symbol is a symbol for traffic data, a signaling symbol is a symbol for signaling or control information, and a pilot symbol is a symbol for pilots, pilots. Is the data known to a priori to both the base station and the terminal.

The ACK resource for R-ACKCH is taken from a specific tile on the reverse link. Generally, all or part of the tile is used for the ACK resource. In the design shown in Figure 3, the half tile is used for the ACK resource and is divided into four subtiles. Half tiles are also called ACK segments, and sub tiles are also called ACK clusters. The half tile used for the ACK resource occupies the lower half of the tile and covers eight subcarriers in eight symbol periods. Each subtile covers 8 subcarriers in 2 consecutive symbol periods and contains 16 transmission units. The ACK resource can be defined in other ways.

Figure 4 shows the design of R-ACKCH. The timeline for the reverse link is divided into frames, each frame spanning a predetermined duration, eg eight symbol periods. The available subcarriers are arranged in S non-overlapping sets. S tiles are defined in each frame with S subcarrier sets. The R-ACKCH is mapped to one or more ACK tiles in each ACK frame. The ACK tile is the tile to which the R-ACKCH is mapped, and the ACK frame is the frame to which the R-ACKCH is transmitted. R-ACKCH punctures a portion of each ACK tile.

The number of ACK tiles and the number of ACK frames for R-ACKCH varies, including system bandwidth, number of data channels, amount of acknowledgment forward link data, and expected number of control messages to acknowledge. It depends on the factors. In some designs, the number of ACK tiles depends on the system bandwidth. For example, each ACK frame contains 4 ACK tiles for a system bandwidth of 5 MHz or less, 8 ACK tiles for a system bandwidth of 10 MHz, 16 ACK tiles for a system bandwidth of 20 MHz, and so on. Fewer or more ACK tiles can also be used for the R-ACKCH of each ACK frame.

In one design, multiple (Q) ACK indicators are defined for R-ACKCH. Each ACK metric is associated with several ACK resources that can be used to send an acknowledgment. As described below, the forward link resource assigned to the terminal is associated with the ACK index. Acknowledgment control blocks are also associated with the ACK index. In general, forward link resources and acknowledgment control blocks assigned to terminals are mapped to ACK resources based on any known mapping.

The ACK resource for R-ACKCH occupies several tiles on the reverse link, and these ACK tiles are determined based on a given mapping. In general, ACK tiles change over time in a pseudo-random or deterministic way. R-ACKCH is mapped to different sets of subcarriers to achieve frequency and interference diversity. R-ACKCH may also be pseudo-random for data channels on the reverse link, puncturing these data channels equally. This can be achieved by hopping the R-ACKCH, hopping the data channel, or hopping both the R-ACKCH and the data channel. The frequency hopping pattern indicates a particular tile (s) to use for the R-ACKCH of each ACK frame. The frequency hopping pattern may be transmitted to the terminal or may be a priori known to the terminal. In either case, the terminal has knowledge of the reverse link resource used for R-ACKCH.

Multiple terminals can transmit affirmative responses using code division multiplexing (CDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), some other multiplexing scheme, or a combination thereof. Multiple terminals can use any multiplexing scheme to send their acknowledgments in the same subtile.

One design uses CDM to send an acknowledgment. In this design, acknowledgments from different terminals are spread with different spreading codes, and the spread acknowledgments from these terminals are orthogonal to each other in the code domain. The diffusion code is a Walsh code, an orthogonal code formed by using a sequence of Fourier matrices, or the like. 1-bit acknowledgment from the terminal is N 9 spread chips (spread) for acknowledgment In order to obtain chip), the affirmative response bit is repeated N times, and the bit repeated N times is multiplied by N chips of the spreading code to be spread by the N-chip spreading code. In one design, a 1-bit acknowledgment is spread with a 16-chip spreading code to obtain 16 spreading chips. The 16 spreading chips are mapped to 16 transmission units in one subtile. Another design transforms 16 diffusion chips with a 16-point Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to obtain 16 symbols, then maps the 16 symbols to 16 transmission units in one subtile. In each case, up to 16 different terminals send their acknowledgments in the same subtile using different spread codes, and up to 64 different terminals send their acknowledgments in one half tile. Send in 4 sub-tiles.

One design uses a subset of the available spreading codes to send an acknowledgment and the remaining spreading codes for interference estimation. For example, each subtile uses eight spreading codes to send an acknowledgment, and the remaining eight spreading codes are used for interference estimation.

In one design, acknowledgments are transmitted on different subtiles of different tiles to achieve time and frequency diversity. For example, an acknowledgment is sent on sub-tile 1 on the first tile, on sub-tile 2 on the second tile, on sub-tile 3 on the third tile, and on sub-tile 4 on the fourth tile. The four tiles are in the same frame covering eight symbol periods. Sending acknowledgments on four different tiles occupying different sets of subcarriers improves frequency diversity. Sending acknowledgments on four different subtiles improves time diversity, as well as link distribution for terminals located at the edge of coverage. The terminal can set an upper limit on the transmit power and can transmit the acknowledgment with more energy spread over a longer period of time, which improves the reception of the acknowledgment. Generally, acknowledgments are sent on C subtiles of C different tiles to achieve C-th order diversity. Here, C 1.

The base station performs complementary dispreading to recover the acknowledgment sent by the terminal. To recover the acknowledgments sent by terminals on C different subtiles, the base station has C in the spread code used by the terminals to obtain C backspread symbols for C subtiles. Backdiffuse the received symbol for each of the subtiles of. For each of the C subtiles, the base station also backspreads the received symbol with each of the spreading codes that are not used to transmit the acknowledgment to obtain an interference estimate for that subtile. The base station scales and combines the C despread symbols with interference estimates for the C subtiles to obtain the detected acknowledgment to the terminal.

In the above design, the half tile is divided into four subtiles and an acknowledgment is sent on one set of subtiles using CDM. Half tiles can be divided in other ways. In another design, each subtile covers two subcarriers and spans all eight symbol periods. In yet another design, each subtile contains different subcarriers in different symbol periods of the half tile. Generally, acknowledgments are sent on subtiles using CDM, TDM, FDM, and so on.

Multiple terminals receive individual allocation messages from the base station and acknowledge these messages on a single half-tile ACK resource. A group of terminals also receives a group assignment message applicable to all terminals in that group. These terminals send an acknowledgment to this group allocation message on a single half tile.

In one design, a channel tree is used to allocate resources to terminals. The channel tree limits resource allocation to a subset of all possible combinations of available resources. This reduces the amount of overhead for sending the allocation message.

Figure 5 shows the design of the Binary Channel Tree 500 when 32 subcarrier sets are available. A set of data channels is defined with 32 subcarrier sets. Each data channel is assigned a unique channel ID and maps to one or more subcarrier sets at each time interval. In one design, a data channel is defined for each node in the channel tree 500. Data channels are numbered from top to bottom and from left to right for each layer, as shown in FIG. The largest data channel corresponding to the top node is assigned a channel ID of 0 and maps to all 32 subcarrier sets. The 32 data channels in the lowest layer 1 have channel IDs from 31 to 62 and are referred to as base channels or base nodes. Each base channel maps to one subcarrier set.

The tree structure shown in Figure 5 imposes some restrictions on the use of data channels. For each assigned data channel, all data channels that are a subset (or descendants) of the allocated channel, and all data channels that the allocated channel is a subset of, are constrained. The constrained channel is not used at the same time as the allocated channel, and as a result, no two data channels use the same subcarrier set at the same time.

In one design, ACK resources are allocated for each data channel allocated for use and propagated to the terminal. The ACK resource contains the related resources (eg, spread code and subtile) used to send an acknowledgment at each ACK frame. In this design, an acknowledgment for each data channel is sent on the ACK resource associated with the data channel.

In another design, the ACK resource is associated with each base channel / node in the channel tree. The larger data channel is (i) an ACK resource for all base channels under the larger data channel, (ii) an ACK resource for one of the base channels, eg, a base channel with the lowest channel ID, or (iii). Use ACK resources for a subset of base channels. In the cases of options (i) and (iii) above, acknowledgments for larger data channels are sent with more ACK resources to improve reliability.

In yet another design, the ACK resource is allocated to each data packet to acknowledge. For example, in multi-input multi-output (MIMO) transmission, when multiple data packets are transmitted in parallel, a larger data channel with multiple base channels is allocated for transmission. The number of base channels is equal to or greater than the number of data packets, and each data packet is mapped to a different base channel. An acknowledgment for each data packet is then sent using the ACK resource for the associated base channel.

In one design, when an acknowledgment is sent over a reverse link as part of a data transmission, the acknowledgment to the assigned message takes the ACK resource for the designed channel ID (for example, the highest channel ID of the unused channel). Sent using. For example, if the allocation message assigns a terminal channel ID 15 (including channels IDs 31 and 32), an acknowledgment to the allocation message is sent using the ACK resource for channel ID 32. In this design, the base station can determine what is acknowledged based on the channel ID in which the acknowledgment was received.

In one design, if sufficient ACK resources associated with the allocated forward link resource are available to send an acknowledgment, an acknowledgment to the assigned message is sent. For example, an ACK resource is associated with each base node in the channel tree. The ACK resource is not available to acknowledge control messages when a terminal is assigned only one base node, but is available when a terminal is assigned more than one base node.

The terminal receives the allocation message and one or more data packets at the same time or almost simultaneously. If the ACK resource is not available to acknowledge the allocation message, the terminal will only acknowledge the data packet (s). This is the case, for example, when there are no unused channels and the number of data packets to acknowledge is equal to the number of ACK resources available to the terminal. If a data packet (s) is sent on the forward link resource allocated by the allocation message and is decrypted correctly, the terminal acknowledges only the data packet (s). Send. The base station infers that the assigned message is correctly received by the terminal based on the acknowledgment received for the data packet (s). The terminal also sends an acknowledgment only to the data packet if the terminal's link allocation or power is limited.

Figure 6 shows the design of process 600 for the terminal to acknowledge the assigned message. Receive an allocation message from the base station to the terminal (block 612). Determine if the allocation message should be acknowledged (block 614). The determination at block 614 is, for example, the control block in which the allocation message was received, the type of allocation message, whether at least one data packet should be acknowledged, and the ACK resources available to the terminal to send the acknowledgment. Based on various factors such as the amount of. For example, an acknowledgment is sent when an allocation message is received on a control block within the group of control blocks to which the acknowledgment should be sent. As another example, an acknowledgment is sent when the quota message is of one type (eg, new quota) and not another type (eg, increment or decrement). As yet another example, an acknowledgment depends on the amount of resources allocated by the allocation message and is sent when sufficient ACK resources are available.

If the allocation message should be acknowledged (Yes in block 614), determine the ACK resource that should be used to acknowledge the allocation message (block 616). In one design, the ACK resource is linked to the control block in which the allocation message was received, for example as shown in Figure 2A. In another design, the ACK resource is linked to the resource allocated by the allocation message, for example, as shown in Figure 2B. In yet another design, the ACK resource is allocated to the terminal, for example as shown in Figure 2C. In either case, an acknowledgment to the allocation message is sent on the ACK resource (block 618). Acknowledgments are transmitted over time and / or frequency to achieve diversity.

FIG. 7 shows the design of the device 700 to acknowledge the assignment message. The device 700 should acknowledge the allocation message, the means for receiving the allocation message from the base station to the terminal (module 712), the means for determining whether or not the allocation message should be acknowledged (module 714). In the case, it includes means for determining the ACK resource to be used to acknowledge the allocation message (module 716) and means for sending an acknowledgment for the allocation message on the ACK resource (module 718).

Figure 8 shows the design of Process 800 for sending allocation messages by a base station. An allocation message is sent to the terminal (block 812). An acknowledgment for the assigned message is received on the specified ACK resource to send an acknowledgment (block 814). The ACK resource is linked to the control block used to send the allocation message, is linked to the resource allocated by the allocation message, or is assigned to the terminal.

FIG. 9 shows the design of device 900 for sending allocation messages. The device 900 has a means for sending an allocation message to the terminal (module 912) and a means for receiving an acknowledgment for the allocation message on the ACK resource specified to send an acknowledgment (module 914). including.

Figure 10 shows the design of Process 1000 for the terminal to acknowledge the control message. The control message is received on the control block (block 1012). The ACK resource is determined based on the control message or control block (block 1014). In one design, the ACK resource is linked to the control block. In another design, the control message is an allocation message that allocates a resource to the terminal, and the ACK resource is linked to the allocated resource. The ACK resource can be determined in other ways. An acknowledgment to the control message is sent on the ACK resource (block 1016).

Acknowledgments are sent based on various criteria. In one design, an acknowledgment is sent to several control blocks, such as a control block linked to an ACK resource. For example, the terminal monitors at least one first (eg, common) control block used by the base station to send an acknowledgment control message. The terminal sends an acknowledgment to the control message received on at least one first control block. The terminal monitors at least one second (eg, shared) control block used by the base station to send control messages that should not be acknowledged. The terminal does not acknowledge the control message received on at least one second control block. In another design, the terminal sends, for example, (i) a type of control message, but not for a permission message, or (ii) an acknowledgment to a type of quota message. The terminal can also send an acknowledgment based on other criteria.

FIG. 11 shows the design of device 1100 for affirmative response to control messages. The apparatus 1100 has a means for receiving a control message on the control block (module 1112), a means for determining an ACK resource based on the control message or the control block (module 1114), and a control message on the ACK resource. Includes means (module 1116) for sending an acknowledgment to.

FIG. 12 shows the design of process 1200 for sending control messages by a base station. A control message is sent on the control block (block 1212). An acknowledgment to the control message is received on the ACK resource determined based on the control message or control block (block 1214).

FIG. 13 shows the design of device 1300 for transmitting control messages. The apparatus 1300 has a means for transmitting a control message on the control block (module 1312) and a means for receiving an acknowledgment to the control message on the control message or the ACK resource determined based on the control block (module 1312). Includes modules 1314) and.

The modules of FIGS. 7, 9, 11 and 13 can include processors, electronic devices, hardware devices, electronic components, logic circuits, memory, etc., or any combination thereof.

FIG. 14 shows a block diagram of the design of base station 110 and terminal 120, which is one of the base stations and one of the terminals of FIG. In this design, the base station 110 and the terminal 120 are each equipped with a single antenna.

At base station 110, transmit (TX) data and signaling processor 1410 receives traffic data for one or more terminals and for each terminal based on one or more packet formats selected for that terminal. Processes traffic data (eg, encoding, interleaving, and symbol mapping) and gives data symbols. Processor 1410 also processes control messages (eg, allocation messages) and provides signaling symbols. Processor 1410 also generates pilot symbols. Modulator 1412 modulates data symbols, signaling symbols, and pilot symbols (for example, OFDM, CDM, SC-FDM, etc.) and provides an output chip. The transmitter (TMTR) 1414 tunes the output chip (eg, analog conversion, filtering, amplification and up-conversion) to generate a forward link signal that can be transmitted through the antenna 1416.

At terminal 120, antenna 1452 receives forward link signals from base station 110 and, in some cases, other base stations, and supplies the received signals to receiver (RCVR) 1454. Receiver 1454 tunes and digitizes the received signal and provides a received sample. Demodulator (Demod) 1456 demodulates received samples (for example, OFDM, CDM, SC-FDM, etc.) and gives them a receive symbol. Receive (RX) data and signaling processor 1458 processes received symbols (eg, symbol demapping, deinterleaving, and decoding) and provides decoded data and control messages to terminal 120.

The controller / processor 1470 receives the decoding result from the processor 1458 and generates an acknowledgment for data packets, control messages, and so on. The TX data and signaling processor 1460 processes the traffic data sent to base station 110 to obtain the data symbol, processes the affirmative response and / or other control information to obtain the signaling symbol, and generates the pilot symbol. .. Modulator 1462 modulates data symbols, signaling symbols, and pilot symbols to provide an output chip. Transmitter 1464 adjusts the output chip to generate a reverse link signal that can be transmitted via antenna 1452.

At base station 110, reverse link signals from terminal 120 and other terminals are received by antenna 1416, tuned and digitized by receiver 1420, demodulated by demodulator 1422, and processed by RX data and signaling processor 1424. To recover traffic data, affirmative responses, and / or other control information sent by terminal 120 and other terminals. The controller / processor 1430 receives an acknowledgment to control data transmission over the forward link to the terminal equipment.

Controllers / processors 1430 and 1470 direct operations at base station 110 and terminal 120, respectively. Memories 1432 and 1472 store program code and data for base station 110 and terminal 120, respectively.

The concept of channels described herein refers to the type of information or transmission that can be transmitted by a terminal or base station. The concept does not require or utilize a fixed or predetermined set of subcarriers, time cycles, or other resources dedicated to such transmission. In addition, time frequency resources are exemplary resources that can be assigned and / or can be used for the transmission / signaling of data and messages. The time frequency resource can also include frequency subcarriers, transmission symbols, and / or other resources in addition to the time frequency resource.

The techniques described herein can be performed by a variety of means. For example, these techniques can be performed on hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. In a hardware implementation, the processor in an entity (eg, terminal or base station) is one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processors (DSPDs), programmable logic. Devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, electronic devices, other electronic devices, computers, or them designed to perform the functions described herein. Can be implemented inside the combination of.

In firmware and / or software implementations, this technique can be performed using code that performs the functions described herein (eg, procedures, functions, modules, instructions, etc.). In general, any computer / processor readable medium tangible with firmware and / or software code can be used to perform the techniques described herein. For example, firmware and / or software code can be stored in memory (eg, memory 1432 or 1472 in FIG. 14) and executed by a processor (eg, processor 1430 or 1470). Memory can be implemented inside or outside the processor. Firmware and / or software code includes random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), and flash memory. Can be stored on computer / processor readable media such as Programmable Disks, Compact Disks (CDs), Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs), and Magnetic or Optical Data Storage Devices. The code can be executed by one or more computers / processors, and some aspects of the functionality described herein can be executed by the (s) computers / processors.

The aforementioned description of the disclosure is provided to allow one of ordinary skill in the art to carry out or use the disclosure. Various changes to this disclosure will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art, and the comprehensive principles defined herein are applicable to other variants without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. .. Therefore, this disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein, and should be given the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.