Methods, apparatuses, and systems for transmitting hybrid automatic repeat request transmissions using channels in an unlicensed shared medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10158473-B2
Application number	US-201514671872-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2015
Priority date	Oct 3, 2014
Publication date	Dec 18, 2018
Grant date	Dec 18, 2018

Abstract

Methods, systems, and storage media for providing and/or obtaining feedback for data transmissions in an unlicensed shared medium are described. In embodiments, an apparatus may include radio control circuitry to demodulate and decode a data transmission from an evolved node B (eNB). The apparatus may include and processing circuitry, coupled with the radio control circuitry, and the processing circuitry is to receive the data transmission from the radio control circuitry and generate feedback based on the data transmission. The radio control circuitry may also control radio-frequency circuitry to determine whether a physical channel in an unlicensed shared medium is unoccupied, and transmit the feedback to the eNB over the physical channel when the physical channel is unoccupied according to the determination. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
radio control circuitry to:
demodulate and decode a data transmission from an evolved node B (eNB);
control radio-frequency circuitry to determine whether a physical channel in an unlicensed shared medium is unoccupied, and
transmit feedback to the eNB over a selected one of a first subframe and a second subframe of a plurality of subframes of the physical channel during a transmission window; and

processing circuitry, coupled with the radio control circuitry, the processing circuitry to:
receive the data transmission from the radio control circuitry;
generate the feedback based on whether the data transmission was properly demodulated and decoded;
determine a transmission window for transmitting the feedback to the eNB based on a fixed timing relation, wherein the fixed timing relation is a predefined time for transmitting the feedback according to a reception time of the data transmission;
select the first subframe for transmitting the feedback when the first subframe is determined to be unoccupied;
expand the transmission window to determine the second subframe when the first subframe is determined to be occupied, wherein to expand the transmission to determine the second subframe, the processing circuitry is to determine the second subframe according to n+4+l in a frequency-division duplexing (FDD) deployment and n+k+l in a time-division duplexing (TDD) deployment, where n is a subframe number of the first subframe, k is a predefined number, and l is a transmission window expansion factor; and
select the second subframe that is within the expanded transmission window for transmitting the feedback.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the physical channel is a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the processing circuitry is to determine whether the received data transmission is properly demodulated and decoded; and
the radio control circuitry is to control the radio-frequency circuitry to transmit the feedback when the processing circuit determines that the received data transmission has been properly demodulated and decoded, and not transmit the feedback when the processing circuit determines that the received data transmission has not been properly demodulated and decoded.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is to start a timer in response to the determination that the first subframe is occupied, wherein a value of the timer is based on a size of the expanded transmission window, determine whether the second subframe is unoccupied, and discard the feedback when the timer is expired and when the second subframe is determined to be occupied.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the processing circuitry is to shift a first resource block (RB) position of a first subframe of the physical channel for transmitting the feedback to a second RB position of a second subframe of the physical channel based on a determination made by the processing circuitry that the first subframe is occupied; and
the radio control circuitry is to control the radio-frequency circuitry to transmit the feedback for the received data transmission on the second RB position of the second subframe with another feedback for another data transmission in a first RB position of the second subframe.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein
the processing circuitry is to shift the first RB position of the first subframe to the second RB position of the second subframe according to a resource offset, and
the radio control circuitry is to control the radio-frequency circuitry to transmit the resource offset to the eNB using a higher layer signaling than a signaling used for the transmission of the feedback.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is to multiplex the feedback with feedback process numbers such that the radio control circuitry is to control the radio-frequency circuitry to transmit the feedback process numbers with the feedback, and wherein to multiplex the feedback with the feedback process numbers, the processing circuitry is to place the feedback process numbers after feedback bits of the feedback or before the feedback bits of the feedback.

8. At least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium including instructions to cause a computing device, in response to execution of the instructions by the computing device, to:
demodulate and decode a data transmission received from an evolved node B (eNB);
generate feedback based on whether the data transmission is properly demodulated and decoded or not properly demodulated and decoded;
determine whether a physical channel in an unlicensed shared medium is unoccupied, wherein, to determine whether the physical channel in the unlicensed shared medium is unoccupied, the computing device, in response to execution of the instructions, is to:
determine a flexible transmission window for transmitting the feedback based on a fixed transmission window, wherein the fixed transmission window is a predefined period of time for transmitting the feedback according to a receipt time of the data transmission, and
select, within the flexible transmission window, an unoccupied feedback resource of the physical channel in which to transmit the feedback, wherein the unoccupied feedback resource is a subframe of a plurality of subframes, and to select the unoccupied feedback resource, the instructions cause the computing device, in response to execution of the instructions by the computing device, to:
select, as the unoccupied feedback resource, a first subframe of the plurality of subframes when the first subframe is determined to be unoccupied,
expand the flexible transmission window when the first subframe is determined to be occupied, and
select, as the unoccupied feedback resource, a second subframe of the plurality of subframes that is within the expanded flexible transmission window,
wherein, to expand the flexible transmission window, execution of the instructions is to cause the computing device to determine the second subframe according to n+4+l in a frequency-division duplexing (FDD) deployment and n+k+l in a time-division duplexing (TDD) deployment. where n is a subframe number of the first subframe, k is a predefined number, and l is a transmission window expansion factor; and

control transmission of the feedback to the eNB in the selected unoccupied feedback resource of the physical channel during the flexible transmission window,
wherein the unlicensed shared medium is a same unlicensed shared medium used for receiving the data transmission from the eNB or a different unlicensed shared medium than the unlicensed shared medium used for receiving the data transmission from the eNB.

9. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the physical channel is a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

10. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions cause the computing device, in response to execution of the instructions by the computing device, to:
determine whether the received data transmission is properly demodulated and decoded; and
transmit the feedback only when the data transmission is determined to have been properly demodulated and decoded.

11. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions cause the computing device, in response to execution of the instructions by the computing device, to:
start a timer in response to the determination that the first subframe is occupied, wherein a v

Assignees

• Intel Ip Corp

Inventors

• Bashar Shafi
• He Hong
• Han Seunghee
• Fwu Jong-Kae

Classifications

• H04L27/0006 Primary

  Assessment of spectral gaps suitable for allocating digitally modulated signals, e.g. for carrier allocation in cognitive radio (for spectrum sharing between different networks H04W16/14) · CPC title

• H04W28/06

  Optimizing {the usage of the radio link}, e.g. header compression, information sizing {, discarding information (system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365)} · CPC title

• H04L5/0055 Primary

  Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK (for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861) · CPC title

• H04W72/02

  Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal · CPC title

• H04L5/0007

  the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A) or DMT · CPC title