Base station, and buffer partitioning method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10159063-B2
Application number	US-201715666420-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2017
Priority date	Jul 17, 2012
Publication date	Dec 18, 2018
Grant date	Dec 18, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed is a base station which transmits and retransmits to a terminal first and second downlink data in first and second component carriers, respectively, wherein a first configuration pattern of UL (uplink) and DL (downlink) subframes is set for the first component carrier and a second configuration pattern of UL and DL subframes is set for the second component carrier. The base station receives from the terminal in the first component carrier an ACK/NACK for the first and second downlink data received by the terminal, which stores retransmission data of the first and second downlink data in a soft buffer, wherein the soft buffer for the second downlink data is sized according to a maximum number of downlink HARQ retransmission processes executable in a reference configuration pattern of UL and DL subframes, and the reference configuration pattern is determined according to the first and second configuration patterns.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A base station comprising:
a transmitter which, in operation, transmits and retransmits to a terminal first and second downlink data in first and second component carriers, respectively, wherein a first configuration pattern of UL (uplink) and DL (downlink) subframes is set for the first component carrier and a second configuration pattern of UL and DL subframes is set for the second component carrier; and
a receiver which, in operation, receives from the terminal in the first component carrier an ACK/NACK (acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement) for the first and second downlink data received by the terminal, which stores retransmission data of the first and second downlink data in a soft buffer, wherein the soft buffer for the second downlink data is sized according to a maximum number of downlink HARQ (hybrid automatic repeat request) retransmission processes executable in a reference configuration pattern of UL and DL subframes, the maximum number of downlink HARQ retransmission processes is determined according to the reference configuration pattern, and the reference configuration pattern is determined according to the first and second configuration patterns.

2. The base station according to claim 1 , wherein the receiver receives the ACK/NACK at a timing of an UL subframe of the reference configuration pattern.

3. The base station according to claim 1 , wherein, when the first configuration pattern and the second configuration pattern are different, the receiver receives the ACK/NACK at a timing of an UL subframe of the reference configuration pattern.

4. The base station according to claim 1 , wherein the first component carrier is a primary cell (PCell) and the second component carrier is a secondary cell (SCell).

5. The base station according to claim 4 , wherein when a set of DL subframes of PCell included in one frame includes a set of DL subframes of SCell, the reference configuration pattern is the same as the first configuration pattern.

6. The base station according to claim 4 , wherein when a set of DL subframes of SCell included in one frame includes a set of DL subframes of PCell, the reference configuration pattern is the same as the second configuration pattern.

7. The base station according to claim 4 , wherein when a set of DL subframes of SCell is not included in a set of DL subframes of PCell included in one frame and the set of DL subframes of PCell is not included in the set of DL subframes of SCell, the reference configuration pattern is a UL-DL configuration pattern which is DL heavy with respect to both PCell and SCell.

8. The base station according to claim 1 , wherein the soft buffer stores an LLR (Log Likelihood Ratio) of the second downlink data when error is detected by the terminal, to be combined with an LLR of the second downlink data that is retransmitted.

9. A method implemented in a base station configured to communicate with a terminal, the method comprising:
transmitting and retransmitting first and second downlink data in first and second component carriers, respectively, wherein a first configuration pattern of UL (uplink) and DL (downlink) subframes is set for the first component carrier and a second configuration pattern of UL and DL subframes is set for the second component carrier; and
receiving from the terminal in the first component carrier an ACK/NACK (acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement) for the first and second downlink data received by the terminal, which stores retransmission data of the first and second downlink data in a soft buffer, wherein the soft buffer for the second downlink data is sized according to a maximum number of downlink HARQ (hybrid automatic repeat request) retransmission processes executable in a reference configuration pattern of UL and DL subframes, the maximum number of downlink HARQ retransmission processes is determined according to the reference configuration pattern, and the reference configuration pattern is determined according to the first and second configuration patterns.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the receiving step includes receiving the ACK/NACK at a timing of an UL subframe of the reference configuration pattern.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein, when the first configuration pattern and the second configuration pattern are different, the receiving step includes receiving the ACK/NACK at a timing of an UL subframe of the reference configuration pattern.

12. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the first component carrier is a primary cell (PCell) and the second component carrier is a secondary cell (SCell).

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein when a set of DL subframes of PCell included in one frame includes a set of DL subframes of SCell, the reference configuration pattern is the same as the first configuration pattern.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein when a set of DL subframes of SCell included in one frame includes a set of DL subframes of PCell, the reference configuration pattern is the same as the second configuration pattern.

15. The method according to claim 12 , wherein when a set of DL subframes of SCell is not included in a set of DL subframes of PCell included in one frame and the set of DL subframes of PCell is not included in the set of DL subframes of SCell, the reference configuration pattern is a UL-DL configuration pattern which is DL heavy with respect to both PCell and SCell.

16. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the soft buffer stores an LLR (Log Likelihood Ratio) of the second downlink data when error is detected by the terminal, to be combined with an LLR of the second downlink data that is retransmitted.

Assignees

• Sun Patent Trust

Inventors

• Oizumi Toru
• Nishio Akihiko

Classifications

• H04W72/535

  based on resource usage policies · CPC title

• H04W72/20 Primary

  Control channels or signalling for resource management · CPC title

• H04L1/1835 Primary

  Buffer management · CPC title

• H04L5/001

  the frequencies being arranged in component carriers · CPC title

• H04L5/0041

  Frequency-non-contiguous · CPC title