Methods and apparatus for detecting ACK/NACK bits with dual list-RM decoder and symbol regeneration for LTE PUCCH format 3

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11076407-B2
Application number	US-201916264328-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2019
Priority date	Apr 27, 2018
Publication date	Jul 27, 2021
Grant date	Jul 27, 2021

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for detecting ACK/NACK bits with dual list-RM decoder and symbol regeneration for PUCCH format 3. In an exemplary embodiment, a method is provided for detected ACK/NACK bits received in a long-term evolution (LTE) physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) Format 3 uplink transmission. The method includes generating Top-M ACK candidates from a descrambled bit stream, regenerating Top-M candidate symbols from the Top-M ACK candidates, calculating channel estimates for the Top-M candidate symbols, combining to the channel estimates generate a combined metric; and searching the combined metric to determine detected ACK bits.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for detected ACK/NACK bits received in a long-term evolution (LTE) physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) Format 3 uplink transmission, the method comprising:
generating a descrambled bit stream having 48 soft bits from information received in an LTE PUCCH Format 3 uplink transmission;
generating Top-M ACK candidates from the descrambled bit stream, and wherein M is an integer;
regenerating Top-M candidate symbols from the Top-M ACK candidates;
calculating channel estimates for the Top-M candidate symbols;
combining the channel estimates to generate a combined metric; and
searching the combined metric to determine detected ACK bits.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operation of generating the Top-M ACK candidates comprises:
extracting 32-bits from the descrambled bit stream, when it is determined that a total number of ACK bits is <=11; and
performing a Reed Muller 32-bit decode of the 32-bits to generate the Top-M ACK candidates.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operation of generating the Top-M ACK candidates comprises:
deinterleaving the descrambled bit stream to generate first and second sets of deinterleaved bits, when it is determined that a total number of ACK bits is in a range of 12 to 22;
performing a Reed Muller 24-bit decode on each of the first and second sets of deinterleaved bits to generate first and second sets of decoded bits; and
demapping the first and second sets of decoded bits to generate the Top-M ACK candidates.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operation of regenerating Top-M candidate symbols comprises:
performing one of a Reed Muller 32-bit (RM32) coding or dual Reed Muller 24-bit (RM24) coding on the Top-M candidate bits to generate coded Top-M candidate bits;
scrambling the Top-M candidate bits to generate scrambled Top-M candidate bits; and
modulating the scrambled Top-M candidate bits to generate the Top-M candidate symbols.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operation of calculating the channel estimates comprises:
generating a joint channel estimate based on received data symbols and the Top-M candidate symbols;
combining the joint channel estimate with a pilot channel estimate to generate a combined Top-M channel estimate;
calculating an ML metric from the combined Top-M channel estimate; and
combining the ML metric to generate to generate the combined metric.

6. An apparatus for detected ACK/NACK bits received in a long-term evolution (LTE) physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) Format 3 uplink transmission, the apparatus comprising:
a processor and a memory configured as:
a descrambler that generates 48 descrambled soft bits from information in a received LTE PUCCH Format 3 uplink transmission;
a Top-M Reed Muller (RM) decoder that generates Top-M ACK candidates from the descrambled bit stream, and wherein M is an integer;
a symbol regenerator that regenerates Top-M candidate symbols from the Top-M ACK candidates;
a channel estimator that calculates channel estimates for the Top-M candidate symbols;
a combiner that combines the channel estimates generate a combined metric; and
a decision detector that searches the combined metric to determine detected ACK bits.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the Top-M RM decoder comprises:
a bit extractor that extracts 32-bits from the descrambled bit stream, when it is determined that a total number of ACK bits is <=11; and
a RM 32-bit decoder that decodes the 32-bits to generate the Top-M ACK candidates.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the Top-M RM decoder comprises:
a dual deinterleaver that deinterleaves the descrambled bit stream to generate first and second sets of deinterleaved bits, when it is determined that a total number of ACK bits is in a range of 12 to 22;
dual RM 24-bit decoders that perform Reed Muller 24-bit decoding on each of the first and second sets of deinterleaved bits to generate first and second sets of decoded bits; and
dual demappers that demap the first and second sets of decoded bits to generate the Top-M ACK candidates.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the symbol regenerator comprises:
a RM coder that performs one of a RM 32-bit coding or dual RM 24-bit coding on the Top-M candidate bits to generated coded Top-M candidate bits;
a scrambler that scrambles the Top-M candidate bits to generate scrambled Top-M candidate bits; and
modulator that modulates the scrambled Top-M candidate bits to generate the Top-M candidate symbols.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the channel estimator comprises:
a joint channel estimator for generating a joint channel estimate based on received data symbols and the Top-M candidate symbols;
a combiner that combines the joint channel estimate with a pilot channel estimate to generate a combined Top-M channel estimate;
a calculator that calculates an ML metric from the combined Top-M channel estimate; and
an maximal-ratio-combiner (MRC) that combines the ML metric to generate to generate the combined metric.

11. An apparatus for detected ACK/NACK bits received in a long-term evolution (LTE) physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) Format 3 uplink transmission, the apparatus comprising:
a processor and a memory configured as:
means for generating a descrambled bit stream having 48 descrambled soft bits from information received in an LTE PUCCH Format 3 uplink transmission;
means for generating ACK candidates from the descrambled bits stream;
means for regenerating candidate symbols from the ACK candidates;
means for calculating channel estimates for the candidate symbols;
means for combining to the channel estimates generate a combined metric; and
means for searching the combined metric to determine detected ACK bits.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the means for generating the ACK candidates comprises:
means for extracting 32-bits from the descrambled bit stream, when it is determined that a total number of ACK bits is <=11; and
means for performing a Reed Muller 32-bit decode of the 32-bits to generate the ACK candidates.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the means for generating the ACK candidates comprises:
means for deinterleaving the descrambled bit stream to generate first and second sets of deinterleaved bits, when it is determined that a total number of ACK bits is in a range of 12 to 22;
means for performing a Reed Muller 24-bit decode on each of the first and second sets of deinterleaved bits to generate first and second sets of decoded bits; and
means for demapping the first and second sets of decoded bits to generate the ACK candidates.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the means for regenerating the candidate symbols comprises:
means for performing one of a Reed Muller 32-bit (RM32) coding or dual Reed Muller 24-bit (RM24) coding on the candidate bits to generate coded candidate bits;
means for scrambling the candidate bits to generate scrambled candidate bits; and
means for modulating the scrambled candidate bits to generate the candidate symbols.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the means for calculating the channel estimates comprises:
means for generating a joint channel estimate based on received data symbols and the candidate symbols;
means for combining the joint channel estimate with a pilot channel estimate to generate a combined channel estimate;
means for calculating an ML metric from the combined channel estimate; and
means for combining the ML metric to generate to generate the combined metric.

Assignees

• Guo Yuanbin
• Marvell Asia Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Guo Yuanbin

Classifications

• H04W72/21

  in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network · CPC title

• H04L25/0224 Primary

  using sounding signals · CPC title

• H04L5/0055

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

• H04L25/03866

  using scrambling · CPC title

• H03M13/136

  Reed-Muller [RM] codes · CPC title