Uplink control channel configuration for unlicensed carriers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017164352-A1
Application number	US-201715431012-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 13, 2017
Priority date	Dec 7, 2015
Publication date	Jun 8, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) format for transmission of uplink control information (UCI) in unlicensed spectrum is either short PUCCH or long PUCCH. The short PUCCH occupies less than 1 subframe in the time domain and spans an entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level. The long PUCCH occupies one subframe in the time domain and spans the entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level.

First claim

1 . A method of operating a wireless communication device, comprising:
identifying a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) format for transmission of uplink control information (UCI) in unlicensed spectrum, wherein the PUCCH format is short PUCCH or long PUCCH, wherein the short PUCCH occupies less than 1 subframe in the time domain and spans an entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level, and wherein the long PUCCH occupies one subframe in the time domain and spans the entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level; and transmitting the UCI to a radio access node in accordance with the identified PUCCH format.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the UCI is transmitted to the radio access node in coordination with one or more other wireless communication devices.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein transmitting the UCI to the radio access node in coordination with the one or more other wireless communication devices comprises multiplexing the one or more other wireless communication devices on the same interlace as the short PUCCH or the long PUCCH.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the PUCCH format is short PUCCH.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the PUCCH format is long PUCCH.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the short PUCCH comprises at least one demodulation reference signal (DMRS) symbol and at least one control-data symbol in the time domain.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the short PUCCH comprises a sequence of symbols at the end of a downlink partial subframe.

8 - 12 . (canceled)

13 . A wireless communication device, comprising:
at least one processor configured to: identify a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) format for transmission of uplink control information (UCI) in unlicensed spectrum, wherein the PUCCH format is short PUCCH or long PUCCH, wherein the short PUCCH occupies less than 1 subframe in the time domain and spans an entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level, and wherein the long PUCCH occupies one subframe in the time domain and spans the entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level; and at least one transmitter configured to transmit the UCI to a radio access node in accordance with the identified PUCCH format.

14 . The wireless communication device of claim 13 , wherein the UCI is transmitted to the radio access node in coordination with one or more other wireless communication devices.

15 . The wireless communication device of claim 14 , wherein transmitting the UCI to the radio access node in coordination with the one or more other wireless communication devices comprises multiplexing the one or more other wireless communication devices on the same interlace as the short PUCCH or the long PUCCH.

16 . The wireless communication device of claim 13 , wherein the PUCCH format is short PUCCH.

17 . The wireless communication device of claim 13 , wherein the PUCCH format is long PUCCH.

18 . The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein the short PUCCH comprises at least one demodulation reference signal (DMRS) symbol and at least one control-data symbol in the time domain.

19 . The wireless communication device of claim 18 , wherein the short PUCCH comprises a sequence of symbols at the end of a downlink partial subframe.

20 - 24 . (canceled)

25 . A method of operating a radio access node, comprising:
identifying a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) format to be used by at least one wireless communication device for transmission of uplink control information (UCI) in unlicensed spectrum, wherein the PUCCH format is short PUCCH or long PUCCH, wherein the short PUCCH occupies less than 1 subframe in the time domain and spans an entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level, and wherein the long PUCCH occupies one subframe in the time domain and spans the entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level; and receiving the UCI from the at least one wireless communication device in accordance with the identified PUCCH format.

26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein identifying the PUCCH format comprises selecting between short PUCCH and long PUCCH according to at least one of an eNodeB timing configuration and a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocol.

27 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the received UCI is multiplexed on the same interlace as the short PUCCH or the long PUCCH with information transmitted from at least one other wireless communication device.

28 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the PUCCH format is short PUCCH.

29 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the PUCCH format is long PUCCH.

30 . The method of claim 28 , wherein the short PUCCH comprises at least one demodulation reference signal (DMRS) symbol and at least one control-data symbol in the time domain.

31 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the short PUCCH comprises a sequence of symbols at the end of a downlink partial subframe.

32 - 38 . (canceled)

39 . A radio access node, comprising:
at least one processor and memory collectively configured to: identify a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) format to be used by at least one wireless communication device for transmission of uplink control information (UCI) in unlicensed spectrum, wherein the PUCCH format is short PUCCH or long PUCCH, wherein the short PUCCH occupies less than 1 subframe in the time domain and spans an entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level, and wherein the long PUCCH occupies one subframe in the time domain and spans the entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level (S 1605 ); and a receiver configured to receive the UCI from the at least one wireless communication device in accordance with the identified PUCCH format (S 1610 ).

40 . The radio access node of claim 39 , wherein identifying the PUCCH format comprises selecting between short PUCCH and long PUCCH according to at least one of an eNodeB timing configuration and a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocol.

41 . The radio access node of claim 39 , wherein the received UCI is multiplexed on the same interlace as the short PUCCH or the long PUCCH with information transmitted from at least one other wireless communication device.

42 . The radio access node of claim 39 , wherein the PUCCH format is short PUCCH.

43 . The radio access node of claim 39 , wherein the PUCCH format is long PUCCH.

44 . The radio access node of claim 42 , wherein the short PUCCH comprises at least one demodulation reference signal (DMRS) symbol and at least one control-data symbol in the time domain.

45 . The radio access node of claim 44 , wherein the short PUCCH comprises a sequence of symbols at the end of a downlink partial subframe.

46 - 54 . (canceled)

Assignees

• ERICSSON TELEFON AB L M (publ)

Inventors

• Yang Yu
• Lindqvist Fredrik

Classifications

• H04W72/21 Primary

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

• H04W72/0413 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W16/14

  Spectrum sharing arrangements {between different networks} · CPC title

• H04L5/0007

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

• H04L1/1614

  using bitmaps · CPC title