Hybrid reconfiguration methods and apparatus for TDD adaptation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9826528-B2
Application number	US-201414653114-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 16, 2014
Priority date	Jan 17, 2013
Publication date	Nov 21, 2017
Grant date	Nov 21, 2017

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices are described for reconfiguring a user equipment (UE) to operate in a reconfigured TDD UL-DL configuration. An initial uplink-downlink (UL-DL) configuration for TDD communication may be provided for communication between an e Node B and a UE. One or more subframes within each frame transmitted using the initial UL-DL configuration may be identified as flexible subframes. The identification of flexible subframes may permit the identification of timing for HARQ transmissions that does not change when a reconfiguration takes place. A different UL-DL configuration may be transmitted to the UE, in which at least one flexible subframe is to be changed from an uplink subframe to a downlink subframe. The different UL-DL configuration may be transmitted by, for example, a pseudo-uplink grant to the UE, which indicates that the UE is to reconfigure one or more flexible subframes from uplink to downlink transmission.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) in time-division duplex (TDD) communication with an eNodeB, comprising:
receiving an initial uplink-downlink (UL-DL) configuration for TDD communication with the eNodeB;
identifying one or more subframes within the initial UL-DL configuration as flexible subframes;
receiving an uplink grant comprising an indication that at least one of the one or more flexible subframes of a given frame is to be changed from an uplink subframe to a downlink subframe, wherein the indication comprises an invalid resource block allocation for the at least one of the one or more flexible subframes of the given frame; and
receiving downlink communications during one or more of the flexible subframes changed from an uplink subframe to a downlink subframe.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the uplink grant comprises receiving physical layer signaling at the UE.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the invalid resource block allocation comprises a resource indication value (RIV) that exceeds a maximum value of an RIV for the uplink grant.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a second uplink grant comprising an indication that a second of the one or more flexible subframes of the given frame is to be changed from an uplink subframe to a downlink subframe.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein HARQ acknowledgment timing is unchanged between the initial UL-DL configuration and a reconfigured UL-DL configuration.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initial UL-DL configuration comprises a maximum number of uplink subframes within each frame.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining an uplink HARQ acknowledgment position within a set of subframes based on an UL-DL configuration of the maximum number of uplink subframes.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the maximum number of uplink subframes is received in a system information block (SIB).

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the initial UL-DL configuration further comprises a minimum number of uplink subframes within each frame.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining a downlink HARQ acknowledgment position within a set of subframes based on an UL-DL configuration of the minimum number of uplink subframes.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the minimum number of uplink subframes are received using a bitmap identifying the minimum number of uplink subframes.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the minimum number of uplink subframes are transmitted using a configuration index that identifies minimum uplink subframes in a semi-static set of different minimum uplink subframes.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving the initial UL-DL configuration from the eNodeB.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the initial UL-DL configuration is received in one system information block (SIB).

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flexible subframes are initially configured as uplink subframes.

16. A wireless communication user equipment (UE) apparatus configured to operate using one of multiple time-division duplex (TDD) uplink-downlink (UL-DL) configurations, comprising:
at least one processor configured to:
receive an initial uplink-downlink (UL-DL) configuration for TDD communication with an eNodeB;
identify one or more subframes within the initial UL-DL configuration as flexible subframes;
receive an uplink grant comprising an indication that at least one of the one or more flexible subframes of a given frame is to be changed from an uplink subframe to a downlink subframe, wherein the indication comprises an invalid resource block allocation for the at least one of the one or more flexible subframes of the given frame; and
receive downlink communications during one or more of the flexible subframes changed from an uplink subframe to a downlink subframe; and
a memory coupled with the at least one processor.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive the uplink grant via physical layer signaling received at the UE.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the invalid resource block allocation comprises a resource indication value (RIV) that exceeds a maximum value of an RIV for the uplink grant.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the initial UL-DL configuration is received in a system information block (SIB).

20. A wireless communication user equipment (UE) apparatus configured to operate using one of multiple time-division duplex (TDD) uplink-downlink (UL-DL) configurations, comprising:
means for receiving an initial uplink-downlink (UL-DL) configuration for TDD communication with an eNodeB;
means for identifying one or more subframes within the initial UL-DL configuration as flexible subframes;
means for receiving an uplink grant comprising an indication that at least one of the one or more flexible subframes of a given frame is to be changed from an uplink subframe to a downlink subframe, wherein the indication comprises an invalid resource block allocation for the at least one of the one or more flexible subframes of the given frame; and
means for receiving downlink communications during one or more of the flexible subframes changed from an uplink subframe to a downlink subframe.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the means for receiving the uplink grant comprises means for receiving physical layer signaling.

22. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) in time-division duplex (TDD) communication with an eNodeB, comprising:
receiving an initial uplink-downlink (UL-DL) configuration for TDD communication with the eNodeB;
receiving an uplink grant comprising an indication to reconfigure the initial UL-DL configuration to a different UL-DL configuration for a given frame, wherein the indication comprises an invalid resource block allocation for at least one flexible subframe of the initial UL-DL configuration for the given frame; and
communicating with the eNodeB according to the different UL-DL configuration for the given frame.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the invalid resource block allocation comprises a resource indication value (RIV) that exceeds a maximum value of an RIV for the uplink grant.

24. The method of claim 22 , wherein the uplink grant comprises an indication to reconfigure the initial UL-DL configuration for a first flexible subframe of the given frame, and wherein the method further comprises receiving a second uplink grant comprising an indication to reconfigure the initial UL-DL configuration for a second flexible subframe of the given frame.

25. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting whether a downlink grant is present in one or more of the flexible subframes changed from an uplink subframe to a downlink subframe.

26. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
suppressing detection of downlink grants during flexible subframes that are not changed from an uplink subframe to a downlink subframe.

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Wei Chao
• Wang Neng
• Feng Minghai
• Hou Jilei

Classifications

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W72/0446 Primary

  Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames · CPC title

• H04L5/14

  Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex · CPC title

• H04L5/0092

  Indication of how the channel is divided · CPC title

• H04L5/0055

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