PHICH resource provisioning in time division duplex systems
View Patent ↗A method is provided for communication in a wireless telecommunication system. The method comprises provisioning, by a network element, for a carrier aggregation-capable UE, in a control region of a downlink subframe, at least one resource for a PHICH.
1. A method for communication in a wireless telecommunication system, the method comprising:
determining, by a network element, that a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission scheduled on a subframe of a secondary cell (SCell) requires an acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) on a downlink subframe of a primary cell (PCell) associated with the Network element; and
provisioning, by the network element, for a carrier aggregation-capable user equipment (UE), in a control region of the downlink subframe, at least one resource for a physical HARQ (hybrid automatic repeat request) indicator channel (PHICH), wherein the downlink subframe is not configured for a PHICH resource in an uplink/downlink configuration for operations using only the primary cell (PCell) associated with the network element.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PHICH resource provisioning is performed on an as-needed basis such that when there is no cross-carrier scheduled physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) on a secondary cell (SCell) subframe, there is no requirement to provision a PHICH resource at a corresponding subframe of the PCell.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PHICH resource is provisioned for the UE by puncturing onto a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein a network element places PDCCH information in resource elements that are not punctured.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the PHICH resource is punctured onto one control channel element (CCE) that is at a fixed location.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the fixed location is at least one of:
known to carrier aggregation-capable UEs; or
set semi-statically by higher layer signaling.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein a network element avoids using the punctured CCE for the PDCCH.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PHICH resource is provisioned for the UE by encapsulating the PHICH in a special PDCCH that can be located by carrier aggregation-capable UEs via a special Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) that has been assigned to the carrier aggregation-capable UEs.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the special PDCCH is placed in at least one of:
a fixed location known to carrier aggregation-capable UEs; or
a semi-statically signaled location.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the PHICH resource is provisioned in the PDCCH as downlink control information (DCI) payload.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the PHICH resource is provisioned in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) as well as in the PDCCH.
12. A network element in a wireless telecommunication system, the network element comprising:
a processor configured to determine that a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission is scheduled on a subframe of a secondary cell (SCell) requires an acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) on a downlink subframe of a primary cell (PCell) associated with the network element, the processor further configured such that the network element provisions, for a carrier aggregation-capable user equipment (UE), in a control region of the downlink subframe, at least one resource for a physical HARQ (hybrid automatic repeat request) indicator channel (PHICH), wherein the downlink subframe is not configured for a PHICH resource in an uplink/downlink configuration for operations using only the primary cell (PCell) associated with the network element.
13. The network element of claim 12 , wherein the PHICH resource provisioning is performed on an as-needed basis such that when there is no cross-carrier scheduled physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) on a secondary cell (SCell) subframe, there is no requirement to provision a PHICH resource at a corresponding subframe of the PCell.
14. The network element of claim 12 , wherein the PHICH resource is provisioned for the UE by puncturing onto a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).
15. The network element of claim 14 , wherein a network element places PDCCH information in resource elements that are not punctured.
16. The network element of claim 14 , wherein the PHICH resource is punctured onto one control channel element (CCE) that is at a fixed location.
17. The network element of claim 16 , wherein the fixed location is at least one of:
known to carrier aggregation-capable UEs; or
set semi-statically by higher layer signaling.
18. The network element of claim 16 , wherein a network element avoids using the punctured CCE for the PDCCH.
19. The network element of claim 12 , wherein the PHICH resource is provisioned for the UE by encapsulating the PHICH in a special PDCCH that can be located by carrier aggregation-capable UEs via a special Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) that has been assigned to the carrier aggregation-capable UEs.
20. The network element of claim 19 , wherein the special PDCCH is placed in at least one of:
a fixed location known to carrier aggregation-capable UEs; or
a semi-statically signaled location.
21. The network element of claim 19 , wherein the PHICH resource is provisioned in the PDCCH as downlink control information (DCI) payload.
22. The network element of claim 19 , wherein the PHICH resource is provisioned in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) as well as in the PDCCH.