Enhanced physical uplink control channel format resource allocation for time division duplex mode

1. A method, comprising:

when in a time division duplex mode of operation with a user equipment, allocating, by a network access node, physical uplink control channel resources comprising:

reserving physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources with at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle,

where a number of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources are allocated to the user equipment per each of the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle,

where the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle comprises a set of at least one time division duplex subframe and at least one component carrier that are configured to form a subset of acknowledge/negative feedback to be sent by the user equipment in an uplink as a response to received data in a downlink, and

where a downlink assignment index value is indicated within each of the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle; and

sending, by the network access node, an indication of the allocated number of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources reserved with the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle to the user equipment,

where one of the physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources is selected to send the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle based on a value of a downlink assignment index of a last received physical downlink control channel within an acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle.

2. The method of claim 1 , where the physical uplink control channel resources are format 1a/1b resources that are reserved with each of the at least one acknowledge/negative bundle and are at least one of pre-defined and configured.

3. The method as in claim 1 , where the subset of acknowledge/negative feedback is to be sent by the user equipment in the uplink as a response to physical downlink shared channel data received in a downlink.

4. The method of claim 3 , where constellation point selection is based on a value of a bundled acknowledge/negative acknowledge bit and a value of the downlink assignment index of the last received physical downlink control channel within an acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle.

5. The method as in claim 1 , where the number of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources is predefined based on an amount of different acknowledge/negative acknowledge schemes of the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle.

6. The method as in claim 1 , where for at least one of acknowledge/negative acknowledge time domain bundling and component carrier domain bundling with channel selection, at least one physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resource is allocated with the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle such that a total number of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources allocated to the user equipment depends on a number of configured acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundles of the user equipment, and where channel selection is performed amongst a plurality of allocated physical uplink control channel resources and is used to convey acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle results.

7. The method of claim 1 , where a position of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources allocated to a given user equipment is determined in accordance with:

f (UE para ,RA index ), where

UE para is a UE-specific parameter, and

RA index =1, . . . , M, where M is a total number of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources allocated to the given UE 10 , and M corresponds to a number of acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundles.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that contains software program instructions, where execution of the software program instructions by at least one data processor resulting in performance of operations that comprise execution of the method of claim 1 .

9. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor, and

a memory including computer program code, where the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

when in a time division duplex mode of operation with a user equipment, allocate, by a network access node, physical uplink control channel resources comprising reserving physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources with at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle,

where a number of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources are allocated to the user equipment per each of the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle,

where the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle comprises a set of at least one time division duplex subframe and at least one component carrier that are configured to form a subset of acknowledge/negative acknowledge feedback to be sent by the user equipment in an uplink as a response to received data in a downlink,

where a downlink assignment index value is indicated within the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle; and

send, by the network access node, an indication of the allocated number of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources reserved with the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle to the user equipment,

where one of the physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources is selected to send the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle based on a value of a downlink assignment index of a last received physical downlink control channel within an acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , where the physical uplink control channel resources are format 1a/1b resources that are reserved with each of the at least one acknowledge/negative bundle and are at least one of pre-defined and configured.

11. The apparatus as in claim 9 , where the subset of acknowledge/negative feedback is to be sent by the user equipment in the uplink as a response to physical downlink shared channel data received in a downlink.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , where constellation point selection is based on a value of a bundled acknowledge/negative acknowledge bit of the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle and a value of the downlink assignment index of a last received physical downlink control channel within an acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle.

13. The apparatus as in claim 9 , the number of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources is predefined based on an amount of different acknowledge/negative acknowledge schemes of the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle.

14. The apparatus as in claim 9 , where for at least one of acknowledge/negative acknowledge time domain bundling and component carrier domain bundling with channel selection, one physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resource is allocated with the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle such that a total number of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources allocated to the user equipment depends on a number of configured acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundles of the user equipment, and where channel selection is performed amongst a plurality of allocated physical uplink control channel resources and is used to convey bundled acknowledge/negative acknowledge results.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 , where a position of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources allocated to a given user equipment is determined in accordance with:

f (UE para ,RA index ), where

UE para is a UE-specific parameter, and

RA index =1, . . . , M, where M is a total number of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources allocated to the given UE, and M corresponds to a number of acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundles.

16. A method comprising:

obtaining at a user equipment at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle comprising an allocation of a set of at least one time division duplex subframe and at least one component carrier configured to identify a single physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resource allocated to the user equipment from physical uplink control channel resources reserved with the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle,

where a downlink assignment index value is indicated within the acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle, and

performing acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundling across spatial codewords, where one bundled acknowledge/negative acknowledge bit per received component carrier/subframe is generated; and

selecting a constellation point for transmission on the uplink based on a value of a bundled acknowledge/negative acknowledge bit and a value of a downlink assignment index of a last received physical downlink control channel within an acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle, where a set of at least one time division duplex subframe and at least one component carrier is configured to form a subset of acknowledge/negative acknowledge feedback to be sent by the user equipment in an uplink as a response to received data in a downlink.

17. A method comprising:

obtaining at a user equipment at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle comprising an allocation of a set of at least one time division duplex subframe and at least one component carrier configured to identify a single physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resource allocated to the user equipment from physical uplink control channel resources reserved with the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle,

where a downlink assignment index value is indicated within each of the at least one acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle, and

selecting one of the plurality of physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources to send a bundled acknowledge/negative acknowledge result based on a value of a downlink assignment index of a last received physical downlink control channel within an acknowledge/negative acknowledge bundle, where a set of at least one time division duplex subframe and at least one component carrier is configured to form a subset of acknowledge/negative acknowledge feedback to be sent by the user equipment in an uplink.

18. The method of claim 17 , where the selecting to send the bundled acknowledge/negative acknowledge result is based on the downlink assignment index value of the last received physical downlink control channel and a total number of the physical uplink control channel format 1a/1b resources allocated to the user equipment.

19. The method of claim 17 , where the set of at least one time division duplex subframe and at least one component carrier that is configured to form a subset of acknowledge/negative acknowledge feedback to be sent by the user equipment in an uplink as a response to received data in the downlink.

20. The method as in claim 1 , where the downlink assignment index value is a downlink assignment index counter value.