Channel quality signaling for persistent/semi-persistent radio resource allocations

1. A computer-program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium bearing computer program code embodied therein for use with a computer, the computer program code comprising:

code for receiving at a receiver a persistent or a semi-persistent uplink resource allocation that also comprises an indication to send channel quality reports;

code for determining by a processor a format for a channel quality report; and

code for sending from a transmitter user data and a channel quality report according to the determined format in at least first transmissions of user data for instances of the persistently or semi-persistently allocated uplink resource.

2. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein, for the case that a negative acknowledgement is received in reply to one of the sent user data with channel quality report, the computer program code further comprises:

code for responding to the negative acknowledgement by re-sending in a next instance of the persistently or semi-persistently allocated uplink resource the negatively acknowledged user data with either the negatively acknowledged channel quality report or a new channel quality report.

3. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein, for the case that a negative acknowledgement is received in reply to one of the sent user data with the channel quality report, the computer program code further comprises:

code for responding to the negative acknowledgement by re-sending in a next instance of the persistently or semi-persistently allocated uplink resource the negatively acknowledged user data without any channel quality report.

4. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein, for the case that a negative acknowledgement is received in reply to one of the sent user data with the channel quality report, the computer program code further comprises:

code for responding to the negative acknowledgement by re-sending on a dynamically scheduled uplink resource the negatively acknowledged user data with either the negatively acknowledged channel quality report or a new channel quality report.

5. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein, for the case that a negative acknowledgement is received in reply to one of the sent user data with the channel quality report, the computer program code further comprises:

code for responding to the negative acknowledgement by re-sending on a dynamically scheduled uplink resource the negatively acknowledged user data without any channel quality report.

6. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the indication to send channel quality reports comprises a single bit.

7. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the format for the channel quality report is determined by mapping from a transmission mode to one of several channel quality report formats, wherein a user equipment that is executing the method is configured to receive a downlink shared channel according to the transmission mode used for the mapping.

8. A computer-program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium bearing computer program code embodied therein for use with a computer, the computer program code comprising:

code for sending from a transmitter to a user equipment a persistent or a semi-persistent uplink resource allocation that also comprises an indication to send channel quality reports; and

code for receiving at a receiver from the user equipment user data and a channel quality report in at least first transmissions of user data for instances of the persistently or semi-persistently allocated uplink resource.

9. The computer program product according to claim 8 , wherein the computer program code further comprises:

code for sending from the transmitter a negative acknowledgement for one of the instances of the persistently or semi-persistently allocated uplink resource for which the user data and/or the channel quality report was not properly received; and

in response to sending the negative acknowledgement, code for receiving at the receiver from the user equipment in a next instance of the persistently or semi-persistently allocated uplink resource one of:

the negatively acknowledged user data with the negatively acknowledged channel quality report; or

the negatively acknowledged user data with a new channel quality report; or

the negatively acknowledged user data without any channel quality report.

10. The computer program product according to claim 8 , wherein the computer program code further comprises:

code for sending from the transmitter a negative acknowledgement for one of the instances of the persistently or semi-persistently allocated uplink resource for which the user data and/or the channel quality report was not properly received;

code for sending from the transmitter to the user equipment a dynamically scheduled uplink resource allocation; and

code for receiving at the receiver from the user equipment on the dynamically scheduled uplink resource one of:

the negatively acknowledged user data with the negatively acknowledged channel quality report; or

the negatively acknowledged user data with a new channel quality report; or

the negatively acknowledged user data without any channel quality report.

11. The computer program product according to claim 8 , wherein the computer program code further comprises:

code for configuring the user equipment to receive a downlink shared channel according to one of a plurality of transmission modes; and

code for mapping from the configured transmission mode to one of a plurality of channel quality report formats, wherein the received channel quality report is according to the mapped one channel quality report format.

12. An apparatus comprising:

a memory embodying a computer program; and

at least one processor;

wherein the memory with the computer program is configured with the at least one processor to cause the apparatus at least to:

receive a persistent or a semi-persistent uplink resource allocation that also comprises an indication to send channel quality reports;

determine a format for a channel quality report; and

send, in at least first transmissions of user data for instances of the persistently or semi-persistently allocated uplink resource, user data and a channel quality report according to the determined format,

wherein the indication to send channel quality reports comprises a single bit.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a memory embodying a computer program; and

at least one processor;

wherein the memory with the computer program is configured with the at least one processor to cause the apparatus at least to:

receive a persistent or a semi-persistent uplink resource allocation that also comprises an indication to send channel quality reports;

determine a format for a channel quality report; and

send, in at least first transmissions of user data for instances of the persistently or semi-persistently allocated uplink resource, user data and a channel quality report according to the determined format,

wherein the format for the channel quality report is determined by mapping from a transmission mode to one of several channel quality report formats, wherein a user equipment is configured to receive a downlink shared channel according to the transmission mode used for the mapping.