Method and system for uplink HARQ and CSI multiplexing for carrier aggregation

1. A method of operating a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communications network, the method comprising:

inputting directly to a first encoder a first set of information bits that comprise hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement bits;

inputting directly to a second encoder a second set of information bits that comprise channel state indicator (CSI) bits, the channel state indicator bits providing information on a state of a communication channel of the communications network;

separately and independently encoding and rate matching the directly input first set of information bits and the directly input second set of information bits, the rate matching of the first set of information bits produces a first number of bits, and the rate matching of the second set of information bits produces a second number of bits, wherein the first and the second number of bits total a constant selected as a function of a modulation scheme;

combining the encoded and rate matched first set of information bits and the second sets of information bits for transmission in the subframe by interleaving each of the separately encoded and rate matched first and second sets of information bits to respective specific locations within an entirety of the subframe, thereby creating a bit stream;

modulating the bit stream based on the modulation scheme; and

transmitting the bit stream on a control channel;

wherein the first number of bits is a parameter configured by higher layer signaling.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoding comprises using a Reed-Muller encoder.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmission is done on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mapping comprises interleaving the first set of information bits with the second set of information bits.

5. A user equipment comprising:

a processor; and

a communications subsystem,

wherein the processor and communications subsystem are configured to:

input directly to a first encoder a first set of information bits that comprise hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement bits;

input directly to a second encoder a second set of information bits that comprise channel state indicator (CSI) bits, the channel state indicator bits providing information on a state of a communication channel of the communications network;

separately and independently encode and rate match the directly input first set of information bits and the directly input second set of information bits, the rate matching of the first set of information bits producing a first number of bits, and the rate matching of the second set of information bits producing a second number of bits, wherein the first and the second number of bits total a constant selected as a function of a modulation scheme;

and combine the encoded and rate matched first set of information bits and the second sets of information bits for transmission in the subframe by interleaving each of the separately encoded and rate matched first and second sets of information bits to respective specific locations within an entirety of the subframe, thereby creating a bit stream;

modulate the bit stream based on the modulation scheme; and

transmit the bit stream on a control channel;

wherein the first number of bits is a parameter configured by higher layer signaling.

6. The user equipment of claim 5 , wherein the processor and communications subsystem are configured to encode by using a Reed-Muller encoder.

7. The user equipment of claim 5 , wherein the transmission is done on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

8. The user equipment of claim 5 , wherein the processor and communications subsystem are configured to map by interleaving the first set of information bits with the second set of information bits.

9. A method of operating a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communications network, the method comprising:

inputting directly to a first encoder a first set of information bits that comprise hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement bits;

inputting directly to a second encoder a second set of information bits that comprise channel state indicator (CSI) bits, the channel state indicator bits providing information on a state of a communication channel of the communications network;

separately and independently encoding and rate matching the directly input first set of information bits and the directly input second set of information bits, the rate matching of the first set of information bits producing a first number of bits;

combining the encoded and rate matched first set of information bits and the second sets of information bits for transmission in the subframe by mapping each of the separately encoded and rate matched first and second sets of information bits to respective specific locations within an entirety of the subframe, thereby creating a bit stream;

selecting a modulation scheme based on a number of bits in the first set of information bits;

modulating the bit stream using the selected modulation scheme; and

transmitting the modulated bit stream on a control channel,

wherein the first number of bits is a parameter configured by higher layer signaling.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein, if the number of component carriers configured is less than a threshold, the modulation uses a higher order modulation technique than a default modulation technique.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the higher order modulation technique is 16-Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, and

if the number of component carriers configured is less than the threshold, the encoding uses no puncturing; and

if the number of component carriers configured is higher than the threshold, the modulation using Quadrature Phase Shift Keying and puncturing.

12. A user equipment comprising:

a processor; and

a communications subsystem,

wherein the processor and communications subsystem are configured to:

input directly to a first encoder a first set of information bits that comprise hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement bits;

input directly to a second encoder a second set of information bits that comprise channel state indicator (CSI) bits, the channel state indicator bits providing information on a state of a communication channel of the communications network;

separately and independently encode and rate match the directly input first set of information bits and the directly input second set of information bits, the rate matching of the first set of information bits producing a first number of bits;

combine the encoded and rate matched first set of information bits and the second sets of information bits for transmission in the subframe by mapping each of the separately encoded and rate matched first and second sets of information bits to respective specific locations within an entirety of the subframe, thereby creating a bit stream;

select a modulation scheme based on a number of bits in the first set of information bits;

modulate the bit stream using the selected modulation scheme; and

transmit the modulated bit stream on a control channel,

wherein the first number of bits is a parameter configured by higher layer signaling.

13. The user equipment of claim 12 , wherein, if the number of component carriers configured is less than a threshold, the processor and communications subsystem are configured to modulate using a higher order modulation technique than a default modulation technique.

14. The user equipment of claim 13 , wherein the higher order modulation technique is 16-Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, and

if the number of component carriers configured is less than the threshold, the processor and communications subsystem are configured to encode using no puncturing; and

if the number of component carriers configured is higher than the threshold, the processor and communications subsystem are configured to modulate using Quadrature Phase Shift Keying and puncturing.

15. The user equipment of claim 14 , wherein the puncturing provides more non-punctured bits for the HARQ acknowledgement bits.

16. A method of operating a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communications network, the method comprising:

inputting directly to a first encoder a first set of information bits that comprise hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement bits;

inputting directly to a second encoder a second set of information bits that comprise channel state indicator (CSI) bits, the channel state indicator bits providing information on a state of a communication channel of the communications network;

separately and independently encoding the directly input first set of information bits and the directly input second set of information bits;

rate matching the encoded first set of information bits using a first puncturing pattern to produce a first number of bits;

rate matching the encoded second set of information bits using a second puncturing pattern;

combining the encoded and rate matched first set of information bits and the second sets of information bits for transmission in the subframe by mapping each of the separately encoded and rate matched first and second sets of information bits to respective specific locations within an entirety of the subframe, thereby creating a bit stream; and

modulating and transmitting the bit stream on a control channel;

wherein a number of punctured bits within the first puncturing pattern and a number of punctured bits within the second puncturing pattern, and a modulation scheme used in the modulating depend on a number of configured component carriers, and

wherein the first number of bits is a parameter configured by higher layer signaling.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the encoding uses a Reed-Muller encoder.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first set of information bits comprise hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement bits and the second set of information bits comprise channel state indicator bits.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the transmission is done on a physical uplink control channel.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the second puncturing pattern has more punctured bits than the first puncturing pattern.

21. A user equipment comprising:

a processor; and

a communications subsystem,

wherein the processor and communications subsystem are configured to:

input directly to a first encoder a first set of information bits that comprise hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement bits;

input directly to a second encoder a second set of information bits that comprise channel state indicator (CSI) bits, the channel state indicator bits providing information on a state of a communication channel of the communications network;

separately and independently encode the directly input first set of information bits and the directly input second set of information bits;

rate match the encoded first set of information bits using a first puncturing pattern to produce a first number of bits;

rate match the encoded second set of information bits using a second puncturing pattern;

combine the encoded and rate matched first set of information bits and the second sets of information bits for transmission in the subframe by mapping each of the separately encoded and rate matched first and second sets of information bits to respective specific locations within an entirety of the subframe, thereby creating a bit stream; and

modulate and transmit the bit stream on a control channel;

wherein a number of punctured bits within the first puncturing pattern and a number of punctured bits within the second puncturing pattern, and a modulation scheme used in the modulating depend on a number of configured component carriers, and

wherein the first number of bits is a parameter configured by higher layer signaling.

22. The user equipment of claim 21 , wherein the processor and communications subsystem are configured to encode using a Reed-Muller encoder.

23. The user equipment of claim 21 , wherein the first set of information bits comprise hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement bits and the second set of information bits comprise channel state indicator bits.

24. The user equipment of claim 21 , wherein the transmission is done on a physical uplink control channel.

25. The user equipment of claim 21 , wherein the second puncturing pattern has more punctured bits than the first puncturing pattern.