Control Channel Modulation and Demodulation Method, Base Station, and User Equipment

1 . A control channel modulation method, comprising:

determining an effective coding rate at a time when a first modulation manner is used to modulate a control channel, the effective coding rate determined according to a length of control information borne on the control channel and a number of resource elements occupied by the control channel; and

modulating the control channel by using a second modulation manner when the effective coding rate is greater than a first threshold.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising modulating the control channel in the first modulation manner when the effective coding rate is less than or equal to the first threshold.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the control information borne on the control channel comprises control information that is in various formats and is detected by a user equipment;

the control information borne on the control channel comprises control information that is in a normal format and is detected by the user equipment; or

the length of the control information borne on the control channel comprises a maximum value of lengths of control information that is in various formats and is detected by the user equipment.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the control channel comprises a control channel whose aggregation level is a predetermined level.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the resource elements occupied by the control channel are distributed in one resource block pair or at least two adjacent resource block pairs; and

at the time when the second modulation manner is used to modulate the control channel, if it is required to share a demodulation reference signal between the control channel and a shared channel, energy per resource element of a data modulation symbol of the control channel is set to be equal to energy per resource element of a demodulation reference signal port, wherein the energy per resource element of the demodulation reference signal port is equal to energy per resource element of the shared channel.

6 . The method according to any claim 1 , wherein at the time when the second modulation manner is used to modulate the control channel, energy per resource element of a data modulation symbol of the control channel is determined according to:

a ratio of the energy per resource element of the data modulation symbol of the control channel to energy per resource element of a reference signal of the control channel; or

a specific parameter of a user equipment; or

the effective coding rate and the first threshold; or

a specific parameter of the user equipment, the effective coding rate, and the first threshold.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first modulation manner comprises a quadrature phase shift keying modulation manner and the second modulation manner comprises a 16 quadrature amplitude modulation manner.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising setting the first threshold corresponding to a user equipment according to channel quality information reported by the user equipment.

9 . A base station, comprising:

a processor, which is configured to determine an effective coding rate at a time when a first modulation manner is used to modulate a control channel, the effective coding rate determined by the processor according to a length of control information borne on the control channel and a number of resource elements occupied by the control channel; and

a modulator coupled to the processor, wherein the modulator is configured to modulate the control channel by using a second modulation manner when the effective coding rate determined by the processor is greater than a first threshold.

10 . The base station according to claim 9 , wherein the modulator is further configured to modulate the control channel in the first modulation manner when the effective coding rate is less than or equal to the first threshold.

11 . The base station according to claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to, when the resource elements occupied by the control channel are distributed in one resource block pair or at least two adjacent resource block pairs, and the modulator modulates the control channel in the second modulation manner, and if it is required to share a demodulation reference signal between the control channel and a shared channel, set energy per resource element of a data modulation symbol of the control channel to be equal to energy per resource element of a demodulation reference signal port, wherein the energy per resource element of the demodulation reference signal port is equal to energy per resource element of the shared channel.

12 . The base station according to claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to, when the modulator modulates the control channel in the second modulation manner, determine energy per resource element of a data modulation symbol of the control channel according to a ratio of the energy per resource element of the data modulation symbol of the control channel to energy per resource element of a reference signal of the control channel; or determine energy per resource element of a data modulation symbol of the control channel according to a specific parameter of a user equipment; or determine energy per resource element of a data modulation symbol of the control channel according to the effective coding rate and the first threshold; or determine energy per resource element of a data modulation symbol of the control channel according to a specific parameter of the user equipment, the effective coding rate, and the first threshold.

13 . The base station according to claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to set, according to channel quality information reported by a user equipment, the first threshold corresponding to the user equipment.

14 . A user equipment, comprising:

a processor, which is configured to determine an effective coding rate at a time of demodulating a control channel by using a first modulation manner, the effective coding rate determined by the processor according to a length of control information borne on the control channel and a number of resource elements occupied by the control channel; and

a demodulator coupled to the processor, wherein the demodulator is configured to demodulate the control channel by using a second modulation manner when the effective coding rate determined by the processor is greater than a first threshold.

15 . The user equipment according to claim 14 , wherein the demodulator is further configured to demodulate the control channel in the first modulation manner when the effective coding rate is smaller than or equal to the first threshold.

16 . The user equipment according to claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to, when the resource elements occupied by the control channel are distributed in one resource block pair or at least two adjacent resource block pairs, and the demodulator demodulates the control channel in the second modulation manner, and if it is required to share a demodulation reference signal between the control channel and a shared channel, set energy per resource element of a data modulation symbol of the control channel to be equal to energy per resource element of a demodulation reference signal port, wherein the energy per resource element of the demodulation reference signal port is equal to energy per resource element of the shared channel.

17 . The user equipment according to claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to: when the demodulator demodulates the control channel in the second modulation manner, determine energy per resource element of a data modulation symbol of the control channel according to a ratio, sent by a base station, of the energy per resource element of the data modulation symbol of the control channel to energy per resource element of a reference signal of the control channel; or determine energy per resource element of a data modulation symbol of the control channel according to a specific parameter of the user equipment; or determine energy per resource element of a data modulation symbol of the control channel according to the effective coding rate and the first threshold; or determine energy per resource element of a data modulation symbol of the control channel according to a specific parameter of the user equipment, the effective coding rate, and the first threshold.

18 . The user equipment according to claim 14 , further comprising a receiver, configured to: receive the first threshold sent by a base station through a broadcast channel; or receive the first threshold sent by the base station by using radio resource control signaling, wherein the first threshold is set by the base station for the user equipment according to channel quality information reported by the user equipment.