Method and apparatus for performing a hybrid automatic repeat request process for an uplink multi-codeword transmission in a wireless communication system which supports a multi-antenna transmission

1. A method of performing uplink multiple-codeword hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmission, the method comprising:

transmitting, at a user equipment, first and second codewords to a base station;

transmitting information about transmission buffer states of the first and second codewords to the base station;

receiving downlink control information (DCI) including acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) information for each of the first and second codewords from the base station, wherein the ACK/NACK information is obtained by decoding a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) without decoding a Physical HARQ Indication Channel (PHICH); and

retransmitting a codeword corresponding to NACK,

wherein, when receiving the DCI including control information for scheduling a new uplink transmission for the codeword corresponding to ACK, a codeword corresponding to ACK is not transmitted to the base station when the transmission buffer for the codeword corresponding to ACK is empty, and

wherein the transmission buffer of the user equipment is for temporarily storing data to be transmitted for each of the first and second codewords and is different from a HARQ buffer being used by the user equipment for storing data for a retransmission of previously transmitted data.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:

if the information about the transmission buffer states indicates that the transmission buffer is empty, the DCI further includes an indicator indicating that the base station confirms the empty state of the transmission buffer, and

if the UE receives the indicator, the codeword corresponding to ACK is not transmitted to the base station.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the information about the transmission buffer states is multiplexed with uplink data and is transmitted.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the ACK/NACK information is indicated through a predetermined field of the DCI.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the predetermined field is a new data indicator (NDI) field.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving a physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH) of the first and second codewords from the base station,

wherein the DCI is transmitted from the base station after P (0≦P≦α, α being a predetermined natural number) subframes from a subframe in which the PHICH is transmitted.

7. A method of receiving uplink multiple-codeword hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmission, the method comprising:

receiving, at a base station, first and second codewords from a user equipment;

receiving information about transmission buffer states of the first and second codewords from the user equipment;

transmitting downlink control information (DCI) including acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) information for each of the first and second codewords to the user equipment, wherein the ACK/NACK information is provided to the user equipment by using a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) without using a Physical HARQ Indication Channel (PHICH); and

receiving a retransmitted codeword corresponding to NACK,

wherein, when transmitting the DCI including control information for scheduling a new uplink transmission for the codeword corresponding to ACK, a codeword corresponding to ACK is not received by the base station when the transmission buffer for the codeword corresponding to ACK is empty, and

wherein the transmission buffer of the user equipment is for temporarily storing data to be transmitted for each of the first and second codewords and is different from a HARQ buffer being used by the user equipment for storing data for a retransmission of previously transmitted data.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein:

if the information about the transmission buffer states indicates that the transmission buffer is empty, the DCI further includes an indicator indicating that the base station confirms the empty state of the transmission buffer, and

if the UE receives the indicator corresponding to ACK is not transmitted from the user equipment.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the information about the transmission buffer states is multiplexed with uplink data and is transmitted.

10. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the ACK/NACK information is indicated through a predetermined field of the DCI.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the predetermined field is a new data indicator (NDI) field.

12. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising transmitting a physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH) of the first and second codewords to the user equipment,

wherein the DCI is transmitted from the base station after P (0≦P≦α, α being a predetermined natural number) subframes from a subframe in which the PHICH is transmitted.

13. A user equipment for performing uplink multiple-codeword hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmission, the user equipment comprising:

a transmission module configured to transmit an uplink signal to a base station;

a reception module configured to receive a downlink signal from the base station; and

a processor configured to:

control the user equipment including the reception module and the transmission module,

transmit, to the base station, first and second codewords and information about transmission buffer states of the first and second codewords through the transmission module,

receive downlink control information (DCI) including acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) information for each of the first and second codewords through the reception module, wherein the ACK/NACK information is obtained by decoding a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) without decoding a Physical HARQ Indication Channel (PHICH), and

retransmit a codeword corresponding to NACK through the transmission module,

wherein, when receiving the DCI including control information for scheduling a new uplink transmission for the codeword corresponding to ACK, a codeword corresponding to ACK is not transmitted to the base station when the transmission buffer for the codeword corresponding to ACK is empty, and

wherein the transmission buffer of the user equipment is for temporarily storing data to be transmitted for each of the first and second codewords and is different from a HARQ buffer being used by the user equipment for storing data for a retransmission of previously transmitted data.

14. A base station for receiving uplink multiple-codeword hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmission, the base station comprising:

a transmission module configured to transmit a downlink signal to a user equipment;

a reception module configured to receive an uplink signal from the user equipment; and

a processor configured to:

control the base station including the reception module and the transmission module,

receive, through the reception module, first and second codewords and information about transmission buffer states of the first and second codewords,

transmit downlink control information (DCI) including acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) information for each of the first and second codewords through the transmission module, wherein the ACK/NACK information is provided to the user equipment by using a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) without using a Physical HARQ Indication Channel (PHICH), and

receive retransmission of a codeword corresponding to NACK through the reception module,

wherein, when transmitting the DCI including control information for scheduling a new uplink transmission for the codeword corresponding to ACK, a codeword corresponding to ACK is not received by the base station when the transmission buffer for the codeword corresponding to ACK is empty, and

wherein the transmission buffer of the user equipment is for temporarily storing data to be transmitted for each of the first and second codewords and is different from a HARQ buffer being used by the user equipment for storing data for a retransmission of previously transmitted data.