System and method for signaling control information in a mobile communication network

1. A method of decoding encoded information communicated over a radio channel, comprising:

receiving a vector of encoded information transmitted by a wireless terminal, wherein the encoded information comprises an encoded representation of unencoded information bits that have been encoded by a second order Reed-Muller code;

determining a plurality of hypothesized sequences corresponding to a first group of the unencoded information bits, wherein each hypothesized sequence includes an estimate for each of the first group of unencoded information bits;

for each hypothesized sequence, multiplying the received vector by a covering vector associated with the respective hypothesized sequence to obtain a modified received vector;

for each modified received vector, generating a vector of transform values by performing a Hadamard Transform on the modified received vector, wherein each of the transform values is associated with one or more estimates of a second group of the unencoded information bits;

identifying a subset of the transform values based on scheduling information associated with the wireless terminal;

selecting, from the identified subset of transform values, one of the transform values based on a magnitude of the selected transform value; and

determining an estimate of the unencoded information bits, wherein the estimate comprises:

an estimate of the first group of unencoded information bits based on the hypothesized sequence associated with the modified vector used to generate the selected transform value; and

an estimate of the second group of unencoded information bits associated with the selected transform value.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining an estimate of the unencoded information bits transmitted by the wireless terminal comprises selecting one of two estimates of the second group of unencoded information bits that is associated with the selected transform value based on a sign of the selected transform value.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the scheduling information comprises information indicating which of a plurality of carriers the wireless terminal is scheduled to use; and

identifying the subset of the transform values based on the scheduling information comprises eliminating transform values from the subset based on the carriers the wireless terminal is scheduled to use.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the scheduling information comprises information indicating whether the wireless terminal is permitted to transmit a scheduling request during a subframe; and

identifying the subset of the transform values based on the scheduling information comprises eliminating transform values from the subset based on whether the wireless terminal is permitted to transmit a scheduling request during this subframe.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the vector of encoded information transmitted by the wireless terminal comprises:

transmitting a plurality of downlink control messages to the wireless terminal, each downlink control message indicating a carrier on which the wireless terminal is scheduled; and

receiving, from the wireless terminal, a vector of encoded information that indicates the carriers for which the wireless terminal successfully received a downlink control message.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unencoded information bits comprise seven or more bits.

7. A network node for decoding encoded information communicated over a radio channel, comprising

a receiver operable to receive a vector of encoded information transmitted by a wireless terminal, wherein the encoded information comprises an encoded representation of unencoded information bits that have been encoded by a second order Reed-Muller code; and

a processor operable to:

determine a plurality of hypothesized sequences corresponding to a first group of the unencoded information bits, wherein each hypothesized sequence includes an estimate for each of the first group of unencoded information bits;

for each hypothesized sequence, multiply the received vector by a covering vector associated with the respective hypothesized sequence to obtain a modified received vector;

for each modified received vector, generate a vector of transform values by performing a Hadamard Transform on the modified received vector, wherein each of the transform values is associated with one or more estimates of a second group of the unencoded information bits;

identify a subset of the transform values based on scheduling information associated with the wireless terminal;

select, from the identified subset of transform values, one of the transform values based on a magnitude of the selected transform value; and

determine an estimate of the unencoded information bits, wherein the estimate comprises:

an estimate of the first group of unencoded information bits based on the hypothesized sequence associated with the modified vector used to generate the selected transform value; and

an estimate of the second group of unencoded information bits associated with the selected transform value.

8. The node of claim 7 , wherein the processor is operable to determine an estimate of the unencoded information bits transmitted by the wireless terminal by selecting one of two estimates of the second group of unencoded information bits that is associated with the selected transform value based on a sign of the selected transform value.

9. The node of claim 7 , wherein:

the scheduling information comprises information indicating which of a plurality of carriers the wireless terminal is scheduled to use; and

the processor is operable to identify the subset of the transform values based on the scheduling information by eliminating transform values from the subset based on the carriers the wireless terminal is scheduled to use.

10. The node of claim 7 , wherein:

the scheduling information comprises information indicating whether the wireless terminal is permitted to transmit a scheduling request during a subframe; and

the processor is operable to identify the subset of the transform values based on the scheduling information by eliminating transform values from the subset based on whether the wireless terminal is permitted to transmit a scheduling request during this subframe.

11. The node of claim 7 , further comprising a transmitter operable to transmit a plurality of downlink control messages to the wireless terminal, each downlink control message indicating a carrier on which the wireless terminal is scheduled; and wherein the receiver is operable to receive the vector of encoded information transmitted by the wireless terminal by receiving, from the wireless terminal, a vector of encoded information that indicates the carriers for which the wireless terminal successfully received a downlink control message.

12. The node of claim 7 , wherein the unencoded information bits comprise seven or more bits.