WO2011149307A2

WO2011149307A2 - Apparatus and method for performing or supporting cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system

Info

Publication number: WO2011149307A2
Application number: PCT/KR2011/003908
Authority: WO
Inventors: 박규진; 조한규; 임동국
Original assignee: 엘지전자 주식회사
Priority date: 2010-05-27
Filing date: 2011-05-27
Publication date: 2011-12-01
Also published as: KR20130082447A; WO2011149307A3

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for performing cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system, and to an apparatus and method for supporting cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a base station comprises a receiver and a transmitter. The receiver receives, from a first terminal, a first message containing information on a first terminal identifier, information which enables a direct link connection between the first terminal and one or more candidate terminals capable of cooperative communication in a cell to which the first terminal belongs, and/or information on the mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication. The transmitter transmits, to said one or more candidate terminals, a message for requesting a direct link connection with the first terminal, wherein the message contains the information on the first terminal identifier and/or information on the mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication. Here, the network to which the first terminal and the candidate terminals are linked is different from the network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked.

Description

Apparatus and method for performing or supporting cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system

The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for performing or supporting cooperative communication between terminals.

Machine to Machine (M2M) literally means communication between an electronic device and an electronic device. Broadly, it means wired or wireless communication between electronic devices, or communication between a device controlled by a person and a machine. However, in recent years, a general term refers to wireless communication between an electronic device and an electronic device, that is, between devices.

In the early 1990s, when the concept of M2M communication was first introduced, it was recognized as a concept of remote control or telematics, and the market itself was very limited.However, in the last few years, M2M communication has grown rapidly and attracted attention not only in Korea but also worldwide. Growing into the receiving market. In particular, intelligent metering that measures flow management, remote monitoring of machinery and equipment, operating hours on construction machinery and automatic measurement of heat or electricity usage in point-of-sales and security-related applications. It showed great influence in the field of (Smart Meter). In the future, M2M communication will be used for more various purposes in connection with existing mobile communication and wireless high-speed Internet, or low-power communication solutions such as Wi-Fi and Zigbee, and it will no longer be limited to the B2B market. Will be.

In the M2M communication era, data can be sent and received to and from any machine equipped with a SIM card for remote management and control. For example, M2M communication technology can be used in numerous devices and equipment such as automobiles, trucks, trains, containers, vending machines, gas tanks, and the like.

In the related art, it is common to manage terminals in individual units, and thus, there is a one-to-one communication environment between a base station and a terminal. In this environment, if a large number of M2M terminals are considered, network overload due to signaling occurring between each individual M2M terminals and the base station is expected. As described above, when M2M communication is rapidly spread and widened, overhead due to communication between these M2M terminals or between M2M terminals and a base station may be a problem.

However, it has been discussed in the direction of supporting cooperative communication between terminals, and has not been specifically described about a method of supporting cooperative communication between terminals or a method of performing cooperative communication between terminals.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for performing cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system.

Another technical problem to be achieved in the present invention is to provide a method for supporting cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a terminal for performing cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system.

Another technical problem to be achieved in the present invention is to provide a base station for supporting cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system.

Technical problems to be achieved in the present invention are not limited to the above technical problems, and other technical problems that are not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, a method for performing cooperative communication between terminals as one embodiment according to the present invention includes: identifier information of at least one second terminal linked with the first terminal and the second terminal; Transmitting to the base station a first message requesting the cooperative communication including at least one of information on a mode of performing cooperative communication of the cooperative communication; And receiving, from the base station, a second message including identifier information of at least one third terminal to perform cooperative communication among the second terminals, wherein the network linked between the first and second terminals is selected from the first and second terminals. The terminal and the base station are heterogeneous with the linked network.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for performing cooperative communication between terminals, according to another embodiment of the present invention. And transmitting, to the base station, a first message including at least one of information for enabling direct link connection with the first terminal by one or more candidate terminals capable of cooperative communication in a cell to which the cell belongs. And receiving, from the base station, a second message including identifier information of at least one second terminal to perform cooperative communication among the candidate cooperative terminals, wherein the network linked between the first terminal and the candidate terminal is the The first terminal and the base station are heterogeneous with the linked network.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for supporting inter-terminal cooperative communication according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the identifier information of at least one second terminal linked with the first terminal and the first terminal are the same. Receiving from the first terminal a first message requesting the cooperative communication, including at least one of information on a mode for performing cooperative communication with a second terminal; And grouping a cooperative terminal to perform cooperative communication with the first terminal based on at least one of identifier information of the one or more second terminals and information about a mode of performing the cooperative communication. And a network linked between the second terminal is heterogeneous with a network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for supporting inter-terminal cooperative communication, wherein the identifier information of at least one second terminal linked with a first terminal and the first terminal Receiving from the first terminal a first message requesting the cooperative communication, including at least one of information on a mode for performing cooperative communication with the second terminal; And grouping a cooperative terminal to perform cooperative communication with the first terminal based on at least one of identifier information of the one or more second terminals and information about a mode of performing the cooperative communication. And a network linked between the second terminal is heterogeneous with a network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for supporting cooperative communication between terminals, according to another embodiment of the present invention, including: identifier information of a first terminal and cooperative communication in a cell to which the first terminal belongs. Receiving a first message from the first terminal, the first message including at least one of information for enabling a direct link connection with the first terminal and information on a mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication. Doing; Transmitting, to the at least one candidate terminal, a connection request message of a direct link with the first terminal including at least one of identifier information of the first terminal and information about a mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication; Including, The network linked between the first terminal and the candidate terminal is heterogeneous with the network to which the first terminal and the base station is linked. The method may further include receiving information indicating whether the requested cooperative communication can be performed from the one or more candidate terminals. The method may further include determining at least one cooperative terminal to perform cooperative communication with the first terminal based on the information indicating whether the cooperative communication can be performed. The method may further include transmitting identifier information of the cooperative terminal determined to perform the cooperative communication to the first terminal. The method may further include transmitting a message confirming that the cooperative communication is performed to the cooperative terminal determined to perform the cooperative communication.

In order to achieve the above another technical problem, a first terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention is configured to perform cooperative communication with the second terminal and identifier information of one or more second terminals to which the first terminal is linked. A transmitter for transmitting the first message requesting the cooperative communication to the base station including at least one of information on a mode to perform; And a receiver for receiving a second message from the base station, the second message including identifier information of one or more third terminals to perform cooperative communication among the second terminals, wherein the network linked between the first and second terminals is selected from the first and second terminals. The terminal and the base station are heterogeneous with the linked network.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a first terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention. The first terminal includes information about its identifier, a mode for performing cooperative communication to which the first terminal belongs, and a cell to which the first terminal belongs. A transmitter for transmitting a first message to the base station, the first message including at least one of the information for enabling direct link connection with the first terminal by one or more candidate terminals capable of cooperative communication; And

And a receiver for receiving a second message from the base station, the second message including identifier information of at least one second terminal to perform the cooperative communication among the candidate cooperative terminals, wherein the network linked between the first terminal and the candidate terminal is the first terminal. The terminal and the base station are heterogeneous with the linked network.

In order to achieve the above another technical problem, a base station according to another embodiment of the present invention, identifier information of at least one second terminal linked to the first terminal and the first terminal is a cooperative communication with the second terminal A receiver for receiving the first message requesting the cooperative communication from the first terminal including at least one of information on a mode for performing the operation; And a processor configured to group a cooperative terminal to perform cooperative communication with the first terminal based on at least one of identifier information of the at least one second terminal and information about a mode of performing the cooperative communication. And a network linked between the second terminal is heterogeneous with a network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, the base station according to another embodiment of the present invention, the identifier information of the first terminal, at least one candidate terminal capable of cooperative communication in the cell to which the first terminal belongs to the first A receiver for receiving a first message from the first terminal, the first message including at least one of information enabling a direct link connection with a first terminal and information about a mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication; Transmitter for transmitting a direct link connection request message with the first terminal including at least one of the identifier information of the first terminal and the information on the mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication to the at least one candidate terminal. Including, The network linked between the first terminal and the candidate terminal is heterogeneous with the network to which the first terminal and the base station is linked.

[Favorable effect]

According to the method for performing or supporting cooperative communication between terminals according to the present invention, communication performance, such as throughput enhancement and power consumption, may be significantly improved through cooperative communication between terminals.

Effects obtained in the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned effects, and other effects not mentioned above may be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description. will be.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are included as part of the detailed description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, provide examples of the present invention and together with the description, describe the technical idea of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a base station 105 and a terminal 110 in a wireless communication system 100,

2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process in which a terminal performs initial network entry;

3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process for performing client cooperation (CC) between terminals;

4 is a view showing another example of a process for performing cooperative communication (Client Cooperation, CC) between terminals, and,

5 is a diagram illustrating another example of a process for performing cooperative communication (Client Cooperation, CC) between terminals.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The detailed description, which will be given below with reference to the accompanying drawings, is intended to explain exemplary embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only embodiments in which the present invention may be practiced. The following detailed description includes specific details in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. For example, the following detailed description will be described in detail on the assumption that the mobile communication system is an IEEE 802.16 system, but is applicable to any other mobile communication system except for the specific features of IEEE 802.16.

In some instances, well-known structures and devices may be omitted or shown in block diagram form centering on the core functions of the structures and devices in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the present invention. In addition, the same components will be described with the same reference numerals throughout the present specification.

In addition, in the following description, the terminal refers to a mobile or fixed user terminal device such as a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), an advanced mobile station (AMS), an M2M terminal, an HTC terminal, a notebook computer, a tablet PC, and the like. Assume In addition, it is assumed that the base station collectively refers to any node of the network side that communicates with the terminal such as a Node B, an eNode B, a Base Station, and an Access Point (AP).

In a mobile communication system, a user equipment may receive information from a base station through downlink, and the terminal may also transmit information through uplink. The information transmitted or received by the terminal includes data and various control information, and various physical channels exist according to the type and purpose of the information transmitted or received by the terminal.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a base station 105 and a terminal 110 in a wireless communication system 100.

Although one base station 105 and one terminal 110 are shown to simplify the wireless communication system 100, the wireless communication system 100 may include one or more base stations and / or one or more terminals. .

Referring to FIG. 1, the base station 105 includes a transmit (Tx) data processor 115, a symbol modulator 120, a transmitter 125, a transmit / receive antenna 130, a processor 180, a memory 185, and a receiver ( 190, a symbol demodulator 195, and a receive data processor 197. The terminal 110 transmits (Tx) the data processor 165, the symbol modulator 175, the transmitter 175, the transmit / receive antenna 135, the processor 155, the memory 160, the receiver 140, and the symbol. It may include a demodulator 155 and a receive data processor 150. Although the transmit and receive

antennas

130 and 135 are shown as one in the base station 105 and the terminal 110, respectively, the base station 105 and the terminal 110 are provided with a plurality of transmit and receive antennas. Accordingly, the base station 105 and the terminal 110 according to the present invention support a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system. In addition, the base station 105 according to the present invention may support both a single user-MIMO (SU-MIMO) and a multi-user-MIMO (MU-MIMO) scheme.

On the downlink, the transmit data processor 115 receives the traffic data, formats the received traffic data, codes it, interleaves and modulates (or symbol maps) the coded traffic data, and modulates the symbols ("data"). Symbols "). The symbol modulator 120 receives and processes these data symbols and pilot symbols to provide a stream of symbols.

The symbol modulator 120 multiplexes the data and pilot symbols and sends them to the transmitter 125. In this case, each transmission symbol may be a data symbol, a pilot symbol, or a signal value of zero. In each symbol period, pilot symbols may be sent continuously. The pilot symbols may be frequency division multiplexed (FDM), orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM), time division multiplexed (TDM), or code division multiplexed (CDM) symbols.

Transmitter 125 receives a stream of symbols and converts it into one or more analog signals, and further adjusts (eg, amplifies, filters, and frequency up-converts) these analog signals, A downlink signal suitable for transmission over a wireless channel is generated, and then the transmitting antenna 130 transmits the generated downlink signal to the terminal.

In the configuration of the terminal 110, the receiving antenna 135 receives the downlink signal from the base station and provides the received signal to the receiver 140. Receiver 140 adjusts the received signal (eg, filtering, amplifying, and frequency downconverting), and digitizes the adjusted signal to obtain samples. The symbol demodulator 145 demodulates the received pilot symbols and provides them to the processor 155 for channel estimation.

The symbol demodulator 145 also receives a frequency response estimate for the downlink from the processor 155 and performs data demodulation on the received data symbols to obtain a data symbol estimate (which is an estimate of the transmitted data symbols). Obtain and provide data symbol estimates to a receive (Rx) data processor 150. Receive data processor 150 demodulates (ie, symbol de-maps), deinterleaves, and decodes the data symbol estimates to recover the transmitted traffic data.

The processing by symbol demodulator 145 and receiving data processor 150 is complementary to the processing by symbol modulator 120 and transmitting data processor 115 at base station 105, respectively.

The terminal 110 is on the uplink, and the transmit data processor 165 processes the traffic data to provide data symbols. The symbol modulator 170 may receive and multiplex data symbols, perform modulation, and provide a stream of symbols to the transmitter 175. The transmitter 175 receives and processes a stream of symbols to generate an uplink signal. The transmit antenna 135 transmits the generated uplink signal to the base station 105.

In the base station 105, an uplink signal is received from the terminal 110 through the reception antenna 130, and the receiver 190 processes the received uplink signal to obtain samples. The symbol demodulator 195 then processes these samples to provide received pilot symbols and data symbol estimates for the uplink. The received data processor 197 processes the data symbol estimates to recover the traffic data transmitted from the terminal 110.

The processor 155 of the terminal 110 and the processor 180 of the base station 105 instruct (eg, control, coordinate, manage, etc.) the operation in the terminal 110 and the base station 105, respectively.

Respective processors

155 and 180 may be connected to

memories

160 and 185 that store program codes and data. The

memory

160, 185 is coupled to the

processor

155, 180 to store operating systems, applications, and general files.

The

processors

155 and 180 may also be referred to as controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, microcomputers, or the like. The

processors

155 and 180 may be implemented by hardware or firmware, software, or a combination thereof. When implementing embodiments of the present invention using hardware, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs) configured to perform the present invention. Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) may be provided in the

processors

155 and 180.

Meanwhile, when implementing embodiments of the present invention using firmware or software, the firmware or software may be configured to include a module, a procedure, or a function for performing the functions or operations of the present invention, and to perform the present invention. The firmware or software configured to be may be provided in the

processors

155 and 180 or stored in the

memory

160 and 185 to be driven by the

processors

155 and 180.

The layers of the air interface protocol between the terminal and the base station between the wireless communication system (network) are based on the lower three layers of the open system interconnection (OSI) model, which is well known in the communication system. ), And the third layer L3. The physical layer belongs to the first layer and provides an information transmission service through a physical channel. A Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer belongs to the third layer and provides control radio resources between the UE and the network. The terminal and the base station may exchange RRC messages through the wireless communication network and the RRC layer.

The present invention proposes a terminal-to-terminal grouping scheme for supporting client-to-device cooperative communication (CC) in a wireless communication system. In the present invention, it is assumed that a direct link between terminals performing client cooperation between terminals is a heterogeneous network (for example, WiFi) that is different from a cellular network between the terminal and the base station. In this situation, we propose a terminal grouping scheme for supporting cooperative communication between terminals. In the present specification, an example of a direct link between terminals is described with WiFi, but is not limited thereto.

In a conventional wireless communication system, data is transmitted using only a radio link between a base station and a terminal or a repeater and a terminal. However, recently, cooperative communication methods have emerged for throughput enhancement, terminal power consumption reduction, and cell coverage expansion.

In the present specification, terminals that are subjects of cooperative communication between terminals are referred to as source terminals or source nodes and cooperative terminals or cooperative nodes, respectively. However, it is limited to these names. The source terminal refers to a terminal that is a subject of data transmission and reception with the base station and / or the repeater, and the cooperative terminal refers to a terminal that helps data transmission and reception between the source terminal and the base station and / or the repeater.

In general, the process of cooperative communication between terminals consists of a grouping of the source terminal and the cooperative terminal, data sharing through direct communication between the source terminal and the cooperative terminal, and a data transmitting / receiving step between the base station and the source terminal and the cooperative terminal. This may be different for each cooperative communication mode (or scenario). In addition, one or more source terminals and a cooperative terminal may be respectively configured, and roles of the source terminal and the cooperative terminal may be dynamically changed between the grouped terminals. This will be described later.

First, a grouping method between terminals for cooperative communication between terminals will be described. In particular, the present invention proposes a method for grouping between terminals when direct link communication between terminals for cooperative communication (client cooperation) uses a WiFi or WiFi ad-hoc mode. For this purpose, an efficient and simple terminal grouping can be configured by sharing identifier information (for example, address information on a WiFi network) on a network with a base station of a cellular network for each terminal. Although the present invention is described based on the IEEE 802.16 series wireless communication system, the same can be applied to various wireless mobile communication systems of the same type (for example, the 3GPP LTE series system).

Before performing cooperative communication between terminals, the terminal needs to enter the network and register with the network. Next, the process of entering the network by the terminal will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process in which a terminal performs initial network entry.

Referring to FIG. 2, the terminal transmits initial ranging to the base station (S205). Initial ranging is a process for the UE to obtain an accurate timing offset with the base station and to initially adjust the transmission power. Typically, when the power of the HTC device is turned on, the terminal acquires downlink synchronization using a downlink preamble signal received from the base station. Subsequently, the terminal performs initial ranging to adjust uplink timing offset and transmit power. After selecting the ranging channel, the terminal selects the ranging preamble code from the initial ranging domain, and transmits the selected ranging preamble code to the base station through the selected ranging channel (S205).

Thereafter, the base station may transmit an acknowledgment response message (for example, an AAI-RNG-ACK message) for the initial ranging of the terminal to the terminal (S210). The AAI-RNG-ACK message is a message that provides a response that all ranging preamble codes have been successfully received and detected at all ranging opportunities. The base station may transmit three possible ranging states for initial ranging in the AAI-RNG-ACK message to the terminal. Here, three possible ranging states included in the AAI-RNG-ACK message include a "continue" state, a "success" state, and an "abort" state.

In step S210, the base station may transmit a CDMA Allocation A-MAP IE (CDMA Allocation A-MAP IE) message to inform the UE of information necessary for transmitting the AAI-RNG-REQ message instead of the AAI-RNG-ACK message.

Thereafter, the terminal may transmit a message (eg, an AAI-RNG-REQ message) requesting ranging to the base station through the allocated resource (S215). Then, the base station transmits a message (for example, AAI-RNG-RSP message) confirming that the ranging request message has been received to the terminal (S220). In the case of a system to which HARQ operation is applied, the terminal may transmit a message (for example, an AAI-SBC-REQ message) requesting this to the base station in order to negotiate basic capability (S225). The base station may transmit a message (for example, an AAI-SBC-RSP message) confirming reception of the AAI-SBC-REQ message to the terminal in response to the reception of the AAI-SBC-REQ message (S230).

In addition, the terminal may transmit a message (for example, an AAI-REG-REQ message) for capability negotiation and registration to the network at the time of network entry (S235), and the base station is AAI-REG. In response to receiving the -REQ message, a message (for example, an AAI-REG-RSP message) confirming receipt of the AAI-REG-REQ message may be transmitted to the UE (S240). The terminal completes the entry of the network to which the base station belongs by performing such a series of processes.

All terminals capable of cooperative communication (client cooperation) are WiFi-capable during terminal capability negotiation during initial network entry, handover, or network re-entry from the idle mode to the active mode. Or an identifier (e.g., MAC address or IP address) on that WiFi network with an information area indicating the supportability for WiFi ad hoc mode (for example a bitmap scheme using 1 bit can be used for this). Information area including the ") can be transmitted to the base station. To this end, each terminal sends information indicating the supportability for the WiFi or WiFi ad hoc mode to the base station in the form of an existing AAI-RNG-REQ, AAI-SBC-REQ, or AAI-REG-REQ message type. Can transmit Meanwhile, it may be transmitted through a MAC management message defined as a new type rather than an existing defined message type. This new type of MAC management message is referred to herein as an 'AAI-CC-CNF' message, but is not limited to this reference and may also be called other names.

As such, the base station may configure a table by mapping WiFi MAC addresses or IP addresses of all terminals capable of cooperative communication with a STID (Station ID) of the corresponding terminal in a 1: 1 manner. That is, the base station may distinguish each terminal by mapping the STID allocated to each terminal and the WiFi MAC address or IP address transmitted while each terminal enters an initial network. The base station may use the configured table for terminal grouping for cooperative communication. Meanwhile, a table in which a WiFi MAC address or an IP address is mapped 1: 1 with a STID (Station ID) of a corresponding terminal may be defined in advance. Here, the STID of the terminal is an identifier assigned to the base station for each terminal upon initial network entry. If the WiFi MAC address or IP address is changed later, each terminal may signal the base station and share the changed information with the base station.

3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process for performing client cooperation (CC) between terminals.

Referring to FIG. 3, when it is determined that cooperative communication is necessary, the source terminal may request cooperative communication from the base station (S310). Such a request for client cooperation may be transmitted from the source terminal to the base station in the form of a MAC management message. In the present specification, the corresponding MAC management message for a client cooperation request is referred to as an 'AAI-CC-REQ' message, but is not limited to this title alone. Before the source terminal transmits the AAI-CC-REQ message, the source terminal performs the WiFi MAC address or IP address of the terminals connected to the WiFi ad-hoc link through a neighbor terminal search process in the WiFi or WiFi ad-hoc mode. Can be identified. The source terminal may include the WiFi MAC address or IP address information of the terminals connected to the secured WiFi ad-hoc link in the AAI-CC-REQ message and transmit the same to the base station (S310). In addition, the source terminal may transmit channel state information of the WiFi ad-hoc link of each of the terminals to which the WiFi ad-hoc link is additionally included in the AAI-CC-REQ message to the base station (S310). In addition, the source terminal may transmit information including the information on the objective of the client cooperation request in the AAI-CC-REQ message to the base station (S310). That is, the source terminal instructs the base station of the desired cooperative communication mode (client cooperation) mode among the various cooperative communication modes, so that the base station can know the purpose of the terminal to cooperate. That is, the base station may inform the base station whether to minimize power consumption of the terminal or to improve throughput of the terminal for the purpose of requesting client cooperation of the source terminal. It is also possible to inform the preference of the terminal between simultaneous transmission of the source terminal and the cooperative terminal and transmission by only the cooperative terminal for the purpose of requesting client cooperation of the source terminal. Or, even if the information on the uplink and downlink, or additionally, even if the cooperation of the uplink may also transmit a request of the terminal whether to receive help from the cooperative terminal through the cooperation of the downlink system information.

Based on this, the processor 180 of the base station may group the cooperative terminals to perform cooperative communication with the source terminal (S320). In particular, the processor 180 of the base station may group the terminals in consideration of the cooperative communication purpose (or cooperative communication mode) requested by the source terminal, the link state between the source terminal and the cooperative terminal, and the link state between the base station and the cooperative terminal ( S320). For example, when the cooperative communication request mode requested by the source terminal is a mode for power saving, the base station gives more weight to the distance between the source terminal than the channel state between the cooperative terminal and the base station, and thus the adjacent terminal close to the source terminal. Can be grouped into a cooperative terminal. As another example, if the cooperative communication request mode requested by the source terminal is a mode for enhancing throughput, the processor 180 of the base station considers the channel state between the cooperative terminal and the base station and is adjacent to the source terminal among the terminals having good channel conditions. The terminal may be determined to be a cooperative terminal. As such, elements used by the processor 180 of the base station to determine and group the cooperative terminals may be different according to the cooperative communication mode requested by the source terminal. That is, the processor 180 of the base station may consider the distance between the source terminal and the channel state between the cooperative terminal and the base station in grouping the source terminal and the cooperative terminal.

Thereafter, the base station may transmit the identifier information (for example, WiFi MAC address or IP address) of the grouped cooperative terminals to the source terminal requesting cooperative communication through the AAI-CC-RSP message (S340). Or, the base station may send only the ACK signal for the request to the terminal requesting the cooperation (Sclient cooperation) (S340). Accordingly, the source terminal may obtain information about one or more grouped cooperative terminals that have performed cooperative communication with the source terminal.

Meanwhile, before transmitting the identifier information of the grouped cooperative terminal or the ACK signal for the cooperative communication request (S340), the base station notifies the one or more grouped cooperative terminals to perform cooperative communication (client cooperation) for the source terminal. May transmit the message (S330). The message for notifying the cooperative communication may be referred to as an AAI-CC-IND message, but is not limited thereto. The base station may instruct the cooperative terminal to perform cooperative communication for the source terminal by transmitting identifier information (for example, WiFi MAC address or IP address) of the source terminal through the AAI-CC-IND message (S330). . At this time, the base station may further include information on the cooperative communication mode (client cooperation mode) requested by the source terminal in the AAI-CC-IND message (S330). In other words, the information on the cooperative communication mode is the source terminal relays uplink data to the close cooperative terminal to reduce power to request a mode for the cooperative terminal to transmit the uplink data to the base station, throughput enhancement (throughput enhancement) It may include various information about whether the cooperative terminal and the source terminal requests to perform in the cooperative communication mode for performing cooperative transmission. Of course, the base station can also transmit the information about the cooperative communication mode to the source terminal if necessary.

4 is a diagram illustrating another example of a process for performing client cooperation (CC) between terminals.

As described with reference to FIG. 3, when it is determined that cooperative communication is necessary, the source terminal may request cooperative communication from the base station (S410). This request for client cooperation is made through the ʻAAI-CC-REQ` message, but is not limited to this message alone. The source terminal may transmit the WiFi MAC address or IP address of the terminals connected with the WiFi ad-hoc link to the AAI-CC-REQ message and information on the purpose of the client cooperation request to the base station. (S410). In addition, the source terminal may further include channel state information of the WiFi ad-hoc link of each of the terminals to which the WiFi ad-hoc link is connected in the AAI-CC-REQ message (S410).

When the processor 180 of the base station groups the cooperative terminals to perform cooperative communication with the source terminal, the cooperative communication purpose (or cooperative communication mode) requested by the source terminal, the link state between the source terminal and the cooperative terminal, and the base station The terminal may be grouped in consideration of a link state between the terminal and the cooperative terminal (S420).

Unlike in FIG. 3, before the base station transmits an AAI-CC-IND message to one or more terminals grouped together with the source terminal to perform cooperative communication, whether the base station performs cooperative communication with the source terminal to the cooperative terminal. A message requesting whether or not may be transmitted (S430). In this case, the base station may transmit the identifier information (for example, WiFi address (or IP address), cooperative communication mode, etc.) of the source terminal to one or more grouped cooperative terminals (S430).

Then, the processor of the grouped one or more cooperative terminal may determine whether to perform cooperative communication for each source terminal (S440), and transmit the result thereof in the form of a response message to the base station (S450). . The base station may transmit the identifier information of the cooperative terminal to perform cooperative communication (or allow cooperative communication) to the source terminal through the AAI-CC-RSP message (S460).

3 and 4 may be performed at the request of the source terminal, or may be performed by the base station to initiate cooperative communication by itself for any terminal. In this case, the base station needs to transmit a message instructing the cooperative communication to the source terminal requiring the cooperative communication.

In order to perform the cooperative communication process between terminals described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, a WiFi modem, for discovering a neighboring terminal in a network (for example, WiFi) where a source terminal and a cooperative terminal are always connected between terminals, may be used. Transceiver antenna, RF chain, etc. should be operated. However, this may cause unnecessary power consumption for the terminal. In order to prevent such unnecessary power consumption, terminals may perform WiFi ad-hoc communication only when client cooperation or direct communication between terminals is required. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when a specific source terminal determines that cooperative communication is necessary, the AAI-CC-REQ message may be transmitted to the base station (S510). The source terminal facilitates direct link connection through the AAI-CC-REQ message through its own identifier (WiFi MAC address or IP address) and candidate cooperative terminals capable of cooperative communication in the cell through the discovery of WiFi neighbor terminals with the corresponding source terminal. Information (timing, etc.), and the purpose (ie, cooperative communication mode) of the source terminal may be transmitted (S510).

The base station receiving the AAI-CC-REQ message may transmit a message requesting one or more candidate cooperative terminals to perform a connection to a WiFi direct link for the corresponding source terminal (S520). That is, the base station may transmit a message requesting the candidate cooperative terminals to perform a search for the corresponding source terminal through the WiFi neighbor terminal discovery process (S520). In this case, the base station together with the one or more candidate cooperating terminals together with the identifier information (for example, WiFi MAC address or IP address) of the source terminal requesting the cooperative communication and information on the cooperative communication purpose or the cooperative communication mode requested by the source terminal. Can be transmitted (S520).

Thereafter, each candidate cooperative terminal may perform a search for a WiFi direct link with a source terminal requesting cooperative communication (S530), and report the search result and whether cooperative communication is possible to the base station (S530). There is (S540).

Thereafter, the processor 180 of the base station selects (or determines) the cooperative terminal to perform the cooperative communication based on a search result of the WiFi direct link transmitted by each candidate cooperative terminal and the cooperative communication availability indication information. It may be (S550). In addition, the base station may transmit the identifier information (WiFi MAC address or IP address) of the selected (or determined) cooperative terminal to the source terminal through an AAI-CC-RSP message (S560). In addition, the base station may transmit a confirmation message to perform a client cooperation to the selected cooperation terminal (S570).

The candidate cooperative terminal described above may be any terminal capable of cooperative communication in a cell. The base station may set the cell-specific cooperative communication STID to facilitate message transmission to the candidate cooperative terminal. That is, during the network entry / re-entry process of the terminals, the base station may inform the terminals capable of cooperative communication by setting a cell-specific cooperative communication STID only for terminals capable of cooperative communication through a capability negotiation process.

The cell-specific cooperative communication STID configured as described above is used when a specific source terminal requests cooperative communication, or when a base station requests cooperative communication for a specific terminal, the base station cooperates for the source terminal using the cell-specific cooperative communication STID. Information for multi-casting a message for cooperating terminals capable of performing communication may be transmitted. The base station may transmit a CRC masked control channel (eg, A-MAP-IE) to the cell-specific cooperative communication STID. The base station can directly transmit information for cooperative communication (client cooperation) through the corresponding A-MAP-IE. Alternatively, the base station may transmit resource allocation information of a data channel through which information for cooperative communication is transmitted to a terminal capable of cooperative communication in a cell at the same time.

The base station may set a group-specific cooperative communication group STID (group-specific cooperative communication STID) by grouping terminals capable of cooperative communication (client cooperation) according to a specific condition in order to define a candidate cooperative terminal. That is, during the network entry / re-entry process of the terminals, the base station sets a group-specific cooperative communication STID only for specific terminals among the terminals that are capable of cooperative communication through a capability negotiation process and transmits the same to the terminals belonging to the group. I can tell you.

Also, even after the network entry / reentry of the terminals is performed, the base station may reconfigure the group-specific cooperative communication STID for the specific terminal. For example, when the specific condition of grouping is the location of the terminal, the base station may allocate the group-specific cooperative communication STID according to the location of the terminal in one cell. Since the location may change dynamically because the terminal may be mobile, the base station needs to change the group-specific cooperative communication STID according to the location of the terminal.

If the UE needs to update the group-specific cooperative STID as the UE moves, the base station may reconfigure the MAC-specific message or reconfigure the group-specific cooperative STID through a control channel such as an A-MAP IE. It can be transmitted to the group terminals. In this case, the base station may allocate a group-specific cooperative communication STID only to a terminal supporting a location based service (LBS) to track the location of the terminal.

Alternatively, the base station may assign a group-specific cooperative communication STID by grouping terminals belonging to the same user or the same user group. That is, the base station may assign a group-specific cooperative communication STID to terminals belonging to the same user group (for example, a mobile terminal, a laptop, a tablet PC, etc. belonging to a specific user). When a specific source terminal requests cooperative communication in the group, or when the base station requests cooperative communication for a specific terminal, the base station multicasts a message for the cooperative terminals capable of performing cooperative communication for the source terminal. The group-specific cooperative communication STID may be used to transmit information. That is, the base station directly transmits information for cooperative communication through a control channel (for example, A-MAP IE) CRC masked to the corresponding group-specific cooperative communication STID, or a data channel for transmitting information for cooperative communication. Resource allocation information may be simultaneously transmitted to the group terminal.

As described above, terminals supporting the WiFi ad-hoc mode may transmit their identifier information (WiFi MAC address or IP address) to the base station through a network entry / reentry process. In this case, the terminal may transmit not only its own WiFi MAC address but also the WiFi MAC addresses of terminals connected to the WiFi ad-hoc link to the base station. The terminals to which the corresponding WiFi ad-hoc link is connected may be terminals belonging to the same user. In this case, the terminals may also transmit a channel measurement result with the terminals connected to the WiFi ad-hoc link connection to the base station. For example, if a plurality of terminals belonging to the same user are connected to one base station and direct communication is possible through the WiFi ad-hoc mode between the plurality of terminals, the plurality of terminals each have their own WiFi MAC address. Alternatively, the WiFi MAC address or IP address of the terminals capable of direct communication in the WiFi ad-hoc mode may be transmitted together with the IP address. In addition, the plurality of terminals may transmit the WiFi direct link channel state information for each terminal to the base station.

The WiFi MAC address information of the terminals capable of direct communication through the WiFi ad-hoc mode may be transmitted by all of the terminals, or in the case of terminals belonging to the same user, a specific header (or representative) terminal may be transmitted to the base station. The base station may group terminals capable of connecting to the corresponding WiFi ad-hoc based on the WiFi MAC address information of the terminals capable of direct communication through the WiFi ad-hoc mode. In addition, the base station may allocate a group-specific cooperative communication STID to the grouped terminals and transmit them to the corresponding terminals. However, when a specific source terminal requests the cooperative communication, the source terminal may directly designate the cooperative terminal and request the base station.

Pairing between terminals for cooperative communication may be performed in the above group or may be performed between groups. The base station may set a new pairing STID only for paired terminals for cooperative communication and assign it to the paired terminals. This is a STID of a temporary characteristic shared between terminals paired for actual cooperative communication in a form different from the cell-specific or group-specific cooperative communication STID described above.

The terminal paired for the cooperative communication may be a plurality of terminals, and when the cooperative communication between the paired terminals is performed, the source terminal and the cooperative terminal are not in a fixed form, and the terminal in which data transmission with the base station is actually performed. The source terminal and the cooperative terminal may be dynamically changed according to which of the paired terminals. For example, assume that terminal A and terminal B are paired terminals for cooperative communication. When paired for cooperative communication, when the data transmission and reception is performed between the terminal A and the base station, the terminal A acts as a source terminal and the terminal B operates as a cooperative terminal. As a source terminal, the terminal A can be operated as a cooperative terminal. As such, the base station for the terminals performing the dynamic cooperative communication is performed by the base station through a control channel (eg, assigned A-MAP IE (Assignment AMAP-IE)) for the paired terminal. Information terminal indicating whether the terminal is a source terminal or a cooperative terminal).

The IEEE 802.16m system, which is an example of a wireless communication system, supports multiple connections to one terminal. Therefore, the terminal needs to identify a plurality of connections. The flow ID is a identifier for identifying a connection in the terminal. The base station may configure a flow ID for cooperative communication with a specific flow identifier (flow ID) on the advanced air interface (AAI). The base station may transmit the cooperative flow ID configured as described above to the terminals through system information or transmit only the cooperative communication flow ID (client cooperation dedicated flow ID) to the terminals capable of cooperative communication during the network entry process of the terminal. In this case, the source terminal and the cooperative terminal which perform the cooperative communication may decode a connection for the cooperative communication using the flow ID for the cooperative communication.

The embodiments described above are the components and features of the present invention are combined in a predetermined form. Each component or feature should be considered optional unless stated otherwise. Each component or feature may be embodied in a form that is not combined with other components or features. It is also possible to combine some of the components and / or features to form an embodiment of the invention. The order of the operations described in the embodiments of the present invention may be changed. Some components or features of one embodiment may be included in another embodiment or may be replaced with corresponding components or features of another embodiment. It is obvious that the claims may be combined to form an embodiment by combining claims that do not have an explicit citation relationship in the claims or as new claims by post-application correction.

It is apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit and essential features of the present invention. Accordingly, the above detailed description should not be construed as limiting in all aspects and should be considered as illustrative. The scope of the invention should be determined by reasonable interpretation of the appended claims, and all changes within the equivalent scope of the invention are included in the scope of the invention.

Apparatus and method for performing cooperative communication between terminals and apparatus and method for supporting cooperative communication between terminals may be applied industrially in various communication systems such as IEEE 802.16, 3GPP LTE, LTE-A system.

Claims

In a method for performing cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system,

The first terminal transmits the first message requesting the cooperative communication to the base station, including at least one of identifier information of one or more second terminals linked to the first terminal and information about a mode for performing cooperative communication with the second terminal. Making; And

Receiving from the base station a second message including identifier information of at least one third terminal to perform cooperative communication among the second terminals,

The network linked between the first and the second terminal is heterogeneous to the network to which the first terminal and the base station is linked, the cooperative communication between terminals.
The method of claim 1,

And the second terminal is a neighboring terminal found by the first terminal performing a search on itself and a direct link.
The method of claim 1,

The identifier information of the second terminal is a WiFi MAC address or IP address type, the method of performing cooperative communication between terminals.
In a method for performing cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system,

Information on a mode for performing cooperative communication to which the first terminal belongs, and information for enabling one or more candidate terminals capable of cooperative communication in the cell to which the first terminal enables direct link connection with the first terminal; Transmitting a first message to the base station, the first message comprising at least one of the following; And

Receiving from the base station a second message including identifier information of at least one second terminal to perform cooperative communication among the candidate cooperative terminals,

And a network linked between the first terminal and the candidate terminal is heterogeneous to a network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked.
In a method for supporting cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system,

A first message requesting the cooperative communication request including at least one of identifier information of at least one second terminal linked with a first terminal and information about a mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication with the second terminal; Receiving from the first terminal; And

Grouping a cooperative terminal to perform cooperative communication with the first terminal based on at least one of identifier information of the at least one second terminal and information about a mode of performing the cooperative communication,

The network linked between the first and the second terminal is heterogeneous to the network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked, cooperative communication support method between terminals.
The method of claim 5,

And transmitting the identifier information of the grouped cooperative terminals to the first terminal.
The method of claim 5,

And transmitting a message requesting whether the cooperative communication is performed to the grouped cooperative terminals, including at least one of identifier information of the first terminal and information on a mode for performing the cooperative communication. How to support cooperative communication.
The method of claim 7, wherein

And receiving a response message indicating whether to perform the requested cooperative communication from the grouped cooperative terminal.
The method of claim 8,

And transmitting, to the first terminal, identifier information about the cooperative terminal that has sent an acknowledgment message regarding whether to perform the requested cooperative communication.
In a method for supporting cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system,

A first message requesting the cooperative communication request including at least one of identifier information of at least one second terminal linked with a first terminal and information about a mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication with the second terminal; Receiving from the first terminal; And

Grouping a cooperative terminal to perform cooperative communication with the first terminal based on at least one of identifier information of the at least one second terminal and information about a mode of performing the cooperative communication,

The network linked between the first and the second terminal is heterogeneous to the network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked, cooperative communication support method between terminals.
In a method for supporting cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system,

Identifier information of the first terminal, information that enables one or more candidate terminals capable of cooperative communication in a cell to which the first terminal belongs, enables direct link connection with the first terminal, and a mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication Receiving a first message from the first terminal, the first message including at least one of information about;

Transmitting, to the at least one candidate terminal, a connection request message of a direct link with the first terminal including at least one of identifier information of the first terminal and information about a mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication; Including,

The network linked between the first terminal and the candidate terminal is heterogeneous to the network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked.
The method of claim 11,

And receiving information indicating whether the requested cooperative communication can be performed from the one or more candidate terminals.
The method of claim 12,

And determining one or more cooperative terminals to perform cooperative communication with the first terminal based on the information indicating whether the cooperative communication can be performed.
The method of claim 13,

And transmitting the identifier information of the cooperative terminal determined to perform the cooperative communication to the first terminal.
The method of claim 13,

And transmitting a message confirming that the cooperative communication is performed to the cooperative terminal determined to perform the cooperative communication.
In a first terminal for performing cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system,

The first terminal transmits the first message requesting the cooperative communication to the base station, including at least one of identifier information of one or more second terminals linked to the first terminal and information about a mode for performing cooperative communication with the second terminal. A transmitter; And

And a receiver for receiving a second message including identifier information of at least one third terminal to perform cooperative communication among the second terminals from the base station,

The network linked between the first and second terminals is heterogeneous to the network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked.
In a first terminal for performing cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system,

Information on a mode for performing cooperative communication to which the first terminal belongs, and information for enabling one or more candidate terminals capable of cooperative communication in the cell to which the first terminal enables direct link connection with the first terminal; A transmitter for transmitting a first message including at least one of the following to a base station; And

A receiver for receiving a second message from the base station, the second message including identifier information of at least one second terminal to perform cooperative communication among the candidate cooperative terminals,

The network linked between the first terminal and the candidate terminal is heterogeneous to the network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked.
A base station for supporting cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system,

A first message requesting the cooperative communication request including at least one of identifier information of at least one second terminal linked with a first terminal and information about a mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication with the second terminal; A receiver receiving from the first terminal; And

And a processor configured to group a cooperative terminal to perform cooperative communication with the first terminal based on at least one of identifier information of the at least one second terminal and information about a mode for performing cooperative communication.

The network linked between the first and second terminals is heterogeneous to the network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked.
A base station for supporting cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system,

A first message requesting the cooperative communication request including at least one of identifier information of at least one second terminal linked with a first terminal and information about a mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication with the second terminal; A receiver receiving from the first terminal; And

And a processor configured to group a cooperative terminal to perform cooperative communication with the first terminal based on at least one of identifier information of the at least one second terminal and information about a mode for performing cooperative communication.

The network linked between the first and second terminals is heterogeneous to the network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked.
A base station for supporting cooperative communication between terminals in a wireless communication system,

Identifier information of the first terminal, information that enables one or more candidate terminals capable of cooperative communication in a cell to which the first terminal belongs, enables direct link connection with the first terminal, and a mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication A receiver for receiving a first message from the first terminal, the first message comprising at least one of information about;

Transmitter for transmitting a direct link connection request message with the first terminal including at least one of the identifier information of the first terminal and the information on the mode in which the first terminal performs cooperative communication to the at least one candidate terminal. Including,

The network linked between the first terminal and the candidate terminal is heterogeneous to the network to which the first terminal and the base station are linked.