BRPI0714676A2 - variable control channel for a wireless communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

VARIABLE CONTROL CHANNEL FOR A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM. Techniques for sending control information on a variable control channel are described. Different structures for mapping control information to control channel resources may be used depending on various factors such as operating configuration, resources available for the control channel, types of control information being sent, amount of control information being sent for each type, whether or not data is being sent, etc. In a drawing, at least one type of control information being sent may be determined and may comprise CQI information, ACK information, and / or other types of control information. A control channel structure can be determined based on the operating configuration (eg, system configuration such as downlink and uplink allocation asymmetry) and / or other factors. The at least one type of control information can be mapped resources to the control channel based on the structure.

Description

"VARIABLE CONTROL CHANNEL FOR A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM" BACKGROUND

Field

The present description generally relates to communication, and more specifically to techniques for sending control information in a wireless communication system.

Fundamentals

Wireless communication systems are widely developed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless systems can be multiple access systems capable of supporting multiple users by sharing available network resources. Examples of such multiple access systems include Code Division Multiple Access Systems (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access Systems (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access Systems (FDMA), Orthogonal FDMA Systems (OFDMA) , and single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems.

In a wireless communication system, a Node B (or base station) may transmit data to a downlinked user equipment (UE) and / or receive data from the uplink UE. Downlink (or direct link) refers to the communication link from Node B to the UE, and uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to Node B. 0 Node B may also send control information (eg system resource designations) for the UE. Similarly, the UE may send control information to Node B to support downlink data transmission and / or for other purposes. It is desirable to send control data and information as efficiently as possible to improve system performance.

SUMMARY

Techniques for sending control information on a variable control channel are described here. The variable control channel may support the transmission of one or more types of control information with a variable amount of resources. Different structures for mapping control information on resources may be used depending on various factors such as operation configuration, resources available for the control channel, types of control information being sent, amount of control information being sent for each type. , whether or not data is being sent, etc. The control channel structure may therefore vary depending on these various factors.

In a drawing, at least one type of control information being sent may be determined and may comprise only channel quality indicator (CQI) information, only acknowledgment (ACK) information, both CQI and ACK information, and / or other types of control information. A control channel structure can be determined based on operating configuration and / or other factors. Operation configuration can be determined based on system configuration, UE configuration, etc. The system configuration can indicate the number of subframes allocated for downlink and the number of subframes allocated for uplink. The UE configuration can indicate the downlink and uplink subframes applicable to the UE within the allocated subframes. The control channel structure can be determined based on the asymmetry of the downlink and uplink allocations. In a drawing, the control channel may comprise (i) a fixed amount of resources from a control segment if data is not being sent or (ii) a variable amount of resources from a data segment if data is being sent. At least one type of control information may be mapped resources to the control channel based on the structure. Each type of control information can be mapped to a respective part of the control channel features based on the structure.

Various aspects and features of the description are described in more detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Figure 1 illustrates a communication system without

thread.

Figure 2 illustrates illustrative downlink and uplink transmissions.

Figure 3 illustrates a structure for sending data and control information.

Figure 4a illustrates the transmission of control information only.

Figure 4b illustrates data transmission and control information.

Figure 5 illustrates a time frame for a time division duplex (TDD) mode.

Figure β illustrates transmission with asymmetric downlink and uplink allocations.

Figures 7a and 7b illustrate control channel structures for sending CQI and / or ACK information in a control segment.

Figures 7c and 7d illustrate control channel structures for sending CQI and / or ACK information in a data segment. Figure 8 illustrates a process for sending control information.

Figure 9 illustrates an equipment for sending control information.

Figure 10 illustrates a process for

receiving control information.

Figure 11 illustrates equipment for receiving control information.

Figure 12 illustrates a block diagram of a Node B and a UE.

Figure 13 illustrates a block diagram of a modulator for control information.

Figure 14 illustrates a block diagram of a modulator for control data and information. Figure 15 illustrates a block diagram of a

demodulator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figure 1 illustrates a wireless communication system 100 with multiple B-Nodes 110 and multiple UEs 120. A Node B is generally a fixed station that communicates with the UEs and can also be referred to as an evolved Node B (eNode Β), a base station, an access point, etc. Each Node B 110 provides communication coverage for a particular geographic area and supports communication to UEs located within the coverage area. The term "cell" refers to a Node B and / or its coverage area depending on the context in which the term is used. A system controller 130 can couple to Node B and provide coordination and control to these Nodes Β. System controller 130 may be a single network entity or a collection of network entities, for example, a Mobility Management Entity (MME) / System Architecture Evolution Gateway (SAE), a Radio Network Controller (RNC), etc. UEs 120 may be dispersed throughout the system, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as a mobile station, mobile equipment, a terminal, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a station, etc. A UE may be a mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless communication device, portable device, wireless modem, laptop computer, and so on.

Node B may transmit data to one or more downlink UEs and / or receive data from one or more uplink UEs at any given time. Node B may also send control information to the UEs and / or receive control information from the UEs. In Figure 1, a solid line with double arrows (for example, between Node B IIa and UE 120b) represents downlink and uplink data transmission, and the uplink control information transmission. A solid line with a single arrow pointing to a UE (e.g. UE 120e) represents downlink data transmission and uplink control information transmission. A solid line with a single arrow pointing from a UE (e.g. UE 120c) represents uplink data transmission and control information. A dashed line with a single arrow pointing from a UE (e.g. UE 120a) represents the transmission of control information (but no data) in uplink. The transmission of downlink control information is not illustrated in Figure 1 for simplicity. A particular UE may receive downlink data, transmit uplink data and / or transmit control information on uplink at any given time.

Figure 2 illustrates illustrative downlink transmission by a Node B and uplink transmission by a UE. The UE may periodically estimate downlink β / 36 channel quality for Node B and may send CQI information to Node B. 0 Node B may use CQI information to select an appropriate rate (for example, a code rate and modulation scheme) for downlink (DL) data transmission to the UE. Node B can process and transmit data to the UE when data is to be sent and system resources are available. The UE may process a downlink data transmission from Node B and may send an ACK if the data is decoded correctly or a negative acknowledgment (NAK) if the data is decoded in error. Node B can relay data if a NAK is received and can transmit new data if an ACK is received. The UE may also transmit uplink (UL) data to Node B when data is being transmitted and the UE receives uplink resources.

As illustrated in Figure 2, the UE may transmit control data and / or information, or neither, at any given time interval. Control information can also be referred to as control, overhead, signaling, etc. Control information may comprise ACK / NAK, CQI, other information, or any combination thereof. The type and amount of control information may depend on a number of factors such as the number of data strings being sent, whether multiple inputs and multiple outputs (MIMO) are being used for transmission, etc. For simplicity, much of the following description assumes that control information comprises CQI and ACK information.

The system can support hybrid automatic relay (HARQ), which can also be referred to as increased redundancy, chase combination, etc. For downlink HARQ, Node B may send a transmission to a packet and may send one or more retransmissions until the packet is correctly decoded by the UE, or the maximum number of retransmissions has been sent, or some other termination condition is met. . HARQ can improve the reliability of data transmission.

HARQ Z interlaces can be defined,

where Z can be any integer value. Each HARQ interleaving can include time slots that are spaced by Z time slots. For example, six HARQ interlaces can be defined, and the HARQ interleaving can include time slots n + z, n + z + 6, η + ζ + 12, etc. with ζ and {1, ..., 6}.

A HARQ process can refer to all transmissions and retransmissions, if any, for a packet. A HARQ process can be started when resources are available and can end after the first transmission or after one or more subsequent retransmissions. A HARQ process may have a variable duration that may depend on the decoding results at the receiver. Each HARQ process can be sent in a HARQ interleaving. In one drawing, up to Z HARQ processes can be sent on HARQ Z interlocks. In another drawing, multiple HARQ processes can be sent on different resources (for example, on different sub-carrier sets or from different antennas) on the same interlacing. 2 5 HARQ.

The transmission techniques described herein may be used for uplink transmission in addition to downlink transmission. The techniques can also be used for various wireless communication systems such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, and SC-FDMA. The terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA system can implement radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Broadband CDMA (W-CDMA) and Low Chip Rate (LCR). cdma2000 covers the IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA system may implement radio technology such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA system can implement radio technology such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM®, etc. These various radio technologies and patterns are used in the art. UTRA, E-UTRA, and GSM are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). Long Term Evolution (LTE) is an upcoming release of UMTS using E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS and LTE are described in the documents of an organization called "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). cdma2000 is described in documents from an organization called "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP2). For the sake of clarity, certain aspects of the techniques are described below for LTE uplink transmission, and 3GPP terminology is used in much of the description below.

LTE uses downlink OFDM and uplink SC-FDM. OFDM and SC-FDM split system bandwidth into multiple (N) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, bands, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the OFDM frequency domain and the SC-FDM time domain. For LTE, the spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (N) may depend on the system bandwidth. In one drawing, N = 512 for a 5 MHz system bandwidth, N = 1024 for a 10 MHz system bandwidth, and N = 2048 for a 20 MHz system bandwidth. In general, N can be any integer value.

Figure 3 illustrates a drawing of a frame 300 that can be used for uplink control data and control information. The transmission timeline can be divided into subframes. A subframe can have a fixed duration, for example a millisecond (ms), or a configurable duration. A subframe can be divided into two partitions, and each partition can include L symbol periods, where L can be any integer value, for example, L = 6 or 7. Each symbol period can be used for data, control, pilot or any combination thereof.

In the drawing illustrated in figure 3, the total N subcarriers can be divided into a data section and a control section. The control section can be formed at one edge of the system bandwidth, as illustrated in Figure 3. The control section can have a configurable size, which can be selected based on the amount of control information being sent in uplink. by the UEs. The data section can include all subcarriers not included in the control section. The drawing in Figure 3 results in the data section including contiguous subcarriers, which allows a single UE to be assigned to all contiguous subcarriers in the data section.

A UE may receive a control segment of M contiguous subcarriers, where M may be a fixed or configurable value. A control segment can also be referred to as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). In a drawing, a control segment may include an integer multiple of 12 subcarriers. The UE may also receive a contiguous subcarrier Q data segment, where Q may be a fixed or configurable value. A data segment can also be referred to as a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). In a drawing, a data segment may include an integer multiple of 12 subcarriers. The UE may also receive no data segment or no control segment in a given subframe.

It may be desirable for a UE to transmit on contiguous subcarriers using SC-FDM, which is referred to as localized frequency division multiplexing (LFDM). Transmission on contiguous subcarriers may result in a lower peak to average ratio (PAR). PAR is the peak power ratio of a waveform to the average waveform power. A low PAR is desirable as it may allow a power amplifier (PA) to be operated at an average output power closer to the peak output power. This, in turn, may improve yield and / or link margin for the UE.

The UE may receive a control segment located near an edge of the system bandwidth. The UE may also receive a data segment within the data section when there is data to be sent. Subcarriers for the control segment may not be adjacent to subcarriers for the data segment. The UE may send control information on the control segment if there is no data to send on uplink. The UE may send data and control information in the data segment if there is data to be sent in uplink. Such dynamic transmission of control information may allow the UE to transmit to contiguous subcarriers regardless of whether or not data is being sent, which may improve PAR. Figure 4a illustrates the transmission of control information in a subframe when there is no data to be uplinked. The UE may receive a control segment, which may be mapped to different sets of subcarriers in two subframe partitions. The UE may send control information on the subcarriers designated for the control segment in each symbol period. The remaining subcarriers may be used by other UEs for uplink transmission.

Figure 4b illustrates data transmission and control information when there is data to be sent in uplink. The UE may receive a data segment, which may be mapped to different sets of subcarriers on the two partitions of a subframe. The UE may send data and control information on the designated subcarriers for the data segment in each symbol period. The remaining subcarriers may be used by other UEs for uplink transmission.

Figures 4a and 4b illustrate the frequency hopping from partition to partition. Frequency hopping can also be performed through other time intervals, for example from symbol period to symbol period, subframe to subframe, etc. Frequency hopping can provide frequency diversity against the detrimental effects of path and interference randomization.

The system can support an FDD mode and / or a TDD mode. In FDD mode, separate frequency channels can be used for downlink and uplink, and downlink and uplink transmissions can be sent simultaneously on separate frequency channels. In TDD mode, a common frequency channel can be used for both downlink and uplink, downlink transmissions can be sent at some time periods, and uplink transmissions can be sent at other time periods.

Figure 5 illustrates a time frame 500 that can be used for TDD mode. The transmission timeline can be divided into frame units. Each frame may comprise a predetermined time duration, for example 10 ms, and may be divided into a predetermined number of subframes. In each frame, Ndl subframes can be allocated to downlink, and Nul subframes can be allocated to uplink. Ndl and Nul may be any suitable values and may be configurable based on downlink and uplink traffic loads and / or other considerations.

Downlink and uplink may have symmetric or asymmetric allocations depending on the system configuration. For symmetric downlink and uplink allocations, the number of downlink subframes is equal to the number of uplink subframes, or Ndl = Nol. Each downlink subframe can be associated with a corresponding uplink subframe. For example, a data transmission may be sent in the downlink subframe n, and the control information for the data transmission may be sent in the corresponding uplink subframe n, where η and {1, ..., NDL}. For asymmetric downlink and uplink allocations, the number of downlink subframes does not match the number of uplink subframes, or Ndl * Nul. Therefore, there may not be a one-to-one mapping between the downlink and uplink subframes. Asymmetric allocations may allow more flexible allocation of system resources to match load conditions, but may complicate system operation.

Figure 6 illustrates an example of data transmission with asymmetric downlink and uplink allocations. In this example, M downlink subframes 1 through M can be associated with a single uplink subframe, where M can be any integer value. A UE can receive resources in downlink subframes 1 through M in addition to the associated uplink subframe. M packets can be sent in M HARQ processes in M downlink subframes to the UE. The UE can decode each packet and determine the ACK information for the packet. The ACK information may also be referred to as an ACK return and may comprise ACK or NAK. The UE may send the ACK information for the packet sent in the HARQ H1 process, and ACKM is the ACK information for the packet sent in the HARQ HM process, where H1 to HM may be any available HARQ processes. ACK information can be used to control the transmission of new packets or retransmission of error decoded packets.

In one aspect, a variable control channel may be used to support both downlink and uplink symmetric and asymmetric allocations. The control channel may receive different amounts of resources, for example depending on whether or not data is to be sent. The control channel may be used to flexibly send different types of control information and / or different amounts of control information.

For clarity, specific designs of the variable control channel are described below. In these drawings, the control channel can receive four resource units in a control segment when data is not to be sent and can receive a variable number of resource units in a data segment when data is to be sent. A resource unit can correspond to physical resources or logical resources. Physical resources can be resources used for transmission and can be defined by subcarriers, symbol periods, etc. Logical resources can be used to simplify resource allocation and can be mapped to physical resources based on a mapping, a transformation, and so on. A resource unit may be of any size and may be used to send one or more bits of control information. In the following drawings, the control channel may be used to send only CQI information, or only ACK information for up to three HARQ processes, or both CQI and ACK information, or no control information.

Figure 7a illustrates drawings of control channel structures for sending ACK information for up to three HARQ processes in the control segment when CQI and data are not sent. In Figure 7a, the four resource units for the control segment can be represented by a 2x2 matrix. The first and second rows of the matrix can correspond to two virtual frequency (VFR) features Sl and S2, respectively. A VFR may be a set of subcarriers, may be mapped to a set of subcarriers, or may correspond to some other logical or physical resource. The first and second columns of the matrix can correspond to two partitions T1 and T2, respectively, of a subframe. The four blocks of the 2x2 matrix can correspond to four resource units for the control channel. In the following description, H1, H2 and H3 can be any three different HARQ processes.

In one drawing, the ACK information for a HARQ H1 (ACK1) process may be sent on all four resource units to the control segment as illustrated by a 712 structure. For example, the ACK information may be repeated four times and sent. across all four feature units to improve reliability. In one drawing, the ACK information for two HARQ H1 and H2 processes can be sent in four resource units to the control segment as illustrated by a 714 structure. In this drawing, the ACK information for the HARQ H1 (ACK1) process can be sent on two resource units occupying VFR Sl on partitions T1 and T2. ACK information for the HARQ H2 (ACK2) process can be sent on the two resource units occupying VFR S2 in partitions T1 and T2. In one drawing, the ACK information for the three

HARQ H1, H2 and H3 processes can be sent on the four resource units to the control segment as illustrated by a 716 structure. In this drawing, the ACK information for the HARQ Hl (ACKl) process can be sent on a resource unit occupying VFR Sl on partition Tl. ACK information for the HARQ H2 (ACK2) process can be sent on a resource unit occupying VFR S2 in partition T1. ACK information for process HARQ H3 (ACK3) can be sent on a resource unit occupying VFR Sl in partition T2. The remaining resource unit can be shared by the three HARQ processes in TDM form. For example, this resource unit can be used for ACK information for process HARQ H1 in one subframe, then for ACK information for process HARQ H2 in the next subframe, then for ACK information for process HARQ H3 in the next subframe, etc. In another drawing, the ACK information for all three HARQ processes can be encoded with a block code (4, 3) and sent in all four resource units. ACK information for the three HARQ processes can also be sent in other ways.

Figure 7b illustrates drawings of control channel structures for sending CQI and ACK information for up to three HARQ processes in the control segment when data is not sent. In one drawing, CQI information may be sent in all four resource units to the control segment, as illustrated by a 720 frame, when no ACK information is sent.

In one drawing, CQI and ACK information for a HARQ H1 process may be sent on the four resource units to the control segment as illustrated by a 722 structure. In this drawing, CQI information may be sent on two resource units occupying VFR Sl in partitions T1 and T2. ACK information for the HARQ H1 process can be sent in two resource units occupying VFR S2 in partitions T1 and T2.

In one drawing, CQI and ACK information for two HARQ H1 and H2 processes can be sent in four resource units to the control segment as illustrated by a 724 structure. In this drawing, CQI information can be sent in two resource units. occupying VFR Sl on partitions T1 and T2. ACK information for the HARQ H1 process can be sent on a resource unit occupying VFR S2 in partition T1. ACK information for the HARQ H2 process can be sent on a resource unit occupying VFR S2 in partition T2.

In one drawing, the CQI and ACK information for the three processes HARQ, H1, H2, and H3 can be sent in the four resource units to the control segment as illustrated by a 726 structure. In this drawing, the CQI information can be sent in a resource unit occupying VFR Sl in partition Tl. ACK information for the HARQ H1 process can be sent on a resource unit occupying VFR S2 in partition T1. ACK information for the HARQ H2 process can be sent on a resource unit occupying VFR Sl in partition T2. ACK information for the HARQ H3 process can be sent on a resource unit occupying VFR S2 in partition T2.

Figure 7c illustrates drawings of control channel structures for sending ACK information for up to three HARQ processes in the data segment when data is being sent, but not CQI. The data segment may include 2K resource units and may be represented by an array Kx 2, where K may be any value. The K rows in the matrix can correspond to K VFRs Sl 'through SK1, where Sl1 may be the lowest index and SK1 may be the highest index of K VFRs for the data segment. The first and second columns of the matrix can correspond to two partitions T1 and T2, respectively, of a subframe. The 2K blocks of the matrix K χ 2 can correspond to 2K resource units. A resource unit for the data segment can have the same dimension or a different dimension than the resource unit for the control segment. As illustrated in Figure 7c, different resource unit numbers may be collected from the data segment and used to send different amounts of control information. The remaining resource units in the data segment can be used to send data.

In one drawing, the ACK information for a HARQ H1 process may be sent in two resource units to the data segment as illustrated by a structure 732. The two resource units may occupy VFR Sl1 in partitions T1 and T2. The remaining 2K - 2 resource units can be used for data.

In one drawing, ACK information for two HARQ H1 and H2 processes can be sent in four resource units to the data segment as illustrated by a structure 734. In this drawing, ACK information for HARQ H1 process can be sent in two resource units occupying VFR S21 in partitions T1 and T2. ACK information for the HARQ H2 process can be sent in two resource units occupying VFR S21 in partitions T1 and T2. The remaining 2K-4 resource units can be used for data.

In one drawing, ACK information for three HARQ processes, H1, H2, and H3 can be sent in six resource units to the data segment as illustrated by a 736 structure. In this drawing, ACK information for process HARQ H1 can be sent on two resource units occupying VFR Sl 'on partitions T1 and T2. ACK information for the HARQ H2 process can be sent in two resource units occupying VFR S2 'in partitions T1 and T2. ACK information for the HARQ H3 process can be sent on two resource units occupying VFRs S31 for the data segment in partitions T1 and T2. The remaining 2K- 6 resource units can be used for data.

Figure 7d illustrates drawings of the control channel structures for sending CQI and ACK information to up to three HARQ processes in the data segment when data is being sent. In one drawing, CQI information may be sent in two resource units to the data segment as illustrated by a structure 740. These two resource units may occupy VFR Sl 'in partitions T1 and T2. The remaining 2K-2 resource units can be used for data.

In one drawing, CQI and ACK information for a HARQ H1 process may be sent in four resource units to the data segment as illustrated by a 742 structure. In this drawing, CQI information may be sent in two resource units occupying VFR Sl 'in partitions T1 and T2. ACK information for the HARQ H1 process can be sent in two resource units occupying VFR S2 'in partitions T1 and T2. The remaining 2K-4 resource units can be used for data.

In one drawing, the CQI and ACK information for two HARQ processes H1 and H2 may be sent in six resource units to the data segment as illustrated by a 744 structure. In this drawing, the CQI information may be sent in two resource units. occupying VFR Sl 'on partitions T1 and T2. ACK information for the HARQ H1 process can be sent in two resource units occupying VFR S2 'in partitions T1 and T2. ACK information for the HARQ H2 process can be sent in two resource units occupying VFR S31 in partitions T1 and T2. The remaining 2K-6 resource units can be used for data.

In one drawing, the CQI and ACK information for three HARQ, H1, H2, and H3 processes can be sent in eight resource units to the data segment as illustrated by structure 746. In this drawing, the CQI information can be sent in two units. occupying VFR Sl1 on partitions T1 and T2. ACK information for the HARQ H1 process can be sent in two resource units occupying VFR S21 in partitions T1 and T2. ACK information for the HARQ H2 process can be sent on two resource units occupying VFR S3 'in partitions T1 and T2. ACK information for process HARQ H3 can be sent on both resource units occupying VFR S4 'in partitions T1 and T2. The remaining 2k-8 resource units can be used for data.

Figures 7a to 7d illustrate specific drawings of control channel structures for sending CQI and ACK information in the control segment and data segment. These drawings illustrate the specific mapping of CQI and / or ACK information to the resource units available for sending control information. CQI and ACK information can also be mapped to available resource units in various other ways. As an example, instead of using structure 714 in Figure 7a, the ACK information for process HARQ H1 may be sent in (i) upper left and lower right resource units in the array, (ii) lower left and upper right in the matrix, (iii) upper left and lower left resource units in the matrix, etc. As another example, a block code may be used for all control information being sent, and the resulting code word may be sent in all available resource units.

The CQI and ACK information can be multiplexed in various ways, for example using T DM, FDM, CDM, etc., or a combination thereof. In the drawings illustrated in figures 7a to 7d, a combination of TDM and FDM may be used for the control channel. In these drawings, each VFR may correspond to a set of subcarriers. For example, 12 subcarriers may be allocated to the control segment, each VFR may correspond to six subcarriers, and one resource unit may correspond to six subcarriers in the L symbol periods for a partition. The CQI and ACK information for each HARQ process may be sent in designated resource units, for example as illustrated in figures 7a to 7d.

TDM can also be used for control information. In this case, all control information mapped to a particular partition can be processed (eg coded together) and sent on all subcarriers to the control channel in that partition. As an example, for structure 726 in Figure 7b, CQI and ACK information for process HARQ H1 can be processed and sent on all subcarriers in partition T1, and ACK information for processes HARQ H2 and H3 can be processed. processed and sent to all subcarriers in partition T2.

FDM can also be used for control information. In this case, all control information mapped to a particular VFR can be processed (eg coded together) and sent to all subcarriers in that VFR through two partitions. As an example, for structure 726 in Figure 7b, the CQI and ACK information for the HARQ H2 process can be processed and sent on the VFR Sl subcarriers through both partitions T1 and T2, and the ACK information for the processes. HARQ H1 and H3 can be processed and sent on all VFR subcarriers S2 through both partitions T1 and T2. CDM can also be used for information

of control. In this case, the CQI and ACK information can be spread with orthogonal codes, combined and then mapped to all available resources to send the control information.

Control information may also be sent

by varying the modulation order. For example, BPSK can be used to send one bit of control information, QPSK can be used to send two bits of information, 8-PSK can be used to send three bits of information, 16-QAM can be used to send four bits. information, etc.

The drawings in Figures 7a to 7d consider two types of control information being sent - CQI and ACK information. In general, any number and any type of control information can be sent on the control channel. For example, the control information may comprise information identifying one or more desired subbands among all subbands, information for one or more pre-coding / beamforming arrays or one or more antennas for MIMO transmission, a feature request, etc. In general, a fixed or variable amount of control information may be sent for each type. The amount of ACK information may depend on the number of HARQ processes acknowledged. The amount of CQI information can be fixed (as illustrated in figures 7a through 7d) or variable (for example, depending on whether or not MIMO is used, the number of sequences being sent using MIMO, etc.).

The drawings of figures 7a to 7d assume that the control channel includes (i) a fixed number of resource units when data is not being sent and (ii) a variable number of resource units when data is being sent. In general, the control channel may include (i) a fixed or variable number of resource units when data is not being sent and (ii) a fixed or variable number of resource units when data is being sent. The number of resource units available for the control channel may differ from those shown in figures 7a to 7d.

In general, the variable control channel may have different structures depending on one or more of the following:

· System configuration, for example allocations to

downlink and uplink such as the number of downlink subframes and the number of uplink subframes; • UE configuration, eg EU-applicable downlink and uplink subframes; · The amount of resources available to the channel of

control; • 0 (s) type (s) of control information being sent on the control channel, for example CQI and / or AC K information;

• The amount of control information being sent for each type, for example, number of HARQ processes acknowledged;

• Whether or not data is being sent, which can determine the size and location of the control channel; and

• The desired reliability for each type of control information.

The variable control channel may support the transmission of one or more types of control information with a variable amount of resources. Different structures for mapping control information to control channel resources may be used depending on various factors such as those provided above. The structure of the control channel may thus vary depending on several factors.

Figure 8 illustrates a drawing of a process 800 for sending control information. Process 800 may be performed by a UE for uplink (e.g. as described above) or by Node B for downlink. At least one type of control information being sent can be determined (block 812). The control information being sent may comprise only CQI information, only ACK information, both CQI and ACK information, and / or other types of control information. A control channel structure can be determined based on the operating configuration and / or factors noted above (block 814). Operation configuration can be determined based on system configuration (eg asymmetry of downlink and uplink allocations), UE configuration (eg applicable downlink and uplink subframes), etc. A plurality of structures may be supported for the control channel, some examples of which are provided in figures 7a to 7d. One of the supported structures can be selected based on operating configuration and / or other factors. The control channel may comprise (i) a fixed amount of resources from a control segment if data is not being sent or (ii) a variable amount of resources from a data segment if data is being sent . Control and data segments may occupy different frequency locations.

At least one type of control information may be resource mapped to the structure-based control channel (block 816). Control channel features may comprise time features, frequency features, code features, and so on. or any combination thereof. Each type of control information can be mapped to a respective part of the control channel features based on the structure. Only CQI information can be sent and can be mapped to all control channel resources, for example, as illustrated by frame 720 in figure 7b and frame 740 in figure 7d. Only ACK information can be sent and can be mapped to all control channel resources, for example, as illustrated by frames 712 to 716 in figure 7a and frames 732 to 736 in figure 7c. Both CQI and ACK information may be sent and resource mapped to the frame-based control channel, for example, as illustrated by frames 722 to 726 in figure 7b and frames 742 to 746 in figure 7d. Figure 9 illustrates a drawing of an equipment 900 for sending control information. Equipment 900 includes devices for determining at least one type of control information being sent (module 912), devices for determining a structure of a control channel based on the operating configuration (e.g., downlink and uplink allocation asymmetry) and / or other factors (module 914), and devices for mapping at least one type of resource control information to the structure-based control channel (module 916).

Figure 10 illustrates a drawing of a process 1000 for receiving control information. Process 1000 may be performed by a Uplink Node B (for example, as described above) or by a downlink UE. At least one type of control information being received may be determined (block 1012). A control channel structure can be determined based on the operating configuration, which may indicate the asymmetry of downlink and uplink allocations, and / or other factors (block 1014). At least one type of control information may be received from resources for the frame-based control channel (block 1016). For example, CQI information or ACK information, or both CQI and ACK information may be received from resources to the control channel based on the structure.

Figure 11 illustrates a drawing of an equipment 1100 for receiving control information. Equipment 1100 includes devices for determining at least one type of control information being received (module 1112), devices for determining a control channel structure based on operating configuration and / or other factors (module 1114), and devices to receive at least one type of control information from the resources to the frame-based control channel (module 1116).

The modules in figures 9 and 11 may comprise processors, electronic devices, hardware devices, electronic components, logic circuits, memories, etc., or any combination thereof.

Figure 12 illustrates a block diagram of a drawing of a Node B 110 and a UE 120, which are one of the B Nodes and one of the UEs of figure 1. In UE 120, a data transmission (TX) and control processor 1210 can receive uplink (UL) data from a data source (not shown) and / or control information from a controller / processor 1240. Processor 1210 can process (e.g., format, encode, interleave, and symbol map) ) the control data and information and provide modulation symbols. A modulator (MOD) 1220 can process the modulation symbols as described below and provide output chips. A transmitter (TMTR) 1222 can process (e.g. convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output chips and generate an uplink signal that can be transmitted over an antenna 1224.

At node B 110, an antenna 1252 can receive uplink signals from UE 120 and other UEs and can provide a received signal to a receiver (RCVR) 1254. Receiver 1254 can condition (e.g. filter, amplify, downconvert) frequency, and scan) the received signal and provide received samples. A demodulator (DEMOD) 1260 can process incoming samples as described below and provide demodulated symbols. A control and receiving data processor (RX) and 1270 may process (e.g., symbol map, deinterleave, and decode) demodulated symbols to obtain decoded data and control information for UE 120 and other UEs.

Downlink, on Node B 110, downlink data (DL) and control information to be sent to the UEs can be processed by a control processor and TX data 1290, modulated by a modulator 1292 (e.g., OFDM). , conditioned by a transmitter 1294, and transmitted via antenna 1252. In UE 120, downlink signals from Node B 110 and possibly other Nodes B may be received by antenna 1224, conditioned by a receiver 1230, demodulated by a demodulator 1232. (e.g. for OFDM), and processed by a control processor and data RX 1234 to retrieve downlink data and control information sent by Node B 110 to UE 120. In general, processing for uplink transmission may be performed. similar to or different from downlink processing.

Controllers / processors 1240 and 1280 can direct operations on UE 120 and Node B 110, respectively. Memories 1242 and 1282 can store data and program codes for UE 120 and Node B 110, respectively. A 1284 programmer may program UEs for downlink and / or uplink transmission and may provide system resource assignments (e.g., downlink and / or uplink subcarrier designations) for programmed UEs.

Figure 13 illustrates a block diagram of a drawing of a modulator 1220a for control information. Modulator 1220a may be used for modulator 1220 in UE 120 in Figure 12 when data is not sent.

A TX 1310 control processor, which may be part of the TX 1210 control and data processor in FIG. 12, may receive and process CQI and / or ACK information to be sent in a subframe. In a drawing, if only ACK information is sent on a given partition, then the TX 1310 control processor can generate an ACK / NAK modulation symbol for each HARQ process, for example by mapping an ACK to a QPSK value. (e.g. 1 + j) and a NAK for another QPSK value (e.g. -1-j). Processor 1310 may then repeat the QPSK symbol for each HARQ process to obtain L modulation symbols for L symbol periods in a partition and may provide a modulation symbol in each symbol period. If only CQI information is being sent in a given partition, then the TX 1310 control processor can encode CQI information based on a block code to obtain code bits, map L code bits to modulation symbols, and provide a modulation symbol in each symbol period. If both CQI and ACK information is sent in a partition, then the TX 1310 control processor can encode CQI and ACK information together based on another block code to obtain code bits, map the code bits in the L symbols. modulation symbol and provide a modulation symbol in each symbol period. In another drawing, processor 1310 may process CQI and ACK information separately and may provide two modulation symbols for CQI and ACK for both VFRs Sl and S2 in each symbol period, for example, as illustrated in Figures 7a and 7b. The TX 1310 control processor may also generate modulation symbols for CQI and / or ACK in other ways.

Within modulator 1220a, a unit 1322 may receive modulation symbols for CQI and / or ACK from the TX 1310 control processor, for example, one or two modulation symbols in each symbol period. For each modulation symbol, unit 1322 can modulate a constant amplitude zero correlation (CAZAC) sequence with this modulation symbol to obtain a corresponding modulated CAZAC sequence with the modulated symbols. A CAZAC sequence is a sequence having good temporal characteristics (eg, a constant time domain envelope) and good spectral characteristics (eg, a flat frequency spectrum). Some illustrative CAZAC sequences include a Chu sequence, a Zadoff-Chu sequence, a Frank sequence, a generalized chirp sequence (GCL), a Golomb sequence, PI, P3, P4, and Px sequences, etc., which are known in the art. In each symbol period, unit 1322 may provide M modulated symbols for the M subcarriers in the control segment designated for UE 120.

A 1330 spectral formatting unit can perform spectral formatting on the modulated M symbols in each symbol period and provide M spectrally formatted symbols. A subcarrier symbol mapping unit 1332 can map the spectrally formatted M symbols on the M subcarriers on the control segment designated for UE 120 and can map the zero symbols to zero value on the subcarriers. remaining carriers. An inverse discrete Fourier transform unit (IDFT) 1334 can receive N symbols mapped to the total N subcarriers from mapping unit 1332, perform an N-point IDFT on these N symbols to transform frequency domain symbols into domain. time, and provide N time domain output chips. Each output chip is a complex value to be transmitted over a chip period. A 1336 parallel / serial (P / S) converter can serialize the N output chips and provide a useful part of an SC-FDM symbol. A cyclic prefix generator 1338 may occupy the last C output chips of the useful part and attach these C output chips to the front of the useful part to form an SC-FDM symbol containing N + C output chips. The cyclic prefix is used to combat inter-symbol interference (ISI) caused by selective frequency fading. The SC-FDM symbol may be sent in an SC-FDM symbol period, which may be equal to N + C symbol periods.

Figure 14 illustrates a block diagram of a drawing of a modulator 1220b for control information and data. Modulator 1220b can be used for modulator 1220 in figure 12 when data is sent. The TX 1310 control processor can process control information and provide modulation symbols for control information for the modulator 1220b. A TX 1312 data processor, which may be part of the TX 1210 control and data processor in FIG. 12, may receive the data to be sent, encode the data based on a coding scheme to obtain the code bits, interleave the data. code bits, and map the interspersed bits into modulation symbols based on a modulation scheme.

Within modulator 1220b, a serial / parallel (S / P) converter 1326 can receive modulation symbols from the TX 1310 control processor and the modulation symbols from the TX 1312 data processor. S / P 1326 can provide Q modulation symbols in each symbol period, where Q is the number of subcarriers in the data segment designated for UE 120. A discrete Fourier transformation unit (DFT) 1328 can perform a Q-point DFT on modulation symbols Q to transform those symbols. from the time domain to the frequency domain and can provide Q frequency domain symbols. The 1330 spectral formatting unit can perform spectral formatting on Q frequency domain symbols and provide Q spectrally formatted symbols. The subcarrier symbol mapping unit 1332 can map zero symbols to the remaining subcarriers. The IDFT unit 1334 can perform an N-point IDFT on the N mapped symbols of unit 1332 and provide N time domain output chips. P / S 1336 can serialize the N output chips, and the cyclic prefix generator 1338 can attach a cyclic prefix to form an SC-FDM symbol containing N + C output chips. Figures 13 and 14 illustrate illustrative drawings.

for sending control information without and with data respectively. Control information can also be sent in a number of other ways. In another drawing, when only control information is sent, the CQI and / or ACK information may be separately coded, multiplexed, transformed with a DFT, and mapped to subcarriers for the control segment, similar to the drawing illustrated in the figure. 14. In another drawing, the CQI and / or ACK information may be coded together, multiplexed, transformed with a DFT, and mapped in the subcarriers to the control segment. Control information may also be sent with data based on drawings other than the drawing illustrated in figure 14.

In the drawings illustrated in Figures 13 and 14, control information may be processed based on a first processing scheme when data is not sent and based on a second processing scheme when data is sent. When sent alone, control information can be sent using a CAZAC sequence to achieve a lower PAR. When sent with data, control information can be multiplexed with data and processed similarly to data. Control information can also be processed in other ways. For example, control information may be sent using CDM, for example, by spreading each modulation symbol to the control information with an orthogonal code and mapping the modulation symbols scattered on the resources to the control channel.

Fig. 15 illustrates a block diagram of a drawing of demodulator 1260 at Node B 110 in Fig. 12. Within demodulator 1260, a cyclic prefix removal unit 1510 can obtain N + C samples received at each SC-symbol period. FDM, remove C received samples corresponding to the cyclic prefix, and provide N received samples for the useful part of a received SC-FDM symbol. An S / P 1512 can provide the N samples received in parallel. A 1514 DFT unit can perform a N-point DFT on N received samples and provide N received symbols for the total N subcarriers. Such received N symbols may contain data and control information for all UEs transmitting to Node B 150. Processing for retrieving control information and / or data from UE 120 is described below.

If the control information and data are sent by the UE 120, then a subcarrier symbol mapping unit 1516 may provide Q symbols received from the Q subcarriers for the data segment designated for UE 120 and may delete the remaining received symbols. A unit 1518 can scale the received Q symbols based on the spectral formatting performed by the UE 120. The unit 1518 can additionally perform data detection (e.g., matched filtering, equalizing, etc.) on the Q symbols scaled with the gain estimates. channel and provide Q detected symbols. An IDFT 1520 unit can perform a Q-point IDFT on the detected Q symbols and provide Q demodulated symbols for the control data and information. A P / S 1522 can provide demodulated control information symbols for a multiplexer (Mux) 1532, which can provide these symbols for an RX 1552 control processor. Processors 1550 and 1552 can be part of the RX control and data processor. 1270 in FIG. 12. The RX 1550 data processor can process (for example, demap symbol, deinterleave, and decode) demodulated data symbols and provide decoded data. Control processor RX 1552 can process demodulated symbols for control information and provide decoded control information, for example, CQI and / or ACK.

If the control information and no data are sent by the UE 120, then the sub-carrier symbol mapping unit 1516 can provide M symbols received from the M subcarriers to the control segment designated for the UE 120 and can eliminate the remaining received symbols. A CAZAC 1530 sequence detector can detect one or more modulation symbols most likely to have been sent in a symbol period based on the M symbols received for that symbol period. Detector 1530 may provide demodulated control information symbols which may be directed through multiplexer 1532 and provided to control processor RX 1552. It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the described processes is an example of illustrative approaches. . Based on drawing preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in processes can be rearranged while remaining within the scope of the description. The attached method claims present multi-step elements in an illustrative order, and should not be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

Those skilled in the art will understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols and chips that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, waves.

electromagnetic particles, particles or magnetic fields, particles or optical fields, or any combination thereof.

Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described with respect to the description may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this hardware and software interchange capability, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the system as a whole. Those skilled in the art may implement the functionality described in various ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be construed as departing from the scope of the present invention.

The various logic blocks, modules, and illustrative circuits described in connection with the description herein may be implemented or realized with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an array field programmable gate (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other similar configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described with respect to the description herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage media known in the art. An illustrative storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from and write information to the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and storage medium may reside in an ASIC. ASIC can reside in a user terminal. Alternatively, the processor and storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

The above description is provided to allow

for anyone skilled in the art to create or make use of the description. Various modifications to the description will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the description. Accordingly, the description should not be limited to the examples and drawings described herein, but the broader scope consistent with the principles and novelty characteristics described herein should be agreed upon.

Claims (43)

Equipment, comprising: at least one processor configured to determine at least one type of control information being sent, to determine a structure of a control channel based on the operating configuration, and to map the at least one type of information. feature control for the structure-based control channel; and a memory coupled to at least one processor. Equipment according to claim 1, wherein the resources for the control channel comprise at least one of time resources, frequency resources, and code resources. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the control channel structure from a plurality of structures supported for the control channel. Equipment according to claim 1, wherein the operating configuration is determined based on at least one of the system configuration and the UE configuration. Equipment according to claim 4, wherein the system configuration indicates the downlink and uplink allocations, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the control channel structure based on the asymmetry of the downlink allocations. and uplink. Equipment according to claim 4, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the control channel structure based on the number of subframes allocated for downlink and the number of subframes allocated for uplink as indicated by the system configuration. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the control channel structure additionally based on at least one of a number of resources for the control channel, the at least one type. of control information being sent, and an amount of control information for each type of control information being sent. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one type of control information being sent comprises ACK information, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the control channel structure additionally based on the number. HARQ cases to have their receipt accused by the ACK information. Equipment according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to map each type of control information in a respective part of the resources to the frame-based control channel. Equipment according to claim 1, wherein the at least one type of control information being sent comprises only CQI information, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to map CQI information across resources to the channel. of control. Equipment according to claim 1, wherein the at least one type of control information being sent comprises only ACK information, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to map ACK information on all resources to the channel. of control. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one type of control information being sent comprises CQI and ACK information, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to map CQI and ACK information in resources to the device. control channel based on the structure. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the control channel structure further based on whether or not data is being sent. Apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the control channel comprises a fixed amount of resources when data is not being sent and comprises a variable amount of resources when data is being sent. Equipment according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine resources for the control channel from a control segment if data is being sent, and to determine resources for the channel. from a data segment if data is being sent, and where the control segment and data segment occupy different frequency locations. Equipment according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to process the at least one type of control information according to a first processing scheme if data is not being sent, and to process the at least one type of control information according to a second processing scheme if data is being sent. Apparatus according to claim 16, wherein for the first processing scheme the at least one processor is configured to process the at least one type of control information to obtain modulation symbols, to modulate a CAZAC sequence with each one of the modulation symbols to obtain a corresponding modulated CAZAC sequence, and to map the modulated CAZAC sequences to the modulation symbols in the resources for the control channel. Apparatus according to claim 16, wherein for the second processing scheme the at least one processor is configured to process the at least one type of control information to obtain modulation symbols, to combine the modulation symbols to o at least one type of control information with modulation symbols for data, and for mapping the combined modulation symbols on resources to a data segment, and where resources for the control channel are a subset of resources for the data segment. Dice. Equipment according to claim 18, wherein for the second processing scheme the at least one processor is configured to transform the combined time domain modulation symbols into frequency domain to obtain frequency domain symbols and to map frequency domain symbols in resources to the data segment. A method comprising: determining at least one type of control information being sent; determine a structure of a control channel based on the operating configuration; and map at least one type of resource control information to the control channel based on the structure. A method according to claim 20, wherein the operating configuration is determined based on at least one of a system configuration and UE configuration, where the system configuration indicates the downlink and uplink allocations, and where determining the control channel structure comprises determining the control channel structure based on the asymmetry of the downlink and uplink allocations. A method according to claim 20, wherein the at least one type of control information being sent comprises ACK information, and wherein determining the control channel structure comprises determining the control channel structure further based on the number of HARQ cases to be acknowledged by ACK information. A method according to claim 20, wherein determining the control channel structure comprises determining the control channel structure further based on whether or not data is being sent, and where the control channel comprises a fixed amount of resources when data is not being sent and comprises a variable amount of resources when data is being sent. The method of claim 20 further comprising: determining whether or not data is being sent; determine resources for the control channel from a control segment if data is not being sent; and assigning resources to the control channel from a data segment if data is being sent, where the control segment and data segment occupy different frequency locations. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one type of control information being sent comprises only CQI information, or only ACK information, or both CQI and ACK information, and where mapping of at least one Control information type comprises mapping of CQI information, or ACK information, or both CQI and ACK information in resources to the structure-based control channel. 26. Equipment comprising: devices for determining at least one type of control information being sent; devices for determining a control channel structure based on the operating configuration; and devices for mapping at least one type of resource control information to the structure-based control channel. Equipment according to claim -26, wherein the operating configuration is determined based on at least one of the system configuration and the UE configuration, where the system configuration indicates the downlink and uplink allocations, and wherein the devices for determining the control channel structure comprise devices for determining the control channel structure based on the asymmetry of downlink and uplink allocations. Equipment according to claim -26, wherein the at least one type of control information being sent comprises ACK information, and wherein the devices for determining the channel structure comprise devices for determining the channel structure. control based additionally on the number of HARQ processes to be acknowledged by ACK information. Equipment according to claim -26, wherein the control channel structure determining devices comprise control channel structure determining devices in addition to whether or not data is being sent, and where The control channel comprises a fixed amount of resources when data is not being sent and comprises a variable amount of resources when data is being sent. Equipment according to claim -26, further comprising: devices for determining whether or not data is being sent; devices for determining resources for the control channel from a control segment if data is not being sent; and devices for determining resources for the control channel from one data segment if data is being sent, where the control segment and data segment occupy different frequency locations. Apparatus according to claim -26, wherein the at least one type of control information being sent comprises only CQI information, or only ACK information, or both CQI and ACK information, and where the devices for mapping by the At least one type of control information comprises devices for mapping CQI information, or ACK information, or both CQI and ACK information in resources to the structure-based control channel. 32. Machine readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations including: determining at least one type of control information being sent; determine a structure of a control channel based on the operating configuration; and map at least one type of resource control information to the control channel based on the structure. The machine readable medium of claim 32, wherein the operating configuration is determined based on at least one of the system configuration and the UE configuration, and wherein the machine readable medium further comprises instructions which , when performed by a machine, cause the machine to perform the operations including: determining the control channel structure based on the asymmetry of downlink and uplink allocations as indicated by the system configuration. 34. Equipment comprising: at least one processor configured to determine at least one type of control information being received, to determine a structure of a control channel based on the operating configuration, and to receive at least one type of information. control from the resources to the structure-based control channel; and a memory coupled to at least one processor. Equipment according to claim 34, wherein the operating configuration is determined based on at least one of the system configuration and the UE configuration, where the system configuration indicates the downlink and uplink allocations, and where at least one processor is configured to determine the control channel structure based on the asymmetry of downlink and uplink allocations. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the at least one type of control information being received comprises ACK information, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the control channel structure based additionally on the number. HARQ cases to have their receipt accused by the ACK information. Equipment according to claim 34, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the structure of the control channel based further on whether or not data is being received, and where the control channel comprises a fixed amount of resources when data is not being received and comprises a variable amount of resources when data is being received. Equipment according to claim 34, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine whether or not data is being received, to determine resources for the control channel from a control segment if data is not being received. received, and determine the resources for the control channel from a data segment if data is being received, and where the control segment and data segment occupy different frequency locations. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the at least one type of control information being received comprises only CQI information, only ACK information, or both CQI and ACK information, and wherein the at least one processor is configured. to receive CQI information, or ACK information, or both CQI and ACK information from the resources to the frame-based control channel. 40. The method comprising: determining at least one type of control information being received; determine a structure of a control channel based on the operating configuration; and receiving at least one type of control information from the resources to the frame-based control channel. A method according to claim 40, wherein the operating configuration is determined based on at least one of the system configuration and the UE configuration, where the system configuration indicates allocations for downlink and uplink, and where determining the control channel structure comprises determining the control channel structure based on the asymmetry of the downlink and uplink allocations. 42. Equipment, comprising: devices for determining at least one type of control information being received; devices for determining a control channel structure based on the operating configuration; and devices for receiving at least one type of control information from resources to the frame-based control channel. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the operating configuration is determined based on at least one system configuration and one UE configuration, where the system configuration indicates the downlink and uplink allocations, and where the Devices for determining control channel structure include devices for determining control channel structure based on the asymmetry of downlink and uplink allocations.