CN108141312B - Apparatus for base station - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for an evolved node b (enb) is disclosed. The apparatus for an eNB includes control circuitry configured to: puncturing at least a portion of an Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol with a shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbol, and controlling a communication device of the eNB to transmit the OFDM symbol and the shortened TTI symbol, wherein mapping of communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbol and puncturing of the at least a portion of the OFDM symbol is performed such that a ratio of a number of punctured systematic bits to a number of punctured parity bits is approximately equal to or less than a ratio of a number of systematic bits in the communication data to a number of parity bits in the communication data.

Description

Apparatus for base station

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent No.62/331,773 filed on day 5/4 in 2016 and U.S. provisional patent No.62/248,899 filed on day 30/10 in 2015, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to punctured downlink communications and, more particularly, to downlink data symbols punctured by shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) downlink data symbols.

Background

In recent years, the development of third generation partnership project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication systems (hereinafter "LTE systems") has been fueled by the demand for fast moving wireless data access to mobile electronic devices. An end user accesses the LTE system using a mobile electronic device (referred to as "user equipment", or equivalently "UE") comprising appropriate electronics and software modules to communicate in accordance with the standards specified by the 3 GPP.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a simplified diagram of a normal TTI PDSCH punctured by a shortened TTI PDSCH.

Fig. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a convolutional turbo code of LTE.

Fig. 3 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating interleaving and multiplexing of coded bits.

Fig. 4 is a simplified block diagram of a wireless communication system in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 5 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a method of operating an eNB in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 6 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating an example of multiplexing of systematic bits and parity bits according to some embodiments.

Fig. 7 is a simplified diagram of an example of locations of reserved OFDM symbols according to some embodiments.

Fig. 8 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a method of operating an eNB in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 9 is a simplified flowchart illustrating a method of operating an eNB, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 10 is a simplified diagram of an example ordering of code blocks for HARQ retransmission according to the method of fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram illustrating components according to some example embodiments.

Fig. 12 illustrates example components of an electronic device with respect to some embodiments.

Fig. 13 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a method of operating an eNB in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 14 is a simplified flowchart illustrating a method of operating an eNB, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 15 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a method of operating a UE in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 16 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a method of operating an eNB in accordance with some embodiments.

Detailed Description

In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure made herein. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating examples of embodiments of the present disclosure, are given by way of illustration only and not by way of limitation. Various substitutions, modifications, additions, rearrangements, or combinations thereof within the scope of the disclosure may be made in light of the disclosure, and will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

In accordance with common practice, the various features shown in the drawings may not be drawn to scale. The illustrations presented herein are not meant to be actual views of any particular apparatus (e.g., device, system, etc.) or method, but are merely idealized representations which are employed to describe various embodiments of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily expanded or reduced for clarity. In addition, some of the drawings may be simplified for clarity. Thus, the drawings may not depict all of the components of a given apparatus or all of the operations of a particular method.

Information and signals described herein 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 referenced throughout the specification may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof. For purposes of clarity of presentation and description, some of the figures may show a signal as a single signal. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the signal may represent a bus signal, where the bus may have various bit widths, and that the present disclosure may be implemented on any number of data signals, including a single data signal.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and acts have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure described herein.

In addition, it is noted that the embodiments may be described in terms of processes that are depicted as flowcharts, flow diagrams, structure diagrams, signaling diagrams, or block diagrams. Although a flowchart or signaling diagram may describe the operational steps as a sequential process, many of the steps can be performed in another order, in parallel, or substantially concurrently. In addition, the order of the steps may be rearranged. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. Furthermore, the methods disclosed herein may be implemented in hardware, software, or both. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more computer-readable instructions (e.g., software code) on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media (i.e., non-transitory media) and communication media, including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another.

Low latency is a key parameter in LTE development. Due to the nature of the internet protocol, lower latency over the wireless interface is used to achieve higher data rates and carrier aggregation enhancements. With the recent increase in data rates in LTE, it is important to ensure that the delay evolves in a similar manner. In addition, lower latency should also enable support of new applications. Some contemplated applications (e.g., traffic safety/control and control of critical infrastructure and industrial processes) may employ very low latency. Examples of techniques for providing low latency in LTE systems include immediate uplink access, Transmission Time Interval (TTI) shortening (to 7, 2, or even 1 OFDM symbol), and processing time reduction in terminals (e.g., UEs) and base stations (e.g., enbs).

It should be noted that the shortened TTI should suitably co-exist with the legacy TTI. That is, the multiplexing of the regular resource allocation and the TTI-shortened resource allocation should have minimal impact on each other. Conventional approaches to support this coexistence rely on puncturing the shortened TTI Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) into the legacy PDSCH region or Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) between the shortened TTI and the legacy TTI. The puncturing option for legacy PDSCH regions is generally efficient in terms of resource utilization, since both shortened TTI and legacy TTI PDSCH can be scheduled as needed. However, puncturing a PDSCH with a shortened TTI to a PDSCH with a legacy TTI may result in strong intra-cell interference on the received PDSCH. Therefore, PDSCH puncturing at the UE receiver should be handled appropriately to reduce the impact of such interference.

In various embodiments, an evolved node b (enb) should support simultaneous operation of downlink PDSCH with normal TTI and shortened TTI. More specifically, PDSCHs with different TTIs should be multiplexed with each other within a single downlink subframe. The resource allocation of the PDSCH with shortened TTI may be wideband due to the limited number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. As a result, the PDSCH with the normal TTI may be punctured with the PDSCH with the shortened TTI, as shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 1 is a simplified diagram of a normal TTI PDSCH 110 punctured with a shortened TTI PDSCH 112. As shown in fig. 1, the shortened TTI PDSCH 112 overlaps the normal TTI PDSCH 110 in both bandwidth and time. For legacy User Equipment (UE) receiving the normal TTI PDSCH 110, the bits punctured by the shortened TTI PDSCH 112 will not be received correctly because they have been punctured.

In 3GPP, an input bit sequence before turbo coding may be segmented into two or more code blocks depending on the size of a transport block. Segmentation is applied when the transport block size is larger than 6144 bits. The segmented coded bit sequence is represented as

Segmentation may not be used if the transport block size is less than or equal to 6144 bits.

Fig. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a convolutional turbo code 200 for LTE. The convolutional turbo code 200 is a systematic parallel concatenated convolutional code comprising two eight-state component encoders 230 and one turbo code inner interleaver 240. Each component encoder 230 is independently terminated by tail bits.

For an input block size of K bits (i.e., "systematic bits," or equivalently, "information bits"), the output of the turbo encoder includes three streams of length K corresponding to the systematic bits and two parity bit streams (sometimes referred to herein as "systematic" bits, "parity 1" bits, and "parity 2" bits, respectively), and 12 tail bits resulting from trellis termination. Multiplexing of systematic bits and parity bits is described in the current 3GPP standard. After encoding according to the standard, the parity bits are interleaved using sub-block interleaving and multiplexed in the coded bit sequence, as shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating interleaving and multiplexing of coded bits 312, 314, 316 (sometimes referred to herein as systematic bits 312, parity 1 bits 314, and parity 2 bits 316, respectively). Systematic bits 312 are input into convolutional turbo code 200 of fig. 2, and systematic bits 312, parity 1 bits 314, and parity 2 bits 316 are output by convolutional turbo code 200. The parity bits (parity 1 and parity 2) are interleaved and multiplexed (320) to produce interleaved parity bits 318. The resulting coded bits 312, 318 include systematic bits 312 and interleaved parity bits 318. Systematic bits 312 are not interleaved with parity bits.

The coded bits 312, 318 are then modulated according to one or more modulation schemes (e.g., QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, 256QAM, etc.). The modulated coded bits are then mapped on PDSCH resource elements in a frequency-first order. In other words, the modulated coded bits are mapped to PDSCH resource elements on all subcarriers in one OFDM symbol and then traverse the OFDM symbol. As a result, one or more OFDM symbols may be heavily loaded with modulated coded bits corresponding to systematic bits 312, rather than modulated coded bits corresponding to parity 1 bits 314 and parity 2 bits 316.

The systematic bits and parity bits will be unevenly distributed over the OFDM symbol, taking into account the multiplexing of coded bits and the frequency-first mapping of PDSCH to Resource Element (RE) mapping. For example, some OFDM symbols may carry more systematic bits 312, while other OFDM symbols may carry more parity bits 314, 316. With such an uneven distribution, PDSCH puncturing of symbols containing a large fraction of the systematic bits 312 will degrade PDSCH performance, since even assuming that enough non-punctured parity bits 314, 316 are received to reconstruct the systematic bits 312, using the parity bits to reconstruct the punctured systematic bits 312 at the receiving UE will be computationally more intensive than if the systematic bits 312 were received.

Disclosed herein are apparatuses for an eNB configured to provide normal TTI PDSCH communication with puncturing for low TTI PDSCH communication, but which are more robust to the drawbacks of puncturing than legacy enbs.

In some embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable instructions stored thereon is disclosed. The computer readable instructions are configured to: the at least one processor is instructed to map communication data comprising systematic bits and parity bits to resource elements of an Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol. The parity bits are generated from the systematic bits. The computer readable instructions are further configured to: the at least one processor is instructed to map other communication data to a shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbol having a shorter TTI than a TTI of the OFDM symbol. The computer readable instructions are further configured to: the at least one processor is instructed to puncture at least a portion of the OFDM symbol with the shortened TTI symbol and to control the communication device to transmit the OFDM symbol and the shortened TTI symbol. Mapping of the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbol and puncturing of at least a portion of the OFDM symbol is performed such that a ratio of a number of punctured systematic bits to a number of punctured parity bits is approximately equal to or less than a ratio of a number of systematic bits in the communication data to a number of parity bits in the communication data.

In some embodiments, an apparatus for an evolved node b (enb) is disclosed that includes one or more processors and one or more data storage devices operably coupled to the one or more processors. One or more data storage devices include computer readable instructions stored thereon. The computer readable instructions are configured to: the one or more processors are instructed to generate information related to a degree of puncturing of soft channel bits of a previously transmitted orthogonal frequency domain multiplexed OFDM symbol that has been punctured with a shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbol. The shortened TTI symbol has a shorter TTI than the TTI of the OFDM symbol. The information is configured to: enabling a User Equipment (UE) to disable soft combining of soft channel bits with retransmission bits of an OFDM symbol for a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process in response to a degree of puncturing of the soft channel bits being greater than a predetermined threshold. The computer readable instructions are further configured to: the communication device is controlled to transmit the information.

In some embodiments, an apparatus for an evolved node B is disclosed that includes a communication device and control circuitry. The control circuit is configured to: an Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol including a plurality of code blocks is punctured with a shortened Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol having a shorter Transmission Time Interval (TTI) than the TTI of the OFDM symbol. The plurality of code blocks are punctured in a first order. The control circuit is further configured to: the communication device is controlled to transmit the OFDM symbols to a User Equipment (UE). The control circuit is further configured to: puncturing the plurality of code blocks for retransmission, wherein the plurality of code blocks are punctured in a second order different from the first order; and controlling the communication device to retransmit the OFDM symbols that were subject to puncturing according to the second order in a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process.

In some embodiments, an apparatus for a User Equipment (UE) is disclosed. The UE includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU) configured to: processes OFDM symbols received from an evolved node b (eNB) and processes information received from the eNB. The information relates to a degree of puncturing of soft channel bits of a previously transmitted OFDM symbol punctured with a shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbol. The shortened TTI symbol has a shorter TTI than the TTI of the OFDM symbol. The UE further includes baseband circuitry configured to: enabling a User Equipment (UE) to disable soft combining of soft channel bits with retransmission bits of an OFDM symbol for a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process in response to a degree of puncturing of the soft channel bits being greater than a predetermined threshold.

Fig. 4 is a simplified block diagram of a wireless communication system 400 according to some embodiments. The wireless communication system 400 includes an evolved node b (enb)410 (also sometimes referred to herein as a "base station" 410) and User Equipment (UE)420 (e.g., cellular communication enabled electronic devices). The base station 410 includes communication elements 418 (e.g., antennas, transmit circuitry, receive circuitry, etc.) configured to wirelessly communicate with communication elements 428 (e.g., communication devices) of the UE 420.

The base station 410 and the UE 420 include control circuitry 412, 422, respectively, configured to perform the functions of the embodiments described herein. As a non-limiting example, the control circuitry 412, 422 is configured to: one or more of various methods are employed to minimize the performance loss of PDSCH with normal TTI due to PDSCH puncturing by PDSCH with shortened TTI. For example, in some embodiments, the control circuitry 412 is configured to: at least one of punctured interleaving or randomization between systematic bits and parity bits is employed. In some embodiments, such interleaving or randomization may be performed by first performing PDSCH mapping in the time domain (over OFDM symbols). In some embodiments, such interleaving or randomization may be achieved by additional interleaving and/or multiplexing on the systematic and parity bits. As a result, more equally distributed punctured bits may correspond to parity bits 318 rather than a non-uniform amount of punctured bits corresponding to systematic bits (e.g., 1/3 systematic bits 312, 1/3 parity 1 bits 314, and 1/3 parity 2 bits 316; 1/2 systematic bits 312 and 1/2 parity bits 318). In some embodiments, puncturing and/or mapping may be performed such that less than or equal to half of the punctured bits correspond to systematic bits (e.g., excluding the systematic bits being punctured). In some embodiments, puncturing and/or mapping may be performed such that less than or equal to one-third of the punctured bits correspond to systematic bits.

Another approach that the control circuitry 412 may employ to minimize the performance loss of PDSCH with normal TTI due to PDSCH puncturing by PDSCH with shortened TTI is to employ PDSCH mapping starting from protected OFDM symbols that do not use PDSCH puncturing. In other words, some normal TTI OFDM symbols are reserved, and the reserved OFDM symbols are not punctured. Systematic bits 312 (e.g., the most critical systematic bits 312) may be mapped to these reserved OFDM symbols first, so that systematic bits 312 are not interfered with.

Yet another approach that the control circuitry 412 may employ to minimize the performance loss of PDSCH with normal TTI due to PDSCH puncturing by PDSCH with shortened TTI is to employ transmitting information related to the degree of puncturing of soft channel bits of previously transmitted OFDM symbols that have been punctured with low TTI symbols. The information is configured to: the UE is enabled to disable soft combining of the soft channel bits with retransmission bits of the OFDM symbol for a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process in response to a degree of puncturing of the soft channel bits being greater than a predetermined threshold. In other words, the control circuitry may utilize control signaling scheduling to clear previously received soft channel bits (flush) for a given HARQ process (disabling of soft combining). Thus, the UE 420 may not consume its resources to attempt to combine heavily punctured OFDM symbols that do not include the expected information with retransmissions of OFDM symbols that may include the expected information. As a result, efficiency can be improved.

The control circuitry 422 of the UE 420 is configured to: the OFDM symbols transmitted by the eNB 410 are processed. In embodiments where the eNB transmits information related to the degree of puncturing of soft channel bits of a previously transmitted OFDM symbol, the control circuitry 422 may disable soft combining of the soft channel bits with retransmission bits in response to the degree of puncturing of the soft channel bits being greater than a predetermined threshold.

If multiple code blocks (i.e., transport block sizes greater than 6144 bits) are used to transmit PDSCH, yet another approach that the control circuitry 412 may employ to minimize the performance loss of PDSCH with normal TTI due to PDSCH puncturing by PDSCH with shortened TTI is to employ reordering of the code blocks for HARQ retransmission. In other words, the order of the code blocks used for HARQ retransmission may be different from the order of the code blocks in the initial transmission. Thus, given the puncturing pattern used by eNB 410, because the code blocks are subject to different orders of puncturing patterns, different bits of an OFDM symbol may be punctured in a retransmission as compared to an initial transmission. As a result, since the heavily punctured code blocks are alternately retransmitted, the number of retransmissions of the code blocks can be reduced.

The control circuitry 412, 422 may be configured to perform one or more processes. As a non-limiting example, the control circuitry 412, 422 may be configured to perform one or more of the methods 500, 600, 800, 900, 1300, 1400, 1500, and 1600 illustrated in fig. 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, and 16, respectively. As non-limiting examples, these functions may be performed using application circuitry 1202 (fig. 12), baseband circuitry 1204 (fig. 12), hardware resources 1100 (fig. 11), other circuitry, or a combination thereof.

The control circuitry 412, 422 includes one or more processors 414, 424 (sometimes referred to herein as "processors" 414, 424) operatively coupled to one or more data storage devices 416, 426 (sometimes referred to herein as "storage" 416, 426). The processors 414, 424 include any one of a Central Processing Unit (CPU), microcontroller, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), programmable device, other processing device, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the processors 414, 424 also include one or more hardware elements (not shown) configured to: at least a portion of the functions that the control circuitry 412, 422 is configured to perform are performed. As non-limiting examples, the processors 414, 424 may include Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), system-on-chips (SOCs), array of logic gates, array of programmable logic gates (e.g., Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)), other hardware elements, or a combination thereof. Processors 414, 424 are configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored on storage 416, 426.

The storage 416, 426 may include non-transitory computer readable storage media. As non-limiting examples, storage 416, 426 includes volatile storage (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM)), non-volatile storage (e.g., Read Only Memory (ROM)), or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the processors 414, 424 may be configured to: computer readable instructions stored in the non-volatile storage of storage 416, 426 are transferred to the volatile storage of storage 416, 426 for execution. As non-limiting examples, storage 416, 426 may include dynamic ram (dram), Electrically Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), hard drives, solid state drives, flash drives, magnetic disks, removable media (e.g., memory cards, thumb drives, optical disks, etc.), or other storage devices.

The computer readable instructions stored on the storage 416, 426 are configured to: the command processors 414, 424 perform at least a portion of the operations that the control circuits 412, 422 are configured to perform. As a non-limiting example, the computer readable instructions may be configured to: the command processors 414, 424 perform one or more of the methods 500, 600, 800, 900, 1300, 1400, 1500, and 1600 shown in fig. 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, and 16, respectively. Further description of examples of the control circuits 412, 422 is provided below with reference to fig. 11 and 12.

Fig. 5 is a simplified flowchart 500 illustrating a method of operating eNB 410 (fig. 4) in accordance with some embodiments. The method 500 includes: communication data comprising systematic bits and parity bits is mapped (510) to resource elements of an OFDM symbol. Parity bits are generated from the systematic bits (e.g., using convolutional turbo code 200 of fig. 2). The method 500 further includes: mapping (520) other communication data to shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbols. The method 500 further includes: at least a portion of the OFDM symbol is punctured with the shortened TTI symbol (530).

Mapping (520) of the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbol and puncturing (530) of at least a portion of the OFDM symbol is performed such that a ratio of a number of punctured systematic bits to a number of punctured parity bits is approximately equal to a ratio of a number of systematic bits in the communication data to a number of parity bits in the communication data (e.g., in embodiments with an equal number of systematic bits, parity 1 bits, and parity 2 bits, the ratio may be approximately 1/3). In some embodiments, puncturing (530) at least a portion of an OFDM symbol with a shortened TTI symbol comprises: bits of at least a portion of the OFDM symbol are randomly punctured. In some embodiments, mapping (520) communication data to resource elements of an OFDM symbol includes: the parity bits are interleaved with the systematic bits within the OFDM symbol. In some embodiments, mapping (520) communication data to resource elements of an OFDM symbol includes: communication data is first mapped to resource elements of an OFDM symbol in the time domain on the OFDM symbol.

In some embodiments, mapping (520) communication data to resource elements of an OFDM symbol and puncturing (530) at least a portion of the OFDM symbol comprises: reserving some OFDM symbols, puncturing only unreserved OFDM symbols with shortened TTI symbols, and mapping systematic bits of communication data to reserved OFDM symbols before mapping remaining systematic bits to unreserved OFDM symbols. In other words, the PDSCH is mapped starting from a protected OFDM symbol that does not use PDSCH puncturing. An example of such an embodiment is shown in fig. 7. In some embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: a subset of the systematic bits are identified as significant systematic bits and the significant systematic bits are mapped to reserved OFDM symbols before other systematic bits are mapped to reserved OFDM symbols.

In some embodiments, mapping (520) communication data to resource elements of an OFDM symbol includes: the communication data is mapped to the resource elements of the OFDM symbols in an order different from the uniformly increasing order of the OFDM symbol indexes. In some embodiments, mapping the communication data to the resource elements of the OFDM symbols in an order different from the uniformly increasing order of the OFDM symbol indices comprises: communication data is mapped to resource elements of OFDM symbols in an order of 4, 7, 8, 11, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13 symbol indices within a subframe.

The method 500 further includes: the OFDM symbols and shortened TTI symbols are transmitted (540) to one or more User Equipments (UEs).

In some embodiments, a punctured randomization between systematic and parity bits may be used. This can be done by first performing PDSCH mapping (traversing OFDM symbols) in the time domain. The mapping of resource elements (k, I) on antenna ports p that are not reserved for other purposes is ordered in ascending order by index I, starting with the first slot in the sub-frame and then ordered with respect to index k on the assigned physical resource block.

In some embodiments, additional interleaving and/or multiplexing on the systematic and parity bits may be used instead of or in addition to first mapping in the time domain. An example of such a method is shown in fig. 6.

Fig. 6 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating an example of a multiplexing 600 of systematic bits 612 and parity bits 614, 616 according to some embodiments. Systematic bits 612 are input into convolutional turbo code 200 of fig. 2, and systematic bits 612, parity 1 bits 614, and parity 2 bits 614 are output by convolutional turbo code 200. The parity bits (parity 1 and parity 2) are interleaved (620) to produce interleaved parity bits 618. The resulting coded bits 612, 618 include systematic bits 612 and interleaved parity bits 618.

Systematic bits 612 and parity bits 618 are then interleaved and multiplexed (630) to produce coded bits 632. Coded bits 632 include systematic bits 612 and parity bits 618 interleaved together. Thus, even though the code bits 632 are mapped to resource elements in ascending order with respect to index k, they may be evenly punctured over those code bits 632 corresponding to systematic bits 612, parity 1 bits 614, and parity 2 bits 616. As a result, punctured OFDM symbols will not necessarily be heavily loaded with systematic bits 612, and reconstruction of systematic bits 612 with parity bits 618 may be less employed at the receiver, thereby improving overall efficiency.

Fig. 7 is a simplified diagram of an example of the location of reserved OFDM symbols 750 according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, the PDSCH may have a shortened TTI that will overlap with Zero Power (ZP) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources. In such embodiments, some OFDM symbols of PDSCH with normal TTI may never be punctured (e.g., reserved OFDM symbol 750) and, thus, may be more protected than other OFDM symbols. In such an embodiment, the PDSCH resource element mapping for the normal TTI should be modified in such a way that the more important systematic bits are placed on the reserved OFDM symbols 750 first. The remaining bits may be placed on other OFDM symbols, which may be punctured with PDSCH with shortened TTI. For example, PDSCH resource element mapping may be mapped to OFDM symbols in the order of 4, 7, 8, 11, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, as shown in fig. 7.

Fig. 8 is a simplified flowchart illustrating a method 800 of operating eNB 410 (fig. 4) in accordance with some embodiments. The method 800 comprises: one or more OFDM symbols are punctured (810) with one or more shortened TTI symbols. The method 800 further comprises: the OFDM symbols and shortened TTI symbols are transmitted (820) to one or more UEs. The method 800 further comprises: information relating to a degree of puncturing of soft channel bits of a previously transmitted OFDM symbol is transmitted (830) to one or more UEs. In some embodiments, transmitting (830) information related to a degree of puncturing comprises: this information is sent in a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message. The method 800 further comprises: retransmitting (840) one or more OFDM symbols.

The information is configured to: enabling the one or more UEs to disable soft combining of the soft channel bits with retransmission bits of the one or more OFDM symbols for the HARQ process in response to the degree of puncturing of the soft channel bits being greater than a predetermined threshold. In some embodiments, the predetermined threshold is about 30%. In some embodiments, the predetermined threshold is 0% (e.g., if puncturing occurs on the first transmission, the OFDM symbol should not be used for combining with retransmission). The predetermined threshold may depend on the eNB implementation and the Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS) used. For example, if the encoding rate is relatively low (e.g., 1/6), a relatively high threshold may be used. If the encoding rate is relatively high (e.g., 3/4), a relatively low threshold (e.g., 5%) may be used.

In some embodiments, the information related to the degree of puncturing may indicate the degree of puncturing, which particular resource elements have been punctured, other information, or a combination thereof. In such embodiments, the UE itself may determine whether and which soft bits should be used for combining with retransmission bits in a HARQ process.

In some embodiments, the PDSCH is scheduled with control signaling (e.g., using a (DCI) message) that indicates that previously received soft channel bits for a given HARQ process should be cleared (disabling of soft combining). Thus, the information related to the degree of puncturing of the soft channel bits may include a command or indicator indicating whether the soft channel bits should be used for re-combining in the HARQ process. In some embodiments, the DCI message may instruct the UE to clear previously received soft channel bits for a given HARQ process. The DCI message may instruct the UE not to perform soft combining of the scheduled PDSCH with the previously transmitted PDSCH. This operation may be used if significant puncturing is used in the original PDSCH transmission. Considering that the eNB may not be aware of the potential PDSCH puncturing during the scheduling decision, this approach will help the eNB to indicate to the UE that the previous PDSCH transmission does not include information that should be used for soft bit combining.

Fig. 9 is a simplified flowchart illustrating a method 900 of operating an eNB in accordance with some embodiments. The method 900 includes: an OFDM symbol including a plurality of code blocks is punctured with low TTI symbols (910). The plurality of code blocks are punctured in a first order. The method 900 further comprises: the OFDM symbols are transmitted (920) to the UE.

The method 900 further comprises: the plurality of code blocks are punctured (930) for retransmission, wherein the plurality of code blocks are subject to puncturing in a second order different from the first order. The method 900 includes: retransmitting (940) the OFDM symbols subject to puncturing according to the second order in the HARQ process.

Fig. 10 is a simplified diagram 1000 of an example ordering of code blocks 1060 for HARQ retransmission according to the method 900 of fig. 9. If multiple code blocks 1060 are used (i.e., transport block 1070 size is larger than 6144 bits) to transmit PDSCH, the order of the code blocks for HARQ retransmission may be different from the order of the code blocks in the initial transmission. In fig. 10, the code block 1060 for the different transmissions has an index of k₀,k₁,...,k_C-1}、{i₀,i₁,...,i_C-1And j₀,j₁,...,j_C-1Represents it. Thus, in some embodiments, the order of the code blocks may be different for each successive transmission of the HARQ process.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some example embodiments. In particular, fig. 11 shows a diagram of a hardware resource 1100 that includes one or more processors (or processor cores) 1110, one or more memory/storage devices 1120, and one or more communication resources 1130, each communicatively coupled via a bus 1140.

Processor 1110 (e.g., a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, a Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) (e.g., a baseband processor), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC), other processors, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, processor 1112 and processor 1114. Memory/storage 1120 may include a main memory, a disk memory, or any suitable combination thereof.

Communication resources 1130 may include interconnection and/or network interface components or other suitable devices that communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1104 and/or one or more databases 1106 via a network 1108. For example, communication resources 1130 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, Near Field Communication (NFC) components, a wireless communication component, and a wireless communication component,

Components (e.g. low power consumption)

)、

Components and other communication components.

The instructions 1150 may include software, programs, applications, applets, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1110 to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein. The instructions 1150 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processor 1110 (e.g., a cache memory of the processor), the memory/storage 1120, or any suitable combination thereof. Further, any portion of instructions 1150 may be communicated to hardware resources 1100 from any combination of peripherals 1104 and/or database 1106. Thus, the memory of processor 1110, memory/storage 1120, peripherals 1104, and database 1106 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media. As a non-limiting example, the instructions 1150 may be configured to: instructs any of the processors 1110 to perform any of the operations or functions discussed herein.

As used herein, the term "circuitry" or "processing circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include: an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, the circuitry may comprise logic that operates, at least in part, in hardware.

The embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using suitably configured hardware and/or software. Fig. 12 illustrates example components of an electronic device 1200 with respect to some embodiments. In some embodiments, the electronic device 1200 may be, may implement, may incorporate, or may be part of the following: a User Equipment (UE) (e.g., UE 420 of fig. 4), a cellular base station (e.g., base station 110 of fig. 1), or some other suitable electronic device. In some embodiments, the electronic device 1200 may include application circuitry 1202, baseband circuitry 1204, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 1206, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 1208, and one or more antennas 1210 coupled together as at least shown in fig. 12.

The application circuitry 1202 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 1202 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processor may be coupled to and/or may include memory/storage and may be configured to: the instructions stored in the memory/storage are executed to enable various applications and/or operating systems to run on the system.

The baseband circuitry 1204 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Baseband circuitry 1204 may include one or more baseband processors and/or control logic to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of RF circuitry 1206 and to generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of RF circuitry 1206. Baseband processing circuitry 1204 may interface with application circuitry 1202 for generating and processing baseband signals and controlling operation of RF circuitry 1206. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1204 may include a second generation (2G) baseband processor 1204A, a third generation (3G) baseband processor 1204B, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 1204C, and/or other baseband processors 1204D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., fifth generation (5G), 6G, etc.). The baseband circuitry 1204 (e.g., one or more of the baseband processors 1204A-D) may process various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 1206. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, and the like. In some embodiments, the modulation/demodulation circuitry of baseband circuitry 1204 may include Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, and/or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, the encoding/decoding circuitry of baseband circuitry 1204 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, viterbi, and/or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functions are not limited to these examples, and other suitable functions may be included in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 1204 may include elements of a protocol stack, such as elements of an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) protocol, including, for example, Physical (PHY) elements, Medium Access Control (MAC) elements, Radio Link Control (RLC) elements, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) elements, and/or Radio Resource Control (RRC) elements. The Central Processing Unit (CPU)1204E of the baseband circuitry 1204 may be configured to: elements of the protocol stack are run for signaling of the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, and/or RRC layer. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1204 may include one or more audio Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) 1204F. The audio DSP 1204F may include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.

The baseband circuitry 1204 may also include memory/storage 1204G. The memory/storage 1204G may be used for loading and storing data and/or instructions for operations performed by the processor of the baseband circuitry 1204. Memory/storage 1204G for one embodiment may comprise any combination of suitable volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory. Memory/storage 1204G may include any combination of various levels of memory/storage, including but not limited to Read Only Memory (ROM) with embedded software instructions (e.g., firmware), random access memory (e.g., Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM)), cache, buffers, and the like. The memory/storage 1204G may be shared among the various processors or may be dedicated to a particular processor.

In some embodiments, the components of the baseband circuitry 1204 may be combined in a single chip, in a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board, as appropriate. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 1204 and the application circuitry 1202 may be implemented together, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1204 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 1204 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) and/or other Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMANs), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), or Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 1204 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

The RF circuitry 1206 may enable communication with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 1206 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, and the like to facilitate communication with the wireless network. The RF circuitry 1206 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1208 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 1204. The RF circuitry 1206 may further include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry to upconvert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 1204 and provide an RF output signal to the FEM circuitry 1208 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 1206 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RF circuit 1206 may include a mixer circuit 1206A, an amplifier circuit 1206B, and a filter circuit 1206C. The transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1206 may include a filter circuit 1206C and a mixer circuit 1206A. The RF circuitry 1206 may further include synthesizer circuitry 1206D to synthesize the frequencies used by the mixer circuitry 1206A for the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1206A of the receive signal path may be configured to: the RF signals received from the FEM circuits 1208 are downconverted based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 1206D. The amplifier circuit 1206B may be configured to: the downconverted signal is amplified, and the filter circuit 1206C may be a Low Pass Filter (LPF) or a Band Pass Filter (BPF) configured to: unwanted signals are removed from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuitry 1204 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, but this is not required. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1206A of the receive signal path may comprise a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1206A of the transmit signal path may be configured to: the input baseband signal is upconverted based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 1206D to generate an RF output signal for the FEM circuit 1208. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuitry 1204 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 1206C. Filter circuit 1206C may include a Low Pass Filter (LPF), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1206A of the receive signal path and mixer circuit 1206A of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1206A of the receive signal path and mixer circuit 1206A of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1206A of the receive signal path and mixer circuit 1206A of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1206A of the receive signal path and mixer circuit 1206A of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these embodiments, the RF circuitry 1206 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry, and the baseband circuitry 1204 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 1206.

In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 1206D may be a fractional M synthesizer or a fractional N/N +1 synthesizer, although the scope of embodiments is not so limited as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, the synthesizer circuit 1206D may be a sigma-delta synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase locked loop with a frequency divider.

The synthesizer circuit 1206D may be configured to: the output frequency used by the mixer circuit 1206A of the RF circuit 1206 is synthesized based on the frequency input and the divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 1206D may be a fractional N/N +1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO), but this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuitry 1204 or the application circuitry 1202, depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., M) may be determined from a look-up table based on the channel indicated by the application circuitry 1202.

The synthesizer circuit 1206D of the RF circuit 1206 may include a divider, a Delay Locked Loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual-mode divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a Digital Phase Accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to: the input signal is divided by N or N +1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to decompose the VCO period into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 1206D may be configured to: a carrier frequency is generated as the output frequency, while in other embodiments the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate a plurality of signals at the carrier frequency having a plurality of different phases relative to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a Local Oscillator (LO) frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 1206 may include an IQ/polar converter.

The FEM circuitry 1208 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from the one or more antennas 1210, amplify the received signals, and provide amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1206 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 1208 may further include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals provided by the RF circuitry 1206 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 1210.

In some embodiments, FEM circuitry 1208 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 1208 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 1208 may include a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 1206). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 1208 may include: a Power Amplifier (PA) to amplify an input RF signal (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 1206); and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 1210).

In some embodiments, electronic device 1200 may include additional elements, such as memory/storage, a display, a camera, sensors, and/or input/output (I/O) interfaces.

In embodiments where the electronic device 1200 is, implements, is incorporated into, or is part of a base station or UE, the RF circuitry 1206 may be configured to receive and transmit signals. The baseband circuitry 1204 may be configured to implement the cellular base station 410 (fig. 4), the UE 420 (fig. 4), some other embodiments or examples disclosed herein, or a combination thereof.

In some embodiments, electronic device 1200 of fig. 12 may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, and/or methods as described herein, or portions thereof. For example, electronic device 1200 of fig. 12 may be configured to implement cellular base station 410 (fig. 4), UE 420 (fig. 4), some other embodiments or examples disclosed herein, or a combination thereof.

In embodiments where the electronic device 1200 is a User Equipment (UE)420, implementing a UE, incorporated in or part of the UE, the baseband circuitry 1204 and/or the RF circuitry 1206 may be configured to: segmenting an input bit sequence for a PDSCH transmission over a first plurality of code blocks having a first order; transmitting a PDSCH transmission via a first plurality of code blocks; receiving a request for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission of a PDSCH transmission based on transmission of a first plurality of code blocks; segmenting an input bit sequence for PDSCH transmissions on a second plurality of code blocks having a second order different from the first order; and sending the PDSCH transmission via the second plurality of code blocks.

The eNB may determine a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) mapping in the time domain over one or more OFDM symbols based on communications with the UE, wherein the PDSCH mapping would indicate that resource elements on antenna ports not reserved for other purposes increase in order of a first index of resource elements from a first slot in a subframe and then increase in a second index of resource elements on the assigned one or more physical resource blocks. The baseband circuitry 1204 may control the RF circuitry 1206 to receive PDSCH transmissions according to the PDSCH mapping.

In some embodiments, circuitry of apparatus 1200 (e.g., baseband circuitry 1204 and/or RF circuitry 1206) may be configured to: receiving a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) transmission comprising a first plurality of code blocks, wherein the first plurality of code blocks has a first order; sending a request for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission of the PDSCH transmission based on the received PDSCH transmission; and receiving, based on the request, a retransmission of the PDSCH transmission that includes a second plurality of code blocks having a second order that is different from the first order.

In embodiments where the electronic device 1200 is a User Equipment (UE), implementing the UE, incorporating the UE, or a portion thereof, the baseband circuitry 1204 may generate a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) mapping in the time domain over one or more OFDM symbols, where the PDSCH mapping would indicate that resource elements on antenna ports not reserved for other purposes increase in order of a first index of resource elements from a first slot in a subframe and then increase in a second index of resource elements over the assigned one or more physical resource blocks. The baseband circuitry 1204 may control the RF circuitry 1206 to transmit the PDSCH mapping to the UE and to transmit one or more PDSCH transmissions according to the PDSCH mapping.

In some embodiments, the process may include: identifying or causing to be identified a received Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) transmission comprising a first plurality of code blocks, wherein the first plurality of code blocks has a first order; and identifying or causing identification of a retransmission of a PDSCH transmission comprising a second plurality of code blocks having a second order different from the first order.

In some embodiments, electronic device 1200 of fig. 12 may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, and/or methods as described herein, or portions thereof. One such method 1300 (i.e., process) is depicted in fig. 13. Fig. 13 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a method 1300 of operating an eNB in accordance with some embodiments. For example, method 1300 may include: the UE is configured (1310) in a higher layer to receive a robust PDSCH transmission from a serving cell or eNB. The method 1300 may further include: an indication of robust PDSCH scheduling is signaled (1320) to the UE by the serving cell. The indication may be sent to the UE over a control channel of the serving cell. The process may include: one or more robust PDSCH transmissions are transmitted (1330) according to scheduling information transmitted on a control channel of a serving cell.

In some embodiments, electronic device 1200 of fig. 12 may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, and/or methods as described herein, or portions thereof. One such method 1400 is depicted in fig. 14. Fig. 14 is a simplified flowchart illustrating a method 1400 of operating an eNB in accordance with some embodiments. For example, method 1400 may include: segmenting or causing to be segmented (1410) an input bit sequence of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) transmission over a first plurality of code blocks having a first order; transmitting or causing to be transmitted (1420) a first plurality of code blocks; segmenting or causing to be segmented (1430) input bit sequences of PDSCH transmissions on a second plurality of code blocks having a second order different from the first order; and transmitting or causing to be transmitted (1440) the second plurality of code blocks as a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission.

In some embodiments, electronic device 1200 of fig. 12 may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, and/or methods as described herein, or portions thereof. One such method 1500 is depicted in fig. 15. Fig. 15 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a method 1500 of operating a UE in accordance with some embodiments. For example, the method 1500 may include: a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) mapping in the time domain over one or more OFDM symbols is determined (1510) based on communications with the eNB. The PDSCH mapping may indicate that resource elements on antenna ports not reserved for other purposes increase in order of a first index of resource elements starting from a first slot in the subframe and then increase in a second index of resource elements on the assigned physical resource block or blocks. The method 1500 may further include: receiving (1520) a PDSCH transmission according to the PDSCH mapping.

In some embodiments, electronic device 1200 of fig. 12 may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, and/or methods as described herein, or portions thereof. One such method 1600 is depicted in fig. 16. Fig. 16 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a method 1600 of operating an eNB in accordance with some embodiments. For example, method 1600 may include: a PDSCH mapping in the time domain over one or more OFDM symbols is generated (1610). The PDSCH mapping may indicate that resource elements on antenna ports not reserved for other purposes increase in order of a first index of resource elements starting from a first slot in the subframe and then increase in a second index of resource elements on the assigned physical resource block or blocks. The method 1600 may include: the PDSCH mapping is sent (1620) to the UE, and one or more PDSCH transmissions are sent (1630) to the UE according to the PDSCH mapping.

Examples of the invention

The following is a list of example embodiments that fall within the scope of the present disclosure. In order to avoid complexity in providing the present disclosure, all examples listed below are not individually and explicitly disclosed as having been considered herein combinable with all other of the examples listed below and with other embodiments disclosed above. It is contemplated within the scope of the present disclosure that these examples and embodiments may be combined, unless one of ordinary skill in the art understands that these examples listed below and embodiments disclosed above may not be combined.

Example 1: a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions configured to instruct at least one processor to: mapping communication data comprising systematic bits and parity bits to resource elements of an Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, the parity bits being generated from the systematic bits; mapping other communication data to a shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbol having a shorter TTI than a TTI of the OFDM symbol; puncturing at least a portion of the OFDM symbol with the shortened TTI symbol; and controlling a communication device to transmit the OFDM symbol and the shortened TTI symbol; wherein the mapping of the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbol and the puncturing of at least a portion of the OFDM symbol are performed such that a ratio of a number of punctured systematic bits to a number of punctured parity bits is approximately equal to or less than a ratio of a number of systematic bits in the communication data to a number of parity bits in the communication data.

Example 2: the computer-readable storage media of example 1, wherein the computer-readable instructions are configured to instruct the at least one processor to: randomly puncturing bits of the at least a portion of the OFDM symbol.

Example 3: the computer-readable storage medium according to any of examples 1 and 2, wherein the computer-readable instructions are configured to instruct the at least one processor to: interleaving the parity bits with systematic bits within the OFDM symbol.

Example 4: the computer-readable storage medium according to any of examples 1-3, wherein the computer-readable instructions are configured to instruct the at least one processor to: the communication data is first mapped in the time domain to resource elements of the OFDM symbol on the OFDM symbol.

Example 5: the computer-readable storage medium according to any of examples 1 and 4, wherein the computer-readable instructions are configured to instruct the at least one processor to: reserving a plurality of OFDM symbols; utilizing the shortened TTI symbols to only punch non-reserved OFDM symbols; and mapping systematic bits of the communication data to reserved OFDM symbols before mapping remaining systematic bits to the unreserved OFDM symbols.

Example 6: the computer-readable storage media of example 5, wherein the computer-readable instructions are configured to instruct the at least one processor to: identifying a subset of the systematic bits as significant systematic bits; and mapping the significant systematic bits to the reserved OFDM symbols before mapping other systematic bits to the reserved OFDM symbols.

Example 7: the computer-readable storage medium according to any of examples 1-6, wherein the computer-readable instructions are configured to instruct the at least one processor to: mapping the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbols in an order different from an order in which OFDM symbol indexes uniformly increase.

Example 8: the computer-readable storage media of example 7, wherein the computer-readable instructions are configured to instruct the at least one processor to: mapping the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbol in an order of 4, 7, 8, 11, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13 symbol indices within a subframe.

Example 9: the computer-readable storage medium according to any of examples 1-8, wherein the computer-readable instructions are configured to instruct the at least one processor to: control the communication device to transmit downlink control information to one or more User Equipments (UEs), the downlink control information indicating: if a previously transmitted OFDM symbol is punctured at least at a puncturing threshold level, the previously transmitted OFDM symbol should not be used to soft combine the scheduled PDSCH with the previously received PDSCH at the user equipment for the same hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process.

Example 10: the computer-readable storage medium of example 9, wherein the puncturing threshold level is at least about thirty percent (30%) of OFDM symbols of the previously transmitted OFDM symbols.

Example 11: the computer-readable storage medium of example 9, wherein the puncturing threshold level is zero percent (0%) of OFDM symbols in the previously transmitted OFDM symbols.

Example 12: the computer-readable storage medium according to any of examples 9-11, wherein the computer-readable instructions are configured to instruct the at least one processor to: control the communication device to transmit the downlink control information in a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message.

Example 13: the computer-readable storage medium of any of examples 1-12, wherein an order in which code blocks of the OFDM symbol are subject to a puncturing pattern for a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process retransmission is different from a previous order in which code blocks of the OFDM symbol are subject to a puncturing pattern for a previous transmission.

Example 14: an apparatus for an evolved node b (enb), comprising: one or more processors; and one or more data storage devices operatively coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more data storage devices comprising computer-readable instructions stored thereon configured to instruct the one or more processors to: generating information related to a degree of puncturing of soft channel bits of a previously transmitted Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol that has been punctured with a shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbol having a shorter TTI than the TTI of the OFDM symbol, the information configured to: enabling a User Equipment (UE) to disable soft combining of the soft channel bits with retransmission bits of the OFDM symbol for a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process in response to a degree of puncturing of the soft channel bits being greater than a predetermined threshold; and controlling the communication device to transmit the information.

Example 15: the apparatus of example 14, wherein the predetermined threshold is approximately thirty percent (30%).

Example 16: the apparatus of example 14, wherein the predetermined threshold is approximately zero percent (0%).

Example 17: the apparatus of any of examples 14-16, wherein the information related to the degree of puncturing comprises an indicator indicating whether soft combining of the soft channel bits with retransmission bits of the OFDM symbol should be disabled or enabled by the UE for the HARQ process.

Example 18: the apparatus of any of examples 14-17, wherein the information related to the degree of puncturing indicates a degree of puncturing.

Example 19: the apparatus of any of examples 14-18, wherein the information related to the degree of puncturing indicates which soft channel bits were punctured.

Example 20: the apparatus of any of examples 14-19, wherein: the previously transmitted OFDM symbol includes a plurality of code blocks; code blocks of the previously transmitted OFDM symbols are subject to puncturing in a first order; and for the HARQ process, the retransmitted code blocks of the OFDM symbols are subject to puncturing in a second order different from the first order.

Example 21: an apparatus for an evolved node b (enb), comprising: a communication device; and a control circuit configured to: puncturing an Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol comprising a plurality of code blocks with a shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbol having a shorter TTI than a TTI of the OFDM symbol, the plurality of code blocks being subject to puncturing in a first order; control the communication device to transmit the OFDM symbols to a User Equipment (UE); puncturing the plurality of code blocks for retransmission, the plurality of code blocks being subject to puncturing in a second order different from the first order; and control the communication device to retransmit OFDM symbols subject to puncturing according to the second order in a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process.

Example 22: the apparatus of example 21, wherein the control circuitry is configured to: control the communications device to transmit information relating to a degree of puncturing of soft channel bits of the OFDM symbol to the UE, the information configured to: enabling the UE to disable soft combining of the soft channel bits with retransmission bits of OFDM symbols punctured according to the second order in response to a degree of puncturing of the soft channel bits being greater than a predetermined threshold.

Example 23: an apparatus for a User Equipment (UE), comprising baseband circuitry comprising one or more processors configured to: processing Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols received from an evolved node B (eNB); processing information received from the eNB relating to a degree of puncturing of soft channel bits of a previously transmitted OFDM symbol that has been punctured with a shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbol having a shorter TTI than the TTI of the OFDM symbol; and disabling soft combining of the soft channel bits with retransmission bits of the OFDM symbol for a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process in response to a degree of puncturing of the soft channel bits being greater than a predetermined threshold.

Example 24: the apparatus of example 23, wherein the information comprises a command instructing the UE to disable the soft combining.

Example 25: the apparatus of any of examples 23 and 24, wherein the information indicates a degree of puncturing, and the one or more processors are configured to: disabling the soft combining if the degree of puncturing is greater than the predetermined threshold.

Example 26: a method of operating an evolved node b (enb), the method comprising: mapping communication data comprising systematic bits and parity bits to resource elements of an Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, wherein the parity bits are generated from the systematic bits; mapping other communication data to a shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbol having a shorter TTI than a TTI of the OFDM symbol; puncturing at least a portion of the OFDM symbol with the shortened TTI symbol; and controlling a communication device of the eNB to transmit the OFDM symbol and the shortened TTI symbol; wherein the mapping of the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbol and the puncturing of at least a portion of the OFDM symbol are performed such that a ratio of a number of punctured systematic bits to a number of punctured parity bits is approximately equal to or less than a ratio of a number of systematic bits in the communication data to a number of parity bits in the communication data.

Example 27: the method of example 26, wherein puncturing at least a portion of the OFDM symbol comprises: randomly puncturing bits of the at least a portion of the OFDM symbol.

Example 28: the method according to any of examples 26 and 27, further comprising: interleaving the parity bits with systematic bits within an OFDM symbol prior to mapping the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbol.

Example 29: the method of any of examples 26-28, wherein mapping the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbols comprises: the communication data is first mapped in the time domain to resource elements of the OFDM symbol on the OFDM symbol.

Example 30: the method according to any of examples 26 and 29, further comprising: reserving a plurality of OFDM symbols; utilizing the shortened TTI symbols to only punch non-reserved OFDM symbols; and mapping systematic bits of the communication data to reserved OFDM symbols before mapping remaining systematic bits to the unreserved OFDM symbols.

Example 31: the method of example 30, further comprising: identifying a subset of the systematic bits as significant systematic bits; and mapping the significant systematic bits to the reserved OFDM symbols before mapping other systematic bits to the reserved OFDM symbols.

Example 32: the method of any of examples 26-31, wherein mapping the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbols comprises: mapping the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbols in an order different from an order in which OFDM symbol indexes uniformly increase.

Example 33: the method of example 32, mapping the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbols in an order different from an order in which OFDM symbol indices increase uniformly comprises: mapping the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbols in an order of 4, 7, 8, 11, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13 symbol indices within a subframe.

Example 34: the method according to any of examples 26-33, further comprising: control the communication device to transmit downlink control information to one or more User Equipments (UEs), the downlink control information indicating: if a previously transmitted OFDM symbol is punctured at least at a puncturing threshold level, the previously transmitted OFDM symbol should not be used to soft combine the scheduled PDSCH with the previously received PDSCH at the user equipment for the same hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process.

Example 35: the method of example 34, wherein the puncturing threshold level is at least about thirty percent (30%) of OFDM symbols of the previously transmitted OFDM symbols.

Example 36: the method of example 34, wherein the puncturing threshold level is zero percent (0%) of OFDM symbols in the previously transmitted OFDM symbols.

Example 37: the method of any of examples 34-36, wherein controlling the communication device to transmit downlink control information comprises: control the communication device to transmit the downlink control information in a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message.

Example 38: the method of any of examples 26-37, wherein puncturing at least a portion of the OFDM symbol with the shortened TTI symbol comprises: for a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process retransmission, puncturing code blocks of the OFDM symbols in a different order than a previous order in which the code blocks of the OFDM symbols were subject to puncturing for a previous transmission.

Example 39: a method of operating an evolved node b (enb), the method comprising: transmitting an Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol that has been punctured with a shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbol having a shorter TTI than a TTI of the OFDM symbol; transmitting information related to a degree of puncturing of soft channel bits of a transmitted OFDM symbol, the information configured to: enabling a User Equipment (UE) to disable soft combining of the soft channel bits with retransmission bits of the OFDM symbol for a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process in response to a degree of puncturing of the soft channel bits being greater than a predetermined threshold; and retransmitting the OFDM symbol for the HARQ process.

Example 40: the method of example 39, wherein the predetermined threshold is approximately thirty percent (30%).

Example 41: the method of example 39, wherein the predetermined threshold is approximately zero percent (0%).

Example 42: the method of any of examples 39-41, wherein transmitting information related to a degree of puncturing comprises: transmitting an indicator indicating whether the UE should disable or enable soft combining of the soft channel bits with retransmission bits of the OFDM symbol for the HARQ process.

Example 43: the method of any of examples 39-42, wherein transmitting information related to a degree of puncturing comprises: transmitting information indicating the degree of puncturing.

Example 44: the method of any of examples 39-43, wherein transmitting information related to a degree of puncturing comprises: information is sent indicating which soft channel bits are punctured.

Example 45: the method of any of examples 39-44, wherein transmitting the OFDM symbol comprises: transmitting an OFDM symbol comprising a plurality of code blocks, wherein the method further comprises: puncturing code blocks of the transmitted OFDM symbols in a first order; and puncturing code blocks of the retransmission of the OFDM symbol in a second order different from the first order.

Example 46: a method of operating an evolved node b (enb), the method comprising: puncturing an Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol comprising a plurality of code blocks with a shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbol having a shorter TTI than a TTI of the OFDM symbol, the plurality of code blocks being subject to puncturing in a first order; controlling a communication device to transmit the OFDM symbols to a User Equipment (UE); puncturing the plurality of code blocks for retransmission, the plurality of code blocks being subject to puncturing in a second order different from the first order; and retransmitting the OFDM symbols subject to puncturing according to the second order in a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process.

Example 47: the method of example 46, further comprising: transmitting information related to a degree of puncturing of soft channel bits of the OFDM symbol to the UE, the information configured to: enabling the UE to disable soft combining of the soft channel bits with retransmission bits of OFDM symbols punctured according to the second order in response to a degree of puncturing of the soft channel bits being greater than a predetermined threshold.

Example 48: a method of operating a User Equipment (UE), the method comprising: processing Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols received from an evolved node B (eNB); processing information received from the eNB relating to a degree of puncturing of soft channel bits of a previously transmitted OFDM symbol that has been punctured with a shortened Transmission Time Interval (TTI) symbol having a shorter TTI than the TTI of the OFDM symbol; and disabling soft combining of the soft channel bits with retransmission bits of the OFDM symbol for a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process in response to a degree of puncturing of the soft channel bits being greater than a predetermined threshold.

Example 49: the method of example 48, wherein processing the information received from the eNB comprises: processing a command instructing the UE to disable the soft combining.

Example 50: the method of any of examples 48 and 49, wherein processing the information received from the eNB comprises: processing information for determining whether the degree of puncturing is greater than the predetermined threshold.

Example 51: a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions configured to instruct a processor to perform at least a portion of a method according to any of examples 26-50.

Example 52: a unit for performing a method according to any of examples 26-50.

While certain illustrative embodiments have been described in connection with the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize and appreciate that the embodiments encompassed by the present disclosure are not limited to those embodiments explicitly shown and described herein. Rather, many additions, deletions, and modifications to the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the scope of the embodiments encompassed by the present disclosure (e.g., the embodiments claimed below, including legal equivalents). Additionally, as the inventors contemplate, features from one disclosed embodiment may be combined with features of another disclosed embodiment while still being encompassed within the scope of the embodiments encompassed by the present disclosure.

Claims (13)

1. An apparatus for a base station, comprising means for:

mapping communication data comprising systematic bits and parity bits to resource elements of an orthogonal frequency domain multiplexed OFDM symbol, the parity bits being generated from the systematic bits;

mapping other communication data to a shortened TTI symbol having a shorter TTI than a transmission time interval, TTI, of the OFDM symbol;

puncturing at least a portion of the OFDM symbol with the shortened TTI symbol; and

control a communication device to transmit the OFDM symbol and the shortened TTI symbol;

wherein the mapping of the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbol and the puncturing of the at least a portion of the OFDM symbol are performed such that a ratio of a number of punctured systematic bits to a number of punctured parity bits is equal to or less than a ratio of a number of systematic bits in the communication data to a number of parity bits in the communication data.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

means for randomly puncturing bits of the at least a portion of the OFDM symbol.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means further comprises:

means for interleaving the parity bits with systematic bits within the OFDM symbol.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means further comprises:

means for mapping the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbol first in a time domain across the OFDM symbol.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means further comprises means for:

reserving a plurality of OFDM symbols;

utilizing the shortened TTI symbols to only punch non-reserved OFDM symbols; and

mapping systematic bits of the communication data to reserved OFDM symbols before mapping remaining systematic bits to the unreserved OFDM symbols.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the means further comprises means for:

identifying a subset of the systematic bits as significant systematic bits; and

mapping the significant systematic bits to the reserved OFDM symbols before mapping other systematic bits to the reserved OFDM symbols.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means further comprises:

means for mapping the communication data to resource elements of an OFDM symbol in an order different from a uniformly increasing order of OFDM symbol indices.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the means further comprises:

means for mapping the communication data to resource elements of the OFDM symbol in an order of 4, 7, 8, 11, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13 symbol indices within a subframe.

9. The apparatus of any of claims 1-8, wherein the means further comprises:

means for controlling the communication device to transmit downlink control information to one or more user equipments, UEs, the downlink control information indicating: the previously transmitted OFDM symbol is not applied to soft combining the scheduled PDSCH with a previously received PDSCH at the user equipment for the same hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, process if the previously transmitted OFDM symbol is punctured at least by a puncturing threshold level.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the puncturing threshold level is at least thirty percent (30%) of OFDM symbols in the previously transmitted OFDM symbols.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the puncturing threshold level is zero percent (0%) of OFDM symbols in the previously transmitted OFDM symbols.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the means further comprises:

means for controlling the communication device to transmit the downlink control information in a downlink control information, DCI, message.

13. The apparatus of any of claims 1-8, wherein an order in which code blocks of the OFDM symbol are subject to a puncturing pattern for hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, process retransmissions is different from a previous order in which code blocks of the OFDM symbol are subject to the puncturing pattern for previous transmissions.

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