ES2361517T3 - SIGNALING OF TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS. - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for wireless communication, comprising: determining a plurality of vectors of modulation symbols to be sent by a subscriber station (120) in a plurality of tiles for a signaling value, a vector of modulation symbols in each tile , the vector of modulation symbols of each tile being orthogonal with at least one other vector of modulation symbols usable by at least one other subscriber station (120) in the tile; map the modulation symbols in each of the plurality of vectors to multiple subcarriers in a different one from the plurality of tiles, and send the modulation symbols mapped in the plurality of tiles to transmit the signaling value.

Description

Background

I. Field

This disclosure relates, in general, to communication and, more specifically, to the techniques for sending and receiving signaling in wireless communication systems.

II. Background

Wireless communication systems have been widely extended to provide various communication contents, such as voice, video, data packets, message delivery, etc. These wireless systems can be multiple access systems that can support multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple access systems include Multiple Division Code Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), and Single Carrier FDMA systems (SC-FDMA).

A wireless communication system can include any number of base stations that can support communication for any number of subscriber stations. A subscriber station can communicate with a base station by means of a downlink and an uplink. The downlink (or direct link) refers to the communication link from the base station to the subscriber station, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the subscriber station to the base station .

The system can support hybrid automatic retransmission (HARQ). For the transmission of data on the downlink with HARQ, a base station can send a transmission of a packet to a subscriber station. The subscriber station can decode the packet based on the transmission and can send an acknowledgment (ACK) if the packet has been decoded correctly or a negative acknowledgment (NAK) if the packet has been decoded with errors. The base station can send another packet transmission if a NAK is received and can end the packet transmission if an ACK is received. ACK / NAK return information is useful, but consumes resources on the uplink. Therefore, it is convenient to send the ACK / NAK return information as efficiently as possible.

Additional attention should be given to the IEEE STD 802.16e-2005 and IEEE STD 802.16-2004 / COR12005 documents: "PART 16: AIR INTERFACE FOR WIRELESS AND MOBILE WIDE BAND EMISSIONS FOR FIXED AND MOBILE COMBINED OPERATION IN LICENSED BANDS AND FAITH OF ERRATS 1 ", February 28, 2006, XP002500847 New York, NY, USA.

Summary

In accordance with the present invention, a method and apparatus for wireless communication is provided, as set forth in claims 1 and 11, 7 and 8, respectively, Other embodiments are claimed in the dependent claims.

The techniques for sending and receiving signaling (for example, from ACK / NAK) in a wireless communication system are described herein. In a design, multiple vectors (for example, eight) of modulation symbols can be defined and can be orthogonal to each other. Modulation symbols in a vector can be sent on multiple subcarriers in a tile.

In one aspect, multiple subscriber stations can share transmission resources and can simultaneously send different vectors of modulation symbols on the same tile. Each subscriber station can be assigned multiple sets of at least one vector of modulation symbols usable by the subscriber station to transmit signaling. Each subscriber station can send a set of at least one vector in at least one tile to transmit a signaling value. Different subscriber stations can simultaneously send different sets of at least one vector in the at least one tile to transmit their signaling values.

In a design, a subscriber station can determine at least one vector (for example, three vectors) of modulation symbols to send at least one tile (for example, three tiles) a signaling value (for example, an ACK or a NAK). The subscriber station can map the modulation symbols in each vector to multiple subcarriers on a different tile. The subscriber station can send the modulation symbols mapped on the at least one tile to transmit the signaling value. In one design, the subscriber station may determine a first set of three vectors usable by the subscriber station for an ACK and a second set of three vectors usable by the subscriber station for a NAK. The subscriber station can

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send the first set of vectors if the signaling value comprises an ACK and can send the second set of vectors if the signaling value comprises a NAK.

In a design, a base station can obtain at least one vector (for example, three vectors) of symbols received from at least one tile (for example, three tiles). The base station may process the at least one vector of received symbols to determine a set of at least one vector of modulation symbols sent by each of the multiple subscriber stations in the at least one tile. The base station can then determine a signaling value sent by each subscriber station based on the set of at least one particular vector that has been sent by that subscriber station. In one design, for each subscriber station, the base station may correlate three received symbol vectors with three modulation symbol vectors usable by the subscriber station for the ACK to obtain a first value. The base station can also correlate the three received symbol vectors with three modulation symbol vectors usable by the subscriber station for the NAK to obtain a second value. The base station can then determine whether an ACK or NAK was sent by the subscriber station based on the first and second values.

Several aspects and characteristics of the disclosure are described in more detail below.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 shows a wireless communication system.

Figure 2 shows an example of frame structure

Figure 3 shows a subcarrier structure for partial use of subcarriers (PUSC).

Figure 4A shows a tile structure for an uplink ACK channel for the PUSC.

Figure 4B shows a tile structure for an uplink ACK channel for an optional PUSC.

Figure 5 shows a constellation of signals for QPSK.

Figure 6 shows a procedure for sending signaling by a subscriber station.

Figure 7 shows an apparatus for sending signaling.

Figure 8 shows a procedure for receiving signaling by a base station.

Figure 9 shows an apparatus for signaling reception.

Figure 10 shows a block diagram of the base station and the subscriber station.

Detailed description

The techniques described herein can be used for various wireless communication systems, such as the CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA and SC-FDMA systems. The terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA system can implement a radio technology, such as CDMA2000, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), etc. An OFDMA system can implement a radio technology, such as the Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), UTRA (E-UTRA) Evolved, IEEE 802.11 (also known as Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (also known as known as WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM ®, etc. These various radio technologies and standards are known in the art.

For clarity, the various aspects of the techniques described below for WiMAX, which is covered in the IEEE 802.16 standard, entitled "Part 16: Air Interface for Fixed and Mobile Broadband Wireless Access Systems", dated October 1, 2004, and in IEEE 802.16e, entitled "Part 16: Air Interface for Fixed and Mobile Broadband Wireless Access Systems Amendment 2: Physical and Media Access Control Layers for Combined Fixed and Mobile Operation in Licensed Bands ", dated February 28, 2006. These documents are available to the public. The techniques can also be used for IEEE 802.16m, which is a new air interface that is being developed for WiMAX.

Figure 1 shows a wireless communication system 100 with multiple base stations (BS) 110 and multiple subscriber stations (SS) 120. A base station is a station that supports communication for subscriber stations and can perform such functions as connectivity, management and control of subscriber stations. A base station can also be referred to as a Node B, an evolved Node B, an access point, etc. A system controller 130 can be coupled to base stations 110 and provide coordination and control of these base stations.

Subscriber stations 120 may be dispersed throughout the system, and each subscriber station may be stationary or mobile. A subscriber station can also be referred to as a mobile station, a terminal, an access terminal, a user equipment, a subscriber unit, a station, etc. A subscriber station may be a cell phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless device, a wireless modem, a portable device, a laptop, a wireless phone, etc. The terms "subscriber station" and "user" are used interchangeably in the present specification.

The IEEE 802.16 standard uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) for the downlink and uplink. The OFDM divides the system bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subcarriers (NFFT), which can also be referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data or be a pilot. The number of subcarriers may depend on the system bandwidth, as well as the separation between adjacent subcarriers. For example, NFFT can be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024

or 2048. Only a subset of the total NFFT subcarriers can be useful for data and pilot transmission, and the rest of the subcarriers can serve as guard subcarriers to allow the system to meet the spectral mask requirements. In the description that follows, a data subcarrier is a subcarrier used for the data, and a pilot subcarrier is a subcarrier used for pilot. An OFDM symbol can be transmitted in each period of the OFDM symbol (or simply, a symbol period). Each OFDM symbol may include data subcarriers used to send data, pilot subcarriers used to send pilot, and guard subcarriers that are not used for data or pilot.

Figure 2 shows an exemplary frame structure 200 for a time division duplex (TDD) mode in the IEEE 802.16 standard. The transmission timeline can be divided into frame units. Each frame can cover a predetermined length of time, for example, 5 milliseconds (ms), and can be divided into a downlink subframe and an uplink subframe. In general, the downlink and uplink subframes can cover any fraction of a frame. The downlink and uplink subframes may be separated by an emission transmission separation (TTG) and a reception transmission separation (RTG).

You can define a number of physical subchannels. Each physical subchannel can include a set of subcarriers that can be contiguous or distributed across the entire system bandwidth. A number of logical subchannels can also be defined and physical subchannels can be mapped based on a known mapping. Logical subchannels can simplify the allocation of resources.

As shown in Figure 2, a downlink subframe may include a preamble, a frame control header (FCH), a downlink map (DL-MAP), an uplink map (UL-MAP), and downlink bursts (DL). The preamble can carry a known transmission that can be used by subscriber stations for frame detection and synchronization. The FCH can transport parameters used to receive the DL-MAP, MAP-UL, and downlink bursts. The DL-MAP can carry a DL-MAP message, which may include information elements (IE) for the different types of control information (eg, distribution or allocation of resources) for downlink access. The UL-MAP can carry an UL-MAP message, which can include IE for the different types of control information for uplink access. Downlink bursts can carry data for the subscriber stations it serves. An uplink subframe may include uplink bursts, which can carry the data transmitted by the subscriber stations programmed for uplink transmission.

Figure 3 shows a subcarrier structure 300 for the uplink PUSC in the IEEE standard

802.16. Usable subcarriers can be divided into useful physical tiles. Each physical tile can cover four subcarriers on each of the three OFDM symbols and can include a total of 12 subcarriers. Each physical tile can include four pilot subcarriers at the four corners of the tile and eight data subcarriers at eight remaining locations on the tile. For the optional PUSC (not shown in Figure 3), each physical tile can cover three subcarriers on each of the three OFDM symbols and can include a total of 9 subcarriers. Each physical tile can include a pilot subcarrier in the center of the tile and eight data subcarriers in eight remaining locations of the tile. For both optional PUSC and PUSC, a data modulation symbol can be sent on each data subcarrier, and a pilot modulation symbol can be sent on each pilot subcarrier.

A number of logical tiles can be defined and can be mapped to physical tiles based on a known mapping. A subchannel can be formed with six tiles labeled Tile (0) to Tile (5). An uplink ACK channel may occupy a subchannel medium, which may comprise three 4 × 3 tiles for the PUSC or three 3 × 3 tiles for the optional PUSC. The uplink ACK channel can occupy an even subchannel medium and then would include the Tiles (0), Tile (2) and Tile (4). Alternatively, the uplink ACK channel can occupy an odd subchannel medium and then it would include the Tile (1), Tile (3) and Tile (5). The tiles used for the uplink ACK channel can also be referred to as ACK resources, transmission resources, time frequency resources, etc.

Figure 4A shows a tile structure 410 for the uplink ACK channel for the PUSC. Eight modulation symbols can be sent in eight 412a to 412h data subcarriers on a 4 × 3 tile. These eight modulation symbols can be indicated as Mn, 8m + k, for 0 ≤ k ≤ 7, in which Mn.8m + k is the modulation symbol index of the kth modulation symbol in the mth tile of the ACK channel of

5 nth uplink. Pilot modulation symbols can be sent in four pilot subcarriers 414a to 414d located in the four corners of the tile.

Figure 4B shows a tile structure 420 for the uplink ACK channel for the optional PUSC. Eight modulation symbols can be sent in eight data subcarriers 422a to 422h on a 3 × 3 tile. These eight modulation symbols can be indicated as Mn.8m + k, for 0 ≤ k ≤ 7. A

10 pilot modulation symbol can be sent in a single pilot subcarrier 424 located in the center of the tile.

For the uplink ACK channel, eight orthogonal vectors can be defined and expressed as V0 to V7. Each vector can include eight modulation symbols that will be sent in the eight data subcarriers on a tile. The eight vectors V0 to V7 are orthogonal to each other, which can be expressed as:

image 1

in which "H" indicates a conjugated transpose.

Figure 5 shows an example constellation of quaternary phase shift modulation (QPSK) signals in the IEEE 802.16 standard. This signal constellation includes four signal points corresponding to the four possible modulation symbols of the QPSK. Each modulation symbol is a complex value of the form xi + jxq, in which xi is a real component and xq is an imaginary component. The real component xi can have a value of either -1.0 or + 1.0, and the imaginary component xq can also have a value of either -1.0,

or +1.0. The four modulation symbols are expressed as P0, P1, P2 and P3, as shown in Figure 5.

The eight vectors V0a V7 can be formed with eight different permutations or sequences of modulation symbols of QPSK, P0, P1, P2 and P3. Table 1 provides the eight modulation symbols in each of the eight 25 V0a V7 vectors, according to a design.

Table 1

Vector index i

Vector Modulation Symbols in Vector Vi

0

V0 P0, P1, P2, P3, P0, P1, P2, P3

one

V1 P0, P3, P2, P1, P0, P3, P2, P1

2

V2 P0, P0, P1, P1, P2, P2, P3, P3

3

V3 P0, P0, P3, P3, P2, P2, P1, P1

4

V4 P0, P0, P0, P0, P0, P0, P0, P0

5

V5 P0, P2, P0, P2, P0, P2, P0, P2

6

V6 P0, P2, P0, P2, P2, P0, P2, P0

7

V7 P0, P2, P2, P0, P2, P0, P0, P2

A subscriber or user station can send an ACK or a NAK for a packet of data received from a base station. The ACK or NAK can be sent using a set of three vectors of eight 30 modulation symbols, each vector being sent in a tile. ACKs or NAKs can be mapped to three vectors as shown in Table 2.

Table 2

1-bit ACK symbol

ACK / NAK Vectors for Tiles 1, 2, 3

0

ACK V0, V0, V0

one

NAK V4, V7, V2

In the design shown in Table 2, the user can send the vector V0 in the first tile, the vector V0 in

5 the second tile, and the vector V0 in the third tile for the uplink ACK channel to transmit an ACK signal. The user can send the vector V4 in the first tile, the vector V7 in the second tile, and the vector V2 in the third tile to transmit a NAK. The base station can detect the user's ACK or NAK by correlating the symbols received on the three tiles with vectors V0, V0, and V0 and also with vectors V4, V7, and V2 as described below.

10 A single user can be assigned an uplink ACK channel and can send an ACK or NAK on the uplink ACK channel as shown in Table 2. In this case, only two vectors are used in each tile, that is, vectors V0 and V4 in the first tile, vectors V0 and V7 in the second tile, and vectors V0 and V2 in the third tile. In each tile, the other six remaining vectors are not used.

In one aspect, up to four users can share an uplink ACK channel and can send

15 simultaneously their ACK / NAK in the same three tiles. Each user can use a couple of different vectors in each tile, so that each vector is used at most by one user in any given tile. Since the eight vectors are orthogonal to each other, up to four users can be multiplexed on the same uplink ACK channel with little or no performance degradation when the channel response is relatively flat in each tile.

20 In one design, up to four users can simultaneously send ACK / NAK on the same uplink ACK channel as shown in Table 3.

Table 3

Username

ACK / NAK Vectors for Tiles 1, 2, 3

one

ACK V0, V0, V0

NAK

V1, V1, V1

2

ACK V2, V2, V2

NAK

V3, V3, V3

3

ACK V4, V4, V4

NAK

V5, V5, V5

4

ACK V6, V6, V6

NAK

V7, V7, V7

In the design shown in Table 3, each user can be assigned two vectors for sending ACK /

25 NAK One vector can be sent in each of the three tiles for the uplink ACK channel to transmit an ACK, and the other vector can be sent in each of the three tiles to transmit a NAK. For example, a user can be assigned vectors V4 and V5. This user can send the V4 vector in each of the three tiles to transmit an ACK and can send the V5 vector in each of the three tiles to transmit a NAK.

30 In another design, up to four users can simultaneously send ACK / NAK on the same uplink ACK channel, as shown in Table 4. In this design, user 1 can send ACK / NAK using

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the vectors shown in Table 2. Users 2, 3 and 4 may send ACK / NAK using other vectors that are not used by user 1 on each tile.

Table 4

Username

ACK / NAK Vectors for Tiles 1, 2, 3

one

ACK V0, V0, V0

NAK

V4, V7, V2

2

ACK V1, V1, V1

NAK

V2, V4, V7

3

ACK V3, V3, V3

NAK

V7, V2, V4

4

ACK V5, V5, V5

NAK

V6, V6, V6

In the design shown in Table 4, each user can be assigned two sets of three vectors for the sending of ACK / NAK. A set of three vectors can be sent on all three tiles so that the uplink ACK channel transmits an ACK, and the other set of three vectors can be sent on all three tiles to transmit a NAK. For example, a user can assign a first set of vectors V3, V3 and V3 for the ACK and a second set of vectors V7, V2 and V4 for the NAK. This user can send the first group of vectors V3, V3 and V3 in the three tiles to transmit an ACK and can send the second set of vectors V7, V2 and V4 in the three tiles to transmit a NAK.

Tables 3 and 4 show two exemplary multiplexing designs of up to four users on the same uplink ACK channel. Up to four users can also be multiplexed based on other designs, with different assignments of vectors to each user for the sending of ACK / NAK.

For tile structure 410 shown in Figure 4A, four pilot subcarriers are available on each tile. These four pilot subcarriers can be used in different ways to allow the base station to perform the channel estimate for the users and / or the interference estimate.

In one design, each user can be assigned a pilot subcarrier on each tile. For example, user 1 can be assigned pilot subcarrier 414a in Figure 4A, user 2 can be assigned pilot subcarrier 414b, user 3 can be assigned pilot subcarrier 414c, and user 4 can be assigned assign the pilot subcarrier 414d. Each user can transmit a pilot modulation symbol on their assigned pilot subcarrier. The base station can obtain a channel estimate for each user based on the pilot modulation symbol received from that user.

In another design, four orthogonal vectors W0a W3 can be defined, each vector including four modulation symbols. For example, vector W0 can include modulation symbols P0, P0, P0 and P0, vector W1 can include modulation symbols P0, P2, P0 and P2, vector W2 can include modulation symbols P0, P1, P2 and P3, and the vector W3 may include the modulation symbols P1, P0, P3 and P2. Each user can be assigned one of the four vectors and can transmit the four modulation symbols in their assigned vector on the four pilot subcarriers. The base station can obtain a channel estimate for each user, based on the vector of four modulation symbols sent by that user.

In yet another design, the four pilot subcarriers are not assigned to users, and no signals are sent on these pilot subcarriers. The base station can estimate the interference for a tile based on the four symbols received from the four pilot subcarriers. The base station may use interference estimation for detection, as described below.

For the tile structure 420 shown in Figure 4B, a pilot subcarrier is available on each tile. In a design, this pilot subcarrier is not assigned to any user and can be used by the base station for interference estimation.

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In another design, M orthogonal vectors can be defined, in which M> 8, each vector including 12 modulation symbols. Up to M / 2 users can share an uplink ACK channel, each user being assigned a different pair of vectors for each tile. Each user can send 12 modulation symbols in a vector on the 12 subcarriers of a tile for an ACK and can send 12 modulation symbols in another vector on the 12 subcarriers for a NAK.

In general, any number of orthogonal vectors can be defined and can be limited by the number of subcarriers in each tile. Each vector may include a modulation symbol for each subcarrier used for the shipment of ACK / NAK. The modulation symbols can be from the QPSK or some other modulation scheme. Each vector can be assigned only to one user in any given tile for the purpose of achieving orthogonality among all users who share the tile. The number of users who can share a given tile is limited by the number of orthogonal vectors.

Each user can be assigned two sets of vectors for the uplink ACK channel - a set of vectors for sending the ACK and another set of vectors for sending the NAK. Each set can include a vector for each tile used in the ACK / NAK shipment. In the designs described above, three tiles are used to send the ACK / NAK, and each set can include three vectors.

A user can be assigned an uplink ACK channel and two sets of vectors for ACK / NAK in several ways. In a design, an ACK assignment can be implicit and determined, for example, based on the downlink resources used to send the data to the user. In this design, downlink resources can be mapped to a specific uplink ACK channel, as well as two specific sets of vectors based on a mapping that is known a priori by the base station and the user. The user can then send the ACK / NAK on this specific uplink ACK channel using the two specific sets of vectors. This design can avoid having to explicitly send downlink signaling to transmit the assigned uplink ACK channel and two sets of vectors. In another design, the ACK assignment may be explicit and indicated by an UL-MAP message or some other signaling sent on the downlink.

Multiple users can share an uplink ACK channel and can send ACK / NAKs in the same set of tiles. A base station can receive eight symbols on eight data subcarriers on each tile. If no pilot modulation symbols are sent by the users, then the base station can perform the inconsistent detection on the received symbols to determine whether an ACK or a NAK has been sent by each user. Non-coherent detection refers to detection without the help of a pilot reference. The base station can perform non-coherent detection for the uplink ACK channel by correlating three symbol vectors received for the three tiles of one with respect to the set of vectors that could have been sent by the ACK channel of Uplink for each user, as follows:

image2

in which Rm is a vector of the symbols received from the m-th tile,

Vqa.m is a vector sent by the user in the m-th tile for an ACK,

Vqn.m is a vector sent by the user in the m-th tile for a NAK,

Gm is a scale coefficient for the m-th tile,

Aq is an ACK metric for user q, and

Nq is a metric of NAK for user q.

As an example, for a user 1 in the design shown in Table 4, Vqa.m is equal to V0, V0 and V0 for m = 1, 2, 3, respectively, and Vqn.m is equal to V4, V7y V2 for m = 1, 2, 3, respectively. The Gm scale coefficient can be determined based on an estimate of interference obtained for the m-th tile. Gm can be inversely related to the magnitude of the interference, so that the symbols received from a tile with great interference may have less weight, and vice versa. The base station can obtain a pair of Aq and Nq for each user q. The base station can then determine whether an ACK or a NAK was sent by the user, as follows:

image2

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If at least one pilot modulation symbol is received from each user, then the base station can perform consistent detection of the received symbols to determine whether an ACK or a NAK was sent by each user. Coherent detection refers to detection with the help of a pilot reference. In a design, the base station can perform coherent detection for each user as follows:

image2

where Hq.m is an estimate of channel gain for the m-th tile for user q, and

"*" expresses a complex conjugate.

The channel gain estimate Hq.m can be obtained based on one or more pilot modulation symbols

received from the user on the m-th tile. In another design, the base station can perform coherent detection for each user as follows:

image 1

in which Hq.m is a diagonal matrix with channel gain estimates along the diagonal for all data subcarriers in the m-th tile for the user q. Hq.m can be obtained based on one or more pilot modulation symbols received from the user in the m-th tile.

The base station can obtain Aq and Nq for each user q and can determine whether an ACK or a NAK has been sent by the user q as shown in equation (4). The base station can also correlate the vectors of the received symbols with the vectors of the modulation symbols and the detection of the signaling value in other ways.

The techniques described herein can be used to send the ACK / NAK on the uplink, as described above. The techniques can also be used to send other types of signaling, such as energy control information, channel quality information (CQI), formation beam return information, etc. In general, a user can be assigned L sets of vectors for L possible signaling values, in which L ≥ 1. Each set of vectors can be expressed as a keyword, a sequence of vectors, etc. The user can send a set of vectors for a signaling value that is being transmitted.

Figure 6 shows a design of a method 600 for sending signaling (for example, ACK / NAK) in a wireless communication system. The procedure 600 may be performed by a subscriber station or by some other entity. The subscriber station may determine at least one vector of modulation symbols to send at least one tile a signaling value, a vector of modulation symbols in each tile (block 612). A vector of modulation symbols can also be expressed as a sequence of modulation symbols, a set of modulation symbols, etc. The modulation symbol vector for each of the tiles can be orthogonal to at least one other modulation symbol vector usable by at least one other subscriber station in the tile. In a design, the vector to be sent by the subscriber station and the at least one other vector usable by the at least one other subscriber station in each of the tiles, can be of a group of eight orthogonal vectors. In other designs, the group may include less or more orthogonal vectors.

The subscriber station can map the modulation symbols in each of the at least one vector to multiple subcarriers in a different one from the at least one tile (block 614). In a design, each vector can include eight modulation symbols that can be mapped to eight subcarriers on a tile. In another design, each vector may include 12 modulation symbols that can be mapped to 12 subcarriers on a tile. Each vector can also include less or more modulation symbols. Each tile can have any shape and include any number of subcarriers. The subscriber station may also map at least one pilot modulation symbol to at least one subcarrier on each tile or it may not map the pilot modulation symbols on each tile. The subscriber station can send the modulation symbols mapped on the at least one tile to transmit the signaling value (block 616).

In a design, three vectors of modulation symbols are sent in three tiles for signaling value. The subscriber station can map the modulation symbols in each vector to multiple subcarriers on a different tile. The subscriber station can then send the modulation symbols mapped on the three tiles to transmit the signaling value. Less or more vectors of modulation symbols can be sent for the signaling value.

In a design, the signaling value consists of an ACK or a NAK. The subscriber station may determine a first set of at least one vector (eg, a first set of three vectors) of modulation symbols usable by the subscriber station for the ACK. The subscriber station can also determine a second set of at least one vector (eg, a second set of three vectors) of modulation symbols usable by the subscriber station for the ACK. The subscriber station may select the first set of vectors as the at least one modulation symbol vector to be sent if the signaling value comprises an ACK. The subscriber station may select the second set of vectors as the at least one modulation symbol vector to be sent if the signaling value comprises a NAK.

In general, the subscriber station can determine the signaling value among the multiple possible signaling values. The subscriber station can then determine the at least one vector of modulation symbols to send between multiple sets of the at least one vector of modulation symbols for the multiple possible signaling values.

In one design, the subscriber station can receive data by means of downlink resources and can determine multiple sets of at least one vector of modulation symbols (for example, one set for ACK and another set for NAK) usable by the station Subscriber based on downlink resources. The subscriber station can then select one of the multiple vector sets as the at least one vector of modulation symbols to be sent based on the signaling value. The subscriber station can also determine the at least one tile to use based on downlink resources.

In another design, the subscriber station may receive the indicative signaling of multiple sets of at least one vector of modulation symbols usable by the subscriber station. For example, the subscriber station may obtain its identifier, a channel identifier, or some other signaling identification and may determine the multiple sets of vectors usable by the subscriber station based on the identifier. The subscriber station can also obtain an allocation by signaling and can determine the multiple sets of vectors usable by the subscriber station based on the allocation. In any case, the subscriber station may select one of the multiple sets of vectors such as the at least one vector of modulation symbols to be sent based on the signaling value.

Figure 7 shows a design of an apparatus 700 for sending signaling in a wireless communication system. The apparatus 700 includes a module 712 for determining at least one vector of modulation symbols to send in at least one tile for a signaling value (for example, an ACK or a NAK), a vector of modulation symbols in each tile, a module 714 to map the modulation symbols in each of the at least one vector to multiple subcarriers in a different one from the at least one tile, and a module 716 to send the mapped modulation symbols in the at least one tile to transmit the signaling value

Figure 8 shows a design of a procedure 800 for signaling reception (for example, ACK / NAK) in a wireless communication system. The procedure 800 may be performed by a base station or by some other entity. The base station may obtain at least one vector of symbols received from at least one subcarrier tile (block 812). In a design, a vector of eight symbols received from eight subcarriers in each tile can be obtained. In another design, a vector of 12 symbols received from 12 subcarriers in each tile can be obtained. The base station may process the at least one vector of received symbols to determine a set of at least one vector of modulation symbols sent by each of the multiple subscriber stations in the at least one tile (block 814). The base station may then determine a signaling value sent by each of the multiple subscriber stations based on the set of at least one vector of modulation symbols that is determined to have been sent by the subscriber station in the at least a tile (block 816).

In a design, the base station can obtain three symbol vectors received from three tiles. The base station can process the three received symbol vectors to determine a set of three modulation symbol vectors sent by each subscriber station in the three tiles. The base station may then determine the signaling value sent by each subscriber station based on the set of three modulation symbol vectors that are determined to have been sent by that subscriber station in the three tiles.

In one design, for each subscriber station, the base station may correlate the three received symbol vectors with three modulation symbol vectors usable by the subscriber station for the ACK to obtain a first value, for example, as shown in equations (2), (5) or (7). The base station can also correlate the three received symbol vectors with three modulation symbol vectors usable by the subscriber station for the NAK to obtain a second value, for example, as shown in equations (3), (6 ) or (8). The base station can then determine whether an ACK or a NAK has been sent by the subscriber station based on the first and second values, for example, as shown in equation (4).

In general, the signaling value of each subscriber station may be one of the multiple possible signaling values, each possible signaling value being associated with a different set of at least one vector of modulation symbols to be sent by the sending station. paid in the at least one tile. For each subscriber station, the base station may correlate the at least one vector of received symbols with each of multiple sets of at least one vector of modulation symbols usable by the subscriber station for the multiple possible signaling values. The base station can then determine the signaling value sent by the subscriber station based on the correlation results of the multiple sets of vectors.

Figure 9 shows a design of an apparatus 900 for receiving signaling in a wireless communication system. The apparatus 900 includes a module 912 for obtaining at least one vector of symbols received from at least one subcarrier tile, a module 914 for processing the at least one vector of received symbols to determine a set of at least one vector of modulation symbols sent by each of the multiple subscriber stations in the at least one tile, and a module 916 to determine a signaling value sent by each of the multiple subscriber stations based on the set of at least one vector of modulation symbols which is determined to have been sent by the subscriber station on the at least one tile.

The modules in Figures 7 and 9 may comprise processors, electronic devices, hardware devices, electronic components, logic circuits, memories, etc., or any combination thereof.

Figure 10 shows a block diagram of a design of a base station 110 and a subscriber station 120, which are one of the base stations and one of the subscriber stations in Figure 1. In this design, the Base station 110 is equipped with T antennas 1024a to 1024t, and subscriber station 120 is equipped with R antennas 1052a to 1052r, in which, in general, T ≥ 1yR ≥ 1.

At the base station 110, a transmission processor 1010 can receive data from one or more subscriber stations from a data source 1008, the transmission processor 1010 can also process the data (e.g., format, encoding, interpolation, and symbol map) for each subscriber station to obtain the modulation symbols of that subscriber station. The transmission processor 1010 can also process the header information (for example, MAP messages) to obtain the modulation symbols of the header information. A transmission MIMO (TX) processor 1020 can multiplex the modulation symbols for all subscriber stations and the header information with the pilot modulation symbols using any multiplexing scheme. The TX MIMO 1020 processor can spatially process the multiplexed modulation symbols and provide T output symbol currents to the T transmitters (TMTR) 1022a to 1022t. Each transmitter 1022 can process a respective output symbol stream (for example, of the OFDM) to obtain an output chip stream and can additionally condition (for example, convert to analog, amplify, filter, and convert to ascending) the output current of the chips to obtain a downlink signal. T downlink signals from transmitters 1022a to 1022t can be transmitted to T antennas 1024a to 1024t, respectively.

At the subscriber station 120, the antennas 1052a to 1052r can receive the downlink signals from the base station 110 and provide the received signals to the receivers (RCVR) 1054a to 1054r, respectively. Each receiver 1054 can condition the received signal (for example, filter, amplify, convert down, and digitize) to obtain samples and can further process the samples (for example, for OFDM) to obtain the received symbols. A MIMO detector 1056 can process the symbols received from all R receivers 1054a to 1054r based on a MIMO receiver treatment technique to obtain detected symbols, which are estimates of the modulation symbols transmitted by the base station 110. A processor 1060 can process the detected symbols (for example, demodulate, deinterlace, and decode), provide decoded data for subscriber station 120 to a data receiver 1062, and provide header information to a controller / processor 1070. In general , the procedure by the MIMO 1056 detector and the reception processor 1060 is complementary to the treatment, by the TX MIMO 1020 processor and the transmission processor 1010 at the base station 110.

In the uplink, at the subscriber station 120, the data of a data source 1078 and the signaling (for example, ACK / NAK) of a controller / processor 1070 can be processed by a transmission processor 1080, further processed by a modulator 1082, conditioned by the transmitters 1054a to 1054r, and transmitted to the base station 110. In the base station 110, the uplink signals of the subscriber station 120 can be received by the antennas 1024, conditioned by the receivers 1022, detected by a MIMO detector 1038, and processed by a reception processor 1040 to obtain the data and signaling transmitted by the subscriber station 120. The data can be provided to a data receiver 1042, and the signaling can be provided to a 1030 controller / processor.

The controllers / processors 1030 and 1070 can direct the operation at the base station 110 and at the subscriber station 120, respectively. The controller / processor 1030 may perform or direct the procedure 800 in Figure 8 and / or other procedures of the techniques described herein. The controller / processor 1070 may perform or direct the procedure 600 in Figure 6 and / or other procedures of the techniques described herein. Memories 1032 and 1072 can store data and program codes for the base station 110 and for the subscriber station 120, respectively. A scheduler 1034 can plan the subscriber stations for downlink and / or uplink transmission and can provide resource allocations for the planned subscriber stations.

People of skill in the art will understand that information and signals can be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, orders, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that can be expressed by means of the above description, can be expressed by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, fields or magnetic particles, fields

or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

Persons of skill in the art will appreciate, in addition, that the various logical blocks, modules, circuits, and illustrative algorithm steps described in connection with the disclosure of this specification can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations from both. To clearly illustrate this ability to exchange hardware and software, various components, blocks, modules, circuits, and illustrative steps have been described previously in general in terms of their functionality. That such functionality is implemented as hardware or software will depend on the particular application and the design limitations imposed on the entire system. Specialist technicians can implement the functionality described in different ways for each particular application, but those implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a separation of the scope of this disclosure.

The various logical blocks, modules and illustrative circuits described in connection with the disclosure of this specification can be implemented or implemented with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , an array of programmable field doors (FPGA) or any other programmable logic device, discrete or transistor logic gate, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor can be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor can be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor can 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 such configuration.

The steps of a procedure or algorithm described in relation to the disclosure of the present specification can be performed directly on the hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module can reside in RAM, in flash memory, in ROM, in EPROM, in EEPROM, in registers, on a hard disk, on a removable disk, on a CD-ROM, or in any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read the information from, and write information on the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium can be integral with the processor. The processor and storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC can reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

In one or more exemplary designs, the described functions may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in the software, the functions can be stored or transmitted in one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable media. The computer readable medium includes both a computer storage medium and a communication medium, including any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage medium can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other means that are can use to transport or store

Describe a desired program code medium in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer, or a general purpose or specific purpose processor. In addition, any connection is correctly named as a computer readable medium. For example, if the program is transmitted from a website, the server or other remote source that uses a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio and microwave, then, coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. The disc, as used herein, includes the compact disc (CD), the laser disc, the optical disc, the digital versatile disc (DVD), the floppy disk and the blu-ray disc, in which some discs usually reproduce

10 data magnetically, while the other discs reproduce the data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above must also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

The foregoing description of the disclosure is provided to allow any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variants without knowing

15 be beyond the scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but rather should be agreed upon with the broadest scope consistent with the novel principles and characteristics, as claimed in the appended claims.

Claims (15)

1. A procedure for wireless communication, comprising: determining a plurality of vectors of modulation symbols to be sent by a subscriber station (120) in a plurality of tiles for a signaling value, a vector of modulation symbols in each tile, the vector of modulation symbols of orthogonal being orthogonal each tile with at least one other modulation symbol vector usable by at least one other subscriber station (120) in the tile; map the modulation symbols in each of the plurality of vectors to multiple subcarriers in a different one from the plurality of tiles, and send the modulation symbols mapped on the plurality of tiles to transmit the signaling value.

2.

The method of claim 1, wherein determining at least one vector of modulation symbols comprises determining three vectors of modulation symbols to be sent in three tiles for the signaling value, in which the mapping of the modulation symbols comprises mapping the modulation symbols in each of the three vectors to multiple subcarriers in a different one of the three tiles, and in which the sending of the mapped modulation symbols comprises sending the mapped modulation symbols in the three tiles to transmit the value of signaling.

3.

The method of claim 2, wherein the determination of three modulation symbol vectors comprises

select three modulation symbol vectors usable by the subscriber station to perform the acknowledgment (ACK), to be the three modulation symbol vectors to be sent if the signaling value comprises an ACK, and select three modulation symbol vectors usable by the subscriber station for the negative acknowledgment (NAK), to be the three modulation symbol vectors to be sent if the signaling value comprises a NAK. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of at least one vector of modulation symbols comprises determine the signaling value among multiple possible signaling values, and determine the at least one vector of modulation symbols to send it between multiple sets of at least one vector of modulation symbols for the multiple possible signaling values. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receive data through downlink resources, and determine multiple sets of at least one vector of modulation symbols usable by the subscriber station (120) based on the downlink resources, and wherein the determination of at least one vector of modulation symbols comprises selecting one of the multiple sets of at least one vector of modulation symbols such as the at least one vector of modulation symbols to be sent based on the signaling value. 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving indicative signaling of multiple sets of at least one vector of modulation symbols usable by the subscriber station (120), and wherein the determination of at least one vector of modulation symbols comprises selecting one of the multiple sets of at least one vector of modulation symbols such as the at least one vector of modulation symbols to be sent based on the signaling value. 7. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: means for determining a plurality of vectors of modulation symbols to be sent by a subscriber station (120) in a plurality of tiles for a signaling value, a vector of modulation symbols on each tile, the vector of symbols of orthogonal being orthogonal modulation of each tile to at least one other modulation symbol vector usable by at least one other subscriber station in the tile; means for mapping the modulation symbols in each of the plurality of vectors to multiple subcarriers in a different one from the plurality of tiles, and a means for sending the modulation symbols mapped on the plurality of tiles to transmit the signaling value. 8. An apparatus (110) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one processor (1030) configured to obtain at least one vector of symbols received from at least one tile, to process the at least one vector of the symbols received to determine a set of at least one vector of modulation symbols sent by each one of the multiple subscriber stations (120) in the at least one tile, and determine a signaling value sent by each of the multiple subscriber stations (120) based on the set of the at least one vector of modulation symbols which is determined to have been sent by the subscriber station (120) in the at least one tile, and a memory (1032), coupled to at least one processor (1030).

9.

The apparatus (110) of claim 8, wherein multiple vectors of modulation symbols are sent by the multiple subscriber stations (120) in each tile and are orthogonal to each other.

10.

The apparatus (110) of claim 8, wherein each vector of received symbols comprises eight received symbols, and wherein the at least one processor (1030) is configured to each obtain at least one vector of the eight symbols received from eight subcarriers in one different from the at least one tile.

eleven.

A procedure for wireless communication, comprising:

obtain at least one vector of symbols received from at least one tile; processing the at least one vector of received symbols to determine a set of at least one vector of modulation symbols sent by each of the multiple subscriber stations (120) in the at least one tile, and determine a signaling value sent by each of the multiple subscriber stations (120) based on the set of at least one vector of modulation symbols that is determined to have been sent by the subscriber station (120) in the at least a tile.

12.

The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining at least one vector of received symbols comprises obtaining three vector vectors of received symbols from three tiles, wherein the processing of at least one vector of received symbols comprises processing of the three symbol vectors received to determine a set of three modulation symbol vectors sent by each of the multiple subscriber stations (120) in the three tiles, and in which the determination of a signaling value comprises determining the value signaling sent by each of the multiple subscriber stations (120) based on the set of three modulation symbol vectors that have been determined to have been sent by the subscriber station (120) in the three tiles.

13.

The method of claim 12, wherein the processing of the three received symbol vectors comprises, for each subscriber station (120)

correlate the three received symbol vectors with three modulation symbol vectors usable by the subscriber station (120) for the acknowledgment (ACK), to obtain a first value, correlate the three received symbol vectors with three modulation symbol vectors usable by the subscriber station (120) for the negative acknowledgment (NAK), to obtain a second value, and determine whether an ACK or a NAK has been sent by the subscriber station (120), based on the first and second values. 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the processing of at least one vector of received symbols comprises, for each subscriber station (120) correlate the at least one vector of received symbols with each of the multiple sets of at least one vector of modulation symbols usable by the subscriber station (120) for multiple possible signaling values, and determine the signaling value sent by the subscriber station (120) based on the correlation results for the multiple sets of at least one vector of modulation symbols. 15. A computer program product, comprising: a computer-readable medium comprising: a code for having at least one device perform the steps of any one of claims 1 to 6 or 11 to 14.