JP4481346B2 - Wireless communication apparatus and wireless communication method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technical field of wireless communication, and more particularly to a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication method used in a communication system that performs packet scheduling in the downlink.

  In a third generation communication system represented by IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications-2000), an information transmission rate of 2 Mbps is realized using a 5 MHz frequency band in the downlink. In IMT-2000, a single-carrier wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) system is employed. In addition, a system called high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) may be used. HSDPA adopts an adaptive modulation and channel coding (AMC) method, an automatic packet repeat request (ARQ: Automatic Repeat Request) method in a MAC layer, a high-speed packet scheduling, etc. To increase the speed and quality. AMC is described in Non-Patent Document 1, for example. ARQ is described in Non-Patent Document 2, for example.

  FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the AMC method. In general, assuming that the transmission power from the base station is constant, the terminal 11 close to the base station 10 can receive a signal with higher power than the terminal 12 far from the base station 10. Therefore, since it is estimated that the channel state with respect to the terminal 11 is good, a large value is adopted for the modulation multi-level number and the coding rate. On the other hand, the terminal 12 can receive a signal with less power than the terminal 11. Therefore, since it is estimated that the channel state for the terminal 12 is not good, a small value is adopted for the modulation multi-level number and the coding rate.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of combinations of modulation schemes (modulation multi-level numbers) and channel coding rates. In the table, the rightmost column shows relative bit rates when the bit rate is 1 when the modulation method M is the QPSK method and the channel coding rate R is 1/3. For example, if M = QPSK and R = 1/2, a bit rate of 1.5 times can be obtained. In general, as the bit rate increases, the reliability tends to decrease. More specifically, the combination of the amount representing the channel state, the modulation scheme, and the coding rate is determined in advance in the list table, and the modulation scheme and the like are appropriately changed according to the channel state. The amount indicating the channel state is managed as channel state information (CQI: Channel Quality Indicator), and a typical example of CQI is SIR (Signal to Interference power ratio) or SINR of a received signal.

  FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the ARQ (more precisely, hybrid ARQ) scheme. The hybrid ARQ scheme is a technique based on a combination of an ARQ scheme that requests retransmission of a packet according to an error detection (CRC: Cyclic Redundancy Check) result and an error correction coding (or also called channel coding) scheme that performs error correction. It is. As shown in the figure, a CRC bit is added to the transmission data sequence (S1), which is transmitted after error correction coding (S2). When this signal is received, error correction decoding (also called channel decoding) is performed (S3), and error detection is performed (S4). When an error is detected, the transmission side is requested to retransmit the packet (S5). As shown in FIG. 4, there are several methods for how to perform retransmission.

  In the method shown in FIG. 4A, the packet P1 is transmitted from the transmission side to the reception side, and when an error is detected on the reception side, the packet P1 is discarded and retransmission is requested. In response to the retransmission request, the transmission side retransmits a packet (indicated by P2) having the same content as the packet P1.

  In the method shown in FIG. 4B, when the packet P1 is transmitted from the transmission side to the reception side and an error is detected on the reception side, the packet P1 is maintained without being discarded. In response to the retransmission request, the transmission side retransmits a packet (indicated by P2) having the same content as the packet P1. The receiving side combines the previously received packet and the currently received packet to generate a packet P3. Since the packet P3 corresponds to the packet P1 transmitted with twice the power, the demodulation accuracy is improved.

  Even in the method shown in FIG. 4C, when the packet P1 is transmitted from the transmission side to the reception side and an error is detected on the reception side, the packet P1 is maintained without being discarded. In response to the retransmission request, the transmitting side transmits redundant data derived by performing a certain operation on the packet P1 as the packet P2. For example, it is assumed that a plurality of sequences such as P1, P1 ′, P1 ″,... Are derived by encoding the packet P1. In the illustrated example, when the transmission side receives a retransmission request, the transmission side transmits P1 ′ as a packet P2. The reception side receives the previously received packet and the current reception. The packet P3 is combined to generate a packet P3, which has a higher probability of demodulation since the redundancy is increased in the packet P3. Since the coding rate of the packet P3 is 1/4, the reliability is increased, however, what the coding algorithm is and what redundant data is transmitted (this is also called a puncture pattern). This .) Such information is required to be known to the receiving side.

  The high-speed packet scheduling method is a technique for improving the frequency utilization efficiency in the downlink. In the mobile communication environment, the channel state between the mobile station (user) and the base station changes with time as shown in FIG. In this case, even if it is attempted to transmit a large amount of data to a user with a poor channel state, it is difficult to improve the throughput, but the throughput can be increased for a user with a good channel state. From this point of view, it is possible to improve the frequency utilization efficiency by determining whether the channel state is good or not for each user and preferentially assigning shared data packets to users with good channel state.

  FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the high-speed packet scheduling method. As shown in the figure, in each time slot, a shared data packet is allocated to a user having a good channel condition (a user related to a large value of SINR).

T.A. Ue, S .; Aampei, N .; Morinaga and K.M. Hamaguchi, “Symbol Rate and Modulation Level-Controlled Adaptive Modulation / TDMA / TDD System for High-Bit-Rate Wireless DataTransEmission. VT, pp. 1134-1147, vol. 47, no. 4, Nov. 1998 S. Lin, Costello, Jr. and M.M. Miller, “Automatic-Repeat-Request Error Control Schemes”, IEEE Communication Magazine, vol. 12, no. 12, pp. 5-17, Dec. 1984

  In this type of technical field, there is a demand for higher speed and higher capacity of wireless transmission, and for future communication systems, further efficiency of wireless transmission is required, and frequency band utilization efficiency is required. Further improvement is desired.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication method that are used in a communication system in which shared data packets are preferentially assigned to users with good channel conditions, and further improve frequency utilization efficiency.

  In the present invention, a radio communication apparatus used in a communication system in which a downlink frequency band includes a plurality of frequency blocks including one or more carrier frequencies, and one or more frequency blocks are used for data transmission to one user. Is used. The apparatus measures received signal quality for each frequency block, stores a plurality of received signal qualities, compares a plurality of received signal qualities, and determines a predetermined number of received signal qualities as an uplink control channel. And transmitting means.

  According to the present invention, frequency utilization efficiency can be further improved in a communication system in which shared data packets are preferentially assigned to users with good channel conditions.

It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating an AMC system. It is a figure which shows the example of the combination of a modulation system and a channel coding rate. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating a hybrid ARQ system. It is a figure which shows the specific example of a resending system. It is a figure which shows the reception quality which changes with time. It is a figure which shows the receiving station in the mobile communication system by one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the transmitting station in the mobile communication system by one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the allocation method of a frequency block. 3 shows a feedback data generation unit used in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation | movement by one Example of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation | movement by one Example of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation | movement by one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the comparative example of data transmission amount.

  According to an aspect of the present invention, in a communication system in which a downlink frequency band includes a plurality of frequency blocks including one or more carrier frequencies, and one or more frequency blocks are used for data transmission to one user. Received signal quality is measured for each frequency block, compared, and a predetermined number of received signal qualities are transmitted on the uplink control channel. Since a predetermined number of received signal qualities less than the total number of frequency blocks are reported, the channel state can be efficiently fed back with a smaller amount of data transmission.

  The predetermined number of received signal qualities may be obtained by selecting a predetermined number of higher-quality received signal qualities from among a plurality of stored received signal qualities. The predetermined number of received signal qualities may be received signal qualities for one or more frequency blocks notified in the downlink control channel.

  One or more of the predetermined number of received signal qualities may be expressed as a difference from a reference value. Since the number of bits necessary for expressing the difference is smaller than the number of bits expressing the reference value, the number of bits of the control channel can be reduced. The reference value may be an average value of received signal quality over the downlink frequency band. Further, only the difference exceeding the threshold value may be fed back. This can reduce the number of reported received signal qualities.

  The received signal quality transmitted on the uplink control channel may be expressed as a difference from that transmitted in time order and transmitted last time. Since the difference from the previous one is often a small value, the number of bits of the control channel can be further reduced.

  The frequency at which the predetermined number of received signal qualities are transmitted on the uplink control channel may be adjusted according to the Doppler frequency derived from the received signal, the delay spread, and other quantities indicating the communication state.

  In the following embodiments, a case where an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) scheme is employed in the downlink will be described, but other schemes may be employed. A wide downlink frequency band is divided into a plurality of frequency blocks. In general, one frequency block includes one or more carrier frequencies. In this embodiment, each frequency block includes a plurality of subcarriers. Such a frequency block is also called a chunk.

  FIG. 6 shows a receiving station 200 in a mobile communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The receiving station is typically provided in the mobile terminal, but may be provided in a device other than the mobile terminal. The receiving station 200 includes an RF receiving circuit 200-1, a subcarrier signal separating unit 200-2 connected to the RF receiving circuit 200-1, and a channel estimating unit 200- connected to the subcarrier signal separating unit 200-2. 3, connected to one or more reception channel state measurement units 200-4 connected to the subcarrier signal separation unit 200-2 and channel estimation unit 200-3, and to one or more reception channel state measurement units 200-4 Feedback data generation section 200-5, encoding / modulation section 200-6 connected to feedback data generation section 200-5, and RF transmission circuit 200-7 connected to encoding / modulation section 200-6 And one or a plurality of demodulation units 200-8 connected to the subcarrier signal separation unit 200-2 and one or a plurality of demodulation units 200-8 connected to the one or more demodulation units 200-8, respectively. A plurality of decoding units 200-9, a parallel-serial conversion unit 200-10 connected to one or a plurality of decoding units 200-9, and an IP packet restoration unit 200-11 connected to the parallel-serial conversion unit 200-10; Is provided.

  In FIG. 6, a transmission signal transmitted from a transmission station (not shown) is received by the RF reception circuit 200-1. The RF reception circuit 200-1 inputs the reception signal to the subcarrier signal separation unit 200-2. The subcarrier signal separation unit 200-2 separates the received signal into signals for each subcarrier, and sends them to the demodulation unit 200-8, the reception channel state measurement unit 200-4, and the estimation unit 200-3 for each subcarrier. input.

  Each demodulator 200-8 demodulates the input signal for each subcarrier, and inputs the demodulated signal to a plurality of decoders 200-9. The number of decoders (decoders) varies depending on the algorithm used for encoding (the encoding unit used in the algorithm). Each decoding unit 200-9 decodes the input signal and inputs the decoded signal to the parallel-serial conversion unit 200-10. The parallel-serial conversion unit 200-10 performs parallel-serial conversion on the input signal and inputs the input signal to the IP packet restoration unit 200-11. The IP packet restoration unit 200-11 restores the input signal.

  Channel estimation section 200-3 performs channel estimation using a pilot symbol (pilot channel) for each subcarrier, and inputs a channel estimation value to one or more reception channel state measurement sections 200-4 for each subcarrier.

  Each reception channel state measurement unit 200-4 measures a reception channel state (for example, SIR) based on the reception signal and channel estimation value for each subcarrier, and inputs the measurement value to the feedback data generation unit 200-5. . The feedback data generation unit 200-5 generates feedback data (control information) indicating the reception channel state of the frequency block based on the input measurement value of the reception channel state, and encodes and modulates the feedback data (control information) 200-6. To enter. The SIR included in the feedback data may be the SIR for each subcarrier, or may be a value converted into an average value of SIR over a predetermined number of subcarriers included in the frequency block. This is because, on the transmission side, SIR for each frequency block is required rather than SIR for each subcarrier. The encoding / modulation unit 200-6 encodes / modulates the input feedback data and inputs it to the RF transmission circuit 200-7. The RF transmission circuit 200-7 feeds back food back data to the transmission station 100 as control information.

  FIG. 7 shows a transmitting station 100 in a mobile communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The transmitting station 100 is typically provided in the base station, but may be provided in other devices. The transmitting station 100 includes an RF receiving circuit 100-1, a demodulation / decoding unit 100-2 connected to the RF receiving circuit 100-1, a scheduler 100-3 connected to the demodulation / decoding unit 100-2, a header, Information acquisition unit 100-4, packet selection unit 100-5 connected to header information unit 100-4, header information acquisition unit 100-4, packet selection unit 100-5, and scheduler 100-3 Connected to the buffer management unit 100-6, the packet data unit (PDU) generation unit 100-7 connected to the packet selection unit 100-5, the PDU generation unit 100-7, and the buffer management unit 100-6 Transmission buffer 100-8, and a selector 100-9 connected to the transmission buffer 100-8 and the scheduler 100-3 And one or more encoding / modulation units 100-10 connected to the selector 100-9, and an RF transmission circuit 100-11 connected to the encoding / modulation unit 100-10.

  A control signal including control information from each receiving station 200 (FIG. 6) is received by the RF receiver circuit 100-1 as shown in the lower right side of FIG. -2. Demodulation / decoding section 100-2 performs control signal demodulation / decoding processing, and uplink control information (including downlink channel state for each frequency block) of each receiving station is notified to scheduler 100-3. The

  On the other hand, as shown in the upper left of FIG. 7, when an IP packet is received from the network, the header information acquisition unit 100-4 acquires packet header information such as a destination address from the received IP packet and acquires it. The packet header information is notified to the buffer management unit 100-6, and the IP packet is input to the packet sorting unit 100-5.

  Based on the notified packet header information and the status of each queue notified from the transmission buffer 100-8, the buffer management unit 100-6 designates a packet data storage destination for the packet selection unit 100-5. . The buffer management unit 100-6 inputs the destination address and the memory address of the queue corresponding to the address to the transmission buffer 100-8. The buffer management unit 100-6 notifies the scheduler 100-3 of the status of each queue notified from the packet header information and the transmission buffer 100-8.

  The packet sorting unit 100-5 sorts the input IP packet based on the storage location of the packet data designated by the buffer management unit 100-6, and inputs the selected packet to the PDU generation unit 100-7. . The PDU generation unit 100-7 converts the input packet into a PDU and inputs the packet to the transmission buffer 100-8.

  Based on the destination address input by the buffer management unit 100-6 and the memory address of the corresponding queue, the transmission buffer 100-8 separates the waiting for each destination (receiving station or user) from the input PDU. A queue is formed, and the status of each queue is notified to the buffer management unit 100-6.

  The selector 100-9 extracts data from the queue designated by the scheduler 100-3, and inputs the data to the encoding / modulation unit 100-10 related to the designated frequency block. This frequency block is allocated by the scheduler 100-3. The scheduler 100-3 preferentially assigns the frequency block to which user based on the uplink control information (channel state in the downlink for each frequency block), packet header information, and the state of each queue notified from each receiving station. Decide whether to assign

  The encoding / modulation unit 100-10 performs encoding / modulation processing on the data input from the selector 100-9. The encoded / modulated data is transmitted to each receiving station by the RF transmission circuit 100-11.

  Based on the control information fed back from the receiving station 200, the scheduler 100-3 creates a ranking table that ranks each user according to the priority. The priority is derived based on the quality of each user's reception channel state for each frequency block. Next, scheduling is performed for each frequency block. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the downlink frequency band is divided into three frequency blocks 1, 2, and 3. Every single radio frame (time slot) includes three frequency blocks. For each radio frame and for each frequency block, the user with the best reception channel condition is selected, and a downlink shared data packet is assigned to that frequency block in that frame for the selected user. In the illustrated example, in the second radio frame from the left, frequency block 1 is assigned to user 3, frequency block 2 is assigned to user 1, and frequency block 3 is assigned to user 4. In the radio frame immediately after that, frequency blocks 1 and 2 are assigned to user 2, and frequency block 3 is assigned to user 3.

  By the way, when a frequency is preferentially scheduled to a user having a good reception channel state, there is a possibility that a user who is allocated many frequency blocks and a user who is not so are generated. In order to maintain the fairness of allocation among users, the number of frequency blocks allocated to the same user in one radio frame may be limited to a predetermined number (K) or less (K is a natural number). That is, a user to which K frequency blocks are assigned may be deleted from the ranking table for unassigned frequency blocks, and unassigned frequency blocks may be assigned to other users.

The priority for the frequency block may be determined based on the criteria listed below as an example.
(1) Reception channel state of each frequency block (2) Ratio of time average of reception channel state in each frequency block and reception channel state in the radio frame for each frequency block (3) (included in frequency block) Ratio of reception channel state average for subcarriers and reception channel state in corresponding radio frame of allocation target frequency block (4) Average reception channel states for all subcarriers (included in frequency block) are further time-averaged The ratio between the value and the reception channel state in the frequency block to which the radio frame is assigned. When the reception channel state, for example, the priority by the reception SIR is the same, by assigning a user with a large delay spread with priority, the frequency Peak throughput due to diversity effect Can be improved. Further, when the priority by the reception channel state, for example, the reception SIR is the same, a user with a small delay spread may be preferentially assigned. A user having a large delay spread has a small difference in average reception channel state, for example, average reception SIR, between frequency blocks, and therefore can allocate another frequency block.

  As described in the first embodiment, the downlink frequency band is divided into a plurality of frequency blocks, and one or more frequency blocks are preferentially assigned to users with good channel conditions, thereby improving frequency utilization efficiency. be able to. In this case, in order to perform frequency scheduling, it is necessary to know the reception channel state of each frequency block. The reception channel state is SIR or the like measured at the reception station (typically a mobile terminal), and this is reported to the transmission station (typically a base station) on the uplink control channel transmitted from the reception station. The The transmitting station not only needs to know the reception channel state for each user, but also needs to know it for each frequency block. For this reason, since a plurality of frequency blocks are prepared and scheduling is performed, there is a concern that the amount of information transmission on the control channel will increase significantly.

In general, the amount of information R _up (bit rate) required for the uplink control channel can be expressed by the following equation.

R _up = (Ks + A × N × Ka) / T (1)
Here, Ks represents the number of users to which the frequency block is actually allocated, A represents the number of bits necessary to express the SIR (A = 5 in this embodiment), and N represents the frequency block. Represents the total number, Ka represents the number of users that may be assigned a frequency block, T represents the duration of one packet, and is also referred to as a transmission time interval TTI (Transmission Time Interval). One bit is prepared to report the CRC result (ACK / NACK) of hybrid ARQ. In the above formula, the portion of Ks / T represents the amount of information regarding the CRC result from each user to which the frequency block is actually allocated, and this portion does not depend on the number N of frequency blocks. The portion of A × N × Ka / T represents the amount of information necessary for each user to report SIR for each frequency block.

For example, if Ks = 4, N = 8, Ka = 20, T = 0.5 ms,
R _up = 1.61 Mbps.

If Ks = 8, N = 8, Ka = 40, T = 0.5 ms,
R _up = 3.22 Mbps.
Thus, as the number of frequency blocks is increased, the amount of information transmitted through the control channel becomes very large. The second embodiment of the present invention addresses such a problem. According to this embodiment, the downlink frequency band is divided into a plurality of frequency blocks, and one or more frequency blocks are received. Provided are a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication method capable of efficiently reporting a channel state with a smaller data transmission amount of an uplink control channel in a communication system that is preferentially used by a user with good channel state.

  FIG. 9 shows a feedback data generator used in this embodiment. This feedback data generation unit may be used as the feedback data generation unit 200-5 of FIG. The feedback data generation unit 200-5 includes a reception channel state comparison unit 902, a report content determination unit 904, and a control signal generation unit 906.

  The reception channel state comparison unit 902 receives from the reception channel state measurement unit 200-4 an amount indicating the reception channel state which is SIR in this embodiment. If the received SIR does not directly correspond to the SIR for each frequency block, averaging or other appropriate processing is performed. For example, SIR is measured for every 1000 subcarriers, and one frequency block includes 100 subcarriers. In this case, 10 SIRs obtained for every 100 subcarriers are averaged 10 by 10 to derive 10 SIRs for 10 frequency blocks. The SIR for each subcarrier and / or for each frequency block is stored in a suitable memory. The reception channel state comparison unit 902 compares SIRs obtained for each frequency block with each other and outputs a comparison result.

  The report content determination unit 904 selects SIRs related to a predetermined number of frequency blocks based on the comparison result, and determines SIRs to be reported to the base station. What is the predetermined number of frequency blocks may be determined as follows, for example.

  (1) Of the plurality of SIRs stored in the memory, the top L SIRs indicating good quality may be selected. For example, when the SIR as shown in FIG. 10 is obtained for a certain user, the top three (L = 3) SIRs are selected. In this case, three SIRs related to the frequency blocks c, e, and f are selected from the frequency blocks a, b, c, d, e, f, and g. The number of SIRs to be reported from the upper level may be determined in advance or may be changed according to an instruction from the base station.

  (2) Of the plurality of SIRs stored in the memory, SIRs related to X frequency blocks designated by the base station may be selected. For example, it is assumed that SIR (reception channel state) as shown in FIG. 10 is measured by a mobile station, and downlink data for the mobile station is transmitted in frequency blocks c and d. In this case, the base station may instruct the mobile station to report two SIRs for frequency blocks c and d, or other frequency blocks in addition to or instead of frequency blocks c and d. SIRs may be reported. For example, the SIR may be reported for every two frequency blocks selected from the plurality of frequency blocks arranged on the frequency axis. For example, when the SIR as shown in FIG. 11 is measured, three SIRs for the frequency blocks a, d, and g may be selected.

  (3) One or more SIRs exceeding a predetermined threshold may be selected from a plurality of SIRs stored in the memory. In other words, the SIR may be reported to the base station only for a frequency block having a relatively good channel state among the plurality of stored SIRs.

  The control signal generation unit 906 in FIG. 9 generates a control signal including the identification information (ID) of the frequency block selected by the report content determination unit 904 and the SIR for the frequency block. That is, the control signal includes a predetermined number of combinations of frequency block IDs and SIRs. In addition, when some frequency block is already allocated and downlink data is received, information indicating an error detection result of the data is also included in the control signal. As described above, the information indicating the error detection result may be expressed by 1 bit so as to indicate an acknowledgment (ACK) or a negative acknowledgment (NACK). The control signal created in this way is given to the encoding / modulating section 200-6, and thereafter, appropriate transmission processing is performed and fed back to the base station.

  According to this embodiment, SIRs to be reported to the base station are selected based on a certain standard, and the number of SIRs to be reported (number of frequency blocks) is reduced, so that frequency blocks with good channel conditions are identified for each user. It is possible to reduce the amount of information transmitted through the uplink control channel while securing the information necessary for this.

  In the second embodiment, the number of SIRs (number of frequency blocks) reported to the base station is reduced. However, the number of bits expressing the SIR may be reduced. For example, the absolute value of SIR for a certain frequency block may be expressed by 5 bits, and the SIR for other frequency blocks may be expressed by a difference (relative value) from the absolute value. In general, since the difference can be expressed by a number of bits smaller than 5 bits, the transmission amount can be reduced as compared with the case where all SIRs are expressed by 5 bits. The SIR expressed as an absolute value may be related to any frequency block. For example, a frequency block including the lowest carrier frequency or a frequency block including the highest carrier frequency may be expressed as an absolute value. Alternatively, a value determined separately from the SIR for the frequency block may be prepared, and each SIR may be expressed by a difference from the value. As shown in FIG. 12, the average value of SIR over the entire band may be expressed as an absolute value, and the SIR for each frequency block may be expressed as a difference from the average value.

  Alternatively, the SIR at a certain point in time may be expressed as an absolute value, and the subsequent SIR may be expressed as a time change with respect to the absolute value. Further, the SIR at the current time point may be expressed by a time change with the SIR at the immediately previous time point. In general, since the amount that changes in a short time is smaller than the amount that changes in a long time, the SIR can be expressed with a smaller transmission amount. However, if an error is detected in the signal received by the mobile station, the next time the absolute value is reported or the time change with the immediately preceding SIR is ignored, and an incorrect value chain is generated. It is desirable to suppress this.

  According to the present embodiment, the SIR reported to the base station is expressed as an absolute value and / or a value (relative value) expressed as a difference. By reducing the number of bits required for SIR reporting, it is possible to reduce the amount of information transmitted on the uplink control channel while ensuring the information necessary to determine frequency blocks with good channel conditions for each user. .

  In the second and third embodiments, the data transmission amount required for one feedback is reduced, but the frequency of feedback may be reduced. For example, the frequency of feedback may be adjusted based on the mobility of the receiving station. Since the change in the reception environment of the receiving station moving at a low speed is expected to be relatively small, the frequency of feedback may be reduced. The mobility can be evaluated by, for example, the maximum Doppler frequency, and the maximum Doppler frequency when moving at a low speed is small. Conversely, since the reception environment of a receiving station that moves at high speed is expected to have a relatively large change, the frequency of feedback may be increased. In general, since the receiving station moves at a low speed rather than moving at a high speed, it is expected that there are few requests for frequent feedback.

  Also, the content and frequency of feedback may be adjusted according to the downlink delay spread. In general, if the delay spread is small, the channel fluctuation in the frequency domain is also small. Therefore, for example, for a user who observes a small delay spread, the difference between SIR frequency blocks is small, so the channel state may be evaluated with one average value of SIR over the entire band. Alternatively, the frequency of feedback may be reduced.

  In addition, the SIR may be transmitted to the base station only when the level changes significantly compared to the previously notified SIR (only when the amount of change exceeds the threshold). For example, when the time change of SIR is small as in the case of a stationary state, the frequency of feedback reporting can be reduced.

  According to the present embodiment, by reducing the frequency of SIR reporting, the amount of information transmitted on the uplink control channel is reduced while ensuring the information necessary to determine frequency blocks with good channel conditions for each user. can do.

  The techniques described in the above embodiments may be used alone or a plurality of techniques may be combined.

FIG. 13 shows a comparative example of the data transmission amount according to each embodiment. As described above, in the first embodiment, the information amount R _up (bit rate) necessary for the uplink control channel can be expressed by the following equation.

R _up = (Ks + A × N × Ka) / T (1)
Here, Ks represents the number of users to which the frequency block is actually allocated, A represents the number of bits required to express the SIR (A = 5 in the above embodiment), and N represents the frequency block. Represents the total number, Ka represents the number of users that may be assigned a frequency block, and T represents the transmission time interval TTI.

In the method of the second embodiment, SIRs are reported to the base station for N ′ frequency blocks that are smaller than the total number N of frequency blocks. Therefore, the amount of information R _up necessary for the uplink control channel can be expressed by the following equation.

R _up = (Ks + A × N ′ × Ka) / T (2)
In the method of the third embodiment, the SIR is expressed by an absolute value and a relative value with respect to the absolute value. Therefore, the amount of information R _up necessary for the uplink control channel can be expressed by the following equation.

R _up = (Ks + (A × 1 + Y × (N−1)) × Ka) / T (3)
Here, “A × 1” represents the number of bits necessary to represent one absolute value, and Y represents the number of bits necessary to represent a relative value (difference) with respect to the absolute value. . Of the N frequency blocks, the SIR for one frequency block is expressed as an absolute value, and the SIRs for the remaining N-1 frequency blocks are expressed as relative values.

When the method of the second embodiment and the method of the third embodiment are combined, the SIR is expressed by an absolute value and a relative value, and only the SIR for N ′ frequency blocks is reported to the base station. Therefore, the amount of information R _up necessary for the uplink control channel can be expressed by the following equation.

R _up = (Ks + (A × 1 + Y × (N′−1)) × Ka) / T (4)
FIG. 13 shows a numerical example in which the information amount R _up is calculated according to the equations (1) to (4) when the values of the respective parameters are set as follows.

Ka (number of users that may be assigned a frequency block) = 20 or 40;
Ks (number of users to which frequency blocks are actually allocated) = 4;
N (total number of frequency blocks) = 8;
N ′ (number of frequency blocks for SIR reported to base station) = 4;
A (number of bits used to represent absolute value) = 5;
Y (number of bits used to represent the difference from the absolute value) = 2; and T (transmission time interval TTI) = 0.5 ms.

  In the figure, the numerical value in the column of “Example 1” is calculated according to Equation (1), the numerical value in the column of “Example 2” is calculated according to Equation (2), and the numerical value in the column of “Example 3” is an equation. Calculated according to (3), and the numerical values in the column “Example 2 + 3” are calculated according to Equation (4). Whether the number of users is 20 or 40, according to the present invention, the amount of information can be remarkably reduced. According to Example 2, it can be reduced to 51% compared to Example 1, it can be reduced to 48% according to Example 3, and it can be reduced to 28% in Example 2 + 3.

  Hereinafter, the means taught by the present invention will be listed as an example.

(Section 1)
The downlink frequency band includes a plurality of frequency blocks including one or more carrier frequencies, and is a wireless communication device used in a communication system in which one or more frequency blocks are used for data transmission to one user,
Means for measuring received signal quality for each frequency block and storing a plurality of received signal qualities;
Means for comparing multiple received signal qualities;
Means for transmitting a predetermined number of received signal qualities on an uplink control channel;
A wireless communication apparatus comprising:

(Section 2)
The radio communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined number of received signal qualities are obtained by selecting a predetermined number of higher-quality received signals from a plurality of stored received signal qualities.

(Section 3)
The radio communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined number of received signal qualities are received signal qualities for one or more frequency blocks notified by a downlink control channel.

(Section 4)
The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the predetermined number of received signal qualities is expressed by a difference from a reference value.

(Section 5)
The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the reference value is an average value of received signal quality over a downlink frequency band.

(Section 6)
The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the comparing means compares the difference with a threshold value.

(Section 7)
The radio communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the received signal quality transmitted on the uplink control channel is expressed by a difference from that transmitted in time order and transmitted last time.

(Section 8)
The radio communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the frequency of transmitting the predetermined number of received signal qualities on the uplink control channel is adjusted according to a Doppler frequency derived from the received signal.

(Section 9)
The radio communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the frequency of transmitting the predetermined number of received signal qualities on the uplink control channel is adjusted according to a delay spread characteristic derived from the received signal.

(Section 10)
The downlink frequency band includes a plurality of frequency blocks including one or more carrier frequencies, and is a wireless communication method used in a communication system in which one or more frequency blocks are used for data transmission to one user,
Receive signals from the other party
Measure the received signal quality for each frequency block and store multiple received signal qualities,
Compare multiple received signal qualities with each other,
A predetermined number of received signal qualities are transmitted on the uplink control channel,
A wireless communication method.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Base station 11,12 Terminal 100 Transmitting station; 100-1 RF receiving circuit; 100-2 Demodulation / decoding part; 100-3 Scheduler; 100-4 Header information acquisition part; 100-5 Packet selection part; Management unit; 100-7 PDU generation unit; 100-8 transmission buffer; 100-9 selector; 100-10 encoding / modulation unit; 100-11 RF transmission circuit;
200 receiving station; 200-1 RF receiving circuit; 200-2 subcarrier signal separating unit; 200-3 channel estimating unit; 200-4 receiving channel state measuring unit; 200-5 feedback data generating unit; 200-7 RF transmission circuit; 200-8 demodulation unit; 200-9 decoding unit; 200-10 parallel-serial conversion unit; 200-11 IP packet restoration unit;
902 Reception channel state comparison unit; 904 Report content determination unit; 906 Control signal generation unit

Claims (8)

The downlink frequency band includes a plurality of frequency blocks including one or more carrier frequencies, and is a wireless communication apparatus used in a communication system in which one or more frequency blocks are used for data transmission to one user,
A receiving unit for receiving a signal from a communication partner;
A detector that detects ACK or NACK for data when data is included in the signal received by the receiver;
A measurement unit for measuring received signal quality for a plurality of frequency blocks included in a downlink frequency band at a predetermined time ;
A generator that determines a CQI to be transmitted as the received signal quality at the time by selecting measurement results for a predetermined number of frequency blocks out of the measurement results in the measurement unit;
A transmission unit that transmits an uplink control signal including the CQI to be transmitted determined by the generation unit and the ACK or NACK detected by the detection unit;
The generation unit determines a reference value calculated from a plurality of measurement results over all downlink frequency bands and a difference value between the measurement result selected from the plurality of measurement results and the reference value as a CQI to be transmitted. A wireless communication apparatus comprising:   The radio communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the generation unit selects a predetermined number of high-quality items from the measurement results, and determines an average CQI derived by selection.   The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the generation unit selects a measurement result based on an instruction from a communication partner, and determines an average CQI derived by selection.   The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the generation unit averages the measurement results when determining the CQI. The downlink frequency band includes a plurality of frequency blocks including one or more carrier frequencies, and is a wireless communication method used in a communication system in which one or more frequency blocks are used for data transmission to one user,
Receiving a signal from a communication partner;
Detecting ACK or NACK for the data when the received signal includes data; and
Measuring received signal quality for a plurality of frequency blocks included in a downlink frequency band at a predetermined time; and
Determining a CQI to be transmitted as received signal quality at the time by selecting measurement results for a predetermined number of frequency blocks from among the measurement results; and
Transmitting an uplink control signal including the determined CQI to be transmitted and the detected ACK or NACK,
The determining step includes, as CQIs to be transmitted, a reference value calculated from a plurality of measurement results over all downlink frequency bands, and a difference value between the measurement result selected from the plurality of measurement results and the reference value. A wireless communication method characterized by determining . 6. The wireless communication method according to claim 5 , wherein the determining step selects a predetermined number of high-quality items from the measurement results and determines an average CQI derived by selection. 6. The wireless communication method according to claim 5 , wherein the determining step selects a measurement result based on an instruction from a communication partner and determines an average CQI derived by selection. 6. The wireless communication method according to claim 5 , wherein the determining step averages the measurement results when determining the CQI.

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