WO2013044519A1 - Uplink control channel synchronization in heterogeneous network deployment - Google Patents

Uplink control channel synchronization in heterogeneous network deployment Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2013044519A1
WO2013044519A1 PCT/CN2011/080497 CN2011080497W WO2013044519A1 WO 2013044519 A1 WO2013044519 A1 WO 2013044519A1 CN 2011080497 W CN2011080497 W CN 2011080497W WO 2013044519 A1 WO2013044519 A1 WO 2013044519A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
control channel
uplink control
cell
random access
terminal
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/CN2011/080497
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Chunli Wu
Xiaoyi Wang
Benoist Pierre Sebire
Original Assignee
Nokia Siemens Networks Oy
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Priority to PCT/CN2011/080497 priority Critical patent/WO2013044519A1/en
Publication of WO2013044519A1 publication Critical patent/WO2013044519A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/0005—Control or signalling for completing the hand-off
    • H04W36/0055—Transmission or use of information for re-establishing the radio link
    • H04W36/0072—Transmission or use of information for re-establishing the radio link of resource information of target access point
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
    • H04L5/0001—Arrangements for dividing the transmission path
    • H04L5/0003—Two-dimensional division
    • H04L5/0005—Time-frequency
    • H04L5/0007—Time-frequency the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
    • H04L5/001—Time-frequency the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
    • H04L5/003—Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
    • H04L5/0032—Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
    • H04L5/0035—Resource allocation in a cooperative multipoint environment
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
    • H04L5/003—Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
    • H04L5/0053—Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/06—Reselecting a communication resource in the serving access point
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W84/00—Network topologies
    • H04W84/02—Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop]
    • H04W84/04—Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks
    • H04W84/042—Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
    • H04W84/045—Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to uplink control channel syn ⁇ chronization in a heterogeneous network deployment. More specifically, the present invention exemplarily relates to measures (including methods, apparatuses and computer program products) for uplink control channel synchronization in a heterogeneous network deployment.
  • the present specification basically relates to heterogeneous network deployments, in particular CA/CoMP-enabled heterogeneous network deployments.
  • LTE Long-Term Evolution according to 3GPP terminology
  • LTE-Advanced is taken as a non-limiting example for a (radio access) network deployment being applicable in the context of the present invention and its embodiments.
  • any kind of (radio access) network deployment may likewise be applicable, as long asitexhibits comparable features and characteristics as described hereinafter .
  • heterogeneous network deployments also referred to as multi-layer cellular network systems, comprise a combination of macro cells and micro cells (also referred to as pico cells or femto cells) are proposed as one concept.
  • the macro cells having high transmission power
  • the micro cells having low transmission power
  • the macro cells are typically deployed by base stations denoted as eNBs
  • micro cells are typically deployed by home base stations (HNB, HeNB)
  • HNB, HeNB home base stations
  • RN, MR mobile or fixed relay nodes
  • RRH remote radio heads
  • Examples of heterogeneous network deployments exemplarily include relay-enhanced access networks, and the like.
  • Such heterogeneous network deployments may, thus, be considered to be composed at least of two logical network layers, i.e. a micro cell layer and an overlay macro cell layer.
  • the two network layers of a heterogeneous network deployment i.e. the base stations and/or cells of the two network layers, may be implemented by the same or different radio access technologies.
  • a heterogeneous network deployment may be composed of a GSM- or LTE-based macro cell layer and a LTE-based micro cell layer.
  • Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a heterogeneous network deployment comprising a combination of macro cells andmicro cells .
  • macro cells are illustrated by hexagonal blocks, while micro cells are illustrated by rectangular blocks.
  • dashed circle an enlarged view of a micro cell including a micro cell base station and a user equipment is illustrated.
  • FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of downlink and uplink coverage in a heterogeneous network deployment.
  • respective macro cell coverages are illustrated by solid lines, while respective micro cell coverages are illustrated by dashed lines.
  • the downlink coverage which basically depends from the transmission power of the macro cell base stations denoted as Macro-eNB may be limited as compared with the uplink coverage which basically depends on the transmission power of terminals denotes as UE residing in a respective area.
  • An example regarding different DL/UL coverage relates to a terminal denoted as UE located around the distance middle point between a macro cell base station denoted as Macro-eNB and micro cell base station denoted as RRH, but slightly closer to the micro cell base station.
  • cell (re-) selection rules which are governed by power or quality of a DL received signal, the UE would choose the macro cell as the serving cell, although it would typically prefer the closer micro cell to receive its UL signals.
  • two or more component carriers are aggregated for wider transmission bandwidths and spectrum aggregation.
  • one serving cell provides a security input and the mobility information, this serving cell being referred to as the Primary (Serving) Cell (PCell) .
  • PCell Primary
  • SCells Secondary (Serving) Cells
  • the configured set of serving cells for a UE therefore always consists of one PCell and one or more SCells.
  • a UE in micro cell edge region uses cross-carrier scheduling for CA.
  • the UE receives DL PDCCH from a macro cell base station and transmits a UL data signal via PUSCH to a micro cell base station, thus realizing CoMP transmission and reception.
  • the UE can be configured to aggregate macro and pico cells together (especially when assuming a co-channel deployment where both macro and micro base stations are using the same carrier frequency) .
  • the CA/CoMP framework does not enable a proper handling of an uplink control channel in terms of a reliable and effective definition/configuration thereof for multiple serving cells in a heterogeneous network deployment.
  • a format to be used for PUCCH is bundled/associated with locations of control channel elements in the PDCCH. Therefore, a simple reuse of a neighboring cell's identifier, i.e. the identifier of the macro base station in/for the uplink control channel towards the micro base station, will cause a conflict and may thus not be utilized.
  • PUCCH configuration or definition is subject to certain restrictions in view of the properties and capabilities of primary and secondary cells in the CA framework. Namely, it is currently specified that the PUCCH can typically only be configured on a PCell in the CA framework.
  • a micro cell as the PCell for the UE to transmit the PUCCH to micro cell base station .
  • Such configuration would however increases handover load, since the micro cell coverage is normally very small .
  • the optimized way would be to configure the macro cell as the PCell and each micro cell as a SCell.
  • the UE could request and confirm a configuration/definition (e.g. a changing) of the PUCCH on the basis of the resource pool by transmitting a D-SR to the macro cell base station eNB.
  • the D-SR could only be used when an uplink synchronization with the eNB has already been established at the UE, which might not yet be the case at an appropriate timing.
  • the UE could not know whether or not the eNB correctly received the D-SR.
  • the UE would configure/define (e.g. change) the PUCCH as requested, while the eNB would maintain the previously valid PUCCH without any configuration/definition (e.g. achanging) thereof.
  • a synchronized configuration/definition (e.g. a changing) of the PUCCH couldnot be ensured, and thus amisalignment of PUCCH configuration/definition between UE and eNB could arise.
  • a method comprising requesting a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
  • a method comprising receiving a request for switching an uplink control channel at a terminal from a base station, the request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink cont ol channel at the b se station, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
  • an apparatus comprising an interface configured to communicate with at least another apparatus, a processor configured to cause the apparatus to perform: requesting a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
  • an apparatus comprising an interface configured to communicate with at least another apparatus, a processor configured to cause the apparatus to perform: receiving a request for switching an uplink control channel at a terminal from a base station, the request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
  • a computer program product including comprising computer-executable computer program code which, when the program is run on a computer (e.g. a computer of an apparatus according to any one of the aforementioned apparatus-related exemplary aspects of the present invention) , is configured to cause the computer to carry out the method according to any one of the aforementioned method-related exemplary aspects of the present invention .
  • a computer e.g. a computer of an apparatus according to any one of the aforementioned apparatus-related exemplary aspects of the present invention
  • Such computer program product may be embodied as a (tangible) computer-readable storage medium or the like.
  • uplink control channel synchronization in a heterogeneous network deployment More specifically, by way of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, there are provided measures andmechanisms for uplink control channel synchronization in a heterogeneous network deployment.
  • Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a heterogeneous network deployment, for which exemplary embodiments of the present invention are applicable
  • Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of downlink and uplink coverage in a heterogeneous network deployment, for which exemplary embodiments of the present invention are applicable,
  • Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention
  • Figure 4 shows a flowchart illustrating a network-sided procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention
  • Figure 5 shows a flowchart illustrating a terminal-sided procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a system-related procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of apparatuses according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
  • the present invention and its embodiments may be applicable in any heterogeneous (cellular) system, in particular CA/CoMP-enabled heterogeneous network deployments.
  • the present invention and its embodiments may be applicable for/in any kind of modern and future communication network including any conceivable mobile/wireless communication networks according to 3GPP or IETF specifications.
  • uplink control channel synchronization may specifically relate to synchronization in uplink control channel configuration and reconfiguration (including e.g. PUCCH reconfiguration, TTI bundling enabling/disabling) .
  • switching refers to any kind of re-/configuration which is conceivable in a certain context. That is, switching may encompass any change of any configuration, enabling/disabling of any property/feature, and the like.
  • FIG 3 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
  • the thus illustrated procedure may be carried out in cooperation between a base station eNB such as a macro or micro base station (e.g. Macro-eNB of Figure 2) and a terminal UE (e.g. UE of Figure 2) .
  • a base station eNB such as a macro or micro base station (e.g. Macro-eNB of Figure 2)
  • a terminal UE e.g. UE of Figure 2 .
  • a corresponding procedure comprises that the base station eNB requests a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determines completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal, and switches to the requested uplink control channel upon determination of completion.
  • a corresponding procedure comprises that the terminal receives the aforementioned request from the base station, determines completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station, and switches to the requested uplink control channel upon determination of completion.
  • the switching to the requested uplink control channel is synchronized at both entities by means of a mutual understanding of completion of such switching at the other entity, respectively.
  • Figure 4 shows a flowchart illustrating a network-sided procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
  • the thus illustrated procedure may be carried out at a base station, including a macro cell base station, such as Macro-eNB of Figure 2, and a micro cell base station, such as a home base station and/or a (home) base station being connected to a RRH of Figure 2, or the like.
  • a base station including a macro cell base station, such as Macro-eNB of Figure 2
  • a micro cell base station such as a home base station and/or a (home) base station being connected to a RRH of Figure 2, or the like.
  • a corresponding procedure comprises an operation (410) of requesting a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal (i.e. a terminal served by the base station) bymeans of a request , i.e. transmitting the request to the terminal, the request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, and an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource, an operation (420) of determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal upon receiving a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell from the terminal, and an operation (430) of switching to the requested uplink control channel upon the determination of completion
  • Figure 5 shows a flowchart illustrating a terminal-sided procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
  • the thus illustrated procedure may be carried out at a terminal, especially a user equipment, such as UE of Figure 2.
  • a corresponding procedure comprises an operation (510) of receiving a request for switching an uplink control channel at a terminal, the request which is transmitted from a base station (i.e. a macro/micro cell base station) including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to , and an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource , an operation (520) of performing (including initiating and completing) a random access procedure using the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell, an operation (530) of determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station upon performing a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the base station, and an operation (530) of switching to the requested uplink control channel upon the determination of completion.
  • a base station i.e. a macro/micro cell base station
  • the procedures of Figures 4 and/or 5 differ in that the switching request further comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource, and the determination of completion of the requested switching is made on the basis of receipt /transmission of a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the base station from the terminal to the base station.
  • the aforementioned uplink control channel switching may specifically relate to configuration and reconfiguration of an uplink control channel (e.g. PUCCH configuration, TTI bundling enabling/disabling) .
  • PUCCH configuration e.g. PUCCH configuration, TTI bundling enabling/disabling
  • FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a system-related procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
  • the thus illustrated procedure may be carried out in cooperation between a base station eNB such as a macro or micro base station (e.g. Macro-eNB of Figure 2) and a terminal UE (e.g. UE of Figure 2) .
  • a base station eNB such as a macro or micro base station (e.g. Macro-eNB of Figure 2)
  • a terminal UE e.g. UE of Figure 2 .
  • the uplink control channel is exemplarily represented by a PUCCH or, more specifically, a PUCCH configuration.
  • a corresponding procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention may comprise the following operations, as explained below.
  • the eNB may configure a PUCCH on multiple serving cells for the UE. Stated in other words, the eNB may configure a resource pool defining a mapping between the serving cells and PUCCH configurations thereof and provide the configured resource pool to the UE which is servable by the serving cells, i.e. the PCell and one or more SCells in the CA framework, thereby configuring the UE accordingly.
  • the thus configured resource pool may be such that one PUCCH configuration is configured for each serving cell, and a default PUCCH configuration to be used is configured on the PCell in the CA framework.
  • a corresponding resource pool may also be pre-configured and provided in advance, either by the eNB or any other suitable node or network element.
  • the eNB may request a PUCCH switching at the UE by transmitting a corresponding request in the form of a PDCCH order message including an indication of the cell (e.g. a cell index) out of the serving cells for the UE, the PUCCH configuration of which is requested to be switched to, and an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource which may be a PRACH resource (e.g. a preamble, a PRACH mask and a resource block) .
  • a PRACH resource e.g. a preamble, a PRACH mask and a resource block
  • Such PDCCH order message may be of a predetermined format being specified for initiating a random access procedure.
  • the dedicated random access channel resource is allocated jointly with the PDCCH order triggering the PUCCH configuration change.
  • the PDCCH order message may be a PDCCH message of specified format 1A according to 3GPP TS 36.212.
  • the DCI format 1A is typically used for a compact scheduling of one PDSCH codeword in one cell and a random access procedure initiated by a PDCCH order .
  • the DCI format lA is used for a random acces s procedure initiated by a PDCCH order only if the format 1A CRC is scrambled with C-RNTI and ' all the remaining fields are set as follows:
  • the indication of the cell may e included in the remaining (padding) bits, e.g. using three bits thereof.
  • a number (e.g. three) of the remaining (padding) bits may represent a field for indicating which PUCCH configuration of which cell is requested to be switched to.
  • the dedicated random access channel resource may be included in respectively specified bits or fields .
  • a preamble may be included in the preamble index
  • a PRACH mask may be included in the PRACH mask index
  • a resource block may be included in the resource block assignment, respectively.
  • receipt of the PUCCH switching request (e.g. the PDCCH order message) initiates a RA procedure of the indicated cell. That is, the UE performs a RA procedure using the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell , In this regard, the UE may determining the PUCCH configuration of the indicated cell on the basis of the indicated cell using the aforementioned resource pool defining a mapping between the serving cells and PUCCH configurations thereof.
  • the UE may transmit the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the eNB.
  • the UE may switch to the requested PUCCH configuration, thus starting to use the requested PUCCH configuration.
  • the eNB may switch to the requested PUCCH configuration, thus starting to use the requested PUCCH configuration.
  • both the eNB and the UE may switch to the requested PUCCH configuration in a synchronizedmanner , thereby ensuring alignment of the PUCCH configuration between the eNB and the UE.
  • the eNB may respond to the transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell by means of transmission of a random access response message to the UE , While exchange of such response message is illustrated in Figure 6, such operation (representing part of the RA procedure) is not necessarily required for achieving the desired effects of exemplary embodiments of the present invention .
  • the eNB may transmit such response message before or after actually switching to the requested PUCCH configuration. Besides the UE's switching to the requested PUCCH configuration directly after completion of the RA procedure, as described above, the UE may also switch to the requested PUCCH configuration only after receipt of the response message from the eNB.
  • the eNB may initiate the PUCCH switching, i.e. the requesting of the PUCCH switching, on the basis of receipt of a D-SR and/or an UL signal from the UE .
  • the PUCCH switching i.e. the requesting of the PUCCH switching
  • the PUCCH switching may be initiated by the eNB upon receipt of a D-SR requesting a PUCCH switching or upon determination of an appropriateness of a PUCCH switching, which determination may be accomplished based on at least one of quality and load of the UL signal on an UL uplink data/shared/control channel such as PUSCH, PUCCH, and the like.
  • synchronization of a PUCCH configuration (or a switching thereof ⁇ may be achieved, and thus alignment of the PUCCH configuration between a (macro cell) base station and a served terminal (and, thus, a micro cell and its base station which the UE uses for UL traffic) maybe ensured .
  • uplink control channel re-/configuration in terms of uplink control channel re-/configuration is taken as a non-limiting example for explanatory purposes only.
  • an uplink control channel re-/configuration according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention may include any other re-/configuration in this regard.
  • uplink control channel re-/configuration according to exemplary embodiments does not require that multiple cells or carriers are involved.
  • uplink control channel re-/configuration according to exemplary embodiments may include enabling/disabling TTI bundling (in a RA procedure), and the like. In such case, TTI bundling enable/disable (in a RA procedure) or the like is indicated in the switching request (e.g. the PDDCH order message).
  • the solid line blocks are basically configured to perform respective operations as described above.
  • the entirety of solid line blocks are basically configured to perform the methods and operations as described above, respectively.
  • the individual blocks are meant to illustrate respective functional blocks implementing a respective function, process or procedure, respectively.
  • Such functional blocks are implementation-independent, i.e. may be implemented by means of any kind of hardware or software, respectively.
  • the arrows and lines interconnecting individual blocks are meant to illustrate an operational coupling there-between, which may be a physical and/or logical coupling, which on the one hand is implementation-independent (e.g. wired or wireless) and on the other hand may also comprise an arbitrary number of intermediary functional entities not shown .
  • the direction of arrow is meant to illustrate the direction in which certain operations are performed and/or the direction in which certain data is transferred.
  • Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of apparatuses according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Asmentioned above, it is noted that the illustration of (electronic) devices according to Figure 7 is simplified.
  • the thus described apparatus 10 may represent a (part of a) base station or access node, e.g. a base station or access node operable in accordance with a CA/CoMP framework in a heterogeneous network deployment, as described above, and may be configured to perform a procedure and/or exhibit a functionality as described in conjunction with any one of Figures 3, 4 and 6.
  • the thus described apparatus 20 may represent a (part of a) terminal, e.g. a terminal or user equipment operable in accordance with a CA/CoMP framework in a heterogeneous network deployment, as described above, and may be configured to perform a procedure and/or exhibit a functionality as described in conjunction with any one of Figures 3, 5 and 6.
  • each of the apparatuses comprises a processor 11/22, a memory 12/22 and an interface 13/23, which are connected by a bus 14/24 or the like, and the apparatuses may be connected via a link A.
  • the processor 11/21 and/or the interface 13/23 may also include a modem or the like to facilitate communication over a (hardwire or wireless) link, respectively.
  • the interface 13/23 may include a suitable transceiver coupled to one or more antennas or communication means for (hardwire or wireless ) communications with the linked or connected device (s), respectively.
  • the interface 13/23 is generally configured to communicate with at least one other apparatus, i.e. the interface thereof.
  • the memory 12/22 may store respective programs assumed to include program instructions or computer program code that, when executed by the respective processor, enables the respective electronic device or apparatus to operate in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Further, the memories 12/22 may store one or more of the aforementioned parameters, traffic, data and information, such as a configured resource pool.
  • the respective devices/apparatuses may represent means for performing respective operations and/or exhibiting respective functionalities, and/or the respective devices (and/or parts thereof) may have functions for performing respective operations and/or exhibiting respective functionalities .
  • the processor (or some other means) is configured to perform some function
  • this is to be construed to be equivalent to a description stating that a (i.e. at least one) processor or corresponding circuitry, potentially in cooperation with computer program code stored in the memory of the respective apparatus, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform at least the thus mentioned function.
  • a (i.e. at least one) processor or corresponding circuitry potentially in cooperation with computer program code stored in the memory of the respective apparatus, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform at least the thus mentioned function.
  • function is to be construed to be equivalently implementable by specifically configured circuitry or means for performing the respective function (i.e. the expression processor configured to [cause the apparatus to] perform xxx-ing" is construed to be equivalent to an expression such as "means for xxx-ing") .
  • the apparatus 10 or it s processor 11 is configured to perform requesting a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, , determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
  • the apparatus 10 or its processor 11 may be configured to perform one or more of:
  • the apparatus 20 or its processor 21 is configured to perform receiving a request for switching an uplink control channel at a terminal from a base station, the request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station, land switching to the requested uplink control channel.
  • the apparatus 20 or its processor 21 may be configured to perform one or more of:
  • the request further comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource, performing a random access procedure using the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell and transmitting the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the base station,
  • the request comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource
  • the request comprises a downlink control channel order message of a predetermined format being specified for initiating a random access procedure
  • the downlink control channel order message of a predetermined format comprises a physical downlink control channel order message of specified format 1A,
  • the indication of the cell is included in padding bits according to the predetermined format
  • the dedicated random access channel resource is included in respectively specified bits according to the predetermined format and/or comprises one or more of a preamble index, a physical random access channel mask index and a resource block assignment.
  • the processor 11/21, the memory 12/22 and the interface 13/23 may be implemented as individual modules, chipsets, circuitries or the like, or one or more of them can be implemented as a common module, chipset, circuitry or the like, respectively.
  • a system may comprise any conceivable combination of the thus depicted devices/apparatuses and other network elements, which are configured to cooperate as described above.
  • respective functional blocks or elements according to above-described aspects can be implemented by any known means, either in hardware and/or software, respectively, ifitisonly adapted to perform the described functions of the respective parts .
  • the mentioned method steps can be realized in individual functional blocks or by individual devices, or one or more of the method steps can be realized in a single functional block or by a single device.
  • any method step is suitable to be implemented as software or by hardware without changing the idea of the present invention.
  • Such software may be software code independent and can be specified using any known or future developed programming language, such as e.g. Java, C++, C, and Assembler, as long as the functionality defined by the method steps is preserved.
  • Such hardware may be hardware type independent and can be implemented using any known or future developed hardware technology or any hybrids of these, suchasMOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) , CMOS (Complementary MOS ) , BiMOS (Bipolar MOS) , BiCMOS (Bipolar CMOS) , ECL (Emitter Coupled Logic) , TTL (Transistor-Transistor Logic) , etc.
  • a device/apparatus may be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, or a (hardware) module comprising such chip or chipset; this, however, does not exclude the possibility that a functionality of a device/apparatus or module, instead of being hardware implemented, be implemented as software in a (software) module such as a computer program or a computer program product comprising executable software code portions for execution/being run on a processor.
  • ASIC Application Specific IC (Integrated Circuit )
  • FPGA Field-programmable Gate Arrays
  • CPLD Complex Programmable Logic Device
  • DSP Digital Signal Processor
  • a device may be regarded as a device/apparatus or as an assembly of more than one device/apparatus, whether functionally in cooperation with each other or functionally independently of each other but in a same device housing, for example.
  • Apparatuses and/or means or parts thereof can be implemented as individual devices, but this does not exclude that they may be implemented in a distributed fashion throughout the system, as long as the functionality of the device is preserved. Such and similar principles are to be considered as known to a skilled person .
  • Software in the sense of the present description comprises software code as such comprising code means or portions or a computer program or a computer program product for performing the respective functions, as well as software (or a computer program or a computer program product) embodied on a tangible medium such as a computer-readable (storage) medium having stored thereon a respective data structure or code means/portions or embodied in a signal or in a chip, potentially during processing thereof.
  • the present invention also covers any conceivable combination of method steps and operations described above, and any conceivable combination of nodes, apparatuses, modules or elements described above, as long as the above-described concepts of methodology and structural arrangement are applicable.
  • Such measures may exemplarily comprise that a base station requests a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, and that the base station switches to the requested uplink control channel upon determination of completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal . Further, Such measures may exemplarily comprise that the terminal , upon receipt of the request, determines completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station, and that the terminal switches to the requested uplink control channel upon determination of completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station.
  • the terminal may perform a random access procedure based thereon and then perform a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the base station, whereupon both the terminal and the base station may determine the completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the other side, respectively.
  • the measures according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention may be applied for any kind of network environment, particularly in any kind of heterogeneous network environment, such as for example for those in accordance with 3GPP RAN2/RAN3 standards and/or 3GPP LTE standards of release 10/11/12/... (LTE-Advanced and its evolutions).

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Abstract

Uplink control channel synchronization in heterogeneous network deployment There are provided measures for uplink control channel synchronization in a heterogeneous network deployment. Such measures may exemplarily comprise that a base station requests a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, and that the base station switches to the requested uplink control channel upon determination of completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal. Further, such measures may exemplarily comprise that the terminal, upon receipt of the request, determines completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station, and that the terminal switches to the requested uplink control channel upon determination of completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station. When the request further comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource, the terminal may perform a random access procedure based thereon and then perform a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the base station, whereupon both the terminal and the base station may determine the completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the other side, respectively.

Description

UPLINK CONTROL CHANNEL SYNCHRONIZATION IN
HETEROGENEOUS NETWORK DEPLOYMENT
Field
The present invention relates to uplink control channel syn¬ chronization in a heterogeneous network deployment. More specifically, the present invention exemplarily relates to measures (including methods, apparatuses and computer program products) for uplink control channel synchronization in a heterogeneous network deployment.
Background
The present specification basically relates to heterogeneous network deployments, in particular CA/CoMP-enabled heterogeneous network deployments.
In the following, for the sake of intelligibility, LTE (Long-Term Evolution according to 3GPP terminology) or LTE-Advanced is taken as a non-limiting example for a (radio access) network deployment being applicable in the context of the present invention and its embodiments. However, it is to be noted that any kind of (radio access) network deployment may likewise be applicable, as long asitexhibits comparable features and characteristics as described hereinafter .
Generally, heterogeneous network deployments, also referred to as multi-layer cellular network systems, comprise a combination of macro cells and micro cells (also referred to as pico cells or femto cells) are proposed as one concept. Thereby, the macro cells (having high transmission power) typically provide for a large geographical coverage, while the micro cells (having low transmission power) typically provide for additional capacity of low geographical coverage in areas with a high user deployment. In the context of LTE or LTE-Advanced, the macro cells are typically deployed by base stations denoted as eNBs, while micro cells are typically deployed by home base stations (HNB, HeNB) , mobile or fixed relay nodes (RN, MR) , remote radio heads (RRH) or the like. Examples of heterogeneous network deployments exemplarily include relay-enhanced access networks, and the like.
Such heterogeneous network deployments may, thus, be considered to be composed at least of two logical network layers, i.e. a micro cell layer and an overlay macro cell layer. The two network layers of a heterogeneous network deployment, i.e. the base stations and/or cells of the two network layers, may be implemented by the same or different radio access technologies. For example, a heterogeneous network deployment may be composed of a GSM- or LTE-based macro cell layer and a LTE-based micro cell layer.
Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a heterogeneous network deployment comprising a combination of macro cells andmicro cells . In Figure 1, macro cells are illustrated by hexagonal blocks, while micro cells are illustrated by rectangular blocks. In the dashed circle, an enlarged view of a micro cell including a micro cell base station and a user equipment is illustrated.
As micro cells typically have lower transmission power than macro cells, the downlink coverage can differ from the uplink coverage. This phenomenon is illustrated in Figure 2 which shows a schematic diagram of downlink and uplink coverage in a heterogeneous network deployment. In Figure 2, respective macro cell coverages are illustrated by solid lines, while respective micro cell coverages are illustrated by dashed lines.
As shown in Figure 2, the downlink coverage which basically depends from the transmission power of the macro cell base stations denoted as Macro-eNB may be limited as compared with the uplink coverage which basically depends on the transmission power of terminals denotes as UE residing in a respective area. An example regarding different DL/UL coverage relates to a terminal denoted as UE located around the distance middle point between a macro cell base station denoted as Macro-eNB and micro cell base station denoted as RRH, but slightly closer to the micro cell base station. Following cell (re-) selection rules, which are governed by power or quality of a DL received signal, the UE would choose the macro cell as the serving cell, although it would typically prefer the closer micro cell to receive its UL signals.
In view of such or similar issues resulting from the existence of the two network layers exhibiting different properties and capabilities, e.g. cell-edge throughput, coverage, deployment flexibility, and the like, various approaches are introduced, such as for example the concepts of {multi-cell} CoordinatedMulti-Point (CoMP) transmission and reception and cell/carrier aggregation (CA) .
In the CA/CoMP framework, two or more component carriers are aggregated for wider transmission bandwidths and spectrum aggregation. Therein, one serving cell provides a security input and the mobility information, this serving cell being referred to as the Primary (Serving) Cell (PCell) . Depending on UE capabilities, Secondary (Serving) Cells (SCells) can be configured to formtogether with the PCell a set of serving cells . The configured set of serving cells for a UE therefore always consists of one PCell and one or more SCells.
It is for example proposed that a UE in micro cell edge region uses cross-carrier scheduling for CA. In this regard, the UE receives DL PDCCH from a macro cell base station and transmits a UL data signal via PUSCH to a micro cell base station, thus realizing CoMP transmission and reception. So, the UE can be configured to aggregate macro and pico cells together (especially when assuming a co-channel deployment where both macro and micro base stations are using the same carrier frequency) .
In the CA/CoMP framework as outlined above, while an uplink data/shared channel may be properly handled, there remain open issues regarding an uplink control channel. More specifically, the CA/CoMP framework does not enable a proper handling of an uplink control channel in terms of a reliable and effective definition/configuration thereof for multiple serving cells in a heterogeneous network deployment.
On the one hand, a format to be used for PUCCH is bundled/associated with locations of control channel elements in the PDCCH. Therefore, a simple reuse of a neighboring cell's identifier, i.e. the identifier of the macro base station in/for the uplink control channel towards the micro base station, will cause a conflict and may thus not be utilized.
On the other hand, PUCCH configuration or definition is subject to certain restrictions in view of the properties and capabilities of primary and secondary cells in the CA framework. Namely, it is currently specified that the PUCCH can typically only be configured on a PCell in the CA framework.
In view thereof, it might be conceivable to configure a micro cell as the PCell for the UE to transmit the PUCCH to micro cell base station . Such configuration would however increases handover load, since the micro cell coverage is normally very small . Accordingly, the optimized way would be to configure the macro cell as the PCell and each micro cell as a SCell.
Also, it might be conceivable to allow configuring the PUCCH on a SCell. However, as a micro cell signal might be suddenly dropped due to a complex radio environment (deep shadowing, etc.), this would be detrimental in view of the fact that the PUCCH as control channel should be robust. Otherwise, the macro cell's downlink transmission would be impacted as no uplink feedback would be available. In that sense, the PUCCH should be still configured on the PCell.
Further, in order to facilitate configuration of the PUCCH on a SCell in view of the above, it might be conceivable to define resource pools for the PUCCH. Then, the UE could request and confirm a configuration/definition (e.g. a changing) of the PUCCH on the basis of the resource pool by transmitting a D-SR to the macro cell base station eNB. Yet, the D-SR could only be used when an uplink synchronization with the eNB has already been established at the UE, which might not yet be the case at an appropriate timing. Moreover, the UE could not know whether or not the eNB correctly received the D-SR. In case that the eNB did not correctly receive the D-SR from the UE, the UE would configure/define (e.g. change) the PUCCH as requested, while the eNB would maintain the previously valid PUCCH without any configuration/definition (e.g. achanging) thereof. Thereby, a synchronized configuration/definition (e.g. a changing) of the PUCCH couldnot be ensured, and thus amisalignment of PUCCH configuration/definition between UE and eNB could arise.
As a result, there remain open issues regarding an uplink control channel in a heterogeneous network deployment, i.e. a proper handling of an uplink control channel in terms of a reliable and effective definition/configuration thereof for multiple serving cells .
In view thereof, there is a need to provide for improvements in the context of, thus facilitating, uplink control channel synchronization in a heterogeneous network deployment.
Summary
Various exemplary embodiments of the present invention aim at addressing at least part of the above issues and/or problems and drawbacks .
Various aspects of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are set out in the appended claims.
According to an exemplary first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising requesting a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal, and switching to the requested uplink control channel. Advantageous further developments are as set out in respective dependent claims thereof.
According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising receiving a request for switching an uplink control channel at a terminal from a base station, the request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink cont ol channel at the b se station, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
Advantageous further developments are as set out in respective dependent claims thereof.
According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising an interface configured to communicate with at least another apparatus, a processor configured to cause the apparatus to perform: requesting a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
Advantageous further developments are as set out in respective dependent claims thereof. According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising an interface configured to communicate with at least another apparatus, a processor configured to cause the apparatus to perform: receiving a request for switching an uplink control channel at a terminal from a base station, the request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
Advantageous further developments are as set out in respective dependent claims thereof.
According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product including comprising computer-executable computer program code which, when the program is run on a computer (e.g. a computer of an apparatus according to any one of the aforementioned apparatus-related exemplary aspects of the present invention) , is configured to cause the computer to carry out the method according to any one of the aforementioned method-related exemplary aspects of the present invention .
Such computer program product may be embodied as a (tangible) computer-readable storage medium or the like.
By way of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, there is provided uplink control channel synchronization in a heterogeneous network deployment. More specifically, by way of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, there are provided measures andmechanisms for uplink control channel synchronization in a heterogeneous network deployment.
Thus, improvement is achieved by methods, apparatuses and computer program products enabling uplink control channel synchronization in a heterogeneous network deployment.
Brief description of the drawings
In the following, the present invention will be described in greater detail by way of non-limiting examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a heterogeneous network deployment, for which exemplary embodiments of the present invention are applicable,
Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of downlink and uplink coverage in a heterogeneous network deployment, for which exemplary embodiments of the present invention are applicable,
Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention,
Figure 4 shows a flowchart illustrating a network-sided procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, Figure 5 shows a flowchart illustrating a terminal-sided procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a system-related procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and
Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of apparatuses according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
Detailed description of embodiments of the present invention
The present invention is described herein with reference to particular non-limiting examples and to what are presently considered to be conceivable embodiments of the present invention. A person skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention is by no means limited to these examples, and may be more broadly applied .
It is to be noted that the following description of the present invention and its embodiments mainly refers to specifications being used as non-limiting examples for certain exemplary network configurations and deployments . Namely, the present invention and its embodiments are mainly described in relation to 3GPP specifications being used as non-limiting examples for certain exemplary network configurations and deployments . In particular , an LTE network and corresponding standards (LTE releases 8, 9 and LTE-Advanced release 10 and beyond) are used as a non-limiting example for the applicability of thus described exemplary embodiments. As such, the description of exemplary embodiments given herein specifically refers to terminology which is directly related thereto. Such terminology is only used in the context of the presented non-limiting examples, and does naturally not limit the invention in any way. Rather, any other network configuration or system deployment, etc . may also be utilized as long as compliant with the features described herein.
In particular, the present invention and its embodiments may be applicable in any heterogeneous (cellular) system, in particular CA/CoMP-enabled heterogeneous network deployments. The present invention and its embodiments may be applicable for/in any kind of modern and future communication network including any conceivable mobile/wireless communication networks according to 3GPP or IETF specifications.
Hereinafter, various embodiments and implementations of the present invention and its aspects or embodiments are described using several alternatives. It is generally noted that, according to certain needs and constraints, all of the described alternatives may be provided alone or in any conceivable combination (also including combinations of individual features of the various alternatives) .
According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, in general terms, there are provided measures and mechanisms for uplink control channel synchronization in a heterogeneous network deployment. For example, as outlined in detail hereinafter, uplink control channel synchronization may specifically relate to synchronization in uplink control channel configuration and reconfiguration (including e.g. PUCCH reconfiguration, TTI bundling enabling/disabling) .
Generally, it is noted that the term "switching" used herein refers to any kind of re-/configuration which is conceivable in a certain context. That is, switching may encompass any change of any configuration, enabling/disabling of any property/feature, and the like.
Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. The thus illustrated procedure may be carried out in cooperation between a base station eNB such as a macro or micro base station (e.g. Macro-eNB of Figure 2) and a terminal UE (e.g. UE of Figure 2) .
As shown in Figure 3, a corresponding procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprises that the base station eNB requests a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determines completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal, and switches to the requested uplink control channel upon determination of completion. Further, a corresponding procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprises that the terminal receives the aforementioned request from the base station, determines completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station, and switches to the requested uplink control channel upon determination of completion.
As is evident from the above, the switching to the requested uplink control channel is synchronized at both entities by means of a mutual understanding of completion of such switching at the other entity, respectively.
Figure 4 shows a flowchart illustrating a network-sided procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. The thus illustrated procedure may be carried out at a base station, including a macro cell base station, such as Macro-eNB of Figure 2, and a micro cell base station,, such as a home base station and/or a (home) base station being connected to a RRH of Figure 2, or the like.
As shown in Figure 4, a corresponding procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprises an operation (410) of requesting a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal (i.e. a terminal served by the base station) bymeans of a request , i.e. transmitting the request to the terminal, the request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, and an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource, an operation (420) of determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal upon receiving a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell from the terminal, and an operation (430) of switching to the requested uplink control channel upon the determination of completion
Figure 5 shows a flowchart illustrating a terminal-sided procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. The thus illustrated procedure may be carried out at a terminal, especially a user equipment, such as UE of Figure 2.
As shown in Figure 5, a corresponding procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprises an operation (510) of receiving a request for switching an uplink control channel at a terminal, the request which is transmitted from a base station (i.e. a macro/micro cell base station) including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to , and an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource , an operation (520) of performing (including initiating and completing) a random access procedure using the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell, an operation (530) of determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station upon performing a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the base station, and an operation (530) of switching to the requested uplink control channel upon the determination of completion.
As compared with the procedure of Figure 3, the procedures of Figures 4 and/or 5 differ in that the switching request further comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource, and the determination of completion of the requested switching is made on the basis of receipt /transmission of a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the base station from the terminal to the base station.
As will be evident from the below, the aforementioned uplink control channel switching may specifically relate to configuration and reconfiguration of an uplink control channel (e.g. PUCCH configuration, TTI bundling enabling/disabling) .
Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a system-related procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. The thus illustrated procedure may be carried out in cooperation between a base station eNB such as a macro or micro base station (e.g. Macro-eNB of Figure 2) and a terminal UE (e.g. UE of Figure 2) .
In exemplary embodiments of the present invention according to Figure 6, the uplink control channel is exemplarily represented by a PUCCH or, more specifically, a PUCCH configuration. As shown in Figure 6, a corresponding procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention may comprise the following operations, as explained below.
The eNB may configure a PUCCH on multiple serving cells for the UE. Stated in other words, the eNB may configure a resource pool defining a mapping between the serving cells and PUCCH configurations thereof and provide the configured resource pool to the UE which is servable by the serving cells, i.e. the PCell and one or more SCells in the CA framework, thereby configuring the UE accordingly. The thus configured resource pool may be such that one PUCCH configuration is configured for each serving cell, and a default PUCCH configuration to be used is configured on the PCell in the CA framework.
While in Figure 6 the PUCCH configuration by the eNB is exemplarily illustrated, it is noted that such operation is not necessarily carried out. Rather, a corresponding resource pool may also be pre-configured and provided in advance, either by the eNB or any other suitable node or network element.
The eNB may request a PUCCH switching at the UE by transmitting a corresponding request in the form of a PDCCH order message including an indication of the cell (e.g. a cell index) out of the serving cells for the UE, the PUCCH configuration of which is requested to be switched to, and an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource which may be a PRACH resource (e.g. a preamble, a PRACH mask and a resource block) .
Such PDCCH order message may be of a predetermined format being specified for initiating a random access procedure. Thereby, the dedicated random access channel resource is allocated jointly with the PDCCH order triggering the PUCCH configuration change. Specifically, the PDCCH order message may be a PDCCH message of specified format 1A according to 3GPP TS 36.212. The DCI format 1A is typically used for a compact scheduling of one PDSCH codeword in one cell and a random access procedure initiated by a PDCCH order .
Inparticular, the DCI format lAis used for a random acces s procedure initiated by a PDCCH order only if the format 1A CRC is scrambled with C-RNTI and 'all the remaining fields are set as follows:
- Localized/Distributed VRB assignment flag - 1 bit is set to 'Ο'
- Resource block assignment - [log2(N^(N^ +l)/2)] bits, where all bits shall be set to 1
- Preamble Index - 6 bits
- PRACH Mask Index - 4 bits,
- All the remaining bits in format 1A for compact scheduling assignment of one PDSCH codeword are set to zero, i.e. represent padding bits.
In an accordingly specified PDDCH order message, the indication of the cell (i.e. the cell index) may e included in the remaining (padding) bits, e.g. using three bits thereof. Stated in other words, a number (e.g. three) of the remaining (padding) bits may represent a field for indicating which PUCCH configuration of which cell is requested to be switched to. Further, in an accordingly specified PDDCH order message, the dedicated random access channel resource may be included in respectively specified bits or fields . Specifically, a preamble may be included in the preamble index, a PRACH mask may be included in the PRACH mask index, and/or a resource block may be included in the resource block assignment, respectively. At the UE, receipt of the PUCCH switching request (e.g. the PDCCH order message) initiates a RA procedure of the indicated cell. That is, the UE performs a RA procedure using the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell , In this regard, the UE may determining the PUCCH configuration of the indicated cell on the basis of the indicated cell using the aforementioned resource pool defining a mapping between the serving cells and PUCCH configurations thereof.
Upon completion of the RA procedure of the indicated cell, the UE may transmit the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the eNB.
Further upon completion of the RA procedure of the indicated cell, the UE may switch to the requested PUCCH configuration, thus starting to use the requested PUCCH configuration.
Upon receipt of the transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell from the UE at the eNB, the eNB may switch to the requested PUCCH configuration, thus starting to use the requested PUCCH configuration.
Thereby, both the eNB and the UE may switch to the requested PUCCH configuration in a synchronizedmanner , thereby ensuring alignment of the PUCCH configuration between the eNB and the UE.
Additionally, according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as shown in Figure 6, the eNB may respond to the transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell by means of transmission of a random access response message to the UE , While exchange of such response message is illustrated in Figure 6, such operation (representing part of the RA procedure) is not necessarily required for achieving the desired effects of exemplary embodiments of the present invention . The eNB may transmit such response message before or after actually switching to the requested PUCCH configuration. Besides the UE's switching to the requested PUCCH configuration directly after completion of the RA procedure, as described above, the UE may also switch to the requested PUCCH configuration only after receipt of the response message from the eNB.
According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as shown in Figure 6, the eNB may initiate the PUCCH switching, i.e. the requesting of the PUCCH switching, on the basis of receipt of a D-SR and/or an UL signal from the UE . Namely, the PUCCH switching, i.e. the requesting of the PUCCH switching, may be initiated by the eNB upon receipt of a D-SR requesting a PUCCH switching or upon determination of an appropriateness of a PUCCH switching, which determination may be accomplished based on at least one of quality and load of the UL signal on an UL uplink data/shared/control channel such as PUSCH, PUCCH, and the like.
While in Figure 6 the receipt of a D-SR and/or an UL signal and the initiation of and/or an UL signal at the eNB is exemplarily illustrated prior to the PUCCH configuration, it is noted that these operations may also be carried our after the PUCCH configuration or in case no such PUCCH configuration is carried out at all.
By virtue of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as described above in connection with Figures 3 to 6, aforementioned issue regarding an uplink control channel in the CA/CoMP framework (particularly, when a macro cell is used for DL transmission and a micro cell is used for UL transmission) may be resolved.
By virtue of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as described above in connection with Figures 3 to 6, synchronization of a PUCCH configuration (or a switching thereof} may be achieved, and thus alignment of the PUCCH configuration between a (macro cell) base station and a served terminal (and, thus, a micro cell and its base station which the UE uses for UL traffic) maybe ensured .
By virtue of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as described above in connection with Figures 3 to 6, there may be introduced the possibility of transmitting/configuring a PUCCH (configuration) on a SCell (typically a micro cell which has better coverage for the uplink, as evident from Figure 2) (e.g. for some period being configured by the eNB} , while still keeping the PUCCH (configuration) on the PCell (typically the macro cell) when the SCell changes . Thereby, a RRC reconfiguration may be used for PUCCH switching instead of a handover procedure, while preventing any PUCCH-related uncertainty issues according to conventional approaches and/or specifications. Thereby, it is further fa- cilitated that no UL synchronization is required between the UE and the (macro cell) base station to which a local PUCCH switching at the UE is to be indicated.
In view of the above, it is generally noted that the description relating to a PUCCH re-/configuration in terms of uplink control channel re-/configuration is taken as a non-limiting example for explanatory purposes only. Yet, it is to be noted that an uplink control channel re-/configuration according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention may include any other re-/configuration in this regard. Specifically, uplink control channel re-/configuration according to exemplary embodiments does not require that multiple cells or carriers are involved. For example, uplink control channel re-/configuration according to exemplary embodiments may include enabling/disabling TTI bundling (in a RA procedure), and the like. In such case, TTI bundling enable/disable (in a RA procedure) or the like is indicated in the switching request (e.g. the PDDCH order message).
The above-described procedures and functions may be implemented by respective functional elements, processors, or the like, as described below. While in the foregoing exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described mainly with reference to methods, procedures and functions, corresponding exemplary embodiments of the present invention also cover respective apparatuses, network nodes and systems, includingboth software and/or hardware thereof .
Respective exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described below referring to Figure 7 , while for the sake of brevity reference is made to the detailed description of respective corresponding methods and operations according to Figures 3 to 6 as well as the underlying system architectures according to Figures 1 and 2.
In Figure 7 below, the solid line blocks are basically configured to perform respective operations as described above. The entirety of solid line blocks are basically configured to perform the methods and operations as described above, respectively. With respect to Figure 7, it is to be noted that the individual blocks are meant to illustrate respective functional blocks implementing a respective function, process or procedure, respectively. Such functional blocks are implementation-independent, i.e. may be implemented by means of any kind of hardware or software, respectively. The arrows and lines interconnecting individual blocks are meant to illustrate an operational coupling there-between, which may be a physical and/or logical coupling, which on the one hand is implementation-independent (e.g. wired or wireless) and on the other hand may also comprise an arbitrary number of intermediary functional entities not shown . The direction of arrow is meant to illustrate the direction in which certain operations are performed and/or the direction in which certain data is transferred.
Further, in Figure 7, only those functional blocks are illustrated, which relate to any one of the above-described methods , procedures and functions. A skilled person will acknowledge the presence of any other conventional functional blocks required for an operation of respective structural arrangements, such as e.g. a power supply, a central processing unit, respective memories or the like. Among others, memories are provided for storing programs or program instructions for controlling the individual functional entities to operate as described herein.
Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of apparatuses according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Asmentioned above, it is noted that the illustration of (electronic) devices according to Figure 7 is simplified.
In view of the above, the thus described apparatuses 10 and 20 are suitable for use in practicing the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as described herein.
The thus described apparatus 10 may represent a (part of a) base station or access node, e.g. a base station or access node operable in accordance with a CA/CoMP framework in a heterogeneous network deployment, as described above, and may be configured to perform a procedure and/or exhibit a functionality as described in conjunction with any one of Figures 3, 4 and 6. The thus described apparatus 20 may represent a (part of a) terminal, e.g. a terminal or user equipment operable in accordance with a CA/CoMP framework in a heterogeneous network deployment, as described above, and may be configured to perform a procedure and/or exhibit a functionality as described in conjunction with any one of Figures 3, 5 and 6.
As indicated in Figure 7 , according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, each of the apparatuses comprises a processor 11/22, a memory 12/22 and an interface 13/23, which are connected by a bus 14/24 or the like, and the apparatuses may be connected via a link A. The processor 11/21 and/or the interface 13/23 may also include a modem or the like to facilitate communication over a (hardwire or wireless) link, respectively. The interface 13/23 may include a suitable transceiver coupled to one or more antennas or communication means for (hardwire or wireless ) communications with the linked or connected device (s), respectively. The interface 13/23 is generally configured to communicate with at least one other apparatus, i.e. the interface thereof.
The memory 12/22 may store respective programs assumed to include program instructions or computer program code that, when executed by the respective processor, enables the respective electronic device or apparatus to operate in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Further, the memories 12/22 may store one or more of the aforementioned parameters, traffic, data and information, such as a configured resource pool.
In general terms, the respective devices/apparatuses (and/or parts thereof) may represent means for performing respective operations and/or exhibiting respective functionalities, and/or the respective devices (and/or parts thereof) may have functions for performing respective operations and/or exhibiting respective functionalities .
When in the subsequent description it is stated that the processor (or some other means) is configured to perform some function, this is to be construed to be equivalent to a description stating that a (i.e. at least one) processor or corresponding circuitry, potentially in cooperation with computer program code stored in the memory of the respective apparatus, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform at least the thus mentioned function. Also, such function is to be construed to be equivalently implementable by specifically configured circuitry or means for performing the respective function (i.e. the expression processor configured to [cause the apparatus to] perform xxx-ing" is construed to be equivalent to an expression such as "means for xxx-ing") .
According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the apparatus 10 or it s processor 11 is configured to perform requesting a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, , determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the apparatus 10 or its processor 11 may be configured to perform one or more of:
- determining the switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal upon receiving a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell from the terminal, when the request further comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource,
- configuring a resource pool defining a mapping between the serving cells and uplink control channels thereof and providing the configured resource pool to terminals being servable by the serving cells,
- responding to a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell from the terminal by means of a random access response message, and
- initiating the requesting upon receipt of a dedicated scheduling request from the terminal or upon determination of an appropriateness thereof based on at least one of uplink data/shared/control channel quality and load.
According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the apparatus 20 or its processor 21 is configured to perform receiving a request for switching an uplink control channel at a terminal from a base station, the request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station, land switching to the requested uplink control channel.
According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the apparatus 20 or its processor 21 may be configured to perform one or more of:
- when the request further comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource, performing a random access procedure using the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell and transmitting the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the base station,
- determining the switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station upon performing a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the base station,
- determining the uplink control channel of the indicated cell on the basis of the indicated cell using a preconfigured resource pool defining a mapping between the serving cells and uplink control channels thereof, and
- receiving a random access response message from the base station . As mentioned above, with respect to both apparatuses 10 and 20, one or more of the following may apply:
- the request comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource,
- the request comprises a downlink control channel order message of a predetermined format being specified for initiating a random access procedure,
- the downlink control channel order message of a predetermined format comprises a physical downlink control channel order message of specified format 1A,
- the indication of the cell is included in padding bits according to the predetermined format, and
- the dedicated random access channel resource is included in respectively specified bits according to the predetermined format and/or comprises one or more of a preamble index, a physical random access channel mask index and a resource block assignment.
According to exemplarily embodiments of the present invention, the processor 11/21, the memory 12/22 and the interface 13/23 may be implemented as individual modules, chipsets, circuitries or the like, or one or more of them can be implemented as a common module, chipset, circuitry or the like, respectively.
According to exemplarily embodiments of the present invention, a system may comprise any conceivable combination of the thus depicted devices/apparatuses and other network elements, which are configured to cooperate as described above.
In general, it is to be noted that respective functional blocks or elements according to above-described aspects can be implemented by any known means, either in hardware and/or software, respectively, ifitisonly adapted to perform the described functions of the respective parts . The mentioned method steps can be realized in individual functional blocks or by individual devices, or one or more of the method steps can be realized in a single functional block or by a single device.
Generally, any method step is suitable to be implemented as software or by hardware without changing the idea of the present invention. Such software may be software code independent and can be specified using any known or future developed programming language, such as e.g. Java, C++, C, and Assembler, as long as the functionality defined by the method steps is preserved. Such hardware may be hardware type independent and can be implemented using any known or future developed hardware technology or any hybrids of these, suchasMOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) , CMOS (Complementary MOS ) , BiMOS (Bipolar MOS) , BiCMOS (Bipolar CMOS) , ECL (Emitter Coupled Logic) , TTL (Transistor-Transistor Logic) , etc. , using for example ASIC (Application Specific IC ( Integrated Circuit ) ) components, FPGA (Field-programmable Gate Arrays) components, CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device) components or DSP (Digital Signal Processor) components. A device/apparatus may be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, or a (hardware) module comprising such chip or chipset; this, however, does not exclude the possibility that a functionality of a device/apparatus or module, instead of being hardware implemented, be implemented as software in a (software) module such as a computer program or a computer program product comprising executable software code portions for execution/being run on a processor. A device may be regarded as a device/apparatus or as an assembly of more than one device/apparatus, whether functionally in cooperation with each other or functionally independently of each other but in a same device housing, for example. Apparatuses and/or means or parts thereof can be implemented as individual devices, but this does not exclude that they may be implemented in a distributed fashion throughout the system, as long as the functionality of the device is preserved. Such and similar principles are to be considered as known to a skilled person .
Software in the sense of the present description comprises software code as such comprising code means or portions or a computer program or a computer program product for performing the respective functions, as well as software (or a computer program or a computer program product) embodied on a tangible medium such as a computer-readable (storage) medium having stored thereon a respective data structure or code means/portions or embodied in a signal or in a chip, potentially during processing thereof.
The present invention also covers any conceivable combination of method steps and operations described above, and any conceivable combination of nodes, apparatuses, modules or elements described above, as long as the above-described concepts of methodology and structural arrangement are applicable.
There are provided measures for uplink control channel synchronization in a heterogeneous network deployment . Such measures may exemplarily comprise that a base station requests a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, and that the base station switches to the requested uplink control channel upon determination of completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal . Further, Such measures may exemplarily comprise that the terminal , upon receipt of the request, determines completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station, and that the terminal switches to the requested uplink control channel upon determination of completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station.. When the request further comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource, the terminal may perform a random access procedure based thereon and then perform a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the base station, whereupon both the terminal and the base station may determine the completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the other side, respectively.
The measures according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention may be applied for any kind of network environment, particularly in any kind of heterogeneous network environment, such as for example for those in accordance with 3GPP RAN2/RAN3 standards and/or 3GPP LTE standards of release 10/11/12/... (LTE-Advanced and its evolutions).
Even though the invention is described above with reference to the examples according to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not restricted thereto. Rather, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be modified in many ways without departing from the scope of the inventive idea as disclosed herein.
List of acronyms and abbreviations
3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier CA Cell/Carrier Aggregation CoMP Coordinated Multi-Point Transmission
CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check
D-SR Dedicated Scheduling Request
DCI Downlink Control Information DL Downlink
HeNB Home evolved NodeB
HNB Home NodeB
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
MR Mobile Relay PCell Primary Cell in terms of CA
PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel
PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel
RA Random Access
RACH Random Access Channel
RN Relay Node
RRC Radio Resource Control RRH Remote Radio Head
SCell Secondary Cell in terms of CA
SRS Sounding Reference Signals
TTI Transmission Time Interval
UE User Equipment UL Uplink
VRB Virtual Resource Block

Claims

What is claimed
1. A method comprising requesting a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the request further comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource, and the completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal is determined upon receiving a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell from the terminal.
3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the request comprises a downlink control channel ordermessage of a predetermined format being specified for initiating a random access procedure, and/or the method further comprises configuring a resource pool defining a mapping between the serving cells and uplink control channels thereof and providing the configured resource pool to terminals being servable by the serving cells.
4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the method further comprises responding to the transmission from the terminal by means of a random access response message, and/or the requesting is initiated upon receipt of a dedicated scheduling request from the terminal or upon determination of an appropriateness thereof based on at least one of uplink data/shared/control channel quality and/or load.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the downlink control channel order message of a predetermined format comprises a physical downlink control channel order message of specified format 1A, and/or the indication of the cell is included in padding bits according to the predetermined format, and/or the dedicated random access channel resource is included in respectively specified bits according to the predetermined format and/or comprises one or more of a preamble index, a physical random access channel mask index and a resource block assignment.
6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the method is operable at or by a base station of a network deployment, and/or the method is operable in a heterogeneous network deployment comprising macro cells and micro cells, and/or the serving cells comprise a primary cell and at least one secondary cell of a cell/carrier aggregation framework, and/or the uplink control channel is configured on a micro cell of a heterogeneous network deployment, which is configured as a secondary cell of a cell/carrier aggregation framework, and/or the uplink control channel comprises a configuration of a physical uplink control channel.
7. A method comprising receiving a request for switching an uplink control channel at a terminal from a base station, the request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the request further comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource, the method further comprises performing a random access procedure using the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell and transmitting the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the base station, and the completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station is determined upon said transmission.
9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the request comprises a downlink control channel ordermessage of a predetermined format being specified for initiating a random access procedure, and/or the method further comprises determining the uplink control channel of the indicated cell on the basis of the indicated cell using a preconfigured resource pool defining a mapping between the serving cells and uplink control channels thereof.
10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the method further comprises receiving a random access response message from the base station, wherein the completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station is determined upon said receipt.
11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the downlink control channel order message of a predetermined format comprises a physical downlink control channel order message of specified format 1A, and/or the indication of the cell is included in padding bits according to the predetermined format, and/or the dedicated random access channel resource is included in respectively specified bits according to the predetermined format and/or comprises one or more of a preamble index, a physical random access channel mask index and a resource block assignment.
12. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 11, wherein the method is operable at or by a terminal of a network deployment, and/or the method is operable in a heterogeneous network deployment comprising macro cells and micro cells, and/or the serving cells comprise a primary cell and at least one secondary cell of a cell/carrier aggregation framework, and/or the uplink control channel is configured on a micro cell of a heterogeneous network deployment, which is configured as a secondary cell of a cell/carrier aggregation framework, and/or the uplink control channel comprises a configuration of a physical uplink control channel.
13. An apparatus comprising an interface configured to communicate with at least another apparatus, a processor configured to cause the apparatus to perform: requesting a switching of an uplink control channel at a terminal by means of a request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the request further comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource, and the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform determining of the switching to the requested uplink control channel at the terminal upon receiving a transmission of the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell from the terminal.
The apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the request comprises a downlink control channel ordermessage of a predetermined format being specified for initiating a random access procedure, and/or the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform configuring a resource pool defining a mapping between the serving cells and uplink control channels thereof and providing the configured resource pool to terminals being servable by the serving cells.
16. The apparatus according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform responding to the transmission from the terminal by means of a random access response message, and/or the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform initiating the requesting upon receipt of a dedicated scheduling request from the terminal or upon determination of an appropriateness thereof based on at least one of uplink data/shared/control channel quality and/or load.
17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the downlink control channel order message of a predetermined format comprises a physical downlink control channel ordermessage of specified format lAr and/or the indication of the cell is included in padding bits according to the predetermined format, and/or the dedicated random access channel resource is included in respectively specified bits according to the predetermined format and/or comprises one or more of a preamble index, a physical random access channel mask index and a resource block assignment.
18. The apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein the apparatus is operable as or at a base station of a network deployment, and/or the apparatus is operable in a heterogeneous network deployment comprising macro cells and micro cells, and/or the serving cells comprise a primary cell and at least one secondary cell of a cell/carrier aggregation framework, and/or the uplink control channel is configured on a micro cell of a heterogeneous network deployment, which is configured as a secondary cell of a cell/carrier aggregation framework, and/or the uplink control channel comprises a configuration of a physical uplink control channel.
19. An apparatus comprising an interface configured to communicate with at least another apparatus , a processor configured to cause the apparatus to perform: receiving a request for switching an uplink control channel at a terminal from a base station, the request including an indication of a cell out of serving cells for the terminal, the uplink control channel of which is requested to be switched to, determining completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station, and switching to the requested uplink control channel.
20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the request further comprises an assignment of a dedicated random access channel resource, the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform performing a random access procedure using the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell and transmitting the assigned dedicated random access channel resource on the indicated cell to the base station, and the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform determining the completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station upon said transmission.
21. The apparatus according to claim 19 or 20, wherein the request comprises a downlink control channel order message of a predetermined format being specified for initiating a random access procedure, and/or the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform determining the uplink control channel of the indicated cell on the basis of the indicated cell using a preconfigured resource pool defining a mapping between the serving cells and uplink control channels thereof.
22. The apparatus according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform receiving a random access response message from the base station and determining the completion of switching to the requested uplink control channel at the base station upon said receipt .
23. The apparatus according to claim 22, wherein the downlink control channel order message of a predetermined format comprises a physical downlink control channel order message of specified format 1A, and/or the indication of the cell is included in padding bits according to the predetermined format, and/or the dedicated random access channel resource is included in respectively specified bits according to the predetermined format and/or comprises one or more of a preamble index, a physical random access channel mask index and a resource block assignment.
24. The apparatus according to any one of claims 19 to 23, wherein the apparatus is operable as or at a terminal of a network deployment, and/or the apparatus is operable in a heterogeneous network deployment comprising macro cells and micro cells, and/or the serving cells comprise a primary cell and at least one secondary cell of a cell/carrier aggregation framework, and/or the uplink control channel is configured on a micro cell of a heterogeneous network deployment, which is configured as a secondary cell of a cell/carrier aggregation framework, and/or the uplink control channel comprises a configuration of a physical uplink control channel.
25. A computer program product comprising computer-executable computer program code which, when the program is run on a computer, is configured to cause the computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.
26. The computer program product according to claim 25, wherein the computer program product comprises a computer-readable medium on which the computer-executable computer program code is stored, and/or wherein the program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the processor.
PCT/CN2011/080497 2011-09-30 2011-09-30 Uplink control channel synchronization in heterogeneous network deployment WO2013044519A1 (en)

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