Patent Description:
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, data, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.

Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless terminals. Each terminal communicates with one or more base stations via transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the base stations. This communication link may be established via a single-in-single-out, multiple-in-single-out or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system.

A MIMO system employs multiple (NT) transmit antennas and multiple (NR) receive antennas for data transmission. A MIMO channel formed by the NT transmit and NR receive antennas may be decomposed into NS independent channels, which are also referred to as spatial channels, where NS ≤ min{NT, NR}. Each of the NS independent channels corresponds to a dimension. The MIMO system can provide improved performance (e.g., higher throughput and/or greater reliability) if the additional dimensionalities created by the multiple transmit and receive antennas are utilized.

A MIMO system may support time division duplex (TDD) and/or frequency division duplex (FDD) systems. In a TDD system, the forward and reverse link transmissions are on the same frequency region so that the reciprocity principle allows the estimation of the forward link channel from the reverse link channel. This enables the base station to extract transmit beamforming gain on the forward link when multiple antennas are available at the base station. In an FDD system, forward and reverse link transmissions are on different frequency regions.

The main focus of the traditional LTE design among other things is the improvement of spectral efficiency, ubiquitous coverage, enhanced QoS (Quality of Service) support, and the like. This typically results in high end devices, such as the state-of-art smart phones, tablets, etc. However, low cost, low rate devices need to be supported as well. Some market projections show that the number of low cost devices may largely exceed number of today's cell phones.

A study item on provision of low-cost MTC (machine type communications) UEs (User Equipments) based on LTE was done in LTE Rel-<NUM>. Particularly, the items under study included reduction of maximum bandwidth, single receive RF (Radio Frequency) chain, reduction of peak rate, reduction of transmit power, and half duplex operation.

Since the intended data rate for the low cost devices is less than <NUM> kbps, it is possible to operate these devices only at narrowband width, for example, to reduce costs. Two operation scenarios may be considered for the deployment of low cost devices. One straight-forward deployment scenario is to set aside some narrow bandwidth, e.g. <NUM>, to support the MTC operations. In this scenario, no or little standard changes may be necessary for such operations. Another, more interesting deployment scenario is to operate low cost UEs in a large bandwidth. In this case, low cost UEs may co-exist with regular UEs. Two further possible scenarios may be considered for operation of low cost UEs in a large bandwidth. In one scenario, low cost UEs may operate over the whole available bandwidth (e.g., up to <NUM>). This scenario may not have any impact on the standards, but it may not be helpful in reducing cost and battery power consumption. In another scenario, low cost UEs may operate over a small portion of the bandwidth. <INSERT New Page 3a>.

<CIT> discloses a method and an apparatus for performing uplink hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmission in a burst. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) may transmit a transmission burst over at least two consecutive transmission time intervals (TTIs) via a HARQ process configured for transmission burst. An E-DCH dedicated physical control channel (E-DPCCH) power offset may be set to the transmission burst-specific E-DPCCH gain factor value. The WTRU may calculate a power of the E-DPCCH by dividing a conventional E-DPCCH power offset by a total number of TTIs in the transmission burst. The WTRU may transmit the E-DPCCH only during a first TTI of the transmission burst. The supported E-TFCs may be a second set of supported E-TFCs determined only for use with the transmission burst. The WTRU may determine the set of supported E-TFCs and the E-TFC for transmission based on a number of TTIs in the transmission burst.

<CIT> discloses a method of operating a user equipment of a communication network, comprising: sending an information density indicator from the user equipment to another network element, wherein the information density indicator relates to a time interval during which an amount of information is sent.

It may be evident; however, that such aspect(s) may be practiced without these specific details.

As used in this application, the terms "component," "module," "system" and the like are intended to include a computer-related entity, such as but not limited to hardware, software/firmware, a combination of hardware and software/firmware, or software/firmware in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets, such as data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the Internet with other systems by way of the signal.

Furthermore, various aspects are described herein in connection with a terminal, which can be a wired terminal or a wireless terminal. A terminal can also be called a system, device, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, mobile, mobile device, remote station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, communication device, user agent, user device, or user equipment (UE). A wireless terminal may be a cellular telephone, a satellite phone, a cordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a smart phone, a tablet, an ultrabook, a netbook, a smartbook, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device having wireless connection capability, a computing device, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem. Moreover, various aspects are described herein in connection with a base station. A base station may be utilized for communicating with wireless terminal(s) and may also be referred to as an access point, a Node B, or some other terminology.

The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication networks such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, etc. The terms "networks" and "systems" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), CDMA <NUM>, etc. UTRA includes Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA). CDMA2000 covers IS-<NUM>, IS-<NUM> and IS-<NUM> standards.

An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) <NUM>, IEEE <NUM>, IEEE <NUM>, Flash-OFDM®, etc. UTRA, E-UTRA, and GSM are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a recent release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS and LTE are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). CDMA2000 is described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project <NUM>" (3GPP2). These various radio technologies and standards are known in the art. For clarity, certain aspects of the techniques are described below for LTE/LTE-Advanced (LTE-A). For simplicity, "LTE" can refer to LTE and LTE-A. It should be noted that LTE terminology is used by way of illustration and the scope of the disclosure is not limited to LTE. Rather, the techniques described herein may be utilized in various applications involving wireless transmissions, such as personal area networks (PANs), body area networks (BANs), location, Bluetooth, GPS, UWB (ultra-wide band), RFID, and the like. Further, the techniques may also be utilized in wired systems, such as cable modems, fiber-based systems, and the like.

Single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), which utilizes single carrier modulation and frequency domain equalization has similar performance and essentially the same overall complexity as those of an OFDMA system. SC-FDMA signal may have lower peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) because of its inherent single carrier structure. SC-FDMA may be used in the uplink communications where lower PAPR greatly benefits the mobile terminal in terms of transmit power efficiency. SC-FDMA is currently a working assumption for uplink multiple access scheme in 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), or Evolved UTRA.

Referring to <FIG>, a multiple access wireless communication system according to one aspect is illustrated. An access point <NUM> (AP) may include multiple antenna groups, one group including antennas <NUM> and <NUM>, another group including antennas <NUM> and <NUM>, and an additional group including antennas <NUM> and <NUM>. In <FIG>, only two antennas are shown for each antenna group, however, more or fewer antennas may be utilized for each antenna group. Access terminal <NUM> (AT) may be in communication with antennas <NUM> and <NUM>, where antennas <NUM> and <NUM> transmit information to access terminal <NUM> over forward link <NUM> and receive information from access terminal <NUM> over reverse link <NUM>. Access terminal <NUM> may be in communication with antennas <NUM> and <NUM>, where antennas <NUM> and <NUM> transmit information to access terminal <NUM> over forward link <NUM> and receive information from access terminal <NUM> over reverse link <NUM>. In a FDD system, communication links <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may use different frequencies for communication. For example, forward link <NUM> may use a different frequency than that used by reverse link <NUM>.

Each group of antennas and/or the area in which they are designed to communicate is often referred to as a sector of the access point. In one aspect of the present disclosure, each antenna group may be designed to communicate to access terminals in a sector of the areas covered by access point <NUM>.

Access terminal <NUM> may be in communication with access point <NUM>, where antennas from the access point <NUM> transmit information to access terminal <NUM> over forward link <NUM> and receive information from the access terminal <NUM> over reverse link <NUM>. However, the access terminal <NUM> may be camped on the access point <NUM> beyond the distance (indicated by <NUM>) that is expected by an operator when system information block (SIB) <NUM> parameter zeroCorrelationZoneConfig is initially configured. Such access terminals may benefit from the present methods and apparatus.

In communication over forward links <NUM> and <NUM>, the transmitting antennas of access point <NUM> may utilize beamforming in order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of forward links for the different access terminals <NUM> and <NUM>. Also, an access point using beamforming to transmit to access terminals scattered randomly through its coverage causes less interference to access terminals in neighboring cells than an access point transmitting through a single antenna to all its access terminals.

<FIG> illustrates a block diagram of an aspect of a transmitter system <NUM> (also known as the access point) and a receiver system <NUM> (also known as the access terminal) in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system <NUM>. At the transmitter system <NUM>, traffic data for a number of data streams is provided from a data source <NUM> to a transmit (TX) data processor <NUM>.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, each data stream may be transmitted over a respective transmit antenna. TX data processor <NUM> formats, codes, and interleaves the traffic data for each data stream based on a particular coding scheme selected for that data stream to provide coded data.

The coded data for each data stream may be multiplexed with pilot data using OFDM techniques. The pilot data is typically a known data pattern that is processed in a known manner and may be used at the receiver system to estimate the channel response. The multiplexed pilot and coded data for each data stream is then modulated (i.e., symbol mapped) based on a particular modulation scheme (e.g., BPSK, QPSK, M-PSK, or M-QAM) selected for that data stream to provide modulation symbols. The data rate, coding, and modulation for each data stream may be determined by instructions performed by processor <NUM>. Memory <NUM> may store data and software/firmware for the transmitter system <NUM>.

In certain aspects of the present disclosure, TX MIMO processor <NUM> applies beamforming weights to the symbols of the data streams and to the antenna from which the symbol is being transmitted.

Each transmitter <NUM> receives and processes a respective symbol stream to provide one or more analog signals, and further conditions (e.g., amplifies, filters, and up converts) the analog signals to provide a modulated signal suitable for transmission over the MIMO channel.

At receiver system <NUM>, the transmitted modulated signals may be received by NR antennas 252a through 252r and the received signal from each antenna <NUM> may be provided to a respective receiver (RCVR) 254a through 254r. Each receiver <NUM> may condition (e.g., filters, amplifies, and down converts) a respective received signal, digitize the conditioned signal to provide samples, and further process the samples to provide a corresponding "received" symbol stream.

The RX data processor <NUM> then demodulates, de-interleaves, and decodes each detected symbol stream to recover the traffic data for the data stream. The processing by RX data processor <NUM> may be complementary to that performed by TX MIMO processor <NUM> and TX data processor <NUM> at transmitter system <NUM>.

A processor <NUM> periodically determines which pre-coding matrix to use. Memory <NUM> may store data and software/firmware for the receiver system <NUM>.

Processor <NUM> then determines which pre-coding matrix to use for determining the beamforming weights, and then processes the extracted message.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure propose methods for improving phase continuity in an uplink transmit time interval (TTI) bundle. A first method may include identifying a segment of UL subframes in the TTI bundle and maintaining transmit power/timing/frequency when transmitting data to the base station over the segment of UL subframes in the TTI bundle. Another method may include ignoring reception of downlink subframes for a duration of the TTI bundle. The proposed methods may be used separately by user equipments or may be combined.

In LTE Rel-<NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM>, transmission time interval (TTI) bundling (or subframe bundling) may be configured on a per UE basis. The subframe bundling operation may be configured by the parameter ttiBundling that is provided by higher layers. If TTI bundling is configured for a UE, the subframe bundling operation may only be applied to uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) and may not be applied to other UL signals/traffic such as uplink control information. In certain aspects, the bundling size is fixed at four subframes, i.e., PUSCH will be transmitted in four consecutive subframes. In an aspect, the same hybrid automatic repeat request (ARQ) process number may be used in each of the bundled subframes. In certain aspects, the resource allocation size is restricted to up to three resource blocks (RBs) and the modulation order is set to <NUM> (e.g., QPSK). In an aspect, a bundle may be treated as a single resource, therefore, a single grant and a single hybrid-ARQ acknowledgement may be used for each bundle.

In certain aspects, the motivation for TTI Bundling in LTE Rel-<NUM> is low rate traffic. In an aspect, if voice over internet protocol (VoIP) packets may not be transmitted in a single TTI due to a low link budget for uplink, Layer <NUM> (L2) segmentation may be applied. For example, a VoIP packet could be segmented in four radio link control (RLC) protocol data units (PDUs) that are transmitted in four consecutive TTIs. Further, two or three HARQ retransmissions might be targeted to achieve sufficient coverage. However, this approach may have some drawbacks. Each additional segment may introduce a one byte RLC (Radio Link Control), one byte MAC (Medium Access Control) and three byte L1 CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) overhead, which may be up to <NUM> % overhead assuming a <NUM> byte RLC SDU (Service Data Unit) size). This means that for four segments, there may be an additional L1/L2 overhead of <NUM>%.

In addition, HARQ transmissions/retransmissions for every segment may require grants on physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) consuming significant PDCCH resources. Further, each HARQ transmission or retransmission may be followed by HARQ feedback on physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH). Assuming a NACK-ACK error ratio of <NUM>-<NUM>, the large number of HARQ feedback signals may lead to high packet loss probabilities. For example, if twelve HARQ feedback signals are sent, the HARQ feedback error ratio might be in the order of <NUM>* <NUM>-<NUM>. In certain aspects, packet loss rates of more than <NUM>-<NUM> are unacceptable for VoIP traffic.

Thus, for the purposes of TTI bundling, usage of only a single uplink grant and a single PHICH signal per TTI bundle would be advantageous. Also the L1 and L2 overhead may be minimized since no L2 segmentation may be required.

In certain aspects, TTI bundling may be used for UL coverage enhancements, including for example, for low data rate, medium data rate and VOIP. In an aspect, Large TTI bundling size (e.g., in order of <NUM> subframes) may be one possible solution to address UL coverage enhancements. In an aspect, Large TTI bundling size may be considered for DL coverage enhancements as well.

In certain aspects, in order to achieve desired coverage enhancements via TTI bundling, reliable channel estimation under low signal to noise ratio, SNR (e.g., - 10dB or lower) may be necessary. Enhancement on channel estimation may be achieved via channel estimation using multiple subframes, for example, by performing channel estimation filtering over multiple subframes.

In certain aspects, since these coverage enhancements are considered for low mobility UEs, multi-subframe channel estimation assuming similar or substantially similar channel conditions over multiple subframes may be necessary. However, multi-subframe channel estimation may require good phase continuity over multiple subframes. Otherwise, the effective channels, after combining the actual channel with any phase discontinuity, may not be substantially the same over multiple subframes. In an aspect, Phase continuity may be more pronounced when the number of subframes in TTI bundling is large.

In certain aspects, if there are power/timing/frequency variations over different subframes, maintaining phase continuity may be difficult. For example, in half-duplex UEs, if there is at least one DL reception in between two UL transmissions, it may be very difficult to maintain phase continuity for the two UL transmissions (since the half-duplex UE generally has to shut down UL transmissions in order to receive DL free of UL interference).

Certain aspects propose solutions to facilitate phase continuity for TTI bundling. A first proposal may include, maintaining, for both frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) systems, the same transmit power, timing and/or frequency over a subset of UL subframes (denoted as a "segment") of the same TTI bundle as much as possible. A bundle may contain one or more segments.

In certain aspects, a segment may be defined as coherent channel estimation interval assumed by the eNB, the size and/or boundary of which may be explicitly signaled to the UE or implicitly determined by the UE semi-statically or dynamically. In an aspect, by default (e.g., no signaling), a segment may be assumed to be the entire set of UL subframes in the same bundle (one segment in the bundle), or any other portion of it.

In certain aspects, for UL transmissions, the UE may skip monitoring, or may monitor but not apply, uplink power control commands (e.g., received in DL subframes) during each segment of the bundled transmission in order to maintain the same UL transmit power.

In alternative aspects, the UE may still keep monitoring and decoding DL subframes. For example, in one alternative, time and frequency tracking for DL reception may still be turned on and regularly updated, but time and frequency for UL transmission may be updated on a per "segment" basis of the same TTI bundle. In certain aspects, the update on timing and frequency of UL transmission across segments may be triggered by a timing advance (TA) command issued by the eNB. For example, the eNB may use TA command to signal start of a new segment (e.g., dynamic boundaries between segments or dynamic segment sizes). In an aspect, if UL transmission is drifting outside cyclic prefix (CP), instead of letting the UE keep drifting, a TA command may be used to correct timing of UL transmission. If the segment size is semi-statically configured, when the UE receives a TA command in a segment, the UE may update UL transmission timing and frequency at the next segment. In certain aspects, the update may also be done automatically by the UE at the beginning of each segment, for example, especially when the segment size/boundary is semi-statically determined.

In another alternative, time and frequency tracking for both DL and UL may be turned off within each segment. One advantage of this alternative is there is no need to manage different DL/UL time/frequencies, which may result in simpler implementation. However, some DL demodulation loss may happen due to inaccurate timing/frequency tracking for DL reception.

<FIG> illustrates example operations <NUM> that may be performed by a user equipment to achieve phase continuity in a TTI bundle, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. At <NUM>, the UE may identify a TTI bundle comprising a plurality of UL subframes for transmitting data to a node. At <NUM>, the UE may identify a segment of UL subframes in the TTI bundle. At <NUM>, the UE may maintain transmit power when transmitting data to the node over the segment of UL subframes in the TTI bundle. In an aspect, the node may include a base station. In alternative aspects, the node may include a UE.

In certain aspects, the segment of the UL subframes may correspond to an assumed coherent estimation interval.

In certain aspects, the segment of UL subframes may correspond to the plurality of UL subframes in the TTI bundle. In certain aspects a size of the segment may be semi-statically configured.

In certain aspects, the UE may maintain transmit power over the segment of UL subframes by at least one of skipping monitoring uplink power control commands, or monitoring but skipping applying the uplink power control commands.

In certain aspects, the UE may maintain at least one of timing or frequency over the segment of UL subframes in the TTI bundle. In an aspect, the UE may maintain the at least one of timing or frequency over the segment by updating UL transmission and frequency on a per segment basis of the same TTI bundle. In an aspect, an update on UL timing and frequency across segments may be triggered by a timing advance (TA) command issued by the node. In an aspect, the TA command may signal a start of a new segment. In an aspect, segment size may be semi-statically configured, and the UE may update UL timing and frequency in a next segment after receiving a TA command.

In certain aspects, the UE may disable time and frequency tracking for both DL and UL within each segment. In certain aspects, the UE may ignore reception of downlink subframes for duration of the TTI bundle.

In certain aspects, the UE may determine whether to maintain transmit power over the segment based at least in part on a signal received from the node. In an aspect, the signal received from the node may include a one bit signal to enable maintaining transmit power over the segment. In an aspect, the signal may be cell-specific. In an aspect, the signal may be semi-static.

In certain aspects, the UE may determine whether to maintain transmit power during the segment based at least in part on the size of the bundle. In an aspect, the UE may determine to maintain transmit power if the size of the bundle is larger than a threshold. In an aspect, the UE may determine whether to maintain transmit power based on time division duplex (TDD) downlink/uplink subframe configuration.

In a second proposal to facilitate UL phase continuity for TTI bundling, for both FDD and TDD systems, the UE may not be required to receive DL transmissions for the entire duration over all UL subframes in the same TTI bundling.

This scenario may be more useful for half-duplex UEs. As an example, a TDD DL/UL subframe configuration #<NUM> (DSUUD, in which D stands for downlink, S stands for special, and U stands for uplink) may be considered. For a TTI bundle size, the UE may not be required to monitor DL subframes for the entire duration of the bundle (e.g., from the first UL subframe to the last UL subframe, inclusive, in the same bundle). In a way, this scheme can be viewed as an extended "half-duplex" operation driven by TTI bundling. Once the UE is in UL transmission using TTI bundling, the UE may only perform UL transmissions during the entire bundle. After finishing the bundled UL transmission, the UE may perform DL monitoring if necessary.

<FIG> illustrates example operations <NUM> that may be performed by a user equipment to achieve phase continuity in a TTI bundle, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. At <NUM>, the UE may identify a TTI bundle comprising a plurality of uplink (UL) subframes for transmitting data to a node. At <NUM>, the UE may skip monitoring downlink subframes for the entire duration or part of the duration (e.g., the segment discussed earlier) of the TTI bundle. In an aspect, the node may include a base station. In alternative aspects, the node may include a UE.

In certain aspects, the UE may skip monitoring downlink subframes by ignoring reception of all or at least some of downlink signals and channels.

In an aspect, the UE may be half duplex. In an aspect, the UE may transmit one or more uplink subframes in the TTI bundle to the node, and perform downlink monitoring after the duration of TTI bundle is finished. In an aspect, the UE may treat one or more downlink subframes and one or more special subframes in the TTI bundle as virtual uplink subframes. In an aspect, the UE may transmit the virtual uplink subframes with a power similar to the power of other uplink subframes in the TTI bundle.

In certain aspects, the UE may transmit uplink information in the virtual uplink subframes. In an aspect, the transmitting the uplink information in the virtual uplink subframes may include frequency multiplexing the uplink information with downlink traffic in the same subframe. In an aspect, the UE may enable a guard-band between uplink and downlink traffic in the same subframe in time division duplex to mitigate mutual interference.

<FIG> illustrates example techniques (e.g., according to the first and second proposals discussed above) for achieving UL phase continuity with TTI bundling, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. As illustrated, TTI bundle <NUM> includes uplink (U), downlink (D) and special (S) subframes. In an aspect, in technique <NUM> (in accordance with the first proposal), for improved UL phase continuity, no power control/timing/frequency tracking update may be performed after the first UL subframe and before the end of the same bundle <NUM>. In technique <NUM> (in accordance with the second proposal), for improved UL phase continuity, DL monitoring may not be performed for the entire duration of the TTI bundle <NUM>.

It may be noted that the first and second proposed schemes described above may be individually or jointly supported by a communication system to enhance uplink phase continuity.

In certain aspects, the determination of whether to perform the actions in the first or second proposals discussed above for UL transmissions in the same bundle may be based on bundling size, signaling, or both. For example, for a small bundle size, where channel estimation can be kept separate across subframes, the UE may still perform power control/timing/frequency tracking update and/or monitor DL transmissions. The UE may compare the bundling size against a known threshold to determine whether or not to skip the power updates and/or DL monitoring.

As another example, the determination may be based on signaling. For example, the signaling may include one or more bits from eNB to the UE to inform the UE that the second proposal (or the first proposal or a combination of the two proposals) may be enabled during the bundled UL transmissions.

In certain aspects, the determination may be based on both signaling and bundling size. It is possible that the bundling size may vary across UL transmissions. Some UL transmissions may use a first bundling size (e.g., equal to one subframe), while some other UL transmissions may use a second bundling size (e.g., equal to twenty subframes). The determination of skipping DL monitoring may be based on the signaling (to enable such a feature) and the bundling size for a particular UL transmission (e.g., whether it is above a threshold or not).

In certain aspects, for TDD, determination of which scheme to use may further depend on TDD DL/UL subframe configuration. For a given TTI bundling size, the time duration for which the bundled UL transmissions occur depends on the TDD DL/UL subframe configuration. For example, for a bundling size of <NUM> UL subframes, for TDD DL/UL #<NUM> (DSUUUDSUUU), uplink transmissions may take ten frames. On the other hand, for TDD DL/UL #<NUM> (DSUUDDSUUD), uplink transmission may take fifteen frames.

For certain aspects, enabling one of the schemes may be done on a per UE basis or per cell basis. The signaling may thus be UE-specific or cell-specific (e.g., via broadcast or dedicated signaling). In addition, enabling of a scheme may be semi-static (e.g., by radio resource control (RRC)). Dynamic enabling (e.g., via a control channel) may also be possible.

For certain aspects, similar design may also be applied at the eNB side for bundled DL transmissions. As an example, DL transmit power/timing/frequency tracking can be maintained by the eNB for a set of subframes in the bundled downlink transmissions such that coherent channel estimation can be performed by the UE.

Aspects of the present disclosure discussed above may also be applied to eNB side bundled DL transmissions.

In certain aspects, in cases when the UE skips DL monitoring in a TTI bundle (or a portion thereof), the DL and/or special subframes may effectively be treated as virtual UL subframes. In a virtual UL subframe, the UE may transmit with zero power (e.g., no transmission), minimal power (e.g., minimal possible power), or same power as regular UL subframes in the same bundle.

<FIG> illustrates an example TTI bundle in which downlink and special subframes are treated as virtual uplink subframes, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. As illustrated, a nominal DL/UL subframe configuration <NUM> may include downlink and special subframes. However, for actual UE transmissions the DL and special subframes may be treated as virtual UL subframes, and thus, the actual UE transmissions in one TTI bundle (e.g., <NUM>) may only include uplink subframes (including both actual uplink subframes and virtual uplink subframes). As described earlier, the UE may transmit UL information in the virtual UL subframes of the TTI bundle.

In certain aspects, in a virtual UL subframe, the UE may transmit UL information as if it were an actual UL subframe part of the same bundle, or the UE may transmit some dummy UL information. In certain aspects, a virtual UL subframe may be counted as part of the bundling size, especially when it is transmitted with actual UL information and with same power as regular UL subframes. In certain aspects, a virtual UL subframe may be discounted from part of the bundling size, especially when it is transmitted with zero or minimal power or with dummy UL information.

In certain aspects, since the UE while TTI bundling typically has a small assignment size (e.g., one RB or less), it may be possible to allow UL transmission in a DL subframe or a special subframe, which is frequency multiplexed with DL traffic in the same subframe.

<FIG> illustrates example uplink and downlink subframes including frequency multiplexed uplink traffic <NUM> and downlink traffic <NUM>, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. A guard band <NUM> may be enabled between UL and DL traffic in the same subframe in TDD to mitigate mutual interference. Such an idea may be applied to a DL subframe (<NUM>) and/or an UL subframe (<NUM>), in which both DL and UL transmissions may be allowed. However, this may create a lot of complexity if the UL and DL have to be processed by the same node (e.g., eNB to receive UL and to transmit DL in the same subframe), making it very difficult for practical use. This may imply that the entire DL subframe may not contain any DL transmissions if the subframe is treated as a virtual UL subframe by some UEs.

The various operations of methods described above may be performed by various hardware and/or software/firmware component(s) and/or module(s) corresponding to operations/techniques/means-plus-function blocks illustrated in the Figures. The various illustrative logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array signal (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the present disclosure may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software/firmware module executed by a processor, or in a combination thereof. A software/firmware module may reside in any form of storage medium that is known in the art. Some examples of storage media that may be used include random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, phase change memory (PCM), registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM and so forth. A software/firmware module may comprise a single instruction, or many instructions, and may be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across multiple storage media. A storage medium may be coupled to a processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium.

The functions described may be implemented in hardware, software/firmware, or combinations thereof. If implemented in software/firmware, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions on a computer-readable medium. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

Software/firmware instructions may also be transmitted over a transmission medium. For example, if the software/firmware is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of transmission medium.

It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components illustrated above. Various modifications, changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the scope of the claims.

Claim 1:
A method (<NUM>) for wireless communications by a user equipment, UE, comprising:
identifying (<NUM>) a transmit time interval, TTI, bundle comprising a plurality of uplink, UL, subframes for transmitting data to a node;
identifying (<NUM>) a segment of UL subframes in the TTI bundle, wherein a size of the segment is pre-determined; and
maintaining (<NUM>) a same transmit power in all UL subframes of the segment of UL subframes in the TTI bundle when transmitting data to the node over the segment of UL subframes.