Base Station PUCCH Allocation for Reduced-Bandwidth UEs
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Solution Overview
Problem
In 5G NR systems, the allocation of PUCCH resources for UEs with reduced bandwidth, such as MTC devices, leads to fragmented frequency spectrum utilization and potential collisions with other channels, complicating the design and hindering efficient resource configuration.
Innovation Solution
A base station allocates PUCCH resources using a combination of explicit and implicit mechanisms, indicating a set of resources via higher layer signaling and deriving the specific resource based on cell-specific parameters, allowing UEs to determine their PUCCH resources without a complete RRC connection, thereby minimizing overlapping and collisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If PUCCH resources are allocated for UEs with reduced bandwidth in 5G NR systems, then support for MTC devices is enabled, but frequency spectrum utilization becomes fragmented and collisions with other channels occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the PUCCH resource allocation into different sets based on UE bandwidth capability. A first set of PUCCH resources is allocated for UEs with reduced bandwidth (MTC devices), while a second set is allocated for UEs with full bandwidth. This segmentation prevents frequency spectrum fragmentation and collisions by ensuring that different UE types use distinct, non-overlapping resource sets, thereby resolving the technical contradiction between supporting diverse bandwidth capabilities and maintaining spectrum utilization efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by configuring PUCCH resources with specific properties tailored to different UE types. The first PUCCH resources are configured with parameters suitable for reduced bandwidth UEs (such as specific frequency locations and resource block allocations), while the second PUCCH resources are configured for full bandwidth UEs. This localized configuration ensures that each UE type receives optimized resources without causing spectrum fragmentation or collisions, thus enabling adaptability while maintaining system simplicity.
2Measurement precision
If explicit PUCCH resource indication is used for all UEs, then resource allocation accuracy is improved, but signaling overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by providing explicit PUCCH resource indication only for a subset of UEs (specifically, UEs with reduced bandwidth capability) while using implicit indication for other UEs. The base station explicitly indicates the first set of PUCCH resources for MTC devices through dedicated signaling, ensuring accurate resource allocation. For full bandwidth UEs, the base station uses implicit indication mechanisms, reducing signaling overhead. This selective approach resolves the contradiction between allocation accuracy and overhead by applying explicit indication only where necessary.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements universality by designing a multi-functional PUCCH resource indication mechanism that serves different UE types through a unified framework. The base station configures multiple PUCCH resource sets with different properties, and the indication mechanism can reference these pre-configured sets using a common indexing approach. This allows the system to provide accurate resource allocation for reduced bandwidth UEs while maintaining efficiency for full bandwidth UEs, thus achieving both precision and overhead reduction through a universal configuration approach.
Data Source
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AI summary
A communication system is disclosed in which a base station communicates with user equipment via an associated cell having a system bandwidth. The system bandwidth comprises a bandwidth part having a set of contiguous physical resource blocks. The base station initiates a random access procedure with the user equipment; provides first information identifying a set of frequency resources for an uplink channel; and provides second information identifying at least one specific frequency resource, within said set of frequency resources, for said uplink communication. The first information is provided prior to completion of the random access procedure.