Puncturing Indication for HARQ Soft Buffer Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Data puncturing in wireless communication networks, such as mini-slot puncturing during regular slot level transmission, significantly degrades performance by corrupting data and increasing the likelihood of decoding failure, especially when corrupted information is combined with retransmissions in HARQ processes.
Innovation Solution
A method where a network node and User Equipment (UE) use a Puncturing Indication (PI) and Redundancy Version (RV) to detect and handle damaged data transmissions. The network node sends a PI and RV with retransmissions, allowing the UE to identify and clear corrupted data from the soft buffer, thereby improving decoding success and reducing the number of retransmissions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If data puncturing is used to support ultra-low latency URLLC transmissions, then latency is reduced and URLLC performance is improved, but eMBB data transmission reliability deteriorates due to corrupted data in the soft buffer
Solution Approach 1:
The network node performs preliminary action by sending a Puncturing Indication (PI) before the UE processes the retransmission. This PI alerts the UE in advance that the previous transmission was punctured, so the UE can proactively clear the corrupted soft buffer data before combining with the retransmission, preventing reliability degradation
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and removes the harmful corrupted data from the soft buffer. By using the PI to identify punctured resources, the UE can extract and clear only the corrupted portions of the soft buffer data, retaining only the valid data for combination with retransmission, thus eliminating the harmful effect of puncturing on reliability
2Productivity
If corrupted data from punctured transmissions is combined with retransmissions in HARQ soft combining, then throughput is maintained through continuous transmission, but decoding accuracy deteriorates due to corrupted information in the soft buffer
Solution Approach 1:
The network node provides feedback information (Puncturing Indication) to the UE about the puncturing status of previous transmissions. This feedback enables the UE to adjust its combining operation accordingly - clearing corrupted data when puncturing is detected, thus maintaining decoding accuracy while preserving throughput through continued HARQ operations
Solution Approach 2:
The UE performs preliminary action by clearing corrupted soft buffer data before combining with retransmission. The PI enables this preliminary cleanup operation, ensuring that only valid data is combined with the retransmission, thereby maintaining high decoding accuracy while preserving throughput efficiency
Data Source
AI summary
A method performed by a network node for handling a damaged transmission of data due to data puncturing is provided. The network node receives (201), from a User Equipment, (UE) a Negative Acknowledgment (NACK) feedback of a previous transmission of data transmitted to the UE. The network node checks (202) whether or not the data is punctured in the previous transmission corresponding to the NACK feedback. When the data is punctured in the previous transmission, the network node selects (203) a Redundancy Version (RV), for a retransmission of the data, according to characteristics of the punctured data and puncturing data. The network node then sends (204) a Puncturing Indication (PI), the selected RV and the retransmission of the data to the UE.