Sounding reference signal user equipment specific sub-frame configuration

Abstract

A method of wireless communication including a plurality of fixed basestations and a plurality of mobile user equipment with each basestation transmitting to any user equipment within a corresponding cell a sounding reference signal sub-frame configuration indicating sub-frames when sounding is permitted. Each user equipment recognizes the sounding reference signal sub-frame configuration and sounds only at permitted sub-frames. Differing user equipment may have differing sounding reference signal sub-frame configurations. There are numerous manners to encode the transmitted information.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The technical field of this invention is wireless communication.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary wireless telecommunications network 100. The illustrative telecommunications network includes base stations 101, 102 and 103, though in operation, a telecommunications network necessarily includes many more base stations. Each of base stations 101, 102 and 103 are operable over corresponding coverage areas 104, 105 and 106. Each base station's coverage area is further divided into cells. In the illustrated network, each base station's coverage area is divided into three cells. Handset or other user equipment (UE) 109 is shown in Cell A 108. Cell A 108 is within coverage area 104 of base station 101. Base station 101 transmits to and receives transmissions from UE 109. As UE 109 moves out of Cell A 108 and into Cell B 107, UE 109 may be handed over to base station 102. Because UE 109 is synchronized with base station 101, UE 109 can employ non-synchronized random access to initiate handover to base station 102.

Non-synchronized UE 109 also employs non-synchronous random access to request allocation of up-link 111 time or frequency or code resources. If UE 109 has data ready for transmission, which may be traffic data, measurements report, tracking area update, UE 109 can transmit a random access signal on up-link 111. The random access signal notifies base station 101 that UE 109 requires up-link resources to transmit the UE's data. Base station 101 responds by transmitting to UE 109 via down-link 110, a message containing the parameters of the resources allocated for UE 109 up-link transmission along with a possible timing error correction. After receiving the resource allocation and a possible timing advance message transmitted on down-link 110 by base station 101, UE 109 optionally adjusts its transmit timing and transmits the data on up-link 111 employing the allotted resources during the prescribed time interval.

FIG. 2 shows the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) time division duplex (TDD) Frame Structure. Different sub-frames are allocated for downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) transmissions. Table 1 shows applicable DL/UL sub-frame allocations.

TABLE 1
	Switch-
Config-	point	Sub-frame number
uration	periodicity	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
0	5 ms	D	S	U	U	U	D	S	U	U	U
1	5 ms	D	S	U	U	D	D	S	U	U	D
2	5 ms	D	S	U	D	D	D	S	U	D	D
3	10 ms	D	S	U	U	U	D	D	D	D	D
4	10 ms	D	S	U	U	D	D	D	D	D	D
5	10 ms	D	S	U	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
6	10 ms	D	S	U	U	U	D	S	U	U	D

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method of wireless communication including a plurality of fixed basestations and a plurality of mobile user equipment with each basestation transmitting to any user equipment within a corresponding cell a sounding reference signal sub-frame configuration indicating sub-frames when sounding is permitted. Each user equipment recognizes the sounding reference signal sub-frame configuration and sounds only at permitted sub-frames. Differing user equipment may have differing sounding reference signal sub-frame configurations. There are numerous manners to encode the transmitted information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects of this invention are illustrated in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a communication system of the prior art related to this invention having three cells;

FIG. 2 shows the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) TDD Frame Structure of the prior art;

FIG. 3 illustrates a first example binary tree used in encoding;

FIG. 4 illustrates a second example binary tree used in encoding;

FIG. 5 illustrates a first resource sharing tree for a first set of periodicities and offsets; and

FIG. 6 illustrates a second resource sharing tree for a second set of periodicities and offsets.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Sounding involves exchange of signals between the base station and the connected UE. Each sounding uses a reference resource identifier selected from an available reference resource identifier map h(t, L) and a portion of the spectrum selected from an available spectrum identifier map f(t, N); where L is a group of shared parameters signaled to each UE from the group; and N is a group of shared parameters signaled to each UE from the group. Some examples utilize CAZAC sequences as the reference sequences. CAZAC sequences are complex-valued sequences with: constant amplitude (CA); and zero cyclic autocorrelation (ZAC). Examples of CAZAC sequences include: Chu sequences, Frank-Zadoff sequences, Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequences and generalized chirp-like (GCL) sequences. CAZAC (ZC or otherwise) sequences are presently preferred.

In this invention each basestation 101, 102 and 103 transmits a sounding reference signal (SRS) to connected UEs 109. The UE receiving the SRS then conducts sounding in accordance with the SRS sub-frame configuration. In accordance with this invention each UE may operate on a different SRS sounding sub-frame configuration.

The SRS sub-frame configuration is broadcast by basestation 101 in a System Information Block (SIB). This sub-frame configuration indicates which sub-frames are SRS sub-frames. Broadcast of the SRS sub-frame configuration is useful even for UEs 109 which do not transmit any SRS. SRS shouldn't collide with physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission. Thus non-SRS UEs 109 can extract some of their silent symbol periods from the SRS sub-frame configuration. These silent periods are useful for performing some measurements at UE 109. In general each cell 107 and 108 would employ a different SRS sub-frame configuration. Ideally, basestations 101, 102 and 103 would select SRS sub-frame configurations to minimize cross-cell interference.

There are two main ways of signaling and interpreting the SRS sub-frame configuration parameters. Sub-frame configuration can be defined by two parameters: the periodicity T_SFC; and the offset Δ_SFC. Both UEs 109 and basestation 101 keep a sub-frame counter C_SFC permitting UE 109 and basestation 101 to determine which sub-frames are configured for SRS transmission. A sub-frame is an SRS sub-frame if and only if Δ_SFC=(C_SFC)mod T_SFC. The exact range of values of Δ_SFC and T_SFC need to be defined with the number of bits and encoding for each. For example, T_SFC could be selected from the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, . . . , 32} allowing flexible system deployment Δ_SFC could be selected from the same set. This yields maximum flexibility, but requires 10 bits of broadcast SIB signaling, which can be very costly. A reduced overhead alternative encodes and signals T_SFC first. This requires greatest integer in log₂ (T_SFC) (ceil [log₂ (T_SFC)]) bits. The bits required for Δ_SFC would be either the ceil[log₂(T_SFC)] or the least integer in log₂ (T_SFC) (floor [log₂ (T_SFC)]) because 0≦Δ_SFC<T_SFC. This reduces the number of required bits for signaling Δ_SFC, but only for certain scenarios where T_SFC is small. Another reduced overhead alternative hard codes a value for Δ_SFC such as zero. In that case, only T_SFC is signaled.

Several examples of combined T_SFC, Δ_SFC coding are listed in the following tables. In these examples the SRS sub-frame configuration is encoded using either 4 or 5 bits in SIB using joint source coding in T_SFC and Δ_SFC. Thus a unique 4 or 5 bit combination maps into a particular pair (T_SFC, Δ_SFC).

Table 2 lists a 4 bit example suitable for use in frequency division duplex (FDD) systems.

	TABLE 2
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	0000	1	0
	1	0001	2	0
	2	0010	2	1
	3	0011	5	0
	4	0100	5	1
	5	0101	5	2
	6	0110	10	0
	7	0111	10	1
	8	1000	10	2
	9	1001	20	0
	10	1010	20	1
	11	1011	20	2
	12	1100	40	0
	13	1101	40	1
	14	1110	40	2
	15	1111	Inf.	NA

In Table 2 a coding of decimal 15 indicates no SRS thus T_SFC is infinite, Δ_SFC is meaningless and not applicable (NA).

Table 3 lists another 4 bit example suitable for use in FDD systems.

	TABLE 3
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	0000	1	0
	1	0001	2	0
	2	0010	2	1
	3	0011	5	2
	4	0100	5	3
	5	0101	5	4
	6	0110	10	5
	7	0111	10	6
	8	1000	10	7
	9	1001	20	8
	10	1010	20	9
	11	1011	20	10
	12	1100	40	11
	13	1101	40	12
	14	1110	40	13
	15	1111	Inf.	NA

In Table 3 a coding of decimal 15 indicates no SRS thus T_SFC is infinite, Δ_SFC is meaningless and not applicable (NA).

Table 4 lists a 5 bit example suitable for use in FDD systems.

	TABLE 4
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	00000	1	0
	1	00001	2	0
	2	00010	2	1
	3	00011	5	0
	4	00100	5	1
	5	00101	5	2
	6	00110	5	3
	7	00111	5	4
	8	01000	10	0
	9	01001	10	1
	10	01010	10	2
	11	01011	10	3
	12	01100	10	4
	13	01101	10	5
	14	01110	10	6
	15	01111	20	0
	16	10000	20	1
	17	10001	20	2
	18	10010	20	3
	19	10011	20	4
	20	10100	20	5
	21	10101	20	6
	22	10110	40	0
	23	10111	40	1
	24	11000	40	2
	25	11001	40	3
	26	11010	40	4
	27	11011	40	5
	28	11100	40	6
	29	11101	Optional
	30	11110	Optional
	31	11111	Inf.	NA

In Table 4 codings decimal 29 and 30 are optional and not defined in this example. In Table 4 a coding of decimal 31 indicates no SRS thus T_SFC is infinite, Δ_SFC is meaningless and not applicable (NA).

Table 5 lists another 5 bit example suitable for use in FDD systems.

	TABLE 5
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	00000	1	0
	1	00001	2	0
	2	00010	2	1
	3	00011	5	0
	4	00100	5	1
	5	00101	5	2
	6	00110	5	3
	7	00111	5	4
	8	01000	10	0
	9	01001	10	1
	10	01010	10	2
	11	01011	10	3
	12	01100	10	4
	13	01101	10	5
	14	01110	10	6
	15	01111	10	7
	16	10000	20	0
	17	10001	20	1
	18	10010	20	2
	19	10011	20	3
	20	10100	20	4
	21	10101	20	5
	22	10110	20	6
	23	10111	20	7
	24	11000	40	0
	25	11001	40	1
	26	11010	40	2
	27	11011	40	3
	28	11100	40	4
	29	11101	40	5
	30	11110	40	6
	31	11111	Inf.	NA

In Table 5 a coding of decimal 31 indicates no SRS thus T_SFC is infinite, Δ_SFC is meaningless and not applicable (NA).

Table 6 lists another 5 bit example suitable for use in FDD systems.

	TABLE 6
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	00000	1	0
	1	00001	2	0
	2	00010	2	1
	3	00011	5	0
	4	00100	5	1
	5	00101	5	2
	6	00110	5	3
	7	00111	5	4
	8	01000	10	3
	9	01001	10	4
	10	01010	10	5
	11	01011	10	6
	12	01100	10	7
	13	01101	10	8
	14	01110	10	9
	15	01111	20	10
	16	10000	20	11
	17	10001	20	12
	18	10010	20	13
	19	10011	20	14
	20	10100	20	15
	21	10101	20	16
	22	10110	40	17
	23	10111	40	18
	24	11000	40	19
	25	11001	40	20
	26	11010	40	21
	27	11011	40	22
	28	11100	40	23
	29	11101	Optional
	30	11110	Optional
	31	11111	Inf.	NA

In Table 6 codings decimal 29 and 30 are optional and not defined in this example. In Table 6 a coding of decimal 31 indicates no SRS thus T_SFC is infinite, Δ_SFC is meaningless and not applicable (NA).

Table 7 lists a 4 bit example suitable for use in time division duplex (TDD) systems.

	TABLE 7
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	0000	1	0
	1	0001	5	1 (a)
	2	0010	5	1 (b)
	3	0011	5	2
	4	0100	10	0
	5	0101	10	1 (a)
	6	0110	10	1 (b)
	7	0111	10	2
	8	1000	20	0
	9	1001	20	1 (a)
	10	1010	20	1 (b)
	11	1011	20	2
	12	1100	40	0
	13	1101	40	1 (a)
	14	1110	40	1 (b)
	15	1111	Inf.	NA

In Table 7 codings decimal 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13 and 14 are encoded with respect to Uplink Pilot Transmission Slot (UpPTS) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. If UpPTS contains two OFDM symbols: 1(a) means the first OFDM symbol is used for SRS to determine Δ_SFC; and 1(b) means the second of OFDM symbol is used for SRS to determine Δ_SFC. In Table 7 a coding of decimal 15 indicates no SRS thus T_SFC is infinite, Δ_SFC is meaningless and not applicable (NA).

Table 8 lists a 5 bit example suitable for use in TDD systems.

	TABLE 8
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	00000	1	0
	1	00001	5	1 (a)
	2	00010	5	1 (b)
	3	00011	5	1 (a) + 1 (b)
	4	00100	5	2
	5	00101	5	3
	6	00110	5	4
	7	00111	10	1 (a)
	8	01000	10	1 (b)
	9	01001	10	1 (a) + 1 (b)
	10	01010	10	2
	11	01011	10	3
	12	01100	10	4
	13	01101	10	7
	14	01110	10	8
	15	01111	20	1 (a)
	16	10000	20	1 (b)
	17	10001	20	1 (a) + 1 (b)
	18	10010	20	2
	19	10011	20	3
	20	10100	20	4
	21	10101	20	7
	22	10110	20	8
	23	10111	40	1 (a)
	24	11000	40	1 (b)
	25	11001	40	1 (a) + 1 (b)
	26	11010	40	2
	27	11011	40	3
	28	11100	40	4
	29	11101	40	7
	30	11110	40	8
	31	11111	Inf.	NA

In Table 8 codings decimal 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24 and 25 are encoded with respect to UpPTS OFDM symbols. If UpPTS contains two OFDM symbols: 1(a) means the first OFDM symbol is used for SRS to determine Δ_SFC; 1(b) means the second of OFDM symbol is used for SRS to determine Δ_SFC; and 1(a)+1(b) means that both OFDM symbols are used for SRS to determine Δ_SFC. In Table 8 a coding of decimal 31 indicates no SRS thus T_SFC is infinite, Δ_SFC is meaningless and not applicable (NA). For TDD, if the SRS sub-frame period is 1, all UL sub-frames and UpPTS can contain SRS. If UpPTS is used for short random access channel (RACH) transmission in some sub-frames, then there is no SRS. Thus basestation 101 does not assign any SRS UEs in RACH UpPTS sub-frames.

Table 9 lists another 5 bit example suitable for use in TDD systems.

	TABLE 9
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	00000	1	0
	1	00001	5	1 (a)
	2	00010	5	1 (b)
	3	00011	5	1 (a) + 1 (b)
	4	00100	5	2
	5	00101	5	3
	6	00110	5	4
	7	00111	10	1 (a)
	8	01000	10	1 (b)
	9	01001	10	1 (a) + 1 (b)
	10	01010	10	2
	11	01011	10	3
	12	01100	10	6 (a)
	13	01101	10	6 (b)
	14	01110	10	6 (a) + 6 (b)
	15	01111	20	1 (a)
	16	10000	20	1 (b)
	17	10001	20	1 (a) + 1 (b)
	18	10010	20	2
	19	10011	20	3
	20	10100	20	6 (a)
	21	10101	20	6 (b)
	22	10110	20	6 (a) + 6 (b)
	23	10111	40	1 (a)
	24	11000	40	1 (b)
	25	11001	40	1 (a) + 1 (b)
	26	11010	40	2
	27	11011	40	3
	28	11100	40	6 (a)
	29	11101	40	6 (b)
	30	11110	40	6 (a) + 6 (b)
	31	11111	Inf.	NA

In Table 9 codings decimal 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 12 to 17, 20 to 25, 28, 29 and 30 are encoded with respect to UpPTS OFDM symbols. If UpPTS contains two OFDM symbols: 1(a) means the first OFDM symbol is used for SRS to determine Δ_SFC; 1(b) means the second of OFDM symbol is used for SRS to determine Δ_SFC; and 1(a)+1(b) means that both OFDM symbols are used for SRS to determine Δ_SFC. In Table 8 a coding of decimal 31 indicates no SRS thus T_SFC is infinite, Δ_SFC is meaningless and not applicable (NA).

Table 10 lists another 4 bit example suitable for use in FDD systems. Sounding reference signal sub-frames are the sub-frames satisfying └n_s/2┘ mod T_SFCεΔ_SFC.

	TABLE 10
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	0000	1	0
	1	0001	2	0
	2	0010	2	1
	3	0011	5	0
	4	0100	5	1
	5	0101	5	2
	6	0110	5	3
	7	0111	5	0, 1
	8	1000	5	2, 3
	9	1001	10	0
	10	1010	10	1
	11	1011	10	2
	12	1100	10	3
	13	1101	10	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8
	14	1110	10	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8
	15	1111	reserved	reserved

Table 11 lists another 4 bit example suitable for use in TDD systems. Sounding reference signal sub-frames are the sub-frames satisfying └n_s/2┘ mod T_SFCεΔ_SFC. Sounding reference signals are transmitted only in configured UL sub-frames or UpPTS.

	TABLE 11
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	0000	5	1
	1	0001	5	1, 2
	2	0010	5	1, 3
	3	0011	5	1, 4
	4	0100	5	1, 2, 3
	5	0101	5	1, 2, 4
	6	0110	5	1, 3, 4
	7	0111	5	1, 2, 3, 4
	8	1000	10	1, 2, 6
	9	1001	10	1, 3, 6
	10	1010	10	1, 6, 7
	11	1011	10	1, 2, 6, 8
	12	1100	10	1, 3, 6, 9
	13	1101	10	1, 4, 6, 7
	14	1110	reserved	reserved
	15	1111	reserved	reserved

For TDD, a SRS sub-frame period of 1 means that all UL sub-frames and UpPTS can contain SRS. If UpPTS is used for short RACH transmission in some sub-frames, then there is no SRS. Thus basestation 101 does not assign any SRS UEs in RACH UpPTS sub-frames. For TDD, it is not clear how to have SRS sub-frame configuration with period 2.

Broadcasting both Δ_SFC and T_SFC supports flexible SRS sub-frame configuration. Different values of Δ_SFC can be assigned in different cells. Thus SRS transmission in one cell does not interfere with a neighboring cells. Because the set of UL sub-frames varies with DL/UL sub-frame configuration, Δ_SFC is needed for SRS sub-frame configuration in TDD. Note binary tree 300 illustrates in FIG. 3 is just an example. Different trees can be used with different depths and configurations and different joint source-encodings of (Δ_SFC, T_SFC).

FIG. 3 illustrates a manner of jointly encoding Δ_SFC and T_SFC with an efficient source code to support multiple values for the offset Δ_SFC for each T_SFC using an underlying structure. FIG. 3 illustrates a binary tree based structure 300. Binary tree 300 has exactly 2^x−1 nodes, where x is 4 in this example. Identifying any point on the binary tree requires exactly x bits, 4 bits in this example. A reserved codeword may be defined meaning no SRS, for example. Each node in the binary tree is assigned a mapping to a pair of (Δ_SFC, T_SFC). The simplest mapping is that nodes at a certain depth are assigned a unique value of T_SFC. Referring to FIG. 3, for node 1 T_SFC=L, for nodes (2, 3) T_SFC=2, for nodes (4, 5, 6, 7) T_SFC=3, and for nodes (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15) T_SFC=3. Thus the depth identifies T_SFC. In this example offset Δ_SFC is derived from the value of the node mod T_SFC. Such code is even simpler if we consider binary values for labeled nodes. The position of the most significant 1 bit in the binary value of a node equals the value of T_SFC. This is illustrated in FIG. 3. The remaining less significant bits identify offset Δ_SFC. This same binary code can be used to encode frequency position (offset and bandwidth) of SRS.

FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment of this invention. Binary tree 400 illustrated in FIG. 4 identifies sub-frames having periodicities T_SFC of (1, 2, 4, 8, 16) ms. Each node in binary tree 400 is mapped to a pair of (Δ_SFC, T_SFC). The simplest mapping assigns a unique value of T_SFC to all nodes at a certain depth. FIG. 4 illustrates this assignment. A simple 5-bit code identifies the node. The position of most significant 1 identifies T_SFC as 2^(N-1). The remaining bits identify the offset Δ_SFC. If all 0 is signaled (00000), this identifies no SRS (infinity) or alternatively a one-shot SRS.

In another embodiment of the invention, the pair (Δ_SFC, T_SFC) is coded jointly (source encoding) and broadcast in the SIB. In this embodiment the tree structure is not necessary. For example, if T_SFC takes on values from the set (1, 2, 4, 5, 10) ms, then there are 1+2+4+5+10=22 possible values for the combination (Δ_SFC, T_SFC). Each one of these combinations is mapped to a unique number Y out 22 numbers and can be represented by 5 bits. Broadcasting the unique number identifies the (Δ_SFC, T_SFC) pair. Broadcasting the unique number could be in binary. In this example, 5 bits are need to represent the 22 possible values of Y. One option maps the range of Y into T_SFC. Then (Y)mod T_SFC identifies Δ_SFC.

Suppose T_SFC can have values from the set (A₁, A₂, . . . , A_N) ms. There are A₁+A₂+ . . . +A_N values for the communicated number Y. This requires ceil[log₂(A₁+A₂+ . . . +A_N)] bits to represent. The values of T_SFC and Δ_SFC are encoded as follows. If Y is in the range 1 to A₁ then T_SFC is A₁. If Y is in the range 1+A₁ to A₁+A₂ then T_SFC is A₂. If Y is in the range 1+A₁+ . . . +A_K to A₁+ . . . +A_K+A_K+1 then T_SFC is A_K+1. The value of Δ_SFC is determined as (Y)mod T_SFC. Any remaining values of Y which do not map into (Δ_SFC, T_SFC) can be used to communicate re-configuration, one-shot SRS or other options.

In another embodiment of the invention, the SRS sub-frame configuration may not be exactly qui-spaced. In this embodiment introduces another parameter δ_SFC. Then, the SRS sub-frames are the sub-frames C_SFC for which any of the following equations hold:Δ_SFC=C_SFC mod T_SFC 1+Δ_SFC=C_SFC mod T_SFC 2+Δ_SFC=C_SFC mod T_SFC δ_SFC+Δ_SFC=C_SFC mod T_SFC The value of the parameter δ_SFC can be pre-determined and fixed. In this case the value of δ_SFC can be inferred from the cell ID. Alternatively, the value of δ_SFC can be signaled in the SIB. As a further alternative, the value of δ_SFC can be encoded jointly or separately with T_SFC and Δ_SFC.

In other embodiments of the invention, multiple values for T_SFC, Δ_SFC and δ_SFC are possible. These values can also be broadcast via SIB.

RRC signaled SRS timing parameters include: duration having a range from one-shot to infinite; periodicity indicating the SRS transmission period from the UE 109; and sub-frame offset identifying the offset within the SRS transmission period from the UE.

In a first embodiment the RRC overhead for SRS timing parameters include: duration is one-shot to infinite and can be encoded in one bit; periodicity selected from (2, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320) ms which can be encoded in 3 bits; and sub-frame offset which must be designed according to the worst case of the longest possible periodicity thus requiring ceil [log₂ (320)] or 9 bits to encode. Thus the number of UE specific bits signaled via RRC to describe the SRS configuration in this example equals 1+3+9=13 bits. Since the cell wide sub-frame configuration is separate from the UE specific parameters listed above, there are either two possibilities.

The number of bits and source encoding required for UE specific parameters could depend on the actual sub-frame configuration transmitted via SIB. For example, if the sub-frame configuration notes every sub-frame is an SRS sub-frame, then 1+3+9=13 bits are required to specify the UE specific parameters. Alternatively, if the sub-frame configuration notes that every tenth sub-frame is an SRS sub-frame, then a smaller number of bits would be required to specify the UE specific parameters. This approach is more cumbersome. It likely would require a different definition of RRC configured parameters, depending on the sub-frame configuration. This would disadvantageously further complicate the specification. The number of bits required for UE specific RRC parameters can be independent of the actual sub-frame configuration transmitted via SIB.

The worst case sub-frame configuration is when all sub-frames are SRS sub-frames. The number of RRC configured SRS timing parameters is this worst case is 1+3+9=13 bits.

In the second option there are two SRS periods that are not multiples of each other and cannot be multiplexed on a common SRS (frequency) resource. Possible SRS periods are selected from the set (2, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320) ms. Thus, since 2 ms and 5 ms cannot be multiplexed, any given SRS resource should be shared either with periodicities selected from the set S1 (5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320) ms or set S2 (2, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320) ms. FIG. 5 illustrates a resource sharing tree 500 for set S1. Tree 500 for set S1 illustrated in FIG. 5 has 8 levels including node 1. Each W is a binary tree with 5 levels. The tree for set S1 has 1+5+10+20+40+80+160+320=636 nodes. This requires 10 bits to represent. Each node of the tree for set S1 encodes both the periodicity and the offset. There are 5 nodes at level 2 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6). Each of these nodes has a periodicity T_SFC of 5 ms. The offset Δ_SFC increases from left to right via a one-to-one mapping from (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) to (0, 1, 2, 3, 4). This example is a simple subtraction of 2. Alternatively, it can be a mod 5 operation. At level 3, there are 10 nodes (7 to 16) each having a periodicity of 10 ms. Offsets Δ_SFC can be derived either via subtraction or a mod 10 operation as previously described.

Table 12 lists the relationship between SRS periodicity T_SFC and the node index for set S1. The SRS periodicity T_SFC can be extracted from the node index via a look-up table and a few comparisons. The SRS offset Δ_SFC can be extracted by performing (Node_Index)mod T_SFC. Thus SRS periodicity T_SFC and the SRS offset Δ_SFC are easily found from node index.

	TABLE 12
	TSFC
	5 ms	10 ms	20 ms	40 ms	80 ms	160 ms	320 ms
Node	2-7	7-16	17-36	37-76	77-156	157-316	317-636
Index
Range

FIG. 6 illustrates resource sharing tree 600 for set S2. Tree 600 for set S2 has 8 levels and each W is a binary tree with 5 levels. Tree 600 for set S1 has 1+2+10+20+40+80+160+320=633 nodes. This requires 10 bits to represent. Each node of the tree encodes both periodicity T_SFC and offset Δ_SFC. There are 2 nodes at level 2 (2,3) Each of these nodes has a periodicity T_SFC of 2 ms. Offset Δ_SFC increases from left to right in a one-to-one mapping from (2,3) to (0,1). This could be implemented by a simple subtraction of 2. Alternatively, it can be a mod 2 operation. At level 3, there are 10 nodes (4 to 13) each having a periodicity T_SFC of 10 ms. Offsets Δ_SFC can be derived either via subtraction or a mod 10 operation as previously described.

Table 13 lists the relationship between SRS periodicity T_SFC and the node index for set S2 for two alternative codings. The SRS periodicity T_SFC can be extracted from the node index via a look-up table and a few comparisons. The SRS offset Δ_SFC can be extracted by performing (Node_Index)mod T_SFC. Thus SRS periodicity T_SFC and the SRS offset Δ_SFC are easily found from node index.

	TABLE 13
	TSFC
	2 ms	10 ms	20 ms	40 ms	80 ms	160 ms	320 ms
Node	2-3	4-13	14-33	34-73	74-153	154-313	314-633
Index		7-16	17-36	37-76	77-156	157-316	317-636
Range

The designation of which tree is used (set S1 or set S2) can be implicitly tied to some other system parameter. For example, set S1 may be used for TDD and set S2 used for FDD. This choice may be tied to some alternate system parameters, broadcast via SIB or tied to some specific values of SRS sub-frame configuration. Thus the number of required RRC signaling bits can be reduced from 13 bits to 11 bits. This is about a 15% overhead reduction. This overhead reduction carries no penalty and is achieved by employing efficient source encoding of the periodicity and sub-frame offset. This set of embodiments reduces SIB and RRC signaling overhead for parameters related to SRS timing using efficient data structures such as trees. This overhead reduction is especially important for SIB signaling due to coverage issues.

The RRC signaled UE specific SRS timing parameters of this invention include: duration from one-shot to infinite; periodicity T_{(SFC, UE)} for the particular UE 109; sub-frame Offset Δ_{(SFC, UE)} within the SRS transmission period from UE 109. The UE 109 transmits SRS in sub-frames for which the counter C_SFC satisfies Δ_{(SFC, UE)}=(C_SFC)mod T_{SFC, UE}. There are several methods to signal T_{SFC, UE} and Δ_{SFC, UE} to UEs 109.

In a first option defining SRS RRC timing parameters the total RRC overhead for SRS timing parameters is similar to that described above: duration is one-shot to infinite and can be encoded in one bit; periodicity selected from (2, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320) ms which can be encoded in 3 bits; and sub-frame offset which must be designed according to the worst case of the longest possible periodicity thus requiring ceil[log₂(320)] or 9 bits to encode. Thus the number of UE specific bits signaled via RRC to describe the SRS configuration in this example equals 1+3+9=13 bits. Since the cell wide sub-frame configuration is separate from the UE specific parameters listed above, there are either two possibilities.

Table 14 lists a 5 bit example suitable for use UE specific SRS sub-frame configurations.

	TABLE 14
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	00000	1	0
	1	00001	2	0
	2	00010	2	1
	3	00011	5	0
	4	00100	5	1
	5	00101	5	2
	6	00110	5	3
	7	00111	5	4
	8	01000	10	0
	9	01001	10	1
	10	01010	10	2
	11	01011	10	3
	12	01100	10	4
	13	01101	10	5
	14	01110	10	6
	15	01111	10	7
	16	10000	10	8
	17	10001	10	9
	18	10010	20	0
	19	10011	20	1
	20	10100	20	2
	21	10101	20	3
	22	10110	20	4
	23	10111	20	5
	24	11000	20	6
	25	11001	20	7
	26	11010	20	8
	27	11011	20	9
	28	11100	20	10
	29	11101	20	11
	30	11110	20	12
	31	11111	Inf.	0

In Table 14 a coding of decimal 31 indicates no SRS thus T_SFC is infinite, Δ_SFC is meaningless and not applicable (NA).

Table 15 lists a 4 bit example suitable for use UE specific SRS sub-frame configurations.

	TABLE 15
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	0000	1	0
	1	0001	2	0
	2	0010	2	1
	3	0011	5	0
	4	0100	5	1
	5	0101	5	2
	6	0110	5	3
	7	0111	10	0
	8	1000	10	1
	9	1001	10	2
	10	1010	10	3
	11	1011	20	0
	12	1100	20	1
	13	1101	20	2
	14	1110	20	3
	15	1111	Inf.	0

In Table 15 a coding of decimal 15 indicates no SRS thus T_SFC is infinite, Δ_SFC is meaningless and not applicable (NA).

Table 16 lists a first 3 bit example suitable for use UE specific SRS sub-frame configurations.

	TABLE 16
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	000	1	0
	1	001	10	0
	2	010	10	1
	3	011	10	2
	4	100	20	0
	5	101	20	1
	6	110	20	2
	7	111	20	3
	8	000	Inf.	0

In Table 16 a coding of decimal 8 indicates no SRS thus T_SFC is infinite, Δ_SFC is meaningless and not applicable (NA).

Table 17 lists a second 3 bit example suitable for use UE specific SRS sub-frame configurations.

	TABLE 17
	Decimal	Binary	TSFC	ΔSFC
	0	000	5	0
	1	001	5	0
	2	010	5	1
	3	011	10	2
	4	100	10	0
	5	101	10	1
	6	110	20	2
	7	111	20	3
	8	000	20	0

In a second option, the number of bits and source encoding required for UE specific parameters could depend on the actual sub-frame configuration transmitted via SIB. For example, if the sub-frame configuration notes every sub-frame is an SRS sub-frame, then 1+3+9=13 bits are required to specify the UE specific parameters. Alternatively, if the sub-frame configuration notes that every tenth sub-frame is an SRS sub-frame, then a smaller number of bits would be required to specify the UE specific parameters. This approach is more cumbersome. It likely would require a different definition of RRC configured parameters, depending on the sub-frame configuration. This would disadvantageously further complicate the specification. The number of bits required for UE specific RRC parameters can be independent of the actual sub-frame configuration transmitted via SIB. The worst case sub-frame configuration is when all sub-frames are SRS sub-frames. The number of RRC configured SRS timing parameters is this worst case is 1+3+9=13 bits.

The number of bits required for UE specific RRC parameters can be independent of the actual sub-frame configuration as signaled by SIB. The worst case sub-frame configuration is when all sub-frames are SRS sub-frames. The number of RRC configured SRS timing parameters is this worst case is 1+3+9=13 bits.

The amount of RRC signaling overhead needed to communicate the UE specific SRS configuration can be reduced as follows. The set of SRS periods T_{(SFC, UE)}(1) <T_{(SFC, UE)}(2) <. . . <T_{(SFC, UE)}(K) has already been defined. For example, suppose this set is (2, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320) ms including K=8 possible SRS periods. Using this set of SRS periods, the specification can define the switch-point numbers N(1)<N(2)<. . . <N(K)<N(K +1) as follows. These numbers are defined as N(1)=0 and N(k +1) is recursively defined as N(k)+T_{(SFC, UE)}(k), where integer k ranges from 1 to K. This recursion produces N(2)=2, N(3)=7, N(4)=17, N(5)=37, N(6)=(77), N(7)=(157), N(8)=317, N(9)=637 for the switching point numbers.

A configuration index N is signaled to UE 109 using the RRC. The UE 109 finds the unique index k for which N(k)≦N<N(k+1). The sub-frame period is T_{(SFC, UE)}=T_{(SFC, UE)} (k) and the offset is Δ_{(SFC, UE)}=N−N(k). Thus if configuration index N=35 is signaled to UE 109, UE 109 determines 17=N(4)≦N<N(5)=37. Thus the derived index is k=4. UE 109 will use T_{(SFC, UE)} (4)=20 ms and Δ_{(SFC, UE)}=N−N(4)=18.

Since the largest switch point is N(9)=637, the number of bits needed to signal the configuration is ceil[log₂(637)]=10 bits. Including the bit which selects a duration between one-shot and infinite, a total of 11 bits are needed for UE specific SRS configuration. This reduces the number of required RRC signaling bits from 13 bits to 11 bits. This is a 15% overhead reduction. This overhead reduction carries no penalty and is achieved by employing efficient source encoding of the periodicity and sub-frame offset.

In a still further embodiment of the invention, basestation 101 signals the SRS configuration index to UE 109 using DL signaling. UE 109 receives the configuration index and infers the SRS sub-frame period and the offset. This jointly encodes the SRS sub-frame period and offset in the configuration index.

In yet further embodiment of the invention, one sub-frame carries more than one sounding reference signal (SRS). For example, in evolved-UMTS radio access (EUTRA) configurations for TDD, the sub-frame carrying the UpPTS field can carry two SRS (OFDM) symbols. When using TDD, the basestation 101 informs UE 109 which OFDM symbol should be used for SRS transmission. An additional bit may be added to signal specifically which OFDM symbol of the sub-frame should be used for SRS transmission. UE 109 infers sub-frame as before, but the additional bit informs UE 109 which OFDM symbol is used for SRS transmission. For example, if this bit is 0, the first possible SRS symbol of the signaled sub-frame is used. If this bit is 1, then the second possible SRS symbol of the signaled sub-frame is used. In other embodiments, two bits are used to signal UE 109 whether first possible OFDM symbol is used for SRS, whether second possible OFDM symbol is used for SRS, or whether both possible OFDM symbols are used for SRS.

In a still further embodiment a 2-bit overhead reduction can be made by signaling the SRS periodicity T_SFC and SRS offset Δ_SFC through the SRS configuration index as follows. The SRS configuration index is RRC signaled using 9 bits. UE 109 uses a look-up table to determine a range encompassing the SRS configuration index. This range is uniquely mapped to a SRS periodicity T_SFC using the same row of the look-up table. The SRS offset Δ_SFC is the SRS configuration index—begin. This same signaling type can be applied to CQI reporting. Table 18 lists an example look-up table.

	TABLE 18
	SRS
	Configuration
	Index Range
	Begin to End
Begin	End	TSFC
0	1	2
2	6	5
7	16	10
17	36	20
37	76	40
77	156	80
157	316	160

Consider the following example. A Example: SRS configuration index of 58 is signaled from basestation 101 to UE 109. Table 18 shows that index 58 falls within the range 37 to 76. This row lists a SRS periodicity T_SFC of 40 ms. Offset SRS offset Δ_SFC is the signaled index 58 minus the range beginning of 37.

This invention exploits possibilities of reducing UE specific RRC signaling overhead for parameters related to SRS.

Claims

1. A method, comprising: transmitting to a user equipment within a corresponding cell a sounding reference signal (SRS) sub-frame configuration (SFC) indicating a periodicity TSFC and an offset ΔSFC for determinining sub-frames when sounding is permitted, wherein said transmitting said SRS SFC includes separately coding said periodicity TSFC and said offset ΔSFC.

2. A method comprising: transmitting to a user equipment within a corresponding cell a sounding reference signal (SRS) sub-frame configuration (SFC) indicating a periodicity TSFC and an offset ΔSFC for determining sub-frames when sounding is permitted, wherein said transmitting said SRS SFC includes jointly coding said periodicity TSFC and said offset ΔSFC.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein: said jointly coding said periodicity TSFC and said offset ΔSFC includes determining a set of K possible periodcities TSFC,disposing said set of possible periodicities TSFC in a monotonically increasing array of K elements TSFC (k),recessively defining a set of switch points N where N(0)=0 and N(k+)=N(k)+TSFC(k), andtransmitting an configuration index N; andsaid step of recognizing said sounding reference signal sub-frame configuration includes finding a unique index k for which N(k)≦N<N(k+1),determining the periodicity TSFC to be T SFC(k), anddetermining the offset ΔSFC to be N-N(k).

4. A method, comprising: receiving a sounding reference signal (SRS) sub-frame configuration (SFC) indicating a periodicity TSFC and an offset ΔSFC for determining when sounding is permitted; andsounding only if ΔSFC =(sub-frame number) mod TSFC.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein: said SRS SFC includes separately coded periodicity TSFC and offset ΔSFC.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein: said SRS SFC includes jointly coded periodicity TSFC and offset ΔSFC .

7. The method of claim 6, wherein: said jointly coded periodicity TSFC and offset ΔSFC are coded in 4 bits as follows:

8. The method of claim 6 wherein: said SRS SFC is transmitted via a broadcast System Information Block (SIB).

9. The method of claim 6, wherein: said SRS SFC is transmitted via a radio resource control (RRC).

10. The method of claim 6, wherein: said SRS SFC is transmitted via a downlink (DL) signaling.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein said receiving is performed in a user equipment.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said user equipment operates according to a Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access time division duplex frame structure where each sub-frame may carry two sounding reference signals; and said SRS SFC includes an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol.

13. A user equipment, comprising: means for receiving a SRS SFC for determining sub-frames when sounding is permitted including a periodicity TSFC , and an offset ΔSFC; andmeans for sounding only at sub-frames when sounding is permitted according to a recognized SRS SFC and sounding only if ΔSFC=(sub-frame number) mod TSFC.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein: said jointly coding said periodicity TSFC and said offset ΔSFC are coded in 4 bits as follows:

15. The method of claim 2, wherein: said jointly coding said periodicity TSFC and said offset ΔSFC are coded in 4 bits as follows: