Arrangement and method for improving harq feedback in telecommunication systems

Abstract

A method for execution on an apparatus configured to operate in a telecommunications network comprising a processor, wherein said processor is configured to execute said method, said method comprising encoding a plurality of uplink feedback information elements for carrier aggregation, by a set of codewords where each codeword comprises a channel, wherein at least two information elements have the same channel distribution.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method comprising: encoding a plurality of uplink feedback information elements for carrier aggregation, by a set of codewords where each codeword comprises a channel, wherein at least two information elements have the same channel distribution. 
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said codeword further comprises a modulation symbol and where at least two information elements have the same modulation symbol distribution. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said codeword further comprises a modulation symbol and wherein closely located modulation symbols represent the same information. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , where the same information is encoded by neighbouring constellation points with the same channel. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 3 , where the modulation symbol belongs to a QPSK constellation. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said feedback information elements comprise at least one of the following:
 acknowledged messages (ACK),   not acknowledged messages (NACK),   discontinuous transmission messages (DTX), and   not acknowledged and/or discontinuous transmission messages (NACK/DTX).   
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein a channel is defined by a sequence. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein at least one codeword represents more than one information state. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1  for encoding a number of N uplink feedback information elements {j=0, 1, . . . N−1} for carrier aggregation, by a set of codewords, where each codeword comprises a channel selected from a number of M channels {i=0, 1, 2, . . . M−1} and a modulation symbol; the channel distribution of information element j is defined as a set {n 0   j , n 1   j , . . . , n M-1   j }, wherein n i   j  is the number of codewords comprising channel i and corresponding to information element j at a certain state, said set of codewords, wherein the same channel distribution is that the elements of {n 0   j , n 1   j , . . . , n M-1   j } are same. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the number of uplink feedback information elements is 3 or 4. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein at least two information elements are arranged for Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO). 
     
     
         12 . A computer readable medium including at least computer program code for controlling an apparatus configured to operate in a telecommunications network, said computer readable medium comprising software code for encoding a plurality of uplink feedback information elements for carrier aggregation, by a set of codewords where each codeword comprises a channel, wherein at least two information elements have the same channel distribution. 
     
     
         13 . An apparatus configured to operate in a telecommunications network comprising: a first base station configured to serve at least a first cell; and
 a second base station configured to serve at least a second cell,   wherein said apparatus comprises a controller configured to encode a plurality of uplink feedback information elements for carrier aggregation, by a set of codewords where each codeword comprises a channel, at least two information elements have the same channel distribution.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein said codeword further comprises a modulation symbol and at least two information elements have the same modulation symbol distribution. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein said codeword further comprises a modulation symbol and where closely located modulation symbols represent the same information. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus according to  claim 15 , where the same information is encoded by neighbouring constellation points. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus according to  claim 15 , where the modulation symbol belongs to a QPSK constellation. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein said feedback information comprises at least one of the following:
 acknowledged messages (ACK),   not acknowledged messages (NACK),   discontinuous transmission messages (DTX), and   not acknowledged and/or discontinuous transmission messages (NACK/DTX).   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein a channel is defined by a sequence. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus according to  claim 14 , wherein at least one codeword represents more than one information state. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus according to  claim 13  for encoding a number of N uplink feedback information elements {j=0, 1, . . . N−1} for carrier aggregation, by a set of codewords, where each codeword comprises a channel selected from a number of M channels {i=0, 1, 2, . . . M−1} and a modulation symbol; the channel distribution of information element j is defined as {n 0   j , n 1   j , . . . , n M-1   j }, wherein n i   j  is the number of codewords comprising channel i and corresponding to information element j at a certain state, said set of codewords, wherein the same channel distribution is that the elements of {n 0   j , n 1   j , . . . , n M-1   j } are same. 
     
     
         22 . The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein the number of uplink information elements is 4. 
     
     
         23 . The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein the number of uplink information elements is 3. 
     
     
         24 . The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein at least two information elements are arranged for Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO). 
     
     
         25 . A receiving apparatus being configured to receive feedback information elements from an apparatus according to  claim 13 . 
     
     
         26 . A method comprising: encoding a plurality of uplink feedback information elements for carrier aggregation, by a set of codewords where each codeword comprises a channel and a modulation symbol, wherein at least one of the following conditions is met:
 two information elements have the same channel distribution,   at least two information elements have the same modulation symbol distribution, and   closely located modulation symbols represent the same information.   
     
     
         27 . A method comprising encoding a plurality of uplink feedback information elements, by a set of codewords where each codeword comprises a channel, wherein at least two information elements have the same channel distribution. 
     
     
         28 . The method according to  claim 27  for encoding a number of N uplink feedback information elements {j=0, 1, . . . N−1} for, by a set of codewords, where each codeword comprises a channel selected from a number of M channels {i= 0 ,  1 ,  2 , . . . M−1} and a modulation symbol; the channel distribution of information element j is defined as a set {n 0   j , n 1   j , . . . , n M-1   j }, wherein n i   j  is the number of codewords comprising channel i and corresponding to information element j at a certain state, said set of codewords, wherein the same channel distribution is that the elements of {n 0   j , n 1   j , . . . , n M-1   j } are same. 
     
     
         29 . A computer readable medium including at least computer program code for controlling an apparatus configured to operate in a telecommunications network, said computer readable medium comprising software code for encoding a plurality of uplink feedback information elements, by a set of codewords where each codeword comprises a channel, wherein at least two information elements have the same channel distribution. 
     
     
         30 . An apparatus configured to operate in a telecommunications network comprising a first base station configured to serve at least a first cell and a second base station configured to serve at least a second cell, wherein said apparatus comprises a controller configured to encode a plurality of uplink feedback information elements, by a set of codewords where each codeword comprises a channel, wherein at least two information elements have the same channel distribution. 
     
     
         31 . An apparatus according to  claim 30  for encoding a number of N uplink feedback information elements {j=0, 1, . . . N−1} for, by a set of codewords, where each codeword comprises a channel selected from a number of M channels {i=0, 1, 2, . . . M−1} and a modulation symbol; the channel distribution of information element j is defined as {n 0   j , n 1   j , . . . , n M-1   j }, wherein n i   j  is the number of codewords comprising channel i and corresponding to information element j at a certain state, said set of codewords, wherein the same channel distribution is that the elements of {n 0   j , n 1   j , . . . , n M-1   j } are same. 
     
     
         32 . A receiving apparatus being configured to receive feedback information elements from an apparatus according to  claim 30 . 
     
     
         33 . A method comprising: encoding a plurality of uplink feedback information elements, by a set of codewords where each codeword comprises a channel and a modulation symbol, wherein at least one of the following condition is met:
 two information elements have the same channel distribution,   at least two information elements have the same modulation symbol distribution, and   closely located modulation symbols represent the same information.