Uplink control channel configuration for unlicensed carriers

Abstract

A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) format for transmission of uplink control information (UCI) in unlicensed spectrum is either short PUCCH or long PUCCH. The short PUCCH occupies less than 1 subframe in the time domain and spans an entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level. The long PUCCH occupies one subframe in the time domain and spans the entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level.

1 . A method of operating a wireless communication device, comprising:
 identifying a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) format for transmission of uplink control information (UCI) in unlicensed spectrum, wherein the PUCCH format is short PUCCH or long PUCCH, wherein the short PUCCH occupies less than 1 subframe in the time domain and spans an entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level, and wherein the long PUCCH occupies one subframe in the time domain and spans the entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level; and   transmitting the UCI to a radio access node in accordance with the identified PUCCH format.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the UCI is transmitted to the radio access node in coordination with one or more other wireless communication devices. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein transmitting the UCI to the radio access node in coordination with the one or more other wireless communication devices comprises multiplexing the one or more other wireless communication devices on the same interlace as the short PUCCH or the long PUCCH. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the PUCCH format is short PUCCH comprising at least one demodulation reference signal (DMRS) symbol and at least one control-data symbol in the time domain. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the short PUCCH comprises a sequence of symbols at the end of a downlink partial subframe. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein transmitting the UCI in coordination with the one or more other wireless communication devices comprises multiplexing with the one or more other wireless communication devices using orthogonal cover codes (OCC) and cyclic shifts (CS) on control-data symbols and reference symbols, respectively, in the short PUCCH or long PUCCH. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) symbol on all subcarriers within a block-interleaved frequency division multiple access (B-IFDMA) symbol on an assigned interlace or on all assigned interlaces across the entire system bandwidth. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) symbol once per “n” subcarriers with a pattern that can be shifted or unshifted on different B-IFDMA symbols, where “n” is an integer greater than 1. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the wireless communication device and the one or more other wireless communication devices are assigned different interlacing patterns. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the wireless communication device and the one or more other wireless communication devices are assigned the same interlacing pattern, and they apply different orthogonal cover codes (OCC) to enable PUCCH control-data on the same time-frequency resources. 
     
     
         11 . A wireless communication device, comprising:
 at least one processor configured to:   identify a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) format for transmission of uplink control information (UCI) in unlicensed spectrum, wherein the PUCCH format is short PUCCH or long PUCCH, wherein the short PUCCH occupies less than 1 subframe in the time domain and spans an entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level, and wherein the long PUCCH occupies one subframe in the time domain and spans the entire system bandwidth in the frequency domain with interlacing on a resource block level; and   at least one transmitter configured to transmit the UCI to a radio access node in accordance with the identified PUCCH format.   
     
     
         12 . The wireless communication device of  claim 11 , wherein the UCI is transmitted to the radio access node in coordination with one or more other wireless communication devices. 
     
     
         13 . The wireless communication device of  claim 12 , wherein transmitting the UCI to the radio access node in coordination with the one or more other wireless communication devices comprises multiplexing the one or more other wireless communication devices on the same interlace as the short PUCCH or the long PUCCH. 
     
     
         14 . The wireless communication device of  claim 11 , wherein the PUCCH format is short PUCCH comprising at least one demodulation reference signal (DMRS) symbol and at least one control-data symbol in the time domain. 
     
     
         15 . The wireless communication device of  claim 14 , wherein the short PUCCH comprises a sequence of symbols at the end of a downlink partial subframe. 
     
     
         16 . The wireless communication device of  claim 12 , wherein transmitting the UCI in coordination with the one or more other wireless communication devices comprises multiplexing with the one or more other wireless communication devices using orthogonal cover codes (OCC) and cyclic shifts (CS) on data symbols and reference symbols, respectively, in the short PUCCH or long PUCCH. 
     
     
         17 . The wireless communication device of  claim 14 , wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) symbol on all subcarriers within a block-interleaved frequency division multiple access (B-IFDMA) symbol on an assigned interlace or on all assigned interlaces across the entire system bandwidth. 
     
     
         18 . The wireless communication device of  claim 14 , wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) symbol once per “n” subcarriers with a pattern that can be shifted or unshifted on different B-IFDMA symbols, where “n” is an integer greater than 1. 
     
     
         19 . The wireless communication device of  claim 12 , wherein the wireless communication device and the one or more other wireless communication devices are assigned different interlacing patterns. 
     
     
         20 . The wireless communication device of  claim 12 , wherein the wireless communication device and the one or more other wireless communication devices are assigned the same interlacing pattern, and they apply different orthogonal cover codes (OCC) to enable PUCCH control-data on the same time-frequency resources.