Automatic retransmission of damaged data in wireless networks

Abstract

A technique may include scheduling, by a base station, a block of data for transmission to a user device, transmitting, by a base station to a user device, a data packet that includes at least a portion of the block of data, estimating, by the base station, that a reception by the user device of the data packet will be subject to errors, and pro-actively retransmitting, by the base station based on the estimating, at least a portion of the block of data without waiting for feedback from the user device regarding the data packet.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 scheduling, by a base station, a block of data for transmission to a user device;   transmitting, by a base station to a user device, a data packet that includes at least a portion of the block of data;   estimating, by the base station, that a reception by the user device of the data packet will be subject to errors; and   pro-actively retransmitting, by the base station based on the estimating, at least a portion of the block of data without waiting for feedback from the user device regarding the data packet.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the estimating comprises:
 determining a change in a channel condition or an interference level of a channel between the base station and the user device that makes it likely that errors will occur at the user device when the user device attempts to decode the data packet.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the estimating comprises:
 puncturing at least a portion of the block of data that is transmitted in the data packet.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the estimating comprises:
 puncturing at least a portion of the block of data; and   replacing the punctured portion of block of data with data that is a higher priority than the punctured portion.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the pro-actively retransmitting comprises:
 pro-actively retransmitting, by the base station, at least a portion of the block of data without waiting for feedback and regardless whether feedback has been received from the user device regarding the data packet.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the pro-actively retransmitting comprises:
 pro-actively retransmitting, by the base station, only a portion of the block of data without waiting for feedback and regardless whether feedback has been received from the user device regarding the data packet.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , and further comprising:
 providing, by the base station to the user device, an indication of the portion of the block of data that is pro-actively retransmitted.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the pro-actively retransmitting comprises:
 determining whether the punctured portion of the block of data is greater than or equal to a threshold;   pro-actively retransmitting the entire block of data if the punctured portion of the block of data is greater than or equal to the threshold;   otherwise, pro-actively retransmitting only the punctured portion of the block of data if the punctured portion of the block of data is not greater than or equal to the threshold.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the pro-actively retransmitting comprises:
 pro-actively retransmitting, by the base station, at least a portion of the block of data before processing a hybrid ARQ (HARQ) acknowledgement (ACK) or negative acknowledgement (NACK) from the user device regarding the data packet.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the pro-actively retransmitting comprises:
 pro-actively retransmitting, by the base station, at least a portion of the block of data before the user device has decoded the data packet.   
     
     
         11 . A method comprising:
 scheduling a transmission of a block of data for a first user device;   puncturing a plurality of bits of the block of data for the first user device;   transmitting a data packet including the block of data where the plurality of bits have been punctured; and   pro-actively transmitting, by a base station to the first user device, at least the punctured plurality of bits, regardless of whether feedback has been received from the user device regarding the data packet.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 determining a plurality of bits to be transmitted to a second user device;   replacing, in the block of data, the punctured plurality of bits with the plurality of bits for the second user device;   wherein the pro-actively transmitting comprises pro-actively transmitting, by the base station to the first user device, at least the punctured plurality of bits, without waiting for feedback and regardless whether feedback has been received from the user device regarding the data packet.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the pro-actively transmitting comprises:
 pro-actively transmitting, by the base station to the first user device during a next hybrid ARQ (HARQ) retransmission time, at least the punctured plurality of bits and including a puncturing pattern to indicate which bits were previously punctured.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of bits for the second user device are more urgent or a higher priority than the data for the first user device. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first data packet comprises a first data packet, wherein the pro-actively transmitting comprises:
 pro-actively transmitting, by the base station to the first user device, a second data packet including the scheduled block of data for the first user device that includes the punctured plurality of bits, without waiting for feedback and regardless whether feedback has been received from the first user device regarding the first data packet.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the data packet comprises a first data packet, and wherein the pro-actively transmitting comprises:
 determining whether the plurality of punctured bits is greater than a threshold;   pro-actively transmitting, by the base station to the first user device during a subsequent hybrid ARQ (HARQ) retransmission time, only the punctured plurality bits if the punctured plurality of bits are not greater than the threshold, without waiting for feedback and regardless whether feedback has been received from the first user device regarding the first data packet; and   otherwise, if the punctured plurality of bits are greater than the threshold, then pro-actively transmitting, by the base station to the first user device, a second data packet including the scheduled block of data for the first user device that includes the punctured plurality of bits, without waiting for feedback and regardless whether feedback has been received from the first user device regarding the first data packet.   
     
     
         17 . An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
 schedule a transmission of a block of data for a first user device;   puncture a plurality of bits of the block of data for the first user device;   transmit a data packet including the block of data where the plurality of bits have been punctured; and   pro-actively transmit, by a base station to the first user device, at least the punctured plurality of bits, regardless of whether feedback has been received from the user device regarding the data packet.   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , the computer instructions further causing the apparatus to:
 determine a plurality of bits to be transmitted to a second user device;   replace, in the block of data, the punctured plurality of bits with the plurality of bits for the second user device;   wherein the pro-actively transmitting comprises pro-actively transmitting, by the base station to the first user device, at least the punctured plurality of bits, without waiting for feedback and regardless whether feedback has been received from the user device regarding the data packet.   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the first data packet comprises a first data packet, wherein the pro-actively transmitting comprises:
 pro-actively transmitting, by the base station to the first user device, a second data packet including the scheduled block of data for the first user device that includes the punctured plurality of bits, without waiting for feedback and regardless whether feedback has been received from the first user device regarding the first data packet.   
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the data packet comprises a first data packet, and wherein the pro-actively transmitting comprises:
 determining whether the plurality of punctured bits is greater than a threshold;   pro-actively transmitting, by the base station to the first user device during a subsequent hybrid ARQ (HARQ) retransmission time, only the punctured plurality bits if the punctured plurality of bits are not greater than the threshold, without waiting for feedback and regardless whether feedback has been received from the first user device regarding the first data packet; and   otherwise, if the punctured plurality of bits are greater than the threshold, then pro-actively transmitting, by the base station to the first user device, a second data packet including the scheduled block of data for the first user device that includes the punctured plurality of bits, without waiting for feedback and regardless whether feedback has been received from the first user device regarding the first data packet.