Mac architecture in wireless communication systems supporting h-arq

Abstract

A medium access control-high speed (MAC-hs) comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) device configured to receive data blocks over a wideband-code division multiple access (W-CDMA) high speed-downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH). The H-ARQ device generates an acknowledgement (ACK) or negative acknowledgement (NACK) for each said data block received. Each received data block having a transmission sequence number. The H-ARQ device receives a new transmission instead of a pending retransmission at any time. At least one reordering device has an input configured to receive an output of the H-ARQ device and the at least one reordering device configured to reorder the received data blocks based on each received data block's transmission sequence number (TSN). Received data blocks are immediately forwarded for processing for higher layers when the received data blocks are received in sequence.

1 - 5 . (canceled) 
     
     
         6 . An apparatus of an evolved NodeB (eNB), the apparatus comprising:
 an interface for communication with a user equipment (UE); and   processing circuitry in communication with the interface and arranged to:
 encode data in medium access control (MAC) transport blocks for transmission to the UE; 
 set a new data indicator (NDI) to indicate that the data is new data rather than retransmission data; 
 cause the interface to transmit the data to the UE through the interface; 
 decode, in response to the transmission of the data, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) response from the UE; 
 determine, in response to a determination that the HARQ response is a negative acknowledgement (NACK), whether a failure criterion for transmission of the data has been reached; 
 retransmit the data in response to a determination that the failure criterion for the transmission of the data has not been reached; 
 determine, in response to a determination that the failure criterion for the transmission of the data has been reached, whether other data of another transmission is pending; and 
 in response to a determination that the other data is pending:
 prioritize transmission of the other data over a retransmission of the data; 
 reset the NDI to indicate that data to be transmitted is new data rather than a retransmission of the data; 
 encode the other data in other MAC transport blocks for transmission to the UE; 
 cause the interface to transmit the other data to the UE through the interface; and 
 after transmission of the other data, initiate a HARQ process for the data:
 reset the NDI to indicate that data to be transmitted is new data rather than retransmission of the other data; and 
 reinitiate transmission of the data to the UE through the interface via the HARQ process. 
 
 
   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 decode, in response to the transmission of the other data, another HARQ response from the UE;   determine, in response to a determination that the other HARQ response is a NACK, whether a failure criterion for transmission of the other data has been reached;   in response to a determination that the failure criterion for the transmission of the other data has not been reached:   prioritize retransmission of the other data over retransmission of the data; and   cause the interface to retransmit the other data via a HARQ process.   
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 prioritize retransmission of the data over retransmission of the other data in response to a determination that the failure criterion for the transmission of the other data has been reached, and initiate the HARQ process for the data.   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 maintain the NDI to indicate that data to be transmitted is retransmission data rather than new data in response to a determination that the HARQ response is a NACK and that the failure criterion for the transmission of the data has not been reached.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein:
 the failure criterion comprises a number of retransmissions.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein:
 retransmission of the data occurs until a predetermined Block Error Rate (BLER) is met.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 determine whether the other data is pending during transmission of the MAC transport blocks of the data;   determine a type of the data and the other data; and   prioritize between transmission of the data and the other data based on the data type independent of whether the failure criterion for the transmission of the data has been reached.   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 interrupt transmission of lower priority data in favor of transmission of higher priority data.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 prioritize control data over retransmission data.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 select a modulation coding scheme for a current transmission of the data dependent on a number of previous transmissions of the data; and   cause the interface to transmit the current transmission of the data in accordance with the modulation coding scheme.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 select a modulation coding scheme for a current transmission of the data dependent on a transmission channel used for transmission of the data; and   cause the interface to transmit the current transmission of the data in accordance with the modulation coding scheme.   
     
     
         17 . An apparatus of a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:
 an interface for communication with an evolved NodeB (eNB); and   processing circuitry in communication with the interface and arranged to:
 decode data in medium access control (MAC) transport blocks from the eNB; 
 determine, from a new data indicator (NDI), whether the data is new data or retransmission data; 
 encode a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) response to the data for transmission to the eNB through the interface; and 
 combine a current transmission of the data with a previous transmission of the data in response to the NDI indicating that the data is retransmission data, 
 wherein the NDI indicates that the data is the new data, after a negative acknowledgement (NACK) HARQ response, in response to at least one of a determination that a failure criterion for the transmission of the data has been reached or higher priority data having a higher priority than the data is to be transmitted, and 
 transmission of the new data is prioritized over retransmission of the data via a HARQ process after the failure criterion for the transmission of the data has been reached. 
   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein:
 the processing circuitry is further configured to encode, in response to the NDI indicating that the data is new data, another HARQ response to the eNB, and   transmission of the retransmission of the data is prioritized over retransmission of the new data via the HARQ process after the failure criterion for the transmission of the new data has been reached.   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein:
 the failure criterion comprises a number of retransmissions.   
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein:
 retransmission of the data occurs until a predetermined Block Error Rate (BLER) is met.   
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein:
 a priority of the data and the higher priority data is based on a type of the data and the higher priority data; and   prioritization between the data and the higher priority data is independent of whether the failure criterion for the transmission of the data has been reached.   
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein:
 transmission of lower priority data is interrupted in favor of transmission of higher priority data.   
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 22 , wherein:
 transmission of control data is prioritized over retransmission of data.   
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein:
 a modulation coding scheme for a current transmission of the data is dependent on a number of previous transmissions of the data.   
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 a modulation coding scheme for a current transmission of the data is dependent on a transmission channel used for transmission of the data.   
     
     
         26 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by processing circuitry of an evolved NodeB (eNB), the processing circuitry to configure the eNB to:
 encode data in medium access control (MAC) transport blocks for transmission to the UE;   set a new data indicator (NDI) to indicate that the data is new data rather than retransmission data;   transmit the data to the UE through the interface;   decode, in response to the transmission of the data, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) response from the UE;   determine, in response to a determination that the HARQ response is a negative acknowledgement (NACK), whether a number of retransmissions of the data has been reached;   determine, in response to a determination that the number of retransmissions of the data has been reached, whether other data of another transmission is pending; and   in response to a determination that the other data is pending and that the number of retransmissions of the data has been reached or the other data has a higher priority than the data:
 prioritize transmission of the other data over the data; 
 reset the NDI to indicate that data to be transmitted is new data rather than a retransmission of the data; 
 encode the other data in other MAC transport blocks for transmission to the UE; 
 transmit the other data to the UE through the interface; and 
 after transmission of the other data, initiate a HARQ process for the data:
 reset the NDI to indicate that data to be transmitted is new data rather than retransmission of the other data; and 
 reinitiate transmission of the data to the UE through the interface via the HARQ process. 
 
   
     
     
         27 . The medium of  claim 26 , wherein the instructions further configure the eNB to:
 determine a type of the data and the other data;   prioritize between transmission of the data and the other data based on the data type independent of whether the number of transmissions of the data has been reached; and   interrupt transmission of lower priority data in favor of transmission of higher priority data.   
     
     
         28 . The medium of  claim 26 , wherein the instructions further configure the eNB to:
 select a modulation coding scheme for a current transmission of the data dependent on a number of previous transmissions of the data; and   transmit the current transmission of the data in accordance with the modulation coding scheme.   
     
     
         29 . The medium of  claim 26 , wherein the instructions further configure the eNB to:
 select a modulation coding scheme for a current transmission of the data dependent on a transmission channel used for transmission of the data; and   transmit the current transmission of the data in accordance with the modulation coding scheme.