HK1231649B - Terminal, base station and method for modulation configuration - Google Patents

Description

Terminal, base station and method for modulation configuration

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to methods and apparatus involved in modulation configuration in wireless communication networks, particularly with respect to 256QAM signaling.

Background Art

In 3GPP Release 12, 256QAM was introduced as a new modulation scheme in the downlink to increase the data rate of small cells. To support 256QAM, a new Rel-12 CQI table and a new Rel-12 MCS table including 256QAM entries can be used. If 256QAM support is not required, the Rel-8 legacy CQI and MCS table can be used. Therefore, it is necessary to signal the configuration of two table sets (i.e., Rel-12 CQI and MCS table or Rel-8 CQI and MCS table) between the base station or eNB and one or more terminals or UEs, which may include a first set of alternative tables. Similar signaling may be required in other contexts (e.g., if new modulation-related tables are introduced) and/or to cover a sufficiently large number of possible modulation configurations.

Summary of the Invention

In the following, a solution for 256QAM table configuration signaling is proposed, which can be considered to involve modulation configuration signaling. The solution can generally be implemented by a base station adapted to send a control message, such as an RRC message, and/or a terminal or UE (user equipment) adapted to receive a control message (specifically, an RRC message), and/or configure its modulation configuration based on and/or in accordance with the control message or RRC message and/or information provided in the control message or RRC message.

The information and/or control messages may include parameters as disclosed herein, such as table indication parameters. The proposed method allows providing a large number of possible modulation configurations (and/or increasing their number) with a limited amount of signaling, and in particular in the context of LTE allows modulation-related tables to be easily extended with few changes required to the standard and the system, while supporting legacy functionality.

A terminal for a wireless network is disclosed, the terminal being adapted to receive a control message, read from a candidate table in a set of candidate tables based on the control message, and perform modulation configuration based on information read from the table.

Alternatively or additionally, a method for a terminal of a wireless network is proposed, comprising: receiving a control message, reading from a candidate table in a set of candidate tables based on the control message, and performing modulation configuration based on information read from the table.

Furthermore, a base station for a wireless network is disclosed. The base station is adapted to determine a control message and further adapted to send the control message to a terminal. The control message includes information indicating a table to be used from a set of candidate tables.

A method for a base station of a wireless network is also proposed. The method comprises:

A control message is determined and sent to the terminal, wherein the control message includes information indicating a table to be used in the candidate table set.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 schematically illustrates a user equipment or terminal.

FIG2 schematically shows a base station.

3 and 4 show the signal configuration method in a schematic flow chart.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The terminal and/or base station may generally be part of a system (particularly a system for wireless communication) and/or form a system (particularly a system for wireless communication). The base station and/or terminal may be adapted according to and/or comply with at least one wireless communication standard (particularly the LTE standard).

In LTE systems up to Rel-11, the set of modulation schemes used for both downlink and uplink includes QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM, corresponding to 2, 4, and 6 bits per modulation symbol, respectively. In LTE evolution, especially for scenarios with high SINR (signal to interference and noise ratio), such as in a small cell environment where the terminal is close to the serving eNB, a means of providing higher data rates with a given transmission bandwidth is to use higher-order modulation that allows each modulation symbol to carry more bits of information. For example, with the introduction of 256QAM, 8 bits are sent per modulation symbol, which can increase the peak data rate by 33%. It is also noted that 256QAM can only provide gains when the SINR is high enough in certain cases.

In practice, 256QAM performance is very sensitive to interference and/or transmitter EVM (error vector magnitude) and receiver impairments. Within 3GPP, 256QAM is primarily being studied under the umbrella of small cell enhancements. To support 256QAM, the standard can be adapted in terms of CQI/MCS/TBS table design, configuration signaling, and UE category handling.

The Rel-12 CQI table and Rel-12 MCS table were introduced in 3GPP to support 256QAM as shown in Table 2. The Rel-8 CQI table and MCS table can be found in 3GPP TS 36.213 Table 7.2.3-1 and Table 7.1.7.1-1, respectively.

To support 256QAM, the Rel-12 CQI and MCS tables can cover a wider range of SNRs or SINRs than the Rel-8 tables. The CQI/MCS index granularity in the new tables can be increased, which can impact link adaptation performance. The Rel-12 CQI and MCS tables can coexist with the legacy Rel-8 tables and, in particular, can form a set of alternative tables. The base station or eNB can determine, decide, and/or configure which set of tables to use based on current channel conditions, UE capabilities, and other operating conditions.

Regarding table configuration, you can follow the following approach:

For TM10, the CQI table is common to all CSI processes and/or Rel-11 subframe measurement sets, and the MCS table is common to all CQI sets. In this case, a first candidate table set for MCS and a second candidate table set for CQI and/or all measurement subframe sets may be sufficient.

For TM1-9, 256QAM, a CQI table may be configured for each Rel-11 subframe measurement set. In this case, a first candidate table set, a second candidate table set, and a third candidate table set, or a second or third table access to the second table may be useful.

• The CQI and MCS table configuration may be notified and/or sent by the base station or eNodeB to one or more UEs via a control message (specifically, RRC message signaling).

Table 1: Rel-12 256QAM CQI table

A control layer, such as an RRC (Radio Resource Control) protocol layer, may be provided or provided by a given RAT between or among a base station and one or more terminals. Specifically, it may exist between or among one or more UEs and an associated eNB for LTE/E-Utran and handle high-level control plane signaling between the UE and the eNB. The control layer may generally be adapted for and/or used for connection establishment/release, system information broadcast, radio bearer establishment/reconfiguration/release, mobility procedures, paging notification/release, etc.

Specifically, the control layer (e.g., RRC) may be adapted and/or used to signal the modulation table configuration (specifically, the modulation table configuration for 256QAM, which may be referred to as a 256QAM table configuration). The control message may include corresponding parameters, specifically, table indication parameters and/or indices associated with the respective tables for the modulation configuration.

Modulation configuration signaling (specifically, modulation configuration signaling for 256QAM table configuration) can have many options. From a standardization perspective, it is advantageous to not have too many configurability options. Furthermore, if a large number of different combinations need to be tested, it can be a significant workload, which can make standardizing too many configurability options prohibitive.

Table 3 shows one possible approach. Using this approach, three RRC parameters are added to the list of possible RRC parameters in the specification for 256QAM table configuration. Typically, the first parameter, "MCS/CQI table configuration for serving cell c," is used to configure the MCS/CQI table. When configuring a measurement subframe set for TM1-9, the second and third parameters are used for CQI table configuration. Using this approach, when configuring a measurement subframe set for TM1-9, the first parameter is required to signal the MCS table to the UE. Therefore, three parameters need to be signaled. Furthermore, this approach imposes the limitation that both measurement subframe sets must use the same MCS table.

The configurability of the MCS and CQI tables can be considered separately. This approach will introduce even more RRC parameters.

Table 3: RRC configuration of CQI/MCS table

Control message parameters (eg, RRC parameters) and signaling for supporting, for example, 256QAM CQI and MCS table configuration are proposed with the goal of using as few control messages or RRC parameters as possible.

A terminal for a wireless network is disclosed. The terminal may be adapted and/or include corresponding means for receiving a control message from a network and/or a base station, such as an eNodeB. The terminal may also be adapted and/or include corresponding means for reading from one of a set of candidate tables based on the control message.

Furthermore, the terminal may be adapted to perform modulation configuration and/or modulation based on information read from the table and/or include corresponding units adapted to perform modulation configuration and/or modulation based on information read from the table. This keeps the size of the table limited and in particular allows to keep tables already defined (e.g. by standards such as LTE) unchanged while introducing new possibilities for modulation using alternative tables.

The set of candidate tables may generally refer to different modulation schemes, wherein each table may refer to a different modulation scheme, and/or different tables in the set may have differences with respect to their modulation schemes. One of these schemes may be, for example, a specific scheme to be used by the terminal for performing modulation configuration and/or modulation.

It can be considered that the control message includes parameters for configuring the MCS table for both measurement subframe sets and simultaneously configuring the CQI table for one of the measurement subframe sets.The information read from the table may include and/or indicate the modulation configuration and/or modulation scheme to be used.

The terminal is typically adapted to operate with a 256QAM MCS table if the first or second measurement set is configured with a 256QAM CQI table.Thus, 256QAM can be easily introduced into, for example, LTE and the terminal configured accordingly with a very limited amount of required signaling.

Furthermore, a method for a terminal in a wireless network is disclosed. The terminal may be the terminal described herein. The method may include receiving a control message and, based on the control message, reading from a candidate table in a set of candidate tables. The method may also include performing modulation configuration based on information read from the table and/or performing modulation based on information read from the table.

The set of alternative tables may generally refer to different modulation schemes, wherein each table may refer to a different modulation scheme, and/or different tables in the set may have differences with respect to their modulation schemes. One of these schemes may be, for example, a specific scheme to be used by the terminal for performing modulation configuration and/or modulation.

It can be considered that the control message includes parameters for configuring the MCS table for both measurement subframe sets and simultaneously configuring the CQI table for one of the measurement subframe sets.The information read from the table may include and/or indicate the modulation configuration and/or modulation scheme to be used.

The method may further include: if the first or second measurement set is configured with a 256QAM CQI table, operating with a 256QAM MCS table.

A base station for a wireless network is disclosed, wherein the base station may be adapted to determine a control message and/or include corresponding means adapted to determine the control message. The base station may also be adapted to send the control message to a terminal and/or include corresponding means adapted to send the control message to the terminal. The terminal may be any terminal disclosed herein. The control message may include information indicating, for example, a table from a set of candidate tables to be used by the terminal, specifically for performing modulation configuration and/or modulation.

The set of alternative tables may generally refer to different modulation schemes, wherein each table may refer to a different modulation scheme, and/or different tables in the set may have differences with respect to their modulation schemes. One of these schemes may be, for example, a specific scheme to be used by the terminal for performing modulation configuration and/or modulation.

It can be considered that the control message includes parameters for configuring the MCS table for both measurement subframe sets and simultaneously configuring the CQI table for one of the measurement subframe sets.The information read from the table may include and/or indicate the modulation configuration and/or modulation scheme to be used.

The control message may be adapted to configure the terminal to operate with a 256QAM MCS table if the first or second measurement set is configured with a 256QAM CQI table.

Furthermore, a method for a base station in a wireless network is described. The base station may be any base station described herein. The method may include determining a control message and sending the control message to a terminal. The control message may include information indicating, for example, a table from a set of candidate tables to be used by the terminal for performing a modulation configuration and/or modulation.

The set of alternative tables may generally refer to different modulation schemes, wherein each table may refer to a different modulation scheme, and/or different tables in the set may have differences with respect to their modulation schemes. One of these schemes may be, for example, a specific scheme to be used by the terminal for performing modulation configuration and/or modulation.

It can be considered that the control message includes parameters for configuring the MCS table for both measurement subframe sets and simultaneously configuring the CQI table for one of the measurement subframe sets.The information read from the table may include and/or indicate the modulation configuration and/or modulation scheme to be used.

The control message may be adapted to configure the terminal to operate with a 256QAM MCS table if the first or second measurement set is configured with a 256QAM CQI table.

Typically, the control message may include a parameter, which may be a single or common or specific parameter, for configuring the terminal to operate using the 256QAM MCS table in the context of 256QAM CQI discussed herein and simultaneously configuring one of the first or second measurement sets.

In some variants, the non-restrictive term UE or terminal is used. The UE or terminal herein can be any type of wireless device or terminal that can communicate with a network node or another UE (specifically, an end user device) via radio signals. UE can also be a radio communication device, a target device, a device-to-device (D2D) UE, a machine-type UE, or a UE with machine-to-machine (M2M) communication capabilities, a sensor equipped with UE and/or radio communication capabilities, an iPad, a tablet, a mobile terminal, a smart phone, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted device (LME), a USB adapter, or a client terminal equipment (CPE), etc. Any device that provides the functionality or impression of a class terminal to another network node that can typically be a terminal and/or a base station can be considered a terminal or UE. This can be, for example, the case for a relay node that can provide class terminal behavior. The UE or terminal can be adapted to follow the LTE standard.

In the context of this disclosure, the term eNB or base station may be used. A base station or eNB may be any type of network node that may be suitable for communicating with a UE or terminal, specifically via a wireless connection and/or a radio connection. Such a base station or eNB may refer to or include a base station, a radio base station, an evolved Node B (eNB), a Node B, a relay node, an access point, a radio access point, a radio frequency radio unit (RRU), a radio frequency radio head (RRH), etc. Specifically, a base station may be any device that is suitable for sending control messages (e.g., RRC messages) to a terminal or UE. An eNB may be considered a specific example of a base station. An eNB may be suitable for following the LTE standard.

The embodiments are described with LTE in mind. However, the embodiments are applicable to any RAT or multi-RAT system in which the UE regularly evaluates the performance of the serving cell using the RLM procedure (or an equivalent procedure), such as LTE FDD/TDD, WCDMA/HSPA, GSM/GERAN, WiFi, CDMA2000, etc. It should be noted that the term LTE or LTE-Advanced may sometimes be used throughout this specification, however, the concepts described herein are not limited to LTE or LTE-Advanced. On the contrary, the concepts disclosed herein are applicable to any suitable type of cellular communication network that may include one or more terminals and/or one or more base stations.

The embodiments are described for a single carrier in a network node (also referred to as single carrier operation of a UE). However, the embodiments are applicable to multi-carrier or carrier aggregation operation, i.e., when a network node transmits multiple carriers to the same or different UEs. In this case, the embodiments will apply to each carrier.

Hereinafter, configuring a table may refer to indicating which table to use.

The embodiment is described only for 256QAM. However, any higher-order modulation scheme requiring new tables is applicable. In the embodiment, the configurable tables are, but are not limited to, the CQI table and the MCS table. The table numbers mentioned below refer to 3GPP TS 36.213.

As shown in the table, it is recommended to define three control messages or RRC parameters, where the actual number of parameters used depends on the situation. When the UE is using TM10 or TM1-9 without a CSI measurement subframe set configured, the first parameter in the table, representing the first table indication parameter (i.e., the MCS/CQI table configuration for serving cell c), indicates whether the UE intends to use the CSI and MCS tables for 256QAM for a specific set of DCI formats, RNTIs, and search spaces on the (E)PDCCH, and/or indicates which corresponding table to use.

However, when a measurement subframe set is configured for TM1-9, the CQI table for each subframe set is configured by the second and third table indication parameters "CQI table configuration for csi-MeasSubframeSetx-r10 for serving cell c", and when the Rel-12 256QAM CQI table is configured for any subframe set, the Rel-12 256QAM MCS table will be used, which can be considered to provide a predetermined default.

To further clarify this point, in the case where the first or second measurement set is configured with a 256QAM CQI table, the UE will operate using a 256QAM MCS table for a given set of DCI formats, RNTIs, and search spaces on the (E)PDCCH for all subframe sets. The DCI formats using 256QAM may be limited to only DCI formats 1, 1b, 1d, 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, and only when these DCI formats are scrambled with a C-RNTI. It is further assumed that the same approach can also be operated in the presence of more than two measurement sets. In this example, all three parameters are defined as OPTIONAL.

When the measurement subframe set is configured in TM1-9, only the second and third parameters may be signaled, and for other cases, only the first parameter may be signaled. Therefore, the table indicates that the number of parameters is variable and can be 1 or 2. This alternative is captured in the table.

An alternative variation of embodiment 1 is that when the UE is using TM10 or TM1-9 without a CSI measurement subframe set configured, the first parameter in the table (i.e., the MCS/CQI table configuration for serving cell c) gives whether the UE is using the CSI and MCS table for 256QAM for a specific set of DCI formats, RNTIs, and search spaces on the (E)PDCCH.

If the UE is configured with measurement subframe sets for TM1-9, the parameters in the first row simply specify which MCS table should be used for both measurement subframe sets. It is then possible to configure which CQI table to use for each measurement subframe set, i.e., whether a traditional CQI table or a CQI table that considers 256QAM use. In this example, all three parameters are signaled when a measurement subframe set is configured in TM1-9, and only the first parameter is signaled otherwise. This alternative is shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Example 1 RRC configuration parameters (alternative 2)

Table 5: Example 1 RRC configuration parameters (alternative 1)

In Embodiment 2, only two RRC parameters are defined, as shown in Table 6. The first parameter, "MCS/CQI table configuration for serving cell c," is used for general MCS/CQI table configuration in TM10 and TM1-9 without a measurement subframe set configured for the UE, and provides a first table indication parameter referring to the first candidate table set. When a measurement subframe set is configured for TM1-9, the first parameter is used to configure the CQI table for csi-MeasSubframeSet1-r10, and the second parameter, "CQI table configuration for csi-MeasSubframeSet2-r10 for serving cell c," configures the CQI table for csi-MeasSubframeSet2-r10.

Therefore, the second and third tables can be used to indicate parameters, while the first set of alternative tables, which refers to the general MCS/CQI table, is assumed to be a predetermined default. In this example, all parameters are defined as OPTIONAL. When a measurement subframe set is configured in TM1-9, two parameters are signaled, indicating the second and third tables. In other cases, only the first parameter is signaled, indicating the first table.

Similar to Example 1, some examples are given here on how to determine the MCS table when a measurement subframe set is configured in TM1-9.

In the first example, the MCS table for a specific set of DCI formats, RNTIs, and (E)PDCCH search spaces is configured through the configuration of the first parameter (i.e., the parameter "MCS/CQI table configuration for serving cell c"). The MCS table configuration applies to all subframes, regardless of which measurement subframe set they belong to. However, the CQI table to be used is configured separately for each measurement subframe set.

In the second example, if either the first or second parameter is configured with a 256QAM CQI table, the UE will use that 256QAM MCS table for a specific set of DCI formats, RNTIs, and (E)PDCCH search spaces. If both parameters are configured with a legacy CQI table, the legacy MCS table is used. The MCS table configuration applies to all subframes, regardless of which measurement subframe set they belong to. However, the CQI table to be used is configured separately for each measurement subframe set.

In a third example, if a 256QAM CQI table is configured for a specific measurement subframe set, the UE will use the 256QAM MCS table for subframes belonging to the specific measurement subframe set and for a specific set of DCI formats, RNTIs, and (E)PDCCH search spaces.

All three options are shown in the table below

Table 6: Example 2 RRC configuration parameters (alternative 1)

Table 7: Example 2 RRC configuration parameters (Alternative 2)

Table 8: Example 2 RRC configuration parameters (Alternative 3)

For both Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2, it is provided whether a specific parameter configures an MCS table for both measurement subframe sets and simultaneously configures a CQI table for one of the measurement subframe sets. The measurement subframe set may be measurement subframe set 1 or 2. Furthermore, it is provided that each parameter listed below may be a unique parameter for each serving cell or may be valid across serving cells.

A terminal or user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network is generally described. The terminal or UE may be adapted to access and/or store one or more tables. The terminal or user equipment may generally be adapted to receive control messages (particularly, RRC), for example, in the context of LTE/E-UTRAN. A terminal or user equipment (UE) may generally be a device configured for wireless device-to-device communication and/or a terminal for a wireless and/or cellular network, specifically, a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone, smartphone, tablet, PDA, etc. The terminal or user equipment may be considered to include radio circuitry and/or control circuitry for wireless communication. The radio circuitry may include, for example, a receiver device and/or a transmitter device and/or a transceiver device.

The control circuitry may include a controller, which may include a microprocessor and/or a microcontroller and/or an FPGA (field programmable gate array) device and/or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) device. It is contemplated that the control circuitry includes or may be connected or connectable to a memory, which may be adapted to be read from and/or written to by the controller and/or the control circuitry. It is contemplated that the user equipment is configured as a user equipment for LTE/E-UTRAN. The control circuitry may be adapted to extract one or more table indication parameters from a received control message and/or to select and/or access and/or read at least one table from at least one set of tables based specifically on the one or more table indication parameters. The radio circuitry and/or the control circuitry may be adapted to receive a control message.

The table can be stored in a memory accessible to a control circuit or controller of the terminal or UE (specifically for reading). The table can generally indicate information about the modulation and/or configuration of a mode (specifically, the transmission mode and/or reception mode of the terminal). It is conceivable that the table is indexed so that the index is linked or associated with an indication or parameter referring to a scheme of the mode (e.g., the modulation and/or configuration of the mode), specifically with respect to parameters related to channel quality parameters and/or its transmission (specifically, base station). It is conceivable that the terminal or UE is suitable for accessing and/or storing at least one common or identical scheme or different alternative tables of the same scheme for the modulation or configuration of the mode. The alternative tables can have the same size and/or number of index fields, or can be implemented so that they have different sizes and/or numbers of index fields. A scheme can relate to the modulation scheme to be used, such as different variants of QAM. The corresponding table can be implemented as an MCS table.

The alternative tables of this solution may differ with respect to the granularity and/or different variants of the index and/or modulation to be used or available. For example, the alternative second table may include QAM with a higher point and/or a larger bit rate than the first table. Another solution may involve the configuration of the transmission of channel quality information and/or related information and/or parameters. For example, the solution may involve CSI and/or measurement subframe sets and/or their configuration.

The table may generally be stored in a memory accessible and/or accessible by the terminal or UE or associated control circuitry or controller, specifically for accessing and/or reading or retrieving parameters and/or table entries based on an index. The index for reading or retrieving may be obtained and/or received by the terminal or UE and/or associated control circuitry from the memory and/or by receiving a message (e.g., a control message).

The terminal or user equipment may generally include and/or store and/or be adapted to access at least one set of at least two alternative tables; each table in the set of tables may be associated with at least one common scheme and/or the same scheme. The set of alternative tables may, for example, include one table associated with a legacy or earlier standard version of a table and a table associated with a later standard version.

The first set of tables may be considered to include at least two tables, the at least two tables including differently indexed and/or differently modulated and/or differently MCS tables. A second set of tables may be provided, which, for example, as indicated above with respect to LTE, may include different tables for CQI (specifically, the first set of measurement subframes). A third set of tables may be provided, which, for example, as indicated above with respect to LTE, may include different tables for different CQI schemes (specifically, the second set of measurement subframes). Generally, the provided set of tables may be stored in a memory of, and/or accessible to, or accessible by, a terminal or UE. The terminal or UE may be adapted to receive a control message, specifically, from a base station or eNB, and/or to extract one or more table indication parameters from the control message. It is contemplated that the terminal or UE may be adapted to select and/or determine which table or tables from one or more candidate sets of tables to access and/or read based on the control message and/or the table indication parameters.

Alternatively or additionally, it may be adapted to access and/or read from at least one table (specifically, one alternative table and/or more than one table in an alternative table set) based on a control message and/or at least one table indication parameter of the control message, wherein each table is one of the tables in the alternative table set and may include an indication and/or information and/or one or more parameters indicating that at least one table from the at least one alternative table set is to be used, and/or an index parameter allowing access and/or reading and/or indexing of the corresponding table. The terminal or UE may be adapted to perform modulation configuration based on the table and/or based on information retrieved or read from the table.

A control message may generally be a message that a terminal or user equipment may receive, for example, from a base station, and/or that a base station may transmit or transmit to a user equipment. A control message may generally include information and/or one or more parameters for controlling the user equipment, specifically information and/or one or more parameters indicating one of at least two candidate tables to be used by the user equipment. The parameters may include one or more table indication parameters, such as bit value parameters. The value of the table indication parameter may generally indicate which table the terminal or user equipment should use. The number of table indication parameters may be variable and/or depend on the table to be used and/or the transmission mode and/or modulation scheme to be used.

Typically, there may be a table indication parameter associated with each set of alternative tables. The table indication parameter may be adapted to indicate (specifically, explicitly indicate) which table in the set is to be used, specifically with respect to its bit size. For example, if the set of tables includes two tables, a 1-bit parameter may be sufficient. Typically, the number of control messages and/or table indication parameters and/or their corresponding values may be determined and/or configured and/or provided and/or sent by the base station. The determination of the number of control messages and/or table indication parameters and/or their corresponding values may be performed by a control message determination unit or device. The control message may include one or more parameters indicating an index item or information to be retrieved from one or more tables to be read. Sending the control message may be performed by a transmission unit or device. The control message determination unit or device and/or the transmission unit or device may be implemented in and/or on the base station, for example, using software and/or hardware and/or firmware (specifically using control circuitry and/or a memory of the base station).

In one general variant, the control message may include a first table indication parameter indicating a table in the first candidate table set (specifically, an alternative MCS table). In a first mode, the control message may include only one table indication parameter and/or only an MCS table indication parameter, and/or the number of table indication parameters may be one. Other tables may or may not be accessed according to predefined defaults. In a second mode, the control message may include a second table indication parameter or second and third table indication parameters, depending on the transmission mode and/or modulation scheme used and/or which CSI scheme or measurement subframe set configuration is used and/or which CST scheme or measurement subframe set configuration is used.

It is envisioned that, for example, to indicate that the same CSI scheme and/or measurement subframe set configuration is used for each of two measurement subframe sets, the control message may include a first table indication parameter and a second table indication parameter, wherein the second table indication parameter may indicate a second and/or third table to be used and/or associated with each table (e.g., the second and third tables described above). This may be in the context of the second mode, where the number of table indication parameters may be two.

Alternatively, two parameters may be provided, including a second table indication parameter and a third table indication parameter, which may refer to a second alternative table set, and are configurations of two schemes, such as two measurement subframe sets and/or associated table accesses to the same table, and/or a second alternative table set and a third alternative table set. In this case, the terminal may assume a default configuration (e.g., regarding the MCS configuration) for the first alternative table set. If the subframe sets use the same table set, the two measurement subframe sets may be configured or set based on the two table indication parameters for the second table set, and/or if different subframe sets use different table sets, the two measurement subframe sets may be configured or set based on the two table indication parameters for the second and third table sets.

In one example, the second table may be used for both measurement subframe sets, rather than using the second and third tables; thus, the second table indication parameter may indicate a second table access, and optionally, may indicate a third table access (which may or may not be performed), because it may be more efficient to access the second table only once and use the retrieved value for both subframe sets. In such an example of the second mode, the control message may include exactly two table indication parameters.

In a different example of the second mode, or in a third mode in addition to the second mode described above, for example, if different settings are used for CSI and/or two measurement subframe sets, the control message may be followed by a second table indication parameter and a third table indication parameter included in the first table indication parameter, wherein the second table indication parameter may be associated with the second table, and the third table indication parameter may be associated with the third table (e.g., the second and third tables described above). In these modes, the number of table indication parameters may be 3. This can be used as the second mode even when the second and third tables are used identically, to provide a simple control message configuration and definition and/or to more clearly distinguish different modes by the number of parameters used.

In a second variation, in the first mode, the control message may include a first table indication parameter associated with a first alternative table set (e.g., related to an MCS). In this mode, the number of table indication parameters may be one. In the second mode, second and third table indication parameters associated with the second and third alternative table sets may be provided instead of the first table indication parameter. The first alternative table set may be accessed and/or used or not used according to a predefined default. In this second mode, the number of table indication parameters may be two. This variation allows for similar variable overload because the interpretation of the bits representing the first table indication parameter in the first mode changes in the second mode.

The control message can be adjusted according to the first variant (the above embodiment 1 can be considered as an example of this variant, such as Tables 4 and 5 and related text) or the second variant (the above embodiment 2 can be considered as an example of this variant, see, for example, Tables 6 to 8 and related text).

According to an independent variant, the control message may comprise a table indication parameter as discussed with respect to embodiment 1 or 2, in particular as disclosed in the corresponding table.

In general, instead of two sets of tables with related information (e.g. measurement subframe set settings), it is conceivable to use only one set of tables and perform one or two accesses to the table, e.g. to set the measurement subframe sets (if they are configured in the same way), or to perform two accesses to the same table, e.g. to set the measurement subframe sets (if they are to be configured differently).

As outlined herein, signaling configuration information may generally include sending and/or receiving and/or determining control messages. Performing modulation configuration may generally refer to setting the terminal to a mode in which the terminal uses a modulation mode configured specifically with respect to the type of QAM modulation used and/or the set of measurement subframes.

A base station may be envisioned as being adapted to specifically send a control message (e.g., an RRC message) to a terminal or user equipment. The base station may be considered to be adapted to determine, for example, the number of control messages and/or table indication parameters to be included in a message and/or to be sent, and/or at least one table indication parameter and/or associated value, based on a transmission mode to be used by the terminal (e.g., transmission mode TM10 or TM 1-9) and/or a set of related measurement subframes, and/or transmission and/or reception characteristics and/or operational characteristics of communications with the terminal or UE (e.g., channel quality information). The base station may be adapted to include one or more table indication parameters in a control message, which may be part of determining the control message. The base station may include any one or any combination of the features described herein.

A terminal may be envisioned that is specifically adapted to receive a control message from a base station. The terminal may be adapted to select and/or read and/or access at least one table from at least one set of candidate tables based on the control message. The terminal may be considered to be adapted to perform modulation configuration based on at least one parameter and/or information retrieved and/or read from at least one table. The terminal may include any one or any combination of the features discussed herein. The terminal or UE may be adapted to receive the control message and/or determine a mode of the control message and/or the number of expected table indication parameters, for example, based on one or more parameters of the control message and/or separate signaling and/or the length of the control message and/or the number of parameters (particularly table indication parameters) in the control message. The mode of the control message may refer to the modes of the different variations of the control message discussed above.

A method may be considered, in particular for signaling modulation configuration in a wireless communication network. The method may comprise determining and/or sending a control message, in particular a control message as discussed herein, in particular by a base station which may be part of the network.

The control message may be received, for example, by a terminal and/or a receiving unit or device. At least one table from the at least one set of candidate tables may be read and/or accessed, for example, by the terminal and/or a reading or accessing unit based on the control message and/or one or more table indication parameters included therein. The control message may be evaluated, for example, by an evaluation unit or device, to determine which table to read from and/or to retrieve indexed parameters or information from the at least one table. Optionally, signaling configuration (e.g., of the terminal) may be performed based on the information retrieved from the at least one table by the configuration device or unit.

A method for signaling modulation configuration that can be performed by a base station can be considered. The method can include determining and/or sending a control message (specifically, a control message as discussed herein) by a base station that can be part of a wireless communication network. The control message can be sent to a terminal.

A method for signaling a modulation configuration that can be performed by a terminal is also contemplated. A control message can be received, for example, by the terminal and/or a receiving unit or device. At least one table from at least one set of candidate tables can be read and/or accessed, for example, by the terminal and/or a reading or accessing unit based on the control message and/or one or more table indication parameters included therein. The control message can be evaluated, for example, by an evaluation unit or device, to determine which table to read from and/or to retrieve indexed parameters or information from the at least one table. Optionally, signaling configuration (e.g., of the terminal) can be performed based on information retrieved from the at least one table by the configuration device or unit.

The receiving unit or device and/or the evaluation unit or device and/or the reading or accessing unit or device and/or the configuration device or unit can be implemented in and/or on the terminal, for example, using software and/or hardware and/or firmware, in particular using control circuits and/or a memory of the terminal.

In the context of this specification, wireless communication may be communication, in particular the transmission and/or reception of data, via electromagnetic waves, in particular radio waves, for example using a radio access technology (RAT). Communication may be between components or nodes of a wireless communication network. Communication may generally involve sending and/or receiving messages, in particular in the form of packet data. A message or packet may include control and/or configuration data and/or payload data and/or represent and/or include a batch of physical layer transmissions. Control and/or configuration data may refer to data related to the process of communication and/or the nodes of communication. It may, for example, include in a header, for example, address data relating to the communicating nodes and/or data relating to the transmission pattern and/or spectrum configuration and/or frequency and/or coding and/or timing and/or bandwidth, as data about the process of communication or transmission.

Each node involved in the communication may include radio circuitry and/or control circuitry and/or antenna circuitry, which may be arranged to utilize and/or implement one or more radio access technologies. The radio circuitry of a node may generally be adapted for transmitting and/or receiving radio waves, and may specifically include a corresponding transmitter and/or receiver and/or transceiver that may be connected or connectable to the antenna circuitry and/or control circuitry. The control circuitry of a node may include a controller or processing device and/or a memory that is arranged to be accessible to the controller for read and/or write access. The controller may be arranged to control the communication and/or radio circuitry and/or provide additional services. The circuitry of a node (specifically the control circuitry, such as a controller) may be programmed to provide the functionality described herein. The corresponding program code may be stored in an associated memory and/or storage medium and/or hardwired and/or provided as firmware and/or software and/or hardware. The controller may typically include a processor and/or a microprocessor and/or a microcontroller and/or an FPGA (field programmable gate array) device and/or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) device.

More specifically, it can be considered that the control circuit includes or can be connected or connectable to a memory, and the memory can be suitable for being read and/or written by the controller and/or the control circuit. The radio access technology can generally include GERAN and/or UTRAN and/or specifically E-UTRAN and/or LTE. Communication can specifically include physical layer (PHY) transmission and/or reception, on which logical channels and/or logical transmission and/or reception can be printed or layered.

A base station can be any type of base station in a wireless and/or cellular network suitable for serving one or more user devices. A base station can be adapted to provide and/or define one or more cells of the network. A base station can be considered to include radio circuitry and/or control circuitry for wireless communication. The control circuitry can be adapted to determine the number and/or values of control messages and/or table-indicated parameters; the control and/or radio circuitry can be adapted to specifically transmit control messages. The radio circuitry can include, for example, receiver equipment, transmitter equipment, and/or transceiver equipment.

The control circuitry may include a controller, which may include a microprocessor and/or a microcontroller and/or an FPGA (field programmable gate array) device and/or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) device. It is contemplated that the control circuitry includes or may be connected to or connectable to a memory, which may be adapted to be read from and/or written to by the controller and/or the control circuitry. The base station may be arranged as a node of a wireless communication network, in particular configured to and/or enable and/or facilitate and/or participate in wireless communication.

Typically, a base station may be arranged to communicate with a core network and/or provide services and/or control to one or more user equipment and/or relay and/or transmit communications and/or data between one or more user equipment and the core network and/or another base station. An eNodeB (eNB) may be conceived as a base station, in particular as a base station according to LTE. It may be considered that a base station, such as an eNB, is configured as an evolved packet core (EPC) or is connected or connectable to an evolved packet core (EPC) and/or provides corresponding functionality and/or is connected to corresponding functionality. The functionality and/or multiple different functions of a base station may be distributed across one or more different devices and/or physical locations. A base station may be considered to be a node of a wireless communication network.

The storage medium may be any type of medium suitable for storing instructions readable by the control circuitry, for example a random access memory such as a CD or DVD and/or a hard disk and/or a flash memory and/or a non-volatile memory and/or an optical storage medium.

Some abbreviations used are:

QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, a modulation scheme

3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

CQI Channel Quality Indicator

CSI Channel State Information

MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme; indicated by the corresponding table (see Table 2)

UE User Equipment Terminal of a wireless network

eNB eNodeB; Evolved Node B radio network base station (LTE)

RRC Radio Resource Control

QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying, a modulation scheme

16QAM 16-point QAM

32QAM 32-point QAM

64QAM 64-point QAM

256QAM 256-point QAM

SINR/SNR Signal to Interference/Noise Ratio; Signal to Noise Ratio

TBS transport block size

TM transmission mode

TM10 Transmission Mode 10; based on LTE

TM1-9 Transmission Mode 1-9; based on LTE

LTE Long Term Evolution wireless communication standard

E-UTRAN Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Network Access Network RAT; based on LTE's RAT

RAT Radio Access Technology

FIG1 schematically illustrates in more detail a terminal or user equipment 10, which may be a node of a wireless communication network. The user equipment 10 includes control circuitry 20, which may include a controller connected to a memory. A receiving unit or device, and/or an evaluation unit or device, and/or a reading or access unit or device, and/or a configuration unit or unit may be implemented, for example, using the control circuitry 20 (specifically, a unit within the controller). The user equipment also includes radio circuitry 22, which provides receiving and transmitting or transceiving functionality, and is connected or connectable to the control circuitry. Antenna circuitry 24 of the user equipment 10 is connected or connectable to the radio circuitry 22 for collecting, transmitting, and/or amplifying signals. The radio circuitry 22 and the control circuitry 20 controlling it are configured for wireless communication, specifically wireless communication using E-UTRAN/LTE as described herein. Specifically, they are configured to receive control messages (e.g., RRC messages) and read from one or more tables (specifically, Tables 4 to 8) according to table indication parameters described herein.

FIG2 schematically illustrates a base station 100, which may be an eNodeB. The base station 100 includes a control circuit 120, which may include a controller connected to a memory. A configuration unit and/or a determination unit may be included in the control circuit. If the base station is configured as a coordination node, the determination unit is specifically included in the control circuit. The control circuit is connected to a control radio circuit 122 of the base station 100, which provides receiver and transmitter and/or transceiver functions. The control circuit 120 may be considered to include one or more devices or units described herein. Antenna circuit 124 may be connected or connectable to the radio circuit 122 to provide good signal reception or transmittance and/or amplification.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate various example methods and unit configurations. In S8, a control message determination unit of a base station may determine a control message, specifically one or more table indication parameters to be used. This may be performed based on channel quality information and/or operating conditions such as transmission or reception characteristics. In S10, a transmitting unit of the base station may specifically send a control message to a user equipment or terminal. In S20, the terminal or a receiving unit of the terminal may receive the control message. In S22, an evaluation unit may evaluate the control message, specifically determining and/or extracting one or more table indication parameters. In S24, one or more tables from one or more table sets may be accessed and/or read based on the table indication parameters, specifically by a reading unit of the terminal. Specifically, the terminal may select a table from each candidate table set based on the one or more table indication parameters, wherein the one or more table indication parameters respectively refer to the candidate table set. In S26, the terminal or the configuration unit of the terminal performs modulation configuration based on the information retrieved by accessing the one or more tables in S24.

It should be noted that, in general, the devices or units of the base station or user equipment discussed here can be implemented as modules, specifically as software modules or at least partially as software modules. The functionality of more than one module can be implemented in a common module or module arrangement.

Typically, the candidate table set may include two or more tables, from which one table may be selected, e.g., for reading. The selection may be exclusive, such that for a given read access to the candidate table set, only one table is selected for reading. Configuring a table in a particular candidate table set may be considered selecting that table and/or selecting that table, e.g., for reading.

The candidate table set for CQI and/or CSI may include a candidate table set related to the measurement set to be used (specifically related to CQI/CSI parameters). It is contemplated that more than one measurement set may be used and/or configured. The measurement set may, for example (specifically by the terminal and/or UE), define the frequency and/or timing and/or type of measurements and/or related reports to be performed, and/or the transport format used for measurement reporting and/or modulation and/or coding. The corresponding table may provide an indication and/or value for such a measurement set, specifically a set index candidate.

Typically, which table is selected from the set of alternative tables may depend on other conditions, in particular, cell conditions and/or transmission mode and/or transmission format, such as DCI (Downlink Control Information) format and/or RNTI (Radio Network Temporary Identifier, an identifier of a terminal/UE in the network) and/or channel conditions, such as the search space on the (E)PDCCH ((Enhanced) Physical Downlink Control Channel).

Operating with a table from a set of candidate tables may mean selecting the table and/or reading from the table. Operating with a specific MCS table may mean selecting a modulation configuration from the table and/or reading a modulation configuration from the table, and/or performing modulation and/or modulating a transmission signal based on the table.

Modulation and/or modulation configuration and/or MCS may refer to and/or indicate a modulation scheme and/or modulation parameters, such as bits/symbol and/or bit transmission rate and/or whether QAM is used and/or which QAM is used, such as 16QAM, 32QAM, 64QAM, 128QAM and/or 256QAM, in particular 256QAM. Modulation and/or modulation configuration may additionally relate to the coding to be used, for example for error detection and/or error correction. A table related to modulation and/or MCS may generally indicate settings and/or values and/or parameters for a plurality of such modulation and/or modulation configurations and/or MCS (schemes), one of which may be selected by, for example, reading from a table based on an index.

For example, performing modulation configuration based on a table may include configuring modulation based on values read from a table, and/or setting modulation parameters based on the table and/or based on values read from a table. Specifically, it may include selecting and/or reading modulation and/or modulation settings and/or modulation parameters from a table and/or from values in a table. Performing modulation may include configuring modulation and/or transmitting data and/or signals based on and/or utilizing the configured modulation configuration scheme.

A method for a device (such as a terminal or a base station) may generally be a method for operating the device and/or a method performed by the device (and/or individual components and/or units of the device).

Claims (12)

1. A terminal (10) for a wireless network, the terminal (10) being adapted to receive control messages; The terminal (10) is also adapted to read from a candidate table in the candidate table set based on the control message; wherein The terminal (10) is adapted to perform modulation configuration based on information read from the table. The control message includes parameters for configuring the MCS table for both of the two measurement subframe sets and simultaneously configuring the CQI table for one of the measurement subframe sets. 2. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the alternative set refers to different modulation schemes. 3. The terminal according to any one of the preceding claims, if the first or second measurement subframe set is configured with a 256QAM CQI table, is adapted to operate with a 256QAM MCS table. 4. A method for a terminal (10) for a wireless network, the method comprising: Receive control messages; Based on the control message, read from one of the candidate tables in the candidate table set; Modulation configuration is performed based on the information read from the table. The control message includes parameters for configuring the MCS table for both of the two measurement subframe sets and simultaneously configuring the CQI table for one of the measurement subframe sets. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the alternative set refers to different modulation schemes. 6. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 5, further comprising: if the first or second set of measurement subframes is configured with a 256QAM CQI table, then employing a 256QAM MCS table operation. 7. A base station (100) for a wireless network, the base station (100) being adapted to determine control messages; and The base station (100) is also adapted to send the control message to the terminal (10); The control message includes information indicating which table from the set of candidate tables should be used. The control message includes parameters for configuring the MCS table for both of the two measurement subframe sets and simultaneously configuring the CQI table for one of the measurement subframe sets. 8. The base station according to claim 7, wherein the candidate set refers to different modulation schemes. 9. The base station according to any one of claims 7 to 8, wherein the control message is adapted to configure the terminal (10) to operate with a 256QAM MCS table if the first or second measurement subframe set is configured with a 256QAM CQI table. 10. A method for a base station (100) for a wireless network, the method comprising: - Determine control messages; and - Send the control message to the terminal (10); -The control message includes information indicating which table from the set of candidate tables should be used. The control message includes parameters for configuring the MCS table for both of the two measurement subframe sets and simultaneously configuring the CQI table for one of the measurement subframe sets. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the alternative set refers to different modulation schemes. 12. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 11, wherein the control message is adapted to configure the terminal (10) to operate with a 256QAM MCS table if the first or second set of measurement subframes is configured with a 256QAM CQI table.