Signaling and channel designs for D2D communications

摘要

Described are methods and devices for enabling D2D communications with signal structures that require minimal changes to the current LTE architecture. In the embodiments described, the eNB grants resources to UEs for D2D communication and either initiates or permits a pair of UEs to establish a D2D link. Certain embodiments are designed to minimize changes to the current LTE control signaling structure by having the control signaling always come from the eNB as in a normal cellular link so that the transmitting UE transmits over a data channel (e.g., PUSCH/PDSCH) that the receiving UE is able to decode.

主权项

1. A method for operating an evolved Node B (eNB) in an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, comprising:
selecting first and second user equipments (UEs) for device-to-device (D2D) communications; allocating a D2D time-frequency resource for the first UE to transmit to the second UE; assigning the allocated D2D resource as a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource to the first UE; assigning the allocated D2D resource as a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) resource to the second UE; receiving a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) ACK/NACK (positive or negative acknowledgement) from the second UE over the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) in response to data transmitted to the second UE from the first UE over the allocated D2D resources; receiving and decoding the data transmitted to the second UE from the first UE over the first UE's PUSCH; if the data received from the first UE is decoded correctly by the eNB and an ACK is received from the second UE, sending an ACK to the first UE; and, if either the data received from the first UE is decoded incorrectly by the eNB or a NACK is received from the second UE, sending a NACK to the first UE.