METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUBFRAME SPLITTING TO OBTAIN UPLINK FEEDBACK USING RELAY NODES

摘要

Systems and methods for enabling the use of certain subframes for communicating uplink messages from a first communications element such as a UE (185,187) attached to a relay node (183), to a second communications element such as a base station or e-Node B (181), via a backhaul communications link between the relay node and the e-Node B are disclosed. A base station or e-Node B (181) may allocate certain subframes within a repeating radio frame of a TDD configuration as either DL or UL subframes for communicating to and from the relay node (183) on a backhaul link. User equipment or UE devices (185, 187) attached to the relay node (183) can then communicate certain status symbols to the e-Node B via the relay node to increase efficient use of the system. Methods for dynamically allocating certain subframes between the relay node (183) and the e-Node B (181) are disclosed.