# US 11,451,334 B2 · Infrastructure equipment, communications device and methods > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,451,334 B2 - Document ID: US11451334B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/272,354 - Filed: 2019-09-24 - Published: 2021-10-14 - Granted: 2022-09-20 - Earliest claimed: 2018-09-27 - Assignees: Sony Corporation - Applicants: Sony Corporation - Inventors: Kazuyuki Shimezawa; Martin Warwick Beale; Shin Horng Wong; Yassin Aden Awad - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11451334B2 ## CPC - H04L 1/0072: {Error control for data other than payload data, e.g. control data} - H04L 1/0057: {Block codes (H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence)} - H04L 1/0069: {Puncturing patterns} - H04L 1/0668: {Orthogonal systems, e.g. using Alamouti codes} - H04L 1/08: by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system {(H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence)} - H04L 1/1816: {with retransmission of the same, encoded, message} - H03M 13/6306: {Error control coding in combination with Automatic Repeat reQuest [ARQ] and diversity transmission, e.g. coding schemes for the multiple transmission of the same information or the transmission of incremental redundancy (H03M13/3761, H03M13/3769 and H03M13/635 take precedence)} - H04L 1/0004: {applied to control information} - H04L 1/1819: {with retransmission of additional or different redundancy} - H04L 5/0055: {Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK (for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861)} - H04L 5/0078: {Timing of allocation} - H04L 5/0094: {Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated} - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - H03M: CODING; DECODING; CODE CONVERSION IN GENERAL (using fluidic means F15C4/00; optical analogue/digital converters G02F7/00; coding, decoding or code conversion, specially adapted for particular applications, see the relevant subclasses, e.g. G01D, G01R, G06F, G06T, G09G, G10L, G11B, G11C, H04B, H04L, H04M, H04N; ciphering or deciphering for cryptography or other purposes involving the need for secrecy G09C) ## Abstract A communications device receive data from a wireless communications network by detecting from one or more control channels of a wireless access interface one or more encoded data units of a plurality of encoded data units into which an error correction encoded control information has been divided in accordance with an incremental redundancy scheme. The communications device decodes the error correction encoded control information by combining the one or more detected encoded data units in accordance with an arrangement of encoded bits of the error correction encoded control information in each of the plurality of encoded data units. Each of the plurality of encoded data units comprises a different set of the encoded bits according to a different redundancy version number of the incremental redundancy scheme. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of operating a communications device to receive data from a wireless communications network, the method comprising: detecting, from a control channel of a wireless access interface, encoded data units of a plurality of encoded data units into which an error correction encoded control information has been divided in accordance with an incremental redundancy scheme, and decoding the error correction encoded control information by combining the detected encoded data units in accordance with an arrangement of encoded bits of the error correction encoded control information in each encoded data unit of the plurality of encoded data units, wherein each encoded data unit of the plurality of encoded data units comprises a different set of the encoded bits according to a different redundancy version number of the incremental redundancy scheme, the combining the detected encoded data units includes identifying each encoded data unit of the detected encoded data units from physical resources of the control channel on which the detected encoded data units are detected to determine the redundancy version of each encoded data unit, identifying the arrangement of encoded bits of the error correction encoded control information in each of the detected encoded data units based on the determined redundancy version, and combining the encoded bits from the detected encoded data units in accordance with the incremental redundancy scheme, the physical resources comprise a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and the identifying each encoded data unit of the detected encoded data units comprises determining a number of the OFDM symbols on which each of the encoded data units were detected, each of the encoded data units having been transmitted on a resource including a corresponding one of the plurality of OFDM symbols of the control channel, and identifying the each encoded data unit from the number of the OFDM symbols of the control channel. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the physical resources are divided into a plurality of synchronous time divided units, and the identifying each encoded data unit of the detected encoded data units further comprises determining a number of the time units in which the encoded data units are detected, each of the encoded data units having been transmitted in a resource including a corresponding time unit number, and identifying the encoded data unit from the number of the time units on which the encoded data unit was detected. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving a control message indicating which of the plurality of OFDM symbols on the control channel a corresponding one of the encoded data units was transmitted. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the physical resources are divided into a plurality of synchronous time divided units, and the identifying each encoded data unit of the detected encoded data units from the physical resources further comprises determining a pattern of the physical resources from which the encoded data units are detected, each of the encoded data units having been transmitted in a resource including one of the time units using the physical resources of the control channel of the wireless access interface in accordance with one of a set of different patterns, and determining the encoded data unit by identifying the pattern of the physical resources of the control channel within a time unit of the wireless access interface. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the physical resources are divided into a plurality of synchronous time divided units, and the identifying encoded data unit each of the detected encoded data units from the physical resources further comprises determining control channel monitoring occasions from a pattern of the physical resources on which the encoded data units are detected, each of the encoded data units having been transmitted in a resource starting in a first time unit of the control channel monitoring occasion. ### Claim 6 (depends on 4) The method according to claim 4, wherein the physical resources of the control channel are divided into control channel elements with an index, the control channel elements forming part of a resource element group which have a resource element group index, and each of the patterns of the physical resources is dependent upon the control channel element index and the resource element group index. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method according to claim 6, wherein the physical resources of the control channel are divided into control channel elements with an index, and the encoded data unit is determined based on the physical resources comprising at least a control channel index with a particular index. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The method according to claim 6, wherein the control channel elements and the resource element groups are formed from a control resource set of physical resources of the control channel for each of the time units, and the identifying each encoded data unit of the detected encoded data units includes determining the control resource set from which the encoded data unit was detected. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the identifying each encoded data unit of the detected encoded data units from the physical resources further comprises searching for the encoded data units within a search space formed within the physical resources of the control channel and determining the encoded data unit from an order in which the encoded data units are detected. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving an indication of a total number of the detected encoded data units which are used to transmit the control information. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining a total number of the detected encoded data units which are used to transmit the control information from a number of aggregation levels which are configured for receiving control information transmitted via the control channel. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising: using the control information to receive data transmitted to the communications device on a shared channel of the wireless access interface, to signal that the communications device should transmit on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) to request the communications device to perform a function or to send timing advance information. ### Claim 13 A method of operating a communications device to receive data from a wireless communications network, the method comprising: detecting, from a control channel of a wireless access interface, encoded data units of a plurality of encoded data units into which an error correction encoded control information has been divided; and decoding the error correction encoded control information by combining the detected encoded data units in accordance with an arrangement of encoded bits of the error correction encoded control information in each encoded data unit of the plurality of encoded data units, wherein the plurality of encoded data units into which an error correction encoded control information has been divided are transmitted in accordance with either a repeated transmission of one or more sections into which the error correction encoded control information is divided, or an incremental redundancy scheme in which each encoded data unit of the plurality of encoded data units includes a different set of encoded bits of the error correction encoded control information and a different redundancy version number according to the incremental redundancy scheme, the combining the detected encoded data units includes determining whether the error correction encoded control information has been transmitted in accordance with the repeated transmission or the incremental redundancy scheme, in a case that the error correction encoded control information has been transmitted in accordance with the incremental redundancy scheme, combining the detected encoded data units in accordance with the incremental redundancy scheme, in a case that the error correction encoded control information has been transmitted in accordance with the repeated transmission, combining the encoded data units of the repeated transmission of the one or more sections of the error correction encoded control information in accordance with a chase combining scheme, the combining the detected encoded data units in accordance with the incremental redundancy scheme further comprises: identifying each encoded data unit of the detected encoded data units from physical resources of the control channel on which the detected encoded data units are detected to determine the redundancy version number of each encoded data unit, identifying the arrangement of encoded bits of the error correction encoded control information in each of the detected encoded data units based on the determined redundancy version number, and combining the encoded bits from the detected encoded data units in accordance with the incremental redundancy scheme, the physical resources comprise a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and the identifying each encoded data unit of the detected encoded data units comprises determining a number of the OFDM symbols on which each of the encoded data units were detected, each of the encoded data units having been transmitted on a resource including a corresponding one of the plurality of OFDM symbols of the control channel, and identifying the each encoded data unit from the number of the OFDM symbols of the control channel. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method according to claim 13, wherein the error correction encoded control information is transmitted using either the repeated transmission or the incremental redundancy scheme depending on a search space type, and the determining whether the error correction encoded control information has been transmitted in accordance with the repeated transmission or the incremental redundancy scheme includes determining the search space type. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method according to claim 14, wherein the search space type is one of a common search space or a search space specific to the communications device. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The method according to claim 13, wherein the error correction encoded control information is transmitted using either the repeated transmission or the incremental redundancy scheme depending on a transmission of the data in the shared channel on a time unit into which the wireless access interface is divided or a sub-time unit into which the time unit is divided, and the determining whether the error correction encoded control information has been transmitted in accordance with the repeated transmission or the incremental redundancy scheme includes determining whether the data is being transmitted in the shared channel on a time unit or a sub-time unit basis. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method according to claim 16, wherein the time-unit is a slot of a sub-frame of the wireless access interface and sub-time unit is a mini-slot. ### Claim 18 A communications device for receiving data from a wireless communications network, the communications device comprising: receiver circuitry configured to receive radio signals transmitted via a wireless access interface provided by the wireless communications network; and controller circuitry configured in combination with the receiver circuitry to detect, from a control channel of a wireless access interface, encoded data units of a plurality of encoded data units into which an error correction encoded control information has been divided in accordance with an incremental redundancy scheme; and decode the error correction encoded control information by combining the detected encoded data units in accordance with an arrangement of encoded bits of the error correction encoded control information in each encoded data unit of the plurality of encoded data units, wherein each encoded data unit of the plurality of encoded data units comprises a different set of the encoded bits according to a different redundancy version number of the incremental redundancy scheme, the combining the detected encoded data units includes identifying each encoded data unit of the detected encoded data units from physical resources of the control channel on which the detected encoded data units are detected to determine the redundancy version of each encoded data unit, identifying the arrangement of encoded bits of the error correction encoded control information in each of the detected encoded data units based on the determined redundancy version, and combining the encoded bits from the detected encoded data units in accordance with the incremental redundancy scheme, the physical resources comprise a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and the identifying each encoded data unit of the detected encoded data units comprises determining a number of the OFDM symbols on which each of the encoded data units were detected, each of the encoded data units having been transmitted on a resource including a corresponding one of the plurality of OFDM symbols of the control channel, and identifying the each encoded data unit from the number of the OFDM symbols of the control channel.