Spectrum-efficient utilization of an uplink control channel

A method for statically allocating physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources on a PUCCH, the method being performed by a base station, the method comprising:

• exchanging radio frequency (RF) signals with a plurality of user equipment terminals (UEs);
• determining whether or not each of the plurality of UEs, connected to a cell implemented by the base station, has been configured to switch frequencies from a first slot in a subframe to a second slot in the subframe based on capabilities of each of the plurality of UEs;
• and
• statically allocating PUCCH resources, from predefined sets of PUCCH resources, for each of the plurality of UEs based on whether or not the respective UE has been configured to switch frequencies from a first slot in a subframe to a second slot in the subframe;
• wherein the PUCCH resources are grouped in pairs, the two PUCCH resources in a respective pair allocated to two of the plurality of UEs of a same type, both of the UEs having been configured to switch frequencies from the first slot in the subframe to a second slot in the subframe or both of the UEs having been configured to not switch frequencies from the first slot in the subframe to the second slot in the subframe.

A communication system for dynamically allocating physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources on a PUCCH, comprising:

• a base station configured to:
• send, to each of at least one of a plurality of user equipment terminals (UEs), a respective downlink shared channel allocation in a downlink subframe, where the position of at least one channel control element (CCE) carrying the downlink shared channel allocation for a particular UE in the downlink subframe indicates an index of a dynamically-allocated PUCCH resource in a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) region of a subsequent uplink subframe;
• the plurality of UEs, each configured to exchange radio frequency (RF) signals with a plurality of UEs, each UE being a legacy UE or Category-M1 (Cat-M1) UE,
• wherein, each of the at least one UE is configured to determine a respective dynamically-allocated PUCCH resource in the HARQ region of PUCCH resources based on the position of the respective at least one CCE carrying the downlink shared channel allocation for the respective UE;
• and
• wherein the base station is further configured to, for at least one of the dynamically-allocated PUCCH resources, allocate a corresponding paired PUCCH resource to another UE of the same type as the UE that was allocated the respective dynamically-allocated PUCCH resource.

A method for dynamically allocating physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources on a PUCCH, comprising:

• sending, from a base station to each of at least one of a plurality of user equipment terminals (UEs), a respective downlink shared channel allocation in a downlink subframe, where the position of at least one channel control element (CCE) carrying the downlink shared channel allocation for a particular UE in the downlink subframe indicates an index of a dynamically-allocated PUCCH resource in a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) region of a subsequent uplink subframe;
• determining, at each of the at least one UE, a respective dynamically-allocated PUCCH resource in the HARQ region of PUCCH resources based on the position of the respective at least one CCE carrying the downlink shared channel allocation for the respective UE;
• and
• allocating, by the base station and for at least one of the dynamically-allocated PUCCH resources, a corresponding paired PUCCH resource to another UE of the same type as the UE that was allocated the respective dynamically-allocated PUCCH resource.