# US 12,015,972 B2 · Communication system

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- Number: US 12,015,972 B2
- Document ID: US12015972B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/592,649
- Filed: 2022-02-04
- Published: 2022-05-19
- Granted: 2024-06-18
- Earliest claimed: 2016-08-09
- Assignees: NEC Corporation
- Applicants: NEC Corporation
- Inventors: Yassin Aden Awad
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12015972B2

## CPC

- H04W 4/70: Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
- H04L 1/1607: Details of the supervisory signal
- 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 5/0092: {Indication of how the channel is divided}
- H04W 72/0446: Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
- H04W 72/23: in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

A communication system is disclosed in which a base station communicates with machine-type-communication (MTC) devices by dividing the base station's cell bandwidth into (non-overlapping) narrowbands and subframes in each narrowband. The base station generates and transmits control information (DCI) for allocating a set of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in a plurality of subframes for an MTC device. After the base station transmits the data, the MTC device generates and transmits an HARQ feedback indicating that i) the data has been successfully received in each one of the plurality of subframes (e.g. a single ‘ACK’) or ii) the data has not been received in at least one of the plurality of subframes (e.g. a single ‘NACK’).

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method performed by a base station, the method comprising:
transmitting, to a mobile terminal, downlink control information (DCI) for assigning communication resources in at least one subframe for transmitting data, wherein the DCI includes information indicating a number of transport blocks in the at least one subframe;
transmitting, to the mobile terminal, the data using the communication resources; and
receiving, from the mobile terminal, bundled information of Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ)-Acknowledgement (ACK) feedback for acknowledging receipt of the data by the mobile terminal,
wherein, in a case where transport blocks are received, by the mobile terminal, for the number of transport blocks indicated by the DCI, the bundled information of HARQ-ACK feedback includes an ACK, and in a case where transport blocks are not received, by the mobile terminal, for the number of transport blocks indicated by the DCI, the bundled information of HARQ-ACK feedback includes a negative ACK (NACK).

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein
the DCI includes information indicating a predetermined number of subframes following a last subframe of subframes in which the transport blocks are received by the mobile terminal, and
the bundled information of HARQ-ACK feedback is transmitted in a subframe indicated by the information.

### Claim 3

A method performed by a mobile terminal, the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station, downlink control information (DCI) for assigning communication resources in at least one subframe for receiving data, wherein the DCI includes information indicating a number of transport blocks in the at least one subframe;
receiving, from the base station, the data using the communication resources; and
transmitting, to the base station, bundled information of Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ)-Acknowledgement (ACK) feedback for acknowledging receipt of the data by the mobile terminal,
wherein, in a case where transport blocks are received for the number of transport blocks indicated by the DCI, the bundled information of HARQ-ACK feedback includes an ACK, and in a case where transport blocks are not received, by the mobile terminal, for the number of transport blocks indicated by the DCI, the bundled information of HARQ-ACK feedback includes a negative ACK (NACK).

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method according to claim 3, wherein
the DCI includes information indicating a predetermined number of subframes following a last subframe of subframes in which the transport blocks are received by the mobile terminal, and
the bundled information of HARQ-ACK feedback is transmitted in a subframe indicated by the information.

### Claim 5

A base station comprising:
at least one memory storing instructions; and
at least one processor configured to process the instructions to:
transmit, to a mobile terminal, downlink control information (DCI) for assigning communication resources in at least one subframe for transmitting data, wherein the DCI includes information indicating a number of transport blocks in the at least one subframe,
transmit, to the mobile terminal, the data using the communication resources, and
receive, from the mobile terminal, bundled information of Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ)-Acknowledgement (ACK) feedback for acknowledging receipt of the data by mobile terminal,
wherein, in a case where transport blocks are received, by the mobile terminal, for the number of transport blocks indicated by the DCI, the bundled information of HARQ-ACK feedback includes an ACK, and in a case where transport blocks are not received, by the mobile terminal, for the number of transport blocks indicated by the DCI, the bundled information of HARQ-ACK feedback includes a negative ACK (NACK).

### Claim 6

A mobile terminal comprising:
at least one memory storing instructions; and
at least one processor configured to process the instructions to:
receive, from a base station, downlink control information (DCI) for assigning communication resources in at least one subframe for receiving data, wherein the DCI includes information indicating a number of transport blocks in the at least one subframe,
receive, from the base station, the data using the communication resources, and
transmit, to the base station, bundled information of Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARD)-Acknowledgement (ACK) feedback for acknowledging receipt of the data by the mobile terminal,
wherein, in a case where transport blocks are received for the number of transport blocks indicated by the DCI, the bundled information of HARQ-ACK feedback includes an ACK, and in a case where transport blocks are not received for the number of transport blocks indicated by the DCI, the bundled information of HARQ-ACK feedback includes a negative ACK (NACK).