Apparatus and Method for Communicating Control Information Over a Data Channel in the Absence of User Data

A base station operable to receive control information over an uplink data channel in an absence of data to be sent by a wireless communication device over the uplink data channel, the control information being of at least two different types, the base station comprising:

• a transmitter operable to transmit a scheduling message that includes a resource allocation and a request for control information of a first type, the resource allocation identifying a set of transmission resources which have been allocated to the wireless communication device for transmitting control information;
• memory operable to store a reference block size for control information of a first type, the reference block size being based at least on a predetermined quantity of information bits for the first type of control information;
• a receiver operable to receive a transmission from the wireless communication device over the uplink data channel, the transmission being responsive to the scheduling message and including at least control information of the first type and control information of a second type;
• a processor operably coupled to the receiver and the memory, the processor operable to:
• determine, based on the reference block size, the resource allocation, and a predetermined uplink modulation, a quantity of transmission resources of the set of transmission resources used by the wireless communication device to transmit the control information of the second type to produce a set of second type transmission resources;
• determine, based on the reference block size, the predetermined modulation, the resource allocation, and the set of second type transmission resources, a quantity of transmission resources of the set of transmission resources used by the wireless communication device to transmit the control information of the first type to produce a set of first type transmission resources;
• demultiplex a subframe of the transmission according to the set of first type transmission resources and the set of second type transmission resources to obtain a first set of received resources and a second set of received resources, respectively;
• decode the first set of received resources to recover the control information of the first type;
• and
• decode the second set of received resources to recover the control information of the second type.

A method for a wireless communication device to prepare control information for transmission over an uplink data channel in the absence of data to be sent by the wireless communication device, the method comprising:

• storing a reference block size for transmitting a downlink channel quality indicator (CQI), the reference block size being based at least on a predetermined quantity of information bits for forming the CQI;
• receiving a scheduling message from a base station, the scheduling message including a resource allocation indicator and a request for CQI, the resource allocation indicator identifying a set of resource elements allocated for transmitting the CQI and auxiliary control information, the scheduling message excluding instructions for determining resource elements of the set of resource elements for use in transmitting the CQI and the auxiliary control information, wherein the set of resource elements is arranged in accordance with single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) uplink signaling such that the set of resource elements are divided in time across a plurality of contiguous subcarriers occupying a predetermined bandwidth, each resource element of the set of resource elements occupying a predetermined amount of time on one of the subcarriers;
• determining whether the auxiliary control information is to be sent in response to the scheduling message, the auxiliary control information including at least one of a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) and a rank indicator associated with a downlink MIMO antenna system;
• in the event that the auxiliary control information is to be sent, determining, based on the reference block size and a predetermined modulation to be used in transmitting the CQI, a quantity of resource elements from the set of resource elements for use in transmitting the auxiliary control information to produce a first set of resource elements;
• determining, based on the reference block size, the predetermined modulation, and the first set of resource elements, a quantity of resource elements from the set of resource elements for use in transmitting the CQI to produce a second set of resource elements;
• encoding the auxiliary control information into the first set of resource elements;
• encoding the CQI into the second set of resource elements;
• and
• multiplexing the first set of resource elements and the second set of resource elements into a subframe of the uplink data channel, wherein the subframe includes a plurality of time contiguous SC-FDMA symbols and wherein each SC-FDMA symbol consists of a plurality of time contemporaneous resource elements occupying the predetermined bandwidth.