Downlink phich mapping and channelization

A wireless terminal, comprising:

• a physical resource block (PRB) assignment unit configured to assign uplink (UL) physical resource block (PRB) indices to a subset of units of user equipment (UE) in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) communication system extending between the wireless terminal and a plurality of units of user equipment;
• a PHICH assignment unit configured to calculate, for each user equipment, an index triple (KPHICH, 1, KPHICH, 2, KPHICH, 3) for three repetitions of a Physical Hybrid Automatic Repeat-reQuest (HARQ) Indicator Channel (PHICH) signal to be transmitted to the user equipment, with KPHICH, i being a PHICH index indicating a PHICH resource for transmitting the i-th repetition of the PHICH signal to the user equipment, and i=1, 2, 3;
• and
• a transceiver unit configured (i) to receive data packets from a unit of user equipment transmitted via the PRBs indicated by the PRB indices assigned to the user equipment, (ii) to form multiple PHICH groups by mapping a plurality of PHICH resources to multiple sets of resource elements, with one PHICH group corresponding to one set of resource elements, each PHICH group comprising more than two PHICH resources, and each PHICH resource being indicated by a physical resource index pair
• (
• n
• PHICH
• group
• ,
• n
• PHICH
• sec
• )
• ,
• where
• n
• PHICH
• group
• is the PHICH group index and
• n
• PHICH
• sec
• is the PHICH resource index within the PHICH group, (iii) to determine a physical resource index pair for each repetition of the PHICH signal based on the corresponding PHICH index, and (iv) to transmit each repetition of the PHICH signal to the user equipment by using the PHICH resource indicated by the physical resource index pair corresponding to the repetition.

A method for communication, comprising:

• receiving a control signal at a unit of user equipment from a base station, with the control signal comprising uplink (UL) physical resource block (PRB) indices assigned to the user equipment in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) communication system extending between the base station and a plurality of units of user equipment;
• calculating, at the user equipment, an index triple (KPHICH, 1, KPHICH, 2, KPHICH, 3) for three repetitions of a Physical Hybrid Automatic Repeat-reQuest (HARQ) Indicator Channel (PHICH) signal to be received by the user equipment, with KPHICH, i being a PHICH index indicating a PHICH resource for transmitting the i-th repetition of the PHICH signal to the user equipment, and i =1, 2, 3;
• transmitting a data packet from the user equipment to the base station via the PRBs indicated by the PRB indices assigned to the user equipment, wherein multiple PHICH groups are formed by mapping a plurality of PHICH resources to multiple sets of resource elements, with one PHICH group corresponding to one set of resource elements, each PHICH group comprising more than two PHICH resources, and each PHICH resource being indicated by a physical resource index pair
• (
• n
• PHICH
• group
• ,
• n
• PHICH
• sec
• )
• ,
• where
• n
• PHICH
• group
• is the PHICH group index and
• n
• PHICH
• sec
• is the PHICH resource index within the PHICH group, and wherein a physical resource index pair is determined for each repetition of the PHICH signal based on the corresponding PHICH index;
• receiving at the user equipment each repetition of the PHICH signal from the base station;
• and
• decoding each repetition of the PHICH signal at the user equipment by using the PHICH resource indicated by the physical resource index pair corresponding to the repetition.

A wireless terminal, comprising:

• a transceiver unit configured to receive a control signal at a unit of user equipment from a base station, with the control signal comprising uplink (UL) physical resource block (PRB) indices assigned to the user equipment in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) communication system extending between the base station and a plurality of units of user equipment;
• and
• a Physical Hybrid Automatic Repeat-reQuest (HARQ) Indicator Channel (PHICH) unit configured to calculate an index triple (KPHICH, 1, KPHICH, 2, KPHICH, 3) for three repetitions of a PHICH signal to be received by the user equipment, with KPHICH, i being a PHICH index indicating a PHICH resource for transmitting the i-th repetition of the PHICH signal to the user equipment, and i=1, 2, 3;
• wherein multiple PHICH groups are formed by mapping a plurality of PHICH resources to multiple sets of resource elements, with one PHICH group corresponding to one set of resource elements, each PHICH group comprising more than two PHICH resources, and each PHICH resource being indicated by a physical resource index pair
• (
• n
• PHICH
• group
• ,
• n
• PHICH
• sec
• )
• ,
• where
• n
• PHICH
• group
• is the PHICH group index and
• n
• PHICH
• sec
• is the PHICH resource index within the PHICH group, and wherein a physical resource index pair is determined for each repetition of the PHICH signal based on the corresponding PHICH index;
• and
• wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to receive at the user equipment each repetition of the PHICH signal from the base station and to decode each repetition of the PHICH signal at the user equipment by using the PHICH resource indicated by the physical resource index pair corresponding to the repetition.