FLEXIBLE USAGE OF SPECIAL SUBFRAME FOR LONG TERM EVOLUTION TIME DIVISION DUPLEX DOWNLINK-UPLINK

摘要

A process, apparatus, and computer program product are described for providing flexible switching between legacy and new format downlink (DL) resource grants in a wireless communications network. The new format may be signaled by one bit or by two bits in the DL grant to indicate the length and format of physical downlink shared channel transmissions. During a flexible switching period from uplink (UL) to DL, a base station may signal both the legacy and new format resource grants to user equipment (UE). Once UE detects the two grants it may send an acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) signal to activate the new DL grant using resources associated with the newly introduced grant. Alternatively, the base station may indicate a frequency shift Δf for ACK/NACK resources for UE to indicate readiness for new configuration.