WO2017099835A1

WO2017099835A1 - Ue and enb for harq feedback bundling and timing

Info

Publication number: WO2017099835A1
Application number: PCT/US2016/024875
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jeongho Jeon; Abhijeet Bhorkar; Qiaoyang Ye; Hwan-Joon Kwon
Original assignee: Intel IP Corporation
Priority date: 2015-12-07
Filing date: 2016-03-30
Publication date: 2017-06-15

Abstract

Systems, apparatus, user equipment (UE), evolved node B (eNB), computer readable media, and methods are described for hybrid automatic repeat request bundling and timing in communication systems. In one example embodiment, a UE receives a first plurality of subframes, each subframe having an associated hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) process. The UE analyses each subframe of the plurality of subframes to generate a HARQ-ACK message associated with each subframe, and aggregates the HARQ-ACK messages associated with each subframe as a first plurality of HARQ-ACK messages in a first uplink subframe. The first uplink subframe is then transmitted to the eNB. In various other embodiments, subframes received at the UE that have not satisfied a processing delay threshold are delayed until a next available uplink subframe after the first uplink subframe.

Description

UE AND ENB FOR HARQ FEEDBACK BUNDLING AND TIMING

PRIORITY CLAIM

[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/264,215, filed on December 7, 2015, and entitled 'ΉARQ FEEDBACK BUNDLING AND FEEDBACK

TRANSMISSION TIMING FOR LAA/STANDALONE SYSTEMS", which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] Embodiments pertain to systems, methods, and component devices for wireless communications, and particularly to the integration of long term evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced, and other similar wireless communication systems with unlicensed frequencies.

BACKGROUND

[0003] LTE and LTE-advanced are standards for wireless communication of high-speed data for user equipment (UE) such as mobile telephones. In LTE- advanced and various wireless systems, carrier aggregation is a technology used by LTE-advanced systems where multiple carrier signals operating on different frequencies may be used to carry communications for a single UE, thus increasing the bandwidth available to a single device. Repeat requests may be used in some systems to verify the integrity of transmitted data, and in some systems, carrier aggregation may be used where one or more component carriers operate on unlicensed frequencies. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system including an evolved node B (eNB) and user equipment (UE) that may operate according to some

embodiments described herein.

[0005] FIG. 2 illustrates aspects of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) bundling according to some embodiments.

[0006] FIG. 3 describes an example method for HARQ bundling, according to some embodiments.

[0007] FIG. 4 illustrates aspects of HARQ bundling and timing in unlicensed spectrum, according to some embodiments.

[0008] FIG. 5 illustrates aspects of HARQ bundling according to some embodiments.

[0009] FIG. 6 illustrates aspects of HARQ bundling in unlicensed spectrum, according to some embodiments.

[0010] FIG. 7 describes an example method for HARQ bundling in unlicensed spectrum, according to some embodiments.

[0011] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a system including eNB and multiple UEs that may be used with some embodiments described herein.

[0012] FIG. 9 illustrates aspects of a UE, in accordance with some example embodiments.

[0013] FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer system machine which may be used in association with various embodiments described herein.

[0014] FIG. 11 illustrates aspects of a system for multi-subframe uplink scheduling, according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] Embodiments relate to systems, devices, apparatus, assemblies, methods, and computer readable media to enhance wireless communications, and particularly to acknowledgement systems and operations (e.g. hybrid automatic repeat requests (HARQ)) within communication systems that operate using carriers in unlicensed frequencies. The following description and the drawings illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments can incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments can be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments, and are intended to cover all available equivalents of the elements described.

[0016] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system including an evolved node B (cNB) and user equipment (UE) that may operate according to some embodiments described herein. FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless network 100, in accordance with some embodiments. The wireless network 100 includes a UE 101 and an eNB 150 connected via an air interface 190. UE 101 and eNB ISO communicate using a system that supports carrier aggregation, such that air interface 190 supports multiple frequency carriers, shown as component carrier 180 and component carrier 185. Although two component carriers 180, 185 are illustrated, various embodiments may include any number of one or more component carriers 180, 185.

[0017] Additionally, in various embodiments described herein, at least one of the carriers of air interface 190 comprises a carrier operating in an unlicensed frequency, referred to herein as an unlicensed carrier. An unlicensed carrier or unlicensed frequency refers to system operation in a range of radio frequencies that are not exclusively set aside for the use of the system. Some frequency ranges, for example, may be used by communication systems operating under different communication standards, such as a frequency band that is used by both Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (e.g. "WiFi") and third generation partnership (3GPP) standards. By contrast, a licensed channel or licensed spectrum operates under a particular system, with limited concern that other unexpected signals operating on different standard configurations will be present. Some embodiment systems described herein may operate using both unlicensed and licensed carriers, while other systems may operate using only unlicensed carriers. [0018] As discussed below, when a system operates in an unlicensed spectrum, rules and operations for verifying that the unlicensed channels are available provide additional overhead and system operational elements that are not present in licensed channels. The sharing of a channel may be referred to as fair coexistence, where different systems operate to use an unlicensed or shared channel while limiting both interference and direct integration with the other systems operating on different standards.

[0019] Long term evolution (LTE) cellular communications, for example, historically operate with a centrally managed system designed to operate in a licensed spectrum for efficient resource usage. Operating with such centrally managed use within unlicensed channels, where systems which are not centrally controlled that use different channel access mechanisms than legacy LTE may be present, carries significant risk of direct interference. Coexistence mechanisms described herein enable LTE, LTE-advanced, and communications systems building on or similar to LTE systems to coexist with other technologies such as WiFi in shared unlicensed frequency bands (e.g. unlicensed channels.) Flexible carrier aggregation (CA) frameworks within systems such as LTE-Advanced may thus operate in various ways to use unlicensed spectrum. This may include uplink transmissions in unlicensed spectrum. In some environment, a 5

Gigahertz band is particularly available as unlicensed spectrum governed by Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) rules.

[0020] Embodiments described herein for coexistence may operate within the wireless network 100. In wireless network 100, the UE 101 and any other UE in the system may be, for example, laptop computers, smartphones, tablet computers, printers, machine-type devices such as smart meters or specialized devices for healthcare monitoring, remote security surveillance, an intelligent transportation system, or any other wireless devices with or without a user interface. The eNB 150 provides the UE 101 network connectivity to a broader network (not shown in FIG. 1) such as network 960 of FIG. 9. This UE 101 connectivity is provided via the air interface 190 in an eNB service area provided by the eNB 150. In some embodiments, such a broader network may be a wide area network operated by a cellular network provider, or may be the Internet. Each eNB service area associated with the eNB 150 is supported by antennas integrated with the eNB 150. The service areas are divided into a number of sectors associated with certain antennas. Such sectors may be physically associated with fixed antennas or may be assigned to a physical area with tunable antennas or antenna settings adjustable in a beamforming process used to direct a signal to a particular sector. One embodiment of the eNB 150, for example, includes three sectors each covering a 120 degree area with an array of antennas directed to each sector to provide 360 degree coverage around the eNB 150.

[0021] The UE 101 includes control circuitry 105 coupled with transmit circuitry 110 and receive circuitry 115. The transmit circuitry 110 and receive circuitry 115 may each be coupled with one or more antennas. The control circuitry 105 may be adapted to perform operations associated with wireless communications using carrier aggregation. The transmit circuitry 110 and receive circuitry 115 may be adapted to transmit and receive data, respectively. The control circuitry 105 may be adapted or configured to perform various operations such as those described elsewhere in this disclosure related to a UE 101. The transmit circuitry 110 may transmit a plurality of multiplexed uplink physical channels. The plurality of uplink physical channels may be multiplexed according to time division multiplexing (TDM) or frequency division multiplexing (FDM) along with carrier aggregation. The transmit circuitry 110 may be configured to receive block data from the control circuitry 105 for transmission across the air interlace 190. Similarly, the receive circuitry 115 may receive a plurality of multiplexed downlink physical channels from the air interface 190 and relay the physical channels to the control circuitry 105. The uplink and downlink physical channels may be multiplexed according to FDM. The transmit circuitry 110 and the receive circuitry 115 may transmit and receive both control data and content data (e.g. messages, images, video, et cetera) structured within data blocks that are carried by the physical channels.

[0022] FIG. 1 also illustrates the eNB 150, in accordance with various embodiments. The eNB 150 circuitry may include control circuitry 155 coupled with transmit circuitry 160 and receive circuitry 165. The transmit circuitry 160 and receive circuitry 165 may each be coupled with one or more antennas that may be used to enable communications via the air interface 190. [0023] The control circuitry 155 may be adapted to perform operations for managing channels and component carriers 180, 185 used with various UEs. The transmit circuitry 160 and receive circuitry 165 may be adapted to transmit and receive data, respectively, to any UE 101 connected to eNB 150. The transmit circuitry 160 may transmit downlink physical channels comprised of a plurality of downlink subframes. The receive circuitry 165 may receive a plurality of uplink physical channels from various UEs including UE 101. The plurality of uplink physical channels may be multiplexed according to FDM in addition to the use of carrier aggregation.

[0024] As mentioned above, the communications across air interface 190 may use carrier aggregation, where multiple different component carriers 180, 185 can be aggregated to carry information between UE 101 and eNB 150. Such component carriers 180, 185 may have different bandwidths, and may be used for uplink communications from UE 101 to eNB 150, downlink communications from eNB 150 to UE 101, or both. Such component carriers 180, 185 may cover similar areas, or may cover different but overlapping sectors. The radio resource control (RRC) connection is handled by only one of the component carrier cells, which may be referred to as the primary component carrier, with the other component carriers referred to as secondary component carriers. In some embodiments, the primary component carrier may be operating in a licensed band to provide efficient and conflict-free communications. This primary channel may be used for scheduling other channels including unlicensed channels as described below. In other embodiments, the primary channel may operate in an unlicensed band.

[0025] The transmissions in unlicensed spectrum are unpredictable due to the nature of channel access in unlicensed spectrum. To support flexible system operation, the come communications systems include frame structures directed particularly to managing communications in unlicensed channels. For example, LTE Release 13 (e.g. Rel-13 RP-70 1.0.0, December 9, 2015), introduced for license assisted access operation with both licensed and unlicensed operation, a new frame structure, called Type 3, in which each subframe can be either DL or UL, if supported. The UE in such systems considers each subframe as empty if no transmission in detected in that subframe through methods such as cell- specific reference signal (CRS) presence detection. In the case of LTE-frequency division duplex (FDD), the periodic HARQ timing relationship is simple and straightforward. A UE starts preparing the HARQ-acknowledgement (ACK) as soon as the UE completes the decoding of the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and sends it 4 subframes later. In LTE-TDD, the fixed HARQ timing relationship as in LTE-frequency division duplexing (FDD) cannot be maintained since the HARQ-ACK feedback has to wait until it gets the next chance for uplink (UL) transmission and the next chance will be different depending on uplink/downlink (UL/DL) configuration. The UIJDL

configuration in a cell may vary between frames, but is known to UEs through various system procedures. The HARQ operation in unlicensed channels presents challenges in that not only is the UL/DL configuration dynamically changing but, also a UE cannot predict it a priori. Embodiments described herein provide flexible bundling and timing relationships for HARQ operation in unlicensed spectrum.

[0026] FIG. 2 illustrates aspects of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) bundling according to some embodiments. FIG. 2 describes one potential method for HARQ bundling and timing for use with unlicensed channels. FIG. 2 shows various communications between a UE 201 which may be similar to UE 101 and an eNB 250 which may be similar to eNB 150. In various embodiments, different networks with different structures or additional devices may be used, but in the embodiment of FIG. 2, UL transmission 206 occurs on an unlicensed channel.

[0027] During communication operations between eNB 250 and UE 201, subframes are communicated from eNB 250 to UE 201 which carry both control information and payload data. As illustrated, multiple downlink subframes 202A-202N may be sent. In an unlicensed channel, for example, eNB 250 and UE 201 may only have control of the channel for a limited amount of time before fair coexistence dictates that the channel be released for the possible use by other systems. Downlink subframes 202A-N may, in some embodiments, comprise downlink subframes sent from eNB 250 to UE 201 during a single continuous occupation of the unlicensed channel (e.g. a single burst length) by UE 201 as part of operation of the system including eNB 250 and UE 201. In other embodiments, this may include only a portion of the subframes from a downlink burst, or may include subframes from multiple downlink bursts from eNB 250 to UE 201.

[0028] As the downlink subframes are received at UE 201 , the UE 201 processes the information, and generates a HARQ message associated with each downlink subframe. These messages provide information associated with whether the data was received correctly by UE 201. After at least two HARQ messages are generated, the UE performs an operation to aggregate HARQ messages 204. Any number of HARQ messages may be aggregated, prior to the aggregated HARQ messages being transmitted together in a single uplink subframe as part of UL transmission 206. As described in further detail below, aggregation of HARQ messages may simply involve generating a single subframe with the information from each HARQ message, or may involve compressing the multiple HARQ messages based on a pre-agreed compression structure between UE 201 and eNB 250. Additionally, the selection of which subframes have their associated HARQ message aggregated into a single uplink subframe may be based on processing delay at the UE. Some embodiments include HARQ-ACK feedback that bundles all the pending HAQR-ACK feedbacks to the next following UL subframe when no processing delay is needed. Some embodiments include aggregated HARQ-ACK feedback where all the pending individual HARQ feedback messages which satisfy the processing delay timing thresholds are bundled to the next available subframe in UL transmission 206, and those feedback messages that cannot be processed and transmitted in the same burst are delayed to be transmitted in a later UL subframe of a next available burst when the processing delay does not allow immediate feedback.

[0029] The aggregated HARQ messages are received at eNB 250, and the eNB 250 performs an operation to processes a HARQ for each downlink subframe 208. This process involves determining which downlink subframes are associated with HARQ messages integrated into UL transmission 206, and then processing each individual HARQ message to determine if data needs to be retransmitted or not. The communication process then continues with additional downlink subframe(s) 210 communicated from eNB 250 to UE 201. [0030] FIG. 3 describes an example method for HARQ bundling, according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, the method 300 may be performed by a UE such as UE 101 or 201 In other embodiments, method 300 may be implemented as instructions in a computer readable media that configure a UE to perform method 300 when the instructions are executed by one or more processors of the UE. In other embodiments, other such implementations may be used for method 300. It will be apparent that a corresponding method will be performed by an eNB in communication with the UE performing method 300, such as eNB 150 or 250. Any implementations discussed herein may be used for method 300 in various embodiments.

[0031] Method 300 begins with a UE receiving a first plurality of subframes from an eNB in operation 305, each subframe having an associated hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) process. The HARQ- ACK process may be tracked by a HARQ-ACK process number managed by any part of the system. This process may be implicit, and tracked by timing within the system, or may be explicitly tracked by process numbers included in various communications between the UE and eNB. As discussed herein, a HARQ-ACK message is used to refer to any message acknowledging receipt of a subframe and providing feedback on the content of that subframe, including both positive and negative acknowledgments.

[0032] As the subframes are received at the UE, they are processed to decode data and perform various data management procedures, including

acknowledgment procedures. Each individual subframe is processed to generate HARQ information specific to the subframe, and in operation 310 the information from each packet is analyzed and used to generate a HARQ-ACK message for each subframe. In operation 315, these messages are aggregated into a single subframe, such that the HARQ-ACK messages associated with each received downlink subframe is aggregated as a plurality of HARQ-ACK messages in a first uplink subframe. In some embodiments, this aggregation is a mere bundling of the individual HARQ feedback messages generated according to LTE standards. In such embodiments, the first subframe may be configured to carry multiple HARQ messages sharing the same structure. In other embodiments, the aggregated feedback messages are compressed. [0033] In operation 320, the first uplink subframe is then transmitted to the eNB. In various different embodiments, the first uplink subframe may be communicated using either physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources or physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources.

[0034] In some embodiments, prior to or during the receipt of the downlink subframes at the UE, the eNB may signal the UE to indicate how feedback resources should be structured. This may be explicit signaling using downlink control information (DO) resources, or may be implicitly structured as part of a default system configuration or based on some other implicit function of the system.

[0035] FIG. 4 illustrates aspects of HARQ bundling and timing in unlicensed spectrum, according to some embodiments. FIG. 4 particularly presents unlicensed channel usage 400, with downlink subframes 401-406 communicated from an eNB to a UE, and uplink subframes 441-442 communicated from the UE to the eNB on an unlicensed channel. In various embodiments, the downlink and uplink subframes may be communicated on the same channel, while in other embodiments, they may be communicated on different channels, so long as an uplink subframe containing aggregated (e.g. bundled) HARQ messages is communicated on an unlicensed channel. While a particular number of subframes are shown in the example of FIG. 4, other embodiments include different numbers of subframes in both the uplink and downlink directions, as long as at least two downlink subframes are present such that associated HARQ messages are aggregated into a single uplink subframe.

[0036] As shown in the channel usage 400, each downlink subframe 401-406 is associated with a corresponding individual HARQ message 411-416. These HARQ messages are bundled into a plurality of HARQ-ACK messages 420 that are communicated to an eNB using uplink subframe 441.

[0037] In some embodiment using licensed channels, aa 4 subframe timing relationship between downlink subframes and HARQ feedback originates from an assumed UE processing time, where a major component of UE processing time is turbo decoding delay for supporting peak data rates. However, as shown in FIG. 4, some embodiments operate using a shorter decoding delay. Such embodiments include hardware capability for a decoder that processes information from the downlink subframes in less than the time associated with a single subframe. In other embodiments, low complexity coding schemes other than Turbo coding are used to reduce decoding time. Some embodiments, for example, may use binary convolutional codes (BCC) or low-density parity-check (LDPC) coding. Such coding schemes may reduce the decoding time and allows a HARQ message to be ready for an uplink subframe that immediately follows a downlink subframe. A downlink subframe received in an unlicensed channel, in some embodiments, may be associated with a HARQ message that is sent in the next subframe on the same channel.

[0038] In embodiments for which such short processing delay is achievable, HARQ feedback schemes may be used that bundle all the pending HARQ-ACK feedbacks to the next available UL subframe. The feedback can be transmitted over either PUCCH or PUSCH resources. The indication for feedback resources can be either implicit or explicit to the UEs through DCI signaling in the preceding DL subframes. In some embodiments, the bundled feedback message can be a mere aggregation of all the pending feedback messages. In another example embodiment, the bundled feedback message can be a compressed form of the multiple feedback messages as it done in the previous LTE-TDD systems. Thus, as shown in FIG. 4, all HARQ messages 411-416 received at a UE prior to uplink subframe 441 are bundled into the aggregated HARQ message 420, even though uplink subframe 441 follows behind downlink subframe 406 with no intervening subframes. Uplink subframe 442 may then be sent with no HARQ messages, since uplink subframe 442 follows directly after uplink subframe 441 with no intervening downlink subframes.

[0039] FIGs. 5-7 describe embodiments for systems which include some processing delay such that the feedback in the UL cannot be made in the subframe that immediately follows a DL subframe.

[0040] FIG. 5 illustrates aspects of HARQ bundling according to some embodiments. FIG. 5 illustrates aspects of HARQ bundling between a UE 501 and an eNB 550 according to some embodiments. UE 501 and eNB 550 may be similar to any UE or eNB described herein, except that UE 501 operates with a timing threshold for HARQ messages. Similar to the system of FIG. 2, in the system of FIG. 5, eNB 550 communicates multiple downlink subframes 502 to UE 501. These subframes 502A-N are, in some embodiments, subframes within a single downlink burst on an unlicensed channel.

[0041] UE 501, however, operates with a timing threshold such that after the UE receives downlink subframes 502 A-N, UE 501 aggregates HARQ messages that meet a timing threshold 504 before uplink subframe 506. The bundled HARQ-ACK messages included in uplink SUBFRAME 506 includes only the HARQ messages associated with the downlink subframes of downlink subframes 502A-N that meet the timing threshold. After uplink subframe 506 is sent with the HARQ messages that met the timing threshold prior to the time for UL transmission 506, UE 501 continues generating additional HARQ messages for subframes that meet the timing threshold 507 for the next uplink subframe 510. The eNB processes the bundled HARQ messages 508 from uplink subframe 506 as they are received, and further processes any HARQ messages from uplink subframe 510 as it is received.

[0042] For example, if four subframes are received as downlink subframes 502, but only three of these subframes meet timing thresholds to have HARQ messages sent in uplink subframe 506, then the HARQ messages for those three subframes will be bundled into uplink subframe 506. The HARQ message for the fourth subframe will be delayed and sent in uplink subframe 510. This HARQ message may be sent by itself with no other HARQ messages, or may be sent with other HARQ message for downlink subframes received after downlink subframes 502 or after uplink subframe 506 but before a timing threshold associated with uplink subframe 510.

[0043] FIG. 6 illustrates aspects of HARQ bundling in unlicensed spectrum, according to some embodiments, shown as unlicensed channel usage 600. As discussed above and shown in FIG. 6, some systems may have a maximum burst length 690 which limits the length of time that a UE may occupy an unlicensed channel (e.g. transmit on the unlicensed channel to an eNB). The maximum burst length may be set by fixed system characteristics, conformance with standards, or other such threshold burst length limitations. In some embodiments, this length may be variable, or based on inputs from other devices operating in the system. Unlicensed channel usage 600 shows an example with a max burst length 690 of 8 subframes, with sets of downlink subframes 602, 604, and 606 as well as two uplink subftames 612 and 614 occurring within a single burst length. At the end of uplink subframe 614, the unlicensed channel is released, and is unavailable until the beginning of downlink subframe 632. This period of unavailability is shown as time period 695. This time period may be based on a random back off timer dictated by communications regulations, and may also include periods where the unlicensed channel is occupied by other devices.

[0044] The UE using the unlicensed channel as part of unlicensed channel usage 600 has a processing delay of four subframes, where a HARQ message for any subframe may be sent in any uplink subframe that is four or more subframes later than the downlink subframe corresponding to the HARQ message. This may be seen with the set of downlink subframe 604 comprising a single subframe that is able to send HARQ message 605 as aggregated HARQ message 613 in uplink subframe 614 (e.g. aggregated HARQ message 613 contains only the HARQ message for a single downlink subframe.)

[0045] Thus, as shown by unlicensed channel usage 600, the set of downlink subframes 602 that includes three subframes, has three associated HARQ messages 603, with one HARQ message for each subframe of the set of subframes 602. These three associated HARQ messages 603 are bundled into aggregated HARQ message 611, which is communicated to an eNB in uplink subframe 612. Even though the subframes of the sets of subframes 604 and 606 are received before uplink subframe 612, the subframes in these sets do not meet the four subframe processing delay threshold.

[0046] The single subframe of the set of subframes 604 does not meet the processing delay threshold for uplink subframe 612, but does meet the processing delay threshold for uplink subframe 614, and so the associated HARQ message 605 is bundled for transmission in uplink subframe 614 as a second aggregated HARQ message 613. The illustrated burst then ends before an uplink subframe is available for the HARQ messages 607 associated with the subframes of the set of subframes 606. Because of this, these HARQ messages 607 wait until the next uplink subframe 642 which is after the time period 695. Additionally, since the HARQ message 633 associated with subframe 632 also meets the processing delay threshold, HARQ message 633 is aggregated with HARQ messages 607 to generate aggregated HARQ message 641, which is transmitted in uplink subframe 642. The HARQ messages associated with each subframe of the set of subframes 634 are not shown, but will similarly be sent in the earlies uplink subframe of the set of uplink subframes 644 (e.g. uplink subframes following uplink subframe 642) for which the processing delay threshold is met.

[0047] FIG. 7 describes an example method 700 for HARQ bundling in unlicensed spectrum, according to some embodiments. The method 700 of FIG. 7 may be implemented in any manner described herein including, for example, those discussed above for method 300.

[0048] Method 300 begins with operation 705, where a UE is configured to receive, at the UE, a first plurality of subframes, each subframe having an associated hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) process, the first plurality of subframes comprising a second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK processes have satisfied a processing delay threshold prior to an allocation time for the first uplink subframe, and a third set of one or more subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK processes have not met the processing delay threshold prior to the allocation time for the first uplink subframe. Similar to the sets of downlink subframes 602, 604, and 606, the plurality of subframes consisting of all subframes received in a single burst or in multiple bursts may be processed in separate groupings as described below, based on when each grouping meets a processing threshold relative to the next available uplink subframe.

[0049] As part of the UE operation, each received subframe is analyzed and processed to generate a HARQ-ACK message associated with the subframe. In operation 710, each received subframe of the second plurality of subframes (e.g. subframes meeting the processing delay threshold prior to an allocation time for the first uplink subframe) are analyzed to generate the corresponding HARQ- ACK messages, and in operation 715, the HARQ-ACK messages for the subframes of the second plurality of subframes are aggregated (e.g. bundled) as a first plurality of HARQ-ACK messages in a first uplink subframe. This is, in some embodiments, similar to the set of subframes 602 being analyzed to generate the corresponding HARQ messages 603, which are then bundled into aggregated HARQ messages 611. In operation 720, the first uplink subframe is transmitted to an eNB, similar to the transmission of uplink subframe 612 including aggregated HARQ messages 611.

[0050] Then, in operation 725, the set of HARQ-ACK messages associated with the third set of subframes are aggregated into second uplink subframe and transmitted in the second uplink subframe to the eNB. This is, in some embodiments, similar to HARQ message 605 being transmitted as aggregated HARQ message 613 in uplink subframe 614. This is, in some embodiments, similar to HARQ messages 607 and HARQ message 633 being bundled into aggregated HARQ messages 641 and transmitted to an eNB in uplink subframe 642.

[0051] Thus, as illustrated, feedback message bundling sends all pending feedback messages which satisfy the processing delay thresholds in the next available UL subframe. As illustrated in FIGs. 5-7, those feedback messages that cannot be processed and transmitted within the following UL subframes within the same burst are transmitted in a UL subframe of a next available burst. In some embodiments, for the feedback messages delayed to the next burst, the resources for sending the feedback message are indicated to the UEs explicitly by the eNB, since the UEs may not know when the UL subframe will be occurring. Although the example in FIG. 6 assumes 4 subframe processing delay, the same rule of bundling and "hold and indication" mechanism can be applied to any amount of processing delay which does not allow immediate feedback.

[0052] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a system 800 including eNB and multiple UEs that may be used with some embodiments described herein. FIG. 8 describes eNB 850 coupled to UEs 802, 804, and 806 via air interface 890. eNB 850 provides the UEs 802-806 with access to network 860, which may be a wide area network or the Internet. Any of these elements may be similar to corresponding elements described above. In various embodiments, in order to access the unlicensed channel, UEs 802, 804, and 806 perform coexistence operations, and use the subframes allocated by eNB 850 to upload data including bundled HARQ messages to eNB 850 using the allocated subframes. In some embodiments, eNB 850 comprises a single device. In other embodiments, eNB 850 or any other eNB described herein may be implemented in a cloud radio area network (C-RAN) structure, with one or more baseband processors in a first component device of the eNB and one or more antennas in one or more other devices coupled to the first component device. For example, in some such embodiments, a first component device having baseband processors is coupled to one or more second component devices each having one or more antennas, and each being connected to the first component device via a fiber optic connection or some other wired or wireless connection.

EXAMPLES

[0053] In various embodiments, methods, apparatus, non-transitory media, computer program products, or other implementations may be presented as example embodiments in accordance with the descriptions provided above. Certain embodiments may include UE such as phones, tablets, mobile computers, or other such devices. Some embodiments may be integrated circuit components of such devices, such as circuits implementing media access control (MAC) and/or LI processing on an integrated circuitry. In some embodiments, functionality may be on a single chip or multiple chips in an apparatus. Some such embodiments may further include transmit and receive circuitry on integrated or separate circuits, with antennas that are similarly integrated or separate structures of a device. Any such components or circuit elements may similarly apply to evolved node B embodiments described herein.

[0054] Example 1 is a computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure a user equipment (UE) to communicate with an evolved node B (eNB), the instructions to configure the UE to: receive, at the UE, a first plurality of subframes having a plurality of associated hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) processes; analyze a first subfiame and a second subframe of the first plurality of subframes to generate a first HARQ-ACK message associated with the first subframe and a second HARQ-ACK message associated with the second subframe; aggregate the first HARQ-ACK message and the second HARQ-ACK message as a first plurality of HARQ-ACK messages in a first uplink subframe; and transmit the first uplink subframe to the eNB. [0055] In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 optionally includes wherein the instructions further configure the UE to: analyze each subframe of the first plurality of subframes to generate an associated HARQ-ACK message, each of the associated HARQ-ACK messages corresponding to a HARQ-ACK process of the plurality of HARQ-ACK processes; aggregate the associated HARQ-ACK message for each subframe of the plurality of subframes into the first uplink subframe; receive a second plurality of subframes; wherein the first plurality of subframes comprises subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK processes have satisfied a processing delay threshold prior to an allocation time for the first uplink subframe .

[0056] In Example 3, the subject matter of Example 2 optionally includes wherein a third plurality of subframes comprises subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK processes have not met the processing delay threshold prior to the allocation time for the first uplink subframe.

[0057] In Example 4, the subject matter of Example 3 optionally includes wherein the instructions further configure the UE to: determine that the third plurality of subframes have met a second processing delay threshold for a second uplink subframe; aggregate a set of HARQ-ACK messages associated with the third plurality of subframes in the second uplink subframe; and transmit the second uplink subframe to the eNB.

[0058] In Example 5, the subject matter of Example 4 optionally includes wherein the instructions further configure the UE to: receive a fourth plurality of subframes following transmission of the first uplink subframe; analyze each subframe of the fourth plurality of subframes to generate a HARQ-ACK message associated with each subframe of the fourth plurality of subframes; aggregate the HARQ-ACK messages associated with each subframe of the fourth plurality of subframes with the set of HARQ-ACK messages associated with the third plurality of subframes in the second uplink subframe prior to transmission of the second uplink subframe to the eNB.

[0059] In Example 6, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 4-5 optionally include wherein a delay between transmission of the first uplink subframe and transmission of the second uplink subframe is based at least in part on an intervening listen before talk operation performed by the UE.

[0060] In Example 7, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 2-6 optionally include wherein the processing delay threshold comprises a delay of four subframes.

[0061] In Example 8, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 2-7 optionally include wherein the processing delay threshold comprises a delay of two milliseconds.

[0062] In Example 9, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 2-8 optionally include wherein the processing delay threshold is adjustable using downlink control information (DO) signaling.

[0063] In Example 10, the subject matter of Example 9 optionally includes wherein the processing delay threshold is adjustable to a value less than one subframe.

[0064] In Example 11, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 9-

10 optionally include wherein the instructions further configure the UE to receive an indication of feedback message identifying a format for the first uplink subframe in a DCI signal prior to the UE receiving the first plurality of subframes.

[0065] In Example 12, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 9-

11 optionally include wherein aggregating the HARQ-ACK messages associated with each subframe as the first plurality of HARQ-ACK messages in the first uplink subframe comprises generating a compressed form of multiple feedback messages.

[0066] In Example 13, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-

12 optionally include wherein the first subframe is transmitted over a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

[0067] In Example 14, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-

13 optionally include wherein the first subframe is transmitted over a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0068] In Example 15, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-

14 optionally include wherein the instructions further cause the UE to: receive a second plurality of downlink subframes; and generate a corresponding plurality of feedback messages for each downlink subframe of the second plurality of downlink subframes; wherein feedback messages of the corresponding plurality of feedback messages which satisfy a processing delay threshold are bundled into a next available subframe.

[0069] In Example 16, the subject matter of Example 15 optionally includes wherein the next available subframe comprises the first subframe; and wherein the feedback messages of the corresponding plurality of feedback messages which satisfy the processing delay threshold consists of the first plurality of HARQ-ACK messages.

[0070] Example 17 is an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) configured for communication using an unlicensed channel, the apparatus comprising: memory; and control circuitry coupled to the memory and configured to: analyze a first subframe received at the UE from an evolved node B (eNB), the first subframe associated with a first hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) process; analyze a second subframe received at the UE from the eNB, wherein the second subframe is associated with a second HARQ-ACK process; generate an aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprising a HARQ- ACK message for the first subframe and a HARQ-ACK message for the second subframe; and transmit the aggregated HARQ-ACK message in first uplink subframe to the eNB.

[0071] In Example 18, the subject matter of Example 17 optionally includes further comprising: an antenna coupled to the control circuitry; and radio frequency circuitry to receive the first subframe and the second subframe from the eNB via the antenna and to transmit the aggregated HARQ-ACK message to the eNB via the antenna.

[0072] In Example 19, the subject matter of Example 18 optionally includes further comprising: baseband circuitry coupled to the radio frequency circuitry, the baseband circuitry comprising at least a portion of the control circuitry; and application circuitry coupled to the baseband circuitry and configured to initiate a request for the first subframe and the second subframe via the baseband circuitry.

[0073] Example 20 is a computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure an evolved node B (eNB) to communication with a user equipment (UE), the instructions to configure the HE to: transmit a first plurality of subframes to the UE, each subframe having an associated hybrid automatic repeat request

acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) process; receive, from the UE in response to transmission of the first plurality of subframes, a first uplink subframe comprising an aggregated HARQ-ACK message, the aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprising HARQ-ACK information for each subframe of the first plurality of subframes; and analyze the aggregated HARQ-ACK message to identify the HARQ-ACK information for each subframe of the first plurality of subframes.

[0074] In Example 21, the subject matter of Example 20 optionally includes wherein the aggregated HARQ-ACK comprises an acknowledgement for a subframe of the first plurality of subframes and a negative acknowledgement for a second subframe of the first plurality of subframes; wherein the instructions further configure to eNB to retransmit the second subframe in response to the aggregated HARQ-ACK.

[0075] In Example 22, the subject matter of Example 21 optionally includes wherein the instructions further configure the eNB to transmit a second plurality of subframes to the UE; wherein the first plurality of subframes comprises subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ- ACK process has satisfied a processing delay threshold at the UE prior to an allocation time for the first uplink subframe at the UE.

[0076] In Example 23, the subject matter of Example 22 optionally includes wherein the instructions further configure the eNB to receive a second aggregated HARQ-ACK message following receipt of the first aggregated HARQ-ACK message; wherein the second aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprises HARQ-ACK information for a third plurality of subframes comprising subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK process did not met the processing delay threshold prior to the allocation time for the first uplink subframe at the UE.

[0077] Example 24 is an apparatus of an evolved node B (eNB) for communications on an unlicensed channel, the apparatus comprising: memory; and control circuitry configured to: initiate transmission of a first plurality of subframes to a UE, each subframe having an associated hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) process; manage reception, from the UE in response to transmission of the first plurality of subframes, of a first uplink subframe comprising an aggregated HARQ-ACK message, the aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprising HARQ-ACK information for each subframe of the first plurality of subframes; and process the aggregated HARQ- ACK message to identify the HARQ-ACK information for each subframe of the first plurality of subframes.

[0078] In Example 25, the subject matter of Example 24 optionally includes wherein the aggregated HARQ-ACK comprises an acknowledgement for a subframe of the first plurality of subframes and a negative acknowledgement for a second subframe of the first plurality of subframes; and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to initiate retransmission of the second subframe in response to the aggregated HARQ-ACK.

[0079] In Example 26, the subject matter of Example 25 optionally includes wherein the control circuity is further configured to initiate transmission of a second plurality of subframes to the UE; wherein the first plurality of subframes comprises subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK process has satisfied a processing delay threshold at the UE prior to an allocation time for the first uplink subframe at the UE; wherein the control circuitry is further configured to manage receipt of a second aggregated HARQ-ACK message following receipt of the first aggregated HARQ-ACK message; and wherein the second aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprises HARQ-ACK information for a third plurality of subframes comprising subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK process did not met the processing delay threshold prior to the allocation time for the first uplink subframe at the UE.

[0080] Example 27A a is a method comprising receiving, at the UE, a first plurality of subframes, each subframe having an associated hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) process; analyzing each subframe of the plurality of subframes to generate a HARQ-ACK message associated with each subframe; aggregating the HARQ-ACK messages associated with each subframe as a first plurality of HARQ-ACK messages in a first uplink subframe; and transmit the first uplink subframe to the eNB.

[0081] Example 27B includes the subject matter of example 27A wherein the first plurality of subframes comprises subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK processes have satisfied a processing delay threshold prior to an allocation time for the first uplink subframe.

[0082] Example 27C includes the subject matter of example 27B a third plurality of subframes comprises subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK processes have not met the processing delay threshold prior to the allocation time for the first uplink subframe.

[0083]

[0084] In Example 27D, the subject matter of Example 27C optionally includes further comprising: determining that the third plurality of subframes have met a second processing delay threshold for a second uplink subframe; aggregating a set of HARQ-ACK messages associated with the third plurality of subframes in the second uplink subframe; and transmitting the second uplink subframe to the eNB.

[0085] In Example 28, the subject matter of Example 27D optionally includes further comprising: receiving a fourth plurality of subframes following transmission of the first uplink subframe; analyzing each subframe of the fourth plurality of subframes to generate a HARQ-ACK message associated with each subframe of the fourth plurality of subframes; aggregating the HARQ-ACK messages associated with each subframe of the fourth plurality of subframes with the set of HARQ-ACK messages associated with the third plurality of subframes in the second uplink subframe prior to transmission of the second uplink subframe to the eNB.

[0086] In Example 29, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 27- 28 optionally include wherein a delay between transmission of the first uplink subframe and transmission of the second uplink subframe is based at least in part on an intervening listen before talk operation performed by the UE. [0087] In Example 30, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 25- 29 optionally include wherein the processing delay threshold comprises a delay of four subframes.

[0088] In Example 31, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 25- 30 optionally include wherein the processing delay threshold comprises a delay of two milliseconds.

[0089] In Example 32, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 25- 31 optionally include wherein the processing delay threshold is adjustable using downlink control information (DO) signaling.

[0090] In Example 33, the subject matter of Example 32 optionally includes wherein the processing delay threshold is adjustable to a value less than one subframe.

[0091] In Example 34, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 32-

33 optionally include wherein the instructions further configure the UE to receive an indication of feedback message identifying a format for the first uplink subframe in a DCI signal prior to the UE receiving the first plurality of subframes.

[0092] In Example 35, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 32-

34 optionally include wherein aggregating the HARQ-ACK messages associated with each subframe as the first plurality of HARQ-ACK messages in the first uplink subframe comprises generating a compressed form of multiple feedback messages.

[0093] In Example 36, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 24-

35 optionally include wherein the first subframe is transmitted over a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

[0094] In Example 37, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 24-

36 optionally include wherein the first subframe is transmitted over a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0095] In Example 38, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 24- 37 optionally include wherein the instructions further cause the UE to: receive a second plurality of downlink subframes; and generate a corresponding plurality of feedback messages for each downlink subframe of the second plurality of downlink subframes; wherein feedback messages of the corresponding plurality of feedback messages which satisfy a processing delay threshold are bundled into a next available subframe.

[0096] In Example 39, the subject matter of Example 38 optionally includes wherein the next available subframe comprises the first subframe; and wherein the feedback messages of the corresponding plurality of feedback messages which satisfy the processing delay threshold consists of the first plurality of HARQ-ACK messages.

[0097] Example 40 is a method for a evolved node B (eNB) to

communication with a user equipment (UE) on an unlicensed channel, the method comprising: transmitting a first plurality of subframes to the UE, each subframe having an associated hybrid automatic repeat request

acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) process; receiving, from the UE in response to transmission of the first plurality of subframes, a first uplink subframe comprising an aggregated HARQ-ACK message, the aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprising HARQ-ACK information for each subframe of the first plurality of subframes; and analyzing the aggregated HARQ-ACK message to identify the HARQ-ACK information for each subframe of the first plurality of subframes.

[0098] In Example 41, the subject matter of Example 40 optionally includes wherein the aggregated HARQ-ACK comprises an acknowledgement for a subframe of the first plurality of subframes and a negative acknowledgement for a second subframe of the first plurality of subframes; wherein the instructions further configure to eNB to retransmit the second subframe in response to the aggregated HARQ-ACK.

[0099] In Example 42, the subject matter of Example 41 optionally includes wherein the instructions further configure the eNB to transmit a second plurality of subframes to the UE; wherein the first plurality of subframes comprises subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ- ACK process has satisfied a processing delay threshold at the UE prior to an allocation time for the first uplink subframe at the UE.

[00100] In Example 43, the subject matter of Example 42 optionally includes wherein the instructions further configure the eNB to receive a second aggregated HARQ-ACK message following receipt of the first aggregated HARQ-ACK message; wherein the second aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprises HARQ-ACK information for a third plurality of subframes comprising subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK process did not met the processing delay threshold prior to the allocation time for the first uplink subframe at the UE.

[00101] Example 44 is an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) for

communication on an unlicensed channel, the apparatus comprising: means for analyzing a first subframe received at the UE from an evolved node B (eNB), the first subframe associated with a first hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) process; means for analyzing a second subframe received at the UE from the eNB, wherein the second subframe is associated with a second HARQ-ACK process; means for generating an aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprising a HARQ-ACK message for the first subframe and a HARQ-ACK message for the second subframe; and means for transmitting the aggregated HARQ-ACK message in first uplink subframe to the eNB.

[00102] In Example 45, the subject matter of Example 44 optionally includes further comprising: an antenna coupled to the control circuitry; and radio frequency circuitry to receive the first subframe and the second subframe from the eNB via the antenna and to transmit the aggregated HARQ-ACK message to the eNB via the antenna.

[00103] In Example 46, the subject matter of Example 45 optionally includes further comprising: baseband circuitry coupled to the radio frequency circuitry; and application circuitry coupled to the baseband circuitry and configured to initiate a request for the first subframe and the second subframe via the baseband circuitry.

[00104] Example 47 is an apparatus of an evolved node B (eNB) for communications on an unlicensed channel, the eNB comprising: memory; and means for initiating transmission of a first plurality of subframes to a UE, each subframe having an associated hybrid automatic repeat request

acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) process; means for managing reception, from the UE in response to transmission of the first plurality of subframes, of a first uplink subframe comprising an aggregated HARQ-ACK message, the aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprising HARQ-ACK information for each subframe of the first plurality of subframes; and means for processing the aggregated HARQ-ACK message to identify the HARQ-ACK information for each subframe of the first plurality of subframes.

[00105] In Example 48, the subject matter of Example 47 optionally includes wherein the aggregated HARQ-ACK comprises an acknowledgement for a subframe of the first plurality of subframes and a negative acknowledgement for a second subframe of the first plurality of subframes; and means for initiating retransmission of the second subframe in response to the aggregated HARQ- ACK.

[00106] Example 49 is a method of HARQ-ACK feedback that bundles all the pending HAQR-ACK feedbacks to the next following UL subframe when no processing delay is needed.

[00107] In Example SO, the subject matter of Example 49 optionally includes, wherein the feedback message is transmitted over either PUCCH or PUSCH resources.

[00108] In Example 51, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 49-

50 optionally include, wherein the indication of feedback resource can be either implicit or explicit using DCI signaling in the preceding DL subframes.

[00109] In Example 52, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 49-

51 optionally include, where in the bundled feedback message is a mere aggregation of all the pending feedback messages.

[00110] In Example 53, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 49-

52 optionally include, wherein the bundled feedback message is a compressed form of the multiple feedback messages similar to the current LTE-TDD HARQ- ACK feedback bundling.

[00111] Example 54 is a method of HARQ-ACK feedback wherein all the pending feedback messages, which satisfies the processing delay threshold, are bundled to the next available UL subframe and those feedback messages that cannot be processed and transmitted in the same burst are delayed to be transmitted in a UL subframe of a next available burst when the processing delay does not allow immediate feedback. [00112] In Example 55, the subject matter of Example 54 optionally includes, wherein the feedback resource for the delayed feedback is indicated to the UEs in a DL subframe of the next burst including but not limited to when next UL subframe will be available.

[00113] In Example 56, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 54-

55 optionally include, wherein the feedback message is transmitted over either PUCCH or PUSCH resources.

[00114] In Example 57, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 54-

56 optionally include, wherein the indication of feedback resource for the feedback to be sent within the same burst can be either implicit or explicit using DCI signaling in the preceding DL subframes.

[00115] In Example 58, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 54-

57 optionally include, where in the bundled feedback message is a mere aggregation of all the pending feedback messages.

[00116] In Example 59, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 54-

58 optionally include, wherein the bundled feedback message is a compressed form of the multiple feedback messages similar to the current LTE-TDD HARQ- ACK feedback bundling.

[00117] Further, in addition to the specific combinations of examples described above, any of the examples detailing further implementations of an element of an apparatus or medium may be applied to any other corresponding apparatus or medium, or may be implemented in conjunction with another apparatus or medium. Thus, each example above may be combined with each other example in various ways both as implementations in a system and as combinations of elements to generate an embodiment from the combination of each example or group of examples. For example, any embodiment above describing a transmitting device will have an embodiment that receives the transmission, even if such an embodiment is not specifically detailed. Similarly, methods, apparatus examples, and computer readable medium examples may each have a corresponding example of the other type even if such examples for every embodiment are not specifically detailed.

EXAMPLE SYSTEMS AND DEVICES [00118] FIG. 9 shows an example UE, illustrated as a UE 900. The UE 900 may be an implementation of the UE 101, the eNB 150, or any device described herein. The UE 900 can include one or more antennas 908 configured to communicate with a transmission station, such as a base station (BS), an eNB 150, or another type of wireless wide area network (WW AN) access point. The UE 900 can be configured to communicate using at least one wireless communication standard including 3GPP LTE, WiMAX, High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Bluetooth, and WiFi. The UE 900 can communicate using separate antennas 908 for each wireless communication standard or shared antennas 908 for multiple wireless communication standards. The UE 900 can communicate in a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN), and/or a wireless wide area network (WWAN).

[00119] FIG. 9 also shows a microphone 920 and one or more speakers 912 that can be used for audio input and output to and from the UE 900. A display screen 904 can be a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen, or another type of display screen such as an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. The display screen 904 can be configured as a touch screen. The touch screen can use capacitive, resistive, or another type of touch screen technology. An application processor 914 and a graphics processor 918 can be coupled to an internal memory 916 to provide processing and display capabilities. A non-volatile memory port 910 can also be used to provide data I/O options to a user. The nonvolatile memory port 910 can also be used to expand the memory capabilities of the UE 900. A keyboard 906 can be integrated with the UE 900 or wirelessly connected to the UE 900 to provide additional user input. A virtual keyboard can also be provided using the touch screen. A camera 922 located on the front (display screen 904) side or the rear side of the UE 900 can also be integrated into the housing 902 of the UE 900.

[00120] FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer system machine 1000 upon which any one or more of the methodologies herein discussed can be run, and which may be used to implement the eNB 150, the UE 101, or any other device described herein. In various alternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone device or can be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 1000 can operate in the capacity of either a server or a client machine in server-client network environments, or it can act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environments. The machine 1000 can be a personal computer (PC) that may or may not be portable (e.g., a notebook or a netbook), a tablet, a set-top box (STB), a gaming console, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone or smartphone, a web appliance, a network router, switch, or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine 1000 is illustrated, the term "machine^'" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

[00121] The example computer system machine 1000 includes a processor 1002 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or both), a main memory 1004, and a static memory 1006, which communicate with each other via an interconnect 1008 (e.g., a link, a bus, etc.). The computer system machine 1000 can further include a video display unit 1010, an alphanumeric input device 1012 (e.g., a keyboard 906), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 1014 (e.g., a mouse). In one embodiment, the video display device 1010, input device 1012, and Ul navigation device 1014 are a touch screen display. The computer system machine 1000 can additionally include a mass storage device 1016 (e.g., a drive unit), a signal generation device 1018 (e.g., a speaker), an output controller 1032, a power management controller 1034, a network interface device 1020 (which can include or operably communicate with one or more antennas 1030, transceivers, or other wireless communications hardware), and one or more sensors 1028, such as a GPS sensor, compass, location sensor, accelerometer, or other sensor.

[00122] The storage device 1016 includes a machine-readable medium 1022 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures and instructions 1024 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 1024 can also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 1004, static memory 1006, and/or processor 1002 during execution thereof by the computer system machine 1000, with the main memory 1004, the static memory 1006, and the processor 1002 also constituting machine-readable media 1022.

[00123] While the machine-readable medium 1022 is illustrated, in an example embodiment, to be a single medium, the term "machine-readable medium" can include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more instructions 1024. The term "machine-readable medium" shall also be taken to include any tangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions 1024 for execution by the machine 1000 and that cause the machine 1000 to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures utilized by or associated with such instructions 1024.

[00124] The instructions 1024 can further be transmitted or received over a communications network 1026 using a transmission medium via the network interface device 1020 utilizing any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)). The term "transmission medium" shall be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions 1024 for execution by the machine 1000, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible media to facilitate communication of such software.

[00125] Various techniques, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions 1024) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, non-transitory computer readable storage media, or any other machine-readable storage medium 1022 wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine 1000, such as a computer, the machine 1000 becomes an apparatus for practicing the various techniques. In the case of program code execution on programmable computers, the computing device may include a processor 1002, a storage medium readable by the processor 1002 (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device 1012, and at least one output device. The volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements may be a random access memory (RAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash drive, optical drive, magnetic hard drive, or other medium for storing electronic data. The base station and mobile station may also include a transceiver module, a counter module, a processing module, and/or a clock module or timer module. One or more programs that may implement or utilize the various techniques described herein may use an application program interface (API), reusable controls and the like. Such programs may be implemented in a high level procedural or object-oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system. However, the program(s) may be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, and combined with hardware implementations.

[00126] Various embodiments may use 3GPP LTE/LTE-A, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 1002.11, and Bluetooth

communication standards. Various alternative embodiments may use a variety of other WW AN, WLAN, and WPAN protocols and standards in connection with the techniques described herein. These standards include, but are not limited to, other standards from 3GPP (e.g., HSPA+, UMTS), IEEE 1002.16 (e.g., 1002.16p), or Bluetooth (e.g., Bluetooth 9.0, or like standards defined by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group) standards families. Other applicable network configurations can be included within the scope of the presently described communication networks 1026. It will be understood that communications on such communication networks 1026 can be facilitated using any number of networks, using any combination of wired or wireless transmission mediums.

[00127] FIG. 11 illustrates, for one embodiment, example components of a UE device 1100, in accordance with some embodiments. In some

embodiments, the UE device 1100 may include application circuitry 1102, baseband circuitry 1104, RF circuitry 1106, front end module (FEM) circuitry 1108, and one or more antennas 1110, coupled together at least as shown. In some embodiments, the UE device 1100 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, and/or I/O interface.

[00128] The application circuitry 1102 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 1102 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors,

application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with and/or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems to run on the system.

[00129] The baseband circuitry 1104 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 1104 may include one or more baseband processors and/or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1106 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1106. Baseband circuity 1104 may interface with the application circuitry 1102 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 1106. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1104 may include a second generation (2G) baseband processor 1104a, third generation (3G) baseband processor 1104b, fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 1104c, and/or other baseband proccssor(s) 1104d for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., fifth generation (SG), 6G, etc.). The baseband circuitry 1104 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 1104a-d) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 1106. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation,

encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, and the like. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1104 may include fast-Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, and/or constellation

mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1104 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, and/or low density parity check (LDPC)

encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

[00130] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1104 may include elements of a protocol stack such as, for example, elements of an EUTRAN protocol including, for example, physical (PHY), media access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), and/or RRC elements. A central processing unit (CPU) 1104e of the baseband circuitry 1104 may be configured to run elements of the protocol stack for signaling of the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP and/or RRC layers. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1104 may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 1104f. The audio DSP(s) 1104f may be include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry 1104 may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 1104 and the application circuitry 1102 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on chip (SOC) device.

[00131] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1104 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1104 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other WMAN, WLAN, or WPAN. Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 1104 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[00132] RF circuitry 1106 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 1106 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, and the like to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 1106 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1108 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 1104. RF circuitry 1106 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 1104 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 1108 for transmission. [00133] In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 1106 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1106 may include mixer circuitry 1106a, amplifier circuitry 1106b, and filter circuitry 1106c. The transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1106 may include filter circuitry 1106c and mixer circuitry 1106a. RF circuitry 1106 may also include synthesizer circuitry 1106d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1106a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1106a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1108 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 1106d. The amplifier circuitry 1106b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals, and the filter circuitry 1106c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or bandpass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down- converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 1104 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 1106a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[00134] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1106a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 1106d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 1108. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 1104 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 1106c. The filter circuitry 1106c may include a LPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[00135] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1106a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1106a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down conversion and/or up conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1106a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1106a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1106a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1106a may be arranged for direct down conversion and/or direct up conversion, respectively. In some

embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1106a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1106a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super- heterodyne operation.

[00136] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 1106 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry, and the baseband circuitry 1104 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 1106.

[00137] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate circuitry including one or more integrated circuits may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[00138] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1106d may be a fiactional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 1106d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[00139] The synthesizer circuitry 1106d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1106a of the RF circuitry 1106 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1106d may be a fractional N/N+l synthesizer.

[00140] In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 1104 or the applications processor 1102 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 1102. [00141] Synthesizer circuitry 1106d of the RF circuitry 1106 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DP A). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+l (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[00142] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 1106d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 1106 may include a polar converter.

[00143] FEM circuitry 1108 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 1110, amplify the received signals, and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1106 for further processing. FEM circuitry 1108 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 1106 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 1110.

[00144] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 1108 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 1108 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 1108 may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 1106). Hie transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 1108 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify' input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 1106), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 1110).

[00145] In some embodiments, the UE 1100 comprises a plurality of power saving mechanisms. If the UE 1100 is in an RRC Connected state, where it is still connected to the eNB because it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power.

[00146] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the UE 1100 may transition off to an RRC Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, and the like. The UE 1100 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device cannot receive data in mis state; in order to receive data, the device transitions back to an RRC Connected state.

[00147] An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During mis time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

[00148] The embodiments described above can be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Various methods or techniques, or certain aspects or portions thereof, can take the form of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as flash memory, hard drives, portable storage devices, read-only memory (ROM), RAM,

semiconductor memory devices (e.g., EPROM, Electrically Erasable

Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, and any other machine-readable storage medium or storage device wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer or networking device, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the various techniques.

[00149] It should be understood that the functional units or capabilities described in this specification may have been referred to or labeled as components or modules in order to more particularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, a component or module can be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom very-large-scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discrete components. A component or module can also be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logic devices, or the like. Components or modules can also be implemented in software for execution by various types of processors. An identified component or module of executable code can, for instance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions, which can, for instance, be organized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, the executables of an identified component or module need not be physically located together, but can comprise disparate instructions stored in different locations which, when joined logically together, comprise the component or module and achieve the stated purpose for the component or module .

[00150] Indeed, a component or module of executable code can be a single instruction, or many instructions, and can even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices. Similarly, operational data can be identified and illustrated herein within components or modules, and can be embodied in any suitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure. The operational data can be collected as a single data set, or can be distributed over different locations including over different storage devices, and can exist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system or network. The components or modules can be passive or active, including agents operable to perform desired functions.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure a user equipment (UE) to communicate with an evolved node B (eNB), the instructions to configure the HE to: receive, at the UE, a first plurality of subfiames having a plurality of associated hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) processes;

analyze a first subframe and a second subfiame of the first plurality of subframes to generate a first HARQ-ACK message associated with the first subframe and a second HARQ-ACK message associated with the second subframe; aggregate the first HARQ-ACK message and the second HARQ-ACK message as a first plurality of HARQ-ACK messages in a first uplink subframe; and transmit the first uplink subframe to the eNB.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions further configure the UE to:

analyze each subframe of the first plurality of subframes to generate an associated HARQ-ACK message, each of the associated HARQ-ACK messages corresponding to a HARQ-ACK process of the plurality of HARQ-ACK processes; aggregate the associated HARQ-ACK message for each subframe of the plurality of subframes into the first uplink subframe;

receive a second plurality of subframes;

wherein the first plurality of subframes comprises subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK processes have satisfied a processing delay threshold prior to an allocation time for the first uplink subframe.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein a third plurality of subframes comprises subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK processes have not met the processing delay threshold prior to the allocation time for the first uplink subframe.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 3 wherein the instructions further configure the HE to:

determine that the third plurality of subframes have met a second processing delay threshold for a second uplink subframe;

aggregate a set of HARQ-ACK messages associated with the third plurality of subframes in the second uplink subframe; and

transmit the second uplink subframe to the eNB.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 4 wherein the instructions further configure the UE to:

receive a fourth plurality of subframes following transmission of the first uplink subframe;

analyze each subframe of the fourth plurality of subframes to generate a HARQ-ACK message associated with each subframe of the fourth plurality of subframes;

aggregate the HARQ-ACK messages associated with each subframe of the fourth plurality of subframes with the set of HARQ-ACK messages associated with the third plurality of subframes in the second uplink subframe prior to transmission of the second uplink subframe to the eNB.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 4 wherein a delay between transmission of the first uplink subframe and transmission of the second uplink subframe is based at least in part on an intervening listen before talk operation performed by the HE.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein the processing delay threshold comprises a delay of four subframes.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein the processing delay threshold comprises a delay of two milliseconds.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein the processing delay threshold is adjustable using downlink control information (DCI) signaling.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the processing delay threshold is adjustable to a value less than one subframe.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the instructions further configure the UE to receive an indication of feedback message identifying a format for the first uplink subframe in a DCI signal prior to the UE receiving the first plurality of subframes.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein aggregating the

HARQ-ACK messages associated with each subframe as the first plurality of HARQ-ACK messages in the first uplink subframe comprises generating a compressed form of multiple feedback messages.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the first subframe is transmitted over a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

14. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the first subframe is transmitted over a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

15. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions further cause the UE to:

receive a second plurality of downlink subframes; and

generate a corresponding plurality of feedback messages for each downlink subframe of the second plurality of downlink subframes;

wherein feedback messages of the corresponding plurality of feedback messages which satisfy a processing delay threshold are bundled into a next available subframe.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the next available subframe comprises the first subframe; and wherein the feedback messages of the corresponding plurality of feedback messages which satisfy the processing delay threshold consists of the first plurality of HARQ-ACK messages.

17. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE) configured for

communication using an unlicensed channel, the apparatus comprising:

memory; and

control circuitry coupled to the memory and configured to:

analyze a first subframe received at the UE from an evolved node B (eNB), the first subframe associated with a first hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) process;

analyze a second subframe received at the UE from the eNB, wherein the second subframe is associated with a second HARQ-ACK process; and

generate an aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprising a HARQ-ACK message for the first subframe and a HARQ-ACK message for the second subframe.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising:

an antenna coupled to the control circuitry; and

radio frequency circuitry to receive the first subframe and the second subframe from the eNB via the antenna and to transmit the aggregated HARQ-ACK message to the eNB via the antenna.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 further comprising:

baseband circuitry coupled to the radio frequency circuitry, the baseband circuitry comprising at least a portion of the control circuitry; and

application circuitry coupled to the baseband circuitry and configured to initiate a request for the first subframe and the second subframe via the baseband circuitr>'.

20. A computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure an evolved node B (eNB) to communication with a user equipment (UE), the instructions to configure the UE to: transmit a first plurality of subframes to the UE, each subframe having an associated hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) process;

receive, from the UE in response to transmission of the first plurality of subframes, a first uplink subframe comprising an aggregated HARQ-ACK message, the aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprising HARQ-ACK information for each subframe of the first plurality of subframes; and

analyze the aggregated HARQ-ACK message to identify the HARQ-ACK information for each subframe of the first plurality of subframes.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20 wherein the aggregated HARQ-ACK comprises an acknowledgement for a subframe of the first plurality of subframes and a negative acknowledgement for a second subframe of the first plurality of subframes;

wherein the instructions further configure to eNB to retransmit the second subframe in response to the aggregated HARQ-ACK.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21 wherein the instructions further configure the eNB to transmit a second plurality of subframes to the UE; wherein the first plurality of subframes comprises subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK process has satisfied a processing delay threshold at the UE prior to an allocation time for the first uplink subframe at the UE.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22 wherein the instructions further configure the eNB to receive a second aggregated HARQ-ACK message following receipt of the first aggregated HARQ-ACK message;

wherein the second aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprises HARQ- ACK information for a third plurality of subframes comprising subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK process did not met the processing delay threshold prior to the allocation time for the first uplink subframe at the UE.

24. An apparatus of an evolved node B (eNB) for communications on an unlicensed channel, the apparatus comprising:

memory; and

control circuitry configured to:

initiate transmission of a first plurality of subframes to a UE, each subframe having an associated hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ- ACK) process;

manage reception, from the UE in response to transmission of the first plurality of subframes, of a first uplink subframe comprising an aggregated HARQ- ACK message, the aggregated HARQ-ACK message comprising HARQ-ACK information for each subframe of the first plurality of subframes; and

process the aggregated HARQ-ACK message to identify the HARQ-ACK information for each subframe of the first plurality of subframes.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the aggregated HARQ-ACK comprises an acknowledgement for a subframe of the first plurality of subframes and a negative acknowledgement for a second subframe of the first plurality of subframes; and

wherein the control circuitry is further configured to initiate retransmission of the second subframe in response to the aggregated HARQ-ACK.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the control circuity is further configured to initiate transmission of a second plurality of subframes to the UE; wherein the first plurality of subframes comprises subframes of the second plurality of subframes for which the associated HARQ-ACK process has satisfied a processing delay threshold at the UE prior to an allocation time for the first uplink subframe at the UE;

wherein the control circuitry is further configured to manage receipt of a second aggregated HARQ-ACK message following receipt of the first aggregated HARQ-ACK message; and