U.S. patent application number 16/117782 was filed with the patent office on 2019-02-28 for device communication using a reduced channel bandwidth.
This patent application is currently assigned to INTERDIGITAL PATENT HOLDINGS, INC.. The applicant listed for this patent is INTERDIGITAL PATENT HOLDINGS, INC.. Invention is credited to Moon-il Lee, Shahrokh Nayeb Nazar, Marian Rudolf, Pouriya Sadeghi, Sung-Hyuk Shin, Janet A. Stern-Berkowitz, Allan Y. Tsai, Peter S. Wang.
Application Number | 20190069297 16/117782 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 47018574 |
Filed Date | 2019-02-28 |
![](/patent/app/20190069297/US20190069297A1-20190228-D00000.png)
![](/patent/app/20190069297/US20190069297A1-20190228-D00001.png)
![](/patent/app/20190069297/US20190069297A1-20190228-D00002.png)
![](/patent/app/20190069297/US20190069297A1-20190228-D00003.png)
![](/patent/app/20190069297/US20190069297A1-20190228-D00004.png)
![](/patent/app/20190069297/US20190069297A1-20190228-D00005.png)
![](/patent/app/20190069297/US20190069297A1-20190228-D00006.png)
![](/patent/app/20190069297/US20190069297A1-20190228-D00007.png)
![](/patent/app/20190069297/US20190069297A1-20190228-D00008.png)
![](/patent/app/20190069297/US20190069297A1-20190228-D00009.png)
![](/patent/app/20190069297/US20190069297A1-20190228-D00010.png)
View All Diagrams
United States Patent
Application |
20190069297 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lee; Moon-il ; et
al. |
February 28, 2019 |
DEVICE COMMUNICATION USING A REDUCED CHANNEL BANDWIDTH
Abstract
Systems and/or methods for supporting communications at a
reduced bandwidth with a full bandwidth network such as a long-term
evolution (LTE) network may be disclosed. For example, inband
assignments such as downlink assignments and/or uplink grants may
be provided and/or received and transmissions may be monitored
and/or decoded based on the inband assignment. Additionally,
information (e.g. a definition or configuration) associated with an
ePDCCH may be provided and/or received and ePDCCH resources may be
monitored and/or decoded based on such information. An indication
for support of a reduced bandwidth by the full bandwidth network
may also be provided and/or received and control channels in the
reduced or narrow bandwidth may be monitored and/or decoded based
on the indication. A PRACH preamble and/or a multi-type suhframe
definition may also be provided and/or used for support of such a
reduced bandwidth.
Inventors: |
Lee; Moon-il; (Melville,
NY) ; Rudolf; Marian; (Montreal, CA) ; Wang;
Peter S.; (E. Setauket, NY) ; Nayeb Nazar;
Shahrokh; (San Diego, CA) ; Stern-Berkowitz; Janet
A.; (Little Neck, NY) ; Sadeghi; Pouriya; (San
Diego, CA) ; Tsai; Allan Y.; (Boonton, NJ) ;
Shin; Sung-Hyuk; (Northvale, NJ) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
INTERDIGITAL PATENT HOLDINGS, INC. |
Wilmington |
DE |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
INTERDIGITAL PATENT HOLDINGS,
INC.
Wilmington
DE
|
Family ID: |
47018574 |
Appl. No.: |
16/117782 |
Filed: |
August 30, 2018 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
13632037 |
Sep 30, 2012 |
10111224 |
|
|
16117782 |
|
|
|
|
61682042 |
Aug 10, 2012 |
|
|
|
61644835 |
May 9, 2012 |
|
|
|
61591632 |
Jan 27, 2012 |
|
|
|
61555876 |
Nov 4, 2011 |
|
|
|
61542114 |
Sep 30, 2011 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 72/042 20130101;
H04W 72/048 20130101; H04L 1/0031 20130101; H04W 72/0453 20130101;
H04W 74/0833 20130101; H04L 1/0026 20130101; H04L 1/1858
20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 72/04 20090101
H04W072/04; H04W 74/08 20090101 H04W074/08 |
Claims
1-34. (canceled)
35. A method implemented by a wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU)
for performing random access, the method comprising: the WTRU
sending a preamble using a selected set of physical random access
channel (PRACH) resources selected from one of a first set of PRACH
resources and a second set of PRACH resources; and the WTRU
monitoring one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a
PDCCH associated with a machine type communication (MTC) device
(M-PDCCH) based on the selected set of PRACH resources used for
sending the preamble, wherein the WTRU monitors the PDCCH if the
preamble is sent using the first set of PRACH resources and the
WTRU monitors the M-PDCCH if the preamble is sent using the second
set of PRACH resources.
36. The method of claim 35, further comprising the WTRU receiving a
random access response, RAR, via the M-PDCCH based on the preamble
being sent on the second set of PRACH resources.
37. The method of claim 36, wherein resources associated with the
M-PDCCH for monitoring comprise a set of resource blocks (RBs)
within a reduced bandwidth.
38. The method of claim 35, wherein the WTRU corresponds to a
narrow bandwidth long-term evolution (LTE) user equipment (UE)
device.
39. The method of claim 37, wherein a subset of the resources
associated with the M-PDCCH is configured for use by the WTRU.
40. The method of claim 35, wherein the preamble is sent to a full
bandwidth network, wherein the full bandwidth network comprises an
LTE network operating at a bandwidth of 20 MHz, and wherein the
WTRU comprises a low-cost machine type communication device
operating at a bandwidth of 1.4 MHz.
41. The method of claim 37, wherein the resources associated with
the M-PDCCH are monitored in a subframe and at a particular
location.
42. The method of claim 35, wherein the second set of PRACH
resources correspond to PRACH resources for a reduced bandwidth
WTRU.
43. A wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) comprising a processor
configured at least to: send a preamble using a selected set of
physical random access channel (PRACH) resources selected from one
of a first set of PRACH resources and a second set of PRACH
resources; and monitor one of a physical downlink control channel
(PDCCH) or a PDCCH associated with a machine type communication
(MTC) device (M-PDCCH) based on the selected set of PRACH resources
used for sending the preamble, wherein the WTRU monitors the PDCCH
if the preamble is sent using the first set of PRACH resources and
the WTRU monitors the M-PDCCH if the preamble is sent using the
second set of PRACH resources.
44. The WTRU of claim 43, wherein the processor is configured to
receive a random access response (RAR) via the M-PDCCH based on the
preamble being sent on the second set of PRACH resources.
45. The WTRU of claim 44, wherein resources associated with the
modified PDCCH for monitoring comprise a set of resource blocks
(RBs) within a reduced bandwidth.
46. The WTRU of claim 43, wherein the WTRU corresponds to a narrow
bandwidth long-term evolution (LTE) user equipment (UE) device.
47. The WTRU of claim 45, wherein a subset of the resources
associated with the M-PDCCH is configured for use by the WTRU.
48. The WTRU of claim 43, wherein the preamble is sent to a full
bandwidth network, wherein the full bandwidth network comprises an
LTE network operating at a bandwidth of 20 MHz, and wherein the
WTRU comprises a low-cost machine type communication device
operating at a bandwidth of 1.4 MHz.
49. The WTRU of claim 45, wherein the resources associated with the
M-PDCCH are monitored in a subframe and at a particular
location.
50. The WTRU of claim 43, wherein the second set of PRACH resources
correspond to PRACH resources for a reduced bandwidth WTRU.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Patent Application No. 61/542,114 filed Sep. 30, 2011, U.S.
Provisional Patent Application No. 61/555,876 filed Nov. 4, 2011,
U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/591,632 filed Jan. 27,
2012, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/644,835 filed May
9, 2012, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/682,042
filed Aug. 10, 2012, the contents of which are hereby incorporated
by reference herein.
BACKGROUND
[0002] As wireless communication systems such as LTE systems mature
and their network deployment evolve, network operators would like
to reduce the cost of the communication network and/or maintenance
of the communication network. One technique to reduce the cost of
the network may be to reduce the channel bandwidth and data rate
used to communicate with devices on the network. For example, a
portion of the channel bandwidth rather than the entire channel
bandwidth may be supported by the devices in the network and/or the
network itself when communication with such devices. Unfortunately,
current wireless communication systems do not support providing
information such as channel information including control channel
information, uplink information, downlink information, and the like
on a reduced channel bandwidth.
SUMMARY
[0003] Systems and/or methods may be provided for supporting
reduced channel bandwidth in wireless communications between
devices such as UEs (e.g. including a low LTE UE category device)
and/or low cost Machine-Type Communications (MTC) devices and
networks that may support a full bandwidth (e.g. a full bandwidth
network). For example, in one embodiment, a device may receive
inband assignments such as downlink assignments and/or uplink
grants. Based on such inband assignments, the device may monitor
and/or decide one or more transmissions that may be provided by the
network (e.g. in the narrow or reduced channel bandwidth).
[0004] Additionally, in an example embodiment, a device may receive
information (e.g. a definition or configuration) associated with an
ePDCCH that may be used by the device. The device may then monitor
and/or decode ePDCCH resources based on such information (e.g. in
the narrow or reduced channel bandwidth).
[0005] According to an embodiment, a device may also receive an
indication for support of a narrow bandwidth by the full bandwidth
network. The device may then monitor and/or decide channels such as
broadcast or control channels based on the indication.
[0006] In embodiments, a PRACH preamble and/or a multi-type
subframe definition may also be provided and/or used for support of
such a reduced bandwidth. For example, a device may provide a PRACH
preamble to a network component such as a E-UTRAN or eNB such that
the network component may receive the PRACH preamble, may determine
whether the device may be a reduced bandwidth device or another
special device, may provide a random access response for a special
device when the device may be a reduced bandwidth device, may
receive a scheduled transmission, and/or may provide a contention
resolution. Additionally, a multi-type subframe definition may be
received by a device such that the device may monitor transmission
based on the multi-type subframe definition.
[0007] The Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts
in a simplified form that are further described below in the
Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key
features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, not
is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject
matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to
any limitations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any
part of this disclosure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] A more detailed understanding of the embodiments disclosed
herein may be had from the following description, given by way of
example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
[0009] FIG. 1A depicts a diagram of an example communications
system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be
implemented.
[0010] FIG. 1B depicts a system diagram of an example wireless
transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the
communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A.
[0011] FIG. 1C depicts a system diagram of an example radio access
network and an example core network that may be used within the
communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A.
[0012] FIG. 1D depicts a system diagram of another example radio
access network and an example core network that may be used within
the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A.
[0013] FIG. 1E depicts a system diagram of another example radio
access network and an example core network that may be used within
the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A.
[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of long term evolution (LTE)
protocol processing across L1, L2 and L3.
[0015] FIG. 3 illustrates an example embodiment of a medium access
control (MAC) protocol header in a communication network such as an
LTE network.
[0016] FIG. 4 illustrates an example embodiment of a REG definition
in a downlink control channel region with 2Tx channel state
information reference signals (CRS).
[0017] FIG. 5 illustrates an example embodiment of a REG definition
in a downlink control channel region with 4Tx CRS.
[0018] FIG. 6 illustrates a table of example embodiments of a
control format indicator (CFI) codeword.
[0019] FIG. 7 illustrates a table of example embodiments of the
number of OFDM symbols that may be used for a physical downlink
control channel (PDCCH).
[0020] FIG. 8 illustrates an example embodiment of a Physical
Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH) 4 REGs allocation
according to PCI.
[0021] FIG. 9 illustrates an example embodiment of a PCFICH and
PHICH REGs allocation according to PCI (e.g. using 40 RBs).
[0022] FIG. 10 illustrates a table showing an example embodiment of
an orthogonal sequence according to a sequence index and spreading
factor.
[0023] FIG. 11 illustrates a table showing example embodiments of
PDCCH formats that may be supported.
[0024] FIG. 12 illustrates an example embodiment of a contention
based random access procedure or method.
[0025] FIG. 13 illustrates an example embodiment of a random access
preamble format.
[0026] FIG. 14 illustrates an example embodiment of a PRACH
transmission in time and frequency resources.
[0027] FIG. 15 illustrates an example embodiment of smaller
bandwidth support for a machine type communication (MTC)
device.
[0028] FIG. 16 illustrates an example embodiment of a frequency
resources selection (e.g. a procedure or method) for a PRACH
transmission of a UE (e.g. a regular UE) in TDD.
[0029] FIG. 17 illustrates an example embodiment of frequency
resources allocation (e.g. a procedure or method) for a PRACH
transmission of an MTC device.
[0030] FIG. 18 illustrates an example embodiment of inband
signaling that may assign DL transmissions to a MTC device such as
a low-complexity MTC device.
[0031] FIG. 19 depicts an example embodiment of encoding a MTC
device receiver identity as part of inband signaling.
[0032] FIG. 20 illustrates example embodiments of inband signaling
that may assign UL transmissions a MTC device such as a
low-complexity MTC device.
[0033] FIG. 21 illustrates an example embodiment of supporting a
MTC device using inband signaling for assigning DL and UL data
transmissions.
[0034] FIG. 22 illustrates a table listing example embodiments of
available zero-power CSI-RS configurations in FDD.
[0035] FIG. 23 illustrates an example embodiment of a zero-power
CSI-RS pattern (e.g. based on 4TX or a configuration number 4).
[0036] FIG. 24 illustrates an example embodiment of a frame
structure of downlink control channels for a MTC device (e.g. that
may include or use FDD).
[0037] FIG. 25 illustrates an example embodiment of a REG
definition in the zero-power CSI-RS region.
[0038] FIGS. 26 and 27 illustrate tables of example embodiments of
a CFI codeword for 2 PCFICH REGs in a MTC bandwidth and CFI
codeword for 1 PCFICH REG in a MTC bandwidth, respectively.
[0039] FIGS. 28 and 29 illustrate example embodiments of reduced
repetition coding that may be provided and/or used.
[0040] FIG. 30A illustrates a table of example embodiments of
different system bandwidths and RGB sizes.
[0041] FIG. 30B illustrates a table of example embodiments of
different MTC bandwidths and RGB sizes.
[0042] FIG. 31 illustrates a table of example embodiments of CSI
reporting.
[0043] FIG. 32 illustrates a table of example embodiments of
different UE categories and data rates.
[0044] FIG. 33 illustrates an example embodiment of a multi-type
frame structure.
[0045] FIG. 34 illustrates a table of an example embodiment of a
configuration of a M-PDCCH region and/or a M-PDSCH region.
[0046] FIG. 35 illustrates a table of an example embodiment of a
MTC device-specific configuration of a M-PDCCH region and/or a
M-PDSCH region.
[0047] FIG. 36 illustrates a table of an example embodiment of TBS
and a modulation order based on a MCS index (e.g. type-1).
[0048] FIG. 37 illustrates a table of an example embodiment of TBS
and a modulation order based on a MCS index (e.g. type-2).
[0049] FIG. 38 illustrates an example embodiment of a PRACH
transmission structure for a preamble that may be followed by a
RACH payload.
[0050] FIG. 39 illustrates an example embodiment of a
contention-based RACH procedure that may be used with a narrower
bandwidth device indication.
[0051] FIG. 40 illustrates an example embodiment of a
contention-based RACH procedure that may be used with a narrower
bandwidth device indication based on a transmitting preamble that
may have a narrower bandwidth device identity such as a UE and/or
MTC device identity.
[0052] FIG. 41 illustrates an example embodiment of a time-shared
device-RNTI such as a MTC-RNTI that may be used herein.
[0053] FIG. 42 illustrates an example embodiment of a PDCCH and/or
PDSCH configured by a device RNTI such as MTC-RNTI (e.g.
CRS-based).
[0054] FIG. 43 illustrates an example embodiment of a PDCCH and/or
PDSCH configured by a device RNTI such as MTC-RNTI (e.g.
DMRS-based).
[0055] FIG. 44 illustrates an example embodiment of a PDCCH and/or
PDSCH configured by a device RNTI such as MTC-RNTI (e.g.
CRS/DMRS-based).
[0056] FIG. 45 illustrates an example embodiment of a
subframe-specific CCE aggregation level.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0057] A detailed description of illustrative embodiments will now
be described with reference to the various Figures. Although this
description provides a detailed example of possible
implementations, it should be noted that the details are intended
to be exemplary and in no way limit the scope of the
application.
[0058] Systems and/or methods for supporting reduced channel
bandwidth in wireless communications using devices such as UEs
and/or low cost Machine-Type Communications (MTC) devices may be
disclosed herein. To support such reduced channel bandwidth, inband
assignment of downlink (DL) and/or uplink (UL) transmission
resources, PCFICH and/or PDCCH over zero-power CSI-RS in a data
region, PCFICH, PHICH, and/or PDCCH transmission in a control
region, multiplexing control and/or data transmission, and/or
network configuration for the UE or MTC device may be provided
and/or used as described herein. Additionally, DL receiver
complexity reduction and/or UL enhancements for such reduced
channel bandwidth, PRACH procedures for such reduced channel
bandwidth, broadcasting channel (e.g. SIB or SIB-x) reception or
transmission procedures or methods for such reduced channel
bandwidth, paging procedures or methods for such reduced channel
bandwidth, data channels for such reduced channel bandwidth, cell
selection and/or reselection in such reduced channel bandwidth may
be provided and/or used as described herein. In example
embodiments, a DCI format for the UE and/or MTC device that may
operate on or use a reduced channel bandwidth, TBS capabilities for
the reduced channel bandwidth, physical downlink shared channel
(PDSCH) reception that may include ePDCCH in a reduced channel
bandwidth, and/or device identification capabilities such as UE
and/or MTC device identification that may operate on or use reduced
channel bandwidth may also be provided.
[0059] FIG. 1A depicts a diagram of an example communications
system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be
implemented. The communications system 100 may be a multiple access
system that provides content, such as voice, data, video,
messaging, broadcast, etc., to multiple wireless users. The
communications system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to
access such content through the sharing of system resources,
including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communications
systems 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as
code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access
(TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA
(OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), and the like.
[0060] As shown in FIG. 1A, the communications system 100 may
include wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c,
and/or 102d (which generally or collectively may be referred to as
WTRU 102), a radio access network (RAN) 103/104/105, a core network
106/107/109, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the
Internet 110, and other networks 112, though it will be appreciated
that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs,
base stations, networks, and/or network elements. Each of the WTRUs
102a, 102b, 102c, and/or 102d may be any type of device configured
to operate and/or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of
example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and/or 102d may be configured
to transmit and/or receive wireless signals and may include user
equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber
unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant
(PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a
wireless sensor, consumer electronics, and the like.
[0061] The communications systems 100 may also include a base
station 114a and a base station 114b. Each of the base stations
114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly
interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and/or
102d to facilitate access to one or more communication networks,
such as the core network 106/107/109, the Internet 110, and/or the
networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 114a and/or 114b
may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a Node-B, an eNode B, a
Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a site controller, an access point
(AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the base stations
114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it will be
appreciated that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any
number of interconnected base stations and/or network elements.
[0062] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 103/104/105,
which may also include other base stations and/or network elements
(not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio
network controller (RNC), relay nodes, etc. The base station 114a
and/or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and/or
receive wireless signals within a particular geographic region,
which may be referred to as a cell (not shown). The cell may
further be divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell
associated with the base station 114a may be divided into three
sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114a may include
three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. In
another embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input
multiple output (MIMO) technology and, therefore, may utilize
multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell.
[0063] The base stations 114a and/or 114b may communicate with one
or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and/or 102d over an air
interface 115/116/117, which may be any suitable wireless
communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, infrared
(IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface
115/116/117 may be established using any suitable radio access
technology (RAT).
[0064] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system
100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more
channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA,
and the like. For example, the base station 114a in the RAN
103/104/105 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c may implement a
radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
(UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air
interface 115/116/117 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may
include communication protocols such as High-Speed Packet Access
(HSPA) and/or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed
Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and/or High-Speed Uplink Packet
Access (HSUPA).
[0065] In another embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs
102a, 102b, and/or 102c may implement a radio technology such as
Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish
the air interface 115/116/117 using Long Term Evolution (LTE)
and/or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A).
[0066] In other embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs
102a, 102b, and/or 102c may implement radio technologies such as
IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
(WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1.times., CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim
Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim
Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications
(GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE
(GERAN), and the like.
[0067] The base station 114b in FIG. 1A may be a wireless router,
Home Node B, Home eNode B, or access point, for example, and may
utilize any suitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in
a localized area, such as a place of business, a home, a vehicle, a
campus, and the like. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and
the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE
802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In
another embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d
may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a
wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment,
the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a
cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, etc.)
to establish a picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 1A, the base
station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110.
Thus, the base station 114b may not be required to access the
Internet 110 via the core network 106/107/109.
[0068] The RAN 103/104/105 may be in communication with the core
network 106/107/109, which may be any type of network configured to
provide voice, data, applications, and/or voice over internet
protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b,
102c, and/or 102d. For example, the core network 106/107/109 may
provide call control, billing services, mobile location-based
services, pre-paid calling, Internet connectivity, video
distribution, etc., and/or perform high-level security functions,
such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1A, it will
be appreciated that the RAN 103/104/105 and/or the core network
106/107/109 may be in direct or indirect communication with other
RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 103/104/105 or a different
RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN
103/104/105, which may be utilizing an E-UTRA radio technology, the
core network 106/107/109 may also be in communication with another
RAN (not shown) employing a GSM radio technology.
[0069] The core network 106/107/109 may also serve as a gateway for
the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and/or 102d to access the PSTN 108, the
Internet 110, and/or other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include
circuit-switched telephone networks that provide plain old
telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global
system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use
common communication protocols, such as the transmission control
protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) and the internet
protocol (IP) in the TCP/IP internet protocol suite. The networks
112 may include wired or wireless communications networks owned
and/or operated by other service providers. For example, the
networks 112 may include another core network connected to one or
more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 103/104/105 or
a different RAT.
[0070] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and/or 102d in
the communications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities,
i.e., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and/or 102d may include multiple
transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks
over different wireless links. For example, the WTRU 102c shown in
FIG. 1A may be configured to communicate with the base station
114a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with
the base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio
technology.
[0071] FIG. 1B depicts a system diagram of an example WTRU 102. As
shown in FIG. 1B, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a
transceiver 120, a transmit/receive element 122, a
speaker/microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display/touchpad 128,
non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134,
a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and other
peripherals 138. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may
include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while
remaining consistent with an embodiment. Also, embodiments
contemplate that the base stations 114a and 114b, and/or the nodes
that base stations 114a and 114b may represent, such as but not
limited to transceiver station (BTS), a Node-B, a site controller,
an access point (AP), a home node-B, an evolved home node-B
(eNodeB), a home evolved node-B (HeNB), a home evolved node-B
gateway, and proxy nodes, among others, may include some or all of
the elements depicted in FIG. 1B and described herein.
[0072] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a
special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital
signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more
microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a
microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs),
Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of
integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. The
processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power
control, input/output processing, and/or any other functionality
that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The
processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be
coupled to the transmit/receive element 122. While FIG. 1B depicts
the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components,
it may be appreciated that the processor 118 and the transceiver
120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or
chip.
[0073] The transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to
transmit signals to, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g.,
the base station 114a) over the air interface 115/116/117. For
example, in one embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be
an antenna configured to transmit and/or receive RF signals. In
another embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be an
emitter/detector configured to transmit and/or receive IR, UV, or
visible light signals, for example. In yet another embodiment, the
transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and
receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the
transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and/or
receive any combination of wireless signals.
[0074] In addition, although the transmit/receive element 122 is
depicted in FIG. 1B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include
any number of transmit/receive elements 122. More specifically, the
WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the
WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit/receive elements 122
(e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless
signals over the air interface 115/116/117.
[0075] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the
signals that are to be transmitted by the transmit/receive element
122 and to demodulate the signals that are received by the
transmit/receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have
multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include
multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU 102 to communicate via
multiple RATs, such as UTRA and IEEE 802.11, for example.
[0076] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may
receive user input data from, the speaker/microphone 124, the
keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal
display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED)
display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the
speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad
128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from,
and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the
non-removable memory 130 and/or the removable memory 132. The
non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM),
read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory
storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber
identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD)
memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118
may access information from, and store data in, memory that is not
physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home
computer (not shown).
[0077] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source
134, and may be configured to distribute and/or control the power
to the other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may
be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the
power source 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g.,
nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride
(NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and
the like.
[0078] The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset
136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g.,
longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU
102. In addition to, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS
chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information over the
air interface 115/116/117 from a base station (e.g., base stations
114a, 114b) and/or determine its location based on the timing of
the signals being received from two or more nearby base stations.
It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may acquire location
information by way of any suitable location-determination method
while remaining consistent with an embodiment.
[0079] The processor 118 may further be coupled to other
peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and/or
hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality
and/or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals
138 may include an accelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite
transceiver, a digital camera (for photographs or video), a
universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television
transceiver, a hands free headset, a Bluetooth.RTM. module, a
frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a
media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, and
the like.
[0080] FIG. 1C depicts a system diagram of the RAN 103 and the core
network 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 103
may employ a UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs
102a, 102b, and/or 102c over the air interface 115. The RAN 103 may
also be in communication with the core network 106. As shown in
FIG. 1C, the RAN 103 may include Node-Bs 140a, 140b, and/or 140c,
which may each include one or more transceivers for communicating
with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c over the air interface 115.
The Node-Bs 140a, 140b, and/or 140c may each be associated with a
particular cell (not shown) within the RAN 103. The RAN 103 may
also include RNCs 142a and/or 142b. It will be appreciated that the
RAN 103 may include any number of Node-Bs and RNCs while remaining
consistent with an embodiment.
[0081] As shown in FIG. 1C, the Node-Bs 140a and/or 140b may be in
communication with the RNC 142a. Additionally, the Node-B 140c may
be in communication with the RNC 142b. The Node-Bs 140a, 140b,
and/or 140c may communicate with the respective RNCs 142a, 142b via
an Iub interface. The RNCs 142a, 142b may be in communication with
one another via an Iur interface. Each of the RNCs 142a, 142b may
be configured to control the respective Node-Bs 140a, 140b, and/or
140c to which it is connected. In addition, each of the RNCs 142a,
142b may be configured to carry out or support other functionality,
such as outer loop power control, load control, admission control,
packet scheduling, handover control, macrodiversity, security
functions, data encryption, and the like.
[0082] The core network 106 shown in FIG. 1C may include a media
gateway (MGW) 144, a mobile switching center (MSC) 146, a serving
GPRS support node (SGSN) 148, and/or a gateway GPRS support node
(GGSN) 150. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as
part of the core network 106, it will be appreciated that any one
of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other
than the core network operator.
[0083] The RNC 142a in the RAN 103 may be connected to the MSC 146
in the core network 106 via an IuCS interface. The MSC 146 may be
connected to the MGW 144. The MSC 146 and the MGW 144 may provide
the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c with access to circuit-switched
networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications
between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c and traditional land-line
communications devices.
[0084] The RNC 142a in the RAN 103 may also be connected to the
SGSN 148 in the core network 106 via an IuPS interface. The SGSN
148 may be connected to the GGSN 150. The SGSN 148 and the GGSN 150
may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c with access to
packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate
communications between and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c and
IP-enabled devices.
[0085] As noted above, the core network 106 may also be connected
to the networks 112, which may include other wired or wireless
networks that are owned and/or operated by other service
providers.
[0086] FIG. 1D depicts a system diagram of the RAN 104 and the core
network 107 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104
may employ an E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs
102a, 102b, and/or 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may
also be in communication with the core network 107.
[0087] The RAN 104 may include eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, and/or 160c,
though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any
number of eNode-Bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment.
The eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, and/or 160c may each include one or more
transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or
102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the eNode-Bs
160a, 160b, and/or 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the
eNode-B 160a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit
wireless signals to, and receive wireless signals from, the WTRU
102a.
[0088] Each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, and/or 160c may be
associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured
to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions,
scheduling of users in the uplink and/or downlink, and the like. As
shown in FIG. 1D, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, and/or 160c may
communicate with one another over an X2 interface.
[0089] The core network 107 shown in FIG. 1D may include a mobility
management gateway (MME) 162, a serving gateway 164, and a packet
data network (PDN) gateway 166. While each of the foregoing
elements are depicted as part of the core network 107, it will be
appreciated that any one of these elements may be owned and/or
operated by an entity other than the core network operator.
[0090] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 160a,
160b, and/or 160c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may serve
as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for
authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c, bearer
activation/deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway
during an initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c, and
the like. The MME 162 may also provide a control plane function for
switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that
employ other radio technologies, such as GSM or WCDMA.
[0091] The serving gateway 164 may be connected to each of the
eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, and/or 160c in the RAN 104 via the Si
interface. The serving gateway 164 may generally route and forward
user data packets to/from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c. The
serving gateway 164 may also perform other functions, such as
anchoring user planes during inter-eNode B handovers, triggering
paging when downlink data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b,
and/or 102c, managing and storing contexts of the WTRUs 102a, 102b,
and/or 102c, and the like.
[0092] The serving gateway 164 may also be connected to the PDN
gateway 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c
with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110,
to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or
102c and IP-enabled devices.
[0093] The core network 107 may facilitate communications with
other networks. For example, the core network 107 may provide the
WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c with access to circuit-switched
networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications
between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c and traditional land-line
communications devices. For example, the core network 107 may
include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP
multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface
between the core network 107 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the
core network 107 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c with
access to the networks 112, which may include other wired or
wireless networks that are owned and/or operated by other service
providers.
[0094] FIG. 1E depicts a system diagram of the RAN 105 and the core
network 109 according to an embodiment. The RAN 105 may be an
access service network (ASN) that employs IEEE 802.16 radio
technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c
over the air interface 117. As will be further discussed below, the
communication links between the different functional entities of
the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c, the RAN 105, and the core
network 109 may be defined as reference points.
[0095] As shown in FIG. 1E, the RAN 105 may include base stations
180a, 180b, and/or 180c, and an ASN gateway 182, though it will be
appreciated that the RAN 105 may include any number of base
stations and ASN gateways while remaining consistent with an
embodiment. The base stations 180a, 180b, and/or 180c may each be
associated with a particular cell (not shown) in the RAN 105 and
may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with
the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c over the air interface 117. In
one embodiment, the base stations 180a, 180b, and/or 180c may
implement MIMO technology. Thus, the base station 180a, for
example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to,
and receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a. The base stations
180a, 180b, and/or 180c may also provide mobility management
functions, such as handoff triggering, tunnel establishment, radio
resource management, traffic classification, quality of service
(QoS) policy enforcement, and the like. The ASN gateway 182 may
serve as a traffic aggregation point and may be responsible for
paging, caching of subscriber profiles, routing to the core network
109, and the like.
[0096] The air interface 117 between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or
102c and the RAN 105 may be defined as an R1 reference point that
implements the IEEE 802.16 specification. In addition, each of the
WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c may establish a logical interface
(not shown) with the core network 109. The logical interface
between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c and the core network 109
may be defined as an R2 reference point, which may be used for
authentication, authorization, IP host configuration management,
and/or mobility management.
[0097] The communication link between each of the base stations
180a, 180b, and/or 180c may be defined as an R8 reference point
that includes protocols for facilitating WTRU handovers and the
transfer of data between base stations. The communication link
between the base stations 180a, 180b, and/or 180c and the ASN
gateway 182 may be defined as an R6 reference point. The R6
reference point may include protocols for facilitating mobility
management based on mobility events associated with each of the
WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c.
[0098] As shown in FIG. 1E, the RAN 105 may be connected to the
core network 109. The communication link between the RAN 105 and
the core network 109 may defined as an R3 reference point that
includes protocols for facilitating data transfer and mobility
management capabilities, for example. The core network 109 may
include a mobile IP home agent (MIP-HA) 184, an authentication,
authorization, accounting (AAA) server 186, and a gateway 188.
While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the
core network 109, it will be appreciated that any one of these
elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than the
core network operator.
[0099] The MIP-HA may be responsible for IP address management, and
may enable the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c to roam between
different ASNs and/or different core networks. The MIP-HA 184 may
provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c with access to
packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate
communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c and
IP-enabled devices. The AAA server 186 may be responsible for user
authentication and for supporting user services. The gateway 188
may facilitate interworking with other networks. For example, the
gateway 188 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c with
access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to
facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c
and traditional land-line communications devices. In addition, the
gateway 188 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c with
access to the networks 112, which may include other wired or
wireless networks that are owned and/or operated by other service
providers.
[0100] Although not shown in FIG. 1E, it should, may, and/or will
be appreciated that the RAN 105 may be connected to other ASNs and
the core network 109 may be connected to other core networks. The
communication link between the RAN 105 the other ASNs may be
defined as an R4 reference point, which may include protocols for
coordinating the mobility of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and/or 102c
between the RAN 105 and the other ASNs. The communication link
between the core network 109 and the other core networks may be
defined as an R5 reference, which may include protocols for
facilitating interworking between home core networks and visited
core networks.
[0101] As described above, as wireless communication systems such
as LTE systems mature and their network deployment evolve, network
operators may want or wish to reduce the cost of the devices that
may communicate with LTE network. One technique to reduce the cost
of the device may be to reduce the channel bandwidth and data rate
used to communicate with the network. For example, a portion of the
channel bandwidth rather than the entire channel bandwidth may be
supported by the devices in the network and/or the network itself
when communication with such devices. Unfortunately, current
wireless communication systems do not support providing information
such as channel information including control channel information,
uplink information, downlink information, and the like on a reduced
channel bandwidth.
[0102] For example, an example for the application of wireless
communications technology may include Machine-Type Communications
(MTC). MTC may be a market that may be likely to expand in the
foreseeable future as wireless technology advances. Devices such as
MTC devices or other UE devices may be targeted for low-end (e.g.
low cost, low data rate) applications that may be handled by the
GSM/GPRS network. Unfortunately (e.g. due to the low cost of
operations or reduced operation supported with such a device), the
motivation for migrating such a device to a network such as an LTE
network may be dampened. In an embodiment, the reluctance of
migrating to such a device to a network such as an LTE network may
cost network operators in terms of maintaining multiple RATs and/or
may prevent operators from reaping the maximum benefit out of their
spectrum (e.g. given a non-optimal spectrum efficiency of
GSM/GPRS). Additionally, given the likely high number of such
devices, the overall spectrum resource a network operator may use
for service provision in GSM/GPRS may be increased (e.g.
significant or high) and/or may be inefficiently assigned. As such
(e.g. as described herein), systems and/or methods (e.g. low cost
systems and/or methods) for migrating such a device to a network
such as an LTE network may be provided and/or used. Such systems
and/or methods may ensure that there may be a clear business
benefit to MTC device vendors and operators for migrating low-end
MTC devices from GSM/GPRS to LTE networks.
[0103] As described herein, a low cost device such as a UE or MTC
device may generally include, but may not be limited to, certain
reduction of a general WTRU capability and functionality such as
lower data rate, lower power consumption and simpler
implementation, and the like that may reduce the implementation
complexity include lowering the radio frequency (RF) component
count for such devices. For example, in such devices a reduced
number of radio access technologies (RATs) or RF chains may be
supported. Additionally, in such devices, reducing the maximum
applicable transmission power in the uplink (UL) for such a device,
the maximum supported receive (Rx) or transmit (Tx) channel
bandwidth may be reduced and/or a half-duplex FDD mode may be
supported.
[0104] Additionally, the introduction of low-cost devices such as
MTC devices into networks may be provided while maintaining service
coverage and the use of such devices should not result in a penalty
in terms of achievable spectrum efficiency during operation. In
example embodiments, low-cost devices such as MTC devices when
introduced into a network may be inter-operable with legacy UEs or
WTRUs (e.g. Release 8-10 LTE WTRUs) (e.g. such devices should be
able to communicate on an existing LTE radio on a carrier). In
addition, the low-cost devices such as MTC devices may still
support mobility and roaming.
[0105] In example embodiments, as described herein, the low-cost
devices such as MTC or UE devices that may use a reduced channel
bandwidth may be used in a LTE radio network and/or protocol
architecture. The LTE radio network may provide radio bearers to
which IP packets may be mapped protocol when processing in both the
DL and/or UL directions. In such a network, the PDCP may perform IP
header compression, ciphering in the Control Plane, integrity
protection for transmitted data and may provide in-sequence
delivery and duplicate removal during mobility. The RLC may also
perform segmentation and/or concatenation, re-transmission
handling, and duplicate detection and in-sequence delivery. The MAC
that may be used in the network may multiplex logical channels,
performs Hybrid ARQ, and does DL and UL scheduling. The Physical
Layer processing may include functionalities like channel coding
and/or decoding, modulation and/or demodulation, multiple antenna
mapping, and the like. The LTE radio protocol architecture for the
user plane PDCP, RLC, MAC and L1 that may be used may be shown in
FIG. 2.
[0106] According to example embodiments, LTE data transmission in
the DL and UL may be or may include DL-SCH and UL-SCH transport
channels. Each transport channel may be mapped to a corresponding
physical channel. In the DL or DL direction, the DL-SCH transmitted
to a handset may be mapped to the HS-PDSCH and may include one or
more transport blocks (e.g. two in the case of Spatial
Multiplexing) per TTI (e.g. subframe). Similarly, in the UL or UL
direction, the PUSCH may include a transport block per TTI (e.g. in
R8) or up to two transport blocks per TTI (e.g. in R10) when
Spatial Multiplexing may be used.
[0107] In addition to the physical channels that may carry data or
control signaling such as RRC, there may also be physical channels
without a corresponding transport channel including L1/L2 control
channels. Such L1/L2 control channels may be mainly used to send DL
Control Information (DCI) to handsets. In embodiments, DL control
information may include information that may be used by a terminal
to properly decode the PDSCH in a TTI, may assign PUSCH
transmission resources to handsets, may include power-control
commands, and the like.
[0108] Additionally, in such a network, DCIs may be sent to
handsets using the PDCCH. For example, in a given subframe (TTI), a
handset may monitor the PDCCH for DCI messages. When a DCI
indicating a DL assignment may be received, the handset may attempt
to demodulate and decode a PDSCH in the data region of that same
subframe. Similarly, when the handset decodes an UL grant on the
PDCCH in subframe n, it may prepare for UL transmission of a PUSCH
in subframe n+4.
[0109] According to an example embodiment, reception of DCI's in
the PDCCH inside the Control Region of a subframe may be part (e.g.
an integral part) of the DL and UL channel assignment procedures or
methods for PDSCH and PUSCH (e.g. in LTE). DCIs, for example, that
may be inside the PDCCH of a Control Region may announce which
handset(s) may have a DL transmission allocated in the Data Region
of that subframe and which transmission resources may be allocated.
Furthermore, the DCIs that may be carrying the DL assignments or UL
grants may include specifics with respect to the encoding format
chosen for the PDSCH or PUSCH such as MCS, TB size (e.g. transport
block size or TBS), RV, and the like.
[0110] When a device such as a UE or handset decodes the PDSCH
carrying 1 or 2 TBs, the device may also decode MAC and RLC header
information that may be part of the PDSCH transmission. In an
embodiment, information included within these MAC or RLC headers
(e.g. in R8 to R10 LTE) may pertain to the functionalities
implemented by the MAC and RLC protocol. For example, the MAC and
RLC header fields (e.g. in LTE) may include counter and PDU
sequence number fields to support re-assembly and in-sequence
detection and/or they may include MAC sub-headers to indicate
presence of logical data versus control channels or the
multiplexing of MAC control elements (e.g. as shown in FIG. 3).
Additionally, the DL assignment for a PDSCH in the same subframe,
or the UL grant in DL subframe n that may pertain to a PUSCH
transmission resource in UL subframe n+4 may be sent to the handset
through the PDCCH DCIs in the form of separate physical layer
signaling using the PDCCH (e.g. in LTE).
[0111] In an example embodiment, downlink control channels (e.g. in
LTE) may achieve uniform coverage in a cell while providing
robustness in high mobility irrespective of the UE architecture or
geometry. The LTE downlink control channels may occupy the first
one to three OFDM symbol(s) in each subframe according to or based
on the overhead of the control channels. Such a dynamic resource
allocation to handle downlink control channel overhead may enable
or allow efficient downlink resource utilization that may result in
or provide a higher system throughput. Different types of downlink
control channels may be (e.g. in general) transmitted within the
downlink control channel region in each subframe including, for
example, a PCFICH (Physical Control Format Indicator Channel), a
PHICH (Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator Channel), a PDCCH (Physical
Downlink Control Channel), and the like. In an example embodiment,
the downlink control channel resource unit may be defined as or may
include four contiguous REs in frequency domain called REG
(Resource Elements Group) as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. For example,
if a CRS may be located in the same OFDM symbol, the REG may be
four contiguous REs without a CRS. FIGS. 4 and 5 show the
definition of REGs according to the number of CRS ports.
[0112] According to an example embodiment, a PCFICH (Physical
Control Format Indicator Channel) may be provided and/or used. The
PCFICH may be transmitted in the 0th OFDM symbol in each subframe
and it may indicate the number of OFDM symbols that may be used for
downlink control channel in the subframe. In an embodiment, the
subframe-level dynamic downlink control channel resource allocation
may be provided or implemented by using the PCFICH. For example, a
UE may detect a CFI (Control Format Indicator) from a PCFICH and
the downlink control channel region may be indicated in the
subframe according the CFI value. FIG. 6 shows a CFI codeword that
may be detected from the PCFICH, and FIG. 7 shows a table of an
available number of OFDM symbols that may be used for the downlink
control channel according to the duplex mode, subframe type, and/or
system bandwidth. In one embodiment (e.g. as an exception), the
PCFICH may be skipped if a subframe may be defined as non-PDSCH
supportable subframe so a UE may not try to detect PCFICH in the
subframe.
[0113] As described herein, in an example embodiment, four REGs may
be used for PCFICH transmission in the 0th OFDM symbol in a
subframe and the REGs may be uniformly distributed in a whole
system bandwidth to exploit frequency diversity gain. Additionally,
the starting point of PCFICH transmission may be different based on
a physical cell-ID (PCI) as shown in FIG. 8.
[0114] Additionally, in an embodiment, a frequency shift of the
PCFICH that may be tied with a cell-ID may enable or allow the
performance of a PCFICH detection by, for example, avoiding PCFICH
collision among multiple neighbor cells while achieving a diversity
order four from its distributed allocation. At a UE receiver,
downlink control channel detection may be performed. Such a
downlink control channel may first decode the PCFICH to determine
or figure out the number of OFDM symbol in the subframe. Given that
downlink control resource may be defined by PCFICH, the PCFICH
detection error may result in or provide a loss of a downlink
grant, an uplink grant, and/or PHICH reception.
[0115] In embodiments, a PHICH (Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator
Channel) may also be provided and/or used. For example, the PHICH
may be used to transmit ACK or NACK corresponding to the PUSCH
transmitted in an uplink subframe. A PHICH may further be
transmitted in distributed manner across system bandwidth and OFDM
symbols within downlink control channel. The number of OFDM symbols
may be defined as a PHICH duration and may be configurable via
higher layer signaling. According to an embodiment, the PHICH
resource position may vary according to PHICH duration, which may
be different from the PCFICH. FIG. 9 shows the PCFICH and PHICH
resource allocations. As shown in FIG. 9, multiple PHICH groups may
be defined in a cell. Additionally, a PHICH group may include
multiple PHICHs with orthogonal sequences and the PHICH for a UE
may be defined dynamically with resource information in uplink
grant such as a lowest PRB index (I.sub.PRB
.sub._.sub.RA.sup.lowest .sup._.sup.index) and DM-RS cyclic shift
(n.sub.DMRS). As such, in an embodiment, two index pairs (PHICH
group index: n.sub.PHICH.sup.group, PHICH sequence index:
n.sub.PHICH.sup.seq) may indicate the PHICH resource for a specific
UE. In the PHICH index pair
(n.sub.PHICH.sup.group,n.sub.PHICH.sup.seq) each index may be
defined as follows
n.sub.PHICH.sup.group(I.sub.PRB .sub._.sub.RA.sup.lowest
.sup._.sup.index+n.sub.DMRS)mod N.sub.PHICH.sup.group,
n.sub.PHICH.sup.seq=(.left brkt-bot.I.sub.PRB
.sub._.sub.RA.sup.lowest
.sup._.sup.index/N.sub.PHICH.sup.group.right
brkt-bot.+n.sub.DMRS)mod 2N.sub.SF.sup.PHICH,
where the N.sub.PHICH.sup.group may denote the number of PHICH
group available in the system with following definition
N PHICH group = { N g ( N RB DL / 8 ) 2 N g ( N RB DL / 8 )
##EQU00001##
where Ng may be 2-bit information that may be transmitted via a
PBCH (Physical Broadcasting Channel) and the information may be
within N.sub.g.di-elect cons.{1/6, 1/2, 1, 2}. According to an
example embodiment, the orthogonal sequence that may be used herein
may be based on the spreading factor and/or sequence index as shown
in the table of FIG. 10.
[0116] In an example embodiment, a PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control
Channel) may be provided and/or used. The PDCCH may be defined with
one or multiple consecutive CCE (Control Channel Element) resources
in which one CCE may include multiple REGs (e.g. nine REGs). The
number of available CCE (N.sub.CCE) may be defined with
N.sub.CCE=.left brkt-bot.N.sub.REG/9.right brkt-bot. where
N.sub.REG may be the number of REGs that may not be assigned to
PCFICH or PHICH. The table in FIG. 11 shows example embodiments of
available PDCCH formats that may be used herein by definition of
number of consecutive CCEs.
[0117] Additionally, a Random Access (RA) method or procedure
and/or a PRACH (Physical Random Access Control Channel) may be
provided and/or used. In embodiments (e.g. in LTE), the Random
Access method or procedure may be used in one or more events
including one or more of the following: for a RRC Connection
Request such as for an initial access or to register; for RRC
Connection re-establishment such as following a radio link failure
(RLF); during a handover to access a target cell; to obtain UL
synchronization such as when UL synchronization may be lost and DL
data may arrive or there may be UL data to send; when the UE may
have UL data to send and there may be no dedicated resources (e.g.
no PUCCH resources have been assigned to the UE); for positioning
purposes such as when timing advance may be used for UE
positioning; and the like.
[0118] According to an example embodiment, there may be two forms
of a RA procedure that may be performed. One form may include a
contention-based RA procedure, which may apply to a portion of the
forgoing events (e.g. the first five events above). Another form
may include a non-contention-based, which may apply to a handover,
DL data arrival, and/or positioning. When a contention-based random
access procedure may be applied, at least two devices or mobiles
may select the same resources (e.g. preamble and opportunity) for
random access, and, thus, the contention situation may be resolved.
The non-contention based procedure may be applicable when the base
station may signal a reserved random access preamble to a device or
mobile, for example, at a handover, uplink synch failure, and/or
for positioning. In this embodiment, information (e.g. essentially
timing) may be acquired at the random access response
[0119] A contention-based Random Access procedure that may be
provided and/or used may be shown in FIG. 12. The contention-based
procedure as illustrated in FIG. 12 may be characterized by the
following. At 1, a Random Access Preamble on RACH (e.g. a PRACH
preamble) may be transmitted by a UE and received by a base station
or eNB. The Random Access Preamble or RACH (e.g. the PRACH) may be
6 bit to carry including a 5 bit preamble ID and 1 bit to indicate
the information on the size of a message (e.g. message 3).
[0120] As shown in FIG. 12, at 2, a Random Access response that may
be generated by MAC on DL-SCH may be sent from the base station or
eNB to the UE. According to an example embodiment, the Random
Access response may be addressed to a RA-RNTI on a L1/L2 control
channel. Additionally, the Random Access response may include a
Preamble ID, Timing Alignment, Initial Uplink Grant and Temporary
C-RNTI, and the like.
[0121] At 3, a scheduled transmission may be provided from the UE
to the base station or eNB on, for example, a UL-SCH. The size of
the transport blocks that may be used herein (e.g. at 3) may depend
on the UL grant that may be conveyed at 2. Additionally, at 3, for
initial access, the RRC Connection Request generated by the RRC
layer may be conveyed. After a radio link failure (RLF), the RRC
Connection Re-establishment Request generated by the RRC layer may
be conveyed and/or after a handover, in the target cell, the
ciphered and integrity protected RRC Handover Confirm generated by
the RRC layer may be conveyed. In an embodiment (e.g. in response
to other events), at least the C-RNTI of the UE may be
conveyed.
[0122] As shown in FIG. 12, at 4, a contention resolution may be
provided from the base station or eNB to the UE, for example, on a
DL-SCH. For example, at 4, an early contention resolution may be
used and/or provide where the eNB may not wait for a NAS reply
before resolving a contention.
[0123] In an example embodiment, a preamble transmission procedure
and/or method via layer 1 may be provided and/or used. For example,
before the preamble transmission procedure, a layer 1 may receive
the following information from higher layers: random access channel
parameters (e.g. a PRACH configuration, frequency position, and/or
preamble format); parameters for determining the root sequences and
their cyclic shifts in the preamble sequence set for the cell (e.g.
index to root sequence table, cyclic shift (N.sub.CS), and/or set
type (e.g. unrestricted or restricted set)), and the like.
[0124] After receiving such information, the preamble transmission
procedure may be performed. For example, a layer 1 receives
preamble transmission request from higher layers. A preamble index,
preamble transmission power (e.g. PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_POWER),
associated RA-RNTI, and PRACH resources may be indicated by higher
layers as part of the request. Then, a preamble may be selected
from the preamble sequence set using the preamble index and/or the
preamble may be transmitted with transmission power
PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_POWER on the indicated PRACH resource. In an
embodiment, if no associated PDCCH with RA-RNTI may be detected,
the physical random access may be is exited. If an associated PDCCH
with RA-RNTI may be detected, the corresponding DL-SCH transport
block may passed, provided, or transmitted to the higher layers and
the physical random access procedure may be exited.
[0125] According to an example embodiment (e.g. in existing LTE
systems), two groups of RACH preambles may be broadcast in the
System Information Block 2 (SIB2) (e.g. using the preamble
transmission procedure). The broadcast preambles may be used by
each of the UEs in the cell.
[0126] A PRACH time and frequency structure may be provided and/or
used. In an example embodiment, the structure may include the
physical layer random access preamble shown in FIG. 12. For
example, as shown in FIG. 13, the physical layer random access
preamble that may be used may include a cyclic prefix of length
T.sub.CP and a sequence part of length T.sub.SEQ. The allocated
TTIs for the RACH may be decided by the eNB according to the cell
coverage requirement.
[0127] Additionally, in the frequency domain, a random access burst
may occupy a bandwidth corresponding to 6 resource blocks (e.g. 6
RBs may equal 1.08 MHz) for both frame structures. PRACH
transmission in time-frequency resources may be illustrated in FIG.
14.
[0128] The transmission of a random access preamble, if triggered
by the MAC layer, may be restricted to certain time and frequency
resources. Such resources may be enumerated in increasing order of
the subframe number within the radio frame and the resource blocks
in the frequency domain such that index 0 may correspond to the
lowest numbered resource block and subframe within the radio
frame.
[0129] In example embodiments, system information for a cell that
may include operating parameters (e.g., UL and DL bandwidth),
resources for random access, neighbor lists for measurements, and
the like may be broadcast by the cell in information blocks. For
example (e.g. in LTE), there may be a master information block
(MIB) and a number of system information blocks (SIBs). The MIB may
be transmitted on a known schedule (e.g. subframe 0 of each frame)
and a known set of resources, (2nd timeslot of the subframe, center
6 RBs). The MIB may provide a small amount of information including
the system frame number (SFN) and the DL BW of the cell to enable
UEs to read a SIB 1. The SIB 1 may have a known schedule (e.g.
subframe 5 each 80 ms), but not a known set of resources that may
be PDSCH resources. In a subframe in which the SIB 1 may be present
or available, a PDCCH in that subframe using a SI-RNTI may provide
the location of the SIB 1 resources. A UE may read the PDCCH to
obtain the SIB 1 location to read the SIB 1. According to an
example embodiment, the SIB 1 may provide critical information for
cell selection including the cell ID and the PLMN ID, certain
operating parameters such as the TDD UL/DL configuration (e.g. for
TDD only), and/or scheduling information for the other SIBs. A UE
in Idle Mode may read the SIBs to perform cell selection and
reselection as well as to obtain the parameters that may be used
for random access. A UE in a connected mode may read the SIBs, for
example, to determine if changes may have occurred or the eNB may
provide system information to a connected UE via dedicated
signaling.
[0130] In example embodiments, a UE may periodically monitor the
PDCCH for DL assignments on the PDCCH masked with a P-RNTI (Paging
RNTI) both in an Idle Mode and in a Connected Mode. When such a DL
assignment using the P-RNTI may be detected, the UE may demodulate
the assigned PDSCH RBs and may decode the Paging Channel (PCH)
carried on that PDSCH.
[0131] In the Idle Mode, the specific Paging Frame (PF) and
subframe within that PF, for example, the Paging Occasion (PO) that
the UE may monitor within the Paging Channel may be determined
based on the UE ID and parameters (e.g. two parameters) specified
by the network such as Paging Cycle length (e.g. in frames) and the
Number of paging subframes per paging cycle. The UE ID, in an
embodiment, may be the UE IMSI mod 4096. Such Paging Occasions may
include pages specifically for the UE, or they may include system
information change pages directed to each of the UEs.
[0132] From the network perspective, there may be multiple PFs per
paging cycle and multiple PO's within a PF, for example, more than
one sub-frame per paging cycle may carry PDCCH masked with a
P-RNTI. Additionally, from the UE perspective, a UE may monitor a
PO per paging cycle, and such a PO may determined by the parameters
specified herein (e.g. above), provided to the UE via system
information, dedicated signaling information, and the like.
[0133] In Connected Mode, the UE may receive pages related to
system information change, for example, it may not receive
UE-specific pages such as those that may be used for an incoming
call. As such, a UE in the Connected Mode may not monitor a
specific PO. Rather, it simply may try to receive pages at the same
rate as a UE in the Idle Mode using the cell-specific paging cycle.
Additionally, for FDD, the PO may be limited to subframes 0, 4, 5
and 9 and/or for TDD, the PO may be limited to subframes 0, 1, 5
and 6.
[0134] As described herein, a reduced bandwidth for a physical
downlink control channel (PDCCH) and/or a physical downlink shared
channel (PDSCH) may be provided and/or used for a network and/or a
device such as a MTC device or UE that may support such a reduced
bandwidth. Currently, an issue when operating a device such as an
LTE device or UE and/or a MTC device that may support a smaller or
reduced bandwidth on a regular channel such as a regular LTE
channel may be an inability of the device to receive a DL control
channel or signals from the network and/or a cell. Such an issue
may occur, because the control channels such as the LTE control
channels and control signals may be spread and/or distributed in
transmission such that the channels and signals may use the entire
or full bandwidth of the cell and by definition the smaller or
reduced bandwidth device may be able to receive a portion such as
the center portion of the cell bandwidth. For example, as shown in
FIG. 15, a device such an MTC device may read a portion of the
system bandwidth. As such, in an embodiment, if a cell such as an
LTE cell may be configured as 10 MHz bandwidth and a device such as
a low-complexity MTC device or UE may support 5 MHz or smaller
bandwidth, the 10 MHz network, cell, and/or carrier may use 50
resource blocks (RBs), but the device that may acquire a center
frequency fc of the carrier may read a portion of those 50 RBs such
as the center 25 RBs of that cell instead of the entire 50 RBs. The
terminologies RBs, physical resource blocks (PRBs), and PRB-pair
may be used interchangeably.
[0135] By not reading the entire bandwidth and having such
information (e.g. control channel information) being distributed or
spread through the entire bandwidth, the device such as the
low-complexity MTC device or UE may miss reading part of the
information such as the control channels, and the like. For
example, the device may miss a part of PCFICH channel (e.g. since
each of its 4 REGs may spread apart by approximately 1/4 of the
total cell bandwidth), and, thus, may not be able to accurately
decode the CFI which indicates the number of OFDM symbols for the
control region in that subframe and may not be able to calculate
the total number of CCEs affecting the determination of the
individual PDCCH locations.
[0136] Additionally, due to the same Rx bandwidth limitation, the
device may such as the low-complexity MTC or UE may not be able to
decode the PDCCH and common search space signals and, as such, may
not be able to receive the common control signals such as SI-RNTI
and P-RNTI that may be part of the detection of the occurrences of
system information broadcast and paging messages. According to an
example embodiment, the RNTI, or Radio Network Temporary
Identifier, may identify a UE (User Equipment) when an RRC (Radio
Resource Control) connection may exist and may include C-RNTI (Cell
RNTI), S-RNTI (Serving RNC RNTI), U-RNTI (UTRAN RNTI), and the
like.
[0137] Similarly, in an embodiment, the UE may not be able to
receive the information of DL assignments or UL grants that may be
carried as part of the DCIs in the PDCCH that may be transmitted
across the entire system bandwidth in the first one to three
time-domain OFDM symbols of the frame making up the Control Region
of a network or system (e.g. the LTE network or system).
[0138] Currently, support for reduced bandwidth on a device such as
a low-complexity MTC device or UE may be difficult, because such
devices may be unable to demodulate the entire transmission
bandwidth (BW) that a PDCCH such as a legacy LTE PDCCH may use. For
example, decoding a R8 PDCCH may result in a much higher decoding
complexity ("operations per second") than the PDSCH itself when the
PDSCH may carry approximately an order of 10's or 100 kbps. For
high-performance devices such as LTE devices or UEs, the decoding
complexity for an order of Mbps PDSCHs may also be higher than for
the PDCCH, which may be acceptable for such devices. However, for
low-complexity MTC devices using the reduced data rates, the legacy
R8 PDCCH based assignment protocol may be the determining factor in
terms of decoding complexity. As such, the PDCCH design aspects of
embodiments described herein for low-complexity devices may provide
decoding at a reduced receive bandwidth, and also, may reducing the
PDCCH decoding complexity.
[0139] Additionally, legacy devices such as R8 LTE handsets may
follow the approach that they wake up each TTI (e.g. subframe), may
decode the PDCCH, and may then go back idle if there may be no
received DL assignment for PDSCH in that subframe. In such an
embodiment, the activity of legacy R8 handsets may be regulated by
a DRX protocol sitting on top of this approach, which may kick-in
to reduce decoding activity as a function of timers and the number
of received DL messages. To reduce Tx/Rx activity of devices that
may support a reduced bandwidth such as a MTC device or UE, to wake
up and decode both control and data, embodiments described herein
may reduce (e.g. by a factor 10 or higher) the number of subframes
that a device may decode. As such, system and/or methods described
herein may enable the reduction of implementation cost through
support for reduced channel bandwidths when operating devices such
as low-cost MTC devices or UEs that may not provide an impact onto
the network and its performance during operation.
[0140] A reduced bandwidth for PDSCH may also be provided and/or
used in embodiments. For example, as described herein, a bandwidth
reduction for control channels in a network or system (e.g. a LTE
system) that may have a wider bandwidth may result in downlink
control channel reception problems when, for example, time
time-division multiplexing (TDM) based downlink control channel
transmission may be used. As described herein, the reduced
bandwidth may lose at least a portion of control channel
information resulting in downlink control channel reception
degradation. To address such a problem or issue, the reduced
bandwidth may be applied for data regions (e.g. PDSCH regions) and
full bandwidth reception may be used for control channel regions
(e.g. PDCCH). Although such an embodiment may not provide cost
reduction in the RF, there may be a cost reduction in the baseband
chipset as its soft buffer size becomes smaller and channel
estimation complexity for PDSCH demodulation may be reduced.
[0141] Additionally, other challenges including PDSCH resource
mapping may be incurred as the system supports full bandwidth. For
example, the population of a device such as low-cost MTC (LC-MTC)
may be much larger than that of regular devices such as LTE device
that may be operating on the network. In such an embodiment, PDSCH
resource utilization may be a problem or an issue. Also, other
broadcasting and multi-casting channels transmitted in the PDSCH
region may be changed as described herein to ensure that the
devices that support such a reduced bandwidth such as the LC-MTC
devices receive broadcasting and multi-casting channels.
[0142] Current physical random access channel (PRACH) may also be
affected or incur problems or issues due to bandwidth reduction.
For example, although a PRACH such as a Rel-8/9/10 PRACH may
support different system BWs such as 1.4, 3, 20 MHz, and the like,
a UE with different BW capability from a system BW may not
currently be supported (e.g. in LTE). In other words, current
systems or implementations (e.g. LTE) may require that the
supported BW of a UE or device may have to be equal to 20 MHz,
which may be the maximum system BW.
[0143] Additionally, with the increased development of current
cellular networks such as LTE networks and their advancement (e.g.
LTE-A), communications such as MTC communications via such cellular
networks with widespread coverage may constitute or account for
quite a bit of the internet services that may be used. Unlike
traditional voice and web streaming, services or communications
such as MTC services or communications may often have different
requirements on a communication system due to their specific
features such as sensing, control or monitoring application, and
the like. For example, a large number of services such as MTC
services may be non-real time and may typically consume less
bandwidth than traditional web browsing or video application and,
thus, may be supported by less BW than current regular devices or
UEs. However, current standards (e.g. LTE standards) may not
address the issue of BW reduction for devices such as MTC devices
or UEs (e.g. that may support a reduced bandwidth). As such,
procedures, methods, and/or techniques to achieve BW reduction when
conducting RACH transmission for devices that may support such a
reduced BW including MTC devices and/or use may be desired and/or
important.
[0144] Currently (e.g. the current LTE standard), in embodiments, a
PRACH frequency resource (e.g. consecutive 6RBs) within the
supported system BW may be allocated in an uplink subframe in FDD
(e.g. a frame structure 1) and up to 6 PRACH frequency resources in
an uplink subframe may be configured in TDD (i.e., frame structure
2). These PRACH frequency resources may be configured via a system
information block type 2 (SIB2) that may be transmitted with an
associated PDCCH (e.g. with SI-RNTI). Regular devices or UEs may
randomly select one of these time and/or frequency resources for a
PRACH preamble transmission. FIG. 16 illustrates a frequency
resources selection method for a PRACH transmission of a regular
device or UE.
[0145] Since the supported BW for devices described herein such as
MTC devices or UEs may be narrower than the system (e.g. LTE or
E-UTRAN BW), some configured PRACH frequency resources may not be
visible and thus not available to such devices. For example, as
shown in FIG. 17 shows devices such as MTC devices or UEs that may
support a 5 MHz BW may have less frequency resources allocation
available than the regular UE (e.g. shown in FIG. 16) when their
supported BW may not equal to that of system (e.g. LTE or
E-UTRAN).
[0146] Additionally, a Random Access (RA) response to the UE may be
provided via MAC layer signaling that may be transmitted in PDSCH.
According to an example embodiment, a location of the PDSCH may be
identified by a PDCCH (e.g. with RA-RNTI for a contention-based
procedure) in the common search space in the PDCCH. In one
embodiment, the PDCCH may be spread over the entire bandwidth (BW)
of the cell. As such, narrower bandwidth devices such as UE or MTC
devices may not decode the PDCCH as described above and the RA
procedure may not be completed. As such, the system and methods
disclosed herein may enable devices such as UE or MTC devices
operating on reduced BW to receive a RA response.
[0147] Broadcast problems and/or issues may be incurred by the use
of a BW reduction and/or the devices that support the BW reduction.
For example, a narrower bandwidth device such as a UE and/or MTC
device may not have access to the whole system bandwidth, and,
thus, as described herein, the device may not be able to detect a
PDCCH grant when a part of such grant may be located outside of the
narrower bandwidth. As such, the device may not be able to
determine the resources assigned to broadcast SIBs and may not be
able to receive the broadcast SIBs. Systems and/or methods
described herein may enable such devices (e.g. narrow bandwidth
devices) and networks to determine resources to broadcast SIBs and
receive broadcast SIBs.
[0148] In embodiments, paging problems and/or issues may be
incurred with a BW Reduction as described herein. For example, a
narrower bandwidth device such as a UE or MTC device may not have
access to the whole system bandwidth, and, thus as described
herein, the device may not be able to detect a PDCCH grant when a
part of such grant maybe located outside of the narrower bandwidth.
As such, the device may not be able to receive pages for reading
PDCCH and/or the paging channel. In an example embodiment, systems
and/or methods described herein may enable such devices (e.g.
narrow bandwidth devices) and networks to receive such pages.
[0149] According to an example embodiment, the use of such narrower
bandwidth or lower bandwidth devices may reduce a transceiver
complexity (e.g. the use of such devices may enable a lower
complexity of transceivers). For example, the throughput
requirements for devices such as UEs or MTC devices that support a
reduced BW may be relatively low when compared with legacy LTE UEs
or other legacy devices (e.g. even with the lowest UE category). In
an embodiment, an application for a device such as a MTC device
(e.g. with a narrower bandwidth) may be a smart metering requiring
status update. Current or legacy devices may be required to
implement each transmission modes and its associated reporting
modes regardless of the UE category to provide robust transmission
according to the UE channel condition and system environment. If
the same requirement may be applied for the UE category targeted
for low cost MTC device, it may result in unnecessary transceiver
implementation complexity and/or increased costs.
[0150] As described above, the typical application of a low cost
MTC device may be a smart meter operated with a battery. In such an
embodiment, the smart meter may use a longer lasting battery life
as compared with a standard or regular device such as a UE or
handset and/or laptop that may be charged frequently.
Unfortunately, current device behavior that make invoke TTI-based
control channel blind detection and/or a 8 HARQ process or method
may result in faster batter consumption and, thus, may not work
well with such lower powered devices such as MTC devices or
UEs.
[0151] Additionally, UE categories may be equipped with at least
two receive antennas (e.g. which may be mandatory) such that the
network coverage may be defined based on the assumption of two
receive RF chains. To reduce the cost of device such as a UE or MTC
device, a single receive RF chain based UE category may be defined,
thus resulting in coverage reduction in the downlink. Because the
device such as the UE or MTC device may also work with legacy UEs
(e.g. Rel-8/9/10), the coverage may be kept the same as other
networks such as a previous LTE network to not increase network
deployment cost while supporting low cost devices such as UEs or
MTC devices in the same network.
[0152] MTC physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions
may also be provided and/or used. For example, when operating a
device such as a UE or MTC device that may support a smaller or
reduced bandwidth on a channel such as a regular LTE channel or
bandwidth, in an embodiment, a PUCCH region for such a device such
as a MTC device or UE may overlap with a sounding reference signal
(SRS) bandwidth for a legacy UE. In such an embodiment, there may
be a possibility that a PUCCH transmission from a device such as a
UE or MTC device may overlap with the legacy SRS region. As such,
techniques may be provided and/or used to handle such a
situation.
[0153] For example, systems and/or methods for low cost devices
such as UEs and/or MTC devices to support operation at reduced
channel bandwidth in a network such as LTE network may be described
herein. In an embodiment, reducing the supported channel bandwidth
may reduce the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog interface
complexity and power consumption, as well as the baseband component
processing complexity as described herein.
[0154] Additionally, control channels in a reduced bandwidth may be
provided and/or used as described herein. For example, in one
embodiment, a low-complexity device such as a UE or MTC device may
receive an inband DL assignment that may identify an intended
receiver of a PDSCH transmission through inband signaling that may
be carried in a Data Region of a subframe. The inband DL assignment
that may identify the intended receiver of the PDSCH transmission
may be accompanied by information describing the specifics of the
transmission such as a modulation type, a coding rate, RV, a number
of transport blocks, antenna encoding formats or transmission
schemes, and the like.
[0155] In a further embodiment, a device (e.g. a low-cost device
that may support a reduced bandwidth) such as a UE or MTC device
may receive an inband UL grant for an upcoming PUSCH transmission
as part of the signaling that may be carried in the Data Region of
a subframe. The inband UL grant may identify the intended
transmitter to which the PUSCH transmission may have been assigned.
Similarly, the inband UL grant may be accompanied by information
describing the specifics of the upcoming UL transmission
opportunity such as the modulation type, coding rate, RV, a number
of transport blocks, antenna encoding formats or transmission
schemes, and the like.
[0156] As described herein, multiple devices (e.g. low-cost devices
that may support a reduced bandwidth) such as UEs or MTC devices
may be assigned to monitor the inband signaling carried in the Data
Region of the subframe. Additionally, the DL PDSCH and UL PUSCH
transmission resources may be assigned independently from each
other in every scheduling instance, or TTI, amongst these multiple
devices. For example, a first device such as a first MTC device may
be allocated the DL PDSCH transmission through the inband signaling
while a second device such as a second MTC device may be allocated
the accompanying or associated UL PUSCH transmission opportunity in
this inband signaling message.
[0157] In example embodiments, the inband signaling that may be
carried on the monitored parts of the Data Region by the MTC
devices refers to multiplexing the signaling information with a DL
data unit or control data unit as part of the PDSCH transmission
resources in an FDM and/or TDM fashion onto available RE's or
modulation symbols (and by extension, onto symbols and RB's). It
can also refer to carrying the inband signaling multiplexed with
the DL data unit(s) or control data unit(s) as part of (or
separately inserted) RLC or MAC or L1 header information when
transport blocks are made available for transmission by the
eNB.
[0158] Additionally, in an embodiment, a device such as a UE or MTC
device, for example, after acquiring a cell such as an LTE cell or
synchronizing to the cell such as the LTE cell, acquiring system
information, and/or registering to the network, may be subsequently
assigned to monitor specific bandwidth parts of the overall system
bandwidth for occurrences of DL allocations and/or UL grants.
Similarly, as described herein, methods or procedures to allocate
or de-allocate a set of monitored resources to MTC devices to
monitor for occurrences for DL inband signaling may be provided
and/or used.
[0159] The following illustrative methods or procedures and
examples may describe the above methods in more detail. While the
figures illustrate aspects of some of the embodiments using an
example of an LTE channel at nominal BW of 10 MHz, and an MTC
device supporting up to 5 MHz reduced BW, these methods and systems
described herein extend to the general case where a device such as
a UE or MTC device that may support less than the nominal BW of the
cell is in communication with a network such as the LTE
network.
[0160] Additionally, embodiments may enable a device such as UE or
MTC devices to not use a legacy LTE PDCCH signal sent over the
entire system bandwidth. For example, DL assignments and/or UL
grants may be monitored and carried inband on a DL channel in the
Data Region of a subframe such as a LTE subframe (e.g. the PDSCH)
or the time and/or frequency region corresponding to DL data
transmissions. As such, the device such as the UE or MTC device may
support a reduced reception bandwidth, for example, 5 MHz, and the
like while being able to operate on a channel such as an LTE
channel of, for example, 10 MHz, or the that may simultaneously
operate using high data-rates or legacy devices such as UEs or LTE
devices at full system bandwidth in a fully backwards-compatible
manner.
[0161] For example, in one embodiment, a device such as a UE or an
MTC device may monitor one or more RBs on a designated portion of
the Data Region in a subframe such as an LTE subframe for
occurrences of inband signaling identifying the intended receiver
of the DL data transmission by the eNB as shown in FIG. 18. The
device such as a UE or MTC device may monitor designated OFDM
symbols and/or frequency portions of the transmitted DL signal. The
transmitted DL signal may include or may encode an inband DL
assignment (e.g. shown in the dotted shading in FIG. 18). In one
embodiment, the DL assignment may be given in a form of an
identifier that may associate a given DL data transmission (e.g.
shown in the diagonal shading of FIG. 18) in that subframe on the
PDSCH resources with an intended receiver.
[0162] For example, the device such as the UE or MTC device that
may be designed and/or implemented to support up to 5 MHz bandwidth
may be assigned by the network such as the LTE network to monitor
the PDSCH region corresponding to a 5*180 kHz=900 kHz wide PDSCH
portion in RBs 23-27 on the 10 MHz carrier in designated subframes
and to decode the DL transmission and check for occurrences of the
designated identifier part of that DL transmission. Both frequency
contiguous resources as well as distributed resource mapping may be
used.
[0163] The device such as the UE or MTC device may monitor a
designated time and/or frequency resource for occurrences of its
identifier. For example, the device such as the UE or MTC device
may monitor N PRBs in each 2nd subframe such as shown in FIG. 18.
When the device such as the UE or MTC device may decode its
assigned identifier (e.g. in dotted shading of FIG. 18), as part of
the DL signal transmission, it may proceed to decode the
corresponding data unit or units (e.g. the diagonal shading of FIG.
18) in that subframe. If the decoded identifier may not correspond
to its assigned identifier (and/or the data transmission may be
intended for another receiver), the device such as the UE or MTC
device may discard the demodulated signal and may wait for the next
expected occurrence of a DL transmission.
[0164] Additionally, an identifier may be signaled as part of the
DL assignment explicitly, for example, through a bit field included
into the DL signal transmission, the identifier may be implicitly
encoded, for example, via masking the identifier into the computed
CRC of a TB or code block part of the DL signal transmission,
and/or the identifier may be encoded through applying a scrambling
sequence applied to the DL transmissions or portions thereof as a
function of the identifier value. In an alternative embodiment, the
identifier may be known by the device such as the UE or MTC device
through a pre-arranged transmission schedule (e.g. DL transmissions
may correspond to a set of configured or computed number of TTIs
for a device such as a UE or MTC device). Several example
realizations to encode the identifier as part of the DL
transmission on monitored resources by the MTC devices may be shown
in FIG. 19.
[0165] In an embodiment, when an inband DL assignment (e.g. parts
of or a RLC or MAC or L1 header, identifier, modulation format
information as described above) may be mapped to the transmitted DL
signal, the mapping of such header information may exploit the
unequal error protection property of higher order modulation
alphabets and/or the closeness to pilot symbols or tones to
increase its detection reliability. For example, selected parts of
or entire header information, including DL assignment, identifiers,
system signals for robust performance, and the like may be first
mapped onto transmission resources to the advantageous symbol
and/or bit positions in the resources allocated to that DL data
transmission. Subsequently, the remaining portion of the DL data
transmission, for example, the bits corresponding to the data
units, may be mapped (e.g. in order) to the remaining positions of
the time-frequency resources. The network may configure the device
such as the UE or MTC device to monitor for one or more
identifiers. Alternatively, the DL data transmission (e.g. as shown
in FIGS. 18 and 19, for example, in the diagonal shading) may
include more than one data unit multiplexed as part of the
transmission and intended for more than one designated
receiver.
[0166] For example, the identifier used by the network to allocate
DL resources to the device such as the UE or MTC devices may be an
assigned N bit value (e.g. N=5). As such, in an embodiment, up to
32 data streams (e.g. where one device may be allocated more than
one of these data stream), or intended receivers may be
distinguished as part of an ongoing DL transmission. The 5 bit
identifier may be signaled as part of a L1 header, a MAC, an RLC
header field, and the like that may be multiplexed with the data
and mapped to the transmission resources for that PDSCH (e.g. shown
in FIGS. 18 and 19 in subframe n+2). In an alternative embodiment,
the identifier may be part of a separate physical signal mapped to
the transmission resources that may be assigned to be monitored by
the device such as the UE or MTC device in the allocated time
and/or frequency resources (e.g. shown in FIG. 18 in subframe
n).
[0167] Moreover, the network may assign a specifically designated
schedule for monitoring of the DL transmissions to a device such as
an MTC device. For example, a device such as a UE or MTC device may
monitor one designated subframe per radio frame or one subframe
occurring each 4 radio frames for the occurrence of its designated
identifier in a DL data transmission. The DL transmission may be
accompanied by information describing the specific encoding, for
example, the transmission format. Information about the
transmission format may include the modulation type, coding rate,
RV, a number of transport blocks, antenna encoding formats or
transmission schemes, and the like. The identifier and/or specific
information pertaining to the transmission format may be sent using
a first known or configured transmission format.
[0168] The device such as the UE or MTC device may obtain the
specific transmission format chosen by the eNB for the DL data unit
transmission by decoding transmission format information as part of
the DL signal transmission using one or more fixed transmission
formats for the transmission format information.
[0169] Additionally, the data units carried as part of the DL
signal transmission that may be monitored by the device such as the
UE or MTC device may carry regular data traffic such as unicast
HTTP, FTP and the like or it may control data such as system
information messages or parts thereof, paging signals, and the
like.
[0170] In an example embodiment, a device such as an MTC device or
UE may monitor one or more RBs on a designated portion of the Data
Region in a subframe such as an LTE subframe for occurrences of
inband signaling identifying the intended transmitter for an
upcoming or scheduled UL data transmission. The associated UL
subframe may be given by association such as a fixed rule "UL grant
decoded in subframe n corresponds to the PUSCH transmission in
subframe n+k", or it may be explicitly signaled as part of the DL
signal transmission and associated transmission format.
[0171] Similarly, the UL transmission may be accompanied by
information describing the specific encoding such as the
transmission format. Information about the transmission format may
include the modulation type, coding rate, RV, a number of transport
blocks, antenna encoding formats or transmission schemes, and the
like. The above-described embodiments that may encode and carry the
inband DL assignments or header information may be used for the UL
grants including bit swapping, mapping to high reliability
positions, and the like.
[0172] A DL signal transmission may include both inband DL
assignments and UL grants, or in a specific occurrence (TTI), one
of these. For illustration purposes, the inband UL grants may be
shown in FIG. 20 for the embodiment where both DL assignments and
UL grants may be part of the DL signal transmission to devices such
as UEs or MTC devices. The device such as a UE or MTC device may
monitor a designated time and/or frequency resource for occurrences
of its UL identifier. For example, the device such as a UE or MTC
device may monitor N PRBs in each 2nd subframe such as shown in
FIG. 20. When the device such as a UE or MTC device may decode its
assigned UL identifier as part of the DL signal transmission, it
may proceed to prepare for UL transmission of a data unit or units
in the associated UL transmission resources in an associated UL
subframe. If the decoded UL identifier may not correspond to its
assigned UL identifier (e.g. and the UL transmission may be
scheduled for another MTC device), the device such as the UE or MTC
device may disregard this UL grant and may wait for the next
expected occurrence of a DL transmission.
[0173] According to an embodiment, a UL identifier may be signaled
as part of the DL assignment explicitly through a bit field
included into the DL signal transmission. Additionally, the
identifier may be implicitly encoded via, for example, masking the
identifier into the computed CRC of a TB or code block part of the
DL signal transmission or the identifier may be encoded through
applying a scrambling sequence applied to the DL transmissions or
portions thereof as a function of the identifier value. In an
embodiment, the UL identifier may be known by the device such as a
UE or MTC device through a pre-arranged transmission schedule or UL
transmissions that may correspond to a set of configured or
computed number of TTIs for the device such as a UE or MTC device.
Additionally, the network may configure the MTC device to monitor
for one or more UL identifiers. The data units to be transmitted as
part of the scheduled UL PUSCH transmission may also carry regular
data traffic such as unicast HTTP, FTP and the like, or they may
control data such as system messages or parts thereof including RRC
or NAS signaling messages. While a method to signal DL assignments
and a method to signal UL transmission grants have been described
above, such methods may further be employed to operate in
conjunction, separately, or with additional methods.
[0174] According to another embodiment, a device such as a UE or
MTC device may be configured by an eNB or network node such as an
LTE network node to monitor specific bandwidth parts of the overall
system bandwidth. Such monitored occurrences may include inband DL
allocations and/or UL grants in the form of identifiers and/or
transmission formats. For example, a device such as a UE or MTC
device that may support a reduced BW may synchronize in the DL to a
cell such as an LTE cell that may support a higher BW. For example,
the device such as a UE or MTC devices may acquire the DL
synchronization signals and PBCH/MIB broadcast by the cell such as
the LTE cell. Such signals may be carried in the center 6 RBs of
the cell such as the LTE cell and may already serve the purpose to
allow configuration of system parameters including system bandwidth
in the R8 system. The device such as a UE or MTC device may decode
system information pertaining to random access such as given
through SIB1 and/or SIB2 in the network or system such as the LTE
system through monitoring pre-determined occurrences of system
information sent in a center bandwidth in designated subframes and
bandwidth portions, then may register to the network via a random
access procedure.
[0175] As part of or following the registration with the network,
the device such as a UE or MTC device may be configured with
designated DL transmission resources to be monitored. Additionally,
DL and/or UL identifiers when signaled inband on these monitored
resources may enable or allow the device to receive DL data
transmissions or when received may allow the device to transmit UL
data transmissions.
[0176] A similar procedure or method may be used for a device such
as a UE or MTC device when already registered with the network such
as the LTE network to either change the allocated DL transmission
resources to be monitored (e.g. in terms of an allocated
identifier, a transmission format, a schedule, and the like).
[0177] A device such as a UE or MTC device that may monitor
allocated DL transmission resources on the monitored time and/or
frequency resources may determine if at least one DL identifier
signaled inband as part of the DL transmission resources may be
received. The device such as a UE or MTC device may determine if at
least one received DL identifier may correspond to its own
identifier, and if so, may proceed to decode the corresponding DL
data transmission in that subframe. Otherwise, it may return to
monitoring. In addition, or independent from the monitored
occurrences for the DL identifiers, the device such as a UE or MTC
device may attempt to decode the DL signal transmission resources
for presence of at least one UL identifier. If it may receive and
validates at least one UL identifier, the device such as a UE or
MTC device may prepare for transmission, then may transmit the UL
PUSCH in the associated and designated UL transmission
resource.
[0178] According to the methods described herein, the network such
as a LTE network may allocate devices such as UEs or MTC devices
using a flexible reception schedule, and it may allocate both DL
and UL transmission resources to MTC devices in a flexible manner
even in presence of legacy or high data rate devices such as LTE
devices supporting the full nominal bandwidth of the cell. In
particular, the network such as a LTE network may allocate more
than one device such as a UE or MTC device to monitor the same DL
transmission resource for scheduled DL data transmissions. Given
typically small data rates (e.g. order of 10's or 100 kbps) for
such devices such as UEs or MTC devices, spectrum efficiency may be
achieved by having the ability to dynamically multiplex device data
such as MTC for a population of devices such as UEs or MTC devices
in a dynamic network-controlled scheduling process.
[0179] The multiple access approach described by the methods herein
may be shown in FIG. 20. According to an example embodiment, the
rule chosen for such an embodiment may include that a UL grant in
subframe n may correspond to a PUSCH transmission in subframe n+4.
Additionally, a first set of devices such as UEs or MTC devices may
be allocated to monitor PDSCH transmission resources in subframe 1,
and once per frame. A second set of devices such as UEs or MTC
devices may monitor subframe 1, but another set of designated DL
transmission resources every other frame. A third set MTC devices
may also monitor subframe 2 and each 2nd frame for DL signal
transmissions. The eNB may further dynamically allocate DL
transmissions and UL transmissions within the individual groups of
monitoring devices such as UEs or MTC devices.
[0180] In some embodiments, devices such as UEs or MTC devices may
implement support for processing a reduced channel bandwidth with
dramatic consequences and reduction onto RF component cost and
count and/or scaled down ADC/DAC and BB processing capabilities
when compared to devices such as LTE devices supporting full
nominal bandwidth, (e.g. up to 10 or 20 MHz).
[0181] Control information signaling in PDSCH (e.g. data) regions
may also be provided and/or used with devices such as UEs or MTC
devices that may be lower-cost and/or may support a reduced
bandwidth. For example, in other embodiments, a device such as a UE
or MTC device may receive downlink control channels in the PDSCH
region with the limited bandwidth support. The device such as the
UE or MTC device may receive the downlink control channels in the
PDSCH region since the legacy downlink control channels may be at
least partially readable.
[0182] Additionally, a Physical Control Format Indicator Channel
(PCFICH) indication may be provided and/or used as described
herein. For example, the PDCCH and PDSCH such as the LTE PDCCH and
PDSCH may be multiplexed using TDM in a subframe and the boundary
between the PDCCH and PDSCH may be indicated by PCFICH in each
subframe. As such, to transmit downlink control channels in the
PDSCH region, the device such as the UEs or MTC devices may be
informed of the boundary.
[0183] The device such as the UEs or MTC devices may receive the
boundary information of PDCCH and PDSCH region using one of the
follow mechanisms. For example, to receive such information,
higher-layer signaling may be provided and/or used where
UE-specific RRC signaling may indicate the boundary of PDCCH and
PDSCH in the subframes. The boundary information may be valid to a
subset of subframes in a radio frame, a subset of radio frames,
and/or a subset of subframes in multiple radio frames (e.g. four
radio frames). In such embodiment, the device such as a UE or a MTC
device and/or group may have different subsets of subframes and/or
radio frames such that the PCFICH value may vary from a subframe to
another from eNB perspective. In embodiments, this may provide
higher system throughput.
[0184] Additionally, to receive such boundary information,
broadcasting information may provided and/or used. For example, the
PCFICH value for MTC devices is informed in broadcasting channel
(e.g., SIB-2).
[0185] In another embodiment, to receive such boundary information,
a new PCFICH (e.g. a M-PCFICH) may be transmitted for devices such
as UEs or MTC devices in the PDSCH region. For example, a device
such as a UE or MTC device may receive an M-PCFICH in a subframe
n-k which may be valid in the subframe n. The value k may be a
fixed positive integer value such as `1` or `2` or variable
according to the higher signaling. The k may be `0` as a fixed
value.
[0186] Furthermore, to receive such boundary information, a radio
frame header may be provided and/or used. For example, a radio
frame header that may indicate the PCFICH for subframes in a radio
frame (e.g. 10 ms) may be transmitted. A radio frame may include a
single PCFICH that may be valid for subframes or multiple PCFICH
values for each subframe or group of subframes in a radio frame. In
embodiments, the radio frame may be longer than 10 ms such as 40
ms, and the like. The radio frame header may also be transmitted in
the first subframe in a radio frame.
[0187] According to another embodiment, a PCFICH may not be used by
narrower BW devices such as UEs or MTC devices. For example, PDSCH
intended for devices such as UEs or MTC devices may start in a
specific symbol of a subframe that may be known to the devices
regardless of the actual boundary between PDCCH and PDSCH indicated
by PCFICH. In such an embodiment, for the narrower BW device such
as UEs or MTC devices operating in a cell with a larger BW, the
PDSCH may be allocated as if PDCCH region was always a fixed number
of symbols (e.g. 3 symbols).
[0188] Such an embodiment may also be applicable to the use of
ePDCCH by particular devices such as reduced BW UE or MTC devices.
For example, the ePDCCH that may be intended for such devices may
start in a specific symbol of a subframe that may be known to the
particular devices regardless of the actual boundary between the
PDCCH and PDSCH that may be indicated by the PCFICH. In such an
embodiment, for devices operating in a cell with a larger BW, the
ePDCCH may be allocated as if the PDCCH region may be a fixed
number of symbols (e.g. 3 symbols).
[0189] According to example embodiments, a device such as UE or MTC
device may receive the M-PCFICH in the positions of the zero-power
CSI-RS or subsets of configured zero-power CSI-RS. The use of
zero-power CSI-RS for a M-PCFICH transmission may enable the impact
of legacy UEs (e.g. LTE Rel-10 UEs) to be avoided or limited as
such legacy UE rate-match the zero-power CSI-RS while exploiting
frequency diversity gain. The 10 zero-power CSI-RS configurations
that may be available (e.g. in Rel-10) for FDD and may be used
herein may be shown in the table of FIG. 22 and the zero-power
CSI-RS patterns according to the CSI reference signal configuration
number that may be used herein may be shown in FIG. 23.
[0190] Additionally, in embodiments, a single or multiple
zero-power CSI-RS(s) may be configured in a subframe with a duty
cycle. As such, a M-PCFICH transmission may include a duty cycle.
For the duty cycle based M-PCFICH transmission, a device such as a
UE or MTC device may receive the boundary information of PDCCH and
PDSCH for subframes within duty cycles with one of following:
M-PCFICH bundling within a duty cycle, individual M-PCICH
transmission, and the like.
[0191] In M-PCFICH bundling within a duty cycle, an M-PCFICH value
may be valid within duty cycle such that device such as a UE or MTC
device may consider the same PCFICH value for multiple subframes
within a duty cycle. For example, if a M-PCFICH duty cycle may be
configured with K ms and an M-PCFICH may be received in subframe n,
the M-PCFICH value may be valid until the subframe n+K-1. The
M-PCFICH starting subframe may also be defined with an offset. In
such an embodiment, the M-PCFICH value may valid between subframe
n+Noffset and n+K-1+Noffset. An example Noffset may be "1."
[0192] In an individual M-PCFICH transmission, multiple M-PCFICH
values may be transmitted in the subframe which may inform or
provide a PCFICH value for each subframe or multiple groups of
subframe in the duty cycle.
[0193] Various zero-power CSI-RS configurations and associated
M-PCFICH transmission schemes may be provided and/or used herein.
For example, in one embodiment (e.g. a first example), a single
zero-power CSI-RS may be configured for M-PCFICH transmission. The
single zero-power CSI-RS configuration may include a CSI-RS pattern
among 4 CSI-RS ports patterns and a duty cycle with a subframe
offset. Additionally, four REs may be reserved in a PRB-pair for
zero-power CSI-RS.
[0194] In such an embodiment, a device such as a UE or MTC device
may receive the M-PCFICH in the zero-power CSI-RS REs based on one
or more of following: a CRS-based transmission scheme, a sequence
based transmission, a DM-RS based transmission, and the like.
According to an example embodiment, the CRS-based transmission
scheme may be dependent on or based on the number of antenna ports
such as Port-{0} in a single CRS port, Port-{0, 1} in two CRS ports
with a time domain space time block code (STBC) in the position of
zero-power CSI-RS in which a pair of STBCs may be transmitted in
the time domain consecutive REs (e.g. a OCC RE pair), a Port-{0, 1,
2, 3} in four CRS ports with a STBC combined with frequency
switched transmit diversity (FSTD) in which a pair of STBCs may be
transmitted in an OCC RE pair through Port-{0, 2} and the other
pair of STBCs may be transmitted in another OCC RE pair through
Port-{1, 3}.
[0195] Additionally, the sequence based transmission may include
orthogonal or quasi-orthogonal multiple sequences that may be
defined and transmitted in the position of zero-power CSI-RS RE.
According to the sequence number, a device such as a UE or MTC
device may notice the boundary of PDCCH and PDSCH.
[0196] In a DM-RS based transmission, a new DM-RS based antenna
port may be defined. The pattern of the new DM-RS port may be
located in the first OFDM symbol in each OCC RE pair. Multiple
orthogonal DM-RS ports may also be defined and the DM-RS port may
be configured by higher layer signaling and/or tied with a physical
cell ID.
[0197] In another embodiment (e.g. a second example), a pair of
zero-power CSI-RS configuration may be used for M-PCFICH
transmission. For example, the configuration {0, 5}, {1, 6}, {2, 7}
{3, 8} and {4, 9} may be configured together. In such a
configuration, a device such as a UE or MTC device may receive the
M-PCFICH in the pair of zero-power CSI-RS based on one or more of
following schemes: a CRS-based transmission scheme, a sequence
based transmission, a DM-RS based transmission and the like as
described herein. According to such embodiments, the CRS-based
transmission scheme may be dependent upon or based on the number of
antenna ports such as Port-{0} in a single CRS port, Port-{0, 1} in
two CRS ports where a time domain space frequency block code (SFBC)
may be in the position of zero-power CSI-RS and a pair of SFBC may
be transmitted in the frequency domain consecutive two REs,
Port-{0, 1, 2, 3} in four CRS ports with SFBC with frequency
switched transmit diversity (FSTD) in which a pair of STBCs may be
transmitted in the frequency domain consecutive two REs through
Port-{0, 2} and the other pair of SFBCs may be transmitted in
another two REs in the next OFDM symbol through Port-{1, 3}.
[0198] In the sequence based transmission, orthogonal or
quasi-orthogonal multiple sequences may be defined and transmitted
in the position of zero-power CSI-RS RE. According to the sequence
number, a device such a UE or MTC device may notice the boundary of
PDCCH and PDSCH.
[0199] Additionally, in the DM-RS based transmission, a new DM-RS
based antenna port may be defined. The pattern of the new DM-RS
port may be one of the two zero-power CSI-RS configuration.
Multiple orthogonal DM-RS ports may also be defined and the DM-RS
port may be configured by higher layer signaling and/or tied with a
physical cell ID.
[0200] An MTC device may receive the PDCCH in the PDSCH region in
the second slot and the resource definition of the downlink control
channels for M-PDCCH including PCFICH, PHICH, and PDCCH are the
same as the LTE with the given bandwidth for MTC device. Among the
downlink control channels, a subset of control channels may be
available in the M-PDCCH region such as {PCFICH, PDCCH} and {PHICH,
PDCCH}. FIG. 23 shows an example embodiment of such a M-PDCCH
transmission within the first three OFDM symbols of a second slot
in the MTC bandwidth.
[0201] The M-PDCCH region definition for the 0th OFDM symbol may be
one or more of the following. In one embodiment, the M-PDCCH
resource may not be defined in the 0th subframe in a radio frame
due to the collision of P-BCH and M-PDCCH. A device such as a UE or
MTC device may assume that no downlink control channel may be
available in the 0th subframe.
[0202] Additionally, according to an embodiment, the M-PDCCH may be
defined without the center 6RBs in the 0th subframe. The REG and
CCE may be defined without center 6RBs with rate matching and,
thus, the effective MTC bandwidth for PDCCH may be smaller in such
an embodiment. For example, if the MTC bandwidth may be defined as
MPRB=25 (e.g. 5 MHz) and the system bandwidth may be NPRB=50 (e.g.
10 MHz), the PDCCH resource such as the LTE PDCCH resource may be
defined based on NPRB=50. Additionally, the M-PDCCH resource except
for 0th OFDM symbol is defined based on MPRB=25 and the M-PDCCH
resource for 0th OFDM symbol may be defined based on MPRB=19 (i.e.,
25-6). Such an embodiment or method may enable or allow the
scheduling flexibility using dynamic resource allocation from an
uplink and/or downlink grant in each subframe. On the other hand,
the M-PDCCH resource allocation in the MTC bandwidth in an
available subframe may cause a legacy performance impact due to the
collision between M-PDCCH and legacy PDSCH (e.g. because the legacy
UE such as legacy LTE UE may not notice the existence of a
M-PDCCH).
[0203] In another embodiment (e.g. a second method), a M-PDCCH
resource may be flexibly allocated in the M-PDCCH region to
minimize the legacy impact such as an LTE UE performance impact due
to the collision between the legacy PDSCH and M-PDCCH. For such an
embodiment or method, the M-PDCCH resource may be defined with one
of the following.
[0204] The bandwidth of the M-PDCCH may be reduced to an amount
even smaller than the device BW such as the MTC BW. For example,
although the MTC bandwidth may be MPRB=25, the number of PRBs for
the device BW or MTC BW may be independently defined with MPRB,
PDCCH which may be equal to or smaller than MPRB. The MPRB, PDCCH
may be provided, indicated, or signaled via higher layer signaling
or broadcasting channels.
[0205] Additionally, the available subframe for M-PDCCH resource
allocation may be restricted to a subset of the subframes in a
radio frame or multiple radio frames. The subframe subset for
M-PDCCH resource allocation may be predefined as {4, 5, 9}
subframes or {0, 4, 5, 9} subframes. The subframe subset for
M-PDCCH resource allocation may be configured in higher layer with
a duty cycle such as 10 ms and 40 ms. The subframe that may include
a M-PDCCH resource may be implicitly indicated by one or more of
the following: if a subframe may include a CRS in the legacy PDSCH
region, if M-PDCCH region is not collide with non-zero power
CSI-RS, and the like.
[0206] The subframe subset which may be allowed for M-PDCCH may
also be defined. For example, the subframe subset such as {0, 4, 5,
9} or {4, 5, 9} may be used and/or defined as a fixed subset. The
subframe subset may be defined by higher layer signaling with 10 ms
or 40 ms duty cycles. Additionally, the subframe subset may be
implicitly defined as the subframe including a CRS in the legacy
PDSCH region.
[0207] In another embodiment (e.g. a third method), zero-power
CSI-RS resources may be used. For example, the REG definition for a
M-PDCCH may be the frequency domain four consecutive zero-power
CSI-RS REs. FIG. 25 depicts an example where possible CSI-RS
patterns may be configured as zero-power CSI-RS in a subframe. For
example, nine REGs may be defined within a PRB such that
9.times.MPRB may be the available REGs in the subframe if the 4Tx
CSI-RS patterns may be configured for zero-power CSI-RS. In an
embodiment, although the 4Tx CSI-RS patterns may be configured for
the zero-power CSI-RS, the subframe of the configured zero-power
CSI-RS may be used for M-PDCCH resource allocation.
[0208] In such an embodiment or method, the zero-power CSI-RS may
be configured with a duty cycle such that the M-PDCCH resource
allocation may be possible each Nduty [ms] where Nduty may imply
the duty cycle for the zero-power CSI-RS configuration for the
M-PDCCH. According to an example embodiment, such a method may be
backward compatible for legacy UEs such as LTE UEs (e.g. Rel-10
UEs) since the position of the zero-power CSI-RS may be
rate-matched.
[0209] In still further embodiments, methods for signaling in a
PDCCH (e.g. control) region may be provided to enable or allow a
device such as a UE or MTC device to receive downlink control
channels in the PDCCH region with the limited bandwidth
readability. To reuse the current downlink control channels such as
LTE downlink control channels, the device such as the UE or MTC
device may be informed of or provided the parameters related to the
legacy downlink control channels including the total number of PRBs
and PHICH configurations.
[0210] Additionally, a device such as the UE or MTC device may
receive a PCFICH as described herein. For example, the device may
receive the PCFICH in the RE position of legacy PCFICH. Since a
device may detect a subset of REGs for a PCFICH, PCFICH bundling in
which a device may assume that consecutive multiple subframes may
indicate the same CFI value may be used. According to an example
embodiment, in PCFICH bundling, similar PCFICH coverage may be
achieved from time domain bundling. Such time domain bundling may
use, provide, and/or exploit time diversity gain. Additionally, in
such an embodiment, among the sets of 4 REGs for PCFICH, the
readable REGs may be 1, 2, 3, or 4 according to the system
bandwidth. If the REGs (e.g. the 4 REGs) may be within the device,
UE or MTC supportable bandwidth, the PCFICH bundling may not used
and the device behavior may be the same as the legacy device such
as LTE UEs.
[0211] For PCFICH bundling, the number of subframe for that may be
used and/or provided may be defined. For example, in one
embodiment, the number of subframe for PCFICH bundling (Nsubframe)
may be defined according to the number of REGs within the MTC
supportable bandwidth using, for example,
N subframe = 4 - M REG 2 + 1 ##EQU00002##
where MREG may denote the number of available REG for PCFICH in the
supportable bandwidth such as device or UE or MTC supported
bandwidth, Nsubframe=4 if one REG may be available, Nsubframe=2 if
two REGs may be available, Nsubframe=2 if three REGs may be
available, and the like.
[0212] Additionally, the CFI codeword for each case may be defined
with a subset of codeword associated with the rest of REGs for
PCFICH shown in the table of FIG. 26. For example, if two REGs may
be readable in the supportable device bandwidth and the first and
the last REGs may be located out of the device bandwidth, the CFI
codeword that may be used may be shown as the table of FIG. 26. As
another example, if the second REG may be available in the device
supportable bandwidth, the CFI codeword that may be used may be
shown in the table of FIG. 27. According to an example embodiment,
such a method may enable or allow a backward compatible PCFICH
transmission while keeping similar coverage for a device such as a
UE or MTC device.
[0213] In an embodiment (e.g. for PHICH reception), a device such
as a UE or MTC device may receive a PHICH in the RE position of a
legacy PHICH. To receive a PHICH, 3 REGs may be received in a
subframe. The number of REG readable in the device supportable
bandwidth may be different according to the system bandwidth and
device supportable bandwidth. For example, if 3 REGs for a PHICH
may be readable, the device PHICH reception behavior may be the
same as that of legacy device such as a LTE UE. However, if one or
two REGs for PHICH may be available, a PHICH may be received by a
device using one or more the following methods.
[0214] For PHICH group bundling, if one REG may be readable in the
device supportable bandwidth, three consecutive PHICH groups may be
bundled together to indicate a PHICH. As an example, a PHICH group
1, 2, and 3 (e.g. as shown in FIGS. 9 and 15) may be bundled and
the 1st PHICH group, 2nd PHICH group, and 3rd PHICH group may be
considered a 1st REG, 2nd REG, and 3rd REG respectively.
[0215] For reduced repetition coding, if two REGs may readable in
the device supportable bandwidth, the HARQ may be redefined as
follows. A HARQ indicator (HI) may be a 2-bit HARQ indicator that
may be defined for 2 REG-based PHICH channel for a device such as a
UE or MTC device as shown in FIG. 28 and channel coding for the HI
may be provided and/or defined as shown in FIG. 29.
[0216] In example embodiments, for PDCCH reception, a device such
as a UE or MTC device may receive the PDCCH using the same
definition of CCE for the legacy UEs performing in the wider system
bandwidth. A CCE may include 9 REGs and the 9 REGs may be
distributed in the system bandwidth with a subblock interleaver. A
device such as a UE or MTC device may receive a PDCCH in the
UE-specific search space and the starting CCE number for CCE
aggregation may be defined according to one or more of following:
higher-layer signaling; a RNTI based hashing function; CCE
aggregation; and the like.
[0217] For blind decoding for PDCCH with CCE aggregation, if the
number of REGs readable in a CCE among the CCE blind decoding
candidate may be less than a threshold (e.g. 5 REGs), a device such
as a UE or MTC device may avoid a blind decoding trial. The
threshold (e.g. Nthreshom) may be defined as a fixed value or
configured in the higher layer signaling. Also, the blind decode
dropping for a PDCCH may be defined with the ratio in the
aggregated CCE candidates. For example, if the percentage of
non-readable REGs may be higher than x-% (e.g. x=50), a device such
as a UE or MTC device may drop blind decoding trials. Such an
embodiment may be expressed as follows:
Non_readable REGs Total REGs .gtoreq. .alpha. threshold , where 1
> .alpha. threshold > 0 ##EQU00003##
where the .alpha..sub.threshold (e.g. 0.5) may be defined as a
fixed vale or configured via higher layer signaling.
[0218] As described herein, data channels for use with a reduced
bandwidth including devices that may support a reduced bandwidth
may be provided. For example, systems and/or methods for increasing
the resource utilization for the reduced bandwidth support for the
PDSCH transmission in wider system bandwidth may be provided and/or
used. In one embodiment (e.g. for illustrative purposes), the
supportable bandwidth may be 6 resource blocks (RBs) and the system
bandwidth may be 50 RBs (10 MHz). Such an embodiment may be
illustrative and the systems and/or methods described may be
applied to other supportable reduced BWs and other system BWs.
[0219] In embodiments, the location of the supportable BW (e.g.
6RBs) for a device such as a UE or MTC device may be defined as at
least one of the following: frequency locations for devices such as
a UE or MTC devices that may be defined as center RBs (e.g. 6 RBs);
a frequency location for each device that may be in different
frequency locations, and the location for a specific device may be
fixed; frequency locations for each device may be in different
frequency locations and the location for a specific device may be
configurable dynamically and/or semi-statically; and the like. In
an embodiment (e.g. for illustrative purposes), the 6RBs may be a
maximum supportable bandwidth for a device; however, the
supportable BW may not be limited to the 6RBs. The 6RBs may be
replaced by any number of RBs, which may or may not be fixed in
number, and may still be consistent.
[0220] As described herein, a fixed band location may be provided
and/or used. For example, in an example embodiment or method,
devices may assume that PDSCH transmissions may be within the
center 6RBs in which primary synchronization signal (PSS)/secondary
synchronization signal (SSS) and physical broadcast channel (PBCH)
may be transmitted in a specific downlink subframe number. In such
an embodiment, to minimize blind decoding complexity, a device such
as a UE or MTC device may use at least one of following
assumptions.
[0221] For example, in one example assumption, the device such as a
UE or MTC device may use, provide, and/or assume that a subset of
downlink subframes, (e.g. only a subset) may include PDSCH for the
device. The subset of downlink subframes for a specific device may
be defined by at least one of following definitions. In one example
definition, a valid subframe for PDSCH may be implicitly defined by
C-RNTI. For example, a modulo operation may be used with a modulo
number Nsub, where the Nsub may be configured by higher layer
signaling, broadcasting, and/or predefined number. As the Nsub may
become larger, the scheduling opportunity for a device may get
reduced. In another example definition, the valid subframe for
PDSCH may be explicitly signaled by higher layer signaling such as
UE-specific RRC signaling.
[0222] Additionally, in another example assumption, if a subframe
may include PSS/SSS and/or a PBCH, a device such as a UE or MTC
device may skip blind decoding for the downlink control indicators
(DCIs) related to PDSCH transmission. According to an embodiment,
if ePDCCH may be used, ePDCCH resource configuration may be
informed in the broadcasting channels.
[0223] In another example embodiment or method, the frequency
location for a device such as a UE or MTC device may be informed by
the broadcasting channel. As such, once a device finishes
broadcasting channel reception such as a master information block
(MIB) and/or system information block (SIB-x), the device may know
which 6RBs may be used. Additionally, since the network may avoid
center 6RB allocation, the scheduling restriction in a specific
subframe such as subframe #0 and #5 may be relaxed. In an
embodiment, the same resources may be shared with each of the
devices as in the first method. As such, blind decoding complexity
reduction methods may be used.
[0224] In one reduction method, a subset of downlink subframes
(e.g. only a subset) may include a PDSCH for the device. The subset
of downlink subframes for a specific device may be defined by at
least one of following definitions. In one definition, the valid
subframe for PDSCH may be implicitly defined by a cell-radio
network temporary identifier (C-RNTI). For example, a modulo
operation may be used with a modulo number Nsub, where the Nsub may
be configured by higher layer signaling, broadcasting, and/or a
predefined number. As the Nsub may become larger, the scheduling
opportunity for a device may get reduced. In another example
definition, the valid subframe for PDSCH may be explicitly signaled
by higher layer signaling such as UE-specific RRC signaling.
[0225] In another reduction method, if a subframe may include
PSS/SSS and/or PBCH, a device such as a UE or MTC may skip blind
decoding for the DCIs related to PDSCH transmission. Additionally,
in an additional reduction method, if a subframe may include paging
or broadcast SIBs that the device may read, the device may skip
looking for other requests such as UL and downlink (DL) grants.
[0226] As described herein, a flexible band location may be
provided and/or used. For example, in an example flexible band
location method, a frequency location for a device such as a UE or
MTC device may be configured in an UE-specific manner and the
location may be static or semi-static so that different frequency
locations may be used for different devices which may increase
downlink resource utilization and may relax downlink scheduling
restriction. The UE-specific frequency location may be configured
with at least one of following methods: a RACH msg2 may include a
frequency location for a specific UE or device, and, thus, a UE or
device may receive PDSCH after RACH procedures; and/or UE-specific
radio resource control (RRC) signaling may be used to inform the
frequency location. In such an embodiment, a UE or device may wait
until it may receive the frequency location for PDSCH
reception.
[0227] In another example flexible band location method, a
frequency location for UE or devices may be dynamically allocated
via physical control channel (e.g. PDCCH, ePDCCH). As such, the
reduced bandwidth location may be changed from one subframe to
another. For such a method, at least one of the following
procedures or methods may be used for frequency location
configuration. For example, a DCI transmitted via PDCCH may include
frequency locations for devices and may be monitored in a common
search space. The cyclic redundancy check (CRC) may be masked with
a MTC specific group RNTI. The frequency location, which may be
indicated in the PDCCH may be valid in the same subframe.
Additionally, a DCI transmitted via ePDCCH may include frequency
locations for devices and may be monitored in predefined time
frequency locations in a subframe. The CRC may be masked with a
device specific group RNTI and the frequency location which may be
indicated in the ePDCCH may be valid for one or more
subframe(s).
[0228] In another example flexible band location method, the
frequency location for a MTC device may be dynamically allocated
via PDCCH. Therefore, the resource allocation in the PDCCH may
inform the frequency location. A DCI transmitted via PDCCH may
include the frequency location with the resource allocation
information within the supportable bandwidth (e.g. 6RBs). For
example, if Nalloc bits may be used for resource allocation with
full system bandwidth, a subset of Nalloc bits may be used for
resource allocation of reduced bandwidth and the rest may be used
to indicate the frequency location. As another example, two
resource allocation bit fields may be defined for frequency
location and PDSCH resource allocation where the resource
allocation method for frequency location may be a resource
allocation type 2 (e.g. contiguous resource allocation) and the
PDSCH resource allocation may be resource allocation type 0 and/or
1.
[0229] In another example flexible band location method, the
frequency location for a device such as a UE or MTC device may be
dynamically changed according to a hopping pattern such that
downlink control signaling overhead may be minimized and inter-cell
interference may be randomized at the same time. The hopping
pattern may be defined using at least one of following: multiple
hopping patterns may be predefined and one of them may be selected
per UE as a function of C-RNTI; hopping patterns per subframe may
be defined as a hashing function with parameters including, for
example, C-RNTI, Cell-ID, Physical Cell Identifier (PCI), subframe
number or system frame number (SFN), and the like; and/or any other
suitable mechanisms to define the hopping pattern. In embodiments,
frequency location may be replaced by frequency locations, for
example, in the case that the locations of the PDSCH RBs that may
be intended for a certain or particular UE or device may not be
consecutive.
[0230] As described herein, band location, ePDCCH, and PDSCH may be
provided and/or used. For example, a device such as a UE or MTC
device may monitor and/or attempt to decode both an ePDCCH and a
PDSCH in the same subframe. The ePDCCH may include a UE-specific
search space and/or common search space. When describing ePDCCH
herein, embodiments or examples involving ePDCCH, ePDCCH common
search space and ePDCCH UE-specific search space may be treated the
same or differently. For example, when referring to ePDCCH, it may
mean ePDCCH common search space or ePDCCH UE-specific search space,
or both. Additionally, a PDSCH that may be indicated by an ePDCCH
may include a PDSCH carrying at least one of downlink shared
channel (DL-SCH), broadcast channel (BCH), paging channel (PCH),
random access (RA) response, or any other type of data that a PDSCH
may carry. Furthermore when describing examples or embodiments
related to ePDCCH and PDSCH reception, the BW or the number of RBs
that may be supported by the device such as the UE or MTC device
may mean the BW or the number of RBs that may be supported by the
device for the purpose of reception in the PDSCH region of the cell
which may be different from the RF BW it may support and/or the BW
or the number of RBs it may support for reception of the PDCCH
region.
[0231] The following examples or embodiments may include ways in
which ePDCCH may be defined or configured and methods or procedures
in which a device such as a reduced BW UE or MTC device may be
configured with, or understand, which ePDCCH resources to monitor
and/or attempt to decode For example, the examples or embodiments
disclosed herein may include methods or procedures in which ePDCCH
may be used by or intended for at least one reduced BW device.
[0232] For example, in one embodiment, an eNB or cell may transmit
ePDCCH such as ePDCCH intended for or intended for use by at least
one reduced BW device such as a reduced BW UE or MTC device in
accordance with at least one of the ways described herein in which
an ePDCCH may be defined or configured, one of the methods or
procedures in which a device may be configured to monitor ePDCCH,
or one of the methods or procedures a device may use to understand
which ePDCCH resources to monitor. For the case of the
configuration, for example, for a cell, or a device or a group of
devices, the eNB or cell may provide the configuration to one or
more devices via broadcast or dedicated signaling such as RRC
signaling.
[0233] Additionally, a device such as a reduced BW UE or MTC device
may monitor and/or attempt to decode an ePDCCH (e.g. an ePDCCH
intended for or intended for use by at least one reduced BW device)
in accordance with at least one of the methods or procedures
described herein in which ePDCCH may be defined or configured, one
of the methods or procedures in which a device may be configured to
monitor ePDCCH, or one of the methods or procedures a device may
use to understand which ePDCCH resources to monitor. For the case
of configuration, a device may receive the configuration from an
eNB or cell via broadcast or dedicated signaling, for example RRC
signaling.
[0234] In example embodiments, one or more of the following methods
or procedures may be provided, used, and/or applied (e.g. for
ePDCCH). For example, an ePDCCH may be defined or configured for a
cell, for example, for devices such as devices capable of ePDCCH
reception or each of the devices capable of ePDCCH reception in the
cell, where such a configuration may be included in signaling such
as by RRC signaling and may be provided via broadcast signaling or
dedicated signaling to one or a group of devices. There may be a
separate ePDCCH definition or configuration for reduced BW devices
and for devices supporting the full cell BW. The ePDCCH resources
(e.g. RBs), which may be used by or which may be intended for use
by certain or particular devices such as reduced BW devices that
may be UEs or MTC devices, may be a subset of the ePDCCH resources
defined or configured in the cell. The subset may be explicitly
identified by the cell, for example, via broadcast or dedicated
signaling. The subset may be derived by the devices themselves in
an embodiment. For example, the subset may be device specific
and/or may be derived by a device based on, for example, at least
one of the following: the device IMSI or C-RNTI; a system frame
number (SFN); a subframe or timeslot number overall or within a
frame; a number of ePDCCH RB groups defined; an ePDCCH hopping
pattern; a physical cell ID; a BW supported by the device; a
specific set of RBs supported by the device (e.g. center X RBs,
where X may be for example 6, 12, or 15); the RBs supported by the
device as a result of configuration; and the like.
[0235] For example, in an embodiment, the ePDCCH may be defined for
a cell as N groups of RBs in various locations of the full BW. Each
of the RB groups may include fewer than M RBs (e.g. 5 RBs max). A
device such as a UE or MTC device may be configured to monitor one
or more of those groups or may use criteria such as those described
above among others to determine which group or groups to monitor. A
device may also be or may instead be configured to monitor a subset
of the RBs in a group or may use criteria such as those described
above or other criteria to determine which RBs, or which RBs in a
group or groups to monitor.
[0236] If ePDCCH may be defined or configured to include one or
more groups of RBs and for a certain group or groups that the
number of RBs may exceed a certain number, the device may exclude
certain group or groups from the groups it may consider for
monitoring. The certain number may be a fixed number known to the
device, the number of RBs in its supported BW, or certain a value
(e.g. one) less than the number of RBs in its supported BW.
[0237] When monitoring ePDCCH in a given subframe, a device such as
a reduced BW UE or device (e.g. a MTC device) may assume that the
PDSCH intended for it may be located in frequency such that the BW
the device supports may not be exceeded. For example, the RB(s) for
PDSCH that may be indicated by the ePDCCH may be located
sufficiently close in frequency to the ePDCCH RBs the device may
monitor in a given subframe such that the device may receive both,
for example, in a window of RBs such as a consecutive window of RBs
without exceeding its supported bandwidth.
[0238] The possible location (e.g., in frequency) of the PDSCH
indicated by the ePDCCH may be based on a certain a priori known or
a configured relationship such as a relationship described
hereinbetween the location of the ePDCCH RB(s) which the device may
monitor and/or attempt to decode and the location of PDSCH RB(s)
indicated by that or those ePDCCH RB(s). According to an example
embodiment, an eNB may transmit ePDCCH and PDSCH intended for at
least a certain or particular device such as a reduced BW UE or
device in accordance with such a relationship. The device may
further monitor and/or attempt to decode ePDCCH and/or attempt to
decode PDSCH in accordance with such a relationship.
[0239] For example, the frequency span from the lowest (e.g. lowest
in frequency) ePDCCH RB to be monitored by the device to the
highest (e.g. in frequency in frequency) PDSCH RB to be read by the
device may not exceed the BW supported by the device and the
frequency span from the highest (e.g. highest in frequency) ePDCCH
RB to be monitored by the device to the lowest (e.g. lowest in
frequency) PDSCH RB to be read by the device may not exceed the BW
supported by the device.
[0240] In an embodiment when the BW supported by the device may be
in a window or group of consecutive RBs, the UE may be provided
with and/or may know in advance whether the PDSCH RBs that may be
intended for it may be above (e.g. in frequency) or below (e.g. in
frequency) the ePDCCH RBs it may monitor.
[0241] In such an embodiment, among others, one or more of the
following methods may be provided, used, and/or applied. For
example, according to one embodiment, the PDSCH RBs may be on one
side of the ePDCCH RBs such that the device may assume that the
PDSCH RBs may be (e.g. or may typically be or may always be) higher
or lower in frequency than the ePDCCH RBs it may monitor.
[0242] In another embodiment, the PDSCH RBs may be divided, for
example equally, such that a certain or particular number such as
half of the PDSCH RBs may be above (e.g. directly above) the ePDCCH
RBs and the rest may be below (e.g. directly below) the ePDCCH RBs.
For example, the device may assume that the PDSCH RBs may be
distributed on either side of the ePDCCH RBs it monitors. In such
an embodiment, if the device may monitor N consecutive ePDCCH RBs
or certain RBs in a group of N consecutive ePDCCH RBs and the
device may support a BW of M RBs, the PDSCH that may be indicated
by the ePDCCH may be located in one or more RBs where these RBs may
be located in a set of RBs that includes no more than (M-N)/2 PDSCH
RBs above (e.g. directly above) the N ePDCCH RBs and no more than
(M-N)/2 PDSCH RBs below (e.g. directly below) the N ePDCCH RBs. If
M-N may be an odd number, the PDSCH that may be indicated by the
ePDCCH may be located in one or more RBs where these RBs may be
located in a set of RBs that includes no more than FLOOR[(M-N)/2]
PDSCH RBs on one side of the ePDCCH RBs and no more than
FLOOR[(M-N)/2]+1 PDSCH RBs on the other side of the ePDCCH RBs.
Which side may have more PDSCH RBs may be understood or configured.
As an alternative (e.g. where M-N may be odd), the PDSCH RBs that
may be intended for the device may be in a set of RBs that may be
no more than FLOOR[(M-N)/2] RBs on each side of the ePDCCH RBs. As
a numerical example, if the device may monitor 4 ePDCCH RBs or one
or more RBs in a group of 4 ePDCCH RBs and it may support a BW of
6RBs, the device may understand that there may be up to one PDSCH
RB for it to read on each side of the 4 ePDCCH RBs. As another
numerical example, if the device may monitor 4 ePDCCH RBs or one or
more RBs in a group of 4 ePDCCH RBs, and it may support a BW of
15RBs, the device may understand that there may be one or more RBs
in a set of 5 PDSCH RBs for it to read on one side of the 4 ePDCCH
RBs and/or one or more RBs in a set of 6 PDSCH RBs for it to read
on the other side of the 4 ePDCCH RBs. Such an embodiment may
enable a device supporting M RBs to know which M RBs to receive
before decoding the ePDCCH.
[0243] In another example embodiment, the PDSCH and ePDCCH RBs may
be in a specific window of X RBs which may be defined or configured
where X may be less than or equal to M where M may be the BW
supported by the device in RBs. For example, in a window of X RBs,
the device may monitor ePDCCH RBs that may include ePDCCH RBs that
may be configured in the cell and/or certain ePDCCH RBs such as
ePDCCH RBs that may be designated for the device or for specific
devices such as reduced BW devices that may be within that window
and may assume that RBs in that window that may not include ePDCCH
RBs may include PDSCH RBs that may be intended for the device.
[0244] In another example embodiment, the device may be provided
with configuration information, for example, by the eNB, which may
be via signaling such as broadcast or dedicated signaling to one or
a group of devices such as reduced BW UEs or devices regarding the
relationship between the location of the ePDCCH RBs and the PDSCH
RBs they may indicate. Such information may include one or more of
the following: whether the PDSCH RB(s) may be higher or lower in
frequency (e.g. typically higher or lower in frequency) than the
ePDCCH RBs to be monitored by the device; if and/or how the PDSCH
RB(s) may be located on either side of the ePDCCH RBs; a window of
less than or equal to M RBs in which the device may find both
ePDCCH and PDSCH that may be intended for it where M may be the BW
supported by the device in RBs; and the like.
[0245] If a device may support a fixed location BW or set of RBs,
for example, M RBs, or may be configured with a fixed location BW
or set of RBs, for example, M RBs, which may be changed
semi-statically, the device may monitor (e.g. only monitor) the
ePDCCH RBs inside of that BW or those (e.g. M) RBs and may assume
that ePDCCH and PDSCH that may be intended for it may be in the BW
or RBs (e.g. M RBs) it may support or be configured with. The
device may ignore ePDCCH (e.g., any ePDCCH RBs), which may be
outside the BW or set of RBs it may support or be configured with.
The RBs which may be supported by the device or for which the
device may be configured with may be, for example, the center or
another M RBs such as the center or another 6, 12, or 15 RBs.
[0246] In another embodiment, a device such as a reduced BW UE or
device may monitor ePDCCH in certain subframes and may decode PDSCH
in certain (e.g., certain other) subframes and the ePDCCH subframes
and PDSCH subframes for a given device or group of devices may be
mutually exclusive. The ePDCCH that may be received by a device
such as a reduced BW UE or device in subframe n may correspond to
PDSCH to be received in subframe n+x such as subframe n+1 or the
next subframe in which PDSCH may be received or another known
relationship.
[0247] It may be contemplated that the M-PDCCH may be replaced by
an ePDCCH in any of the embodiments described herein such as the
embodiments described for M-PDCCH and M-PDSCH in different
subframes. The M-PDSCH in the embodiments described herein may also
be replaced by PDSCH which may be intended for reception by certain
devices such as reduced BW UEs or devices.
[0248] In another embodiment, the BW that a reduced BW device may
support may correspond to a limited number of RBs, for example, 6,
12, or 15, where those RBs may not be consecutive. For example, if
a device supports M RBs, in a given subframe, the device may and/or
may be able to monitor and/or attempt to decode a certain number
(e.g. X) of ePDCCH RBs which may indicate the location of a certain
number (e.g. Y) of PDSCH RBs (e.g. where X+Y<=M).
[0249] According to an example embodiment, the X ePDCCH RBs and the
Y PDSCH RBs may not be or may not need to be located in a
consecutive window (or group) of less than or equal to M RBs. In
such an embodiment, the device may know in advance (e.g. by at
least one of a definition, configuration, relationship, rule,
function of a device or cell ID, other parameters, and the like
that may be in accordance with one or more of the solutions
described herein), one or more of the location of a window of
consecutive RBs in which the X ePDCCH RBs may be located and the
location of a window of consecutive RBs in which the Y PDSCH RBs
may be located. The sum of the number of RBs in those windows may
be less than or equal to M. Such an embodiment may enable the
device to buffer the PDSCH RBs while attempting to decode the
ePDCCH RBs. This may also be extended to include multiple ePDCCH
windows and/or multiple PDSCH windows, for example, provided one or
more of the following may apply: the sum of the RBs in those
windows may be less than or equal to M and/or the device may know,
for example, in advance, where those windows may be (e.g. by at
least one of a definition, configuration, relationship, rule,
function of a device or cell ID, other parameters, and the like
that may be in accordance with one or more of the solutions
described herein).
[0250] Channel priority may also be provided and/or used as
described herein. For example, a PDSCH may carry ordinary DL SCH
data or it may carry special data such as broadcast, paging, or a
random access response. The PDCCH or ePDCCH associated with these
types of data may be scrambled with a Cell Radio Network Temporary
ID (C-RNTI), system information-RNTI (SI-RNTI), paging-RNTI
(P-RNTI), random access-RNTI (RA-RNTI), and the like respectively.
A device such as a reduced BW UE or device may assume it may have a
certain number of (e.g., one) types of DL data to process in a
given subframe. For example, paging may have highest priority such
that if in a given subframe, the device may decode a PDCCH or
ePDCCH scrambled with P-RNTI (or another RNTI designated for
paging), the device may assume there may be no ordinary DL data or
system information blocks (SIBs) for it to process in that
subframe, or it may assume that it may not be required to process
such data if it may be present.
[0251] In another example, broadcast SIBs may have the highest
priority and/or ordinary DL data may have the lowest priority. In
this example, broadcast data or special data types may have higher
priority than ordinary DL data. If in a given subframe, the device
may decode a ePDCCH or PDCCH scrambled with the SI-RNTI (or another
RNTI designated for broadcast data) or the RNTI for another special
data type, the device may assume there may be no ordinary DL data
for it to process in that subframe or it may assume that it may not
be required to process such data if it may be present.
[0252] As described herein, in embodiments, DCI formats may be
provided and/or used (e.g. with a device such as a reduced BW UE or
MTC device). For example, a compact DCI may be defined for devices
such as UEs or MTC devices such that downlink control channel
coverage may be increased while supporting the functionalities for
such devices. Additionally, a DCI associated with PDSCH may include
at least one of following: two-step or two-type resource allocation
(RA) information; a modulation and coding scheme (MCS); a hybrid
automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number; a new data
indicator (NDI); a redundancy version (RV); and the like.
[0253] In the two-step resource allocation (RA) information, two
types of RA information may be included in a DCI such as MTC band
indication and resource block indication for the device. As part of
a first type of RA information, a device band index such as a UE or
MTC device band index may indicate which subband may be used for
the device. In this embodiment, the subband size may be the same as
a RBG (Resource Block Group) size P for the system bandwidth
(N.sub.RB.sup.DL). If N.sub.RB.sup.DL=25, and the RBG size may be 2
as shown in the table of FIG. 30. If one RBg may be used for a
group of devices, the band index may use .right brkt-bot.log.sub.2
N.sub.RGB.left brkt-top. bits where N.sub.RBG=.right
brkt-bot.N.sub.RB.sup.DL/P.left brkt-top..
[0254] As part of a second type of RA information, a RB index for
PDSCH transmission may be indicated. The RB index may be indicated
by bitmap where the RBG size P' may be related to the reduced
bandwidth. As such, 6 bits may be used if 6RBs may be defined as
reduced bandwidth for the device, which may be shown in the table
of FIG. 30B.
[0255] In example embodiments, the first and second type of RA
information may not be transmitted in the same DCI. Additionally,
the two types of RA information may be informed to a device in at
least one of following manners.
[0256] In one example embodiment, the first type of RA information
may be informed to a device via a common DCI which may be shared
with multiple devices while the second type of RA information may
be informed via a DCI associated with a PDSCH. In another example
embodiment, the first type of RA information may be informed to a
device via a broadcasting channel (e.g. SIB-x) and the second type
of RA information may be informed via a DCI associated with a
PDSCH. According to another example, the first type of RA
information may be configured via higher layer signaling and the
second type of RA information may be informed via a DCI associated
with a PDSCH. Additionally, the first type of RA information may be
implicitly detected from a scrambling sequence for the reference
signal in the PRB candidates and the second type of RA information
may be informed via a DCI associated with a PDSCH.
[0257] According to an embodiment, a modulation coding scheme (MCS)
may also be provided and/or used. For example, a MCS set may be
reduced from 5 bits to 4 or 3 bits. If a single DCI may be
applicable for a device for PDSCH transmission, the reduced MCS set
may be used and a new DCI format may be defined such as DCI format
2D. The reduced MCS set may be used for fall-back transmission
mode. For example, if DCI format 1A and DCI format 2D may be used
for a device, the DCI format 1A may have 3 or 4 bit MCS set and the
DCI format 2D may have 5 bit MCS set. A new modulation order may be
introduced such as a Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation
order. BPSK may be introduced such that that the MCS table for the
device may support {BPSK, quadrature PSK (QPSK), 16 quadrature
amplitude modulation (QAM), and 64QAM}. In an embodiment, BPSK may
replace the 64QAM modulation order and the TBS size may be reduced
accordingly.
[0258] A HARQ process number and/or channel state information
feedback may further be provided and/or used as described herein.
For example, in an embodiment, the number of bits for HARQ process
number may be changed according to the subframe configuration in
multi-type subframe configuration.
[0259] Additionally, for CSI feedback, various alternatives as
described below for reduced bandwidth configuration for low cost
device may be considered according to the bandwidth reductions in
RF, baseband, control region, and/or data region.
[0260] For example, the CSI reporting modes for reduced BW MTC may
be it categorized as set forth below. In a first category, if there
may be reduced bandwidth for both RF and baseband and the device
may be limited to receive certain sub-bandwidths of the entire
system bandwidth then one or more of the following may be provided,
used, and/or applied. If a reduced BW for a device may be equal to
the minimum BW in a network or system such as a LTE systems (e.g.
the reduced BW=6 RBs), there may be no subband CSI reporting such
as CSI reporting mode 1 and mode 1a may be used for the device,
which may be shown in the table of FIG. 31. The reduced BW device
may use partial or truncated cell-specific reference signals (CRS)
and/or CSI-RS for a rank indicator (RI), channel quality indicator
(CQI) and precoding matrix indicator (PMI) measurement.
Additionally (e.g. for release 8/9/10,) a subband location index L
for periodic CQI reporting may be defined as
L = log 2 N RB DL kJ , ##EQU00004##
where k may be the number of RBs per subband and J may be the
bandwidth parts (BP).
[0261] For example, if NRB=110 (RBs), k=8, and J=4, L=2 bits (e.g.
4 subband locations) for signaling the subband location for subband
reporting may be provided and/or used. In the device, the
N.sub.RB.sup.DL may be replaced for the reduced BW as follows
L = log 2 N RB DL_MTC kJ , ##EQU00005##
where N.sub.RB.sup.DL.sup._.sup.MTC may be the BW of MTC that may
be supported.
[0262] In a second category, if a reduced bandwidth may be for
baseband for both data channel and control channels and there may
be no BW reduction for RF, one or more of the following may be
provided, used, and/or applied. If a reduced BW for MTC may be
equal to the minimum BW in a network or system such as LTE systems,
there may be no subband CSI reporting used for the device. The
starting RB location or index for wideband and subband CSI
reporting may be signaled by the base station where the signaling
may be via a RRC or DL control channel. A reduced BW device may use
partial or truncated CRS and/or CSI-RS for a RI, CQI and PMI
measurement. The subband location index L, the N.sub.RB.sup.DL may
be changed to the reduced BW of the device as follows
L = log 2 N RB DL_MTC kJ , ##EQU00006##
where N.sub.RB.sup.DL.sup._.sup.MTC may be the BW of devices that
may be supported for data and control channels.
[0263] In a third category, if a reduced bandwidth may be for data
channel in baseband, while the DL control channels may still be
allowed to use the carrier bandwidth and there may be no BW
reduction for RF, the following may be used, provided, and/or
applied. If a reduced BW for a device may be equal to the minimum
BW in a network or system such as LTE systems, there may be no
subband CSI reporting used for the devices. The CSI measurement
method may be reused from rules such as LTE Release 10 rules or to
reduce CSI complexity for the device. Additionally, the starting RB
location or index and the number RBs for wideband and subband CSI
reporting may be signaled by the base station. The subband location
index L for periodic CQI reporting may be reused (e.g. from LTE
Release 10) and defined as follows
L = log 2 N RB DL kJ ##EQU00007##
or the N.sub.RB.sup.DL may be changed to the reduced BW of the
device as follows
L = log 2 N RB DL_MTC kJ , ##EQU00008##
where N.sub.RB.sup.DL.sup._.sup.MTC may be the BW of the device
that may be supported for data channel.
[0264] A device such as a UE or MTC device may be configured to
report CSI with at least one of following behaviors. In a first
behavior, a CSI reporting type may include and/or use at least one
of following: a subband and/or wideband CQI; a subband and/or
wideband PMI; a wideband RI; a best subband index (BSI); and the
like. In the later embodiment, more than one subband may be defined
within a system bandwidth N.sub.RB.sup.DL and a subband index (e.g.
a preferred subband index) may be selected at a device receiver
such as a UE or MTC receiver. In addition, the subbands may be
defined within a reduced bandwidth that may be used as a candidate
for device resource allocation such as MTC resource allocation.
[0265] In a second behavior, a device may report CSI for a system
bandwidth (N.sub.RB.sup.DL) and a reduced device bandwidth
(N.sub.RB.sup.DL.sup._.sup.MTC). If
N.sub.RB.sup.DL.gtoreq.N.sub.RB.sup.DL.sup._.sup.MTC, a BSI may be
reported for N.sub.RB.sup.DL and CQI/PMI and/or RI may be reported
for N.sub.RB.sup.DL.sup._.sup.MTC. If
N.sub.RB.sup.DL=N.sub.RB.sup.DL.sup._.sup.MTC, the BSI may not be
reported and CQI/PMI and/or RI may be reported for
N.sub.RB.sup.DL.
[0266] In a third behavior, a device such as a UE or MTC device may
support one of PUCCH and PUSCH reporting. For example, PUCCH
reporting modes may be supportable for such a device in an
embodiment.
[0267] According to an example embodiment, a device such as a UE or
MTC device may be defined as a new UE category that may supports
low data rate and/or a reduced bandwidth. In such an embodiment, a
UE category specific CSI reporting mode may be defined. For
example, a UE category 0 may be defined and the supportable soft
buffer size, multi-layer transmission, and CA capability may be
defined lower than other UE categories. Additionally, multi-layer
and carrier aggregation may not be supported for the UE category 0
and the soft buffer size may be smaller than UE category 1 as shown
in the table of FIG. 32.
[0268] In another embodiment, the maximum number of DL-SCH
transport block bits and the maximum number of bits of a DL-SCH
transport block in the table of FIG. 32 may be defined with
n-transmission time interval (TTI) for a new UE category where the
n may be equal to or larger than 2 and may be defined at least one
of following: n may be a predefined number; n may be defined
according to at least one of system parameters such as system
bandwidth, duplex mode (e.g., FDD or TDD), and/or physical cell ID;
n may be configured via broadcasting, multicasting, or dedicated
signaling; and the like.
[0269] Data channels with a reduced peak rate may be provided
and/or used as described herein. For example, multi-frame or
multi-subframe TDMA to multiplex data and control transmission may
be used. To provide such multi-frame or multi-subframe TDMA,
systems and/or methods that may define a multi-type subframe and/or
radio frame to enable or allow a device such as a UE or MTC device
to work in the smaller bandwidth within a wider bandwidth
supporting a legacy device such as a LTE UE with a similar
coverage.
[0270] Additionally, a multi-type subframe definition may be
provided and/or used. For example, a device may receive downlink
control channels and data channels in a different subset of
subframes and/or radio frames. The downlink control channel region
(e.g. the M-PDCCH region) for the device and the downlink data
channel region (e.g. the M-PDSCH region) may be defined using one
or more of following techniques. In one embodiment, a fixed
structure in a radio frame may be used where the M-PDCCH region and
M-PDSCH region may be interlaced in a radio frame and the M-PDCCH
region and M-PDSCH region may be defined with consecutive subframes
as shown in FIG. 3.
[0271] In another embodiment, a configurable structure or
configurations with a predefined set may be used where multiple
configurations of a M-PDCCH region and M-PDSCH region may be
defined such that the ratio between control channel overhead and
downlink resource utilization may be handled by an eNB according to
the cell environment. The table of FIG. 34 shows an example
embodiment for the predefined set based M-PDCCH region that may be
defined as `C` in the table and the M-PDSCH region configuration
that may be defined as `D` in the table.
[0272] Additionally, a flexible configuration such as a full
flexible configuration with a bitmap via higher layer signaling may
be used where a bitmap may be transmitted from higher-layer
signaling that may indicate the M-PDCCH region and M-PDSCH region
configuration. If the configuration may be defined with a radio
frame, the bitmap size may be 10-bits.
[0273] In an example embodiment, from a device perspective such as
a UE or MTC device perspective, the configuration of M-PDCCH region
and M-PDSCH region may be further restricted to a subset of M-PDCCH
and M-PDSCH subframes in a device-specific manner. For such a
method, a device such as a UE or MTC device may receive
configuration information from one or more of the following: a
preconfigured set, a fully configurable set, and the like. In a
predefined configuration set, the multiple of configurations may be
pre-defined and the configuration number may be provided or
informed to devices in a device-specific manner as shown in the
table of FIG. 35 where `N` may denote a null subframe in which a
device may fall into micro-sleep mode, in which a UE may not
receive any signal or perform measurement only. Additionally, in a
fully configurable set, a bitmap is transmitted for each region and
the subframe not used for either M-PDCCH region or M-PDSCH region
may be considered as a null subframe.
[0274] A multi-type subframe operation may also be provided and/or
used as described herein. For example, in an embodiment, for
M-PDCCH reception and its associated M-PDSCH reception, behaviors
of a device such as a UE or MTC device may be defined according to
or using one or more of following methods or procedures.
[0275] For example, in one embodiment, a device may assume that the
PDCCH transmission for downlink grant may be within a subframe
subset in a radio frame. The subframe numbers in the subset in a
radio frame for a PDCCH transmission may be 10, 4, 5, 91. The
device may assume that one subframe out of a subframes subset may
include a PDCCH for the device. The PDCCH transmission for a
downlink grant may be confined to {4, 9}. The PDCCH transmission
for an uplink grant may be confined to {0, 5}. The search space may
be further confined to a UE- or device-specific manner such that a
device A may be restricted to see the subframe {4} for a downlink
grant reception while a device B may be restricted to search the
subframe {9} for a downlink grant reception.
[0276] Additionally, according to an embodiment, a device such as a
UE or MTC device may assume that a downlink control channel may be
located across the two consecutive subframes {9, 0} and {4, 5}. A
PCFICH may be transmitted with the same CFI value in the
consecutive subframes {9 (e.g. in previous subframe), 0} and {4, 5}
to support a bundled M-PCFICH as described above. A PDCCH may be
transmitted in one subframe of {9, 0} and {4, 5}
[0277] In another embodiment, a device such as a UE or MTC device
may receive the PDSCH in the subframe n if a corresponding PDCCH
may be received in the subframe n-j where j may be defined
according to one or more of following: j may be pre-defined number
such as j=2; j may be indicated in the corresponding PDCCH in each
DL grant; j may be configured by UE-specific RRC signaling; and the
like.
[0278] A device such as a UE or MTC device may transmit the PUSCH
in the subframe n if corresponding PDCCH may be received in the
subframe n-k, where k may be defined according to one or more of
following: k may be a pre-defined number such as k=2; k may be
indicated in the corresponding PDCCH in each DL grant; k may be
configured by UE-specific RRC signaling; and the like.
[0279] Additionally, TTI bundling for a PDCCH and PDSCH
transmission may be provided, used, and/or assumed. For example, a
device such as a UE or MTC device may receive a PDCCH across
subframes {4, 5} and the corresponding PDSCH across the subframe
{6, 7, 8}. The HARQ process may also be bundled within {6, 7, 8}.
The same behavior may be defined for the sets of subframe {9 (e.g.
in the previous subframe), 0} and {1, 2, 3}.
[0280] In an embodiment, a device such as a UE or MTC device may
provide, use, and/or assume that a subset of a radio frame may not
include information for the device such that a radio frame based
sleep mode may be used to reduce to computational power at the MTC
device receiver.
[0281] A transport block size (TBS) may also be used and/or
provided as described herein. In an embodiment (e.g. a first
method), a TBS table may be defined for devices such as a UE
category 0 device as shown in the table of FIG. 36. In such an
embodiment, the subset of TBS table for UE category 1 may be used
as the UE category 0 may supports up to 6 PRBs. However, the
maximum supportable number of PRBs may not be restricted to 6 PRBs
and an additional number of PRBs may be also used. The table of
FIG. 36 also shows the TBS available for a UE category 0 and its
associated MCS index and modulation order.
[0282] According to another embodiment (e.g. a second method), the
TBS table for UE category 0 may be defined with smaller TBS size
according to the number of PRBs to increase the downlink coverage
and the TBS table may have at least one of the following
properties. For a first property, in a given MCS index, a single
TBS size may be used irrespective of the number of PRBs that may be
assigned for the device if an eNB may configure the fixed TBS size.
In this embodiment, the TBS size may be the same as that of
N.sub.PRB=1. The TBS size may be configured by higher layer
signaling. For a second property, at least a portion of the MCS
index for the highest modulation order may be reused with a lowest
modulation order and its associated TBS size to support a smaller
TBS size in a given number of PRBs. For a third property, an eNB
may override the maximum TBS size with N.sub.TBS.sup.restrict and a
TBS larger than N.sub.TBS.sup.restrict may be replaced with a
predefined number. For example, a TBS size for N.sub.PRB=c may be
used where c may be a predefined number. For a fourth property, a
subset of the MCS may have a fixed TBS regardless of the number of
PRBs. The table of FIG. 37 shows an example of a TBS table using
the properties in the above embodiment (e.g. the second
method).
[0283] According to example embodiments, broadcast and/or multicast
channels may be provided and/or used. For example, network
techniques may be used (e.g. to schedule DL system information and
paging messages, and the like) for low-cost devices such as UEs or
MTC devices that may support a reduced bandwidth.
[0284] To provide such techniques and/or broadcast or multicast
channels, an indication such as a MIB indication of narrower
bandwidth device support may be provided and/or used. For example,
a E-UTRAN or the eNB may indicate cell support to the narrower
bandwidth devices including UEs and low cost MTC devices in the
master information block (MIB) broadcast since the MIB may be
transmitted in the center frequency of the cell. The indication may
take some of the current sparing bits. Additionally, the indication
may include one or more of the following: general support for
narrower bandwidth reception and/or transmission; a narrowest
bandwidth UE support category (e.g. 1.4 MHz or 3 MHz or 5 MHz); a
narrower bandwidth receive signaling support category (e.g. new
M-PCFICH, M-PDCCH, M-PHICH in the legacy "control region" or in the
legacy "data region") and possible physical resource used (e.g. the
number of symbols and number of PRBs and frequency location); a new
common control region space support (e.g. in a current "control"
region or in "data" region) for narrower bandwidth receiver; and
the like.
[0285] In such techniques and/or broadcast or multicast channels, a
common search space for a narrower bandwidth device may be provided
and/or used. For example, in some embodiments, a special common
search space where the narrower bandwidth device such as a UE or
MTC device may find the SI-RNTI, P-RNTI and RA-RNTI may be defined
for the narrower bandwidth device to receive the vital system
signals. In one embodiment, this may be defined in the data region.
The new common search space for narrower bandwidth device reception
may be located in the symbol-k (e.g. where k=CFI, 0 based), symbol
k+1, to symbol k+n, where n may be configured or predefined with
the frequency range f. The new common search space that may be
spread over the frequency range f (e.g. where f=frequency bandwidth
that may be supported for the device which may be smaller than
system bandwidth for legacy devices such as LTE UEs).
[0286] Alternatively, this may be defined in the control region. In
the existing control region center frequency portion where the
narrower bandwidth device may receive data or information, the
device may claim a UE specific search space as the "new common
search space for narrower bandwidth UE device" by not allocating
C-RNTIs or temporary-C-RNTIs that may result a UE specific search
space located into those claimed space to the devices or UEs in
this serving cell.
[0287] Additionally, in such techniques and/or broadcast or
multicast channels, a narrower bandwidth device indication may be
provided to the network. For example, a device such as a UE or MTC
device may indicate itself as a "special" device such that that the
base station, E-UTRAN, eNB, and the like associated with the
network may be able to transmit control signals and data in the
channels such as a random access response (e.g. with RA-RNTI) that
may be suitable for the reception by the narrower bandwidth devices
or UEs.
[0288] As such, in an example embodiment, an indication may be
provided to the eNB. The device may provide such an indication
during a random access procedure such as during an initial
connection procedure. For example, in a PRACH transmission (e.g. as
shown in FIG. 12), a contention-based procedure may be performed
where the device may choose a preamble sequence and a time
(subframe)-frequency resource.
[0289] The following embodiments or methods may be proposed to
enable an eNB to distinguish a regular UE from a narrower bandwidth
device based on the random access (PRACH) resources the device may
use. For example, in one embodiment, a device may use (e.g. choose
from) certain random access resources such as preamble sequences
and/or time and/or frequency resources that may be designated for
use or otherwise known to be usable by at least narrower bandwidth
devices, MTC device, or a specific UE category. Such resources may
be reserved for such devices, may be usable by other devices,
and/or may be a new set of resources or a subset of existing
resources.
[0290] In another embodiment or method, the device may transmit an
additional bit with the preamble transmission (e.g. for RACH
message 1 via PRACH, to indicate its device type such as a narrower
BW device, the current RACH message 1 may carry 6 bits information
with 5 bits for a preamble ID, 1 bit for RACH message, and 3 length
indications). This extra bit may be used by the eNB to distinguish
PRACH preamble reception from either a regular device or narrower
bandwidth device.
[0291] According to yet another example embodiment or method, the
device may transmit a small payload following (e.g. immediately
following), the preamble to convey additional information such as a
device type, a UE identity, a scheduling request, other small
amounts of data, and the like. This may be a single transmission
composed of RACH preamble and RACH message where the RACH message
may convey additional information as described above. The preamble
may be used as reference for the demodulation of the RACH message
(e.g. payload) part, and, thus, the UL demodulation reference
signals may be saved (e.g. may not be needed). Once the eNB may
successfully detect the PRACH preamble, it may further proceed to
decode the RACH message part. FIG. 38 illustrates an example
embodiment of the transmission of a PRACH with a payload.
[0292] In another example, the UE may transmit a small payload
(e.g. a RACH payload) in resources associated with the preamble
resources such that based on the preamble and/or time and/or
frequency of the preamble the resources including time and/or
frequency resources to use for the payload may be known to the
device and the eNB. Once the eNB may successfully detect the PRACH
preamble, it may further proceed to decode the RACH message
part.
[0293] When the eNB or network component may detect the special
preamble (e.g. a modified preamble or preamble plus payload) and/or
a particular or certain random access resource such as a certain
preamble/subframe/frequency combination that may be selected from a
certain set of random access resources from the device, the eNB or
network component may be able to determine that the incoming
message or request may be from a narrower bandwidth device. If the
eNB or network component may determine that the incoming random
access message or request may be from a narrower bandwidth device,
the eNB or network component may following a special set of rules,
for example, for signaling and/or data transmission to and/or from
this device (e.g. an eNB or network component may keep certain
signaling and/or data transmission for this UE within the narrower
device receive range and/or into specially defined channels and
spaces).
[0294] FIG. 39 provides an example of a modified contention-based
RA procedure to handle narrower bandwidth device indication. As
shown in FIG. 1, the device such as the UE may provide a PRACH
preamble to the eNB, E-UTRAN, and/or network component at 1. As
described above, the eNB or network component may determine whether
the device may be a narrower bandwidth device at 1A. If the eNB or
network component may determine that the device may not be a
narrower bandwidth device, a regular contention-based procedure or
method such as the procedure shown in FIG. 12 may be performed at
1B. If the eNB or network component may determine that the device
may be a narrower bandwidth device, a contention-based procedure or
method for a narrower bandwidth device (e.g. a special procedure or
method) may be performed. In such a procedure, at 3, a random
access response for a special device or a narrower bandwidth device
may be provided from the eNB or network component. Then, at 4, a
scheduled transmission for a special device or a narrower bandwidth
device may be provided from the device or UE to the eNB or network
component and, at 5, a contention resolution for a special device
or a narrower bandwidth device may be provided from the eNB to the
device or UE. The details of aforementioned methods may be
described in more detail below.
[0295] For example, certain or particular random access resources
may be used by narrower bandwidth devices. For example, in one
embodiment, the network may reserve a special set of RACH preambles
(e.g. random-access-preamble-group-c) for the use of the narrower
bandwidth devices and the narrower bandwidth device may select one
of them for random access (e.g. an initial random access). For
preamble partitioning, existing RACH preambles may be partitioned
and a subset of RACH preambles may be used for a device such as a
UE or a MTC device such that an eNB or network component may
differentiate a narrower bandwidth device before transmitting RA
response. Alternatively, a combination of preamble partitioning and
additional PRACH resources may be used. Additional RACH preambles
may further be provided and partitioned such that some of such
preambles may be used for a narrower bandwidth device.
[0296] In another example embodiment, the network may provide a set
of preambles and/or subframes and/or frequencies that may be used
by a narrower band device random access. This set of random access
resources may be a subset of the cell's or eNB's existing random
access resources (e.g. those usable by R8/9/10 UEs) or may be a
separate set of random access resources. A subset or unique
identification may be provided via RRC signaling such as broadcast
or handover (e.g. mobility) signaling or may be a fixed
identification (e.g. by specification). Additional random access
(PRACH) resources may be allocated in a different time and/or
frequency location. As similar with TDD, an additional PRACH
resource or multiple PRACH resources may be defined in FDD. The
additional or multiple random access (e.g. PRACH) resources or a
subset thereof may be used by either a device such as a UE or MTC
device that may support a narrower bandwidth or by other UEs (e.g.
a MTC/Rel-11 regular UE). Whether a device may use these resources
may depend on whether the device may recognize that these resources
exist (e.g. whether the device may read the related broadcast
information) or whether the device may decode ePDCCH. For a subset
of the random access resources, there may be no limitation on which
devices may use these resources. In an example embodiment, such a
set of random access resources may be or may include the random
access resources configured in the cell or eNB.
[0297] Based on the random access (PRACH) resources including the
set of resources, the subframe or frequency of the resources, or
the preamble that may be used by the device, the eNB may respond
differently such as by providing the random access response (e.g.,
msg2 and/or others), DL control information in a PDCCH or ePDCCH,
or both. For example, if two sets of PRACH resources may be defined
(e.g. a RACH group 1, RACH group 2) and a device may transmit a
RACH preamble in RACH group 1, the device may expect to receive a
RA response (e.g., msg2) via a legacy PDCCH. Otherwise, if the
device may transmit a RACH preamble in group 2, the device may
expect to receive a RA response via ePDCCH. In this embodiment, a
RACH group 1 may be backward compatible (e.g. usable by R8/9/10
UEs).
[0298] As another example, if two sets of PRACH resources may be
defined (e.g. RACH group 1, RACH group 2) and a device may transmit
a RACH preamble in RACH group 1, a device may expect to receive a
RA response (e.g. msg2) via a legacy PDCCH. Otherwise, if the
device may transmit a RACH preamble in group 2, a RA response may
be provided via PDCCH and ePDCCH and a device may use either (e.g.
based on its capabilities) to obtain the RA response. In this
example, both RACH groups may be backward compatible (e.g. usable
by R8/9/10 UEs).
[0299] As another example, the eNB may respond differently based on
the frequency of the random access resources that may be used by
the device such as by responding via ePDCCH or both PDCCH and
ePDCCH when the frequency may be within the BW of reduced BW
devices.
[0300] When the device may receive certain random access response
messages (e.g. msg2 for a contention based procedure) via ePDCCH,
the device may expect that the corresponding PDSCH may be located
in the narrower bandwidth, for example, to ensure the narrower BW
devices may access the response.
[0301] According to example embodiments, based on the random access
(PRACH) resources including the set of resources, the subframe or
frequency of the resources, or the preamble that may be used by the
device, the eNB may respond differently such as by providing the DL
control information for the random access response (e.g. msg2
and/or others) and/or the PDSCH random access response (e.g. msg2
and/or others) in a manner in which such a response or responses
may be received and decoded by at least certain devices such as
reduced BW UEs or devices (e.g. MTC devices).
[0302] For example, based on the random access (PRACH) resources
that may be used by the device, the eNB may provide the DL control
information for the random access response in ePDCCH RBs that may
be within the BW or a set of RBs within the BW that the device such
as the reduced BW UEs or devices may decode. This may, for example,
include the center M RBs, where M may be the BW that may be
supported by reduced BW UEs/devices. It may include the center X
RBs, X<=M, where M may be the BW that may be supported by
reduced BW UEs/devices and where X may be known or the UE may be
informed of the value of X via signaling such as RRC signaling
which may be broadcast or dedicated signaling. It may include a
defined or configured set of X RBs, X<=M where M may be the BW
that may be supported by reduced BW UEs or devices.
[0303] In embodiments, the device may be informed of the
configuration by the eNB via signaling such as RRC or dedicated
signaling which may be broadcast. The configuration may also be
specific to at least one of the random access response according to
one embodiment. For example, based on the random access (PRACH)
resources that used by the device, the eNB may provide the random
access response in RBs such as PDSCH RBs.
[0304] Additionally, a reduced BW device such as a UE or MTC device
may decode at least one of the following: the center M RBs where M
may be the BW that may be supported by reduced BW devices; the
center X RBs, X<=M where M may be the BW that may be supported
by reduced BW UEs/devices; and/or X, which may be known by the
device or may be provided to the value of X via signaling such as
RRC or dedicated signaling that may be broadcast.
[0305] As such, a defined or configured set of X RBs, X<=M,
where M may be the BW that may be supported by reduced BW device
may be used. The device may be informed of the configuration by the
eNB via signaling such as RRC signaling which may be broadcast or
dedicated signaling. The configuration may be specific to at least
one random access response.
[0306] In another example, the above examples may be combined such
that the eNB may respond by providing both the ePDCCH RBs and the
PDSCH RBs for the random access response within the BW or may
provide a set of RBs that the devices such as reduced BW UEs or
devices may decode. For example, if the device may be expected,
defined, and/or configured to decode a set of up to X RBs, both the
ePDCCH RBs and the PDSCH RBs may be located by the eNB within that
set of X RBs, which may be a set of X consecutive RBs.
[0307] Based on the random access (PRACH) resources including the
set of resources, the subframe or frequency of the resources, or
the preamble that may be used by the device, the eNB may respond
differently when allocating UL resources to the device such as for
the device response or data transmission. For example, if the
device may use certain random access resources (e.g. a RACH
preamble of group 2 when there are 2 groups of resources), the
device may expect that a UL grant it may receive may be for
resources in the narrower bandwidth. Otherwise, the device may
expect that a UL grant may allocate resources in the full BW of the
cell.
[0308] Additionally, in an embodiment, a flexible duplexer may be
used by a device such as a narrower BW device or UE. In such an
embodiment, the device may be able to support uplink transmission
outside the narrower BW centered at the center of the BW of the
cell as long as the allocation may not exceed the total BW
supported by the device. For example, if the device may support a 5
MHz BW, it may shift its transmission band to a different 5 MHz of
a larger, for example, 20 MHz band as long as there may be enough
time for the switch.
[0309] A device such as a reduced BW UE or device may choose a
random access (PRACH) resource that may be defined by a preamble,
one or more frequencies and subframes, and the like from the
defined or configured set or subset of such resources that may
indicate to the eNB that it may be a reduced BW device. The device
may also exclude other PRACH resources from its selection
procedure.
[0310] Additionally, a reduced device may monitor and/or attempt to
decode PDCCH and/or ePDCCH known or configured to be intended for
one or more DL random access messages, (e.g. the random access
response message and/or contention resolution message) for at least
a reduced BW UE/device.
[0311] In an embodiment, the device may also inform the eNB or, for
example, other network components of reduced BW support during a
random access procedure. For example, a device may perform one or
more of the following. The device may inform the eNB in one of the
random access messages such as in the device or UE response
following the random access response or after contention resolution
whether it may support flexible UL transmission or not (e.g. via a
capability message).
[0312] The device may also inform the eNB in one of the random
access messages such as in the device or UE response following the
random access response or after contention resolution whether it
may be a device as described herein such as a MTC device or narrow
BW device. For example, if device or UE resources may be used by
narrower BW device, but may not have been reserved for a narrower
BW device, the eNB may respond in the narrower BW (e.g. by using
ePDCCH or by using ePDCCH and/or PDSCH RBs in a BW or a set of RBs
the narrower BW the device may support or decode) and may be
informed as to whether the device may really be a narrower BW
device. If the device may not inform the eNB, the eNB may assume
the UE may not be a narrower BW device and may use a wider BW for
subsequent UL and/or DL transmission for the device.
[0313] According to an example embodiment, the device may use a new
cause in the RRC Connection Request message that may identify the
device as a reduced BW device. This cause may indicate a mobile
originated (MO) call from a reduced BW device and/or a mobile
originated (MO) call from a device that may be both reduced BW and
delay tolerant. In such embodiments, a new cause may be added in
the RRC Connection Request message for a mobile terminated (MT)
call response from a reduced BW device which may be used by a
device to indicate itself as an MT call answer from a device that
may be reduced BW or both reduced BW and delay tolerant. In
embodiments, this may not be used for a mobile terminated (MT)
call, since for a MT call, the network may already know that the
device may be a reduced BW device using the methods or procedures
described herein. According to an example embodiment, the device
may use this cause if the BW supported by the device may be less
than the cell BW (e.g. the cell DL BW) that may be provided in the
cell broadcast information.
[0314] In another example embodiment, the device may include
additional information in the RRC connection request such as
identification of the device as a reduced BW device and/or an
indication of the BW it may support.
[0315] Another scheme (e.g. which could be used independently or in
conjunction with the above cause or indication embodiments) for
confirming the identity such as a reduced BW of a reduced BW device
in the stages of a msg3 (e.g. RRC Connection Request) and/or a msg4
(e.g. Contention Resolution) may be to define a special format or
value range that may, for example, be used by a reduced BW device,
for the "randomValue" IE in the InitialUE-Identity part of the RRC
Connection Request message (e.g. that may be over CCCH). For
example, a certain bit pattern for a portion of the randomValue
such as "111" for the 3 most significant bits or a certain value
range (e.g. 0.about.100000 where randomValue may be a 40-bit
quantity) may be used for the reduced BW devices.
[0316] When the eNB or other network component may receive the
device msg3 with the "randomValue" in the defined pattern or in the
defined value range, the reduced BW supporting eNB may consider the
device a reduced BW device and may then in the Contention
Resolution message (e.g. msg4) for a reduced BW UE/device add a
certain value offset (e.g. 7) to the device's randomValue sent in
msg3 as the "UE Contention Resolution Identity." After adding the
offset, the eNB may transmit the UE Contention Resolution Identity
back to the device in msg4. For reduced BW devices that may know
the offset rule), if the "randomValue"+offset=the "Contention
Resolution Identity," the device may consider the contention
resolution successful. Additionally, for the legacy devices, if
they may accidentally put a "randomValue" in msg3 as a reduced BW
device and may then receive the Contention Resolution Id (msg4),
since legacy UEs may not know the new rule, such devices may
consider the resolution a failure, because the received "Contention
Resolution Id" may not match the initial randomValue sent in msg3
as a result of the offset. In this embodiment, the legacy UEs may
carry on another round of RRC connection request.
[0317] Regardless of the random access resources available, the
narrower BW device may use resources in the BW it may support. For
example, when performing the random selection of a PRACH resource
from the available PRACH resources, the UE may include in the
selection process the available PRACH resources that are within the
BW the UE supports (e.g. and may use such resources and not
resources outside the BW it may support).
[0318] According to an example embodiment, an extra 1-information
bit that may be carried in PRACH preamble to indicate narrower
bandwidth devices may be used. For example, it may be useful for
the eNB or other network components to have a way to distinguish
which RA preamble may come from a narrow BW device or a regular
device such that the eNB may allocate a corresponding RA response
for the narrower BW devices.
[0319] Adding one information bit to the current PRACH preamble
(e.g. by using BPSK) may be used to differentiate a narrow BW
device from a regular device (e.g. LTE UEs). In such an embodiment,
PRACH preamble sequences may not be reserved or portioned to
distinguish a regular device or narrower bandwidth devices. As
such, the SIB information may be simpler, because there may be no
need to broadcast a special set of reserved preamble sequences for
narrower bandwidth devices. Also, E-UTRAN or network components
(e.g. the eNB) may perform PRACH preamble detection without knowing
the type of device.
[0320] For example, the time-continuous random access signal s(t)
defined by for a regular device may be modified to support a MTC
device or other narrower BW UE or device as follows:
s ( t ) = .beta. PRACH k = 0 N ZC - 1 n = 0 N ZC - 1 x u , v ( n )
e - j 2 .pi. nk N ZC e j 2 .pi. ( k + .PHI. + K ( k 0 + 1 2 ) )
.DELTA. f RA ( t - T CP ) e j .theta. ##EQU00009## .theta. = { 0 ,
regular UE .pi. , narrower BW UE / MTC type ##EQU00009.2##
where 0.ltoreq.t<T.sub.SEQ+T.sub.CP, .beta..sub.PRACH may be an
amplitude scaling factor to conform to the transmit power
P.sub.PRACH, and
k.sub.0=n.sub.PRB.sup.RAN.sub.sc.sup.RB-N.sub.RB.sup.ULN.sub.sc.sup.R-
B/2. The location in the frequency domain may controlled by the
parameter n.sub.PRB.sup.RA. Additionally, the factor
K=.DELTA.f/.DELTA.f.sub.RA may account for the difference in
subcarrier spacing between the random access preamble and uplink
data transmission. .DELTA.f=15 KHz may also be subcarrier spacing
for uplink SC-FDMA. In example embodiments, the variable
.DELTA.f.sub.RA=1250 Hz may the subcarrier spacing for the random
access preamble and the variable .phi.=7 in FDD case. P.sub.PRACH
may be the PRACH preamble sequences length in FDD case and
x.sub.u,v(n) may be the u.sup.th root Zadoff-Chu sequence.
[0321] According to an example embodiment, a device such as a
reduced BW UE or device may add such a bit to its PRACH preamble
transmission. Additionally, when an eNB or cell may receive this
bit from a device, the eNB or cell may understand the device to be
a reduced BW device and may act in accordance with that knowledge,
for example, by acting in accordance with one or more of the
embodiments described herein.
[0322] In an embodiment, a small payload with a PRACH preamble may
be provided and/or used as described herein. For example, a
narrower BW device may transmit a small payload with the PRACH
preamble. The payload may follow the preamble or may be in
resources associated with the preamble and/or a PRACH time and/or
frequency resource carrying the preamble. For example, the narrower
bandwidth device may transmit the narrower bandwidth device
identity and scheduling request information (current RACH message
type 3) together with the PRACH preamble.
[0323] A modified contention-based RACH procedure for narrower
bandwidth device indication based on transmitting a preamble with
narrower bandwidth device identity may be shown in FIG. 40. As
shown in FIG. 40, a device such as a UE may transmit a PRACH
preamble that may include the device or UE identity (e.g. in a bit
or other indication) as well as a scheduling request (SR). In
response thereto, the E-UTRAN or other network component (e.g. a
eNB) may provide a random access response and contention resolution
at 2 as described herein. Such an embodiment may apply in various
scenarios such as when the device may have a network assigned
device or UE identity (e.g. C-RNTI). Additionally, for a contention
based RA procedure for an initial access, the device may receive
its C-RNTI in the RA response (e.g. msg2), and, as such, this
embodiment may not be applicable to such an initial access.
[0324] A device such as a reduced BW UE or device may also add a
payload to the PRACH preamble transmission (e.g. transmitted at 1
in FIGS. 39 and 40). In such an embodiment, when a eNB or cell may
receive this payload from a device, the eNB or cell may understand
the device to be a reduced BW device and may act in accordance with
that knowledge, for example, by acting in accordance with one or
more of the solutions described herein.
[0325] Additionally, an indication to and/or from a mobile
management entity (MME) may be provided and/or used as described
herein. Although a reduced BW operation of a device may seem to be
relevant (or only relevant) between a device and a eNB or cell as
the eNB or cell mayor should ensure communication with the device
in the desired BW, it may be useful for a MME or another network
entity to have information regarding such operation as well. This
may enable the network to be (or continue to be) aware that a
device may be a reduced BW device or may have a limitation in its
BW support, when such UE/device may be in Idle mode or when it may
not be connected (e.g. RRC connected) in the network.
[0326] The BW support of a given device may include or consider at
least one of the following items (e.g. that may be useful for a MME
or another network entity to have, store, have knowledge of, or
otherwise provide or use as described herein). For example, BW
support of a device may include or consider whether or not the
device may be a reduced BW device. It may include or consider
whether or not the device may support a full system or cell BW,
which may be or may be up to 20 MHz, in the UL and/or DL. It may
include or consider whether or not the device supports full system
or cell BW, which may be or may be up to 20 MHz, in the DL, which
may include the DL control region and the DL data region, or in the
DL data region. It may include or consider what maximum BW the
device may support in the DL, which may include the DL control
region and the DL data region, or in the DL data region. The BW
which may be included or considered may be indicated by a number of
RBs or a value or other indication from which the supported number
of RBs may be determined. The supported BW or RBs may be different
for the control and data region and may be provided separately. BW
support of a device may include or consider the starting frequency
of the supported BW, for example, if the supported BW may not be at
the center of the full system or cell BW. It may consider whether
or not the BW or maximum set of RBs that the device may support may
be (or may need to be) in a window of consecutive RBs within the
full system BW or whether the RBs may be located, for example,
non-consecutively or in non-consecutive groups, as long as the
total number of RBs may not exceed the maximum number that may be
supported by the device. In one embodiment, the BW support of a
given device may be included as part of its subscription
information, for example, in its subscription record which may, for
example, be in a subscriber database. The MME or another network
entity may then obtain the BW support of a device, for example,
from the home subscriber service (HSS) during the registration
and/or authentication procedure (e.g. via such subscription
information). The information may be provided and/or retrieved
based on the device ID (e.g. an IMSI) of the device.
[0327] In another embodiment, the MME or another network entity may
obtain such device BW support information from other network nodes,
for example, from at least one of the following: a MTC-Inter
Working Function (IWF) which upon MTC device triggering from a
MTC-server (e.g. a MTC-Service Capability Server (SCS)) may
retrieve the UE/device subscription information from the home
subscriber service (HSS) and may pass the device specific
information to the serving MME of the device which may be the MME
for MTC device triggering for the device; another MME due to
UE/device mobility or due to MME overload reduction; and the
like.
[0328] According to yet another embodiment, a reduced BW device may
provide a network entity (e.g. a network controlling entity) such
as a MME with an indication that it may be a reduced BW device or
with its BW support during at least one of the network registration
actions such as an attach (e.g. in the "ATTACH REQUEST" message) or
during device or UE mobility management actions such as tracking
area update (TAU) (e.g. in the "TRACKING AREA UPDATE REQUEST"
message). For example, the device may include such BW support
information in at least one of the aforementioned messages itself,
or in at least one of its UE or device capability or network
support feature attribute IEs such as "UE network capabilities,"
"MS network capabilities," "MS Classmark 2," MS Classmark 3," "MS
network feature support," and the like.
[0329] The MME or other network entity may provide this information
to an eNB, for example, in support of certain procedures in which
the eNB may not have this information. For example, the MME or
other network entity may provide this BW support information (e.g.
which may include one or more items of information which may be
provided separately or in certain combinations such as in one or
more IE), to an eNB in association with paging (e.g. with an Si
PAGING message) for a given UE or device which may be attached but
not connected, (or detached/unattached but known to be located in
the paging area), so the eNB may know to page this device in a
certain or reduced BW.
[0330] As described herein, a device may provide its BW support to
an eNB or cell and/or the eNB, or cell may save the BW support of
the device.
[0331] As described herein, system information may be provided
and/or used such that reduced BW devices, also referred to herein
as narrower BW devices, may obtain system information. In such
embodiments, ePDCCH may be an example and may be replaced by
M-PDCCH, other inband signaling (e.g. in the PDSCH region) or other
means to convey DL control information to a narrower BW device.
Such embodiments described may be used individually or in
combination.
[0332] For example, existing broadcast SIBs may be used such as one
or more of the existing SIBs may be used by the narrower BW device.
In this embodiment, these SIBs may be allocated resources in the BW
that the narrower BW devices may access.
[0333] To, for example, enable a narrower BW device to determine
the resources used for system information and/or read system
information, one or more of the following may apply, for example in
a cell that may support narrower BW devices.
[0334] For example, in one embodiment, certain existing SIBs may be
(e.g. or may typically be or may always be) in the narrower BW in a
cell that may support a narrower BW device. The certain existing
SIBs may be each SIB (or all SIBs) or may be a limited set of SIBs
that may be applicable to narrower BW devices or low-cost devices.
The narrower BW may be in a fixed location such as the center RBs
of the system BW or may be semi-statically or dynamically changed
(e.g. via PHY signaling such as a DCI format). A device may be
told, for example, by higher layer signaling that may be broadcast
or dedicated signaling which (e.g., which of the) existing SIBs may
be found in the supported bandwidth.
[0335] For subframes carrying certain or each of the SIBs, the
number of OFDM symbols for PDCCH may be fixed (e.g. so the device
or UE may not or may not need to read PCFICH), for example, to 3
symbols. For subframes carrying SIB1, the number of OFDM symbols
for PDCCH may be fixed (e.g., so the device or UE may not or may
not need to read PCFICH), for example, to 3 symbols.
[0336] In an embodiment, an ePDCCH in one subframe (e.g., subframe
n) may be used to inform the location of a SIB in an upcoming
subframe (e.g. subframe n+x; x>=0). The ePDCCH DCI format may
include the necessary resource information. A PDSCH (e.g. in
subframe n) that may be indicated by the ePDCCH may provide
additional information regarding the upcoming SIB (e.g. the
scheduling and/or resource information). The relationship between n
and n+x may be known or the relationship (e.g. the value of x) may
be provided by the DCI format or a PDSCH in subframe n. For
example, the ePDCCH may be 1 subframe, or 1 DL subframe before the
subframe in which the upcoming SIB will occur. In another example,
the ePDCCH may be in the same subframe, but a number (e.g. 1) frame
before the frame in which the upcoming SIB may occur. n and n+x may
be specific subframes. For example, for SIB 1 which may be in
subframe 5, the ePDCCH may be in subframe 0. The location may
include the RBs. x may be 0 such that ePDCCH in one subframe (e.g.,
subframe n) may be used to inform the location of a SIB in the same
subframe (i.e., subframe n). ePDCCH in one subframe (e.g. subframe
n) may be used to inform the location of SIB 1 in an upcoming
subframe (e.g., subframe n+x). According to an example embodiment,
the ePDCCH used to inform (e.g. directly or via PDSCH) the location
of an upcoming SIB may have a known schedule and/or resources.
[0337] In another embodiment, ePDCCH may be used to inform the
location of a SIB (e.g. a new SIB) or other PDSCH that may provide
scheduling and/or location information for multiple (e.g., one or
more additional) SIBs. This ePDCCH may have a known schedule and/or
resources.
[0338] Additionally, the location of a SIB or PDSCH may be informed
or indicated (e.g., provided) by a grant (e.g. a DL grant) for the
SIB or PDSCH where such grant may be included in, decoded from, or
otherwise determined from an ePDCCH. The grant may include resource
information as well as parameters which may be used to read and/or
decode the SIB and/or PDSCH such as MCS. For ePDCCH to indicate the
location of SIBs, SI-RNTI may be used. ePDCCH for one or more of
these SIBs may have a known schedule and/or resources.
[0339] Broadcast information may also be provided and/or used as
described herein. For example, in a cell with large BW (e.g. larger
than that supported by a narrower BW UE or device such as an MTC
device), separate SIBs or other PDSCH may be provided to support a
narrower BW device. In such embodiments, one or more of the
following may apply. The new SIBs may be in the supported narrower
BW where the narrower BW may be in a fixed location such as the
center RBs of the system BW or may be semi-statically or
dynamically changed (e.g. via PHY signaling such as a DCI format).
The device may read one or more of the new SIBs instead of one or
more existing SIBs. The device may read one or more new SIBs in
addition to certain existing SIBs which may be transmitted in the
narrower BW that the device may support. The device may look for a
new SIB based on an existing SIB not being supported in the
narrower BW. The device may determine that an existing SIB may not
be supported in the narrower bandwidth from the resource allocation
of that SIB, for example, provided in a PDCCH or ePDCCH scrambled
with an SI-RNTI. Additionally, a new RNTI may be used for the new
SIB(s). The ePDCCH or PDCCH may be used to inform the devices the
location, for example, PDSCH locations, of the SIBs. For subframes
carrying these SIBs, the number of OFDM symbols for PDCCH may be
fixed (e.g. so the devices or UEs may not or may not need to read
PCFICH), for example, to 3 symbols. ePDCCH for one or more of these
SIBs may have a known schedule and/or resources. Certain SIBs (e.g.
one or more SIBs) may have a known schedule in time (e.g. which
subframes) and/or RBs. There may be a SIB similar to SIB 1 that may
have a known schedule and/or which may provide the schedule for
other SIBs. These SIBs may carry the same information as the
existing SIBs or may carry a subset and/or different information.
ePDCCH may be provided for each SIB or one ePDCCH may provide
information for locating and reading multiple SIBs.
[0340] The location of a SIB or PDSCH may be informed or indicated
(e.g. provided) by a grant (e.g., DL grant) for the SIB or PDSCH
where such grant may be included in, decoded from, or otherwise
determined from an ePDCCH. The grant may include resource
information as well as parameters which may be used to read and/or
decode the SIB/and/or PDSCH such as MCS. For ePDCCH indicating the
location of SIBs, SI-RNTI or another specific RNTI may be used.
[0341] Additionally, in embodiments, predefined and/or known
scheduling for DL Control may be used and/or provided. For example,
certain ePDCCHs may have a known schedule and/or resources defined,
for example, to enable the narrower BW devices to obtain system
information without reading the associated PDCCH which may span a
larger BW than the device may be able to decode. These ePDCCHs may
be referred to as pre-defined ePDCCHs and they may have a
predefined set of corresponding configuration parameters. As
described herein, ePDCCH (e.g. predefined or not) may be an example
and may be replaced by M-PDCCH, other inband signaling (e.g. in the
PDSCH region) or other means to convey DL control information to
narrower BW device.
[0342] According to an example embodiment, the predefined ePDCCH
may carry grants for UL and/or DL data transmissions; grants for
SIBs; grants for data including the configuration parameters of the
regular ePDCCH; and the like. In this embodiment, once the device
may receive the configuration for the regular ePDCCH, it may
monitor their corresponding search spaces.
[0343] Additionally, the frequency-domain and/or time-domain
locations of the predefined ePDCCH may be configured according to
one or more of the following. For example, the frequency-domain
position of the predefined ePDCCH may be fixed to the minimum
bandwidth of 6 RBs, or the BW known to be supported by the narrower
BW devices (e.g. which may be 5 MHz), or any other suitable reduced
bandwidth. In another example, the frequency-domain position of the
predefined ePDCCH may be located at the center of the actual system
bandwidth or alternatively, at a frequency location shifted with
respect to the system center frequency. In another example, the
time-domain position of the predefined ePDCCH may be fixed to a
certain subframe, subframes, or a set of subframes, and/or
subframes within a subframe. In another example, the device may
expect the predefined ePDCCH grants with a certain pre-defined
frame and/or subframe periodicity. For example, the predefined
ePDCCH may exist in the 5.sup.th subframe of each 4th frame with a
periodicity of 40 ms. In such an embodiment, the device may not
expect a predefined ePDCCH outside of those configured subframes.
In another example, the device may receive the predefined ePDCCH
within the configured frequency-domain position in a subframe. In
this embodiment, the device may use blind decoding to detect the
existence of the predefined ePDCCH in each subframe. In another
example, the physical resources allocated to the predefined ePDCCH
may be used to transmit other information such as DL data. In
another example, for the subframes carrying predefined ePDCCH, the
number of OFDM symbols for PDCCH may be fixed (e.g. to avoid the
need for UE to read PCFICH) to 3 symbols.
[0344] A predefined ePDCCH may grant a transmission according to
the processing of a network or system such as an LTE system with
the same reduced bandwidth of the predefined ePDCCH. For example, a
system with an original bandwidth of 100 RBs may also support
devices in a reduced-bandwidth of 25 RBs. The ePDCCH designated for
those devices in the reduced-bandwidth may be processed (e.g.
encoded, interleaved, and the like) and allocated to 25 virtual RBs
according to the rules and specifications of a system such as an
LTE system with 25 RBs. Then, in an embodiment, those 25 virtual
RBs may be mapped to the actual 25 RBs in the reduced-bandwidth
region. Such an approach may enable the reception of the ePDCCH by
devices without accessing the whole system bandwidth of 100
RBs.
[0345] A predefined ePDCCH may grant a transmission according to
one or more of the following. In one example, a subframe with a
static or dynamic subframe offset may be compared to the subframe
location of the same grant in a system such as an LTE system with
the same reduced bandwidth. Such a subframe offset may be
predefined for the devices or may be linked implicitly or
explicitly to other parameters of the system. An example of the
latter may be the case where the subframe offset may be linked to
the frame and/or subframe location of the received grant.
[0346] In another example, a subframe with a static or dynamic RB
offset may be compared to the RB location of the same grant in a
system such as an LTE system with the same reduced bandwidth. Such
a RB offset may be predefined for the devices or may be linked
implicitly or explicitly to other parameters of the system. An
example of the latter may be the case where the RB offset may be
linked to the RB location of the received grant within the
predefined set of the RBs for the predefined ePDCCH.
[0347] Paging, for example, for narrower BW devices, may be
provided and/or used as described herein. In paging, one or more of
the following may apply. For example, ePDCCH may be used to inform
the location of the paging channel PDSCH when the device or UE to
be paged may be known to be a narrower BW device. In such an
embodiment, ePDCCH may be sent in the paging occasion associated
with the UE or device (e.g. MTC device) based on its UE or device
ID or in each paging occasion of the cell. In another example,
ePDCCH may continue to be used to inform of the page in the paging
occasion(s) until the page may be terminated (e.g. based on the
page being answered or time out with no answer). In another
example, the location of the ePDCCH RBs for paging may be provided
in signaling such as RRC signaling where such signaling may be
broadcast or dedicated signaling.
[0348] In another example, a new paging schedule may be provided
for a narrower BW device which may not be a function of the UE or
device ID. For example a new PF and/or PO schedule may be
identified for a narrower BW device for which ePDCCH may be used to
inform the location and/or other configurations (e.g.,
configuration parameters) of the paging information or paging
channel. The schedule may be provided by system information (e.g.
via broadcast). In another example, to page a group of UEs
together, a group paging function may be introduced. The paging
schedule, e.g., for the group paging, may be independent of UE or
device ID and/or a group of UEs or devices may be told to read the
same paging channel. In another example, a ePDCCH may be used in
addition to PDCCH in the paging occasions.
[0349] According to an example embodiment, RBs that the device or
UE may decode or attempt to decode in the data region which may
include PDSCH RBs and/or ePDCCH RBs, for example, to receive a page
or paging data or to obtain paging or paging related information,
may be located in a set of RBs that may be within the BW or RBs of
the reduced BW UE or device. The location of those RBs and the
device's or UE's understanding of that location may be in
accordance with one or more of the embodiments described
herein.
[0350] According to an embodiment, a new P'-RNTI may be provided
for paging reduced BW devices. In such an embodiment, the reduced
BW devices may monitor PDCCH or ePDCCH and may blind decode using
the new P'-RNTI to determine if there may be paging data (e.g.
PDSCH or PDSCH which may be carrying PCH) for the device. If such
paging data may exist, it may be located in the BW or RBs the
device may support.
[0351] According to an embodiment, a single DCI may be used to
indicate multiple (e.g. 2) PDSCH blocks where certain blocks (e.g.
1) may be suitable for reception and decoding by reduced BW devices
and the others (e.g. 1 other) may not.
[0352] For devices (e.g. UEs or MTC devices) in a Connected Mode,
an eNB may have knowledge of which devices may be narrower BW
devices and may use ePDCCH for paging for Connected Mode devices
that may be known to be narrower BW UE/MTC devices. Alternatively,
dedicated signaling may be used instead of the paging channel for
devices that are known to be narrower BW devices. The eNB may
transmit PDSCH carrying paging data which may include paging data
(e.g. PCH) for at least one Connected Mode device that it may know
to be a narrower BW device in the BW and/or RBs the narrower BW
device may support. The eNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying paging
data (e.g. PCH) for at least one Connected Mode device that it may
know to be a narrower BW device and for at least one other device,
such as one that is not a narrower BW device, in the BW and/or RBs
the narrower BW device may support.
[0353] For devices (e.g. UEs or MTC devices) in an Idle Mode, an
eNB may not retain knowledge of which devices may be narrower BW
devices. The network entity that may request the page, for example
the MME, may provide that information to the eNB, for example, with
the paging request. In an embodiment, the ePDCCH may be used for
paging for Idle Mode devices that may be known to be narrower BW
devices. The eNB may transmit PDSCH carrying paging data which may
include paging data (e.g. PCH) for at least one Idle Mode device
that it may know to be a narrower BW device in the BW and/or RBs
the narrower BW device may support. The eNB may transmit a PDSCH
carrying paging data (e.g. PCH) for at least one Idle Mode device
that it may know to be a narrower BW device and for at least one
other device, such as one that may not be a narrower BW device, in
the BW and/or RBs the narrower BW device may support.
[0354] As described above, the ePDCCH may be an example and may be
replaced by M-PDCCH, other inband signaling (e.g., in the PDSCH
region) or other means to convey DL control information to a
narrower BW device.
[0355] Cell selection and/or reselection, for example for a
narrower bandwidth device, may be provided and/or used as described
herein. For example, a typical cell selection procedure may involve
a device (e.g. a UE) finding a best cell based on measurements, and
then determining if the cell may be suitable for camping. This may
include determining if the cell belongs to a Public Land Mobile
Network (PLMN) the device may connect to and whether the cell may
or may not be barred among other criteria.
[0356] In embodiments, a device may use additional criteria for
determining whether or not the cell is suitable for camping on. One
such criterion may be whether the cell may support narrower
bandwidth devices. If a narrower BW device may determine that a
cell may not support narrower BW devices or may not support its
narrower BW, the device may consider the cell unsuitable, for
example, for cell selection and/or reselection.
[0357] Additionally, support for narrower BW devices may indicate
that the cell may assign resources, for example, PDSCH resources,
to a narrower BW device in the BW it may support. For example, if a
device may support reception of 12 RBs, the cell may assign this
device PDSCH resources of 12 RBs or fewer, for example, in a given
subframe.
[0358] The device may determine whether a cell may support narrower
BW devices, and possibly whether it may support the BW of the
device or of narrower BW devices, based on one or more of the
following: an indication in a MIB as described herein; an
indication in SIB1 or another SIB (e.g. one or more of a bit, flag,
one or more BWs, or another indication); an indication in SIB1 that
new and/or special SIB(s) for narrower BW devices are being
broadcast; a new and/or special SIB(s) for narrower BW devices that
may be found by the device to be present; and the like.
[0359] The device (e.g., UE or MTC device) may determine that a
cell does not support narrower BW devices (or narrower BW devices
with the BW of this device) based on at least resources for SIB1
(or another SIB) being allocated in a BW, (e.g., number or RBs
and/or location), that the device does not support and/or new
and/or special SIB(s) for narrower BW devices are not found by the
device.
[0360] If the device may be able to read PDCCH, the normal
mechanism for obtaining the resource assignment for SIBs in PDSCH
may be used (e.g. via PDCCH scrambled with SI-RNTI). If not, an
alternate method such as one described herein may be used. For
example, a device may do one or more of the following. The device
(e.g., UE or MTC device) may choose a cell, for example, based on
measurements. The device may read the MIB and the MIB may provide
information to enable the device to read PDCCH to obtain the
location of SIB1. The device may look for the PDCCH which may give
it the location (e.g. resource allocation) of SIB1. If the SIB1
resource allocation may exceed the BW that may be supported by
device, the device may consider this cell unsuitable and may then
try to find another cell that may be suitable. If the SIB1 resource
allocation may be within the BW that may be supported by the
device, the device may read SIB1, which may include information on
whether the cell may support narrower BW devices. The device may
consider a cell unsuitable and may then try to find another cell
that may be suitable if one or more of the following may be true:
if SIB1 may not include an indication that the cell may support
narrower BW devices; if SIB1 may include an indication that the
cell may not support narrower BW devices; if SIB1 may include an
indication of the narrower BW supported and that BW may be larger
than the BW the device supports; and the like.
[0361] As another example, if after reading SIB1 as described
above, the device (e.g., UE or MTC device) may determine that the
narrower BW SIB(s) may not be broadcast in this cell (e.g. SIB1 may
not indicate that they may be broadcast), the device may consider
the cell unsuitable and may then try to find another cell that may
be suitable.
[0362] As another example, if the device may determine that the
narrower BW SIB(s) may not be broadcast in a cell, the device may
consider the cell unsuitable and may then try to find another cell
that may be suitable. A way to determine that the SIB(s) may not be
broadcast in the cell may be to keep looking for them, for example,
over their expected broadcast period and repetition rate (e.g. for
some time and/or based on a timer), until it may be reasonably
certain that they are not being broadcast.
[0363] As another example, the device may look for a SIB or other
transmission instead of, or in addition to, SIB 1. This SIB or
other transmission may have a known schedule and/or other
parameters to enable the device to know when to look for it or know
when to monitor a control channel such as PDCCH or ePDCCH to find
it. The device may monitor a control channel such as PDCCH or
ePDCCH to determine whether a SIB or other transmission relevant to
reduced BW operation may be present in a subframe and what
resources may be assigned to it. An RNTI which may be different
from SI-RNTI may be used. The device may learn from this SIB or
other transmissions at least one of whether the cell may support
reduced BW devices, parameters relating to the reduced BW operation
of the cell, or ePDCCH configuration for the cell, among
others.
[0364] For cell reselection, if the highest ranked cell or best
cell according to absolute priority reselection rules may not
support narrower BW devices or the narrower BW of the device, the
device may not consider the cell for reselection.
[0365] Additionally, in embodiments, an indication as to whether
neighbor cells may support narrower BW devices may be included in
the neighbor list information. This may include support or
non-support and/or the BW (or BWs) supported.
[0366] In embodiments, a device may measure (or only measure) cells
it may know support narrower BW devices or its narrower bandwidth;
a device may consider (or only consider) for reselection cells it
may know support narrower BW devices or its narrower bandwidth; a
device may be asked (or may only be asked) to measure cells that
may support narrower BW devices or its narrower bandwidth; and the
like.
[0367] According to an example embodiment, a device, e.g., a
reduced BW device which may be a UE or MTC device, may be provided
with a list of cells that may support narrower BW devices and/or
its narrower BW. The list may be preprogrammed, for example, in the
universal subscriber identity module (USIM)), may be provided to
the device via operations, administration and maintenance (e.g.
OA&M), or may be provided to the device by higher layer
signaling. The list may include, for example for each cell or group
of cells which may be in the list, one or more of a cell ID,
frequency, PLMN, system BW, narrower BW supported, and the
like.
[0368] A device (e.g., UE or MTC device) may read the MIB, SIB1, or
another SIB or SIBs of a neighbor cell to determine if it may
support narrower BW devices or its narrower bandwidth, for example,
when such information may not be available to it otherwise such as
in preprogrammed or signaled cell information such as neighbor cell
information. Since a narrower BW device may be expected to be a low
rate device, it may have time to obtain and read such
information.
[0369] Additionally, a device may store information it may learn
about support for reduced BW devices by certain cells such as cells
it may have previously visited or cell, e.g., neighbor cell,
information it may have received. The device may store this
information along with cell identification which may include one or
more of PLMN ID, physical cell ID, tracking area ID, among others.
The device may use this information to exclude certain cells such
as cells it may have learned may not support reduced BW devices
from its cell selection and/or reselection candidates and/or
neighbor cell measurements. In an embodiment, there may be a time
limit on how long this exclusion may be permitted.
[0370] As described herein, a narrower bandwidth device connection
procedure may be provided and/or used. For example, a cell that may
support narrower BW devices may provide Random Access Responses
(RAR), e.g., all RAR, in the narrower BW that it may support. If it
may support multiple narrower BWs, it may provide RAR, e.g., all
RAR, in the narrowest BW it may support. If the RAR from a cell may
be received by a device in a BW or RBs it may not support, or if
the RAR from a cell may be indicated to a device to be located in a
BW or RBs it may not support, the device may understand that the
cell may not support narrower BW devices or its narrower BW and may
or may need to reselect to a new cell.
[0371] The device may provide an indication in its RRC connection
request that it may be a narrower BW device and may include an
indication of the BW (e.g. the largest BW) it may support. Prior to
receiving the message that may identify whether a device may be a
narrower BW device, a cell that may support narrower BW devices may
provide DL assignments to that device in the narrow BW or the
narrowest BW it may support.
[0372] If a device may be assigned resources (e.g. DL resources),
in a BW it may not support, the device may consider this to be an
error. The device may wait to see if this may persist before
declaring a failure (e.g. possibly radio link failure) and may
(e.g. possibly) look for a new cell to connect to. If such an
assignment may be received prior to indicating that it may be a
narrower bandwidth device, the device may understand that the cell
may not support narrower BW devices or its narrower BW and may or
may need to reselect to a new cell.
[0373] A handover procedure involving reduced bandwidth devices may
be provided and/or used. For example, one or more of the following
items or actions may be used and/or may apply. An eNB may handover
(or may limit handover of) a reduced BW device to a cell that may
support reduced BW operation. In the X2 handover request from a
source eNB to a target eNB, the source eNB may include an
indication as to whether the device to be handed over may be a
reduced BW device and/or the BW support of the device (e.g. as
described herein above). In the X2 reply from the target eNB, the
target eNB may reject the request if it may not support reduced BW
devices or at least one aspect of the BW support indicated for the
device for which the request may have been made. The rejection may
include indication of this cause. A first eNB, (e.g. a source eNB
which may want to handover a reduced BW device to a target eNB) may
expect a certain response in an X2 reply (e.g. a X2 reply to an X2
handover request from the source eNB) from a second eNB, (e.g. the
target eNB for a handover), which would mean that it may support
reduced BW operation. If the first eNB may not receive the expected
response from the second eNB, it may understand that the second eNB
may not support reduced BW operation. An eNB may obtain information
regarding reduced BW support of a cell belonging to another eNB via
X2 signaling to and/or from that eNB, (e.g. via an X2 SETUP REQUEST
or an ENB CONFIGURATION UPDATE message). An eNB may obtain
information regarding reduced BW support of a cell belonging to
another eNB via the network (e.g. via OA&M). An eNB may include
in its neighbor relation table information regarding the full
and/or reduced BW support of its neighboring cells.
[0374] When a handover may be performed for a reduced BW device, if
a contention free random access procedure may be performed, for
example, to gain synchronization in the new cell, the cell may
provide the random access response in the supported BW of the
device since it may know that the device may be a reduced BW device
based on the handover request over the X2. If a contention based
random access procedure may be performed (e.g. along with or in
conjunction with a handover), one or more of the related
embodiments described herein may be applied.
[0375] Receiver complexity may also be reduced as described herein.
For example, systems and/or methods may be provided that may reduce
or minimize the implementation complexity of a device receiver such
as a UE or MTC receiver. Given the low throughput that may be
required in a device, a compact set of functions may be defined for
devices and the functions may be configured to coexist with legacy
devices or UEs (e.g. Rel-8/9/10). The system may use a device
configured with a single transmission antenna with two receive RF
chains as described herein.
[0376] A time shared RNTI may be used and/or provided to help
reduce such receiver complexity. For example, in some embodiments,
a new RNTI for a device may defined as a device RNTI such as a
MTC-RNTI which may use for downlink and uplink data transmission.
In such an embodiment, an eNB may support more than 20000 MTC
devices in a cell at the same time. In networks such as LTE
networks, an RNTI may given to a specific device or UE as an ID as
a result of the random access process in a cell, and it may be
masked on a 16-bit CRC in the PDCCH such that the device or UE may
blindly detect its control channels by checking the RNTI after
decoding a PDCCH. However, to support narrow BW devices such as MTC
devices and legacy UEs simultaneously in a cell, the number of RNTI
may not be enough considering that multiple RNTIs may be used for a
single legacy device or UE support. Therefore, in one embodiment,
the same RNTI may be shared with multiple devices. According to an
example embedment, the throughput requirement for a device such as
a MTC device may be relatively low such that the DL and/or UL grant
may be transmitted within the restricted number of subframes.
Although device RNTI or an MTC-RNTI may be shared with multiple
devices, the false alarm probability may be kept as it is in the
previous networks because the device or MTC-RNTI may be used in a
non-overlapped manner and a device may be forced to monitor the
subset of the subframe.
[0377] In an embodiment, from a device perspective (e.g. MTC
perspective), a device or MTC-RNTI and valid subframe information
may be provided together such that the device may monitor PDCCHs
configured by the device or MTC-RNTI for a subset of subframe. The
subframe may be defined as follows. The valid subframe for a device
or MTC-RNTI may be configured with 40 ms duty cycle. As such, a 40
bits bitmap may be used to indicate which subframe may be monitored
for the PDCCHs configured by the device or MTC-RNTI. The valid
subframe index may be provided in the first subframe of a radio
frame. As such, the radio frame header may be defined to provide
the subframe. The valid subframe may be defined as a predetermined
starting point within the duty cycle. As one example, the starting
subframe index N with duty cycle M may be provided to a device such
as a UE or MTC device. Then, the device may monitor if the subframe
index n may satisfy the condition (n-N)modM=0 and/or the duty cycle
may be defined with multiples of 8. One such example of a time
shared device or MTC-RNTI may be shown in FIG. 41.
[0378] Additionally, a device such as an MTC device may support
transmission mode and/or a single transmission scheme that may rely
on common reference signal (CRS) regardless of the number of eNB
antenna ports. The CRS may be defined (e.g. in Rel-8) according to
the number of antenna ports at an eNB transmitted and supportable
up to 4 antenna ports. Because the CRS may be used for downlink
control channel transmission including PCFICH, PDCCH, and PHICH, a
device such as an MTC device may read CRS for coherent demodulation
of downlink control channels. Therefore, in one embodiment, a
single transmission scheme such as transmit diversity scheme may be
used for PDSCH transmission for device such as an MTC device. In an
embodiment, the transmit diversity scheme (e.g. SFBC) may provide
diversity gain and robustness of data transmission when channel
state information may not be available at the eNB transmitter. In
the case of the single antenna port being used at an eNB
transmitter, a single-antenna port such as port-0 may be used for
the PDSCH transmission. The PDCCH and PDSCH configured by MTC-RNTI
(CRS-based) may be shown in the table of FIG. 42.
[0379] An alternative method may be based on a DM-RS based
transmission scheme. For example, a single device or UE-specific
antenna port may be defined to achieve beamforming gain. In
addition, the receiver design may be simpler than the CRS based
transmission scheme, because the same single device or UE-specific
antenna port may be used regardless of the number of antenna port
at the eNB transmitter. As such, a device such as an MTC device may
not implement multiple receivers which fit to transmission schemes.
Such an embodiment may be configured according to the table in FIG.
43 where PDCCH and PDSCH may be configured by device or MTC-RNTI
(e.g. DMRS-based).
[0380] According to an example embodiment, the DM-RS port for DM-RS
based transmission may be not restricted to port-7. As such, other
DM-RS ports may also used such as port-5, port-{8, 9, 10, . . . ,
14}. Additionally, to support multi-user MIMO, the DM-RS port may
be indicated by PDCCH and/or higher layers.
[0381] In a further embodiment, both CRS-based and DMRS-based
transmission modes may be used for a device such as an MTC device
and configured by a DCI format. Also, the transmission scheme may
be configured by a higher layer such that if a CRS-based
transmission scheme may be configured, a device such as an MTC
device may monitors DCI format 1A, otherwise DCI format 1 may be
monitored to reduce the blind detection trials. Such an embodiment
may be configured according to the table in FIG. 44 where PDCCH and
PDSCH may be configured by device or MTC-RNTI (e.g.
CRS/DMRS-based).
[0382] PDCCH and/or PDSCH reception may also be provided and/or
used. For example, a device such as an MTC device may receive a
specific CCE aggregation level for its PDCCH blind detection.
According to an embodiment (e.g. in Rel-8), the CCE aggregation
level may be {1, 2, 4, 8} and a device may attempts CCE aggregation
levels for the PDCCH detection thereby increasing the blind
decoding complexity. To minimize the PDCCH decoding complexity, in
one embodiment, an eNB may configure a specific CCE aggregation
level and/or a subset of CCE aggregation level for the device or
MTC device. Hence, a device such as an MTC device may monitor the
designated CCE aggregation level resulting in reduced decoding
complexity. Furthermore, the CCE aggregation level may be tied to
the subframe index. This alternative method may support various
coverage without blind detection by defining subframe specific CCE
aggregation level. For example, a device such as an MTC device may
monitor CCE aggregation level 1 in the subframe n and CCE
aggregation level 2 in the subframe n+1 and so forth. As such, the
PDCCH coverage may be defined according to the subframe index. The
subframe transmitting larger CCE aggregation level such as 4 and 8
may provide better PDCCH coverage.
[0383] In example embodiments, the CCE aggregation level may be
tied with the subframe index using one or more of the following
techniques. The CCE aggregation level for the PDCCH configured with
MTC-RNTI may be defined according the subframe index in
cell-specific manner. In this method, broadcasting channel may be
used for the CCE aggregation level information or the CCE
aggregation level may be predefined. Additionally, the CCE
aggregation level for the PDCCH configured with MTC-RNTI may be
defined in a device or UE-specific manner via higher layer
signaling. The CCE aggregation level for the PDCCH configured with
MTC-RNTI may be implicitly indicated by the device or MTC-RNTI.
According to an example embodiment, the device or MTC-RNTI value
being within a specific range may imply the CCE aggregation level.
An example embodiment of the subframe specific CCE aggregation
level may be depicted in FIG. 45.
[0384] A device such as an MTC device may receive the corresponding
PDSCH in the subframe n+k upon which the device or MTC may receive
PDCCH in the subframe n. The k can be defined as a positive integer
number including 1, 2, 3, and 4. In this embodiment, the device or
MTC device may assume that there may be no PDCCH for the device or
MTC device in the subframe n+1. This may relax the receiver
processing time for PDCSCH reception. In addition, a device such as
an MTC device may assume that the PDSCH may span multiple subframes
in the same resource blocks.
[0385] Additionally, in embodiments, burst based semi-persistent
scheduling may be used and/or provided as described herein. For
example, a device such as an MTC device may have burst traffic in
which the device may wake up for a short time period and may report
the information within the given time. The physical resource in
time frequency domain may be defined via higher layer signaling and
the PDCCH configured by a device or MTC-RNTI may trigger the burst
traffic transmitting and/or receiving until another PDCCH
configured by a device or MTC-RNTI may release the resources.
Because the time/frequency resources for each device may allocated
from a higher layer, the triggering PDCCH may be shared with
multiple devices.
[0386] As described herein, a new DCI format for the trigger and/or
release of physical resources may be defined in one embodiment. For
example, DCI format 3B may be defined for a device or MTC command
in which the state `0` may imply triggering and `1` may imply
release the resources, or vice-versa. In the DCI format 3B,
multiple device or MTC command bits may be included such that an
independent bit for each device may be allocated, thus, allowing a
flexible device specific trigger and/or release.
[0387] As an alternative method, two or three bits for a device or
MTC command in the DCI format 3B may be used to indicate multiple
status as follows:
[0388] 2 bit MTC command [0389] "00": trigger the burst
transmission [0390] "01": retransmission of PUSCH [0391] "10":
retransmission of PDSCH [0392] "11": release the burst
transmission
[0393] 3 bit MTC command [0394] "000": trigger the burst
transmission [0395] "001": retransmission of PUSCH [0396] "010":
retransmission of PDSCH [0397] "011": bundling TTI for PUSCH (2 ms)
[0398] "100": bundling TTI for PUSCH (3 ms) [0399] "101": bundling
TTI for PUSCH (4 ms) [0400] "110": release the burst transmission
[0401] "111": reserved
[0402] As shown in the examples, the device or MTC command may
include trigger and/or release physical resouces, retransmission of
PUSCH and/or PDSCH, and a TTI bundling command. The multiple device
or MTC commands in DCI format 3B may transmitted as follows: device
or MTC command 1, device or MTC command 2, device or MTC command 3,
. . . , device or MTC command N. The position of the device or MTC
command in the DCI format 3B may be provided to a device from
higher layer signaling.
[0403] A single RF chain device may also be provided and/or used in
an embodiment. For example, to reduce the cost of a device such as
a UE or MTC device, a device such as an LTE device with single
receive antenna may be used and/or introduced. By restricting the
number of receive antennas, the cost-saving in a device such as an
MTC device may be achieved by removing the second antenna, one of
the RF chains and lower baseband processing associated with the
second receive path.
[0404] One implication on the device such as a UE or MTC device by
removing one of the RF chains may be a reduced coverage due to the
lower receiver sensitivity. Given that the device may aim to
provide the same coverage as the legacy device (e.g. LTE UE), to
enhance the coverage of downlink signaling and control channels,
one or more the following solutions may be employed: power
boosting, enhanced control channel designs may be employed, UL HARQ
mechanisms may be eliminated, ACK/NACK repetition may be provided,
autonomous PDSCH retransmissions may be performed, the MCS scheme
may be restricted, and the like. For example, in an embodiment
(e.g. power boosting), increasing the power may be used as a tool
to improve the coverage of downlink control channels such as
PCFICH, PHICH and PDCCH.
[0405] Additionally, in another embodiment, enhanced control
channel designs may be employed. Such an embodiment may be
beneficial in HetNet scenarios wherein increasing the transmit
power may result in higher interference (e.g. low SINR) for the
devices. For example, PCFICH may be semi-statically configured for
devices which may imply no specific physical layer mechanism to
indicate the size of the control region in terms of the number of
OFDM symbols. As for PHICH and PDCCH, the device may receive those
control channels in the PDSCH region rather than the legacy control
region. By transmitting PHICH and PDCCH in the PDSCH region,
Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC) may be used to lower
the impact of inter-cell interference (ICI) on the devices and to
enhance the coverage of the control channels.
[0406] According to an embodiment, an UL HARQ mechanism may be
eliminated. For example, a network such as LTE may transmit PHICH
in the downlink to indicate the hybrid-ARQ acknowledgements in
response to UL data packet transmission. However, a device such as
a UE or MTC device may be designed without an UL HARQ mechanism to
reduce the signaling overhead. In this embodiment, the device may
autonomously retransmit the data in consecutive or predefined
subframes without waiting for ACK/NACK feedback on PHICH.
[0407] Additionally, ACK/NACK repetition may be provided and/or
used. For example, to enhance the PHICH coverage in situations
where power boosting may not be applicable (e.g. interference
limited environments), the HARQ ACK/NACK in response to UL data
packet transmission may be retransmitted in the downlink. According
to such an embodiment, PHICH may be retransmitted in consecutive or
predefined_subframes. The repetition factor for ACK/NACK
retransmission may be configured through higher layer signaling
(e.g. RRC) depending on the required coverage.
[0408] Autonomous PDSCH retransmissions may also be provided and/or
used. For example, to enhance the coverage of the downlink shared
channel, the PDSCH may be retransmitted in consecutive or
predefined_subframes without waiting for HARQ feedback on PUCCH
from the device or UE side. The number of retransmissions may be
configured through the higher layer. In this embodiment, the device
or UE may or may not transmit an acknowledgment on the UL. If the
device or UE may be expected to transmit feedback, the HARQ
acknowledgment may be generated after receiving the last
retransmitted PDSCH.
[0409] According to another example embodiment, the Modulation and
Coding Scheme (MCS) may be restricted. For example, based on such a
scheme, the device or UE may receive and/or decode a subset of the
modulation and coding combinations from the set defined for the
legacy network such as LTE. For example, the device such as the UE
or MTC device may receive and decode the QPSK modulated signal to
meet its recover sensitivity requirement. This may be to compensate
for the 3 dB loss due to the absence of receive diversity gain as a
result of eliminating the second antenna.
[0410] UL enhancements may also be provided and/or used. For
example, to reduce the cost of a device, the battery power
consumption may be lowered. Given that the major source of
inefficiency in transmit power may be the power back off due to
high signal peakiness of the transmit signal, a number of solutions
may be proposed to reduce the signal peakiness for the uplink of a
device. According to an embodiment, by reducing the signal
peakiness, the same coverage as in a network such as LTE may be
achieved with the smaller power amplifier. This, in turn, may lower
the cost of a device.
[0411] For example, partial PUSCH transmissions may be provided
and/or used. According to this embodiment, PUSCH may be transmitted
on the partial granted resources in the uplink. This may help
increase the power per subcarrier by using a narrower resource
allocation in the frequency domain. For example, PUSCH may be
transmitted on the even or odd subcarriers within the assigned
RB(s) while the power per resource block may be unchanged. In this
embodiment, to support the same transport block size as in current
systems or networks (e.g. LTE Rel-8), each transport block may be
transmitted in two or multiple subframes.
[0412] Also, to maintain the total system throughput, PUSCH
transmissions from multiple devices may be frequency multiplexed
(e.g. interlaced). For example, one device may use odd subcarriers
for PUSCH transmission and another device may use even subcarriers
for its PUSCH transmissions. The frequency shift and/or allocations
may be indicated to the device as a part of its uplink grant
transmitted in the DL.
[0413] To enhance the PUCCH coverage when lower power may be used
for uplink transmissions, the HARQ ACK/NACK in response to DL data
packet transmission may be retransmitted (e.g. ACK/NACK repetition
may be provided) in the uplink. According to this scheme, PUCCH may
be retransmitted in consecutive or predefined subframes. The
repetition factor for ACK/NACK retransmission may be configured
through higher layer signaling (e.g. RRC) depending on the
coverage.
[0414] As described herein, the DL HARQ mechanism may be
eliminated. For example, the network such as LTE may transmit PUCCH
in the uplink to indicate the hybrid-ARQ acknowledgements in
response to DL data packet transmission. However, a device may be
designed without a DL HARQ mechanism to reduce the signaling
overhead. In this embodiment, the eNB may autonomously retransmit
PDSCH in consecutive or predefined subframes without waiting for
ACK/NACK feedback on PUCCH.
[0415] Additionally, the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) may be
restricted. For example, based on this scheme, the device may
restricted to use a subset of the modulation and coding
combinations and/or transport block size from the set defined for
the uplink of a legacy network such as LTE. For example, the device
may use QPSK modulation for its uplink transmissions to lower the
required power de-rating at its power amplifier. According to an
example embodiment, higher order modulations such as QAM16 and
QAM64 may have higher cubic metric (and also higher peak to average
power ratio) which may use higher power back-off at the
transmitter. As a by-product of restricted MCS, a more compact DCI
format may also be introduced for the devices. The latter may imply
that the MCS field of the compact DCI format may be smaller than 5
bits (e.g. 3 bits). A more compact DCI format may also increase the
achievable coverage of PDCCH in DL.
[0416] Additionally, introducing a new modulation scheme for
devices such as .pi./M-shifted MPSK modulation schemes including
.pi./2-shifted BPSK may enable the coverage to be maintained due to
a lower signal peakiness (e.g. as compared to that of QPSK even
when the maximum transmission power may be reduced). By introducing
of a new modulation scheme, the transport block size and MCS
signaled on the downlink may be modified for the devices compared
to the legacy network such as LTE. This may be accomplished through
remapping of the MCS index received in the DCI to include the newly
introduced modulation scheme.
[0417] A spectrum shaping mechanism in the UL may also be
introduced. For example, spectrum shaping may be used to further
reduce signal peakiness. In such an embodiment, the use of Root
Raised-Cosine (RRC) or Kaiser window spectrum shaping may be
introduced as a feature for the devices such as UEs or MTC devices.
According to an embodiment, the introduction of spectrum shaping in
the UL may slightly increase the complexity at the device, may
lower battery power consumption, and/or may lower cost.
[0418] Additionally, uplink control channels may be provided and/or
used. For example, the following examples may be considered for a
device to transmit PUCCH without interfering with a SRS
transmission from a legacy device (e.g. a LTE UE). In one example,
different subframes may be configured for the device or MTC PUCCH
transmission and legacy device or UE SRS transmission,
respectively. A device may be configured with subframe(s) for its
PUCCH transmission where the subframe may not be a cell-specific
SRS subframe (e.g. a Rel-10 cell-specific SRS subframe). For
example, the device may be configured to transmit a periodic CSI
report on PUCCH in a subframe which may not be a cell-specific SRS
subframe (e.g. a Rel-10 cell-specific SRS subframe).
[0419] In another example, a piggy-back approach for UCI
transmission may be used. A device may transmit UCI (e.g., periodic
CSI and/or ACK/NACK) on PUSCH in a cell-specific SRS subframe (e.g.
Rel-10 cell-specific SRS subframe). In this embodiment, a PUSCH
resource may be allocated in either a dynamic manner (e.g. UL grant
in PDCCH), or semi-statically, (e.g. RRC signaling). If there may
be a PUSCH transmission (e.g. for UL-SCH) allocated for the device
in a cell-specific SRS subframe (e.g. Rel-10 cell-specific SRS
subframe), the device may piggy back the UCI transmission on the
PUSCH.
[0420] In another example, a shortened PUCCH format may be used in
each cell-specific SRS subframe (e.g. Rel-10 cell-specific SRS
subframe). If a device may be scheduled to transmit UCI such as
ACK/NACK and/or periodic CSI in a cell-specific SRS subframe (e.g.
Rel-10 cell-specific SRS subframe), the device may use a shortened
PUCCH format in the given SRS subframe. According to an example
embodiment (e.g. in Rel-10), shortened formats for PUCCH format
1a/b and PUCCH format 3, respectively, may be used. However, there
may be no shortened PUCCH format 2 currently provided that may be
used. As such, a shortened PUCCH format-2 may be defined as
described herein. Such a format may be defined as puncturing the
last 2 bits after (20, O) RM coding, for example, after the
periodic CSI sequence with N bits being encoded using (20, N) RM
coding, the last 2 bits of the resulting coded bits being
punctured, yielding to 18 coded bits. Using a different (M, O) RM
coding scheme or a block coding, a different (M, N) RM coding may
be used for a shortened PUCCH format 2 where M may not be equal to
20. In this embodiment, the RM coded output bits may be
rate-matched to 18 bits. Alternatively, a block coding may be used
to produce 18 bit long code output. Such a format may also be
defined as using a different set of basis sequence for (20, O) RM
code to enhance the hamming distance of the punctured 18 bit long
RM codes.
[0421] In another example, periodic CSI transmission may be dropped
in a cell-specific SRS subframe (e.g. Rel-10 cell-specific SRS
subframe). For example, the device may drop periodic CSI
transmission in a cell-specific SRS subframe (e.g. Rel-10
cell-specific SRS subframe). Additionally, the device may be
configured with aperiodic CSI transmission such that the device may
be configured to not report periodic CSI, but report aperiodic
CSI.
[0422] The examples and embodiments described herein may use the
terms narrower BW and reduced BW interchangeably. In addition, MTC
device may be replaced by UE or device or reduced BW UE or device
and be consistent with the description herein. BW may be replaced
by a number or set of RBs. This number or set of RBs which may
constitute the supported BW of a UE/device such a reduced BW
UE/device may be, or may not be, or may be required to be, or may
not be required to be, consecutive in frequency.
[0423] Additionally, in the embodiments described herein, ePDCCH
may be provided by an example and may be replaced by M-PDCCH, other
inband signaling (e.g. in the PDSCH region) or other means to
convey DL control information to a narrower BW device.
[0424] Furthermore, although features and elements are described
above in particular combinations, one of ordinary skill in the art
will appreciate that each feature or element can be used alone or
in any combination with the other features and elements. In
addition, the methods described herein may be implemented in a
computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a
computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor.
Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals
(transmitted over wired or wireless connections) and
computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable
storage media include, but are not limited to, a read only memory
(ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a register, cache memory,
semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard
disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media
such as CD-ROM disks, and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A
processor in association with software may be used to implement a
radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base
station, RNC, or any host computer.
* * * * *