Radio link monitoring in a wireless communication device for an enhanced control channel

1. A method in a user equipment of determining the radio link quality, the method comprising:

acquiring signaling configuring the user equipment to monitor for a first type of control channel, the first type of control channel demodulated based on a first type of reference signal;

receiving a second type of reference signal in at least one or more Resource block Set, the second type of reference signal distinct from the first type of reference signal;

estimating a synchronization condition based on the received second type of reference signal and at least one attribute of the control channel; and

sending an output from a current layer to a higher layer based on the estimated synchronization condition,

wherein estimating comprises estimating the synchronization condition based on:

the received second type of reference signal and at least one attribute of the first type of control channel, and

a third type of reference signal and at least one attribute of a second type of control channel, wherein the user equipment further monitors for the second type of control channel, the second type of control channel demodulated based on the third type of reference signal.

2. A method in a user equipment of determining the radio link quality, the method comprising:

acquiring signaling configuring the user equipment to monitor for a first type of control channel, the first type of control channel demodulated based on a first type of reference signal;

receiving a second type of reference signal in at least one or more Resource block Set, the second type of reference signal distinct from the first type of reference signal;

estimating a synchronization condition based on the received second type of reference signal and at least one attribute of the control channel; and

sending an output from a current layer to a higher layer based on the estimated synchronization condition,

wherein the control channel is an enhanced control channel and wherein the at least one attribute of the control channel comprises at least one of:

a. a reference enhanced control channel element size,

b. a reference aggregation level for aggregation of enhanced control channel elements,

c. at least one of a localized and a distributed transmission of the enhanced control channel elements,

d. a reference transmission scheme associated with the control channel or an enhanced control channel element,

e. a signal-to-noise ratio gain parameter associated with transmission of the control channel,

f. one of a localized and distributed transmission of the enhanced control channel,

g. a reference search space associated with the control channel, and

h. a reference enhanced control channel bandwidth which is smaller than the bandwidth of a carrier on which it is monitored.

3. A method in a user equipment of determining the radio link quality, the method comprising:

acquiring signaling configuring the user equipment to monitor for a first type of control channel, the first type of control channel demodulated based on a first type of reference signal;

receiving a second type of reference signal in at least one or more Resource block Set, the second type of reference signal distinct from the first type of reference signal;

estimating a synchronization condition based on the received second type of reference signal and at least one attribute of the control channel; and

sending an output from a current layer to a higher layer based on the estimated synchronization condition,

wherein estimating a synchronization condition based on the received second type of reference signal and at least one attribute of the control channel further comprises:

determining a channel state based on the received second type of reference signal where the second type of reference signal is received on an antenna port; and

ascertaining the synchronization condition based on the channel state, and

wherein determining the channel state further comprises determining the channel state based on a transmission scheme, wherein transmission scheme information is acquired via higher layer signaling.

4. A method in a user equipment of determining the radio link quality, the method comprising:

acquiring signaling configuring the user equipment to monitor for a first type of control channel, the first type of control channel demodulated based on a first type of reference signal;

receiving a second type of reference signal in at least one or more Resource block Set, the second type of reference signal distinct from the first type of reference signal;

estimating a synchronization condition based on the received second type of reference signal and at least one attribute of the control channel;

sending an output from a current layer to a higher layer based on the estimated synchronization condition;

receiving an enhanced control channel codeword on a same resource block set as the first type of reference signal;

decoding the enhanced control channel codeword; and

comparing an estimated block error rate to a threshold to detect the synchronization condition.

5. A method in a user equipment of determining the radio link quality, the method comprising:

acquiring signaling configuring the user equipment to monitor for a first type of control channel, the first type of control channel demodulated based on a first type of reference signal;

receiving a second type of reference signal in at least one or more Resource block Set, the second type of reference signal distinct from the first type of reference signal;

estimating a synchronization condition based on the received second type of reference signal and at least one attribute of the control channel;

sending an output from a current layer to a higher layer based on the estimated synchronization condition;

detecting a synchronization condition by receiving an enhanced control channel codeword on a at least one resource block of the resource block set;

decoding the codeword;

estimating a block error rate based on the decoding; and

comparing the estimated block error rate to a threshold to detect the synchronization condition.

6. A user equipment comprising:

a transceiver; and

a processor coupled to the transceiver,

where the processor is configured to acquire signaling configuring the user equipment to monitor for a first type of control channel, the first type of control channel demodulated based on a first type of reference signal,

where the processor is configured to receive a second type of reference signal in at least one or more resource block set, the second type of reference signal distinct from the first type of reference signal,

where the processor is configured to estimate a synchronization condition based on the received second type of reference signal and at least one attribute of the control channel,

where the processor is configured to send an output from a current layer to a higher layer based on the estimated synchronization condition,

where the processor is configured to estimate the synchronization condition based on the received second type of reference signal and at least one attribute of the first type of control channel, and

where the processor is configured to estimate the synchronization condition based on a third type of reference signal and at least one attribute of a second type of control channel, wherein the user equipment further monitors for the second type of control channel, the second type of control channel demodulated based on the third type of reference signal.