Downlink control indication for a stand-alone new carrier type (NCT)

1. A user equipment (UE) configured for determining a common search space (CSS) from a physical resource block (PRB) indication for a stand-alone carrier type, comprising:

a processing module to:

determine a PRB set in the CSS from an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (ARQ) indicator channel (ePHICH) configuration information in a master information block (MIB), wherein the ePHICH configuration information includes 3 bits, wherein at least 1 bit is used to indicate one or more PRB region candidates and at least 1 bit is used to indicate one or more ePHICH resource configurations; and

decode an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) or the ePHICH from PRB region candidates in the PRB set.

2. The UE of claim 1 , further comprising:

a transceiver module to:

receive the MIB including the ePHICH configuration information from a node,

wherein the node is selected from the group consisting of a base station (BS), a Node B (NB), an evolved Node B (eNB), a baseband unit (BBU), a remote radio head (RRH), a remote radio equipment (RRE), a remote radio unit (RRU), a central processing module (CPM), and combinations thereof.

3. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the stand-alone carrier type is a new carrier type (NCT) without a legacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

4. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the ePHICH configuration information includes 3 bits, wherein 1 bit is used to indicate two PRB region candidates, and 2 bits are used to indicate up to four ePHICH resource configurations, wherein an ePHICH resource configuration is a multiple of an NPHICH and the NPHICH is a parameter related to a system bandwidth.

5. The UE of claim 4 , wherein an ePHICH transmission can be implicitly indicated by the 3 ePHICH configuration information bits, and an ePHICH PRB begins from a specified PRB prior to a last PRB for the CSS of the ePDCCH indicated by the ePHICH configuration information bits.

6. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the ePHICH configuration information includes 3 bits, wherein 2 bits are used to indicate four PRB region candidates, and 1 bit is used to indicate up to two ePHICH resource configurations, wherein an ePHICH resource configuration is a multiple of an NPHICH and the NPHICH is a parameter related to a system bandwidth.

7. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the UE includes at least one of an antenna, a touch sensitive display screen, a speaker, a microphone, a graphics processor, an application processor, internal memory, a non-volatile memory port, and combinations thereof.

8. A user equipment (UE) to determine a location and a size of a common search space (CSS) of an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) for a stand-alone carrier, having computer circuitry configured to:

receive from an evolved Node B (eNB) the ePDCCH mapped to a CSS resource region with a CSS bandwidth (CBW) less than a system bandwidth (BW), wherein the CSS resource region is mapped to a central number of M of physical resource blocks (PRBs) including a central direct current (DC) subcarrier in a frequency domain; and

decode downlink control information (DCI) candidates in the CSS resource region for the ePDCCH.

9. The computer circuitry of claim 8 , wherein a start symbol of the CSS resource region is the first orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of a first slot in a subframe, an end symbol of the CSS resource region is the last OFDM symbol in the subframe, a CSS PRB size is a number of PRBs in the frequency domain for the CSS resource region, and the CSS PRB size is a fixed value or indicated through a physical layer channel.

10. The computer circuitry of claim 8 , wherein the computer circuitry is further configured to:

receive from the evolved Node B (eNB) a CSS indicator of the CSS resource region of the ePDCCH, wherein the CSS indicator includes a CSS bandwidth indication carried in an information element (IE) in a master information block (MIB) on a physical broadcast channel (PBCH).

11. The computer circuitry of claim 8 , wherein the computer circuitry is further configured to:

receive from the evolved Node B (eNB) a CSS indicator of the CSS resource region of the ePDCCH, wherein the CSS indicator includes a downlink system bandwidth indication carried in an information element (IE) in a master information block (MIB) on a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and a downlink system bandwidth has a predefined one-to-one mapping to a CSS bandwidth.

12. The computer circuitry of claim 8 , wherein the computer circuitry configured to decode the DCI candidates in the CSS resource region for the ePDCCH is further configured to:

descramble CSS bandwidth candidates with a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) mask specified for a CSS bandwidth, wherein each CSS bandwidth uses a unique CRC mask.

13. A user equipment (UE) to determine a location and a size of a common search space (CSS) of an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) for a stand-alone carrier, having computer circuitry configured to:

receive from an evolved Node B (eNB) the ePDCCH mapped to a CSS resource region with a CSS bandwidth (CBW) less than a system bandwidth (BW);

receive from the evolved Node B (eNB) a CSS indicator of the CSS resource region of the ePDCCH, wherein the system bandwidth (BW) includes a plurality of CSS candidate regions in the CSS resource region in the frequency domain, wherein each CSS candidate region is indicated by a CSS region index; and

decode downlink control information (DCI) candidates in the CSS resource region for the ePDCCH.

14. The computer circuitry of claim 13 , wherein the CSS region index is carried in an information element (IE) in a master information block (MIB) using radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

15. The computer circuitry of claim 14 , wherein a downlink system bandwidth has a predefined one-to-one mapping to a CSS bandwidth.

16. The computer circuitry of claim 13 , wherein the CSS indicator includes a physical common search space indicator channel (PCICH) including the CSS region index and CSS bandwidth information received on a same set of antenna ports as a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), wherein each PCICH for a cell uses a cell-specific symbol offset.

17. The computer circuitry of claim 8 , wherein the CBW is greater than or equal to six PRBs in the frequency domain.

18. The computer circuitry of claim 8 , wherein the CBW is less than or equal to a machine type communication (MTC) device bandwidth.

19. The computer circuitry of claim 8 , wherein the stand-alone carrier type is a new carrier type (NCT) without a legacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

20. The computer circuitry of claim 8 , wherein the UE includes at least one of an antenna, a touch sensitive display screen, a speaker, a microphone, a graphics processor, an application processor, internal memory, a non-volatile memory port, and combinations thereof.

21. The computer circuitry of claim 13 , wherein the CBW is greater than or equal to six PRBs in the frequency domain.

22. The computer circuitry of claim 13 , wherein the CBW is less than or equal to a machine type communication (MTC) device bandwidth.

23. The computer circuitry of claim 13 , wherein the stand-alone carrier type is a new carrier type (NCT) without a legacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

24. The computer circuitry of claim 13 , wherein the UE includes at least one of an antenna, a touch sensitive display screen, a speaker, a microphone, a graphics processor, an application processor, internal memory, a non-volatile memory port, and combinations thereof.