Joint Transmission CoMP with Single Carrier Cell Aggregation

1 . An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, where the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to at least:

determine each transmission point participating in a joint cooperative multi-point transmission to a user equipment;

send a downlink message to the user equipment which identifies each of the transmission points, and which schedules for the user equipment downlink resources on which each of the transmission points are to send downlink data to the user equipment in the joint cooperative multi-point transmission; and

send a transmission to the user equipment on one of the downlink resources in conjunction with each other transmission point's transmission to the user equipment.

2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , in which the downlink message comprises a physical downlink control channel and the downlink resources comprise a physical downlink shared channel, where the downlink resources are assigned to all transmission points participating in the joint cooperative multi-point transmission.

3 . The apparatus according to claim 2 , in which the physical downlink control channel comprises a bitmap which maps to a cell identity of each of the transmission points.

4 . The apparatus according to claim 2 , in which the physical downlink control channel comprises a bit value in a carrier identification field which maps to a cell identity of each of the transmission points.

5 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , in which the at least one memory including the computer program code is configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to further rate match the sent transmission around a common reference signal initialized with all of the identities of the downlink message.

6 . The apparatus according to claim 5 , in which the sent transmission as well as each other transmission point's transmission is scrambled and spread with codes initialized with one of the identities of the downlink message.

7 . The apparatus according to claim 2 , where for a joint cooperative multi-point transmission with two or more cells resource elements are left unused in the physical downlink shared channel to enable a rate match of the two or more cells.

8 . The apparatus according to claim 7 , where the unused resource elements are for transmission by any of the two or more cells of common reference signals.

9 . The apparatus according to claim 8 , where the common reference signals comprise at least one of cell-specific reference signals, positioning reference signals, channel state information reference signals, and multicast broadcast over a single frequency network reference signals.

10 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , in which each of the transmission points as well as the apparatus comprise a network access node.

11 . A method, comprising:

determining each transmission point participating in a joint cooperative multi-point transmission to a user equipment;

sending a downlink message to the user equipment which identifies each of the transmission points, and which schedules for the user equipment downlink resources on which each of the transmission points are to send downlink data to the user equipment in the joint cooperative multi-point transmission; and

sending a transmission to the user equipment on one of the downlink resources in conjunction with each other transmission point's transmission to the user equipment.

12 . The method according to claim 11 , in which the downlink message comprises a physical downlink control channel and the downlink resources comprise a physical downlink shared channel, where the downlink resources are assigned to all transmission points participating in the joint cooperative multi-point transmission.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , in which the physical downlink control channel comprises a bitmap which maps to a cell identity of each of the transmission points.

14 . The method according to claim 12 , in which the physical downlink control channel comprises a bit value in a carrier identification field which maps to a cell identity of each of the transmission points.

15 . The method according to claim 12 , where for a joint cooperative multi-point transmission with two or more cells resource elements are left unused in the physical downlink shared channel to enable a rate match of the two or more cells.

16 . The method according to claim 15 , where the unused resource elements are for transmission by any of the two or more cells of common reference signals.

17 . The method according to claim 16 , where the common reference signals comprise at least one of cell-specific reference signals, positioning reference signals, channel state information reference signals, and multicast broadcast over a single frequency network reference signals.

18 . The method according to claim 11 , comprising rate matching the sent transmission around a common reference signal initialized with all of the identities of the downlink message.

19 . The method according to claim 11 , in which the sent transmission as well as each other transmission point's transmission is scrambled and spread with codes initialized with one of the identities of the downlink message.

20 . The method according to claim 11 , in which each of the transmission points as well as the apparatus comprise a network access node.

21 . At least one computer readable medium including at least one computer program code executable by at least one processor to perform the method claim 11 .

22 . An apparatus, comprising:

means for determining each transmission point participating in a joint cooperative multi-point transmission to a user equipment;

means for sending a downlink message to the user equipment which identifies each of the transmission points, and which schedules for the user equipment downlink resources on which each of the transmission points are to send downlink data to the user equipment in the joint cooperative multi-point transmission; and

means for sending a transmission to the user equipment on one of the downlink resources in conjunction with each other transmission point's transmission to the user equipment.

23 . The apparatus according to claim 22 , where the means for determining and the means for sending comprises at least one memory including computer program code is configured, and at least one processor, and an interface to a communications network.

24 . An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, where the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to at least:

receive a downlink message which identifies each of transmission points participating in a joint cooperative multi-point transmission with a user equipment, and which schedules downlink resources on which the user equipment is to receive downlink data from the transmission points for the joint cooperative multi-point transmission; and

receive a transmission on one of the downlink resources in conjunction with the other transmission point's transmission.

25 . The apparatus according to claim 24 , in which the downlink message comprises a physical downlink control channel and the downlink resources comprise a physical downlink shared channel, where the downlink resources are assigned to all transmission points participating in the joint cooperative multi-point transmission.

26 . The apparatus according to claim 25 , in which the physical downlink control channel comprises a bitmap which maps to a cell identity of each of the transmission points.

27 . The apparatus according to claim 25 , in which the physical downlink control channel comprises a bit value in a carrier identification field which maps to a cell identity of each of the transmission points.

28 . The apparatus according to claim 25 , where for a joint cooperative multi-point transmission with two or more cells resource elements are left unused in the physical downlink shared channel to enable a rate match of the two or more cells.

29 . The apparatus according to claim 28 , where the unused resource elements are for transmission by any of the two or more cells of common reference signals.

30 . The apparatus according to claim 29 , where the common reference signals comprise at least one of cell-specific reference signals, positioning reference signals, channel state information reference signals, and multicast broadcast over a single frequency network reference signals.

31 . The apparatus according to claim 24 , in which the at least one memory including the computer program code is configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to further rate match the received transmission around a common reference signal initialized with all of the identities of the downlink message.

32 . The apparatus according to claim 24 , in which the received transmission as well as each other transmission point's transmission is scrambled and spread with codes initialized with one of the identities of the downlink message.

33 . The apparatus according to claim 24 , in which each of the transmission points as well as the apparatus comprise a network access node.

34 . An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a downlink message which identifies each of transmission points participating in a joint cooperative multi-point transmission with a user equipment, and which schedules downlink resources on which the user equipment is to receive downlink data from the transmission points for the joint cooperative multi-point transmission; and

means for receiving a transmission on one of the downlink resources in conjunction with the other transmission point's transmission.

35 . The apparatus according to claim 34 , where the means for receiving comprises at least one memory including computer program code is configured, and at least one processor, and an interface to the communications network.

36 . A method, comprising:

receiving a downlink message which identifies each of transmission points participating in a joint cooperative multi-point transmission with a user equipment, and which schedules downlink resources on which the user equipment is to receive downlink data from the transmission points for the joint cooperative multi-point transmission; and

receiving a transmission on one of the downlink resources in conjunction with the other transmission point's transmission.

37 . The method according to claim 36 , in which the downlink message comprises a physical downlink control channel and the downlink resources comprise a physical downlink shared channel, where the downlink resources are assigned to all the transmission points participating in the joint cooperative multi-point transmission.

38 . The method according to claim 37 , in which the physical downlink control channel comprises a bitmap which maps to a cell identity of each of the transmission points.

39 . The method according to claim 37 , in which the physical downlink control channel comprises a bit value in a carrier identification field which maps to a cell identity of each of the transmission points.

40 . The method according to claim 37 , where for a joint cooperative multi-point transmission with two or more cells resource elements are left unused in the physical downlink shared channel to enable a rate match of the two or more cells.

41 . The method according to claim 40 , where the unused resource elements are for transmission by any of the two or more cells of common reference signals.

42 . The method according to claim 41 , where the common reference signals comprise at least one of cell-specific reference signals, positioning reference signals, channel state information reference signals, and multicast broadcast over a single frequency network reference signals.

43 . The method according to claim 36 , further comprising rate matching the received transmission around a common reference signal initialized with all of the identities of the downlink message.

44 . The method according to claim 36 , in which the received transmission as well as each other transmission point's transmission is scrambled and spread with codes initialized with one of the identities of the downlink message.

45 . The method according to claim 36 , in which each of the transmission points comprise a network access node.

46 . At least one computer readable medium including at least one computer program code executable by at least one processor to perform the method of claim 36 .