System and method of MTC device operations

1. User equipment (TIE) comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals from an enhanced Node B (eNB) in a network; and

processing circuitry configured to:

select among a normal coverage mode and one of a plurality of enhanced coverage (EC) modes in which to configure the UE, each of the plurality of EC modes is associated with a different coverage extension target;

configure the transceiver to receive at least one physical broadcast channel (PBCH) signal from the eNB, dependent on whether the UE is in the normal coverage mode or in one of the plurality of EC modes;

combine the at least one PBCH signal when the UE is in one of the plurality of EC modes; and

decode at least the at least one PBCH signal to determine a plurality of resource regions configured to be used by UEs in one of the EC modes, the plurality of resource regions comprising different sets of resource regions, each set of resource regions associated with UEs in a different EC mode,

wherein within a particular subframe, a number of resource regions associated with uplink EC transmissions is independent of a number of resource regions associated with downlink EC transmissions,

the resource regions associated with uplink EC transmissions and the resource regions associated with downlink EC transmissions are frequency multiplexed, and

the number of resource regions associated with uplink EC transmissions and the number of resource regions associated with downlink EC transmissions is configured to vary with at least one of deployment of UEs in one of the EC modes served by the eNB or application used by each of the UEs.

2. The UE of claim 1 , wherein, in response to the processing circuitry configuring the UE to be in one of the plurality of EC modes, the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to receive a plurality of synchronization signals of the same type in six central physical resource blocks, and synchronize to the eNB using the plurality of synchronization signals.

3. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

determine which of the plurality of EC modes the UE is in response to determining at least one of:

a number of synchronization signals transmitted by the eNB combined to form a combined synchronization signal having the predetermined link budget,

a number of PBCH signals used to enable successful decoding of the at least one PBCH and

a measurement of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP).

4. The UE of claim 3 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to receive at least one of:

the number of synchronization signals in at least one of six central physical resource blocks and the set of resource regions associated with the UE EC mode, and

the PBCH signals in the set of resource regions associated with the UE EC mode.

5. The UE of claim 3 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

determine which set of resource regions to use based on the UE EC mode,

configure the transceiver to receive system information block signals in the set of resource regions associated with the UE EC mode, and

configure the transceiver to communicate with the eNB in both downlink and uplink transmissions using the set of resource regions.

6. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to receive at least one control signal, each control signal comprising a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) that is dependent on a signal type of the control signal.

7. The UE of claim 6 , wherein at least one of:

the RNTI is dependent on the EC mode, or

the at least one control signal comprises a paging signal and system information (SI) signal.

8. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to receive at least one of a paging signal and a system information block (SIB) signal in a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) in predefined resource regions, and

decode the at least one of the paging signal and the SIB free from decoding a physical downlink control channel (PHCCH) signal associated with the PDSCH.

9. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to receive at least one of a paging signal and a system information block (SIB) signal in a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) in predefined resource regions, and

decode the at least one of the paging signal and the SIB signal using a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) that is dependent on a signal type of the signal.

10. The UE of claim 9 , wherein at least one of:

the RNTI is dependent on the EC mode and a number of RNTIs available to encode a paging signal is independent of a number of RNTIs available to encode a system information block (SIB) signal, or

one of the at least one of the paging signal and the SIB signal uses an RNTI dependent on whether the LIE is in an EC mode and the other of the at least one of the paging signal and the SIB signal uses an RNTI of a UE in a normal coverage mode.

11. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

decode at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) signal and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) signal based on at least one of physical cell identifier of the eNB, Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) that is dependent on the EC mode and an index of the resource region.

12. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to receive at least one of a paging signal and a system information block (SIB) signal in a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) whose resource is indicated in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) signal associated with the PDSCH.

13. The UE of claim 1 , further comprising an antenna configured to transmit and receive communications between the transceiver and the eNB.

14. An apparatus of an eNode B (eNB), the apparatus comprising:

an interface to communicate with at least one user equipment (UE); and

processing circuitry in communication with the interface and configured to:

determine whether the at least one LIE served by the eNB is operating in one of a plurality of enhanced coverage (EC) modes associated with a different coverage extension target;

allocate a plurality of different sets of resources for a signal in response to determining that multiple UEs are operating in different EC modes, each set of resources corresponding to a different one of the EC modes, each set of resources configured to form a combined signal of a predetermined link budget when combined at the UE; and

configure a transceiver to transmit the signal in the sets of resources,

wherein within a particular subframe, a number of resource regions associated with uplink EC transmissions is independent of a number of resource regions associated with downlink EC transmissions,

the resource regions associated with uplink EC transmissions and the resource regions associated with downlink EC transmissions are frequency multiplexed, and

the number of resource regions associated with uplink EC transmissions and the number of resource regions associated with downlink EC transmissions is configured to vary with at least one of deployment of UEs in one of the EC modes served by the eNB or application used by each of the UEs.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein:

the signal is a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) signal, and the processing circuitry is further configured to configure the transceiver to transmit at least one of:

a plurality of synchronization signals of the same type in six central physical resource blocks and each set of resource regions, and

the PBCH signal in each set of resource regions.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein:

the signal is a control signal, and the processing circuitry is further configured to scramble the control signal using different Radio Network Temporary Identifiers (RNTIs) dependent on a signal type of the control signal.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein:

the RNTI is dependent on the EC mode.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein:

the control signal comprises at least one of a paging signal and system information (SI) signal.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to transmit to a particular UE at least one of a paging signal and a system information block (SIB) signal in a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) in predefined resource regions, and

encode the at least one of the paging signal and the SIB signal using a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) that is dependent on a signal type of the signal.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein:

the RNTI is dependent on the EC mode.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein:

a number of RNTIs available to encode the paging signal is independent of a number of RNTIs available to encode the SIB signal.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein:

one of the at least one of the paging signal and the SIB signal uses an RNTI dependent on whether the particular UE is in an EC mode and the other of the at least one of the paging signal and the SIB signal uses an RNTI of a UE in a normal coverage mode.

23. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure the transceiver to transmit at least one of a paging signal and a system information block (SIB) signal in a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) whose resource is indicated in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) signal associated with the PDSCH.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) to configure the UE to communicate with an enhanced Node B (eNB), the one or more processors to configure the UE to:

select among a normal coverage mode and an enhanced coverage (EC) mode in which to operate, the EC mode selected from a plurality of EC modes each associated with a different coverage extension target;

receive a signal from the eNB, the signal being received in a set of resource regions dependent on the mode in which the UE is operating; such that each set of resource regions is associated with a different mode, and scrambled using a Radio Network Temporary Identifiers (RNTI) dependent on at least one of a signal type of the signal and the mode in which the UE is operating;

combine the signal to form a combined signal when the UE is one of the plurality of EC modes to obtain a combined signal having a predetermined link budget; and

decode the combined signal using the RNTI,

wherein within a particular subframe, a number of resource regions associated with uplink EC transmissions is independent of a number of resource regions associated with downlink EC transmissions,

the resource regions associated with uplink EC transmissions and the resource regions associated with downlink EC transmissions are frequency multiplexed, and

the number of resource regions associated with uplink EC transmissions and the number of resource regions associated with downlink EC transmissions is configured to vary with at least one of deployment of UEs in one of the EC modes served by the eNB or application used by each of the UEs.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein:

one of the at least one of the paging signal and the SIB signal uses an RNTI dependent on whether the particular UE is in an EC mode and the other of the at least one of the paging signal and the SIB signal uses an RNTI of a UE in a normal coverage mode.

26. The UE of claim 1 , wherein:

at least one of the number of resource regions associated with uplink EC transmissions or the number of resource regions associated with downlink EC transmissions comprises a plurality of frequency multiplexed resource regions.

27. The UE of claim 1 , wherein:

within a particular subframe, multiple frequency multiplexed resource regions are associated with EC transmissions, and

the processing circuitry is configured to randomly select among the multiple resource regions to communicate with the eNB.