Control Channel and Data Channel Design for User Equipment
Control channel and data channel design for LTE user equipments are proposed. Due to reduced bandwidth design for cost reduction, resources for UEs are limited to contiguous six physical resource block (PRB) pairs (1.4 MHz). Six or less contiguous PRBs per narrow sub-band located in the whole channel bandwidth is allocated for transmission and reception for UEs. Novel control channel and data channel designs are proposed to make UEs be able to camp on LTE cells. In one embodiment, control channel configuration information is provided to UE. The control channel occupies one or more subframes within the allocated resources. The control channel configuration information comprises a number of aggregation level, a number of repetition, and a number of blind decoding trials.
1 . A method comprising:
allocating a set of resources to a user equipment (UE) by a base station in a mobile communication network, wherein the set of resource belongs to a narrow sub-band in a wider channel bandwidth, and wherein the narrow sub-band comprises a plurality of contiguous physical resource blocks (PRBs) including a control channel and a data channel for the UE; and
providing the control channel configuration information to the UE, wherein the control channel occupies over one or more subframes within the set of resources, and wherein the control channel configuration information comprises a number of aggregation level, a number of repetition, and a number of blind decoding trials.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of resources is identified by a starting PRB index and a number of consecutive PRB pairs, the set of resources is determined based on at least one of a predefined rule, a random access response, a downlink control channel information (DCI) order, and higher layer signaling.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the control channel configuration information is determined based on at least one of a predefined rule and higher layer signaling.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the control channel configuration information is associated with a mode of the UE configured by the base station.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the base station requests the UE to skip specific subframes for decoding the control channel.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the control channel carries downlink control information (DCI) for the data channel, and wherein the DCI comprises a repetition level and a starting subframe index of the data channel.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the base station assigns a measurement gap for intra-frequency measurement and reference signal time difference (RSTD) measurement.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the base station configures frequency hopping for the UE and indicates PRB pair starting index per subframe for channel state information (CSI) measurements.
9 . A method comprising:
determining a set of resources allocated to a user equipment (UE) in a mobile communication network, wherein the set of resource belongs to a narrow sub-band in a wider channel bandwidth, and wherein the narrow sub-band comprises a plurality of contiguous physical resource blocks (PRBs) including a control channel and a data channel for the UE; and
obtaining the control channel configuration information, wherein the control channel occupies over one or more subframes within the set of resources, and wherein the control channel configuration information comprises a number of aggregation level, a number of repetition, and a number of blind decoding trials.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the set of resources is identified by a starting PRB index and a number of consecutive PRB pairs, the set of resources is determined based on at least one of a predefined rule, a random access response, a downlink control channel information (DCI) order, and higher layer signaling.
11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the control channel configuration information is obtained based on at least one of a predefined rule and higher layer signaling.
12 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the UE is requested to skip specific subframes for decoding the control channel.
13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the control channel carries downlink control information (DCI) for the data channel, and wherein the DCI comprises a repetition level and a starting subframe index of the data channel.
14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the UE is assigned a measurement gap for intra-frequency measurement and reference signal time difference (RSTD) measurement.
15 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the UE is configured with frequency hopping and receives PRB pair starting index per subframe for channel state information (CSI) measurements.
16 . A user equipment (UE), comprising:
a resource configuration circuit that obtains a set of resources allocated to the UE in a mobile communication network, wherein the set of resource belongs to a narrow sub-band in a wider channel bandwidth, and wherein the narrow sub-band comprises a plurality of contiguous physical resource blocks (PRBs) including a control channel and a data channel for the UE; and
a decoder that decodes the control channel configuration information, wherein the control channel occupies over one or more subframes within the set of resources, and wherein the control channel configuration information comprises a number of aggregation level, a number of repetition, and a number of blind decoding trials.
17 . The UE of claim 16 , wherein the set of resources is identified by a starting PRB index and a number of consecutive PRB pairs, the set of resources is determined based on at least one of a predefined rule, a random access response, a downlink control channel information (DCI) order, and higher layer signaling.
18 . The UE of claim 16 , wherein the control channel configuration information is obtained based on at least one of a predefined rule and higher layer signaling.
19 . The UE of claim 16 , wherein the UE is requested to skip specific subframes for decoding the control channel.
20 . The UE of claim 16 , wherein the control channel carries downlink control information (DCI) for the data channel, and wherein the DCI comprises a repetition level and a starting subframe index of the data channel.
21 . The UE of claim 16 , wherein the UE is a low cost machine type communication (MTC) device with bandwidth reduction.