Methods apparatus of eNB and UE for MTC with narrowband deployment

1. An apparatus of an evolved nodeB (eNB) for machine-type communications (MTC), the apparatus comprising:

control circuitry configured to:

determine a super-frame structure, the super-frame structure comprising a certain number of subframes wherein the certain number of subframes for the super-frame structure is set by the eNB, at least in part, based on a coverage enhancement target of a narrowband deployment;

determine configuration information for a user equipment (UE) in communication with the eNB; and

generate a configuration for an MTC control format indicator (M-CFI) for the UE to indicate the determined configuration information; and

transmit circuitry configured to transmit the M-CFI through a narrowband MTC Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (M-PCFICH) within a super-frame configured in accordance with the super-frame structure;

wherein an MTC resource element group (M-REG) is defined for transmission of the M-PCFICH, wherein a plurality of resource elements (REs) are mapped to the M-REG where the M-REG is not used for reference signals;

wherein the eNB further comprises circuitry to map M-PCFICH symbols on indicated M-REGs;

wherein the eNB is arranged to map the M-PCFICH symbols using

z (p) ( i )=[ y (p) (4 i ), y (p) (4 i+ 1), y (p) (4 i+ 2), y (p) (4 i+ 3)]

to denote a symbol quadruplet i for an antenna port P for M-PCFICH transmission, where y (p) (k), k=0, . . . , 15 represents an M-PCFICH signal for antenna port p and where p=0, . . . , P−1 represents a number of antenna ports for cell-specific reference signals Pε{ 1 , 2 , 4 };

wherein:

z (p) ( 0 ) is mapped to the M-REG represented by k=k,

z (p) ( 1 ) is mapped to the M-REG represented by k=k+1;

z (p) ( 2 ) is mapped to the M-REG represented by k=k+(N REG /2); and

z (p) ( 3 ) is mapped to the M-REG represented by k=k+1+(N REG /2); and

wherein:

k is an M-REG index;

k=2(N ID mod [N REG /4]); and

N REG is a number of M-REGs in one subframe of the superframe.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the M-CFI indicates resource information for an MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel (M-PDCCH) or MTC Physical Downlink Shared Channel (M-PDSCH) transmission.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the M-PDCCH comprises a number of symbol, slot, subframes, subcarrier, and physical resource blocks (PRB) for the M-PDCCH.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the transmit circuitry comprises:

block code circuitry configured to generate a codeword;

scrambling circuitry coupled to the block code circuitry and configured to scramble the codeword; and

modulation circuitry configured to generate a plurality of symbols from the scrambled codeword.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the M-PCFICH is determined from a plurality of symbols by an M-PCFICH mapping of resource elements associated with the symbols onto one or more subframes of the superframe structure.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the scrambling circuitry is configured to scramble the codeword using a scrambling sequence based on a function of a super-frame number associated with the super-frame.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of REs are mapped based at least in part on a first subcarrier and an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol associated with the M-REG.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the M-REG is allocated over one or more partial subframes of the certain number of subframes of the super-frame.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the M-REG is allocated over one or more contiguous or non-contiguous full subframes of the certain number of subframe of the super-frame.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the starting position is mapped in accordance with a physical cell identity.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the eNB is arranged to map second M-PCFICH symbols using

z (p) ( i )=[ y (p) (4 i ), y (p) (4 i+ 1), y (p) (4 i+ 2), y (p) (4 i+ 3)]

to denote a second symbol quadruplet i for the antenna port p for second M-PCFICH transmission, where y (p) (k), k=0, . . . , 15 represents second M-PCFICH signal for antenna port P

wherein:

z (p) ( 0 ) is mapped to a second M-REG represented by k=k;

z (p) ( 1 ) is mapped to the second M-REG represented by k=k+1;

z (p) ( 2 ) is mapped to the second M-REG represented by k=k+(N REG /2); and

z (p) ( 3 ) is mapped to the second M-REG represented by k=k+1+(N REG /2).

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the UE comprises four antenna ports;

wherein a cyclic prefix associated with the super-frame is an extended cyclic prefix; and

wherein:

N REG =38.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the eNB is arranged to map second M-PCFICH symbols using

z (p) ( i )=[ y (p) (4 i ), y (p) (4 i+ 1), y (p) (4 i+ 2), y (p) (4 i+ 3)]

to denote a second symbol quadruplet 1 for the antenna port p for second M-PCFICH transmission, where y (p) (k), k=0, . . . , 15 represents second M-PCFICH signal for antenna port p ;

wherein:

z (p) ( 0 ) is mapped to a second M-REG represented by k=k;

z (p) ( 1 ) is mapped to the second M-REG represented by k=k+[N REG /4];

z (p) ( 2 ) is mapped to the second M-REG represented by k=k+(N REG /2);

z (p) ( 3 ) is mapped to the second M-REG represented by k=k+[3 N REG /4].

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the eNB is arranged to map second M-PCFICH symbols using

z (p) ( i )=[ y (p) (4 i ), y (p) (4 i+ 1), y (p) (4 i+ 2), y (p) (4 i+ 3)]

to denote a second symbol quadruplet i for the antenna port p for second M-PCFICH transmission, where y (p) (k), k=0, . . . , 15, represents the second M-PCFICH signal for antenna port p ;

wherein:

z (p) ( 0 ) is mapped to a second M-REG represented by k=k;

z (p) ( 1 ) is mapped to the second M-REG represented by k=k+1;

z (p) ( 2 ) is mapped to the second M-REG represented by k=k+2;

z (p) ( 3 ) is mapped to the second M-REG represented by k=k+3.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising communication circuitry is further configured to receive uplink data from the UE and transmit hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) data using a MTC Physical HARQ Indicator Channel (M-PHICH); and

wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

generate the HARQ data based on the received uplink data; and

assign resources associated with M-PHICH based on a physical cell identity.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure an evolved nodeB (eNB) for machine-type communications (MTC) comprising:

determining a super-frame structure, the super-frame structure comprising a certain number of subframes wherein the certain number of subframes for the super-frame structure is set by the eNB, at least in part, on a bandwidth for the MTC;

determining configuration information for a user equipment (UE) in communication with the eNB;

generating a configuration for an MTC Control Format Indicator (M-CFI) for the UE to indicate the determined configuration information; and

transmitting circuitry configured to transmit the M-CFI through a narrowband MTC Physical Control Format Indicator (M-PCFICH) within a super-frame configured with the super-frame structure;

wherein the M-CFI indicates resource information for an MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel (M-PDCCH) or MTC Physical Downlink Shared Channel (M-PDSCH) transmission;

wherein an MTC resource element group (M-REG) is defined for transmission of the M-PCFICH, wherein a plurality of resource elements (REs) are mapped to the M-REG where the M-REG is not used for reference signals;

wherein the M-REG is allocated over one or more contiguous or non-contiguous full subframes of the super-frame;

wherein the eNB further comprises circuitry to map M-PCFICH symbols on indicated M-REGs, with the starting position in accordance with a physical cell identity;

wherein the eNB is arranged to map the M-PCFICH symbols using

z (p) ( i )=[ y (p) (4 i ), y (p) (4 i+ 1), y (p) (4 i+ 2), y (p) (4 i+ 3)]

to denote a symbol quadruplet 1 for an antenna port P for M-PCFICH transmission, where y (p) (k), k=0, . . . , 15, represents an M-PCFICH signal for antenna port p and where p=0, . . . , P−1 represents a number of antenna ports for cell-specific reference signals Pε{ 1 , 2 , 4 };

wherein:

z (p) ( 0 ) is mapped to the M-REG represented by k=k;

z (p) ( 1 ) is mapped to the M-REG represented by k=k+1;

z (p) ( 2 ) is mapped to the M-REG represented by k=k+(N REG /2); and

z (p) ( 3 ) is mapped to the M-REG represented by k=k+1+(N REG /2); and

wherein:

k is an M-REG index;

k=2(N ID mod [N REG /4]); and

N REG is a number of M-REGs in one subframe of the superframe.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 ,

wherein the M-REG is allocated over one or more partial subframes of the super-frame.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein the instructions further configure MTC physical broadcast channel (M-PBCH) circuitry to generate a codeword, scramble the codeword, and generate a plurality of symbols from the codeword;

wherein the M-CFI indicates resource information for the MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel (M-PDCCH) or the MTC Physical Downlink Shared Channel (M-PDSCH) transmission.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 16 ,

wherein the plurality of REs are mapped based at least in part on a first subcarrier and an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol associated with the M-REG.

20. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE) for machine-type communications (MTC), the apparatus comprising:

receive circuitry configured to receive a MTC control format indicator (M-CFI) through a narrowband MTC physical control format indicator channel (M-PCFICH) from an enhanced node B (eNB) within a super-frame having a super-frame structure, the super-frame structure comprising a certain number of subframes wherein the certain number of subframes for the super-frame structure is set by the eNB, at least in part, on a bandwidth for the MTC; and

control circuitry configured to:

detect configuration information associated with the super-frame structure based on the M-CFI, wherein the detected super frame structure is based, at least in part, on a bandwidth and coverage enhancement target of a narrowband deployment

wherein an MTC resource element group (M-REG) is defined for transmission of the M-PCFICH, wherein a plurality of resource elements (REs) are mapped to the M-REG where the M-REG is not used for reference signals;

wherein the M-REG is allocated over one or more contiguous or non-contiguous full subframes of the super-frame;

wherein the eNB further comprises circuitry to map M-PCFICH symbols on indicated M-REGs, with the starting position in accordance with a physical cell identity;

wherein the eNB is arranged to map the M-PCFICH symbols using

z (p) ( i )=[ y (p) (4 i ), y (p) (4 i+ 1), y (p) (4 i+ 2), y (p) (4 i+ 3)]

to denote a symbol quadruplet i for an antenna port p for M-PCFICH transmission, where y (p) (k), k=0, . . . , 15, represents an M-PCFICH signal for antenna port p and where p=0, . . . , P−1 represents a number of antenna ports for cell-specific reference signals Pε{ 1 , 2 , 4 };

wherein:

z (p) ( 0 ) is mapped to the M-REG represented by k=k;

z (p) ( 1 ) is mapped to the M-REG represented by k=k+1;

z (p) ( 2 ) is mapped to the M-REG represented by k=k+(N REG /2); and

z (p) ( 3 ) is mapped to the M-REG represented by k=k+1+(N REG /2); and

wherein:

k is an M-REG index;

k=2(N ID mod [N REG /4]); and

N REG is a number of M-REGs in one subframe of the superframe.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the coverage enhancement target comprises a link budget improvement associated with a periodicity of the super-frame structure.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the receive circuitry is further configured to:

receive downlink data from the ENB;

generate hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) data using the received downlink data;

assign resources associated with an MTC Physical HARQ Indicator Channel (M-PHICH) based on the physical cell identity; and

wherein the UE further comprises transmit circuitry configured to transmit the HARQ data using the M-PHICH.

23. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the M-CFI indicates resource information for an MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel (M-PDCCH) or MTC Physical Downlink Shared Channel (M-PDSCH) transmission.

24. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the M-PCFICH is determined from a plurality of symbols by an M-PCFICH mapping of resource elements associated with the symbols onto one or more subframes of the superframe structure.