Communications device, infrastructure equipment, wireless communications network and methods
A user terminal configured to perform communication with an infrastructure equipment of a mobile communications network. The user terminal including a receiver configured to receive signals transmitted by the infrastructure equipment in accordance with a wireless access interface and a transmitter configured to transmit signals to the infrastructure equipment in accordance with the wireless access interface. The user terminal is configured to receive an indication on a downlink of the wireless access interface of one of a plurality of different subcarrier spacing which the communications device should use to transmit or to receive the signals representing the data.
1. A communications device configured to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from a mobile communications network, the communications device comprising:
circuitry configured to
transmit data via an uplink of a wireless access interface or to receive data on a downlink of the wireless access interface, wherein the wireless access interface is configured to provide a plurality of different spacing of subcarriers for transmitting signals representing the data on the uplink or for receiving the signals representing the data on the downlink;
receive a downlink control message including at least a first field indicating one of the plurality of different subcarrier spacing which the communications device should use to transmit or to receive the signals representing the data and at least a second field indicating which of the subcarriers of a plurality of available subcarriers, with the indicated subcarrier spacing, the communications device should use to transmit the data or to receive the data or which plurality of available subcarriers, with the indicated subcarrier spacing, the communications device should use to transmit or to receive the data; and
interpret differently the at least the second field indicating which of the subcarrier or multiple subcarriers to use depending upon whether the at least the first field indicating the subcarrier spacing indicates a subcarrier spacing which can only be used as a single subcarrier or a subcarrier spacing which can be used as a single or multiple subcarrier.
2. The communications device of claim 1 , wherein the at least the second field indicating which of the subcarrier or multiple subcarriers to use as a function of the subcarrier spacing is predetermined and can be represented as a table.
3. The communications device of claim 2 , wherein the interpretation of the at least the second field indicating which of the subcarrier or multiple subcarriers to use as a function of the subcarrier spacing is received as part of broadcast system information.
4. The communications device of claim 1 , wherein the downlink control message includes an indication of one or more of a modulation scheme to be used, a coding scheme to be used and a transport block size to be used by the communications device when transmitting the data, and the circuitry is configured to interpret the indication of one or more of the modulation scheme, the coding scheme and the transport block size to use differently depending on the indicated subcarrier spacing.
5. The communications device of claim 4 , wherein the different interpretation of the indication of one or more of the modulation scheme, the coding scheme and the transport block size depending on the indicated subcarrier spacing is received as part of broadcast system information.
6. The communications device of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to
measure a strength of signals received from the mobile communications network via the wireless access interface; and
transmit a report of the measurements to the mobile communications network, which selects the subcarrier spacing for the communications device based on the received measurement report.
7. The communications device of claim 1 , wherein the downlink control message is transmitted as part of a random access procedure.
8. The communications device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of different spacing of the subcarriers comprises a spacing of 3.75 kHz and a spacing of 15 kHz.
9. The communications device of claim 8 , wherein the indication of the 3.75 kHz subcarrier spacing indicates that the communications device should transmit the signals representing the data or receive the signals representing the data on a single subcarrier.
10. The communications device of claim 8 , wherein the indication of the 15 kHz subcarrier indicates that the communications device should transmit the signals representing the data or receive the signals representing the data on a single subcarrier or multiple subcarriers.
11. A method of communicating data to or from a communications device via a mobile communications network, the method comprising:
transmitting signals representing data from the communications device via an uplink of a wireless access interface, or receiving signals representing data at the communications device via a downlink of the wireless access interface, wherein the wireless access interface is configured to provide a plurality of different spacing of subcarriers for transmitting signals representing the data on the uplink or for receiving the signals representing the data on the downlink, wherein
the transmitting or the receiving includes receiving a downlink control message including at least a first field indicating one of the plurality of different subcarrier spacing which the communications device should use to transmit or to receive the signals representing the data and at least a second field indicating which of the subcarriers of a plurality of available subcarriers, with the indicated subcarrier spacing, the communications device should use to transmit the data or to receive the data or which plurality of available subcarriers, with the indicated subcarrier spacing, the communications device should use to transmit or to receive the data; and
interpreting differently the at least the second field indicating which of the subcarrier or multiple subcarriers to use depending upon whether the at least the first field indicating the subcarrier spacing indicates a subcarrier spacing which can only be used as a single subcarrier or a subcarrier spacing which can be used as a single or multiple subcarrier.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least the second field indicating which of the subcarrier or multiple subcarriers to use as a function of the subcarrier spacing is predetermined and can be represented as a table.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the predetermined interpretation of the at least the second field indicating which of the subcarrier or multiple subcarriers to use as a function of the subcarrier spacing is received as part of broadcast system information.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the downlink control message includes an indication of one or more of a modulation scheme to be used, a coding scheme to be used and a transport block size to be used by the communications device when transmitting the data, and the method further comprises:
interpreting the indication of one or more of the modulation scheme, the coding scheme and the transport block size to use differently depending on the indicated subcarrier spacing.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the different interpretation of the indication of one or more of the modulation scheme, the coding scheme and the transport block size depending on the indicated subcarrier spacing is received as part of broadcast system information.
16. A communications device configured to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from a mobile communications network, the communications device comprising:
circuitry configured to
transmit data via an uplink of a wireless access interface or to receive data on a downlink of the wireless access interface, wherein the wireless access interface is configured to provide a plurality of different spacing of subcarriers for transmitting signals representing the data on the uplink;
receive a downlink control message including at least a first field indicating one of the plurality of different subcarrier spacing which the communications device should use to transmit signals representing the data and at least a second field indicating which of the subcarriers of a plurality of available subcarriers, with the indicated subcarrier spacing, the communications device should use to transmit the data or which plurality of available subcarriers, with the indicated subcarrier spacing, the communications device should use to transmit the data; and
interpret differently the at least the second field indicating which of the subcarrier or multiple subcarriers to use depending upon whether the at least the first field indicating the subcarrier spacing indicates a subcarrier spacing which can only be used as a single subcarrier or a subcarrier spacing which can be used as a single or multiple subcarrier.