Methods and nodes in a wireless communication network

1. A non-transitory storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

jointly encode at least two of the three following pieces of transmission burst information in first Downlink Control Information (DCI): an end subframe configuration, number of subframes to monitor, or whether a current subframe is an end subframe, thereby arriving at encoded transmission burst information; and

transmit the first DCI comprising the encoded transmission burst information with a first DCI format to a receive device, the first DCI format has a same number of bits as a second DCI format of a second DCI used for Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) scheduling; and

transmitting the second DCI to the receive device, the second DCI comprising control information for PDSCH scheduling.

2. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein the first DCI comprises an indication that the first DCI comprises the transmission burst information.

3. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein when the instructions are executed by the computer, the instructions further cause the computer to:

transmit the first DCI in response to a determination that the receive device is not scheduled on the PDSCH.

4. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein when the instructions are executed by the computer, the instructions cause the computer to:

determine that a receive device is scheduled on the PDSCH; and

transmit the second DCI comprising the second DCI format for the PDSCH scheduling.

5. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 2 , wherein the indication comprises a flag indicating that a DCI format 0 is used.

6. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 2 , wherein the indication comprises a pre-defined code point.

7. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein when the instructions are executed by the computer, the instructions cause the computer to:

determine the second DCI format used for the PDSCH scheduling before generating the first DCI.

8. A non-transitory storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive a first Downlink Control Information (DCI), the DCI comprising encoded transmission burst information with a first DCI format, wherein the encoded transmission burst information is obtained by jointly encoding at least two of the three following pieces of transmission burst information in the first DCI: an end subframe configuration, number of subframes to monitor, or whether a current subframe is an end subframe; the first DCI format has a same number of bits as a second DCI format of a second DCI used for Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) scheduling;

determine that the received first DCI comprises the transmission burst information; and

derive the transmission burst information from the first DCI.

9. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 8 , wherein when the instructions are executed by the computer, the instructions further cause the computer to:

determine that the received first DCI comprises the transmission burst information based on an indication in the first DCI that the first DCI comprises the transmission burst information.

10. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 8 , wherein when the instructions are executed by the computer, the instructions further cause the computer to:

receive the second DCI comprising the second DCI format for the PDSCH scheduling, when a receive device is scheduled with a PDSCH;

derive control information for the PDSCH scheduling from the second DCI; and

decode information received on the PDSCH, the decoding based on the control information received in the second DCI.

11. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 8 , wherein when the instructions are executed by the computer, the instructions further cause the computer to:

derive information related to the transmission burst and derive control information for the PDSCH scheduling from the received first DCI; and

decode information received on a PDSCH, the decoding based on the control information of the received first DCI.

12. A communication method, comprising:

generating, by a transmit device, a first Downlink Control Information (DCI) for transmission;

jointly encode at least two of the three following pieces of transmission burst information in the first DCI: an end subframe configuration, number of subframes to monitor, or whether a current subframe is an end subframe, thereby arriving at encoded transmission burst information;

transmitting, by the transmit device, the first DCI comprising the encoded transmission burst information to a receive device, the encoded transmission burst information having a first DCI format and the first DCI format having a same number of bits as a second DCI format of a second DCI used for Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) scheduling;

receiving, by the receive device, the first DCI from the transmit device; and

transmitting, by the transmit device, the second DCI to the receive device, the second DCI comprising control information for PDSCH scheduling.

13. The communication method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

deriving, by the receive device, the transmission burst information from the first DCI.

14. The communication method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

receiving, by the receive device, the second DCI comprising the second DCI format for the PDSCH scheduling, when the receive device is scheduled with a PDSCH;

deriving, by the receive device, control information for the PDSCH scheduling from the second DCI; and

decoding, by the receive device, information received on the PDSCH, the decoding being performed based on the control information received in the second DCI.

15. The communication method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

determining, by the transmit device, that a receive device is not scheduled on a PDSCH: and

transmitting, by the transmit device, the first DCI comprising the first DCI format for the transmission burst information.

16. The communication method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

determining, by the transmit device, the second DCI format used for the PDSCH scheduling before generating the first DCI.

17. The communication method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

determining, by the transmit device, that a receive device is scheduled on a PDSCH; and

transmitting, by the transmit device, the second DCI comprising the second DCI format for the PDSCH scheduling.

18. The communication method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

determining, by the transmit device, the second DCI format used for the PDSCH scheduling before generating the first DCI.