Transmitting information that indicates a change in system information

1. A method comprising:

determining a change corresponding to system information occurring after a first modification period boundary; and

transmitting a single downlink control information message comprising a short message indicator comprising a single bit, wherein:

in response to the single bit indicating that a short message is part of the single downlink control information message, the short message is transmitted as part of the single downlink control information message and paging message information is not transmitted as part of the single downlink control information message, the short message consists of eight information bits, the short message comprises an indication of the change corresponding to the system information to a user equipment, the single downlink control information message is transmitted before a second modification period boundary, the change comprises a modification to a master information block, a modification to a system information block, a modification to scheduling information, or some combination thereof, a time between the first modification period boundary and the second modification period boundary comprises a second modification period, the second modification period occurs after a first modification period and before a third modification period, and the second modification period comprises the change corresponding to the system information that is to be obtained by the user equipment prior to the third modification period; and

in response to the single bit indicating that the paging message information is part of the single downlink control information message, the paging message information is transmitted as part of the single downlink control information message and the short message is not transmitted as part of the single downlink control information message.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single downlink control information message indicates whether the master information block has been modified since the first modification period boundary.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the single downlink control information message comprises a 1-bit indicator that indicates whether the master information block has been modified since the first modification period boundary.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single downlink control information message indicates whether the system information block has been modified since the first modification period boundary.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the single downlink control information message comprises a 1-bit indicator that indicates whether the system information block has been modified since the first modification period boundary.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single downlink control information message indicates whether the scheduling information has been modified since the first modification period boundary.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the single downlink control information message comprises a 1-bit indicator that indicates whether the scheduling information has been modified since the first modification period boundary.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the scheduling information is part of the system information block.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single downlink control information message indicates whether the system information block or a system information message is to be modified.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single downlink control information message indicates a value tag corresponding to the system information block or a system information message.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single downlink control information message indicates which system information block is updated or which system information message is updated.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single downlink control information message comprises a bitmap, and each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a system information block that is updated or a system information message that is updated.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single downlink control information message indicates part of the master information block used for acquiring the system information block.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the single downlink control information message comprises a subcarrier spacing, a demodulation reference signal position, a subcarrier offset, a physical downlink control channel configuration, or some combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single downlink control information message indicates:

whether the master information block has been modified since the first modification period boundary;

whether the system information block has been modified since the first modification period boundary;

whether the scheduling information has been modified since the first modification period boundary;

a value tag corresponding to the system information block or a system information message;

the system information block that is updated or a system information message that is updated;

part of the master information block used for acquiring the system information block; or

some combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

in response to the scheduling information being changed since the first modification period boundary, the single downlink control information message indicates part of the master information block used for acquiring the system information block; and

in response to the scheduling information not being changed since the first modification period boundary, the single downlink control information message indicates the system information block that is updated or a system information message that is updated.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single downlink control information message comprises an immediate change indicator.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein:

in response to the scheduling information being changed since the first modification period boundary, the single downlink control information message further indicates part of the master information block used for acquiring the system information block; and

in response to the scheduling information not being changed since the first modification period boundary, the single downlink control information message further indicates the system information block corresponding to the immediate change indicator, a system information message corresponding to the immediate change indicator, or a combination thereof.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single downlink control information message comprises a barred cell indicator, an intra frequency reselection indicator, or a combination thereof.

20. An apparatus comprising:

a processor that determines a change corresponding to system information occurring after a first modification period boundary; and

a transmitter that transmits a single downlink control information message comprising a short message indicator comprising a single bit, wherein:

in response to the single bit indicating that a short message is part of the single downlink control information message, the transmitter transmits the short message as part of the single downlink control information message and does not transmit paging message information as part of the single downlink control information message the short message consists of eight information bits, the short message comprises an indication of the change corresponding to the system information to a user equipment, the single downlink control information message is transmitted before a second modification period boundary, the change comprises a modification to a master information block, a modification to a system information block, a modification to scheduling information, or some combination thereof, a time between the first modification period boundary and the second modification period boundary comprises a second modification period, the second modification period occurs after a first modification period and before a third modification period, and the second modification period comprises the change corresponding to the system information that is to be obtained by the user equipment prior to the third modification period; and

in response to the single bit indicating that the paging message information is part of the single downlink control information message, the transmitter transmits the paging message information as part of the single downlink control information message and does not transmit the short message as part of the single downlink control information message.

21. A method comprising:

receiving a single downlink control information message comprising a short message indicator comprising a single bit, wherein:

in response to the single bit indicating that a short message is part of the single downlink control information message, the short message is received as part of the single downlink control information message and paging message information is not received as part of the single downlink control information message the short message consists of eight information bits, the short message comprises an indication of the change corresponding to the system information to a user equipment, the single downlink control information message is transmitted before a second modification period boundary, the change comprises a modification to a master information block, a modification to a system information block, a modification to scheduling information, or some combination thereof, a time between the first modification period boundary and the second modification period boundary comprises a second modification period, the second modification period occurs after a first modification period and before a third modification period, and the second modification period comprises the change corresponding to the system information that is to be obtained by the user equipment prior to the third modification period; and

in response to the single bit indicating that the paging message information is part of the single downlink control information message, the paging message information is received as part of the single downlink control information message and the short message is not received as part of the single downlink control information message.

22. An apparatus comprising a user equipment, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver that receives a single downlink control information message comprising a short message indicator comprising a single bit, wherein:

in response to the single bit indicating that a short message is part of the single downlink control information message, the short message is received as part of the single downlink control information message and paging message information is not received as part of the single downlink control information message the short message consists of eight information bits, the short message comprises an indication of the change corresponding to the system information to a user equipment, the single downlink control information message is transmitted before a second modification period boundary, the change comprises a modification to a master information block, a modification to a system information block, a modification to scheduling information, or some combination thereof, a time between the first modification period boundary and the second modification period boundary comprises a second modification period, the second modification period occurs after a first modification period and before a third modification period, and the second modification period comprises the change corresponding to the system information that is to be obtained by the user equipment prior to the third modification period; and

in response to the single bit indicating that the paging message information is part of the single downlink control information message, the paging message information is received as part of the single downlink control information message and the short message is not received as part of the single downlink control information message.