Multiplexing of short physical downlink control channel and data in mobile communications

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a processor of an apparatus, radio resource control (RRC) signaling indicating unused resource elements;

receiving, by the processor, a usage indication from a control channel;

determining, by the processor, whether a plurality of control channel elements (CCEs) in control channel search spaces are in use or not in use for a data channel according to the usage indication;

receiving, by the processor, the data channel; and

performing, by the processor, a data channel rate-matching operation to rate-match around one or more of the CCEs not used for the data channel according to the usage indication and a data channel resource containing a downlink control information (DCI) that schedules the data channel,

wherein the DCI contains a plurality of bits a value of each indicating whether a corresponding resource or set of resources is used for the data channel, and

wherein the performing of the data channel rate-matching operation comprises applying indication of the plurality of bits to different CCEs within a given resource according to the unused resource elements indicated in the RRC signaling.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the usage indication comprises a first bit for indicating whether a first group of the CCEs is used for the data channel and a second bit for indicating whether a second group of the CCEs is used for the data channel.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein a bit value of 1 indicates that the data channel is rate-matched around the corresponding group of CCEs.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein each of the first group of the CCEs and the second group of the CCEs is a function of a size of control channel resources defined in a resource block (RB) set, wherein the first group of the CCEs comprises a first half CCEs of the RB set, and wherein the second group of the CCEs comprises a second half CCEs of the RB set.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the control channel comprises a short physical downlink control channel (sPDCCH), and wherein the data channel comprises a short physical downlink shared channel (sPDSCH).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the usage indication is comprised in downlink control information (DCI).

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of bits comprise a 2-bit indication.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the 2-bit indication is configured for a first RB set of two configured sPDCCH RB sets.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the 2-bit indication is configured for a second RB set of two configured sPDCCH RB sets.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing, by the processor, rate matching for data channels on the unused resource elements.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver capable of wirelessly communicating with a plurality of nodes of a wireless network; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver, the processor capable of:

receiving, via the transceiver, radio resource control (RRC) signaling indicating unused resource elements;

receiving, via the transceiver, a usage indication from a control channel;

determining whether a plurality of control channel elements (CCEs) in control channel search spaces are in use or not in use for a data channel according to the usage indication;

receiving, via the transceiver, the data channel; and

performing a data channel rate-matching operation to rate-match around one or more of the CCEs not used for data channel according to the usage indication and a data channel resource containing a downlink control information (DCI) that schedules the data channel,

wherein the DCI contains predefined bits a value of each indicating whether a corresponding resource or set of resources is used for the data channel, and

wherein, in performing the data channel rate-matching operation, the processor applies indication of the predefined bits to different CCEs within a given resource according to the unused resource elements indicated in the RRC signaling.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the usage indication comprises a first bit for indicating whether a first group of the CCEs is used for the data channel and a second bit for indicating whether a second group of the CCEs is used for the data channel.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein a bit value of 1 indicates that the data channel is rate-matched around the corresponding group of CCEs.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein each of the first group of the CCEs and the second group of the CCEs is a function of a size of control channel resources defined in a resource block (RB) set, wherein the first group of the CCEs comprises a first half CCEs of the RB set, and wherein the second group of the CCEs comprises a second half CCEs of the RB set.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the control channel comprises a short physical downlink control channel (sPDCCH), and wherein the data channel comprises a short physical downlink shared channel (sPDSCH).

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the usage indication is comprised in downlink control information (DCI).

17. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of bits comprise a 2-bit indication.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the 2-bit indication is configured for a first RB set of two configured sPDCCH RB sets.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the 2-bit indication is configured for a second RB set of two configured sPDCCH RB sets.

20. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform rate matching for data channels on the unused resource elements.