Telecommunications apparatus and methods
A method of conveying an allocation of radio resources on a radio channel for communicating data between a base station and a terminal device in a wireless telecommunications system, wherein the radio channel spans a channel frequency bandwidth divided into frequency resource units which may be selectively allocated for communicating data between the base station and the terminal device, and wherein the method comprises, at the base station, selecting a combination of resource units for communicating the data between the base station and the terminal device from among a predefined set of allowable combinations of resource units, wherein the allowable combinations of resource units include non-contiguous combinations of resource units and wherein the number of allowable combinations of resource units is smaller than the total number of combinations of resource units, and conveying, to the terminal device, an indication of the selected combination of resource units.
1. Circuitry for network infrastructure equipment for use in a wireless telecommunications system for communicating an indication of an allocation of radio resources on a radio channel for communicating data between the network infrastructure equipment and a terminal device, wherein the radio channel spans a channel frequency bandwidth divided into frequency resource units which may be selectively allocated for communicating data between the network infrastructure equipment and the terminal device, wherein the circuitry comprises controller circuitry and transceiver circuitry configured to operate together such that the circuitry is operable to:
select a combination of resource units for communicating the data between the network infrastructure equipment and the terminal device from among a predefined set of allowable combinations of the resource units, wherein the set of the allowable combinations of the resource units includes non-contiguous combinations of the resource units,
establish an indication of the selected combination of the resource units; and
transmit the indication of the selected combination of the resource units to the terminal device, wherein
the radio channel is one of a plurality of narrowband channels supported within a wider system bandwidth of the wireless telecommunications system, and wherein the indication of the selected combination of the resource units includes an indication of which one of the plurality of narrowband channels contains the selected combination of the resource units, and
the indication of the selected combination of the resource units includes a first set of data bits indicating which one of the plurality of narrowband channels the allocation of radio resources applies to, a second set of data bits indicating which of one or more sub-channels the allocation of radio resources applies to, and a third set of data bits indicating which of the resource units are allocated in the one or more sub-channels.
2. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein the radio channel is notionally divided into a plurality of sub-channels, and wherein the indication of the selected combination of the resource units includes an indication of which one or more of the sub-channels contains resource units in the selected combination of the resource units.
3. The circuitry of claim 2 , wherein the set of allowable combinations of the resource units is restricted to combinations in which all or none of the resource units in each of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units.
4. The circuitry of claim 2 , wherein the set of allowable combinations of the resource units is restricted to combinations in which all, none or half of the resource units in each of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units.
5. The circuitry of claim 2 , wherein the set of allowable combinations of the resource units is restricted to combinations for which the resource units in the selected combination of the resource units are contiguous within each sub-channel.
6. The circuitry of claim 2 , wherein the indication of the selected combination of the resource units includes an indication of which resource units in each of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units.
7. The circuitry of claim 6 , wherein the indication of which one or more of the sub-channels contains resource units in the selected combination of the resource units comprises an indication that more than one of the sub-channels contains resource units in the selected combination of the resource units, and wherein the arrangement of the resource units in the selected combination of the resource units in a first one of the sub-channels is related to the arrangement of the resource units in the selected combination of the resource units in a second one of the sub-channels in accordance with a predefined relationship, such that the indication of which resource units in the first one of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units also indicates which resource units in the second one of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units.
8. The circuitry of claim 7 , wherein the predefined relationship comprises an identical arrangement relationship, a mirrored arrangement relationship, an inverse arrangement relationship, or an offset arrangement relationship.
9. A method of communicating an indication of an allocation of radio resources on a radio channel for communicating data between a network infrastructure equipment and a terminal device in a wireless telecommunications system, wherein the radio channel spans a channel frequency bandwidth divided into frequency resource units which may be selectively allocated for communicating data between the network infrastructure equipment and the terminal device, and wherein the method comprises, at the terminal device,
receiving an indication of a selected combination of resource units from the network infrastructure equipment; and
establishing from the indication of the selected combination of the resource units which one of a set of allowable combinations of the resource units is the selected combination of the resource units, wherein the set of the allowable combinations of the resource units includes non-contiguous combinations of the resource units, wherein
the radio channel is one of a plurality of narrowband channels supported within a wider system bandwidth of the wireless telecommunications system, and wherein the indication of the selected combination of the resource units includes an indication of which one of the plurality of narrowband channels contains the selected combination of the resource units, and
the indication of the selected combination of the resource units includes a first set of data bits indicating which one of the plurality of narrowband channels the allocation of radio resources applies to, a second set of data bits indicating which of one or more sub-channels the allocation of radio resources applies to, and a third set of data bits indicating which of the resource units are allocated in the one or more sub-channels.
10. Circuitry for a terminal device for use in a wireless telecommunications system for communicating an indication of an allocation of radio resources on a radio channel for communicating data between a network infrastructure equipment and the terminal device, wherein the radio channel spans a channel frequency bandwidth divided into frequency resource units which may be selectively allocated for communicating data between the network infrastructure equipment and the terminal device, wherein the circuitry comprises controller circuitry and transceiver circuitry configured to operate together such that the circuitry is operable to:
receive an indication of a selected combination of resource units from the network infrastructure equipment; and
establish from the indication of the selected combination of resource units which one of a set of allowable combinations of the resource units is the selected combination of the resource units, wherein the set of the allowable combinations of the resource units includes non-contiguous combinations of the resource units, wherein
the radio channel is one of a plurality of narrowband channels supported within a wider system bandwidth of the wireless telecommunications system, and wherein the indication of the selected combination of the resource units includes an indication of which one of the plurality of narrowband channels contains the selected combination of the resource units, and
the indication of the selected combination of the resource units includes a first set of data bits indicating which one of the plurality of narrowband channels the allocation of radio resources applies to, a second set of data bits indicating which of one or more sub-channels the allocation of radio resources applies to, and a third set of data bits indicating which of the resource units are allocated in the one or more sub-channels.
11. The circuitry of claim 10 , wherein the radio channel is notionally divided into a plurality of sub-channels, and wherein the indication of the selected combination of the resource units includes an indication of which one or more of the sub-channels contains resource units in the selected combination of the resource units.
12. The circuitry of claim 11 , wherein the set of allowable combinations of the resource units is restricted to combinations in which all or none of the resource units in each of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units.
13. The circuitry of claim 12 , wherein the set of allowable combinations of the resource units is restricted to combinations in which all, none or half of the resource units in each of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units.
14. The circuitry of claim 12 , wherein the set of allowable combinations of the resource units is restricted to combinations for which the resource units in the selected combination of the resource units are contiguous within each sub-channel.
15. The circuitry of claim 12 , wherein the indication of the selected combination of the resource units includes an indication of which resource units in each of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units.
16. The circuitry of claim 15 , wherein the indication of which one or more of the sub-channels contains resource units in the selected combination of the resource units comprises an indication that more than one of the sub-channels contains resource units in the selected combination of the resource units, and wherein the arrangement of the resource units in the selected combination of the resource units in a first one of the sub-channels is related to the arrangement of the resource units in the selected combination of the resource units in a second one of the sub-channels in accordance with a predefined relationship, such that the indication of which resource units in the first one of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units also indicates which resource units in the second one of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units.
17. The method of claim 9 , further comprising notionally dividing the radio channel into a plurality of sub-channels, and wherein the indication of the selected combination of the resource units includes an indication of which one or more of the sub-channels contains resource units in the selected combination of the resource units.
18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising restricting the set of allowable combinations of the resource units to combinations in which all or none of the resource units in each of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the indication of the selected combination of the resource units includes an indication of which resource units in each of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units.
20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the indication of which one or more of the sub-channels contains resource units in the selected combination of the resource units comprises an indication that more than one of the sub-channels contains resource units in the selected combination of the resource units, and wherein the arrangement of the resource units in the selected combination of the resource units in a first one of the sub-channels is related to the arrangement of the resource units in the selected combination of the resource units in a second one of the sub-channels in accordance with a predefined relationship, such that the indication of which resource units in the first one of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units also indicates which resource units in the second one of the sub-channels are in the selected combination of the resource units.