Coverage enhancement level signaling and efficient packing of MTC system information

1. An apparatus for receiving system information in a wireless communication system supporting coverage enhancement, comprising:

a receiver, which, in operation, receives system information;

control circuitry, which, in operation, controls the receiver to receive the system information including a coverage enhancement level indication for indicating enhanced coverage levels supported by the wireless communication system and including a group of information elements common for different coverage enhancement levels and one or more groups of information elements specific for different coverage enhancement levels, and controls the receiver to receive the system information in a plurality of versions;

soft-combine circuitry, which, in operation, soft-combines the plurality of versions of the system information received so far after reception of each version, without processing further versions of the system information if the system information after soft-combining can be correctly decoded; and

a decoder, which, in operation, checks whether the system information after soft-combining can be correctly decoded after each soft-combining.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the system information is transmitted in system information blocks, and

the group of information elements common for different coverage enhancement levels is transmitted in a system information block different from the system information block in which the information elements specific for at least one different coverage enhancement level are transmitted.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the group of information elements common for different coverage enhancement levels is transmitted with a first frequency, and

the control circuitry, in operation, controls the receiver to receive versions of the group of information elements common for different coverage enhancement levels with a frequency equal to or lower than the first frequency, depending on the coverage enhancement level currently applied by the apparatus.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the coverage enhancement level indication received comprises at least one of:

a list of supported coverage enhancement levels,

a highest supported coverage enhancement level, wherein the apparatus is configured to derive the supported coverage enhancement levels as all levels smaller than or equal to the received highest supported coverage enhancement level,

a number of values of a particular information element, and

a single value of an information element, wherein the apparatus is configured to derive the supported coverage enhancement levels according to the number of the values of the particular information element or from the single value of an information element.

5. The apparatus according claim 1 , comprising:

coverage enhancement level determination circuitry, which, in operation, determines an own coverage enhancement level based on one of pathloss, Reference Signal Received Power, and measurements including Reference Signal Receive Quality, and checks whether the determined own coverage enhancement level is supported by the wireless communication system based on the received coverage enhancement level indication,

wherein, if the own coverage enhancement level is supported by the wireless communication system, the control circuitry controls the receiver to receive the system information for the own coverage enhancement level.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the control circuitry, in operation, controls the receiver to receive scheduling information within a system information block referred to from a system information block 1 (SIB 1) of which a location is indicated in a master information block (MIB), and to receive the system information for the own coverage enhancement level according to the scheduling information.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the coverage enhancement level indication indicates one or more of four different coverage enhancement levels, including a zero level indicating no coverage enhancement,

the system information for different coverage enhancement levels is grouped according to one of the following configurations:

a first group for the zero level and a second group for the remaining three coverage enhancement levels;

a first group for the zero level and the lowest of the four coverage enhancement levels and a second group for the remaining two coverage enhancement levels;

a first group for the zero level and the two lower enhancement coverage levels and a second group for the highest of the four coverage enhancement levels; and

one single group for all four coverage enhancement levels, and

the control circuitry, in operation, controls the receiver to receive the configuration currently used by the network within the system information.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the configuration is received within a system information message, the system information message including a grouping of scheduling information indicating a location of a first system information block in which the first group is carried and a location of a second system information block in which the second group is carried, the first system information block and the second system information block being mutually different.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the wireless communication system is 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), or LTE advanced (LTE-A), and

system information messages including system information blocks for enhanced coverage support except for a master information block are received independently of the system information for LTE or LTE-A without supporting coverage enhancement.

10. A method for receiving system information in a wireless communication system supporting coverage enhancement, comprising:

receiving system information including a coverage enhancement level indication for indicating enhanced coverage levels supported by the wireless communication system and including a group of information elements common for different coverage enhancement levels and one or more groups of information elements specific for different coverage enhancement levels;

receiving the system information in a plurality of versions;

performing soft-combining of the plurality of versions of the received system information received so far after reception of each version, without processing further versions of the system information if the system information after soft-combining can be correctly decoded; and

checking whether the system information after soft-combining can be correctly decoded after each soft-combining.