Method and apparatus for determining a user data resource assignment

1. A method in a user equipment, the method comprising:

monitoring, by the user equipment, a control channel candidate for a control channel, where the control channel candidate corresponds to a control channel element parameter that is a function of a first resource block group size used for user data resource assignments;

decoding the control channel; and

determining a user data resource assignment based on the decoded control channel, where the user data resource assignment is based on a second resource block group size,

wherein the control channel element parameter comprises a control channel element size,

wherein the control channel candidate corresponds to the control channel element size, where the control channel element size is a function of the first resource block group size used for user data resource assignments, and

wherein the first resource block group size is a number, K, of times the control channel element size, and the number K is a positive integer value.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first resource block group size is the same as the second resource block group size.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second resource block group size is a multiple of the first resource block group size.

4. The method according to claim 3 ,

wherein the first resource block group size is used for a user data resource assignment associated with a first transmit time interval duration,

wherein the second resource block group size is used for a user data resource assignment associated with a second transmit time interval duration, and

wherein the second transmit time interval duration is smaller than the first transmit time interval duration.

5. The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the control channel element parameter comprises a set of control channel element aggregation levels, where the set of control channel element aggregation levels is a function of the first resource block group size used for user data resource assignments, and

wherein the control channel candidate corresponds to the set of control channel element aggregation levels.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising determining the first and second resource block group sizes based on a downlink system bandwidth or a downlink channel bandwidth configuration.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising determining at least one of the first and second resource block group sizes from a higher layer message where the higher layer is a layer higher than a physical layer.

8. The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the control channel candidate is a first control channel candidate,

wherein the control channel element parameter is a first control channel element parameter, and

wherein the method further comprises monitoring a second control channel candidate corresponding to a second control channel element parameter where the second control channel element parameter is not a function of the first resource block group size used for data resource assignments.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user data resource assignment allocates resource blocks in multiples of resource block groups of the second resource block group size.

10. The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the control channel element parameter is a control channel element aggregation level of a control channel candidate at least mapped to resource element groups occupying resource elements corresponding to at least one resource block group with a third resource block group size,

wherein the third resource block group size is smaller than the second resource block group size,

wherein the control channel element aggregation level of the control channel candidate is determined based on the second resource block group size and the third resource block group size, and

wherein a control channel element aggregation level of another control channel candidate mapped to resource element groups occupying resource elements other than those corresponding to the at least one resource block group is determined based on the second resource block group size.

11. The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the user equipment is configured with control resource sets including a first set of the control resource sets and a second set of the control resource sets,

wherein each control resource set in the first set of the control resource sets includes a plurality of resource block groups of a third resource block group size,

wherein the second set of the control resource sets includes at least one resource block group of a fourth resource block group size,

wherein the fourth resource block group size is smaller than the third resource block group size, and

wherein the method further comprises determining which configured control resource set the fourth sized resource block group is included in according to an indication received by the user equipment or according to a predefined rule.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the third resource block group size is either the first resource block group size or the second resource block group size.

13. The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the control channel candidate includes control channel elements that include resource element groups,

wherein decoding comprises decoding the control channel candidate based on

a first demodulation reference signal pattern and

a first resource element group-to-control channel element mapping

based on the control channel candidate being received in one symbol control channel,

wherein decoding comprises decoding the control channel candidate based on

a second demodulation reference signal pattern and

a second resource element group-to-control channel element mapping

based on the control channel candidate being received in more than one symbol control channel,

wherein resource element groups are first frequency mapped to control channel elements before the resource element groups are time mapped to control channel elements in the first resource element group-to-control channel element mapping,

wherein resource element groups are first time mapped to control channel elements before the resource element groups are frequency mapped to control channel elements in the second resource element group-to-control channel element mapping,

wherein control channel elements are first frequency mapped to search space candidates before the control channel elements are time mapped to search space candidates,

wherein the second demodulation reference signal pattern is different from the first demodulation reference signal pattern.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a transceiver that monitors a control channel candidate for a control channel, where the control channel candidate corresponds to a control channel element parameter that is a function of a first resource block group size used for user data resource assignments; and

a controller coupled to the transceiver, where the controller

decodes the control channel; and

determines a user data resource assignment based on the decoded control channel, where the user data resource assignment is based on a second resource block group size,

wherein the control channel element parameter comprises a control channel element size,

wherein the control channel candidate corresponds to the control channel element size, where the control channel element size is a function of the first resource block group size used for user data resource assignments, and

wherein the first resource block group size is a number, K, of times the control channel element size, and the number K is a positive integer value.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 ,

wherein the second resource block group size is a multiple of the first resource block group size,

wherein the first resource block group size is used for a user data resource assignment associated with a first transmit time interval duration,

wherein the second resource block group size is used for a user data resource assignment associated with a second transmit time interval duration, and

wherein the second transmit time interval duration is smaller than the first transmit time interval duration.

16. The apparatus according to claim 14 ,

wherein the control channel candidate is a first control channel candidate,

wherein the control channel element parameter is a first control channel element parameter, and

wherein the transceiver monitors a second control channel candidate corresponding to a second control channel element parameter where the second control channel element parameter is not a function of the first resource block group size used for data resource assignments.

17. The apparatus according to claim 14 ,

wherein the apparatus is configured with control resource sets including a first set of the control resource sets and a second set of the control resource sets,

wherein each control resource set in the first set of the control resource sets includes a plurality of resource block groups of a third resource block group size,

wherein the second set of the control resource sets includes at least one resource block group of a fourth resource block group size,

wherein the fourth resource block group size is smaller than the third resource block group size, and

wherein the controller determines which configured control resource set the fourth sized resource block group is included in according to an indication received by the user equipment or according to a predefined rule.