Method and apparatus for scheduling communication for low capability devices
Methods and apparatus are described for a User Equipment (UE) with reduced processing capabilities (e.g., Machine Type Communication (MTC) UE) to transmit and receive signaling are provided. The Downlink Control Information (DCI) formats scheduling a transmission of a Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) or a reception of a Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH) are designed and have a smaller size than respective DCI formats for conventional UEs. DCI formats scheduling PUSCHs to or PDSCHs for a group of MTC UEs are also designed and can have a same size as DCI formats scheduling PUSCH or PDSCH for an individual MTC UE.
1. A method performed by a base station, the method comprising:
identifying a first user equipment (UE) associated with a first UE class and a second UE associated with a second UE class;
generating a first downlink control information (DCI) to schedule the first UE to transmit a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the first DCI comprises a first set of information elements (IEs) including a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS) IE, and the first MCS IE is represented by a first number of bits;
generating a second DCI to schedule the second UE to transmit a second PDSCH, wherein the second DCI comprises a second set of IEs including a second MCS IE, the second MCS IE is represented by a second number of bits less than the first number of bits, and the second UE class is configured for bandwidth-limited low complexity UEs; and
transmitting the first DCI for the first UE and the second DCI for the second UE.
2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the first set of IEs in the first DCI further comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number represented by a third number of bits, and
wherein the second set of IEs in the second DCI further comprises a HARQ process number represented by a fourth number of bits less than the third number of bits.
3. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the first set of IEs in the first DCI further comprises a distributed/localized transmission flag indicating a distributed or localized transmission, and
wherein the second set of IEs in the second DCI does not include a distributed/localized transmission flag.
4. An apparatus in a base station, the apparatus comprising:
a transceiver; and
a processor coupled with the transceiver, and configured to:
identify a first user equipment (UE) associated with a first UE class and a second UE associated with a second UE class,
generate a first downlink control information (DCI) to schedule the first UE to transmit a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the first DCI comprises a first set of information elements (IEs) including a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS) IE, and the first MCS IE is represented by a first number of bits,
generate a second DCI to schedule the second UE to transmit a second PDSCH, wherein the second DCI comprises a second set of IEs including a second MCS IE, the second MCS IE is represented by a second number of bits less than the first number of bits, and the second UE class is configured for bandwidth-limited low complexity UEs, and
control the transceiver to transmit the first DCI for the first UE and the second DCI for the second UE.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 ,
wherein the first set of IEs in the first DCI further comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number represented by a third number of bits, and
wherein the second set of IEs in the second DCI further comprises a HARQ process number represented by a fourth number of bits less than the third number of bits.
6. The apparatus of claim 4 ,
wherein the first set of IEs in the first DCI further comprises a distributed/localized transmission flag indicating a distributed or localized transmission, and
wherein the second set of IEs in the second DCI does not include a distributed/localized transmission flag.