Narrowband reference signals in non-anchor resource blocks

• US 10,506,472 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2017
• Issued: 12/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Rico Alvarino, Alberto, Gaal, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Agosta, Stephen M D
• Application Number:
  US15/802,297
• Publication Number:
  US 20180124644A1
• Time in Patent Office: 768 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0473 the resource being transmission power
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to techniques for determining presence of narrowband reference signals (NRSs) in non-anchor physical resource blocks (PRBs). An exemplary method that may be performed by a user equipment (UE) includes deciding that a paging occasion (PO), a RAR transmission, or a SC-PTM transmission will occur or has occurred, determining occurrence of a narrowband reference signal (NRS) in a non-anchor resource block (RB) based on at least one of: the decision, one or more narrowband transmission parameters, or presence of one or more other transmissions in a same RB as the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission; and processing the NRS. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also claimed and described.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

deciding that a starting subframe for a paging occasion (PO), a random access response (RAR) transmission, or a single cell point to multipoint (SC-PTM) transmission will occur or has occurred;

determining occurrence of a narrowband reference signal (NRS) in a non-anchor resource block (RB) based on at least a length of a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) candidate and a minimum number of subframes, N, for transmission of NRSs after the end of the NPDCCH candidate; and

processing the NRS in at least the length plus N subframes after the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

further processing the NRS in at least a minimum number of subframes, M, for transmission of NRSs before the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining occurrence of the NRS in the non-anchor RB is further based on at least the NPDCCH, and the method further comprises:

deciding that the NRS is not present in the non-anchor RB; and

determining, based on the decision that the NRS is not present in the non-anchor RB, that the NPDCCH is not present in one or more subframes after the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the length of the NPDCCH candidate comprises

a length of a longest NPDCCH candidate.

5. A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

deciding that a starting subframe for a paging occasion (PO), a random access response (RAR) transmission, or a single cell point to multipoint (SC-PTM) transmission will occur or has occurred;

determining occurrence of a narrowband reference signal (NRS) in a non-anchor resource block (RB) based on at least;

a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) and a narrowband physical downlink shared channel (NPDSCH), and

a duration of a scheduling gap and a minimum number of subframes, X, for transmission of NRSs after the end of the NPDSCH, wherein the non-anchor RB occurs a number of subframes after the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission, wherein the number is less than or equal to a sum of;

a duration of the NPDCCH,

the duration of the scheduling gap,

a duration of the NPDSCH, and

X;

determining the duration of the NPDCCH, the duration of the scheduling gap, the duration of the NPDSCH, and X; and

processing the NRS during a period comprising the duration of the NPDCCH, the duration of the scheduling gap, the duration of the NPDSCH, and X subframes after the end of the NPDSCH.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the NPDCCH indicates an allocation of transmission resources for the NPDSCH, the NPDSCH comprises a random access response (RAR) message, and the method further comprises:

receiving the NPDCCH;

receiving the NPDSCH via the allocated transmission resources; and

obtaining the RAR message from the NPDSCH.

7. A method for wireless communications by a base station (BS), comprising:

determining whether to schedule one or more transmissions to a user equipment (UE);

deciding that a starting subframe for a paging occasion (PO), a random access response (RAR) transmission, or a single cell point to multipoint (SC-PTM) transmission will occur or has occurred;

determining to transmit a narrowband reference signal (NRS) in a non-anchor resource block (RB) based on at least a length of a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) candidate and a minimum number of subframes, N, for transmission of NRSs after the end of the NPDCCH candidate; and

transmitting the NRS in the non-anchor RB in at least the length plus N subframes after the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising

further transmitting NRSs in at least a minimum number of subframes, M, for transmission of NRSs before the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the length of the NPDCCH candidate comprises a length of a longest NPDCCH candidate.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein determining to transmit the NRS in the non-anchor RB is further based on the NPDCCH, and the method further comprises:

transmitting the NRS in each of the one or more subframes used for transmitting the NPDCCH.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the NPDCCH indicates an allocation of transmission resources for a narrowband physical downlink shared channel (NPDSCH), and the method further comprises:

transmitting the NPDSCH via the allocated transmission resources in one or more subframes after the NPDCCH;

transmitting the NRS in each of one or more subframes between transmitting the NPDCCH and transmitting the NPDSCH; and

transmitting the NRS in each of the one or more subframes used for transmitting the NPDSCH.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining that a first sum of a number of the subframes used for transmitting the NPDCCH, a number of the subframes between transmitting the NPDCCH and the NPDSCH, and a number of the subframes used for transmitting the NPDSCH is less than a second sum of a length of a longest NPDCCH candidate N; and

transmitting the NRS in a number of subframes, after the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission, wherein the number is equal to the second sum.

13. A method for wireless communications by a base station (BS), comprising:

determining whether to schedule one or more transmissions to a user equipment (UE);

deciding that a starting subframe for a paging occasion (PO), a random access response (RAR) transmission, or a single cell point to multipoint (SC-PTM) transmission will occur or has occurred;

determining to transmit a narrowband reference signal (NRS) in a non-anchor resource block (RB) based on at least;

a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) and a narrowband physical downlink shared channel (NPDSCH), and

a duration of a scheduling gap and a minimum number of subframes, X, for transmission of NRSs after the end of the NPDSCH;

transmitting NRSs in a number of subframes after the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission, wherein the number is greater than or equal to a sum of;

a duration of the NPDCCH,

the duration of the scheduling gap,

a duration of the NPDSCH, and

X.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the NPDCCH indicates an allocation of transmission resources for the NPDSCH and the method further comprises:

transmitting the NPDCCH;

encoding a random access response (RAR) message to generate a portion of the NPDSCH; and

transmitting the NPDSCH via the allocated transmission resources.

15. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a processor configured to;

decide that a starting subframe for a paging occasion (PO), a random access response (RAR) transmission, or a single cell point to multipoint (SC-PTM) transmission will occur or has occurred;

determine occurrence of a narrowband reference signal (NRS) in a non-anchor resource block (RB) based on at least a length of a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) candidate and a minimum number of subframes, N, for transmission of NRSs after the end of the NPDCCH candidate and

process the NRS in at least the length plus N subframes after the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission; and

a memory coupled with the processor.

16. The apparatus of claim 15,

the processor further configured to:

further process the NRS in at least a minimum number of subframes, M, for transmission of NRSs before the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine occurrence of the NRS in the non-anchor RB further based on at least the NPDCCH;

decide that the NRS is not present in the non-anchor RB; and

determine, based on the decision that the NRS is not present in the non-anchor RB, that the NPDCCH is not present in one or more subframes after the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the length of the NPDCCH candidate comprises

a length of a longest NPDCCH candidate.

19. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a processor configured to;

decide that a starting subframe for a paging occasion (PO), a random access response (RAR) transmission, or a single cell point to multipoint (SC-PTM) transmission will occur or has occurred;

determine occurrence of a narrowband reference signal (NRS) in a non-anchor resource block (RB) based on at least;

a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) and a narrowband physical downlink shared channel (NPDSCH), and

a duration of a scheduling gap and a minimum number of subframes, X, for transmission of NRSs after the end of the NPDSCH, wherein the non-anchor RB occurs a number of subframes after the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission, wherein the number is less than or equal to a sum of;

a duration of the NPDCCH,

the duration of the scheduling gap,

a duration of the NPDSCH, and

X;

determine the duration of the NPDCCH, the duration of the scheduling gap, the duration of the NPDSCH, and X; and

process the NRS during a period comprising the duration of the NPDCCH, the duration of the scheduling gap, the duration of the NPDSCH, and X subframes after the end of the NPDSCH.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the NPDCCH indicates an allocation of transmission resources for the NPDSCH, the NPDSCH comprises a random access response (RAR) message, and the processor is further configured to:

receive the NPDCCH;

receive the NPDSCH via the allocated transmission resources; and

obtain the RAR message from the NPDSCH.

21. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a processor configured to;

determine whether to schedule one or more transmissions to a user equipment (UE);

decide that a starting subframe for a paging occasion (PO), a random access response (RAR) transmission, or a single cell point to multipoint (SC-PTM) transmission will occur or has occurred;

determine to transmit a narrowband reference signal (NRS) in a non-anchor resource block (RB) based on at least a length of a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) candidate and a minimum number of subframes, N, for transmission of NRSs after the end of the NPDCCH candidate;

and

transmit the NRS in the non-anchor RB in at least the length plus N subframes after the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission; and

a memory coupled with the processor.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, the processor further configured to:

further transmit NRSs in at least a minimum number of subframes, M, for transmission of NRSs before the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the length of the NPDCCH candidate comprises a length of a longest NPDCCH candidate.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, the processor further configured to:

transmit the NPDCCH and transmit the NRS in each of the one or more subframes used for transmitting the NPDCCH.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the NPDCCH indicates an allocation of transmission resources for a narrowband physical downlink shared channel (NPDSCH), and the processor is further configured to:

transmit the NPDSCH via the allocated transmission resources in one or more subframes after the NPDCCH;

transmit the NRS in each of one or more subframes between transmitting the NPDCCH and transmitting the NPDSCH; and

transmit the NRS in each of the one or more subframes used for transmitting the NPDSCH.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine that a first sum of a number of the subframes used for transmitting the NPDCCH, a number of the subframes between transmitting the NPDCCH and the NPDSCH, and a number of the subframes used for transmitting the NPDSCH is less than a second sum of a length of a longest NPDCCH candidate and N; and

transmit the NRS in a number of subframes, after the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission, wherein the number is equal to the second sum.

27. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a processor configured to;

determine whether to schedule one or more transmissions to a user equipment (UE);

decide that a starting subframe for a paging occasion (PO), a random access response (RAR) transmission, or a single cell point to multipoint (SC-PTM) transmission will occur or has occurred;

determine to transmit a narrowband reference signal (NRS) in a non-anchor resource block (RB) based on at least;

a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) and a narrowband physical downlink shared channel (NPDSCH), and

a length of a scheduling gap and a minimum number of subframes, X, for transmission of NRSs after the end of the NPDSCH; and

transmit NRSs in a number of subframes after the PO, the RAR transmission, or the SC-PTM transmission, wherein the number is greater than or equal to a sum of;

a length of the NPDCCH,

the length of the scheduling gap,

a length of the NPDSCH, and

X.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the NPDCCH indicates an allocation of transmission resources for the NPDSCH, and the processor is further configured to:

transmit the NPDCCH;

encode a random access response (RAR) message to generate a portion of the NPDSCH; and

transmit the NPDSCH via the allocated transmission resources.