INSERTING VIRTUAL CARRIER IN CONVENTIONAL OFDM HOST CARRIER IN COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

• US 20140010184A1
• Filed: 02/01/2012
• Published: 01/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SCA IPLA Holdings Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: SCA IPLA Holdings Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Lillie, Andrew, Darwood, Peter, Beale, Martin, McNamara, Darren
• Granted Patent: US 9,608,784 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0039 Frequency-contiguous, i.e. with no allocation of frequencies for one user or terminal between the frequencies allocated to another
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0064 Rate requirement of the data, e.g. scalable bandwidth, data priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

A base station communicating data to/from plural mobile terminals over plural OFDM sub-carriers within a coverage area. The base station allocates transmission resources provided by a first group of the plural OFDM sub-carriers within a first frequency band to mobile terminals of a first type and allocates transmission resources provided by a second group of the plural OFDM sub-carriers within a second frequency band to terminals of a second type, the second group being smaller than the first group and the second frequency band selected from within the first frequency band. The base station transmits control information including resource allocation information for terminals of the first type over a first bandwidth corresponding to the combined first and second groups of OFDM sub-carriers and transmits control information including resource allocation information for terminals of the second type over a second bandwidth corresponding to the second group of OFDM sub-carriers.

Claims

1-14. -14. (canceled)

15. A base station for communicating data to and from a plurality of mobile terminals over a plurality of OFDM sub-carriers within a coverage area provided by the base station, the base station arranged to allocate transmission resources provided by a first group of the plurality of OFDM sub-carriers within a first frequency band to mobile terminals of a first type and to allocate transmission resources provided by a second group of the plurality of OFDM sub-carriers within a second frequency band to terminals of a second type, the second group being smaller than the first group and the second frequency band being selected from within the first frequency band, and

to transmit control information comprising resource allocation information for terminals of the first type over a first bandwidth corresponding to the combined first and second groups of OFDM sub-carriers and to transmit control information comprising resource allocation information for terminals of the second type over a second bandwidth corresponding to the second group of OFDM sub-carriers.

16. A base station according to claim 15, wherein the base station is configured to transmit the control information comprising resource allocation information for the terminals of the first type in different OFDM symbols to the transmission of control information comprising resource allocation information for the terminals of the second type.

17. A base station according to claim 15, wherein the OFDM sub-carriers are transmitted using a sub-frame structure, and the base station is configured to transmit the control information comprising resource allocation information for the terminals of the second type in a first sub-frame which relates to allocation of resources in a subsequent sub-frame.

18. A base station according to claim 15, wherein the OFDM sub-carriers are transmitted using a sub-frame structure, and the base station is configured to transmit the control information comprising resource allocation information for the terminals of the second type in a first sub-frame which relates to allocation of resources in the same sub-frame.

19. A base station according to claim 15, wherein the second group of the plurality of the OFDM sub-carriers form a virtual carrier inserted in the first group of the plurality of the OFDM sub-carriers and the first group of the plurality of the OFDM sub-carriers form a host carrier, and the base station is configured to transmit data to the terminals of the first type on the host carrier and to transmit data to the terminals of the second type on the virtual carrier.

20. A base station according to claim 19, the base station configured to insert one or more additional virtual carriers in the host carrier.

21. A base station according to claim 19, the base station being configured to transmit reference signals for channel estimation for use by both the terminals of the first type and terminals of the second type in the virtual carrier.

22. A base station according to claim 21, the base station being configured to transmit additional reference signals within the virtual carrier for channel estimation for use by terminals of the second type in the virtual carrier.

23. A base station according to claim 19, the base station being configured to transmits the sub-carriers using a sub-frame structure, each sub-frame comprising a predetermined number of OFDM symbols and to transmit the control information comprising resource allocation information for terminals of the first type over the first n OFDM symbols of each sub-frame, wherein n may vary from sub-frame to sub-frame.

24. A base station according to claim 23, the base station being configured to transmit the virtual carrier over the final m-n symbols of each sub-frame, where m corresponds to a number of symbols in the sub-frame, and the base station is arranged to signal to terminals of the second type an indication of n for each given sub-frame thereby enabling the terminals of the second type to determine a length of the virtual carrier for each given sub-frame.

25. A base station according to claim 23, the base station being configured to transmit the control information comprising resource allocation information for terminals of the second type in the last OFDM symbol or OFDM symbols of each sub-frame.

26. A base station according to claim 15, configured in accordance with 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) specifications.

27. An apparatus for communicating data to and from a plurality of mobile terminals over a plurality of OFDM sub-carriers within a coverage area, the apparatus comprising:

means for allocating transmission resources provided by a first group of the plurality of OFDM sub-carriers within a first frequency band to mobile terminals of a first type and to allocate transmission resources provided by a second group of the plurality of OFDM sub-carriers within a second frequency band to terminals of a second type, the second group being smaller than the first group and the second frequency band being selected from within the first frequency band; and

means for transmitting control information comprising resource allocation information for terminals of the first type over a first bandwidth corresponding to the combined first and second groups of OFDM sub-carriers and to transmit control information comprising resource allocation information for terminals of the second type over a second bandwidth corresponding to the second group of OFDM sub-carriers.