GROUP BASED PDCCH CAPABILITY FOR LTE

• US 20150237459A1
• Filed: 12/02/2013
• Published: 08/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Webb, Matthew William, Wakabayashi, Hideji
• Granted Patent: US 9,872,123 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• 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: H04L 61/5069 for group communication, multicast communication or broadcast communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/12 using signalling between network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A group-based PDCCH capability in LTE. Information common to a group of UEs, such as those common to a virtual carrier, may be signalled in a group search space within the PDCCH. This common information may include the location of a further control region embedded in the virtual carrier which contains UE-specific information for access the resources of the virtual carrier. Additional methods assign UEs a group identity by implicit signalling, and determine the aggregation level of the group-based PDCCH search space.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising a processor and a receiver configured to receive data from a wireless communications system via a wireless access interface, the mobile terminal belonging to a predetermined group of mobile terminals, the wireless access interface providing a plurality of communications resource elements across a first frequency range,

wherein the wireless access interface includes a plurality of time divided sub-frames, and at least one of the sub-frames includes:

a first control region in a first part of the sub-frame for communicating first signalling information to one or more of the mobile terminals, the first control region including a plurality of control channel resource elements, a first subset of said control channel resource elements providing a group control channel, the group control channel being associated with a group identifier and at least partially encoded using the group identifier; and

a second control region in a second part of the sub-frame, distinct from the first part of the sub-frame, the second control region being for communicating second signalling information to the predetermined group of the mobile terminals,

and wherein the group control channel contains information indicative of the location of the second control region, said information being accessible by applying the group identifier to the group control channel;

wherein membership of the predetermined group is indicated by the use of a shared group identifier, and

wherein the processor operates to locate the group control channel within the first control region using the shared group identifier.

2. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first part of the subframe is transmitted before the second part.

3. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the group identifier is a RNTI and the encoding of the group control channel is the encoding of CRC bits using the RNTI.

4. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the group identifier is determined to be a temporary RNTI assigned to the communications device by a base station.

5. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 3, wherein the group identifier is deduced from a relationship between a first preamble signature indicated in a random access preamble message received by a base station from a terminal and a second preamble signature indicated in a random access response message transmitted by the base station to the terminal in reply to the random access preamble message.

6. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 5, wherein the random access response message transmitted by the base station in reply to the random access preamble message includes a reserved RNTI where a cell RNTI is expected, and wherein the group identifier is determined by the terminal to be the reserved RNTI by virtue of the presence of the reserved RNTI in the random access response message.

7. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second control region is a narrow band control region, having a second bandwidth which is less than the bandwidth of the first control region.

8. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 7, wherein said second control region is a region within a third region, the third region being distinct from the first control region, the third region having a third bandwidth which is less than the bandwidth of the first control region and greater than or equal to the second bandwidth, the third region being configured for communicating data to one or more of the mobile terminals.

9. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 8, wherein said third region includes a fourth region, the fourth region having a fourth bandwidth which is less than the third bandwidth, the fourth region being configured for communicating further control data to one or more of the mobile terminals.

10. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 9, wherein said fourth region extends across substantially all of the duration of the second part of the subframe external to the second control region.

11. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the control channel resource elements of the group control channel have an associated aggregation level,

wherein a second subset of said control channel resource elements in the first control region provide at least one further control channel, the control channel resource elements of the or each further control channel having an associated further aggregation level, and

wherein said aggregation level is a function of at least one of the further aggregation levels.

12. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the control channel resource elements of the group control channel have an associated aggregation level, and

wherein the aggregation level is broadcast.

13. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the control channel resource elements of the group control channel have an associated aggregation level,

wherein the aggregation level is determined by the base station according to feedback information from the mobile terminals, and

wherein the feedback information corresponds to acknowledgement of receipt.

14. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 13,

wherein the feedback information is the result of a comparison between an expected rate of receipt of acknowledgements and a detected rate of receipt of acknowledgements.

15. A method of operating a mobile terminal belonging to a predetermined group of mobile terminals, membership of the predetermined group being indicated by the use of a shared group identifier, the mobile terminal, in operation, receiving data from a wireless communications system across a first frequency range, the data being received as a plurality of communications resource elements, wherein the plurality of communications resource elements are arranged in a plurality of time divided sub-frames, and at least one of the sub-frames includes:

a first control region in a first part of the sub-frame for communicating first signalling information to one or more of the mobile terminals, the first control region including a plurality of control channel resource elements, a first subset of said control channel resource elements providing a group control channel, the group control channel being associated with a group identifier and at least partially encoded using the group identifier; and

a second control region in a second part of the sub-frame, distinct from the first part of the sub-frame, the second control region being for communicating second signalling information to the predetermined group of the mobile terminals,

and wherein the group control channel contains information indicative of the location of the second control region, said information being accessible by each of the predetermined group of mobile terminals using the shared group identifier;

the method comprising;

receiving data from the first control region;

locating the group control channel within the first control region using the shared group identifier;

extracting information indicative of the location of the second control region from the group control channel;

receiving data from the second control region; and

extracting the second signalling information.

16. (canceled)