Search space determination

• US 8,755,348 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2012
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: He, Hong, Fwu, Jong-Kae, Zhu, Yuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Rinehart, Mark
• Assistant Examiner(s): BROCKMAN, ANGEL T
• Application Number:
  US13/810,890
• Publication Number:
  US 20130163551A1
• Time in Patent Office: 811 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329, 370/346
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/024 Co-operative use of antennas of several sites, e.g. in co-ordinated multipoint or co-operative multiple-input multiple-output [MIMO] systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0456 Selection of precoding matrices or codebooks, e.g. using matrices antenna weighting
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0626 Channel coefficients, e.g. channel state information [CSI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 11/00 Orthogonal multiplex systems, e.g. using WALSH codesH04J13/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/12 Arrangements providing for calling or supervisory signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0077 Cooperative coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2646 using feedback from receiver for adjusting OFDM transmission parameters, e.g. transmission timing or guard interval length
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2662 Symbol synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2675 Pilot or known symbols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0035 Resource allocation in a cooperative multipoint environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0078 Timing of allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• 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 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/146 : Uplink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/242 : taking into account path loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/244 : Interferences in heterogeneous networks, e.g. among macro and femto or pico cells or other sector / system interference [OSI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/34 : TPC management, i.e. sharing limited amount of power among users or channels or data types, e.g. cell loading
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0015 : one node acting as a reference for the others
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/02 : Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 : Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 : Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 : Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 : in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 : in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 : using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 : Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/40 : for selective distribution or broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/14 : WLL [Wireless Local Loop]; RLL [Radio Local Loop]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 : Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 : Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe apparatuses, systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for identifying search space candidates that may be used in the transmission of downlink control information. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an encoder configured to;

determine a set of search space candidates of an enhanced-physical downlink control channel (E-PDCCH) based on an aggregation level of downlink control information (DCI), predetermined spacing between adjacent search space candidates, and a number of virtual resource blocks (VRBs) of the E-PDCCH, the set of search space candidates to be potential bearers of DCI;

select one or more VRBs from the set of search space candidates; and

encode DCI onto the selected VRBs; and

a mapper configured to map the VRBs of the E-PDCCH to physical resource blocks (PRBs) for transmission to a user equipment in a downlink frame,

wherein the predetermined spacing is to provide an even distribution of the search space candidates across VRBs of the E-PDCCH to enable a frequency scheduling gain.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus includes an eNodeB.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the PRBs include a number of resource blocks from a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) associated with the E-PDCCH.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the PDSCH is defined by release 10 of 3^rd Generation Partnership Project'"'"'s (3GPP) long term evolution advanced (LTE-A) communication standard.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the encoder is further configured to:

determine the predetermined spacing between the selected VRBs based on the aggregation level of the DCI.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the aggregation level is one of multiple DCI aggregation levels including a first, second, third, and fourth DCI aggregation level.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the encoder is configured to select one or more VRBs from the adjacent search space candidates associated with the aggregation level Λ

.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the encoder is configured to select one or more VRBs from the set of search space candidates to ensure a lowest index of VRBs for each E-PDCCH transmission is a multiple of 2.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the encoder is configured to select one or more VRBs from the set of search space candidates to be potential bearers of DCI to ensure the lowest index of VRBs for each E-PDCCH transmission is a multiple of 2 based on:

η

_VRB^E-PDCCH(Λ

,k)=((Λ

+δ

(Λ

,N_VRB^E-PDCCH))·

m+i)mod N_VRB^E-PDCCH, wherein Λ

is one of multiple aggregation levels, wherein η

_VRB^E-PDCCH(Λ

,k) is an index number of one of the number of VRBs for E-PDCCH transmission associated with the aggregation level Λ

at a subframe k, wherein

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein N_VRB,Base^E-PDCCH is a baseline number of VRBs, wherein the encoder is further configured to insert additional predetermined spacing between the selected VRBs based on a difference between the number of VRBs N_RB^E-PDCCH and the baseline number N_VRB,Base^E-PDCCH, if the number of VRBs N_VRB^E-PDCCH is greater than N_VRB,Base^E-PDCCH.

11. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the encoder is configured to select one or more VRBs from the set of search space candidates to be potential bearers of DCI based on:

η

_VRB^E-PDCCH(Λ

,k)=(Δ

·

m+i)mod N_VRB^E-PDCCH, if

12. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the encoder is configured to select one or more VRBs from the set of search space candidates to be potential bearers of DCI based on:

η

_VRB^E-PDCCH(Λ

,k)=(Λ

·

m+i)mod N_VRB^E-PDCCH, if

13. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the encoder is configured to select one or more VRBs from the set of search space candidates based on:

η

_VRB^E-PDCCH(Λ

,k)=((Λ

+δ

(Λ

,N_VRB^E-PDCCH))·

m+i)mod N_VRB^E-PDCCH, wherein Λ

is one of multiple aggregation levels, wherein η

_VRB^E-PDCCH(Λ

,k) is an index number of one of the number of VRBs to receive DCI associated with the one of the multiple aggregation levels Λ

at a subframe k, wherein N_VRB^E-PDCCH is the number of the VRBs, wherein δ

(Λ

, N_VRB^E-PDCCH) is VRB spacing between the adjacent search space candidates associated with the one of the multiple aggregation levels Λ

, wherein m=0, . . . , M(Λ

)−

1 and M(Λ

) is a number of the selected VRBs associated with the one of the multiple aggregation levels Λ

, wherein i=0, . . . , (Λ

−

1).

14. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the encoder is configured to select one or more VRBs from the set of search space candidates based on:

η

_VRB^E-PDCCH(Λ

,k)=(Λ

·

m+i+Λ

·

M(Λ

)·

β

(Λ

))mod N_VRB^E-PDCCH, wherein Λ

is the aggregation level of DCI, wherein η

_VRB^E-PDCCH(Λ

,k) is an index number of one of the number of VRBs for E-PDCCH transmission associated with the aggregation level Λ

at subframe k, wherein β

(Λ

) is the candidate set identifier, wherein N_VRB^E-PDCCH is the number of the VRBs, wherein m=0, . . . , M(Λ

)−

1 and M(Λ

) is a number of the selected VRBs associated with Λ

, wherein i=0, . . . , (Λ

−

1).

15. An article of manufacture having one or more non-transitory computer readable media including a plurality of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to:

determine a set of search space candidates of an enhanced-physical downlink control channel (E-PDCCH) based on an aggregation level of downlink control information (DCI), number of virtual resource blocks (VRBs) of the E-PDCCH, a predetermined spacing that is to provide an even distribution of the search space candidates across the VRBs of the E-PDDCH to enable a frequency scheduling gain, and a candidate set identifier, the set of search space candidates to be potential bearers of DCI;

select one or more VRBs from the set of search space candidates; and

encode DCI onto ones of the number of VRBs associated with the set of search space candidates; and

map the number of VRBs of the E-PDCCH to physical resource blocks (PRBs) for transmission to a user equipment in a downlink frame.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the apparatus includes an eNodeB.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause an encoder module of the apparatus to determine the set of search space candidates, select the one or more VRBs, and encode the DCI.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

a communications module configured to receive one or more downlink transmissions from a base station via an enhanced-physical downlink control channel (E-PDCCH); and

a decoder module coupled to the communications module and configured to;

identify a set of search space candidates based on aggregation levels of downlink control information (DCI), a number of virtual resource blocks (VRBs) of the E-PDCCH, and a predetermined spacing that is to provide an even distribution of the search space candidates across the VRBs of the E-PDDCH to enable a frequency scheduling gain; and

blindly decode the set of search space candidates to retrieve the DCI.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, the decoder module is further configured to determine a number of gaps of VRBs between adjacent ones of the search space candidates based on the aggregation levels and the number of VRBs.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the search space candidates have been equally spaced among the number of VRBs in a first and a second of the aggregations levels.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein one of the decoder module or the communications module determines which of the aggregation levels of DCI to decode based on a strength of a received communication signal from an eNodeB.