Narrow bandwidth device in a broadband network

• US 9,596,069 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2012
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Chervyakow, Andrey, Khoryaev, Alexey, Fwu, Jong-Kae
• Primary Examiner(s): Weidner, Timothy J
• Application Number:
  US13/538,762
• Publication Number:
  US 20130114587A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,719 Days
• Field of Search: 370/331
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2602 Signal structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2603 Signal structure ensuring backward compatibility with legacy system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2657 Carrier synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• 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: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

Technology for communicating with a narrow bandwidth wireless device in a broadband network is disclosed. One method can include the wireless device retrieving at least one of secondary narrow bandwidth device region (NBDR) configuration information or primary NBDR configuration information from a primary NBDR located in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) region of a subframe. The primary NBDR and the secondary NBDRs can be subsets of frequency resources within a wide bandwidth subframe. The wireless device can receive data in at least one of the primary NBDR and the secondary NBDR based on the configuration information. The primary NBDR can be located in the central part of a signal bandwidth spectrum including direct current (DC) subcarrier. The secondary NBDR can use frequency resources within the subframe not used by the primary NBDR.

Claims

1. A method for communicating with a narrow bandwidth wireless device in a broadband network, comprising:

retrieving at least one of secondary narrow bandwidth device region (NBDR) configuration information or primary NBDR configuration information from a primary NBDR, wherein the primary NBDR and the secondary NBDR are located in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) region of a subframe and are subsets of frequency resources within a wide bandwidth subframe, and at least one of the primary NBDR and the secondary NBDR includes both an NBDR-control channel and an NBDR data channel; and

receiving data in at least one of the primary NBDR and the secondary NBDR based on the configuration information, wherein the primary NBDR is located in a central part of a signal bandwidth spectrum including a direct current (DC) subcarrier, and the secondary NBDR uses frequency resources within the subframe not used by the primary NBDR.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

processing a control channel transmitted in the primary NBDR prior to receiving the data in the primary NBDR;

processing a control channel transmitted in the primary NBDR prior to receiving the data in the secondary NBDR; and

processing a control channel transmitted in the secondary NBDR prior to receiving the data in the secondary NBDR.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the control channel in the primary or secondary NBDR is an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) for resource scheduling allocations which is transmitted in a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) mode.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, in the primary NBDR, a frequency location of the secondary NBDR to be used for receiving the data in the secondary NBDR.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving control messaging from upper layer signaling indicating a secondary NBDR assignment in the subframe to be used for receiving data, wherein the upper layer signaling is selected from the group consisting of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, system information signaling, broadcast control signaling, media access control (MAC) signaling, and combinations thereof;

receiving a physical control channel indicating the secondary NBDR assignment to be used for receiving the data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each NBDR bandwidth has a bandwidth of approximately 3 megahertz (MHz) or less, and the wide bandwidth subframe signal has a bandwidth of at least 10 megahertz (MHz).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a bandwidth of at least one of the primary NBDR or the secondary NBDR is narrower than a bandwidth of the wide bandwidth subframe.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the secondary NBDR configuration information is selected from the group consisting of a number of NBDRs, an allocation of NBDRs, an assignment of NBDRs, a configuration of NBDRs, NBDRs frequency hopping pattern, and combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the secondary NBDR configuration information is communicated via upper layer signaling, wherein the upper layer signaling is selected from the group consisting of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, system information signaling, broadcast control signaling, media access control (MAC) signaling, and combinations thereof.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

powering-up the wireless device;

acquiring downlink (DL) synchronization;

acquiring a master information block (MIB) using physical broadcast channel (PBCH) processing prior to retrieving secondary NBDR configuration information; and

acquiring uplink (UL) synchronization and establishing a radio resource control (RRC) connection using a random access procedure prior to receiving the data in the secondary NBDR.

11. At least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions adapted to be executed to implement the method of claim 1.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the subframe includes a legacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) region and the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) region.

13. A method for communicating from a node to a narrow bandwidth device in a broadband network, comprising:

configuring at the node a primary narrow bandwidth device region (NBDR), wherein the primary NBDR includes secondary NBDR configuration information, the primary NBDR and the secondary NBDRs are located in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) region of a subframe and are subsets of frequency resources within a wide bandwidth subframe, and at least one of the primary NBDR and the secondary NBDR includes both an NBDR control channel and an NBDR data channel; and

transmitting the subframe to the narrow bandwidth device, wherein the primary NBDR is transmitted in central part of a signal bandwidth spectrum including a direct current (DC) subcarrier and the secondary NBDR is transmitted on frequency resources within the subframe not used by the primary NBDR.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the secondary NBDR configuration information is selected from the group consisting of a number of NBDRs, an allocation of NBDRs, an assignment of NBDRs, a configuration of NBDRs, NBDRs frequency hopping pattern, and combinations thereof.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein a bandwidth of at least one of the primary NBDR or the secondary NBDR is narrower than a bandwidth of the wide bandwidth subframe.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting data in the primary or secondary NBDR.

17. At least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions adapted to be executed to implement the method of claim 13.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the subframe includes a legacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) region and the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) region.

19. A narrow bandwidth wireless device configured to communicate in a broadband network, comprising:

a baseband processing module configured to retrieve secondary narrow bandwidth device region (NBDR) configuration information from a primary NBDR located in a physical downlink data channel (PDSCH) region of a subframe, and process data in the secondary NBDR located in a physical downlink data channel (PDSCH) region of a subframe, wherein the baseband processing module operates in a limited narrow bandwidth, and a NBDR is a subset of frequency resources within a wide bandwidth subframe, and the primary NBDR is located in a central part of a signal bandwidth spectrum including a direct current (DC) subcarrier, and the secondary NBDR uses frequency resources within the subframe not used by the primary NBDR, and at least one of the primary NBDR and the secondary NBDR includes both an NBDR control channel and an NBDR data channel.

20. The narrow bandwidth wireless device of claim 19, wherein the baseband processing module is further configured to process control channels and synchronization information in the primary NBDR and acquire from the primary NBDR initial system information selected from the group consisting of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and combinations thereof.

21. The narrow bandwidth wireless device of claim 19, wherein the limited narrow bandwidth is approximately 3 megahertz (MHz) or less, and the wide bandwidth subframe has a bandwidth of at least 10 MHz.

22. The narrow bandwidth wireless device of claim 19, further comprising:

a radio frequency receiver configured to receive a wide bandwidth subframe.

23. The narrow bandwidth wireless device of claim 19, further comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) receiver configured to receive a narrow bandwidth region in the wide bandwidth subframe.

24. The narrow bandwidth wireless device of claim 23, wherein the baseband processing module is further configured to generate a carrier signal offset for the secondary NBDR relative to the DC subcarrier and adjust the RF receiver to a center frequency of the secondary NBDR.

25. The narrow bandwidth wireless device of claim 19, wherein the narrow bandwidth wireless device is selected from the group consisting of a user equipment (UE) and a mobile station (MS), and the narrow bandwidth wireless device includes at least one of an antenna, a touch sensitive display screen, a speaker, a microphone, a graphics processor, an application processor, internal memory, a non-volatile memory port, and combinations thereof.

26. The narrow bandwidth wireless device of claim 19, wherein the narrow bandwidth wireless device belongs to a class of a machine type communication (MTC) device.

27. The narrow bandwidth wireless device of claim 19, wherein the subframe includes a legacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) region and the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) region.

28. A node device of a node configured to communicate with a narrow bandwidth wireless device in a broadband network, comprising:

a processing module operable to configure narrow bandwidth device regions (NBDRs) located in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) region of a subframe, wherein the NBDRs are subsets of frequency resources within a wide bandwidth subframe, the NBDRs include a primary NBDR and at least one secondary NBDR, the primary NBDR includes secondary NBDR configuration information, the secondary NBDR includes data, and at least one of the primary NBDR and the at least one secondary NBDR includes both an NBDR control channel and an NBDR data channel; and

a transceiver module configured to transmit the primary NBDR on subcarriers located in a central part of a signal bandwidth spectrum including a direct current (DC) subcarrier, and the secondary NBDR on subcarriers within the subframe not used by the primary NBDR.

29. The node device of claim 28, wherein the subframe includes the primary NBDR and a plurality of secondary NBDRs, and node is configured to transmit data to a plurality of narrow bandwidth wireless devices using the primary NBDR and secondary NBDRs, and each narrow bandwidth wireless device is assigned a distinct primary or secondary NBDR for data communication.

30. The node device of claim 28, wherein the node is configured to communicate with a wireless wide bandwidth device using a bandwidth of at least 10 megahertz (MHz), and the narrow bandwidth wireless device using a bandwidth of approximately 1.4 MHz.

31. The node device of claim 28, wherein the node is selected from the group consisting of a base station (BS), a Node B (NB), an evolved Node B (eNB), a baseband unit (BBU), a remote radio head (RRH), a remote radio equipment (RRE), a remote radio unit (RRU), and combinations thereof.

32. The node device of claim 28, wherein the subframe includes a legacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) region and the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) region.