Wireless communications system with a narrower subordinate carrier

Abstract

Wirelessly communicating with a first type of terminal device and a second type of terminal device is disclosed. The first type of terminal device may have a host carrier having radio resource segments distributed in time. Each radio resource segment may provide radio resources across a first frequency band. A second type of terminal device may also communicate, within a second frequency band, using a subordinate carrier comprising resources that are a subset of the host carrier radio resource segments. The second frequency band may be narrower than and contained within the first frequency band.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to wireless communications systems and methods, and in particular to a system, method, base station and terminal device for communicating using a subordinate carrier of a host carrier.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Mobile communication systems have evolved over the past ten years or so from the GSM System (Global System for Mobile communications) to the 3G system and now include packet data communications as well as circuit switched communications. The third generation partnership project (3GPP) is developing a fourth generation mobile communication system referred to as Long Term Evolution (LTE) in which a core network part has been evolved to form a more simplified architecture based on a merging of components of earlier mobile radio network architectures and a radio access interface which is based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (S...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a way to efficiently allocate radio resources to different types of devices in a communication network. Specifically, it provides a mechanism for a base station to indicate which subframes are reserved for different purposes, such as a specific device type. This allows the device to know which subframes it cannot use, without needing to fully understand the reason for the reservation. This information is included in the system information block, which the device needs to access in order to connect to the network. The patent also suggests a way to signal the presence of a specific device type, using a special indication in the system information. This improves the efficiency and flexibility of the network, reducing time and power wastage for devices.

Problems solved by technology

While this solution is viable, the simple scheduling approach places some restrictions on the MTC subordinate carrier that can be realised.

If it were advantageous to use different carrier characteristics or to use additional or modified reference signals then this may not be possible in an MTC subordinate carrier implemented purely by eNB scheduling.

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