Long Term Evolution (LTE) control region for downlink transmission for enhanced machine type communications (eMTC)

Abstract

A technique for an eNodeB is disclosed that is operable to perform downlink (DL) transmissions using a long term evolution (LTE) control region of a subframe for enhanced machine type communication (eMTC). The eNodeB may encode a bandwidth-reduced system information block type 1 (SIB1-BR) for transmission to a bandwidth-reduced low complexity or coverage enhancement (BL / CE) user equipment (UE). The SIB1-BR may include an indication that the LTE control region in the subframe includes information for at least one of a machine type communication (MTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) transmission or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission. The eNodeB may encode at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission for transmission in a downlink to the BL / CE UE through the LTE control region in the subframe.

Description

Background Art

[0001] A wireless system typically includes multiple user equipment (UE) devices communicatively coupled to one or more base stations (BSs). The one or more BSs may be long term evolution (LTE) evolved NodeBs (eNBs) or new radio (NR) next generation NodeBs (gNBs) communicatively coupled to one or more UEs via a third generation partnership project (3GPP) network. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0002] Features and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which together illustrate features of the present disclosure by way of example; and wherein:

[0003] Figure 1 A block diagram illustrating a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) frame structure according to an example;

[0004] Figure 2 shows signaling between a user equipment (UE) and an eNodeB for unicast machine type communication (MTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) and physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions according to an example;

[0005] Figure 3 shows signaling between multiple user equipments (UEs) and an eNodeB for common MPDCCH and PDSCH transmission according to an example;

[0006] Figure 4 The functionality of an eNodeB according to one example is shown, the eNodeB being operable to perform downlink (DL) transmission using a long term evolution (LTE) control region of a subframe for enhanced machine type communication (eMTC);

[0007] Figure 5 Functionality of an enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) user equipment (UE) according to one example is illustrated, the eMTC UE being operable to decode a downlink (DL) transmission received from an eNodeB over a long term evolution (LTE) control region of a subframe;

[0008] Figure 6 A flow chart of a machine-readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for performing downlink (DL) transmissions using a long term evolution (LTE) control region of a subframe for enhanced machine type communications (eMTC) is shown according to an example;

[0009] Figure 7 shows an architecture of a wireless network according to an example;

[0010] Figure 8 A diagram of a wireless device (e.g., UE) according to an example is shown;

[0011] Fig. 9 An interface of a baseband circuit according to one example is shown; and

[0012] Fig.10 A diagram of a wireless device (eg, UE) according to an example is shown.

[0013] Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. However, it will be understood that no limitation of the scope of the technology is intended thereby. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] Before disclosing and describing the technology of the present invention, it should be understood that the technology is not limited to the specific structures, process operations or materials disclosed herein, but extends to their equivalents as will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the relevant art. It should also be understood that the terms used herein are only for the purpose of describing specific examples and are not intended to be limiting. The same figure numbers in different figures represent the same elements. The numbers provided in the flow charts and processes are for the purpose of clearly illustrating the actions and operations and do not necessarily indicate a specific order or sequence.

[0015] definition

[0016] As used herein, the term "user equipment (UE)" refers to a computing device capable of wireless digital communication, such as a smartphone, a tablet computing device, a laptop computer, a multimedia device such as an iPod, or a tablet computer. or other types of computing devices that provide text or voice communications.The term "user equipment (UE)" may also be referred to as a "mobile device," "wireless device," or "wireless mobile device."

[0017] As used herein, the term "base station (BS)" includes "base transceiver station (BTS)", "NodeB", "evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB)", "new radio base station (NR BS)" and / or "next generation NodeB (gNodeB or gNB)", and refers to a device or configuration node of a mobile telephone network that wirelessly communicates with a UE.

[0018] As used herein, the terms “cellular telephone network,” “4G cellular,” “Long Term Evolution (LTE),” “5G cellular,” and / or “New Radio (NR)” refer to wireless broadband technologies developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

[0019] Exemplary embodiments

[0020] The following provides an initial overview of the technical embodiments, and specific technical embodiments will be described in more detail later. This initial summary is intended to help readers understand the technology more quickly, but is not intended to identify the key features or essential features of the technology, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0021] Figure 1 An example of a 3GPP frame structure is provided. Specifically, Figure 1 1 shows a downlink radio frame structure. In this example, a radio frame 100 of a signal for transmitting data may be configured to have a duration T of 10 milliseconds (ms). f Each radio frame may be segmented or divided into ten subframes 110i, each subframe being 1 millisecond in length. Each subframe may be further subdivided into one or more time slots 120a, 120i, and 120x, each time slot having a duration T of 1 / μms. 时隙 , where for a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, μ=1; for a subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, μ=2; for a subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, μ=4; for a subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, μ=8; and for a subcarrier spacing of 240 kHz, μ=16. Each time slot may include a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0022] Each time slot of a component carrier (CC) used by a node and a wireless device may include a plurality of resource blocks (RBs) 130a, 130b, 130i, 130m, and 130n, depending on the CC frequency bandwidth. A CC may have a carrier frequency including a bandwidth. Each time slot of a CC may include downlink control information (DCI) present in a traditional PDCCH. The PDCCH is transmitted in a control channel resource set (CORESET), which may include one, two, or three orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols and a plurality of RBs.

[0023] Each time slot of each RB (physical RB or PRB) may include 12 subcarriers (on the frequency axis) and 14 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols (on the time axis). If a short cycle or standard cyclic prefix is ​​adopted, the RB may use 14 OFDM symbols. If an extended cyclic prefix is ​​used, the RB may use 12 OFDM symbols. A resource block may be mapped to 168 resource elements (REs) using a short cycle or standard cyclic prefix, or to 144 REs (not shown) using an extended cyclic prefix. RE may be a unit containing one OFDM symbol 142 and one subcarrier (i.e., 15kHz, 30kHz, 60kHz, 120kHz, and 240kHz) 146.

[0024] In the case of using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, each RE 140i can transmit two bits of information 150a and 150b. Other types of modulation, such as 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or 64QAM, can be used to transmit more bits in each RE, and bi-phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation can also be used to transmit fewer bits (one bit) in each RE. RBs can be configured for downlink transmissions from the eNodeB to the UE, and can also be configured for uplink transmissions from the UE to the eNodeB.

[0025] In one configuration, a standalone deployment or standalone mode may be optimized for Release 16 enhanced MTC (eMTC). For example, the LTE control region may be used for downlink (DL) transmissions, such as DL transmissions in an MTC physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (MPDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and the DL transmissions may reach bandwidth-reduced low-complexity or coverage-enhanced (BL / CE) UEs. This standalone deployment / mode may also be used to support legacy operations of legacy BL / CE UEs.

[0026] In one example, in a previous eMTC system, when the number of DL physical resource blocks (PRBs) in the eMTC system is greater than 10, the start symbol may be at least 1, and when the number of DL PRBs in the eMTC system is less than or equal to 10, the start symbol may be at least 2. Symbols before the start symbol for eMTC may be reserved for the LTE control channel region to coexist with LTE in-band operation. On the other hand, for independent deployment / mode, the symbols reserved for the LTE control channel region may be utilized to improve DL resource utilization.

[0027] In one configuration, designs are described herein for enabling use of an LTE control channel region for MPDCCH and PDSCH transmissions. In other words, the LTE control region can be used for MPDCCH and PDSCH transmissions. The designs described herein include applicable cases for using the LTE control region, e.g., unicast and / or common MPDCCH / PDSCH transmissions. In addition, techniques for configuring the LTE control region and using the LTE control region for unicast / common MPDCCH / PDSCH transmissions are described in further detail below.

[0028] In one configuration, the use of the LTE control region may only apply to unicast MPDCCH / PDSCH, where applicable. Alternatively, the use of the LTE control region may apply to both unicast transmissions and common DL transmissions. Common DL transmissions may include a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), reduced bandwidth system information block 1 (SIB1-BR), reduced bandwidth system information block x (SIBx-BR) (where x>1), MPDCCH / PDSCH for random access response / message 4 (RAR / Msg4) and / or paging.

[0029] In one configuration, in terms of configuration and UE capabilities for configuring the use of the LTE control region, system information such as a master information block (MIB), SIB1-BR, or SIBx-BR (x>1) may indicate whether the UE expects to receive an MPDCCH / PDSCH with a start symbol equal to symbol #0 of a subframe. For example, a reserved bit in the MIB may be used to indicate the use of the LTE control region, which may allow the LTE control region to be used for PDSCH carrying SIB1-BR and / or PDSCH carrying other SIBs (if supported) and / or MPDCCH and PDSCH associated with paging and random access procedures in addition to unicast DL transmissions. For another example, SIB1-BR may carry an indication of whether the LTE control region is used, which may allow the LTE control region to be used for PDSCH carrying SIBx-BR (where x>1) (if supported) and / or MPDCCH and PDSCH associated with paging and random access procedures and unicast DL transmissions.

[0030] In one example, the use of the LTE control region (eg, the starting symbol of symbol #0) may be configured through dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling that may be used for unicast DL transmissions.

[0031] In one example, in terms of UE capabilities, supporting the use of the LTE control region for DL ​​transmissions may be defined as an optional UE capability. The configuration for the use of the LTE control region may depend on the UE capabilities. In one example, the UE may report the capabilities to the network, similar to a traditional capability reporting mechanism.

[0032] Alternatively, Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) partitioning may be used for UE capability reporting on supporting LTE control region utilization, which may be used to optimize RAR / Msg4 during the random access procedure.

[0033] In one configuration, with respect to the use of the LTE control region for unicast MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, when the use of the LTE control region for unicast MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission is enabled, rate matching may be used for the unicast MPDCCH / PDSCH, wherein resource element (RE) mapping may take into account symbols in the LTE control region. Symbols in the first N symbols that carry a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) in a legacy system may still carry the CRS on the same REs.

[0034] In one example, when the use of the LTE control region is enabled for unicast MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, any N symbols from the last 14-N symbols (e.g., the first N symbols or the last N symbols as defined in the 3GPP LTE specification) may be copied to the LTE control region, where N is the number of symbols corresponding to the minimum duration reserved for the legacy LTE DCCH in the LTE control region. In a specific example, N=1 for a DL system bandwidth (BW) greater than or equal to 10 PRBs, and N=2 for a DL system BW less than 10 PRBs. This approach may achieve lower coding rates and may enable frequency offset tracking using two copies of symbols. With respect to frequency offset tracking using two copies of symbols, in order to limit the amount of equivalent phase rotation caused by the frequency offset, N symbols (which may be equal to 1 and 2, respectively) may be copied from symbol #1 to symbol #0, and from symbol {#2, #3} to symbol {#0, #1}, respectively, for DL ​​systems with BW greater than or equal to 10 PRBs and less than 10 PRBs, respectively.

[0035] In one example, when the use of the LTE control region is enabled for unicast MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, the first N symbols can be used to carry reference signals (e.g., demodulation reference signal (DMRS) or CRS) or new reference signals or preambles, which can improve channel estimation performance and can also benefit frequency offset estimation in cases where N>1.

[0036] In one example, the frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS may be the same as one of the symbols carrying the DMRS / CRS in the last 14-N symbols, and the remaining REs may be left blank to facilitate possible power boost. In addition, in this case, the relative DL power (such as energy per resource element, or EPRE) of the DMRS / CRS REs in the first N symbols of the subframe and the DMRS / CRS REs in the last 14-N symbols of the subframe may be indicated to the UE. For example, the relative DL power may be indicated to the UE via broadcast (SIB1-BR or other SI message) or via UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0037] In an alternative example, all REs in the first N symbols may be used to carry reference signals. For example, DMRS / CRS may be repeated in the frequency domain, or alternatively, a new sequence may be defined to map to all REs within the first N symbols, except for REs used for CRS transmission which are still used for CRS transmission, as in the conventional LTE DL control region. Whether to repeat DMRS or CRS in the remaining REs (except for the already existing CRS REs) of the first N symbols of a subframe may be implicitly linked to the RS associated with the transmission in a particular subframe, e.g., for MPDCCH and PDSCH using a DMRS-based transmission scheme, the DMRS pattern may be repeated, while for PDSCH using a CRS-based transmission scheme, the CRS REs may be repeated in frequency.

[0038] In one configuration, with respect to the use of the LTE control region for common MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, a number of symbols in the LTE control region may be denoted as N. To maintain backward compatibility of common MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, the transmission in the last 14-N symbols in a subframe may remain the same.

[0039] In one example, when the use of the LTE control region is enabled for broadcast / common MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, any N symbols from the last 14-N symbols (e.g., the first N symbols or the last N symbols as defined in the 3GPP LTE specification) may be copied to the LTE control region, where N is the number of symbols in the LTE control region. In a specific example, N=1 for a DL system BW greater than or equal to 10 PRBs, and N=2 for a DL system BW less than 10 PRBs. This approach may achieve lower coding rates and may enable frequency offset tracking using two copies of symbols. With respect to frequency offset tracking using two copies of symbols, in order to limit the amount of equivalent phase rotation caused by the frequency offset, N symbols (which may be equal to 1 and 2, respectively) may be copied from symbol #1 to symbol #0, and from symbol {#2, #3} to symbol {#0, #1}, respectively, for DL ​​systems with BW greater than or equal to 10 PRBs and less than 10 PRBs, respectively.

[0040] In an alternative example, when the use of the LTE control region is enabled for broadcast / common MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, the first N symbols can be used to carry reference signals such as DMRS / CRS, which can improve channel estimation performance and can also benefit frequency offset estimation when N>1.

[0041] In one example, the frequency domain mapping of DMRS / CRS may be the same as one of the symbols carrying DMRS / CRS in the last 14-N symbols, and the remaining REs may be left blank to facilitate possible power boost. In addition, in this case, the relative DL power (such as EPRE) of the DMRS / CRS REs in the first N symbols of the subframe and the DMRS / CRS REs in the last 14-N symbols of the subframe may be indicated to the UE via broadcast (SIB1-BR or other SI messages) or via UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0042] In an alternative example, all REs in the first N symbols may be used to carry reference signals. For example, DMRS / CRS may be repeated in the frequency domain, or alternatively, a new sequence may be defined to map to all REs within the first N symbols, except for REs used for CRS transmission which are still used for CRS transmission, as in the conventional LTE DL control region. Whether to repeat DMRS or CRS in the remaining REs (except for the already existing CRS REs) of the first N symbols of a subframe may be implicitly linked to the RS associated with the transmission in a particular subframe, e.g., for MPDCCH and PDSCH using a DMRS-based transmission scheme, the DMRS pattern may be repeated, while for PDSCH using a CRS-based transmission scheme, the CRS REs may be repeated in frequency.

[0043] In one configuration, with respect to paging, when use of the LTE control region is enabled for corresponding paging transmissions, UEs may be grouped such that UEs associated with the same paging time (PO) may include all UEs supporting use of the LTE control region. This approach may require changing the UE grouping for the PO, which may depend on the UE ID in the current system.

[0044] In one configuration, with respect to RAR / Msg4, when UE capability reporting, such as via PRACH partitioning, is supported so that the base station knows the UE capabilities before RAR transmission, rate matching (similar to rate matching for unicast MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, as described above) may be applied, where RE mapping may take into account the available REs in the first N symbols for RAR / Msg4 transmission. In addition, symbols in the first N symbols that carry CRS in legacy systems may still carry CRS on the same REs.

[0045] In one example, paging and random access related DL transmissions may be transmitted by transmitting a copy of the first N symbols (e.g., symbols #1 or #2 and #3) in the first N symbols of the subframe in the last 14-N symbols of the subframe. Alternatively, existing CRS REs or DMRS REs associated with MPDCCH CSS type 1 or 2 may be duplicated in frequency to fill the REs in the first N symbols of the subframe. However, for any of the following options, the base station may not know whether the UE can utilize additional copies of OFDM symbols or CRS REs.

[0046] In one example, for a base station indicating usage of the entire LTE DL control channel region (e.g., usage of the first N symbols in a subframe), the current indication of the starting symbol for the MPDCCH and PDSCH may simply indicate that the starting symbol is equal to symbol #1 for systems with a BW greater than or equal to 10 PRBs, and the starting symbol is equal to symbol #2 for DL ​​systems with a BW less than 10 PRBs.

[0047] In one configuration, a design of using the LTE control region for DL ​​transmission is described herein. In one example, system information such as MIB, SIB1-BR, or SIBx-BR (x>1) may be used to indicate whether the UE expects to receive an MPDCCH / PDSCH with a start symbol equal to symbol #0 of a subframe. In another example, dedicated RRC signaling may be used to configure the use of the LTE control region (e.g., the start symbol of symbol #0).

[0048] In one example, when the use of the LTE control region is enabled for unicast MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, rate matching may be used for the unicast MPDCCH / PDSCH, where the RE mapping takes into account the symbols in the LTE control region. In another example, when the use of the LTE control region is enabled for unicast MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, any N symbols (e.g., the first N symbols or the last N symbols) from the last 14-N symbols of the subframe may be copied to the LTE control region, where N is the number of symbols corresponding to the minimum duration reserved for the legacy LTE PDCCH in the LTE control region. In another example, when the use of the LTE control region is enabled for unicast MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, the first N symbols may be used to carry reference signals (e.g., DMRS / CRS) or new reference signals or preambles.

[0049] In one example, when the use of the LTE control region is enabled for broadcast / common MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, any N symbols (e.g., the first N symbols or the last N symbols) from the last 14-N symbols of the subframe may be copied to the LTE control region, where N is the number of symbols corresponding to the minimum duration reserved for the legacy LTE PDCCH in the LTE control region. In another example, when the use of the LTE control region is enabled for broadcast / common MPDCCH / PDSCH transmission, the first N symbols may be used to carry reference signals (e.g., DMRS / CRS) or new reference signals or preambles.

[0050] Figure 2 An example of signaling between a user equipment (UE) 210 and an eNodeB 220 for unicast machine type communication (MTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) and physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions is shown. The eNodeB 220 may perform DL transmissions using the LTE control region of a subframe for enhanced machine type communication (eMTC). For example, the UE 210 may transmit a UE capability message to the eNodeB 220, wherein the capability message may indicate that the UE 210 is capable of receiving MPDCCH / PDSCH transmissions through the LTE control region in the subframe. In addition, the eNodeB 220 may transmit a reduced bandwidth system information block type 1 (SIB1-BR) to the UE 210, wherein the SIB1-BR may include an indication that the LTE control region in the subframe supports MPDCCH / PDSCH transmissions. In addition, the eNodeB 220 may transmit MPDCCH / PDSCH transmissions (such as unicast MPDCCH / PDSCH transmissions in the downlink) to the UE 210 through the LTE control region in the subframe.

[0051] Figure 3An example of signaling between a plurality of user equipments (UEs) and an eNodeB 340 for common MPDCCH and PDSCH transmissions is shown, wherein the plurality of UEs include a first UE (UE1) 310, a second UE (UE2) 320, and a third UE (UE3) 330. The eNodeB 320 may perform DL transmissions using an LTE control region of a subframe for enhanced machine type communication (eMTC). For example, the plurality of UEs 310, 320, 330 may transmit respective UE capability messages to the eNodeB 320, wherein the capability message may indicate that the plurality of UEs 310, 320, 330 are capable of receiving MPDCCH / PDSCH transmissions through the LTE control region in the subframe. In addition, the eNodeB 320 may transmit a reduced bandwidth system information block type 1 (SIB1-BR) to the plurality of UEs 310, 320, 330, wherein the SIB1-BR may include an indication that the LTE control region in the subframe supports MPDCCH / PDSCH transmissions. In addition, the eNodeB 320 may transmit MPDCCH / PDSCH transmissions (such as common or broadcast MPDCCH / PDSCH transmissions in the downlink) to multiple UEs 310, 320, 330 over the LTE control region in a subframe.

[0052] Another example provides functionality 400 of an eNodeB operable to perform downlink (DL) transmissions using a long term evolution (LTE) control region for an enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) subframe, such as Figure 4 The eNodeB may include one or more processors configured to encode, at the eNodeB, a reduced bandwidth system information block type 1 (SIB1-BR) for transmission to an eMTC user equipment (UE), wherein the SIB1-BR includes an indication that an LTE control region in a subframe includes information for at least one of a machine type communication (MTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) transmission or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, as shown in block 410. The eNodeB may include one or more processors configured to encode, at the eNodeB, at least one of an MPDCCH transmission or a PDSCH transmission for transmission in a downlink to an eMTC UE via the LTE control region in a subframe, as shown in block 420. In addition, the eNodeB may include a memory interface configured to retrieve, from a memory, the indication to be included in the SIB1-BR.

[0053] Another example provides functionality 500 of an enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) user equipment (UE) operable to decode a downlink (DL) transmission received from an eNodeB via a long term evolution (LTE) control region of a subframe, such as Figure 5 The eMTC UE may include one or more processors configured to decode, at the eMTC UE, a reduced bandwidth system information block type 1 (SIB1-BR) received from an eNodeB, wherein the SIB1-BR includes an indication that an LTE control region in a subframe includes information for at least one of a machine type communication (MTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) transmission or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, as shown in block 510. The eMTC UE may include one or more processors configured to decode, at the eMTC UE, at least one of an MPDCCH transmission or a PDSCH transmission received from the eNodeB in a downlink through the LTE control region in a subframe, as shown in block 520. In addition, the eMTC UE may include a memory interface configured to send the indication in the SIB1-BR to a memory.

[0054] Another example provides at least one machine-readable storage medium having instructions 600 embodied thereon for performing downlink (DL) transmission using a long term evolution (LTE) control region of a subframe for enhanced machine type communication (eMTC), such as Figure 6 As shown. The instructions are executable on a machine, wherein the instructions are included on at least one computer-readable medium or a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium. The instructions, when executed by one or more processors of an eNodeB, perform: at the eNodeB, encode a bandwidth-reduced system information block type 1 (SIB1-BR) for transmission to an eMTC user equipment (UE), wherein the SIB1-BR includes an indication that the LTE control region in the subframe includes information for at least one of a machine type communication (MTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) transmission or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, as shown in block 610. The instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the eNodeB, perform: at the eNodeB, encode at least one of an MPDCCH transmission or a PDSCH transmission for transmission to an eMTC UE in a downlink through the LTE control region in the subframe, as shown in block 620.

[0055] Figure 7The architecture of a system 700 of a network according to some embodiments is shown. System 700 is shown to include user equipment (UE) 701 and UE 702. UE 701 and UE 702 are shown as smart phones (e.g., handheld touch screen mobile computing devices that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but these UEs can also include any mobile or non-mobile computing devices, such as personal data assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handheld terminals, or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0056] In some embodiments, any one of UE 701 and UE 702 may include an Internet of Things (IoT) UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communication (MTC) to exchange data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), proximity-based services (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, a sensor network, or an IoT network. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0057] UE 701 and UE 702 may be configured to connect, e.g., be communicatively coupled, to a radio access network (RAN) 710, which may be, e.g., an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), a next generation RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. UE 701 and UE 702 utilize connection 703 and connection 704, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, connection 703 and connection 704 are shown as air interfaces to achieve communicatively coupling, and may be consistent with cellular communication protocols, such as a global system for mobile communications (GSM) protocol, a code division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a push-to-talk (PTT) protocol, a cellular PTT protocol (POC), a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP long term evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a new radio (NR) protocol, etc.

[0058] In this embodiment, UE 701 and UE 702 may also directly exchange communication data via ProSe interface 705. ProSe interface 705 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface including one or more logical channels including, but not limited to, a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), and a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH).

[0059] UE 702 is shown configured to access access point (AP) 706 via connection 707. Connection 707 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.15 protocol, where AP 706 will include wireless fidelity Router. In this example, AP 706 is shown connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below).

[0060] The RAN 710 may include one or more access nodes that enable connections 703 and 704. These access nodes (ANs) may be referred to as base stations (BS), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next generation NodeBs (gNBs), RAN nodes, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 710 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macro cells, such as macro RAN nodes 711, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femto cells or pico cells (e.g., cells with smaller coverage, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than macro cells), such as low power (LP) RAN nodes 712.

[0061] Either of the RAN node 711 and the RAN node 712 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 701 and the UE 702. In some embodiments, either of the RAN nodes 711 and 712 may fulfill various logical functions of the RAN 710, including but not limited to the functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0062] According to some embodiments, UE 701 and UE 702 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of RAN nodes 711 and 712 through a multi-carrier communication channel using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communications) or single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0063] In some embodiments, the downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmission from any one of the RAN node 711 and the RAN node 712 to the UE 701 and the UE 702, while the uplink transmission can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice, which makes the allocation of wireless resources intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements. In the frequency domain, this can represent the minimum amount of resources that can be currently allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0064] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher layer signaling to UE 701 and UE 702. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel, etc. The PDCCH may also inform UE 701 and UE 702 of the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to UE 702 within a cell) may be performed at either RAN node 711 or RAN node 712 based on channel quality information fed back from either UE 701 or UE 702. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of UE 701 and UE 702.

[0065] PDCCH can use control channel elements (CCE) to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to four sets of nine physical resource elements, called resource element groups (REGs). Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0066] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs) may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to four sets of nine physical resource elements, referred to as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). In some cases, ECCEs may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0067] RAN 710 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 720 via an S1 interface 713. In an embodiment, CN 720 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a next generation packet core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN. In this embodiment, S1 interface 713 is divided into two parts: S1-U interface 714, which carries traffic data between RAN nodes 711 and 712 and a serving gateway (S-GW) 722; and S1-mobility management entity (MME) interface 715, which is a signaling interface between RAN nodes 711 and 712 and MME 721.

[0068] In this embodiment, CN 720 includes MME 721, S-GW 722, Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 723 and Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 724. MME 721 may be similar in function to the control plane of a conventional Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN). MME 721 may manage mobility aspects in access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. HSS 724 may include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting network entities in handling communication sessions. Depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the devices, the organization of the network, etc., CN 720 may include one or more HSS 724. For example, HSS 724 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing resolution, location dependency, etc.

[0069] The S-GW 722 may terminate the S1 interface 713 towards the RAN 710 and route data packets between the RAN 710 and the CN 720. In addition, the S-GW 722 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies.

[0070] The P-GW 723 may terminate the SGi interface towards the PDN. The P-GW 723 may route data packets between the EPC network 723 and an external network such as a network including an application server 730 (alternatively referred to as an application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 725. Generally, the application server 730 may be an element that provides an application that uses IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS packet service (PS) domain, LTE PS data service, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 723 is shown as being communicatively coupled to the application server 730 via an IP communication interface 725. The application server 730 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for UEs 701 and 702 via the CN 720 (e.g., Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.).

[0071] The P-GW 723 may also be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. The Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 726 is a policy and charging control element of the CN 720. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in a domestic public land mobile network (HPLMN) associated with an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of the UE. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the UE's IP-CAN session: a domestic PCRF (H-PCRF) within the HPLMN and a visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). The PCRF 726 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 730 via the P-GW 723. The application server 730 may signal the PCRF 726 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate quality of service (QoS) and charging parameters. PCRF 726 may configure the rules to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate Communication Flow Template (TFT) and QoS Class Identifier (QCI), which initiates the QoS and charging specified by application server 730.

[0072] Figure 8 Exemplary components of a device 800 according to some embodiments are shown. In some embodiments, the device 800 may include an application circuit 802, a baseband circuit 804, a radio frequency (RF) circuit 806, a front-end module (FEM) circuit 808, one or more antennas 810, and a power management circuit (PMC) 812 (at least coupled together as shown). The components of the illustrated device 800 may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 800 may include fewer elements (e.g., the RAN node cannot utilize the application circuit 802, but includes a processor / controller to process IP data received from the EPC). In some embodiments, the device 800 may include additional elements, such as a memory / storage device, a display, a camera, a sensor, or an input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the following components may be included in more than one device (e.g., the circuit may be separately included in more than one device for a specific implementation of a cloud-RAN (C-RAN)).

[0073] The application circuit 802 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuit 802 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The one or more processors may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). These processors may be coupled to or may include memory / storage devices, and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage devices to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 800. In some embodiments, the processor of the application circuit 802 may process IP data packets received from the EPC.

[0074] The baseband circuit 804 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuit 804 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic components to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 806 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 806. The baseband processing circuit 804 may interact with the application circuit 802 to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of the RF circuit 806. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 804 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 804a, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 804b, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 804c, or one or more other baseband processors 804d of other existing generations, generations under development or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuit 804 (e.g., one or more of the baseband processors 804a-d) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 806. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 804a-d may be included in a module stored in memory 804g and executed via a central processing unit (CPU) 804e. Radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuitry of baseband circuitry 804 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuitry of baseband circuitry 804 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The implementation of modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions is not limited to these examples, and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments.

[0075] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 804 may include one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 804f. The audio DSP 804f may include elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the components of the baseband circuit may be appropriately combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In some embodiments, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 804 and the application circuit 802 may be implemented together, such as on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0076] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 804 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 804 may support communications with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuit 804 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0077] The RF circuit 806 can communicate with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, the RF circuit 806 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with the wireless network. The RF circuit 806 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from the FEM circuit 808 and providing baseband signals to the baseband circuit 804. The RF circuit 806 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by the baseband circuit 804 and providing RF output signals for transmission to the FEM circuit 808.

[0078] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 806 may include a mixer circuit 806a, an amplifier circuit 806b, and a filter circuit 806c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 806 may include a filter circuit 806c and a mixer circuit 806a. The RF circuit 806 may also include a synthesizer circuit 806d for synthesizing the frequencies used by the mixer circuit 806a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 806a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 808 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 806d. The amplifier circuit 806b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 806c may be a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to the baseband circuit 804 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although this is not required.In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 806a of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0079] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 806a of the transmit signal path can be configured to upconvert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 806d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 808. The baseband signal can be provided by baseband circuit 804 and can be filtered by filter circuit 806c.

[0080] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 806a of the receiving signal path and the mixer circuit 806a of the transmitting signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged to be used for orthogonal down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 806a of the receiving signal path and the mixer circuit 806a of the transmitting signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged to be used for image suppression (e.g., Hartley image suppression). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 806a of the receiving signal path and the mixer circuit 806a of the transmitting signal path may be arranged to be used for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 806a of the receiving signal path and the mixer circuit 806a of the transmitting signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0081] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the RF circuit 806 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits, and the baseband circuit 804 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuit 806.

[0082] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0083] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 806d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 806d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0084] Synthesizer circuit 806d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by mixer circuit 806a of RF circuit 806. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 806d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0085] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuit 804 or the application processor 802 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the application processor 802.

[0086] The synthesizer circuit 806d of the RF circuit 806 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-mode frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a cascaded, tunable, delay element, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a set of D-type flip-flops. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to divide the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0087] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 806d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 806 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0088] The FEM circuitry 808 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 810, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the RF circuitry 806 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 808 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 806 for transmission via one or more of the one or more antennas 810. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit or receive signal path may be accomplished only in the RF circuitry 806, only in the FEM 808, or in both the RF circuitry 806 and the FEM 808.

[0089] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 808 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit may include an LNA to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 806). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 808 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying an input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 806); and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission (e.g., through one or more of the one or more antennas 810).

[0090] In some embodiments, the PMC 812 can manage the power provided to the baseband circuit 804. Specifically, the PMC 812 can control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion. When the device 800 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE, the PMC 812 can generally be included. The PMC 812 can improve power conversion efficiency while providing the desired specific implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

[0091] Although Figure 8The PMC 812 is shown coupled only to the baseband circuit 804. However, in other embodiments, the PMC 812 may be additionally or alternatively coupled to other components (such as, but not limited to, the application circuit 802, the RF circuit 806, or the FEM 808) and perform similar power management operations.

[0092] In some embodiments, the PMC 812 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the device 800. For example, if the device 800 is in the RRC_Connected state, where the device is still connected to the RAN node as it is expected to receive traffic soon, then after a period of inactivity, the device may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the device 800 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power.

[0093] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the device 800 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 800 enters a very low power state and performs paging, in which the device periodically wakes up again to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 800 cannot receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, it must transition back to the RRC_Connected state.

[0094] An additional power saving mode can keep a device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (which can range from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered down. Any data sent during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0095] The processor of the application circuit 802 and the processor of the baseband circuit 804 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 804 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 804 can utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., transport communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include a radio resource control (RRC) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include a physical (PHY) layer of a UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0096] Fig. 9An example interface of a baseband circuit according to some embodiments is shown. As discussed above, Figure 8 The baseband circuit 804 may include processors 804a-804e and a memory 804g utilized by the processors. Each of the processors 804a-804e may include a memory interface 904a-904e for sending / receiving data to / from the memory 804g, respectively.

[0097] The baseband circuit 804 may also include: one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuits / devices, such as a memory interface 912 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 804); an application circuit interface 914 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 804); Figure 8 RF circuit interface 916 (for example, for sending / receiving data to / from the application circuit 802); Figure 8 an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a RF circuit 806); a wireless hardware connection interface 918 (e.g., for sending / receiving data to / from a near field communication (NFC) component, Parts (e.g. Low power consumption), components and other communication components to send / receive data); and a power management interface 920 (for example, an interface for sending / receiving power or control signals to / from PMC 812).

[0098] Fig.10An example illustration of a wireless device is provided, such as a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile wireless device, a mobile communication device, a tablet computer, a handheld terminal, or other type of wireless device. The wireless device may include one or more antennas configured to communicate with a node, a macro node, a low power node (LPN), or a transmission station such as a base station (BS), an evolved node B (eNB), a baseband processing unit (BBU), a remote radio head (RRH), a remote radio equipment (RRE), a relay station (RS), a radio equipment (RE), or other types of wireless wide area network (WWAN) access points. The wireless device may be configured to communicate using at least one wireless communication standard, such as but not limited to 3GPP LTE, WiMAX, high speed packet access (HSPA), Bluetooth, and WiFi. The wireless device may communicate using a separate antenna for each wireless communication standard or using a shared antenna for multiple wireless communication standards. The wireless device may communicate in a wireless local area network (WAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN), and / or a WWAN. The wireless device may also include a wireless modem. The wireless modem may include, for example, a wireless radio transceiver and baseband circuitry (eg, a baseband processor). In one example, the wireless modem may modulate signals transmitted by a wireless device via one or more antennas and demodulate signals received by a wireless device via one or more antennas.

[0099] Fig.10 Also provided are illustrations of microphones and one or more speakers that can be used for audio input and output from a wireless device. The display screen can be a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen or other types of display screens such as an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. The display screen can be configured as a touch screen. The touch screen can use capacitive, resistive or another type of touch screen technology. An application processor and a graphics processor can be coupled to an internal memory to provide processing and display capabilities. A non-volatile memory port can also be used to provide data input / output options to a user. The non-volatile memory port can also be used to expand the memory capacity of a wireless device. A keyboard can be integrated with a wireless device or wirelessly connected to the wireless device to provide additional user input. A touch screen can also be used to provide a virtual keyboard.

[0100] Example

[0101] The following examples are directed to particular technical embodiments, and indicate specific features, elements, or acts that may be used or otherwise combined in implementing such embodiments.

[0102] Embodiment 1 includes an apparatus of an eNodeB operable to perform downlink (DL) transmissions using a long term evolution (LTE) control region of a subframe for enhanced machine type communication (eMTC), the apparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to: encode, at the eNodeB, a bandwidth-reduced system information block type 1 (SIB1-BR) for transmission to a bandwidth-reduced low complexity or coverage enhancement (BL / CE) user equipment (UE), wherein the SIB1-BR includes an indication that the LTE control region in the subframe includes information for at least one of a physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) transmission or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission for machine type communication (MTC); and encode, at the eNodeB, at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission for transmission in a downlink to the BL / CE UE through the LTE control region in the subframe; and a memory interface configured to retrieve, from a memory, the indication to be included in the SIB1-BR.

[0103] Embodiment 2 includes the apparatus according to embodiment 1, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit the SIB1-BR including the indication to the BL / CE UE.

[0104] Embodiment 3 includes the apparatus of any one of embodiments 1 to 2, wherein: the MPDCCH transmission includes unicast MPDCCH transmission or common MPDCCH transmission; and the PDSCH transmission includes unicast PDSCH transmission or common PDSCH transmission.

[0105] Embodiment 4 includes an apparatus according to any one of embodiments 1 to 3, wherein when the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is a unicast transmission and use of the LTE control region is enabled for at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission, the first N symbols of the LTE control region in the subframe are used to carry a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) or a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), wherein frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS in the LTE control region of the subframe matches frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS in the last 14-N symbols of the subframe, where N is a positive integer and represents the number of symbols in the LTE control region.

[0106] Embodiment 5 includes the apparatus of any one of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein when the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is a common transmission and use of the LTE control region is enabled for at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission, any consecutive N symbols from the last 14-N symbols of the subframe are copied to the LTE control region in the subframe.

[0107] Embodiment 6 includes an apparatus according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 5, wherein the any consecutive N symbols include the first N symbols or the last N symbols from the last 14-N symbols of the subframe, wherein N is a positive integer and represents the number of symbols in the LTE control region.

[0108] Embodiment 7 includes an apparatus according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 6, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to decode a capability message received from the BL / CE UE, wherein the capability message indicates that the BL / CE UE is capable of receiving at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission over the LTE control region in the subframe.

[0109] Embodiment 8 includes the apparatus of any one of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein a starting symbol of at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission in the subframe is symbol #0 in the subframe.

[0110] Embodiment 9 includes an apparatus of a bandwidth reduced low complexity or coverage enhanced (BL / CE) user equipment (UE), the BL / CE UE operable to decode a downlink (DL) transmission received from an eNodeB through a long term evolution (LTE) control region of a subframe, the apparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to: decode, at the BL / CE UE, a reduced bandwidth system information block type 1 (SIB1-BR) received from the eNodeB, wherein the SIB1-BR includes an indication that the LTE control region in the subframe includes information for at least one of a machine type communication (MTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) transmission or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission; and, at the BL / CE UE, decode at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission received in a downlink from the eNodeB through the LTE control region in the subframe; and a memory interface configured to send the indication in the SIB1-BR to a memory.

[0111] Embodiment 10 includes the apparatus of embodiment 9, wherein: the MPDCCH transmission comprises a unicast MPDCCH transmission or a common MPDCCH transmission; and the PDSCH transmission comprises a unicast PDSCH transmission or a common PDSCH transmission.

[0112] Embodiment 11 includes an apparatus according to any one of embodiments 9 to 10, wherein when the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is a unicast transmission and use of the LTE control region is enabled for at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission, the first N symbols of the LTE control region in the subframe are used to carry a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) or a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), wherein frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS in the LTE control region of the subframe matches frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS in the last 14-N symbols of the subframe, where N is a positive integer and represents the number of symbols in the LTE control region.

[0113] Embodiment 12 includes the apparatus of any one of embodiments 9 to 11, wherein when the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is a common transmission and use of the LTE control region is enabled for at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission, any consecutive N symbols from the last 14-N symbols of the subframe are copied to the LTE control region in the subframe.

[0114] Embodiment 13 includes an apparatus according to any one of embodiments 9 to 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode a capability message for transmission to the eNodeB, wherein the capability message indicates that the BL / CE UE is capable of receiving at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission over the LTE control region in the subframe.

[0115] Embodiment 14 includes the apparatus of any one of embodiments 9 to 13, wherein a starting symbol of at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission in the subframe is symbol #0 in the subframe.

[0116] Embodiment 15 includes at least one machine-readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for performing downlink (DL) transmissions using a long term evolution (LTE) control region of a subframe for enhanced machine type communication (eMTC), the instructions, when executed by one or more processors at an eNodeB, performing the following operations: a reduced bandwidth system information block type 1 (SIB1-BR) for transmission to a bandwidth reduced low complexity or coverage enhancement (BL / CE) user equipment (UE), wherein the SIB1-BR includes an indication that the LTE control region in the subframe includes information for at least one of a machine type communication (MTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) transmission or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission; and encoding, at the eNodeB, at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission for transmission in a downlink to the BL / CE UE through the LTE control region in the subframe.

[0117] Embodiment 16 includes at least one machine-readable storage medium according to embodiment 15, wherein: the MPDCCH transmission includes a unicast MPDCCH transmission or a common MPDCCH transmission; and the PDSCH transmission includes a unicast PDSCH transmission or a common PDSCH transmission.

[0118] Embodiment 17 includes at least one machine-readable storage medium according to any one of embodiments 15 to 16, wherein when the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is a unicast transmission and use of the LTE control region is enabled for at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission, the first N symbols of the LTE control region in the subframe are used to carry a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) or a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), wherein a frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS in the LTE control region of the subframe matches a frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS in the last 14-N symbols of the subframe, wherein N is a positive integer and represents the number of symbols in the LTE control region.

[0119] Embodiment 18 includes at least one machine-readable storage medium according to any one of embodiments 15 to 17, wherein when the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is a common transmission and use of the LTE control region is enabled for at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission, N symbols from last 14-N symbols of the subframe are copied to the LTE control region in the subframe, wherein the N symbols include first N symbols or last N symbols of the last 14-N symbols of the subframe, wherein N is a positive integer and represents the number of symbols in the LTE control region.

[0120] Embodiment 19 includes at least one machine-readable storage medium according to any one of embodiments 15 to 18, wherein the at least one machine-readable storage medium also includes instructions that, when executed, perform the following operations: decode a capability message received from the BL / CE UE, wherein the capability message indicates that the BL / CE UE is capable of receiving at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission through the LTE control region in the subframe.

[0121] Embodiment 20 includes at least one machine-readable storage medium according to any one of embodiments 15 to 19, wherein a starting symbol of at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission in the subframe is symbol #0 in the subframe.

[0122] Various technologies or some aspects or parts thereof may be in the form of program codes (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media such as floppy disks, compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROMs), hard disk drives, non-transitory computer-readable storage media, or any other machine-readable storage media, wherein when the program code is loaded into a machine such as a computer and executed by the machine, the machine becomes a device for practicing various technologies. In the case of executing program codes on a programmable computer, a computing device may include a processor, a storage medium (including volatile and non-volatile memories and / or storage elements) readable by the processor, at least one input device, and at least one output device. Volatile and non-volatile memories and / or storage elements may be random access memories (RAMs), erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), flash drives, optical drives, magnetic hard disk drives, solid-state drives, or other media for storing electronic data. Nodes and wireless devices may also include transceiver modules (i.e., transceivers), counting modules (i.e., counters), processing modules (i.e., processors), and / or clock modules (i.e., clocks) or timing modules (i.e., timers). In one example, selected components of the transceiver module may be located in a cloud radio access network (C-RAN). One or more programs that may implement or utilize the various techniques described herein may use an application programming interface (API), reusable controls, and the like. Such programs may be implemented in a high-level procedural or object-oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system. However, if desired, one or more programs may be implemented in assembly language or machine language. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language and combined with a hardware implementation.

[0123] As used herein, the term "circuit" may refer to, may be a part of, or may include an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), electronic circuit, processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and / or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that executes one or more software or firmware programs, combinational logic circuits, and / or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, a circuit may be implemented in one or more software or firmware modules, or the functionality associated with the circuit may be implemented by one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, a circuit may include a logic component that may operate at least partially in hardware.

[0124] It should be understood that many of the functional units described in this specification have been labeled as modules in order to more specifically emphasize their implementation independence. For example, a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit that includes a custom very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuit or gate array, an off-the-shelf semiconductor (such as a logic chip, a transistor), or other discrete components. A module may also be implemented in a programmable hardware device (such as a field programmable gate array, a programmable array logic, a programmable logic device, etc.).

[0125] Modules may also be implemented in software to be executed by various types of processors. An identified executable code module may, for example, include one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions, which may, for example, be organized as objects, procedures, or functions. However, the executable files of the identified modules may not be physically located together, but may include different instructions stored in different locations, which, when logically connected together, comprise the module and achieve the intended purpose of the module.

[0126] In practice, a module of executable code may be a single instruction or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, between different programs, and over several memory devices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and shown herein within a module, and may be embodied in any suitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure. The operational data may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed over different locations, including over different storage devices, and the operational data may exist at least in part only as electronic signals on a system or network. A module may be passive or active, including agents operable to perform a desired function.

[0127] References throughout the specification to "one example" or "exemplary" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in conjunction with the example is included in at least one embodiment of the present technology. Thus, multiple appearances of the phrase "in one example" or the word "exemplary" throughout the specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment.

[0128] As used herein, for convenience, multiple items, structural elements, constituent elements and / or materials may be presented in a common list. However, these lists should be understood to be despite this, but each member of the list is identified as a separate and unique member. Therefore, any member in such a list should not be understood to be equivalent to any other member in the same list based solely on being presented in a common group in the absence of contrary instructions. In addition, various embodiments and examples of the present technology may be cited in this article together with alternatives of its various parts. It should be understood that such embodiments, examples and alternatives should not be understood to be equivalent to each other in fact, but should be considered as separate and autonomous representations of the present technology.

[0129] In addition, the features, structures or characteristics can be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. In the following description, many specific details are provided, such as examples of layouts, distances, network examples, to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present technology. However, those skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the present technology can be practiced without one or more specific details or practiced with other methods, components, layouts, etc. In other cases, well-known structures, materials or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid blurring various aspects of the present technology.

[0130] While the foregoing examples illustrate the principles of the present technology in one or more specific applications, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that many modifications may be made to the form, use, and details of the specific implementations without exercising creative talent and without departing from the principles and concepts of the present technology.

Claims

1. A device of a base station, the base station being operable to perform downlink (DL) transmission using a long term evolution (LTE) control region of a subframe for enhanced machine type communication (eMTC), the device include: One or more processors configured to: encoding, at the base station, a bandwidth reduced system information block type 1 (SIB1-BR) for transmission to a bandwidth reduced low complexity or coverage enhanced BL / CE user equipment (UE), wherein the SIB1-BR includes an indication that the LTE control region in the subframe includes information for at least one of a machine type communication (MTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) transmission or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, and wherein when the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is a common transmission and use of the LTE control region is enabled for at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission, copying any consecutive N symbols from the last 14-N symbols of the subframe to the LTE control region in the subframe; as well as encoding, at the base station, at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission for transmission in a downlink to the BL / CE UE over the LTE control region in the subframe; and A memory interface configured to fetch the indication to be included in the SIB1-BR from a memory.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit the SIB1-BR including the indication to the BL / CE UE.

3. The device according to claim 1, in: The MPDCCH transmission includes unicast MPDCCH transmission or common MPDCCH transmission; and The PDSCH transmission includes unicast PDSCH transmission or common PDSCH transmission.

4. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein when the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is unicast transmission and use of the LTE control region is enabled for at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission, first N symbols of the LTE control region in the subframe are used to carry a demodulation reference signal DMRS or a cell-specific reference signal CRS, wherein frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS in the LTE control region of the subframe matches frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS in last 14-N symbols of the subframe, wherein N is a positive integer and represents the number of symbols in the LTE control region.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the any consecutive N symbols include first N symbols or last N symbols from the last 14-N symbols of the subframe, where N is a positive integer and represents the number of symbols in the LTE control region.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to decode a capability message received from the BL / CE UE, wherein the capability message indicates that the BL / CE UE is capable of receiving at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission over the LTE control region in the subframe.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a starting symbol of at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission in the subframe is symbol #0 in the subframe.

8. An apparatus for a bandwidth-reduced low complexity or coverage-enhanced BL / CE user equipment (UE), the BL / CE UE being operable to decode a downlink (DL) transmission received from a base station over a Long Term Evolution (LTE) control region of a subframe, the apparatus include: One or more processors configured to: decoding, at the BL / CE UE, a reduced bandwidth system information block type 1 (SIB1-BR) received from the base station, wherein the SIB1-BR includes an indication that the LTE control region in the subframe includes information for at least one of a machine type communication (MTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) transmission or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, and wherein when the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is a common transmission and use of the LTE control region is enabled for at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission, N symbols from last 14-N symbols of the subframe are copied to the LTE control region in the subframe; as well as decoding, at the BL / CE UE, at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission received in a downlink from the base station over the LTE control region in the subframe; and A memory interface configured to send the indication in the SIB1-BR to a memory.

9. The device according to claim 8, in: The MPDCCH transmission includes unicast MPDCCH transmission or common MPDCCH transmission; and The PDSCH transmission includes unicast PDSCH transmission or common PDSCH transmission.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein when the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is unicast transmission and use of the LTE control region is enabled for at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission, first N symbols of the LTE control region in the subframe are used to carry a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) or a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), wherein frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS in the LTE control region of the subframe matches frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS in last 14-N symbols of the subframe, wherein N is a positive integer and represents the number of symbols in the LTE control region.

11. The apparatus of any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode a capability message for transmission to the base station, wherein the capability message indicates that the BL / CE UE is capable of receiving at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission over the LTE control region in the subframe.

12. The apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein a starting symbol of at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission in the subframe is symbol #0 in the subframe.

13. At least one machine-readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for performing downlink (DL) transmission using a long term evolution (LTE) control region of a subframe for enhanced machine type communication (eMTC), the instructions when executed by one or more processors at a base station performing the following operations: encoding, at the base station, a bandwidth reduced system information block type 1 (SIB1-BR) for transmission to a bandwidth reduced low complexity or coverage enhanced BL / CE user equipment (UE), wherein the SIB1-BR includes an indication that the LTE control region in the subframe includes information for at least one of a machine type communication (MTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) transmission or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, and wherein when the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is a common transmission and use of the LTE control region is enabled for at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission, N symbols from the last 14-N symbols of the subframe are copied to the LTE control region in the subframe; and At the base station, at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is encoded for transmission in a downlink to the BL / CE UE over the LTE control region in the subframe.

14. At least one machine-readable storage medium according to claim 13, in: The MPDCCH transmission includes unicast MPDCCH transmission or common MPDCCH transmission; and The PDSCH transmission includes unicast PDSCH transmission or common PDSCH transmission.

15. The at least one machine-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein when the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is a unicast transmission and use of the LTE control region is enabled for at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission, first N symbols of the LTE control region in the subframe are used to carry a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) or a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), wherein frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS in the LTE control region of the subframe matches frequency domain mapping of the DMRS / CRS in last 14-N symbols of the subframe, wherein N is a positive integer and represents the number of symbols in the LTE control region.

16. At least one machine-readable storage medium according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the N symbols include the first N symbols or the last N symbols from the last 14-N symbols of the subframe, wherein N is a positive integer and represents the number of symbols in the LTE control region.

17. The at least one machine-readable storage medium of any one of claims 13 to 15, further comprising instructions that, when executed, perform the following operations: decode a capability message received from the BL / CE UE, wherein the capability message indicates that the BL / CE UE is capable of receiving at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission over the LTE control region in the subframe.

18. The at least one machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein a starting symbol of at least one of the MPDCCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission in the subframe is symbol #0 in the subframe.

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