Inserting virtual carrier in conventional OFDM host carrier in communications system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10070440-B2
Application number	US-201615279110-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2016
Priority date	Feb 4, 2011
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a mobile communications system and method for communicating data to and/or from mobile communications devices. The method includes receiving, by a mobile terminal, a signal on a downlink from a base station, detecting a virtual carrier on the downlink, and receiving downlink communications via the virtual carrier, wherein the virtual carrier is configured to provide a first set of resource elements within first frequency resources that are within and smaller than second frequency resources that are used by a host carrier to provide a second set of resource elements, wherein the virtual carrier is provided in the first frequency resources in a first sub-frame, wherein the virtual carrier is provided in third frequency resources in a second sub-frame after the first sub-frame, and wherein the third frequency resources are within and smaller than the first frequency resources.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of communicating data in a mobile communications system, the method comprising:
receiving, by a mobile terminal, a signal on a downlink from a base station;
detecting a virtual carrier on the downlink; and
receiving downlink communications via the virtual carrier,
wherein the virtual carrier is configured to provide a first set of resource elements within first frequency resources that are within and smaller than second frequency resources that are used by a host carrier to provide a second set of resource elements,
wherein the virtual carrier is provided in the first frequency resources in a first sub-frame,
wherein the virtual carrier is provided in third frequency resources in a second sub-frame after the first sub-frame, and
wherein the third frequency resources are within and smaller than the first frequency resources.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
decoding the first set of resource elements; and
obtaining network configuration information from the decoded first set of resource elements.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the virtual carrier includes scanning the first frequency resources for the virtual carrier.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising configuring a receiver to receive communications transmitted in the first frequency resources.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of resource elements includes a virtual carrier indicator that is configured to indicate a presence of the virtual carrier.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the virtual carrier indicator is configured to indicate a location of the virtual carrier.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the virtual carrier indicator is configured to indicate a bandwidth of the virtual carrier.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the virtual carrier indicator is provided in a physical broadcast channel.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual carrier has a bandwidth size of at least one resource block and of fewer than one hundred resource blocks.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual carrier has a bandwidth size of six resource blocks.

11. A mobile terminal, comprising:
circuitry configured to:
receive a signal on a downlink from a base station;
detect a virtual carrier on the downlink; and
receive downlink communications via the virtual carrier,

wherein the virtual carrier is configured to provide a first set of resource elements within first frequency resources that are within and smaller than second frequency resources that are used by a host carrier to provide a second set of resource elements,
wherein the virtual carrier is provided in the first frequency resources in a first sub-frame,
wherein the virtual carrier is provided in third frequency resources in a second sub-frame after the first sub-frame, and
wherein the third frequency resources are within and smaller than the first frequency resources.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 11 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
decode the first set of resource elements; and
obtain network configuration information from the decoded first set of resource elements.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 11 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to scan the first frequency resources for the virtual carrier.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 11 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to configure a receiver to receive communications transmitted in the first frequency resources.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 11 , wherein the first set of resource elements includes a virtual carrier indicator that is configured to indicate a presence of the virtual carrier.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 15 , wherein the virtual carrier indicator is configured to indicate a location of the virtual carrier.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 15 , wherein the virtual carrier indicator is configured to indicate a bandwidth of the virtual carrier.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 15 , wherein the virtual carrier indicator is provided in a physical broadcast channel.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 11 , wherein the virtual carrier has a bandwidth size of at least one resource block and of fewer than one hundred resource blocks.

20. The mobile terminal of claim 11 , wherein the virtual carrier has a bandwidth size of six resource blocks.

Assignees

• Sca Ipla Holdings Inc

Inventors

• Mcnamara Darren
• Lillie Andrew
• Darwood Peter
• Beale Martin

Classifications

• H04L5/0064

  Rate requirement of the data, e.g. scalable bandwidth, data priority · CPC title

• H04L5/0094

  Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated · CPC title

• H04W4/70

  Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] · CPC title

• H04L5/0007

  the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A) or DMT · CPC title

• H04W72/04 Primary

  Wireless resource allocation · CPC title