Enhanced node B and method of transmitting physical-downlink control channels (PDCCHs) in a LTE-A system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10178605-B2
Application number	US-201113996624-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 1, 2011
Priority date	Apr 1, 2011
Publication date	Jan 8, 2019
Grant date	Jan 8, 2019

Abstract

Embodiments of an eNB and method of transmitting PDCCHs are generally described herein. In some embodiments, the eNB may be configured to transmit PDCCHs that are based on a UE-specific reference signal (i.e., a UE-RS). In these embodiments, the UEs may be able to demodulate their PDCCH using a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) that is specific to the UE (e.g., instead of a common reference signal). The PDCCHs disclosed herein may be suitable the Uu interface of an LTE-A system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A User Equipment (UE) comprising processing circuitry to:
receive, instructions for monitoring a set of downlink control channels; and
monitor, using the instructions, the set of downlink control channels in a UE-specific search space of a downlink subframe, the downlink subframe for monitoring being indicated by higher layer signaling, wherein the set is mapped to regions of resource elements of the UE-specific search space such that at least some resource elements are reserved for a legacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) region and some resource elements are reserved for a non-legacy, PDCCH region, the UE is configured to search both the legacy PDCCH region and the non-legacy PDCCH region for downlink control information (DCI), and wherein higher layer signaling instructs the UE to search either of the legacy PDCCH region or the non-legacy PDCCH region for blind decoding, wherein the non-legacy PDCCH region is based on a UE-specific reference signal (UE-RS), wherein a downlink control channel of the set of downlink control channels is distributed across a plurality of enhanced resource element groups (EREGs) in the HE-specific search space, and wherein the UE further comprises a plurality of antenna ports, wherein each EREG of the plurality of EREGs is precoded with a value based on a configuration of the plurality of antenna ports.

2. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the receiving is through higher layer signaling.

3. The UE of claim 1 , wherein
the set is mapped to regions of resource elements of the UE-specific search space such that at least some resource elements are reserved for a cell-specific reference signal.

4. The UE of claim 1 , wherein
the set is mapped to regions of resource elements of the UE-specific search space such that at least some resource elements are reserved for a channel-state information (CSI) reference signals.

5. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the UE comprises a file storage memory.

6. A method of monitoring downlink control channels, the method comprising:
receiving, at a user equipment (UE), instructions for monitoring a set of downlink control channels;
monitoring, using the instructions, the set of downlink control channels in a user equipment (UE)-specific search space of a downlink subframe, the downlink subframe being mapped to reserve at least some resource elements for a legacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) region and some resource elements are reserved for a non-legacy PDCCH region, wherein the UE is configured to search both the legacy PDCCH region and the non-legacy PDCCH region for downlink control information (DCI), and wherein the higher layer signaling instructs the UE to search either of the legacy PDCCH region or the non-legacy PDCCH region for blind decoding, wherein the non-legacy PDCCH region is based on a UE-specific reference signal (UE-RS), wherein a downlink control channel of the set of downlink control channels is distributed across a plurality of enhanced resource element groups (EREGs) in the UE-specific search space, and each EREG of the plurality of EREGs is precoded with a value based on a configuration of UE antenna ports.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the receiving is through higher layer signaling.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the set is further mapped such that
at least some resource elements are reserved for a cell-specific reference signals, and
at least some resource elements are reserved for a channel-specific information (CSI) reference signals.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed on a machine, cause the machine to:
receive, through higher layer signaling, instructions for monitoring a set of downlink control channels; and
monitor, using the instructions, the set of downlink control channels in a user equipment (UE)-specific search space of a downlink subframe, the downlink subframe being mapped to reserve at least some resource elements for a legacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) region and some resource elements are reserved for a non-legacy PDCCH region, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to search both the legacy PDCCH region and the non-legacy PDCCH region for downlink control information (DCI), and wherein the higher layer signaling instructs the machine to search either of the legacy PDCCH region or the non-legacy PDCCH region for blind decoding, wherein the non-legacy PDCCH region is based on a UE-specific reference signal (UE-RS) wherein a downlink control channel of the set of downlink control channels is distributed across a plurality of enhanced resource element groups (EREGs) in the UE-specific search space, and
an EREG of the plurality of EREGs is precoded with a value based on a configuration of UE antenna ports.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 comprising instructions that, when executed on the machine, cause the machine to:
decode a downlink control channel of the set of downlink control channels using a UE-specific reference signal, wherein
the set is mapped such that at least some resource elements are reserved for cell-specific reference signals, at least some resource elements are reserved for a channel-specific information (CSI) reference signals, and at least some resource elements are reserved for UE-specific reference signals.

Assignees

• Chen Xiaogang
• Zhu Yuan
• Hsuan Yi
• Niu Huaning
• Li Qinghua
• Fwu Jong Kae
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Chen Xiaogang
• Zhu Yuan
• Hsuan Yi
• Niu Huaning
• Li Qinghua
• Fwu Jong-Kae

Classifications

• H04W72/21

  in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network · CPC title

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04L45/70

  Routing based on monitoring results · CPC title

• H04W24/10

  Scheduling measurement reports {; Arrangements for measurement reports} · CPC title

• H04W24/02

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title