Inserting virtual carrier in conventional OFDM host carrier in communications system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10743314-B2
Application number	US-201916592771-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2019
Priority date	Feb 4, 2011
Publication date	Aug 11, 2020
Grant date	Aug 11, 2020

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, detecting a reduced bandwidth carrier on the downlink, and receiving downlink communications via the reduced bandwidth carrier, wherein the reduced bandwidth 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 reduced bandwidth carrier is provided in the first frequency resources in a first sub-frame, wherein the reduced bandwidth 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. Circuitry for a mobile terminal, the circuitry comprising:
receiver circuitry configured to receive a signal on a downlink; and
processing circuitry configured to detect a reduced bandwidth carrier on the downlink, wherein
the receiver circuitry is configured to receive downlink communications via the reduced bandwidth carrier,
the reduced bandwidth 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,
the reduced bandwidth carrier is provided in the first frequency resources in a first sub-frame,
the reduced bandwidth carrier is provided in third frequency resources in a second sub-frame after the first sub-frame, and
the third frequency resources are within and smaller than the first frequency resources.

2. The circuitry of claim 1 , 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.

3. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to scan the first frequency resources for the reduced bandwidth carrier.

4. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to configure a receiver to receive communications transmitted in the first frequency resources.

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

6. The circuitry of claim 5 , wherein the reduced bandwidth carrier indicator is configured to indicate a location of the reduced bandwidth carrier.

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

8. The circuitry of claim 5 , wherein the reduced bandwidth carrier indicator is provided in a physical broadcast channel.

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

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

11. A mobile terminal, comprising:
a receiver configured to receive a signal on a downlink; and
processing circuitry configured to detect a reduced bandwidth carrier on the downlink, wherein
the receiver is configured to receive downlink communications via the reduced bandwidth carrier,
the reduced bandwidth 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,
the reduced bandwidth carrier is provided in the first frequency resources in a first sub-frame,
the reduced bandwidth carrier is provided in third frequency resources in a second sub-frame after the first sub-frame, and
the third frequency resources are within and smaller than the first frequency resources.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 11 , wherein the processing 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 , herein the processing circuitry is further configured to scan the first frequency resources for the reduced bandwidth carrier.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 11 , wherein the processing 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 reduced bandwidth carrier indicator that is configured to indicate a presence of the reduced bandwidth carrier.

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

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

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

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

20. A method performed by circuitry for a mobile terminal, the method comprising:
receiving a signal on a downlink;
detecting a reduced bandwidth carrier on the downlink; and
receiving downlink communications via the reduced bandwidth carrier, wherein
the reduced bandwidth 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,
the reduced bandwidth carrier is provided in the first frequency resources in a first sub-frame,
the reduced bandwidth carrier is provided in third frequency resources in a second sub-frame after the first sub-frame, and
the third frequency resources are within and smaller than the first frequency resources.

Assignees

• Sca Ipla Holdings Inc
• Sca Ipla Holdings Inc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H04L5/0039 Primary

  Frequency-contiguous, i.e. with no allocation of frequencies for one user or terminal between the frequencies allocated to another · CPC title

• H04L5/0064

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

• H04W72/0453 Primary

  Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA · CPC title

• H04W4/70

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

• H04W48/12

  using downlink control channel · CPC title