Inserting virtual carrier in conventional OFDM host carrier in communications system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9480065-B2
Application number	US-201213983441-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 1, 2012
Priority date	Feb 4, 2011
Publication date	Oct 25, 2016
Grant date	Oct 25, 2016

Abstract

A mobile communications system for communicating data to and/or from mobile communications devices. The mobile communications system comprises one or more base stations, each of which includes a transmitter and a receiver operable to provide a wireless access interface for communicating data to and/or from the mobile communications devices, the wireless access interface providing on a downlink a host carrier, the host carrier providing a plurality of resource elements across a first frequency range for communicating data; and a first and second mobile communications devices. The wireless access interface provided by the base stations is arranged to provide a virtual carrier, the virtual carrier providing one or more resource elements within a second frequency range which is within and smaller than the first frequency range, and the second mobile communications device is operable, upon detection of the virtual carrier, to receive downlink communications via the virtual carrier.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A mobile communications system for communicating data to and/or from mobile communications devices, the mobile communications system comprising:
one or more base stations, each of which includes a transmitter and a receiver operable to provide a wireless access interface for communicating data to or from the mobile communications devices, the wireless access interface providing on a downlink a host carrier, the host carrier providing a plurality of resource elements across first frequency resources for communicating data, and
a first and second mobile communications devices,

wherein:
the first mobile communications device is operable to receive downlink communications via the host carrier,
the wireless access interface provided by the one or more base stations is arranged to provide a virtual carrier, the virtual carrier providing one or more resource elements within second frequency resources which are within and smaller than the first frequency resources,
the second mobile communications device is operable, upon detection of the virtual carrier, to receive downlink communications via the virtual carrier,
downlink data is provided in time-adjacent sub-frames,
the virtual carrier is provided in the second frequency resources in a first sub-frame; and
the virtual carrier is provided in third frequency resources in a sub-frame after the first sub-frame, wherein the third frequency resources are within and smaller than the first frequency resources.

2. A mobile communications system according to claim 1 , wherein
the first mobile communications device comprises a receiver of a first type, wherein receivers of the first type have a bandwidth for contemporaneously receiving data which is at least the bandwidth of the first frequency resources; and
the second mobile communications device comprises a receiver of a second type, wherein receivers of the second type have a bandwidth for contemporaneously receiving data which is less than or equal to the bandwidth of the second frequency resources.

3. A mobile communications system according to claim 1 , wherein the wireless access interface provided by the one or more base stations is further arranged to provide a plurality of virtual carriers.

4. A mobile communications system according to claim 1 , wherein the virtual carrier is provided in the same frequency range as a physical broadcast channel for the first mobile communications device to connect to one of the one or more base stations.

5. A mobile communications system according to claim 1 , wherein one or more resource elements comprise a virtual carrier signal indicating that the wireless access interface provides one or more virtual carriers.

6. A mobile communications system according to claim 5 , wherein the second mobile communications device is operable to scan the first frequency resources for a virtual carrier upon detection of a virtual carrier signal.

7. A mobile communications system according to claim 5 , wherein the virtual carrier signal comprises an indication of the location of the virtual carrier within the first frequency resources or an indication of the bandwidth of the virtual carrier.

8. A mobile communications system according to claim 5 , wherein the second mobile communications device is operable, upon detection of the virtual carrier signal indicating a virtual carrier frequency range, to configure its receiver to receive data transmitted in the virtual carrier frequency range.

9. A mobile communications system according to claim 5 , wherein the one or more resource elements for providing the virtual carrier signal are provided in a physical broadcast channel.

10. A mobile communications system according to claim 9 , wherein the physical broadcast channel is a channel for the first mobile communications device to connect to one of the one or more base stations.

11. A mobile communications system according to claim 5 , wherein the one or more resource elements for providing the virtual carrier signal in respect of a certain virtual carrier are provided within the certain virtual carrier.

12. A mobile communications system according to claim 1 , the mobile communications system being arranged in accordance with 3GPP Long Term Evolution specifications.

13. A mobile communications system according to claim 5 , wherein the virtual carrier signal is not provided in every sub-frame.

14. A mobile communications system according to claim 11 , wherein the virtual carrier signal is provided in some or all sub-carriers across the virtual carrier and in one or more OFDM symbols.

15. A mobile communications system according to claim 1 , wherein a receiver of a second type has a bandwidth for contemporaneously receiving communications spanning at least six resource blocks and fewer than one hundred resource blocks.

16. A mobile communications system according to claim 1 , wherein the virtual carrier has a bandwidth size of at least one resource block and of fewer than one hundred resource blocks.

17. A mobile communications system according to claim 16 , wherein the virtual carrier has a bandwidth size of six resource blocks.

18. A mobile communications system according to claim 1 , wherein the virtual carrier bandwidth or range changes at regular interval and the virtual carrier bandwidth or range changes every sub-frame or every ten sub-frames.

19. A mobile communications system according to claim 1 , wherein the third frequency resources are the same as the second frequency resources.

20. A mobile communications system according to claim 1 , wherein the change of frequency range from the second frequency resources to the third frequency resources is based on a pseudo-random algorithm.

21. A mobile communications device for use in a mobile communications system according to claim 1 .

22. A mobile communications device having a receiver of the second type for use in a mobile communications system according to claim 1 .

23. A method of communicating data to or from mobile communications devices in a mobile communications system, the method comprising:
providing a wireless access interface for communicating data to or from the mobile communications devices, the wireless access interface providing on a downlink a host carrier, the host carrier providing a plurality of resource elements across first frequency resources,
transmitting data for a first group of mobile communications devices, wherein the data is distributed within the plurality of resource elements across the first frequency resources;
a first mobile communications device in the first group of mobile communications devices receiving downlink communications via the host carrier;
providing a virtual carrier via the wireless access interface, the virtual carrier providing one or more resource elements within second frequency resources which are within and smaller than the first frequency resources; and
transmitting data for a second group of mobile communications devices via the at least one virtual carrier;
a second mobile communications device in the second group of mobile communications devices detecting the virtual carrier;
the second mobile communications device receiving downlink communications via the virtual carrier;
downlink data is provided in time-adjacent sub-frames,
the virtual carrier is provided in the second frequency resources in a first sub-frame; and
the virtual carrier is provided in third frequency resources in a sub-fr

Assignees

• Mcnamara Darren
• Lillie Andrew
• Darwood Peter
• Beale Martin
• Sca Ipla Holdings Inc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H04W72/04 Primary

  Wireless resource allocation · CPC title

• H04W72/0453 Primary

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

• H04L5/0064

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

• H04L5/0007

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

• H04W4/70

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