Narrow band partitioning and efficient resource allocation for low cost user equipments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9622230-B2
Application number	US-201313896139-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 16, 2013
Priority date	May 17, 2012
Publication date	Apr 11, 2017
Grant date	Apr 11, 2017

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques that may be utilized to perform communications using narrow bands partitioned from available bandwidth. In some cases, a base station may select at least one narrow band, from a number of narrow bands partitioned from an available system bandwidth, for communications with a user equipment (UE), signal information regarding the selected narrow band to the UE, and communicat with the UE using the selected narrow band. The UE may receive the information regarding the selected at least one narrow band, and communicate with at least one base station using the at least one narrow band.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for wireless communications by a base station, comprising:
selecting at least one narrow band, from a number of narrow bands partitioned from an available system bandwidth, for communications with a user equipment (UE);
signaling information regarding the selected narrow band to the UE wherein the information comprises an indication of a resource allocation within the narrow band, a first field indicating an index of an allocated narrow band, and a second field indicating the resource allocation within the allocated narrow band; and
communicating with the UE using the selected narrow band.

2. The method claim 1 , wherein one of the narrow bands is designated as a primary narrow band for the UE.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the primary narrow band contains at least one of a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), or a common search space.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the narrow bands partitioned from the available system bandwidth are contiguous in frequency.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the narrow bands comprises resource blocks centered within the available system bandwidth.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein at least two of the narrow bands are symmetric around a center of the available system bandwidth.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the narrow bands is aligned with a set of subbands partitioned for downlink channel state information measurement.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one narrow band is for at least one of uplink transmission or downlink transmission and wherein the at least one of the narrow bands for uplink transmissions is partitioned differently than the at least one of the narrow bands for downlink transmissions.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information is signaled via at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or an enhanced PDCCH (EPDCCH).

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communications between the UE and the base station involves a plurality of the number of narrow bands over different time periods.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the communications comprise hopping across the plurality of the number of narrow bands.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising prohibiting use of different narrow bands for communications between the UE and the base station in adjacent subframes.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
said selecting the at least one narrow band comprises scheduling a narrow band of operation for uplink transmissions of at least one data channel; and
wherein the method further comprises scheduling uplink resources for at least one reference signal (RS), based on the narrow band of operation for uplink transmissions of at least one data channel to the base station.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising dropping a report of said RS if the narrow band for said RS and the narrowband for said at least one data channel are not aligned.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein said selecting the at least one narrowband is done semi-statically.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein said selecting the at least one narrowband is done dynamically.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein a bandwidth of the uplink resources for receiving a SRS comprises a fraction of the bandwidth of the narrow band of operation for uplink transmission of said at least one data channel.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a bandwidth for a sounding reference signal based on the bandwidth of the narrow band.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the bandwidth for the narrow band is divisible by the bandwidth for the sounding reference signal.

20. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a narrow band for downlink channel state information (CSI) measurement.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the narrow band for downlink CSI measurement is determined based on the selected narrowband.

22. The method of claim 20 , wherein the narrow band for downlink CSI measurement is separately signaled.

23. A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving information regarding at least one narrow band, selected from a number of narrow bands partitioned from an available system bandwidth, for communications with at least one base station and wherein the information comprises indication of a resource allocation within the narrow band, a first field indicating an index of an allocated narrow band, and a second field indicating the resource allocation within the allocated narrow band; and
communicating with the at least one base station using the at least one narrow band.

24. The method claim 23 , wherein one of the narrow bands is designated as a primary narrow band for the UE.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the primary narrow band contains at least one of a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), or a common search space.

26. The method of claim 23 , wherein the narrow bands partitioned from the available system bandwidth are contiguous in frequency.

27. The method of claim 23 , wherein at least one of the narrow bands comprises resource blocks centered within the available system bandwidth.

28. The method of claim 27 , wherein at least two of the narrow bands are symmetric around a center of the available system bandwidth.

29. The method of claim 23 , wherein at least one of the narrow bands is aligned with a set of subbands partitioned for downlink channel state information measurement.

30. The method of claim 23 , wherein the at least one narrow band is for at least one of uplink transmission or downlink transmission and wherein the at least one of the narrow bands for uplink transmissions is partitioned differently than the at least one of the narrow bands for downlink transmissions.

31. The method of claim 23 , wherein the information is signaled via at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or an enhanced PDCCH (EPDCCH).

32. The method of claim 23 , wherein the communications between the UE and the base station involves a plurality of the number of narrow bands over different time periods.

33. The method of claim 32 , wherein the communications comprise hopping across the plurality of the number of narrow bands.

34. The method of claim 23 , wherein use of different narrow bands for communications between the UE and the base station in adjacent subframes is prohibited.

35. The method of claim 23 , wherein:
said information indicates a narrow band of operation for uplink transmissions of at east one data channel to the base station; and
the method further comprises transmitting one reference signal (RS) based on the narrow band of operation for uplink transmissions of said at least one data channel to the base station.

36. The method of claim 35 , further comprising not transmitting a report of said RS if the narrow band for said RS and the narrowband for said at least one data channel are not aligned.

37. The method of claim 35 , further comprising placing said RS in the same narrow band in a

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Chen Wanshi
• Xu Hao
• Gaal Peter

Classifications

• H04W72/23 Primary

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

• H04L5/001 Primary

  the frequencies being arranged in component carriers · CPC title

• H04L5/0048

  Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver (allocation of control signalling H04L5/0053; use of control signalling H04L5/0091) · CPC title

• H04L5/0094

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

• H04L5/0053

  Allocation of signalling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals · CPC title