Flexible adjustment of uplink and downlink ratio configuration

A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions for execution by processing circuitry of an enhanced Node B (eNB), the instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to:

• decode an overload indication and a first uplink/downlink (UL/DL) configuration received from a neighboring eNB;
• adapt a second UL/DL configuration for at least one user equipment (UE) responsive to the received overload indication and the received first UL/DL configuration;
• encode the adapted second UL/DL configuration in downlink control information (DCI) of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH);
• scramble a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for the PDCCH with a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) reserved for signaling UL/DL configurations;
• and
• encode the PDCCH for transmission to the at least one UE.

An apparatus of an enhanced Node B (eNB), the apparatus comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• processing circuitry configured to:
• adapt a second UL/DL configuration for at least one user equipment (UE) responsive to a received overload indication and a first UL/DL configuration;
• encode the adapted second UL/DL configuration in downlink control information (DCI) of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH);
• scramble a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for the PDCCH with a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) reserved for signaling UL/DL configurations;
• and
• encode the PDCCH for transmission to the at least one UE,
• signal, via a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE), a number of radio frames for which the adapted second UL/DL configuration applies,
• wherein the memory is configured to store the adapted second UL/DL configuration.