Receiving apparatus, receiving method and integrated circuit

A method performed in a radio communication apparatus of receiving a pilot signal from a base station, the method comprising:

• receiving, in one time slot of a plurality of time slots, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol including pattern information represented by a plurality of bits and designating a pilot pattern selected from among two pilot patterns of a plurality of pilot signals and assigned to each time slot of the plurality of time slots, the pattern information being different from the pilot signals, each of the pilot patterns representing different densities of pilot signals arranged in mutually different patterns in at least one of the frequency domain and the time domain, the different densities of pilot signals corresponding to different proportions of pilot symbols, at least two of the time slots being assigned different pilot patterns;
• and
• extracting the pilot signal from the one time slot of the plurality of time slots according to the pattern information.

A transmitting apparatus that transmits pilot signals to a plurality of user equipment, the transmitting apparatus comprising:

• signal generation circuitry, which, in operation, generates an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol including pattern information represented by a plurality of bits and designating a pilot pattern selected from among pilot patterns of a plurality of pilot signals and assigned to each time slot of a plurality of time slots, the pattern information being different from the pilot signals, each of the pilot patterns representing different densities of pilot signals arranged in mutually different patterns in at least one of the frequency domain and the time domain, the different densities of pilot signals corresponding to different proportions of pilot symbols, at least two of the time slots being assigned different pilot patterns;
• and
• a transmitter, coupled to the signal generation circuitry, wherein the transmitter, in operation, broadcasts, in one time slot of the plurality of time slots, the OFDM symbol including the pattern information to the plurality of user equipment, and transmits the pilot signals in the plurality of time slots according to the pattern information.