User equipment and methods for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource allocation and communication

An apparatus, comprising:

• a processor configured to cause a base station to:
• encode, for transmission to a User Equipment (UE), a control message within a bandwidth of network resources, the control message configured to indicate a set of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources;
• encode, for transmission to the UE, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the PDCCH comprising downlink control information (DCI) that indicates a resource index indicating PUCCH resources from among the set of PUCCH resources to use for a PUCCH of the UE;
• and
• decode, from the UE, an uplink control message using the PUCCH resources, wherein the PUCCH resources are allocated according to a configuration in which:
• when the configuration is an edge configuration the PUCCH resources are restricted to a lower edge portion and an upper edge portion of the bandwidth of network resources, and when the configuration is not an edge configuration the PUCCH resources include a portion of the bandwidth of network resources, wherein the PUCCH resources are associated with a first mode or a second mode, wherein in the first mode a first portion of the PUCCH resources comprises first frequency resources during a first time and a second portion of the PUCCH resources comprises second frequency resources during a second time, and wherein in the second mode the first and second portions of the PUCCH resources are transmitted in the same frequency resources.

A user equipment device (UE), comprising:

• a radio;
• and
• a processor operably connected to the radio and configured to cause the UE to:
• decode a control message from a base station configured to be received within a bandwidth of network resources;
• determine a set of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources from the control message;
• determine, from among the set of PUCCH resources, first PUCCH resources indicated by a resource index in downlink control information (DCI) of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) from the base station;
• and
• transmit, to the base station, an uplink control message using the first PUCCH resources, wherein the first PUCCH resources are allocated according to a first configuration that is not restricted to edges of the bandwidth of network resources, wherein the first PUCCH resources are associated with a first mode or a second mode, wherein in the first mode a first portion of the first PUCCH resources comprises first frequency resources during a first time and a second portion of the first PUCCH resources comprises second frequency resources during a second time, and wherein in the second mode the first and second portions of the first PUCCH resources are transmitted in the same frequency resources.