Evolved node-b (ENB), user equipment (UE) and methods for flexible duplex communication

A user equipment (UE), comprising:

• a radio;
• and
• a processor operably coupled to the radio and configured to cause the UE to:
• monitor, based on radio resource control (RRC) configuration information, a search space set of candidate physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) for a downlink control information (DCI), wherein the RRC configuration information further indicates resource blocks and symbols for the candidate PDCCHs;
• decode the DCI to determine at least one of downlink or uplink symbols in a flexible duplex format of symbols within a subframe, wherein the flexible duplex format includes one or more of downlink symbols, uplink symbols, and a flexible region, wherein the DCI includes either a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) assignment or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) assignment, wherein the DCI includes an indication of a starting symbol of the PDSCH assignment or the PUSCH assignment;
• and
• communicate using the determined at least one of downlink or uplink symbols in the flexible duplex format of symbols within the subframe based on either the PDSCH or PUSCH assignment.

A method, comprising:

• at a base station:
• transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), radio resource control (RRC) configuration information indicating a search space set of candidate physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) for a downlink control information (DCI) and further indicating resource blocks and symbols for the candidate PDCCHs;
• transmitting, to the UE, the DCI, wherein the DCI is useable to determine at least one of downlink or uplink symbols in a flexible duplex format of symbols within a subframe, wherein the flexible duplex format includes one or more of downlink symbols, uplink symbols, and a flexible region, wherein the DCI includes either a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) assignment or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) assignment, wherein the DCI includes an indication of a starting symbol of the PDSCH assignment or the PUSCH assignment;
• and
• communicating, with the UE, using the at least one of downlink or uplink symbols in the flexible duplex format of symbols within the subframe based on either the PDSCH or PUSCH assignment.