Low bandwidth machine type communication in a long term evolution network

A machine type communication (MTC) user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the MTC UE comprising:

• a transceiver;
• and
• a controller coupled with the transceiver and configured to:
• receive, from a base station, a message for at least one MTC UE comprising the MTC UE, the message including:
• information associated with a random access channel (RACH) resource for the at least one MTC UE, and
• information associated with a common search space for the at least one MTC UE,
• establish a radio resource control (RRC) connection with the base station based on a signal transmitted on the RACH resource,
• receive, from the base station based on the RRC connection, a configuration message including information associated with a dedicated search space of a control channel for the MTC UE, and
• receive, from the base station on the dedicated search space, resource allocation information for data allocated in a frequency region,
• wherein the frequency region corresponds to a partial bandwidth within a system bandwidth, and
• wherein the frequency region includes consecutive physical resource blocks (PRBs).

A method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

• transmitting a message for at least one machine type communication (MTC) user equipment (UE), the message including:
• information associated with a random access channel (RACH) resource for the at least one MTC UE, and
• information associated with a common search space for the at least one MTC UE,
• establishing a radio resource control (RRC) connection with an MTC UE based on a signal received on the RACH resource;
• transmitting, to the MTC UE based on the RRC connection, a configuration message including information associated with a dedicated search space of a control channel for the MTC UE;
• and
• transmitting, to the MTC UE on the dedicated search space, resource allocation information for data in a frequency region,
• wherein the frequency region corresponds to a partial bandwidth within a system bandwidth, and
• wherein the frequency region includes consecutive physical resource blocks (PRBs).

A method performed by a machine type communication (MTC) user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

• receiving, from a base station, a message for at least one MTC UE comprising the MTC UE, the message including:
• information associated with a random access channel (RACH) resource for the at least one MTC UE, and
• information associated with a common search space for the at least one MTC UE;
• establishing a radio resource control (RRC) connection with the base station based on a signal transmitted on the RACH resource;
• receiving, from the base station based on the RRC connection, a configuration message including information associated with a dedicated search space of a control channel for the MTC UE;
• and
• receiving, from the base station on the dedicated search space, resource allocation information for data in a frequency region,
• wherein the frequency region corresponds to a partial bandwidth within a system bandwidth, and
• wherein the frequency region includes consecutive physical resource blocks (PRBs).