# US 12,114,324 B2 · Communication system

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- Number: US 12,114,324 B2
- Document ID: US12114324B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/578,810
- Filed: 2022-01-19
- Published: 2022-05-05
- Granted: 2024-10-08
- Earliest claimed: 2014-01-28
- Assignees: NEC Corporation
- Applicants: NEC Corporation
- Inventors: Yassin Aden Awad; Robert Arnott
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12114324B2

## CPC

- H04L 5/0094: {Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated}
- H04W 72/23: in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
- H04L 5/0053: {Allocation of signalling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals}
- H04W 4/70: Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
- H04W 72/0446: Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
- H04W 72/20: Control channels or signalling for resource management
- H04W 72/51: based on terminal or device properties
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)

## Abstract

A communications system is described that has a base station and a number of user devices, including legacy user devices and non-legacy user devices. The base station generates control data for transmission to the user devices, the control data including common control data for reception and decoding by a plurality of user devices and user specific control data for reception and decoding by a specific user device. The common control data is for reception and decoding by the non-legacy user devices and cannot be decoded by the legacy user devices. The common control data is repeated within multiple subframes for reception and decoding by non-legacy user devices. The non-legacy user devices are typically Machine Type Communications (MTC) user devices.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for a base station, comprising:
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE) first information indicating all of:
a location in which a common search space of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is located,
one number, of three possible numbers, of resource blocks for the common search space, and
a number of common search spaces per time resource,
in a Physical Broadcast channel (PBCH) within a band which the UE uses, wherein the first information is represented by at most 10 bits.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
transmitting, to the UE, an aggregation level of Control Channel Elements (CCEs) for determining a candidates of PDCCH,
wherein the aggregation level includes one of 4, 8, and 16.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
transmitting, to the UE, second information indicating a pattern of physical resource blocks (PRBs) for the PDCCH,
wherein the second information is in units of 6 PBRs.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method according to claim 3, wherein the second information indicates a replication of transmitting of the PDCCH.

### Claim 5

A method for a user equipment user equipment (UE) comprising:
receiving, from a base station, first information indicating all of:
a location in which a common search space of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is located,
one number, of three possible numbers, of resource blocks for the common search space, and
a number of common search spaces per time resource,
in a Physical Broadcast channel (PBCH) within a band which the UE uses, wherein the first information is represented by at most 10 bits.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method according to claim 5, further comprising:
receiving, from the base station, an aggregation level of Control Channel Elements (CCEs) for determining a candidates of PDCCH,
wherein the aggregation level includes one or 4, 8, and 16.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The method according to claim 5, further comprising:
receiving, from the base station, second information indicating a pattern of physical resource blocks (PRBs) for the PDCCH,
wherein the second information is in units of 6 PBRs.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method according to claim 7, wherein the second information indicates a replication of transmitting of the PDCCH.

### Claim 9

A base station comprising:
at least one memory storing instructions; and
at least one processor configured to process the instructions to transmit, to a user equipment (UE) first information indicating all of:
a location in which a common search space of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is located,
one number, of three possible numbers, of resource blocks for the common search space, and
a number of common search spaces per time resource,
in a Physical Broadcast channel (PBCH) within a band which the UE uses, wherein the first information is represented by at most 10 bits.

### Claim 10

A user equipment (UE) comprising:
at least one memory storing instructions; and
at least one processor configured to process the instructions to receive, from a base station, first information indicating all of:
a location in which a common search space of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is located,
one number, of three possible numbers, of resource blocks for the common search space, and
a number of common search spaces per time resource,
in a Physical Broadcast channel (PBCH) within a band which the UE uses,
wherein the first information is represented by at most 10 bits.