Systems and methods for an enhanced control channel

A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) comprising a processor and memory, the processor and memory configured to:

• receive a radio resource control message, the radio resource control message comprising information for decoding physical downlink control channel candidates, wherein the information comprises an indication of frequency resources to use for attempting to decode the physical downlink control channel candidates, an indication of one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols to use for attempting to decode the physical downlink control channel candidates, and an indication of one or more downlink control information formats associated with the physical downlink control channel candidates;
• receive at least one physical downlink control channel transmission in accordance with the information for decoding the physical downlink control channel candidates received in the radio resource control message, the at least one physical downlink control channel transmission comprising an uplink grant;
• and
• send an uplink transmission in accordance with the uplink grant.

A base station comprising a processor and memory, the processor and memory configured to:

• send a radio resource control message to a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), the radio resource control message comprising information for the WTRU to decode physical downlink control channel candidates, wherein the information comprises an indication of frequency resources to use for attempting to decode the physical downlink control channel candidates, an indication of one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols to use for attempting to the decode the physical downlink control channel candidates, and an indication of one or more downlink control information formats associated with the physical downlink control channel candidates;
• send at least one physical downlink control channel transmission in accordance with the information for decoding the physical downlink control channel candidates sent in the radio resource control message, the at least one physical downlink control channel transmission comprising a downlink assignment;
• and
• send a downlink transmission in accordance with the downlink assignment.