Methods and Nodes in a Wireless Communication System

A radio network node for communication of a receiver-specific control channel signal within a wireless communication system to be received by a receiver, wherein receiver-specific downlink control channel signals are scheduled for transmission over sets of Physical Resource Block (PRB) pairs, the radio network node comprising:

• a processing circuit adapted to configure at least one receiver-specific set of at least one PRB pair of time-frequency Resource Elements (REs), configure a set of modulation signature sequences,
• configure an alphabet of at least one symbol, wherein each symbol in the alphabet is associated with a modulation signature sequence in the configured set of modulation signature sequences,
• select, for each configured receiver-specific set of at least one PRB pair, at least one modulation signature sequence by selecting a receiver-specific codeword comprising a number of symbols from the configured alphabet,
• select at least one set of at least one PRB pair for the transmission of a receiver-specific control channel signal, and modulate the configured receiver-specific set by applying the configured set of modulation signature sequences;
• and
• a transmitting unit adapted to transmit at least one of the selected receiver-specific codeword, the configured set of modulation signature sequences, and the configured alphabet of symbols, and
• transmit the receiver-specific control channel signal over the modulated receiver-specific set of the at least one PRB pair.

A method in a receiver, for detecting a set of Physical Resource Block (PRB) pairs used for the communication of a receiver-specific control channel signal comprising:

• receiving a receiver-specific control channel signal over a modulated receiver-specific set of at least one PRB pair;
• identifying the selected set of PRBs pairs allocated by the radio network node for control channel signalling by searching within the at least one received receiver-specific set of at least one PRB pair for signature sequences;
• demodulating control channel signal in the identified set;
• and
• demodulating data received from the radio network node on a physical downlink data channel signal by using information obtained from the demodulated control channel signal.

A receiver for detecting a set of Physical Resource Block (PRB) pairs used for the communication of a receiver-specific control channel signal comprising:

• a receiving unit adapted for receiving a receiver-specific control channel signal over a modulated receiver-specific set of at least one PRB pair;
• and
• a processing circuit adapted for identifying the selected set of PRBs pairs allocated by the radio network node for control channel signalling by searching within the at least one received receiver-specific set of at least one PRB pair;
• and further adapted for demodulating the identified control channel signal;
• and furthermore adapted for demodulating data received from the radio network node on a physical downlink data channel signal, by using information obtained from the demodulated control channel signal.