Method and apparatus for providing downlink control information in an mimo wireless communication system

A method of receiving, at a user equipment (UE), a downlink signal from a base station in a wireless communication system supporting downlink multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission, the method comprising:

• receiving downlink control information including a field comprising information indicating a number N of layers, 1≦N≦8, where one or two enabled codewords of downlink MIMO transmission are mapped to;
• and
• receiving downlink data based on the downlink control information,
• wherein the field further comprises information identifying UE-specific reference signals for demodulating the downlink data, when the information indicating the number of layers indicates a predetermined value.

A user equipment (UE) for receiving downlink signals from a base station in a wireless communication system supporting multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission, the UE comprising:

• a reception module configured to receive downlink signals from the base station;
• a transmission module configured to transmit uplink signals to the base station;
• and
• a processor configured to control the UE including the reception module and the transmission module,
• wherein the processor is configured to receive, through the reception module, downlink control information including a field comprising information indicating a number N of layers, 1≦N≦8, where one or two enabled codewords of downlink MIMO transmission are mapped to, and to receive, through the reception module, downlink data based on the downlink control information,
• wherein the field further comprises information identifying UE-specific reference signals for demodulating the downlink data, when the information indicating the number of layers indicates a predetermined value.