Methods for transmitting and receiving control channel, base station, and user equipment

A method for receiving a control channel, the method comprising:

• determining m physical resource block pairs used for transmitting a control channel to be transmitted, wherein the m physical resource block pairs comprise m×n first physical resource elements, the number of resource elements occupied by each physical resource block pair is equal to the number of resource elements occupied by n first physical resource elements, and each of the first physical resource elements comprises q second physical resource elements, wherein m=2, 4, or 8, n≧1, q≧2, and m, n, and q are all integers;
• determining, according to an aggregation level L, M control channel candidates at the aggregation level L, wherein each of the control channel candidates corresponds to L first physical resource elements, and corresponds to L×q second physical resource elements;
• and
• detecting the M control channel candidates, wherein:
• each of the physical resource block pairs comprises n sub-blocks, and each sub-block comprises q second physical resource elements,
• the m physical resource block pairs comprise n sub-block groups, each sub-block group comprises m sub-blocks, which are located in different physical resource block pairs, and numbers of the m×n first physical resource elements comprised in the m physical resource block pairs are respectively x, x+1, . . . , x+m×n−1;
• each sub-block group comprises m×q second physical resource elements,
• numbers of m first physical resource elements in each of the sub-block groups are y, y+1, . . . , y+m−1;
• and values of y are x, x+m, x+2m, . . . , x+(n−1)×m,
• the first control channel candidate at the aggregation level L consecutively occupies L distributed first physical resource elements, wherein a start number of the L distributed first physical resource elements is z and satisfies (z) mod (L)=0, wherein mod indicates a modulo operation, and
• in the m physical resource block pairs, any sub-block in any physical resource block pair corresponds to one localized first physical resource element.

A base station, comprising:

• a processor, configured to:
• determine m physical resource block pairs used for transmitting a control channel to be transmitted, wherein the m physical resource block pairs comprise m×n first physical resource elements, the number of resource elements occupied by each physical resource block pair is equal to the number of resource elements occupied by n first physical resource elements, and each of the first physical resource elements comprises q second physical resource elements, wherein m=2, 4, or 8, n≧1, q≧2, and m, n, and q are all integers,
• determine an aggregation level L of the control channel to be transmitted, wherein L≧1, and L is an integer, and
• determine, according to the aggregation level L, a first control channel candidate at the aggregation level L, wherein the first control channel candidate corresponds to L first physical resource elements, and corresponds to L×q second physical resource elements;
• and
• a transmitter, configured to place, on physical resources to which the first control channel candidate determined by the processor is mapped, control information of the control channel to be transmitted, and transmit the control information, and wherein:
• each of the physical resource block pairs comprises n sub-blocks, and each sub-block comprises q second physical resource elements,
• the m physical resource block pairs comprise n sub-block groups, each sub-block group comprises m sub-blocks, which are located in different physical resource block pairs, and numbers of the m×n first physical resource elements comprised in the m physical resource block pairs are respectively x, x+1, . . . , x+m×n−1;
• each sub-block group comprises m×q second physical resource elements,
• numbers of m first physical resource elements in each of the sub-block groups are y, y+1, . . . , y+m−1;
• and values of y are x, x+m, x+2m, . . . , x+(n−1)×m,
• the first control channel candidate at the aggregation level L consecutively occupies L distributed first physical resource elements, wherein a start number of the L distributed first physical resource elements is z and satisfies (z) mod (L)=0, wherein mod indicates a modulo operation, and
• in the m physical resource block pairs, any sub-block in any physical resource block pair corresponds to one localized first physical resource element.

A user equipment, comprising:

• a processor, configured to:
• determine m physical resource block pairs used for transmitting a control channel to be transmitted, wherein the m physical resource block pairs comprise m×n first physical resource elements, the number of resource elements occupied by each physical resource block pair is equal to the number of resource elements occupied by n first physical resource elements, and each of the first physical resource elements comprises q second physical resource elements, wherein m=2, 4, or 8, n≧1, q≧2, and m, n, and q are all integers, and
• determine, according to an aggregation level L, M control channel candidates at the aggregation level L, wherein each of the control channel candidates corresponds to L first physical resource elements, and corresponds to L×q second physical resource elements;
• and
• a receiver, configured to detect the M control channel candidates determined by the processor, and wherein:
• each of the physical resource block pairs comprises n sub-blocks, and each sub-block comprises q second physical resource elements,
• the m physical resource block pairs comprise n sub-block groups, each sub-block group comprises m sub-blocks, which are located in different physical resource block pairs, and numbers of the m×n first physical resource elements comprised in the m physical resource block pairs are respectively x, x+1, . . . , x+m×n−1;
• each sub-block group comprises m×q second physical resource elements,
• numbers of m first physical resource elements in each of the sub-block groups are y, y+1, . . . , y+m−1;
• and values of y are x, x+m, x+2m, . . . , x+(n−1)×m,
• the first control channel candidate at the aggregation level L consecutively occupies L distributed first physical resource elements, wherein a start number of the L distributed first physical resource elements is z and satisfies (z) mod (L)=0, wherein mod indicates a modulo operation, and
• in the m physical resource block pairs, any sub-block in any physical resource block pair corresponds to one localized first physical resource element.