Physical downlink control channels (pdcch) and enhanced pddchs (epdcch) in wideband coverage enhancement (wce) arrangements

A computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors to perform operations for communication by an Evolved Node-B (eNB), the operations to configure the one or more processors to:

• encode a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for transmission to a first User Equipment (UE) in a control channel element (CCE) in a sub-frame in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol allocated for PDCCH transmissions, wherein the PDCCH indicates a transmission of a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH);
• encode the first PDSCH for transmission to the first UE in first physical resource blocks (PRBs) in one or more OFDM symbols of the sub-frame subsequent to the OFDM symbol allocated for PDCCH transmissions;
• encode an enhanced PDCCH (ePDCCH) for transmission to a second UE in second PRBs in one or more OFDM symbols of the sub-frame subsequent to the OFDM symbol allocated for PDCCH transmissions, wherein the ePDCCH indicates a transmission of a second PDSCH;
• and
• encode the second PDSCH for transmission to the second UE in third PRBs in one or more OFDM symbols of the sub-frame subsequent to the OFDM symbol allocated for PDCCH transmissions.

An apparatus of a User Equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:

• memory;
• and processing circuitry, configured to:
• decode, from an Evolved Node-B (eNB), control signaling that indicates a number of repetitions for wideband coverage enhancement (WCE);
• attempt to decode a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) from an Evolved Node-B (eNB);
• if the PDCCH is successfully decoded, decode a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in first physical resource blocks (PRBs) indicated by the PDCCH;
• if the PDCCH is not successfully decoded:
• attempt to decode an enhanced PDCCH (ePDCCH) from the eNB;
• and
• if the ePDCCH is successfully decoded, decode a second PDSCH in second PRBs indicated by the ePDCCH and in accordance with the number of repetitions for WCE,
• wherein the memory is configured to store information identifying the first PRBs or the second PRBs.