Transmit downlink control information with higher order modulation

A user equipment (UE), comprising:

• a processor configured to determine when higher order modulation (HOM) is being used on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) received by the UE, wherein the HOM maps three or more bits to one modulation symbol;
• a demodulator configured to demodulate a sequence of HOM modulation symbols that carry one or more PDCCHs when HOM is used;
• and
• a descrambler configured to descramble PDCCH bits that use HOM separately from PDCCH bits that do not use HOM.

An access node, comprising:

• a downlink control information (DCI) format selection circuitry configured to select a DCI format for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH);
• a DCI block generator configured to generate a DCI block of the PDCCH according to the selected DCI format;
• a coded bit sequence generator configured to generate a sequence of coded bits of the PDCCH from the DCI block;
• a multiplexing and scrambling circuitry configured to multiplex and scramble the sequence of coded bits of two or more PDCCHs to form a sequence of scrambled bits;
• a modulation circuitry configured to generate a sequence of modulation symbols from the sequence of scrambled bits, wherein the modulation level of a first PDCCH is selected to be higher order modulation (HOM) when a HOM criterion is satisfied, and wherein the HOM maps three or more bits to one modulation symbol, and wherein the modulation level of a second PDCCH is selected to be non-higher order modulation (non-HOM), and wherein the non-HOM maps less than three bits to one modulation symbol;
• and
• a transmitting circuitry configured to transmit the sequence of modulation symbols.

A method for a user equipment (UE) to determine a transmit power level of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the method comprising at least one of:

• the UE receiving a transmission of a ratio of a power level of the PDCCH to a power level of a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) and deriving the transmit power level of the PDCCH based on the ratio of the power level of the PDCCH to the power level of the CRS;
• the UE receiving a transmission of a difference between the power level of the PDCCH and the power level of the CRS and deriving the transmit power level of the PDCCH based on the difference between the power level of the PDCCH and the power level of the CRS;
• the UE deriving the ratio of the power level of the PDCCH to the power level of the CRS based on a ratio of a power level of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) to the power level of the CRS and deriving the transmit power level of the PDCCH based on the ratio of the power level of the PDCCH to the power level of the CRS;
• and
• the UE deriving the power level of the PDCCH from the power level of a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS).