DL backhaul control channel design for relays

A relay node (RN) comprising:

• a processor configured to at least:
• receive a relay physical downlink control channel (R-PDCCH) transmission from an evolved Node B, eNB, wherein the R-PDCCH transmission is mapped to a set of resource blocks (RBs) and spans multiple OFDM symbols, wherein the transmission is received in a subframe configured by the RN as a multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS) single frequency network (MBSFN) subframe;
• and
• decode R-PDCCH bits associated with the R-PDCCH transmission, wherein the R-PDCCH bits are mapped first along a frequency domain of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol and second in a time domain across multiple OFDM symbols.

A method implemented in a relay node (RN) for receiving a relay physical downlink control channel (R-PDCCH) the method comprising:

• receiving a transmission from an evolved Node B, eNB, wherein the transmission is received in a subframe configured by the RN as a multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS), single frequency network (MBSFN) subframe, and the transmission comprises an R-PDCCH transmission that spans a subset of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of the subframe;
• identifying one or more OFDM symbols that correspond to the subset of OFDM symbols that includes the R-PDCCH transmission to be demodulated;
• and
• demodulating the one or more OFDM symbol to obtain demodulated R-PDCCH bits, wherein the R-PDCCH bits are mapped first along a frequency domain of an OFDM symbol of the one or more OFDM symbols and second in a time domain across one or more OFDM symbols;
• and
• decoding the demodulated R-PDCCH bits.

An evolved Node B (eNB) for transmitting a relay physical downlink control channel (R-PDCCH) the eNB comprising:

• a processor configured to:
• code a plurality of R-PDCCH bits,
• map the plurality of coded R-PDCCH bits first along a frequency domain of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol and second in a time domain across one or more OFDM symbols, and
• a transmitter configured to transmit an R-PDCCH transmission to a relay node (RN) in a subframe configured by the RN as a multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS) single frequency network (MBSFN) subframe, wherein the plurality of coded R-PDCCH bits are mapped on the subset of OFDM symbols.