Methods to Support Measurements for User Equipment

Abstract

Methods to support measurements for LTE user equipments are proposed. Due to reduced bandwidth design for cost reduction, resources for UEs are limited to contiguous six physical resource block (PRB) pairs (1.4 MHz). Six or less contiguous PRBs per narrow sub-band located in the whole channel bandwidth is allocated for transmission and reception for UEs. Novel control channel and data channel designs are proposed to make UEs be able to camp on LTE cells. Methods for intra-frequency measurement, for received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, and for channel quality assessment for UEs are also provided. In one embodiment, UE is allocated with a measurement gap for intra-frequency measurements and RSTD measurements. In another embodiment, UE is configured with a frequency-hopping pattern and receives a PRB pair starting index per subframe for CSI measurement.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 obtaining a first set of resources by a user equipment (UE) in a mobile communication network, wherein the first set of resource belongs to a first narrowband in a wider channel bandwidth, and wherein the first narrowband comprises a plurality of contiguous physical resource block (PRB) pairs over a first period;   obtaining a second set of resources by the UE, wherein the second set of resources belongs to a second narrowband comprising a plurality of contiguous PRB pairs over a second period; and   performing intra-frequency measurement and reference signal time difference (RSTD) measurement by the UE based on an assigned measurement gap from the first to the second periods, wherein the UE tunes a passband of downlink filter for intra-frequency and/or RSTD measurements during the measurement gap.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the first set and the second set of resources is determined based on at least one of a predefined rule, a random access response, a downlink control channel information (DCI) order, and higher layer signaling. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the UE skips physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring during the measurement gap. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the measurement gap is continuous or discontinuous, and wherein occurrence of the measurement gap is periodic or aperiodic. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the UE is configured with a frequency-hopping pattern and receives a PRB pair starting index per subframe. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the UE performs channel state information (CSI) measurements using the indicated PRB pair starting index. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the UE sends a channel quality report and in response receives an updated frequency-hopping pattern. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the UE is a low-cost machine type communication (MTC) device with bandwidth reduction. 
     
     
         9 . A user equipment (UE) comprising:
 a resource configuration circuit that obtains a first set of resources in a mobile communication network, wherein the first set of resource belongs to a first narrowband in a wider channel bandwidth, and wherein the first narrowband comprises a plurality of contiguous physical resource block (PRB) pairs over a first period;   the resource configuration circuit that obtains a second set of resources by the UE, wherein the second set of resources belongs to a second narrowband comprising a plurality of contiguous PRB pairs over a second period; and   a measurement circuit that performs intra-frequency measurement and/or reference signal time difference (RSTD) measurement by the UE based on an assigned measurement gap from the first period to the second period, wherein the UE tunes a passband of downlink filter for the intra-frequency and/or RSTD measurements during the measurement gap.   
     
     
         10 . The UE of  claim 9 , wherein each of the first set and the second set of resources is determined based on at least one of a predefined rule, a random access response, a downlink control channel information (DCI) order, and higher layer signaling. 
     
     
         11 . The UE of  claim 9 , wherein the UE skips physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring during the measurement gap. 
     
     
         12 . The UE of  claim 9 , wherein the measurement gap is continuous or discontinuous, and wherein occurrence of the measurement gap is periodic or aperiodic. 
     
     
         13 . The UE of  claim 9 , wherein the UE is configured with a frequency-hopping pattern and receives a PRB pair starting index per subframe for channel state information (CSI) measurements. 
     
     
         14 . The UE of  claim 13 , wherein the UE performs channel state information (CSI) measurements using the indicated PRB pair starting index. 
     
     
         15 . The UE of  claim 13 , wherein the UE sends a channel quality report and in response receives an updated frequency-hopping pattern. 
     
     
         16 . The UE of  claim 9 , wherein the UE is a low-cost machine type communication (MTC) device with bandwidth reduction.