New radio pdcch to facilitate numerology operations

Abstract

New radio download numerology allocation information may be obtained through master information block data, system information block data, radio resource control signals, or signals or a physical downlink numerology indication channel, and used along with a reference signal detected in a search space to obtain resource element positions in an antenna port reference signal in a resource block that belongs to a particular band slice according to a reference signal allocation scheme for a band slice numerology. A physical download control may then be decoded based upon one or more resource elements of the reference signal, allowing the connection of, e.g., an enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine type communication, or ultra-reliable/low-latency application to a communications network thereby. Alternatively, multiple physical downlink control channels may be blindly demodulated at each of a number calculated reference signal locations, and one channel selected based on passing a cyclic redundancy check.

1 . An apparatus comprising a processor, a memory, and communication circuitry, the apparatus being connected to a network via its communication circuitry, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions stored in the memory of the apparatus which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform operations comprising:
 decoding a physical slot format indicator channel to obtain structure information pertaining to a first slot, the structure information comprising a length of the first slot, a number of symbols for a first transmission region, and/or a number of symbols for a second transmission region;   decoding the physical control format indicator channel to obtain a size of a first control region;   determining, according to the slot structure and the size of the first control region, a first search space;   decoding multiple physical control channel candidates within the first search space;   checking each of the physical control channel candidates for a first match with an identifier associated with the apparatus; and   determining, from a matching physical control channel candidate of the first search space, a second search space.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 blindly decoding multiple physical control channel candidates within the second search space;   checking each of the physical control channel candidates within the second search space for a second match with the identifier associated with the apparatus; and   determining, from a matching physical control channel candidate of the second search space, a set of physical control information.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the matching physical control channel candidate of the first search comprises an indicator of an open-loop transmission mode; and   the set of physical control information comprises pre-coding matrix information.   
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the matching physical control channel candidate of the first search comprises an indicator of a spatial multiplexing transmission mode; and   the set of physical control information comprises a number of layers and antenna port indexes.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the matching physical control channel candidate of the first search comprises an indicator of a beamforming transmission mode; and   the set of physical downlink control information comprises an antenna port index.   
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the physical control channel candidates of the second search comprise a carrier indicator, a resource allocation, a scheme for modulation and coding, a new data indicator, a redundancy indicator, a hybrid automatic repeat request process number, an assignment index, and/or a transmission power control parameter. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the physical control channel candidates of the first search space comprise an indicator of a transmission mode. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the transmission mode is selected from the list consisting of transmit diversity, open-loop transmission, spatial multiplexing, and beamforming. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the first search space is common to a group of apparatuses; and   the identifier associated with the apparatus is a group identifier.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the apparatus is a user equipment; and   the identifier of the apparatus is a user equipment ID.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein checking each of the physical control channel candidates within the first and second search spaces comprises computing a cyclic redundancy code. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the first control region is in downlink. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein one of the first transmission region and/or the second transmission region in downlink. 
     
     
         14 . A method comprising:
 decoding a physical slot format indicator channel to obtain structure information pertaining to a first slot, the structure information comprising a length of the first slot, a number of symbols for a first transmission region, and/or a number of symbols for a second transmission region;   decoding the physical control format indicator channel to obtain a size of a first control region;   determining, according to the slot structure and the size of the first control region, a first search space;   decoding multiple physical control channel candidates within the first search space;   checking each of the physical control channel candidates for a first match with an identifier associated with the apparatus; and   determining, from a matching physical control channel candidate of the first search space, a second search space.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , the method further comprise:
 blindly decoding multiple physical control channel candidates within the second search space;   checking each of the physical control channel candidates within the second search space for a second match with the identifier associated with the apparatus; and   determining, from a matching physical control channel candidate of the second search space, a set of physical control information.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the matching physical control channel candidate of the first search comprises an indicator of an open-loop transmission mode; and   the set of physical control information comprises pre-coding matrix information.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the matching physical control channel candidate of the first search comprises an indicator of a spatial multiplexing transmission mode; and   the set of physical control information comprises a number of layers and antenna port indexes.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the matching physical control channel candidate of the first search comprises an indicator of a beamforming transmission mode; and   the set of physical downlink control information comprises an antenna port index.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the first control region is in downlink. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the first transmission region and/or the second transmission region is in the downlink.