Patent Description:
In an LTE (Long Term Evolution, Long Term Evolution) system, a base station exchanges information with UE by using a time-frequency resource in a channel. Specifically, a frequency resource in the time-frequency resource may be allocated to the base station and the UE in a form of a bandwidth (Bandwidth, BW, also referred to as a frequency band width, that is, a difference between a highest frequency and a lowest frequency that may be used by a network signal). For example, after first UE is connected to a network, a base station allocates a <NUM> megahertz (MHz) system bandwidth (the system bandwidth refers to a bandwidth of UE that is already defined in the LTE system) to the first UE, and the system bandwidth is located on PRBs (physical resource block, physical resource block) numbered from <NUM> to <NUM>. Therefore, the base station may send common information to the first UE over the system bandwidth of the first UE, so as to interact with the first UE.

As shown in <FIG>, the common information may be an SIB (System Information Block, system information block), an RAR (Radio Access Response, random access response), paging information (Paging), or information transmitted on a channel such as a PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel, physical downlink control channel).

However, for different types of UEs, locations of bandwidths used by the UEs may overlap. For example, a bandwidth of first UE is a first bandwidth (whose size is <NUM>) of PRBs numbered from <NUM> to <NUM>, a bandwidth of second UE is a second bandwidth (whose size is <NUM>) of PRBs numbered from <NUM> to <NUM>, and there is an overlapped <NUM> bandwidth between them. Using an example in which a base station sends RAR information to the UEs, in this case, the base station needs to separately send, at a location of a specified RAR resource in the first bandwidth, the RAR information to the first UE, and send, at a location of a specified RAR resource in the second bandwidth, the RAR information to the second UE. Consequently, a communication rate between the base station and the UEs is affected, and signaling overheads of the base station are increased. <NPL> discloses mapping RAR transmissions to PRB groups, wherein a bandwidth reduced UE needs to know the frequency location of the up to <NUM> EPDCCH PRBs that it is supposed to monitor for the RAR message during the random access procedure. <CIT> discloses a downlink first carrier, the first carrier providing a plurality of communications resource elements across a first frequency range for communicating data, and providing a plurality of communications resource elements within a second frequency range which is within and smaller than the first frequency range. The wireless access interface provided by the base stations includes a plurality of time divided sub-frames, each sub-frame including the plurality of communications resource elements of the first frequency range and the plurality of the communications resource elements of the second frequency range, and each sub-frame includes a first wideband control channel in a part of each sub- frame having a bandwidth corresponding substantially to the first frequency range, and a second narrow band control channel in a second part of each sub-frame and having a bandwidth which is less than the first wideband control channel and a duration of the second narrow band control channel within the sub-frame is greater than a duration of the first wideband control channel within the sub- frame. The second narrow band control channel is configured for communicating control information to both the first mobile communications devices and the second mobile communications devices and forms part of the plurality of the communications resource elements of the second frequency range of the second carrier.

To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or in the prior art more clearly, the following briefly describes the accompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments or the prior art.

The following clearly and completely describes the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Apparently, the described embodiments are merely some but not all of the embodiments of the present invention.

This embodiment of the present invention provides a common information transmission method. As shown in <FIG>, the method includes:.

The common information used in this embodiment of the present invention may be classified into three types. Common information sent by the base station over an entire bandwidth of the UE is first common information, such as information transmitted by using a PCFICH (Physical Control Format Indicator Channel, physical control format indicator channel), a PHICH (Physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel, physical hybrid automatic repeat request indicator channel), a common PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel, physical downlink control channel), or a common EPDCCH (Enhanced PDCCH, enhanced physical downlink control channel). Common information sent by the base station over a part of the bandwidth after the base station dynamically performs resource configuration in the entire bandwidth of the UE is second common information, such as an SIB (System Information Block, system information block), an RAR (Radio Access Response, random access response), or paging information (Paging). In addition, common information sent by the base station over a bandwidth at a specified location in the entire bandwidth of the UE is third common information, such as an MIB (Master Information Block, master information block), a PSS (Primary Synchronization Signal, primary synchronization signal), an SSS (Secondary Synchronization Signal, secondary synchronization signal), or a DRS (Discovery Reference Signal, discovery reference signal).

Specifically, an LTE system has already defined that there are six sizes for a standard bandwidth (also referred to as a system bandwidth) of UE, that is, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>. However, a bandwidth used on a side of a base station is not equivalent to a bandwidth used by UE. The bandwidth used on the side of the base station may be a non-standard or standard bandwidth. In some cases, different bandwidths used by multiple UEs may overlap. For example, as shown in <FIG>, a bandwidth used by a base station is a <NUM> non-standard bandwidth. The <NUM> bandwidth may be divided into two <NUM> standard bandwidths. The two <NUM> standard bandwidths are respectively standard bandwidths used by first UE and second UE, and there is a <NUM> overlapping bandwidth between the two bandwidths.

When the base station needs to deliver the common information (that is, the first common information, the second common information, or the third common information) to the first UE and the second UE, because locations of system bandwidths used by the first UE and the second UE are different, the base station needs to separately deliver the same common information to the first UE and the second UE. Consequently, a communication rate between the base station and the UE is affected, and signaling overheads of the base station are increased. In addition, when using a resource in the overlapping bandwidth to provide a service for the first UE, the base station cannot use the same resource to provide a service for the second UE. In this case, a cell corresponding to a second bandwidth used by the second UE can be used only as a secondary serving cell, and the cell can serve the second UE only when cooperating with another carrier. Consequently, communication performance between the UE and the base station is affected.

In this embodiment of the present invention, a quantity of UEs may be N, where N = <NUM>, or N = <NUM>, or N = <NUM>, or N ≥ <NUM>. When N = <NUM> or N ≥ <NUM>, bandwidths of at least two UEs partially overlap, and the two UEs separately use two different bandwidths or different carriers. In this case, all or a part of an overlapping bandwidth may be used to transmit the common information to the at least two UEs, so that the base station may send, in a sharing manner, the common information to the at least two UEs whose bandwidths partially overlap, thereby reducing overheads.

Therefore, by means of the common information transmission method, repeated sending of common information from a base station to multiple UEs during sending of the common information in the prior art is reduced, and utilization of resources between the base station and the UEs is improved.

In step <NUM>, the UE obtains the frequency domain location information of the first transmission bandwidth. The first transmission bandwidth may be M PRBs in the bandwidth of the UE, and the frequency domain location information is used to indicate the location and the size of the first transmission bandwidth, where M > <NUM>.

The size of the first transmission bandwidth is less than a size of the bandwidth of the UE (that is, the first transmission bandwidth is located in the bandwidth of the UE). Specifically, the first transmission bandwidth may be predefined between the UE and the base station, or may be configured by the base station. For example, the UE may receive the frequency domain location information that is of the first transmission bandwidth and that is semi-statically transmitted by the base station; or the UE may extract a characteristic signal from the first transmission bandwidth by means of blind detection, so as to determine the frequency domain location information of the first transmission bandwidth. The characteristic signal may include multiple different signals. For example, when a predefined sequence is transmitted on a time-frequency resource unit in two ends of the first transmission bandwidth, the location and the size of the first transmission bandwidth can be obtained as long as the UE detects a location of the sequence. The present invention does not limit a specific form of the characteristic signal.

Optionally, the first transmission bandwidth may be formed by M consecutive PRBs overlapping between the bandwidth of the first UE and the bandwidth of the second UE. The first UE and the second UE are UEs occupying different frequency domain locations.

In step <NUM>, after obtaining the frequency domain location information of the first transmission bandwidth, the UE determines the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE according to the frequency domain location information.

Because in step <NUM>, the location of the first transmission bandwidth may be a start location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE, or may be an end location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE, and the size of the first transmission bandwidth may be several consecutive PRBs, the UE may determine the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE according to the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the frequency domain location information.

For example, still using the first UE and the second UE in <FIG> as an example, after obtaining the frequency domain location information of the first transmission bandwidth, the first UE determines, according to the frequency domain location information, <NUM> consecutive PRBs from the <NUM>th PRB to the <NUM>th PRB in the standard bandwidth of the first UE as a location of the first transmission bandwidth in the standard bandwidth of the first UE. After obtaining the frequency domain location information of the first transmission bandwidth, the second UE determines, according to the frequency domain location information, <NUM> consecutive PRBs from the <NUM>th to the <NUM>th PRBs in the standard bandwidth of the second UE as a location of the first transmission bandwidth in the standard bandwidth of the second UE.

It may be seen that the standard bandwidths of the first UE and the second UE both include the first transmission bandwidth, but the first transmission bandwidth is located in different locations in the respective standard bandwidths of the first UE and the second UE. In addition, a bandwidth used by the base station may be a non-standard bandwidth or a standard bandwidth, and a bandwidth used by the UE may also be a standard bandwidth or a non-standard bandwidth. The present invention is described only by using an example in which the base station uses a non-standard bandwidth and the UE uses a standard bandwidth. It may be understood that three other cases that are not shown are also applicable to the common information transmission method provided in the present invention.

Further, the first transmission bandwidth may be of any size and at any location. For example, the size of the first transmission bandwidth is <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or the like, or the size of the first transmission bandwidth may use a PRB as a unit. For example, the size of the first transmission bandwidth is <NUM> PRBs, <NUM> PRBs, <NUM> PRBs, or the like. Correspondingly, the location of the first transmission bandwidth may be at a center, a left side, a right side, left of the center, or right of the center of the standard bandwidth of the UE.

Preferably, the size of the first transmission bandwidth may be a standard bandwidth already defined in the LTE system, that is, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM>. Preferably, a frequency domain structure of the first transmission bandwidth may be the same as a frequency domain structure of a bandwidth having a size the same as the size of the first transmission bandwidth in the LTE system. In this way, the base station does not need to modify an existing configuration parameter for the UE, and even, the UE may be directly connected to the LTE system over the first transmission bandwidth, so that the UE can directly serve the UE over the first transmission bandwidth, thereby improving compatibility of the LTE system.

In step <NUM>, after determining the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE, the UE receives, over the first transmission bandwidth, the common information sent by the base station. The common information may be information shared by different UEs occupying the first transmission bandwidth.

Still using the first UE and the second UE in <FIG> as an example, after separately determining sizes and locations of the first transmission bandwidth in respective bandwidths of the first UE and the second UE, the first UE and the second UE both receives, over the first transmission bandwidth, common information sent by the base station. The common information may be any one or more of the foregoing first common information, the second common information, or the third common information. In this way, the base station may deliver the common information at once, thereby avoiding problems that because the base station separately sends the common information to each UE, a communication rate is decreased and signaling overheads of the base station are increased. In addition, because the first transmission bandwidth is configured in each UE to receive the common information sent by the base station, no conflict occurs between bandwidth resources used by the UEs, and the base station may separately serve each UE (that is, standalone), thereby improving communication performance between the base station and the UEs.

In addition, when receiving, over the first transmission bandwidth, the second common information sent by the base station, the UE may dynamically configure, over the first transmission bandwidth, a receiving location at which the second common information is received. For example, this embodiment of the present invention provides two methods for receiving the second common information.

Specifically, after determining the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE, the UE may determine a first offset of the first transmission bandwidth according to the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the frequency domain location information and the size of the bandwidth of the UE. The first offset is used to indicate a location offset of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE.

For example, if the size of the standard bandwidth of the UE is <NUM> (that is, PRBs numbered from <NUM> to <NUM>), and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the standard bandwidth of the UE is from the <NUM>th PRB to the <NUM>th PRB, the first offset is <NUM> (that is, <NUM> - <NUM> = <NUM>) PRBs.

In this way, when the UE receives, over the first transmission bandwidth, first location information sent by the base station, because the resource location information may be used to determine a receiving location of the second common information in the bandwidth of the UE, the UE may determine, according to the first location information and the first offset, a first location of the second common information in the bandwidth of the UE.

For example, if the first location information sent by the base station indicates that the base station sends the second common information on the <NUM>th to the <NUM>nd PRBs of the first transmission bandwidth, and the first offset of the UE is <NUM> PRBs, the first location (that is, an actual receiving location in the bandwidth of the UE) of the second common information in the bandwidth of the UE is the <NUM>th to the <NUM>th PRBs in the bandwidth of the UE, so that the UE may receive, at the first location (that is, the <NUM>th to the <NUM>th PRBs) in the bandwidth of the UE, the second common information sent by the base station.

The first location information may be information shared by UEs receiving the second common information, or the resource location information may be information sent to all UEs receiving the second common information.

In another method for receiving the second common information provided in this embodiment of the present invention, before receiving the second common information, the UE may perform resource division over the first transmission bandwidth based on a resource granularity of a given size according to a requirement. In this way, the UE may directly receive second location information that is of the second common information and that is sent by the base station. Because the second location information is used to indicate a receiving location of the second common information in the first transmission bandwidth, but not a location of the second common information in the entire bandwidth of the UE, the UE may directly determine a second location of the second common information in the first transmission bandwidth according to the second location information, so as to receive, at the second receiving location, the second common information sent by the base station.

Further, after receiving, over the first transmission bandwidth, the common information sent by the base station, the UE may also send corresponding uplink information to the base station.

Because a resource used by the UE to receive the common information (that is, downlink information) sent by the base station and a resource used by the UE to send the uplink information to the base station need to satisfy a particular mapping relationship (for example, if the UE uses the Xth PRB to receive the downlink information, the UE uses the (X+Y)th PRB to send the corresponding uplink information, where X and Y are integers. It should be noted that the mapping relationship is not limited thereto, and this is not limited in the present invention. ), when UE that receives the downlink information over the first transmission bandwidth and UE that does not receive the downlink information over the first transmission bandwidth send the uplink information, a conflict may occur between bandwidth resources (that is, uplink resource locations).

In this case, the UE may determine a second offset according to information that is about the second offset and that is sent by the base station, where the second offset is used to determine a relative location that is of a frequency domain location used to transmit the uplink information and that is in the bandwidth of the UE. Then the UE may determine, according to a resource location of the received common information and the second offset, an uplink resource location at which the uplink information is sent to the base station. Finally, the UE may send the uplink information to the base station at the uplink resource location. In this way, multiple UEs that receive the second common information over the first transmission bandwidth may determine, according to different second offsets, uplink resource locations used for sending respective uplink information of the multiple UEs, thereby ensuring that no conflict occurs between uplink resource locations used by various types of UEs to send respective uplink information of the UEs to the base station.

In the common information transmission method provided in this embodiment of the present invention, UE obtains frequency domain location information of a first transmission bandwidth, and determines a size and a location of the first transmission bandwidth in a bandwidth of the UE; and then a base station sends common information to the UE over the first transmission bandwidth. In this way, when the first transmission bandwidth is located in an overlapping part of bandwidths of multiple UEs, the base station may deliver the common information to the multiple UEs at once. That is, the base station may send the common information to the multiple UEs at the same time in a sharing manner, thereby avoiding problems that because the base station needs to separately send the common information to each UE, a communication rate is decreased and signaling overheads of the base station are increased.

Similar to step <NUM> to step <NUM> in the foregoing embodiment, the common information used in this embodiment of the present invention also includes first common information transmitted by using a PCFICH, a PHICH, a common PDCCH, or a common EPDCCH; or second common information, such as at least one of an SIB, an RAR, or Paging, sent over a part of a bandwidth after the base station dynamically performs resource configuration in the entire bandwidth of the UE; or third common information, such as an MIB, a PSS, an SSS, or a DRS, sent by the base station over a bandwidth at a specified location in the entire bandwidth of the UE.

In step <NUM>, before delivering the common information to the UE, the base station needs to determine the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the base station. For example, a bandwidth used by the base station is a <NUM> non-standard bandwidth, and the first transmission bandwidth is located on the <NUM>th PRB to the <NUM>th PRB in the <NUM> non-standard bandwidth, and is totally <NUM>.

Further, the base station determines frequency domain location information of the first transmission bandwidth, where the frequency domain location information is used to indicate a size and a location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE. In this way, the base station may semi-statically transmit the frequency domain location information to the UE, so that the UE determines the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE according to the frequency domain location information, and the base station sends the common information to the UE over the first transmission bandwidth.

Alternatively, the base station may also send a characteristic signal to the UE, so that the UE may perform blind detection according to the characteristic signal, and the UE finally determines the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE according to a result of the blind detection, so that the base station sends the common information to the UE over the first transmission bandwidth.

The size of the first transmission bandwidth is less than a size of the bandwidth of the UE (that is, the first transmission bandwidth is located in the bandwidth of the UE). In this embodiment of the present invention, a quantity of UEs may be N, where N = <NUM>, or N = <NUM>, or N = <NUM>, or N ≥ <NUM>. When N = <NUM> or N ≥ <NUM>, bandwidths of at least two UEs partially overlap, and the two UEs separately use two different bandwidths or different carriers. In this case, all or a part of an overlapping bandwidth may be used to transmit the common information to the at least two UEs, so that the base station may send, in a sharing manner, the common information to the at least two UEs whose bandwidths partially overlap, thereby reducing overheads.

Further, the first transmission bandwidth may be of any size and at any location. For example, the size of the first transmission bandwidth is <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or the like; or the size of the first transmission bandwidth may use a PRB as a unit. For example, the size of the first transmission bandwidth is <NUM> PRBs, <NUM> PRBs, <NUM> PRBs, or the like. Correspondingly, the location of the first transmission bandwidth may be at a center, a left side, a right side, left of the center, or right of the center of the standard bandwidth of the UE.

Preferably, the size of the first transmission bandwidth may be a standard bandwidth already defined in the LTE system, that is, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM>. Preferably, a frequency domain structure of the first transmission bandwidth may also be the same as a frequency domain structure of a bandwidth having a size the same as the size of the first transmission bandwidth in the LTE system. In this way, the base station does not need to modify an existing configuration parameter for the UE, and even, the UE may be directly connected to the LTE system over the first transmission bandwidth, so that the UE may directly serve the UE over the first transmission bandwidth, thereby improving compatibility of the LTE system.

In step <NUM>, after the UE determines the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE according to the frequency domain location information, the base station sends the common information (the first common information, the second common information, or the third common information) to the UE over the first transmission bandwidth at the same time. Herein, there may be multiple UEs.

Specifically, using first UE and second UE in <FIG> as an example, after separately determining sizes and locations of the first transmission bandwidth in respective bandwidths of the first UE and the second UE, the first UE and the second UE both receive, over the first transmission bandwidth, the common information sent by the base station. In this way, the base station may deliver the common information to the first UE and the second UE at once, thereby avoiding problems that because the base station separately sends the common information to each UE, a communication rate is decreased and signaling overheads of the base station are increased. In addition, because the first transmission bandwidth is configured in each UE to receive the common information sent by the base station, no conflict occurs between bandwidth resources used by the UEs, and the base station may separately serve each UE, thereby improving communication performance between the base station and the UEs.

In addition, when sending the second common information to multiple UEs over the first transmission bandwidth, the base station may dynamically configure, over the first transmission bandwidth, a bandwidth location at which the UE receives the second common information. For example, this embodiment of the present invention provides two methods configured by the base station for the UE to receive the second common information.

In a first method, after determining the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE, the UE may determine a first offset of the first transmission bandwidth according to the location of the first transmission bandwidth and a size of the bandwidth of the UE. The first offset is used to indicate a location offset of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the UE. For example, if the size of the standard bandwidth of the UE is <NUM> (that is, PRBs numbered from <NUM> to <NUM>), and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the standard bandwidth of the UE is from the <NUM>th PRB to the <NUM>th PRB, the first offset is <NUM> PRBs.

In this way, the base station may send first location information to the UE, so that the UE determines, according to the first location information and the first offset that is already determined by the UE, a first location at which the second common information is received in the bandwidth of the UE. Therefore, the base station may send the second common information to the UE at the first receiving location.

For example, if the first location information sent by the base station indicates that the base station sends the second common information on the <NUM>th to the <NUM>nd PRBs of the first transmission bandwidth, and the first offset of the UE is <NUM> PRBs, the first location of the second common information in the bandwidth of the UE is the <NUM>th to the <NUM>th PRBs in the bandwidth of the UE, so that the UE may receive, at the first location (that is, the <NUM>th to the <NUM>th PRBs) in the bandwidth of the UE, the second common information sent by the base station.

The first location information may be information shared by UEs receiving the second common information, or the first location information may be information sent to all UEs receiving the second common information.

In another method for receiving the second common information provided in this embodiment of the present invention, before receiving the second common information, the UE may perform resource division over the first transmission bandwidth based on a resource granularity of a given size according to a requirement. In this way, the UE may directly receive second location information that is of the second common information and that is sent by the base station. Because the second location information is used to indicate a location of the second common information in the first transmission bandwidth, but not a location of the second common information in the entire bandwidth of the UE, the UE may directly determine a second receiving location of the second common information in the first transmission bandwidth according to the second location information, so as to receive, at the first receiving location, the second common information sent by the base station.

Because a resource used by the UE to receive the common information (that is, downlink information) sent by the base station and a resource used by the UE to send the uplink information to the base station need to satisfy a particular mapping relationship, (for example, if the UE uses the Xth PRB to receive the downlink information, the UE uses the (X+Y)th PRB to send the corresponding uplink information, where X and Y are integers. It should be noted that the mapping relationship is not limited thereto, and this is not limited in the present invention. ), when UE that receives the downlink information over the first transmission bandwidth and UE that does not receive the downlink information over the first transmission bandwidth send the uplink information, a conflict may occur between bandwidth resources (that is, uplink resource locations).

In step <NUM>, the first UE obtains the frequency domain location information of the first transmission bandwidth, where the first transmission bandwidth is M PRBs in the bandwidth of the first UE. Preferably, the first transmission bandwidth may be formed by the M consecutive PRBs overlapping between the bandwidth of first UE and the bandwidth of the second UE.

The size of the first transmission bandwidth is less than the size of the bandwidth of the first UE (that is, the first transmission bandwidth is located in the bandwidth of the first UE). Similarly, the size of the first transmission bandwidth is also less than a size of the bandwidth of the second UE. Specifically, the UE may receive the frequency domain location information that is of the first transmission bandwidth and that is semi-statically transmitted by the base station; or the UE may perform blind detection by extracting a characteristic signal from the first transmission bandwidth, so as to determine the frequency domain location information of the first transmission bandwidth.

In step <NUM>, after obtaining the frequency domain location information of the first transmission bandwidth, the first UE determines the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the first UE according to the frequency domain location information.

For example, after obtaining the frequency domain location information of the first transmission bandwidth, the first UE determines, according to the frequency domain location information, <NUM> consecutive PRBs from the <NUM>th PRB to the <NUM>th PRB in the standard bandwidth of the first UE as a location of the first transmission bandwidth in the standard bandwidth of the first UE. After obtaining the frequency domain location information of the first transmission bandwidth, the second UE determines, according to the frequency domain location information, <NUM> consecutive PRBs from the <NUM>th to the <NUM>th PRBs in the standard bandwidth of the second UE as a location of the first transmission bandwidth in the standard bandwidth of the second UE.

It may be seen that the standard bandwidths of the first UE and the second UE both include the first transmission bandwidth, but the first transmission bandwidth is located in different locations in the respective standard bandwidths of the first UE and the second UE.

Preferably, the size of the first transmission bandwidth may be a standard bandwidth already defined in an LTE system, that is, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM>. Preferably, a frequency domain structure of the first transmission bandwidth may also be the same as a frequency domain structure of a bandwidth having a size the same as the size of the first transmission bandwidth in the LTE system. In this way, the base station does not need to modify an existing configuration parameter for the first UE, and even, the first UE may be directly connected to the LTE system over the first transmission bandwidth, so that the first UE may directly serve the UE over the first transmission bandwidth, thereby improving compatibility of the LTE system.

After step <NUM> is performed, the first UE may receive, over the determined first transmission bandwidth, the common information sent by the base station. The common information may be classified into three types. Common information sent by the base station in an entire bandwidth of the UE is first common information, such as information transmitted by using a PCFICH, a PHICH, a common PDCCH, or a common EPDCCH. Common information sent by the base station over a part of the bandwidth after the base station dynamically performs resource configuration in the entire bandwidth of the UE is second common information, such as an SIB, an RAR, or Paging. In addition, common information sent by the base station over a bandwidth at a specified location in the entire bandwidth of the UE is third common information, such as an MIB, a PSS, an SSS, or a DRS. For example, the MIB, the PSS, or the SSS may be sent on <NUM> subcarriers in a center of the first transmission bandwidth, the PSS or the SSS in the DRS may be sent on <NUM> subcarriers in the center of the first transmission bandwidth, and a CSI-RS (channel state information-reference signal) in the DRS may be sent on all PRBs of the first transmission bandwidth.

It may be seen that, because transmission of the second common information needs to be dynamically configured by the base station, this embodiment of the present invention provides two methods for receiving the second common information, that is, step 304a to step 304d and step 305a to step 305c. When the first UE receives, over the first transmission bandwidth, the first common information or the third common information sent by the base station, step <NUM> may be performed.

In step <NUM>, after separately determining sizes and locations of the first transmission bandwidth in the respective bandwidths of the first UE and the second UE, the first UE and the second UE both receives, over the first transmission bandwidth, the first common information or the third common information sent by the base station. In this way, the base station may deliver the first common information or the third common information at once, thereby avoiding problems that because the base station separately sends the common information to the first UE and the second UE, a communication rate is decreased and signaling overheads of the base station are increased. In addition, because the first transmission bandwidth is configured in each UE to receive the first common information or the third common information sent by the base station, no conflict occurs between bandwidth resources used by the UEs, and the base station may separately serve each UE, thereby improving communication performance between the base station and the UEs.

In step 304a, because transmission of the second common information needs to be dynamically configured by the base station, after determining the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the first UE, the first UE may determine the first offset of the first UE according to the location of the first transmission bandwidth and the size of the bandwidth of the first UE, where the first offset is used to indicate the location offset of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the first UE.

For example, if a size of the standard bandwidth of the first UE is <NUM> (that is, PRBs numbered from <NUM> to <NUM>), and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the standard bandwidth of the first UE is from the <NUM>th PRB to the <NUM>th PRB, the first offset is <NUM> PRBs.

In addition, the first UE and/or the second UE may also directly determine, by receiving the first offset sent by the base station, a location offset of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the first UE and/or the second UE.

In step 304b, the first UE receives, over the first transmission bandwidth, the first location information sent by the base station, where the first location information is used to determine the location of the second common information in the bandwidth of the UE. For example, the first location information sent by the base station indicates that the base station sends the second common information on the <NUM>th to the <NUM>nd PRBs of the first transmission bandwidth.

Specifically, the first location information may be information shared by UEs receiving the second common information, or the first location information may be information sent to all UEs receiving the second common information.

In step 304c, after receiving, over the first transmission bandwidth, the first location information sent by the base station, the first UE determines the first location of the second common information according to the first location information and the first offset, where the first location is located in the first transmission bandwidth.

Still using an example in the foregoing step 304a and step 304b, the first location information sent by the base station indicates that the base station sends the second common information on the <NUM>th to the <NUM>nd PRBs of the first transmission bandwidth, and the first offset of the first UE is <NUM> PRBs. Therefore, the first location (that is, an actual resource location) of the second common information in the bandwidth of the first UE is the <NUM>th to the <NUM>th PRBs in the bandwidth of the first UE.

Similarly, the second UE may also use the same method to determine a first location of the second common information in the bandwidth of the second UE. For example, if first location information sent by the base station to the second UE indicates that the base station sends the second common information on the <NUM>th to the <NUM>nd PRBs of the first transmission bandwidth, and a first offset for the second UE is <NUM> PRBs, for the second UE, the first location at which the second UE receives the second common information in the bandwidth of the second UE is the <NUM>th to the <NUM>th PRBs in the bandwidth of the second UE. However, in the first transmission bandwidth, a location of the <NUM>th to the <NUM>th PRBs in the bandwidth of the second UE is the same as a location of the <NUM>th to the <NUM>th PRBs in the bandwidth of the first UE, and both locations are the <NUM>th to the <NUM>nd PRBs of the first transmission bandwidth. Therefore, it may be seen that although the first UE and the second UE receive the second common information at different locations in respective bandwidths of the first UE and the second UE, for the base station, the first location at which the second UE receives the second common information and the first location at which the first UE receives the second common information are actually the <NUM>th to the <NUM>nd PRBs of the first transmission bandwidth. Therefore, the base station may deliver the second common information at once, so as to ensure that the first UE and the second UE both receive the second common information.

In step 304d, after determining the first location of the second common information, the first UE receives, at the first receiving location, the second common information sent by the base station.

Correspondingly, after the second UE determines an actual resource location of the second common information in the bandwidth of the second UE, the second UE receives, at the actual resource location, the second common information sent by the base station. Because actual resource locations at which the second common information is received and that are determined by the first UE and the second UE are the same, the base station may deliver the second common information to the first UE and the second UE at the same time, thereby reducing resource overheads on a side of the base station.

In step 305a, when receiving the second common information sent by the base station, the first UE does not need to determine the first offset, but performs resource division based on a resource granularity of a given size according to a requirement. For example, a <NUM> first transmission bandwidth is divided into <NUM> PRBs according to a granularity of the PRB.

In this way, the first UE may directly receive, over the first transmission bandwidth, the second location information that is of the second common information and that is sent by the base station, where the second location information is used to indicate a receiving location of the second common information in the first transmission bandwidth. For example, location information of the second common information indicates that the first UE receives the second common information over a second transmission sub-bandwidth of the first transmission bandwidth.

Certainly, there are multiple methods for performing resource division over the first transmission bandwidth based on a resource granularity of a given size according to a requirement, and this is not limited in the present invention. Optionally, a method for performing resource division over the first transmission bandwidth may use a bandwidth resource division method of the first UE, so as to improve compatibility of the LTE system.

In step 305b, the first UE determines the second location of the second common information according to the second location information, where the second location is located in the first transmission bandwidth.

Similarly, the second UE may also use the foregoing method to determine the location (that is, an actual receiving location in the first transmission bandwidth) of the second common information in the second UE, and for the base station, the second location at which the second UE receives the second common information is actually the same as the second location at which the first UE receives the second common information.

In step 305c, when determining the second location of the second common information in the first transmission bandwidth, the first UE may receive, at the second receiving location, the second common information sent by the base station.

It may be seen that the base station may perform the method in step 304a to step 304d or step 305a to step 305c to deliver the second common information to multiple UEs at the same time, thereby reducing signaling overheads of the base station.

Further, after receiving, over the first transmission bandwidth, the common information sent by the base station, the first UE may also send corresponding uplink information to the base station.

Because a resource used by the first UE to receive the common information (that is, downlink information) sent by the base station and a resource used by the first UE to send the uplink information to the base station need to satisfy a particular mapping relationship (for example, if the first UE uses the Xth PRB to receive the downlink information, the first UE uses the (X+Y)th PRB to send the corresponding uplink information, where X and Y are integers. It should be noted that the mapping relationship is not limited thereto, and this is not limited in the present invention. ), when UE that receives the downlink information over the first transmission bandwidth and UE that does not receive the downlink information over the first transmission bandwidth send the uplink information, a conflict may occur between bandwidth resources (that is, uplink resource locations).

In this case, the first UE may determine a second offset according to information that is about the second offset and that is sent by the base station, where the second offset is used to determine a relative location that is of a frequency domain location used to transmit the uplink information and that is in the bandwidth of the first UE. Then the first UE may determine, according to a resource location of the received common information and the second offset, an uplink resource location at which the first UE sends the uplink information to the base station. Finally, the first UE may send the uplink information to the base station at the uplink resource location. In this way, multiple UEs that receive the second common information over the first transmission bandwidth may determine, according to different second offsets, uplink resource locations used for sending respective uplink information of the multiple UEs, thereby ensuring that no conflict occurs between uplink resource locations used by various types of UEs to send respective uplink information of the UEs to the base station.

As shown in <FIG> is a schematic structural diagram of user equipment (UE) according to this embodiment of the present invention. The UE includes:.

Optionally, the processing unit <NUM> used in this embodiment of the present invention may be a processor in the UE, and the receiving unit <NUM> may be any communications interface in the UE. The processor and the communications interface may be connected to and communicate with each other by using a bus. The processor is a control center of the UE. The processor performs various functions of the UE by processing data received by the communications interface. The communications interface may be implemented by using an optical communications interface, an electrical communications interface, a wireless communications interface, or any combination thereof. For example, the optical communications interface may be a small form-factor pluggable (English: small form-factor pluggable transceiver, SFP for short) communications interface (English: transceiver), an enhanced small form-factor pluggable (English: enhanced small form-factor pluggable, SFP+ for short) communications interface, or a <NUM> Gigabit small form-factor pluggable (English: <NUM> Gigabit small form-factor pluggable, XFP for short) communications interface. The electrical communications interface may be an Ethernet (English: Ethernet) network interface controller (English: network interface controller, NIC for short). The wireless communications interface may be a wireless network interface controller (English: wireless network interface controller, WNIC for short). In addition, the UE may have multiple communications interfaces.

Further, the common information received by the receiving unit <NUM> includes at least one of the following common information:.

Further, that the processing unit <NUM> obtains the frequency domain location information of the first transmission bandwidth may specifically include:.

The bandwidth of the UE overlaps a bandwidth of at least one UE of other UEs, and the first transmission bandwidth is all or a part of the overlapping part. In this way, multiple UEs may receive, over the first transmission bandwidth at the same time, the common information sent by the base station. That is, the base station may deliver multiple pieces of common information to multiple UEs at once, thereby avoiding problems that because the base station separately sends the common information to each UE, a communication rate is decreased and signaling overheads of the base station are increased. In addition, because the first transmission bandwidth is configured in each UE to receive the common information sent by the base station, no conflict occurs between bandwidth resources used by the UEs, and the base station may separately serve each UE (that is, standalone), thereby improving communication performance between the base station and the UEs.

Further, that the UE receives, over the first transmission bandwidth according to the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth, the second common information sent by the base station specifically includes:.

Further, the receiving unit <NUM> is further configured to receive the first offset sent by the base station.

Optionally, the UE may also include a memory. The memory, the processor, and the communications interface are connected to and communicate with each other by using the bus. Specifically, the memory may be configured to store the first offset received by the receiving unit <NUM>, so that the processor determines, by invoking the first offset stored in the memory, the first location of the second common information according to the first location information received by the receiving unit <NUM> and the stored first offset.

Further, the processing unit <NUM> is further configured to determine the first offset according to the frequency domain location information.

Similarly, that the UE receives, over the first transmission bandwidth according to the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth, the second common information sent by the base station may further include:.

Further, as shown in <FIG>, the UE further includes a sending unit <NUM>. Specifically,.

Optionally, the sending unit <NUM> may also be one of the foregoing any communications interface. This is not limited in the present invention.

In the user equipment provided in this embodiment of the present invention, the UE obtains frequency domain location information of a first transmission bandwidth, and determines a size and a location of the first transmission bandwidth in a bandwidth of the UE; and then a base station sends common information to the UE over the first transmission bandwidth. In this way, when the first transmission bandwidth is located in an overlapping part of bandwidths of multiple UEs, the base station may deliver the common information to the multiple UEs at once. That is, the base station may send the common information to the multiple UEs at the same time in a sharing manner, thereby avoiding problems that because the base station needs to separately send the common information to each UE, a communication rate is decreased and signaling overheads of the base station are increased.

As shown in <FIG> is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to this embodiment of the present invention. The base station includes:.

Optionally, the processing unit <NUM> used in this embodiment of the present invention may be a processor in the base station, and the sending unit <NUM> may be any communications interface in the base station. The processor and the communications interface may be connected to and communicate with each other by using a bus. The processor is a control center of the base station. The processor performs various functions of the UE by processing data received by the communications interface. The communications interface may be implemented by using an optical communications interface, an electrical communications interface, a wireless communications interface, or any combination thereof. For example, the optical communications interface may be a small form-factor pluggable (English: small form-factor pluggable transceiver, SFP for short) communications interface (English: transceiver), an enhanced small form-factor pluggable (English: enhanced small form-factor pluggable, SFP+ for short) communications interface, or a <NUM> Gigabit small form-factor pluggable (English: <NUM> Gigabit small form-factor pluggable, XFP for short) communications interface. The electrical communications interface may be an Ethernet (English: Ethernet) network interface controller (English: network interface controller, NIC for short). The wireless communications interface may be a wireless network interface controller (English: wireless network interface controller, WNIC for short). In addition, the base station may have multiple communications interfaces.

Further, the common information sent by the sending unit <NUM> includes at least one of the following common information:.

Further, after the processing unit determines the size and the location of the first transmission bandwidth in the bandwidth of the base station, the sending unit <NUM> is further configured to semi-statically transmit frequency domain location information to the UE, where the frequency domain location information is used to determine a size and a location of the first transmission bandwidth in a bandwidth of the UE; or
the sending unit <NUM> is further configured to send a characteristic signal to the UE, where the characteristic signal is used to determine a size and a location of the first transmission bandwidth in a bandwidth of the UE.

Further, that the sending unit <NUM> sends the second common information to the UE over the first transmission bandwidth specifically includes:.

Similarly, that the sending unit <NUM> sends the second common information to the UE over the first transmission bandwidth may further include:.

Further, the sending unit <NUM> is further configured to send information about a second offset to the UE, where the second offset is used to indicate a location offset that is of a frequency domain location used to transmit uplink information and that is in the bandwidth of the UE.

In the base station provided in this embodiment of the present invention, the UE obtains frequency domain location information of a first transmission bandwidth, and determines a size and a location of the first transmission bandwidth in a bandwidth of the UE; and then the base station sends common information to the UE over the first transmission bandwidth. In this way, when the first transmission bandwidth is located in an overlapping part of bandwidths of multiple UEs, the base station may deliver the common information to the multiple UEs at once. That is, the base station may send the common information to the multiple UEs at the same time in a sharing manner, thereby avoiding problems that because the base station needs to separately send the common information to each UE, a communication rate is decreased and signaling overheads of the base station are increased.

This specification describes various aspects with reference to a terminal and/or a base station.

The user equipment may be a wireless terminal or a wired terminal. The wireless terminal may refer to a device that provides a user with voice and/or data connectivity, a handheld device with a radio connection function, or another processing device connected to a radio modem. The wireless terminal may communicate with one or more core networks through a radio access network (such as RAN, Radio Access Network). The wireless terminal may be a mobile terminal, such as a mobile phone (also referred to as a "cellular" phone) and a computer with a mobile terminal, for example, may be a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer built-in, or in-vehicle mobile apparatus, which exchanges voice and/or data with the radio access network. For example, it may be a device such as a personal communication service (PCS, Personal Communication Service) phone, a cordless telephone set, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL, Wireless Local Loop) station, or a personal digital assistant (PDA, Personal Digital Assistant). The wireless terminal may also be called a system, a subscriber unit (Subscriber Unit), a subscriber station (Subscriber Station), a mobile station (Mobile Station), a mobile terminal (Mobile), a remote station (Remote Station), an access point (Access Point), a remote terminal (Remote Terminal), an access terminal (Access Terminal), a user terminal (User Terminal), a user agent (User Agent), a user device (User Device), or user equipment (User Equipment).

The base station (for example, an access point) may refer to a device in communication with a wireless terminal via one or more sectors at an air interface in an access network. The base station may be configured to mutually convert a received over-the-air frame and an IP packet and serve as a router between the wireless terminal and a rest portion of the access network, where the rest portion of the access network may include an Internet protocol (IP) network. The base station may coordinate attribute management of the air interface. For example, the base station may be a base transceiver station (BTS, Base Transceiver Station) in GSM or CDMA, may also be a NodeB (NodeB) in WCDMA, and may further be an evolved NodeB (NodeB, eNB, or e-NodeB, evolutional Node B) in the LTE, which is not limited in the present invention.

It may be clearly understood by a person skilled in the art that, for the purpose of convenient and brief description, division of the foregoing function modules is taken as an example for illustration. In actual application, the foregoing functions can be allocated to different function modules and implemented according to a requirement, that is, an inner structure of an apparatus is divided into different function modules to implement all or some of the functions described above. For a detailed working process of the foregoing system, apparatus, and unit, reference may be made to a corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

For example, the module or unit division is merely logical function division and may be other division in actual implementation.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one location, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units.

Claim 1:
A common information reception method, comprising:
obtaining (<NUM>), by user equipment, UE, frequency domain location information of a first transmission bandwidth;
determining (<NUM>), by the UE, a size and a location of the first transmission bandwidth according to the frequency domain location information, wherein the location of the first transmission bandwidth is in a bandwidth of the UE, the bandwidth of the UE is within the bandwidth of a base station;
receiving, by the UE from the base station, second location information of second common information within the first transmission bandwidth, wherein the second location information indicates a second location of the second common information in the first transmission bandwidth;
determining, by the UE, the second location of the second common information according to the second location information of the second common information; and
receiving, by the UE at the second location, the second common information from the base station, wherein the second common information is a system information block, SIB, a random access response, RAR, or paging information.