Patent ID: 8559385

Claim:
A wireless subscriber communication apparatus, comprising: at least one antenna and a processor apparatus; a receiver apparatus configured to receive an assigned starting point index, an assigned reference signal bandwidth for a reference signal, and a hopping pattern parameter; and a transmitter apparatus configured to transmit the reference signal across a physical uplink shared channel multiple times, where the multiple transmissions begin at an initial resource block that is associated with the assigned starting point index and in accordance with the assigned reference signal bandwidth; where the receiver apparatus is further configured to receive: a total bandwidth assigned to the physical uplink shared channel; and where the processor apparatus is configured to: determine at least one index point based on the hopping pattern parameter, a total number of resource blocks that correspond to the total bandwidth assigned to the physical uplink shared channel, and a number of resource blocks that correspond to the assigned reference signal bandwidth; determine at least one subsequent resource block that is associated with the at least one index point based on the hopping pattern parameter, the total number of resource blocks that correspond to the total bandwidth assigned to the physical uplink shared channel, and the number of resource blocks that correspond to the assigned reference signal bandwidth; cause assignment of a first plurality of resource blocks that start at the initial resource block, and the number of resource blocks within the first plurality of resource blocks that correspond to the assigned reference signal bandwidth; cause assignment of at least a second plurality of resource blocks that start at the at least one subsequent resource block, and the number of resource blocks within at least the second plurality of resource blocks that correspond to the assigned reference signal bandwidth; and where the transmitter apparatus is configured to effect transmission of the first plurality of resource blocks with the second plurality of resource blocks via the at least one antenna.