BR112017018205B1 - METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS - Google Patents

Abstract

NARROWBAND MANAGEMENT FOR MACHINE TYPE COMMUNICATIONS. Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally concern wireless communications, and more specifically the management of narrowband regions of system bandwidths for devices with limited communications capabilities, such as machine-type communications (MTC) devices. and enhanced MTC (eMTC) devices. An example method generally includes determining a set of downlink (DL) narrowband regions partitioned from a DL system bandwidth, determining a set of uplink (UL) narrowband regions partitioned from a bandwidth of UL system, determining a mapping between the set of DL narrowband regions and the set of UL narrowband regions, and communicating with at least one base station (BS) using at least one of the mapped narrowband regions.

Description

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED ORDERS

[0001] This application claims priority to US Patent Application Serial No. 15/052,471, filed February 24, 2016, which claims priority and benefit of US Provisional Application No. 62/120,861, filed February 25, 2015, which is attributed to the assignee of this application and expressly incorporated herein by reference herein in its entirety.

FUNDAMENTALS I. Field of Invention

[0002] Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communications and, more specifically, to managing narrowband regions in systems utilizing devices with limited communications capabilities, such as machine type communications (MTC) devices and Developed or improved MTC devices (eMTC).

II. Description of Related Technique

[0003] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content, such as voice, data, and so on. These systems may be multiple access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmission power). Examples of such multiple access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) including LTE - Advanced systems and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.

[0004] Generally, a wireless multiple access communication system can simultaneously support communication to multiple wireless terminals. Each terminal communicates with one or more base stations through forward and reverse link transmissions. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link between the terminals and the base stations. This communication link can be established through a single-input, single-output, multiple-input, single-output or multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system.

[0005] A wireless communication network may include a number of base stations that may support communication for a number of wireless devices. Wireless devices may include user equipment (UE). Some UEs may be considered machine-type communications (MTC) UEs, which may include remote devices, which may communicate with a base station, another remote device, or some other entity. MTC may refer to a communication involving at least one remote device on at least one end of the communication and may include forms of data communication involving one or more entities that do not necessarily require human interaction. MTC UEs may include UEs that are capable of MTC communications with MTC servers and/or other MTC devices via public land area networks (PLMN), for example.

SUMMARY

[0006] The systems, methods, and devices of the description each have several aspects, none of which are solely responsible for their desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of this disclosure as expressed by the claims that follow, certain features will be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section titled "Detailed Description", we will understand how the features of this disclosure provide advantages that include improvements in communications between access points and stations on a wireless network.

[0007] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communications by a base station (BS). The method generally includes determining a set of downlink (DL) narrowband regions partitioned from a DL system bandwidth, determining a set of uplink (UL) narrowband regions partitioned from a a UL system bandwidth, determining a mapping between the DL Narrowband Region Set and UL Narrowband Region Set, and communicating with at least one user equipment (UE) using at least one of the narrowband regions mapped.

[0008] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications via a base station (BS). The apparatus generally includes at least one processor configured to determine a set of partitioned downlink (DL) narrowband regions from a DL system bandwidth, determine a set of uplink (UL) narrowband regions partitioned from a UL system bandwidth, determine a mapping between the set of DL narrowband regions and the set of UL narrowband regions, and communicate with at least one user equipment (UE) using at least one of the mapped narrow bandwidth and memory coupled to at least one processor.

[0009] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications via a base station (BS). The apparatus generally includes means for determining a set of partitioned downlink (DL) narrowband regions from a DL system bandwidth, means for determining a set of partitioned uplink (UL) narrowband bands from a UL system bandwidth, means for determining a mapping between the set of DL narrowband regions and the set of UL narrowband regions, and means for communicating with at least one user equipment (UE) using at least one of the mapped narrowband regions.

[00010] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable medium for wireless communications by a base station (BS). The computer-readable medium generally includes code for determining a set of downlink (DL) narrowband regions partitioned from a DL system bandwidth, to determine a set of uplink (UL) narrowband regions. partitioned from a UL system bandwidth, to determine a mapping between the set of DL narrowband regions and the set of UL narrowband regions and code to communicate with at least one user equipment (UE) using at least one of the mapped narrowband regions.

[00011] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communications by a BS. The method generally includes determining a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions and one or more UL narrowband regions for communicate with a UE by identifying a set of resources in at least one of the one or more DL narrowband regions or one or more UL narrowband regions unavailable to the UE, providing an indication of the identified resource set to the UE and communicating with the UE using the narrowband regions.

[00012] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications over a BS. The apparatus generally includes at least one processor configured to determine a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions, and one or more DL narrowband regions UL narrowband resource to communicate with a UE, identify a set of Resources in at least one of the one or more DL narrowband regions or one or more UL narrowband regions unavailable to the UE, provide an indication of the set of resources identified for the UE and communicate with the UE using the narrowband regions and memory coupled to the at least one processor.

[00013] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications over a BS. The apparatus generally includes means for determining a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions and one or more UL narrowband regions for communicating with a UE, means for identifying a set of resources in at least one of the one or more DL narrowband regions or one or more UL narrowband regions unavailable to the UE, means for providing an indication of the set of identified resources for the UE and means for communicating with the UE using the narrowband regions.

[00014] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable medium for wireless communications by a BS. The computer-readable medium generally includes code for determining a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions and one or more DL narrowband regions. UL narrowband to communicate with a UE, encode to identify a set of resources in at least one of the one or more DL narrowband regions or one or more UL narrowband regions unavailable to the UE, encode to provide an indication of the set of identified resources for the UE and code to communicate with the UE using narrowband regions.

[00015] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communications by a BS. The method generally includes determining a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions and one or more UL narrowband regions. to communicate with a UE, determining capabilities, within at least one of the one or more UL narrowband regions, for transmitting sound reference signals (SRS) by the UE and communicating with the UE using the narrowband regions, wherein the communication comprises the reception of SRS on the given resources.

[00016] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications over a BS. The apparatus generally includes at least one processor configured to determine a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions and one or more DL narrowband regions. narrowband UL to communicate with a UE, determine capabilities, within at least one of the one or more UL narrowband regions, for transmitting sound reference signals (SRS) by the UE, and communicate with the UE using the regions narrowband, wherein the communication comprises reception of SRS on the given resources and memory coupled to at least one processor.

[00017] Certain aspects of the present description provide an apparatus for wireless communications over a BS. The apparatus generally includes means for determining a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions and one or more UL narrowband regions for communicate with a UE, means for determining resources in at least one of the one or more UL narrowband regions for transmitting sound reference signals (SRS) by the UE, and means for communicating with the UE using the narrowband regions narrow, where communication comprises the reception of SRS on the given resources.

[00018] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable medium for wireless communications by a BS. The computer-readable medium generally includes code for determining a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions, and one or more DL narrowband regions UL narrowband region to communicate with a UE, code to determine resources, Within at least one of the one or more UL narrowband regions, for transmission of sound reference signals (SRS) by the UE, and code to communicate with the UE using the narrowband regions, wherein the communication comprises the reception of SRS on the given resources.

[00019] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communications by a UE. The method generally includes determining a set of DL narrowband regions divided from a DL system bandwidth, determining a set of UL narrowband regions divided from a UL system bandwidth, determining a mapping between the set of narrowband regions DL and the set of narrowband regions UL, AND communicating with a BS using at least one of the mapped narrowband regions.

[00020] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications by a UE. The apparatus generally includes at least one processor configured to determine a set of DL narrowband regions divided from a DL system bandwidth, determine a set of UL narrowband regions divided from a system bandwidth. UL, determines a mapping between the set of narrowband regions DL and set of narrowband regions UL, and communicates with a BS using at least one of the mapped narrowband regions and memory coupled to the at least one processor.

[00021] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications by a UE. The apparatus generally includes means for determining a set of DL narrowband regions divided from a DL system bandwidth, means for determining a set of UL narrowband regions divided from a UL system bandwidth. , means for determining a mapping between the set of DL narrowband regions and the set of UL narrowband regions, and means for communicating with a BS using at least one of the mapped narrowband regions.

[00022] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable medium for wireless communications by a UE. The computer-readable medium generally includes code for determining a set of DL narrowband regions divided from a DL system bandwidth, to determine a set of UL narrowband regions divided from a system bandwidth. UL system, to determine a mapping between the set of DL narrowband regions and the set of UL narrowband regions, and code to communicate with a BS using at least one of the mapped narrowband regions.

[00023] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communications by a UE. The method generally includes determining a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions and one or more UL narrowband regions for communicate with a BS, receiving from the BS an indication of a set of resources in at least one of the one or more DL narrowband regions or one or more UL narrowband regions unavailable to the UE, identifying the resource set based on the received indication, and communicating with the BS using the narrowband regions.

[00024] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications by a UE. The apparatus generally includes at least one processor configured to determine a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions, and one or more DL narrowband regions UL narrowband region to communicate with a BS, receive from the BS An indication of a set of resources in at least one of the one or more DL narrowband regions or one or more UL narrowband regions unavailable to the UE, identify the set of resources based on the received indication and communicate with the BS using the narrowband regions and memory coupled to the at least one processor.

[00025] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications by a UE. The apparatus generally includes means for determining a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions and one or more UL narrowband regions. to communicate with a BS, means for receiving from the BS an indication of a set of resources in at least one of the one or more DL narrowband regions or one or more UL narrowband regions unavailable to the UE, means for identifying the set of resources based on the received indication and means to communicate with the BS Using the narrowband regions.

[00026] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable medium for wireless communications by a UE. The computer-readable medium generally includes code for determining a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions, and one or more DL narrowband regions. UL narrowband to communicate with a BS, encode to receive from the BS an indication of a set of resources in at least one of the one or more DL narrowband regions or one or more UL narrowband regions unavailable to the UE , code to identify the set of resources based on the received indication and code to communicate with the BS using the narrowband regions.

[00027] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communications by a UE. The method generally includes determining a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions and one or more UL narrowband regions. to communicate with a BS, determining resources, in at least one of the one or more narrowband regions of UL, for transmitting SRS and communicating with the BS using the narrowband regions, wherein the communication comprises transmitting SRS in the determined resources.

[00028] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications by a UE. The apparatus generally includes at least one processor configured to determine a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions and one or more DL narrowband regions. narrowband UL to communicate with a BS, determine resources within At least one of the one or more narrowband regions of UL, for SRS transmission, and communicate with the BS using the narrowband regions, in which the communication comprises transmission of SRS on the determined resources and memory coupled to at least one processor.

[00029] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications by a UE. The apparatus generally includes means for determining a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions and one or more DL narrowband regions. UL for communicating with a BS, means for determining resources in at least one of the one or more UL narrowband regions, for SRS transmission, and means for communicating with the BS using the narrowband regions, wherein the communication comprises the SRS transmission on the given resources.

[00030] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable medium for wireless communications by a UE. The computer-readable medium generally includes code for determining a plurality of narrowband regions partitioned from the system bandwidth, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more DL narrowband regions, and one or more DL narrowband regions UL narrowband region to communicate with a BS, code to determine resources, within at least one of the one or more UL narrowband regions, for SRS transmission, and code to communicate with the BS using the UL narrowband regions narrow, in which the communication comprises the transmission of SRS on the given resources.

[00031] Numerous other aspects are provided including methods, apparatus, systems, computer program products, computer readable media and processing systems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[00032] So that the manner in which the above-cited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description, briefly summarized above, can be made by reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that the attached drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure and, therefore, should not be considered limiting its scope, as the description may admit other equally effective aspects.

[00033] FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example wireless communication network in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00034] FIG. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of an evolved nodeB (eNB) communicating with a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00035] FIG. 3 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example frame structure for a particular radio access technology (RAT) for use in a wireless communication network, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00036] FIG. 4 illustrates examples of subframe formats for the downlink with a normal cyclic prefix, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00037] FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate an example of coexistence of machine type communication (MTC) with other wireless communications within a broadband system, such as LTE, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00038] FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary mapping of DL narrowband regions to UL narrowband regions, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00039] FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary mapping of DL narrowband regions to UL narrowband regions, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00040] FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary mapping of DL narrowband regions to UL narrowband regions, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00041] FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary operation for wireless communications that can be performed by a BS, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

[00042] FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary operation for wireless communications that can be performed by a UE, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00043] FIG. 11 illustrates exemplary frequency hopping patterns for DL narrowband regions and UL narrowband regions, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00044] FIG. 12 illustrates exemplary transmission resource reservation techniques in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00045] FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary operation for wireless communications that can be performed by a BS, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00046] FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary operation for wireless communications that can be performed by a UE, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00047] FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary technique for allocating transmission resources, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[00048] FIG. 16 illustrates an exemplary operation for wireless communications that can be performed by a BS, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

[00049] FIG. 17 illustrates an exemplary operation for wireless communications that can be performed by a UE, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[00050] Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for narrowband management for devices with limited communication capabilities, such as low-cost MTC (LC) devices, LC eMTC devices, or IoT devices. These devices can coexist with other legacy devices on a particular radio access technology (RAT) (e.g., long term evolution (LTE)) and can operate in one or more narrowband regions within a system bandwidth. available that is supported by the particular RAT (e.g. LTE). Uplink (UL) system bandwidth and downlink (DL) system bandwidth can be partitioned into narrowband regions. Portions of the UL system bandwidth and/or the DL system bandwidth may be reserved for other uses and may not be included in any of the narrowband regions. Additionally, UL and DL system bandwidth transmission resources can be allocated for transmission of sound reference signals (SRS).

[00051] Consequently, as will be described in more detail below, the techniques presented here may allow MTC cells and devices to organize DL system bandwidth in narrowband regions in a manner different from the manner used to organize a bandwidth of the UL system in narrowband regions. As will also be described in more detail below, techniques are provided for reserving transmission resources included in a UL narrowband region for use by legacy PUCCH transmissions. And, as will be described in more detail below, techniques are provided for allocating transmission resources for SRS transmission such that all transmission resources for each SRS are within a narrowband region.

[00052] The techniques described herein can be used for various wireless communication networks, such as code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks (FDMA), OFDMA (Orthogonal FDMA) networks, Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, etc. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network can implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA), Time Division Synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA), and other CDMA variants. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network can implement a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA network can implement radio technology such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM®, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD), are new versions of UMTS that use E-UTRA, which employs OFDMA on the downlink and SC-FDMA on the uplink. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A and GSM are described in documents from an organization called the "Third Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). Cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization called "Third Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). The techniques described here can be used for wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above, as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, certain aspects of the techniques are described below for LTE/LTE-A, and the terminology LTE/LTE-A is used throughout much of the description below. LTE and LTE-A are generally referred to as LTE.

[00053] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication network 100 with base stations (BSs) and user equipment (UEs), in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced.

[00054] The wireless communication network 100 may be an LTE network or some other wireless network. The wireless communication network 100 may include a number of deployed Node Bs (eNBs) 110 and other network entities. An eNB is an entity that communicates with user equipment (UEs) and can also be referred to as a base station, a Node B, an access point (AP), etc. Each eNB can provide communication coverage for a specific geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" may refer to a coverage area of an eNB and/or an eNB subsystem that serves this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

[00055] An eNB can provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell and/or other types of cells. A macro cell can cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and can allow unrestricted access per UE with service subscription. A pico cell can cover a relatively small geographic area and can allow unrestricted access per UE with service subscription. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a house) and may allow restricted access per UE with membership in the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG)). An eNB for a macro cell can be referred to as a macro eNB. An eNB for a pico cell can be referred to as a pico eNB. An eNB for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto eNB or household eNB (HeNB). In the example shown in FIG. 1, an eNB 110a may be a macro eNB for a macro cell 102a, an eNB 110b may be a peak eNB for a pico cell 102b, and an eNB 110c may be a femto eNB for a femto cell 102c. An eNB can support one or several (e.g. three) cells. The terms "eNB", "base station" and "cell" may be used interchangeably here.

[00056] The wireless communication network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station is an entity that can receive a data transmission from an upstream station (e.g., an eNB or a UE) and send a data transmission to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or an eNB) . A relay station can also be a UE that can relay transmissions to other UEs. In the example shown in FIG. 1, a relay (station) eNB 110d can communicate with the macro eNB 1 10a and a UE 120d so as to facilitate communication between eNB 1 10a and UE 120d. A relay station may also be referred to as an eNB relay, a relay base station, a relay, etc.

[00057] The wireless communication network 100 may be a heterogeneous network that includes eNBs of different types, e.g., macro eNB, pico eNBs, femto eNBs, relay eNBs, etc. These different types of eNBs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different impacts on interference in the wireless communication network 100. For example, macro eNBs may have a high level of transmit power (e.g. , 5 to 40 W), while peak eNB, femto eNB, and relay eNB can have lower transmit power levels (e.g., 0.1 to 2 W).

[00058] A network controller 130 may couple to a set of eNBs and may provide coordination and control for these eNBs. The network controller 130 may communicate with the eNBs via a backhaul. eNBs can also communicate with each other, for example directly or indirectly via a wireless or wired backhaul.

[00059] The UEs 120 (e.g., 120a, 120b, 120c) may be dispersed throughout the wireless communication network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE can also be referred to as an access terminal, a terminal, a mobile station (MS), a subscriber unit, a station (STA), etc. A UE may be a cell phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless telephone, a wireless local loop station (WLL) , a tablet, a smart phone, navigation devices, entertainment devices (e.g. gaming devices, music players), cameras, netbook, smartbook, ultrabook, portable devices (e.g. smart glasses/glasses, smart watch, smart bracelets, smart bracelets, smart clothing, heads-up displays), drones, robots/robotic devices, medical devices, vehicle devices, etc. MTC UEs may include sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, drones, trackers, robots/robotic devices, etc. MTC UEs, as well as other UEs, can be implemented as internet of things (IoT) devices (e.g., narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices) or internet of everything (IoE). To improve coverage for certain devices, such as MTC devices or IoT devices, "grouping" can be used whereby certain transmissions are sent as a beam of transmissions, for example, with the same information transmitted over several subframes.

[00060] One or more UEs 120 in the wireless communication network 100 (e.g., an LTE network) may also be low cost (LC), low data rate devices, e.g., such as LC MTC UEs, LC eMTC UEs, etc. The LC UEs may co-exist with legacy and/or advanced UEs in the LTE network and may have one or more features that are limited when compared to the other UEs (e.g., non-LC UEs) in the wireless network. For example, when compared to legacy and/or advanced UEs in the LTE network, LC UEs may operate with one or more of the following: a maximum bandwidth reduction (relative to legacy UEs), a single radio (RF) chain, peak rate reduction, transmission power reduction, one transmission post, half duplex operation, etc. as used herein, resource-limited communication devices such as MTC devices, eMTC devices, IoT devices (e.g., NB-IoT), etc. are generally referred to as LC UEs. Similarly, legacy devices, such as legacy and/or advanced UEs (e.g. in LTE), are generally referred to as non-LC UEs.

[00061] Fig. 2 is a block diagram of one form of BS/eNB 110 and UE 120, which may be one of the BS/eNB 110 and one of the UEs 120, respectively, in FIG. 1. BS 110 can be equipped with T antennas 234a through 234t, and the UE 120 can be equipped with R antennas 252a through 252r, where in general T> 1 and R> 1.

[00062] In BS 110, a transmission processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 for one or more UEs, select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCS) for each UE based on indicators of channel quality (CQIs) received from the UE, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for each UE based on the MCS(s) selected for the UE, and provide data symbols to all UEs . Transmit processor 220 may also process system information (e.g., for semi-static resource sharing information (IPRF), etc.) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, exchanges, upper layer signaling, etc.). ) and provide general symbols and control symbols. Processor 220 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., the common reference signal and synchronization signals (e.g., the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and the secondary synchronization signal (SSS)). A transmission (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., pre-coding) on data symbols, control symbols, aerial symbols, and/or reference symbols, if applicable, and can provide output symbols t is transmitted to modulators T (DMOS) 232a through 232t Each MOD 232 can process a respective symbol output current (e.g. for OFDM, etc.) to obtain a current. Each MOD 232 can further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal from the modulators. 232a to 232t can be transmitted through T antennas 234a through 234t, respectively.

[00063] In the UE 120, antennas 252a through 252r can receive downlink signals from BS 110 and/or another BSS and can provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a through 254r, respectively. Each DEMOD 254 can condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) the received signal to obtain input samples. Each DEMOD 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all I demodulators 254a through 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols, if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receiving processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 120 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information and system information to a controller/processor 280. A channel processor can determine the received reference signal power (RSRP), received receive signal strength indicator (RSSI), received reference signal quality (RSRQ), CQI, etc.

[00064] On the uplink, by UE 120, a transmission processor 264 may receive and process data from a source of data 262 and control information (e.g., for reports comprising RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, etc. .) from controller/processor 280. Processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. The transmission processor symbols 264 may be pre-coded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by MODs 254a to 254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, OFDM, etc.), and transmitted to the BS 110 At BS 110, uplink signals from the UE 120 and other UEs may be received by antennas 234, processed by DEMODs 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a processor 238 for receiving. obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 120. Processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to the controller/processor 240. BS 110 may include the communication unit 244 and communicate the network controller 130 through network controller communication unit 244. 130 may include communication unit 294, controller/processor 290, and memory 292.

[00065] Controllers/processors 240 and 280 can direct operation to BS 110 and UE 120, respectively. For example, the controller/processor 240 and/or other processors and modules in the BS 110 may perform operations or directs illustrated in FIGs. 9, 13, 16 and/or in other processes for the techniques described herein. Likewise, the controller/processor 280 and/or other processors and modules in the UE 120 may perform operations or directs illustrated in FIGs. 10, 14, 17 and/or processes for the techniques described herein. Memories 242 and 282 can store data and program codes for the BS 110 and UE 120, respectively. A scheduler 246 may schedule UEs for transmission of data on the downlink and/or uplink.

[00066] Fig. 3 shows an exemplary frame structure 300 for FDD in LTE. The transmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink can be divided into radio frame units. Each radio frame may have a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)) and may be divided into 10 subframes with indices from 0 to 9. Each subframe may include two slots. Each radio frame may thus include 20 slots with indices from 0 to 19. Each slot may include L symbol periods, for example, seven symbol periods for a normal cyclic prefix (as shown in FIG. 2) or six symbol for an extended cyclic prefix. The symbol periods 2L, in each sub-frame can be assigned indices from 0 to 2 -1.

[00067] In LTE, an eNB can transmit a main synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) on the downlink in the center of 1.08 MHz of system bandwidth for each cell supported by the eNB. The PSS and SSS can be transmitted in symbol periods 6 and 5, respectively, in subframes 0 and 5 of each radio frame with the normal cyclic prefix, as shown in FIG. 3. The PSS and SSS can be used by UEs for cell search and acquisition. The eNB can transmit a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) across the system bandwidth to each cell supported by the eNB. The CRS may be transmitted in certain symbol periods of each subframe and may be used by the UEs to perform channel estimation, channel quality measurement, and/or other functions. The eNB may also transmit a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) in symbol periods 0 to 3 in slot 1 of certain radio frames. The PBCH may carry some system information. The eNB may transmit other system information, such as system information blocks (SIBS) over a shared physical channel (PDSCH) downlink in certain subframes. The eNB may transmit control/data information from a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in the first B symbol periods of a subframe, where B may be configurable for each subframe. The eNB may transmit traffic data and/or other data over the PDSCH in the remaining symbol periods of each subframe.

[00068] The PSS, SSS, CRS, and PBCH in LTE are described in 3 GPP TS 36.211, entitled "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); physical channels and Modulation", which is available to the public.

[00069] Fig. 4 shows two examples of subframe formats 410 and 420 for the downlink, with a normal cyclic prefix. The time frequency resources available to the downlink can be divided into resource blocks. Each resource block can span 12 subcarriers in a slot and can include a number of resource elements. Each resource element can cover a subcarrier in a symbol period and can be used to send a modulation symbol, which can be a real or complex value.

[00070] Subframe Format 410 can be used for an eNB equipped with two antennas. A CRS can be transmitted from antennas 0 and 1 at symbol periods 0, 4, 7, and 11. A reference signal is a signal that is known a priori by a transmitter and a receiver and may also be referred to as pilot. The SIR is a reference signal that is specific to a cell, for example, generated based on a cell identity (ID). In FIG. 4, for a given resource element with Ra tag, a modulation symbol can be transmitted on that resource element of antenna a, and there are no modulation symbols that can be transmitted on that resource element of other antennas. Subframe Format 420 can be used for an eNB equipped with four antennas. A CRS can be transmitted from antennas 0 and 1 in symbol periods 0, 4, 7, and 11 and from antennas 2 and 3 in symbol periods 1 and 8. For both the 410 and 420 subframe formats, a SIR can be transmitted on evenly spaced subcarriers, which can be determined based on cell identification. Different eNB can transmit their SIR over the same or different subcarriers, depending on their cell IDs. For both subframe formats 410 and 420, resource elements not used for the CRS may be used to transmit data (e.g., traffic data, control data, and/or other data).

[00071] An interleaving structure can be used for each of the downlink and uplink for FDD in LTE. For example, Q interlaces with indices from 0 to Q-1 can be defined, where Q can be equal to 4, 6, 8, 10, or some other value. Each interlace may include subframes that are spaced apart by Q frames. In particular, interlace q may include subframes q, q + Q, q + 2Q, etc., where q is {0, ..., Q - 1}.

[00072] The wireless network may support automatic hybrid request retransmission (HARQ) for data transmission on the downlink and uplink. For HARQ, a transmitter (e.g., an eNB 110) may send one or more transmissions of a packet until the packet is correctly decoded by a receiver (e.g., a UE 120) or some other termination condition is met. For synchronous HARQ, all packet transmissions can be sent in single-interleave substructures. For asynchronous HARQ, each packet transmission can be sent in any subframe.

[00073] A UE can be located within the coverage of multiple eNBs. One of these eNB can be selected to serve the UE. The serving eNB can be selected based on various criteria such as received signal strength, received signal quality, path loss, etc., received signal quality can be quantified by a signal-to-interference ratio. plus-noise (SINR), or a reference received signal quality (RSRQ), or some other metric. The UE may operate in a dominant interference scenario in which the UE may observe high interference from one or more interfering eNBs.

[00074] As mentioned above, one or more UEs in the wireless communication network (e.g., wireless communication network 100) may be devices that have limited communications capabilities, such as LC UEs, compared to other (not -LC) devices in the wireless communication network.

[00075] In some systems, for example in LTE Rel-13, the UE LC may be limited to a particular narrowband allocation (e.g., of no more than six resource blocks (RBS)) within the bandwidth bandwidth available on the system. However, the UE LC may be capable of re-tuning (e.g., operating and/or fielding) to different narrowband regions within the LTE system's available system bandwidth, e.g., so as to co-exist in the LTE system.

[00076] As another example of coexistence within the LTE system, LC UEs may be able to receive (with repeat) the legacy physical transmission channel (PBCH) (e.g., the LTE physical channel which, in general, carries parameters that can be used for initial access to the cell) and support one or more legacy physical random access channel (PRACH) formats. For example, the UE LC may be capable of receiving the legacy PBCH with one or more repeats of the PBCH in multiple subframes. As another example, the UE LC may be capable of transmitting one or more PRACH repeats (e.g., with one or more PRACH formats) supported to an eNB in the LTE system. PRACH can be used to identify the UE LC. Furthermore, the number of PRACH repeat attempts can be configured by the eNB.

[00077] The UE LC may also be a link budget limited device and may operate in different modes of operation (e.g., involving different amounts of repeated messages transmitted to or from the LC UE) based on its link budget limitation. . For example, in some cases, the LC UE may operate in a normal coverage mode in which there is little or no repetition (e.g., the amount of repetition required for the UE to successfully receive and/or transmit a message may be low or repetition may not even be necessary). Alternatively, in some cases, the LC UE may operate in a coverage enhancement (CE) mode, where there may be high amounts of repetition. For example, for a 328 bit payload, a UE LC in CE mode may need 150 or more payload repetitions in order to successfully receive the payload.

[00078] In some cases, for example also for LTE Rel-13, the UE LC may have limited capabilities with respect to its broadcast reception and unicast transmissions. For example, the maximum transport block size (TB) for a broadcast transmission received by the LC UE may be limited to 1000 bits. Additionally, in some cases, the LC UE may not be able to receive more than one unicast TB in a subframe. In some cases (e.g. for both CE mode and normal mode described above), the UE LC may not be able to receive more than one TB transmission in a subframe. Additionally, in some cases, the LC UE may not be able to receive both a unicast TB and a broadcast TB in a subframe.

[00079] For MTC, LC UEs that co-exist in the LTE system may also support new messages for certain procedures, such as paging, random access procedure, etc. (e.g. unlike conventional messages used in LTE for these procedures). In other words, these new paging messages, the random access procedure, etc., can be separated from the messages used for similar procedures associated with non-LC UEs. For example, relative to conventional paging messages used in LTE, LC UEs may be able to monitor and/or receive paging messages that non-LC UEs may not be able to monitor and/or receive. Likewise, compared to conventional random access response (RAR) messages used in a conventional random access procedure, LC UEs may be able to receive RAR messages that may also not be able to be received by non- LC. The paging and RAR messages associated with LC UEs may also be repeated one or more times (e.g., "packaged"). Additionally, different numbers of repetitions (e.g., different cluster sizes) for new messages can be supported.

Example of MTC coexistence with other wireless communications in a broadband system

[00080] As mentioned above, MTC and/or eMTC operation may be supported in a wireless communications network (e.g., in coexistence with LTE or some other RAT). FIGS. 5A and 5B, for example, illustrate an example of how LC UEs in MTC operation can co-exist within a broadband system such as LTE.

[00081] As illustrated in the example frame structure of Fig. 5A, subframes 502, 504, 506 associated with MTC and/or eMTC operation may be time division multiplexed (TDM) with regular subframes 510, 512, 514 associated with LTE or some other RAT. Within a cell, some MTC subframes may be regular, with the scheduling of MTC subframes made known to MTC UEs within the cell, for example, by transmissions from a supporting BS of the cell. Other MTC subframes may be dynamically scheduled on an as-needed basis by the BS, with the BS transmitting indications of the dynamically scheduled MTC subframes, for example, in transmissions or unicast communications during regular MTC subframes.

[00082] Additionally or alternatively, as illustrated in the example frame structure of Fig. 5B, one or more narrowband regions 520, 522 used by LC UEs in MTC may be frequency division multiplexed within the bandwidth wider 530 supported by LTE. Multiple narrowband regions, with each narrowband region spanning a bandwidth that is no greater than a total of 6 RBS, may be supported by MTC and/or eMTC operation. In some cases, each UE LC in MTC operation may operate within a narrowband region (e.g., at 1.4 MHz or 6 RBS) at a time. However, LC UEs in MTC operation, at any given time, may re-tune to other narrowband regions in the overall system bandwidth. In some examples, multiple LC UEs may be served by the same narrowband region. In other examples, multiple LC UEs may be served by different narrowband regions (e.g., with each narrowband region spanning 6 RBs). In still other examples, different combinations of LC UEs may be served by one or more same narrowband regions and/or one or more different narrowband regions.

[00083] The LC UEs can operate (e.g., monitor/receive/transmit) within the narrowband regions for various different operations. For example, as shown in FIG. 5B, a first narrowband region 520 (e.g., extending no more than 6 RBs of system bandwidth) of a subframe 540 may be monitored by one or more LC UEs for any of PSS, SSS, PBCH , MTC system information block (SIB) or paging transmission of a BS in the wireless communication network. As also shown in FIG. 5B, a second narrowband region 522 (e.g., also spanning no more than 6 RBs of system bandwidth) of a subframe 542 may be used by LC UEs to transmit a RACH or data preconfigured in received signaling. from a BS. In some cases, the second narrowband region may be used by the same LC UEs that used the first narrowband region (for example, the LC UEs may have re-tuned to the second narrowband region to transmit after monitoring in the first region narrowband). In some cases (although not shown), the second narrowband region may be used by different LC UEs than the LC UEs that used the first narrowband region.

[00084] Although the examples described here are in reference to a narrow band of 6 RBS, those skilled in the art will recognize that the techniques presented here can also be applied to different sizes of narrow band regions, for example, 1 RB.

Example Narrowband Management for MTC

[00085] As mentioned above, in certain systems, for example, such as LTE Rel-13, narrowband operation for MTC (e.g., eMTC) may be supported. A narrowband operation to support MTC cells can have different system bandwidths for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) operations. A cell having different DL and UL system bandwidths may organize the DL system bandwidth into narrowband regions in a different manner than the manner used to organize the UL system bandwidth into narrowband regions. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for organizing a DL system bandwidth and a UL system bandwidth into narrowband regions.

[00086] A cell supporting narrowband operation for MTC and legacy UEs can receive legacy PUCCH transmissions from the legacy UEs. Legacy PUCCH transmissions can be transmitted on one or both edges of a cell's UL system bandwidth. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for reserving transmission resources included in a UL narrowband region for use by legacy PUCCH transmissions. Similar reservations may also be applied to a DL narrowband region for use by other DL legacy signals or channels.

[00087] A cell supporting narrowband operations for MTC may also support the transmission of polling reference signals (SRS). The current defined minimum bandwidth for SRS transmission is four RBs. However, as mentioned, the bandwidth of narrowband regions can be six RBs. The fact that six RBs are not integrally divisible by four RBs presents challenges in managing SRS transmissions using four RBs in six-RB base narrowband operations. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for allocating transmission resources for transmitting SRS in a cell supporting narrowband operations (e.g., for MTC).

[00088] A cell operating with FDD may have a DL system bandwidth that is of a different size than the cell's UL system bandwidth. For example, a cell may perform DL operations in a system bandwidth of ten MHz UL operations and in a system bandwidth of five MHz. To support the operations of the MTC and MTC UEs, the cell may organize the DL system bandwidth and UL system bandwidth in narrowband regions, or narrowband regions. An eNB or other BS controlling the cell may assign a narrowband DL region to the MTC UE for the MTC UE to monitor the signals coming from the eNB. Similarly, the eNB (or other BS) may assign a narrow UL region to the MTC UE for the MTC to use when transmitting UL signals. In the example, the cell may organize the DL system bandwidth into eight DL narrowband regions while organizing the UL system bandwidth into four UL narrowband regions.

[00089] When a BS (e.g., an eNB or a cell) supports MTC UEs with the DL system bandwidth and UL cell system bandwidth organized into narrowband regions, the BS can establish a mapping between narrowband DL regions and narrowband UL regions, so that the assignment of a narrowband DL region to an MTC UE implies an assignment of a narrowband UL region to that MTC UE. Having a mapping allows the BS to simplify resource scheduling in the cell, for example, the BS can expect ACK/NAKs for transmissions over a DL narrowband region to an MTC UE over the corresponding UL narrowband region. Similarly, an MTC UE monitors LD transmissions over the DL narrowband region assigned to the MTC UE and responds with transmissions over the corresponding UL narrowband region.

[00090] In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, a technique for mapping UL and DL narrowband regions by a BS is provided. The BS may determine a minimum size of the UL system bandwidth and the DL system bandwidth supported by the BS, determine a number of narrowband regions that can be organized into the determined size, and then organize both the DL system bandwidth and UL system bandwidth in which the number of narrowband regions. The BS can then map each DL narrow region to a UL narrow region.

[00091] Fig. 6 illustrates an exemplary mapping 600 from DL narrowband regions to UL narrowband regions, as described above. Such a mapping may be employed by the eNB 110a in FIG. 1, for example. While FIG. 6 shows the DL system bandwidth 610 and the UL bandwidth system 650 as apparently in the same frequency ranges, the DL system bandwidth and the UL system bandwidth are in different frequency ranges of a cell using FDD. DL system bandwidth of 610 MHz is ten or fifty RBs wide, and UL system bandwidth of 650 MHz is five or twenty-five RBs wide. A BS supporting MTC UEs during operation of DL system bandwidth 610 and UL system bandwidth 650 may determine that UL system bandwidth 650 is lower than DL system bandwidth 610 (i.e. The 5 MHz size of UL 650 system bandwidth is the minimum size of the UL 650 system bandwidth and the DL 610 system bandwidth).The BS can then determine that the BS can organize four bandwidth regions. 652, 654, 656, and 658 of the UL system bandwidth 650. The BS may then determine to organize four narrowband regions of the DL system bandwidth, and organize DL narrowband regions 612, 614, 616, and 618 from the DL system bandwidth. The BS may then map DL narrowband region 612 to UL narrowband region 652, DL narrowband region 614 to UL narrowband region 654, DL narrowband region 616 to UL narrowband region 656, and DL narrowband region 618 to the UL narrowband region 658. The BS can then map DL narrowband region 612 to the UL narrowband region 652, DL narrowband region 614 to the UL narrowband region 654 , DL narrowband region 616 to the UL narrowband region 656, and DL narrowband region 618 to the UL narrowband region 658. The BS can then map DL narrowband region 612 to the UL narrowband region 652, DL narrowband region 614 to the UL narrowband region 654, DL narrowband region 616 to the UL narrowband region 656, and DL narrowband region 618 to the UL narrowband region 658.

[00092] In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, another technique for mapping UL and DL narrowband regions by a BS is provided. The BS may determine a number of DL narrowband regions that can be organized from the BS's DL system bandwidth and a certain number of UL narrowband regions that can be organized from the UL system bandwidth. of the BS, organize the determined numbers of DL narrowband regions and UL narrowband regions, and then determine a mapping of the DL narrowband regions to the UL narrowband regions. The BS may map more than one DL narrowband region to each UL narrowband region or more than one UL narrowband region to each DL narrowband region. If a BS maps more than one DL narrowband region to a UL narrowband region, the BS may mark transmissions to MTC UEs that use the DL narrowband regions, such that any response from a first UE (e.g., a ACK/NAK) will not interfere with responses from other UEs. Similarly, if a BS maps more narrowband region than one UL narrowband region to a DL, the BS can mark transmissions of CTMs using the UL narrowband regions such that no two MTC UEs wait for responses. of the BS that will collide (e.g., ACK/NAKs on the same resource elements of the same resource block in the narrow region of the DL).

[00093] Fig. 7 illustrates an exemplary mapping 700 from DL narrowband regions to UL narrowband regions, as described above. Such a mapping may be employed by the eNB 110a in FIG. 1, for example. While FIG. 7 shows the DL system bandwidth 710 and the UL bandwidth system 750 as apparently in the same frequency ranges, the DL system bandwidth and the UL system bandwidth are in different frequency ranges of a cell using FDD. The DL system bandwidth is ten MHz or fifty RBs wide, and the UL system bandwidth is five MHz or twenty-five RBs wide. The BS supporting MTC UEs during the operation of the DL system bandwidth and the UL system bandwidth can determine that the BS can organize four narrowband regions 752, 754, 756 and 758 of the UL system bandwidth. The BS may then determine that the BS can organize eight narrowband regions 712, 714, 716, 718, 720, 722, 724, and 726 of the DL system bandwidth. The BS can then organize the eight narrowband regions of the DL system bandwidth and the four narrowband UL regions of the UL system bandwidth. The BS can then map narrowband regions DL 712 and 714 to the narrowband region UL 752, narrowband regions DL 716 and 718 to the narrowband region UL 754, narrowband regions DL 720 and 722 to the region UL narrowband region 756, and the DL narrowband regions 724 and 726 to UL narrowband region 758. The BS may schedule transmissions to the MTC UEs that use DL narrowband region 712 or DL narrowband region 714, from such that any response from an MTC UE using UL 752 narrowband region does not interfere with a response from another UE using UL 752 narrowband region MTC.

[00094] According to aspects of the present disclosure, a mapping from DL narrowband regions to UL narrowband regions may be specific to the UE. That is, a mapping from DL narrowband regions to UL narrowband regions may apply to a particular UE (e.g., an MTC UE) being served by a cell, and other UEs being served by that cell may use a different mapping from DL narrowband regions to UL narrowband regions. The BS (e.g., eNodeB 110a in FIG. 1) may signal indications of the various mappings to be used to serve UEs in the cell. For example and with reference to FIG. 7, a BS may map DL narrowband regions 712 and 714 to the UL narrowband region 752 for a first MTC UE while mapping narrowband regions 716 and 718 to the UL narrowband region 752 for a second MTC UE .

[00095] According to aspects of the present disclosure, a mapping of DL narrowband regions to UL narrowband regions may be common to a plurality of UEs. For example, a mapping from DL narrowband regions to UL narrowband regions may apply to all MTC UEs being served by a cell, while other cells in a network may use different mappings. In a second example, a BS may use a first mapping for a first group of MTC UEs, while the BS uses a second mapping for a second group of MTC UEs. In the second example, the BS may schedule (e.g., persistently schedule) the MTC UEs into different sets of regularly occurring MTC subframes. The BS (e.g., eNodeB 110a in FIG. 1) may signal an indication of the mapping(s) in a broadcast transmission or in one or more dedicated messages to each of the plurality of UEs.

[00096] Fig. 8 illustrates an exemplary mapping 800 from DL narrowband regions to UL narrowband regions, as described above. Such a mapping may be employed by the eNB 110a with UEs 120a and 120c in FIG. 1, for example. While FIG. 8 shows the DL system bandwidth 810 and the UL bandwidth system 850 as apparently in the same frequency ranges, the DL system bandwidth and the UL system bandwidth are in different frequency ranges of a cell using FDD. The DL system bandwidth is ten MHz or fifty RBs wide, and the UL system bandwidth is five MHz or twenty-five RBs wide. A BS supporting MTC UEs (e.g., the UE 120a and 120c) during bandwidth system operation and the DL bandwidth system UL may determine that the BS can organize four narrowband regions 852, 854, 856, and 858 from UL system bandwidth. The BS may then determine that the BS can organize eight narrowband regions 812, 814, 816, 818, 820, 822, 824, and 826 from the bandwidth of the DL system. The BS can then organize the eight narrowband regions of the DL system bandwidth and the four narrowband UL regions of the UL system bandwidth. The BS may then map, to a first UE (e.g., UE1 or UE from FIG. 1), the DL narrowband region 812, DL narrowband region 852, DL narrowband region 814 to the UL narrowband region 854, DL narrowband region 816 to UL narrowband region 856, and DL narrowband region 818 to UL narrowband region 858. The BS may also map, to a second UE (e.g., UE2 or 120c of the UE from FIG. 1) DL narrowband region 820 to UL narrowband region 852, DL narrowband region 822 to UL narrowband region 854, DL narrowband region 824 to UL 856 narrowband region, and DL 826 narrowband region to the UL 858 narrowband region.

[00097] Fig. 9 illustrates an example operation 900 for wireless communications that can be performed by a BS (e.g., eNodeB 110a in FIG. 1), in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Operation 900 may be performed by a BS to support MTC UEs, and may use one of the exemplary mappings illustrated in FIGs. 6-8 or other mapping.

[00098] Operation 900 begins at block 902, in which the BS determines a set of downlink (DL) narrowband regions partitioned from a DL system bandwidth. For example and with reference to FIG. 6, a BS may determine a set of four narrowband regions DL 612, 614, 616, 618 from a system bandwidth DL 610 of 10 MHz or 50 RBs. The BS can determine the DL narrowband regions, for example, by referring to a network standard or executing an algorithm.

[00099] Operation 900 continues to block 904, in which the BS determines a set of narrowband uplink regions (UL) apportioned from a UL system bandwidth. Continuing the example with reference to FIG. 6, the BS can determine a set of four narrowband regions UL 652, 654, 656, 658 are divided from a system bandwidth of UL 650 of 5 MHz or 25 RBs.

[000100] In block 906, the BS determines a mapping between the set of narrowband regions DL and the set of narrowband regions UL. Continuing the example with reference to FIG. 6, the BS may determine that the first narrowband region DL 612 maps to the first narrowband region UL 652, second narrowband region DL 614 maps to the second narrowband region UL 654, third DL narrowband region narrowband 616 maps to the third narrowband region UL 656, and the fourth narrowband region DL 618 maps to the fourth narrowband region UL 658.

[000101] Operation 900 continues to block 908, in which the BS communicates with at least one user equipment (UE) through at least one of the DL narrowband regions or UL narrowband regions included in mapping. Continuing the example with reference to FIG. 6, the BS may transmit to a UE (e.g., UE 120a shown in FIG. 1), using the narrowband region of the first DL 612.

[000102] Fig. 10 illustrates an example operation 1000 for wireless communications that can be performed by a UE (e.g., UE 120a in FIG. 1), in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operation of 1000 may be performed by an MTC of the UE, for example, and may use one of the exemplary mappings illustrated in FIGs. 6-8, or other mapping.

[000103] Operation 1000 begins at block 1002, in which the UE determines a set of downlink (DL) narrowband regions partitioned from a DL system bandwidth. Continuing the example with reference to FIG. 6, a UE may determine a set of four narrowband regions DL 612, 614, 616, 618 are divided from a system bandwidth DL 610 of 10 MHz or 50 RBs. The UE can determine the DL narrowband regions, for example, by referring to a network standard or decoding a broadcast message from a BS.

[000104] Operation 1000 continues in block 1004, in which the UE determines a set of narrowband uplink (UL) regions partitioned from a UL system bandwidth. Continuing the example with reference to FIG. 6, the UE can determine a set of four UL narrowband regions 652, 654, 656, 658 are divided from a system bandwidth of 650 5 MHz UL or 25 RBs. The UE can determine the DL narrowband regions, for example, by referring to a network standard or decoding a broadcast message from a BS.

[000105] In block 1006, the UE determines a mapping between the set of DL narrowband regions and the set of UL narrowband regions. As discussed, mapping can be signaled explicitly or implicitly. Continuing the example with reference to FIG. 6, the UE may determine the narrowband region the first DL 612 maps to the first narrowband region UL 652, second narrowband region DL 614 maps to the second narrowband region UL 654, third DL narrowband region 616 maps to the third narrowband region UL 656, and the fourth narrowband region DL 618 maps to the fourth narrowband region UL 658.

[000106] Operation 1,000 continues in block 1008, in which the UE communicates with a base station (BS) using at least one of the DL narrowband regions or the UL narrowband regions included in the mapping. Continuing the example with reference to FIG. 6, the UE may receive a transmission from a BS in the narrowband region of the first DL 612.

[000107] In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, a cell dividing a UL system bandwidth and a DL system bandwidth into narrowband regions may utilize frequency hopping with the narrowband regions. A cell can determine frequency hopping patterns for the assignments of the DL narrowband regions and the UL narrowband regions, for example, based on the network specification. A UE operating in a cell utilizing frequency hopping with narrowband regions may determine the frequency hopping patterns of narrowband DL region assignments and narrowband UL region assignments, for example, based on a received signal indicating jumping patterns of one or more frequencies.

[000108] A cell may use a different frequency hopping pattern for the DL narrowband regions than the cell uses for the UL narrowband regions. That is, a cell can divide the DL system bandwidth into a plurality of narrowband regions, and have narrowband region assignments for hopping UEs across the entire DL system bandwidth, such that the UE can tune to multiple narrowband regions during cell operation. Likewise, a cell may divide a UL system bandwidth into a plurality of narrowband regions, and have narrowband region designations for UEs hopping between the UL system bandwidth, such that A UE can tune to multiple narrowband regions while operating in the cell. The frequency hopping of the DL narrowband regions and UL narrowband regions may each follow one another, but the patterns may be different.

[000109] Fig. 11 illustrates exemplary frequency movement of patterns 1100 and 1150 for the narrowband DL regions and narrowband UL regions, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Such frequency hopping patterns may be employed by eNB 110a with UEs 120a (e.g., UE1) and 120c (e.g., UE2) in FIG. 1, for example. At standard busy exemplary frequency of 1.100, a BS organized eight narrowband regions from a DL system bandwidth. At time t, UE1 and UE2 are assigned the two highest narrowband DL regions, as illustrated. Later, at time t+k, UE1 and UE2 are assigned the next two smaller narrowband DL regions. UE1 and UE2 are each assigned a lower narrowband DL region at times t+2k and t+3k, as illustrated. Meanwhile, a different exemplary frequency moved from standard 1150 may be employed for the UL narrowband regions. At time t, UE1 and UE2 are assigned the two lowest UL narrowband regions. At time t + k, UE1 and UE2 are assigned to the two mid-UL narrowband regions. At time t + 2k, UE1 and UE2 are assigned the lowest and highest UL narrowband regions, and at time t + 3k, UE1 and UE2 are assigned the two highest UL narrowband regions. Other frequency hopping patterns for DL narrowband regions and UL narrowband regions are possible, and are included in the scope of the disclosure.

[000110] In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, transmission resources (e.g., resource elements or resource blocks) may be reserved for other uses when a system bandwidth is organized into narrowband regions. For example, transmission resources at the edge of a UL system bandwidth may be reserved for legacy (e.g., Rel-9) UEs to transmit physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) signals, and MTC UEs do not may be authorized to use the reserved resources. Resources can be reserved by deleting reserved resources by organizing system bandwidth into narrowband regions. Additionally or alternatively, the system bandwidth may be organized into narrowband regions including the reserved resources, and then UEs using the narrowband regions including the resources may be informed that the reserved resources are not to be used.

[000111] Fig. 12 illustrates two exemplary techniques 1200 and 1250 of reserving transmission resources when organizing a system bandwidth into narrowband regions, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In technique 1200, reserved portion, 1202, 1204 (e.g., reserved for PUCCH transmissions) of the UL system bandwidth are excluded from organization into narrowband regions, and the unreserved portion 1206 of the UL system bandwidth is organized into narrowband regions 1210, 1212, 1214, 1216, 1218, 1220. As illustrated, this can result in portions of unreserved system bandwidth being left out of any narrowband regions. In the 1250 technique, the UL system bandwidth is divided into narrowband regions 1252, 1254, 1256, 1258, 1260, 1262, 1264, 1266, without excluding the reserved portions 1272, 1274. In a cell using the technique 1250, the cell may inform the UEs (e.g., the MTC UEs) assigned to use the narrowband region 1252 and/or narrowband region 1266 that the reserved transmission resources (e.g., at the resource element granularity , resource blocks, symbols, etc.) are not for use by UEs.

[000112] Fig. 13 illustrates example operation 1300 for wireless communications that may be performed by a BS (e.g., eNodeB 110a in FIG. 1), in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operation of 1300 may be performed by a BS to support MTC UEs, and may utilize one of the exemplary transmission resource reservation techniques illustrated in FIG. 12.

[000113] Operation 1300 begins at block 1302, wherein the BS determines a plurality of system bandwidth partitioned narrowband regions, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more downlink narrowband regions ( DL) and one or more uplink narrowband regions (UL) for communicating with a user equipment (UE). The BS can determine the DL and UL narrowband regions by, for example, running a scaling algorithm. For example and with reference to FIG. 12, a BS may determine a DL narrowband region (not shown) from a DL system bandwidth and a UL 1252 narrowband region from a UL system bandwidth of 10 MHz or 50 RBs for communication with a UE (e.g. 120th UE in Fig. 1).

[000114] Operation 1,300 continues in block 1304, in which the BS identifies a set of resources from at least one of the one or more DL narrowband regions or the one or more UL narrowband regions unavailable to the UE. Continuing the example above, with reference to FIG. 12, the BS that identifies RBs 0 and a narrowband UL region 1252 are not available to the UE because RBs 0 and 1 are included in the reserved part 1272.

[000115] In block 1306, the BS provides an indication of the identified set of resources to the UE. Continuing the above example, the BS sends a PDCCH to the UE indicating that RBs 0 and 1 of narrowband region 1252 are not available to the UE and schedules the UE to send a PUSCH to the BS using narrowband region 1252.

[000116] Operation 1300 continues in block 1308, in which the BS communicates with the UE using the narrowband regions. Continuing the example above, the BS receives a PUSCH from the UE that occupies RBs 2-5 of the narrowband region 1252.

[000117] Fig. 14 illustrates example operation 1400 for wireless communications that may be performed by a UE (e.g., UE 120a in FIG. 1), in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operation of 1400 may be performed by an MTC of the UE, for example, being served by a cell using one of the exemplary transmission resource reservation techniques illustrated in FIG. 12. The 1400 operation can be complementary to the 1300 operation.

[000118] Operation 1400 begins at block 1402, wherein the UE determines a plurality of system bandwidth partitioned narrowband regions, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more downlink narrowband regions ( DL) and one or more uplink narrowband regions (UL) for communicating with a base station (BS). The UE may determine the DL and UL narrowband regions by, for example, decoding a control channel from the BS. Continuing the example above and with reference to FIG. 12, a UE may determine a DL narrowband region (not shown) from a DL system bandwidth and a UL 1252 narrowband region from a UL system bandwidth of 10 MHz or 50 RBS to communicate with a BS (1, e.g. eNB 110a in FIG. 1).

[000119] Operation 1400 continues in block 1404, wherein the UE receives from the BS an indication of a set of resources from at least one of the narrowband regions one or more DL or the one or more narrowband regions narrow UL unavailable for the UE. Continuing the example above, with reference to FIG. 12, the UE receives a PDCCH from the BS, indicating that RBs 0 and a narrowband region UL 1252 are not available to the UE and scheduling the UE to send a PUSCH to the BS using narrowband region 1252.

[000120] In block 1406, the UE identifies the set of resources based on the received indication. Continuing the example above, the UE that identifies RBs 0 and a narrowband region 1252 are not available to the UE.

[000121] Operation 1,400 continues in block 1408, in which the UE communicates with the BS using the narrowband regions. Continuing the above example, the UE transmits a PUSCH to the BS that occupies RBs 2-5 of the narrow region 1252.

[000122] A cell serving as MTC and non-MTC UEs may assign some transmission means for transmission reference signal sound (SRS). However, the current (e.g., Rel-12) SRS may be transmitted in a group of four consecutive resource blocks, whereas narrowband regions organized in a system bandwidth may each be a group of six blocks. of consecutive resources. In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, a cell serving MTC and non-MTC UEs may multiplex sound reference signal (SRS) resources of MTC and non-MTC UEs in a code division multiplexing (CDM) manner. As an example, the SRS may be transmitted over allocated resources from the system bandwidth, such that each SRS is within a narrow bandwidth region.

[000123] In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, MTC SRS locations in a narrowband region may be assigned by considering the narrowband region location within the system bandwidth and specific band cells and SRS locations. Considering the narrowband region location within the system bandwidth and the specific SRS bandwidth of cells and locations, while assigning SRS locations to MTC UEs, it can allow MTC UEs to transmit SRS that are orthogonal (e.g. , differentiable by codes in the SRS) for SRS transmitted by legacy UEs. SRS in the narrowband may align with the SRS boundary cell rather than with the start of the narrowband region. For example, in a fifty RB wide bandwidth system with eight narrowband regions and a forty RB wide bandwidth cell-specific SRS located in the center of the system bandwidth, if SRS to be transmitted by MTC UEs are four RBs in bandwidth, the SRS location in each NB can be: there is no SRS in NB1 and NB8; SRS in RBs 25 of NB2, NB4 and NB6; and SRS over RBS 0-3 of NB3, NB5 and NB7.

[000124] Fig. 15 illustrates an exemplary technique 1500 for allocating transmission resources to MTC SRS in a UL system bandwidth that has been organized into narrowband regions, for example, as described above with reference to FIGS. 7-8 and 11-12. In the exemplary art, a BS serving a cell has organized a large fifty RB UL 1560 bandwidth system in the cell into eight narrowband regions 1502, 1504, 1506, 1508, 1510, 1512, 1514, 1516. The BS It has also been determined (e.g., based on a network specification or a system operator configuration) that UEs served by the cell must transmit SRS on a forty RB wide bandwidth SRS 1570 located in the center of the system bandwidth. The BS assigns RBs 2-5 (the four lowest RBs of a six RB narrowband region) from each of the narrowband regions 1504, 1508, and 1512 for SRS transmission by an MTC UE assigned to use one of these regions. narrowband. The BS also assigns RBs 0-3 (the top four RBs of a six RB narrowband region) from each of the narrowband regions 1506, 1510, and 1514 for the transmission of SRS by an MTC UE assigned to use one of these narrowband regions. Does the BS not allocate any RBS for SRS transmission in narrowband regions 1502 and 1516.

[000125] In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, a BS may indicate that UEs utilizing the narrowband regions must also transmit two RB width SRS, in portions, 1520, 1522, 1524, 1526, 1528, 1530, 1532, 1534 of the SRS bandwidth (e.g., the forty RB wide SRS bandwidth in FIG. 15) that are not allocated to four RB wide SRS transmission. The two RB wide SRS can be transmitted by UEs that use the narrowband regions of 1502 or 1516, as well as 1504 through 1514. The two RB wide SRS may not be orthogonal to the legacy four RB wide SRS, but the lack of orthogonality may be irrelevant in some situations (e.g., when non-MTC UE is transmitting an SRS).

[000126] Fig. 16 illustrates example operation 1600 for wireless communications that may be performed by a BS (e.g., eNodeB 110a in FIG. 1), in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operation of 1600 may be performed by a BS to support MTC UEs, and may utilize one of the exemplary allocation transmission resource techniques for MTC SRS illustrated in FIG. 15.

[000127] Operation 1600 begins at block 1602, wherein the BS determines a plurality of system bandwidth partitioned narrowband regions, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more downlink narrowband regions ( DL) and one or more uplink narrowband regions (UL) for communicating with a user equipment (UE). The BS can determine the DL and UL narrowband regions by, for example, running a scheduling algorithm. For example and with reference to FIG. 15, a BS may determine a DL narrowband region (not shown) from a DL system bandwidth and a UL 1504 narrowband region from a UL 1560 system bandwidth of 10 MHz or 50 RBs for communicating with a UE (e.g. UE 120a in FIG. 1).

[000128] Operation 1,600 continues in block 1604, in which the BS determines the resources, within at least one of the one or more UL narrowband regions, for the transmission of sound reference signals (SRS) by the UE. Continuing the example above, with reference to FIG. 15, the BS determines that RBs 2-5 of the UL 1504 narrow region are for SRS transmission across the EU.

[000129] In block 1606, the BS communicates with the UE using at least one of the one or more narrowband regions, wherein the communication comprises receiving SRS over the determined resources. Continuing the example above, the BS receives the transmission from the UE in the narrowband region 1504 including SRS in RBS 2-5 of the narrowband region 1504.

[000130] Fig. 17 illustrates example operation 1700 for wireless communications that may be performed by a UE (e.g., UE 120a in FIG. 1), in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operation of 1700 may be performed by an MTC of the UE, for example, being served by a cell using one of the exemplary transmission resource allocation techniques for MTC SRS illustrated in FIG. 15. The 1700 operation can be complementary to the 1600 operation.

[000131] Operation 1700 begins at block 1702, wherein the UE determines a plurality of system bandwidth partitioned narrowband regions, the plurality of narrowband regions comprising one or more downlink narrowband regions ( DL) and one or more uplink narrowband regions (UL) for communicating with a base station (BS). The UE may determine the DL and UL narrowband regions by, for example, decoding a control channel from the BS. Continuing the example above and with reference to FIG. 15, a UE may determine a DL narrowband region (not shown) from a DL system bandwidth and a UL 1504 narrowband region from a UL 1560 system bandwidth of 10 MHz or 50 RBS to communicate with a BS (e.g., eNB 110a in FIG. 1).

[000132] Operation 1,700 continues in block 1704, in which the UE determines the resources, within at least one of the one or more UL narrowband regions, for transmitting polling reference signals (SRS). Continuing the example above, with reference to FIG. 15, the UE determines that UL region 1504 narrowband 5/2 RBs are for SRS transmission.

[000133] In block 1706, the UE communicates with the BS using at least one of the one or more narrowband regions, comprising communicating SRS transmission over the given resources. Continuing the example above, the UE sends broadcast including SRS on RBS 2-5 of narrow region 1504.

[000134] As used herein, a phrase referring to 'at least one of a list of items' refers to any combination of those items, including individual members. As an example, 'at least one of: a, b, or c ' is intended to cover: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and ABC.

[000135] The steps of a process or algorithm described in connection with the description here may be incorporated directly into hardware, into a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Software shall be interpreted broadly to mean instructions, data, code, or any combination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, code, microcode, hardware description language, machine language, or otherwise. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM, PCM (phase change memory), registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium. storage known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from, and/or write information to, the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be an integral part of the processor. The processor and storage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside on a user terminal. Alternatively, the processor and storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal. Generally, where there are operations illustrated in the figures, these operations may have corresponding counterpart half-plus-function components with similar numbering.

[000136] For example, the means for determination may include one or more processors, such as the receive processor 258, the controller/processor 280, transmit processor 264 and/or other processors and modules of the UE 120 illustrated in FIG. 2. The means for receiving or communicating may include a receive processor (e.g., receive processor 258) and/or an antenna(s) 252 of the UE 120 illustrated in FIG. 2. The means for transmitting or communicating may comprise a transmission processor (e.g., transmission processor 220) and/or an antenna(s) 234 of the eNB 110 illustrated in FIG. 2. The indicating means may include one or more processors, such as the transmission processor 220, the controller/processor 240, and/or other processors and modules of the eNB 110 illustrated in FIG. two.

[000137] In one or more exemplary drawings, the described functions can be implemented in hardware, software or a combination thereof. If implemented in software, functions can be stored or transmitted as one or more instructions or code in a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable medium includes computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Storage media can be any available medium that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not as a limitation, such computer-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to transport or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures, and which can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Furthermore, any connection is correctly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, in Then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the form definition. Disc and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc where discs generally reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above must also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[000138] The foregoing description of the disclosure is provided to enable anyone skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, the description is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but should be given the broadest scope consistent with the principles and innovative features presented herein.

Claims (15)

1. Method for wireless communications by a user equipment, UE, comprising: determining (1002) a set of downlink narrowband regions, DL, partitioned from a system bandwidth DL ; determining (1004) a set of uplink narrowband regions, UL, partitioned from a UL system bandwidth, wherein the DL system bandwidth is different from the UL system bandwidth; determining (1006) a mapping between the set of narrowband regions DL and the set of narrowband regions UL; receive, from a base station, BS, an indication of a set of resource elements in a DL narrowband region in the DL narrowband region set or in a UL narrowband region in the UL narrowband region set, wherein the set of resource elements is not available to the UE; identify the set of resource elements, based on the indication received; and communicating (1008) with the BS using another set of resource elements in the DL narrowband region that includes the identified set of resource elements or in a UL narrowband region that includes the identified set of resource elements, in that the other set of resource elements overlaps in time with the identified set of resource elements and excludes the identified set of resource elements. 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that the set of narrowband regions DL and the set of narrowband regions UL are partitioned based, at least in part, on a determined number of regions of narrow bandwidth that can be arranged into a minimum of DL system bandwidth and UL system bandwidth. 3. Method according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that the determined set of DL narrowband regions comprises a first number of DL narrowband regions and the determined set of UL narrowband regions comprises a second number of UL narrowband regions, and where the first number is different from the second number. 4. Method according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that the determined set of DL narrowband regions comprises a first number of DL narrowband regions and the determined set of UL narrowband regions comprises a second number of UL narrowband regions, and where the first number is the same as the second number. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping comprises at least one of the following: a mapping of at least a single UL narrowband region to multiple DL narrowband regions; or a mapping of at least a single DL narrowband region to multiple UL narrowband regions. 6. Method according to claim 5, characterized by the fact that: the mapping is common for a plurality of UEs; and the method further comprises receiving a mapping indication in one of a broadcast message or a dedicated message for the UE. 7. Method for wireless communications by a base station, BS, characterized by the fact that it comprises: determining (902) a set of downlink narrowband regions, DL, partitioned from a DL system bandwidth; determining (904) a set of uplink narrowband regions, UL, partitioned from a UL system bandwidth, wherein the DL system bandwidth is different from the UL system bandwidth; determining (906) a mapping between the set of DL narrowband regions and the set of UL narrowband regions; identify a set of resource elements in a DL narrowband region in the DL narrowband region set or in a UL narrowband region in the UL narrowband region set, where the resource element set is not available for a user equipment, UE; provide an indication of the set of identified resource elements to the UE; and communicating (908) with at least the UE using another set of resource elements in the DL narrowband region that includes the identified set of resource elements or in a UL narrowband region that includes the set of resource elements identified, wherein the other set of resource elements overlaps in time with the identified set of resource elements and excludes the identified set of resource elements. 8. Method according to claim 7, characterized by the fact that the set of DL narrowband regions and the set of UL narrowband regions are partitioned based, at least in part, on a determined number of regions of narrow bandwidth that can be arranged into a minimum of DL system bandwidth and UL system bandwidth. 9. Method according to claim 7, characterized by the fact that the determined set of DL narrowband regions comprises a first number of DL narrowband regions and the determined set of UL narrowband regions comprises a second number of UL narrowband regions, and where the first number is different from the second number. 10. The method of claim 7, wherein the determined set of DL narrowband regions comprises a first number of DL narrowband regions and the determined set of UL narrowband regions comprises a second number of UL narrowband regions, and where the first number is the same as the second number. 11. The method of claim 7, wherein the mapping comprises at least one of the following: a mapping of at least a single UL narrowband region to multiple DL narrowband regions; or a mapping of at least a single DL narrowband region to multiple UL narrowband regions. 12. Method according to claim 11, characterized by the fact that: the mapping is common for a plurality of UEs; and the method further comprises providing an indication of the mapping into one of a broadcast message or a dedicated message for each UE. 13. Method, according to claims 1 or 7, characterized by the fact that: the mapping is specific to the UE; and the method further comprises providing an indication of the mapping in a message to the UE. 14. The method of claim 7, further comprising: determining a first frequency hopping pattern for the DL narrowband regions; and determining a second frequency hopping pattern for the UL narrowband regions, wherein the second frequency hopping pattern is different from the first frequency hopping pattern. 15. Apparatus for wireless communication, characterized in that it comprises a processor configured to carry out the method as defined in any one of claims 1 to 14.