CN109196936B

CN109196936B - Resource allocation indication method and device, base station and terminal

Info

Publication number: CN109196936B
Application number: CN201880001272.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 牟勤
Original assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-08-07
Filing date: 2018-08-07
Publication date: 2021-12-07
Anticipated expiration: 2038-08-07
Also published as: CN109196936A; CN113891478A; WO2020029088A1

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a resource allocation indication method and device, a base station and a terminal. The method is applied to a base station based on Machine Type Communication (MTC), and comprises the following steps: limiting the allocation quantity and/or allocation position of a Physical Resource Block (PRB) in a narrow band allocated to a terminal by a base station; determining the bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication domain in the Downlink Control Information (DCI) according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position; and establishing a mapping relation between the PRB resource allocation indication domain and the allocation quantity and allocation position of the PRB in the narrow band based on the bit number. By using the embodiment method disclosed by the disclosure, the space occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the downlink control information DCI can be compressed.

Description

Resource allocation indication method and device, base station and terminal

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a resource allocation indication method and apparatus, a base station, and a terminal.

Background

In a wireless communication system such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system and a Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-a) system, when Machine Type Communications (MTC) application with a large number of terminals is supported, in order to reduce the cost of an MTC terminal, it may be specified that the MTC terminal can only perform signaling or data processing within a narrow band (i.e., one sub-band in a system wideband), and thus the MTC terminal may be referred to as a narrow band terminal.

In the related art, a base station may send resource indication information (such as downlink control information DCI) to a narrowband terminal through a control channel, so as to schedule the narrowband terminal to perform data transmission in a current narrowband. In the LTE system, in order to support the MTC narrowband communication scheme, the entire system bandwidth may be divided into multiple narrowbands. In the process of allocating a bandwidth to the MTC terminal, the base station may first allocate one of the multiple narrow bands, and then further allocate a Physical Resource Block (PRB) in the allocated narrow band. Based on this, in the related art, in order to enable the narrowband terminal to determine the position of the PRB in the narrowband and the number of PRBs, a PRB resource allocation indication field needs to be generated at the base station, and sent to the narrowband terminal through DCI. In the related art, in order to express all possible combinations of the position information and the quantity information of the PRB in the narrowband, a larger number of bits are generally required to be allocated in the DCI for expressing the PRB resource allocation indication field. However, with the improvement of the performance of the narrowband terminal, the supported narrowband bandwidth is larger and larger, and therefore, the number of supported PRBs is also larger and larger, that is, the number of bits required by the PRB resource allocation indication field is also larger and larger, which requires more resources for DCI.

Therefore, there is a need in the related art for an efficient method for indicating PRB resource allocation, so as to reduce the consumption of the PRB resource allocation indication field in DCI.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to overcome the problems in the related art, the present disclosure provides a resource allocation indication method and apparatus, a base station, and a terminal.

According to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a resource allocation indication method applied to a base station based on machine type communication MTC, including: limiting the allocation quantity and/or allocation position of a Physical Resource Block (PRB) in a narrow band allocated to a terminal by a base station; determining the bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication domain in the Downlink Control Information (DCI) according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position; and establishing a mapping relation between the PRB resource allocation indication domain and the allocation quantity and allocation position of the PRB in the narrow band based on the bit number.

In a possible implementation manner, the limiting an allocation amount of a physical resource block PRB in a narrowband allocated to a terminal by a base station includes: setting the allocation amount of PRBs in the narrowband allowed to be allocated to the terminal by the base station to be at least one preset value.

In a possible implementation manner, the preset value is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

In a possible implementation manner, the limiting the allocation positions of the physical resource blocks PRB in the narrow band allocated to the terminal by the base station includes: allocation positions of PRBs in a narrowband allowing a base station to allocate to a terminal are set to a continuous plurality of positions starting from a fixed position in the narrowband.

In a possible implementation manner, the limiting the allocation positions of the physical resource blocks PRB in the narrow band allocated to the terminal by the base station includes: the allocation positions of PRBs in the narrowband allowing the base station to allocate to the terminal are set to a plurality of non-continuous fixed positions in the narrowband.

In a possible implementation manner, the determining, according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position, a bit number occupied by a PRB resource allocation indication field in downlink control information DCI includes: determining the number of different combination modes of the distribution amount and the distribution positions according to the distribution amount and/or the distribution positions; and calculating the bit number required by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the Downlink Control Information (DCI) according to the number.

In a possible implementation manner, after determining, according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position, the number of bits occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the downlink control information DCI, the method further includes: determining the original bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication domain in DCI before limiting the allocation amount and/or allocation position of the PRB; determining the bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in DCI relative to the compressed bit number of the original bit number; and expressing the resource indication information of a plurality of data blocks continuously scheduled by the MTC physical downlink control channel MPDCCH by using the compressed bit number.

In one possible implementation manner, the resource indication information includes at least one of the following: the number of the data blocks and indication information of whether the data blocks are new data.

In one possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and the base station determines a PRB resource allocation indication domain corresponding to the PRB in the narrow band allocated to the terminal according to the mapping relation and the resource quantity required by the terminal.

In one possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and generating resource indication information of continuously scheduling a plurality of data blocks by the MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel (MPDCCH).

In one possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and sending DCI containing the PRB resource allocation indication domain and the resource indication information to the terminal.

According to a second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a resource allocation indication method, including: a terminal receives DCI containing a PRB resource allocation indication domain; and analyzing the PRB resource allocation indication domain by utilizing the mapping relation established by the resource allocation indication method, and determining the allocation amount and the allocation position of the PRB in the narrow band allocated by the base station.

According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a base station for machine type communication, MTC, comprising: the allocation data processing module is used for limiting the allocation amount and/or allocation position of a physical resource block PRB in a narrow band allocated to the terminal by the base station; a bit number determining module, configured to determine, according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position, a bit number occupied by a PRB resource allocation indication field in downlink control information DCI; and the mapping relation establishing module is used for establishing the mapping relation between the PRB resource allocation indication domain and the allocation quantity and the allocation position of the PRB in the narrow band based on the bit number.

In one possible implementation manner, the base station further includes: an original bit number determining module, configured to determine an original bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in DCI before limiting the allocation amount and/or allocation position of the PRB; a compressed bit determining module, configured to determine a bit number, which is compressed by the bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in DCI with respect to the original bit number; and the compressed bit using module is used for representing the resource indication information of the plurality of data blocks by using the compressed bit number through the MTC physical downlink control channel MPDCCH.

In one possible implementation manner, the base station further includes: and the indication domain generating module is used for determining a PRB resource allocation indication domain corresponding to the PRB in the narrow band allocated to the terminal according to the mapping relation and the resource quantity required by the terminal.

In one possible implementation manner, the base station further includes: and the resource indication information generation module is used for generating resource indication information of a plurality of data blocks which are continuously scheduled by the MTC physical downlink control channel MPDCCH.

In one possible implementation manner, the base station further includes: and the information sending module is used for sending the DCI containing the PRB resource allocation indication domain and the resource indication information to the terminal.

According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a terminal, including: a DCI receiving module, configured to receive DCI including a PRB resource allocation indication field; and the data analysis module is used for analyzing the PRB resource allocation indication domain by utilizing the mapping relation established by the resource allocation indication method and determining the allocation amount and the allocation position of the PRB in the narrow band allocated by the base station.

According to a fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a resource allocation indicating apparatus, including: a processor; a memory for storing processor-executable instructions; wherein the processor is configured to: limiting the allocation quantity and/or allocation position of a Physical Resource Block (PRB) in a narrow band allocated to a terminal by a base station; determining the bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication domain in the Downlink Control Information (DCI) according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position; and establishing a mapping relation between the PRB resource allocation indication domain and the allocation quantity and allocation position of the PRB in the narrow band based on the bit number.

According to a sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a resource allocation indicating apparatus, including: a processor; a memory for storing processor-executable instructions; wherein the processor is configured to: receiving DCI containing PRB resource allocation indication domain; and analyzing the PRB resource allocation indication domain by utilizing the mapping relation established by the resource allocation indication method, and determining the allocation amount and the allocation position of the PRB in the narrow band allocated by the base station.

According to a seventh aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein instructions, when executed by a processor, enable the processor to perform the above-described method.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the disclosure can have the following beneficial effects: the provided resource allocation indication method can compress the space occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication domain in the downlink control information DCI by limiting the allocation amount and/or allocation position of the physical resource block PRB in the narrow band allocated to the terminal by the base station. Through the technical scheme, the resource allocation mode in the MTC can be optimized, and the compressed space can be utilized in other scenes needing space in downstream communication, so that the DCI can contain more abundant information on the premise of not increasing the space occupied by the DCI.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

Fig. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a resource allocation indication method according to an example embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a resource allocation indication method in accordance with an example embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a resource allocation indication method in accordance with an example embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a base station in accordance with an example embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a resource allocation indication method in accordance with an example embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a base station in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus in accordance with an example embodiment.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, like numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the exemplary embodiments below are not intended to represent all implementations consistent with the present disclosure. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of the present disclosure, as detailed in the appended claims.

For the convenience of those skilled in the art to understand the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application, a technical environment for implementing the technical solutions is described below.

Currently, in an LTE system, due to the limitation of the communication transmission rate, the operating bandwidth of a narrowband terminal is 1.4MHz, and in the bandwidth of 1.4MHz, one narrowband contains 6 PRBs, that is, MTC can support communication of 6 PRBs. In one example, for a bandwidth of 6 PRBs, in MTC coverage Enhancement Mode a (coverage Enhancement Mode a), the PRB resource allocation indication field needs 5 bits of resources. Table 1 shows the mapping relationship between the 5-bit PRB resource allocation indication field and the specific resource allocation method.

Table 1 relation mapping table of PRB resource allocation indication field and allocation mode

As described above, with the improvement of the MTC terminal performance, for example, the MTC terminal performance breaks through the existing communication transmission rate, the working bandwidth of the narrowband terminal may also break through the existing 1.4MHz, for example, the working bandwidth is increased to 3MHz and 5MHz, or even 10MHz and 20MHz, for the bandwidth of 5MHz, one narrowband may include 25 PRBs, and for the bandwidth of 20MHz, one narrowband may include 100 PRBs, based on which, the PRB resource allocation indication field needs more bits, and for DCI, the resource overhead is relatively large.

Based on the actual technical requirements similar to those described above, the inventor researches the design mode of the existing PRB resource allocation indication domain, and proposes a new design scheme of the PRB resource allocation indication domain, which can compress the bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication domain in DCI by limiting the allocation amount and/or allocation position of PRBs. Further, the number of compressed bits may be shifted for other purposes.

The resource allocation indication method described in the present application is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a method of an embodiment of a resource allocation indication method provided by the present disclosure. Although the present application provides method steps as shown in the following examples or figures, more or fewer steps may be included in the method based on conventional or non-inventive efforts. In steps where no necessary causal relationship exists logically, the order of execution of the steps is not limited to that provided by the disclosed embodiments.

Specifically, an embodiment of the resource allocation indication method provided in the present application is shown in fig. 1, where the method is applied to a base station based on machine type communication MTC, and may include:

in step 101: and limiting the allocation quantity and/or allocation position of the physical resource blocks PRB in the narrow band allocated to the terminal by the base station.

In step 103: and determining the bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication domain in the downlink control information DCI according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position.

In step 105: and establishing a mapping relation between the PRB resource allocation indication domain and the allocation quantity and allocation position of the PRB in the narrow band based on the bit number.

In this embodiment, the resource allocation indication may be applied to a base station, and at the base station, the allocation amount and/or allocation position of the PRB in the narrowband allocated to the terminal may be limited. In one embodiment, the manner of limiting the amount of PRB allocation may include: setting the allocation amount of PRBs in the narrowband allowed to be allocated to the terminal by the base station to be at least one preset value. That is, the PRB allocation granularity allocated by the base station to the terminal may be allowed to be one or more preset allocation granularities. For example, for the case of including 6 PRBs in the narrowband, the allocation granularity of the PRBs may be 1, 3, and 6, i.e., the number of PRBs allocated to the terminal by the base station each time is 1 or 3 or 6. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, based on transmission of a large data block in many application scenarios, for example, in a scenario of multiple data block TB scheduling, the number of PRBs allocated to a terminal by a base station is often large each time, and therefore, the preset value may be set to be greater than or equal to the first threshold. In one example, for the case that 6 PRBs are included in the narrowband, the preset value may be set to be greater than or equal to 4, that is, the number of PRBs allocated to the terminal by the base station each time is 4, or 5, or 6. By limiting the allocation amount of the PRB, the method for allocating the PRB to the terminal by the base station can be reduced, and the bit number required for generating the PRB resource allocation indication domain is further reduced.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the allocation position of the physical resource block PRB in the narrowband allocated to the terminal by the base station may also be restricted. In one embodiment, the manner of limiting the PRB allocation locations may include: allocation positions of PRBs in a narrowband allowing a base station to allocate to a terminal are set to a continuous plurality of positions starting from a fixed position in the narrowband. In an example, for the case that 6 PRBs are included in the narrowband, the numbers of the 6 PRBs are sequentially set to be 1 to 6, and then, in the technical solution provided in this embodiment, the allocation position of the PRB in the narrowband allowing the base station to allocate to the terminal may be set to one or more of 4 consecutive positions with the PRB number 3 as the starting position, and in this example, the possible allocation positions include (3), (3,4,5, 6). In another embodiment, the limiting the PRB allocation locations may further include: the allocation positions of PRBs in the narrowband allowing the base station to allocate to the terminal are set to a plurality of non-continuous fixed positions in the narrowband. In an example, for the case that 6 PRBs are included in the narrowband, the numbers of the 6 PRBs are sequentially set to be 1 to 6, and then, in the technical solution provided in this embodiment, the allocation positions of the PRBs in the narrowband that allow the base station to allocate to the terminal may be set to be one or more of (1,2,4, 6).

In addition, since the restricted PRB allocation amount and the actual PRB allocation position are in an "and/or" relationship, in the technical solution of the present disclosure, only the PRB allocation amount may be restricted, only the PRB allocation position may be restricted, or both the PRB allocation amount and allocation position may be restricted. In the method of simultaneously limiting the allocation amount and the allocation position of the PRBs, for example, the allocation position of the PRBs may be limited to 3 or 4, with the PRB number 3 as the starting position. Of course, the limitation of the allocation amount and allocation position of PRBs is not limited to the above examples, and other modifications are possible for those skilled in the art in light of the technical spirit of the present application, and the scope of protection is intended to be covered by the present application as long as the achieved functions and effects are the same or similar to the present application.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 2, the determining the number of bits occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the downlink control information DCI according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position may include the following steps:

in step 201: determining the number of different combination modes of the distribution amount and the distribution positions according to the distribution amount and/or the distribution positions;

in step 203: and calculating the bit number required by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the Downlink Control Information (DCI) according to the number.

In this embodiment, after determining the restricted PRB allocation amounts and allocation positions, the number of different combinations of allocation amounts and allocation positions may be determined according to the allocation amounts and/or the allocation positions. In an example, for the case that 6 PRBs are included in the narrowband, the numbers of the 6 PRBs are sequentially set to be 1-6, and if the allocation granularity of the PRBs is set to be 4 and 6, four different combination manners can be obtained altogether, and in this example, the possible allocation manners may include (1,2,3,4), (2,3,4,5), (3,4,5,6), (1,2,3,4,5, 6). Based on the above four different combination modes, a 2-bit PRB resource allocation indication field may be used to indicate the allocation mode of the narrowband PRB. In another example, if each allocation amount of PRBs is set to correspond to one allocation position, 6 different combinations can be generated, and thus, the allocation manner of the PRBs in the narrowband can be indicated by using a 3-bit PRB resource allocation indication field.

In this embodiment, after determining the number of bits required by the PRB resource allocation indication field, a mapping relationship between the PRB resource allocation indication field and the allocation amount and allocation position of the PRB in the narrowband may be established based on the number of bits. The mapping relationship may represent a one-to-one correspondence relationship between a PRB resource allocation indication field and allocation amounts and allocation positions of PRBs in a narrowband. Several examples are provided below to illustrate in detail the way in which the mapping relationships are established. In an example, for the case that the narrowband includes 6 PRBs, the numbers of the 6 PRBs are sequentially set to be 1 to 6, and if the allocation granularity of the PRBs can be set to be 4 and 6, four different combination manners can be obtained altogether, in this example, as shown in table 2, possible allocation manners may include (1,2,3,4), (2,3,4,5), (3,4,5,6), (1,2,3,4,5,6), and a one-to-one correspondence relationship between PRB resource allocation indication fields with different values and PRB allocation amounts and allocation positions is set.

TABLE 2 PRB resource allocation indication field, PRB allocation amount, and allocation position mapping relation table

In another example, for the case that the narrowband includes 6 PRBs, the numbers of the 6 PRBs are sequentially set to 1 to 6, each PRB allocation amount may be set to correspond to one allocation position, and then 6 different combinations may be generated, specifically, as shown in table 3, one-to-one correspondence between different values of PRB resource allocation indication fields and PRB allocation amounts and allocation positions may be set.

Table 3 mapping relationship table between PRB resource allocation indication field and PRB allocation amount and allocation position

In another example, for the case of including 6 PRBs in the narrowband, numbers of 6 PRBs are sequentially set to be 1 to 6, possible allocation amounts of the PRBs may be set to be 3,4,5, and 6, and allocation positions may also be limited for each allocation amount of the PRBs, so that 4 different combinations may be generated, specifically, as shown in table 4, one-to-one correspondence relationships between different values of the PRB resource allocation indication fields and the allocation amounts and allocation positions of the PRBs may be set.

Table 4 mapping relationship table between PRB resource allocation indication field and PRB allocation amount and allocation position

The PRB resource allocation indication field may be used to indicate the position and number of PRB resources allocated to the terminal by the base station in the narrowband. In the process of generating the PRB resource allocation indication field, the position and the number of PRBs may be generated by joint coding. However, in other embodiments of the present disclosure, the PRB resource allocation indication field may also be generated by using other coding manners, which is not limited by the present disclosure. In the process of establishing the mapping relationship between the PRB resource allocation indication field and the PRB allocation amount and allocation position, the mapping manner of the PRB resource allocation indication field for different data and the PRB allocation amount and allocation position is not limited to the examples in tables 2 to 4, for example, in table 4, the PRB corresponding to the PRB resource allocation indication field 00 may be the allocation manner with the PRB starting position of 4 and the allocation amount of 3, while the PRB corresponding to the PRB resource allocation indication field 11 may be the allocation manner with the PRB starting position of 1 and the allocation amount of 6.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, after limiting the allocation amount and/or allocation position of the PRB, the number of bits occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the downlink control information DCI may be compressed. In an embodiment, the compressed bits may be shifted to other uses, as shown in fig. 3, after determining the bits occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the downlink control information DCI according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position, the method may further include the following steps:

in step 301: determining the original bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the DCI before limiting the allocation amount and/or allocation position of the PRB.

In step 303: and determining the bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the DCI relative to the bit number compressed by the original bit number.

In step 305: and expressing the resource indication information of a plurality of data blocks continuously scheduled by the MTC physical downlink control channel MPDCCH by using the compressed bit number.

In this embodiment, the original bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the DCI before limiting the allocation amount and/or the allocation position of the PRB may be determined. For example, for a bandwidth of 6 PRBs, the original bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the DCI is 5 bits. After limiting the allocation amount and/or allocation position of the PRB, a part of the bits occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the DCI may be compressed (i.e., reduced). For example, in the mapping table shown in table 2, the PRB resource allocation indication field requires 2 bits and the space of 3 bits is compressed, and in the mapping table shown in table 3, the PRB resource allocation indication field requires 3 bits and the space of 2 bits is compressed.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the compressed number of bits may be used to represent resource indication information for continuously scheduling multiple data blocks by the MTC physical downlink control channel MPDCCH. Similar to the scheduling of the conventional LTE, one MPDCCH in the MTC schedules one MTC physical downlink shared channel MPDSCH, and an MTC terminal needs to receive and blindly detect the MPDCCH before receiving or sending data. When the MTC terminal sends or receives a large data packet, it needs to divide into multiple scheduling. In most cases, due to similar channel conditions, scheduling contents of the MPDCCH for multiple scheduling are also similar, and in this case, the user terminal still needs to demodulate the scheduling contents of the MPDCCH for each scheduling, which consumes more power. Based on this, in order to reduce power consumed by the user terminal, 3GPP release 16 proposes a technical scheme for continuously scheduling a plurality of uplink data blocks or downlink data blocks using MPDCCH. In order to support the scheduling mode of multiple data blocks, an additional indication field needs to be introduced into DCI. In this embodiment, the compressed bit number may be used to indicate resource indication information for MPDCCH to continuously schedule multiple data blocks. The resource indication information may include at least one of: the number of the data blocks and indication information of whether the data blocks are new data. Since the data blocks have a difference between new data and retransmitted data, the number of bits compressed as described above can be used to indicate whether each data block is new data or retransmitted data.

It should be noted that the compressed bit number is not limited to the resource indication information used for indicating that the MTC physical downlink control channel MPDCCH continuously schedules multiple data blocks, and may also be used in a scenario where bit positions in DCI need to be occupied in a downlink communication process, which is not limited in this application.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, after determining the mapping relationship, a PRB resource allocation indication field corresponding to a PRB in a narrowband allocated to a terminal may also be determined according to the mapping relationship and a resource amount required by the terminal. In one example, using the mapping relation table corresponding to table 3 as a rule, if it is determined that the amount of resources required by the terminal is 4 PRBs, it may be determined from table 3 that the PRB resource allocation indication field is 010. In another embodiment, resource indication information for MPDCCH continuous scheduling of multiple data blocks may also be generated. In one embodiment, DCI including the PRB resource allocation indication field and the resource indication information may also be transmitted to the terminal. Based on the above embodiments, it can be realized that DCI contains richer information without increasing DCI space.

According to the resource allocation indication method provided by the application, the bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication domain in the downlink control information DCI can be compressed by limiting the allocation amount and/or allocation position of the physical resource block PRB in the narrow band allocated to the terminal by the base station. Through the technical scheme, the resource allocation mode in the MTC can be optimized, and the compressed space can be utilized in other scenes needing space in downstream communication, so that the DCI can contain more abundant information on the premise of not increasing the space occupied by the DCI.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a base station is further provided, and fig. 4 is a block diagram of a base station 400 according to an exemplary embodiment. Referring to fig. 4, the base station includes an allocation data processing module 401, a bit number determining module 403, and a mapping relationship establishing module 405.

The allocation data processing module 401 is configured to limit the allocation amount and/or allocation position of physical resource blocks PRB in the narrowband allocated to the terminal by the base station;

the bit number determining module 403 is configured to determine, according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position, a bit number occupied by a PRB resource allocation indication field in downlink control information DCI;

the remapping relation establishing module 405 is configured to establish a mapping relation between the PRB resource allocation indication field and an allocation amount and an allocation position of a PRB in a narrowband based on the bit number.

With regard to the apparatus in the above-described embodiment, the specific manner in which each module performs the operation has been described in detail in the embodiment related to the method, and will not be elaborated here.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the limiting the allocation amount of the physical resource blocks PRB in the narrowband allocated to the terminal by the base station may include:

setting the allocation amount of PRBs in the narrowband allowed to be allocated to the terminal by the base station to be at least one preset value.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the preset value may be greater than or equal to the first threshold.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the limiting the allocation position of the physical resource block PRB in the narrowband allocated to the terminal by the base station may include:

allocation positions of PRBs in a narrowband allowing a base station to allocate to a terminal are set to a continuous plurality of positions starting from a fixed position in the narrowband.

the allocation positions of PRBs in the narrowband allowing the base station to allocate to the terminal are set to a plurality of non-continuous fixed positions in the narrowband.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the determining, according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position, a bit number occupied by a PRB resource allocation indication field in downlink control information DCI may include:

determining the number of different combination modes of the distribution amount and the distribution positions according to the distribution amount and/or the distribution positions;

and calculating the bit number required by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the Downlink Control Information (DCI) according to the number.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the base station may further include:

an original bit number determining module, configured to determine an original bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in DCI before limiting the allocation amount and/or allocation position of the PRB;

a compressed bit determining module, configured to determine a bit number, which is compressed by the bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in DCI with respect to the original bit number;

and the compressed bit using module is used for representing the resource indication information of the plurality of data blocks by using the compressed bit number through the MTC physical downlink control channel MPDCCH.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the resource indication information may include at least one of: the number of the data blocks and indication information of whether the data blocks are new data.

and the indication domain generating module is used for determining a PRB resource allocation indication domain corresponding to the PRB in the narrow band allocated to the terminal according to the mapping relation and the resource quantity required by the terminal.

and the resource indication information generation module is used for generating resource indication information of a plurality of data blocks which are continuously scheduled by the MTC physical downlink control channel MPDCCH.

and the information sending module is used for sending the DCI containing the PRB resource allocation indication domain and the resource indication information to the terminal.

Another aspect of the present disclosure also provides a resource allocation indication method based on a user terminal, where the terminal may include a terminal device capable of accessing a communication network based on a network protocol. For example, may include a mobile smart phone, a computer (including laptop, desktop), a tablet electronic device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or a smart wearable device, among others. Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a resource allocation indication method according to an example embodiment, as shown in fig. 5, the method comprising:

in step 501: a terminal receives DCI containing a PRB resource allocation indication domain;

in step 503: and analyzing the PRB resource allocation indication domain by using the mapping relation established by the resource allocation indication method in any embodiment, and determining the allocation amount and allocation position of the PRB in the narrow band allocated by the base station.

In this embodiment, in the user equipment, the received PRB resource allocation indication field may be analyzed by using the mapping relationship described in any of the above embodiments, so as to determine the allocation amount and allocation position of the PRB in the narrowband allocated by the base station. In one example, if the user equipment receives a value of the PRB resource allocation indicator field being 011, the mapping relationship table between the PRB resource allocation indicator field and the PRB allocation amount and allocation location shown in table 3 is used to determine that the amount of resources allocated in the narrowband is 3 PRBs and the resource location is (4,5, 6).

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal is further provided, and fig. 6 is a block diagram of the terminal shown according to an exemplary embodiment. Referring to fig. 6, the apparatus may include a DCI receiving module 601 and a data parsing module 603.

The DCI receiving module 601 is configured to receive DCI including a PRB resource allocation indication field;

the data analysis module 603 is configured to analyze the PRB resource allocation indication field by using the mapping relationship established by the resource allocation indication method described above, and determine an allocation amount and an allocation position of a PRB in a narrowband allocated by a base station.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus 700 for resource allocation indication in accordance with an example embodiment. For example, the apparatus 700 may be a mobile phone, a computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a messaging device, a game console, a tablet device, a medical device, an exercise device, a personal digital assistant, and the like.

Referring to fig. 7, apparatus 700 may include one or more of the following components: a processing component 702, a memory 704, a power component 706, a multimedia component 708, an audio component 710, an input/output (I/O) interface 712, a sensor component 714, and a communication component 716.

The processing component 702 generally controls overall operation of the device 700, such as operations associated with display, telephone calls, data communications, camera operations, and recording operations. The processing components 702 may include one or more processors 720 to execute instructions to perform all or a portion of the steps of the methods described above. Further, the processing component 702 may include one or more modules that facilitate interaction between the processing component 702 and other components. For example, the processing component 702 may include a multimedia module to facilitate interaction between the multimedia component 708 and the processing component 702.

The memory 704 is configured to store various types of data to support operations at the apparatus 700. Examples of such data include instructions for any application or method operating on device 700, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, videos, and so forth. The memory 704 may be implemented by any type or combination of volatile or non-volatile memory devices such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks.

The power supply component 706 provides power to the various components of the device 700. The power components 706 may include a power management system, one or more power supplies, and other components associated with generating, managing, and distributing power for the apparatus 700.

The multimedia component 708 includes a screen that provides an output interface between the device 700 and a user. In some embodiments, the screen may include a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and a Touch Panel (TP). If the screen includes a touch panel, the screen may be implemented as a touch screen to receive an input signal from a user. The touch panel includes one or more touch sensors to sense touch, slide, and gestures on the touch panel. The touch sensor may not only sense the boundary of a touch or slide action, but also detect the duration and pressure associated with the touch or slide operation. In some embodiments, the multimedia component 708 includes a front facing camera and/or a rear facing camera. The front camera and/or the rear camera may receive external multimedia data when the device 700 is in an operation mode, such as a photographing mode or a video mode. Each front camera and rear camera may be a fixed optical lens system or have a focal length and optical zoom capability.

The audio component 710 is configured to output and/or input audio signals. For example, audio component 710 includes a Microphone (MIC) configured to receive external audio signals when apparatus 700 is in an operational mode, such as a call mode, a recording mode, and a voice recognition mode. The received audio signal may further be stored in the memory 704 or transmitted via the communication component 716. In some embodiments, audio component 710 also includes a speaker for outputting audio signals.

The I/O interface 712 provides an interface between the processing component 702 and peripheral interface modules, which may be keyboards, click wheels, buttons, etc. These buttons may include, but are not limited to: a home button, a volume button, a start button, and a lock button.

The sensor assembly 714 includes one or more sensors for providing status assessment of various aspects of the apparatus 700. For example, sensor assembly 714 may detect an open/closed state of device 700, the relative positioning of components, such as a display and keypad of device 700, sensor assembly 714 may also detect a change in position of device 700 or a component of device 700, the presence or absence of user contact with device 700, orientation or acceleration/deceleration of device 700, and a change in temperature of device 700. The sensor assembly 714 may include a proximity sensor configured to detect the presence of a nearby object without any physical contact. The sensor assembly 714 may also include a light sensor, such as a CMOS or CCD image sensor, for use in imaging applications. In some embodiments, the sensor assembly 714 may also include an acceleration sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a magnetic sensor, a pressure sensor, or a temperature sensor.

The communication component 716 is configured to facilitate wired or wireless communication between the apparatus 700 and other devices. The apparatus 700 may access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as WiFi, 2G or 3G, or a combination thereof. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component 716 receives a broadcast signal or broadcast related information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component 716 further includes a Near Field Communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communications. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, infrared data association (IrDA) technology, Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology, Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus 700 may be implemented by one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors or other electronic components for performing the above-described methods.

In an exemplary embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions, such as the memory 704 comprising instructions, executable by the processor 720 of the device 700 to perform the above-described method is also provided. For example, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium may be a ROM, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus 800 for resource allocation indication in accordance with an example embodiment. For example, the apparatus 800 may be provided as a server. Referring to FIG. 8, the apparatus 800 includes a processing component 822, which further includes one or more processors, and memory resources, represented by memory 832, for storing instructions, such as applications, that are executable by the processing component 822. The application programs stored in memory 832 may include one or more modules that each correspond to a set of instructions. Further, the processing component 822 is configured to execute instructions to perform a method as described in any of the embodiments above.

The device 800 may also include a power component 826 configured to perform power management of the device 800, a wired or wireless network interface 850 configured to connect the device 800 to a network, and an input/output (I/O) interface 858. The apparatus 800 may operate based on an operating system stored in the memory 832, such as Windows Server, Mac OS XTM, UnixTM, LinuxTM, FreeBSDTM, or the like.

In an exemplary embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions, such as the memory 832 comprising instructions, executable by the processing component 822 of the apparatus 800 to perform the above-described method is also provided. For example, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium may be a ROM, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following, in general, the principles of the disclosure and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the disclosure pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

It will be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise arrangements described above and shown in the drawings and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A resource allocation indication method is applied to a base station based on Machine Type Communication (MTC), and comprises the following steps:

limiting the allocation quantity and/or allocation position of a Physical Resource Block (PRB) in a narrow band allocated to a terminal by a base station;

determining the bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication domain in the Downlink Control Information (DCI) according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position;

and establishing a mapping relation between the PRB resource allocation indication domain and the allocation quantity and allocation position of the PRB in the narrow band based on the bit number.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the limiting the allocation amount of PRBs (physical resource blocks) in the narrow band allocated to the terminal by the base station comprises:

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the preset value is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the limiting the allocation positions of PRBs in the narrowband to which the base station allocates the terminal comprises:

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the limiting the allocation positions of PRBs in the narrowband to which the base station allocates the terminal comprises:

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining the number of bits occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the DCI according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation location comprises:

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein after determining the number of bits occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in the DCI according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation location, the method further comprises:

determining the original bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication domain in DCI before limiting the allocation amount and/or allocation position of the PRB;

determining the bit number occupied by the PRB resource allocation indication field in DCI relative to the compressed bit number of the original bit number;

and expressing the resource indication information of a plurality of data blocks continuously scheduled by the MTC physical downlink control channel MPDCCH by using the compressed bit number.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the resource indication information comprises at least one of the following: the number of the data blocks and indication information of whether the data blocks are new data.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising:

and the base station determines a PRB resource allocation indication domain corresponding to the PRB in the narrow band allocated to the terminal according to the mapping relation and the resource quantity required by the terminal.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

and generating resource indication information of continuously scheduling a plurality of data blocks by the MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel (MPDCCH).

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

and sending DCI containing the PRB resource allocation indication domain and the resource indication information to the terminal.

12. A method for indicating resource allocation, comprising:

a terminal receives DCI containing a PRB resource allocation indication domain;

the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the PRB resource allocation indication field is analyzed by using the mapping relationship established by the resource allocation indication method, so as to determine the allocation amount and allocation location of PRBs in the narrowband allocated by the base station.

13. A base station, wherein the base station is for Machine Type Communication (MTC), comprising:

the allocation data processing module is used for limiting the allocation amount and/or allocation position of a physical resource block PRB in a narrow band allocated to the terminal by the base station;

a bit number determining module, configured to determine, according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation position, a bit number occupied by a PRB resource allocation indication field in downlink control information DCI;

and the mapping relation establishing module is used for establishing the mapping relation between the PRB resource allocation indication domain and the allocation quantity and the allocation position of the PRB in the narrow band based on the bit number.

14. The base station of claim 13, wherein the limiting of the allocation amount of physical resource blocks, PRBs, in the narrowband allocated to the terminal by the base station comprises:

15. The base station of claim 14, wherein the preset value is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

16. The base station according to claim 13, wherein said limiting the allocation positions of physical resource blocks, PRBs, in the narrowband allocated to the terminal by the base station comprises:

17. The base station according to claim 13, wherein said limiting the allocation positions of physical resource blocks, PRBs, in the narrowband allocated to the terminal by the base station comprises:

18. The base station according to claim 13, wherein said determining the number of bits occupied by the PRB resource allocation indicator field in the DCI according to the allocation amount and/or the allocation location comprises:

19. The base station of claim 13, wherein the base station further comprises:

20. The base station of claim 19, wherein the resource indication information comprises at least one of the following: the number of the data blocks and indication information of whether the data blocks are new data.

21. The base station according to any of claims 13-20, wherein the base station further comprises:

22. The base station of claim 21, wherein the base station further comprises:

23. The base station of claim 22, wherein the base station further comprises:

24. A terminal, comprising:

a DCI receiving module, configured to receive DCI including a PRB resource allocation indication field;

a data analysis module, configured to analyze the PRB resource allocation indication domain by using the mapping relationship established by the resource allocation indication method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, and determine an allocation amount and an allocation position of a PRB in a narrowband allocated by a base station.

25. A resource allocation indicating apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

wherein the processor is configured to:

26. A resource allocation indicating apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

wherein the processor is configured to:

receiving DCI containing PRB resource allocation indication domain;

27. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions therein, which when executed by a processor, enable the processor to perform the method of any of claims 1-11.

28. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions therein which, when executed by a processor, enable the processor to perform the method of claim 12.