OA18311A - Spatial and frequency diversity design for machine type communications (MTC). - Google Patents

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communications, and more specifically to increased diversity for devices with limited communications resources. An example method generally includes transmitting data as a bundled transmission to a device with limited communications resources, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein each burst spans a plurality of transmission time intervals (TTIs) and the same data is transmitted in each burst, and taking action to increase diversity (e.g., at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, frequency diversity, etc.) for the bundled transmission.

Description

SPATIAL AND FREQUENCY DIVERSITY DESIGN FOR MACHINE TYPE

COMMUNICATIONS (MTC)

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application daims priority to U.S. Application Serial No. 15/002,208, 5 filed January 20, 2016, which claims benefît of U.S. Provisional Patent Application

Serial No. 62/106,162, entitled “Spatial and Frequency Diversity Design for Machine Type Communications (MTC)’* and filed January 21, 2015, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/184,189, entitled “Spatial and Frequency Diversity Design for Machine Type Communications (MTC)” and filed June 24,2015, which are ail assigned 10 to the assignée hereof and both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

I. Field of the Invention [0002] Certain aspects of the présent disclosure generally relate to wireless communications, and more specifically to increasing diversity for devices with limited communications resources.

II. Description of Related Art [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 20 multiple-access Systems capable of supportîng communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit 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 Génération Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term 25 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 for multiple wireless terminais. Each terminal communicates with one or more base stations via transmissions on the forward and

reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the terminais, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminais to the base stations. This communication link may be established via a single-input single-output, multiple-input single-output or a 5 multiple-input multîple-output (ΜΙΜΟ) system.

[0005] A wireless communication network may include a number of base stations that can support communication for a number of wireless devices. Wireless devices may include user equipments (UEs). Some UEs may be considered machine-type communication (MTC) UEs, which may include remote devices that may communicate 10 with a base station, another remote device, or some other entity. Machine type communications (MTC) may refer to communication involving at least one remote device on at least one end of the communication and may include forms of data communication which involve one or more entities that do not necessarily need human interaction. MTC UEs may include UEs that are capable of MTC communications with 15 MTC servers and/or other MTC devices through Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMN), for example.

SUMMARY [0006] The Systems, methods, and devices of the disclosure each hâve several 20 aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its désirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of this disclosure as expressed by the claims which follow, some features will now be discussed brïefîy. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled “Detaîled Description” one will understand how the features of this disclosure provide advantages that include improved 25 communications between access points and stations in a wireless network.

[0007] Techniques and apparatus are provided herein for increasing diversity in machine-type communications.

[0008] Certain aspects of the présent disclosure provide a method for wireless communications by a transmitting device. The method generally includes transmitting 30 data as a bundled transmission to a device with limited communications resources, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein each burst spans a plurality of transmission time intervals (TTIs) and the same data is transmitted in each burst, and taking action to increase diversity (e.g., at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity, etc.) for the bundled transmission.

[0009] Certain aspects of the présent disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications by a transmitting device. The apparatus generally includes a transmitter configured to transmit data as a bundled transmission to a device with limited communications resources, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein each burst spans a plurality of transmission time intervals (TTIs) and the same 10 data is transmitted in each burst, and at least one processor configured to take action to increase diversity (e.g., at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity, etc.) for the bundled transmission.

[0010] Certain aspects of the présent disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications by a transmitting device. The apparatus generally includes means for 15 transmitting data as a bundled transmission to a device with limited communications resources, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein each burst spans a plurality of transmission time intervals (TTIs) and the same data is transmitted in each burst, and means for taking action to increase diversity (e.g., at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity, etc.) for the bundled 20 transmission.

[0011] Certain aspects of the présent disclosure provide a computer-readable medium for wireless communications by a transmitting device. The computer-readable medium generally includes code that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the device to transmit data as a bundled transmission to a device with limited 25 communications resources, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein each burst spans a plurality of transmission time intervals (TTIs) and the same data is transmitted in each burst, and take action to increase diversity (e.g., at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity, etc.) for the bundled transmission.

[0012] Certain aspects of the présent disclosure provide a method for wireless communications by a device having limited communications resources. The method

generally includes receiving configuration information for increasing diversity (e.g., at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity, etc.) for a bundled transmission, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein the same data is transmitted in each burst, and receiving and processing the bundled transmission 5 in accordance with the configuration information.

[0013] Certain aspects of the présent disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications by a device having limited communications resources. The apparatus generally includes a receiver configured to receive configuration information for increasing diversity (e.g., at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency 10 diversity, etc.) for a bundled transmission, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein the same data is transmitted in each burst, and receive a bundled transmission; and at least one processor configured to process the bundled transmission in accordance with the configuration information.

[0014] Certain aspects of the présent disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless 15 communications by a device having limited communications resources. The apparatus generally includes means for receiving configuration information for increasing diversity (e.g., at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity, etc.) for a bundled transmission, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein the same data is transmitted tn each burst, and means for receiving and 20 processing the bundled transmission in accordance with the configuration information.

[0015] Certain aspects of the présent disclosure provide a computer-readable medium for wireless communications by a device having limited communications resources. The computer-readable medium generally includes code that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the device to receive configuration information for 25 increasing diversity (e.g., at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity, etc.) for a bundled transmission, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein the same data is transmitted in each burst, and receive and process the bundled transmission in accordance with the configuration information.

[0016] Numerous other aspects are provided including methods, apparatus, Systems, 30 computer program products, computer-readable medium, and processing Systems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OFTHE DRAWINGS [0017J So that the manner in which the above-recited features of the présent disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the 5 appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.

[0018] FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example wireless communication network, in accordance with certain aspects ofthe présent disclosure.

[0019] FIG. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of an evolved nodeB (eNB) in communication with a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communications network, in accordance with certain aspects ofthe présent disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 3 is a block diagram conceptually Illustrating an example frame structure for a particular radio access technology (RAT) for use in a wireless 15 communications network, in accordance with certain aspects of the présent disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 4 Illustrâtes an example subframe format for the downlink with a normal cyclic prefix, in accordance with certain aspects of the présent disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 5 illustrâtes example operations for a transmitting device, in accordance with certain aspects ofthe présent disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 6 illustrâtes example operations for a receiving device, in accordance with certain aspects of the présent disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 7 illustrâtes an example of transmissions that may be performed by multiple devices, In accordance with certain aspects ofthe présent disclosure.

[0025] FIG. 8 illustrâtes an example call flow diagram illustrating messages that 25 may be exchanged between an eNB and a UE using frequency hopping, in accordance with certain aspects of the présent disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 9 illustrâtes an example call flow diagram illustrating messages that may be exchanged between an eNB and a UE using precoder cycling, in accordance with certain aspects of the présent disclosure.

[0027] FIG. 10 illustrâtes an example precoder cycling on a per-resource element 5 basis, in accordance with certain aspects of the présent disclosure.

[0028] FIG. 11 illustrâtes an example precoder cycling on a per-resource element basis, in accordance with certain aspects ofthe présent disclosure.

[0029] FIG. 12 illustrâtes an example of transmissions from multiple devices that may be multiplexed together, in accordance with certain aspects of the présent 10 disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0030] Aspects of the présent disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for enhancing downlink coverage for certain user equipments (e.g., low cost, low data rate UEs).

[0031] The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication networks such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, etc. The terms “network” and “system” are often used 20 interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wîdeband-CDMA (W-CDMA), Time Division Synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA), and other variants of CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Global System for 25 Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA network may implement a 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 Universal Mobile Télécommunication System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), in both frequency division 30 duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD), are new releases of UMTS that use E18311

UTRA, whïch 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 named “3rd Génération Partnership Project” (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Génération Partnership 5 Project 2” (3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for the 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 LTE/LTE-A termînology is used in much of the description below.

[0032] FIG. 1 shows a wireless communication network 100, which may be an LTE network or some other wireless network. Wireless network 100 may include a number of evolved Node Bs (eNBs) 110 and other network entities. An eNB is an entity that communicates with user equipments (UEs) and may also be referred to as a base station, a Node B, an access point (AP), etc. Each eNB may provide communication coverage for a particular géographie area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to a coverage area of an eNB and/or an eNB subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

[0033] An eNB may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and/or other types of cell. A macro cell may cover a relatively large 20 géographie area (e.g., several kilometers în radius) and may allow unrestricted access by

UEs with service subscription. A pico cell may cover a relatively small géographie area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell may cover a relatively small géographie area (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs having association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group 25 (CSG)). An eNB for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro eNB. An eNB for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico eNB. An eNB for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto eNB or a home 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 pico eNB for a pico cell 102b, and an eNB 110c may be a femto eNB for a femto cell 102c. An eNB may 30 support one or multiple (e.g., three) cells. The terms “eNB”, “base station,” and “cell” may be used interchangeably herein.

(0034J Wireless network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station is an entity that can receive a transmission of data from an upstream station (e.g., an eNB or a UE) and send a transmission of the data to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or an eNB). A relay station may also be a UE that can relay transmissions for other UEs. In the 5 example shown in FIG. 1, a relay station 1 lOd may communicate with macro eNB 110a and a UE 120d in order to facilitate communication between eNB 110a and UE 120d. A relay station may also be referred to as a relay eNB, a relay base station, a relay, etc.

[0035] Wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network that includes eNBs of different types, e.g., macro eNBs, pico eNBs, femto eNBs, relay eNBs, etc. These 10 different types of eNBs may hâve different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different impact on interférence in wireless network 100. For example, macro eNBs may hâve a high transmit power level (e.g., 5 to 40 W) whereas pico eNBs, femto eNBs, and relay eNBs may hâve lower transmit power levels (e.g., 0.1 to 2 W).

[0036] A network controller 130 may couple to a set of eNBs and may provide 15 coordination and control for these eNBs. Network controller 130 may communicate with the eNBs via a backhaul. The eNBs may also communicate with one another, e.g., directly or indirectly via a wireless or wireline backhaul.

[0037] UEs 120 (e.g., 120a, 120b, 120c) may be dispersed throughout wireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to 20 as an access terminal, a terminal, a mobile station (MS), a subscriber unit, a station (STA), etc. A UE may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet, a smart phone, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a wearable device (e.g., smart glasses, smart 25 rings, smart bracelets, smart wristbands, smart clothing), health care/medical devices, véhiculer devices, etc. UEs include MTC UEs, such as sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, drones, trackers, robots, etc. MTC UEs as well as other types of UEs may be implemented as NB-IoT (narrowband internet of thîngs) devices. To enhance coverage of certain devices, such as MTC devices, “bundling” may be utîlîzed in which 30 certain transmissions are sent as a bundle of transmissions, for example, with the same information transmitted over multiple subframes.

[0038] FIG. 2 îs a block diagram of a design of base station/eNB 110 and UE 120, which may be one of the base stations/eNBs and one of the UEs tn FIG. 1. Base station

110 may be equipped with T antennas 234a through 234t, and UE 120 may be equipped with Λ antennas 252a through 252r, where in general T i 1 and R £ 1.

[0039] At base station 110, a transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 for one or more UEs, select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) for each UE based on channel quality indicators (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 for ail UEs. Transmit processor 220 may also 10 process system information (e.g., for semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI), etc.) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling, etc.) and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. Processor 220 may also generate reference symbols for reference signais (e.g., the common reference signal (CRS)) and synchronization signais (e.g., the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and 15 secondary synchronization signal (SSS)). A transmit (TX) multîple-input multipleoutput (ΜΙΜΟ) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, the overhead symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide T output symbol streams to T modulators (MODs) 232a through 232t. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., 20 for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. T downlink signais from modulators 232a through 232t may be transmitted via Tantennas 234a through 234t, respectively.

[0040] At UE 120, antennas 252a through 252r may receive the downlink signais 25 from base station 110 and/or other base stations and may provide received signais to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a through 254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) its received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A ΜΙΜΟ detector 256 may obtain received 30 symbols from ail R demodulators 254a through 254r, perform M1M0 détection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate and décodé) the detected symbols, provide decoded data

for UE 120 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information and system information to a controller/processor 280. A channel processor may détermine reference signal received power (RSRP), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), CQI, etc.

[0041] On the uplink, at UE 120, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 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 signais. The symbols from transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX ΜΙΜΟ processor 266 if applicable, 10 further processed by modulators 254a through 254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, OFDM, etc.), and transmitted to base station 110. At base station 110, the uplink signais from UE 120 and other UEs may be received by antennas 234, processed by demodulators 232, detected by a ΜΙΜΟ detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by UE 120.

Processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to controller/processor 240. Base station 110 may include communication unit 244 and communicate to network controller 130 via communication unit 244. Network controller 130 may include communication unit 294, controller/processor 290, and memory 292.

[0042] Controllers/processors 240 and 280 may direct the operation at base station

110 and UE 120, respectively. Processor 240 and/or other processors and modules at base station 110, and/or processor 280 and/or other processors and modules at UE 120, may perform or direct processes for the techniques described herein (e.g., operations with respect to FIGs. 5 and 6). Memories 242 and 282 may store data and program 25 codes for base station 110 and UE 120, respectively. A scheduler 246 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

[0043] When transmitting data to the UE 120, the base station 110 may be configured to détermine a bundling size based at least in part on a data allocation size and precode data in bundled contiguous resource blocks of the determined bundling 30 size, wherein resource blocks in each bundle may be precoded with a common precoding matrix. That is, reference signais (RSs) such as UE-RS and/or data in the

resource blocks may be precoded using the same precoder. The power level used for the UE-RS in each resource block (RB) of the bundled RBs may also be the same.

[0044] The UE 120 may be configured to perform complementary processing to décodé data transmitted from the base station 110. For example, the UE 120 may be 5 configured to détermine a bundling size based on a data allocation size of received data transmitted from a base station in bundles of contiguous RBs, wherein at least one reference signal in resource blocks in each bundle are precoded with a common precoding matrix, estimate at least one precoded channel based on the determined bundling size and one or more RSs transmitted from the base station, and décodé the 10 received bundles using the estimated precoded channel.

[0045] FIG. 3 shows an exemplary frame structure 300 for FDD in LTE. The transmission timeline for each ofthe downlink and uplink may be partitioned into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may hâve a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)) and may be partitioned into 10 subframes with indices of 0 15 through 9. Each subframe may include two slots. Each radio frame may thus include 20 slots with indices of 0 through 19. Each slot may include L symbol periods, e.g., seven symbol periods for a normal cyclic prefix (as shown in FIG. 2) or six symbol periods for an extended cyclic prefix. The 2L symbol periods in each subframe may be assigned indices ofO through 2Λ-1.

[0046] In LTE, an eNB may transmit a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) on the downlink in the center 1.08 MHz ofthe system bandwidth for each cell supported by the eNB. The PSS and SSS may 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 may be used by UEs for cell search and acquisition. The eNB may transmit a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) across the system bandwidth for 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 30 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) on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in certain

subframes. The eNB may transmit control information/data on 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 trafiic data and/or other data on the PDSCH in the remain ing symbol periods of each subframe.

(0047] Oie PSS, SSS, CRS, and PBCH in LTE are described in 3GPP TS 36.211, entitled Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical Channels and Modulation,” which is publicly available.

(0048] FIG. 4 shows two example subframe formats 410 and 420 for the downlink with a normal cyclic prefix. The available time frequency resources for the downlink 10 may be partitioned into resource blocks. Each resource block may cover 12 subcarriers in one slot and may include a number of resource éléments. Each resource element may cover one subcarrier in one symbol period and may be used to send one modulation symbol, which may be a real or complex value.

[0049] Subframe format 410 may be used for an eNB equipped with two antennas.

A CRS may be transmitted from antennas 0 and 1 in 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. A CRS is a reference signal that is spécifie for a cell, e.g., generated based on a cell identity (ID). In FIG. 4, for a given resource element with label Ra, a modulation symbol may be transmitted on that resource element from 20 antenna a, and no modulation symbols may be transmitted on that resource element from other antennas. Subframe format 420 may be used for an eNB equipped with four antennas. A CRS may 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 subframe formats 410 and 420, a CRS may be transmitted on evenly spaced subcarriers, which 25 may be determined based on cell ID. Different eNBs may transmit their CRSs on the same or different subcarriers, depending on their cell IDs. For both subframe formats 410 and 420, resource éléments not used for the CRS may be used to transmit data (e.g., trafiic data, control data, and/or other data).

[0050] An interlace structure may be used for each of the downlink and uplink for 30 FDD in LTE. For example, Q interlaces with indices of 0 through β-l may be defined, where Q may 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_t etc., where q e {0,...,0-1}.

[0051] The wireless network may support hybrid automatic retransmission request (HARQ) for data transmission on the downlink and uplink. For HARQ, a transmitter 5 (e.g., an eNB 110) may send one or more transmissions of a packet until the packet is decoded correctly by a receiver (e.g., a UE 120) or some other termination condition is encountered. For synchronous HARQ, ail transmissions of the packet may be sent in subframes of a single interlace. For asynchronous HARQ, each transmission of the packet may be sent in any subframe.

[0052] A UE may be located within the coverage of multiple eNBs. One of these eNBs may be selected to serve the UE. The serving eNB may be selected based on various criteria such as received signal strength, received signal quality, path loss, etc. Received signal quality may be quantified by a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or some other metric. The UE 15 may operate in a dominant interférence scénario in which the UE may observe high interférence from one or more intcrfering eNBs.

[0053] In certain Systems (e.g., long term évolution (LTE) Release 8 or more recent), transmission time interval (ΤΊΊ) bundling (e.g., subframe bundling) can be configured on a per-user equipment (UE) basis. TTI bundling may be configured by the 20 parameter, ttiBundlirig, provided from higher layers. If TTI bundling îs configured for a

UE, the subframe bundling operation may only be applied to the uplink shared channel (UL-SCH), for example, physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and may not be applied to other uplink signais or traffic (e.g., such as uplink control information (UCI)). In some cases, TTI bundling size is fixed at four subframes (e.g., the PUSCH is 25 transmitted in four consecutive subframes). The same hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number can be used in each of the bundled subframes. The resource allocation size may be restricted to up to three resource blocks (RBs) and the modulation order can be set to two (e.g., quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK)). A TTI bundle can be treated as a single resource for which a single grant and a single HARQ 30 acknowledgement (ACK) is used for each bundle.

[0054] Devices having limited communications resources, such as machine type communications (MTC) devices, may hâve limited diversity. For example, a device having limited communications resources may hâve a single receiver, which may limit spatial diversity. These devices may also hâve limited or no mobility, which may limit 5 time diversity. Additionally, these devices may be limited to a narrowband assignment (e.g., of no more than 6 resource blocks), which may limit frequency diversity.

[0055] For devices with a single receiver, successful communications may require increases in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) requirements. For link budget limited devices, increases in SNR requirements for successful communications may entai! the use of 10 large bundling sizes.

[0056] Increasing diversity may increase the reliability ofcommunications. Aspects of the présent disclosure provide techniques for increasing frequency diversity, spatial diversity, and time diversity for devices with limited communications resources.

[0057] FIG. 5 illustrâtes example operations 500 that may be performed by a 15 transmitting device to increase diversity for transmissions to a device (e.g., a device with limited communications resources (e.g., MTC device, NB-IoT device)), according to aspects of the présent disclosure. Operations 500 may begin at 502, where a transmitting device transmits data as a bundled transmission to a device with limited communications resources. The bundled transmission may comprise multiple bursts, 20 and the same data may be transmitted in each burst. At 504, the transmitting device increases at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity for the bundled transmission.

[0058] FIG. 6 illustrâtes example operations 600 that may be performed by a receiving device (e.g., a device with limited communications resources (e.g., MTC 25 device, NB-IoT device)), according to aspects ofthe présent disclosure. Operations 600 may begin at 602, where a receiving device receives configuration information for increasing at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity for a bundled transmission. The bundled transmission may comprise multiple bursts, and the same data may be transmitted in each burst. At 604, the receiving device may receive 30 and process the bundled transmission in accordance with the configuration information.

[0059] In some aspects, increases in frequency diversity may be achieved by performing frequency hopping, or transmitting data to the same device using different frequency resources (e.g., different narrowbands of 6RBs). A burst may be sized to allow for sufficient channel estimation averagîng, and gaps with a duration sufficient to allow for frequency retuning and/or time diversity may be introduced between bursts.

As discussed below, different frequency hopping patterns may be used for communications for different MTC devices.

[0060] FIG. 7 illustrâtes an example communication in which frequency diversity may be achieved for devices with limited communications resources, according to 10 aspects of the présent disclosure. As illustrated, the frequency at which an MTC device communicates may change periodîcally. For example, as illustrated by the communications for MTC1 and MTC2, bursts may be transmitted on alternating frequencies (a frequency hopping pattern using paîred hopping between two bands). As illustrated, MTC1 may receive burst I on frequency band 704, and MTC2 may receive 15 burst 1 on frequency band 710. After a burst gap (e.g., of at least one ΤΠ) to allow

MTC1 and MTC2 to retune to the appropriate frequency bands, MTC1 may receive burst 2 on frequency band 710, and MTC2 may receive burst 2 on frequency band 704.

MTC1 and MTC2 may continue hop between receiving transmissions on frequency band 704 and frequency band 710, as illustrated in bursts 3 and 4.

[0061] In some aspects, as illustrated by the communications for MTC3, bursts need not be transmitted on alternating frequencies, which may allow for maximum diversity. For example, bursts may be transmitted on four different narrowbands, as illustrated by the communications for MTC3. As illustrated, MTC3 may receive burst 1 on frequency band 712, burst 2 on frequency band 708, burst 3 on frequency band 706, and burst 4 on 25 frequency band 702. In some aspects, a burst may hâve a duration of 4 milliseconds or milliseconds, and a gap duration may be 1 millisecond or 4 milliseconds.

[0062] In some aspects, the narrowbands used in paired hopping may be determined based on an identifier associated with each MTC device (e.g., MTCI and MTC2). Frequency hopping may also be performed as a function of the cell ID, which may 30 allow for randomization of ïnter-cell interférence.

[0063] FIG. 8 illustrâtes an example call flow 800 showing messages that may be exchanged between an eNodeB and an MTC device, according to aspects of the présent disclosure. The eNodeB may perform frequency hopping to achieve frequency diversity for devices with limited communications resources.

[0064] The eNodeB may perform a burst transmission 802 on a first frequency band. As discussed above, the burst transmission may be sized to allow for sufficient channel estimation averaging (e.g., a 4 millisecond or 8 millisecond burst). After the eNodeB performs burst transmission 802, the eNodeB pauses transmissions to allow the MTC device to retune a receiver at the MTC device to a second frequency band.

Meanwhile, the eNodeB shifts a transmitter to a second frequency band to perform another burst transmission to the MTC device. The pause may be, for example, 1 millisecond tn duration for a 4 millisecond burst, or 4 milliseconds in duration for an 8 millisecond burst. After the pause duration elapses, the eNodeB performs burst transmission 804 on the second frequency band. By transmitting bursts to an MTC 15 device on different frequencies (e.g., narrowbands), a UE can achieve frequency diversity for devices with limited communications resources.

[0065] In some aspects, increased diversity may be realîzed through increasing spatial diversity. Spatial diversity may be achieved using, for example, precoding cycling across different bursts, space frequency block coding (SFBC), or cyclîc detay 20 diversity (CDD). For transmissions on the enhanced or evolved physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH), precoding cycling may be applied across different bursts. The same precoding may be used within a burst to allow for channel averaging. The type of precoding cycling applied to a transmission may be based, at least in part, on a type of channel transmitted in the bundled transmission. For transmissions on the 25 enhanced or evolved physical downlink shared channel (ePDSCH), precoding cycling,

SFBC, or CDD may be applied to achieve spatial diversity. If SFBC is used, paired resource éléments may be needed. For large delay CDD, knowledge of the precoding codebook may be needed in order to décodé the different bursts.

[0066] FIG. 9 illustrâtes an example call flow 900 showing messages that may be 30 exchanged between an eNodeB and an MTC device, according to aspects of the présent disclosure. As discussed above, the eNodeB may use precoding cycling to achieve spatial diversity for devices with limited communications resources.

[0067] The eNodeB may perform a burst transmission 902 using a first precoding (e.g., a first precoding matrix). As discussed above, the burst transmission may be sîzed to allow for sufficient channel estimation averagîng (e.g., a 4ms or 8ms burst). After the eNodeB performs burst transmission 902, the eNodeB pauses transmissions to cycle to a 5 second precoding. The pause may be, for example, 1 millisecond in duration for a 4 millisecond burst, or 4 millisecond in duration for an 8 millisecond burst After the pause duration elapses, the eNodeB performs burst transmission 904 using the second precoding. By transmitting bursts to an MTC device using different precodîngs, an eNodeB can achieve spatial diversity for devices with limited communications 10 resources.

[0068] Precoding cycling may entail the use of a mapping of at least two antenna ports to at least two beam directions. The at least two beam directions may be orthogonal. Different frequency tones may be mapped to different beam directions. For example, odd tones may be mapped to a first antenna port (mapped to a first beam 15 direction), and even tones may be mapped to a second antenna port (mapped to a second beam direction).

[0069] In some cases, mapping of frequency tones to beam directions may be performed differently for different channels. For example, for ePDCCH, mapping frequency tones to different beam directions may be performed at the eREG (enhanced 20 resource element group) level. For PDSCH, mapping frequency tones to different beam directions may be performed at the resource element level. In some cases, the precoding matrix may be known. If a UE is aware of the precoding, the UE can jointly process channel estimation from a CRS and from a DMRS.

[0070] FIGs. 10 and 11 illustrate example schemes for PDSCH precoder cycling on 25 a per-resource element basis, according to aspects of the présent disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 10, DMRS pilots may be transmitted on the same tones (e.g., 1, 6, and 11 as shown) for both a first and second antenna port. FIG. 11 illustrâtes another scheme for PDSCH precoder cycling on a per-resource element basis, in which DMRS pilots may be transmitted on a first set of resource éléments (e.g., 1,6, and 11 as shown) 30 for a first antenna port and a second set of resource éléments (e.g., 0, 5, and 10 as shown) for a second antenna port. In both schemes, data tones may be transmitted in the remaining resource éléments.

[0071] In an aspect, transmission diversity on PDSCH may be achieved using precoding cycling with DMRS (démodulation reference signal)-based démodulation.

Based on a HARQ bundle size of 8, a bundle burst may hâve a burst length of 7 subframes, with a gap of 1 subframe for radio frequency retuning. If less than 1 millisecond is needed for retuning (e.g., a retuning time of 0.5 ms, or the length of one slot), a bundle burst may hâve a length of between 7-8 subframes, and less than 1 subframe for retuning (e.g., 7.5 data subframes, and a 0.5 subframe gap for retuning). Larger bundle sizes as a multiple of 8 subframes may also be used, which may allow for multiplexing of multiple stations.

[0072] Transmission on PUSCH, which may hâve a receiver diversity of 2, may be performed according to the bundling technique used on PDSCH (e.g., bundle sizes as a multiple of 8 subframes, with a bundle burst length of -7 subframes (e.g., 7 or 7.5 subframes) and a bundle gap of~l subframe (e.g., 0.5 or 1 subframe) for RF retuning). Additionally, for ePDCCH and PRACH, frequency hopping need not be implemented.

For ePDCCH, transmissions may be of a limited size, and transmission diversity may be received by using precoding cycling with DMRS-based démodulation, as discussed above. For PRACH, which may hâve a receiver diversity of 2 and a small payload size, long bundling may not be needed.

[0073] FIG. 12 illustrâtes an example of multiplexing transmissions from multiple devices (e.g., with different bundle sizes). As illustrated, MTC1 may hâve a total bundle size of 32 (4 bursts), and MTC2 and MTC3 may both hâve a bundle size of 16 (2 bursts). Transmissions from MTC2 and MTC3 may be easily multiplexed with MTC1, and the frequency on which transmissions are performed may switch during the bundle gaps between bursts. For example, during bursts 1202 and 1204, transmissions from

MTC1 and MTC2 may be multiplexed, and MTC1 and MTC2 may transmit on altemating frequency bands in bursts 1202 and 1204. During bursts 1206 and 1208, transmissions from MTC1 and MTC3 may be multiplexed. As with bursts 1202 and 1204, transmissions from MTC1 and MTC3 may be performed on altemating frequency bands in each burst Multiplexing of transmissions may be performed between MTC devices and non-MTC devices (e.g., devices with using a larger bandwidth than a narrowband MTC device) based on a bundling size of multiples of 8.

[0074] In some cases (e.g., using a single local oscîllator at an MTC device), retuning may be accomplished within l millisecond. Because the retuning may be accomplished within 1 millisecond, the resulting bundle length may be, for example, 7.5 subframes, with a retuning time of 0.5 milliseconds, as discussed above. Further, in 5 LTE Release 12, the retuning time may be rdaxed to 1 millisecond between downlink and uplink transmissions, and a 1 millisecond gap may be considered a minimum bundling gap for transitions between different bandwidth régions.

[0075] In some cases, bundled transmissions may be performed consecutively with a 1 millisecond gap. However, to allow for increasing time diversity, bundles may be 10 transmitted with a burst length of 8 subframes and larger burst gaps (e.g., 4 milliseconds, 8 milliseconds, 16 milliseconds, etc.). The MTC device may tune from one frequency to another frequency during the burst gap. Larger burst sizes and burst gaps may resuit in longer awake times for a device. Discontinuous réception in between awake times may reduce power consumption but entail additional processing to handle 15 transitions from awake to sleeping states.

[0076] Bundle burst length may hâve a default size of 4 of 8, which provides for a sufficient number of subframes to perform channel averaging. In some aspects, the bundle burst length may be a function of total bundle length (e.g., total bundle length versus a number of bursts to be transmitted). For example, with a default bundle burst 20 length of 4 subframes, if 16 subframes are to be bundled, the 16 subframes may be bundled into four bundle bursts of four subframes. In another example, if 64 subframes are to be bundled, a the 64 subframes may be bundled into four bundle bursts of 16 subframes. In some cases, the bundle gap may also be considered in determining a number and size of the bundle burst length. For example, with a bundle burst length of 25 4 and a total of 16 subframes to be bundled, the bundle may be transmitted as four bursts of 3 subframes, plus a gap of 1 subframe.

[0077] In time division duplex, different uplink/downlink subframe configurations may follow a configuration of D (downlink), U (uplink), and S (spécial) subframes. Bundle burst length and the size ofthe burst gap may dépend on the configuration of D 30 and U subframes (e.g., consecutive D or U subframes). In some aspects, S subframes may be included as part of a bundle (since an S subframe has a downlink portion and an uplink portion). For example, in TDD configuration 1, which provides a subframe

configuration of “DSUUDDSUUD”, a downlink bundle burst may hâve a size of 2 subframes (consecutive D subframes), with a burst gap of 3 subframes. If S subframes are included in a bundle, a downlink bundle burst may hâve a size of 3 consecutive subframes (DDS), with a burst gap of 2 subframes. Similar bundle burst lengths and 5 burst gap lengths may be implemented on the uplink. When bundling, whether using

FDD or TDD, rate matching may be performed around a sound ing reference signal (SRS) to avoid interfering with SRSs transmitted by other stations.

[0078] As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least 10 one of: a, b, or c is intended to cover: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c.

[0079J The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the disclosure herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software/firmware module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software/firmware module may résidé in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, 15 EEPROM memory, PCM (phase change memory), regîsters, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium Is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and/or write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be intégral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may 20 résidé in an ASIC. The ASIC may résidé in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may résidé as discrète components in a user terminal. Generally, where there are operations illustrated ln Figures, those operations may hâve corresponding counterpart means-plus-function components with similar numbering.

[0080] In one or more exemplary designs, the functions described may be 25 implemented in hardware, software/firmware or combinations thereof. If implemented in software/firmware, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitâtes transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage 30 media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or spécial purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection is properly 5 termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software/firmware is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and mîcrowave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and mîcrowave are included in 10 the définition of medium. Disk and dise, as used herein, includes compact dise (CD), laser dise, optical dise, digital versatile dise (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray® dise where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while dises reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

(0081] The previous description of the disclosure ts provided to enable any person 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. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and 20 designs described herein, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims (29)

1. A method for wireless communications, comprising:

transmitting data as a bundled transmission to a device with limited communications resources, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein each burst spans a plurality of transmission time intervals (TTIs) and the same data is transmitted in each burst; and increasing at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity for the bundled transmission.

2. The method of claim l, wherein each burst is transmitted in a narrowband of no more than six resource blocks (RBs).

3. The method of claim l, wherein the increasing frequency diversity comprises: performing frequency hopping such that successive bursts are transmitted using different frequency resources.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein different frequency hopping patterns are used for performing frequency hopping when transmitting data as bundled transmissions to different devices.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein a frequency hopping pattern used for performing the frequency hopping is determined, at least in part, on an identifier of a transmitting device.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein a gap between bursts is determined based on a time sufficient for frequency retuning by the device.

7. The method of claim l, wherein the increasing spatial diversity comprises: applying precoding cycling such that successive bursts are transmitted using different precoding.

8.

The method of claim 7, wherein a same precoding is used within a burst.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein a type of precoding cycling is dépendent, at least in part, on a type of channel transmitted in the bundled transmission.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the precoding cycling utilizes a mapping of at least two antenna ports to at least two beam directions.

11. The method of claim l, wherein at least one of a burst length or the increasing time diversity is based, at least in part, on maintaining a gap of at least one TTI between bursts.

12. The method of claim l, wherein at least one of a burst length or a duration of a gap between bursts is dépendent on an uplink/downlink subframe configuration.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of the burst length or the duration of the gap between bursts is dépendent on a number of consecutive subframes of a same type.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the bundled transmission to the device is multîplexed with data transmitted as a bundled transmission to a second device, and wherein a bundle size used for the bundled transmission to the device is different from a second bundle size used for the bundled transmission to the second device.

15. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a transmitter configured to transmit data as a bundled transmission to a device with limited communications resources, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein each burst spans a plurality of transmission time intervals (TTIs) and the same data is transmitted in each burst; and at least one processor configured to take action to increase at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity for the bundled transmission.

16. A method for wireless communications by a device with limited communications resources, comprising:

receiving configuration information for increasing at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity for a bundled transmission, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein the same data is transmitted in each burst; and receiving and processing the bundled transmission in accordance with the configuration information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein each burst is received in a narrowband of no more than six resource blocks (RBs).

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the configuration information for increasing frequency diversity comprises information indicating that frequency hopping is used such that successive bursts are received using different frequency resources.

19. The method of claim I8, wherein different frequency hopping patterns are used when receiving data as bundled transmissions from different devices.

20. The method of daim 18, wherein the configuration information comprises a frequency hopping pattern determined based, at least in part, on an identifier of a transmitter.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein a gap between bursts is based on a time sufficient for frequency retuning by the device with limited communications resources.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the configuration information for increasing spatial diversity comprises information indicating that successive bursts are received with different precoding.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein a same precoding is used within a burst.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein a type of precodîng cycling is dépendent, at least in part, on a type of channel received in the bundled transmission.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein, for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the precodîng cycling utilizes a mapping of at least two antenna ports to at least two beam directions.

26. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one of a burst length or the configuration information for increasing time diversity comprises information indicating a gap of at least one transmission time interval (TTI) between bursts.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one of a burst length or a duration of a gap between bursts is dépendent on an uplink/downlînk subframe configuration.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein at least one of the burst length or the duration of the gap between bursts is dépendent on a number of consecutive subframes of a same type.

29. An apparatus for wireless communications by a device with limited communications resources, comprising*.

a receiver configured to:

receive configuration information for increasing at least one of spatial diversity, time diversity, or frequency diversity for a bundled transmission, the bundled transmission comprising multiple bursts wherein the same data is transmitted in each burst; and receive a bundled transmission; and at least one processor configured to:

process the bundled transmission in accordance with the configuration information.