WO2014000174A1

WO2014000174A1 - Control signaling approaches for terminals with reduced downlink bandwidth

Info

Publication number: WO2014000174A1
Application number: PCT/CN2012/077605
Authority: WO
Inventors: Na WEI; Wei Bai; Jing HAN; Chunyan Gao; Haiming Wang; Shuang TAN
Original assignee: Renesas Mobile Corp
Current assignee: Renesas Electronics Corp
Priority date: 2012-06-27
Filing date: 2012-06-27
Publication date: 2014-01-03
Anticipated expiration: 2014-12-27

Abstract

There are provided measures for realizing control signaling approaches for terminals with reduced downlink bandwidth, such as for example machine type communication terminals for wireless communication systems. Such measures may exemplarily comprise, at a terminal side, monitoring different resource chunks in a sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling and dedicated downlink data from a network equipment and, at a network side, scheduling common control signaling and dedicated downlink data for at least one terminal in different resource chunks in the sub-band of the downlink carrier bandwidth.

Description

CONTROL SIGNALING APPROACHES FOR TERMINALS WITH

REDUCED DOWNLINK BANDWIDTH

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to control signaling approaches for terminals with reduced downlink bandwidth. More specifically, the present invention relates to measures (including methods, apparatuses and computer program products) for realizing control signaling approaches for terminals with reduced downlink bandwidth, such as for example machine type communication terminals for (third or fourth generation) wireless communication systems.

Background

In the field of communication systems, including wireless and/or cellular communication systems, machine-type communication (MTC) constitutes a recent trend as well as a market likely to continue expanding in the future. At the same time, there is a trend that a diversity of technologies in the field of communication systems, including wireless and/or cellular communication systems, such as in the evolvement of LTE deployments, exist and still emerge. In view thereof, operators aim at reducing the cost of overall network maintenance, for example by minimizing the number of radio access technologies (RAT) used in any single communication system.

These two trends currently appear to be contrary to each other. This is because many MTC devices are targeting low-end (low cost, low data rate) applications that can be handled adequately by second generation systems such as GSM/GPRS but do not require handling by third or fourth generation systems such as LTE. Owing to the low cost of such MTC devices and good coverage of second generation systems such as GSM/GPRS, there is little motivation for MTC device suppliers to use modules (including modems, RF components, etc.) supporting third or fourth generation systems such as the LTE radio interface. As more and more MTC devices are deployed in the field,

l this naturally increases the reliance on second generation systems such as GSM/GPRS networks. This will cost operators not only in terms of maintaining multiple RATs, but also prevent operators to reap the maximum benefit out of their spectrum (given the non-optimal spectrum efficiency of GSM/GPRS). Given the likely high number of MTC devices, the overall resource they will need for service provision may be correspondingly significant, but inefficiently assigned.

Therefore, it is still necessary to find a solution to ensure that there is a clear technical and/or business benefit to MTC device vendors and operators for migrating low-end MTC devices from second generation systems such as GSM/GPRS to third or fourth generation systems such as LTE networks. In this regard, it is suggested that solutions using, or evolved from, LTE RAN specifications up to and including Rel-10 shall be investigated and evaluated to clearly understand the feasibility of creating a type of terminal that would permit the cost of terminals tailored for the low-end of the MTC market to be competitive with that of GSM/GPRS terminals targeting the same low- end MTC market. In this context, the reduction on downlink bandwidth is considered to be one important factor on reducing the cost and thus improving the competitiveness for MTC devices in third or fourth generation systems such as LTE networks. Accordingly, it is currently agreed on downlink bandwidth reduction for MTC devices, which could be realized by way of (i) reduced bandwidth for both RF and baseband, or (H) reduced bandwidth for baseband only for both data channel and control channels, or (iii) reduced bandwidth for data channel in baseband only while the control channels are still allowed to use the (entire) carrier bandwidth. Within these options, option (i) might have less chance to be adopted because reducing the bandwidth for RF may not help very much on the cost reduction but will cause too much specification complexity. With options (ii) and (iii), the situation would be that a terminal could freely switch its RF to anywhere within the (entire) carrier bandwidth, but could only receive a restricted bandwidth and send to baseband to process it. Specifically, option (iii) currently appears to be favored, since this will not introduce significant impact on a downlink control channel, but can achieve most of the cost reduction. If the reduced bandwidth is fixed (for example in the center of the carrier bandwidth), such option for bandwidth reduction seems feasible, but the MTC UE could only be scheduled in that center bandwidth range and it will likely generate overload there while plenty of other parts of the carrier bandwidth may be not usable for MTC devices.

A natural way for implementation of downlink bandwidth reduction is to configure the MTC deice to use different narrow sub-bands over the frequency to distribute the load of the whole carrier (for example semi- statically). The configured sub-bands can consist of continuous or distributed physical resource blocks (PRB) depending on which bandwidth reduction option is adopted. Based on such assumption, in certain occasions e.g. when the MTC device can only receive center 6 PRBs, if common signaling and terminal-dedicated downlink data or terminal-dedicated signaling are not transmitted on the same resource chunk, MTC devices may not be able to receive them simultaneously. This is specifically problematic for terminals such as MTC devices with narrow reception band which might be configured to off-center resource chunks for load balance purposes.

Therefore, it is still necessary to find a solution to ensure appropriate signaling approaches, specifically for common signaling and terminal- dedicated downlink data or terminal-dedicated signaling being not transmitted on the same resource chunk, for terminals with reduced downlink bandwidth, such as for example machine type communication terminals for third or fourth generation communication systems. Summary

Various exemplary embodiments of the present invention aim at addressing at least part of the above issues and/or problems and drawbacks. Various aspects of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are set out in the appended claims.

According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising monitoring at least one common resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling from a network equipment, and monitoring at least one dedicated resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for dedicated downlink data from the network equipment according to the common control signaling from the network equipment.

According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising scheduling common control signaling for at least one terminal in at least one common resource chunk in a first sub- band of a downlink carrier bandwidth, and scheduling dedicated downlink data for said at least one terminal in at least one dedicated resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth according to the common control signaling According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising monitoring at least one resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling from a network equipment, signaling a terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication to the network equipment, and monitoring at least one resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for dedicated control signaling from the network equipment according to the common control signaling from the network equipment and the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising scheduling common control signaling for at least one terminal in at least one resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth, detecting a terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication from said at least one terminal, and scheduling dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal in at least one resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth according to the common control signaling and the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication. According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, and at least one interface configured for communication with at least another apparatus, the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, being configured to cause the apparatus to perform : monitoring at least one common resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling from a network equipment, and monitoring at least one dedicated resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for dedicated downlink data from the network equipment according to the common control signaling from the network equipment,

According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, and at least one interface configured for communication with at least another apparatus, the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, being configured to cause the apparatus to perform: scheduling common control signaling for at least one terminal in at least one common resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth, and scheduling dedicated downlink data for said at least one terminal in at least one dedicated resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth according to the common control signaling. According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, and at least one interface configured for communication with at least another apparatus, the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, being configured to cause the apparatus to perform: monitoring at least one resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling from a network equipment, signaling a terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication to the network equipment, and monitoring at least one resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for dedicated control signaling from the network equipment according to the common control signaling from the network equipment and the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication.

According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, and at least one interface configured for communication with at least another apparatus, the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, being configured to cause the apparatus to perform : scheduling common control signaling for at least one terminal in at least one resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth, detecting a terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication from said at least one terminal, and scheduling dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal in at least one resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth according to the common control signaling and the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication.

According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product comprising a set of instructions (e.g. computer-executable computer program code) which, when executed on an apparatus or a computer of an apparatus (e.g. an apparatus according to any one of the aforementioned apparatus-related exemplary aspects of the present invention), is arranged/configured to cause the computer or apparatus to carry out the method according to any one of the aforementioned method-related exemplary aspects of the present invention.

Such computer program product may comprise or be embodied as a (tangible) computer-readable (storage) medium or the like on which the computer-executable computer program code is stored, and/or the program may be directly loadable into an internal memory of the computer or a processor thereof.

Advantageous further developments or modifications of the aforementioned exemplary aspects of the present invention are set out in the following.

By way of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, there are control signaling approaches for terminals with reduced downlink bandwidth, such as for example machine type communication terminals for third or fourth generation communication systems.

Thus, enhancements are achieved by methods, apparatuses and computer program products enabling control signaling approaches for terminals with reduced downlink bandwidth, such as for example machine type communication terminals for third or fourth generation communication systems.

Brief description of drawings For a more complete understanding of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, reference is now made to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary situation of the reception of common control signaling and terminal-dedicated downlink data in different resource chunks, for which exemplary embodiments of the present invention are applicable,

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a first example of a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention,

Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a second example of a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a third example of a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention,

Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a fourth example of a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and

Figure 6 shows a schematic block diagram illustrating exemplary apparatuses according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

Description of exemplary embodiments

Exemplary aspects of the present invention will be described herein below. More specifically, exemplary aspects of the present are described hereinafter with reference to particular non-limiting examples and to what are presently considered to be conceivable embodiments of the present invention. A person skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention is by no means limited to these examples, and may be more broadly applied. It is to be noted that the following description of the present invention and its embodiments mainly refers to specifications being used as non-limiting examples for certain exemplary network configurations and deployments. Namely, the present invention and its embodiments are mainly described in relation to 3GPP specifications being used as non-limiting examples for certain exemplary network configurations and deployments. In particular, a LTE/LTE-Advanced communication system is used as a non-limiting example for the applicability of thus described exemplary embodiments. As such, the description of exemplary embodiments given herein specifically refers to terminology which is directly related thereto. Such terminology is only used in the context of the presented non-limiting examples, and does naturally not limit the invention in any way. Rather, any other network configuration or system deployment, etc. may also be utilized as long as compliant with the features described herein. In particular, the present invention and its embodiments may be applicable in any fixed or mobile communication system and/or network deployment with terminals having reduced downlink bandwidth, especially when being configurable to off-center resource chunks.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, in general terms, there are provided mechanisms, measures and means for enabling control signaling approaches for terminals with reduced downlink bandwidth, such as for example machine type communication terminals for (third or fourth generation) wireless communication systems.

Hereinafter, various embodiments and implementations of the present invention and its aspects or embodiments are described using several alternatives. It is generally noted that, according to certain needs and constraints, all of the described alternatives may be provided alone or in any conceivable combination (also including combinations of individual features of the various alternatives). Without restricting generality, the present invention and exemplary embodiments thereof are described with reference to an exemplary case of MTC devices as non-limiting examples of terminals having reduced downlink bandwidth, especially when being configurable to off-center resource chunks.

In the following, it is assumed that certain sub-bands are semi-statically configured in the downlink carrier bandwidth according to the following provisions.

Firstly, the system bandwidth of one operating carrier is divided into several sub-bands, which can be overlap or non-overlapped. The sub-bands are predefined, or the sub-band division rule is predefined. The sub-band division can be cell-specific or UE-specific, e.g. for different UE category/capability the sub-band size can be different. The PRBs within the same sub-band can be distributed or localized in the frequency domain.

Secondly, any terminal can be configured to use the whole band of the carrier or to be restricted to one or multiple sub-bands. Thirdly, for terminals configured to use a restricted sub-band, the sub-band to use can be derived implicitly or explicitly. For example, an index of the sub-band may be a function of the terminal identifier, subframe number, number of allocated sub-bands, etc., or a bitmap from a higher layer may be used to indicate the sub-band(s) for a given terminal.

Hereinafter, issues relating to downlink transmission of common control signaling and/or dedicated downlink data to terminals with reduced downlink bandwidth, especially when being configurable to off-center resource chunks, such as for example MTC terminals for wireless communication systems, are specifically addressed.

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary situation of the reception of common control signaling and terminal-dedicated downlink data in different resource chunks, for which exemplary embodiments of the present invention are applicable. In Figure 1, the time domain is plotted in the horizontal direction, and the frequency domain is plotted in the vertical direction. The blocks within the illustrated resource chunks are to represent physical resource blocks (PRB), while the arrows are to illustrate a switching between different downlink frequency ranges for reception tuning at a terminal, respectively.

Specifically, Figure 1 illustrates a problematic situation in which, assuming that the MTC device UE can only receive PRBs on one resource chunk (in a carrier bandwidth or sub-band of e.g. 20 MHz) at a time, the common control signaling (namely, SIB in the present example) and UE-dedicated downlink data are not transmitted on the same resource chunk, which is why the UE is not able to receive them simultaneously. In the example of Figure 1, a given UE is assumed to have assigned a dedicated resource chunk out of resource chinks #1, #2, #4 and #5, while all UEs are assumed to have assigned a common resource chunk, namely resource chunk #3.

When system information (SI) representing a non-limiting example of common control signaling changes, the MTC UE is paged about this SI change, and all MTC UEs which are semi-statically configured to use different bandwidth resource chunks for receiving dedicated downlink data (e.g. on the PDSCH) will need to get to the common bandwidth resource chunk for receiving common control signaling (e.g. on the PDCCH), e.g. the center bandwidth for updated SIB reception. After successfully receiving the updated SIBs, the MTC UEs may get back to the originally configured PDSCH resource chunk for data reception, respectively.

Generally, it may be assumed that any MTC UE will go automatically back to the common (e.g. center) resource chunk upon paging, triggering, etc., any MTC UE will stay there until common control signaling (i.e. a new configuration, etc. regarding the dedicated (e.g. off-center) resource chunk) is received, and any MTC UE will switch from the common (e.g. center) resource chunk to the dedicated (e.g. off-center) resource chunk upon such receipt of configuration, etc.

Generally, the switching gap of any MTC UE in changing the reception resource chunk may be considered, if necessary for implementation, but may (at least in theory as well as for the purpose of the present invention and its embodiments) be assumed to be zero (depending on implementation).

However, it is uncertain for the network device (or network equipment) transmitting the common control signaling (e.g. an eNB or any other kind of base station or access node) to know when any MTC UE is ready to receive again in its originally configured PDSCH chunk, i.e. to receive again downlink data after being pages for a SIB change, because there are several SIB (re-)transmissions and any MTC UE may successfully receive the SIB in any SIB (re-) transmission, i.e. at different times. Also, it is uncertain for the network device transmitting the common control signaling (e.g. an eNB or any other kind of base station or access node) to know when any MTC UE has actually come to read the SIB, despite being concurrently paged. Accordingly, there results some ambiguity for all kinds of common control signaling, including for example SIB, paging, RAR, or the like. If the MTC UE prioritizes (reception of) common control signaling over dedicated downlink data and the eNB does not know this, there will happen a loss of information reception for the UE-dedicated downlink transmission. Moreover, the eNB may not be able to know, if a discontinuous transmission (DTX) of a MTC terminal on the PUCCH is due to the missing of the PDCCH or a PUCCH error, or a resource chunk switch. Thus, such situation is likely to cause an increase in the aggregation level of the PDCCH which actually causes unnecessary control overhead, and thereby corrupts the link adaptation algorithm in the elMB. Therefore, the above-outlined ambiguity is addressed by exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as explained hereinafter.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, such ambiguity is addressed by ensuring that both the narrow-band terminal and the network device have a corresponding understanding about the resource chunk which is monitored by the narrow-band terminal at any time, i.e. to which frequency range the narrow-band terminal is tuned for downlink reception purposes at any time.

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a first example of a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 2, at a network equipment which is herein exemplified as a network device such as an eNB, a corresponding procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprises an operation of scheduling common control signaling for at least one terminal in at least one common resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth, and an operation of scheduling dedicated downlink data for said at least one terminal in at least one dedicated resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth according to the common control signaling. As shown in Figure 2, at a terminal such as a (MTC) UE, a corresponding procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprises an operation of monitoring at least one common resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling from the network equipment, and monitoring at least one dedicated resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for dedicated downlink data from the network equipment according to the common control signaling from the network equipment.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the first and second sub-bands could be the same or different sub-bands, wherein different sub-bands could be distinct/separate from each other or overlapping each other.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, some restriction or rule is applied on the common/dedicated information transmission. Namely, the common control signaling is scheduled/monitored in at least one physical resource block in the at least one common resource chunk, and/or the at least one common resource chunk is a center resource chunk in the center of said sub-band or a non-center resource chunk other than a center resource chunk in the center of said sub-band.

Specifically, there may be defined (e.g. by the eNB) some common PRB in a single resource chunk or some common PRBs (which may be overlapped) in one or more resource chunks for the MTC UE, which is assigned different PDSCH resource chunk/s, in order to allow reception of common control signaling, such as SIB, paging, RAR, or the like. In this regard, center 5 or 6 PRBs may for example be defined as a mandatory part for all resource chunks, for example. That is to say, at least one PRB in the at least one common resource chunk for the monitoring of the common control signaling may be overlapping with at least one PRB in the at least one dedicated resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data. Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a second example of a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 3, addition to the scheduling/monitoring operations as illustrated in Figure 2, a corresponding procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprises an operation of configuring 7605

common signaling subframes for the monitoring of the common control signaling and an operation of configuring terminal-specific subframes for the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data, at both the network device and the terminal.

Based on such configuration, the respective scheduling/monitoring operations are performed in correspondingly configured subframes. Namely, the common control signaling is scheduled/monitored in the common signaling subframes in the at least one common resource chunk, and the dedicated downlink data is scheduled/monitored in the terminal-specific subframes in the at least one dedicated resource chunk. Specifically, dedicated downlink data is only scheduled in a terminal-specific chunk in the terminal-specific subframes. As indicated in Figure 3 by a double-sided dashed arrow, the eNB and the MTC UE may agree or cooperate in the configuration of subframes for common control signaling and dedicated downlink data.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, some the common signaling subframes are configured to comprise those subframes, in which common control signaling from the network device is possible for the terminal in question, and the terminal-specific subframes are configured to comprise the/all subframes other than the thus configured common signaling subframes.

Namely, the common signaling subframes (CSF) may be defined for all possible subframes which might contain common signaling (i.e. a combination union of paging occasions, all SIB windows, RAR windows, etc, while the UE-specific subframes (USF) may be defined for all subframes other than the CSFs.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, some the common signaling subframes are configured to comprise those subframes, in which common control signaling from the network device is possible for the terminal in question, and which have a specific index with a specific periodicity, and the terminal-specific subframes are configured to comprise the/all subframes other than the thus configured common signaling subframes. The specific index with the specific periodicity for the common signaling subframes may be configured for a specific terminal or a specific group of terminals.

Namely, among the common signaling subframes (CSF) mentioned above, a further configuration on the basis of a specific time domain pattern may be additionally applied by restriction to a certain index of subframes with a certain periodicity. Accordingly, the thus configured common signaling subframes are represented by the intersection of the common signaling subframes (CSF) mentioned above and the time domain pattern (i.e. the pattern represented by the specific index with the specific periodicity) for further restriction. Accordingly, the thus restricted subframes constitute a smaller set as compared with the common signaling subframes (CSF) mentioned above. For example, if the common signaling subframes (CSF) mentioned above are subframes of the set {SF#1-SF#50} within 100 total subframes, and the configured time domain pattern denotes the first 5 subframes in every 10 subframes, i.e. {SF#1-SF#5, SF#11- SF#15, SF#21#25, ...), then the restricted subframes are represented by the set SF#1- SF#5, SF #11- SF#15, SF#21- SF#25, SF#31- SF #35, and SF#41- SF#45). Such enhanced restriction is effective for improving the probability or number of UE-specific subframes, i.e. configuring less common signaling subframes, at the cost that the MTC UE might miss some common signaling, if the eNB is not transmitting common control signaling in the restricted subframes.

On the basis of any one of the above subframe-directed configurations, the monitoring operations at the MTC UE may be conducted in one of the following options.

On the one hand, the MTC may be in (i.e. tuned to) its assigned dedicated (e.g. off-center) resource chunk for the terminal-specific subframes, and the MTC UE may be in (i.e. tuned to) the common (e.g. center) resource chunk for the configured common signaling subframes. Namely, the monitoring of the common control signaling may be terminated and a current resource chunk is switched from the common resource chunk to the dedicated resource chunk at the end of a common signaling subframe. Thereby, there will be no ambiguity on the MTC UE frequency position at any time, but such terminal behavior would suffer from less flexibility as compared with the below behavior.

On the other hand, the MTC may be in (i.e. tuned to) its assigned dedicated (e.g. off-center) resource chunk for the terminal-specific subframes, and the MTC UE may be in (i.e. tuned to) the common (e.g. center) resource chunk or the terminal-specific subframes for the configured common signaling subframes. Namely, a current resource chunk is switched from the common resource chunk to the dedicated resource chunk depending on the terminal's needs in terms of detection (receipt) of common control signal, i.e. the MTC UE may stay in the common signaling subframe as long as no common signaling is detected/received. Or, stated in other words, the monitoring of the common control signaling may be terminated and a current resource chunk is switched from the common resource chunk to the dedicated resource chunk upon (correct/successful) detection (or receipt) of common control signaling in the common resource chunk.

By way of the above-outlined operations according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a discontinuous reception (DRX) operation is applied for common control signaling scheduling/monitoring.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, such discontinuous reception (DRX) operation may be defined by virtue of a specific PDCCH definition. Such specific PDCCH definition may be such that a PDCCH subframe for a narrow-band terminal should only include the downlink subframe/s and/or the subframe/s include a downlink pilot time slot (DwPTS), among which transmission of dedicated downlink data is expected. Namely, the terminal- specific subframes may be configured to comprise physical downlink control channel subframes including downlink subframes and downlink pilot time slot subframes.

The PDCCH subframe for a MTC UE may be configured by a network device such as the eNB. Firstly, such configuration is specifically useful for the case that the MTC UE in the common signaling subframes only detects the common search space (CSS). Such case would be in contrast to the common assumption, in which a terminal in common signaling subframes would detect both the common search space (CSS) and the UE-specific search space (USS), while a terminal in terminal-specific subframes would detect only the UE-specific search space (USS). However, restriction of the terminal to detect only the CSS in the common signaling subframes is effective in terms of reduction in power consumption. Secondly, such configuration is specifically useful for an uncertain time window in the position (tuning) of the terminal in the case that the terminal could reside in both the common resource chunk and the dedicated resource chunk in the common signaling subframes, as indicated above. In particularly, this applies when the eNB will not schedule transmission of dedicated downlink data in such uncertain time window.

Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a third example of a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 4, addition to the scheduling/monitoring operations as illustrated in Figure 2, a corresponding procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprises an operation of signaling a common resource chunk indicator from the terminal to the network device upon start or determination of possibility of the monitoring of the common control signaling in the common resource chunk and detecting the same at the network device, and an operation of signaling a dedicated resource chunk indicator from the terminal to the network device upon start or determination of possibility of the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data in the dedicated resource chunk or upon determination of impossibility of decoding detected common control signaling for a predetermined period and detecting the same at the network device. Based on such signaling of indicators, the respective scheduling/monitoring operations are performed accordingly. Namely, the common control signaling is scheduled/monitored upon/after such common resource chunk indicator, and the dedicated downlink data is scheduled/monitored upon/after such common resource chunk indicator.

Namely, the MTC UE may inform the eNB that it is back in (i.e. tuned to) to the common (e.g. center) resource chunk. This indication may be made by the common resource chunk indicator such as a common band indicator (CBI), which indicates that the terminal starts monitoring or has the possibility of monitoring common control signaling in the common resource chunk. Further, the MTC UE may inform the eNB when it leaves the common (e.g. center) resource chunk and is ready to receive in the UE- specific resource chunk. This indication may be made by the dedicated resource chunk indicator such as an UE-specific chunk indicator (USI), which indicates that the terminal starts monitoring or has the possibility of monitoring downlink data in the dedicated resource chunk, or that it is (determined to be) impossible for the terminal to decode detected common control signaling for a predetermined period.

In the later case, the resource chunk indicator such as the UE-specific chunk indicator (USI) may be defined as an indication from the UE which is not able to successfully decode e.g. SIBs after some certain duration e.g. after start of modification period (e.g. 100ms). Thereby, the signaling of the resource chunk indicator such as the UE-specific chunk indicator (USI) may be reduced. Further, the signaling of any such assistance indicator (e.g. CBI, USI) may be reduced in that the signaling of the indication e.g. of CBI or USI may be enabled/disabled for each terminal, i.e. on an UE individual basis.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, signaling of the common resource chunk indicator such as the common band indicator (CBI) and/or signaling of the dedicated resource chunk indicator such as the UE-specific chunk indicator (USI) may be conducted or supported by RRC or MAC or LI signaling .

By way of the above-outlined operations according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a dynamic indication using terminal- originated assistance information is applied for common control signaling scheduling/monitoring.

For different types of common control signaling, the above-outlined operations according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention may imply the following.

For RAR-type common control signaling, the MTC UE may send CBI to the eNB after sending the RACH.

For paging-type common control signaling, the eNB/UE may assume CSF for any paging occasion (PO) configured. Yet, it would also be feasible to apply an operation as explained in connection with Figure 3 above. For SIB-type common control signaling, for each start of a modification period when there is an SI update, the eNB may assume that the MTC UE will go to the common (e.g. center) resource chunk at the start of a new modification period. The MTC UE may send a corresponding indicator to the eNB when it leaves the common (e.g. center) resource chunk and is ready to receive in the dedicated resource chunk. For SI reception, it may be considered that, even if there is no paging for an update (for example, because the MTC UE may also read SI to check if there is an update of the system information), the MTC UE may indicate e.g. CBI or e.g. USI to inform the eNB about its behavior for such occasion.

The various operations according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as explained in connection with any one of Figures 2 to 4, offer different levels of tradeoff between flexibility and constraints among the MTC UE and the eNB. In the following, some comparison in this regard is made. Such comparison is only for the purpose of illustration and guidance, without claiming completeness. While the operations according to Figure 2, especially relating to common PRB definition, are simplest in terms of implementation, they are not feasible under certain conditions, e.g. if the MTC UE is operable within the 1.4 MHz bandwidth only. For the subsequent comparison of the operations according to Figures 3 and 4, the following assumptions are made.

The number of radio frames for a modification period length is equal to modificationPeriodCoeff(2, 4, 8, 16) * defaultPagingCycle(rf 32, rf64, rfl28, rf256). The minimum is 64 radio frames, and the maximum is 4096 radio frames, when system information change and the MTC UE needs to acquire new SIBs.

The possible CSFs for MIB are all subframes with SF#0. The possible CSFs for SIBlare all subframes with SF#5. Other SIBs depend on SI window and SI periodicity as follows: Si-Periodicity: {rf8, rfl6, rf32, rf64, rfl28, rf256, rf512}, SI-WindowLength : {msl, ms2, ms5, mslO, msl5, ms20,ms40},

The worst case could be that all subframes are CSF, while the best case could be that all SIBs (other than SIB1 and MIB) take less than 1% of the subframes acting as CSF. In such extreme case, a newly accessing MTC UE might however have a problem. If taking medium values, it may be assumed that around 15% of the subframes may be needed for the SIBs (other than SIB1 and MIB).

For paging-type common control signaling, FDD's possible CSF may be SF#0, SF#4, SF#5 and SF#9, while TDD's possible CSF may be SF#0, SF#1, SF#5 and SF#6. In this regard, it is assumed that for each DRX cycle, there could be just on PO. For RAR-type common control signaling, the RAR's possible CSF may be all subframes after start of the RACH procedure, until the eNB configures a new frequency resource chunk. Next, the USF opportunities are analyzed for the operations according to Figures 3 and 4, i.e. the probability or number of UE-specific subframes as compared with common signaling subframes.

When assuming that 15% of the subframes are for SIBs other than MIB and SIBl, and when assuming 4 downlink subframes per 10ms for CSF for SIBl/ IB/paging, the possible USF is reduced to 0.85% * 6/10 = 50% of total downlink subframes for FDD MTC UE, and to 0.85% * 2/6 = 28% of total downlink subframes for TDD MTC UE for the subframe configuration according to Figure 3 without the further (time domain pattern) restriction. The subframe configuration according to Figure 3 with the further (time domain pattern) restriction can further improve the USF opportunity, but only at the cost of MTC UE performance degradation, for example that the MTC UE may miss some SIB message, might take longer to decode all SIBs after SI change as compared with a normal (legacy) UE, etc. Besides, the MTC UE needs to tune quite frequently on the common resource chunk (e.g. in the center) or the dedicated resource chunk (e.g. off the center) when USF/CSF is scattered over time. But such operation is quite simple and does not need any signaling. That is, it may be needed to retune the PDSCH reception chunk frequently.

For the operation according to Figure 4, when assuming that most of the MTC UEs can complete SIB acquisition successfully after 100ms after start of a new modification period, and paging POs can be restricted to take place only once in one DRX cycle, and when assuming a modification period of 512 radio frames (just taking a medium value), the USF for the MTC UE (both FDD and TDD) can be (1-100/5120) = 98% of total downlink subframes. This is a significantly higher USF opportunity than with the operations according to Figure 3, but at cost of some signaling. According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, various operations are presented, as explained in connection with any one of Figures 2 to 4. Any one of these operations according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention is capable of ensuring that both a narrow-band terminal and a network device have a corresponding understanding about the resource chunk which is monitored by the narrowband terminal at any time, i.e. to which frequency range the narrow-band terminal is tuned for downlink reception purposes at any time. Thereby, the above-mentioned ambiguity in connection with downlink transmission of common control signaling and/or dedicated downlink data is resolved by any one of these operations according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

Hereinafter, issues relating to downlink transmission of common control signaling and/or dedicated control signaling to terminals with reduced downlink bandwidth, especially when being configurable to off-center resource chunks, such as for example MTC terminals for wireless communication systems, are specifically addressed. As mentioned above, the situation for referenced bandwidth reduction options (ii) and (iii) would be that a terminal could freely switch its RF to anywhere within the (entire) carrier bandwidth, but could only receive a restricted bandwidth and send to baseband to process it. In such case, one problem would be that, before a terminal is assigned its dedicated location of receive bandwidth range in the (entire) carrier bandwidth, i.e. its dedicated resource chunk for reception of downlink transmissions, all terminals will need to operate on a fixed or predefined receive location such as an originally configured resource chunk for signaling and data reception. In order to achieve compatibility e.g. between MTC UEs and normal (legacy) UEs, a network device such as an eNB or any other kind of base station or access node has to send all transmissions, including both common control signaling and dedicated control signaling, for both MTC UEs and normal (legacy) UEs on the same narrow band resource such as a center resource chunk within a carrier bandwidth or a sub-band thereof. Such situation specifically occurs at the beginning of operation or transmission of a specific terminal, for example in the context of a random access (RA) procedure. In the exemplary context of a random access (RA) procedure, a corresponding problem could be outlined as follows.

In the beginning, all narrow-band MTC UEs (as well as all legacy UEs) need a fixed or pre-defined (narrow-band) frequency resource before accessing a communication network or system and are to be configured to another receive location e.g. for dedicated downlink data for load balance. After low- a MTC UE finds a target cell, it will at least need to read MIB, SIB-1, SIB-2 to camp on the cell. To this end, the eNB will need to schedule the SIB- 1/2 on the initial receive location, i.e. the originally configured resource chunk for signaling and data reception, to make sure that the MTC UE could receive it. Both MTC UEs and legacy UEs will do random access on the configured PRACH resource in SIB-2, i.e. on the same resource chunk. During contention-based RA, the eNB will need to transmit (i.e. to send the messages Msg2 as well as Msg4) on the common initial narrow band (i.e. the originally configured resource chunk) to make sure that all UEs could receive it because the eNB could not know which UE is performing RA procedure in this case.

For other downlink data/signaling in the initial receive location, the congestion problem may not be very severe because those are all common control signaling. So, all kinds of terminals will be able to receive and decode such common control signaling, and it is likely that those downlink data/signaling will not be transmitted simultaneously. However, e.g. for the message Msg4 in the RA procedure, which represents a UE-dedicated control signaling, a PDCCH and a PDSCH will be needed for each UE, respectively. In the given case, a congestion problem will surely happen because the message Msg4 will need at least one PRB for each UE and the number of MTC UEs is assumed to be large. Further, there could be also other common control signaling needed to be transmitted in the initial receive location (i.e. the originally configured resource chunk) which will further increase the load in the given narrow-band resource such as the common or center chunk. In case the eNB could not send the message Msg4 in time due to the congestion, there will be more random access failures and radio link failures caused, which will further increase the number of random access attempts and may further deteriorate the overall system performance. Accordingly, there results some congestion-related problem for all kinds of common control signaling, including for example SIB, paging, RAR, or the like.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, such problem is addressed by ensuring that the network device is aware of downlink bandwidth characteristics of terminals such as narrow-band terminals.

Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a fourth example of a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. As shown in Figure 8, at a network equipment which is herein exemplified as a network device such as an eNB, a corresponding procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprises an operation of scheduling common control signaling for at least one terminal in at least one resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth, an operation of detecting a terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication from said at least one terminal, and an operation of scheduling dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal in at least one resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth according to the common control signaling and the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication. As shown in Figure 5, at a terminal such as a (MTC) UE, a corresponding procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprises an operation of monitoring at least one resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling from the network equipment, an operation of signaling a terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication to the network equipment, and an operation of monitoring at least one resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for dedicated control signaling from the network equipment according to the common control signaling from the network device and the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, dedicated control signaling for at least one terminal, for which no terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is detected, i.e. a terminal other than the illustrated UE, may be scheduled in at least one resource chunk other than the at least one resource chunk in the second sub-band of the downlink carrier bandwidth, in which the dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal is scheduled, for which the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is detected. Thereby, dedicated control signaling for legacy (normal) UEs which are operable in the entire carrier bandwidth could be offloaded from the restricted downlink bandwidth of a narrow-band MTC UE or the like.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, referring to the above example scenario of a RA procedure, the common control signaling according to Figure 5 may be (included in) a message Msg2, the UE-specific downlink bandwidth indication according to Figure 5 be (included in) a message Msg3, and the dedicated control signaling according to Figure 5 may be (included in) a message Msg4. While Msgl may be a random access preamble or the like, Msg2 may be a random access response or the like, Msg3 may be a connection request, a measurement report, an ACK/IMACK message or the like, and Msg4 may be a contention resolution message or the like. According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the way of indicating terminal-specific downlink bandwidth reduction information could vary depending on various factors, such as e.g. the reason why a terminal in question triggers a contention-based random access procedure.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication may be to inform the eNB of the fact that the MTC UE only has reduced bandwidth capability. Namely, the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication may be indicative of a reduced downlink bandwidth capability of the at least one terminal for the monitoring of resource chunks, and the dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal may be scheduled in at least one preconfigured initial resource chunk, while dedicated control signaling for terminals other than the at least one terminal may be scheduled in resource chunks other than the at least one preconfigured initial resource chunk.

Such terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication may comprise a predefined indicator or a specific subscriber identity out of a predefined value range or a specific (e.g. system architecture evolution) temporary mobile subscriber identity out of a predefined value range.

As an example of such predefined indicator, the MTC UE could include an indicator, e.g. a character string, a number or the like, with one or two bit(s), for example in the message Msg3. In such case, the MTC UE will still try to receive the Msg4 and the following other downlink transmissions in the initial receive location (i.e. the originally configured common resource chunk) until a bandwidth configuration or the like is received as dedicated control signaling. The eNB could flexibly transmit the Msg4 and the following other downlink transmissions for other UEs which do not include such indicator e.g. in Msg3, i.e. legacy UEs, in different (e.g. off-center) resource chunks other than the initial receive location for MTC UEs such as the common (e.g. center) resource chunk.

For the exemplary case of initial access, the MTC UE will transmit some CCCH signaling to the eNB. In this case, the MTC UE could add some few bits in the RC signaling and report to the eNB. This may require some change to the minimum grant size for the Msg3, which currently is 56 bits. But given the fact that the increase number will be very small (i.e. 1 or 2 bit(s)) which will not (significantly) affect the resource allocation, such increase should be quite negligible.

As an example of such specific subscriber identity out of a predefined value range, the MTC UE could e.g. for the initial access case, randomly select an S-TMSI from a subset of a predefined value range of S-TMSI values such as a set of all possible S-TMSI values. The defined value range of S-TMSIs for MTC UEs should be small enough compared to the total range because legacy UEs may still possibly select the same value by accident, but the eNB will always send the Msg4 and the following other downlink transmissions in the initial receive location (i.e. the originally configured common resource chunk) until a bandwidth configuration or the like is received as dedicated control signaling. The defined value range of S-TMSIs for MTC UEs should be large enough to guarantee that a value collision probability among MTC UEs is low enough. The eNB could set another S-TMSI value to any MTC UE right after the initial access, if deemed appropriate, required or preferable.

For example, MTC UEs may randomly select the S-TMSI (having 40 bits) within the range from 0 to 2^Λ 10-1 or the range from 0 to 2^Λ20-1 or the range from 0 to 2^Λ15-1 (out of the total possible range from 0 to 2 40-1), in which case legacy UEs will have a probability of less than 0.000001% or 0.001% or 0.00003% for not choosing such range, respectively. So, the eNB will be able to estimate or assume that, if the received S-TMSI in RRC signaling such as in a RRC connection request falls into such range, it is probably a MTC UE signaling this indication. According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication may be to assist/support the eNB to decide about a transmission resource allocation for dedicated control signaling for the MTC UE. Namely, the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication may be indicative of a downlink bandwidth range of the at least one terminal, in which the at least one resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated control signaling is located, and the dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal may be scheduled in the indicated downlink bandwidth range, while dedicated control signaling for terminals other than the at least one terminal may be scheduled in a downlink bandwidth range other than indicated downlink bandwidth range.

Such terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication may comprise an index of the at least one resource chunk and/or at least one subframe in the at least one resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated control signaling.

That is to say, the MTC UE could suggest a resource location (i.e. a dedicated resource chunk for scheduling and monitoring of dedicated control signaling such as the message Msg4 and following other downlink transmissions). In this regard, the intended reception location (i.e. the dedicated resource chunk) could be indexed beforehand or could be predefined. The eNB could include a request for such resource location suggestion from the MTC UE e.g. in the message Msg2, e.g. by using the reserved bit in the RAR exemplifying Msg2. For example, a pre-defined resource location could be used, if the reserved bit in the RAR it set to "1", or a set reserved bit in the RAR could mean that the eNB will follow the MTC UE's resource location suggestion (if any). The MTC UE could randomly select one of (available) subframes e.g. with uniform probability. The eNB could further balance the load of transmissions of dedicated control signaling, e.g. different messages Msg4, to individual MTC UEs among the MTC UEs, if there is are many of such devices trying to access the communication network or system. After receiving the dedicated control signaling such as the message Msg4, any MTC UE may try to receive dedicated downlink data in the same resource allocation (i.e. the dedicated resource chunk) until it is configured to perform monitoring/reception in another resource location or chunk.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the at least one resource chunk for the scheduling/monitoring of the dedicated control signaling may be defined on the basis of at least one resource chunk and/or at least one physical resource block in the at least one resource chunk for the signaling of the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication.

Namely, the elMB could use some predefined implicit linkage between an uplink transmission resource location e.g. for the message Msg3, and a downlink reception resource location e.g. for Msg4. Once the MTC UE receives the uplink grant for the message (e.g. Msg3) which is to include the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication, e.g. in the message Msg2, it could implicitly know that the following dedicated control signaling (e.g. in the message Msg4) and the following other downlink transmissions will be transmitted on which sub-band or resource chunk thereof until a bandwidth configuration or the like is received as dedicated control signaling. In this regard, the lowest index of the PRB for Msg3 and the number of the sub-band which was defined for MTC UEs with reduced bandwidth capability could be used. For example, a possible formula for such calculation could be as follows;

Index of downlink sub-band = (Lowest PRB index for Msg3) modulo (number of the defined sub-band) According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, various operations are presented, as explained in connection with Figure 5. Any one of these operations according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention is capable of ensuring that a network device is aware of downlink bandwidth characteristics of terminals such as narrow-band terminals. Thereby, the above-mentioned congestion-related problem in connection with downlink transmission of common control signaling and/or dedicated control signaling is resolved by any one of these operations according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Further, scheduling complexity for dedicated control signaling may be mitigated at the network device, thus balancing the load of dedicated control signaling to avoid congestion due to the narrow bandwidth of respective terminals, and reducing the probability of a random access failure and/or radio link failure due to congestion in terms of reception of common and/or dedicated control signaling at respective terminals. Generally, the above-described procedures and functions may be implemented by respective functional elements, processors, or the like, as described below. While in the foregoing exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described mainly with reference to methods, procedures and functions, corresponding exemplary embodiments of the present invention also cover respective apparatuses, network nodes and systems, including both software and/or hardware thereof.

Respective exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described below referring to Figure 6, while for the sake of brevity reference is made to the detailed description with regard to Figures 1 to 5. In Figure 6 below, which is noted to represent a simplified block diagram, the solid line blocks are basically configured to perform respective operations as described above. The entirety of solid line blocks are basically configured to perform the methods and operations as described above, respectively. With respect to Figure 6, it is to be noted that the individual blocks are meant to illustrate respective functional blocks implementing a respective function, process or procedure, respectively. Such functional blocks are implementation-independent, i.e. may be implemented by means of any kind of hardware or software, respectively. The arrows and lines interconnecting individual blocks are meant to illustrate an operational coupling there-between, which may be a physical and/or logical coupling, which on the one hand is implementation-independent (e.g. wired or wireless) and on the other hand may also comprise an arbitrary number of intermediary functional entities not shown. The direction of arrow is meant to illustrate the direction in which certain operations are performed and/or the direction in which certain data is transferred.

Further, in Figure 6, only those functional blocks are illustrated, which relate to any one of the above-described methods, procedures and functions. A skilled person will acknowledge the presence of any other conventional functional blocks required for an operation of respective structural arrangements, such as e.g. a power supply, a central processing unit, respective memories or the like. Among others, memories are provided for storing programs or program instructions for controlling the individual functional entities to operate as described herein.

In view of the above, the thus illustrated apparatuses 10 and 20 are suitable for use in practicing the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as described herein.

The thus illustrated apparatus 10 may represent a (part of an) apparatus operable as or in a network device, e.g. a base station or access node such as an elMB or a modem thereof (which may be installed as part thereof, but may also be a separate module, which can be attached to various devices, as described above), and may be configured to perform a procedure and/or functionality as described in conjunction with any one of Figures 1 to 5. The thus illustrated apparatus 20 may represent a (part of an) apparatus operable as or in a terminal having reduced downlink bandwidth, especially being configurable to off-center resource chunks, e.g. a MTC terminal, mobile station, user equipment or a modem thereof (which may be installed as part thereof, but may also be a separate module, which can be attached to various devices, as described above), and may be configured to perform a procedure and/or functionality as described in conjunction with any one of Figures 1 to 5.

As indicated in Figure 6, according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, each of the apparatuses comprises at least one processor 11/22, at least one memory 12/22 and at least one interface 13/23, which are connected by a bus 14/24 or the like, and the apparatuses may be connected via a (e.g. wired or wireless) link 30. The link 30 may be a physical and/or logical coupling, which on the one hand is implementation- independent and on the other hand may also comprise an arbitrary number of intermediary functional entities not shown in Figure 6 (such as a relay or the like).

The processor 11/21 and/or the interface 13/23 may be facilitated for communication over a (hardwire or wireless) link, respectively. The interface 13/23 may comprise a suitable receiver or a suitable transmitter- receiver combination or transceiver, which is coupled to one or more antennas or communication means for (hardwire or wireless) communications with the linked or connected device(s), respectively. The interface 13/23 is generally configured to communicate with another apparatus, i.e. the interface thereof.

The memory 12/22 may store respective programs assumed to include program instructions or computer program code that, when executed by the respective processor, enables the respective electronic device or apparatus to operate in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

In general terms, the respective devices/apparatuses (and/or parts thereof) may represent means for performing respective operations and/or exhibiting respective functionalities, and/or the respective devices (and/or parts thereof) may have functions for performing respective operations and/or exhibiting respective functionalities. When in the subsequent description it is stated that the processor (or some other means) is configured to perform some function, this is to be construed to be equivalent to a description stating that at least one processor, potentially in cooperation with computer program code stored in the memory of the respective apparatus, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform at least the thus mentioned function. Also, such function is to be construed to be equivalently imp!ementable by specifically configured means for performing the respective function (i.e. the expression "processor configured to [cause the apparatus to] perform xxx-ing" is construed to be equivalent to an expression such as "means for xxx-ing"). According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the two apparatuses with are to cooperate with each other may be configured as follows. On the one hand, the processor (i.e. the at least one processor 11, with the at least one memory 12 and the computer program code) of the apparatus 10 may be configured to perform scheduling common control signaling for at least one terminal in at least one common resource chunk in a first sub- band of a downlink carrier bandwidth, and scheduling dedicated downlink data for said at least one terminal in at least one dedicated resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth according to the common control signaling, and the processor (i.e. the at least one processor 21, with the at least one memory 22 and the computer program code) may be configured to perform monitoring at least one common resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling from a network equipment, and monitoring at least one dedicated resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for dedicated downlink data from the network equipment according to the common control signaling from the network equipment. Thereby, an operation according to any one of Figures 2 to 4 may be realized.

In this case, as outlined above, the individual apparatuses may be configured such that:

- the common control signaling is scheduled/monitored in at least one physical resource block in the at least one common resource chunk, and/or

- common signaling subframes for the monitoring of the common control signaling and terminal-specific subframes for the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data are configured, and/or

- the monitoring of the common control signaling is terminated and a current resource chunk is switched from the common resource chunk to the dedicated resource chunk at the end of a common signaling subframe or upon detection of common control signaling in the common resource chunk, and/or

- signaling of a common resource chunk indicator from the terminal to the network equipment is conducted upon start or determination of possibility of the monitoring of the common control signaling in the common resource chunk, and signaling of a dedicated resource chunk indicator from the terminal to the network equipment is conducted upon start or determination of possibility of the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data in the dedicated resource chunk or upon determination of impossibility of decoding detected common control signaling for a predetermined period.

On the other hand, the processor (i.e. the at least one processor 11, with the at least one memory 12 and the computer program code) may be configured to perform scheduling common control signaling for at least one terminal in at least one resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth, detecting a terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication from said at least one terminal, and scheduling dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal in at least one resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth according to the common control signaling and the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication, and the processor (i.e. the at least one processor 21, with the at least one memory 22 and the computer program code) may be configured to perform monitoring at least one resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling from a network equipment, signaling a terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication to the network equipment, and monitoring at least one resource chunk in a second sub- band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for dedicated control signaling from the network equipment according to the common control signaling from the network equipment and the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication. Thereby, an operation according Figure 5 may be realized.

- dedicated control signaling for at least one terminal, for which no terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is detected, is scheduled in at least one resource chunk other than the at least one resource chunk in the second sub-band of the downlink carrier bandwidth, in which the dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal is scheduled, for which the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is detected, and/or

- the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is indicative of a reduced downlink bandwidth capability of a terminal for the monitoring of resource chunks, and/or

- the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication comprises a predefined indicator or a specific subscriber identity out of a predefined value range or a specific system architecture evolution temporary mobile subscriber identity out of a predefined value range, and/or

- the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is indicative of a downlink bandwidth range of a terminal, in which the at least one resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated control signaling is located, and/or

- the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication comprises an index of the at least one resource chunk and/or at least one subframe in the at least one resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated control signaling, and/or

- at least one resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated control signaling is defined on the basis of at least one resource chunk and/or at least one physical resource block in the at least one resource chunk for the signaling of the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication.

For further details of specifics regarding functionalities according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, reference is made to the foregoing description in conjunction with Figures 1 to 5s.

According to exemplarily embodiments of the present invention, a system may comprise any conceivable combination of the thus depicted devices/apparatuses and other network elements, which are configured to cooperate as described above.

In general, it is to be noted that respective functional blocks or elements according to above-described aspects can be implemented by any known means, either in hardware and/or software, respectively, if it is only adapted to perform the described functions of the respective parts. The mentioned method steps can be realized in individual functional blocks or by individual devices, or one or more of the method steps can be realized in a single functional block or by a single device.

Generally, any structural means such as a processor or other circuitry may refer to one or more of the following : (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and (b) combinations of circuits and software (and/or firmware), such as (as applicable) : (i) a combination of processor(s) or (ii) portions of processor(s)/software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and (c) circuits, such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that require software or firmware for operation, even if the software or firmware is not physically present. Also, it may also cover an implementation of merely a processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware, any integrated circuit, or the like. Generally, any procedural step or functionality is suitable to be implemented as software or by hardware without changing the idea of the present invention. Such software may be software code independent and can be specified using any known or future developed programming language, such as e.g. Java, C++, C, and Assembler, as long as the functionality defined by the method steps is preserved. Such hardware may be hardware type independent and can be implemented using any known or future developed hardware technology or any hybrids of these, such as MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor), CMOS (Complementary MOS), BiMOS (Bipolar MOS), BiCMOS (Bipolar CMOS), ECL (Emitter Coupled Logic), TTL (Transistor- Transistor Logic), etc., using for example ASIC (Application Specific IC (Integrated Circuit)) components, FPGA (Field-programmable Gate Arrays) components, CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device) components or DSP (Digital Signal Processor) components. A device/apparatus may be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, system in package, or a (hardware) module comprising such chip or chipset; this, however, does not exclude the possibility that a functionality of a device/apparatus or module, instead of being hardware implemented, be implemented as software in a (software) module such as a computer program or a computer program product comprising executable software code portions for execution/being run on a processor. A device may be regarded as a device/apparatus or as an assembly of more than one device/apparatus, whether functionally in cooperation with each other or functionally independently of each other but in a same device housing, for example. Apparatuses and/or means or parts thereof can be implemented as individual devices, but this does not exclude that they may be implemented in a distributed fashion throughout the system, as long as the functionality of the device is preserved. Such and similar principles are to be considered as known to a skilled person.

Software in the sense of the present description comprises software code as such comprising code means or portions or a computer program or a computer program product for performing the respective functions, as well as software (or a computer program or a computer program product) embodied on a tangible medium such as a computer-readable (storage) medium having stored thereon a respective data structure or code means/portions or embodied in a signal or in a chip, potentially during processing thereof. The present invention also covers any conceivable combination of method steps and operations described above, and any conceivable combination of nodes, apparatuses, modules or elements described above, as long as the above-described concepts of methodology and structural arrangement are applicable.

In view of the above, the present invention and/or exemplary embodiments thereof provide measures for realizing control signaling approaches for terminals with reduced downlink bandwidth, such as for example machine type communication terminals for wireless communication systems. Such measures may exemplarily comprise, at a terminal side, monitoring different resource chunks in a sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling and dedicated downlink data from a network device and, at a network side, scheduling common control signaling and dedicated downlink data for at least one terminal in different resource chunks in the sub-band of the downlink carrier bandwidth.

Even though the present invention and/or exemplary embodiments are described above with reference to the examples according to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that they are not restricted thereto. Rather, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be modified in many ways without departing from the scope of the inventive idea as disclosed herein.

List of acronyms and abbreviations

3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

CBI Common Band Indicator

CCCH Common control Channel

CSF Common Signaling Subframe

CSS Common Search Space

DRX Discontinuous Reception

DTX Discontinuous Transmission

DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot

eIMB evolved Node B (E-UTRAN base station)

E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

FDD Frequency Division Duplex

GPRS General Packet Radio Service

GSM Global System for Mobile Communication

LI Layer 1 (in the OSO reference model)

LTE Long Term Evolution

LTE-A Long Term Evolution Advanced

MAC Medium Access Control

MIB Master Information Block

Msgx x-th message in the RA procedure

MTC Machine Type Communication OSI Open Systems Interconnection

PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

PO Paging Occasion

PRACH Physical Random Access Channel

PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel

PRB Physical Resource Block

RA Random Access

RACH Random Access Channel

RAN Radio Access Network

RAR Random Access Response

RAT Radio Access Technology

RF Radio Frequency

RRC Radio Resource Control

SAE System Architecture Evolution

SIB System Information Block

SF Subframe

S-TMSI SAE Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity

TDD Time Division Duplex

UE User Equipment

USF UE-specific subframe

USI UE-specific Chunk Indicator

uss UE-specific Search Space

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method comprising

monitoring at least one common resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling from a network equipment, and

monitoring at least one dedicated resource chunk in a second sub- band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for dedicated downlink data from the network equipment according to the common control signaling from the network equipment.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the monitoring of the common control signaling is conducted in at least one physical resource block in the at least one common resource chunk, and/or

at least one physical resource block in the at least one common resource chunk for the monitoring of the common control signaling is overlapping with at least one physical resource block in the at least one dedicated resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data, and/or

the at least one common resource chunk is a center resource chunk in the center of said first sub-band or a non-center resource chunk other than a center resource chunk in the center of said first sub-band.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising

configuring common signaling subframes for the monitoring of the common control signaling, said common signaling subframes comprising the subframes, in which common control signaling from the network equipment is possible, and

configuring terminal-specific subframes for the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data, said terminal-specific subframes comprising the subframes other than the common signaling subframes.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising configuring common signaling subframes for the monitoring of the common control signaling, said common signaling subframes comprising the subframes, in which common control signaling from the network equipment is possible, and which have a specific index with a specific periodicity, and configuring terminal-specific subframes for the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data, said terminal-specific subframes comprising the subframes other than the common signaling subframes,

wherein the specific index with the specific periodicity for the common signaling subframes is configured for a specific terminal or a specific group of terminals.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein

the monitoring of the common control signaling is conducted in the common signaling subframes in the at least one common resource chunk, and the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data is conducted in the terminal-specific subframes in the at least one dedicated resource chunk, and/or

the monitoring of the common control signaling is terminated and a current resource chunk is switched from the common resource chunk to the dedicated resource chunk at the end of a common signaling subframe or upon detection of common control signaling in the common resource chunk, and/or

the terminal-specific subframes are configured to comprise physical downlink control channel subframes including downlink subframes and downlink pilot time slot subframes.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising signaling a common resource chunk indicator to the network equipment upon start or determination of possibility of the monitoring of the common control signaling in the common resource chunk, and

signaling a dedicated resource chunk indicator to the network equipment upon start or determination of possibility of the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data in the dedicated resource chunk or upon determination of impossibility of decoding detected common control signaling for a predetermined period.

7. The method according to any one claims 1 to 6, wherein

the method is operable at or by a terminal, machine type communication terminal, user equipment or modem, which has reduced downlink bandwidth, and/or

the common control signaling comprises at least one of system information block, random access response, paging, and/or

the monitoring of the common control signaling in the common resource chunk is started upon triggering, paging, random access initiation, or at a start timing of a new system information modification period.

8. A method comprising

scheduling common control signaling for at least one terminal in at least one common resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth, and

scheduling dedicated downlink data for said at least one terminal in at least one dedicated resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth according to the common control signaling,

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein

the common control signaling is scheduled in at least one physical resource block in the at least one common resource chunk, and/or

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, further comprising

configuring common signaling subframes for the scheduling of the common control signaling, said common signaling subframes comprising the subframes, in which common control signaling for the at least one terminal is possible, and

configuring terminal-specific subframes for the scheduling of the dedicated downlink data, said terminal-specific subframes comprising the subframes other than the common signaling subframes.

11. The method according to claim 8 or 9, further comprising

configuring common signaling subframes for the scheduling of the common control signaling, said common signaling subframes comprising the subframes, in which common control signaling for the at least one terminal is possible, and which have a specific index with a specific periodicity, and configuring terminal-specific subframes for the scheduling of the dedicated downlink data, said terminal-specific subframes comprising the subframes other than the common signaling subframes,

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein

the common control signaling is scheduled in the common signaling subframes in the at least one common resource chunk, and the dedicated downlink data is scheduled in the terminal-specific subframes in the at least one dedicated resource chunk, and/or

13. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, further comprising detecting a common resource chunk indicator from the at least one terminal, which indicates start or determination of possibility of the monitoring of the common control signaling in the common resource chunk at the at least terminal, and starting the scheduling of the common control signaling in the common resource chunk upon said detection, and

detecting a dedicated resource chunk indicator from the at least one terminal, which indicates start or determination of possibility of the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data in the dedicated resource chunk or determination of impossibility of decoding detected common control signaling for a predetermined period at the at least terminal, and starting the scheduling of the dedicated downlink data in the dedicated resource chunk upon said detection.

14. The method according to any one claims 8 to 13, wherein

the method is operable at or by a network equipment, base station or access node, and/or

the at least one terminal is a terminal, machine type communication terminal, user equipment or modem, which has reduced downlink bandwidth, and/or

15. A method comprising

monitoring at least one resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downiink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling from a network equipment,

signaling a terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication to the network equipment, and

monitoring at least one resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for dedicated control signaling from the network equipment according to the common control signaling from the network equipment and the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein

the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is indicative of a reduced downlink bandwidth capability of a terminal for the monitoring of resource chunks, and/or

the terminal-specific downiink bandwidth indication comprises a predefined indicator or a specific subscriber identity out of a predefined value range or a specific system architecture evolution temporary mobile subscriber identity out of a predefined value range.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein

the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is indicative of a downlink bandwidth range of a terminal, in which the at least one resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated control signaling is located, and/or

the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication comprises an index of the at least one resource chunk and/or at least one subframe in the at least one resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated control signaling.

18. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein the at least one resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated control signaling is defined on the basis of at least one resource chunk and/or at least one physical resource block in the at least one resource chunk for the signaling of the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication.

19. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein

the method is operable in a random access procedure of a terminal, the common control signaling is included in a second message of a random access procedure,

the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is included in a third message of a random access procedure,

the dedicated control signaling is included in a fourth message of a random access procedure, and/or

the dedicated control signaling is transmitted in at least one physical resource block on a physical downlink control channel or a physical downlink shared channel.

20. The method according to any one claims 15 to 19, wherein

the method is operable at or by a terminal, machine type communication terminal, user equipment or modem, which has reduced downlink bandwidth, and/or the common control signaling comprises at least one of system information block and random access response.

21. A method comprising

scheduling common control signaling for at least one terminal in at least one resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth, detecting a terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication from said at least one terminal, and

scheduling dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal in at least one resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth according to the common control signaling and the terminal- specific downlink bandwidth indication.

22. The method according to claim 21, further comprising :

scheduling dedicated control signaling for at least one terminal, for which no terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is detected, in at least one resource chunk other than the at least one resource chunk in the second sub-band of the downlink carrier bandwidth, in which the dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal is scheduled, for which the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is detected.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, wherein

the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is indicative of a reduced downlink bandwidth capability of the at least one terminal for the monitoring of resource chunks, and/or the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication comprises a predefined indicator or a specific subscriber identity out of a predefined value range or a specific system architecture evolution temporary mobile subscriber identity out of a predefined value range, and

the dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal is scheduled in at least one preconfigured initial resource chunk, and dedicated control signaling for terminals other than the at least one terminal is scheduled in resource chunks other than the at least one preconfigured initial resource chunk.

24. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 23, wherein

the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is indicative of a downlink bandwidth range of the at least one terminal, in which the at least one resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated control signaling is located, and/or the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication comprises an index of the at least one resource chunk and/or at least one subframe in the at least one resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated control signaling, and

the dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal is scheduled in the indicated downlink bandwidth range, and dedicated control signaling for terminals other than the at least one terminal is scheduled in a downlink bandwidth range other than indicated downlink bandwidth range.

25, The method according to any one of claims 21 to 24, wherein the at least one resource chunk for the scheduling of the dedicated control signaling is defined on the basis of at least one resource chunk and/or at least one physical resource block in the at least one resource chunk for the detection of the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication.

26. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 25, wherein

the method is operable in a random access procedure of the at least one terminal,

the common control signaling is included in a second message of a random access procedure,

27. The method according to any one claims 21 to 26, wherein

the method is operable at or by a network equipment, base station or access node, and/or the at least one terminal is a terminal, machine type communication terminal, user equipment or modem, which has reduced downlink bandwidth, and/or

the common control signaling comprises at least one of system information block and random access response.

28. An apparatus comprising

at least one processor,

at least one memory including computer program code, and

at least one interface configured for communication with at least another apparatus,

the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, being configured to cause the apparatus to perform :

29. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein

the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to conduct the monitoring of the common control signaling in at least one physical resource block in the at least one common resource chunk, and/or

30. The apparatus according to claim 28 or 29, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform

31. The apparatus according to claim 28 or 29, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform

configuring common signaling subframes for the monitoring of the common control signaling, said common signaling subframes comprising the subframes, in which common control signaling from the network equipment is possible, and which have a specific index with a specific periodicity, and configuring terminal-specific subframes for the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data, said terminal-specific subframes comprising the subframes other than the common signaling subframes,

32. The apparatus according to claim 30 or 31, wherein

the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to conduct the monitoring of the common control signaling in the common signaling subframes in the at least one common resource chunk, and to conduct the monitoring of the dedicated downlink data in the terminal-specific subframes in the at least one dedicated resource chunk, and/or

wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to terminate the monitoring of the common control signaling and to switch a current resource chunk from the common resource chunk to the dedicated resource chunk at the end of a common signaling subframe or upon detection of common control signaling in the common resource chunk, and/or

33. The apparatus according to any one of claims 28 to 32, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform

signaling a common resource chunk indicator to the network equipment upon start or determination of possibility of the monitoring of the common control signaling in the common resource chunk, and

34. The apparatus according to any one claims 28 to 33, wherein

the apparatus is operable as or at a terminal, machine type communication terminal, user equipment or modem, which has reduced downlink bandwidth, and/or

An apparatus comprising

at least one processor,

at least one memory including computer program code, and at least one interface configured for communication with at least another apparatus,

scheduling dedicated downlink data for said at least one terminal in at least one dedicated resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth according to the common control signaling.

36. The apparatus according to claim 35, wherein

the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to schedule the common control signaling in at least one physical resource block in the at least one common resource chunk, and/or

37. The apparatus according to claim 35 or 36, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform

configuring common signaling subframes for the scheduling of the common control signaling, said common signaling subframes comprising the subframes, in which common control signaling for the at least one terminal is possible, and configuring terminal-specific subframes for the scheduling of the dedicated downlink data, said terminal-specific subframes comprising the subframes other than the common signaling subframes.

38. The apparatus according to claim 35 or 36, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform

39. The apparatus according to claim 37 or 38, wherein

the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to schedule the common control signaling in the common signaling subframes in the at least one common resource chunk, and the dedicated downlink data is scheduled in the terminal-specific subframes in the at least one dedicated resource chunk, and/or

40. The apparatus according to any one of claims 35 to 39, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform

detecting a common resource chunk indicator from the at least one terminal, which indicates start or determination of possibility of the monitoring of the common control signaling in the common resource chunk at the at least terminal, and starting the scheduling of the common control signaling in the common resource chunk upon said detection, and

41. The apparatus according to any one claims 35 to 40, wherein

the apparatus is operable as or at a network equipment, base station or access node, and/or

42. An apparatus comprising

at least one processor,

at least one memory including computer program code, and

the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, being configured to cause the apparatus to perform:

monitoring at least one resource chunk in a first sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for common control signaling from a network equipment,

signaling a terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication to the network equipment, and monitoring at least one resource chunk in a second sub-band of a downlink carrier bandwidth for dedicated control signaling from the network equipment according to the common control signaling from the network equipment and the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication.

43. The apparatus according to claim 42, wherein

the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication comprises a predefined indicator or a specific subscriber identity out of a predefined value range or a specific system architecture evolution temporary mobile subscriber identity out of a predefined value range.

44. The apparatus according to claim 42 or 43, wherein

45. The apparatus according to any one of claims 42 to 44, wherein the at least one resource chunk for the monitoring of the dedicated control signaling is defined on the basis of at least one resource chunk and/or at least one physical resource block in the at least one resource chunk for the signaling of the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication.

46. The apparatus according to any one of claims 42 to 45, wherein

the apparatus is operable in a random access procedure of a terminal, the common control signaling is included in a second message of a random access procedure, the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is included in a third message of a random access procedure,

47. The apparatus according to any one claims 42 to 46, wherein

48. An apparatus comprising

at least one processor,

at least one memory including computer program code, and

49. The apparatus according to claim 48, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform: scheduling dedicated control signaling for at least one terminal, for which no terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is detected, in at least one resource chunk other than the at least one resource chunk in the second sub-band of the downlink carrier bandwidth, in which the dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal is scheduled, for which the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication is detected.

50. The apparatus according to claim 48 or 49, wherein

the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, being configured to cause the apparatus to schedule the dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal in at least one preconfigured initial resource chunk, and to schedule dedicated control signaling for terminals other than the at least one terminal in resource chunks other than the at least one preconfigured initial resource chunk.

51. The apparatus according to any one of claims 48 to 50, wherein

the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, being configured to cause the apparatus to schedule the dedicated control signaling for the at least one terminal in the indicated downlink bandwidth range, and to schedule dedicated control signaling for terminals other than the at least one terminal in a downlink bandwidth range other than indicated downlink bandwidth range.

52. The apparatus according to any one of claims 48 to 51, wherein the at least one resource chunk for the scheduling of the dedicated control signaling is defined on the basis of at least one resource chunk and/or at least one physical resource block in the at least one resource chunk for the detection of the terminal-specific downlink bandwidth indication.

53. The apparatus according to any one of claims 48 to 52, wherein

the apparatus is operable in a random access procedure of the at least one terminal,

54. The apparatus according to any one claims 48 to 53, wherein

55. A computer program product comprising computer-executable computer program code which, when the program is run on a computer, is configured to cause the computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, 8 to 14, 15 to 20, or 21 to 27.

56. The computer program product according to claim 55, embodied as a computer-readable storage medium.