WO2017028889A1

WO2017028889A1 - Improving communication efficiency

Info

Publication number: WO2017028889A1
Application number: PCT/EP2015/068828
Authority: WO
Inventors: Timo Erkki Lunttila; Esa Tapani Tiirola; Pasi Eino Tapio Kinnunen; Klaus Hugl
Original assignee: Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy
Priority date: 2015-08-17
Filing date: 2015-08-17
Publication date: 2017-02-23

Abstract

There is provided a method comprising: configuring, by a network element, at least one cell for at least one terminal device; dividing a channel bandwidth of the at least one cell into at least a first part and second parts, the first part being situated between the second parts; determining a resource allocation for the at least one terminal device, the resource allocation comprising allocation of at least a bandwidth portion of at least one of the first part, the second parts; and transmitting an uplink grant to the at least one terminal device, the uplink grant comprising information about the resource allocation.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Title IMPROVING COMMUNICATION EFFICIENCY

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to communications.

BACKGROUND

In a communication network, data may be transmitted by and received from multiple sources. Providing solutions to improve allocation of radio resources may be beneficial for overall performance of the communication network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

According to an aspect, there is provided the subject matter of the independent claims. Some embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.

One or more examples of implementations are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In the following embodiments will be described in greater detail with reference to the attached drawings, in which

Figure 1 illustrates an example a radio system to which embodiments of the invention may be applied;

Figure 2 illustrates a flow diagram according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 3 illustrates a flow diagram according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figures 4A to 4D illustrate some embodiments;

Figures 5A to 5B illustrate some embodiments;

Figures 6A to 6D illustrate some embodiments;

Figure 7 illustrates an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 8 illustrates an embodiment of the invention;

Figures 9A to 9B illustrate some embodiments;

Figures 10 to 1 1 illustrate apparatuses according to some embodiments of the invention; and

Figure 12 illustrates an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME EMBODIMENTS

The following embodiments are exemplifying. Although the specification may refer to "an", "one", or "some" embodiment(s) in several locations of the text, this does not necessarily mean that each reference is made to the same embodiment(s), or that a particular feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

Embodiments described may be implemented in a radio system, such as in at least one of the following: Worldwide Interoperability for Micro-wave Access (WiMAX), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM, 2G), GSM EDGE radio access Network (GERAN), General Packet Radio Service (GRPS), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS, 3G) based on basic wideband-code division multiple access (W-CDMA), high-speed packet access (HSPA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, and/or 5G sys-tem. The present embodiments are not, however, limited to these systems.

Figure 1 shows an example of a radio system to which embodiments of the invention may be applied. Radio communication networks, such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) or the LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) of the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), are typically composed of at least one network element, such as a network element 102, providing a cell 104. Each cell may be, e.g., a macro cell, a micro cell, or a pico-cell, for example. Thus, the communication network may be a heterogeneous network (HetNet). The network element 102 may be a network node, an evolved node B (eNB) as in the LTE and LTE-A, a radio network controller (RNC) as in the UMTS, a base station controller (BSC) as in the GSM/GERAN, or any other apparatus capable of controlling radio communication and managing radio resources within a cell. The network element 102 may be a base station or a small base station, for example. In the case of multiple eNBs in the communication network, the eNBs may be connected to each other with an X2 interface 120 as specified in the LTE. Other communication methods between the network elements may be possible.

The network element 102 may control a cellular radio communication link 106 established between the network element 102 and at least one terminal device 1 10 located within or comprised in the cell 104. The communication link 106 may be referred to as conventional communication link for end-to-end communication, where the source device transmits data to the destination device via the network element 102 and/or core network.

The radio system may comprise other network elements, such as a second network element 1 12. The second network element 1 12 may be similar to the network element 102. For example, the second network element 1 12 may be a local area access node 1 12, such a small base station, used to increase performance of the communication network. Thus, a cell 1 14 may be, e.g., a macro cell, a micro cell, or a pico-cell, for example. The cell 1 14 may be referred to as a sub-cell 1 14, for example. The network element 1 14 may be referred to as a local area access node 1 12, for example.

The sub-cell 1 14 provided by the local area access node 1 12 may at least partly be within and/or comprised in the cell 104. The sub-cell 1 14 may be within multiple cells provided by network element(s). The local area access node 1 12 and the network element 102 may be connected over the X2 interface 120 providing communication link between network elements, such as the network elements 102, 1 12.

The local area access node 1 12 may control a cellular radio communication link 1 16 established between the local area access node 1 12 and at least one terminal device 1 10 located within or comprised in the sub-cell 1 14, as was the case with the communication link 106.

The network element 102 and the local area access node 1 12 may be further connected via an S1 interface to an evolved packet core (EPC), more specifically to a mobility management entity (MME) and to a system architecture evolution gateway (SAE-GW).

The at least one terminal device 1 10 may be simultaneously within multiple cells provided by network element(s). The serving network element may be selected by various criteria, such as received power, signal to noise ratio (SNR) and path loss, to name a few. The at least one terminal device 1 10 may be a terminal device of a cellular communication system, e.g. a computer (PC), a laptop, a palm computer, a mobile phone, a tablet, a phablet or any other user terminal or user equipment capable of communicating with the cellular communication network.

In an embodiment, the at least one terminal device 1 10 is able to communicate with other similar devices via the network element 102. The other devices may be within the cell 104 and/or may be within other cells provided by other network elements. The at least one terminal device 1 10 may be stationary or on the move. In an embodiment, the at least one terminal device 1 10 may communicate directly with other terminal devices using, for example, Device-to-Device (D2D) communication.

The radio system may support Carrier Aggregation (CA). CA may enable increasing usable bandwidth between the terminal devices and network elements of the radio system. For example, in the 3GPP, CA may be used for LTE-A in order to support wider transmission bandwidths enhancing increased potential peak data rates to meet LTE-A requirements. For example, more than one component carriers may be aggregated contiguously and/or non-contiguously to provide a wider bandwidth. In uplink carrier aggregation, multiple uplink component carriers may be aggregated and can be allocated in a subframe to a terminal device.

The radio system may support Dual Connectivity (DC). This may be enabled by the network elements 102, 1 12. Naturally, in order to use DC, the at least one terminal device 1 10 may also need to support DC. The DC may be a radio system feature, wherein the at least one terminal device 1 10 may simultaneously receive and/or may simultaneously transmit to at least two network points. Thus, the local area access node 1 12 and the network element 102 may be able to transmit and/or receive data simultaneously to and/or from the at least one terminal device 1 10.

It may be possible that the radio system shown in Figure 1 supports Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA) which relates to using unlicensed radio band(s) for data transfer. For example, the network element 102 and/or the local area access node 1 12 may provide one or more unlicensed cells in order to increase data transfer capability on the radio system. For example, the network element 102 may allocate radio resources of the one or more unlicensed cell for the at least one terminal device 1 10 through CA, thus increasing the data transfer between the at least one terminal device 1 10 and the network element(s).

In one example, the at least one terminal device 1 10 may operate on a LTE-A band(s) with the network element 102. The network element 102 may configure an unlicensed cell provided by the local area access node 1 12 with the at least one terminal device 1 10, and allocate, for example, uplink radio resources of the unlicensed cell to the at least one terminal device 1 10. Thus, the uplink data transfer may be increased.

When the unlicensed band(s) are used, it may be beneficial to ensure fair coexistence with legacy systems, such as Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) (i.e. WiFi). Further, it may be necessary to abide by regulatory requirements, such as ETSI requirements, which may control the usage of a system bandwidth of the unlicensed band(s). Even further, the allocation of the radio resources of the unlicensed band(s) may need to be flexible in order to enhance the effectiveness of the radio system. For example, bandwidth allocation may be necessary in some cases to be small (i.e. one physical resource block (PRB)), but in some other cases the terminal device(s) may require more bandwidth. Therefore, there is provided a solution to enhance the allocation of radio resources of the unlicensed cell(s). The solution may be used, for example, for uplink radio resource allocation.

Figure 2 illustrates a flow diagram of an embodiment of the invention. Referring to Figure 2, in step 210, the network element 102 may configure at least one cell for the at least one terminal device 1 10. The at least one cell may be provided by the network element 102, the local area access node 1 12 and/or some other network element(s). In an embodiment, the at least one cell comprises at least one unlicensed cell. Thus, the at least one cell may comprise one or more licensed cells and/or one or more unlicensed cell. However, it may also be possible that the at least one cell comprises only lisensed cells and/or only unlicensed cells. The cells, such as the licensed cells, may comprise cells provided by different operaters, for example.

The configuring may require signaling between the network element 102, the network element(s) providing the at least one cell, and/or the at least one terminal device 1 10. For example, the network element 102 may signal with the at least one terminal device 1 10 using a Primary Cell (PCell) that may be provided by the network element 102. In an embodiment, the at least one cell comprises and/or is one or more Secondary Cells (SCell). The SCell may be configured to be aggregated with the PCell. In an embodiment, the PCell operates on licensed spectrum, whereas at least some of the SCells operates on unlicensed spectrum.

Further, the network element 102 may configure a Carrier Indication Field

(CIF) for cross-carrier scheduling such that the CIF comprises mapping between the at least one terminal device 1 10 and the at least one cell. It may also be possible that self-scheduling is used in the at least one cell. Thus, there may not be a need to configure and/or transmit the CIF by the network element 102.

In step 220, the network element 102 may divide a channel bandwidth of the at least one cell into at least a first part and second parts, the first part being situated between the second parts. In an embodiment, the channel bandwidth is the available system bandwidth of the at least one cell. The channel bandwidth may be, for example, 20 MHz, 10 MHz and/or 5 MHz, to name a few examples. However, other size bandwidths may be also divided.

In step 230, the network element 102 may determine a resource allocation for the at least one terminal device 1 10, the resource allocation comprising allocation of at least a bandwidth portion of the first part and/or the second parts. This may mean that the network element 102 allocates bandwidth of the first part and/or second parts to one or more terminal devices. For example, the network element 102 may allocate bandwidth of the first portion to a first terminal device. Similarly, the network element 102 may allocate bandwidth of the second portions to a second terminal device. Naturally, the bandwidth of the first portion and/or second portions may be allocated to a number of terminal devices such that each of the number of terminal devices may have allocated bandwidth from the first portion and/or second portions.

In step 240, the network element 102 may transmit an uplink grant to the at least one terminal device 1 10, the uplink grant comprising information about the resource allocation. The uplink grant may be transmitted by the network element 102 directly, for example, via air interface to the at least one terminal device 1 10. However, it may possible to transmit the uplink grant via some other network element, such as, the local area access node 1 12 to the at least one terminal device 1 10.

The uplink grant may comprise one or more control messages. In an embodiment, the uplink grant is an uplink grant message. The uplink grant may indicate to the at least one terminal device 1 10 about the bandwidth portion allocated to the at least one terminal device 1 10. Therefore, the at least one terminal device 1 10 may be aware of the bandwidth portion allocated to the at least one terminal device 1 10, and use it to, for example, transmit uplink data via the at least one cell. For example, a terminal device may receive the uplink grant, wherein the uplink grant comprises terminal device-specific information about the allocation of the bandwidth portion to said terminal device, wherein said allocation of the bandwidth portion is situated in the first portion and/or the second portions.

Figure 3 illustrates a flow diagram according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to Figure 3, a terminal device, such as the at least one terminal device 1 10, may receive an uplink grant from a network element, the uplink grant comprising information about resource allocation of a channel bandwidth of at least one cell for the terminal device. The received uplink grant may equal to the transmitted uplink grant described in step 240.

In step 320, the terminal device may determine, based on the received uplink grant, that at least a bandwidth portion of at least one of a first part of the channel bandwidth, second parts of the channel bandwidth is allocated to the terminal device, the first part being situated between the second parts. Thus, the terminal device may become aware of the bandwidth it may use to transmit, for example, uplink data using the at least one cell.

In step 330, the terminal device may transmit an uplink transmission using the bandwidth portion indicated to the terminal device by the uplink grant. The network element 102 may receive the transmission, the transmission using the bandwidth portion indicated to the terminal device by the uplink grant. In an embodiment, the transmission is received by another network element and conveyed to the network element 102. Thus, the transmission may be received via the at least one other network element, for example. The transmission may also be received directly, by the network element 102, from the terminal device, for example, if the network element 102 provides the at least one cell. In an embodiment, the transmission, from the terminal device, is received, by the network element 102, via the at least one other network element. In an embodiment, the transmission is a transmission on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). Therefore, the allocated resources may concern the PUSCH.

In an embodiment, the network element 102 provides a cell, the at least one cell being at least partially within said cell, and wherein the at least one cell is provided by at least one other network element. For example, the network element 102 may provide a PCell, wherein the at least one cell is at least partially within the PCell, and wherein the at least one cell is configured as at least one SCell in CA. The at least one SCell may be provided by the local area access node 1 12, for example. In another example, the network element 102 may provide a PCell and the local area access node 1 12 may provide a SCell. The SCell may be comprised in the at least one cell described above. The SCell may be an unlicensed cell and the PCell may a licensed cell, for example.

In an embodiment, the network element 102 controls at least one licensed cell and the at least one unlicensed cell, wherein the at least one unlicensed cell is at least partially within the at least one licensed cell. The cells may be provided by the network element 102 and/or some other network element(s). The uplink grant may be transmitted to the at least one terminal device 1 10 via the at least one licensed cell, for example.

In an embodiment, the network element(s), providing the at least one cell, self-schedule the radio resources to the at least one terminal device 1 10. In such case, CIF may not be needed as the at least one terminal device 1 10 may be configured directly by the provider of the at least one cell. However, the contents of the uplink grant may be otherwise similar. For example, the local area access node 1 12 providing the sub-cell 1 14 may self-schedule the at least one terminal device 1 10. On the other hand, the network element 102 providing the PCell 104 may configure the at least one terminal device 1 10 with the sub-cell 1 14 (e.g. SCell) by including the CIF (pointing to the SCell) to the uplink grant.

At this point it needs to be noted that there may be different ways to achieve the wanted interpretation of the uplink grant at the at least one terminal device 1 10. For example, the CIF may point to a licensed or to an unlicensed cell of the at least one cell. Let us now look an example of Figure 8. Figure 8 illustrates an embodiment of the invention. Referring to Figure 8, a sub-cell 814, provided by a second local area access node 812, may be an unlicensed cell 814 (e.g. LAA carrier). A sub-cell 824, provided by a third local area access node 822, may be a licensed cell 814. The unlicensed and the licensed cells 814, 824 may be SCells of a PCell 804 provided by a network element 802. The network element 802 may be the network element 102, for example. Terminal devices 810, 820 may be comprised in the at least one terminal device 1 10.

If the network element 802 performs the steps of Figure 2, for example, it may divide the bandwidth of the PCell 804 into the first and/or second parts. Further, it may also divide the bandwidths of the SCells 814, 824 similarly. Thus, the uplink grant may concern at least one of the cells 804, 814, 824. If for example, the master network element 802 allocates resources of the SCell 824 to a terminal device 820, it may include a CIF pointing to the SCell 824 to the uplink grant. Thus, the terminal device 820 may become aware of the SCell 824 and use the resources of the uplink grant accordingly.

In an embodiment, the network element 802 transmits the uplink grant to a terminal device 810, wherein the sub-cell 814 is an unlicensed cell 814 provided by the second local area access node 812, and wherein the uplink grant comprises information about the resource allocation of the unlicensed cell 814. As discussed above with reference to Figure 2, the resource allocation may comprise allocation of at least a bandwidth portion of a first part and/or second parts of a channel bandwidth of the unlicensed cell.

In an embodiment, the uplink grant comprises a CIF, wherein the CIF indicates to an unlicensed cell of the at least one cell. For example, the network element 802 may transmit the uplink grant to the terminal device 810, wherein the uplink grant relates to the unlicensed cell 814.

In an embodiment, the terminal device 810 receives the uplink grant comprising the CIF, wherein the terminal device 810 is further configured to perform operations comprising: determining, based on the CIF, that the uplink grant indicates to the unlicensed cell 814 of the at least one cell; and as a response to the determining that the uplink grant indicates to the unlicensed cell 814, determining, based on the received uplink grant, that at least the bandwidth portion of at least one of the first part of the channel bandwidth, the second parts of the channel bandwidth is allocated to the terminal device 810. Therefore, the CIF indicating to an unlicensed cell may cause the terminal device to interpret the contents of the uplink grant differently compared to a scenario where the sub-cell 814 would be a licensed cell. Naturally, when the CIF indicates to the unlicensed cell 814, the allocated bandwidth portion may be comprised in a channel bandwidth of the unlicensed cell 814.

In an embodiment, the terminal device 810 receives the uplink grant from the local area access node 812, and determines based on that the uplink grant was received from the local area access node 812 that the uplink grant is for an unlicensed cell.

In an embodiment, the second local area access node 812 transmits the uplink grant to the terminal device 810, wherein the sub-cell 814 is an unlicensed cell 814, and wherein the uplink grant comprises information about the resource allocation of the unlicensed cell 814. In this self-scheduling scenario, CIF may not be needed. However, the terminal device 810 may be aware that the sub-cell 814 is an unlicensed cell. Therefore, when it receives the uplink grant from the local area access node 812, the uplink grant concerning the sub-cell 814, it may interpret the contents of the uplink grant differently compared to a scenario where the sub-cell 814 would be a licensed cell.

It needs to be noted here that according to an aspect of the invention, the at least one terminal device 1 10, such as the terminal device 810, may determine that the uplink grant is for an unlicensed cell or LAA carrier. The determination may then cause the at least one terminal device 1 10 to interpret the uplink grant differently compared to a scenario where the uplink grant would have been for a licensed cell or licensed carrier.

Examples of uplink grant for a licensed band may be the use of uplink resource allocation type 0 or uplink resource allocation type 1 . In an embodiment, the at least one terminal device 810 determines whether the uplink grant is for an unlicensed cell or not (i.e. received from an unlicensed cell provider or CIF pointing at the unlicensed cell). If the uplink grant is for the unlicensed cell, the at least one terminal device 1 10 may then determine contents of the uplink grant as discussed above. However, if the uplink grant is for a licensed cell, the at least one terminal device 1 10 may determine that the uplink grant is, for example, one of the uplink resource allocation type 0 or the uplink resource allocation type 1. To put it in other words, if the uplink grant points to an unlicensed carrier, the at least one terminal device 1 10 may determine that, and further determine that the uplink grant is not one of the uplink resource allocation type 0 or the uplink resource allocation type 1 .

Further, the size of uplink grant with the CIF pointing at an unlicensed cell, such as a LAA cell, may be defined to be the same as that of uplink grant with the CIF pointing at a cell operating at a licensed band in case of cross-carrier scheduling. Using such approach may ensure that blind detection burden of the at least one terminal device 1 10 may not be increased due to unlicensed cell-specific resource allocation. In other words, the structure and size of the CIF may be similar in both cased: the CIF pointing at a licensed cell, and the CIF pointing the unlicensed cells. However, as described above, the at least one terminal device 1 10 may interpret the uplink grant differently based on the contents of the CIF. Similarly, the size of the uplink grant of an unlicensed cell for self-scheduling, such as a LAA cell, may be defined to be the same as that of uplink grant at a cell operating at a licensed band with self-scheduling.

Let us now look closer on some embodiments shown in Figures 4A to 4D. Referring to Figure 4A, a channel bandwidth 400 of the at least one unlicensed cell may be illustrated. The second parts 404A, 404B may be situated symmetrically on sides of the first part 402. This may mean that the second parts 404A, 404B are on each side of the first part in frequency domain. This may be shown in Figure 4D, for example.

Therefore, the second parts 404A, 404B may be located on the edges of the channel spectrum. It may also be possible that there is at least one guard band (i.e. some free bandwidth) on the edge areas of the channel bandwidth 400 to decrease interference between channels.

It needs to be noted that the network element 102 may divide the channel bandwidth 400 such that the second parts 404A, 404B may actually comprise zero bandwidth. Thus, the first part 402 may comprise the whole channel bandwidth. However, it may be beneficial to divide the bandwidth such that the second parts 404A, 404B comprise at least some bandwidth of the channel bandwidth.

In an embodiment, the first part 402 and the second parts 404A, 404B at least partially overlap. This may mean that the bandwidth comprised in the second parts 404A, 404B and the bandwidth of the first part 402 at least partially overlap. This may enable the bandwidth to be used more efficiently. This may allow for allocating the whole band to one terminal device. The second parts 404A, 404B may be of equal size and/or different sizes. In an embodiment, the second parts 404A, 404B are substantially identical.

Referring to Figure 4B, the dividing of the channel bandwidth may comprise dividing a plurality of PRBs into at least the first part 402 and the second parts 404A, 404B. The PRBs may be shown in Figure 4B ranging from #0 to #X+6, wherein the X is an integer number. The PRBs may be contiguous to each other. This may mean that the PRBs of the plurality of PRBs are adjacent to each other, as shown in Figure 4B.

In an embodiment, the plurality of PRBs comprises Y number of adjacent PRBs, the first part comprising N number of adjacent PRBs, and the second parts each comprising M number of adjacent PRBs, wherein M = (Y - N) / 2. For example, if there are 100 PRBs within the channel bandwidth of 20 MHz band in LTE-A, and the Y = 96 PRB, then M = 2 PRB. This may mean that both second parts 404A, 404B have two PRBs. Example of such may be shown in Figure 4B.

In an embodiment, a network element, such as the network element 102, is further configured to perform operations comprising: equaling N to 96 physical resource blocks if channel bandwidth equals approximately to 20 MHz; equaling N to 48 physical resource blocks if channel bandwidth equals approximately to 10 MHz. For example, if Y equals to 100 PRBs (e.g. 20 MHz band), it may be beneficial to equal N to 96 PRBs. Thus, M may equal to 2 PRBs. For example, if Y equals to 50 PRBs (e.g. 10 MHz band), it may be beneficial to equal N to 48 PRBs. Thus, M may equal to 1 PRBs.

The dividing of the channel bandwidth into the first part 402 and to the second parts 404A, 404B may be understood as a part of a Compact Distributed Resource Allocation (CDRA). The available system bandwidth (e.g. channel bandwidth) may be divided into three parts (e.g. first part 402, second parts 404A, 404B) of contiguous PRBs. The first part (i.e. a large part) may be situated in the middle of the channel spectrum. The two second parts 404A, 404B (e.g. small parts), may be located symmetrically on each side of the large part. In an embodiment, the second parts may only be scheduled jointly. Hence, this may correspond to a clustered transmission with two clusters located on the edges of the channel spectrum.

In an embodiment, the value of M and/or N is configurable via signaling, such as Radio Resource Signaling (RRC) signaling. For example, N may be set to be e.g. equal to the system bandwidth.

In an embodiment, the network element 102 indicates the size of the first part 402 and/or the size of the second parts 404A, 404B to the at least one terminal device 1 10. For example, if the first part 402 and the second parts 404A, 404B are overlapping, both sizes (e.g. number of PRBs in each part, i.e. M and Y) may need to be configured and/or signaled for the at least one terminal device 1 10. In case the first part and the second parts 402, 404A, 404B are not overlapping, only one of them needs to be configured and/or signaled for the at least one terminal device 1 10, as the other one may be derived, by the at least one terminal device 1 10, using the above mentioned formula (M = (Y - N) / 2). In such case, the at least one terminal device 1 10 may acquire information about the Y, for example, from the network element 102. The configuring of the size of the first part 402 and/or second parts 404A, 404B may be performed, for example, in step 210 of Figure 2.

Referring to Figure 4D, some radio resources of the first part 402 and/or the second parts 404A, 404B may be allocated to the at least one terminal device 1 10. The resource allocation may comprise allocating one or more PRB clusters to the at least one terminal device 1 10, the one or more PRB clusters each comprising one or more PRBs of the first part 402 and/or the second parts 404A, 404B. The in case there is more than one PRB cluster, the PRB clusters may be equally spaced compared each other. The one or more PRB clusters may be equally spaced both in the first part 402 and the second parts 404A, 404B. However, the spacing in the first part 402 may be different from the spacing of the second parts 404A, 404B. Each resource allocation may address either the first part 402 and/or the second parts 404A, 404B. In an embodiment, the resource allocation for the first part 402 and/or the second parts 404A, 404B is signaled jointly to the at least one terminal device 1 10. The resource allocation may be signaled with Z bits so that some of the 2^Z code points may indicate resources in the first part 402 where as some other code points may indicate resources in the second parts 404A, 404B. Furthermore, some code points may indicate resources in both the first part 402, and the second parts 404A, 404B.

Looking at the example of Figure 4D, we may see that the one or more PRB clusters in the second parts 404A, 404B may be equally spaced compared to each other. Similarly, the one or more clusters in the first part 402 may be equally spaced compared to each other. However, the spacing may be different in the first part 402 compared to the second parts 404A, 404B between the one or more PRB clusters. For the specific example of Figure 4D, in the first part 402, for example for UE3 (e.g. terminal device 3), a gap between allocations may be 3 PRBs. This may mean that every fourth PRB may be allocated to the UE3. With a cluster size of 1 PRB, the corresponding repetition factor may be four thereby enabling allocation of every 4th PRB to the UE3. However, as there are only two PRBs in each of the second parts 404A, 404B in the example of Figure 4D, the gap between, for example, allocations to UE1 may be 2 PRBs + number of PRBs in the first part 402. This may be clearly seen from Figure 4D.

The number of PRBs in each of the one or more PRB clusters may be the same for both the first part 402 and the second parts 404A, 404B. For example, in Figure 4D, PRB cluster size may be 1 PRB.

In an embodiment, a network element, such as the network element 102, configures the PRB cluster size for the first part 402 and the second parts 404A, 404B for the at least one cell. This may mean that the network element determines the number of PRBs for a PRB cluster for a certain cell for the first part 402 and the second parts 404A, 404B, and performs the allocation such that the PRB cluster size of the first part is the same within said certain cell and the PRB cluster size of the second parts is the same within said certain cell, except in the case when only one cluster is allocated, covering the whole first part or the first and the second parts 402, 404A, 404B. In an embodiment, the PRB cluster size of the first and second parts is the same within said certain cell.

In the example of Figure 4C, the network element 102 may allocate PRB #0 and PRB #X+5 to a first terminal device, PRB #1 and PRB #X+6 to a second terminal device, PRB #2, PRB #3, PRB #X+1 and PRB #X+2 to a third terminal device, and PRB #4, PRB #5, PRB #X+3 and PRB #X+4 to a fourth terminal device. Again X may represent an integer value. X may, for example, equal to Y - 7 in the examples of Figures 4B and 4C. For example, if Y is 100 PRBs, X may equal to number 93, wherein the PRBs range from number 0 to number 99 (e.g. 100 PRBs).

As said, the allocations of Figure 4C and 4D may be examples and thus the allocation may vary between different scenarios and/or use cases. The network element 102 may, for example, allocate PRBs of the first and the second parts 402, 404A, 404B to a single terminal device and/or allocate all PRBs of the first and/or second parts 402, 404A, 404B to a single terminal device. For example, the network element 102 may allocate three contiguous PRBs to the first terminal device from the first part 402 and/or two contiguous PRBs of the second part 404A, 404B to the second terminal device. In the example of Figure 4C, the PRB cluster sizes for the third terminal device and for the fourth terminal device may be two PRBs in the first part, whereas the PRB cluster sizes for the first and second terminal devices may be one PRB in the second parts.

Let us now look closer on the contents of the uplink grant with reference to Figures 5A to 5B illustrating some embodiments of the invention. The uplink grant 500 may comprise information about a cluster size 502, starting offset 504 and/or a repetition factor 506. These information elements may be used, by the network element 102, to allocate the bandwidth (i.e. PRBs) to the at least one terminal device 1 10. On the other hand, the uplink grant 500 contents may be used, by the at least one terminal device 1 10, to become aware of the allocation, and to eventually use the allocated bandwidth for transmission(s).

The cluster size 502 may indicate a number of contiguous PRBs in each of the one or more PRB clusters. For example, if there are 96 PRBs available (i.e. in first part and/or second parts) to be allocated, by the network element 102, to terminal devices, the network element 102 may allocate the PRBs in groups of two. Thus, the cluster size 502 may indicate to a terminal device that the cluster size 502 is two. Thus, the terminal device may know that each PRB cluster allocated to it comprises two contiguous PRBs. Naturally, the cluster size 502 may also equal to one meaning that in each cluster there may be only one PRB. The cluster size 502 may vary from one to the number of available PRBs that may be allocated. Thus, the cluster size 502 may equal to the whole channel bandwidth, for example.

In an embodiment, the cluster size 502 is configured, by a network element, to be cell specific. For example, the network element 102 configures the cluster size 502 to be fixed and/or the same for different terminal devices to which resources are allocated. Thus, the uplink grant 500 may not necessarily have to comprise the cluster size 502 in order for the terminal devices to know the allocation.

It needs to be further noted that the cluster size 502 may be fixed in the at least one unlicensed cell. Thus, there may not be a need to indicate it to the at least one terminal device 1 10 within the uplink grant 500, as the at least one terminal device 1 10 may be aware of the cluster size 502. In an embodiment, the cluster size 502 is indicated to the at least one terminal device 1 10 using RRC signaling as part of the cell configuration. The RRC signaling may be performed by the network element 102, for example.

The starting offset 504 may be a terminal device-specific starting offset indicating a position of a first PRB cluster of the one or more PRB clusters allocated to a terminal device of the at least one terminal device 1 10. In Figure 6A, one example of the allocation according to an embodiment is shown. In Figure 6A, the allocation may relate to allocation of the PRBs of the first part 402, for example. If we first consider the scenario where repetition factor 506 (RPF) equals to one (e.g. RPF = 1 ), we may see that the PRBs ranging from #2 to #97 may be allocated to a first terminal device (indicated with number 1 in Figure 6A). In such case, the starting offset 504 may indicate that the first PRB cluster allocated to the first terminal device starts from PRB #2. For cluster size 502, there may be different options. For example, cluster size could be 1 and/or 98. This may be possible as in the example there may be only one terminal device to which the PRBs are allocated. In an embodiment, a terminal device determines, based on the repetition factor 506, that the first part 402 and/or the second parts 404A, 404B are wholly allocated to said terminal device. For example, if repetition factor 506 equals to one, said terminal device may determine that the whole bandwidth of the first part 402 and/or the second parts 404A, 404B is allocated to it.

If the repetition factor 506 equals to one, starting offset 504 and/or cluster size 502 information with the uplink grant 500 may be unnecessary, as the receiving terminal device may know that the whole bandwidth of the first or the first and the second parts is allocated to it. Let us now look closer on the mentioned repetition factor 506. The repetition factor 506 may indicate a spacing between each of the one or more PRB clusters allocated to the terminal device of the at least one terminal device 1 10. As said above, if the repetition factor equals to 1 , the allocation may be understood as being directed to a single terminal device. If we now look the examples of Figure 6A, wherein RPF equals to 2, 4 and 8, we can see that the amount of terminal devices, to which the PRBs may be allocated, increases. For example, if RPF equals to 2, the first part 402 may be allocated to the first terminal device and/or to a second terminal device. For example, if the first terminal device receives the uplink grant 500 comprising repetition factor 506 equaling to two, it may determine that the spacing between each PRB cluster allocated to it may equal to one PRB cluster size multiplied by RPF. Thus, the first terminal device may determine that, for example, PRBs #2, #4, #6 and so on are allocated to it. Similarly, the second terminal device may determine that, for example, PRBs #3, #5, #7 and so on are allocated to it if the repetition factor 506 equals to two, cluster size 502 equals to one (i.e. fixed and/or indicated by the uplink grant) and the starting offset 504 indicates that the first PRB cluster starts from PRB #3. In the example of Figure 6A, the repetition factor 506 and the cluster size 502 may be the same between different terminal devices, whereas the starting offset 504 may indicate terminal device-specifically from which PRB the first PRB cluster starts from.

In Figure 6A, some examples of repetition factor equaling to 4 and/or 8 may also be shown. In the examples, the number of terminal devices, to which the PRBs may be allocated, increases. Hence, the RPF may indicate the number of orthogonal users (e.g. terminal devices) that may be multiplexed in the first part 402 and/or in the second parts 404A, 404B.

Figure 6B illustrates an allocation of the second parts 404A, 404B according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to Figure 6B, the repetition factor may equal to 1 or 2, for example. Thus, the four PRBs of the second parts 404A and 404B may be allocated to the first terminal device and/or to the first terminal device and the second terminal device. Thus, the allocation and the uplink grant 500 may be similar concerning the second parts 404A, 404B compared to the allocation and the uplink grant 500 concerning the first part 402.

Figure 6C illustrates an allocation of both the first and the second parts 402, 404A, 404B according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to Figure 6C, the uplink grant 500 may concern both the first and the second parts 402, 404A, 404B. In the examples of Figures 6A and 6B, the uplink grant 500 may concern both the first part 402 and the second parts 404A, 404B separately. For example, there may be a different uplink grant 500 concerning the first part 402, and a different uplink grant 500 concerning the second parts 404A, 404B.

The channel bandwidth (i.e. 100 PRBs) may be allocated, for example, at least to ten different terminal devices. The minimum number of allocated PRBs may be two in the example of Figure 6C, wherein the allocation concerns the second parts 404A, 404B. However, in the example of Figure 6C, the second parts 404A, 404B are allocated to the first and/or second terminal devices which may also have allocated resources from the first part 402. However, the second parts 404A, 404B may also be allocated to further terminal devices, such as ninth terminal device and/or tenth terminal device, for example.

The uplink grant 500 may comprise a number of bits to indicate, for example, the cluster size 502, starting offset 504 and/or repetition factor 506. Any of the cluster size 502, starting offset 504 and/or repetition factor 506 may comprise different options which may be indicated with code points.

In an embodiment, the repetition factor 506 is different for the first part 402 and the second parts 404A, 404B. Thus, the different repetition factors 506 may be indicated to the at least one terminal device with the same uplink grant 500. One example of such may be shown in Figure 6D illustrating an embodiment of the invention. For example, the uplink grant 500 for a first terminal device (number 1 ) may comprise an allocation concerning the second parts 404A, 404B, wherein the repetition factor of the second parts may equal to two. Further, the uplink grant for a first terminal device (number 1 ) may comprise an allocation concerning the first part 402, wherein the repetition factor of the first part may equal to 8. Naturally, for an eight terminal device (number 8) there may be only an allocation concerning the first part 402 with a related repetition factor of 8 as there are is no allocation of PRBs from the second parts 404A, 404B to the eight terminal device. For example, if cluster size 502 is fixed (i.e. fixed for a cell or predetermined for each repetition factor) and not dynamically signaled, and repetition factor 506 (i.e. RPF) and starting offset 504 may be jointly encoded, the repetition factor 506 and the starting offset may be indicated using, for example, four bits for the first part 402. This may enable indicate repetition factors (RPF = 1 , 2, 4, or 8) and indicating also the starting offset for each possible allocation. If these are indicated separately, the number of bits required may increase as there may be four options (2 bits) for the repetition factor 506, and 8 different starting points (3 bits) indicating the starting offset 504. For the second parts 404A, 404B the logic may be the same. Again, the repetition factor 506 may be signaled independently to the first part 402 and the second parts 404A, 404B, and thus the amount of bits required for the uplink grant 500 may increase.

In an embodiment, the uplink grant 500 comprises information indicating whether the allocated one or more PRB clusters are situated in the first part 402, in the second parts 404A, 404B, or in both the first part and the second parts 402, 404A, 404B. The uplink grant 500 may comprise a part indicator 508 to enable the indication. Further, information how the channel bandwidth is divided into different parts may also be comprised in the uplink grant 500. Thus, the at least one terminal device 1 10 may know which PRBs are allocated to it. For example, a first terminal device knows which PRBs are allocated to the first terminal device. The terminal devices may not know the allocation of PRBs to other terminal devices.

Figure 5B illustrates an embodiment of the invention. Referring to Figure 5B, the uplink grant 500 may comprise a first information element 520 indicating to the at least one terminal device 1 10 the allocation of one or more PRB clusters in the first part 402, and a second information element 530 indicating to the at least one terminal device 1 10 the allocation of one or more PRB clusters in the second parts 404A, 404B. The first and/or second information elements 520, 530 may comprise at least some of the information of the uplink grant illustrated in relation to Figure 5A. The elements 510 to 516 may be uplink grant 500 specific, and thus may not be specific to the first and/or the second information elements 520, 530.

The first and second information elements 520, 530 may be transmitted separately and/or together. Further, the first and/or second information elements 520, 530 may also share at least some information to save bits. For example, the cluster size 502 may be the same for both information elements 520, 530. In an embodiment, the uplink grant 500 comprises a CIF 510 indicating to the at least one terminal device 1 10 an unlicensed cell of the at least one cell.

In an embodiment, the uplink grant 500 comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier 512, redundancy version 514, padding bits 516, and/or Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) / Transport Block Size (TBS) related information 518. Thus, HARQ process related information may be transmitted along the uplink grant 500. This may be possible as the resource allocation of the uplink grant 500 described above may be indicated with fewer bits for unlicensed carriers than the number of bits used to indicate, for example, resource allocation type 0 for legacy licensed band carriers. Thus, the saved bits may be used to indicate some other information to the at least one terminal device 1 10. For example, the HARQ process identifier 512 may comprise three bits to indicate the process identifier out of eight HARQ processes. The redundancy version 514 may be indicated with two bits, for example. The padding bits 516 may be used, for example, to fulfil regulatory requirements, if necessary.

When defining the parameters, such as the cluster size 502, starting offset 504 and/or repetition factor 506, for the first part 402 the following limitations may be taken into account: Minimum bandwidth allocation may be 80 % of the declared nominal bandwidth. The nominal bandwidth may be, for example, 20 MHz (e.g. channel bandwidth). This may mean that that in the case of 20 MHz bandwidth, the minimum PRB span in the frequency domain may be [(20 MHzx0.8)/(0.18 ( MHz)/PRB)]=89 PRBs. This principle may be applicable for all combinations of N, repetition factor 506 and/or cluster size 502.

Figure 7 illustrates some examples of the allocation size of the first part with different repetition factors 506. The examples may be of 20 MHz channel bandwidth consisting of 100 PRBs in total, but as explained above, the same rules may ably for, for example, 10 MHz band and/or 5 MHz band. Referring to Figure 7, if the repetition factor 506 equals to one, the network element 102 may allocate, for example, 100 PRBs, 96 PRBs or 90 PRBs to a single terminal device, using the above described methods. The allocation may be indicated jointly to terminal device if there are allocations from both the first part and second parts 402, 404A, 404B.

If the repetition factor 506 equals to two, the network element 102 may allocate, for example, 50 PRBs, 48 PRBs or 45 PRBs to the single terminal device. In such case another terminal device may have the remaining allocations of the first part 402. Similarly, if the repetition factor 506 equals to four, the network element 102 may allocate, for example, 25 PRBs, or 24 PRBs to the single terminal device. In such case another terminal devices may have the remaining allocations of the first part 402. Further, if the repetition factor 506 equals to eight, the network element 102 may allocate, for example, 12 PRBs to the single terminal device. In such case another terminal devices may have the remaining allocations of the first part 402. For example, if the repetition factor 506 equals to eight, eight terminal devices may each have 12 PRB allocations within the first part 402.

It needs to be understood that these described examples may not be limiting. This means that the size of the first part 402 and/or the channel bandwidth may change the number of allocable PRBs to different terminal devices.

Figures 9A to 9B illustrate some embodiments. Referring to Figure 9A, an example of how the repetition factor 506 (e.g. RPF) effects the determination by the at least one terminal device 1 10 about the PRB allocation to it. In the example of Figure 9A, the cluster size may be 1 PRB. Further, the example of Figure 9A may show how a single terminal device determines which PRBs are allocated to it and thus it may be presumed that starting offset for all RPF values (e.g. 1 , 2, 4, 8) may be 0 (e.g. first PRB allocated to said terminal device starts from PRB #0). Further, in the example there are shown total 16 PRBs which may be allocated, but the example may be applicable for, for example, 100 PRBs also. Even further, the allocation determination shown may be applicable both the first part 402 and/or the second parts 404A, 404B.

As shown in Figure 9A, when RPF = 1 , the terminal device may determine that all the PRBs are allocated to it. When RPF = 2, the terminal device may determine that every second PRB is allocated to it. When RPF = 4, the terminal device may determine that every fourth PRB is allocated to it. And finally, when RPF = 8, the terminal device may determine that every eight PRB is allocated to it. The allocations may be indicated with an 'x' in Figure 9A.

Choosing repetition factors (e.g. RPF values) having a power of 2 (2^Z), z standing for number of bits, enables code tree -type of resource allocation within a branch of the code tree.

For example, RPF=8 may occupy resources defined for RPF=4, RPF=2 and/or RPF=1. RPF=4 may occupy resources defined for RPF=2 and/or RPF=1 . Similarly, RPF=2 may occupy resources defined for RPF=1. Based on LTE uplink principles, DFT sizes are multiples of 2, 3 and 5. This principle is applicable for all combinations of N and BRPF/RPF.

Example of such may be shown in relation to Figure 9B. Referring to Figure 9B, a first terminal device (number 1 in Figure 9B) may occupy every second PRB when RPF = 2. A second terminal device (number 2) may occupy every fourth PRB when RPF = 4. Similarly, a third terminal device (number 3) may occupy every fourth PRB when RPF = 4. It needs to be noted that starting offset for second and third terminal devices may be different. However, as RPF equals to 4 for both the second and third terminal devices, the second and third terminal devices may occupy resources of the first terminal device (having RPF equaling to 1 ). Further, a fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh terminal devices (numbers 4, 5, 6, and 7) may occupy every eight PRB when RPF=8. The starting offset may be again different for the terminal devices. However, as RPF equals to eight for the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh terminal devices, the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh terminal devices may occupy resources of the first terminal device (RPF=2) and/or the second and third terminal devices (RPF=4).

In an embodiment, the at least one terminal device 1 10 determines, based on the received uplink grant 500, that one or more PRB clusters are allocated to the at least one terminal device 1 10, the one or more PRB clusters each comprising one or more PRBs of at least one of the first part 402, the second parts 404A, 404B.

In an embodiment, the uplink grant comprises 500 the cluster size 502, wherein the at least one terminal device 1 10 determines, based on the cluster size 502, a number of contiguous PRBs in each of the one or more PRB clusters.

In an embodiment the uplink grant 500 comprises the starting offset 504, wherein the at least one terminal device 1 10 determines based on the starting offset 504, a position of a first PRB cluster of the one or more PRB clusters allocated to the at least one terminal device 1 10.

In an embodiment, the uplink grant 500 comprises the repetition factor 506, wherein the at least one terminal device 1 10 determines, based on the repetition factor 506, spacing between each of the one or more PRB clusters allocated to the at least one terminal device 1 10.

In an embodiment, the at least one terminal device 1 10 determines, based on the uplink grant 500, whether the one or more PRB clusters allocated to the at least one terminal device 1 10 are comprised in the first part 402, in the second parts 404A, 404B, or in both the first part and the second parts 402, 404A, 404B.

In an embodiment, the uplink grant 500 comprises the first and second information elements 520, 530, wherein the at least one terminal device 1 10 determines, based on the first information element 520, the allocation of one or more PRB clusters in the first part 402, and, based on the second information element 530, the allocation of one or more PRB clusters in the second parts 404A, 404B.

In an embodiment, the uplink grant 500 comprises the carrier indication field 510, wherein the at least one terminal device determines, based on the carrier indication field 510, that the uplink grant 500 is related to the at least one unlicensed cell.

The proposed solution may bring some advantages. First, it may support ETSI regulatory requirements. Second, it may support currently defined Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) sizes defined for LTE uplink. Therefore, eNB and/or terminal device complexity may be kept at a reasonable level. Third, the solution may provide flexibility in terms of number of allocated PRBs (i.e. cluster size 502) ranging from very small allocations (i.e. 1 or 2 PRBs) up to the whole system bandwidth, due to the combination of having the first part 402 and the second parts 404A, 404B allocation principles. Fourth, the solution may allow for flexible and efficient multiplexing of terminal devices with potentially varying number of allocated PRBs. Fifth, the solution may not require an increased number of (E) Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) blind detection by the terminal device as the uplink grant 500 may be similar to that of licensed band uplink grants. Sixth, indication of the uplink resource allocation in the Downlink Control information (DCI) requires rather few bits, thus allowing the remaining bits to be used for, for example, HARQ related process, such as asynchronous HARQ. Seventh, the solution may allow for possible forward compatibility in terms of e.g. support for Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) transmissions on a LAA carrier.

In an embodiment, the first part 402 is a large part. The second parts 404A, 404B may be referred to as small part and/or small part.

Figures 10 to 1 1 provide apparatuses 1000, 1 100 comprising a control circuitry (CTRL) 1010, 1 1 10, such as at least one processor, and at least one memory 1030, 1 130 including a computer program code (software) 1032, 1 132, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code (software) 1032, 1 132, are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the respective apparatus 1000, 1 100 to carry out any one of the embodiments of Figures 1 to 9B, or operations thereof.

In an embodiment, these operations may comprise tasks, such as, configuring, by a network element, at least one cell for at least one terminal device; dividing a channel bandwidth of the at least one cell into at least a first part and second parts, the first part being situated between the second parts; determining a resource allocation for the at least one terminal device, the resource allocation comprising allocation of at least a bandwidth portion of at least one of the first part, the second parts; and transmitting an uplink grant to the at least one terminal device, the uplink grant comprising information about the resource allocation.

In an embodiment, these operations may comprise tasks, such as, receiving, by a terminal device, an uplink grant from a network element, the uplink grant comprising information about resource allocation of a channel bandwidth of at least one cell for the terminal device; determining, based on the received uplink grant, that at least a bandwidth portion of at least one of a first part of the channel bandwidth, second parts of the channel bandwidth is allocated to the terminal device, the first part being situated between the second parts; and transmitting an uplink transmission using the bandwidth portion indicated to the terminal device by the uplink grant.

Referring to Figure 10, the memory 1030 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The memory 1030 may comprise a database 1034 for storing data.

The apparatus 1000 may further comprise radio interface (TRX) 1020 comprising hardware and/or software for realizing communication connectivity according to one or more communication protocols. The TRX may provide the apparatus with communication capabilities to access the radio access network, for example. The TRX may provide the apparatus 1000 connection to an X2 interface, for example. The TRX may comprise standard well-known components such as an amplifier, filter, frequency-converter, (de)modulator, and encoder/decoder circuitries and one or more antennas.

The apparatus 1000 may also comprise user interface 1040 comprising, for example, at least one keypad, a microphone, a touch display, a display, a speaker, etc. The user interface 1040 may be used to control the respective apparatus by a user of the apparatus 1000.

In an embodiment, the apparatus 1000 may be or be comprised in a base station (also called a base transceiver station, a Node B, a radio network controller, or an evolved Node B, for example). The apparatus 1000 may be and/or be comprised in the network element 102, network element 802, local area access node 1 12, and/or the local area access node 812, for example. In an embodiment, the apparatus 1000 is the network element performing the steps of Figure 2.

The control circuitry 1010 may comprise a cell configuring circuitry 1012 configured to configure at least one cell for at least one terminal device; a bandwidth dividing circuitry 1014 configured to divide a channel bandwidth of the at least one cell into at least a first part and second parts, the first part being situated between the second parts; a resource allocation determining circuitry 1016 configured to determine a resource allocation for the at least one terminal device, the resource allocation comprising allocation of at least a bandwidth portion of at least one of the first part, the second parts; and an uplink grant transmitting circuitry 1018 configured to transmit an uplink grant to the at least one terminal device, the uplink grant comprising information about the resource allocation.

Referring to Figure 1 1 , the memory 1 130 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The memory 1 130 may comprise a database 1 134 for storing data.

The apparatus 1 100 may further comprise radio interface (TRX) 1 120 comprising hardware and/or software for realizing communication connectivity according to one or more communication protocols. The TRX may provide the apparatus with communication capabilities to access the radio access network and enable communication between network nodes, and between network node and terminal devices, for example. The TRX may comprise standard well-known components such as an amplifier, filter, frequency-converter, (de)modulator, and encoder/decoder circuitries and one or more antennas.

The apparatus 1 100 may also comprise user interface 1 140 comprising, for example, at least one keypad, a microphone, a touch display, a display, a speaker, etc. The user interface 1 140 may be used to control the respective apparatus by a user of the apparatus 1 100.

In an embodiment, the apparatus 1 100 may be or be comprised in a terminal device, such as a mobile phone or cellular phone for example. The apparatus 1 100 may be and/or be comprised in the at least one terminal device 1 10, for example. In an embodiment, the apparatus 1 1 10 is the terminal device performing the steps of Figure 3.

The control circuitry 1 1 10 may comprise an uplink grant receiving circuitry 1 1 12 configured to receive an uplink grant from a network element, the uplink grant comprising information about resource allocation of a channel bandwidth of at least one cell for the terminal device; a bandwidth portion determining circuity 1 1 14 configured to determine, based on the received uplink grant, that at least a bandwidth portion of at least one of a first part of the channel bandwidth, second parts of the channel bandwidth is allocated to the terminal device, the first part being situated between the second parts; and an uplink transmitting circuitry 1 1 16 configured to transmit an uplink transmission using the bandwidth portion indicated to the terminal device by the uplink grant.

In an embodiment, as shown in Figure 12, at least some of the functionalities of the apparatus 1000 may be shared between two physically separate devices, forming one operational entity. Therefore, the apparatus 1000 may be seen to depict the operational entity comprising one or more physically separate devices for executing at least some of the described processes. Thus, the apparatus 1000 of Figure 12, utilizing such shared architecture, may comprise a remote control unit (RCU) 1252, such as a host computer or a server computer, operatively coupled (e.g. via a wireless or wired network) to a remote radio head (RRH) 1254 located in the base station. In an embodiment, at least some of the described processes may be performed by the RCU 1252. In an embodiment, the execution of at least some of the described processes may be shared among the RRH 1254 and the RCU 1252.

In an embodiment, the RCU 1252 may generate a virtual network through which the RCU 1252 communicates with the RRH 1254. In general, virtual networking may involve a process of combining hardware and software network resources and network functionality into a single, software-based administrative entity, a virtual network. Network virtualization may involve platform virtualization, often combined with resource virtualization. Network virtualization may be categorized as external virtual networking which combines many networks, or parts of networks, into the server computer or the host computer (i.e. to the RCU). External network virtualization is targeted to optimized network sharing. Another category is internal virtual networking which provides network-like functionality to the software containers on a single system. Virtual networking may also be used for testing the terminal device.

In an embodiment, the virtual network may provide flexible distribution of operations between the RRH and the RCU. In practice, any digital signal processing task may be performed in either the RRH or the RCU and the boundary where the responsibility is shifted between the RRH and the RCU may be selected according to implementation. As used in this application, the term 'circuitry' refers to all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations, such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry, and (b) combinations of circuits and soft-ware (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 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. This definition of 'circuitry' applies to all uses of this term in this application. As a further example, as used in this application, the term 'circuitry' would also cover an implementation of merely a processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term 'circuitry' would also cover, for example and if applicable to the particular element, a baseband integrated circuit or applications processor integrated circuit for a mobile phone or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or another network device.

In an embodiment, at least some of the processes described in connection with Figures 1 to 9B may be carried out by an apparatus comprising corresponding means for carrying out at least some of the described processes. Some example means for carrying out the processes may include at least one of the following: detector, processor (including dual-core and multiple-core processors), digital signal processor, controller, receiver, transmitter, encoder, decoder, memory, RAM, ROM, software, firmware, display, user interface, display circuitry, user interface circuitry, user interface software, display software, circuit, antenna, antenna circuitry, and circuitry. In an embodiment, the at least one processor, the memory, and the computer program code form processing means or comprises one or more computer program code portions for carrying out one or more operations according to any one of the embodiments of Figures 1 to 9B or operations thereof. In an embodiment, these operations may comprise tasks, such as, configuring, by a network element, at least one cell for at least one terminal device; dividing a channel bandwidth of the at least one cell into at least a first part and second parts, the first part being situated between the second parts; determining a resource allocation for the at least one terminal device, the resource allocation comprising allocation of at least a bandwidth portion of at least one of the first part, the second parts; and transmitting an uplink grant to the at least one terminal device, the uplink grant comprising information about the resource allocation. In an embodiment, these operations may comprise tasks, such as, receiving, by a terminal device, an uplink grant from a network element, the uplink grant comprising information about resource allocation of a channel bandwidth of at least one cell for the terminal device; determining, based on the received uplink grant, that at least a bandwidth portion of at least one of a first part of the channel bandwidth, second parts of the channel bandwidth is allocated to the terminal device, the first part being situated between the second parts; and transmitting an uplink transmission using the bandwidth portion indicated to the terminal device by the uplink grant. According to yet another embodiment, the apparatus carrying out the embodiments comprises a circuitry including at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. When activated, the circuitry causes the apparatus to perform at least some of the functionalities according to any one of the embodiments of Figures 1 to 9B, or operations thereof. In an embodiment, these operations may comprise tasks, such as, configuring, by a network element, at least one cell for at least one terminal device; dividing a channel bandwidth of the at least one cell into at least a first part and second parts, the first part being situated between the second parts; determining a resource allocation for the at least one terminal device, the resource allocation comprising allocation of at least a bandwidth portion of at least one of the first part, the second parts; and transmitting an uplink grant to the at least one terminal device, the uplink grant comprising information about the resource allocation. In an embodiment, these operations may comprise tasks, such as, receiving, by a terminal device, an uplink grant from a network element, the uplink grant comprising information about resource allocation of a channel bandwidth of at least one cell for the terminal device; determining, based on the received uplink grant, that at least a bandwidth portion of at least one of a first part of the channel bandwidth, second parts of the channel bandwidth is allocated to the terminal device, the first part being situated between the second parts; and transmitting an uplink transmission using the bandwidth portion indicated to the terminal device by the uplink grant. The techniques and methods described herein may be implemented by various means. For example, these techniques may be implemented in hardware (one or more devices), firmware (one or more devices), software (one or more modules), or combinations thereof. For a hardware implementation, the apparatus(es) of embodiments may be implemented within one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. For firmware or software, the implementation can be carried out through modules of at least one chip set (e.g. procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The software codes may be stored in a memory unit and executed by processors. The memory unit may be implemented within the processor or externally to the processor. In the latter case, it can be communicatively coupled to the processor via various means, as is known in the art. Additionally, the components of the systems described herein may be rearranged and/or complemented by additional components in order to facilitate the achievements of the various aspects, etc., described with regard thereto, and they are not limited to the precise configurations set forth in the given figures, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art.

Embodiments as described may also be carried out in the form of a computer process defined by a computer program or portions thereof. Embodiments of the methods described in connection with Figures 1 to 9B may be carried out by executing at least one portion of a computer program comprising corresponding instructions. The computer program may be in source code form, object code form, or in some intermediate form, and it may be stored in some sort of carrier, which may be any entity or device capable of carrying the program. For example, the computer program may be stored on a computer program distribution medium readable by a computer or a processor. The computer program medium may be, for example but not limited to, a record medium, computer memory, read-only memory, electrical carrier signal, telecommunications signal, and software distribution package, for example. The computer program medium may be a non-transitory medium. Coding of software for carrying out the embodiments as shown and described is well within the scope of a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Even though the invention has been described above with reference to an example according to the accompanying drawings, it is clear that the invention is not restricted thereto but can be modified in several ways within the scope of the appended claims. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly and they are intended to illustrate, not to restrict, the embodiment. It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. Further, it is clear to a person skilled in the art that the described embodiments may, but are not required to, be combined with other embodiments in various ways.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

configuring, by a network element, at least one cell for at least one terminal device;

dividing a channel bandwidth of the at least one cell into at least a first part and second parts, the first part being situated between the second parts;

determining a resource allocation for the at least one terminal device, the resource allocation comprising allocation of at least a bandwidth portion of at least one of the first part, the second parts; and

transmitting an uplink grant to the at least one terminal device, the uplink grant comprising information about the resource allocation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one cell comprises at least one unlicensed cell.

3. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the dividing the channel bandwidth comprises dividing a plurality of physical resource blocks into at least the first part and the second parts.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of physical resource blocks comprises Y number of adjacent physical resource blocks, the first part comprising N number of adjacent physical resource blocks, and the second parts each comprising M number of adjacent physical resource blocks, wherein M = (Y - N) / 2.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

equaling N to 96 physical resource blocks if channel bandwidth equals approximately to 20 MHz;

equaling N to 48 physical resource blocks if channel bandwidth equals approximately to 10 MHz.

6. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the second parts are situated symmetrically on each side of the first part in frequency domain.

7. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the first part and the second parts at least partially overlap.

8. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the resource allocation comprises allocating one or more equally spaced physical resource block clusters to the at least one terminal device, the one or more physical resource block clusters each comprising one or more physical resource blocks of at least one of the first part, the second parts.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the uplink grant comprises information about a cluster size indicating a number of contiguous physical resource blocks in each of the one or more physical resource block clusters.

10. The method of any of claims 8 to 9, wherein the uplink grant comprises information about a terminal device-specific starting offset indicating a position of a first physical resource block cluster of the one or more physical resource block clusters allocated to a terminal device of the at least one terminal device.

1 1. The method of any of claims 8 to 10, wherein the uplink grant comprises information about a repetition factor indicating a spacing between each of the one or more physical resource block clusters allocated to the terminal device of the at least one terminal device.

12. The method of any of claims 8 to 1 1 , wherein the uplink grant comprises information indicating whether the allocated one or more physical resource block clusters are situated in the first part, in the second parts, or in both the first part and the second parts.

13. The method of any of claims 8 to 12, wherein the uplink grant comprises a first information element indicating to the at least one terminal device the allocation of one or more physical resource block clusters in the first part, and a second information element indicating to the at least one terminal device the allocation of one or more physical resource block clusters in the second parts.

14. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the uplink grant comprises a carrier indication field, and wherein the carrier indication field indicates to an unlicensed cell of the at least one cell.

15. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the uplink grant comprises at least one of a hybrid automatic repeat request process identifier, redundancy version, information related to modulation and coding scheme, information related to transport block size, padding bits.

16. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the network element provides a primary cell, the at least one cell being at least partially within the primary cell, and wherein the at least one cell is configured as at least one secondary cell in carrier aggregation.

17. The method of any preceding claim further comprising:

receiving, from the at least one terminal device, a transmission using at least some of the bandwidth portion indicated to the at least one terminal device by the uplink grant.

18. A method comprising:

receiving, by a terminal device, an uplink grant from a network element, the uplink grant comprising information about resource allocation of a channel bandwidth of at least one cell for the terminal device; and

determining, based on the received uplink grant, that at least a bandwidth portion of at least one of a first part of the channel bandwidth, second parts of the channel bandwidth is allocated to the terminal device, the first part being situated between the second parts; and

transmitting an uplink transmission using the bandwidth portion indicated to the terminal device by the uplink grant.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one cell comprises at least one unlicensed cell.

20. The method of any of claims 18 to 19, wherein the terminal device determines, based on the received uplink grant, that one or more physical resource block clusters are allocated to the terminal device, the one or more physical resource block clusters each comprising one or more physical resource blocks of at least one of the first part, the second parts.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the uplink grant comprises information about a cluster size, the method further comprising:

determining, based on the cluster size, a number of contiguous physical resource blocks in each of the one or more physical resource block clusters.

22. The method of any of claims 20 to 21 , wherein the uplink grant comprises information about a starting offset, the method further comprising:

determining, based on the starting offset, a position of a first physical resource block cluster of the one or more physical resource block clusters allocated to the terminal device.

23. The method of any of claims 20 to 22, wherein the uplink grant comprises information about a repetition factor, the method further comprising:

determining, based on the repetition factor, spacing between each of the one or more physical resource block clusters allocated to the terminal device.

24. The method of any of claims 20 to 23, the method further comprising: determining, based on the uplink grant, whether the one or more physical resource block clusters allocated to the terminal device are comprised in the first part, in the second parts, or in both the first part and the second parts.

25. The method of any of claims 20 to 24, wherein the uplink grant comprises a first and second information elements, the method further comprising:

determining, based on the first information element, the allocation of one or more physical resource block clusters in the first part; and

determining, based on the second information element, the allocation of one or more physical resource block clusters in the second parts.

26. The method of any of claims 18 to 25, wherein the uplink grant comprises a carrier indication field, the method further comprising:

determining, based on the carrier indication field, that the uplink grant indicates to an unlicensed cell of the at least one cell; and

as a response to the determining that the uplink grant indicates to the unlicensed cell, determining, based on the received uplink grant, that at least the bandwidth portion of at least one of the first part, second parts is allocated to the terminal device.

27. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause a network element to perform operations comprising:

configuring at least one cell for at least one terminal device;

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the at least one cell comprises at least one unlicensed cell.

29. The apparatus of any of claims 27 to 28, wherein the dividing the channel bandwidth comprises dividing a plurality of physical resource blocks into at least the first part and the second parts.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the plurality of physical resource blocks comprises Y number of adjacent physical resource blocks, the first part comprising N number of adjacent physical resource blocks, and the second parts each comprising M number of adjacent physical resource blocks, wherein M = (Y - N) 1 2.

31 . The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising:

32. The apparatus of any of claims 27 to 31 , wherein the second parts are situated symmetrically on each side of the first part in frequency domain.

33. The apparatus of any of claims 27 to 32, wherein the first part and the second parts at least partially overlap.

34. The apparatus of any of claims 27 to 33, wherein the resource allocation comprises allocating one or more equally spaced physical resource block clusters to the at least one terminal device, the one or more physical resource block clusters each comprising one or more physical resource blocks of at least one of the first part, the second parts.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the uplink grant comprises information about a cluster size indicating a number of contiguous physical resource blocks in each of the one or more physical resource block clusters.

36. The apparatus of any of claims 34 to 35, wherein the uplink grant comprises information about a terminal device-specific starting offset indicating a position of a first physical resource block cluster of the one or more physical resource block clusters allocated to a terminal device of the at least one terminal device.

37. The apparatus of any of claims 34 to 36, wherein the uplink grant comprises information about a repetition factor indicating a spacing between each of the one or more physical resource block clusters allocated to the terminal device of the at least one terminal device.

38. The apparatus of any of claims 34 to 37, wherein the uplink grant comprises information indicating whether the allocated one or more physical resource block clusters are situated in the first part, in the second parts, or in both the first part and the second parts.

39. The apparatus of any of claims 34 to 38, wherein the uplink grant comprises a first information element indicating to the at least one terminal device the allocation of one or more physical resource block clusters in the first part, and a second information element indicating to the at least one terminal device the allocation of one or more physical resource block clusters in the second parts.

40. The apparatus of any of claims 27 to 39, wherein the uplink grant comprises a carrier indication field, and wherein the carrier indication field indicates to an unlicensed cell of the at least one cell.

41. The apparatus of any of claims 27 to 40, wherein the uplink grant comprises at least one of a hybrid automatic repeat request process identifier, redundancy version, information related to modulation and coding scheme, information related to transport block size, padding bits.

42. The apparatus of any of claims 27 to 41 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the network element further to perform operations comprising:

providing a primary cell, the at least one cell being at least partially within the primary cell, and wherein the at least one cell is configured as at least one secondary cell in carrier aggregation.

43. The apparatus of any of claims 27 to 42 claim, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the network element further to perform operations comprising:

44. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause a terminal device to perform operations comprising:

receiving an uplink grant from a network element, the uplink grant comprising information about resource allocation of a channel bandwidth of at least one cell for the terminal device; and

45. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the at least one cell comprises at least one unlicensed cell.

46. The apparatus of any of claims 44 to 45, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device further to perform operations comprising:

determining, based on the received uplink grant, that one or more physical resource block clusters are allocated to the terminal device, the one or more physical resource block clusters each comprising one or more physical resource blocks of at least one of the first part, the second parts.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the uplink grant comprises information about a cluster size, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device further to perform operations comprising:

48. The apparatus of any of claims 46 to 47, wherein the uplink grant comprises information about a starting offset, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device further to perform operations comprising:

49. The apparatus of any of claims 46 to 48, wherein the uplink grant comprises information about a repetition factor, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device further to perform operations comprising: determining, based on the repetition factor, spacing between each of the one or more physical resource block clusters allocated to the terminal device.

50. The apparatus of any of claims 46 to 49, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device further to perform operations comprising: determining, based on the uplink grant, whether the one or more physical resource block clusters allocated to the terminal device are comprised in the first part, in the second parts, or in both the first part and the second parts.

51. The apparatus of any of claims 46 to 50, wherein the uplink grant comprises a first and second information elements, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device further to perform operations comprising: determining, based on the first information element, the allocation of one or more physical resource block clusters in the first part; and

52. The apparatus of any of claims 44 to 51 , wherein the uplink grant comprises a carrier indication field, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device further to perform operations comprising:

53. A computer program product embodied on a distribution medium readable by a computer and comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an apparatus, execute the method according to any of claims 1 to 26.

54. A computer program product comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an apparatus, execute the method according to any of claims 1 to 26.

55. An apparatus, comprising means for performing the method according to any of claims 1 to 26.