HK1198851B - Flexible transmission of messages in a wireless communication system - Google Patents

Description

Flexible messaging in a wireless communication system

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to telecommunications networks, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for communicating data in a wireless communications network.

Background

The 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a standard for mobile telephone network technology. LTE is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and is a technology for enabling high-speed packet-based communications that can achieve high data rates on both downlink and uplink channels. In LTE, transmissions are sent from base stations, such as node bs (nbs) and evolved node bs (enbs), to mobile stations (e.g., User Equipment (UE)). These transmissions are sent using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), which divides the signal in frequency into multiple parallel subcarriers.

As illustrated in fig. 1, the basic unit of transmission in LTE is a Resource Block (RB) 100, which in its most common configuration consists of 12 subcarriers 104 and 7 OFDM symbols 108 (i.e., one slot). OFDM symbol 108 may include cyclic prefix 106. The unit of one subcarrier and one OFDM symbol is referred to as a Resource Element (RE) 102. Thus, an RB may consist of, for example, 84 REs in a 12 × 7 configuration.

An LTE radio subframe may consist of multiple resource blocks in frequency and two slots in time, where the number of RBs determines the bandwidth of the system. Two RBs that are adjacent in time in a subframe (e.g., as shown in fig. 3) may be referred to as an RB pair 300. In the time domain, LTE downlink transmissions may be organized into 10ms radio frames, each consisting of 10 radio frames having a length T_sub-frameEqual-sized subframe composition of =1 ms.

An LTE communication network (e.g., as illustrated in fig. 5) may be deployed in many configurations. In some configurations, a base station 502, e.g., an eNB, communicates with a user equipment 504. When signals are transmitted by the eNB 502 in the downlink (i.e., the link carrying the transmissions from the eNB to the UE 504), subframes may be transmitted from multiple antennas. The signal may be received at a UE 504, the UE 504 having one or more antennas. The radio channel distorts the transmitted signals from the multiple antenna ports.

Due to the multiple paths and conditions on each channel, the UE 504 relies on Reference Symbols (RSs) also transmitted on the downlink in order to demodulate transmissions on the downlink. Reference symbols are understood to be one or more REs carrying predefined symbols. These reference symbols and their locations in the time-frequency grid are known to, or otherwise determined by, the UE. Thus, the RS can be used to determine channel estimates by measuring the effect of a particular radio channel on these symbols.

According to the LTE standard, transmissions from the eNB are sent from "antenna ports" instead of antennas. The antenna ports may be understood as virtual antennas, which may be further associated with reference symbols RS. Thus, when the UE measures the channel from the antenna port to the receiver antenna, it is irrelevant for the UE which physical antenna elements are used for transmission. The transmission on the antenna port may originate from a single physical antenna element or may be a combination of signals from multiple antenna elements.

In some instances, the use of transmit precoding may be used to direct the transmitted energy towards a particular receiving UE. This may be achieved by using all available antenna elements to transmit the same message, with different phase and/or amplitude weights applied at each antenna element. Since the reference symbols associated with each antenna port also undergo the same precoding operation as the data (with the same precoding weights), the transmission uses a single virtual antenna/single antenna port, and the UE only needs to use a single RS for channel estimation.

There are several large types of RSs used in LTE. The first type of RS is usable by all UEs and thus has a wide cell area coverage. One example of this type of RS is Common Reference Symbols (CRS), which are used by UEs for various purposes, including channel estimation. Currently, these CRSs are defined such that they occupy certain predefined REs within a transmission subframe, regardless of whether there is any data sent to the user. For example, as shown in fig. 2, a subframe 200 may include a control region, control signaling, and reference symbols 202. Reference symbols 202 may be CRSs used by UEs in a communication network.

The second type of RS is a UE-specific reference symbol, which is specifically intended for use only by a certain UE or a certain group of UEs. Currently, these UE-specific RSs are only transmitted when data is transmitted to a certain UE. When precoding a particular UE or group of UEs, the RS does not reach all parts of the cell, but only those parts of the cell where the UE of interest (i.e., the intended data receiver) is located.

In LTE, UE-specific RSs are included as part of RBs allocated to the UE for receiving user data. Exemplary use of UE-specific RS in LTE is shown in the RB pair of fig. 3, which includes UE-specific RS R₇And R₉。

Further, messages transmitted to a UE over a radio link in an LTE network may be broadly classified as control messages or data messages. The control messages are used to facilitate proper operation of the system and proper operation of each UE within the system. The control message may include, for example, commands for controlling functions such as transmit power or other additional signaling within the RB. Examples of control messages include, but are not limited to: a Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH) carrying configuration information of a control region size; a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), for example, carrying scheduling information and power control messages; a Physical HARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) that carries ACK/NACK in response to a previous uplink transmission; and a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) carrying system information.

In LTE release 10, CRS is used to demodulate control messages. The first to four OFDM symbols in the subframe are reserved according to the configuration as control information, e.g., as shown in fig. 2. Control messages of the PDCCH type are transmitted in multiple units called Control Channel Elements (CCEs), where each CCE contains 36 REs.

Currently, data messages may be transmitted to users in RBs carrying UE-specific RSs. These RSs may be used by the UE to demodulate data messages. The use of UE-specific RSs allows the multi-antenna eNB to optimize transmission using precoding of signals transmitted from multiple antennas, such that the received signals become stronger at the UE and thus the data rate of the transmission may be increased.

Similarly, release 10 of LTE also defines a control channel, called R-PDCCH, for conveying control information to the relay node. A relay node receiving the R-PDCCH may use a Relay Node (RN) -specific reference signal to improve link performance. The adoption of the same transmission principles as for R-PDCCH has been considered by using such transmissions to allow for the transmission of generic control messages to the UE based on the UE-specific RS.

A problem with existing LTE systems is that no efficient method of transmitting common control signals in such a way that the common control signals can be demodulated using UE-specific RSs and thus the benefits that accompany the use of UE-specific RSs can be achieved. For example, the ability to turn them off when data is not being transmitted may improve power efficiency and interference reduction and allow for the number of RSs to scale with the number of resources to be used for control message transmission.

When using UE-specific RS transmission, there is an additional problem as to how to achieve diversity on small control channel messages, e.g., PDCCH or PHICH of a single CCE.

Furthermore, there is currently no method that allows control messages to be transmitted to UEs in bandwidths that may be different for different UEs.

Accordingly, there is a need for methods and apparatus for improving transmission techniques from a base station to a UE using reference symbols.

Disclosure of Invention

Certain embodiments of the present invention are directed to apparatuses and methods for transmitting and receiving data in a wireless communication network using resource blocks including a plurality of regions associated with one or more reference symbols.

According to certain aspects of the disclosed apparatus and methods, information is communicated between a base station and one or more communication devices in Resource Blocks (RBs). In each RB for data or control channel transmission, a plurality of non-overlapping regions of Resource Elements (REs) are defined. Each region is associated with one or more unique Reference Symbols (RSs). When a User Equipment (UE) demodulates information it receives in a specific region of an RB, it uses an RS associated with the region. The RS information may be used, for example, to estimate a channel of the communication network or to demodulate and decode data contained within an associated region.

In one particular aspect, a method is provided for transmitting data from a base station to a communication device in resource blocks. The transmitted resource block includes a plurality of regions composed of resource elements. The method includes allocating a first portion of data to a first region of the resource block, which is associated with a first reference symbol, and allocating a second portion of data to a second region of the resource block, which is associated with a second reference symbol. The method further includes encoding a first portion of the data to generate first encoded data and encoding a second portion of the data to generate second encoded data. The coded data is modulated to generate modulated data, which is transmitted in resource blocks to the communication device along with the reference signal.

Particular embodiments of the present invention provide base station apparatus operable in a communications network for transmitting data in a resource block, wherein the resource block comprises a plurality of regions consisting of resource elements. The base station includes a processor configured to allocate a first portion of data for a first region of a resource block, which is associated with a first reference symbol. The processor is also configured to allocate a second portion of data for a second region of the resource block, which is associated with a second reference symbol. The processor is further configured to encode the first and second portions of data to generate encoded data. The encoded data is then modulated by a processor and transmitted in a resource block along with the first and second reference symbols by a transmitter configured to transmit the modulated data.

In another aspect, certain embodiments of the present invention provide a method for demodulating data in a resource block, the resource block including a plurality of regions, the plurality of regions including resource elements. The method includes receiving, at a communication device, data from a base station of a communication network, wherein a first portion of the data has been allocated to a first region of a resource block and associated with a first reference symbol, and a second portion of the data has been allocated to a second region of the resource block and associated with a second reference symbol. The method also includes estimating a first channel of the communication network using the first reference symbols and estimating a second channel of the communication network using the second reference symbols. Finally, the method includes demodulating at least one of the first or second data portions.

Particular embodiments of the present invention provide a communications device operable in a communications network to receive data in a resource block comprising a plurality of regions consisting of resource elements. Data is received from a base station. According to a particular aspect, a first portion of data has been allocated to a first region of a resource block and associated with first reference symbols, and a second portion of data has been allocated to a second region of the resource block and associated with second reference symbols. The communication device includes one or more antennas configured to receive data, and a processor coupled to the antennas. The processor is configured to estimate a first channel of the communication network using the first reference symbols and also estimate a second channel of the communication network using the second reference symbols. The processor is further configured to demodulate at least one of the first or second data of the data.

The above and other aspects and embodiments are described below with reference to the drawings.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form part of the specification, illustrate various embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the disclosure and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the embodiments disclosed herein. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements.

Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary resource block.

Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary downlink subframe.

Fig. 3 illustrates a resource block pair with UE-specific reference symbols.

Fig. 4 illustrates a resource block having regions according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 illustrates a wireless communication system.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of a UE communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of a base station according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a process for transmitting data according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 illustrates a resource block with regions and associated reference symbols according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart of a process for demodulating data according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 11 illustrates an exemplary resource block with regions and associated reference symbols in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 12 illustrates an exemplary resource block with four regions and associated reference symbols in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 13 illustrates an exemplary resource block with regions and associated reference symbols in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 14 illustrates an exemplary resource block with regions and associated reference symbols for transmitting small messages according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

In exemplary embodiments of the disclosed apparatus and methods, data is transmitted between a base station and one or more communication devices in resource blocks.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example wireless network 500. As shown, wireless network 500 includes at least one base station 502 and at least one wireless User Equipment (UE) communication device 504 interconnected via a network 506. Examples of wireless UE communication devices include mobile phones, personal digital assistants, e-readers, portable electronic tablets, personal computers, and laptop computers.

Fig. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary UE communication device 504. As shown in fig. 6, the UE communication device 504 may include: an antenna array 602 comprising one or more antennas; a data processing system 606, which may include one or more microprocessors and/or one or more circuits, such as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or the like; and a data storage or memory system 608, which may include one or more non-volatile memory devices and/or one or more volatile memory devices (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM)). The antenna array 602 is connected to a transceiver 604 configured to transmit and receive signals via the antenna array 602.

In embodiments where data processing system 606 includes a microprocessor, the computer readable program code may be stored in a computer readable medium, such as, but not limited to, magnetic media (e.g., hard disk), optical media (e.g., DVD), memory devices (e.g., random access memory), and the like. In some embodiments, the computer readable program code is configured such that, when executed by the processor, the code causes the data processing system 606 to perform the steps described below (e.g., the steps described below with reference to the flowchart in fig. 10). In other embodiments, the UE communication device 504 is configured to perform the steps described above without the need for a code. That is, for example, data processing system 606 may be comprised of one or more ASICs. Thus, the features described above may be implemented in hardware and/or software. For example, in particular embodiments, the functional components of the UE communication device 504 described above may be implemented by the data processing system 606 executing computer instructions, by the data processing system 606 operating independently of any computer instructions, or by any suitable combination of hardware and/or software.

Fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary base station 502. As shown in fig. 7, the base station 502 may include: a data processing system 708, which may include one or more microprocessors and/or one or more circuits, such as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), and the like; a network interface 706; and a data storage system 710, which may include one or more non-volatile storage devices and/or one or more volatile storage devices (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM)). Network interface 706 is connected to transceiver 704, which is configured to transmit and receive signals via antenna array 702. According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the antenna array may be configured to include one or more antenna ports. For example, antenna array 702 may include a first antenna port 0, and a second antenna port 1, which correspond to ports 0 and 1 of the LTE specification. In exemplary embodiments of the disclosed apparatus and methods, the base station 502 is a node B or an evolved node B.

In embodiments where data processing system 708 comprises a microprocessor, the computer readable program code may be stored in a computer readable medium, such as, but not limited to, magnetic media (e.g., hard disk), optical media (e.g., DVD), memory devices (e.g., random access memory), and the like. In some embodiments, the computer readable program code is configured such that, when executed by the processor, the code causes the data processing system 708 to perform the steps described below (e.g., the steps described below with reference to the flowchart shown in fig. 8). In other embodiments, the base station 502 is configured to perform the steps described above without the need for a code. That is, for example, data processing system 708 may consist only of one or more ASICs. Thus, the features described above may be implemented in hardware and/or software. For example, in particular embodiments, the functional components of the base station described above may be implemented by data processing system 708 executing computer instructions, by data processing system 708 operating independently of any computer instructions, or by any suitable combination of hardware and/or software.

According to particular embodiments of the invention, data may be transmitted between the base station 502 and one or more communication devices 504 in Resource Blocks (RBs). In certain aspects, within each RB for data or control channel transmission, multiple non-overlapping regions of Resource Elements (REs) are defined. Each region is associated with at least one unique Reference Symbol (RS).

When the user equipment 504 demodulates the information it receives in a particular region of an RB, it uses the RS and/or antenna port associated with that region. The RS and/or antenna port information may be used, for example, to estimate channels of the communication network or to demodulate data contained within an associated region.

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary resource block consisting of two time-frequency regions 402, 404, where each region has a reference symbol associated with it. The first region 402 is associated with first reference symbols transmitted in resource elements positioned in a first reference signal region 406. The second region 404 is associated with second reference symbols transmitted in resource elements positioned in a second reference signal region 408. Each region may be used, for example, to convey control information, e.g., CCE, PHICH or PBCH, or portions of such information elements.

Referring now to fig. 8, a flow diagram 800 illustrating a process for transmitting data from a base station 502 to a communication device 504 in a resource block 400 is shown. Resource block 400 includes multiple data regions, such as regions 402 and 404 illustrated in fig. 4.

In a first step of the process 810, a first portion of data is allocated to a first region 402 of a resource block 400. The data is associated with a first reference symbol 406. The data may be, for example, control messages. According to aspects of the embodiments, the control message may include commands related to power control, scheduling information, ACK/NACK responses, and/or system information. Further, the first reference symbol 406 may be a UE-specific reference symbol.

In step 820, a second portion of data is allocated to the second region 404 of the resource block 400. The data is associated with a second reference symbol 408. As with the first data, the data may be, for example, a control message and may include commands related to power control, scheduling information, ACK/NACK responses, and/or system information.

In step 830, a first portion of data is encoded to generate first encoded data. Similarly, encoding of a second portion of the data generates second encoded data. The encoded data is then modulated in step 840 to generate modulated data.

In step 850, the modulated data is transmitted to the communication device 504 in a resource block along with the first and second reference symbols.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, a base station 502 (e.g., the apparatus illustrated in fig. 7) is operable in a communication network and comprises a transceiver 704 and a data processing resource 708, which together are configured to transmit data in resource blocks, as detailed in the flowchart of fig. 8.

Referring to fig. 10, a flow chart 1000 illustrating a process for demodulating data received by the communication device 504 in a resource block is shown.

In step 1010, the communication device 504 receives data from a base station 502 of a communication network. The base station may be, for example, an eNB as illustrated in fig. 7.

A first portion of data is allocated to a first region of received resource blocks (e.g., resource blocks 400 illustrated in fig. 4). A second portion of the data is allocated to a second region of resource blocks 400. Each of these regions is associated with a first and a second reference symbol, respectively.

In step 1020, the communications apparatus estimates a channel of a communications network using the first reference symbols. Similarly, in step 1030, the communications device estimates a channel of the communications network using the second antenna port.

In step 1040, at least one of the first and second data is demodulated. The step may further include de-rate-matching and decoding the demodulated data.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the UE communication device 504 (e.g., the device illustrated in fig. 6) includes an antenna array 602, a transceiver 604, and a data processing resource 606, which together are configured to demodulate data received in resource blocks, as detailed in the flowchart of fig. 10.

According to a particular embodiment of the present invention, in an RB for control channel transmission, a plurality of orthogonal time-frequency and code resources may be defined. A partition, referred to herein as a resource, may be defined as a region consisting of a subset of resource elements in an RB plus a cover code. The cover code may be selected, for example, from a set of orthogonal cover codes. According to a particular embodiment of the invention, each resource is associated with one or more unique reference symbols, wherein the resource elements carrying the associated reference symbols are also transmitted in the same resource block or RB pair. When the UE demodulates information in a given resource in the transmitted RB, it may use the RS associated with that resource for processing. For example, the RS can be used for accurate channel estimation. Further, each resource within an RB may be independently assigned to one or more UEs.

In certain aspects, within each resource, control information is transmitted including, but not limited to, a CCE (e.g., belonging to PDCCH), PHICH, or PBCH. If the resources are too small to fit the entire CCE, PHICH or PBCH, part of these messages may be transmitted in a first resource and the other part in another resource (elsewhere in the same subframe). Other resources may be associated with other reference symbols.

Fig. 9 and 11-13 illustrate exemplary partitioning of resource blocks into regions along with the association of these regions with reference symbols. The use of RBs to illustrate the disclosed embodiments may be extended directly to RB pairs if, for example, data is mapped to two slots in a subframe. According to particular embodiments of the present invention, the partitioning of resources may be based on Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) as well as Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) and Code Division Multiplexing (CDM).

Fig. 9 shows an exemplary RB with reference symbol positions for up to four antenna ports, as currently defined in LTE. Resource elements carrying reference symbols are represented by R₇And R₉And (4) indicating. From R₇The indicated RE may contain an RS for antenna port 7, or alternatively for antenna ports 7 and 8 (if both ports are used). The RSs for the two ports may be superimposed on top of each other using Orthogonal Cover Codes (OCC) in multiple overlapping resource elements. For example, in each pair of adjacent symbols 902 shown in fig. 9, the transmit RS for port 7 may be { +1, +1 } and for port 8 may be { +1, -1 }. The RSs for antenna ports 9 and 10 are similarly superimposed on adjacent RE pairs 904 shown in fig. 9, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 9 also shows two distinct regions for control message transmission within an RB. In this embodiment, each region has 36 REs, which is the same as the number of REs in a CCE on a legacy LTE carrier. A first area (shown in a dot) is associated with antenna port 7 or antenna ports 7 and 8, and a second area (shown in hash) is associated with port 9 or ports 9 and 10.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the reference symbols are not necessarily transmitted in every RB transmission. For example, the RS for the resource does not have to be transmitted when the corresponding region is not used. This allows, for example, the use of UE allocation and search spaces defined in terms of CCEs of the legacy PDCCH (where the UE blindly decodes to search for the location of messages directed to it) to be handed over to the control channel based on the UE-specific RS. The only necessary change in the existing scheme is the mapping of CCEs to REs.

In particular embodiments of the present invention, the partitioning of RBs or RB pair-internal resources into multiple non-overlapping regions (with associated unique RSs) may be implemented in a variety of ways, for example, as provided in FIG. 11. In the example of fig. 11, a first zone is illustrated with a dot and is associated with antenna port 7 or antenna ports 7 and 8, while a second zone is illustrated with a hash and is associated with port 9 or ports 9 and 10.

Further examples (shown in fig. 12) illustrate two possible configurations in which an RB has been partitioned into four regions. According to this example, no cover code for the information is required. Thus, the area illustrated with dots is associated with antenna port 7, the area illustrated with black boxes is associated with antenna port 8, the area illustrated with hash is associated with antenna port 9, and the area illustrated with white boxes is associated with antenna port 10. As described previously, RSs for antenna ports 8 and 10 may be transmitted using orthogonal cover codes in the same REs used by ports 7 and 9, respectively.

Code Division Multiplexing (CDM) may be incorporated within a partitioning scheme to create additional associations between resources and reference symbols. For example, two cover codes, e.g., { +1, +1 } and { +1, -1 } may be adapted for regions, e.g., the regions illustrated with dots in FIGS. 9 and 11. In this example, the region with the coverage code { +1, +1 } shown with dots may be associated with antenna port 7 and the region with the coverage code { +1, -1 } shown with dots may be associated with antenna port 8. Similarly, the area illustrated with hash using the coverage code { +1, +1 } in fig. 9 and 11 may be associated with antenna port 9 and the area illustrated with hash having the coverage code { +1, -1 } may be associated with antenna port 10. This approach may provide an alternative to an implementation using four-region partitioning and RS association shown in fig. 12.

According to certain embodiments, multiple RBs may be used together to define region partitions and RS associations in order to embed frequency diversity within region transmissions. For example, as shown in fig. 13, four regions and their associated reference symbols and antenna ports are defined using resource elements within two RBs. In this embodiment, the two RBs have frequency separation. The area indicated by a dot is associated with the antenna port 7. The hash-illustrated area is associated with the antenna port 9. The area illustrated with a black box is associated with the antenna port 8. The area illustrated with a white box is associated with the antenna port 10.

According to some embodiments of the invention, when a message, such as a control message, is small, the message may be split and distributed over multiple regions, with each region transmitted in RBs separated with a sufficiently large frequency separation to provide frequency diversity. An exemplary small control message may include PDCCH with a single CCE, or PHICH.

As discussed above, different orthogonal resources within an RB may be utilized by different PDCCHs. The PHICH may also share radio resources with other PDCCHs. This example is illustrated in fig. 14, where UE 1 receives PDCCH consisting of a single CCE and UE 2 receives PHICH.

The described solution may be adapted to new carrier types, where all subcarriers in an RB may be utilized according to the above teachings. However, in carriers that are backward compatible to existing LTE system specifications, the initial (e.g., first to four, depending on the configuration) OFDM symbols in a subframe may be reserved for control information. This is shown, for example, in the allocation illustrated in fig. 2. To be able to support legacy UEs within a cell, the above-described embodiments may adapt to radio resources not allocated to legacy control regions. For example, as shown in fig. 14, the solution described therein is adapted to the last four OFDM symbols in the first slot of the subframe (after the first three are used for legacy operation).

While various embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the disclosure unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.

Additionally, although the processes described above and illustrated in the figures are shown as a sequence of steps, this is done for illustrative purposes only. Thus, it is contemplated that some steps may be added, some steps may be omitted, the order of the steps may be rearranged, and some steps may be performed in parallel.

Claims (28)

1. A method for transmitting data from a base station (502) to a communication device (504) in a resource block, the resource block comprising a plurality of regions, the plurality of regions comprising resource elements, the method comprising:

assigning (810) a first portion of the data to a first region of the plurality of regions, wherein the first portion of the data is associated with a first reference symbol;

assigning (820) a second portion of the data to a second region of the plurality of regions, wherein the second portion of the data is associated with a second reference symbol;

encoding (830) the first and second portions of the data to generate first and second encoded data;

modulating (840) the first and second encoded data to generate modulated data; and

transmitting (850) the modulated data and the first and second reference symbols to the communication device in the resource block.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the data is a control message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the control message comprises commands related to one or more of power control, scheduling information, ACK/NACK responses, and system information.

4. The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein the first reference symbol is a UE-specific reference symbol.

5. A method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the first reference symbol is uniquely associated with the communication device.

6. The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein the second reference symbol is not associated with the communication device.

7. The method of any one of claims 1-3, further comprising:

assigning a third portion of the data to the first region, wherein the third portion of the data is associated with a third reference symbol; and

applying an orthogonal cover code to the first and third reference symbols, wherein the first and third reference symbols are allocated to overlapping resource elements of the resource block.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

applying an orthogonal cover code to the first and third portions of the data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource block is comprised of a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and further comprising:

allocating control messages to a subset of the OFDM symbols to form a third region.

10. A base station apparatus (502) operable in a communication network for transmitting data in a resource block, the resource block comprising a plurality of regions, the plurality of regions comprising resource elements, the base station apparatus (502) comprising:

a processor (708) configured to:

assigning a first portion of the data to a first region of the plurality of regions, wherein the first portion of the data is associated with a first reference symbol;

assigning a second portion of the data to a second region of the plurality of regions, wherein the second portion of the data is associated with a second reference symbol;

encoding the first and second portions of the data to generate first and second encoded data; and

modulating the first and second encoded data to generate modulated data; and

a transmitter (704) configured to transmit the modulated data and the first and second reference symbols to a communication device in the communication network in the resource block.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first portion of the data is a control message.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the control message comprises commands related to one or more of power control, scheduling information, ACK/NACK responses, and system information.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 or 12, wherein the first reference symbol is a UE-specific reference symbol.

14. The apparatus of any of claims 10-12, wherein the first reference symbol is uniquely associated with the communication apparatus.

15. The apparatus of any of claims 10-12, wherein the second reference symbol is not associated with the communication apparatus.

16. The apparatus of any of claims 10-12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

assigning a third portion of the data to a first region of the plurality of regions, wherein the third portion of the data is associated with a third reference symbol; and

applying an orthogonal cover code to the first and third reference symbols, wherein the first and third reference symbols are allocated to overlapping resource elements of the resource block.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

applying an orthogonal cover code to the first and third portions of the data.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the resource block is comprised of a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols and the processor is further configured to: allocating control messages to a subset of the OFDM symbols to form a third region.

19. A method for demodulating data in a resource block comprising a plurality of regions, the plurality of regions comprising resource elements, the method comprising:

receiving (1010), at a communication device, the data from a base station of a communication network, wherein a first portion of the data is allocated to a first region of the plurality of regions and associated with a first reference symbol and a second portion of the data is allocated to a second region of the plurality of regions and associated with a second reference symbol;

estimating (1020) a first channel of the communication network using the first reference symbol;

estimating (1030) a second channel of the communication network using the second reference symbols; and

demodulating (1040) at least one of the first and second portions of the data.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first portion of the data is a control message.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the control message comprises commands related to one or more of power control, scheduling information, ACK/NACK responses, and system information.

22. The method of claim 20 or 21, wherein the first reference symbol is a UE-specific reference symbol.

23. The method of any of claims 19-21, wherein the first reference symbol is uniquely associated with the communication device.

24. A communication device (504) operable in a communication network to receive data in a resource block, the resource block comprising a plurality of regions, the plurality of regions comprising resource elements, the communication device (504) comprising:

an antenna (602) configured to receive the data; and

a processor (606) coupled to the antenna and configured to receive the data from the antenna;

wherein the first portion of the data is assigned to a first region of the plurality of regions and associated with a first reference symbol and the second portion of the data is assigned to a second region of the plurality of regions and associated with a second reference symbol, and the processor is further configured to:

estimating a first channel of the communication network using the first reference symbols;

estimating a second channel of the communication network using the second reference symbols; and

demodulating at least one of the first and second portions of the data.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the first portion of the data is a control message.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the control message comprises commands related to one or more of power control, scheduling information, ACK/NACK responses, and system information.

27. The apparatus of claim 25 or 26, wherein the first reference symbol is a UE-specific reference symbol.

28. The apparatus of any of claims 24-26, wherein the first reference symbol is uniquely associated with the communication apparatus.