Method for communicating in a mobile network

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for communicating between a primary station and at least one secondary station, comprising (a) the secondary station being configured to search a first configuration of search spaces, said search spaces comprising a number of resource sets, where at least one resource set might be used to transmit a message to the secondary station, (b) configuring the secondary station by means of a configuration message to search a second configuration of search spaces, (c) the secondary station in response of the reception of the configuration message entering into a transitional configuration mode, wherein the secondary station searches partly the first configuration of search spaces and the second configuration of search spaces.

1 . A primary station comprising means for communicating with at least one secondary station, the primary station comprising:
 a transmitter including an antenna array arranged to communicate with the at least one secondary station,   a controller operative to configure the secondary station to search a first configuration of search spaces, the first configuration of search spaces comprising a first set of one or more resource sets and a first set of one or more control message formats, where at least one resource set and control message format may be selected to transmit a control message to the primary station,   a transmitter operative to transmit a configuration message requesting the secondary station to search a second configuration of search spaces comprising a second set of one or more resource sets and a second set of one or more control message formats,   the controller operative to configure the primary station, after transmission of the configuration message, to enter into a transitional configuration mode, wherein the primary station is configured to partly use the first configuration of search spaces and to partly use the second configuration of search spaces for transmitting a control message,   wherein the second configuration of search spaces comprises a second set of one or more resource sets and a second set of one or more control message formats,   wherein in the transitional configuration mode, the primary station is configured to search for a first control message format from the first set of one or more control message formats in the first configuration of search spaces and is further configured to search for a second control message format from the second set of one or more control message formats in the second configuration of search spaces, and   wherein the first and second control message formats are different.   
     
     
         2 . The primary station of  claim 1 , wherein the transitional mode is of a predetermined duration. 
     
     
         3 . The primary station of  claim 1 , wherein the transitional mode ends when the primary station finds a control message addressed to the primary station in the second configuration of search spaces. 
     
     
         4 . The primary station of  claim 1 , wherein the transitional mode ends when the primary station receives a message confirming the use of the second configuration of search spaces. 
     
     
         5 . The primary station of  claim 1 , wherein the transitional mode comprises the primary station searching the first configuration of search spaces in a first subset of subframes. 
     
     
         6 . The primary station of  claim 5 , wherein the transitional mode further comprises the primary station searching the second configuration of search spaces in a second subset of subframes not included in the first subset of subframes. 
     
     
         7 . The primary station of  claim 1 , wherein the transitional mode comprises the primary station searching only a first portion of search spaces of the first configuration of search spaces. 
     
     
         8 . The primary station of  claim 1 , wherein the transitional mode further comprises the primary station searching only a second portion of search spaces of the second configuration of search spaces. 
     
     
         9 . The primary station of  claim 8 , wherein the transitional mode further comprises the primary station searching only a second portion of search spaces of the second configuration of search spaces and wherein the first portion of the search spaces of the first configuration of search spaces does not overlap the second portion of the search spaces of the second configuration of search spaces. 
     
     
         10 . The primary station of  claim 1 , wherein the configuration message is transmitted by higher layer signaling. 
     
     
         11 . The primary station of  claim 1 , wherein the primary station uses the second configuration partly in the transitional mode. 
     
     
         12 . The primary station of  claim 13 , wherein during the transitional mode, a carrier indicator flag is used in accordance with the second configuration of search spaces. 
     
     
         13 . The primary station of  claim 1 , wherein the transitional mode ends when an acknowledgement message is transmitted by a transmitter of the primary station, the acknowledgement message indicating an acknowledgement of at least one of: the reception of the configuration message, and implementation of a reconfiguration. 
     
     
         14 . A computer readable storage medium that is not a transitory propagating signal or wave, the medium having structures that encode instructions and when the structures are connected with processing circuitry of a primary station, they control the primary station to operates to:
 configure a secondary station to search a first configuration of search spaces, the first configuration of search spaces comprising a first set of one or more resource sets and a first set of one or more control message formats, where at least one resource set and control message format may be selected to transmit a control message to the secondary station,   transmit a configuration message requesting the secondary station to search a second configuration of search spaces comprising a second set of one or more resource sets and a second set of one or more control message formats,   configure the primary station, after transmission of the configuration message, to enter into a transitional configuration mode, wherein the primary station is adapted to partly use the first configuration of search spaces and to partly use the second configuration of search spaces for transmitting a control message,   wherein the second configuration of search spaces comprises a second set of one or more resource sets and a second set of one or more control message formats,   wherein in the transitional configuration mode, the secondary station is configured to search for a first control message format from the first set of one or more control message formats in the first configuration of search spaces and is further configured to search for a second control message format from the second set of one or more control message formats in the second configuration of search spaces, and   wherein the first and second control message formats are different.