Communication system

Abstract

A communication system is disclosed in which a base station communicates with machine-type-communication (MTC) devices by dividing the base station's cell bandwidth into (non-overlapping) narrowbands. The base station identifies, based on a communication received from a communication device, a capability of that communication device to retune between narrowbands, and provides, to that communication device, control information for controlling how that communication device retunes between different narrowbands, wherein the control information is based on the identified capability of that communication device to retune between narrowbands.

1 . A method performed by a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate using any of a plurality of subbands, the method comprising:
 sending, to a base station, in a radio resource control (RRC) message, capability information including information related to retuning from a first subband to a second subband, and   wherein the information indicates a period for the retuning per set of the first subband and the second subband.   
     
     
         2 . A method performed by a base station configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE) using any of a plurality of subbands, the method comprising:
 receiving, from the UE, in a radio resource control (RRC) message, capability information including information related to retuning from a first subband to a second subband,   wherein the information indicates a period for the retuning per set of the first subband and the second subband.   
     
     
         3 . A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate using any of a plurality of subbands, the UE comprising:
 a controller and a transceiver wherein the controller is configured to:
 control the transceiver to send, to a base station, in a radio resource control (RRC) message, capability information including information related to retuning from a first subband to a second subband, and 
   wherein the information indicates a period for the retuning per set of the first subband and the second subband.   
     
     
         4 . A base station configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE) using any of a plurality of subbands, the base station comprising:
 a controller and a transceiver wherein the controller is configured to:
 control the transceiver to receive, from the UE, in a radio resource control (RRC) message, capability information including information related to retuning from a first subband to a second subband, and 
   wherein the information indicates a period for the retuning per set of the first subband and the second subband.