TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to systems and methods for coding master information blocks (MIBs) for broadcast.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. A variety of wireless cellular communication systems have been implemented over time, including a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, a 3GPP Long-Term Evolution (LTE) system, and a 3GPP LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system. Next-generation wireless cellular communication systems based upon LTE and LTE-A systems are being developed, such as a fifth generation (5G) wireless system/5G mobile networks system.

A communications system may include a number of base stations (BS), each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE). In some cases, such as when a UE is a low cost or low complexity device, a base station may transmit system information in a dedicated system information message. This message may be transmitted in a shared channel without specifying the resources used for transmission in a control channel message. However, without the control channel the UE may have trouble locating the resources used for the system information message.

5G New Radio (NR) systems may include 8 synchronization signal (SS) blocks for lower frequency band communications. The index of these SS blocks may be derived from a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence number. Typically, communications at a higher frequency band may utilize at most 64 SS blocks. However, traditional derivation of time information may relatively difficult at the three least significant bits of a SS block index than at other bits of the SS block index. Hence, traditional derivations of time information may rely upon information from the SS-block other than three lowest significant bits of an SS block.

Currently, certain standards are exploring the use of SS blocks for indicating a broadcast transmission with fields that may include 3 bits for a SS block index, 1 bit for a half frame indicator (5 ms indicator) of a radio frame, and 10 bits for a frame number. Polar code may be applied to broadcast channel coding in the context of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). For a receiver (e.g., a decoder), time sensitive information (e.g., SS-block index, half frame indicators and radio frame boundary) may have priority (e.g., a better quality of service) over other information in a broadcast (e.g., a broadcast message or a broadcast signal).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The exemplary embodiments disclosed herein are directed to solving the issues relating to one or more of the problems presented in the prior art, as well as providing additional features that will become readily apparent by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompany drawings. In accordance with various embodiments, exemplary systems, methods, devices and computer program products are disclosed herein. It is understood, however, that these embodiments are presented by way of example and not limitation, and it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art who read the present disclosure that various modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be made while remaining within the scope of the invention.

In one embodiment, a method performed by a communication node includes: identifying time sensitive bits among a master information block; placing the time sensitive bits at predetermined encoding positions, wherein the time sensitive bits at the predetermined encoding positions are encoded with a common property different than other bits of the master information block; encoding the master information block; and transmitting a broadcast message comprising the master information block.

In a further embodiment, a method performed by a communication device includes: receiving a broadcast message comprising a master information block, wherein the master information block comprises time sensitive bits encoded from predetermined encoding positions, wherein the time sensitive bits at the predetermined encoding positions are encoded with a common property different than other bits of the master information block; and decoding the master information block.

