Apparatus and Method for Communicating User Equipment Specific Information in Cellular Communication System

摘要

A cellular communication system comprises a base station ( 101 ) and a plurality of user equipment ( 103 ). The base station ( 101 ) comprises a combine processor ( 111 ) which combines user equipment specific information, such as power control commands or synchronisation information, for a plurality of user equipment ( 103 ). An encode processor 113 encodes the combined user equipment specific information and a transceiver 109 transmits the combined user equipment specific information in a minimum transmission resource unit of the cellular communication system. The minimum transmission resource unit may be a single channelisation code in a single time slot. The UE ( 103 ) comprises a receiver ( 115 ) for receiving the minimum transmission resource unit and a UE data processor ( 117 ) which decodes the minimum transmission resource unit and extracts the user equipment specific information for that UE ( 103 ). The invention may provide a more efficient communication of small data blocks.