Searching for Control Channels in a Wireless Network

1. A method of operating a user equipment, the method comprising: receiving a wireless signal at the user equipment, the wireless signal comprising a control channel for the user equipment, the control channel being in at least one control channel element (CCE), the control channel comprising an indication of an uplink communication resource useable by the user equipment for uplink communication; searching for the control channel in the at least one CCE from a plurality of candidate CCEs, the plurality of candidate CCEs being in a plurality of aggregation levels, each of the plurality of aggregation levels comprising a respective limited number of candidate control channels, and the searching includes searching at least one of the respective limited number of candidate control channels in at least one of the plurality of aggregation levels; and transmitting an uplink data signal according to the uplink communication resource, the indication of the uplink communication resource decoded from the control channel of the wireless signal according to the plurality of candidate CCEs using an identifier associated with the user equipment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at a first aggregation level the control channel is in one CCE and wherein at a second aggregation level the control channel is in two consecutive CCEs.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein at a third aggregation level the control channel is in four consecutive CCEs and wherein at a fourth aggregation level the control channel is in eight consecutive CCEs.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the searching further comprises: decoding the plurality of candidate CCEs using the identifier associated with the user equipment to determine the uplink communication resource.

5. A user equipment comprising: a receiver operable to receive a wireless signal at the user equipment, the wireless signal comprising a control channel for the user equipment, the control channel being in at least one control channel element (CCE), wherein the control channel comprises an indication of an uplink communication resource useable by the user equipment for uplink communication; a processor operable to search for the control channel in the at least one CCE from a plurality of candidate CCEs, the plurality of candidate CCEs being in a plurality of aggregation levels, each of the plurality of aggregation levels comprising a respective limited number of candidate control channels, and the searching includes searching at least one of the respective limited number of candidate control channels in at least one of the plurality of aggregation levels; and a transmitter operable to transmit an uplink data signal according to the uplink communication resource, the indication of the uplink communication resource decoded from the control channel of the wireless signal according to the plurality of candidate CCEs using an identifier associated with the user equipment.

6. The user equipment of claim 5 , wherein at a first aggregation level the control channel is in one CCE and wherein at a second aggregation level the control channel is in two consecutive CCEs.

7. The user equipment of claim 6 , wherein at a third aggregation level the control channel is in four consecutive CCEs and wherein at a fourth aggregation level the control channel is in eight consecutive CCEs.

8. The user equipment of claim 5 , wherein the processor is further operable to decode the plurality of candidate CCEs using the identifier associated with the user equipment to determine the uplink communication resource.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a set of instructions for execution by a user equipment, the set of instructions comprising: a receiving code segment for receiving a wireless signal at the user equipment, the wireless signal comprising a control channel for the user equipment, the control channel being in at least one control channel element (CCE), the control channel comprising an indication of an uplink communication resource useable by the user equipment for uplink communication; a searching code segment for searching for the control channel in the at least one CCE from a plurality of candidate CCEs, the plurality of candidate CCEs being in a plurality of aggregation levels, each of the plurality of aggregation levels comprising a respective limited number of candidate control channels, and the searching includes searching at least one of the respective limited number of candidate control channels in at least one of the plurality of aggregation levels; and a transmitting code segment for transmitting an uplink data signal according to the uplink communication resource, the indication of the uplink communication resource decoded from the control channel of the wireless signal according to the plurality of candidate CCEs using an identifier associated with the user equipment.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein at a first aggregation level the control channel is in one CCE and wherein at a second aggregation level the control channel is in two consecutive CCEs.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein at a third aggregation level the control channel is in four consecutive CCEs and wherein at a fourth aggregation level the control channel is in eight consecutive CCEs.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the searching code segment includes instructions for decoding the plurality of candidate CCEs using the identifier associated with the user equipment to determine the uplink communication resource.