Apparatus and method for downlink assignment of downlink control channel

Abstract

The present invention relates to downlink assignment for a downlink control channel. Disclosed are an apparatus, method, and system for downlink assignment of a downlink control channel. A method includes: receiving at least two downlink control channel candidates, which carry the same downlink control information (DCI) and correspond to a transport block (TB); in response to receiving the at least two downlink control channel candidates, determining an associated core set for reception of the TB; based on the associated core set, determining a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for the TB; and sending a hybrid automatic repeat request response (HARQ-ACK) corresponding to the TB on the determined PUCCH resource.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the application which entered the Chinese national phase on February 8, 2021, with PCT application number PCT / IB2019 / 000918, international application date August 9, 2019, Chinese application number 201980052820.6, and invention name “Downlink Assignment for Downlink Control Channel”.

[0002] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0003] This application claims priority to U.S. patent application serial number 62 / 716,894 filed on August 9, 2018 by Hossein Bagheri, entitled “APPARATUSES, METHODS, AND SYSTEMS FOR ENHANCING DOWNLINK COMMUNICATION RELIABILITY,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0004] The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to downlink assignments for downlink control channels. Background Art

[0005] The following abbreviations are defined herein, and at least some of them are referred to in the following description: 3rd Generation Partnership Project ("3GPP"), 4th Generation ("4G"), 5th Generation ("5G"), 5G System ("5GS"), Acknowledgement ("ACK"), Aggregation Level ("AL"), Access and Mobility Management Function ("AMF"), Access Network ("AN"), Access Point ("AP"), Authentication Server Function ("AUSF"), Beam Failure Detection ("BFD"), Binary Phase Shift Keying ("BPSK"), Base Station ("BS"), Buffer Status Report ("BSR"), Bandwidth ("BW"), Bandwidth Part ("BWP"), Carrier Aggregation ("CA"), Contention-Based Random Access (CBA) "CBRA"), Clear Channel Assessment ("CCA"), Control Channel Element ("CCE"), Cyclic Delay Diversity ("CDD"), Code Division Multiple Access ("CDMA"), Control Element ("CE"), Contention-Free Random Access ("CFRA"), Closed Loop ("CL"), Coordinated Multipoint ("CoMP"), Cyclic Prefix ("CP"), Cyclic Redundancy Check ("CRC"), Channel State Information ("CSI"), Channel State Information Reference Signal ("CSI-RS"), Common Search Space ("CSS"), Control Resource Set ("CORESET"), Device-to-Device ("D2D"), Discrete Fourier Transform Spreading ("DFTS"), Downlink Control Information ("DCI") , Downlink ("DL"), Demodulation Reference Signal ("DMRS"), Data Radio Bearer ("DRB"), Discontinuous Reception ("DRX"), Downlink Pilot Time Slot ("DwPTS"), Enhanced Clear Channel Assessment ("eCCA"), EPS Connection Management ("ECM"), Enhanced Mobile Broadband ("eMBB"), Evolved Node B ("eNB"), Effective Isotropic Radiated Power ("EIRP"), European Telecommunications Standards Institute ("ETSI"), Evolved Packet Core ("EPC"), Evolved Packet System ("EPS"), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Access ("E-UTRA"), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Access Network ("E-UTRAN"), Frame-based Equipment (“FBE”), Frequency Division Duplex (“FDD”), Frequency Division Multiplexing (“FDM”), Frequency Division Multiple Access (“FDMA”), Frequency Division Orthogonal Cover Code (“FD-OCC”), 5G Node B or Next Generation Node B (“gNB”), General Packet Radio Service (“GPRS”), Guard Period (“GP”), Global System for Mobile Communications (“GSM”), Globally Unique Temporary UE Identifier (“GUTI”), Home AMF (“hAMF”), Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (“HARQ”), Home Location Register (“HLR”), Home PLMN (“HPLMN”), Home Subscriber Server (“HSS”), Identity or Identifier (“ID”), Information Element (“IE”),Industrial Internet of Things (“IIoT”), International Mobile Equipment Identity (“IMEI”), International Mobile Subscriber Identity (“IMSI”), International Mobile Telecommunications (“IMT”), Internet of Things (“IoT”), Layer 2 (“L2”), Authorization Assisted Access (“LAA”), Load-Based Equipment (“LBE”), Listen Before Talk (“LBT”), Logical Channel (“LCH”), Logical Channel Priority (“LCP”), Log Likelihood Ratio (“LLR”), Long Term Evolution (“LTE”), Multiple Access (“MA”), Medium Access Control (“MAC”), Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (“MBMS”), Modulation Coding Scheme (“MCS”), Master Information Block (“MIB”), Multiple Input Multiple Output ("MIMO"), Mobility Management ("MM"), Mobility Management Entity ("MME"), Mobile Network Operator ("MNO"), Massive MTC ("mMTC"), Maximum Power Reduction ("MPR"), Machine Type Communication ("MTC"), Multiple TRPs ("multi-TRP"), Multi-User Shared Access ("MUSA"), Non-Access Stratum ("NAS"), Narrowband ("NB"), Negative Acknowledgement ("NACK") or ("NAK"), Network Entity ("NE"), Network Function ("NF"), Next Generation RAN ("NG-RAN"), Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access ("NOMA"), New Radio ("NR"), Network Repository Function ("N RF), Network Slice Instance ("NSI"), Network Slice Selection Assistance Information ("NSSAI"), Network Slice Selection Function ("NSSF"), Network Slice Selection Policy ("NSSP"), Operation and Maintenance System ("OAM"), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing ("OFDM"), Open Loop ("OL"), Other System Information ("OSI"), Power Angular Spectrum ("PAS"), Physical Broadcast Channel ("PBCH"), Power Control ("PC"), LTE to V2X Interface ("PC5"), Primary Cell ("PCell"), Policy Control Function ("PCF"), Physical Cell ID ("PCID"), Physical Downlink Control Channel ("PDCCH"), Packet Data Convergence Assist ("PDCCH"), Protocol ("PDCP"), Physical Downlink Shared Channel ("PDSCH"), Mode Division Multiple Access ("PDMA"), Packet Data Unit ("PDU"), Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel ("PHICH"), Power Headroom ("PH"), Power Headroom Report ("PHR"), Physical Layer ("PHY"), Public Land Mobile Network ("PLMN"), Physical Random Access Channel ("PRACH"), Physical Resource Block ("PRB"), Primary and Secondary Cell ("PSCell"), Physical Uplink Control Channel ("PUCCH"), Physical Uplink Shared Channel ("PUSCH"), Quasi-Co-location or Quasi-Co-location ("QCL"), Quality of Service ("QoS"),Quadrature Phase Shift Keying ("QPSK"), Registration Area ("RA"), Radio Access Network ("RAN"), Radio Access Technology ("RAT"), Random Access Channel ("RACH"), Random Access Preamble Identifier ("RAPID"), Random Access Response ("RAR"), Resource Block ("RB"), Resource Element Group ("REG"), Radio Link Control ("RLC"), Radio Link Monitoring ("RLM"), Radio Network Temporary Identifier ("RNTI"), Reference Signal or Reference Signals ("RS"), Remaining Minimum System Information ("RMSI"), Radio Resource Control ("RRC"), Radio Resource Management ("RRM"), Resource Extended Multiple Access ( "RSMA"), Reference Signal Received Power ("RSRP"), Round Trip Time ("RTT"), Reception ("RX"), Sparse Code Multiple Access ("SCMA"), Scheduling Request ("SR"), Sounding Reference Signal ("SRS"), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access ("SC-FDMA"), Secondary Cell ("SCell"), Shared Channel ("SCH"), Subcarrier Spacing ("SCS"), Service Data Unit ("SDU"), System Information Block ("SIB"), System Information Block Type 1 ("SIB1"), System Information Block Type 2 ("SIB2"), Subscriber Identity / Identification Module ("SIM"), Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio ("SINR"), Service Level Agreement ("SLA") A”), Session Management Function (“SMF”), Specific Cell (“SpCell”), Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (“S-NSSAI”), Shortened TTI (“sTTI”), Synchronization Signal (“SS”), Synchronization Signal Block (“SSB”), Supplementary Uplink (“SUL”), Subscriber Permanent Identifier (“SUPI”), Tracking Area (“TA”), TA Indicator (“TAI”), Transport Block (“TB”), Transport Block Size (“TBS”), Transmission Configuration Indicator (“TCI”), Time Division Duplex (“TDD”), Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Time Division Orthogonal Cover Codes (TD-OCC), Transmit Power Control (“TPC”), Transmit Reception Point (“ TRP”), Transmission Time Interval (“TTI”), Transmission (“TX”), Uplink Control Information (“UCI”), Unified Data Management Function (“UDM”), Unified Data Repository (“UDR”), User Entity / Equipment (Mobile Terminal) (“UE”), Universal Integrated Circuit Card (“UICC”), Uplink (“UL”), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (“UMTS”), User Plane (“UP”), Uplink Pilot Time Slot (“UpPTS”), Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communication (“URLLC”), UE Routing Policy (“URSP”), LTE Radio Interface (“Uu”), Vehicle-to-Everything (“V2X”), Access AMF (“vAMF”),Access NSSF ("vNSSF"), Access PLMN ("VPLMN"), Interconnection Interface ("X2") ("Xn"), and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access ("WiMAX").

[0006] In some wireless communication networks, downlink data may be received. In such networks, downlink data may be received on a downlink channel. Summary of the Invention

[0007] A method for downlink assignment of a downlink control channel is disclosed. An apparatus and system also perform the functions of the apparatus. One embodiment of the method includes monitoring a first downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a first downlink data channel in a first control resource set. In some embodiments, the method includes monitoring a second downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a second downlink data channel in a second control resource set, wherein the first control resource set includes a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set and the second control resource set includes a second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set. In various embodiments, the method includes receiving at least one downlink assignment associated with the first downlink control channel candidate or the second downlink control channel candidate. In some embodiments, the method includes, in response to the at least one downlink assignment including a first downlink assignment associated with the first downlink control channel candidate: determining a first downlink data channel allocation based on the first downlink assignment, the first downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to the first downlink data channel; determining a first demodulation reference signal symbol position based at least in part on the first downlink assignment, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the first demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with the first downlink data channel; and decoding the first downlink data channel. In certain embodiments, the method includes, in response to the at least one downlink assignment including a second downlink assignment associated with the second downlink control channel candidate: determining a second downlink data channel allocation based on the second downlink assignment, the second downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to the second downlink data channel; determining a second demodulation reference signal symbol position based at least in part on the second downlink assignment, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the second demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with the second downlink data channel; and decoding the second downlink data channel.

[0008] An apparatus for downlink assignment of a downlink control channel includes a processor that: monitors a first downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a first downlink data channel in a first set of control resources; and monitors a second downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a second downlink data channel in a second set of control resources, wherein the first set of control resources includes a first set of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols and the second set of control resources includes a second set of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols. In some embodiments, the apparatus includes a receiver that receives at least one downlink assignment associated with the first downlink control channel candidate or the second downlink control channel candidate. In various embodiments, in response to the at least one downlink assignment including a first downlink assignment associated with the first downlink control channel candidate, the processor: determines a first downlink data channel allocation based on the first downlink assignment, the first downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to a first downlink data channel; determines a first demodulation reference signal symbol position based at least in part on the first downlink assignment, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the first demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with the first downlink data channel; and performs a demodulation on the first downlink data channel. decoding; and, in response to the at least one downlink assignment including a second downlink assignment associated with the second downlink control channel candidate, the processor: determines a second downlink data channel allocation based on the second downlink assignment, the second downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to a second downlink data channel; determines a second demodulation reference signal symbol position based at least in part on the second downlink assignment, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the second demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with the second downlink data channel; and decodes the second downlink data channel.

[0009] Another embodiment of a downlink assignment for a downlink control channel includes receiving a first indication, the first indication including a first search space identifier and a second search space identifier, wherein the first search space identifier and the second search space identifier are for an associated search space set including the first search space and the second search space. In some embodiments, the method includes determining a first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the first search space. In various embodiments, the method includes determining a second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the second search space. In some embodiments, the method includes determining a third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set corresponding to the associated search space, wherein the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set includes a subset of the first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set and the second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set, the associated search space corresponding to two different control resource sets including a first control resource set and a second control resource set, and wherein: a demodulation reference signal port of the first control resource set is quasi-co-located with a first reference signal set; a demodulation reference signal port of the second control resource set is quasi-co-located with a second reference signal set; and the first reference signal set and the second reference signal set are different. In certain embodiments, the method includes monitoring the one or more downlink control channel candidates in at least one time slot of the third set of monitoring opportunities if the one or more downlink control channel candidates carry the same downlink control information.

[0010] Another apparatus for downlink assignment of a downlink control channel includes a receiver that receives a first indication comprising a first search space identifier and a second search space identifier, wherein the first search space identifier and the second search space identifier are used for an associated search space set comprising the first search space and the second search space. In some embodiments, the device includes a processor, which: determines a first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the first search space; determines a second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the second search space; determines a third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set corresponding to the associated search space, wherein the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set includes a subset of the first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity and the second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set, and the associated search space corresponds to two different control resource sets including a first control resource set and a second control resource set, and wherein: the demodulation reference signal port of the first control resource set is quasi-co-located with the first reference signal set; the demodulation reference signal port of the second control resource set is quasi-co-located with the second reference signal set; and the first reference signal set and the second reference signal set are different; and if one or more downlink control channel candidates carry the same downlink control information, the one or more downlink control channel candidates are monitored in at least one time slot of the third monitoring opportunity set. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] A more particular description of the embodiments briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only some embodiments and are therefore not to be considered limiting of scope, the embodiments will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through use of the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0012] Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a wireless communication system for downlink assignment of a downlink control channel;

[0013] Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an apparatus that may be used for downlink assignment of a downlink control channel;

[0014] Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an apparatus that may be used to transmit and / or receive data and / or information;

[0015] Figure 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a first search space;

[0016] Figure 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a second search space;

[0017] Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method for downlink assignment of a downlink control channel; and

[0018] Figure 7 is a flow chart illustrating another embodiment of a method for downlink assignment of a downlink control channel. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, aspects of the embodiments may be embodied as a system, apparatus, method, or program product. Thus, the embodiments may take the form of a fully hardware embodiment, a fully software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.), or a combination of software and hardware aspects, which may all be generally referred to herein as a "circuit," "module," or "system." Additionally, the embodiments may take the form of a program product embodied in one or more computer-readable storage devices stored in machine-readable code, computer-readable code, and / or program code, hereinafter referred to as code. The storage device may be tangible, non-transitory, and / or non-transmittable. The storage device may not embody a signal. In a certain embodiment, the storage device employs only a signal for accessing the code.

[0020] Certain functional units described in this specification may be labeled as modules to more specifically emphasize their implementation independence. For example, a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom very large scale integration ("VLSI") circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discrete components. A module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logic devices, and the like.

[0021] Modules can also be implemented in code and / or software for execution by various types of processors. The identified code modules can, for example, include one or more physical or logical blocks of executable code, which can, for example, be organized as objects, procedures, or functions. However, the executable files of the identified modules need not be physically located together, but can include unrelated instructions stored in different locations that, when logically combined together, comprise the module and achieve the stated purpose of the module.

[0022] In fact, code module can be a single instruction or many instructions, and can even be distributed on several different code segments, in the middle of different programs and across several memory devices.Similarly, in this article, operating data can be identified and illustrated in the module, and can be embodied in any suitable form and be organized in the data structure of any suitable type.Operational data can be collected as a single data set, or can be distributed in different locations, including on different computer-readable storage devices.When a module or the part of a module is implemented with software, the software portion is stored on one or more computer-readable storage devices.

[0023] Any combination of one or more computer-readable media may be utilized. The computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium may be a storage device that stores code. The storage device may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, holographic, micromechanical, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0024] More specific examples of storage devices (a non-exhaustive list) would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory ("RAM"), a read-only memory ("ROM"), an erasable programmable read-only memory ("EPROM" or flash memory), a portable compact disc read-only memory ("CD-ROM"), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0025] The code for performing the operations of the embodiments can be any number of lines and can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages ​​including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Python, Ruby, Java, Smalltalk, C++, and traditional procedural programming languages ​​such as the "C" programming language, and / or machine languages ​​such as assembly language. The code can be executed entirely on the user's computer, partially on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. In the latter case, the remote computer can be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network ("LAN") or a wide area network ("WAN"), or can be connected to an external computer (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet service provider).

[0026] References in this specification to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," or similar language mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in conjunction with that embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Therefore, unless expressly stated otherwise, the phrases "in one embodiment," "in an embodiment," and similar language appearing throughout the specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment, but rather to "one or more but not all embodiments." Unless expressly stated otherwise, the terms "comprise," "comprising," "having," and their variations mean "including but not limited to." Unless expressly stated otherwise, an enumerated list of items does not imply that any or all items are mutually exclusive. Unless expressly stated otherwise, the terms "a," "an," and "the" also refer to "one or more."

[0027] In addition, the features, structures or characteristics of the described embodiments may be combined in any suitable manner. In the following description, many specific details are provided, such as examples of programming, software modules, user selections, network transactions, database queries, database structures, hardware modules, hardware circuits, hardware chips, etc., to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, those skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the embodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or using other methods, components, materials, etc. In other cases, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring some aspects of the embodiments.

[0028] Aspects of the embodiments are described below with reference to schematic flow charts and / or schematic block diagrams of the methods, devices, systems, and program products according to the embodiments. It will be understood that each block of the schematic flow charts and / or schematic block diagrams and the combination of blocks in the schematic flow charts and / or schematic block diagrams can be implemented by code. The code can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device to generate a machine so that instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device create a means for implementing the functions / operations specified in the schematic flow charts and / or schematic block diagram blocks or some blocks.

[0029] The code may also be stored in a storage device that is capable of directing a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to operate in a specific manner so that the instructions stored in the storage device produce an article of manufacture including instructions that implement the functions / operations specified in the schematic flowchart and / or schematic block diagram block or blocks.

[0030] The code may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus or other device so that a series of operational steps are performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer-implemented process, so that the code executed on the computer or other programmable apparatus provides a process for implementing the functions / operations specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks.

[0031] The schematic flowcharts and / or schematic block diagrams in the accompanying drawings illustrate possible implementations of the architecture, functions, and operations of the apparatus, system, method, and program product according to various embodiments. In this regard, each block in the schematic flowcharts and / or schematic block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which includes one or more executable instructions of the code for implementing a specified logical function.

[0032] It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions annotated in the blocks may not occur in the order annotated in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may actually be executed substantially simultaneously, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending on the functionality involved. Other steps and methods are contemplated that are equivalent in function, logic, or effect to one or more blocks, or portions thereof, of the figures illustrated.

[0033] Although various arrow types and line types may be employed in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, it will be understood that they do not limit the scope of the corresponding embodiments. In fact, some arrows or other connectors may be used only to indicate the logical flow of the depicted embodiments. For example, arrows may indicate wait or monitoring periods of unspecified duration between enumerated steps of the depicted embodiments. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and / or flowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowcharts, can be implemented by a dedicated hardware-based system that performs a specific function or operation, or a combination of dedicated hardware and code.

[0034] The description of an element in each figure may refer to an element in the previous figure. The same numerals refer to the same elements in all figures, including alternative embodiments of the same elements.

[0035] It is understood that TS 36.211 quotes: "An antenna port is defined so that the channel on which a symbol on the antenna port is carried can be inferred from the channel on which another symbol on the same antenna port is carried. There is one resource grid for each antenna port. The antenna port used to transmit a physical channel or signal depends on the number of antenna ports configured for the physical channel or signal." As used herein, a demodulation reference signal port may refer to an antenna port on which a demodulation reference signal is carried, similar to the terminology used in TS 38.212.

[0036] Figure 1An embodiment of a wireless communication system 100 for downlink assignment of a downlink control channel is depicted. In one embodiment, the wireless communication system 100 includes a remote unit 102 and a network unit 104. Although Figure 1 A specific number of remote units 102 and network units 104 are depicted in FIG. 1 , but one skilled in the art will recognize that any number of remote units 102 and network units 104 may be included in the wireless communication system 100.

[0037] In one embodiment, the remote unit 102 may include a computing device such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant ("PDA"), a tablet computer, a smartphone, a smart TV (e.g., a TV connected to the Internet), a set-top box, a game console, a security system (including a security camera), an in-vehicle computer, a network device (e.g., a router, a switch, a modem), an aerial vehicle, a drone, etc. In some embodiments, the remote unit 102 includes a wearable device such as a smart watch, a fitness band, an optical head-mounted display, etc. Furthermore, the remote unit 102 may be referred to as a subscriber unit, a mobile device, a mobile station, a user, a terminal, a mobile terminal, a fixed terminal, a subscriber station, a UE, a user terminal, a device, or other terms used in the art. The remote unit 102 may communicate directly with one or more network units 104 via UL communication signals. The remote unit 102 may also communicate directly with one or more other remote units 102.

[0038] The network elements 104 may be distributed across a geographic area. In some embodiments, the network elements 104 may also be referred to as access points, access terminals, base stations, base stations, Node-Bs (a Node-Bs), eNBs, gNBs, Home Node-Bs, relay nodes, devices, core networks, over-the-air servers, radio access nodes, APs, NRs, network entities, AMFs, UDMs, UDRs, UDM / UDRs, PCFs, RANs, NSSFs, or any other terminology used in the art. The network elements 104 are typically part of a radio access network, which includes one or more controllers communicatively coupled to one or more corresponding network elements 104. The radio access network is typically communicatively coupled to one or more core networks, which may be coupled to other networks, such as the Internet and public switched telephone networks, among others. These and other elements of the radio access and core networks are not shown, but are generally well known to those skilled in the art.

[0039] In one embodiment, the wireless communication system 100 conforms to the NR protocol standardized in 3GPP, wherein the network unit 104 transmits using an OFDM modulation scheme on the DL and the remote unit 102 transmits using an SC-FDMA scheme or an OFDM scheme on the UL. However, more generally, the wireless communication system 100 may implement some other open or proprietary communication protocol, such as WiMAX, IEEE 802.11 variants, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, LTE variants, CDMA2000, Other protocols include ZigBee, Sigfoxx, etc. The present disclosure is not intended to be limited to any particular wireless communication system architecture or protocol implementation.

[0040] The network unit 104 can serve multiple remote units 102 within a service area (eg, a cell or cell sector) via wireless communication links. The network unit 104 transmits DL communication signals in the time, frequency, and / or spatial domains to serve the remote units 102.

[0041] In one embodiment, the remote unit 102 may monitor a first downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a first downlink data channel in a first set of control resources. In some embodiments, the remote unit 102 may monitor a second downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a second downlink data channel in a second set of control resources, wherein the first set of control resources includes a first set of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols and the second set of control resources includes a second set of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols. In various embodiments, the remote unit 102 may receive at least one downlink assignment associated with the first downlink control channel candidate or the second downlink control channel candidate. In some embodiments, the remote unit 102 can, in response to at least one downlink assignment including a first downlink assignment associated with a first downlink control channel candidate: determine a first downlink data channel allocation based on the first downlink assignment, the first downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to the first downlink data channel; determine a first demodulation reference signal symbol position based at least in part on the first downlink assignment, a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and a second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the first demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with the first downlink data channel; and decode the first downlink data channel. In some embodiments, the remote unit 102 may, in response to at least one downlink assignment including a second downlink assignment associated with a second downlink control channel candidate, determine a second downlink data channel allocation based on the second downlink assignment, the second downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to a second downlink data channel; determine a second demodulation reference signal symbol position based at least in part on the second downlink assignment, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the second demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with the second downlink data channel; and decode the second downlink data channel. Thus, the remote unit 102 may be configured for downlink assignments for a downlink control channel.

[0042] In another embodiment, remote unit 102 may receive a first indication including a first search space identifier and a second search space identifier, wherein the first search space identifier and the second search space identifier are for an associated search space set including the first search space and the second search space. In some embodiments, remote unit 102 may determine a first set of downlink control channel monitoring opportunities for the first search space. In various embodiments, remote unit 102 may determine a second set of downlink control channel monitoring opportunities for the second search space. In some embodiments, remote unit 102 includes determining a third set of downlink control channel monitoring opportunities corresponding to the associated search space, wherein the third set of downlink control channel monitoring opportunities includes a subset of the first set of downlink control channel monitoring opportunities and a second set of downlink control channel monitoring opportunities, wherein the associated search space corresponds to two different control resource sets including a first control resource set and a second control resource set, and wherein: a demodulation reference signal port of the first control resource set is quasi-co-located with the first reference signal set; a demodulation reference signal port of the second control resource set is quasi-co-located with the second reference signal set; and the first reference signal set and the second reference signal set are different. In some embodiments, the remote unit 102 may monitor the one or more downlink control channel candidates in at least one time slot of the third set of monitoring opportunities if the one or more downlink control channel candidates carry the same downlink control information. Thus, the remote unit 102 may be used for downlink assignments of downlink control channels.

[0043] Figure 2 One embodiment of an apparatus 200 that can be used for downlink assignment of a downlink control channel is depicted. Apparatus 200 includes one embodiment of a remote unit 102. Furthermore, remote unit 102 may include a processor 202, a memory 204, an input device 206, a display 208, a transmitter 210, and a receiver 212. In some embodiments, input device 206 and display 208 are combined into a single device, such as a touch screen. In certain embodiments, remote unit 102 may not include any input device 206 and / or display 208. In various embodiments, remote unit 102 may include one or more of processor 202, memory 204, transmitter 210, and receiver 212, and may not include input device 206 and / or display 208.

[0044] In one embodiment, the processor 202 may include any known controller capable of executing computer-readable instructions and / or capable of performing logical operations. For example, the processor 202 may be a microcontroller, a microprocessor, a central processing unit ("CPU"), a graphics processing unit ("GPU"), an auxiliary processing unit, a field programmable gate array ("FPGA"), or a similar programmable controller. In some embodiments, the processor 202 executes instructions stored in the memory 204 to perform the methods and routines described herein. In various embodiments, the processor 202 may monitor a first downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a first downlink data channel in a first control resource set; monitor a second downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a second downlink data channel in a second control resource set, wherein the first control resource set includes a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set and the second control resource set includes a second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set; in response to at least one downlink assignment including a first downlink assignment associated with the first downlink control channel candidate: determine a first downlink data channel allocation based on the first downlink assignment, the first downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to the first downlink data channel; and determine a first downlink data channel allocation based at least in part on the first downlink assignment, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set. a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, determining a first demodulation reference signal symbol position, wherein the first demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with a first downlink data channel; and decoding the first downlink data channel; and, in response to at least one downlink assignment including a second downlink assignment associated with a second downlink control channel candidate: determining a second downlink data channel allocation based on the second downlink assignment, the second downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to the second downlink data channel; determining a second demodulation reference signal symbol position based at least in part on the second downlink assignment, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the second demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with a second downlink data channel; and decoding the second downlink data channel.

[0045] In some embodiments, the processor 202 may: determine a first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for a first search space; determine a second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for a second search space; determine a third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set corresponding to the associated search space, wherein the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set includes a subset of the first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity and a second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set, the associated search space corresponds to two different control resource sets including a first control resource set and a second control resource set, and wherein: a demodulation reference signal port of the first control resource set is quasi-co-located with the first reference signal set; a demodulation reference signal port of the second control resource set is quasi-co-located with the second reference signal set; and the first reference signal set and the second reference signal set are different; and monitor the one or more downlink control channel candidates in at least one time slot of the third monitoring opportunity set if the one or more downlink control channel candidates carry the same downlink control information. The processor 202 is communicatively coupled to the memory 204, the input device 206, the display 208, the transmitter 210, and the receiver 212.

[0046] In one embodiment, memory 204 is a computer-readable storage medium. In some embodiments, memory 204 includes volatile computer storage media. For example, memory 204 may include RAM, including dynamic RAM ("DRAM"), synchronous dynamic RAM ("SDRAM"), and / or static RAM ("SRAM"). In some embodiments, memory 204 includes non-volatile computer storage media. For example, memory 204 may include a hard drive, flash memory, or any other suitable non-volatile computer storage device. In some embodiments, memory 204 includes both volatile computer storage media and non-volatile computer storage media. In some embodiments, memory 204 also stores program code and related data, such as an operating system or other controller algorithms operating on remote unit 102.

[0047] In one embodiment, input device 206 may include any known computer input device, including a touchpad, buttons, keyboard, stylus, microphone, etc. In some embodiments, input device 206 may be integrated with display 208, for example, as a touch screen or similar touch-sensitive display. In some embodiments, input device 206 includes a touch screen, so that text can be entered using a virtual keyboard displayed on the touch screen and / or by handwriting on the touch screen. In some embodiments, input device 206 includes two or more different devices, such as a keyboard and a touchpad.

[0048] In one embodiment, the display 208 may include any known electronically controllable display or display device. The display 208 may be designed to output visual signals, auditory signals, and / or tactile signals. In some embodiments, the display 208 includes an electronic display capable of outputting visual data to the user. For example, the display 208 may include, but is not limited to, an LCD display, an LED display, an OLED display, a projector, or a similar display device capable of outputting images, text, etc. to the user. As another non-limiting example, the display 208 may include a wearable display such as a smart watch, smart glasses, a head-up display, etc. In addition, the display 208 may be a component of a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a television, a desktop computer, a notebook (laptop) computer, a personal computer, a vehicle dashboard, etc.

[0049] In some embodiments, the display 208 includes one or more speakers for generating sound. For example, the display 208 can generate an audible alarm or notification (e.g., a beep or chime). In some embodiments, the display 208 includes one or more haptic devices for generating vibration, motion, or other tactile feedback. In some embodiments, all or part of the display 208 can be integrated with the input device 206. For example, the input device 206 and the display 208 can form a touch screen or similar touch-sensitive display. In other embodiments, the display 208 can be located near the input device 206.

[0050] The transmitter 210 is configured to provide an uplink communication signal to the network element 104, and the receiver 212 is configured to receive a downlink communication signal from the network element 104, as described herein. In some embodiments, the receiver 212 receives at least one downlink assignment associated with a first downlink control channel candidate or a second downlink control channel candidate. In various embodiments, the receiver 212 receives a first indication including a first search space identifier and a second search space identifier, wherein the first search space identifier and the second search space identifier are for an associated search space set including the first search space and the second search space.

[0051] Although only one transmitter 210 and one receiver 212 are shown, the remote unit 102 may have any suitable number of transmitters 210 and receivers 212. The transmitter 210 and receiver 212 may be any suitable type of transmitter and receiver. In one embodiment, the transmitter 210 and receiver 212 may be part of a transceiver.

[0052] Figure 3One embodiment of an apparatus 300 that can be used to transmit and / or receive data and / or information is depicted. Apparatus 300 includes one embodiment of network unit 104. Network unit 104 can include a processor 302, memory 304, input device 306, display 308, transmitter 310, and receiver 312. It will be appreciated that processor 302, memory 304, input device 306, display 308, transmitter 310, and receiver 312 can be substantially similar to processor 202, memory 204, input device 206, display 208, transmitter 210, and receiver 212, respectively, of remote unit 102.

[0053] Although only one transmitter 310 and one receiver 312 are shown, the network unit 104 may have any suitable number of transmitters 310 and receivers 312. The transmitter 310 and receiver 312 may be any suitable type of transmitter and receiver. In one embodiment, the transmitter 310 and receiver 312 may be part of a transceiver.

[0054] In certain embodiments such as IIoT applications, some factory environments may suffer from high blocking and / or penetration losses (e.g., due to heavy metal machinery, special production settings, and / or the deployment of multiple TRPs). In such embodiments, overcoming coverage gaps and enhancing communication reliability may be beneficial.

[0055] Described herein are various methods and apparatus in which a UE may receive multiple PDCCHs carrying the same DCI from multiple TRPs and / or a UE may receive multiple PDSCHs carrying the same TB from multiple TRPs. Additionally, described herein are various methods and apparatus in which a network entity may indicate to a UE an association corresponding to multiple PDCCHs and / or PDSCHs. Additionally, described herein are various methods and apparatus in which a UE receives a PDSCH transmission (e.g., including embodiments in which the PDSCH is repeated over multiple consecutive TTIs) if the corresponding PDCCH is transmitted multiple times in the time domain and / or in frequency (e.g., via multiple TRPs).

[0056] In some embodiments, the UE may not expect two PDCCH monitoring opportunities for the same search space set or for different search space sets in the same control resource set to be separated by a non-zero number of symbols less than the control resource set duration. In other embodiments, if a given control resource set is associated with more than one spatially distinct downlink reference signal or antenna port for spatial multiplexing of multiple PDCCHs and if the UE is capable of receiving multiple spatially multiplexed PDCCHs simultaneously, there may be no such restriction on non-overlapping PDCCH monitoring opportunities.

[0057] In various embodiments, the PDCCH-Config IE may be used to configure UE-specific PDCCH parameters such as a CORESET, a search space, and additional parameters for acquiring PDCCH. As may be appreciated, the search space may define how and / or where to search for PDCCH candidates, and each search space may be associated with a CORESET. In some embodiments, each CORESET may be semi-statically configured (or otherwise configured) with one or more TCI states, and the MACCE may dynamically indicate the active TCI state based on the TCI state configured for the CORESET. In certain embodiments, the TCI state provides information about the QCL relationship between the DL RSs and the PDCCH DMRS ports in an RS set. In one embodiment, each CORESET has a configuration parameter tci-PresentInDCI. If at least spatial QCL is configured and / or indicated, the configuration parameter tci-PresentInDCI may indicate whether a TCI field is present in the DL-related DCI (e.g., a TCI indication in the DCI to be applied to the PDSCH scheduled by the DCI). If the configuration parameter tci-PresentInDCI is not present, the UE may consider that the TCI field is not present and / or disabled in the DL-related DCI.

[0058] In some embodiments, if the UE is capable of receiving multiple SS / PBCH blocks or CSI-RS resources simultaneously (e.g., on fully or partially overlapping time domain resources), the UE is capable of simultaneously receiving multiple PDCCHs, each of which is transmitted by a different TRP. As can be appreciated, receiving multiple PDCCHs carrying the same DCI content but transmitted by multiple TRPs may increase the rate of successful DCI delivery due to time, frequency and / or spatial diversity. In certain embodiments, if one or more PDCCHs carrying the same DCI content have the same CCE aggregation level (e.g., the same or similar channel coding rate), the UE may soft combine the channel bit LLRs to improve decoding accuracy. In various embodiments, if one or more PDCCHs carrying the same DCI content have different CCE aggregation levels, the UE may soft combine the channel bit LLRs in a soft buffer because the DCI is encoded using the same base channel code or mother channel code, where the base channel code or mother channel code has different levels of rate matching that produce different coded bit sizes corresponding to the different aggregation levels. In some embodiments, the UE may combine the information bit LLRs output by one or more corresponding PDCCH decoders. In certain embodiments, if the UE is equipped with an advanced receiver that performs iterative decoding and demodulation and two PDCCHs carrying the same DCI content have the same CCE aggregation level, the LLRs extrinsic to the channel bits output by one PDCCH decoder may be fed into the input of another PDCCH decoder as priority information.

[0059] In various embodiments, the UE determines the PDCCH monitoring opportunity based on the PDCCH monitoring period, PDCCH monitoring offset, and PDCCH monitoring mode within the time slot. In some embodiments, for the search space set s in the control resource set p, if Then the UE determines that the f The frame with number In some embodiments, if the UE is provided with a higher layer parameter duration, the UE monitors the PDCCH from the time slot Starting T p,s Monitor PDCCH for k consecutive time slots to obtain the search space set s in the control resource set p, without p,s -T p,s The PDCCH is monitored in consecutive time slots to obtain the search space set s in the control resource set p.

[0060] In one embodiment, a UE may receive an indication that given DCI content may be delivered via one or more associated search spaces. The indication may include a set of search space identifiers for the one or more associated search spaces. The indication may be signaled in a UE-specific RRC message for a UE-specific search space and / or in a broadcast system information message for a common (e.g., cell-specific) search space.

[0061] In various embodiments, if one or more associated search spaces include at least one common time slot, the UE blindly decodes the one or more PDCCHs in the at least one common time slot of the one or more associated search spaces, assuming that the one or more PDCCHs in the at least one common time slot carry the same DCI content. In such embodiments, the symbols monitored within the at least one common time slot are the same or at least overlapping (e.g., in the time domain) for the one or more associated search spaces.

[0062] In some embodiments, the UE may receive an indication that some or all monitoring opportunities of the first search space are associated with some or all monitoring opportunities of the second search space. In such an embodiment, the first search space and the second search space may be included in one or more associated search spaces. In some embodiments, in addition to the baseline monitoring slot period indication (e.g., the RRC parameter "monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset"), the UE may also receive an additional monitoring slot period indication for the first search space and the second search space. In such an embodiment, the UE may determine the associated monitoring opportunities. In addition, the UE may assume that one or more PDCCHs carry the same DCI content based on the additional period indication. In various embodiments, if an additional monitoring slot period is indicated, the additional monitoring slot period may be greater than the baseline monitoring slot period. In some embodiments, a higher layer parameter "duration2" (which is different from the higher layer parameter "duration") may be set for the UE for each associated search space. In various embodiments, the UE may assume that the associated monitoring opportunities occur in consecutive PDCCH monitoring slots indicated by the parameter "duration2". In some embodiments, if the one or more associated search spaces include a common set of monitoring symbols within a time slot, the UE may assume that one or more PDCCHs carry the same DCI content, and the UE blindly decodes the one or more PDCCHs in at least one common time slot of the one or more associated search spaces.

[0063] Figure 4 and Figure 5An example of associated monitoring opportunities for two associated search spaces is illustrated, where the associated monitoring opportunities occur in the same time slot but on different symbols of the same time slot.

[0064] Specifically, Figure 4 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a first search space 400. The first search space 400 includes a PDCCH monitoring period 402 having a plurality of slots 404 (eg, 6). The first search space 400 includes a first monitoring opportunity 406 and a second monitoring opportunity 408.

[0065] Figure 5 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a second search space 500. The second search space 500 includes a PDCCH monitoring period 502 having a plurality of time slots 504 (eg, 6). The second search space 500 includes a first monitoring opportunity 506. In one example, Figure 4 The first search space 400 is Figure 5 The second search space 500 is associated with Figure 4 The second monitoring opportunity 408 and Figure 5 As shown in the figure, the second time slot of the PDCCH monitoring period 402 occurs. Figure 4 The second monitoring opportunity 408 occurs in the second time slot of the PDCCH monitoring period 502. Figure 5 In addition, as shown in the figure, the first monitoring opportunity 506 of the PDCCH monitoring period 402 occurs at the beginning of the second time slot. Figure 4 The second monitoring opportunity 408 occurs at the end of the second time slot of the PDCCH monitoring period 502. Figure 5 The first monitoring opportunity 506. Thus, the associated monitoring opportunity occurs in the same time slot (eg, the second time slot) but on a different symbol of the same time slot.

[0066] In some embodiments, the associated search spaces are configured with a monitoring period. In such embodiments, if repetition is used, the monitoring period may include a number of DL transmissions and / or transport block repetitions (e.g., AggregationfactorDL). In some embodiments, the UE may not be configured with different monitoring periods for the associated search spaces. In various embodiments, the associated search spaces may have periods that are multiples of each other's periods.

[0067] In some embodiments, if at least two sets of associated search spaces correspond to two different CORESETs, it may not be desirable for the UE to be configured with an indication that enables the quasi-co-location information indication field to be present in the DCI (e.g., an indication of the presence or absence of the TCI field for DCI format 1_1 transmitted by the PDCCH, a higher layer parameter TCI-PresentInDCI). In such an embodiment, the parameter TCI-PresentInDCI = "enabled".

[0068] In some embodiments, if at least two sets of associated search spaces correspond to two different CORESETs of a serving cell, it may not be desirable for the UE to receive (e.g., via a MAC CE) a TCI state indication for a PDCCH indicating different TCI states (e.g., TCI-StateId or TCI-State configuration) for the CORESET: a) if the UE monitors PDCCH candidates for certain DCI formats (e.g., DCI format 1_0) in the associated search spaces; and / or (b) if tci-PresentInDCI is not configured for the CORESET.

[0069] In various embodiments, it is not expected that the UE is configured with associated search spaces that all correspond to the same CORESET for multi-TRP PDCCH transmissions (e.g., each TRP corresponds to a different CORESET). In some embodiments, if the UE is configured with the higher layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI set to "enabled" for the CORESET scheduling the PDSCH, the UE assumes that the TCI field is present in DCI format 1_1 of the PDCCH transmitted on the CORESET. In certain embodiments, if tci-PresentInDCI is not configured for the CORESET scheduling the PDSCH or the PDSCH is scheduled by DCI format 1_0, then for the purpose of determining the PDSCH antenna port QCL, the UE assumes that the TCI state of the PDSCH is the same as the TCI state applied for the CORESET used for the PDCCH transmission.

[0070] In some embodiments, if the gNB uses two or more CORESETs (e.g., CORESET 1 and CORESET 2) to schedule PDSCH (e.g., repeatedly schedules DCI in multiple CORESETs): 1) if the UE is configured with the following higher layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI, which is set to "enabled" for both CORESET 1 and 2 scheduling PDSCH, the UE assumes that the TCI field is present in the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_1) of the PDCCH transmitted on CORESET 1 and CORESET 2 (this is because the gNB may not know which of the two PDCCHs the UE will receive, so the gNB may use the same TCI field value in both PDCCHs for the PDSCH); and / or 2) if the UE is configured with the following higher layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI, which is set to "enabled" for CORESET 1 and CORESET 2 scheduling PDSCH, the UE assumes that the TCI field is present in the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_1) of the PDCCH transmitted on CORESET 1 and CORESET 2 (this is because the gNB may not know which of the two PDCCHs the UE will receive, so the gNB may use the same TCI field value in both PDCCHs for the PDSCH); and / or 2) if the UE is configured with the following higher layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI, which is set to "enabled" for CORESET 1 scheduling PDSCH but not for CORESET 2 is set to "enabled" or if tci-PresentInDCI is not configured for any of the CORESETs scheduling PDSCH, then for the purpose of determining the PDSCH antenna port QCL, the UE assumes that the TCI state of the PDSCH is the same as one of the following: a) the TCI state applied for one of the CORESETs used for PDCCH transmission (the CORESET ID of the one CORESET may be indicated to the UE via higher layer or physical layer signaling); and / or b) the TCI state applied for any of the CORESETs used for PDCCH transmission, where the same TCI is applied for all CORESETs used for PDCCH transmission.

[0071] In certain embodiments, a UE is configured with a search space associated with a CORESET that has more than one active TCI state at a given time instance and more than one higher layer parameter "pdcch-DMRS-ScramblingID" for scrambling PDCCH channel bits prior to modulation. In such an embodiment, each "pdcch-DMRS-ScramblingID" is associated with a different active TCI state. In various embodiments, the UE assumes that one or more PDCCHs blindly decoded with different scrambling identifiers (e.g., "pdcch-DMRS-ScramblingID") at a given monitoring occasion of the search space are associated (e.g., carrying the same DCI content). In one embodiment, a CORESET has two active TCI states at a given time instance, and the MAC CE carrying the TCI state indication for a UE-specific PDCCH has 24 bits with the fields shown in Table 1, where "R" represents a reserved bit set to "0" and "BWP ID" and "Serving Cell ID" represent the bandwidth part identifier and serving cell identifier of the downlink bandwidth part to which the MAC CE applies, respectively.

[0072] Table 1: TCI status indication of UE-specific PDCCH MAC CE

[0073]

[0074] As can be understood, the embodiments described herein for determining monitoring occasions of one or more associated search spaces in which the UE can assume that one or more decoded PDCCHs carry the same DCI content may also be applied to embodiments in which the UE assumes that the one or more decoded PDCCHs in the determined monitoring occasions schedule PDSCHs carrying the same TB.

[0075] In some embodiments, similar to multi-TRP PDCCH transmission (e.g., where multiple PDCCHs carrying the same DCI are transmitted through multiple TRPs), multiple PDSCHs carrying one or more identical TBs may be transmitted through multiple TRPs to improve the reliability of the UE's PDSCH reception. In such an embodiment, if the association of the multiple PDSCHs carrying the same TB is known to the physical layer, the UE may soft combine the channel bit LLRs or information bit LLRs to improve decoding accuracy. In addition, in some embodiments, the UE may transmit one HARQ-ACK feedback for each TB instead of transmitting multiple HARQ-ACK feedback for multiple PDSCHs, thereby saving UE power consumption.

[0076] In some embodiments, the UE may receive an indication that a given TB from a network entity may be delivered to the UE via one or more PDSCHs during each HARQ transmission or retransmission phase. In such embodiments, the one or more PDSCHs may be scheduled by one or more corresponding PDCCHs or by one PDCCH.

[0077] In various embodiments, a UE receives an indication of one or more associated search spaces, wherein one or more PDCCHs decoded in all or some monitoring occasions of the one or more associated search spaces respectively schedule one or more PDSCHs carrying the same TB. In such embodiments, the UE may determine the monitoring occasions of the one or more associated search spaces. As will be appreciated, the UE may assume the association of the one or more decoded PDCCHs as described herein with respect to various associations.

[0078] In certain embodiments, the UE may be semi-statically configured (e.g., via RRC signaling) with a TB replication mode of operation, for which the UE receives one or more PDSCHs for a given TB in a given HARQ transmission (or retransmission) phase. In some embodiments, if the UE receives multiple PDCCHs carrying the same HARQ process number in a DL assignment DCI (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1) within a monitoring opportunity window (e.g., a set of consecutive monitoring opportunities) of at least one search space, the UE assumes that the multiple PDCCHs schedule multiple associated PDSCHs carrying the same TB.

[0079] In various embodiments, although the UE decodes multiple associated PDCCHs, depending on the success or failure of CRC decoding of the earlier decoded PDSCH, the UE may only decode a subset of the corresponding PDSCHs. In one example, the PDSCH with the earliest start symbol among the associated PDSCHs is successfully decoded. The UE then stops decoding other associated PDSCHs. In addition, the UE sends one or more negative acknowledgments for the one or more TBs only when the UE fails to decode one or more TBs in all associated PDSCHs scheduled by all detected associated PDCCHs. In addition, if the UE successfully decodes one or more TBs in at least one of the associated PDSCHs scheduled by the detected associated PDCCH, the UE sends one or more acknowledgments for the one or more TBs. In this example, the UE may receive an indication of multiple HARQ-ACK resources, each resource corresponding to each PDSCH of the associated PDSCH. In addition, the UE may select a HARQ-ACK resource with the earliest start symbol from the indicated HARQ-ACK resources that still provides a sufficient time budget for the UE's processing delay.

[0080] In certain embodiments, to improve the reliability of PDSCH DL data transmission, the gNB may repeat the PDSCH DL data transmission multiple times (e.g., in multiple slots and / or mini-slots), referred to herein as "n". The number of repetitions may be configured via higher layer signaling (e.g., including the initial transmission). In some embodiments, the PDSCH-Config IE may be used to configure UE-specific PDSCH parameters, such as the pdsch-AggregationFactor indicating "n". As used herein, the duration of a PDSCH transmission over multiple TTIs is referred to as a receive window (e.g., a PDSCH receive window).

[0081] In some embodiments, if the UE is configured with aggregationFactorDL>1, the same symbol allocation applies across aggregationFactorDL consecutive time slots. In such an embodiment, the UE can expect TBs to repeat within each symbol allocation in each of aggregationFactorDL consecutive time slots, and the PDSCH is limited to a single transmission layer. It should be noted that the parameter "n" is referred to as aggregationFactorDL in TS 38.214 and pdsch-AggregationFactor in TS 38.331.

[0082] In certain embodiments, PDSCH repetition is enabled by RRC configuration. In various embodiments, there may be a field in the DCI indicating the number of PDSCH transmissions k associated with the DCI, where k>=1. In some embodiments, the PDCCH indicates the number of PDSCH transmissions associated with the PDCCH. As can be appreciated, the PDCCH may or may not be transmitted per PDSCH repetition. In certain embodiments, the PDSCH transmissions may be soft combined after the PDCCH is successfully received. In such an embodiment, if the PDSCH is being received in a TTI in a serving cell with a CRC scrambled with a C-RNTI (e.g., by repetition or blind repetition), the UE may discard any PDSCH assignments for the TTI in the same serving cell.

[0083] In various embodiments, a subset of TCI states defined in TCI states is used to provide a QCL relationship between DLRS (e.g., TCI states) in an RS set and PDCCH DMRS ports. In some embodiments, the network configures up to maxNrofTCI-StatesPDCCH entries. In certain embodiments, if the UE has received a MAC CE activation command for a TCI state, the UE applies the activation command 3 milliseconds after the time slot in which the UE transmits HARQ-ACK information for the PDSCH providing the activation command.

[0084] In some embodiments, if the UE has started receiving PDSCH in a receive window, the DCI indicates that PDSCH (e.g., the same TB) is received in multiple TTIs (e.g., time slots and / or mini-time slots) in the receive window. In such an embodiment, the UE does not apply the activation command in the middle of the receive window. In such an embodiment, the UE may apply the activation command at least 3 milliseconds after the time slot in which the UE transmits HARQ-ACK information for the PDSCH providing the activation command instead of applying the activation command during the receive window. As can be appreciated, such an embodiment may be useful if a PDCCH that schedules multiple PDSCH repetitions is transmitted in multiple TTIs and multiple of those PDCCHs (transmitted in different TTIs) can be soft combined.

[0085] In certain embodiments, if the duration between the end of the PDCCH and the start of the PDSCH is longer than a threshold (e.g., if the UE has sufficient time to switch the RX beam), the UE RX beam for the PDSCH may be QCL (quasi-colocated) with the TCI state indicated in the DCI. In such an embodiment, if there is not sufficient time to switch the RX beam, the UE RX beam may be the same as the TCI state of the PDCCH of the lowest CORESET ID in the latest slot. In one example, if there is not sufficient time to switch the RX beam, the UE RX beam is the same as the TCI state of the PDCCH of the CORESET that received the PDCCH DCI in the latest slot. If QCL is not configured, the UE RX beam may not be correlated. Therefore, the duration between the end of the PDCCH and the start of the PDSCH may not matter for applying the QCL information. In some embodiments, given a UE RX beam switching time (e.g., {7, 14, 28} symbols for 60 kHz SCS and {14, 28} symbols for 120 kHz SCS), it can be assumed that the UE will not switch RX beams during reception of a PDSCH that is repeated over consecutive symbols and / or slots. Therefore, in some embodiments, if there is a PDSCH repetition, one or more of the following may apply during the PDSCH repetition: the UE may not expect and / or perform a TCI change; the UE may not expect to receive a PDCCH indicating a TCI change; the gNB may not expect to change the TCI; and / or the UE may not expect to receive different values ​​of the TCI-StateId (e.g., an identifier of the TCI-State configuration) for the PDSCH or indications of different TCI-State configurations for the PDSCH in multiple PDCCH DCIs associated with the PDSCH repetition. In some embodiments, the UE may apply the most recently indicated TCI update after the PDSCH repetition window ends.

[0086] In some embodiments, the UE may switch RX beams during PDSCH reception repeated over consecutive slots in certain beam change time units (e.g., every slot or every two slots). For example, if PDSCH is repeated over two slots in a TTI with a mini-slot unit (e.g., a mini-slot TTI may be four symbols, and PDSCH can be repeated 6 times over two slots (in 6 mini-slots)), the UE may be able to change its RX beam in the second of the two repeated slots.

[0087] In some embodiments, the UE may obtain a physical layer signal (e.g., a PDCCH at the beginning of each slot of the PDSCH repetition for PDSCH repetitions using mini-slot TTIs) to indicate whether the TCI needs to be updated for the PDSCH repetitions in the TTIs within the slot.

[0088] In various embodiments, the network may activate and / or deactivate the TCI state for the PDSCH configuration of the serving cell by sending a TCI state activation and / or deactivation command for a UE-specific PDSCH MAC CE. In some embodiments, the TCI state for the PDSCH configuration may be initially deactivated at configuration time and after handover.

[0089] In some embodiments, if there is a TCI state with TCI state ID "i", this field may indicate the activation and / or deactivation status of the TCI state with TCI state ID "i". If there is no TCI state with TCI state ID "i", the MAC entity may ignore TCI. i field. In some embodiments, T i The field is set to '1' to indicate that the TCI state with TCI state ID 'i' is to be activated and is mapped to the code point of the DCI transmission configuration indication field. i The field is set to "0" to indicate that the TCI state with TCI state ID "i" will be disabled and not mapped to the code point of the DCI transmission configuration indication field. In some embodiments, the code point to which the TCI state is mapped is determined by its TCI state ID in the TCI state. i The sequential position among all TCI states with the field set to "1" is determined (for example, T i The first TCI state with the field set to "0" is mapped to the code point value 1, which can be i The second TCI state with the field set to "1" maps to a code point value of 2, etc. In various embodiments, the maximum number of activated TCI states is 8.

[0090] In some embodiments, activating and / or deactivating a MAC CE may change the interpretation of the TCI field in the DCI field that schedules the PDSCH (e.g., updating the mapping of TCI states to code points with TCI state IDs in the DCI TCI field). In some embodiments, the time at which the UE applies the MAC CE may depend on the time at which the UE acknowledges the PDSCH carrying the MAC CE plus some fixed time (e.g., 3 milliseconds after the UE sends the acknowledgement). In various embodiments, it is not expected that the UE will change the interpretation of the TCI field in the DCI in the middle of a PDSCH receive window. In some embodiments, it is not expected that the UE will acknowledge an indication that would change the downlink RS set used as a QCL reference with the PDSCH in the middle of a PDSCH receive window (e.g., in the case where the PDSCH is repeated over multiple TTIs).

[0091] In various embodiments, it is undesirable for a UE to receive different values ​​of TCI-StateId for a PDSCH (e.g., an identifier of a TCI-State configuration) or indications of different TCI state configurations for a PDSCH in multiple PDCCH DCIs associated with a PDSCH repetition. In one example, it is undesirable for a UE to receive an indication of a first value of TCI State ID in a DCI for a first PDCCH associated with a first PDSCH transmission and a second value of TCI State ID in a DCI for a second PDCCH associated with a second PDSCH transmission. In this example, the first value is different from the second value. In another example, the first PDCCH is in a first search space and / or a first CORESET, and the second PDCCH is in a second search space and / or a second CORESET. In another example, the first PDCCH is received in a first time instance (e.g., a timeslot and / or a minislot), and the second PDCCH is received in a second time instance. The first PDSCH transmission and the second PDSCH transmission may be overlapping or non-overlapping in time.

[0092] In certain embodiments, the network: 1) transmits a first PDCCH in a first TTI that schedules a PDSCH; and 2) transmits a second PDCCH in a second TTI that schedules the PDSCH; such that a) the TCI field in the DCI for the first PDCCH indicates the RS set (or beam) associated with the first PDSCH QCL; and b) the DCI for the second PDCCH indicates the RS set (or beam) associated with the second PDSCH QCL. In such an embodiment, as a result, the DCI for the first PDCCH may indicate the first TCI field value and the DCI for the second PDCCH may indicate the second TCI field value, and the first TCI field value and the second TCI field value may differ due to a change in the interpretation of the TCI field in the DCI, but both the first PDCCH and the second PDCCH point to the same RS set (or beam) or the same TCI-StateId or TCI-State configuration. If the gNB cannot send the second DCI that points to the same RS set, then it is not expected that the gNB will transmit the second PDCCH.

[0093] In various embodiments, there may be a field in the DCI that indicates whether (if any) the TCI field interpretation indication updated by the MAC CE (which has not yet been applied by the UE because the required time has not yet elapsed after sending the acknowledgement to the MAC CE) can be applied during the duration of the PDSCH schedule or within the PDSCH reception window (e.g., after the first slot / minislot PDSCH transmission). For example, if the gNB schedules the UE for multiple TTIs and sends the PDCCH that schedules the UE in some of the multiple TTIs, and it is not known in which TTI the UE will receive the PDCCH, such an embodiment may be useful (depending on which TTI of the multiple TTIs with the PDCCH the UE correctly receives the scheduling DCI, the PDSCH repetition number "k" may be different).

[0094] In some embodiments, for PDSCH mapping type B, the DMRS position may depend on the CORESET duration (e.g., the span of the CORESET in the number of OFDM symbols). For example, according to TS 38.211: The position of the DMRS symbol is determined by Given, while for PDSCH mapping type A the duration is between the first OFDM symbol of the slot and the last OFDM symbol of the scheduled PDSCH resources in the slot, for PDSCH mapping type B the duration is the number of OFDM symbols of scheduled PDSCH resources as signaled.

[0095] For PDSCH mapping type B, if the PDSCH duration is 2, 4, or 7 OFDM symbols for normal cyclic prefix or 2, 4, or 6 OFDM symbols for extended cyclic prefix, and the PDSCH allocation conflicts with resources reserved for CORESET, then the value shall be incremented. The first DM-RS symbol appears immediately after the CORESET; and if the PDSCH duration is 4 symbols, the UE is not expected to receive DM-RS symbols beyond the third symbol; if the PDSCH duration is 7 symbols for a normal cyclic prefix or 6 symbols for an extended cyclic prefix, the UE is not expected to receive the first DM-RS beyond the fourth symbol, and if an additional single-symbol DM-RS is configured, the UE is expected to transmit the additional DM-RS on the 5th or 6th symbol only if the current DM-RS symbol is in the 1st or 2nd symbol of the PDSCH duration, respectively, otherwise the UE should expect no additional DM-RS to be transmitted. If the PDSCH duration is 2 or 4 OFDM symbols, only single-symbol DM-RS is supported.

[0096] In certain embodiments, if PDCCH is transmitted in at least two CORESETs with different durations (e.g., the two CORESETs partially overlap) or if the UE monitors two CORESETs with different durations to schedule PDSCH (or transport blocks), and if the two CORESETs collide with PDSCH allocations, the PDSCH-DMRS position may be determined based on the CORESET that ends in a later symbol in the slot (e.g., the CORESET of a larger duration may end in a later symbol than the CORESET of a smaller duration). That is, the PDSCH-DMRS position should be incremented. Such that the first DM-RS symbol occurs immediately after a CORESET that ends in a later symbol. In the case where different CORESETs have different subcarrier spacings, the duration may refer to the time span of the CORESET.

[0097] In certain embodiments, PDSCH reception may depend on the CORESET in which the scheduling DCI is received. In various embodiments, if a UE monitors PDCCH candidates for certain DCI formats (e.g., DCI format 1_0) in a search space corresponding to more than one CORESET, one or more of the following solutions may be used if PDSCH reception (e.g., determination of PDSCH reception parameters) depends on the CORESET in which the scheduling DCI is received: 1) providing an indication to the UE via higher layer signaling which CORESET should be used for determining PDSCH reception parameters (e.g., RB numbering starting from the lowest RB of the indicated CORESET); 2) the scheduling DCI may indicate which CORESET index should be used; 3) the CORESET with the lowest index and / or highest index among the CORESETs used to monitor the scheduling DCI; 4) using a CORESET with a fixed CORESET index (e.g., CORESET 0); 5) using a CORESET signaled in the PBCH; and 6) the lowest CORESET index in the latest slot and / or minislot.

[0098] In some embodiments, for PDSCH scheduled in DCI format 1_0 in any type of PDCCH common search space, RB numbering may start from the lowest RB of the CORESET in which the DCI is received, regardless of which bandwidth part is the active bandwidth part. In such embodiments, for PDSCH scheduled in other ways, if the bandwidth part indicator field is not configured in the scheduling DCI, the RB indices for downlink Type 0 and Type 1 resource allocations are determined within the UE's active bandwidth part. If the bandwidth part indicator field is configured in the scheduling DCI, the RB indices for downlink Type 0 and Type 1 resource allocations are determined within the UE's bandwidth part indicated by the bandwidth part indicator field value in the DCI. The UE may first determine the downlink carrier bandwidth part upon detecting a PDCCH intended for the UE, and then determine the resource allocation within that bandwidth part.

[0099] In various embodiments, there may be instances where a PUCCH transmission (eg, to provide acknowledgment feedback in response to a PDSCH transmission) is dependent on the received PDCCH scheduling the corresponding PDSCH.

[0100] In certain embodiments, if a UE is configured with multiple PDCCH receptions for a TB in the same CORESET in the same TTI, the PUCCH resources (or parameters of the PUCCH resources) may be signaled in the DCI or by higher layers, or a combination of both (e.g., this will result in the same PUCCH resources being used for HARQ-ACK feedback for the TB, regardless of which of the multiple PDCCHs is correctly received and / or decoded by the UE).

[0101] In some embodiments, if the UE is configured with multiple PDCCH receptions for TBs in different CORESETs in the same TTI or in different TTIs (e.g., in embodiments where PDSCH is repeated in multiple TTIs and PDCCH is also transmitted in more than one TTI), one or more of the following may apply: 1) PUCCH resources (or parameters of PUCCH resources) may be signaled in DCI or by higher layers, or a combination of both; 2) the number of CCEs in the control resource set for PDCCH reception (e.g., N CORESET_CREDIT_SOURCE_FULL_PAGE_1_CREDIT_SOURCE_FULL_PAGE_2_CREDIT_SOURCE_FULL_PAGE_3_CREDIT_SOURCE_FULL_PAGE_4_CREDIT_SOURCE_FULL_PAGE_5_CREDIT_SOURCE_FULL_PAGE_6_CREDIT_SOURCE_FULL_PAGE_7_CREDIT_SOURCE_FULL_PAGE_8_CREDIT_SOURCE_FULL_PAGE_9_CREDIT_SOURCE_FULL_PAGE_1 ... CCE,0): a) indicating to the UE via higher layer signaling which CORESET should be used for determining the number of CCEs; b) the scheduling DCI may indicate which CORESET index should be used (e.g., in the case where PDCCHs carrying the same DCI are linked to each other (i.e., a UE that knows the PDCCH candidates in a first CORESET is able to determine the linked PDCCH candidates in another CORESET) and are transmitted in different CORESETs); c) the CORESET with the lowest index and / or highest index among the CORESETs used to monitor the scheduling DCI; d) using a CORESET with a fixed CORESET index (e.g., CORESET 0); e) using a CORESET signaled in the PBCH; and / or f) the lowest CORESET index in the latest slot and / or minislot.

[0102] In certain embodiments, if a UE monitors DCI with a certain DCI format in multiple CORESETs (eg, scheduling PDSCH), it is undesirable for the UE to determine different (eg, more than one) PUCCH resources for transmitting acknowledgments associated with the PDSCH.

[0103] In various embodiments, if a UE monitors DCI (e.g., scheduling PDSCH) with a certain DCI format in multiple CORESETs with different total numbers of CCEs, it is not desirable for the UE to use DCIs that produce different values. In some embodiments, the gNB may schedule a UE for a PDSCH by sending a first PDCCH in a first CORESET and a second PDCCH in a second CORESET, where: a) the starting CCE index of the first PDCCH is in the first half of the CCE indices of the first CORESET and the starting CCE index of the second PDCCH is in the first half of the CCE indices of the second CORESET; or b) the starting CCE index of the first PDCCH is in the second half of the CCE indices of the first CORESET and the starting CCE index of the second PDCCH is in the second half of the CCE indices of the second CORESET.

[0104] In some embodiments, a DCI scheduling a high-reliability PDSCH includes a larger bit field for indicating the corresponding PUCCH compared to a DCI scheduling a normal-reliability PDSCH (eg, using 4 bits in the DCI instead of 3 bits).

[0105] Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method 600 for downlink assignment of a downlink control channel. In some embodiments, the method 600 is performed by an apparatus such as the remote unit 102. In certain embodiments, the method 600 may be performed by a processor executing program code, such as a microcontroller, microprocessor, CPU, GPU, auxiliary processing unit, FPGA, etc.

[0106] The method 600 may include monitoring 602 a first downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a first downlink data channel in a first set of control resources. In certain embodiments, the method 600 may include monitoring 604 a second downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a second downlink data channel in a second set of control resources, wherein the first set of control resources includes a first set of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols and the second set of control resources includes a second set of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols. In various embodiments, the method 600 may include receiving 606 at least one downlink assignment associated with the first downlink control channel candidate or the second downlink control channel candidate. In some embodiments, method 600 includes, in response to at least one downlink assignment including a first downlink assignment associated with a first downlink control channel candidate: determining 608 a first downlink data channel allocation based on the first downlink assignment, the first downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to the first downlink data channel; determining a first demodulation reference signal symbol position based at least in part on the first downlink assignment, a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and a second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the first demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with the first downlink data channel; and decoding the first downlink data channel. In certain embodiments, method 600 includes, in response to at least one downlink assignment including a second downlink assignment associated with a second downlink control channel candidate: determining 610 a second downlink data channel allocation based on the second downlink assignment, the second downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to the second downlink data channel; determining a second demodulation reference signal symbol position based at least in part on the second downlink assignment, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the second demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with the second downlink data channel; and decoding the second downlink data channel.

[0107] In some embodiments, the first demodulation reference signal symbol position and the second demodulation reference signal symbol position are the same position. In some embodiments, at least one of the first downlink data channel assignment and the second downlink data channel assignment conflicts with resources reserved for at least one of the first control resource set and the second control resource set. In various embodiments, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set have different numbers of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols.

[0108] In one embodiment, the first downlink data channel allocation and the second downlink data channel allocation overlap. In some embodiments, the method 600 further includes: determining a control resource set that ends in a later orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol of the first control resource set and the second control resource set; determining a first demodulation reference signal symbol associated with the first downlink data channel that occurs immediately after the control resource set; and determining a second demodulation reference signal symbol associated with the second downlink data channel that occurs immediately after the control resource set.

[0109] In some embodiments, method 600 further includes determining physical uplink control channel resources for sending a response in response to the first downlink data channel and the second downlink data channel, wherein the physical uplink control channel resources are determined based on a frequency position of at least one downlink assignment within an associated control resource set, the first control resource set includes a first control channel element set, and the second control resource set includes a second control channel element set.

[0110] In various embodiments, at least one downlink assignment includes a first downlink assignment and a second downlink assignment, and wherein: the first starting control channel element index of the first downlink control channel candidate is in the first half of the first control channel element index of the first control resource set, and the second starting control channel element index of the second downlink control channel candidate is in the first half of the second control channel element index of the second control resource set; or the first starting control channel element index is in the second half of the first control channel element index, and the second starting control channel element index is in the second half of the second control channel element index.

[0111] In one embodiment, a first number of control channel elements in the first control channel element set is different from a second number of control channel elements in the second control channel element set. In certain embodiments, the at least one downlink assignment includes a first downlink assignment and a second downlink assignment, and the physical uplink control channel resources are determined based on a frequency location of the first downlink assignment. In some embodiments, the first downlink assignment and the second downlink assignment have identical content.

[0112] In various embodiments: a first downlink data channel is associated with a first transmission configuration index state, and a second downlink data channel is associated with a second transmission configuration index state; the first downlink data channel includes a third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and the second downlink data channel includes a fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set; the first transmission configuration index state and the second transmission configuration index state are different at least if the fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set appears at least "w" orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols after the last orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol of the third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and wherein "w" is a non-negative number determined by the user equipment; the first transmission configuration index state and the second transmission configuration index state are the same if the fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set does not appear at least "w" orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols after the last orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol of the third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set; and the first transmission configuration index state and the second transmission configuration index state provide information including a quasi-co-positioned relationship between a downlink reference signal in a reference signal set and a demodulation reference signal port of a corresponding downlink data channel.

[0113] In one embodiment: the third OFDM symbol set includes 2, 4, or 7 OFDM symbols; and the fourth OFDM symbol set includes 2, 4, or 7 OFDM symbols. In some embodiments, the first control resource set and the second control resource set are the same, and the first downlink assignment and the second downlink assignment are the same. In some embodiments, if the third OFDM symbol set belongs to the first time slot and the fourth OFDM symbol set belongs to the second time slot, the first transmission configuration index state and the second transmission configuration index state are different, the first time slot and the second time slot are different, and the time slot consists of fourteen consecutive OFDM symbols with a predetermined starting OFDM symbol.

[0114] Figure 7 is a flow chart illustrating another embodiment of a method 700 for downlink assignment of a downlink control channel. In some embodiments, the method 700 is performed by an apparatus such as the remote unit 102. In certain embodiments, the method 700 may be performed by a processor executing program code, such as a microcontroller, microprocessor, CPU, GPU, auxiliary processing unit, FPGA, etc.

[0115] Method 700 may include receiving 702 a first indication, the first indication including a first search space identifier and a second search space identifier, wherein the first search space identifier and the second search space identifier are for an associated search space set including the first search space and the second search space. In some embodiments, method 700 includes determining 704 a first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the first search space. In various embodiments, method 700 includes determining 706 a second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the second search space. In some embodiments, method 700 includes determining 708 a third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set corresponding to the associated search space, wherein the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set includes a subset of the first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set and a second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set, the associated search space corresponding to two different control resource sets including a first control resource set and a second control resource set, and wherein: a demodulation reference signal port of the first control resource set is quasi-co-located with the first reference signal set; a demodulation reference signal port of the second control resource set is quasi-co-located with the second reference signal set; and the first reference signal set and the second reference signal set are different. In certain embodiments, the method 700 includes monitoring 710 one or more downlink control channel candidates in at least one time slot of a third set of monitoring opportunities if the one or more downlink control channel candidates carry the same downlink control information.

[0116] In some embodiments, the method 700 further includes receiving a second indication indicating a transport block of downlink data to be delivered to the user equipment via one or more downlink shared channels during each hybrid automatic repeat request transmission phase; wherein the one or more downlink shared channels are scheduled by one or more corresponding downlink control channels. In some embodiments, if the user equipment receives multiple downlink control channels carrying the same hybrid automatic repeat request process number in the downlink control information within a monitoring opportunity window of at least one search space, the user equipment assumes that the multiple downlink control channels schedule multiple associated downlink shared channels carrying the same transport block, and the monitoring opportunity window includes a consecutive monitoring opportunity set, the consecutive monitoring opportunity set including at least one monitoring opportunity selected from the first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set, the second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set, and the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set.

[0117] In various embodiments, method 700 further includes: receiving a third indication indicating a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resources, wherein each of the plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resources corresponds to a downlink shared channel in associated downlink shared channels; decoding a first downlink shared channel in the associated downlink shared channels; and in response to successful decoding of the first downlink shared channel: determining a subset of the plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resources that appear after a processing delay resulting from processing the first downlink shared channel; selecting a hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resource having an earliest start symbol from the subset of the plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resources; and transmitting an acknowledgement on the hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resource.

[0118] In one embodiment, method 700 further includes: receiving a fourth indication indicating a monitoring period; and determining a third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set corresponding to an associated search space based on the monitoring period; wherein: the first search space includes a first monitoring period and the second search space includes a second monitoring period; and the monitoring period is greater than the first monitoring period and the second monitoring period.

[0119] In some embodiments, method 700 further includes: receiving a fifth indication indicating a duration; determining a third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set corresponding to an associated search space based on the duration, wherein: the first search space includes a first monitoring period and a first duration, and the second search space includes a second monitoring period and a second duration; and the duration is different from the first duration and the second duration; and monitoring downlink control channel candidates in the associated search space in a number of consecutive time slots indicated by the duration.

[0120] In some embodiments, the user equipment is configured to: receive a first user equipment indication indicating that a transmission configuration index field exists in a downlink control channel of a first control resource set; and receive a second user equipment indication indicating that a transmission configuration index field exists in a downlink control channel of a second control resource set; wherein the transmission configuration index field in the downlink control channel provides information about a quasi-co-positioning relationship between a downlink reference signal in a reference signal set and a downlink control channel demodulation reference signal port.

[0121] In various embodiments, method 700 further includes: monitoring one or more downlink control channel candidates in a first time slot of a first monitoring opportunity set; monitoring one or more downlink control channel candidates in a second time slot of a second monitoring opportunity set; and assuming that the one or more downlink control channel candidates in the first time slot of the first monitoring opportunity set and the one or more downlink control channels in the second time slot of the second monitoring opportunity set carry the same downlink control information.

[0122] In one embodiment, one or more downlink shared channels are scheduled by one or more corresponding downlink control channels, and the method further includes: receiving a sixth indication that updates an interpretation of a transmission configuration index field in a downlink data assignment; and applying the interpretation after a last downlink shared channel corresponding to the one or more downlink shared channels is received.

[0123] In certain embodiments: the demodulation reference signal ports of the first control resource set include a first demodulation reference signal port set and a second demodulation reference signal port set; the first demodulation reference signal port set is quasi-co-located with the first reference signal set; and the second demodulation reference signal port set is quasi-co-located with the third reference signal set, and the first reference signal set and the third reference signal set are different.

[0124] In one embodiment, a method comprises: monitoring a first downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a first downlink data channel in a first control resource set; monitoring a second downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a second downlink data channel in a second control resource set, wherein the first control resource set comprises a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set and the second control resource set comprises a second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set; receiving at least one downlink assignment associated with the first downlink control channel candidate or the second downlink control channel candidate; in response to the at least one downlink assignment including the first downlink assignment associated with the first downlink control channel candidate: determining a first downlink data channel allocation based on the first downlink assignment, the first downlink data channel allocation comprising resources allocated to the first downlink data channel; and determining a first downlink data channel allocation based at least in part on the first downlink assignment. the at least one downlink control channel candidate: determining a second downlink data channel allocation based on the second downlink assignment, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the first demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with the first downlink data channel; and decoding the first downlink data channel; and in response to the at least one downlink assignment including a second downlink assignment associated with the second downlink control channel candidate: determining a second downlink data channel allocation based on the second downlink assignment, the second downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to the second downlink data channel; determining a second demodulation reference signal symbol position based at least in part on the second downlink assignment, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the second demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with the second downlink data channel; and decoding the second downlink data channel.

[0125] In some embodiments, the first demodulation reference signal symbol position and the second demodulation reference signal symbol position are the same position.

[0126] In some embodiments, at least one of the first and second downlink data channel allocations conflicts with resources reserved for at least one of the first and second sets of control resources.

[0127] In various embodiments, the first set of OFDM symbols and the second set of OFDM symbols have different numbers of OFDM symbols.

[0128] In one embodiment, the first downlink data channel allocation and the second downlink data channel allocation overlap.

[0129] In certain embodiments, the method further includes determining a control resource set that ends in a later orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol among the first control resource set and the second control resource set; determining a first demodulation reference signal symbol associated with the first downlink data channel that appears immediately after the control resource set; and determining a second demodulation reference signal symbol associated with the second downlink data channel that appears immediately after the control resource set.

[0130] In some embodiments, the method further includes determining physical uplink control channel resources for sending a response in response to the first downlink data channel and the second downlink data channel, wherein the physical uplink control channel resources are determined based on the frequency position of the at least one downlink assignment within an associated control resource set, the first control resource set includes a first control channel element set, and the second control resource set includes a second control channel element set.

[0131] In various embodiments, the at least one downlink assignment includes the first downlink assignment and the second downlink assignment, and wherein: the first starting control channel element index of the first downlink control channel candidate is in the first half of the first control channel element index of the first control resource set, and the second starting control channel element index of the second downlink control channel candidate is in the first half of the second control channel element index of the second control resource set; or the first starting control channel element index is in the second half of the first control channel element index, and the second starting control channel element index is in the second half of the second control channel element index.

[0132] In one embodiment, the first number of control channel elements in the first set of control channel elements is different from the second number of control channel elements in the second set of control channel elements.

[0133] In certain embodiments, the at least one downlink assignment includes the first downlink assignment and the second downlink assignment, and the physical uplink control channel resources are determined based on a frequency location of the first downlink assignment.

[0134] In some embodiments, the first downlink assignment and the second downlink assignment have the same content.

[0135] In various embodiments: the first downlink data channel is associated with a first transmission configuration index state, and the second downlink data channel is associated with a second transmission configuration index state; the first downlink data channel includes a third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and the second downlink data channel includes a fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set; the first transmission configuration index state and the second transmission configuration index state are different at least if the fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set appears at least "w" orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols after the last orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol of the third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and wherein "w" is a non-negative number determined by the user equipment; the first transmission configuration index state and the second transmission configuration index state are the same if the fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set does not appear at least "w" orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols after the last orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol of the third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set; and the first transmission configuration index state and the second transmission configuration index state provide information, the information including a quasi-co-location relationship between a downlink reference signal in a reference signal set and a demodulation reference signal port of a corresponding downlink data channel.

[0136] In one embodiment: the third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set includes 2, 4 or 7 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols; and the fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set includes 2, 4 or 7 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols.

[0137] In certain embodiments, the first set of control resources and the second set of control resources are identical, and the first downlink assignment and the second downlink assignment are identical.

[0138] In some embodiments, if the third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set belongs to the first time slot and the fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set belongs to the second time slot, the first transmission configuration index state and the second transmission configuration index state are different, the first time slot and the second time slot are different, and the time slot consists of fourteen consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols with a predetermined starting orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol.

[0139] In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises: a processor, the processor: monitoring a first downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a first downlink data channel in a first control resource set; and monitoring a second downlink control channel candidate associated with scheduling a second downlink data channel in a second control resource set, wherein the first control resource set includes a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set and the second control resource set includes a second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set; and a receiver, the receiver receiving at least one downlink assignment associated with the first downlink control channel candidate or the second downlink control channel candidate; wherein, in response to the at least one downlink assignment including the first downlink assignment associated with the first downlink control channel candidate, the processor: determining a first downlink data channel allocation based on the first downlink assignment, the first downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to the first downlink data channel; at least part determining a first demodulation reference signal symbol position based at least in part on the first downlink assignment, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the first demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with the first downlink data channel; and decoding the first downlink data channel; and wherein, in response to the at least one downlink assignment including a second downlink assignment associated with the second downlink control channel candidate, the processor: determines a second downlink data channel allocation based on the second downlink assignment, the second downlink data channel allocation including resources allocated to the second downlink data channel; determines a second demodulation reference signal symbol position based at least in part on the second downlink assignment, the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and the second orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, wherein the second demodulation reference signal symbol position is associated with the second downlink data channel; and decoding the second downlink data channel.

[0140] In some embodiments, the first demodulation reference signal symbol position and the second demodulation reference signal symbol position are the same position.

[0141] In some embodiments, at least one of the first and second downlink data channel allocations conflicts with resources reserved for at least one of the first and second sets of control resources.

[0142] In various embodiments, the first set of OFDM symbols and the second set of OFDM symbols have different numbers of OFDM symbols.

[0143] In one embodiment, the first downlink data channel allocation and the second downlink data channel allocation overlap.

[0144] In certain embodiments, the processor: determines a control resource set of the first control resource set and the second control resource set that ends in a later orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol; determines a first demodulation reference signal symbol associated with the first downlink data channel that occurs immediately after the control resource set; and determines a second demodulation reference signal symbol associated with the second downlink data channel that occurs immediately after the control resource set.

[0145] In some embodiments, the processor determines physical uplink control channel resources for sending a response in response to the first downlink data channel and the second downlink data channel, and determines the physical uplink control channel resources based on a frequency position of the at least one downlink assignment within an associated control resource set, the first control resource set including a first control channel element set, and the second control resource set including a second control channel element set.

[0146] In various embodiments, the at least one downlink assignment includes the first downlink assignment and the second downlink assignment, and wherein: the first starting control channel element index of the first downlink control channel candidate is in the first half of the first control channel element index of the first control resource set, and the second starting control channel element index of the second downlink control channel candidate is in the first half of the second control channel element index of the second control resource set; or the first starting control channel element index is in the second half of the first control channel element index, and the second starting control channel element index is in the second half of the second control channel element index.

[0147] In one embodiment, the first number of control channel elements in the first set of control channel elements is different from the second number of control channel elements in the second set of control channel elements.

[0148] In certain embodiments, the at least one downlink assignment includes the first downlink assignment and the second downlink assignment, and the physical uplink control channel resources are determined based on a frequency location of the first downlink assignment.

[0149] In some embodiments, the first downlink assignment and the second downlink assignment have the same content.

[0150] In various embodiments: the first downlink data channel is associated with a first transmission configuration index state, and the second downlink data channel is associated with a second transmission configuration index state; the first downlink data channel includes a third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and the second downlink data channel includes a fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set; the first transmission configuration index state and the second transmission configuration index state are different at least if the fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set appears at least "w" orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols after the last orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol of the third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set, and wherein "w" is a non-negative number determined by the user equipment; the first transmission configuration index state and the second transmission configuration index state are the same if the fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set does not appear at least "w" orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols after the last orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol of the third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set; and the first transmission configuration index state and the second transmission configuration index state provide information, the information including a quasi-co-location relationship between a downlink reference signal in a reference signal set and a demodulation reference signal port of a corresponding downlink data channel.

[0151] In one embodiment: the third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set includes 2, 4 or 7 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols; and the fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set includes 2, 4 or 7 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols.

[0152] In certain embodiments, the first set of control resources and the second set of control resources are identical, and the first downlink assignment and the second downlink assignment are identical.

[0153] In some embodiments, if the third orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set belongs to the first time slot and the fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol set belongs to the second time slot, the first transmission configuration index state and the second transmission configuration index state are different, the first time slot and the second time slot are different, and the time slot consists of fourteen consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols with a predetermined starting orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol.

[0154] In one embodiment, a method includes: receiving a first indication, the first indication including a first search space identifier and a second search space identifier, wherein the first search space identifier and the second search space identifier are used for an associated search space set including the first search space and the second search space; determining a first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the first search space; determining a second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the second search space; determining a third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set corresponding to the associated search space, wherein the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set includes a subset of the first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity and the second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set, the associated search space corresponds to two different control resource sets including a first control resource set and a second control resource set, and wherein: a demodulation reference signal port of the first control resource set is quasi-co-located with a first reference signal set; a demodulation reference signal port of the second control resource set is quasi-co-located with a second reference signal set; and the first reference signal set and the second reference signal set are different; and monitoring the one or more downlink control channel candidates in at least one time slot of the third monitoring opportunity set if the one or more downlink control channel candidates carry the same downlink control information.

[0155] In certain embodiments, the method further includes receiving a second indication indicating a transmission block of downlink data to be delivered to the user equipment via one or more downlink shared channels in each hybrid automatic repeat request transmission phase; wherein the one or more downlink shared channels are scheduled by one or more corresponding downlink control channels.

[0156] In some embodiments, if the user equipment receives multiple downlink control channels carrying the same hybrid automatic repeat request process number in the downlink control information within a monitoring opportunity window of at least one search space, the user equipment assumes that the multiple downlink control channels schedule multiple associated downlink shared channels carrying the same transport block, and the monitoring opportunity window includes a continuous monitoring opportunity set, and the continuous monitoring opportunity set includes at least one monitoring opportunity selected from the first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set, the second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set and the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set.

[0157] In various embodiments, the method further includes: receiving a third indication indicating a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resources, wherein each of the plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resources corresponds to a downlink shared channel in the associated downlink shared channels; decoding a first downlink shared channel in the associated downlink shared channels; and in response to successful decoding of the first downlink shared channel: determining a subset of the plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resources that appear after a processing delay caused by processing the first downlink shared channel; selecting a hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resource having an earliest start symbol from the subset of the plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resources; and transmitting a positive response on the hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resource.

[0158] In one embodiment, the method further includes: receiving a fourth indication, the fourth indication indicating a monitoring period; and determining the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set corresponding to the associated search space based on the monitoring period; wherein: the first search space includes a first monitoring period and the second search space includes a second monitoring period; and the monitoring period is greater than the first monitoring period and the second monitoring period.

[0159] In certain embodiments, the method further includes: receiving a fifth indication, the fifth indication indicating a duration; determining the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set corresponding to the associated search space based on the duration, wherein: the first search space includes a first monitoring period and a first duration, and the second search space includes a second monitoring period and a second duration; and the duration is different from the first duration and the second duration; and monitoring downlink control channel candidates in the associated search space in a number of consecutive time slots indicated by the duration.

[0160] In some embodiments, the user equipment is configured to: receive a first user equipment indication, wherein the first user equipment indication indicates that a transmission configuration index field exists in a downlink control channel of the first control resource set; and receive a second user equipment indication, wherein the second user equipment indication indicates that the transmission configuration index field exists in a downlink control channel of the second control resource set; wherein the transmission configuration index field in the downlink control channel provides information about a quasi-co-positioning relationship between a downlink reference signal in a reference signal set and a downlink control channel demodulation reference signal port.

[0161] In various embodiments, the method further includes: monitoring one or more downlink control channel candidates in a first time slot of the first monitoring opportunity set; monitoring one or more downlink control channel candidates in a second time slot of the second monitoring opportunity set; and assuming that the one or more downlink control channel candidates in the first time slot of the first monitoring opportunity set and the one or more downlink control channels in the second time slot of the second monitoring opportunity set carry the same downlink control information.

[0162] In one embodiment, one or more downlink shared channels are scheduled by one or more corresponding downlink control channels, and the method further includes: receiving a sixth indication that updates an interpretation of a transmission configuration index field in a downlink data assignment; and applying the interpretation after a last downlink shared channel corresponding to the one or more downlink shared channels is received.

[0163] In certain embodiments: the demodulation reference signal ports of the first control resource set include a first demodulation reference signal port set and a second demodulation reference signal port set; the first demodulation reference signal port set is quasi-co-located with the first reference signal set; and the second demodulation reference signal port set is quasi-co-located with a third reference signal set, and the first reference signal set and the third reference signal set are different.

[0164] In one embodiment, an apparatus includes: a receiver that receives a first indication, the first indication including a first search space identifier and a second search space identifier, wherein the first search space identifier and the second search space identifier are used for an associated search space set including the first search space and the second search space; and a processor that: determines a first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the first search space; determines a second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the second search space; determines a third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set corresponding to the associated search space, wherein the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set includes a subset of the first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity and the second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set, the associated search space corresponds to two different control resource sets including a first control resource set and a second control resource set, and wherein: a demodulation reference signal port of the first control resource set is quasi-co-located with a first reference signal set; a demodulation reference signal port of the second control resource set is quasi-co-located with a second reference signal set; and the first reference signal set and the second reference signal set are different; and monitors the one or more downlink control channel candidates in at least one time slot of the third monitoring opportunity set if the one or more downlink control channel candidates carry the same downlink control information.

[0165] In certain embodiments: a second indication is received, the second indication indicating a transmission block of downlink data to be delivered by the receiver to the device via one or more downlink shared channels in each hybrid automatic repeat request transmission phase; and the one or more downlink shared channels are scheduled by one or more corresponding downlink control channels.

[0166] In some embodiments, if the device receives multiple downlink control channels carrying the same hybrid automatic repeat request process number in the downlink control information within a monitoring opportunity window of at least one search space, the device assumes that the multiple downlink control channels schedule multiple associated downlink shared channels carrying the same transmission block, and the monitoring opportunity window includes a continuous monitoring opportunity set, and the continuous monitoring opportunity set includes at least one monitoring opportunity selected from the first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set, the second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set and the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set.

[0167] In various embodiments, the apparatus further includes a transmitter, wherein: the receiver receives a third indication indicating a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resources, wherein each of the plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resources corresponds to a downlink shared channel in the associated downlink shared channels; the processor decodes a first downlink shared channel in the associated downlink shared channels; and in response to successful decoding of the first downlink shared channel: the processor determines a subset of the plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resources that appear after a processing delay caused by processing the first downlink shared channel; the processor selects a hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resource having an earliest start symbol from the subset of the plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resources; and the transmitter transmits an acknowledgement on the hybrid automatic repeat request-reply resource.

[0168] In one embodiment, the receiver receives a fourth indication, which indicates a monitoring period; and the processor determines the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set corresponding to the associated search space based on the monitoring period; wherein: the first search space includes a first monitoring period and the second search space includes a second monitoring period; and the monitoring period is greater than the first monitoring period and the second monitoring period.

[0169] In certain embodiments: the receiver receives a fifth indication, the fifth indication indicating a duration; the processor determines the third downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set corresponding to the associated search space based on the duration, wherein: the first search space includes a first monitoring period and a first duration, and the second search space includes a second monitoring period and a second duration; and the duration is different from the first duration and the second duration; and the processor monitors downlink control channel candidates in the associated search space in a number of consecutive time slots indicated by the duration.

[0170] In some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to: receive a first user equipment indication, the first user equipment indication indicating the presence of a transmission configuration index field in a downlink control channel of the first control resource set; and receive a second user equipment indication, the second user equipment indication indicating the presence of the transmission configuration index field in the downlink control channel of the second control resource set; wherein the transmission configuration index field in the downlink control channel provides information about a quasi-co-positioning relationship between a downlink reference signal in a reference signal set and a downlink control channel demodulation reference signal port.

[0171] In various embodiments, the processor: monitors one or more downlink control channel candidates in a first time slot of the first monitoring opportunity set; monitors one or more downlink control channel candidates in a second time slot of the second monitoring opportunity set; and assumes that the one or more downlink control channel candidates in the first time slot of the first monitoring opportunity set and the one or more downlink control channels in the second time slot of the second monitoring opportunity set carry the same downlink control information.

[0172] In one embodiment, one or more downlink shared channels are scheduled by one or more corresponding downlink control channels, and: the receiver receives a sixth indication that updates an interpretation of a transmission configuration index field in a downlink data assignment; and the processor applies the interpretation after a last downlink shared channel corresponding to the one or more downlink shared channels is received.

[0173] In certain embodiments: the demodulation reference signal ports of the first control resource set include a first demodulation reference signal port set and a second demodulation reference signal port set; the first demodulation reference signal port set is quasi-co-located with the first reference signal set; and the second demodulation reference signal port set is quasi-co-located with a third reference signal set, and the first reference signal set and the third reference signal set are different.

[0174] The embodiments may be practiced in other specific forms. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative only and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is therefore indicated by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description. All changes that come within the meaning and equivalency range of the claims are intended to be embraced within their scope.

Claims

1. A device for wireless communication, the device comprising: processor; as well as a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving a first indication, the first indication including a first search space identifier and a second search space identifier, wherein the first search space identifier and the second search space identifier are used for an associated search space set including the first search space and the second search space; determining a first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the first search space; determining a second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the second search space, wherein the associated search space corresponds to two different control resource sets (CORESETs) including a first CORESET and a second CORESET, and wherein: The demodulation reference signal port of the first CORESET is quasi co-located (QCL) with the first reference signal set; The demodulation reference signal port of the second CORESET is connected to the second reference signal set QCL; and The first reference signal set is different from the second reference signal set, wherein: The receiver further receives at least two downlink control channel candidates, wherein the at least two downlink control channel candidates carry the same downlink control information (DCI) and correspond to transport blocks (TBs); In response to receiving the at least two downlink control channel candidates, determining an associated CORESET for reception of the TB; determining a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for the TB based on the associated CORESET; and A hybrid automatic repeat request response (HARQ-ACK) corresponding to the TB is sent on the determined PUCCH resource.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein The associated CORESET is the CORESET with the lowest index among the first CORESET and the second CORESET.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein The instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: determine the PUCCH resources based on a number of control channel elements (CCEs) of the associated CORESET.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein The instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: determine the PUCCH resources based on DCI or a higher layer signal or a combination thereof.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein Based on the higher reliability of the TB, the size of the DCI is larger.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein The first CORESET and the second CORESET occur in different transmission time intervals (TTIs).

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein The instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: when monitoring DCI scheduling the TB in a plurality of CORESETs, determine only one PUCCH resource for an acknowledgement associated with the TB.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein The instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to determine a second downlink control channel candidate of the at least two downlink control channel candidates based on a first downlink control channel candidate of the at least two downlink control channel candidates.

9. A method comprising: receiving a first indication, the first indication including a first search space identifier and a second search space identifier, wherein the first search space identifier and the second search space identifier are used for an associated search space set including the first search space and the second search space; determining a first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the first search space; determining a second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the second search space, wherein the associated search space corresponds to two different control resource sets (CORESETs) including a first CORESET and a second CORESET, and wherein: The demodulation reference signal port of the first CORESET is quasi co-located (QCL) with the first reference signal set; The demodulation reference signal port of the second CORESET is connected to the second reference signal set QCL; and The first reference signal set is different from the second reference signal set; receiving at least two downlink control channel candidates, wherein the at least two downlink control channel candidates carry the same downlink control information (DCI) and correspond to transport blocks (TBs), In response to receiving the at least two downlink control channels, determining an associated CORESET for reception of the TB; determining a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for the TB based on the associated CORESET; and A hybrid automatic repeat request response (HARQ-ACK) corresponding to the TB is sent on the determined PUCCH resource.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein: The associated CORESET is the CORESET with the lowest index among the first CORESET and the second CORESET.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein Determining the PUCCH resources for the TB based on the associated CORESET further includes determining the PUCCH resources based on a number of control channel elements (CCEs) of the associated CORESET.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein Determining the PUCCH resources for the TB based on the associated CORESET further includes determining the PUCCH resources based on DCI or higher layer signals or a combination thereof.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein: Based on the higher reliability of the TB, the size of the DCI is larger.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein The first CORESET and the second CORESET occur in different transmission time intervals (TTIs).

15. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: When DCI scheduling the TB is monitored in a plurality of CORESETs, only one PUCCH resource for a response associated with the TB is determined.

16. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: A second downlink control channel candidate among the at least two downlink control channel candidates is determined based on a first downlink control channel candidate among the at least two downlink control channel candidates.

17. An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising: processor; as well as a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: Sending a first indication, where the first indication includes a first search space identifier and a second search space identifier, where the first search space identifier and the second search space identifier are used for an associated search space set including the first search space and the second search space, where: determining a first downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the first search space; determining a second downlink control channel monitoring opportunity set for the second search space; The associated search space corresponds to two different CORESETs including a first control resource set (CORESET) and a second CORESET, The demodulation reference signal port of the first CORESET is quasi co-located (QCL) with the first reference signal set; The demodulation reference signal port of the second CORESET and the second reference signal set QCL; The first reference signal set is different from the second reference signal set; At least two downlink control channel candidates are sent, wherein the at least two downlink control channel candidates carry the same downlink control information (DCI) and correspond to transport blocks (TBs), wherein: In response to receiving the at least two downlink control channels, an associated CORESET for transmission of the TB is determined; Based on the associated CORESET, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for the TB is determined; and A hybrid automatic repeat request response (HARQ-ACK) corresponding to the TB is received on the determined PUCCH resource.

18. The device according to claim 17, wherein The associated CORESET is the CORESET with the lowest index among the first CORESET and the second CORESET.

19. The device according to claim 17, wherein The first CORESET and the second CORESET occur in different transmission time intervals (TTIs).

20. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein When the DCI scheduling the TB is monitored in a plurality of CORESETs, only one PUCCH resource for a response associated with the TB is determined.

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