User Equipment, Base Station, and Method

Abstract

To provide a radio communication system and device which control transmission power of uplink data with downlink control information (DCI) received from a base station.SOLUTION: A method for supporting inter-user equipment multiplexing and prioritization includes: receiving, by a UE communicating data in an uplink direction, an indication for indicating that the communication in an uplink direction should be cancelled or paused, the indication including a parameter having a value representing a combination of at least two different resource configurations for uplink communication by at least one further UE; and cancelling or pausing communication in an uplink direction based on the plurality of different resource configurations for uplink communication by at least one further UE represented by the parameter provided in the indication indicating that the communication in an uplink direction should be cancelled or paused.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to wireless communication systems and devices. [Background technology]

[0002] This disclosure relates to wireless communication systems and devices thereof that operate in accordance with 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards or equivalents or derivatives thereof. The techniques described in this disclosure are particularly, but not exclusively, related to improvements related to enhanced User Equipment (UE)-to-User Equipment (Tx) transmission prioritization and multiplexing in so-called "5G" (or "next generation") systems. The disclosed improvements are particularly, but not exclusively, related to Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) in the context of Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) transmissions.

[0003] The latest development in 3GPP standards is the so-called "5G" or "New Radio" (NR) standard, which refers to an evolving communications technology expected to support a variety of applications and services, such as machine-type communications (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT) communications, vehicular communications and autonomous vehicles, high-definition video streaming, and smart city services. 3GPP plans to support 5G through the so-called 3GPP Next Generation (NextGen) Radio Access Network (RAN) and 3GPP NextGen Core (NGC) networks. Various details of 5G networks are described, for example, in the "NGMN5G White Paper" V1.0 by the Next Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) Alliance, available at https: / / www.ngmn.org / 5g-white-paper.html.

[0004] End-user communication devices are commonly referred to as User Equipment (UE) and can be human-operated or comprise autonomous (MTC / IoT) devices. Base stations in 5G / NR communication systems are commonly called New Radio Base Stations ("NR-BS") or "gNBs," although they are sometimes referred to using the term "eNB" (or 5G / NR eNB), which are more commonly referred to as Long Term Evolution (LTE) base stations (also commonly referred to as "4G" base stations).

[0005] Next-generation mobile networks support diverse service requirements, which the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has classified into three categories: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC), and massive machine-type communications (mMTC). eMBB aims to enhance support for traditional mobile broadband with a focus on services that require widely guaranteed bandwidth, such as high-definition (HD) video, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR). URLLC is a requirement for critical applications that require guaranteed access within very short timeframes, such as autonomous driving and factory automation. mMTC must support a large number of connected devices, such as smart metering and environmental monitoring, but can typically tolerate a certain access latency. It will be understood that some of these applications may have relatively loose quality of service / quality of experience (QoS / QoE) requirements, while some applications may have relatively stringent QoS / QoE requirements (e.g., high bandwidth and / or low latency).

[0006] During the development of 5G / NR communications technology, potential enhancements to uplink (UL) UE-to-UE transmission prioritization and multiplexing have been discussed. As part of these discussions, UL cancellation schemes and enhanced UL power control schemes have been considered.

[0007] The UL cancellation scheme involves a UE participating in a (preemptible) communication (e.g., eMBB communication) monitoring the UL for an indication (e.g., a "cancel" indication) from the base station that the UE should pause or stop its UL communication to allow another ("higher priority") UE to communicate data with stricter delay / reliability constraints (e.g., URLLC communication). Upon identifying such a cancel indication, a UE participating in the preemptible communication cancels (or pauses) its communication to allow the higher priority communication from the other UE to occur without interference. Thus, such multiplexing of URLLC and eMBB transmissions between different UEs can provide better spectrum resource utilization and capacity gains.

[0008] In the described enhanced UL power control scheme, a UE has communication data with strict latency / reliability constraints (e.g., URLLC data) and increases its transmission capability to transmit that data so that the communication is prioritized over other communications (e.g., eMBB communications) using the same resources. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0009] With reference to the UE UL cancellation mechanism, which is seen as one of the potential enhancements for prioritization and multiplexing of UL inter-UE transmissions, several aspects have been studied, including: -Various possible indication mechanisms (e.g., UE UL cancel / suspend indication, UL continuation indication, UL reschedule indication, etc.). -Physical channels and / or signals that may be used for UL cancellation (or other) indications. -UE processing sequence / timeline for UL cancel (or other) indications. -UE monitoring behavior for UL cancellation (or other) indications. UE Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) monitoring capability must be UL cancellation (or other) indication provided by the PDCCH. -How to ensure the reliability of UL cancellation (or other) indications of UL cancellation / suspension (and possibly continuation, reschedule, etc.) of the UE.

[0010] For such UL cancellation mechanisms, it is desirable, for efficiency reasons, to ensure that the requirements for UE monitoring of UL cancellation indications are kept to a minimum and that the size of the UL cancellation indication is limited as far as reasonably possible.

[0011] With reference to enhanced dynamic power control for boosting URLLC UE power, several aspects have been studied, including (among others): -Possibility to boost UE power in power-limited or interference-limited scenarios. -The physical channel / signal used for signaling. -UE processing timeline of signaling. -UE monitoring of signaling behavior. If signaling is via PDCCH, UE PDCCH monitoring capability. -How to ensure signaling reliability.

[0012] In such dynamic power control, it is desirable for efficiency reasons to minimize the size of the additional signals and new signal parameters.

[0013] Therefore, it can be seen that there is a need for an efficient method and related apparatus to support UL cancellation and / or UL power control to enhance inter-UE multiplexing / prioritization. Such a method may include, for example, a mechanism for reducing / minimizing the need for UE monitoring for UL cancellation indication and / or a mechanism for efficiently utilizing downlink control signals to provide UL cancellation indication and / or power control configuration information.

[0014] The present disclosure aims to provide methods and apparatus that go at least partially toward addressing the above needs. [Means for solving the problem]

[0015] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for performing a process in which a user equipment (UE) of a communication network, communicating data in an uplink direction, receives an instruction from a base station indicating that the communication in the uplink direction should be canceled or suspended, the instruction including a parameter having a value representing a combination of at least two different resource configurations for uplink communication by other UEs, and cancels or suspends the communication in the uplink direction based on the multiple different resource configurations for uplink communication by the other UEs represented by the parameter provided in the instruction indicating that the communication in the uplink direction should be canceled or suspended.

[0016] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method in which a user equipment (UE) of a communications network performs the following process: stores mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter; obtains uplink data to be communicated in an uplink direction; transmits a scheduling request to a base station for scheduling resources to be used for communicating the uplink data; receives from the base station an instruction used to determine an uplink transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data, the instruction including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values ​​represented by the mapping data; identifies a transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data based on the mapping data stored in the UE and the received instruction; and transmits the uplink data using the identified transmit power.

[0017] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for a user equipment (UE) of a communication network to perform a process: storing mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter; communicating uplink data in an uplink direction; receiving an indication from a base station indicating that communication in the uplink direction should be canceled or paused, the indication including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values ​​represented by the mapping data; identifying a transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data based on the mapping data stored in the UE and the received indication; and adjusting the transmit power to be used for transmitting the uplink data based on the identified transmit power.

[0018] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of performing a process in which a base station of a communications network receives uplink data communicated by a first user equipment (UE) in an uplink direction, receives an indication from the second UE indicating that a second UE has data to transmit that should be prioritized over uplink communications by the first UE, and transmits to the first UE an indication indicating that communications by the first UE in the uplink direction should be canceled or suspended, the indication including parameters having values ​​representing combinations of at least two different resource configurations for uplink communications by the second UE.

[0019] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of performing a process in which a base station of a communications network stores mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter; receives from a first user equipment (UE) a scheduling request for scheduling resources to be used for communicating uplink data that is to be prioritized over uplink communication by a second UE; transmits to the first UE and the second UE, respectively, instructions for use in determining an uplink transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data, the instructions including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values, each of the plurality of possible index values ​​representing a different respective transmit power parameter; and receives from at least one of the first UE and the second UE uplink data transmitted using a transmit power based on the transmit power parameter represented by the index value of the parameter provided in the instruction transmitted to the UE.

[0020] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE) of a communication network, the UE including a controller and a transceiver, the controller controls the transceiver to communicate data in an uplink direction, controls the transceiver to receive from a base station an instruction indicating that communication in an uplink direction should be canceled or paused, the instruction including a parameter having a value representing a combination of at least two different resource configurations for uplink communication by other UEs, and controls the transceiver to cancel or pause communication in the uplink direction based on a plurality of different resource configurations for uplink communication by other UEs represented by the parameters provided in the instruction for indicating that communication in the uplink direction should be canceled or paused.

[0021] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE) for a communications network, the UE including a controller and a transceiver, the controller stores mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter, obtains uplink data to be communicated in an uplink direction, controls the transceiver to transmit to a base station a scheduling request for a scheduling resource to be used for communicating the uplink data, controls the transceiver to receive from a base station an instruction to use for determining an uplink transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data, the instruction including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values ​​represented by the mapping data, identifies a transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data based on the mapping data stored in the UE and the received instruction, and controls the transceiver to transmit the uplink data using the identified transmit power.

[0022] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE) of a communication network, the UE including a controller and a transceiver, the controller stores mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter, controls the transceiver to communicate uplink data in an uplink direction, controls the transceiver to receive from a base station an instruction indicating that communication in the uplink direction should be canceled or paused, the instruction including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values ​​represented by the mapping data, identifies a transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data based on the mapping data stored in the UE and the received instruction, and adjusts the transmit power to be used to transmit the uplink data based on the identified transmit power.

[0023] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a base station of a communication network, the base station having a controller and a transceiver, the controller controls the transceiver to receive uplink data communicated in an uplink direction by a first user equipment (UE), controls the transceiver to receive an indication from the second UE indicating that the second UE has transmission data that should be prioritized over uplink communication by the first UE, and controls the transceiver to send to the first UE an indication indicating that communication in the uplink direction by the first UE should be canceled or suspended, the indication including a parameter having a value representing a combination of at least two different resource configurations for uplink communication by the second UE.

[0024] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a base station of a communication network, the base station having a controller and a transceiver, the controller stores mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter, controls the transceiver to receive from a first user equipment (UE) a scheduling request for a scheduling resource to be used for communicating uplink data for which uplink communication by a second UE needs to be prioritized, controls the transceiver to send to the first UE and the second UE, respectively, instructions for use in determining an uplink transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data, the instructions including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values, each of the plurality of possible index values ​​representing a different respective transmit power parameter, and controls the transceiver to receive uplink data transmitted from at least one of the first UE and the second UE using a transmit power based on the transmit power parameter represented by the index value of the parameter provided in the instructions sent to the UE. [Effects of the Invention]

[0025] In accordance with the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a method and associated apparatus that goes at least partially toward addressing the above needs. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0026] Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0027] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a (cellular) communication network. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the main components of an eMBB UE of the telecommunications network of FIG. 1. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the main components of a URLLC UE of the telecommunications network of FIG. 1; [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the main components of a base station of the communications network of FIG. 1. [Figure 5] 2 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a procedure for indicating multiple CG-PUSCH configurations to an eMBB UE in the telecommunications network of FIG. 1. [Figure 6] 2 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a procedure for configuring power adjustment for a URLLC / eMBB UE in the communication network of FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0028] overview FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a (cellular) telecommunications network 1 in which user equipment 3 (mobile phones and / or other mobile devices) can communicate with each other via base stations 5 (e.g., "gNBs" in an NR network) using an appropriate radio access technology (RAT). It will be appreciated that in a 5G system, a base station is also referred to as including one or more transmit reception points (TRPs). As those skilled in the art will appreciate, while six UEs and one base station 5 are shown in FIG. 1 for illustrative purposes, the system, when implemented, will typically include other base stations and UEs.

[0029] Each base station 5 operates one or more associated cells via a TRP located at the base station (and / or one or more remotely located TRPs). In this example, for simplicity, the base station 5 operates a single cell with an associated system bandwidth. The base stations 5 are connected to a core network 7 (e.g., via appropriate gateways and / or user plane / control functions), and neighboring base stations are also connected to each other (directly or via appropriate base station gateways). The core network 7 may include, among other things, a control plane manager entity and a user plane manager entity, one or more gateways (GWs) for providing connectivity between the base stations 5 and other networks (such as the Internet) and / or servers hosted outside the core network.

[0030] Each UE 3 connects to a suitable cell (depending on its location and possibly other factors, e.g., signal conditions, subscription data, capabilities, etc.) by, for example, establishing a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the base station 5 that operates that cell.

[0031] The UE 3 is configured to receive downlink (DL) control information (DCI, also known as a "downlink control indicator") using one or more DL control channels (e.g., one or more physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs)) and to receive DL user data using one or more DL data channels (e.g., one or more physical DL shared channels (PDSCHs)). The UE 3 is also configured to transmit uplink control information (UCI), such as hybrid automatic repeat request / acknowledgement feedback (HARQ-ACK), scheduling requests (SRs), and channel state information (CSI) reports, using one or more UL control channels (e.g., one or more physical UL control channels (PUCCHs)). Similarly, the UE 3 is also configured to transmit uplink user data using one or more uplink data channels (e.g., one or more physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs)). The UE 3 is also configured to transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) in the UL direction for use by the base station to estimate the UL channel quality over a wider bandwidth.

[0032] To be able to communicate on the UL on a corresponding PUSCH, the UE 3 (both UWLC and eMBB) can use dynamically scheduled (or "grant-based") resources or pre-configured grant ("grant-free") resources. Dynamically scheduled resources are resources granted by the base station 5 in response to a scheduling request (SR) from the UE 3, and such scheduled PUSCHs may be referred to as dynamically granted PUSCHs (or "DG-PUSCHs"). Grant-free resources are time / frequency resources that are pre-configured, for example by a PDCCH, and may be used by the UE 3 to transmit data in a contention-based manner without prior notification to the base station 5. Such scheduled PUSCHs may be referred to as configured grant PUSCHs (or "CG-PUSCHs").

[0033] The "grant-free" uplink grant and its periodicity can be configured via RRC signaling (sometimes called configured grant type 1). Alternatively, the "grant-free" uplink grant may be provided via physical layer (PDCCH) signaling with the periodicity configured by RRC signaling (sometimes called configured grant type 2). Both type 1 and type 2 may be supported by the UEs3.

[0034] The UE 3 may also use semi-persistent resources to report in the uplink on another uplink channel (semi-persistent PUSCH (or "SP-PUSCH")). The eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 may transmit using eMBB dedicated time / frequency resources in eMBB dedicated regions of the available communications spectrum (i.e., regions not used for other types of communications, such as URLLC transmissions).

[0035] A cell of the communications network 1 may include one or more UEs specially configured for enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) communications in the UL, one or more UEs 3-3 specially configured for ultra-reliable, low-latency communications (URLLC) in the UL, and / or one or more UEs specially configured for massive machine-type communications (mMTC) in the UL. In the illustrated example, two eMBB-configured UEs 3-1, 3-2 are shown participating in eMBB UL communications and one URLLC UE 3-3 is shown participating in URLLC UL communications, although it will be understood that there may be other UEs of various types participating in various types of communications.

[0036] The base station 5 and the UE 3 are mutually configured for enhanced inter-UE multiplexing / prioritization, particularly inter-UE multiplexing / prioritization of UL communications between UEs 3-1 and 3-2 participating in eMBB UL communications and UE 3-3 participating in URLLC UL communications. Such multiplexing of URLLC and eMBB transmissions may provide better spectrum resource utilization and increased capacity.

[0037] Specifically, to protect URLLC transmissions from interference from eMBB transmissions, the base station 5 is configured to provide UL cancellation indications to UEs 3-1, 3-2 participating in eMBB UL communication using a given set of time / frequency resources when the URLLC UE 3-3 needs those resources for URLLC UL communication. The base station 5 is also configured to support enhanced power control mechanisms in the URLLC UEs 3-3 for inter-UE multiplexing / prioritization.

[0038] The UL cancellation indication may be applied with respect to UL transmissions from eMMB UEs 3-1, 3-2 that do not use the eMBB dedicated region. These may include, for example, PUSCH transmissions (including DG-PUSCH, CG-PUSCH, and / or SP-PUSCH transmissions), SRS transmissions, and / or PUCCH transmissions (including SR, HARQ, and CSI transmissions). It may also be applied with respect to physical random access channel (PRACH) procedures (e.g., preambles and / or message 3). However, it will be understood that in the future, it may be decided to restrict the application of UL cancellation to certain types of UL transmissions and not to other UL transmissions (e.g., UL cancellation may not be specifically applicable to SRS, PUCCH, or a subset of PUCCH transmission types, PRACH transmissions, etc.).

[0039] The compact DCI is used for the UL cancellation indication provided to eMBB UEs 3-1 and 3-2. The minimum size of the compact DCI aims to reduce the size by 10-16 bits compared to the 40-bit DCI format size used in the Release 15 fallback DCI, which supports the URLLC block error rate requirements. Advantageously, the UE DCI size budget is not increased by the need to monitor the UL cancellation indication.

[0040] The base station 5 is configured to provide the UL cancellation indication in either a group-common DCI or a UE-specific DCI depending on the number of UEs 3 participating (or likely to participate) in eMBB uplink communications. If there are a large number of eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 that may be affected by a URLLC transmission, the base station 5 can configure these UEs 3-1, 3-2 to monitor the group-common DCI indicating the time / frequency region to which the UL cancellation indication applies. Advantageously, the applicable preemptable resources can be indicated via a resource index / bitmap in the UL cancellation indication.

[0041] A useful but optional variation of this is that the time / frequency domain used for eMBB / URLLC multiplexing can be pre-configured (or partially pre-configured) to reduce the number of bits required for dynamic indication.

[0042] It will be appreciated that by indicating applicable preemptable resources in advance and / or by pre-configuring (or partially pre-configuring) the time / frequency region to be used for eMBB / URLLC multiplexing, the eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 can beneficially limit monitoring for UL cancellation indications to scenarios where a ULeMBB transmission is already occurring or is to occur on the time and frequency resources configured for URLLC services. If the time / frequency region of a possible URLLC transmission has been notified to the eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 in advance, UL cancellation monitoring need only be triggered if the eMBB UEs' 3-1, 3-2 eMBB transmissions overlap in the multiplexing region.

[0043] Therefore, in another useful but optional variation, an eMBB UE 3-1, 3-2 is configured to monitor the PDCCH for a UL cancellation indication only if that UE 3-1, 3-2 has or will have a UL eMBB transmission over resources configured for URLLC services.

[0044] For UEs 3 in time division duplex (TDD) mode, eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 may transmit uplink traffic on one carrier while monitoring for uplink cancellation indications on another carrier.

[0045] For multiplexing between grant-based UL transmissions from the eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 (e.g., on the DG-PUSCH) and grant-free UL transmissions from the URLLC UEs 3-3 (e.g., on the CG-PUSCH), information of the configured grant resources for the URLLC service (e.g., time-frequency allocation including periodicity in minislots / symbols) can be beneficially provided to the multiplexing eMBB UEs 3-2 via RRC signaling. However, if the eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 are scheduled via configured grants (e.g., for transmissions via the CG-PUSCH), the time / frequency region in which UL cancellation applies can be signaled to the eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 via a resource index in a group-common PDCCH (e.g., for multiple UEs) and / or a UE-specific DCI (e.g., for a few UEs or a single UE).

[0046] Beneficially, if multiple CG-PUSCHs are active for the URLLC UE 3-3, an index (e.g., "resource index" / "resource configuration index") having multiple different possible values, each of which maps to a respective combination of multiple CG-PUSCH configurations and indicates which CG-PUSCH configuration is active, is provided in the UL cancellation indication sent to the eMBB UE 3-1, 3-2. This allows multiple CG-PUSCH configurations to be signaled to the eMBB UE 3-1, 3-2 in a particularly efficient manner using a relatively small number of bits. This is particularly useful given the size constraints of the UL cancellation indication. For example, one bit can be used to represent two possible combinations, two bits can be used to represent four possible combinations, and three bits can be used to represent eight possible combinations. The mapping of bits of the resource indication to different configurations can be by any suitable means, such as, for example, a mapping table stored in a memory of the UE or some form of mapping function or algorithm. It will be appreciated that not all possible combinations need to be supported, thereby further reducing the bit field width.

[0047] It will also be appreciated that the resource index that is mapped to a combination of multiple configured permission settings may be configured via RRC signaling (eg, a defined mapping table).

[0048] Referring now to enhanced power control, in dynamically scheduled uplink transmissions (e.g., using DG-PUSCH), the open-loop parameter set for power control may be indicated to the URLLC UE 3-3 by the scheduling DCI in the PUSCH (e.g., using DCI format 0_0 or 0_1) using a field separate from the SRS indication (SRI) field.

[0049] Beneficially, the base stations 5 and UEs 3 of the communications network 1 are configured to indicate a power control setting for the enhanced power control in a particularly efficient manner. Specifically, the base station 5 provides a power control setting that indicates how the URLLC UE 3-3 should adjust its power using an index (e.g., a "power indication" or "power adjustment" index) that is limited to a smaller number of bits (2 in this example) than would be required to explicitly indicate one of multiple PUSCH power parameter sets.

[0050] More specifically, according to current technical standards, there are 30 possible instances of a power parameter set represented by the P0-PUSCH-AlphaSet parameter or 16 instances of a power parameter set represented by the SRI-PUSCH-PowerControl parameter that can form part of the PUSCH power configuration provided by the base station 5 to the UE 3 (e.g., as part of the Bandwidth Part (BWP) configuration). Therefore, to explicitly represent one of these parameter sets to the UE, 4 or 5 bits are needed for the complete indication.

[0051] Therefore, beneficially, a reduced subset of the "p0-PUSCH-Alpha" settings (or SRI-PUSCH-PowerControl) is pre-configured in the memory of the URLLC UE 3-3 (e.g., in a look-up table representing only the highest power setting values, or only a selection of higher values), which can be done in any suitable way, for example, by RRC signaling.

[0052] Therefore, when a URLLC UE 3-3 is to communicate, a 2-bit power adjustment indicator field may be provided, for example, in the scheduling DCI (e.g., DCI format 0_0 or 0_1) to indicate how the UE 3-3 adjusts the power of the UE 3-3.

[0053] In a variation of this, rather than an "absolute" value indication that maps to a particular power parameter set, the 2-bit power adjustment indicator field may be configured as a "relative" value indication that indicates a required change (i.e., increase) in the power setting at the URLLC UE 3-3. For example, the 2-bit field may indicate a transmit power setting increase of 0 dB, 3 dB, 6 dB, or 9 dB (or other suitable power change). It will be appreciated that both options (absolute and relative) may be supported in a particular system and used depending on the requirements.

[0054] It will also be appreciated that, alternatively or additionally, the power adjustment indication may be mapped to a range of values ​​for reducing the eMBB transmit power of the eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2. For example, the power adjustment indication may represent only the lowest or lower power setting value configured for the eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2. Similarly, the power adjustment indication may be mapped to a relative decrease in the transmit power setting of the eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 (e.g., 0 dB, 3 dB, 6 dB, 9 dB, or other suitable power change).

[0055] Beneficially, the time / frequency regions where increased power settings may be applied for multiple active CG-PUSCHs can be signaled to URLLC UEs via a resource index in the scheduling DCI (e.g., based on a mapping to multiple CG settings), which may, for example, be in the same or similar format as the resource index / resource setting index described above for signaling CG-PUSCH settings to eMBB UEs.

[0056] The URLLC UE 3-3 may derive the transmission power based on the time / frequency resources indicated by the group-common DCI.

[0057] It can therefore be seen that the communication network 1 may provide several different methods for UL cancellation and / or UL power control may be supported to enhance inter-EU multiplexing / prioritization.

[0058] An apparatus which may incorporate the above beneficial features will now be described, by way of example, with reference to Figures 2 to 4.

[0059] User equipment (eMBB) Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the main components of the eMBB UE 3-1 (e.g., a mobile phone, smartphone, tablet or other user equipment) shown in Figure 1. Although the UE 3-1 is described with respect to its eMBB capabilities only, it will be appreciated that for ease of explanation the UE 3-1 may be configured to operate as a URLLC UE and / or an mMTC UE, depending on requirements.

[0060] As shown in the figure, the UE 3-1 has transceiver circuitry 31-1 operable to transmit signals to and receive signals from a base station 5 via one or more antennas 33-1. The UE 3-1 has a controller 37-1 for controlling the operation of the UE 3-1 and a user interface 35-1 (e.g., touchscreen / keypad / microphone / speaker, etc.) for enabling direct control through user interaction. The controller 37-1 is associated with memory 39-1 and coupled to the transceiver circuitry 31-1. Although not necessary for its operation, the UE 3-1 may, of course, have all the usual functionality of a conventional UE 3, which may be provided by any one or any combination of hardware, software, and firmware, as needed. Software may be pre-installed in the memory 39-1 and / or downloaded, for example, via a telecommunications network or from a removable data storage device (RMD).

[0061] Controller 37-1, in this example, is configured to control the overall operation of UE 3-1 via program or software instructions stored in memory 39-1. As shown, these software instructions include, among other things, an operating system 41-1, a communications control module 43-1, an eMBB management module 45-1, and a power management module 47-1.

[0062] The communications control module 43-1 is operable to control communications between the UE 3-1 and its serving base station 5 (and other communications devices connected to the base station 5, such as further UEs and / or core network nodes). The communications control module 43-1 is configured to handle uplink communications via associated uplink channels (e.g., via the PUCCH and / or PUSCH) and handle reception of downlink communications via associated downlink channels (e.g., via the PDCCH and / or PDSCH). The communications control module 43-1 determines resources to be used by the UE 3-1 and determines which bandwidth parts (subbands) are allocated to the UE 3-1 (e.g., based on the bandwidth supported by the transceiver circuitry 31-1). It will be understood that the supported operating bandwidth (or current operating bandwidth) of the transceiver circuitry 31-1 may depend on whether the UE 3-1 operates as a traditional eMBB UE or as a machine-type device for URLLC or mMTC.

[0063] The eMBB module 45-1 manages the operation of the UE when performing eMBB communication tasks such as high density video streaming.

[0064] The power management module 47-1 manages power usage by the UE 3-1, including controlling transmit power based on one or more power configurations received from the base station 5.

[0065] User Equipment (URLCC) Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the main components of a URLLC UE 3-3 (e.g., a communication unit of an autonomous vehicle, industrial equipment, surgical robot, or other user equipment) shown in Figure 1. Although the UE 3-3 is described with respect to only its URLLC capabilities, it will be understood that for ease of explanation the UE 3-3 may be configured to operate as an eMBB UE and / or an mMTC UE, depending on requirements.

[0066] As shown, the UE 3-3 has transceiver circuitry 31-3 operable to transmit signals to and receive signals from a base station 5 via one or more antennas 33-3. The UE 3-3 has a controller 37-3 for controlling the operation of the UE 3-3. The controller 37-3 is associated with memory 39-3 and coupled to the transceiver circuitry 31-3. While not necessary for operation, the UE 3-3 may, of course, have all the usual functionality of a conventional UE 3 (e.g., a user interface 35-3, such as a touchscreen / keypad / microphone / speaker and / or the like, that allows direct control and interaction by a user). This may be provided by any one or any combination of hardware, software, and firmware, as needed. Software may be pre-installed in the memory 39-3 and / or downloaded, for example, via a telecommunications network or from a removable data storage device (RMD).

[0067] Controller 37-3, in this example, is configured to control the overall operation of UE 3-3 via program or software instructions stored in memory 39-3. As shown, these software instructions include, among other things, an operating system 41-3, a communications control module 43-3, a URLLC management module 45-3, and a power management module 47-3.

[0068] The communications control module 43-3 is operable to control communications between the UE 3-3 and its serving base station 5 (and other communications devices connected to the base station 5, such as further UEs and / or core network nodes). The communications control module 43-3 is configured to handle uplink communications via associated uplink channels (e.g., via a PUCCH and / or a PUSCH) and handle reception of downlink communications via associated downlink channels (e.g., via a PDCCH and / or a PDSCH). The communications control module 43-3 determines resources to be used by the UE 3-3 and determines which bandwidth parts (subbands) are allocated to the UE 3-3 (e.g., based on the bandwidth supported by the transceiver circuitry 31-3). It will be understood that the supported operating bandwidth (or current operating bandwidth) of the transceiver circuitry 31-3 may depend on whether the UE 3-3 operates as a traditional URLLC UE (e.g., for critical machine-type communications (C-MTC)), as an eMBB UE, or as a machine-type device for mMTC).

[0069] The URLLC module 45-3 manages the operation of the UE when performing URLLC communication tasks such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) communications for autonomous or partially autonomous vehicles, remote medical procedures, and safety-critical control of industrial equipment.

[0070] The power management module 47-3 manages power usage by the UE 3-3, including controlling transmit power based on one or more power configurations received from the base station 5.

[0071] base station FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the main components of the base station 5 shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the base station 5 has a transceiver circuit 51 for transmitting and receiving signals to and from communication devices (such as UE 3 / user equipment) via one or more antennas 53 (e.g., antenna arrays / large capacity antennas), and a core network interface 55 (referred to as an "N2" interface in NR) for transmitting and receiving signals to and from network nodes in the core network 7. Although not shown, the base station 5 may also be coupled to other base stations via appropriate interfaces (e.g., so-called "Xn" interfaces in NR). The base station 5 has a controller 57 for controlling the operation of the base station 5. The controller 57 is associated with a memory 59. Software may be pre-installed in the memory 59 and / or downloaded, for example, via the communication network 1 or from a removable data storage device (RMD). The controller 57, in this example, is configured to control the overall operation of the base station 5 by program or software instructions stored in the memory 59. As shown, these software instructions include, among other things, an operating system 61, a communication control module 63, a URLLC management module 65, an eMBB management module 67, an mMTC management module 69, a UE configuration module 71, a scheduling module 73, and a multiplexing / prioritization module 75.

[0072] The communications control module 63 is operable to control communications between the base station 5 and the UE 3, as well as communications with other network entities connected to the base station 5. The communications control module 63 also controls separate flows of downlink user traffic (via associated data radio bearers), and the control data sent to communications devices associated with this base station 5 includes control data for configuration, information indicating how the UE 3 manages its transmit power, the portion of bandwidth to be used by the UE, the location of one or more resources (e.g. within the associated bandwidth part and / or sub-band) used for the (control / data) channel, etc.

[0073] The URLLC management module 65, under the overall control of the communication control module 63, manages the flow of URLLC data (control and / or user) to and from the UE.

[0074] The eMBB management module 67, under the overall control of the communications control module 63, manages the flow of eMBB data (control and / or user) to and from the UEs.

[0075] The mMTC management module 69, under the overall control of the communication control module 63, manages the flow of mMTC data (control and / or user) to and from the UEs.

[0076] The UE configuration module 71 manages generating / obtaining configuration data for configuring the UE 3 and transmitting the configuration data to the UE 3. The configuration data may include, for example, parameters for configuring the bandwidth part used by the UE 3 for the uplink (and / or downlink). The configuration data may include, for example, PUSCH power configuration parameters (possibly as part of the uplink bandwidth part configuration data) including P0-PUSCH-AlphaSet parameters (such as p0-PUSCH-AlphaSetId, p0, and alpha parameters) and / or SRI-PUSCH-PowerControl parameters (such as sri-PUSCH-PowerControlId, sri-PUSCH-PathlossReferenceRS-Id, sri-P0-PUSCH-AlphaSetId, and / or sri-PUSCH-ClosedLoopIndex).

[0077] The scheduling module 73 manages the allocation of time and / or frequency resources for the various uplink transmissions (eg, PUCCH, DG-PUSCH, etc.) and downlink receptions (eg, PDSCH, PDCCH) of the UE 3 .

[0078] The multiplexing / prioritization module 75 manages the multiplexing and prioritization of communications (i.e., inter-UE communications) between different UEs 3 (e.g., between URLLC UEs such as UE 3-3 and eMBB UEs such as UE 3-1 and UE 3-2), including communications between different UEs 3 participating in different types of communications.

[0079] In the above description, UEs 3-1, 3-2, and 3-3 and base station 5 are described as having several separate modules (such as a communications control module) for ease of understanding. These modules may be provided in this manner for a particular application, such as an existing system being modified to implement the present disclosure, or for other applications, such as a system designed from the beginning with the features of the present invention in mind; however, because these modules are incorporated into the overall operating system or code, these modules may not be recognizable as separate entities. These modules may also be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof.

[0080] How some of the above beneficial features can be incorporated will now be described, by way of example, with reference to FIGS.

[0081] Operation FIG. 5 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a procedure for indicating multiple CG-PUSCH configurations to an eMBB UE in an efficient manner when multiple CG-PUSCHs are active for a URLLC UE 3-3.

[0082] As shown in Figure 5, URLLC UE 3-3 is configured with permission-free settings to transmit uplink data on CG-PUSCH at S510. eMBB UEs 3-1 and 3-2 are participating in eMBB communication (starting at S512).

[0083] If the URLLC UE 3-3 has URLLC data to send (at S514), it begins transmitting that data (possibly with boosted transmit power according to enhanced power control) at the next available opportunity (at S516), as indicated by the periodicity in the grant-free setting. In this example, it is assumed that there are multiple CG-PUSCHs simultaneously active for the URLLC UE 3-3. The base station 5 identifies the multiple active CG-PUSCHs and sends an UL cancellation indication to the affected eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 at S518, informing them that they should stop eMBB transmissions on the active CG-PUSCH resources for URLLC communication.

[0084] It will be appreciated that the gNB may not know in advance when a URLLC UE will need resources, and therefore the initial cancellation indication may occur after the first detection of a permissionless URLLC transmission, but this is still beneficial because it allows the eMBB UE to stop subsequent transmissions. This may be, for example, in periodic deterministic traffic, by informing the eMBB UE to stop subsequent transmissions so that the subsequent URLLC transmission can occur without risk of interference from eMBB communications from other UEs. In this regard, it will be appreciated that the eMBB UE can perform its own permissionless transmissions.

[0085] In a beneficial variant, early permission-free detection may be supported, e.g., providing a pre-defined signal from the UE using a reference signal (e.g., SRS, or a generic demodulation reference signal (DM-RS, etc.) with a permutation of the current / normal scrambling ID configured to provide such an indication. Early warning / notification of permission-free transmission may occur, for example, as soon as data is received, but before data processing begins in the URLLC UE.

[0086] Similarly, a multiplexed eMBB UE may support configuration of UL interference measurement resources corresponding to multiple active configured grants (or resource configuration indexes) for early detection of URLLC transmissions.

[0087] The UL cancellation indication in this example includes an index (e.g., "resource index" / "resource configuration index") with multiple different possible values, each of which maps to a respective combination of multiple CG-PUSCH configurations. The UL cancellation indication including the resource index may be signaled to the eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 via a group-common PDCCH (e.g., in the case of multiple UEs) and / or via a UE-specific DCI (in the case of few or one UE).

[0088] After receiving the UL cancellation indication, the affected eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 identify the multiple configured allowed configurations from the resource index, for example, by referencing a mapping table (an example of which is shown in Table 1), and selectively cancel eMBB communication in the resource areas represented by those configurations. [Table 1]

[0089] As long as there is URLLC data to be transmitted to the URLLC UE 3-3, the transmission of that data continues periodically (at S516-1, S516-2, and S516-3) according to the permission-free setting period.

[0090] FIG. 6 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a procedure for configuring power adjustment for a URLLC UE 3-3 (and / or eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2) when a dynamically granted PUSCH (DG-PUSCH) is used.

[0091] As shown in Figure 6, UE3 (both URLLC and eMBB UEs) is configured with appropriate bandwidth part parameters at S610, including PUSCH configuration parameters, including PUSCH power control parameters, such as the P0-PUSCH-AlphaSet parameter and / or the SRI-PUSCH-PowerControl parameter.

[0092] When the URLLC UE 3-3 has URLLC data to transmit (at S614), it sends a scheduling request to the base station on the PUCCH at S616. The base station 5 then responds by scheduling the required time / frequency resources and indicating them to the URLLC UE 3-3 using a scheduling DCI at S618. The scheduling DCI has an additional field (information element) (e.g., a field in DCI format 0_0 and / or 0_1) to indicate how the URLLC UE 3-3 should adjust its power. After receiving the scheduling DCI, the URLLC UE 3-3 identifies the necessary power adjustment (if any), for example, by consulting a mapping table (possible examples are shown in Tables 2 and 3) and boosting its transmit power accordingly (if necessary) at S620 for the transmission of the URLLC data at S622. [Table 2] [Table 3]

[0093] Alternatively, or in addition, if the URLLC UE 3-3 sends a scheduling request to the base station 5 in S616 and the base station 5 responds by scheduling the required time / frequency resources and indicating them to the URLLC UE 3-3 using a scheduling DCI in S618, the base station 5 may also provide a UL cancellation indication to one or more eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 in S624. In this example, the UL cancellation indication comprises an additional field (information element) to indicate that the affected eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 should adjust the transmit power of their eMBB transmissions. After receiving the UL cancellation indication, in S626 the eMBB UEs 3-1, 3-2 identify the required power adjustment (if any), for example by consulting a mapping table, and reduce the transmit power accordingly (if necessary) before transmitting the URLLC data by the URLLC UE 3-3 in S622. [Table 4] [Table 5]

[0094] Modifications and Alternatives Detailed embodiments have been described above. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, many modifications and alternatives can be made to the above embodiments while still benefiting from the disclosure embodied herein.

[0095] For example, the base station 5 and the UE 3 of the communication network 1 may be configured to support the use of a UE-specific DCI for UL cancellation indication (if such use can provide improved efficiency). Similarly, the base station 5 and the UE 3 of the communication network 1 may be configured to support reuse of non-preempted resources. Specifically, the proportion of resources required for URLLC transmissions is typically relatively small, and the associated PUSCH occupies a relatively narrow bandwidth with a higher power spectral density (PSD). In contrast, eMBB transmissions may require a larger bandwidth due to the higher required data rate. When canceling the transmission of a single eMBB UE 3-1, 3-2 (or perhaps a relatively small number of such UEs), a UE-specific DCI can be beneficially used for the UL cancellation indication. Furthermore, if the required timeline can be met, a UE-specific UL grant for the same transport block can beneficially reuse the non-preempted resources of the canceled UL transmission. Similarly, reuse of non-preempted resources by another PUSCH is also supported.

[0096] Using UE-specific DCI, UE-specific beamforming can also be used to provide UL cancellation indication, which can significantly improve PDCCH reliability for cell-edge UEs. For efficiency reasons, UE3 does not need to simultaneously monitor both group-wide and UE-specific DCI for UL cancellation indication.

[0097] Furthermore, in scenarios where PUSCH may be transmitted repeatedly, the UL cancellation indication can be used to cancel the affected repetition(s) without canceling all repetitions of the entire UL transmission. The canceled repetition(s) can then be retried. Similarly, only SRS within the specifically affected region needs to be canceled (assuming SRS preemption is supported).

[0098] In another possible option variation, the UL cancellation indication can be configured to include a PUCCH resource indicator (e.g., ΔPRI) if necessary. For example, in the case of dynamically scheduled PUCCHs, including the PUCCH resource indicator in the UL cancellation indication allows for fast recovery / relocation of eMBB PUCCHs after cancellation. This advantageously helps to avoid multiple eMBB PDSCH retransmissions and a significant decrease in system efficiency, for example, when the eMBB HARQ-ACK codebook needs to be canceled. Furthermore, since some PUCCHs (e.g., for periodic CSI reporting) may not have as high a priority as other PUCCHs, the PUCCH resource indicator in the UL cancellation indication can be used to override the initial PUCCH configuration for lower priority PUCCHs.

[0099] In another possible option variation, a configurable period is provided in the UL cancellation indication. Specifically, semi-persistent UL transmissions such as PUSCH, PUCCH, and SRS, or periodic UL transmissions (including configured granted PUSCH, PUCCH, and / or SRS) may be canceled by the UL cancellation indication. SRS may be transmitted in non-canceled symbols within the same slot. However, the interval between ULLC transmissions may be relatively short. Therefore, there is no need to stop periodic UL transmissions. Furthermore, it may be impractical or inefficient to send a UL cancellation indication for each semi-persistent transmission instance that may be affected. The UL cancellation indication may apply to time domain resources corresponding to multiple UL cancellation indication monitoring opportunities. Therefore, configuring the applicable period for the UL cancellation indication may be beneficial, as no additional signaling is required to inform the UE to resume or restart interrupted eMBB transmissions.

[0100] For UL transmissions with or without an associated PDCCH, the UE may monitor for a UL cancellation indication at least in the most recent monitoring opportunity ending no later than X symbols before the start of the UL transmission (where X is related to the UL cancellation indication processing time). PDCCH monitoring may be based on the reported UE capabilities for both eMBB and URLLC. The maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) for channel estimation per PDCCH monitoring span may be the same across different spans within a slot. Each span may cover a common search space (CSS) and / or a UE-specific search space (USS). UL cancellation indication monitoring may be included in the PDCCH monitoring capability indication. The number of non-overlapping CCEs and the number of blind decodes for the purpose of UL cancellation indication monitoring may not need to be configured separately. This is because the DCI monitoring interval for UL cancellation indication is aligned with the minislot-based eMBB / URLLC scheduling DCI. Only configured aggregation levels may be supported for UL cancellation indication.

[0101] In the above embodiments, the base station communicates with the UE using 3GPP wireless communication (radio access) technology. However, any other wireless communication technology (i.e., WLAN, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, Bluetooth, etc.) can be used between the base station and the UE in accordance with the above embodiments. The above embodiments are also applicable to "non-mobile" or generally fixed user equipment.

[0102] In the above description, the UE and base station have been described for ease of understanding as having several separate functional components or modules. While these modules may be provided in this manner for a particular application, e.g., an existing system being modified to implement the disclosure, and for other applications, e.g., a system designed from the beginning with the features of the present invention in mind, these modules may not be recognizable as separate entities because they are incorporated into the overall operating system or code.

[0103] In the above embodiment, several software modules have been described. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the software modules may be provided in compiled or uncompiled form, or may be provided to the base station, the mobility management entity, or the UE as a signal via a computer network. The software modules may also be stored on a recording medium. Furthermore, the functionality performed by some or all of this software may be implemented using one or more dedicated hardware circuits. However, the use of software modules is preferred because it facilitates updating the base station or the UE to update their functionality.

[0104] Each controller may comprise any suitable form of processing circuitry, including, for example, but not limited to, one or more hardware-implemented computer processors, microprocessors, central processing units (CPUs), arithmetic logic units (ALUs), input / output (IO) circuitry, internal memory / cache (program and / or data), processing registers, communication buses (e.g., control buses, data buses and / or address buses), direct memory access (DMA) functions, hardware or software implemented counters, pointers and / or timers, and / or the like. Various other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and will not be described in further detail herein.

[0105] The base station may comprise a "distributed" base station having a central unit "CU" and one or more separate distributed units (DUs).

[0106] Although the base stations and UEs have been described as 5G base stations (gNBs) and corresponding UEs, it will be appreciated that the above features may apply to gNBs and UEs of LTE / LTE-Advanced and other communication technologies.

[0107] User equipment (or "UE," "mobile station," "mobile device," or "wireless device") in this disclosure is an entity connected to a network via a wireless interface.

[0108] It should be noted that the present disclosure is not limited to dedicated communication devices, but can be applied to any device having the communication capabilities described in the following paragraphs.

[0109] The terms "user equipment" or "UE" (as the term is used in 3GPP), "mobile station," "mobile device," and "wireless device" are generally intended to be synonymous with each other and include standalone mobile stations such as terminals, mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, cellular IoT devices, IoT devices, machines, etc. It will be understood that the terms "mobile station" and "mobile device" also encompass devices that remain stationary for extended periods of time.

[0110] The UE may be, for example, an item of equipment for production or manufacturing and / or an item of energy-related machinery. The UE may also be, for example, equipment or machinery such as boilers, engines, turbines, solar panels, wind turbines, hydroelectric generators, thermal generators, nuclear generators, batteries, nuclear systems and / or related equipment, heavy electrical machinery, pumps including vacuum pumps, compressors, fans, blowers, petroleum hydraulic equipment, pneumatic equipment, metalworking machinery, manipulators, robots and / or their application systems, tools, molds or dies, rolls, conveying equipment, lifting equipment, material handling equipment, textile machinery, sewing machinery, printing and / or related machinery, paper processing machinery, chemical machinery, mining and / or construction machinery and / or related equipment, machinery and / or implements for agriculture, forestry and / or fishing, safety and / or environmental protection equipment, tractors, precision bearings, chains, gears, power transmission equipment, lubrication equipment, valves, pipe fittings, and / or applications of the aforementioned equipment or machinery, etc.

[0111] A UE may be, for example, an item of transportation equipment such as, for example, a vehicle, an automobile, a motorcycle, a bicycle, a train, a bus, a cart, a rickshaw, a ship or other watercraft, an aircraft, a rocket, a satellite, a drone, a balloon, etc.

[0112] The UE may be, for example, an item of information and communications equipment (eg, information and communications equipment such as electronic computers and related equipment, communications and related equipment, electronic components, etc.).

[0113] The UE may be, for example, a refrigerator, a refrigerator application product, an item of trade and / or service industry equipment, a vending machine, an automated service machine, an office machine or appliance, a consumer electronics and electronic equipment (e.g., audio equipment, video equipment, loudspeakers, radios, televisions, household appliances such as microwave ovens, rice cookers, coffee machines, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, electronic fans or related equipment, cleaners, etc.).

[0114] The UE may be, for example, an electrical application system or device (e.g., an x-ray system, a particle accelerator, a radioisotope device, an acoustic device, an electromagnetic application device, an electronic power application device, etc.).

[0115] The UE may be, for example, an electronic lamp, lighting fixture, measuring instrument, analyzer, tester, or surveying or sensing equipment (e.g., surveying or sensing equipment such as a smoke alarm, human alarm sensor, motion sensor, radio tag, etc.), a clock or watch, laboratory equipment, optical equipment, medical equipment and / or systems, weapons, blades, hand tools, etc.

[0116] The UE may be, for example, a wirelessly equipped personal digital assistant or related equipment (e.g., a wireless card or module designed for attachment or insertion into another electronic device (e.g., a personal computer, electrical measuring instrument)).

[0117] The UE may be a device or part of a system that uses various wired and / or wireless communication technologies to provide the applications, services, and solutions described below with respect to the Internet of Things (IoT).

[0118] Internet of Things devices (IoT devices, or "things") may be equipped with appropriate electronics, software, sensors, network connectivity, etc. This allows them to collect and exchange data with each other and with other communicating devices. IoT devices may consist of automated equipment that follows instructions from software stored in their internal memory. IoT devices may operate without the need for human supervision or interaction. IoT devices may also remain stationary or inactive for long periods of time. IoT devices may be implemented as part of (typically) fixed equipment. IoT devices may also be embedded in non-stationary equipment (e.g., vehicles) or attached to the animals or people they monitor / track.

[0119] It will be understood that IoT technology may be implemented in any communication device that can connect to a communication network to send and receive data, regardless of whether such communication device is controlled by human input or software instructions stored in memory.

[0120] It will be appreciated that IoT devices may also be referred to as machine-type communication (MTC) devices or machine-to-machine (M2M) communication devices. It will be appreciated that a UE may support one or more IoT or MTC applications. Some examples of MTC applications are shown in the following table (Source: 3GPP TS 22.368 V13.1.0, Annex B, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference). This list is not exhaustive and is intended to illustrate some examples of machine-type communication applications. [Table 6]

[0121] Applications, services, and solutions include MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) services, emergency wireless communication systems, PBX (Private Branch eXchange) systems, PHS / digital cordless telecommunications systems, POS (Point of Sale) systems, advertising calling systems, MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service), V2X (Vehicle to Everything) systems, train wireless systems, location-related services, disaster / emergency wireless communication services, community services, video streaming services, femtocell application services, VoLTE (Voice over LTE) services, charging services, wireless on-demand services, roaming services, activity monitoring services, carrier / network selection services, function restriction services, PoC (Proof of Concept) services, personal information management services, and ad hoc networks / DTN (Delay Tolerant Networking) services.

[0122] Furthermore, the above UE categories are merely examples of applications of the technical ideas and exemplary embodiments described in this document. Needless to say, these technical ideas and embodiments are not limited to the above UEs and may be modified in various ways.

[0123] In one example described herein, a method is described in which a user equipment (UE) of a communications network communicates data in an uplink direction and receives an indication from a base station indicating that communication in the uplink direction should be canceled or suspended, said indication including a parameter having a value representing a combination of at least two different resource configurations for uplink communication by other UEs.

[0124] Perform a process to cancel or suspend communication in the uplink direction based on a plurality of different resource configurations for uplink communication by the other UE represented by the parameters provided in the instruction indicating that communication in the uplink direction should be canceled or suspended.

[0125] The indication indicating that communication in the uplink direction needs to be canceled or suspended is a UL cancellation indication, and the indication indicating communication in the uplink direction is provided in at least one of downlink control information (DCI) common to a group and DCI specific to the UE.

[0126] Mapping data is stored for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective combination of at least two different resource configurations, the value of the parameter being one of the plurality of possible index values ​​represented by the mapping data, and the UE identifies each of the resource configurations of the combinations represented by the value of the parameter based on the mapping data and the parameter stored in the UE, and the mapping data represents a lookup table.

[0127] Each of the resource configurations of the combinations represented by the parameter values ​​is a resource configuration of a configured grant physical uplink shared channel (CG-PUSCH), and each of the resource configurations of the combinations represented by the parameter values ​​is a resource configuration of an active CG-PUSCH.

[0128] The UE is an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) UE, and the uplink communication is eMBB communication; the other UE is an ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) UE, and the uplink communication by the other UE is URLLC communication.

[0129] In one example, a method is described in which a user equipment (UE) of a communications network performs the following processes: stores mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter, obtains uplink data to be communicated in an uplink direction, transmits a scheduling request to a base station for scheduling resources to be used for communicating the uplink data, receives from the base station an instruction used to determine an uplink transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data, the instruction including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values ​​represented by the mapping data, identifies a transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data based on the mapping data stored in the UE and the received instruction, and transmits the uplink data using the identified transmit power.

[0130] storing power control parameters of a plurality of power control parameter sets for use in controlling a transmit power used to transmit data; Each transmit power parameter represented by the mapping data corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of power control parameter sets.

[0131] The transmit power parameters represented by the mapping data are less than the power control parameter set in which the power control parameters are stored.

[0132] The mapping data represents transmission power parameters of a subset of power control parameter sets, each power control parameter set forming part of the subset of power control parameter sets corresponding to a higher transmission power than at least most of the power control parameter sets that are not part of the subset.

[0133] The transmission power parameter represented by the mapping data includes a plurality of possible power control increments, the instruction to use to determine the uplink transmission power is received in scheduling downlink control information (DCI), the instruction to use to determine the uplink transmission power is received in downlink control information (DCI) having a DCI format of 0_0 or 0_1, and the UE receives from the base station a parameter having a value representing a combination of at least two different resource settings for which the identified transmission power should be used.

[0134] The UE is an ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) UE, and the uplink data communicated in the uplink direction is URLLC data.

[0135] In one example, a method is described in which a user equipment (UE) of a communications network performs the following operations: stores mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter, communicates uplink data in an uplink direction, receives from a base station an indication indicating that communication in the uplink direction should be canceled or suspended, the indication including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values ​​represented by the mapping data, identifies a transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data based on the mapping data stored in the UE and the received indication, and adjusts the transmit power used for transmitting the uplink data based on the identified transmit power.

[0136] The UE is an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) UE, and the communication in the uplink direction is an eMBB communication.

[0137] Various other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and will not be described in further detail here.

[0138] Various other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and will not be described in further detail here.

[0139] Some or all of the above embodiments may be described as in the following appendix, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. A part or all of the above-described embodiments can be described as, but not limited to, the following supplementary notes. (Appendix 1) A user equipment (UE) of a communication network Communicating data in the uplink direction; receiving an indication from a base station indicating that communications in the uplink direction should be canceled or suspended; the indication includes a parameter having a value representing a combination of at least two different resource configurations for uplink communication by another UE; canceling or suspending communication in an uplink direction based on a plurality of different resource configurations for uplink communication by the other UEs represented by the parameters provided in the indication indicating that communication in an uplink direction should be canceled or suspended; How to perform the action. (Appendix 2) 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication indicating that communication in the uplink direction needs to be canceled or suspended is a UL cancel indication. (Appendix 3) the indication indicating communication in the uplink direction is provided by at least one of group-common downlink control information (DCI) and DCI specific to the UE; 1. The method according to claim 1 or 2. (Appendix 4) storing mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective combination of at least two different resource configurations, the value of the parameter being one of the plurality of possible index values ​​represented by the mapping data; 4. The method of any one of appendices 1 to 3. (Appendix 5) the UE identifies, based on the mapping data stored in the UE and the parameters, each of the resource configurations of the combinations represented by the values ​​of the parameters; The method described in Appendix 4. (Appendix 6) the mapping data represents a lookup table; 6. The method according to claim 4 or 5. (Appendix 7) Each of the resource configurations of the combinations represented by the parameter values ​​is a resource configuration of a configured grant physical uplink shared channel (CG-PUSCH). 7. The method of any one of appendices 1 to 6. (Appendix 8) Each of the resource configurations of the combinations represented by the values ​​of the parameters is an active CG-PUSCH resource configuration. The method described in Appendix 7. (Appendix 9) the UE is an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) UE, and the communication in the uplink direction is an eMBB communication; 9. The method of any one of appendices 1 to 8. (Appendix 10) The other UE is an ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) UE, and the uplink communication by the other UE is URLLC communication. 10. The method of any one of appendices 1 to 9. (Appendix 11) A user equipment (UE) of a communication network storing mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter; Acquire uplink data communicated in the uplink direction; transmitting a scheduling request to a base station to schedule resources used for communicating the uplink data; receiving an indication from a base station for use in determining an uplink transmit power to be used to communicate the uplink data; the instructions include a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values ​​represented by the mapping data; Identifying a transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data based on the mapping data stored in the UE and the received indication; transmitting the uplink data using the identified transmit power; How to perform the action. (Appendix 12) storing power control parameters of a plurality of power control parameter sets for use in controlling a transmit power used to transmit data; each transmit power parameter represented by the mapping data corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of power control parameter sets; The method described in Appendix 11. (Appendix 13) the transmission power parameter represented by the mapping data is less than the power control parameter set in which the power control parameter is stored; 12. The method described in Appendix 12. (Appendix 14) the mapping data represents transmit power parameters of a subset of a power control parameter set; each power control parameter set forming part of a subset of power control parameter sets corresponds to a higher transmission power than at least most of the power control parameter sets that are not part of said subset; The method described in Appendix 13. (Appendix 15) the transmit power parameters represented by the mapping data include a plurality of possible power control increments; The method described in Appendix 11. (Appendix 16) the indication to use for determining the uplink transmit power is received in scheduling downlink control information (DCI). 16. The method of any one of appendices 11 to 15. (Appendix 17) the indication to use for determining the uplink transmit power is received in downlink control information (DCI) having a DCI format of 0_0 or 0_1; 17. The method of any one of appendices 11 to 16. (Appendix 18) the UE receiving from a base station a parameter having a value representing a combination of at least two different resource configurations for which the identified transmit power should be used; 18. The method of any one of appendices 11 to 17. (Appendix 19) the UE is an ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) UE; The uplink data communicated in the uplink direction is URLLC data. 19. The method of any one of appendices 11 to 18. (Appendix 20) A user equipment (UE) of a communication network storing mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter; communicating uplink data in an uplink direction; receiving an indication from a base station indicating that communication in an uplink direction should be canceled or suspended, the indication including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values ​​represented by the mapping data; Identifying a transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data based on the mapping data stored in the UE and the received indication; adjusting a transmit power used to transmit the uplink data based on the identified transmit power; How to perform the action. (Appendix 21) the UE is an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) UE, and the communication in the uplink direction is an eMBB communication; 21. The method described in Appendix 20. (Appendix 22) A base station of a communication network receiving uplink data communicated by a first user equipment (UE) in an uplink direction; receiving an indication from a second UE indicating that the second UE has data to transmit that should take priority over uplink communication by the first UE; sending an indication to the first UE indicating that communication in an uplink direction by the first UE should be canceled or suspended, the indication including parameters having values ​​representing combinations of at least two different resource configurations for uplink communication by the second UE; How to perform the action. (Appendix 23) A base station of a communication network storing mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter; receiving, from a first user equipment (UE), a scheduling request for scheduling resources to be used for communicating uplink data that is to be prioritized over uplink communication by a second UE; transmitting, to the first UE and the second UE, respectively, instructions for use in determining an uplink transmit power to be used for communicating uplink data, the instructions including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values, each of the plurality of possible index values ​​representing a different respective transmit power parameter; receiving uplink data transmitted from at least one of the first UE and the second UE using a transmit power based on a transmit power parameter represented by a parameter index value provided in an instruction transmitted to the UE; How to perform the action. (Appendix 24) A user equipment (UE) of a communications network, comprising: the UE includes a controller and a transceiver; The controller controlling the transceiver to communicate data in an uplink direction; controlling the transceiver to receive from a base station an indication indicating that communication in an uplink direction should be canceled or suspended, the indication including a parameter having a value representing a combination of at least two different resource configurations for uplink communication by other UEs; A UE that controls the transceiver to cancel or suspend communication in the uplink direction based on a plurality of different resource configurations for uplink communication by other UEs, represented by parameters provided in the instruction to indicate that communication in the uplink direction should be canceled or suspended. (Appendix 25) A user equipment (UE) for a communications network, comprising: the UE includes a controller and a transceiver; The controller storing mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter; Acquire uplink data communicated in the uplink direction; controlling the transceiver to transmit a scheduling request to a base station for a scheduling resource to be used for communicating uplink data; controlling a transceiver to receive from a base station instructions for use in determining an uplink transmit power to be used to communicate uplink data, the instructions including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values ​​represented by the mapping data; Identifying a transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data based on the mapping data stored in the UE and the received indication; The UE controls a transceiver to transmit the uplink data using the identified transmit power. (Appendix 26) A user equipment (UE) of a communications network, comprising: the UE includes a controller and a transceiver; The controller storing mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter; controlling the transceiver to communicate uplink data in an uplink direction; controlling a transceiver to receive from a base station an indication that communication in an uplink direction should be canceled or suspended, said indication including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values ​​represented by said mapping data; Identifying a transmit power to be used for communicating the uplink data based on the mapping data stored in the UE and the received indication; The UE adjusts a transmit power used to transmit the uplink data based on the identified transmit power. (Appendix 27) 1. A base station of a communications network, comprising: the base station having a controller and a transceiver; The controller controlling a transceiver to receive uplink data communicated in an uplink direction by a first user equipment (UE); controlling the transceiver to receive an indication from a second UE indicating that the second UE has data to transmit that should take priority over uplink communication by the first UE; and controlling the transceiver to transmit to the first UE an instruction indicating that communication by the first UE in an uplink direction needs to be canceled or suspended, the instruction including a parameter having a value representing a combination of at least two different resource configurations for uplink communication by the second UE. (Appendix 28) 1. A base station of a communications network, comprising: the base station having a controller and a transceiver; The controller storing mapping data for mapping each of a plurality of possible index values ​​to a different respective transmit power parameter; controlling the transceiver to receive, from a first user equipment (UE), a scheduling request for scheduling resources to be used for communicating uplink data that requires priority over uplink communication by a second UE; controlling the transceiver to send, to the first UE and the second UE, respectively, instructions for use in determining an uplink transmit power to be used for communicating uplink data, the instructions including a parameter having one of a plurality of possible index values, each of the plurality of possible index values ​​representing a different respective transmit power parameter; and controlling the transceiver to receive uplink data transmitted from at least one of the first UE and the second UE using a transmit power based on a transmit power parameter represented by a parameter index value provided in an instruction sent to the UE.

[0140] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that numerous variations and / or modifications may be made to the present disclosure as illustrated in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

[0141] This application is based on and claims the benefit of priority to UK Patent Application No. 1914396.5 filed on October 4, 2019, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. [Explanation of symbols]

[0142] 1. Telecommunications Networks 3. User Equipment 5 base station 7 Core Network 31 Transceiver Circuit 33 Antenna 35 User Interface 37 Controller 39 Memory 41 Operating Systems 43 Communication Control Module 45 Management Module 47 Power Management Module 51 Transceiver circuit 53 Antenna 55 Core Network Interface 57 Controller 59 Memory 61 Operating Systems 63 Communication Control Module 65 URLLC Management Module 67 eMBB Management Module 69 mMTC Management Module 71 UE Configuration Module 73 Scheduling Module 75 Multiplexing / Prioritization Module

Claims

1. means for storing mapping data between each of a plurality of P0-PUSCH-AlphaSets and each of at most four types of index values; means for receiving, from a base station, downlink control information (DCI), the DCI including an indicator field of at most two bits for determining a transmission power parameter set for transmitting uplink data, the indicator field indicating one of the at most four kinds of index values; means for identifying one P0-PUSCH-AlphaSet from among the plurality of P0-PUSCH-AlphaSets based on the mapping data and the indicator field; means for transmitting the uplink data using one transmission power included in the one P0-PUSCH-AlphaSet; Equipped with The plurality of P0-PUSCH-AlphaSets may be of up to 30 types.

2. means for transmitting downlink control information (DCI) to a user equipment (UE), the DCI including an indicator field of at most 2 bits for determining a P0-PUSCH-AlphaSet for the UE to transmit uplink data, the indicator field indicating one of at most four different index values; means for receiving, from the UE, the uplink data transmitted using one transmission power included in one P0-PUSCH-AlphaSet of the plurality of P0-PUSCH-AlphaSets that is mapped to one of the at most four index values ​​in mapping data between each of the plurality of P0-PUSCH-AlphaSets and each of the at most four index values; Equipped with The plurality of P0-PUSCH-AlphaSets are up to 30 types.

3. storing mapping data between each of a plurality of P0-PUSCH-AlphaSets and each of at most four types of index values; receiving, from a base station, downlink control information (DCI) including an indicator field of at most 2 bits for determining a P0-PUSCH-AlphaSet for transmitting uplink data, the indicator field indicating one of the at most four types of index values; identifying one P0-PUSCH-AlphaSet from the plurality of P0-PUSCH-AlphaSets based on the mapping data and the indicator field; Transmitting the uplink data using one transmission power included in the one P0-PUSCH-AlphaSet; Including, The method in a user equipment (UE), wherein the plurality of P0-PUSCH-AlphaSets are up to 30 types.

4. transmitting downlink control information (DCI) to a user equipment (UE), the DCI including an indicator field of at most two bits for determining a P0-PUSCH-AlphaSet for the UE to transmit uplink data, the indicator field indicating one of at most four index values; receiving, from the UE, the uplink data transmitted using one transmission power included in one P0-PUSCH-AlphaSet of the plurality of P0-PUSCH-AlphaSets that is mapped to the one of the at most four index values ​​in mapping data between each of the plurality of P0-PUSCH-AlphaSets and each of the at most four index values; Including, The method in a base station, wherein the plurality of P0-PUSCH-AlphaSets are up to 30 types.

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