Frequency Domain Resource Allocation for Multi-Source Transmission

Abstract

Embodiments include methods for receiving physical data channel transmissions from a wireless network by a user equipment (UE). Such methods include: receiving configuration information from a wireless network, the configuration information including: a first indication of one or more frequency domain resource allocations for one or more corresponding physical data channel transmissions by one or more corresponding sources configured by the wireless network, and one or more second indications of other characteristics of the physical data channel transmissions. Such methods also include: determining, based on the second indication, the number of frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication. Such methods also include: receiving a determined number of physical data channel transmissions from the wireless network based on the corresponding indicated frequency domain resource allocations. Other embodiments include supplementary methods performed by a wireless network and a UE and a wireless network configured to perform such methods.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication networks, and particularly to performance improvement of multi-source transmission in wireless communication networks. Background Art

[0002] Generally, all terms used herein should be interpreted according to their common meaning in the relevant technical field, unless different meanings are clearly given and / or different meanings are implied from the context of its use. Unless clearly stated, all references to one / the element, device, part, device, step, etc. should be publicly interpreted as referring to at least one instance of an element, device, part, device, step, etc. The steps of any method and / or process disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is clearly described as after or before another step and / or it is implied that a step must be after or before another step. Where appropriate, any feature of any embodiment disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment. Similarly, any advantage of any embodiment may be applicable to any other embodiment, and vice versa. Other purposes, features and advantages of the attached embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

[0003] Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a general term for the so-called fourth generation (4G) radio access technologies developed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and initially standardized in Releases 8 and 9, also known as Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN). LTE targets various licensed frequency bands and is accompanied by improvements to non-radio aspects generally referred to as System Architecture Evolution (SAE), including the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. LTE continues to evolve through subsequent releases, which are developed according to the standards development process of 3GPP and its working groups (WGs), including the Radio Access Network (RAN) WG and sub-working groups (e.g., RAN1, RAN2, etc.).

[0004] LTE Release 10 (Rel-10) supports bandwidths greater than 20 MHz. An important requirement of Rel-10 is to ensure backward compatibility with LTE Release-8. Therefore, broadband LTE Rel-10 carriers (e.g., wider than 20 MHz) should appear as multiple carriers for LTE Rel-8 ("legacy") terminals. Each such carrier may be referred to as a component carrier (CC). In order to effectively use the wide carriers also for legacy terminals, legacy terminals may be scheduled in all parts of the broadband LTE Rel-10 carrier. An exemplary way to achieve this is through carrier aggregation (CA), whereby a Rel-10 terminal may receive multiple CCs, each CC preferably having the same structure as a Rel-8 carrier. One of the enhancements of LTE Rel-11 is the enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH), which aims to increase capacity and improve spatial multiplexing of control channel resources, improve inter-cellular interference coordination (ICIC), and support antenna beamforming and / or transmit diversity for control channels. Furthermore, LTE Rel-12 introduces Dual Connectivity (DC), whereby a UE can be simultaneously connected to two network nodes, thereby improving connection robustness and / or capacity.

[0005] Figure 1 An overall exemplary architecture of a network including LTE and SAE is shown. E-UTRAN 100 includes one or more evolved Node Bs (eNBs), such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115, and one or more user equipments (UEs), such as UE 120. As used in 3GPP standards, "user equipment" or "UE" refers to any wireless communication device (e.g., a smartphone or computing device) capable of communicating with network equipment compliant with 3GPP standards, including E-UTRAN and UTRAN and / or GERAN, as third generation ("3G") and second generation ("2G") 3GPP radio access networks are well known.

[0006] According to 3GPP regulations, E-UTRAN 100 is responsible for all radio-related functions in the network, including radio bearer control, radio admission control, radio mobility control, scheduling, and dynamic resource allocation for UEs on uplink and downlink, as well as security of communication with UEs. These functions reside in eNBs, such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115. The eNBs in E-UTRAN communicate with each other via the X1 interface, such as Figure 1 The eNB is also responsible for the E-UTRAN interface to the EPC 130, in particular to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) and the Serving Gateway (SGW) (in Figure 1134 and 138). In general, the MME / S-GW handles the overall control of the UE and the data flow between the UE and the rest of the EPC. More specifically, the MME handles the signaling (e.g., control plane) protocols between the UE and the EPC, which are referred to as non-access stratum (NAS) protocols. The S-GW handles all Internet Protocol (IP) packets (e.g., data or user plane) between the UE and the EPC and acts as a local mobility anchor for data bearers as the UE moves between eNBs (e.g., eNBs 105, 110, and 115).

[0007] The EPC 130 may also include a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 131 that manages user and subscriber related information. The HSS 131 may also provide support functions in mobility management, call and session establishment, user authentication, and access authorization. The functions of the HSS 131 may be related to the functions of a traditional Home Location Register (HLR) and an Authentication Center (AuC) function or operation.

[0008] In some embodiments, HSS 131 may communicate with a user data repository (UDR) via a Ud interface. Figure 1 The HSS 131 may communicate with the EPC-UDR 135 (labeled in FIG. 1 ). The EPC-UDR 135 may store the user credentials after they have been encrypted by the AuC algorithm. These algorithms are not standardized (i.e., vendor-specific), making it impossible for any vendor other than the HSS 131 to access the encrypted credentials stored in the EPC-UDR 135.

[0009] Figure 2A A high-level block diagram of an exemplary LTE architecture in terms of its constituent entities (UE, E-UTRAN and EPC) and the high-level functional division into the Access Stratum (AS) and the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) is shown.

[0010] Figure 2A Also shown are two specific interface points, namely Uu (UE / E-UTRAN radio interface) and S1 (E-UTRAN / EPC interface), each of which uses a specific set of protocols, namely the radio protocol and the S1 protocol. Figure 2A , but each protocol set can be further subdivided into user plane and control plane protocol functions. The user plane and the control plane are also called U-plane and C-plane, respectively. On the Uu interface, the U-plane carries user information (such as data packets), while the C-plane carries control information between the UE and the E-UTRAN.

[0011] Figure 2BA block diagram of an exemplary C-plane protocol stack between a UE, an eNB, and an MME is illustrated. The exemplary protocol stack includes physical (PHY), medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), and radio resource control (RRC) layers between the UE and the eNB. The PHY layer is concerned with how and what characteristics are used to transmit data through transport channels on the LTE radio interface. The MAC layer provides data transmission services on logical channels, maps logical channels to PHY transport channels, and reallocates PHY resources to support these services. The RLC layer provides error detection and / or correction, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly, and reorders data transmitted to or from upper layers. The PHY, MAC, and RLC layers perform the same functions for the U-plane and the C-plane. The PDCP layer provides encryption / decryption and integrity protection for the U-plane and the C-plane, as well as other functions for the U-plane, such as header compression. The exemplary protocol stack also includes non-access stratum (NAS) signaling between the UE and the MME.

[0012] Figure 2C A block diagram of an exemplary LTE radio interface protocol architecture is shown from the perspective of the PHY layer. The interface between the layers is provided by a service access point (SAP), such as Figure 2C As shown by the ellipse in . The PHY layer interfaces with the MAC and RRC protocol layers described above. PHY, MAC, and RRC are also referred to as Layers 1-3, respectively, in the figure. The MAC provides different logical channels to the RLC protocol layer (also described above), characterized by the type of information being transmitted, while the PHY provides a transport channel to the MAC, characterized by how the information is transmitted over the radio interface. In providing such transport services, the PHY performs various functions, including error detection and correction; rate matching and mapping of coded transport channels to physical channels; power weighting, modulation, and demodulation of physical channels; transmit diversity; and beamforming multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna processing. The PHY layer also receives control information (e.g., commands) from the RRC and provides various information to the RRC, such as radio measurements.

[0013] The RRC layer controls the communication between the UE and the eNB at the radio interface, as well as the mobility of the UE between cells in the E-UTRAN. After the UE is powered on, it will be in the RRC_IDLE state until an RRC connection is established with the network, at which time the UE will transition to the RRC_CONNECTED state (for example, where data transfer can occur). The UE returns to RRC_IDLE after the connection with the network is released. In the RRC_IDLE state, the UE's radio is active in the discontinuous reception (DRX) schedule configured by the upper layers. During the DRX active period (also known as the "on duration"), the RRC_IDLE UE receives system information (SI) broadcast by the serving cell, performs measurements on neighboring cells to support cell reselection, and monitors the paging channel on the PDCCH for paging from the EPC via the eNB. The RRC_IDLE UE is known in the EPC and has an assigned IP address, but is not known to the serving eNB (for example, there is no stored context).

[0014] In general, a physical channel corresponds to a set of resource elements that carry information from higher layers. The downlink (i.e., eNB to UE) physical channels provided by LTE PHY include the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Relay Physical Downlink Control Channel (R-PDCCH), Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), and Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH). In addition, the LTE PHY downlink includes various reference signals, synchronization signals, and discovery signals.

[0015] PBCH carries basic system information required by the UE to access the network. PDSCH is the primary physical channel used for unicast DL data transmission, and is also used for the transmission of RAR (random access response), certain system information blocks, and paging information. PHICH carries HARQ feedback (e.g., ACK / NAK) for UL transmissions of the UE. Similarly, PDCCH carries DL scheduling assignments (e.g., for PDSCH), UL resource grants (e.g., for PUSCH), channel quality feedback for UL channels (e.g., CSI), and other control information.

[0016] The uplink (i.e., UE to eNB) physical channels provided by LTE PHY include the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), and the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH). In addition, the LTE PHY uplink includes various reference signals, including: a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS), which is sent to help the eNB receive the associated PUCCH or PUSCH; and a sounding reference signal (SRS) that is not associated with any uplink channel.

[0017] PRACH is used for random access preamble transmission. PUSCH is the counterpart of PDSCH and is mainly used for unicast UL data transmission. Similar to PDCCH, PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, CSI for DL ​​channels, HARQ feedback for eNB DL transmission, and other control information.

[0018] The multiple access scheme of LTE PHY is based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with Cyclic Prefix (CP) in the downlink and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) with Cyclic Prefix in the uplink. To support transmission in paired and unpaired spectrum, LTE PHY supports Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) (including full-duplex and half-duplex operation) and Time Division Duplex (TDD). Figure 3A An exemplary radio frame structure ("Type 1") for LTE FDD downlink (DL) operation is shown. The DL radio frame has a fixed duration of 10 ms and consists of 20 slots, labeled 0 to 19, each of which has a fixed duration of 0.5 ms. A 1 ms subframe consists of two consecutive slots, where subframe i consists of slots 2i and 2i+1. Each exemplary FDD DL slot consists of N DL symb OFDM symbols, each symbol consists of N sc OFDM subcarriers. For a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 15kHz, N DL symb Example values ​​of N may be 7 (with normal CP) or 6 (with extended length CP). sc The value of is configurable based on the available channel bandwidth. Since those skilled in the art are familiar with the principle of OFDM, it will not be described in detail in this specification.

[0019] like Figure 3AAs shown in Figure 1, the combination of a particular subcarrier in a particular symbol is called a resource element (RE). Each RE is used to transmit a specific number of bits, which depends on the type of modulation and / or bit mapping constellation used for that RE. For example, some REs may carry two bits using QPSK modulation, while other REs may carry four or six bits using 16-QAM or 64-QAM, respectively. The radio resources of the LTE PHY are also defined in terms of physical resource blocks (PRBs). PRBs are allocated in one time slot (i.e., N DL symb symbol) spans N RB sc subcarrier, where N RB sc Typically 12 (with 15-kHz subcarrier bandwidth) or 24 (7.5-kHz bandwidth). DL symb symbols) spanning the same N RB sc The PRBs of a subcarrier are called PRB pairs. Therefore, the resources available in a subframe of LTE PHY DL include N DL RB PRB pairs, each pair consists of 2N DL symb ·N RB sc RE. For normal CP and 15-KHz SCS, a PRB pair contains 168 REs.

[0020] An example characteristic of PRBs is that PRBs are numbered consecutively (e.g., PRB i and PRB i+1 ) consists of a contiguous block of subcarriers. For example, for a normal CP and a 15-KHz subcarrier bandwidth, PRB0 includes subcarriers 0 to 11, while PRB1 includes subcarriers 12 to 23. LTE PHY resources can also be defined in terms of virtual resource blocks (VRBs), which are the same size as PRBs but can be localized or distributed. Localized VRBs can be directly mapped to PRBs, such that Corresponding to PRBn PRB =n VRB On the other hand, as described in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 36.213 or known to those of ordinary skill in the art, distributed VRBs can be mapped to non-contiguous PRBs according to various rules. However, the term "PRB" will be used in this disclosure to refer to physical and virtual resource blocks. In addition, unless otherwise specified, the term "PRB" will be used hereafter to refer to a resource block of a subframe duration, that is, a PRB pair.

[0021] LTE PHY resources can also be defined in terms of resource block groups (RBGs). Generally speaking, an RBG includes multiple consecutive RBs, where the number depends on the system bandwidth N. DL RB For example, the size of an RBG can range from a single RB (for N DL RB Up to 10 RBs) to 4 RBs (for N DL RB ≥64 RBs).

[0022] Figure 3B Shown with Figure 3A The exemplary LTE FDD uplink (UL) radio frame is configured in a similar manner to the exemplary FDD DL radio frame shown in FIG. Using terminology consistent with the above DL description, each UL time slot consists of N UL symb OFDM symbols, each symbol consists of N sc OFDM subcarriers.

[0023] As mentioned above, LTE PHY maps various DL and UL physical channels to Figure 3A and 3B . For example, the PHICH carries HARQ feedback (e.g., ACK / NAK) for UL transmissions performed by the UE. Similarly, the PDCCH carries scheduling assignments for UL channels, channel quality feedback (e.g., CSI), and other control information. Likewise, the PUCCH carries uplink control information, such as scheduling requests, CSI for downlink channels, HARQ feedback for eNB DL transmissions, and other control information. Both the PDCCH and the PUCCH may be sent on an aggregation of one or more consecutive control channel elements (CCEs), and the CCEs are mapped to physical resources based on resource element groups (REGs), each of which consists of multiple REs. For example, a CCE may include nine (9) REGs, each of which may include four (4) REs.

[0024] Figure 4 An exemplary manner in which CCEs and REGs may be mapped to physical resources, such as PRBs, is illustrated. Figure 4 As shown, the REG containing the CCE of the PDCCH can be mapped to the first three symbols of the subframe, and the remaining symbols can be used for other physical channels, such as the PDSCH carrying user data. Figure 4 In the exemplary arrangement of , each REG includes four REs, which are represented by small dashed rectangles. Figure 4Two CCEs are shown in FIG, but the number of CCEs may vary depending on the required PDCCH capacity, which may be based on the number of users, measurement volume and / or control signaling, etc. On the uplink, the PUCCH may be configured similarly.

[0025] In LTE, DL transmission is dynamically scheduled, that is, in each subframe, the base station sends control information in the current downlink subframe, which indicates the terminal to which the data is sent and on which resource block the data is sent. This control signaling is usually sent in the first n OFDM symbols of each subframe, and the number n (=1, 2, 3 or 4) is called the control format indicator (CFI), which is indicated by the PCFICH sent in the first symbol of the control domain.

[0026] While LTE was primarily designed for user-to-user communications, 5G (also known as “NR”) cellular networks are envisioned to support high single-user data rates (e.g., 1 Gb / s) and massive machine-to-machine communications involving short burst transmissions from many different devices sharing a frequency bandwidth. The 5G radio standard (also known as “new radio” or “NR”) currently targets a wide range of data services, including eMBB (enhanced mobile broadband), URLLC (ultra-reliable low latency communications), and machine-type communications (MTC). These services can have different requirements and goals. For example, URLLC is designed to provide data services with extremely stringent error and latency requirements, such as down to 10 -5 or lower error probability and end-to-end latency of 1ms or less. For eMBB, the requirements for latency and error probability may be less stringent, while the required supported peak rate and / or spectral efficiency may be higher. In contrast, URLLC requires low latency and high reliability, but less stringent requirements for data rate.

[0027] Similar to LTE, NR uses CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) in the downlink, and both CP-OFDM and DFT-spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in the uplink. In the time domain, NR downlink and uplink physical resources are organized into subframes of equal size. Each subframe is 1ms. The subframe is further divided into multiple equal-length time slots, each of which includes multiple OFDM-based symbols. NR also shares various other features of LTE discussed above.

[0028] Support for multi-source transmission of PDSCH to UEs has been discussed in 3GPP NR Release 16. In this context, the term "source" can refer to a beam, a panel, a transmit / receive point (TRP), etc. One type of multi-source transmission is "non-coherent joint transmission" (or NCJT), which refers to MIMO data transmission in which different layers (e.g., different codewords) are sent from different sources (e.g., TRPs).

[0029] For NC-JT transmission, frequency domain resources must be allocated for transmissions from each source (e.g., TRP). Current solutions for frequency domain resource allocation are limited to the specific case where each data codeword is sent from a single TRP (i.e., one-to-one TRP / codeword mapping). In addition, the specific signaling used in LTE for such frequency domain allocation is not available in NR. Therefore, a more flexible technology is needed to support frequency domain resource allocation for multiple TRP transmissions (e.g., PDSCH) in NR. Summary of the invention

[0030] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide certain improvements to communications between a user equipment (UE) and a network node in a wireless communication network, for example by facilitating solutions for overcoming the exemplary problems described above.

[0031] Some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure include methods and / or processes for receiving physical data channel transmissions from a wireless network. The exemplary methods may be performed by a user equipment (UE, such as a wireless device, IoT device, modem, etc. or a component thereof) communicating with one or more network nodes (such as a base station, gNB, en-gNB, etc. or a component thereof) in a wireless network (such as an NG-RAN).

[0032] In some embodiments, the exemplary method may include receiving a high-level control message from the wireless network including one or more other features of the physical data channel transmission. For example, the high-level control message may be an RRC message. According to various embodiments, various other features may be included. In some embodiments, the control message may include multiple traffic control indicator (TCI) states. For example, each TCI state may include one or more pairs of source reference signal (RS) quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships, as explained in more detail herein.

[0033] The exemplary method may also include receiving configuration information from the wireless network. The configuration information may include a first indication of one or more frequency domain resource allocations for one or more corresponding physical data channel transmissions by one or more corresponding sources configured by the wireless network. The configuration information may also include one or more second indications of other characteristics of the physical data channel transmissions.

[0034] In some embodiments, the second indication may identify (eg, point to) a specific configuration and / or option received in the higher-layer control message. Even so, other features identified by the second indication may be the same or different from other features identified in the control message.

[0035] In various embodiments, the configuration information may be received via a downlink message having one or more of the following characteristics: a single message; received via a single physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and received via downlink control information (DCI) scheduling grant.

[0036] In some embodiments, wherein the first indication and the second indication are received in a single DCI message, the second indication may be included in a TCI state field of the DCI message, wherein the TCI state field identifies one or more TCI states. In such embodiments, the frequency domain resource allocations may be non-overlapping, and each non-overlapping frequency domain resource allocation may be associated with a corresponding TCI state indicated by the second indication.

[0037] In addition, in some of these embodiments, each TCI state indicated by the second indication includes one or more source RS pairs, each source RS pair having a corresponding QCL relationship pair with an antenna port for a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS). In some of these embodiments, the corresponding source configured by the wireless network corresponds to one of the following: the corresponding TCI state indicated by the second indication; or the corresponding QCL relationship pair included in the TCI state indicated by the second indication.

[0038] In some of these embodiments, the configuration information further includes a third indication of a plurality of the antenna ports for DM-RS, wherein the indicated plurality of antenna ports are associated with all frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication.

[0039] In some of these embodiments, the one or more TCI states indicated by the second indication may correspond to a code division multiplexing (CDM) group associated with each of the physical data channel transmissions. In such embodiments, each physical data channel transmission may be received in association with a DMRS (e.g., as described below) having an antenna port with a QCL relationship included in the corresponding TCI state.

[0040] In some embodiments, wherein the higher layer control message includes a plurality of TCI states, the second indication may include an indication of one or more of the TCI states included in the higher layer control message.

[0041] The exemplary method may also include: determining, based on the second indication, the number of frequency domain resource allocations identified by the first indication. In some embodiments, the determination is not based on the first indication. In other words, the determination of the number of frequency domain resource allocations may be based on the second indication and, in some embodiments, based on configuration information received in the higher layer control message.

[0042] In some embodiments, the exemplary method may further include: determining one or more frequency domain allocations identified by the first indication based on the first indication and the determined quantity. The exemplary method may further include: receiving a determined number of physical data channel transmissions from the wireless network based on the corresponding indicated frequency domain resource allocations. In an embodiment, the UE may also receive a determined number of physical data channel transmissions based on the determined resource blocks. In some embodiments, wherein multiple physical data channel transmissions are received, each transmission may carry a different redundant version (RV) of a single data block. This diversity arrangement can facilitate improved reliability, as discussed in more detail below.

[0043] Other exemplary embodiments include methods (e.g., processes) for performing physical data channel transmissions to a user equipment (UE). The exemplary methods may be performed by a wireless network (e.g., an NG-RAN) including one or more nodes (e.g., base stations, gNBs, en-gNBs, TRPs, etc., or components thereof) communicating with the UE (e.g., a wireless device, an IoT device, a modem, etc., or components thereof).

[0044] In some embodiments, the exemplary method may include: sending a high-layer control message including one or more other features of the physical data channel transmission to the UE. For example, the high-layer control message may be an RRC message. According to various embodiments, various other features may be included.

[0045] In some embodiments, the control message may include multiple traffic control indicator (TCI) states. For example, each TCI state may include one or more pairs of source RS QCL relationships, as described above.

[0046] The exemplary method may also include: sending configuration information to the UE. The configuration information may include a first indication of one or more frequency domain resource allocations of one or more corresponding sources configured by the wireless network for one or more corresponding physical data channel transmissions. The configuration information may also include one or more second indications of other characteristics of the physical data channel transmissions.

[0047] In addition, the number of frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication may be determined based on the one or more second indications. In some embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication may be determined based on the one or more second indications (and in some embodiments, based on the configuration information received in the higher layer control message) without reference to the first indication. In other words, in such an embodiment, the number of frequency domain resource allocations may be determined independently of the first indication.

[0048] In some embodiments, the second indication may identify (eg, point to) a specific configuration and / or option received in the higher layer control message. Even so, other features identified by the second indication may be the same or different from other features identified in the higher layer control message.

[0049] In various embodiments, the configuration information may be sent via a downlink message having one or more of the following characteristics: a single message; received via a single physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and received via downlink control information (DCI) scheduling grant.

[0050] In some embodiments, wherein the first indication and the second indication are sent in a single DCI message, the second indication may be included in a TCI state field of the DCI message, wherein the TCI state field identifies one or more TCI states. In such embodiments, the frequency domain resource allocations may be non-overlapping, and each non-overlapping frequency domain resource allocation may be associated with a corresponding TCI state indicated by the second indication.

[0051] In addition, in some of these embodiments, each TCI state indicated by the second indication includes one or more source reference signal RS pairs, each source RS pair having a corresponding quasi-co-located QCL relationship pair with an antenna port for a demodulation reference signal DM-RS. In some of these embodiments, the corresponding source configured by the wireless network corresponds to one of the following: the corresponding TCI state indicated by the second indication; or the corresponding QCL relationship pair included in the TCI state indicated by the second indication.

[0052] In some of these embodiments, the configuration information further includes a third indication of a plurality of antenna ports for DM-RS, wherein the indicated plurality of antenna ports are associated with all frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication.

[0053] In some of these embodiments, the one or more TCI states indicated by the second indication may correspond to a code division multiplexing (CDM) group associated with each of the physical data channel transmissions. In such embodiments, each physical data channel transmission may be transmitted in association with a DMRS (e.g., as described below) having an antenna port with a QCL relationship included in the corresponding TCI state.

[0054] In some embodiments, wherein the higher layer control message includes a plurality of TCI states, the second indication may include an indication of one or more of the TCI states included in the higher layer control message. In this manner, for example, the wireless network may use the DCI including the second indication to dynamically select a TCI state previously configured via RRC.

[0055] In some embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication is based on one or more of: the number of TCI states indicated by the second indication; and the number of QCL relationship pairs included in the TCI state indicated by the second indication. For example, each TCI state or each QCL pair may correspond to a transmission from a different source.

[0056] The exemplary method may also include: sending the physical data channel transmission to the UE based on the corresponding indicated frequency domain resource allocation and based on the indicated other characteristics (e.g., as indicated by the second indication). In some embodiments, where multiple physical data channel transmissions are sent, each transmission may carry a different redundancy version (RV) of a single data block. Such a diversity arrangement can facilitate improved reliability, as discussed in more detail above.

[0057] Other exemplary embodiments include a user equipment (UE, such as a wireless device, an IoT device, or a component thereof, such as a modem) and a wireless network including one or more nodes (such as a base station, eNB, gNB, CU / DU, TRP, etc. or a component thereof) configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods described herein. Other exemplary embodiments include a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit, configure such a UE or wireless network to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods described herein.

[0058] These and other objects, features and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description in light of the accompanying drawings which are briefly described below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0059] Figure 1is a high-level block diagram of an exemplary architecture of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) and Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network standardized by 3GPP;

[0060] Figure 2A is a high-level block diagram of an exemplary E-UTRAN architecture in terms of its constituent components, protocols and interfaces;

[0061] Figure 2B is a block diagram of exemplary protocol layers of the control plane portion of the radio (Uu) interface between a user equipment (UE) and an E-UTRAN;

[0062] Figure 2C is a block diagram of an exemplary LTE radio interface protocol architecture from the perspective of the PHY layer;

[0063] Figure 3A and 3B are block diagrams of exemplary downlink and uplink LTE radio frame structures, respectively, for frequency division duplex (FDD) operation;

[0064] Figure 4 An exemplary manner in which CCEs and REGs may be mapped to physical resources in LTE is shown;

[0065] Figure 5 An exemplary time-frequency resource grid for an NR time slot is shown;

[0066] Figure 6A-6B Various exemplary NR time slot configurations are shown;

[0067] Figure 7 The diagram shows a high-level view of the 5G network architecture;

[0068] Figure 8 includes Figures 8A-8D , Figures 8A-8D Four exemplary mappings of front-end loaded demodulation reference signals (DM-RS) are shown;

[0069] Figure 9 includes Fig. 9A -C, shows three exemplary transmission configurations according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, where PDSCH is transmitted to the UE from two or more transmission sources (e.g., TRPs);

[0070] Figure 10 includes Fig. 10A -B, shows two exemplary non-overlapping frequency domain resource allocation techniques for LTE;

[0071] Fig.11 A flowchart showing an exemplary method (e.g., process) for a user equipment (UE, such as a wireless device, an IoT device, etc.) according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0072] Fig.12 A flowchart of an exemplary method (e.g., process) for a wireless network including one or more network nodes (e.g., base station, gNB, eNB, en-gNB, TRP, etc.) according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0073] Fig.13 is a block diagram of an exemplary wireless device or UE according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0074] Fig.14 is a block diagram of an exemplary network node according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0075] Fig.15 is a block diagram of an exemplary network configured to provide over-the-top (OTT) data services between a host computer and a UE according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0076] Some embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, other embodiments are included within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, and the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as being limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. In addition, various terms discussed below will be used throughout the application.

[0077] The term "network node" used herein may be any kind of network node included in a radio network, and the network node may further include a base station (BS), a radio base station, a base transceiver station (BTS), a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), a gNodeB (gNB), an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB), a NodeB, a multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node (e.g., an MSR BS), a multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), a relay node, a donor node controlling a relay, a radio access point (AP), a transmission point, a transmission node, a remote radio unit (RRU), a remote radio head (RRH), a core network node (e.g., a mobile management entity (MME), a self-organizing network (SON) node, a coordination node, a positioning node, an MDT node, etc.), an external node (e.g., a third-party node, a node outside the current network), a node in a distributed antenna system (DAS), a spectrum access system (SAS) node, an element management system (EMS), etc. The network node may also include a test device. As used herein, the term "radio node" may also be used to refer to a wireless device (WD), such as a wireless device (WD) or a radio network node.

[0078] The term "radio network node" may refer to any type of network node, which may include any type of base station, radio base station, base transceiver station, base station controller, network controller, RNC, evolved Node B (eNB), Node B, gNB, multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), relay node, access point, radio access point, remote radio unit (RRU), remote radio head (RRH), integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, etc.

[0079] In some embodiments, a TRP may be associated with a network node or a radio network node. In some embodiments, a multi-TRP scenario may include more than one TRP associated with one or more network nodes.

[0080] Unless otherwise specified, the terms "wireless device" (or "WD" for short) and "user equipment" (or "UE" for short) are used interchangeably. A WD may be any type of wireless device capable of communicating with a network node or another WD via radio signals, such as a wireless device (WD). A WD may also be a radio communication device, a target device, a device-to-device (D2D) WD, a machine-type WD or a WD capable of machine-to-machine communication (M2M), a low-cost and / or low-complexity WD, a sensor equipped with a WD, a tablet, a mobile terminal, a smartphone, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted device (LME), a USB dongle, a customer premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a narrowband IoT (NB-IOT) device, an aerial device (e.g., a drone), a ProSe UE, a V2V UE, a V2X UE, etc.

[0081] Unless otherwise stated, the functions performed by a network node or UE described herein may be distributed across multiple network nodes and / or UEs. In other words, it is contemplated that the functions of the network nodes and UEs described herein are not limited to the performance of a single physical device and may in fact be distributed across multiple physical devices.

[0082] Unless otherwise specified, the term "time resource" may correspond to any type of physical resource or radio resource expressed in terms of a length of time or a time interval or duration. In some embodiments, the term "time slot" is used to indicate a radio resource; however, it should be understood that the techniques described herein may be advantageously used with other types of radio resources, such as any type of physical resource or radio resource expressed in terms of a length of time. Examples of time resources are: symbol, time slot, mini-time slot, subframe, radio frame, transmission time interval (TTI), interleaving time, time resource number, etc.

[0083] Unless otherwise specified, the term "TTI" may correspond to any time period in which a physical channel may be encoded and interleaved for transmission (e.g., during a TTI). A receiver may decode the physical channel in the same time period (T0) as the time period in which it was encoded. TTI may also be interchangeably referred to as short TTI (sTTI), transmission time, slot, subslot, microslot, short subframe (SSF), micro subframe, etc.

[0084] In some embodiments, a transmitter (e.g., a network node) and a receiver (e.g., a WD) may have a common, predetermined understanding of one or more rules for determining which resources are arranged for transmission and / or reception of one or more physical channels. In some embodiments, such rules may be referred to as "mappings". In other embodiments, the term "mapping" may have other meanings.

[0085] Unless otherwise specified, the term "channel" may refer to a logical, transport or physical channel. A channel may include and / or be arranged on one or more carriers, for example on multiple subcarriers. A channel that carries and / or is used to carry control signaling / control information may be considered a control channel, for example if it is a physical layer channel and / or if it carries control plane information. Similarly, a channel that carries and / or is used to carry data signaling / user information may be considered a data channel (e.g., PDSCH), particularly if it is a physical layer channel and / or if it carries user plane (UP) information. A channel may be defined for a specific communication direction or for two complementary communication directions (e.g., UL and DL, or sidelinks for both directions), in which case it may be considered to have two component channels, one in each direction.

[0086] Receiving (or obtaining) control information may include receiving one or more control information messages (e.g., DCI or UCI). It may be considered that receiving control signaling includes demodulating, decoding, and / or detecting (e.g., blind detection) one or more messages carried by the control signaling. This may be based on a resource set employed, which may be searched and / or monitored for control information. In such a scenario, both the transmitter and receiver of the control information may know the configuration of the resources, and / or may determine the resource set (e.g., based on a reference size).

[0087] Although embodiments may be described below in the context of a downlink (DL) channel (e.g., PDSCH), it should be understood that the principles underlying such embodiments may also be applicable to other channels, such as other DL channels and / or specific uplink channels (e.g., PUSCH).

[0088] Although the term "cell" is used herein, it should be understood (especially for 5G / NR) that beams may be used instead of cells, and therefore the concepts described herein apply equally to both cells and beams.

[0089] Although terminology from one or more specific wireless systems (e.g., LTE and / or NR) may be used herein, this should not be considered to limit the scope of the present disclosure to only those specific wireless systems. Other wireless systems, including Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), may also benefit from the principles and / or embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0090] As briefly mentioned above, in 3GPP NR Release 16, support for multi-source transmission of PDSCH to UEs, also known as non-coherent joint transmission (NC-JT), has been discussed. In this arrangement, frequency domain resources must be allocated for transmissions from each source (e.g., TRP). Current solutions for frequency domain resource allocation are limited to the specific case where each data codeword is sent from a single TRP (i.e., one-to-one TRP / codeword mapping). In addition, the specific signaling used in LTE for such frequency domain allocation is not available in NR. These challenges, problems and / or shortcomings are discussed in more detail below.

[0091] In Rel-15 NR, a UE may be configured with up to four carrier bandwidth parts (BWPs) in the downlink (DL), where a single DL carrier BWP is active at a given time. The UE may also be configured with up to four uplink (UL) carrier BWPs, where a single UL carrier BWP is active at a given time. If the UE is configured with a supplementary UL, the UE may be configured with up to four additional carrier BWPs in the supplementary UL, where a single supplementary UL carrier BWP is active at a given time.

[0092] Figure 5 An exemplary time-frequency resource grid for an NR time slot is shown. Figure 5 As shown, a resource block (RB) consists of a group of 12 consecutive OFDM subcarriers with a duration of 14 symbol slots. As with LTE, a resource element (RE) consists of one subcarrier in one slot. Common RBs (CRBs) are numbered from 0 to the end of the system bandwidth. Each BWP configured for a UE has a common reference to CRB0 so that a specifically configured BWP can start with a CRB greater than zero. In this way, a UE can be configured with a narrow BWP (e.g., 10 MHz) and a wide BWP (e.g., 100 MHz), each starting with a specific CRB, but at a given point in time, only one BWP can be activated for the UE.

[0093] Within a BWP, RBs range from 0 to Definition and numbering, where i is the index of the specific BWP of the carrier. Similar to LTE, each NR resource element (RE) corresponds to one OFDM subcarrier during one OFDM symbol interval. NR supports various SCS values ​​Δf = (15 × 2 μ )kHz, where μ∈(0,1,2,3,4) is called a "parameter set". The parameter set μ=0 (i.e., Δf=15kHz) provides the basic (or reference) SCS also used in LTE. μ ms, the slot length is inversely proportional to the SCS or parameter integration. For example, for Δf = 15kHz, there is one (1-ms) slot per subframe, for Δf = 30kHz, there are two 0.5-ms slots per subframe, and so on. In addition, the RB bandwidth is based on 2 μ *180kHz is directly related to parameter set.

[0094] Table 1 below summarizes the supported NR parameter sets and associated parameters. The network can be configured with different DL and UL parameter sets.

[0095] Table 1.

[0096]

[0097] For a normal cyclic prefix, an NR slot may include 14 OFDM symbols, and for an extended cyclic prefix, an NR slot may include 12 symbols. Fig. 6A An exemplary NR slot configuration including 14 symbols is shown, where the slot and symbol durations are denoted as T s and T symb . Additionally, NR includes Type-B scheduling, also known as “mini-slots”. They are shorter than slots, typically ranging from one symbol to one less than the number of symbols in a slot (e.g., 13 or 11), and can start at any symbol of a slot. Mini-slots can be used if the transmission duration of a slot is too long and / or the start of the next slot (slot alignment) occurs too late. Applications for mini-slots include unlicensed spectrum and latency critical transmissions (e.g., URLLC). However, mini-slots are not service-specific and can also be used for eMBB or other services.

[0098] Figure 6B Another exemplary NR slot structure including 14 symbols is shown. In this arrangement, the PDCCH is restricted to a region containing a specific number of symbols and a specific number of subcarriers (called a control resource set (CORESET)). Figure 6BIn the exemplary structure shown, the first two symbols contain PDCCH, and each of the remaining 12 symbols contains a physical data channel (PDCH), i.e., PDSCH or PUSCH. However, depending on the specific CORESET configuration, the first two time slots can also carry PDSCH or other information as needed.

[0099] As further defined in 3GPP TS 38.211 §7.3.2.2, a CORESET includes multiple RBs in the frequency domain (i.e., multiples of 12 REs) and 1-3 OFDM symbols in the time domain. A CORESET is functionally similar to the control region in an LTE subframe, such as Figure 4 However, in NR, each REG consists of all 12 REs of one OFDM symbol in an RB, while LTE REG only includes four REs, as shown in Figure 4 As shown in Figure 2, the CORESET time domain size can be indicated by PCFICH, as in LTE. In LTE, the frequency bandwidth of the control region is fixed (i.e. relative to the total system bandwidth), while in NR, the frequency bandwidth of the CORESET is variable. The CORESET resources can be indicated to the UE via RRC signaling.

[0100] The smallest unit used to define a CORESET is a REG, which spans 1 PRB in frequency and 1 OFDM symbol in time. In addition to the PDCCH, each REG also contains a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) to help estimate the radio channel over which the REG is transmitted. When transmitting a PDCCH, a precoder can be used to apply weights on the transmit antennas based on some knowledge of the radio channel before transmission. If the precoders used for the REGs at the transmitter are not different, it is possible to improve the channel estimation performance at the UE by estimating the channel over multiple REGs that are close in time and frequency. To assist the UE in channel estimation, multiple REGs can be grouped together to form a REG bundle, and the REG bundle size (i.e., 2, 3, or 6 REGs) used for the CORESET can be indicated to the UE. The UE can assume that any precoder used for the transmission of the PDCCH is the same for all REGs in the REG bundle.

[0101] The NR Control Channel Element (CCE) consists of six REGs. These REGs can be either contiguous or distributed in frequency. When the REGs are distributed in frequency, the CORESET is said to use interleaved mapping of REGs to CCEs, and if the REGs are contiguous in frequency, it is said to use non-interleaved mapping. Interleaving can provide frequency diversity. Not using interleaving is beneficial for situations where channel knowledge allows the use of precoders in specific parts of the spectrum to improve the SINR at the receiver.

[0102] Similar to LTE, NR data scheduling is done on a per-slot basis. In each slot, the base station (e.g., gNB) sends downlink control information (DCI) over PDCCH, which indicates which UE is scheduled to receive data in that slot and which RBs will carry the data. The UE first detects and decodes the DCI, and if the DCI includes DL scheduling information for the UE, it receives the corresponding PDSCH based on the DL scheduling information. DCI formats 1_0 and 1_1 are used to convey PDSCH scheduling.

[0103] Likewise, the DCI on the PDCCH may include a UL grant, which indicates which UE is scheduled to send data on the PUCCH in that time slot and which RBs will carry the data. The UE first detects and decodes the DCI, and if the DCI includes an uplink grant for the UE, the corresponding PUSCH is sent on the resources indicated by the UL grant. DCI formats 0_0 and 0_1 are used to convey UL grants for the PUSCH, while other DCI formats (2_0, 2_1, 2_2, and 2_3) are used for other purposes, including slot format information, transmission of reserved resources, transmit power control information, etc.

[0104] The DCI includes a payload that is supplemented with a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) with the payload data. Since the DCI is sent on the PDCCH, which is received by multiple UEs, it needs to contain the identifier of the target UE. In NR, this is done by scrambling the CRC with the Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) assigned to the UE. Most commonly, the cell RNTI (C-RNTI) assigned to the target UE by the serving cell is used for this purpose.

[0105] The DCI payload is encoded and sent on the PDCCH along with an identifier-scrambled CRC. Given a previously configured search space, each UE attempts to detect the PDCCH addressed to it based on multiple hypotheses (also called "candidates") in a process called "blind decoding". PDCCH candidates can span 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 CCEs, the number of CCEs being called the aggregation level (AL) of the PDCCH candidates. If more than one CCE is used, the information in the first CCE is repeated in the other CCEs. By changing the AL, the PDCCH can be made more or less robust to a certain payload size. In other words, PDCCH link adaptation can be performed by adjusting the AL. Depending on the AL, the PDCCH candidates can be located at different time-frequency positions in the CORESET.

[0106] Once the UE decodes the DCI, it descrambles the CRC using one or more RNTIs assigned to it and / or associated with a particular PDCCH search space. In the event of a match, the UE treats the detected DCI as addressed to it and follows the instructions (e.g., scheduling information) in the DCI.

[0107] A hash function can be used to determine the CCE corresponding to the PDCCH candidate that the UE must monitor within the search space set. The hashing is performed in different ways for different UEs so that the CCE used by the UE is randomized, thereby reducing the possibility of conflicts between multiple UEs for which PDCCH messages are included in the CORESET. Monitoring periods are also configured for different PDCCH candidates. In any specific time slot, the UE can be configured to monitor multiple PDCCH candidates in multiple search spaces that can be mapped to one or more CORESETs. It may be necessary to monitor PDCCH candidates multiple times in a time slot, once per time slot, or once in multiple time slots.

[0108] The DCI may also include information about various timing offsets (e.g., in time slots or subframes) between the PDCCH and the PDSCH, PUSCH, HARQ, and / or CSI-RS. For example, offset K0 represents the number of time slots between the PDCCH reception and subsequent PDSCH transmission of the UE's PDSCH-scheduled DCI (e.g., format 1_0 or 1_1). Similarly, offset K1 represents the number of time slots between the PDSCH transmission and the responsive HARQ ACK / NACK transmission of the UE on the PUSCH. In addition, offset K3 represents the number of time slots between this responsive ACK / NACK and the corresponding data retransmission on the PDSCH. In addition, offset K2 represents the number of time slots between the PDCCH reception and subsequent PDUCH transmission of the UE's PUSCH-granted DCI (e.g., format 0_0 or 0_1). Each of these offsets can take values ​​of zero and a positive integer.

[0109] Finally, DCI format 0_1 ​​may also include a network request for a UE report of channel state information (CSI) or channel quality information (CQI). Before sending this report, the UE receives and measures the CSI-RS sent by the network. The parameter aperiodicTriggeringOffset represents the integer number of time slots between the UE's reception of the DCI containing the CSI request and the network's transmission of the CSI-RS. This parameter can take values ​​0-4.

[0110] In addition to the dynamic scheduling based on each time slot discussed above, NR also supports semi-persistent scheduling in DL. In this method, the network configures the period of PDSCH transmission via RRC, and then controls the start and stop of transmission via DCI in PDCCH. One advantage of this technology is that it reduces the control signaling overhead on PDCCH.

[0111] NR also supports a similar feature on the UL, called Configuration Grant (CG). In general, CG Type 2 is similar to DL semi-persistent scheduling in the downlink (e.g., RRC plus DCI), while CG Type 1 is controlled only by RRC, including the start and stop of transmission.

[0112] Figure 7 A high-level view of a 5G network architecture is illustrated, including a next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 799 and a 5G core (5GC) 798. The NG-RAN 799 may include a set of gNodeBs (gNBs) connected to the 5GC via one or more NG interfaces, such as gNBs 700, 750 connected via interfaces 702, 752, respectively. In addition, the gNBs may be connected to each other via one or more Xn interfaces, such as an Xn interface 740 between gNBs 700 and 750. With respect to the NR interface to the UE, each gNB may support frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), or a combination thereof.

[0113] Figure 7 The NG RAN logical nodes shown in (and described in 3GPP TS 38.401 and 3GPP TR38.801) include a central (or centralized) unit (CU or gNB-CU) and one or more distributed (or decentralized) units (DU or gNB-DU). For example, Figure 7 The gNB 700 in FIG. 7 includes a gNB-CU 710 and gNB-DUs 720 and 730. A CU (e.g., gNB-CU 710) is a logical node that hosts high-layer protocols and performs various gNB functions (e.g., controlling the operation of the DU). Each DU is a logical node for hosting lower-layer protocols and may include various subsets of gNB functions based on functional splits. Thus, each of the CU and DU may include various circuits required to perform their respective functions, including processing circuits, transceiver circuits (e.g., for communication), and power supply circuits. In addition, the terms "central unit" and "centralized unit" are used interchangeably herein, as are the terms "distributed unit" and "distributed unit."

[0114] The gNB-CU is connected to the gNB-DU via respective F1 logical interfaces, such as interfaces 722 and 732 shown in FIG3 . The gNB-CU and the connected gNB-DU are visible only as gNBs to other gNBs and the 5GC, e.g., the F1 interface is not visible outside the gNB-CU. As briefly described above, the CU may host higher layer protocols, such as the F1 Application Part Protocol (F1-AP), the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), the GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP), the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), the Internet Protocol (IP), and the Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol. In contrast, the DU may host lower layer protocols, such as the Radio Link Control (RLC), the Medium Access Control (MAC), and the Physical Layer (PHY) protocols.

[0115] However, there may be other variations of protocol distribution between the CU and the DU, such as hosting RRC, PDCP, and portions of the RLC protocol (e.g., automatic repeat request (ARQ) functionality) in the CU, and hosting the remaining portions of the RLC protocol as well as the MAC and PHY in the DU. In some embodiments, the CU may host RRC and PDCP, where it is assumed that the PDCP handles both UP traffic and CP traffic. However, other exemplary embodiments may utilize other protocol splits by hosting certain protocols in the CU and certain other protocols in the DU. Exemplary embodiments may also locate centralized control plane protocols (e.g., PDCP-C and RRC) in a different CU relative to centralized user plane protocols (e.g., PDCP-U).

[0116] Multiple signals can be sent from the same base station (e.g., gNB) antenna from different antenna ports. These signals can have the same large-scale properties, for example in terms of parameters including Doppler shift / spread, average delay spread, and / or average delay. These antenna ports are then referred to as "quasi-co-located" or "QCL". The network can signal to the UE that two antenna ports are QCL in terms of one or more parameters. Once the UE knows that the two antenna ports are QCL with respect to a certain parameter (e.g., Doppler spread), the UE can estimate the parameter based on one of the antenna ports and use the estimate when receiving the other antenna port. Typically, the first antenna port is represented by a measurement reference signal (referred to as the "source RS"), such as a CSI-RS, and the second antenna port is a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) (referred to as the "target RS").

[0117] For example, if antenna ports A and B are QCL with respect to the average delay, the UE can estimate the average delay based on the signal received from antenna port A (source RS) and assume that the signal received from antenna port B (target RS) has the same average delay. This is useful for demodulation because the UE can know the properties of the channel in advance when trying to measure the channel using DMRS.

[0118] In LTE Release 11, a UE configured in transmission mode 10 for a given serving cell may be configured (e.g. by higher layer signaling) with up to four parameter sets that may be used to decode the PDSCH based on a detected PDCCH / EPDCCH with DCI format 2D for the UE and the given serving cell. This is because the serving eNB may send the PDSCH to the UE via different TRPs at different times based on channel conditions. Different reference signals may be configured for different TRPs. In order to determine the correct PDSCH RE mapping, the UE uses a parameter set based on the value of the "PDSCH RE Mapping and Quasi-Co-location Indicator" (PQI) field in the detected PDCCH / EPDCCH with DCI format 2D, the values ​​of which are shown in Table 2 below (extracted from 3GPP TS 36.213). In LTE, this relationship is referred to as "QCL Type B".

[0119] Table 2.

[0120]

[0121] In LTE Release 15, a UE configured in transmission mode 10 for a given serving cell can also be indicated using a PQI bit for the "QCL Type C" assumption. The PQI indication table for QCL Type C is shown in the following Error! Reference source not found (which is extracted from 3GPP TS36.213). As shown in the table, each PQI field value can indicate up to two parameter sets. This is because the eNB can send PDSCH to the UE via two different TRPs simultaneously, where each TRP sends a different codeword (CW) to the UE. As mentioned above, this operation is called non-coherent joint transmission (NC-JT).

[0122] Table 3.

[0123]

[0124] Signaling from the network to the UE about what assumptions can be made about the QCL. In NR, the following four types of QCL relationships between the transmitted source RS and the transmitted target RS are defined:

[0125] Type A: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}

[0126] Type B: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}

[0127] Type C: {average delay, Doppler shift}

[0128] Type D: {space receiving parameters}

[0129] QCL type D was introduced to facilitate beam management through simulated beamforming and is called "spatial QCL". There is currently no strict definition of spatial QCL, but it is understood that if two transmitting antenna ports are spatially QCL, the UE can use the same Rx beam to receive them. When the QCL relationship is signaled to the UE, it includes not only information about the specific QCL type (e.g., A, B, C, or D), but also the serving cell index, BWP index, and source reference signal identification (CSI-RS, TRS, or SSB).

[0130] QCL type D is most relevant for beam management, but it is also necessary to communicate the QCL RS relationships of type A to the UEs so that they can estimate all relevant large-scale parameters. Typically, this is done by configuring the UE with a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS, such as CSI-RS) for time / frequency offset estimation. To be able to use any QCL reference, the UE must receive it with a good enough signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR). In many cases, this limits the TRS to be sent for a specific UE in a specific beam and / or beam configuration.

[0131] To introduce dynamics in beam and TRP selection, the UE can be configured via RRC signaling with N transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states, where N is up to 128 in frequency range 2 (FR2) and up to 8 in FR1, depending on the capabilities of the UE. Each configured TCI state contains parameters for QCL association between the source RS (e.g., CSI-RS or SS / PBCH) and the target RS (e.g., PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS antenna port). The TCI state can also be used to convey QCL information for receiving CSI-RS. Each of the N states in the TCI state list can be interpreted as a list of N possible beams sent from the network, or a list of N possible TRPs used by the network to communicate with the UE.

[0132] More specifically, each TCI state may contain an ID and QCL information for one or two source DL RSs, where each source RS is associated with a QCL type, a serving cell index, a BWP index, and a source reference signal identifier (CSI-RS, TRS, or SSB). For example, two different CSI-RS {CSI-RS1, CSI-RS2} may be configured as {qcl-Type1, qcl-Type2} = {Type A, Type D} in the TCI state. The UE may interpret this TCI state to mean that the UE may derive Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread from CSI-RS1, and spatial Rx parameters (e.g., RX beam to be used) from CSI-RS2. In the case where QCL type D is not applicable (e.g., low-band or mid-band operation), the TCI state contains only a single source RS. However, unless otherwise specified, references to a "pair" of source RSs include the case of a single source RS.

[0133] In addition, a first list of available TCI states may be configured for PDSCH, and a second list may be configured for PDCCH. The second list may contain pointers to a subset of TCI states configured for PDSCH, referred to as TCI state IDs. For UEs operating in FR1, the network then activates one TCI state for PDCCH (i.e., by providing TCI to the UE) and up to eight TCI states for PDSCH, depending on the capabilities of the UE.

[0134] As an example, four active TCI states can be configured for the UE from a list of a total of 64 configured TCI states. Therefore, the other 60 configured TCI states are inactive and the UE does not need to be prepared to estimate large-scale parameters for these states. On the other hand, the UE continuously tracks and updates the large-scale parameters of the four active TCI states by performing measurements and analysis on the source RS indicated for each of the four active TCI states. Each DCI used for PDSCH scheduling includes a pointer to an active TCI for the scheduled UE. Based on this pointer, the UE knows which large-scale parameter estimation to use when performing PDSCH DMRS channel estimation and PDSCH demodulation.

[0135] The demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) facilitates the coherent demodulation of the physical layer data channels (e.g. PDSCH) and PDCCH by the UE. Each DM-RS is associated with one of these physical layer channels and is therefore limited to the resource blocks carrying the associated physical layer channel. Each DM-RS is mapped onto the allocated REs of the time-frequency grid to enable the receiver to effectively handle time / frequency selective fading radio channels.

[0136] The mapping of DM-RS to RE is configurable in both the frequency domain and the time domain. Two mapping types in the frequency domain (configuration type 1 or type 2) and two mapping types in the time domain (mapping type A or type B) define the position of the first DM-RS within the transmission interval. The DM-RS mapping in the time domain can also be based on a single symbol or based on a double symbol (i.e., adjacent symbol pairs). In addition, the UE can be configured with one, two, three, or four single-symbol DM-RS and one or two double-symbol DM-RS. In low Doppler scenarios, it may be sufficient to configure only the front-loaded DM-RS (i.e., one single symbol or double-symbol DM-RS), while additional DM-RS will be required in high Doppler scenarios.

[0137] include Figures 8A-8D FIG8 shows four exemplary mappings of front-loaded DM-RS with type A time domain mapping, where the first DM-RS is in the third symbol of a 14-symbol slot. More specifically, Figures 8A-8B The mapping of configuration type 1 for single-symbol and dual-symbol DM-RS is shown respectively. Figure 8C-8D The mapping of configuration type 2 for single-symbol and dual-symbol DM-RS is shown respectively. As shown in Figure 8, the difference between type 1 and type 2 mappings lies in the mapping structure and the number of supported DM-RS CDM groups. As shown by the different shading of DM-RS REs, type 1 supports two CDM groups (e.g., λ = 0, 1) and type 2 supports three CDM groups (e.g., λ = 0, 1, 2).

[0138] The type 1 mapping structure is sometimes referred to as a 2-comb structure with two CDM groups defined in the frequency domain by sets of subcarriers {0,2,4,…} and {1,3,5,…}. The comb mapping structure is used in conjunction with DFT-S-OFDM in NR UL because it facilitates low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) transmissions. In contrast, CP-OFDM operation (e.g., in UL and DL) supports both type 1 and type 2 mappings.

[0139] DM-RS antenna ports are mapped to REs within only one CDM group. For single-symbol DM-RS, two antenna ports can be mapped to each CDM group, while for dual-symbol DM-RS, four antenna ports can be mapped to each CDM group. Therefore, the maximum number of DM-RS ports for type 1 is four or eight, and for type 2 is six or twelve. An orthogonal cover code (OCC) of length 2 ([+1,+1],[+1,-1]) is used to separate antenna ports mapped to the same RE within a CDM group. When dual-symbol DM-RS is configured, OCC is applied in the frequency domain as well as the time domain.

[0140] In NR Rel-15, the mapping of PDSCH DM-RS sequence r(m), m=0,1,… is specified in 3GPP TS 38.211 according to the following formula:

[0141]

[0142]

[0143] k′=0,1

[0144]

[0145] n=0,1,...

[0146] in

[0147]

[0148] In the frequency domain w f (k′) and time domain w t Port p in (l′) is mapped to the CDM group λ after applying OCC j The following Tables 4-5 show the PDSCH DM-RS mapping parameters of configuration type 1 and type 2 respectively.

[0149] Table 4.

[0150]

[0151] Table 5.

[0152]

[0153] The DCI also includes a bit field that indicates which antenna ports are scheduled (i.e., the number of data layers). For example, if DMRS port 1000 is indicated by the DCI, the PDSCH is a single-layer transmission and the UE will use the DMRS defined by port 1000 to demodulate the PDSCH. The DCI value also indicates the number of CDM groups without data, which means that if 1 is indicated, the other CDM groups contain data for the UE (PDSCH case), and if 2 is indicated, both CDM groups may contain DMRS ports and no data is mapped to the OFDM symbols containing the DMRS. Table 6 below shows the bit field values ​​and corresponding configurations for DM-RS type 1 with a single, front-loaded DM-RS (maximum length = 1). Note that one or more DMRS port values ​​shown in Table 6 are

[0154] The modulo 1000 versions of the p-values ​​are given in Table 4.

[0155]

[0156] For DMRS type 1, ports 1000, 1001, 1004, and 1005 are located in CDM group λ=0, while ports 1002, 1003, 1006, and 1007 are located in CDM group λ=1 (also illustrated in Table 4). Table 7 shows the corresponding exemplary configuration for DMRS type 2 (maximum length=1). For DMRS type 2, ports 1000, 1001, 1006, and 1007 are located in CDM group λ=0; ports 1002, 1003, 1008, 1009 are located in CDM group λ=1; and ports 1004, 1005, 1010, and 1011 are located in CDM group λ=2 (also illustrated in Table 3). Note that one or more DMRS port values ​​shown in Table 5 are modulo 1000 versions of the p values ​​given in Table 5. A corresponding table and exemplary configuration for DMRS types 1 and 2 with maximum length = 2 may also be defined, but are omitted herein for brevity.

[0157]

[0158] Currently, the 3GPP NR specification includes a restriction that a UE can assume that the PDSCH DM-RS within the same CDM group is QCL in terms of Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, and spatial Rx. Without scheduling a first UE on all DMRS ports within a CDM group, another UE can be scheduled for the remaining ports of the CDM group at the same time. The first UE can then estimate the channel for the other UE, which is seen by the first UE as an interfering signal. This facilitates coherent interference suppression for the first UE.

[0159] After the NR PHY receives a transport block from the MAC layer, the NR PHY converts the transport block into codewords before transmission. At a high level, this process includes applying a checksum, segmenting the transport block into code blocks, applying error protection (e.g., turbo coding) to each code block, and then reassembling the code blocks into a codeword (CW). The NR PHY then converts the bits comprising the CW into modulation symbols (e.g., according to the modulation scheme currently in use), and then assigns the modulation symbols to one or more MIMO layers for spatial multiplexing. In some cases, the NR PHY may receive two transport blocks from the MAC for transmission in a single transmission interval, and therefore may generate one CW for each received transport block.

[0160] In NR, one CW can be allocated to up to four MIMO layers, and two CWs can be allocated to more than four layers. 3GPP TS 38.211 specifies how to assign the complex-valued modulation symbols of codeword q to the MIMO layers. Mapping to layer x(i) = [x (0) (i) ... x(υ-1) (i)] T , where υ is the number of layers, is the number of modulation symbols per layer, and is the number of modulation symbols per CW. Table 8 below (corresponding to 38.211 Table 7.3.1.3-1) shows an exemplary CW-to-layer mapping for NR spatial multiplexing. In addition, the vector block [x (0) (i) ... x (v-1) (i)] T , It can be mapped to the antenna port according to the following relationship:

[0161]

[0162] in The antenna port set {p0, ..., p0, ..., p1, ..., p2, ..., p3, ..., p4, ..., p5, ..., p6, ..., p7, ..., p8, ..., p9, ..., p10, ..., p11, ..., p12, ..., p13, ..., p14, ..., p15, ..., p16, ..., p17, ..., p18, ..., p19, ..., p21, ..., p υ-1}.

[0163]

[0164] Frequency domain resources must also be allocated for the transmission of the generated layers. Release 15 NR supports two types of downlink frequency domain resource allocation, referred to as "Type 0" and "Type 1". In downlink resource allocation type 0, the bitmap in the "Frequency Domain Resource Allocation" (or FDRA for short) DCI field indicates the resource block group (RBG) allocated to the scheduled UE. An RBG comprises a set of consecutive virtual resource blocks (VRBs), and the RBG size can be configured by higher layers. As shown in the exemplary Table 9 below, the RBG size has two possible configurations, depending on the BWP size.

[0165] Table 9.

[0166] BWP size Configuration 1 Configuration 2 1–36 2 4 37–72 4 8 73–144 8 16 145–275 16 16

[0167] For resource allocation type 0, the number of bits included in the FDRA field is N. RBG , where N RBG is the number of RBGs in the bandwidth part to which the UE is scheduled. The number of RBGs in the i-th bandwidth part is defined as:

[0168]

[0169] In downlink resource allocation type 1, the FDRA DCI field indicates a set of consecutively allocated non-interleaved or interleaved VRBs within the active BWP. The FDRA field includes a starting VRB (RB start), where the length of the consecutively allocated resource blocks is represented by L RBs The number of bits in the FDRA field is in is the size of the active bandwidth portion. Downlink resource allocation type 1 is used for both DCI formats 1_0 and 1_1.

[0170] In NR Release 15, both resource allocation type 0 and type 1 can be configured. In this case, the number of bits in the FDRA DCI field is Here, the most significant bit (MSB) indicates the resource allocation type used. More specifically, an MSB value of "1" indicates that resource allocation type 1 is used, and an MSB value of "0" indicates that resource allocation type 0 is used.

[0171] As briefly mentioned above, in 3GPP NR Release 16, support for multi-source transmission of PDSCH to UEs (also known as NC-JT) has been discussed, where multiple MIMO layers (e.g., carrying mapped CWs) can be sent on multiple TRPs in various ways. For example, when the UE has four receive antennas and each TRP has only two transmit antennas, the UE can support up to four MIMO layers. In this case, by sending data to the UE on two TRPs, the peak data rate to the UE can be increased because up to four aggregation layers from the two TRPs can be used. This is beneficial when the traffic load and / or resource utilization in each TRP is low because the resources in the two TRPs can be used to schedule one UE.

[0172] NC-JT can also be beneficial when the UE is within the line of sight (LOS) of multiple TRPs and the rank of each TRP (i.e., the maximum number of layers that the UE can receive from one TRP) is less than the number of transmit antennas at each TRP (i.e., the UE can receive more layers than one TRP can transmit). NC-JT can also be beneficial when the maximum number of layers that a TRP can send is lower than the number of layers that the UE can receive. In this case, utilizing more than one TRP can increase the spectral efficiency of communicating with the UE.

[0173] Fig. 9AAn exemplary transmission configuration is shown in which a PDSCH is transmitted to a UE from two TRPs, with each TRP carrying one CW. For example, when the UE has four receive antennas and each TRP has only two transmit antennas, the UE can support up to four MIMO layers. In this case, by transmitting data to the UE on two TRPs, the peak data rate to the UE can be increased because up to four aggregated layers from the two TRPs can be used. This is beneficial when the traffic load and / or resource utilization in each TRP is low, thereby facilitating the scheduling of resources in both TRPs for one UE. This technique may also be beneficial when the UE is within the line of sight (LOS) of the two TRPs and the rank of each TRP (i.e., the maximum number of layers that the UE can receive from one TRP) is less than the number of transmit antennas available at each TRP, so that the UE can receive more layers than a single TRP can transmit. This technique may also be beneficial when the maximum number of layers that a TRP can send is lower than the number of layers that the UE can receive. In this case, utilizing more than one TRP can improve the spectral efficiency of communicating with the UE.

[0174] This type of NC-JT is also supported in LTE with two TRPs. For CSI feedback, the UE is configured with a CSI process with two NZP CSI-RS resources (i.e. one for each TRP) and one interference measurement resource. For reasons of UE complexity, this feedback mode is limited to a maximum of eight CSI-RS ports per CSI-RS resource. However, each TRP can have more than eight transmission chains, in which case they need to be virtualized down to eight ports. For two CWs scheduled using a single PDSCH or two PDSCHs, different modulation and coding schemes (MCS) can be used for the two TRPs. Advanced receivers (e.g. with code-level interference cancellation (CWIC)) can also be used at the UE. In addition, when a CW is received with an error, only that CW needs to be retransmitted.

[0175] Fig. 9B Another exemplary transmission configuration is shown in which PDSCH is sent to the UE from three TRPs, each carrying a different layer of a single PDSCH CW. This configuration facilitates data transmission on more than two TRPs because there is no one-to-one mapping between CWs and TRPs, but may not be as efficient when retransmissions and link adaptation are involved. Fig. 9A The exemplary configuration shown in is flexible.

[0176] When it comes to CSI reporting with multiple TRPs, the concept of “transmission hypothesis” becomes important. In other words, what kind of transmission should the CSI report reflect? In DPS with two TRPs, there are two transmission hypotheses, but when NC-JT is included and multiple interference hypotheses are also considered, the number of transmission hypotheses can increase rapidly with the number of TRPs considered. To address this issue in NR, the gNB can configure the UE with multiple CSI reporting settings, where each setting is for one transmission hypothesis (e.g., one hypothesis for DPS and another for NC-JT). The UE then provides two CSI reports, one for each hypothesis. The gNB can then decide whether to transmit to the UE using DPS or NC-JT based on other information available at the gNB.

[0177] In addition to using multi-TRP transmissions to increase data throughput and improve spectral efficiency, multi-TRP transmissions can also provide increased data transmission reliability in the form of "multi-TRP diversity". This can be beneficial and / or important in some mission-critical applications such as autonomous vehicles, industrial control, factory automation, etc. These applications are the intended users of the Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) services provided by the NR networks briefly discussed above. Fig. 9C Another exemplary transmission configuration is shown in which PDSCH is sent to the UE from two TRPs, where the two PDSCHs carry the same data blocks encoded with the same or different redundancy versions (RVs). The UE can perform soft combining on the data received from the two PDSCHs, thereby improving reception reliability so that only very few retransmissions are required.

[0178] The same or different time / frequency resources can be used for PDSCH sent in different TRPs. When the same time and frequency resources are used in different TRPs, different MIMO layers must be used for the corresponding PDSCH transmissions, and the UE MIMO receiver separates the receiving layers for PDSCH decoding. In this case, each layer / PDSCH uses a reference signal that is orthogonal to the reference signal used by other layers / PDSCH in the same time / frequency resource. Alternatively, different time and frequency resources can be used to send PDSCH in multiple TRPs. The codewords carried by PDSCH from different TRPs can have the same or different RVs, and soft combining is performed at the UE. When the same RV is used, chase combining (CC) can be performed, and when different RVs are used, soft combining based on incremental redundancy (IR) can be performed.

[0179] As another alternative, multiple TRPs can use the same time / frequency resources and the same DMRS port to send the same PDSCH information (e.g., the same RV) so that the UE receives the composite signal in a single frequency network (SFN) manner. Because the UE actually receives a single layer, the existence of multiple TRPs is "hidden" from the UE. This alternative can be beneficial in small deployments (e.g., indoors) at medium and low carrier frequencies.

[0180] To support multi-TRP transmission in NR, it has been discussed to extend the TCI state from Release 15 pairs of two source RSs (with QCL type 1 and type 2) (e.g., TCI state = {qcl-Type1, qcl-Type2}) to an extended TCI state with two pairs of A and B or even three pairs of A, B and C. These options can be expressed as:

[0181] TCI status = {{qcl-Type1,qcl-Type2}} A ,{qcl-Type1,qcl-Type2} B},as well as

[0182] TCI status = {{qcl-Type1,qcl-Type2}} A ,{qcl-Type1,qcl-Type2} B ,{qcl-Type1,qcl-Type2} C}.

[0183] In the above, A, B, and C can represent three different TRPs, three different antenna panels at one gNB, or three different beams in the case of FR2 operation (also known as “millimeter wave” or simply “mmW”).

[0184] For NC-JT transmission, frequency domain resources must be allocated for transmissions from each source (e.g., TRP). Current solutions for frequency domain resource allocation are limited to the specific case where each data codeword is sent from a single TRP (i.e., one-to-one TRP / codeword mapping). In addition, specific signaling for such frequency domain allocation in LTE is not available in NR.

[0185] Three different frequency domain resource allocation techniques (e.g. NC-JT) for multiple TRPs are being discussed for Release 16. In fully overlapping resource allocation, downlink transmissions from multiple TRPs or panels are allocated the same frequency domain resources. Existing downlink resource allocation types 0 and 1 in NR can be easily used for this type of resource allocation. However, in fully overlapping resource allocation, transmissions from multiple TPRs may interfere with each other.

[0186] In non-overlapping resource allocation, downlink transmissions from multiple TRPs or panels are allocated non-overlapping frequency domain resources. Existing downlink resource allocation types 0 and 1 must be modified to support this type of resource allocation.

[0187] Figures 10A-10B Two exemplary non-overlapping frequency domain resource allocation techniques for LTE are shown. Fig. 10A In the technique shown, non-overlapping VRBs are assigned to two different codewords transmitted from two LTE TRPs. Fig. 10A Two examples of assigning non-overlapping VRBs to two codewords are shown. In Scheme 1, two disjoint consecutive VRBs are assigned to each CW sent from each TRP. In Scheme 2, a single consecutive VRB is assigned to each CW sent from each TR.

[0188] These non-overlapping frequency domain allocations may be indicated to the UE in various ways. As an example, two separate fields within a single DCI may be used to allocate frequency domain allocations for CW 1 and 2. In this approach, the starting VRB for CW 1 and a number of consecutively allocated resource blocks are jointly encoded in a DCI field corresponding to CW 1, while the corresponding parameters are jointly encoded in a DCI field corresponding to CW 2. As another example, a single field within the DCI may be used to allocate resources for both CW 1 and 2. Fig. 10B An exemplary non-overlapping configuration is shown with contiguous frequency domain allocations for CWs 1 and 2. In this configuration, the starting VRB S1 / S2 numbers of the contiguously allocated resource blocks L1 / L2 correspond to CWs 1 and 2, respectively. Parameters S1, S2, L1, and L2 may be jointly encoded and indicated in a single DCI field.

[0189] As another alternative, non-overlapping frequency domain resource allocations can be supported by increasing the RBG size. For example, the RBG size can be doubled compared to the RBG size for fully overlapping frequency domain resource allocations. In this alternative, if the frequency domain resource allocation field contains digits, the digits are divided into two parts. The first part of the ones digits indicates the resource allocation for the first codeword from the first TRP, while the remaining The second portion of the digits may be used to indicate resource allocation for a second codeword from a second TRP.

[0190] Finally, partially overlapping resource allocations lie between the fully overlapping and non-overlapping resource allocation types. In this approach, some of the allocated frequency domain resources for downlink transmissions from multiple TRPs or panels overlap, while other allocated resources do not overlap. In a general sense, fully overlapping and non-overlapping resource allocations can be considered as subsets of partially overlapping resource allocations, which is the most general case where multiple TRPs have independent resource allocations. Even so, the above solution is based on the UE supporting either fully overlapping or non-overlapping at any given time, but not supporting both at the same time (i.e., partially overlapping). For example, the UE can be configured (e.g., by RRC, PQI, etc.) to interpret the relevant DCI field as an overlapping allocation or a non-overlapping allocation.

[0191] Furthermore, the above-described LTE-centric solutions for multi-frequency domain resource allocation in a single DCI are specific to NC-JT transmissions with a one-to-one mapping between CWs and transmission sources (e.g., TRPs). These solutions are not applicable to the more flexible NR NC-JT, where multiple TRPs can transmit different layers of a single CW. Furthermore, these LTE-centric solutions rely on LTE PQI signaling to distinguish the type of resource allocation (e.g., single vs. dual) conveyed by a single DCI field. NR does not use the PQI framework for QCL indications, but instead uses the TCI framework discussed in more detail above.

[0192] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may address these and other problems, issues and / or difficulties by providing new techniques for indicating the contents of DCI fields related to frequency domain resource allocations (e.g., in DL scheduling grants). For example, these embodiments provide various novel and effective techniques to indicate the number of frequency domain resource allocations contained in a DCI field. Furthermore, these embodiments are fully compatible with the TCI framework being used in NR.

[0193] In addition to this compatibility, exemplary embodiments provide various specific advantages and / or improvements to conventional techniques for frequency domain resource allocation described above. For example, embodiments may facilitate adapting the number of frequency domain resource allocations in a single DCI field to different types of service profiles and / or services (e.g., for URLLC services and eMBB services).

[0194] Furthermore, embodiments may facilitate dynamic switching between single frequency domain resource allocation and multi-frequency domain resource allocation for multi-TRP transmission / multi-panel transmission, even within a single "frequency domain resource allocation" DCI field. This increases flexibility without the need to introduce another DCI field for frequency domain resource allocation, thereby eliminating the need to increase the DCI size, and therefore the amount of (e)PDCCH resources required to send the DCI.

[0195] As an additional example, embodiments facilitate sending different RVs of the same data packet from multiple TRPs in overlapping OFDM symbols but in non-overlapping frequency-domain resource allocations, which can be beneficial for "multi-TRP diversity" in URLLC-type applications (e.g., to facilitate increased reliability).

[0196] At a high level, specific embodiments can be summarized as follows. In some embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations in a particular DCI field can be determined based on another DCI field indicating the profile of the scheduled DL service (e.g., whether the service is URLLC or eMBB). In other embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations can be determined based on another DCI field indicating the number of TCI states and / or the number of QCL source RS pairs. In other embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations can be determined based on the value of the RV field in the DCI, where each RV value represents a different repetition from a different transmission source (e.g., TRP, panel, etc.). In other embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations can be determined based on the DMRS port set indicated by the antenna port field in the DCI.

[0197] In other embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations in a particular DCI field may be indicated differently, where a first set of bits in the DCI field indicates a superset of all RBs scheduled between multiple TRPs, and a second set of bits in the DCI field indicates a differential resource allocation corresponding to each TRP. These different embodiments are described in more detail below.

[0198] As briefly mentioned above, in some embodiments, the frequency domain and / or time domain resource allocation field of the DCI may be a function of the "transmission profile" field of the DCI. For example, the "transmission profile" may be defined in various ways to identify the characteristics of the service to be carried on the PHY. The following are some exemplary transmission profile values ​​and corresponding exemplary service characteristics:

[0199] Sending profile #0 indicates services without low latency or high reliability requirements (e.g., eMBB services);

[0200] Transmission profile #1 indicates a service with low delay requirements but no high reliability requirements, e.g. a delay target of 1-2 ms and a reliability target of 10 at the physical layer. -3 ;

[0201] Transmission profile #2 indicates traffic that does not have low latency requirements but has high reliability requirements, such as a latency target of 10-15 ms and a reliability target of 10 at the physical layer. -6 ;

[0202] Transmission profile #3 indicates traffic with both low delay and high reliability requirements, e.g., a delay target of 1-2 ms and a reliability target of 10 at the physical layer.-6 .

[0203] In addition to delay and / or reliability requirements, other requirements, such as a maximum target data rate, may be included in one or more transmission profiles. According to an exemplary embodiment, a transmission profile value may be used to indicate the number of frequency domain resource allocations in a DCI, particularly the number of frequency domain resource allocations that would be advantageous, beneficial, and / or optimal for a service identified by the service profile value.

[0204] The transmission profile signaling can be sent to the UE in various ways for both PDSCH and PUSCH, including dynamically as a field of DCI. If the UE is expected to handle both eMBB and URLLC services at the same time, DCI-based signaling can be particularly beneficial. For UEs that handle a single service type over a relatively long period of time, the transmission profile of PDSCH and / or PUSCH can be semi-statically configured via RRC.

[0205] In the following discussion of the principles of these embodiments, it is assumed that one TRP has four or fewer antenna ports and is therefore capable of carrying one CW. Although a TRP with more than four antenna ports can carry two CWs, the same principles apply, with some modifications available to the skilled person. In addition, unless explicitly stated otherwise, the embodiments apply to PDSCH transmissions that are dynamically scheduled (i.e., each PDSCH has an associated DCI) or semi-persistently scheduled (i.e., RRC configured PDSCH transmissions that are activated and deactivated by DCI).

[0206] In one form of these exemplary embodiments, various transmit profiles may be implicitly associated with different TRPs and time / frequency resource allocations. For example, transmit profile #0 above may be mapped to Release 15 operation such that one PDCCH schedules PDSCH transmissions via a single frequency resource allocation and a single time resource allocation. Similarly, transmit profiles #1-3 above may be mapped to a transmit format in which one PDCCH schedules transmissions via multiple frequency domain and / or time domain resource allocations used by multiple TRPs. For example, transmit profile #1 may be mapped to a transmit format in which two CWs are transmitted in the same time domain resources but across multiple TRPs in the same or different frequency domain resources.

[0207] As another example, a transmission profile 2-3 supporting high reliability requirements can be mapped to the following transmission format: in which the same CW is repeated across multiple TRPs, and each TRP uses different time-frequency resources. Because higher delays can be tolerated in transmission profile #2, time-dispersed resources can be allocated to each TRP to repeat the same CW for increased reliability. As an example, TRP0 can use (micro) timeslot j, TRP1 can use (micro) timeslot j+1, etc. In this case, the TRPs can use the same frequency domain resources. In contrast, because transmission profile #3 requires both low delay and high reliability, it can be associated with a resource allocation in which the TRPs use the same time domain resources but different frequency domain resources to send the same CW.

[0208] Various exemplary techniques may be used to indicate different time domain resources. For example, each of the multiple TRPs may be associated with a different repetition using consecutive time domain resources. This may be achieved by pre-defining a mapping between TCI states and repetition numbers. For example, for repetition number j (j=0, 1, ..., J-1), the TCI state is TCI(j)=j mod N TCI , where J is the total number of repetitions in time, and N TCI is the total number of available TCI states. If N TCI = 4 TCI states are available, and there are six time-continuous repetitions of the same CW, then the TCI states used for the corresponding repetitions will be {0, 1, 2, 3, 0, 1}. The time-continuous repetitions can be in consecutive time slots or consecutive mini-time slots, which will reduce the transmission delay for collecting the repetitions.

[0209] Various exemplary techniques may also be used to indicate different frequency domain resources. In general, one or more frequency domain resource allocations may be allocated to a UE within a single DCI field (e.g., a "frequency domain resource allocation" field in NR). In some embodiments, the UE may determine how many frequency domain resource allocations are included in the single field through another DCI field (e.g., the TCI state ID field described above). Such embodiments facilitate dynamic switching between a single frequency domain resource allocation and multiple frequency domain resource allocations within a single DCI field, even for multi-source (e.g., multi-TRP) transmissions.

[0210] In some embodiments, a DCI field (e.g., "Frequency Domain Resource Allocation") may indicate up to a maximum number M of frequency domain resource allocations, so that the actual number of frequency domain resource allocations in the "Frequency Domain Resource Allocation" DCI field may be 1, 2, ... or M. The maximum number M may be RRC configured or fixed in the specification.

[0211] In such an embodiment, the actual number of frequency domain resource allocations in the "Frequency Domain Resource Allocation" DCI field can be determined based on the value of the TCI field also included in the DCI. In a specific embodiment, the TCI field may indicate an extended TCI state that includes one or more source RS QCL type pairs. In this case, if the extended TCI state contains a single QCL type pair (e.g., {qcl-Type1, qcl-Type2}), the UE can determine that the actual number of frequency domain resource allocations is 1. More generally, if the extended TCI state indicated in the TCI field contains m≤M QCL type pairs (e.g., {{qcl-Type1, qcl-Type2} A ,{qcl-Type1,qcl-Type2} B}, etc.), the UE can determine that the actual number of frequency domain resource allocations is m.

[0212] For URLLC applications, PDSCH can be repeated from multiple TRPs, and when the UE is repeatedly scheduled for PDSCH, the TCI field can indicate a TCI state or an extended TCI state. Table 10 below shows an exemplary mapping of two-bit TCI field values ​​to TCI states for four different PDSCH repetitions. For example, the TCI value "00" selects repetitions across four different TCI states for four different transmission sources (e.g., TRPs). Based on this value, the UE can determine that the actual number of frequency-domain resource allocations included in the DCI is 4. More generally, if the TCI value selects a PDSCH repetition pattern of k TCI states limited to k transmission sources, the UE can determine that the actual number of frequency-domain resource allocations included in the DCI is k.

[0213] Table 10.

[0214]

[0215] In some variants, the maximum number M of frequency domain resource allocations in the "Frequency Domain Resource Allocations" DCI field may be less than the number of source RS QCL pairs in the extended TCI state indicated by the TCI field. For example, the extended TCI state indicated by the TCI field may contain N QCL type pairs, where N>M and each QCL type pair may correspond to a transmission from a TRP, panel, or beam. In this case, the UE may determine the mth frequency domain resource allocation for the nth QCL type pair based on some predetermined mapping.

[0216] An example of such a predetermined mapping is In this example, if there are N=4 QCL type pairs in the extended TCI state indicated by the TCI field, and there are at most M=2 frequency domain resource allocations, the first two QCL type pairs correspond to the first frequency domain resource allocation, and the second two QCL type pairs correspond to the second frequency domain resource allocation. When the maximum number M of frequency domain resource allocations is less than the number of TCI states indicated by the TCI field, a similar predetermined mapping can also be defined for URLLC applications, where each different TCI state can correspond to a different TRP, panel, or beam.

[0217] Such an embodiment is applicable to downlink resource allocation types 0 and 1. In the case of type 1, m different starting VRBs (RB start ) and m different lengths (L RBs ) may be jointly encoded, where m is indicated by the TCI field. In other variations, m different starting VRBs may be jointly encoded with a single length, where m is indicated by the TCI field and the single length L RBs Applies to all m resource allocations. In the case of Type 0, when m frequency domain resource allocations are indicated by the TCI field, the UE may determine (based on this information) that the RBG size is scaled by a factor of m. For example, if the RBG size associated with a single frequency domain resource allocation is P, then the RBG size associated with m>1 frequency domain resource allocations is m×P. Thus, if the frequency domain resource allocation field contains bits, then these bits are divided into m parts, each part contains Units. The first digit indicates the first frequency domain resource allocation, including the following The next portion of ones digits represents the second frequency domain resource allocation, and so on.

[0218] In other embodiments, M frequency domain resources may be semi-statically configured by RRC, such as {resource #1, ..., resource #M}. In this case, the DCI field only needs to indicate which of the M resources is used for the first scheduled PDSCH. For example, if resource #k (k=1, ..., M) is indicated by DCI, the m resources for m scheduled PDSCHs may be determined as {resource #k, resource #k+1, ..., resource #k+m-1}.

[0219] In other embodiments, the M frequency domain resources are defined by a combination of a single frequency domain resource and an offset Δf defined in units of RB or RBG. As an example, the single frequency domain resource includes {RB0, RB1, ..., RB n}, and define the offset Δf in terms of the number of RBs. M=4 frequency domain resources are defined in the BWP of RBs, and the four frequency domain resources can be defined as:

[0220] {RB0,RB1,…,RB n};

[0221]

[0222] as well as

[0223]

[0224] The offset Δf may be signaled to the UE in various ways. If the offset is semi-static, the offset may be signaled by higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC). If the offset is dynamic, the offset may be signaled by DCI, for example, by adding a new DCI field to contain the offset. For example, a two-bit field may be used to indicate four possible offset values. Alternatively, a combination of semi-static and dynamic configurations may be used. For example, RRC signaling may provide a set of four possible offset values, and DCI may be used to indicate a specific offset from a previously configured set of four values.

[0225] In other embodiments, multiple resource allocations corresponding to multiple TRPs may be indicated differently according to various techniques. As an example, a first resource allocation may be used to indicate a superset of all RBs scheduled for multiple TRPs, and a second differential resource allocation set may be used to indicate the RBs corresponding to each TRP. For example, each differential resource allocation may indicate which RBs in the first resource allocation the PDSCH layer of the corresponding TRP should not be mapped to. In this way, the UE may determine the resource allocation for each TRP based on removing each differentially allocated RB from the superset of all scheduled RBs indicated by the first allocation.

[0226] As an example of these embodiments, the first resource allocation may be represented as a type 1 allocation (e.g., starting PRB and length), and the second differential resource allocation set may be represented as a type 0 allocation (e.g., a bitmap). The first differential allocation and the second differential allocation may be mapped to separate subfields of the frequency domain resource allocation DCI field, or jointly encoded into a single field in various ways. As another example, the differential resource allocation set may be jointly encoded using a reduced number of bits so that not all possible combinations may be indicated by a field or subfield.

[0227] For the case of partially overlapping resource allocations for multiple TRPs, the rank of the PDSCH will vary across the allocated frequency resources. Consider a scenario where two TRPs are allocated two layers each using partially overlapping resource allocations. On the two overlapping resource blocks, the rank (e.g., number of layers) of the PDSCH will be 4, while on non-overlapping resource blocks, the rank of the PDSCH will be 2. This difference in the number of layers across the frequency resources will lead to ambiguity in how the DMRS ports are mapped.

[0228] In some embodiments, the antenna port field of the DCI for scheduling indicates the maximum number of layers across the entire scheduled frequency resource F (where ν f is the number of layers on resource block f) and the scheduled v max DMRS port index When the number of layers scheduled on a resource block is less than the maximum number of layers (as can be determined by the UE based on frequency domain allocation), the layers actually transmitted on the resource block are mapped to DMRS ports using the rule In one such embodiment, the first v f The indicated DMRS ports (according to the order given by the antenna port table) can be mapped to layers transmitted from different TRPs in different RBs. This means that for example antenna port {p0, p1} can be mapped to layers transmitted from the first TRP on some resource blocks and to layers transmitted from another TRP on other resource blocks.

[0229] However, in a system including multiple consecutive PRBs (where the number depends on the system bandwidth size N) DL RB Changing DMRS ports to TRP allocations may be problematic in situations where the resource allocation of a TRP changes within a precoding resource block group (PRG) with 100 PRBs. This can be addressed by imposing scheduling constraints so that this scenario never occurs. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the antenna port to TRP mapping may be fixed so that each TRP is assigned a fixed subset of DMRS antenna ports that are valid for the entire resource allocation for the PDSCH. For example, TRP A is assigned DMRS ports {p0, p1}, while TRP B is assigned DMRS ports {p2, p3}.

[0230] In some embodiments, the frequency domain resource allocation corresponding to all v maxThe DMRS antenna ports of each layer are allocated to the UE regardless of whether a corresponding PDSCH layer exists. This can be useful if a wideband PRG size is used, which enables the UE to perform wideband channel estimation. In other embodiments, DMRS ports only exist on resource blocks where the corresponding PDSCH layer also exists. Instead of sending DMRS ports for non-allocated TRPs, PDSCH can be mapped to these REs.

[0231] In other embodiments, the UE may determine how many frequency domain resource allocations to include in a DCI field (e.g., the NR "frequency domain resource allocation" field) based on the Redundancy Version (RV) DCI field. Such embodiments also facilitate dynamic switching between a single frequency domain resource allocation and multiple frequency domain resource allocations within a single DCI field, even for multi-source (e.g., multi-TRP) transmissions. This can be beneficial for URLLC applications where different RVs of the same data packet are sent from multiple TRPs in overlapping OFDM symbols but in different frequency domain resource allocations.

[0232] Similar to other embodiments, a DCI field (e.g., "frequency domain resource allocation") may indicate frequency domain resource allocations up to a maximum number M, so that the actual number of frequency domain resource allocations in the "frequency domain resource allocation" DCI field may be 1, 2, ... or M. The maximum number M may be RRC configured or fixed in the 3GPP specification. The actual number of frequency domain resource allocations included in the DCI field may be determined based on the value of the DCI RV field (i.e., m≤M).

[0233] For URLLC applications, the PDSCH can be repeated from multiple TRPs, and the DCI RV field can indicate which redundancy versions (RVs) of the data block are scheduled in the corresponding PDSCH repetitions. Table 11 below shows an exemplary mapping of two-bit RV field values ​​to RVs for four different PDSCH repetitions. For example, an RV field value of "00" selects a single RV to be sent in a single PDSCH repetition from a single transmission source (e.g., TRP). Based on this value, the UE can determine that the actual number of frequency-domain resource allocations included in the DCI is 1. More generally, if the RV field value selects a PDSCH repetition mode that is limited to k RVs sent by k corresponding sources, the UE can determine that the number of frequency-domain resource allocations included in the DCI is k.

[0234] Table 11.

[0235]

[0236] Note that the RV-based allocation determination and / or mapping applies to both type 0 and type 1 resource allocations. In addition, this can be particularly beneficial and / or advantageous for dynamically scheduled PDSCH and any other transmission scenarios where the RV DCI field does not need to be set to a specific value, including retransmissions of semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) data.

[0237] In other embodiments, the UE may determine how many frequency domain resource allocations are included in a DCI field (e.g., the NR "Frequency Domain Resource Allocation" field) by the antenna port (AP) DCI field. Such embodiments also facilitate dynamic switching between a single frequency domain resource allocation and multiple frequency domain resource allocations within a single DCI field, even for multi-source (e.g., multi-TRP) transmissions.

[0238] Similar to other embodiments, the DCI field may indicate up to a maximum number M of frequency domain resource allocations, so that the actual number of frequency domain resource allocations in the "Frequency Domain Resource Allocations" DCI field may be 1, 2, ... or M. The maximum number M may be RRC configured or fixed in the specification. The actual number of frequency domain resource allocations included in the DCI field may be determined based on the value of the AP DCI field (i.e., m≤M).

[0239] As discussed in more detail above, the AP DCI field may indicate the antenna ports used by the corresponding source (e.g., TRP) to transmit the DM-RS. In some of these embodiments, the UE may determine the number of frequency-domain resource allocations to include in the DCI field based on the number of DM-RS antenna ports indicated by the AP DCI field. In other words, if the AP DCI field value indicates that k antenna ports are used for DM-RS, the UE may determine that the number of frequency-domain resource allocations included in the DCI is k.

[0240] In other alternatives, the value of the AP DCI field may be used in combination with the value of one or more other DCI fields to determine the number of frequency domain resource allocations included in the DCI. For example, if the TCI DCI field indicates DMRS antenna ports belonging to k CDM groups, the UE may determine that the number of frequency domain resource allocations included in the DCI is k. As another alternative, all DMRS ports indicated by the AP DCI field may be assumed to be used in all frequency domain resource allocations including the DCI field, where the UE uses one or both of the TCI field and the RV field to determine the actual number of frequency domain resource allocations.

[0241] In other embodiments, the values ​​of other DCI fields may be used alone or in combination with the above-mentioned DCI fields to indicate the actual number of frequency domain resource allocations contained in the DCI. In this case, each repeated resource may be configured by the RRC. In one embodiment, the RNTI assigned to the PDCCH may be used to distinguish whether PDSCH repetition should be applied. As an example, if the PDCCH is associated with a C-RNTI, repetition is not applicable, but if the PDCCH is associated with a specific type of RNTI (e.g., URLLC-C-RNTI) that can be used to indicate a URLLC service type, repetition is applicable (e.g., according to a previous RRC configuration).

[0242] If other DCI fields (e.g., RNTI) indicate that PDSCH repetition should not be applied, the UE may determine that the number of frequency domain resource allocations in the "frequency domain resource allocation" DCI field is 1. On the other hand, if other DCI fields indicate that PDSCH repetition should be applied, the UE may determine the number of frequency domain resource allocations based on the values ​​of one or more other DCI fields (e.g., TCI, RV, AP, etc.), for example, in the manner described above with respect to other exemplary embodiments.

[0243] In other embodiments, additional bits and / or subfields may be included in the "Frequency Domain Resource Allocation" DCI field to indicate the number of frequency domain resource allocations in the same field. In one example, when a single additional bit is included in the DCI field, the bit may indicate whether one (e.g., by a bit value of "0") or two (e.g., by a bit value of "1") frequency domain resource allocations are included in the DCI field. In a second example, when two additional bits are included in the DCI field, the bits may be used to indicate up to four different frequency domain resource allocations (e.g., 1-4 or some other numbering).

[0244] In other embodiments, a combination of an RRC configuration and an RNTI assigned to a PDCCH can be used to determine whether a single PDCCH schedules multiple PDSCH repetitions in the same time slot (or in different time slots) via multiple transmission sources (e.g., TRPs). For example, when the PDCCH is scrambled by a specific RNTI associated with a URLLC service (e.g., URLLC-C-RNTI), the UE can be configured by the RRC to receive multiple PDSCH repetitions. The RRC configuration can also be used to indicate the number of PDSCH transmissions, and multiple PDSCH repetitions carry the same data payload but have different RV values. Based on receiving a PDCCH with a specific RNTI, the UE can determine the number of PDSCHs scheduled by the PDCCH, frequency domain (and / or time domain) resource allocation, RV, DMRS ports, and QCL information for each PDSCH based on both the RRC configuration and the PDCCH DCI content.

[0245] You can refer to Figure 11-12 To further illustrate the above embodiments, Figure 11-12 1 and 2 show exemplary methods performed by a UE and a wireless network, respectively. Figure 11-12 The various characteristics of the operations described correspond to the various embodiments described above.

[0246] More specifically, Fig.11 A flowchart of an exemplary method (e.g., process) for receiving a physical data channel transmission from a wireless network according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The exemplary method may be performed by a user equipment (UE, e.g., a wireless device, an IoT device, a modem, etc., or a component thereof) communicating with one or more network nodes (e.g., a base station, a gNB, an en-gNB, a TRP, etc., or a component thereof) in a wireless network (e.g., an NG-RAN). For example, Fig.11 The exemplary method shown in can be implemented in a UE configured as described herein with reference to other figures. In addition, Fig.11 The exemplary methods shown in can be used in conjunction with the present invention (e.g. Fig.12 ) are used in conjunction with the other exemplary methods described herein to provide various exemplary benefits and / or advantages. Fig.11 Certain blocks are shown in a particular order, but the operations of the exemplary method may be performed in an order different from that shown and may be combined and / or divided into blocks having functions different from that shown. Optional blocks or operations are indicated with dashed lines.

[0247] In some embodiments, Fig.11 The exemplary method shown in may include the operation of block 1110, wherein the UE may receive a high-layer control message including one or more other features of a physical data channel transmission from a wireless network. For example, the high-layer control message may be an RRC message. Various other features may be included according to various embodiments.

[0248] In some embodiments, the control message may include multiple traffic control indicator (TCI) states. For example, each TCI state may include one or more pairs of source RS QCL relationships, as described above.

[0249] In some embodiments, the control message may include multiple service profiles, each service profile including multiple features associated with a particular type of data service. In some embodiments, the control message may include a configuration of frequency domain resources associated with each of multiple PDSCH repetitions sent by corresponding multiple sources. In some embodiments, the control message may include multiple redundancy version (RV) configurations, each RV configuration associating one or more RVs of a single data block with multiple PDSCH repetitions sent by corresponding multiple sources. In some embodiments, the control message may include multiple antenna port (AP) configurations, each AP configuration identifying one or more demodulation reference signals (DM-RS) associated with multiple PDSCH repetitions sent by corresponding multiple sources. These features are not exclusive and may be combined with other similar features associated with PDSCH transmission.

[0250] The exemplary method may also include the operation of block 1120, where the UE may receive configuration information from the wireless network. The configuration information may include a first indication of one or more frequency domain resource allocations of one or more corresponding sources configured by the wireless network for one or more corresponding physical data channel transmissions. The configuration information may also include one or more second indications of other characteristics of the physical data channel transmissions.

[0251] In an embodiment including the operations of block 1110, the second indication may identify (e.g., point to) a particular configuration and / or option received in a higher-layer control message. Even so, other features identified by the second indication may be the same or different from other features identified in a control message received in some embodiments (e.g., in block 1110).

[0252] In various embodiments, the configuration information may be received via a downlink message having one or more of the following characteristics: a single message; received via a single physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and received via a downlink control information (DCI) scheduling grant.

[0253] In various embodiments, when the first indication and the second indication are received in a single DCI message, the second indication may include any of: a service profile indicator field in a single DCI message; a transmit control indicator (TCI) status field in a single DCI message; a redundancy version (RV) field in a single DCI message; an antenna port (AP) indicator field in a single DCI message; and a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the PDCCH (e.g., used to scramble the CRC).

[0254] In some embodiments, where the first indication and the second indication are received in a single DCI message, the second indication may be included in a TCI state field of the DCI message, where the TCI state field identifies one or more TCI states. In such embodiments, the frequency domain resource allocations may be non-overlapping, and each non-overlapping frequency domain resource allocation may be associated with a corresponding TCI state indicated by the second indication.

[0255] In addition, in some of these embodiments, each TCI state indicated by the second indication includes one or more source reference signal (RS) pairs, each source RS pair having a corresponding quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship pair with an antenna port for a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS). In some of these embodiments, a corresponding source configured by the wireless network corresponds to one of the following: a corresponding TCI state indicated by the second indication; or a corresponding QCL relationship pair included in the TCI state indicated by the second indication.

[0256] In some of these embodiments, the configuration information further includes a third indication of a plurality of antenna ports for the DM-RS, wherein the indicated plurality of antenna ports are associated with all frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication.

[0257] In some of these embodiments, the one or more TCI states indicated by the second indication may correspond to a code division multiplexing (CDM) group associated with each physical data channel transmission. In such embodiments, each physical data channel transmission may be received in association with a DMRS (e.g., in block 1150 described below) having an antenna port with a QCL relationship included in the corresponding TCI state.

[0258] In some embodiments, where the higher layer control message (e.g., received in block 1110) includes multiple TCI states, the second indication (e.g., received in block 1120) may include an indication of one or more of the TCI states included in the higher layer control message. In this manner, for example, a DCI including the second indication may be used to dynamically select a TCI state previously configured via RRC. Other examples include:

[0259] • The second indication may include a traffic profile indicator identifying a specific traffic profile among a plurality of traffic profiles included in the control message.

[0260] • The second indication may include an RV indicator identifying a specific RV configuration included in the control message.

[0261] • The second indication may include an AP indicator identifying a specific AP configuration included in the control message.

[0262] The first indication may have various formats associated with various embodiments. In some embodiments, the first indication may include a first field and a second field. In such an embodiment, the first field may identify a superset of frequency domain resource allocations for multiple transmission sources, and for each transmission source, the second field may identify a subset of the superset identified by the first field. For example, the subset identified for each transmission source may include frequency domain resource allocations of the superset that are not used for that particular transmission source.

[0263] In some embodiments, the first indication may include a first set of bits and a second set of bits in a single field. In such an embodiment, the first set of bits may identify a superset of frequency domain resource allocations for multiple transmission sources, and for each transmission source, the second set of bits may identify a subset of the superset identified by the first set of bits. For example, the subset identified for each transmission source may include frequency domain resource allocations of the superset that are not used for that particular transmission source.

[0264] The exemplary method may also include the operation of block 1130, wherein the UE may determine, based on the second indication, the number of frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication. In some embodiments, the determination is not based on the first indication. In other words, the determination of the number of frequency domain resource allocations may be based on the second indication and, in some embodiments, based on configuration information received in a higher layer control message.

[0265] In some embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication may be determined based on one or more of: the number of TCI states indicated by the second indication; and the number of QCL relationship pairs included in the TCI state indicated by the second indication. For example, each TCI state or each QCL pair may correspond to a transmission from a different source.

[0266] In other embodiments, if the service profile indicator of the second indication identifies a service profile associated with the first type of data service, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined to be greater than 1. Similarly, if the service profile indicator identifies a service profile associated with the second type of data service, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined to be 1. For example, the first type of data service may be enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), and the second type of data service may be ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC).

[0267] In other embodiments, if the (second indicated) RNTI is associated with a first type of data service, the number of frequency domain resource allocations may be determined as the number of repetitions configured in the control message. Similarly, if the RNTI is not associated with a first type of data service, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined to be 1. For example, the first type of data service may be URLLC.

[0268] In other embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations may be determined based on the number of RVs of a single data block included in a specific RV configuration indicated by one of the second indications. In other embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations may be determined based on the number of DM-RS ports included in a specific antenna port configuration indicated by one of the second indications.

[0269] In some embodiments, the exemplary method may also include the operation of box 1140, wherein the UE may determine one or more resource blocks within one or more frequency domain allocations based on the first indication (e.g., received in box 1120) and the determined quantity (e.g., from box 1130).

[0270] The exemplary method may also include the operation of block 1150, wherein the UE may receive the determined number of physical data channel transmissions from the wireless network based on the corresponding indicated frequency domain resource allocation. In an embodiment including the operation of block 1140, the UE may also receive the determined number of physical data channel transmissions based on the determined resource blocks. In some embodiments, wherein multiple physical data channel transmissions are received in block 1150, each transmission may carry a different redundancy version (RV) of a single data block. This diversity arrangement can facilitate improved reliability, as discussed in more detail above.

[0271] also, Fig.12 An exemplary method (e.g., process) for performing physical data channel transmission to a user equipment (UE) according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The exemplary method may be performed by a wireless network (e.g., NG-RAN) including one or more nodes (e.g., base stations, gNBs, en-gNBs, TRPs, etc., or components thereof) communicating with the UE. For example, Fig.12 The exemplary method shown in can be implemented in one or more network nodes configured as described herein with reference to other figures. In addition, Fig.12 The exemplary methods shown in can be used in conjunction with the present invention (e.g. Fig.11 ) are used in conjunction with the other exemplary methods described herein to provide various exemplary benefits and / or advantages. Fig.12 Certain blocks are shown in a particular order, but the operations of the exemplary method may be performed in an order different from that shown and may be combined and / or divided into blocks having functions different from that shown. Optional blocks or operations are shown in dashed lines.

[0272] In some embodiments, Fig.12The exemplary method shown in may include the operation of block 1210, wherein the wireless network may send a high-layer control message including one or more other features of a physical data channel transmission to the UE. For example, the high-layer control message may be an RRC message. Various other features may be included according to various embodiments.

[0273] In some embodiments, the control message may include multiple traffic control indicator (TCI) states. For example, each TCI state may include one or more pairs of source RS QCL relationships, as described above.

[0274] In some embodiments, the control message may include multiple service profiles, each service profile including multiple features associated with a particular type of data service. In some embodiments, the control message may include a configuration of frequency domain resources associated with each of multiple PDSCH repetitions sent by corresponding multiple sources. In some embodiments, the control message may include multiple redundancy version (RV) configurations, each RV configuration associating one or more RVs of a single data block with multiple PDSCH repetitions sent by corresponding multiple sources. In some embodiments, the control message may include multiple antenna port (AP) configurations, each AP configuration identifying one or more demodulation reference signals (DM-RS) associated with multiple PDSCH repetitions sent by corresponding multiple sources. These features are not exclusive and may be combined with other similar features associated with PDSCH transmission.

[0275] The exemplary method may also include the operation of block 1220, where the wireless network may send configuration information to the UE. The configuration information may include a first indication of one or more frequency domain resource allocations of the corresponding one or more sources configured by the wireless network for the corresponding one or more physical data channel transmissions. The configuration information may also include one or more second indications of other characteristics of the physical data channel transmissions.

[0276] In addition, the number of frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication may be determined based on one or more second indications. In some embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication may be determined based on one or more second indications (and in some embodiments, based on configuration information received in a high-layer control message) without reference to the first indication. In other words, in such an embodiment, the number of frequency domain resource allocations may be determined independently of the first indication.

[0277] In an embodiment including the operations of block 1210, the second indication may identify (e.g., point to) a particular configuration and / or option received in a higher-layer control message. Even so, other features identified by the second indication may be the same or different from other features identified in a control message that may be sent in some embodiments (e.g., in block 1210).

[0278] In various embodiments, the configuration information may be sent via a downlink message having one or more of the following characteristics: a single message; received via a single physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and received via a downlink control information (DCI) scheduling grant.

[0279] In various embodiments, when the first indication and the second indication are sent in a single DCI message, the second indication may include any of the following: a service profile indicator field in a single DCI message; a transmit control indicator (TCI) status field in a single DCI message; a redundancy version (RV) field in a single DCI message; an antenna port (AP) indicator field in a single DCI message; and a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the PDCCH (e.g., used to scramble the CRC).

[0280] In some embodiments, where the first indication and the second indication are sent in a single DCI message, the second indication may be included in a TCI state field of the DCI message, where the TCI state field identifies one or more TCI states. In such embodiments, the frequency domain resource allocations may be non-overlapping, and each non-overlapping frequency domain resource allocation may be associated with a corresponding TCI state indicated by the second indication.

[0281] In addition, in some of these embodiments, each TCI state indicated by the second indication includes one or more source reference signal (RS) pairs, each source RS pair having a corresponding quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship pair with an antenna port for a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS). In some of these embodiments, a corresponding source configured by the wireless network corresponds to one of the following: a corresponding TCI state indicated by the second indication; or a corresponding QCL relationship pair included in the TCI state indicated by the second indication.

[0282] In some of these embodiments, the configuration information further includes a third indication of a plurality of antenna ports for the DM-RS, wherein the indicated plurality of antenna ports are associated with all frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication.

[0283] In some of these embodiments, the one or more TCI states indicated by the second indication may correspond to a code division multiplexing (CDM) group associated with each physical data channel transmission. In such embodiments, each physical data channel transmission may be sent in association with a DMRS (e.g., in block 1250 described below) having an antenna port with a QCL relationship included in the corresponding TCI state.

[0284] In some embodiments, where the higher layer control message (e.g., sent in block 1210) includes multiple TCI states, the second indication (e.g., sent in block 1220) may include an indication of one or more of the TCI states included in the higher layer control message. In this manner, for example, the DCI including the second indication may be used by the wireless network to dynamically select a TCI state previously configured via RRC. Other examples include:

[0285] The second indication may include a service profile indicator identifying a specific service profile among a plurality of service profiles included in the control message;

[0286] The second indication may include an RV indicator identifying a specific RV configuration included in the control message; and

[0287] • The second indication may include an AP indicator identifying a specific AP configuration included in the control message.

[0288] The first indication may have various formats associated with various embodiments. In some embodiments, the first indication may include a first field and a second field. In such an embodiment, the first field may identify a superset of frequency domain resource allocations for multiple transmission sources, and for each transmission source, the second field may identify a subset of the superset identified by the first field. For example, the subset identified for each transmission source may include frequency domain resource allocations of the superset that are not used for that particular transmission source.

[0289] In some embodiments, the first indication may include a first set of bits and a second set of bits in a single field. In such an embodiment, the first set of bits may identify a superset of frequency domain resource allocations for multiple transmission sources, and for each transmission source, the second set of bits may identify a subset of the superset identified by the first set of bits. For example, the subset identified for each transmission source may include frequency domain resource allocations of the superset that are not used for that particular transmission source.

[0290] In some embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication may be determined based on one or more of: the number of TCI states indicated by the second indication; and the number of QCL relationship pairs included in the TCI state indicated by the second indication. For example, each TCI state or each QCL pair may correspond to a transmission from a different source.

[0291] In other embodiments, if the service profile indicator of the second indication identifies a service profile associated with the first type of data service, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined to be greater than 1. Similarly, if the service profile indicator identifies a service profile associated with the second type of data service, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined to be 1. For example, the first type of data service may be enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), and the second type of data service may be ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC).

[0292] In other embodiments, if the (second indicated) RNTI is associated with a first type of data service, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is the number of repetitions configured in the control message. Similarly, if the RNTI is not associated with a first type of data service, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is 1. For example, the first type of data service may be URLLC.

[0293] In other embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is based on the number of RVs for a single data block included in a specific RV configuration indicated by one of the second indications. In other embodiments, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is based on the number of DM-RS ports included in a specific antenna port configuration indicated by one of the second indications.

[0294] The example method may also include the operation of block 1250, where the wireless network may send a physical data channel transmission to the UE based on the corresponding indicated frequency domain resource allocation and based on the indicated other characteristics (e.g., as indicated in block 1220). In some embodiments, where multiple physical data channel transmissions are sent in block 1250, each transmission may carry a different redundancy version (RV) of a single data block. Such a diversity arrangement can facilitate improved reliability, as discussed in more detail above.

[0295] Although various embodiments are described above in terms of methods, techniques and / or processes, a person of ordinary skill will readily appreciate that such methods, techniques and / or processes may be implemented through various combinations of hardware and software in various systems, communication devices, computing devices, control devices, apparatuses, non-transitory computer-readable media, computer program products, etc.

[0296] Fig.13 A block diagram of an exemplary wireless device or user equipment (UE) 1300 (hereinafter referred to as "UE 1300") according to various embodiments of the present disclosure (including those described above with reference to other figures) is shown. For example, UE 1300 can be configured by executing instructions stored on a computer-readable medium to perform operations corresponding to one or more of the exemplary methods described herein.

[0297] UE 1300 may include a processor 1310 (also referred to as a "processing circuit") that may be operably connected to a program memory 1320 and / or a data memory 1330 via a bus 1370, which may include a parallel address and data bus, a serial port, or other methods and / or structures known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Program memory 1320 may store software codes, programs, and / or instructions (in Fig.13 1321), when executed by processor 1310, these software codes, programs and / or instructions can configure and / or facilitate UE 1300 to perform various operations, including operations corresponding to various exemplary methods described herein. As part of or in addition to such operations, the execution of such instructions can configure and / or facilitate UE 1300 to communicate using one or more wired or wireless communication protocols, including one or more wireless communication protocols standardized by 3GPP, 3GPP2 or IEEE, such as protocols commonly referred to as 5G / NR, LTE, LTE-A, UMTS, HSPA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, 1xRTT, CDMA2000, 802.11 WiFi, HDMI, USB, Firewire, etc., or any other current or future protocols that can be used in conjunction with radio transceiver 1340, user interface 1350 and / or control interface 1360.

[0298] As another example, the processor 1310 may execute program code stored in the program memory 1320, which corresponds to MAC, RLC, PDCP, and RRC layer protocols standardized by 3GPP (e.g., for NR and / or LTE). As another example, the processor 1310 may execute program code stored in the program memory 1320, which together with the radio transceiver 1340 implements corresponding PHY layer protocols, such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), and single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA). As another example, the processor 1310 may execute program code stored in the program memory 1320, which together with the radio transceiver 1340 implements device-to-device (D2D) communication with other compatible devices and / or UEs.

[0299] The program memory 1320 may also include software code executed by the processor 1310 to control the functions of the UE 1300, including configuring and controlling various components such as the radio transceiver 1340, the user interface 1350 and / or the control interface 1360. The program memory 1320 may also include one or more applications and / or modules that include computer executable instructions for implementing any exemplary method described herein. Such software code may be specified or written using any known or future developed programming language, such as Java, C++, C, Objective C, HTML, XHTML, machine code, and assembler, as long as the required functionality, such as the functionality defined by the implemented method steps, is retained. In addition, or as an alternative, the program memory 1320 may include an external storage arrangement (not shown) remote from the UE 1300, from which instructions may be downloaded to the program memory 1320 located within the UE 1300 or removably coupled to the UE 1300, so as to enable the execution of such instructions.

[0300] The data memory 1330 may include a memory area for the processor 1310 to store variables used in protocols, configurations, controls, and other functions of the UE 1300, including operations corresponding to or including any exemplary method described herein. In addition, the program memory 1320 and / or the data memory 1330 may include non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic RAM), or a combination thereof. In addition, the data memory 1330 may include a storage slot through which a removable memory card of one or more formats (e.g., SD card, memory stick, compact flash, etc.) may be inserted and removed.

[0301] Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the processor 1310 may include multiple individual processors (including, for example, a multi-core processor), each of which implements a portion of the above-described functionality. In this case, the multiple individual processors may be connected together to the program memory 1320 and the data memory 1330, or individually to multiple individual program memories and / or data memories. More generally, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the various protocols and other functions of the UE 1300 may be implemented in many different computer arrangements including different combinations of hardware and software, including but not limited to application processors, signal processors, general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, ASICs, fixed and / or programmable digital circuits, analog baseband circuits, radio frequency circuits, software, firmware, and middleware.

[0302] The radio transceiver 1340 may include radio frequency transmitter and / or receiver functionality that facilitates the UE 1300 to communicate with other devices supporting similar wireless communication standards and / or protocols. In some exemplary embodiments, the radio transceiver 1340 includes one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that enable the UE 1300 to communicate according to various protocols and / or methods proposed for standardization by 3GPP and / or other standards bodies. For example, such functionality may operate in conjunction with the processor 1310 to implement a PHY layer based on OFDM, OFDMA and / or SC-FDMA technology, such as described herein with respect to other figures.

[0303] In some exemplary embodiments, the radio transceiver 1340 includes one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that can facilitate the UE 1300 to communicate with various LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), and / or NR networks in accordance with the standards promulgated by 3GPP. In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the radio transceiver 1340 includes the necessary circuits, firmware, etc. for the UE 1300 to communicate with various NR, NR-U, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-LAA, UMTS, and / or GSM / EDGE networks in accordance with the 3GPP standards. In some embodiments, the radio transceiver 1340 may include circuits to support D2D communications between the UE 1300 and other compatible devices.

[0304] In some embodiments, the radio transceiver 1340 includes circuits, firmware, etc. necessary for the UE 1300 to communicate with various CDMA2000 networks according to the 3GPP2 standard. In some embodiments, the radio transceiver 1340 may be capable of using radio technology operating in unlicensed bands, such as IEEE802.11 WiFi operating with frequencies in the 2.4, 5.6 and / or 60 GHz range to communicate. In some embodiments, the radio transceiver 1340 may include a transceiver capable of wired communication, such as by using IEEE802.3 Ethernet technology to communicate. Functions specific to each of these embodiments may be coupled to and / or controlled by other circuits in the UE 1300, such as the processor 1310 executing program codes stored in the program memory 1320 in conjunction with the data memory 1330 and / or with the support of the data memory 1330.

[0305] The user interface 1350 may take various forms depending on the specific embodiment of the UE 1300, or may not be present at all in the UE 1300. In some embodiments, the user interface 1350 may include a microphone, a speaker, a slidable button, a depressible button, a display, a touch screen display, a mechanical or virtual keypad, a mechanical or virtual keyboard, and / or any other user interface features typically found on a mobile phone. In other embodiments, the UE 1300 may include a tablet computing device that includes a larger touch screen display. In such an embodiment, one or more mechanical features of the user device 1350 may be replaced by comparable or functionally equivalent virtual user device features (e.g., virtual keyboards, virtual buttons, etc.) implemented using a touch screen display, as is familiar to those of ordinary skill in the art. In other embodiments, the UE 1300 may be a digital computing device, such as a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a workstation, etc., which includes a mechanical keyboard that may be integrated, separated, or detachable according to a specific exemplary embodiment. Such a digital computing device may also include a touch screen display. Many exemplary embodiments of the UE 1300 with a touch screen display are capable of receiving user input, such as input associated with the exemplary methods described herein or other input known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

[0306] In some embodiments, UE 1300 may include an orientation sensor that can be used in various ways by the features and functions of UE 1300. For example, UE 1300 can use the output of the orientation sensor to determine when a user has changed the physical orientation of the touch screen display of UE 1300. The indication signal from the orientation sensor can be used for any application executed on UE 1300, so that when the indication signal indicates an approximately 90° change in the physical orientation of the device, the application can automatically change the orientation of the screen display (e.g., from portrait to landscape). In this exemplary manner, the application can maintain the screen display in a user-readable manner regardless of the physical orientation of the device. In addition, the output of the orientation sensor can be used in conjunction with various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0307] The control interface 1360 of the UE 1300 may take various forms depending on the specific exemplary embodiments of the UE 1300 and the specific interface requirements of other devices with which the UE 1300 is intended to communicate and / or control. For example, the control interface 1360 may include an RS-232 interface, an RS-4135 interface, a USB interface, an HDMI interface, a Bluetooth interface, an IEEE ("Firewire") interface, an I 2C interface, PCMCIA interface, etc. In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the control interface 1360 may include an IEEE 802.3 Ethernet interface as described above. In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the control interface 1360 may include an analog interface circuit, including, for example, one or more digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and / or analog-to-digital converters (ADCs).

[0308] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the above list of features, interfaces, and radio frequency communication standards is merely exemplary and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. Fig.13 1300, including, for example, video and / or still image cameras, microphones, media players and / or recorders, etc. In addition, the radio transceiver 1340 may include circuits necessary for communicating using additional radio frequency communication standards (including Bluetooth, GPS, and / or others). In addition, the processor 1310 may execute software code stored in the program memory 1320 to control such additional functionality. For example, the directional velocity and / or position estimate output from the GPS receiver may be used in any application executed on the UE 1300, including any program code corresponding to and / or implementing any exemplary embodiment (e.g., method) described herein.

[0309] Fig.14 A block diagram of an exemplary network node 1400 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure (including those described above with reference to other figures) is shown. For example, the exemplary network node 1400 can be configured by executing instructions stored on a computer-readable medium to perform operations corresponding to one or more of the exemplary methods described herein. In some exemplary embodiments, the network node 1400 may include a base station, an eNB, a gNB, or one or more components thereof. For example, according to the NR gNB architecture specified by 3GPP, the network node 1400 may be configured as a central unit (CU) and one or more distributed units (DUs). More generally, the functionality of the network node 1400 may be distributed across various physical devices and / or functional units, modules, etc.

[0310] Network node 1400 may include a processor 1410 (also referred to as a "processing circuit") operably connected to program memory 1420 and data memory 1430 via a bus 1470, which may include a parallel address and data bus, a serial port, or other methods and / or structures known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

[0311] Program memory 1420 may store software codes, programs and / or instructions (in Fig.14The program memory 1420 may include a computer program product 1421 (collectively referred to as a computer program product 1421) that, when executed by the processor 1410, may configure and / or facilitate the network node 1400 to perform various operations, including operations corresponding to the various exemplary methods described herein. As part of and / or in addition to such operations, the program memory 1420 may also include software code executed by the processor 1410 that may configure and / or facilitate the network node 1400 to communicate with one or more other UEs or network nodes using other protocols or protocol layers, such as one or more of the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, and RRC layer protocols standardized by 3GPP for LTE, LTE-A, and / or NR, or any other higher layer (e.g., NAS) used in conjunction with the radio network interface 1440 and / or the core network interface 1450. For example, as standardized by 3GPP, the core network interface 1450 may include an S1 or NG interface and the radio network interface 1440 may include a Uu interface. The program memory 1420 may also include software code that is executed by the processor 1410 to control the functionality of the network node 1400 , including configuring and controlling various components, such as the radio network interface 1440 and the core network interface 1450 .

[0312] Data memory 1430 may include a memory area for processor 1410 to store variables used in protocols, configurations, controls, and other functions of network node 1400. Thus, program memory 1420 and data memory 1430 may include non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory, hard disk, etc.), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic RAM), network-based (e.g., "cloud") storage, or a combination thereof. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that processor 1410 may include multiple separate processors (not shown), each of which implements a portion of the above-described functions. In this case, multiple separate processors may be connected to program memory 1420 and data memory 1430 together, or individually to multiple separate program memories and / or data memories. More generally, one of ordinary skill will recognize that the various protocols and other functions of network node 1400 may be implemented in many different combinations of hardware and software, including but not limited to application processors, signal processors, general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, ASICs, fixed digital circuits, programmable digital circuits, analog baseband circuits, radio frequency circuits, software, firmware, and middleware.

[0313] The radio network interface 1440 may include a transmitter, a receiver, a signal processor, an ASIC, an antenna, a beamforming unit, and other circuits that enable the network node 1400 to communicate with other devices, such as, in some embodiments, multiple compatible user equipments (UEs). In some embodiments, the interface 1440 may also enable the network node 1400 to communicate with compatible satellites of a satellite communication network. In some exemplary embodiments, the radio network interface 1440 may include various protocols or protocol layers, such as PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, and / or RRC layer protocols standardized by 3GPP for LTE, LTE-A, LTE-LAA, NR, NR-U, etc.; improvements to the protocols as described above; or any other higher layer protocol used in conjunction with the radio network interface 1440. According to further exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the radio network interface 1440 may include a PHY layer based on OFDM, OFDMA, and / or SC-FDMA technology. In some embodiments, the functionality of such a PHY layer may be provided in collaboration by the radio network interface 1440 and the processor 1410 (including program code in the memory 1420).

[0314] The core network interface 1450 may include a transmitter, a receiver, and other circuits that enable the network node 1400 to communicate with other devices in the core network (e.g., in some embodiments, a circuit switched (CS) and / or packet switched core (PS) network). In some embodiments, the core network interface 1450 may include an S1 interface standardized by 3GPP. In some embodiments, the core network interface 1450 may include an NG interface standardized by 3GPP. In some exemplary embodiments, the core network interface 1450 may include one or more interfaces to one or more AMFs, SMFs, SGWs, MMEs, SGSNs, GGSNs, and other physical devices including functions found in GERAN, UTRAN, EPC, 5GC, and CDMA2000 core networks known to those of ordinary skill in the art. In some embodiments, these one or more interfaces may be multiplexed together on a single physical interface. In some embodiments, the lower layers of the core network interface 1450 may include one or more of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), Internet Protocol (IP) on Ethernet, SDH on optical fiber, T1 / E1 / PDH on copper wire, microwave radio, or other wired or wireless transmission technologies known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

[0315] In some embodiments, the network node 1400 may include hardware and / or software that configures and / or facilitates the network node 1400 to communicate with other network nodes in the RAN, such as other eNBs, gNBs, ng-eNBs, en-gNBs, IAB nodes, etc. Such hardware and / or software may be part of the radio network interface 1440 and / or the core network interface 1450, or it may be a separate functional unit (not shown). For example, such hardware and / or software may configure and / or facilitate the network node 1400 to communicate with other RAN nodes via an X2 or Xn interface, as standardized by 3GPP.

[0316] The OA&M interface 1460 may include transmitters, receivers, and other circuits that enable the network node 1400 to communicate with external networks, computers, databases, etc. for the purposes of operation, management, and maintenance of the network node 1400 or other network devices operably connected thereto. The lower layers of the OA&M interface 1460 may include one or more of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), Internet Protocol (IP) over Ethernet, SDH over fiber, T1 / E1 / PDH over copper wire, microwave radio, or other wired or wireless transmission technologies known to those of ordinary skill in the art. In addition, in some embodiments, one or more of the radio network interface 1440, the core network interface 1450, and the OA&M interface 1460 may be multiplexed together on a single physical interface, such as the examples listed above.

[0317] Fig.15 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary communication network according to one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the exemplary communication network being configured to provide over-the-top (OTT) data services between a host computer and a user equipment (UE). UE 1510 may communicate with a radio access network (RAN) 1530 via a radio interface 1520, which may be based on the above-mentioned protocols, including, for example, LTE, LTE-A, and 5G / NR. For example, UE 1510 may be configured and / or arranged as shown in the other figures discussed above.

[0318] RAN 1530 may include one or more ground network nodes (e.g., base stations, eNBs, gNBs, controllers, etc.) that may operate in licensed spectrum bands, and one or more network nodes that may operate in unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 2.4 GHz band and / or 5 GHz band) (using, for example, LAA or NR-U technology). In this case, the network nodes including RAN 1530 may operate in coordination using licensed and unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, RAN 1530 may include or be capable of communicating with one or more satellites, the one or more satellites including a satellite access network.

[0319] The RAN 1530 may further communicate with the core network 1540 according to the various protocols and interfaces described above. For example, one or more devices (e.g., base stations, eNBs, gNBs, etc.) including the RAN 1530 may communicate with the core network 1540 via the core network interface 1550 described above. In some exemplary embodiments, the RAN 1530 and the core network 1540 may be configured and / or arranged as shown in the other figures discussed above. For example, the eNBs including the E-UTRAN 1530 may communicate with the EPC core network 1540 via the S1 interface. As another example, the gNBs and ng-eNBs including the NG-RAN 1530 may communicate with the 5GC core network 1530 via the NG interface.

[0320] The core network 1540 may further communicate with the network in accordance with various protocols and interfaces known to those skilled in the art. Fig.15 1550. Many other devices and / or networks may also be connected to the Internet 1550 and communicate with, for example, an exemplary host computer 1560 via the Internet 1550. In some exemplary embodiments, the host computer 1560 may communicate with the UE 1510 using the Internet 1550, the core network 1540, and the RAN 1530 as intermediaries. The host computer 1560 may be a server (e.g., an application server) under the ownership and / or control of a service provider. The host computer 1560 may be operated by the OTT service provider or by another entity on behalf of the service provider.

[0321] For example, the host computer 1560 may use the facilities of the core network 1540 and the RAN 1530 to provide an over-the-top (OTT) packet data service to the UE 1510, and the UE 1510 may not be aware of the routing of outgoing / incoming communications to / from the host computer 1560. Similarly, the host computer 1560 may not be aware of the routing of transmissions from the host computer to the UE, such as the routing of transmissions through the RAN 1530. Fig.15The exemplary configuration shown in provides various OTT services, including, for example, streaming (one-way) audio and / or video from a host computer to a UE, interactive (two-way) audio and / or video between a host computer and a UE, interactive messaging or social communication, interactive virtual or augmented reality, etc.

[0322] Fig.15 The exemplary network shown in the may also include measurement processes and / or sensors that monitor network performance indicators, including data rate, latency, and other factors improved by the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein. The exemplary network may also include functionality for reconfiguring links between endpoints (e.g., a host computer and a UE) in response to changes in measurement results. Such processes and functions are known and practiced; if the network hides or abstracts the radio interface from the OTT service provider, measurements may be facilitated by proprietary signaling between the UE and the host computer.

[0323] The exemplary embodiments described herein provide efficient techniques for ultra-reliable, low-latency communication (URLLC) by configuring a UE, such as UE 1510, to send and / or receive multiple versions of a data block on a separate physical data channel (e.g., PDSCH or PUSCH). In this way, PDSCH diversity through multiple TRP transmissions to a single UE can be achieved. This can improve reliability, reduce latency, and / or reduce UE complexity. When used in a NR UE (e.g., UE 1510) and a gNB (e.g., a gNB including RAN 1530), the exemplary embodiments described herein can provide various improvements, benefits, and / or advantages that facilitate the use of data services (e.g., URLLC) with strict performance requirements. As a result, this improves the performance of these services experienced by OTT service providers and end users, including more consistent data throughput and lower latency, without excessive UE power consumption or other user experience degradation.

[0324] The above merely illustrates the principles of the present disclosure. In view of the teachings herein, various modifications and changes to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It should therefore be understood that those skilled in the art will be able to design a variety of systems, arrangements, and processes that, although not explicitly shown or described herein, implement the principles of the present disclosure and therefore may fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, the various exemplary embodiments may be used together with each other, and may be used interchangeably with each other.

[0325] As used herein, the term "unit" may have a conventional meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices and / or electronic devices, and may include, for example, electrical and / or electronic circuits, devices, modules, processors, memories, logical solid-state and / or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for performing various tasks, processes, calculations, output and / or display functions, etc., as those described herein.

[0326] Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions or benefits disclosed herein may be performed by one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual devices. Each virtual device may include multiple such functional units. These functional units may be implemented via a processing circuit, which may include one or more microprocessors or microcontrollers, and other digital hardware that may include a digital signal processor (DSP), dedicated digital logic, etc. The processing circuit may be configured to execute program codes stored in a memory, which may include one or more types of memory, such as a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a cache memory, a flash memory device, an optical storage device, etc. The program code stored in the memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and / or data communication protocols and instructions for executing one or more technologies described herein. In some embodiments, the processing circuit may be used to cause each functional unit to perform the corresponding functions according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0327] As described herein, the device and / or apparatus may be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, or a (hardware) module comprising such a chip or chipset; however, this does not exclude the possibility that the functions of the device or apparatus are not implemented by hardware but are implemented as software modules (e.g., a computer program or computer program product comprising an executable software code portion for execution or operation on a processor). In addition, the functions of the device or apparatus may be implemented by any combination of hardware and software. The device or apparatus may also be viewed as a combination of multiple devices and / or apparatuses, whether they are functionally cooperative or independent. In addition, as long as the functions of the device or apparatus are retained, the device and apparatus may be implemented in a distributed manner throughout the system. Such and similar principles are considered to be known to technicians.

[0328] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as those commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that the terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art, and should not be interpreted as an idealized or overly formal meaning, unless explicitly defined as such herein.

[0329] In addition, certain terms used in this disclosure (including the specification and drawings) may be used synonymously in certain circumstances (e.g., "data" and "information"). It should be understood that while these terms (and / or other terms that may be synonymous with each other) may be used synonymously herein, there may be situations where such words may not be intended to be used synonymously. In addition, even if prior art knowledge is not expressly incorporated by reference above, it is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety. All publications cited are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0330] Embodiments of the techniques and devices described herein also include, but are not limited to, the following examples:

[0331] 1. A method for a user equipment (UE), the method comprising at least one of the following:

[0332] Receive at least one of the following:

[0333] a first indication of one or more frequency-domain resource allocations for receiving one or more subsequent physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions; and

[0334] one or more second indications of other characteristics of subsequent PDSCH transmissions;

[0335] Based on the second indication, determining the number of frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication;

[0336] determining, based on the first indication and the determined quantity, one or more resource blocks associated with the one or more frequency domain allocations indicated via the first indication; and

[0337] One or more PDSCHs are received based on the determined resource blocks and the indicated other characteristics.

[0338] 1A. The method of embodiment 1, wherein the first indication and the one or more second indications are received via a downlink message having one or more of the following characteristics:

[0339] Single message;

[0340] received via a single physical downlink control channel (PDCCH);

[0341] received via a DCI scheduling grant; and

[0342] Received within a single DCI Scheduling Grant field.

[0343] 2. A method according to any one of the above embodiments, wherein determining the number of frequency domain resource allocations is not based on the first indication.

[0344] 3. The method according to any one of the above embodiments further includes: receiving a high-level control message including one or more other characteristics of a subsequent PDSCH transmission, wherein determining the number of frequency domain resource allocations identified by the first indication is also based on the one or more other characteristics.

[0345] 4. The method according to any one of the above embodiments, wherein:

[0346] The first indication and the second indication are received in a single downlink control information (DCI) message, and

[0347] The second instruction includes one or more of the following:

[0348] The service profile indicator field in a single DCI message;

[0349] The Transmission Control Indicator (TCI) status field in a single DCI message;

[0350] The Redundancy Version (RV) field in a single DCI message;

[0351] Antenna Port (AP) indicator field in a single DCI message; and

[0352] The Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) associated with the PDCCH.

[0353] 5. The method of embodiment 3, wherein:

[0354] The control message includes a plurality of service profiles, each service profile including a plurality of characteristics associated with a particular type of data service;

[0355] The second indication includes a traffic profile indicator identifying a specific traffic profile among a plurality of traffic profiles included in the control message; and

[0356] The number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined as:

[0357] greater than 1 if the traffic profile indicator identifies a traffic profile associated with the first type of data service; and

[0358] 1 if the traffic profile indicator identifies a traffic profile associated with the second type of data service.

[0359] 6. The method of embodiment 5, wherein the first type of data service is enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and the second type of data service is ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC).

[0360] 7. The method of embodiment 3, wherein:

[0361] The control message includes a plurality of traffic control indicator (TCI) states, each TCI state including one or more pairs of source reference signal (RS) quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships;

[0362] The second indication includes a TCI state indicator identifying one or more of the TCI states included in the control message; and

[0363] The number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined based on one or more of the following:

[0364] the number of TCI states indicated by the TCI state indicator; and

[0365] The number of QCL relation pairs included in one or more TCI states indicated by the TCI state indicator.

[0366] 8. The method of embodiment 7, wherein each TCI state or each QCL pair corresponds to a transmission from a different source.

[0367] 9. The method of any one of embodiments 1-4, wherein:

[0368] The first indication includes a first field and a second field in the same DCI message;

[0369] The first field identifies a superset of frequency domain resource allocations for multiple transmission sources; and

[0370] For each transmission source, the second field identifies a subset of the superset identified by the first field.

[0371] 9A. The method of any one of embodiments 1-4, wherein:

[0372] The first indication comprises a first set of bits and a second set of bits in a single field in the same DCI message;

[0373] The first set identifies a superset of frequency domain resource allocations for the plurality of transmission sources; and

[0374] For each transmission source, the second set of bits identifies a subset of the superset identified by the first subset of bits.

[0375] 10. The method of embodiment 9 or 9A, wherein the subset of the superset identified for each transmission source includes frequency domain resource allocations of the superset that are not used for that particular transmission source.

[0376] 11. The method of embodiment 3, wherein:

[0377] The control message includes a configuration of frequency domain resources associated with each of a plurality of PDSCH repetitions transmitted by a corresponding plurality of sources;

[0378] The second indicator comprises a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the PDCCH;

[0379] as well as

[0380] The number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined as:

[0381] If the RNTI is associated with a data service of the first type, the number of repetitions configured in the control message; and

[0382] 1 if the RNTI is not associated with a data service of the first type.

[0383] 12. The method of embodiment 3, wherein:

[0384] The control message includes a plurality of redundancy version (RV) configurations, each RV configuration associating one or more RVs of a single data block with a plurality of PDSCH repetitions transmitted by a corresponding plurality of sources;

[0385] The second indication includes an RV indicator identifying a specific RV configuration included in the control message; and

[0386] The number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined based on the number of RVs included in a specific RV configuration of a single data block.

[0387] 13. The method of embodiment 3, wherein:

[0388] The control message includes a plurality of antenna port (AP) configurations, each AP configuration identifying one or more demodulation reference signals (DM-RS) associated with a plurality of PDSCH repetitions transmitted by a corresponding plurality of sources;

[0389] The second indication includes an AP indicator that identifies a specific AP configuration included in the control message; and

[0390] The number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined based on the number of DM-RS ports included in a specific AP configuration.

[0391] 14. A method for a wireless communication network communicating with a user equipment (UE), the method comprising one or more of the following:

[0392] Send the following to the UE:

[0393] a first indication of one or more frequency-domain resource allocations for receiving one or more subsequent physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions; and

[0394] one or more second indications of other characteristics of the subsequent PDSCH transmission, wherein at least a portion of the other characteristics are related to the number of frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication;

[0395] One or more PDSCHs are then sent to the UE according to the indicated frequency domain resource allocation and other indicated characteristics.

[0396] 14A. The method of embodiment 14, wherein the first indication and the one or more second indications are sent via a downlink message having one or more of the following characteristics:

[0397] Single message;

[0398] is transmitted via a single physical downlink control channel (PDCCH);

[0399] Sent via a DCI scheduling grant; and

[0400] Sent within a single DCI Scheduling Grant field.

[0401] 15. The method according to any one of the above embodiments further includes: sending a high-level control message including one or more other characteristics of subsequent PDSCH transmissions, wherein at least part of the other characteristics is related to the number of frequency domain resource allocations identified by the first indication.

[0402] 16. The method according to any one of the above embodiments, wherein:

[0403] The first indication and the second indication are sent in a single downlink control information (DCI) message, and

[0404] The second instruction includes one or more of the following:

[0405] The service profile indicator field in a single DCI message;

[0406] The Transmission Control Indicator (TCI) status field in a single DCI message;

[0407] The Redundancy Version (RV) field in a single DCI message;

[0408] Antenna Port (AP) indicator field in a single DCI message; and

[0409] The Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) associated with the PDCCH.

[0410] 17. The method of embodiment 15, wherein:

[0411] The control message includes a plurality of service profiles, each service profile including a plurality of characteristics associated with a particular type of data service;

[0412] The second indication includes a traffic profile indicator identifying a specific traffic profile among a plurality of traffic profiles included in the control message; and

[0413] The number of frequency domain resource allocations including the first indication is:

[0414] greater than 1 if the traffic profile indicator identifies a traffic profile associated with the first type of data service; and

[0415] 1 if the traffic profile indicator identifies a traffic profile associated with the second type of data service.

[0416] 18. The method of embodiment 17, wherein the first type of data service is enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and the second type of data service is ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC).

[0417] 19. The method of embodiment 15, wherein:

[0418] The control message includes a plurality of traffic control indicator (TCI) states, each TCI state including one or more pairs of source reference signal (RS) quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships;

[0419] The second indication includes a TCI state indicator identifying one or more of the TCI states included in the control message; and

[0420] The number of frequency domain resource allocations including the first indication is related to one or more of the following:

[0421] the number of TCI states indicated by the TCI state indicator; and

[0422] The number of QCL relation pairs included in one or more TCI states indicated by the TCI state indicator.

[0423] 20. The method of embodiment 19, wherein each TCI state or each QCL pair corresponds to a transmission from a different source.

[0424] 21. The method of any one of embodiments 14-16, wherein:

[0425] The first indication includes a first field and a second field in the same DCI message;

[0426] The first field identifies a superset of frequency domain resource allocations for multiple transmission sources; and

[0427] For each transmission source, the second field identifies a subset of the superset identified by the first field.

[0428] 21A. The method of any one of embodiments 14-16, wherein:

[0429] The first indication comprises a first set of bits and a second set of bits in a single field in the same DCI message;

[0430] The first subset identifies a superset of frequency domain resource allocations of the plurality of transmission sources; and

[0431] For each transmission source, the second subset of bits identifies a subset of the superset identified by the first subset of bits.

[0432] 22. The method of embodiment 21 or 21A, wherein the subset identified for each transmission source includes a superset of frequency domain resource allocations not used for that particular transmission source.

[0433] 23. The method of embodiment 15, wherein:

[0434] The control message includes a configuration of frequency domain resources associated with each of a plurality of PDSCH repetitions transmitted by a corresponding plurality of sources;

[0435] The second indication includes a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the PDCCH;

[0436] as well as

[0437] The number of frequency domain resource allocations including the first indication is:

[0438] If the RNTI is associated with a data service of the first type, the number of repetitions configured in the control message; and

[0439] 1 if the RNTI is not associated with a data service of the first type.

[0440] 24. The method of embodiment 15, wherein:

[0441] The control message includes a plurality of redundancy version (RV) configurations, each RV configuration associating one or more RVs of a single data block with a plurality of PDSCH repetitions transmitted by a corresponding plurality of sources;

[0442] The second indication includes an RV indicator identifying a specific RV configuration included in the control message; and

[0443] The number of frequency domain resource allocations is related to the number of RVs included in a specific RV configuration of a single data block.

[0444] 25. The method of embodiment 15, wherein:

[0445] The control message includes a plurality of antenna port (AP) configurations, each AP configuration identifying one or more demodulation reference signals (DM-RS) associated with a plurality of PDSCH repetitions transmitted by a corresponding plurality of sources;

[0446] The second indication includes an AP indicator that identifies a specific AP configuration included in the control message; and

[0447] The number of frequency domain resource allocations is related to the number of DM-RS ports included in a specific AP configuration.

[0448] 26. A user equipment (UE) configured to receive a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) transmitted by different sources in a wireless communication network, the UE comprising:

[0449] communications circuitry configured to communicate with a wireless communications network; and

[0450] A processing circuit is operatively associated with the communication circuit and is configured to perform operations corresponding to the method according to any one of the exemplary embodiments 1-13.

[0451] 27. A radio access network (RAN) arranged to transmit a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) to a single user equipment (UE) via a plurality of transmission sources in the RAN, the RAN comprising:

[0452] a communication circuit configured to communicate with the UE; and

[0453] A processing circuit operatively associated with the communication circuit and configured to perform operations corresponding to the method according to any one of embodiments 14-25.

[0454] 28. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by at least one processor of a user equipment (UE), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to the method according to any one of exemplary embodiments 1-13.

[0455] 29. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor comprising a radio access network (RAN), configure the RAN to perform operations corresponding to the method of any one of exemplary embodiments 14-25.

[0456] Group A Embodiment

[0457] A1. A method in a wireless device, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations in a single field in a DCI scheduling grant is determined by one or a combination of the following:

[0458] -TCI field in the same DCI scheduling grant,

[0459] - the RV field in the same DCI scheduling grant,

[0460] -Antenna port field in the same DCI scheduling grant,

[0461] - one or more dedicated bits in a single field in the same DCI scheduling grant,

[0462] - a DCI field indicating a service profile in the same DCI scheduling grant,

[0463] -RRC configuration.

[0464] A2. A method according to A1, wherein if the combination of the RRC configuration and the DCI field indicating the service profile indicates a first type of service profile, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined to be greater than 1, and if the combination of the RRC configuration and the DCI field indicating the service profile indicates a second type of service profile, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined to be 1.

[0465] A3. A method according to any one of A1-A2, wherein the first type of service profile is URLLC and the second type of service profile is eMBB.

[0466] A4. The method according to A1, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined by a combination of an RRC configuration and the number of TCI states or the number of QCL pairs indicated by a TCI field.

[0467] A5. A method according to A4, wherein each TCI state or each QCL pair corresponds to a transmission from a different TRP or a different panel.

[0468] A6. The method of A1, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined using a first set of bits in a single field in a DCI scheduling grant and a second set of bits in a single field in the DCI scheduling grant.

[0469] A7. A method according to A6, wherein the first bit set in the field indicates a superset of all scheduled resource blocks in multiple TRPs.

[0470] A8. A method according to A6, wherein the second bit set in the field indicates differential resource allocation corresponding to each TRP.

[0471] A9. A method according to A1, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined by a combination of the RRC configuration and the number of RV values ​​indicated by the RV field.

[0472] A10. The method according to A1, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined by a combination of the RRC configuration and the DMRS port set indicated by the antenna port field.

[0473] A11. A method according to A1, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined by a combination of RRC configuration and one or more dedicated bits in a single field in the same DCI scheduling grant.

[0474] Group B Example

[0475] B1. A method in a wireless device, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations in a single field in a downlink message (e.g., a DCI scheduling grant) is determined by one or a combination of the following:

[0476] - the TCI field in the same downlink message,

[0477] - the RV field in the same downlink message,

[0478] - the Antenna Port field in the same downlink message,

[0479] - one or more dedicated bits in a single field in the same downlink message,

[0480] - a DCI field indicating a traffic profile in the same downlink message,

[0481] -RRC configuration.

[0482] B2. A method according to B1, wherein if the combination of the RRC configuration and the DCI field indicating the service profile indicates a first type of service profile, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined to be greater than 1, and / or if the combination of the RRC configuration and the DCI field indicating the service profile indicates a second type of service profile, the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined to be 1.

[0483] B3. A method according to any one of B1, wherein the first type of service profile is URLLC and the second type of service profile is eMBB.

[0484] B4. The method according to B1, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined by a combination of the number of TCI states or the number of QCL pairs indicated by the RRC configuration and the TCI field.

[0485] B5. A method according to B4, wherein each TCI state or each QCL pair corresponds to a transmission from a different TRP or a different panel.

[0486] B6. The method of B1, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined using a first set of bits in a single field in a downlink message and a second set of bits in a single field in the downlink message.

[0487] B7. A method according to B6, wherein the first bit set in the field indicates a superset of all scheduled resource blocks in multiple TRPs.

[0488] B8. A method according to B6, wherein the second bit set in the field indicates differential resource allocation corresponding to each TRP.

[0489] B9. The method according to B1, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined by a combination of the RRC configuration and the number of RV values ​​indicated by the RV field.

[0490] B10. The method according to B1, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined by a combination of an RRC configuration and a DMRS port set indicated by an antenna port field.

[0491] B11. A method according to B1, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations is determined by a combination of RRC configuration and one or more dedicated bits in a single field in the same downlink message.

[0492] C. A method for a base station to send information, thereby allowing a wireless device to perform a method according to any one of A1-A11 and B1-B11.

[0493] D. A wireless device comprising a circuit for performing the method according to any one of A1-A11 and B1-B11.

[0494] E. A network node comprising a circuit for executing the method described in C.

Claims

1. A method for receiving a physical data channel transmission from a wireless network by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving (1120) configuration information from the wireless network, the configuration information comprising: a first indication of one or more frequency domain resource allocations for transmission of one or more corresponding physical data channels by one or more corresponding sources configured by the wireless network, and one or more second indications of other characteristics of the physical data channel transmission, The first indication and the second indication are received in a single downlink control information DCI message; Based on the second indication, determining (1130) a quantity of frequency domain resource allocation indicated by the first indication; and Physical data channel transmissions corresponding to the determined number of frequency-domain resource allocations are received (1150) from the wireless network based on the corresponding indicated frequency-domain resource allocations.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The configuration information is received via a downlink message having one or more of the following characteristics: Single message; received via a single physical downlink control channel, PDCCH; and The scheduling grant is received via downlink control information DCI.

3. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein: Determining (1130) the number of the frequency-domain resource allocations is not based on the first indication.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein: The second indication is included in a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) status field of the DCI message, where the TCI status field identifies one or more TCI states.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein: The frequency domain resource allocations are non-overlapping; and Each non-overlapping frequency domain resource allocation is associated with a corresponding TCI state indicated by the second indication.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein: Each TCI state indicated by the second indication includes one or more source reference signal RS pairs; Each source RS pair has a corresponding quasi-co-located QCL relationship pair with an antenna port for a demodulation reference signal DM-RS; The number of the frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication is determined based on one or more of the following: the number of TCI states indicated by the second indication; and The number of QCL relation pairs included in the TCI state indicated by the second indication.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein: The configuration information further includes a third indication of a plurality of antenna ports for DMRS; and The indicated multiple antenna ports are associated with all frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication.

8. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 7, wherein: The one or more TCI states indicated by the second indication correspond to a code division multiplexing (CDM) group associated with each of the physical data channel transmissions; as well as Each physical data channel transmission is received in association with a DMRS having an antenna port with a QCL relationship included in the corresponding TCI state.

9. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 7, wherein: The corresponding source configured by the wireless network corresponds to one of the following: the corresponding TCI state indicated by the second indication; or A corresponding QCL relationship pair included in the TCI state indicated by the second indication.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, further comprising: A higher layer control message is received (1110) from the wireless network including one or more other characteristics of the physical data channel transmission, wherein determining the number of frequency domain resource allocations identified by the first indication is also based on the one or more other characteristics.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein: The high-layer control message includes a plurality of transmission configuration indicators TCI states; and The second indication comprises an indication of one or more of the TCI states included in the higher layer control message.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein: A plurality of physical data channel transmissions are received, each physical data channel transmission carrying a different redundancy version RV of a single data block.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein: The method further includes: determining (1140) based on the first indication and the determined amount one or more resource blocks within the one or more frequency domain allocations; and Receiving (1150) the determined number of physical data channel transmissions is based on the determined resource blocks.

14. A method for performing a physical data channel transmission to a user equipment (UE) by a wireless network, the method comprising: Sending (1220) configuration information to the UE, the configuration information including: a first indication of one or more frequency domain resource allocations for transmission of one or more corresponding physical data channels by one or more corresponding sources configured by the wireless network, and one or more second indications of other characteristics of the physical data channel transmission, wherein the amount of frequency domain resource allocation indicated by the first indication can be determined based on the one or more second indications, The first indication and the second indication are sent in a single downlink control information DCI message; and The physical data channel transmission corresponding to the determined number of frequency domain resource allocations is sent (1230) to the UE based on the corresponding indicated frequency domain resource allocations and based on the indicated other characteristics.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein: The configuration information is sent via a downlink message having one or more of the following characteristics: Single message; received via a single physical downlink control channel, PDCCH; and The scheduling grant is received via downlink control information DCI.

16. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 15, wherein: The number of frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication can be determined based on the one or more second indications without referring to the first indication.

17. A method according to any one of claims 14 to 15, wherein: The second indication is included in a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) status field of the DCI message, where the TCI status field identifies one or more TCI states.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein: The frequency domain resource allocations are non-overlapping; and Each non-overlapping frequency domain resource allocation is associated with a corresponding TCI state indicated by the second indication.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein: Each TCI state indicated by the second indication includes one or more source reference signal RS pairs; Each source RS pair has a corresponding quasi-co-located QCL relationship pair with an antenna port for a demodulation reference signal DM-RS; The number of the frequency domain resource allocation indicated by the first indication can be determined based on one or more of the following: the number of TCI states indicated by the second indication; and The number of QCL relation pairs included in the TCI state indicated by the second indication.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein: The configuration information further includes a third indication of a plurality of antenna ports for DMRS; and The indicated multiple antenna ports are associated with all frequency domain resource allocations indicated by the first indication.

21. A method according to any one of claims 19 to 20, wherein: The one or more TCI states indicated by the second indication correspond to a code division multiplexing (CDM) group associated with each of the physical data channel transmissions; as well as Each physical data channel transmission is sent in association with a DMRS having an antenna port with a QCL relationship included in the corresponding TCI state.

22. The method according to any one of claims 19 to 20, wherein: The corresponding source in the wireless network corresponds to one of the following: the corresponding TCI state indicated by the second indication; or A corresponding QCL relationship pair included in the TCI state indicated by the second indication.

23. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 15, further comprising: A higher layer control message is sent (1210) to the UE including one or more other characteristics of the physical data channel transmission, wherein the number of frequency domain resource allocations identified by the first indication is also based on the one or more other characteristics.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein: The high-layer control message includes a plurality of transmission configuration indicators TCI states; and The second indication comprises an indication of one or more of the TCI states included in the higher layer control message.

25. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 15, wherein: Multiple physical data channel transmissions are sent, each carrying a different redundancy version RV of a single data block.

26. A user equipment UE (120, 1300, 1510) configured to receive a physical data channel transmission from a wireless network (100, 799, 1530), the UE comprising: a radio transceiver circuit (1340) configured to communicate with a plurality of nodes (105, 110, 115, 700, 750, 1400) in the wireless network; as well as A processing circuit (1310) operatively coupled to the radio transceiver circuit, whereby the processing circuit and the radio transceiver circuit are configured to perform operations corresponding to the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

27. A user equipment UE (120, 1300, 1510) configured to receive a physical data channel transmission from a wireless network (100, 799, 1530), the UE being further arranged to perform operations corresponding to the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable medium (1320) storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processing circuit (1310) of a user equipment (UE) (120, 1300, 1510) configured to receive a physical data channel transmission from a wireless network (100, 799, 1530), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any method according to claims 1 to 13.

29. A computer program product (1321) comprising computer executable instructions which, when executed by a processing circuit (1010) of a user equipment UE (120, 1300, 1510) configured to receive a physical data channel transmission from a wireless network (100, 799, 1530), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

30. A wireless system (100, 799, 1530), comprising one or more nodes (105, 110, 115, 700, 750, 1400), the wireless system being configured to perform a physical data channel transmission to a user equipment UE (120, 1300, 1510), the one or more nodes comprising: a radio network interface circuit (1440) configured to communicate with the UE; as well as A processing circuit (1410) operatively coupled to the radio network interface circuit, whereby the processing circuit and the radio network interface circuit are configured to perform operations corresponding to the method according to any one of claims 14 to 25.

31. A wireless system (100, 799, 1530), comprising one or more nodes (105, 110, 115, 700, 750, 1400), the wireless system being configured to perform physical data channel transmission to a user equipment UE (120, 1300, 1510), the one or more nodes being further arranged to perform operations corresponding to any method according to claims 14 to 25.

32. A non-transitory computer-readable medium (1420) storing computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by a processing circuit (1410) of one or more nodes (105, 110, 115, 700, 750, 1400) in a wireless network (100, 799, 1530) configured to perform physical data channel transmissions to a user equipment UE (120, 1300, 1510), configure the one or more nodes to perform operations corresponding to any method according to claims 14 to 25.

33. A computer program product (1421) comprising computer executable instructions which, when executed by a processing circuit (1410) of one or more nodes (105, 110, 115, 700, 750, 1400) in a wireless network (100, 799, 1530) configured to perform a physical data channel transmission to a user equipment UE (120, 1300, 1510), configure the one or more nodes to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods according to claims 14 to 25.

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