Method for transmitting and receiving uplink control channel, user equipment and base station

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method for transmitting an uplink control channel, and corresponding user equipment, base station and computer readable medium. The method for transmitting the uplink control channel comprises: obtaining nominal repetition transmission related configuration information; determining resource positions of one or more actual repetition transmissions according to the nominal repetition transmission related configuration information; and transmitting information according to the resource positions.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of wireless communication, and in particular to a method for transmitting an uplink control channel, and a corresponding user equipment, base station and computer readable medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5G or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a 'Beyond 4G Network' or a 'Post LTE System'.

[0003] The 5G communication system is implemented to be connected to a next-generation Internet network so as to provide a high-speed, large-capacity, and low-latency service.

[0004] In addition, in the 5G communication system, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, a technology for coordination between cells, a coordinated multi- point (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation, and the like.

[0005] In the 5G system, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and a sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as an advanced access technology have been developed.

[0006] For a user terminal like a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch), due to the size limitation of the user terminal, there is additional antenna loss compared to a normal user terminal (e.g., a smart phone). And this additional antenna loss reduces the actual transmission power of the user terminal antenna and the received signal strength of the user terminal, thus affecting the coverage. In addition, due to the limited transmission power of the user terminal, the uplink channel is originally a bottleneck of wireless network coverage. Therefore, the above-mentioned additional antenna loss will have a greater impact on the coverage of the uplink channel. Generally, the coverage of the uplink channel can be extended by repeating transmission and the like to extend its transmission time, thereby achieving the effect of uplink channel coverage enhancement. For the uplink data channel, this will cause the cell edge data rate to decrease. For some specific services, such as URLLC (Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication) services or voice over NR (voice over NR) services and the like, which are sensitive to latency, feedback and the like on the downlink channel need to be completed within a certain time. Therefore, it is not possible to use repetition transmission to increase the transmission time, i.e., the latency, without restriction. In 5G NR (new radio), the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) only supports inter-slot repetition. The repetition transmission on each slot occupies the same symbol position, which greatly limits the flexibility of the transmission position of the PUCCH. For example, for a time division duplex (TDD) system, it is not well supported for inter-slot repetition transmission in a slot that has both downlink symbols and uplink symbols. For another example, PUCCH format 3 calculates the number of occupied frequency domain physical resource blocks (PRBs) according to the information load. At the cell edge position, this will cause the signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) of the receiving end to be too low, thereby affecting the detection and decoding performance of the receiving end. In addition, for a system that communicates at a high frequency, such as > 52.6 GHz frequency, a larger channel bandwidth and a larger subcarrier spacing may be used.

[0007] Therefore, it is necessary to further optimize the transmission of the uplink control channel, for example, including but not limited to, improving the decoding performance of the uplink control channel, enhancing the coverage of the uplink control channel, and the like. SUMMARY

[0008] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for transmitting an uplink control channel is provided. The method includes obtaining nominal repetition transmission related configuration information; determining resource positions of one or more actual repetition transmissions according to the nominal repetition transmission related configuration information; and transmitting information according to the resource positions.

[0009] According to one aspect of the disclosure, a method for receiving an uplink control channel is provided. The method includes transmitting nominal repetition transmission related configuration information; determining resource locations of one or more actual repetitions according to the nominal repetition transmission related configuration information; and receiving information according to the resource locations.

[0010] The method according to the disclosure can improve the decoding performance of the uplink control channel, enhance the coverage of the uplink control channel, and reduce the delay of UCI transmission. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0011] The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain embodiments of the disclosure will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0012] Figure 1 A wireless network according to various embodiments of the disclosure is illustrated;

[0013] Figure 2a And Figure 2b An example wireless transmit and receive path according to the disclosure is illustrated;

[0014] Figure 3a An example UE according to the disclosure is illustrated;

[0015] Figure 3b An example gNB according to the disclosure is illustrated;

[0016] Figure 4 An example wireless communication system according to exemplary embodiments of the disclosure is schematically illustrated;

[0017] Figure 5 is a flowchart of a method for transmitting an uplink control channel according to an example embodiment of the disclosure;

[0018] Figure 6 is a flowchart of a method for receiving an uplink control channel according to an example embodiment of the disclosure;

[0019] Figure 7 Repetition transmission configurations according to example embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated;

[0020] Figure 8 Repetition transmission configurations according to another example embodiment of the disclosure are illustrated;

[0021] Figure 9 Repetition transmission configurations according to yet another example embodiment of the disclosure are illustrated;

[0022] Figures 10 to 12 Various ways of mapping symbols used for transmitting information to resource elements (REs) on the time domain according to example embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated; and

[0023] Figure 13 The relationship between the number of symbols, the number of PRBs, and the number of repeated transmissions is schematically shown.

[0024] Figure 14 The frequency domain location of the BWP for a RedCap UE is schematically shown.

[0025] The text and drawings are provided only as examples and to help illustrate the present disclosure. They are not intended to be, and should not be, construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any way. While certain embodiments and examples have been provided, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes can be made to the embodiments and examples without departing from the scope of the disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] Figure 1 An example wireless network 100 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 1 The embodiment of the wireless network 100 shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 could be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0027] The wireless network 100 includes a gNodeB (gNB) 101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. The gNB 101 communicates with the gNB 102 and the gNB 103. The gNB 101 also communicates with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) network 130, such as the Internet, a proprietary IP network, or other data network.

[0028] Depending on the network type, other well-known terms can be used instead of “gNodeB” or “gNB,” such as “base station” or “access point.” For the sake of convenience, the terms “gNodeB” and “gNB” are used in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. Also, depending on the network type, other well-known terms can be used instead of “user equipment” or “UE,” such as “mobile station,” “subscriber station,” “remote terminal,” “wireless terminal,” or “user device.” For the sake of convenience, the terms “user equipment” and “UE” are used in this patent document to refer to remote wireless equipment that wirelessly accesses a gNB, whether the UE is mobile (such as a mobile telephone or smartphone) or generally considered fixed (such as a desktop computer or vending machine).

[0029] The gNBs 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of user equipment units (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of the gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs includes a UE 111, which can be located in a small business (SB); a UE 112, which can be located in an enterprise (E); a UE 113, which can be located in a WiFi hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which can be located in a first residence (R); a UE 115, which can be located in a second residence (R); and a UE 116, which can be a mobile device (M), such as a cell phone, a wireless laptop computer, a wireless PDA, and so on. The gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 of the gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes the UE 115 and the UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 can communicate with each other and with the UEs 111-116 using 5G, long term evolution (LTE), LTE-A, WiMAX, or other advanced wireless communication techniques.

[0030] Dotted lines show the approximation of the overall shape of the coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as approximately circular for the purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, can have other shapes that vary based on configuration and the changing radio environment associated with natural and man-made obstructions.

[0031] As described in more detail below, one or more of the gNBs 101, 102, and 103 include a 2D antenna array as described in embodiments of the disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101, 102, and 103 support codebook design and structure for systems with 2D antenna arrays.

[0032] Although Figure 1 One example of a wireless network 100 is illustrated in FIG. 1; however, various changes can be made to Figure 1 For example, the wireless network 100 could include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Also, the gNB 101 could communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with access to the network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 could communicate directly with the network 130 and provide UEs with direct wireless broadband access to the network 130. Further, the gNBs 101, 102, and / or 103 could provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

[0033] Figure 2a And Figure 2bAn example wireless transmit and receive path is shown in accordance with the present disclosure. In the following description, the transmit path 200 can be described as implemented in a gNB (such as gNBs 102), while the receive path 250 can be described as implemented in a UE (such as UEs 116). However, it is to be understood that the receive path 250 can be implemented in a gNB and the transmit path 200 can be implemented in a UE. In some embodiments, the receive path 250 is configured to support codebook design and structure for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0034] The transmit path 200 includes a channel coding and modulation block 205, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 210, a size N inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) block 215, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 220, an add cyclic prefix block 225, and a frequency up-converter (UC) 230. The receive path 250 includes a frequency down-converter (DC) 255, a remove cyclic prefix block 260, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 265, a size N fast Fourier transform (FFT) block 270, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 275, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 280.

[0035] In the transmit path 200, the channel coding and modulation block 205 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (such as a low-density parity check (LDPC) coding), and modulates the input bits (such as using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)) to generate a sequence of frequency-domain modulation symbols. The serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 210 converts (such as de-multiplexes) the serial modulated symbols to parallel data in order to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is the number of IFFT / FFT points in the gNB 102 and UE 116. The size N IFFT block 215 performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to generate time-domain output signals. The parallel-to-serial block 220 converts (such as multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from the size N IFFT block 215 in order to generate a serial time-domain signal. The add cyclic prefix block 225 inserts a cyclic prefix to the time-domain signal. The frequency up-converter 230 modulates (such as up-converts) the output of the add cyclic prefix block 225 to an RF frequency for transmission via a wireless channel. The signal can also be filtered at baseband before conversion to the RF frequency.

[0036] The RF signals transmitted from the gNB 102, after passing through the wireless channel, reach the UE 116, and the reverse operations to those performed at the gNB 102 are performed at the UE 116. The down-converter 255 down-converts the received signal to baseband frequency, and the remove cyclic prefix block 260 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. The serial-to-parallel block 265 converts the time-domain baseband signal to parallel time-domain signals. The size N FFT block 270 performs the FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency-domain signals. The parallel-to-serial block 275 converts the parallel frequency-domain signals to a sequence of modulated data symbols. The channel decoding and demodulation block 280 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

[0037] Each of the gNBs 101-103 can implement a transmit path 200 similar to that described in connection with the example of FIG. 2A, and can implement a receive path 250 similar to that described in connection with the example of FIG. 2B in transmitting in the downlink to UEs 111-116. Similarly, each of UEs 111-116 can implement a transmit path 200 similar to that described in connection with the example of FIG. 2C in transmitting in the uplink to gNBs 101-103, and can implement a receive path 250 similar to that described in connection with the example of FIG. 2D in receiving in the downlink from gNBs 101-103.

[0038] Figure 2a Each of the components in the transmit path 200 and the receive path 250 can be implemented in hardware employing one or more analog and digital components. For example, one or more Figure 2b of the components can be implemented using, for example, one or more processors 305 in a custom- made or off-the-shelf integrated circuit, hardwired, discrete logic circuit, such as discrete Figure 2a and Figure 2b of the components can be implemented in software and / or firmware and stored in

[0039] Moreover, although described as using FFTs and IFFTs, this is illustrative only, and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure. Other types of transforms can be used, such as a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) functions. It will be appreciated that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of the variable N can be any integer (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of the variable N can be any integer that is a power of 2 (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).

[0040] Although Figure 2a and Figure 2b are shown as examples of wireless transmit and receive paths, various changes can be made to Figure 2a and Figure 2b For example,Figure 2a and Figure 2b The various components illustrated in FIGS. 1-4 can be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components can be added according to particular needs. Also, Figure 2a and Figure 2b are intended to illustrate examples of the types of transmit and receive paths that can be used in a wireless network. Any other suitable architecture can be used to support wireless communication in a wireless network.

[0041] Figure 3a An example UE 116 according to this disclosure is shown. Figure 3a The embodiment of the UE 116 illustrated in FIG. 4 is for illustration only and Figure 1 The UEs 111-115 of FIG. 1 can have the same or similar configuration. However, UEs come in a wide variety of configurations, and Figure 3a The scope of the disclosure is not limited to any particular implementation of a UE.

[0042] The UE 116 includes an antenna 305, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 310, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 315, a microphone 320, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 325. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor / controller 340, an input / output (I / O) interface 345, input device(s) 350, a display 355, and a memory 360. The memory 360 includes an operating system (OS) 361 and one or more applications 362.

[0043] The RF transceiver 310 receives, from the antenna 305, an incoming RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the wireless network 100. The RF transceiver 310 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is sent to the RX processing circuitry 325, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuitry 325 transmits the processed baseband signal to the speaker 330 (such as for voice data) or to the processor / controller 340 (such as for web browsing data) for further processing.

[0044] The TX processing circuitry 315 receives analog or digital voice data from the microphone 320, or other outgoing baseband data (such as web browsing data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from the processor / controller 340. The TX processing circuitry 315 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 310 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuitry 315 and up-converts the baseband or IF signal to an RF signal that is transmitted via the antenna 305.

[0045] The processor(s) / controller(s) 340 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute the OS 361 stored in the memory 360 in order to control the overall operation of the UE 116. For example, the processor(s) / controller(s) 340 can be responsible for managing request from apps 362, according to predetermined criteria, such as the user’s preferences, and / or execute instructions related to the operation of the UE 116. In some embodiments, the processor(s) / controller(s) 340 include at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0046] The processor(s) / controller(s) 340 can also execute other processes and programs resident in the memory 360, such as operations for channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. The processor(s) / controller(s) 340 can move data into or out of the memory 360 as required by the processes

[0047] The processor(s) / controller(s) 340 are also coupled to the input device(s) 350 and the display 355. The operator of the UE 116 can use the input device(s) 350 to enter data into the UE 116. The display 355 can be a liquid crystal display or other display capable of rendering text and / or at least limited graphics, such as from web sites. The memory 360 is coupled to the processor(s) / controller(s) 340. Portions of the memory 360 can include a random access memory (RAM) comprising a volatile memory unit and a read-only memory (ROM). The memory 360 can also include one or more mass storage programs or devices such as disk drives, optical drives, flash memory, or other memory.

[0048] Although Figure 3a Various changes can be made to the UE 116 Figure 3a For example, Figure 3a Various components in the UE 116 can be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components can be added according to particular needs but, as a specific example, the processor(s) / controller(s) 340 can be divided into multiple processors such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Also, while the UE 116 is illustrated as having several separate components, one or more of the components can be combined or divided into further components. Figure 3a The UE 116 is illustrated as a mobile phone or smart phone but can also be a device having other

[0049] Figure 3bAn example gNB 102 according to this disclosure is shown. Figure 3b The embodiment of gNB 102 shown is for illustrative purposes only, and Figure 1 Other gNBs can have the same or similar configurations. However, gNBs have a wide variety of configurations, and Figure 3b The scope of this disclosure is not limited to any particular implementation of the gNB. It should be noted that gNB 101 and gNB 103 can include the same or similar structures as gNB 102.

[0050] like Figure 3b As shown, gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 370a-370n, multiple RF transceivers 372a-372n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 374, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 376. In some embodiments, one or more of the multiple antennas 370a-370n include a 2D antenna array. gNB 102 also includes a controller / processor 378, a memory 380, and a backhaul or network interface 382.

[0051] RF transceivers 372a-372n receive incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by the UE or other gNBs, from antennas 370a-370n. RF transceivers 372a-372n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate IF or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals are sent to RX processing circuitry 376, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. RX processing circuitry 376 sends the processed baseband signals to controller / processor 378 for further processing.

[0052] The TX processing circuit 374 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, network data, email, or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 378. The TX processing circuit 374 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceivers 372a-372n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuit 374 and up-convert the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted via antennas 370a-370n.

[0053] The controller / processor 378 can include one or more processors or other processing devices to manage the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 378 could control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceivers 372a-372n, the RX processing circuitry 376, and the TX processing circuitry 374 in accordance with well-known principles. The controller / processor 378 could also support additional functions not directly related to wireless communication, such as running the OS for the gNB 102.

[0054] The controller / processor 378 is also capable of executing programs and other processes resident in the memory 380, such as an OS. The controller / processor 378 is also capable of supporting channel quality measurements and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in the embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 378 supports communication between entities such as web RTC. The controller / processor 378 is capable of

[0055] The controller / processor 378 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 382. The backhaul or network interface 382 allows the gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or over a network. The backhaul or network interface 382 can support communications over any suitable wired or wireless connection. For example, when the gNB 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system such as one supporting 5G or New Radio Access Technology or NR, LTE, or LTE-A, the backhaul or network interface 382 can allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs over a wired or wireless backhaul connection. When the gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the backhaul or network interface 382 can allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs over a wired or wireless local area network or over a wired or wireless connection to a larger network, such as the Internet. The backhaul or network interface 382 includes any suitable structure supporting communications over a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or RF transceiver.

[0056] Memory 380 is coupled to controller / processor 378. Part of memory 380 could include RAM, and another part of memory 380 could include flash memory or other ROM. In certain embodiments, a plurality of instructions to control the BIS algorithm are stored in memory. The plurality of instructions are configured to cause controller / processor 378 to perform the BIS process and decode the received signal after subtracting at least one interference signal determined by the BIS algorithm.

[0057] As described in more detail below, the transmit and receive paths of the gNB 102, implemented using the RF transceivers 372a-372n, TX processing circuitry 374, and / or RX processing circuitry 376, support communication with an aggregation of FDD cells and TDD cells.

[0058] Although Figure 3b various changes can be made to Figure 3b each component shown in FIG. 13. For example, the gNB 102 could include any number of Figure 3a components instead of, or in addition to, the components shown in FIG. 13. As a particular example, the access point could include many backhaul or network interfaces 382, and the controller / processor 378 could support routing

[0059] Figure 4 An example of a wireless communication system 100 in which embodiments of the application can be implemented is shown, in which the wireless communication system 100 includes one or more infrastructure units forming a communication network distributed across a range of geographical area. The wireless communication system 100 can be any type of communication system in which the present inventive concept can be used.

[0060] According to one embodiment, the wireless communication system 100 can be an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) system / OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) system. The wireless communication network 100 can use OFDMA and / or multi-carrier architecture, including AMC (Adaptive Modulation and Coding) for the downlink DL and next generation single-carrier FDMA architecture or multi-carrier OFDMA architecture for the uplink UL. Single-carrier FDMA architecture includes IFDMA (Interleaved Frequency Division Multiple Access), LFDMA (Localized Frequency Division Multiple Access), DFT-S-OFDM (DFT-spread OFDM) of IFDMA or LFDMA. In addition, the wireless communication system 100 can also be various enhanced NOMA (Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access) architectures of OFDMA systems. OFDMA systems can serve remote units by allocating downlink or uplink wireless resources that typically contain a set of subcarriers over one or more OFDM symbols. Example OFDMA protocols include evolved LTE and 5G NR in the 3GPP UMTS standards, and the series of standards in IEEE 802.16, among others. The architecture can also include the use of various transmission techniques, such as MC-CDMA (Multi-Carrier CDMA), MC-DS-CDMA (Multi-Carrier Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access), OFCDM (Orthogonal Frequency and Code Division Multiplexing) of one or two dimensional transmission. Alternatively, simpler time and / or frequency division multiplexing / multiple access techniques, or combinations of these different techniques, can be employed. In an alternative implementation, the communication system can use other cellular communication system protocols, including but not limited to TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) or direct sequence CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access).

[0061] Infrastructure units can include APs (Access Points), ATs (Access Terminals), BSs (Base Stations), Node-Bs, eNBs (evolved Node Bs), and gNBs (next generation Node Bs), among others. Other terminology in the art can also be employed.

[0062] The wireless communication system 100 can contain base stations 101, 102 and user equipment 103, 104, the base stations 101, 102 providing service for user equipment 103, 104 in their area of service, which can be a cell or cell sector range. In some systems, one or more base stations can be communicably coupled to a controller forming an access network, which can be communicably coupled to one or more core networks. The present disclosure is applicable to, but not limited to, any of the types of wireless communication systems described above.

[0063] As Figure 4As shown, base stations 101 and 102 communicate with user equipments 103 and 104 over downlink DL communication signals 111 and 113, and uplink UL communication signals 112 and 114, respectively, in time and / or frequency domain.

[0064] When a base station has downlink packets to send to a UE, each UE gets a downlink assignment (resources), such as a set of radio resources in PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel). When a UE needs to send packets to a base station in uplink, the UE can get a grant from the base station, where the grant assignment can contain a set of uplink radio resources in PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel). The UE can get the downlink or uplink scheduling information from a PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) that is dedicated to itself. Also, the downlink or uplink scheduling information and other control information carried by the PDCCH can be referred to as DCI (Downlink Control Information).

[0065] Figure 4 Different physical channels of the downlink 112 and uplink 111 examples are also shown. The downlink 112 can include PDCCH 121, PDSCH 122, PBCH (Physical Broadcast Channel) 123, and PSS (Primary Synchronization Signal) / SSS (Secondary Synchronization Signal or Secondary Synchronization Signal) 124. In 5G NR, the PSS, SSS, and PBCH together form an SSB (SS / PBCH Block) 125. The PDCCH 121 can send DCI 120 to a UE, i.e., the DCI 120 is carried by the PDCCH 121. The PDSCH 122 sends downlink data information to a UE. The PBCH can carry MIB (Master Information Block) for early discovery by a UE and cell-wide coverage. The uplink 111 can include PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel) 131 that carries UCI (Uplink Control Information) 130, PUSCH 132 that carries uplink data information, and PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel) 133 that carries random access information.

[0066] 5G NR system defines 5 PUCCH formats, i.e. PUCCH format 0 to PUCCH format 4, which are suitable for different payload and different coverage. For example, PUCCH format 0 and PUCCH format 1 are suitable for 1-2 bits. PUCCH format 0 occupies 1-2 symbols, while PUCCH format 1 occupies 4-14 symbols, and PUCCH format 1 supports additional inter-slot repetition transmission. Similarly, PUCCH format 2 / 3 / 4 are suitable for more than 2 bits UCI. Among them, format 2 is short PUCCH, which only occupies 1-2 symbols, PUCCH format 3 and format 4 are long PUCCH, which occupy 4-14 symbols, and can additionally support inter-slot repetition transmission.

[0067] However, since the inter-slot repetition transmission of PUCCH format 1 / 3 / 4 occupies the same symbol position in each slot, in the TDD scenario, since the uplink symbol position in different slots may be different, it is not possible to use all the uplink channel symbols for PUCCH transmission as much as possible.

[0068] In order to better utilize all the symbols of the uplink channel, a "mini-slot" repetition transmission similar to PUSCH type B repetition transmission can be introduced for PUCCH. For PUSCH type B repetition transmission, the position of the first nominal repetition transmission and the number of repetitions can be indicated by the base station. The UE determines the position of the first nominal repetition transmission accordingly, and determines the position of each subsequent nominal repetition transmission according to the number of nominal repetitions, wherein each nominal repetition transmission is connected head to tail. When encountering semi-static downlink symbols or invalid symbols, the nominal repetition transmission can be segmented into one or more actual repetition transmissions. That is, the actual repetition transmission is only transmitted on consecutive valid symbols. Therefore, the number of symbols of each actual repetition transmission can be the same or different. For PUSCH, rate matching is performed for each actual repetition transmission, but for PUCCH, since the bearing method of information of different formats of PUCCH is different (such as using different sequences, or sequence modulation and demodulation method, etc.), it is not possible to directly apply the method of PUSCH type B repetition transmission. It should be noted that the information carried via PUCCH includes not only control information but also data information and other information suitable for transmission on such uplink control channels.

[0069] Figure 5is a flowchart of a sending method of an uplink control channel according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. Wherein, in step 501, a user equipment can acquire nominal repetition transmission related configuration information. In step 502, the user equipment can determine resource positions of one or more actual repetitions according to the nominal repetition transmission related configuration information. In step 503, the user equipment can send information according to the resource positions. It should be noted that the determined resource positions of the actual repetitions can be consistent with the resource positions of the nominal repetitions. In other words, the user equipment can determine the time domain resource positions of the nominal repetitions as the time domain resource positions of the actual repetitions, i.e., send information at the resource positions of the nominal repetitions.

[0070] Figure 6 is a flowchart of a receiving method of an uplink control channel according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. Wherein, in step 601, a base station can send nominal repetition transmission related configuration information. In step 602, the base station can determine resource positions of one or more actual repetitions according to the nominal repetition transmission related configuration information. In step 603, the base station can receive information according to the resource positions.

[0071] Below, methods for adapting different consecutive repetitions are given according to each PUCCH format. These methods can improve the coverage performance of PUCCH and reduce transmission delay.

[0072] PUCCH format 0 is transmitted by carrying 1-2 bits of information through different sequences, occupying 1-2 symbols. For a 2-symbol configuration, time slot repetition transmission (i.e., the same as the transmission on the first symbol) is used for transmission. PUCCH format 2 is used for 1-2 symbol transmission of more than 2 bits of information, and can occupy 1-16 PRBs in the frequency domain, using a CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) waveform for transmission. In this way, for a one-symbol PUCCH, the DMRS (Demodulation Reference Signal) occupies the 1st / 4th / 7th / 10th subcarrier position, and the fixed DMRS overhead is 1 / 3. In order to expand the reliability or coverage of PUCCH, consecutive repetition transmission of PUCCH format 0 and format 2 or support of more symbol numbers can be introduced.

[0073] Figure 7 The repetition transmission configuration according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. PUCCH format 0 or format 2 can directly apply the PUSCH type B method to handle PUCCH transmission of invalid symbols. Or, the transmission related to the invalid symbol can be directly discarded. Wherein, the discarded transmission can be one or more complete nominal or actual repetitions or partial nominal or actual repetitions. As shown in FIG. 6, the PUCCH format 0 or format 2 can be transmitted in the first 2 symbols, and the third symbol is invalid. In this case, the transmission of the third symbol can be discarded, and the transmission of the first and second symbols can be completed according to the nominal repetition transmission configuration. Figure 7As shown, the UE obtains the first nominal repetition transmission of PUCCH format 0 or format 2 from symbol 4 according to the configuration of the base station, occupying 2 symbols, and totally repeating 4 times. Among them, symbol 8 is invalid symbol. Then, the four nominal repetition transmissions of PUCCH occupy 8 symbols from symbol 4 to symbol 11, repeating 4 times in 2-symbol units. Among them, since symbol 8 is invalid symbol, the partial repetition transmission on symbol 8 can be discarded. Similarly, if a nominal repetition transmission encounters invalid symbol, after discarding the transmission related to the invalid symbol, the nominal repetition transmission can be divided into one or more actual repetition transmissions. For example, Figure 7 As shown, after discarding the transmission related to symbol 8, the third nominal repetition transmission is cut into an actual repetition transmission with a symbol length of 1. Similarly, in another example, if a nominal repetition transmission occupies 4 symbols from symbol 6 to symbol 9, then invalid symbol 8 will cut the nominal repetition transmission into an actual repetition transmission occupying symbol 6 to symbol 7, and an actual repetition transmission occupying symbol 9.

[0074] Among them, the invalid symbol is predefined or configured by the base station as one or more of the following: valid (or invalid) symbol pattern; semi-statically configured downlink and / or flexible symbol; symbol where Synchronization Signal and PBCH block (SSB) and / or Master Information Block (MIB) indicated CORESET 0 is located; several symbols after downlink and / or flexible symbol; downlink and / or flexible symbol dynamically indicated by DCI.

[0075] For PUCCH format 0 or format 2, since the repetition is essentially in 1 or 2 symbol units, there is no difference between directly configuring more symbol numbers. Therefore, the base station can directly configure the symbol number occupied by PUCCH format 0 (equivalent to repeating transmission in 1 symbol unit). At this time, the symbol number can be the symbol number of actual repetition transmission (i.e. postponing when encountering invalid symbol), or the symbol number of nominal repetition transmission (i.e. discarding when encountering invalid symbol). Similarly, the base station can directly configure the symbol number occupied by PUCCH format 2 (which can support PUCCH format 2 transmission of less than or equal to 2 symbols, and / or more than 2 symbols). Then, for the method of directly configuring the symbol number occupied by PUCCH format 2, the UE can determine the coding rate of UCI according to the number of resource elements (REs) corresponding to all configured symbols.

[0076] Figure 8A repetition transmission configuration according to another example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. PUCCH format 1 is constituted by DMRS plus modulation information, and can occupy 4-14 symbols. PUCCH format 1 also carries 1-2 bits of information, which are modulated using BPSK or QPSK and then spread in the frequency domain using a computer-generated sequence. Subsequently, spreading is performed in the time domain according to the position of the occupied symbols. In the time domain, 1 PRB is also occupied. PUCCH format 1 supports time slot repetition transmission, i.e., transmission in the same symbol position in each time slot. However, this makes it impossible to transmit in a time slot if there are some invalid symbols in the corresponding position in that time slot, or impossible to configure transmission in these invalid symbols for each time slot repetition transmission. This results in a decline in coverage performance or greater latency.

[0077] Similarly, micro-slot continuous repetition transmission can be performed for PUCCH format 1. In order to maintain the ability of multi-user multiplexing, a time-domain spreading code can be selected for the number of symbols of each actual repetition transmission. As shown in Figure 4 , the UE obtains from the base station that the first nominal repetition transmission of PUCCH starts at symbol 4 of time slot 1, each transmission has 4 symbols, and there are 4 transmissions, of which symbol 8 of the first time slot is an invalid symbol. Then the first nominal repetition transmission occupies symbols 4-7 of time slot 1, the second nominal repetition transmission occupies symbols 8-11 of time slot 1, the third nominal repetition transmission occupies symbols 12-13 of time slot 1 and symbols 0-1 of time slot 2, and the fourth nominal repetition transmission occupies symbols 3-6 of time slot 2. Since symbol 8 is an invalid symbol in the second nominal repetition transmission, the second nominal repetition transmission is divided into an actual repetition transmission occupying symbols 9-11. Since the third nominal repetition transmission crosses the time slot boundary, it needs to be divided into two actual repetition transmissions, occupying symbols 12-13 of the first time slot and symbols 0-1 of time slot 2, respectively.

[0078] Table 1 Orthogonal code

[0079]

[0080] The time-domain spreading sequence is selected according to the number of symbols of the actual repetition transmission. Assuming that the base station configures the UE with code word i = 1, according to the pre-defined table 1, a column corresponding to code word i = 1 and symbol length T is obtained to find the phase of each symbol of the orthogonal code Specifically, the first and fourth nominal repetition transmissions and the actual repetition transmissions are the same, using T = 4 symbols, so according to the table lookup, the phase sequence of the generated orthogonal code is obtained If the actual retransmission in the second nominal retransmission involves 3 symbols, then the phase sequence corresponding to T=3 is used. In the third nominal retransmission, there are two actual retransmissions of length 2, 3-1 and 3-2. Therefore, the phase sequence corresponding to T=2 is used.

[0081] In another example, encountering a time slot boundary does not require splitting into two actual repeated transmissions. Thus, in situations such as... Figure 8 In the example shown, although the third nominal retransmission encounters a time slot boundary, it does not need to be split into two retransmissions. That is, the third nominal retransmission is the same as the actual retransmission, using the phase sequence corresponding to T=4.

[0082] Figure 9 A retransmission configuration according to yet another exemplary embodiment of this disclosure is illustrated. According to one embodiment, when an invalid symbol and / or slot boundary is encountered, and the number of available consecutive symbols (valid symbols) is less than the number of symbols required for a single retransmission, the retransmission (a single transmission) can be postponed until valid symbols sufficient to carry the entire retransmission are encountered. However, because each transmission has the same number of symbols, PUCCH resource reuse is relatively easy. However, this method introduces additional latency. Figure 9 As shown, the UE receives the PUCCH from the base station starting with symbol 4 in time slot 1 for the first nominal retransmission. Each transmission consists of 4 symbols, and four transmissions are performed, with symbol 8 in the first time slot being an invalid symbol. Therefore, the first nominal retransmission occupies symbols 4-7 in time slot 1, and the second nominal retransmission occupies symbols 9-12 in time slot 1. Since only symbol 13 remains in time slot 1, which is less than the number of symbols required for one nominal retransmission, the third nominal retransmission occupies symbols 0-3 in time slot 2, and the fourth nominal retransmission occupies symbols 4-7 in time slot 2. This method also applies to PUCCH format 2 described above. This method ensures that the number of available REs is equal in each nominal or actual retransmission, eliminating the need for additional special processing of Polar rate matching and mapping, thus reducing complexity.

[0083] Furthermore, after determining the symbol positions occupied by each nominal retransmission, multiple symbols used for PUCCH transmission within a single time unit (each time slot) can be combined into a single actual retransmission, thereby improving the multiplexing rate. (See again...) Figure 8For example, all consecutive symbols in each time slot can be merged. For instance, repeated transmission 2 in time slot 1 and repeated transmission 3-1 in time slot 1 can be merged into a single actual repeated transmission with 5 symbols. Repeated transmissions 3-2 and 4 in time slot 2 can be merged into a single actual repeated transmission with 6 symbols. If the base station UE is configured with code i=1, according to Table 1, these two actual repeated transmissions use the phase sequence [0 1 2 3 4] corresponding to T=5 and the phase sequence [0 1 2 3 4 5] corresponding to T=6, respectively. The advantage of this method is that it makes the PUCCH transmission more regular, facilitating support for more UEs. Furthermore, it allows for the reuse of different UEs in different time slots or actual repeated transmissions, thereby improving capacity.

[0084] Each nominal or actual retransmission in the above-described retransmission method can carry different UCI information. For example, some nominal or actual retransmissions may carry HARQ-ACK / NACK, scheduling request (SR), CSI, etc. Alternatively, some nominal or actual retransmissions may carry high-priority UCIs, while others may carry low-priority UCIs, and so on.

[0085] The aforementioned continuous repetition transmission method can also be used for PUCCH formats 3 and 4. Specifically, for PUCCH transmission of DFT-S-OFDM waveforms, the position of the DMRS needs to be determined. The position of the DMRS can be determined by its relative position in the nominal repetition transmission based on the symbol length of each nominal repetition transmission. Alternatively, the position of the DMRS can be determined by its relative position in the actual repetition transmission based on the symbol length of each actual repetition transmission. The latter ensures that there is a DMRS available for demodulation in each actual repetition transmission.

[0086] For PUCCH format 0 or format 2 that supports a longer number of symbols, or for repeated transmissions of PUCCH format 0 or format 2, at least one of the following frequency hopping methods can be supported:

[0087] ● Frequency hopping between each nominal or actual repeated transmission (frequency hopping is performed on a unit of each nominal or actual repeated transmission).

[0088] by Figure 8 For example, frequency hopping can be performed in units of nominal repetition transmissions. The first hop is the first nominal repetition transmission of symbols 4-7 in time slot 1, the second hop is the second nominal repetition transmission of symbols 8-11 in time slot 1, the third hop is the third nominal repetition transmission of symbols 12-13 in time slot 1 and symbols 0-1 in time slot 2, and the fourth hop is the fourth nominal repetition transmission of symbols 3-6 in time slot 2.

[0089] by Figure 8For example, frequency hopping can be performed in units of actual repeated transmissions. For instance, the first hop is the first actual repeated transmission of symbols 4-7 occupying time slot 1, the second hop is the second actual repeated transmission of symbols 9-11 occupying time slot 2, the third hop is the third actual repeated transmission of symbols 12-13 occupying time slot 1, the fourth hop is the fourth actual repeated transmission of symbols 0-1 occupying time slot 2, and the fifth hop is the fifth actual repeated transmission of symbols 3-6 occupying time slot 2.

[0090] ● Frequency hopping between occupied time slots (when spanning multiple time slots, frequency hopping is performed on a time slot-by-time basis).

[0091] by Figure 8 For example, frequency hopping can be performed in units of time slots. The first hop is the actual repeated transmission of symbols 4-7, symbols 8-11, and symbols 12-13 occupying time slot 1; the second hop is the actual repeated transmission of symbols 0-1 and symbols 3-6 occupying time slot 2.

[0092] ● Frequency hopping is performed based on the first half and the second half of the actual number of symbols occupied in each time slot.

[0093] by Figure 7 For example, frequency hopping can be performed using the first half and the second half of the number of symbols occupied in each time slot as units. Figure 7 As shown, all repetitions occur within the same time slot, with a nominal repetition transmission occupying 8 symbols (actual repetition transmission occupies 7 symbols). The first hop is for symbols 4-7; the second hop is for symbols 8-11. Symbol 8 is not actually repetitively transmitted. In this case, the first hop occupies half of the nominal repetition transmission symbol count L′ within a time slot, i.e. Second jump occupied The number of symbols. Optionally, the floor function in the previous formula can be replaced with the floor function. In another example, the total number of nominally repeated transmission symbols L′ in a time slot can be replaced with the total number of symbols actually used for repeated transmissions in a time slot. A time slot can be replaced with other time units, such as the total number of symbols used for both nominal and actual repeated transmissions.

[0094] ● Frequency hopping is performed in units of half the symbols transmitted in each nominal or actual repetition.

[0095] by Figure 7For example, frequency hopping can be performed in units of half symbols in each nominal repeated transmission. Since each nominal repeated transmission occupies 2 symbols, the first hop is the first half symbol of the first nominal repeated transmission, i.e., symbol 4, and the second hop is the second half symbol of the first nominal repeated transmission, i.e., symbol 5. Similarly, the third and fourth hops are symbols 6 and 7 of the second nominal repeated transmission; the fifth and sixth hops are symbols 8 and 9 of the third nominal repeated transmission; and so on. Symbol 8 is an unusable symbol and no actual repeated transmission is performed.

[0096] For example, frequency hopping can be performed in units of half symbols in each nominal repeated transmission. Since each nominal repeated transmission occupies 2 symbols, the first hop is the first half symbol of the first nominal repeated transmission, i.e., symbol 4, and the second hop is the second half symbol of the first nominal repeated transmission, i.e., symbol 5. Similarly, the third and fourth hops are symbols 6 and 7 of the second nominal repeated transmission; the fifth and sixth hops are symbols 8 and 9 of the third nominal repeated transmission; and so on. Symbol 8 is an unusable symbol and no actual repeated transmission is performed. Figure 7

[0097] That is, the first hop occupies half of the symbols L' in each nominal or actual repeated transmission, i.e., The second hop occupies the other half, i.e., symbols.

[0098] • Frequency hopping according to the number of time-domain symbol bundles configured by the base station (the base station configures the number of symbols in a time-domain bundle, and frequency hopping is performed in units of time-domain bundles).

[0099] For example, the base station configures the number of time-domain symbol bundles to be 4 symbols, and frequency hopping can be performed in units of 4 symbols. As shown in FIG. 6, the first hop starts from symbol 4 and occupies 4 symbols, i.e., symbols 4-7; the second hop starts from symbol 8 and occupies 4 symbols, i.e., symbols 8-11. The number of time-domain symbol bundles configured by the base station can be the number of symbols occupied by nominal repeated transmissions or the number of symbols occupied by actual repeated transmissions. Figure 7 Figure 7 • Frequency hopping according to the number of nominal or actual repeated transmissions bundled by the base station (the base station configures the number of bundled repeated transmissions, and frequency hopping is performed in units of time-domain bundles).

[0100] For example, the base station configures the number of time-domain symbol bundles to be 4 symbols, and frequency hopping can be performed in units of 4 symbols. As shown in FIG. 6, the first hop starts from symbol 4 and occupies 4 symbols, i.e., symbols 4-7; the second hop starts from symbol 8 and occupies 4 symbols, i.e., symbols 8-11. The number of time-domain symbol bundles configured by the base station can be the number of symbols occupied by nominal repeated transmissions or the number of symbols occupied by actual repeated transmissions.

[0101] For example, the base station configures the number of time-domain symbol bundles to be 4 symbols, and frequency hopping can be performed in units of 4 symbols. As shown in FIG. 6, the first hop starts from symbol 4 and occupies 4 symbols, i.e., symbols 4-7; the second hop starts from symbol 8 and occupies 4 symbols, i.e., symbols 8-11. The number of time-domain symbol bundles configured by the base station can be the number of symbols occupied by nominal repeated transmissions or the number of symbols occupied by actual repeated transmissions. Figure 8 ​​For example, the base station configures the bundling of 2 nominal repetitions for frequency hopping. Then, the first hop is the first nominal repetition occupying symbols 4-7 of slot 1 and the second nominal repetition occupying symbols 8-11 of slot 1; the second hop is the third nominal repetition occupying symbols 12-13 of slot 1 and the fourth nominal repetition occupying symbols 0-1 of slot 2.

[0102] For example, the base station configures the bundling of 2 actual repetitions for frequency hopping. Then, the first hop is the first actual repetition occupying symbols 4-7 of slot 1 and the second actual repetition occupying symbols 9-11 of slot 1; the second hop is the third actual repetition occupying symbols 12-13 of slot 1 and the fourth actual repetition occupying symbols 0-1 of slot 2; the third hop is the fifth actual repetition occupying symbols 3-6 of slot 2. In this case, the actual or nominal repetition number in the last hop can be less than or equal to the bundling number configured by the base station.

[0103] Similarly, the nominal or actual repetition can be replaced by other time units for frequency hopping. For example, the bundling can be replaced by several slots for frequency hopping. This method can make the transmission in each frequency domain have a longer duration, and for users with poor coverage or channel conditions, the channel estimation performance can be improved through joint estimation of multiple DMRSs, thereby obtaining better decoding performance.

[0104] The frequency domain position of each hop described above can be determined according to the information configured by the base station. For example, if the base station configures P frequency domain positions, the frequency domain position of the Qth hop is the jth = Q mod P frequency domain position.

[0105] In addition, the above-mentioned frequency hopping method can be implemented by one of the base station configurations or according to a predefined rule. Different PUCCH formats can be configured or predefined with the same or different frequency hopping methods.

[0106] In addition, the above-mentioned frequency hopping method can also be used for the time slot repetition transmission currently supported by the protocol, as well as the transmission of other uplink or downlink channels, such as PUSCH, PDSCH, SRS, etc.

[0107] Since PUCCH format 1 requires at least one DMRS and one information symbol for carrying UCI for transmission, if the number of symbols in the actual repetition is 1, it will be discarded, or only used for transmitting DMRS, or combined with the adjacent actual repetition into a new actual repetition to improve performance.

[0108] In addition, since PUCCH format 0 can theoretically multiplex 6 users (with different orthogonal sequences), if spreading is supported for PUCCH, the number of multiplexed users can be further increased. For example, spreading can be performed with orthogonal sequences in units of 1 or 2 symbols. Different orthogonal code lengths can be configured for different repetition numbers. For example, for spreading codes for PUCCH format 1, the symbol number T is replaced by the repetition number in Table 1. i = 0 ~ 6 can be configured by the base station to support different UEs, or the index in the spreading code can be calculated according to the cell ID. Alternatively, other orthogonal or quasi-orthogonal codes can be used as spreading codes. Compared with direct repetition transmission, using spreading codes for PUCCH transmission can increase the number of multiplexed users (increase capacity), and can further reduce inter-cell and intra-cell interference. Similarly, this method is also applicable to PUCCH format 2.

[0109] In addition, for PUCCH format 2, in order to reduce the interference between adjacent cells, the DMRS of PUCCH format 2 can be randomized in units of each time slot (according to the time slot index) or the (nominal or actual) repetition number. That is, the sequence and / or the occupied frequency domain position of the DMRS are determined according to the timing or the (nominal or actual) repetition number.

[0110] In particular, for PUCCH format 2 or other PUCCH formats using Polar codes, and other UCI transmission methods, due to the characteristics of Polar codes, it is necessary to ensure that the code rate used in each actual repetition or each encoded actual repetition is the same. The code rate (rate matching) can be determined according to one of the following methods: the number of REs in one nominal repetition, according to the number of REs in the shortest actual repetition among all actual repetitions, according to the number of REs in the longest one among all actual repetitions, according to the number of REs in the shortest transmission in the first actual repetition. The above method can be used for Polar codes and the encoding method of the short code defined by 3GPP; or the above method is only used for Polar codes, and for the encoding method of the short code defined by 3GPP, rate matching can be performed according to the number of available REs in each actual repetition.

[0111] Figures 10 to 12 Various ways of mapping symbols used for transmitting information to resource elements RE on the time domain according to example embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. Specifically, one of the following mapping methods is included:

[0112] • Method A: Start from the first RE in each actual repetition, map the modulated symbols to each available RE in turn until there is no RE available for mapping.

[0113] AsFigure 10 The first actual repetition transmission has li symbols, where li < l, and the second actual repetition transmission has l2 symbols, where l2 = l. The UE rate-matches according to the calculated code rate, and after modulation and other steps, n modulated symbols are obtained. According to a predefined rule (e.g., first traverse different subcarriers of one symbol, and then traverse different symbols), mapping starts from the first available RE of the first actual repetition transmission, and continues until all li symbols of the first actual repetition transmission are mapped. Since the number of symbols of the first actual repetition transmission li is less than the number of symbols of nominal repetition transmission l, if rate-matching is performed according to the number of available REs of nominal repetition transmission, then as shown in FIG. 3B, the first actual repetition transmission cannot complete mapping of all n modulated symbols b0~bn-1, and can only carry the first m modulated symbols b0~bm-1. Figure 10 The first actual repetition transmission has li symbols, where li < l, and the second actual repetition transmission has l2 symbols, where l2 = l. The UE rate-matches according to the calculated code rate, and after modulation and other steps, n modulated symbols are obtained. According to a predefined rule (e.g., first traverse different subcarriers of one symbol, and then traverse different symbols), mapping starts from the first available RE of the first actual repetition transmission, and continues until all li symbols of the first actual repetition transmission are mapped. Since the number of symbols of the first actual repetition transmission li is less than the number of symbols of nominal repetition transmission l, if rate-matching is performed according to the number of available REs of nominal repetition transmission, then as shown in FIG. 3B, the first actual repetition transmission cannot complete mapping of all n modulated symbols b0~bn-1, and can only carry the first m modulated symbols b0~bm-1. Figure 10 The first actual repetition transmission has li symbols, where li < l, and the second actual repetition transmission has l2 symbols, where l2 = l. The UE rate-matches according to the calculated code rate, and after modulation and other steps, n modulated symbols are obtained. According to a predefined rule (e.g., first traverse different subcarriers of one symbol, and then traverse different symbols), mapping starts from the first available RE of the first actual repetition transmission, and continues until all li symbols of the first actual repetition transmission are mapped. Since the number of symbols of the first actual repetition transmission li is less than the number of symbols of nominal repetition transmission l, if rate-matching is performed according to the number of available REs of nominal repetition transmission, then as shown in FIG. 3B, the first actual repetition transmission cannot complete mapping of all n modulated symbols b0~bn-1, and can only carry the first m modulated symbols b0~bm-1.

[0114] If rate-matching is performed according to the number of REs of nominal repetition transmission, this method can cause the front information to be transmitted multiple times, and the rear information to be transmitted fewer times. This can affect the overall decoding performance. However, this method is simple and easy to operate, and is suitable for cases where the number of symbols of actual repetition transmission is less than the number of symbols of nominal repetition transmission. To avoid this situation, rate-matching can be performed according to the minimum number of symbols (number of REs) of actual repetition transmission. If the number of available REs of actual repetition transmission is greater than the number of modulated symbols, repeated mapping can be performed according to a predefined rule, e.g., repeated mapping starts from the first modulated symbol.

[0115] Method B: mapping starts from the first RE of the first actual repetition transmission of each nominal repetition transmission, and continues to the first RE of the next actual repetition transmission, until there is no RE available for mapping for the last actual repetition transmission of the nominal repetition transmission.

[0116] As shown in FIG. 3B, the first actual repetition transmission cannot complete mapping of all n modulated symbols b0~bn-1, and can only carry the first m modulated symbols b0~bm-1. Figure 11The first nominal repetition transmission is split into two actual repetition transmissions, the first actual repetition transmission has li symbols and the second actual repetition transmission has l2 symbols. The UE rate matches according to the calculated code rate and obtains n modulated symbols after modulation and other steps. The mapping starts from the first available RE of the first actual repetition transmission of the first nominal repetition transmission according to predefined rules (e.g., first traverse different subcarriers of one symbol, then traverse different symbols) until the whole li symbols of the first actual repetition transmission are completed. The first actual repetition transmission cannot complete the mapping of all n modulated symbols b0~bn-1, and can only carry the first m modulated symbols b0~bm-1, where m < n. The mapping continues from bm at the first available RE of the second actual repetition transmission of the first nominal repetition transmission until the whole l2 symbols of the second actual repetition transmission are completed. The second actual repetition transmission completes the mapping of the modulated symbols bm~by-1. For the method of rate matching according to the number of available REs of nominal repetition transmission, if li + l2 = l, where l is the number of symbols of nominal repetition transmission, then the two actual repetition transmissions of the first nominal repetition transmission as shown in Figure 11 The two actual repetition transmissions of the first nominal repetition transmission as shown in Figure 11 The second nominal repetition transmission is actually a repetition transmission and is not cut, so the second nominal repetition transmission maps from b0 to bn-1. The x in the figure is a reference signal and cannot be mapped for data.

[0117] This method can make each nominal repetition transmission complete as much data mapping as possible, and avoid the front information of method A being transmitted multiple times. However, if the total number of symbols of the actual repetition transmissions in the nominal repetition transmission is less than the number of REs used for rate matching, the latter half of the symbols will still be transmitted less or missing.

[0118] Method C: The modulated symbols are mapped to each available RE of the first actual repetition transmission from the first RE of the first actual repetition transmission, and the mapping of the first RE of the next actual repetition transmission is continued until there is no RE available for mapping for the last actual repetition transmission of all actual repetition transmissions.

[0119] As shown in Figure 12The common symbols are shown as l1, l2, l3 symbols of actual repeated transmission respectively. The UE performs rate matching according to the calculated code rate, and obtains n modulation symbols after modulation and other steps. According to a predefined rule (for example, traversing different subcarriers of a symbol first, and then traversing different symbols), b0 is mapped from the first available RE of the first actual repeated transmission, and the mapping of all l1 symbols of the first actual repeated transmission is completed. The first actual repeated transmission cannot complete the mapping of all n modulation symbols b0~bn-1, and can only carry the first m modulation symbols b0~bm-1. The mapping of bm is continued from the first available RE of the second actual repeated transmission, and the mapping of bn-1 is completed, and the mapping of b0 is restarted, and the mapping of all l2 symbols of the second actual repeated transmission is completed. The second actual repeated transmission completes the mapping of the modulation symbols bm~bn-1, and then continues to complete the mapping of b0 to by-1. The mapping of by is continued from the first available RE of the third actual repeated transmission, and the mapping of all l3 symbols of the third actual repeated transmission is completed, and the mapping of bz-1 is completed. The three actual repeated transmissions complete a complete mapping of b0 to bn-1 once, and a partial mapping of b0 to bz-1. The x shown in the figure is a reference signal, and cannot be mapped for data.

[0120] This method can ensure complete transmission of modulation symbols. The missing transmission will only occur in the last actual repeated transmission. However, this method will cause the complexity of base station demodulation.

[0121] For the above-mentioned methods A to C, if the number of REs available for mapping is greater than the number of modulation symbols, the above-mentioned mapping is repeated. For a PUCCH carrying multiple UCI encoded respectively, the number of REs occupied by the code rate corresponding to each UCI encoded block is calculated according to a predefined rule, and the mapping is performed in the order of mapping high-priority UCI encoded blocks first, and then mapping low-priority encoded blocks. When the number of available REs is sufficient for mapping, one of the above-mentioned methods A to C is used for mapping.

[0122] The above method can be applied to other channels using polar code repeated transmission (including UCI transmission in PUSCH, PUCCH format 3 / 4, etc.), and is suitable for different cases where the number of REs used for information transmission in different repeated transmissions is different.

[0123] In addition, the above-mentioned mapping method can be selected by one of the base station configurations or according to a predefined rule. Different PUCCH formats can be configured or predefined with the same or different mapping methods.

[0124] Figure 13The relationship between the number of symbols, the number of PRBs, and the number of nominal or actual repeated transmissions is shown schematically.

[0125] For PUCCH format 2 and PUCCH format 3, the base station configures the maximum number of PRBs, the number of symbols, and the target code rate. The UE calculates the number of PRBs required according to the number of bits of UCI, the target code rate, and the number of symbols. Because the UCI load required to be reported at different times is different, the actual number of PRBs occupied can also be different.

[0126] However, for uplink transmission, because the transmission power is limited, occupying too many PRBs will not bring performance improvement. On the contrary, it will cause the signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) at the receiving end to be too low, thereby affecting the receiving performance. On the other hand, if the number of PRBs and the number of symbols occupied by one nominal or actual repeated transmission are limited at the same time, that is, the number of resources occupied by one nominal or actual repeated transmission is limited, then the coding rate will be too low, and the coding gain cannot be obtained well. Preferably, for rate matching according to nominal repeated transmission, the number of resources occupied by the corresponding nominal repeated transmission; for rate matching according to actual repeated transmission, the number of resources occupied by the corresponding actual repeated transmission. Therefore, one of the following methods can be used, where the methods below apply to nominal repeated transmission or actual repeated transmission:

[0127] The UE obtains one or more of the following parameters from the base station or according to predefined rules: the maximum number of PRBs occupied in the frequency domain, the minimum number of symbols occupied by each nominal or actual repeated transmission, the number of symbols increased each time, the maximum number of symbols occupied by each nominal or actual repeated transmission, the target code rate, the modulation mode;

[0128] The UE calculates the number of PRBs occupied according to one or more of the UCI load, the target code rate, the modulation mode, and the number of symbols occupied by the minimum repeated transmission; if the maximum PRB is still not enough to achieve the target code rate, the number of symbols occupied in the time domain is increased by the number of symbols increased each time until the target code rate is met.

[0129] In particular, the number of symbols increased each time can be 1 or other positive integers. The maximum number of PRBs occupied in the frequency domain is 1 or other positive integers. The maximum number of symbols occupied by each nominal or actual repeated transmission is 14 or any positive integer.

[0130] Specifically, the UE obtains the following information: the maximum number of PRBs occupied in the frequency domain is 1; the minimum number of symbols occupied in each nominal or actual repeated transmission is 1; the number of symbols added each time is 1; the maximum number of symbols is 14; and the target code rate is 0.5. PUCCH format 2 is used for transmission, with a UCI payload of 30 bits. The number of REs that can be used for transmission in one symbol is 6. Because QPSK modulation is used, 30 REs are needed to transmit 30 bits at a code rate of 0.5 using QPSK. Therefore, the UE infers that a total of 5 symbols are required.

[0131] Specifically, if the minimum number of symbols used in each nominal or actual retransmission is equal to the maximum number of symbols used in each retransmission, then the number of retransmissions can be determined based on the target bit rate, the number of PRBs used, and the load. For example... Figure 13 As shown, the UE obtains the maximum number of PRBs occupied in the frequency domain as M, the minimum number of symbols occupied in each nominal or actual retransmission as L, the number of symbols added each time as L, and the maximum number of symbols occupied in each nominal or actual retransmission as L. Then, the UE can determine the number of nominal or actual retransmissions N based on the target code rate. Where N = number of bits / (code rate * modulation order * number of PRBs M * number of REs in L symbols of each PRB). For example, if the number of bits is 30, the code rate is 0.5, the modulation order is 2, the maximum number of PRBs is M = 1, and the number of REs in L = 1 symbol is 6, then the number of retransmissions N = 30 / (0.5 * 2 * 1 * 6) = 5. This number of retransmissions can be the nominal or actual number of transmissions. If other methods are used for retransmission, such as time slot retransmission, it can also be the number of time slot retransmissions. The above method is not limited to specific retransmission schemes.

[0132] If the required number of symbols exceeds the maximum number of symbols, there are two methods: Method A) perform rate matching based on the maximum number of symbols; Method B) further introduce repeated transmissions.

[0133] For method B, which introduces repeated transmissions, there are two ways to calculate the number of nominal or actual repeated transmissions and the number of symbols in each nominal or actual repeated transmission:

[0134] Method M): The number of symbols in each nominal or actual repeated transmission is the maximum number of symbols. The number of repeated transmissions is set to make the effective bit rate less than the minimum of the target bit rate.

[0135] In the example above, if the UCI payload is 100 bits, then there are 84 REs in 14 symbols in one nominal or actual retransmission, which is insufficient to reach the target bit rate. However, two nominal or actual retransmissions can achieve a bit rate lower than the target bit rate. Therefore, the number of retransmissions is 2.

[0136] Method N): Calculate the minimum number of symbols Ln needed to reach the target code rate, then the number of nominal or actual repetitions needed is the minimum number of symbols divided by the maximum number of symbols per nominal or actual repetition, rounded up, i.e.

[0137] In this case, the number of symbols per nominal or actual repetition can be In this way, the number of symbols per nominal or actual repetition is equal. Or the number of symbols per nominal or actual repetition can be unequal. For example, the number of symbols of the last nominal or actual repetition is less than the number of symbols of the previous nominal or actual repetition.

[0138] As in the above example, if the UCI payload is 100 bits, to reach the target code rate, 17 symbols are needed, i.e. Then the number of repetitions needed is Each nominal or actual repetition is 9 symbols, i.e. In this way, the first actual repetition is 9 symbols, and the second actual repetition is (remaining) 8 symbols.

[0139] The above method is also applicable to bandwidth-limited UEs.

[0140] The above method is also applicable to other repetition transmission schemes, including the time slot repetition transmission currently supported by PUCCH.

[0141] Compared with the original method of determining the number of PRBs according to the target code rate, the above method is equivalent to concentrating the transmission power of the UE in a smaller bandwidth. Since the UE usually determines the transmission power according to the occupied bandwidth, for the cell edge UE (which needs coverage enhancement), the maximum transmission power can be used for transmission according to the base station configuration or pre-defined in the protocol. Specifically, the base station can use RRC configuration to determine whether to use the maximum transmission power for PUCCH transmission using at least one of the above methods. Or, it can be specified in the protocol that if the RRC configuration is used to determine whether to use the maximum transmission power for PUCCH transmission using at least one of the above methods.

[0142] In addition, the number of nominal or actual repetitions of PUCCH can be dynamically indicated by the base station in DCI or calculated by the UE according to the pre-defined rules. For example,

[0143] • A new field is added to DCI to directly and explicitly indicate the number of nominal or actual repetitions of PUCCH. This method needs to increase the load of DCI, which may affect the decoding performance of DCI. However, this method is simple to implement.

[0144] • When RRC (Radio Resource Control) configures the UE with dynamically indicated PUCCH resources, additional nominal or actual repetition number is configured for each resource. This method can not increase the payload of DCI. The existing way of indicating 16 PUCCH resource fields can be adopted, and the required nominal or actual repetition number is indicated at the same time as the PUCCH resource. Alternatively, 16 PUCCH resources can be extended to more, which can provide more flexibility and more options, but may require an increase in the payload of DCI.

[0145] • The UE infers from other parameters. For example, the repetition number, code rate, aggregation level, etc. of a specific channel (e.g. PDCCH, PDSCH, PUSCH, SRS, etc.). The base station can configure the corresponding mapping relationship through RRC. For example, the aggregation level of PDCCH corresponds to the nominal or actual repetition number of PUCCH, the threshold of PDSCH code rate corresponding to different PUCCH nominal or actual repetition number, etc.

[0146] ■For example, the UE determines the required nominal or actual repetition number of PUCCH according to the PDSCH code rate and / or repetition number. Among them, the PDSCH is the corresponding latest PDSCH in the HARQ-ACK codebook in the UCI, or the PDSCH with the most repetition number and / or the lowest code rate among all corresponding PDSCHs, or the PDSCH scheduled by the PDCCH indicating the PUCCH, etc.

[0147] ■For example, the UE determines the nominal or actual repetition number of PUCCH according to the aggregation level and / or repetition number of PDCCH. Among them, the PDCCH can indicate the PDCCH of the PUCCH resource, or the maximum PDCCH aggregation level and / or repetition number in the PDCCH search space. If the aggregation level and / or repetition number of the PDCCH may be ambiguous, for example, the base station sends an aggregation level of 8, but the UE correctly decodes the PDCCH at an aggregation level of 4 due to good channel conditions. Then the actual PDCCH aggregation level and / or repetition number needs to be indicated in the DCI or PDSCH. Alternatively, the UE can determine the nominal or actual repetition number of PUCCH according to the aggregation level and / or repetition number of the successfully decoded PDCCH. The base station may need to perform a certain amount of blind detection for different possible PUCCH nominal or actual repetition numbers to complete the detection or decoding of PUCCH.

[0148] Similarly, the above-mentioned method of determining the nominal or actual repetition number of PUCCH is also applicable to determining the number of symbols and / or the number of PRBs occupied in one nominal or actual repetition of PUCCH.

[0149] The above method is also applicable to other repetition transmission schemes, including time slot repetition transmission.

[0150] Different PUCCH formats can employ different repetition transmission methods. The base station can configure different repetition transmission methods for different PUCCH formats through RRC. The base station can turn on or off some of the methods in this paper in the signaling of configuring PUCCH. Alternatively, the base station can additionally turn on a mode, for example, a coverage enhancement mode. Once the base station turns on this mode, the UE employs one or more of the above methods. For example, the base station can turn on the coverage enhancement mode in the system information. For example, through direct explicit signaling, or by implicitly indicating the parameters of some common messages. Specifically, the base station can configure repetition transmission for Msg3, and / or configure repetition transmission for HARQ-ACK of Msg4, etc.

[0151] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for transmitting an uplink control channel is provided. The method can include: obtaining nominal repetition transmission related configuration information; determining resource positions of one or more actual repetitions according to the nominal repetition transmission related configuration information; and transmitting information according to the resource positions.

[0152] According to an embodiment, determining the resource positions of one or more actual repetitions according to the nominal repetition transmission related configuration information can include determining time domain resource positions of nominal repetitions according to the nominal repetition transmission related configuration information, and determining the time domain resource positions of the nominal repetitions as time domain resource positions of the actual repetitions.

[0153] According to an embodiment, determining the resource positions of one or more actual repetitions according to the nominal repetition transmission related configuration information can include, in each of one or more slots, merging consecutive symbols among symbols occupied by one or more nominal repetitions, and transmitting the merged symbols as one actual repetition.

[0154] According to an embodiment, the transmission method can further include determining a spreading code in the time domain according to the number of symbols in each actual repetition.

[0155] According to an embodiment, the transmission method can further include, when there is an invalid symbol in consecutive symbols occupied by one nominal repetition, employing one of the following: discarding transmission to be performed on the invalid symbol; splitting one nominal repetition into one or more actual repetitions at the invalid symbol; and postponing transmission to be performed on the invalid symbol.

[0156] According to an embodiment, the transmitting method can further comprise, when a time slot boundary occurs in the continuous symbols occupied by the one nominal repeated transmission, one of: splitting the one nominal repeated transmission into two actual repeated transmissions at the time slot boundary; not splitting the one nominal repeated transmission into two actual repeated transmissions at the time slot boundary; and postponing the one nominal repeated transmission to after the time slot boundary.

[0157] According to an embodiment, the transmitting method can further comprise determining the coding rate of the nominal or actual repeated transmissions according to one or more of: the number of resource elements (REs) in the one nominal repeated transmission, the number of REs in the shortest one of all the actual repeated transmissions, the number of REs in the longest one of all the actual repeated transmissions, the number of REs in the shortest one of the first actual repeated transmissions.

[0158] According to an embodiment, the transmitting method can further comprise determining the coding rate of the actual repeated transmissions according to the number of available REs in each actual repeated transmission.

[0159] According to an embodiment, the transmitting method can further comprise mapping the symbols for transmitting information to the corresponding REs by one of: sequentially mapping the symbols onto each available RE starting from the first available RE in each actual repeated transmission until the last available RE in the actual repeated transmission; sequentially mapping the symbols onto each available RE starting from the first available RE in the first actual repeated transmission of each nominal repeated transmission until the last available RE in the last actual repeated transmission of the nominal repeated transmission; and sequentially mapping the symbols onto each available RE starting from the first available RE in the first actual repeated transmission of all the actual repeated transmissions until the last available RE in the last actual repeated transmission of all the actual repeated transmissions.

[0160] According to an embodiment, the transmitting method can further comprise obtaining one or more of: the maximum number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) occupied in the frequency domain, the minimum number of symbols occupied per nominal or actual repeated transmission, the number of symbols increased per time, the maximum number of symbols occupied per nominal or actual repeated transmission, the target coding rate, the modulation mode, from the base station or according to predefined rules.

[0161] According to an embodiment, the transmitting method can further comprise calculating the number of PRBs needed to be occupied according to one or more of: the uplink control information (UCI) load, the target coding rate, the modulation mode, and the minimum number of symbols occupied per nominal or actual repeated transmission, wherein if the maximum PRBs cannot reach the target coding rate, the number of symbols occupied in the time domain is increased in units of the number of symbols increased per time to meet the target coding rate.

[0162] According to an embodiment, in a case where the number of symbols in each nominal or actual repeated transmission is the maximum number of symbols, the number of one or more nominal or actual repeated transmissions can be set to be a minimum value that makes the equivalent coding rate less than the target coding rate.

[0163] According to an embodiment, the number of one or more nominal or actual repeated transmissions can be determined according to at least one of the following: the number of nominal or actual repeated transmissions, the minimum number of symbols required to meet the target coding rate, the maximum number of symbols in each nominal or actual repeated transmission.

[0164] According to an embodiment, the number of symbols in each nominal or actual repeated transmission can be determined according to at least one of the following: the number of nominal or actual repeated transmissions, the number of symbols in each nominal or actual repeated transmission.

[0165] According to an embodiment, the transmission method can further include transmitting the information at a maximum transmission power according to a base station configuration or a pre-defined rule.

[0166] According to an embodiment, the transmission method can further include determining the number of one or more nominal or actual repeated transmissions according to a dynamic indication set in downlink control information (DCI) or radio resource control (RRC).

[0167] According to an embodiment, the transmission method can further include determining the number of one or more nominal or actual repeated transmissions according to a repetition number, a coding rate, an aggregation level of a specific channel, wherein the specific channel includes a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a sounding reference signal (SRS).

[0168] According to an embodiment, the transmission method can further include supporting at least one of the following frequency hopping methods: frequency hopping in units of each nominal or actual repeated transmission; frequency hopping in units of slots when crossing multiple slots; frequency domain frequency hopping according to a first half and a second half of a number of symbols occupied in each actual slot; frequency hopping in units of a half number of symbols of each nominal or actual repeated transmission; frequency hopping in units of one time domain bundle when a number of symbols of time domain bundling is configured by a base station; and frequency hopping in units of one time domain bundle when a number of repeated transmissions of bundling is configured by a base station.

[0169] To reduce UE complexity, one or more reduced capability (RedCap) types of UEs can be supported in 5G NR system. RedCap UEs have smaller RF bandwidth than non-RedCap UEs, for example, in FR1 band, RedCap UEs have only 20MHz bandwidth while non-RedCap UEs need to support 100MHz bandwidth.

[0170] Existing 5G NR system can configure initial bandwidth part (iBWP) in SIB. In FR1 band, because non-RedCap UEs can support 100MHz bandwidth, iBWP can be configured with no more than 100MHz bandwidth. To support small bandwidth RedCap UEs, base station can limit to configure iBWP with no more than RedCap UE bandwidth capability, and share with non-RedCap UEs. But this method can limit the performance of non-RedCap UEs, for example, can cause PDCCH congestion. Therefore, RedCap UEs can be enabled to work on a larger bandwidth BWP by performing RF tuning. Or, separate BWP can be configured for non-RedCap UEs and RedCap UEs.

[0171] To this end, the present application provides a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a mobile communication system, comprising:

[0172] obtaining configuration information of one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs);

[0173] obtaining a BWP switching indication;

[0174] performing BWP switching according to the BWP switching indication.

[0175] Optionally, the method can further comprise at least one of the following:

[0176] obtaining frequency domain locations of the one or more BWPs according to frequency domain starting location of a reference BWP in the configuration information and offset information relative to the frequency domain starting location of the reference BWP; and

[0177] obtaining frequency domain locations of the one or more BWPs according to frequency domain starting location of a carrier where the one or more BWPs are located in the configuration information and offset relative to the frequency domain starting location of the carrier.

[0178] Optionally, obtaining a BWP switching indication comprises at least one of the following:

[0179] according to BWP switching indication in DCI;

[0180] The BWP switching indication is acquired according to a configuration of the BWP and / or a predefined rule.

[0181] The BWP switching indication is acquired according to a configuration of the BWP and / or a predefined rule.

[0182] The BWP switching indication is acquired according to a validity time of the BWP indicated in the configuration of the BWP or calculated according to the predefined rule.

[0183] The BWP switching indication is acquired according to a size of a bandwidth of the BWP in the configuration of the BWP.

[0184] The BWP switching is performed according to at least one of the following.

[0185] The BWP switching is performed according to time-related information required for the BWP switching.

[0186] The BWP switching is performed according to information related to a loading mode of channel configuration information on the BWP after the BWP switching.

[0187] The BWP switching is performed according to information related to a processing mode of channels and signals on the current BWP.

[0188] The BWP switching is performed according to information related to a BWP type corresponding to a BWP index.

[0189] The BWP switching is performed according to a switching mode of the BWP indicated in the configuration information.

[0190] The BWP switching is performed according to a currently valid BWP determined according to a predefined rule.

[0191] The BWP switching is performed according to a validity time of the BWP indicated in the configuration information.

[0192] The BWP switching is performed according to a size of a bandwidth of the BWP in the configuration information.

[0193] The above method is described below through specific examples. One or more bandwidth blocks (BWPs) are applied to BWPs for RedCap UEs, and reference BWPs are applied to BWPs for non-RedCap UEs.

[0194] Specifically, in the current 5G NR system, the uplink and downlink can be configured respectively in the ServingCellConfigCommonSIB message of SIB1. For example, in the DownlinkConfigCommonSIB radio resource control information for downlink configuration, the downlink frequency location (frequencyInfoDL) and the configuration information BWP-DownlinkCommon of the downlink iBWP can be configured. Among them, the starting position of the frequency domain of the downlink carrier (such as PRB 0) can be determined according to the indication of a common reference frequency domain position (Point A) and the deviation from the common reference frequency domain position Point A of the frequency domain position of the downlink carrier. In BWP-DownlinkCommon, the PRB position of the reference of the BWP can be indicated, wherein the subcarrier spacing indicated in the BWP is the subcarrier spacing, and the starting position of the downlink frequency of the carrier is the starting position (PRB 0). Similarly, the position of the uplink carrier can also be obtained according to the deviation from the common reference frequency domain position Point A. Alternatively, the absolute frequency of the uplink carrier can be directly indicated.

[0195] Generally, if the BWP for the RedCap UE overlaps with the BWP for the non-RedCap UE, the same subcarrier spacing can be used in order to enable coexistence of the RedCap UE and the non-RedCap UE. Different subcarrier spacing can also be configured for the BWP for the RedCap UE and the BWP for the non-RedCap UE. The RedCap UE can obtain the frequency domain position of the BWP for the RedCap UE in at least one of the following ways:

[0196] Way one: the frequency domain position of the one or more BWPs is obtained according to the frequency domain starting position of the BWP for the non-RedCap UE and the offset of the frequency domain starting position of the BWP for the non-RedCap UE. Specifically, the UE can obtain the frequency domain position of the one or more BWPs according to the starting position of the PRB of the lowest frequency domain position in the BWP for the non-RedCap UE and the offset of the frequency domain position of the BWP for the non-RedCap UE. As shown in Figure 14 , the starting frequency domain position of the BWP1 for the RedCap UE and the offset of the starting frequency domain position of the BWP for the non-RedCap UE is offset 3. The starting frequency domain position of the BWP2 for the RedCap UE and the offset of the starting frequency domain position of the wide BWP is offset 4. The UE can determine the frequency domain position of the one or more BWPs for the UE according to the starting position of the PRB of the lowest frequency domain position in the BWP for the non-RedCap UE and the offset 3 and / or the offset 4.

[0197] The advantage of this way is that the number of bits required for indication can be saved. In particular, the number of bits required can be determined according to the BWP bandwidth of the non-RedCap UE. The frequency start position of the BWP and the bandwidth (e.g. the number of PRBs of the BWP) occupied by the BWP can be jointly indicated.

[0198] Method two: the frequency domain position of the BWP is obtained according to the carrier frequency domain start position where the BWP is located and the offset from the carrier start position. It is obtained according to the carrier frequency domain start position (PRB 0) and the offset from the carrier start position. The indication is the offset from the carrier frequency start position (PRB 0). As shown in Figure 14 , the frequency start position of the BWP1 for the RedCap UE is offset from the carrier frequency domain start position (PRB 0) by offset 1. The UE can obtain the frequency domain position of the BWP for the UE according to the carrier frequency domain start position (PRB 0) and the offset 1 from the carrier start position.

[0199] This way is more flexible, especially suitable for the scenario where the subcarrier spacing used by the BWP of the RedCap UE and the BWP of the non-RedCap UE is different, or the BWP for the RedCap UE is not a subset of the BWP for the non-RedCap UE.

[0200] The above method is applicable to the acquisition of the frequency domain position of the uplink BWP, and is also applicable to the acquisition of the frequency domain position of the downlink BWP. The base station needs to indicate the corresponding information for the UE, so that the UE can obtain the frequency domain position of the BWP. The above method is applicable to the RedCap UE to obtain the BWP position, and is also applicable to other types of UEs to obtain the BWP position.

[0201] The base station can configure a dedicated initial BWP (BWP#0) for the RedCap UE. The initial BWP includes an initial uplink BWP and / or an initial downlink BWP. This configuration can be configured in a shared message (common message), such as SIB, or in a specific message (dedicated message). For non-RedCap UEs, the base station will also configure a reference BWP#0 for them. In the NR system, the initial downlink BWP configured in the SIB needs to include the frequency domain position of the entire CORESET#0, but only after the RRC connection is established will the position and bandwidth information indicated by locationAndBandwidth in the initial downlink BWP configuration be applied.

[0202] For the case of supporting RedCap UE, the RedCap UE can be configured with an initial BWP different from that of non-RedCap UE. If no dedicated initial BWP is configured for RedCap UE, the RedCap UE can apply the initial BWP of non-RedCap UE. However, if the bandwidth of the reference initial BWP of non-RedCap UE is larger than the maximum bandwidth supported by RedCap UE, there can be a case that the bandwidth of the initial BWP is larger than the maximum bandwidth supported by RedCap UE after RRC connection setup. For the implementation method of RedCap UE sharing the initial BWP of non-RedCap UE, at least one of the following can be included:

[0203] Method one: the bandwidth of the reference initial BWP configured by the base station for non-RedCap UE cannot be larger than the maximum bandwidth supported by RedCap UE. If the configured bandwidth is larger than the maximum bandwidth supported by RedCap UE, it is considered as an error case or it is considered that the cell does not support RedCap UE, i.e. RedCap UE cannot camp on the cell.

[0204] Method two: if the bandwidth of the reference initial BWP configured by the base station for non-RedCap UE is larger than the maximum bandwidth supported by RedCap UE, the RedCap UE does not apply the location and bandwidth information indicated by locationAndBandwidth in the initial BWP configuration of non-RedCap UE as the location and bandwidth of the initial BWP of RedCap UE. The RedCap UE can set the entire frequency domain of CORESET#0 as the location and bandwidth of the initial BWP. In addition, the RedCap UE can obtain the configuration of the initial BWP through a UE-specific RRC message, and then the RedCap UE applies the initial BWP configuration of the UE-specific RRC message. If the RedCap UE does not receive the configuration of other initial BWP, the RedCap UE applies the frequency domain location of COREST#0 as the location and bandwidth of the initial downlink BWP. This method is more suitable for the configuration of downlink initial BWP.

[0205] Method three: if the bandwidth of the reference initial BWP configured for the non-RedCap UE is greater than the maximum bandwidth supported by the RedCap UE, the RedCap UE applies the reference initial BWP configured for the non-RedCap UE as the initial BWP of the RedCap UE. The base station needs to ensure that the channels received or transmitted by the RedCap UE do not exceed the maximum bandwidth supported by the RedCap UE at any time. The RedCap UE can transmit or receive channels on different time occasions that exceed the maximum bandwidth supported by the RedCap UE (out-of-band frequency hopping transmission or reception) through RF tuning. Alternatively, the base station does not enable the frequency hopping function of the related channel, for example, for the PUCCH channel carrying the Msg 4 HARQ-ACK feedback, and / or the PUSCH channel carrying Msg 3 or MsgA, etc.

[0206] For the initial uplink BWP and the initial downlink BWP, different methods can be used.

[0207] It should be noted that the RedCap UE and the non-RedCap UE are only used to illustrate two different types of UEs, and the present application is not limited thereto.

[0208] In addition, in order to enable faster BWP switching of the UE, the RedCap UE can be configured with the basic information of multiple BWPs. The basic information of the BWP includes at least one of the following: the frequency domain location of the BWP, the subcarrier spacing, and the cyclic prefix CP, etc.

[0209] Examples of basic information of the BWP:

[0210]

[0211] Examples of configuring multiple BWP basic information:

[0212]

[0213] Since multiple BWP information is configured, sharing part or all of the channel configuration information can avoid the UE frequently loading the RRC configuration related to the channel configuration in the BWP switching process, thereby shortening the BWP switching time and saving power consumption.

[0214] In addition, fixing some basic information of the BWP can reduce the BWP switching time. For example, fixing the bandwidth of the BWP, and / or fixing the subcarrier spacing, etc.

[0215] Different BWP switching manners and / or conditions for employing different BWP switching manners can be defined or configured to the UE. Different BWP switching manners can include at least one of the following: time required for BWP switching, loading manner of channel configuration information on BWP after BWP switching, processing manner of channels and signals on current BWP, and applying only part of configuration information of BWP. The applying only part of configuration information of BWP includes applying only frequency domain position information of BWP or applying only other configuration information except for frequency domain position information of BWP.

[0216] Conditions for applying different BWP switching manners can be defined or configured. It can be defined that switching between BWP with some fixed BWP configuration information (e.g., including basic information and channel configuration information) is BWP switching manner A, and there is no shared BWP switching manner B. For example, if the switching is between BWP with the same subcarrier spacing and / or the same bandwidth, BWP switching manner A is employed, otherwise BWP switching manner B is employed.

[0217] Different BWP switching times and / or keeping part of configuration information unchanged can be defined or configured for different BWP switching manners. For example, for BWP switching manner A, there is no need to reactivate downlink semi-persistent scheduling PDSCH, uplink configured grant, etc., and / or there is no need to discard PDSCH feedback accepted before BWP switching. However, for BWP switching manner B, it is necessary to reactivate downlink semi-persistent scheduling PDSCH, uplink configured grant, etc., and / or discard PDSCH feedback accepted before BWP switching. In addition, different BWP switching times can be defined or configured for different BWP switching manners.

[0218] Configuration methods of different BWP basic information can be defined or configured. For example, in order to indicate multiple BWP with only different BWP starting frequency domain positions, the BWP starting frequency domain position can be directly indicated. Or the number of BWP is indicated, and the starting frequency domain position of each BWP is calculated according to the pre-defined rule. For example, starting from the first frequency domain position, each BWP occupies M PRBs, and the first N BWP are consecutive.

[0219] For the indication method of different BWP switching manners, it can include:

[0220] Method one: determine the switching mode of BWP according to the BWP type corresponding to the BWP index. For example, sort the configuration of fixed and non-fixed information BWP uniformly, such as configuring BWP index bwp-Id. Indicate uniformly through the BWP indication field in DCI. Determine the BWP switching mode by UE bwp-Id and other methods. And apply the switching time corresponding to different switching modes, whether to clear the configuration and other behaviors. In addition, the 2 bits in the existing DCI format can be expanded to more bits, so as to realize more flexible switching. At this time, the configuration methods of different BWPs are equivalent.

[0221] This method saves the overhead of DCI.

[0222] Method two: select the switching mode of BWP according to the switching mode of BWP indicated in the configuration information of BWP. The base station can configure the switching mode for each BWP. Among them, in the configuration information of BWP, the switching mode of BWP can be directly or indirectly indicated. For example, BWP switching mode A can be defined as sub-BWP switching or sub-bandwidth switching. Then, the UE can determine whether the switching mode of the BWP is switching mode A according to whether the BWP is a sub-BWP belonging to a parent BWP.

[0223] This method saves the overhead of DCI.

[0224] Method three: select the switching mode of BWP according to the BWP switching indication. For example, as in the previous example of configuring multiple BWP basic information, the parent BWP has a bwp-Id, and each sub-BWP with different BWP basic information configuration has an additional index bwp-extra-Id. An additional field can be added in the DCI format to indicate the switching of sub-BWP. The size of this field can be determined according to the number of sub-BWPs. When the number of sub-BWPs corresponding to different parent BWPs is different, the bit number of the field is determined according to the maximum number of sub-BWPs, or the bit number is obtained by RRC configuration. If the bit number configured by RRC is less than the number of sub-BWPs, only the first few sub-BWPs are indicated. Or, the switching mode of BWP can be directly indicated in DCI.

[0225] This method is very flexible.

[0226] In addition, the currently effective BWP can be determined according to the pre-defined rules (for example, determine the current BWP position and / or bandwidth according to the values of subframes, slots, symbols). That is, determine whether to switch BWP at the current time.

[0227] Another method, the effective time of the BWP can be indicated in the configuration information of the BWP, such as the effective pattern, to determine whether to perform BWP switching and / or the switching mode of the BWP at the current time. For example, BWP1 is effective every n time slots, and is effective for m time slots, etc.

[0228] Alternatively, the BWP switching indication can be obtained according to the size of the bandwidth in the configuration information of the BWP. For example, if the bandwidth of a BWP is greater than the maximum bandwidth supported by the UE, as described above, no BWP switching is performed (e.g., the configuration of the current BWP is maintained), or special BWP switching is performed (e.g., no frequency domain position related switching is performed).

[0229] For example, if the initial BWP bandwidth configured by the base station is greater than the maximum bandwidth supported by the UE, the UE will not apply the frequency domain position of the initial BWP bandwidth, but will still use the frequency domain position of the CORESET#0 for the BWP bandwidth. At this time, the UE can only apply other BWP configurations except for the BWP frequency domain position and / or bandwidth. At this time, the BWP switching can only indicate the switching of the frequency domain position of the BWP.

[0230] The above method can make the BWP switching more flexible, and can achieve faster BWP switching or save UE power consumption, etc. without decoding the DCI.

[0231] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a receiving method of an uplink control channel is provided. The method can include: transmitting nominal repetition transmission related configuration information; determining resource positions of one or more actual repetitions according to the nominal repetition transmission related configuration information; and receiving information according to the resource positions.

[0232] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a user equipment is also provided, which includes a memory and a controller. The memory is configured to store a computer program, and the controller is configured to run the computer program to perform the aforementioned transmitting method of the uplink control channel.

[0233] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a base station is also provided, which includes a memory and a controller. The memory is configured to store a computer program, and the controller is configured to run the computer program to perform the aforementioned receiving method of the uplink control channel.

[0234] The above description of exemplary embodiments of the present application is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the application to the precise form disclosed. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the application are described herein for illustrative purposes, various modifications are possible within the scope of the application, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. These modifications can be made to the application in light of the above detailed description. The terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the application to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and drawings. Rather, the scope of the application is to be determined entirely by the following claims, which are to be interpreted in accordance with established doctrines of claim interpretation.

Claims

1. A method performed by a user equipment, UE, in a communication system, the method comprising: receiving, via radio resource control, RRC, signaling, physical uplink control channel, PUCCH, resource configurations corresponding to PUCCH resources, wherein each of the PUCCH resource configurations comprises a repetition number configuration for a respective PUCCH resource; receiving a first downlink control information, DCI, indicating a first PUCCH resource; repeatedly transmitting a first PUCCH based on the first PUCCH resource for a first repetition number, wherein the first repetition number is determined by a first repetition number configuration in the first PUCCH resource configuration corresponding to the indicated first PUCCH resource.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, the method further comprising: receiving a second DCI indicating a second PUCCH resource; repeatedly transmitting a second PUCCH based on the second PUCCH resource for a second repetition number, wherein the second repetition number is determined by a second repetition number configuration in the second PUCCH resource configuration corresponding to the indicated second PUCCH resource.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, the first PUCCH transmitted based on the first PUCCH resource is repeatedly transmitted over the first repetition number of slots; and wherein the second PUCCH transmitted based on the second PUCCH resource is repeatedly transmitted over the second repetition number of slots.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein, In a case where frequency hopping for PUCCH transmission is configured, frequency hopping for the first PUCCH and the second PUCCH is performed per a specific time unit.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, the specific time unit is one of: one slot or a specific number of slots configured for the frequency hopping.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, A number of repetition slots for a PUCCH carrying hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, information for Msg4 is determined based on a common message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, In a case where a low capability UE is configured a separate initial uplink, UL, bandwidth part, BWP, frequency hopping for the PUCCH within the separate initial UL BWP of the low capability UE is disabled.

8. A method performed by a base station in a communication system, the method comprising: transmitting, via radio resource control, RRC, signaling, physical uplink control channel, PUCCH, resource configurations corresponding to PUCCH resources, wherein each of the PUCCH resource configurations comprises a repetition number configuration for a respective PUCCH resource; transmitting a first downlink control information, DCI, indicating a first PUCCH resource; and receiving a first PUCCH repeatedly based on the first PUCCH resource for a first repetition number, wherein the first repetition number is configured by a first repetition number configuration in the first PUCCH resource configuration corresponding to the indicated first PUCCH resource.

9. The method of claim 8, the method further comprising: transmitting a second DCI indicating a second PUCCH resource; receiving a second PUCCH repeatedly based on the indicated second PUCCH resource for a second repetition number, The second repetition number is configured by a second repetition number configuration in a second PUCCH resource configuration corresponding to the indicated second PUCCH resource.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, The first PUCCH received based on the first PUCCH resource is repeatedly received over the first repetition number of slots; and The second PUCCH received based on the second PUCCH resource is repeatedly received over the second repetition number of slots.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein, In a case where frequency hopping for PUCCH transmission is configured, frequency hopping for the first PUCCH and the second PUCCH is performed per a specific time unit.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, The specific time unit is one of the following: one slot or a specific number of slots configured for the frequency hopping.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein, The method further includes: configuring, via a common message, a number of repetition slots of a PUCCH carrying hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information for Msg4.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein, The method further includes: In a case where a separate initial uplink (UL) bandwidth part (BWP) is configured for a low capability UE, frequency hopping for the PUCCH within the separate initial UL BWP of the low capability UE is disabled.

15. A user equipment (UE) in a communication system, the UE comprising: a transceiver; and a processor coupled with the transceiver and configured to: receive, via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, PUCCH resource configurations corresponding to physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources, wherein each of the PUCCH resource configurations includes a repetition number configuration for a corresponding PUCCH resource; receive a first downlink control information (DCI) indicating a first PUCCH resource; transmit, repeatedly, a first PUCCH for a first repetition number based on the first PUCCH resource, wherein the first repetition number is determined by a first repetition number configuration in a first PUCCH resource configuration corresponding to the indicated first PUCCH resource.

16. The UE of claim 15, wherein, The processor is further configured to: receive a second DCI indicating a second PUCCH resource; transmit, repeatedly, a second PUCCH for a second repetition number based on the second PUCCH resource, wherein the second repetition number is determined by a second repetition number configuration in a second PUCCH resource configuration corresponding to the indicated second PUCCH resource.

17. The UE of claim 16, wherein, The first PUCCH transmitted based on the first PUCCH resource is repeatedly transmitted over the first repetition number of slots; and The second PUCCH transmitted based on the second PUCCH resource is repeatedly transmitted over the second repetition number of slots.

18. The UE of claim 16, wherein, In a case where frequency hopping for PUCCH transmission is configured, frequency hopping for the first PUCCH and the second PUCCH is performed per a specific time unit.

19. The UE of claim 18, wherein, The specific time unit is one of the following: one slot or a specific number of slots configured for the frequency hopping.

20. The UE of claim 15, wherein, A number of repetition slots of a PUCCH carrying hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, information for Msg4 is determined based on a common message.

21. The UE of claim 15, wherein, Frequency hopping of the PUCCH within a separate initial uplink, UL, bandwidth part, BWP, of a low capability UE is disabled in case the low capability UE is configured with the separate initial UL BWP.

22. A base station in a communication system, the base station comprising: a transceiver; and a processor coupled with the transceiver and configured to: transmit, via radio resource control, RRC, signaling, a PUCCH resource configuration corresponding to physical uplink control channel, PUCCH, resources, wherein each of the PUCCH resource configuration comprises a repetition number configuration for a corresponding PUCCH resource; transmit a first downlink control information, DCI, indicating a first PUCCH resource; and repeatedly receive a first PUCCH for a first repetition number based on the indicated first PUCCH resource, wherein the first repetition number is configured by a first repetition number configuration in the first PUCCH resource configuration corresponding to the indicated first PUCCH resource.

23. The base station of claim 22, wherein, the processor is further configured to: transmit a second DCI indicating a second PUCCH resource; repeatedly receive a second PUCCH for a second repetition number based on the indicated second PUCCH resource, wherein the second repetition number is configured by a second repetition number configuration in the second PUCCH resource configuration corresponding to the indicated second PUCCH resource.

24. The base station of claim 23, wherein, the first PUCCH received based on the first PUCCH resource is repeatedly received over the first repetition number of slots; and wherein the second PUCCH received based on the second PUCCH resource is repeatedly received over the second repetition number of slots.

25. The base station of claim 23, wherein, Frequency hopping of the first PUCCH and the second PUCCH is performed per a specific time unit in case frequency hopping of PUCCH transmission is configured.

26. The base station of claim 25, wherein, The specific time unit is one of: one slot or a specific number of slots configured for the frequency hopping.

27. The base station of claim 22, wherein, the processor is further configured to: configure, via a common message, a number of repetition slots of a PUCCH carrying hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, information for Msg4.

28. The base station of claim 22, wherein, the processor is further configured to: disable frequency hopping of the PUCCH within a separate initial uplink, UL, bandwidth part, BWP, of a low capability UE in case the low capability UE is configured with the separate initial UL BWP.

Images