COT Sharing Method and Apparatus in Unlicensed Spectrum

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) can transmit configured-grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) including COT sharing information to a base station during a channel occupancy time (COT) initiated by the UE in a shared spectrum. The COT sharing information at least indicates an index value corresponding to a combination of: an indication of an offset to a start of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; an indication of a duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and an indication of a channel access priority class (CAPC) value of the channel used by the UE to initiate the COT. The base station can transmit the downlink transmission to the UE within the downlink transmission opportunity according to the COT sharing information in the transmitted CG-UCI. An apparatus is also disclosed.

Description

[0001] Cross - Reference to Related Applications

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 911,161, filed on October 4, 2019, entitled "COT Sharing Methods and Apparatus in Unlicensed Spectrum" and U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 036,517, filed on September 29, 2020, entitled "COT Sharing Methods and Apparatus in Unlicensed Spectrum", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure generally relates to methods and apparatus for configuring authorized transmissions, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for channel occupancy time (COT) sharing in unlicensed spectrum. Background Art

[0004] In some wireless communication systems, a user equipment (UE) communicates wirelessly with a base station to send data to and / or receive data from the base station. The wireless communication from the UE to the base station is referred to as uplink (UL) communication. The wireless communication from the base station to the UE is referred to as downlink (DL) communication.

[0005] Resources are needed to perform uplink and downlink communications. For example, a UE can wirelessly send data to a base station in an uplink transmission at a specific frequency and / or in a specific time slot in time. The frequency and time slot used are examples of resources.

[0006] In some wireless communication systems, if a UE wants to send data to a base station, the UE requests uplink resources from the base station. The base station authorizes the uplink resources, and then the UE uses the authorized uplink resources to send an uplink transmission. The transmission in such uplink resources authorized by the base station is referred to as an authorization - based or scheduled UL transmission.

[0007] However, a UE can use certain semi - statically configured uplink resources to send uplink transmissions without specifically requesting the use of resources and without being dynamically authorized by the base station for the use of resources. Such transmissions are referred to as grant - free, grant - less, schedule - free, schedule - less, or configured - authorization uplink transmissions. A UE that sends a configured - authorization uplink transmission or is configured to send a configured - authorization uplink transmission can be referred to as operating in a grant - free mode or a configured - authorization mode.

[0008] One advantage of configured grant transmission is lower latency, as there is no need to request and receive grants for allocated time slots from the base station. Additionally, in configured grant transmission, scheduling overhead can be reduced. In a configured grant scheme, the same uplink resources can be accessed by multiple configured grant UEs served by the same base station.

[0009] Configured grant and sidelink transmission schemes are desired that can more efficiently utilize available resources. Summary of the Invention

[0010] According to one embodiment, a method for configured grant transmission performed by a user equipment (UE) is disclosed. The method includes: the UE transmitting configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) to a base station during a channel occupancy time (COT) in unlicensed spectrum, the CG-UCI including an indication of a time delay to the start of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; the UE receiving a downlink transmission within the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0011] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the CG-UCI further includes an indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0012] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the duration indicates at least the number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0013] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the CG-UCI includes a value of an index, the value of the index including the indication of the time delay and the indication of the duration.

[0014] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the value of the index indicates at least a combination in an ordered set of combinations of: a time delay to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity; and the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0015] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the time delay indicates at least the number of time slots of the COT from the transmission of the CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0016] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the time delay indicates that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity and the end of the uplink burst including the transmission of the CG-UCI are in the same time slot of the COT.

[0017] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the time delay indicates at least that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity and the transmission of the CG-UCI are in the same time slot of the COT.

[0018] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the time delay includes the value of at least one bit in the CG-UCI, and this value indicates the end of the uplink burst including the transmission of the CG-UCI.

[0019] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the time delay includes the value of an index, and this value of the index includes the indication of the time delay, and some other values of this index identify each combination in an ordered set of combinations of the following: the time delay to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity; and the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0020] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the time delay indicates at least the symbol at the start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0021] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, receiving the downlink transmission includes: receiving the downlink transmission from the base station.

[0022] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, receiving the downlink transmission includes receiving the downlink transmission in at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0023] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, transmitting the CG-UCI to the base station includes transmitting a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) including the CG-UCI.

[0024] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the COT is initiated by the UE.

[0025] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the COT is initiated by the UE in a channel access priority class (CAPC), and the CG-UCI further includes an indication of the CAPC.

[0026] According to another embodiment, a user equipment (UE) device is disclosed, including: at least one processor; and at least one processor-readable storage device including processor-executable instructions stored thereon, the processor-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to at least perform the above method.

[0027] According to another embodiment, a method for configuring grant transmission performed by a base station is disclosed, the method including: the base station receiving, during a channel occupancy time (COT) in unlicensed spectrum, configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) from a user equipment (UE), the CG-UCI including an indication of a time delay to a start of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and the base station transmitting a downlink transmission to the UE during the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0028] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the CG-UCI further includes an indication of a duration of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0029] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the duration at least indicates a number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0030] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the CG-UCI includes a value of an index, the value of the index including the indication of the time delay and the indication of the duration.

[0031] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the value of the index at least indicates a combination in an ordered set of combinations of the following: a time delay to a start of the downlink transmission opportunity; and a duration of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0032] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the time delay at least indicates a number of time slots of the COT from a transmission of the CG-UCI to a start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0033] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the time delay at least indicates that a start of the downlink transmission opportunity and an end of an uplink burst including the transmission of the CG-UCI are in the same time slot of the COT.

[0034] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the time delay at least indicates that a start of the downlink transmission opportunity and the transmission of the CG-UCI are in the same time slot of the COT.

[0035] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the time delay includes the value of at least one bit in the above-mentioned CG-UCI, and this value indicates the end of the above-mentioned uplink burst including the transmission of the above-mentioned CG-UCI.

[0036] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the time delay includes the value of an index, and the value of this index includes the indication of the time delay, and some other values of this index identify each combination in an ordered set of combinations of the following: the time delay to the start of the above-mentioned downlink transmission opportunity; and the duration of the above-mentioned downlink transmission opportunity.

[0037] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the time delay at least indicates the symbol at the start of the above-mentioned downlink transmission opportunity.

[0038] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, transmitting the above-mentioned downlink transmission includes transmitting the above-mentioned downlink transmission in at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0039] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, receiving the above-mentioned CG-UCI includes receiving a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) including the above-mentioned CG-UCI.

[0040] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the above-mentioned COT is initiated by the above-mentioned UE.

[0041] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the above-mentioned COT is initiated by the above-mentioned UE in a channel access priority class (CAPC), and the above-mentioned CG-UCI further includes an indication of the above-mentioned CAPC.

[0042] According to another embodiment, a base station device is disclosed, including: at least one processor; and at least one processor-readable storage device, and this storage device includes processor-executable instructions stored thereon, and these processor-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to at least execute the method.

[0043] According to another embodiment, a method for configuring authorized transmission performed by a user equipment (UE) is disclosed. The method includes: during a channel occupancy time (COT) initiated by the UE in a shared spectrum, the UE transmits configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) to a base station, the CG-UCI includes COT sharing information, and the COT sharing information at least indicates an index value corresponding to a combination of: an indication of an offset from the start of the COT to the start of a downlink transmission opportunity; an indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and an indication of a channel access priority class (CAPC) value used by the UE to initiate the COT. The method further includes the UE receiving a downlink transmission from the base station within the downlink transmission opportunity according to the COT sharing information in the transmitted CG-UCI.

[0044] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the duration at least indicates the number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0045] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the offset at least indicates the number of time slots of the COT from the transmission of the CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0046] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, receiving the downlink transmission includes: receiving the downlink transmission in at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0047] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, transmitting the CG-UCI to the base station includes transmitting a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) including the CG-UCI.

[0048] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of COT sharing combinations, the row corresponds to the combination, and at least one row of the configuration table of the COT sharing combinations indicates that COT sharing is unavailable.

[0049] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of COT sharing combinations, the row corresponds to the combination, and the bit width of the COT sharing information in the CG-UCI is bits, where C is the number of combinations configured in the table.

[0050] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the method further includes: after transmitting the CG-UCI to the base station and before the start of the downlink transmission opportunity, the UE transmits at least one subsequent CG-UCI to the base station during the COT. In some embodiments, each subsequent CG-UCI among the at least one subsequent CG-UCI includes COT sharing information, and the COT sharing information at least indicates the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0051] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, receiving the CG-UCI includes: transmitting the CG-UCI to the base station includes transmitting the CG-UCI to the base station in an uplink burst, and the switching gap between the uplink burst and the downlink transmission is: if the downlink listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure after the uplink burst and before the downlink transmission is a category 2 (CAT2) downlink LBT procedure, it is 16 μs or 25 μs; and if the downlink LBT procedure is a category 1 (CAT1) downlink LBT procedure that does not perform LBT during the switching gap, it is at most 16 μs.

[0052] According to another embodiment, a user equipment (UE) device including at least one processor is disclosed. The UE further includes at least one processor-readable storage device, and the at least one processor-readable storage device includes processor-executable instructions stored thereon. When the processor-executable instructions are executed by the at least one processor, the at least one processor is caused to at least: during a channel occupancy time (COT) initiated by the UE in a shared spectrum, transmit configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) to a base station, the CG-UCI including COT sharing information, and the COT sharing information at least indicates an index value corresponding to a combination of: an indication of an offset to the start of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; an indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and an indication of a channel access priority class (CAPC) value used by the UE to initiate the COT. When the processor-executable instructions are executed by the at least one processor, the at least one processor is further caused to at least receive a downlink transmission from the base station within the downlink transmission opportunity according to the COT sharing information in the transmitted CG-UCI.

[0053] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the duration at least indicates the number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0054] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the offset indicates at least the number of time slots of the COT from the transmission of the CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0055] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the processor-executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to receive the downlink transmission when executed by the at least one processor include processor-executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to receive the downlink transmission in at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0056] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the processor-executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to transmit the CG-UCI to the base station when executed by the at least one processor include processor-executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to transmit a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) including the CG-UCI.

[0057] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of COT sharing combinations, the row corresponding to the combination, and at least one row of the configuration table of the COT sharing combinations indicates that COT sharing is not available.

[0058] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of COT sharing combinations, the row corresponding to the combination, and the bit width of the COT sharing information in the CG-UCI is bits, where C is the number of combinations configured in the table.

[0059] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the processor-executable instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the at least one processor to transmit at least one subsequent CG-UCI to the base station during the COT at least after transmitting the CG-UCI to the base station and before the start of the downlink transmission opportunity. In some embodiments, each subsequent CG-UCI in the at least one subsequent CG-UCI includes COT sharing information that indicates at least the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0060] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the processor-executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to transmit the CG-UCI to the base station when executed by the at least one processor include processor-executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to transmit the CG-UCI to the base station in an uplink burst, such that a handover gap between the uplink burst and the downlink transmission is: 16 μs or 25 μs if a downlink preamble listening LBT procedure after the uplink burst and before the downlink transmission is a Category 2 (CAT2) downlink LBT procedure; and at most 16 μs if the downlink LBT procedure is a Category 1 (CAT1) downlink LBT procedure that does not perform LBT during the handover gap.

[0061] According to another embodiment, a method for configuring authorized transmission performed by a base station is disclosed. The method includes: the base station receiving, during a channel occupancy time (COT) initiated by a user equipment (UE) in a shared spectrum, configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) from the UE, the CG-UCI including COT sharing information that at least indicates an index value corresponding to a combination of: an indication of an offset from the start of the COT to the start of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; an indication of a duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and an indication of a channel access priority class CAPC value of the UE for initiating the COT; and the base station transmitting a downlink transmission to the UE within the downlink transmission opportunity according to the COT sharing information in the transmitted CG-UCI.

[0062] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the duration at least indicates a number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0063] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the offset at least indicates a number of time slots of the COT from detection of the CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0064] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, transmitting the downlink transmission includes transmitting the downlink transmission in at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0065] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, receiving the CG-UCI includes receiving a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) including the CG-UCI.

[0066] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of the COT sharing combination, the row corresponds to the combination, and at least one row of the configuration table of the COT sharing combination indicates that COT sharing is unavailable.

[0067] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of the COT sharing combination, the row corresponds to the combination, and the bit width of the COT sharing information in the CG-UCI is bits, where C is the number of combinations configured in the table.

[0068] Optionally, in any of the above embodiments, the method further includes: after receiving the CG-UCI and before the start of the downlink transmission opportunity, the base station receives at least one subsequent CG-UCI from the UE during the COT. In some embodiments, each subsequent CG-UCI in the at least one subsequent CG-UCI includes COT sharing information that at least indicates the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0069] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, receiving the CG-UCI includes: receiving the CG-UCI in an uplink burst, and the switching gap between the uplink burst and the downlink transmission is: 16 μs or 25 μs if the downlink listen-before-talk LBT procedure after the uplink burst and before the downlink transmission is a Category 2 (CAT2) downlink LBT procedure; and at most 16 μs if the downlink LBT procedure is a Category 1 (CAT1) downlink LBT procedure that does not perform LBT in the switching gap.

[0070] According to another embodiment, a base station device including at least one processor is disclosed. The base station further includes at least one processor-readable storage device including processor-executable instructions stored thereon, the processor-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to at least: receive, during a Channel Occupancy Time (COT) initiated by a User Equipment (UE) in a shared spectrum, configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) from the UE, the CG-UCI including COT sharing information, the COT sharing information at least indicating an index value corresponding to a combination of: an indication of an offset to a start of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; an indication of a duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and an indication of a Channel Access Priority Class (CAPC) value of the UE for initiating the COT; and transmit a downlink transmission to the UE within the downlink transmission opportunity according to the COT sharing information in the transmitted CG-UCI.

[0071] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the duration at least indicates a number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0072] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the indication of the offset at least indicates a number of time slots of the COT from a transmission of the CG-UCI to a start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0073] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to transmit the downlink transmission include processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to transmit the downlink transmission in at least one Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

[0074] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to receive the CG-UCI include processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to receive a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) including the CG-UCI.

[0075] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of COT sharing combinations, the row corresponding to the combination, and at least one row of the configuration table of COT sharing combinations indicates that COT sharing is unavailable.

[0076] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the foregoing index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of COT sharing combinations, the foregoing row corresponds to the foregoing combination, and the bit width of the COT sharing information in the foregoing CG-UCI is bits, where C is the number of combinations configured in the foregoing table.

[0077] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the processor-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to receive at least one subsequent CG-UCI from the UE during the COT at least after receiving the CG-UCI and before the start of the downlink transmission opportunity. In some embodiments, each subsequent CG-UCI in the at least one subsequent CG-UCI includes COT sharing information that at least indicates the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0078] Optionally, in any of the foregoing embodiments, the processor-executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to receive the CG-UCI when executed by the at least one processor include processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to receive the CG-UCI in an uplink burst such that the handover gap between the uplink burst and the downlink transmission is: 16 μs or 25 μs if the downlink clear channel assessment (LBT) procedure after the uplink burst and before the downlink transmission is a category 2 (CAT2) downlink LBT procedure; and at most 16 μs if the downlink LBT procedure is a category 1 (CAT1) downlink LBT procedure that does not perform LBT in the handover gap.

[0079] Other aspects and features will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the description of the following exemplary embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0080] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system according to one embodiment.

[0081] Figure 2A is Figure 1 a schematic diagram of a user equipment (UE) of the communication system.

[0082] Figure 2B is Figure 1 a schematic diagram of a base station of the communication system.

[0083] Figures 3 - 10 is according to embodiments in Figure 2B a base station in, in unlicensed spectrum, Figure 2ASchematic diagram of an example of time resources for UE-configured grants. Detailed implementation

[0084] For illustrative purposes, specific example embodiments will be explained in more detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, it should be recognized that the present disclosure provides many applicable concepts that can be embodied in a variety of specific scenarios. The specific embodiments discussed are merely illustrative and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0085] In the present disclosure, configured-grant transmissions refer to data transmissions that are performed in a dynamic control channel such as the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) without performing signaling communication based on grants. Configured-grant transmissions can include uplink or downlink transmissions and can include semi-persistently scheduled (SPS) transmissions, and should be interpreted as such unless otherwise stated.

[0086] Communication system

[0087] Figure 1 An exemplary communication system 100 is shown. Generally, the system 100 enables multiple wireless or wired user devices to send and receive data and other content. The system 100 can implement one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA).

[0088] In this example, the communication system 100 includes multiple electronic devices (EDs) or user equipments (UEs) 110a - 110c, radio access networks (RANs) 120a - 120b, a core network 130, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 140, the Internet 150, and other networks 160. Although Figure 1A certain number of these components or elements are shown, but any number of these components or elements may be included in system 100.

[0089] Multiple UEs 110a - 110c are configured to operate and / or communicate in system 100. For example, UEs 110a - 110c are configured to transmit and / or receive via wireless or wired communication channels. Each of UEs 110a - 110c represents any suitable end-user device and may include such devices (or may be referred to as): user equipment / device (UE), wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), mobile station, fixed or mobile subscriber unit, cellular phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), smartphone, laptop computer, computer, touchpad, wireless sensor, or consumer electronic device.

[0090] RANs 120a - 120b respectively include base stations 170a - 170b. Each base station 170a - 170b is configured to wirelessly connect to one or more of UEs 110a - 110c to enable access to the backhaul network. Figure 1 The backhaul network in includes core network 130, PSTN 140, Internet 150, and / or other networks 160. For example, the backhaul network may include a 5G communication system network or a future next-generation evolved system network. For example, base stations 170a - 170b may include (or may be) one or more of the following: base transceiver station (BTS), Node - B, evolved NodeB (eNodeB), gigabit NodeB (gNodeB), home NodeB, home eNodeB, home gNodeB, site controller, access point (AP), or wireless router. UEs 110a - 110c are configured to connect to and communicate with Internet 150 and may access core network 130, PSTN 140, and / or other networks 160.

[0091] In Figure 1 the illustrated embodiment, as Figure 1As shown, base station 170a forms part of RAN 120a, which may include other base stations, elements, and / or devices. Moreover, base station 170b forms part of RAN 120b, which may include other base stations, elements, and / or devices. Base station 170a is used to transmit and / or receive wireless signals within a specific coverage area or cell 175a, and base station 170b is used to transmit and / or receive wireless signals within a specific coverage area or cell 175b. In some embodiments, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques with multiple transceivers for each cell may be employed.

[0092] Base stations 170a - 170b communicate with one or more UEs 110a - 110c using wireless communication links via one or more air interfaces 190. The multiple air interfaces 190 may utilize any suitable radio access technology.

[0093] It is contemplated that system 100 may use multiple channel access functions, including the schemes described above. In a particular embodiment, the base stations and UEs implement 3G, long-term evolution (LTE), LTE-A, LTE-B, and / or 5G. Of course, other multiple access schemes and wireless protocols may be utilized.

[0094] RANs 120a - 120b communicate with core network 130 to provide voice, data, applications, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), or other services to UEs 110a - 110c. RANs 120a - 120b and / or core network 130 may communicate directly or indirectly with one or more other RANs (not shown). Core network 130 may also serve as a gateway access to other networks (such as PSTN 140, Internet 150, and other networks 160). Additionally, some or all of UEs 110a - 110c may include functionality for communicating with different wireless networks via different wireless links using different wireless technologies and / or protocols. Instead of (or in addition to) wireless communication, UEs 110a - 110c may communicate with a service provider or switch (not shown) and with Internet 150 via a wired communication channel.

[0095] Although Figure 1 an example of a communication system is shown, various changes may be made to Figure 1 it. For example, communication system 100 may include any number of UEs, base stations, networks, or other components in any suitable configuration.

[0096] Figure 2A and2B Illustrates an example apparatus that may implement the methods and teachings of the present disclosure. In particular, Figure 2A illustrates an example UE 110 corresponding to any one of UEs 110a - 110c, Figure 2B illustrates an example base station 170 corresponding to any one of base stations 170a - 170b. These components can be used in system 100 or any other suitable system.

[0097] As Figure 2A shown, the UE 110 includes at least one processing unit 200. The processing unit 200 implements various processing operations of the UE 110. For example, the processing unit 200 may perform signal encoding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, or any other function that enables the UE 110 to operate in system 100. The processing unit 200 also supports the methods and teachings described in more detail below. Each processing unit 200 includes any suitable processing or computing device configured to perform one or more operations. Each processing unit 200 may include, for example, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor, a field programmable gate array, or an application specific integrated circuit.

[0098] The UE 110 also includes at least one transceiver 202. The transceiver 202 is configured to modulate data or other content for transmission via at least one antenna 204 or a network interface controller (NIC). The transceiver 202 is also configured to demodulate data or other content received by at least one antenna 204. Each transceiver 202 includes any suitable structure for generating signals for wireless or wired transmission and / or processing signals received wirelessly or wired. Each antenna 204 includes any suitable structure for transmitting and / or receiving wireless or wired signals. One or more transceivers 202 may be used in the UE 110, and one or more antennas 204 may be used in the UE 110. Although shown as a single functional unit, the transceiver 202 may also be implemented using at least one transmitter and at least one separate receiver.

[0099] The UE 110 also includes one or more input / output devices 206 or interfaces (such as a wired interface to the Internet 150). The input / output devices 206 facilitate interaction with the user or other devices in the network (network communication). Each input / output device 206 includes any suitable structure for providing information to the user or receiving information from the user / providing information to the user, such as a speaker, a microphone, a keypad, a keyboard, a display, or a touch screen, including network interface communication.

[0100] In addition, UE 110 includes at least one memory 208. The memory 208 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by UE 110. For example, the memory 208 may store software or firmware instructions executed by one or more processing units 200 and data stored for reducing or eliminating interference in incoming signals. Each memory 208 includes any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile storage and retrieval means. Any suitable type of memory may be used, such as random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard disk, optical disk, subscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory stick, secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like.

[0101] As Figure 2B shown, base station 170 includes at least one processing unit 250, at least one transmitter 252, at least one receiver 254, one or more antennas 256, at least one memory 258, and one or more input / output devices or interfaces 266. A scheduler, which will be understood by those skilled in the art, may also be coupled to the processing unit 250. The scheduler may be included within base station 170 or operate separately from base station 170. The processing unit 250 implements various processing operations of base station 170, such as signal encoding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, or any other function. The processing unit 250 may also support the methods and teachings described in more detail below. Each processing unit 250 includes any suitable processing or computing device configured to perform one or more operations. Each processing unit 250 may include, for example, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor, a field programmable gate array, or an application specific integrated circuit.

[0102] Each transmitter 252 includes any suitable structure for generating signals for wireless or wired transmission to one or more UEs or other devices. Each receiver 254 includes any suitable structure for processing signals received wirelessly or wired from one or more UEs or other devices. Although shown as separate transmitter 252 and receiver 254, these two devices may be combined into a transceiver. Each antenna 256 includes any suitable structure for transmitting and / or receiving wireless or wired signals. Although the common antenna 256 is shown here as coupled to the transmitter 252, one or more antennas 256 may be coupled to the receiver 252, allowing the separate antennas 256 to be coupled to the transmitter and receiver as separate components. Each memory 258 includes any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile storage and retrieval means. Each input / output device 266 facilitates interaction with the user or other devices in the network (network communication). Each input / output device 266 includes any suitable structure for providing information to the user or receiving information from the user / providing information from the user, including network interface communication.

[0103] Configured grant transmission

[0104] Base station 170 is configured to support wireless communication with UEs 110a - 110c, and each of UEs 110a - 110c may send configured grant uplink transmissions. UEs 110a - 110c may be configured for configured grant transmission, for example, by pre-configuring configured grant resources at UE connection establishment, or by updated configured grant resource configuration or reconfiguration during operation. For example, in some embodiments, configured grant resources may be configured for the UEs via broadcast or multicast signaling. Two or more configured grant transmissions may share the same configured resources. Additionally, grant-based transmissions may use dedicated resources or may share (in whole or in part) resources with configured grant resources within a time interval.

[0105] In some embodiments, depending on the associated application requirements and quality of service (QoS), any configured grant and grant-based transmissions may be used for any application traffic or service type. Configured grant transmissions may be used for, for example: ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) traffic to meet low latency requirements; enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) traffic with short packets to save signaling overhead; eMBB traffic to improve resource utilization and spectral efficiency.

[0106] A parameter set is defined as a set of physical layer parameters of an air interface for transmitting a specific signal. For communication based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), the parameter set can be described at least according to the subcarrier spacing (SCS) and the OFDM symbol duration, and the parameter set can also be defined by other parameters such as the fast Fourier transform (FFT) and / or inverse FFT (IFFT) length, the transmission time slot length, and the cyclic prefix (CP) length or duration. Generally, a parameter set of the present disclosure for configured grant uplink transmission in unlicensed spectrum can be selected to support certain functions.

[0107] A UE or a group of UEs can have a group identifier (ID) or a radio network temporary ID (RNTI) to share the same parameter or resource configuration, and the RNTI can be a grant-free RNTI (GF-RNTI) or a grant-based RNTI (GB-RNTI). The group ID can be pre-configured or dynamically configured for each UE. For example, the parameter or resource configuration of the UE with the group ID can be completed through semi-static or dynamic signaling. For example, the group ID can be used for resource deactivation or activation of the UEs in the group. The resources that are activated or deactivated can include the frequency, time, and reference signal (RS) associated with each UE in the group.

[0108] The associated resources configured for one or a group of UEs can include any or all of the following.

[0109] 1) Frequency resources in a transmission time interval (TTI), such as symbols, mini-slots or slots. In one example, a physical resource block (PRB) scheme is provided. The PRB scheme indicates a physical starting frequency resource block (RB) and the size of the RB allocation. In particular, for UL transmissions in an unlicensed cell, the PRB scheme may alternatively indicate one or more frequency interlaces selected from a predefined set of frequency interlaces on the unlicensed cell or its bandwidth part (BWP). If the BWP is a wideband (WB) BWP, i.e., includes more than one discontinuous unlicensed channel (also called sub-band), the PRB scheme may further indicate a sub-band index, or a starting PRB and the RB allocation size within one or more frequency interlaces.

[0110] 2) Time resources, including the start / end positions of a data transmission time interval. For example, the TTI can be a symbol, mini-slot or slot.

[0111] 3) A reference signal (RS) or RS configuration. Depending on the scenario involved, one or more reference signals (RS), such as a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), can be configured for each UE. For a group of UEs, each UE may or may not have a different RS or have a different set of RSs. Note that depending on the application, such as URLLC applications or massive machine-type communication (mMTC) applications, different RSs may be orthogonal or non-orthogonal to each other.

[0112] 4) One or more hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process IDs per UE.

[0113] 5) One or more modulation and coding schemes (MCS) per UE, where the grant-free UE can explicitly or implicitly indicate which MCS to use for transmission.

[0114] 6) The number of repetitions K for grant-free transmission. One or more K values can be configured for the UE, and which K value to use depends on a certain rule considering the UE channel condition, service type, etc.

[0115] 7) Power control parameters, including the power ramping step (e.g., for the UE).

[0116] 8) Other parameters, including information related to general grant-based data and control transmissions. Note that sometimes, a subset of unlicensed resources may be referred to as "fixed" or "reserved" resources. A subset of grant-based resources may be referred to as "flexible" resources, which can be dynamically scheduled by the base station.

[0117] A transmission with configured grant (TCG) for new radio (NR) called type 1 NR TCG includes providing configuration information to the UE using radio resource control (RRC) signaling. Examples of configuration information include, but are not limited to, periodicity, offset, time-frequency allocation, UE-specific demodulation reference signal (DMRS) configuration, modulation and coding scheme / transmit block size (MCS / (transmit block size, TBS)), number of repetitions (K), and power control.

[0118] In a second type called type 2 NR TCG, RRC signaling can be used to provide some configuration information to the UE, and other configuration information is provided to the UE in the active downlink control information (DCI). Examples of configuration information that can be provided in the RRC signaling include, but are not limited to, periodicity, power control, number of repetitions (K), and MCS / TBS. Examples of configuration information that can be provided in the active DCI include, but are not limited to, offset, time-frequency allocation, MCS / TBS, and UE-specific DMRS configuration information.

[0119] Regarding the time-domain resource allocation of transmissions with configured grant in unlicensed spectrum, the following two parameters are configured for both type 1 and type 2 above through RRC signaling.

[0120] · K-repetition: On the resources configured for the transmission of the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), K = {1, 2, 4, 8} consecutive transmissions of the same transmit block (TB). For NR in the unlicensed spectrum (NR-U) operation, K repetitions of the same TB may or may not occur on consecutive CG PUSCH resources.

[0121] · Periodicity: Depending on the configured subcarrier spacing, the following periodicities are supported:

[0122] o 15 kHz: 2, 7, n × 14, where n ∈ {1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 128, 160, 320, 640};

[0123] o 30 kHz: 2, 7, n × 14, where n ∈ {1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 128, 160, 256, 320, 640, 1280};

[0124] o 60 kHz with normal CP: 2, 7, n × 14, where n ∈ {1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 128, 160, 256, 320, 512, 640, 1280, 2560}; and

[0125] o 60 kHz with extended cyclic prefix (ECP): 2, 6, n × 12, where n ∈ {1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 128, 160, 256, 320, 512, 640, 1280, 2560}.

[0126] The following two parameters are configured via RRC for type 1 and via active DCI for type 2:

[0127] · timeDomainAllocation: The allocation of the uplink grant configured in the time domain, indicating the table entry containing startSymbolAndLength; and

[0128] · timeDomainOffset: In the time domain, for type 1, the offset of the resource relative to SFN = 0, and for type 2, the offset of the resource relative to the transmission time of the active DCI.

[0129] Unlicensed spectrum

[0130] Given the scarcity and costliness of bandwidth in licensed spectra and the growing demand for data transmission capacity, there is increasing interest in offloading at least some communication traffic (e.g., uplink communication traffic) to unlicensed spectra, which may be equivalent to "sharing spectra". For example, there is great interest in the unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum in which many Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) operate. Thus, in order to operate in this spectrum, it may be necessary to coexist efficiently and fairly with WLANs and comply with region-specific unlicensed spectrum rules.

[0131] Before a UE can access the unlicensed spectrum for transmission on an unlicensed spectrum sub-band, the UE performs a listen-before talk (LBT) operation (e.g., including an initial clear channel assessment (ICCA) and an extended clear channel assessment (ECCA)) to check whether the channel is idle before transmission. For example, a sub-band of an unlicensed spectrum band may include a set of frequency resources that includes one or more unlicensed channels defined by the IEEE 802.11 standard or one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs) defined by the 3GPP standard in the geographical area of operation.

[0132] In regions such as Europe and Japan, devices attempting to access the unlicensed spectrum must comply with a load-based equipment (LBE) LBT procedure or a frame-based equipment (FBE) LBT procedure.

[0133] In the LBE LBT procedure, a device attempting to access unlicensed spectrum can start transmission at any time after a successful clear channel assessment (CCA). The CCA mechanism employed in such an LBE LBT procedure can be the same as that used in WLAN, i.e., carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA), or it can be based on energy detection-based CCA. For example, the energy detection-based CCA can utilize random backoff to determine the size of the contention window and a separate maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT), which determines the maximum amount of time a device can occupy an unlicensed channel when it successfully contends for a transmission opportunity.

[0134] In the FBE LBT procedure, a device attempting to access unlicensed spectrum can start transmission only at periodic instants after a short successful energy detection-based CCA. The minimum time between these periodic instants is a fixed frame period, which includes the channel occupancy time for transmission and an idle period. According to the rule requirements, the channel occupancy time can be between 1 and 10 milliseconds (ms), the idle period must be at least 5% of the channel occupancy time, and the lower limit is 100 microseconds (μs). Additionally, under the rule requirements, the device employs energy detection-based CCA, where if the total energy detected in the channel is greater than a CCA threshold, which is capped as a function of the device's transmit power, then the channel is determined to be busy. In particular, the upper limit of the CCA threshold has been specified as follows:

[0135] CCA threshold ≥ -73 dBm / MHz + (23 - max Tx EIRP)[dBm],

[0136] where max Tx EIRP is the maximum transmit equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) of the device. Thus, the higher the maximum Tx power and / or antenna gain, the lower the allowed CCA threshold. According to the current rule requirements, the CCA period must be at least 9 microseconds (μs) long, with a typical value of 25 μs.

[0137] If individual UEs access the unlicensed spectrum without coordination, it may cause latency and may lead to performance degradation. For example, if UEs perform independent LBT procedures, they may start transmitting uplink data or sending reservation signals to ensure that other devices do not occupy the unlicensed channel before they can transmit. In both cases, if there is no coordination among UEs in aligning their CCAs, sending reservation signals, or starting their uplink transmissions, the channel may appear busy to other UEs, which may increase the uplink transmission latency of these other UEs.

[0138] Configured grant uplink control information

[0139] Figure 3 An example of time resource 300 for configured grant transmission in the unlicensed spectrum for UE 110a in cell 175a of base station 170a according to one embodiment is shown, but alternative embodiments may involve different UEs, different cells, and / or different base stations.

[0140] In Figure 3 the example, time resource 300 includes five time slots 302, 304, 306, 308, and 310. UE 110a attempts to initiate a channel occupancy time (COT) for an uplink transmission to base station 170a in time resource 300 through a first uplink (UL) LBT procedure 312 at the start of time slot 302. In this example, the first UL LBT procedure 312 fails as it is evaluated as "busy". UE 110a attempts to initiate a COT for an uplink transmission to base station 170a in time resource 300 again through a second UL LBT procedure 316 towards the next possible PUSCH, where the starting point of the second UL LBT procedure 316 is after a delay 314 from the start of time slot 312. In the illustrated embodiment, the first UL LBT procedure 312 and the second UL LBT procedure 316 are category 4 (CAT4) UL LBT procedures involving random backoff, but in alternative embodiments, the UE may attempt to initiate the COT using other procedures.

[0141] In this example, the second UL LBT procedure 316 is successful, and the UE 110a initiates a COT of the MCOT 318 with four time slots 320, 322, 324, and 326 in the time resource 300. Therefore, the COT in the MCOT 318 is the COT initiated by the UE 110a. During the COT in the MCOT 318, the UE 110a sends uplink transmissions to the base station 170a in the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) 328 in the time slot 302, in the PUSCH 330 in the time slot 304, and in the PUSCH 332 in the time slot 304. Therefore, the PUSCHs 328, 330, and 332 form an uplink burst 334 in the uplink transmission from the UE 110a to the base station 170a in the unlicensed spectrum of the cell 175a of the base station 170a in the time resource 300.

[0142] However, in this example, the uplink burst 334 does not extend into the time slots 306 and 308 within the MCOT 318. Therefore, the uplink burst 334 includes an indication of the downlink transmission opportunity 336 (or more generally, the transmission opportunity) in the time slots 306 and 308 during the COT in the MCOT 318. The downlink transmission opportunity 336 starts two time slots after the time slot 302, which is the slot after the time slot 304, and the downlink transmission opportunity 336 has a duration of two time slots 306 and 308.

[0143] In this example, the PUSCH 328 in the time slot 302 includes configured-grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) 338. Generally, the CG-UCI described herein may include one or more of the following: HARQ ID, new data indicator (NDI), redundancy version (RV), COT sharing information as described below, or other information such as UE ID.

[0144] The COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 338 includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 336 starts two time slots after the time slot 302, which is represented by l = 2 in Figure 3 . More generally, l is the "DL offset", which may indicate the number of time slots of the COT from the transmission of the CG-UCI 338 to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 336. The COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 338 also includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 336 has a duration of two time slots, inFigure 3 In [the figure], it is indicated by d = 2. More generally, d may indicate the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity 336 as the number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity 336. Generally, the indication in the CG-UCI described herein may be an indication encoded in one or more bit fields of the CG-UCI.

[0145] In addition, in this example, the PUSCH 330 in time slot 304 includes the CG-UCI 340, and the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 340 includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 336 starts in the time slot following time slot 304. In Figure 3 it is represented by the DL offset l = 1. The COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 340 further includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 336 has a duration of two time slots, and in Figure 3 it is again indicated by d = 2. In addition, in this example, the PUSCH 332 in time slot 304 includes the CG-UCI 342, and the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 342 includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 336 starts in the time slot following time slot 304, and in Figure 3 it is again represented by l = 1. The COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 338 further includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 336 has a duration of two time slots, and in Figure 3 it is again indicated by d = 2. In Figure 3 In the embodiment of [], the values of l and d are merely examples. Alternative embodiments may include different indications of the time delay (or offset) to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity, and alternative embodiments may include different indications of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0146] Therefore, more generally, the COT sharing information of each of the CG-UCI 338, 340, and 342 identifies the downlink transmission opportunity 336 to the base station 170a to allow the base station 170a to share the COT in the MCOT 318. Although it may be different in alternative embodiments, in the illustrated embodiment, the COT sharing information of each of the CG-UCI 338, 340, and 342 identifies the downlink transmission opportunity 336 by including an indication l of the time delay (or offset) from the transmission of the CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 336 and an indication d of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity 336.

[0147] In the illustrated embodiment, the indicator l indicates the number of time slots between the time slot indicating the start of the downlink transmission opportunity from the CG-UCI, and can be regarded as an indication of the offset from the transmission of the CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 336. However, alternative embodiments may be different. For example, alternative embodiments may indicate the time delay (or offset) to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity in addition to indicating the number of time slots and by indicating the time of transmission of the CG-UCI.

[0148] In addition, in the illustrated embodiment, the indicator d indicates the number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity. However, alternative embodiments may be different and may, for example, indicate the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity in addition to the number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0149] In some embodiments, the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI may include an identifier of a combination in an ordered set of combinations of (l, d). Generally, the ordered set of combinations of (l, d) described herein may be configured or predefined. The identifier of the combination in the ordered set of combinations of (l, d) identifies the l and d of the combination, and thus identifies the time delay from the transmission of the CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity, and the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity. In this example, the CG-UCI 338 may include a combination index value (CIV) or other identifier that identifies the combination (l = 2, d = 2) in the ordered set of combinations of (l, d), and each of the CG-UCI 340 and 342 may include a CIV or other identifier that identifies the combination (l = 1, d = 2) in the ordered set of combinations of (l, d).

[0150] This example includes three CG-UCI 338, 340, and 342, which can avoid ambiguity if the base station 170a fails to detect certain CG-UCI. However, alternative embodiments may include more or fewer CG-UCI. However, in alternative embodiments, for example, when multiple DL transmission opportunities are not consecutive in time and the UE resumes CG UL transmission between DL transmission opportunities, some CG-UCI included in the UL burst may indicate the combination of (l, d) corresponding to another upcoming DL transmission opportunity.

[0151] In the illustrated embodiment, after uplink burst 334 from UE 110a to base station 170a, base station 170a initiates a downlink transmission 344 to UE 110a in a downlink (DL) transmission opportunity 336 after a DL LBT procedure 346 at the start of time slot 306. To accommodate the DL LBT procedure 346 and other LBT procedures for switching from uplink transmission to downlink transmission, base station 170a may blank one or more downlink symbols based on the parameter set of the active BWP or SCS to provide a switching interval between uplink transmission and downlink transmission.

[0152] In other words, in response to one, more than one, or all of the COT sharing information in CG-UCI 338, 340, and 342, sent by base station 170a and received by UE 110a, a downlink transmission 344 in the downlink transmission opportunity 336 identified by the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 338, 340, and 342. Thus, one, more than one, or all of the COT sharing information in CG-UCI 338, 340, and 342 enables base station 170a to share the COT in MCOT 318 by sending a downlink transmission 344 to UE 110a in the downlink transmission opportunity 336 identified by the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 338, 340, and 342.

[0153] In the illustrated embodiment, the DL LBT procedure 346 is a category 2 (CAT2) DL LBT procedure that does not involve random backoff. However, in an alternative embodiment, for example, when the gap between UL and DL is 16 μs or less, the base station may use other procedures such as CAT1 (no LBT) to initiate a downlink transmission. In this example, the DL LBT procedure 346 is successful, and the downlink transmission 344 includes a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) 348 in time slot 306 and a second PDSCH 350 in time slot 308. In this embodiment, as well as in some other embodiments, the timing of the downlink transmission 344 is selected such that the time slot 306 in which the downlink transmission 344 starts includes a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) 352, but alternative embodiments may be different.

[0154] In this example, the downlink transmission 344 is within the time resource 300 and within the MCOT 318. However, in an alternative embodiment, the downlink transmission may extend beyond the time resource described herein.

[0155] In this example, UE 110a attempts to resume uplink transmission in the COT of MCOT 318 via the third UL LBT procedure 354 before the end of time slot 308. To accommodate the UL LBT procedure 354 and other LBT procedures for switching from downlink transmission to uplink transmission, base station 170a may blank one or more downlink symbols based on the parameter set of the activated BWP or SCS to provide a switching interval between uplink transmission and downlink transmission.

[0156] In the illustrated embodiment, the third UL LBT procedure 354 is a CAT2 UL LBT procedure, but in an alternative embodiment, the UE may attempt to use other procedures to resume uplink transmission. In this example, the third UL LBT procedure 354 is successful, and UE 110a resumes uplink transmission in the COT of MCOT 318 by transmitting PUSCH 356 in time slot 310. PUSCH 356 includes CG-UCI 358, and the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 358 includes a "disabled" indication, which indicates that there is no downlink transmission opportunity thereafter.

[0157] Figure 4 Another example of the time resource 400 for configured grant in the unlicensed spectrum in cell 175a of base station 170a for UE 110a is shown according to one embodiment, but alternative embodiments may involve different UEs, different cells, and / or different base stations.

[0158] In Figure 4 the example, the time resource 400 includes five time slots 402, 404, 406, 408, and 410, and UE 110a attempts to initiate the COT of an uplink transmission to base station 170a in time resource 400 via the UL LBT procedure 412 at the start of time slot 402. In this example, the UL LBT procedure 412 is successful, and UE 110a initiates the COT of MCOT 414 with four time slots 402, 404, 406, and 408 in time resource 400. During the COT in MCOT 414, UE 110a sends uplink transmissions to base station 170a in PUSCH 416 in time slot 402, in PUSCH 418 in time slot 402, in PUSCH 420 in time slot 404, and in PUSCH 422 in time slot 404. Therefore, PUSCH 416, 418, 420, and 422 form an uplink burst 424 in the uplink transmission from UE 110a to base station 170a in time resource 400 in the unlicensed spectrum of cell 175a of base station 170a.

[0159] However, in this example, the uplink burst 424 does not extend into time slots 406 and 408 within the MCOT 414. Thus, the uplink burst 424 includes an indication of a downlink transmission opportunity 426 (or more generally, a transmission opportunity) in time slots 406 and 408 during the COT of the MCOT 41. The downlink transmission opportunity 426 starts two time slots after time slot 402, starts in the time slot following time slot 404, and has a duration of two time slots 406 and 408.

[0160] In this example, at PUSCH 416, the UE 110a may not have recognized the end of the uplink burst 424 in time slot 404, and thus may not have recognized the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 426 in time slot 406. Thus, in this example, the PUSCH 416 in time slot 402 includes a CG-UCI 428, and the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 428 includes a "disabled" indication indicating no downlink transmission opportunity, similar to Figure 3 the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 358 shown.

[0161] However, in this example, at PUSCH 418, the UE 110a has recognized the end of the uplink burst 424 in time slot 404 and has recognized the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 426 in time slot 406. Thus, in this example, the PUSCH 418 includes a CG-UCI 430, and the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 430 includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 426 starts two time slots after time slot 402, indicated by l = 2 in Figure 4 The COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 430 also includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 426 has a duration of two time slots, indicated by d = 2 in Figure 4 The COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 430 can thus be similar to the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 338 shown in Figure 3 In addition, in this example, the PUSCH 420 includes a CG-UCI 432, and the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 432 can be similar to the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 340 shown in Figure 3 Furthermore, in this example, the PUSCH 422 includes a CG-UCI 434, and the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 434 can be similar to the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 342 shown in Figure 3 Similarly, in Figure 4The values of l and d in the embodiments are merely examples, and alternative embodiments may include different indications of the time delay (or offset) to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity, and alternative embodiments may include different indications of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0162] In the illustrated embodiment, after the uplink burst 424 from UE 110a to base station 170a and after the DL LBT procedure 438 at the start of time slot 406, base station 170a initiates a downlink transmission 436 from base station 170a to UE 110a in the downlink transmission opportunity 426. The DL LBT procedure 438 may be similar to Figure 3 the DL LBT procedure 346 shown in Figure 3 and the downlink transmission 436 may be similar to

[0163] Indications of offset and duration

[0164] In the time resources of the configured grant, the MCOT of the UE-initiated COT has N p,μ time slots, where p represents the channel access priority class (CAPC) for initiating the COT, and μ represents the parameter set of the time resources of the configured grant. For example, although alternative embodiments may vary, in some embodiments, where μ = 1 (30 kHz), N 1,1 = 4, N 2,1 = 8, N 3,1 = 12, and N 4,1 = 12.

[0165] In Figure 3 and Figure 4 's embodiments, when the COT sharing information of CG-UCI indicates l = 0, the COT sharing information of CG-UCI indicates a downlink transmission opportunity starting in the same time slot as the transmission of CG-UCI. The downlink transmission in the same time slot as the transmission of CG-UCI can be described as a partial time slot downlink transmission. Similarly, in Figure 3 and Figure 4 's embodiments, when CG-UCI is in the first time slot of the MCOT and indicates that the downlink transmission opportunity starts in the last time slot of the MCOT, CG-UCI indicates l = N p,μ - 1. Thus, in Figure 3 and Figure 4 's embodiments, the value of l can range from 0 to N p,μ - 1.

[0166] In addition, in some embodiments, d = 0 or another indicator may indicate a partial time slot downlink opportunity (as described below with reference to Figure 9as described), and d = N p,μ -1 indicates the downlink opportunity in all the remaining time slots of the MCOT after the first time slot that may or may not have a partial DL transmission. Thus, in some embodiments, the value of d can range from 0 to N p,μ -1. Additionally, to maintain the downlink opportunity within the MCOT,

[0167] l + d < N p,μ .

[0168] Thus, the number of combinations of (l, d) that can be used is the number of combinations that satisfy 0 ≤ l ≤ N p,μ -1, 0 ≤ d ≤ N p,μ -1 and l + d < N p,μ , that is

[0169]

[0170] (l, d)'s C p,μ combinations can be sorted in an ordered set of (l, d) combinations, and the combinations in the ordered set of (l, d) combinations can be identified by the value of the index. Thus, the value of the index can identify the combination in the ordered set of (l, d) combinations, so the value of the index identifies the time delay from the transmission of CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity represented by the combination, and the value of the index also identifies the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity represented by the combination.

[0171] In Figure 3 and Figure 4 's embodiments, in addition to any other data in the CG-UCI, each of the CG-UCIs 338, 340, 342, 358, 428, 430, 432, and 434 further includes COT sharing information, which includes one of the following: a "disabled" indication, which indicates that there is no downlink transmission opportunity, or, an identifier of a combination in the ordered set of (l, d) combinations. Thus, for a specific p and a specific μ, the number of possible values (or possible index values) of the COT sharing information of each of the CG-UCIs 338, 340, 342, 358, 428, 430, 432, and 434 is 1 + C p,μ , and the number of bits required for the COT sharing information of each CG-UCI is

[0172]

[0173] In other words, in Figure 3 and Figure 4In embodiments, for a specific p and a specific μ, each of the CG-UCI 338, 340, 342, 358, 428, 430, 432, and 434 may include at least COT sharing information encoded in B p,μ bits, and the bits in the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI may indicate an index value that represents a "disable" indication, which indicates no downlink transmission opportunity, or an identifier of a combination in an ordered set of combinations of (l, d). However, the CG-UCI according to other embodiments may be different as described below.

[0174] Indication of CAPC

[0175] In Figure 3 and Figure 4 embodiments and some other embodiments, different configured grant resources may be used for respective specific CAPCs.

[0176] However, in some other embodiments, the configured grant resources may be used for more than one CAPC. When the configured grant resources can be used for more than one CAPC, the COT sharing information in the CG-UCI may include an indicator of the CAPC p used by the UE to initiate the COT. For example, in some embodiments, the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI may include two bits, a different number of bits, or different indicators to indicate the CAPC p used by the UE to initiate the COT.

[0177] Index values indicating CAPC, offset, and duration

[0178] For a specific parameter set represented by μ, the index value identified in the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI may be a number encoded in B μ bits, ranging from 0 to In some embodiments, as shown in the following example, the index value identified in the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI may identify an identifier of a combination in an ordered set of combinations of the CAPC p and (l, d) used by the UE to initiate the COT. In the following example, p = 0 represents a "disable" indication, and for ease of reference, Δ p,μ is defined as

[0179]

[0180] where C 0，μ = 1.

[0181]

[0182] In other words, in this example, the index value of 0 indicates a "disable" indication of no downlink transmission opportunity, and the index values from 1 to C 1,μ indicate C1,μ a combination in an ordered set of (l, d) combinations, Δ 1,μ to C 1,μ +C 2,μ The index value in indicates a combination in an ordered set of C 2,μ a combination in an ordered set of (l, d) combinations, and so on. In this example, p ranges from 0 to 4, so Δ 4,μ CIV values are required. Thus, the number C of required CIV values (where C is the number of configured combinations, which is C = Δ 4,μ in this example) The number of bits required is Any index value from C to is not used or reserved.

[0183] Similarly, alternative embodiments may vary. For example, in an alternative embodiment, one or more index values or other indicators may indicate the CAPC p used by the UE to initiate a COT, a "forbidden" indication indicating no downlink transmission opportunity, a time delay (or offset) to the start of a downlink transmission opportunity, the duration of a downlink transmission opportunity, or a combination of two or more of the above.

[0184] Indication of the offset within a time slot including a "UL burst end" bit

[0185] Figure 5 FIG. 400 shows an example of a time resource for configured grant in unlicensed spectrum for UE 110a in cell 175a of base station 170a according to one embodiment, but alternative embodiments may involve different UEs, different cells, and / or different base stations.

[0186] In Figure 5 In the example of, time resource 500 includes five time slots 502, 504, 506, 508, and 510. UE 110a attempts to initiate a COT for an uplink transmission to base station 170a in time resource 500 at the start of time slot 502 via a first UL LBT procedure 512. In this example, the first UL LBT procedure 512 fails because it is evaluated as "busy". UE 110a attempts to initiate a COT for an uplink transmission to base station 170a in time resource 500 again via a second UL LBT procedure 516 towards the next possible PUSCH start point, and the start point of the second UL LBT procedure 516 is after a delay 514 from the start of time slot 502. In the illustrated embodiment, the first UL LBT procedure 512 and the second UL LBT procedure 516 are CAT4 UL LBT procedures, but in alternative embodiments, the UE may attempt to initiate a COT using other procedures.

[0187] In this example, the second UL LBT procedure 516 is successful, and the UE 110a initiates a COT of the MCOT 318 with four time slots 520, 522, 524, and 526 in the time resource 500. Therefore, the COT in the MCOT 518 is the COT initiated by the UE 110a. During the COT in the MCOT 518, the UE 110a sends an uplink transmission to the base station 170a in the PUSCH 528 in the time slot 502 and in the PUSCH 530 in the time slot 504. Therefore, the PUSCHs 528 and 530 form an uplink burst 532 in the uplink transmission from the UE 110a to the base station 170a in the unlicensed spectrum of the cell 175a of the base station 170a in the time resource 500.

[0188] However, in this example, the uplink burst 532 does not occupy the entire time slot 504, and the uplink burst 532 does not extend to the time slots 506 and 508 within the MCOT 518. Therefore, the uplink burst 532 includes an indication of a downlink transmission opportunity 534 (or more generally, a transmission opportunity) during the COT in the MCOT 518. The downlink transmission opportunity 534 includes a partial time slot portion 536 of the downlink transmission opportunity 534, which is in the portion of the time slot 504 that is not occupied by the uplink burst 532. The downlink transmission opportunity 534 also includes a portion 538 of the downlink transmission opportunity 534 in the time slots 506 and 508. The downlink transmission opportunity 534 starts in the time slot following the time slot 502 and starts in the same time slot 504 as the PUSCH 530. In addition, the portion 538 of the downlink transmission opportunity 534 is the portion of the downlink transmission opportunity 534 that starts after the time slot 504 of the PUSCH 530 and has a duration of two time slots 506 and 508, as shown by d = 2 in Figure 5 as shown by d = 2 in. In other words, except for the partial time slot portion 536 (the portion of the downlink transmission opportunity 534 in the same time slot 504 as the PUSCH 530), the downlink transmission opportunity 534 has a duration of two time slots, as shown by d = 2 in Figure 5 as shown by d = 2 in.

[0189] In this example, the PUSCH 528 in the time slot 502 includes a CG-UCI 540, and the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 540 includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 534 starts in the time slot following the time slot 502, in Figure 5is again indicated by l = 1. The COT sharing information of CG-UCI 540 also includes, in addition to the partial slot portion 536 of the downlink transmission opportunity 534 in the same time slot 504 as the PUSCH 530, an indication of the duration of two time slots for the downlink transmission opportunity 534, in Figure 5 is again indicated by d = 2. The COT sharing information of CG-UCI 540 can be similar to the COT sharing information of CG-UCI340 or CG-UCI 342 as Figure 3 shown, except that CG-UCI 540 also includes a “UL burst end” bit 542.

[0190] As indicated above, the COT sharing information of each of CG-UCI 340 and 342 can each include a CIV or other identifier that identifies the combination (l = 1, d = 2) in an ordered set of combinations of (l, d), and the COT sharing information of CG-UCI540 can also include a CIV or other identifier for identifying the combination (l = 1, d = 2) in an ordered set of combinations of (l, d). However, in the illustrated embodiment, in addition to the identifier of the combination (l = 1, d = 2) in the ordered set of combinations of (l, d), the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 540 further includes: a “UL burst end” bit 542, which in this example indicates with a bit value of ‘0’ that the PUSCH 528 is not the end of the uplink burst 532.

[0191] In this example, the PUSCH 530 in the time slot 504 includes CG-UCI 544, and the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 544 includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 534 starts with a partial time slot that is in the same time slot 504 as the CG-UCI 544, and this indication is given by Figure 5 the DL offset l = 0 in. The COT sharing information of CG-UCI 544 also includes: in addition to the partial slot portion 536 of the downlink transmission opportunity 534 in the same time slot 504 as the PUSCH 530, an indication of the duration of two time slots for the downlink transmission opportunity 534, in Figure 5is again indicated by d = 2. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 544 includes a CIV or other identifier that identifies the combination (l = 1, d = 2) in the ordered set of combinations of (l, d), and in addition to the identifier of the combination (l = 1, d = 2) in the ordered set of combinations of (l, d), the CG-UCI 544 further includes an “UL burst end” bit 546, which in this example indicates with a bit value of ‘1’ that the PUSCH 530 is the end of the uplink burst 532. In other words, the “UL burst end” bit 546 is an indication that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 534 and the COT of the transmission of the CG-UCI 544 are in the same time slot 504 of the MCOT 518. The “UL burst end” bit 546 indicates that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 534 and the end of the uplink burst including the transmission of the CG-UCI 544 are in the same time slot of the COT, and the “UL burst end” bit 546 is an indication of the time when the downlink transmission opportunity 534 starts within the same time slot 504 as the transmission of the CG-UCI 544 (in this example, this time is the time after the PUSCH 530 including the CG-UCI 544).

[0192] Again, in Figure 5 the embodiment of, the values of l and d and the “UL burst end” bits 542 and 546 are merely examples. Alternative embodiments may include different indications of the time delay (or offset) to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity. Alternative embodiments may also include different indications of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity. Alternative embodiments may also include different indications as to whether the downlink transmission opportunity is in the same time slot of the COT as the transmission of the CG-UCI. Alternative embodiments may also include different indications of the end of the uplink burst.

[0193] In the illustrated embodiment, after the uplink burst 532 from the UE 110a to the base station 170a, the base station 170a initiates a downlink transmission 548 from the base station 170a to the UE 110a in the downlink transmission opportunity 532 through a downlink DL LBT procedure 550 after the PUSCH 530 and in the time slot 504. In the illustrated embodiment, the DL LBT procedure 550 is a CAT2 DL LBT procedure that does not involve random backoff, but in alternative embodiments, the base station may use other procedures to initiate the downlink transmission. Although alternative embodiments may vary, in this example, the DL LBT procedure 550 is successful, and the downlink transmission 548 includes a first PDSCH 552 in the time slot 504, a second PDSCH 554 in the time slot 506, and a third PDSCH 556 in the time slot 508.

[0194] In this example, an idle period 558 of at least 100 μs occurs after a downlink transmission 548, and after the idle period 558, UE 110a attempts to resume an uplink transmission in the COT of MCOT 518 before the end of time slot 508 via a third UL LBT procedure 560. In the illustrated embodiment, the third UL LBT procedure 560 is a CAT2 UL LBT procedure, but in an alternative embodiment, the UE may attempt to use other procedures to resume the uplink transmission. In this example, the third UL LBT procedure 560 is successful, and UE 110a resumes the uplink transmission in the COT of MCOT 518 by transmitting a PUSCH 562 in time slot 510. The PUSCH 562 includes a CG-UCI 564, and the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 564 includes a "disabled" indication that may be similar to the "disabled" indication of the CG-UCI358. Additionally, in the illustrated embodiment, in addition to the "disabled" indication, the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 564 includes a "UL burst end" bit 566, which in this example indicates with a bit value of '1' that the PUSCH562 is the end of the uplink burst including the PUSCH 562.

[0195] In Figure 5 the embodiment of, each of the time slots 502, 504, 506, 508, and 510 includes no more than two PUSCHs, and the PUSCH 530 is the only PUSCH in time slot 504. Thus, in Figure 5 the embodiment of, if the downlink transmission opportunity 534 starts in time slot 504, then time slot 504 has no capacity for another PUSCH after the PUSCH 530, and the indication of l = 0 in the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 544 of the PUSCH530, which indicates that the downlink transmission opportunity 534 starts in the same time slot as the CG-UCI, also implies that the uplink burst 532 will end after the PUSCH530 and the downlink transmission opportunity 534 starts after the PUSCH 530. As a result, in Figure 5 the embodiment of, and in other embodiments, where the indication of the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI of the PUSCH, which represents that the downlink transmission opportunity starts in the same time slot as the CG-UCI, means that the downlink transmission opportunity 534 starts after the PUSCH – the "UL burst end" may not require a separate bit and can be omitted.

[0196] Figure 6 shows Figure 5 an alternative of the embodiment of. In Figure 6In an embodiment, the time resources for configured grant in unlicensed spectrum in cell 175a of base station 170a for UE 110a include time slots 602, 604, and 606 initiated by UE 110a and within the MCOT of the COT. However, alternative embodiments may involve different UEs, different cells, and / or different base stations.

[0197] In Figure 6 In an example, during uplink burst 608 in the uplink transmission from UE 110a to base station 170a in the time resources in unlicensed spectrum in cell 175a of base station 170a, UE 110a sends an uplink transmission to base station 170a in PUSCH 610 in time slot 602 and in PUSCH 612 in time slot 602.

[0198] Again, in this example, uplink burst 608 does not occupy the entire time slot 602, and uplink burst 608 does not extend into time slots 604 and 606 which are also within the MCOT. Thus, uplink burst 608 includes an indication of a downlink transmission opportunity 614 (or more generally, a transmission opportunity). The partial time slot portion of downlink transmission opportunity 614 is in the portion of time slot 602 not occupied by uplink burst 606. Another portion of downlink transmission opportunity 614 is in time slots 604 and 606. Thus, downlink transmission opportunity 614 starts in the same time slot 602 as PUSCH 610 and 612. In addition, the portion of downlink transmission opportunity 614 that starts after time slot 602 has a duration of two time slots 604 and 606. In other words, in addition to the partial time slot portion of downlink transmission opportunity 614 in the same time slot 602 as PUSCH 610 and 612, downlink transmission opportunity 614 also has a duration of two time slots.

[0199] In this example, PUSCH 610 in time slot 602 includes CG-UCI 616, and the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 616 includes an indication that downlink transmission opportunity 614 starts in the same time slot 602 as CG-UCI 616, represented by l = 0 in Figure 6 In addition to the partial time slot portion of downlink transmission opportunity 614 in the same time slot 602 as PUSCH 610 and 612, the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 616 also includes an indication that downlink transmission opportunity 614 has a duration of two time slots, in Figure 6In [the example], it is indicated by d = 2. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 616 includes a CIV or other identifier that identifies the combination (l = 0, d = 2) in the ordered set of combinations of (l, d). In addition to the identifier of the combination (l = 0, d = 2) in the ordered set of combinations of (l, d), CG-UCI 616 further includes a "UL burst end" bit 618, which indicates in this example with a bit value of '0' that PUSCH 610 is not the end of the uplink burst 608.

[0200] In addition, in this example, PUSCH 612 in time slot 602 includes CG-UCI 620, and the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 620 includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 614 starts in the same time slot 602 as CG-UCI 620, Figure 6 which is indicated by the DL offset l = 0 in [the example]. In addition to the partial time slot portion of the downlink transmission opportunity 614 in the same time slot 602 as PUSCH 610 and 612, the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 616 further includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 614 has a duration of two time slots, Figure 6 which is indicated by d = 2 in [the example]. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 616 includes a CIV or other identifier that identifies the combination (l = 0, d = 2) in the ordered set of combinations of (l, d). In addition to the identifier of the combination (l = 0, d = 2) in the ordered set of combinations of (l, d), CG-UCI 616 further includes a "UL burst end" bit 622, which indicates in this example with a byte value of '1' that PUSCH 612 is the end of the uplink burst 608. In other words, the "UL burst end" bit 622 is an indication that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 614 and the transmission of CG-UCI 622 are in the same time slot of the COT in the same MCOT. The "UL burst end" bit 622 is an indication that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 614 and the end of the uplink burst including the transmission of CG-UCI 622 are in the same time slot of the COT, and the "UL burst end" bit 622 is an indication of the time of the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 614 (in this example, this time is the time after PUSCH 612 including CG-UCI 622).

[0201] For example, as Figure 5 described, Figure 6 the example of [the reference] can continue with a downlink transmission in the following downlink transmission opportunity 614 from the base station 170a to the UE 110a.

[0202] However, compared with Figure 5Unlike the embodiment of Figure 6 In the embodiment of, in addition to the partial time slot portion of the downlink transmission opportunity 614 in the same time slot 602 as the PUSCH 610 and 612, the time slot 602 may include and does include more than one PUSCH. Thus, unlike Figure 5 the embodiment of, the indication of l = 0 in the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 616 of the PUSCH 610 does not necessarily mean that the uplink burst 608 will end after the PUSCH 610 or that the downlink transmission opportunity 614 starts after the PUSCH 610. As a result, unlike Figure 5 the embodiment of, in Figure 6 the embodiment of – and in some other embodiments, where the indication in the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI of the PUSCH, which indicates that the downlink transmission opportunity starts in the same time slot as the CG-UCI, does not necessarily mean that the downlink transmission opportunity 534 starts after the PUSCH – an alternative to "UL burst end" or "UL burst end" may be required.

[0203] Therefore, in Figure 6 the embodiment of, for a specific p and a specific μ, in addition to any other data in the CG-UCI, each of the CG-UCI 616 and 620 further includes COT sharing information, and the COT sharing information either includes an identifier of a combination in an ordered set of combinations of (l, d) or includes a "disabled" indication indicating no downlink transmission opportunity, and the COT sharing information of each of the CG-UCI 616 and 620 further includes a "UL burst end" bit. Thus, in Figure 6 the embodiment of, for a specific p and a specific μ, the number of bits required for the COT sharing information of each of the CG-UCI 616 and 620 is

[0204]

[0205] However, the CG-UCI according to other embodiments may be different. For example, in some embodiments, after the end of the last PUSCH of the uplink burst, the UE may blank one or more downlink symbols based on the parameter set or SCS of the activated BWP after the last PUSCH of the uplink burst to create a switching gap between the uplink burst and the subsequent downlink transmission, and the "UL burst end" of the CG-UCI may be two or more bits to indicate the start of the downlink transmission opportunity for the subsequent downlink transmission after one or more blanked downlink symbols. Other CG-UCI according to other embodiments are described below.

[0206] Index value indicating the offset included within a time slot

[0207] As described above, the "UL burst end" bit 546 or 622 in the COT sharing information of CG-UCI indicates the start time of a downlink transmission opportunity within the same time slot as the transmission of CG-UCI, and indicates the start time of a downlink transmission opportunity within the same time slot of the COT as the end of the uplink burst including the transmission of CG-UCI. However, also as described above, the "UL burst end" bit requires at least one additional bit in each of CG-UCI 616 and 620.

[0208] In some embodiments, CG-UCI may indicate an index value that may indicate the start of a downlink transmission opportunity within the same time slot as the transmission of CG-UCI or within the same time slot of the COT as the end of the uplink burst including the transmission of CG-UCI, without the need for an additional "UL burst end" bit as in the Figure 6 embodiment.

[0209] Figure 7 An example of a time resource 700 for configured grant in unlicensed spectrum in a cell 175a of a base station 170a for a UE 110a according to one embodiment is shown, but alternative embodiments may involve different UEs, different cells, and / or different base stations.

[0210] In Figure 7 the example, the time resource 700 includes five time slots 702, 704, 706, 708, and 710, and the UE 110a initiates a COT with an MCOT 712 having four time slots within the time resource 700. During the COT within the MCOT 712, the UE 110a sends uplink transmissions to the base station 170a in the PUSCH 714 in time slot 702, in the PUSCH 716 in time slot 702, in the PUSCH 718 in time slot 704, and in the PUSCH 720 in time slot 704. Thus, the PUSCHs 714, 716, 718, and 720 form an uplink burst 722 in the uplink transmission from the UE 110a to the base station 170a within the time resource 700 in the unlicensed spectrum of the cell 175a of the base station 170a.

[0211] However, in this example, the uplink burst 722 does not occupy the entire time slot 704, and the uplink burst 722 does not extend into the time slots 706 and 708 that are also within the MCOT 712. Therefore, the uplink burst 722 includes an indication of a downlink transmission opportunity 724 (or more generally, a transmission opportunity) during the COT within the MCOT 712. A partial time slot portion of the downlink transmission opportunity 724 is within the portion of the time slot 704 not occupied by the uplink burst 722. Another portion of the downlink transmission opportunity 724 is within the time slots 706 and 708. Therefore, the downlink transmission opportunity 724 starts in the same time slot 704 as the PUSCHs 718 and 720. In addition, the portion of the downlink transmission opportunity 724 that starts after the time slot 704 has a duration of two time slots 706 and 708. In other words, in addition to the partial time slot portion of the downlink transmission opportunity 724 in the same time slot 704 as the PUSCHs 718 and 720, the downlink transmission opportunity 724 also has a duration of two time slots.

[0212] In this example, the PUSCH 714 in the time slot 702 includes the CG-UCI 726, and the PUSCH 716 in the time slot 702 includes the CG-UCI 728. The COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 726 and 728 both includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 724 starts in the time slot following the time slot 702, and, in addition to the partial time slot portion of the downlink transmission opportunity 724 in the same time slot 704 as the PUSCHs 718 and 720, an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 702 also has a duration of two time slots. Therefore, the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 726 and 728 is similar to Figure 3 the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 340 or 342 shown in

[0213] In addition, in this example, the PUSCH 718 in the time slot 704 includes the CG-UCI 730, and the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 730 includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 724 starts in the same time slot 704 as the CG-UCI 730, indicated by the DL offset l = 0 in Figure 7 In addition to the partial time slot portion of the downlink transmission opportunity 724 in the same time slot 704 as the PUSCHs 718 and 720, the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 730 also includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 724 has a duration of two time slots, indicated by d = 2 in Figure 7 Therefore, in the illustrated embodiment, the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 730 includes a CIV or other identifier identifying the combination (l, d) in the ordered set of combinations (l = 0, d = 2).

[0214] In this example, time slot 704 includes 14 symbols, PUSCH 718 occupies the first four symbols of time slot 704, and PUSCH 720 occupies the first three symbols of time slot 704. Thus, in this example, PUSCH 720 in time slot 704 includes CG-UCI 732, and the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 732 includes an indication that the start of downlink transmission opportunity 724 is after the first seven symbols of time slot 704, as indicated by "UL burst end OS#6" in Figure 7 and the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 732 includes an indication of the end symbol of UL burst 722.

[0215] Thus, in some embodiments, the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 732 includes an indication of the number N of uplink burst end symbols ULE which indicates the symbols in time slot 704 before the start of downlink transmission opportunity 724. In this example, time slot 704 contains 14 symbols and at least one PUSCH occupies at least two symbols of time slot 704. Thus, in this example, when downlink transmission opportunity 724 can start in the next orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol (OS), time slot 704 can have at most 14 - 2 = 12 symbols (from OS#1 to OS#11). Generally, the number of symbols in the time slot when the uplink burst can end can be referred to as the number N of uplink burst end points ULBEP .

[0216] In an alternative embodiment, the COT sharing information of CG-UCI can indicate the PUSCH which is the last PUSCH of the uplink burst that ends in a time slot with a partial time slot downlink opportunity, without indicating the number N of uplink burst end symbols ULE . For example, if a time slot includes 14 symbols and if a PUSCH has a length of at least two symbols, then the time slot can include up to seven PUSCHs. In this example, if the uplink burst ends during this time slot and the time slot includes a partial time slot downlink opportunity, then the time slot can include up to six PUSCHs and an indication of a number from the set {0, 1, …, 5} which can indicate which PUSCH in the time slot is the last PUSCH of the uplink burst. Thus, in addition to or as an alternative to other indicators such as those described herein, such an indicator of the last PUSCH of the uplink burst can indicate the symbol at which the downlink transmission opportunity starts.

[0217] As described above, in some embodiments, the index value identified by the COT sharing information of CG-UCI may identify the identifier of the combination in the ordered set of the CAPC p and the combination of (l, d) used by the UE to initiate the COT. However, in Figure 7 the embodiments of, for example, the index value identified by the COT sharing information of CG-UCI may identify the identifier of the combination in the ordered set of the CAPC p and the combination of (l, d) used by the UE to initiate the COT, or, identify the start time of the downlink transmission opportunity in the time slot of the same COT as the transmission of CG-UCI, as shown in the following example.

[0218]

[0219] In this example, from Δ 4,μ to Δ 4,μ +N ULBEP the index value indicates the number of uplink symbols N ULBEP at the end points of N ULE uplink bursts, so Δ 4,μ +N ULBEP CIV values are required, and the number of required bits indicating the number of required CIV values is Also, any index value in the range from Δ 4,μ +N ULBEP +1 to is not used or reserved.

[0220] The following embodiments show an example of index values, where μ = 1 (30 kHz), N 1,1 = 4, N 2,1 = 8, N 3,1 = 12, N 4,1 = 12, N ULBEP = 11, and B1 = 8 bits are required in addition to any bits that may be required for other data in CG-UCI, and

[0221]

[0222] In this example, where p ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4}, the CIV identifying the combination (l, d) can be determined as follows

[0223]

[0224] Similarly, in this example where p ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4}, the CIV identifying the uplink end symbol number N ULE ∈ {1, 2, …, N ULBEP} can be determined as follows

[0225] CIV(N ULE ) = N ULE + Δ 4,μ - 1。

[0226] In this example where p ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4}, CIV can be decoded as follows.

[0227] · If CIV = 0, then CIV indicates a "disabled" indication of no downlink transmission opportunity.

[0228] · If CIV ≥ Δ 4,μ , then CIV indicates N ULE = CIV - Δ e,μ + 1.

[0229] · If 0 ≤ CIV < Δ e,μ , then for p satisfying Δ p-1,μ ≤ CIV < Δ p,μ , CIV indicates

[0230]

[0231]

[0232] In this example, the CIV indicating each combination (l, d) for p = 1 is as follows.

[0233]

[0234] In this example, the CIV indicating each combination (l, d) for p = 2 is as follows.

[0235]

[0236] In this example, the CIV indicating each combination (l, d) for p = 3 is as follows.

[0237]

[0238] In this example, the CIV indicating each combination (l, d) for p = 4 is as follows.

[0239]

[0240] In Figure 7 's example, except for the partial time slot part of the downlink transmission opportunity 724 in the same time slot 704 as PUSCH 718 and 720, the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 730 includes an indication that the downlink transmission opportunity 724 has a duration of two time slots. In Figure 7is indicated by d = 2. The COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 732 includes an indication that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 724 is after the first seven symbols of the time slot 704, in Figure 7 is indicated by "UL Burst End OS#6". In Figure 7 example, the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity 724 is the number of downlink symbols

[0241] N SDL =(N SS -N ULE -1)+d·N SS

[0242] where N SS is the number of symbols in each time slot. Thus, in Figure 7 example, the CG-UCI 730 and 732 together include an indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity 724 and the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 724.

[0243] Similarly, alternative embodiments may vary. For example, in an alternative embodiment, one or more index values or other indicators may indicate the CAPC p used by the UE to initiate the COT, a "disable" indication indicating no downlink transmission opportunity, a time delay (or offset) to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity, the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity, and the time of the start of the downlink transmission opportunity in the same time slot as the transmission of the CG-UCI, or a combination of two or more of the above. In some other embodiments, the order of transmitting the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 730 and 732 may be reversed without affecting the common COT sharing information indicated to the base station 170a.

[0244] For example, as illustrated with reference to Figure 5 , after the PUSCH 720 as described above, Figure 7 example may be followed by a downlink transmission in the downlink transmission opportunity from the base station 170a to the UE 110a in the downlink transmission opportunity 614.

[0245] Figure 8 illustrates an example of the time resource 800 for a configured grant in the unlicensed spectrum of the cell 175a of the base station 170a for the UE 110a, but alternative embodiments may involve different UEs, different cells, and / or different base stations.

[0246] In Figure 8In the example, the time resource 800 includes five time slots 802, 804, 806, 808, and 810, and UE 110a initiates a COT of MCOT 812 with four time slots in the time resource 800. During the COT in MCOT 812, UE 110a sends an uplink transmission to base station 170a in PUSCH 814 in time slot 802 and in PUSCH 816 in time slot 804. Thus, PUSCH 814 and 816 form an uplink burst 818 in the uplink transmission from UE 110a to base station 170a in the time resource 800 in the unlicensed spectrum of cell 175a of base station 170a.

[0247] In this example, PUSCH 814 in time slot 802 includes CG-UCI 820, and PUSCH 816 in time slot 804 includes CG-UCI 822. Similar to the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 732, the COT sharing information of CG-UCI 820 includes an indication that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 824 (or more generally, the transmission opportunity) is after the first seven symbols, as Figure 8 indicated by "UL burst end OS#6". CG-UCI 820 is in time slot 802, and the first six symbols of time slot 802 have passed. Therefore, CG-UCI 820 indicates that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 824 is after the first seven symbols of the next time slot (i.e., time slot 804), or more generally, after the first seven symbols of the subsequent time slots in the UL burst. The COT sharing information of CG-UCI 822 includes an indication of the DL offset (l = 0) and thus confirms that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 824 is after the first seven symbols of the same time slot (i.e., time slot 804). The COT sharing information of CG-UCI 822 also includes an indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity 824 (represented by d = 2 in Figure 8 ).

[0248] In summary, in Figure 8In the example, the CG-UCI 820 including an indication of the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 824 may be in the PUSCH 814 before the PUSCH 816. The PUSCH 816 is the last PUSCH of the uplink burst 818 and is the last PUSCH before the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 824. Therefore, the indication of the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 824 in the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 820 is an indication that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 824 and the end of the uplink burst including the transmission of the CG-UCI 820 are in the same time slot of the COT. And the indication of the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 824 in the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI 820 is an indication of the time of the start of the downlink transmission opportunity 824 (in this example, this time is the time after the first seven symbols of the next time slot (i.e., time slot 804)).

[0249] The payload size of the COT sharing information

[0250] In some embodiments, in addition to any bits that other data of the CG-UCI may require, the base station may configure the UE to use a bit field with a configured payload size of B p,μ bits for the COT sharing information in the CG-UCI.

[0251] As described above, in Figures 3 - 4 the embodiments and some other embodiments, different configured grant resources may be used for specific respective CAPCs, and B p,μ may be determined without any bits to indicate the CAPCp used by the UE to initiate the COT.

[0252] However, also as described above, the COT sharing information of the CG-UCI may include two bits or a different number of bits to indicate the CAPC p used by the UE to initiate the COT, and B p,μ may include any bits indicating the CAPC p used by the UE to initiate the COT.

[0253] In other embodiments, an index value may indicate the CAPC p used by the UE to initiate the COT. In this case, B p,μ may be determined without any bits to indicate the CAPC p used by the UE to initiate the COT.

[0254] Generally, in some embodiments, B p,μ may be determined to accommodate the largest possible p, such as B 4,μ , regardless of the actual CAPC p used by the UE to initiate the COT, to avoid variable sizes of the CG-UCI.

[0255] As described above, the MCOT of the COT initiated by the UE has N p,μ time slots. In some embodiments, the configured payload size B p,μ can be determined as the number of bits required for all CIV values that may be needed. The number of CIV values that may be needed can be determined according to one of the above examples or otherwise. In some embodiments, when determining the number of CIV values that may be needed, N p,μ can be based on the parameter set or SCS μ of the activated BWP, or can be based on the reference parameter set or SCS μ ref = 0 (e.g., 15 kHz), regardless of the parameter set or SCS of the activated BWP.

[0256] When N p,μ is based on the reference parameter set or SCS μ ref and when μ > μ ref , the indication of the time delay l and the indication of the duration d represent more than one time slot, and thus have a coarser granularity than when N p,μ is based on the parameter set or SCS μ of the activated BWP.

[0257] Therefore, when N p,μ is based on the reference parameter set or SCS μ ref and when μ > μ ref , and when the CIV value indicates the duration d of the downlink transmission opportunity, the actual duration of the downlink transmission opportunity in the parameter set of the activated BWP or SCS μ may be longer than the duration indicated by d, and in addition to the partial time slot DL transmission (if indicated), the base station may also send a downlink transmission with a duration of time slots.

[0258] However, when N p,μ is based on the reference parameter set or SCS μ ref and when μ > μ ref , the COT sharing information may require an additional time slot offset adjustment value j to indicate the time delay of the time slot in terms of the number of time slots. For example, when μ - μ ref = 1, one bit in the COT sharing information can represent j, such that j ∈ {0, 1}, and l and j can jointly represent time slots of time delay (or offset). As another example, when μ - μ ref = 2, two bits in the COT sharing information can represent j, such that j ∈ {0, 1, 2, 3}, and l and j can jointly indicate time slots of time delay (or offset). Therefore, in some embodiments, μ - μ in the COT sharing information refbits can represent j. Additionally, in another example, when μ ≤ μ ref , any bits in the COT sharing information configured for the CG-UCI sent in the BWP configured with the serving parameter set or SCS μ may not be used.

[0259] Partial slot downlink opportunity

[0260] As described above, in some embodiments, d = 0 or another indicator may indicate a partial slot downlink opportunity. For example, Figure 9 illustrates an example of the time resource 900 for configured grant in the unlicensed spectrum in cell 175a of base station 170a for UE 110a, but alternative embodiments may involve different UEs, different cells, and / or different base stations.

[0261] In Figure 9 example, the time resource 900 includes five slots 902, 904, 906, 908, and 910, and UE110a initiates a COT of MCOT 910 with the same four slots 902, 904, 906, and 908 in the time resource 900. During the COT in MCOT910, UE 110a sends uplink transmissions to base station 170a in PUSCH 912 in slot 902, in PUSCH 914 in slot 902, and in PUSCH 916 in slot 904. Therefore, PUSCH 912, 914, and 916 form an uplink burst 918 in the uplink transmission from UE 110a to base station 170a in the time resource 900 in the unlicensed spectrum in cell 175a of base station 170a.

[0262] In the illustrated embodiment, after the uplink burst 918 from UE 110a to base station 170a, base station 170a initiates a downlink transmission including PDSCH 920 in slot 904 through the downlink DL LBT procedure 922. To accommodate the DL LBT procedure 922, base station 170a may blank one or more downlink symbols based on the parameter set or SCS of the activated BWP and a CP extension not exceeding one symbol duration to provide a switching gap between the uplink transmission and the downlink transmission. If the DL LBT procedure 922 is a CAT2 DL LBT procedure, the switching gap between the uplink burst 918 and PDSCH 920 may be 16 μs or 25 μs. Alternatively, if the DL LBT procedure 922 is a category 1 (CAT1) LBT, i.e., direct transmission without LBT in the switching gap, the switching gap between the uplink burst 918 and PDSCH 920 may be 16 μs.

[0263] In this example, after a gap 924 of at least 100 μs from PDSCH 920 to the first PUSCH 926 of the resumed uplink transmission, the UE 110a resumes uplink transmission in the COT of the MCOT 910. The resumed uplink transmission may be resumed through the CAT2 UL LBT procedure 928 in the handover gap. However, in other embodiments, the UE 110a may resume uplink transmission based on one or more uplink authorizations received in the PDCCH 921 that may have been included in the downlink transmission including PDSCH 920. Such uplink authorizations may indicate the LBT type and the duration of the handover interval for restarting the uplink transmission.

[0264] Multiple active configurations

[0265] Figure 10 An example of the time resource 1000 for configured grant in unlicensed spectrum for the UE 110a in the cell 175a of the base station 170a is shown according to one embodiment, but alternative embodiments may involve different UEs, different cells, and / or different base stations.

[0266] In Figure 10 's example, the UE 110a attempts to initiate a COT for uplink transmission to the base station 170a in the time resource 1000 through the first UL LBT procedure 1002 and then through the second UL LBT procedure 1004. The UL LBT procedures 1002 and 1004 fail. After the UL LBT procedures 1002 and 1004, the UE 110a attempts to initiate a COT for uplink transmission to the base station 170a in the time resource 1000 through the third UL LBT procedure 1006, and the third UL LBT procedure 1006 succeeds. Therefore, after the UL LBT procedure 1006, the UE 110a initiates a COT in the time resource 1000.

[0267] In this example, at the UL LBT procedures 1002, 1004, and 1006, there are three (indicated by n = 3 in Figure 10 ), short four-symbol (indicated by L = 4 in Figure 10 ) micro-slots CG PUSCH per time slot in the time resource 1000, and one micro-slot CG PUSCH per four-symbol micro-slot. However, after the UE 110a initiates a COT in the time resource 1000, the UE 110a switches to another configured grant configuration, which may be the default configuration, including two seven-symbol time slots per time slot, and one 14-symbol PUSCH per time slot. Figure 10The embodiments are merely examples, and in alternative embodiments, the UE may switch between two or more different configured grant configurations, which may be different from the two configured grant configurations shown in Figure 10 shown.

[0268] In some embodiments, the UE may be configured with a hybrid configuration including parameters for different configured grant configurations. For example, in some embodiments, to avoid control overhead, the UE may be configured with a CG-UCI payload size that indicates the COT sharing information for only the CG-PUSCH in the default configuration. In other embodiments, the UE may be configured with a first CG-UCI payload size that indicates the first COT sharing information for the default configuration, and may be configured with a second smaller CG-UCI payload size by reducing N p,μ or eliminating certain combinations of (l, d) to reflect shorter mini-slots per time slot, where the second smaller CG-UCI payload size indicates the second COT sharing information for the CG-PUSCH in the initial configuration.

[0269] In some other embodiments, if the CG time domain resource configuration indicates that CG-PUSCHs of different lengths can be transmitted according to the same configuration, for example, in the same time slots (PUSCH 718 and 720) as in Figure 7 or across different time slots in the above-mentioned hybrid configuration, the CG-UCI payload size including the COT sharing information size and the offset value of the resource mapping β can be determined based on the smallest CG PUSCH, and the UE may use rate matching to map the bits of the CG-UCI payload to a larger resource on the larger CG PUSCH determined by the offset value of β.

[0270] Sidelink communication transmission

[0271] The above examples illustrate the sharing of COT for downlink transmission. However, in other embodiments, for example, COT may be shared in sidelink communication transmission between two UEs (e.g., UE 110a and 110b). The COT sharing in sidelink communication transmission may be similar to the COT sharing for downlink transmission described above, except that the COT sharing in sidelink communication transmission will involve COT sharing in the sidelink configured grant, rather than COT sharing in the configured grant from the base station. The resources of the sidelink configured grant may be determined by the base station or may be selected from the configured resource pool by sending the COT of the UE that initiates the COT.

[0272] DL transmission power level and energy detection threshold

[0273] In embodiments such as those described herein, the base station may use a higher transmission power level than the UE that initiates the UL COT. To improve coexistence fairness with other nodes / radio access technologies operating in the same unlicensed spectrum, the base station may apply one or more of the following techniques:

[0274] - The base station may lower its CCA energy detection threshold. CCA is part of the DL LBT procedure that the base station uses to access the DL transmission opportunity indicated by the COT sharing information in the CG-UCI.

[0275] - The base station may lower its transmission power level to match the transmission power level of the UE that initiates the UL COT. The base station may use UL measurements such as SRS measurements and / or predict the UE's transmission power by tracking the transmit power control (TPC) commands it sends to the UE.

[0276] Other examples

[0277] The present disclosure includes the following other examples, as further illustration of the embodiments of the present disclosure, which are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0278] 1. A method for configuring authorized transmission performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

[0279] During a channel occupancy time (COT) of the UE in an unlicensed spectrum, transmitting configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) to a base station, the CG-UCI including an indication of a time delay to the start of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and

[0280] Receiving a downlink transmission within the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0281] 2. The method according to example 1 above, wherein the CG-UCI further includes an indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0282] 3. The method according to example 2 above, wherein the indication of the duration indicates at least the number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0283] 4. The method according to example 2 or 3 above, wherein the CG-UCI includes a value of an index, the value of the index including the indication of the time delay and the indication of the duration.

[0284] 5. The method according to example 4 above, wherein the value of the index indicates at least a combination in an ordered set of combinations of the following:

[0285] a time delay to the start of the above downlink transmission opportunity; and

[0286] the duration of the above downlink transmission opportunity.

[0287] 6. The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 5 above, wherein the indication of the above time delay indicates at least the number of time slots of the above COT from the transmission of the above CG-UCI to the start of the above downlink transmission opportunity.

[0288] 7. The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 5 above, wherein the indication of the above time delay indicates at least that the start of the above downlink transmission opportunity and the end of the uplink burst including the transmission of the above CG-UCI are in the same time slot of the above COT.

[0289] 8. The method according to Example 7 above, wherein the indication of the above time delay indicates at least that the start of the above downlink transmission opportunity and the transmission of the above CG-UCI are in the same time slot of the above COT.

[0290] 9. The method according to Example 7 or 8 above, wherein the indication of the above time delay includes the value of at least one bit in the above CG-UCI, and the value indicates the end of the uplink burst including the transmission of the above CG-UCI.

[0291] 10. The method according to Example 1 above, wherein:

[0292] the indication of the above time delay includes the value of an index, and the value of the index includes the indication of the above time delay; and

[0293] some other values of the above index identify each combination in an ordered set of combinations of the following:

[0294] a time delay to the start of the above downlink transmission opportunity; and

[0295] the duration of the above downlink transmission opportunity.

[0296] 11. The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 10 above, wherein the indication of the above time delay indicates at least the symbol of the start of the above downlink transmission opportunity.

[0297] 12. The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 11 above, wherein receiving the above downlink transmission includes: receiving the above downlink transmission from the above base station.

[0298] 13. The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 12, wherein receiving the above downlink transmission includes receiving the above downlink transmission in at least one Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

[0299] 14. The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 13, wherein transmitting the above CG-UCI to the above base station includes transmitting a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) including the above CG-UCI.

[0300] 15. The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 14, wherein the above COT is initiated by the above UE.

[0301] 16. The method according to Example 15, wherein the above COT is initiated by the above UE in a Channel Access Priority Class (CAPC), and wherein the above CG-UCI further includes an indication of the above CAPC.

[0302] 17. A user equipment (UE), comprising:

[0303] At least one processor; and

[0304] At least one processor-readable storage device, including processor-executable instructions stored thereon, the processor-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to at least:

[0305] Execute the method according to any one of Examples 1 to 16 above.

[0306] 18. A method for configuring grant transmission performed by a base station, the method comprising:

[0307] The base station receives, during a Channel Occupancy Time (COT) in unlicensed spectrum, configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) from a user equipment (UE), the CG-UCI including an indication of a time delay to the start of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and

[0308] The base station transmits a downlink transmission to the UE during the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0309] 19. The method according to Example 18, wherein the CG-UCI further includes an indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0310] 20. The method according to Example 19, wherein the indication of the duration at least indicates the number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0311] 21. The method according to Example 19 or 20 above, wherein the CG-UCI includes an index value, and the index value includes an indication of the time delay and an indication of the duration.

[0312] 22. The method according to Example 21 above, wherein the index value at least indicates a combination in an ordered set of combinations of the following:

[0313] The start of the time delay to the downlink transmission opportunity; and

[0314] The duration of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0315] 23. The method according to any one of Examples 18 to 22 above, wherein the indication of the time delay at least indicates the number of time slots of the COT from the transmission of the CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0316] 24. The method according to any one of Examples 18 to 22 above, wherein the indication of the time delay at least indicates that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity and the end of the uplink burst including the transmission of the CG-UCI are in the same time slot of the COT.

[0317] 25. The method according to Example 24 above, wherein the indication of the time delay at least indicates that the start of the downlink transmission opportunity and the transmission of the CG-UCI are in the same time slot of the COT.

[0318] 26. The method according to Example 24 or 25 above, wherein the indication of the time delay includes the value of at least one bit in the CG-UCI, and the value indicates the end of the uplink burst including the transmission of the CG-UCI.

[0319] 27. The method according to Example 18 above, wherein:

[0320] The indication of the time delay includes an index value, and the index value includes an indication of the time delay; and

[0321] Some other values of the index identify each combination in an ordered set of combinations of the following:

[0322] The time delay to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity; and

[0323] The duration of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0324] 28. The method according to any one of Examples 18 to 27 above, wherein the indication of the time delay at least indicates the symbol of the start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

[0325] 29. The method according to any one of Examples 18 to 28, wherein transmitting the downlink transmission includes transmitting the downlink transmission in at least one Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

[0326] 30. The method according to any one of Examples 18 to 29, wherein receiving the CG-UCI includes receiving a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) including the CG-UCI.

[0327] 31. The method according to any one of Examples 18 to 30, wherein the COT is initiated by the UE.

[0328] 32. The method according to Example 31, wherein the COT is initiated by the UE in a Channel Access Priority Class (CAPC), and wherein the CG-UCI further includes an indication of the CAPC.

[0329] 33. A base station apparatus, comprising:

[0330] at least one processor; and

[0331] at least one processor-readable storage device including processor-executable instructions stored thereon, the processor-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to at least:

[0332] execute the method according to any one of Examples 18 to 32.

[0333] Discussion of disclosed embodiments

[0334] In embodiments such as those described herein, the UE may flexibly indicate, during the COT, the time delay (or offset) to the start of a downlink transmission opportunity and the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity. The start and duration of the downlink transmission opportunity may be identified for different reasons, such as to allow for an appropriate switching gap between an uplink transmission and a subsequent downlink transmission, or between a downlink transmission and a subsequent uplink transmission.

[0335] The COT sharing information may, for example, use a CIV or other CIV or other indication as described above to encode the time delay (or offset) to the start of a downlink transmission, the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity, the CAPC used by the UE to initiate the COT, or a combination of two or more of the above.

[0336] Embodiments such as those described above may facilitate multiple handover points, such as uplink-downlink-uplink or uplink-downlink-uplink-downlink.

[0337] Generally, compared with other methods and apparatuses, embodiments such as those described above can utilize available resources relatively effectively.

[0338] Although specific embodiments have been described and illustrated, these embodiments should be considered illustrative only and not limiting of the invention according to the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for configuring grant transmission, the method comprising: During a Channel Occupancy Time (COT) initiated by a User Equipment (UE) in a shared spectrum, transmitting configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) to a base station, the CG-UCI including COT sharing information, the COT sharing information at least indicating an index value corresponding to a combination of: An indication of an offset from the start of the COT to the start of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and An indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; Receiving a downlink transmission from the base station; Wherein the index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of COT sharing combinations, and at least one row of the configuration table of COT sharing combinations indicates that COT sharing is unavailable.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, Receiving the downlink transmission from the base station within the downlink transmission opportunity includes: within the downlink transmission opportunity, receiving the downlink transmission from the base station according to the COT sharing information in the transmitted GC UCI.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein The indication of the duration at least indicates the number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The indication of the offset at least indicates the number of time slots of the COT from the reception of the CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, Receiving the downlink transmission includes receiving the downlink transmission in at least one Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein Transmitting the CG-UCI to the base station includes transmitting a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) including the CG-UCI.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The index value corresponds to a row of the configuration table of the COT sharing combination, the row corresponding to the combination, and the bit width of the COT sharing information in the CG-UCI is bits, where C is the number of combinations configured in the table.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein Further comprising transmitting at least one subsequent CG-UCI to the base station during the COT after transmitting the CG-UCI to the base station and before the start of the downlink transmission opportunity, wherein each subsequent CG-UCI of the at least one subsequent CG-UCI includes COT sharing information, the COT sharing information at least indicating the downlink transmission opportunity.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, Transmitting the CG-UCI to the base station includes transmitting the CG-UCI to the base station in an uplink burst, and the switching gap between the uplink burst and the downlink transmission is: 16 μs or 25 μs if the downlink Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) procedure after the uplink burst and before the downlink transmission is a Category 2 (CAT2) downlink LBT procedure; And At most 16 μs if the downlink LBT procedure is a Category 1 (CAT1) downlink LBT procedure that does not perform LBT in the switching gap.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The index value indicated by the COT sharing information at least corresponds to a combination of: the indication of the offset from the start of the COT to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity; the indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and the indication of the Channel Access Priority Class (CAPC) value of the channel used by the UE to initiate the COT.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the method being performed by a User Equipment (UE).

12. A communication device, comprising: At least one processor; and at least one processor-readable storage device including processor-executable instructions stored thereon, the processor-executable instructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to at least: During a channel occupancy time (COT) initiated by the communication device in a shared spectrum, transmit configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) to a base station, the CG-UCI including COT sharing information, the COT sharing information at least indicating an index value corresponding to a combination of: An indication of an offset from the start of the COT to the start of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and An indication of a duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; Receive a downlink transmission from the base station; wherein the index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of COT sharing combinations, and at least one row of the configuration table of COT sharing combinations indicates that COT sharing is not available.

13. The communication device according to claim 12, wherein, Receiving the downlink transmission from the base station within the downlink transmission opportunity includes: within the downlink transmission opportunity, receiving the downlink transmission from the base station according to the COT sharing information in the transmitted GC UCI.

14. The communication device according to claim 12, wherein, The indication of the duration at least indicates a number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

15. The communication device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein, The indication of the offset at least indicates a number of time slots of the COT from the reception of the CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

16. The communication device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein, The processor-executable instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to receive the downlink transmission include processor-executable instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to receive the downlink transmission in at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

17. The communication device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein, The processor-executable instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to transmit CG-UCI to the base station include processor-executable instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to transmit a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) including the CG-UCI.

18. The communication device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein, The index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table for COT sharing combinations, the row corresponding to the combination, and the bit width of the COT sharing information in the CG-UCI is bits, where C is the number of combinations configured in the table.

19. The communication device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein, The processor-executable instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the at least one processor to transmit at least one subsequent CG-UCI to the base station during the COT at least after transmitting the CG-UCI to the base station and before the start of the downlink transmission opportunity, wherein each subsequent CG-UCI of the at least one subsequent CG-UCI includes COT sharing information that at least indicates the downlink transmission opportunity.

20. The communication device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein The processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to transmit the CG-UCI to the base station include processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to transmit the CG-UCI to the base station in an uplink burst such that the handover gap between the uplink burst and the downlink transmission is: 16 μs or 25 μs if the downlink Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) procedure after the uplink burst and before the downlink transmission is a Category 2 (CAT2) downlink LBT procedure; and at most 16 μs if the downlink LBT procedure is a Category 1 (CAT1) downlink LBT procedure that does not perform LBT during the handover gap.

21. The communication device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein, The index value indicated by the COT sharing information corresponds at least to a combination of an indication of the offset to the start of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; an indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and an indication of the Channel Access Priority Class (CAPC) value of the communication device for initiating the COT.

22. The communication device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein, The communication device is a User Equipment (UE).

23. A method for configuring authorized transmission, the method comprising: During a Channel Occupancy Time (COT) initiated by a User Equipment (UE) in a shared spectrum, receiving, from the UE, configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI), the CG-UCI including COT sharing information that indicates at least an index value corresponding to a combination of: An indication of the offset to the start of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and An indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; Transmitting a downlink transmission to the UE according to the COT sharing information in the transmitted CG-UCI; Wherein the index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of COT sharing combinations, and at least one row of the configuration table of COT sharing combinations indicates that COT sharing is unavailable.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein, The indication of the duration indicates at least the number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein, The indication of the offset indicates at least the number of time slots of the COT from the detection of the CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

26. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 25, wherein Transmitting the downlink transmission includes transmitting the downlink transmission in at least one Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

27. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 25, wherein Receiving the CG-UCI includes receiving a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) including the CG-UCI.

28. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 25, wherein The index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of the COT sharing combination, the row corresponding to the combination, and the bit width of the COT sharing information in the CG-UCI is bits, where C is the number of combinations configured in the table.

29. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 25, wherein Further comprising: After receiving the CG-UCI and before the start of the downlink transmission opportunity, receiving, during the COT, at least one subsequent CG-UCI from the UE, wherein each subsequent CG-UCI of the at least one subsequent CG-UCI includes COT sharing information that indicates at least the downlink transmission opportunity.

30. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 25, wherein Receiving the CG-UCI includes receiving the CG-UCI in an uplink burst, and the handover gap between the uplink burst and the downlink transmission is as follows: If the downlink listen-before-talk LBT procedure after the uplink burst and before the downlink transmission is a Category 2 (CAT2) downlink LBT procedure, it is 16 μs or 25 μs; And If the downlink LBT procedure is a Category 1 (CAT1) downlink LBT procedure that does not perform LBT during the handover gap, it is at most 16 μs.

31. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 25, wherein The index value indicated by the COT sharing information corresponds at least to the combination of the indication of the offset to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; the indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and the indication of the channel access priority class (CAPC) value used by the UE to initiate the COT.

32. A base station apparatus, comprising: At least one processor; And At least one processor-readable storage device including processor-executable instructions stored thereon, the processor-executable instructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to at least: During a channel occupancy time (COT) initiated by a user equipment (UE) in a shared spectrum, receive from the UE configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI), the CG-UCI including COT sharing information, the COT sharing information at least indicating an index value corresponding to a combination of: The indication of the offset to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and The indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; Transmit a downlink transmission to the UE according to the COT sharing information in the transmitted CG-UCI; Wherein, the index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of COT sharing combinations, and at least one row of the configuration table of COT sharing combinations indicates that COT sharing is unavailable.

33. The base station apparatus according to claim 32, wherein, The indication of the duration at least indicates the number of time slots of the downlink transmission opportunity.

34. The base station device according to claim 32, wherein, The indication of the offset at least indicates the number of time slots of the COT from the transmission of the CG-UCI to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity.

35. The base station apparatus according to any one of claims 32 to 34, wherein, The processor-executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to transmit the downlink transmission when executed by the at least one processor include processor-executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to transmit the downlink transmission in at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

36. The base station apparatus according to any one of claims 32 to 34, wherein, The processor-executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to receive the CG-UCI when executed by the at least one processor include processor-executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to receive a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) including the CG-UCI.

37. The base station apparatus according to any one of claims 32 to 34, wherein, The index value corresponds to a row of a configuration table of the COT sharing combination, the row corresponding to the combination, and the bit width of the COT sharing information in the CG-UCI is bits, where C is the number of combinations configured in the table.

38. The base station apparatus according to any one of claims 32 to 34, wherein, The processor-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to receive at least one subsequent CG-UCI from the UE during the COT, at least after receiving the CG-UCI and before the start of the downlink transmission opportunity, wherein each subsequent CG-UCI of the at least one subsequent CG-UCI includes COT sharing information that at least indicates the downlink transmission opportunity.

39. The base station apparatus according to any one of claims 32 to 34, wherein, The processor-executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to receive the CG-UCI when executed by the at least one processor include processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to receive the CG-UCI in an uplink burst, such that the handover gap between the uplink burst and the downlink transmission is: 16 μs or 25 μs if the downlink contention before transmission (LBT) procedure after the uplink burst and before the downlink transmission is a Category 2 (CAT2) downlink LBT procedure; and at most 16 μs if the downlink LBT procedure is a Category 1 (CAT1) downlink LBT procedure that does not perform LBT in the handover gap.

40. The base station apparatus according to any one of claims 32 to 34, wherein, The index value indicated by the COT sharing information corresponds at least to a combination of an indication of the offset from the start of the COT to the start of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; an indication of the duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and an indication of the channel access priority class (CAPC) value used by the UE to initiate the COT.

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