Wireless device, base station, and method for communication

Abstract

The specific embodiments disclosed herein provide apparatus, systems, and methods for enhancing downlink control information (DCI) for New Radio (NR) wireless devices with reduced complexity. The wireless device includes one or more processors configured to transmit the type of the wireless device to a base station communicatively coupled to the wireless device. The DCI is received from the base station in a format. The DCI includes multiple bit strings indicating the scheduling of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). The format specifies a corresponding number of bits for each bit string. The base station defines the format based on the type of the wireless device. The DCI is received from the base station using a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). The multiple bit strings are extracted from the DCI based on its format.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This specification relates generally to wireless devices, and more specifically to apparatus, systems, and methods for enhancing downlink control information (DCI) for New Radio (NR) User Equipment (UE) devices with reduced complexity. Background Technology

[0002] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. Furthermore, wireless communication technology has evolved from voice communication alone to include the transmission of data such as the internet and multimedia content. The use of New Radio (NR) User Equipment (UE) devices, which reduce complexity, presents challenges to wireless communication systems because traditional methods for formatting parameters and settings are insufficient for UEs requiring reduced complexity. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The disclosed embodiments provide apparatus, systems, and methods for enhancing downlink control information (DCI) for New Radio (NR) User Equipment (UE) devices or radio devices with reduced complexity. The radio device includes one or more processors configured to transmit the type of the radio device to a base station communicatively coupled to the radio device. The format of the DCI is received from the base station. The DCI includes multiple bit strings indicating the scheduling of the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). The format specifies the corresponding number of bits for each bit string. The base station defines the format based on the type of radio device. The DCI is received from the base station using the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). Multiple bit strings are extracted from the DCI based on its format. The scheduling of the PDSCH or PUSCH is determined from the multiple bit strings.

[0004] In some specific implementations, the wireless device can be an industrial sensor device with a communication latency of less than 150 milliseconds (ms) and a communication bit rate of less than 3 megabits per second (Mbps). The wireless device can also be a video surveillance device with a communication latency of less than 750 ms and a communication bit rate in the range of 1.5 Mbps to 30 Mbps. Finally, the wireless device can be a wearable device with a communication bit rate in the range of 4 Mbps to 200 Mbps.

[0005] In some implementations, multiple bit strings include a specific bit string with a specific number of bits. The specific bit string indicates the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) specified by the base station. The specific number of bits is based on radio resource control (RRC) signaling performed by the radio equipment.

[0006] In some implementations, multiple bit strings comprise a specific bit string with a specific number of bits. This specific bit string indicates the number of Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) processes specified by the base station. The communication latency of the wireless device is an increasing function of this specific bit string.

[0007] In some specific implementations, multiple bit strings include a specific bit string with a specific number of bits, which indicates the number of repetitions of the PDSCH or PUSCH specified by the base station, wherein the communication delay of the wireless device is an increasing function of the specific number of bits.

[0008] In some specific implementations, the DCI format includes cyclic redundancy check (CRC) encoded using a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) assigned by the base station.

[0009] In some implementations, multiple bit strings include specific bit strings indicating the number of repetitions of the DCI specified by the base station. The rate of extracting multiple bit strings from the DCI increases with the number of DCI repetitions.

[0010] In some implementations, multiple bit strings include specific bit strings that indicate the frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) specified by the base station. Attached Figure Description

[0011] Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication system is shown.

[0012] Figure 2 A base station (BS) is shown communicating with user equipment (UE) devices.

[0013] Figure 3 An exemplary simplified block diagram of a wireless device is shown.

[0014] Figure 4 An exemplary block diagram of a BS is shown.

[0015] Figure 5 An exemplary block diagram of a cellular communication circuit is shown.

[0016] Figure 6 Enhancements to downlink control information (DCI) for NR devices with reduced complexity are shown.

[0017] Figure 7 Enhancements to DCI for NR devices with reduced complexity are shown.

[0018] Figure 8 Enhancements to DCI for NR devices with reduced complexity are shown.

[0019] Figure 9 Enhancements to DCI for NR devices with reduced complexity are shown.

[0020] Figure 10 The operation process using the enhanced DCI designed for reduced complexity NR devices is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0021] The disclosed embodiments provide apparatus, systems, and methods for enhancing downlink control information (DCI) in New Radio (NR) User Equipment (UE) devices with reduced complexity. Compared to enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) devices, the embodiments reduce the cost and complexity of NR devices. Therefore, the embodiments enable NR device designs with a more compact form factor, which can also support frequency range 1 (FR1) and frequency range 2 (FR2) bands for frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) operations. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) detection performance of the reduced-complexity NR devices is enhanced, and the bit length of the DCI format is reduced, resulting in further performance improvements.

[0022] The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure.

[0023] Memory media—any of various types of nontransitory memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory media" is intended to include mounting media, such as CD-ROMs, floppy disks, or magnetic tape devices; computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; non-volatile memory such as flash memory, magnetic media, such as hard disk drives or optical storage devices; registers or other similar types of memory elements, etc. Memory media may also include other types of nontransitory memory or combinations thereof. Furthermore, memory media may reside in a first computer system executing a program, or may reside in a different second computer system connected to the first computer system via a network such as the Internet. In the latter case, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer for execution. The term "memory media" may include two or more memory media that may reside in different locations on different computer systems connected via a network, for example. Memory media may store program instructions (e.g., implemented as a computer program) that can be executed by one or more processors.

[0024] Carrier media—memory media as described above, and physical transmission media such as buses, networks, and / or other physical transmission media that transmit signals such as electrical signals, electromagnetic signals, or digital signals.

[0025] Programmable hardware elements—including a variety of hardware devices comprising multiple programmable functional blocks connected via programmable interconnects. Examples include Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field-Programmable Object Arrays (FPOAs), and Complex PLDs (CPLDs). Programmable functional blocks can vary from fine-grained (combinational logic units or lookup tables) to coarse-grained (arithmetic logic units or processor cores). Programmable hardware elements may also be referred to as “configurable logic units.”

[0026] Computer system—any of all types of computing or processing systems, including personal computer systems (PCs), mainframe computer systems, workstations, network devices, internet devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), television systems, grid computing systems, or other devices or combinations thereof. In general, the term "computer system" can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combination of devices) having at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

[0027] User equipment (UE) (or “UE device”) — any of various types of computer system devices that are mobile or portable and perform wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smartphones (e.g., iPhone). TM Based on Android TM Telephones), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS) TM PlayStation Portable TM Gameboy Advance TM iPhone TM Laptops, wearable devices (e.g., smartwatches, smart glasses), PDAs, portable internet devices, music players, data storage devices, or other handheld devices, etc. Generally, the term "UE" or "UE device" can be broadly defined as any electronic, computing, and / or communication device (or combination of devices) that is easily transportable by the user and capable of wireless communication.

[0028] Base station—The term “base station” has the full range of its common meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station that is installed in a fixed location and is used for communication as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.

[0029] Processing element—a term that refers to various elements or combinations of elements capable of performing the functions of a device such as user equipment or cellular network equipment. Processing elements may include, for example: processors and associated memory, portions or circuitry of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, processor arrays, circuitry such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable hardware elements such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and any combination thereof.

[0030] A channel is a medium used to transmit information from a transmitter to a receiver. It should be noted that because the characteristics of the term "channel" can vary depending on different wireless protocols, the term "channel" as used herein can be considered to be used in a standard manner consistent with the type of device to which the term is referenced. In some standards, the channel width can be variable (e.g., depending on device capabilities, frequency band conditions, etc.). For example, LTE can support scalable channel bandwidths from 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, WLAN channels can be 22 MHz wide, while Bluetooth channels can be 1 MHz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions of channels. Furthermore, some standards may define and use multiple types of channels, such as different channels for uplink or downlink and / or different channels for different purposes such as data, control information, etc.

[0031] Frequency band—The term “frequency band” has the full range of its general meaning and includes at least a segment of spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum) in which a channel is used or reserved for the same purpose.

[0032] Automatic—means an action or operation performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g., circuits, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.) without requiring direct user input to specify or perform that action or operation. Therefore, the term "automatic" contrasts with an action performed or specified manually by a user, where the user provides input to directly perform that action. An automatic process can be initiated by user-provided input, but the subsequent actions performed "automatically" are not specified by the user; that is, they are not performed "manually," where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user filling out a form by selecting each field and providing input to specify information (e.g., by typing information, selecting a checkbox, radio selection, etc.) is considered manually filling out the form, even though the computer system must update the form in response to the user's actions. The form can be automatically filled out by a computer system (e.g., software executed on the computer system) which analyzes the fields of the form and fills it out without any user input specifying answers for the fields. As indicated above, the user can invoke the automatic filling of the form but does not participate in the actual filling of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify answers for the fields, but they are completed automatically). This manual provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions taken by the user.

[0033] Approximately—means a value close to the correct or precise value. For example, approximately can refer to a value within 1% to 10% of the precise (or expected) value. However, it should be noted that the actual threshold (or tolerance) can vary depending on the application. For instance, in some implementations, “approximately” may mean within 0.1% of some specified or expected value, while in various other implementations, the threshold may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, etc., depending on the expectations or requirements of the specific application.

[0034] Concurrency refers to the parallel execution or implementation of tasks, processes, or programs in a manner that at least partially overlaps. For example, concurrency can be achieved using “strong” or strict parallelism, where tasks are executed in parallel (at least partially) on corresponding computing elements; or using “weak parallelism,” where tasks are executed in an interleaved manner (e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads).

[0035] Various components can be described as being "configured" to perform one or more tasks. In such contexts, "configured" is a broad expression generally meaning "having" a "structure" that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when it is not currently performing one (e.g., a set of electrical conductors can be configured to electrically connect one module to another, even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, "configured" can also be a broad expression generally meaning a structure that "has" a "circuit" that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when it is not currently switched on. Typically, the circuit forming the structure corresponding to "configured" can include hardware circuitry.

[0036] For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to". Statements describing a component as configured to perform one or more tasks are explicitly intended not to invoke the interpretation of 35 U.S.SC §112(f) for that component.

[0037] Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication system is shown. Note that... Figure 1 The system described herein is merely one example of a possible system, and the features of this disclosure can be implemented in any of a variety of systems as needed.

[0038] As shown in the figure, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a base station 102A, which communicates with one or more wireless devices 106A, 106B to 106N, etc., via a transmission medium. Each of the wireless devices may be referred to herein as a "communication device" or a "user equipment" (UE). Therefore, user equipment 106 is sometimes referred to as a UE or UE device.

[0039] Base station (BS) 102A may be a transceiver base station (BTS) or a cell site (“cellular base station”) and may include hardware for implementing wireless communication with UE 106A to UE 106N.

[0040] The communication area (or coverage area) of a base station may be referred to as a "cell". Base station 102A and UE 106 can be configured to communicate via a transmission medium using any of a variety of Radio Access Technologies (RATs), also known as wireless communication technologies or telecommunications standards, such as GSM, UMTS (associated with air interfaces such as WCDMA or TD-SCDMA), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), 5G New Radio (5G NR), HSPA, 3GPP2CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc. Note that if base station 102A is implemented in an LTE environment, its alternative location may be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "ceNB". Note that if base station 102A is implemented in a 5G NR environment, its alternative location may be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB".

[0041] As shown in the figure, base station 102A can also be configured to communicate with network 100 (e.g., in various possibilities, the core network of a cellular service provider, telecommunications networks such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and / or the Internet). Therefore, base station 102A can facilitate communication between user equipments and / or between user equipments and network 100. Specifically, cellular base station 102A can provide UE 106 with various communication capabilities, such as voice, SMS, and / or data services.

[0042] Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base station 102B...102N) operating under the same or different cellular communication standards can thus provide a network as a cell that can provide continuous or near-continuous overlapping services over a geographical area to UE 106A to UE 106N and similar devices via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0043] Therefore, although base station 102A can act as such Figure 1 The diagram shows the "serving cells" of UEs 106A to UE 106N, but each UE 106 may also be able to receive signals (and possibly within its communication range) from one or more other cells (which may be provided by base stations 102B-N and / or any other base stations), which may be referred to as "neighboring cells". Such cells may also facilitate communication between user equipments and / or between user equipments and network 100. These cells may include "macro" cells, "micro" cells, "pecimen" cells, and / or cells providing service area sizes of any other granularity. For example, in Figure 1 Base stations 102A to 102B shown can be macro cells, while base station 102N can be a micro cell. Other configurations are also possible.

[0044] In some implementations, base station 102A can be a next-generation base station, such as a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station or a "gNB". In some implementations, the gNB can be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or connected to an NR core (NRC) network. Furthermore, a gNB cell can include one or more transition and receive points (TRPs). Additionally, a UE capable of operating under 5G NR can be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0045] It should be noted that UE 106 may be able to communicate using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, in addition to at least one cellular communication protocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD, etc.), UE 106 may be configured to communicate using wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi) and / or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocols (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.). If desired, UE 106 may also be configured, or alternatively, to communicate using one or more Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS, such as GPS or GLONASS), one or more mobile television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H or DVB-H), and / or any other wireless communication protocol. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

[0046] Figure 2 A base station (BS) communicating with a user equipment (UE) is illustrated. For example, according to some specific embodiments, UE 106 (e.g., one of devices 106A to 106N) communicates with base station 102. UE 106 can be a device with cellular communication capabilities, such as a mobile phone, handheld device, computer, or tablet computer, or virtually any type of wireless device.

[0047] UE 106 may include a processor configured to execute program instructions stored in memory. UE 106 may perform any of the embodiments of the methods described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or otherwise, UE 106 may include programmable hardware elements, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) configured to perform any of the embodiments of the methods described herein or any portion thereof.

[0048] UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In some specific implementations, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, for example, CDMA2000 (1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD) or LTE using a single shared radio component and / or GSM or LTE using a single shared radio component. The shared radio component may be coupled to a single antenna or to multiple antennas (e.g., for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)) for performing wireless communication. Typically, the radio component may include any combination of baseband processor, analog RF signal processing circuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.) or digital processing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation and other digital processing). Similarly, the radio component may use the aforementioned hardware to implement one or more receive chains and transmit chains. For example, UE 106 may share one or more portions of the receive chain and / or transmit chain among multiple wireless communication technologies (such as those discussed above).

[0049] In some implementations, UE 106 may include separate transmit and / or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol configured to communicate with it. As another possibility, UE 106 may include one or more radio components shared among multiple wireless communication protocols, as well as one or more radio components used exclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, UE 106 may include shared radio components for communication using either LTE or 5G NR (or LTE or 1xRTT, or LTE or GSM), and separate radio components for communication using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible.

[0050] Figure 3 An exemplary simplified block diagram of wireless device 106 is shown. It should be noted that... Figure 3 The block diagram of wireless device 106 is merely one example of possible wireless devices. Depending on the specific implementation, wireless device 106 may be, among other devices, a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet computer, and / or a combination of devices. As shown, wireless device 106 may include a set of components 300 configured to perform core functions. For example, this set of components may be implemented as a system-on-a-chip (SOC), which may include portions for various purposes. Alternatively, this set of components 300 may be implemented as individual components or groups of components for various purposes. This set of components 300 may be (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to various other circuitry of wireless device 106.

[0051] For example, wireless device 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 310), input / output interfaces such as connector I / F 320 (e.g., for connection to a computer system; docking station; charging station; input devices such as microphone, camera, keyboard; output devices such as speaker; etc.), a display 360 that may be integrated with or external to wireless device 106, and cellular communication circuitry 330 such as for 5G NR, LTE, GSM, etc., and short- to medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 (e.g., Bluetooth). TM (and WLAN circuitry). In some specific implementations, wireless device 106 may include wired communication circuitry (not shown), such as, for example, a network interface card for Ethernet.

[0052] Cellular communication circuitry 330 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively grounded; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 335 and 336 shown. Short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 may also be coupled (e.g., communicatively grounded; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 337 and 338 shown. Alternatively, short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively grounded; directly or indirectly) to antennas 337 and 338, or as an alternative, to antennas 335 and 336. Short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 and / or cellular communication circuitry 330 may include multiple receive chains and / or multiple transmit chains for receiving and / or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configuration.

[0053] In some embodiments, as further described below, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include dedicated receive chains for multiple RATs (including and / or coupled to (e.g., communication ground; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and / or radio components) (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G-NR). Furthermore, in some embodiments, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include a single transmit chain that can be switched between radio components dedicated to a particular RAT. For example, a first radio component may be dedicated to a first RAT, such as LTE, and can communicate with a dedicated receive chain and a transmit chain shared with additional radio components, such as a second radio component that may be dedicated to a second RAT (e.g., 5G NR) and can communicate with a dedicated receive chain and a shared transmit chain.

[0054] The wireless device 106 may also include one or more user interface elements and / or be configured to be used with one or more user interface elements. User interface elements may include any of a variety of components such as a display 360 (which may be a touchscreen display), a keyboard (which may be a separate keyboard or may be implemented as part of the touchscreen display), a mouse, a microphone and / or a speaker, one or more cameras, one or more buttons, and / or any of a variety of other components capable of providing information to the user and / or receiving or interpreting user input.

[0055] The wireless device 106 may further include one or more smart cards 345, which include a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) function, such as one or more Universal Integrated Circuit Cards (UICC) 345.

[0056] As shown in the figure, the SOC 300 may include a processor 302 and a display circuit 304. The processor executes program instructions for the wireless device 106, and the display circuit performs graphics processing and provides display signals to the display 360. The processor 302 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340 (which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 302 and translate those addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read-only memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory 310)) and / or coupled to other circuitry or devices (such as the display circuit 304, short-range wireless communication circuitry 229, cellular communication circuitry 330, connector I / F 320, and / or display 360). The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some implementations, the MMU 340 may be included as part of the processor 302.

[0057] As described above, wireless device 106 can be configured to communicate using wireless and / or wired communication circuitry. Wireless device 106 can be configured to transmit a request to attach to a first network node operating under a first radio access technology (RAT), and to transmit an indication that wireless device 106 is capable of maintaining substantially concurrent connections with the first network node and a second network node operating under a second RAT. Wireless device 106 can also be configured to transmit a request to attach to a second network node. This request may include an indication that wireless device 106 is capable of maintaining substantially concurrent connections with both the first and second network nodes. Furthermore, wireless device 106 can be configured to receive an indication that dual connections with both the first and second network nodes have been established.

[0058] As described herein, wireless device 106 may include hardware and software components for implementing the aforementioned features of UL data for time-division multiplexing NSA NR operation. The processor 302 of wireless device 106 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium). Alternatively (or otherwise), processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Alternatively (or otherwise), in conjunction with one or more of other components 300, 304, 306, 310, 320, 329, 330, 340, 345, 350, 360, the processor 302 of wireless device 106 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein.

[0059] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 302 may include one or more processing elements. Therefore, processor 302 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 302. Additionally, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 302.

[0060] Furthermore, as described herein, both the cellular communication circuit 330 and the short-range wireless communication circuit 329 may include one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in the cellular communication circuit 330, and similarly, one or more processing elements may be included in the short-range wireless communication circuit 329. Therefore, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the cellular communication circuit 330. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the cellular communication circuit 330. Similarly, the short-range wireless communication circuit 329 may include one or more ICs configured to perform the functions of the short-range wireless communication circuit 329. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the short-range wireless communication circuit 329.

[0061] Figure 4 An exemplary block diagram of base station 102 is shown. It should be noted that... Figure 4 The base station shown is merely one example of a possible base station. As illustrated, base station 102 may include a processor 404 capable of executing program instructions specific to base station 102. Processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440 or other circuitry or device, which may be configured to receive addresses from processor 404 and translate those addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450).

[0062] Base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Network port 470 may be configured to be coupled to a telephone network and provide access to the telephone network for multiple devices (such as UE device 106), as described above. Figure 1 and Figure 2 As described in [the text].

[0063] Network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also be configured, or alternatively configured, to be coupled to a cellular network, such as the core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to multiple devices, such as UE device 106. In some cases, network port 470 may be coupled to a telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide the telephone network (e.g., in other UE devices served by the cellular service provider).

[0064] In some implementations, base station 102 may be a next-generation base station, such as a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station or a “gNB”. In such implementations, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to an NR core (NRC) network. Furthermore, base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and may include one or more transition and receive points (TRPs). Additionally, UEs capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0065] Base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434 and possibly multiple antennas. The at least one antenna 434 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with UE device 106 via radio component 430. Antenna 434 communicates with radio component 430 via communication link 432. Communication link 432 may be a receive link, a transmit link, or both. Radio component 430 may be configured to communicate via various wireless communication standards, including but not limited to 5G NR, LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

[0066] Base station 102 can be configured to perform wireless communication using multiple wireless communication standards. In some cases, base station 102 may include multiple radio components that enable base station 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, as one possibility, base station 102 may include LTE radio components for performing communication according to LTE and 5G NR radio components for performing communication according to 5G NR. In this case, base station 102 may be able to operate as both an LTE base station and a 5G NR base station. As another possibility, base station 102 may include multimode radio components capable of performing communication according to any of multiple wireless communication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

[0067] As further described herein, BS102 may include hardware and software components for implementing or supporting specific implementations of the features described herein. The processor 404 of base station 102 may be configured to implement or support some or all of the methods described herein, for example by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium). Alternatively, processor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element (such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)), or as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a combination thereof. Alternatively (or in addition), in conjunction with one or more of other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 450, 460, 470, the processor 404 of base station 102 may be configured to implement or support some or all of the features described herein.

[0068] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 404 may comprise one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in processor 404. Therefore, processor 404 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 404. Additionally, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 404.

[0069] Additionally, as described herein, the radio component 430 may comprise one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in the radio component 430. Therefore, the radio component 430 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the radio component 430. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the radio component 430.

[0070] Figure 5 An exemplary block diagram of a cellular communication circuit is shown. Note that... Figure 5 The block diagram of the cellular communication circuit is merely one example of a possible cellular communication circuit. Depending on the specific implementation, the cellular communication circuit 330 may be included in a wireless device (such as the wireless device 106 described above). As mentioned above, among other devices, the wireless device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet computer, and / or a combination of these devices.

[0071] Cellular communication circuit 330 may (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) be coupled to one or more antennas, such as Figure 3 Antennas 335a, 335b, and 336 are shown. In some specific embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may include dedicated receive chains for multiple RATs (including and / or coupled to (e.g., communication ground; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and / or radio components) (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G-NR). For example, as... Figure 5 As shown, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include a modem 510 and a modem 520. The modem 510 may be configured for communication according to a first RAT (e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A), and the modem 520 may be configured for communication according to a second RAT (e.g., such as 5G NR).

[0072] As shown, modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 and memory 516 communicating with processors 512. Modem 510 may communicate with radio frequency (RF) front end 530. RF front end 530 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RF front end 530 may include receiver circuitry (RX) 532 and transmitter circuitry (TX) 534. In some embodiments, receiver circuitry 532 may communicate with downlink (DL) front end 550, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335a.

[0073] Similarly, modem 520 may include one or more processors 522 and memory 526 communicating with processor 522. Modem 520 may communicate with RF front end 540. RF front end 540 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RF front end 540 may include receiving circuitry 542 and transmitting circuitry 544. In some embodiments, receiving circuitry 542 may communicate with DL front end 560, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335b.

[0074] In some implementations, the switching device 570 may couple the transmitting circuit 534 to the uplink (UL) front-end 572. Furthermore, the switching device 570 may couple the transmitting circuit 544 to the UL front-end 572. The UL front-end 572 may include circuitry for transmitting radio signals via antenna 336. Therefore, when the cellular communication circuit 330 receives an instruction to transmit according to a first RAT (e.g., supported by modem 510), the switching device 570 may be switched to a first state allowing modem 510 to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmission chain including transmitting circuit 534 and UL front-end 572). Similarly, when the cellular communication circuit 330 receives an instruction to transmit according to a second RAT (e.g., supported by modem 520), the switching device 570 may be switched to a second state allowing modem 520 to transmit signals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmission chain including transmitting circuit 544 and UL front-end 572).

[0075] In some implementations, the cellular circuit 330 may be configured to establish a first radio link with a first cell according to a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the first cell operates in a first system bandwidth, and to establish a second radio link with a second cell according to a second radio access technology (RAT), wherein the second cell operates in a second system bandwidth. Furthermore, the cellular circuit 330 may be configured to determine whether the cellular circuit 330 system has uplink activity scheduled according to both the first RAT and the second RAT, and if uplink activity is scheduled according to both the first RAT and the second RAT, then perform the uplink activity of both the first RAT and the second RAT by time-division multiplexing (TDM) the uplink data of the first RAT and the uplink data of the second RAT. In some implementations, to perform uplink activity for both the first and second RATs by time-division multiplexing (TDM) uplink data of the first RAT and uplink data of the second RAT when uplink activity is scheduled according to both the first RAT and the second RAT, the cellular communication circuit 330 may be configured to receive allocations for a first UL subframe for transmission according to the first RAT and allocations for a second UL subframe for transmission according to the second RAT. In some implementations, TDM of uplink data may be performed at the physical layer of the cellular communication circuit 330. In some implementations, the cellular communication circuit 330 may be further configured to receive allocations for a portion of each UL subframe for control signaling according to either the first RAT or the second RAT.

[0076] As described herein, modem 510 may include hardware and software components for implementing the features described above or for UL data used in time-division multiplexing NSA NR operation, as well as various other techniques described herein. Processor 512 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein, for example by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium). Alternatively (or otherwise), processor 512 may be configured as a programmable hardware element (such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)) or as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Alternatively (or otherwise), in conjunction with one or more of other components 530, 532, 534, 550, 570, 572, 335, and 336, processor 512 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein.

[0077] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 512 may include one or more processing elements. Therefore, processor 512 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 512. Additionally, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 512.

[0078] As described herein, modem 520 may include hardware and software components for implementing the aforementioned features of UL data for time-division multiplexing NSA NR operation, as well as various other techniques described herein. Processor 522 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein, for example by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium). Alternatively (or otherwise), processor 522 may be configured as a programmable hardware element (such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)) or as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Alternatively (or additionally), in conjunction with one or more of other components 540, 542, 544, 550, 570, 572, 335, and 336, processor 522 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein.

[0079] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 522 may include one or more processing elements. Therefore, processor 522 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 522. Additionally, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 522.

[0080] Figure 6 Enhancements to downlink control information (DCI) for NR radio devices with reduced complexity are shown. In some specific implementations, UE 106 (reference) Figure 1 and Figure 2(For more detailed illustration and description) is the reduced-complexity NR wireless device. Compared to high-end enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) devices and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) devices, this reduced-complexity NR wireless device typically offers lower cost and complexity. For example, wireless industrial sensor devices can be reduced-complexity NR wireless devices. In some specific implementations, the reduced-complexity UE 106 has a more compact form factor. UE 106 supports the Frequency Range 1 (FR1) and Frequency Range 2 (FR2) bands for Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD). FR1 includes the spectrum below 6 GHz, but has also been extended to cover the spectrum from 410 MHz to 7125 MHz. Frequency Range 2 (FR2) includes the band from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz.

[0081] In some specific implementations, the simplified UE 106 includes one or more processors 302, as referenced. Figure 3 A more detailed example and description follows. Processor 302 is configured to transmit the type of UE 106 to base station 102 communicatively coupled to UE 106. (Reference) Figure 1 and Figure 4 Base station 102 is illustrated and described in more detail. In some specific implementations, the type of UE 106 is represented by target reliability requirements, target communication latency requirements, target uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) communication bit rates, target reduction in design complexity, target shape factor, or target supported bandwidth. Reference Figure 5 UL and DL are illustrated and described in more detail. In some specific implementations, UE 106 is an industrial sensor device with an end-to-end communication latency of less than 100 milliseconds (ms) and a communication bit rate of less than 2 megabits per second (Mbps). For example, UE 106 could be an industrial wireless sensor with a communication service availability level of 99.99% and a reference bit rate of less than 2 Mbps (e.g., potentially asymmetric UL heavy communication traffic). UE 106 can be stationary and can have a battery that lasts for one year or more. If UE 106 is a safety-related sensor, the communication latency requirement can be 5 ms to 10 ms.

[0082] In some specific implementations, UE 106 is a video surveillance device with a communication latency of less than 500ms and a communication bit rate ranging from 2Mbps to 25Mbps. For example, UE 106 may have a reference economic video bit rate ranging from 2Mbps to 4Mbps, a communication latency of less than 500ms, and a reliability level of 99% to 99.9%. For example, high-end video surveillance equipment for farms may have a communication bit rate of 7.5Mbps to 25Mbps, where the traffic pattern is dominated by UL transmission. In some specific implementations, UE 106 is a wearable device with a communication bit rate ranging from 5Mbps to 150Mbps. For example, for smart wearable applications, UE 106 may have a reference bit rate of 10Mbps to 50Mbps for DL ​​and a minimum bit rate of 5Mbps for UL. The peak communication bit rate may be 150Mbps for DL ​​and 50Mbps for UL. The battery of such wearable devices can last from several days to one to two weeks. In some implementations, UE 106 features a reduced number of RX / TX antennas and reduced bandwidth compared to legacy devices. UE 106 can perform half-duplex FDD. Compared to legacy devices, UE 106 can have more flexible processing time and processing power. UE 106 is sometimes referred to as a "NR Light UE".

[0083] UE 106 receives the DCI format from base station 102. The DCI provides UE 106 with information such as physical layer resource allocation for UL or DL, power control commands, and Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) information. HARQ information is a combination of high-rate forward error correction coding and ARQ error control. The DCI includes multiple bit strings indicating the scheduling of the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). The format specifies the corresponding number of bits for each bit string, such as... Figure 6 As shown. Figure 6 The format shown is defined by base station 102 based on the type of UE 106. Because UE 106 is a reduced-complexity device with less processing power and resources, the DCI format is designed to avoid impacting the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) detection performance of UE 106. For example, due to small device form factor limitations, UE 106 may have only one receive antenna. As the complexity of UE 106 decreases, traditional DCI formats are not entirely reusable. For example, as... Figure 6 As shown, certain fields (bit strings) in the DCI are not suitable for devices that reduce complexity. Base station 102 can remove such bit strings to reduce the bit size of the DCI format, thereby improving PDCCH detection performance.

[0084] UE 106 receives DCI from base station 102 using PDCCH. UE 106 extracts multiple bit strings from the DCI based on its format. UE 106 determines the scheduling of PDSCH or PUSCH from these bit strings. Base station 102 uses the enhanced UL DCI format and DL DCI format for NR-based UE 106 with reduced complexity. UE 106 monitors the enhanced DCI format, sometimes referred to as DCI format 0_3 and DCI format 1_3. DCI format 1_3... Figure 6 As shown in the diagram, UE 106 monitors the traditional DCI formats 0_0 and 1_0, sometimes referred to as "fallback DCI".

[0085] exist Figure 6 In the enhanced uplink DCI format shown, the fields (bit strings) of URLLC DCI formats 0_2 and 1_2 can be used to define the enhanced DCI format by modifying the corresponding number of bits in some bit strings. This implementation is particularly advantageous for multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU MIMO) transmissions. Figure 6 In some of the specific implementations shown, the bit strings of the conventional DCI format 0_0 and 1_0 are used to define an enhanced DCI format by modifying the corresponding number of bits in some bit strings. In such implementations, improved PDCCH performance is achieved by reducing the number of bits. In other implementations, the corresponding number of bits in some bit strings can be configured by the base station 102 according to the type of UE 106 reported by UE 106.

[0086] exist Figure 6 In some specific implementations shown, multiple bit strings in the DCI include specific bit strings with a specific number of bits. The specific bit string indicates the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) specified by base station 102. The MCS is used in the physical layer of the 5G NR system. The specific number of bits is based on Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling executed by UE 106. For example, the MCS field can be reduced from 5 bits (in the conventional DCI format) to 4 bits in the enhanced DCI format. If the specific number of bits is 4, the DCI will support 16 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (16-QAM). QAM is the digital modulation method used by UE 106 and base station 102. Base station 102 configures the specific number of bits based on RRC signaling. For example, RRC signaling specifies the minimum MCS entry and the specific number of bits in the MCS bit string. Figure 6 As shown, the MCS bit string in the DCI indicates which MCS entry is applied.

[0087] exist Figure 6In some specific implementations shown, multiple bit strings in the DCI include a specific bit string with a specific number of bits. This specific bit string indicates the number of Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) processes specified by base station 102. HARQ refers to a combination of High-Rate Forward Error Correction Coding and ARQ Error Control. The communication latency of UE 106 is an increasing function of this specific number of bits. Therefore, as the specific number of bits decreases, the communication latency of UE 106 generally decreases. Figure 6 As shown, the specific number of bits in the special string representing the number of HARQ processes is configurable; for example, 2, 3, or 4 bits correspond to 4, 8, or 16 HARQ processes, respectively.

[0088] exist Figure 6 In some specific implementations shown, multiple bit strings in the DCI include specific bit strings indicating the number of repetitions of the PDSCH or PUSCH specified by base station 102. The communication latency of the wireless device is an increasing function of these specific bit strings because data retransmissions are reduced. The specific bit strings have a specific number of bits, for example, 0, 2, or 3 bits dynamically indicating the number of repetitions of the PDSCH or PUSCH. In some specific implementations, the number of repetitions of the PDSCH or PUSCH extends beyond conventional methods; for example, using 2 bits in the specific bit string to extend to 2, 4, 8, or 16 repetitions, and using 3 bits in the specific bit string to extend to 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, or 32 repetitions. When the specific bit string is 0, the RRC signaling is not configured for repetition.

[0089] refer to Figure 6The DCI format identifier indicates whether the DCI is for UL or DL. If the UL DCI and DL DCI have different payload sizes, the base station 102 can omit this specific bit string from the DCI. If the two DCI formats have the same size, a bit string named DCI Distinction distinguishes between the fallback DCI format 1_0 and the NR Lightweight DCI format 1_3. The bit string FDRA indicates the configuration scheduling granularity (1, 2, 4, or 8) for the NR Lightweight UE 106. This applies to both the start point and length indication for Resource Allocation Type 1. In Downlink Resource Allocation Type 1, resource block allocation information indicates to the scheduled UE 106 a set of consecutively allocated non-interleaved or interleaved virtual resource blocks within the active bandwidth portion. The Downlink Type 1 Resource Allocation field consists of a Resource Indication Value (RIV) corresponding to the starting virtual resource block and the length of the consecutively allocated resource blocks. The bit string TDRA reuses this field from the existing DCI format 1_1. For the NR Lightweight UE 106, latency requirements are not strictly enforced, and slot-level scheduling is used. A specific number of bits in the bit string “Virtual Resource Block (VRB) to Physical Resource Block (PRB) Mapping” can be 0 or 1. If the bit string has 0 bits, a non-interleaved VRB to PRB mapping is used, as in 3GPP Release 15. The bit string MCS has a reduced number of specific bits compared to traditional DCI. Some values ​​(such as 64-QAM) are generally not used in NR Lightweight. Therefore, the number of specific bits can be reduced. For the stationary UE 106, the number of specific bits is configurable.

[0090] continue Figure 6 For example, a bit string named New Data Indicator (NDI) is used as in 3GPP Release 15. Base station 102 can configure specific bits in a specific bit string named Redundancy Version (RV) to 0, 1, or 2 bits. If 0 bits are configured, RV0 is used. If 1 bit is configured, RV0 and RV3 are dynamically indicated. Specific bits in the bit string HARQ process number can be configured to 2, 3, or 4. A reduced number of HARQ processes can reduce the required buffering but does not significantly impact the processing time of UE 106. A bit string named Downlink Allocation Index (DAI) is transmitted to UE 106 via base station 102 to prevent ACK / NACK reporting errors. Two DAI bits can be applied as a counter DAI. Bit string transmit power control (TPC) for the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) is configured as in 3GPP Release 15. Bit string PUCCH resource indicator is configured as in 3GPP Release 15. The bit string PDSCH to HARQ feedback is configured as in DCI format 1_1, and is counted at the slot boundaries. The bit string PDSCH repetition count indicates the number of times the PDSCH is repeated, as described in more detail previously. The bit string DCI repetition count indicates the number of times the DCI is repeated and improves PDCCH decoding performance, as described in more detail previously.

[0091] Figure 7 Enhancements to DCI for the NR device UE 102 with reduced complexity are shown. Figure 7 The bit strings shown apply to non-backoff DCI, URLLC DCI, and NR lightweight DCI, i.e., DCI formats 1_1, 1_2, and 1_2. In some implementations, frequency domain resource allocation only supports limited bandwidths, such as 5MHz and 20MHz. The scheduling granularity indicated by the enhanced DCI can indicate 2, 4, or 8 Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs). In 5G NR, resource elements are grouped into PRBs. Each PRB includes 12 subcarriers. In some implementations, carrier aggregation is not supported, and only single transport block (TB) transmission is supported. In some implementations, the bit string representing the VRB-to-PRB mapping can be 0 or 1 bit long and can be configured by RRC signaling. If the DCI does not configure VRB-to-PRB mapping, distributed mapping is used. Figure 7 As shown, in some specific implementations, Cross-Bandwidth Part (BWP) scheduling is not supported. The BWP feature makes resource allocation in a given carrier more flexible. The bit string representing MIMO features (such as antenna port, SRS request, TCI, and DM-RS sequence initialization) can have 0 bits or the full range of values ​​provided by 3GPP Release 15 Non-Backoff DCI.

[0092] refer to Figure 7 The bit string carrier indicator is not used in NR lightweight UE 106. Due to more limited bandwidth, the bit string BWP indicator supports one BP. In some specific implementations, dynamic changes to the BWP are not supported. The bit string PRB bundle size indicator can have 0 or 1 bit. The bit string rate matching indicator can have 0, 1, or 2 bits. The bit string ZP CSI-RS trigger refers to the type of reference signal to be used. The bit string can have 0, 1, or 2 bits. The bit string antenna port is a new RRC configuration parameter introduced to reduce device complexity. The bit string transmission configuration indicator can have 0, 1, 2, or 3 bits. The bit string probe reference signal (SRS) request can have 0, 1, 2, or 3 bits. The SRS is a reference signal used by base station 102 to determine the channel quality of the uplink path for each sub-segment of the frequency region. The bit string demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence can have 0 or 1 bit. PUSCH DMRS refers to the shared channel DMRS of uplink users and is transmitted in each resource block allocated to the user. Figure 7 As shown, the remaining DCI fields are not used for NR light UE 106.

[0093] Figure 8Enhancements to the uplink DCI for NR devices with reduced complexity are illustrated. In some specific implementations, the multiple bit strings of the DCI include specific bit strings with a specific number of bits. The specific bit string indicates the number of repetitions of the DCI specified by base station 102. The rate of extracting multiple bit strings from the DCI increases with the number of repetitions. Figure 8 As shown, the bit string named DCI repetition count can have 0 or 2 bits. This bit string allows UE 106 to improve DCI decoding performance. When a specific bit is 0, DCI repetition is not configured by RRC signaling.

[0094] In such Figure 8 In some specific implementations shown, the size of the NR lightweight DCI format is the same as that of the fallback DCI formats 0_0 and 1_0. The bit string fields of DCI formats 0_0 and 1_0 are used to generate an enhanced DCI format with configurable bit length for UE 106. If the enhanced DCI format size is smaller than the fallback DCI size, additional fields can be introduced into the enhanced DCI. The selection of the additional bit string is configured by RRC signaling. For example, the additional bit string could be an SRS request in the UL DCI or a VRB-to-PRB mapping. In other words... Figure 8 In some implementations shown, a single bit is used to distinguish between fallback DCI and enhanced DCI. The distinguishing bit can be applied to fallback DCI in both the common search space (CSS) and the UE-specific search space (USS). In some implementations, the distinguishing bit is applied to fallback DCI only in the USS. To align the size of fallback DCI in the CSS and USS, the distinguishing bit can be borrowed from another string field. For example, 2, 4, or 8 PRBs can be used to configure the scheduling granularity. Therefore, at least one bit is not used by the TDRA bit string or a bit can be reserved from the MCS bit string field.

[0095] refer to Figure 8The bit string “DCI Distinction” distinguishes between fallback DCI and NR Light DCI, specifically distinguishing between format 0_0 and format 0_3. In some implementations, multiple bit strings include specific bit strings indicating the Frequency Domain Resource Allocation (FDRA) specified by the base station. The bit string FDRA is used to configure the scheduling granularity applicable to both the start point and length indicated for resource allocation type 1, as in DCI format 0_2. The bit string TDRA reuses DCI format 0_1. When UE 106 is URLLC, the maximum TDRA table size is increased to 64. The bit string frequency hopping flag is configured as in 3GPP Release 15 DCI format 0_1. For the bit string MCS, some entries (such as 64-QAM) are typically not used for NR Light UE 106. Therefore, the number of bits can be reduced. For a stationary UE 106, the number of bits used can be configured by site 102. The bit string RV can have 0, 1, or 2 bits. If the number of bits is 0, RV0 is used. If the number of bits is 1, RV0 and RV3 are dynamically indicated. The bit string HARQ process number can be 2, 3, or 4 bits. A reduced number of HARQ processes can reduce the required buffer. The bit string TPC used for PUSCH is configured as in 3GPP Release 15 DCI formats 0_0 and 0_1. The bit string UL / SUL indicator is configured as in 3GPP Release 15. The bit string PUSCH repeat dynamically indicates the number of times PUSCH is repeated.

[0096] Figure 9 Enhancements to the DCI for reduced-complexity NR devices are illustrated. In some implementations, the DCI format includes Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) encoded using a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) assigned by the base station. CRC is an error detection code that detects changes in data. For example, data entering UE 106 may have a check value appended based on the remainder of a polynomial division of the content. The RNTI can be used to distinguish or identify connected radio devices in a cell, a specific radio channel, a group of radio devices in the case of paging, or a group of radio devices to which base station 102 issues power control. In some implementations, base station 102 uses the RNTI in the enhanced DCI to identify UE 106. To distinguish between fallback DCI and enhanced DCI for NR lightweight UE 106, new RNTIs, such as reduced-complexity RNTI (RC RNTI), can be used.

[0097] refer to Figure 9The bit string carrier indicator and bit string BWP indicator are omitted from the enhanced DCI. The bit string VRB to PRB mapping can have 0 or 1 bit. The first bit string DAI can have 1 or 2 bits (1 bit for the semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook, 2 bits for the dynamic HARQ-ACK codebook). The second bit string DAI can have 0 or 2 bits (2 bits for the dynamic HARQ-ACK codebook, otherwise 0 bits). The bit string SRS resource indicator can have 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 bits. The bit string precoding information and layer number have configurable bit widths. MIMO-related fields can be disabled by setting the bit width to 0.

[0098] Figure 10 The operation process using an enhanced DCI designed for reduced complexity NR devices is illustrated. In some specific implementations, Figure 10 The process is performed by UE 106, see reference. Figure 1 and Figure 3 More detailed examples and descriptions are provided. In other specific implementations,

[0099] UE 106 transmits its type (1004) to base station 102, which is communicatively coupled to UE 106. In some implementations, the type of UE 106 is represented by target reliability requirements, target communication delay requirements, target uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) communication bit rates, target reduction in design complexity, target shape factor, or target supported bandwidth.

[0100] UE 106 receives the format of (1008) DCI from base station 102. The DCI includes multiple bit strings indicating the scheduling of the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). The format specifies the corresponding number of bits for each bit string. The format is defined by base station 102 based on the type of UE 106.

[0101] UE 106 receives (1012) DCI from base station 102 using the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). The DCI provides UE 106 with information such as physical layer resource allocation for UL or DL, power control commands, and Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) information. HARQ information is a combination of high-rate forward error correction coding and ARQ error control.

[0102] UE 106 extracts multiple bit strings (1016) from DCI based on the DCI format. In, for example... Figure 8In some specific implementations shown, the size of the NR lightweight DCI format is the same as that of the fallback DCI formats 0_0 and 1_0. The bit string fields of DCI formats 0_0 and 1_0 are used to generate an enhanced DCI format with configurable bit length for UE 106. If the enhanced DCI format size is smaller than the fallback DCI size, additional fields can be introduced into the enhanced DCI. The selection of the additional bit string is configured by RRC signaling. For example, the additional bit string could be an SRS request in the UL DCI or a VRB-to-PRB mapping.

[0103] UE 106 determines the scheduling of (1020) PDSCH or PUSCH from multiple bit strings. In some implementations, frequency domain resource allocation only supports limited bandwidths, such as 5MHz and 20MHz. The scheduling granularity indicated by the enhanced DCI can indicate 2, 4, or 8 Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs). In 5G NR, resource elements are grouped into PRBs. Each PRB includes 12 subcarriers. In some implementations, carrier aggregation is not supported, and only single transport block (TB) transmission is supported.

[0104] As is widely recognized, the use of personally identifiable information should comply with privacy policies and practices that are generally accepted to meet or exceed industry or governmental requirements for protecting user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly explained to users.

[0105] In the foregoing description, specific embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to numerous specific details that can vary from one embodiment to another. Accordingly, the description and drawings should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Any definitions of terms expressly set forth herein for inclusion in such claims shall govern the meaning of such terms as used in the claims.

Claims

1. A reduced-complexity wireless device configured to operate in a wireless network conforming to a New Radio, NR, radio communication protocol, the reduced-complexity wireless device comprising: one or more processors configured to cause the reduced-complexity wireless device to: transmit an indication of a type of the reduced-complexity wireless device to a base station; receive, using a physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, a downlink control information, DCI, from the base station, the DCI comprising a DCI format differentiation bit string, the DCI format differentiation bit string comprising a bit indicating a reduced-complexity DCI format for reduced-complexity wireless devices, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string indicating a number of repetitions of the DCI specified by the base station, wherein a rate at which the plurality of bit strings are extracted from the DCI increases as the number of repetitions of the DCI increases; decode the DCI based on the reduced-complexity DCI format indicated by the DCI format differentiation bit string; and communicate with the base station on a downlink shared channel, PDSCH, or an uplink shared channel, PUSCH, based on the decoded DCI.

2. The reduced-complexity wireless device of claim 1, wherein the type of the reduced-complexity wireless device is at least one of: an industrial sensor device having a communication latency less than 150 milliseconds, ms, and a communication bit rate less than 3 megabits per second, Mbps; a video surveillance device having a communication latency less than 750 ms and a communication bit rate in a range of 1.5 Mbps to 30 Mbps; or a wearable device having a communication bit rate in a range of 4 Mbps to 200 Mbps.

3. The reduced-complexity wireless device of claim 1, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string having a particular number of bits indicating a modulation and coding scheme, MCS, specified by the base station, wherein the particular number of bits is based on radio resource control, RRC, signaling performed by the reduced-complexity wireless device.

4. The reduced-complexity wireless device of claim 1, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string having a particular number of bits indicating a number of hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, processes specified by the base station, wherein a communication latency of the reduced-complexity wireless device is an increasing function of the particular number of bits.

5. The reduced-complexity wireless device of claim 1, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string having a particular number of bits indicating a number of repetitions of the PDSCH or the PUSCH specified by the base station, wherein a communication latency of the reduced-complexity wireless device is an increasing function of the particular number of bits. ​ 6. The reduced complexity wireless device of claim 1, wherein the reduced complexity DCI format comprises a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) encoded using a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) assigned by the base station.

7. The reduced complexity wireless device of claim 1, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string indicating a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) specified by the base station.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions that, when executed by one or more computer processors, cause the one or more computer processors to: transmit an indication of a type of reduced complexity wireless device to a base station, wherein the reduced complexity wireless device is configured to operate in a wireless network that conforms to a New Radio (NR) radio communication protocol; receive, using a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a downlink control information (DCI) from the base station, the DCI comprising a DCI format differentiating bit string comprising a bit indicating a reduced complexity DCI format for reduced complexity wireless devices, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string indicating a number of repetitions of the DCI specified by the base station, wherein a rate at which the plurality of bit strings are extracted from the DCI increases as the number of repetitions of the DCI increases; decode the DCI based on the reduced complexity DCI format indicated by the DCI format differentiating bit string; and communicate with the base station on a downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or an uplink shared channel (PUSCH) based on the decoded DCI.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the type of reduced complexity wireless device is at least one of: an industrial sensor device having a communication latency of less than 100 milliseconds (ms) and a communication bit rate of less than 2 megabits per second (Mbps); a video surveillance device having a communication latency of less than 500 ms and a communication bit rate in a range of 2 Mbps to 25 Mbps; or a wearable device having a communication bit rate in a range of 5 Mbps to 150 Mbps.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string having a particular number of bits indicating a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) specified by the base station, wherein the particular number of bits is based on radio resource control (RRC) signaling performed by the reduced complexity wireless device.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string having a particular number of bits, the particular bit string indicating a number of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes designated by the base station, wherein a communication latency of the reduced complexity wireless device is a non-decreasing function of the particular number of bits.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string indicating a number of repetitions of the PDSCH or the PUSCH designated by the base station.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string indicating a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the reduced complexity wireless device, wherein the base station uses the RNTI to identify the reduced complexity wireless device.

14. A method for communication, the method comprising: transmitting, by a reduced complexity wireless device, an indication of a type of the reduced complexity wireless device to a base station, the reduced complexity wireless device configured to operate in a wireless network compliant with a New Radio (NR) radio communication protocol; receiving, from the base station, a downlink control information (DCI) using a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the DCI comprising a DCI format differentiating bit string comprising bits indicating a reduced complexity DCI format for reduced complexity wireless devices; decoding the DCI based on the reduced complexity DCI format indicated by the DCI format differentiating bit string; and communicating with the base station on a downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or an uplink shared channel (PUSCH) based on the decoded DCI.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the type of the reduced complexity wireless device is at least one of: an industrial sensor device having a communication latency less than 100 milliseconds (ms) and a communication bit rate less than 2 megabits per second (Mbps); a video surveillance device having a communication latency less than 500 ms and a communication bit rate in a range of 2 Mbps to 25 Mbps; or a wearable device having a communication bit rate in a range of 5 Mbps to 150 Mbps.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string having a particular number of bits, the particular bit string indicating a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) designated by the base station, wherein the particular number of bits is based on radio resource control (RRC) signaling performed by the reduced complexity wireless device. ​ 17. The method of claim 14, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string having a particular number of bits, the particular bit string indicating a number of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes designated by the base station, wherein a communication latency of the reduced complexity wireless device is an increasing function of the particular number of bits.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string indicating a number of repetitions of the PDSCH or the PUSCH designated by the base station.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string indicating a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the reduced complexity wireless device, wherein the base station uses the RNTI to identify the reduced complexity wireless device.

20. A base station, comprising: one or more processors configured to: receive an indication of a type of reduced complexity wireless device configured to operate in a wireless network compliant with a New Radio (NR) radio communication protocol; transmit, using a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), downlink control information (DCI) to the reduced complexity wireless device, the DCI format distinguishing bit strings including bits indicating a reduced complexity DCI format for reduced complexity wireless devices, wherein the DCI is encoded based on the reduced complexity DCI format indicated by the DCI format distinguishing bit strings, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string indicating a number of repetitions of the DCI designated by the base station, wherein a rate at which the plurality of bit strings are extracted from the DCI increases as the number of repetitions of the DCI increases; and communicate with the reduced complexity wireless device on a downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or an uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in accordance with the DCI.

21. The base station of claim 20, wherein the type of reduced complexity wireless device is at least one of: an industrial sensor device having a communication latency less than 150 milliseconds (ms) and a communication bit rate less than 3 megabits per second (Mbps); a video surveillance device having a communication latency less than 750 ms and a communication bit rate in a range of 1.5 Mbps to 30 Mbps; or a wearable device having a communication bit rate in a range of 4 Mbps to 200 Mbps.

22. The base station of claim 20, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string having a particular number of bits, the particular bit string indicating a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) designated by the base station, wherein the particular number of bits is based on radio resource control (RRC) signaling performed by the reduced complexity wireless device.

23. The base station of claim 20, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string having a particular number of bits, the particular bit string indicating a number of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes designated by the base station, wherein a communication latency of the reduced complexity wireless device is an increasing function of the particular number of bits.

24. The base station of claim 20, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string having a particular number of bits, the particular bit string indicating a number of repetitions of the PDSCH or the PUSCH designated by the base station, wherein a communication latency of the reduced complexity wireless device is an increasing function of the particular number of bits.

25. The base station of claim 20, wherein the reduced complexity DCI format comprises a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) encoded using a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) allocated by the base station.

26. The base station of claim 20, wherein the DCI comprises a plurality of bit strings, the plurality of bit strings comprising a particular bit string indicating a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) designated by the base station.

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