System and method for resource allocation

Abstract

A system and method for resource allocation are provided. A wireless communication device may receive information from a wireless communication node, the information including a position (S) of a start symbol of a first transmission opportunity of a group of one or more transmissions and a time domain duration (L), a plurality of consecutive time slots, and a number (N) of transmission opportunities in a time slot, each transmission opportunity being defined as a time window in one or more transmissions. The wireless communication device may determine a position of a last transmission opportunity of the group. The wireless communication device may perform the group of one or more transmissions on a plurality of consecutive time slots based on the information and the position of the last transmission opportunity.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, including but not limited to systems and methods for resource allocation. Background Art

[0002] The third generation partnership project (3GPP), a standardization organization, is currently specifying a new radio interface called 5G New Radio (5G NR) and the next generation packet core network (NG-CN or NGC). 5G NR will have three main components: 5G access network (5G-AN), 5G core network (5GC) and user equipment (UE). To facilitate the implementation of different data services and requirements, the elements of 5GC (also called network functions) have been simplified, some of which are software-based, allowing them to be adjusted as needed. Summary of the invention

[0003] The example embodiments disclosed herein are intended to solve problems related to one or more of the problems existing in the prior art, as well as to provide additional features, which will become apparent when referring to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. According to various embodiments, example systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are disclosed herein. However, it should be understood that these embodiments are presented by way of example and not by way of limitation, and it will be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art who has read this disclosure that various modifications may be made to the disclosed embodiments while remaining within the scope of this disclosure.

[0004] At least one aspect relates to a system, method, apparatus, or computer-readable medium. A wireless communication device may receive information from a wireless communication node, the information including a position (S) of a start symbol and a time domain duration (L) of a first transmission opportunity of a group of one or more transmissions, a plurality of consecutive time slots, and a number (N) of transmission opportunities in the time slot, each transmission opportunity defining a time window of one of the one or more transmissions. The wireless communication device may determine a position of a last transmission opportunity of the group. The wireless communication device may perform the group of one or more transmissions on a plurality of consecutive time slots based on the information and the position of the last transmission opportunity.

[0005] In some embodiments, multiple transmission opportunities may be configured for one or more transmissions of the group. In some embodiments, multiple transmission opportunities may occur back-to-back over a period of time without any time gaps between consecutive transmission opportunities in the multiple transmission opportunities. In some embodiments, determining the position of the last transmission opportunity may include determining the position of the end symbol of the last transmission opportunity according to the following formula: S+L*N–1. The last transmission opportunity may be located in the last time slot of the multiple consecutive time slots. In some embodiments, the duration occupied by the last transmission opportunity may be shorter than or equal to the duration of each of the other transmissions in the transmissions.

[0006] At least one aspect relates to a system, method, apparatus, or computer-readable medium. When at least one of the two conditions that the number of repetitions of one or more transmissions is greater than or equal to a first threshold, or the number of resource configurations is greater than or equal to a second threshold is met, the wireless communication device may receive an indication from the wireless communication node that the first transmission of one or more transmissions cannot occur at the last or Pth transmission opportunity of the one or more transmissions. P may be an integer greater than or equal to 1. Each transmission opportunity may define a time window of one of the one or more transmissions.

[0007] At least one aspect relates to a system, method, apparatus, or computer-readable medium. When at least one of the two conditions that the number of repetitions of one or more transmissions is greater than or equal to a first threshold, or the number of resource configurations is greater than or equal to a second threshold is met, the wireless communication device may determine that the first transmission of one or more transmissions cannot occur at the last or Pth transmission opportunity of the one or more transmissions. P may be an integer greater than or equal to 1. Each transmission opportunity may define a time window of one of the one or more transmissions.

[0008] In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may receive the number of repetitions from the wireless communication node. In some embodiments, at least one of the first threshold or the second threshold may have an integer value greater than or equal to 1. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may receive an indication from the wireless communication node via radio resource control (RRC) signaling or downlink control information (DCI) signaling.

[0009] At least one aspect relates to a system, method, apparatus, or computer-readable medium. A wireless communication node may send information to a wireless communication device, the information including a position (S) and a time domain duration (L) of a start symbol of a first transmission opportunity of a group of one or more transmissions, a plurality of consecutive time slots, and a number (N) of transmission opportunities in the time slot. Each transmission opportunity may define a time window of one of the one or more transmissions. The wireless communication device may determine a position of a last transmission opportunity of the group. The wireless communication device may perform the group of one or more transmissions on a plurality of consecutive time slots based on the information and the position of the last transmission opportunity.

[0010] In some embodiments, multiple transmission opportunities may be configured for one or more transmissions of the group. In some embodiments, multiple transmission opportunities may occur back-to-back over a period of time without any time gaps between consecutive transmission opportunities in the multiple transmission opportunities. In some embodiments, determining the position of the last transmission opportunity may include determining the position of the end symbol of the last transmission opportunity according to the following formula: S+L*N–1. The last transmission opportunity may be located in the last time slot of the plurality of consecutive time slots. In some embodiments, the duration occupied by the last transmission opportunity may be shorter than or equal to the duration of each of the other transmissions in the transmissions.

[0011] At least one aspect relates to a system, method, apparatus, or computer-readable medium. When at least one of the two conditions that the number of repetitions of one or more transmissions is greater than or equal to a first threshold, or the number of resource configurations is greater than or equal to a second threshold is met, the wireless communication node may send an indication to the wireless communication device that the first transmission of one or more transmissions cannot occur at the last or Pth transmission opportunity of the one or more transmissions. P may be an integer greater than or equal to 1. Each transmission opportunity may define a time window of one of the one or more transmissions.

[0012] At least one aspect relates to a system, method, apparatus, or computer-readable medium. When at least one of the two conditions that the number of repetitions of one or more transmissions is greater than or equal to a first threshold, or the number of resource configurations is greater than or equal to a second threshold, the wireless communication device may determine that the first transmission of one or more transmissions cannot occur at the last or Pth transmission opportunity of the one or more transmissions. P may be an integer greater than or equal to 1. Each transmission opportunity defines a time window of one of the one or more transmissions.

[0013] In some embodiments, the wireless communication node may send the repetition number to the wireless communication device. In some embodiments, at least one of the first threshold or the second threshold may have an integer value greater than or equal to 1. In some embodiments, the wireless communication node may send the indication to the wireless communication device via radio resource control (RRC) signaling or downlink control information (DCI) signaling. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Various example embodiments of the present solution are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings. The drawings are provided for illustrative purposes only and only depict example embodiments of the present solution to facilitate the reader's understanding of the present solution. Therefore, the drawings should not be regarded as limiting the breadth, scope or applicability of the present solution. It should be noted that for clarity and ease of description, these drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0015] Figure 1 An example cellular communication network is shown in which the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0016] Figure 2 A block diagram showing an example base station and user equipment according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0017] Figure 3 A block diagram illustrating resource allocation for repeated transmissions according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0018] Figure 4 A block diagram illustrating resource allocation for repeated transmissions according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0019] Figure 5 shows a time domain resource allocation table according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] Figure 6 A block diagram illustrating time domain resource allocation for repeated transmission according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0021] Figures 7 and 8 Various flow diagrams are shown of example methods for determining resource allocations according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] Various example embodiments of the present solution are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings so that a person of ordinary skill in the art can make and use the present solution. It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that, after reading this disclosure, various changes or modifications may be made to the examples described herein without departing from the scope of the present solution. Therefore, the present solution is not limited to the example embodiments and applications described and illustrated herein. In addition, the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the method disclosed herein is merely an example process. Based on design preferences, the specific order or hierarchy of steps of the disclosed method or process may be rearranged while remaining within the scope of the present solution. Therefore, a person of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the methods and techniques disclosed herein present various steps or actions in an example order, and unless otherwise expressly stated, the present solution is not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

[0023] The following abbreviations are used in this disclosure:

[0024]

[0025]

[0026]

[0027]

[0028] 1. Mobile communication technology and environment

[0029] Figure 1 An example wireless communication network and / or system 100 is shown in which the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the following discussion, the wireless communication network 100 may be any wireless network, such as a cellular network or a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network, and is referred to herein as "network 100". Such an example network 100 includes: a base station 102 (hereinafter referred to as "BS 102"; also referred to as a wireless communication node) and a user equipment 104 (hereinafter referred to as "UE 104"; also referred to as a wireless communication device), which may communicate with each other via a communication link 110 (e.g., a wireless communication channel); and a set of cells 126, 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, and 140 covering a geographic area 101. In Figure 1 1, BS 102 and UE 104 are contained within the respective geographic boundaries of cell 126. Each of the other cells 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, and 140 may include at least one base station operating over its allocated bandwidth to provide adequate wireless coverage to its intended users.

[0030] For example, BS 102 may operate on an allocated channel transmission bandwidth to provide adequate coverage to UE 104. BS 102 and UE 104 may communicate via downlink radio frames 118 and uplink radio frames 124, respectively. Each radio frame 118 / 124 may be further divided into subframes 120 / 127, which may include data symbols 122 / 128. In the present disclosure, BS 102 and UE 104 are described herein as non-limiting examples of "communication nodes", which may generally practice the methods disclosed herein. According to various embodiments of the present solution, such communication nodes may be capable of wireless and / or wired communications.

[0031] Figure 2 A block diagram of an example wireless communication system 200 for sending and receiving wireless communication signals (e.g., OFDM / OFDMA signals) according to some embodiments of the present solution is shown. The system 200 may include components and elements configured to support known or conventional operating features that do not need to be described in detail herein. In an illustrative embodiment, as described above, the system 200 may be used in a communication environment such as Figure 1 The wireless communication environment 100 may be used to transmit (eg, send and receive) data symbols.

[0032] System 200 generally includes a base station 202 (hereinafter referred to as "BS 202") and a user equipment 204 (hereinafter referred to as "UE 204"). BS 202 includes a BS (base station) transceiver module 210, a BS antenna 212, a BS processor module 214, a BS memory module 216, and a network communication module 218, each of which is coupled to and interconnected with each other via a data communication bus 220 as necessary. UE 204 includes a UE (user equipment) transceiver module 230, a UE antenna 232, a UE memory module 234, and a UE processor module 236, each of which is coupled to and interconnected with each other via a data communication bus 240 as necessary. BS 202 communicates with UE 204 via a communication channel 250, which can be any wireless channel or other medium suitable for data transmission as described herein.

[0033] As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the system 200 may also include Figure 2Any number of modules other than the modules shown. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the various illustrative blocks, modules, circuits, and processing logic described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in hardware, computer-readable software, firmware, or any actual combination thereof. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability and compatibility of hardware, firmware, and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps are generally described according to their functions. Whether such functions are implemented as hardware, firmware, or software may depend on specific applications and design restrictions on the entire system. Those familiar with the concepts described herein may implement such functions in an appropriate manner for each specific application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

[0034] According to some embodiments, the UE transceiver 230 may be referred to herein as an "uplink" transceiver 230, which includes a radio frequency (RF) transmitter and an RF receiver, each of which includes circuitry coupled to an antenna 232. A duplex switch (not shown) may couple the uplink transmitter or receiver to the uplink antenna in a time division duplex manner. Similarly, according to some embodiments, the BS transceiver 210 may be referred to herein as a "downlink" transceiver 210, which includes an RF transmitter and an RF receiver, each of which includes circuitry coupled to an antenna 212. The downlink duplex switch may couple the downlink transmitter or receiver to the downlink antenna 212 in a time division duplex manner. The operation of the two transceiver modules 210 and 230 may be coordinated in time such that the uplink receiver circuit is coupled to the uplink antenna 232 to receive transmissions on the wireless transmission link 250 while the downlink transmitter is coupled to the downlink antenna 212. Instead, the operation of the two transceivers 210 and 230 may be coordinated in time such that the downlink receiver coupled to the downlink antenna 212 receives transmissions on the wireless transmission link 250 at the same time as the uplink transmitter coupled to the uplink antenna 232. In some embodiments, there is tight time synchronization with minimal guard times between changes in duplex direction.

[0035] The UE transceiver 230 and the base station transceiver 210 are configured to communicate via a wireless data communication link 250 and cooperate with an appropriately configured RF antenna device 212 / 232 capable of supporting a specific wireless communication protocol and modulation scheme. In some illustrative embodiments, the UE transceiver 210 and the base station transceiver 210 are configured to support industry standards such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and emerging 5G standards. However, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to specific standards and associated protocols in application. More specifically, the UE transceiver 230 and the base station transceiver 210 can be configured to support alternative or additional wireless data communication protocols, including future standards or variants thereof.

[0036] According to various embodiments, for example, BS 202 may be, for example, an evolved Node B (eNB), a serving eNB, a target eNB, a femtocell or a microcell. In some embodiments, UE 204 may be embodied in various types of user equipment, such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a wearable computing device, etc. Processor modules 214 and 236 may be implemented or implemented with a general purpose processor, a content addressable memory, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, any suitable programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof, which is designed to perform the functions described herein. In this manner, the processor may be implemented as a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, a state machine, etc. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a digital signal processor core, or any other such configuration.

[0037] In addition, the steps of the methods or algorithms described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein may be directly embodied in hardware, firmware, software modules executed by the processor modules 214 and 236, respectively, or any practical combination thereof. The memory modules 216 and 234 may be implemented as RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. In this regard, the memory modules 216 and 234 may be coupled to the processor modules 210 and 230, respectively, so that the processor modules 210 and 230 may read information from and write information to the memory modules 216 and 234, respectively. The memory modules 216 and 234 may also be integrated into their respective processor modules 210 and 230. In some embodiments, the memory modules 216 and 234 may each include a cache memory for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during the execution of instructions to be executed by the processor modules 210 and 230, respectively. Memory modules 216 and 234 may also each include non-volatile memory for storing instructions to be executed by processor modules 210 and 230, respectively.

[0038] The network communication module 218 generally represents hardware, software, firmware, processing logic and / or other components of the base station 202, which implements two-way communication between the base station transceiver 210 and other network components and communication nodes configured to communicate with the base station 202. For example, the network communication module 218 can be configured to support Internet or WiMAX traffic. In a non-limiting typical deployment, the network communication module 218 provides an 802.3 Ethernet interface so that the base station transceiver 210 can communicate with a traditional Ethernet-based computer network. In this way, the network communication module 218 can include a physical interface for connecting to a computer network (e.g., a mobile switching center (MSC)). The terms "configured for", "configured to" and their variations used herein for a specific operation or function refer to a device, component, circuit, structure, machine, signal, etc. that is physically constructed, programmed, formatted and / or arranged to perform a specific operation or function.

[0039] The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model (referred to herein as the "Open Systems Interconnection Model") is a concept and logical layout that defines network communications used by systems (e.g., wireless communication devices, wireless communication nodes) that are open to interconnection and communication with other systems. The model is divided into seven subcomponents or layers, each of which identifies a conceptual set of services provided to its upper and lower layers. The OSI model also defines a logical network and effectively describes computer data packet transmission by using different layer protocols. The OSI model may also be referred to as a seven-layer OSI model or a seven-layer model. In some embodiments, the first layer may be a physical layer. In some embodiments, the second layer may be a media access control (MAC) layer. In some embodiments, the third layer may be a radio link control (RLC) layer. In some embodiments, the fourth layer may be a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer. In some embodiments, the fifth layer may be a radio resource control (RRC) layer. In some embodiments, the sixth layer may be a non-access stratum (NAS) layer or an Internet Protocol (IP) layer, and the seventh layer is another layer.

[0040] 2. System and method for resource allocation

[0041] Certain systems (e.g., new wireless unlicensed (NR-U) systems) that apply ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services can ensure / verify / quantify the reliability of URLLC transmissions under limited idle channel resources (e.g., bandwidth and / or other resources). In some embodiments, URLLC transmissions that encounter non-transmittable symbols can ensure / verify the reliability of URLLC transmissions.

[0042] In some embodiments, certain systems may face multiple problems / difficulties when using unlicensed carrier operations (e.g., new radio unlicensed (NR-U) carrier operations). For example, some countries and / or regions may formulate / implement corresponding regulatory policies for the use of unlicensed spectrum. Therefore, a wireless communication device (e.g., UE, terminal, or served node) may perform listen before talk (LBT), also known as clear channel assessment (CCA), before using an unlicensed carrier to send / transmit / broadcast data (or other information). An exception to performing LBT is that the wireless communication device is already accessing a channel. A wireless communication device that successfully performs CCA can use an unlicensed carrier to send / transmit / broadcast data (or other information).

[0043] One or more types of equipment and / or devices may use at least two standard CCA mechanisms to access an unlicensed technology Long Term Evolution (LTE) Assisted Access (also known as LAA) uplink. An example standard CCA mechanism may include a type 1 CCA mechanism with random backoff (e.g., different channel access levels (p1 to p4)). Another example standard CCAA mechanism may include a type 2 CCA mechanism without random backoff (e.g., performing LBT for a predefined duration). A wireless communication device may use a similar channel access process to transmit / send data and / or information. Transmissions by a wireless communication device may include base station-based scheduling, autonomous uplink transmissions (e.g., unscheduled transmissions and / or configured authorizations), hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) feedback for downlink transmission data, and / or other transmissions.

[0044] Reference now Figure 3, depicting a block diagram 300 of resource allocation for repetition transmission according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In certain authorized / licensed carriers, repetition-free repetition transmissions (e.g., uplink repetition transmissions with configuration authorization) can be used to ensure coverage and / or transmit low-latency high-reliability services in a short period of time (e.g., uplink aggregation transmissions through DCI or other authorized). The repetition of the transmission method causes the same transport block (TB), physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and / or other transmissions (e.g., nominal rep#1, nominal rep#2, nominal rep#3, nominal rep#4 and / or other transmissions) to be transmitted one or more times. The wireless communication device can send / transmit the repetition transmission of the same TB and / or PUSCH once in the same time slot, send / transmit the repetition transmission more than once in the same time slot, and / or send / transmit the repetition transmission more than once when multiple time slots are available continuously. In some embodiments, the same TB and / or PUSCH transmission may include repetition transmissions across time slot boundaries of time slots. For example, the wireless communication device may transmit / send a repeated transmission (eg, nominally rep #3 or other transmission) of the same TB across the time slot boundary between time slot n and time slot n+1.

[0045] A wireless communication node (e.g., a ground terminal, a base station, a gNB, an eNB, or a service node) may send / transmit a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) table to a wireless communication device (or provide access to the TDRA table, or send / transmit information about the TDRA table). The wireless communication node may use the TDRA table to notify / inform / indicate / specify the starting symbol of the first repetition, the time domain duration, the number of repeated transmissions, and / or other information to the wireless communication device. On a transmittable symbol, each repetition may include back-to-back continuous transmissions. For example, nominal rep#1, nominal rep#2, nominal rep#3, and nominal rep#4 may include transmittable symbols. Each repetition (e.g., nominal rep#1, nominal rep#2, and / or other repetitions) may include back-to-back continuous transmissions, for example, without any transmission / time gaps between adjacent / continuous repetitions.

[0046] Reference now Figure 4, depicting a block diagram 400 of resource allocation for repeated transmissions according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, certain unlicensed carriers may use / enable unscheduled repeated transmissions (e.g., uplink repeated transmissions using configuration authorization). By using unscheduled repeated transmissions, a wireless communication device may send / transmit one or more repeated transmissions of a TB, PUSCH, and / or other transmissions once in the same time slot and / or send / transmit more than once in the same time slot. For example, a wireless communication device may send / transmit one or more PUSCH repetitions more than once in the same time slot (e.g., time slot n, time slot n+1, and / or other time slots). One or more TB and / or PUSCH repetitions may be available or continuously scheduled. For example, within a time slot (e.g., time slot n or time slot n+1), two (or other number) consecutive PUSCH allocations are available. One or more TB and / or PUSCH repetitions may include four (or other number) symbols.

[0047] In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may send / transmit one or more repeated TB and / or PUSCH transmissions in the same time slot without crossing one or more time slot boundaries. For example, the wireless communication device may send one or more TB repetitions in time slot n+1 without crossing time slot boundaries. The wireless communication node may use advanced signaling (e.g., radio resource control (RRC) signaling, repK signaling, and / or other types of signaling) to notify the number of time slots and / or the number of repetitions in one or more time slots. For example, advanced signaling repK may notify / inform / specify / indicate that the number of repetitions in one or more time slots is twice (or other number). The number of repetitions in one or more time slots may include back-to-back continuous transmissions. The wireless communication node may use the TDRA table to notify / inform / indicate / specify the start symbol, the time domain duration of the first repeated transmission in the time slot, and / or other information. The first repetition of each time slot transmission may have the same start symbol and / or time domain duration.

[0048] Reference now Figure 5, depicting a table 500 of time domain resource allocation according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more transmissions may cross / traverse (or extend across) a time slot boundary to ensure high reliability and low latency. The time domain location of the resource allocation may be determined using one or more of the following methods. The wireless communication device may receive / obtain a TDRA table (or its information) from a wireless communication node, or may access a TDRA table or its information. The TDRA table may include / provide / specify an index, a PUSCH mapping type, a time slot offset K2 (e.g., from the time slot of the PDCCH carrying the DCI scheduling the PUSCH to the time slot of the transmitted PUSCH), a starting position S, a time domain duration L, a number of repetitions, and / or other information. Multiple repeated transmissions (specified / configured according to the number of repetitions) may be initiated / started at a location where the LBT is successful. The wireless communication device may determine / configure the time resource location based on the number of received time slots M, the number of micro-slots within time slot X, the TDRA table, and / or other information. The value of M is an integer of 1 or greater. The number of mini-slots within time slot X may include the number of PUSCH allocations (or candidate transmission opportunities) in time slot X. For example, the number of mini-slots within time slot #1 may correspond to two nominal mini-slots with a duration equal to L. The wireless communication device may use information from the TDRA table to determine the starting symbol or starting position (S) of the first transmission, the time domain duration (L) of the first transmission, and / or other information. Although certain portions of the present disclosure may relate to transmissions or the location of transmissions within a time slot, these portions may sometimes relate to candidate transmission opportunities (or time windows for potential transmissions), each of which may or may not be occupied by an actual transmission (e.g., depending on the LBT results).

[0049] The wireless communication device may use the information of the TDRA table to determine / configure the end symbol of the last transmission (or other transmission). The wireless communication device may use the number of mini-slots (N), the number of time slots (M), and / or other information to determine the end symbol. The wireless communication node may provide / indicate / specify the number of time slots (M) and / or the number of mini-slots (N). The time slot of the end position of the last transmission may correspond to the Mth time slot. The position of the end symbol of the last transmission may be determined / configured using the following formula:

[0050] end position = S + L × N-1.

[0051] The time domain resources of the remaining transmissions (e.g., the transmissions between the first transmission and the last transmission) may correspond to back-to-back continuous transmissions, with no time / transmission gap between any two adjacent / continuous transmissions. The remaining transmissions have the same time domain continuation length, time domain continuation length, and / or mapping type. For example, the first nominal PUSCH allocation follows TDRA, and the remaining nominal PUSCH allocations have the same length and PUSCH mapping type. The remaining nominal PUSCH allocations may be performed without gaps after the previous allocation. In some embodiments, the time domain continuation length of the first transmission may correspond to the L value of the TDRA table. Except for the last transmission, the time domain continuation length of the remaining transmissions may correspond to the L value of the TDRA table.

[0052] Reference now Figure 6 , depicting a block diagram 600 of resource allocation for repeated transmissions according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The index row of the TDRA table may specify / indicate / provide a PUSCH mapping type, K2, a starting position (S) of the corresponding transmission, a duration (L) of the corresponding transmission, and / or a number of repetitions. For example, if the value of the index row is one (e.g., index=1), the first transmission may have a starting position (S) equal to four (e.g., S=4) and a time domain duration (L) equal to four (e.g., L=4). Therefore, the starting symbol of the first transmission may correspond to symbol 4, and the starting time slot of the first transmission may correspond to time slot #1. The ending symbol of the first transmission may correspond to symbol 7, and the ending time slot of the first transmission may correspond to time slot #1.

[0053] In the same example, the number N of micro-slots in time slot X can correspond to two nominal micro-slots (e.g., N=2). For example, time slot #1 (or other time slots) can include two nominal micro-slots. Therefore, the end symbol of the last transmission can correspond to S+L×N–1=4+4×2–1=11 (e.g., the end symbol can correspond to symbol 11). The number of time slots (M) can correspond to the value two (e.g., time slot #1 and time slot #2). Therefore, the time slot of the last transmission can correspond to the second time slot (e.g., time slot #2). Except for the first transmission and the last transmission, the time domain positions of the remaining transmissions are continuous, with no gaps or intervals separating adjacent / continuous transmissions in time. The time domain length of each transmission in the remaining transmissions can correspond to the time domain length of the first transmission.

[0054] In certain authorized carriers, if the redundancy version (RV) sequence corresponds to {0,0,0,0}, the first transmission of the configured authorized PUSCH may start / initiate at one or more time domain positions. For example, any one of six (or other numbers) or more positions may make the LBT process successful, resulting in actual repeated transmissions. If the number of repetitions provided / indicated by the wireless communication node (e.g., the number of times used to indicate repeated transmissions) is greater than or equal to 8 (or other numbers), the first transmission may start / initiate at a time domain position (timing) different from the time domain position of the last PUSCH.

[0055] In some unlicensed carriers, LBT detection may indicate that the resource location of the last PUSCH is free (e.g., successful or free). If LBT detection indicates that the resource location of the last PUSCH is free, the first transmission may start / initiate at a resource location different from the resource location of the last PUSCH. For example, the first transmission may start / initiate on another resource configuration.

[0056] The wireless communication device may use at least one of the following methods to determine the first transmission of the PUSCH. In some embodiments, the initial transmission of the transport block may start at a different time than the Pth transmission opportunity. The Pth transmission opportunity may correspond to the last transmission event or other transmission event. In some embodiments, P may correspond to an integer greater than or equal to 1. The wireless communication node may indicate / specify / provide the number of repetitions. In some embodiments, the number of repetitions may be greater than or equal to a first threshold. The value of the first threshold may correspond to an integer greater than or equal to 1. In some embodiments, the number of resource configurations may be greater than or equal to a second threshold. The value of the second threshold may correspond to an integer greater than or equal to 1. If the number of repetitions and / or the number of configurations meet / reach or exceed the corresponding threshold, the wireless communication node may indicate / specify that the PUSCH (or other transmission) may not start the first transmission at a certain time domain position. The certain time domain position may correspond to the time domain position of the Pth transmission (or the last transmission). The wireless communication node may provide an indication via RRC signaling, downlink control information (DCI) signaling, and / or other types of signaling. In some embodiments, certain specifications predefine that the PUSCH may start / initiate the first transmission at a time domain position different from the time domain position of the Pth transmission opportunity.

[0057] In some embodiments, the wireless communication node may use RRC signaling or DCI signaling to send / transmit an indication. The indication may specify that the PUSCH transmission may start the first transmission in a time domain different from the time domain of the Pth transmission (or the last transmission). If the number of repetitions is greater than or equal to the first threshold and / or the number of resource configurations is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the wireless communication device may determine the occurrence or time domain location of the first transmission. For example, the wireless communication device may determine to initiate the first transmission of the PUSCH at a time domain location different from the time domain location of the Pth transmission opportunity.

[0058] In some embodiments, the PUSCH may initiate a first transmission at a time domain position different from the time domain position of the Pth transmission opportunity. If the number of repetitions is greater than or equal to the first threshold and / or the number of resource configurations is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the wireless communication device may determine the condition for the first transmission. For example, the wireless communication device may determine to initiate the first transmission of the PUSCH at a time domain position different from the time domain position of the Pth transmission opportunity.

[0059] A. Resource Allocation Method

[0060] Figure 7 A flow chart of a method 700 for determining resource allocation is shown. The method 700 may be used in conjunction with the present invention. Figures 1 to 6 In general, method 700 may include receiving information (752). Method 700 may include determining a location of a last opportunity (754). Method 700 may include performing one or more transmissions (756).

[0061] Now referring to operation (752), and in some embodiments, the wireless communication device may receive / obtain information from the wireless communication node. The wireless communication node may send / transmit information to the wireless communication device. The information may include / contain / specify / provide the position (S) and / or time domain duration (L) of the starting symbol of the first transmission opportunity of a group of one or more transmissions (e.g., PUSCH, TB or other transmissions). The information may include multiple consecutive time slots, the number of transmission opportunities in the time slot (N) and / or other information. In some embodiments, each transmission opportunity may define / correspond to a time window in one of the one or more transmissions. In some embodiments, multiple transmission opportunities may be configured for one or more transmissions of the group. Multiple transmission opportunities may occur back-to-back within a period of time. Multiple transmission opportunities may occur without any time gap between consecutive transmission opportunities in the multiple transmission opportunities. Multiple transmission opportunities may have the same / corresponding time domain duration or time domain length.

[0062] Now referring to operation (754), and in some embodiments, the wireless communication device may determine the position of the last transmission opportunity of the group (or the position of any one of the symbols of the last transmission opportunity). Determining the position of the last transmission opportunity may include determining the position of the end symbol of the last transmission opportunity according to the following formula: S+L*N–1. For example, if the position of the start symbol (S) is four, the time domain duration (L) is four, and the number of transmission opportunities (N) in a time slot (e.g., a micro-time slot within a time slot) is two, then the position of the end symbol is 4+4*2–1=11. The TDRA table may provide / indicate / specify the value of S, the value of L, and / or other information. In some embodiments, the position of the last transmission information (the end symbol) may be represented by different formulas or functions of S, L, and / or N (e.g., S+L*N). The wireless communication device may determine the time domain resource position based on the value of N and / or other information. In some embodiments, the last transmission opportunity may be located in the last time slot of a plurality of consecutive time slots.

[0063] Referring now to operation (756), and in some embodiments, the wireless communication device may perform the group of one or more transmissions over a plurality of consecutive time slots. The wireless communication device may perform the transmissions based on information of the last transmission opportunity, the location of the last transmission opportunity, and / or other information. In some embodiments, the last transmission opportunity may occupy a duration. The duration may include a duration that is shorter than or equal to the duration of each of the other transmissions in the transmissions.

[0064] Figure 8 A flow chart of a method 800 for determining resource allocation is shown. The method 800 may be used in conjunction with the present invention. Figures 1 to 6 In general, method 800 may include receiving a number of repetitions (852). Method 800 may include determining whether the number of repetitions is greater than or equal to a threshold (854). Method 800 may include receiving or determining that a first transmission cannot occur (856). Method 800 may include receiving or determining that a first transmission can occur (858).

[0065] Referring now to operation (852), and in some embodiments, the wireless communication device may receive / obtain a repetition number (or other information) from a wireless communication node. The wireless communication node may send / transmit / broadcast the repetition number (or other information) to the wireless communication device. In some embodiments, the wireless communication node may send / transmit the repetition number using advanced signaling (e.g., repK signaling). For example, the wireless communication node may use repK signaling to specify / indicate a value for the repetition number. In some embodiments, the TDRA table may include / provide / specify the repetition number.

[0066] Referring now to operation (854), and in some embodiments, the wireless communication device may determine whether the number of repetitions is greater than or equal to a first threshold. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may determine whether the number of resource configurations is greater than or equal to a second threshold. The first threshold and / or the second threshold may have an integer value greater than or equal to 1. In response to determining that the number of repetitions and / or the number of resource configurations meet or exceed their respective thresholds, the wireless communication node may send / transmit an indication to the wireless communication device. For example, if the number of repetitions is greater than or equal to eight (or other number), the wireless communication device may receive / obtain an indication from the wireless communication node. The wireless communication node may send the indication to the wireless communication device via RRC signaling, DCI signaling, and / or other signaling. The wireless communication device may receive / obtain the indication via RRC signaling, DCI signaling, and / or other signaling. In some embodiments, in response to the determination, the wireless communication device may determine that the first transmission occurs.

[0067] Referring now to operations (856) and (858), and in some embodiments, the wireless communication device may receive an indication from a wireless communication node. The wireless communication node may send / transmit / broadcast the indication to the wireless communication device. The indication may include an indication that a first transmission of one or more transmissions may occur at a transmission timing different from the last or P-th transmission timing of the one or more transmissions. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may determine that the first transmission of one or more transmissions may not occur at the last or P-th transmission timing of the one or more transmissions. Therefore, the wireless communication device may be preconfigured to determine the occurrence of the first transmission. The wireless communication device may determine the occurrence of the first transmission in response to a determination of a condition. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may receive / obtain / access the indication in response to a determination of a condition.

[0068] The condition may include that the number of repetitions is greater than or equal to a first threshold and / or the number of resource configurations is greater than or equal to a second threshold. For example, the number of repetitions and the number of resource configurations may both exceed corresponding thresholds. Therefore, the wireless communication device may determine that the first transmission in one or more transmissions may not occur at the last or Pth transmission opportunity of one or more transmissions. In another example, the number of repetitions and the number of resource configurations may be less than the corresponding thresholds. Therefore, the wireless communication device may determine that the first transmission in one or more transmissions may occur at the last or Pth transmission opportunity of one or more transmissions. In some embodiments, P may correspond to an integer greater than or equal to 1. In some embodiments, each transmission opportunity may define / determine / configure a time window for one of the one or more transmissions.

[0069] Although various embodiments of the present solution have been described above, it should be understood that these embodiments are presented only as examples and not as limitations. Similarly, the various drawings may depict example architectures or configurations, and the drawings are provided to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to understand the example features and functions of the present solution. However, these technicians will understand that the solution is not limited to the example architectures or configurations shown, but can be implemented using various alternative architectures and configurations. Additionally, as will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, one or more features of an embodiment may be combined with one or more features of another embodiment described herein. Therefore, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described illustrative embodiments.

[0070] It should also be understood that any reference to an element using names such as "first," "second," etc., herein generally does not limit the number or order of these elements. Instead, these names may be used herein as a convenient means of distinguishing two or more elements or instances of an element. Thus, reference to a first element and a second element does not mean that only two elements can be used, or that the first element must precede the second element in some manner.

[0071] Additionally, those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and methods. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, and symbols referenced in the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0072] Those skilled in the art will further understand that any of the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, processors, components, circuits, methods, and functions described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented by electronic hardware (e.g., digital implementation, analog implementation, or a combination of the two), firmware, various forms of programs or design codes incorporating instructions (which may be referred to herein as "software" or "software modules" for convenience), or any combination of these technologies. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware, firmware, and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been generally described above in terms of their functions. Whether such functions are implemented as hardware, firmware, or software, or a combination of these technologies, depends on the specific application and the design constraints on the overall system. The technician may implement the described functions in various ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions will not result in a departure from the scope of this disclosure.

[0073] In addition, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, devices, components, and circuits described herein may be implemented within or performed by an integrated circuit (IC), which may include a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device or any combination thereof. The logic blocks, modules, and circuits may also include antennas and / or transceivers to communicate with various components within a network or device. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other suitable configuration that performs the functions described herein.

[0074] If implemented by software, these functions can be stored as one or more instructions or codes in a computer-readable medium. Therefore, the steps of the method or algorithm disclosed herein can be implemented as software stored in a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, and communication media include any media that can transfer a computer program or code from one place to another. The storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. As an example and not limitation, such a computer-readable medium may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0075] In this document, the term "module" as used herein refers to software, firmware, hardware, and any combination of these elements for performing the associated functions described herein. Additionally, for the purpose of discussion, various modules are described as separate modules; however, it is obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art that two or more modules can be combined to form a single module that performs the associated functions of an embodiment of the present solution.

[0076] Additionally, in the embodiment of the present scheme, memory or other storage devices and communication components can be adopted.It should be understood that, for the sake of clarity, the above description has described the embodiment of the present scheme with reference to different functional units and processors.However, it is obvious that, without departing from the present scheme, any suitable functional distribution between different functional units, processing logic elements or domains can be used.For example, the function performed by a separate processing logic element or controller can be performed by the same processing logic element or controller.Therefore, the reference to a specific functional unit is only a reference to the suitable parts for providing the described function, rather than indicating a strict logical or physical structure or organization.

[0077] Various modifications to the embodiments described in this disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Therefore, this disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is to be consistent with the widest scope consistent with the novel features and principles disclosed herein, as described in the following claims.

Claims

1. A wireless communication method, comprising: The wireless communication device receives information from the wireless communication node, the information including a position S and a time domain duration L of a start symbol of a first transmission opportunity of a group of one or more transmissions, a plurality of consecutive time slots, and a number N of transmission opportunities in one time slot, each transmission opportunity being defined as a time window in the one or more transmissions; Determining, by the wireless communication device, the position of the last transmission opportunity of the group of one or more transmissions according to the position S, the time domain duration L, and the number of transmission opportunities N; as well as The set of one or more transmissions is performed by the wireless communication device over the plurality of consecutive time slots based on the information and the position of the last transmission opportunity.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: A plurality of transmission opportunities are configured for the group of one or more transmissions, and the plurality of transmission opportunities occur back-to-back within a period of time without any time gap between consecutive transmission opportunities in the plurality of transmission opportunities.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Determining the position of the last transmission opportunity includes determining the position of an end symbol of the last transmission opportunity according to the following formula: S + L * N - 1, wherein the last transmission opportunity is located in the last time slot of the multiple consecutive time slots.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The last transmission opportunity occupies a duration shorter than or equal to a duration of each of the other ones of the transmissions.

5. A wireless communication method, comprising: When at least one of the two conditions that the number of repetitions of one or more transmissions is greater than or equal to a first threshold, or the number of resource configurations is greater than or equal to a second threshold is satisfied, the wireless communication device receives from the wireless communication node an indication that a first transmission of the one or more transmissions cannot occur at the last or P-th transmission opportunity of the one or more transmissions, Wherein, P is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and each transmission opportunity is defined as a time window of one of the one or more transmissions.

6. A wireless communication method, comprising: When at least one of the two conditions that the number of repetitions of one or more transmissions is greater than or equal to a first threshold, or the number of resource configurations is greater than or equal to a second threshold is satisfied, the wireless communication device determines that the first transmission of the one or more transmissions cannot occur at the last or P-th transmission opportunity of the one or more transmissions, Wherein, P is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and each transmission opportunity is defined as a time window of one of the one or more transmissions.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, comprising: The number of repetitions is received by the wireless communication device from the wireless communication node.

8. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein: At least one of the first threshold or the second threshold has an integer value greater than or equal to 1.

9. The method according to claim 5 or 6, comprising: The indication is received by the wireless communication device from the wireless communication node via radio resource control RRC signaling or downlink control information DCI signaling.

10. A wireless communication method, comprising: A wireless communication node sends information to a wireless communication device, the information including a position S and a time domain duration L of a start symbol of a first transmission opportunity of a group of one or more transmissions, a plurality of consecutive time slots, and a number N of transmission opportunities in a time slot, each transmission opportunity being defined as a time window of one of the one or more transmissions, The wireless communication device determines the position of the last transmission opportunity of the group of one or more transmissions according to the position S, the time domain duration L and the number of transmission opportunities N, and performs the group of one or more transmissions on the multiple consecutive time slots according to the information and the position of the last transmission opportunity.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein: A plurality of transmission opportunities are configured for the group of one or more transmissions, and the plurality of transmission opportunities occur back-to-back within a period of time without any time gap between consecutive transmission opportunities in the plurality of transmission opportunities.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein: Determining the position of the last transmission opportunity includes determining the position of an end symbol of the last transmission opportunity according to the following formula: S + L * N - 1, wherein the last transmission opportunity is located in the last time slot of the multiple consecutive time slots.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein: The last transmission opportunity occupies a duration shorter than or equal to a duration of each of the other ones of the transmissions.

14. A wireless communication method, comprising: When at least one of the two conditions that the number of repetitions of one or more transmissions is greater than or equal to a first threshold, or the number of resource configurations is greater than or equal to a second threshold is satisfied, the wireless communication node sends an indication to the wireless communication device that the first transmission of the one or more transmissions cannot occur at the last or P-th transmission opportunity of the one or more transmissions, Wherein, P is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and each transmission opportunity is defined as a time window of one of the one or more transmissions.

15. The method according to claim 14, comprising: The number of repetitions is sent by the wireless communication node to the wireless communication device.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein: At least one of the first threshold or the second threshold has an integer value greater than or equal to 1.

17. The method according to claim 14, comprising: The wireless communication node sends the indication to the wireless communication device via radio resource control RRC signaling or downlink control information DCI signaling.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

19. A wireless communication device, comprising: At least one processor configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

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