Method and apparatus for transmitting / decoding DCI carrying downlink grant or uplink grant

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to communication systems, devices, and methods for implementing or supporting the transmission / reception of downlink control information (DCI) carrying downlink grants or uplink grants. A method includes: detecting a reference length based on the effective length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and the effective length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI; and calculating a length difference based on the effective DL grant DCI length and the effective UL grant DCI length. The length of the padding field in the DL grant DCI and / or the UL grant DCI is set to be equal to the calculated length difference so that the lengths of both the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI are equal to the reference length. Padding bits are inserted into the padding field of the DL grant DCI and / or the UL grant DCI. Thereafter, the DL grant DCI and / or the UL grant DCI are encoded and sent to a scheduled entity.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of an invention patent application with an application date of June 22, 2018, application number 201880041479.X, and name “Method and device for sending / decoding DCI carrying downlink authorization or uplink authorization”.

[0002] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0003] This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 62 / 524,355, filed on June 23, 2017, entitled “DYNAMIC PADDING FIELD TO MATCHDOWNLINK AND UPLINK DOWNLINK CONTROL INFOMRATION LENGTH,” and U.S. Non-Provisional Application Serial No. 16 / 014,988, filed on June 21, 2018, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0004] In general, the techniques discussed below relate to wireless communication systems, and more specifically, the techniques discussed below relate to transmission of downlink control information (DCI). Embodiments may provide and implement techniques for sending / decoding DCI carrying downlink grants or uplink grants. Background Art

[0005] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide a variety of telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems.

[0006] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate within cities, countries, regions, and even the world. For example, the fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) communication technology is envisioned to expand and support a wide variety of usage scenarios and applications for the current mobile network generation. In one aspect, 5G communication technologies include: enhanced mobile broadband that addresses human-centric use cases for access to multimedia content, services, and data; ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) with strict requirements, especially in terms of latency and reliability; and large-scale machine-type communications for very large numbers of connected devices and typically sending relatively small amounts of non-delay-sensitive information.

[0007] Wireless communication networks will be used to provide and support an even wider range of services for various types of devices with different capabilities. Although some devices can operate within the available bandwidth of the communication channel, the requirements for uplink control channels in devices using NR access technology may not be met or available in conventional network implementations.

[0008] As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, research and development continues to advance wireless communication technologies not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but also to develop and enhance the user experience that accompanies mobile communications. Summary of the invention

[0009] The following content provides a simplified summary of one or more aspects of the present disclosure to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not intended to be a general overview of all the contemplated features of the present disclosure, and is neither intended to identify the key or critical elements of all aspects of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to delimit the scope of any or all aspects of the present disclosure. Its only purpose is to provide some concepts of one or more aspects of the present disclosure in a simplified form as a preface to the detailed description given later.

[0010] In one example, a method for sending downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant is disclosed. The method includes: detecting a reference length based on a valid length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and a valid length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI; calculating a length difference based on the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length; setting the length of a padding field in at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI to be equal to the calculated length difference so that the lengths of both the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI are equal to the reference length; inserting padding bits in the padding field of at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; encoding the at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; and sending at least one of the encoded DL grant DCI or the encoded UL grant DCI to a scheduled entity. The method may further include: sending a configuration to the scheduled entity, wherein the configuration includes a DL grant DCI format indicating the valid DL grant DCI length, a UL grant DCI format indicating the valid UL grant DCI length, and / or a common total length that is not shorter than both the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length.

[0011] In some examples, detecting the reference length includes: detecting the maximum length of the valid DL authorization DCI length and the valid UL authorization DCI length, calculating the length difference includes: calculating the difference between the valid DL authorization DCI length and the valid UL authorization DCI length, setting the length of the padding field includes: setting the length of the padding field in the shorter one of the DL authorization DCI and the UL authorization DCI to be equal to the calculated difference so that the shorter one of the DL authorization DCI and the UL authorization DCI is lengthened to match the detected maximum length, and the padding bits are inserted into the padding field of the shorter one of the DL authorization DCI and the UL authorization DCI that is lengthened to match the detected maximum length.

[0012] In other examples, the detecting the reference length includes: configuring a common total length that is not shorter than the valid DL authorization DCI length and the valid UL authorization DCI length, the calculating the length difference includes: calculating the difference between the configured common total length and the valid DL authorization DCI length and the difference between the configured common total length and the valid UL authorization DCI length, and the setting the length of the padding field includes: setting the length of the padding field in the DL authorization DCI to be equal to the calculated difference between the configured common total length and the valid DL authorization DCI length so that the D The length of the DL authorization DCI is lengthened to match the configured common total length, and the length of the padding field in the UL authorization DCI is set to be equal to the calculated difference between the configured common total length and the effective UL authorization DCI length so that the length of the UL authorization DCI is lengthened to match the configured common total length, and the padding bits are inserted in the padding field of the DL authorization DCI lengthened to match the configured common total length and in the padding field of the UL authorization DCI lengthened to match the configured common total length.

[0013] In one example, the padding bits inserted in the padding field are zero values ​​used for error detection. In another example, the padding bits inserted in the padding field are values ​​for a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). The CRC can be a single CRC generation with a fixed length. Alternatively, the CRC can be one of a plurality of CRC generations with different lengths corresponding to the length of the padding field.

[0014] In another example, a device for sending downlink control information (DCI) carrying downlink authorization or uplink authorization includes: a unit for detecting a reference length based on the effective length of a downlink (DL) authorization DCI and the effective length of an uplink (UL) authorization DCI; a unit for calculating a length difference based on the effective DL authorization DCI length and the effective UL authorization DCI length; a unit for setting the length of a padding field in at least one of the DL authorization DCI or the UL authorization DCI to be equal to the calculated length difference so that the lengths of both the DL authorization DCI and the UL authorization DCI are equal to the reference length; a unit for inserting padding bits in the padding field of at least one of the DL authorization DCI or the UL authorization DCI; a unit for encoding at least one of the DL authorization DCI or the UL authorization DCI; and a unit for sending at least one of the encoded DL authorization DCI or the encoded UL authorization DCI to a scheduled entity. The apparatus may further include: a unit for sending a configuration to the scheduled entity, wherein the configuration includes a DL authorization DCI format indicating the valid DL authorization DCI length, a UL authorization DCI format indicating the valid UL authorization DCI length, and / or a common total length that is not shorter than both the valid DL authorization DCI length and the valid UL authorization DCI length.

[0015] In another example, a computer-readable medium stores computer executable code for sending downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant. The code can cause the computer to perform the following operations: detect a reference length based on the effective length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and the effective length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI; calculate a length difference based on the effective DL grant DCI length and the effective UL grant DCI length; set the length of a padding field in at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI to be equal to the calculated length difference so that the lengths of both the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI are equal to the reference length; insert padding bits in the padding field of at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; encode the at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; and send at least one of the encoded DL grant DCI or the encoded UL grant DCI to a scheduled entity. The code may further cause the computer to send a configuration to the scheduled entity, wherein the configuration includes a DL grant DCI format indicating the valid DL grant DCI length, a UL grant DCI format indicating the valid UL grant DCI length, and / or a common total length that is not shorter than both the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length.

[0016] In another example, a device for sending downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant has a processor, a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor. The processor can be configured to perform the following operations: detect a reference length based on an effective length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and an effective length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI; calculate a length difference based on the effective DL grant DCI length and the effective UL grant DCI length; set the length of a padding field in at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI to be equal to the calculated length difference so that the lengths of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI are both equal to the reference length; insert padding bits in the padding field of at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; encode the at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; and send at least one of the encoded DL grant DCI or the encoded UL grant DCI to a scheduled entity. The processor may be further configured to send a configuration to the scheduled entity, wherein the configuration comprises a DL grant DCI format indicating the effective DL grant DCI length, a UL grant DCI format indicating the effective UL grant DCI length, and / or a common total length that is not shorter than both the effective DL grant DCI length and the effective UL grant DCI length.

[0017] In another example, a method for decoding a grant downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant is disclosed. The method includes: receiving the grant DCI from a scheduling entity; detecting a reference length of the grant DCI based on a valid length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and a valid length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI; reading a payload of the grant DCI based on the reference length to determine the identity of the grant DCI as the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; detecting whether the grant DCI includes a padding field based on the identity of the grant DCI and the valid DL grant DCI length or the valid UL grant DCI length; calculating the length of the padding field if the grant DCI includes the padding field; and decoding padding bits in the padding field according to the calculated padding field length to decode the grant DCI. The method may further include: receiving a configuration from the scheduling entity, wherein the configuration includes a DL grant DCI format indicating the valid DL grant DCI length, a UL grant DCI format indicating the valid UL grant DCI length, and / or a common total length that is not shorter than both the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length.

[0018] In some examples, the calculating the length of the padding field includes: calculating a length difference based on the valid DL authorization DCI length and the valid UL authorization DCI length; and calculating the length of the padding field in the authorization DCI to be equal to the calculated length difference so that the length of the authorization DCI is equal to the reference length.

[0019] In some examples, the detecting the reference length includes: detecting the maximum length of the valid DL authorization DCI length and the valid UL authorization DCI length; and the calculating the length difference includes: calculating the difference between the valid DL authorization DCI length and the valid UL authorization DCI length. Accordingly, the detecting whether the authorization DCI includes the padding field includes: comparing the maximum length with the valid DL authorization DCI length when the identity of the authorization DCI is the DL authorization DCI, and detecting that the authorization DCI includes the padding field when the valid DL authorization DCI length does not match the maximum length; and comparing the maximum length with the valid UL authorization DCI length when the identity of the authorization DCI is the UL authorization DCI, and detecting that the authorization DCI includes the padding field when the valid UL authorization DCI length does not match the maximum length.

[0020] In other examples, the detecting the reference length includes: configuring a common total length that is not shorter than the effective DL authorization DCI length and the effective UL authorization DCI length; and the calculating the length difference includes: calculating the difference between the configured common total length and the effective DL authorization DCI length and the difference between the configured common total length and the effective UL authorization DCI length. Accordingly, the detecting whether the authorization DCI includes the padding field includes: comparing the common total length with the effective DL authorization DCI length when the identity of the authorization DCI is the DL authorization DCI, and detecting that the authorization DCI includes the padding field when the effective DL authorization DCI length does not match the common total length; and comparing the common total length with the effective UL authorization DCI length when the identity of the authorization DCI is the UL authorization DCI, and detecting that the authorization DCI includes the padding field when the effective UL authorization DCI length does not match the common total length.

[0021] In one example, the decoded padding bits are zero values ​​used for error detection. In another example, the decoded padding bits are values ​​used for a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). The CRC can be a single CRC generation with a fixed length. Alternatively, the CRC can be one of a plurality of CRC generations with different lengths corresponding to the length of the padding field.

[0022] In another example, an apparatus for decoding granted downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant includes: a unit for receiving the granted DCI from a scheduling entity; a unit for detecting a reference length of the granted DCI based on a valid length of a downlink (DL) granted DCI and a valid length of an uplink (UL) granted DCI; a unit for reading a payload of the granted DCI based on the reference length to determine the identity of the granted DCI as the DL granted DCI or the UL granted DCI; a unit for detecting whether the granted DCI includes a padding field based on the identity of the granted DCI and the valid DL granted DCI length or the valid UL granted DCI length; a unit for calculating the length of the padding field if the granted DCI includes the padding field; and a unit for decoding padding bits in the padding field according to the calculated padding field length to decode the granted DCI. The apparatus may further include: a unit for receiving a configuration from the scheduling entity, wherein the configuration includes a DL authorization DCI format indicating the valid DL authorization DCI length, a UL authorization DCI format indicating the valid UL authorization DCI length, and / or a common total length that is not shorter than both the valid DL authorization DCI length and the valid UL authorization DCI length.

[0023] In another example, a computer-readable medium stores computer executable code for decoding a grant downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant. The code may cause the computer to perform the following operations: receiving the grant DCI from a scheduling entity; detecting a reference length of the grant DCI based on a valid length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and a valid length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI; reading a payload of the grant DCI based on the reference length to determine the identity of the grant DCI as the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; detecting whether the grant DCI includes a padding field based on the identity of the grant DCI and the valid DL grant DCI length or the valid UL grant DCI length; calculating the length of the padding field if the grant DCI includes the padding field; and decoding padding bits in the padding field according to the calculated padding field length to decode the grant DCI. The code may further cause the computer to receive a configuration from the scheduling entity, wherein the configuration includes a DL grant DCI format indicating the valid DL grant DCI length, a UL grant DCI format indicating the valid UL grant DCI length, and / or a common total length that is not shorter than both the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length.

[0024] In another example, a device for decoding a grant downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant has a processor, a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor. The processor can be configured to perform the following operations: receiving the grant DCI from a scheduling entity; detecting a reference length of the grant DCI based on a valid length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and a valid length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI; reading a payload of the grant DCI based on the reference length to determine the identity of the grant DCI as the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; detecting whether the grant DCI includes a padding field based on the identity of the grant DCI and the valid DL grant DCI length or the valid UL grant DCI length; calculating the length of the padding field if the grant DCI includes the padding field; and decoding padding bits in the padding field according to the calculated padding field length to decode the grant DCI. The processor may be further configured to receive a configuration from the scheduling entity, wherein the configuration comprises a DL grant DCI format indicating the effective DL grant DCI length, a UL grant DCI format indicating the effective UL grant DCI length, and / or a common total length that is not shorter than both the effective DL grant DCI length and the effective UL grant DCI length.

[0025] By reading the subsequent detailed description, these and other aspects of the present invention will be more fully understood. By reading the subsequent description of the specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, other aspects, features and embodiments of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Although the features of the present invention can be discussed below with respect to specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings, all embodiments of the present invention may include one or more features in the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, although one or more embodiments may be discussed as having specific advantageous features, one or more features in such features may also be used according to the various embodiments of the present invention discussed herein. In a similar manner, although exemplary embodiments may be discussed below as equipment, system or method embodiments, it should be understood that such exemplary embodiments may be implemented in various equipment, systems and methods. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] Figure 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a wireless access network.

[0027] Figure 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating one example of a scheduling entity in communication with one or more scheduled entities in accordance with some embodiments.

[0028] Figure 3 An example of a wireless communication system supporting MIMO is shown.

[0029] Figure 4 An OFDM waveform is shown.

[0030] Figure 5 Resource blocks with nominal and scaled digital schemes are shown.

[0031] Figure 6 An example structure of independent time slots is shown.

[0032] Figure 7 Example formats of downlink (DL) grant downlink control information (DCI) and uplink (UL) grant DCI are shown.

[0033] Figure 8 Example formats of downlink (DL) grant downlink control information (DCI) and uplink (UL) grant DCI including a dynamic length padding field are shown.

[0034] Fig. 9 An example of a hardware implementation of a scheduling entity adapted according to certain aspects disclosed herein is shown.

[0035] Fig.10 is a flow chart illustrating a process according to certain aspects disclosed herein.

[0036] Fig.11 An example of a hardware implementation of a scheduled entity according to certain aspects disclosed herein is shown.

[0037] Fig.12 is a flow chart illustrating a process according to certain aspects disclosed herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] The detailed description set forth below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is intended to be a description of various configurations, and is not intended to represent the only configuration by which the concepts described herein may be practiced. For the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts, the detailed description includes specific details. However, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some cases, known structures and components are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring such concepts.

[0039] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to communication systems, devices and methods for implementing or supporting the transmission / reception of downlink control information (DCI) carrying downlink authorization or uplink authorization. In one example, a method for transmitting downlink control information (DCI) carrying downlink authorization or uplink authorization includes: detecting a reference length based on the effective length of downlink (DL) authorization DCI and the effective length of uplink (UL) authorization DCI; and calculating the length difference based on the effective DL authorization DCI length and the effective UL authorization DCI length. The length of the padding field in the DL authorization DCI and / or UL authorization DCI is set to be equal to the calculated length difference so that the lengths of the DL authorization DCI and the UL authorization DCI are both equal to the reference length. Padding bits are inserted into the padding fields of the DL authorization DCI and / or UL authorization DCI. Thereafter, the DL authorization DCI and / or UL authorization DCI are encoded and sent to the scheduled entity.

[0040] In another example, a method for decoding downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant includes: receiving a grant DCI from a scheduling entity; detecting a reference length of the grant DCI based on a valid length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and a valid length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI; and reading a payload of the grant DCI based on the reference length to determine the identity of the grant DCI as a DL grant DCI or a UL grant DCI. The method further includes: detecting whether the grant DCI includes a padding field based on the identity of the grant DCI and a valid DL grant DCI length or a valid UL grant DCI length; calculating the length of the padding field if the grant DCI includes a padding field; and decoding padding bits in the padding field according to the calculated padding field length to decode the grant DCI.

[0041] The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may be implemented across a variety of telecommunication systems, network architectures, and communication standards. Figure 1 , a schematic illustration of a wireless access network 100 is provided as an illustrative example and not a limitation.

[0042] The geographical area covered by the radio access network 100 may be divided into a number of cellular areas (cells) that may be uniquely identified by a user equipment (UE) based on an identity broadcast from an access point or base station over the geographical area. Figure 1Macro cells 102, 104, and 106 and small cells 108 are shown, each of which may include one or more sectors. A sector is a sub-area of ​​a cell. All sectors within a cell are served by the same base station. A radio link within a sector may be identified by a single logical identifier belonging to the sector. In a cell divided into sectors, multiple sectors within a cell may be formed by groups of antennas, where each antenna is responsible for communication with a UE in a portion of the cell.

[0043] In general, one base station (BS) provides service for each cell. Broadly speaking, a base station is a network element in a radio access network that is responsible for wireless transmission and reception to or from UEs in one or more cells. A BS may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a base transceiver station (BTS), a wireless base station, a wireless transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), an access point (AP), a Node B (NB), an evolved Node B (eNB), a g Node B (gNB), or some other suitable term.

[0044] exist Figure 1 , two high power base stations 110 and 112 in cells 102 and 104 are shown; and a third high power base station 114 controlling a remote radio head (RRH) 116 in cell 106 is shown. That is, the base station may have an integrated antenna or may be connected to an antenna or RRH by a feeder cable. In the example shown, because the high power base stations 110, 112, and 114 support cells with large sizes, cells 102, 104, and 106 may be referred to as macro cells. Further, a low power base station 118 in a small cell 108 (e.g., a micro cell, a micro cell, a femto cell, a home base station, a home node B, a home evolved node B, etc.) that may overlap with one or more macro cells is shown. In this example, because the low power base station 118 supports a cell with a relatively small size, the cell 108 may be referred to as a small cell. Cell size determination may be completed according to system design and component constraints. It should be understood that the wireless access network 100 may include any number of wireless base stations and cells. Further, relay nodes may be deployed to extend the size or coverage area of ​​a given cell.Base stations 110, 112, 114, 118 provide wireless access points to the core network for any number of mobile devices.

[0045] Figure 1 Further included is a quadcopter or drone 120, which can be configured to act as a base station. That is, in some examples, the cell may not necessarily be fixed, and the geographic area of ​​the cell may move according to the location of a mobile base station (such as a quadcopter 120).

[0046] In summary, a base station may include a backhaul interface for communication with the backhaul portion of the network. The backhaul may provide a link between the base station and the core network, and in some examples, the backhaul may provide interconnection between separate base stations. The core network is generally independent of the portion of a wireless communication system of the wireless access technology used in the wireless access network. Various types of backhaul interfaces may be used, such as direct physical connections, virtual networks, or similar backhaul interfaces using any suitable transport network. Some base stations may be configured as integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, in which the wireless spectrum may be used for both the access link (i.e., the wireless link with the UE) and the backhaul link. This scheme is sometimes referred to as wireless self-backhaul. By using wireless self-backhaul, instead of requiring each new base station deployment to be equipped with its own hardwired backhaul connection, the wireless spectrum used for communication between the base station and the UE may be used for backhaul communication, enabling fast and easy deployment of highly dense small cell networks.

[0047] A wireless access network 100 supporting wireless communications for multiple mobile devices is shown. Mobile devices are often referred to as user equipment (UE) in standards and specifications published by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), but may also be referred to as mobile stations (MS), subscriber stations, mobile units, subscriber units, wireless units, remote units, mobile devices, wireless devices, wireless communication devices, remote devices, mobile subscriber stations, access terminals (AT), mobile terminals, wireless terminals, remote terminals, handsets, terminals, user agents, mobile clients, clients, or some other suitable terminology by those skilled in the art. A UE may be a device that provides access to network services for a user.

[0048] In this document, a "mobile" device does not necessarily need to have the ability to move, and can be fixed. The term mobile device or mobile device broadly refers to a variety of equipment and technology. For example, some non-restrictive examples of mobile devices include mobile stations, cellular (cell) phones, smart phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal computers (PCs), notebooks, netbooks, smart books, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and a variety of embedded systems (e.g., corresponding to the "Internet of Things" (IoT)). Mobile devices can additionally be cars or other vehicles, remote sensors or actuators, robots or robotic devices, satellite radios, global positioning system (GPS) devices, object tracking devices, drones, multi-axis helicopters, quadcopters, remote control devices, consumption and / or wearable devices (such as glasses, wearable cameras, virtual reality devices, smart watches, health or fitness trackers), digital audio players (e.g., MP3 players), cameras, game consoles, etc. The mobile device may additionally be a digital home or smart home device (such as home audio, video and / or multimedia devices, home appliances, vending machines, smart lighting, home security systems, smart meters, etc.). The mobile device may additionally be a smart energy device, security device, solar panel or solar array, urban infrastructure equipment that controls power (e.g., smart grid), lighting, water, etc.; industrial automation and enterprise equipment; logistics controllers; agricultural equipment; military defense equipment, vehicles, aircraft, ships and weapons, etc. Still further, the mobile device may provide connected medical or telemedicine support (i.e., health care at a distance). Remote health devices may include remote health monitoring devices and remote health management devices, whose communications may be given preferential treatment or priority access over other types of information (e.g., in terms of priority access for the transmission of critical service data and / or associated QoS for the transmission of critical service data).

[0049] Within the wireless access network 100, a cell may include UEs that may communicate with one or more sectors of each cell. For example, UEs 122 and 124 may communicate with base station 110; UEs 126 and 128 may communicate with base station 112; UEs 130 and 132 may communicate with base station 114 via RRH 116; UE 134 may communicate with low power base station 118; and UE 136 may communicate with mobile base station 120. Here, each base station 110, 112, 114, 118, and 120 may be configured to provide an access point to a core network (not shown) for all UEs in the respective cells. Transmissions from a base station (e.g., base station 110) to one or more UEs (e.g., UEs 122 and 124) may be referred to as downlink (DL) transmissions, while transmissions from a UE (e.g., UE 122) to a base station may be referred to as uplink (UL) transmissions. According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, the term downlink may refer to point-to-multipoint transmissions originating at a scheduling entity 202. Another method for describing this scheme may be to use the term broadcast channel multiplexing. According to further aspects of the present disclosure, the term uplink may refer to a point-to-point transmission originating at the scheduled entity 1204 .

[0050] In some examples, a mobile network node (e.g., quadcopter 120) can be configured to act as a UE. For example, quadcopter 120 can operate within cell 102 by communicating with base station 110. In some aspects of the present disclosure, two or more UEs (e.g., UEs 126 and 128) can communicate with each other using peer-to-peer (P2P) or sidecar signals 127 without relaying the communication through a base station (e.g., base station 112).

[0051] In the radio access network 100, the ability of a UE to communicate while moving independently of its location is referred to as mobility. Various physical channels between the UE and the radio access network are generally established, maintained, and released under the control of a mobility management entity (MME). In various aspects of the present disclosure, the radio access network 100 can implement mobility and switching (i.e., the transfer of a UE's connection from one radio channel to another) using DL-based mobility or UL-based mobility. In a network configured for DL-based mobility, during a call with a scheduling entity or at any other time, the UE can monitor various parameters of a signal from its serving cell and various parameters of a neighboring cell. Depending on the quality of these parameters, the UE can maintain communication with one or more neighboring cells in the neighboring cell. During this time, if the UE moves from one cell to another, or if the signal quality from the neighboring cell exceeds the signal quality from the serving cell within a given amount of time, the UE can proceed to handover or switch from the serving cell to the neighboring (target) cell. For example, UE 124 (illustrated as a vehicle, but any suitable form of UE may be used) may move from a geographic area corresponding to its serving cell 102 to a geographic area corresponding to a neighbor cell 106. When the signal strength or quality from neighbor cell 106 exceeds the signal strength or quality of its serving cell 102 for a given amount of time, UE 124 may send a report message indicating such condition to its serving base station 110. In response, UE 124 may receive a handover command, and the UE may undergo a handover to cell 106.

[0052] In a network configured for UL-based mobility, the UL reference signal from each UE can be used by the network to select a serving cell for each UE. In some examples, base stations 110, 112, and 114 / 116 can broadcast a unified synchronization signal (e.g., a unified primary synchronization signal (PSS), a unified secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a unified physical broadcast channel (PBCH)). UEs 122, 124, 126, 128, 130, and 132 can receive a unified synchronization signal, derive a carrier frequency and a time slot timing from the synchronization signal, and send an uplink pilot or reference signal in response to the derived timing. The uplink pilot signal sent by a UE (e.g., UE 124) can be received concurrently by two or more cells (e.g., base stations 110 and 114 / 116) within the wireless access network 100. Each of these cells may measure the strength of the pilot signal, and the radio access network (e.g., one or more of base stations 110 and 114 / 116 and / or a central node within a core network) may determine a serving cell for UE 124. As UE 124 moves through radio access network 100, the network may continue to monitor the uplink pilot signals sent by UE 124. When the signal strength or quality of the pilot signal measured by a neighboring cell exceeds the signal strength or quality measured by the serving cell, network 100 may handover UE 124 from the serving cell to a neighboring cell with or without notifying UE 124.

[0053] Although the synchronization signals sent by base stations 110, 112 and 114 / 116 may be uniform, the synchronization signals may not identify a specific cell, but may identify a zone of multiple cells operating on the same frequency and / or with the same timing. The use of zones in a 5G network or other next generation communication network implements an uplink-based mobility framework and improves the efficiency of both the UE and the network because the number of mobility messages that need to be exchanged between the UE and the network can be reduced.

[0054] In various implementations, the air interface in the wireless access network 100 can utilize a licensed spectrum, an unlicensed spectrum, or a shared spectrum. A licensed spectrum generally provides exclusive use of a portion of the spectrum by means of a mobile network operator purchasing a license from a government regulator. An unlicensed spectrum provides shared use of a portion of the spectrum without the need for a government-authorized license. Although some technical regulations generally still need to be met in order to access the unlicensed spectrum, in general, any operator or device can obtain access. Shared spectrum can fall between licensed and unlicensed spectrum, where technical regulations or restrictions may be required to access the spectrum, but the spectrum can still be shared by multiple operators and / or multiple RATs. For example, the holder of a license for a portion of the licensed spectrum can provide licensed shared access (LSA) to share the spectrum with other parties (e.g., with appropriate conditions determined by the licensee for obtaining access).

[0055] In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, wherein a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) allocates resources for communication between some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. Within the present disclosure, as further discussed below, a scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, allocating, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more scheduled entities. That is, for scheduled communications, a UE or a scheduled entity utilizes resources allocated by the scheduling entity.

[0056] The base station is not the only entity that can act as a scheduling entity. That is, in some examples, the UE can act as a scheduling entity, scheduling resources for one or more scheduled entities (e.g., one or more other UEs). In other examples, side signals can be used between UEs without having to rely on scheduling or control information from the base station. For example, UE 138 communicating with UE 140 and 142 is shown. In some examples, UE 138 is acting as a scheduling entity or a main side device, and UE 140 and 142 can act as a scheduled entity or a non-main (e.g., auxiliary) side device. In still another example, the UE can act as a scheduling entity in a device-to-device (D2D), peer-to-peer (P2P) or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network and / or a mesh network. In a mesh network example, UE 140 and 142 can optionally communicate directly with each other in addition to communicating with the scheduling entity 138.

[0057] Thus, in a wireless communication network having scheduled access to time-frequency resources and having a cellular configuration, a P2P configuration, or a mesh configuration, a scheduling entity and one or more scheduled entities may communicate using the scheduled resources. Figure 2, the block diagram shows a scheduling entity 202 and a plurality of scheduled entities 204 (e.g., 204a and 204b). Here, the scheduling entity 202 can correspond to the base stations 110, 112, 114, and / or 118. In additional examples, the scheduling entity 202 can correspond to the UE 138, the quadcopter 120, or any other suitable node in the wireless access network 100. Similarly, in various examples, the scheduled entity 204 can correspond to the UE 122, 124, 126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, 140, and 142, or any other suitable node in the wireless access network 100.

[0058] As in Figure 2 , a scheduling entity 202 may broadcast traffic 206 (traffic may be referred to as downlink traffic) to one or more scheduled entities 204. Broadly speaking, a scheduling entity 202 is a node or device responsible for scheduling traffic in a wireless communication network (including downlink transmissions, and in some examples, uplink traffic 210 from one or more scheduled entities to the scheduling entity 202). Broadly speaking, a scheduled entity 204 is a node or device that receives control information including, but not limited to, scheduling information (e.g., grants), synchronization or timing information, or other control information from another entity in the wireless communication network (e.g., the scheduling entity 202).

[0059] In some examples, scheduled entities (such as the first scheduled entity 204a and the second scheduled entity 204b) can use side signals for direct D2D communication. The side signals may include side traffic 214 and side control 216. In some examples, the side control information 216 may include a request signal (such as a request to send (RTS), a resource transmission signal (STS), and / or a direction selection signal (DSS)). The request signal may provide a duration for which the scheduled entity 204 requests to keep the side channel available for the side signal. The side control information 216 may further include a response signal (such as a clear to send (CTS) and / or a destination receive signal (DRS)). The response signal may provide the scheduled entity 204 with an indication of the availability of the side channel, for example, within the requested duration. The exchange of request and response messages (e.g., a handshake) may enable different scheduled entities performing side communications to negotiate the availability of the side channel before transmitting the side traffic information 214.

[0060] The air interface in the wireless access network 100 can utilize one or more duplex algorithms. Duplex refers to point-to-point communication in which both endpoints can communicate with each other in all two directions. Full-duplex means that both endpoints can communicate with each other at the same time. Half-duplex means that only one endpoint can send information to the other endpoint at a time. In a wireless link, a full-duplex channel generally relies on physical isolation of the transmitter and the receiver and suitable interference cancellation techniques. Full-duplex simulation is frequently implemented for wireless links by utilizing frequency division duplex (FDD) or time division duplex (TDD). In FDD, transmissions in different directions operate at different carrier frequencies. In TDD, transmissions in different directions on a given channel are separated from each other using time division multiplexing. That is, at some times, the channel is dedicated to transmissions in one direction, and at other times, the channel is dedicated to transmissions in another direction, where the direction can be changed very quickly (e.g., several times per time slot).

[0061] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the scheduling entity and / or the scheduled entity may be configured for beamforming and / or multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques. Figure 3 An example of a wireless communication system 300 supporting MIMO is shown. In a MIMO system, a transmitter 302 includes multiple transmit antennas 304 (e.g., N transmit antennas), and a receiver 306 includes multiple receive antennas 308 (e.g., M receive antennas). Therefore, there are N×M signal paths 310 from the transmit antennas 304 to the receive antennas 308. Each of the transmitter 302 and the receiver 306 can be implemented, for example, within the scheduling entity 302, the scheduled entity 204, or any other suitable wireless communication device.

[0062] The use of such multi-antenna technology enables wireless communication systems to exploit the spatial domain to support spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and transmit diversity. Spatial multiplexing can be used to send different data streams (also called layers) on the same time-frequency resources at the same time. Data streams can be sent to a single UE to increase the data rate, or to multiple UEs to increase the total system capacity, the latter of which is called multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). This is achieved by spatially precoding each data stream (i.e., multiplying the data stream by different weights and phase shifts) and then sending each spatially precoded stream through multiple transmit antennas on the downlink. The spatially precoded data streams arrive at the UE with different spatial signatures, which enables each of the UEs to recover one or more data streams intended for the UE. On the uplink, each UE sends a spatially precoded data stream, which enables the base station to identify the source of each spatially precoded data stream.

[0063] The number of data streams or layers corresponds to the rank of the transmission. In general, the rank of the MIMO system 300 is limited by the number of transmit or receive antennas 304 or 308 (calculated as the lower of the two). In addition, the channel conditions at the UE and other considerations such as the available resources at the base station can also affect the transmission rank. For example, the rank (and therefore the number of data streams) assigned to a specific UE on the downlink can be determined based on a rank indicator (RI) sent from the UE to the base station. The RI can be determined based on the antenna configuration (e.g., the number of transmit and receive antennas) and the measured signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) on each receive antenna in the receive antenna. The RI can indicate, for example, the number of layers that can be supported under the current channel conditions. The base station can use the RI and resource information (e.g., the available resources and the amount of data to be scheduled to the UE) to allocate a transmission rank to the UE.

[0064] In a time division duplex (TDD) system, UL and DL are reciprocal in that each uses different time slots of the same frequency bandwidth. Therefore, in a TDD system, the base station can assign ranks to DL MIMO transmissions based on UL SINR measurements (e.g., based on a sounding reference signal (SRS) or other pilot signal sent from the UE). Based on the assigned rank, the base station can then send a CSI-RS with a separate C-RS sequence for each layer to provide multi-layer channel estimation. From the CSI-RS, the UE can measure the channel quality across layers and resource blocks, and feed back CQI and RI values ​​to the base station for use in updating the rank and allocating REs for future downlink transmissions.

[0065] In the simplest case, as in Figure 3 , a rank-2 spatial multiplexing transmission on a 2x2 MIMO antenna configuration will send one data stream from each transmit antenna 304. Each data stream arrives at each receive antenna 308 along a different signal path 310. The receiver 306 can then reconstruct the data stream using the signal received from each receive antenna 308.

[0066] Transmissions through the wireless access network 100 may generally utilize appropriate error-correcting block codes. In a typical block code, an information message or sequence is split into code blocks (CBs), and an encoder (e.g., a codec) at the transmitting device then mathematically adds redundancy to the information message. Utilizing this redundancy in the encoded information message can improve the reliability of the message and correct any bit errors that may occur due to noise. Some examples of error correction codes include Hamming codes, Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes, Turbo codes, low-density parity check (LDPC) codes, and polar codes. Various implementations of the scheduling entity 202 and the scheduled entity 204 may include appropriate hardware and capabilities (e.g., encoders, decoders, and / or codecs) for using any one or more of these error correction codes for wireless communications.

[0067] The air interface in the wireless access network 100 may utilize one or more multiplexing and multiple access algorithms to enable simultaneous communication of various devices. For example, multiple access for uplink (UL) or reverse link transmissions from UEs 122 and 124 to base station 110 may be provided using time division multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-spread OFDMA or single carrier FDMA (DFT-s-OFDMA or SC-FDMA), sparse code multiple access (SCMA), resource spread multiple access (RSMA), or other suitable multiple access schemes. Further, downlink (DL) or forward link transmissions from base station 110 to UEs 122 and 124 may be multiplexed using time division multiplexing (TDM), code division multiplexing (CDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), sparse code multiplexing (SCM), or other suitable multiplexing schemes.

[0068] As in Figure 4As shown in , various aspects of the present disclosure will be described with reference to OFDM waveforms. That is, in the 5G NR wireless access network, it should be recognized that OFDM can be used for DL ​​transmission, UL transmission (OFDMA) and / or side transmission. Accordingly, it should be understood that various aspects of the present disclosure can be applied to any of these links (when using OFDM). In addition, in the 5G NR wireless access network, waveforms other than OFDM such as SC-FDMA can be used for UL and / or side transmission. It should be further understood that various aspects of the present disclosure can be applied to SC-FDMA waveforms in substantially the same manner as described herein below. That is, although some examples of the present disclosure may focus on DL OFDM links for clarity, it should be understood that the same principles can be used for DL, UL and side using OFDM and SC-FDMA waveforms.

[0069] Reference now Figure 4 , an exemplary DL time slot 402 in an OFDM air interface is shown. However, as those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, the time slot structure for any particular application may differ from the example described herein, depending on any number of factors. In this example, a portion of a time slot (time slot) 402 is expanded to illustrate a resource grid 404, expanded in both time and frequency dimensions. Here, time is in units of OFDM symbols in the horizontal direction; and frequency is in units of subcarriers in the vertical direction.

[0070] That is, the resource grid 404 can be used to schematically represent the time-frequency resources. The resource grid 404 can be divided into a plurality of resource elements (REs) 406. An RE, which is 1 subcarrier × 1 symbol, is the smallest discrete portion of the time-frequency grid and contains a single complex value representing data from a physical channel or signal. Depending on the modulation used in a specific implementation, each RE can represent one or more bits of information. In some examples, a block of REs can be referred to as a physical resource block (PRB) or more simply a resource block (RB) 408, and a PRB or RB 408 contains any suitable number of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. In one example, an RB can include 12 (independent of the number of digital schemes used) subcarriers. In some examples, depending on the digital scheme, an RB can include any suitable number of consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain. An RB can be the smallest unit of resources that can be allocated to a UE. Therefore, the more RBs scheduled to a UE, and the higher the modulation scheme selected for the air interface, the higher the data rate of the UE. In this illustration, RB 408 is shown as occupying less than the entire bandwidth of time slot 402, with some subcarriers shown above and below RB 408. In a given implementation, time slot 402 may have a bandwidth corresponding to any number of one or more RBs 408. Further, in this illustration, RB 408 is shown as occupying less than the entire duration of time slot 402, but this is just one possible example.

[0071] A timeslot may contain all DL, all UL, or at least one DL portion and at least one UL portion.In this disclosure, it is assumed that a single RB (such as RB 408) corresponds entirely to a single communication direction (either transmit or receive for a given device).

[0072] Although not in Figure 4 4, but various REs 406 within RB 408 may be scheduled to carry one or more physical channels including control channels, shared channels, data channels, etc. Other REs 406 within RB 408 may also carry pilots or reference signals including but not limited to demodulation reference signals (DMRS), control reference signals (CRS), or sounding reference signals (SRS). These pilots or reference signals may provide a receiving device with channel estimation for the corresponding channels, which may enable coherent demodulation / detection of control and / or data channels within RB 408.

[0073] In a DL transmission, a transmitting device 302 (e.g., a scheduling entity 202) may allocate one or more REs 406 within a RB 408 to carry DL control information 208 including one or more DL control channels (such as PBCH; PSS; SSS; physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH); physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH); and / or physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), etc.) to one or more scheduled entities 204. The PCFICH provides information to assist a receiving device in receiving and decoding the PDCCH. The PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI) including, but not limited to, power control commands, scheduling information, grants, and / or allocations of REs for DL ​​and UL transmissions. The PHICH carries HARQ feedback transmissions such as an acknowledgment (ACK) or a negative acknowledgment (NACK). HARQ is a technique well known to those skilled in the art, wherein the integrity of a packet transmission may be checked for accuracy at the receiving side, for example, using any suitable integrity check mechanism, such as a checksum or a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). If the integrity of the transmission is confirmed, an ACK may be sent, and if not, a NACK may be sent. In response to the NACK, the transmitting device may send a HARQ retransmission, which may implement append combining, incremental redundancy, and the like.

[0074] In an UL transmission, a transmitting device 302 (e.g., a scheduled entity 204) may utilize one or more REs 406 within an RB 408 to carry UL control information 212 to the scheduling entity 202, including one or more UL control channels, such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). The UL control information may include a variety of packet types and categories, including pilots, reference signals, and information configured to enable or assist in decoding uplink data transmissions. In some examples, the control information 212 may include a scheduling request (SR) (i.e., a request for the scheduling entity 202 to schedule an uplink transmission). Here, in response to the SR sent on the control channel 212, the scheduling entity 202 may send downlink control information 208 that may schedule resources for uplink packet transmissions. The UL control information may also include HARQ feedback, channel state feedback (CSF), or any other suitable UL control information.

[0075] In addition to control information, an RB 408 may include one or more REs 406 allocated to user data or traffic data. Such traffic may be carried on one or more traffic channels (such as, for DL ​​transmission, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); or for UL transmission, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)). In some examples, one or more REs 406 within the data region may be configured to carry a system information block (SIB) that carries information that may enable access to a given cell.

[0076] Described above and in Figure 2 The channels or carriers shown in the figure are not necessarily all channels or carriers that can be used between the scheduling entity 202 and the scheduled entity 204, and technicians in this field should recognize that other channels or carriers may be utilized in addition to those shown, such as other traffic, control and feedback channels.

[0077] These physical channels described above are generally multiplexed and mapped to transport channels for handling at the medium access control (MAC) layer. The transport channels carry information blocks called transport blocks (TBs). The transport block size (TBS), which may correspond to the number of information bits, may be a parameter controlled based on the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and the number of RBs in a given transmission.

[0078] In OFDM, in order to maintain the orthogonality of subcarriers or tones, the subcarrier spacing can be equal to the inverse of the symbol period. The digital scheme of the OFDM waveform refers to its specific subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) overhead. The scalable digital scheme refers to the ability of the network to select different subcarrier spacings and correspondingly select the corresponding symbol duration (including CP length) for each spacing. With a scalable digital scheme, the nominal subcarrier spacing (SCS) can be scaled up or down by an integer multiple. In this way, regardless of the CP overhead and the selected SCS, the symbol boundaries can be aligned at symbols of specific common multiples (for example, aligned at the boundaries of each 1ms subframe). The range of SCS can include any suitable SCS. For example, a scalable digital scheme can support SCS from 15kHz to 480kHz.

[0079] To illustrate the concept of this scalable digital solution, Figure 5 A first RB 502 having a nominal digital scheme and a second RB 504 having a scaled digital scheme are shown. As an example, the first RB 502 may have a 'nominal' subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 30 kHz. n ) and a 'nominal' symbol duration of 333 μs nHere, in the second RB 504, the scaled digital scheme includes double the nominal SCS or 2×SCS n =60kHz scaled SCS. Since this provides double the bandwidth per symbol, this results in a shortened symbol duration for carrying the same information. Therefore, in the second RB 504, the scaled digital scheme includes half the nominal symbol duration or (symbol duration n )÷2=scaled symbol duration of 167 μs.

[0080] As discussed above, wireless communications in the radio access network 100 may be organized in time slots. In some examples, a time slot may be defined according to a specified number of OFDM symbols having the same subcarrier spacing and having a given cyclic prefix (CP) length. For example, for the same subcarrier spacing with a nominal CP, a time slot may include 7 or 14 OFDM symbols. Additional examples may include mini-slots having a shorter duration (e.g., one or two OFDM symbols). In some cases, these mini-slots may be sent to occupy resources of ongoing time slot transmissions scheduled to the same or different UEs.

[0081] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, one or more time slots may be constructed as independent time slots. For example, Figure 6 Two example structures of independent time slots 600 and 650 are shown. Here, time slots 600 and 650 can be the same as those described above and in Figure 4 Corresponding to the time slot 402 shown in FIG.

[0082] In the example shown, the DL-centric time slot 600 may be a time slot scheduled by the transmitter. The term DL-centric generally refers to a structure in which more resources are allocated for transmission in the DL direction (e.g., transmission from the scheduling entity 202 to the scheduled entity 204). Similarly, the UL-centric time slot 650 may be a time slot scheduled by the receiver, in which more resources are allocated for transmission in the UL direction (e.g., transmission from the scheduled entity 204 to the scheduling entity 202).

[0083] Each time slot, such as DL-centric time slots 600 and 650, may include a transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) portion. For example, in a DL-centric time slot 600, the scheduling entity 202 first has an opportunity to send control information, such as on a PDCCH, in a DL control region 602, and then has an opportunity to send DL user data or traffic, such as on a PDSCH, in a DL data region 604. Following a guard period (GP) region 606 having an appropriate duration 610, the scheduling entity 202 has an opportunity to receive UL data and / or UL feedback including any UL scheduling request, CSF, HARQ ACK / NACK, etc., from other entities using the carrier in a UL burst 608. Here, a time slot such as the DL-centric time slot 600 may be referred to as an independent time slot when all of the data carried in the data region 604 is scheduled in the control region 602 of the same time slot; and further, when all of the data carried in the data region 604 is acknowledged (or at least has a chance of being acknowledged) in the UL burst 608 of the same time slot. In this way, each independent time slot may be viewed as an independent entity, without necessarily requiring any other time slots in order to complete the schedule-send-acknowledge cycle for any given packet.

[0084] The GP region 606 may be included to accommodate variability in UL and DL timing. For example, latency due to radio frequency (RF) antenna direction switching (e.g., from DL to UL) and transmission path latency may cause the scheduled entity 204 to transmit early on the UL to match the DL timing. Such early transmissions may interfere with symbols received from the scheduling entity 202. Accordingly, the GP region 606 may allow a certain amount of time after the DL data region 604 to prevent interference, wherein the GP region 606 provides an appropriate amount of time for the scheduling entity 202 to switch its RF antenna direction, an appropriate amount of time for over-the-air (OTA) transmissions, and an appropriate amount of time for ACK processing by the scheduled entity.

[0085] Similarly, the UL-centric time slot 650 can be configured as an independent time slot. The UL-centric time slot 650 is substantially similar to the DL-centric time slot 600, including a guard period 654, a UL data region 656, and a UL burst region 658.

[0086] The time slot structure shown in time slots 600 and 650 is only one example of an independent time slot. Other examples may include a normal DL portion at the beginning of each time slot and a normal UL portion at the end of each time slot, with various differences in the structure of the time slot between these respective portions. Still other examples may be provided within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0087] Figure 7 An example format of a downlink (DL) grant downlink control information (DCI) 700 and an uplink (UL) grant DCI 750 is shown. The DL grant DCI 700 may include a DCI payload field 702 and a CRC field 704. In addition, the DL grant DCI 700 may have a DL grant DCI payload length 710 and a DL grant DCI length 712. Similarly, the UL grant DCI 750 may include a DCI payload field 752 and a CRC field 754. The UL grant DCI 750 may also have a UL grant DCI payload length 760 and a UL grant DCI length 762.

[0088] In the fourth generation (4G) long term evolution (LTE) communication technology, the DL grant DCI length 712 is generally different from the uplink (UL) grant DCI 762. Therefore, for each decoding candidate, the UE may need to try two different lengths of decoding (assuming a DL length and a UL length) in order to check whether the decoding candidate is a valid grant. This may result in more blind decoding, thereby increasing complexity, power consumption, processing delay, etc.

[0089] In 5G NR, the DL grant DCI length 712 may be set equal to the UL grant DCI length 762 so that the UE may use a single length decode per decoding candidate. This may help reduce complexity, power consumption, and / or processing delays, for example. In one aspect, a bit in the grant payload may indicate whether the grant is a DL grant or a UL grant to facilitate UE identification of the grant type. However, DL grants and UL grants may have different payload lengths, and therefore padding bits (e.g., zeros) may be used to equalize the total lengths of the DL and UL grants.

[0090] In 5G NR, both DL and UL grants have many configurable features (e.g., different HARQ timing and different code block group (CBG) retransmission support). Therefore, the DCI format may have different lengths depending on the configuration, and therefore, selecting a fixed padding size is generally difficult. Accordingly, what is needed is a technique that allows the length of the padding field in a DL grant DCI or UL grant DCI to change dynamically according to many DL and UL configurations while ensuring that the DL and UL grants have the same length.

[0091] Figure 8An example format of a downlink (DL) grant downlink control information (DCI) 800 and an uplink (UL) grant DCI 850 including a dynamic length padding field is shown. The DL grant DCI 800 may include a DCI payload field 802, a CRC field (primary CRC) 804, and a dynamic length padding field 806 placed between the DCI payload field 802 and the CRC field 804. The DL grant DCI 800 may have a DL grant DCI payload length 810 and a uniform DCI length 812. Although the dynamic length padding field 806 may be in the Figure 8 806 is shown as having zero length, but it is contemplated that the dynamic padding field 806 may have any variable length.

[0092] Similarly, UL Grant DCI 850 may include a DCI payload field 852, a CRC field (primary CRC) 854, and a dynamic length padding field 856 placed between the DCI payload field 852 and the CRC field 854. UL Grant DCI 850 may also have a UL Grant DCI payload length 860 and a uniform DCI length 862. Although the dynamic length padding field 856 is not necessarily the same as the DCI payload field 852, the dynamic length padding field 856 may be used to pad the DCI payload field 852 and the uniform DCI length 862. Figure 8 864, but it is contemplated that the dynamic length padding field 856 may have any variable length.

[0093] refer to Figure 8 According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, a dynamic length padding field is defined in a DL grant DCI and / or a UL grant DCI instead of a fixed length padding field. The actual DCI length may be the maximum of the valid DL grant DCI length or the valid UL grant DCI length. The length of the dynamic length padding field may be equal to the gap between the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length. Therefore, one of the DL grant DCI 800 or the UL grant DCI 850 will have a dynamic length padding field of non-zero length. As shown in Figure 8 As shown in the example of , the UL grant DCI 850 includes a dynamic length padding field 856 having a non-zero length of padding length 864.

[0094] In one example, if the DL grant DCI 800 has an effective length of 39 bits and the UL grant DCI has an effective length of 30 bits, a gap of 9 bits exists between the effective DL grant DCI length and the effective UL grant DCI length. Accordingly, a dynamic length padding field 856 having a length of 9 bits may be inserted in the UL grant DCI 850 to match the length of the DL grant DCI 800. Therefore, both the DL grant DCI 800 and the UL grant DCI will have a length of 39 bits.

[0095] In one aspect of the present disclosure, if the gNB can naturally configure the length of the DL grant DCI to match the length of the UL grant DCI, there may be no need to insert a non-zero length dynamic length padding field in either the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI. That is, the length of the padding field will be zero for both the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI. For example, the gNB can do it by configuring the length of the UL CBG ACK / NACK bits (i.e., the number of UL CBGs) to be equal to the difference between the effective DL grant DCI length and the effective UL grant DCI length.

[0096] In one aspect of the present disclosure, the gNB may configure the UE with respect to the format of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI. The gNB knows the valid lengths of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI. Therefore, the gNB may determine the maximum length of the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length and calculate the difference between the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length. The gNB may then set the length of the dynamic length padding field in the shorter of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI to be equal to the calculated difference so that the shorter of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI matches the determined maximum length.

[0097] Before sending either a DL grant DCI or a UL grant DCI to a UE, the gNB may first determine whether the grant DCI will include a non-zero length dynamic length padding field (e.g., the shorter of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI). If the grant DCI will include a zero length padding field (e.g., DL grant DCI 800), the gNB may encode the grant DCI and send the encoded grant DCI to the UE. If the grant DCI will include a non-zero length dynamic length padding field (e.g., UL grant DCI 850), the gNB may first insert padding bits in the padding field of the grant DCI before encoding the grant DCI and sending the encoded grant DCI to the UE.

[0098] In one aspect of the present disclosure, when the gNB configures the UE with respect to the format of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI, the UE is made aware of the valid lengths of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI. Thus, the UE may determine the maximum length of the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length and calculate the difference between the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length. The UE may then determine the length of the dynamic length padding field in the shorter one of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI to be equal to the calculated difference so that the shorter one of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI matches the determined maximum length.

[0099] When decoding the decoding candidates, the UE may assume that the length of the granted DCI is the maximum length and perform a CRC accordingly. If the granted DCI passes the CRC, the UE may read the payload of the granted DCI to determine whether the granted DCI is a DL granted DCI or a UL granted DCI. When knowing whether the granted DCI is a DL granted DCI or a UL granted DCI, since the UE knows the valid lengths of the DL granted DCI and the UL granted DCI, the UE may determine whether the granted DCI includes a dynamic length padding field of non-zero length. Accordingly, if the granted DCI includes a dynamic length padding field of non-zero length, the UE will know the length of the padding field based on the previously calculated difference between the valid DL granted DCI length and the valid UL granted DCI length, and may remove / decode the dynamic padding bits accordingly.

[0100] In one aspect of the present disclosure, the gNB may assign a value of zero to the padding bits inserted in the padding field of the grant DCI. The zeros inserted in the padding field may be used as additional error checking. For example, when the UE decodes the grant DCI, if the decoding result does not return a value of zero for the padding field, the UE may declare the decoding result as a false alarm. However, when the length of the padding field is long, the error detection capability based on the insertion of zero values ​​for the padding field may be suboptimal.

[0101] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a secondary CRC may be inserted into the dynamic length padding field of the grant DCI. Thus, instead of using zero padding as described above, the dynamic length padding field may contain an additional CRC to have a more uniform error detection capability.

[0102] For a granted DCI with a dynamic length padding field of non-zero length, the transmitter side can pass the DCI payload through a secondary CRC. The secondary CRC function can be a universal CRC generation with a fixed length that can be different from a normal CRC. The output of the secondary CRC can be punctured / repeated to fill up the available space within the dynamic length padding field. Alternatively, the secondary CRC function can be a collection of CRC generations with different CRC lengths. The selection of which CRC generation to use can depend on the length of the calculated dynamic length padding field (e.g., different padding field lengths map to different CRC generation selections). In addition to the secondary CRC, rate matching can be used. Accordingly, the DCI payload and the rate-matched secondary CRC can be passed through a normal CRC generation to form the primary CRC of the granted DCI (e.g., Figure 8 CRC 804 or CRC 854).

[0103] The receiver side may decode the decoding candidates assuming that the length of the granted DCI is the maximum length, and perform a primary CRC (e.g., a normal CRC) accordingly. If the granted DCI passes the primary CRC, the receiver side may identify the granted DCI type (DL granted DCI or UL granted DCI) via an indicator in the DCI payload. For a granted DCI with a dynamic length padding field of non-zero length, the UE may run the DCI payload through a secondary CRC function to compare with the secondary CRC. If the DCI payload does not pass the secondary CRC, the UE may regard the decoding result as a failure.

[0104] In one aspect of the present disclosure, the error checking operation of inserting a zero value in the dynamic length padding field of the grant DCI described above can be used in conjunction with the error checking operation of inserting a secondary CRC in the dynamic length padding field of the grant DCI. For example, if the length of the padding field is short, a zero value can be inserted in the padding field. If the length of the padding field is long, a secondary CRC can be inserted in the padding field.

[0105] In one aspect of the present disclosure, instead of the gNB determining the maximum length of the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length to calculate the length of the dynamic length padding field, the gNB may configure a common total length that is not shorter than both the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length. The configured common total length may be greater than the maximum length. Thereafter, the gNB may calculate the difference between the configured common total length and the valid DL grant DCI length and the difference between the configured common total length and the valid UL grant DCI length.

[0106] The gNB may set the length of the dynamic length padding field in the DL grant DCI to be equal to the calculated difference between the configured common total length and the valid DL grant DCI length, so that the length of the DL grant DCI matches the configured common total length. Similarly, the gNB may set the length of the dynamic length padding field in the UL grant DCI to be equal to the calculated difference between the configured common total length and the valid UL grant DCI length, so that the length of the UL grant DCI matches the configured common total length. Accordingly, this approach allows both the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI to have a dynamic length padding field of non-zero length.

[0107]

[00136] In one aspect of the present disclosure, when the gNB configures the grant DCI, the gNB may also include a configuration for the length of the dynamic length padding field. The configuration may be sent separately from the grant DCI. In one example, the configuration may indicate the length of the padding field for both the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI (i.e., two dynamic configurations). Thus, the gNB may be responsible for matching the length of the DL grant DCI with the length of the UL grant DCI. The gNB may need to configure / reconfigure both the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI simultaneously, or their lengths may not match instantaneously. The UE may treat the length mismatch between the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI as an error condition. Otherwise, the UE may perform two blind decodes per decoding candidate when the length of the DL grant DCI does not match the length of the UL grant DCI.

[0108] Fig. 9 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating one example of a hardware implementation of a scheduling entity 900 using a processing system 914. For example, the scheduling entity 900 may be a Figure 1 In another example, the scheduling entity 900 may be a user equipment (UE) as shown in any one or more of 2 or referenced elsewhere in this document. Figure 1 Or the base station shown in any one or more of 2.

[0109] The scheduling entity 900 may be implemented using a processing system 914 including one or more processors 904. Examples of processors 904 include microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functions described throughout this disclosure. In various examples, the scheduling entity 900 may be configured to perform any one or more of the functions described herein. That is, the processor 904 as employed in the scheduling entity 900 may be used to implement the functions described below and in Fig.10Any one or more of the processes and procedures shown in .

[0110] In this example, the processing system 914 can be implemented using a bus architecture generally represented by the bus 902. Depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system 914, the bus 902 may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges. The bus 902 communicatively couples various circuits including one or more processors (generally represented by the processor 904), a memory 905, and a computer-readable medium (generally represented by the computer-readable medium 906). The bus 902 may also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and therefore will not be described any further. The bus interface 908 provides an interface between the bus 902 and the transceiver 910. The transceiver 910 provides a communication interface or unit for communicating with various other devices via a transmission medium. Depending on the nature of the device, a user interface 912 (e.g., a keypad, a display, a speaker, a microphone, a joystick) may also be provided.

[0111] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 904 may include circuits configured for various functions, such circuits including, for example: a grant length processing circuit 940 configured to detect a reference length based on a valid length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and a valid length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI, and calculate a length difference based on a valid DL grant DCI length and a valid UL grant DCI length; a padding field processing circuit 942 configured to set the length of a padding field in at least one of a DL grant DCI or a UL grant DCI to be equal to the calculated length difference so that both the lengths of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI are equal to the reference length, and insert padding bits in the padding field of at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; a grant encoding circuit 944 configured to encode at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; and a configuration / grant transmission circuit 946 configured to send at least one of the encoded DL grant DCI or the encoded UL grant DCI to the scheduled entity and / or send a configuration to the scheduled entity. For example, the circuit may be configured to implement the following (including with Fig.10 One or more of the functions described in association).

[0112] The processor 904 is responsible for managing the bus 902 and general processing including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium 906. The software, when executed by the processor 904, causes the processing system 914 to perform the various functions described below for any specific device. The computer-readable medium 906 and memory 905 may also be used to store data that is manipulated by the processor 904 when executing the software.

[0113] One or more processors 904 in the processing system can execute software. Software should be broadly interpreted as representing instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, processes, functions, etc., whether they are called software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language or other things. Software can reside on computer-readable media 906. Computer-readable media 906 can be non-transitory computer-readable media. As an example, non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic strips), optical disks (e.g., compact disks (CDs) or digital versatile disks (DVDs)), smart cards, flash memory devices (e.g., cards, sticks or key drives), random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), registers, removable disks and any other suitable media for storing software and / or instructions that can be accessed and read by a computer. The computer readable medium 906 may reside in the processing system 914, be external to the processing system 914, or be distributed across multiple entities including the processing system 914. The computer readable medium 906 may be embodied in a computer program product. As an example, a computer program product may include the computer readable medium in packaging materials. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the described functionality presented throughout this disclosure depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0114] In one or more examples, computer-readable media 906 may include a computer program product configured for various functions (including, for example, executing Fig.10 For example, the computer readable medium 906 may include software for one or more of the functions associated with the process 1000 of the present invention. For example, the computer readable medium 906 may include authorization length processing instructions 950 for the authorization length processing circuit 940, padding field processing instructions 952 for the padding field processing circuit 942, authorization encoding instructions 954 for the authorization encoding circuit 944, and configuration / authorization transmission instructions 956 for the configuration / authorization transmission circuit 946.

[0115] Fig.101 is a flow chart illustrating a process 1000 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. As described below, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted in specific implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, and some of the illustrated features may not be required to implement all embodiments. In some examples, process 1000 may be Fig. 9 In some examples, the process 1000 may be implemented by any suitable device or unit for implementing the functions or algorithms described below.

[0116] At block 1002, a scheduling entity configured to send downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant may detect a reference length based on a valid length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and a valid length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI.

[0117] At block 1004, the scheduling entity may calculate a length difference based on the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length.

[0118] At block 1006, the scheduling entity may set the length of the padding field in at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI to be equal to the calculated length difference so that the lengths of both the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI are equal to the reference length.

[0119] At block 1008, the scheduling entity may optionally send a configuration to the scheduled entity. In some examples, the configuration may include a DL grant DCI format indicating a valid DL grant DCI length, a UL grant DCI format indicating a valid UL grant DCI length, and / or a common total length that is not shorter than both the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length.

[0120] At block 1010, the scheduling entity may insert padding bits in a padding field of at least one of a DL grant DCI or a UL grant DCI. In one example, the padding bits inserted in the padding field are zero values ​​used for error detection. In another example, the padding bits inserted in the padding field are values ​​for a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). The CRC may be a single CRC generation with a fixed length. Alternatively, the CRC may be one of a plurality of CRC generations with different lengths corresponding to the length of the padding field.

[0121] At block 1012, the scheduling entity may encode at least one of a DL grant DCI or a UL grant DCI.

[0122] At block 1014, the scheduling entity may send at least one of an encoded DL grant DCI or an encoded UL grant DCI to the scheduled entity.

[0123] In some examples, detecting the reference length includes: detecting the maximum length of the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length, calculating the length difference includes: calculating the difference between the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length, and setting the length of the padding field includes: setting the length of the padding field in the shorter one of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI to be equal to the calculated difference so that the shorter one of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI is lengthened to match the detected maximum length. Accordingly, padding bits are inserted into the padding field of the shorter one of the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI that is lengthened to match the detected maximum length.

[0124] In other examples, detecting the reference length includes: configuring a common total length that is not shorter than both the valid DL authorization DCI length and the valid UL authorization DCI length, and calculating the length difference includes: calculating the difference between the configured common total length and the valid DL authorization DCI length and the difference between the configured common total length and the valid UL authorization DCI length. Setting the length of the padding field includes: setting the length of the padding field in the DL authorization DCI to be equal to the calculated difference between the configured common total length and the valid DL authorization DCI length so that the length of the DL authorization DCI is lengthened to match the configured common total length, and setting the length of the padding field in the UL authorization DCI to be equal to the calculated difference between the configured common total length and the valid UL authorization DCI length so that the length of the UL authorization DCI is lengthened to match the configured common total length. Accordingly, the padding bits are inserted in the padding field of the DL authorization DCI lengthened to match the configured common total length and in the padding field of the UL authorization DCI lengthened to match the configured common total length.

[0125] In one configuration, an apparatus for sending downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant may include: a unit for detecting a reference length based on a valid length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and a valid length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI; a unit for calculating a length difference based on a valid DL grant DCI length and a valid UL grant DCI length; a unit for setting the length of a padding field in at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI to be equal to the calculated length difference so that the lengths of both the DL grant DCI and the UL grant DCI are equal to the reference length; a unit for sending a configuration to a scheduled entity; a unit for inserting padding bits in a padding field of at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; a unit for encoding at least one of the DL grant DCI or the UL grant DCI; and a unit for sending at least one of the encoded DL grant DCI or the encoded UL grant DCI to the scheduled entity. In one aspect, the aforementioned unit may be a unit from the present invention in which the present invention exists. Fig. 9 The processor 904 is configured to execute the functions recorded by the aforementioned units. In another aspect, the aforementioned units may be circuits or any device configured to execute the functions recorded by the aforementioned units.

[0126] Of course, in the above example, the circuit included in the processor 904 is provided only as an example, and other units for implementing the described functions may be included in various aspects of the present disclosure, such units including but not limited to instructions stored in the computer-readable medium 906 or any other instructions described in any of the figures provided herein and utilized, for example, in conjunction with the present invention. Fig.10 Suitable means or units for the described processes and / or algorithms.

[0127] Fig.11 1104 is a conceptual diagram illustrating one example of a hardware implementation of an exemplary scheduled entity 1100 using a processing system 1114. According to various aspects of the present disclosure, any unit or any portion of a unit or any combination of units may be implemented using a processing system 1114 including one or more processors 1104. For example, the scheduled entity 1100 may be as in Figure 1 Or a user equipment (UE) shown in any one or more of 2 or referenced elsewhere in this document.

[0128] The processing system 1114 may be a Fig. 9The processing system 914 shown in FIG. 1 is substantially the same as that shown in FIG. 1 , including a bus interface 1108, a bus 1102, a memory 1105, a processor 1104, and a computer readable medium 1106. In addition, the scheduled entity 1100 may include the same as that described above in Fig. 9 That is, the processor 1104 as utilized in the scheduled entity 1100 may be used to implement the user interface 1112 and the transceiver 1110 that are substantially similar to those described in the following. Fig.12 Any one or more of the processes shown in .

[0129] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 1104 may include circuits configured for various functions, such circuits including, for example: a configuration / grant receiving circuit 1140 configured to receive configuration and grant DCI from a scheduling entity; a grant processing circuit 1142 configured to detect a reference length of a grant DCI based on a valid length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and a valid length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI, and read a payload of the grant DCI based on the reference length to determine the identity of the grant DCI as a DL grant DCI or a UL grant DCI; a padding field processing circuit 1144 configured to detect whether the grant DCI includes a padding field based on the identity of the grant DCI and the valid DL grant DCI length or the valid UL grant DCI length, and calculate the length of the padding field if the grant DCI includes the padding field; and a grant decoding circuit 1146 configured to decode the padding bits in the padding field according to the calculated padding field length to decode the grant DCI. For example, the circuit may be configured to implement the following (including with Fig.12 One or more of the functions described in association).

[0130] In one or more examples, computer-readable media 1106 may include a computer program product configured for various functions (including, for example, executing Fig.12 For example, the computer readable medium 1106 may include configuration / authorization receiving instructions 1150 for configuring / authorization receiving circuitry 1140, authorization processing instructions 1152 for authorization processing circuitry 1142, fill field processing instructions 1154 for fill field processing circuitry 1144, and authorization decoding instructions 1156 for authorization decoding circuitry 1146.

[0131] Fig.121 is a flow chart illustrating a process 1200 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. As described below, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted in specific implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, and some of the illustrated features may not be required to implement all embodiments. In some examples, process 1200 may be Fig.11 The process 1200 is implemented by the scheduled entity 1100 shown in FIG. In some examples, the process 1200 may be implemented by any suitable device or unit for implementing the functions or algorithms described below.

[0132] At block 1202, a scheduled entity configured to decode downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant may optionally receive a configuration from a scheduling entity. In some examples, the configuration may include a downlink (DL) grant DCI format indicating a valid length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI, an uplink (UL) grant DCI format indicating a valid length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI, and / or a common total length that is not shorter than both a valid DL grant DCI length and a valid UL grant DCI length.

[0133] At block 1204, the scheduled entity may receive a grant DCI from the scheduling entity.

[0134] At block 1206, the scheduled entity may detect a reference length of the grant DCI based on the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length.

[0135] At block 1208, the scheduled entity may read the payload of the grant DCI based on the reference length to determine the identity of the grant DCI as a DL grant DCI or a UL grant DCI.

[0136] At block 1210, the scheduled entity may detect whether the grant DCI includes a padding field based on the identity of the grant DCI and a valid DL grant DCI length or a valid UL grant DCI length.

[0137] At block 1212, the scheduled entity may calculate the length of the padding field if the grant DCI includes the padding field.

[0138] At block 1214, the scheduled entity may decode the padding bits in the padding field according to the calculated padding field length to decode the grant DCI. In one example, the decoded padding bits are zero values ​​used for error detection. In another example, the decoded padding bits are values ​​for a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). The CRC may be a single CRC generation with a fixed length. Alternatively, the CRC may be one of a plurality of CRC generations with different lengths corresponding to the length of the padding field.

[0139] In some examples, calculating the length of the padding field includes calculating a length difference based on a valid DL grant DCI length and a valid UL grant DCI length, and calculating the length of the padding field in the grant DCI to be equal to the calculated length difference so that the length of the grant DCI is equal to the reference length.

[0140] In some examples, detecting the reference length includes: detecting the maximum length of a valid DL grant DCI length and a valid UL grant DCI length, and calculating the length difference includes: calculating the difference between the valid DL grant DCI length and the valid UL grant DCI length. Accordingly, detecting whether the grant DCI includes a padding field includes: comparing the maximum length with the valid DL grant DCI length when the identity of the grant DCI is a DL grant DCI, and detecting that the grant DCI includes a padding field when the valid DL grant DCI length does not match the maximum length, and comparing the maximum length with the valid UL grant DCI length when the identity of the grant DCI is a UL grant DCI, and detecting that the grant DCI includes a padding field when the valid UL grant DCI length does not match the maximum length.

[0141] In other examples, detecting the reference length includes: configuring a common total length that is not shorter than both the valid DL authorization DCI length and the valid UL authorization DCI length, and calculating the length difference includes: calculating the difference between the configured common total length and the valid DL authorization DCI length and the difference between the configured common total length and the valid UL authorization DCI length. Accordingly, detecting whether the authorization DCI includes a padding field includes: comparing the common total length with the valid DL authorization DCI length when the identity of the authorization DCI is a DL authorization DCI, and detecting that the authorization DCI includes a padding field when the valid DL authorization DCI length does not match the common total length, and comparing the common total length with the valid UL authorization DCI length when the identity of the authorization DCI is a UL authorization DCI, and detecting that the authorization DCI includes a padding field when the valid UL authorization DCI length does not match the common total length.

[0142] In one configuration, an apparatus for decoding downlink control information (DCI) may include: a unit for receiving a configuration from a scheduling entity; a unit for receiving a grant DCI from the scheduling entity; a unit for detecting a reference length of a grant DCI based on a valid length of a downlink (DL) grant DCI and a valid length of an uplink (UL) grant DCI; a unit for reading a payload of the grant DCI based on the reference length to determine the identity of the grant DCI as a DL grant DCI or a UL grant DCI; a unit for detecting whether the grant DCI includes a padding field based on the identity of the grant DCI and the valid DL grant DCI length or the UL grant DCI length; a unit for calculating the length of the padding field if the grant DCI includes a padding field; and a unit for decoding padding bits in the padding field according to the calculated padding field length to decode the grant DCI. In one aspect, the aforementioned unit may be a device from the present invention that has been configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned unit and in which the present invention resides. Fig.11 The processor 1104. In another aspect, the aforementioned units may be circuits or any devices configured to perform the functions recorded by the aforementioned units.

[0143] Of course, in the above example, the circuit included in the processor 1104 is provided only as an example, and other units for implementing the described functions may be included in various aspects of the present disclosure, such units including but not limited to instructions stored in the computer-readable medium 1106 or any other instructions described in any of the figures provided herein and utilized, for example, as described herein. Fig.12 Suitable means or units for the described processes and / or algorithms.

[0144] Several aspects of wireless communication networks have been presented with reference to exemplary implementations. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the various aspects described throughout this disclosure may be extended to other telecommunication systems, network architectures and communication standards.

[0145] As an example, various aspects may be implemented in other systems defined by 3GPP, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved Packet System (EPS), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and / or Global System for Mobile (GSM). Various aspects may also be extended to systems defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), such as CDMA2000 and / or Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO). Other examples may be implemented in systems using IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Ultra Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth and / or other suitable systems. The actual telecommunication standards, network architectures and / or communication standards used will depend on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system.

[0146] Within the present disclosure, the term "exemplary" is used to mean "serving as an example, instance or illustration". Any implementation or aspect described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily interpreted as being preferred or advantageous over other aspects of the present disclosure. Similarly, the term "aspect" does not require that all aspects of the present disclosure include the features, advantages or modes of operation discussed. The term "coupled" is used herein to refer to a direct or indirect coupling between two objects. For example, if object A physically contacts object B, and object B contacts object C, objects A and C can still be considered to be coupled to each other - even if they do not directly physically contact each other. For example, even if the first object never directly physically contacts the second object, the first object can also be coupled to the second object. The terms "circuit" and "circuitry" are used broadly and are intended to include both hardware implementations of electrical devices and conductors that enable the functions described in the present disclosure when connected and configured (without restrictions on the type of electronic circuits) and software implementations of information and instructions that enable the functions described in the present disclosure when executed by a processor.

[0147] One or more of the parts, steps, features and / or functions shown herein may be rearranged and / or combined into a single part, step, feature or function or may be embodied in several parts, steps or functions. Additional elements, parts, steps and / or functions may also be added without departing from the novel features disclosed herein. The apparatus, equipment and / or parts described herein may be configured to perform one or more methods, features or steps in the methods, features or steps described herein. The novel algorithms described herein may also be efficiently implemented in software and / or embedded in hardware.

[0148] It should be understood that the specific order or layering of steps in the disclosed method is an illustration of an exemplary process. Based on design custom choices, it should be understood that the specific order or layering of steps in the method can be rearranged. The accompanying method claims present the elements of the various steps in a sample order and are not limited to the specific order or layering presented unless specifically recorded therein.

[0149] The previous description is provided to enable those skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other aspects. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but will conform to the full scope consistent with the language of the claims, wherein, unless specifically so indicated, references to elements in the singular are not intended to represent "one and only one", but rather "one or more". Unless specifically otherwise indicated, the term "some" refers to one or more. The phrase "at least one of" the list of items mentioned refers to any combination of those items including a single member. As an example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a; b; c; a and b; a and c; b and c; and a and b and c. All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various aspects described throughout the present disclosure that are known or become known to those skilled in the art later are expressly incorporated herein by reference, and are intended to be included by the claims. In addition, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recorded in the claims. No claim element is to be construed under 35 USC §112(f) unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase "means for" or, in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase "step for."

Claims

1. A method for decoding downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant, comprising: receiving the grant DCI from a scheduling entity; Detecting a reference length of the grant DCI based on a valid downlink grant DCI length and a valid uplink grant DCI length; Reading a payload of the grant DCI based on the reference length to determine an identity of the grant DCI as the downlink grant DCI or the uplink grant DCI; detecting whether the grant DCI includes a padding field based on the identity of the grant DCI and the valid downlink grant DCI length or the valid uplink grant DCI length; If the grant DCI includes the padding field, calculating the length of the padding field; as well as The padding bits in the padding field are decoded according to the calculated padding field length to decode the grant DCI.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The calculating the length of the padding field comprises: Calculating a length difference based on the valid downlink grant DCI length and the valid uplink grant DCI length; and The length of the padding field in the grant DCI is calculated to be equal to the calculated length difference, so that the length of the grant DCI is equal to the reference length.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The detecting the reference length comprises: detecting a maximum length of the valid downlink grant DCI length and the valid uplink grant DCI length; and The calculating the length difference comprises: calculating a difference between the effective downlink grant DCI length and the effective uplink grant DCI length.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The detecting whether the grant DCI includes the padding field comprises: When the identity of the grant DCI is the downlink grant DCI, comparing the maximum length with the valid downlink grant DCI length, and when the valid downlink grant DCI length does not match the maximum length, detecting that the grant DCI includes the padding field; and When the identity of the grant DCI is the uplink grant DCI, the maximum length is compared with the valid uplink grant DCI length, and when the valid uplink grant DCI length does not match the maximum length, it is detected that the grant DCI includes the padding field.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The detecting the reference length comprises: configuring a common total length that is not shorter than the valid downlink grant DCI length and the valid uplink grant DCI length; and The calculating the length difference comprises: calculating a difference between a configured common total length and the effective downlink grant DCI length and a difference between a configured common total length and the effective uplink grant DCI length.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The detecting whether the grant DCI includes the padding field comprises: When the identity of the grant DCI is the downlink grant DCI, comparing the common total length with the valid downlink grant DCI length, and when the valid downlink grant DCI length does not match the common total length, detecting that the grant DCI includes the padding field; and When the identity of the grant DCI is the uplink grant DCI, the common total length is compared with the valid uplink grant DCI length, and when the valid uplink grant DCI length does not match the common total length, it is detected that the grant DCI includes the padding field.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The decoded padding bits are: A value of zero is used for error detection; or The value used for the cyclic redundancy check CRC.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The CRC is a single CRC generation with a fixed length.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The CRC is one of a plurality of CRC generations having different lengths corresponding to the length of the padding field.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving a configuration from the scheduling entity, the configuration comprising at least one of the following: a downlink grant DCI format indicating the valid downlink grant DCI length; an uplink grant DCI format indicating the valid uplink grant DCI length; or No shorter than the common total length of the valid downlink grant DCI length and the valid uplink grant DCI length.

11. A computer program product comprising instructions for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 when executed by a processor.

12. An apparatus for decoding downlink control information (DCI) carrying a downlink grant or an uplink grant, comprising: a unit for receiving the grant DCI from a scheduling entity; a unit for detecting a reference length of the grant DCI based on a valid downlink grant DCI length and a valid uplink grant DCI length; A unit for reading the payload of the grant DCI based on the reference length to determine the identity of the grant DCI as the downlink grant DCI or the uplink grant DCI; means for detecting whether the grant DCI includes a padding field based on the identity of the grant DCI and the valid downlink grant DCI length or the valid uplink grant DCI length; means for calculating a length of the padding field if the grant DCI includes the padding field; as well as A unit is configured to decode padding bits in the padding field according to the calculated padding field length to decode the grant DCI.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising: Unit for performing the method of any of claims 2 to 10.

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