Physical Downlink Control Channel Candidate Frequency Hopping

Abstract

Methods and devices described herein provide a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate frequency hopping function, which reduces conflicts between PDCCH candidates, particularly conflicts between PDCCH candidates associated with reduced capability user equipment (UE). For example, the frequency hopping function can be implemented as a part of a PDCCH candidate to control channel element (CCE) function or can be applied separately from a PDCCH candidate to CCE function. The frequency hopping function can reduce the persistent conflicts between PDCCH candidates by associating mapping behavior with time-varying values. Some techniques and devices described herein provide signaling for configuring and activating / deactivating / modifying frequency hopping patterns. Thus, conflicts between PDCCH candidates are reduced, thereby saving computing resources and wireless communication resources. In addition, the reduction of conflicts can improve the performance of UEs (such as reduced capability UEs) with reduced PDCCH capabilities. Many other aspects are provided.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 977,112, filed on February 14, 2020, entitled “PHYSICAL DOWNLINK CONTROLCHANNEL CANDIDATE HOPPING,” and U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application No. 17 / 248,363, filed on January 21, 2021, entitled “PHYSICAL DOWNLINK CONTROL CHANNEL CANDIDATE HOPPING,” which are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. background Technical Field

[0003] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications and to techniques and apparatus for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate frequency hopping. Background Art

[0005] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasting. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple access technologies that can support communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). 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, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems, and long term evolution (LTE). LTE / LTE-Advanced is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

[0006] A wireless network may include several base stations (BSs) that can support communications for several user equipments (UEs). The UEs may communicate with the BSs via downlinks and uplinks. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the BS to the UE, while the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the BS. As will be described in more detail herein, the BSs may be referred to as Node Bs, gNBs, Access Points (APs), Radio Heads, Transmit Receiving Points (TRPs), 5G BSs, 5G Node Bs, and the like.

[0007] The above multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless communication devices to communicate at city, country, region, and even global levels. 5G (which may also be referred to as New Radio (NR)) is an enhancement set to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by 3GPP. 5G is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) (CP-OFDM) with cyclic prefix (CP) on the downlink (DL), using CP-OFDM and / or SC-FDM (e.g., also known as discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) on the uplink (UL), and supporting beamforming, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna technology and carrier aggregation to improve spectrum efficiency, reduce costs, improve services, utilize new spectrum, and better integrate with other open standards. As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, further improvements in LTE, NR, and other radio access technologies and telecommunication standards that adopt these technologies remain useful.

[0008] Overview

[0009] A user equipment (UE) may be a reduced capability UE. A reduced capability UE may be a device with reduced or lower capabilities relative to other UEs, such as an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) UE. For example, a reduced capability UE may be equipped with fewer transmit antennas and / or receive antennas, may be equipped with a lower capability battery, may be equipped with fewer processing and / or memory resources (which may result in a longer processing timeline), may only be able to monitor and / or process a reduced frequency bandwidth, may only be able to perform half-duplex frequency division duplexing, and the like. In some cases, a reduced capability UE may have reduced capabilities due to a small form factor, due to keeping the reduced capability UE low cost, and the like. Examples of reduced capability UEs include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, biometric sensors or devices, smart watches, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristbands, smart jewelry, vehicle components or sensors (e.g., cellular-enabled onboard diagnostics (OBD) devices), smart meters or sensors, and the like.

[0010] A UE (e.g., a reduced capability UE and / or other type of UE) may be capable of performing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) processing, which may include identifying and decoding PDCCH communications. The UE may perform PDCCH processing based at least in part on a control resource set (CORESET). A CORESET is a region in time and frequency (e.g., multiple resource blocks (RBs) and one or more symbols). A CORESET includes multiple resource element groups (REGs). A REG may include a resource element (RE) and may be the smallest building block of a CORESET. A REG group (e.g., 6 REGs) may form a control channel element (CCE). There may be multiple CCEs (e.g., 48 CCEs or different configurable numbers) in a CORESET. PDCCH candidates may be mapped to a CCE subset associated with a CORESET and may be associated with a search space. The search space may be shared (e.g., a shared search space (CSS) or a UE-specific search space (UESS or USS)). The UE may scan for PDCCH candidates in the CSS using a matching approach based on a radio network temporary identifier and / or a cyclic redundancy check (RNTI / CRC) using multiple PDCCH hypotheses at different aggregation levels. The UESS may be configured for a specific UE. For example, a grant for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) may be transmitted to the UE via the UESS. Within a CORESET, multiple UEs may be assigned the same UESS, with the idea that a relatively low proportion of UEs will be active at a given time.

[0011] However, a reduced capability UE may limit the resources that can be used for PDCCH reception and processing, thereby increasing conflicts. For example, a reduced capability UE may be associated with a reduced PDCCH monitoring configuration based at least in part on a smaller number of blind decodings and CCE restrictions. This may result in a reduction in the number of PDCCH candidates that can be configured, meaning that there are fewer resources per CORESET for the network to multiplex PDCCH messages. As a result, PDCCH messages targeting multiple users may be more likely to conflict, causing PDCCH decoding errors. This may be exacerbated by the hash function used to map PDCCH candidates to CCEs. For example, the PDCCH candidate to CCE mapping may be fixed for the CSS, but may vary within a time frame for the UESS (e.g., based at least in part on the UE's cell RNTI). There is a possibility that multiple UEs with different C-RNTIs may have the same PDCCH candidate to CCE mapping, which may increase as the PDCCH capability of the reduced capability UE decreases. Thus, a reduced capability UE may be associated with an increased possibility of persistent conflicts of PDCCH candidates.

[0012] Some techniques and devices described herein provide a PDCCH candidate frequency hopping function, which reduces the conflict between PDCCH candidates, particularly the conflict between PDCCH candidates associated with reduced capability UE. For example, the frequency hopping function can be implemented as a part of a PDCCH candidate to CCE function (e.g., a hash function, etc.) or can be applied separately from a PDCCH candidate to CCE hash function. By relating mapping behavior to a time-varying value (e.g., a start symbol number, a time slot number, a system frame number, a bandwidth part or subband, a CORESET number, a search space number, etc.), the frequency hopping function can reduce the persistent conflict between PDCCH candidates. Some techniques and devices described herein provide signaling for configuring and activating / deactivating / modifying frequency hopping patterns. Thus, the conflict between PDCCH candidates is reduced, thereby saving computing resources and wireless communication resources. In addition, the reduction of conflicts can improve the performance of UEs (such as reduced capability UEs) with reduced PDCCH capabilities.

[0013]

[0011] In some aspects, a method of wireless communications performed by a base station may include mapping a downlink control channel candidate to a set of CCEs based at least in part on a frequency hopping pattern; and transmitting the downlink control channel candidate on the set of CCEs.

[0014] In some aspects, a wireless communication method performed by a UE may include: determining a frequency hopping pattern for a downlink control channel candidate, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a starting codeword number within a time slot or span, a time slot number within a frame, a system frame number, a bandwidth part, a subband, a CORESET number based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern using cross-CORESET hopping, or a search space number based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern using cross-search space hopping; and scanning on a CCE set to find the downlink control channel candidate based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern.

[0015] In some aspects, a base station for wireless communication may include a memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to map a downlink control channel candidate to a set of CCEs based at least in part on a frequency hopping pattern, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a starting symbol number within a slot or span, a slot number within a frame, a system frame number, a bandwidth part, a subband, a CORESET number in the case of using cross-CORESET frequency hopping based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern, or a search space number in the case of using cross-search space frequency hopping based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern; and transmit the downlink control channel candidate on the set of CCEs.

[0016] In some aspects, a UE for wireless communication may include a memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to determine a frequency hopping pattern for a downlink control channel candidate, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a starting symbol number within a slot or span, a slot number within a frame, a system frame number, a bandwidth part, a subband, a CORESET number based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern using cross-CORESET hopping, or a search space number based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern using cross-search space hopping; and scan a set of CCEs to find the downlink control channel candidate based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern.

[0017] In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may store one or more instructions for wireless communication. The one or more instructions, when executed by one or more processors of a base station, may cause the one or more processors to: map a downlink control channel candidate to a set of CCEs based at least in part on a frequency hopping pattern, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a starting symbol number within a slot or span, a slot number within a frame, a system frame number, a bandwidth part, a subband, a CORESET number in the case of using cross-CORESET frequency hopping based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern, or a search space number in the case of using cross-search space frequency hopping based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern; and transmit the downlink control channel candidate on the set of CCEs.

[0018] In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may store one or more instructions for wireless communication. The one or more instructions, when executed by one or more processors of a UE, may cause the one or more processors to determine a frequency hopping pattern for a downlink control channel candidate, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a starting symbol number within a slot or span, a slot number within a frame, a system frame number, a bandwidth part, a subband, a CORESET number based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern using cross-CORESET hopping, or a search space number based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern using cross-search space hopping; and scanning on a set of CCEs to find the downlink control channel candidate based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern.

[0019] In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication may include: a device for mapping a downlink control channel candidate to a CCE set based at least in part on a frequency hopping pattern, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a starting codeword number within a time slot or span, a time slot number within a frame, a system frame number, a bandwidth part, a subband, a CORESET number where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-CORESET hopping, or a search space number where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-search space hopping; and a device for transmitting the downlink control channel candidate on the CCE set.

[0020] In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communications may include: a device for determining a frequency hopping pattern for a downlink control channel candidate, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a starting codeword number within a time slot or span, a time slot number within a frame, a system frame number, a bandwidth portion, a subband, a CORESET number based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern using cross-CORESET hopping, or a search space number based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern using cross-search space hopping; and a device for scanning on a CCE set to find the downlink control channel candidate based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern.

[0021] Aspects generally include methods, apparatus, systems, computer program products, non-transitory computer-readable media, user equipment, base stations, wireless communication devices, and / or processing systems as substantially described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings and specification.

[0022] The foregoing has broadly outlined the features and technical advantages of examples according to the present disclosure in an effort to make the following detailed description better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter. The disclosed concepts and specific examples can be easily used as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for implementing the same purpose as the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. The characteristics of the concepts disclosed herein, both in terms of their organization and method of operation, and the associated advantages will be better understood by considering the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Each of the accompanying drawings is provided for the purpose of illustration and description and is not intended to define limitations on the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless network.

[0025] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a base station and a UE are in communication in a wireless network.

[0026] Figure 3is a diagram illustrating an example of configuring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate hopping pattern and communicating using the PDCCH candidate hopping pattern.

[0027] Figure 4 and 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a PDCCH candidate hopping pattern.

[0028] Figure 6 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method.

[0029] Figure 7 is a data flow diagram illustrating the flow of data between different components in an example device.

[0030] Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a device employing a processing system.

[0031] Fig. 9 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method.

[0032] Fig.10 is a data flow diagram illustrating the flow of data between different components in an example device.

[0033] Fig.11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a device employing a processing system.

[0034] Detailed Description

[0035] The detailed description set forth below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. This detailed description includes specific details to provide a thorough understanding of the various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring such concepts.

[0036] Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, modules, components, circuits, steps, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0037] As an example, an element, or any part of an element, or any combination of elements can be implemented with a "processing system" including one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform various functionalities described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in a processing system can execute software. Software should be broadly interpreted as meaning instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether it is described in software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or other terms.

[0038] Accordingly, in one or more example embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, each function may be stored or encoded on a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include computer storage media. Storage media may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. As an example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), compact disk ROM (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, a combination of the aforementioned types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0039] It should be noted that while various aspects may be described herein using terminology generally associated with 5G radio access technology (RAT), various aspects of the present disclosure may be applied to other RATs, such as 3G RAT, 4G RAT, and / or RATs after 5G (e.g., 6G).

[0040] Figure 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless network 100 in which various aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced. The wireless network 100 may be a 5G (NR) network, an LTE network, or the like or may include elements thereof. The wireless network 100 may include several base stations 110 (shown as BS 110a, BS 110b, BS 110c, and BS 110d) and other network entities. A base station (BS) is an entity that communicates with a user equipment (UE) and may also be referred to as a 5G BS, a B node, a gNB, a 5G NB, an access point, a transmit receive point (TRP), and the like. Each BS may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" may refer to a coverage area of ​​a BS and / or a BS subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

[0041] A BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and / or another type of cell. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a residence) and may allow restricted access by UEs associated with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG)). A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In Figure 1 In the example shown in , BS 110a may be a macro BS for macro cell 102a, BS 110b may be a pico BS for pico cell 102b, and BS 110c may be a femto BS for femto cell 102c. The BS may support one or more (e.g., three) cells. The terms "eNB", "base station", "5G BS", "gNB", "TRP", "AP", "B node", "5G NB", and "cell" may be used interchangeably herein.

[0042] In some examples, the cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of ​​the cell may move depending on the location of the mobile BS. In some examples, the BSs may be interconnected to each other and / or to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in the wireless network 100 using any suitable transport network via various types of backhaul interfaces (such as direct physical connections, virtual networks, etc.).

[0043] The wireless network 100 may also include a relay station. A relay station is an entity that can receive transmissions of data from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or a UE) and send transmissions of the data to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or a BS). A relay station may also be a UE that can relay transmissions for other UEs. Figure 1 In the example shown in , relay BS 110d may communicate with macro BS 110a and UE 120d to facilitate communication between BS 110a and UE 120d. A relay BS may also be referred to as a relay station, relay base station, relay, or the like.

[0044] The wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network including different types of BSs (e.g., macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, relay BSs, etc.). These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different effects on interference in the wireless network 100. For example, a macro BS may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 5 to 40 watts), while a pico BS, a femto BS, and a relay BS may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 0.1 to 2 watts).

[0045] A network controller 130 may be coupled to a set of BSs and may provide coordination and control of these BSs. The network controller 130 may communicate with each BS via a backhaul. The BSs may also communicate with each other directly or indirectly, for example, via a wireless or wired backhaul.

[0046] UEs 120 (e.g., 120a, 120b, 120c) may be dispersed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. UEs may also be referred to as access terminals, terminals, mobile stations, subscriber units, stations, etc. A UE may be a cellular phone (e.g., a smart phone), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet device, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a medical device or equipment, a biometric sensor / device, a wearable device (smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristband, smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet)), an entertainment device (e.g., a music or video device, or a satellite radio), a vehicle-mounted component or sensor, a smart meter / sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium.

[0047] Some UEs may be considered as machine type communication (MTC) UEs, or evolved or enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) UEs. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., which may communicate with a base station, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node may provide connectivity to or to a network (e.g., a wide area network (such as the Internet) or a cellular network), for example, via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and / or may be implemented as NB-IoT (narrowband Internet of Things) devices. Some UEs may be considered as client equipment (CPE). UE120 may be included inside a housing that houses components of UE 120, such as a processor component, a memory component, and the like.

[0048] In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a specific RAT and may operate on one or more frequencies. RAT may also be referred to as radio technology, air interface, etc. Frequency may also be referred to as carrier, frequency channel, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

[0049] In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, wherein a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within a service area or cell of the scheduling entity. Within the present disclosure, as discussed further below, a scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communications, the subordinate entities utilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity.

[0050] The base station is not the only entity that can be used as a scheduling entity. That is, in some examples, a UE can be used as a scheduling entity, thereby scheduling resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs). In this example, the UE is acting as a scheduling entity, and other UEs use the resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communication. The UE can be used as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and / or in a mesh network. In the mesh network example, the UEs can optionally communicate directly with each other in addition to communicating with the scheduling entity.

[0051] Thus, in a wireless communication network having scheduled access to time-frequency resources and having a cellular configuration, a P2P configuration, and a mesh configuration, a scheduling entity and one or more subordinate entities may communicate using the scheduled resources.

[0052] The devices of the wireless network 100 can communicate using an electromagnetic spectrum, which can be subdivided into various categories, frequency bands, channels, etc. based on frequency or wavelength. For example, the devices of the wireless network 100 can communicate using an operating band having a first frequency range (FR1) and / or can communicate using an operating band having a second frequency range (FR2), the first frequency range (FR1) can span 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz, and the second frequency range (FR2) can span 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are sometimes referred to as mid-band frequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to as a "sub-6 GHz" band. Similarly, FR2 is often referred to as a "millimeter wave" band, although it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz–300 GHz) identified as a "millimeter wave" band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Therefore, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that the terms "sub-6 GHz" and the like, if used herein, may broadly refer to frequencies less than 6 GHz, frequencies within FR1, and / or mid-band frequencies (e.g., greater than 7.125 GHz). Similarly, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that the terms "millimeter wave" and the like, if used herein, may broadly refer to frequencies within the EHF band, frequencies within FR2, and / or mid-band frequencies (e.g., less than 24.25 GHz). It is contemplated that the frequencies included in FR1 and FR2 may be modified, and the techniques described herein are applicable to those modified frequency ranges.

[0053] In some cases, the UE 120 may communicate in a dual connectivity mode, a carrier aggregation mode, etc., which may include a primary cell (PCell) and one or more secondary cells (SCells) associated with the same BS 110 or different BSs 110. In some aspects, the BS 110 may use the PCell to transmit control signaling related to the SCell. For example, in some aspects, the control signaling may include downlink control information (DCI) including an SCell sleep indicator to identify one or more SCells operating in sleep mode. Additionally, in some cases, the DCI may include a request for a one-time hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) codebook feedback, such as when the UE communicates with one or more SCells in an unlicensed spectrum. In some aspects, when the DCI includes an SCell sleep indicator and triggers a one-time HARQ-ACK codebook feedback, the BS 110 may determine the format for the DCI and configure one or more DCI messages to include fields for the SCell sleep indicator and a request for HARQ-ACK feedback. For example, the SCell sleep indicator and the request for HARQ-ACK feedback may be provided in one or more fields appended to a DCI message that schedules data, one or more unused fields of a DCI message that does not schedule data, etc. In addition, in the case where the DCI message does not schedule data, the DCI message may include a predefined value in a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) field to indicate that the DCI message does not schedule data, so that the UE may know to decode the SCell sleep indicator and the request for HARQ-ACK feedback from one or more unused fields of the DCI message.

[0054] As indicated above, Figure 1 These are provided as examples only. Other examples may differ from those described herein. Figure 1 Examples described.

[0055] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an example 200 in which a base station 110 and a UE 120 are in communication in a wireless network 100. The base station 110 may be equipped with T antennas 234a through 234t, and the UE 120 may be equipped with R antennas 252a through 252r, where in general T≥1 and R≥1.

[0056] At the base station 110, the transmit processor 220 may receive data for one or more UEs from the data source 212, may select a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for each UE based at least in part on a channel quality indicator (CQI) received from the UE, may process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for the UE based at least in part on the MCS selected for each UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. The transmit processor 220 may also process system information (e.g., for semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI), etc.) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling, etc.), and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS)), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), etc.) and synchronization signals (e.g., primary synchronization signals (PSS) and secondary synchronization signals (SSS)). A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, overhead symbols, and / or reference symbols, where applicable, and may provide T output symbol streams to T modulators (MODs) 232a through 232t. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal (e.g., an RRC signal configuring one or more component carrier sets, a media access control-control element MAC-CE indicating a beam update command, etc.). The T downlink signals from modulators 232a through 232t may be transmitted via T antennas 234a through 234t, respectively.

[0057] At the UE 120, antennas 252a to 252r may receive downlink signals from the base station 110 and / or other base stations and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a to 254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) the received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all R demodulators 254a to 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols where applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive (RX) processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 120 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information and system information to a controller / processor 280. The term "controller / processor" may refer to one or more controllers, one or more processors, or a combination thereof. The channel processor may determine reference signal received power (RSRP), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), channel quality indicator (CQI), etc. In some aspects, one or more components of UE 120 may be included in a housing.

[0058] The network controller 130 may include a communication unit 294, a controller / processor 290, and a memory 292. The network controller 130 may include, for example, one or more devices in a core network. The network controller 130 may communicate with the base station 110 via the communication unit 294.

[0059] On the uplink, at the UE 120, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 and control information from a controller / processor 280 (e.g., for reports including RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, etc.). The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266, where applicable, further processed by modulators 254a through 254r (e.g., for DFT-s-OFDM, CP-OFDM, etc.), and transmitted to the base station 110. In some aspects, the UE 120 includes a transceiver. The transceiver may include any combination of antennas 252, modulators and / or demodulators 254, MIMO detectors 256, receive processors 258, transmit processors 264, and / or TX MIMO processors 266. The transceiver may be used by a processor (eg, controller / processor 280) and memory 282 to perform aspects of any of the methods described herein.

[0060] At the base station 110, uplink signals from the UE 120 and other UEs may be received by the antenna 234, processed by the demodulator 232, detected by the MIMO detector 236 where applicable, and further processed by the receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 120. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to the data sink 239 and the decoded control information to the controller / processor 240. The base station 110 may include a communication unit 244 and communicate with the network controller 130 via the communication unit 244. The base station 110 may include a scheduler 246 to schedule the UE 120 for downlink and / or uplink communications. In some aspects, the base station 110 includes a transceiver. The transceiver may include any combination of the antenna 234, the modulator and / or demodulator 232, the MIMO detector 236, the receive processor 238, the transmit processor 220, and / or the TX MIMO processor 230. The transceiver may be used by a processor (eg, controller / processor 240) and memory 242 to perform aspects of any of the methods described herein.

[0061] The controller / processor 240 of the base station 110, the controller / processor 280 of the UE 120, and / or Figure 2 Any other component of the controller / processor 240 of the base station 110, the controller / processor 280 of the UE 120, and / or Figure 2 Any other component of the Figure 6 Method 600, Fig. 9 The method 900 of , and / or the operations of other processes as described herein. The memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for use by the BS 110 and the UE 120, respectively. In some aspects, the memory 242 and / or the memory 282 may include: a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more instructions for wireless communication. For example, the one or more instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the base station 110 and / or the UE 120 (e.g., directly executed, or executed after compilation, conversion, interpretation, etc.), may cause the one or more processors, the UE 120, and / or the base station 110 to perform or direct, for example Figure 6 Method 600, Fig. 9 In some aspects, executing instructions may include running instructions, converting instructions, compiling instructions, interpreting instructions, etc.

[0062] As indicated above, Figure 2These are provided as examples only. Other examples may differ from those described herein. Figure 2 Examples described.

[0063] The UE may be a reduced capability UE. A reduced capability UE may be a device with reduced or lower capabilities relative to other UEs, such as an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) UE. For example, a reduced capability UE may be equipped with fewer transmit antennas and / or receive antennas, may be equipped with a lower capability battery, may be equipped with fewer processing and / or memory resources (which may result in a longer processing timeline), may only be able to monitor and / or process a reduced frequency bandwidth, may only be able to perform half-duplex frequency division duplexing, and the like. In some cases, a reduced capability UE may have reduced capabilities due to a small form factor, due to keeping the reduced capability UE low cost, and the like. Examples of reduced capability UEs may include IoT devices, biometric sensors or devices, smart watches, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristbands, smart jewelry, vehicle components or sensors (e.g., cellular-enabled onboard diagnostics (OBD) devices), smart meters or sensors, and the like.

[0064] A UE (e.g., a reduced capability UE and / or other types of UEs) may be capable of performing PDCCH processing, which may include identifying and decoding PDCCH communications. The UE may perform PDCCH processing based at least in part on a control resource set (CORESET). A CORESET is a region in time and frequency (e.g., multiple resource blocks (RBs) and one or more symbols). A CORESET includes multiple resource element groups (REGs). A REG may include a resource element (RE) and may be the smallest building block of a CORESET. A REG group (e.g., 6 REGs) may form a control channel element (CCE). There may be multiple CCEs (e.g., 48 CCEs or different configurable numbers) in a CORESET. PDCCH candidates may be mapped to a subset of CCEs associated with a CORESET and may be associated with a search space. The search space may be common (e.g., a common search space (CSS) or a UE-specific search space (UESS or USS)). The UE may scan with multiple PDCCH hypotheses at different aggregation levels using a matching approach based on a radio network temporary identifier and / or a cyclic redundancy check (RNTI / CRC) to find PDCCH candidates in the CSS. A UESS may be configured for a specific UE. For example, a grant for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) may be transmitted to the UE via the UESS. Within a CORESET, multiple UEs may be assigned the same UESS, with the idea that a relatively low percentage of UEs will be active at a given time.

[0065] However, a reduced capability UE may limit the resources that can be used for PDCCH reception and processing, thereby increasing conflicts. For example, a reduced capability UE may be associated with a reduced PDCCH monitoring configuration based at least in part on a smaller number of blind decodings and CCE restrictions. This may result in a reduction in the number of PDCCH candidates that can be configured, meaning that there are fewer resources per CORESET for the network to multiplex PDCCH messages. As a result, PDCCH messages targeting multiple users may be more likely to conflict, causing PDCCH decoding errors. This may be exacerbated by the hash function used to map PDCCH candidates to CCEs. For example, the PDCCH candidate to CCE mapping may be fixed for the CSS, while for the UESS it may vary within a time frame (e.g., based at least in part on the UE's cellular cell RNTI (C-RNTI)). There is a possibility that multiple UEs with different C-RNTIs may have the same PDCCH candidate to CCE mapping, which may increase as the PDCCH capability of the reduced capability UE decreases. Thus, a reduced capability UE may be associated with an increased possibility of persistent conflicts of PDCCH candidates.

[0066] Some techniques and devices described herein provide a PDCCH candidate frequency hopping function, which reduces the conflict between PDCCH candidates, particularly the conflict between PDCCH candidates associated with reduced capability UE. For example, the frequency hopping function can be implemented as a part of a PDCCH candidate to CCE hash function or can be applied separately from a PDCCH candidate to CCE hash function. By relating the mapping behavior to a time-varying value (e.g., a start symbol number, a time slot number, a system frame number, a bandwidth part or subband, a CORESET number, a search space number, etc.), the frequency hopping function can reduce the persistent conflict between PDCCH candidates. Some techniques and devices described herein provide signaling for configuring and activating / deactivating / modifying frequency hopping patterns. Thus, the conflict between PDCCH candidates is reduced, thereby saving computing resources and wireless communication resources. In addition, the reduction of conflicts can improve the performance of UEs (such as reduced capability UEs) with reduced PDCCH capabilities.

[0067] It should be noted that many of the techniques and apparatus described herein are described with reference to hash functions. However, the techniques and apparatus described herein may use functions other than hash functions to determine PDCCH candidate to CCE mapping.

[0068] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example 300 of configuring a PDCCH candidate hopping pattern and communicating using the PDCCH candidate hopping pattern. As shown, example 300 includes UE 120 and BS 110. In some aspects, UE 120 may be a reduced capability UE.

[0069] As indicated by reference numeral 310, BS 110 may transmit a PDCCH frequency hopping configuration to UE 120. For example, UE 120 may support one or more PDCCH frequency hopping configurations (also referred to herein as frequency hopping pattern configurations). The frequency hopping pattern configuration may indicate one or more parameters for performing PDCCH frequency hopping, which are described in conjunction with reference numeral 340. In some aspects, the frequency hopping pattern may indicate conditions for activating and / or deactivating frequency hopping, such as an explicit indication condition, a timer, an event-based condition (e.g., a signaled event, a bandwidth part (BWP) switch, a grant parameter, an aggregation level usage, a threshold failure of PDCCH decoding, etc.), etc. In some aspects, the PDCCH frequency hopping configuration may be provided using higher layer signaling (e.g., radio resource control (RRC) signaling, etc.), downlink control information (DCI) signaling, a combination of RRC signaling and DCI signaling (e.g., a DCI configuration may supplement, modify, or override an RRC configuration), etc. In some aspects, the PDCCH frequency hopping configuration may be preconfigured (e.g., in a wireless communication standard, etc.). In some aspects, the PDCCH frequency hopping configuration may configure multiple frequency hopping configurations or patterns and one of the multiple frequency hopping configurations or patterns may then be activated.

[0070] As indicated by reference numeral 320, UE 120 may transmit a request to activate PDCCH frequency hopping. For example, UE 120 may transmit the request to activate PDCCH frequency hopping based at least in part on a condition (e.g., based at least in part on a threshold number of PDCCH decoding failures, which may indicate a persistent conflict associated with UE 120). As another example, UE 120 may transmit the request based at least in part on a device type of UE 120. For example, UE 120 may transmit the request based at least in part on UE 120 being a reduced capability UE. In some aspects, the request may be implicit in another communication of UE 120 (such as a communication indicating that UE 120 is a reduced capability UE 120, etc.).

[0071] As indicated by reference numeral 330, BS 110 may transmit an indication that PDCCH frequency hopping is to be activated. In some aspects, BS 110 may transmit an indication that PDCCH frequency hopping is to be activated based at least in part on receiving a request indicated by reference numeral 320. In some aspects, BS 110 may transmit an indication that PDCCH frequency hopping is to be activated without receiving a request (e.g., UE 120 may not transmit a request). In some aspects, the indication indicated by reference numeral 330 may indicate a PDCCH frequency hopping configuration. For example, the indication may carry the PDCCH frequency hopping configuration, or may include an identifier corresponding to a configured PDCCH frequency hopping configuration of UE 120. In some aspects, the indication indicated by reference numeral 330 may be provided using RRC signaling, a media access control (MAC) control element (CE), a DCI, or the like. In some aspects, the indication may relate to a specific BWP or aggregation level and may activate PDCCH frequency hopping for the specific BWP or aggregation level.

[0072] As indicated by reference numeral 340, BS 110 may transmit control information to UE 120 according to the frequency hopping pattern. For example, BS 110 and UE 120 may activate the frequency hopping pattern indicated by the indication shown by reference numeral 330. In other words, BS 110 and UE 120 may use a hash function and the activated frequency hopping pattern to determine the PDCCH candidate to CCE mapping. A description of the hash function (and then potential frequency hopping pattern) is provided below.

[0073] UE 120 and BS 110 may use a hash function to map PDCCH candidates to CCEs. For example, for a search space set s associated with CORESETp, for a search space set s corresponding to a carrier indicator field value n CI The active DLBWP of the serving cell corresponds to the time slot PDCCH candidates in the search space set The CCE index of aggregation level L is given by:

[0074]

[0075] Among them, L, N CCE，p , and n CI The time span is fixed. CCE，p is the number of CCEs in CORESET p, ranging from 0 to N CCE，p -1 No. For any CSS, And for USS, is the total number of configured n CCE aggregation levels L for the search space set s CI The largest value For p mod r = {0, 1, 2}, when r = 3, A p ={39827,39829,39839}. For CSS, All time slots across a frame can be fixed (=0). For USS, The C-RNTI is reset to each frame (initialized with the UE's C-RNTI for slot 0 within the frame) and thereafter changes based at least in part on the slot index within the frame.

[0076] In addition, UE 120 and BS 110 may use a frequency hopping pattern to map PDCCH candidates to CCEs. The frequency hopping pattern may change over time so that persistent collisions between two or more PDCCH candidates of UEs associated with different C-RNTIs may be avoided. The frequency hopping pattern may be defined as a function of one or more of the following: a starting symbol number of a PDCCH within a time slot or span, a time slot number within a frame, a system frame number of a frame, a bandwidth portion of the UE 120 to transmit the PDCCH, a subband of the UE 120 to transmit the PDCCH, a CORESET number (e.g., when the frequency hopping pattern involves hopping across CORESETs), a search space number (e.g., when the frequency hopping pattern involves hopping across search spaces), and the like. In some aspects, the frequency hopping pattern may involve a modification to the hash function described above. For example, the frequency hopping pattern may modify the hash function used to determine A. p The value of r (e.g., using a value greater than 3) is used so that a larger number of CORESETs are used for the hash function than in the hash function shown above. This can be considered as defining one or more virtual CORESETs for the hash function. Thereby, the number of collisions between PDCCH candidates of different UEs based at least in part on the alignment of CORESETs across time slots is reduced.

[0077] In some aspects, the frequency hopping pattern may be within a BWP or subband. In some aspects, the frequency hopping pattern may span two or more BWPs or subbands. Examples of these approaches are described in Figure 4 In some aspects, the frequency hopping pattern may relate to a specific PDCCH candidate. For example, UE 120 and BS 10 may apply the frequency hopping pattern only for a specific PDCCH candidate (e.g., a PDCCH candidate associated with a reduced capability UE, etc.). This may improve network efficiency relative to applying the frequency hopping pattern for all PDCCH candidates. In some aspects, the frequency hopping pattern may be applied to all PDCCH candidates, which may reduce the likelihood of collisions across all PDCCH candidates.

[0078] In some aspects, a frequency hopping pattern may be applied to a specific combination of two or more of a CORESET, search space, aggregation level (AL), or carrier. For example, a frequency hopping pattern may define a frequency hopping pattern within a {CORESET, search space, AL, carrier} combination. In some aspects, a frequency hopping pattern may be applied to all CORESETs regardless of search space, aggregation level, and / or carrier. For example, a frequency hopping pattern may extend across multiple CORESETs. Examples of these approaches refer to Figure 5 .

[0079] As indicated by reference numeral 350, UE 120 may transmit a request to deactivate PDCCH frequency hopping. In some aspects, the request may be implicit in another communication by UE 120, such as a communication indicating that UE 120 is to be deactivated, UE 120 is to enter idle mode, etc.

[0080] In some aspects, UE 120 may determine that PDCCH frequency hopping is to be deactivated. For example, UE 120 may determine that PDCCH frequency hopping is to be deactivated (as described below) based at least in part on an indication from BS 110. In some aspects, UE 120 may determine that PDCCH frequency hopping is to be deactivated based at least in part on a timer. For example, the timer may be based at least in part on the number of frames. In some aspects, the timer may be configured and / or started in a configuration phase and / or a triggering phase. In some aspects, UE 120 may determine that PDCCH frequency hopping is to be deactivated based at least in part on an event (e.g., a signaled event, an event preconfigured for UE 120, such as an event specified by a wireless communication standard, etc.), such as a BWP switch, etc.

[0081] In some aspects, UE 120 and / or BS 110 may activate, deactivate, or modify PDCCH frequency hopping based at least in part on a rule. For example, the rule may indicate a parameter based at least in part on which to activate, deactivate, or modify the PDCCH frequency hopping configuration. In some aspects, the parameter may be based at least in part on a number of consecutive grants received by UE 120 or a grant to use a particular aggregation level (e.g., when a grant to use a particular aggregation level is granted, UE 120 may fall back to a default frequency hopping configuration or a non-frequency hopping configuration).

[0082] As indicated by reference numeral 360, BS 110 may transmit an indication that PDCCH frequency hopping is to be deactivated. For example, the indication may be provided using RRC signaling, MAC-CE signaling, DCI signaling, etc. In some aspects, BS 110 may provide the indication that PDCCH frequency hopping is to be deactivated based at least in part on the request indicated by reference numeral 350. In some aspects, BS 110 may provide the indication without receiving the request indicated by reference numeral 350 (e.g., UE 120 may not transmit the request).

[0083] As indicated above, Figure 3 are provided as examples. Other examples may differ from those described in Figure 3 Examples described.

[0084] Figure 4 and 5 are diagrams illustrating examples 400 and 500 of PDCCH candidate hopping patterns. Figure 4 The frequency hopping pattern configured for frequency hopping within the BWP is shown (option A, such as Figure 4 ) and a frequency hopping pattern configured for frequency hopping across BWPs (option B, as shown in the left portion of Figure 4 410). In option A, frequency hopping occurs on different PDCCH candidates of a CORESET of a BWP and does not continue between different BWPs. For example, the frequency hopping pattern may be specific to a BWP. In some aspects, in option A, frequency hopping may continue over time across CORESETs of the same BWP, as shown by reference numeral 410. In option B, frequency hopping continues across different BWPs and CORESETs. For example, the frequency hopping pattern may continue as the BWP changes (e.g., may be transparent to the BWP).

[0085] Figure 5 shows the frequency hopping pattern per CORESET (option A, in Figure 5 ) and Cross-CORESET Frequency Hopping Mode (Option B, at Figure 5 As shown in Option A, in some aspects, two CORESETs (e.g., CORESET 0 and CORESET 1) may be associated with respective frequency hopping patterns, and frequency hopping may not occur between the two CORESETs. In Option B, in some aspects, frequency hopping may occur across the two CORESETs.

[0086] As indicated above, Figure 4 and 5 is provided as one or more examples. Other examples may differ from the Figure 4 and 5 The content described.

[0087] Figure 6 600 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method. The method may be performed by a base station (eg, Figure 1 base station 110, device 702 / 805, etc.) to execute.

[0088] At 610, a base station (e.g., using controller / processor 240, transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, MOD 232, antenna 234, etc.) may transmit information indicating a rule for activating or deactivating a frequency hopping pattern or indicating a frequency hopping pattern. For example, the base station may transmit information indicating a configuration for the frequency hopping pattern. In some aspects, the information indicating the configuration includes a dynamic parameter that overrides a semi-static parameter associated with the configuration. In some aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a starting symbol number within a slot or span, a slot number within a frame, a system frame number, a bandwidth part, a subband, a CORESET number based at least in part on the case where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-control resource set (CORESET) hopping, or a search space number based at least in part on the case where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-search space hopping.

[0089] At 620, the base station (e.g., using the controller / processor 240, the transmit processor 220, the TX MIMO processor 230, the MOD 232, the antenna 234, etc.) may transmit information that triggers or activates the frequency hopping pattern. In some aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is dynamically configured and activated. In some aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is semi-statically configured and activated. In some aspects, the information that triggers or activates the frequency hopping pattern indicates a parameter set for which the frequency hopping pattern is triggered or activated.

[0090] At 630, the base station may map downlink control channel candidates to a set of CCEs based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern. For example, the base station (e.g., using the controller / processor 240, the transmit processor 220, the TX MIMO processor 230, the MOD 232, the antenna 234, etc.) may map the downlink control channel candidates to the set of CCEs. In some aspects, the base station may use a function (e.g., a PDCCH candidate to CCE function) based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern, as described above. In some aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a starting symbol number within a slot or span, a slot number within a frame, a system frame number, a bandwidth part, a subband, a CORESET number in the case where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-CORESET hopping, or a search space number in the case where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-search space hopping.

[0091] At 640, the base station (e.g., using controller / processor 240, transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, MOD 232, antenna 234, etc.) may transmit a downlink control channel candidate on a set of CCEs. For example, the base station may scramble a downlink control channel candidate (e.g., PDCCH) using an RNTI associated with the UE and may transmit the downlink control channel candidate on the set of CCEs.

[0092] At 650, the base station (e.g., using controller / processor 240, transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, MOD 232, antenna 234, etc.) may transmit information to deactivate the frequency hopping pattern. For example, the base station may deactivate the frequency hopping pattern based at least in part on a request received from a UE or based at least in part on a determination that the frequency hopping pattern is to be deactivated.

[0093] The method 600 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and / or in conjunction with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

[0094] In a first aspect, the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a starting symbol number within a time slot or span, a time slot number within a frame, a system frame number, a bandwidth portion, a subband, a CORESET number in the case where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-CORESET hopping, or a search space number in the case where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-search space hopping.

[0095] In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the frequency hopping pattern uses a control resource set mapping function associated with a divisor greater than three.

[0096] In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is performed within a sub-band or bandwidth portion.

[0097] In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to third aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is specific to the sub-band or the bandwidth portion.

[0098] In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fourth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is performed across two or more sub-bands or bandwidth portions.

[0099] In a sixth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fifth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is changed consistently across the bandwidth portion.

[0100] In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to sixth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is used for a subset of downlink control channel candidates including the downlink control channel candidate.

[0101] In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to seventh aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is used for all downlink control channel candidates associated with the base station or the UE.

[0102] In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to eighth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is used for all control resource sets associated with the base station or the UE.

[0103] In the tenth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first to ninth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on a combination of at least two of: a control resource set of the downlink control channel candidate, a search space of the downlink control channel candidate, an aggregation level of the downlink control channel candidate, or a carrier of the downlink control channel candidate.

[0104] In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to tenth aspects, method 600 includes transmitting information indicating a configuration for the frequency hopping pattern, wherein the information indicating the configuration includes dynamic parameters that override semi-static parameters associated with the configuration.

[0105] In a twelfth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to eleventh aspects, the method 600 includes transmitting information that triggers or activates the frequency hopping mode.

[0106] In a thirteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to twelfth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is dynamically configured and activated.

[0107] In a fourteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to thirteenth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is semi-statically configured and activated.

[0108] In a fifteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fourteenth aspects, the information triggering or activating the frequency hopping mode indicates a parameter set for which the frequency hopping mode is triggered or activated.

[0109] In a sixteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fifteenth aspects, the method 600 includes transmitting information to deactivate the frequency hopping mode.

[0110] In a seventeenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to sixteenth aspects, the method 600 includes transmitting information indicating a rule for activating or deactivating the frequency hopping pattern or indicating the frequency hopping pattern.

[0111] although Figure 6 An example block diagram of method 600 is shown, but in some aspects, method 600 may include Figure 6 Additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in the method 600. Additionally or alternatively, two or more blocks of the method 600 may be executed in parallel.

[0112] Figure 7700 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the flow of data between different components in an example device 702. The device 702 may be a base station. In some aspects, the device 702 includes a receiving component 704, a mapping component 706, and / or a transmission component 708. As shown, the device 702 may communicate with another device 750 (e.g., a UE, a base station, or another wireless communication device) using the receiving component 704 and / or the transmission component 708.

[0113] The mapping component 706 may map the downlink control channel candidate to the CCE set based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern. The transmission component 708 may transmit control information on the downlink control channel candidate on the CCE set (also referred to herein as transmitting the downlink control channel candidate). In some aspects, the transmission component 708 may transmit information indicating a configuration for a frequency hopping pattern, information triggering or activating a frequency hopping pattern, information deactivating a frequency hopping pattern, or information indicating a rule for activating or deactivating a frequency hopping pattern or indicating a frequency hopping pattern. In some aspects, the receiving component 704 may receive a transmission from the device 750, such as a request to activate or deactivate a frequency hopping pattern.

[0114] The apparatus may include executing Figure 6 Additional components of each box of the algorithm in the aforementioned method 600, etc. Figure 6 Each block in the aforementioned method 600, etc., may be performed by a component, and the device may include one or more of those components. These components may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to perform the process / algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to perform the process / algorithm, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

[0115] Figure 7 The number and arrangement of components shown in the figure are provided as examples. In practice, there may be Figure 7 Additional components, fewer components, different components, or differently arranged components than those shown in FIG. Figure 7 Two or more components shown in may be implemented in a single component, or Figure 7 The single component shown in may be implemented as multiple distributed components. Additionally or alternatively, Figure 7 A set of components (e.g., one or more components) shown in FIG. 1 may perform the operations described by Figure 7 One or more functions performed by another component collection shown in .

[0116] Figure 8 is a diagram 800 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a device 805 employing a processing system 810. The device 805 may be a base station.

[0117] The processing system 810 may be implemented with a bus architecture generally represented by bus 815. Bus 815 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges, depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system 810. Bus 815 links various circuits together, including one or more processors and / or hardware components (represented by processor 820, components 704, 706, and / or 708, and computer readable media / memory 825). Bus 815 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 further.

[0118] The processing system 810 may be coupled to a transceiver 830. The transceiver 830 is coupled to one or more antennas 835. The transceiver 830 provides a means for communicating with various other devices over a transmission medium. The transceiver 830 receives signals from the one or more antennas 835, extracts information from the received signals, and provides the extracted information to the processing system 810 (specifically, the receiving component 704). In addition, the transceiver 830 receives information from the processing system 810 (specifically, the transmitting component 708) and generates a signal to be applied to the one or more antennas 835 based at least in part on the received information.

[0119] The processing system 810 includes a processor 820 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 825. The processor 820 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium / memory 825. The software, when executed by the processor 820, causes the processing system 810 to perform the various functions described herein for any particular device. The computer-readable medium / memory 825 may also be used to store data manipulated by the processor 820 when executing the software. The processing system further includes at least one of the components 704, 706, and / or 708. Each component may be a software module running in the processor 820, a software module resident / stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 825, one or more hardware modules coupled to the processor 820, or some combination thereof.

[0120] In some aspects, the processing system 810 may be a component of the base station 110 and may include the memory 242 and / or at least one of the following: the TX MIMO processor 230, the RX processor 238, and / or the controller / processor 240. In some aspects, the device 805 for wireless communication includes: means for mapping downlink control channel candidates to a set of CCEs based at least in part on a frequency hopping pattern; means for transmitting the downlink control channel candidates on the set of CCEs; means for transmitting information indicating a configuration for the frequency hopping pattern; means for transmitting information to trigger or activate the frequency hopping pattern; and means for transmitting information to deactivate the frequency hopping pattern. The aforementioned means may be one or more components of the aforementioned components of the device 702 and / or the processing system 810 of the device 805 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described elsewhere herein, the processing system 810 may include the TX MIMO processor 230, the receive processor 238, and / or the controller / processor 240. In one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX MIMO processor 230, the receive processor 238, and / or the controller / processor 240 configured to perform the functions and / or operations recited herein.

[0121] Figure 8 are provided as examples. Other examples may differ from those in combination with Figure 8 Examples described.

[0122] Fig. 9 900 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method. The method may be performed by a UE (eg, Figure 1 UE 120, device 1002 / 1105, etc.) to execute.

[0123] At 910, the UE (e.g., using antenna 252, DEMOD 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, controller / processor 280, etc.) may receive information indicating rules for activating or deactivating a frequency hopping pattern. In some aspects, the information may indicate a frequency hopping pattern. For example, the information may include a PDCCH frequency hopping pattern or multiple PDCCH frequency hopping patterns.

[0124] At 920, the UE (e.g., using controller / processor 280, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, MOD 254, antenna 252, etc.) may transmit a request to activate a frequency hopping pattern. For example, the UE may transmit the request based at least in part on a condition being met or the device type of the UE.

[0125] At 930, the UE (e.g., using antenna 252, DEMOD 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, controller / processor 280, etc.) may receive information indicating a configuration for a frequency hopping pattern or triggering or activating a frequency hopping pattern. The information may include, for example, DCI, MAC-CE, RRC signaling, etc. In some aspects, the information may indicate a configuration for the frequency hopping pattern from a plurality of configurations.

[0126] At 940, the UE (e.g., using antenna 252, DEMOD 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, controller / processor 280, etc.) may determine a frequency hopping pattern for a downlink control channel candidate. For example, the UE may determine the frequency hopping pattern based at least in part on the signaling described above. In some aspects, the UE may determine the frequency hopping pattern based at least in part on a configuration of the UE (e.g., as specified by a wireless communication standard, etc.). In some aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a starting symbol number within a slot or span, a slot number within a frame, a system frame number, a bandwidth part, a subband, a CORESET number in the case where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-CORESET hopping, or a search space number in the case where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-search space hopping.

[0127] At 950, the UE (e.g., using antenna 252, DEMOD 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, controller / processor 280, etc.) may scan over a set of CCEs for downlink control channel candidates based at least in part on a frequency hopping pattern. For example, the UE may receive control information according to the frequency hopping pattern.

[0128] At 960, the UE (e.g., using antenna 252, DEMOD 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, controller / processor 280, etc.) may receive information to deactivate the frequency hopping mode. For example, the information may include DCI, RRC signaling, MAC-CE, etc. In some aspects, the UE may determine that the frequency hopping mode is to be deactivated (e.g., without receiving such signaling from a base station).

[0129] Method 900 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and / or in conjunction with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

[0130] In a first aspect, the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a starting symbol number within a time slot or span, a time slot number within a frame, a system frame number, a bandwidth portion, a subband, a CORESET number in the case where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-CORESET hopping, or a search space number in the case where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-search space hopping.

[0131] In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the frequency hopping pattern uses a control resource set mapping function associated with a divisor greater than three.

[0132] In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is performed within a sub-band or bandwidth portion.

[0133] In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to third aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is specific to the sub-band or the bandwidth portion.

[0134] In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fourth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is performed across two or more sub-bands or bandwidth portions.

[0135] In a sixth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fifth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is changed consistently across the bandwidth portion.

[0136] In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to sixth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is used for a subset of downlink control channel candidates including the downlink control channel candidate.

[0137] In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to seventh aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is used for all downlink control channel candidates associated with the base station or the UE.

[0138] In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to eighth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is used for all control resource sets associated with the UE.

[0139] In the tenth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first to ninth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on a combination of at least two of: a control resource set of the downlink control channel candidate, a search space of the downlink control channel candidate, an aggregation level of the downlink control channel candidate, or a carrier of the downlink control channel candidate.

[0140] In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to tenth aspects, the method 900 includes receiving information indicating a configuration for the frequency hopping pattern or triggering or activating the frequency hopping pattern.

[0141] In a twelfth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to eleventh aspects, the method 900 includes receiving information to deactivate the frequency hopping mode.

[0142] In a thirteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to twelfth aspects, the frequency hopping pattern is associated with a timer for deactivating the frequency hopping pattern.

[0143] In a fourteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to thirteenth aspects, the method 900 includes receiving information indicating a rule for activating or deactivating the frequency hopping pattern or indicating the frequency hopping pattern.

[0144] In a fifteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fourteenth aspects, method 900 includes transmitting a request to activate or deactivate the frequency hopping mode.

[0145] although Fig. 9 An example block diagram of method 900 is shown, but in some aspects, method 900 may include Fig. 9 Additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in the method 900. Additionally or alternatively, two or more blocks of the method 900 may be executed in parallel.

[0146] Fig.10 1000 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the flow of data between different components in an example device 1002. The device 1002 may be a UE. In some aspects, the device 1002 includes a receiving / scanning component 1004, a determining component 1006, and / or a transmitting component 1008. As shown, the device 1002 may communicate with another device 1050 (such as a UE, a base station, or another wireless communication device) using the receiving / scanning component 1004 and / or the transmitting component 1008.

[0147] The determining component 1006 can determine a frequency hopping pattern for a downlink control channel candidate. For example, the determining component can determine the frequency hopping pattern based at least in part on information received from the device 1050. The receiving / scanning component 1004 can scan for control information on a set of CCEs based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern (e.g., also referred to as scanning for downlink control channel candidates). In some aspects, the receiving / scanning component 1004 can receive: information indicating a configuration for the frequency hopping pattern or a trigger or activating the frequency hopping pattern; information deactivating the frequency hopping pattern; indicating a rule for activating or deactivating the frequency hopping pattern or indicating the frequency hopping pattern, etc. The transmitting component 1008 can transmit a request to the device 1050, such as a request to activate or deactivate the frequency hopping pattern.

[0148] The apparatus may include executing Fig. 9Additional components to each box of the algorithm in the aforementioned method 900, etc. Fig. 9 Each block in the aforementioned method 900, etc., may be performed by a component, and the device may include one or more of those components. These components may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to perform the process / algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to perform the process / algorithm, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

[0149] Fig.10 The number and arrangement of components shown in the figure are provided as examples. In practice, there may be Fig.10 Additional components, fewer components, different components, or differently arranged components than those shown in FIG. Fig.10 Two or more components shown in may be implemented in a single component, or Fig.10 The single component shown in may be implemented as multiple distributed components. Additionally or alternatively, Fig.10 A set of components (e.g., one or more components) shown in FIG. 1 may perform the operations described by Fig.10 One or more functions performed by another component collection shown in .

[0150] Fig.11 is a diagram 1100 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a device 1105 employing a processing system 1110. The device 1105 may be a UE.

[0151] The processing system 1110 may be implemented with a bus architecture generally represented by bus 1115. Bus 1115 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges, depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system 1110. Bus 1115 links various circuits together, including one or more processors and / or hardware components (represented by processor 1120, components 1004, 1006, and / or 1008, and computer readable medium / memory 1125). Bus 1115 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 further.

[0152] The processing system 1110 may be coupled to a transceiver 1130. The transceiver 1130 is coupled to one or more antennas 1135. The transceiver 1130 provides a means for communicating with various other devices over a transmission medium. The transceiver 1130 receives signals from the one or more antennas 1135, extracts information from the received signals, and provides the extracted information to the processing system 1110 (specifically, the receiving / scanning component 1004). In addition, the transceiver 1130 receives information from the processing system 1110 (specifically, the transmitting component 1008) and generates a signal to be applied to the one or more antennas 1135 based at least in part on the received information.

[0153] The processing system 1110 includes a processor 1120 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 1125. The processor 1120 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium / memory 1125. The software, when executed by the processor 1120, causes the processing system 1110 to perform the various functions described herein for any particular device. The computer-readable medium / memory 1125 may also be used to store data manipulated by the processor 1120 when executing the software. The processing system further includes at least one of components 1004, 1006, and / or 1008. Each component may be a software module running in the processor 1120, a software module resident / stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1125, one or more hardware modules coupled to the processor 1120, or some combination thereof.

[0154] In some aspects, the processing system 1110 may be a component of the UE 120 and may include the memory 282 and / or at least one of the TX MIMO processor 266, the RX processor 258, and / or the controller / processor 280. In some aspects, the device 1105 for wireless communication includes: means for determining a frequency hopping pattern for a downlink control channel candidate; means for scanning on a set of CCEs to find a downlink control channel candidate based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern; means for receiving information indicating a configuration for the frequency hopping pattern or triggering or activating the frequency hopping pattern; means for receiving information to deactivate the frequency hopping pattern; means for receiving information indicating a rule for activating or deactivating the frequency hopping pattern or indicating the frequency hopping pattern; and means for transmitting a request to activate or deactivate the frequency hopping pattern. The aforementioned means may be one or more components of the aforementioned components of the device 1002 and / or the processing system 1110 of the device 1105 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described elsewhere herein, the processing system 1110 may include the TX MIMO processor 266, the RX processor 258, and / or the controller / processor 280. In one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX MIMO processor 266, the RX processor 258, and / or the controller / processor 280 configured to perform the functions and / or operations recited herein.

[0155] Fig.11 are provided as examples. Other examples may differ from those in combination with Fig.11 Examples described.

[0156] It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of each frame in the disclosed process / flowchart is an illustration of an exemplary approach. It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of each frame in these process / flowcharts can be rearranged based on design preferences. In addition, some frames can be combined or omitted. The attached method claims present the elements of various frames in an exemplary order and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

[0157] The following provides an overview of some aspects of the disclosure:

[0158] Aspect 1: A wireless communication method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: determining a frequency hopping pattern for a downlink control channel candidate, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of the following; and scanning on a control channel element (CCE) set to search for the downlink control channel candidate based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern.

[0159] Aspect 2: The method of aspect 1, wherein the frequency hopping pattern uses a control resource set mapping function associated with a divisor greater than 3.

[0160] Aspect 3: The method according to any one of aspects 1-2, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is performed within a sub-band or bandwidth portion.

[0161] Aspect 4: The method of aspect 3, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is specific to the sub-band or the bandwidth portion.

[0162] Aspect 5: The method of any of aspects 1-2, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is performed across two or more sub-bands or bandwidth portions.

[0163] Aspect 6: The method of aspect 5, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is changed consistently across the bandwidth portion.

[0164] Aspect 7: The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 6, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is used for a downlink control channel candidate subset including the downlink control channel candidate.

[0165] Aspect 8: The method according to any one of aspects 1-6, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is used for all downlink control channel candidates associated with the UE or a base station associated with the downlink control channel candidate.

[0166] Aspect 9: The method according to any one of aspects 1-8, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is used for all control resource sets associated with the UE or the base station associated with the downlink control channel candidate.

[0167] Aspect 10: A method as in any one of Aspects 1-9, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on a combination of at least two of: a control resource set of the downlink control channel candidate, a search space of the downlink control channel candidate, an aggregation level of the downlink control channel candidate, or a carrier of the downlink control channel candidate.

[0168] Aspect 11: The method of any of aspects 1-10, further comprising: receiving information indicating a configuration for the frequency hopping pattern, wherein the information indicating the configuration includes a dynamic parameter that overrides a semi-static parameter associated with the configuration.

[0169] Aspect 12: The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 11, further comprising: receiving information for triggering or activating the frequency hopping mode.

[0170] Aspect 13: The method of Aspect 12, wherein the frequency hopping mode is dynamically configured and activated.

[0171] Aspect 14: The method of aspect 12, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is semi-statically configured and activated.

[0172] Aspect 15: The method of Aspect 12, wherein the information for triggering or activating the frequency hopping mode indicates a parameter set for which the frequency hopping mode is triggered or activated.

[0173] Aspect 16: The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 15, further comprising: receiving information for deactivating the frequency hopping mode.

[0174] Aspect 17: The method according to any one of aspects 1-16, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is associated with a timer for deactivating the frequency hopping pattern.

[0175] Aspect 18: The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 17, further comprising: receiving information indicating a rule for activating or deactivating the frequency hopping mode or indicating the frequency hopping mode; and activating or deactivating the frequency hopping mode according to the rule.

[0176] Aspect 19: The method according to any one of aspects 1-18, further comprising: transmitting a request to activate or deactivate the frequency hopping mode.

[0177] Aspect 20: A wireless communication method performed by a base station, comprising: mapping a downlink control channel candidate to a control channel element (CCE) set based at least in part on a frequency hopping pattern, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: a search space number in a case where the frequency hopping pattern uses cross-search space hopping; and transmitting the downlink control channel candidate on the CCE set.

[0178] Aspect 21: The method of aspect 20, wherein the frequency hopping pattern uses a control resource set mapping function associated with a divisor greater than 3.

[0179] Aspect 22: The method of any of aspects 20-21, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is performed within a sub-band or bandwidth portion.

[0180] Aspect 23: The method of any of aspects 20-22, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is performed across two or more sub-bands or bandwidth portions.

[0181] Aspect 24: A method as in any of Aspects 20-23, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on a combination of at least two of: a control resource set of the downlink control channel candidate, a search space of the downlink control channel candidate, an aggregation level of the downlink control channel candidate, or a carrier of the downlink control channel candidate.

[0182] Aspect 25: The method according to any one of aspects 20 to 24, further comprising: transmitting information for triggering or activating the frequency hopping mode, wherein the information for triggering or activating the frequency hopping mode indicates a parameter set for which the frequency hopping mode is triggered or activated.

[0183] Aspect 26: An apparatus for wireless communication at a device, comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to perform a method as in one or more of Aspects 1-25.

[0184] Aspect 27: A device for wireless communication, comprising a memory and one or more processors coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors being configured to perform the method of one or more aspects of aspects 1-25.

[0185] Aspect 28: An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising at least one means for performing the method of one or more aspects of aspects 1-25.

[0186] Aspect 29: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to perform the method of one or more aspects of aspects 1-25.

[0187] Aspect 30: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing an instruction set for wireless communication, the instruction set comprising one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause the device to perform the method of one or more aspects of aspects 1-25.

[0188] The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be easily understood by those skilled in the art, and the universal principles defined in this article can be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown in this article, but should be granted the full scope consistent with the claims in language, wherein the singular reference of the elements is not intended to represent "there is and only one", but "one or more", unless otherwise stated. The wording "exemplary" is used in this article to represent "used as an example, instance, or explanation". Any aspect described as "exemplary" herein does not have to be interpreted as being superior to or superior to other aspects. Unless otherwise stated, the term "some / certain" refers to one or more. Combinations such as "at least one of A, B or C", "at least one of A, B and C" and "A, B, C or any combination thereof" include any combination of A, B and / or C, and may include multiple A, multiple B or multiple C. Specifically, combinations such as "at least one of A, B, or C," "at least one of A, B, and C," and "A, B, C, or any combination thereof" may be A only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, wherein any such combination may include one or more members of A, B, or C. All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are currently or later known to one of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be covered by the claims. In addition, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is expressly recited in the claims. No claim element should be construed as a means-plus-function unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase "means for..."

Claims

1. A wireless communication method performed by a user equipment UE, comprising: determining a frequency hopping pattern for a downlink control channel candidate, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: The starting symbol number within the time slot or span, The time slot number within the frame varies with time, a CORESET number in the case of frequency hopping across a control resource set CORESET based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern, or a search space for the downlink control channel candidates; as well as A set of control channel elements (CCEs) are scanned for the downlink control channel candidate based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency hopping pattern uses a control resource set mapping function associated with a divisor greater than 3.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is performed within a sub-band or bandwidth portion.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is specific to the sub-band or the bandwidth portion.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is performed across two or more sub-bands or bandwidth portions.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is changed uniformly across the bandwidth portion.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is used for a subset of downlink control channel candidates including the downlink control channel candidates.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is used for all downlink control channel candidates associated with the UE or a network entity associated with the downlink control channel candidates.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is used for all control resource sets associated with the UE or a network entity associated with the downlink control channel candidate.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on a combination of at least two of: a control resource set of the downlink control channel candidate, said search space for said downlink control channel candidates, the aggregation level of the downlink control channel candidates, or The downlink control channel candidate carrier.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving information indicative of a configuration for the frequency hopping pattern, Wherein the information indicative of the configuration includes dynamic parameters that override semi-static parameters associated with the configuration.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Information is received to trigger or activate the frequency hopping mode.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is dynamically configured and activated.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is semi-statically configured and activated.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the information triggering or activating the frequency hopping pattern indicates a parameter set for which the frequency hopping pattern is triggered or activated.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Information for deactivating the frequency hopping mode is received.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is associated with a timer for deactivating the frequency hopping pattern.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving information indicating a rule for activating or deactivating the frequency hopping pattern or indicating the frequency hopping pattern; as well as The frequency hopping pattern is activated or deactivated according to the rule.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising: A request is transmitted to activate or deactivate the frequency hopping pattern.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is further based at least in part on at least one of: System frame number, Bandwidth portion, or Sub-band.

21. A wireless communication method performed by a network entity, comprising: Mapping downlink control channel candidates to a set of control channel elements (CCEs) based at least in part on a frequency hopping pattern, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: The starting symbol number within the time slot or span, The time slot number within the frame varies with time, a CORESET number in the case of frequency hopping across a control resource set CORESET based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern, or a search space for the downlink control channel candidates; as well as The downlink control channel candidate is transmitted on the set of CCEs.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the frequency hopping pattern uses a control resource set mapping function associated with a divisor greater than 3.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is performed within a sub-band or bandwidth portion.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is performed across two or more sub-bands or bandwidth portions.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on a combination of at least two of: a control resource set of the downlink control channel candidate, said search space for said downlink control channel candidates, the aggregation level of the downlink control channel candidates, or The downlink control channel candidate carrier.

26. The method of claim 21, further comprising: Information for triggering or activating the frequency hopping mode is transmitted, wherein the information for triggering or activating the frequency hopping mode indicates a parameter set for which the frequency hopping mode is triggered or activated.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is further based at least in part on at least one of: System frame number, Bandwidth portion, or Sub-band.

28. A network entity for wireless communication, comprising: Memory; as well as one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to: Mapping downlink control channel candidates to a set of control channel elements (CCEs) based at least in part on a frequency hopping pattern, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: The starting symbol number within the time slot or span, The time slot number within the frame varies with time, a CORESET number in the case of frequency hopping across a control resource set CORESET based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern, or a search space for the downlink control channel candidates; as well as The downlink control channel candidate is transmitted on the set of CCEs.

29. The network entity of claim 28, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on a combination of at least two of: a control resource set of the downlink control channel candidate, said search space for said downlink control channel candidates, the aggregation level of the downlink control channel candidates, or The downlink control channel candidate carrier.

30. The network entity of claim 28, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: Information indicative of a configuration for the frequency hopping pattern is transmitted.

31. The network entity of claim 28, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is further based at least in part on at least one of: System frame number, Bandwidth portion, or Sub-band.

32. A user equipment UE for wireless communication, comprising: Memory; as well as one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to: determining a frequency hopping pattern for a downlink control channel candidate, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is based at least in part on at least one of: The starting symbol number within the time slot or span, The time slot number within the frame varies with time, a CORESET number in the case of frequency hopping across a control resource set CORESET based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern, or a search space for the downlink control channel candidates; as well as A set of control channel elements (CCEs) are scanned for the downlink control channel candidate based at least in part on the frequency hopping pattern.

33. The UE of claim 32, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: Information indicating configuration for the frequency hopping pattern or triggering or activating the frequency hopping pattern is received.

34. The UE of claim 32, wherein the frequency hopping pattern is further based at least in part on at least one of: System frame number, Bandwidth portion, or Sub-band.

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