Scaling of Physical Downlink and Uplink Shared Channel Transport Blocks for Band Selection

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to transport block (TB) scaling in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) for selecting a frequency band, such as a new radio unlicensed (NR-U) frequency band where the allowed power spectral density may be low).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Broadly speaking, the techniques discussed herein relate to wireless communication systems, and more specifically, the techniques discussed herein relate to transport block (TB) scaling in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) for selecting a frequency band (such as a new radio unlicensed (NR-U) frequency band). Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication systems under development (e.g., 5G NR) increasingly seek to utilize unlicensed frequency bands, such as the 5 GHz or 6 GHz frequency bands (e.g., NR-U). However, the power spectral density (PSD) for a frequency band such as 6 GHz may be restricted to protect existing devices (e.g., cameras) within a wireless device, where for both the gNodeB (gNB) and the user equipment (UE), the restriction is 10 dBm / MHz or lower than the PSD of the current 5 GHz frequency band. Since the PSD in such a frequency band may be restricted, the total transmit power allowed will also be limited by the occupied bandwidth. Additionally, certain standards (such as version 16 of the 3GPP NR standard) have assumed that a 20 MHz bandwidth is sufficient for transmit power. However, version 16 introduced an uplink (UL) interleaved waveform for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and the shared channel (PUSCH), and restricted the PUCCH to a 20 MHz bandwidth, and also introduced a wideband physical random access channel (PRACH) that is also restricted to a 20 MHz bandwidth. Assuming a low PSD limit for an NR unlicensed frequency band system (e.g., 11 dB lower on the UE side and 5 dB lower on the gNB side), it is clear that the available resources are reduced. Summary of the Invention

[0003] To provide a basic understanding of one or more aspects of the present disclosure, an overview of these aspects is given below. This overview is not an exhaustive overview of all the expected features of the present disclosure, and is neither intended to identify the key or important elements of all aspects of the present disclosure, nor to depict the scope of any or all aspects of the present disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the present disclosure in a form as a prelude to the more detailed description given later.

[0004] In one example, a method for wireless communication at a base station in a wireless communication network is disclosed. The method includes: configuring a scaling field within downlink control information (DCI) to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is set within an existing bit field in the DCI. Additionally, the method includes: sending the DCI to at least one user equipment (UE).

[0005] Another example provides a method for wireless communication at a base station in a wireless communication network. The method includes: adding one or more scaling bits within one or more fields of a random access resource (RAR) control element to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Additionally, the method includes: sending the RAR control element having the one or more scaling bits to at least one user equipment (UE).

[0006] In yet another example, a method for wireless communication at a base station in a wireless communication network is disclosed. The method includes: determining a transport block (TB) scaling factor for setting a transport block (TB) size for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). Additionally, the method includes: encoding the scaling factor using time domain resource allocation (TDRA); and sending the TDRA having the scaling field with the scaling factor for the TB size to at least one user equipment (UE).

[0007] Another example provides a method for wireless communication at a base station in a wireless communication network, including: determining a TB scaling factor for scaling a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). The method further includes: associating the TB scaling factor with at least one modulation and coding scheme (MCS) using a radio resource control (RRC) mechanism in the base station, and then sending the TB scaling via RRC-configured signaling to at least one user equipment (UE).

[0008] According to another example, a method of wireless communication at a base station in a wireless communication network is disclosed, including: determining TB scaling information that can be used to scale the transport block (TB) size for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The method further includes: adding the TB scaling information to a radio resource control (RRC) configuration; and sending the RRC configuration including the TB scaling information for use in uplink (UL) transmission from the base station to a user equipment (UE) via RRC signaling.

[0009] Another disclosed method provides wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network. The method includes: receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a base station, the DCI including a scaling field configured to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is further set within an existing bit field in the DCI. Additionally, the method includes: determining the size of the transport block based on the scaling factor.

[0010] Another disclosed method provides a method of wireless communication at a UE in a wireless communication network. The method includes: receiving a random access resource (RAR) control element from a base station, the RAR including one or more scaling bits within one or more fields of the RAR control element, the one or more scaling bits being configured to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Additionally, the method includes: determining the size of the transport block based on the scaling factor.

[0011] According to yet another aspect, a method of wireless communication at a UE in a wireless communication network is disclosed, the method including: receiving a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) including a scaling field having a scaling factor for setting a transport block (TB) size for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). The method further includes: decoding the scaling factor within the TDRA; and determining the size of the TB based on the decoded scaling factor.

[0012] Another disclosed method provides a method for wireless communication at a UE in a wireless communication network. The method includes: receiving, via radio resource control (RRC)-configured signaling from a base station, a transport block (TB) scaling factor for scaling a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the TB scaling factor is associated with at least one modulation and coding scheme (MCS) using an RRC mechanism. Additionally, the method includes: determining the TB size based on the TB scaling factor.

[0013] According to another aspect, a method for wireless communication at a UE in a wireless communication network is disclosed. The method includes: receiving, via RRC signaling from a base station, an RRC configuration that includes transport block (TB) scaling information for use in uplink (UL) transmissions. Additionally, the method includes: determining, based on the TB scaling information in the RRC configuration, a TB size for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0014] According to another aspect, a base station configured for wireless communication is disclosed. The base station includes a processor, a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, and a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor. Additionally, the processor and the memory are configured to: configure a scaling field within downlink control information (DCI) to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is set within an existing bit field in the DCI. Additionally, the processor and the memory are configured to: send the DCI to at least one user equipment (UE).

[0015] According to another aspect, a UE configured for wireless communication is disclosed. The UE includes a processor, a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, and a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor. Additionally, the processor and the memory are configured to: receive, from a base station, downlink control information (DCI) that includes a scaling field configured to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is further set within an existing bit field in the DCI. Additionally, the processor and the memory are configured to: determine the size of a transport block based on the scaling factor.

[0016] Another example provides a base station configured for wireless communication. The base station includes: a unit configured to configure a scaling field in downlink control information (DCI) to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is set within an existing bit field in the DCI. Additionally, the base station includes: a unit configured to send the DCI to at least one user equipment (UE).

[0017] Another example provides a user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communication. The UE includes: a unit configured to receive downlink control information (DCI) from a base station, the DCI including a scaling field configured to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is further set within an existing bit field in the DCI. Furthermore, the UE includes: a unit configured to determine a size of a transport block based on the scaling factor.

[0018] Another example provides a computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code, the computer-executable code including instructions for causing a base station to: configure a scaling field in downlink control information (DCI) to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is set within an existing bit field in the DCI. Additionally, the computer-executable code includes instructions for causing the base station to: send the DCI to at least one user equipment (UE).

[0019] Another example provides a computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code, the computer-executable code including instructions for causing a UE to: receive downlink control information (DCI) from a base station, the DCI including a scaling field configured to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is further set within an existing bit field in the DCI. Additionally, the computer-executable code includes instructions for causing the UE to: determine a size of a transport block based on the scaling factor.

[0020] These and other aspects will become more fully understood after a review of the following detailed description. After reviewing the following description of specific exemplary embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, other aspects, features, and embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Although features may be discussed below with respect to certain embodiments and drawings, all embodiments may include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, although one or more embodiments may be discussed as having certain advantageous features, one or more of these features may also be used in accordance with the various embodiments discussed herein. In a similar manner, although the exemplary embodiments may be discussed below as device, system, or method embodiments, these exemplary embodiments may be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system in accordance with some aspects.

[0022] Figure 2 is a conceptual diagram of an example of a radio access network in accordance with some aspects.

[0023] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing the organization of wireless resources in an air interface utilizing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in accordance with some aspects.

[0024] Figure 4A is a block diagram showing an exemplary structure of downlink control information (DCI) for implementing transport block (TB) scaling in accordance with some aspects.

[0025] Figure 4B is a block diagram showing an exemplary structure of additional downlink control information (DCI) for implementing transport block (TB) scaling in accordance with some aspects.

[0026] Figure 4C is a block diagram showing an exemplary structure of yet another downlink control information (DCI) for implementing transport block (TB) scaling in accordance with some aspects.

[0027] Figure 5 is a diagram showing an exemplary random access resource (RAR) structure for implementing transport block (TB) scaling in accordance with some aspects.

[0028] Figure 6 is a diagram showing another exemplary RAR structure for implementing transport block (TB) scaling in accordance with some aspects.

[0029] Figure 7 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware implementation of a base station or gNB employing a processing system in accordance with some aspects.

[0030] Figure 8 is a flowchart of an exemplary method for providing transport block (TB) scaling in a wireless communication system according to some aspects.

[0031] Figure 9 is a flowchart of another exemplary method for providing and transmitting a transport block (TB) scaling factor in a wireless communication system according to some aspects.

[0032] Figure 10 is a flowchart of yet another exemplary method for providing transport block (TB) scaling in a wireless communication system.

[0033] Figure 11 is a flowchart of yet another exemplary method for providing transport block (TB) scaling in a wireless communication system.

[0034] Figure 12 is a flowchart of yet another exemplary method for providing transport block (TB) scaling in a wireless communication system.

[0035] Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a UE using a processing system according to some aspects.

[0036] Figure 14 is a flowchart of an exemplary method for a UE to receive TB scaling information according to some aspects.

[0037] Figure 15 is a flowchart of another exemplary method for a UE to receive TB scaling information according to some aspects.

[0038] Figure 16 is a flowchart of yet another exemplary method for a UE to receive TB scaling information according to some aspects.

[0039] Figure 17 is a flowchart of yet another exemplary method for a UE to receive TB scaling information according to some aspects.

[0040] Figure 18 is a flowchart of yet another exemplary method for a UE to receive TB scaling information according to some aspects. Detailed Description

[0041] The detailed description set forth below in connection with the accompanying drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be implemented. To provide a thorough understanding of the concepts, the detailed description includes specific details. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the 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.

[0042] In a wireless communication system utilizing an unlicensed frequency band such as the 6 GHz band, it is expected that power spectral density (PSD) limits may be imposed on such a band. For example, for a gNB, the PSD limit may be 5 dBm / MHz, and for a UE, the PSD limit may be -1 dBm / MHz, which is significantly lower than the current 5 GHz PSD limit (e.g., 10 dBm / MHz for both gNB and UE). As previously mentioned, such limits will result in the effect that the total transmit power allowed will be limited by the bandwidth occupied.

[0043] Given the potential extremely low PSD limits in the 6 GHz band (e.g., 11 dB lower at the UE side than the current 5 GHz band and 5 dB lower at the gNB side than the current 5 GHz band) and the difference between the uplink (UL) and the downlink (DL) (i.e., the relative 6 dB difference between UL and DL), this poses a challenge to balancing the resource allocation between DL and UL. To increase the transmit power, the only way is to send signals using a wider bandwidth (i.e., the signal needs to occupy each MHz in the frequency bandwidth). For the PDSCH and PUSCH channels in 5G NR, this may already be done through scheduling. Nevertheless, in 5G NR, the transport block (TB) size scales with the size of the frequency-domain resource allocation, so using a smaller allocation can no longer boost the power. In this case, a large allocation with a higher coding gain (e.g., a higher modulation and coding scheme (MCS)) in the frequency domain will be needed. However, again, in 5G NR, given the same modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a larger allocation means a larger transport block size (TBS). Therefore, some kind of TB size adjustment (i.e., TB size reduction) may be useful for reducing the coding rate or gain, which is similar to what was done for P-RNTI and RA-RNTI DCI 1_0 with the TB scaling field. Further note that according to Releases 15 and 16 for 5G NR, for P-RNTI, RA-RNTI, and msgB-RNTI used for DCI 1_0, the TB scaling field is two (2) bits, where the scaling of the TB is allowed to be reduced by multiples of 1 / 2 (0.5) or 1 / 4 (0.25). Thus, the present disclosure provides further transport block (TB) scaling by providing scaling factors, scaling bits, and / or scaling fields through various mechanisms, particularly for systems operating in unlicensed bands such as the 6 GHz band (e.g., NR-U band).

[0044] While aspects and embodiments are described herein by way of illustration of some examples, those skilled in the art will appreciate that additional implementations and use cases may arise in many different arrangements and scenarios. The innovations described herein can be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, package arrangements. For example, embodiments and / or uses may arise via integrated chip embodiments and other non-module component-based devices (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial devices, retail / purchase devices, medical devices, AI-enabled devices, etc.). While some examples may or may not be specific to a use case or application, there can be a wide variety of scopes of applicability for the innovations described. Implementations can range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level implementations and further to aggregated, distributed, or OEM devices or systems incorporating one or more aspects of the innovations described. In some practical settings, devices incorporating the aspects and features described may also necessarily include additional components and features for the implementation and enforcement of the claimed and described embodiments. For example, the transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily includes multiple components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antennas, RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processors, interleavers, adders / summers, etc.). The innovations described herein are intended to be implementable in a variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, end-user devices, etc. having different sizes, shapes, and configurations.

[0045] The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure can be implemented in a wide variety of telecommunication systems, network architectures, and communication standards. Now referring to Figure 1 , by way of illustrative example and not limitation, a schematic diagram of a wireless system 100 of one or more radio access networks (RANs) is provided. The RAN can implement any one or more suitable wireless communication technologies to provide radio access. As an example, the RAN can operate according to 3GPP New Radio (NR) specifications (often referred to as 5G or 5G NR). As another example, the RAN can operate according to a hybrid of 5G NR and the evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (eUTRAN) standard (often referred to as LTE). 3GPP refers to this hybrid RAN as the Next Generation RAN or NG-RAN. Of course, many other examples can be utilized within the scope of this disclosure.

[0046] The geographical area covered by one or more radio access networks 100 shown in the illustration 100 can be divided into a plurality of cellular areas (cells), which can be uniquely identified by user equipment (UE) based on an identifier broadcast from one access point or base station over the geographical area. Figure 1FIG. 0 shows macro cells 102, 104, 106, and 107 and a small cell 108, each of which may include one or more sectors (not shown). A sector is a sub-region of a cell. All sectors within a cell are served by the same base station. The radio links within a sector may be identified by a single logical identifier belonging to that sector. In a cell divided into sectors, multiple sectors within the cell may be formed by an antenna group, where each antenna is responsible for communicating with UEs in a part of the cell.

[0047] Generally, a base station (BS) serves each cell. Broadly speaking, a base station is a network element in a radio access network responsible for radio transmission and reception to or from UEs in one or more cells. The BS may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a base transceiver station (BTS), radio base station, radio transceiver, transceiver functional unit, basic service set (BSS), extended service set (ESS), access point (AP), Node B (NB), evolved Node B (eNB), gNodeB (gNB), or some other appropriate term.

[0048] In Figure 1 FIG. 8, three base stations 110, 112, and 113 are shown in cells 102, 104, and 107, respectively; and another base station 114 is shown controlling a remote radio head (RRH) 116 in cell 106. A base station may have an integrated antenna or may be connected to an antenna or RRH via a feeder cable. In the example shown, cells 102, 104, 106, and 107 may be referred to as macro cells because base stations 110, 112, 113, and 114 support cells with large dimensions. Additionally, a base station 118 is shown in small cell 108 (e.g., micro cell, pico cell, femto cell, home base station, home Node B, home evolved Node B, etc.), and small cell 108 may overlap with one or more macro cells. In this example, cell 108 may be referred to as a small cell because base station 118 supports a cell with a relatively small dimension. The cell size setting may be done according to system design and component constraints. It is to be understood that the radio access network 100 may include any number of radio base stations and cells. Additionally, relay nodes may be deployed to extend the size or coverage area of a given cell. Base stations 110, 112, 113, 114, and 118 provide a wireless access point to the core network for any number of mobile devices.

[0049] Figure 1 Also included is a quadcopter or drone 120, which may be configured to act as a base station. That is, in some examples, a cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographical area of the cell may move according to the position of a mobile base station such as quadcopter 120.

[0050] Typically, a base station may include a backhaul interface for communicating with a backhaul portion of the network (not shown in this figure). The backhaul may provide a link between the base station and the core network (not shown), and in some examples, the backhaul may provide an interconnection between corresponding base stations. The core network may be part of a wireless communication system and may be independent of the radio access technology used in the radio access network. Various types of backhaul interfaces may be employed, such as direct physical connections, virtual networks, or similar interfaces using any suitable transport network.

[0051] One or more RANs shown in the illustration of wireless system 100 are shown as supporting wireless communication for a plurality of mobile devices. Mobile devices are typically referred to as user equipment (UE) in the standards and specifications published by 3GPP, but may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as mobile stations (MS), subscriber stations, mobile units, subscriber units, wireless units, remote units, mobile devices, wireless devices, wireless communication devices, remote devices, mobile subscriber stations, access terminals (AT), mobile terminals, wireless terminals, remote terminals, cellular phones, terminals, user agents, mobile clients, clients, or some other suitable term. A UE may be a device that provides a user with access to network services.

[0052] In this document, a "mobile" device does not necessarily need to have the ability to move and can be stationary. The term mobile device or mobile equipment broadly refers to a wide variety of devices and technologies. For example, some non-limiting examples of mobile devices include mobile stations, cellular phones (cell phones), smart phones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, laptop computers, personal computers (PCs), notebooks, netbooks, smartbooks, tablet devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and various embedded systems (e.g., corresponding to the "Internet of Things" (IoT)). A mobile device can additionally be an automobile or other vehicle, a remote sensor or actuator, a robot or robotic device, a satellite radio unit, a Global Positioning System (GPS) device, a target tracking device, a drone, a multi-wing aircraft, a quadcopter, a remote control device, a consumer device, and / or a wearable device (such as glasses, a wearable camera, a virtual reality device, a smart watch, a health or fitness tracker, a digital audio player (e.g., an MP3 player), a camera, a game console, etc.). A mobile device can additionally be a digital home or smart home device, such as a home audio, video, and / or multimedia device, an appliance, a vending machine, smart lighting, a home security system, a smart meter, and so on. A mobile device can additionally be a smart energy device, a security device, a solar panel or solar array, a municipal infrastructure device that controls electricity (e.g., a smart grid), lighting, water, etc.; an industrial automation and enterprise device; a logistics controller; an agricultural equipment; a military defense equipment, vehicle, aircraft, ship, and weapon, and so on. Further, a mobile device can provide connected medicine or telemedicine support (e.g., telehealthcare). A telemedicine device can include a telemedicine monitoring device and a telemedicine management device, the communication of which can be preferentially accessed compared to other types of information, e.g., in terms of preferential access for the transmission of critical service data and / or related QoS for the transmission of critical service data.

[0053] A cell may include UEs that can communicate with one or more sectors of each cell. For example, UEs 122 and 124 may communicate with base station 110; UEs 126 and 128 may communicate with base station 112; UEs 130 and 132 may communicate with base station 114 via RRH 116; UE 134 may communicate with base station 118; UEs 138 and 140 may communicate with base station 113 and with each other via sidelink (SL) 142; and UE 136 may communicate with mobile base station 120. Here, each of base stations 110, 112, 113, 114, 118, and 120 may be configured to provide an access point to a core network (not shown) for all UEs in the corresponding cell. In another example, a mobile network node (e.g., quadcopter 120) may be configured to act as a UE. For example, quadcopter 120 may operate within cell 102 by communicating with base station 110.

[0054] Wireless communication between the RAN and a UE (e.g., UE 122 or 124) may be described as utilizing an air interface. Transmissions from a base station (e.g., base station 110) to one or more UEs (e.g., UEs 122 and 124) over the air interface may be referred to as downlink (DL) transmissions. According to some aspects of the present disclosure, the term downlink may refer to a point-to-multipoint transmission originating at a base station (e.g., base station 110, 112, or 113). Another way to describe this scheme may be to use the term broadcast channel multiplexing. Transmissions from a UE (e.g., UE 122) to a base station (e.g., base station 110) may be referred to as uplink (UL) transmissions. According to additional aspects of the present disclosure, the term uplink may refer to a point-to-point transmission originating at a UE (e.g., UE 122).

[0055] According to aspects, DL transmissions may include unicast or broadcast transmissions of control information and / or data (e.g., user data traffic or other types of traffic) from a base station (e.g., base station 110) to one or more UEs (e.g., UEs 122 and 124), while UL transmissions may include transmissions of control information and / or traffic information originating at a UE (e.g., UE 122). Additionally, uplink and / or downlink control information and / or traffic information may be time-divided into frames, subframes, time slots, and / or symbols. As used herein, a symbol may refer to a time unit that carries one resource element (RE) per subcarrier in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform. A time slot may carry 7 or 14 OFDM symbols. A subframe may refer to a duration of 1 ms. Multiple subframes or time slots may be grouped together to form a single frame or radio frame. Of course, these definitions are not required, and any suitable scheme for organizing the waveform may be utilized, and the various time divisions of the waveform may have any suitable durations.

[0056] Figure 1 The air interface in one or more radio access networks can utilize one or more multiplexing and multiple access algorithms to enable simultaneous communication of various devices. For example, the 5G NR specification provides multiple access for UL or reverse link transmissions from UEs 122 and 124 to base station 110, and multiplexes DL or forward link transmissions from base station 110 to UEs 122 and 124 using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP). Additionally, for UL transmissions, the 5G NR specification provides support for discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) with CP (also known as single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA)). However, within the scope of the present disclosure, multiplexing and multiple access are not limited to the above-described schemes, and time division multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), sparse code multiple access (SCMA), resource spreading multiple access (RSMA), or other suitable multiple access schemes can be utilized to provide it. Furthermore, multiplexing of DL transmissions from base station 110 to UEs 122 and 124 can be provided using time division multiplexing (TDM), code division multiplexing (CDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), sparse code multiplexing (SCM), or other suitable multiplexing schemes.

[0057] In addition, Figure 1 the air interface in a radio access network can utilize one or more duplexing algorithms. Duplexing refers to a point-to-point communication link where two endpoints can communicate with each other in two directions. Full duplex means that the two endpoints can communicate with each other simultaneously. Half duplex means that at a given time, only one endpoint can send information to the other endpoint. In a wireless link, a full duplex channel typically relies on physical isolation of the transmitter and receiver and appropriate interference cancellation techniques. Full duplex emulation for a wireless link is often achieved by utilizing frequency division duplexing (FDD) or time division duplexing (TDD). In FDD, transmissions in different directions operate at different carrier frequencies. In TDD, transmissions in different directions on a given channel use time division multiplexing to separate from each other. That is, at certain times, the channel is dedicated to transmissions in one direction, and at other times, the channel is dedicated to transmissions in the other direction, where the direction can change very rapidly (e.g., several times per time slot).

[0058] In a wireless system 100, the ability of a UE to communicate while moving (regardless of its location) is referred to as mobility. Various physical channels between the UE and the RAN are typically established, maintained, and released under the control of an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), which may include a Security Context Management Function (SCMF) that manages the security context for both control plane and user plane functions and a Security Anchor Function (SEAF) that performs authentication. In various aspects of the present disclosure, the RAN 100 may utilize DL-based mobility or UL-based mobility to achieve mobility and handovers (i.e., the transfer of the UE's connection from one radio channel to another). In a network configured for DL-based mobility, during a call with a scheduling entity, or at any other time, the UE may monitor various parameters of the signal from its serving cell as well as various parameters of neighboring cells. Based on the quality of these parameters, the UE may maintain communication with one or more of the neighboring cells. During this time, if the UE moves from one cell to another, or if the signal quality from a neighboring cell exceeds the signal quality from the serving cell for a given amount of time, the UE may perform a handoff or handover from the serving cell to the neighboring (target) cell. For example, the UE 124 may move from the geographical area corresponding to its serving cell 102 to the geographical area corresponding to the neighbor cell 106. When the signal strength or quality from the neighbor cell 106 exceeds the signal strength or quality of its serving cell 102 for a given amount of time, the UE 124 may send a report message to its serving base station 110 indicating this condition. In response, the UE 124 may receive a handover command, and the UE may perform a handover to cell 106.

[0059] In a network configured for UL-based mobility, the network may utilize UL reference signals from each UE to select a serving cell for each UE. In some examples, base stations 110, 112, 113, or 114 / 116 may broadcast unified synchronization signals (e.g., a unified primary synchronization signal (PSS), a unified secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a unified physical broadcast channel (PBCH)). UEs 122, 124, 126, 128, 130, 132, 138, and 140 may receive these unified synchronization signals, derive the carrier frequency and radio frame timing based on these synchronization signals, and in response to deriving the timing, transmit an uplink pilot or reference signal. The uplink pilot signal transmitted by a UE (e.g., UE 124) may be received simultaneously by two or more cells within RAN 100 (e.g., base stations 110 and 114 / 116). Each of these cells may measure the strength of the pilot signal, and the RAN (e.g., one or more of base stations 110 and 114 / 116 and / or a central node within the core network) may determine the serving cell for UE 124. As UE 124 moves through RAN 100, the network may continue to monitor the uplink pilot signal transmitted by UE 124. When the signal strength or quality of the pilot signal measured by an adjacent cell exceeds the signal strength or quality measured by the serving cell, RAN 100 may switch UE 124 from the serving cell to the adjacent cell, with or without notifying UE 124.

[0060] Although the synchronization signals transmitted by base stations 110, 112, and 114 / 116 may be unified, the synchronization signals may not identify a specific cell, but rather an area of multiple cells operating on the same frequency and / or using the same timing. The use of areas in 5G networks or other next-generation communication networks enables an UL-based mobility framework and improves the efficiency of both the UE and the network, as the number of mobility messages that need to be exchanged between the UE and the network can be reduced.

[0061] In various implementations, the air interface in one or more RANs in the wireless system 100 may utilize licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or shared spectrum. Licensed spectrum generally provides exclusive use of a portion of the spectrum by virtue of a mobile network operator purchasing a license from a government regulatory agency. Unlicensed spectrum provides shared use of a portion of the spectrum without the need for a government-granted license. Although some technical rules generally still need to be complied with to access unlicensed spectrum, generally any operator or device can obtain access. Shared spectrum can fall between licensed spectrum and unlicensed spectrum, where some technical rules or restrictions may be required to access the spectrum, but the spectrum can still be shared by multiple operators and / or multiple RATs. For example, the holder of a license for a portion of licensed spectrum may provide licensed shared access (LSA) to share the spectrum with other parties (e.g., with appropriate conditions determined by the licensee to obtain access).

[0062] To achieve a low block error rate (BLER) for transmissions on the RAN in the wireless system 100 while still achieving very high data rates, channel coding can be used. That is, wireless communications can generally utilize appropriate error-correcting block codes. In a typical block code, an information message or sequence is split into code blocks (CBs), and subsequently, an encoder (e.g., a CODEC) at the transmitting device mathematically adds redundancy to the information message. Utilizing this redundancy in the encoded information message can improve the reliability of the message, thereby enabling correction of any bit errors that may occur due to noise.

[0063] In the early 5G NR specifications, quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check (LDPC) with two different base graphs was used to encode data: one base graph for large code blocks and / or high code rates, and another base graph for other cases. Polar coding was used to encode control information and the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) based on nested sequences. For these channels, puncturing, shortening, and repetition were used for rate matching.

[0064] However, those skilled in the art will understand that aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented using any appropriate channel code. Various implementations of the base station and the UE may include appropriate hardware and capabilities (e.g., encoders, decoders, and / or CODECs) to perform wireless communications using one or more of these channel codes.

[0065] In some examples, access to the air interface can be scheduled, where a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) allocates resources (e.g., time-frequency resources) for communication among some or all of the devices and apparatuses within its serving area or cell. Within the present disclosure, as further discussed below, the scheduling entity can be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more scheduled entities. That is, for a scheduled communication, the UE or the scheduled entity utilizes the resources allocated by the scheduling entity.

[0066] As another illustrative example and not by way of limitation, Figure 2 Aspects of the present disclosure are shown with reference to wireless communication system 200. Wireless communication system 200 includes three interacting domains: core network 202, radio access network (RAN) 204, and one or more user equipments (UEs) 206a and / or 206b. With the aid of wireless communication system 200, UEs 206a and 206b can be implemented to perform data communication with an external data network 210 (such as (but not limited to) the Internet).

[0067] RAN 204 can implement any one or more suitable wireless communication technologies to provide radio access to UEs 206a and 206b. As an example, RAN 204 can operate according to 5G NR. As another example, RAN 204 can operate according to a hybrid of 5G NR and the evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (eUTRAN) standard (often referred to as LTE), e.g., in a non-standalone (NAS) system including an EN-DC system. 3GPP also refers to this hybrid RAN as the next generation RAN or NG-RAN. Additionally, many other examples can be utilized within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0068] As Figure 2 shown, RAN 204 includes a plurality of base stations 108. Broadly speaking, a base station is a network element within a radio access network that is responsible for radio transmission and reception to or from UEs in one or more cells. In different technologies, standards, or contexts, those skilled in the art may refer to a base station differently as a base transceiver station (BTS), radio base station, radio transceiver, transceiver functional unit, basic service set (BSS), extended service set (ESS), access point (AP), node B (NB), evolved node B (eNB), gNodeB (gNB), or some other suitable term.

[0069] RAN 204 is also shown as supporting wireless communication for multiple mobile devices. In the 3GPP standard, a mobile device may be referred to as a user equipment (UE), but those skilled in the art may also refer to it as a mobile station (MS), subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, radio unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal (AT), mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, cellular phone, terminal, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable term. A UE may be a device (e.g., a mobile device) that provides a user with access to network services.

[0070] For the purposes of this disclosure, a “mobile” device need not necessarily have the ability to move and may be stationary. The term mobile device or mobile equipment broadly refers to a wide variety of devices and technologies. A UE may include multiple hardware structural components sized, shaped, and arranged to facilitate communication; such components may include antennas, antenna arrays, RF chains, amplifiers, one or more processors, etc., electrically coupled to each other. For example, some non-limiting examples of mobile devices include mobile stations, cellular phones (cell phones), smart phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, laptop computers, personal computers (PCs), notebooks, netbooks, smartbooks, tablet devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and various embedded systems (e.g., corresponding to the “Internet of Things” (IoT)). A mobile device may additionally be an automobile or other vehicle, remote sensor or actuator, robot or robotic device, satellite radio unit, global positioning system (GPS) device, object tracking device, drone, multi-rotor aircraft, quadcopter, remote control device, consumer device, and / or wearable device (such as glasses, wearable cameras, virtual reality devices, smart watches, health or fitness trackers, digital audio players (e.g., MP3 players), cameras, game consoles, etc.). A mobile device may additionally be a digital home or smart home device, such as home audio, video, and / or multimedia devices, home appliances, vending machines, smart lighting, home security systems, smart meters, etc. A mobile device may additionally be a smart energy device, security device, solar panel or solar array, municipal infrastructure device that controls power (e.g., smart grid), lighting, water, etc.; industrial automation and enterprise equipment; logistics controllers; agricultural equipment; military defense equipment, vehicles, aircraft, ships, and armaments, etc. Further, a mobile device may provide connected medical or telemedicine support (e.g., telehealthcare). Telemedical devices may include telemedical monitoring devices and telemedical management devices, the communication of which may be given priority treatment or priority access compared to other types of information, e.g., in terms of priority access for the transmission of critical service data, and / or related QoS for the transmission of critical service data.

[0071] Wireless communication between RAN 204 and UE 206a or 206b can be described as utilizing an air interface. Transmissions from a base station (e.g., base station 208) to UE 206 over the air interface can be referred to as downlink (DL) transmissions. According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, the term downlink can refer to point-to-multipoint transmissions originating from a scheduling entity (described further below; e.g., base station 108). Another way to describe this scenario can be to use the term broadcast channel multiplexing. Transmissions from UE 206 to a base station (e.g., base station 208) can be referred to as uplink (UL) transmissions. According to additional aspects of the present disclosure, the term uplink can refer to point-to-point transmissions originating from a UE (e.g., UE 206).

[0072] In some examples, access to the air interface can be scheduled, where a scheduling entity (e.g., base station 208) allocates resources for communication among some or all of the devices and apparatuses within its service area or cell. In the present disclosure, as further discussed below, the scheduling entity can be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more scheduled entities. That is, for a scheduled communication, UE 206 (which can be a scheduled entity) can use the resources allocated by scheduling entity 208.

[0073] As Figure 1 shown, base station or scheduling entity 208 can broadcast downlink traffic 212 to one or more scheduled entities 206. Broadly speaking, base station or scheduling entity 208 can be configured as a node or device responsible for scheduling traffic (including downlink traffic 212 and, in some examples, including uplink traffic 216 from one or more scheduled entities 206 to scheduling entity 208) in a wireless communication network. UE or scheduled entity 206 can be configured as a node or device that also receives downlink control information 214 (which includes but is not limited to scheduling information (e.g., grants), synchronization or timing information, or other control information) from another entity (such as scheduling entity 208) in the wireless communication network. Additionally, UE 206 can send uplink control information 218 to base station 208, which includes but is not limited to scheduling information (e.g., grants), synchronization or timing information, or other control information.

[0074] Typically, base station 208 can include a backhaul interface for communicating with the backhaul portion 222 of the wireless communication system. Backhaul 222 can provide a link between base station 208 and core network 202. Additionally, in some examples, the backhaul network can provide an interconnection between corresponding base stations 208. Various types of backhaul interfaces can be employed, such as direct physical connections, virtual networks, or backhaul interfaces using any suitable transport network.

[0075] The core network 202 can be part of a wireless communication system 200 and can be independent of the radio access technology used in the RAN 204. In some examples, the core network 202 can be configured according to the 5G standard (e.g., 5GC). In other examples, the core network 202 can be configured according to the 4G evolved packet core (EPC) or any other suitable standard or configuration.

[0076] In some examples, access to the air interface can be scheduled, where a scheduling entity (e.g., base station 208) allocates resources for communication among some or all of the devices and apparatuses within its serving area or cell. In the present disclosure, as further discussed below, the scheduling entity can be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more scheduled entities. That is, for scheduled communication, the UE 206 (which can be a scheduled entity) can use the resources allocated by the base station or scheduling entity 208.

[0077] The base station is not the only entity that can act as a scheduling entity. That is, in some examples, a UE can act as a scheduling entity, scheduling resources for one or more scheduled entities (e.g., one or more other UEs). In other examples, two or more UEs (e.g., Figure 1 UEs 138 and 140 in Figure 2 or

[0078] UE 206 in Figure 3 can communicate with each other using sidelink signals 142 or 220 without transmitting the communication through a base station (e.g., base station 113 or 208) and without relying on scheduling or control information from the base station.

[0078] Aspects of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the OFDM waveform schematically shown in Figure 3 . Those skilled in the art should understand that aspects of the present disclosure can be applied to other waveforms, such as SC-FDMA waveforms, in substantially the same manner as described below. Although, for clarity, some examples in the present disclosure Figure 3 may focus on OFDM links, it should be understood that the same principles can be applied to other waveforms.

[0079] Now referring to Figure 3 , an expanded view of an example subframe 302 is shown, which shows an OFDM resource grid. However, as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, the PHY transmission structure for any particular application can be different from the example described herein. Here, time is in the horizontal direction, in units of OFDM symbols; and frequency is in the vertical direction, in units of subcarriers.

[0080] The resource grid 304 can be used to schematically represent time-frequency resources for a given antenna port. That is, in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) implementation with multiple available antenna ports, corresponding multiple resource grids 304 can be available for communication. The resource grid 304 is divided into multiple resource elements (REs) 306. An RE (which is 1 carrier × 1 symbol) is the smallest discrete part of the time-frequency grid and contains a single complex value representing data from a physical channel or signal. Depending on the modulation used in a particular implementation, each RE can represent one or more bits of information. In some examples, a block of REs can be referred to as a physical resource block (PRB) or resource block (RB) 308, which contains any suitable number of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. In one example, an RB can include 12 subcarriers, and the number is independent of the digital scheme used. In some examples, depending on the digital scheme, an RB can include any suitable number of consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain. Within this disclosure, it is assumed that a single RB (such as RB 308) fully corresponds to a single communication direction (for a given device, referring to transmission or reception).

[0081] Scheduling of a UE (e.g., a scheduled entity) for downlink, uplink, or sidelink transmission generally involves scheduling one or more resource elements 306 within one or more subbands. Thus, a UE generally utilizes only a subset of the resource grid 304. In some examples, an RB can be the smallest unit of resources that can be allocated to a UE. Thus, the more RBs scheduled for a UE and the higher the modulation scheme selected for the air interface, the higher the data rate for the UE. RBs can be scheduled by a base station or can be self-scheduled by a UE implementing D2D or relay sidelink communication.

[0082] In this illustration, RB 308 is shown as occupying less than the entire bandwidth of subframe 302, with some subcarriers shown above and below RB 308 in the frequency aspect. In a given implementation, subframe 302 can have a bandwidth corresponding to any number of one or more RBs 308. Additionally, in this illustration, although RB 308 is shown as occupying less than the entire duration of subframe 302, this is merely one possible example.

[0083] Each 1 ms subframe 302 can be composed of one or more adjacent time slots. In Figure 2In the example shown, a subframe 302 includes four time slots 310, as an illustrative example. In some examples, a time slot may be defined according to a specified number of OFDM symbols with a given cyclic prefix (CP) length. For example, a time slot may include 7 or 14 OFDM symbols with a nominal CP. Additional examples may include mini-slots (sometimes referred to as shortened transmission time intervals (TTIs)) having a shorter duration (e.g., one to three OFDM symbols). In some cases, these mini-slots or shortened TTIs may be transmitted by occupying resources scheduled for an ongoing time slot transmission for the same or different UEs. Any number of resource blocks may be utilized within a subframe or a time slot.

[0084] An expanded view of one of the time slots 310 shows that the time slot 310 includes a control region 312 and a data region 314. Generally, the control region 312 may carry control channels, and the data region 314 may carry data channels. Of course, a time slot may contain all DL, all UL, or at least one DL portion and at least one UL portion. In Figure 3 the structure shown is merely exemplary, and different time slot structures may be utilized, and different time slot structures may include one or more regions in each of the control region and the data region.

[0085] Although not shown in Figure 3 each RE 306 within the RB 308 may be scheduled to carry one or more physical channels, including control channels, shared channels, data channels, etc. Other RE 306 within the RB 308 may also carry pilots or reference signals, including but not limited to demodulation reference signals (DMRS), control reference signals (CRS), or sounding reference signals (SRS). These pilots or reference signals may provide for a receiving device to perform channel estimation of the corresponding channels, which may enable coherent demodulation / detection of the control and / or data channels within the RB 308.

[0086] In some examples, the time slot 310 may be used for broadcast, multicast, or unicast communication. For example, broadcast or multicast communication may refer to a point-to-multipoint transmission from one device (e.g., a base station, UE, or other similar device) to other devices. Here, broadcast communication is delivered to all devices, while multicast communication is delivered to multiple intended recipient devices. Unicast communication may refer to a point-to-point transmission from one device to a single other device.

[0087] In DL transmission, the transmitting device may allocate one or more resource elements (REs) 306 (e.g., within the control region 312) to carry DL control information, which includes one or more DL control channels (e.g., PBCH; PSS; SSS; Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH); Physical Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) Indicator Channel (PHICH); and / or Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), etc.) to one or more scheduled entities. The PCFICH provides information to assist the receiving device in receiving and decoding the PDCCH. The PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI), which includes but is not limited to power control commands, scheduling information, grants, and / or assignments of REs for DL and UL transmissions. The PHICH carries HARQ feedback transmissions, such as acknowledgments (ACK) or negative acknowledgments (NACK). HARQ is a technique well known to those skilled in the art, where the integrity of a packet transmission can be verified for accuracy at the receiving side, e.g., using any suitable integrity verification mechanism such as a checksum or cyclic redundancy check (CRC). If the integrity of the transmission is confirmed, an ACK may be sent, while if the integrity of the transmission is not confirmed, a NACK may be sent. In response to a NACK, the transmitting device may send a HARQ retransmission, which may implement chase combining, incremental redundancy, etc.

[0088] In UL transmission, the transmitting device may utilize one or more REs 306 to carry UL control information, which includes one or more UL control channels to a scheduled entity, such as the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). The UL control information may include a variety of packet types and categories, including pilots, reference signals, and information configured to enable or assist in decoding uplink data transmissions. In some examples, the control information may include a scheduling request (SR), i.e., a request for a scheduled entity to schedule an uplink transmission. Here, in response to an SR sent on a control channel, the scheduled entity may send downlink control information, which may schedule resources for uplink packet transmission. The UL control information may also include HARQ feedback, channel state feedback (CSF), or any other suitable UL control information.

[0089] In addition to control information, one or more resource elements (REs) 306 (e.g., within data region 314) may also be allocated for user data traffic. Such traffic may be carried on one or more traffic channels (e.g., for DL transmission, the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); or for UL transmission, the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)). In some examples, one or more REs 306 within data region 314 may be configured to carry a system information block (SIB) that carries information enabling access to a given cell.

[0090] The channels or carriers described above in connection with Figure 1 and 2 are not necessarily all of the channels or carriers that may be utilized between a base station or scheduling entity and a UE or scheduled entity, and those skilled in the art will recognize that other channels or carriers, such as other traffic, control, and feedback channels, may be utilized in addition to the channels or carriers shown.

[0091] Furthermore, the physical channels described above are typically multiplexed and mapped to transport channels for processing at the media access control (MAC) layer. The transport channels carry information blocks referred to above as transport blocks (TBs). By way of example, an exemplary MAC layer transport block 320 is shown mapped to Figure 3 subframe 302 in

[0092] According to certain criteria, the transport block (TB) size scales with the size of the frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA). Additionally, using a smaller resource allocation does not improve power and requires a larger allocation (in the frequency domain) with a higher coding gain. However, according to Release 15 of the 5G NR standard, given the defined transport block size (TBS) calculation and the same modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a larger allocation means a larger TBS. Thus, TB size adjustment may be useful for reducing the coding rate, such as done in the paging radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI) and random access radio network temporary identifier (RA-RNTI) DCI 1_0 with a TB scaling field. For example, in Release 15 / 16 of 5G NR, there is a two-bit TB scaling field for P-RNTI, RA-RNTI, and msgB-RNTI used for DCI 1_0, which allows the TB to be scaled by a factor of 1, 0.5 (1 / 2), or 1 / 4 (0.25). In some aspects, the present disclosure provides TB scaling using various methods and apparatuses to provide transmission of a TB scaling field or TB scaling bits using existing capacity / resources or repurposing resources in an NR-U system, thereby transmitting such TB scaling.

[0093] According to one aspect, it should be noted that various existing locations in the downlink control information (DCI) can be used to convey TB scaling from the gNB to at least one UE. Here, the TB scaling field or the TB scaling bit scaling field can be used in the DCI for both UL grant and DL grant and can be used with both fallback DCI and non-fallback DCI. It should also be noted that in some aspects, the TB scaling indication may only be used for the lower or lowest modulation and coding scheme (MCS) (where the need to reduce the coding rate via TB scaling is more urgent).

[0094] Figure 4AShows an example of a DCI (or a part thereof) 400, characterized by two scaling bits placed within existing reserved bits in the DCI. As shown, according to one aspect, the DCI 400 includes a plurality of reserved bits indicated by the range 402. In a particular aspect where the system information radio network temporary identifier (SI-RNTI) type is used with the DCI. In this example and other types of DCI, there is a range of reserved bits in the DCI, such as the range 402, which can be 15 to 17 bits in some examples. Thus, two transport block (TB) scaling bits, selected within the range 402 and indicated as b0 and b1 (also 404 and 406), are used to convey TB scaling. Since two bits are used in this example, up to four values can be conveyed. For example, the binary value 00 can indicate a TB scaling factor of 1, the binary value 01 can indicate a TB scaling factor of 0.5 (1 / 2), the binary value 10 can indicate a TB scaling factor of 0.25 (1 / 4), and the binary value 11 can indicate a value of 0.125 (1 / 8). Additionally, the DCI 400 can include cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits indicated at 408 and masked or scrambled by the SI-RNTI.

[0095] Figure 4B Shows another example of a DCI (or a part thereof) 410, characterized by two scaling bits that can be placed within an existing bit field in the DCI. As shown, according to one aspect, the DCI 410 includes a plurality of known bits. In a particular aspect where the temporary cell RNTI (TC-RNTI) type is used with the DCI, there are at least two reserved bits in the DCI, known as the downlink assignment index (DAI) indicated at 412. The DAI 412 is a TDD-specific field that generally informs the UE of the count of downlink assignments scheduled for it within a given time frame. However, in this example, the two-bit DAI field 412 is used for TB scaling bits indicated as b0 and b1 (also 414 and 416), which are reserved for conveying TB scaling. Again, since two bits are used in this example, up to four values can be conveyed (e.g., the binary value 00 can indicate a TB scaling factor of 1, the binary value 01 can indicate a TB scaling factor of 0.5 (1 / 2), the binary value 10 can indicate a TB scaling factor of 0.25 (1 / 4), and the binary value 11 can indicate a value of 0.125 (1 / 8)). Additionally, the DCI 400 can include cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits indicated at 418 and masked or scrambled by the TC-RNTI.

[0096] Figure 4CShows another example of DCI (or a part thereof) 420, characterized by two scaling bits that can be placed within an existing information bit field in the DCI, and this existing information bit field is repurposed for TB scaling bits. In this example, it should be noted that for low code rates, each redundancy version (RV) can include almost all the coded bits of the mother code. The coding gains from different RVs are likely to be ignored. Therefore, the size of a single RV in DCI 420 may be sufficient for the two bits of the TB scaling factor. In this case, two bits of the RV identifier (RVID) RV0 can be repurposed. The existing DCI (e.g., 420) can be reserved by always sending this RVID. As shown, according to one aspect, DCI 420 includes two bits 424 and 426 in the RVID 422. Again, since two bits are used in this example, up to four values can be transmitted (e.g., the binary value 00 can indicate a TB scaling factor of 1, the binary value 01 can indicate a TB scaling factor of 0.5 (1 / 2), the binary value 10 can indicate a TB scaling factor of 0.25 (1 / 4), and the binary value 11 can indicate a value of 0.125 (1 / 8)). In addition, DCI 400 can include cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits masked or scrambled by C-RNTI / CS-RNTI / MCS-C-RNTI as indicated at 428.

[0097] In another aspect, it should be noted that repurposing the RVID bits can be particularly applicable to the case of low MCS. In such a case, RRC can be used to configure an MCS threshold below which the UE will be instructed or configured to reinterpret the RVID field for TB scaling. Alternatively, an RRC control flag can be used to indicate that a hard-coded MCS value or lower will cause the UE to reinterpret the RVID for TB scaling.

[0098] According to another aspect, it should be noted that when the gNB receives a physical random access channel (PRACH) for requesting UL from the UE, the gNB will send a feedback random access resource (RAR) message to the UE. This RAR includes a timing advance (TA), a UL grant for message 3 (msg3), and a TC-RNTI. To improve the link budget for msg3 transmission, a TB scaling indication can be included in the UL grant in the RAR. Therefore, Figure 5 Shows an exemplary RAR structure 500 that can be used to provide TB scaling from a base station or gNB to a UE.

[0099] As in Figure 5As can be seen, the RAR 500 includes multiple 8-bit octets (e.g., Oct0 to Oct7). A TB scaling bit can be added to the RAR medium access control element (MAC-CE) to indicate the TB scaling factor for the PUSCH scheduled by the UL grant in this RAR 500 (which can be shown as being included in octets 502, 504, 506, and 508). Specifically, Figure 5 The example of Figure 5 shows that two bits in the UL grant in the RAR 500 can be repurposed for the TB scaling bit. When using an interleaved waveform, one bit in bit 510 of octet 504 (e.g., which is the frequency hopping flag (i.e., 1 bit)) is known to be disabled. Therefore, this bit 510 can be used or repurposed for one of the bits in the TB scaling bit (e.g., bit b0).

[0100] In addition, one bit 512 from the frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) in the UL grant can be used as another TB scaling bit (e.g., b1). It should be noted that the FDRA currently can use 12 bits (note that 2 bits have been borrowed for the channel access CPext (CAPC-Cpext)), but if an interleaved waveform is used, so many bits are unnecessary. Therefore, bit 512 can be repurposed for transmitting the TB scaling bit (e.g., b1).

[0101] Figure 6 Another exemplary RAR structure 600 is shown that can be used when transmitting the TB scaling from the base station or gNB to the UE. In this example, instead of repurposing the bits in the existing RAR structure, at least two new bits for the TB scaling factor are introduced by adding another octet (8 bits) to the RAR 600. As Figure 6 shown, an additional octet 602 is added to the RAR600. At least two bits 604, 606 within this octet 602 contain the TB scaling bits b0 and b1. Additionally, adding octet 602 adds the remaining six bits as additional reserved bits, which can be used for other purposes. Although the extension of the RAR structure here does not impose too much additional load burden on the PDSCH, a new MAC-CE does need to be defined to implement the RAR 600.

[0102] According to another aspect, the TB scaling information or factor can be encoded jointly with time division resource allocation (TDRA). It should be noted that such joint encoding can be particularly applicable to the C-RNTI / CS-RNTI / MCS-C-RNTI cases. The joint encoding can involve reconfiguring the TDRA table (i.e., TDRA configuration information) for PDSCH to add the TB scaling information to the TDRA table or a hard-coded change (where the default TDRA is modified to be able to add the TB scaling information, e.g., by adding an extra column to the TDRA table).

[0103] In one aspect of the joint encoding of the TB scaling information or factor and the TDRA information, one or more special TDRA table entries can be defined considering the TB scaling factor and the start and length indicator for time domain resource allocation (SLIV, which indicates the start symbol and length of the PUSCH) to ensure the correct interpretation of the information to determine the TB size for the PUSCH. In one aspect, the TDRA table can be reconfigured such that the new entries in the TDRA table can be introduced by UE-specific TDRA configurations.

[0104] In another alternative, when coverage extension is required, the default TDRA can be modified for a specific frequency band (e.g., 6 GHz). Here, the remaining minimum system information (RMSI) can be used to configure the selection of the new default TDRA table.

[0105] In another alternative, instead of changing the TDRA, the transmission of the TB scaling information or factor is achieved by associating the TB scaling with the MCS. In this alternative, the radio resource control (RRC) can be configured (e.g., for SIB or UE-specific) to associate the TB scaling with the modulation and coding scheme (MCS). Here, one or more MCSs can be associated with a specific TB scaling factor. For example, MCS values 0 - 2 can be associated with a 1 / 4 TB scaling factor, MCS values 3 - 4 can be associated with a 1 / 2 TB scaling factor, and MCS values 5 or greater can be associated with a 1 TB scaling factor. In one aspect, this association can be applicable to all PUSCH or PDSCH channels regardless of the type of radio network temporary identifier (RNTI). In another aspect, the association of the TB scaling factor with the MCS value can be configured such that the association only applies to the DCI received in the UE-specific search space (USS), and not to the DCI received in the common search space (CSS).

[0106] In other aspects, it should be noted that there are two types of configured grants (CGs) in UL, referred to as type 1 CG and type 2 CG. In type 1 CG, the UL grant is configured by RRC and once configured, it is always active. Type 2 CG is first configured by RRC, but then additionally activated (e.g., activate DCI) by a PDCCH scrambled with CS-RNTI before it can be utilized. In DL, semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) is used to allocate periodic DL assignments or UL grants (i.e., CGs) to the UE to serve certain types of traffic that have a defined interval between the need to receive and / or transmit packets. The SPS resources are configured by RRC to have a given period, and then DL assignments scrambled with a specific CS-RNTI are used to activate and deactivate the resources (e.g., activate DCI).

[0107] Thus, in one example, for type 2 CG and DL SPS, the activation DCI is utilized, and the techniques for TB scaling described previously can be applied using the activation DCI. However, for type 1 CG in UL, there is no activation DCI. Thus, various other techniques can be utilized to add TB scaling for such CGs. In a first aspect, TB scaling control can be added in the RRC configuration for type 1 CG. This can be achieved by adding a field in the information element (IE) for CG configuration, and there is no explicit or strict requirement on the number of bits for this configuration. Thus, the TB scaling resolution can even be higher, rather than being limited to 2 bits only.

[0108] In another aspect, TB scaling control for type 1 CG can be added for msgA PUSCH configuration in the common RRC signaling. Similar to the TB scaling added in RRC above, there is no strict requirement on the number of bits, and the TB scaling control can have a higher resolution of more than just 2 bits. In yet another aspect, the TB scaling for msgA PUSCH can be linked to the PRACH repetition in the frequency domain. For example, if the PRACH is repeated four times in frequency, a TB scaling of 4 can be applied to msgA PUSCH.

[0109] In still another aspect, for RRC_CONNECTED UEs, the UE can also be configured to have TB scaling for msgA PUSCH via dedicated RRC signaling. The dedicated RRC signaling can have better TB scaling control compared to the common RRC signaling or the default TB scaling linked to the PRACH frequency domain repetition. It should be noted that in this regard, if the TB scaling is not configured via the dedicated RRC signaling, the TB scaling will simply follow the RRC common signaling or be bound to the PRACH transmission.

[0110] Figure 7FIG. 0 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a base station 700 that employs a processing system 714. For example, base station 700 may correspond to any one of the base stations or gNBs previously discussed herein. In additional examples, base station 700 may be an access point (AP) or remote radio head, or in some examples an IEEE 802.11 device (such as a Wi-Fi access point, gateway, or router), or any other device that may utilize various frequency bands (such as the NR-U frequency band in the 5 GHz or 6 GHz range).

[0111] Base station 700 may be implemented using a processing system 714 that includes one or more processors 704. Examples of processors 704 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 the various functions described throughout this disclosure. In various examples, base station device 700 may be configured to perform any one or more of the functions described herein. That is, the processor 704 as utilized in base station 700 may be used to implement any one or more of the processes and procedures described below.

[0112] In this example, processing system 714 may be implemented using a bus architecture, which is generally represented by bus 702. Depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of processing system 714, bus 702 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges. Bus 702 links together various circuits including one or more processors (generally represented by processor 704), a memory 705, and a computer-readable medium (generally represented by computer-readable medium 706). Bus 702 may also link together various other circuits such as a timing source, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and will not be described further herein.

[0113] Bus interface 708 provides an interface between bus 702 and a wireless transceiver 710. Wireless transceiver 710 allows base station 700 to communicate with various other devices via a transmission medium (e.g., an air interface). Depending on the nature of the device, a user interface 712 (e.g., a keypad, display, touch screen, speaker, microphone, control knob, etc.) may also be provided. Of course, such a user interface 712 is optional and may be omitted in some examples.

[0114] The processor 704 is responsible for managing the bus 702 and general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium 706. Software should be broadly construed to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, processes, functions, etc., regardless of whether it is referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other terms. When executed by the processor 704, the software causes the processing system 714 to perform the various functions described hereinafter for any particular device. The computer-readable medium 706 and the memory 705 can also be used to store data manipulated by the processor 704 when executing the software.

[0115] The computer-readable medium 706 can be a non-transitory computer-readable medium. For example, non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic tapes), optical disks (e.g., compact discs (CDs) or digital versatile discs (DVDs)), smart cards, flash memory devices (e.g., cards, sticks, or key drives), random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), registers, removable disks, and any other suitable medium for storing software and / or instructions that can be accessed and read by a computer. The computer-readable medium 706 can be within the processing system 714, outside the processing system 714, or distributed across multiple entities including the processing system 714. The computer-readable medium 706 can be embodied in a computer program product. For example, a computer program product can include the computer-readable medium in a packaging material. In some examples, the computer-readable medium 706 can be part of the memory 705. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the described functions presented throughout this disclosure based on a particular application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0116] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 704 can include circuitry configured for various functions. For example, the processor 704 can include a transport block (TB) scaling factor determination circuit 742, which is configured to determine a TB scaling factor or bit as discussed herein. Additionally, the processor 704 can include a TB scaling transmission circuit 744, which is configured to transmit, transfer, or send, for example, TB scaling information or a factor to one or more UEs. The circuit 744 can at least partially cause the base station to send TB scaling information to the UE, as in the processes discussed above and later regarding Figures 8 - 12done during the discussion. The processor 704 also includes DL service and control generation and transmission circuitry 946 for sending downlink (DL) data to one or more UEs or relay UEs. Additionally, the processor 704 may include RRC control circuitry 746, which is configured to implement RRC control and signaling in conjunction with the foregoing discussion and as will be discussed with respect to Figures 8 - 12 the methods discussed.

[0117] The computer-readable medium 706 includes transport block (TB) scaling determination software / instructions 752 and TB scaling transmission software / information 754 for assisting the TB scaling determination circuitry 742 and the TB scaling transmission circuitry 744 in performing their respective functions as described herein. Similarly, the computer-readable medium 706 includes RRC control software / information 756 to assist the RRC control circuitry 746 in performing its function as described herein.

[0118] Figure 8 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method 800 for providing transport block (TB) scaling in a wireless communication system. Note that the method 800 may be implemented within a base station or some other scheduling entity (e.g., an access point). The method 800 includes: configuring a scaling field within at least one of the downlink control information (DCI) to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), as shown at block 802. The configuration process in block 802 also includes: setting the scaling field within an existing bit field in the DCI. As an example, the existing bit field may be a reserved bit, DAI, or RVID field, as Figure 4A shown in -C. Additionally, note that the process 802 may be implemented by a base station (as an example pair, such as the base station 208 in Figure 2 or the base station 700 in Figure 7 ). Additionally, as another example, the process 802 may be implemented by one or more of the circuitry 742 and 744 in Figure 7 .

[0119] The method 800 also includes: sending the DCI to at least one user equipment (UE) for conveying TB scaling information to the UE, as shown in block 804. The process 804 may be implemented by a base station (as an example pair, such as the base station 208 in Figure 2 or the base station 700 in Figure 7 ). Additionally, as another example, the process 804 may be implemented by one or more of the circuitry 744 and the transceiver 710 in Figure 7 .

[0120] According to other aspects, method 800 may include: repurposing the RVID field for the transmission of a scaling field, and when the RVID field is repurposed for the transmission of a scaling field, sending a specific identification value of the RVID field to the UE. In additional aspects, method 800 may include: sending a radio resource control (RRC) signal to the UE having a predetermined modulation and coding scheme (MCS) threshold, wherein when the MCS threshold is below a specific value, the MCS threshold can be used by the UE to cause the RVID field to be reinterpreted for TB scaling. In additional aspects, method 800 may include: sending an RRC flag to the UE, wherein the RRC flag is configured to indicate to the UE that the RVID field will be used for TB scaling.

[0121] Figure 9 FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram of another exemplary method 900 for providing and transmitting a transport block (TB) scaling factor in a wireless communication system. It should be noted that method 900 may be implemented within a base station or some other scheduling entity (e.g., an access point). Method 900 includes: adding one or more scaling bits within one or more fields of a random access resource (RAR) control element to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to the transport block (TB) size for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), as shown in block 902. As an example, the process in block 902 may include: placing the bits into an existing field in the UL grant of the RAR (as shown in Figure 5 or into an added field (such as shown in Figure 6 ). Additionally, it should be noted that this process 902 may be implemented by a base station (as an example, such as the base station 208 in Figure 2 or the base station 700 in Figure 7 ). Additionally, as another example, the process 902 may be implemented by one or more of the circuits 742 and 744 in Figure 7 and the RRC control circuit 746. Method 900 further includes: sending an RAR control element having one or more scaling bits to at least one user equipment (UE), as shown in block 904. According to one example, the process in block 904 may be implemented by the circuits 744 and 746 and the transceiver 710 in Figure 7 .

[0122] According to another aspect, method 900 may include: placing one of the one or more scaling bits in the uplink (UL) grant field of the RAR control element. Additionally, method 900 may include: placing one of the one or more scaling bits in the hopping bit position within the first uplink (UL) grant field of the RAR control element, and placing another of the one or more scaling bits in the frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) within the second uplink (UL) grant field of the RAR control element. In yet another aspect, method 800 may include: configuring the RAR control element to have an additional control field, and placing one or more scaling bits in the additional control field.

[0123] Figure 10 A flowchart of another exemplary method 1000 for providing transport block (TB) scaling in a wireless communication system is shown. Note that method 1000 may be implemented within a base station or some other scheduling entity (e.g., an access point). Method 1000 includes: determining, in a base station, a transport block (TB) scaling factor for setting the transport block (TB) size for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), as shown in block 1002. Note that, as just two examples, this process in block 1002 may be implemented by base station 208 or base station 700. Additionally, in another example, this process 1002 may be implemented by circuits 702 and 704.

[0124] Method 1000 further includes: encoding the scaling factor using a time domain resource allocation (TDRA), as shown in block 1004. Note that, as just two examples, this process in block 1004 may be implemented by base station 208 or base station 700. Additionally, in another example, this process 1002 may be implemented by circuit 704. Then, method 1000 further includes: sending to at least one user equipment (UE) a TDRA having a scaling field, the scaling field having the scaling factor for setting the TB size, as shown at block 1006. This process 1006 may be implemented by a base station (as a pair of examples, such as Figure 2 base station 208 in Figure 7 or Figure 7 base station 700 in

[0125] According to another aspect, method 1000 may include encoding a scaling factor using TDRA by adding a new entry or changing an existing entry for UE-specific TRDR in the TDRA table, and adding the TB scaling factor to the new entry or the changed existing entry in the TDRA table. In another aspect, method 1000 may include encoding a scaling factor using TDRA by modifying a default TDRA table using remaining minimum system information (RMSI) to create a new TDRA table with one or more additional entries, and encoding the TB scaling factor in the new TDRA table.

[0126] Figure 11 A flowchart of another exemplary method 1100 for providing transport block (TB) scaling in a wireless communication system is shown. It should be noted that method 1100 may be implemented within a base station or some other scheduling entity (e.g., an access point). Method 1000 includes determining a TB scaling factor for scaling the transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), as shown in block 1102.

[0127] Method 1100 further includes associating the TB scaling factor with at least one modulation and coding scheme (MCS) using a radio resource control (RRC) mechanism in the base station, as shown at block 1104. Additionally, method 1100 includes sending the TB scaling to at least one user equipment (UE) via RRC signaling, as shown in block 1106.

[0128] According to other aspects, method 1100 may include RRC-configured signaling to include a system information block (SIB) signal from the base station to at least one UE. Additionally, the TB scaling factor may be configured to apply to all PUSCH and PDSCH channels for multiple radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs), and / or apply to all PUSCH and PDSCH channels. Further, method 1100 may include that the TB scaling factor is configured to apply to downlink control information (DCI) received in a UE-specific search space (USS), but not to the common search space (CSS).

[0129] Figure 12A flowchart of another exemplary method 1200 for providing transport block (TB) scaling in a wireless communication system is shown. Method 1200 includes: determining, within a base station, TB scaling information that can be used to scale the transport block (TB) size for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), as indicated in block 1202. Additionally, method 1200 includes: adding the TB scaling information to a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, as indicated in block 1204. Further still, method 1200 includes: sending, via RRC signaling, from the base station to a user equipment (UE), the RRC configuration that includes the TB scaling information for use in uplink (UL) transmissions, as shown in block 1206. It should be noted that, according to one example, the processes in method 1200 can be implemented by one or more of a TB scaling determination circuit 742, a TB scaling communication circuit 744, an RRC control circuit 746, and a transceiver 710.

[0130] According to a further aspect, method 1200 may include: adding the TB scaling information to the RRC configuration includes: adding a field in an information element (IE) for a type 1 configuration grant (CG). In other aspects, method 1200 may include adding the TB scaling information to the RRC configuration by: adding the TB scaling information for a msgA PUSCH configuration to be sent to the UE via RRC signaling, where, in one aspect, the RRC signaling may be public RRC signaling.

[0131] In yet another aspect, method 1200 may include: linking the TB scaling information for msgA PUSCH to the frequency of repetition of the transmission of a physical random access channel (PRACH), where the number of PRACH repetitions is related to a specific TB scaling factor of the TB scaling information. In yet another aspect, method 1200 may include: for an RRC_CONNECTED UE, configuring the TB scaling for msgA PUSCH using dedicated RRC signaling instead of via public RRC signaling.

[0132] Figure 13 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a hardware implementation of an exemplary UE 1300 employing a processing system 1314. For example, UE 1300 may be a UE as shown in any one or more of the various examples herein.

[0133] The processing system 1314 may be substantially the same as the processing system 714 shown in Figure 7 and includes a bus interface 1308, a bus 1302, a memory 1305, a processor 1304, and a computer-readable medium 1306. Additionally, UE 11300 may include substantially the same as those described above in Figure 7The user interfaces 1312 of the user interface and transceiver described in

[0134] and the transceiver 1310. According to various aspects of the present disclosure, a processing system 1314 including one or more processors 1304 can be used to implement an element, or any part of an element, or any combination of elements. That is, the processor 1304 as used in the UE 1300 can be used to implement any one or more of the processes described below.

[0135] The computer-readable medium 1306 includes TB scaling information receiving (and decoding) software / instructions 1352 and TB scaling software / instructions 1354, which receive distributed joint grants (or a part thereof) to perform their respective functions as previously described. The instructions or software 1352 and 1354 can be used to assist the TB scaling information receiving circuit 1342 and the TB scaling circuit 1344 to perform their functions as previously described.

[0136] Figure 14 is a flowchart of an exemplary method 1400 for a UE to receive TB scaling information according to some aspects. In various examples, the method 1400 can be implemented by the UE 206 or the UE 1300. As shown, the method 1400 includes: receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a base station, the DCI including a scaling field configured to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is further set within an existing bit field in the DCI, as shown in block 1402. In addition, the method 1400 includes: determining the size of the transport block based on the scaling factor, as shown in block 1404.

[0137] Figure 15is a flowchart of another exemplary method 1500 for a UE to receive TB scaling information according to some aspects. In various examples, method 1500 may be implemented by UE 206 or UE 1300. Method 1500 includes: receiving a random access resource (RAR) control element from a base station, where the RAR includes one or more scaling bits within one or more fields of the RAR control element, and the one or more scaling bits are configured to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), as shown in block 1502. Additionally, method 1500 includes: determining the size of the transport block based on the scaling factor, as shown in block 1504.

[0138] Figure 16 is a flowchart of yet another exemplary method 1600 for a UE to receive TB scaling information according to some aspects. In various examples, method 1600 may be implemented by UE 206 or UE 1300. Method 1600 includes: receiving a time domain resource allocation (TDRA), where the TDRA includes a scaling field having a scaling factor for setting a transport block (TB) size for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), as shown in block 1602. Additionally, method 1600 includes: decoding the scaling factor within the TDRA, as indicated at block 1604. Finally, method 1600 includes: determining the size of the TB based on the decoded scaling factor, as shown in block 1606.

[0139] Figure 17 is a flowchart of yet another exemplary method 1700 for a UE to receive TB scaling information according to some aspects. In various examples, method 1700 may be implemented by UE 206 or UE 1300. Method 1700 includes: receiving, via radio resource control (RRC) configured signaling from a base station, a TB scaling factor for scaling a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), where the TB scaling factor is associated with at least one modulation and coding scheme (MCS) using an RRC mechanism, as shown in block 1702. Additionally, method 1700 includes: determining the TB size based on the TB scaling factor received via the RRC configured signaling, as shown in block 1704.

[0140] Figure 18is a flowchart of another exemplary method 1800 for a UE to receive TB scaling information. In some examples, method 1700 may be implemented by UE 206 or UE 1300. Method 1800 is characterized in that: receiving an RRC configuration from a base station via RRC signaling, the RRC configuration including transmission block (TB) scaling information for use in uplink (UL) transmission, as shown in block 1802. In addition, method 1800 includes: determining the TB size for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) based on the TB scaling information in the RRC configuration, as shown in block 1804.

[0141] One or more of the components, steps, features, and / or functions shown in Figures 1 - 18 may be rearranged and / or combined into a single component, step, feature, or function, or embodied in several components, steps, or functions. Without departing from the novel features disclosed herein, additional elements, components, steps, and / or functions may also be added. The devices, apparatuses, and / or components shown in Figure 1 , 2 , 7, or 13 may be configured to perform one or more of the methods, features, or steps described herein. The novel algorithms described herein may also be efficiently implemented in software and / or embedded in hardware.

[0142] It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the disclosed methods is illustrative of exemplary processes. It should be understood that based on design preferences, the specific order or hierarchy of steps in these methods may be rearranged. The appended method claims present the elements of the various steps in an example order, but are not intended to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy given, unless expressly recited herein.

[0143] The foregoing 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 apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims, where the mention of an element in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one" but rather "one or more" unless explicitly stated otherwise. The term "some," unless otherwise explicitly stated, means one or more. A phrase referring to "at least one" in a list of items means any combination of those items, including a single member. For example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a; b; c; a and b; a and c; b and c; and a, b, and c. All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or will be known to those skilled in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, whether or not such disclosure is expressly recited in the claims.

[0144] An overview of aspects of the present disclosure is provided below:

[0145] Aspect 1: A method of wireless communication at a base station in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: configuring a scaling field in downlink control information (DCI) to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is set within an existing bit field in the DCI; and transmitting the DCI to at least one user equipment (UE).

[0146] Aspect 2: The method according to Aspect 1, wherein the existing bit field comprises a portion of reserved bits in a system information radio network temporary identifier (SI-RNTI).

[0147] Aspect 3: The method according to Aspect 1, wherein the existing bit field comprises a downlink assignment index (DAI) field in a temporary cell RNTI (TC-RNTI).

[0148] Aspect 4: The method according to Aspect 1, wherein the existing bit field comprises a two-bit redundancy version identifier (RVID) field.

[0149] Aspect 5: The method according to aspect 4, wherein the RVID field is repurposed for the transmission of the scaling field, and the method further includes: when the RVID field is repurposed for the transmission of the scaling field, sending a specific identification value of the RVID field to the UE.

[0150] Aspect 6: The method according to aspect 4, further includes: sending a radio resource control (RRC) signal having a predetermined modulation and coding scheme (MCS) threshold to the UE, wherein when the MCS threshold is lower than a specific value, the MCS threshold can be used by the UE to cause the RVID field to be reinterpreted for TB scaling.

[0151] Aspect 7: The method according to aspect 4, further includes: sending an RRC flag to the UE, wherein the RRC flag is configured to indicate to the UE that the RVID field will be used for TB scaling.

[0152] Aspect 8: A method of wireless communication at a base station in a wireless communication network, the method includes: adding one or more scaling bits within one or more fields of a random access resource (RAR) control element to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); and sending the RAR control element having the one or more scaling bits to at least one user equipment (UE).

[0153] Aspect 9: The method according to aspect 8, further includes: placing one of the one or more scaling bits in an uplink (UL) grant field of the RAR control element.

[0154] Aspect 10: The method according to aspect 8, further includes: placing one of the one or more scaling bits in a frequency hopping bit position within a first uplink (UL) grant field of the RAR control element; and placing another of the one or more scaling bits in a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) within a second uplink (UL) grant field of the RAR control element.

[0155] Aspect 11: The method according to aspect 8, further includes: configuring the RAR control element to have an additional control field; and placing the one or more scaling bits in the additional control field.

[0156] Aspect 12: A method of wireless communication at a base station in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: determining a transport block (TB) scaling factor for setting a transport block (TB) size for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); encoding the scaling factor using time domain resource allocation (TDRA); and transmitting to at least one user equipment (UE) the TDRA having the scaling field, the scaling field having the scaling factor for the TB size.

[0157] Aspect 13: The method according to aspect 12, wherein encoding the scaling factor using the TDRA comprises: adding a new entry or changing an existing entry in the TDRA table for a TRDR specific to the UE; and adding the TB scaling factor to the new entry or the changed existing entry in the TDRA table.

[0158] Aspect 14: The method according to aspect 12, wherein encoding the scaling factor using the TDRA comprises: modifying a default TDRA table using remaining minimum system information (RMSI) to create a new TDRA table having one or more additional entries; and encoding the TB scaling factor in the new TDRA table.

[0159] Aspect 15: A method of wireless communication at a base station in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: determining a TB scaling factor for scaling a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); associating the TB scaling factor with at least one modulation and coding scheme (MCS) using a radio resource control (RRC) mechanism in the base station; and transmitting the TB scaling to at least one user equipment (UE) via RRC-configured signaling.

[0160] Aspect 16: The method according to aspect 15, wherein the RRC-configured signaling comprises a system information block (SIB) signal from the base station to the at least one UE.

[0161] Aspect 17: The method according to aspect 15, wherein the TB scaling factor is configured to be applied to all PUSCH and PDSCH channels for a plurality of radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs).

[0162] Aspect 18: The method according to aspect 15, wherein the TB scaling factor is configured to be applied to downlink control information (DCI) received in a UE-specific search space (USS).

[0163] Aspect 19: A method of wireless communication at a base station in a wireless communication network: determining TB scaling information that can be used to scale the transport block (TB) size for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); adding the TB scaling information to a radio resource control (RRC) configuration; and sending the RRC configuration including the TB scaling information for use in uplink (UL) transmission from the base station to a user equipment (UE) via RRC signaling.

[0164] Aspect 20: The method according to aspect 19, wherein adding the TB scaling information to the RRC configuration includes: adding a field in an information element (IE) for a type 1 configuration grant (CG).

[0165] Aspect 21: The method according to aspect 19, wherein adding the TB scaling information to the RRC configuration includes: adding the TB scaling information for a msgA PUSCH configuration to be sent to the UE via the RRC signaling.

[0166] Aspect 22: The method according to aspect 21, further comprising: linking the TB scaling information for the msgA PUSCH to a frequency of repetition of transmission of a physical random access channel (PRACH), wherein a PRACH repetition number is related to a specific TB scaling factor of the TB scaling information.

[0167] Aspect 23: The method according to aspect 21, further comprising: for an RRC_CONNECTED UE, using dedicated RRC signaling to configure the TB scaling for the msgA PUSCH.

[0168] Aspect 24: A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a base station, the DCI including a scaling field configured to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is further set within an existing bit field in the DCI; and determining the size of the transport block based on the scaling factor.

[0169] Aspect 25: The method according to aspect 24, wherein the existing bit field includes a part of reserved bits in a system information radio network temporary identifier (SI-RNTI).

[0170] Aspect 26: The method according to aspect 24, wherein the existing bit field includes a downlink assignment index (DAI) field in a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TC-RNTI).

[0171] Aspect 27: The method according to aspect 24, wherein the existing bit field includes a two-bit redundancy version identifier (RVID) field.

[0172] Aspect 28: The method according to aspect 27, wherein the RVID field is repurposed for transmission of the scaling field, and the method further includes: when the RVID field is repurposed for transmission of the scaling field, sending a specific identification value of the RVID field to the UE.

[0173] Aspect 29: The method according to aspect 27, further includes: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) signal having a predetermined modulation and coding scheme (MCS) threshold from the base station, wherein when the MCS threshold is below a specific value, the MCS threshold can be used by the UE to cause the RVID field to be reinterpreted for TB scaling.

[0174] Aspect 30: The method according to aspect 27, further includes: receiving an RRC flag from the base station, wherein the RRC flag is configured to indicate to the UE that the RVID field will be used for TB scaling.

[0175] Aspect 31: A method of wireless communication at a UE in a wireless communication network, the method includes: receiving a random access resource (RAR) control element from a base station, the RAR including one or more scaling bits within one or more fields of the RAR control element, the one or more scaling bits being configured to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); and determining the size of the transport block based on the scaling factor.

[0176] Aspect 32: The method according to aspect 31, wherein one of the one or more scaling bits is located in an uplink (UL) grant field of the RAR control element.

[0177] Aspect 33: The method according to aspect 31, further includes: one of the one or more scaling bits is located in a frequency hopping bit position within a first uplink (UL) grant field of the RAR control element; and another of the one or more scaling bits is located in a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) within a second uplink (UL) grant field of the RAR control element.

[0178] Aspect 34: The method according to aspect 31 further includes: the RAR control element is configured to have an additional control field; and the one or more scaling bits are located in the additional control field.

[0179] Aspect 35: A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, the method including: receiving a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) that includes a scaling field having a scaling factor for setting a transport block (TB) size for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); decoding the scaling factor within the TDRA; and determining the size of the TB based on the decoded scaling factor.

[0180] Aspect 36: The method according to aspect 35, wherein the scaling factor is encoded within the received TDRA by: adding a new entry or changing an existing entry in the TDRA table for a TRDR specific to the UE; and adding the TB scaling factor to the new entry or the changed existing entry in the TDRA table.

[0181] Aspect 37: The method according to aspect 35, wherein the scaling factor is encoded within the received TDRA by: modifying a default TDRA table using remaining minimum system information (RMSI) to create a new TDRA table having one or more additional entries; and encoding the TB scaling factor in the new TDRA table.

[0182] Aspect 38: A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, the method including: receiving, via radio resource control (RRC)-configured signaling from a base station, a TB scaling factor for scaling a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the TB scaling factor is associated with at least one modulation and coding scheme (MCS) using an RRC mechanism; and determining the TB size based on the TB scaling factor.

[0183] Aspect 39: The method according to aspect 38, wherein the RRC-configured signaling includes a system information block (SIB) signal from the base station.

[0184] Aspect 40: The method according to aspect 38, wherein the TB scaling factor is configured to be applied to all PUSCH and PDSCH channels for a plurality of radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs).

[0185] Aspect 41: The method according to aspect 38, wherein the TB scaling factor is configured to be applied to downlink control information (DCI) received in a UE-specific search space (USS).

[0186] Aspect 42: A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network: receiving, via RRC signaling, an RRC configuration from a base station, the RRC configuration including transport block (TB) scaling information for use in uplink (UL) transmission; and determining a TB size for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) based on the TB scaling information in the RRC configuration.

[0187] Aspect 43: The method according to aspect 42, wherein adding the TB scaling information to the RRC configuration includes: adding a field in an information element (IE) for a type 1 configuration grant (CG).

[0188] Aspect 44: The method according to aspect 42, wherein adding the TB scaling information to the RRC configuration includes: adding the TB scaling information for a msgA PUSCH configuration to be sent to the UE via the RRC configuration.

[0189] Aspect 45: The method according to aspect 44, further comprising: linking the TB scaling information for the msgA PUSCH to a frequency of repetition of transmission of a physical random access channel (PRACH), wherein a PRACH repetition number is related to a specific TB scaling factor of the TB scaling information.

[0190] Aspect 46: The method according to aspect 44, further comprising: for an RRC_CONNECTED UE, using dedicated RRC signaling to configure TB scaling for the msgA PUSCH.

[0191] Aspect 47: A user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communication, comprising: a processor; a memory communicatively coupled to the processor; and a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the processor and the memory are configured to implement the method according to any one of aspects 24-51.

[0192] Aspect 48: A base station configured for wireless communication, comprising: a processor; a memory communicatively coupled to the processor; and a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the processor and the memory are configured to implement the method according to any one of aspects 1-23.

[0193] Aspect 49: A user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communication, comprising: units for implementing the method according to any one of Aspects 24 - 51.

[0194] Aspect 50: A base station configured for wireless communication, comprising: units for implementing the method according to any one of Aspects 1 - 23.

[0195] Aspect 51: A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code, the computer-executable code comprising instructions for implementing the method according to any one of Aspects 1 - 51.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication at a network element in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: Configuring a scaling field within downlink control information (DCI) to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is set within an existing bit field in the DCI, and the existing bit field includes a two-bit redundancy version identifier (RVID) field; Sending a radio resource control (RRC) signal having a predetermined modulation and coding scheme (MCS) threshold to a user equipment (UE), wherein when the MCS threshold is below a specific value, the MCS threshold can be used by the UE to cause the RVID field to be reinterpreted for TB scaling; and Sending the DCI to the UE.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The RVID field is repurposed for transmission of the scaling field, and the method further comprises: when the RVID field is repurposed for transmission of the scaling field, sending a specific identification value of the RVID field to the UE.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Sending an RRC flag to the UE, wherein the RRC flag is configured to indicate to the UE that the RVID field will be used for TB scaling.

4. A method of wireless communication at a network element in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: Determining a transport block (TB) scaling factor for setting a transport block (TB) size for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); Encoding the scaling factor using time domain resource allocation (TDRA); And Sending the TDRA having a scaling field with the scaling factor for the TB size to at least one user equipment (UE).

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein, Encoding the scaling factor using the TDRA comprises: Adding a new entry or changing an existing entry in a TDRA table for a UE-specific TRDR; and Adding the TB scaling factor to the new entry or the changed existing entry in the TDRA table.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein Encoding the scaling factor using the TDRA comprises: Modifying a default TDRA table using remaining minimum system information (RMSI) to create a new TDRA table having one or more additional entries; and Encoding the TB scaling factor in the new TDRA table.

7. A method of wireless communication at a network element in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: Determining a TB scaling factor for scaling a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); Associating the TB scaling factor with at least one modulation and coding scheme (MCS) using a radio resource control (RRC) mechanism in the network element; And Sending the TB scaling factor to at least one user equipment (UE) via RRC-configured signaling.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein The signaling of the RRC configuration includes a system information block (SIB) signal from the network element to the at least one UE.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein, The TB scaling factor is configured to be applied to all PUSCH and PDSCH channels for multiple radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs).

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein, The TB scaling factor is configured to be applied to downlink control information (DCI) received in a UE-specific search space (USS).

11. A method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: Receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a network element, the DCI including a scaling field configured to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling field is further set within an existing bit field in the DCI, and the existing bit field includes a two-bit redundancy version identifier (RVID) field; Receiving a radio resource control (RRC) signal having a predetermined modulation and coding scheme (MCS) threshold from the network element, wherein when the MCS threshold is below a specific value, the MCS threshold can be used by the UE to cause the RVID field to be reinterpreted for TB scaling; and Determining the size of the transport block based on the scaling field.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein, The RVID field is repurposed for transmission of the scaling field, and the method further comprises: when the RVID field is repurposed for transmission of the scaling field, sending a specific identification value of the RVID field to the UE.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: Receiving an RRC flag from the network element, wherein the RRC flag is configured to indicate to the UE that the RVID field will be used for TB scaling.

14. A method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: Receiving a random access resource (RAR) control element, signaling of an RRC configuration, or an RRC configuration from a network element, the RAR control element, the signaling of the RRC configuration, or the RRC configuration including a scaling bit configured to indicate a scaling factor corresponding to a transport block (TB) size for one of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the scaling bit is further set within one or more fields of the RAR control element, within a TB scaling factor of the signaling of the RRC configuration, or within TB scaling information of the RRC configuration, wherein the TB scaling factor is associated with at least one modulation and coding scheme (MCS) using an RRC mechanism; and Determining the size of the transport block based on the scaling bit.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein One of the one or more scaling bits is located in an uplink (UL) grant field of the RAR control element.

16. The method according to claim 14 further comprises: One of the one or more scaling bits is located in a hopping bit position within a first uplink (UL) grant field of the RAR control element; And Another one of the one or more scaling bits is located in a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) within a second uplink (UL) grant field of the RAR control element.

17. The method according to claim 14 further comprises: The RAR control element is configured to have an additional control field; And The one or more scaling bits are located in the additional control field.

18. The method according to claim 14, wherein, The signaling of the RRC configuration includes a system information block (SIB) signal from the network element.

19. The method according to claim 14, wherein, The TB scaling factor is configured to be applied to all PUSCH and PDSCH channels for multiple radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs).

20. The method according to claim 14, wherein, The TB scaling factor is configured to be applied to downlink control information (DCI) received in a UE-specific search space (USS).

21. The method according to claim 14, wherein, Adding the TB scaling information to the RRC configuration includes adding a field in an information element (IE) for type 1 configuration grant (CG).

22. The method according to claim 14, wherein Adding the TB scaling information to the RRC configuration includes adding the TB scaling information for the msgA PUSCH configuration to be sent to the UE via the RRC configuration.

23. The method according to claim 22 further comprises: Linking the TB scaling information for the msgA PUSCH to a repetition frequency of transmission of a physical random access channel (PRACH), wherein the PRACH repetition number is related to a specific TB scaling factor of the TB scaling information.

24. The method according to claim 22 further comprises: For an RRC_CONNECTED UE, using dedicated RRC signaling to configure TB scaling for the msgA PUSCH.

25. A network element configured for wireless communication, comprising: A processor; And A memory communicatively coupled to the processor; Wherein the processor and the memory are configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, or the method according to any one of claims 7 to 10.

26. A user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communication, comprising: A processor; And A memory communicatively coupled to the processor; Wherein the processor and the memory are configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 11 to 13 or the method according to any one of claims 14 to 24.

27. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code, the computer-executable code comprising instructions for causing a network element to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, or the method according to any one of claims 7 to 10.

28. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code, the computer-executable code including instructions for causing a user equipment (UE) to perform the method according to any one of claims 11 to 13 or the method according to any one of claims 14 to 24.

Images