Method and apparatus for slot format indicator (SFI) conflict handling

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide methods and apparatus for time slot format indicator (SFI) conflict handling. According to certain aspects, a method for wireless communication by a base station (BS) is provided. The BS may determine a time slot aggregation level and a format of an aggregated time slot, and send a downlink control channel including an SFI indicating the format of the aggregated time slot and an indication of the time slot aggregation level. A UE may receive a downlink control channel including an SFI and an indication of the time slot aggregation level, and the UE may determine the format of a current time slot based on the received SFI and the time slot aggregation level.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of a Chinese patent application with an application date of March 22, 2018, application number 201880019746.3 (international application number PCT / US2018 / 023833), and invention name “Slot format indicator (SFI) and slot aggregation level indication in group-shared PDCCH and SFI conflict handling”.

[0002] Cross-references to related applications and priority claims

[0003] This application claims priority to U.S. Application No. 15 / 927,716, filed on March 21, 2018, which claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application S / N. 62 / 476,634, filed on March 24, 2017, the entire contents of both applications are incorporated herein by reference for all applicable purposes. background Technical Field

[0005] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to slot format indicator (SFI) and slot aggregation level indication in a group common physical downlink control channel (GC PDCCH) and conflict handling for SFI in certain systems such as new radio (NR) systems. Background Art

[0007] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless communication systems may employ multiple access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power). Examples of such multiple access systems include 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, Advanced LTE (LTE-A) systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) systems, and Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

[0008] In some examples, a wireless multiple access communication system may include several base stations (BSs), each of which can simultaneously support communication of multiple communication devices (also referred to as user equipment (UE)). In an LTE or LTE-A network, a set of one or more BSs may define an evolved B node (eNB). In other examples (e.g., in a next generation, new radio (NR), or 5G network), a wireless multiple access communication system may include several distributed units (DUs) (e.g., edge units (EUs), edge nodes (ENs), radio heads (RHs), smart radio heads (SRHs), transmission reception points (TRPs), etc.) in communication with several central units (CUs) (e.g., central nodes (CNs), access node controllers (ANCs), etc.), wherein a set of one or more DUs in communication with a CU may define an access node (e.g., which may be referred to as a BS, a next generation NB (gNB), a TRP, etc.). A BS or DU may communicate with a set of UEs on a downlink channel (e.g., for transmission from a BS to a UE) and an uplink channel (e.g., for transmission from a UE to a BS or DU).

[0009] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate at a city, country, region, and even global level. NR is an example of an emerging telecommunication standard. NR is an enhancement set of the LTE mobile standard promulgated by 3GPP. It is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectrum efficiency, reducing costs, improving services, utilizing new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA with cyclic prefix (CP) on downlink (DL) and uplink (UL), as well as supporting beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.

[0010] However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, there is a need for further improvements to NR and LTE technologies. Preferably, these improvements should be applicable to other multiple access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies. Summary of the invention

[0011] The systems, methods, and devices of the present disclosure each have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of the present disclosure as expressed in the appended claims, some features will now be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled "Detailed Description," it will be understood how the features of the present disclosure provide advantages including improved communication between access points and stations in a wireless network.

[0012] Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to slot format indicator (SFI) and slot aggregation level indication in a group common physical downlink control channel (GC PDCCH) and collision handling for the SFI in certain systems, such as new radio (NR) systems.

[0013] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication that may be performed, for example, by a user equipment (UE). The method generally includes: receiving a downlink control channel carrying an SFI, the SFI indicating whether one or more symbols in at least a current time slot are used for uplink or downlink. The method includes: determining a scheduled transmission that conflicts with the SFI. The method includes: determining the direction of the one or more symbols as uplink or downlink based on the received SFI or based on the direction of the scheduled transmission. The method includes: transmitting or receiving in the one or more symbols based on the determined direction of the one or more symbols.

[0014] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus, such as a UE, for wireless communications. The apparatus generally includes: means for receiving a downlink control channel carrying an SFI, the SFI indicating whether one or more symbols in at least a current time slot are for uplink or downlink. The apparatus includes: means for determining a scheduled transmission that conflicts with the SFI. The apparatus includes: means for determining a direction of the one or more symbols as uplink or downlink based on the received SFI or based on the direction of the scheduled transmission. The apparatus includes: means for transmitting or receiving in the one or more symbols based on the determined direction of the one or more symbols.

[0015] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communication, such as a UE. The apparatus generally includes a transceiver configured to receive a downlink control channel carrying an SFI, the SFI indicating whether one or more symbols in at least a current time slot are used for uplink or downlink. The apparatus includes at least one processor coupled to a memory and configured to determine a scheduled transmission that conflicts with the SFI. The at least one processor is further configured to determine the direction of the one or more symbols as uplink or downlink based on the received SFI or based on the direction of the scheduled transmission. The transceiver is further configured to transmit or receive in the one or more symbols based on the determined direction of the one or more symbols.

[0016] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable code for wireless communication. The computer-executable code generally includes: code for receiving a downlink control channel carrying an SFI, the SFI indicating whether one or more code elements in at least a current time slot are for uplink or downlink. The computer-executable code includes: code for determining a scheduled transmission that conflicts with the SFI. The computer-executable code includes: code for determining the direction of the one or more code elements as uplink or downlink based on the received SFI or based on the direction of the scheduled transmission. The computer-executable code includes: code for transmitting or receiving in the one or more code elements based on the determined direction of the one or more code elements.

[0017] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication that may be performed, for example, by a base station (BS). The method generally includes determining a slot aggregation level and a format of the aggregated slots. The method includes sending a downlink control channel including an SFI indicating the format of the aggregated slots and an indication of the slot aggregation level.

[0018] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication that may be performed, for example, by a UE. The method generally includes receiving a downlink control channel including an SFI and an indication of a slot aggregation level. The method includes determining a format of a current slot based on the received SFI and the slot aggregation level.

[0019] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communication by a BS. The apparatus generally includes: means for determining a slot aggregation level and a format of the aggregated slots. The apparatus includes: means for sending a downlink control channel including an SFI indicating the format of the aggregated slots and an indication of the slot aggregation level.

[0020] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communication by a UE. The apparatus generally includes: means for receiving a downlink control channel including an SFI and an indication of a slot aggregation level. The apparatus includes: means for determining a format of a current slot based on the received SFI and the slot aggregation level.

[0021] Aspects generally include methods, apparatus, systems, computer-readable media, and processing systems substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying figures.

[0022] To achieve the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects include the features fully described below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. However, these features are merely indicative of several of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to cover all such aspects and their equivalents. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] In order to understand in detail the manner in which the above-stated features of the present disclosure are used, a more particular description of the content briefly summarized above may be made with reference to various aspects, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It should be noted, however, that the accompanying drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of the present disclosure and are not to be considered limiting of its scope, as the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.

[0024] Figure 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example telecommunications system in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example logical architecture of a distributed radio access network (RAN) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example physical architecture of a distributed RAN in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating designs of example base stations (BSs) and user equipment (UEs) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0028] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example for implementing a communication protocol stack in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0029] Figure 6 Illustrated are example frame formats for New Radio (NR) systems in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0030] Figure 7 are example aggregated slots with a slot format indicator (SFI) in each slot in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0031] Figure 8 is an example aggregated time slot having an SFI only in the first time slot in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0032] Fig. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations that may be performed by a BS for wireless communications in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0033] Fig.10is a flow diagram illustrating example operations that may be performed by a UE for wireless communications in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0034] To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one aspect may be beneficially utilized in other aspects without specific recitation. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for NR (new radio access or 5G technology). NR may support various wireless communication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz or more), millimeter wave (mmW) targeting high carrier frequency (e.g., 25 GHz or more), massive machine type communication MTC (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC technology, and / or mission critical services targeting ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). These services may include latency and reliability requirements. These services may also have different transmission time intervals (TTIs) to meet corresponding quality of service (QoS) requirements. In addition, these services may coexist in the same subframe.

[0036] In NR, slots and symbols within slots may be configured in various ways, such as downlink, uplink, empty, reserved (e.g., for data only or control only), etc. A slot format indicator (SFI) may carry information indicating the format of the current slot (and / or future slots). The SFI may be carried in the downlink region of the slot, for example, in a downlink control channel such as the group common physical downlink control channel (GC PDCCH). In NR, slots may be aggregated (referred to as aggregated slots). In some examples, the aggregated slot has a control region (uplink and / or downlink) in the middle. In this case, the SFI may be sent for each slot. However, in some cases, there is only a downlink control region at the beginning of the aggregated slot. In this case, it is desirable for the user equipment (UE) to have some information about the aggregation level.

[0037] Additionally, in some cases, SFI may conflict with other scheduled transmissions, such as grants or ACK / NACK (acknowledgement / negative acknowledgement) timing in downlink control information (DCI), or periodic signaling. Thus, techniques for conflict handling / resolution for SFI and other transmissions are desirable.

[0038] Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for SFI and aggregation level indication in a downlink control channel and for SFI conflict handling.

[0039] The following description provides examples rather than limiting the scope, applicability or examples set forth in the claims. Changes may be made to the functions and arrangements of the elements discussed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Various examples may appropriately omit, replace, or add various procedures or components. For example, the described method may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. In addition, the features described with reference to some examples may be combined in some other examples. For example, any number of aspects set forth herein may be used to implement a device or practice method. In addition, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover such devices or methods practiced using other structures, functionality, or structures and functionality as supplements to the various aspects of the present disclosure set forth herein or in addition. It should be understood that any aspect of the present disclosure disclosed herein may be implemented by one or more elements of the claims. The wording "exemplary" is used herein to mean "used as an example, instance, or explanation". Any aspect described as "exemplary" herein is not necessarily to be interpreted as being superior to or superior to other aspects.

[0040] The technology described herein can be used for various wireless communication networks, such as LTE, CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA and other networks. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network can implement radio technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes other variants of Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network can implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA network can implement radio technologies such as NR (e.g., 5G RA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). NR is an emerging wireless communication technology being developed in collaboration with the 5G Technology Forum (5GTF). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Advanced LTE (LTE-A) are versions of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization called "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). Cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization called "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, although various aspects may be described herein using terms commonly associated with 3G and / or 4G wireless technologies, various aspects of the present disclosure may be applied in communication systems based on other generations, such as 5G and later generations, including NR technologies.

[0041] Example Wireless Communication System

[0042] Figure 1 An example wireless communication network 100 is illustrated in which aspects of the present disclosure may be performed. For example, the wireless communication network 100 may be a new radio (NR) or 5G network. Figure 1As illustrated in FIG. 1 , a wireless communication network 100 may include several base stations (BSs) 110 and user equipments (UEs) 120. The BS 110 in the wireless communication network 100 may determine a slot aggregation level and a format of an aggregated slot and send a slot format indicator (SFI) indicating the format of the aggregated slot to the UE 120 in a downlink control channel (e.g., in a group common physical downlink control channel (GCPDCCH)). In addition, the BS may send an indication of the slot aggregation level to the UE 120 in the downlink control channel. The UE 120 may receive a downlink control channel including the SFI and an indication of the slot aggregation level, and determine the format of the current slot based on the received SFI and the slot aggregation level. The BS 110 may send downlink control information (DCI) including uplink or downlink grant or ACK / NACK timing information that conflicts with the SFI. In addition, the BS 110 and / or the UE 120 may be configured with uplink or downlink periodic signaling that may conflict with the SFI. UE 120 may determine whether to follow SFI, DCI, or periodic signaling for symbols in a slot.

[0043] A BS may be a station that communicates with a UE. Each BS 110 may provide communication coverage for a specific geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" may refer to the coverage area of ​​a B node (NB) and / or a NB subsystem that serves the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NR systems, the terms "cell" and next generation NB (gNB), BS, NR BS, BS, transmit reception point (TRP), etc. may be interchangeable. In some examples, the cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of ​​the cell may move according to the location of the mobile BS. In some examples, the BSs may be interconnected to each other and / or to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in the wireless communication network 100 via various types of backhaul interfaces (such as direct physical connections, virtual networks, or analogs using any suitable transport networks).

[0044] In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a specific radio access technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. RAT may also be referred to as radio technology, air interface, etc. Frequency may also be referred to as carrier, frequency channel, frequency modulation, subband, subcarrier, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

[0045] A BS may provide communication coverage for macro cells, pico cells, femto cells, and / or other types of cells. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a residence) and may allow restricted access by UEs associated with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG), UEs of users in a residence, etc.). A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In Figure 1 In the example shown in FIG. 1 , BSs 110a, 110b, and 110c may be macro BSs for macro cells 102a, 102b, and 102c, respectively. BS 110x may be a pico BS for pico cell 102x. BSs 110y and 110z may be femto BSs for femto cells 102y and 102z, respectively. A BS may support one or more (e.g., three) cells.

[0046] The wireless communication network 100 may also include a relay station. A relay station is a station that receives transmissions of data and / or other information from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or a UE) and sends transmissions of the data and / or other information to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or a BS). A relay station may also be a UE that relays transmissions for other UEs. Figure 1 In the example shown in , a relay station 110r may communicate with a BS 110a and a UE 120r to facilitate communication between the BS 110a and the UE 120r. A relay station may also be referred to as a relay BS, a relay, or the like.

[0047] The wireless communication network 100 may be a heterogeneous network including different types of BSs (e.g., macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, relays, etc.). These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different effects on interference in the wireless communication network 100. For example, a macro BS may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 20 watts), while a pico BS, a femto BS, and a relay may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 1 watt).

[0048] The wireless communication network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, each BS may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, each BS may have different frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs may not be aligned in time.

[0049] A network controller 130 may couple to a set of BSs and provide coordination and control for these BSs. Network controller 130 may communicate with BSs 110 via a backhaul. BSs 110 may also communicate with each other (eg, directly or indirectly) via a wireless or wired backhaul.

[0050] UE 120 (e.g., 120x, 120y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout the wireless communication network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. UE may also be referred to as a mobile station, terminal, access terminal, subscriber unit, station, customer premises equipment (CPE), cellular phone, smart phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless modem, wireless communication device, handheld device, laptop computer, cordless phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, tablet device, camera, gaming device, netbook, smartbook, ultrabook, medical device or medical equipment, biometric sensor / device, wearable device (such as smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristband, smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart necklace, etc.)), entertainment device (e.g., music device, video device, satellite radio, etc.), vehicle component or sensor, smart meter / sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via wireless or wired medium. Some UEs may be considered machine type communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., which can communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node can provide connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network (such as the Internet) or a cellular network), for example, via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered to be Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which may be narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices.

[0051] Some wireless networks (e.g., LTE) utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also often referred to as frequency modulation, frequency bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain under OFDM and in the time domain under SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of subcarriers can be 15kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (called resource block (RB)) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180kHz). Therefore, for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), the nominal FFT size can be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth can also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (ie, 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0052] Although aspects of the examples described herein may be associated with LTE technology, aspects of the present disclosure may be applicable to other wireless communication systems, such as NR. NR may utilize OFDM with CP on the uplink and downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using TDD. Beamforming may be supported and the beam direction may be dynamically configured. MIMO transmission with precoding may also be supported. MIMO configurations in the DL may support up to 8 transmit antennas (multi-layer DL transmission with up to 8 streams) and up to 2 streams per UE. Multi-layer transmission of up to 2 streams per UE may be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells may be supported using up to 8 serving cells.

[0053] In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled. A scheduling entity (e.g., a BS) allocates resources for communication between some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. A scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communications, subordinate entities utilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity. The BS is not the only entity that can act as a scheduling entity. In some examples, a UE may act as a scheduling entity, thereby scheduling resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs), and other UEs utilize resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communication. A UE may act as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and / or in a mesh network. In a mesh network example, UEs may communicate directly with each other in addition to communicating with a scheduling entity.

[0054] exist Figure 1 In FIG. 1 , a solid line with double arrows indicates desired transmissions between a UE and a serving BS, which is a BS designated to serve the UE on a downlink and / or uplink. A thin dashed line with double arrows indicates interfering transmissions between a UE and a BS.

[0055] Figure 2 An example logical architecture of a distributed RAN 200 is illustrated, which may be Figure 1 206 is implemented in the wireless communication network 100 illustrated in FIG. 5G access node 206 may include access node controller (ANC) 202. ANC 202 may be a CU of distributed RAN 200. The backhaul interface to the next generation core network (NG-CN) 204 may be terminated at ANC 202. The backhaul interface to the adjacent next generation access node (NG-AN) 210 may be terminated at ANC 202. ANC 202 may include one or more TRPs 208 (e.g., cellular cells, BSs, gNBs, etc.). TRP 208 may be a DU. TRP 208 may be connected to a single ANC (e.g., ANC 202) or more than one ANC (not illustrated). For example, for RAN sharing, radio as a service (RaaS), and service-specific AND deployments, TRP 208 may be connected to more than one ANC. TRP 208 may include one or more antenna ports. The TRPs 208 may be configured to serve traffic to the UEs individually (eg, dynamically selected) or jointly (eg, jointly transmitted).

[0056] The logical architecture of the distributed RAN 200 may support forward haul solutions across different deployment types. For example, the logical architecture may be based on transport network capabilities (e.g., bandwidth, latency, and / or jitter). The local architecture of the distributed RAN 200 may share features and / or components with LTE. The NG-AN 210 may support dual connectivity with NR and may share a common forward haul for LTE and NR. The logical architecture of the distributed RAN 200 may enable collaboration between and among TRPs 208 (e.g., within a TRP and / or across TRPs via ANC 202). The inter-TRP interface may not be used.

[0057] Logical functions can be dynamically distributed in the logical architecture of the distributed RAN 200. Figure 5 Described in more detail, the radio resource control (RRC) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, the radio link control (RLC) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, and the physical (PHY) layer can be adaptively placed at the DU (e.g., TRP 208) or the CU (e.g., ANC202).

[0058] Figure 3An example physical architecture of a distributed RAN 300 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. A centralized core network unit (C-CU) 302 may host core network functions. The C-CU 302 may be centrally deployed. C-CU 302 functionality may be offloaded (e.g., to Advanced Wireless Services (AWS)) in an effort to handle peak capacity.

[0059] A centralized RAN unit (C-RU) 304 may host one or more ANC functions. The C-RU 304 may host core network functions locally. The C-RU 304 may have a distributed deployment. The C-RU 304 may be located near the edge of the network.

[0060] DU 306 may host one or more TRPs (edge ​​node (EN), edge unit (EU), radio head (RH), smart radio head (SRH), etc.) DU 306 may be at the edge of the network with radio frequency (RF) functionality.

[0061] Figure 4 Explained Figure 1 10 and UE 120, which may be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure. For example, antenna 452, TX MIMO processor 466, receive processor 458, transmit processor 464, and / or controller / processor 480 of UE 120, and / or antenna 434, TX MIMO processor 430, transmit processor 420, receive processor 438, and / or controller / processor 440 of BS 110 may be used to perform the operations described herein and with reference to the present disclosure. Fig. 9 and 10 Explanation of the operation.

[0062] At BS 110, transmit processor 420 may receive data from data source 412 and control information from controller / processor 440. The control information may be for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. The data may be for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. For example, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure, BS 110 may send a slot format indicator (SFI), slot aggregation level information, and / or downlink control information (DCI) in a downlink control region. Transmit processor 420 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. Transmit processor 420 may also generate reference symbols (such as a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a cell-specific reference signal (CRS)). The transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 430 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols where applicable, and may provide an output symbol stream to modulators (MOD) 432a to 432t. Each modulator 432 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 432 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and up-convert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from modulators 432a to 432t may be transmitted via antennas 434a to 434t, respectively.

[0063] At UE 120, antennas 452a to 452r may receive downlink signals from BS 110 and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 454a to 454r, respectively. For example, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure, UE 120 may receive a slot format indicator (SFI), slot aggregation level information, and / or downlink control information (DCI) from BS 110 in a downlink control region. Each demodulator 454 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 454 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 456 may obtain received symbols from all demodulators 454a to 454r, perform MIMO detection on these received symbols where applicable, and provide detected symbols. The receive processor 458 may process (eg, demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 120 to a data sink 460 , and provide decoded control information to a controller / processor 480 .

[0064] On the uplink, at the UE 120, the transmit processor 464 may receive and process data from a data source 462 (e.g., data for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)) and control information from a controller / processor 480 (e.g., control information for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). The transmit processor 464 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., for a sounding reference signal (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 464 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 466, where applicable, further processed by demodulators 454a through 454r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to the BS 110. At the BS 110, the uplink signals from the UE 120 may be received by the antenna 434, processed by the modulator 432, detected by the MIMO detector 436, where applicable, and further processed by the receive processor 438 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 120. Receive processor 438 may provide decoded data to data sink 439 and decoded control information to controller / processor 440 .

[0065] Controllers / processors 440 and 480 may direct the operation at BS 110 and UE 120, respectively. Controller / processor 440 and / or other processors and modules at base station 110 may perform or direct the execution of various processes, for example, for the techniques described herein. Controller / processor 480 and / or other processors and modules at UE 120 may also perform or direct the execution of various processes, for example, for the techniques described herein. Fig.10 , and / or execution of other processes for the techniques described herein. For example, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure, the processor of UE 120 may determine the direction of at least one or more symbols in the current time slot based on the SFI, DCI, and / or time slot aggregation information received from BS 110 and / or based on periodic signaling. The controller / processor 440 and / or other processors and modules at BS 110 may also perform or direct Fig. 9 10 and 110. The memory 442 and 482 may store data and program codes for the BS 110 and the UE 120, respectively. The scheduler 444 may schedule the UE for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0066] Figure 5A diagram 500 showing an example for implementing a communication protocol stack according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The illustrated communication protocol stack may be implemented by a device operating in a 5G system (e.g., a system supporting uplink-based mobility). Diagram 500 illustrates a communication protocol stack including an RRC layer 510, a PDCP layer 515, an RLC layer 520, a MAC layer 525, and a PHY layer 530. These layers of the protocol stack may be implemented as separate software modules, portions of a processor or ASIC, portions of non-co-located devices connected by a communication link, or various combinations thereof. Co-located and non-co-located implementations may be used, for example, in a protocol stack for a network access device (e.g., AN, CU, and / or DU) or a UE.

[0067] The first option 505-a illustrates a split implementation of the protocol stack, where the implementation of the protocol stack is performed on a centralized network access device (e.g., Figure 2 ANC 202 in the system) and distributed network access equipment (e.g., Figure 2 In the first option 505-a, the RRC layer 510 and the PDCP layer 515 may be implemented by a central unit, while the RLC layer 520, the MAC layer 525, and the PHY layer 530 may be implemented by the DU. In various examples, the CU and the DU may be co-located or non-co-located. The first option 505-a may be useful in a macro cell, a micro cell, or a pico cell deployment.

[0068] The second option 505-b shows a unified implementation of the protocol stack, where the protocol stack is implemented in a single network access device. In the second option, the RRC layer 510, the PDCP layer 515, the RLC layer 520, the MAC layer 525, and the PHY layer 530 can each be implemented by an AN. The second option 505-b can be useful in a femtocell deployment.

[0069] Regardless of whether the network access device implements part or all of the protocol stack, the UE may implement the entire protocol stack (eg, the RRC layer 510, the PDCP layer 515, the RLC layer 520, the MAC layer 525, and the PHY layer 530).

[0070] In LTE, the basic transmission time interval (TTI) or packet duration is a 1ms subframe. In NR, a subframe is still 1ms, but the basic TTI is called a slot. A subframe contains a variable number of slots (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, ... slots), depending on the subcarrier spacing. NR RBs are 12 consecutive frequency subcarriers. NR can support a base subcarrier spacing of 15KHz, and other subcarrier spacings can be defined relative to the base subcarrier spacing, such as 30kHz, 60kHz, 120kHz, 240kHz, etc. The symbol and slot lengths scale with the subcarrier spacing. The CP length also depends on the subcarrier spacing.

[0071] Figure 6 600 for NR. The transmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink may be divided into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may have a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) and may be divided into 10 subframes with indices 0 to 9, each subframe being 1 ms. Each subframe may include a variable number of slots, depending on the subcarrier spacing. Each slot may include a variable number of symbol periods (e.g., 7 or 14 symbols), depending on the subcarrier spacing. An index may be assigned to the symbol period in each slot. A mini-slot is a subslot structure (e.g., 2, 3, or 4 symbols).

[0072] Each symbol in a slot may indicate a link direction (e.g., DL, UL, or flexible) for data transmission, and the link direction for each subframe may be switched dynamically. The link direction may be based on the slot format. Each slot may include DL / UL data and DL / UL control information.

[0073] In NR, a synchronization signal (SS) block is transmitted. The SS block includes PSS, SSS, and two-symbol PBCH. The SS block can be in a fixed time slot position (such as Figure 6 The PSS and SSS can be used by the UE for cell search and acquisition. The PSS can provide half-frame timing, and the SS can provide CP length and frame timing. The PSS and SSS can provide cell identity. The PBCH carries some basic system information, such as downlink system bandwidth, timing information within a radio frame, SS burst set periodicity, system frame number, etc. SS blocks can be organized into SS bursts to support beam sweeping. Further system information (such as remaining minimum system information (RMSI), system information block (SIB), other system information (OSI)) can be transmitted on the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in certain subframes.

[0074] In some environments, two or more subordinate entities (e.g., UEs) may communicate with each other using sidelink signals. Real-world applications of such sidelink communications may include public safety, proximity services, UE-to-network relay, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, Internet of Everything (IoE) communications, IoT communications, mission-critical mesh networks, and / or various other suitable applications. In general, a sidelink signal may refer to a signal that is communicated from one subordinate entity (e.g., a UE) to another subordinate entity (e.g., another UE) without relaying the communication through a scheduling entity (e.g., a UE or a BS), even if the scheduling entity may be used for scheduling and / or control purposes. In some examples, the sidelink signal may be communicated using a licensed spectrum (unlike wireless local area networks, which typically use an unlicensed spectrum).

[0075] Example SFI and slot aggregation level indication in GC PDCCH and SFI conflict handling

[0076] In NR, slots can be configured in various ways. For example, based on the slot format, each symbol in a slot can have different configurations, such as downlink, uplink, empty (e.g., empty data region), reserved (e.g., only in the data region, only in the control region, or forced discontinuous transmission (DTX) or discontinuous reception (DRX) in both the data and control regions, etc.), etc.

[0077] Base Station (BS) (such as Figure 1 10) in the wireless communication network 100 illustrated in FIG. 10 may send information about the slot format to a user equipment (UE) (e.g., UE 120) in a downlink control region. For example, the BS may send the information to the UE in a downlink control channel, such as a group common (GC) physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). GCPDCCH refers to a channel (e.g., PDCCH) that carries information intended for a group of UEs, such as a slot format indicator (SFI), via common downlink control information (DCI). The UE may be configured by a radio resource control (RRC) to decode the GC PDCCH. The SFI indicates the format of the current slot and / or (s) future slots. The UE may use the information in the SFI to determine (identify, derive, etc.) which symbols in the slot are used for uplink or downlink, or other purposes (e.g., such as sidelink, blank, or reserved).

[0078] In NR, time slots can be aggregated. The number of aggregated time slots is based on the time slot aggregation level. For time slot aggregation, it may be desirable to include additional information, such as format information of multiple time slots (current and future time slots). Figure 7 An aggregated time slot 700 is illustrated with a control region (uplink and / or downlink) in the middle. Figure 7In the aggregated time slot 700 shown in FIG. 1 , time slots 702, 704, and 706 each have a downlink control region at the beginning and an uplink control region at the end. Thus, SFIs 703, 705, 707 may be sent in the downlink control region of each time slot 702, 704, 706, respectively. However, in some cases with time slot aggregation, there is only a downlink control region at the beginning of the aggregated time slot. Figure 8 As shown in FIG, aggregated slots 800 have a downlink control region in the first slot 802 (in which SFI 803 may be sent), and an uplink control region at the end of slot 806, with no control region in the middle slot 804. Thus, special treatment may be desired to indicate the format of the aggregated slots.

[0079] Additionally, as will be described in greater detail below, SFIs may conflict with other scheduled transmissions, such as those scheduled by grants (uplink and / or downlink), ACK / NACK timing (e.g., timing of retransmissions for providing ACK / NACK feedback or HARQ), and / or periodic signaling (uplink or downlink) in downlink control information (DCI). For example, an SFI may indicate certain symbols as being used for uplink, downlink, empty, or reserved, while a scheduled transmission for that symbol may be in another direction. Accordingly, techniques for SFI conflict handling / resolution are also desirable.

[0080] Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for SFI and aggregation level indication in a downlink control channel, as well as techniques (eg, rules) for handling conflicts between SFI and other signaling.

[0081] Fig. 9 904 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 900 for SFI and slot aggregation indication in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. Operations 900 may be performed, for example, by a BS, such as BS 110, for example. Operations 900 may begin at 900 by determining a slot aggregation level and a format of the aggregated slots. At 904, the BS sends a downlink control channel (e.g., GC PDCCH) including an SFI indicating the format of the aggregated slots and an indication of the slot aggregation level.

[0082] Fig.101 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 1000 for determining a format of aggregated time slots in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. Operations 1000 may be performed, for example, by a UE (such as UE 120, for example). Operations 1000 may be operations performed by a UE that are complementary to operations 900 performed by a BS. Operations 1000 may begin at 1002 by receiving a downlink control channel including an SFI and an indication of a time slot aggregation level. At 1004, the UE determines a format of a current time slot (e.g., determines a direction to be applied to symbols in the time slot) based on the received SFI and the time slot aggregation level. In various aspects, the UE may also determine a format of one or more future time slots based on the received SFI and the time slot aggregation level. For example, the UE may determine a format for each of these aggregated time slots.

[0083] According to certain aspects, in the case where the aggregated time slot has no control region in the middle (e.g., Figure 8 ), it may be desirable to include additional information in the downlink control channel (e.g., in the GC PDCCH) to supplement the information in the SFI. For example, the aggregation level of the timeslot (e.g., indicating the number of aggregated timeslots) may be indicated in the downlink control channel (e.g., in a separate field) at the beginning of the aggregated timeslot.

[0084] A UE receiving the downlink control channel may be able to use the information (including the SFI and aggregation level) to determine (derive, identify, etc.) the format of the current time slot and / or future time slots, such as which symbols in the time slot are used for the uplink and which symbols are used for the downlink. In various aspects, the UE may skip PDCCH decoding during the aggregated time slots.

[0085] Example handling of SFI conflicts with other signals

[0086] It may be desirable that the information in the SFI does not conflict with other signaling, such as downlink control information (DCI) (e.g., uplink grants, downlink grants, and / or ACK / NACK timing) and preconfigured periodic uplink or downlink transmissions. There may be misdetections for the GC PDCCH. For example, the DCI may schedule an uplink or downlink transmission in a symbol (or there may be periodic uplink or downlink transmissions), while the SFI may indicate the symbol as non-uplink (e.g., downlink, reserved, empty, etc.) or non-downlink (e.g., uplink, reserved, empty, etc.).

[0087] In an example scenario, the information in the SFI may indicate that one or more symbols are used for uplink or downlink (or are reserved, empty, etc.); however, the grant in the DCI and / or the ACK / NACK timing information in the DCI may schedule the UE to transmit or receive a transmission in the other direction in one of those symbols. There may also be detection errors in the DCI or SFI. Thus, the SFI and DCI may conflict. If the UE determines that there is a conflict, the UE may give priority to the information in the SFI or the information in the DCI. In one example, the UE always gives priority to the information in the DCI. Alternatively, the UE may only give priority to the DCI received in the current time slot, and if the DCI was received in the previous time slot, the UE may give priority to the information in the SFI.

[0088] In another example scenario, the information in the SFI may conflict with periodic signaling. On the downlink, periodic signaling may include signaling such as a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), synchronization signals (primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and / or physical broadcast channel (PBCH)), and / or semi-persistent scheduling (SPS). On the uplink, periodic signaling may include a sounding reference signal (SRS), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) with channel state information (CSI), and / or SPS. The information in the SFI may indicate that one or more code elements are used for the uplink or downlink (or are reserved, empty, etc.); and in those code elements a periodic signal may appear in other directions. Thus, the SFI conflicts with the periodic signaling. If the UE determines that there is a conflict, the UE may give priority to the information in the SFI or the periodic signaling.

[0089] In one example, if there is DCI information about a symbol, the UE always gives priority to the information in the DCI. Alternatively, if there is DCI information about a symbol, the UE may give priority to the information in the DCI only if the DCI is received in the current slot—without giving priority to DCI received in the previous slot. If there is no DCI (or no grant is included for the symbol), and if the SFI indicates a direction, the UE gives priority to the information in the SFI. If there is no DCI and the SFI indicates null, the UE gives priority to periodic signaling. And if there is no DCI and the SFI indicates reserved, the UE gives priority to the SFI.

[0090] Giving priority to information in the DCI may include transmitting or monitoring transmissions based on uplink or downlink grants in the DCI (e.g., ignoring the link direction indicated by the SFI) or based on ACK / NACK timing in the DCI. Giving priority to the SFI may include ignoring uplink or downlink grants or ACK / NACK timing in the DCI if the DCI conflicts with information in the SFI. Giving priority to periodic signaling may include transmitting or monitoring periodic signaling regardless of information in the SFI or DCI.

[0091] The methods disclosed herein include one or more steps or actions for implementing the described methods. These method steps and / or actions may be interchangeable with each other without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific steps and / or actions may be changed without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0092] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as any combination with multiple identical elements (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc, or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

[0093] As used herein, the term "determining" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determining" may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database, or another data structure), ascertaining, and the like. Also, "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), and the like. "Determining" may also include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

[0094] The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the universal principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but should be granted the full scope consistent with the claims in language, wherein the singular reference to the element is not intended to mean "there is and only one", but "one or more", unless otherwise specifically stated. Unless otherwise specifically stated, the term "some" refers to one or more. The elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure are all structural and functional equivalents currently or hereafter known to those of ordinary skill in the art, and are expressly incorporated herein by reference, and are intended to be covered by the claims. In addition, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be contributed to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly stated in the claims. Any element of a claim should not be interpreted under the provisions of 35 USC§112, paragraph 6, unless the element is explicitly stated using the wording "device for..." or in the case of a method claim, the element is stated using the wording "step for...".

[0095] The various operations of the methods described above may be performed by any suitable device capable of performing the corresponding functions. These devices may include various hardware and / or software components and / or modules, including but not limited to circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or processors. Generally, where there are operations illustrated in the accompanying drawings, these operations may have corresponding paired device-plus-function components with similar numbers.

[0096] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the present disclosure may be implemented or executed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0097] If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration may include a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented using a bus architecture. Depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system, the bus may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges. The bus may link together various circuits including a processor, a machine-readable medium, and a bus interface. The bus interface may be used to connect a network adapter, etc., to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement the signal processing functions of the PHY layer. In the user terminal 120 (see Figure 1 ), a user interface (e.g., a keypad, display, mouse, joystick, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art and will not be described further. The processor may be implemented with one or more general and / or special purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuit systems capable of executing software. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the functionality described with respect to the processing system, depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0098] If implemented in software, each function may be stored on or transmitted by a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, which include any media that facilitate the transfer of computer programs from one place to another. The processor may be responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including executing software modules stored on a machine-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to a processor so that the processor can read and write information from / to the storage medium. Alternatively, a storage medium may be integrated into a processor. As an example, a machine-readable medium may include a transmission line, a carrier modulated by data, and / or a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that is separated from a wireless node, all of which may be accessed by a processor through a bus interface. Alternatively or in addition, a machine-readable medium or any part thereof may be integrated into a processor, such as a cache and / or a general register file, which may be the case. As an example, examples of machine-readable storage media may include RAM (random access memory), flash memory, ROM (read only memory), PROM (programmable read only memory), EPROM (erasable programmable read only memory), EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory), registers, magnetic disks, optical disks, hard drives, or any other suitable storage media, or any combination thereof. Machine-readable media may be implemented in a computer program product.

[0099] A software module may include a single instruction, or many instructions, and may be distributed over several different code segments, between different programs, and across multiple storage media. A computer-readable medium may include several software modules. These software modules include instructions that cause a processing system to perform various functions when executed by a device (such as a processor). These software modules may include a transmission module and a receiving module. Each software module may reside in a single storage device or may be distributed across multiple storage devices. As an example, when a triggering event occurs, a software module may be loaded into a RAM from a hard drive. During the execution of a software module, a processor may load some instructions into a cache to increase access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into a general register file for execution by the processor. When describing the functionality of a software module as described below, it will be understood that such functionality is implemented by the processor when the processor executes instructions from the software module.

[0100] Any connection is also properly referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technology (such as infrared (IR), radio, and microwave), then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technology (such as infrared, radio, and microwave) is included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Disks, where disks often reproduce data magnetically, and discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Thus, in some aspects, computer-readable media may include non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media). Additionally, for other aspects, computer-readable media may include transient computer-readable media (e.g., signals). The above combinations should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0101] Thus, some aspects may include a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may include a computer-readable medium having instructions stored (and / or encoded) thereon, which instructions can be executed by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein.

[0102] In addition, it should be appreciated that modules and / or other appropriate means for performing the methods and techniques described herein may be downloaded and / or otherwise obtained by a user terminal and / or base station where applicable. For example, such a device can be coupled to a server to facilitate the transfer of means for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, the various methods described herein can be provided via a storage device (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage medium such as a compact disc (CD) or a floppy disk, etc.) so that once the storage device is coupled to or provided to a user terminal and / or base station, the device can obtain the various methods. In addition, any other suitable technology suitable for providing the methods and techniques described herein to a device may be utilized.

[0103] It will be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components illustrated above. Various changes, substitutions and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication by a user equipment UE, comprising: receiving a downlink control channel including a slot format indicator SFI and an uplink or downlink grant for transmission; as well as The format of the current time slot is determined based on the SFI and the uplink or downlink grant, wherein if it is determined that the information in the SFI conflicts with the information in the downlink control information DCI, the format of the current time slot is determined at least in part based on giving priority to the uplink or downlink grant given the SFI.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: A format of one or more future time slots is determined based on the SFI and the uplink or downlink grant.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein: The downlink control channel includes a group common physical downlink control channel GC PDCCH.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein: The SFI includes information regarding the format of a plurality of aggregated time slots, including which symbols are used for uplink and which symbols are used for downlink.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Priority is given to the information in the DCI.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: If the DCI is received in a time slot preceding the SFI, priority is given to the information in the SFI.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining that a transmission direction indicated by the SFI for a symbol conflicts with a transmission direction of periodic signaling to be transmitted in the symbol; as well as A transmission direction to be applied to the symbol is determined.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein: The downlink control channel is received only in a leading time slot among the plurality of aggregated time slots.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein: If downlink control information DCI having the uplink or downlink grant for the symbol has been received, a transmission direction to be applied to the symbol is determined based on the DCI.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein: Giving priority to the uplink or downlink grant given the SFI includes determining a transmission direction to be applied to the codeword based on the uplink or downlink grant only when downlink control information DCI with the uplink or downlink grant for the codeword is received in the current time slot.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein: If a DCI with the uplink or downlink grant for the symbol is not received, a transmission direction to be applied to the symbol is determined based on the SFI.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein: If a DCI with the uplink or downlink grant for the symbol is not received and the SFI is empty, a transmission direction to be applied to the symbol is determined based on periodic signaling.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein: If a DCI with the uplink or downlink grant for the symbol is not received in the current slot, a transmission direction to be applied to the symbol is determined based on the SFI.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein: If a DCI with the uplink or downlink grant for the symbol is not received in the current slot and the SFI is empty, a transmission direction to be applied to the symbol is determined based on periodic signaling.

15. A method for wireless communication by a network node, comprising: determining a format for one or more time slots; as well as sending a downlink control channel comprising a slot format indicator SFI indicating said format of said one or more time slots and an uplink or downlink grant for transmission, Wherein if it is determined that the information in the SFI conflicts with the information in the downlink control information DCI, the user equipment UE gives priority to the uplink or downlink grant given the SFI for the same symbol in the current time slot.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein: The downlink control channel includes a group common physical downlink control channel GC PDCCH.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein: The SFI includes information regarding the format of the one or more time slots, including which symbols are used for uplink and which symbols are used for downlink.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein: The downlink control channel is transmitted only in a leading time slot of one or more aggregated time slots, wherein the one or more aggregated time slots include a plurality of aggregated time slots.

19. A device for wireless communication, comprising: means for receiving a downlink control channel including a slot format indicator SFI and an uplink or downlink grant for transmission; as well as A device for determining the format of a current time slot based on the SFI and the uplink or downlink grant, wherein if it is determined that the information in the SFI conflicts with the information in downlink control information DCI, the format of the current time slot is determined at least in part based on giving priority to the uplink or downlink grant given the SFI.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising: Means for determining a format of one or more future time slots based on the SFI and the time slot aggregation level.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising: Means for giving priority to information in the DCI.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising: Means for giving priority to information in the SFI if the DCI is received in a time slot preceding the SFI.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising: means for determining that a symbol transmission direction indicated by the SFI for a symbol conflicts with a transmission direction of periodic signaling to be transmitted in the symbol; as well as means for determining a transmission direction to be applied to said symbol.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein: If downlink control information (DCI) with the uplink or downlink grant for the symbol has been received, determining a transmission direction to be applied to the symbol based on the DCI; as well as If a DCI with the uplink or downlink grant for the symbol is not received, a transmission direction to be applied to the symbol is determined based on the SFI.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein: If downlink control information DCI with the uplink or downlink grant for the symbol is not received and the SFI is empty, a transmission direction to be applied to the symbol is determined based on periodic signaling.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein: If downlink control information (DCI) with the uplink or downlink grant for the symbol has been received in the current time slot, determining a transmission direction to be applied to the symbol based on the DCI; determining a transmission direction to be applied to the symbol based on the SFI if a DCI with the uplink or downlink grant for the symbol is not received in the current slot; as well as If a DCI with the uplink or downlink grant for the symbol is not received in the current slot and the SFI is empty, a transmission direction to be applied to the symbol is determined based on periodic signaling.

27. A device for wireless communication, comprising: means for determining the format of one or more time slots; as well as means for sending a downlink control channel comprising a slot format indicator SFI indicating said format of said one or more time slots and an uplink or downlink grant for transmission, Wherein if it is determined that the information in the SFI conflicts with the information in the downlink control information DCI, the user equipment UE gives priority to the uplink or downlink grant given the SFI for the same symbol in the current time slot.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein: The downlink control channel includes a group common physical downlink control channel GC PDCCH.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein: The SFI includes information regarding the format of the one or more time slots, including which symbols are used for uplink and which symbols are used for downlink.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein: The downlink control channel is transmitted only in a leading time slot of one or more aggregated time slots, and wherein the one or more aggregated time slots include a plurality of aggregated time slots.

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