Method and apparatus for wireless communication

Abstract

New Radio (NR) transmission opportunity (TxOP) structures with flexible starting points for wireless communications are disclosed. When performing a typical listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure, a transmitting node will not know in advance when the LBT will pass, and thus, when a data transmission can begin. NR systems can include a mini-slot design to accommodate transmission units that are less than a slot. Aspects of the disclosure provide for flexibly increasing the number of potential starting transmission boundaries depending on when an LBT pass is detected. Alternative aspects of the disclosure use a mini-slot based design, a floating slot based design, or a puncturing based design with code block group (CBG) level retransmission mechanisms to determine potential starting transmission points.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the invention patent application filed on November 8, 2018, with application number 201880072454.6 and entitled "Method and Apparatus for Wireless Communication".

[0002] Cross-reference to related applications

[0003] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 584,408, filed November 10, 2017, entitled “NR-UNLICENSED TRANSMISSION OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE WITH FLEXIBLE STARTING POINT”; and U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application No. 16 / 183,367, filed November 7, 2018, entitled “NR-UNLICENSED TRANSMISSION OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE WITH FLEXIBLE STARTING POINT”, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, as fully set forth below and for all applicable purposes. Technical Field

[0004] In general, aspects of this disclosure relate to wireless communication systems, and more specifically, aspects of this disclosure relate to a new radio (NR) transmission opportunity (TxOP) architecture with flexible starting points. Background Technology

[0005] Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, and broadcasting. These wireless networks can be multiple access networks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing available network resources. Such networks (which are typically multiple access networks) support communication for multiple users by sharing available network resources. An example of such a network is the Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). UTRAN is a radio access network (RAN) defined as part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) (the third-generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)). Examples of multiple access network formats include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, and Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks.

[0006] A wireless communication network may include multiple base stations or nodes B that can support communication for multiple user equipments (UEs). UEs can communicate with base stations via downlinks and uplinks. A downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base station to the UE, while an uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the base station.

[0007] The base station can send data and control information to the UE on the downlink and / or receive data and control information from the UE on the uplink. On the downlink, transmissions from the base station may encounter interference from transmissions from neighboring base stations or from other radio frequency (RF) transmitters. On the uplink, transmissions from the UE may encounter interference from uplink transmissions from other UEs communicating with neighboring base stations or from other RF transmitters. This interference can degrade performance on both the downlink and uplink.

[0008] As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, and as more user devices (UEs) access long-range wireless communication networks and more short-range wireless systems are deployed in communities, the likelihood of network interference and congestion also increases. Research and development continue to drive the advancement of wireless technologies, not only to meet the ever-growing demand for mobile broadband access, but also to improve and enhance the user experience of mobile communications. Summary of the Invention

[0009] In one aspect of this disclosure, a wireless communication method includes: a base station performing a Listen-Before-Speak (LBT) procedure on a shared communication channel in response to an indication that data is available for transmission; the base station detecting success of the LBT procedure in a current micro-timeslot following a current timeslot boundary of a current communication timeslot in the shared communication channel; the base station pre-generating a plurality of transmission packets of the data prior to detecting the success, wherein each of the plurality of transmission packets is associated with at least one corresponding micro-timeslot of a plurality of micro-timeslots of the current communication timeslot; and the base station transmitting one or more of the plurality of transmission packets in one or more subsequent micro-timeslots remaining in the current communication timeslot.

[0010] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, a wireless communication method includes: monitoring a control resource set (CORESET) by a user equipment (UE) in each of a plurality of micro-timeslots of each communication timeslot of a shared communication channel; detecting by the UE the commencement of a transmission opportunity on the shared communication channel by a serving base station; and modifying the monitoring for the CORESET to each communication timeslot of the transmission opportunity in response to detecting the commencement.

[0011] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, a wireless communication method includes: a base station performing a Level By Transmission (LBT) procedure on a shared communication channel in response to an indication that data is available for transmission; the base station detecting the success of the LBT procedure; and the base station transmitting the data in one or more transmission slots of a transmission opportunity starting after a predetermined boundary period from the detection of the success, wherein the transmission opportunity slot boundary for at least one of the one or more transmission slots is independent of the system slot boundary of the shared communication channel.

[0012] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, a wireless communication method includes: a UE monitoring CORESET in each of a plurality of micro-timeslots in a shared communication channel during an idle transmission time; the UE detecting the start of a transmission opportunity on the shared communication channel by a serving base station; the UE determining a transmission opportunity time slot timing associated with the transmission opportunity of the serving base station; and the UE modifying the monitoring of CORESET in each transmission time slot of the transmission opportunity according to the transmission opportunity time slot timing.

[0013] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, a wireless communication method includes: a non-serving UE monitoring broadcast transmissions between a base station and a serving UE; the non-serving UE determining time slot boundary timing for transmission opportunities determined via the monitored broadcast transmissions; and the non-serving UE adjusting its scheduling within the detected transmission opportunities between the base station and the serving UE.

[0014] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, a wireless communication method includes: a non-serving UE monitoring broadcast transmissions between a base station and a serving UE; the non-serving UE determining time slot boundary timing for transmission opportunities determined via the monitored broadcast transmissions; and the non-serving UE adjusting its scheduling within the detected transmission opportunities between the base station and the serving UE.

[0015] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, a wireless communication method includes: a UE detecting the start of a transmission opportunity for a shared communication channel performed by a serving base station; the UE decoding transmission packets received from the serving base station in a current transmission slot after the start; the UE determining that one or more code block groups (CBGs) have been identified for retransmission by the serving base station; the UE decoding one or more retransmission packets including the one or more CBGs; and the UE assembling a transmission block using the decoded transmission packets and the one or more CBGs decoded in the one or more retransmission packets.

[0016] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication includes: units for performing a Level By-Brain (LBT) process on a shared communication channel via a base station in response to an indication that data is available for transmission; units for detecting success of the LBT process via the base station in a current micro-timeslot following a current timeslot boundary of a current communication timeslot in the shared communication channel; units for pre-generating a plurality of transmission packets of the data via the base station before detecting the success, wherein each of the plurality of transmission packets is associated with at least one corresponding micro-timeslot of a plurality of micro-timeslots of the current communication timeslot; and units for transmitting one or more of the plurality of transmission packets via the base station in one or more subsequent micro-timeslots remaining in the current communication timeslot.

[0017] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication includes a unit for performing the following operations: monitoring CORESET by a UE in each of a plurality of micro-timeslots of each communication timeslot of a shared communication channel; detecting, by the UE, the start of a transmission opportunity on the shared communication channel by a serving base station; and modifying, by the UE, the unit for monitoring CORESET for each communication timeslot of the transmission opportunity in response to detecting the start.

[0018] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication includes: units for performing a Level By Transmission (LBT) process on a shared communication channel via a base station in response to an indication that data is available for transmission; units for detecting the success of the LBT process via the base station; and units for transmitting the data via the base station in one or more transmission slots of a transmission opportunity that begins after a predetermined boundary period following the detection of the success, wherein the transmission opportunity slot boundary for at least one of the one or more transmission slots is independent of the system slot boundary of the shared communication channel.

[0019] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication includes: units for monitoring CORESET by a UE in each of a plurality of micro-timeslots in a shared communication channel during an idle transmission time; units for detecting, by the UE, the start of a transmission opportunity on the shared communication channel by a serving base station; units for determining, by the UE, a transmission opportunity time slot timing associated with the transmission opportunity of the serving base station; and units for modifying, by the UE, the units for monitoring CORESET in each transmission time slot of the transmission opportunity according to the transmission opportunity time slot timing.

[0020] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication includes: a unit for monitoring broadcast transmissions between a base station and a serving UE via a non-serving UE; a unit for determining time slot boundary timing via the non-serving UE for a transmission opportunity determined using the broadcast transmissions detected via the monitoring unit; and a unit for adjusting the scheduling of communication of the non-serving UE within the detected transmission opportunities of the base station and the serving UE.

[0021] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication includes: a unit for monitoring broadcast transmissions between a base station and a serving UE via a non-serving UE; a unit for determining, via the non-serving UE, time slot boundary timing for a transmission opportunity determined by the execution of the detected broadcast transmissions via the monitoring unit; and a unit for adjusting the scheduling of communications of the non-serving UE within the detected transmission opportunities of the base station and the serving UE.

[0022] In an additional aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication includes: a unit for detecting the start of a transmission opportunity on a shared communication channel of a serving base station via a UE; a unit for decoding transmission packets received from the serving base station in a current transmission slot after the start via the UE; a unit for determining via the UE that one or more code block groups (CBGs) have been identified for retransmission by the serving base station; a unit for decoding via the UE one or more retransmission packets including the one or more CBGs; and a unit for assembling a transport block via the UE using the decoded transmission packets and the one or more CBGs decoded in the one or more retransmission packets.

[0023] In a further aspect of this disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon is disclosed. The program code further includes: code for performing an LBT procedure on a shared communication channel by a base station in response to an indication that data is available for transmission; code for detecting success of the LBT procedure by the base station in a current micro-timeslot following a current timeslot boundary of the current communication timeslot of the shared communication channel; code for pre-generating a plurality of transmission packets of the data by the base station before detecting the success, wherein each of the plurality of transmission packets is associated with at least one corresponding micro-timeslot of the plurality of micro-timeslots of the current communication timeslot; and code for transmitting one or more of the plurality of transmission packets by the base station in one or more subsequent micro-timeslots remaining in the current communication timeslot.

[0024] In a further aspect of this disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon is disclosed. The program code further includes: code for monitoring CORESET by a UE in each of a plurality of micro-timeslots of each communication timeslot of a shared communication channel; code for detecting, by the UE, the start of a transmission opportunity on the shared communication channel by a serving base station; and code for modifying the execution of the code for monitoring CORESET by the UE in response to detecting the start to be specific to each communication timeslot of the transmission opportunity.

[0025] In a further aspect of this disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon is disclosed. The program code further includes: code for performing an LBT (Local Time-Blocking) procedure on a shared communication channel by a base station in response to an indication that data is available for transmission; code for detecting the success of the LBT procedure by the base station; and code for transmitting the data by the base station in one or more transmission slots of a transmission opportunity starting after a predetermined boundary period from the detection of the success, wherein the transmission opportunity slot boundary for at least one of the one or more transmission slots is independent of the system slot boundary of the shared communication channel.

[0026] In a further aspect of this disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon is disclosed. The program code further includes: code for monitoring CORESET by a UE in each of a plurality of micro-timeslots in a shared communication channel during an idle transmission time; code for detecting, by the UE, the start of a transmission opportunity on the shared communication channel by a serving base station; code for determining, by the UE, the transmission opportunity time slot timing associated with the transmission opportunity of the serving base station; and code for modifying, by the UE, the code for monitoring CORESET in each transmission time slot of the transmission opportunity according to the transmission opportunity time slot timing.

[0027] In a further aspect of this disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon is disclosed. The program code further includes: code for monitoring broadcast transmissions between a base station and a serving UE via a non-serving UE; code for determining, via the non-serving UE, time slot boundary timing for a transmission opportunity determined by the broadcast transmissions detected through the execution of the monitoring code; and code for adjusting the scheduling of communications of the non-serving UE within the detected transmission opportunities of the base station and the serving UE.

[0028] In a further aspect of this disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon is disclosed. The program code further includes: code for monitoring broadcast transmissions between a base station and a serving UE via a non-serving UE; code for determining, via the non-serving UE, time slot boundary timing for a transmission opportunity determined by the broadcast transmissions detected through the execution of the monitoring code; and code for adjusting the scheduling of communications of the non-serving UE within the detected transmission opportunities of the base station and the serving UE.

[0029] In a further aspect of this disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon is disclosed. The program code further includes: code for detecting the start of a transmission opportunity for a shared communication channel conducted by a serving base station via a UE; code for decoding transmission packets received from the serving base station in a current transmission slot after the start via the UE; code for determining, via the UE, that one or more code block groups (CBGs) have been identified for retransmission by the serving base station; code for decoding, via the UE, one or more retransmission packets including the one or more CBGs; and code for assembling a transport block via the UE using the decoded transmission packets and the one or more CBGs decoded in the one or more retransmission packets.

[0030] In a further aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to: perform an LBT (Local Time-Blocking) procedure on a shared communication channel via a base station in response to an indication that data is available for transmission; detect the success of the LBT procedure in a current micro-time slot following the current time slot boundary of the current communication time slot of the shared communication channel via the base station; pre-generate a plurality of transmission packets of the data via the base station before detecting the success, wherein each of the plurality of transmission packets is associated with at least one corresponding micro-time slot of the plurality of micro-time slots of the current communication time slot; and transmit one or more of the plurality of transmission packets via the base station in one or more subsequent micro-time slots remaining in the current communication time slot.

[0031] In a further aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to: monitor CORESET by a UE in each of a plurality of micro-timeslots of each communication timeslot of a shared communication channel; detect, by the UE, the start of a transmission opportunity on the shared communication channel by a serving base station; and, by the UE, modify the execution of the configuration for monitoring CORESET for each communication timeslot of the transmission opportunity in response to detecting the start.

[0032] In a further aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to: perform an LBT (Local Time-Based Transmission) procedure on a shared communication channel via a base station in response to an indication that data is available for transmission; detect the success of the LBT procedure via the base station; and transmit the data via the base station in one or more transmission slots of a transmission opportunity starting after a predetermined boundary period from the detection of the success, wherein the transmission opportunity slot boundary for at least one of the one or more transmission slots is independent of the system slot boundary of the shared communication channel.

[0033] In a further aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to perform the following operations: monitor CORESET in each of a plurality of micro-timeslots in a shared communication channel during an idle transmission time by a UE; detect the start of a transmission opportunity on the shared communication channel by a serving base station by the UE; determine a transmission opportunity time slot timing associated with the transmission opportunity of the serving base station by the UE; and modify the configuration for monitoring CORESET in each transmission time slot of the transmission opportunity by the UE according to the transmission opportunity time slot timing.

[0034] In a further aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to perform the following operations: monitor broadcast transmissions between a base station and a serving UE via a non-serving UE; determine, via the non-serving UE, time slot boundary timing for transmission opportunities determined using the detected broadcast transmissions via the execution of the monitoring configuration; and adjust the scheduling of the non-serving UE within the detected transmission opportunities of the base station and the serving UE.

[0035] In a further aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to perform the following operations: monitor broadcast transmissions between a base station and a serving UE via a non-serving UE; determine, via the non-serving UE, time slot boundary timing for transmission opportunities determined using the detected broadcast transmissions via the execution of the monitoring configuration; and adjust the scheduling of the non-serving UE within the detected transmission opportunities of the base station and the serving UE.

[0036] In a further aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to perform the following operations: detect, by a UE, the start of a transmission opportunity for a shared communication channel performed by a serving base station; decode, by the UE, transmission packets received from the serving base station in a current transmission slot after the start; determine, by the UE, that one or more code block groups (CBGs) have been identified for retransmission by the serving base station; decode, by the UE, one or more retransmission packets including the one or more CBGs; and assemble a transmission block by the UE using the decoded transmission packets and the one or more CBGs decoded in the one or more retransmission packets.

[0037] The foregoing has provided a fairly broad overview of the features and technical advantages of examples according to this disclosure in order to better understand the detailed description that follows. Additional features and advantages will be described below. The disclosed concepts and specific examples can be readily used as the basis for modifying or designing other structures for achieving the same purpose as this disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. The characteristics of the concepts disclosed herein (both their organization and manner of operation) and the associated advantages will be better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, based on the following description. Each figure in the drawings is provided for illustrative and descriptive purposes only and is not intended to define any limitation on the claims. Attached Figure Description

[0038] A further understanding of the nature and advantages of this disclosure can be achieved by referring to the following figures. In the figures, similar components or features may have the same reference numerals. Furthermore, various components of the same type can be distinguished by a dash and a second reference numeral following the reference numeral, the second reference numeral used to distinguish between similar components. If only the first reference numeral is used in the specification, the description applies to any of the similar components having the same first reference numeral, regardless of the second reference numeral.

[0039] Figure 1 It is a block diagram showing the details of a wireless communication system.

[0040] Figure 2 This is a block diagram illustrating the design of a base station and a UE configured according to one aspect of this disclosure.

[0041] Figure 3 This is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication system that includes a base station using directional wireless beams.

[0042] Figure 4 This is a block diagram illustrating an example box that is executed to implement one aspect of this disclosure.

[0043] Figure 5 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station and UE configured with a micro-timeslot-based design according to one aspect of this disclosure.

[0044] Figure 6 This is a block diagram illustrating an example box that is executed to implement one aspect of this disclosure.

[0045] Figure 7 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station and a UE configured with a micro-timeslot-based design according to various aspects of this disclosure.

[0046] Figure 8 This is a block diagram illustrating an example box that is executed to implement one aspect of this disclosure.

[0047] Figure 9 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station and a UE configured with a floating time slot design according to various aspects of this disclosure.

[0048] Figure 10 This is a block diagram illustrating an example box that is executed to implement one aspect of this disclosure.

[0049] Figure 11 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station and a UE configured according to one aspect of this disclosure.

[0050] Figure 12 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station and a UE configured according to one aspect of this disclosure.

[0051] Figure 13 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station and a UE configured according to one aspect of this disclosure.

[0052] Figure 14 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station and a UE configured according to one aspect of this disclosure.

[0053] Figure 15A and Figure 15BThis is a block diagram illustrating a base station and a UE configured according to various aspects of this disclosure.

[0054] Figure 16 This is a block diagram illustrating an example box that is executed to implement one aspect of this disclosure.

[0055] Figure 17 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station and a UE configured according to one aspect of this disclosure.

[0056] Figure 18A and Figure 18B This is a block diagram illustrating an example block executed by a base station to implement one aspect of this disclosure.

[0057] Figure 19 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station and a UE configured according to one aspect of this disclosure.

[0058] Figure 20 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station and a UE configured according to one aspect of this disclosure.

[0059] Figure 21 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station and a UE configured according to various aspects of this disclosure.

[0060] Figure 22 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station configured in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure.

[0061] Figure 23 This is a block diagram illustrating a UE configured according to various aspects of this disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0062] The detailed description set forth below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Specifically, the detailed description includes particular details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the subject matter of the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these particular details are not necessary in every case, and in some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form for clarity.

[0063] In summary, this disclosure relates to providing or participating in authorized shared access between two or more wireless communication systems (also referred to as wireless communication networks). In various embodiments, the technologies and apparatus described can be used in wireless communication networks such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, and fifth-generation (5G) or new radio (NR) networks. As described herein, the terms "network" and "system" are used interchangeably.

[0064] OFDMA networks can implement radio technologies such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, and Flash-OFDM. UTRA, E-UTRA, and GSM are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). Specifically, Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a version of UMTS using E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS, and LTE are described in documents from an organization called the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), and cdma2000 is described in documents from an organization called 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2). These various radio technologies and standards are either known or under development. For example, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations aimed at defining globally applicable third-generation (3G) mobile phone specifications. 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a 3GPP initiative aimed at improving the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile phone standard. 3GPP defines specifications for next-generation mobile networks, mobile systems, and mobile devices. This disclosure relates to the evolution of wireless technologies from LTE, 4G, 5G, NR, and beyond, which feature shared access to the radio spectrum between networks using new and different radio access technologies or radio air interfaces.

[0065] Specifically, 5G networks are expected to enable diverse deployments, diverse spectrum, and diverse services and devices using a unified OFDM-based air interface. To achieve these goals, in addition to developing new radio technologies for 5G NR networks, further enhancements to LTE and LTE-A are also being considered. 5G NR will be able to scale to (1) provide coverage for massive Internet of Things (IoT) with ultra-high density (e.g., ~1M nodes / km2), ultra-low complexity (e.g., ~10s bits / second), and ultra-low energy (e.g., ~10+ years of battery life), as well as provide deep coverage with the ability to reach challenging locations; (2) include mission-critical control with strong security for protecting sensitive personal, financial, or confidential information, ultra-high reliability (e.g., ~99.9999% reliability), ultra-low latency (e.g., ~1ms), and users with a wide range of mobility or lack of mobility; and (3) have enhanced mobile broadband, including extremely high capacity (e.g., ~10Tbps / km2), extreme data rates (e.g., multi-Gbps rates, 100+Mbps user experience rates), and deep sensing with advanced discovery and optimization.

[0066] 5G NR can be implemented using optimized OFDM-based waveforms with scalable digital schemes and transmission time intervals (TTIs); a common, flexible framework for efficiently multiplexing services and features using dynamic, low-latency Time Division Duplex (TDD) / Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) designs; and advanced wireless technologies such as massive MIMO, robust millimeter-wave (mm-wave) transmission, advanced channel coding, and device-centric mobility. The scalability of the digital scheme in 5G NR (with scaling of subcarrier spacing) efficiently addresses the operation of diverse services across diverse spectrum and deployments. For example, in various outdoor and macro coverage deployments using FDD / TDD implementations below 3 GHz, subcarrier spacing can occur at 15 kHz over bandwidths such as 1, 5, 10, and 20 MHz. For other various outdoor and small-cell coverage deployments using TDD above 3 GHz, subcarrier spacing can occur at 30 kHz over 80 / 100 MHz bandwidths. For various other indoor broadband implementations, using TDD in the unlicensed portion of the 5 GHz band, the subcarrier spacing can occur at 60 kHz over a 160 MHz bandwidth. Finally, for various deployments utilizing the millimeter-wave component of TDD at 28 GHz, the subcarrier spacing can occur at 120 kHz over a 500 MHz bandwidth.

[0067] 5G NR's scalable digital schemes facilitate scalable time-to-interface (TTI) for varying latency and quality of service (QoS) requirements. For example, shorter TTIs can be used for low latency and high reliability, while longer TTIs can be used for higher spectral efficiency. Efficient multiplexing of long and short TTIs allows transmissions to begin at symbol boundaries. 5G NR also anticipates self-contained integrated subframe designs, where uplink / downlink scheduling information, data, and acknowledgments are contained within the same subframe. Self-contained integrated subframes support communication in unlicensed or contention-based shared spectrum, and adaptive uplink / downlink (which can be flexibly configured per cell to dynamically switch between uplink and downlink to meet current service demands).

[0068] Various other aspects and features of this disclosure are further described below. It should be apparent that the teachings herein can be embodied in a wide variety of forms, and any particular structure, function, or both disclosed herein are merely representative and not limiting. Based on the teachings herein, those skilled in the art will understand that the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented independently of any other aspects, and two or more of these aspects can be combined in various ways. For example, an apparatus or a method can be implemented using any number of the aspects set forth herein. Furthermore, such an apparatus or method can be implemented using structures, functions, or structures and functions other than or different from one or more of the aspects set forth herein. For example, a method can be implemented as part of a system, device, apparatus, and / or as instructions stored on a computer-readable medium for execution on a processor or computer. Additionally, an aspect may include at least one element of the claims.

[0069] Figure 1 This is a block diagram illustrating a 5G network 100 including various base stations and UEs configured according to various aspects of this disclosure. The 5G network 100 includes multiple base stations 105 and other network entities. A base station can be a station communicating with a UE and can also be referred to as an evolved Node B (eNB), a next-generation eNB (gNB), an access point, etc. Each base station 105 can provide communication coverage for a specific geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to that specific geographic coverage area of ​​the base station and / or the base station subsystem serving that coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

[0070] Base stations can provide communication coverage for macrocells or small cells (such as picocells or femtocells) and / or other types of cells. Macrocells typically cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions to a network provider. Small cells (e.g., picocells) typically cover a relatively small geographic area and allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions to a network provider. Small cells (e.g., femtocells) also typically cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., residential areas) and, in addition to unrestricted access, provide restricted access by UEs associated with that femtocell (e.g., UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG), UEs for users in a residential area, etc.). A base station used for a macrocell can be referred to as a macro base station. A base station used for a small cell can be referred to as a small cell base station, picocell, femtocell, or home base station. Figure 1 In the examples shown, base stations 105d and 105e are conventional macro base stations, while base stations 105a-105c are macro base stations implemented using one of 3D, full-dimensional (FD), or massive MIMO. Base stations 105a-105c utilize their higher-dimensional MIMO capabilities to employ 3D beamforming in both elevation and azimuth beamforming to increase coverage and capacity. Base station 105f is a small cell base station, which can be a femtocell or a portable access point. A base station can support one or more (e.g., two, three, four, etc.) cells.

[0071] 5G networks can support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, base stations can have similar frame timings, and transmissions from different base stations can be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, base stations can have different frame timings, and transmissions from different base stations can be out of time.

[0072] UE 115 is distributed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE can be stationary or mobile. UEs can also be referred to as terminals, mobile stations, user units, stations, etc. UEs can be cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless modems, wireless communication devices, handheld devices, tablet computers, laptop computers, cordless phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, etc. In one aspect, a UE can be a device including a universal integrated circuit card (UICC). In another aspect, a UE can be a device without a UICC. In some aspects, a UE without a UICC can also be referred to as an Internet of Things (IoE) device. UEs 115a-115d are examples of mobile smartphone-type devices accessing the 5G network 100. UEs can also be machines specifically configured for connected communications (including machine-type communication (MTC), enhanced MTC (eMTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), etc.). UEs 115e-115k are examples of various machines configured for communication accessing the 5G network 100. The UE can communicate with any type of base station (whether macro base station, small cell, etc.). Figure 1 In this context, lightning (e.g., a communication link) indicates radio transmissions between the UE and a serving base station (which is a base station designated to serve the UE on the downlink and / or uplink), or desired transmissions between base stations, and backhaul transmissions between base stations.

[0073] In operation at 5G network 100, base stations 105a-105c use 3D beamforming and cooperative spatial technologies (such as Cooperative Multipoint (CoMP) or multiple connectivity) to serve UEs 115a and 115b. Macro base station 105d performs backhaul communication with base stations 105a-105c and small cell base station 105f. Macro base station 105d also transmits multicast services customized and received by UEs 115c and 115d. Such multicast services may include mobile TV or streaming video, or may include other services for providing community information, such as weather emergencies or alerts (e.g., Amber Alerts or Grey Alerts).

[0074] The 5G network 100 also supports mission-critical communication using highly reliable and redundant links for mission-critical equipment such as UE 115e, which is a drone. Redundant communication links with UE 115e include those from macro base stations 105d and 105e, as well as small cell base station 105f. Other machine-type devices (such as UE 115f (thermometer), UE 115g (smart meter), and UE 115h (wearable device)) can communicate directly with base stations (such as small cell base station 105f and macro base station 105e) via the 5G network 100, or in a multi-hop configuration by communicating with another user device that relays its information to the network (e.g., UE 115f transmits temperature measurement information to the smart meter (UE 115g), and the temperature measurement information is subsequently reported to the network via small cell base station 105f). The 5G network 100 can also provide additional network efficiency through dynamic, low-latency TDD / FDD communication (such as in vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) mesh networks between UEs 115i-115k communicating with macro base station 105e).

[0075] Figure 2 Base station 105 and UE 115 are shown (they can be...) Figure 1 This is a block diagram of a design for a base station (one of the base stations) and a UE (one of the UEs). At base station 105, transmit processor 220 can receive data from data source 212 and control information from controller / processor 240. The control information may be for PBCH, PCFICH, PHICH, PDCCH, EPDCCH, MPDCCH, etc. The data may be for PDSCH, etc. Transmit processor 220 can process (e.g., encoding and symbol mapping) the data and control information separately to obtain data symbols and control symbols. Transmit processor 220 can also generate reference symbols, for example, for PSS, SSS, and cell-specific reference signals. Transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 can perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) (if applicable) on data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols, and can provide output symbol streams to modulators (MODs) 232a to 232t. Each modulator 232 can (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) process the corresponding output symbol stream to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 can 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 232a to 232t can be transmitted via antennas 234a to 234t, respectively.

[0076] At UE 115, antennas 252a to 252r can receive downlink signals from base station 105 and can provide the received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a to 254r respectively. Each demodulator 254 can adjust (e.g., filter, amplify, down-convert, and digitize) the corresponding received signal to obtain an input sample. Each demodulator 254 can further process the input sample (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. MIMO detector 256 can obtain received symbols from all demodulators 254a to 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols (if applicable), and provide the detected symbols. Receiver processor 258 can process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE 115 to data sink 260, and provide decoded control information to controller / processor 280.

[0077] On the uplink, at UE 115, transmit processor 264 can receive and process data from data source 262 (e.g., for PUSCH) and control information from controller / processor 280 (e.g., for PUCCH). Transmit processor 264 can also generate reference symbols for reference signals. Symbols from transmit processor 264 can be pre-encoded (if applicable) by TX MIMO processor 266, further processed by modulators 254a to 254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to base station 105. At base station 105, uplink signals from UE 115 can be received by antenna 234, processed by demodulator 232, detected by MIMO detector 236 (if applicable), and further processed by receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information transmitted by UE 115. Processor 238 can provide decoded data to data sink 239 and decoded control information to controller / processor 240.

[0078] Controllers / processors 240 and 280 can respectively direct operations at base station 105 and UE 115. Controllers / processors 240 and / or other processors and modules at base station 105 can execute or direct the execution of various processes used in the techniques described herein. Controllers / processors 280 and / or other processors and modules at UE 115 can also execute or direct operations in… Figure 4 , 6 The functional blocks shown in 105, 10, 16, 18A, and 18B and / or other processes used in the techniques described herein are executed. Memory 242 and 282 may store data and program code for base station 105 and UE 115, respectively. Scheduler 244 may schedule the UE to perform data transmission on downlink and / or uplink.

[0079] Wireless communication systems operated by different network operating entities (e.g., network operators) can share spectrum. In some instances, a network operating entity can be configured to use the entire designated shared spectrum for at least a certain time period before another network operating entity uses the entire designated shared spectrum for a different time period. Therefore, in order to allow network operating entities to use the entire designated shared spectrum and to mitigate interference communications between different network operating entities, certain resources (e.g., time) can be partitioned and allocated to different network operating entities for certain types of communication.

[0080] For example, certain time resources can be allocated to a network operating entity, reserved for exclusive communication using the entire shared spectrum. Other time resources can also be allocated to a network operating entity, in which the entity is given higher priority than other network operating entities for using the shared spectrum for communication. These time resources, preferentially allocated to network operating entities, can be used by other network operating entities on an opportunistic basis if the prioritized network operating entity does not use these resources. Additional time resources can be allocated for opportunistic use by any network operator.

[0081] Access to shared spectrum and arbitration of time resources between different network operating entities can be centrally controlled by a single entity, determined autonomously through a predefined arbitration scheme, or dynamically determined based on interactions between the network operator's wireless nodes.

[0082] In some cases, UE 115 and base station 105 may operate in a shared radio frequency spectrum band, which may include licensed or unlicensed (e.g., contention-based) spectrum. In the unlicensed frequency portion of the shared radio frequency spectrum band, UE 115 or base station 105 may conventionally perform a media sensing procedure to compete for access to that spectrum. For example, UE 115 or base station 105 may perform a Listen-After-Speak (LBT) procedure (e.g., Clear Channel Assessment (CCA)) before communication to determine whether a shared channel is available. CCA may include an energy detection procedure to determine if any other active transmissions are present. For example, a device may infer that a change in the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of a power meter indicates that the channel is occupied. Specifically, a signal power concentrated in a bandwidth and exceeding a predetermined noise floor may indicate another wireless transmitter. CCA may also include the detection of a specific sequence used to indicate channel usage. For example, another device may send a specific preamble before transmitting a data sequence. In some cases, the LBT process may include the wireless node adjusting its own backoff window based on the amount of energy detected on the channel and / or ACK / NACK feedback sent by itself as a proxy for collisions.

[0083] Using a media sensing process to compete for access to unlicensed shared spectrum can lead to communication inefficiencies. This can be particularly evident when multiple network operating entities (e.g., network operators) attempt to access shared resources. In a 5G network 100, base station 105 and UE 115 may be operated by the same or different network operating entities. In some examples, a single base station 105 or UE 115 may be operated by more than one network operating entity. In other examples, each base station 105 and UE 115 may be operated by a single network operating entity. Requiring each base station 105 and UE 115 of different network operating entities to compete for shared resources can result in increased signaling overhead and communication latency.

[0084] Figure 3 An example of a timing diagram 300 for coordinated resource allocation is shown. The timing diagram 300 includes a superframe 305, which can represent a fixed duration (e.g., 20 ms). The superframe 305 can be repeated for a given communication session and can be controlled by a wireless system (such as a reference). Figure 1The 5G network 100 described herein uses a superframe 305 that can be divided into intervals, such as a capture interval (A-INT) 310 and an arbitration interval 315. As described in more detail below, the A-INT 310 and the arbitration interval 315 can be further divided into sub-intervals, which are designated for certain resource types and assigned to different network operating entities to facilitate coordinated communication between different network operating entities. For example, the arbitration interval 315 can be divided into multiple sub-intervals 320. Furthermore, the superframe 305 can also be divided into multiple subframes 325 with a fixed duration (e.g., 1 ms). Although timing diagram 300 shows three different network operating entities (e.g., operator A, operator B, and operator C), the number of network operating entities using the superframe 305 for coordinated communication can be more or less than the number shown in timing diagram 300.

[0085] A-INT 310 can be a dedicated interval of superframe 305, reserved for exclusive communication by a network operating entity. In some examples, certain resources within A-INT 310 can be allocated to each network operating entity for exclusive communication. For example, resource 330-a can be reserved for exclusive communication by operator A (e.g., via base station 105a), resource 330-b can be reserved for exclusive communication by operator B (e.g., via base station 105b), and resource 330-c can be reserved for exclusive communication by operator C (e.g., via base station 105c). Because resource 330-a is reserved for exclusive communication by operator A, neither operator B nor operator C can communicate during resource 330-a, even if operator A chooses not to communicate during those resource periods. That is, access to exclusive resources is limited to the designated network operator. Similar restrictions apply to resource 330-b for operator B and resource 330-c for operator C. Operator A’s wireless nodes (e.g., UE 115 or base station 105) may transmit any desired information, such as control information or data, during their exclusive resource 330-a.

[0086] When communicating on exclusive resources, the network operating entity does not need to perform any medium sensing procedures (e.g., Listen-Before-Speak (LBT) or Clear Channel Assessment (CCA)) because the network operating entity knows the resource is reserved. Since only designated network operating entities can communicate on exclusive resources, there is a potential for reduced interference with communication compared to relying solely on medium sensing techniques (e.g., no hidden node problem). In some examples, the A-INT310 is used to transmit control information such as synchronization signals (e.g., SYNC signal), system information (e.g., System Information Block (SIB)), paging information (e.g., Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) message), or random access information (e.g., Random Access Channel (RACH) signal). In some examples, all wireless nodes associated with the network operating entity can transmit simultaneously during their exclusive resource period.

[0087] In some examples, resources can be categorized for priority use by certain network operation entities. Resources assigned priority for a particular network operation entity can be referred to as a guaranteed interval (G-INT) for that network operation entity. The interval in which a network operation entity uses resources during a G-INT can be referred to as a prioritized sub-interval. For example, resource 335-a can be prioritized for use by operator A, and therefore can be referred to as a G-INT for operator A (e.g., G-INT-OpA). Similarly, resource 335-b can be prioritized for operator B, resource 335-c can be prioritized for operator C, resource 335-d can be prioritized for operator A, resource 335-e can be prioritized for operator B, and resource 335-f can be prioritized for operator C.

[0088] Figure 3 The various G-INT resources shown are presented in an interleaved manner to illustrate their association with their corresponding network operating entities, but these resources may all be on the same frequency bandwidth. Therefore, if viewed along the time-frequency grid, G-INT resources can be presented as continuous lines within superframe 305. This division of data can be an example of time division multiplexing (TDM). Furthermore, when resources appear in the same sub-interval (e.g., resources 340-a and 335-b), these resources represent the same time resources with respect to superframe 305 (e.g., these resources occupy the same sub-interval 320), but these resources are specified separately to illustrate that the same time resources can be classified differently for different operators.

[0089] When resources are allocated with a priority (e.g., G-INT) for a particular network operating entity, that entity can use those resources to communicate without waiting for or performing any media sensing processes (e.g., LBT or CCA). For example, a radio node of operator A can freely transmit any data or control information during resource 335-a without interference from radio nodes of operator B or operator C.

[0090] Alternatively, a network operating entity can signal to another operator its intention to use a specific G-INT. For example, referring to resource 335-a, operator A can signal to operators B and C its intention to use resource 335-a. This signaling can be called an activity indication. Furthermore, since operator A has priority for resource 335-a, it can be considered a higher priority operator compared to operators B and C. However, as discussed above, operator A does not need to send signaling to other network operating entities to ensure interference-free transmission during resource 335-a, because resource 335-a is preferentially allocated to operator A.

[0091] Similarly, a network operating entity can signal to another operator that it does not intend to use a specific G-INT. This signaling can also be referred to as an activity indication. For example, referring to resource 335-b, operator B can signal to operators A and C that it does not intend to use resource 335-b for communication, even if the resource is preferentially allocated to operator B. Referring to resource 335-b, operator B can be considered a higher priority network operating entity compared to operators A and C. In such a case, operators A and C can attempt to use the resources of sub-interval 320 on an opportunistic basis. Therefore, from operator A's perspective, sub-interval 320 containing resource 335-b can be considered an opportunistic interval (O-INT) for operator A (e.g., O-INT-OpA). For illustrative purposes, resource 340-a can represent an O-INT for operator A. Furthermore, from operator C's perspective, the same sub-interval 320 can represent an O-INT for operator C with the corresponding resource 340-b. Resources 340-a, 335-b, and 340-b all represent the same time resource (e.g., a specific sub-interval 320), but are identified separately so that the same resource can be considered as G-INT for some network operation entities and also as O-INT for other network operation entities.

[0092] To utilize resources opportunistically, operators A and C can perform a media sensing process to check for communication on a specific channel before transmitting data. For example, if operator B decides not to use resource 335-b (e.g., G-INT-OpB), operator A can utilize those same resources (e.g., represented by resource 340-a) by first checking the channel for interference (e.g., LBT) and then transmitting data if the channel is determined to be idle. Similarly, if operator C wants to access a resource opportunistically during sub-interval 320 in response to an indication that operator B will not use its G-INT (e.g., using O-INT represented by resource 340-b), operator C can perform a media sensing process and access the resource if available. In some cases, two operators (e.g., operator A and operator C) may attempt to access the same resource, in which case these operators can employ a contention-based process to avoid interfering with communication. Operators may also have sub-priorities assigned to them, which are designed to determine which operator can acquire access to the resource (if more than one operator attempts to access simultaneously).

[0093] In some examples, although a network operating entity may not intend to use a specific G-INT allocated to it, it may not send an activity indication conveying its intention not to use the resource. In such cases, for a specific sub-segment 320, a lower-priority operating entity can be configured to monitor the channel to determine whether a higher-priority operating entity is using the resource. If the lower-priority operating entity determines, via LBT or a similar method, that the higher-priority operating entity will not use its G-INT resource, the lower-priority operating entity may opportunistically attempt to access the resource, as described above.

[0094] In some examples, a reserved signal (e.g., Request to Send (RTS) / Clear to Send (CTS)) can be made prior to access to G-INT or O-INT, and a contention window (CW) can be randomly selected between one and the total number of operating entities.

[0095] In some examples, operational entities may employ Cooperative Multipoint (CoMP) communication or be compatible with CoMP communication. For instance, operational entities may employ CoMP and Dynamic Time Division Duplex (TDD) in G-INT as needed, and opportunistic CoMP in O-INT.

[0096] exist Figure 3In the example shown, each sub-segment 320 includes a G-INT for one of operators A, B, or C. However, in some cases, one or more sub-segments 320 may include resources that are neither reserved for exclusive use nor for priority use (e.g., unallocated resources). Such unallocated resources can be considered as O-INTs for any network operating entity and can be accessed on an opportunistic basis, as described above.

[0097] In some examples, each subframe 325 may contain 14 symbols (e.g., 250 μs for a 60 kHz tone interval). These subframes 325 may be independent, self-contained intervals C (ITCs), or subframes 325 may be part of a long ITC. An ITC may be a self-contained transmission that begins and ends with an uplink transmission. In some embodiments, an ITC may be contained within one or more subframes 325 that operate continuously while the medium is occupied. In some cases, assuming a 250 μs transmission timing, up to eight network operators may be present in A-INT 310 (e.g., with a duration of 2 ms).

[0098] Despite Figure 3 Three operators are shown, but it should be understood that more or fewer network operation entities can be configured to operate in a coordinated manner as described above. In some cases, the position of G-INT, O-INT, or A-INT within superframe 305 for each operator is determined autonomously based on the number of active network operation entities in the system. For example, if only one network operation entity exists, each sub-interval 320 can be used for the G-INT occupancy of that single network operation entity, or sub-interval 320 can alternate between G-INT and O-INT for that network operation entity to allow other network operation entities to enter. If two network operation entities exist, sub-interval 320 can alternate between G-INT for the first network operation entity and G-INT for the second network operation entity. If three network operation entities exist, it can be as follows: Figure 3The diagram illustrates the design for G-INT and O-INT for each network operation entity. If there are four network operation entities, the first four sub-intervals 320 may include consecutive G-INTs for all four entities, while the remaining two sub-intervals 320 may contain O-INTs. Similarly, if there are five network operation entities, the first five sub-intervals 320 may include consecutive G-INTs for all five entities, while the remaining sub-intervals 320 may contain O-INTs. If there are six network operation entities, all six sub-intervals 320 may include consecutive G-INTs for each entity. It should be understood that these examples are for illustrative purposes only, and other discretionarily determined interval assignments may be used.

[0099] It should be understood that, with reference Figure 3 The coordination framework described is for illustrative purposes only. For example, the duration of superframe 305 may be greater than or less than 20 ms. Furthermore, the number, duration, and location of sub-intervals 320 and subframes 325 may differ from the configuration shown. Additionally, the type of resource specification (e.g., exclusive, prioritized, unassigned) may differ or include more or fewer sub-specifications.

[0100] In 5G systems, the LBT (Low-to-Block) procedure can be used to detect channel usage before transmission on a shared communication channel. Typically, the LBT procedure provides a CCA (Content-Controlled Area) check for the transmitting node to assess the presence or absence of other signals on the shared channel. Such a CCA check can at least use an energy detection procedure to determine whether the interference detected on the shared channel has escalated to a level considered to be an actual signal using the channel. Four types of LBT procedures used in 5G systems have been discussed. The first type of LBT (Cat-1 LBT) does not provide an LBT at all. In the case of such a Cat-1 LBT, the transmitter will simply begin transmission. The second type of LBT (Cat-2 LBT) provides an LBT that only performs without random backoff or contention window, such as through CCA. Thus, the shortened Cat-2 LBT results in a rapid check of the channel before transmission begins. The Cat-2 LBT can also be referred to as a 25μs LBT. The third type of LBT (Cat-3) provides an LBT procedure that performs both a random backoff value and a fixed contention window. Category 4 LBT (Cat-4) provides a method for performing LBT procedures with both random backoff values ​​and variable contention windows. In both Cat-3 and Cat-4 LBTs, the transmitter selects a random number for the backoff value and performs an LBT or CCA check once the random backoff has elapsed. However, in Cat-3, the contention window size is fixed, while in Cat-4 it is variable.

[0101] When using Cat-4 LBTs, the transmitter does not know in advance when the LBT will pass and therefore when data transmission can begin. In fact, when the LBT passes, the transmitter's ability to begin data transmission is already considered. In LTE's further enhanced Licensed Assisted Access (feLAA), the start of transmission can be aligned with slot boundaries (e.g., 0.5ms resolution). Increasing the number of transmission start times has been suggested, but this suggestion has not been successfully adopted due to the structural limitations of LTE networks. One such suggestion has been to use the LTE Short Transmission Time Interval (sTTI) architecture to achieve more start points. New Radio (NR) technologies in 5G networks include microslot designs, which may be more favorable for increasing start times, at least in unlicensed spectrum. Discussions have provided prioritization for NR microslot lengths of 2, 4, and 7 symbols.

[0102] Various aspects of this disclosure relate to providing additional transmission start time for contention-based transmission over a shared communication channel. Alternative aspects described herein may provide microslot-based transmission start time designs, floating slot-based transmission start time designs, and punctured slot-based transmission start time designs that include retransmissions at the code block group (CBG) level.

[0103] Figure 4 This is a block diagram illustrating example boxes executed to implement one aspect of this disclosure. It will also cover topics such as... Figure 22 Example description box for base station 105 shown. Figure 22 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105 configured according to one aspect of this disclosure. Base station 105 includes components as described for... Figure 2 The base station 105 illustrates its structure, hardware, and components. For example, base station 105 includes a controller / processor 240, which operates to execute logical or computer instructions stored in memory 242, and components that control base station 105 and provide the features and functions of base station 105. Under the control of controller / processor 240, base station 105 transmits and receives signals via wireless radio units 2200a-t and antennas 234a-t. Wireless radio units 2200a-t include, as shown in... Figure 2 Various components and hardware shown for base station 105 include modulator / demodulator 232a-t, MIMO detector 236, receiver processor 238, transmitter processor 220 and TX MIMO processor 230.

[0104] At block 400, the base station performs an LBT procedure on a shared communication channel in response to an indication that data is available for transmission. When a base station (such as base station 105) obtains data for transmission to one of the UEs it serves, the base station is triggered to perform downlink communication. Base station 105 executes LBT logic unit 2201 stored in memory 242 under the control of controller / processor 240. The execution environment of LBT logic unit 2201 allows base station 105 to perform LBT procedures, such as Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) checks, by monitoring signal energy on the shared channel via antennas 234a-t and wireless radio units 2200a-t.

[0105] At block 401, the base station detects the success of the LBT process in the current micro-timeslot following the current timeslot boundary of the current communication timeslot in the shared communication channel. For example, base station 105 detects signal energy via antenna 234a-t and wireless radio unit 2200a-t to determine if there is a signal on the shared channel that has risen to an energy level that would indicate the channel is already occupied. Figure 4 In the example aspect, the transport stream of communicating nodes is divided into transport time slots. These transport time slots are further divided into microtime slots. A Transmission Opportunity (TxOP) for the transmitter can be incorporated into multiple transport time slots between downlink and uplink transmissions. Using the microtime slot-based design of the example aspect described below, normal transmission follows transport time slot boundaries. Microtime slots are used to fill TxOP transmissions as LBTs pass between transport time slot boundaries. To accommodate the time between detecting a successful LBT and the transmission of downlink data, a channel reservation signal or a filler signal can be used to occupy the shared communication channel for any remaining time before the next microtime slot boundary.

[0106] It should be noted that using NR microslots in this way is similar in design to using sTTI in a feLAA system.

[0107] At block 402, the base station pre-generates multiple transmission packets before successful detection, wherein each of the multiple transmission packets is associated with at least one corresponding micro-timeslot of a plurality of micro-timeslots of the current communication timeslot. The amount of time between successful LBT detection and the start of the next micro-timeslot may be insufficient to allow base station 105 to process downlink communication (e.g., PDSCH). For example, to generate PDSCH, base station 105 will form packets, encode packets, etc. Additionally, there may be time for transmitting a channel reservation signal, but this signal may be short to achieve less overhead. Therefore, unlike the sTTI design in a feLAA system, aspects of this disclosure provide for base station 105 to execute a packet generator 2202 stored in memory 242 under the control of controller / processor 240 to pre-generate multiple transmission packets after initiating LBT but before its successful detection.

[0108] This aspect involves generating multiple time slots / micro-slots with the same or different data. Complexity can increase when retransmissions are involved. Rate matching for pre-generated packets may be relatively straightforward, as the base station will know around which rate matching is performed for each micro-slot and time slot. Furthermore, pre-rate matching of data packets is possible because it is known to use prepared time slot and micro-slot packets to prepare the PDSCH. The number of data packets to be pre-prepared may depend on how quickly the base station can generate packets. If the base station needs more time, more micro-slots can be pre-prepared. Therefore, when an LBT pass is detected, even if the amount of time between the LBT pass and the next micro-slot boundary is small, there will be packets ready to be transmitted at the next micro-slot boundary.

[0109] At block 403, the base station transmits one or more transmission packets in one or more subsequent micro-timeslots remaining in the current communication time slot. In a PDSCH of multiple pre-generated micro-timeslots, when the LBT fails to pass in each micro-timeslot, some transmission data from the transmission packets in that particular micro-timeslot can be discarded and filled using padding signaling. The execution environment of the LBT logic unit 2201 maintains the identifier of the micro-timeslots that have passed during the monitoring of LBT success. Under the control of the controller / processor 240, the base station 105 causes the corresponding packets of the passed micro-timeslots to be discarded from the transmission of the remaining pre-generated packets via the radio unit 2200a-t and antenna 234a-t. For example, in an example system with four micro-timeslots per time slot, the base station 105 can prepare data packets worth four or more micro-timeslots. However, if base station 105 detects LBT passing only in the middle of the third micro-slot, it can discard the first three pre-prepared data packets, use the channel reservation or filler signal for the remainder of the third micro-slot, and then use the pre-prepared packets for the fourth micro-slot to begin downlink transmission utilizing the fourth micro-slot.

[0110] Figure 5 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105a and a UE 115a configured with a microslot-based design according to one aspect of this disclosure. Base station 105a and UE 115a are configured with a microslot-based design for initiating transmission on a shared communication channel. In the middle of microslot 500, base station 105a detects a successful LBT at 501. Therefore, TxOP 50 begins at 501. Base station 105a responds to the LBT passage at 502 by immediately sending a channel occupancy or filler signal until the start of the next microslot. Base station 105a then sends DL microslot 0 and DL microslot 1. At the next system slot boundary 503, base station 105a sends two full-length slots, namely DL slot 0 and DL slot 1. Base station 105a completes its downlink transmission for TxOP 50 using another microslot transmission in DL microslot 2 at 504.

[0111] On the uplink side, after the gap period, UE 115a performs LBT, which is detected as successful at 505. UE 115a also needs time to process and prepare PUSCH (packet formation, encoding, etc.). It may not be able to prepare PUSCH quickly enough to wait until LBT is detected. As on the downlink side, there may be channel reservation signals to be transmitted, but those signals may be relatively short to maintain low overhead. Compared to the PDSCH preparation process, UE 115a cannot pre-prepare multiple copies of the PUSCH because the content of the PUSCH is typically controlled by base station 105 (e.g., Transport Block Size (TBS), Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) procedure, Redundancy Version Identifier (RVID), New Data Indicator (NDI), etc.). Currently, in LTE, LAA and MuLTEfire (MF) designs use puncturing (feLAA mode 1 uplink) for such PUSCH preparation. In this design, the UE prepares a PUSCH for the entire subframe transmission, but if the LBT does not pass before the first time slot (i.e., time slot 0), the first time slot is punctured. A known problem with this method is that the chance of a punctured PUSCH being decoded may be very low. Furthermore, in NR systems, due to the frequency-priority mapping process, the chance of successfully decoding such a punctured PUSCH may be even lower.

[0112] Figure 5 The aspects of this disclosure shown provide a sequence for base station 105a to grant micro-slots / slots at the beginning of an uplink burst. For example, when base station 105a sends an uplink grant for uplink burst 51, it grants a sequence of micro-slots 508, namely UL micro-slots 0 and 1 and UL slots 0 and 1. When an uplink LBT is detected passing at 505, UE 115a discards any packets for micro-slot 508, sends a PUSCH in UL micro-slots 0 and 1 and before the next system slot boundary 506, and sends a PUSCH in UL slots 0 and 1 until the end of TxOP at 507.

[0113] Figure 6 This is a block diagram illustrating example boxes executed to implement one aspect of this disclosure. It will also cover topics such as... Figure 23 The UE115 description example box is shown. Figure 23 This is a block diagram illustrating a UE 115 configured according to one aspect of this disclosure. UE 115 includes, as per [the description of the disclosure]... Figure 2The UE 115 illustrates the structure, hardware, and components. For example, UE 115 includes a controller / processor 280 that operates to execute logical or computer instructions stored in memory 282, and components that control UE 115 and provide the features and functions of UE 115. Under the control of the controller / processor 280, UE 115 transmits and receives signals via a wireless radio unit 2300a-r and an antenna 252a-r. The wireless radio unit 2300a-r includes components as shown in... Figure 2 The various components and hardware shown for UE 115 include modulator / demodulator 254a-r, MIMO detector 256, receiver processor 258, transmitter processor 264 and TX MIMO processor 266.

[0114] At block 600, the UE monitors the control resource set (Coreset) in each of the multiple micro-timeslots within each communication timeslot of the shared communication channel. The UE (such as UE 115) executes the Coreset monitoring function unit 2301 stored in memory 282 under the control of controller / processor 280. The execution environment of the Coreset monitoring function unit 2301 allows UE 115 to identify Coreset transmissions in signals detected via antennas 252a-r and wireless radios 2300a-r. Due to the increased potential number of transmission initiations resulting from the use of a micro-timeslot-based design, the base station may transmit Coresets in each micro-timeslot and timeslot. Therefore, the aspects of this disclosure described herein provide for additional, more frequent monitoring of Coresets by UE 115.

[0115] At block 601, the UE detects the start of a transmission opportunity on the shared communication channel provided by the serving base station. When a signal is detected via antennas 252a-r and radio units 2300a-r, the UE 115, under the control of the controller / processor 280, executes the encoding / decoding logic unit 2302 to decode the signal. The decoded signal can then be used accordingly. Therefore, the encoding / decoding logic unit 2302 can decode the detected signal and determine that such a signal corresponds to an initial transmission from the serving base station. Therefore, the UE 115 can determine the start of a TxOP based on the received decoded signal. Therefore, it is conceivable that each potential transmission start point includes the transmission of Coreset information before the start of a TxOP. The UE 115 monitors the start of such a TxOP.

[0116] At block 602, the UE, in response to detecting the start of a TxOP, modifies the monitoring of Coreset to be performed for each communication slot of the TxOP. When a TxOP begins, Coreset information can be sent at each transmission unit (e.g., each micro-slot or slot). Therefore, monitoring each micro-slot and slot after the start of a TxOP would be unnecessary. Therefore, when UE115 detects the start of a TxOP in block 505, it can then modify the Coreset monitoring function unit 2301 to modify the monitoring to be performed for each communication slot of the TxOP (e.g., micro-slot or slot).

[0117] Figure 7 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105a and a UE 115a configured with a micro-slot-based design according to various aspects of this disclosure. As stated above regarding... Figure 6 As mentioned, during idle periods, UE 115a can wake up to monitor coreset transmissions at each potential transmission unit. Here, each transmission unit includes all micro-slots and system or transmission slot boundaries. Micro-slot coreset 700 can be transmitted by base station 105a at each micro-slot boundary, while slot coreset 701 can be transmitted by base station 105a at each system slot boundary. At 702, base station 105a detects LBT passage and begins transmitting filler signals to occupy the shared communication channel. UE 115a can recognize this as the start of a transmission opportunity. At this time, UE 115a modifies its frequency of monitoring coreset transmissions. Because UE 115a is configured for micro-slot operation, it will monitor micro-slot coreset 700 at both micro-slots 0 and 1, and then monitor micro-slot coreset 701 only at the next system slot boundaries 703 and 704. During the transmission opportunity, UE 115a will not continue to monitor each micro-slot.

[0118] Figure 8 This is a block diagram illustrating example boxes executed to implement one aspect of this disclosure. It will also cover topics such as... Figure 22 The example block for describing base station 105 is shown. As an alternative to a micro-slot-based design for transmission initiation points, various aspects of this disclosure provide designs for floating slot-based systems.

[0119] At block 800, the base station performs an LBT procedure on the shared communication channel in response to an indication that data is available for transmission. When base station 105 has data for transmission to one or more UEs among the UEs it serves, base station 105 will attempt to secure access to the shared communication channel by attempting an LBT procedure initiated through the execution of LBT logic unit 2201.

[0120] At box 801, the base station detects the success of the LBT process. The base station may not initiate transmission until the success of the LBT process has been confirmed. Therefore, base station 105 will monitor the success of LBT within the execution environment of LBT logic unit 2201.

[0121] At block 802, the base station transmits data in one or more transmission slots during a transmission opportunity that begins after a predetermined boundary period following successful detection, wherein the transmission opportunity slot boundary for at least one transmission slot is independent of the system slot boundary of the shared communication channel. According to the floating slot-based design, when base station 105 detects LBT passage, it uses a transmission slot boundary independent of the system slot boundary, relating to LBT passage detection, to begin transmission via radio unit 2200a-t and antenna 234a-t with a regular slot length. Base station 105 maintains system slot information in memory 242 at system slot timing unit 2204, and after the start of TXOP, base station 105 establishes the transmission slot boundary and stores the transmission timing in memory 242 at transmission slot timing unit 2204. Therefore, transmission occurs according to the TXOP-based slot.

[0122] In a floating time slot-based design, TxOP does not have fixed system time slot boundaries, but it does define transmission time slot boundaries. Transmission time slot boundaries can occur on various time frames, such as slot 1, symbol 2, symbol 7, etc. The base station can send padding, reservation, or occupancy signals between detecting LBT passage and the next transmission time slot boundary. The denser or more frequent the transmission time slot boundaries, the less padding signal will be transmitted. TxOP transmission is performed in time slots, starting from the transmission time slot boundary in which the TxOP begins. For uplink transmission, floating time slot boundaries may be impractical when multiple UEs are being served. For example, on the uplink side, the uplink transmission time slot boundary will depend on the UE-side LBT passage timing. This timing will not need to be aligned with the downlink transmission time slot boundary. Furthermore, different UEs may have different uplink transmission time slot boundaries, which will significantly complicate processing and overhead.

[0123] Figure 9This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105a and a UE 115a configured with a floating time slot design according to various aspects of this disclosure. When base station 105a identifies data for downlink transmission to UE 115a, base station 105a initiates an LBT process to ensure access to a shared communication channel. Transmissions on the shared communication channel are divided into time slots and micro-time slots. In micro-time slot 900, base station 105a detects a successful LBT at 901 and begins transmitting a filler signal. Once the filler signal has been transmitted, base station 105a can begin time slot transmission at transmission time slot boundary 902. From transmission time slot boundary 902, base station 105a can perform downlink transmission using time slot transmission units based on the transmission time slot boundary. This time slot transmission is independent of system time slot boundaries or timing.

[0124] After completing DL slot 2 at 903, UE 115a can perform the LBT procedure for its uplink transmission. UE 115a can also use a floating slot-based design when a single UE is being served. At 905, UE 115a detects LBT passage in the middle of micro-slot 904. After the transmission of filler signaling, UE 115a can also begin its uplink transmission at uplink transmission slot boundary 906. The timing of uplink transmission slot boundary 906 is independent of the downlink timing of both the system slot boundary and the transmission slot boundary 902.

[0125] Figure 10 This is a block diagram illustrating an example box that is executed to implement one aspect of this disclosure. It will also cover topics such as... Figure 23 The example UE 115 description box is shown.

[0126] At box 1000, the UE monitors Coreset in each of the multiple micro-timeslots in the shared communication channel during the idle transmission time. Under the control of controller / processor 280, UE 115 executes Coreset monitoring function unit 2301 stored in memory 282. The execution environment of Coreset monitoring function unit 2301 allows UE 115 to identify Coreset transmissions in signals detected via antennas 252a-r and wireless radio units 2300a-r. During the idle mode time, UE 115 will monitor such Coreset transmissions in each micro-timeslot of the shared channel.

[0127] At box 1001, the UE detects the start of a transmission opportunity on the shared communication channel. During idle time, the UE 115 also monitors for the start of a TxOP. When a TxOP is detected, the UE 115 can switch to active mode to prepare to receive downlink communication. When a signal is detected via antennas 252a-r and radio units 2300a-r, the UE 115 executes encoding / decoding logic unit 2302 under the control of controller / processor 280 to decode the signal. Therefore, encoding / decoding logic unit 2302 can decode the detected signal and determine that such a signal corresponds to an initial transmission from the serving base station. Thus, the UE 115 can determine the start of a TxOP based on the received decoded signal.

[0128] At block 1002, the UE modifies the monitoring of coreset in each transmission slot of the transmission opportunity according to the transmission opportunity slot timing. As described above, during idle time, UE 115 will wake up to monitor coreset information at each potential transmission unit. However, once TxOP has started, coreset information will be sent at the transmission slot boundary. Therefore, when UE 115 detects the start of TxOP in block 505, it can then modify the coreset monitoring function unit 2301 to monitor each communication slot of TxOP (e.g., micro-slots or slots).

[0129] Figure 11 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105a and a UE 115a configured according to one aspect of this disclosure. In a floating time-slot-based design for transmission initiation, a potential transmission initiation can begin at micro-time-slot intervals. When idle, the UE 115a can monitor coreset transmissions 1101 from the base station 105a every micro-time-slot 1100. As in other aspects of the micro-time-slot-based design, once the UE 115a detects the success of the LBT process at 1102, the UE 115a can reduce the monitoring frequency for each transmission time-slot boundary 1103. Once the TxOP ends and transmission stops in time slots 1 and 2, the UE 115a can resume monitoring for coreset transmissions 1101 for each micro-time-slot at 1103.

[0130] The aspects of this disclosure using a floating time slot-based design configuration can be more transmitter-friendly. For example, a base station (such as base station 105a) can prepare a packet and delay its transmission until the LBT passes later. Because the TxOP begins at the boundary of the next transmission time slot after the LBT is detected, there is no need to prepare multiple packets that might be dropped when the LBT arrives later in the shared channel. The resulting process allows for simpler control logic units in the base station / scheduler. However, rate matching problems may arise because different transmission start times may imply rate matching around different RE sets.

[0131] Figure 12 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105a and a UE 115a configured according to one aspect of this disclosure. In a first option for rate matching, it may be advantageous not to pre-perform rate matching before knowing the exact set of REs. For example, base station 105a, having data for downlink transmission to UE 115a, does not generate PDSCH 1201 until it determines the available REs 1200 for transmission. Using the available REs 1200, base station 105a can rate match PDSCH 1101 around rate matching resources such as synchronization signaling blocks (SSBs) 1202 and reserved REs 1203. The reserved REs 1203 may include residual minimum system information (RMSI) coreset, etc. Base station 105a can then send PDSCH 1201 to UE 115a.

[0132] When an LBT is detected passing through in the middle of a micro-slot, rate matching can be performed simultaneously with the transmission of any padding or channel reservation / occupancy signals. For the start of the selected slot, base station 105 can determine the number of available REs and divide the REs into all code blocks. The TBS remains unchanged, and therefore, recoding is unnecessary. Base station 105a will select the correct number of coded bits from the rate matching cyclic buffer of each CB to fill said number of REs. Alternatively, modulation of each RE (e.g., multiple spatial layers) can be performed in advance, and the pre-modulated REs can be filled into the available REs when transmission timing is complete. This allows for advance modulation, and RE multiplexing, precoding, and time-domain waveform generation can be performed during transmission.

[0133] It should be noted that in cases where channel reservation signals may be unavailable and PDSCH may occur in symbol 0 of the transmission time slot (e.g., RE outside the coreset), various aspects of this disclosure may use special default rate matching rules.

[0134] Figure 13This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105a and a UE 115a configured according to one aspect of this disclosure. In a second option for rate matching, a puncturing-based design provides for pre-generating REs and pre-filling them into OFDM symbols or physical RE structures. Precoding can also be pre-computed. Thus, using data for downlink transmission, base station 105a uses that data to pre-generate PDSCH 1300. When the time slot transmission timing 1301 is known and the rate matching resources are determined, base station 105a can puncture the REs from the OFDM symbols of the generated PDSCH (i.e., PDSCH 1300) to fill in other reserved signal resources to be transmitted (such as SSB 1202 and reserved RE 1303). The time-domain waveform can then be formed by the punctured PDSCH 1300 and transmitted to UE 115a. On the UE side, when UE 115a detects a PDCCH at a floating position from the starting position, UE 115a determines that this is a floating time slot. UE 115a can deduce the original system time slot location by performing rate matching using the original system time slot structure, and use the current location to find out which REs have been punctured in PDSCH 1300.

[0135] Regenerating the PDCCH can also be time-consuming. Therefore, aspects of this disclosure provide for pre-generating PDCCH 1305 and delaying transmission until base station 105a detects LBT passing through 1306. Due to floating transmission slot boundaries, timing-based scrambling using transmission slot boundary timing may be ineffective. In such aspects, base station 105a can remove or limit the amount of timing-based scrambling applied to PDCCH 1305. For example, base station 105a can use a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) to scramble PDCCH 1305. In another alternative aspect, an intermediate solution can be implemented such that the scrambling value changes along system slot boundary timing rather than transmission slot boundary timing. Therefore, UE 115a can determine scrambling by using system slot boundary timing.

[0136] Figure 14 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105a and a UE 115a configured according to one aspect of this disclosure. It replaces the pre-generated PDSCH 1300 ( Figure 13 And then once the transmission timing 1301 is determined ( Figure 13 Then drill holes, in Figure 14The aspects described herein provide a method for base station 105a to pre-generate PDSCH 1400 as already including placeholder puncturing for any reserved signals (e.g., SSB 1401 and reserved RE 1402). During the pre-generation phase, the positions of SSB 1401 and reserved RE 1402 may not be exactly the same as the actual positions that can be determined when transmission timing 1403 is obtained. When base station 105a is able to determine the precise position of the reserved signal using transmission timing 1403, base station 105a can move the position of the reserved signal within the pre-generated PDSCH 1400 to the precise position of SSB 1404 and reserved RE 1405. Base station 105a can then send PDSCH 1400 to UE 115a with puncturing for the positions of SSB 1404 and reserved RE 1405. However, pre-generating PDSCH 1400 with placeholders for puncturing allows base station 105a to reduce the amount of data lost via puncturing.

[0137] Figure 15A and Figure 15B This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105a and a UE 115a configured according to various aspects of this disclosure. As described above, the pre-generated PDCCH (PDCCH 1305) Figure 13 The PDCCH 1305 is pre-generated before the LBT is detected and then sent after the LBT passes. Because the PDCCH 1305 is pre-generated before the transmission timing is known, there may be a time when the PDCCH 1305 conflicts with reserved REs (such as SSBs). Figure 15A and Figure 15B The aspects shown provide optional procedures for resolving such signal conflicts.

[0138] exist Figure 15A In the first option shown, base station 105a configures coreset transmission 1500 at a location that will avoid conflict with SSB 1502. In this aspect, coreset transmission 1500 is configured and will be transmitted at the configured location, regardless of whether SSB 1502 is transmitting in the same micro-timeslot / timeslot.

[0139] exist Figure 15BIn the second option shown, base station 105a knows when coreset transmission 1502 will collide with SSB 1503. When a collision is about to occur, the base station can move coreset transmission 1052 around the location of SSB 1503 or rate-match it. In one example, in micro-timeslot 1504, coreset transmission 1502 can be sent at a first location in micro-timeslot 1504 for any transmission that can occur in micro-timeslot 1504, and coreset transmission 1502 can also be sent at the last location in micro-timeslot 1504 to accommodate transmissions in the next timeslot, where SSB 1503 will collide with coreset transmission 1502 if SSB 1503 has already been sent in the next micro-timeslot. Therefore, when base station 105a determines that a collision with SSB 1503 will occur, base station 105a will move the location of coreset transmission 1502 to avoid a collision.

[0140] It should be noted that there may be situations where the SSB should not float. The SSB can follow system timeslot timing. From the UE's perspective, UE 115a can use indications from the SSB to determine system timeslot timing. In all aspects of using floating timeslot-based TxOPs, for each TxOP, there exists another "dynamic" timeslot timing concept independent of system timeslot boundaries and timing: the transmission timeslot boundary. Other RE resources (such as RMSI, broadcast OSI, etc.) can be allowed to flow, where base station 105a can configure a window for UE 115a to monitor RMSI coreset transmissions.

[0141] Figure 16 This is a block diagram illustrating example boxes executed to implement one aspect of this disclosure. It will also cover topics such as... Figure 23 The UE115 description example box is shown.

[0142] At box 1600, a non-serving UE monitors broadcast transmissions between the base station and the serving UE. A non-serving UE (such as UE 115) is a UE not currently permitted in the TxOP, but is configured to perform a certain receive / transmit radio resource control (RRC) at a specific time. The timing for these receives and transmits may include further considerations, given the fluctuations in time slot boundaries according to the aspects described herein. Such non-permitted transmissions may include Channel State Information (CSI) Reference Signal (CSI-RS) transmissions for CSI capture, Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmissions, etc. When a signal is detected via antennas 252a-r and radio units 2300a-r, UE 115 executes encoding / decoding logic unit 2302 under the control of controller / processor 280 to decode the signal. Therefore, encoding / decoding logic unit 2302 can decode the detected signal and determine that such a signal corresponds to a transmission between the base station and another adjacent UE.

[0143] At block 1601, the non-serving UE determines the time slot boundary timing for the transmission opportunity determined by monitoring the broadcast transmissions detected. Essentially, the non-serving UE (i.e., UE 115) detects the timing for the time slot boundary for all scheduled operations based on the decoded signal decoded by the encoding / decoding logic unit 2302.

[0144] At box 1602, the non-serving UE adjusts its scheduled communications within the detected transmission opportunities of the base station and the serving UE. There is no permission for the non-serving UE (such as UE 115). Therefore, different signaling or broadcast layer 1 (L1) channels can be used for transmission. In the first option, if available, wideband DMRS can be used for coreset transmission. In this case, no additional information is used. In the second option, dedicated L1 channels (such as group control (GC)-PDCCH carrying SFI) can also carry other triggers in the L1 channel, such as SRS triggers, CSI-RS indications, PRACH triggers, SR triggers, etc. UE 115 uses this information to determine transmission timing adjustment 2304, which is used to adjust the signal transmissions scheduled for the non-serving UE (i.e., UE 115).

[0145] From the UE's perspective, if only one UE exists in the uplink burst, the same approach using floating time slots can be applied. Since the PUSCH can be pre-generated by UE 115a, this also helps UE 115a with processing. In uplink transmissions, there are few surrounding rate matches, so rate matches can be pre-generated. If the LBT passes later, the transmission of the pre-generated PUSCH can be delayed until the LBT passes. As mentioned above regarding PDCCH, UE 115a can also avoid timing-dependent scrambling of the PUSCH. When there are more than two UEs in the discussion, two UEs with PUSCH or multiple UEs with a mix of SRS, PUCCH, and PUSCH can use cross-UE synchronization where the LBT per UE is insufficient to provide such synchronization.

[0146] Alternative implementations could include not floating slot boundaries relative to the downlink, but instead binding slot boundaries to downlink slot boundaries within the same TxOP or to timing offsets indicated by the base station. As the LBT passes through slightly later times between micro-slot boundaries, similar to LTE-LAA / MF behavior, puncturing can be used to adapt the transmission. Additional considerations for puncturing include: how to handle DMRS, and how the base station will know which symbols are punctured, as detected from the beginning of the uplink burst.

[0147] Figure 17 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105a and a UE 115a configured according to one aspect of this disclosure. In the described aspect, a first time slot (i.e., DL time slot 0 of TxOP 1700) is prepared in advance and is floating after LBT passage is detected at 1701 and filler signaling is sent, but in the middle of a downlink burst. Several microtime slots are permitted at 1702 for DL ​​microtime slot 0 to bring the timing back to alignment with the system time slot timing. Therefore, the first prepared downlink time slot is floating, while the other prepared downlink time slots starting at the system time slot boundary 1703 after “correcting” DL microtime slot 0 are not floating. Correction of the system time slot timing is beneficial to downlink transmission due to the potential rate matching of SSB transmission. This benefit is observed in most bursts, where the timing is then aligned with the SSB timing. As a result, the process for SSB rate matching will only be used in the first prepared floating time slot (i.e., DL time slot 0).

[0148] Figure 18A This is a block diagram illustrating an example block executed by a base station to implement one aspect of this disclosure. Further details will also be provided regarding... Figure 22The example block illustrating base station 105 is shown. As an alternative to both micro-slot-based and floating-slot-based designs for transmission initiation points, various aspects of this disclosure provide punctured-slot-based designs for retransmissions at the code block group (CBG) level.

[0149] At 1800, the base station performs an LBT procedure on the shared communication channel in response to an indication that data is available for transmission. As previously described, when base station 105 has data for transmission to one or more UEs among the UEs it serves, base station 105 will attempt to secure access to the shared communication channel by performing an LBT procedure initiated by LBT logic unit 2201.

[0150] At block 1801, the base station prepares transmission packets for data before detecting the success of the LBT process. To begin data transmission as quickly as possible, base station 105 prepares transmission packets based on the expected RE. Under the control of controller / processor 240, base station 105 executes packet generator 2202 stored in memory 242 to prepare transmission packets after initiating LBT but before detecting its success.

[0151] At block 1802, the base station punctures one or more CBGs corresponding to the timing of a successful detection after the time slot boundary of the current transmission time slot. The NR system is configured for CBG-based retransmission support. As a result, the transmission may be more "puncture-friendly" because CBG-level puncturing allows for greater granularity in retransmitting punctured CBGs. When pre-prepared packets are ready and the base station 105 is waiting for the result of the LBT process, if, over time, a CBG of a pre-prepared packet is to be transmitted, the base station 105 identifies the CBG for retransmission in the execution environment of the LBT logic unit 2201 and schedules the retransmission in memory 242 via the Re-TX controller 2204. The base station 105 executes packet generator 2202 to pre-prepare the pre-prepared packets using only the remaining CBGs not identified for retransmission. Therefore, the pre-prepared packets do not simply discard the identified CBGs, but rather collect the identified CBGs for retransmission. Therefore, although the process is described as “punching” in this paper, it can be called modified punching because it does not simply discard CBG data.

[0152] At box 1803, the base station responds to the detection of success by sending punctured transmission packets. When base station 105 detects LBT passage, it sends the remaining punctured transmission packets (CBGs not identified for retransmission) to the serving UE via radio unit 2200a-t and antenna 234a-t.

[0153] At block 1804, the base station retransmits the punctured CBG and the signal identifying the punctured CBG in a later transmission time slot. When base station 105 identifies a CBG to be punctured from a pre-prepared transmission time slot, it can immediately begin the retransmission process for those identified CBGs by executing Re-TX controller 2205. In such a case, base station 105 can schedule the retransmission as quickly as possible via Re-TX controller 2205 (including even in a later time slot within the same TxOP), and then retransmit the identified CBG via radio unit 2200a-t and antenna 234a-t.

[0154] Figure 18B This is a block diagram illustrating example blocks executed by the UE to implement one aspect of this disclosure. It will also cover topics such as... Figure 23 The example UE 115 description box is shown.

[0155] At block 1805, the UE detects the start of a transmission opportunity (TxOP) on the shared communication channel provided by the serving base station. On the UE side with a punctured time slot design featuring CBG retransmission, the UE will need to aggregate different CBGs to recover the entire transport block (TB) from the base station. Therefore, in idle mode, the UE will monitor for the start of a TxOP on the shared communication channel. When a signal is detected via antennas 252a-r and radio units 2300a-r, the UE 115 executes the encoding / decoding logic unit 2302 under the control of the controller / processor 280 to decode the signal. Thus, the encoding / decoding logic unit 2302 can decode the detected signal and determine that such a signal corresponds to the start of a TxOP.

[0156] At box 1806, the UE decodes the transmission packets received from the serving base station in the current transmission time slot after the start. When UE115 begins receiving data packets from the serving base station, it decodes the received packets via encoding / decoding 2302.

[0157] At box 1807, the UE determines that one or more CBGs have been identified for retransmission by the serving base station. When decoding the first packet, the UE 115 determines that none of the CBGs in that packet were included in the transmission. The UE 115 then determines that some CBGs have been identified for retransmission. The Re-TX controller 2305 maintains the identified CBGs that have been identified for retransmission.

[0158] At block 1808, the UE decodes one or more retransmitted packets including one or more CBGs. UE 115 receives retransmitted packets including CBGs “punctured” from the initial transmission packet via antenna 252a-r and radio unit 2300a-r. UE 115 can also decode an identifier from the base station within the execution environment of encoding / decoding 2302, which identifies the CBG as a retransmitted CBG from the initial packet.

[0159] At block 1809, the UE uses the decoded transport packets and the CBG decoded in the retransmitted packets to assemble a transport block. The UE 115 stores the CBG of the initial packet in memory 282, and when the retransmitted CBG is decoded along with the identifier, the UE 115 executes the Tx block assembler 2306 so that the CBG can then be assembled to form the entire transport block.

[0160] Figure 19 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105a and a UE 115a configured according to one aspect of this disclosure. The base station 105a, having data to be transmitted to the UE 115a, performs an LBT procedure and monitors the result. During the LBT procedure, the base station 105a also prepares transmission packets to be transmitted after any padding or channel reservation signaling is completed. The prepared packets may include data for covering four micro-timeslots. The base station 105a fails to detect an LBT result in micro-timeslot 1901, but detects an LBT pass at 1903, in the middle of the second micro-timeslot 1902. At 1903, the base station 105a then begins transmitting padding signaling. Since the boundary between micro-timeslots 1901 and 1902 was crossed without LBT detection, the base station 105a recognizes that CBGs that would have been transmitted in micro-timeslots 1901 and 1902 are intended for retransmission, and therefore punches them out of the initially prepared transmission packets. Then, base station 105a will send a partial packet (i.e., DL microslot 0 (partial)) at time slot boundary 1904, formed by “punching” the CBGs used for time slots 1901 and 1902 from the pre-prepared transmission packets.

[0161] Base station 105a knows which part of a pre-prepared transmission packet is punctured and can retransmit the punctured portion of the CBG, possibly in the same TxOP but a later time slot. For example, base station 105a schedules the punctured CBG to be retransmitted during the last time slot of the downlink burst (i.e., DL time slot 3). In the retransmission, base station 105a also includes an indicator indicating which CBGs are included in the retransmission. Therefore, DL time slot 3 will include an indicator indicating to the UE that DL time slot 3 includes CBGs punctured from DL time slot 0.

[0162] When control signaling is provided via PDCCH, regenerating the PDCCH after determining which CBGs will be punctured from the pre-generated PDSCH takes a significant amount of time from base station 105a. Therefore, similar to a floating time slot-based design, an additional and alternative aspect of this disclosure could be to pre-generate the PDCCH and delay the transmission from base station 105a until an LBT is detected at 1901. In such an aspect, the PDCCH will not depend on when the transmission occurs, but it will also not reflect which CBGs will be punctured from the pre-generated PDSCH. However, UE 115a can determine which CBGs may have already been punctured based on the start position of the PDCCH within the transmission time slot.

[0163] On the UE side, UE 115a aggregates the data received during the first transmission (i.e., DL slot 0) and the retransmissions of punctured CBGs in DL slot 3 to recover the entire TB. For uplink transmissions from UE 115a, when UE 115a detects an LBT pass at 1905, any punctured CBGs from transmission packets sent at slot boundary 1906 in UE micro-slot 0 (partial) may not be autonomously scheduled for retransmission by UE 115a. Alternatively, the selected aspects provide for base station 105a to reschedule punctured uplink CBGs for retransmission by UE 115a.

[0164] It should be noted that additional and alternative aspects of this disclosure may be provided for UE 115a to autonomously reschedule retransmissions of CBGs punctured from UL microslot 0. Two features associated with the scheduling of retransmissions of punctured uplink CBGs are within the scope of this disclosure.

[0165] Figure 20 This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105a and a UE 115a configured according to one aspect of this disclosure. Within a puncturing-based timeslot design for transmission initiation, a potential transmission initiation can begin at micro-timeslot intervals. When idle, the UE 115a can monitor micro-timeslot coreset transmission 2000 from the base station 105a at each micro-timeslot boundary and monitor timeslot coreset transmission 2001 at each timeslot boundary. As in the aspects of the micro-timeslot-based design, once the UE 115a detects the success of the LBT process at 2002, the UE 115a can reduce the monitoring frequency to each transmission timeslot boundary, such as micro-timeslot transmission boundary 2003 and timeslot transmission boundaries 2004 and 2005.

[0166] Figure 21This is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105a and a UE 115a configured according to various aspects of this disclosure. Rate matching can be performed before the time slot and puncturing resource time. Since some symbols that are unavailable due to later LBT passage will not include any coreset transmission carrying the PDCCH, the PDCCH will be delayed to the transmission portion of the time slot. Figure 21 In one example implementation, base station 105a pre-prepares transmission packets for pre-preparation slot 0 in pre-preparation stream 2100. The transmission packets for pre-preparation slot 0 include micro-slots 2101-2104. As the LBT process is delayed into pre-preparation slot 0, base station 105a determines which data to puncture. In the example described here, after an LBT pass is detected at 2106, base station 105a will determine to puncture the earlier CBGs of micro-slots 2101 and 2102. Depending on when 2106 occurs in micro-slot 2102, puncturing may not always be along the CBG boundary, which could lead to some inefficiency in retransmission of the entire CBG when some portions of the code block are reserved and transmitted. The remaining CBGs of the portion of slot 0 in transmission stream 2105 will maintain the same modulation and coding scheme (MCS) / coding rate as initially scheduled. Then, the coreset that was originally sent in microslot 2101 or 2102 can be moved up to microslot 2103 so that it can be transmitted in part of slot 0 of transport stream 2105.

[0167] It should be noted that if the remainder of time slot 0 of transport stream 2105 after puncturing does not contain DMRS, then partial time slot 0 cannot be decoded. Therefore, in a first alternative aspect, only a transport time slot configuration that includes a DMRS configuration in a portion of the pre-prepared time slot 0 of the pre-prepared stream 2100 can be considered. In this example, the DMRS is included in a later portion of the pre-prepared time slot 0 configuration such that when puncturing of the pre-prepared time slot 0 occurs, the remainder transmitted in partial time slot 0 will include DMRS. In a second alternative aspect, base station 105a can simply add DMRS to the remainder of the CGB included in partial time slot 0. DMRS can then be punctured into the remainder of partial time slot 0, and rate matching can be performed around SSBs and other reserved REs (if such SSBs and other reserved REs exist in the remainder of partial time slot 0).

[0168] If base station 105a transmits a PDCCH (self-scheduled), UE 115a can use the detected PDCCH location to determine the start point of a portion of the time slot. Additional and alternative aspects of this disclosure may also provide a Layer 1 (L1) channel that can be used for start point detection. In carrier aggregation scenarios using cross-carrier scheduling (e.g., scheduling from a licensed anchored carrier), there will be no PDCCH transmitted from base station 105a on an unlicensed shared communication carrier. In such a system, a preemption indicator (PI) mechanism can be used to indicate to UE 115a what is being punctured. The PI will be transmitted after the LBT result is known, and therefore, the start point will also be known. The PI can be transmitted on a licensed anchored carrier of carrier aggregation from base station 105b or on an unlicensed shared carrier from base station 105a.

[0169] Where fast rate matching is possible, base station 105a can first estimate which CBGs in micro-slots 2101-2104 can be retransmitted in the remainder of the transmission opportunity. A general rule for determining which CBGs to retransmit can be used. In this case, it is not necessary to indicate which CBGs were transmitted in the first time slot, and the PDCCH does not need to be modified. The set of CBGs carried can be implicitly indicated by the PDCCH start position. Base station 105a can then rate-match these CBGs to the available REs, while the remaining CBGs will be overwritten in later retransmissions. To maintain the likelihood of successful decoding by UE 115a, base station 105a can allow the DMRS to float, such that it will be included in the transmission of a portion of time slot 0 of transport stream 2105.

[0170] Additional and alternative aspects of this disclosure may provide for initiating partial transmission of time slot 0 using a CBG at the beginning of pre-prepared time slot 0 (e.g., micro-time slots 2101 and 2102) after an LBT pass is detected at 2106. Base station 105a may puncture the remaining CBG of a later portion of pre-prepared time slot 0 (e.g., micro-time slots 2103 and 2104). When using an early CBG of pre-prepared time slot 0, DMRS remains in the transmission portion of partial time slot 0, and base station 105a will not perform re-rate matching. As previously described, puncturing can be used to handle any potential conflicts with the scheduled SSB.

[0171] On the uplink side, UE 115a can perform a similar process to prepare and send the PUSCH. However, base station 105a will schedule CBG-level retransmissions. Furthermore, UE 115a can use DMRS at the beginning of the PUSCH to provide detection of the uplink burst start point.

[0172] Those skilled in the art will understand that information and signals can be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and methods. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips mentioned throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, light fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0173] Figure 4 , Figure 6 , Figure 8 , Figure 10 , Figure 16 , Figure 18A and Figure 18B The functional blocks and modules in the system may include: processors, electronic devices, hardware devices, electronic components, logic circuits, memory, software code, firmware code, etc., or any combination thereof.

[0174] Those skilled in the art will also understand that the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithmic steps described in conjunction with this disclosure can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability between hardware and software, the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been generally described above in relation to their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the system as a whole. Those skilled in the art can implement the described functionality in alternative ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions should not be construed as causing a departure from the scope of this disclosure. Those skilled in the art will also readily recognize that the order or combination of components, methods, or interactions described herein is merely illustrative, and components, methods, or interactions of various aspects of this disclosure can be combined or performed in ways different from those shown and described herein.

[0175] The various illustrative logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure herein can be implemented or executed using a general-purpose processor, digital signal processor (DSP), application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0176] The steps of the methods or algorithms described herein can be directly embodied in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or a combination of both. The software module can reside in RAM, flash memory, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from and write information to the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium can be a component of the processor. The processor and storage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC can reside in a user terminal. Alternatively, the processor and storage medium can exist as discrete components in the user terminal.

[0177] In one or more exemplary designs, the described functionality can be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functionality can be stored as one or more instructions or code on or transmitted through a computer-readable medium. A computer-readable medium includes both computer storage media and communication media, wherein the communication medium includes any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such a computer-readable medium can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disc storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium capable of carrying or storing desired program code units in the form of instructions or data structures, and accessible by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Furthermore, a connection can be suitably referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, or digital subscriber line (DSL), then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, or DSL is included in the definition of medium. As used herein, disks and optical discs include compact optical discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile optical discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray discs. Disks typically copy data magnetically, while optical discs typically use lasers to copy data optically. The combinations described above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0178] As used herein (including in the claims), the term “and / or” when used in a list having two or more items means that any one of the listed items can be used alone, or any combination of two or more of the listed items can be used. For example, if a composition is described as containing components A, B, and / or C, then the composition can contain: only A; only B; only C; a combination of A and B; a combination of A and C; a combination of B and C; or a combination of A, B, and C. Furthermore, as used herein (including in the claims), “or” as used in a list of items ending with “at least one of…” indicates a separate list such that, for example, a list of “at least one of A, B, or C” means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C) or any combination of any of these items.

[0179] The foregoing description of this disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to implement or use this disclosure. Various modifications to this disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Therefore, this disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to be given the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, comprising: The user equipment (UE) monitors the control resource set CORESET in each of the multiple micro-time slots configured in each system time slot of the shared communication channel. The UE detects the commencement of a transmission opportunity on the shared communication channel initiated by the serving base station; and In response to the detection of the transmission opportunity, the transmission begins in the next system time slot following the current system time slot after the detection of the start: The monitoring of the CORESET is stopped by the UE in each of the plurality of micro-slots within each system slot for the remaining portion of the transmission opportunity; as well as The UE monitors the CORESET in each system time slot of the remaining portion of the transmission opportunity.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The UE receives uplink permission from the serving base station, wherein the uplink permission includes the allocation of a sequence of transmission units for uplink bursts; The UE performs the Listen-Before-Speak (LBT) procedure on the shared communication channel; The UE uses control information included in the uplink grant to prepare one or more uplink transmission packets; The UE discards uplink transmission packets for each transmission unit in the sequence before detecting the success of the LBT procedure; and In response to the detection of success, the UE transmits the remaining uplink transmission packets in the remaining transmission units in the sequence.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The sequence of the transmission unit includes one or more of the following: Multiple micro-time slots within the system time slot; and One or more system time slots.

4. A method for wireless communication, comprising: The user equipment (UE) monitors the control resource set CORESET in each of the multiple micro-slots of the shared communication channel during the idle transmission time. The UE detects the start of a transmission opportunity via the shared communication channel established by the serving base station; The UE determines the transmission opportunity slot timing associated with the transmission opportunity of the serving base station; as well as In response to the detection of the transmission opportunity, the transmission begins in the next transmission slot following the current transmission slot after the detection of the start: The monitoring of the CORESET is stopped by the UE in each of the plurality of micro-slots within each transmission slot for the remaining portion of the transmission opportunity; as well as The UE monitors the CORESET in each transmission time slot for the remaining portion of the transmission opportunity according to the transmission opportunity time slot timing.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising: The UE performs a Listen-Before-Speak (LBT) procedure on the shared communication channel in response to the identification of uplink data available for transmission; The UE prepares uplink transmission packets containing the uplink data. as well as The UE sends the uplink transmission packet in response to detecting the success of the LBT procedure.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein, The preparations also include: Pre-rate matching of the uplink transmission packets; and The uplink transmission packets are scrambled based on timing that is independent of the transmission opportunity time slot timing.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: The UE determines that no neighboring UE communicates with the serving base station during the transmission opportunity period, wherein sending the uplink transmission packet includes sending the uplink transmission packet at the uplink transmission slot determined by detecting the success of the LBT process, wherein the uplink transmission slot timing is independent of the transmission opportunity slot timing.

8. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: The UE determines that one or more neighboring UEs communicate with the serving base station during the transmission opportunity, wherein the LBT procedure includes a joint LBT procedure applicable to the UE and the one or more neighboring UEs, and wherein the uplink transmission packets are sent according to a predetermined synchronization across the UE and the one or more neighboring UEs.

9. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: The UE determines that one or more adjacent UEs communicate with the serving base station during the transmission opportunity period, wherein sending the uplink transmission packet includes sending the uplink transmission packet at an uplink transmission time slot based on the transmission opportunity time slot timing; and The UE punches one or more portions of the uplink transmission packet for each transmission unit delay before detecting the success.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: Determine one or more symbols for the uplink transmission packets used for the puncturing.

11. An apparatus configured for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising: At least one processor; as well as Memory, which is coupled to the at least one processor, Wherein, the at least one processor is configured to: The user equipment (UE) monitors the control resource set CORESET in each of the multiple micro-time slots configured in each system time slot of the shared communication channel. The UE detects the commencement of a transmission opportunity on the shared communication channel initiated by the serving base station; and In response to the detection of the transmission opportunity, the transmission begins in the next system time slot following the current system time slot after the detection of the start: The UE stops configuring the at least one processor to monitor the CORESET in each of the plurality of micro-time slots within each system time slot for the remaining portion of the transmission opportunity; and The UE monitors the CORESET in each system time slot of the remaining portion of the transmission opportunity.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising configuring the at least one processor to: The UE receives uplink permission from the serving base station, wherein, The uplink permission includes the allocation of a sequence of transmission units for uplink bursts; The UE performs the Listen-Before-Speak (LBT) procedure on the shared communication channel; The UE uses control information included in the uplink grant to prepare one or more uplink transmission packets; The UE discards uplink transmission packets for each transmission unit in the sequence before detecting the success of the LBT procedure; as well as In response to the detection of success, the UE transmits the remaining uplink transmission packets in the remaining transmission units in the sequence.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein, The sequence of the transmission unit includes one or more of the following: Multiple micro-time slots within the system time slot; and One or more system time slots.

14. An apparatus configured for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising: At least one processor; as well as Memory, which is coupled to the at least one processor, Wherein, the at least one processor is configured to: The user equipment (UE) monitors the control resource set CORESET in each of the multiple micro-slots of the shared communication channel during the idle transmission time. The UE detects the start of a transmission opportunity via the shared communication channel established by the serving base station; The UE determines the transmission opportunity slot timing associated with the transmission opportunity of the serving base station; and In response to the detection of the transmission opportunity, the transmission begins in the next transmission slot following the current transmission slot after the detection of the start: The UE stops configuring the at least one processor to monitor the CORESET in each of the plurality of micro-slots within each transmission slot for the remaining portion of the transmission opportunity; and The UE monitors the CORESET in each transmission time slot for the remaining portion of the transmission opportunity according to the transmission opportunity time slot timing.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising configuring the at least one processor to: The UE performs a Listen-Before-Speak (LBT) procedure on the shared communication channel in response to the identification of uplink data available for transmission; The UE prepares uplink transmission packets containing the uplink data. as well as The UE sends the uplink transmission packet in response to detecting the success of the LBT procedure.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein, Configuring the at least one processor for the pre-preparation also includes configuring the at least one processor as follows: Pre-rate matching of the uplink transmission packets; and The uplink transmission packets are scrambled based on timing that is independent of the transmission opportunity time slot timing.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising configuring the at least one processor to: The UE determines that no neighboring UE communicates with the serving base station during the transmission opportunity, wherein, The configuration for sending the uplink transmission packet to the at least one processor includes configuring the at least one processor to send the uplink transmission packet at an uplink transmission slot determined by detecting the success of the LBT process, wherein the uplink transmission slot timing is independent of the transmission opportunity slot timing.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising configuring the at least one processor to: The UE determines that during the transmission opportunity, one or more neighboring UEs communicate with the serving base station, wherein, The LBT process includes a joint LBT process applicable to the UE and the one or more neighboring UEs, wherein the uplink transmission packets are sent according to a predetermined synchronization across the UE and the one or more neighboring UEs.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising configuring the at least one processor to: The UE determines that during the transmission opportunity, one or more neighboring UEs communicate with the serving base station, wherein, The configuration for sending the uplink transmission packet to the at least one processor includes configuring the at least one processor to send the uplink transmission packet at an uplink transmission time slot based on the transmission opportunity time slot. as well as The UE punches one or more portions of the uplink transmission packet for each transmission unit delay before detecting the success.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising configuring the at least one processor to: Determine one or more symbols for the uplink transmission packets used for the puncturing.

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