System and method for enhanced configuration authorization

Abstract

The present invention provides an improved configuration grant (CG), which may include the designation of a coverage area corresponding to the uplink transmission of the UE, wherein the coverage area is at least partially defined by the occupied transmission time, the occupied transmission frequency and the transmission power. The coverage area can be adjusted and / or selected by the UE according to the current traffic demand of the UE and within the limits set for the coverage area via previous signaling from the base station to the UE. The actual coverage area parameters / values for the uplink data transmission of the UE can be received by the base station as part of the CG uplink control information (CG‑UCI) received from the UE. The base station can receive the CG‑UCI on resources configured according to the additional parameter values transmitted from the base station to the UE via the previous signaling. The base station can also receive uplink data on resources configured according to the actual coverage area values.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to wireless communications, and more particularly to providing configuration authorization in wireless communications (e.g., 3GPP NR communications).

[0002] Related technical description

[0003] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices such as smartphones and tablets have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting phone calls, many mobile devices (i.e., user equipment devices or UEs) now also provide access to the Internet, email, text messaging and navigation using the Global Positioning System (GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that utilize these capabilities. In addition, there are many different wireless communication technologies and wireless communication standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TDS-CDMA), LTE, LTE Advanced (LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), BLUETOOTH TM The proposed telecommunications standard that goes beyond the International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced (IMT-Advanced) standard is the fifth generation mobile network or fifth generation wireless system, known as 3GPP NR (also known as 5G-NR for 5G New Radio, or simply NR). NR provides higher capacity for a higher density of mobile broadband users while supporting device-to-device, ultra-reliable and massive machine communications, as well as lower latency and lower battery consumption than the LTE standard.

[0004] 3GPP LTE / NR defines multiple downlink (DL) physical channels, classified as transport or control channels, to carry information blocks received from MAC and higher layers. 3GPP LTE / NR also defines physical layer channels for the uplink (UL). The Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) is a DL transport channel and is the primary data-bearing channel allocated to users on a dynamic and opportunistic basis. The PDSCH carries data in transport blocks (TBs) corresponding to medium access control protocol data units (MAC PDUs), which are passed from the MAC layer to the physical (PHY) layer once per transmission time interval (TTI). The PDSCH is also used to transmit broadcast information such as system information blocks (SIBs) and paging messages.

[0005] The Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) is a DL control channel that carries the resource allocation of the UE contained in the Downlink Control Information (DCI) message. For example, the DCI may include a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) related to beamforming, where the TCI includes configurations such as the quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship between the downlink reference signal (DL-RS) and the PDSCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports in a channel state information RS (CSI-RS) set. Each TCI state can contain parameters for configuring the QCL relationship between one or two downlink reference signals and the DMRS ports of the PDSCH, the DMRS ports of the PDCCH, or the CSI-RS ports of the CSI-RS resources. Multiple PDCCHs can be transmitted in the same subframe using control channel elements (CCEs), each of which is a set of resource elements called a resource element group (REG). The PDCCH can be modulated using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), where a specific number (e.g., four) of QPSK symbols are mapped to each REG. Furthermore, depending on the channel conditions, the UE may use a specified number (eg, 1, 2, 4, or 8) of CCEs to ensure sufficient robustness.

[0006] The Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) is an UL channel shared by all devices (user equipment, UE) in a radio cell to transmit user data to the network. Scheduling for all UEs is under the control of the base station (e.g., eNB or gNB). The base station uses uplink scheduling grants (e.g., in DCI) to inform the UEs about resource block (RB) allocations and the modulation and coding scheme to be used. The PUSCH typically supports QPSK and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). In addition to user data, the PUSCH also carries any control information required to decode the information, such as the transport format indicator and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) parameters. The control data is multiplexed with the information data before digital Fourier transform (DFT) expansion.

[0007] An important aspect of wireless data transmission is scheduling. Generally speaking, in communications between a UE device and a wireless network, scheduling is used to specify the time slots for uplink communications transmitted by the UE device to the base station. For uplink communications, the UE may first issue a scheduling request to the base station. In response, the base station may respond with an uplink grant sent to the UE, thereby granting the UE permission to transmit uplink data. In most cases, scheduling is completely dynamic. In the downlink direction, resources are allocated when data is available. For data to be sent in the uplink direction, the UE dynamically requests a transmission opportunity whenever data arrives in the UE's uplink buffer. Information about the data to be sent in the downlink direction and the uplink transmission opportunity is carried in a radio layer control channel, which is sent at the beginning of each subframe. While dynamic scheduling is effective for infrequent and bandwidth-consuming data transmissions that may result in large data bursts (e.g., surfing the Internet, video streaming, email), it is less suitable for real-time streaming applications such as voice calls. In the latter case, data is sent in short bursts at regular intervals. If the data rate of the flow is very low, as is the case with voice calls, the overhead of scheduling messages can become very high since only little data is sent for each scheduling message.

[0008] One solution to this problem is semi-persistent scheduling (SPS). Instead of scheduling every uplink or downlink transmission, a transmission pattern is defined instead of a single opportunity. This significantly reduces scheduling allocation overhead. During silent periods, the radio voice CODEC in the UE stops transmitting voice data and only sends silence descriptors with much longer time intervals in between. During those silent times, persistent scheduling can be turned off. In the uplink, if no data is sent for a network-configured number of empty uplink transmission opportunities, the SPS grant scheme is implicitly canceled. In the downlink direction, SPS is canceled using an RRC (Radio Resource Control) message.

[0009] Utilize SPS, base station provides the predetermined scheduling of periodic time slots to UE, wherein UE can carry out uplink communication. This allows UE to generate uplink transmission to base station, and does not have the overhead of scheduling request and specific (dynamic) uplink authorization. Therefore, when base station configures SPS radio resource, mobile phone can adopt periodic resource, and does not need extra scheduling request process. When equipment has transmission data in its buffer, it can transmit this data via the next periodic resource that has been configured. However, because SPS configuration is realized on the basis of each equipment, therefore when equipment does not need periodic resource, for example, must transmit data only when specific event occurs, the SPS resource that equipment does not adopt is not used and therefore is wasted. In order to reduce the waste of this periodic allocation resource, multiple equipment can be configured to share periodic resource by the function that is called configuration authorization (CG). Configuration authorization is based on SPS feature originally, and allows base station to allocate configuration authorization resource to multiple equipment, and described multiple equipment can utilize resource as needed (for example, when it has data to be transmitted). By allocating the configuration grant resources, the network eliminates packet transmission delays associated with the scheduling request process while also improving utilization of the allocated periodic radio resources. However, current implementations of configuration grants can be inefficient for certain traffic conditions. Therefore, improvements in this area are desirable.

[0010] Other corresponding problems associated with the prior art will become apparent to those skilled in the art after comparing such prior art with the disclosed embodiments described herein. Summary of the Invention

[0011] In particular, embodiments of a method for implementing improved configuration grant (CG) in wireless communications, such as 3GPP New Radio (NR) communications, are provided herein. Embodiments of a wireless communication system are further provided herein, which includes user equipment (UE) devices and / or base stations communicating with each other within the wireless communication system.

[0012] To improve CG, the coverage area of the UE's uplink transmission may be defined at least in part by the occupied transmission time, occupied transmission frequency, and transmission power. The coverage area may be dynamically adjusted / selected by the UE based on the UE's current traffic demand and within the limits set for the coverage area via previous signaling from the base station to the UE. The UE may indicate to the base station the actual coverage area parameters / values of the UE's uplink data transmission by transmitting CG uplink control information (CG-UCI) including the actual coverage area value to the base station.

[0013] Thus, the base station may transmit configuration parameters / values to the device as part of the CG configuring the device. The base station may therefore transmit to the device a first set of values corresponding to a first transmission parameter for at least partially configuring resources for uplink data transmission (e.g., PUSCH transmission) for the device, and may also transmit to the device a second set of values corresponding to a second transmission parameter for at least partially configuring resources for uplink control information transmission (e.g., CG-UCI transmission) for the device. The base station may then receive uplink control information (e.g., CG-UCI) from the device on resources configured using at least the second set of values, the uplink control information including at least a third set of values corresponding to the first transmission parameter and (e.g., determined by the device) at least based on the current wireless traffic demand of the device and further based on the first set of values. The base station may receive uplink data (e.g., PUSCH) from the device on resources configured using at least the third set of values. The first transmission parameter may be used to define the uplink transmission coverage area of the device and may include transmission duration, transmission power, transmission frequency, and modulation and coding scheme level. Thus, the first set of values may include ranges / limits corresponding to the above-mentioned reference parameters, including maximum transmission duration, maximum transmission power, modulation and coding scheme level range, and / or maximum occupied frequency. The third set of values may correspondingly include the transmission duration of each repetition, the number of repetitions, the modulation and coding scheme level, the occupied frequency, and / or the cyclic redundancy check bits masked by the device. The second set of values may be used by the device to define / configure the resources on which the device can transmit UCI (which includes at least the third set of values) and may include modulation order, coding rate, time and frequency resource elements, and / or demodulation reference signal configuration.

[0014] It should be noted that the techniques described herein may be implemented in and / or used with a number of different types of devices, including but not limited to base stations, access points, cellular telephones, portable media players, tablets, wearable devices, and various other computing devices.

[0015] This summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the subject matter described in this document. Therefore, it should be understood that the above-described features are merely examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following detailed description, accompanying drawings, and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 An exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system according to some embodiments is shown;

[0017] Figure 2illustrates an exemplary base station in communication with an exemplary wireless user equipment (UE) device in accordance with some embodiments;

[0018] Figure 3 shows an exemplary block diagram of a UE according to some embodiments;

[0019] Figure 4 shows an exemplary block diagram of a base station according to some embodiments;

[0020] Figure 5 shows an exemplary simplified block diagram of an example cellular communication circuit according to some embodiments;

[0021] Figure 6 An exemplary diagram illustrating provisioning of a combined configuration grant (CG) for combined traffic of multiple flows, according to some embodiments.

[0022] Figure 7 shows a diagram illustrating CG-UCI candidate locations during PUSCH repetition type B transmission according to some embodiments;

[0023] Figure 8 shows a graph illustrating frequency occupancy for cyclic prefix OFDM transmission and DFT-S-OFDM transmission, respectively, for CG-UCI according to some embodiments;

[0024] Figure 9 shows frequency occupancy of CG-UCI transmissions according to some embodiments, wherein the CG-UCI is present in some repetitions and not in other repetitions;

[0025] Figure 10 A flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for a mobile device implementing CG according to some embodiments is shown; and

[0026] Figure 11 A flowchart of an exemplary method for implementing a base station for CG according to some embodiments is shown.

[0027] While the features described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereof are not intended to limit this disclosure to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] Acronyms

[0029] Various acronyms are used throughout this patent application. The definitions of the most prominent acronyms used that may appear throughout this patent application are as follows:

[0030] ACK: Acknowledgement

[0031] APR: Application Processor

[0032] AUL: Autonomous Uplink Transmission

[0033] BLER: Block Error Rate

[0034] BS: Base Station

[0035] BSR: Buffer Status Report

[0036] BWP: bandwidth part

[0037] ●CAPC: Channel Access Priority Class

[0038] CG: Configuration authorization

[0039] CMR: Change Mode Request

[0040] CORESET: Control Channel Resource Set

[0041] COT: Channel Occupancy Time

[0042] CRC: Cyclic Redundancy Check

[0043] CS-RNTI: Configuration Scheduling Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0044] CSI: Channel State Information

[0045] ●DCI: Downlink Control Information

[0046] DG: Dynamic Authorization

[0047] DL: Downlink (from BS to UE)

[0048] DMRS: Demodulation Reference Signal

[0049] DYN: Dynamic

[0050] ED: Energy Detection

[0051] FDM: Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0052] FT: frame type

[0053] GC-PDCCH: Group Common Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0054] GPRS: General Packet Radio Service

[0055] GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications

[0056] GTP: GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0057] HARQ: Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

[0058] IR: Initialization and refresh status

[0059] LAN: Local Area Network

[0060] LTE: Long Term Evolution

[0061] MAC: Media Access Control

[0062] MAC-CE: MAC control element

[0063] MCS: Modulation and Coding Scheme

[0064] MIB: Master Information Block

[0065] MIMO: Multiple Input Multiple Output

[0066] NDI: New Data Indicator

[0067] OFDM: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0068] OSI: Open Systems Interconnection

[0069] PBCH: Physical Broadcast Channel

[0070] ●PDCCH: Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0071] ●PDCP: Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0072] PDN: Packet Data Network

[0073] ●PDSCH: Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0074] PDU: Protocol Data Unit

[0075] PRB: Physical Resource Block

[0076] PUCCH: Physical Uplink Control Channel

[0077] PUSCH: Physical Uplink Shared (Data) Channel QCL: Quasi Co-location

[0078] RACH: Random access procedure

[0079] RAT: Radio Access Technology

[0080] RB: Resource Block

[0081] RE: Resource Element

[0082] RF: Radio Frequency

[0083] RMSI: Remaining Minimum System Information

[0084] RNTI: Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0085] ROHC: Robust Header Compression

[0086] RRC: Radio Resource Control

[0087] RS: Reference signal (symbol)

[0088] RSI: Root Sequence Indicator

[0089] RTP: Real-time Transport Protocol

[0090] RV: Redundant Version

[0091] RX: Receive

[0092] SDM: Space Division Multiplexing

[0093] SID: System Identification Number

[0094] SGW: Serving Gateway

[0095] SR: Scheduling Request

[0096] SRS: Sounding Reference Signal

[0097] SS: Search Space

[0098] SSB: Synchronous Signal Block

[0099] TBS: Transport Block Size

[0100] ●TCI: Transmission Configuration Indicator

[0101] TDM: Time Division Multiplexing

[0102] TRS: Tracking Reference Signal

[0103] TX: Transmit

[0104] UCI: Uplink Control Information

[0105] UE: User Equipment

[0106] UL: Uplink (from UE to BS)

[0107] UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0108] Wi-Fi: Wireless local area network (WLAN) RAT based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard

[0109] WLAN: Wireless LAN

[0110] the term

[0111] The following is a glossary of terms that will appear in this application:

[0112] Memory Medium—Any of various types of memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory medium" is intended to include installation media, such as CD-ROMs, floppy disks, or tape devices; computer system memory or random access memory, such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; non-volatile memory, such as flash memory, magnetic media, such as hard drives or optical storage devices; registers, or other similar types of memory elements; and the like. Memory media may also include other types of memory or a combination thereof. Furthermore, a memory medium may be located in a first computer system executing a program, or in a different second computer system connected to the first computer system via a network, such as the Internet. In the latter example, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer system for execution. The term "memory medium" may include two or more memory media that may reside in different locations, such as in different computer systems connected via a network. A memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., represented as a computer program) that may be executed by one or more processors.

[0113] Carrier Media—storage media as described above, and physical transmission media such as a bus, network, and / or other physical transmission media that carry signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals.

[0114] Programmable hardware elements—include various hardware devices that include multiple programmable function blocks connected via programmable interconnects. Examples include FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays), PLDs (programmable logic devices), FPOAs (field programmable object arrays), and CPLDs (complex PLDs). Programmable function blocks can range from fine-grained (combinational logic units or lookup tables) to coarse-grained (arithmetic logic units or processor cores). Programmable hardware elements may also be referred to as "configurable logic units."

[0115] Computer system (or computer)—any of various types of computing or processing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), a mainframe computer system, a workstation, a network appliance, an Internet appliance, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a television system, a grid computing system, or other devices or combinations of devices. In general, the term "computer system" can be broadly defined as any device (or combination of devices) that includes at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

[0116] User Equipment (UE) (or "UE device") - any of various types of computer system devices that perform wireless communications. Also known as wireless communication devices, many of which may be mobile and / or portable. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smartphones (e.g., iPhones). TM , based on Android TM phones) and tablets such as iPads TM 、Samsung Galaxy TM etc., gaming devices (such as Sony PlayStation TM , Microsoft XBox TM etc.), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS TM PlayStation Portable TM 、Gameboy Advance TM iPod TM ), laptops, wearable devices (e.g., Apple Watch TM , Google Glass TM ), PDAs, portable internet devices, music players, data storage devices or other handheld devices, unmanned aerial vehicles (e.g., drones) and drone controllers, etc. Various other types of devices that include Wi-Fi communication capabilities or both cellular and Wi-Fi communication capabilities and / or other wireless communication capabilities (e.g., via short-range radio access technologies (SRAT) such as BLUETOOTH TM In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" can be broadly defined to cover any electronic device, computing device and / or telecommunication device (or combination of devices) capable of wireless communication and which may also be portable / mobile.

[0117] Wireless device (or wireless communication device)—any of various types of computer system devices that perform wireless communication using WLAN communication, SRAT communication, Wi-Fi communication, etc. As used herein, the term "wireless device" can refer to a UE device as defined above or a fixed device such as a fixed wireless client or a wireless base station. For example, a wireless device can be a wireless station of any type of 802.11 system, such as an access point (AP) or a client station (UE), or a wireless station of any type of cellular communication system that communicates according to a cellular radio access technology (e.g., LTE, CDMA, GSM), such as a base station or a cellular phone.

[0118] Communication Device—Any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform communication, where the communication may be wired or wireless. A communication device may be portable (or mobile), or may be stationary or fixed in place. A wireless device is one example of a communication device. A UE is another example of a communication device.

[0119] Base Station (BS)—The term “base station” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.

[0120] Processor—refers to any element (e.g., circuitry) or combination of elements capable of performing functions in a device (e.g., in a user equipment device or in a cellular network device). Processors may include, for example, general-purpose processors and associated memory, portions or circuitry of individual processor cores, entire processor cores or processing circuit cores, processing circuit arrays or processor arrays, circuits such as ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), programmable hardware elements such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and any combination of the foregoing.

[0121] Channel - the medium used to transmit information from a sender (transmitter) to a receiver. It should be noted that since the characteristics of the term "channel" may vary according to different wireless protocols, the term "channel" as used in the present invention may be considered to be used in a manner that is consistent with the standard of the type of device to which the term is used. In some standards, the channel width may be variable (e.g., depending on device capabilities, frequency band conditions, etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths of 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, a WLAN channel may be 22 MHz wide, while a Bluetooth channel may be 1 MHz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions of channels. In addition, some standards may define and use multiple types of channels, such as different channels for uplink or downlink and / or different channels for different purposes such as data, control information, etc.

[0122] Band (or frequency band)—The term "band" has the full range of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a section of the spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum) in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose. Furthermore, "band" is used to refer to any interval in the frequency domain bounded by lower and upper frequencies. The term can refer to a radio frequency band or some other interval of spectrum. A radio communication signal can occupy a frequency range over which the signal is carried (or within which the signal is carried). This frequency range is also referred to as the bandwidth of the signal. Thus, bandwidth refers to the difference between the upper and lower frequencies in a continuous frequency band. A band can represent a single communication channel, or it can be subdivided into multiple communication channels. The allocation of radio frequency ranges for different uses is a primary function of radio spectrum allocation.

[0123] Wi-Fi—The term "Wi-Fi" has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and includes at least wireless communication networks, or RATs, that are served by wireless LAN (WLAN) access points and provide connectivity to the Internet through those access points. Most modern Wi-Fi networks (or WLAN networks) are based on the IEEE 802.11 standard and are marketed under the name "Wi-Fi." Wi-Fi (WLAN) networks are distinct from cellular networks.

[0124] Automatic—refers to an action or operation being performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or a device (e.g., a circuit, a programmable hardware element, an ASIC, etc.) without requiring user input to directly specify or execute the action or operation. Thus, the term "automatic" is in contrast to manual execution or specification of an action by a user, where the user provides input to directly perform the action. An automatic process may be initiated by user-provided input, but subsequent actions performed "automatically" are not specified by the user, i.e., they are not performed "manually," where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing information, selecting checkboxes, radio selections, etc.) is manually filling out the form, even though the computer system must update the form in response to the user's actions. The form can be automatically filled out by a computer system, where the computer system (e.g., software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills it out without requiring any user input to specify the answers to the fields. As indicated above, a user can invoke automatic filling of a form without participating in the actual filling out of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify the answers to the fields; they are automatically completed). This specification provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions that a user has taken.

[0125] About—refers to a value that is close to being correct or exact. For example, about can refer to a value that is within 1% to 10% of the exact (or desired) value. However, it should be noted that the actual threshold value (or tolerance) may depend on the application. For example, in some embodiments, "about" may mean within 0.1% of some specified or desired value, while in various other embodiments, the threshold value may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, etc., depending on the desires or requirements of a particular application.

[0126] Concurrency - refers to parallel execution or implementation, where tasks, processes, or programs are executed in an at least partially overlapping manner. For example, concurrency can be achieved using "strong" or strict parallelism, where tasks are executed (at least partially) in parallel on respective computing elements, or using "weak parallelism," where tasks are executed in an interleaved manner (e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads).

[0127] Station (STA)—The term "station" herein refers to any device capable of communicating wirelessly (e.g., using the 802.11 protocol). A station can be a laptop, desktop PC, PDA, access point, or Wi-Fi phone, or any other type of device similar to a UE. A STA can be fixed, mobile, portable, or wearable. Generally speaking, in wireless networking terminology, a station (STA) broadly encompasses any device capable of wireless communication, and the terms station (STA), wireless client (UE), and node (BS) are often used interchangeably.

[0128] Configured to—Various components may be described as being “configured to” perform one or more tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broad statement that generally means “having the structure” to perform one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently performing the task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors can be configured to electrically connect a module to another module even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” can be a broad statement that generally means “having the circuitry” to perform one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently turned on. Generally, the circuitry that forms the structure corresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuitry.

[0129] Transmission Scheduling—refers to the scheduling of transmissions (such as wireless transmissions). In some implementations of cellular radio communications, signal transmissions and data transmissions may be organized according to designated time units of a specific duration during which the transmission occurs. As used herein, the term "time slot" has the full range of its ordinary meaning and refers to at least the smallest (or shortest) scheduled time unit in wireless communications. For example, in 3GPP LTE, transmissions are divided into radio frames, each of which has an equal (time) duration (e.g., 10 ms). Radio frames in 3GPP LTE can be further divided into a specified number (e.g., ten) of subframes, each of which has an equal duration, with subframes designated as the smallest (shortest) scheduled unit, or a designated time unit for transmission. Thus, in the 3GPP LTE example, a "subframe" can be considered an example of a "time slot" as defined above. Similarly, the smallest (or shortest) scheduled time unit for 5G NR (or simply NR) transmissions is called a "time slot." The smallest (or shortest) scheduled time unit may also be named differently in different communication protocols.

[0130] Resources—The term "resource" has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and may refer to both frequency and time resources used during wireless communications. As used herein, a resource element (RE) refers to a specific quantity or number of resources. For example, in the context of time resources, a resource element may be a time period of a specific length. In the context of frequency resources, a resource element may be a specific frequency bandwidth or a specific amount of frequency bandwidth centered on a specific frequency. As a specific example, a resource element may refer to a unit of resources having one symbol (in reference to a time resource, e.g., a time period of a specific length) per one subcarrier (in reference to a frequency resource, e.g., a specific frequency bandwidth, which may be centered on a specific frequency). A resource element group (REG) has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and refers to at least a specified number of contiguous resource elements. In some implementations, a resource element group may not include resource elements reserved for reference signals. A control channel element (CCE) refers to a group of a specified number of contiguous REGs. A resource block (RB) refers to a specified number of resource elements consisting of a specified number of subcarriers per a specified number of symbols. Each RB may include a specified number of subcarriers. A resource block group (RBG) refers to a unit that includes multiple RBs. The number of RBs in one RBG may vary according to the system bandwidth.

[0131] For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to." Representing a component as being configured to perform one or more tasks expressly does not invoke the sixth paragraph of section 112 of title 35 of the United States Code for that component.

[0132] Figure 1 and Figure 2-Exemplary Communication System

[0133] Figure 1 An exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system according to some embodiments is shown. Note that Figure 1 The system is only one example of a possible system, and the embodiment may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired.

[0134] As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes base stations 102A through 102N, also collectively referred to as a plurality of base stations 102 or base stations 102. Figure 1 As shown, base station 102A communicates with one or more user devices 106A through 106N via a transmission medium. Each user device may be referred to herein as a "user equipment" (UE) or a UE device. Thus, user devices 106A through 106N are referred to as UEs or UE devices, and are also collectively referred to as a plurality of UEs 106 or UEs 106. Various of the UE devices may operate using the configuration authorizations disclosed herein.

[0135] Base station 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cell site and may include hardware that enables wireless communications with UEs 106A through 106N. Base station 102A may also be configured to communicate with network 100, such as a cellular service provider's core network, a telecommunications network such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and / or the Internet, a neutral host, or various CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) deployments, among other possibilities. Thus, base station 102A may facilitate communications between user devices and / or between user devices and network 100. In particular, cellular base station 102A may provide UEs 106 with various communication capabilities, such as voice, SMS, and / or data services. The communication area (or coverage area) of a base station may be referred to as a "cell." It should also be noted that a "cell" may also refer to a logical identity for a given coverage area at a given frequency. Generally, any independent cellular wireless coverage area may be referred to as a "cell." In such a case, a base station may be located at a particular intersection of three cells. In this uniform topology, a base station may serve three 120-degree beamwidth areas, referred to as cells. Moreover, for carrier aggregation, small cells, relays, etc. may all represent cells. Thus, in particular in carrier aggregation, there may be primary cells and secondary cells that may serve at least partially overlapping coverage areas but on different respective frequencies. For example, a base station may serve any number of cells, and the cells served by a base station may or may not be collocated (e.g., a remote radio head). Also as used herein, with respect to a UE, a base station may sometimes be considered to represent a network in view of the uplink and downlink communications of the UE. Thus, a UE communicating with one or more base stations in a network may also be interpreted as a UE communicating with the network, and may also be considered to be at least a portion of a UE communicating on or through a network.

[0136] Base station 102 and user equipment can be configured to communicate over a transmission medium using any of a variety of radio access technologies (RATs), also known as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LAA / LTE-U, 5G-NR (abbreviated as NR), 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and the like. Note that if base station 102 is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternatively be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB." Note that if base station 102A is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternatively be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB." In some embodiments, base station 102 may implement configuration authorization, as described herein. Depending on a given application or specific considerations, for convenience, some of the different RATs may be functionally grouped according to overall defining characteristics. For example, all cellular RATs may be collectively considered to represent a first (form / type) RAT, while Wi-Fi communications may be considered to represent a second RAT. In other cases, each cellular RAT may be individually considered a different RAT. For example, when distinguishing between cellular and Wi-Fi communications, "first RAT" may collectively refer to all cellular RATs under consideration, while "second RAT" may refer to Wi-Fi. Similarly, different forms of Wi-Fi communications (e.g., over 2.4 GHz versus over 5 GHz) may be considered to correspond to different RATs, where applicable. Furthermore, cellular communications performed according to a given RAT (e.g., LTE or NR) may be distinguished from one another based on the spectrum in which those communications occur. For example, LTE or NR communications may be performed on a primary licensed spectrum as well as on a secondary spectrum, such as unlicensed spectrum and / or spectrum assigned to Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS). Overall, the use of various terms and expressions will always be clearly indicated in relation to and within the context of the various applications / implementations under consideration.

[0137] As shown, base station 102A may also be configured to communicate with network 100 (e.g., a cellular service provider's core network, a telecommunications network such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and / or the Internet, among other possibilities). Thus, base station 102A may facilitate communications between user devices and / or between user devices and network 100. In particular, cellular base station 102A may provide UE 106 with various communication capabilities, such as voice, SMS, and / or data services. Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base stations 102B...102N) operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards may thus be provided as a network of cells that may provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping services to UEs 106A-106N and similar devices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0138] Thus, although base station 102A may function as Figure 1 106N, each UE 106 may also be capable of receiving signals from (and possibly within communication range of) one or more other cells (which may be provided by base stations 102B-102N and / or any other base stations), which may be referred to as "neighboring cells." Such cells may also be capable of facilitating communications between user devices and / or between user devices and network 100. Such cells may include "macro" cells, "micro" cells, "pico" cells, and / or cells of any other variety of granularities of service area size. For example, in Figure 1 The base stations 102A-102B shown in FIG may be macro cells, while the base station 102N may be a micro cell. Other configurations are also possible.

[0139] In some embodiments, base station 102A may be a next-generation base station, such as a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station or "gNB." In some embodiments, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to an NR core (NRC) network. Furthermore, a gNB cell may include one or more transmit and receive points (TRPs). Furthermore, a UE capable of operating in accordance with 5G NR may connect to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0140] As described above, the UE 106 may be capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, the UE may be configured to communicate using any or all of the 3GPP cellular communication standards (such as LTE or NR) or 3GPP2 cellular communication standards (such as a cellular communication standard in the CDMA2000 family of cellular communication standards). The base station 102 and other similar base stations operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards may thus be provided as one or more cell networks that may provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping services to the UE 106 and similar devices over a wide geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0141] UE 106 may also or alternatively be configured to use WLAN, BLUETOOTH TM 、BLUETOOTH TM Low-Energy, one or more Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS, such as GPS or GLONASS), one and / or more mobile television broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H or DVB-H), etc. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible. In addition, the UE 106 may also communicate with the network 100 through one or more base stations or through other devices, stations, or any appliances not explicitly shown but considered to be part of the network 100. Therefore, the UE 106 communicating with the network can be interpreted as the UE 106 communicating with one or more network nodes that are considered to be part of the network, and can interact with the UE 106 to communicate with the UE 106, and in some cases affect at least some communication parameters and / or the use of communication resources of the UE 106.

[0142] In addition, Figure 1 As shown in FIG, at least some of the UEs 106 (e.g., UEs 106D and 106E) may represent vehicles communicating with each other and with base station 102A via cellular communications such as 3GPP LTE and / or 5G-NR. Additionally, UE 106F may similarly represent pedestrians communicating and / or interacting with the vehicles represented by UEs 106D and 106E. In the context of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications (such as those specified by 3GPP TS 22.185 V 14.3.0), the disclosure in FIG. Figure 1 Other aspects of vehicles communicating in the network illustrated in FIG.

[0143] Figure 2An exemplary user equipment 106 (e.g., one of devices 106A through 106N) is shown communicating with a base station 102 and an access point 112 according to some embodiments. The UE 106 may be a device having cellular communication capabilities and non-cellular communication capabilities (e.g., BLUETOOTH TM , Wi-Fi, etc.), such as a mobile phone, a handheld device, a computer or a tablet, or almost any type of wireless device. UE 106 may include a processor configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. UE 106 may perform any of the method embodiments described in the present invention by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or in addition, UE 106 may include programmable hardware elements, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) configured to perform any of the method embodiments described in the present invention or any part of any of the method embodiments described in the present invention. UE 106 may be configured to communicate using any one of a plurality of wireless communication protocols. For example, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using two or more of CDMA 2000, LTE, LTE-A, NR, WLAN, or GNSS. Other combinations of wireless communication standards are also possible.

[0144] UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols according to one or more RAT standards, such as those previously described above. In some embodiments, UE 106 may share one or more portions of a receive chain and / or transmit chain between multiple wireless communication standards. The shared radio components may include a single antenna, or may include multiple antennas for performing wireless communication (e.g., for MIMO). Alternatively, UE 106 may include an independent transmit chain and / or receive chain (e.g., including independent antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another alternative, UE 106 may include one or more radio components or radio circuits shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, as well as one or more radio components used uniquely by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, UE 106 may include a shared radio component for communicating using one of LTE or CDMA2000 1xRTT or NR, and a shared radio component for communicating using Wi-Fi and BLUETOOTH. TM Independent radio components for each of the communications. Other configurations are also possible.

[0145] Figure 3 -Block diagram of an exemplary UE

[0146] Figure 3A block diagram of an exemplary UE 106 according to some embodiments is shown. As shown, the UE 106 may include a system on a chip (SOC) 300, which may include parts for various purposes. For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may include a processor 302 that can execute program instructions for the UE 106, and a display circuit 304 that can perform graphics processing and provide display signals to a display 360. The processor 302 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340 and / or other circuits or devices (such as display circuit 304, radio circuit 330, connector interface 320 and / or display 360). The MMU may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 302 and convert those addresses into locations in a memory (e.g., memory 306, read-only memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory 310). The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as part of the processor 302.

[0147] As shown, the SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of the UE 106. For example, the UE 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system), a display 360, and wireless communication circuitry (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, CDMA2000, BLUETOOTH, etc.). TM , Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.). The UE device 106 may include at least one antenna (e.g., 335a), and may include multiple antennas (e.g., as shown by antennas 335a and 335b), for performing wireless communications with base stations and / or other devices. Antennas 335a and 335b are shown by way of example, and the UE device 106 may include fewer or more antennas. Generally speaking, one or more antennas are collectively referred to as antennas 335. For example, the UE device 106 may use antennas 335 to perform wireless communications with the radio circuit 330. As described above, in some embodiments, the UE may be configured to perform wireless communications using multiple wireless communication standards.

[0148] As further described herein, the UE 106 (and / or the base station 102) may include hardware and software components for operating using control signaling transmitted and received using an enhanced physical control channel (e.g., a PDCCH), as described in further detail herein. The processor 302 of the UE device 106 may be configured to implement a portion or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). In other embodiments, the processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). In addition, the processor 302 may be coupled to an ASIC such as a processor 102 or a processor 102. Figure 3 The other components shown and / or interoperable with the other components to implement configuration authorization according to various embodiments disclosed herein. The processor 302 can also implement various other applications and / or end-user applications running on the UE 106.

[0149] In some embodiments, the radio circuitry 330 may include separate controllers dedicated to controlling communications for various corresponding RAT standards. Figure 3 As shown, the radio circuit 330 may include a Wi-Fi controller 356, a cellular controller (e.g., an LTE and / or NR controller) 352, and a Bluetooth controller. TM Controller 354, and in at least some embodiments, one or more or all of these controllers may be implemented as respective integrated circuits (ICs or chips) that communicate with each other and with SOC 300 (more specifically, with processor 302). For example, Wi-Fi controller 356 may communicate with cellular controller 352 via a cell-ISM link or WCI interface, and / or BLUETOOTH TM The controller 354 may communicate with the cellular controller 352 via a cell-ISM link, etc. Although three separate controllers are shown within the radio circuit 330, other embodiments have fewer or more similar controllers for various different RATs that may be implemented in the UE device 106. For example, in Figure 5 At least one exemplary block diagram illustrating some embodiments of the cellular controller 352 is shown in FIG. 1 and will be further described below.

[0150] Figure 4 - Block diagram of an exemplary base station

[0151] Figure 4 1 shows a block diagram of an exemplary base station 102 according to some embodiments. Note that Figure 4The base station 102 is only one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include a processor 404 that may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440 or other circuit or device that may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 404 and translate those addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450).

[0152] The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. The network port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide access to the telephone network as described above. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The network port 470 may be configured to couple to a plurality of devices such as the UE device 106 to the telephone network described in the embodiment of the present invention. The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to a plurality of devices such as the UE device 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may be coupled to the telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide the telephone network (e.g., in other UE devices served by the cellular service provider).

[0153] The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434, and may include multiple antennas (e.g., as shown by antennas 434a and 434b), for wireless communication with mobile devices and / or other devices. Antennas 434a and 434b are shown as examples, and the base station 102 may include fewer or more antennas. In general, one or more antennas, including antenna 434a and / or antenna 434b, may be collectively referred to as antennas 434. Antennas 434 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with the UE device 106 via radio circuitry 430. Antennas 434 may communicate with the radio circuitry 430 via a communication chain 432. The communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain, or both. The radio circuitry 430 may be designed to communicate via various wireless telecommunication standards, including but not limited to LTE, LTE-A, 5G-NR (or simply NR), WCDMA, CDMA2000, and the like. The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to implement part or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium) for causing the base station 102 to implement configuration authorization as disclosed herein. Alternatively, the processor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) or a combination thereof. In the case of certain RATs (e.g., Wi-Fi), the base station 102 may be designed as an access point (AP), in which case the network port 470 may be implemented to provide access to a wide area network and / or one or more local area networks, for example, it may include at least one Ethernet port, and the radio circuit 430 may be designed to communicate according to the Wi-Fi standard. The base station 102 may operate according to the various methods and embodiments disclosed herein to implement configuration authorization.

[0154] Figure 5 - Block diagram of an exemplary cellular communication circuit

[0155] Figure 5 1 shows an exemplary simplified block diagram of an exemplary cellular controller 352 according to some embodiments. Note that Figure 5The block diagram of cellular communication circuitry is merely one example of possible cellular communication circuitry; other circuitry, such as circuitry that includes or is coupled to sufficient antennas for different RATs to perform uplink activities using separate antennas, or circuitry that includes or is coupled to fewer antennas, such as circuitry that can be shared between multiple RATs, is also possible. According to some embodiments, the cellular controller 352 may be included in a communication device such as the communication device 106 described above. As described above, the communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet computer, and / or a combination of devices, among other devices.

[0156] The cellular controller 352 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 335a-b and 336 as shown. In some embodiments, the cellular controller 352 may include dedicated receive chains for multiple RATs (including and / or coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to dedicated processors and / or radio components (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). For example, Figure 5 As shown, the cellular controller 352 may include a first modem 510 and a second modem 520. The first modem 510 may be configured for communication according to a first RAT (e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A), and the second modem 520 may be configured for communication according to a second RAT (e.g., such as 5G NR).

[0157] As shown, the first modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 and a memory 516 in communication with the processor 512. The modem 510 may communicate with a radio frequency (RF) front end 530. The RF front end 530 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 530 may include receive circuitry (RX) 532 and transmit circuitry (TX) 534. In some embodiments, the receive circuitry 532 may communicate with a downlink (DL) front end 550, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335a.

[0158] Similarly, the second modem 520 may include one or more processors 522 and a memory 526 in communication with the processor 522. The modem 520 may communicate with an RF front end 540. The RF front end 540 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 540 may include receive circuitry 542 and transmit circuitry 544. In some embodiments, the receive circuitry 542 may communicate with a DL front end 560, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via the antenna 335b.

[0159] In some embodiments, the switch 570 can couple the transmit circuitry 534 to an uplink (UL) front end 572. Furthermore, the switch 570 can couple the transmit circuitry 544 to the UL front end 572. The UL front end 572 can include circuitry for transmitting radio signals via the antenna 336. Thus, when the cellular controller 352 receives an instruction to transmit according to a first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuitry 534 and the UL front end 572), the switch 570 can be switched to a first state that allows the first modem 510 to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuitry 534 and the UL front end 572). Similarly, when the cellular controller 352 receives an instruction to transmit according to a second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuitry 544 and the UL front end 572), the switch 570 can be switched to a second state that allows the second modem 520 to transmit signals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuitry 544 and the UL front end 572).

[0160] As described herein, the first modem 510 and / or the second modem 520 may include hardware and software components for implementing any of the various features and techniques described herein. For example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium), the processors 512, 522 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein. Alternatively (or in addition), the processors 512, 522 may be configured as programmable hardware elements, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or in addition), in combination with one or more of the other components 530, 532, 534, 540, 542, 544, 550, 570, 572, 335, and 336, the processors 512, 522 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein.

[0161] Furthermore, as described herein, processors 512, 522 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processors 512, 522 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processors 512, 522. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuits (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processors 512, 522.

[0162] In some embodiments, the cellular controller 352 may include only one transmit / receive chain. For example, the cellular controller 352 may not include the modem 520, the RF front end 540, the DL front end 560, and / or the antenna 335b. As another example, the cellular controller 352 may not include the modem 510, the RF front end 530, the DL front end 550, and / or the antenna 335a. In some embodiments, the cellular controller 352 may also not include the switch 570, and the RF front end 530 or the RF front end 540 may communicate with the UL front end 572, for example, directly.

[0163] Configuring Authorization

[0164] As previously mentioned, in order to prevent the waste of periodically allocated resources, multiple devices can share periodic resources through a configuration grant (CG), and the base station uses the configuration grant to allocate the configuration grant resources to multiple devices. By allocating the configuration grant resources, the network (for example, via the base station) eliminates the packet transmission delay of the scheduling request process, while also improving the utilization of the allocated periodic radio resources. There are currently two types of CGs, Type 1 CG and Type 2 CG. In the case of Type 1 CG, the uplink grant is configured via RRC and stored as a configuration uplink grant. In the case of Type 2 CG, the uplink grant is configured via PDCCH (addressed to CS-RNTI) and is stored or cleared as a configuration uplink grant based on Layer 1 signaling indicating activation or deactivation of the configuration uplink grant. Multiple CG configurations can be configured in one BWP of a serving cell, and multiple configurations can be activated simultaneously on different serving cells. For Type 2 CG, activation and deactivation can be independent between serving cells. For the same serving cell, the medium access control (MAC) entity can be configured with a Type 1 CG or a Type 2 CG.

[0165] The information element (IE) of the CG includes a plurality of parameters / parameter values for configuring the CG. For example, the current implementation of the CG is described in the standard document 3GPP TS 38.331Rel-16 (38.331g10). Various embodiments disclosed herein propose to include additional and / or modified parameters in the CG IE, and further propose additional and / or modified signaling for more efficiently configuring the CG, as will be further described below.

[0166] CG Uplink Control Information (CG-UCI) in NR Unlicensed Spectrum (NR-U)

[0167] The current implementation of CG-UCI in NR-U includes at least the following information:

[0168] Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) ID;

[0169] New Data Indicator (NDI);

[0170] Redundancy Version (RV); and

[0171] ●Channel Occupancy Time (COT) sharing information.

[0172] Additional information to be included in future implementations is considered for further study, such as including the UEID.

[0173] The CG-UCI is included in every CG-PUSCH transmission. To determine the number of REs used for CG-UCI, the beta offset mechanism for HARQ-ACK on CG-PUSCH (e.g. when it appears in Rel-15 NR of the 3GPP standard) is being (re)used. New RRC parameters for configuring the beta offset of CG-UCI have been defined. Therefore, for UE-initiated COT sharing indication, the channel access priority class (CAPC) value is also indicated in the CG-UCI when the energy detection (ED) threshold is configured. An RRC configuration may be provided to the UE indicating whether CG-UCI and HARQ-ACK are multiplexed or not. When configured for multiplexing, CG-UCI and HARQ-ACK are jointly coded (CG-UCI is treated as the same type as HARQ-ACK) in case the PUCCH overlaps with the CG-PUSCH within a PUCCH group. When not configured for multiplexing, configuration of grant PUSCH is skipped in case PUCCH overlaps with CG-PUSCH within a PUCCH group and PUCCH carries HARQ ACK feedback.

[0174] Autonomous Uplink UCI (AUL-UCI)

[0175] The immediate availability of UL time-frequency resources for transmitting new data is a key factor in reducing latency and improving UL throughput. This is particularly important for unlicensed spectrum operation, where access to the channel may be subject to a listen-before-talk (LBT) process and scheduling UL transmissions with previous DL transmissions may be inefficient. For example, autonomous UL (AUL) transmissions in unlicensed spectrum allow UEs to perform UL transmissions without the need for a prior scheduling request or explicit scheduling grant from the network (e.g., from a base station such as a gNB).

[0176] The current implementation of AUL-UCI includes at least the following information:

[0177] ● HARQ ID (4 bits);

[0178] ● NDI (1 bit for TM1, 2 bits for TM2);

[0179] ● RV (2 bits);

[0180] ● UE ID (16 bits);

[0181] ● PUSCH starting point (1 bit: indicating symbol 0 or 1);

[0182] ● PUSCH ending point (1 bit: indicating symbol 12 or 13);

[0183] ● COT sharing indication (1 bit: indicating whether subframe n+X is a subframe applicable to UL-to-DL sharing); X is configured by the base station as part of the AUL RRC configuration, and 1 < X < 5; if the UE indicates that the subframe is applicable to UL-to-DL COT sharing, the UE stops its AUL PUSCH transmission in the previous subframe at symbol #12, regardless of the RRC configuration of the PUSCH end symbol; and

[0184] ● CRC (16 bits).

[0185] Potential problems caused by using CG

[0186] As currently defined (e.g., in Rel-16 NR of the 3GPP standard), multiple CGs are supported on a bandwidth part (BWP), and dynamic grant (DG) is still allowed to cover the CG timeline. If there are multiple UL traffic flows, such as video traffic for flow 1 and audio traffic for flow 2, different flows may have different arrival periodicities and different packet sizes, while still having very similar reliability requirements (e.g., a block error rate BLER of 10 for the first transmission -4 ). Therefore, when traffic arrivals from two flows occur in the same time slot, ideally, they will be combined and carried in the same PUSCH (e.g., for better time diversity, sharing DMRS overhead, and / or achieving better channel estimation with the same overhead, etc.). However, as shown, there is no suitable solution other than allocating another CG for the combined traffic, as Figure 6 shown. As Figure 6As shown, CG1, CG 2, and CG3 all appear separately. In addition, since the base station (e.g., gNB) may not have complete information about the uplink traffic flow to appropriately configure each CG, some adaptation in the CGs may be useful, such as actions taken autonomously and dynamically by the UE, for example to best adapt to the current network traffic. Configuring many CGs can also lead to base station scheduling limitations, as the dynamic grant (DG) timeline is still expected to overlap the CG timeline. It should be noted that DG in this context refers to dynamic scheduling using scheduling requests as previously discussed.

[0187] It may be beneficial to maximize the autonomy that a UE can have on uplink transmissions, especially for unlicensed spectrum access. With the DG (or Scheduling Request - SR scheduling) paradigm, three steps are typically required for a UE to perform an UL transmission, and each step is conditional on obtaining channel access by the transmitter or by sharing a COT obtained by another node. In the first step, the UE transmits an SR to the base station (alternatively the UE can send a buffer status report BSR to the base station) to indicate data arrival / status. In the second step, the base station transmits a PDCCH to the UE to schedule uplink transmissions. In the third step, the UE transmits UL data via PUSCH. In contrast to the DG paradigm, with the CG, the UE is not required to perform the first two steps above to implement the third step. As previously mentioned, the CG-UCI design, which was originally introduced in AUL-UCI and subsequently extended to NR-U, combines the benefits of SR-based and SPS-based approaches. In a sense, the CG-UCI can be considered the inverse of the PDCCH, as it is configured for the receiving node to receive the information necessary to decode the transmitted transmission.

[0188] Enhanced CG

[0189] To further improve the CG, the coverage area of the UE's uplink transmission can be defined (at least in part) by the occupied transmission time, the occupied transmission frequency and the transmission power. Therefore, the coverage area of the CG can be dynamically adjusted / selected by the UE within the defined limits based on the current traffic demand of the UE, and the UE can indicate the actual coverage area parameters / values to the base station. In other words, the coverage area of the UE's uplink data transmission can be defined, and the coverage area can be selected / determined (or adjusted) by the UE within the limits of the coverage area previously signaled to the UE by the base station (e.g., gNB). The adjustment / selection can also be made based on at least the current traffic demand of the UE. The UE can signal the actual coverage area to the base station as part of the CG uplink control information (CG-UCI) on resources configured at least according to UCI transmission parameters, and the UCI transmission parameters can also be previously signaled to the UE by the base station.

[0190] Therefore, on the network side, a base station (e.g., a gNB) can configure the maximum allowable coverage area by setting limits on corresponding parameters that at least partially define the coverage area. The base station can also indicate the transmission parameters used to configure the resources on which the UE will transmit UCI. The UE can autonomously select parameter values for uplink data (e.g., PUSCH) transmission based on the parameter ranges / limits previously signaled by the base station, thereby selecting the actual values based at least in part on the UE's current traffic requirements. The parameter values used for PUSCH transmission can be carried in the UCI as the UCI payload. For example, if the UE selects certain parameters for PUSCH transmission, such parameters can be indicated to the base station in the UCI payload. In some embodiments, the baseline design may include fixed transmission parameters for UCI transmission, so that the base station does not attempt different UCI transmissions for the current configuration authorization. In some embodiments, as a further variation, the transmission parameters used for UCI transmission can also be allowed to change. For example, the base station can indicate multiple sets of such parameters to the UE and can enable the UE to select one of the multiple sets of parameters. In this case, the base station may perform blind detection to identify the UCI transmission occurring based on the selected parameter set. Based on the above, according to some embodiments, CG may be implemented as follows.

[0191] Configuration of the base station via RRC or via RRC and dynamic signaling

[0192] First, certain parameter groups may be signaled by the base station to the UE to establish (or configure) the CG. For Type 1 CG, all transmission parameters may be signaled by RRC signaling, while for Type 2 CG, some transmission parameters may be signaled by RRC signaling and some transmission parameters may be signaled by dynamic signaling (i.e. in DCI). It should be noted that for ease of understanding, only those parameters related to the above-mentioned transmission coverage area as implemented in the improved CG process will be listed below. The base station may indicate additional parameters not shown to the UE as needed to configure the CG. The parameters explicitly shown herein include those used to allow the UE to select the transmission coverage area for uplink data transmission (e.g. PUSCH), as described above.

[0193] Based on the above content, when configuring CG, the base station can signal the following parameter groups to the UE.

[0194] Group A parameters: used for uplink data transmission, such as parameter ranges / restrictions for PUSCH:

[0195] ○ Maximum transmission duration (Dmax);

[0196] ○ Maximum transmission power;

[0197] o MCS Level range (e.g., defined by MCS Level A and MCS Level B); and

[0198] ○ Maximum occupied frequency (e.g., by f start and f end definition).

[0199] Group B parameters: Transmission parameters used for UCI transmission:

[0200] ○ Modulation order (or coding rate if the modulation scheme is fixed to QPSK);

[0201] ○ Time and frequency resources (RE); and

[0202] ○DMRS configuration.

[0203] The UE may then autonomously select / determine the parameters as follows, while adhering to the ranges / limits included in the group A parameters received by the UE from the base station. The UE may transmit the following parameter group to the base station as part of the UCI (e.g., CG-UCI) transmitted by the UE to the base station.

[0204] Group C parameters: Transmission parameters used for PUSH (for uplink data, which are different from UCI):

[0205] ○ The duration of each repetition of the transmission (L);

[0206] ○ Number of repetitions (K);

[0207] ○MCS level (M); and

[0208] o Occupied frequency (eg, defined by f1 and f2).

[0209] Group C may be selected / determined by the UE based at least in part on the current wireless traffic demand of the UE and in accordance with Group A parameters received from the base station. MCS level "M" may be selected such that MCS level A ≤ M ≤ MCS level B, the values of "K" and "L" may be selected such that K*L ≤ Dmax, and finally, f1 and f2 may be selected such that f start ≤f1≤f2≤f end. The MCS level may represent the CG-UCI MCS level (or the CG-UCI candidate MCS level) and may be considered as the counterpart of the PDCCH candidate. As described above, multiple different sets of Group B parameters may be indicated to the UE, where the UE selects one of these sets to configure the resources on which the UCI is transmitted, and the base station may perform blind decoding to detect the UCI transmission of interest, similar to blind decoding the PDCCH. Therefore, the above includes resource allocation (time-frequency resources) for the CG-UCI and candidate positions for the CG-UCI. As an example, in some embodiments, the CG-UCI signaled by the UE to the base station may include the following parameters, where the newly included Group C parameters are indicated as applicable:

[0210] HARQ ID (e.g., 4 bits);

[0211] ●NDI;

[0212] RV (e.g., 2 digits)

[0213] MCS level (as part of the Group C parameters above);

[0214] ● Time domain resource indication (e.g. K, L, as part of the above Group C parameters);

[0215] Frequency occupancy information (e.g., starting symbol, number of PRBs, as part of the Group C parameters above);

[0216] ● COT sharing indication of the PUSCH end symbol; and

[0217] ●CRC masked by UE ID (XXX bits).

[0218] In some embodiments, the CG-UCI may be carried in Figure 7 The figure shows CG-UCI transmission for PUSCH repetition type B in fixed candidate positions indicated by the vertical arrows in the figure (e.g., the payload size of the CG-UCI and the frequency / duration of the CG-UCI may be fixed, if any). For CG-UCI, the MCS level may be fixed. In the case where the UCI transmission resources can be selected by the UE, the implementation of coverage areas as described above may facilitate blind detection on the base station (e.g., gNB) side as needed. It may also allow multiple CG-UCI candidates with different coding rates, similar to PDCCH with different aggregation levels. The CG-UCI may have its own demodulation reference signal (DMRS) to facilitate base station decoding, without relying on the DMRS of the PUSCH data (or data transmitted on / via the PUSCH).

[0219] TBS determines and adjusts MCS levels and {L,K}

[0220] The TBS size may be determined based on {MCS level, L, and number of PRBs in the nominal repetition}, and one or more of these may be signaled to the base station. The allowable MCS levels do not have to span the full range supported in NR, e.g., the base station may be configured with several allowed MCS levels, or with a range around the signaled / configured MCS level (such as the MCS delta range indicated above for Group A parameters). As an example, for a Type 2 CG, if MCS=5 is signaled to the UE along with an MCS delta range of 2, the UE may select from the following MCS levels: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (3, 4 and 6, 7 are all within the delta range 2 of the signaled value 5).

[0221] For PUSCH repetition type B, L (the number of OFDM symbols in the nominal repetition) can be a factor in determining the TBS. By making L adjustable, the UE can configure the current transmission based on traffic requirements, such as packets carrying both audio and video streams on a single PUSCH. For another example, for a video codec, the payload of the reference frame can be set to a different payload than the residual frame of the video stream.

[0222] For PUSCH repetition type B, the base station may also configure a maximum duration Dmax for the CG transmission bundle. The UE is free to choose L (for a single TX) and K (repetition factor) as long as K×L<=Dmax (eg, constrained within the maximum allowable coverage area).

[0223] Frequency occupancy and UCI / data multiplexing

[0224] The starting PRB and number of PRBs in PUSCH transmission may be signaled by the UE. To reduce signaling overhead, the starting PRB may be constrained to be the same as the lowest PRB corresponding to the CG-UCI.

[0225] In terms of CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix OFDM), for rank 1 transmission, it can be assumed that the number of PRBs occupied by CG-UCI is different from the number of PRBs for PUSCH, where the remaining REs on the symbols with CG-UCI are filled with PUSCH. For rank 2 or higher transmissions, the same CG-UCI can be applied to each spatial layer, and precoding can be implemented by the UE. Figure 8 An example of CP-OFDM is provided in (802).

[0226] In the case of DFT-S-OFDM, in order to avoid different TX power levels in time, it may be preferable to have the remaining PUSCH after the CG-UCI. Figure 8 An example of DFT-S-OFDM is provided in (804).

[0227] like Figure 8 As shown, the new CG-UCI can occupy orthogonal resources with respect to PUSCH REs, so the UCI multiplexing rules can also be changed, similar to the changes made to the two-stage SCI (Sidelink Control Information) design in V2X. In this sense, CG-UCI can be considered to play a role similar to that of Stage 1 SCI.

[0228] UCI / data multiplexing for different repetitions

[0229] In the current NR-U design, the CG-UCI is carried in each PUSCH transmission, which is a reasonable design considering that the transmission duration does not change. In contrast, according to the various embodiments disclosed herein, since L can be adjusted and the CG-UCI can be present in a fixed position, the CG-UCI can be present in some repetitions but not in other repetitions, such as Figure 9 shown.

[0230] Power Control

[0231] Power control may be determined based on {MCS level, and number of PRBs in nominal repetition}. As a baseline solution, the UE may select an MCS level for PUSCH transmission and may also adjust the transmit power accordingly. More sophisticated solutions are also possible and conceivable. The base station may define a maximum power level, which may be provided as an absolute limit, e.g. in dBm, or it may be a relative power margin, e.g. in dB. The UE may operate such that it does not exceed the power margin / absolute limit. In some embodiments, the limit may be provided as a limit on the total transmit power or as a limit on the PSD. In unlicensed spectrum, there may be PSD limits due to regulatory requirements, and the base station may implement PSD limits to ensure that inter-cell interference is not too severe.

[0232] Configuring CG in UE

[0233] Figure 10A flowchart of an exemplary method for a mobile device implementing CG according to some embodiments is shown. As shown in 1002, the device may receive from a base station a first set of values corresponding to a first transmission parameter for at least partially configuring resources for uplink data transmission of the device (e.g., a transmission parameter for PUSCH transmission of the device), and may also receive from the base station a second set of values corresponding to a second transmission parameter for at least partially configuring resources for uplink control information transmission of the device (e.g., a transmission parameter for UCI transmission of the device). In 1004, the device may determine a third set of values corresponding to the first transmission parameter based at least on the current wireless traffic demand of the device and the first set of values. In 1006, the device may transmit uplink control information including at least a third set of values to the base station on resources configured using at least the second set of values. In 1008, the device may transmit uplink data to the base station on resources configured using at least the third set of values.

[0234] CG is configured by the base station

[0235] Figure 11 A flowchart of an exemplary method for a base station for implementing a CG according to some embodiments is shown. As shown in 1102, the base station may transmit configuration parameters / values to the device as part of configuring the CG of the device. Thus, the base station may accordingly transmit a first set of values corresponding to a first transmission parameter for at least partially configuring resources for uplink data transmission of the device (e.g., a transmission parameter for PUSCH transmission of the device), and may also transmit to the device a second set of values corresponding to a second transmission parameter for at least partially configuring resources for uplink control information transmission of the device (e.g., a transmission parameter for UCI transmission of the device). In 1104, the base station may receive uplink control information from the device on resources configured using at least the second set of values, wherein the uplink control information includes at least a third set of values corresponding to the first transmission parameter and is determined by the device based at least on the current wireless traffic demand of the device and the first set of values. In 1106, the base station may receive uplink data from the device on resources configured using at least the third set of values.

[0236] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0237] Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in any of a variety of forms. For example, in some embodiments, the present invention may be implemented as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable storage medium, or a computer system. In other embodiments, the present invention may be implemented using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. In other embodiments, the present invention may be implemented using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0238] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory memory element) may be configured such that it stores program instructions and / or data, wherein the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method, such as any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets.

[0239] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to include a processor (or a group of processors) and a memory medium (or a memory element), wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method implementations described herein (or any combination of the method implementations described herein, or any subset of any method implementations described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of various forms.

[0240] By interpreting each message / signal X received by a user equipment (UE) or device in the downlink as a message / signal X transmitted by the base station / network node, and interpreting each message / signal Y transmitted by the UE in the uplink as a message / signal Y received by the base station / network node, any of the methods described herein for operating a UE may form the basis for a corresponding method for operating the base station or appropriate network node.

[0241] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to encompass all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A baseband processor, the baseband processor being configured to perform operations comprising: transmitting a first set of values to a device, the first set of values comprising value constraints for constraining values corresponding to a first transmission parameter for at least partially configuring resources for uplink data transmission by the device; transmitting, to the device, a second set of values corresponding to second transmission parameters for at least partially configuring resources for uplink control information transmission by the device; as well as Uplink control information is received from the device on resources configured using at least the second set of values, the uplink control information including at least a third set of values corresponding to the first transmission parameter, and wherein the third set of values is within the value limits and is based on at least a current wireless traffic demand of the device.

2. The baseband processor of claim 1 , configured to perform further operations comprising: Uplink data is received from the device on resources configured using at least the third set of values. 3 . The baseband processor of claim 1 , wherein the first set of values and the second set of values are transmitted as part of configuration information of a configuration authorization.

4. The baseband processor of claim 1 , wherein the third set of values comprises one or more of the following: the duration of each repetition of the transmission; Number of repetitions; Modulation and coding scheme level; Occupied frequencies; or The cyclic redundancy check bits are masked by the device.

5. The baseband processor of claim 1 , wherein the value restriction comprises one or more of the following: Maximum transmission duration; Maximum transmission power; a range of modulation and coding scheme levels; or Maximum occupied frequency.

6. The baseband processor according to claim 1 , wherein the second transmission parameter comprises one or more of the following: Modulation order; Coding rate; Time and frequency resource elements; or Demodulation reference signal configuration.

7. A base station, comprising: radio circuitry configured to facilitate wireless communications with the base station; as well as a processor communicatively coupled to the radio circuitry and configured to perform operations comprising: transmitting a first set of values to a device, the first set of values comprising value constraints for constraining values corresponding to a first transmission parameter for at least partially configuring resources for uplink data transmission by the device; transmitting, to the device, a second set of values corresponding to second transmission parameters for at least partially configuring resources for uplink control information transmission by the device; as well as Uplink control information is received from the device on resources configured using at least the second set of values, the uplink control information including at least a third set of values corresponding to the first transmission parameter, and wherein the third set of values is within the value limits and is based on at least a current wireless traffic demand of the device.

8. The base station of claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to perform further operations comprising: Uplink data is received from the device on resources configured using at least the third set of values.

9. The base station of claim 7, wherein the first set of values and the second set of values are transmitted as part of configuration information of a configuration grant.

10. The base station of claim 7, wherein the third set of values comprises one or more of the following: the duration of each repetition of the transmission; Number of repetitions; Modulation and coding scheme level; Occupied frequencies; or The cyclic redundancy check bits are masked by the device.

11. The base station of claim 7, wherein the first set of values comprises one or more of the following: Maximum transmission duration; Maximum transmission power; a range of modulation and coding scheme levels; or Maximum occupied frequency.

12. The base station according to claim 7, wherein the second transmission parameter comprises one or more of the following items: Modulation order; Coding rate; Time and frequency resource elements; or Demodulation reference signal configuration.

13. A non-transitory memory element storing instructions executable by a processor to perform operations comprising: transmitting, to a device, a first set of values corresponding to a first transmission parameter for at least partially configuring resources for uplink data transmission by the device, the first set of values comprising a plurality of different sets of parameter values, each set of parameter values corresponding to the first transmission parameter; transmitting, to the device, a second set of values corresponding to second transmission parameters for at least partially configuring resources for uplink control information transmission by the device; as well as Uplink control information is received from the device on resources configured using at least the second set of values, the uplink control information including at least a third set of values corresponding to the first transmission parameter, and wherein the third set of values is selected as a specific set of parameter values from the multiple different sets of parameter values, the specific set of parameter values being determined based on at least a current wireless traffic demand of the device.

14. The non-transitory memory element of claim 13 , wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to perform further operations comprising: Uplink data is received from the device on resources configured using at least the third set of values. 15 . The non-transitory memory element of claim 13 , wherein the first set of values and the second set of values are transmitted as part of configuration information of a configuration authorization.

16. The non-transitory memory element of claim 13, wherein the third set of values comprises one or more of: The duration of each repetition of the transmission; Number of repetitions; Modulation and coding scheme level; Occupied frequencies; or The cyclic redundancy check bits are masked by the device.

17. The non-transitory memory element of claim 16, wherein the first set of values includes one or more of: Maximum transmission duration; Maximum transmission power; a range of modulation and coding scheme levels; or Maximum occupied frequency.

18. The non-transitory memory element according to claim 13, wherein the second transmission parameter comprises one or more of the following: Modulation order; Coding rate; Time and frequency resource elements; or Demodulation reference signal configuration.

19. The non-transitory memory element of claim 13, wherein the particular set of parameter values includes respective constraints for limiting corresponding values of the third set of values.

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