Enhancing scheduling flexibility of operations for carrier aggregation

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a communication method and system for converging a 5th-Generation (5G) communication system and a Internet of Things (IoT) technology beyond 4th-Generation (4G) systems supporting higher data rates. The disclosure can be applied to intelligent services based on 5G communication technologies and IoT-related technologies, such as smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car, connected car, health care, digital education, smart retail, security and safety services. The disclosure also relates to a method and apparatus for scheduling flexibility for enhanced carrier aggregation operation.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, the present disclosure relates to enhancing scheduling flexibility of operations of carrier aggregation. BACKGROUND

[0002] To meet increasing wireless data traffic demands since deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5G or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a 'Beyond 4G Network' or a '5G Network'. The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed for use with the 5G communication system. In addition, in the 5G communication system, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, a technology for coordination between cells, a cooperative communication, cooperative multi-point (CoMP), a D2D communication, a wireless backhaul, a moving network, a communication using a satellite, the Internet of Things (IoT), a technology for reception-end interference cancellation, and the like.

[0003] The Internet, which is a human centered connectivity network where humans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the Internet of Things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange and process information without human intervention. The Internet of Everything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and the Big Data processing technology through connection with a cloud server, has emerged as a new paradigm for the IoT. As technology elements, such as "sensing technology", "wired / wireless communication and network infrastructure", "service interface technology", and "security technology" have been demanded for IoT implementation, a sensor network, a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, Machine Type Communication (MTC), and the like have been researched. Such an IoT environment can provide intelligent Internet technology services that create a new value through collection and analysis of data generated from connected things. The IoT can be applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smart appliances, and advanced medical services, through convergence and combination of existing information technology (IT) and various industrial applications.

[0004] Accordingly, various efforts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, Machine Type Communication (MTC), and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication can be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud Radio Access Network (RAN) as the above-described big data processing technology can also be considered an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology.

[0005] The momentum for 5th generation (5G) or new radio (NR) mobile communications is recently increasing with all the technology activities worldwide on various candidate technologies from both industry and academia. The candidate enablers for 5G / NR mobile communications include massive antenna technology (from legacy cellular bands up to high frequencies to provide beamforming gain and support increased capacity), new waveforms (e.g., new radio access technology (RAT)) for flexibly accommodating various services / applications with different requirements, new multiple access schemes for supporting massive connectivity, and so on. SUMMARY

[0006] TECHNICAL PROBLEM

[0007] Embodiments of the disclosure consider the need to adapt the total number of PDCCHs that a UE can monitor per slot and the total number of non-overlapping CCEs according to the number of cells that the UE can be scheduled in a slot.

[0008] Embodiments of the disclosure also consider the need to define a procedure for a UE to maintain the same number of sizes for DCI formats with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI for PDCCHs that the UE needs to monitor for scheduling with respect to a first cell when the UE can be scheduled on the first cell through PDCCH reception on the first cell or PDCCH reception on a second cell.

[0009] Embodiments of the disclosure further consider the need to determine a procedure for a UE to apply a search space set dropping procedure on a primary cell or a secondary cell according to a configuration of a search space set for PDCCH monitoring.

[0010] SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM

[0011] The disclosure relates to enhancing scheduling flexibility for operation of carrier aggregation.

[0012] In one embodiment, a method for processing a downlink control information (DCI) format is provided. The method includes receiving a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) providing a first DCI format on a first cell, and determining a set of fields in the first DCI format. The first DCI format schedules only a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) reception or a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission on the first cell. The set of fields includes a carrier indicator field (CIF) when a second DCI format provided by a second PDCCH reception on a second cell can schedule a second PDSCH reception or a second PUSCH transmission on the first cell. The set of fields does not include the CIF when the second DCI format provided by the second PDCCH reception on the second cell cannot schedule the second PDSCH reception or the second PUSCH transmission on the first cell.

[0013] In another embodiment, a user equipment (UE) is provided. The UE includes a transceiver configured to receive a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) providing a first downlink control information (DCI) format on a first cell, and a processor operably connected to the transceiver. The processor is configured to determine a set of fields in the first DCI format. The first DCI format schedules only a first PDSCH reception or a first PUSCH transmission on the first cell. The set of fields includes a carrier indicator field (CIF) when a second DCI format provided by a second PDCCH reception on a second cell can schedule a second PDSCH reception or a second PUSCH transmission on the first cell, and the set of fields does not include the CIF when the second DCI format provided by the second PDCCH reception on the second cell cannot schedule the second PDSCH reception or the second PUSCH transmission on the first cell.

[0014] In yet another embodiment, a base station is provided. The base station includes a transceiver configured to transmit a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) providing a first downlink control information (DCI) format on a first cell, and a processor operably connected to the transceiver. The processor is configured to determine a set of fields in the first DCI format. The first DCI format schedules only a first PDSCH transmission or a first PUSCH reception on the first cell. The set of fields includes a carrier indicator field (CIF) when a second DCI format provided by a second PDCCH transmission on a second cell can schedule a second PDSCH transmission or a second PUSCH reception on the first cell. The set of fields does not include the CIF when the second DCI format provided by the second PDCCH transmission on the second cell cannot schedule the second PDSCH transmission or the second PUSCH reception on the first cell.

[0015] Other technical features can be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0016] Advantages of the Invention

[0017] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to UE can adapt the total number of PDCCH monitored per slot and the total number of non-overlapped CCEs according to the number of cells the UE can be scheduled in a slot. The present disclosure also relates to defining a procedure for the UE to maintain the same number of sizes for the DCI format with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI that the UE needs to monitor for scheduling on a first cell when the UE can receive scheduling on the first cell through PDCCH reception on a first cell or PDCCH reception on a second cell. The present disclosure further relates to a procedure to determine the configuration of search space sets for the UE to monitor according to PDCCH to apply search space set dropping procedure on a primary cell or a secondary cell. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0018] For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and its advantages, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts are marked with like numerals:

[0019] Figure 1 An example wireless network according to embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated;

[0020] Figure 2 An example base station (BS) according to embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated;

[0021] Figure 3 An example user equipment (UE) according to embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated;

[0022] Figure 4 And Figure 5 An example wireless transmit and receive path according to embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated;

[0023] Figure 6 A block diagram of an example transmitter structure using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) according to embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated;

[0024] Figure 7 A block diagram of an example receiver structure using OFDM according to embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated;

[0025] Figure 8 An example encoding procedure for downlink control information (DCI) format according to embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated;

[0026] Figure 9An example decoding procedure for DCI formats for use with a UE according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown;

[0027] Figure 10 An example method for a UE to determine a total number of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates or a total number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown;

[0028] Figure 11 An example method for a UE to switch search space sets in a slot according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown;

[0029] Figure 12 An example method for a UE to determine a total number of PDCCH candidates or a total number of non-overlapping CCEs according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown;

[0030] Figure 13 An example method for a UE to interpret contents of a DCI format for scheduling with respect to a first cell according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown; and

[0031] Figure 14 An example method for a UE to determine a search space set dropping procedure according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] Before undertaking a detailed description of embodiments, a thorough overview of certain terminology and phrases used throughout this patent document can be beneficial. The term “coupled” and variations thereof, means any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether electrically, mechanically, or otherwise, regardless of whether those elements are physically in contact with one another. The terms “transmit,” “receive,” and “communicate,” and variations thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication. The terms “include,” “includes,” and “including” mean, respectively, “including, but not limited to,” “comprising,” and “comprising.” The term “or” is inclusive, meaning and / or. The phrase “associated with,” and variations thereof, means includes, is included within, interconnects with, contains, is contained within, connects to or with, couples to or with, is communicable with, cooperates with, inter leaves, is adjacent to, is bound to or with, has, has properties, has a relationship with, or has relations, etc. The term “controller” means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least one operation. Such a controller can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and / or firmware. The functionality associated with any particular controller can be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. The phrase “at least one of” when used with a list of items means that a different combination of zero or more of the listed items can be employed and can require use of only one of the items in the list. For example, “at least one of A, B, and C” includes any of the following combinations: A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, and A and B and C.

[0033] Furthermore, various functions described below can be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed from computer readable program code and embodied in a computer readable medium. The terms “application” and “program” refer to one or more computer programs, software components, sets of instructions, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or portions thereof applicable for implementation by a suitable computer readable program code. The phrase “computer readable program code” includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase “computer readable medium” includes any type of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. A “non-transitory” computer readable medium excludes wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links. Non-transitory computer readable media include media that can be permanently stored, as well as media that can store and

[0034] Definitions for other certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

[0035] The following discussion Figures 1 to 14 And the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure can be implemented in any suitably arranged system or device.

[0036] The following documents are hereby incorporated by reference into the present disclosure as if fully set forth herein: 3GPP TS 38.211 v16.2.0, “NR; Physical channels and modulation (NR; Physical channels and modulation)”; 3GPP TS 38.212 v16.2.0, “NR; Multiplexing and Channel coding (NR; Multiplexing and Channel coding)”; 3GPP TS 38.213 v16.2.0, “NR; Physical Layer Procedures for Control (NR; Physical Layer Procedures for Control)”; 3GPP TS 38.214 v16.2.0, “NR; Physical Layer Procedures for Data (NR; Physical Layer Procedures for Data)”; 3GPP TS 38.321 v16.1.0, “NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification)”; and 3GPP TS 38.331 v16.1.0, “NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification (NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification)”.

[0037] To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4th generation (4G) communication systems, efforts have been made to develop and deploy an improved 5th generation (5G) or pre-5G / NR communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a "beyond 4G network" or a "post long term evolution (LTE) system."

[0038] 5G communication systems are considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 28 GHz or 60GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates, or implemented in lower frequency bands, such as 6 GHz, to enable robust coverage and mobility support. To decrease the propagation loss of the radio waves and increase the transmission distance, beamforming, massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed in 5G communication systems.

[0039] In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud Radio Access Networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, a device-to-device (D2D) communication, a wireless backhaul, a mobile network, a cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation and the like.

[0040] The discussion of 5G systems and frequency bands associated therewith is for reference because certain embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in 5G systems. However, the present disclosure is not limited to 5G systems or frequency bands associated therewith, and embodiments of the present disclosure can be used in conjunction with any frequency band. For example, aspects of the present disclosure can also apply to deployments of 6G or even higher versions (which can use terahertz (THz) bands).

[0041] Depending on the network type, the term "base station" (BS) can refer to any component (or collection of components) configured to provide wireless access to a network, e.g., transmit point (TP), transmit-receive point (TRP), enhanced NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), gNB, macrocell, femtocell, WiFi access point (AP), satellite, or other wirelessly enabled devices. A base station can provide wireless access to a plurality of UEs according to one or more wireless communication protocols, e.g., 5G 3GPP New Radio Interface / Access (NR), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, etc. The terms "BS," "gNB," and "TRP" can be used interchangeably herein to refer to a component (or collection of components) of a network that provides wireless access to remote terminals. Additionally, depending on the network type, the term "user equipment" (UE) can refer to any component such as mobile station, subscriber station, remote terminal, wireless terminal, receive point, vehicle, or user device. For example, a UE can be a mobile telephone, smartphone, monitoring device, alarm device, fleet management device, asset tracking device, automobile, desktop computer, entertainment device, infotainment device, vending machine, electric meter, water meter, gas meter, security device, sensor device, appliance, and the like.

[0042] The following Figures 1 to 3Various embodiments implemented in wireless communication systems and utilizing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication technologies are described. Figures 1 to 3 The description is not intended to imply any physical or architectural limitation on the ways in which different embodiments may be implemented. Different embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented in any suitably arranged communication system.

[0043] Figure 1 An example wireless network 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 1 The embodiment of wireless network 100 shown is for illustrative purposes only. Other embodiments of wireless network 100 may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

[0044] like Figure 1 As shown, the wireless network 100 includes a base station BS 101 (e.g., a gNB), BS 102, and BS 103. BS 101 communicates with BS 102 and BS 103. BS 101 also communicates with at least one network 130, such as the Internet, a proprietary Internet Protocol (IP) network, or other data networks.

[0045] BS 102 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 to a first plurality of user equipments (UEs) within coverage area 120 of BS 102. The first plurality of UEs includes: UE 111, which may be located in a small business; UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi hotspot (HS); UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R); UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R); and UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M) such as a cellular phone, wireless laptop computer, or wireless PDA. BS 103 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 to a second plurality of UEs within coverage area 125 of BS 103. The second plurality of UEs includes UE 115 and UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of BS 101 to 103 may use 5G / NR, LTE, LTE-A, WiMAX, WiFi or other wireless communication technologies to communicate with each other and with UE 111 to 116.

[0046] The dashed lines indicate the approximate extent of coverage areas 120 and 125. For illustrative and explanatory purposes only, the coverage areas are shown as approximately circular. It should be clearly understood that coverage areas associated with a BS (such as coverage areas 120 and 125) may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on the configuration of the BS and variations in the radio environment related to natural and man-made obstacles.

[0047] As described in more detail below, one or more of the UEs 111-116 include circuitry, programing or a combination thereof, for scheduling flexibility for operation of carrier aggregation. In certain embodiments, and one or more of the BSs 101-103 includes circuitry, programing or a combination thereof, for scheduling flexibility for operation of carrier aggregation.

[0048] Although Figure 1 various changes can be made to Figure 1 the wireless network. For example, the wireless network can include any number of BSs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. In addition, BS 101 can communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs access to network 130. Similarly, each of BSs 102-103 can communicate directly with network 130 and provide UEs access to network 130. In addition, BS 101, BS 102, and / or BS 103 can provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone network or other types of data networks.

[0049] Figure 2 An example BS 102 according to embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 2 The illustrated embodiment of BS 102 is for illustration only, and Figure 1 BSs 101 and 103 can have the same or similar configuration. However, BSs come in a wide variety of configurations, and Figure 2 the scope of this disclosure is not limited to any particular implementation of a BS.

[0050] As Figure 2 illustrated, BS 102 includes multiple antennas 205a-205n, multiple radio frequency (RF) transceivers 210a-210n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 215, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 220. BS 102 also includes controller / processor 225, memory 230, and backhaul or network interface 235.

[0051] The RF transceivers 210a-210n receive, from the antennas 205a-205n, incoming RF signals such as signals transmitted by UEs in the wireless network 100. The RF transceivers 210a-210n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate IF or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals are sent to the RX processing circuitry 220, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. The RX processing circuitry 220 transmits the processed baseband signals to the controller / processor 225 for further processing.

[0052] The TX processing circuitry 215 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, web data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 225. The TX processing circuitry 215 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate processed baseband or IF signals. The RF transceivers 210a-210n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from the TX processing circuitry 215 and up-convert the signals to RF signals for transmission via the antennas 205a-205n.

[0053] The controller / processor 225 can include one or more processors or other processing devices to manage the overall operation of the BS 102. For example, the controller / processor 225 can control the reception of downlink channel signals and the transmission of uplink channel signals by the RF transceivers 210a-210n, the RX processing circuitry 220, and the TX processing circuitry 215 in accordance with well-known principles. The controller / processor 225 can support additional functions as well, such as more sophisticated wireless communication functions. For instance, the controller / processor 225 can support scheduling flexibility for operation of carrier aggregation. The controller / processor 225 can support any of a wide variety of other functions in the BS 102. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 225 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0054] The controller / processor 225 is also capable of executing programs and other processes resident in the memory 230, such as an OS. The controller / processor 225 can move data into or out of memory 230 as required by the processes being executed. In certain embodiments, the controller / processor 225 supports communication between entities, such as scheduling flexibility for operation of carrier aggregation. For example, the controller / processor 225 can move data into or out of memory 230 as required by the processes being executed.

[0055] The controller / processor 225 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 235. The backhaul or network interface 235 allows the BS 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or over a network. The network interface 235 can support communications over any suitable wired or wireless connection. For example, when the BS 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such as one supporting 5G / NR, LTE, or LTE-A), the network interface 235 can allow the BS 102 to communicate with other BSs over a wired or wireless backhaul connection. When the BS 102 is implemented as an access point, the network interface 235 can allow the BS 102 to communicate with other devices (such as other access points) over a wired or wireless local area network or through a wired or wireless connection to a larger network (such as the Internet). The network interface 235 includes any suitable structure supporting communication over a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or RF transceiver.

[0056] The memory 230 is coupled to the controller / processor 225. A portion of the memory 230 may include RAM, and another portion of the memory 230 may include flash memory or other ROM.

[0057] Although Figure 2 An example of BS 102 is shown, but it is possible to compare it with other versions. Figure 2 Various changes can be made. For example, BS 102 can include any number of Figure 2 The various components are shown. As a specific example, an access point may include multiple network interfaces 235, and the controller / processor 225 may support routing functionality for data between different network addresses. As another specific example, although shown as a single instance including TX processing circuitry 215 and a single instance including RX processing circuitry 220, BS102 may include multiple instances of each (e.g., one instance per RF transceiver). Additionally, Figure 2 The various components can be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components can be added as needed.

[0058] Figure 3 An example UE 116 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 3 The embodiment of UE 116 shown is for illustrative purposes only, and Figure 1 UEs 111 to 115 can have the same or similar configurations. However, UEs have a wide variety of configurations, and Figure 3 This disclosure is not intended to limit the scope of any particular implementation of the UE.

[0059] like Figure 3 As shown, UE 116 includes an antenna 305, an RF transceiver 310, a TX processing circuit 315, a microphone 320, and a receive (RX) processing circuit 325. UE 116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor 340, an input / output (I / O) interface (IF) 345, an input device 350, a display 355, and a memory 360. The memory 360 includes an operating system (OS) 361 and one or more application programs 362.

[0060] RF transceiver 310 receives incoming RF signals transmitted by a BS of wireless network 100 from antenna 305. RF transceiver 310 down-converts the incoming RF signals to generate intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signal is sent to RX processing circuitry 325, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. RX processing circuitry 325 sends the processed baseband signal to speaker 330 (e.g., for voice data) or to processor 340 for further processing (e.g., for web browsing data).

[0061] The TX processing circuitry 315 receives analog or digital voice data from the microphone 320 or other outgoing baseband data (such as web access data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from the processor 340. The TX processing circuitry 315 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 310 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuitry 315 and up-converts the signal to RF signals that are transmitted via the antenna 305.

[0062] The processor 340 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute the OS 361 stored in the memory 360 in order to control the overall operation of the UE 116. For example, the processor 340 can control the reception of downlink channel signals and the transmission of uplink channel signals by the RF transceiver 310, the RX processing circuitry 325, and the TX processing circuitry 315 in accordance with well-known principles. In some embodiments, the processor 340 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0063] The processor 340 is also capable of executing other processes and programs resident in the memory 360, such as a process for beam management. The processor 340 can move data into or out of the memory 360 as required by the processes executing on the processor 340. In some embodiments, the processor 340 is configured to execute the applications 362 based on the OS 361 or in response to signals received from BSs or an operator. The processor 340 is also coupled to the I / O interface 345, which provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I / O interface 345 is the communication path between these accessories and the processor 340.

[0064] The processor 340 is also coupled to the input device 350. The input device 350 can be a keyboard, touchscreen, mouse, trackball, voice input device, or other device that can function as a user interface to allow the operator of the UE 116 to input data into the UE 116. For example, the input device 350 can include voice recognition processing, thereby allowing the user to input voice commands. In another example, the input device 350 can include a touch panel, (digital) pen sensor, key, or ultrasonic input device. The touch panel can recognize, for example, a touch input in at least one scheme such as a capacitive scheme, a pressure sensitive scheme, an infrared scheme, or an ultrasonic scheme.

[0065] The processor 340 is also coupled to the display 355. The display 355 can be a liquid crystal display, light emitting diode display, or other display capable of rendering text and / or at least limited graphics, such as from web sites.

[0066] Memory 360 is coupled to the processor 340. Part of the memory 360 can include random access memory (RAM) and another part of the memory 360 can include a flash memory or other read-only memory (ROM).

[0067] While Figure 3 various changes can be made to Figure 3 the example UE 116. For example, Figure 3 various components in the memory 360 can be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components can be added according to particular needs. As a specific example, the processor 340 could be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Also, while Figure 3 the UE 116 is illustrated as a mobile phone or smart phone, a UE can be configured to operate as other types of mobile or stationary devices.

[0068] Figure 4 and Figure 5 An example wireless transmit and receive path is shown according to this disclosure. In the following description, Figure 4 the transmit path 400 can be described as implemented in a BS (such as the BS 102), while Figure 5 the receive path 500 can be described as implemented in a UE (such as the UE 116). However, it will be understood that the receive path 500 can be implemented in a BS and that the transmit path 400 can be implemented in a UE.

[0069] As Figure 4 shown in FIG. 4, the transmit path 400 includes a channel coding and modulation block 405, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 410, a size N inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) block 415, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 420, an add cyclic prefix block 425, and a Figure 5 As shown in FIG. 5, the receive path 500 includes a down-converter (DC) 555, a remove cyclic prefix block 560, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 565, a size N fast Fourier transform (FFT) block 570, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 575, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 580.

[0070] As Figure 4As shown, the channel coding and modulation block 405 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (such as a low-density parity check (LDPC) coding), and modulates the input bits (such as with quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)) to generate a sequence of frequency-domain modulation symbols. The serial-to-parallel block 410 converts (such as de-multiplexes) the serial modulated symbols to parallel data in order to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is the IFFT / FFT size used in the BS 102 and the UE 116. The size N IFFT block 415 performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to generate time-domain output signals. The parallel-to-serial block 420 converts (such as multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from the size N IFFT block 415 in order to generate a serial time-domain signal. The add cyclic prefix block 425 inserts a cyclic prefix to the time-domain signal. The up-converter 430 modulates (such as up-converts) the output of the add cyclic prefix block 425 to an RF frequency for transmission via a wireless channel. The signal can also be filtered at baseband before conversion to the RF frequency.

[0071] The RF signal transmitted from the BS 102 arrives at the UE 116 after passing through the wireless channel, and the reverse operation to that performed at the BS 102 is performed at the UE 116.

[0072] As Figure 5 shown, the down-converter 555 down-converts the received signal to baseband frequency and the remove cyclic prefix block 560 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. The serial-to-parallel block 565 converts the time-domain baseband signal to parallel time-domain signals. The size N FFT block 570 performs the FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency-domain signals. The parallel-to-serial block 575 converts the parallel frequency-domain signals to a sequence of modulated data symbols. The channel decoding and demodulation block 580 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

[0073] Each of the BSs 101-103 can implement a transmit path 400 similar to that shown in Figure 4 FIGURE 4 for transmission in the downlink to UEs 111-116 and can implement a receive path 500 similar to that shown in Figure 5 FIGURE 5 for reception in the uplink from UEs 111-116. Similarly, each of the UEs 111-116 can implement the transmit path 400 for transmission in the uplink to the BSs 101-103 and can implement the receive path 500 for reception in the downlink from the BSs 101-103.

[0074] The transmit path 400 and the receive path 500 can be implemented in hardware Figure 4 and Figure 5Each of the components in Figure 4 and Figure 5 At least some of the components in

[0075] Moreover, while described as using FFTs and IFFTs, this is by way of illustration only and can not be construed as a limitation of the scope of the disclosure. Other types of transforms, such as discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) functions, can be used. It can be appreciated that the value of the variable N can be any integer (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) for DFT and IDFT functions, while the value of the variable N can be any integer that is a power of two (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.) for FFT and IFFT functions.

[0076] Although Figure 4 and Figure 5 shows an example of a wireless transmit and receive path, various changes can be made to Figure 4 and Figure 5 For example, Figure 4 and Figure 5 Various components in Figure 6 and Figure 7 are intended to show an example of the types of transmit and receive paths that can be used in a wireless network. Any other suitable architecture can be used to support wireless communication in a wireless network.

[0077] A unit for downlink (DL) signaling or for uplink (UL) signaling on a cell is referred to as a slot and can include one or more symbols. A unit of bandwidth (BW) is referred to as a resource block (RB). An RB includes multiple subcarriers (SCs). For example, a slot can have a duration of one millisecond and an RB can have a bandwidth of 180 kHz and include 12 SCs with an inter-SC spacing of 15 KHz. A subcarrier spacing (SCS) can be determined as 2 μ kHz for an SCS configuration μ. A unit of one subcarrier over one symbol is referred to as a resource element (RE). A unit of one RB over one symbol is referred to as a physical RB (PRB).

[0078] DL signals include data signals conveying information content, control signals conveying DL control information (DCI), reference signals (RS) and similar signals also known as pilot signals. A BS, such as BS 102, transmits data information or DCI through a respective physical DL shared channel (PDSCH) or physical DL control channel (PDCCH). A PDSCH or PDCCH can be transmitted through a variable number of slot symbols including one slot symbol. A BS transmits one or more of multiple types of RS including channel state information RS (CSI-RS) and demodulation RS (DM-RS). A CSI-RS is intended for a UE, such as UE 116, to perform measurements and provide channel state information (CSI) to the BS. A non-zero-power CSI-RS (NZP CSI-RS) resource can be used for channel measurement or for time tracking. A CSI interference measurement (CSI-IM) resource can be used for interference measurement reporting (IMR). A CSI-IM resource can also be associated with a zero-power CSI-RS (ZP CSI-RS) configuration. A UE can determine CSI-RS reception parameters through DL control signaling or higher layer signaling, e.g., radio resource control (RRC) signaling from a gNB. A DM-RS is typically transmitted only within a BW of a respective PDCCH or PDSCH, and a UE can use the DM-RS to demodulate data or control information.

[0079] UL signals also include data signals conveying information content, control signals conveying UL control signals (UCI), DM-RS associated with data or UCI demodulation, sounding RS (SRS) to enable a gNB to perform UL channel measurement, and random access (RA) preambles to enable a UE, such as UE 116, to perform random access. A UE transmits data information or UCI through a respective physical UL shared channel (PUSCH) or physical UL control channel (PUCCH). A PUSCH or PUCCH can be transmitted through a variable number of slot symbols including one slot symbol. When a UE transmits data information and UCI simultaneously, the UE can multiplex both in a PUSCH, or depending on UE capability, transmit both a PUSCH with data information and a PUCCH with UCI, at least when transmissions are on different cells.

[0080] The UCI includes hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information indicating correct or incorrect detection of data transport blocks (TBs) or code block groups (CBGs) in the PDSCH, a scheduling request (SR) indicating whether the UE has data to transmit in its buffer, and CSI reports that enable the gNB to select appropriate parameters for the UE's PDSCH or PDCCH transmissions. The CSI reports can include a channel quality indicator (CQI) that informs the gNB of the maximum modulation and coding scheme (MCS) that the UE can detect data TBs with a predetermined block error rate (BLER), such as a 10% BLER, a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) that informs the gNB how to combine signals from multiple transmitter antennas according to multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission principles, a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) used to obtain the CSI report, and a rank indicator (RI) indicating the transmission rank of the PDSCH. In certain embodiments, the UL RS includes DM-RS and SRS. The DM-RS is typically transmitted within the BW of the corresponding PUSCH or PUCCH. The gNB can use the DM-RS to demodulate information in the corresponding PUSCH or PUCCH. The SRS is transmitted by the UE to provide the gNB with UL CSI and, for time division duplex (TDD) systems, also a PMI for DL transmissions. In addition, the UE can transmit a physical random access channel (PRACH) as part of a random access procedure or for other purposes.

[0081] The DL transmissions and the UL transmissions can be based on an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform, including a variant using DFT precoding, known as DFT-spread-OFDM.

[0082] Figure 2 A block diagram 600 of an example transmitter structure using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is shown in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 3 A block diagram 700 of an example receiver structure using OFDM is shown in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0083] The transmitter structure as shown in the block diagram 600 and the receiver structure as shown in the block diagram 600 can be implemented in the RF transceivers 210a-210n of the base station 200 and the RF transceivers 310 of the UE 300. Figure 6 The block diagram 600 of the base station 200 and the block diagram 700 of the UE 300 are for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Figure 7 The block diagram 600 of the base station 200 and the block diagram 700 of the UE 300 are for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Figure 8 The block diagram 600 of the base station 200 and the block diagram 700 of the UE 300 are for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Figure 9 The block diagram 600 of the base station 200 and the block diagram 700 of the UE 300 are for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0084] As shown in block diagram 600, information bits 610 (such as DCI bits or data bits) are encoded by encoder 620, rate matched to allocated time / frequency resources by rate matcher 630, and modulated by modulator 640. Subsequently, the modulated coded symbols and DMRS or CSI-RS 650 are mapped to SC by SC mapping unit 660 with input from BW selector unit 665, inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) is performed by filter 670, a cyclic prefix (CP) is added by CP insertion unit 680, and the resulting signal is filtered by filter 690 and transmitted as transmitted bits 695 by radio frequency (RF) unit.

[0085] As shown in block diagram 700, received signal 710 is filtered by filter 720, CP removal unit 730 removes the CP, fast Fourier transform (FFT) is applied by filter 740, SC de-mapping unit 750 de-maps SC selected by BW selector unit 755, received symbols are demodulated by channel estimator and demodulator unit 760, rate de-matcher 770 recovers rate matching, and decoder 780 decodes the resulting bits to provide information bits 790.

[0086] In certain embodiments, in a slot, a UE monitors multiple candidate locations for respective potential PDCCH receptions to decode multiple DCI formats. A DCI format includes cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits in order to enable the UE to confirm correct detection of the DCI format. The type of DCI format is identified by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) that scrambles the CRC bits of the DCI format.

[0087] For a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH or PUSCH to a single UE, the RNTI can be a cell RNTI (C-RNTI), or a configured scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI), or a MCS-C-RNTI, and acts as a UE identifier. In the following examples, reference will be made to the C-RNTI when needed. A UE typically receives / monitors a PDCCH according to a UE-specific search space (USS) to detect a DCI format with CRC scrambled by the C-RNTI.

[0088] For a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH that conveys system information (SI), the RNTI can be a SI-RNTI. For a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH that provides a random access response (RAR), the RNTI can be a RA-RNTI. For a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH that provides paging information, the RNTI can be a P-RNTI. There are also multiple other RNTIs provided to a UE through UE-specific RRC signaling and associated with DCI formats that provide various control information and monitored according to a common search space (CSS).

[0089] Example DCI formats include (i) DCI format 2_0 providing information about the slot structure of DL, UL, or flexible / reserved symbols over multiple slots, (ii) DCI format 2_2 providing transmit power control (TPC) commands for PUSCH or PUCCH transmissions, (iii) DCI format 2_3 providing TPC commands for SRS transmissions and potentially also triggering SRS transmissions on multiple cells, etc., and the corresponding CSS is referred to as Type3-PDCCH CSS.

[0090] Figure 8 An example encoding procedure 800 for downlink control information (DCI) formats is shown in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 9 An example decoding procedure 900 for DCI formats used by a UE is shown in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 8 The encoding procedure 800 and Figure 9 The decoding procedure 900 are for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0091] A BS separately encodes and transmits each DCI format in a corresponding PDCCH. When applicable, the RNTI of the UE that is the object of the DCI format masks the CRC of the DCI format codeword in order to enable the UE to recognize the DCI format. The CRC can include 16 or 24 bits, for example, and the RNTI can include 16 or 24 bits. Otherwise, when the RNTI is not included in the DCI format, a DCI format type indicator field can be included in the DCI format.

[0092] As shown in Figure 10 A CRC for the (unencoded) DCI format bits 810 is determined using a CRC calculation unit 820 and masked using an exclusive OR (XOR) operation unit 830 between the CRC bits and RNTI bits 840. The XOR operation is defined as XOR(0,0) = 0, XOR(0,1) = 1, XOR(1,0) = 1, XOR(1,1) = 0. The masked CRC bits are appended to the DCI format information bits using a CRC appending unit 850. A channel encoder 860 performs channel coding, such as tail-biting convolutional coding or polar coding, followed by rate matching to the allocated resources by a rate matcher 870. Interleaving and modulation unit 880 applies interleaving and modulation, e.g., QPSK, and the output control signal 890 is transmitted.

[0093] As shown in Figure 11As shown, the received control signal 910 is demodulated and deinterleaved by a demodulator and deinterleaver 920. Rate matching applied at the BS transmitter is recovered by a rate matcher 930, and the resulting bits are decoded by a decoder 940. After decoding, CRC extractor 950 extracts the CRC bits, and provides DCI format information bits 960. The DCI format information bits are unmasked 970 by an XOR operation with RNTI 980 (if applicable), and a unit 990 performs a CRC check. When the CRC check is successful (the checksum is zero), the DCI format information bits are considered valid. When the CRC check is not successful, the DCI format information bits are considered invalid.

[0094] In certain embodiments, a PDCCH transmission can be within a set of PRBs. For PDCCH reception, a BS can configure a UE with one or more sets of PRBs, also referred to as control resource sets (CORESETs). PDCCH reception can be in control channel elements (CCEs) included in a CORESET.

[0095] A UE can monitor PDCCH according to a first PDCCH monitoring type or according to a second PDCCH monitoring type. For the first PDCCH monitoring type corresponding to a UE capability for slot-wise PDCCH monitoring, a slot-wise defines a maximum number of PDCCH candidates and a maximum number of non-overlapped CCEs for reception of a PDCCH candidate A non-overlapped CCE is a CCE of a CORESET with a different index or in a different symbol or a CCE in a different CORESET.

[0096] In certain embodiments, if a UE (such as UE 116) can support a first group of service cells and a second group of service cells, the UE determines the number of service cells for the purpose of reporting pdcch-BlindDetectionCA to be where R is a value reported by the UE. In this embodiment, the following two are associated: (i) a first group of service cells, where on all DL bandwidth parts (BWPs) of each service cell from the first group of service cells, the UE is not provided a CORESETPoolIndex or is provided a CORESETPoolIndex with a single value for all CORESETs, and (ii) a second group one serving cell, where on any DL BWP of each serving cell from the second set of serving cells, the UE is provided a CORESETPoolIndex with a value of 0 for the first CORESET and a CORESETPoolIndex with a value of 1 for the second CORESET.

[0097] In certain embodiments, if a UE (such as the UE 116) is (i) configured with downlink cells, (ii) associated with PDCCH candidates monitored in an active DL BWP of a scheduling cell using SCS configuration m, where and (iii) the DL BWP of the activated cell is the active DL BWP of the activated cell and the DL BWP of the deactivated cell is the DL BWP of the deactivated cell with an index provided by firstActiveDownlinkBWP-Id, then the UE is not required to monitor more than PDCCH candidates or more than non-overlapping CCEs per slot on the active DL BWP of the scheduling cell from the downlink cells. In this example, is equal to 4 or a capability reported by the UE. Additionally, in this example, g is a value provided to the UE by higher layers or is R.

[0098] For each scheduled cell, the UE is not required to monitor more than PDCCH candidates or more than non-overlapping CCEs per slot on the active DL BWP of the scheduling cell from the downlink cells with SCS configuration m. Additionally, for each scheduled cell, the UE is not required to monitor more than PDCCH candidates or more than

[0099] non-overlapping CCEs per slot on the active DL BWP of the scheduling cell from the downlink cells with SCS configuration m. Additionally, for each scheduled cell, the UE is not required to monitor more than PDCCH candidates or more than non-overlapping CCEs per slot on the active DL BWP of the scheduling cell from the downlink cells with SCS configuration m for CORESETs with the same CORESETPoolIndex value. If no CORESETPoolIndex is provided for a cell or if a single CORESETPoolIndex is provided for a cell, then g = 0. PDCCH candidates or more than non-overlapping CCEs per slot on the active DL BWP of the scheduling cell from the

[0100] In some embodiments, the UE determines the CCE for decoding PDCCH candidates based on a search space. For some RNTIs (such as C-RNTIs), a set of PDCCH candidates for the corresponding DCI format defines the corresponding UE-specific search space set. For other RNTIs (such as SI-RNTIs), a set of PDCCH candidates for the corresponding DCI format defines the corresponding common search space set (CSS set). The search space set is associated with a CORESET, in which the UE monitors PDCCH candidates against the search space set. The UE is expected to monitor up to four sizes of PDCCH candidates per serving cell, including three sizes of DCI formats with CRCs scrambled by C-RNTIs or MCS-C-RNTIs. The UE can count the number of DCI format sizes per serving cell based on the number of configured PDCCH candidates in the corresponding search space set of the corresponding active DL BWP.

[0101] In some embodiments, for cross-carrier scheduling, the number of PDCCH candidates and the number of non-overlapping CCEs for monitoring per span or per time slot are counted separately for each scheduled cell.

[0102] For the search space set s associated with CORESETp, and the value n corresponding to the carrier indicator field... CI Service community activities DL BWP time slots PDCCH candidates in the search space set The corresponding CCE index for aggregation level L is given by the following equation (1). As described in equation (1), for any CSS, Similarly, for USS, r p，-1 =n RNTI ≠0, A p =39827 (for pmod3=0), A p =39829 (for pmod3=1), A p =39839 (for pmod3=2), and D=65537. Additionally, as described in equation (1), i=0,…,L-1, and N CCE，p This refers to the number of CCEs in CORESETp, numbered from 0 to N. CCE，p -1. Similarly, if the UE is configured with a carrier indicator field for monitoring the serving cell on which the PDCCH is located, then N CI It is the carrier indicator field value; otherwise, including for any CSS, n CI =0. As described in equation (1) It shows where is the number of PDCCH candidates that the UE is configured to monitor for the aggregation level L of the search space set s of the serving cell corresponding to n CI For USS, is the maximum value of CI over all configured n values for the CCE aggregation level L of the search space set s. Furthermore, the RNTI value for n RNTI is C-RNTI.

[0103]

[0104] In certain embodiments, a UE, such as UE 116, monitors PDCCH according to a CSS set for scheduling PDSCH providing system information, random access response, or paging only on one cell, referred to as a primary cell. The UE transmits PUCCH only on the primary cell. In certain embodiments, the UE is configured as a primary secondary cell (PSCell) for PUCCH transmission. When the UE is configured as a PSCell, the UE transmits PUCCH on a primary cell of a master / primary cell group and on the PSCell of a secondary cell group. For simplicity, embodiments of the present disclosure describe considering a primary cell, but embodiments can be directly extended to a PSCell.

[0105] Let S CSS denote a set of CSS sets with cardinality I CSS and S USS denote a set of USS sets with cardinality J CSS for all search space sets within a slot n or within a span in a slot n. The position of a USS set s j (0 ≤ j < J USS ) in S USS is in ascending order of search space set index.

[0106] Let P (0 ≤ j < I CSS ) denote the number of counting PDCCH candidates for monitoring of a CSS set S CSS (i), and P (0 ≤ j < J USS ) denote the number of counting PDCCH candidates for monitoring of a USS set S USS (j). For a CSS set, the UE monitors PDCCH candidates in a slot or in a span requiring a total of non-overlapping CCEs.

[0107] In certain embodiments, a UE (such as the UE 116) is allocated PDCCH candidates for monitoring in a slot according to the following syntax (1) to the USS sets of the primary cell with active DL BWP (with SCS configuration μ) by the UE. If for a USS set scheduled on the primary cell, the UE is not provided a CORESETPoolIndex for the first CORESET or is provided a CORESETPoolIndex with value 0 for the first CORESET and a CORESETPoolIndex with value 1 for the second CORESET, and if or It should be noted that the syntax (1) applies to the USS sets associated with the first CORESET. The UE does not expect to monitor PDCCH in a USS set without allocated PDCCH candidates for monitoring.

[0108] with V CCE (S USS (j)) representing a set of non-overlapping CCEs for the search space set S USS (j), and with C(V CCE (S USS (j))) representing the cardinality of V CCE (S USS (j)), where the non-overlapping CCEs for the search space set S USS (j) are determined considering the allocated PDCCH candidates for monitoring of the CSS sets and all search space sets S USS (k) (0≤k≤j).

[0109]

[0110] In certain embodiments, a UE (such as UE 116) configured with discontinuous reception (DRX) mode operation can be configured to monitor PDCCH on a primary cell outside of an active time for detecting a DCI format (referred to as DCI format 2_6) and a location of a wake-up indication bit in DCI format 2_6. A “0” value of the wake-up indication bit, when reported to higher layers, indicates that the drx-onDurationTimer is not started for the next long DRX cycle. A “1” value of the wake-up indication bit, when reported to higher layers, indicates that the drx-onDurationTimer is started for the next long DRX cycle. When a UE is configured with a search space set to monitor PDCCH to detect DCI format 2_6 and the UE fails to detect DCI format 2_6, the UE behavior on whether the UE starts the drx-onDurationTimer on the primary cell for the next DRX cycle can be configured by higher layers (start the drx-onDurationTimer or not start the drx-onDurationTimer). The drx-onDurationTimer is a duration at the beginning of a DRX cycle.

[0111] In certain embodiments, the UE can also be configured with a bitmap for a corresponding configured secondary cell (SCell) group in DCI format 2_6. It should be noted that a “0” value of a bit of the bitmap indicates an active DL BWP that is a dormant BWP of the UE for each activated SCell in the corresponding configured SCell group. Similarly, a “1” value of a bit of the bitmap indicates an active (non-dormant) DL BWP of the UE for each activated SCell in the corresponding configured SCell group (if the current active DL BWP is a dormant DL BWP) or indicates the current active DL BWP of the UE for each activated SCell in the corresponding configured SCell group (if the current active DL BWP is not a dormant DL BWP). The UE does not monitor PDCCH in the dormant BWP of a SCell. When the UE detects DCI format 2_6, the physical layer of the UE reports the value of the wake-up indication bit for the UE to higher layers for the next long DRX cycle; otherwise, it is not reported. DCI format indicating scheduling of PDSCH reception on a primary cell can also indicate to the UE to change the active DL BWP to a dormant BWP or a non-dormant BWP. The active DL BWP of the UE on the primary cell is not indicated to change to a dormant BWP.

[0112] In certain embodiments, the capability of a gNB (such as BS 102) to schedule a UE (such as UE 116) on a cell depends on the maximum PDCCH monitoring capability for the UE scheduled on the cell, as indicated by the UE capability parameter maxNrofPDCCHMIMOLayersPerCellAndState from per time slot of a scheduling cell of one PDCCH candidate and one non-overlapping CCE definition or by one scheduling cell of one PDCCH candidate and definition. Although for SCS configuration μ, and are predetermined numbers, but and are variable and depend on the total number of cells for SCS configuration μ and the total number of cells across all SCS configurations are determined based on the configured number of cells and lead to under-dimensioning of the PDCCH monitoring capabilities of the UE, since at a given time, the UE knows deterministically that it cannot be scheduled in certain cells and thus the corresponding PDCCH monitoring capabilities can be reallocated to other cells where scheduling can occur.

[0113] At least for initial deployments, UEs using New Radio (NR) radio access technology (NR UEs) coexist with legacy UEs using Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access technology (LTE UEs) in the same network. To enable coexistence in the same spectrum, dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) is used, where NR UEs and LTE UEs share the same channel and the network can dynamically allocate resources between LTE UEs and NR UEs. During certain time instances (slots for NR or subframes for LTE), the network can allocate most of the DL resources to LTE UEs, while typically the UL spectrum is underutilized and can be used for transmission from NR UEs or LTE UEs. It is also possible that some DL spectrum can be used for PDSCH reception by NR UEs. To enable such operation for NR UEs supporting carrier aggregation (CA) operation, PDCCH reception scheduling PDSCH reception on a first cell where LTE UEs and NR UEs coexist can be offloaded to a second cell, e.g., where only NR UEs exist. Since the first cell is typically a macro cell providing synchronization signals and broadcast system information, it is the primary cell and the second cell is a secondary cell. However, DSS operation can also apply among secondary cells. In general, in the case of DSS, a NR UE can be scheduled PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission on a first cell, such as a primary cell, or from a second cell, such as a SCell.

[0114] For operation of carrier aggregation, a cell can be a scheduling cell for itself only or a scheduling cell for additional cells as well. In the former case, the DCI format for PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission on the scheduling cell does not include a carrier indicator field (CIF) for indicating the scheduled cell. In the latter case, the DCI format includes the CIF.

[0115] In the remainder of the disclosure, the term UE refers to an NR UE unless explicitly mentioned otherwise. An SCell where the UE can receive a PDCCH providing a DCI format scheduling transmission or reception on a primary cell or providing information for reception or transmission on the primary cell is referred to as a secondary SCell.

[0116] Scheduling a UE on a first cell, such as a primary cell, from either a first cell, such as a primary cell, or a second cell, such as a secondary cell (SCell) or a secondary SCell, imposes an additional requirement for PDCCH monitoring on both the primary cell and the secondary SCell. One such requirement is to maintain up to 3 sizes of DCI formats with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI per serving cell of the first cell. Another requirement is related to treating the secondary SCell as a primary cell (with respect to overbooking the UE's PDCCH capability on the secondary SCell) and the UE performing search space set dropping by search space set prioritization corresponding to PDCCH monitoring when the UE is configured by UE-specific RRC signaling to monitor PDCCH on the secondary SCell according to a CSS, referred to as Type3-PDCCH CSS, to detect DCI formats.

[0117] Accordingly, embodiments of the disclosure take into account the need to adjust the total number of PDCCHs and the total number of non-overlapping CCEs that a UE can monitor per slot according to the number of cells on which the UE can be scheduled in a slot.

[0118] Embodiments of the disclosure also take into account the need to define a procedure for a UE to maintain the same number of sizes of DCI formats with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI that the UE needs for monitoring PDCCH for scheduling with respect to a first cell when the UE can be scheduled on the first cell by PDCCH reception on the first cell or PDCCH reception on a second cell.

[0119] Embodiments of the disclosure further take into account the need to determine a procedure for a UE to apply a search space set dropping procedure on a primary cell or a secondary cell according to a configuration of search space sets for PDCCH monitoring.

[0120] Therefore, embodiments of this disclosure relate to adjusting the total number of PDCCHs and the total number of non-overlapping CCEs that a UE can monitor per time slot based on the number of cells in which a UE can be scheduled in a time slot. This disclosure also relates to a process for maintaining the same number of DCI formats with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI for the PDCCHs needed by the UE for monitoring scheduling of the first cell, when the UE can receive scheduling information about the first cell via PDCCH on a first cell or via PDCCH on a second cell. This disclosure further relates to a process for determining whether the UE applies a search space set discarding procedure on a primary or secondary cell based on the configuration of the search space set used for PDCCH monitoring.

[0121] Embodiments of this disclosure describe adjusting the total number of PDCCH candidates or the total number of non-overlapping CCEs. The following examples and embodiments describe adjusting the total number of PDCCH candidates or the total number of non-overlapping CCEs based on the number of schedulable cells per time slot.

[0122] Embodiments of this disclosure consider adjusting the total number of PDCCH candidates or the total number of non-overlapping CCEs based on the number of schedulable cells per time slot.

[0123] In some embodiments, the schedulable cells for each time slot can be determined based on the TDD UL-DL configuration of the corresponding schedulable cell. In this embodiment, the TDD UL-DL configuration of the schedulable cell is provided by the System Information Block (SIB) and can subsequently be adjusted by UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0124] For example, when the UE is configured with When there are multiple DL cells, then for those only targeting... The UE knows that it cannot receive the time slot of the UL symbol of the scheduling cell of the scheduled cell based on the TDD UL-DL configuration. The PDCCH of each scheduled cell. If In the dispatched cells The dispatched cell belongs to Each community and In the dispatched cells The dispatched cell belongs to If there are multiple cells, then the UE is not required to monitor more than Equation (2) or Equation (3).

[0125]

[0126] PDCCHcandidates(2)

[0127]

[0128] non-overlapped CCEs(3)

[0129] Here, Equation (2) and (3) are from

[0130] In certain embodiments, by excluding from the determination of the total number of PDCCH candidates or the total number of non-overlapping CCEs per slot that a UE can monitor, the cells that cannot be scheduled in a slot (rather than making this determination independent of whether there can be a PDCCH transmission on the scheduled cell in a slot), the PDCCH monitoring capability of the UE in applicable slots is increased. The increase in the PDCCH monitoring capability of the UE can improve gNB scheduling flexibility, as the gNB can use a larger number of PDCCH candidates to schedule the UE. By using a larger number of PDCCH candidates to schedule the UE, (i) the probability of PDCCH blocking is reduced, as the UE can be scheduled more frequently to improve the throughput of the UE, and (ii) the probability of search space set dropping is reduced, as the UE can monitor more PDCCH candidates in a slot. The probability of search space set dropping is reduced due to the reduced probability of

[0131] A first method for the network to utilize the increased PDCCH monitoring capability of the UE for a scheduled cell in a slot is for the gNB to configure a search space set for the scheduled cell that results in a larger number of PDCCH candidates or non-overlapping CCEs for monitoring the PDCCH for the scheduled cell in a slot where the UE does not monitor the PDCCH for other scheduled cells.

[0132] A second method for the gNB to utilize the increased PDCCH monitoring capability of the UE for a scheduled cell in a slot is for the gNB to configure two sets of search space sets for the UE, where the first set is applicable when may be provided to the UE by higher layers, e.g., as part of the configuration of the two sets of search space sets, or can be derived by the UE, or can be pre-determined in system operation. For example, the higher layers can indicate as part of . For example, the higher layers can indicate as part of Equation (4) or Equation (5) below. For example, may be defined in system operation as ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​a predetermined portion of the data.

[0133]

[0134]

[0135] A third method for network to exploit increased PDCCH monitoring capability for scheduled cells in a time slot is to reduce the probability of search space set dropping in a given time slot. This is because the determination of (UE specific) search space set dropping depends not only on the possibly time-varying number of search space sets the UE is configured to monitor PDCCH in a time slot, but also on and the number of scheduled cells the UE does not need to monitor in a time slot, and may have a value that varies across time slots and is not always the minimum value corresponding to the case where the UE needs to monitor PDCCH on all scheduled cells.

[0136] If the UE is not provided with the UL-DL configuration of a scheduling cell, such as when the scheduling cell operates with FDD, the scheduled cells associated with the scheduling cell are not included in or Additionally, the and may be extended to any applicable configuration, such as, for example, based on a configuration indicating whether the UE needs to receive on a scheduling cell in a time slot as part of an inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) mechanism.

[0137] Figure 12 An example method 1000 for a UE to determine a total number of PDCCH candidates or a total number of non-overlapping CCEs according to an embodiment of the disclosure is shown. Figure 13 An example method 1100 for a UE to switch search space sets in a time slot according to an embodiment of the disclosure is shown. Figure 1 An example method 1200 for a UE to determine a total number of PDCCH candidates or a total number of non-overlapping CCEs according to an embodiment of the disclosure is shown. Figure 3 An example method 1300 for a UE to interpret content of a DCI format for scheduling on a first cell according to an embodiment of the disclosure is shown. For example, the steps of the methods 1000, 1100, 1200, and 1300 can be performed by any of the UEs 111-116 of Figure 10 such as the UE 116 of Figure 11 Figure 12 the method 1000 of Figure 13 the method 1100 of Figure 10 ​Method 1200 and Figure 11 Method 1300 is for illustrative purposes only and other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

[0138] like Figure 12 As shown, Method 1000 describes how the UE determines the total number of PDCCH candidates or the total number of non-overlapping CCEs based on the UL-DL configuration of the scheduling cell.

[0139] In step 1010, the UE is provided with the UL-DL configuration for the scheduling cell. In step 1020, the UE determines whether it needs to monitor the PDCCH on the scheduling cell in the time slot. In some embodiments, the UE may determine whether it needs to monitor the PDCCH on the scheduling cell in the time slot based on whether there is any PDCCH monitoring opportunity on the scheduling cell that does not include UL symbols or reserved symbols in the time slot (as determined by the corresponding search space set). When the UE determines that it needs to monitor the PDCCH on the scheduling cell in the time slot, in step 1030, for determining the total number of PDCCH candidates and the total number of non-overlapping CCEs that the UE can monitor in the time slot, the UE includes the scheduled cell associated with the scheduling cell. Alternatively, when the UE determines that it does not need to monitor the PDCCH on the scheduling cell in the time slot, in step 1040, for determining the total number of PDCCH candidates and the total number of non-overlapping CCEs that the UE can monitor in the time slot, the UE does not include the scheduled cell associated with the scheduling cell.

[0140] like Figures 10 to 12 As shown, method 1100 describes how the UE switches the search space set in the time slot based on the total number of PDCCH candidates or the total number of non-overlapping CCEs in the time slot.

[0141] In step 1110, a first set of search space sets and a second set of search space sets are provided to the UE by a higher layer. In step 1120, the UE (i) is provided with a threshold for the total number of PDCCH candidates or the total number of non-overlapping CCEs by a higher layer, or (ii) determines a threshold for the total number of PDCCH candidates and the total number of non-overlapping CCEs. In step 1130, the UE determines whether the total number of PDCCH candidates and the total number of non-overlapping CCEs that the UE can monitor in a time slot is greater than the corresponding threshold. When the total number of PDCCH candidates and the total number of non-overlapping CCEs that the UE can monitor in a time slot is greater than the corresponding threshold (as determined in step 1130), in step 1140, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the first set of search space sets. Alternatively, when the total number of PDCCH candidates and the total number of non-overlapping CCEs that the UE can monitor in a time slot is less than or equal to the corresponding threshold (as determined in step 1130), in step 1150, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the second set of search space sets.

[0142] In addition to using the UL-DL configuration provided by higher layers to adapt the total number of PDCCH candidates and the total number of non-overlapped CCEs based on the number of scheduled cells per slot, the adaptation can also be based on the detection of DCI format 2_0 providing a slot structure of multiple slots, such as ten slots. The UL-DL configuration provided by DCI format 2_0 about multiple slots sets multiple symbols indicated flexibly by the UL-DL configuration provided by higher layers as UL or DL or unavailable. The UE can be allocated in a slot to a scheduled cell with other scheduled cells taking into account the PDCCH monitoring capability on the scheduled cell in the slot, where at least one symbol for all PDCCH monitoring occasions with respect to each scheduled cell in the slot is a UL symbol or an unavailable symbol, with at least one PDCCH monitoring occasion including only DL symbols for each scheduled cell from the other scheduled cells.

[0143] The adaptation of the total number of PDCCH candidates or the total number of non-overlapped CCEs for a UE, such as the UE 116, can also be based on the SCells on which the UE can be scheduled PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission or the SCells whose active DL BWP is not a dormant DL BWP. The UE can be indicated by a DCI format, such as DCI format 2_6 or DCI format with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI or MAC control element, to activate or deactivate a group of SCells or to switch the active DL BWP to a dormant DL BWP or switch the dormant DL BWP to the active DL BWP for a group of SCells. The UE does not need to monitor PDCCH for scheduling with respect to a deactivated group of SCells or a group of SCells whose active DL BWP is a corresponding dormant DL BWP because the UE is not expected to be scheduled PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission. In addition, depending on the DCI format used to indicate the activation / deactivation of SCells in a group of SCells or to indicate a non-dormant / dormant DL BWP as the active DL BWP for a SCell in a group of SCells, and depending on the HARQ-ACK codebook type used for HARQ-ACK information reporting, the UE can report HARQ-ACK information in response to a corresponding indication.

[0144] In certain embodiments, the UE adapts the total number of PDCCH candidates and the total number of non-overlapped CCEs a certain time after a PDCCH monitoring occasion in which the UE receives an indication to activate / deactivate a group of SCells or to change the active DL BWP to a non-dormant / dormant DL BWP for a corresponding SCell in a group of SCells. The time can be the slot in which the UE is to transmit a PUCCH with a corresponding HARQ-ACK information report in a slot k after the slot of the associated PDCCH reception, if the UE is to transmit the PUCCH in the slot k. An additional predetermined time T can be included.offset This allows for processing adjustments based on HARQ-ACK information at the gNB. If the UE will not transmit a PUCCH with a corresponding HARQ-ACK information report, the timing can be provided to the UE by higher-layer signaling or predetermined during system operation.

[0145] and They represent from Each community and The number of scheduled cells for a given cell that are disabled for the UE or have a quiescent DL BWP as an active DL BWP for the UE does not require the UE to monitor more than Equation (6) or Equation (7).

[0146]

[0147]

[0148] Here, equations (6) and (7) are from The scheduling activity of each downlink cell on the DL BWP for each time slot.

[0149] like Figures 10 to 12 As shown, method 1200 describes how the UE determines the total number of PDCCH candidates or the total number of non-overlapping CCEs based on the number of active scheduled cells or based on the number of active scheduled cells with active DL BWPs other than the dormant BWP.

[0150] In step 1210, the UE (such as UE 116) is provided with an indication for activating / deactivating a scheduled cell or an indication for a non-pause / pause active BWP for the corresponding activated scheduled cell. In step 1220, the UE determines whether the cell is activated or deactivated, or whether the active DL BWP of the activated cell is among the non-pause / pause BWPs. When the UE determines that the cell is activated in the time slot and the active DL BWP is a non-pause BWP (step 1220), in step 1230, the UE includes the cell in the determination of the total number of PDCCH candidates and the total number of non-overlapping CCEs that the UE can monitor in the time slot. Alternatively, in step 1240, the UE does not include the cell in the determination of the total number of PDCCH candidates and the total number of non-overlapping CCEs that the UE can monitor in the time slot.

[0151] In some embodiments, such as when the UE does not support the operation of a suspended active DL BWP or when it is determined that the signaling is based solely on higher-layer signaling and not on the DCI format, the UE only considers active and deactivated cells. In some embodiments, the UE only considers whether an active DL BWP is suspended or not, such as when a deactivated cell is considered to have a suspended active DL BWP.

[0152] The adaptation to the total number of PDCCH candidates or the total number of non-overlapping CCEs for a UE can be based on the UL-DL configuration and the active / deactivated cells and the cells where the UE's active DL BWP is a non-dormant / dormant DL BWP. However, for determining the time slot... and Can from Subtract and can from Subtract, of which and Only active scheduling cells with non-resting BWPs as active DL BWPs are included.

[0153] Although Figure 10 Methods 1000, 1100, and 1200 are shown, but it is possible to... Figure 11 Make various changes. For example, although Figure 12 Method 1000 Figure 13 Method 1100 and Figure 1 Method 1200 is shown as a series of steps, but these steps may overlap, occur in parallel, occur in different orders, or occur multiple times. In another example, steps may be omitted or replaced by other steps. For example, the steps of method 1000 may be executed in different orders.

[0154] The embodiments of this disclosure describe the same number of DCI formats with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI for maintaining self-scheduled or cross-scheduled cells. The following examples and embodiments describe the same number of DCI formats with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI for maintaining self-scheduled or cross-scheduled cells.

[0155] Embodiments of this disclosure consider alignment of DCI format size in cases where the UE is scheduled to receive PDSCH on the first cell or transmit PUSCH from the UE via PDCCH reception on the first cell (such as the primary cell) or the second cell (such as the secondary SCell).

[0156] Due to the complexity of UE implementation requirements, the total number of DCI format sizes that the UE can decode should be limited. A typical limitation is four DCI format sizes per scheduled cell, of which up to three of the four sizes can be DCI formats with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI for scheduling of the scheduled cell.

[0157] In certain embodiments, the content of DCI format scheduling PDSCH reception of a UE or PUSCH transmission from a UE is generally the same when the scheduled cell of the UE is self-scheduled or scheduled by another cell (cross-scheduling). It should be noted that at least when the scheduled cell is not a scheduling cell for any cell other than itself, a possible exception is associated with the carrier indicator field (CIF). The following methods consider alignment of the size of DCI format when the DCI format for scheduling PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission on a first cell can be provided by PDCCH reception on the first cell (self-scheduling) or a second cell (cross-scheduling).

[0158] In a first method, the CIF field is configured in the DCI format for scheduling on the first cell when the DCI format is provided by PDCCH reception on the first cell, even when the first cell is not a scheduling cell for any other cell. The size of the CIF field is the same as the size of the CIF field in the DCI format provided by PDCCH reception on the second cell. For example, the value of the CIF field can be 0 or can not be specified.

[0159] In a second method, the CIF field is not included in the DCI format for scheduling on the first cell, and the size configuration of the fields of the DCI format is separate for when the DCI format is associated with a first search space set for PDCCH reception on the first cell and when the DCI format is associated with a second search space set for PDCCH reception on the second cell. The separate configuration can be such that the size of the DCI format is the same for the first search space set and the second search space set, but the fields of the DCI format can have different sizes depending on whether the corresponding PDCCH is received on the first cell or the second cell. For example, when the DCI format is provided by PDCCH reception on the first cell according to the first search space set, the DCI format includes a redundancy version (RV) field of 2 bits, while when the DCI format is provided by PDCCH reception on the second cell according to the second search space set, the DCI format does not include the RV field (0 bits).

[0160] In the third method, the CIF is not included in the DCI format regardless of whether the DCI format is provided by the PDCCH reception on the first or second cell. This implementation can exist when the DCI format size differs from the DCI format size used for scheduling about the second cell or for scheduling about any other cell that uses the second cell as the scheduling cell. For example, when the BWP size of the first cell is smaller than the BWP size of any other cell that uses the second cell as the scheduling cell, the expected size of the DCI format used for scheduling about the first cell is smaller than the size of the DCI format used for scheduling about any other cell that uses the second cell as the scheduling cell. Then, the UE can monitor the PDCCH for different DCI format sizes based on whether the DCI format is used for scheduling about the first cell or for scheduling about another cell, and the UE can identify the scheduled cell based on the detected DCI format size without the CIF field.

[0161] Any of the three methods above (including combinations) can be applied depending on the operating conditions, such as (i) when the first cell is a scheduling cell for cells other than the first cell, (ii) when some fields can be reduced in scheduling from the second cell and the fields can have a smaller size than when scheduling from the first cell, or (iii) when the BWP size is significantly different between the first and second cells, such that the size of the DCI format used for scheduling about the first cell can be different from the size of the DCI format used for scheduling about the second cell. For example, some fields used for scheduling about the first cell (such as the RV field) can have a larger size in the DCI format provided by the PDCCH on the first cell (compared to the DCI format provided by the PDCCH on the second cell), while the CIF has a smaller non-zero size in the DCI format provided by the PDCCH on the first cell (compared to the DCI format provided by the PDCCH on the second cell).

[0162] Figure 3 An example method 1300 for a UE to interpret DCI format content for scheduling of a first cell, according to an embodiment of this disclosure, is illustrated. For example, the steps of method 1300 may be performed by… Figure 13 Executed by any of UEs 111 to 116, such as Figure 13 UE 116. Figure 13 Method 1300 is for illustrative purposes only and other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

[0163] like Figure 13As shown, the method 1300 describes the UE interpreting contents in a DCI format for scheduling with respect to the first cell based on whether the UE receives the PDCCH providing the DCI format on the first cell or the second cell.

[0164] In step 1310, a UE (such as the UE 116) is provided a first search space set to monitor PDCCH on a first cell and a second cell. In this example, the PDCCH on the first cell and the second cell provides a DCI format having a same size. The DCI format schedules a PDSCH reception on the first cell or a PUSCH transmission from the UE. In step 1320, the UE detects the DCI format in the PDCCH reception. In operation 1330, the UE determines whether the PDCCH reception is on the first cell or the second cell. When the PDCCH reception is on the first cell (as determined in step 1330), in step 1340, the UE determines a first number of bits of a field in the DCI format. When the PDCCH reception is on the second cell (as determined in step 1330), in step 1350, the UE determines a second number of bits of the field in the DCI format.

[0165] Although Figure 13 The method 1300 is shown, but various changes can be made to Figure 14 For example, although Figure 1 The method 1300 is shown as a series of steps, but various steps can overlap, occur in parallel, occur in a different order, or occur multiple times. In another example, steps can be omitted or replaced by other steps. For example, steps of the method 1300 can be performed in a different order.

[0166] Embodiments of the present disclosure also describe search space set dropping. The following examples and embodiments describe search space set dropping when a primary cell is self-scheduled or cross-scheduled from a secondary cell.

[0167] Embodiments of the present disclosure contemplate procedures for a UE to determine search space set dropping for a primary cell or a secondary SCell.

[0168] In certain embodiments, when a UE is scheduled with respect to a primary cell either from PDCCH reception on the primary cell or from PDCCH reception on a secondary SCell, one root cause is that the number of resources on the primary cell for PDCCH reception is limited. For example, when NR coexists with LTE and all PDCCH transmissions occur in the first three symbols of a slot, the corresponding resources have to be shared between UEs operating in LTE RAT and UEs operating in NR RAT. A first option for resource allocation is then to allocate the first two symbols of a slot for LTE PDCCH reception and the third symbol of the slot for NR PDCCH reception. A second option is to allocate the first symbol of a slot for LTE PDCCH reception and the second and third symbols of the slot for NR PDCCH reception. For each option, the PDCCH monitoring of a UE can be dynamically offloaded to a secondary SCell and based on the resource availability for PDCCH transmission, a gNB can schedule a UE for PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission on the primary cell either through PDCCH reception on the primary cell or through PDCCH reception on the secondary SCell.

[0169] In addition to scheduling PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission from a UE, a UE needs to monitor PDCCH according to Type3-PDCCH CSS to detect DCI formats such as DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_2, DCI format 2_3, etc. Since such DCI formats need to be detected by a group of UEs, the corresponding detection reliability needs to be large at low signal to interference noise ratio (SINR) so that a large CCE aggregation level is needed for the corresponding PDCCH. When the resources of the corresponding PDCCH are contained in a single symbol of a slot, it is difficult to achieve improved coverage for such DCI formats. In addition, the number of CCEs can not be large enough for a serving gNB to simultaneously transmit multiple PDCCHs according to Type3-PDCCH CSS and the USS of the corresponding UE.

[0170] Embodiments of the present disclosure consider that in order to avoid the above operational constraints, a gNB such as BS 102 can configure a UE to monitor PDCCH of Type3-PDCCH CSS on a secondary SCell in addition to or instead of the primary cell. Then, since a UE does not typically monitor PDCCH on the primary cell according to other CSS types (such as for system information or random access response or paging) in every slot, when a UE monitors PDCCH according to the USS for DCI formats scheduling PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission, the search space set dropping does not need to be applied to the primary cell but can be applied to the secondary SCell.

[0171] The determination of search space set dropping involves material computational complexity for the UE to count the number of non-overlapping CCEs and the number of PDCCH candidates. In addition, the UE performs the counting in every slot. To avoid the mandatory increase of the computational requirement of the UE, the UE can declare the capability of performing search space set dropping on only one cell or on both cells. The serving gNB can use the reported UE capability in the configuration of search space sets to perform PDCCH monitoring according to CSS or USS. For example, for a UE indicating the capability of performing search space set dropping on both cells (such as the primary cell and the secondary SCell), the serving gNB can increase the flexibility of the configuration of search space sets without substantially considering the PDCCH monitoring capability of the UE overbooking on the cells, because then for a CORESET of the same CORESETPoolIndex value, the UE can expect that dropping will result in the UE monitoring more than PDCCH candidates or more than non-overlapping CCEs of the search space set per slot.

[0172] The serving gNB can also configure the UE to perform search space set dropping on only the primary cell or only the secondary SCell. An additional condition can be that the UE indicates the capability of performing search space set dropping on only one cell or the UE does not indicate such capability and then the default is that the UE can only perform search space set dropping on one cell. Alternatively, the UE performs search space set dropping on only the cell on which the UE is configured to monitor PDCCH according to Type3-PDCCH CSS. If the UE is configured to monitor PDCCH according to Type3-PDCCH CSS on both the primary cell and the secondary SCell, the gNB can configure the UE to the cell on which the UE performs search space set dropping.

[0173] Figure 3 An example method 1400 for a UE to determine a search space set dropping procedure according to embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For example, steps of the method 1300 can be performed by any of the UEs 111-116, such as the UE 116. Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 14 The method 1300 is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0174] ​​In step 1410, a first search space set and a second search space set are provided to the UE (such as UE 116) to monitor the PDCCH on the primary cell and secondary SCell, respectively. The PDCCH provides the DCI format for scheduling PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission on the primary cell. In step 1420, a search space set for monitoring the PDCCH on the secondary SCell according to the Type 3-PDCCH CSS is also provided to the UE. In step 1430, for each search space set, the UE applies a procedure in a time slot to determine whether PDCCH monitoring according to the USS needs to be skipped, wherein this procedure is applied only to PDCCH reception on the secondary SCell.

[0175] Although Figure 14 Method 1400 is shown, but it is possible to... ​ Make various changes. For example, although ​ Method 1400 is shown as a series of steps, but these steps may overlap, occur in parallel, occur in different orders, or occur multiple times. In another example, steps may be omitted or replaced by other steps. For example, the steps of method 1400 may be executed in different orders.

[0176] While the accompanying drawings illustrate different examples of user equipment, various changes can be made to the drawings. For example, the user equipment may include any number of each component arranged in any suitable configuration. Generally, the drawings do not limit the scope of this disclosure to any particular configuration. Furthermore, although the drawings illustrate an operating environment in which various user equipment features disclosed in this patent document can be used, these features can be used in any other suitable system.

[0177] While this disclosure has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, various changes and modifications may be made to those skilled in the art. This disclosure is intended to include such changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the appended claims. Nothing described herein should be construed as implying that any particular element, step, or function is an essential element that must be included within the scope of the claims. The scope of the patent subject matter is defined solely by the claims.

Claims

1. A method performed by a user equipment, UE, the method comprising: receiving, on a primary cell, a first physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, providing a first downlink control information, DCI, format; and identifying a set of fields in the first DCI format, wherein: the first DCI format schedules a first physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, or a first physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, on the primary cell, the set of fields includes a carrier indicator field, CIF, in case scheduling of a second PDSCH or a second PUSCH on the primary cell using a second DCI format provided using a second PDCCH from a secondary cell is configured.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, the CIF in the first DCI format includes a same number of bits as a CIF of a second DCI format of the secondary cell used for scheduling of the primary cell.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, the first DCI format schedules the first PDSCH or the first PUSCH on the primary cell without scheduling a PDSCH or a PUSCH on any other cell.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, in case the primary cell is a scheduling cell only for itself, the set of fields does not include the CIF.

5. A user equipment, UE, comprising: a transceiver configured to receive, on a primary cell, a first physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, providing a first downlink control information, DCI, format; and a processor operably connected to the transceiver, the processor configured to identify a set of fields in the first DCI format, wherein: the first DCI format schedules a first physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, or a first physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, on the primary cell, the set of fields includes a carrier indicator field, CIF, in case scheduling of a second PDSCH or a second PUSCH on the primary cell using a second DCI format provided using a second PDCCH from a secondary cell is configured.

6. The UE of claim 5, the CIF in the first DCI format includes a same number of bits as a CIF of a second DCI format of the secondary cell used for scheduling of the primary cell.

7. The UE of claim 5, wherein, the first DCI format schedules the first PDSCH or the first PUSCH on the primary cell without scheduling a PDSCH or a PUSCH on any other cell.

8. The UE of claim 5, wherein, in case the primary cell is a scheduling cell only for itself, the set of fields does not include the CIF.

9. A method performed by a base station, the method comprising: determining a set of fields in a first downlink control information, DCI, format, wherein: the first DCI format schedules a first physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, or a first physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, on a primary cell, the set of fields includes a carrier indicator field, CIF, in case scheduling of a second PDSCH or a second PUSCH on the primary cell using a second DCI format is configured. In case scheduling of a second PDSCH or a second PUSCH on the primary cell using a second DCI format provided by a second physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, from a secondary cell is configured, the set of fields includes a carrier indicator field, CIF, transmitting a first PDCCH providing the first DCI format on the primary cell.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, The CIF in the first DCI format includes a same number of bits as a CIF of a second DCI format of the secondary cell used for scheduling of the primary cell.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein, The first DCI format schedules the first PDSCH or the first PUSCH on the primary cell without scheduling a PDSCH or a PUSCH on any other cell.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein, In case the primary cell is a scheduling cell only for itself, the set of fields does not include the CIF.

13. A base station comprising: a transceiver configured to transmit a first physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, providing a first downlink control information, DCI, format on a primary cell; and a processor operably connected to the transceiver, the processor configured to determine a set of fields in the first DCI format, wherein: the first DCI format schedules a first physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, or a first physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, on the primary cell, In case scheduling of a second PDSCH or a second PUSCH on the primary cell using a second DCI format provided by a second PDCCH from a secondary cell is configured, the set of fields includes a carrier indicator field, CIF.

14. The base station of claim 13, wherein, The CIF in the first DCI format includes a same number of bits as a CIF of a second DCI format of the secondary cell used for scheduling of the primary cell.

15. The base station of claim 13, wherein, The first DCI format schedules the first PDSCH or the first PUSCH on the primary cell without scheduling a PDSCH or a PUSCH on any other cell, and wherein, in case the primary cell is a scheduling cell only for itself, the set of fields does not include the CIF.

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