Method and apparatus for prioritization and multiplexing of uplink control information

Abstract

Methods for prioritizing and multiplexing uplink control information are disclosed. An example method may include: selecting a subset of the first uplink control information when a first transmission opportunity of a first uplink physical channel including the first uplink control information and a second transmission opportunity of a second uplink physical channel including the second uplink control information overlap in time, selecting an uplink physical channel to be transmitted among the first uplink physical channel and the second uplink physical channel, and multiplexing the subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on an uplink radio resource of the selected uplink physical channel when multiplexing is enabled. Related apparatus and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various embodiments are directed to methods and apparatus for prioritization and multiplexing of uplink control information. Background Art

[0002] In a telecommunication system such as a new radio (NR or 5G) system, configured grant (CG) uplink control information (UCI) or CG-UCI including, for example, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number, a redundancy version, a new data indicator, and channel occupancy time (COT) sharing information is included in a CG physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission or a CG-PUSCH transmission in NR-based unlicensed spectrum access (NR-U), and can be used to overcome potential listen-before-talk (LBT) failures in unlicensed spectrum to reduce LBT delays, etc. Summary of the invention

[0003] In a first aspect, a device is disclosed, which includes at least one processor and at least one memory, wherein the at least one memory may include computer program code, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to utilize the at least one processor to cause the device to: select a subset of the first uplink control information when a first transmission timing of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second transmission timing of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time, select an uplink physical channel to be transmitted among the first and second uplink physical channels, and multiplex the subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel when multiplexing is enabled.

[0004] In some embodiments, the at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to receive configuration information associated with selection of a subset of the first uplink control information.

[0005] In some embodiments, the subset of the first uplink control information may include at least one of channel occupancy time sharing information and a hybrid automatic repeat request process number.

[0006] In some embodiments, a subset of the first uplink control information may have a higher transmission priority in the first uplink control signal.

[0007] In some embodiments, the subset of the first uplink control information may be selected further based on an available amount of uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel.

[0008] In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may be selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

[0009] In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may be selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted in at least one of the following cases: when the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on substantially the same listen-before-talk subband of the uplink bandwidth portion; when the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on different listen-before-talk subbands of the uplink bandwidth portion and the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel is a favorable listen-before-talk; when the first uplink physical channel has more radio resources available than the second uplink physical channel; and when the first uplink physical channel is pre-configured as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

[0010] In some embodiments, the second uplink physical channel may be selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted in at least one of the following cases: when the first uplink physical channel has a lower priority than the second uplink physical channel; when the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on different listen-before-talk subbands of the uplink bandwidth portion, and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel is a favorable listen-before-talk; when the second uplink physical channel has more radio resources available than the first uplink physical channel; and when the second uplink physical channel is pre-configured as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

[0011] In some embodiments, the at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, utilizing at least one processor, enable the device to determine a favorable listen-before-talk between the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel, further based on at least one of the channel access priority categories, instantaneous results, potential results, and reliability of the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel.

[0012] In some embodiments, the multiplexing may include: jointly encoding a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel; or separately encoding a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on different parts of the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel.

[0013] In some embodiments, the at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to transmit a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information multiplexed on an uplink radio resource of a selected uplink physical channel.

[0014] In some embodiments, the at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, using at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: transmit an uplink physical channel with a higher priority in the first and second uplink physical channels, or transmit a subset of the first uplink control information or the second uplink control information on the uplink radio resources of a selected uplink physical channel when the first transmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity overlap in time and multiplexing is disabled.

[0015] In some embodiments, the first uplink control information may include configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may include a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel. In some embodiments, the second uplink physical channel may include at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

[0016] In a second aspect, a method is disclosed, comprising: selecting a subset of the first uplink control information when a first transmission timing of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second transmission timing of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time; selecting an uplink physical channel to be transmitted among the first and second uplink physical channels; and multiplexing the subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on an uplink radio resource of the selected uplink physical channel when multiplexing is enabled.

[0017] In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving configuration information associated with the selection of the subset of the first uplink control information.

[0018] In some embodiments, the subset of the first uplink control information may include at least one of channel occupancy time sharing information and a hybrid automatic repeat request process number.

[0019] In some embodiments, a subset of the first uplink control information may have a higher transmission priority in the first uplink control signal.

[0020] In some embodiments, the subset of the first uplink control information may be selected further based on an available amount of uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel.

[0021] In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may be selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

[0022] In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may be selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted in at least one of the following cases: when the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on substantially the same listen-before-talk subband of the uplink bandwidth portion; when the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on different listen-before-talk subbands of the uplink bandwidth portion and the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel is a favorable listen-before-talk; when the first uplink physical channel has more radio resources available than the second uplink physical channel; and when the first uplink physical channel is pre-configured as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

[0023] In some embodiments, the second uplink physical channel may be selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted in at least one of the following cases: when the first uplink physical channel has a lower priority than the second uplink physical channel; when the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on different listen-before-talk subbands of the uplink bandwidth portion, and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel is a favorable listen-before-talk; when the second uplink physical channel has more radio resources available than the first uplink physical channel; and when the second uplink physical channel is pre-configured as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

[0024] In some embodiments, the method may also include determining a favorable listen-before-talk option between the listen-before-talk option associated with the first uplink physical channel and the listen-before-talk option associated with the second uplink physical channel based on at least one of the channel access priority categories, instantaneous results, potential results, and reliabilities of the listen-before-talk option associated with the first uplink physical channel and the listen-before-talk option associated with the second uplink physical channel.

[0025] In some embodiments, the multiplexing may include: jointly encoding a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel; or separately encoding a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on different parts of the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel.

[0026] In some embodiments, the method may further include transmitting a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information multiplexed on an uplink radio resource of a selected uplink physical channel.

[0027] In some embodiments, the method may further include: transmitting an uplink physical channel having a higher priority among the first and second uplink physical channels, or transmitting a subset of the first uplink control information or the second uplink control information on an uplink radio resource of a selected uplink physical channel when the first transmission timing and the second transmission timing overlap in time and multiplexing is disabled.

[0028] In some embodiments, the first uplink control information may include configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may include a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel. In some embodiments, the second uplink physical channel may include at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

[0029] In a third aspect, a device is disclosed, comprising: a device for selecting a subset of first uplink control information when a first transmission timing of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second transmission timing of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time; a device for selecting an uplink physical channel to be transmitted from the first uplink physical channel and the second uplink physical channel; and a device for multiplexing the subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel when multiplexing is enabled.

[0030] In some embodiments, the apparatus may further include means for receiving configuration information associated with selection of the subset of the first uplink control information.

[0031] In some embodiments, the subset of the first uplink control information may include at least one of channel occupancy time sharing information and a hybrid automatic repeat request process number.

[0032] In some embodiments, a subset of the first uplink control information may have a higher transmission priority in the first uplink control information.

[0033] In some embodiments, the subset of the first uplink control information may be selected further based on an available amount of uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel.

[0034] In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may be selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

[0035] In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may be selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted in at least one of the following cases: the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on substantially the same listen-before-talk subband of the uplink bandwidth portion; the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on different listen-before-talk subbands of the uplink bandwidth portion, and the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel is a favorable listen-before-talk; the first uplink physical channel has more radio resources available than the second uplink physical channel; and the first uplink physical channel is pre-configured as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

[0036] In some embodiments, a second uplink physical channel may be selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted in at least one of the following cases: the first uplink physical channel has a lower priority than the second uplink physical channel; the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on different listen-before-talk subbands of the uplink bandwidth portion, and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel is a favorable listen-before-talk; more radio resources are available for the second uplink physical channel than for the first uplink physical channel; and the second uplink physical channel is pre-configured as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

[0037] In some embodiments, the device may also include a device for determining a favorable listen-before-talk between the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel based on at least one of the channel access priority categories, instantaneous results, potential results, and reliability of the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel.

[0038] In some embodiments, the multiplexing may include: jointly encoding a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel; or separately encoding a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on different parts of the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel.

[0039] In some embodiments, the apparatus may further include means for transmitting the subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information multiplexed on an uplink radio resource of a selected uplink physical channel.

[0040] In some embodiments, the device may also include: a device for transmitting an uplink physical channel having a higher priority among the first and second uplink physical channels when the first transmission timing and the second transmission timing overlap in time and multiplexing is disabled, or a device for transmitting a subset of the first uplink control information or the second uplink control information on an uplink radio resource of a selected uplink physical channel.

[0041] In some embodiments, the first uplink control information may include configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may include a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel. In some embodiments, the second uplink physical channel may include at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

[0042] In a fourth aspect, a computer-readable medium is disclosed. The computer-readable medium may include instructions stored thereon, the instructions being used to cause an apparatus to: select a subset of the first uplink control information when a first transmission opportunity of a first uplink physical channel including the first uplink control information and a second transmission opportunity of a second uplink physical channel including the second uplink control information overlap in time; select an uplink physical channel to be transmitted among the first and second uplink physical channels; and multiplex the subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on an uplink radio resource of the selected uplink physical channel when multiplexing is enabled.

[0043] In some embodiments, the instructions may further cause the apparatus to receive configuration information associated with the selection of the subset of the first uplink control information.

[0044] In some embodiments, the subset of the first uplink control information may include at least one of channel occupancy time sharing information and a hybrid automatic repeat request process number.

[0045] In some embodiments, a subset of the first uplink control information may have a higher transmission priority in the first uplink control information.

[0046] In some embodiments, the subset of the first uplink control information may be selected further based on an available amount of uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel.

[0047] In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may be selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

[0048] In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may be selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted in at least one of the following cases: the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on substantially the same listen-before-talk subband of the uplink bandwidth portion; the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on different listen-before-talk subbands of the uplink bandwidth portion, and the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel is a favorable listen-before-talk; the first uplink physical channel has more radio resources available than the second uplink physical channel; and the first uplink physical channel is pre-configured as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

[0049] In some embodiments, a second uplink physical channel may be selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted in at least one of the following cases: the first uplink physical channel has a lower priority than the second uplink physical channel; the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on different listen-before-talk subbands of the uplink bandwidth portion, and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel is a favorable listen-before-talk; more radio resources are available for the second uplink physical channel than for the first uplink physical channel; and the second uplink physical channel is pre-configured as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

[0050] In some embodiments, the instructions may further cause the device to determine a favorable listen-before-talk between the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel based on at least one of the channel access priority categories, instantaneous results, potential results, and reliability of the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel.

[0051] In some embodiments, the multiplexing may include: jointly encoding a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel; or separately encoding a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on different parts of the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel.

[0052] In some embodiments, the instructions may further cause the apparatus to transmit the subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information multiplexed on an uplink radio resource of a selected uplink physical channel.

[0053] In some embodiments, the instructions may also cause the device to: transmit an uplink physical channel having a higher priority among the first and second uplink physical channels, or transmit a subset of the first uplink control information or the second uplink control information on an uplink radio resource of a selected uplink physical channel when the first transmission timing and the second transmission timing overlap in time and multiplexing is disabled.

[0054] In some embodiments, the first uplink control information may include configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may include a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel. In some embodiments, the second uplink physical channel may include at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

[0055] In a fifth aspect, a device comprising at least one processor and at least one memory is disclosed, wherein the at least one memory device may include computer program code, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, using the at least one processing device, enable the device to: when a first reception timing of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second reception timing of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time, and when multiplexing is enabled, receive a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information multiplexed on an uplink radio resource of the first or second uplink physical channel.

[0056] In some embodiments, the at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to transmit configuration information associated with selection of a subset of the first uplink control information.

[0057] In some embodiments, the subset of the first uplink control information may include at least one of channel occupancy time sharing information and a hybrid automatic repeat request process number.

[0058] In some embodiments, a subset of the first uplink control information may have a higher transmission priority in the first uplink control information.

[0059] In some embodiments, the first uplink control information may include configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may include a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel. In some embodiments, the second uplink physical channel may include at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

[0060] In a sixth aspect, a method is disclosed, comprising: when a first reception timing of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second reception timing of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time, receiving a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information multiplexed on an uplink radio resource of the first or second uplink physical channel with multiplexing enabled.

[0061] In some embodiments, the method may further include transmitting configuration information associated with the selection of the subset of the first uplink control information.

[0062] In some embodiments, the subset of the first uplink control information may include at least one of channel occupancy time sharing information and a hybrid automatic repeat request process number.

[0063] In some embodiments, a subset of the first uplink control information may have a higher transmission priority in the first uplink control signal.

[0064] In some embodiments, the first uplink control information may include configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may include a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel. In some embodiments, the second uplink physical channel may include at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

[0065] In a seventh aspect, a device is disclosed, comprising: a device for receiving a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information multiplexed on an uplink radio resource of a first or second uplink physical channel with multiplexing enabled, when a first reception timing of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second reception timing of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time.

[0066] In some embodiments, the apparatus may further include means for transmitting configuration information associated with the selection of the subset of the first uplink control information.

[0067] In some embodiments, the subset of the first uplink control information may include at least one of channel occupancy time sharing information and a hybrid automatic repeat request process number.

[0068] In some embodiments, a subset of the first uplink control information may have a higher transmission priority in the first uplink control information.

[0069] In some embodiments, the first uplink control information may include configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may include a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel. In some embodiments, the second uplink physical channel may include at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

[0070] In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable medium is disclosed. The computer-readable medium may include instructions stored thereon, the instructions being configured to cause an apparatus to: when a first reception opportunity of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second reception opportunity of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time, receive a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information multiplexed on an uplink radio resource of the first or second uplink physical channel when multiplexing is enabled.

[0071] In some embodiments, the instructions may further cause the device to transmit configuration information associated with the selection of the subset of the first uplink control information.

[0072] In some embodiments, the subset of the first uplink control information may include at least one of channel occupancy time sharing information and a hybrid automatic repeat request process number.

[0073] In some embodiments, a subset of the first uplink control information may have a higher transmission priority in the first uplink control information.

[0074] In some embodiments, the first uplink control information may include configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, the first uplink physical channel may include a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel. In some embodiments, the second uplink physical channel may include at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0075] Some embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0076] Figure 1 An example of multiplexing in one embodiment is shown.

[0077] Figure 2 Another example of multiplexing in one embodiment is shown.

[0078] Figure 3 Another example of multiplexing in one embodiment is shown.

[0079] Figure 4 An example of channel selection in one embodiment is shown.

[0080] Figure 5 Another example of channel selection in one embodiment is shown.

[0081] Figure 6 Another example of channel selection in one embodiment is shown.

[0082] Figure 7 An example process of UCI communication in one embodiment is shown.

[0083] Figure 8 An example method for prioritizing and multiplexing UCIs in one embodiment is shown.

[0084] Fig. 9 Another example method for prioritizing and multiplexing UCIs in one embodiment is shown.

[0085] Fig.10 An example device for prioritizing and multiplexing UCI in one embodiment is shown.

[0086] Fig.11 An example device for prioritizing and multiplexing UCI in one embodiment is shown.

[0087] Fig.12 Another example method for prioritizing and multiplexing UCIs in one embodiment is shown.

[0088] Fig.13 An example apparatus for prioritizing and multiplexing UCI in one embodiment is shown.

[0089] Fig.14 An example device for prioritizing and multiplexing UCI in one embodiment is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0090] In scenarios such as Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), different physical priorities may be configured for different physical channels. For example, in the case where a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) with a high priority and a CG-PUSCH with a low priority overlap in time, the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI may be discarded. Therefore, for example, due to the lack of COT sharing information from the user equipment (UE) on the base station (BS) side, the impact of LBT delay may be increased, or the BS may be prevented from transmitting a grant for retransmission without information about the HARQ process. Furthermore, for example, in cases where PUCCH has a low priority in a subband with no or fewer LBT issues (e.g., within the COT of the BS) and a high priority CG-PUSCH in a subband that is more susceptible to LBT failure, and where UCI and CG-UCI are multiplexed in CG-PUSCH, PUSCH may suffer a higher risk of failed LBT, or CG-PUSCH may be skipped, both of which would be undesirable.

[0091] In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE may be configured to select a (e.g., strict) subset of the CG-UCI when the transmission timing of the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI overlaps in time (e.g., at least partially overlaps) with the transmission timing of the PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCI (e.g., one or more of HARQ acknowledgement (ACK), channel state information (CSI), scheduling request (SR), etc.). Then, when multiplexing is enabled / allowed, the UE may multiplex at least the selected subset of the CG-UCI and the other UCI on the uplink (UL) radio resources of the UL physical channel selected from the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI and the PUCCH (or PUSCH) including the other UCI.

[0092] In different embodiments, the selected subset of the CG-UCI may include one or more information elements (or fields) in the CG-UCI, such as the HARQ process number (HPN) and the COT sharing information, which may facilitate subsequent operations in the BS such as providing timely authorization for retransmission of a specific HARQ process and / or may be used to facilitate sharing of the COT initiated by the UE. In addition, for example, each information element in the CG-UCI may be configured to have a corresponding transmission or selection priority, and the selected subset of the CG-UCI may have a higher transmission priority than other information elements of the CG-UCI. For example, information elements such as COT sharing information and HPN in the CG-UCI may be configured to have a higher priority, wherein the COT sharing information may have a higher priority than the HPN, and vice versa, so that, for example, information elements such as HPN and COT sharing information having a higher priority may be preferentially selected for the subset, while other information elements in the CG-UCI may be selected with a smaller priority or may be discarded.

[0093] In one embodiment, the UE may be configured to receive configuration information associated with the selection of a subset of CG-UCI from the BS, and may select a subset of CG-UCI based on the received configuration information when the transmission timing of the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI and the PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCIs (e.g., one or more of HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc.) overlaps in time. In another embodiment, the UE may be configured to select a subset of CG-UCI based on predetermined configuration information associated with the selection of a subset of CG-UCI, which may be pre-negotiated and specified for the UE and the BS. For example, the configuration information associated with the selection of a subset of CG-UCI may include information such as which information element or elements to select from the CG-UCI and how to select a subset of CG-UCI when the transmission timing of the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI and the PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCIs (e.g., one or more of HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc.) overlaps in time.

[0094] In another embodiment, for example, in the case of sidelink communication, the UE may be configured to receive configuration information associated with the selection of a subset of CG-UCI from one or more other UEs. In yet another embodiment, for example, in the case of sidelink communication, the UE may be configured to select a CG-UCI subset based on predetermined configuration information associated with the selection of a subset of CG-UCI, which may be pre-negotiated and specified for the UE and one or more other UEs involved in the sidelink communication.

[0095] Figure 1An example of multiplexing in an embodiment is shown, wherein CG-PUSCH 101 includes or carries CG-UCI and payload data 102, and PUCCH 103 having a higher priority than CG-PUSCH 101 includes or carries other UCI 104 (e.g., one or more of HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc.).

[0096] like Figure 1 As shown in FIG, the transmission opportunities of CG-PUSCH 101 and PUCCH 103 overlap in time period 105, and as shown in FIG. Figure 1 As shown by the dashed arrow 106 in FIG. 1 , CG-PUSCH 101 is selected as the UL physical channel 107 to be transmitted. Therefore, when multiplexing is enabled, the UE may select a subset of CG-UCI in CG-PUSCH 101, and may multiplex the selected CG-UCI subset with other UCI 104 in PUCCH 103, for example, on the radio resources of the selected UL physical channel 107. Figure 1 As shown in , the selected UL physical channel 107 after multiplexing may include a portion 108 corresponding to a selected subset of CG-UCI in CG-PUSCH 101 before multiplexing, and a portion 109 corresponding to other UCI 104 in PUCCH 103 before multiplexing.

[0097] In such Figure 1 In the example shown, the selected subset of CG-UCI and other UCI 104 may be encoded separately, so that part 108 is before part 109. In another example, the selected subset of CG-UCI and other UCI 104 may be encoded separately, so that part 108 is after part 109. In yet another example, the selected subset of CG-UCI and other UCI 104 may be jointly encoded. For example, the selected subset of CG-UCI and other UCI 104 may be mixed together in a predetermined order or manner, and then encoded as a whole.

[0098] The UE may then transmit to the BS the selected subset of CG-UCI and other UCI 104 multiplexed on the uplink radio resources of the selected UL physical channel 107, so that, for example, UE COT sharing can be enabled even when CG-PUSCH 101 has a lower priority, HARQ delay can be reduced, and the like.

[0099] In addition, in Figure 1 In the example shown, after multiplexing the selected subset of CG-UCI and other UCI 104 on the selected UL physical channel 107, available uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel 107 may still remain. Figure 1 As shown in , after multiplexing, at least a portion 110 of the payload data in the CG-PUSCH 101 may be transmitted via the remaining UL radio resources of the selected UL physical channel 107 .

[0100] Figure 2 Another example of multiplexing in an embodiment is shown, wherein CG-PUSCH 201 includes or carries CG-UCI and payload data 202, and PUCCH 203 having a higher priority than CG-PUSCH 201 includes or carries other UCI 204 (e.g., one or more of HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc.).

[0101] like Figure 2 As shown in FIG. 2 , the transmission opportunities of CG-PUSCH 201 and PUCCH 203 overlap in time period 205, and as shown in FIG. Figure 2 As shown by the dashed arrow 206 in FIG. 2 , CG-PUSCH 201 is selected as the UL physical channel 207 to be transmitted. Therefore, similar to Figure 1 In the example shown, with multiplexing enabled, the UE may select a subset of CG-UCI in CG-PUSCH 201, and may multiplex the selected CG-UCI subset with other UCI 204 in PUCCH 203, for example on the radio resources of the selected UL physical channel 207.

[0102] Similar to Figure 1 In the example shown in Figure 2 In the example shown, the selected UL physical channel 207 after multiplexing may include a portion 208 corresponding to a selected subset of CG-UCI in the CG-PUSCH 201 before multiplexing, and a portion 209 corresponding to other UCI 204 in the PUCCH 203 before multiplexing. In different examples, the selected subset of CG-UCI in the CG-PUSCH 201 and the other UCI 204 in the PUCCH 203 may be encoded in any suitable manner, such as a joint encoding manner and a separate encoding manner.

[0103] The UE may then transmit to the BS a selected subset of CG-UCIs among the CG-PUSCH 201 and other UCIs 204 multiplexed on the uplink radio resources of the selected UL physical channel 207, so that, for example, UE COT sharing may be transmitted / signaled to the BS even when CG-PUSCH 201 has a lower priority.

[0104] In such Figure 2In the example shown in , after multiplexing the selected subset of CG-UCI in CG-PUSCH 201 and other UCI 204 on the selected UL physical channel 207, there are not enough remaining available uplink radio resources of the selected UL physical channel 207. Figure 2 As shown in , the payload data in CG-PUSCH 201 may be discarded.

[0105] Figure 1 and Figure 2 An example is shown in which a CG-PUSCH including a CG-UCI has a lower priority than a PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCIs. In another example, for example, where the priority of a CG-PUSCH including a CG-UCI is equal to or higher than the priority of a PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCIs, the entire CG-UCI may be multiplexed with all or part of the other UCIs in a PUCCH (or PUSCH).

[0106] Figure 3 Another example of multiplexing in an embodiment is shown, wherein CG-PUSCH 301 includes or carries CG-UCI and payload data 302, and PUCCH 303 having a lower priority than CG PUSCH 301 includes or carries other UCI 304 (e.g., one or more of HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc.).

[0107] In addition, in Figure 3 In the example shown, CG-PUSCH 301 and PUCCH 303 are configured on different LBT subbands of the UL bandwidth part (BWP). For example, CG-PUSCH 301 and PUCCH 303 are located in different parts of the UL BWP. For example, for a 40MHz UL broadband BWP, CG-PUSCH 301 is on the first 20MHz part and PUCCH 303 is on the second 20MHz part, where each of the 20MHz parts can be an LBT subband. In unlicensed operation, LBT on each subband can be performed independently, so that they can have different LBT types (or categories) and can lead to different results.

[0108] In such Figure 3In the example shown, it is assumed that the LBT associated with PUCCH 303 is more favorable than the LBT associated with CG-PUSCH 301. In one embodiment, the more favorable LBT may be determined based on the type (or category) of LBT associated with each channel. For example, CAT 1 LBT, CAT 2 LBT, and CAT 4 LBT may be in order from more favorable to less favorable. For example, the type of LBT associated with PUCCH 303 is CAT 1, where, for example, the timing is in a BS COT with a time slot below 16 μs and LBT is not required, and the type of LBT associated with CG-PUSCH 301 is CAT2, where, for example, the timing is in a time slot below 25 μs and a single transmission LBT is required. In another example, the type of LBT associated with PUCCH 303 is CAT 2, and the type of LBT associated with CG-PUSCH 301 is CAT4, where, for example, the UE needs to obtain COT and may need LBT with random backoff. In yet another example, the UE prepares transmission for each LBT subband, and determines, for example, based on the potential results of each LBT, that the LBT associated with CG-PUSCH 301 may suffer more LBT failures than the LBT associated with PUCCH 303, and that the LBT associated with PUCCH 303 may be more reliable and more favorable than the LBT associated with CG-PUSCH 301. In yet another embodiment, a favorable LBT among the LBT associated with PUCCH 303 and the LBT associated with CG-PUSCH 301 may also be determined based on one or more other aspects, such as the channel access priority category and instantaneous results of the LBT associated with PUCCH 303 and the LBT associated with CG-PUSCH 301.

[0109] like Figure 3 As shown in FIG. 3 , the transmission opportunities of CG-PUSCH 301 and PUCCH 303 overlap in time period 305, and as shown in FIG. Figure 3 As shown by the dotted arrow 306 in FIG, the PUCCH 303 associated with the more favorable LBT is selected as the UL physical channel 307 to be transmitted. Therefore, when multiplexing is enabled, the UE can select a subset of CG-UCI in CG-PUSCH 301, and can multiplex the selected CG-UCI subset with other UCI 304 in PUCCH 302, for example, on the radio resources of the selected UL physical channel 307.

[0110] Then, if Figure 3As shown, the selected UL physical channel 307 after multiplexing may include a portion 308 corresponding to the selected subset of CG-UCI in CG-PUSCH 301 before multiplexing, and a portion 309 corresponding to other UCI 304 in PUCCH 303 before multiplexing.

[0111] In such Figure 3 In the example shown, the selected subset of CG-UCI and other UCI 304 in PUCCH 303 may be separately encoded such that portion 308 precedes portion 309. In another example, the selected subset of CG-UCI and other UCI 304 in PUCCH 303 may be separately encoded such that portion 308 follows portion 309. In yet another example, the selected subset of CG-UCI and other UCI 304 in PUCCH 303 may be jointly encoded. For example, the selected subset of CG-UCI and other UCI 304 in PUCCH 303 may be mixed together in a predetermined order or manner and then encoded as a whole.

[0112] Therefore, the UE may transmit to the BS a selected subset of the CG-UCI and other UCI 304 multiplexed on the uplink radio resources of the selected UL physical channel 307 associated with a more reliable and favorable LBT, so that, for example, UE COT sharing can be enabled even when CG-PUSCH301 has a lower priority, HARQ delay can be reduced, and the like.

[0113] In addition, depending on the available amount of UL radio resources of the selected UL physical channel 307 to be transmitted, the UE may discard a portion of other UCI 304 of the PUCCH 303, such as, for example, discarding low priority HARQ ACK bits in the PUCCH 303 if the UL radio resources of the selected UL physical channel 307 are insufficient to reliably transmit the selected subset of CG-UCI and the complete UCI 304 in the PUCCH 303.

[0114] In such Figure 1 and Figure 2 In the example shown in , CG-PUSCH is selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted for multiplexing, and Figure 3 In the example shown, PUCCH is selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted for multiplexing. Figure 4 Another example of selecting a UL physical channel to transmit is shown.

[0115] like Figure 4As shown in , the UE may be configured to select a UL physical channel to be transmitted based on the priority of the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI and the PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCIs (e.g., one or more of HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc.). For example, in a case where the priority of the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI is determined in operation 401 to be higher than or equal to the priority of the PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCIs (e.g., one or more of HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc.) ("Yes" is returned by operation 401), the CG-PUSCH may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted in operation 402; otherwise, the CG-PUSCH or the PUCCH (or PUSCH) may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted in operation 403. For example, in operation 403, in a case where the amount of radio resources of the CG-PUSCH is greater than the amount of radio resources of the PUCCH (or PUSCH), the CG-PUSCH may be selected, otherwise the PUCCH (or PUSCH) may be selected. In addition, when multiplexing is enabled, after operation 402 or 403, the subset of CG-UCI may be multiplexed with at least a portion of the UCI in the PUCCH (or PUSCH) on the selected UL physical channel to be transmitted selected in operation 402 or 403.

[0116] Figure 5 Another example of selecting the UL physical channel to be transmitted is shown, in which the LBT associated with the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI and the PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCI (e.g., one or more of HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc.) is also considered.

[0117] like Figure 5 As shown in , the UE may be configured to check in operation 501 whether the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI and the PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCI (e.g., one or more of HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc.) are configured on the same LBT subband of the UL BWP, for example, based on whether the LBT associated with the CG-PUSCH and the LBT associated with the PUCCH (or PUSCH) are of the same LBT type or may have potentially different LBT results, etc.

[0118] In the case where operation 501 returns "yes", CG-PUSCH may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted in operation 502; otherwise, the UE may be configured to determine which of the LBT associated with PUCCH (or PUSCH) and the LBT associated with CG-PUSCH is more advantageous, for example based on one or more of the following: the channel access priority category, instantaneous result, potential result, and reliability of the LBT associated with PUCCH (or PUSCH) and the LBT associated with CG-PUSCH, as referred to above. Figure 3 The example shown is described in the example. Figure 5 As shown in , operation 503 may be performed to determine whether the LBT associated with PUCCH (or PUSCH) is more advantageous, for example, based on one or more of the channel access priority categories, instantaneous results, potential results, and reliability of the LBT associated with PUCCH (or PUSCH) and the LBT associated with CG-PUSCH. In the case where operation 503 returns "no", the LBT associated with CG-PUSCH is more advantageous, and operation 502 may be continued to select CG-PUSCH as the UL physical channel to be transmitted; otherwise, the LBT associated with PUCCH (or PUSCH) is more advantageous, and PUCCH (or PUSCH) may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted in operation 504.

[0119] In addition, when multiplexing is enabled, after operation 502 or 504, the subset of CG-UCI may be multiplexed with at least a portion of the UCI in the PUCCH (or PUSCH) on the selected UL physical channel to be transmitted selected in operation 502 or 504.

[0120] Figure 4 An example of channel selection based on physical priority of CG-PUSCH and PUCCH (or PUSCH) is shown, and Figure 5Another example of channel selection based on the LBT associated with each channel is shown. It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to any of the above examples. In another embodiment, the UL physical channel to be transmitted may be selected based on the physical priority of CG-PUSCH and PUCCH (or PUSCH) and the LBT associated with each channel. In another embodiment, the UL physical channel to be transmitted may be selected from CG-PUSCH and PUCCH (or PUSCH) based on the amount of radio resources of each channel and / or pre-configuration. For example, in the case where the radio resources available for CG-PUSCH are more than the radio resources available for PUCCH (or PUSCH) and / or CG-PUSCH is pre-configured as the UL physical channel to be transmitted, CG-PUSCH may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted. In another example, in the case where the radio resources used for PUCCH (or PUSCH) are more than the radio resources used for CG-PUSCH and / or PUCCH (or PUSCH) is pre-configured as the UL physical channel to be transmitted, PUCCH (or PUSCH) may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted.

[0121] In another embodiment, when the transmission timing of the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI and the PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCI (e.g., HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc.) overlaps in time but multiplexing is disabled or not configured, the UE may be configured to select and transmit the UL physical channel with a higher priority between the CG-PUSCH and the PUCCH (or PUSCH).

[0122] In another embodiment, in a case where the transmission timings of the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI and the PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCI (e.g., HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc.) overlap in time but multiplexing is disabled or not configured, the UE may be configured to select a UL physical channel to be transmitted among the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI and the PUCCH including other UCI (e.g., HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc.), for example, based on at least one of the priorities and LBTs associated with the CG-PUSCH and the PUCCH (or PUSCH). The UE may then transmit at least a selected subset of the CG-UCI or at least a portion of the information in the PUCCH (or PUSCH) via the UL radio resources of the selected UL physical channel, for example, based on the priorities of the CG-PUSCH and the PUCCH (or PUSCH).

[0123] For example, Figure 6As shown in , the UE may be configured to perform operation 601 to check whether the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI and the PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCI (e.g., HARQACK, CSI, SR, etc.) are configured on the same LBT subband of the UL BWP, for example, in a manner similar to the above-mentioned operation 501 or based on the determination of operation 501. In the case where operation 601 returns "yes", operation 602 may be performed to check whether the priority of the CG-PUSCH is equal to or greater than the priority of the PUCCH (or PUSCH), which may be similar to Figure 4 In the operation 401 shown in FIG. 602, if “yes” is returned, CG-PUSCH may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted in operation 603; otherwise, PUCCH (or PUSCH) may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted in operation 604. Then, in operation 605, the selected UL physical channel may be transmitted.

[0124] In the event that operation 601 returns "No", the UE may be configured to determine which LBT is more favorable between the LBT associated with the PUCCH (or PUSCH) and the LBT associated with the CG-PUSCH, for example based on one or more of the following: channel access priority category, instantaneous result, potential result, and reliability of the LBT associated with the PUCCH (or PUSCH) and the LBT associated with the CG-PUSCH, which have been referred to above. Figure 3 and Figure 5 The example shown in is described.

[0125] For example, Figure 6 As shown in , operation 606 may be performed to determine whether the LBT associated with the PUCCH (or PUSCH) is more advantageous, which may be similar to operation 503. In the case where operation 606 returns "yes", PUCCH (or PUSCH) may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted in operation 607; otherwise, CG-PUSCH may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted in operation 608.

[0126] In addition, operation 609 may be performed to check whether the priority of the CG-PUSCH is equal to or greater than the priority of the PUCCH (or PUSCH). In the case where operation 609 returns "No", at least a portion of the UCI included in the PUCCH (or PUSCH) may be transmitted via the UL physical channel selected in operation 607 or 608 in operation 610; otherwise, at least a subset of the selected CG-UCI may be transmitted via the UL physical channel selected in operation 607 or 608 in operation 611.

[0127] Figure 7An example process of UCI communication between UE 701 and BS 702 in one embodiment is shown.

[0128] like Figure 7 As shown in , in the case 704 where the transmission timing of the CG-PUSCH including the CG-UCI and the transmission timing of the PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCI (e.g., HARQACK, CSI, SR, etc.) overlap in time, the UE 701 may receive configuration information 703 associated with the CG-UCI subset to be selected.

[0129] For example, the configuration information 703 may include an indication of one or more information elements to be selected from the CG-UCI, a selection or transmission priority of each CG-UCI element, etc. Then, the UE 701 may select a subset of the CG-UCI based on the received configuration information 703 in operation 705 .

[0130] In addition, in operation 706, UE 701 may select CG-PUSCH including CG-UCI or PUCCH (or PUSCH) including other UCI as the UL physical channel to be transmitted. Examples of operation 706 may include but are not limited to Figure 4 , Figure 5 or Figure 6 The example shown in .

[0131] In addition, in case 707 of enabling or configuring multiplexing, in operation 708, UE 701 may encode the selected subset of CG-UCI jointly or separately with other UCIs and multiplex them on the selected UL physical channel, and may transmit the multiplexed information 709 to BS 702 via the selected UL physical channel. Examples of operation 708 may include, but are not limited to: Figures 1 to 5 Example shown.

[0132] In addition, in the case where multiplexing is disabled or not configured 710, the UE 701 may transmit prioritization information 711 via the selected UL physical channel, examples of which may include but are not limited to: Figure 6 Example operations 605, 610, and 611 are shown.

[0133] Through Figure 7 In the example process shown, UE 701 may transmit to BS 702 a selected subset of CG-UCI in CG-PUSCH and other UCI in PUCCH (or PUSCH) multiplexed on uplink radio resources of a selected UL physical channel, so that, for example, UE COT sharing can be enabled even when CG-PUSCH has a lower priority, HARQ delay can be reduced, and the like.

[0134] It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the above examples. Figure 7 It is shown that UE 701 receives configuration information 703 from BS 702, but in another embodiment, configuration information 703 may be predetermined, for example, it may be negotiated in advance for UE 701 and BS 702. In addition, although configuration information 703 in the above example is related to the selection of a subset of CG-UCI, in another embodiment, configuration information 703 may also be associated with the selection of a subset of UCI included in PUCCH or PUSCH. In yet another embodiment, Figure 7 The BS 702 in FIG. 7 may be replaced by another UE that desires to perform sidelink communication with the UE 701 .

[0135] Figure 8 An example method 800 for prioritizing and multiplexing UCI in one embodiment is shown, which may include operations 801 , 802 , 803 , 804 , and 805 , and may be performed in a UE.

[0136] like Figure 8 As shown in , the example method 800 may include operation 801 of determining whether a first transmission opportunity of a first UL physical channel including a first UCI and a second transmission opportunity of a second UCI physical channel including a second UCI overlap in time.

[0137] In one embodiment, the first UL physical channel may be a CG-PUSCH, the first UCI may be a CG-UCI, the second UL physical channel may be a PUCCH (or PUSCH), and the second UCI may be other UCI included or carried by the PUCCH (or PUSCH), such as one or more of HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc. In another embodiment, the first UL physical channel may be a PUCCH (or PUSCH), the first UCI may be other UCI included or carried by the PUCCH, such as one or more of HARQ ACK, CSI, SR, etc., the second UL physical channel may be a CG-PUSCH, and the second UCI may be a CG-UCI. In yet another embodiment, the first and second UL physical channels may include any other suitable UL physical channels, and the first and second UCI may include any suitable UCI that may be included or carried by the first and second UL-physical channels, respectively.

[0138] In the event that the first transmission opportunity of the first UL physical channel and the second transmission opportunity of the second UL physical channel overlap in time (operation 801 returns "yes"), the example method 800 may proceed to operation 802 to select a subset of the first UCI.

[0139] In some embodiments, the selected subset of the first UCI may include at least one of the COT sharing information and the HPN. For example, the selected subset of the first UCI may have a higher transmission or selection priority among the first UCI.

[0140] In one embodiment, the example method 800 may further include the following operations: receiving configuration information associated with the selection of the subset of the first UCI, for example, receiving the configuration information from the BS or from another UE in the case of sidelink communication, and the UE may perform operation 802 based on the configuration information. In another embodiment, the subset of the first UCI may be selected based on predetermined configuration information associated with the selection of the subset of the first UCI, and the predetermined configuration information may be negotiated and specified in advance for the UE and the BS. For example, the configuration information associated with the selection of the subset of the first UCI may include information such as which information elements to select from the first UCI, how to select the subset of the first UCI (for example, the configuration information may include information about the transmission priority or selection priority of each information element of the first UCI, so that those information elements with higher transmission priority can be selected into the subset), etc.

[0141] Then, if Figure 8 As shown in , in operation 803, a UL physical channel to be transmitted may be selected between the first and second UL physical channels. Examples of operation 803 may include but are not limited to Figures 4 to 6 Example shown.

[0142] In some embodiments, the first UL physical channel may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted, which may also be achieved by, for example, Figure 4 It is illustrated by operations 402 and 403 (the case where CG-PUSCH is selected), or by operation 502 when CG-PUSCH and PUCCH (or PUSCH) are configured on the same LBT subband.

[0143] I'm here too Figures 4 to 6 In some embodiments shown in , the first UL physical channel may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted in at least one of the following cases: when the first and second UL physical channels are configured on substantially the same LBT subband of the UL BWP; when the first and second UL physical channels are configured on different LBT subbands of the UL BWP and the LBT associated with the first UL physical channel is a favorable LBT; when the first UL physical channel has more radio resources available than the second UL physical channel; and when the first UL physical channel is pre-configured as the UL physical channel to be transmitted.

[0144] I'm here too Figures 4 to 6In some embodiments shown in , the second UL physical channel may be selected as the UL physical channel to be transmitted in at least one of the following cases: when the first UL physical channel has a lower priority than the second UL physical channel; when the first and second UL physical channels are configured on different LBT subbands of the UL BWP and the LBT associated with the second UL physical channel is a favorable LBT; when the second UL physical channel has more radio resources available than the first UL physical channel; and when the second UL physical channel is pre-configured as the uplink UL channel to be transmitted.

[0145] For example, a favorable LBT among the listen-before-talk associated with the first UL physical channel and the LBT associated with the second UL physical channel may be determined based on at least one of the channel access priority categories, instantaneous results, potential results, and reliability of the LBT associated with the first UL physical channel and the LBT associated with the second UL physical channel. For example, the LBT of CAT 1 may be more favorable than the LBT of CAT 2, the LBT of CAT 2 may be more favorable than the LBT of CAT 4, and so on.

[0146] In some embodiments, operation 802 may also depend on the UL physical channel selected in operation 803. For example, the selection of the subset of the first UCI may be further based on an available amount of UL radio resources of the selected UL physical channel.

[0147] Then, if Figure 8 As shown in , operation 804 may be performed to check whether multiplexing is enabled. In some embodiments, the UE may determine the enabling of multiplexing in response to receiving configuration information associated with multiplexing, and the configuration information may include information such as an indication of enabling multiplexing and a coding method used in multiplexing. In another embodiment, the UE may determine the enabling or disabling of multiplexing based on an indication or flag specified via another process and / or signaling.

[0148] like Figure 8 As shown in , in the case where multiplexing is enabled (operation 804 returns “yes”), the example method 800 may proceed to operation 805 to multiplex the subset of the first UCI selected in operation 802 with the second UCI on the UL physical channel selected in operation 803.

[0149] In some embodiments, operation 805 may include jointly encoding a subset of the first UCI and a second UCI on a UL radio resource of the selected UL physical channel. In some embodiments, operation 805 may include separately encoding a subset of the first UCI and a second UCI on a UL radio resource of the selected UL physical channel.

[0150] In some embodiments, the example method 800 may further include an operation of transmitting a subset of the first UCI and the second UCI multiplexed on the UL radio resources of the selected UL physical channel. In some embodiments, the example method 800 may further include an operation of transmitting at least a portion of the remaining UL information included in the first UL physical channel via the remaining UL radio resources of the selected UL physical channel after multiplexing, or discarding the at least a portion of the remaining UL information.

[0151] Therefore, through the example method 800, the UE can transmit a selected subset of the first UCI and the second UCI multiplexed on the uplink radio resources of the selected UL physical channel to the BS, so that, for example, UE COT sharing can be enabled even when the first UL physical channel has a lower priority, HARQ delay can be reduced, and the like.

[0152] In another embodiment, Fig. 9 As shown in , in a case where the first transmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity overlap in time and multiplexing is disabled (operation 804 returns "No"), the example method 800 may proceed to operation 901 to transmit at least a portion of the information included in the UL physical channel having a higher priority in the first UL physical channel and the second UL physical channel on the UL physical channel selected in operation 803.

[0153] In this case, examples of operations 803 and 901 may include but are not limited to Figure 6 For example, in operation 901, a UL physical channel having a higher priority among the first and second UL physical channels may be transmitted. In another example, a subset of the first UCI or the second UCI may be transmitted on an uplink radio resource of the selected UL physical channel.

[0154] Fig.10 An example apparatus 1000 for prioritizing and multiplexing UCIs in one embodiment is shown, which may be, for example, Figure 7 At least a portion of such a UE as UE 701 shown in FIG.

[0155] like Fig.10 As shown, the example apparatus 1000 may include at least one processor 1001 and at least one memory 1002 that may include computer program code 1003. The at least one memory 1002 and the computer program code 1003 may be configured to use the at least one processor 1001 together to cause the apparatus 1000 to at least perform the operations of the above-described example method 800.

[0156] In various embodiments, at least one processor 1001 in the example device 1000 may include, but is not limited to, at least one hardware processor, including at least one microprocessor such as a central processing unit (CPU), a portion of at least one hardware processor, and any other suitable dedicated processor, such as a dedicated processor developed based on, for example, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). In addition, the at least one processor 1001 may also include Fig.10 At least one other circuit or element not shown.

[0157] In various embodiments, at least one memory 1002 in the example device 1000 may include at least one storage medium in various forms, such as volatile memory and / or non-volatile memory. Volatile memory may include, but is not limited to, for example, random access memory (RAM), cache, etc. Non-volatile memory may include, but is not limited to, for example, read-only memory (ROM), hard disk, flash memory, etc. In addition, at least memory 1002 may include, but is not limited to, electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, devices or devices, or any combination of the above.

[0158] Furthermore, in various embodiments, the example device 1000 may further include at least one other circuit, element, and interface, such as at least one I / O interface, at least one antenna element, and the like.

[0159] In various embodiments, the circuits, components, elements, and interfaces in the example device 1000 including at least one processor 1001 and at least one memory 1002 may be coupled together in any suitable manner, such as electrically, magnetically, optically, electromagnetically, etc., via any suitable connection including but not limited to buses, cross switches, wiring, and / or wireless lines.

[0160] Fig.11 Another example device 1100 for prioritizing and multiplexing UCIs in one embodiment is shown, which may be, for example, Figure 7 The UE 701 shown is at least a portion of such a UE.

[0161] like Fig.11As shown in , the example device 1100 may include, for example, a device 1101 for performing operation 802 when a first transmission opportunity of a first UL physical channel of a first UCI and a second transmission opportunity of a second UCI physical channel including a second UCI overlap in time, a device 1102 for performing operation 803, and a device 1103 for performing operation 805. In one or more further embodiments, at least one I / O interface, at least one antenna element, etc. may also be included in the example device 1100. In some embodiments, examples of devices in the device 1100 may include circuits. In some embodiments, examples of devices may also include software modules and any other suitable functional entities. In some embodiments, the device 1100 may include one or more additional devices for performing one or more additional operations of the example method 800, such as a device for performing operation 901.

[0162] The term "circuitry" throughout this disclosure may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only implementations of the circuit (such as implementations in analog and / or digital circuits only); (b) combinations of hardware circuitry and software, such as (where applicable): (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry and software / firmware, and (ii) a hardware processor with software (including a digital signal processor), any portion of software and memory that work together to enable a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions); and (c) a hardware circuit and / or processor, such as a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor, that requires software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but the software may not be present when the software is not required to operate. This definition of circuitry applies to one or all uses of the term in this disclosure, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this disclosure, the term circuitry also encompasses implementations of hardware circuitry or a processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or networking device.

[0163] Fig.12 An example method 1200 is shown for prioritization and multiplexing of UCI in one embodiment, which may be performed in a BS or another UE (eg, in the case of sidelink communications) to cooperate with the example method 800 .

[0164] like Fig.12As shown in , the example method 1200 may include an operation 1201 of receiving information on a first UL physical channel or a second UL physical channel. For example, in a case where a first reception opportunity of a first UL physical channel including a first UCI and a second reception opportunity of a second UL physical channel including a second UCI overlap in time and multiplexing is enabled, the information received in operation 1201 may include a subset of the first UCI and the second UCI multiplexed on a UL radio resource of the first or second UL physical channel, which subset may be multiplexed and transmitted by the UE based on the example method 800, for example.

[0165] There may be situations where the BS does not actually know which of the first and second UL physical channels the UE will use to transmit the information. Fig.12 As shown in , the example method 1200 may also include an operation 1202 for monitoring two UL physical channels. For example, in operation 1202, the BS may attempt to decode on two UL physical channels.

[0166] In some embodiments, the example method 1200 may further include an operation of transmitting configuration information associated with the selection of the subset of the first UCI. For example, the configuration information may be transmitted to one or more UEs via a broadcast downlink channel or via a downlink channel. In some embodiments, the subset of the first UCI may include at least one of the COT sharing information and the HPN. In some embodiments, the subset of the first UCI has a higher transmission priority in the first UCI.

[0167] Fig.13 An example apparatus 1300 for prioritizing and multiplexing UCI in one embodiment is shown, which may be at least a portion of a BS (eg, Figure 7 The BS 702 shown) or at least a portion of another UE (e.g., in the case of sidelink communication).

[0168] like Fig.13 As shown in , the example apparatus 1300 may include at least one processor 1301 and at least one memory 1302 which may include computer program code 1303. The at least one memory 1302 and the computer program code 1303 may be configured to use the at least one processor 1301 to cause the apparatus 1300 to at least perform the operations of the example method 1200 described above.

[0169] In various embodiments, at least one processor 1301 in the example device 1300 may include, but is not limited to, at least one hardware processor, including at least one microprocessor such as a CPU, a portion of at least one hard processor, and any other suitable special-purpose processor, such as a special-purpose processor developed based on, for example, FPGA and ASIC. In addition, at least one processor 1301 may also include Fig.13 At least one other circuit or element not shown.

[0170] In various embodiments, at least one memory 1302 in the example apparatus 1300 may include at least one storage medium in various forms, such as volatile memory and / or non-volatile memory. Volatile memory may include, but is not limited to, for example, RAM, cache, etc. Non-volatile storage may include, but is not limited to, for example, ROM, hard disk, flash memory, etc. In addition, at least the memory 1302 may include, but is not limited to, electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared or semiconductor systems, devices, or devices or any combination of the above.

[0171] Furthermore, in various embodiments, the example device 1300 may further include at least one other circuit, element, and interface, such as at least one I / O interface, at least one antenna element, and the like.

[0172] In various embodiments, the circuits, components, elements, and interfaces in the example device 1300 including at least one processor 1301 and at least one memory 1302 may be coupled together in any suitable manner, such as electrically, magnetically, optically, electromagnetically, etc., via any suitable connection including but not limited to buses, cross switches, wiring, and / or wireless lines.

[0173] Fig.14 Another example device 1400 for prioritizing and multiplexing UCI in one embodiment is shown, which may be at least a portion of a BS (eg, Figure 7 The BS 702 shown) or at least a portion of another UE (e.g., in the case of sidelink communication).

[0174] like Fig.14 As shown in , the example device 1400 may include means 1401 for performing operation 1201. In one or more other embodiments, at least one I / O interface, at least one antenna element, etc. may also be included in the example device 1400. In some embodiments, examples of means in the device 1400 may include circuits. In some embodiments, examples of means may also include software modules and any other suitable functional entities. In some embodiments, the device 1400 may include one or more additional means for performing one or more additional operations of the example method 1200, such as means 1402 for performing operation 1202.

[0175] Another example embodiment may involve computer program code or instructions that cause an apparatus to perform at least each of the above methods. Another example embodiment may involve a computer readable medium having such computer program code or instructions stored thereon. In some embodiments, such a computer readable medium may include at least one storage medium in various forms such as volatile memory and / or non-volatile memory. Volatile memory may include, but is not limited to, for example, RAM, cache, etc. Non-volatile memory may include, but is not limited to, ROM, hard disk, flash memory, etc. Non-volatile memory may also include, but is not limited to, electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared or semiconductor systems, devices, or equipment or any combination of the above.

[0176] It should be understood that the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the above examples. For example, the operations shown in the above examples may be performed in another order. For example, operation 803 may be performed before operation 802. In addition, the conditions to be checked in the above examples may be changed to another one or more equivalent conditions. For example, operation 501 may be modified to check whether CG-PUSCH and PUCCH (or PUSCH) are configured on different LBT subbands, and subsequent operations may be adjusted or modified accordingly.

[0177] In addition, it is understood that modifiers such as "first" and "second" are intended to distinguish between different elements, operations, information, etc., rather than to emphasize importance or order.

[0178] Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the specification and claims, the words "comprise", "including", etc. should be interpreted in an inclusive sense rather than an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is, in the sense of "including but not limited to". As generally used herein, the word "coupled" refers to two or more elements that can be directly connected or connected through one or more intermediate elements. Similarly, as generally used herein, the word "connected" refers to two or more elements that can be directly connected or connected through one or more intermediate elements. In addition, when used in this application, the words "herein", "above", "below" and words with similar meanings should refer to the entirety of this application, rather than any particular part of this application. Where the context permits, words used in the singular or plural in the specification may also include the plural or singular, respectively. The word "or" refers to a list of two or more items, and the word covers all the following interpretations of the word: any, all items in the list, and any combination of items in the list.

[0179] Furthermore, conditional language used herein, such as "may," "could," "may," "example," "for example," "such as," and the like, unless otherwise specifically noted or otherwise understood in the context of use, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include and other embodiments do not include certain features, elements, and / or states. Thus, such conditional language generally does not imply that features, elements, and / or states are in any way required by one or more embodiments, or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for determining, with or without author input or prompting, whether such features, elements, or states are included or will be performed in any particular embodiment.

[0180] Although some embodiments have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In fact, the devices, methods, and systems described herein may be embodied in various other forms; in addition, various omissions, substitutions, and changes may be made to the forms of the methods and systems described herein without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. For example, although the blocks are presented in a given arrangement, alternative embodiments may utilize different components and / or circuit topologies to perform similar functions, and may delete, move, add, subdivide, combine, and / or modify some blocks. At least one of these blocks may be implemented in a variety of different ways. The order of these blocks may also be changed. Any appropriate combination of the elements and actions of some of the above-described embodiments may be combined to provide further embodiments. The attached claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications that fall within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A device for communication, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: In a case where a first transmission opportunity of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second transmission opportunity of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time, and the first uplink physical channel has a lower priority than the second uplink physical channel, selecting a subset of said first uplink control information, selecting an uplink physical channel to be transmitted between the first and the second uplink physical channels, and where multiplexing is enabled, multiplexing a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on a selected uplink radio resource of the uplink physical channel; wherein the subset of the first uplink control information has a higher transmission priority in the first downlink control information; wherein the subset of the first uplink control information is selected further based on an available amount of the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel; The first uplink control information includes configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum, the first uplink physical channel includes a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel, and the second uplink physical channel includes at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: Configuration information associated with selection of the subset of the first uplink control information is received.

3. The device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The subset of the first uplink control information includes at least one of channel occupancy time sharing information and a hybrid automatic repeat request process number.

4. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: The first uplink physical channel is selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein: In at least one of the following cases, the first uplink physical channel is selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted: in a case where the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on substantially the same listen-before-talk subband of the uplink bandwidth portion; in case the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on different listen-before-talk subbands of the uplink bandwidth portion, and the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel is a favorable listen-before-talk; In a case where the first uplink physical channel has more radio resources available than the second uplink physical channel; as well as In a case where the first uplink physical channel is preconfigured as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

6. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: The second uplink physical channel is selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein: In at least one of the following cases, the second uplink physical channel is selected as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted: in case the first and second uplink physical channels are configured on different listen-before-talk subbands of the uplink bandwidth portion, and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel is a favorable listen-before-talk; in case that the second uplink physical channel has more radio resources available than the first uplink physical channel; as well as In a case where the second uplink physical channel is preconfigured as the uplink physical channel to be transmitted.

8. The device according to claim 5 or 7, wherein: The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: Based on at least one of the channel access priority categories, instantaneous results, potential results and reliability of the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel, the advantageous listen-before-talk between the listen-before-talk associated with the first uplink physical channel and the listen-before-talk associated with the second uplink physical channel is determined.

9. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein: The multiplexing includes: jointly encoding a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on the uplink radio resource of the selected uplink physical channel; or A subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information are respectively encoded on different portions of the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel.

10. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein: The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: A subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information multiplexed on an uplink radio resource of the selected uplink physical channel are transmitted.

11. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein: The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: In the case where the first transmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity overlap in time and the multiplexing is disabled, transmitting an uplink physical channel having a higher priority among the first and second uplink physical channels, or A subset of the first uplink control information or the second uplink control information is transmitted on the uplink radio resource of the selected uplink physical channel.

12. An apparatus for communication, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: In a case where a first reception timing of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second reception timing of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time, and the first uplink physical channel has a lower priority than the second uplink physical channel, receiving a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information multiplexed on an uplink radio resource of the first or second uplink physical channel if multiplexing is enabled; wherein the subset of the first uplink control information has a higher transmission priority in the first downlink control information; wherein the subset of the first uplink control information is selected further based on an available amount of the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel; The first uplink control information includes configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum, the first uplink physical channel includes a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel, and the second uplink physical channel includes at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein: The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: Configuration information associated with selection of the subset of the first uplink control information is transmitted.

14. The device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein: The subset of the first uplink control information includes at least one of channel occupancy time sharing information and a hybrid automatic repeat request process number.

15. A method for communication, comprising: In a case where a first transmission opportunity of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second transmission opportunity of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time, and the first uplink physical channel has a lower priority than the second uplink physical channel, selecting a subset of said first uplink control information, selecting an uplink physical channel to be transmitted among the first and second uplink physical channels, and where multiplexing is enabled, multiplexing a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on a selected uplink radio resource of the uplink physical channel; wherein the subset of the first uplink control information has a higher transmission priority in the first downlink control information; wherein the subset of the first uplink control information is selected further based on an available amount of the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel; The first uplink control information includes configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum, the first uplink physical channel includes a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel, and the second uplink physical channel includes at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

16. A method for communication, comprising: In a case where a first reception timing of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second reception timing of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time, and the first uplink physical channel has a lower priority than the second uplink physical channel, receiving a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information multiplexed on an uplink radio resource of the first or second uplink physical channel in a case where multiplexing is enabled wherein the subset of the first uplink control information has a higher transmission priority in the first downlink control information; wherein the subset of the first uplink control information is selected further based on an available amount of the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel; The first uplink control information includes configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum, the first uplink physical channel includes a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel, and the second uplink physical channel includes at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

17. A computer-readable storage medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a device used for communication, cause the device to: In a case where a first transmission opportunity of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second transmission opportunity of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time, and the first uplink physical channel has a lower priority than the second uplink physical channel, selecting a subset of said first uplink control information, selecting an uplink physical channel to be transmitted between the first and the second uplink physical channels, and where multiplexing is enabled, multiplexing a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information on a selected uplink radio resource of the uplink physical channel; in, The subset of the first uplink control information has a higher transmission priority in the first downlink control information; wherein the subset of the first uplink control information is selected further based on an available amount of the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel; The first uplink control information includes configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum, the first uplink physical channel includes a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel, and the second uplink physical channel includes at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

18. A computer-readable storage medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a device used for communication, cause the device to: In a case where a first reception timing of a first uplink physical channel including first uplink control information and a second reception timing of a second uplink physical channel including second uplink control information overlap in time, and the first uplink physical channel has a lower priority than the second uplink physical channel, receiving a subset of the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information multiplexed on an uplink radio resource of the first or second uplink physical channel if multiplexing is enabled; in, The subset of the first uplink control information has a higher transmission priority in the first downlink control information; wherein the subset of the first uplink control information is selected further based on an available amount of the uplink radio resources of the selected uplink physical channel; The first uplink control information includes configured authorized uplink control information associated with an unlicensed spectrum, the first uplink physical channel includes a configured authorized physical uplink shared channel, and the second uplink physical channel includes at least one of a physical uplink control channel and a physical uplink shared channel.

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