Uplink Data Transmission in Wireless Communication

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) performs an uplink (UL) transmission to a network. The UE receives a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) configuration from the network, the FDRA configuration including at least one of a first FDRA mode or a second FDRA mode, where the first FDRA mode utilizes an FDRA unit including a set of consecutive resource blocks (RBs) and the second FDRA mode utilizes an FDRA unit including a set of interleaved RBs; when both the first FDRA mode and the second FDRA mode are configured, the UE receives a signal indicating which of the two FDRA modes will be used for the uplink (UL) transmission; and performs the UL transmission according to the indicated FDRA mode.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application generally relates to wireless communication and, more particularly, to uplink data transmission in wireless communication. Background Art

[0002] In current New Radio (NR) designs, the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain is limited to one Physical Resource Block (PRB). For unlicensed operation, maximum power spectral density (PSD) requirements exist in many different regions. The meaning of the PSD requirements at the physical layer is that, without proper design, signals with small transmission bandwidths will be limited in terms of transmission power. This can adversely affect the coverage of the operation.

[0003] For NR operation in the 52.6 to 71 GHz range, the impact of phase noise on NR operation in this frequency range can be more significant than those in FR2 for NR operation. The subcarrier spacing (SCS) can be increased to 480 kHz while balancing the Common Phase Error (CPE) and Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) effects. Current UL transmission schemes may not ensure sufficient UL coverage for power boost operations. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Some exemplary embodiments relate to a processor configured to perform operations. The operations include: receiving a Frequency Domain Resource Allocation (FDRA) configuration from a network, the FDRA configuration including at least one of a first FDRA mode or a second FDRA mode, where the first FDRA mode utilizes an FDRA unit including a set of contiguous Resource Blocks (RBs) and the second FDRA mode utilizes an FDRA unit including a set of interleaved RBs; when both the first FDRA mode and the second FDRA mode are configured, receiving a signal indicating which of the two FDRA modes will be used for uplink (UL) transmission; and performing UL transmission according to the indicated FDRA mode.

[0005] Other exemplary embodiments relate to a User Equipment (UE) having: a transceiver configured to connect to a base station; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform operations. The operations include: receiving a Frequency Domain Resource Allocation (FDRA) configuration from the base station, the FDRA configuration including at least one of a first FDRA mode or a second FDRA mode, where the first FDRA mode utilizes an FDRA unit including a set of contiguous Resource Blocks (RBs) and the second FDRA mode utilizes an FDRA unit including a set of interleaved RBs; when both the first FDRA mode and the second FDRA mode are configured, receiving a signal indicating which of the two FDRA modes will be used for uplink (UL) transmission; and performing UL transmission according to the indicated FDRA mode.

[0006] Another exemplary embodiment relates to a processor configured to perform operations. The operations include: receiving a configuration for measuring downlink (DL) path loss on a reference signal (RS) for each of a plurality of configured component carriers (CCs); measuring the DL path loss on the RS for each of the CCs; and performing a power headroom report (PHR) for a CC associated with an active beam for uplink (UL) transmission. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] Figure 1 An exemplary network arrangement in accordance with various exemplary embodiments is shown.

[0008] Figure 2 An exemplary UE in accordance with various exemplary embodiments is shown.

[0009] Figure 3 An exemplary network cell in accordance with various exemplary embodiments is shown.

[0010] Figure 4 An exemplary frequency-domain resource allocation (FDRA) structure based on an example subcarrier block (SCB) in accordance with various exemplary embodiments is shown.

[0011] Figure 5 An exemplary DCI format for dynamically indicating an FDRA mode to be used for uplink transmission in accordance with various exemplary embodiments is shown.

[0012] Figure 6 A method for configuring a frequency-domain resource allocation (FDRA) mode for uplink (UL) transmission in accordance with various exemplary embodiments is shown.

[0013] Figure 7 An exemplary downlink (DL) path loss measurement operation for a user equipment (UE) in accordance with various exemplary embodiments is provided.

[0014] Figure 8 An exemplary CC group-related power headroom report operation based on an associated UL beam configuration in accordance with various exemplary embodiments is shown.

[0015] Figure 9 A method for power headroom report (PHR) in accordance with various exemplary embodiments is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] Exemplary embodiments can be further understood with reference to the following description and the related drawings, where like elements are assigned the same reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments describe systems and methods for uplink (UL) data transmission in a frequency range above FR2 (e.g., in the range of 52.6 to 71 GHz). Due to the impact of phase noise on NR operations in the 52.6 to 71 GHz frequency range, an interleaved frequency-domain resource allocation (FDRA) pattern can be used for UL transmission to ensure UL coverage through power boost operations. The exemplary embodiments also describe operations for signaling the FDRA pattern to be used by a UE and power control operations such as power headroom reporting (PHR) using the interleaved FDRA pattern.

[0017] It should be understood that although the exemplary embodiments are described with respect to 5G NR operations in the 52.6 to 71 GHz frequency range, the exemplary embodiments are not limited to these conditions. The principles described herein for the exemplary embodiments can be applied to other frequency ranges (e.g., above or below the exemplary frequency range) and can also be applied to other types of wireless networks (e.g., other types of cellular or non-cellular wireless networks).

[0018] Network / Device

[0019] Figure 1 An exemplary network arrangement 100 is shown in accordance with various exemplary embodiments. The exemplary network arrangement 100 includes a plurality of UEs 110, 112. Those skilled in the art will understand that a UE can be any type of electronic component configured to communicate via a network, e.g., components of a connected vehicle, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a phablet, an embedded device, a wearable device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc. It should also be understood that an actual network arrangement can include any number of UEs used by any number of users. Thus, the example with two UEs 110, 112 is provided for illustrative purposes only. In some of the exemplary embodiments described below, UE groups can be employed to perform corresponding channel measurements.

[0020] UEs 110, 112 can communicate directly with one or more networks. In the example of network configuration 100, the networks with which UEs 110, 112 can communicate wirelessly are 5G NR Radio Access Network (5G NR-RAN) 120, LTE Radio Access Network (LTE-RAN) 122, and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) 124. Thus, UEs 110, 112 can include a 5G NR chipset for communicating with 5G NR-RAN 120, an LTE chipset for communicating with LTE-RAN 122, and an ISM chipset for communicating with WLAN 124. However, UEs 110, 112 can also communicate with other types of networks (e.g., traditional cellular networks), and UE 110 can also communicate with a network via a wired connection. Referring to the exemplary embodiments, UEs 110, 112 can establish a connection with 5G NR-RAN 120 and / or LTE-RAN 122.

[0021] 5G NR-RAN 120 and LTE-RAN 122 can be parts of cellular networks that can be deployed by cellular providers (e.g., Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.). These networks 120, 122 can include, for example, cells or base stations (NodeB, eNodeB, HeNB, eNBS, gNB, gNodeB, macro cell base stations, micro cell base stations, small cell base stations, femto cell base stations, etc.) that are configured to send and receive traffic from UEs equipped with appropriate cellular chipsets. WLAN 124 can include any type of wireless local area network (WiFi, hotspots, IEEE 802.11x networks, etc.).

[0022] UEs 110, 112 can be connected to 5GNR-RAN 120 via at least one of next-generation node B (gNB) 120A and / or gNB 120B. The reference to the two gNBs 120A, 120B is for illustrative purposes only. The exemplary embodiments can be applied to any appropriate number of gNBs. For example, UEs 110, 112 can be connected to and exchange data with multiple gNBs simultaneously in a multi-cell CA configuration. UEs 110, 112 can also be connected to LTE-RAN 122 via either or both of eNBs 122A, 122B, or to any other type of RAN as described above. In network arrangement 100, UE 110 is shown as having a connection to gNB 120A, while UE 112 is shown as having a connection to gNB 120B.

[0023] In addition to networks 120, 122, and 124, network arrangement 100 further includes a cellular core network 130, the Internet 140, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) 150, and a network service backbone 160. The cellular core network 130 (e.g., 5GC of NR) can be regarded as an interconnected collection of components that manage the operations and traffic of a cellular network. The cellular core network 130 also manages the traffic flowing between the cellular network and the Internet 140.

[0024] IMS 150 can generally be described as an architecture for delivering multimedia services to UE 110 using IP protocols. IMS 150 can communicate with the cellular core network 130 and the Internet 140 to provide multimedia services to UE 110. The network service backbone 160 communicates directly or indirectly with the Internet 140 and the cellular core network 130. The network service backbone 160 can generally be described as a set of components (e.g., servers, network storage arrangements, etc.) that implement a set of services that can be used to extend the functions for UE 110 to communicate with various networks.

[0025] Figure 2 An exemplary UE 110 is shown in accordance with various exemplary embodiments. UE 110 will be described with reference to Figure 1 network arrangement 100. UE 110 can represent any electronic device and can include a processor 205, a memory arrangement 210, a display device 215, an input / output (I / O) device 220, a transceiver 225, and other components 230. Other components 230 can include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery providing a limited power source, a data acquisition device, a port for electrically connecting UE 110 to other electronic devices, a sensor for detecting the condition of UE 110, etc. Figure 2 The illustrated UE 110 can also represent UE 112.

[0026] Processor 205 can be configured to execute multiple engines of UE 110. For example, the engine can include an FDRA engine 235 for performing operations that include receiving an FDRA configuration from a network for at least one FDRA mode and performing UL transmissions based on the network configuration, which will be described in detail below. The engine can also include a power control engine 240 for performing operations that include measuring a DL reference signal (RS) to estimate DL path loss and performing a power headroom report (PHR) to notify the network of the PH of the component carrier of the active beam, which will be described in detail below.

[0027] The above-mentioned engine, as an application program (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 205, is merely exemplary. The functions associated with the engine can also be represented as independent integrated components of the UE 110, or can be modular components coupled to the UE 110, e.g., an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit can include an input circuit system for receiving signals and a processing circuit system for processing signals and other information. The engine can also be embodied as one application program or separate multiple application programs. Additionally, in some UEs, the functionality described for the processor 205 is shared among two or more processors such as a baseband processor and an application processor. The exemplary embodiments can be implemented according to any of these or other configurations of the UE.

[0028] The memory 210 can be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the UE 110. The display device 215 can be a hardware component configured to display data to the user, while the I / O device 220 can be a hardware component that enables the user to make inputs. The display device 215 and the I / O device 220 can be separate components or can be integrated together (such as a touch screen). The transceiver 225 can be a hardware component configured to establish connections with the 5G-NR RAN 120, LTE RAN 122, etc. Thus, the transceiver 225 can operate on various different frequencies or channels (e.g., a continuous frequency band). For example, when NR-U is configured, for example, the transceiver 225 can operate on unlicensed spectrum.

[0029] Figure 3 An exemplary network cell is shown according to various exemplary embodiments, in this example, the gNB 120A. As described above with reference to the UE 110, the gNB 120A can represent a cell that provides services as a PCell or SCell or is independently configured with the UE 110. The gNB 120A can represent any access node of the 5G NR network through which the UEs 110, 112 can establish connections and manage network operations. Figure 3 The shown gNB 120A can also represent the gNB 120B.

[0030] The gNB 120A can include a processor 305, a memory arrangement 310, an input / output (I / O) device 320, a transceiver 325, and other components 330. The other components 330 can include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery, a data acquisition device, a port for electrically connecting the gNB 120A to other electronic devices, etc.

[0031] The processor 305 may be configured to execute multiple engines of the gNB 120A. For example, the engines may include an FDRA engine 335 for performing operations including configuring at least one FDRA mode for a UE and signaling the FDRA mode for UL transmission to the UE, which will be described in detail below. The engines may also include a power control engine 340 for performing operations including configuring an RS for the UE to perform DL path loss measurement and receiving a PHR from the UE.

[0032] The above engines, each as an application (e.g., program) executed by the processor 305, are merely exemplary. The functions associated with the engines may also be represented as stand-alone integrated components of the gNB 120A, or may be modular components coupled to the gNB 120A, e.g., integrated circuits with or without firmware. For example, an integrated circuit may include an input circuitry for receiving signals and a processing circuitry for processing the signals and other information. Additionally, in some gNBs, the functions described for the processor 305 are split among multiple processors (e.g., a baseband processor, an application processor, etc.). The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of the gNB.

[0033] The memory 310 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the UEs 110, 112. The I / O device 320 may be a hardware component or port that enables a user to interact with the gNB 120A. The transceiver 325 may be a hardware component configured to exchange data with the UEs 110, 112 and any other UEs in the system 100. The transceiver 325 may operate at various different frequencies or channels (e.g., a set of contiguous frequencies). Thus, the transceiver 325 may include one or more components (e.g., radio components) to enable data exchange with various networks and UEs.

[0034] FDRA Mode

[0035] In the current NR design, the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain is limited to one physical resource block (PRB). For unlicensed operation, maximum power spectral density (PSD) requirements exist in many different regions. PSD is a measure of signal power as a function of frequency. In most cases, the maximum PSD requirement is specified with a resolution bandwidth of 1 MHz. The meaning of the PSD requirement in the physical layer design is that, without proper design, signals with a small transmission bandwidth will be limited in terms of transmission power. This may adversely affect the coverage of the operation. For example, the maximum PSD requirement is a requirement to change the binding conditions for UL transmission in the unlicensed spectrum.

[0036] For NR operations in the 52.6 to 71 GHz frequency range, the impact of phase noise on NR operations in this frequency range can be more significant than those on NR operations in FR2. The subcarrier spacing (SCS) can be increased to 480 kHz while balancing the common phase error (CPE) and inter-symbol interference (ISI) effects. Although a single PRB with 480 kHz SCS spans 480 x 12 = 5.76 MHz, it is still necessary to support interleaved transmission to ensure sufficient UL coverage for power boosting operations.

[0037] According to some aspects of the present disclosure, different frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) modes can be defined for uplink (UL) transmission. In the first FDRA mode, the minimum basic FDRA unit includes a set of "K1" consecutive resource blocks (RBs), where K1 is a function of the maximum PSD and the requirements of the subcarrier spacing, K1 = f(PSD, SCS). The bitmap for signaling the configuration of the first mode, which will be discussed in further detail below, has a size P Mode1 = [N BWP / K1], where N BWP is the number of bandwidth parts (BWPs) allocated for UL transmission.

[0038] In the second FDRA mode, the interleaved structure allows the UE to occupy every 1 MHz with at least one subcarrier block (SCB) and utilize the maximum transmission power, thus improving UL coverage. The minimum transmission unit is an interleaving that includes "M" adjacent subcarriers (one SCB) in each occupied physical resource block (PRB), and this interleaving spans the bandwidth of "N" PRBs. The SCB with M subcarriers is equally spaced in the frequency domain among the "N" occupied PRBs. In various designs, M can be equal to (for example) 1, 3, 6, or 12, which can be configured by the gNB or signaled dynamically by the scheduling downlink control information (DCI) format, depending on (for example) the size of the scheduled transport block for a given scheduling opportunity. In other exemplary embodiments, separate M values can be configured by higher layer parameters for different UL channels (e.g., physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)). Multiple interleavings of SCBs can be defined, where each interleaving k ∈ {0, 1,..., K2 - 1} includes SCBs {0, K2 + k, 2K2 + k, 3K2 + k...}, where K2 is the number of interleavings in the FDRA unit and depends on the SCS. The relationship between the interleaving and the interleaving k and the RB index is determined by determined.

[0039] Figure 4FIG. 400 shows an example subcarrier block (SCB)-based frequency-domain resource allocation (FDRA) structure according to various exemplary embodiments. The FDRA structure 400 pertains to the second FDRA mode discussed above, including assuming K2 = 8 and M = 3, where K2 is the number of interleavings in the smallest FDRA unit (depending on the SCS) and M is the number of adjacent subcarriers in an SCB. The inter-SCB distance between two consecutive SCBs is 11.52 MHz >> 1 MHz.

[0040] As Figure 4 shown, the BWP 405 allocated for UL transmission includes a plurality of subbands 410, each subband including a plurality of PRBs 415. In the exemplary FDRA structure 400, each PRB 415 includes four subcarrier blocks (SCBs) 420, each SCB including M = 3 consecutive subcarriers. A given SCB 420 corresponds to one of the 8 interleavings. Thus, a given interleaving (e.g., interleaving 0) includes 7 PRB intervals between the interleavings.

[0041] When SCB-based interleaved FDRA is indicated, the FDRA field includes a first subfield for the subband indicator that provides subband allocation information to indicate the start and number of consecutive subbands using either a bitmap method or a start and length indicator value (SLIV)-based method. The FDRA field also includes a second subfield for the interleaving allocation, which can also be indicated based on either a bitmap method or SLIV-based signaling.

[0042] Various methods can be considered for FDRA mode signaling. In a first method, one of the two FDRA modes can be configured by a higher layer. For example, the FDRA mode can be provided in the system information block (SIB) and applied to all UEs in the cell. Alternatively, the FDRA mode can be explicitly configured on a per-UE basis via dedicated RRC signaling. In some designs, a UE can be configured with the first FDRA mode when large packet sizes are expected relative to the currently running application. Additionally, in some designs, when smaller packet sizes are expected, the UE can be configured with the second FDRA mode to utilize the maximum transmission power without violating the regional PSD requirements.

[0043] In a second method, if both the first and second modes are configured for a UE, the mode indicator (MI) field in the scheduling DCI format can be used to indicate the FDRA mode for frequency-domain resource allocation. In one example, a 1-bit MI field can be introduced, where a bit value of 0 indicates the first FDRA mode and a bit value of 1 indicates the second FDRA mode. The first FDRA mode or the second FDRA mode can be indicated by using the most significant bit (MSB). The number of bits for resource allocation is determined as Max(P Mode1 ,PMode2 ), where P Mode1 , P Mode2 are the number of bits determined for the first FDRA mode and the second FDRA mode, respectively.

[0044] Figure 5 Exemplary DCI format 500 for dynamically indicating the FDRA mode to be used for uplink transmission according to various exemplary embodiments is shown. When both the first FDRA mode and the second FDRA mode are configured for a UE, DCI format 500 can be used. DCI format 500 includes a mode indicator (MI) field 505 and an FDRA field 510. When signaling the first FDRA mode, a bitmap 515 can be used in the FDRA field 510 according to the bitmap size P Mode1 as described above. When signaling the second FDRA mode, a sub - band indicator field 520 and an interleaved allocation field 525 can be used in the FDRA field 510 according to the bitmap size P Mode2 as described above. The sub - band indicator field 520 and the interleaved allocation field 525 can use a bitmap method or a SLIV - based method.

[0045] Figure 6 Method 600 for configuring a frequency - domain resource allocation (FDRA) mode for uplink (UL) transmission according to various exemplary embodiments is shown. At 605, the gNB configures the UE with at least one of the first FDRA mode or the second FDRA mode. As described above, the first FDRA mode utilizes an FDRA unit including a set of consecutive RBs, while the second FDRA mode utilizes interleaved FDRA units. The gNB can configure one or both FDRA modes via higher - layer signaling.

[0046] At 610, when both the first mode and the second mode are configured for the UE, the gNB signals the UE to use either the first FDRA mode or the second FDRA mode for UL transmission. A scheduling DCI format including, for example, an MI field can be used to indicate the mode. Depending on the signaled mode, the DCI format can include a resource allocation bitmap (for the first mode) or both a sub - band indicator field and an interleaved allocation field, which can use either a bitmap or a SLIV - based method.

[0047] At 615, when the first FDRA mode is configured, the UE performs UL transmission according to the first FDRA mode. At 620, when the second FDRA mode is configured, the UE performs UL transmission according to the second FDRA mode.

[0048] Power Control for UL Transmission

[0049] According to some exemplary embodiments, a UE may perform power control for uplink (UL) transmissions based on downlink (DL) path loss estimation. The UE may be configured by a higher layer to use reference signal (RS) resources from a system synchronization block (SSB) (e.g., a synchronization signal (SS) or a physical broadcast channel (PBCH)) to estimate the DL path loss for power control on the UL. In some exemplary embodiments, the RSs that may be configured for path loss estimation are limited to CSI-RS or SSB transmitted within a discovery RS window. The path loss measurement may be a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement on the RS.

[0050] Regardless of the result of the listen-before-talk (LBT) operation performed across component carriers (CCs), for the RSRP DL path loss measurement, the UE may assume that the energy per resource element (EPRE) of the configured RS / SSB is constant across the transmission bandwidth and constant across all time slots. If different configuration information is received, corresponding averaging operations may be performed on the UE side to improve the accuracy of path loss estimation.

[0051] Figure 7 An exemplary downlink (DL) path loss measurement operation 700 for a user equipment (UE) according to various exemplary embodiments is provided. The exemplary operation 700 includes four component carriers (CCs) 705, namely CC0 705a, CC1 705b, CC2 705c, and CC3 705d. Three discovery reference symbol (DRS) windows 710 are shown, such as DRS window 710a, 710b, and 710c. Before the gNB transmits the RS (e.g., SSB or CSI-RS) for path loss measurement, an LBT operation is first performed. When the LBT operation is successful, the RS is transmitted.

[0052] In the exemplary operation 700, the LBT operation fails on CC1 705b during DRS window 710b, fails on CC2 705c during DRS window 710c, and fails on CC3 705d during DRS windows 710b and 710c. Although the number of CCs passing the LBT operation varies across the DRS windows 710, the transmission power of the RS transmission on CC0 705a is kept constant by the gNB, such that averaging operations may be performed on the measurements of these RS resources on the UE side. The power is not fully utilized in DRS windows 710b and 710c on the gNB side because power boosting is not allowed to maintain a constant power.

[0053] The Power Headroom Report (PHR) is used to indicate how much transmission power the UE has remaining for use, taking into account the power used for UL transmission. To report the PH, in a first step, the uplink CCs are divided into a set of groups based on the associated UL beam index. The CC grouping information can be reported as part of the UE capabilities or determined implicitly based on some predefined rules. As an example, CCs in the same frequency band can be grouped into one CC group.

[0054] In a second step, for PHR reporting, the UE can include only the octets containing the power headroom field and for the CCs or serving cells in the same group as the active / scheduled UL beam. CMAX,f,c Accordingly, when there are fewer than 8 active UL beams in the serving cell, a single octet bitmap can be used to indicate the presence of the PH for each serving cell, otherwise four octets are used.

[0055] Figure 8 FIG. 800 shows an exemplary CC group-related power headroom reporting operation based on an associated UL beam configuration according to various exemplary embodiments. In the exemplary operation 800, the UE is transmitting on six component carriers 805 and is capable of transmitting three beams 810 in a time-division multiplexing (TDM) manner, where beam 810a covers CC0 805a and CC1 805b, beam 810b covers CC2 805c and CC3 805d, and beam 810c covers CC4 805e and CC5 805f. Based on the exemplary embodiments described herein, if the PHR is triggered and the PUSCH is transmitted on CC0 805a or CC1 805b (associated with the active beam 810a), and the remaining CCs 805 of the deactivated beams 810b and 810c are not reported, the UE reports only the PHs of CC0 805a and CC1 805b, rather than reporting the PHs of all active CCs.

[0056] Figure 9 FIG. 900 shows a method 900 for power headroom reporting (PHR) according to various exemplary embodiments. In 905, the UE is configured by the gNB to use RS resources to estimate the DL path loss. As described above, the RS can be, for example, CSI-RS or SS from the SSB.

[0057] In 910, the UE performs DL path loss measurements on the configured CCs. When multiple estimates are performed across multiple time slots, an averaging operation can be used. In some examples, the LBT operation for a given CC for a given time slot may fail, but the UE can assume that the EPRE of the configured RS is constant across the transmission bandwidth and across all time slots.

[0058] In 915, the UE performs a PHR for the CC associated with the active beam used for UL transmission. The CCs covered by a given beam can be grouped such that only the group of CCs associated with the active UL beam can be reported in the PHR.

[0059] Those skilled in the art will understand that the above-described exemplary embodiments can be implemented in any suitable software configuration or hardware configuration or a combination thereof. Exemplary hardware platforms for implementing the exemplary embodiments can include, for example, an Intel x86-based platform with a compatible operating system, Windows OS, Mac platform and MAC OS, mobile devices with operating systems such as iOS, Android, etc. In other examples, the exemplary embodiments of the above methods can be embodied as a program including lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which, when compiled, can be executed on a processor or a microprocessor.

[0060] Although this patent application describes various combinations of various aspects each having different features, those skilled in the art will understand that any feature of one aspect can be combined with the features of other aspects in any manner not negated by the disclosure or features that are not inconsistent with the operation of the devices of the aspects disclosed in the present invention or the functions thereof in terms of function or logic.

[0061] It is well known that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of inadvertent or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly explained to the user.

[0062] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the present disclosure without departing from the essence or scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure is intended to cover modifications and variations of the present disclosure, provided that these modifications and variations are within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A processor, the processor includes a Frequency Domain Resource Allocation (FDRA) engine, the FDRA engine being configured to perform operations, the operations including: Receiving an FDRA configuration from a network, the FDRA configuration including at least one of a first FDRA mode or a second FDRA mode, wherein the first FDRA mode utilizes an FDRA unit including a set of consecutive Resource Blocks (RBs), and the second FDRA mode utilizes an FDRA unit including a set of interleaved RBs; When both the first FDRA mode and the second FDRA mode are configured, receiving a signal indicating which of the two FDRA modes will be used for uplink (UL) transmission, wherein the first FDRA mode is configured to be used when a large packet size is expected, and the second FDRA mode is configured to be used when a small packet size is expected; and Performing the UL transmission according to the indicated FDRA mode.

2. The processor according to claim 1, wherein the FDRA unit for the first FDRA mode includes K consecutive RBs, where K is a function of the rules required for the maximum Power Spectral Density (PSD) and Subcarrier Spacing (SCS) to be used for the UL transmission.

3. The processor according to claim 2, wherein the FDRA unit for the second FDRA mode includes an interleaving of M adjacent subcarriers equally spaced apart on N RBs.

4. The processor according to claim 3, wherein M is configured by the network or signaled dynamically and is at least based on the transport block size of the UL transmission.

5. The processor according to claim 1, wherein when both the first FDRA mode and the second FDRA mode are configured, the FDRA mode indication is included in a scheduling Downlink Control Information (DCI) format including a Mode Indicator (MI) field.

6. The processor according to claim 5, wherein when the first FDRA mode is indicated, the FDRA field in the scheduling DCI format includes a bitmap for FDRA.

7. The processor according to claim 5, wherein when the second FDRA mode is indicated, the FDRA field in the scheduling DCI format includes a subband indicator field and an interleaving allocation field, each of the subband indicator field and the interleaving allocation field utilizing either a bitmap or a Start and Length Indicator Value (SLIV).

8. A User Equipment (UE) includes: A transceiver configured to connect to a base station; And A processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform operations including the following: Receiving a Frequency Domain Resource Allocation (FDRA) configuration from the base station, the FDRA configuration including at least one of a first FDRA mode or a second FDRA mode, wherein the first FDRA mode utilizes an FDRA unit including a set of consecutive Resource Blocks (RBs), and the second FDRA mode utilizes an FDRA unit including a set of interleaved RBs; When both the first FDRA mode and the second FDRA mode are configured, receive a signal indicating which of the two FDRA modes will be used for uplink (UL) transmission, where the first FDRA mode is configured to be used when a large packet size is expected, and the second FDRA mode is configured to be used when a small packet size is expected; and Perform the UL transmission according to the indicated FDRA mode.

9. The UE according to claim 8, wherein the FDRA unit for the first FDRA mode comprises K consecutive resource blocks (RBs), where K is a function of the maximum power spectral density (PSD) and subcarrier spacing (SCS) rules required for the UL transmission.

10. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the FDRA unit for the second FDRA mode comprises an interleaving of M adjacent subcarriers equally spaced apart over N RBs.

11. The UE according to claim 10, wherein M is configured by the base station or signaled dynamically, and is at least based on the transport block size of the UL transmission.

12. The UE according to claim 8, wherein when both the first FDRA mode and the second FDRA mode are configured, the FDRA mode indication is included in a scheduling downlink control information (DCI) format comprising a mode indicator (MI) field.

13. The UE according to claim 12, wherein when the first FDRA mode is indicated, the FDRA field in the scheduling DCI format comprises a bitmap for FDRA.

14. The UE according to claim 12, wherein when the second FDRA mode is indicated, the FDRA field in the scheduling DCI format comprises a subband indicator field and an interleaving allocation field, and each of the subband indicator field and the interleaving allocation field uses either a bitmap or a start and length indicator value (SLIV).

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