Downlink control information cooperation

Abstract

Certain aspects of this disclosure provide techniques for downlink control information (DCI). A method that can be performed by a cooperative user equipment (UE) includes receiving configuration information for receiving control information associated with a target UE, receiving the control information associated with the target UE based on the configuration information, and forwarding the received control information to the target UE.

Description

[0001] introduction

[0002] open field

[0003] Various aspects of this disclosure relate to wireless communication, and more particularly to techniques for obtaining downlink control information in user equipment cooperative modes.

[0004] Related technical descriptions

[0005] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide a variety of telecommunications services such as telephone, video, data, messaging, and broadcasting. These wireless communication systems can employ multiple access technologies that enable communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple access systems include 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-A Advanced systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) systems, and Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) systems, to name just a few.

[0006] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunications standards to provide a common protocol enabling different wireless devices to communicate at the city, country, region, and even global levels. New radios (e.g., 5G NR) are examples of emerging telecommunications standards. NR is an enhancement set of the LTE mobile standard issued by 3GPP. NR is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by using OFDMA with a cyclic prefix (CP) on both the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) to improve spectrum efficiency, reduce costs, improve service, utilize new spectrum, and better integrate with other open standards. To this end, NR supports beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.

[0007] However, with the continued growth in demand for mobile broadband access, there is a need for further improvements to NR and LTE technologies. These improvements should also be applicable to other multiple access technologies and telecommunications standards that employ them.

[0008] Overview

[0009] The systems, methods, and apparatuses of this disclosure each have several aspects, and their desired properties are not solely the responsibility of any single aspect. Upon consideration of this discussion, and especially after reading the section entitled "Detailed Description," it will be understood how the features of this disclosure provide the advantage of obtaining downlink control information in user equipment cooperative modes.

[0010] Some aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a method for wireless communication by a cooperative user equipment (UE). The method generally includes receiving configuration information for receiving control information associated with a target UE, receiving the control information associated with the target UE based on the configuration information, and forwarding the received control information to the target UE.

[0011] Some aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication by a cooperative user equipment (UE). The apparatus generally includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory including code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: receive configuration information for receiving control information associated with a target UE; receive the control information associated with the target UE based on the configuration information; and forward the received control information to the target UE.

[0012] Some aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication by a cooperative user equipment (UE). The apparatus generally includes means for receiving configuration information for receiving control information associated with a target UE, means for receiving the control information associated with the target UE based on the configuration information, and means for forwarding the received control information to the target UE.

[0013] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a non-transient computer-readable medium for wireless communication by a cooperative user equipment (UE). The non-transient computer-readable medium generally includes instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: receive configuration information for receiving control information associated with a target UE, receive the control information associated with the target UE based on the configuration information, and forward the received control information to the target UE.

[0014] Some aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a method for wireless communication by a target user equipment (UE). This method generally includes receiving configuration information for receiving control information associated with the target UE and receiving control information associated with the target UE from a cooperative UE.

[0015] Some aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication by a target user equipment (UE). The apparatus generally includes at least one processor and memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory including code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: receive configuration information for receiving control information associated with a target UE and receive control information associated with a target UE from a cooperative UE.

[0016] Some aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication by a target user equipment (UE). This apparatus generally includes means for receiving configuration information for receiving control information associated with the target UE, and means for receiving control information associated with the target UE from a cooperative UE.

[0017] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a non-transient computer-readable medium for wireless communication by a target user equipment (UE). The non-transient computer-readable medium generally includes instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: receive configuration information for receiving control information associated with the target UE and to receive control information associated with the target UE from a cooperative UE.

[0018] This disclosure provides apparatus, devices, processors, and computer-readable media for performing techniques and methods that can complement (e.g., performed by a BS) the operations performed by the UE described herein.

[0019] To achieve the foregoing and related objectives, these one or more aspects include the features fully described below and specifically pointed out in the claims. Certain illustrative features of these one or more aspects are set forth in detail in the following description and drawings. However, these features indicate only a few of the various ways in which the principles of these aspects may be employed. Brief description of the attached diagram

[0021] To gain a more detailed understanding of the manner in which the features described above are presented in this disclosure, reference can be made to various aspects of the above brief overview, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that the drawings illustrate only certain aspects of this disclosure, and that this description may allow for other equivalent aspects.

[0022] Figure 1 It is a block diagram that conceptually illustrates an example wireless communication network according to certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0023] Figure 2 It is a block diagram that conceptually illustrates the design of an example base station (BS) and user equipment (UE) according to certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0024] Figure 3 These are example frame formats for certain wireless communication systems (e.g., New Radio (NR)) according to certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0025] Figure 4 Exemplary transport resource mappings according to various aspects of this disclosure are shown.

[0026] Figures 5A-5B The present disclosure describes wireless communication systems with centralized and distributed panels according to various aspects.

[0027] Figures 6A-6B Examples of UE non-cooperative mode and UE cooperative mode according to various aspects of this disclosure are explained.

[0028] Figure 7 This is a flowchart illustrating example operations for wireless communication by a cooperating UE according to certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0029] Figure 8 This is a flowchart illustrating example operations for wireless communication by a target UE according to certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0030] Figure 9 An example control channel cooperation technique based on certain aspects of this disclosure is explained.

[0031] Figure 10 The different sets of dedicated control channel candidates according to various aspects of this disclosure are explained.

[0032] Figure 11 Example techniques for aligning control information associated with a target UE according to various aspects of this disclosure are explained.

[0033] Figure 12 The description of various aspects of this disclosure includes communication devices that may include various components configured to perform operations for the various techniques disclosed herein.

[0034] To facilitate understanding, the same reference numerals are used wherever possible to designate common elements shared by all figures. Elements disclosed in one aspect are conceived to be usefully applied in other aspects without specific citation.

[0035] Detailed description

[0036] This disclosure provides apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for downlink control information (DCI) cooperation. For example, in some scenarios, certain devices (such as user equipment (UE)) within a wireless communication network can operate in a UE DCI cooperation mode, wherein a cooperative UE can receive control transmissions intended for a target UE from a base station in the wireless communication network and forward the received control transmissions to the target UE. DCI cooperation may be particularly helpful in certain scenarios, such as when the target UE is in poor channel conditions or coverage (e.g., at the cell edge).

[0037] Furthermore, in some cases, DCI cooperation can also facilitate a reduction in power consumption and overhead associated with DCI / PDCCH monitoring at the target UE (e.g., depending on the control information forwarded by the cooperative UE). For example, in some cases, the cooperative UE can simply forward in-phase and quadrature (IQ) samples corresponding to the control information to the target UE, allowing the target UE to demodulate and decode the control information locally. In other cases, to reduce power consumption and overhead at the target UE, the cooperative UE can demodulate the control information and forward the demodulated control information (e.g., as several binary bits) to the target UE, thus eliminating the need for the target UE to monitor and demodulate the control information, thereby saving power and monitoring overhead at the target UE. Moreover, in some cases, the cooperative UE can fully decode the control information and forward the decoded control information to the target UE, eliminating the need for the target UE to monitor, demodulate, and decode the control information, thereby saving significant power and monitoring overhead at the target UE.

[0038] The following description provides examples of DCI collaboration in a communication system. Changes can be made to the functionality and arrangement of the elements discussed without departing from this disclosure. Various procedures or components may be appropriately omitted, substituted, or added to the various examples. For example, the described methods may be performed in a different order than described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Moreover, features described with reference to some examples may be combined in others. For example, any number of aspects set forth herein may be used to implement an apparatus or practice. Furthermore, this disclosure is intended to cover such apparatuses or methods practiced using additional structures, functionalities, or structures and functionalities that supplement or complement the various aspects of this disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of this disclosure disclosed herein may be implemented by one or more elements of the claims. The term “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as superior to or overriding other aspects.

[0039] Generally, any number of wireless networks can be deployed in a given geographical area. Each wireless network can support a specific Radio Access Technology (RAT) and can operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, air interface, etc. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, subcarrier, frequency channel, frequency modulation, subband, etc. Each frequency can support a single RAT in a given geographical area to avoid interference between wireless networks using different RATs.

[0040] The techniques described herein can be used in a variety of wireless networks and radio technologies. While the aspects may be described herein using terms commonly associated with 3G, 4G, and / or newer radio technologies (e.g., 5G NR), the aspects of this disclosure can be applied to communication systems based on other generations.

[0041] NR access supports a variety of wireless communication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth, millimeter wave (mmW), massive machine-type communications (mMTC) targeting non-backward-compatible MTC technology, and / or mission-critical communications targeting ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). These services may include latency and reliability requirements. These services may also have different transmission time intervals (TTIs) to meet corresponding quality of service (QoS) requirements. Furthermore, these services can coexist in the same subframe.

[0042] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various classes, bands, channels, etc., based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been designated as frequency ranges FR1 (410MHz–7.125GHz) and FR2 (24.25GHz–52.6GHz). The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as the mid-band frequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “sub-6GHz” band in various documents and articles. Similar naming issues sometimes arise regarding FR2; although different from the Very High Frequency (EHF) band (30GHz–300GHz) designated as the “millimeter wave” band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), FR2 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “millimeter wave” band in various documents and articles.

[0043] In light of the foregoing, unless otherwise stated, it should be understood that, as used herein, the term "sub-6GHz" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies less than 6GHz, within FR1, or including intermediate frequency band frequencies. Furthermore, unless otherwise stated, it should be understood that, as used herein, the term "millimeter wave" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies that can include intermediate frequency band frequencies, within FR2, or within the EHF band.

[0044] NR supports beamforming and the beam direction can be dynamically configured. It also supports MIMO transmission with precoding. MIMO configuration in DL can support up to 8 transmit antennas (with up to 8 streams in multi-layer DL transmission) and up to 2 streams per UE. Multi-layer transmission with up to 2 streams per UE is supported. Up to 8 serving cells can be used to support aggregation of multiple cells.

[0045] Figure 1 An example wireless communication network 100 in which various aspects of this disclosure can be implemented is described. For example, the wireless communication network 100 may be an NR system (e.g., a 5G NR network). Figure 1 As shown, the wireless communication network 100 may communicate with the core network 132. The core network 132 may communicate with one or more base stations (BS) 110a-z (also individually referred to herein as BS 110 or collectively as BS 110) and / or user equipment (UE) 120a-y (also individually referred to herein as UE 120 or collectively as UE 120) in the wireless communication network 100 via one or more interfaces.

[0046] Depending on certain aspects, BS 110 and UE 120 may be configured for downlink control information (DCI) cooperation as described herein. For example, in some cases, according to various aspects of this disclosure, UE 120a may include a cooperative UE and may include a DCI cooperation manager 122a configured to perform... Figure 7 The operations shown herein, as well as other operations for DCI collaboration described herein, are illustrated. Additionally, in some cases, UE 120b may include a target UE and may include a DCI collaboration manager 122b configured to perform… Figure 8 The operations shown herein, as well as other operations for DCI collaboration described herein, are illustrated. It should be noted that although UE 120a is described as a cooperative UE, UE 120a may also include a target UE with a DCI collaboration manager configured to perform… Figure 8 The operation is shown in the diagram. Similarly, although UE 120b is described as the target UE, UE 120b may also include a cooperative UE with a DCI cooperation manager configured to perform... Figure 7 The operation shown is illustrated.

[0047] BS 110 can provide communication coverage for a specific geographic area (sometimes referred to as a "cell"), which can be stationary or mobile depending on the location of the mobile BS 110. In some examples, BS 110 can interconnect with each other and / or interconnect to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in the wireless communication network 100 using any suitable transport network through various types of backhaul interfaces (e.g., direct physical connection, wireless connection, virtual network, etc.). Figure 1 In the example shown, BS 110a, 110b, and 110c can be macro BSs for macro cells 102a, 102b, and 102c, respectively. BS 110x can be a pico BS for pico cell 102x. BS 110y and 110z can be femto BSs for femto cells 102y and 102z, respectively. A BS can support one or more cells.

[0048] BS 110 communicates with UE 120 in the wireless communication network 100. UE 120 (e.g., 120x, 120y, etc.) may be distributed throughout the wireless communication network 100, and each UE 120 may be stationary or mobile. The wireless communication network 100 may also include relay stations (e.g., relay station 110r) (also referred to as relays, etc.) that receive transmissions of data and / or other information from upstream stations (e.g., BS 110a or UE 120r) and transmit such transmissions of data and / or other information to downstream stations (e.g., UE 120 or BS 110), or that relays transmissions between the UEs 120 to facilitate communication between the devices.

[0049] Network controller 130 can communicate with a group of BSs 110 and provide coordination and control over these BSs 110 (e.g., via backhaul). In various aspects, network controller 130 can communicate with core network 132 (e.g., 5G core network (5GC)), which provides various network functions such as access and mobility management, session management, user plane functions, policy control functions, authentication server functions, unified data management, application functions, network openness functions, network repository functions, network slice selection functions, etc.

[0050] Figure 2 The BS 110a and UE 120a (e.g., which can be used to implement various aspects of this disclosure) are explained. Figure 1 Example components of a wireless communication network 100.

[0051] At BS 110a, the transmit processor 220 can receive data from the data source 212 and control information from the controller / processor 240. This control information can be for the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Group Shared PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. The data can be for the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), etc. The Media Access Control (MAC)-Control Element (MAC-CE) is a MAC layer communication structure that can be used for exchanging control commands between wireless nodes. The MAC-CE can be carried in shared channels, such as the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), or Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH).

[0052] Processor 220 can process (e.g., encode and symbol mapping) data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. Transmit processor 220 can also generate reference symbols (such as those for the primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)). Transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 can perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols where applicable, and can provide the output symbol stream to modulators (MODs) 232a-232t in the transceiver. Each modulator in transceivers 232a-232t can process its own output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator can further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and up-convert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Downlink signals from the modulators in transceivers 232a-232t can be transmitted via antennas 234a-234t respectively.

[0053] At UE 120a, antennas 252a-252r can receive downlink signals from BS 110a and can provide the received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a-254r in the transceiver, respectively. Each demodulator 254a-254r in the transceiver can condition (e.g., filter, amplify, down-convert, and digitize) its respective received signal to obtain an input sample. Each demodulator can further process the input sample (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. MIMO detector 256 can obtain the received symbols from all demodulators 254a-254r in the transceiver, perform MIMO detection on these received symbols where applicable, and provide detected symbols. Receiver processor 258 can process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) these detected symbols, provide the decoded data to UE 120a to data sink 260, and provide the decoded control information to controller / processor 280.

[0054] On the uplink, at UE 120a, transmit processor 264 can receive and process data from data source 262 (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)) and control information from controller / processor 280 (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)). Transmit processor 264 can also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., probe reference signals (SRS)). Symbols from transmit processor 264 can be pre-encoded by TX MIMO processor 266 where applicable, further processed by modulators 254a-254r in the transceiver (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to BS 110a. At BS 110a, uplink signals from UE 120a can be received by antenna 234, processed by demodulators in transceivers 232a-232t, detected by MIMO detector 236 where applicable, and further processed by receiver processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information transmitted by UE 120a. Receiver processor 238 can provide the decoded data to data trap 239 and the decoded control information to controller / processor 240.

[0055] Memory 242 and 282 may store data and program code for BS 110a and UE 120a, respectively. Scheduler 244 may schedule UE for data transmission on downlink and / or uplink.

[0056] Antenna 252, processors 266, 258, 264 and / or controller / processor 280 of UE 120a / 120b, and / or antenna 234, processors 220, 230, 238 and / or controller / processor 240 of BS110a can be used to perform the various techniques and methods described herein. For example, such as Figure 2 As shown, according to the aspects described herein, the controller / processor 280 of UEs 120a and 120b includes a DCI cooperation manager 281, which can be configured to perform Figure 7 and / or Figure 8 The operations shown herein, as well as other operations for DCI collaboration described herein, are illustrated. Although shown at the controller / processor, other components of UE120a / 120b and BS 110a may also be used to perform the operations described herein.

[0057] NR can utilize Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) on both the uplink and downlink. NR supports half-duplex operation using Time Division Duplex (TDD). OFDM and Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing (SC-FDM) divide the system bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subcarriers, which are often referred to as frequency modulation, frequency slots, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. Modulation symbols can be transmitted in the frequency domain using OFDM and in the time domain using SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers can depend on the system bandwidth. The minimum resource allocation (called a resource block (RB)) can be 12 consecutive subcarriers. The system bandwidth can also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband can cover multiple RBs. NR supports a base-subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 15 kHz and can define other SCSs (e.g., 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz, etc.) relative to the base SCS.

[0058] Figure 3 This is a diagram illustrating an example of frame format 300 for NR. The transmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink can be divided into radio frames. Each radio frame may have a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) and may be divided into 10 subframes with indices 0 to 9, each subframe being 1 ms long. Each subframe may contain a variable number of time slots (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, ... time slots), depending on the SCS. Each time slot may include a variable number of symbol periods (e.g., 7, 12, or 14 symbols), depending on the SCS. An index may be assigned to the symbol periods in each time slot. The sub-time slot structure may refer to transmission time intervals with durations shorter than a time slot (e.g., 2, 3, or 4 symbols). Each symbol in a time slot may be configured for a link direction for data transmission (e.g., DL, UL, or flexible), and the link direction for each subframe may be dynamically switched. The link direction may be based on the time slot format. Each time slot may include DL / UL data and DL / UL control information.

[0059] In NR, synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) are transmitted. In some respects, each SSB can be transmitted in a burst, where each SSB in the burst corresponds to a different beam direction for use in UE-side beam management (e.g., including beam selection and / or beam refinement). An SSB includes a PSS, an SSS, and a two-symbol PBCH. SSBs can be transmitted at fixed time slot locations (such as...). Figure 3 The symbols 0-3 shown are transmitted. The PSS and SSS can be used by the UE for cell search and acquisition. The PSS provides half-frame timing, and the SS provides CP length and frame timing. The PSS and SSS provide cell identity. The PBCH carries basic system information such as downlink system bandwidth, timing information within the radio frame, SS burst set periodicity, system frame number, etc. SSBs can be organized into SS bursts to support beam sweeping. Further system information (such as Residual Minimum System Information (RMSI), System Information Block (SIB), and Other System Information (OSI)) can be transmitted in certain subframes on the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). SSBs can be transmitted up to 64 times, for example, up to 64 different beam directions for millimeter waves. Multiple transmissions of an SSB are called SS burst sets. SSBs within an SS burst set can be transmitted in the same frequency region, while SSBs in different SS burst sets can be transmitted in different frequency regions.

[0060] Example control resource set (CORESET)

[0061] Used in OFDMA systems (e.g., communication systems that use OFDMA waveforms to transmit the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)) (such as...) Figure 1 The control resource set (CORESET) of the wireless communication network 100 may include: a set of one or more control resources (e.g., time and frequency resources) configured to transmit downlink control information (DCI) on the PDCCH within the system bandwidth (e.g., a specific area on the NR downlink resource grid), and a set of parameters for carrying the PDCCH / DCI. For example, the CORESET may be regionally similar to an LTE PDCCH area (e.g., the first 1, 2, 3, and 4 OFDM symbols in a subframe).

[0062] Within each CORESET, one or more search spaces can be defined for a given UE (e.g., a shared search space (CSS), a UE-specific search space (USS), etc.). A search space is generally an area or portion that a communication device (e.g., a UE) can monitor to find control information.

[0063] According to various aspects of this disclosure, a CORESET is a time-frequency domain resource set defined in units of resource element groups (REGs). Each REG may include a fixed number (e.g., twelve) frequency modulations / subcarriers in a symbol period (e.g., a symbol period of a time slot), where one frequency modulation in a symbol period is referred to as a resource element (RE). A fixed number of REGs (such as six) may be included in control channel elements (CCEs). The CCE set may be used to transmit a new radio PDCCH (NR-PDCCH), where different numbers of CCEs in the set are used to transmit the NR-PDCCH using different aggregation levels. Multiple CCE sets may be defined as a search space for the UE, and thereby the B-node or other base station may transmit the NR-PDCCH to the UE by transmitting the NR-PDCCH in a set of CCEs defined as decoding candidates within the search space for the UE. The UE may receive the NR-PDCCH by searching for and decoding the NR-PDCCH transmitted by the B-node in the search space for the UE.

[0064] As mentioned above, different aggregation levels can be used to transmit CCE sets. An aggregation level is typically defined as the number of CCEs that include PDCCH candidates and can include aggregation levels 1, 2, 4, 8, and 18, which can be configured by the Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration of the Search Space Set (SS set). The CORESET can be linked to the SS set within the RRC configuration. For each aggregation level, the number of PDCCH candidates can be RRC configurable.

[0065] The operational characteristics of a B-node or other base station in an NR communication system may depend on the frequency range (FR) in which the system operates. The frequency range may include one or more operating bands (e.g., “n1” band, “n2” band, “n7” band, and “n41” band), and the communication system (e.g., one or more B-nodes and UEs) may operate within one or more operating bands. Frequency ranges and operating bands are described in more detail in “Base station (BS) radio transmission and reception” TS38.104 (Revision 15), available from the 3GPP website.

[0066] As described above, a CORESET is a collection of time-domain and frequency-domain resources. A CORESET can be configured to transmit PDCCH within the system bandwidth. The UE can identify and monitor the CORESET to locate control channels. During initial access, the UE can identify the initial CORESET (CORESET#0) configuration from a field in the Master Information Block (MIB) (e.g., pdcchConfigSIB1). This initial CORESET can then be used to configure the UE (e.g., via dedicated (UE-specific) signaling along with other CORESETs and / or bandwidth portions). When the UE detects a control channel in the CORESET, the UE attempts to decode the control channel, and the UE communicates with the transmitting BS (e.g., the transmitting cell) based on the control data provided in the control channel (e.g., transmitted via the CORESET).

[0067] In some cases, CORESET#0 may include a different number of resource blocks (RBs). For example, in some cases, CORESET#0 may include one of 24, 48, or 96 RBs. For other CORESETs, a 45-bit bitmap can be used to configure the available RB group, where each bit in the bitmap corresponds to 6 RBs within the bandwidth portion (BWP), and the most significant bit corresponds to the first RB group in the BWP.

[0068] According to various aspects of this disclosure, when a UE connects to a cellular cell (or BS), the UE can receive a Master Information Block (MIB). The MIB can be located in a synchronization signal on a sync raster and a physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) block (e.g., in the PBCH of the SS / PBCH block). In some scenarios, the sync raster may correspond to an SSB. Based on the frequency of the sync raster, the UE can determine the operating frequency band of the cellular cell. Based on the operating frequency band of the cellular cell, the UE can determine the minimum channel bandwidth and subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the channel. The UE can then determine an index (e.g., four bits in the MIB, conveying an index in the range 0-15) based on the MIB.

[0069] Given this index, the UE can look up or locate the CORESET configuration (the initial CORESET configured via the MIB is generally referred to as CORESET#0). This can be done based on one or more tables of the CORESET configuration. These configurations (including single-table scenarios) can include various subsets of indexes indicating valid CORESET configurations for various combinations of minimum channel bandwidth and subcarrier spacing (SCS). In some arrangements, each combination of minimum channel bandwidth and SCS can be mapped to a subset of indexes in the tables.

[0070] Alternatively or additionally, the UE can select a search space CORESET configuration table from several tables in the CORESET configuration. These configurations can be based on minimum channel bandwidth and SCS. The UE can then look up the CORESET configuration from the selected table based on this index (e.g., type 0-PDCCH search space CORESET configuration). After determining the CORESET configuration (e.g., from a single table or a selected table), the UE can then determine the CORESET to monitor (as mentioned above) based on the location (in time and frequency) of the SS / PBCH block and the CORESET configuration.

[0071] Figure 4 An exemplary transport resource mapping 400 according to various aspects of this disclosure is illustrated. In the exemplary mapping, the BS (e.g., Figure 1 The BS 110a shown transmits SS / PBCH block 402. The SS / PBCH block includes a MIB that conveys an index of a table that correlates the time and frequency resources of CORESET 404 with the time and frequency resources of the SS / PBCH block.

[0072] The BS can also transmit control signaling. In some scenarios, the BS can also transmit control signaling to the UE (e.g., in CORESET (time / frequency resources)). Figure 1 The UE 120 shown transmits the PDCCH. The PDCCH can schedule PDSCH 406. The BS then transmits the PDSCH to the UE. The UE can receive the MIB in the SS / PBCH block, determine the index, look up the CORESET configuration based on the index, and determine the CORESET from the CORESET configuration and the SS / PBCH block. The UE can then monitor the CORESET, decode the PDCCH in the CORESET, and receive the PDSCH allocated by the PDCCH.

[0073] Different CORESET configurations can have different parameters that define the corresponding CORESET. For example, each configuration can indicate the number of resource blocks (e.g., 24, 48, or 96), the number of symbols (e.g., 1-3), and the offset of the frequency position (e.g., 0-38 RBs).

[0074] Example of multi-panel and UE collaborative operation

[0075] In some systems (such as) Figure 1In a wireless communication network 100, a UE may be able to use multiple antennas, beams, and / or antenna panels (e.g., antenna arrays) to transmit or receive data. Transmissions may be received from or transmitted to a serving base station (BS) or transmit / receive point (TRP) via a Uu interface. Using multiple antenna panels for transmission / reception can allow increased throughput (e.g., by using multiple antenna panels to simultaneously or concurrently transmit / receive data to / from the BS) and / or increased reliability (e.g., by using multiple antenna panels to transmit / receive the same information). Such transmissions may be referred to as multi-panel uplink transmissions.

[0076] In some cases, multiple antenna panels can be centrally located (e.g., co-located) within a single UE, or they can be distributed across multiple UEs. For example, Figure 5A An example of a centralized antenna panel within a wireless communication network 500A is described. As illustrated in this example, a Uu interface may be established between a UE 502 (e.g., UE 120a) and a transmit / receive point (TRP) 504 of a base station / gNB (e.g., BS 110a) in the wireless communication network 500A. Furthermore, as illustrated, UE 502 may include multiple co-located or centralized antenna panels 506, which can be used by UE 120a to transmit / receive data to / from TRP 504 using the Uu interface.

[0077] Figure 5B An example of a distributed antenna panel within a 500B wireless communication network is explained. For example... Figure 5B As explained herein, the wireless communication network 500B may include multiple entities, such as UE 502a, UE 502b, and UE 502c. Additionally, as shown, separate Uu interfaces may be established between each of UEs 502a-502c and the TRP of the base station / gNB. For example, as shown, a Uu interface may be established between UE 502a and the first TRP 504a, and between UE 502b and the first TRP 504a. Similarly, a Uu interface may be established between UE 502c and the second TRP 504b.

[0078] In some cases, Figure 5B The entities shown (e.g., UEs 502a-502c) can operate in UE cooperation mode to improve cellular throughput and coverage. For example, in UE cooperation, data transmission from a base station (e.g., gNB) intended for a target entity / UE (TUE) (e.g., UE 502a) can be received by one or more cooperative entities / UEs (CUEs) (e.g., UE 502b or UE 502c) and forwarded to the TUE using a device-to-device (D2D) connection 508 (such as a sidelink channel (e.g., via a PC5 interface), WiFi connection, etc.). In some cases, Figure 5B Each entity shown can be associated with an entity ID used to identify that entity. In some cases, the entity ID may include the UE ID, panel ID, resource ID, etc.

[0079] Depending on the context, UE cooperation may be particularly useful in situations where the TUE (e.g., UE 502a) is in poor channel conditions or coverage (e.g., at the cell edge), thereby allowing the CUE (e.g., UEs 502b and 502c) in better channel conditions to receive data transmissions intended for the TUE from the gNB (or one or more TRPs 504a, 504b associated with the gNB) and forward these data transmissions to the TUE, thereby improving cellular throughput and coverage.

[0080] In some scenarios, when UEs 502a-502c operate in UE cooperative mode, antenna panels for communicating with the BS / gNB (e.g., on the Uu interface) and / or with each other (e.g., on the sidelink channel) can be distributed within the UEs 502a-502c. For example, as Figure 5B As explained herein, each of UEs 502a-502c may include an antenna panel 506, which can be used to transmit or receive transmissions to / from the BS. For example, in some cases, when operating in cooperative mode, cooperative UEs 502b and 502c may use their respective antenna panels 506 to receive transmissions intended for target UE 502a from TRPs 504a and 504b, and may subsequently use their respective antenna panels 506 to forward these transmissions to UE 502a.

[0081] Example of downlink control information collaboration

[0082] As mentioned above, downlink control information (DCI) on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) can be carried in one or more cores spanning the first 1, 2, 3, and 4 OFDM symbols of a subframe / slot. Within each core, one or more search spaces (e.g., shared search space (CSS), UE-specific search space (USS), etc.) can be defined for a given UE, where each SS is associated with a core. The search space is generally the area or portion where the communication device (e.g., the UE) can search for control information.

[0083] In some cases, wireless communication networks (e.g., Figure 1Different UEs within a wireless communication network 100 may be assigned different CORESETs and search spaces for receiving PDCCHs. In some cases, in UE non-cooperative mode, each UE may need to perform blind decoding (BD) and channel estimation (CE) within the specific search space assigned to it in order to detect and receive PDCCHs within its assigned CORESET.

[0084] For example, such as Figure 6A As explained, in the non-cooperative UE mode, a first UE (e.g., UE A) may be assigned a first CORESET and a first search space 602 (e.g., SS A1) to receive a first PDCCH (e.g., for receiving DCI within the first PDCCH), while a second UE (e.g., UE B) may be assigned a second CORESET and a second search space 604 (e.g., SSB1) to receive a second PDCCH (e.g., for receiving DCI within the second PDCCH). In some cases, each of the first and second PDCCHs may schedule PDSCHs for the first and second UEs respectively. For example, as explained, the first UE may monitor and receive the first PDCCH within the first search space 602 and the first CORESET. Based on the scheduling information within the first PDCCH, the first UE may receive the first PDSCH 606. Similarly, the second UE may monitor and receive the second PDCCH within the second search space 604 and the second CORESET. Based on the scheduling information within the second PDCCH, the second UE may receive the second PDSCH 608.

[0085] As mentioned above, monitoring and receiving DCI within the PDCCH may require the UE to perform several blind decoding and channel estimations. Therefore, monitoring DCI within the PDCCH at the UE (or antenna panel) can consume significant power due to the necessity of blind decoding and channel estimation, and may be limited by the UE's capabilities (e.g., the number of blind decodings and channel estimations the UE can perform based on its capabilities). Furthermore, in non-cooperative modes, having separate UEs monitor different PDCCHs can result in significant signaling and processing overhead.

[0086] Therefore, various aspects of this disclosure provide techniques for reducing power consumption and overhead associated with DCI / PDCCH monitoring. For example, in some cases, such techniques may involve using a UE cooperative mode (which may be referred to as "DCI cooperation") to receive / transmit control information (e.g., DCI). More specifically, DCI cooperation (e.g., as opposed to techniques where data transmission is received and forwarded by a cooperative UE) may involve, for example, a cooperative UE receiving control information intended for a target UE and the cooperative UE forwarding that control information to the target UE. For example, as... Figure 6B As explained, the cooperative UE can monitor the first search space 610 and receive control information associated with the target UE. The cooperative UE can then forward the control information to the target UE, as shown at 612.

[0087] According to various aspects, by allowing cooperative UEs to receive and forward control information intended for a target UE, power consumption (e.g., at least at the target UE) can be reduced. Furthermore, overall control information overhead can be reduced because DCI cooperation does not require every UE to monitor control information. Instead, cooperative UEs can monitor and receive control information about the target UE, allowing the target UE to reduce its monitoring. Additionally, DCI cooperation can help eliminate UE capability limitations when monitoring control information. For example, in some cases, a more capable cooperative UE may be able to perform more blind decoding and channel estimation compared to the target UE, thus mitigating the capability limitations for monitoring control information about the target UE. Additionally, in some cases, blind detection / decoding and channel estimation capabilities can be split or shared between the cooperative UE and the target UE. Finally, DCI cooperation can improve control channel reliability because multiple UEs can monitor and receive control information, increasing the chances of the control information being correctly received.

[0088] Figure 7 This is a flowchart illustrating an example operation 700 for wireless communication according to certain aspects of this disclosure. Operation 700 may be performed, for example, by a cooperative UE for DCI cooperation (e.g., UE 502b and / or 502c, which may be examples of UE 120a in wireless communication network 100). Operation 700 may be implemented in one or more processors (e.g., Figure 2 The software components executed and running on the controller / processor 280. Furthermore, the signal transmission and reception performed by the UE in operation 700 may be, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., Figure 2 This can be achieved via antenna 252. In some respects, signal transmission and / or reception by the UE can be achieved by obtaining and / or outputting signals via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller / processor 280).

[0089] Operation 700 may begin in box 702, receiving configuration information for receiving control information associated with the target UE.

[0090] In box 704, the cooperative UE uses this configuration information to receive control information associated with the target UE.

[0091] In box 706, the cooperative UE forwards the received control information to the target UE.

[0092] Figure 8This is a flowchart illustrating an example operation 800 for wireless communication according to certain aspects of this disclosure. Operation 800 may be performed, for example, by a target UE for DCI cooperation (e.g., such as UE 502a, which may be an example of UE 120a in wireless communication network 100). Operation 800 may be complementary to operation 700 performed by a cooperative UE. Operation 800 may be implemented in one or more processors (e.g., Figure 2 The software components executed and running on the controller / processor 280. Furthermore, the signal transmission and reception performed by the UE in operation 800 may be, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., Figure 2 This can be achieved via antenna 252. In some respects, signal transmission and / or reception by the UE can be achieved by obtaining and / or outputting signals via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller / processor 280).

[0093] Operation 800 may begin in box 802, receiving configuration information for receiving control information associated with the target UE.

[0094] In box 804, the target UE receives control information associated with the target UE from the cooperative UE.

[0095] As mentioned above, various aspects of this disclosure provide techniques for DCI cooperation, wherein a cooperative UE (or panel) can receive control information associated with a target UE (or panel) based on configuration information (e.g., from one or more TRPs of a base station / gNB). In some cases, the control information includes DCI transmitted by the base station on the PDCCH. Additionally, in some cases, the UE can receive configuration information for receiving control channels associated with the target UE from at least one of the base stations / gNBs or from the target UE.

[0096] Subsequently, once the cooperating UE has received control information associated with the target UE (e.g., from a base station), the cooperating UE can forward the received control information to the target UE. In some cases, there may be different options for the content of the control information forwarded by the cooperating UE to the target UE, which may depend on the configuration information received by the cooperating UE.

[0097] For example, in the first option, the content of the control information transmitted to the target UE may include one or more in-phase and quadrature (IQ) samples corresponding to the PDCCH associated with the target UE, which may be forwarded to the target UE. This option may be minimally labor-intensive for the cooperative UE (e.g., requiring minimal processing power) and requires a minimal amount of configuration information for receiving control information associated with the target UE (e.g., compared to other options described herein). For example, under the first option, the configuration information may include at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated CORESET for receiving control information associated with the target UE, or a dedicated search space for receiving control information associated with the target UE. In some cases, the cooperative UE may perform rate matching around a time-frequency resource set based on the indicated dedicated CORESET and dedicated search space.

[0098] Accordingly, cooperative UEs can use a dedicated search space and a dedicated CORESET to receive control information associated with the target UE. For example, such as Figure 9 As explained, the cooperative UE can receive configuration information regarding a first search space 902 and a first CORESET 904 for receiving control information associated with a target UE. In some cases, the first CORESET 904 may be associated with a first Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) that can be used to receive control information associated with the target UE. As shown, the cooperative UE can monitor the first search space 902 and the first CORESET 904 to locate control information associated with the target UE. Based on this monitoring, the cooperative UE can receive one or more IQ samples corresponding to the PDCCH associated with the target UE. The cooperative UE can then forward these one or more IQ samples to the target UE, as shown at 906.

[0099] As mentioned above, the control information may include scheduling information for the target UE to receive PDSCH 908. For example, depending on various factors, the target UE may receive the control information from a cooperative UE. Subsequently, the target UE may demodulate, descramble, decode, and perform CEC verification on the control information, which may be based on configuration information received from the base station / gNB.

[0100] In some cases, the configuration information received by the target UE may include, for example, at least one of the following: a dedicated control resource set (CORESET) associated with the target UE, or a dedicated search space associated with the target UE. Additionally, in some cases, the configuration information received by the target UE may include at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to control information, one or more start control channel elements (CCEs) for the dedicated control channel candidate set, a clustering level associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set, an interleaving mode associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set, or a precoding granularity associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set. Additionally, in some cases, the configuration information received by the target UE may include at least one of the following: the target UE's Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI), or a downlink control information (DCI) format associated with the target UE.

[0101] If decoding is successful based on configuration information (e.g., the CRC check of the decoded control information passes), the target UE can determine the scheduling information about PDSCH 908 and can receive PDSCH 908 based on the scheduling information.

[0102] In some aspects, the cooperative UE may also be configured with a second search space 910 and a second CORESET 912 for receiving control information associated with the cooperative UE. In some cases, the second CORESET 912 may be associated with a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) that can be used to receive control information associated with the cooperative UE. Accordingly, as shown, the cooperative UE may monitor the second search space 910 and the second CORESET 912 to locate control information associated with the cooperative UE. Once the control information is received, the cooperative UE may demodulate, descramble, decode, and perform CRC checks on the control information in a manner similar to that of the target UE. If decoding is successful (e.g., the CRC check of the decoded control information passes), the cooperative UE may determine scheduling information regarding PDSCH 914 and may receive PDSCH 914 based on this scheduling information.

[0103] Depending on various factors, to improve the reliability of control information associated with the target UE, in some cases, the target UE can also monitor and receive control information associated with it. For example, in some cases, a dedicated CORESET for receiving control information associated with the target UE can be configured with two TCI states: one TCI for the target UE and another TCI for the cooperative UE. For example, as shown, the target UE can be configured with a second CORESET having a second TCI state for receiving control information. Additionally, the target UE can be configured with a second search space 916 for receiving control information associated with it. Accordingly, the target UE can monitor the second search space 916 and the second CORESET 912 to receive control information independently from the base station / gNB. In some cases, the target UE can combine control information received from monitoring the second search space 916 with control information received from the cooperative UE to improve the reliability of the control information.

[0104] In the second option, the control information transmitted by the cooperative UE to the target UE may include demodulated control information. For example, in some cases, the cooperative UE may monitor and receive control information associated with the target UE from the base station / gNB. The UE may then demodulate this control information and forward it as several bits to the target UE. For example, as explained below, the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) configuration of the target UE associated with the CORESET may be configured to wideband, and the cooperative UE may use all DMRS resource elements within the CORESET to perform channel estimation for all resource elements within the CORESET. Upon completion of this channel estimation, the cooperative UE may obtain several demodulated symbols in binary bits. These binary bits may include information necessary for decoding PDCCH candidates within the CORESET. The second option may be more labor-intensive than the first option because additional configuration information and processing power may be required to demodulate the control information before forwarding the demodulated binary bits to the target UE.

[0105] For example, in the second option, the configuration information received by the cooperative UE may further include at least one of the following: a dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information, one or more start control channel elements (CCEs) for the dedicated control channel candidate set, an aggregation level associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set, an interleaving mode associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set, or a precoding granularity associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set.

[0106] Accordingly, based on configuration information, the cooperative UE can monitor one or more control channel candidates (e.g., PDCCH candidates) corresponding to the control information associated with the target UE. For example, as Figure 10 As explained herein, different sets of dedicated control channel candidates (e.g., PDCCH candidates), each comprising (or spanning) one or more resource elements (REs), can be assigned to control channels (e.g., carrying control information) associated with the target UE and the cooperative UE. For example, as explained, a first set of control channel candidates 1002 may correspond to control information associated with the target UE, a second set of control channel candidates 1004 may correspond to control information associated with the cooperative UE, and a third set of control channel candidates 1006 may be shared for and correspond to both the control information associated with the target UE and the control information associated with the cooperative UE. The cooperative UE may have configuration information (such as aggregation level, CCE set, etc.) for the control channel candidates 1002 so that the cooperative UE can know the exact number and location of resource elements associated with the PDCCH candidates within the CORESET. In some cases, the cooperative UE may perform rate matching around time-frequency resources based on the union of dedicated control channel candidates from one or more of the different sets of dedicated control channel candidates (e.g., 1002, 1004, and / or 1006).

[0107] Depending on various factors, the UE may monitor and receive control information associated with the target UE (e.g., by monitoring one or more control candidates in a first set of control channel candidates 1002). The UE may then demodulate the received control information, which may be based, for example, on at least one of: the first set of dedicated control channel candidates 1002, the aggregation level associated with the first set of dedicated control channel candidates 1002, the interleaving mode associated with the first set of dedicated control channel candidates 1002, and / or the precoding granularity associated with the first set of dedicated control channel candidates 1002.

[0108] Additionally, in some cases, the demodulated control information may be further based on channel estimation performed on a control channel (e.g., PDCCH) on which control information is transmitted / received. For example, the cooperative UE may perform channel estimation on a channel on which control information associated with the target UE is received, based on the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) configuration of the target UE. For example, the DMRS configuration of the target UE associated with a CORESET may be configured to be wideband, and the cooperative UE may use all DMRS resource elements within that CORESET to perform channel estimation for a set of resource elements associated with a control channel (e.g., PDCCH) candidate. The cooperative UE may then demodulate the control information associated with the target UE based on this channel estimation. Thereafter, as mentioned, the cooperative UE may then forward the demodulated control information as several binary bits to the target UE. These several binary bits may correspond to a control channel candidate and may be directly decoded (e.g., by the target UE) via channel decoding to obtain each DCI field of that control channel candidate.

[0109] In the third option, the control information transmitted by the cooperative UE to the target UE may include decoded control information. For example, in some cases, after demodulating the control information, the cooperative UE may subsequently attempt to decode the control information. If successful, the cooperative UE may forward the decoded control information to the target UE. The third option may be more labor-intensive than the first and second options because additional configuration information and processing power may be required to decode the control information before forwarding it to the target UE.

[0110] For example, in addition to the parameters for demodulating control information discussed above, the configuration information received by the cooperative UE in the third option for decoding control information may further include at least one of the following: the target UE's Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI), or the downlink control information (DCI) format associated with the target UE (including the DCI length of the control information).

[0111] Accordingly, for example, in some cases, decoding the control information associated with the target UE may include monitoring one or more control channel candidates in a first set of dedicated control channel candidates 1002 corresponding to the control information. Subsequently, based on the RNTI and DCI formats associated with the target UE, the cooperative UE may attempt to descramble, decode, and perform cyclic redundancy check (CRC) on the one or more control channel candidates. Depending on the circumstances, if the CRC passes, the control information can be successfully decoded. Accordingly, if the CRC passes, the cooperative UE may then forward the decoded control information to the target UE.

[0112] In some cases, monitoring one or more control channel candidates may be based on blind detection (and channel estimation) capabilities associated with the cooperative UE. In some cases, blind detection capabilities may be based on, for example, the maximum number of monitored control channel candidates and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs. In some cases, the cooperative UE may split its blind detection capabilities between monitoring one or more control channel candidates in a first dedicated control channel candidate set 1002 corresponding to control information associated with the target UE and monitoring one or more additional control channel candidates (e.g., in a second control channel candidate set 1004) corresponding to control information associated with the cooperative UE.

[0113] In such cases, when the cooperative UE splits its blind detection capability, the total number of monitored control channel candidates or non-overlapping CCEs for both the cooperative UE and the target UE may not exceed the blind detection capability of the cooperative UE. Depending on the circumstances, in cases of control channel over-booking (e.g., control channel candidates or non-overlapping CCEs exceed the maximum capability of the cooperative UE), the control channel candidates / non-overlapping CCEs for the target UE may be down-prioritized by the cooperative UE to favor the channel candidates / non-overlapping CCEs corresponding to the cooperative UE.

[0114] In some cases, when monitoring and receiving control information associated with both the target UE and the cooperative UE, the control information associated with the target UE may have a different length than the control information associated with the cooperative UE. For example, such as... Figure 11 As explained, in some cases, the control information 1102 (e.g., DCI) associated with the target UE (e.g., UE B) can be of a first length, while the control information 1104 (e.g., DCI) associated with the cooperative UE (e.g., UE a) can be of a second length different from the first length. In some cases, when the length of the control information associated with the target UE is different from the length of the control information associated with the cooperative UE, it may be difficult for the cooperative UE to decode the control information associated with the target UE.

[0115] Accordingly, to help mitigate this problem under different length conditions, when decoding control information associated with the target UE, the cooperative UE can align the length of the control information associated with the target UE with the length of the control information associated with the cooperative UE. For example, in some cases, the cooperative UE can pad the control information associated with the target UE with one or more additional bits until the length of the control information associated with the target UE is the same as the length of the control information associated with the cooperative UE. For example, as... Figure 11As explained at 1106, the cooperative UE can use several bits to fill the control information 1102 associated with the target UE so that the length of the control information 1102 associated with the target UE is the same as the length of the control information 1104 associated with the cooperative UE.

[0116] It should be noted that while the aspects described above typically involve DCI cooperation techniques (e.g., where a cooperative UE receives downlink control information from a base station and forwards that downlink control information to a intended target UE), these aspects can be equivalently applied to uplink control information transmission. For example, in some cases, a cooperative UE may receive uplink control information from a target UE and may use techniques similar to those described above to forward that uplink control information to the base station.

[0117] Figure 12 The description includes operations that may be configured to perform the techniques disclosed herein (such as...). Figure 7-8 The communication device 1200 comprises various components (e.g., corresponding to device plus functional components) of the operation described herein. For example, in some cases, the communication device 1200 may be an example of a cooperative UE (e.g., UE 502b, UE 502c, UE 120b) and / or a target UE (e.g., UE 502a, UE 120a). The communication device 1200 includes a processing system 1202 coupled to a transceiver 1208 (e.g., a transmitter and / or a receiver). The transceiver 1208 is configured to transmit and receive signals (such as the various signals described herein) for the communication device 1200 via an antenna 1210. The processing system 1202 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 1200, including processing signals received by and / or to be transmitted by the communication device 1200. In some cases, the transceiver 1208 may include references to Figure 2 One or more components of the UE 120a, for example, such as transceiver 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, TX MIMO processor 266, transmit processor 264, etc.

[0118] Processing system 1202 includes processor 1204 coupled to computer-readable medium / memory 1212 via bus 1206. In some aspects, computer-readable medium / memory 1212 is configured to store data that, when executed by processor 1204, causes processor 1204 to perform... Figure 7-8The computer-readable medium / memory 1212 stores the operations described herein or other operations for performing the various techniques for DCI collaboration discussed herein (e.g., computer-executable code). In some aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 1212 stores code 1214 for receiving, code 1216 for forwarding, code 1218 for rate matching, code 1220 for demodulation, code 1222 for execution, code 1224 for decoding, and code 1226 for combining.

[0119] In some cases, the code 1214 for receiving may include code for receiving configuration information for receiving control information associated with the target UE.

[0120] In some cases, the code 1214 used for receiving may include code for receiving control information associated with the target UE based on configuration information.

[0121] In some cases, the code 1216 used for forwarding may include code for forwarding the received control information to the target UE.

[0122] In some cases, the code 1214 used for receiving may include code for receiving configuration information from a base station or from a target UE.

[0123] In some cases, the code 1214 for receiving may include code for receiving one or more IQ samples in a dedicated CORESET and a dedicated search space.

[0124] In some cases, the code 1216 used for forwarding may include code for forwarding the IQ sample to the target UE.

[0125] In some cases, the code 1218 for rate matching may include code for rate matching around a set of time-frequency resources based on the indicated dedicated CORESET and dedicated search space.

[0126] In some cases, the demodulation code 1220 may include code for demodulating control information based on at least one of a dedicated control channel candidate set, aggregation level, interleaving mode, or precoding granularity.

[0127] In some cases, the code 1222 for execution may include code for performing channel estimation associated with the control channel on which control information is transmitted.

[0128] In some cases, the code 1216 used for forwarding may include code for forwarding demodulated control information as a number of binary bits to the target UE.

[0129] In some cases, the code 1218 for rate matching may include code for rate matching around a set of time-frequency resources based on the union of dedicated control channel candidates in the dedicated control channel candidate set.

[0130] In some cases, the code 1224 used for decoding may include code for decoding control information associated with the target UE based on at least one of the indicated set of dedicated control channel candidates, the RNTI of the target UE, or the DCI format associated with the target UE.

[0131] In some cases, the code 1216 used for forwarding may include code for forwarding decoded control information to the target UE.

[0132] In some cases, the code 1224 used for decoding may include code for monitoring one or more control channel candidates in a dedicated set of control channel candidates corresponding to the control information. Additionally, in some cases, the code 1224 used for decoding may include code for descrambling, decoding, and performing cyclic redundancy check (CRC) on one or more control channel candidates.

[0133] In some cases, the code 1224 used for decoding may include code for aligning the length of the control information associated with the target UE with the length of the control information associated with the cooperative UE.

[0134] In some cases, the code 1224 used for decoding may include code for filling control information associated with the target UE with one or more additional bits.

[0135] In some cases, the code 1214 for receiving may include code for receiving configuration information for receiving control information associated with the target UE.

[0136] In some cases, the code 1214 used for receiving may include code for receiving control information associated with the target UE from the cooperative UE.

[0137] In some cases, the code 1214 used for receiving may include code for receiving control information associated with the target UE from the base station separately.

[0138] In some cases, the code 1226 used for combining may include code for combining control information received from the base station with control information received from the cooperative UE.

[0139] According to various aspects, processor 1204 includes code 1214 for receiving, code 1216 for forwarding, code 1218 for rate matching, code 1220 for demodulation, code 1222 for execution, code 1224 for decoding, and code 1226 for combining.

[0140] Example

[0141] Examples of implementations are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0142] 1. A method for wireless communication by a cooperative user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving configuration information for receiving control information associated with a target UE, receiving the control information associated with the target UE based on the configuration information, and forwarding the received control information to the target UE.

[0143] 2. The method of aspect 1, wherein the control information includes downlink control information (DCI) transmitted on the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0144] 3. The method of any of aspects 1-2, wherein receiving the configuration information for the control information associated with the target UE includes at least one of: receiving the configuration information from a base station; or receiving the configuration information from the target UE.

[0145] 4. The method of any one of aspects 1-3, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated control resource set (CORESET) for receiving the control information associated with the target UE, or a dedicated search space for receiving the control information associated with the target UE.

[0146] 5. The method of aspect 4, wherein the control information associated with the target UE includes one or more in-phase and quadrature (IQ) samples corresponding to the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0147] 6. The method of aspect 5, wherein receiving the control information associated with the target UE includes receiving the one or more IQ samples in the dedicated CORESET and the dedicated search space.

[0148] 7. The method of any of aspects 5-6, wherein forwarding the received control information to the target UE includes forwarding the IQ sample to the target UE.

[0149] 8. The method of any of aspects 5-7 further includes rate matching around a time-frequency resource set based on the indicated dedicated CORESET and the dedicated search space.

[0150] 9. The method of any of aspects 1-8, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information, one or more start control channel elements (CCEs) for the dedicated control channel candidate set, a clustering level associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set, an interleaving mode associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set, or a precoding granularity associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set.

[0151] 10. The method of aspect 9 further includes demodulating the control information based on at least one of the dedicated control channel candidate set, the aggregation level, the interleaving mode, or the precoding granularity.

[0152] 11. The method of aspect 10 further includes performing channel estimation associated with a control channel on which the control information is transmitted, wherein the demodulation of the control information is further based on the channel estimation.

[0153] 12. The method of any of aspects 10-11, wherein forwarding the received control information to the target UE includes forwarding the demodulated control information as a plurality of binary bits to the target UE.

[0154] 13. The method of any of aspects 9-12, further comprising rate matching around a set of time-frequency resources based on the union of dedicated control channel candidates in the set of dedicated control channel candidates.

[0155] 14. The method of any of aspects 1-13, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following: an indication of a set of dedicated control channel candidates corresponding to the control information, a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the target UE, or a downlink control information (DCI) format associated with the target UE.

[0156] 15. The method of aspect 14 further includes decoding the control information associated with the target UE based on at least one of the indicated set of dedicated control channel candidates, the RNTI of the target UE, or the DCI format associated with the target UE.

[0157] 16. The method of aspect 15, wherein forwarding the received control information to the target UE includes forwarding the decoded control information to the target UE.

[0158] 17. The method of any of aspects 15-16, wherein decoding the control information comprises: monitoring one or more control channel candidates in the dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information; and descrambling, decoding, and performing cyclic redundancy check (CRC) on the one or more control channel candidates.

[0159] 18. The method of aspect 17, wherein monitoring of the one or more control channel candidates is based on blind detection capability associated with the cooperative UE.

[0160] 19. The method of aspect 18, wherein the blind detection capability is based on at least one of the following: the maximum number of control channel candidates that the cooperative UE can monitor, and the maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs).

[0161] 20. The method of any of aspects 18-19, wherein the blind detection capability is split between monitoring one or more control channel candidates in the dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information associated with the target UE and monitoring one or more additional control channel candidates corresponding to the control information associated with the cooperative UE.

[0162] 21. The method of aspect 20, wherein when an over-booking of control channel candidates occurs, monitoring the one or more additional control channel candidates corresponding to control information associated with the cooperative UE takes precedence over monitoring the one or more control channel candidates in the dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information associated with the target UE.

[0163] 22. The method of any of aspects 15-21, wherein decoding the control information associated with the target UE includes aligning the length of the control information associated with the target UE with that of the control information associated with the cooperative UE.

[0164] 23. The method of aspect 22, wherein aligning the length of the control information associated with the target UE with the length of the control information associated with the cooperative UE includes padding the control information associated with the target UE with one or more additional bits.

[0165] 24. A method for wireless communication by a target user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving configuration information for receiving control information associated with the target UE; and receiving control information associated with the target UE from a cooperative UE.

[0166] 25. The method of aspect 24, wherein the control information includes downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the base station on the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0167] 26. The method of any of aspects 24-25, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated control resource set (CORESET) for receiving the control information associated with the target UE; a dedicated search space for receiving the control information associated with the target UE; an indication of a dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information; one or more start control channel elements (CCEs) for the dedicated control channel candidate set; a clustering level associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set; an interleaving mode associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set; a precoding granularity associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set; a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the target UE; or a downlink control information (DCI) format associated with the target UE.

[0168] 27. The method of any of aspects 24-26, wherein the control information associated with the target UE includes at least one of the following: one or more in-phase and quadrature (IQ) samples corresponding to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) received by the cooperative UE; control information demodulated by the cooperative UE; or control information decoded by the cooperative UE.

[0169] 28. The method of any of aspects 24-27, further comprising: receiving control information associated with the target UE separately from a base station; and combining the control information received from the base station with the control information received from the cooperative UE. X. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method of any of aspects 1 to (X-1).

[0170] 29. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor and a memory coupled to said at least one processor, the memory including code executable by said at least one processor to cause the apparatus to perform methods as described in any of aspects 1 to 28.

[0171] 30. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable code for wireless communication, the computer-executable code causing a device to perform any of the methods described in aspects 1 to 29 when executed by at least one processor.

[0172] The techniques described herein can be used in various wireless communication technologies, such as NR (e.g., 5G NR), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A Advanced (LTE-A), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), and other networks. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably. CDMA networks can implement radio technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) and cdma2000. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. cdma2000 covers the IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards. TDMA networks can implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). OFDMA networks can implement radio technologies such as NR (e.g., 5G RA), evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, and Flash-OFDMA. UTRA and E-UTRA are parts of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). LTE and LTE-A are UMTS versions using E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization called the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization called the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2). NR is an emerging wireless communication technology under development.

[0173] In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to the coverage area of ​​a B-node (NB) and / or the NB subsystem serving that coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NR systems, the terms "cell" and BS, next-generation B-node (gNB or g B-node), access point (AP), distributed cell (DU), carrier, or transmit / receive point (TRP) can be used interchangeably. A BS can provide communication coverage for macrocells, picocells, femtocells, and / or other types of cells. A macrocell can cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and allows unrestricted access by UEs with a service subscription. A picocell can cover a relatively small geographic area and allows unrestricted access by UEs with a service subscription. A femtocell can cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a residential area) and allows restricted access by UEs associated with that femtocell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG), UEs of users in a residential area, etc.). A BS used for a macrocell can be referred to as a macro BS. A BS used for picocells can be called a picoBS. A BS used for femtocells can be called a femtoBS or a home BS.

[0174] A UE can also be referred to as a mobile station, terminal, access terminal, subscriber unit, station, customer premises equipment (CPE), cellular phone, smartphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless modem, wireless communication device, handheld device, laptop computer, cordless phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, tablet computer, camera, gaming device, netbook, smartbook, ultrabook, appliance, medical device or medical equipment, biometric sensor / device, wearable device (such as smartwatch, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristband, smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet, etc.)), entertainment device (e.g., music device, video device, satellite radio, etc.), vehicle component or sensor, smart meter / sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, GPS device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via wireless or wired media. Some UEs may be considered machine-type communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., which can communicate with the BS, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. Wireless nodes can provide connectivity to or to a network (e.g., a wide area network, such as the Internet or cellular networks) via wired or wireless communication links, for example. Some UEs can be considered Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which can be narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices.

[0175] In some examples, access to the air interface can be scheduled. A scheduling entity (e.g., a BS) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. The scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communication, the subordinate entity utilizes the resources allocated by the scheduling entity. A base station is not the only entity that can be used as a scheduling entity. In some examples, a UE may act as a scheduling entity and can schedule resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs), and other UEs may utilize the resources scheduled by that UE for wireless communication. In some examples, a UE may act as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and / or in a mesh network. In the mesh network example, UEs may communicate directly with each other in addition to communicating with a scheduling entity.

[0176] The methods disclosed herein include one or more steps or actions for implementing the method. Method steps and / or actions may be interchanged with each other. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific steps and / or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0177] As used herein, the phrase “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including a single member. As an example, “at least one of a, b, or c” is intended to cover a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as any combination with multiple identical elements (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc, or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

[0178] As used herein, the term "determine" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determine" can include calculation, computation, processing, derivation, research, searching (e.g., looking in a table, database, or other data structure), ascertaining, and the like. Furthermore, "determine" can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and the like. Moreover, "determine" can include parsing, selecting, choosing, building, and the like.

[0179] The preceding description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will readily be understood by those skilled in the art, and the universal principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. References to singular elements are not intended to mean “one and only one” (unless specifically stated so), but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some / a” refers to one or more. Elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are all structural and functional equivalents now or hereafter known to a person skilled in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be covered by the claims. Furthermore, nothing disclosed herein is intended as a donation to the public, whether or not such disclosure is expressly stated in the claims. No element of a claim should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of 35 U.S.SC §112(f) unless the element is expressly stated using the phrase “means for…” or, in the case of a method claim, the element is stated using the phrase “steps for…”.

[0180] The various operations of the methods described above can be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. These means may include a variety of hardware and / or software components and / or modules, including but not limited to circuits, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or processors (e.g., general-purpose processors or specially programmed processors). Generally, where the operations illustrated in the figures are present, these operations may have corresponding paired means with similar numbers plus functional components.

[0181] The various illustrative logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in this disclosure can be implemented or executed using a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof, designed to perform the functions described herein. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in alternatives, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors cooperating with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0182] If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration could include a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system can be implemented using a bus architecture. Depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system, the bus can include any number of interconnect buses and bridges. The bus can link together various circuits, including a processor, machine-readable media, and a bus interface. The bus interface can be used to connect network adapters, etc., to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter can be used to implement signal processing functions at the PHY layer. In the user terminal (see...), Figure 1 In such cases, the user interface (e.g., keypad, display, mouse, joystick, etc.) can also be connected to the bus. The bus can also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and similar circuits, which are well known in the art and will not be described further. The processor can be implemented using one or more general-purpose and / or special-purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuit systems capable of executing software. Depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system, those skilled in the art will recognize how best to implement the functionality described for the processing system.

[0183] If implemented in software, the functions can be stored or transmitted as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media, encompassing any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one location to another. The processor may be responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including executing software modules stored on the machine-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to the processor so that the processor can read and write information to / from the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integrated into the processor. As an example, the machine-readable medium may include a transmission line, a data-modulated carrier wave, and / or a separate computer-readable storage medium containing instructions stored thereon, all accessible to the processor via a bus interface. Alternatively or additionally, the machine-readable medium or any portion thereof may be integrated into the processor, such as caches and / or general-purpose register files. As an example, examples of machine-readable storage media may include RAM (random access memory), flash memory, ROM (read-only memory), PROM (programmable read-only memory), EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory), EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory), registers, disks, optical disks, hard drives, or any other suitable storage media, or any combination thereof. Machine-readable media may be implemented in computer program products.

[0184] Software modules may comprise a single instruction or a number of instructions, and may be distributed across several different code segments, across different programs, and across multiple storage media. Computer-readable media may include multiple software modules. These software modules include instructions that, when executed by an instrument (such as a processor), enable the processing system to perform various functions. These software modules may include transfer modules and receive modules. Each software module may reside in a single storage device or be distributed across multiple storage devices. As an example, when a trigger event occurs, a software module may be loaded from a hard drive into RAM. During the execution of a software module, the processor may load some instructions into a cache to improve access speed. One or more cache lines may subsequently be loaded into a general-purpose register file for processor execution. In the context of the functionality of a software module described below, it will be understood that such functionality is implemented by the processor when the processor executes the instructions from that software module.

[0185] Similarly, any connection is also legitimately referred to as computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technology (such as infrared (IR), radio, and microwave), then that coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technology (such as infrared, radio, and microwave) is included in the definition of medium. As used herein, disks and discs include compact discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital multi-purpose discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and... Disks, where disks often magnetically reproduce data, and discs optically reproduce data using lasers. Therefore, in some aspects, computer-readable media may include non-transient computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media). Additionally, in other aspects, computer-readable media may include transient computer-readable media (e.g., signals). Combinations of the above media may also be considered examples of computer-readable media.

[0186] Therefore, certain aspects may include computer program products for performing the operations described herein. For example, such computer program products may include computer-readable media on which instructions are stored (and / or encoded) that can be executed by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein, such as those for performing the operations described herein and in... Figure 7 and / or Figure 8 The operations explained herein, as well as the instructions for other operations used for DCI collaboration described herein.

[0187] Furthermore, it should be understood that modules and / or other suitable means for performing the methods and techniques described herein may be downloaded and / or otherwise obtained by the user terminal and / or base station where applicable. For example, such devices can be coupled to a server to facilitate the transfer of means for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, the various methods described herein can be provided via a storage device (e.g., RAM, ROM, physical storage media such as CDs or floppy disks, etc.) so that the device can obtain the various methods once the storage device is coupled to or provided to the user terminal and / or base station. Furthermore, any other suitable techniques appropriate for providing the methods and techniques described herein to the device may be utilized.

[0188] It will be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configurations and components described above. Various modifications, substitutions, and variations can be made to the layout, operation, and details of the methods and apparatus described above.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication by a cooperative user equipment (UE), comprising: Receive configuration information for receiving control information associated with a target UE, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information, a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the target UE, or a downlink control information (DCI) format associated with the target UE; Based on the configuration information, the control information associated with the target UE is received; The control information associated with the target UE is decoded based on at least one of the indicated set of dedicated control channel candidates, the RNTI of the target UE, or the DCI format associated with the target UE, wherein decoding the control information associated with the target UE includes aligning the length of the control information associated with the target UE with that of the control information associated with the cooperative UE. as well as The decoded control information is forwarded to the target UE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the control information includes downlink control information (DCI) transmitted on the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information for receiving the control information associated with the target UE includes at least one of the following: Receive the configuration information from the network node; or The configuration information is received from the target UE.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated control resource set CORESET for receiving the control information associated with the target UE, or a dedicated search space for receiving the control information associated with the target UE.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the control information associated with the target UE includes one or more in-phase and quadrature (IQ) samples corresponding to the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

6. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving the control information associated with the target UE includes receiving the one or more IQ samples in the dedicated CORESET and the dedicated search space.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein forwarding the received control information to the target UE includes forwarding the IQ sample to the target UE.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising rate matching around a time-frequency resource set based on the indicated dedicated CORESET and the dedicated search space.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information, one or more start control channel elements (CCEs) for the dedicated control channel candidate set, a clustering level associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set, an interleaving mode associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set, or a precoding granularity associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising demodulating the control information based on at least one of the dedicated control channel candidate set, the aggregation level, the interleaving mode, or the precoding granularity.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising performing channel estimation associated with a control channel on which the control information is transmitted, wherein the demodulation of the control information is further based on the channel estimation.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein forwarding the received control information to the target UE comprises forwarding the demodulated control information as a plurality of binary bits to the target UE.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising rate matching around a time-frequency resource set based on the union of dedicated control channel candidates in the dedicated control channel candidate set.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding the received control information to the target UE includes forwarding the decoded control information to the target UE.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein decoding the control information comprises: Monitor one or more control channel candidates in the dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information; as well as The one or more control channel candidates are descrambled, decoded, and subjected to cyclic redundancy check (CRC).

16. The method of claim 15, wherein monitoring of the one or more control channel candidates is based on blind detection capabilities associated with the cooperative UE.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the blind detection capability is based on at least one of the following: the maximum number of control channel candidates that the cooperative UE can monitor, and the maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs).

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the blind detection capability is split between monitoring one or more control channel candidates in the dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information associated with the target UE and monitoring one or more additional control channel candidates corresponding to the control information associated with the cooperative UE.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein when an oversubscription of control channel candidates occurs, monitoring the one or more additional control channel candidates corresponding to control information associated with the cooperative UE takes precedence over monitoring the one or more control channel candidates in the dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information associated with the target UE.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein aligning the length of the control information associated with the target UE with the length of the control information associated with the cooperative UE comprises padding the control information associated with the target UE with one or more additional bits.

21. A method for wireless communication by a target user equipment (UE), comprising: Receive configuration information for receiving control information associated with the target UE, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information, a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the target UE, or a downlink control information (DCI) format associated with the target UE; as well as Receive decoded control information associated with the target UE from the cooperative UE, wherein the decoded control information associated with the target UE includes control information associated with the target UE with the same length as control information associated with the cooperative UE.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the control information includes downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the network node on the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the configuration information further comprises at least one of the following: Instructions for a dedicated control resource set CORESET for receiving the control information associated with the target UE; A dedicated search space for receiving the control information associated with the target UE; One or more initial control channel elements (CCEs) for the dedicated control channel candidate set; The aggregation level associated with the set of dedicated control channel candidates; The interleaving mode associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set; or The precoding granularity associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the control information associated with the target UE includes at least one of the following: One or more in-phase and quadrature IQ samples corresponding to the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) received by the cooperative UE; Control information demodulated by the cooperative UE; or Control information decoded by the cooperative UE.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising: The control information associated with the target UE is received separately from the network node; as well as The control information received from the network node is combined with the control information received from the cooperative UE.

26. An apparatus for wireless communication by a cooperative user equipment (UE), comprising: At least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory including code executable by the at least one processor to cause the device to perform the following operations: Receive configuration information for receiving control information associated with a target UE, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information, a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the target UE, or a downlink control information (DCI) format associated with the target UE; Based on the configuration information, the control information associated with the target UE is received; The control information associated with the target UE is decoded based on at least one of the indicated set of dedicated control channel candidates, the RNTI of the target UE, or the DCI format associated with the target UE, wherein decoding the control information associated with the target UE includes aligning the length of the control information associated with the target UE with that of the control information associated with the cooperative UE. as well as The decoded control information is forwarded to the target UE.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the control information includes downlink control information (DCI) transmitted on the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to receive configuration information for the control information associated with the target UE includes code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to perform at least one of the following: Receive the configuration information from the network node; or The configuration information is received from the target UE.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated control resource set CORESET for receiving the control information associated with the target UE, or a dedicated search space for receiving the control information associated with the target UE.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the control information associated with the target UE includes one or more in-phase and quadrature IQ samples corresponding to the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to receive the control information associated with the target UE includes code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to receive the one or more IQ samples in the dedicated CORESET and the dedicated search space.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to forward received control information to the target UE includes code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to forward the IQ sample to the target UE.

33. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising code executable by the at least one processor to enable the apparatus to perform rate matching around a set of time-frequency resources based on an indicated dedicated CORESET and the dedicated search space.

34. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information, one or more start control channel elements (CCEs) for the dedicated control channel candidate set, a clustering level associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set, an interleaving mode associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set, or a precoding granularity associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the code is further executable by the at least one processor to demodulate the control information based on at least one of the dedicated control channel candidate set, the aggregation level, the interleaving mode, or the precoding granularity.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the code is further executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to perform channel estimation associated with a control channel on which the control information is transmitted, wherein the demodulation of the control information is further based on the channel estimation.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to forward received control information to the target UE includes code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to forward demodulated control information as a plurality of binary bits to the target UE.

38. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the code is further executable by the at least one processor to enable the apparatus to perform rate matching around a set of time-frequency resources based on the union of dedicated control channel candidates in the set of dedicated control channel candidates.

39. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to forward received control information to the target UE includes code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to forward decoded control information to the target UE.

40. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to decode the control information includes code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to perform the following operations: Monitor one or more control channel candidates in the dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information; and The one or more control channel candidates are descrambled, decoded, and subjected to cyclic redundancy check (CRC).

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein monitoring of the one or more control channel candidates is based on blind detection capability associated with the cooperative UE.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the blind detection capability is based on at least one of the following: the maximum number of control channel candidates that the cooperative UE can monitor, and the maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs).

43. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the blind detection capability is split between monitoring one or more control channel candidates in the dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information associated with the target UE and monitoring one or more additional control channel candidates corresponding to the control information associated with the cooperative UE.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein when an oversubscription of control channel candidates occurs, monitoring the one or more additional control channel candidates corresponding to control information associated with the cooperative UE takes precedence over monitoring the one or more control channel candidates in the dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information associated with the target UE.

45. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein code executable by the at least one processor to align the length of the control information associated with the target UE with the length of the control information associated with the cooperative UE includes code executable by the at least one processor to populate the control information associated with the target UE with one or more additional bits.

46. ​​An apparatus for wireless communication by a target user equipment (UE), comprising: At least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory including code executable by the at least one processor to cause the device to perform the following operations: Receive configuration information for receiving control information associated with the target UE, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the following: an indication of a dedicated control channel candidate set corresponding to the control information, a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the target UE, or a downlink control information (DCI) format associated with the target UE; as well as Receive decoded control information associated with the target UE from the cooperative UE, wherein the decoded control information associated with the target UE includes control information associated with the target UE with the same length as control information associated with the cooperative UE.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the control information includes downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the network node on the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

48. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the configuration information further comprises at least one of the following: Instructions for a dedicated control resource set CORESET for receiving the control information associated with the target UE; A dedicated search space for receiving the control information associated with the target UE; One or more initial control channel elements (CCEs) for the dedicated control channel candidate set; The aggregation level associated with the set of dedicated control channel candidates; The interleaving mode associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set; or The precoding granularity associated with the dedicated control channel candidate set.

49. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the control information associated with the target UE includes at least one of the following: One or more in-phase and quadrature IQ samples corresponding to the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) received by the cooperative UE; Control information demodulated by the cooperative UE; or Control information decoded by the cooperative UE.

50. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the code is further executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to perform the following operations: Receive the control information associated with the target UE separately from the network node; and The control information received from the network node is combined with the control information received from the cooperative UE.

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