A wireless communication method, device, node and non-transient computer readable medium

Abstract

The present invention discloses a wireless communication method, device, node and non-transient computer readable medium. The wireless communication method comprises: determining a time slot based on a first offset by a wireless communication device; and sending an uplink transmission to a wireless communication node at the time slot by the wireless communication device.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the Chinese patent application with application number "202180096219.4", application date "April 2, 2021", and title "System and method for scheduling using offset". Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to systems and methods for scheduling uplink transmissions with an offset. Background Art

[0003] In general, the timing relationships currently defined in 5G New Radio (NR) are not applicable to IoT over network-to-network due to the large timing advance effect, nor are they applicable to base station scheduling, because there may be conflicts if the base station does not know the value of the timing advance experienced by the user equipment. In addition, in some cases, the timing advance between the uplink and downlink channels is so large that the time slot in which the user equipment transmits the signal precedes the time slot in which the base station sends the scheduling / grant downlink control information, which is theoretically impossible because the user equipment must receive the scheduling information before transmitting according to the scheduling information. Summary of the invention

[0004] The exemplary embodiments disclosed herein are intended to solve problems related to one or more problems presented in the prior art, as well as to provide additional features, which will become apparent when referring to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. According to various embodiments, exemplary systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are disclosed herein. However, it should be understood that these embodiments are presented by way of example and not by way of limitation, and it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art who read this disclosure that various modifications may be made to the disclosed embodiments while remaining within the scope of this disclosure.

[0005] In some arrangements, a user equipment (UE) performs a method comprising determining a time slot based on a first offset or based on a configurable offset; and sending an uplink transmission to a wireless communication node at the time slot.

[0006] In other arrangements, a BS performs a method that includes configuring a time slot for uplink transmission for a wireless communication device, wherein the time slot is determined based on a first offset or based on a configurable offset.

[0007] In other embodiments, a wireless communication device includes a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is configured to read code from the memory and implement a method comprising: determining a time slot based on a first offset or based on a configurable offset; and sending an uplink transmission to a wireless communication node at the time slot.

[0008] In other embodiments, a computer program product includes computer-readable program medium code stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement a method comprising determining a time slot based on a first offset or based on a configurable offset; and sending an uplink transmission to a wireless communication node at the time slot.

[0009] The above and other aspects and embodiments thereof are described in more detail in the drawings, the description and the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Various exemplary embodiments of the present solution are described in detail below with reference to the following figures or drawings. The drawings are provided for illustrative purposes only and depict only exemplary embodiments of the present solution to facilitate the reader's understanding of the present solution. Therefore, the drawings should not be considered as limiting the breadth, scope or applicability of the present solution. It should be noted that for clarity and ease of illustration, these drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0011] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a scheduling method for a user equipment according to an example embodiment.

[0012] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process for wireless communication of a UE according to various embodiments.

[0013] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process for wireless communication of a UE according to various embodiments.

[0014] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process for wireless communication of a UE according to various embodiments.

[0015] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process for frame timing misalignment of a UE according to various embodiments.

[0016] Figure 6 is a table summarizing the enhancements to timing relationships in NB-IoT as described herein according to various embodiments.

[0017] Figure 7 is a table summarizing the enhancements to timing relationships in eMTC as described herein, according to various embodiments.

[0018] Fig. 8A is a flow chart illustrating an example wireless communication method for scheduling uplink transmissions based on an offset in accordance with various embodiments.

[0019] Figure 8B is a flow chart illustrating another example wireless communication method for scheduling uplink transmissions based on an offset in accordance with various embodiments.

[0020] Figure 8C is a flow chart illustrating another example wireless communication method for scheduling uplink transmissions based on an offset in accordance with various embodiments.

[0021] Fig.8D is a flow chart illustrating another example wireless communication method for scheduling uplink transmissions based on an offset in accordance with various embodiments.

[0022] Fig.9A A block diagram of an example base station is shown in accordance with various embodiments.

[0023] Fig. 9B A block diagram of an example user equipment is shown in accordance with various embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] Various exemplary embodiments of the present solution are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the present solution. It will be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art that, after reading this disclosure, various changes or modifications may be made to the examples described herein without departing from the scope of the present solution. Therefore, the present solution is not limited to the exemplary embodiments and applications described and illustrated herein. In addition, the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed herein are merely example methods. Based on design preferences, the specific order or hierarchy of steps of the disclosed methods or processes may be rearranged while remaining within the scope of the present solution. Therefore, a person of ordinary skill in the art should understand that the methods and techniques disclosed herein present various steps or actions in an example order, and that the present solution is not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented, unless otherwise expressly stated.

[0025] In general, the timing relationships currently defined in 5G New Radio (NR) are not applicable to the Internet of Things (IoT) over Network-to-Network (NTN) due to the large Timing Advance (TA) effect, nor are they applicable to Base Station (BS) scheduling, because there may be conflicts if the BS does not know the value of TA experienced by the User Equipment (UE).

[0026] In addition to IoT and Half-Duplex Frequency Division Duplex (HD-FDD) scheduling issues on NTN, there are multiple other specific timing relationships in current 5G NR systems. For Narrow Band (NB)-IoT systems, there are: a) Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel (NPDCCH) to Narrowband Physical Uplink Scheduling Channel (NPUSCH) format 1; b) Random Access Response (RAR) grant to NPUSCH format 1; c) Narrowband Physical Downlink Scheduling Channel (NPDSCH) to HARQ Acknowledgement (ACK) on NPUSCH format 2; d) NPDCCH command to Narrowband Physical Random Access Channel (NPRACH); and e) TA command activation. For the enhanced Machine Type Communication (eMTC) system, there are: a) MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel (MPDCCH) to PUSCH; b) RAR grant to PUSCH; c) Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) command to Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH); d) MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel (MPDCCH) to scheduled UL Sounding Reference Signal (SRS); e) PDSCH to HARQ-ACK on PUCCH; f) Channel State Information (CSI) reference resource timing; g) MPDCCH to aperiodic SRS; and h) TA command activation.For example, in NPDCCH to NPUSCH format 1 (which is part of the NB-IoT system), when an NPDCCH with DCI format N0 ending with NB-IoT downlink (DL) subframe n (which is intended for the UE) is detected on a given serving cell, the UE, based on the NPDCCH information, sends the NB-IoT signal in N consecutive NB-IoT uplink (UL) time slots n at the end of the n+k0DL subframe for FDD. i Use NPUSCH format 1 to perform corresponding NPUSCH transmission, where i = 0, 1, ..., N-1.

[0027] To address the above issues, the systems and methods described herein are directed to various embodiments for modifying the current scheduling method. In a first embodiment, a scheduling offset (offset) value is amplified, and an available UL resource at or after slot n+k+offset is determined (i.e., in some cases, the first available UL resource is slot n+k+offset, and in some cases, for NPUSCH repetition, the available UL slot is the first slot of NPUSCH). Figure 6 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a scheduling method for UE according to a first embodiment. Figure 6 As shown, the first available UL resource after slot n+k+offset on the UE UL timeline does not overlap with any DL reception even with a large TA.

[0028] In the first case of this first embodiment, the UE transmits in the available UL resources at or after n+k+offset. Assuming that the received NPDCCH ends in time slot n, with the assistance of the reported TA, the available UL resources can be time slot n+k+offset or after time slot n+k+offset. For NPUSCH repetition, the available UL time slot is the first time slot of NPUSCH. In this way, UE DL-UL timing interaction still holds even for large TAs. At the same time, the available resources scheduled by the eNB can ensure that no DL-UL conflict occurs on the UE side, otherwise, the eNB can adjust the DL scheduling or postpone the UL scheduling time resources.

[0029] In order for this to happen, two things must be true: the BS and UE each need to know the value of the offset, and the BS needs to know how to avoid DL-UL conflicts on the UE side. To know the value of the offset, for the UE or eNB: a) determine the value of the offset based on at least one timing advance (TA) parameter or whether the timeslot is an uplink resource. This TA parameter includes at least one of the following: a common TA, a TA value that should be applied to the UL timeslot for transmission, or a TA reported from the UE to the BS; b) both the BS and UE reuse the configuration of the offset from initial access; or c) reconfigure the value of the offset via UE-specific signaling or group UE signaling. For initial access, both the BS and the UE may know the value of the offset: a) via an implementation where both the BS and the UE are pre-configured with a value for the offset, which may be scenario-based (e.g., once an IoT-NTN UE accesses a GEO satellite network, the BS and the UE will adopt the corresponding pre-configured value); or b) via signaling the offset (e.g., for RAR grants to NPUSCH format 1 in NB-IoT over NTN and RAR grants to PUSCH for eMTC over NTN, the BS determines the offset based on the cell / beam deployment and signals the value of the offset). If the offset is determined via signaling, the value is determined based on the TA reported from the eNB. In some cases, the reported TA is carried in at least Msg3 or (N)PUSCH transmissions.

[0030] In some cases (e.g., long UL transmissions consisting of multiple segments), the reported TA refers to at least the first TA or last TA value applied to one UL transmission carrying the TA. In other cases, the TA value may be one of the values ​​applied by the (N)PUSCH segments.

[0031] In the second case of the first embodiment, the UE transmits in the available UL resources at time slot n+k' or after time slot n+k' (i.e., in some cases, time slot n+k' is the available UL resource, while in other cases, for NPUSCH repetition, the available UL time slot is the first time slot of NPUSCH). The UE may also transmit in the available UL resources after the end of time slot n+k'-1, where the value of k' is an extended value of the existing value of k. In this way, UE DL-UL timing interaction still holds even for large TAs. At the same time, the UE may send NPUSCH / PUSCH in the available UL resources after time slot n+k', so that no DL-UL conflict occurs. For this case, the UE / BS determines the time slot as n+configurable offset (e.g., k') or an available time slot after n+configurable offset (e.g., k'). Here, n represents the time slot in which the UE receives downlink scheduling information from the eNB. The configurable offset is determined as a function of the TA parameters. In some embodiments, the function is configured to convert the unit of the TA parameter to one of 1 millisecond, 1 time slot, and 1 subframe. In other embodiments, there are other functions (e.g., with different units) that convert the TA to a configurable offset. This TA parameter includes at least one of the following: a universal TA, a TA value that should be applied to the UL time slot for transmission, or a TA reported from the wireless communication device to the wireless communication node. The reported TA is carried in at least Msg3 or (N)PUSCH transmission and refers to at least the first TA or the last TA value applied to an UL transmission carrying the TA. In other embodiments, the TA value can be one of the values ​​applied by the (N)PUSCH segment. In some cases, the UE determines the configurable offset based on an indication in a downlink control information (DCI) or random access response (RAR) grant received from the eNB. The following table includes the values ​​of the configurable offset corresponding to the indication in the DCI or RAR grant. Each state of the indication refers to the value of the configurable offset. In some cases, high-level signaling indicates which value table should be applied for NTN.

[0032] In this second example, the key is how to pre-configure the candidate value of k'. In the first option, k' absorbs the value of f(TA), where f(TA) is derived from TA (e.g., common TA, TA applied for transmission, reported TA). For example, f(TA) performs a function that converts the unit of TA into 1ms / time slot / subframe (e.g., the granularity of k' can be 1ms). In the second option, the value of the offset is reused from the initial access and is based on the indication in the DCI or RAR grant (i.e., I Delay) is configured according to the following table. For DCI format N0 for FDD, as I D The values ​​of k' of the elay function are shown in Table 1 below:

[0033] <![CDATA[I D delay]]> k’ 0 8 + f(TA) 1 16+ f(TA) 2 32+ f(TA) 3 64+ f(TA)

[0034] Table 1 For DCI format N0 for FDD, as I for k' D The values ​​of k' for the elay function are shown in Table 2 below:

[0035]

[0036] Table 2

[0037] For initial access (i.e., before the UE has accessed the BS), the value for k' is predetermined. For example, for RAR grants to NPUSCH format 1 in NB-IoT on NTN and RAR grants to PUSCH in eMTC on NTN, candidate values ​​for k' may be based on the connection type (e.g., Geostationary Orbit (GEO) or Low Earth Orbit (LEO)). For example, once an IoT-NTN UE accesses a GEO satellite network, the value for k' may be determined in the following Table 3 for k' for RAR grants to NPUSCH format 1:

[0038] <![CDATA[I D delay]]> k’ 0 x1 1 x2 2 x3 3 x4

[0039] Table 3

[0040] In addition, the value of k' is greater than the sum of the maximum RTD and the traditional value of k, and the granularity of k' can be 1 ms. High-level signaling indicates which table to apply. For example, in an embodiment where the RTD is 41.77 ms (i.e., LEO-1200), the following Table 4 of k' for RAR grants for NPUSCH format 1 is used:

[0041] <![CDATA[I D delay]]> k’ 0 54 1 58 2 74 3 106

[0042] Table 4

[0043] In certain cases where DCI / RAR is enhanced, more bits are used for the indication of a configurable offset. When more states are included (eg, 8 states in the table), each state indicated indicates a value of k', then more values ​​can be used for flexible scheduling.

[0044] In a second embodiment, the scheduling offset value is amplified, and the available UL resources at or after slot n'+k are determined (i.e., in some cases, the first available UL resource is slot n'+k, and in some cases, for NPUSCH repetition, the available UL slot is the first slot of NPUSCH). In the first case of the second embodiment, the UE sends the available UL resources at or after slot n'+k (i.e., after the end of slot n'+k-1). For example, n'=n+f(TA), where f(TA) is derived from TA (e.g., common TA, reported TA).

[0045] In some cases, for long repetitive UL transmissions, different TAs may be implemented in different segments / parts. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process for wireless communication of a UE according to various arrangements. Figure 2 As shown, the UE performs a preamble transmission 210, receives a DL RAR 220, and then performs a PUSCH or NPUSCH (e.g., Msg-3) transmission 230 carrying a reported TA. The transmission 230 includes two parts: a first part 232 for performing a first TA (i.e., TA_1), and a second part 236 for performing a second TA (i.e., TA_2). A gap 234 between the two parts may be configured (e.g., to determine which transmission is required for the TA). Figure 2 The embodiment shown in is a use case of Msg3 transmission, where different TAs are implemented for different segments, where one TA is reported via Msg3. In some cases, the TA value is reported as one of the values ​​implemented by the PUSCH segment. In other cases, the reported TA refers to at least the first TA or the last TA value applied to an UL transmission carrying the TA. The UL transmission carrying the TA can be as follows: Figure 2 PUSCH transmission shown. In some cases, the value of the offset can be derived from the reported TA.

[0046] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process for wireless communication of a UE according to various arrangements. Figure 3 As shown, the UE sends a first UL transmission 310, which includes a preamble 312. The UE then sends a second UL transmission 320, which has two segments: a first segment 322 that performs a first TA (i.e., TA_1), and a second segment 324 that performs a second TA (i.e., TA_2). There is a gap 326 between the first segment and the second segment. Figure 3 As shown, the second transmission 320 is a Msg A-PUSCH carrying the reported TA. The UE then receives a DL transmission 330, which may be a Msg B. Figure 3The embodiment shown is a use case of Msg A transmission, where TA is reported via normal PUSCH, NPUSCH, etc.

[0047] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process for wireless communication of a UE according to various arrangements. Figure 4 As shown, UL transmission 410 is a PUSCH carrying a reported TA, and the PUSCH includes two segments: a first segment 420 carrying a first TA (eg, TA_1), and a second segment 430 carrying a second TA (eg, TA_2). There is a gap 440 between the first segment 420 and the second segment 430. Figure 4 The embodiment shown in is a use case of PUSCH transmission, where different TAs are performed for different PUSCH segments, where one TA is reported via PUSCH.

[0048] In some cases, periodic reporting of TA is performed via PUSCH.

[0049] In another example, where the PDCCH ends at slot n, instead of sending PUSCH in slot n+k, the UE sends PUSCH in available UL resources after slot n'+k. Specifically, slot n' corresponds in time to DL slot n (when taking TA into account). That is, if the frame boundaries of the UE DL-UL are aligned, UL slot n' starts at the same time as DL slot n. However, if the frame boundaries of the UE DL-UL are not aligned, UL slot n' is a slot that starts a time interval T after the start of DL slot n (where T is less than 1 slot). Figure 5 FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a process for frame timing misalignment of a UE according to a second embodiment. Figure 5 As shown, time slot n' on the DL time axis corresponds to time slot n on the UL time axis, and PUSCH is transmitted in a time slot in the UE UL time axis corresponding to a time slot later than time slot n'+4 (when k=4) on the DL time axis, which time slot corresponds to a time slot later than time slot n'+4 (when k=4) on the DL time axis. In this way, even in the case of a large TA, UE DL-UL timing interaction still holds. In addition, if the BS determines that the currently selected UL resource will cause a DL-UL conflict, the BS is able to select the next UL resource as the available UL resource (i.e., postpone the scheduling time resource).

[0050] In a third embodiment, the UE follows the PDCCH monitoring constraints to avoid DL-UL conflicts on the UE side. If an offset is introduced in the timing relationship of NPUSCH format 1 scheduling, in order to be consistent with the current constraints, such as "After receiving an UL grant, the NB-IoT UE needs to continue monitoring any NPDCCH search space containing candidates that ends at least 2ms before the start of the first NPUSCH format 1." Then an offset should be introduced, such as "The UE does not need to monitor NPDCCH candidates in any subframe starting from subframe n+k-2+offset to subframe n+k-1+offset." Where subframe n+k-2+offset, subframe n+k-1+offset are interpreted as UE UL subframe #.

[0051] In a fourth embodiment, after the UE completes sending NPUSCH, the UE may monitor DCI in discontinuous reception (DRX) mode to balance energy saving and signaling reception / update to a workable system. This period of DRX is configurable and may be greater than the time gap between the end of NPUSCH and the received PDCCH, and the UE may receive DCI signaling for authorizing another HARQ process number before receiving feedback for the same HARQ process transmission. In addition, the UE may receive satellite information (e.g., position, speed, etc.) and / or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) information before receiving feedback for the same HARQ process transmission.

[0052] Figure 6 is a table summarizing the enhancements to timing relationships in NB-IoT as described herein according to various arrangements.

[0053] Figure 7 is a table summarizing the enhancements to timing relationships in eMTC as described herein according to various arrangements.

[0054] Fig. 8A Flowchart showing an example wireless communication method according to various arrangements. Method 800a may be performed by a UE and begins at 810, where the UE determines a time slot based on a first offset. At 820, the UE sends a UL transmission to the BS at the time slot.

[0055] In some embodiments, the method 800a further includes determining an available time slot equal to n+k+first offset or after n+k+first offset. Here, n represents a time slot in which the UE receives DL scheduling information from a BS configuring UL transmission, and k represents a second offset indicated by the BS. In some of these embodiments, the determination of the time slot is also based on at least a TA parameter or whether the time slot is a UL resource.

[0056] In some embodiments, the method 800a further comprises determining the first offset based on a TA parameter comprising at least one of a common TA value indicated by the BS, a TA value determined by the UE to be applied to the UL timeslot for transmission, or a TA value reported from the UE to the BS. In some of these embodiments, the reported TA value is carried in at least one of a Msg 3 or a NPUSCH transmission, and in other embodiments, the reported TA value is at least one of a first TA value or a last TA value applied to a UL transmission carrying the reported TA.

[0057] In other embodiments, the method 800a further comprises receiving signaling from the BS indicating the first offset. In some of these embodiments, the signaling comprises UE-specific signaling or group UE signaling.

[0058] Figure 8B 8 is a flow chart illustrating an example wireless communication method 800b according to various arrangements. The method 800b may be performed by a UE and begins at 830, where the UE determines a time slot based on a configurable offset (eg, k'). At 840, the UE sends an UL transmission to the BS at the time slot.

[0059] In some embodiments, the method 800b further includes determining whether the time slot is n+configurable offset or an available time slot after n+configurable offset. Here, n represents a time slot in which the UE receives DL scheduling information from the BS configuring UL transmission.

[0060] In some embodiments, the method 800b further comprises determining a value for a configurable offset according to a function of the TA. The function is configured to convert a unit of the TA into one of 1 millisecond, 1 time slot, or 1 frame. Here, the TA comprises one of a common TA value indicated by the BS, a TA value determined by the UE to be applied to the UL time slot for transmission, or a TA value reported from the UE to the BS. In some of these embodiments, the reported TA value is carried in at least one of the Msg 3 or the NPUSCH transmission, and in other embodiments, the reported TA value is at least one of the first TA value or the last TA value applied to the UL transmission carrying the reported TA.

[0061] In other embodiments, the method 800b further comprises determining the configurable offset according to an indication in a DCI or RAR grant received from the BS. In some of these other embodiments, the method 800b further comprises determining the configurable offset according to the indication and a corresponding table, wherein each value of the indication corresponds to a corresponding value of the configurable offset.

[0062] In further embodiments, the method 800b further comprises determining the configurable offset as one of a plurality of predefined values ​​according to a table associated with the connection type of the BS.

[0063] Figure 8C 8 is a flow chart illustrating an example wireless communication method 800c according to various arrangements. The method 800c may be performed by a BS and begins at 850 where the BS configures a time slot for UL transmission for a UE. The time slot is determined based on a first offset.

[0064] In some embodiments, the first offset is determined based on the TA. Here, the TA includes at least one of a common TA value indicated by the BS, a TA value determined by the UE to be applied to the UL time slot for transmission, or a TA value reported from the UE to the BS. In other embodiments, the method 800c also includes sending signaling indicating the first offset to the UE. Here, the signaling includes UE-specific signaling or group UE signaling.

[0065] Fig.8D is a flow chart illustrating an example wireless communication method 800d according to various arrangements. The method 800d may be performed by a BS and begins at 860 where the BS configures a UE for UL transmission at a time slot determined based on a configurable offset (eg, k').

[0066] In some embodiments, a value for the configurable offset is determined according to a function of TA. The function is configured to convert a unit of TA into one of 1 millisecond, 1 time slot, or 1 frame. Here, TA includes at least one of a common TA value indicated by the BS, a TA value determined by the UE to be applied to the UL time slot for transmission, or a TA value reported from the UE to the BS.

[0067] In other embodiments, the method 800d further includes sending an indication in a DCI or RAR grant to the UE and applying the indication to a table to determine a configurable offset. Each value of the indication corresponds to a corresponding value of the configurable offset. In further embodiments, the method 800d further includes determining the configurable offset as one of a plurality of predefined values ​​according to a table associated with a connection type of the BS.

[0068] Fig.9A A block diagram of an example BS 902 is shown in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Fig. 9B A block diagram of an example UE 901 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. UE 901 (eg, wireless communication device, terminal, mobile device, mobile user, etc.) is an example implementation of a UE described herein, and BS 902 is an example implementation of a BS described herein.

[0069] BS 902 and UE 901 can include components and elements configured to support known or conventional operating features that need not be described in detail herein. In an illustrative embodiment, BS 902 and UE 901 can be used to transmit (e.g., send and receive) data symbols in a wireless communication environment, as described above. For example, BS 902 can be a BS (e.g., gNB, eNB, etc.), a server, a node, or any suitable computing device for implementing various network functions.

[0070] BS 902 includes a transceiver module 910, an antenna 912, a processor module 914, a memory module 916, and a network communication module 918. Modules 910, 912, 914, 916, and 918 are operably coupled to and interconnected with each other via a data communication bus 920. UE 901 includes a UE transceiver module 930, a UE antenna 932, a UE memory module 934, and a UE processor module 936. Modules 930, 932, 934, and 936 are operably coupled to and interconnected with each other via a data communication bus 940. BS 902 communicates with UE 901 or another BS via a communication channel, which may be any wireless channel or other medium suitable for transmitting data as described herein.

[0071] As will be understood by those skilled in the art, BS 902 and UE 901 may also include other components besides Fig.9A and Fig. 9B Any number of modules other than the modules shown in . The various illustrative blocks, modules, circuits, and processing logic described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in hardware, computer-readable software, firmware, or any practical combination thereof. In order to illustrate this interchangeability and compatibility of hardware, firmware, and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps are generally described according to their functions. Whether such functions are implemented as hardware, firmware, or software may depend on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the entire system. The embodiments described herein can be implemented in an appropriate manner for each specific application, but the decision of any implementation method should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

[0072] According to some embodiments, the UE transceiver 930 includes a radio frequency (RF) transmitter and an RF receiver, each of which includes a circuit coupled to an antenna 932. A duplex switch (not shown) may alternatively couple the RF transmitter or receiver to the antenna in a time duplex manner. Similarly, according to some embodiments, the transceiver 910 includes an RF transmitter and an RF receiver, each of which includes a circuit coupled to an antenna 912 or an antenna of another BS. The duplex switch may alternatively couple the RF transmitter or receiver to the antenna 912 in a time duplex manner. The operation of the two transceiver modules 910 and 930 may be coordinated in time so that while the transmitter is coupled to the antenna 912, the receiver circuit is coupled to the antenna 932 to receive transmissions over a wireless transmission link. In some embodiments, there is tight time synchronization with a minimum guard time between changes in duplex direction.

[0073] The UE transceiver 930 and the transceiver 910 are configured to communicate via a wireless data communication link and cooperate with an appropriately configured RF antenna arrangement 912 / 932 capable of supporting a specific wireless communication protocol and modulation scheme. In some illustrative embodiments, the UE transceiver 930 and the transceiver 910 are configured to support industry standards such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and emerging 5G standards. However, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to application to specific standards and related protocols. On the contrary, the UE transceiver 930 and the BS transceiver 910 can be configured to support alternative or additional wireless data communication protocols, including future standards or variants thereof.

[0074] The transceiver 910 and the transceiver of another BS (such as but not limited to, transceiver 910) are configured to communicate via a wireless data communication link and cooperate with an appropriately configured RF antenna arrangement capable of supporting a specific wireless communication protocol and modulation scheme. In some illustrative embodiments, the transceiver 910 and the transceiver of another BS are configured to support industry standards such as LTE and emerging 5G standards. However, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to the application of specific standards and related protocols. On the contrary, the transceiver 910 and the transceiver of another BS can be configured to support alternative or additional wireless data communication protocols, including future standards or variants thereof.

[0075] According to various embodiments, for example, BS 902 may be a BS such as, but not limited to, an eNB, a serving eNB, a target eNB, a femtocell or a microcell. BS 902 may be a RN, a DeNB or a gNB. In some embodiments, UE 901 may be embodied in various types of user equipment such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a wearable computing device, etc. Processor modules 914 and 936 may be implemented or implemented with a general-purpose processor, a content addressable memory, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, any suitable programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. In this manner, the processor may be implemented as a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, a state machine, etc. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in combination with a digital signal processor core, or any other such configuration.

[0076] In addition, the methods or algorithms described herein may be directly embodied in hardware, firmware, software modules executed by processor modules 914 and 936, respectively, or any practical combination thereof. Memory modules 916 and 934 may be implemented as RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. In this regard, memory modules 916 and 934 may be coupled to processor modules 914 and 936, respectively, so that processor modules 914 and 936 may read information from and write information to memory modules 916 and 934, respectively. Memory modules 916 and 934 may also be integrated into their respective processor modules 914 and 936. In some embodiments, memory modules 916 and 934 may each include a cache memory for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during the execution of instructions to be executed by processor modules 914 and 936, respectively. The memory modules 916 and 934 may also each include non-volatile memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor modules 914 and 936, respectively.

[0077] The network communication module 918 generally represents the hardware, software, firmware, processing logic and / or other components of the BS 902, which enable bidirectional communication between the transceiver 910 and other network components and the communication nodes communicating with the BS 902. For example, the network communication module 918 can be configured to support Internet or WiMAX traffic. In a non-limiting deployment, the network communication module 918 provides a 502.3 Ethernet interface so that the transceiver 910 can communicate with a traditional Ethernet-based computer network. In this way, the network communication module 918 can include a physical interface for connecting to a computer network (e.g., a mobile switching center (MSC)). In some embodiments, the network communication module 918 includes a fiber optic transmission connection configured to connect the BS 902 to the core network. The terms "configured for", "configured to" and their variations used herein with respect to a specified operation or function refer to a device, component, circuit, structure, machine, signal, etc., which is physically constructed, programmed, formatted and / or arranged to perform a specified operation or function.

[0078] Although various embodiments of the present solution have been described above, it should be understood that they are presented as examples rather than as limitations. Similarly, various figures may depict exemplary architectures or configurations, which are provided to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to understand the example features and functions of the present solution. However, it should be understood that the solution is not limited to the example architectures or configurations shown, but may be implemented using various alternative architectures and configurations. In addition, as those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, one or more features of an embodiment may be combined with one or more features of another embodiment described herein. Therefore, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described illustrative embodiments.

[0079] It should also be understood that any reference to an element using names such as "first," "second," etc., herein generally does not limit the number or order of these elements. Rather, these names may be used herein as a convenient means of distinguishing between two or more elements or instances of an element. Thus, reference to a first and a second element does not mean that only two elements can be used, or that the first element must precede the second element in some manner.

[0080] In addition, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that any of a variety of different technologies and techniques may be used to represent information and signals. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, and symbols that may be referenced in the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0081] It should also be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that any of the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, processors, devices, circuits, methods, and functions described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented by electronic hardware (e.g., digital implementation, analog implementation, or a combination of both), firmware, various forms of programs or design codes containing instructions (for convenience, they may be referred to herein as "software" or "software modules"), or any combination of these technologies. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware, firmware, and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above in general terms according to their functions. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware, firmware, or implemented as software, or implemented as a combination of these technologies, depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the entire system. Those of ordinary skill in the art may implement the described functionality in various ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions will not result in a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0082] In addition, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, devices, components, and circuits described herein may be implemented within or performed by an integrated circuit (IC), which may include a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, or any combination thereof. The logic blocks, modules, and circuits may also include antennas and / or transceivers to communicate with various components within a network or within a device. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in an alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in combination with a DSP core, or any other suitable configuration for performing the functions described herein.

[0083] If implemented in software, the function may be stored as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Therefore, the steps of the method or algorithm disclosed herein may be implemented as software stored on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, which include any media capable of transferring a computer program or code from one place to another. The storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access. As an example but not limited to this, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0084] In this document, the term "module" as used herein refers to software, firmware, hardware, and any combination of these elements for performing the related functions described herein. In addition, for the purpose of discussion, various modules are described as separate modules; however, as is apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, two or more modules can be combined to form a single module that performs the associated functions according to an embodiment of the present solution.

[0085] In addition, in the embodiment of the present solution, memory or other memory and communication components can be adopted.It should be understood that, for the sake of clarity, the above description has described the embodiment of the present solution with reference to different functional units and processors.However, it is obvious that any appropriate functional distribution between different functional units, processing logic elements or domains can be used without departing from the present solution.For example, the function that is illustrated as being performed by a separate processing logic element or controller can be performed by the same processing logic element or controller.Therefore, the reference to a specific functional unit is only a reference to the appropriate mode for providing the described function, rather than indicating a strict logical or physical structure or organization.

[0086] Various modifications to the embodiments described in this disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Therefore, this disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is to be consistent with the broadest scope consistent with the novel features and principles disclosed herein, as described in the following claims.

Claims

1. A wireless communication method, comprising: Receiving, by the user equipment UE, a signaling indicating a first offset from the base station BS; determining, by the UE, a time slot based on the first offset; as well as sending, by the UE, an uplink transmission to the BS at the time slot, wherein the UE does not need to monitor NPDCCH candidates in any subframe starting from subframe (n+k-2+the first offset) to subframe (n+k-1+the first offset), wherein n represents a time slot in which the UE receives downlink scheduling information from the BS configuring the uplink transmission, and k represents a second offset indicated by the BS, and Therein, the time slot is determined as (n+k+the first offset).

2. The wireless communication method according to claim 1, wherein: The determination of the time slot is also based at least on a timing advance TA parameter or whether the time slot is an uplink resource.

3. The wireless communication method according to claim 1, wherein: The signaling includes at least one of: UE-specific signaling or group UE signaling.

4. The wireless communication method according to claim 1, wherein: The first offset comprises a configurable offset.

5. A wireless communication method, comprising: The base station BS configures a time slot for uplink transmission for the user equipment UE; wherein the time slot is determined based on a first offset, wherein the UE does not need to monitor NPDCCH candidates in any subframe starting from subframe (n+k-2+the first offset) to subframe (n+k-1+the first offset), wherein n represents a time slot in which the UE receives downlink scheduling information from the BS configuring the uplink transmission, and k represents a second offset indicated by the BS, and Therein, the time slot is determined as (n+k+the first offset).

6. A user equipment UE, comprising: A memory and at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to read a code from the memory to implement the following operations: receiving signaling indicating a first offset from a base station BS; determining a time slot based on the first offset; and sending, via a transmitter, an uplink transmission to the BS at the time slot, wherein the UE does not need to monitor NPDCCH candidates in any subframe starting from subframe (n+k-2+the first offset) to subframe (n+k-1+the first offset), wherein n represents a time slot in which the UE receives downlink scheduling information from the BS configuring the uplink transmission, and k represents a second offset indicated by the BS, and Therein, the time slot is determined as (n+k+the first offset).

7. A base station BS, comprising: A memory and at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to read a code from the memory to implement the following operations: configuring a time slot for uplink transmission for a user equipment UE; wherein the time slot is determined based on a first offset, wherein the UE does not need to monitor NPDCCH candidates in any subframe starting from subframe (n+k-2+the first offset) to subframe (n+k-1+the first offset), wherein n represents a time slot in which the UE receives downlink scheduling information from the BS configuring the uplink transmission, and k represents a second offset indicated by the BS, and Therein, the time slot is determined as (n+k+the first offset).

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-5.

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