Method and device for selecting retransmission

Abstract

In aspects of a Selection Repeat Request (SeRQ) protocol presented herein for wireless communications, a UE may group Repeat Request (RTQ) feedback information bits for a plurality of Transport Blocks (TBs). The RTQ feedback information may be understood to indicate to a non-terrestrial transmit receive point (NT-TRP) which TBs of a plurality of TBs in a window are not correctly decoded. The UE may generate RTQ feedback information bits for a set of TBs received during a single window or TBs received during a plurality of different windows. The RTQ feedback information bits generated by the UE for a set of TBs may be encoded according to, for example, source coding, codebook, binomial coefficients, etc. Upon receiving a retransmitted version of a given TB, the UE may combine previously received bits of the given TB with the retransmitted TB version of the given TB.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates generally to selective retransmission of transport blocks and, in certain embodiments, to providing feedback regarding successfully decoded transport blocks and reacting to received feedback. Background Art

[0002] Current wireless access technologies, such as fourth generation (4G) long-term evolution (LTE) cellular systems and fourth generation (5G) new radio (NR), are based on the use of the established hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocol, which itself is based on the known stop-and-wait protocol. In the stop-and-wait protocol, the transmitter sends a data packet to the receiver and waits for the receiver to send an acknowledgment (positive or negative) before sending a new data packet. If the transmitter does not receive an acknowledgment, the transmitter retransmits the data packet. Instead of processing one data packet at a time, multiple HARQ processes operate in parallel in an interleaved manner, allowing for continuous data reception.

[0003] In addition to using the stop-and-wait protocol, other processes are used to handle situations such as downlink control information (DCI) format misdetection and uplink control information (UCI) format misdetection. In 5G NR, in each defined time slot, a communication electronic device (ED, also known as user equipment or "UE") can be used to monitor the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring opportunity. At these monitoring opportunities, the UE may find a PDCCH that schedules a PDSCH transmission such as a unicast physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission (i.e., the PDCCH indicates the physical resources used for transmission). Due to poor channel conditions, the UE may not be able to detect the PDCCH transmission, resulting in a DCI format misdetection. If the PDCCH scheduling the PDSCH transmission is not detected, it is not necessary for the UE to generate HARQ-ACK information. Due to poor channel conditions, the network entity may not be able to detect the UE's PUCCH transmission, resulting in a UCI format misdetection. The UE may select different PUCCH formats according to the number of UCI bits in a given UCI to be transmitted, and the upper and lower bounds of the UCI bits may be specified or configured by a network entity. Summary of the invention

[0004] In various aspects of the selective retransmission request (SeRQ) protocol proposed in this article, the UE can group retransmission request (RTQ) feedback information bits for multiple transport blocks (TBs). The RTQ feedback information can be understood as indicating to the non-terrestrial transmit receive point (NT-TRP) which TBs in the window were not correctly decoded. The UE can generate RTQ feedback information bits for a group of TBs. NT-TRP can selectively retransmit TBs that were not correctly decoded based on the feedback.

[0005] In the current 5G NR standard, continuous data reception of the UE is ensured by the existence of multiple parallel HARQ process implementations, where the number of HARQ processes is designed to match the round-trip delay of the communication system. This approach can be considered as delay-intolerant.

[0006] When the propagation delay of the communication system is large, it can be found that the improperly sized soft buffer of the UE will cause discontinuous data reception on the UE side. Therefore, there is a bottleneck problem caused by the mismatch between the propagation delay in the communication system and the size design of the soft buffer.

[0007] The proposed selective repeat protocol solves the delay tolerance problem by sending new packets to the receiver without waiting for the receiver's acknowledgment.

[0008] Conveniently, aspects of the present application relate to compressing uplink feedback into a shorter coded sequence. By generating feedback only for the partition where the erroneous TB is located, a reduction in the payload of the uplink feedback and a reduction in uplink power consumption can be achieved. When the erroneous TBs are continuous, the UE can be restricted to sending only one physical uplink control channel carrying feedback. Due to redundant retransmissions, the probability of erroneous TB detection is reduced, thereby helping to reduce the amount of feedback sent by the UE.

[0009] According to one aspect of the present application, a method is provided. The method includes: receiving multiple transport blocks in a window, the window being predefined to include a given number of transport blocks; decoding at least one transport block in the multiple transport blocks; and sending feedback corresponding to a subset of transport blocks in the multiple transport blocks in the window that have not been correctly decoded. In addition, a device for performing the method is provided.

[0010] In an embodiment according to the aforementioned aspect, each transport block of the plurality of transport blocks is received at a physical downlink shared channel reception opportunity.

[0011] In an embodiment according to the preceding aspect or embodiment, the method further comprises encoding the feedback using a bitmap.

[0012] In an embodiment according to the aforementioned aspect or embodiment, the method further comprises encoding the feedback using source coding. Optionally, using source coding comprises: dividing the window into a plurality of groups of transport blocks; generating the feedback by encoding a codeword selected in a codebook for a group in the plurality of groups, wherein the codeword represents a position in the group of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded in view of the number of transport blocks in the group.

[0013] Optionally, the codebook comprises a plurality of codewords, each codeword of the plurality of codewords being associated with an input symbol in a dictionary, the dictionary corresponding to a subset of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded.

[0014] Optionally, the dictionary comprises a plurality of input symbols, each input symbol: corresponding to a given probability of an incorrectly decoded transport block; and indicating a position of the transport block that has not been correctly decoded within the group.

[0015] Optionally, the method further comprises selecting the codebook from a plurality of codebooks. Optionally, the selection is performed based on the number of consecutive transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded.

[0016] In an embodiment according to the aforementioned aspect or embodiment, the method further comprises: dividing the window into a plurality of groups, each of the plurality of groups having a given number of transport blocks; defining a codebook to contain codewords corresponding to the positions of the transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded in view of the given number of transport blocks; generating the feedback by selecting a codeword within the codebook, wherein the codeword represents the position of the transport block that has not been correctly decoded in the group. Optionally, the method further comprises selecting a given binomial coefficient from a set of binomial coefficients, the set of binomial coefficients being associated with the given number of transport blocks in each group, the number of bits in the codeword being selected according to the given binomial coefficient. Optionally, the method further comprises associating with the feedback an indicator of half of the set of binomial coefficients from which the given binomial coefficient was selected.

[0017] In an embodiment according to the aforementioned aspect or embodiment, sending the feedback includes generating uplink control information including the feedback. Optionally, generating the uplink control information includes associating the feedback with an identifier of the window.

[0018] In an embodiment according to the preceding aspect or embodiment, sending the feedback comprises generating a representation of a number of consecutive transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded.

[0019] In an embodiment according to the aforementioned aspect or embodiment, the method further includes: dividing the window into a plurality of partitions; generating the feedback as a partition bitmap of the window, the partition bitmap: having a number of bits corresponding to the number of partitions in the plurality of partitions; and including a bit set to identify each partition in the partition where a transport block that has not been correctly decoded is located.

[0020] In an embodiment according to the preceding aspect or embodiment, the feedback comprises an indication of a number of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded.

[0021] In an embodiment according to the aforementioned aspect or embodiment, sending the feedback includes sending the feedback in a physical uplink control channel.

[0022] In an embodiment according to the preceding aspect or embodiment, the feedback indicates a position in the window of each transport block that has not been correctly decoded.

[0023] In an embodiment according to the aforementioned aspect or embodiment, the subset of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded forms a continuous subset of erroneous transport blocks, and the feedback includes: an indication of an index of a first transport block in the subset of erroneous transport blocks; an indication of the number of transport blocks in the subset of erroneous transport blocks. Optionally, the method further includes encoding the feedback.

[0024] According to one aspect of the present application, a method is provided. The method includes: sending multiple transport blocks in a window, the window being predefined to include a given number of transport blocks; receiving feedback corresponding to a subset of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded in the multiple transport blocks in the window. In addition, a device for performing the method is provided.

[0025] In an embodiment according to the aforementioned aspect, the method further comprises: decoding the feedback, wherein the feedback has been encoded using source coding. Optionally, using source coding comprises: dividing the window into a plurality of groups of transport blocks; generating the feedback by encoding a codeword selected in a codebook for a group in the plurality of groups, wherein the codeword represents a position in the group of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded given the number of transport blocks in the group.

[0026] Optionally, the codebook comprises a plurality of codewords, each codeword of the plurality of codewords being associated with an input symbol in a dictionary, the dictionary corresponding to a subset of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded.

[0027] Optionally, the dictionary comprises a plurality of input symbols, each input symbol: corresponding to a given probability of an incorrectly decoded transport block; indicating a position of the transport block that has not been correctly decoded within the group. Optionally, the decoding comprises selecting the codebook from a plurality of codebooks.

[0028] In an embodiment according to the aforementioned aspect or embodiment, the method further comprises: decoding the feedback by determining a codeword within a codebook, wherein the codeword represents a position of a transport block that has not been correctly decoded within a group of transport blocks. Optionally, the feedback has been encoded by selecting a given binomial coefficient from a set of binomial coefficients, the set of binomial coefficients being associated with the given number of transport blocks in each group, the number of bits in the codeword being selected according to the given binomial coefficient. Optionally, the feedback is associated with an indicator of half of the set of binomial coefficients from which the given binomial coefficient was selected.

[0029] In an embodiment according to the aforementioned aspect or embodiment, receiving the feedback includes receiving uplink control information including the feedback.

[0030] In order to more fully understand the present embodiment and its advantages, the following description is made by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0031] Figure 1 A communication system in which embodiments of the present application may appear is schematically shown, the communication system including a plurality of exemplary electronic devices and a plurality of exemplary transmitting and receiving points and various networks;

[0032] Figure 2 The block diagram shows Figure 1 A communication system comprising a plurality of exemplary electronic devices, exemplary ground transmission and reception points, exemplary non-ground transmission and reception points, and various networks;

[0033] Figure 3 The various aspects of the present application are shown in a block diagram. Figure 2 Elements of an exemplary electronic device of Figure 2 Elements of an exemplary ground transmitting and receiving point and Figure 2 Elements of an exemplary non-terrestrial transmitting and receiving point;

[0034] Figure 4 Various modules that may be included in an exemplary electronic device, an exemplary terrestrial transmit-receive point, and an exemplary non-terrestrial transmit-receive point are shown in block diagram form in accordance with various aspects of the present application;

[0035] Figure 5 The sensing management functions of various aspects of the present application are shown in a block diagram;

[0036] Figure 6 An example of a window of 40 transport blocks with discontinuous erroneously received transport blocks is shown;

[0037] Figure 7 A Huffman code probability table is shown;

[0038] Figure 8 An example of a window of 40 transport blocks with consecutive erroneously received transport blocks is shown;

[0039] Fig. 9 An exemplary codebook for 4 consecutive erroneous transmission blocks is shown;

[0040] Fig.10 Two windows with 40 transport blocks are shown, which can be understood as being mapped to a soft buffer at the UE, each window including a plurality of discontinuous erroneously received transport blocks;

[0041] Fig.11 It shows that various aspects of the present application are used Fig.10 A window of uplink control information bits and a window of uplink control information bits Fig.10 An uplink control information bit set of another window;

[0042] Fig.12 Shows alternatives to various aspects of the present application Fig.11 The collection is used for Fig.10 A window of uplink control information bits and a window of uplink control information bits Fig.10 An uplink control information bit set of another window;

[0043] Fig.13 An exemplary set of uplink control information bits including window ID, number of bits per symbol, measured BLER, and multiple groups of feedback are shown in accordance with various aspects of the present application;

[0044] Fig.14 It shows that various aspects of the present application are used Fig.10 A window of uplink control information bits and a window of uplink control information bits Fig.10 An uplink control information bit set of another window;

[0045] Fig.15 Shows alternatives to various aspects of the present application Fig.11 The collection is used for Fig.10 A window of uplink control information bits and a window of uplink control information bits Fig.10 An uplink control information bit set of another window;

[0046] Fig.16 Shows alternatives to various aspects of the present application Fig.11 The collection is used for Fig.10 A window of uplink control information bits and a window of uplink control information bits Fig.10 An uplink control information bit set of another window;

[0047] Fig.17Two windows with 40 transport blocks are shown, which can be understood as being mapped to a soft buffer at the UE, each window including a plurality of consecutive erroneously received transport blocks;

[0048] Fig.18 It shows that various aspects of the present application are used Fig.17 A window of uplink control information bits and a window of uplink control information bits Fig.17 An uplink control information bit set of another window;

[0049] Fig.19 Shows alternatives to various aspects of the present application Fig.11 The collection is used for Fig.10 A window of uplink control information bits and a window of uplink control information bits Fig.10 An uplink control information bit set of another window;

[0050] Fig. 20 A single window with two adjacent groups of erroneous transmission blocks is shown;

[0051] Fig.21 It shows that various aspects of the present application are used Fig. 20 A set of uplink control information bits of the window;

[0052] Fig. 22 An example of a transmit event followed by a receive event is shown;

[0053] Fig.23 An example of feedback transmission followed by retransmission triggered by receiving feedback of a high priority transport block according to aspects of the present application is shown;

[0054] Fig.24 An example of a transmission event followed by a reception event followed by a feedback transmission of a low priority transmission block is shown in various aspects of the present application;

[0055] Fig.25A An example of feedback transmission followed by physical downlink control channel transmission according to various aspects of the present application is shown;

[0056] Fig.25B Shows various aspects of this application Fig.25A An exemplary physical downlink control channel jointly carrying three redundant versions of a transport block with a specific packet ID sent in;

[0057] Fig.26 An example of a transmission event of a transport block containing a plurality of data packets of different priorities followed by a reception event followed by a feedback transmission of a high priority transport block according to aspects of the present application is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0058] For illustrative purposes, specific exemplary embodiments will be explained in greater detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0059] The embodiments set forth herein represent information sufficient to practice the claimed subject matter and illustrate methods of practicing such subject matter. After reading the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the claimed subject matter and will recognize applications of these concepts not specifically mentioned herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications are within the scope of the present application and the appended claims.

[0060] In addition, it should be understood that any module, component or device disclosed herein for executing instructions may include or have access to one or more non-transitory computer / processor readable storage media to store information, such as computer / processor readable instructions, data structures, program modules and / or other data. A non-exhaustive list of examples of non-transitory computer / processor readable storage media includes: magnetic cassettes, magnetic tapes, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital video disc or digital versatile disc (DVD), Blu-ray Disc TM Such non-transitory computer / processor storage media may be part of, accessible to, or connected to a device. Computer / processor readable / executable instructions for implementing the applications or modules described herein may be stored or otherwise saved by such non-transitory computer / processor readable storage media.

[0061] refer to Figure 1, a simplified schematic diagram of a communication system is provided as an illustrative example and not a limitation. The communication system 100 includes a radio access network 120. The radio access network 120 may be a next generation (e.g., sixth generation (6G) or higher) radio access network or a traditional (e.g., 5G, 4G, 3G or 2G) radio access network. One or more communication electronic devices (electric devices, ED) 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e, 110f, 110g, 110h, 110i, 110j (collectively referred to as 110) may be interconnected with each other or connected to one or more network nodes (170a and 170b, collectively referred to as 170) in the radio access network 120. The core network 130 may be part of the communication system and may be dependent on or independent of the radio access technology used in the communication system 100. In addition, the communication system 100 includes a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 140, the Internet 150, and other networks 160.

[0062] Figure 2 An exemplary communication system 100 is shown. Typically, the communication system 100 enables multiple wireless or wired elements to transmit data and other content. The communication system 100 can be used to provide content such as voice, data, video and / or text through broadcast, multicast and unicast, etc. The communication system 100 can be operated by sharing resources such as carrier spectrum bandwidth between its constituent elements. The communication system 100 may include a terrestrial communication system and / or a non-terrestrial communication system. The communication system 100 can provide a wide range of communication services and applications (such as earth monitoring, remote sensing, passive sensing and positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and mobility, etc.). The communication system 100 can provide high availability and robustness through the joint operation of a terrestrial communication system and a non-terrestrial communication system. For example, integrating a non-terrestrial communication system (or its components) into a terrestrial communication system can produce a heterogeneous network including multiple layers. Compared with traditional communication networks, heterogeneous networks can obtain better overall performance through efficient multi-link joint operation, more flexible function sharing, and faster physical layer link switching between terrestrial networks and non-terrestrial networks.

[0063] The terrestrial communication system and the non-terrestrial communication system can be regarded as subsystems of the communication system. Figure 2In the example shown, the communication system 100 includes electronic devices (EDs) 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d (collectively referred to as ED110), radio access networks (RANs) 120a and 120b, a non-terrestrial communication network 120c, a core network 130, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 140, the Internet 150, and other networks 160. The RANs 120a and 120b include corresponding base stations (BSs) 170a and 170b, which may be generally referred to as terrestrial transmit and receive points (T-TRPs) 170a and 170b. The non-terrestrial communication network 120c includes an access node 172, which may be generally referred to as a non-terrestrial transmit and receive point (NT-TRP) 172.

[0064] Alternatively or in addition, any ED 110 may be used to connect, access or communicate with any T-TRP 170a, T-TRP 170b and NT-TRP 172, the Internet 150, the core network 130, the PSTN 140, other networks 160, or any combination of the foregoing. In some examples, ED 110a may communicate with T-TRP 170a for uplink and / or downlink transmission via a ground air interface 190a. In some examples, ED 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d may also communicate directly with each other via one or more sidelink air interfaces 190b. In some examples, ED 110d may communicate with NT-TRP 172 for uplink and / or downlink transmission via a non-ground air interface 190c.

[0065] The air interfaces 190a and 190b may use similar communication technologies, such as any applicable wireless access technology. For example, the communication system 100 may implement one or more channel access methods in the air interfaces 190a and 190b, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), space division multiple access (SDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) or direct Fourier transform spread OFDMA (DFT-OFDMA). The air interfaces 190a and 190b may utilize other high-dimensional signal spaces, which may include a combination of orthogonal dimensions and / or non-orthogonal dimensions.

[0066] The non-terrestrial air interface 190c can enable communication between ED 110d and one or more NT-TRPs 172 via a wireless link or a simple link. For some examples, the link is a dedicated connection for unicast transmission, a connection for broadcast transmission, or a connection between a group of EDs 110 and one or more NT-TRPs 175 for multicast transmission.

[0067] The RANs 120a and 120b communicate with the core network 130 to provide various services, such as voice, data, and other services, to the EDs 110a, 110b, and 110c. The RANs 120a and 120b and / or the core network 130 may communicate directly or indirectly with one or more other RANs (not shown), which may (or may not) be directly served by the core network 130 and may (or may not) use the same radio access technology as the RANs 120a and / or RANs 120b. The core network 130 may also serve as a gateway access between (i) the RANs 120a and 120b and / or the EDs 110a, 110b, 110c and (ii) other networks (e.g., the PSTN 140, the Internet 150, and other networks 160). In addition, some or all of the EDs 110a, 110b, and 110c may include functionality to communicate with different wireless networks over different wireless links using different wireless technologies and / or protocols. EDs 110a, 110b, and 110c may communicate with a service provider or switch (not shown) and with the Internet 150 via a wired communication channel, instead of wireless communication (or in addition to wireless communication). PSTN 140 may include a circuit-switched telephone network for providing plain old telephone service (POTS). Internet 150 may include a network of computers and / or subnets (intranets) and include protocols such as internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), etc. EDs 110a, 110b, and 110c may be multi-mode devices capable of operating according to a variety of wireless access technologies and include a plurality of transceivers required to support these technologies.

[0068] Figure 3Another example of ED 110 and base stations 170a, 170b and / or 170c is shown. ED 110 is used to connect people, objects, machines, etc. ED 110 can be widely used in various scenarios, such as cellular communication, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X), peer-to-peer (P2P), machine-to-machine (M2M), machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IOT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), metaverse, digital twin, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, drone, robot, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and mobility, etc.

[0069] Each ED 110 represents any suitable end-user device for wireless operation, which may include (or may be referred to as) user equipment / device (UE), wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), mobile station, fixed or mobile user unit, cellular phone, station (STA), machine type communication (MTC) equipment, personal digital assistant (PDA), smart phone, laptop, computer, tablet, wireless sensor, consumer electronic device, watch, head-mounted device, glasses and other wearable devices, smart book, vehicle, car, truck, bus, train or IoT device, industrial equipment, or devices in the above devices (such as communication module, modem or chip), etc. The next generation ED 110 may be referred to using other terms. Base stations 170a and 170b are T-TRPs, hereinafter referred to as T-TRP 170. Also as Figure 3 As shown, the NT-TRP is hereinafter referred to as NT-TRP 172. Each ED 110 connected to T-TRP 170 and / or NT-TRP 172 can be dynamically or semi-statically turned on (i.e., established, activated, or enabled), turned off (i.e., released, deactivated, or disabled), and / or used in response to one or more of the following: connection availability and connection necessity.

[0070] ED 110 includes a transmitter 201 and a receiver 203 coupled to one or more antennas 204. Only one antenna 204 is shown. Alternatively, one, some or all of the antennas 204 can be panels. Transmitter 201 and receiver 203 can be integrated into a transceiver, for example. The transceiver is used to modulate data or other content so that it can be sent by at least one antenna 204 or a network interface controller (NIC). The transceiver can also be used to demodulate data or other content received by at least one antenna 204. Each transceiver includes any suitable structure to generate signals for wireless or wired transmission and / or process signals received by wireless or wired means. Each antenna 204 includes any suitable structure to send and / or receive wireless or wired signals.

[0071] ED 110 includes at least one memory 208. Memory 208 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by ED 110. For example, memory 208 can store software instructions or modules that are used to implement some or all of the functions and / or embodiments described herein and are executed by one or more processing units (e.g., processor 210). Each memory 208 includes any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile storage and retrieval device. Any suitable type of memory can be used, such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), hard disk, optical disk, subscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory stick, secure digital (SD) memory card, processor cache, etc.

[0072] ED 110 may also include one or more input / output devices (not shown) or interfaces (e.g., connected to Figure 1 The input / output devices support interaction with users or other devices in the network. Each input / output device includes any suitable structure for providing information to or receiving information from a user through operation, such as a speaker, microphone, keypad, keyboard, display or touch screen, including network interface communication.

[0073] ED 110 includes a processor 210 to perform operations, including operations related to preparing transmissions for uplink transmissions to NT-TRP 172 and / or T-TRP 170, operations related to processing downlink transmissions received from NT-TRP 172 and / or T-TRP 170, and operations related to processing sidelink transmissions to and from another ED 110. Processing operations related to preparing transmissions for uplink transmissions may include operations such as encoding, modulation, transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing downlink transmissions may include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulation, and decoding received symbols. According to an embodiment, the downlink transmission may be received by receiver 203, possibly using receive beamforming, and processor 210 may extract signaling from the downlink transmission (e.g., by detecting and / or decoding the signaling). An example of signaling may be a reference signal sent by NT-TRP 172 and / or by T-TRP 170. In some embodiments, the processor 210 implements transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming according to an indication of beam pointing, such as beam angle information (BAI), received from the T-TRP 170. In some embodiments, the processor 210 may perform operations related to network access (e.g., initial access) and / or downlink synchronization, such as operations related to detecting synchronization sequences, decoding, and obtaining system information. In some embodiments, the processor 210 may perform channel estimation, for example, using reference signals received from the NT-TRP 172 and / or the T-TRP 170.

[0074] Although not shown, the processor 210 may constitute a part of the transmitter 201 and / or a part of the receiver 203. Although not shown, the memory 208 may constitute a part of the processor 210.

[0075] The processor 210, the processing components of the transmitter 201, and the processing components of the receiver 203 may each be implemented by the same or different one or more processors, which are used to execute instructions stored in a memory (e.g., memory 208). Alternatively, some or all of the processor 210, the processing components of the transmitter 201, and the processing components of the receiver 203 may each be implemented using a programmed field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a central processing unit (CPU), a graphical processing unit (GPU), or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

[0076] The T-TRP 170 may be referred to by other names in some implementations, such as base station, base transceiver station (BTS), wireless base station, network node, network device, network side device, transmitting / receiving node, NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), home eNodeB, next generation NodeB (gNB), transmission point (TP), site controller, access point (AP), wireless router, relay station, remote radio head, ground node, ground network device, ground base station, base band unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), centralized unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), positioning node, etc. The T-TRP 170 may be a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay node, a host node, etc., or a combination thereof. T-TRP 170 may refer to the above-mentioned device or refer to a means in the above-mentioned device (eg, a communication module, a modem, or a chip).

[0077] In some embodiments, various parts of T-TRP 170 can be distributed. For example, some modules of T-TRP 170 can be far away from the device that houses antenna 256 of T-TRP 170, and can be coupled to the device that houses antenna 256 through a communication link (not shown) sometimes called a fronthaul, such as a common public radio interface (CPRI). Therefore, in some embodiments, the term T-TRP 170 can also refer to the modules on the network side that perform processing operations such as ED 110 location determination, resource allocation (scheduling), message generation and encoding / decoding, which are not necessarily part of the device that houses antenna 256 of T-TRP 170. These modules can also be coupled to other T-TRPs. In some embodiments, T-TRP 170 can actually be multiple T-TRPs that run together to serve ED 110 by using coordinated multi-point transmission or the like.

[0078] like Figure 3As shown, T-TRP 170 includes at least one transmitter 252 and at least one receiver 254 coupled to one or more antennas 256. Only one antenna 256 is shown. Alternatively, one, some or all of antennas 256 may be panels. Transmitter 252 and receiver 254 may be integrated as a transceiver. T-TRP 170 also includes a processor 260 for performing operations, including operations related to: preparing transmissions for downlink transmissions of ED 110; processing uplink transmissions received from ED 110; preparing transmissions for backhaul transmissions of NT-TRP 172; and processing transmissions received from NT-TRP 172 via the backhaul. Processing operations related to preparing transmissions for downlink or backhaul transmissions may include operations such as coding, modulation, precoding (e.g., multiple input multiple output (MIMO) precoding), transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations associated with processing received transmissions in the uplink or backhaul may include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulating received symbols, and decoding received symbols. Processor 260 may also perform operations related to network access (e.g., initial access) and / or downlink synchronization, such as generating the content of a synchronization signal block (SSB), generating system information, etc. In some embodiments, processor 260 also generates an indication of beam pointing, such as a BAI, which may be scheduled by scheduler 253 for transmission. Processor 260 performs other network-side processing operations described herein, such as determining the location of ED 110, determining the location of deploying NT-TRP 172, etc. In some embodiments, processor 260 may generate signaling, such as configuring one or more parameters of ED 110 and / or one or more parameters of NT-TRP 172. Any signaling generated by processor 260 is sent by transmitter 252. Note that "signaling" used herein may also be referred to as control signaling. Dynamic signaling can be sent in a control channel such as a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and static or semi-static high-layer signaling can be included in a data packet sent in a data channel such as a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0079] The scheduler 253 may be coupled to the processor 260. The scheduler 253 may be included in the T-TRP 170 or may operate separately. The scheduler 253 may schedule uplink, downlink, and / or backhaul transmissions, including issuing scheduling grants and / or configuring scheduling-free (“configured grants”) resources. The T-TRP 170 also includes a memory 258 for storing information and data. The memory 258 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by the T-TRP 170. For example, the memory 258 may store software instructions or modules for implementing some or all of the functionality and / or embodiments described herein and executed by the processor 260.

[0080] Although not shown, the processor 260 may constitute a part of the transmitter 252 and / or a part of the receiver 254. In addition, although not shown, the processor 260 may implement the scheduler 253. Although not shown, the memory 258 may constitute a part of the processor 260.

[0081] The processor 260, the scheduler 253, the processing components of the transmitter 252, and the processing components of the receiver 254 may each be implemented by the same or different one or more processors, which are used to execute instructions stored in a memory such as the memory 258. Alternatively, some or all of the processor 260, the scheduler 253, the processing components of the transmitter 252, and the processing components of the receiver 254 may be implemented using a dedicated circuit such as an FPGA, a CPU, a GPU, or an ASIC.

[0082] It should be noted that the NT-TRP 172 is shown as a drone only as an example, and the NT-TRP 172 can be implemented in any suitable non-ground form, such as a high-altitude platform, a satellite, a high-altitude platform as an international mobile communication base station, and an unmanned aerial vehicle, which will be discussed below. In addition, in some implementations, the NT-TRP 172 may be called other names, such as a non-ground node, a non-ground network device, or a non-ground base station. The NT-TRP 172 includes a transmitter 272 and a receiver 274 coupled to one or more antennas 280. Only one antenna 280 is shown. Alternatively, one, some or all of the antennas can be panels. The transmitter 272 and the receiver 274 can be integrated into a transceiver. NT-TRP 172 also includes a processor 276 for performing operations, including operations related to: preparing transmissions for downlink transmissions to ED 110; processing uplink transmissions received from ED 110; preparing transmissions for backhaul transmissions to T-TRP 170; and processing transmissions received from T-TRP 170 via the backhaul. Processing operations related to preparing transmissions for downlink or backhaul transmissions may include operations such as encoding, modulation, precoding (e.g., MIMO precoding), transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing received transmissions in the uplink or backhaul may include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulating received signals, and decoding received symbols. In some embodiments, processor 276 implements transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming based on beam pointing information (e.g., BAI) received from T-TRP 170. In some embodiments, processor 276 may generate signaling, for example, to configure one or more parameters of ED 110. In some embodiments, NT-TRP 172 implements physical layer processing but does not implement higher layer functions such as functions of the medium access control (MAC) layer or functions of the radio link control (RLC) layer. This is just one example, and more generally, NT-TRP 172 may implement higher layer functions in addition to physical layer processing.

[0083] NT-TRP 172 also includes a memory 278 for storing information and data. Although not shown, processor 276 may constitute a part of transmitter 272 and / or a part of receiver 274. Although not shown, memory 278 may constitute a part of processor 276.

[0084] The processor 276, the processing components of the transmitter 272, and the processing components of the receiver 274 can each be implemented by the same or different one or more processors, which are used to execute instructions stored in a memory such as the memory 278. Alternatively, some or all of the processor 276, the processing components of the transmitter 272, and the processing components of the receiver 274 can be implemented using a programmed FPGA, CPU, GPU, or ASIC or other dedicated circuit. In some embodiments, the NT-TRP 172 can actually be a plurality of NT-TRPs that operate together to serve the ED 110 through coordinated multi-point transmission or the like.

[0085] The T-TRP 170, NT-TRP 172, and / or ED 110 may include other components, but these components have been omitted for clarity.

[0086] One or more steps of the exemplary methods provided herein may be performed according to Figure 4 The corresponding unit or module is executed. Figure 4 Units or modules in devices such as ED 110, T-TRP 170, or NT-TRP 172 are shown. For example, a signal can be sent by a sending unit or a sending module. A signal can be received by a receiving unit or a receiving module. A signal can be processed by a processing unit or a processing module. Other steps can be performed by an artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) module. The corresponding units or modules can be implemented using hardware, one or more components or devices that execute software, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more units or modules can be programmed integrated circuits such as FPGAs, CPUs, GPUs, or ASICs. It should be understood that if these modules are implemented, for example, by a processor using software execution, these modules can be retrieved by the processor in whole or in part as needed, retrieved individually or collectively for processing, retrieved in one or more instances, and these modules themselves may include instructions for further deployment and instantiation.

[0087] Other details regarding ED 110, T-TRP 170, and NT-TRP 172 are known to those skilled in the art. Therefore, these details are omitted here.

[0088] The air interface typically includes multiple components and associated parameters that together specify how to send and / or receive transmissions over a wireless communication link between two or more communication devices. For example, the air interface may include one or more components that define a waveform, frame structure, multiple access scheme, protocol, coding scheme, and / or modulation scheme for transmitting information (e.g., data) over a wireless communication link. The wireless communication link may support a link between a radio access network and a user device (e.g., a "Uu" link), and / or the wireless communication link may support a link between devices, such as a link between two user devices (e.g., a "side link"), and / or the wireless communication link may support a link between a non-terrestrial (NT) communication network and a user equipment (UE). The following are some examples of the above components.

[0089] The waveform component can specify the shape and form of the signal being sent. Waveform options can include orthogonal multiple access waveforms and non-orthogonal multiple access waveforms. Non-limiting examples of such waveform options include orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-OFDM), filtered OFDM (f-OFDM), time window OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), universal filtered multicarrier (UFMC), generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM), wavelet packet modulation (WPM), faster than Nyquist (FTN) waveforms, and low peak to average power ratio waveforms (low PAPR WF).

[0090] The frame structure component may specify the configuration of a frame or a group of frames. The frame structure component may indicate one or more parameters of the time, frequency, pilot signature, code, or other parameters of a frame or a group of frames. More details of the frame structure are discussed below.

[0091] The multiple access scheme component may specify multiple access technology options, including technologies that define how communication devices share a common physical channel, such as: TDMA; FDMA; CDMA; SDMA; OFDMA; SC-FDMA; low density signature multicarrier CDMA (LDS-MC-CDMA); non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA); pattern division multiple access (PDMA); lattice partition multiple access (LPMA); resource spread multiple access (RSMA) and sparse code multiple access (SCMA). In addition, the multiple access technology options may include: scheduled access versus unscheduled access, also known as unlicensed access; non-orthogonal multiple access versus orthogonal multiple access, for example, through dedicated channel resources (e.g., not shared between multiple communication devices); contention-based shared channel resources versus non-contention-based shared channel resources; and cognitive radio-based access.

[0092] A hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocol component may specify how transmission and / or retransmission is performed. Non-limiting examples of transmission and / or retransmission mechanism options include mechanisms for specifying scheduling data pipe sizes, signaling mechanisms for transmission and / or retransmission, retransmission mechanisms, and the like.

[0093] The coding and modulation components may specify how the information being sent may be encoded / decoded and modulated / demodulated for transmission / reception purposes. Coding may refer to methods of error detection and forward error correction. Non-limiting examples of coding options include turbo trellis codes, turbo product codes, fountain codes, low-density parity-check codes, and polar codes. Modulation may simply refer to a constellation (including, for example, a modulation technique and order), or more specifically to various types of advanced modulation methods, such as hierarchical modulation and low PAPR modulation.

[0094] In some embodiments, the air interface can be a "one size fits all" concept. For example, once the air interface is defined, the components within the air interface cannot be changed or adjusted. In some implementations, only limited parameters or modes of the air interface can be configured, such as the cyclic prefix (CP) length or the MIMO mode. In some embodiments, the air interface design can provide a unified or flexible framework to support frequencies below the known 6 GHz band and frequencies above the 6 GHz band (e.g., millimeter wave band) for authorized and unlicensed access. For example, the configurable air interface flexibility provided by extensible system parameters and symbol length can support transmission parameter optimization for different spectrum bands and different services / devices. For another example, a unified air interface can be self-contained in the frequency domain, and the frequency domain self-contained design can support more flexible RAN slicing by sharing channel resources between different services in frequency and time.

[0095] The frame structure is a feature of the wireless communication physical layer, which defines the time domain signal transmission structure, for example, to achieve the timing reference and timing alignment of the basic time domain transmission unit. Wireless communication between communication devices can be carried out on the time-frequency resources controlled by the frame structure. Alternatively, the frame structure can sometimes be called the radio frame structure.

[0096] Depending on the frame structure and / or the frame configuration in the frame structure, it is possible to perform frequency division duplex (FDD) communication and / or time division duplex (TDD) communication and / or full duplex (FD) communication. FDD communication means that transmissions in different directions (e.g., uplink and downlink) are performed on different frequency bands. TDD communication means that transmissions in different directions (e.g., uplink and downlink) are performed for different durations. FD communication means that transmission and reception occur on the same time-frequency resources, that is, the device can send and receive on the same frequency resources at the same time.

[0097] An example of a frame structure is a frame structure specified for use in a known long-term evolution (LTE) cellular system, having the following specifications: each frame has a duration of 10 ms; each frame has 10 subframes, each subframe has a duration of 1 ms; each subframe includes two time slots, each time slot has a duration of 0.5 ms; each time slot is used to transmit 7 OFDM symbols (assuming normal CP); each OFDM symbol has a symbol length and a specific bandwidth (or part of a bandwidth or a bandwidth partition) related to the number of subcarriers and the subcarrier spacing; the frame structure is based on OFDM waveform parameters, such as the subcarrier spacing and the CP length (where the CP has a fixed length or a defined length option); the switching interval between uplink and downlink in TDD is specified as an integer time of the OFDM symbol length.

[0098] Another example of a frame structure is a frame structure specified for use in a known new radio (NR) cellular system, with the following specifications: multiple subcarrier spacings are supported, each subcarrier spacing corresponds to a respective system parameter; the frame structure depends on the system parameters, but in any case, the frame length is set to 10ms, consisting of 10 subframes of 1ms each; a time slot is defined as 14 OFDM symbols, and the time slot length depends on the system parameters. For example, the NR frame structure for a normal CP 15kHz subcarrier spacing ("system parameter 1") is different from the NR frame structure for a normal CP 30kHz subcarrier spacing ("system parameter 2"). For a 15kHz subcarrier spacing, the time slot length is 1ms; for a 30kHz subcarrier spacing, the time slot length is 0.5ms. The flexibility of the NR frame structure can be greater than that of the LTE frame structure.

[0099] Another example of a frame structure is used, for example, in a 6G network or higher. In a flexible frame structure, a symbol block can be defined as a duration that is the shortest duration that can be scheduled in the flexible frame structure. A symbol block can be a transmission unit having an optional redundant portion (e.g., a CP portion) and an information (e.g., data) portion. An OFDM symbol is an example of a symbol block. Alternatively, a symbol block can be referred to as a symbol. Embodiments of a flexible frame structure include different configurable parameters, such as frame length, subframe length, symbol block length, and the like. In some embodiments of the flexible frame structure, a non-exhaustive list of possible configurable parameters includes: frame length; subframe length; time slot ratio; subcarrier spacing (SCS); flexible transmission duration of a basic transmission unit; flexible switching gap.

[0100] The frame length does not need to be limited to 10ms, and the frame length can be configurable and vary over time. In some embodiments, each frame includes one or more downlink synchronization channels and / or one or more downlink broadcast channels, and each synchronization channel and / or broadcast channel can be sent in different directions through different beamforming. The frame length can be more than one possible value and is configured according to the application scenario. For example, an autonomous driving vehicle may require relatively fast initial access, in which case the frame length corresponding to the autonomous driving vehicle application can be set to 5ms. For another example, a smart meter on a house may not require fast initial access, in which case the frame length corresponding to the smart meter application can be set to 20ms.

[0101] Subframes may or may not be defined in the flexible frame structure, depending on the implementation. For example, a frame may be defined to include time slots but not subframes. In a frame where subframes are defined, the duration of the subframe may be configurable, for example, for time domain alignment. For example, the length of a subframe may be configured to be 0.1ms or 0.2ms or 0.5ms or 1ms or 2ms or 5ms, etc. In some embodiments, if subframes are not required in a particular scenario, the subframe length may be defined to be the same as the frame length or may not be defined.

[0102] The time slots may or may not be defined in the flexible frame structure, depending on the implementation. In a frame where the time slots are defined, the definition of the time slots (e.g., in terms of duration and / or number of symbol blocks) may be configurable. In one embodiment, the time slot ratio is common to all UEs 110 or a group of UEs 110. For this case, the time slot ratio information may be sent to the UE 110 in a broadcast channel or a common control channel. In other embodiments, the time slot ratio may be UE-specific, in which case the time slot ratio information may be sent in a UE-specific control channel. In some embodiments, the time slot ratio signaling may be sent together with the frame configuration signaling and / or the subframe ratio signaling. In other embodiments, the time slot ratio may be sent independently of the frame configuration signaling and / or the subframe ratio signaling. Typically, the time slot ratio may be system-shared, base station-shared, UE group-shared, or UE-specific.

[0103] The SCS can range from 15Khz to 480KHz. The SCS can vary with the frequency of the spectrum and / or the maximum UE speed to minimize the effects of Doppler shift and phase noise. In some examples, there can be separate transmit frames and receive frames, and the SCS of the symbols in the receive frame structure can be independent of the SCS configuration of the symbols in the transmit frame structure. The SCS in the receive frame may be different from the SCS in the transmit frame. In some examples, the SCS of each transmit frame may be half the SCS of each receive frame. If the SCS between the receive frame and the transmit frame is different, the difference does not have to be scaled by a factor of two, for example when using an inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) instead of a fast Fourier transform (FFT) to achieve a more flexible symbol length. Other examples of frame structures can be used with different SCSs.

[0104] The basic transmission unit may be a symbol block (also referred to as a symbol), which typically includes a redundant portion (referred to as a CP) and an information (e.g., data) portion. In some embodiments, the CP may be omitted from the symbol block. The CP length may be flexible and configurable. The CP length may be fixed or flexible within a frame. The CP length may vary between one frame and another, or between one group of frames and another group of frames, or between one subframe and another subframe, or between one time slot and another time slot, or may change dynamically between one schedule and another. The information (e.g., data) portion may be flexible and configurable. Another possible parameter associated with the symbol block that may be defined is the ratio of the CP duration to the information (e.g., data) duration. In some embodiments, the symbol block length may be adjusted as follows: channel conditions (e.g., multipath delay, Doppler); and / or delay requirements; and / or available duration. For another example, the symbol block length may be adjusted to fit the available duration in the frame.

[0105] The frame may include a downlink portion for downlink transmission from base station 170 and an uplink portion for uplink transmission from UE 110. There may be a gap between each uplink portion and the downlink portion, referred to as a switching gap. The switching gap length (duration) may be configurable. The switching gap duration may be fixed or flexible within a frame. The switching gap duration may vary from one frame to another, or from one set of frames to another, or from one subframe to another, or from one time slot to another, or may vary dynamically from one schedule to another.

[0106] Devices such as base station 170 can cover a cell. Wireless communication with a device can be performed on one or more carrier frequencies. A carrier frequency is called a carrier. Alternatively, a carrier can be called a component carrier (CC). The characteristics of a carrier can be characterized by its bandwidth and reference frequencies such as the center frequency, the lowest frequency, or the highest frequency of the carrier. The carrier can be on a licensed spectrum or on an unlicensed spectrum. In addition or alternatively, wireless communication with a device can be performed on one or more bandwidth parts (BWP). For example, a carrier can have one or more BWPs. More generally, wireless communication with a device can be performed on a spectrum. The spectrum can include one or more carriers and / or one or more BWPs.

[0107] The cell may include one or more downlink resources, and optionally, one or more uplink resources. The cell may include one or more uplink resources, and optionally, one or more downlink resources. A cell may include one or more downlink resources and one or more uplink resources. For example, the cell may include only one downlink carrier / BWP, or only one uplink carrier / BWP, or multiple downlink carriers / BWP, or multiple uplink carriers / BWP, or one downlink carrier / BWP and one uplink carrier / BWP, or one downlink carrier / BWP and multiple uplink carriers / BWP, or multiple downlink carriers / BWP and one uplink carrier / BWP, or multiple downlink carriers / BWP and multiple uplink carriers / BWP. In some embodiments, alternatively or additionally, the cell may include one or more sidelink resources, such as sidelink transmission and reception resources.

[0108] A BWP is a set of contiguous or non-contiguous frequency subcarriers on a carrier, or a set of contiguous or non-contiguous frequency subcarriers on multiple carriers, or a set of non-contiguous or contiguous frequency subcarriers, and may have one or more carriers.

[0109] In some embodiments, a carrier may have one or more BWPs, for example, a carrier may have a bandwidth of 20 MHz and consist of one BWP, or a carrier may have a bandwidth of 80 MHz and consist of two adjacent continuous BWPs, etc. In other embodiments, a BWP may have one or more carriers, for example, a BWP may have a bandwidth of 40 MHz and consist of two adjacent continuous carriers, each of which has a bandwidth of 20 MHz. In some embodiments, a BWP may include non-continuous spectrum resources consisting of multiple non-continuous multi-carriers, wherein the first carrier in the non-continuous multi-carrier may be in the mmW band, the second carrier may be in the low frequency band (e.g., the 2 GHz band), the third carrier (if present) may be in the THz band, and the fourth carrier (if present) may be in the visible light band. The resources in a carrier belonging to a BWP may be continuous or non-continuous. In some embodiments, a BWP has non-continuous spectrum resources on a carrier.

[0110] Wireless communication can be performed over an occupied bandwidth. The occupied bandwidth can be defined as the width of the frequency band such that below a lower frequency limit and above an upper frequency limit, the average power transmitted is equal to a specified percentage β / 2 of the total average transmitted power, for example, β / 2 is taken as 0.5%.

[0111] The carrier, BWP or occupied bandwidth may be signaled by a network device (e.g., base station 170) dynamically (e.g., in physical layer control signaling such as a known downlink control channel (DCI)), semi-statically (e.g., in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or in signaling in a medium access control (MAC) layer), or predefined according to an application scenario, or determined by UE 110 as a function of other parameters known to UE 110, or may be determined, for example, by a standard.

[0112] UE location information is commonly used in cellular communication networks to improve various performance indicators of the network. For example, these performance indicators may include capacity, agility, and efficiency. Improvements can be achieved when network elements exploit the location, behavior, mobility patterns, etc. of the UE based on prior information describing the wireless environment in which the UE operates.

[0113] Sensing systems can be used to help collect UE attitude information, including the position of the UE in a global coordinate system, the speed and direction of movement of the UE in a global coordinate system, location information, and information about the wireless environment. "Location" is also referred to as "position", and the two terms are used interchangeably in this article. Examples of well-known sensing systems include radio detection and ranging (RADAR) and light detection and ranging (LIDAR). Although sensing systems are typically separated from communication systems, using an integrated system to collect information helps reduce the hardware (and cost) in the system and the time resources, frequency resources, or space resources required to perform these two functions. However, using communication system hardware to perform sensing of UE attitude and environmental information is extremely challenging and is an unresolved problem. The difficulty of this problem is related to factors such as the limited resolution of the communication system, the dynamics of the environment, and the need to estimate the electromagnetic properties and positions of a large number of objects.

[0114] Therefore, integrated sensing and communication (also called integrated communication and sensing) is a desirable function in existing and future communication systems.

[0115] Any or all of ED 110 and BS 170 may be sensing nodes in system 100. A sensing node is a network entity that performs sensing by sending and receiving sensing signals. Some sensing nodes are communication devices that perform both communication and sensing. However, it is possible that some sensing nodes do not perform communication but are dedicated to sensing. Sensing agent 174 is an example of a sensing node dedicated to sensing. Unlike ED 110 and BS 170, sensing agent 174 neither sends nor receives communication signals. However, sensing agent 174 may transmit configuration information, sensing information, signaling information, or other information within communication system 100. Sensing agent 174 may communicate with core network 130 to transmit information with the rest of communication system 100. As an example, sensing agent 174 may determine the location of ED 110a and send the information to base station 170a via core network 130. Although in Figure 2 Only one sensing agent 174 is shown in FIG. 1 , and any number of sensing agents may be implemented in the communication system 100. In some embodiments, one or more sensing agents may be implemented at one or more of the RANs in the RAN 120.

[0116] The sensing node can combine sensing-based technology and reference signal-based technology to enhance UE posture determination. Such a sensing node may also be referred to as a sensing management function (SMF). In some networks, SMF may also be referred to as a location management function (LMF). SMF may be implemented as a physically independent entity located at a core network 130 connected to a plurality of BSs 170. In other aspects of the present application, SMF may be implemented as a logical entity co-located inside BS 170 by logic executed by processor 260.

[0117] like Figure 5As shown, SMF 176, when implemented as a physically independent entity, includes at least one processor 290, at least one transmitter 282, at least one receiver 284, one or more antennas 286, and at least one memory 288. A transceiver (not shown) can be used instead of transmitter 282 and receiver 284. Scheduler 283 can be coupled to processor 290. Scheduler 283 can be included in SMF 176 or can operate separately. Processor 290 implements various processing operations of SMF 176, such as signal encoding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, or any other function. Processor 290 can also be used to implement some or all of the functions and / or embodiments described in more detail herein. Each processor 290 includes any suitable processing or computing device for performing one or more operations. Each processor 290 can include a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor, a field programmable gate array, or an application-specific integrated circuit, etc.

[0118] Reference signal-based attitude determination techniques belong to the "active" attitude estimation paradigm. In the active attitude estimation paradigm, the inquirer of attitude information (e.g., UE 110) participates in the process of determining the inquirer's attitude. The inquirer can send or receive (or send and receive) signals specific to the attitude determination process. Positioning techniques based on global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) such as the known global positioning system (GPS) are other examples of the active attitude estimation paradigm.

[0119] In contrast, sensing technologies such as radar-based ones can be considered to belong to the “passive” attitude determination paradigm, in which the target is completely unaware of the attitude determination process.

[0120] By integrating sensing and communication in one system, the system does not need to operate according to only a single paradigm. Therefore, the combination of sensing-based techniques and reference signal-based techniques can produce enhanced attitude determination.

[0121] For example, enhanced attitude determination can include obtaining UE channel subspace information, which is particularly useful for UE channel reconstruction at the sensing node, especially for beam-based operations and communications. The UE channel subspace is a subset of the entire algebraic space defined in the spatial domain, in which the entire channel from TP to UE is located. Therefore, the UE channel subspace defines the TP to UE channel with very high accuracy. The impact of signals sent through other subspaces on the UE channel is negligible. Understanding the UE channel subspace helps reduce the workload required for UE channel measurement and network-side channel reconstruction. Therefore, compared with traditional methods, the combination of sensing-based techniques and reference signal-based techniques can achieve UE channel reconstruction with much less overhead. Subspace information can also facilitate subspace-based sensing to reduce sensing complexity and improve sensing accuracy.

[0122] In some embodiments of integrated sensing and communication, the same radio access technology (RAT) is used for sensing and communication, which avoids the need to reuse two different RATs on one carrier spectrum, and also avoids the need for two different carrier spectrums for two different RATs.

[0123] In an embodiment of integrating sensing and communication under one RAT, the first set of channels may be used to send sensing signals and the second set of channels may be used to send communication signals. In some embodiments, each channel in the first set of channels and each channel in the second set of channels is a logical channel, a transport channel or a physical channel.

[0124] At the physical layer, communication and sensing can be performed via separate physical channels. For example, a first physical downlink shared channel PDSCH-C is defined for data communication, while a second physical downlink shared channel PDSCH-S is defined for sensing. Similarly, separate physical uplink shared channels (PUSCH) PUSCH-C and PUSCH-S can be defined for uplink communication and sensing.

[0125] In another example, the same PDSCH and PUSCH can also be used for communication and sensing, where separate logical layer channels and / or transport layer channels are defined for communication and sensing. It should also be noted that the control channel and the data channel used for sensing can have the same or different channel structures (formats) and occupy the same or different frequency bands or bandwidth portions.

[0126] In another example, a common physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a common physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) can be used to carry control information for sensing and communication. Alternatively, separate physical layer control channels can be used to carry separate control information for communication and sensing. For example, PUCCH-S and PUCCH-C can be used for uplink control of sensing and communication, respectively, and PDCCH-S and PDCCH-C can be used for downlink control of sensing and communication, respectively.

[0127] At each of the physical, transport, and logical layers, different combinations of shared and dedicated channels can be used for sensing and communication.

[0128] The term RADAR is derived from the phrase radio detection and ranging; however, expressions with different capitalizations (e.g., radar and radar) are equally valid and are now more common. Radar is commonly used to detect the presence and location of objects. A radar system radiates radio frequency energy and receives echoes of energy reflected from one or more targets. The system determines the attitude of a given target based on the echoes returned from the given target. The radiated energy can be in the form of energy pulses or continuous waves, which can be represented or defined by a specific waveform. Examples of waveforms used in radar include frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) and ultra-wideband (UWB) waveforms.

[0129] Radar systems can be monostatic, bistatic, or multistatic. In a monostatic radar system, the radar signal transmitter and receiver are co-located, such as integrated into the transceiver. In a bistatic radar system, the transmitter and receiver are spatially separated by a distance equal to or greater than the expected target distance (often called range). In a multistatic radar system, two or more radar components are spatially distinct but have a shared coverage area. Multistatic radars are also called multistation or mesh radars.

[0130] Ground-based radar applications face challenges such as multipath propagation and shadowing. Another challenge is the identifiability issue, as ground targets have similar physical properties. Integrating sensing into communications systems is likely to face these same challenges, and more.

[0131] Communication nodes can be half-duplex or full-duplex. Half-duplex nodes cannot use the same physical resources (time, frequency, etc.) for both transmission and reception; in contrast, full-duplex nodes can use the same physical resources for transmission and reception. Existing commercial wireless communication networks are all half-duplex. Even if full-duplex communication networks become practical in the future, it is expected that at least some of the nodes in the network will still be half-duplex nodes because half-duplex devices have lower complexity, cost, and power consumption. Specifically, full-duplex implementations are more challenging at higher frequencies (for example, in the millimeter wave band), which is very challenging for small, low-cost devices such as femtocell base stations and UEs.

[0132] The limitations of half-duplex nodes in communication networks create further challenges for devices and systems that integrate sensing and communication into communication networks. For example, both half-duplex and full-duplex nodes can perform bistatic or multistatic sensing, but monostatic sensing generally requires the sensing node to have full-duplex capabilities. Half-duplex nodes can perform monostatic sensing under certain restrictions, such as in pulsed radars with specific duty cycles and ranging capabilities.

[0133] The characteristics of the sensing signal or the signal used for sensing and communication at the same time include the waveform of the signal and the frame structure of the signal. The frame structure defines the time domain boundaries of the signal. The waveform describes the shape of the signal as a function of time and frequency. Examples of waveforms that can be used for sensing signals include ultra-wideband (UWB) pulses, frequency-modulated continuous waves (FMCW) or "chirps", orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), cyclic prefix (CP)-OFDM and discrete Fourier transform spread (DFT-s)-OFDM.

[0134] In one embodiment, the sensing signal is a linear chirp signal with a bandwidth of B and a duration of T. Such a linear chirp signal is well known for use in FMCW radar systems. The linear chirp signal is composed of a frequency that changes from an initial time t to a 啁啾0 The initial frequency f 啁啾0 To the final time t 啁啾1 The final frequency f 啁啾1 The relationship between frequency (f) and time (t) can be expressed as ff 啁啾0 =α(tt 啁啾0 ), where Defined as the chirp slope. The bandwidth of a linear chirp signal can be defined as B = f啁啾1 -f 啁啾0 , the duration of the linear chirp signal can be defined as T = t 啁啾1 -t 啁啾0 In baseband representation, this linear chirp signal can be expressed as

[0135] As used herein, precoding may refer to any coding operation or modulation that converts an input signal into an output signal. Precoding may be performed in different domains, typically converting an input signal in a first domain into an output signal in a second domain. Precoding may include linear operations.

[0136] Terrestrial communication systems may also be referred to as land-based or ground-based communication systems, but additionally or alternatively, terrestrial communication systems may be implemented on the surface or in the water. Non-terrestrial communication systems can bridge the coverage gap in underserved areas by expanding the coverage of cellular networks using non-terrestrial nodes, which will be key to establishing seamless global coverage and providing mobile broadband services to unserved / underserved areas. Under current circumstances, it is difficult to implement terrestrial access point / base station infrastructure in oceans, mountains, forests or other remote areas.

[0137] The terrestrial communication system may be a wireless communication system using 5G technology and / or next generation wireless technology (e.g., 6G or higher). In some examples, the terrestrial communication system may also adapt to some traditional wireless technologies (e.g., 3G or 4G wireless technologies). A non-terrestrial communication system may be a communication system using a satellite constellation, such as a traditional geostationary orbit (GEO) satellite, which broadcasts public / popular content to a local server. A non-terrestrial communication system may be a communication system using a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, which is known to establish a better balance between a large coverage area and propagation path loss / delay. A non-terrestrial communication system may be a communication system using very low earth orbit (VLEO) stable satellite technology, thereby significantly reducing the cost of launching satellites into lower orbits. A non-terrestrial communication system may be a communication system using a high altitude platform (HAP), which is known to provide a low path loss air interface for users with limited power budgets. Non-terrestrial communication systems can be communication systems that use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) (or unmanned aerial systems (UAS)) to achieve dense deployment, because the coverage of these communication systems can be limited to local areas, such as airborne, balloons, quadcopters, drones, etc. In some examples, GEO satellites, LEO satellites, UAVs, HAPs, and VLEOs can be horizontal and two-dimensional. In some examples, UAVs, HAPs, and VLEOs can be coupled to integrate satellite communications into cellular networks. The emerging 3D vertical network consists of many mobile (except geostationary satellites) high-altitude access points such as UAVs, HAPs, and VLEOs.

[0138] MIMO technology enables an antenna array consisting of multiple antennas to transmit and receive signals to meet the requirements of high transmission rates. ED 110 and T-TRP 170 and / or NT-TRP can use MIMO to communicate through wireless resource blocks. MIMO uses multiple antennas on the transmitter side to transmit wireless resource blocks through parallel wireless signals. It can be seen that multiple antennas can be used on the receiver side. MIMO can beamform parallel wireless signals to achieve reliable multipath transmission of wireless resource blocks. MIMO can bind parallel wireless signals that transmit different data to increase the data rate of wireless resource blocks.

[0139] In recent years, a MIMO (massive MIMO) wireless communication system having a T-TRP 170 and / or NT-TRP 172 configured with a large number of antennas has received widespread attention from academia and industry. In a massive MIMO system, a T-TRP 170 and / or NT-TRP 172 is typically configured with more than 10 antenna elements (see Figure 3 Antenna 256 and antenna 280 in the T-TRP 170). T-TRP 170 and / or NT-TRP 172 can usually serve dozens (for example, 40) ED 110. The large number of antenna units of T-TRP 170 and NT-TRP 172 can greatly improve the spatial freedom of wireless communication, greatly improve the transmission rate, spectrum efficiency and energy efficiency, and greatly reduce the interference between cells. The increase in the number of antennas makes it possible to make each antenna unit with a smaller size and lower cost. Utilizing the spatial freedom provided by the large-scale antenna units, the T-TRP 170 and NT-TRP 172 of each cell can communicate with multiple EDs 110 in the cell simultaneously on the same time-frequency resources, thereby greatly improving the spectrum efficiency. The large number of antenna units of T-TRP 170 and / or NT-TRP 172 also enables each user to have better spatial directivity for uplink and downlink transmissions, so that the transmission power of T-TRP 170 and / or NT-TRP 172 and ED 110 is reduced, and the energy efficiency is correspondingly improved. When the number of antennas of T-TRP 170 and / or NT-TRP 172 is large enough, the random channels between each ED 110 and T-TRP 170 and / or NT-TRP 172 can be nearly orthogonal, thereby reducing the impact of interference and noise between cells and users. The above advantages make massive MIMO have broad application prospects.

[0140] A MIMO system may include a receiver connected to a receive (Rx) antenna, a transmitter connected to a transmit (Tx) antenna, and a signal processor connected to the transmitter and the receiver. Each of the Rx antenna and the Tx antenna may include multiple antennas. For example, the Rx antenna may have a uniform linear array (ULA) antenna, in which multiple antennas are arranged in rows at even intervals. When a radio frequency (RF) signal is transmitted through the Tx antenna, the Rx antenna may receive a signal reflected and returned from a forward target.

[0141] A non-exhaustive list of possible elements or possible configurable parameters or some embodiments of a MIMO system includes: panels and beams.

[0142] A panel is a unit of an antenna group or antenna array or antenna subarray that can independently control a Tx beam or an Rx beam.

[0143] A beam can be formed by performing amplitude and / or phase weighting on the data sent or received by at least one antenna feed port. A beam can be formed by other methods such as adjusting relevant parameters of the antenna unit. The beam may include a Tx beam and / or an Rx beam. The transmit beam represents the distribution of signal strength formed in different directions in space after the signal is sent through the antenna. The receive beam represents the signal strength distribution of wireless signals received from the antenna in different directions in space. The beam information may include a beam identifier, an antenna feed port identifier, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource identifier, an SSB resource identifier, a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource identifier, or other reference signal resource identifiers.

[0144] In traditional terrestrial continuous data reception schemes, the size of multiple parallel HARQ processes matches the round-trip delay of the communication system. This approach can be considered as delay-intolerant. When the propagation delay of the communication system is long, such as in non-terrestrial communication links, if the UE's soft buffer size is insufficient, the UE's data reception may be discontinuous.

[0145] An existing example of a delay-tolerant network is the bundling protocol described by the Internet Engineering Task Force in RFC 5050, available at datatracker.ietf.org / doc / html / rfc5050. It can be seen that the bundling protocol relies on the store-carry-forward concept to send packets incrementally.

[0146] Aspects of the present application relate to a selective repeat protocol, a delay tolerant protocol for non-terrestrial communications.

[0147] Compared to the bundling protocol defined above the Internet Protocol layer, various aspects of the present application relate to a selective retransmission request (SeRQ) of a transport block (TB).

[0148] In summary, in various aspects of the SeRQ protocol proposed in this article, the UE can group retransmission request (RTQ) feedback information bits for multiple transport blocks (TBs). After receiving multiple TBs in a given window, for each TB that is not correctly decoded by the UE, the UE can generate an RTQ feedback information bit, and the value of the RTQ feedback information bit is set to indicate the corresponding retransmission request, such as "1". For each TB that the UE has correctly decoded, the UE can generate an RTQ feedback information bit, and the value of the RTQ feedback information bit is set to indicate the corresponding non-retransmission request, such as "0". In some embodiments, different values ​​or combinations of values ​​can be selected to convey the desired indication. The window can be defined as a set of PDSCH reception opportunities.

[0149] The RTQ feedback information can be understood as indicating to the NT-TRP 172 which TBs among the multiple TBs in the window are not correctly decoded. The UE can generate RTQ feedback information bits for a group of TBs. The group of TBs can be TBs received during a single window or TBs received during multiple different windows. The RTQ feedback information bits generated by the UE for a group of TBs can be encoded according to, for example, source coding, codebooks, binomial coefficients, etc. The UE can use the RTQ feedback information codebook to indicate to the NT-TRP 172 which TBs among the multiple TBs are not correctly decoded. The RTQ feedback information codebook may, for example, include multiple RTQ feedback information codebook tables for consecutive error TBs (≥1).

[0150] The feedback sent by UE 110 may include an index to a selected RTQ feedback information codebook table and an index to a selected RTQ feedback information codebook entry within the selected RTQ feedback information codebook table. An RTQ feedback information codebook may be formally defined as a table of entries that encodes consecutive TB positions in a given window and associates entries with corresponding sets of consecutive TB positions. The RTQ feedback information codebook may be indexed according to the number of consecutive TBs.

[0151] After generating the RTQ feedback information bits, the UE may include the RTQ feedback information bits in the UCI. The UE may include feedback of one or more RTQ groups associated with one or more windows in the UCI. The UCI may include RTQ feedback information bits for a given window indexed by the window ID. The RTQ feedback information is expected to include one of the following: a code corresponding to a symbol in the source coding scheme; an index of a binomial coefficient matching the position of the error TB; or a combination of an index of a given RTQ codebook in the RTQ codebook table and an index of an RTQ codepoint in a given RTQ codebook.

[0152] The UE's soft buffer size can be set to hold up to W*N*M packets at any given time, where W represents the number of windows, N represents the number of TBs per window, and M represents the maximum TB size.

[0153] Each TB may carry a block header indicating a data packet ID. The block header may be defined as having B bits, where B≥1.

[0154] A TB for which retransmission has been requested may be referred to as an RTQ-ed TB. UE 110 may send RTQ feedback regarding a given TB to NT-TRP 172. In response, NT-TRP 172 may send a redundant version of a given RTQ-ed TB. It is noteworthy that NT-TRP 172 may send an RTQ-ed TB in any window. Upon receiving the RTQ-ed TB, UE 110 may combine previously received bits of a given TB with the received redundant version of a given TB. One example of a combination relies on the use of an algorithm known as "soft decision decoding," in which the output of a demodulator is a sequence of "soft bits," and the soft decision decoding algorithm utilizes a test to increase the probability of correctly decoding a given TB. For example, the test may be implemented as a log-likelihood ratio (LLR) test. Through the above combination, UE 110 may decode a given TB.

[0155] Multiple redundant versions of a given TB may be jointly transmitted by the NT-TRP 172. The redundant version of a given TB corresponds to a given number of information bits to which a given number of "redundant" bits are added. The number of redundant versions transmitted jointly may be determined by the NT-TRP 172 based on a number of factors. For example, one such factor may be a quality of service (QoS) priority value associated with a given TB.

[0156] To define the window for receiving a given number of TBs, it can be initially assumed that a single PDSCH transmission carrying a single TB can be scheduled in each of multiple time slots using a single PDCCH carrying a single DCI format. However, it can be seen that this assumption can be easily extended to the case where a single PDSCH transmission carries multiple TBs, as shown in the dynamic length window scheme described below.

[0157] Although various aspects of the present application are presented in the context of non-terrestrial or 6G communication systems hereinafter, it is worth noting that various aspects of the present application can be applied to scenarios different from non-terrestrial or 6G communication systems. In addition, it should be clear that the term "window" can be used interchangeably with the term "partition".

[0158] In various aspects of the present application, the window has a fixed length. The length of the fixed length window can be configured using high-level signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). Alternatively, the length of the fixed length window can be configured according to existing specifications. The length of the fixed length window can be expressed as the number of time slots. There are many alternatives for defining time slot units. To give a few examples, a time slot unit can be defined as: a subframe; a time slot; a mini-time slot; a group of OFDM symbols; or an OFDM symbol.

[0159] For each time slot, it can be assumed that each PDCCH independently schedules PDSCH transmission in a given time slot. Various aspects of the present application relate to UE 110 generating RTQ feedback information bits in response to determining that a TB is incorrectly decoded. Other aspects of the present application relate to UE 110 generating RTQ feedback information bits in response to determining that a PDCCH for a given time slot is not detected.

[0160] In another example, the fixed length window enables UE 110 to monitor the PDCCH for scheduling PDSCH transmission only in a subset of time slots. In time slots outside the subset, UE 110 does not monitor the PDCCH for scheduling PDSCH transmission. In addition, it is expected that UE 110 will not generate RTQ feedback information bits for time slots outside the subset.

[0161] In various aspects of the present application, the window has a variable length. The initial length of the variable length window can be configured using high-level signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). Alternatively, the initial length of the variable length window can be configured according to existing specifications. It can be assumed that a single PDCCH schedules a single PDSCH transmission, and the total number of PDSCH transmissions matches the length of the variable length window.

[0162] The total number of PDSCH transmissions that match the length of the variable length window enables the UE 110 to expect to receive the PDSCH in a particular time slot. Advance information about the time slots in which the PDSCH is expected to be received can be found to enable the UE 110 to decode the PDSCH transmission even if the corresponding PDCCH is not detected. In the event that the last PDCCH is missed, the UE 100 may lack information about when the RTQ feedback information is sent. This is especially true if the last PDCCH is a bundled PDCCH indicating RTQ and the corresponding PUCCH resources.

[0163] In various aspects of the present application, the window has a dynamic length n (where n ≥ 1). It can be assumed that only a single PDCCH schedules n PDSCH transmissions in the window. The length of the window can be provided in a DCI format according to the number of scheduled PDSCH transmissions. The length of the window can be provided in a high-level signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). The length of the window can be provided in a combination of a DCI format and a high-level signaling.

[0164] Various aspects of the present application relate to the generation of RTQ feedback information bits. For simplicity, the RTQ feedback information bits may be referred to as "RTQ feedback" below. The RTQ feedback may be generated according to a source coding technique for compressing the decoding result into a "coded sequence". An exemplary source coding technique is called Huffman coding. Alternatively, the RTQ feedback may be generated according to other source coding techniques for compressing the decoding result into a "coded sequence". Examples of other source coding techniques include adaptive Huffman coding, Shannon coding, Fano-Elias coding, Lempel-Ziv coding, and other source coding techniques collectively referred to as arithmetic coding. The RTQ feedback may be generated using a scheme based on binomial coefficients. The RTQ feedback may be generated using an RTQ codebook.

[0165] Without loss of generality: A dictionary is a set of input symbols, where each symbol includes a number of bits, each bit can represent the decoding state of a transport block (e.g., correctly decoded or incorrectly decoded). Similarly, a codebook is a set of codewords, where each codeword includes a number of "encoding" bits, which can represent the number of incorrectly decoded transport blocks and / or the location of incorrectly decoded transport blocks. A given input symbol in the dictionary can be associated with a given codeword in the codebook, for example, in a one-to-one manner. Other mapping or association mechanisms can be considered to relate input symbols in the dictionary to codewords in the codebook.

[0166] First, assume that UE 110 is configured to receive a window of length N=40 TBs. All TBs sent by NT-TRP 172 can be received with a block error rate (BLER) of 10%, i.e., the probability that a given TB is decoded incorrectly is 10%. Figure 6An example of a window 600 with 40 TBs is shown in FIG. For RTQ feedback according to the source coding technique, the NT-TRP 172 and the UE 110 use the same BLER value, thereby ensuring that both the NT-TRP 172 and the UE 110 use the same dictionary (i.e., the same set of input symbols) and the same codebook (i.e., the same set of output codewords) when interpreting (on the NT-TRP 172 side) and generating (on the UE 110 side) the RTQ feedback. The BLER is used by the NT-TRP 172 and the UE 110 to generate a dictionary based on a symbol including one or more bits. For a given symbol, if the TB at the corresponding position in a set of TBs is correctly decoded, each bit can be assigned a value of "0"; if the TB at the corresponding position in the set of TBs is incorrectly decoded, each bit can be assigned a value of "1". For a given symbol, the probability that a bit is assigned the value "0" is equal to 1-BLER (e.g., 90% when BLER=10%), and the probability that a bit is assigned the value "1" is equal to BLER (e.g., 10% in this example).

[0167] exist Figure 6 In the exemplary window 600 of , 5 TBs are shown as being different from the other 35 TBs. The different TBs can be understood to represent TBs that have been incorrectly decoded by UE 110. Therefore, UE 110 will generate RTQ feedback for these 5 TBs. In various aspects of the present application, UE 110 may use a coding method to generate RTQ feedback. For example, UE 110 may use Huffman code. A source coding scheme is proposed here, in which a bit value "0" is used to mark a position in window 600 where RTQ feedback is not to be sent, and a bit value "1" is used to mark a position in window 600 where RTQ feedback is to be sent. According to this scheme, Figure 6 The window 600 can be represented as the following base sequence: 00000010000001000000100010100000000000000.

[0168] It is worth noting that the proposed source coding scheme can be applied to the ACK / NACK based HARQ process that may exist in the current 5G NR system, where the NACK bit is mapped to "1" and the ACK is mapped to "0".

[0169] The proposed source coding scheme involves generating a dictionary of symbols to represent the base sequence. In an exemplary dictionary, the symbols are encoded by 4 bits. When encoded with four-bit symbols, the representation Figure 6 A window of 600 produces a base sequence of the following form: 0000-0010-0000-0100-0000-1000-1010-0000-0000-0000.

[0170] From the dictionary of four-bit symbols and the BLER, the probability of each symbol can be determined. Figure 7 A Huffman code probability table 700 is shown in FIG.

[0171] There is a well-known algorithm for building a Huffman tree. This algorithm involves constructing a tree based on the probabilities associated with each symbol in the dictionary. By operating according to this algorithm, a code can be generated for each symbol starting from the least probable symbol.

[0172] use Figure 7 The probability table 700 and the algorithm for constructing the Huffman tree can be expressed from Figure 6 The encoding sequence is obtained from the base sequence of the window 600. The encoding sequence may be as follows: 1-001-1-000-1-0101-0100100-1-1-1.

[0173] The coded sequence now includes 23 bits. These 23 bits may form the RTQ feedback generated by UE 110 and included in the UCI. For example, if UE 110 were to send a PUCCH carrying UCI for the first 4 TBs (i.e., TB{0,1,2,3}), the payload of the UCI would include RTQ feedback corresponding to these TBs, i.e., RTQ=1. For another example, if UE 110 were to send a PUCCH carrying UCI for the next 4 TBs (i.e., TB{4,5,6,7}), the payload of the UCI would include RTQ feedback corresponding to these TBs, i.e., RTQ=001. UE 110 sends a total of 10 PUCCHs, each carrying UCI with RTQ feedback generated by a Huffman code.

[0174] In some examples, when UE 110 correctly decodes all TBs and the RTQ feedback generated by the Huffman code of UE 110 is RTQ = 1, UE 110 does not send PUCCH carrying UCI for 4 TBs (e.g., TB {0, 1, 2, 3}) whose corresponding RTQ feedback is RTQ = 1. Instead, UE 110 discards the RTQ feedback corresponding to these TBs because none of these TBs require retransmission of NT-TRP 172, which helps UE 110 reduce the number of UL transmissions to be performed.

[0175] Various aspects of the present application relate to generating RTQ feedback using a scheme based on binomial coefficients. Pascal's triangle is a triangular array of known binomial coefficients. The binomial coefficient is (a+b) c The coefficients of the integer terms in the expansion of . For example, when c = 5, the set of binomial coefficients is {1,5,10,10,5,1}.

[0176] The previously discussed representations can be considered in the context of different encoding strategies. Figure 6 An exemplary base sequence for window 600 is 00000010000001000000100010100000000000000.

[0177] It can be assumed that the window 600 of 40 TBs can be divided into partitions (or groups), each TB partition having an integer number n (where n≥1) of TBs. For each TB partition, there can be an integer number k (where n≥k≥0) of erroneous TBs. Of course, for the case where there are no erroneous TBs, i.e., when k=0, RTQ feedback is usually not generated.

[0178] For example purposes, it may be assumed that the window 600 with 40 TB may be divided into 10 partitions, each TB partition having 4 TB. In alternative embodiments, the window 600 with 40 TB may be divided in other ways, such as: 20 partitions, each TB partition having 2 TB; 8 partitions, each TB partition having 5 TB; 5 partitions, each TB partition having 8 TB; 4 partitions, each TB partition having 10 TB; and so on.

[0179] exist Figure 6 In the example shown, the first partition of window 600 has no error TB. Figure 6 In the window 600 of , there are no erroneous TBs in TB {0, 1, 2, 3}. Therefore, UE 110 does not generate RTQ feedback for the first partition. Alternatively, UE 110 may generate RTQ feedback with all "0" bits and then discard the RTQ feedback because only "0" bits are included.

[0180] exist Figure 6 In the example shown, it is noteworthy that there is a single erroneous TB in the second partition comprising TBs {4, 5, 6, 7}. Specifically, UE 110 has identified the TB in the third position as incorrectly decoded. Therefore, k=1.

[0181] From Pascal's triangle, we know that when c = 4, the binomial coefficient set is {1, 4, 6, 4, 1}. When each partition has n = 4 TBs, the binomial coefficient set corresponds to k = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}. In other words, the binomial coefficient set corresponds to

[0182] Typically, the binomial coefficient can be encoded as m bits, where m is greater than or equal to The smallest power of 2. Therefore, upon receiving m-bit RTQ feedback in UCI, NT-TRP 172 can recognize that n-bit partitions have been encoded to represent k erroneous TBs. Equivalently, it can be said that m is the number of bits required to encode the RTQ feedback.

[0183] Considering that there is a single error TB in the second partition, it can be considered that there are 4 possible locations of the single error TB in a 4-bit partition. Therefore, m=2. Accordingly, each of the four 2-bit combinations can be mapped to each of the four possible positions representing a single error TB in a 4-bit partition. RTQ feedback "00" can indicate that a single error TB occurs at the first position. RTQ feedback "01" can indicate that a single error TB occurs at the second position. RTQ feedback "10" can indicate that a single error TB occurs at the third position. RTQ feedback "11" can indicate that a single error TB occurs at the fourth position. Of course, other mappings can also be considered.

[0184] According to aspects of the present application, after identifying that the TB in the third position is not correctly decoded, the UE 110 may generate RTQ feedback according to the mapping described above as “10.” After generating the RTQ feedback, the UE 110 may then include the RTQ feedback in the UCI.

[0185] For example, if UE 110 is to send a PUCCH carrying UCI for the second partition, the payload of the UCI includes the RTQ feedback of the TB corresponding to the second partition, that is, the RTQ feedback is 10.

[0186] As described above, upon receiving the 2-bit RTQ feedback in the UCI, the NT-TRP 172 may recognize that a 4-bit partition has been encoded to represent a single erroneous TB. However, the 2-bit RTQ feedback in the UCI may also represent encoding a 4-bit partition to represent 3 erroneous TBs. To assist the NT-TRP 172, the UE 110 may add an additional bit corresponding to an “up / down” indication to distinguish between and In other words, an additional bit corresponding to an "up / down" indication can be used to distinguish: ), and the number of bits for RTQ feedback selected from the binomial coefficients in , and the second (upper) half of the given binomial coefficient set (i.e., where ) is the number of bits used for RTQ feedback. For this example ( Figure 6 ), an up / down bit with a value of "0" may be accompanied by an RTQ feedback of "10".

[0187] For the remaining partitions, UE 110 applies the same process as described above. For the partition including TB{12,13,14,15}, the corresponding UCI payload generated by UE 110 may include an upper / lower bit with a value of "0" accompanied by RTQ feedback "01". For the partition including TB{20,21,22,23}, the corresponding UCI payload generated by UE 110 may include an upper / lower bit with a value of "0" accompanied by RTQ feedback "00".

[0188] It is worth noting that the seventh partition includes TBs {24, 25, 26, 27}. The seventh partition has 2 erroneous TBs, ie, k=2.

[0189] Considering that there are 2 erroneous TBs in the seventh partition, it can be considered that there are 6 possible forms of 2 erroneous TBs in a 4-bit partition. It can also be considered that Therefore, m=3. Accordingly, 6 of the 8 combinations of 3 bits may be mapped to each of the 6 possible forms representing 2 erroneous TBs in a 4-bit partition. RTQ feedback "001" may indicate that 2 erroneous TBs occur at the first position and the third position. Accordingly, for a partition including TBs {24, 25, 26, 27}, the corresponding UCI payload generated by UE 110 may include an up / down bit with a value of "0" accompanying the RTQ feedback "001".

[0190] It can be considered arbitrary that RTQ feedback "001" is mapped to 2 erroneous TBs appearing in the first and third positions. Thus, mapping a specific form of erroneous TBs in the TBs in a partition to a specific set of bits is useful only if the same mapping exists at UE 110 and NT-TRP 172.

[0191] The UCI payload includes 4 binomial coefficient generating codes, totaling 13 bits, 010-000-001-0001, representing 40 TBs generated by the encoding. These 13 bits are RTQ feedback generated by UE 110 and then included in the UCI. UE 110 sends a total of 4 PUCCHs, each carrying UCI with one of the 4 binomial coefficient generating codes.

[0192] In another example, a partition of 4 TBs contains 3 erroneous TBs, which are located at the first position, the third position, and the fourth position. Using the above principle, an up / down bit can be added if Set to "0" if Set to "1". UE 110 can use the binomial coefficient Generate RTQ feedback. For this example, an up / down bit with a value of "1" may accompany the RTQ feedback "01".

[0193] In another example, a partition of 4 TB contains 4 erroneous TBs. Using the above principle, up / down bits can be added if The value is "0" if The value is "1". UE 110 can use the binomial coefficient Generate RTQ feedback. For this example, an up / down bit with a value of "1" may accompany the RTQ feedback "1".

[0194] It is worth noting that for the above example, it is possible for UE 110 to only generate RTQ feedback and include the RTQ feedback in the UCI, but not include the "up / down" bit. This will further reduce the total number of bits included in the UCI. For example, for the example of 40 TBs discussed above, the UCI payload generated specifically for RTQ feedback can be reduced from 13 bits to 9 bits. This reduction can be understood to be at the expense of the possibility of misinterpreting the representation of 3 erroneous TBs as a representation of a single erroneous TB, because the probability of 3 erroneous TBs existing in the same partition is significantly lower than the probability of a single erroneous TB existing in the same partition. It is worth noting that it can be understood that the possible misinterpretations of the binomial coefficient generating code increase with the increase of the partition size.

[0195] In some examples, there may be two given positive integers of erroneously decoded TBs, such as k1 and k2, where For this, the number of bits required to encode the RTQ feedback is equal, that is, and in is a ceiling function. This will result in different numbers of erroneously decoded TBs corresponding to the same codeword length when binomial coefficients are used. In these cases, UE 110 may use different code lengths in order to distinguish the RTQ feedback bits generated according to k1 and k2. For example, UE 110 may use To generate RTQ feedback bits based on k2, UE 110 can use To generate RTQ feedback bits according to k1.

[0196] In some examples, there may be two given positive integers of erroneously decoded TBs, such as k1 and k2, where For this, the number of bits required to encode the RTQ feedback is equal, that is, and in is a ceiling function. This will result in different numbers of erroneously decoded TBs corresponding to the same codeword length when binomial coefficients are used. In these cases, UE 110 may use different code lengths in order to distinguish the RTQ feedback bits generated according to k1 and k2. For example, UE 110 may use To generate RTQ feedback bits based on k2, UE 110 can use To generate RTQ feedback bits according to k1.

[0197] In some examples, the codebook includes binomial coefficients The generated codeword is is less than 2 raised to the power of m. In those examples, UE 110 generates a binomial coefficient equal to The number of codewords in the codebook is 2, and the UE 110 generates RTQ feedback bits according to the codewords in the codebook. In some other examples, the UE 110 generates a number of codewords equal to 2 to the power of m, but some codewords in the codebook are not used to generate RTQ feedback bits.

[0198] Various aspects of the present application relate to generating RTQ feedback using an RTQ feedback information codebook. For simplicity, the RTQ feedback information codebook may be referred to as an RTQ codebook.

[0199] First, assume that UE 110 is configured to receive a window of length N=40 TBs. All TBs sent by NT-TRP 172 can be received with a block error rate (BLER) of 10%, i.e., the probability that a given TB is decoded incorrectly is 10%. Figure 8 An example of a window 800 having 40 TBs is shown in FIG.

[0200] exist Figure 8 In the window 800 of , 4 consecutive TBs have been erroneously decoded, and these 4 consecutive TBs are the 4 TBs for which the UE 110 is to generate RTQs. In various aspects of the present application, the UE 110 generates RTQ feedback using an algorithm based on using an RTQ codebook.

[0201] Here, a source coding scheme is proposed, in which a bit value "0" is used to mark the position in the window 800 where the RTQ is not to be sent, and a bit value "1" is used to mark the position in the window 800 where the RTQ is to be sent. According to this scheme, Figure 8 The window 800 can be represented as the following base sequence: 000000000000000011110000000000000000000000.

[0202] It has been noted earlier that the proposed source coding scheme can be applied to the ACK / NACK based HARQ process that may exist in the current 5G NR system, where the NACK bit is mapped to "1" and the ACK is mapped to "0".

[0203] In certain cases where all error TBs are consecutive, such as when the wireless channel is "bursty" (i.e., errors occur in bursts), information specifying the starting TB may be sufficient to generate RTQ feedback. UE 110 may generate entries of an RTQ codebook for RTQ feedback, each entry establishing a correspondence between a code and a given set of TB positions. Fig. 9 An exemplary RTQ codebook 900 for 4 consecutive erroneous TBs is shown in FIG.

[0204] The code obtained from the RTQ codebook 900 is used as the RTQ feedback generated by the UE 110 for inclusion in the UCI. In addition to the code, the UE 110 can also feedback the index of a specific RTQ codebook to assist the NT-TRP 172 in interpreting the code. The index of the RTQ codebook can effectively define the number of consecutive error TBs that the UE failed to decode. In the example of the resulting RTQ feedback of this example, the RTQ codebook index "0011" can be accompanied by the code "010000".

[0205] The resulting RTQ portion of the UCI payload includes 10 bits. These 10 bits are generated by the UE 110 for RTQ feedback included in the UCI. In summary, the UE 110 transmits a single PUCCH carrying UCI with feedback based on the RTQ codebook.

[0206] In another example, the RTQ feedback generated by the UE 110 according to the RTQ codebook can be generated by jointly encoding the first error TB and the number of consecutive error TBs. Assuming that S represents the index of the first error TB, N represents the number of consecutive error TBs, and the UE 110 is used to receive a window of 40 TBs, the RTQ feedback can be encoded as a starting length indication value (SLIV) obtained by SLIV=40*(N-1)+S. In various aspects of the present application, the RTQ feedback can be simply implemented as an index indication of the first error TB and an indication of the number of consecutive error TBs.

[0207] for Figure 8 In the window 800 of 4 consecutive erroneous TBs (N=4) starting from the 16th TB (S=16), SLIV=40*(4-1)+16=40*3+16=136=0010001000. The UE 110 may include the RTQ feedback "0010001000" in the UCI.

[0208] Various aspects of the present application relate to generating UCI for RTQ feedback. UCI can be generated for RTQ feedback according to a Huffman coding strategy. UCI can be generated for RTQ feedback according to a binomial coefficient-based scheme. UCI can be generated for RTQ feedback according to an RTQ codebook.

[0209] It is noteworthy that each PUCCH transmission carrying UCI information bits is expected to be mapped to a number of PUCCH resources. The PUCCH resources can be configured by the NT-TRP 172 using, for example, higher layer signaling. Alternatively, the PUCCH resources can be dynamically indicated in the DCI format carried by the PDCCH transmission. Different numbers of UCI bits (typically with upper and / or lower limits) can be mapped to PUCCH resources. However, it is expected that the number of PUCCH resources is determined by the NT-TRP 172. It can be found that determining the number of PUCCH resources enables the NT-TRP 172 to perform decoding of the PUCCH transmission.

[0210] First, it is assumed that UE 110 is used to receive two windows, each of which has a length of N=40 TB. The two windows can be understood as soft buffers mapped to UE 110 . Fig.10 A pair of exemplary windows is shown in . The pair of exemplary windows includes a zeroth window (WINDOW0) 1000-0 of 40 TB and a first window (WINDOW1) 1000-1 of 40 TB.

[0211] To illustrate various aspects of the present application related to generating UCI for RTQ feedback according to a Huffman coding strategy, it can be assumed that UE 110 supports Huffman coding for generating RTQ feedback. UE 110 can indicate support for Huffman coding for generating RTQ feedback to NT-TRP 172. Therefore, NT-TRP 172 can configure UE 110 to generate RTQ feedback using Huffman coding. For this example, it can be assumed that UE 110 has been configured to use a dictionary based on 4-bit symbols (i.e., representing 4 TBs). It can also be assumed that for each 4-bit symbol, there is a corresponding PUCCH transmission carrying the corresponding UCI.

[0212] Fig.11 A UCI bit set 1100-0 for WINDOW0 and a UCI bit set 1100-1 for WINDOW1 are shown. The UCI bit set 1100-0 for WINDOW0 includes a plurality of RTQ feedback information bit sets {1, 001, 1, 000, ..., 1}. The UCI bit set 1100-1 for WINDOW1 includes a plurality of RTQ feedback information bit sets {001, 010-0001, 1, 1, ..., 1}. Fig.11 An alternative arrangement is shown in which a single window ID bit is associated with each set of RTQ feedback information bits. It can be seen that the single window ID bit enables NT-TRP 172 to associate a particular window (i.e., Fig.10A single window ID bit may be found to be particularly useful in situations where there are multiple UCI transmission opportunities.

[0213] In another example, UE 110 may include a set of RTQ feedback information bits for all symbols in a given window in a single UCI.UE 110 may then send the single UCI in a corresponding PUCCH transmission. Fig.12 A UCI bit set 1200-0 for WINDOW0 and a UCI bit set 1200-1 for WINDOW1 are shown. The UCI bit set 1200-0 for WINDOW0 includes a single window ID bit to identify a window associated with a set of RTQ feedback information bits. Similarly, the UCI bit set 1200-1 for WINDOW1 includes a single window ID bit to identify a window associated with a set of RTQ feedback information bits. The UCI bit set 1200-0 for WINDOW0 includes multiple RTQ feedback information bit sets {1,001,1,000,1,0101,0010,1,1,1}. The UCI bit set 1200-1 for WINDOW1 includes multiple RTQ feedback information bit sets {001,0001,1,1,1,1,1,0100-00010,1,1}.

[0214] In another example, UE 110 also generates RTQ feedback based on Huffman coding. However, in a manner different from this example, UE 110 can be used to establish an updated symbol dictionary. The updated Huffman code dictionary can be established by UE 110 in a manner that reflects the measured BLER rather than the expected BLER. In the updated dictionary, symbols can be represented by more or less than 4 bits. In this case, UE 110 can include information about the characteristics of the updated Huffman code dictionary in the UCI. It is expected that such characteristic information enables NT-TRP 172 to decode RTQ feedback received from UE 110 based on the updated Huffman code dictionary. The characteristic information can include, for example, the number of symbols in the updated dictionary (wherein the dictionary is defined as a set of symbols used as input to Huffman coding), the number of bits per symbol (wherein each symbol is encoded by a certain number of bits), and the measured BLER. In Fig.13 1300, including a window ID, a number of bits per symbol, a measured BLER, and multiple sets of RTQ feedback. Although not explicitly shown, it is understood that each set of RTQ feedback has been encoded using an updated Huffman code dictionary established by UE 110 in response to determining the measured BLER.

[0215] In another example, NT-TRP 172 may configure UE 110 with a higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) parameter representing an assumed BLER. For example, the higher layer signaling parameter may be called "assumedBler" and may carry a single value, such as 0.1. UE 110 may use the parameter assumedBler as a basis for defining a dictionary of input symbols. The behavior of UE 110 may include performing source coding, such as Huffman coding, using a dictionary of input symbols defined according to the value carried by the parameter assumedBler to generate RTQ feedback using the methods described in the present application. The RTQ feedback may then be included as part of the UCI, such as Fig.11 as shown in .

[0216] In another example, NT-TRP 172 may configure UE 110 with a higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) parameter that indicates the number of bits per input symbol. For example, the higher layer signaling parameter may be called "numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol" and may carry a single value, such as 4. UE 110 may use the parameter numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol as a basis for defining a dictionary of input symbols. The behavior of UE 110 may include performing source coding, such as Huffman coding, using a dictionary of input symbols defined according to the value carried by the parameter numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol to generate RTQ feedback using the methods described in the present application. The RTQ feedback may then be included as part of the UCI, such as Fig.11 as shown in .

[0217] In another example, NT-TRP 172 may configure UE 110 with a high-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) parameter representing an assumed BLER. For example, the high-layer signaling parameter may be called "assumedBler" and may carry one or more values, such as {0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2}. UE 110 may use the parameter assumedBler as a basis for defining a dictionary of input symbols. NT-TRP 172 may then send low-layer signaling (e.g., a MAC-CE command) to activate or deactivate a specific value configured in the high-layer signaling parameter assumedBler. An example of a MAC-CE command is as follows:

[0218] <![CDATA[p3=1]]> <![CDATA[p2=1]]> <![CDATA[p1=0]]> <![CDATA[p0=0]]> High-level signaling parameter = assumedBler

[0219] The MAC-CE command can be defined by one byte, i.e., 8 bits. The first 4 bits can be used for the first field, the value carried by which specifies the high-layer signaling parameter targeted by the MAC-CE activation / deactivation command. The remaining 4 bits can be used to activate or deactivate a given value of the high-layer signaling parameter indicated in the first field. In this example, the MAC-CE activation / deactivation command can be used by NT-TRP 172 to enable UE 110 to activate a specific value among the 4 values ​​of the high-layer signaling parameter assumedBler. The values ​​of assumedBler activated in this example are 0.1 and 0.2, because p0 refers to the first value configured in assumedBler (i.e., 0.01), p1 refers to the second value configured in assumedBler (i.e., 0.05), p2 refers to the third value configured in assumedBler (i.e., 0.1), and p3 refers to the fourth value configured in assumedBler (i.e., 0.2). For the i-th value p i , a value of 1 indicates that the value of the corresponding higher layer signaling parameter is to be activated, and a value of 0 indicates that the value of the corresponding higher layer signaling parameter is to be deactivated. After receiving a PDSCH transmission of a MAC-CE command carrying one or more values ​​for activating assumedBler, there may be a time interval between when UE 110 is about to apply the content of the MAC-CE command and when NT-TRP 172 may consider that UE 110 has applied the MAC-CE command. The time interval may be configured, for example, in units of seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, nanoseconds, etc.

[0220] In another example, NT-TRP 172 may configure UE 110 with a high-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) parameter that indicates the number of bits per input symbol. For example, the high-layer signaling parameter may be called "numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol" and may carry one or more values, such as {4, 5, 10, 20}. UE 110 may use the parameter numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol as the basis for a dictionary that defines input symbols. NT-TRP 172 may then send low-layer signaling (e.g., a MAC-CE command) to activate or deactivate a specific value configured in the high-layer signaling parameter numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol. An example of a MAC-CE command is as follows:

[0221] <![CDATA[p3=0]]> <![CDATA[p2=1]]> <![CDATA[p1=0]]> <![CDATA[p0=1]]> High-level signaling parameter = numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol

[0222] The MAC-CE command may be defined by one byte, i.e., 8 bits. The first 4 bits may be used for a first field, the value carried by which specifies the higher layer signaling parameter for which the MAC-CE activation / deactivation command is intended. The remaining 4 bits may be used to activate or deactivate a given value of the higher layer signaling parameter indicated in the first field. In this example, the MAC-CE activation / deactivation command may be used by NT-TRP 172 to cause UE 110 to activate a specific value of the 4 values ​​of the higher layer signaling parameter numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol. The values ​​of numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol that are activated in this example are 4 and 10, because p0 refers to the first value configured in numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol (i.e., 4), p1 refers to the second value configured in numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol (i.e., 5), p2 refers to the third value configured in numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol (i.e., 10), and p3 refers to the fourth value configured in numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol (i.e., 20). i , a value of 1 indicates that the value of the corresponding higher layer signaling parameter is to be activated, and a value of 0 indicates that the value of the corresponding higher layer signaling parameter is to be deactivated. After receiving a PDSCH transmission carrying a MAC-CE command to activate one or more values ​​of numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol, there may be a time interval between when UE 110 is about to apply the content of the MAC-CE command and when NT-TRP 172 may consider that UE 110 has applied the MAC-CE command. The time interval may be configured, for example, in units of seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, nanoseconds, etc.

[0223] In another example, the NT-TRP 172 may configure the UE 110 with a higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) parameter representing an assumed BLER. For example, the higher layer signaling parameter may be referred to as "assumedBler" and may carry one or more values, such as {0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2}. The UE 110 may use the parameter assumedBler as a basis for defining a dictionary of input symbols. The NT-TRP 172 may then send lower layer signaling (e.g., a MAC-CE command) to activate or deactivate a specific value configured in the higher layer signaling parameter assumedBler. After one or more values ​​of the higher layer signaling parameter assumedBler are activated, the NT-TRP 172 may send a PDCCH transmission carrying a DCI formatted with a field that may be used to indicate which of the one or more values ​​of assumedBler will be used by the UE 110 to define a dictionary of input symbols that may be used when generating RTQ feedback. This field may be a 1-bit field based on the assumption that the lower layer signaling causes the UE 110 to activate two values. A value of 0 in the field may be used to indicate the first of two active values ​​for assumedBler, and a value of 1 in the field may be used to indicate the second of two active values ​​for assumedBler.

[0224] In another example, the NT-TRP 172 may configure the UE 110 with a higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) parameter that indicates the number of bits per input symbol. For example, the higher layer signaling parameter may be referred to as "numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol" and may carry one or more values, such as {4, 5, 10, 20}. The UE 110 may use the parameter numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol as a basis for defining a dictionary of input symbols. The NT-TRP 172 may then send lower layer signaling (e.g., a MAC-CE command) to activate or deactivate a specific value configured in the higher layer signaling parameter numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol. After one or more values ​​of the higher layer signaling parameter numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol are activated, the NT-TRP 172 may send a PDCCH transmission carrying a DCI formatted with a field that may be used to indicate which of the one or more values ​​of numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol will be used by the UE 110 to define a dictionary of input symbols that may be used when generating RTQ feedback. This field may be a 1-bit field, based on the assumption that lower layer signaling causes UE 110 to activate two values. A value of 0 in the field may be used to indicate the first of the two activated values ​​for numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol, and a value of 1 in the field may be used to indicate the second of the two activated values ​​for numberOfBitsPerInputSymbol.

[0225] To illustrate various aspects of the present application related to generating UCI for RTQ feedback according to a binomial coefficient-based scheme, it can be assumed that UE 110 supports RTQ feedback generation based on binomial coefficients. UE 110 can indicate support for RTQ feedback generation based on binomial coefficients to NT-TRP 172. Therefore, NT-TRP 172 can configure UE 110 to generate RTQ feedback using a binomial coefficient-based scheme. For this example, it can be assumed that UE 110 has been configured to send RTQ feedback for partitions of 4 PDSCH reception opportunities, assuming one TB per PDSCH reception opportunity.

[0226] In this example, UE 110 generates a total of 10 UCIs, each carrying RTQ feedback for a given symbol. For each UCI, UE 110 sends a single PUCCH transmission carrying the UCI. It is expected that the UCI bits may include at least the RTQ feedback. In addition, the UCI bits may also include an up / down bit indicating the number of RTQ-ed TBs in the lower half (i.e., ) or in the upper part (i.e., In addition, the UCI bits may also include a single window ID bit to indicate the window to which the RTQ feedback corresponds. It can be seen that the single window ID bit enables the NT-TRP 172 to assign a specific window (i.e., Fig.10 A single window ID bit may be found to be particularly useful in situations where there are multiple UCI transmission opportunities.

[0227] Fig.14 The UCI bit set 1400-0 for WINDOW0 1000-0 is shown (see Fig.10 ) and UCI bit set 1100-4 for WINDOW1 1000-1 (see Fig.10 ). The UCI bit set 1400-0 for WINDOW0 includes four RTQ feedback information bit sets {10, 01, 00, 001}. The UCI bit set 1400-1 for WINDOW1 includes three RTQ feedback information bit sets {10, 000, 10}. Fig.14 An alternative arrangement is shown in which a single window ID bit is associated with each set of RTQ feedback information bits. It can be seen that the single window ID bit enables NT-TRP 172 to associate a particular window (i.e., Fig.10 A single window ID bit may be found to be particularly useful in situations where there are multiple UCI transmission opportunities. Fig.14 An alternative arrangement is also shown in which a single upper / lower ("U / L") bit is associated with each set of RTQ feedback information bits. As described above, the U / L bit can be used to distinguish between: ) and the binomial coefficients selected from the second (upper) half of the given binomial coefficient set (i.e., where )Selected binomial coefficient.

[0228] In another example, UE 110 may include a set of RTQ feedback information bits for all symbols in a given window in a single UCI.UE 110 may then send the single UCI in a corresponding PUCCH transmission. Fig.15A UCI bit set 1500-0 for WINDOW0 and a UCI bit set 1500-1 for WINDOW1 are shown. The UCI bit set 1500-0 for WINDOW0 includes a single window ID bit to identify a window associated with a set of RTQ feedback information bits. Similarly, the UCI bit set 1500-1 for WINDOW1 includes a single window ID bit to identify a window associated with a set of RTQ feedback information bits.

[0229] The UCI bit set 1500-0 for WINDOW0 includes 4 RTQ feedback information bit sets {10, 01, 00, 001}. Each of the 4 RTQ feedback information bit sets can be associated with one U / L bit. The UCI bit set 1500-1 for WINDOW1 includes 3 RTQ feedback information bit sets {10, 000, 10}. Each of the 3 RTQ feedback information bit sets can be associated with one U / L bit.

[0230] In addition, the UCI bit set 1500-0 for WINDOW0 is shown as including a partition bitmap for WINDOW0. The number of bits in the partition bitmap corresponds to the number of partitions in WINDOW0. The partition bitmap includes a bit set to "1" corresponding to each of the 4 partitions where the error TB is located. The remaining bits in the partition bitmap are set to "0". The UCI bit set 1500-1 for WINDOW1 is shown as including a partition bitmap for WINDOW1. The number of bits in the partition bitmap corresponds to the number of partitions in WINDOW1. The partition bitmap includes a bit set to "1" corresponding to each of the 3 partitions where the error TB is located. The remaining bits in the partition bitmap are set to "0". It can be found that the partition bitmap helps NT-TRP 172 to correctly interpret the RTQ feedback.

[0231] As Fig.15 An alternative to the UCI bit set 1500-0 for WINDOW0 and the UCI bit set 1500-1 for WINDOW1 shown in FIG. Fig.16 A UCI bit set 1600 - 0 for WINDOW0 and a UCI bit set 1600 - 1 for WINDOW1 are shown. Fig.16 The UCI bit set 1600-0 for WINDOW0 and Fig.15 The UCI bit set 1500-0 for WINDOW0 in FIG. 15 has a window ID and each of the 4 RTQ feedback information bit sets. Fig.16 The UCI bit set 1600-0 for WINDOW0 and Fig.15The difference between the UCI bit set 1500-0 for WINDOW0 in FIG. 1500-0 is that instead of ( Fig.15 (in) the U / L bits associated with each of the four sets of RTQ feedback information bits, Fig.16 The UCI bit set 1600-0 for WINDOW0 in FIG. 16 has a pair of bits for indicating the number of error TBs (#ETB) in each of the four partitions where the error TB is located. The UCI bit set 1600-1 for WINDOW1 is similarly substituted. The #ETB bit can take one of four values, where "00" indicates 1 error TB, "01" indicates 2 error TBs, "10" indicates 3 error TBs, and "11" indicates 4 error TBs. It can be considered that the advantage of this method is that the probability of misinterpreting the UCI is reduced by allowing NT-TRP 172 to know or derive the exact length of each field in the UCI. For example, the field for the window ID, the field for the partition bitmap, and the field for #ETB can have fixed widths. When these fixed widths are known to NT-TRP 172, it can be found that the value carried in the partition bitmap field enables NT-TRP 172 to derive the number of #ETB fields and corresponding RTQ fields included in the UCI. The value carried in the #ETB field enables the NT-TRP 172 to derive the width of the subsequent RTQ field.

[0232] In some aspects of this application, Fig.16 The UCI bit set 1600-0 for WINDOW0 in may also include a number of bits indicating the number of TBs (#TB) in a given partition. For example, the #TB bit may include 3 bits, which may take one of eight values, where "000" indicates 1 TB in a partition, "001" indicates 2 TBs in a partition, "010" indicates 3 TBs in a partition, "011" indicates 4 TBs in a partition, "100" indicates 5 TBs in a partition, "101" indicates 6 TBs in a partition, "110" indicates 7 TBs in a partition, and "111" indicates 8 TBs in a partition. The #TB bit may be appended before or after the #ETB bit. It may be considered that the advantage of this approach is that the UE may use different partition sizes within the same window and encode the RTQ feedback bits according to the number of TBs in the partition. It may also be considered that this approach may be used to reduce the probability of misinterpreting the UCI by allowing the NT-TRP 172 to know or derive the exact length of each field in the UCI. The values ​​carried in the #TB and #ETB fields enable the NT-TRP 172 to derive the width of the subsequent RTQ field. Examples where the #TB includes more or less than 3 bits are also contemplated.

[0233] In some aspects of the present application, NT-TRP 172 may configure UE 110 with a high-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) parameter indicating the number of partitions. For example, the high-layer signaling parameter may be called "number of Partitions" and may carry a single value, such as 5. UE 110 may use the parameter number of Partitions to divide a given window of 40 TB into 5 partitions, with 8 TB in each partition. The behavior of UE 110 may include: generating RTQ feedback according to a binomial coefficient-based scheme for the 5 partitions configured by the high-layer signaling parameter number of Partitions.

[0234] In some aspects of the present application, the NT-TRP 172 may configure the UE 110 with a higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) parameter representing the number of TBs in each of a plurality of equally sized partitions. For example, the higher layer signaling parameter may be referred to as "number of TBs in Partition" and may carry a single value, such as 5. The UE 110 may use the parameter number of TBs in Partition to define the number of TBs for each partition into which a given window may be divided. For example, the UE 110 may divide a given window of 40 TBs into 8 partitions, with 5 TBs in each partition. The behavior of the UE 110 may include generating RTQ feedback according to a binomial coefficient-based scheme for the 8 partitions configured by the higher layer signaling parameter number of Partitions.

[0235] In some aspects of the present application, the NT-TRP 172 may configure the UE 110 with a high-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) parameter representing the number of partitions. For example, the high-layer signaling parameter may be called "number of Partitions" and may carry one or more values, such as {5, 10, 20, 40}. The UE 110 may use the parameter number of Partitions to define the number of partitions into which a given window may be divided. In some embodiments, the NT-TRP 172 may configure the UE 110 with a high-layer signaling (e.g., RRC) parameter number of Partitions carrying one or more values ​​such as {5, 10, 20, 40}, and the UE uses these values ​​to define the number of partitions within a given window. The NT-TRP 172 may then send low-layer signaling (e.g., a MAC-CE command) to activate or deactivate a specific value configured in the high-layer signaling parameter number of Partitions. An example of a MAC-CE command is as follows:

[0236] <![CDATA[p3=0]]> <![CDATA[p2=0]]> <![CDATA[p1=1]]> <![CDATA[p0=1]]> High-level signaling parameter = numberofPartitions

[0237] The MAC-CE command can be defined by one byte, i.e., 8 bits. The first 4 bits can be used for the first field, the value carried by which specifies the high-layer signaling parameter targeted by the MAC-CE activation / deactivation command. The remaining 4 bits can be used to activate or deactivate a given value of the high-layer signaling parameter indicated in the first field. In this example, the MAC-CE activation / deactivation command is used by NT-TRP 172 to enable UE 110 to activate a specific value among the 4 values ​​of the high-layer signaling parameter number of Partitions. The activated values ​​of number of Partitions in this example are 5 and 10, because p0 refers to the first value configured in number of Partitions (i.e., 5), p1 refers to the second value configured in number of Partitions (i.e., 10), p2 refers to the third value configured in number of Partitions (i.e., 20), and p3 refers to the fourth value configured in number of Partitions (i.e., 40). For the i-th value p i , a field value of 1 indicates activation of the value of the corresponding higher layer signaling parameter, and a field value of 0 indicates deactivation of the value of the corresponding higher layer signaling parameter. After receiving a PDSCH transmission carrying a MAC-CE command to activate one or more values ​​of numberofPartitions, there may be a time interval between when UE 110 is about to apply the content of the MAC-CE command and when NT-TRP 172 may consider that UE 110 has applied the MAC-CE command. The time interval may be configured, for example, in units of seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, nanoseconds, etc.

[0238] In some aspects of the present application, NT-TRP 172 can configure UE 110 with a high-level signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) parameter representing the number of TBs in each of a plurality of equally sized partitions. For example, the high-level signaling parameter can be called "number of TBs in Partition" and can carry one or more values, such as {2, 3, 4, 5}. UE 110 can use the parameter number of TBs in Partition to define the number of TBs for each partition into which a given window can be divided. NT-TRP 172 can then send low-level signaling (e.g., MAC-CE commands) to activate or deactivate a specific value configured in the high-level signaling parameter number of TBs in Partition. An example of a MAC-CE command is as follows:

[0239] <![CDATA[p3=1]]> <![CDATA[p2=1]]> <![CDATA[p1=0]]> <![CDATA[p0=0]]> High-layer signaling parameter = numberofTBsinPartition

[0240] The MAC-CE command can be defined by one byte, i.e., 8 bits. The first 4 bits can be used for the first field, the value carried by which specifies the high-layer signaling parameter targeted by the MAC-CE activation / deactivation command. The remaining 4 bits can be used to activate or deactivate a given value of the high-layer signaling parameter indicated in the first field. In this example, the MAC-CE activation / deactivation command is used by NT-TRP 172 to enable UE 110 to activate a specific value among the 4 values ​​of the high-layer signaling parameter numberofTBsinPartition. The activated values ​​of numberofTBsinPartition in this example are 4 and 5, because p0 refers to the first value configured in numberofTBsinPartition (i.e., 2), p1 refers to the second value configured in numberofTBsinPartition (i.e., 3), p2 refers to the third value configured in numberofTBsinPartition (i.e., 4), and p3 refers to the fourth value configured in numberofTBsinPartition (i.e., 5). For the i-th value p i , a field value of 1 indicates activation of the value of the corresponding higher layer signaling parameter, and a field value of 0 indicates deactivation of the value of the corresponding higher layer signaling parameter. After receiving a PDSCH transmission of a MAC-CE command carrying one or more values ​​for activating numberofTBsinPartition, a time interval may exist between when UE 110 is about to apply the content of the MAC-CE command and when NT-TRP 172 may consider that UE 110 has applied the MAC-CE command. The time interval may be configured, for example, in units of seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, nanoseconds, etc.

[0241] To illustrate various aspects of the present application related to generating UCI for RTQ feedback according to a RTQ codebook-based strategy, it can be assumed that UE 110 supports RTQ codebook-based RTQ feedback generation. UE 110 can indicate support for RTQ codebook-based RTQ feedback generation to NT-TRP 172. Therefore, NT-TRP 172 can configure UE 110 to generate RTQ feedback using the RTQ codebook. For this example, it can be assumed that UE 110 has been configured to send RTQ feedback for partitions of 4 PDSCH reception opportunities, assuming one TB per PDSCH reception opportunity.

[0242] Fig.17 A pair of exemplary windows is shown in . The pair of exemplary windows includes a zeroth window (WINDOW0) 1000-0 of 40 TB and a first window (WINDOW1) 1000-1 of 40 TB.

[0243] exist Fig.17In WINDOW0 1000-0, 4 consecutive TBs have been incorrectly decoded, and these 4 consecutive TBs are the 4 TBs for which UE 110 is to generate RTQs. Fig.17 In WINDOW1 1000-1, 7 consecutive TBs have been erroneously decoded, and these 7 consecutive TBs are the 7 TBs for which UE 110 is to generate RTQs.

[0244] Fig.18 Shown for Fig.17 The UCI bits of WINDOW0 1700-0 are set to 1800-0 and used for Fig.17 UCI bit set 1800-1 of WINDOW11700-1.

[0245] The UCI bit set 1800-0 for WINDOW0 1700-0 includes at least RTQ feedback information bits. The UCI bit set 1800-1 for WINDOW01700-1 includes at least RTQ feedback information bits. In addition, the UCI bit set 1800-0 for WINDOW01700-0 may also include an index of an RTQ codebook for RTQ feedback. In addition, the UCI bit set 1800-1 for WINDOW1 1700-1 may also include an index of an RTQ codebook for RTQ feedback. In each case, the index of the RTQ codebook can be understood to represent the number of RTQ-ed TBs. For WINDOW0 1700-0, the index is 4 (expressed as 0100), and for WINDOW1 1700-1, the index is 7 (expressed as 0111).

[0246] The UCI bit set 1800-0 for WINDOW0 1700-0 includes a single window ID bit to identify the window associated with the RTQ feedback information bit set. Similarly, the UCI bit set 1800-1 for WINDOW1 1700-1 includes a single window ID bit to identify the window associated with the RTQ feedback information bit set.

[0247] As Fig.18 An alternative to the UCI bit set 1800-0 for WINDOW0 1700-0 and the UCI bit set 1800-1 for WINDOW1 1700-1 shown in FIG. Fig.19 A UCI bit set 1900-0 for WINDOW0 1700-0 and a UCI bit set 1900-1 for WINDOW1 1700-1 are shown. Fig.19 The UCI bit set 1900-0 for WINDOW0 and Fig.18The UCI bit set 1800-0 for WINDOW0 has the same window ID, RTQ codebook expression index and RTQ feedback information bits. Fig.19 The UCI bit set 1900-0 for WINDOW0 and Fig.18 The difference between the UCI bit set 1800-0 for WINDOW0 in Fig.19 The UCI bit set 1900-0 for WINDOW0 in FIG. 1 has a bit for indicating the RTQ type. The RTQ type bit is also shown in the UCI bit set 1900-1 for WINDOW1. The RTQ type set to "0" may be used to indicate that the RTQ feedback information bits are for consecutive TBs.

[0248] In another example, information specifying multiple groups of consecutive error TBs may be included in the same UCI, wherein for each group of consecutive error TBs, a corresponding SLIV may be generated. Fig. 20 A single window 2000 is shown with two adjacent groups of erroneous TBs.

[0249] Fig.21 Shown for Fig. 20 2000. The exemplary UCI bit set 2100 includes a window ID bit, an RTQ type bit, a first plurality of bits for representing a first SLIV, and a second plurality of bits for representing a second SLIV. In practice, 10 bits may be used to represent each SLIV.

[0250] In some embodiments, the UE 110 does not wait for the end of the window of transport blocks to start generating RTQ feedback bits for erroneously decoded transport blocks within the window. For example, when the UE 110 has (correctly or erroneously) decoded a given number of transport blocks corresponding to a size of, for example, a symbol (if encoded using a source coding method) or, for example, a partition (if encoded using a binomial coefficient method), the UE 110 may start generating RTQ feedback bits for these transport blocks and send a PUCCH transmission to the NT-TRP 172, wherein the UCI carries the generated RTQ feedback bits.

[0251] In some embodiments, there may be a temporal relationship that defines when UE 110 may start generating RTQ feedback bits, e.g., measured from the last OFDM symbol of a PDSCH transmission carrying the last transport block and the first OFDM symbol at which UE 110 starts generating RTQ feedback bits. There may be a temporal relationship that defines when UE 110 sends a PUCCH transmission in which UCI carries the generated RTQ feedback bits, e.g., measured from the last OFDM symbol of a PDSCH transmission carrying the last transport block and the first OFDM symbol at which UE 110 sends a PUCCH transmission.

[0252] In some embodiments, the time relationship may be defined using units such as seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, nanoseconds, OFDM symbols, OFDM symbol groups, mini-slots, mini-slot groups, time slots, time slot groups, etc. The time relationship may be specified in a specification document or may be configured to the UE 110 by the NT-TRP 172 using high-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) or low-layer signaling (e.g., MAC-CE signaling).

[0253] Various aspects of the present application relate to a protocol for selective retransmission request (SeRQ). It is contemplated that NT-TRP 172 may use SeRQ to retransmit RTQ-ed packets. Some aspects of the SeRQ protocol relate to retransmitting high priority TBs. Some aspects of the SeRQ protocol relate to retransmitting low priority TBs. Some aspects of the SeRQ protocol relate to retransmitting a mix of high priority TBs and low priority TBs.

[0254] It is worth noting that in order to enable network entities to unambiguously reference a particular TB, each TB may be associated with a packet ID. The packet ID may be a unique number that helps UE 110 identify a TB held in a soft buffer local to UE 110. The packet ID may be appended to the packet ID field of the TB. Instead of appending the packet ID to the TB, the packet ID for a particular TB may be provided in the DCI carried in the PDCCH transmission.

[0255] Consider a given UE 110 for sending RTQ feedback to the NT-TRP 172. A number of ways in which a given UE 110 may send RTQ feedback to the NT-TRP 172 have been presented above.

[0256] TBs from the MAC layer may have specific QoS priorities (e.g., best effort vs. voice call). Of course, the QoS of a TB may depend on the nature of the service flow. A service TB associated with best effort QoS may be referred to as a "low priority TB". Conversely, a service TB associated with voice call QoS may be referred to as a "high priority TB".

[0257] In an exemplary SeRQ protocol, for a high priority TB, the NT-TRP 172 may be specified to retransmit a specific high priority TB as part of the same window in which the specific high priority TB is also transmitted. Such a retransmission may be understood to occur before the NT-TRP 172 receives the RTQ feedback information from the UE 110. As described above, the TB may have a packet ID field attached. The UE 110 may recognize that the packet ID attached to the specific high priority TB is the same as the packet ID attached to the retransmission of the specific high priority TB. Subsequently, the UE 110 may combine the specific high priority TB and the retransmission of the specific high priority TB, thereby reducing the probability of erroneously receiving the specific high priority TB.

[0258] It is worth noting that the packet ID field can be encoded separately from the TB payload. Specifically, the packet ID field can be encoded using an error correction code. Examples of error correction codes include: Bose–Chaudhuri–Hocquenghem (BCH) code, low-density parity-check (LDPC) code, and polar code.

[0259] Fig. 22 An example of a transmission event followed by a reception event is shown. When the NT-TRP 172 transmits (step 2210) multiple TBs, a transmission event occurs within the transmission window 2201 of the PDSCH. It is understood that each TB includes a TB payload and a packet ID. For example, each TB may include an N-bit TB payload and a 6-bit packet ID. Fig. 22 As shown in FIG. 2 , three of the TBs sent in transmission window 2201 are associated with a packet ID having a value of 7. The other TBs sent in transmission window 2201 are associated with packet IDs having other values. Fig. 22 Also shown is a receive window 2202 indicating that UE 110 receives (step 2212) a TB sent in transmission window 2201. After receiving (step 2212) the TB, UE 110 decodes the TB. UE 110 may generate RTQ feedback based on processing the TB received in receive window 2202. Processing a TB may be understood to include decoding (step 2214) the TB. The term "decoding" is intended to mean attempting to decode a TB, regardless of the outcome of the attempt. That is, decoding of a TB may or may not be successful, but may still be referred to as decoding. It is noteworthy that if UE 110 fails to detect the corresponding PDCCH, UE 110 may not attempt to decode the TB.

[0260] To reiterate, NT-TRP 172 transmits (step 2210) the first TB containing a packet with packet ID = 7, and then retransmits (step 2210) two additional TBs also containing a packet with packet ID = 7. Notably, UE 110 does not know that the three TBs carry the same payload (packet ID = 7) until it decodes (step 2214) the packet ID field appended to the three TBs. The retransmission may contain exactly the same information bits and the same redundancy bits as the first transmission (i.e., a single redundancy version may be used for all three TBs). Alternatively, the retransmission may contain the same information bits but different redundancy bits compared to the first transmission (i.e., a different redundancy version may be used for each TB). After receiving the TBs, UE 100 may run a soft decoding algorithm on the TBs. It may be found that the difference in the redundancy version used affects the generation of RTQ feedback information bits by UE 110.

[0261] Different UE behaviors are taken into account.

[0262] In the first behavior, each of the 3 TBs (packet ID=7) has been scheduled by a different PDCCH, and none of the 3 TBs has been successfully decoded. Since UE 110 cannot decode any TB (including the packet ID field), UE 110 does not know that these TBs are actually the same packet. UE 110 can then generate RTQ feedback to indicate the erroneous TBs in all 3 positions.

[0263] In the second behavior, each of the three TBs (packet ID=7) has been scheduled by a different PDCCH, and none of the three TBs has been successfully decoded. However, the UE 110 is able to correctly decode the packet ID field for at least one TB. Subsequently, the UE 110 can generate RTQ feedback for at most one TB. The TB for which the UE 110 can generate RTQ feedback can be any of the TB in the first position, the TB in the second position, or the TB in the last position. It can be found that the UE 110 generating RTQ feedback for at most one TB can reduce the number of RTQ feedback information bits.

[0264] In the third behavior, each of the 3 TBs (packet ID=7) has been scheduled by a different PDCCH, at least one TB has been successfully decoded, and among those TBs that have not been successfully decoded, the packet ID has not been correctly decoded. One TB for which UE 110 can generate RTQ feedback can be a TB for which the packet ID has not been correctly decoded.

[0265] For the case where all retransmission attempts of NT-TRP 172 during transmission window 2201 fail, UE 110 may generate RTQ feedback 2300 (see Fig.23). UE 110 may send (step 2310) a PUCCH carrying UCI with RTQ feedback 2300 to NT-TRP 172. Upon receiving (step 2312) the PUCCH, NT-TRP 172 may process RTQ feedback 2300. Processing of RTQ feedback 2300 may enable NT-TRP 172 to schedule retransmission of TB with packet ID=7 in a subsequent window, such as Fig.23 The time between receiving RTQ feedback 2300 and retransmitting TB 2301T of packet ID=7 may be referred to as RTQ feedback application delay. Fig.23 As shown, UE 110 receives TB 2301R for packet ID=7. Decoding of the TB for packet ID=7 may include combining bits received in the received retransmitted TB 2301R with bits received in the original transmission of one or more TBs for packet ID=7.

[0266] Aspects of the present application relate to a SeRQ protocol for retransmitting low priority TBs.

[0267] For example, the SeRQ protocol for low priority TBs may involve NT-TRP 172 jointly transmitting multiple redundant versions of the same data packet in one or more transmission opportunities. Such redundant version transmissions may be scheduled to occur after receiving RTQ feedback information from UE 110. As described above, NT-TRP 172 may append a data packet ID to the TB in the data packet ID field. Fig.24 An example of the SeRQ protocol for low priority TBs is shown in .

[0268] exist Fig.24 In the example shown, NT-TRP 172 sends the first TB of packet ID=7, and other packets are also sent as part of transmission window 2401. Fig.24 Also shown is a receive window 2402 representing UE 110 receiving the TB sent in transmit window 2401. UE 110 may generate RTQ feedback based on processing the TB received in receive window 2402. After processing the TB to obtain the RTQ feedback, UE 110 sends the RTQ feedback to NT-TRP 172, which at least partially indicates that the TB with packet ID=7 has been erroneously received. In response to receiving the RTQ feedback, NT-TRP 172 schedules a retransmission of the TB with packet ID=7 to UE 110.

[0269] Fig.25AAn example of retransmission is shown. NT-TRP 172 sends (not shown) a PDCCH scheduling a first PDSCH 2501T that jointly carries 3 redundant versions of the TB for packet ID=7. The redundant versions may be referred to as RV1, RV2, and RV3. These redundant versions may be sent using various multiplexing techniques in, for example, the time domain, frequency domain, spatial domain, or code domain. If necessary, NT-TRP 172 may choose to additionally send redundant versions in a second PDSCH 2502T, such as Fig.25A The transmission of three redundancy versions allows the UE 110 to decode three different copies of the same TB payload and apply soft decoding techniques to try to correctly decode the TB payload.

[0270] The DCI format in the PDCCH carries information about the redundant version to be sent in each PDSCH 2501T, 2502T. For example, the DCI may indicate to the UE 110 that based on the first transmitted PDSCH 2501T, the first received PDSCH 2501R (see Fig.25B ) has redundancy versions arranged according to a 4-bit redundancy version code equal to 7. The redundancy version code equal to 7 specifies the order of redundancy versions as {RV1, RV2, RV3}.

[0271] For example, the DCI may indicate to the UE 110 that, based on the second transmitted PDSCH 2502T, the second received PDSCH 2502R (see Fig.25B ) has redundancy versions arranged according to a 4-bit redundancy version code equal to 13. The redundancy version code equal to 13 specifies the order of redundancy versions as {RV3, RV2, RV1}.

[0272] like Fig.25B As shown, the first PDSCH 2501R includes packet ID=7. Decoding of the TB for packet ID=7 may include combining the redundant payload bits received in the first received PDSCH 2501R with the bits received in the original transmission of the TB for packet ID=7.

[0273] Aspects of the present application relate to a SeRQ protocol for retransmitting mixed high priority TBs and low priority TBs.

[0274] Different from the above scenario, it can be assumed that the TB contains multiple data packets instead of just a single data packet. Among the multiple data packets, there may be at least one high priority data packet and at least one low priority data packet in a given TB. Various aspects of the present application are related to retransmitting a high priority data packet in a given TB before receiving RTQ feedback from UE 110.

[0275] Fig.26An example of this SeRQ protocol is shown in .

[0276] exist Fig.26 In the example shown, NT-TRP 172 sends a PDCCH (not shown) carrying a DCI format with a QoS TB field. The presence of the QoS TB field can be used to indicate to UE 110 that the TB contains high priority packets and low priority packets. Fig.26 In the example shown, the data packet with data packet ID=7 is a high priority data packet, and the data packets with data packet ID={8, 19} are low priority data packets.

[0277] Each data packet may be mapped to a given location on the soft buffer of UE 110. That is, upon receiving a PDSCH transmission carrying a TB with a high priority data packet and a low priority data packet, UE 110 may map each data packet to a different location in the soft buffer. It may be observed that such mapping enables UE 110 to perform a soft decoding algorithm at a per-packet granularity level. Furthermore, it may be observed that such mapping may affect the generation of RTQ feedback. For the generation of RTQ feedback, several different UE behaviors are considered.

[0278] In a first behavior, UE 110 may generate RTQ feedback for high priority packets and generate different RTQ feedback for low priority packets. As part of generating the UCI that carries the RTQ feedback for these packets, UE 110 may append a one-bit QoS priority field to the UCI. NT-TRP 172 may interpret the value of the bit in the QoS priority field as indicating high priority or low priority.

[0279] In a second behavior, UE 110 may generate joint RTQ feedback for high priority packets and low priority packets. The RTQ feedback may be generated in an order that matches the order in which the PDCCHs were received. For each PDCCH that schedules a PDSCH containing high priority packets and low priority packets, the RTQ feedback may be generated in an order that corresponds to the order of the QoS priorities of the corresponding packets. That is, for a situation where a high priority packet precedes a low priority packet in a given TB, the RTQ feedback information bits for the high priority packet will be arranged before the RTQ feedback information bits for the low priority packet, and vice versa.

[0280] It is possible that a high-specification data packet (data packet ID = 7, Fig.26 The first TB) and the high-specification data packet (data packet ID = 7, Fig.26The retransmissions of the last TB of the packet are all received erroneously at UE 110. In addition, the transmissions of the low-profile packets (packet ID=8, packet ID=19) are correctly decoded at UE 110.

[0281] In response to determining that all transmission attempts of the high-profile data (packet ID=7) by NT-TRP 172 during transmission window 2401 have failed, UE 110 may generate RTQ feedback and send a PUCCH carrying the UCI with RTQ feedback to NT-TRP 172. Upon receiving the PUCCH, NT-TRP 172 may process the RTQ feedback and schedule retransmission of the TB with packet ID=7, such as Fig.23 as shown in .

[0282] Assuming that in this example, the low priority data packets (data packet ID = 8 and data packet ID = 19) have been correctly decoded, the low priority data packets do not need to be retransmitted. It is worth noting that in another example where the low priority data packets have not been correctly decoded, UE 110 and NT-TRP 172 can combine the above Fig.24 , 25A and 25B to respond.

[0283] In various aspects of the present application, the retransmission of a low priority data packet or a high priority data packet is a repetition of the data packet sent in the first transmission. That is, NT-TRP 172 retransmits exactly the same bits for a low priority data packet or a high priority data packet, that is, the information bits and the redundant bits are exactly the same as those bits sent in the first transmission.

[0284] In various aspects of the present application, UE 110 may support the capability to select a retransmission protocol, for example, by reporting the capability as part of its UE capability report after having completed an initial access procedure to establish a connection with NT-TRP 172. UE 110 may support the capability to generate RTQ feedback as a mandatory feature of no-capability signaling, as a mandatory feature of capable signaling, or as an optional feature of capable signaling.

[0285] In one example, the UE 110 may report the capability to generate RTQ feedback using source coding according to Huffman coding, adaptive Huffman coding, Lempel-Ziv coding, Fano-Elias coding, Shannon coding, or any other form of arithmetic coding, etc. This capability may be reported by the UE 110 as a 1-bit field set to 1 or "true".

[0286] In a second example, UE 110 may report the capability to generate RTQ feedback using the binomial coefficient based scheme described above. This capability may be reported by UE 110 as a 1-bit field set to 1 or "true".

[0287] In a third example, UE 110 may report the capability to use the above RTQ codebook or to generate RTQ feedback using the above SLIV. The capability may be reported by UE 110 as a 1-bit field set to 1 or "true".

[0288] It should be understood that one or more steps of the embodiment method provided herein can be performed by corresponding units or modules. For example, data can be sent by a sending unit or a sending module. Data can be received by a receiving unit or a receiving module. Data can be processed by a processing unit or a processing module. The corresponding unit / module can be hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more units / modules can be integrated circuits, such as field programmable gate arrays (field programmablegate array, FPGA) or application-specific integrated circuits (application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC). It should be understood that if these modules are software, these modules can be retrieved by the processor in whole or in part as needed, retrieved individually or collectively for processing, retrieved in one or more instances as needed, and these modules themselves can include instructions for further deployment and instantiation.

[0289] Although combinations of features are shown in the illustrated embodiments, not all features need to be combined to achieve the advantages of the various embodiments of the present application. In other words, the system or method designed according to the embodiment of the present application does not necessarily include all the features shown in any one of the figures or all the parts schematically shown in the figures. In addition, the selected features of an exemplary embodiment can be combined with the selected features of other exemplary embodiments.

[0290] Although the present application has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments, the description is not intended to be understood in a restrictive sense. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments and other embodiments of the present application will be apparent to those skilled in the art with reference to this specification. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to cover any such modifications or embodiments.

Claims

1. A method, characterized in that include: receiving (2212) a plurality of transport blocks in a window, the window being predefined to include a given number of transport blocks; decoding (2214) at least one transport block of the plurality of transport blocks; Feedback is sent (2310) corresponding to a subset of transport blocks in the plurality of transport blocks in the window that have not been correctly decoded.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Each transport block in the plurality of transport blocks is received at a physical downlink shared channel reception opportunity.

3. The method according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that: Also included is encoding the feedback using a bitmap.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: Also included is encoding the feedback using source coding.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The using of source coding comprises: dividing the window into a plurality of groups of transmission blocks; The feedback is generated by encoding a codeword selected within a codebook for a group of the plurality of groups, wherein the codeword represents a position in the group of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded given the number of transport blocks in the group.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The codebook includes a plurality of codewords, each codeword of the plurality of codewords being associated with an input symbol in a dictionary, the dictionary corresponding to a subset of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The dictionary includes a plurality of input symbols, each input symbol: corresponds to a given probability of incorrectly decoding a transport block; Indicates the position of the transport block within the group that has not been correctly decoded.

8. The method according to claim 6 or claim 7, characterized in that: Also included is selecting the codebook from a plurality of codebooks.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The selection is made based on the number of consecutive transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: Also includes: dividing the window into a plurality of groups, each of the plurality of groups having a given number of transmission blocks; defining a codebook to contain codewords corresponding to positions of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded given the given number of transport blocks; The feedback is generated by selecting a codeword within the codebook, wherein the codeword represents a position of the transport block in the group that has not been correctly decoded.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The method further includes selecting a given binomial coefficient from a set of binomial coefficients, the set of binomial coefficients being associated with the given number of transport blocks in each group, the number of bits in the codeword being selected according to the given binomial coefficient.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that Also included is associating with the feedback an indicator of half of the set of binomial coefficients from which the given binomial coefficient was selected.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that: The sending the feedback includes generating uplink control information including the feedback.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The generating the uplink control information includes associating the feedback with an identifier of the window.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that: Said sending said feedback comprises generating a representation of a number of consecutive transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that: Also includes: dividing the window into a plurality of partitions; The feedback is generated as a partition bitmap of the window, the partition bitmap: having a number of bits corresponding to the number of partitions in the plurality of partitions; A bit is included that is set to identify each of the partitions in which a transport block that has not been correctly decoded is located.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that: The feedback includes an indication of a number of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded.

18. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, characterized in that: The sending the feedback includes sending the feedback in a physical uplink control channel.

19. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 18, characterized in that: The feedback indicates the position in the window of each transport block that has not been correctly decoded.

20. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 19, characterized in that The subset of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded forms a continuous subset of erroneous transport blocks, and the feedback comprises: an indication of an index of a first transport block in the subset of erroneous transport blocks; An indication of the number of transport blocks in the erroneous transport block subset.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that Also included is encoding the feedback.

22. A device, characterized in that: include: a memory for storing instructions; The processor, by executing the instructions, causes the processor to: receiving a plurality of transport blocks in a window, the window being predefined to include a given number of transport blocks; decoding at least one transport block of the plurality of transport blocks; Feedback corresponding to a subset of transport blocks in the plurality of transport blocks in the window that have not been correctly decoded is sent.

23. A method, characterized in that include: sending (2210) a plurality of transport blocks in a window, the window being predefined to include a given number of transport blocks; Feedback is received (2312) corresponding to a subset of transport blocks in the plurality of transport blocks in the window that have not been correctly decoded.

24. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that Also included is decoding the feedback, the feedback having been encoded using source coding.

25. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that The using of source coding comprises: dividing the window into a plurality of groups of transmission blocks; The feedback is generated by encoding a codeword selected within a codebook for a group of the plurality of groups, wherein the codeword represents a position in the group of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded given the number of transport blocks in the group.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that The codebook includes a plurality of codewords, each codeword of the plurality of codewords being associated with an input symbol in a dictionary, the dictionary corresponding to a subset of transport blocks that have not been correctly decoded.

27. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that The dictionary includes a plurality of input symbols, each input symbol: corresponds to a given probability of incorrectly decoding a transport block; Indicates the position of the transport block within the group that has not been correctly decoded.

28. The method according to claim 26 or claim 27, characterized in that The decoding includes selecting the codebook from a plurality of codebooks.

29. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that Also included is decoding the feedback by determining a codeword within a codebook, wherein the codeword represents a position of a transport block that has not been correctly decoded within a group of transport blocks.

30. The method according to claim 29, characterized in that The feedback has been encoded by selecting a given binomial coefficient from a set of binomial coefficients, the set of binomial coefficients being associated with the given number of transport blocks in each group, the number of bits in the codeword being selected according to the given binomial coefficient.

31. The method according to claim 30, characterized in that The feedback is associated with an indicator of half of the set of binomial coefficients from which the given binomial coefficient was selected.

32. The method according to claim 23 to claim 31, characterized in that The receiving the feedback includes receiving uplink control information including the feedback.

33. A device, characterized in that: include: a memory for storing instructions; The processor, by executing the instructions, causes the processor to: sending a plurality of transport blocks in a window, the window being predefined to include a given number of transport blocks; Feedback corresponding to a subset of transport blocks in the plurality of transport blocks in the window that have not been correctly decoded is received.

34. A device, characterized in that comprising a processor configured to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 21 and 23 to 32.

35. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: Comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 21 and 23 to 32.

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