Multiple configuration grant design for enhanced uplink and supplementary uplink

Abstract

The invention relates to multiple configuration grant designs for enhanced uplink and supplementary uplink. Methods, systems, and computer readable media are disclosed to perform operations that include obtaining a first configuration grant (CG) configuration of an uplink (UL) carrier and a second CG configuration of a supplemental uplink (SUL) carrier, each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration including a plurality of transmission opportunities; generating at least one unused transmission opportunity uplink control information (UTO-UCI) indicating, for each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration, which of the plurality of transmission opportunities are not used by a user equipment (UE); and instructing a radio frequency (RF) circuit to transmit the at least one UTO-UCI to an access node.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 532,251, filed on August 11, 2023, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background Art

[0003] Wireless communication networks provide integrated communication platforms and telecommunication services to wireless user devices. Example telecommunication services include telephone, data (e.g., voice, audio and / or video data), messaging and / or other services. Wireless communication networks have wireless access nodes that exchange wireless signals with wireless user devices using wireless network protocols (such as protocols described in various telecommunication standards promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)). Example wireless communication networks include time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) networks, long term evolution (LTE) and fifth generation new radio (5G NR). Wireless communication networks use technologies such as OFDM, multiple input multiple output (MIMO), advanced channel coding, massive MIMO, beamforming and / or other features to facilitate mobile broadband services. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present disclosure provides techniques for enhancing configuration grant (CG) design to support multiple physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) CG configurations on normal uplink (NUL) and supplementary uplink (SUL) carriers. Specifically, techniques for signaling unused transmission opportunities (UTOs) via uplink control information (UCI) for multiple NUL and SUL CG configurations are described. The present disclosure also provides improvements in network scheduling behavior based on UTO-UCI signaling. Techniques for improving detection of overlaps between NUL and SUL CG transmissions and handling overlapping transmissions and signaling are also described.

[0005] Generally speaking, in a first aspect of the present disclosure, one or more processors are configured to perform operations including: obtaining a first configuration grant (CG) configuration of an uplink (UL) carrier and a second CG configuration of a supplemental uplink (SUL) carrier, each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration including multiple transmission opportunities; generating at least one unused transmission opportunity uplink control information (UTO-UCI), the at least one UTO-UCI indicating which of the multiple transmission opportunities are not used by a user equipment (UE) for each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration; and instructing a radio frequency (RF) circuit to send at least one UTO-UCI to an access node.

[0006] In a second aspect that can be combined with the first aspect, at least one UTO-UCI includes a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of a first CG configuration and a second UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of a second CG configuration, wherein the second UTO-UCI is independent of the first UTO-UCI.

[0007] In a third aspect that can be combined with the first aspect or the second aspect, the one or more processors are configured to perform operations, the operations including: generating a first UTO-UCI for a first CG configuration; instructing the RF circuit to use the first CG PUSCH in the first CG configuration to send the first UTO-UCI to the access node to indicate to the access node which of the transmission opportunities for the first CG configuration are not used by the UE; generating a second UTO-UCI for a second CG configuration, wherein the second UTO-UCI is independent of the first UTO-UCI for the first CG configuration; and instructing the RF circuit to use the second CG PUSCH in the second CG configuration to send the second UTO-UCI to the access node to indicate to the access node which of the transmission opportunities for the second CG configuration are not used by the UE.

[0008] In a fourth aspect that can be combined with any one of the first to third aspects, at least one UTO-UCI includes a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and wherein the first UTO-UCI limits which transmission opportunities of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration can be used by the UE.

[0009] In a fifth aspect that can be combined with any aspect from the first to the fourth aspect, the one or more processors are configured to perform operations including: determining that a first transmission opportunity of one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration is not used by the UE; identifying a second transmission opportunity of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration that overlaps with the first transmission opportunity; determining that a second transmission opportunity of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration is not used by the UE; and generating at least one UTO-UCI based in part on determining that the first transmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity are not used by the UE.

[0010] In a sixth aspect which can be combined with any one of the first to fifth aspects, the first CG configuration at least partially overlaps with the second CG configuration.

[0011] In a seventh aspect which can be combined with any one of the first to sixth aspects, an overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol level.

[0012] In the eighth aspect which can be combined with any one of the first to seventh aspects, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing at least one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration.

[0013] In a ninth aspect which can be combined with any one of the first to eighth aspects, an overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at a time slot level of a UL carrier or a time slot level of a SUL carrier.

[0014] In the tenth aspect which can be combined with any one of the first to ninth aspects, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at a time slot level of a UL carrier or a SUL carrier associated with a minimum subcarrier spacing.

[0015] In an eleventh aspect which can be combined with any one of the first to tenth aspects, an overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a union of OFDM symbol sets.

[0016] In the twelfth aspect which can be combined with any aspect from the first to the eleventh aspect, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, wherein the superset is applied only to one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration.

[0017] In the thirteenth aspect which can be combined with any one of the first to twelfth aspects, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on at least one of a network configuration, a specification design, or a capability of the UE.

[0018] In a fourteenth aspect that may be combined with any one of the first to thirteenth aspects, at least one UTO-UCI is sent to an access node using a CG physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission.

[0019] Generally speaking, in the fifteenth aspect, one or more processors are configured to perform operations including: instructing the RF circuit to send a first CG configuration of a UL carrier and a second CG configuration of a SUL carrier to a UE, each of the first configuration and the second CG configuration including multiple transmission opportunities; receiving at least one UTO-UCI, the at least one UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities; and determining, based on the at least one UTO-UCI, which of the transmission opportunities are not used by the UE for the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration.

[0020] In the sixteenth aspect that can be combined with the fifteenth aspect, at least one UTO-UCI includes a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of a first CG configuration and a second UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of a second CG configuration, and the second UTO-UCI is independent of the first UTO-UCI.

[0021] In the seventeenth aspect that can be combined with the fifteenth aspect or the sixteenth aspect, the one or more processors are configured to perform operations, the operations including: receiving a first CG PUSCH transmission in a first CG configuration, the first CG PUSCH transmission including a first UTO-UCI of the first CG configuration; determining, based on the first UTO-UCI, which of the transmission opportunities for the first CG configuration are not used by the UE; receiving a second CG PUSCH transmission in a second CG configuration, the second CG PUSCH transmission including a second UTO-UCI independent of the first UTO-UCI; and determining, based on the second UTO-UCI, which of the transmission opportunities for the second CG configuration are not used by the UE.

[0022] In the eighteenth aspect that can be combined with any aspect from the fifteenth to the seventeenth aspect, at least one UTO-UCI includes a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and the first UTO-UCI limits which transmission opportunities of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration can be used by the UE.

[0023] In the nineteenth aspect which can be combined with any one of the fifteenth to eighteenth aspects, the first CG configuration at least partially overlaps with the second CG configuration.

[0024] In the twentieth aspect which can be combined with any one of the fifteenth to nineteenth aspects, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at an OFDM symbol level.

[0025] In aspect 21 which can be combined with any aspect from aspect 15 to aspect 20, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing at least one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration.

[0026] In the 22nd aspect which can be combined with any one of the 15th to 21st aspects, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at a time slot level of the UL carrier or a time slot level of the SUL carrier.

[0027] In aspect 23 which may be combined with any aspect from aspect 15 to aspect 22, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at a time slot level of a UL carrier or a SUL carrier associated with a minimum subcarrier spacing.

[0028] In the twenty-fourth aspect which can be combined with any one of the fifteenth to twenty-third aspects, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a union of OFDM symbol sets.

[0029] In aspect 25, which can be combined with any aspect from aspect 15 to aspect 24, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and the superset is applied only to one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration.

[0030] In aspect 26, which can be combined with any aspect from aspect 15 to aspect 25, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on at least one of a configuration signal sent by the access node to the UE, a specification design, or a capability of the UE.

[0031] In the 27th aspect which can be combined with any one of the 15th to 26th aspects, at least one UTO-UCI is sent and received via a CG physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0032] Generally speaking, in aspect twenty-eight, a device (e.g., a UE or an access node) includes: one or more processors; and a memory storing instructions that can be executed by the one or more processors to enable the one or more processors to perform operations of any one of aspects one to twenty-seven.

[0033] Generally speaking, in the twenty-ninth aspect, a system includes: one or more processors; and a memory storing instructions that can be executed by the one or more processors to enable the one or more processors to perform the operations of any one of the first aspect to the twenty-seventh aspect.

[0034] Generally speaking, in the thirtieth aspect, one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media store instructions that can be executed by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform the operations of any one of the first aspect to the twenty-seventh aspect.

[0035] Generally speaking, the thirty-first aspect includes a method for performing the operations of any of the first to twenty-seventh aspects.

[0036] The details of one or more embodiments of these systems and methods are set forth in the following drawings and description. Other features, objects, and advantages of these systems and methods will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] Figure 1 A wireless network according to some implementations is illustrated.

[0038] Figure 2 A timeline of the Physical Downlink Control Channel and the PUSCH according to some implementations is illustrated.

[0039] Figure 3 Three TDRA design options according to some specific implementations are illustrated.

[0040] Figure 4 Transmission timelines for unlicensed spectrum and licensed spectrum using a harmonious design according to some implementations are illustrated.

[0041] Figure 5 A series of PUSCH transmissions according to some specific implementations of the CG configuration are illustrated.

[0042] Figure 6 and Figure 7 An example bitmap of UTO-UCI according to some specific implementations is illustrated.

[0043] Figure 8 CG configuration timelines according to some specific implementations are illustrated.

[0044] Fig. 9 Two CG configurations utilizing independent UTOs according to some specific implementations are illustrated.

[0045] Fig.10 Two CG configurations are illustrated according to some specific implementations, both CG configurations utilizing a single UTO indication.

[0046] Fig.11 and Fig.12 Flowcharts illustrating example methods according to some implementations are shown.

[0047] Fig.13 An example user equipment (UE) according to some implementations is illustrated.

[0048] Fig.14 Example access nodes according to some implementations are illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] Recently, 3GPP telecommunication standards have been extended to support extended reality (XR) use cases, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR). These XR use cases are typically characterized by audio and video content sent under a periodic schedule. Due to the periodic nature of the configuration grant (CG) design, the CG design has been adopted for uplink XR traffic sent by the user equipment (UE) to the network.

[0050] However, there are several differences between XR services and conventional cellular services, which make the current CG design inefficient for XR use cases. Unlike conventional cellular services, uplink XR services use adjustable frame sizes that can vary significantly depending on the amount of data to be sent. Since the current CG design does not support changes in the size of configured resources, the network needs to pass the configured resources to the UE based on the maximum expected frame size. This results in wasted resources when the UE only has smaller frames to send.

[0051] In order to enhance the efficiency of CG design for XR use cases, the UE may indicate to the network the unused transmission opportunities (UTOs) of the CG configuration. For example, for a CG physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) configuration, the UE may include uplink control information (UCI) that provides information about unused CG PUSCH transmission opportunities in each CG PUSCH transmitted. For convenience, the term "UTO-UCI" is used to refer to a UCI that provides information about unused CG PUSCH transmission opportunities. In some examples, the UTO-UCI provides a bitmap in which bits correspond to TOs in a time duration / range. The bit indicates whether the TO is "unused".

[0052] In some instances, a UE may be configured with multiple CG configurations. For example, in some wireless communication networks (such as those designed according to the 3GPP 5G NR standard), if supported by UE capabilities, the network may configure both a normal uplink carrier (NUL) and a supplementary uplink carrier (SUL) for a UE at a given uplink cell. The transmission of the PUSCH transmission on the NUL or SUL may depend on the nature of the service and / or signaling. For example, SUL transmissions tend to be more reliable and have a larger coverage area than NUL transmissions. However, since SUL is typically associated with a carrier frequency (e.g., 700 MHz) lower than that of NUL (e.g., 3.5 GHz), the channel bandwidth (and therefore the configurable bandwidth part (BWP) bandwidth) tends to be smaller. On the other hand, NUL transmissions tend to be less reliable and have a smaller coverage area than SUL transmissions, but the channel bandwidth (and the configurable BWP bandwidth) tends to be larger, which facilitates the rapid transmission of data.

[0053] By configuring both NUL and SUL CG configurations for the UE, the network can take advantage of the above-noted characteristics when making scheduling decisions and configurations for uplink XR traffic and other transmissions. However, it has not yet been determined whether or how to coordinate transmissions and UTO-UCI signaling between multiple NUL and SUL CG configurations.

[0054] The present disclosure describes techniques for enhancing CG design for XR and other services to support multiple PUSCH CG configurations on NUL and SUL. Specifically, the present disclosure describes techniques for related and independent UTO-UCI signaling for multiple NUL and SUL CG configurations. The present disclosure also provides a way for the network to improve its scheduling behavior based on UTO-UCI signaling. Techniques for improving detection of overlaps between NUL and SUL CG transmissions and handling overlapping transmissions and signaling are also described.

[0055] Figure 1 A wireless network 100 is illustrated according to some implementations. The wireless network 100 includes UEs 102 and base stations 104 connected via one or more channels 106A, 106B across an air interface 108. The UEs 102 and base stations 104 communicate using a system that supports control for managing access of the UEs 102 to the network via the base stations 104.

[0056] In some embodiments, the wireless network 100 is a standalone (SA) network in combination with a fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) communication standard as defined by the third generation partnership project (3GPP) technical specification. In other embodiments, the wireless network 100 is a non-standalone (NSA) network in combination with long term evolution (LTE) and 5G NR communication standards. For example, the wireless network 100 can be an E-UTRA (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access)-NR dual connection (EN-DC) network or an NR-EUTRA dual connection (NE-DC) network. In addition, other types of communication standards are possible, including future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G)), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 technology, and the like. Although various aspects may be described herein using terms commonly associated with 5G NR, various aspects of the present disclosure may be applied to other systems, such as systems after 5G (e.g., 6G).

[0057] In the wireless network 100, the UE 102 and any other UE in the system can be, for example, any of a laptop computer, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a machine type device (such as a smart meter or a dedicated device for healthcare), an intelligent transportation system, or any other wireless device. In the network 100, the base station 104 provides network connectivity to the UE 102 to a wider network (not shown). The UE 102 connectivity is provided via an air interface 108 in a base station service area provided by the base station 104. In some specific implementations, this wider network can be a wide area network operated by a cellular network provider, or it can be the Internet. Each base station service area associated with the base station 104 is supported by one or more antennas integrated with the base station 104. The service area can be divided into several sectors associated with one or more specific antennas. Such sectors can be physically associated with one or more fixed antennas, or can be assigned to a physical area with one or more tunable antennas or antenna settings, which can be adjusted in a beamforming process for directing signals to a specific sector.

[0058] UE 102 includes control circuitry 110 coupled to transmit circuitry 112 and receive circuitry 114. Transmit circuitry 112 and receive circuitry 114 may each be coupled to one or more antennas. Control circuitry 110 may include various combinations of dedicated circuitry and baseband circuitry. Transmit circuitry 112 and receive circuitry 114 may be adapted to transmit and receive data, respectively, and may include radio frequency (RF) circuitry and / or front end module (FEM) circuitry.

[0059] In various implementations, aspects of the transmit circuit 112, receive circuit 114, and control circuit 110 may be integrated in various ways to implement the operations described herein. The control circuit 110 may be adapted or configured to perform various operations, such as various operations related to the UE described elsewhere in this disclosure. For example, the control circuit 110 may generate UTO-UCI signaling and test for overlap between transmit opportunities in NUL and SUL CG configurations, as described herein.

[0060] The transmission circuit 112 may perform various operations described in this specification. For example, the transmission circuit 112 may send CG PUSCH transmission and UTO-UCI signaling to an access node (e.g., a base station). Additionally, the transmission circuit 112 may use multiple multiplexed uplink physical channels for transmission. The multiple uplink physical channels may be multiplexed, for example, according to time division multiplexing (TDM) or frequency division multiplexing (FDM) and carrier aggregation. The transmission circuit 112 may be configured to receive block data from the control circuit 110 for transmission across the air interface 108.

[0061] The receiving circuit 114 may perform various operations described in this specification. For example, the receiving circuit 114 may receive NUL and SUL CG configurations from the access node. Additionally, the receiving circuit 114 may receive a plurality of multiplexed downlink physical channels from the air interface 108 and relay these physical channels to the control circuit 110. The plurality of downlink physical channels may be multiplexed, for example, according to TDM or FDM and carrier aggregation. The transmitting circuit 112 and the receiving circuit 114 may respectively transmit and receive control data and content data (e.g., messages, images, videos, etc.) structured within data blocks carried by the physical channels.

[0062] Figure 1 A base station 104 is also shown. In some implementations, the base station 104 may be a 5G radio access network (RAN) or a next-generation RAN, an E-UTRAN, a non-terrestrial cell, or a traditional RAN such as a UTRAN. As used herein, the term "5G RAN" or the like may refer to a base station 104 operating in an NR or 5G wireless network 100, and the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to a base station 104 operating in an LTE or 4G wireless network 100. The UE 102 utilizes connections (or channels) 106A, 106B, each connection comprising a physical communication interface or layer.

[0063] The base station 104 circuitry may include control circuitry 116 coupled to transmit circuitry 118 and receive circuitry 120. The transmit circuitry 118 and receive circuitry 120 may each be coupled to one or more antennas that may be used to enable communications via the air interface 108. The transmit circuitry 118 and receive circuitry 120 may be adapted to transmit and receive data, respectively, to any UE connected to the base station 104. The receive circuitry 120 may receive a plurality of uplink physical channels from one or more UEs including the UE 102.

[0064] exist Figure 1 In the embodiment, one or more channels 106A, 106B are illustrated as air interfaces for implementing communication coupling, and may comply with cellular communication protocols, such as 5G protocols, NR protocols, NR-based unlicensed spectrum access (NR-U) protocols, and / or any other communication protocols. In a specific implementation, the UE 102 may directly exchange communication data via the ProSe interface. The ProSe interface may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink (SL) interface and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), and a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH).

[0065] Figure 2The timeline of the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) 202 and the PUSCH 204 is illustrated. The time domain resource allocation (TDRA) design for the PUSCH 204 is about the determination of the starting symbol 206, the duration 208 of the PUSCH 204, the slot offset 210 (K2) relative to the PDCCH 202, and the slot duration 212. The starting symbol 206 may not always be the beginning of the slot. The UE can determine these variables for a successful PUSCH transmission.

[0066] There are multiple design choices for TDRA. In addition, in some examples, the TDRA design choices for unlicensed spectrum may be different from those for licensed spectrum. Therefore, it may be desirable to harmonize different design choices.

[0067] Figure 3 Three TDRA design options are illustrated. In the illustrated example, each of the three design options is shown with PUSCH transmission opportunities mapped to four slots of the CG period.

[0068] In a first design option Alt A1 302, TDRA determination may be based on a repeating frame. The maximum number of PUSCHs (N) may be configured by a higher layer or indicated by an activation DCI. The starting symbol (S) and the allocation length (L) may be jointly indicated as a start and length indicator value (SLIV). A single SLIV may be determined from the TDRA. The same SLIV may be used in N PUSCHs in consecutive slots per CG cycle. As shown, in Alt A1 302, PUSCH transmission opportunities may have the same starting symbol and duration across slots.

[0069] In the second design option Alt B 304, the TDRA determination may be based on the NR-U framework. For Alt B 304, N may be configured by a higher layer. Additionally, Alt B 304 allows consecutive PUSCH transmission opportunities to occur in a single time slot. There may be M consecutive PUSCH transmission opportunities with the same duration in a time slot. M may be configured by a higher layer. M PUSCH transmission opportunities may be used in N consecutive time slots per CG cycle. N and M may be configured independently of cg-nrofSlots-r16 and cg-nrofPUSCH-InSlot-r16, respectively. The M and N configurations may be independent of the cgRetransmissionTimer configuration. A single SLIV may be determined from the TDRA. The SLIV may be determined by the SLIV for the first PUSCH per CG cycle. As shown in the figure, in Alt B 304, there may be no gaps between PUSCH transmission opportunities. This may be preferred for unlicensed spectrum to ensure that devices can identify occupied channels.

[0070] In the third design option Alt C 306, a single DCI schedule can be used for multiple PUSCHs. TDRA can be configured by pusch-TimeDomainAllocationListForMultiPUSCH-r16 with extendedK2-r17. A TDRA row with N entries can determine the time domain resource allocation for N PUSCH transmission opportunities per cycle. The N PUSCH transmission opportunities can be non-continuous PUSCHs and / or in non-continuous time slots. Alt C 306 provides a lot of flexibility. The starting symbol, end symbol and duration of each PUSCH transmission opportunity can be different, and the time slots in which the PUSCH transmission opportunities are located can be different. In addition, there may be unused time slots.

[0071] As shown, these TDRA selections operate differently. The use of continuous time slots and non-continuous time slots may be different. For example, for both Alt A1 302 and Alt B 304, if the number of time slots used is more than one, continuous time slots are used. In contrast, Alt C 306 may use non-continuous time slots. The gaps between PUSCHs may also be different. For both Alt A1 302 and Alt C 306, gaps between PUSCHs are allowed, but Alt B 304 does not allow gaps between PUSCHs (due to, for example, listen before talk (LBT) considerations). In addition, the design selection may handle the duration of PUSCH differently. For example, Alt C 306 allows different durations of PUSCHs, while the duration of each PUSCH in the PUSCH is the same in Alt A1 302 and Alt B 304.

[0072] In some examples, one or more of these TDRA designs may be harmonized for more efficient use. For example, Alt A1 302 may be included under Alt B 304. Therefore, additional focus may be placed on the harmony of Alt B 304 and Alt C 306. In 3GPP Release 16, for unlicensed spectrum access, Alt B 304 is essentially used, taking into account the LBT requirements for unlicensed spectrum access. Therefore, it may be preferred that unlicensed spectrum access retains the same design. However, it may be advantageous to include a certain degree of flexibility in ALT C 306. In some examples, PUSCH repetition is supported with multiple PUSCH transmissions in the CG period. For example, if there are 4 TOs in the CG period, the first two TOs may be used for the same transport block, and the latter two TOs may be used for another transport block. When, for example, PUSCH repetition is supported on a licensed spectrum to reduce signaling overhead and also achieve a consistent low block error rate, invalid PUSCH TOs are not considered in the repetition pattern design. For example, in the case where there are 4 configured TOs, namely TO_1, TO_2, TO_3 and TO_4, and TO_2 is an invalid PUSCH TO in the CG period, the PUSCH repetition of the transport block can use TO_1 and TO_3. A HARQ redundancy version sequence such as [0 3] or [0 3 2 1] can be configured by the network to the UE for CG configuration, and the configuration of the HARQ redundancy version sequence can be under the same IE used to configure multiple PUSCHs in the CG configuration or under a separate IE. If the IE for configuring the HARQ redundancy version sequence does not exist for the CG configuration, PUSCH repetition is not supported for the CG configuration. In some examples, for licensed spectrum and unlicensed spectrum, the UE-indicated HARQ redundancy version of the PUSCH is carried in the uplink control information (UCI). Since more than one transport block can be carried in the CG period, the NDI (new data indication) in the UCI can be introduced to help the network determine the association between the PUSCH and the transport block. In order to reduce signaling overhead and avoid introducing NDI in UCI, each new transport block may start with HARQ redundancy version 0, and subsequent transmissions may not use HARQ redundancy version 0 to avoid confusion on the network side. The NDI bit can also be triggered to indicate that the transport block carrying the same or different transport block as the previous PUSCH transmission. It should be noted that in this case, the NDI signaling design can be utilized across CG cycles. For example, by using the same NDI value for consecutive valid TOs in one or more CG cycles, the UE can send the same transport block within these CG cycles. For UCI multiplexing, the HARQ redundancy version and / or NDI of the current PUSCH can be multiplexed with UTO-UCI. In some examples, the HARQ redundancy version and / or NDI of the current PUSCH can be multiplexed with UTO-UCI and HARQ-ACK.

[0073] Thus, in some examples, a transmission schedule without gaps may include flexibility regarding the start symbol, end symbol, and duration of each PUSCH transmission opportunity. In some examples, for unlicensed spectrum access, even with Alt C306, gaps are not allowed between different PUSCHs. Thus, the PUSCHs may have different durations, but without gaps between them. For example, Figure 4 An illustration of a manner of reconciling Alt B 304 and Alt C 306 is provided.

[0074] Figure 4 The transmission timeline 402 of the unlicensed spectrum and the transmission timeline 404 of the licensed spectrum using the harmonious design are illustrated. As shown, the transmission timeline 404 of the licensed spectrum is Figure 3 The TDRA design of ALT C 306 is characterized. As shown, the three PUSCH transmissions 408a, 408b and 408c are non-continuous PUSCHs and / or in non-continuous time slots. In addition, the starting symbol, ending symbol and duration of each PUSCH transmission opportunity may be different.

[0075] In the illustrated example, the transmission timeline 402 of the unlicensed spectrum includes eight PUSCH transmissions 406a, 406b, 406c, 406d, 406e, 406f, 406g and 406h, wherein there are two PUSCH transmissions per time slot. As on the transmission timeline 404 of the licensed spectrum, the starting symbol, the ending symbol and the duration of each PUSCH transmission opportunity may be different. The harmonious TDRA design in the unlicensed spectrum may include multiple PUSCH transmissions in a single time slot. The PUSCH transmissions within and across time slots do not have gaps between them, but are flexible with respect to the starting symbol, the ending symbol and the duration. In some examples, as in Alt, there may be a fixed number of PUSCH transmission opportunities in a time slot. However, the time slot where the PUSCH transmission opportunity is located is not constrained to be a continuous time slot, for example, there may be N time slots with M transmission opportunities in a time slot, but their time slot indexes may not be continuous, such as 0, 2, 3 ... This is also the case for type 2CG PUSCH configuration activation, since the slot offsets for those slots may not be consecutive. For unlicensed spectrum, the slot offsets / slot indices are constrained to be consecutive to achieve the effect of no gaps between adjacent PUSCH transmission opportunities. Alternatively or additionally, the OFDM symbols taken by the TO before checking the validity of any CGPUSCH are contiguous.

[0076] In some examples, UTO signaling may be enhanced. UTO signaling may be a bitmap where bits correspond to transmission opportunities within a time duration / range. A bit indicates whether a transmission is unused. The UE may transmit the bitmap as part of the UCI on the PUSCH to the access node. The access node may use UTO signaling to make network scheduling decisions.

[0077] The design of the UTO-UCI may be based on certain factors. Specifically, in some examples, the UE may determine the UTO-UCI payload size and timing reference indicated by the UTO-UCI based on a time duration. In some examples, the UE may determine the UTO-UCI payload size and timing reference indicated by the UTO-UCI based on multiple CG periods. In some examples, the UE may determine the UTO-UCI payload size and timing reference indicated by the UTO-UCI based on a range. Figures 5 to 8 An example of determining the payload size and timing reference for UTO-UCI is provided.

[0078] Figure 5 A series of PUSCH transmissions 502 for a CG configuration are illustrated. The time reference and UTO-UCI payload size determination for the PUSCH transmissions 502 may be based on the characteristics of the CG configuration. There may be several options for determining the applicable time duration or range (e.g., the number of transmission opportunities (TO)).

[0079] For example, the start time of the UTO (also referred to as a time reference or reference time) may be based on an event within the CG configuration. If an applicable time duration is used, the following are options for the bitmap start time. In some examples, the start time may be determined by the start time of each 504 CG period. In some examples, the start time may be determined by a time slot with an offset in the CG period (e.g., the start of time slot N+1506, which contains the first PUSCH transmission opportunity or the first valid PUSCH transmission opportunity, where if the CG PUSCH of the PUSCH transmission opportunity is discarded due to a conflict with a DL symbol indicated by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated or SSB, the PUSCH transmission opportunity is designated as "invalid"). In some examples, the start time may be determined by the start time of PUSCH 508 in the first TO in the CG period. In some examples, the start time may be determined by the start time of PUSCH 508 in the first TO of a non-invalid CG PUSCH in the CG period. In some examples, the start time may be determined by the start time of the PUSCH carrying the UTO-UCI. For example, if the second PUSCH 510 is carrying the UTO-UCI and the first PUSCH 512 is not carrying the UTO-UCI, the start time 514 of the second PUSCH 510 may be used for the start time of the UTO. Similarly, the start time may be determined by the start time of the PUSCH carrying the UTO-UCI (e.g., if the PUSCH is the PUSCH carrying the UTO-UCI, the start time is the start time 516 of the PUSCH in slot n+2).

[0080] The determination of the UTO-UCI payload size (e.g., bitmap size) may be based on the maximum number of TOs contained in the time duration from the start time. It may be noted that, depending on the start time, the number of TOs contained in the time duration may be different. This is because changing the start time causes the time duration window to slide, and at different points, the time duration may include different numbers of TOs. Therefore, the UTO-UCI payload size may vary based on the time duration and the start time. In some examples, if the payload size does not reach the maximum allowed payload size, padding bits may be used to balance the payload size, which may be configured according to RRC or indirectly determined by the maximum allowed number of TOs in the UCI-UCI.

[0081] In some examples, the time duration may be an absolute time (e.g., 1 ms, 5 ms, 50 / 3 (=16.66 ...) ms), which may or may not be equal to one or more CG periods in the CG period. In some examples, the time duration may be a plurality of uplink time slots. In some examples, the time duration may be a CG period. In some examples, the time duration may be a plurality of CG periods.

[0082] In some examples, the UTO-UCI bitmap size may be determined based on the number of TOs within the time duration. If the number of TOs within the time duration may vary due to different start times, the bitmap size may be determined based on the maximum value of the number of TOs within time durations with different start times.

[0083] In some examples, the bitmap size may be RRC-configured for CG PUSCH configuration. One potential benefit of this design is that it facilitates UE implementation. In some examples, the bitmap size configured by RRC is based on the number of TOs that appear after the TO where the CG PUSCH carrying UTO-UCI is located, and each bit in the bitmap corresponds to such a TO. In another example, the bitmap size configured by RRC is based on the number of TOs that appear after the TO where the CG PUSCH carrying UTO-UCI is located, and those TOs are not associated with invalid CG PUSCHs, and each bit in the bitmap corresponds to such a TO.

[0084] Figure 6 A first example bitmap 602 of a UTO-UCI is illustrated. In the illustrated example, the start time or timing reference of the UTO indication is determined by the start time 606 of the time slot of the PUSCH 608 containing the UTO-UCI. The time duration 604 of the UTO indication of the illustrated example is based on the number of uplink time slots. In this example, the number of uplink time slots of the time duration 604 is set to five.

[0085] The bitmap size may be determined based on the maximum number of TOs possible in the case of a timing reference (e.g., the start time 606 of the time slot of the PUSCH 608 containing the UTO-UCI) and a time duration 604 (e.g., five uplink time slots). As shown, the timing reference and duration may produce a time window for capturing multiple TOs. In the illustrated example, there are four TOs in the time duration 604. Therefore, the bitmap 602 is four bits. The first bit represents the first TO, the second bit represents the second TO, the third bit represents the third TO, and the fourth bit represents the fourth TO. The '1' bit may indicate that the UE plans to use the TO, and the '0' bit may indicate that the UE will not use the TO for the CG configuration. Note that in some examples, the initial bit may be excluded or omitted because it may be assumed that the PUSCH TO containing the UTO-UCI is used. In some examples, the initial bit is associated with the TO after the current PUSCH.

[0086] Figure 7 A second example bitmap 702 of UTO-UCI is illustrated. In the illustrated example, the start time or timing reference of the UTO indication is determined by the start time 606 of the time slot of the PUSCH 708 containing the UTO-UCI. The time duration 704 of the UTO indication of the illustrated example is based on the number of CG cycles. In the illustrated example, the number of CG cycles of the time duration 704 is set to two.

[0087] The bitmap size may be determined based on the maximum number of TOs possible under the timing reference (e.g., the start time 706 of the time slot of the PUSCH 708 containing the UTO-UCI) and the time duration 704 (e.g., two CG cycles), or under any timing reference for a given time duration. As shown, the timing reference and duration may produce a time window that captures multiple TOs. In the illustrated example, there are six TOs in the time duration 704. Therefore, the bitmap 702 is six bits. The first bit represents the first TO, the second bit represents the second TO, the third bit represents the third TO, the fourth bit represents the fourth TO, the fifth bit represents the fifth TO, and the sixth bit represents the sixth TO. The '1' bit may indicate that the UE plans to use the TO, and the '0' bit may indicate that the UE will not use the TO for the CG configuration.

[0088] Figure 8The CG configuration timeline according to some examples is illustrated. In some examples, the TO can be used as a time reference for determining the size of the bitmap. There may be several options for determining the applicable time duration or range (e.g., the number of TOs) included in the UTO-UCI bitmap. In some examples, the starting TO is the first TO 802. In some examples, the starting TO is the TO in which the CG PUSCH carrying the UTO-UCI is sent. For example, if the CG PUSCH 804 in the time slot n+2 is the CG PUSCH carrying the UTO-UCI, the starting TO used to determine the bitmap size will be the CG PUSCH 804. The maximum number of TOs after the starting TO can determine the bitmap size. For example, if there are up to four TOs within the time duration after the starting TO, the bitmap size can be five. In some examples, the TO in which the CG PUSCH carrying the UTO-UCI is located is not included in the bitmap representation.

[0089] Since the CG may be configured on the SUL, NUL, or both, support for multiple PUSCH transmissions for the CG configuration should consider whether there is any correlation between the NUL configuration and the SUL CG configuration, and whether there is any correlation between the UTO-UCI signaling of the SUL and NUL. For example, since there may be UTO signaling for each CG configuration, from a signaling generation perspective, consideration should be given to whether there should be any restrictions and / or correlations between each CG configuration. In addition, consideration should be given to how the indicated UTO signaling affects CG prioritization. For example, if PUSCH transmissions from CG configuration 1 and CG configuration 2 overlap, consideration should be given to determining how to multiplex their transmissions and / or UCI. The CG configuration may be associated with a physical layer 1 (L1) priority and an L2 priority, so consideration should also be given to whether there should be any restrictions and / or correlations between two CG configurations with different L1 priorities. Moreover, when the UE indicates to the network (e.g., via UTO signaling) its intention for TO, consideration should be given to how such indication interacts with the scheduling behavior of the network, such as whether there should be any modifications to the interaction between DG PUSCH and CG PUSCH. Finally, the switching time between NULPUSCH and SUL PUSCH may not be zero, which introduces additional constraints relative to, for example, multiple CG configurations configured on NUL or SUL but not on both.

[0090] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is no restriction or correlation between UTO signaling carried on PUSCH for different CG configurations on SUL and NUL at the same L1 priority or different L1 priorities. In this case, UTO signaling reflects the buffer status or service arrival associated with a separate CG configuration. Since the service arrival for, for example, XR video or file upload may be different, the indications from UTO signaling carried on PUSCH of different CG configurations may be inconsistent. Therefore, by not restricting UTO signaling across CG configurations, the UTO signaling generated at different TOs for the same CG configuration maintains consistency. In addition, CG PUSCH generation is completely unaffected by UTO signaling of another CG configuration. On the network side, UTO signaling of a CG configuration can help reduce blind detection at the base station for a CG PUSCH with the CG configuration. Blind detection may be required for potential transmission of a CG PUSCH with another CG configuration. If there is no interruption in the uplink transmission on the CC of interest, the indication of the UTO signaling should remain valid for the UE. However, if there is an interruption in the uplink transmission, the base station may need to provide a DG PUSCH to quickly drain the buffered data.

[0091] Fig. 9 Two CG configurations (e.g., a first CG configuration 902 (such as a NUL CG configuration) and a second CG configuration 904 (such as a SUL CG configuration)) utilizing independent UTO indications (e.g., a first UTO indication 906 and a second UTO indication 908) are illustrated. In the illustrated example, the first CG configuration 902 includes four TOs 910 in the CG cycle. The second CG configuration 904 includes three TOs 910 in the CG cycle. As shown, the cycles and TOs of the first CG configuration 902 and the second CG configuration 904 overlap with each other.

[0092] In the illustrated example, there is no restriction / correlation between the UTO signaling carried on the PUSCH for different CG configurations at the same L1 priority or different L1 priorities. In this example, the UTO signaling (e.g., the first UTO indication 906 and the second UTO indication 908) reflects the buffer status or traffic arrival associated with the separate CG configuration. Since the traffic arrival (e.g., uplink XR traffic) may be different, the indications from the UTO signaling carried on the PUSCH of different CG configurations may be inconsistent. For example, the first UTO indication 906 includes a bitmap of used and unused TOs 910 that signal the first CG configuration 902, and the second UTO indication 908 includes a bitmap of used and unused TOs 912 that signal the second CG configuration 904.

[0093] In this example, the PUSCH 914 of the first CG configuration 902 in time slot n carries UTO signaling with bitmap

[1000] . Bitmap

[1000] with reference time slots starting from time slot n indicates that time slots n+1, n+2, and n+3 are unused. In time slot n+1, the PUSCH 916 of the second CG configuration 904 carries UTO signaling with bitmap

[110] . Bitmap

[110] with reference time slots starting from time slot n indicates time slot n+3 as unused, but indicates time slots n+1 and n+2 as "unused" / "used". In the case of this design option, the indicated "unused" or "unused" / "used" status is specific to one or more periods of the CG configuration and is independent of other CG configurations. However, from the perspective of access node scheduling and blind detection of UTO signaling, this may not be helpful because for time slot n+2, if the access node schedules the resources vacated by the first CG configuration 902, there is no guarantee that there will be no transmission to the UE of interest.

[0094] For the illustrated example, there may be no restriction on the generation of UTO signaling across CG configurations, while for the same CG configuration, the UTO signaling generated at different TOs may maintain consistency. For example, for the second CG configuration 904, UTO UCI signaling (e.g., second UTO indication 908) may be transmitted on two PUSCHs that have used TOs. The UTO signaling on each PUSCH TO in the PUSCH TOs of the second CG configuration 904 is consistent. On the other hand, the UTO UCI signaling (e.g., first UTO indication 906) transmitted on the first CG configuration 902 may be different from the second UTO indication 908.

[0095] In some examples, CG PUSCH generation may not be affected by the UTO signaling of another CG configuration at all. For example, in the illustrated example, the first CG configuration 902 indicates that time slots n+1, n+2, and n+3 are unused, but this indication does not affect the CG PUSCH generation of the second CG configuration 904. As shown in the figure, for the second CG configuration 904, the UE transmits CG PUSCH on two time slots n+1, n+2.

[0096] In some examples, UTO signaling may have an impact on the blind detection behavior of the access node. UTO signaling for a CG configuration may help reduce blind detection at the access node for the CG PUSCH corresponding to the CG configuration. The access node may perform blind detection for potential transmissions of a CG PUSCH with another CG configuration.

[0097] In some examples, UTO signaling may have an impact on access node scheduling behavior. For example, if it is assumed that there is no interruption in uplink transmission on the component carrier (CC) of interest (e.g., no dynamic time division duplex (TDD) interaction, such as DGPDSCH transmission, aperiodic (AP) CSI-RS transmission, etc.), then the indication of UTO signaling may remain valid for the UE. However, if there is an interruption in uplink transmission (e.g., some TOs that were initially considered available by the UE are actually not available (e.g., due to dynamic TDD)), the access node may provide DG PUSCH to quickly exhaust the buffered data.

[0098] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there are restrictions and / or correlations between UTO signaling carried on PUSCH for different CG configurations of SUL and NUL at the same L1 priority or different L1 priorities. In this case, the UTO signaling reflects the buffer status and / or traffic arrival associated with more than one CG configuration. For example, the UTO signaling may indicate that the time slot involved is unused, or that the OFDM symbol covered by the CG PUSCH is unused, as well as other possibilities described herein. If two CG PUSCHs with two CG configurations overlap on an OFDM symbol, and the TO associated with the PUSCH of either CG configuration is indicated as unused, then from the perspective of the UE, each OFDM symbol within the TO is considered "unused". In other words, UTO signaling is used to indicate that an OFDM symbol (or, as described herein, a superset is not used), and any CG PUSCH containing such an OFDM symbol (or within such a superset) will not be generated by the UE.

[0099] Fig.10 Two CG configurations are illustrated (e.g., a first CG configuration 1002 (such as a NUL CG configuration) and a second CG configuration 1004 (such as a NUL CG configuration)), both of which utilize a single UTO indication 1006. In this example, the first CG configuration 1002 includes four TOs 1008 in the CG period. The second CG configuration 1004 includes three TOs 1010 in the CG period. As shown, the periods and TOs of the first CG configuration 1002 and the second CG configuration 1004 overlap with each other.

[0100] In the illustrated example, there are restrictions / correlations between UTO signaling (e.g., UTO indication 1006) carried on PUSCH for different CG configurations at the same L1 priority or different L1 priorities. In this example, UTO signaling (e.g., UTO indication 1006) reflects the buffer status or traffic arrival associated with more than one CG configuration. In this case, the UTO signaling indicates that the time slot involved is unused, or the OFDM symbol covered by the CG PUSCH is unused. If two CG PUSCHs with two CG configurations overlap on the OFDM symbol, if the TO associated with the PUSCH of either CG configuration is indicated as unused, then from the perspective of the UE, each OFDM symbol within the TO can be regarded as "unused". In other words, UTO signaling is used to indicate that OFDM symbols are not used, and any CG PUSCH containing such OFDM symbols will not be generated by the UE. RRC signaling or other higher layer signaling can be used to establish restrictions / correlations between CG configurations and / or UTO-UCI signaling of CG configurations.

[0101] In the illustrated example, once the UTO signaling (UTO indication 1006) in the CG PUSCH 1012 associated with the first CG configuration 1002 in time slot n indicates that the next three opportunities are not used, the generation of the CGPUSCH with the second CG configuration 904 is prohibited. For example, as shown, the UTO indication 1006 includes a bitmap that signals that the TO in time slots n+1, n+2, and n+3 are not used by both the first CG configuration 1002 and the second CG configuration 1004. In this example, the bitmap indicates the use or non-use of overlapping CG PUSCHs in two CG configurations. In other words, when the bitmap indicates that TO is not used, the access node can assume that there will be no transmission in the time slot for either CG configuration.

[0102] For the illustrated example, there may be restrictions on the generation of UTO signaling across CG configurations. In the illustrated example, the UTO signaling generated by the UE for the CG configuration should not conflict with any UTO signaling generated by the UE for the same CG configuration or a different CG configuration. In other words, the UTO signaling of other CG configurations can maintain consistency.

[0103] In some examples, CG PUSCH generation for TO under CG configuration may be prohibited by UTO signaling indicated to the access node for the same CG configuration or for another CG configuration. For example, if earlier signaling indicates that the time slot symbol is not used, the UE may not generate CG PUSCH for the first CG configuration 1002 or the second CG configuration 1004.

[0104] In some examples, UTO signaling may have an impact on UCI multiplexing. UCI multiplexing related to CG PUSCH transmission may include selection of PUSCH for UCI multiplexing for SPS HARQ-ACK codebook multiplexing or DG HARQ-ACK codebook multiplexing. All prohibited CG PUSCHs may be removed as candidates for UCI multiplexing. Prohibited CG PUSCHs refer to those CG PUSCHs indicated as unused by the UTO bitmap or other CG PUSCHs whose transmissions fully or partially overlap with TOs indicated as "unused".

[0105] In some examples, UTO signaling may have an impact on the blind detection behavior of the access node. UTO signaling for a CG configuration may help reduce blind detection at the access node for a CG PUSCH with that CG configuration. Blind detection may be safely skipped for potential transmissions of a CG PUSCH with another CG configuration if they would overlap with an OFDM symbol in the TO that is indicated as "unused" by any UTO signaling.

[0106] Can exist Fig. 9 and Fig.10 Variations of the examples shown. For example, in some examples, CG configurations may be divided into groups. Within a group, there may be restrictions / dependencies between UTO signaling, as shown in reference Fig.10 As described; There is no restriction / correlation between UTO signaling carried on PUSCH for different CG configurations at the same L1 priority or different L1 priorities between groups, as referenced Fig. 9 In some examples, within a group, at the same L1 priority or different L1 priorities, for different CG configurations, there is no restriction / dependency between UTO signaling carried on PUSCH, as referenced Fig. 9 As described; there may be limitations / correlations between groups and between UTO signaling, as referenced Fig.10 described.

[0107] In some examples, grouping may be based on radio resource control (RRC) signaling (e.g., by including a group index for each CG configuration). The grouping criteria may include L1 priority. In some examples, grouping may be based on L1 priority. For example, group 1 consists of CG configurations with low physical layer priority, and group 2 consists of CG configurations with high physical layer priority. In some examples, L1 priority may be a factor, but not the only factor, in terms of grouping. For example, there may be 3 groups, and one group may be at a high physical layer priority and two groups may be at a low physical layer priority. In some examples, grouping may be based on radio resource control (RRC) signaling (e.g., by including a group index for a CG configuration), where the CG configuration is configured with UTO-UCI. In some examples, grouping may be based on radio resource control (RRC) signaling (e.g., by including a group index for a CG configuration), where the CG configuration may or may not be configured with UTO-UCI, then the CG configuration that is not configured with UTO-UCI may still benefit from the UTO-UCI feature. In some examples, there is a single group by specification or by configuration, and a flag may be used instead of a group index. In some examples, if a CG configuration is neither configured with a UTO-UCI nor a group index / flag is provided, the CG PUSCH generation associated with the CG configuration follows the traditional design, as if the UTO-UCI is not sent by the UE. In some examples, the grouping is based on logical channels or logical channel groups, and CG configurations that meet the same logical channel conditions are implicitly grouped together. In some examples, RRC configuration signaling is used to group CG configurations, and the L1 priority, logical channel, and logical channel group may or may not be a factor in using such RRC configuration signaling.

[0108] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an overlap test (or collision test) is provided for determining overlap and handling collisions between NUL and SUL transmissions. In some examples, the collision test is performed at the OFDM symbol level. For example, an OFDM symbol of a transmission opportunity in a first CG configuration (e.g., NUL CG configuration) may be compared with a corresponding OFDM symbol in a second CG configuration (e.g., SUL CG configuration) to determine whether the OFDM symbol is used or unused on both CG configurations. This determination may then inform UTO-UCI signaling.

[0109] However, since the SUL and NUL may be at different subcarrier spacings and may use different cyclic prefixes (e.g., normal cyclic prefixes or extended cyclic prefixes), it may be difficult to implement the determination of the conflict / overlap test at the OFDM level at the UE. Therefore, in some examples, the coverage area for conflict testing can be extended to a superset containing CG PUSCH transmission opportunities. In some examples, the superset may be a time slot containing PUSCH under a given SUL and / or NUL carrier. In some examples, the superset may be a union of OFDM symbol sets (e.g., each OFDM symbol set consists of 2 symbol mini-slots or 7 symbol mini-slots). In order to improve efficiency, the minimum union of OFDM symbol sets is identified. In some examples, the superset may be a time slot at the minimum subcarrier spacing between the NUL and SUL carriers. In some examples, this coverage area extension / superset may be applied only to NULCG PUSCH transmissions or SUL CG PUSCH transmissions. In some examples, the coverage area extension / superset and / or applicability of the coverage area extension / superset to the NUL CG and / or SUL CG may be determined by the network configuration, included in the specification design (e.g., 3GPP specification) and / or based on UE capabilities.

[0110] If PUSCH repetition is supported for multiple PUSCHs in a CG configuration, PUSCH repetition is sent and considered only within valid PUSCH opportunities. In this case, UTO-UCI signaling does not have to be provided for each TO, but a single bit in the bitmap can be mapped to a bundle of TOs (e.g., R TOs) for valid PUSCH opportunities, where R is the number of repetitions.

[0111] Generally speaking, within the same CG configuration configured with UTO-UCI multiplexing and UTO-UCI signaling (or UTO signaling), the information provided by the UTO-UCI should be consistent with the transmission at multiple occasions. When multiple CG configurations are configured on the same cell, it is necessary to decide whether there is any correlation between the UTO-UCI signaling on them.

[0112] If the UTO-UCI signaling is independent for different CG configurations, although UE-specific implementation flexibility is achieved, sharing among different UEs may not be ideal. In a time slot (e.g., time slot n) containing a TO (TO-1), for one CG configuration (CG-1), the UE may indicate the TO as "unused" through the UTO-UCI (UTO-UCI-1), but for another CG configuration (CG-2), there may be a later UTO-UCI (UTO-UCI-2) that indicates another TO (TO-2) as "unused", and TO-2 is also contained in time slot n. This is similar to the case where the TO is indicated as "unused" by the UTO-UCI for the CG configuration on the cell, and the later UTO-UCI for the same CG configuration is allowed to restore the TO to "unused".

[0113] In order to be consistent with the design of the same configuration configured with UTO-UCI signaling, it is proposed that, on the same cell, when physical layer priority and logical channel-based prioritization are not configured by the network and / or are not supported by the UE between a pair of CG configurations configured with UTO-UCI signaling, the second UTO-UCI (UTO-UCI-2) sent later in time than the first UTO-UCI (UTO-UCI-1) should not indicate TO (TO-2) as "unused", if TO-2 overlaps with all or any OFDM symbols contained in TO (TO-1) indicated as "unused" by the first UTO-UCI (UTO-UCI-1), the first UTO-UCI and the second UTO-UCI may be associated with different CG configurations, and the UE MAC does not generate a MAC PDU for the PUSCH of TO-2. When UTO-UCI-1 and UTO-UCI-2 are associated with different CG configurations, UTO-UCI-1 is the latest UTO-UCI having an associated CG configuration before UTO-UCI-1. It is also proposed that, on the same cell, a second UTO-UCI (UTO-UCI-2) sent later in time than a first UTO-UCI (UTO-UCI-1) may indicate TO (TO-2) as "unused", even if TO-2 overlaps with all or any OFDM symbols contained in TO (TO-1) indicated as "unused" by the first UTO-UCI (UTO-UCI-1), and the first UTO-UCI and the second UTO-UCI may be associated with different CG configurations.

[0114] If there are at least two configured CG configurations on the same cell, the first CG configuration (CG-3) is configured with UTO-UCI signaling and the second CG configuration (CG-4) is not configured with UTO-UCI signaling, in one example, the PUSCH transmission of the second CG configuration does not fulfill any UTO-UCI signaling with the first CG configuration. In another example, if the PUSCH transmission with the second CG configuration (CG-4) will overlap with all or any OFDM symbols contained in the TO indicated as "unused" by the UTO-UCI associated with the first CG configuration (CG-3), the PUSCH cannot be sent (for example, the MAC does not generate a MAC PDU for the PUSCH). In some examples, the UTO-UCI signaling generation for CG-3 takes into account the PUSCH transmission with CG-4: if one or more OFDM symbols of the PUSCH transmission with CG-3 will overlap with the PUSCH transmission with CG-4 (for which the UE MAC has already generated a MAC PDU), the TO is marked as "unused". In some examples, UTO-UCI signaling generation for CG-3 does not take into account PUSCH transmission with CG-4.

[0115] When the physical layer priority of PUSCH is supported by the UE and configured by the network, there may be two methods to handle the case where the physical layer priority and UTO signaling are configured simultaneously: UTO-UCI signaling generation and its use are limited to CG configurations of the same physical layer priority, and the above design options for the case without physical layer priority are applicable to handling CG configurations within the same physical layer priority. Across physical layer priorities, high priority channels may overwrite or cancel low priority channels as in conventional designs. However, as described herein, other options may also be considered.

[0116] Regarding physical layer priority, if there are at least two configured CG configurations on the same cell, at least one of them is configured with physical layer priority, and the configured CG configurations (if any) that are not configured with physical layer priority are assumed to be at low physical layer priority. In some examples, if a CG configuration (e.g., CG-5) has a lower physical layer priority and is configured with UTO-UCI signaling, and a CG configuration (e.g., CG-6) has a high physical layer priority, UTO-UCI signaling with CG-5 is not considered when generating PUSCH for CG-6 (e.g., MAC generates a MAC PDU for CG-6 without considering UTO-UCI signaling with CG-5). UTO-UCI signaling for CG-5 is not considered for PUSCH transmission with CG-6. In some examples, UTO-UCI signaling with CG-5 takes into account a PUSCH transmission with CG-6, and if one or more OFDM symbols of the PUSCH transmission with CG-5 will overlap with a PUSCH transmission with CG-6 (for which the UE MAC has already generated a MAC PDU), the TO is marked as "unused".

[0117] Regarding physical layer priority, if there are at least two configured CG configurations on the same cell, at least one of them is configured with physical layer priority, and the configured CG configuration (if any) that is not configured with physical layer priority is assumed to be at a low physical layer priority. In one behavior, if a CG configuration (CG-7) has a lower physical layer priority and is not configured with UTO-UCI signaling, and a CG configuration (CG-8) has a high physical layer priority and is configured with UTO-UCI signaling, the UTO-UCI signaling with CG-8 is not considered in the generation of PUSCH for CG-7 (MAC generates MAC PDU for CG-7 without considering UTO-UCI signaling with CG-8). In some examples, the latest UTO-UCI signaling with CG-8 is considered in the generation of PUSCH with CG-7: if a PUSCH transmission with CG-7 (PUSCH-7) will overlap with any OFDM symbol in TO indicated as "unused" by the latest UTO-UCI with CG-8 before PUSCH-7, PUSCH-7 is not sent (UE MAC does not generate MAC PDU for PUSCH-7).

[0118] Regarding physical layer priority, if there are at least two configured CG configurations on the same cell, at least one of them is configured with physical layer priority, and the configured CG configuration (if any) that is not configured with physical layer priority is assumed to be at a low physical layer priority. It is assumed that the CG configuration (e.g., CG-9) has a lower physical layer priority and is configured with UTO-UCI signaling, and the CG configuration (e.g., CG-10) has a high physical layer priority and is configured with UTO-UCI signaling. In some examples, the UTO-UCI signaling is decoupled from the physical layer priority, and the UTO-UCI signaling with CG-10 is not considered in the generation of the PUSCH of CG-9 (the MAC generates the MAC PDU of CG-9 without considering the UTO-UCI signaling with CG-10). In some examples, the latest UTO-UCI signaling with CG-10 is considered in the generation of PUSCH with CG-9: if a PUSCH transmission with CG-9 (PUSCH-9) will overlap with any OFDM symbol in TO indicated as "unused" by the latest UTO-UCI with CG-10 before PUSCH-9, PUSCH-9 is not sent (UE MAC does not generate MAC PDU for PUSCH-9).

[0119] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a HARQ process ID determination design (e.g., "new HARQ process ID determination") may include the following. To determine the HARQ process ID associated to a PUSCH in a multi-PUSCH CG, assuming one TB per PUSCH:

[0120] 1) When cg-RetransmissionTimer is not configured, the HARQ process ID of the first configured PUSCH in the cycle is determined based on the traditional CG process and the following formula is applied (whichever is applicable)

[0121] 1.1HARQ process ID = [X*floor((CURRENT_symbol) / periodicity)]modulnrofHARQ-process

[0122] 1.2HARQ process ID = [X*floor((CURRENT_symbol) / periodicity)]modulnrofHARQ-process+harq-ProcID-Offset2

[0123] 1.2X = Number of configured PUSCHs in the CG period

[0124] 2) Determine the HARQ process IDs of the remaining configured and valid CG PUSCHs in the cycle by incrementing the HARQ process ID of the previous PUSCH in the cycle by 1 using a module operation with nrofHARQProcesses or a module operation with (nrofHARQProcesses+harq-ProcID-Offset2), whichever is applicable.

[0125] 3) Note: If the CG PUSCH is dropped due to collision with the DL symbol indicated by tdd-UL-DLConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated or SSB, the configured CG PUSCH is invalid.

[0126] In some examples, a basic UE feature group may be defined to support multiple CG PUSCHs with new HARQ process ID determination in a single CG cycle of a CG configuration. In some examples, a prerequisite for this XR CG enhanced feature group may be a Type-1CG or Type-2CG as defined in {5-19} or {5-20} in 3GPP TR 38.822 v.17.1.0, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. The type of the feature may be per-band.

[0127] In some examples, the basic UE feature group is defined to support multiple CG PUSCHs determined with new HARQ process IDs in a single CG cycle of the CG configuration. In some examples, the prerequisite for this XR CG enhanced feature group may be {5-19} or {5-20} as in 3GPP TR 38.822v.17.1.0. In some examples, CG uplink skipping in {3-6} or {24-16} is also a prerequisite. In some examples, in order to be consistent with the restrictions imposed on the 3GPP Release 16 uplink skipping design, PUSCH repetition or lch-Based Prioritization may not be configured with this UE feature group. The type of this feature may be per-band. Multiple CG PUSCHs may be associated with more than one transport block.

[0128] In some examples, the UE feature group supports multiple CG PUSCHs in multiple CG periods as well as UTO-UCI multiplexing and UTO signaling. In some examples, the prerequisites for the XR CG enhanced feature group may be {5-19} or {5-20} as in 3GPP TR38.822v.17.1.0. Alternatively, in some examples, the basic UE feature group prerequisites may be used. Multiple CG PUSCHs may be associated with more than one transport block.

[0129] In some examples, the UE feature group supports multiple CGPUSCHs determined with traditional HARQ process IDs (which is equivalent to X=1 determined with new HARQ process IDs) in multiple CG cycles as well as UTO-UCI multiplexing and UTO signaling. In some examples, the prerequisites for the XR CG enhanced feature group may be {5-19} or {5-20} as in 3GPP TR 38.822v.17.1.0. Alternatively, in some examples, the basic UE feature group prerequisites may be used. In some examples, CG uplink skipping in {3-6} or {24-16} may also be a prerequisite. In some examples, in order to be consistent with the restrictions imposed on the Release 16 uplink skipping design, PUSCH repetition or lch-BasedPrioritization may not be configured with the UE feature group. Multiple CG PUSCHs may be associated with more than one transport block. The type of this feature may be band-based.

[0130] In some examples, the UE feature group supports multiple CGPUSCHs with new HARQ process ID determination in multiple CG cycles as well as UTO-UCI multiplexing and UTO signaling. In some examples, the prerequisites for this XR CG enhanced feature group may be {5-19} or {5-20}, as in TR 38.822v.17.1.0. Alternatively, in some examples, the basic UE feature group prerequisites may be used. In some examples, CG uplink skipping in {3-6} or {24-16} may also be used as a prerequisite. In some examples, in order to be consistent with the restrictions imposed on the 3GPP Release 16 uplink skipping design, PUSCH repetition or lch-Based Prioritization may not be configured with this UE feature group. Multiple CG PUSCHs may be associated with more than one transport block. The type of this feature may be per-band.

[0131] In some examples, the UE feature group supports multiple CG PUSCHs with new HARQ process ID determination in the CG period and UTO-UCI multiplexing and UTO signaling. In some examples, the prerequisites of the XR CG enhanced feature group can be {5-19} or {5-20}, as in TR 38.822 v.17.1.0. Alternatively, in some examples, the basic UE feature group prerequisites can be used. Multiple CG PUSCHs can be associated with more than one transport block.

[0132] In some examples, the UE feature group supports multiple CG PUSCHs determined with new HARQ process IDs in the CG period as well as UTO-UCI multiplexing and UTO signaling. In some examples, the prerequisites for this XR CG enhanced feature group may be {5-19} or {5-20}, as in TR 38.822v.17.1.0. Alternatively, in some examples, the basic UE feature group prerequisites may be used. In some examples, CG uplink skipping in {3-6} or {24-16} may also be a prerequisite. In some examples, in order to be consistent with the restrictions imposed on the 3GPP Release 16 uplink skipping design, PUSCH repetition or lch-Based Prioritization may not be configured with this UE feature group. Multiple CG PUSCHs may be associated with more than one transport block. The type of this feature may be per-band.

[0133] Fig.11 A flowchart of an example method 1100 according to some specific implementations is illustrated. For clarity of presentation, the following description generally describes the method 1100 in the context of other figures in this specification. For example, the method 1100 may be performed by Figure 1 UE 102. It should be understood that method 1100 can be performed by any suitable system, environment, software, hardware, or a combination of systems, environments, software, and hardware as appropriate. In some specific implementations, the steps of method 1100 can be executed in parallel, in combination, in a loop, or in any order.

[0134] The operations of the method 1100 include obtaining 1102 a first CG configuration of an UL carrier (e.g., a normal uplink carrier, NUL) and a second CG configuration of a SUL carrier, each of the first configuration and the second CG configuration including a plurality of transmission opportunities. At 1104, generating at least one UTO-UCI, the at least one UTO-UCI indicating which transmission opportunities of the plurality of transmission opportunities are not used by the UE for each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration. Sending 1106 the at least one UTO-UCI to an access node (e.g., transmitted using a CG PUSCH) to indicate to the access node which transmission opportunities of the plurality of transmission opportunities are not used by the UE for each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration.

[0135] In some examples, at least one UTO-UCI includes a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of a first CG configuration and a second UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of a second CG configuration, wherein the second UTO-UCI is independent of the first UTO-UCI. In some examples, method 1100 includes: generating a first UTO-UCI for a first CG configuration; using a first CG PUSCH transmission in the first CG configuration to send the first UTO-UCI to an access node to indicate to the access node which of the transmission opportunities are not used by the UE for the first CG configuration; generating a second UTO-UCI for a second CG configuration, wherein the second UTO-UCI is independent of the first UTO-UCI for the first CG configuration; and using a second CG PUSCH transmission in the second CG configuration to send the second UTO-UCI to the access node to indicate to the access node which of the transmission opportunities are not used by the UE for the second CG configuration.

[0136] In some examples, at least one UTO-UCI includes a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and the first UTO-UCI limits which transmission opportunities of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration can be used by the UE. In some examples, method 1100 includes: determining that a first transmission opportunity of one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration is not used by the UE; identifying a second transmission opportunity of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration that overlaps with the first transmission opportunity; determining that the second transmission opportunity of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration is not used by the UE; and generating at least one UTO-UCI based in part on determining that the first transmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity are not used by the UE.

[0137] In some examples, the first CG configuration at least partially overlaps with the second CG configuration. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol level. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing at least one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at the time slot level of the UL carrier or the time slot level of the SUL carrier. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at the time slot level of the UL carrier or the SUL carrier associated with the minimum subcarrier spacing. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on the union of the OFDM symbol sets. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and the superset is applied only to one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on at least one of network configuration, specification design, or UE capabilities.

[0138] Fig.12 A flowchart of an example method 1200 according to some specific implementations is illustrated. For clarity of presentation, the following description generally describes the method 1200 in the context of other figures in this specification. For example, the method 1200 may be performed by Figure 1 The method 1200 may be performed by any suitable system, environment, software, hardware, or a combination of systems, environments, software, and hardware. In some implementations, the steps of the method 1200 may be performed in parallel, in combination, in a loop, or in any order.

[0139] The operations of process 1200 include sending 1202 a first CG configuration of an UL carrier (e.g., a NUL carrier) and a second CG configuration of a SUL carrier to a UE, each of the first configuration and the second CG configuration including a plurality of transmit opportunities. At 1204, at least one UTO-UCI is received from the UE, the at least one UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmit opportunities. Based on the at least one UTO-UCI, it is determined which of the plurality of transmit opportunities are not used by the UE for each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration.

[0140] In some examples, at least one UTO-UCI includes a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of a first CG configuration and a second UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of a second CG configuration, the second UTO-UCI being independent of the first UTO-UCI. In some examples, method 1200 includes: receiving a first CG PUSCH transmission in a first CG configuration from a UE, the first CG PUSCH transmission including the first UTO-UCI of the first CG configuration; determining, based on the first UTO-UCI, which of the transmission opportunities are unused by the UE for the first CG configuration; receiving a second CG PUSCH transmission in a second CG configuration from the UE, the second CG PUSCH transmission including the second UTO-UCI independent of the first UTO-UCI; and determining, based on the second UTO-UCI, which of the transmission opportunities are unused by the UE for the second CG configuration.

[0141] In some examples, at least one UTO-UCI includes a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and the first UTO-UCI limits which of the transmission opportunities of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration can be used by the UE.

[0142] In some examples, the first CG configuration at least partially overlaps with the second CG configuration. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at the OFDM symbol level. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing at least one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at the time slot level of the UL carrier or the time slot level of the SUL carrier. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at the time slot level of the UL carrier or the SUL carrier associated with the minimum subcarrier spacing. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on the union of the OFDM symbol sets. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and the superset is applied only to one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration. In some examples, the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on at least one of a configuration signal sent by the access node to the UE, a specification design, or a capability of the UE.

[0143] Fig.13An example UE 1300 according to some implementations is illustrated. The UE 1300 may be similar to Figure 1 UE 102 and is substantially interchangeable therewith.

[0144] UE 1300 may be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as, for example, a mobile phone, a computer, a tablet, a wearable device (eg, a smart watch), a slack IoT device.

[0145] UE 1300 may include a processor 1302, RF interface circuitry 1304, memory / storage 1306, a user interface 1308, a sensor 1310, a driver circuit 1312, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 1314, one or more antennas 1316, and a battery 1318. The components of UE 1300 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), a portion of an integrated circuit, a discrete electronic device or other module, logical component, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. Fig.13 The block diagram of UE 1300 is intended to show a high-level view of certain of the components of UE 1300. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0146] Components of UE 1300 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 1320, which may represent any type of interface, input / output, bus (local, system, or extension), transmission line, trace, optical connection, etc., which allows various circuit components (on a common or different chip or chipset) to interact with each other.

[0147] The processor 1302 may include one or more processors. For example, the processor 1302 may include processor circuits such as, for example, a baseband processor circuit (BB) 1322A, a central processor unit circuit (CPU) 1322B, and a graphics processor unit circuit (GPU) 1322C. The processor 1302 may include any type of circuit or processor circuit that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions (such as program codes, software modules, or functional processes from the memory / storage device 1306) to cause the UE 1300 to perform operations as described herein.

[0148] In some implementations, the baseband processor circuit 1322A may access a communication protocol stack 1324 in the memory / storage device 1306 to communicate over a 3GPP compatible network. Generally speaking, the baseband processor circuit 1322A may access the communication protocol stack to: perform user plane functions at the physical (PHY) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, the radio link control (RLC) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, and the PDU layer; and perform control plane functions at the PHY layer, the MAC layer, the RLC layer, the PDCP layer, the RRC layer, and the non-access layer. In some implementations, the PHY layer operations may be additionally / alternatively performed by components of the RF interface circuit 1304. The baseband processor circuit 1322A may generate or process a baseband signal or waveform that carries information in a 3GPP compatible network. In some implementations, the waveform used for NR can be based on cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) "CP-OFDM" in uplink or downlink, and discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM "DFT-S-OFDM" in uplink.

[0149] The memory / storage 1306 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions (e.g., the communication protocol stack 1324) that may be executed by the processor 1302 to cause the UE 1300 to perform various operations described herein. The memory / storage 1306 includes any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that may be distributed throughout the UE 1300. In some implementations, some of the memory / storage 1306 may be located on the processor 1302 itself (e.g., L1 cache and L2 cache), while other memory / storage 1306 is located external to the processor 1302 but accessible via a memory interface. The memory / storage 1306 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state memory, or any other type of memory device technology.

[0150] The RF interface circuit 1304 may include a transceiver circuit and a radio frequency front end module (RFEM) that allows the UE 1300 to communicate with other devices through a radio access network. The RF interface circuit 1304 may include various components arranged in a transmit or receive path. These components may include, for example, switches, mixers, amplifiers, filters, synthesizer circuits, control circuits, etc.

[0151] In the receive path, the RFEM may receive the radiated signal from the air interface via antenna 1316 and proceed to filter and amplify the signal (using a low noise amplifier). The signal may be provided to the transceiver's receiver, which downconverts the RF signal to a baseband signal that is provided to the baseband processor.

[0152] In the transmit path, the transmitter of the transceiver up-converts the baseband signal received from the baseband processor and provides the RF signal to the RFEM. The RFEM may amplify the RF signal through a power amplifier before the signal is radiated across the air interface via the antenna 1316. In various specific implementations, the RF interface circuit 1304 may be configured to send / receive signals in a manner compatible with the NR access technology.

[0153] Antenna 1316 may include one or more antenna elements to convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and convert received radio waves into electrical signals. These antenna elements may be arranged into one or more antenna panels. Antenna 1316 may have an antenna panel that is omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof to achieve beamforming and multiple-input, multiple-output communications. Antenna 1316 may include a microstrip antenna, a printed antenna manufactured on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards, a patch antenna, a phased array antenna, etc. Antenna 1316 may have one or more panels that are designed for a specific frequency band including a frequency band in FR1 or FR2.

[0154] The user interface 1308 includes various input / output (I / O) devices designed to enable a user to interact with the UE 1300. The user interface 1308 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual components for accepting input, including in particular one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., reset button), physical keyboard, keypad, mouse, touch pad, touch screen, microphone, scanner, headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual components for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuit may include any number or combination of audio or visual displays, including in particular one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary state indicators (such as light emitting diodes "LEDs") and multi-character visual outputs) or more complex outputs (such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays "LCDs", LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.)), where the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. is generated or produced by the operation of the UE 1300.

[0155] Sensors 1310 may include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to detect events or changes in their environment and to communicate information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, or magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system or nanoelectromechanical system, including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, or a magnetometer; a liquid level sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.); a depth sensor; an ambient light sensor; an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; and the like.

[0156] The driver circuit 1312 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the UE 1300. The driver circuit 1312 may include various drivers to allow other components to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the UE 1300. For example, the driver circuit 1312 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor 1310 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor 1310, a driver for obtaining an actuator position of an electromechanical component or controlling and allowing access to an electromechanical component, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0157] The PMIC 1314 may manage the power provided to various components of the UE 1300. Specifically, with respect to the processor 1302, the PMIC 1314 may control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion.

[0158] In some implementations, the PMIC 1314 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the UE 1300. The battery 1318 may power the UE 1300, but in some examples, the UE 1300 may be mounted to be deployed in a fixed location and may have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 1318 may be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, the battery 1318 may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

[0159] Fig.14An access node 1400 (e.g., a base station or gNB) is illustrated according to some implementations. The access node 1400 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with the base station 104. The access node 1400 may include a processor 1402, an RF interface circuit 1404, a core network (CN) interface circuit 1406, a memory / storage circuit 1408, and one or more antennas 1410. The processor 1402 may include any type of circuit or processor circuitry that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, or functional processes from the memory / storage circuit 1408) to cause the access node 1400 to perform operations as described herein.

[0160] The components of access node 1400 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 1412. Processor 1402, RF interface circuitry 1404, memory / storage circuitry 1408 (including communication protocol stack 1414), antenna 1410, and interconnects 1412 may be similar to those described with respect to Fig.13 Like-named elements are shown and described.For example, processor 1402 may include processor circuits such as, for example, baseband processor circuit (BB) 1416A, central processor unit circuit (CPU) 1416B, and graphics processor unit circuit (GPU) 1416C.

[0161] The CN interface circuit 1406 may provide connectivity to a core network (e.g., a 5GC using a 5th Generation Core Network (5GC) compatible network interface protocol such as a Carrier Ethernet protocol or some other suitable protocol). Network connectivity may be provided to / from the access node 1400 via optical fiber or wireless backhaul. The CN interface circuit 1406 may include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the CN interface circuit 1406 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0162] As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may be described as equipment that provides radio baseband functionality for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP or TRP, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN node", etc. may refer to an access node 1400 (e.g., a gNB) operating in an NR or 5G system, and the terms "E-UTRAN node", etc. may refer to an access node 1400 (e.g., an eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system. According to various specific implementations, the access node 1400 may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing a femtocell, picocell or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0163] In some implementations, all or part of the access node 1400 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In a V2X scenario, the access node 1400 may be or act as a "road side unit". The term "road side unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationed (or relatively stationed) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU", and so on.

[0164] For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to". The statement that a component is configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. §112(f) interpretation of that component.

[0165] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following examples. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples shown in the example section below.

[0166] Example

[0167] In the following sections, additional exemplary embodiments are provided.

[0168] Embodiment 1 includes one or more processors, which are configured to perform operations when executing instructions stored in a memory, the operations including: obtaining a first CG configuration of a UL carrier and a second CG configuration of a SUL carrier, each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration including multiple transmission opportunities; generating at least one UTO-UCI, the at least one UTO-UCI indicating which of the multiple transmission opportunities are not used by the UE for each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration; and instructing the RF circuit to send the at least one UTO-UCI to an access node.

[0169] Embodiment 2 is one or more processors according to embodiment 1, wherein the at least one UTO-UCI includes a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of the first CG configuration and a second UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of the second CG configuration, and the second UTO-UCI is independent of the first UTO-UCI.

[0170] Embodiment 3 is one or more processors according to embodiment 1 or 2, and the operation also includes: generating a first UTO-UCI for the first CG configuration; instructing the RF circuit to use the first CG PUSCH in the first CG configuration to send the first UTO-UCI to the access node to indicate to the access node which of the transmission opportunities for the first CG configuration are not used by the UE; generating a second UTO-UCI for the second CG configuration, wherein the second UTO-UCI is independent of the first UTO-UCI for the first CG configuration; and instructing the RF circuit to use the second CG PUSCH in the second CG configuration to send the second UTO-UCI to the access node to indicate to the access node which of the transmission opportunities for the second CG configuration are not used by the UE.

[0171] Embodiment 4 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 1 to 3, wherein the at least one UTO-UCI includes a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and the first UTO-UCI limits which of the transmission opportunities of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration can be used by the UE.

[0172] Embodiment 5 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 1 to 4, and the operation also includes: determining that a first transmission opportunity of one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration is not used by the UE; identifying a second transmission opportunity of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration that overlaps with the first transmission opportunity; determining that the second transmission opportunity of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration is not used by the UE; and generating the at least one UTO-UCI based in part on the determination that the first transmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity are not used by the UE.

[0173] Embodiment 6 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein the first CG configuration at least partially overlaps with the second CG configuration.

[0174] Embodiment 7 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol level.

[0175] Embodiment 8 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing at least one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration.

[0176] Embodiment 9 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at the time slot level of the UL carrier or the time slot level of the SUL carrier.

[0177] Embodiment 10 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 1 to 9, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at a time slot level of the UL carrier or the SUL carrier associated with a minimum subcarrier spacing.

[0178] Embodiment 11 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a union of OFDM symbol sets.

[0179] Embodiment 12 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 1 to 11, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and the superset is applied only to one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration.

[0180] Embodiment 13 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 1 to 12, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on at least one of a network configuration, a specification design, or a capability of the UE.

[0181] Embodiment 14 includes one or more processors configured to perform operations when executing instructions stored in a memory, the operations comprising: instructing an RF circuit to send a first CG configuration of a UL carrier and a second CG configuration of a SUL carrier to a UE, each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration including multiple transmission opportunities; receiving at least one UTO-UCI from the UE, the at least one UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities; and determining, based on the at least one UTO-UCI, which of the multiple transmission opportunities are not used by the UE for each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration.

[0182] Embodiment 15 is one or more processors according to embodiment 14, wherein the at least one UTO-UCI includes a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of the first CG configuration and a second UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of the second CG configuration, and the second UTO-UCI is independent of the first UTO-UCI.

[0183] Embodiment 16 is one or more processors according to embodiment 14 or 15, and the operation also includes: receiving a first CG PUSCH transmission in the first CG configuration from the UE, the first CG PUSCH transmission including a first UTO-UCI of the first CG configuration; determining, based on the first UTO-UCI, which of the transmission opportunities for the first CG configuration are not used by the UE; receiving a second CG PUSCH transmission in the second CG configuration from the UE, the second CG PUSCH transmission including a second UTO-UCI independent of the first UTO-UCI; and determining, based on the second UTO-UCI, which of the transmission opportunities for the second CG configuration are not used by the UE.

[0184] Embodiment 17 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 14 to 16, wherein the at least one UTO-UCI includes a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and the first UTO-UCI limits which of the transmission opportunities of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration can be used by the UE.

[0185] Embodiment 18 is one or more processors according to any one of Embodiments 14 to 17, wherein the first CG configuration at least partially overlaps with the second CG configuration.

[0186] Embodiment 19 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 14 to 18, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at an OFDM symbol level.

[0187] Embodiment 20 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 14 to 19, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing at least one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration.

[0188] Embodiment 21 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 14 to 20, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at the time slot level of the UL carrier or the time slot level of the SUL carrier.

[0189] Embodiment 22 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 14 to 21, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at a time slot level of the UL carrier or the SUL carrier associated with a minimum subcarrier spacing.

[0190] Embodiment 23 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 14 to 22, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a union of OFDM symbol sets.

[0191] Embodiment 24 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 14 to 23, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and the superset is applied only to one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration.

[0192] Embodiment 25 is one or more processors according to any one of embodiments 14 to 24, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on at least one of a configuration signal sent by the access node to the UE, a specification design, or a capability of the UE.

[0193] Embodiment 26 includes one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform operations described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 25 or one or more elements of any other operations, methods, or processes described herein.

[0194] Embodiment 27 includes a device comprising logic components, modules or circuits for performing one or more elements of operations described or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 25 or any other operations, methods or processes described herein.

[0195] Embodiment 28 includes a method, technique or process or a portion or part thereof according to or related to any one of embodiments 1 to 25.

[0196] Embodiment 29 includes a device comprising one or more processors or parts thereof as described or related to any one of embodiments 1 to 25.

[0197] Embodiment 30 comprises a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0198] Embodiment 31 includes a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. The operations or actions performed by the system may include operations according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 25.

[0199] Embodiment 32 includes an apparatus for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. The operations or actions performed by the apparatus may include operations according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 25.

[0200] The previously described embodiments 1 to 25 can be implemented using a computer-implemented method; a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions to perform the computer-implemented method; and a computer system comprising a computer memory operably coupled to a hardware processor configured to execute the computer-implemented method or instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium.

[0201] A system (e.g., a base station, a device including one or more baseband processors, etc.) may be configured to perform specific operations or the actions by virtue of having software, firmware, hardware, or a combination thereof installed on the system that causes the system to perform the actions in operation.

[0202] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. In view of the above teachings, modifications and variations are possible or can be obtained from the practice of various embodiments.

[0203] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to include all such variations and modifications.

[0204] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

Claims

1. One or more processors configured to, when executing instructions stored in a memory, perform operations comprising: Obtaining a first configuration grant (CG) configuration of an uplink (UL) carrier and a second CG configuration of a supplemental uplink (SUL) carrier, each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration comprising a plurality of transmission opportunities; generating at least one unused transmit opportunity uplink control information (UTO-UCI), the at least one UTO-UCI indicating which transmit opportunities of the plurality of transmit opportunities are not used by a user equipment (UE) for each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration; and A radio frequency (RF) circuit is instructed to send the at least one UTO-UCI to an access node.

2. The one or more processors of claim 1 , wherein the at least one UTO-UCI comprises a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmit opportunities of the first CG configuration and a second UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmit opportunities of the second CG configuration, wherein the second UTO-UCI is independent of the first UTO-UCI.

3. The one or more processors of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform operations, the operations further comprising: Generate a first UTO-UCI of the first CG configuration; instructing the RF circuit to send the first UTO-UCI to the access node using a first CG PUSCH transmission in the first CG configuration to indicate to the access node which of the transmission opportunities are not used by the UE for the first CG configuration; generating a second UTO-UCI for the second CG configuration, wherein the second UTO-UCI is independent of the first UTO-UCI for the first CG configuration; and Instruct the RF circuit to use the second CG PUSCH in the second CG configuration to send the second UTO-UCI to the access node to indicate to the access node which of the transmission opportunities are not used by the UE for the second CG configuration.

4. The one or more processors of claim 1 , wherein the at least one UTO-UCI comprises a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmission opportunities of one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and wherein the first UTO-UCI limits which of the transmission opportunities of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration can be used by the UE.

5. The one or more processors of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform operations, the operations further comprising: Determining that a first transmission opportunity of one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration is not used by the UE; Identify a second transmission opportunity of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration that overlaps with the first transmission opportunity; determining that the second transmission opportunity of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration is not used by the UE; and The at least one UTO-UCI is generated based in part on determining that the first transmit opportunity and the second transmit opportunity are not used by the UE.

6. One or more processors according to claim 1, wherein the first CG configuration at least partially overlaps with the second CG configuration.

7. One or more processors according to claim 1, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol level.

8. One or more processors according to claim 1, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing at least one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration.

9. One or more processors according to claim 1, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at a time slot level of the UL carrier or a time slot level of the SUL carrier.

10. One or more processors according to claim 1, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined at a time slot level of the UL carrier or the SUL carrier associated with a minimum subcarrier spacing.

11. One or more processors according to claim 1, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a union of OFDM symbol sets.

12. One or more processors according to claim 1, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and wherein the superset is applied only to one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration.

13. One or more processors according to claim 1, wherein the overlap between the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration is determined based on at least one of a network configuration, a specification design, or a capability of the UE.

14. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: one or more processors; and A memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the UE to perform operations according to any one of claims 1-13.

15. One or more processors configured to, when executing instructions stored in a memory, perform operations comprising: Instructing a radio frequency (RF) circuit to transmit a first configuration grant (CG) configuration of an uplink (UL) carrier and a second CG configuration of a supplemental uplink (SUL) carrier to a user equipment (UE), each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration comprising a plurality of transmission opportunities; receiving at least one unused transmit opportunity uplink control information (UTO-UCI), the at least one UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmit opportunities; as well as Based on the at least one UTO-UCI, determine which of the multiple transmission opportunities are not used by the UE for each of the first CG configuration and the second CG configuration.

16. The one or more processors of claim 15, wherein the at least one UTO-UCI comprises a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmit opportunities of the first CG configuration and a second UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmit opportunities of the second CG configuration, wherein the second UTO-UCI is independent of the first UTO-UCI.

17. The one or more processors of claim 15, the one or more processors being configured to perform operations further comprising: receiving a first CG PUSCH transmission in the first CG configuration, the first CGPUSCH transmission including a first UTO-UCI of the first CG configuration; determining, based on the first UTO-UCI, for the first CG configuration, which of the transmission opportunities are not used by the UE; receiving, from the UE, a second CG PUSCH transmission in the second CG configuration, the second CG PUSCH transmission comprising a second UTO-UCI independent of the first UTO-UCI; and Based on the second UTO-UCI, determine which of the transmission opportunities are not used by the UE for the second CG configuration.

18. The one or more processors of claim 15, wherein the at least one UTO-UCI comprises a first UTO-UCI indicating one or more unused transmit opportunities of one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration, and wherein the first UTO-UCI limits which of the transmit opportunities of the other of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration can be used by the UE.

19. The one or more processors of claim 15, wherein the first CG configuration at least partially overlaps with the second CG configuration, and wherein the overlap: is determined at the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol level; is determined at a time slot level of the UL carrier or a time slot level of the SUL carrier; is determined based on the union of OFDM symbol sets; or It is determined based on a superset of transmission opportunities containing at least one of the first CG configuration or the second CG configuration.

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