Early acknowledgement feedback

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), the method generally including: receiving, from a network entity, signaling that schedules a plurality of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetitions for the UE; successfully decoding one of the PDSCH repetitions, which is transmitted prior to the remaining one or more of the PDSCH repetitions, from among the plurality of PDSCH repetitions; and transmitting an advanced acknowledgement feedback indicating successful decoding to the network entity, wherein the advanced acknowledgement feedback is transmitted prior to transmitting at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. patent application serial number 17 / 857,724 filed on July 5, 2022, which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application. Background Art Technical Field

[0003] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications and, more particularly, to techniques for providing early confirmation feedback.

[0004] Related technical description

[0005] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts or other similar types of services. These wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available wireless communication system resources with the multiple users.

[0006] Although wireless communication systems have made tremendous technical progress over the years, challenges still exist. For example, complex and dynamic environments can still attenuate or block signals between wireless transmitters and wireless receivers. Therefore, there is a continuous desire to improve the technical performance of wireless communication systems, including, for example: improving the speed and data carrying capacity of communications, improving the efficiency of using shared communication media, reducing the power used by transmitters and receivers when performing communications, improving the reliability of wireless communications, avoiding redundant transmission and / or reception and related processing, improving the coverage area of ​​wireless communications, increasing the number and types of devices that can access wireless communication systems, increasing the ability of different types of devices to communicate with each other, increasing the number and types of wireless communication media available for use, etc. Therefore, there is a need to further improve wireless communication systems to overcome the above-mentioned technical challenges and other challenges. Summary of the invention

[0007] One aspect provides a method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE). The method includes: receiving signaling from a network entity to schedule multiple physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetitions for the UE; successfully decoding one of the PDSCH repetitions sent before the remaining one or more PDSCH repetitions in the PDSCH repetitions; and sending early confirmation feedback indicating successful decoding to the network entity, wherein the early confirmation feedback is sent before sending at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions.

[0008] Another aspect provides a method for wireless communication by a network entity. The method includes: sending signaling scheduling multiple PDSCH repetitions for a UE; sending at least some of the PDSCH repetitions; and receiving early confirmation feedback indicating successful decoding of one of the PDSCH repetitions, wherein the early confirmation feedback is received before sending at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions.

[0009] Other aspects provide: an apparatus operable to, configured to, or otherwise adapted to perform any one or more of the foregoing methods and / or those described elsewhere herein; a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the foregoing methods and those described elsewhere herein; a computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium comprising code for performing the foregoing methods and those described elsewhere herein; and / or an apparatus comprising components for performing the foregoing methods and those described elsewhere herein. By way of example, an apparatus may include a processing system, a device having a processing system, or a processing system cooperating through one or more networks.

[0010] For purposes of illustration, the following description and drawings set forth certain features. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] The accompanying drawings depict certain features of the various aspects described herein and should not be considered to limit the scope of the disclosure.

[0012] Figure 1 An example wireless communication network is depicted.

[0013] Figure 2 An example disaggregated base station architecture is depicted.

[0014] Figure 3 Aspects of an example base station and example user equipment are depicted.

[0015] Figure 4A , Figure 4B , Figure 4C and Figure 4D Various example aspects of data structures for a wireless communication network are described.

[0016] Figure 5A and Figure 5B Depicted are tables and graphs illustrating examples of relative transmit and receive power.

[0017] Fig. 6A and Figure 6B Depicted is a sample timeline for confirming feedback.

[0018] Figure 7 Depicted is a call flow diagram illustrating techniques for providing early confirmation feedback in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 8 Depicted is an example timeline for early confirmation feedback in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0020] Fig. 9 Depicted is an example timeline for early confirmation feedback in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Fig.10 Depicted is an example timeline for early confirmation feedback in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] Fig.11 Depicted is an example timeline for early confirmation feedback for falling back to a legacy confirmation feedback mechanism in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] Fig.12 A method for wireless communication is described.

[0024] Fig.13 A method for wireless communication is described.

[0025] Fig.14 Aspects of an example communications device are depicted.

[0026] Fig.15 Aspects of an example communications device are depicted. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for providing a signaling mechanism for early acknowledgment feedback.

[0028] Reducing energy (power) consumption at user equipment (UE) is important for increasing battery life and improving user experience. Reducing network energy consumption is also important for cost and environmental reasons. Network energy saving features may be important for the adoption and expansion of cellular networks because network energy consumption may have a relatively high cost. For example, more than 20% of the total cost of running a cellular network may be due to high-cost network energy consumption. Most of the network energy consumption (e.g., about 50% in 5G) comes from the actual radio frequency (RF) processing performed in the radio access network (RAN). The cost of energy consumption may only rise with systems that adopt advanced technologies, such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems that adopt a large number of antennas.

[0029] One potential source of increased energy consumption is the use of repeated transmissions, which are intended to improve reliability by increasing the likelihood of successful reception. For example, in some systems (e.g., 5G NR), a user equipment (UE) may be configured with N physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetitions. In conventional systems, the UE may provide feedback confirming successful reception of the PDSCH after the last configured PDSCH repetition ends.

[0030] One potential disadvantage of this design is that it may be detrimental to network power consumption. For example, even if the UE is able to successfully decode the content after receiving only some PDSCH repetitions, the network typically sends all configured repetitions (because feedback typically arrives only after the last repetition). This is very costly in terms of network power consumption, especially considering that transmit power is much higher than receive power from a network power consumption perspective.

[0031] However, various aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques that can enable a UE to provide an early indication of an acknowledgement (ACK) feedback as soon as a PDSCH is successfully decoded, thereby allowing the network to terminate PDSCH transmission and save power. Therefore, by providing this early ACK feedback, the UE can help significantly reduce network energy consumption by giving up sending at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions.

[0032] Introduction to wireless communication networks

[0033] The techniques and methods described herein can be used in various wireless communication networks. Although various aspects may be described herein using terms commonly associated with 3G, 4G and / or 5G wireless technologies, various aspects of the present disclosure may also be applicable to other communication systems and standards not explicitly mentioned herein.

[0034] Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication network 100 is depicted in which various aspects described herein may be implemented.

[0035] In general, the wireless communication network 100 includes various network entities (alternatively, network elements or network nodes). A network entity is typically a communication device and / or a communication function performed by a communication device (e.g., user equipment (UE), base station (BS), component of a BS, server, etc.). For example, various functions of a network and various devices associated with and interacting with the network may be considered network entities. In addition, the wireless communication network 100 includes ground aspects, such as ground-based network entities (e.g., BS 102), and non-ground aspects, such as satellites 140 and aircraft 145, which may include airborne network entities (e.g., one or more BSs) capable of communicating with other network elements (e.g., ground BSs) and user equipment.

[0036] In the depicted example, the wireless communication network 100 includes a BS 102, a UE 104, and one or more core networks (such as an evolved packet core (EPC) 160 and a 5G core (5GC) network 190) that interoperate to provide communication services over various communication links (including wired and wireless links).

[0037] Figure 1 Various example UEs 104 are depicted, which may more generally include: a cellular phone, a smart phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player, a camera, a game console, a tablet computer, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor / actuator, a display, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Always-On (AON) device, an edge processing device, or other similar devices. UE 104 may also be more generally referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a remote device, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, and others.

[0038] BS 102 wirelessly communicates with (e.g., transmits signals to or receives signals from) UE 104 via communication link 120. Communication link 120 between BS 102 and UE 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as a reverse link) transmissions from UE 104 to BS 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmissions from BS 102 to UE 104. In various aspects, communication link 120 may use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity.

[0039] BS 102 may generally include: NodeB, enhanced NodeB (eNB), next generation enhanced NodeB (ng-eNB), next generation NodeB (gNB or gNodeB), access point, base transceiver station, radio base station, radio transceiver, transceiver function, transmission and reception point, and / or other. Each of BS 102 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110, which may sometimes be referred to as a cell, and may overlap in some cases (e.g., a small cell 102' may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of a macro cell). For example, a BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell (covering a relatively large geographic area), a pico cell (covering a relatively small geographic area, such as a stadium), a femto cell (relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home)), and / or other types of cells.

[0040] Although BS102 is depicted as a single communication device in various aspects, BS102 can be implemented in various configurations. For example, one or more components of the base station may be decomposed, including a central unit (CU), one or more distributed units (DU), one or more radio units (RU), a near real-time (near RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC, to name a few examples. In another example, various aspects of the base station may be virtualized. More generally, a base station (e.g., BS102) may include components located at a single physical location or components located at various physical locations. In an example in which the base station includes components located at various physical locations, the various components may each perform a function so that the various components together implement functionality similar to that of a base station located at a single physical location. In some aspects, a base station including components located at various physical locations may be referred to as a decomposed radio access network architecture (such as an open RAN (O-RAN) or virtualized RAN (VRAN) architecture). Figure 2 An example decomposed base station architecture is depicted and described.

[0041] Different BSs 102 within the wireless communication network 100 may also be configured to support different radio access technologies (such as 3G, 4G, and / or 5G). For example, a BS 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as the Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with the EPC 160 via a first backhaul link 132 (e.g., an S1 interface). A BS 102 configured for 5G (e.g., 5G NR or Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) may interface with the 5GC 190 via a second backhaul link 184. The BSs 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via the EPC 160 or the 5GC 190) over a third backhaul link 134 (e.g., an X2 interface), which may be wired or wireless.

[0042] The wireless communication network 100 may subdivide the electromagnetic spectrum into various categories, frequency bands, channels, or other characteristics. In some aspects, the subdivision is provided based on wavelength and frequency, where frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, subcarrier, channel, tone, or subband. For example, 3GPP currently defines frequency range 1 (FR1) as including 410 MHz to 7125 MHz, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as "below 6 GHz". Similarly, 3GPP currently defines frequency range 2 (FR2) as including 24,250 MHz-52,600 MHz, which is sometimes (interchangeably) referred to as "millimeter wave" ("mmW" or "mmWave"). A base station (e.g., a mmWave base station such as BS180) configured to communicate using mmWave / near mmWave radio bands may utilize beamforming (e.g., 182) with a UE (e.g., 104) to improve path loss and range.

[0043] The communication link 120 between the BS 102 and, for example, the UE 104 may be through one or more carriers, which may have different bandwidths (e.g., 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, 20 MHz, 100 MHz, 400 MHz, and / or other MHz) and may be aggregated in various aspects. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL ​​compared to UL).

[0044] Communications using higher frequency bands may have higher path loss and shorter range than communications at lower frequencies. Therefore, some base stations (e.g. Figure 1 180) can utilize beamforming 182 with UE 104 to improve path loss and distance. For example, BS 180 and UE 104 can each include multiple antennas (such as antenna elements, antenna panels and / or antenna arrays) to facilitate beamforming. In some cases, BS 180 can send beamformed signals to UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 182'. UE 104 can receive beamformed signals from BS 180 in one or more receive directions 182". UE 104 can also send beamformed signals to BS 180 in one or more transmit directions 182". BS 180 can also receive beamformed signals from UE 104 in one or more receive directions 182'. BS 180 and UE 104 can then perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for each of BS 180 and UE 104. It is worth noting that the transmit direction and receive direction of BS 180 can be the same or different. Similarly, the transmit direction and receive direction of UE 104 may be the same or different.

[0045] Wireless communication network 100 also includes Wi-Fi AP 150 that communicates with Wi-Fi station (STA) 152 via communication link 154 in, for example, the 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum.

[0046] Certain UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), and / or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH).

[0047] The EPC 160 may include various functional components, including: a mobility management entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a serving gateway 166, a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) gateway 168, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) 170, and / or a packet data network (PDN) gateway 172, such as in the depicted example. The MME 162 may communicate with a home subscriber server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the EPC 160. Typically, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management.

[0048] Typically, user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are transported through the Serving Gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN Gateway 172. The PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. The PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to IP services 176, which may include, for example, the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a packet switched (PS) streaming service, and / or other IP services.

[0049] The BM-SC 170 may provide functionality for MBMS user service configuration and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS delivery, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services within a public land mobile network (PLMN), and / or may be used to schedule MBMS delivery. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS services to BSs 102 belonging to a multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a specific service, and / or may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.

[0050] 5GC 190 may include various functional components, including: access and mobility management function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, session management function (SMF) 194, and user plane function (UPF) 195. AMF 192 may communicate with unified data management (UDM) 196.

[0051] AMF 192 is a control node that handles signaling between UE 104 and 5GC 190. AMF 192 provides, for example, Quality of Service (QoS) flow and session management.

[0052] Internet Protocol (IP) packets are delivered through UPF 195, which is connected to IP Services 197 and provides IP address allocation for UEs and other functions for 5GC 190. IP Services 197 may include, for example, the Internet, Intranet, IMS, PS streaming services, and / or other IP services.

[0053] In various aspects, a network entity or network node may be implemented as a converged base station, a decomposed base station, a component of a base station, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a relay node, a sidelink node, to name a few examples.

[0054] Figure 2 An example disaggregated base station 200 architecture is depicted. The disaggregated base station 200 architecture may include one or more central units (CUs) 210 that may communicate directly with a core network 220 via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 220 through one or more disaggregated base station units, such as a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 225 via an E2 link, or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 215 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 205, or both. The CU 210 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 230 via respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DU 230 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 240 via respective fronthaul links. The RU 240 may communicate with respective UEs 104 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, a UE 104 may be served simultaneously by multiple RUs 240.

[0055] Each of the units (e.g., CU 210, DU 230, RU 240, and near-RT RIC 225, non-RT RIC 215, and SMO framework 205) may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or send signals, data, or information (collectively referred to as signals) via a wired transmission medium or a wireless transmission medium. Each of the units or an associated processor or controller that provides instructions to the communication interface of the unit may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via a transmission medium. For example, the units may include a wired interface configured to receive or send signals to one or more of the other units via a wired transmission medium. Additionally or alternatively, the unit may include a wireless interface that may include a receiver, a transmitter, or a transceiver (such as a radio frequency (RF) transceiver) configured to receive or send signals or receive and send signals to one or more of the other units on a wireless transmission medium.

[0056] In some aspects, the CU 210 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by the CU 210. The CU 210 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (e.g., central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (e.g., central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some specific implementations, the CU 210 may be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP unit may communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface (such as an E1 interface). As needed, the CU 210 may be implemented to communicate with the DU 230 for network control and signaling.

[0057] DU 230 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 240. In some aspects, DU 230 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, etc.) depending at least in part on functional splits such as those defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In some aspects, DU 230 may also host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by DU 230 or with control functions hosted by CU 210.

[0058] The lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 240. In some deployments, the RU 240 controlled by the DU 230 may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions or low PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc.), or both, based at least in part on functional splitting (such as lower layer functional splitting). In such an architecture, the RU 240 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 104. In some specific implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control plane and user plane communications with the RU 240 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 230. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the DU 230 and CU 210 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture (such as a vRAN architecture).

[0059] The SMO framework 205 may be configured to support RAN deployment and configuration of non-virtualized network elements and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 205 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, which may be managed via an operation and maintenance interface (such as an O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 205 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 290) to perform network element lifecycle management (such as instantiating virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements may include, but are not limited to, CU 210, DU 230, RU 240, and near-RT RIC 225. In some specific implementations, the SMO framework 205 may communicate with hardware aspects of the 4G RAN (such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 211) via the O1 interface. Additionally, in some specific implementations, the SMO framework 205 may communicate directly with one or more RUs 240 via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 205 may also include a non-RT RIC 215 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 205 .

[0060] The non-RT RIC 215 may be configured to include logic functions that enable non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updating, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the near-RT RIC 225. The non-RT RIC 215 may be coupled to or in communication with the near-RT RIC 225 (such as via an A1 interface). The near-RT RIC 225 may be configured to include logic functions that enable near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions through an interface (such as via an E2 interface) that connects one or more CUs 210, one or more DUs 230, or both, and the O-eNB with the near-RT RIC 225.

[0061] In some implementations, in order to generate an AI / ML model to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 225, the non-RT RIC 215 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server. Such information may be utilized by the near-RT RIC 225 and may be received from a non-network data source or from a network function at the SMO framework 205 or the non-RT RIC 215. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 215 or the near-RT RIC 225 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 215 may monitor long-term trends and patterns of performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO framework 205 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or via the creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0062] Figure 3 Aspects of an example BS 102 and UE 104 are depicted.

[0063] In general, BS 102 includes various processors (e.g., 320, 330, 338, and 340), antennas 334a-t (collectively 334), transceivers 332a-t (collectively 332) including modulators and demodulators, and other aspects that enable wireless transmission of data (e.g., data source 312) and wireless reception of data (e.g., data sink 339). For example, BS 102 can transmit and receive data between BS 102 and UE 104. BS 102 includes controller / processor 340 that can be configured to implement various functions described herein related to wireless communication.

[0064] In general, the UE 104 includes various processors (e.g., 358, 364, 366, and 380), antennas 352a-r (collectively 352), transceivers 354a-r (collectively 354) including modulators and demodulators, and other aspects that enable wireless transmission of data (e.g., retrieved from a data source 362) and wireless reception of data (e.g., provided to a data sink 360). The UE 104 includes a controller / processor 380 that can be configured to implement various functions described herein related to wireless communications.

[0065] Regarding example downlink transmissions, BS 102 includes a transmit processor 320 that can receive data from a data source 312 and control information from a controller / processor 340. The control information can be for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), and / or others. In some examples, the data can be for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0066] The transmit processor 320 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor 320 may also generate reference symbols, such as for a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0067] The transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 330 may perform spatial processing (e.g., pre-coding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols, where applicable, and may provide an output symbol stream to a modulator (MOD) in a transceiver 332a-332t. Each modulator in the transceiver 332a-332t may process a corresponding output symbol stream to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and up-convert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from the modulators in the transceivers 332a-332t may be transmitted via antennas 334a-334t, respectively.

[0068] To receive downlink transmissions, UE 104 includes antennas 352a-352r that can receive downlink signals from BS 102 and can provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) in transceivers 354a-354r, respectively. Each demodulator in transceivers 354a-354r can condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a corresponding received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator can further process the input samples to obtain received symbols.

[0069] A MIMO detector 356 may obtain received symbols from all demodulators in transceivers 354a-354r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 358 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE 104 to a data sink 360, and provide decoded control information to a controller / processor 380.

[0070] With respect to example uplink transmissions, the UE 104 also includes a transmit processor 364 that may receive and process data from a data source 362 (e.g., for a PUSCH) and control information from a controller / processor 380 (e.g., for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). The transmit processor 364 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., for a sounding reference signal (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 364 may be pre-decoded by a TX MIMO processor 366, if applicable, further processed by a modulator in the transceivers 354a-354r (e.g., for SC-FDM), and transmitted to the BS 102.

[0071] At BS 102, uplink signals from UE 104 may be received by antennas 334a-t, processed by demodulators in transceivers 332a-332t, detected by MIMO detector 336 if applicable, and further processed by receive processor 338 to obtain decoded data and control information transmitted by UE 104. Receive processor 338 may provide decoded data to data sink 339 and decoded control information to controller / processor 340.

[0072] Memories 342 and 382 may store data and program codes for BS 102 and UE 104, respectively.

[0073] Scheduler 344 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0074] In various aspects, the BS 102 may be described as sending and receiving various types of data associated with the methods described herein. In these contexts, "sending" may refer to various mechanisms for outputting data, such as outputting data from a data source 312, a scheduler 344, a memory 342, a transmit processor 320, a controller / processor 340, a TX MIMO processor 330, a transceiver 332a-t, an antenna 334a-t, and / or other aspects described herein. Similarly, "receiving" may refer to various mechanisms for obtaining data, such as obtaining data from an antenna 334a-t, a transceiver 332a-t, an RX MIMO detector 336, a controller / processor 340, a receive processor 338, a scheduler 344, a memory 342, and / or other aspects described herein.

[0075] In various aspects, the UE 104 may also be described as transmitting and receiving various types of data associated with the methods described herein. In these contexts, "transmitting" may refer to various mechanisms for outputting data, such as outputting data from a data source 362, a memory 382, ​​a transmit processor 364, a controller / processor 380, a TX MIMO processor 366, a transceiver 354a-t, an antenna 352a-t, and / or other aspects described herein. Similarly, "receiving" may refer to various mechanisms for obtaining data, such as obtaining data from an antenna 352a-t, a transceiver 354a-t, a RX MIMO detector 356, a controller / processor 380, a receive processor 358, a memory 382, ​​and / or other aspects described herein.

[0076] In some aspects, the processor may be configured to perform various operations (such as those associated with the methods described herein) and send (output) data to or receive (obtain) data from another interface configured to send or receive data, respectively.

[0077] Figure 4A , Figure 4B , Figure 4C and Figure 4D Describes a method for use in a wireless communication network such as Figure 1 Various aspects of the data structure of the wireless communication network 100).

[0078] Specifically, Figure 4A is a diagram 400 illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G (e.g., 5G NR) frame structure, Figure 4B is a diagram 430 illustrating an example of a DL channel within a 5G subframe, Figure 4C is a diagram 450 illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G frame structure, and Figure 4D FIG480 is a diagram illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G subframe.

[0079] Wireless communication systems may utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) on both the uplink and downlink. Such systems may also support half-duplex operation using time division duplex (TDD). OFDM and single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) can be used to maximize the system bandwidth (e.g., Figure 4B and Figure 4D The modulation symbols may be transmitted in the frequency domain using OFDM and / or in the time domain using SC-FDM.

[0080] The wireless communication frame structure may be frequency division duplex (FDD), where for a particular set of subcarriers, subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated to either DL or UL. The wireless communication frame structure may also be time division duplex (TDD), where for a particular set of subcarriers, subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated to both DL and UL.

[0081] exist Figure 4A and Figure 4C In the wireless communication frame structure, TDD is used, where D is DL, U is UL, and X is used flexibly between DL / UL. The UE can be configured with a time slot format (dynamically configured by DL control information (DCI) or semi-statically / statically configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling) through the received time slot format indicator (SFI). In the depicted example, the 10ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized 1ms subframes. Each subframe may include one or more time slots. In some examples, each time slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the time slot format. The subframe may also include micro-slots, which typically have fewer symbols than the entire time slot. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0082] In certain aspects, the number of slots within a subframe is based on the slot configuration and parameter set. For example, for slot configuration 0, different parameter sets (μ) 0 to 5 allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 slots per subframe, respectively. For slot configuration 1, different parameter sets 0 to 2 allow for 2, 4, and 8 slots per subframe, respectively. Thus, for slot configuration 0 and parameter set μ, there are 14 symbols / slot and 2μ slots / subframe. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length / duration are a function of the parameter set. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2 μ × 15kHz, where μ is parameter set 0 to 5. Thus, parameter set μ=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, and parameter set μ=5 has a subcarrier spacing of 480kHz. The symbol length / duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. Figure 4A , Figure 4B , Figure 4C and Figure 4D An example is provided for slot configuration 0 with 14 symbols per slot and parameter set μ=2 with 4 slots per subframe. The slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is approximately 16.67 μs.

[0083] like Figure 4A , Figure 4B , Figure 4C and Figure 4DAs depicted in FIG, a resource grid may be used to represent a frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as a physical RB (PRB)) extending, for example, over 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into a plurality of resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0084] like Figure 4A As illustrated, some of the REs carry data for the UE (eg, Figure 1 and Figure 3 The RS may include a demodulation RS (DMRS) and / or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include a beam measurement RS (BRS), a beam refinement RS (BRRS), and / or a phase tracking RS (PT-RS).

[0085] Figure 4B Examples of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame are illustrated.The Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more Control Channel Elements (CCEs), each CCE comprising, for example, nine RE Groups (REGs), each REG comprising, for example, four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol.

[0086] The primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be in symbol 2 of a particular subframe of a frame. The PSS is received by a UE (e.g., Figure 1 and Figure 3 104) is used to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identification.

[0087] A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of a particular subframe of a frame. The SSS is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing.

[0088] Based on the physical layer identifier and the physical layer cell identifier group number, the UE can determine the physical cell identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the aforementioned DMRS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the master information block (MIB) can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block. The MIB provides the number of RBs in the system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information (such as system information blocks (SIBs)) that is not sent via the PBCH, and / or paging messages.

[0089] like Figure 4CAs illustrated, some REs carry DMRS for channel estimation at the base station (indicated as R for a particular configuration, but other DMRS configurations are also possible). The UE may send DMRS for PUCCH and DMRS for PUSCH. The PUSCH DMRS may be sent, for example, in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DMRS may be sent in different configurations depending on whether a short PUCCH or a long PUCCH is sent and depending on the specific PUCCH format used. UE 104 may send a sounding reference signal (SRS). The SRS may be sent, for example, in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may send the SRS on one of the teeth of the comb. The SRS may be used by the base station for channel quality estimation to achieve frequency-dependent scheduling of the UL.

[0090] Figure 4D Examples of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame are illustrated. The PUCCH may be located at a position as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, channel quality indicator (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), rank indicator (RI), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and / or UCI.

[0091] Overview of Network Power Consumption

[0092] As mentioned above, more than 20% of the total cost of operating a cellular network may be due to high-cost network energy consumption. Most of the network energy consumption (e.g., about 50% in 5G) comes from the actual radio frequency (RF) processing performed in the radio access network (RAN). The cost of energy consumption increases in systems that employ advanced technologies, such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems that employ a large number of antennas. For these reasons, implementing energy-saving features is desirable for the adoption and expansion of cellular networks.

[0093] In order to study various possible energy-saving techniques, a base station energy consumption model can be defined. This power consumption modeling can be used to evaluate the power consumption on the base station side, including the relative energy consumption of downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) transmissions. The modeling can take into account various factors such as power amplifier (PA) performance, the number of transmitter receiver units (TxRUs), base station load, sleep states and associated transition times, and one or more benchmark parameters / configurations.

[0094] In some cases, the evaluation method may involve key performance indicators (KPIs). The evaluation method may be directed to evaluating system-level network energy consumption and energy saving gains, as well as evaluating / balancing the impact on network and user performance (e.g., spectrum efficiency, capacity, user perceived throughput (UPT), latency, handover performance, call drop rate, initial access performance, service level agreement (SLA) guarantee-related KPIs), energy efficiency and UE power consumption, complexity. When applicable, the evaluation method may reuse existing KPIs, but new KPIs may also be used if / when existing KPIs are found to be insufficient.

[0095] Techniques may be identified at the gNodeB (gNB) and UE side to improve network energy savings both at the base station (BS) transmit and receive sides. These techniques may be designed to enable more efficient dynamic and / or semi-static operation and finer granularity transmit and / or receive adaptation in one or more of network energy saving techniques in the time, frequency, space, and power domains with potential support / feedback from the UE and potential UE assistance information. Such techniques may also involve information exchange / coordination over the network interface.

[0096] Energy saving techniques may also be designed to prioritize idle / empty and low / medium load scenarios (the precise definition of such load is for study) and to allow for different loads between carriers and neighboring cells. Various example scenarios including single-carrier and multi-carrier deployments may be considered for development of these techniques (the mapping between scenarios and network load is for study). These example scenarios may include urban microcells in FR1 including time division duplex (TDD) massive MIMO, FR2 beam-based scenarios, urban / rural macrocells in frequency range 1 (FR1) with and without dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS), EN-DC / NR-DC macrocells with frequency division duplex (FDD) PCell and TDD / massive MIMO at higher FR1 / FR2 frequencies. For backward compatibility, one design goal may be to enable previous generation (so-called legacy) UEs to continue to access networks implementing such network energy saving techniques (e.g., with the possible exception of techniques developed specifically for greenfield deployments, which refers to the deployment of advanced networks where no legacy networks previously existed).

[0097] Figure 5A Example statistics of an example base station energy consumption model for different active stations (base power without load and peak power with full load) are shown. Figure 5BAs shown in , the power of the load can be calculated by linear interpolation between the basic power and the peak power. For carrier aggregation (CA), a scaling factor can be used. For example, for CA with 2 CCs, the scaling factor can be 1.7 times the scaling factor of a single CC (1.7x1CC), and for 4 CCs, the scaling factor can be 3.4x1CC (e.g., 2x2CC). Similarly, the scaling factor can be applied to different numbers of antennas, where the power is linearly scaled by the number of effective antennas. In some cases, power system losses may take into account AC to DC conversion, cooling, and mobile station to network coupling losses. Relative power can be considered relative to deep sleep mode.

[0098] Aspects related to early ARQ feedback

[0099] As mentioned above, one potential source of increased energy consumption is the use of repeated transmissions, which is intended to improve reliability by increasing the likelihood of successful reception. In conventional systems, a UE configured with N physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetitions may be configured to provide acknowledgment feedback only after the end of the last configured PDSCH repetition.

[0100] For example, Fig. 6A As illustrated in , in the current NR standard, a UE may be configured with N PDSCH repetitions via RRC or downlink control information (DCI). As illustrated, the UE may be configured to report hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) ACK (HARQ-ACK) feedback K symbols after the end of the last configured PDSCH repetition, where K is a parameter provided in the DCI (referred to as the PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator). In some cases, if the UE provides HARQ information (via K) for PDSCH reception in a time slot other than the indicated time slot, the UE may always set the HARQ-ACK to indicate a negative ACK (NACK).

[0101] This design may be detrimental to network power consumption, especially when the repetition configuration is RRC configured. The UE is able to successfully decode the PDSCH using some PDSCH repetitions, while the network must send all configured repetitions without earlier knowledge of successful PDSCH reception at the UE. Note that from a network power consumption perspective, the transmit power is typically much higher than the receive power.

[0102] Various aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques to enable a UE to report HARQ-ACK information in advance. Figure 6BAs illustrated in , the UE may be able to send HARQ-ACK early after successfully decoding the PDSCH, without waiting until after the last configured PDSCH repetition. Based on the early indication, the network may be able to perform early termination, thereby suppressing the transmission of the remaining PDSCH repetitions after the UE has indicated that it has successfully received the PDSCH content. The techniques for early termination described herein can be used in various scenarios, such as when the network has a relatively light load.

[0103] The early termination proposed in this article can refer to Figure 7 As illustrated, the UE may first receive signaling (eg, DCI) from a network entity that schedules multiple PDSCH repetitions for the UE. The network entity may then start sending the PDSCH repetitions.

[0104] After successfully decoding one of the PDSCH repetitions (e.g., sent before the remaining one or more PDSCH repetitions in the PDSCH repetitions), the UE may send an early acknowledgement (e.g., HARQ-ACK) feedback indicating successful decoding to the network entity. As illustrated, the early acknowledgement feedback may be sent before sending at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions. Thus, the network entity may terminate early before sending the remaining PDSCH repetitions.

[0105] There are various conditions that can trigger the UE to send early HARQ-ACK feedback. These conditions can be designed to ensure that the early HARQ-ACK feedback is sent at a time that is beneficial in terms of network power consumption.

[0106] For example, Figure 8 As illustrated in , the UE may send feedback after successfully decoding a PDSCH repetition, as long as the feedback can be received and processed by the network side long enough to prevent the transmission of the remaining PDSCH repetitions. Fig. 9 As illustrated, there may be no benefit in terms of power consumption if feedback is not provided early enough so that the feedback can be processed in time to prevent the remaining PDSCH repetitions from being sent.

[0107] In some cases, to ensure that early feedback is transmitted long enough to prevent remaining PDSCH repetitions, the UE may be configured to report HARQ-ACK information in advance only when there are at least D remaining configured PDSCH repetitions after the HARQ-ACK information is reported. In some cases, the value of D may be fixed (e.g., D=1), for example, pre-configured or fixed in the standard. In other cases, the value of D may be configured for the UE. In general, the HARQ-ACK feedback timing (when transmitting early HARQ-ACK information) may be relative to a successfully decoded PDSCH or any PDSCH repetition.

[0108] It may be beneficial for the UE to know that the network (e.g., gNB) has successfully received the early HARQ-ACK feedback (e.g., the UE can retransmit if necessary and if there is enough time). Fig.10 As illustrated, in some cases, the gNB may provide an indication (acknowledgement) to the UE upon successful receipt of early HARQ-ACK information transmitted by the UE.

[0109] There are various options for how this indication may be provided. For example, according to a first option, a new downlink grant (e.g., a grant different from the DCI that configures the current / previous PDSCH repetition set) may be used to provide the indication. In this case, the new downlink grant may have the same HARQ process ID as the HARQ process ID of the PDSCH for which the early HARQ-ACK information is reported.

[0110] According to a second option, a dedicated indication (not in a grant) may be provided, for example, in a (non-scheduled) DCI or in a medium access control (MAC)-control element (MAC-CE). According to a third option, the indication may be provided via a new downlink grant having a different HARQ process ID than the HARQ process ID of the PDSCH for which the early HARQ-ACK information is reported, but having a resource allocation that partially or completely overlaps with the resources allocated for the previous PDSCH repetition.

[0111] In some cases, the UE may switch (fall back to) the legacy HARQ-ACK feedback process (from performing the early HARQ-ACK feedback process). For example, for some instances, the network may miss the early HARQ-ACK feedback or may prefer the UE to transmit the legacy HARQ-ACK information.

[0112] like Fig.11As illustrated in , if the UE has not received an acknowledgment indication from the gNB after the early HARQ-ACK feedback and before the timeline for the legacy HARQ-ACK feedback, the UE may fall back to (or additionally perform) the legacy HARQ-ACK information reporting (e.g., to ensure that the legacy timing requirements are met).

[0113] In some cases, the use of early HARQ-ACK feedback information may be conditional. For example, the use of early HARQ-ACK feedback information may be conditional on whether the gNB is in energy-saving mode and / or whether the UE supports early feedback.

[0114] Thus, in some cases, the UE may indicate its capability to support early HARQ-ACK feedback for PDSCH repetitions. The indication may be UE-specific and / or may be frequency (e.g., frequency band) specific. In some cases, the gNB may indicate (to the UE) whether the UE should perform the early HARQ-ACK feedback procedure. Such an indication may be provided, for example, via dedicated signaling, or may be coupled with signaling indicating that the gNB is in energy saving mode.

[0115] Example Operations of Entities in a Communication Network

[0116] Example Operation of User Equipment

[0117] Fig.12 shows a method for use by a UE such as Figure 1 and Figure 3 Method 1200 for wireless communication with UE 104.

[0118] Method 1200 begins at 1205, where signaling is received from a network entity to schedule multiple PDSCH repetitions for a UE. In some cases, the operation of this step is referred to as reference Fig.14 The described receiving circuits and / or receiving codes may be or may be executed by the receiving circuits and / or receiving codes.

[0119] Then, the method 1200 proceeds to step 1210, successfully decoding a PDSCH in a PDSCH repetition sent before the remaining one or more PDSCH repetitions in the PDSCH repetition. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as described in reference to Fig.14 The described decoding circuits and / or decoding codes may be or may be performed by decoding circuits and / or decoding codes.

[0120] Then, the method 1200 proceeds to step 1215, where an early acknowledgement feedback indicating successful decoding is sent to the network entity, wherein the early acknowledgement feedback is sent before sending at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as described in reference Fig.14 The described transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes may be or may be performed by transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes.

[0121] In some aspects, the method 1200 further includes sending a capability report indicating that the UE supports sending early confirmation feedback. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as referring to Fig.14 The described transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes may be or may be performed by transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes.

[0122] In some aspects, the method 1200 also includes receiving an indication of whether the UE is to send early confirmation feedback. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as referring to Fig.14 The described receiving circuits and / or receiving codes may be or may be executed by the receiving circuits and / or receiving codes.

[0123] In some aspects, the UE sends early acknowledgement feedback when a PDSCH repetition is successfully decoded before a threshold number of remaining PDSCH repetitions.

[0124] In some aspects, the method 1200 also includes receiving an indication of the threshold quantity from the network entity. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as referring to Fig.14 The described receiving circuits and / or receiving codes may be or may be executed by the receiving circuits and / or receiving codes.

[0125] In some aspects, the timing for sending the early acknowledgment feedback is determined relative to: a successfully decoded PDSCH repetition; or another PDSCH repetition of the scheduled PDSCH repetitions.

[0126] In some aspects, the method 1200 further includes receiving from the network entity an indication that the network entity received the early confirmation feedback. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as referring to Fig.14 The described receiving circuits and / or receiving codes may be or may be executed by the receiving circuits and / or receiving codes.

[0127] In some aspects, the indication is received via a downlink grant having the same HARQ process ID as the HARQ ID associated with the successfully decoded PDSCH.

[0128] In some aspects, the indication comprises an explicit indication provided via a DCI or a MAC-CE.

[0129] In some aspects, the indication is received via a downlink grant having a resource allocation that at least partially overlaps a resource allocation for the PDSCH repetition.

[0130] In some aspects, the method 1200 further includes: if the UE does not receive an indication from the network entity that the network entity received the early acknowledgment feedback, sending the additional acknowledgment feedback after the last PDSCH repetition of the scheduled PDSCH repetitions. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as described in reference to Fig.14 The described transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes may be or may be performed by transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes.

[0131] In one aspect, method 1200 or any aspect related thereto may be performed by an apparatus such as Fig.14 The method 1200 is performed by a communication device 1400 that includes various components operable, configured, or adapted to perform the method 1200. The communication device 1400 is described in more detail below.

[0132] It should be noted that Fig.12 This is merely one example of a method, and other methods including fewer, additional, or alternative steps may be consistent with the present disclosure.

[0133] Example Operations of Network Entities

[0134] Fig.13 shows a method for use by network entities such as Figure 1 and Figure 3 BS102 or as relative to Figure 2 A method 1300 of performing wireless communications with a decomposed base station is discussed.

[0135] Method 1300 begins at 1305, where signaling is sent to schedule multiple PDSCH repetitions for a UE. In some cases, the operations of this step are referred to as reference 1305. Fig.15 The described PDSCH repetition scheduling circuit and / or PDSCH repetition scheduling code may be performed by the PDSCH repetition scheduling circuit and / or PDSCH repetition scheduling code.

[0136] Method 1300 then proceeds to step 1310, where at least some of the PDSCH repetitions are sent. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to the same as in reference to Fig.15 The described transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes may be or may be performed by transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes.

[0137] Then, the method 1300 proceeds to step 1315, where an early acknowledgement feedback indicating successful decoding of one of the PDSCH repetitions is received, wherein the early acknowledgement feedback is received before at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions is sent. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as described in reference to Fig.15The described receiving circuits and / or receiving codes may be or may be executed by the receiving circuits and / or receiving codes.

[0138] In some aspects, the method 1300 further includes receiving a capability report indicating that the UE supports sending early confirmation feedback. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as referring to Fig.15 The described receiving circuits and / or receiving codes may be or may be executed by the receiving circuits and / or receiving codes.

[0139] In some aspects, the method 1300 further includes sending an indication to the UE whether to send early confirmation feedback. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as referring to Fig.15 The described transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes may be or may be performed by transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes.

[0140] In some aspects, the network entity receives early acknowledgement feedback when a PDSCH repetition is successfully decoded before a threshold number of remaining PDSCH repetitions.

[0141] In some aspects, method 1300 also includes sending an indication of the threshold quantity. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as referring to Fig.15 The described transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes may be or may be performed by transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes.

[0142] In some aspects, the timing for receiving early acknowledgment feedback is determined relative to: a successfully decoded PDSCH repetition; or another PDSCH repetition of the scheduled PDSCH repetitions.

[0143] In some aspects, the method 1300 further includes sending an indication that the network entity received the early confirmation feedback. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as referring to Fig.15 The described transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes may be or may be performed by transmitting circuits and / or transmitting codes.

[0144] In some aspects, the indication is sent via a downlink grant with the same HARQ process ID as the HARQ ID associated with the successfully decoded PDSCH repetition.

[0145] In some aspects, the indication comprises an explicit indication provided via a DCI or a MAC-CE.

[0146] In some aspects, the indication is sent via a downlink grant having a resource allocation that at least partially overlaps a resource allocation for PDSCH repetition.

[0147] In one aspect, method 1300 or any aspect related thereto may be performed by an apparatus such as Fig.15The method 1300 is performed by a communication device 1500 that includes various components operable, configured, or adapted to perform the method 1300. The communication device 1500 is described in more detail below.

[0148] It should be noted that Fig.13 This is merely one example of a method, and other methods including fewer, additional, or alternative steps may also be consistent with the present disclosure.

[0149] Example Communication Device

[0150] Fig.14 Depicted are aspects of an example communications device 1400. In some aspects, the communications device 1400 is user equipment, such as described above with respect to Figure 1 and Figure 3 UE 104 is described.

[0151] The communication device 1400 includes a processing system 1405 coupled to a transceiver 1465 (e.g., a transmitter and / or a receiver). The transceiver 1465 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communication device 1400, such as various signals as described herein, via an antenna 1470. The processing system 1405 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 1400, including processing signals received and / or to be transmitted by the communication device 1400.

[0152] The processing system 1405 includes one or more processors 1410. In various aspects, the one or more processors 1410 may represent one or more of the receive processor 358, the transmit processor 364, the TX MIMO processor 366, and / or the controller / processor 380, as shown in FIG. Figure 3 The one or more processors 1410 are coupled to the computer readable medium / memory 1435 via the bus 1460. In some aspects, the computer readable medium / memory 1435 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer executable code) that, when executed by the one or more processors 1410, cause the one or more processors 1410 to perform operations related to Fig.12 The method 1200 described herein or any aspect related thereto. Note that references to a processor performing a function of the communication device 1400 may include one or more processors 1410 performing that function of the communication device 1400 .

[0153] In the depicted example, computer readable medium / memory 1435 stores code (e.g., executable instructions) such as receive code 1440, decode code 1445, transmit code 1450, and feedback processing code 1455. The processing of receive code 1440, decode code 1445, transmit code 1450, and feedback processing code 1455 may cause the communication device 1400 to perform operations with respect to Fig.12 The described method 1200 or any aspect related thereto.

[0154] The one or more processors 1410 include circuits configured to implement (e.g., execute) code stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1435, including circuits such as receiving circuits 1415, decoding circuits 1420, transmitting circuits 1425, and feedback processing circuits 1430. Processing using the receiving circuits 1415, decoding circuits 1420, transmitting circuits 1425, and feedback processing circuits 1430 may enable the communication device 1400 to perform operations with respect to Fig.12 The described method 1200 or any aspect related thereto.

[0155] The various components of the communication device 1400 may provide for performing Fig.12 The components of the method 1200 described herein or any aspect thereof. For example, the components for sending, transmitting, or outputting for sending may include Figure 3 The illustrated transceiver 354 and / or antenna 352 of the UE 104, and / or Fig.14 The transceiver 1465 and antenna 1470 of the communication device 1400 in FIG. 1465 may include Figure 3 The illustrated transceiver 354 and / or antenna 352 of the UE 104, and / or Fig.14 The transceiver 1465 and antenna 1470 of the communication device 1400.

[0156] Fig.15 Aspects of an example communications device 1500 are depicted. In some aspects, communications device 1500 is a network entity such as Figure 1 and Figure 3 BS102 or as relative to Figure 2 The decomposed base station in question.

[0157] The communication device 1500 includes a processing system 1505 coupled to a transceiver 1565 (e.g., a transmitter and / or a receiver) and / or a network interface 1575. The transceiver 1565 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communication device 1500 via an antenna 1570, such as the various signals described herein. The network interface 1575 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communication device 1500 via a communication link (such as, for example, the various signals described herein with respect to Figure 2 The processing system 1505 may be configured to perform the processing functions of the communication device 1500, including processing signals received and / or to be transmitted by the communication device 1500.

[0158] The processing system 1505 includes one or more processors 1510. In various aspects, the one or more processors 1510 may represent one or more of the receive processor 338, the transmit processor 320, the TX MIMO processor 330, and / or the controller / processor 340, as shown in FIG. Figure 3 The one or more processors 1510 are coupled to the computer readable medium / memory 1535 via the bus 1560. In some aspects, the computer readable medium / memory 1535 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer executable code) that, when executed by the one or more processors 1510, cause the one or more processors 1510 to perform operations related to Fig.13 The described method 1300 or any aspect related thereto. Note that references to a processor of the communication device 1500 that performs a function may include one or more processors 1510 of the communication device 1500 that perform that function.

[0159] In the depicted example, the computer readable medium / memory 1535 stores code (e.g., executable instructions) such as PDSCH repetition scheduling code 1540, transmission code 1545, reception code 1550, and feedback processing code 1555. The processing of the PDSCH repetition scheduling code 1540, the transmission code 1545, the reception code 1550, and the feedback processing code 1555 may enable the communication device 1500 to perform operations with respect to Fig.13 The described method 1300 or any aspect related thereto.

[0160] The one or more processors 1510 include circuits configured to implement (e.g., execute) code stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1535, including circuits such as PDSCH repetition scheduling circuit 1515, transmission circuit 1520, reception circuit 1525, and feedback processing circuit 1530. Processing using the PDSCH repetition scheduling circuit 1515, transmission circuit 1520, reception circuit 1525, and feedback processing circuit 1530 may enable the communication device 1500 to perform operations such as those described above with respect to Fig.13 The described method 1300 or any aspect related thereto.

[0161] The various components of the communication device 1500 may be provided for performing the following operations: Fig.13 The components of the described method 1300 or any aspect related thereto. The components for sending, transmitting, or outputting for sending may include Figure 3 The illustrated transceiver 332 and / or antenna 334 of the BS 102, and / or Fig.15 The transceiver 1565 and antenna 1570 of the communication device 1500 in FIG. 1 may include Figure 3The illustrated transceiver 332 and / or antenna 334 of the BS 102, and / or Fig.15 The transceiver 1565 and antenna 1570 of the communication device 1500.

[0162] Sample Clauses

[0163] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0164] Clause 1: A method for wireless communication by a UE, the method comprising: receiving signaling from a network entity scheduling multiple PDSCH repetitions for the UE; successfully decoding one of the PDSCH repetitions sent before the remaining one or more PDSCH repetitions in the PDSCH repetitions; and sending early acknowledgment feedback indicating successful decoding to the network entity, wherein the early acknowledgment feedback is sent before sending at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions.

[0165] Clause 2: The method of clause 1, further comprising: sending a capability report indicating that the UE supports sending early confirmation feedback.

[0166] Clause 3: A method as described in any of clauses 1 and 2, the method further comprising: receiving an indication of whether the UE is to send early confirmation feedback.

[0167] Clause 4: A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 3, wherein the UE sends the early acknowledgement feedback when the PDSCH repetition is successfully decoded before a threshold number of remaining PDSCH repetitions.

[0168] Clause 5: The method of clause 4, further comprising: receiving an indication of the threshold number from the network entity.

[0169] Clause 6: A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 5, wherein the timing for sending the early acknowledgement feedback is determined relative to: a successfully decoded PDSCH repetition; or another PDSCH repetition of the scheduled PDSCH repetitions.

[0170] Clause 7: A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 6, the method further comprising: receiving an indication from the network entity that the network entity received the early confirmation feedback.

[0171] Clause 8: A method as set forth in clause 7, wherein the indication is received via a downlink grant having the same HARQ process ID as the HARQ ID associated with the successfully decoded PDSCH.

[0172] Clause 9: A method as set forth in clause 7, wherein the indication comprises an explicit indication provided via a DCI or a MAC-CE.

[0173] Clause 10: A method as set forth in clause 7, wherein the indication is received via a downlink grant having a resource allocation that at least partially overlaps with a resource allocation for the PDSCH repetition.

[0174] Clause 11: A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 10, the method further comprising: if the UE does not receive an indication from the network entity that the network entity has received the early confirmation feedback, sending additional confirmation feedback after the last PDSCH repetition of the scheduled PDSCH repetition.

[0175] Clause 12: A method for wireless communications by a network entity, the method comprising: sending signaling scheduling multiple PDSCH repetitions for a UE; sending at least some of the PDSCH repetitions; and receiving early acknowledgment feedback indicating successful decoding of one of the PDSCH repetitions, wherein the early acknowledgment feedback is received before sending at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions.

[0176] Clause 13: The method of clause 12, further comprising: receiving a capability report indicating that the UE supports sending early confirmation feedback.

[0177] Clause 14: A method as described in any of clauses 12 and 13, the method further comprising: sending an indication of whether the UE is to send early confirmation feedback.

[0178] Clause 15: A method as set forth in any of clauses 12 to 14, wherein the network entity receives the early acknowledgement feedback when the PDSCH repetition is successfully decoded before a threshold number of remaining PDSCH repetitions.

[0179] Clause 16: The method of clause 15, further comprising: sending an indication of the threshold number.

[0180] Clause 17: A method as set forth in any of clauses 12 to 16, wherein the timing for receiving the early acknowledgement feedback is determined relative to: a successfully decoded PDSCH repetition; or another one of the scheduled PDSCH repetitions.

[0181] Clause 18: A method as described in any of clauses 12 to 17, the method further comprising: sending an indication that the network entity received the early confirmation feedback.

[0182] Clause 19: A method as set forth in clause 18, wherein the indication is sent via a downlink grant having the same HARQ process ID as the HARQ ID associated with the successfully decoded PDSCH repetition.

[0183] Clause 20: The method of clause 18, wherein the indication comprises an explicit indication provided via a DCI or a MAC-CE.

[0184] Clause 21: A method as set forth in clause 18, wherein the indication is sent via a downlink grant having a resource allocation that at least partially overlaps with a resource allocation for the PDSCH repetition.

[0185] Clause 22: An apparatus, the apparatus comprising: a memory including executable instructions; and a processor configured to execute the executable instructions and cause the apparatus to perform the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 21.

[0186] Clause 23: An apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 21.

[0187] Clause 24: A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions which, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of clauses 1 to 21.

[0188] Clause 25: A computer program product embodied on a computer readable storage medium, the computer readable storage medium comprising code for performing the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 21.

[0189] Additional considerations

[0190] The foregoing description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. The examples discussed herein do not limit the scope, applicability, or aspects set forth in the claims. Various modifications to these aspects will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. For example, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, the functions and arrangements of the elements discussed may be changed. Various examples may omit, replace, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, the described methods may be performed in a different order than the described order, and various actions may be added, omitted, or combined. In addition, the features described for some examples may be combined in some other examples. For example, any number of aspects set forth herein may be used to implement a device or practice method. In addition, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover such devices or methods practiced using other structures, functionality, or structures and functionality other than the various aspects of the present disclosure set forth herein or different from the various aspects of the present disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of the claims.

[0191] The various illustrative logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the present disclosure may be implemented or performed using a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof, designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in an alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a DSP core, a system on a chip (SoC), or any other such configuration.

[0192] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items (including single members). As an example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as any combination with multiple identical elements (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc, or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

[0193] As used herein, the term "determining" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determining" may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, searching (e.g., searching in a table, a database, or another data structure), ascertaining, and the like. Additionally, "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), and the like. Additionally, "determining" may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

[0194] The method disclosed herein includes one or more actions for implementing the method. The method actions may be interchangeable with each other without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims. In addition, the various operations of the method described above may be performed by any suitable component capable of performing the corresponding function. The component may include various hardware and / or software components and / or modules, including but not limited to circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or processors.

[0195] The following claims are not intended to be limited to the various aspects shown herein, but should be given the full scope consistent with the language of the claims. Within the claims, unless explicitly stated, reference to an element in the singular form is not intended to mean "one and only one", but "one or more". Unless otherwise specified, the term "some" refers to one or more. Any claim element is not interpreted according to the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112 (f) unless the element is explicitly stated using the phrase "parts for...". All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or will be known later to a person of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be covered by the claims. In addition, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly stated in the claims.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving signaling from a network entity scheduling a plurality of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetitions for the UE; successfully decoding a PDSCH in the PDSCH repetition sent before the remaining one or more PDSCH repetitions in the PDSCH repetition; and An early acknowledgement feedback indicating successful decoding is sent to a network entity, wherein the early acknowledgement feedback is sent before sending at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a capability report indicating that the UE supports sending early confirmation feedback.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an indication of whether the UE is to send early confirmation feedback. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the UE sends the early acknowledgment feedback when the PDSCH repetition is successfully decoded before a threshold number of remaining PDSCH repetitions.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising receiving an indication of the threshold number from the network entity.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the timing for sending the early confirmation feedback is determined relative to: The successfully decoded PDSCH repetition; or Another PDSCH repetition among the scheduled PDSCH repetitions.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the network entity an indication that the network entity received the early acknowledgment feedback.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the indication is received via a downlink grant having a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process ID that is the same as a HARQ process ID associated with the successfully decoded PDSCH.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the indication comprises an explicit indication provided via downlink control information (DCI) or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE).

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the indication is received via a downlink grant having a resource allocation that at least partially overlaps with a resource allocation for the PDSCH repetition.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: If the UE does not receive an indication from the network entity that the network entity received the early acknowledgment feedback, sending additional acknowledgment feedback after a last PDSCH repetition of the scheduled PDSCH repetitions.

12. A method for wireless communication by a network entity, the method comprising: Sending signaling scheduling multiple physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetitions for a user equipment (UE); transmitting at least some of the PDSCH repetitions; as well as An early acknowledgement feedback is received indicating successful decoding of one of the PDSCH repetitions, wherein the early acknowledgement feedback is received prior to sending at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving a capability report indicating that the UE supports sending early confirmation feedback.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising sending an indication of whether the UE is to send early acknowledgement feedback.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the network entity receives the early acknowledgment feedback when the PDSCH repetition is successfully decoded before a threshold number of remaining PDSCH repetitions.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising sending an indication of the threshold number.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the timing for receiving the early confirmation feedback is determined relative to: The successfully decoded PDSCH repetition; or Another PDSCH repetition among the scheduled PDSCH repetitions.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising sending an indication that the network entity received the early acknowledgment feedback.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the indication is sent via a downlink grant having a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process ID that is the same as the HARQ ID associated with the successfully decoded PDSCH repetition.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the indication comprises an explicit indication provided via downlink control information (DCI) or a medium access control - control element (MAC-CE).

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the indication is sent via a downlink grant having a resource allocation that at least partially overlaps with a resource allocation for the PDSCH repetition.

22. A user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communication, the user equipment (UE) comprising: a memory including computer executable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the computer executable instructions and cause the UE to: receiving signaling from a network entity scheduling a plurality of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetitions for the UE; successfully decoding a PDSCH in the PDSCH repetition sent before the remaining one or more PDSCH repetitions in the PDSCH repetition; and An early acknowledgement feedback indicating successful decoding is sent to a network entity, wherein the early acknowledgement feedback is sent before sending at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions.

23. A network entity configured for wireless communication, the network entity comprising: a memory including computer executable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the computer executable instructions and cause the network entity to: Sending signaling scheduling multiple physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetitions for a user equipment (UE); transmitting at least some of the PDSCH repetitions; as well as An early acknowledgement feedback is received indicating successful decoding of one of the PDSCH repetitions, wherein the early acknowledgement feedback is received prior to sending at least one of the remaining PDSCH repetitions.

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