Systems and methods for enabling or de-enabling HARQ feedback

Abstract

Systems and methods for enabling or de-enabling hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback are presented. A wireless communication device (e.g., a UE) may receive first and second signaling from a wireless communication node (e.g., a BS). The wireless communication device may determine whether at least one hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of at least one (HARQ) process is to be de-enabled based on the first signaling and the second signaling.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, including but not limited to systems and methods for enabling or disabling HARQ feedback. Background Art

[0002] The third generation partnership project (3GPP), a standardization organization, is currently specifying a new radio interface, called 5G New Radio (5G NR), as well as the next generation packet core network (NG-CN or NGC). 5G NR will have three main components: 5G access network (5G-AN), 5G core network (5GC) and user equipment (UE). In order to facilitate the implementation of different data services and requirements, the elements of 5GC (also known as network functions) have been simplified, some of which are software-based and some are hardware-based, so as to be adjusted according to needs. Summary of the invention

[0003] The example embodiments disclosed herein are intended to solve problems related to one or more problems raised in the prior art, as well as to provide additional features, which will become apparent by reference to the following detailed description when combined with the accompanying drawings. According to different embodiments, example systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are disclosed herein. However, it is understood that these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not restrictive, and it is apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art who reads the present disclosure that various modifications may be made to the disclosed embodiments while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0004] At least one aspect is directed to the following system, method, apparatus, or computer-readable medium. A wireless communication device (e.g., UE) may receive first signaling (e.g., downlink control information (DCI) signaling) and second signaling (e.g., high-layer signaling) from a wireless communication node (e.g., BS). The wireless communication device may determine whether at least one hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of at least one HARQ process is to be disabled based on the first signaling and the second signaling.

[0005] In some embodiments, the first signaling may include downlink control information (DCI) signaling. The second signaling may include high-layer signaling. The high-layer signaling may include at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) signaling, media access control control element (MAC CE) signaling, or system information block (SIB) signaling. The DCI signaling may include a 1-bit value to indicate whether at least one HARQ feedback is to be disabled for at least one transport block and / or at least one HARQ process.

[0006] In some embodiments, the DCI signaling may include a bitmap to indicate whether the corresponding HARQ feedback corresponding to each of the multiple transport blocks is to be disabled. The DCI signaling may include a bitmap to indicate whether the corresponding HARQ feedback corresponding to each of the multiple HARQ processes is to be disabled.

[0007] In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may determine, in response to the absence of a field for enabling or disabling HARQ feedback in the DCI signaling, that: the configuration of at least one HARQ feedback has not changed, the configuration of at least one HARQ feedback does not exist, or the HARQ feedback is enabled. The second signaling (e.g., high-layer signaling) may include an indication of whether the first signaling is used to indicate whether the at least one HARQ feedback is to be disabled. The indication of whether the first signaling is used to indicate whether the at least one HARQ feedback is to be disabled may be specific to at least one of the following: the wireless communication device, or each HARQ process in the at least one HARQ process.

[0008] In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may receive third signaling from the wireless communication node. The third signaling may be (used to) indicate whether at least one HARQ feedback for at least one HARQ process is to be disabled. The third signaling may include radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0009] In some embodiments, when the second signaling indicates that the first signaling is used to indicate whether HARQ feedback is to be disabled, the wireless communication device can determine whether at least one HARQ feedback of at least one HARQ process is to be disabled based on the first signaling, regardless of the indication of the third signaling.

[0010] In some embodiments, when the second signaling indicates that the first signaling is used to indicate whether HARQ feedback is to be disabled, and the field for enabling or disabling HARQ feedback does not exist (e.g., not detected) in the first signaling, the wireless communication device can determine whether at least one HARQ feedback of at least one HARQ process is to be disabled based on the third signaling.

[0011] In some embodiments, when the second signaling indicates that the first signaling is not used to indicate whether HARQ feedback is to be disabled, the wireless communication device may determine whether at least one HARQ feedback of at least one HARQ process is to be disabled according to the third signaling.

[0012] In some embodiments, the second signaling (e.g., high-layer signaling) may include an indication of whether at least one HARQ feedback for at least one HARQ process is to be disabled. The DCI signaling may include a 1-bit value to indicate whether to invert (e.g., reverse or opposite) the indication of whether the HARQ feedback for at least one transport block of the second signaling is to be disabled.

[0013] In some embodiments, the DCI signaling may include a bitmap to indicate whether to invert a corresponding indication from the second signaling regarding whether HARQ feedback for a corresponding one of a plurality of transport blocks is to be disabled. In some embodiments, the DCI signaling may include a bitmap to indicate whether to invert a corresponding indication from the second signaling regarding whether HARQ feedback for a corresponding one of a plurality of HARQ processes is to be disabled. When the following field does not exist in the DCI signaling, the wireless communication device may determine whether at least one HARQ feedback for at least one HARQ process is to be disabled based on the second signaling, and the field is used to invert or maintain the indication of the second signaling regarding whether at least one HARQ feedback for at least one HARQ process is to be disabled.

[0014] In some embodiments, a wireless communication node (e.g., a BS) may send a first signaling (e.g., downlink control information (DCI) signaling) and a second signaling (e.g., a high-layer signaling) to a wireless communication device (e.g., a UE). The first signaling and the second signaling may (e.g., jointly) indicate whether to enable at least one hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process of at least one HARQ feedback. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Various example embodiments of the present solution will be described in detail below with reference to the following figures or drawings. The drawings are for reference only and only describe example embodiments of the present solution to facilitate the reader's understanding of the present solution. Therefore, the drawings should not be considered to limit the breadth, scope or applicability of the present solution. It should be noted that for clarity and ease of illustration, these drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0016] Figure 1 shows an example cellular communication network in which the technology disclosed herein may be implemented according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] Figure 2 A block diagram showing example base station and user equipment apparatus according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0018] Figure 3 An example embodiment of a non-terrestrial network (NTN) according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0019] Figure 4An example representation showing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) stalling and HARQ feedback disabling according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0020] Figure 5 A flowchart of an example method of enabling or disabling HARQ feedback according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] 1. Mobile communication technology and environment

[0022] Figure 1 An example wireless communication network and / or system 100 that may be implemented in the technology disclosed herein according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the following discussion, the wireless communication network 100 may be any wireless network, such as a cellular network or a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network, and is referred to herein as "network 100". Such an example network 100 includes a base station 102 (hereinafter referred to as "BS 102"; also referred to as a wireless communication node) and a user equipment device 104 (hereinafter referred to as "UE 104"; also referred to as a wireless communication device), which may communicate with each other via a communication link 110 (e.g., a wireless communication channel), as well as clusters 126, 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, and 140 of cells covering a geographic area 101. In Figure 1 1, BS 102 and UE 104 are respectively located within the respective geographic boundaries of cell 126. Each of the other cells 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, and 140 may include at least one base station operating with its allocated bandwidth to provide adequate radio coverage for its intended users.

[0023] For example, BS 102 can operate under the allocated channel transmission bandwidth to provide sufficient coverage to UE 104. BS 102 and UE 104 can communicate via downlink radio frame 118 and uplink radio frame 124, respectively. Each radio frame 118 / 124 can also be divided into subframes 120 / 127, and subframes 120 / 127 can include data symbols 122 / 128. In the present disclosure, BS 102 and UE 104 are described herein as non-limiting examples of "communication nodes", which, in general, can implement the methods in the present disclosure. According to various embodiments of the present solution, these communication nodes can perform wireless and / or wired communication.

[0024] Figure 2A block diagram of an example wireless communication system 200 for sending and receiving wireless communication signals (e.g., OFDM / OFDMA signals) according to some embodiments of the present solution is shown. The system 200 may include components and elements that are configured to support known or conventional operating features that need not be described in detail herein. In an illustrative embodiment, the system 200 may be used in a communication environment such as Figure 1 Data symbols are communicated (eg, sent and received) in the wireless communication environment 100 of the wireless communication environment, as described above.

[0025] System 200 generally includes a base station 202 (hereinafter referred to as "BS 202") and a user equipment device 204 (hereinafter referred to as "UE 204"). BS 202 includes a BS (base station) transceiver module 210, a BS antenna 212, a BS processor module 214, a BS memory module 216, and a network communication module 218, each of which is coupled and interconnected as needed via a data communication bus 220. UE 204 includes a UE (user equipment) transceiver module 230, a UE antenna 232, a UE memory module 234, and a UE processor module 236, each of which is coupled and interconnected as needed via a data communication bus 240. BS 202 communicates with UE 204 via a communication channel 250, which can be any wireless channel or other medium suitable for data transmission as described herein.

[0026] As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the system 200 may also include Figure 2 Any number of modules other than the modules shown. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the various illustrative blocks, modules, circuits, and processing logic associated with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented with hardware, computer-readable software, firmware, or any practical combination thereof. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability and compatibility of hardware, firmware, and software, various exemplary components, modules, circuits, and steps are generally described by their functions. Whether these functions are implemented in the form of hardware, firmware, or software depends on the specific application and the design restrictions on the entire system. Those familiar with the concepts described herein can implement these functions in an appropriate manner for each specific application, but these implementation decisions should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of this disclosure.

[0027] According to some embodiments, the UE transceiver 230 may be referred to herein as an "uplink" transceiver 230, which includes a radio frequency (RF) transmitter and an RF receiver, each of which includes a circuit system coupled to an antenna 232. A duplex switch (not shown) may couple the uplink transmitter or receiver with the uplink antenna in a time duplex manner. Similarly, according to some embodiments, the BS transceiver 210 may be referred to herein as a "downlink" transceiver 210, which includes an RF transmitter and an RF receiver, each of which includes a circuit system coupled to an antenna 212. The downlink duplex switch may alternatively couple the downlink transmitter or receiver with the downlink antenna 212 in a time duplex manner. The operation of the two transceiver modules 210 and 230 may be coordinated in time so that the uplink receiver circuit system is coupled to the uplink antenna 232 for receiving transmissions on the wireless transmission link 250 while the downlink transmitter is coupled to the downlink antenna 212. Conversely, the operation of the two transceivers 210 and 230 may be coordinated in time so that the downlink receiver is coupled to the downlink antenna 212 for receiving transmissions on the wireless transmission link 250 at the same time as the uplink transmitter is coupled to the uplink antenna 232. In some embodiments, there is tight time synchronization with minimal guard times between duplex direction changes.

[0028] The UE transceiver 230 and the base station transceiver 210 are configured to communicate via a wireless data communication link 250 and cooperate with an appropriately configured RF antenna arrangement 212 / 232 that can support a specific wireless communication protocol and modulation scheme. In some illustrative embodiments, the UE transceiver 210 and the base station transceiver 210 are configured to support industry standards such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and emerging 5G standards, etc. However, it will be appreciated that the application of the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to specific standards and related protocols. Instead, the UE transceiver 230 and the base station transceiver 210 can be configured to support alternative or additional wireless data communication protocols, including future standards or variants thereof.

[0029] According to various embodiments, BS 202 may be, for example, an evolved Node B (eNB), a serving eNB, a target eNB, a femtocell or a microcell. In some embodiments, UE 204 may be embodied as various types of user equipment, such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a wearable computing device, etc. Processor modules 214 and 236 may be implemented or implemented with a general-purpose processor, a content addressable memory, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, any suitable programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof, intended to perform the functions described herein. In this way, the processor may be implemented as a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, a state machine, or a similar device. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a digital signal processor core, or any other such configuration.

[0030] In addition, the steps of the methods or algorithms associated with the embodiments disclosed herein may be directly embodied in hardware, firmware, software modules executed by the processor modules 214 and 236, respectively, or any practical combination thereof. The memory modules 216 and 234 may be implemented as RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. In this regard, the memory modules 216 and 234 may be coupled to the processor modules 210 and 230, respectively, so that the processor modules 210 and 230 can read information from and write information to the memory modules 216 and 234, respectively. The memory modules 216 and 234 may also be integrated into the respective processor modules 210 and 230. In some embodiments, the memory modules 216 and 234 may include a cache memory, respectively, for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during the execution of instructions by the processor modules 210 and 230. Memory modules 216 and 234 may also each include non-volatile memory for storing instructions executed by processor modules 210 and 230, respectively.

[0031] The network communication module 218 generally represents the hardware, software, firmware, processing logic and / or other components of the base station 202 that can enable two-way communication between the base station transceiver 210 and other network components and communication nodes configured to communicate with the base station 202. For example, the network communication module 218 can be configured to support Internet or WiMAX traffic. In a typical deployment, the network communication module 218 provides an 802.3 Ethernet interface so that the base station transceiver 210 can communicate with a traditional Ethernet-based computer network, but is not limited to it. Thus, the network communication module 218 may include a physical interface for connecting to a computer network (such as a mobile switching center (MSC)). The terms "configured for", "configured to" and their conjunctions used herein with respect to a specified operation or function refer to a device, component, circuit, structure, machine, signal, etc. that is physically constructed, programmed, formatted and / or arranged to perform a specified operation or function.

[0032] The open systems interconnection (OSI) model (referred to herein as the "open systems interconnection model") is a conceptual and logical layout for defining network communications used by systems (such as wireless communication devices, wireless communication nodes) that can interconnect and communicate with other systems. The model is divided into seven subcomponents (or layers), each of which represents a conceptual set of services provided to its upper and lower layers. The OSI model also defines a logical network and effectively describes computer data packet transmission by using different layer protocols. The OSI model may also be referred to as a seven-layer OSI model or a seven-layer model. In some embodiments, the first layer may be a physical layer. In some embodiments, the second layer may be a media access control (MAC) layer. In some embodiments, the third layer may be a radio link control (RLC) layer. In some embodiments, the fourth layer may be a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer. In some embodiments, the fifth layer may be a radio resource control (RRC) layer. In some embodiments, the sixth layer may be a non-access stratum (NAS) layer or an Internet Protocol (IP) layer, and the seventh layer is other layers.

[0033] Various example embodiments of the present solution will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings so that one of ordinary skill in the art can make and use the present solution. As will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading this disclosure, various changes or modifications may be made to the examples described herein without departing from the scope of the present solution. Therefore, the present solution is not limited to the example embodiments and applications described and illustrated herein. In addition, the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed herein are merely example methods. Depending on design preferences, the specific order or hierarchy of steps of the disclosed methods or processes may be rearranged while still within the scope of the present solution. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the methods and techniques disclosed herein present various steps or behaviors in an example order, and unless otherwise expressly stated, the present solution is not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

[0034] 2. System and method for HARQ feedback enable-disable configuration

[0035] In a terrestrial network (TN), a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) mechanism can improve transmission reliability. After transmission, the transmitter can perform a new transmission or retransmission in the same HARQ process after receiving HARQ-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback (e.g., an acknowledgement / response about the receipt / non-receipt of the transmission) from the receiver. HARQ-ACK feedback can be used to confirm whether the transmitted data has been successfully received. When the propagation delay is long, such as in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), the HARQ process can wait a long time for feedback before the next transmission. If all HARQ processes have completed the transmission, but no feedback is received due to a large round-trip time (RTT) (such as a round-trip delay), the transmitter may stop sending and HARQ stagnation occurs. In order to avoid HARQ stagnation and improve throughput, HARQ feedback disabling (e.g., disabling a portion of the HARQ process associated with waiting for feedback and / or processing feedback) can be applied in a new radio (NR)-NTN system.

[0036] However, HARQ feedback disabling may be selective. In order to enhance coverage and improve detection performance, data transmission may be repeated by NTN applications in, for example, narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) or enhanced machine type communication (eMTC). When a HARQ process is enabled, disabling HARQ feedback may mean that no feedback is provided, which may cause some problems (e.g., the modulation order and / or power control may not be able to adapt to channel conditions). Therefore, dynamic configuration of enabling / disabling HARQ feedback may be beneficial to make a trade-off between throughput and detection performance.

[0037] Figure 3An example structure of a transparent NTN according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The link between a UE (e.g., user equipment, UE 104, UE 204, mobile device, wireless communication device, terminal, etc.) and a satellite may be a service link. The link between a BS (e.g., base station, BS102, BS202, gNB, eNB, wireless communication node, etc.) and a satellite may be a feeder link and is common to all UEs in the same cell. Due to the high altitude of the satellite, the propagation delay may be large. For NTN, especially for aircraft entities in a geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO), due to the long (signal transmission / propagation) distance, the RTT between the UE and the BS may be as long as hundreds of milliseconds. In a low earth orbit (LEO), the RTT between the UE and the BS may be only a few milliseconds to tens of milliseconds.

[0038] Figure 4 1 shows a representation of HARQ stagnation and HARQ feedback disabling according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. HARQ feedback disabling can be implemented at least for New Radio (NR)-NTN based on semi-static configuration. The network can disable feedback of at least one HARQ process through radio resource control (RRC) signaling. By disabling HARQ feedback of a HARQ process, the UE can continuously send new transport blocks (TBs) without performing such as Figure 4 The stop and wait process shown in (2) in FIG. Therefore, HARQ stagnation caused by excessive RTT can be avoided and throughput can be improved. However, when there is no HARQ retransmission, the detection performance will also decrease. Therefore, HARQ feedback can be configured to be disabled in NR-NTN to make a trade-off between throughput and detection performance.

[0039] Repetition can be applied to data transmission (e.g., in IoT-NTN or eMTC) to improve the detection performance at the receiver. If the number of repetitions (the number of times a data transmission is repeated) is large enough, the duration of sending one TB may be longer than the RTT. In this case, even if Figure 4 As shown in (3), if HARQ feedback is enabled, the possibility of HARQ stagnation will also be reduced. For a single HARQ process UE, disabling HARQ feedback may prohibit link adaptation because there is no feedback information. Therefore, a dynamic configuration mechanism for disabling HARQ feedback can be studied.

[0040] Implementation Example 1: HARQ feedback enabling / disabling based on DCI configuration

[0041] Dynamic configuration of HARQ feedback enable / disable may be configured in IoT-NTN to trade off between throughput and performance. Downlink control information (DCI) may be sent for scheduling of each transmission. DCI may be appropriate signaling that carries configuration information. At least one of the following examples may be considered for configuration.

[0042] Example-1: A bit field (e.g., a field having a length of one or more bits) in DCI may be defined to indicate whether HARQ feedback of at least one transport block scheduled by the DCI is disabled. For example, a one-bit field may be defined. If the network displays "1" in the bit field, HARQ feedback may be disabled. If the network displays "0" in the bit field, HARQ feedback may be enabled, and vice versa. The bit field may be newly defined or reinterpreted from an existing bit field (including a reserved bit field) in the DCI.

[0043] Example-2: When multiple transport blocks are scheduled by DCI, a bitmap may be displayed in the DCI to configure which transport blocks among the multiple transport blocks disable HARQ feedback. For example, when two TBs are scheduled, two bits may be defined for the two TBs respectively to display the configuration of enabling / disabling HARQ feedback. The bit field may be newly defined or may be a bit field (including a reserved bit field) that is reinterpreted (e.g., reused) from a current / existing bit field.

[0044] Example-3: When multiple HARQ processes are used, a bitmap may be indicated in the DCI to configure which HARQ processes are HARQ feedback disabled. For example, when two HARQ processes are used, two bits may be defined for the two HARQ processes respectively to indicate the configuration of enabling / disabling HARQ feedback. The bit field may be a newly defined bit field or a bit field reinterpreted from a current / existing bit field (including a reserved bit field).

[0045] Example-4: When the bit field for HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration in DCI does not exist, the HARQ feedback configuration may not change (eg, the same as the previous DCI configuration).

[0046] Example-5: When the bit field for HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration in DCI does not exist, the UE may determine that there is no DCI configuration for HARQ feedback enable / disable. RRC-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration may be applied.

[0047] Example-6: When the bit field for HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration in DCI does not exist, HARQ feedback may be enabled.

[0048] From the above example, the UE may receive the first signaling, the second signaling and / or the third signaling. The UE may determine whether to enable at least one HARQ feedback of at least one hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process (and / or at least one transport block) based on at least one of the following: the first signaling, the second signaling, or the third signaling. In some embodiments, the BS may determine whether to configure at least one HARQ feedback of at least one hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process to be disabled. The BS may send at least one of the following signaling: the first signaling, the second signaling, or the third signaling to indicate whether to enable at least one HARQ process feedback. The bit field for the HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration may be newly defined or obtained by reinterpreting an existing bit field. In order to avoid misunderstanding of the DCI, it may be configured whether the DCI-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration function is enabled. The enabling of this function may be semi-statically configured through high-level signaling. The high-level signaling may include at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) signaling, media access control control element (MAC CE) signaling, or system information block (SIB) signaling. The indication of whether to enable HARQ feedback may be configured as at least one of the following: per UE or per HARQ process. For example, if the indication of whether to enable HARQ feedback is disabled for the first UE, the first UE may disable all HARQ feedback for the HARQ process on the first UE. The DCI-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration function may be enabled per UE or per HARQ process. For example, if the DCI-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration function is enabled per UE, the UE may follow the DCI configuration regardless of which HARQ process is used. If the function is enabled per HARQ process, the UE may only follow the DCI configuration of the HARQ process for which the DCI configuration function is enabled. Implementation Example 2: Interaction between RRC-based configuration and DCI-based configuration

[0049] In NR-NTN, RRC-based configuration for enabling / disabling HARQ feedback can be supported. In the RRC-based method, the network can indicate to the UE whether to disable HARQ feedback per HARQ process. Therefore, it is possible to consider designing an RRC-based configuration method for IoT-NTN. When supporting both RRC-based configuration and DCI-based configuration, it is possible to consider how to handle the situation where the two configurations conflict.

[0050] Since the RRC-based solution may be the default solution used in NR-NTN, and the DCI-based solution may be designed for IoT-NTN to handle specific situations, the DCI-based solution may have a higher priority when both configurations exist. At least one of the following examples may be considered.

[0051] Example-1: When the DCI-based HARQ feedback enabling / disabling configuration function is not enabled (eg, indicated), the RRC-based HARQ feedback enabling / disabling configuration may be adopted. If neither the DCI-based configuration nor the RRC-based configuration is indicated, HARQ feedback is enabled.

[0052] Example-2: When the DCI-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration function is enabled, the DCI-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration may have a higher priority than the RRC-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration. If the RRC-based configuration is not applied, the DCI-based configuration may be applied. If there is an RRC-based configuration, the DCI configuration may override / take precedence over the RRC configuration (e.g., the DCI configuration has a higher priority / is preferred than the RRC configuration). If there is a conflict between the DCI-based configuration and the RRC-based configuration, the RRC-based configuration may be ignored.

[0053] Example-3: When the DCI-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration function is enabled but not configured, the RRC-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration may be adopted. If the DCI-based configuration and the RRC-based configuration are not indicated, the HARQ feedback is enabled.

[0054] In addition, the UE can determine whether to enable HARQ feedback based on information from RRC signaling and DCI signaling. For example, RRC signaling can be used to configure whether to enable HARQ feedback by default. DCI signaling can be used to indicate whether RRC signaling is to be reversed / changed / reversed. At least one of the following examples can be considered. This method may be different from the previous example. The previous example may directly indicate via DCI whether feedback is disabled. In this method, the RRC-based configuration can be the baseline, and the DCI signaling can indicate whether the configuration is reversed (e.g., from "enable" to "disable", or from "disable" to "enable").

[0055] Embodiment-4: A bit field in the DCI may be defined to indicate whether the RRC-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration is inverted / changed for at least one transport block scheduled by the DCI. For example, a one-bit field may be defined, where "1" may indicate that the RRC-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration is inverted / changed, and "0" may indicate that the RRC-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration is retained, and vice versa. If the bit field does not exist, the RRC-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration (if enabled or available) may be maintained / maintained.

[0056] Embodiment-5: When multiple transport blocks are scheduled by DCI, a bitmap may be indicated in the DCI to indicate which RRC-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configurations in the HARQ process corresponding to the transport block may be inverted / changed. For example, when two TBs are scheduled, two bits may be defined for the two HARQ processes, respectively, to indicate whether the corresponding RRC-based configurations of the HARQ feedback enable / disable are inverted / changed. If the bit field does not exist, the RRC-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration may be maintained / maintained.

[0057] Embodiment-6: When multiple HARQ processes are used, a bitmap may be indicated in the DCI to configure which of the RRC-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configurations are inverted / changed. For example, when two HARQ processes are used, two bits may be defined for two TBs respectively to display the configuration of HARQ feedback enable / disable. If the bit field does not exist, the RRC-based HARQ feedback enable / disable configuration may be maintained / maintained.

[0058] It should be understood that one or more features of the above-described embodiments are not exclusive to a particular embodiment, but may be combined in any manner (eg, in any priority and / or order, concurrently or otherwise).

[0059] Figure 5 A flow chart of a method 500 for enabling or disabling HARQ feedback is shown. The method 500 may be used in conjunction with Figure 1-4 The method 500 may be implemented by any one or more components and devices described in detail. In summary, in some embodiments, the method 500 may be performed by a wireless communication device (e.g., a UE). According to the embodiment, the method 500 may also perform more operations, fewer operations, or different operations. At least one aspect of the operation is directed to a system, method, apparatus, or computer-readable medium.

[0060] A wireless communication device (e.g., a UE) may receive a first signaling (e.g., downlink control information (DCI) signaling) and a second signaling (e.g., a high-layer signaling) from a wireless communication node (e.g., a BS). The wireless communication device may determine whether at least one hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of at least one HARQ process is to be disabled based on the first signaling and the second signaling.

[0061] In some embodiments, the first signaling may include / is downlink control information (DCI) signaling. The second signaling may include / is high-level signaling. The high-level signaling may include / is at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) signaling, media access control control element (MAC CE) signaling, or system information block (SIB) signaling. The DCI signaling may include a 1-bit value to indicate whether to enable at least one HARQ feedback of at least one transport block.

[0062] In some embodiments, the DCI signaling may include a bitmap to indicate whether the corresponding HARQ feedback corresponding to each of the multiple transport blocks is to be disabled. The DCI signaling may include a bitmap to indicate whether the corresponding HARQ feedback corresponding to each of the multiple HARQ processes (e.g., each bit of the bitmap corresponds to the HARQ feedback of a corresponding one of the HARQ processes) is to be disabled.

[0063] In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may determine, in response to the absence of a field for enabling or disabling HARQ feedback (e.g., not detected) in DCI signaling, that: the configuration of at least one HARQ feedback has not changed, the configuration of at least one HARQ feedback does not exist, or the HARQ feedback is enabled. The second signaling (e.g., high-layer signaling) may include an indication of whether the first signaling is used to indicate whether the at least one HARQ feedback is to be disabled. The indication of whether the first signaling is used to indicate whether the at least one HARQ feedback is to be disabled may be specific to at least one of the following: the wireless communication device, or each HARQ process in the at least one HARQ process.

[0064] In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may receive third signaling from the wireless communication node. The third signaling may indicate whether at least one HARQ feedback of at least one HARQ process is to be disabled. The third signaling may include radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0065] In some embodiments, when the second signaling indicates that the first signaling is used to indicate whether HARQ feedback is to be disabled, the wireless communication device can determine whether at least one HARQ feedback of at least one HARQ process is to be disabled based on the first signaling, regardless of the indication of the third signaling.

[0066] In some embodiments, when (i) the second signaling indicates that the first signaling is used to indicate whether HARQ feedback is to be disabled, and (ii) the field for enabling or disabling HARQ feedback does not exist in the first signaling, the wireless communication device can determine whether at least one HARQ feedback of at least one HARQ process is to be disabled based on the third signaling.

[0067] In some embodiments, when the second signaling indicates that the first signaling will not be used to indicate whether HARQ feedback is to be disabled, the wireless communication device may determine whether at least one HARQ feedback of at least one HARQ process is to be disabled according to the third signaling.

[0068] In some embodiments, the second signaling (e.g., high-layer signaling) may include an indication of whether at least one HARQ feedback for at least one HARQ process is to be disabled. The DCI signaling may include a 1-bit value to indicate whether to invert (e.g., reverse, or make it opposite) the indication of whether the HARQ feedback for at least one transport block of the second signaling is to be disabled.

[0069] In some embodiments, the DCI signaling may include a bitmap (e.g., multiple bits) to indicate whether to invert a corresponding indication from the second signaling regarding whether HARQ feedback for a corresponding one of a plurality of transport blocks is to be disabled (e.g., each bit corresponds to a corresponding one of the transport blocks). In some embodiments, the DCI signaling may include a bitmap to indicate whether to invert a corresponding indication from the second signaling regarding whether HARQ feedback for a corresponding one of a plurality of HARQ processes is to be disabled. When there is no field in the DCI signaling for inverting or maintaining an indication of whether at least one HARQ feedback for at least one HARQ process is to be disabled in the second signaling, the wireless communication device may determine whether at least one HARQ feedback for at least one HARQ process is to be disabled based on the second signaling.

[0070] In some embodiments, a wireless communication node (e.g., a BS) may send a first signaling (e.g., downlink control information (DCI) signaling) and a second signaling (e.g., a high-layer signaling) to a wireless communication device (e.g., a UE). The first signaling and the second signaling may (e.g., used together to) indicate whether to enable at least one hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of at least one HARQ process.

[0071] Although various embodiments of the present solution are described above, it should be understood that these embodiments are presented by way of example only, not by way of limitation. Similarly, various schematic diagrams may describe example architectures or configurations, which are provided to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to understand the example features and functions of the present solution. However, these technicians should understand that the present solution is not limited to the illustrated example architectures or configurations, but may be implemented using various alternative architectures and configurations. In addition, as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, one or more features of an embodiment may be combined with one or more features of another embodiment described herein. Therefore, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the illustrative embodiments described above.

[0072] It should also be understood that any reference to an element herein using designations such as "first," "second," etc. does not generally limit the number or order of those elements. Rather, these designations may be used herein as a convenient means of distinguishing between two or more elements or instances of an element. Thus, reference to a first and a second element does not mean that only two elements may be used, nor does it mean that the first element must precede the second element in some manner.

[0073] In addition, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that information and signals may be represented using a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, and symbols, etc., which may be referred to in the above description, may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0074] It will also be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that any of the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, processors, components, circuits, methods, and functions associated with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented by electronic hardware (e.g., digital implementation, analog implementation, or a combination of the two), firmware, various forms of programs or design codes including instructions (which may be referred to herein as "software" or "software modules" for convenience), or any combination of these technologies. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware, firmware, and software, various illustrative components, modules, circuits, and steps have been generally described above in terms of their functionality. Whether these functions are implemented in the form of hardware, firmware, or software, or in a combination of these technologies, depends on the specific application and the design constraints on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functions in various ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions will not result in a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0075] In addition, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, devices, components, and circuits described herein may be implemented within or performed by an integrated circuit (IC), which may include a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, or any combination thereof. The logic blocks, modules, and circuits may also include antennas and / or transceivers to communicate with various components within a network or within a device. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but may also be any conventional processor, controller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other suitable configuration to perform the functions described herein.

[0076] If implemented in software, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Therefore, the steps of the method or algorithm disclosed herein may be implemented as software stored on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, wherein communication media include any medium capable of transmitting a computer program or code from one place to another. The storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0077] In this document, the term "module" refers to software, firmware, hardware, and any combination of these elements for performing the related functions described herein. In addition, for the purpose of discussion, various modules are described as discrete modules; however, it is apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art that two or more modules can be combined to form a single module that performs associated functions according to embodiments of the present solution.

[0078] In addition, memory or other storage and communication components may also be used in embodiments of the present solution. It will be appreciated that, for clarity, the above description describes embodiments of the present solution with reference to different functional units and processors. However, it will be apparent that any suitable distribution of functionality may be used between different functional units, processing logic elements, or domains without detracting from the present solution. For example, functions illustrated as being performed by separate processing logic elements or controllers may be performed by the same processing logic element or controller. Therefore, references to specific functional units refer only to suitable components that provide the functionality, rather than representing a strict logical or physical structure or organization.

[0079] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the embodiments described in this disclosure, and that the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Therefore, this disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but should be given the broadest scope consistent with the novel features and principles disclosed herein, as described in the claims below.

Claims

1. A method comprising: receiving, by the wireless communication device, first signaling and second signaling from a wireless communication node, and The wireless communication device determines whether at least one Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback of at least one HARQ process is to be disabled according to the first signaling and the second signaling.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the following: The first signaling includes downlink control information (DCI) signaling; The second signaling includes high-layer signaling; or The high-layer signaling includes at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) signaling, medium access control element (MAC CE) signaling, or system information block (SIB) signaling.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the DCI signaling includes a 1-bit value to indicate whether the at least one HARQ feedback is to be disabled for at least one transport block. 4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the DCI signaling includes a bitmap to indicate whether corresponding HARQ feedback corresponding to each of a plurality of transport blocks is to be disabled. 5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the DCI signaling includes a bitmap to indicate whether corresponding HARQ feedback corresponding to each HARQ process of a plurality of HARQ processes is to be disabled.

6. The method according to claim 2, comprising: The wireless communication device determines, in response to the field for enabling or disabling HARQ feedback not being present in the DCI signaling: the configuration of the at least one HARQ feedback is unchanged, The at least one HARQ feedback configuration does not exist, or The HARQ feedback is enabled.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein the second signaling comprises: Whether the first signaling is used to indicate whether the at least one HARQ feedback is to be disabled.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein whether the first signaling is used to indicate whether the at least one HARQ feedback is to be disabled is specific to at least one of: the wireless communication device, or each HARQ process in the at least one HARQ process.

9. The method according to claim 1, comprising: A third signaling is received by the wireless communication device from the wireless communication node, wherein the third signaling indicates whether the at least one HARQ feedback for the at least one HARQ process is to be disabled.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the third signaling comprises radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

11. The method according to claim 9, comprising: When the second signaling indicates that the first signaling is used to indicate whether the HARQ feedback is to be disabled, the wireless communication device determines whether the at least one HARQ feedback of the at least one HARQ process is to be disabled based on the first signaling, regardless of the indication of the third signaling.

12. The method according to claim 9, comprising: When the second signaling indicates that the first signaling is used to indicate whether the HARQ feedback is to be disabled, and the field for enabling or disabling HARQ feedback does not exist in the first signaling, the wireless communication device determines, based on the third signaling, whether the at least one HARQ feedback of the at least one HARQ process is to be disabled.

13. The method according to claim 9, comprising: When the second signaling indicates that the first signaling is not used to indicate whether the HARQ feedback is to be disabled, the wireless communication device determines, according to the third signaling, whether the at least one HARQ feedback of the at least one HARQ process is to be disabled.

14. The method according to claim 2, wherein the second signaling comprises: An indication of whether the at least one HARQ feedback for the at least one HARQ process is to be disabled.

15. The method according to claim 2, wherein the DCI signaling includes a 1-bit value to indicate whether to invert the indication of the second signaling whether HARQ feedback for at least one transport block is to be disabled.

16. The method of claim 2, wherein the DCI signaling includes a bitmap to indicate whether to invert a corresponding indication from the second signaling regarding whether HARQ feedback for a corresponding transport block among a plurality of transport blocks is to be disabled.

17. The method of claim 2, wherein the DCI signaling includes a bitmap to indicate whether to invert a corresponding indication from the second signaling regarding whether HARQ feedback for a corresponding HARQ process among a plurality of HARQ processes is to be disabled.

18. The method according to claim 2, comprising: When the following field does not exist in the DCI signaling, the wireless communication device determines whether the at least one HARQ feedback of the at least one HARQ process is disabled based on the second signaling, and the field is used to invert or maintain the indication of the second signaling whether the at least one HARQ feedback for the at least one HARQ process is to be disabled.

19. A method comprising: A first signaling and a second signaling are sent by a wireless communication node to a wireless communication device to indicate whether to disable at least one Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback of at least one HARQ process.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1-19.

21. An apparatus comprising: At least one processor is configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 1-19.

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