Monitoring single downlink control information (DCI) messages for scheduling multiple cells

Abstract

The present application relates to devices and components, including apparatuses, systems, and methods for multi-cell PUSCH / PDSCH scheduling using a single DCI in a wireless communication system.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 371,058, filed on August 10, 2022, entitled “Monitoring of a Single Downlink Control Information (DCI) Message Scheduling Multiple Cells,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of wireless technology, and in particular to a single downlink control information message for scheduling multiple cells. Background Art

[0004] The use of Downlink Control Information (DCI) messages to schedule uplink scheduling grants and downlink scheduling assignments is described in existing 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) networks. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005] Figure 1 A network environment according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0006] Figure 2 A network environment according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0007] Figure 3 An example of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) / physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling in a carrier aggregation (CA) environment according to some embodiments is shown.

[0008] Figure 4 An example of cross-carrier scheduling according to some embodiments is shown.

[0009] Figure 5 An example of cross-carrier scheduling according to some embodiments is shown.

[0010] Figure 6 An example of cross-carrier scheduling according to some embodiments is shown.

[0011] Figure 7 An example of cross-carrier scheduling according to some embodiments is shown.

[0012] Figure 8 An example of cross-carrier scheduling according to some embodiments is shown.

[0013] Fig. 9 An operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0014] Fig.10 A table relating to the maximum number of control channel elements according to some embodiments is shown.

[0015] Fig.11 An operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0016] Fig.12 A beamforming component of a device according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0017] Fig.13 User equipment according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0018] Fig.14 A base station according to some embodiments is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The following specific embodiments refer to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different drawings. In the following description, for the purpose of illustration rather than limitation, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., are described to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it is obvious to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that the various aspects of various embodiments can be practiced in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some instances, the description of well-known devices, circuits, and methods is omitted so that the description of various embodiments will not be obscured by unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" refers to (A), (B) or (A and B). For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A is based on B" means "A is at least based on B".

[0020] The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure.

[0021] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a hardware component such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) configured to provide the described functionality, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable system on chip (SoC)), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc. In some embodiments, the circuit can execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term "circuit" can also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and a program code for executing the functionality of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code can be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0022] As used herein, the term "processor circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, or transferring digital data. The term "processor circuit" may refer to an application processor, a baseband processor, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit, a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes).

[0023] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to a circuit that enables, is a part of, or includes information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, etc.

[0024] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device that has radio communication capabilities and can describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. In addition, the terms "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous and may be referred to as a client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. In addition, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0025] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to each other. Furthermore, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to each other and configured to share computing resources or networked resources.

[0026] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, such as a computer device, a mechanical device, a memory space, a processor / CPU time, a processor / CPU usage, a processor and accelerator load, a hardware time or usage, a power supply, an input / output operation, a port or a network socket, a channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, a network, a database and an application, a unit of work, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage or network resources provided by a virtualized infrastructure to an application, a device, a system, etc. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources that a computer device / system can access via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entity that provides a service, and may include computing resources or network resources. System resources may be viewed as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services that can be accessed through a server, wherein such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and can be clearly identified.

[0027] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for communicating data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous or equivalent to "communication channel", "data communication channel", "transmission channel", "data transmission channel", "access channel", "data access channel", "link", "data link", "carrier", "radio frequency carrier" or any other similar term representing a path or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, as used herein, the term "link" refers to a connection made between two devices for sending and receiving information.

[0028] As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0029] The term "connected" may mean that two or more elements at a common communication protocol layer have an established signaling relationship with each other through a communication channel, link, interface, or reference point.

[0030] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment or infrastructure for providing wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, virtualized network function, etc.

[0031] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains the contents. An information element may include one or more additional information elements.

[0032] This document describes techniques for multi-cell physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) / physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling using a single downlink control information (DCI). Figure 1 A network environment 100 according to some embodiments is illustrated. The network environment 100 may include a user equipment (UE) 104 and an access node (also referred to as a "base station", gNodeB, or gNB) 108. The access node 108 may provide one or more wireless service cells 112 and 114, such as third generation partnership project (3GPP) new radio "NR" cells, through which the UE 104 may communicate with the access node 108 (e.g., via an NR-Uu interface).

[0033] The access node 108 may send information (e.g., data and control signaling) in the downlink direction by mapping logical channels onto transport channels and mapping transport channels onto physical channels. Logical channels may transfer data between the radio link control (RLC) layer and the medium access control (MAC) layer; transport channels may transfer data between the MAC layer and the physical (PHY) layer; and physical channels may transfer information across the air interface. Physical channels may include a physical broadcast channel (PBCH); a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); and a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0034] The PBCH may be used to broadcast system information that the UE 104 may use to initially access a serving cell. The PBCH may be transmitted in a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block along with a physical synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS). The SS / PBCH block (SSB) may be used by the UE 104 during a cell search procedure and for beam selection.

[0035] The PDSCH may be used to transfer end-user application data, Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB) messages, system information messages (except, for example, the Master Information Block (MIB)), and paging messages.

[0036] The access node (e.g., base station or gNB) 108 may also send various reference signals to the UE 104. Reference signals (RS) are special signals that exist only at the PHY layer and are not used to deliver any specific information (e.g., data), but their purpose is to provide a reference point for transmit power. Reference signals may include demodulation reference signals (DMRS) for PBCH, PDCCH, and PDSCH. The UE 104 may compare the received version of the DMRS with the known DMRS sequence that was transmitted to estimate the impact of the propagation channel. The UE 104 may then apply the inverse channel of the propagation channel during the demodulation process transmitted by the corresponding physical channel.

[0037] Reference signals may also include a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). CSI-RS may be a multi-purpose downlink transmission that may be used for CSI reporting, beam management, connected mode mobility, radio link failure detection, beam failure detection and recovery, and fine tuning of time and frequency synchronization. For example, SSBs and CSI-RS may be measured by the UE 104 to determine a desired downlink beam pair for sending / receiving PDCCH and PDSCH transmissions. The UE may use a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) to send uplink control information (UCI) to the access node 108, including, for example, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgments, scheduling requests, and periodic and semi-persistent channel state information (CSI) reports.

[0038] The access node 108 may send the PDCCH using resource elements belonging to a control resource set (CORESET). The search space configuration may refer to a specific CORESET to define a search space, e.g., a specific set of resource blocks and symbols that the UE 104 attempts to decode the PDCCH. The access node 108 may configure up to three CORESETs for the active downlink bandwidth portion of the serving cell. The CORESET may be configured by a ControlResourceSet information element, which defines frequency domain resources to indicate the resource blocks allocated to the CORESET, defines a duration (which may be 1, 2, or 3 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols) to indicate the number of symbols allocated to the CORESET, and defines quasi co-location (QCL) information to support successful reception of the PDCCH.

[0039] UE 104 may include enhanced multiple-input multiple-output (eMIMO) capabilities that support simultaneous communications via beams from several (or even many) different serving cells. Figure 1 An example of carrier aggregation (CA) is shown in which UE 104 receives data from access node 108 while simultaneously receiving data from serving cell 112 via component carrier (CC) 122 and from serving cell 114 via component carrier (CC) 124 .

[0040] CC 122 may be in a frequency band in frequency range 1 (FR1) or frequency range 2 (FR2). Similarly, CC 124 may be in a frequency band in FR1 or FR2. CCs 122 and 124 may be in the same frequency band (intra-band, which may be contiguous or non-contiguous), or may be in different frequency bands (inter-band) and in possibly different frequency ranges. For FR1 (e.g., below 7.225 GHz), the transmit antenna of UE 104 is typically implemented as an omnidirectional antenna. For FR2 (e.g., 24.250 GHz and above, which is also referred to as mmWave), the transmit antenna of UE 104 may be implemented as a panel with multiple antenna elements. For example, the multiple antenna elements of the panel may be driven as a phased array (e.g., to steer a beam in a desired direction).

[0041] Figure 2 A network environment 200 according to some embodiments is illustrated. The network environment 100 may include a UE 104 and two or more access nodes (or "base stations", gNodeBs, or gNBs) 208 and 210. Each of the access nodes 208 and 210 may provide one or more wireless service cells, e.g., 3GPP New Radio (NR) cells, through which the UE 104 may communicate with the access nodes 208 and 210. In this example, the access node 208 provides two service cells 212 and 214 that communicate with the UE 104 through CCs 222 and 224, respectively, and the access node 210 provides two service cells 216 and 218 that communicate with the UE 104 through CCs 226 and 228, respectively.

[0042] UE 104 may communicate with access nodes 208 and 210 over an air interface compatible with 3GPP technical specifications such as those defining fifth generation (5G) NR system standards. Each of access nodes 208 and 210 may be a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) node coupled to a 5G core network. The NG-RAN node may be a gNB that provides NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations to UE 104, or an ng-eNB that provides Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol terminations to UE 104.

[0043] Figure 2An example of dual connectivity (DC) is shown, in which UE 104 can send and receive data simultaneously through multiple component carriers (CCs) from two different cell groups. In this example, access node 208 is a master node that provides a control plane connection to the core network, and access node 210 is a secondary node. The master node can be coupled to the 5G core (5GC) network via a backhaul connection that can support the NG-C interface. The service cell provided by the master node (access node 208 in this example) includes a master cell group (MCG) 220, and the service cell provided by the secondary node (access node 210 in this example) includes a secondary cell group (SCG) 221. Each of MCG 220 and SCG 221 has a primary service cell and optionally one or more secondary service cells. The primary service cell (also called a special cell or spCell) of MCG 220 can be referred to as PCell, and the secondary service cell of MCG 220 can be referred to as SCell. The primary serving cell (SpCell) of the SCG 221 may be referred to as a PSCell, and the secondary serving cell of the SCG 221 may be referred to as an SCell or an SSCell. Figure 2 , serving cell 212 is a PCell, serving cell 216 is a PSCell, and serving cells 214 and 218 are SCells. Unless otherwise specified, the term "primary serving cell" may refer to any one of a PCell and a PSCell; unless otherwise specified, the term "secondary serving cell" may refer to any one of a secondary serving cell of an MCG and a secondary serving cell of an SCG; and unless otherwise specified, the term "SCell" may also refer to any one of a secondary serving cell of an MCG and a secondary serving cell of an SCG.

[0044] The use of Downlink Control Information (DCI) messages to schedule uplink scheduling grants and downlink scheduling assignments is described in existing 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) networks. Figure 3 An example is shown where, for each of three cells (cell 1, cell 2, cell 3) on different corresponding CCs, the DCI in the corresponding PDCCH schedules uplink data transmission on the PUSCH or downlink data transmission on the PDSCH.

[0045] The current version of 5G NR supports cross-carrier scheduling and carrier aggregation (CA) functions, so that the UE can be configured with more than one component carrier (CC). Support for up to 32 CCs is currently provided. CA can be implemented to achieve a better user experience by allowing the UE to access a larger bandwidth. Cross-carrier scheduling (CCS) with CA is supported in the existing 5GNR. CCS can be implemented to avoid the need to monitor the control of each single CC. For CCS, one CC can be used to schedule multiple other CCs. However, certain restrictions may be imposed.

[0046] For example, prior to Release 17, previous releases did not allow a primary cell (PCell or PSCell) to be scheduled by another cell. In addition, scheduling of a cell by two cells is not allowed, so each single cell can only be scheduled by itself or by another cell. For each scheduled cell, only one scheduling cell can be configured for RRC. It is also not allowed to map more than one scheduling cell to a single scheduling cell. A cell configured to be scheduled by another cell cannot be configured to schedule any cell. Scheduling across different cell groups or different PUCCH groups is not supported. Figure 4 An example is shown where primary cell 1 schedules itself and is also scheduled by cell 3. In this example, primary cell 1 also schedules cell 2, which precludes cell 2 from scheduling another cell.

[0047] 5G NR Release 17 includes some relaxations, especially on the primary cell. Basically for the primary cell, the secondary cell is now allowed to schedule the primary cell, and the primary cell can also be scheduled by two different cells, one of which is the cell itself; the other cell is for the secondary serving cell. This modification allows for more flexible LTE and NR coexistence. This modification can also provide the network with greater scheduling flexibility when the primary cell coexists with LTE and PDCCH monitoring of the primary cell is restricted due to the LTE cell-specific reference signal (CRS), where the LTE CRS is an always-on signal.

[0048] Although flexible cross-carrier scheduling is allowed, a single DCI can only be used to schedule PDSCH / PUSCH on one cell. Therefore, each time the UE decodes the DCI, the DCI only schedules one cell. Although a single cell may be allowed to schedule up to eight cells, any single DCI can only select one of the eight cells and schedule that cell. The scheduled cell is indicated by the carrier indicator field (CIF) in the DCI, and the mapping of the CIF value to the actual cell is configured by the RRC via the parameter CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig, where the configuration is for each scheduled cell. Therefore, if the gNodeB wants to schedule, for example, all eight cells, the gNodeB needs to transmit eight different DCIs, each of which schedules a corresponding one of these cells.

[0049] The scheduling process is based on the carrier indicator field (CIF). Therefore, in uplink DCI or downlink DCI, the carrier indicator field is a three-bit field in the DCI. The value of the three-bit field indicates one of the eight cells, and a single cell is allowed to schedule up to eight cells. When the UE decodes the DCI, the DCI will tell the UE which of these cells is being scheduled on the downlink or uplink.

[0050] Currently, if N cells are to be scheduled simultaneously, N separate DCI messages are transmitted, one for each cell being scheduled. This configuration may be inefficient when simultaneous scheduling of multiple cells is frequent. Therefore, it may be desirable to configure a single DCI to schedule more than one cell, and possibly schedule both an uplink channel (PUSCH) and a downlink channel (PDSCH). The abbreviation "SDSMC" is used herein to refer to "a single DCI that schedules multiple cells".

[0051] Currently, it is not allowed to use cells in one cell group to schedule cells in another cell group. In addition, CCS can be performed on cells within a PUCCH group, but not from one PUCCH group to another PUCCH group.

[0052] This document describes techniques for multi-cell PUSCH / PDSCH scheduling using a single DCI (also referred to as "multi-cell single DCI scheduling"). Figure 5 An example is shown where scheduling cell 1 schedules itself and two other cells (cell 2 and cell 3) at the same time. To some extent, single DCI scheduling multiple cells provides certain benefits for network flexibility and reduced use of network resources. However, from the UE's perspective, allowing too much flexibility in multi-cell PUSCH / PDSCH scheduling with a single DCI may adversely affect the control process. Therefore, it may be desirable to impose certain constraints to limit the flexibility of single DCI scheduling of multiple cells.

[0053] Limitations on flexibility . Four alternative constraints are now discussed. In the first alternative, when a single DCI is allowed to schedule PDSCH / PUSCH in multiple cells simultaneously, for each scheduled cell, it can only be configured to be scheduled by one scheduling cell. Under this constraint, even if a single scheduling cell can schedule multiple cells simultaneously, each scheduled cell can only be scheduled by one scheduling cell. Otherwise, if a scheduled cell can be scheduled by multiple scheduling cells, this can make the UE more complicated in terms of how to map where the cell is being scheduled and which cell is being scheduled.

[0054] Because DCI scheduling requires minimum turnaround time, the scheduled cells and scheduling cells should be handled with very strict timing constraints, and the UE can be expected to turn around very quickly. If the mapping is very flexible, the mapping of the scheduled cells to the actual implementation becomes more challenging. For these reasons, it is desirable to require that each scheduled cell can only be scheduled by a single scheduling cell.

[0055] In the second alternative, when a single DCI is allowed to schedule PDSCH / PUSCH simultaneously in multiple cells, for each scheduled cell, when it schedules itself, it can only be configured to be scheduled by one scheduling cell, and when it is scheduled simultaneously with one or more other cells, it can only be configured to be scheduled by one additional scheduling cell. Figure 6 An example of this second alternative is shown, where cell 1 is self-scheduled and is also scheduled by cell 2, and cell 2 also schedules cell 3. This second alternative allows a single scheduled cell to be scheduled by up to two scheduling cells, with the constraint that one of the scheduling cells must be itself. In this alternative, the scheduling is always self-scheduling plus the other scheduling. Thus, a single scheduled cell can only be scheduled by at most one scheduling cell different from itself, but may also be scheduled by itself. This alternative provides more flexibility to the network, but still limits the number of cases that the UE has to handle.

[0056] In a third alternative, when a single DCI is allowed to schedule PDSCH / PUSCH simultaneously in multiple cells, for each scheduled cell, when it schedules itself, it can be configured to be scheduled by more than one scheduling cell, and when it is scheduled simultaneously with one or more other cells, it can be configured to be scheduled by only one additional scheduling cell. Figure 7 An example of this third alternative is shown, where each of cells 1 and 3 is self-scheduled, and is also scheduled by cells 2 and 4. These three alternatives allow for further relaxation and greater flexibility in network scheduling, but increase complexity at the UE.

[0057] In a fourth alternative, when a single DCI is allowed to schedule PDSCH / PUSCH in multiple cells simultaneously, for each scheduled cell, it can be configured to be scheduled by more than one scheduling cell, regardless of whether it schedules itself or is scheduled simultaneously with one or more other cells. Figure 8 An example of this fourth alternative is shown, where only cell 1 is self-scheduled, and each of non-self-scheduled cells 2 and 4 schedules multiple other cells. Under this alternative, the scheduled cell does not even have to be self-scheduled; it can be scheduled by another cell entirely, and can also be scheduled by several or many different other cells. For example, four different scheduling cells can be configured to be able to schedule the same scheduled cell, and the scheduled cell may not even be self-scheduled.

[0058] As described above, from the first alternative to the fourth alternative, an increase in network flexibility can be seen, but at the same time the situation becomes worse for UE specific implementation because the configuration becomes too flexible and there are too many situations that need to be handled by the UE.

[0059] Self-scheduling . When a single cell is allowed to schedule multiple cells, it may be desirable for at least one of the scheduled cells to be self-scheduled. For example, it may be desirable for a cell to support self-scheduling before performing any cross-carrier scheduling. When multiple scheduled cells are mapped into one of the processing units (e.g., at the UE), a mapping tool may be used to minimize the number of cells. If self-scheduling is not allowed, additional cells may need to be supported. When a single DCI is allowed to schedule PDSCH / PUSCH simultaneously in multiple cells, it may be desirable to impose a constraint that at least one of the scheduled cells must be self-scheduled (i.e., the same as the scheduling cell). Under such constraints, scheduling cells is supported.

[0060] Maximum number of cells to be scheduled . DCI signaling has a very slow turnaround time and requires fast UE processing. The UE typically has no more than a few microseconds to finish processing the DCI and start decoding the PDSCH. When a scheduling cell is allowed to schedule multiple scheduled cells simultaneously, very strict latency requirements may be imposed on the realization of those scheduled cells and the scheduling cell in terms of UE specific implementation.

[0061] For each single cell supporting a certain data rate (typically 100 MHz per cell), the UE may already support a gigabit of data per second. If the UE supports four cells, the burden can be as high as 4 Gb / sec or even more. The stringent latency requirements for handling 4 Gb / sec data with low latency requirements also impose constraints on the UE side.

[0062] For these reasons, it may be desirable to limit the number of cells that can be scheduled simultaneously for a single UE (e.g., 2 cells, or 3 or 4). Alternatively, the UE may be allowed to report such a limitation as a capability. For example, when a single cell is allowed to schedule multiple cells (e.g., the network may schedule at most two cells simultaneously), the UE may indicate the maximum number of cells it can support.

[0063] One or more constraints may be introduced regarding the maximum number of different cells (e.g., two, three, four) that may be scheduled with a particular scheduling cell. This maximum number may be reported as a UE capability. For example, a more capable UE may report (e.g., via RRC signaling) its ability to support simultaneous scheduling of three or four cells.

[0064] Carrier Indicator Field. For situations where a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple cells, it may be desirable to increase the maximum difference in the CIF (carrier indicator field) in the DCI that can be configured (e.g., via RRC signaling). One alternative is to keep the bit width of the CIF at three bits. Another alternative is to increase the bit width of the CIF to more than three bits to allow each CIF in the SDSMC to indicate a corresponding one of more than eight possible values. For example, the bit width of the CIF in the SDSMC may be four bits to allow the CIF to indicate one of more than sixteen possible values, or the bit width of the CIF in the SDSMC may be five bits to allow the CIF to indicate one of more than 32 possible values. In this case, the bit width of the CIF may be different for different DCI formats. Another alternative is to map one or more possible values ​​of the CIF to more than one corresponding CC. For example, one value of the CIF may be mapped to a first combination of two or more CCs, and another value of the CIF may be mapped to a second combination of two or more CCs. In this case, at least one of the first combination or the second combination includes at least one CC that is not in the other of the first combination or the second combination, but some CCs may be in both the first combination and the second combination.

[0065] Subcarrier spacing . 5G NR offers several different subcarrier spacings (subcarrier spacing, or SCS, also called numerology), including 15kHz, 30kHz, 60kHz, 120kHz, up to 480kHz, and 960kHz (of which 240kHz is used for SSB). As the subcarrier spacing increases, the duration of the symbol in the time domain becomes shorter and the time domain resolution becomes higher. Therefore, different subcarrier spacings are different time resolutions for how the UE should process the signal. Each cell can only have one numerology at any given time because there is only one valid subcarrier spacing for the data portion, but different subcarrier spacings between control and data are allowed.

[0066] If each DCI is limited to one scheduling cell and one scheduled cell, the UE only needs to handle at most two different subcarrier spacings when decoding the DCI. DCI has its own subcarrier spacing, and since the DCI can only schedule only one cell, there is only one scheduled subcarrier spacing. However, for the case where a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple cells, the number of different subcarrier spacings to be handled by the UE may increase, and it may be desirable to impose certain constraints.

[0067] The complexity of the UE can be reduced if the scheduling is within the same subcarrier spacing. When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDSCH / PUSCHs simultaneously in multiple cells, in terms of numerology, the following constraint can be introduced in the specification or reported as a UE capability: All cells scheduled simultaneously by the same scheduling cell must have the same numerology. Under such a constraint, all scheduled cells scheduled together have the same subcarrier spacing. For example, if a single DCI schedules up to N different scheduled cells, all these N scheduled cells should have the same subcarrier spacing. In this case, a single DCI is not allowed to schedule two different cells, where the DCI has an SCS of 15kHz and both scheduled cells have an SCS of 30kHz. The scheduled cells may have a subcarrier spacing different from the subcarrier spacing of the scheduling cell, but all scheduled cells have the same subcarrier spacing. When applied to Figure 6 For example, this constraint would require that cells 1 and 3 scheduled simultaneously have the same numerology.

[0068] Alternatively or additionally, when a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDSCH / PUSCH simultaneously in multiple cells, the following restriction in terms of numerology may be introduced in the specification or reported as a UE capability: All scheduling cells that can schedule the same scheduled cell must have the same numerology. Under such a constraint, if a scheduled cell can be scheduled by multiple scheduling cells, all cells that can schedule the same scheduled cell should have the same subcarrier spacing. The scheduled cell may have a subcarrier spacing different from the subcarrier spacing of the scheduling cell, but all scheduling cells have the same subcarrier spacing. When applied to Figure 6 For example, this constraint would require scheduling cells 1 and 2 to have the same numerology.

[0069] Other constraints / capabilities . When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDSCH / PUSCH simultaneously in multiple cells, any one or more (possibly all) of the following constraints may be introduced in the specification or reported as UE capabilities: All cells scheduled simultaneously by the same scheduling cell must be (1) in the same frequency range (FR1 or FR2-1 or FR2-2); (2) all in a time division duplex (TDD) band or all in a frequency division duplex (FDD) band; (3) all in a licensed band or all in an unlicensed band; (4) in the same cell group; or (5) in the same PUCCH group. When applied to Figure 6 For example, the constraint would require cells 1 and 3 to be scheduled simultaneously, or possibly cell 2, with a specific constraint.

[0070] Constraint (1) is that all scheduled cells scheduled simultaneously by the same scheduling cell are contained in the same frequency range. Under this constraint, the cells scheduled by SDSMC are all in FR1, all in FR2-1 (e.g., from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz, with subcarrier spacing up to 120 kHz), or all in FR2-2 (e.g., from 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz, with subcarrier spacing up to 480 kHz or 960 kHz).

[0071] Constraint (2) is that the scheduled cells are all in the TDD band or all in the FDD band. Under this constraint, if a single DCI schedules multiple scheduled cells at the same time, all scheduled cells should be in FDD or TDD so that there is no mix of TDD and FDD between cells scheduled by SDSMC.

[0072] Constraint (3) is that the scheduled cells are all in the licensed spectrum or all in the unlicensed spectrum, so that no matter whether the spectrum includes licensed spectrum or unlicensed spectrum, all cells scheduled by SDSMC are in the same spectrum category.

[0073] Constraint (4) is that the scheduled cells are all in the same cell group, and constraint (5) is that the scheduled cells are all in the same PUCCH group. Under such constraints, SDSMC will not schedule cells from more than one cell group or more than one PUCCH group.

[0074] Supplemental Uplink (SUL) . When allowing a single DCI to schedule multiple PDSCH / PUSCH simultaneously in multiple cells, it may be desirable to impose one or more constraints related to the scheduling of the supplementary uplink (SUL, also called "supplementary uplink"). In contrast to the normal uplink (NUL), the SUL is a special uplink that has no associated downlink. The SUL is always configured in association with the NUL, which means that the SUL and the associated NUL are configured in the same UL serving cell. The SUL has no associated downlink cell or any downlink operation.

[0075] SUL can be used to enhance network coverage. The gNodeB typically transmits at about 46dBm or 49dBm, but the UE typically transmits at about 23dBm, so the difference in transmit power is about 20dB or more. Since the UE's transmit power is much less than the gNodeB's transmit power, the likelihood that an uplink transmission from the UE will reach the gNodeB is less than the likelihood that a downlink transmission from the gNodeB will reach the UE, and uplink coverage is typically worse than downlink coverage.

[0076] SUL is usually deployed in lower frequency bands because the lower the frequency, the better the propagation conditions, and the signal can travel farther without attenuating too much. To make the deployment more robust, network operators can reserve some spectrum in low frequency bands, deploy SUL on specific operating frequencies in the low frequency bands, and then use SUL to carry control signaling.

[0077] When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PUSCHs simultaneously in multiple cells, either of the following may be implemented as a constraint or may be reported as a UE capability regarding the number of SUL cells that can be scheduled simultaneously: (1) at most one SUL, or (2) at most more than one SUL. Therefore, as long as there is one component carrier in addition to the SUL, it is likely that using a single SUL will provide adequate coverage and using multiple SULs will not be necessary. It may be desirable to limit the number of SULs that can be scheduled simultaneously by a single DCI. Current DCI formats include a one-bit field that indicates whether the UE should transmit on the NUL or the SUL. In the case of a DCI that can schedule more than one cell, instead of increasing the bit width of the NUL / SUL field, a simpler option may be to allow only one SUL to be scheduled simultaneously.

[0078] SUL and associated NUL As mentioned above, the handling of SUL is different from other operators because SUL must be configured together with an associated NUL, and the gNodeB does not deploy SUL by itself (in other words, there is no associated NUL). The current DCI format includes a one-bit field that indicates whether the UE should switch between SUL and NUL, and the gNodeB does not currently schedule SUL and its associated NUL simultaneously.

[0079] When a single DCI is configured to schedule multiple cells, a SUL and its associated NUL may be scheduled at the same time. When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PUSCHs simultaneously in multiple cells, the following may be implemented as a constraint or may be reported as a UE capability regarding SUL scheduling: a SUL cannot be scheduled simultaneously with its associated NUL. Under this constraint, a DCI may schedule a SUL and other NULs that are not associated with the scheduled SUL simultaneously, but a DCI may only schedule one of the SUL and the NUL associated with the SUL, but not both.

[0080] PDSCH processing capability. Processing time is an important resource, and processing schedules are specified for both the downlink (PDSCH) and uplink (PUSCH). For the downlink, the PDSCH processing time is the time between the UE receiving the last symbol of the PDSCH carrying a transport block and the UE transmitting an acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) of the transport block back to the gNodeB. Once the UE receives the PDSCH, it should indicate to the gNodeB whether the PDSCH was successfully received so that the gNodeB can determine whether the PDSCH needs to be retransmitted. Therefore, after the UE receives the PDSCH, it starts decoding the PDSCH, and the UE is required to complete decoding and prepare HARQ-ACK feedback within the PDSCH processing time, which is specified at Section 5.3 of 3GPP TS 38.214 (“5G; NR; Physical layer procedures for data (3GPP TS 38.214 Version 17.2.0 Release 17),” v17.2.0 (2022-07)).

[0081] 5G NR indicates two levels of UE processing capabilities for PDSCH processing (e.g., in 3GPP TS 38.306). One is called PDSCH processing capability 1 ("DLP Cap 1"), and the other is called PDSCH processing capability 2 ("DLP Cap 2"). For DLP Cap 1, the allowed PDSCH processing time is much longer than DLP Cap 2, which is used for extremely low latency communications. DLP Cap 2 requires faster UE processing turnaround time from receiving PDSCH to decoding PDSCH and feeding back the corresponding HARQ-ACK.

[0082] For the case where a single DCI can schedule multiple PDSCHs, the UE will likely spend even more time processing the PDCCH to obtain the DCI payload, and then it will have to start decoding multiple PDSCHs simultaneously, placing even more processing requirements on the UE. For these reasons, it may be desirable to avoid imposing low latency requirements on the UE in such cases. For example, it may be desirable to limit low latency UE processing to the case of DCI dedicated scheduling, where a single cell schedules another cell.

[0083] When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDSCHs simultaneously in more than one cell, with respect to PDSCH processing capability (DLP Cap 1 or DLP Cap 2), any of the following items may be implemented as constraints or may be reported as UE capabilities: (1) PDSCH processing capability 2 is not supported, or (2) all scheduled cells follow PDSCH processing capability 1, or all scheduled cells follow PDSCH processing capability 2.

[0084] If a single cell is allowed to schedule more than one cell, some tradeoffs can be expected. For example, the network may no longer expect the UE to perform very low latency turnaround. Under constraint (1), only DLP Cap 1 is supported when a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDSCHs simultaneously in more than one cell.

[0085] Under constraint (2), a mix of DLP Cap 1 and DLP Cap 2 is excluded. For example, if two cells are scheduled simultaneously, the network does not need to perform low-delay PDSCH processing on one cell and normal-delay PDSCH processing on the other cell. Low-delay PDSCH processing is performed on all cells scheduled simultaneously, or normal-delay PDSCH processing is performed on all cells scheduled simultaneously.

[0086] PUSCH processing capability For the uplink, the processing time is essentially the latency between DCI and uplink transmission: after the UE receives the DCI, the time it takes to decode the DCI and prepare the uplink waveform and send the scheduled PUSCH.

[0087] 5G NR also indicates two levels of UE processing capabilities for PUSCH processing (e.g., in 3GPP TS 38.306). One is called PUSCH processing capability 1 ("DUP Cap 1"), and the other is called PUSCH processing capability 2 ("DUP Cap 2"). DUP Cap 1 is normal delay, and DUP Cap 2 is low delay.

[0088] For example, in the case of PDSCH, it may be desirable to support only normal-delay transmissions, otherwise the gNodeB should not configure hybrid operation even if low-delay is supported.

[0089] When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDUSCHs simultaneously in more than one cell, with respect to PDSCH processing capability (DUP Cap 1 or DUP Cap 2), any of the following items may be implemented as constraints or may be reported as UE capabilities: (1) PUSCH processing capability 2 is not supported, or (2) all scheduled cells follow PUSCH processing capability 1, or all scheduled cells follow PUSCH processing capability 2.

[0090] Under constraint (2), a mix of DUP Cap 1 and DUP Cap 2 is excluded. For example, if two cells are scheduled simultaneously, the network does not need to perform low-delay PUSCH processing on one cell and normal-delay PUSCH processing on the other cell. Low-delay PUSCH processing is performed on all cells scheduled simultaneously, or normal-delay PUSCH processing is performed on all cells scheduled simultaneously.

[0091] Fig. 9 An operational flow / algorithm structure 900 according to some embodiments is illustrated. The operational flow / algorithm structure 900 may be performed or implemented by a UE (such as, for example, UE 104 or UE 1300) or a component thereof (eg, baseband processor 1304A).

[0092] The operational flow / algorithm structure 900 may include, at 904, receiving a first downlink control information (DCI) message including: a first carrier information field (CIF) indicating a first component carrier (CC); and a second CIF indicating a second CC different from the first CC.

[0093] The operation flow / algorithm structure 900 may also include, at 908, receiving a first downlink data transmission on the first CC and receiving a second downlink data transmission on the second CC based on the DCI message; or sending a first uplink data transmission on the first CC and sending a second uplink data transmission on the second CC based on the DCI message.

[0094] Most of the UE's power may be spent on control monitoring. Although some services are periodic (e.g., voice), most services are aperiodic, so the UE does not know when services arrive. Most of the time, no services are scheduled, but in order to support low latency and prepare for any unpredictable schedule of packet arrival, the UE continues to decode control.

[0095] The network has the task of scheduling multiple users. In order to enable the gNodeB to flexibly schedule multiple users simultaneously, multiple control and transmission possibilities are provided for each DCI. The UE's task is then to search for the DCI among the multiple control and transmission possibilities, which is called "blind detection".

[0096] For each PUCCH monitoring opportunity, the UE will try multiple different control hypotheses, and the maximum number of control hypotheses that the UE is expected to try is limited. For example, these limitations are discussed in Section 10.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213 ("5G; NR; Physical layer procedures for control (3GPP TS 38.213 Version 17.2.0 Release 17), v.17.2.0 (2022-07)), which specifies the maximum number of monitored PDCCH candidates (control hypotheses) and non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) per timeslot for the DL bandwidth portion of a single serving cell for different digital hierarchies. For example, for an SCS of 15 kHz, the UE should be able to try up to 44 different control hypotheses in order to detect whether the gNodeB has scheduled a data transmission.

[0097] Count the number of blind detections for each serving cell. As described above, the UE indicates the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and CCEs that can be processed by each serving cell. When a single cell is allowed to schedule multiple cells, counting the number of blind detections for each serving cell becomes difficult. For example, consider a scheduling cell (cell 3) that can schedule two possibilities: it can schedule the first scheduled cell (cell 1) itself, or it can schedule cell 1 and the second scheduled cell (cell 2) at the same time. But the UE does not know which of these possibilities has been scheduled until it decodes the DCI, and it becomes unclear how to count blind detections.

[0098] As specified in Section 4.2.7.10 of 3GPP TS 38.306, the parameter pdcch-BlindDetectionCA indicates the PDCCH blind decoding capability supported by the UE for CA with more than 4 CCs, the parameter pdcch-BlindDetectionMCG-UE indicates the PDCCH blind decoding capability supported for MCG when in NR DC, and the parameter pdcch-BlindDetectionSCG-UE indicates the PDCCH blind decoding capability supported for SCG when in NR DC. When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDSCH / PUSCHs simultaneously in different cells, compared to pdcch-BlindDetectionCA, pdcch-BlindDetectionMCG-UE, pdcch-BlindDetectionSCG-UE, either of the following two alternatives may be implemented.

[0099] The first alternative is to count the same cell only once. In the example above, cell 1 is counted only once. When we try blind detection on scheduled cell 3, then even if the DCI can schedule cell 1, or schedule cell 1 and cell 2 together, this blind detection is counted only once. For example, if cell 1 can support 44 blind detections, each blind detection is counted only once out of 44, and the UE may still have to try another 43 times.

[0100] The second alternative is to count the same cell multiple times. In the example above, cell 1 is counted twice. This case is simpler for the UE. Once the UE has attempted blind detection of the control DCI, it has tried two assumptions. One assumption is a single DCI (e.g., only cell 1 is scheduled), while the other assumption is that both cell 1 and cell 2 are scheduled at the same time. Therefore, performing blind detection results in counting two candidates out of the 44 PDCCH candidates for cell 1.

[0101] When CA is supported, the UE reports the blind detection capability. As described above, the blind detection capability of the UE (e.g., 44) is specified per cell, but when the UE supports CA operation, it can be configured with multiple cells. If the UE is expected to perform 44 blind detections when one cell is configured, then the UE is expected to perform twice as many blind detections if two cells are configured, and the current specification allows configuration of up to 32 cells. Then in the worst case, in this example, the UE would be expected to perform 1408 (32 times 44) blind detections. To anticipate this possibility, it may be desirable for the UE to report to the gNodeB the maximum number of CCs it can support before the UE reaches the upper limit of the total maximum number of blind detections.

[0102] For example, the UE may indicate to the gNodeB that the maximum number of CCs it can support before capping is eight. In other words, the UE may increase its number of blind detections linearly for up to eight CCs. If the gNodeB configures the UE with up to eight CCs, the UE may still make the specified number of blind detections for each CC. For example, if the UE's per-cell blind detection capability is 44, the UE may perform a total of 392 (44 times 8) blind detections. But if the gNodeB configures the UE with any more than the maximum number of CCs, the UE may not be able to increase the total number of blind detections further. In the example above, if the gNodeB configures the UE with nine CCs, the UE may still only be able to make 392 blind detections, and the number of blind detections per cell may be reduced proportionally from the specified number. The UE may separately report its capability for the total number of blind detections per cell that it is able to support, and when the number of blind detections per cell that it is able to support stops scaling with the increase in the number of CCs.

[0103] When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDSCH / PUSCH simultaneously in different cells, either of the following two alternatives may be implemented with respect to UE capability reporting on CA support.

[0104] In a first alternative, the UE may separately report the equivalents of the legacy (e.g., Release 15 and / or 16) parameters pdcch-BlindDetectionCA, pdcch-BlindDetectionMCG-UE, pdcch-BlindDetectionSCG-UE. If a single cell is allowed to schedule multiple cells, support will be more challenging for the UE. It may be desirable to allow the UE to report separate capabilities, i.e., the number of CCs that the UE can support when a single DCI can be configured to schedule multiple cells, and the value of the number of blind detections of CCs that the UE can support (e.g., pdcch-BlindDetectionCA), until the linear scaling of the number of cells per cell breaks. In the case of dual connectivity, the UE may report the number of blind detections for each cell group separately for MCG and SCG. The first alternative may be implemented with an option where the reported value must be equal to or greater than the corresponding capability of Rel-15 / 16, or the first alternative may be implemented with an option where there are no constraints on the reported value.

[0105] In a second alternative, the UE may report a combination, such as one or more pairs of parameters. For example, the UE may report one or more pairs of combinations, such as any or all of the following: (pdcch-BlindDetectionCA-r18, pdcch-BlindDetectionCA); (pdcch-BlindDetectionMCG-r18, pdcch-BlindDetectionMCG); (pdcch-BlindDetectionSCG-UE-r18, pdcch-BlindDetectionSCG-UE).

[0106] In this case, because it is possible that the gNodeB can configure a single DCI to schedule a single cell for a certain CC, the gNodeB can configure a single DCI to schedule multiple cells on some other CC. Therefore, once this hybrid configuration is allowed, the UE can report its operating capabilities so that on some CCs, the UE can support single self-scheduling, while on some other CCs, the UE can schedule multi-CC scheduling.

[0107] The UE may report such a combination to the gNodeB, for example, for single cell operation it can support up to four CCs, and then for multi-cell operation it can support up to four CCs. The combination may describe the envelope of how many CCs the UE can support in legacy operation and how many CCs the UE can support simultaneously in advanced scenarios.

[0108] Frequency at which the UE should monitor DCIThe delay of the service may depend on the frequency with which the UE monitors the DCI. For example, if the UE monitors the DCI once every millisecond, then the worst-case scheduling delay may be expected to be one millisecond. In this case, after a service is available on the network, the network may have to wait one millisecond before scheduling the service.

[0109] The basic PDCCH configuration is called Functional Group (FG) 3-1. In FG3-1, the UE monitors control only on the first three symbols of the slot. Therefore, for each slot of 14 symbols, control must be on the first three symbols. FG3-1 is a very basic capability monitoring. The monitoring interval depends on the subcarrier spacing, but for the example of 15-kHz SCS, each slot is one millisecond, so the UE can monitor control every millisecond.

[0110] For some low-latency services, it is desirable to reduce latency by using different PDCCH monitoring conditions, such as any one of FG3-2, FG3-5a, FG3-5b, FG11-2, FG23-2-1, FG23-6-1, FG23-6-1-1 or FG23-6-2. For FG3-2, the UE still only monitors control once in a slot, but the starting position can be flexible. PDCCH is not always on three symbols, it can start from any symbol in the slot.

[0111] FG3-5a and FG3-5b are more advanced gap-based schemes. Within a time slot, multiple gaps can be configured and the UE can monitor multiple gaps. For example, two gaps can be configured, where each gap is seven symbols long. The UE will monitor some of these symbols during the first gap and the second gap. This configuration essentially cuts the delay in half, so the worst case delay is 0.5 milliseconds, and the scheme allows up to seven gaps.

[0112] FG11-2 is an enhanced gap-based scheme. FG23-2-1 uses PDCCH repetition, and FG23-6-1, FG23-6-1-1, and FG23-6-2 are single frequency network (SFN) based schemes.

[0113] When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDSCH / PUSCHs simultaneously in different cells, any of the following three configurations can be implemented based on the supported PDCCH monitoring features, including any or all of the following: FG3-1 (Release 15 basic PDCCH); FG3-2 (Release 15 flexible PDCCH start symbol); FG3-5a, FG 3-5b (Release 15 span-based PDCCH monitoring); FG11-2 (Release 16 enhanced span-based PDCCH monitoring); FG23-2-1 (Release 17 PDCCH repetition); or FG23-6-1, FG23-6-1-1, FG23-6-2 (Release 17 SFN (Single Frequency Network) PDCCH).

[0114] The first configuration is that the UE only needs to support FG3-1. If support for single DCI scheduling multiple cells is implemented, the gNodeB has been provided with some scheduling flexibility so that the UE should only be required to support PDCCH FG3-1. In this configuration, when support for single DCI scheduling multiple cells is implemented, the UE only needs to support very basic PDCCH monitoring: the first symbol of the three symbols of each timeslot for any timeslot.

[0115] The second configuration is that for any advanced PDCCH monitoring (e.g., any one of FG3-2, FG3-5a, FG3-5b, FG11-2, FG23-2-1, FG23-6-1, FG23-6-1-1, or FG23-6-2), the specification does not support the corresponding PDCCH monitoring and simultaneous scheduling of multiple PDSCH / PUSCH in different cells. In this case, PDCCH monitoring schemes other than FG3-1 are not allowed to be configured simultaneously with a single DCI that schedules multiple cells, so that when a single DCI that schedules multiple cells is configured, the gNodeB is not allowed to configure any advanced PDCCH monitoring capability for the UE.

[0116] The third configuration is to introduce independent UE capabilities for any advanced PDCCH monitoring (e.g., any one of FG3-2, FG3-5a, FG3-5b, FG11-2, FG23-2-1, FG23-6-1, FG23-6-1-1, or FG23-6-2) when multiple PDSCH / PUSCH are configured to be scheduled simultaneously in different cells, including, for example, any one of FG3-2, FG3-5a, FG3-5b, FG11-2, FG23-2-1, FG23-6-1, FG23-6-1-1, or FG23-6-2.

[0117] In this case, the UE may be configured to report individually to the gNodeB whether it supports any of these advanced PDCCH monitoring schemes and a single DCI scheduling for multiple cells. This configuration may allow the UE to better control the potential complexity of the control monitoring it must handle.

[0118] In one example, the UE may support FG3-2, and it may report to the gNodeB that it supports single DCI scheduling of multiple cells. It may be desirable for the UE to also indicate to the gNodeB whether it supports both features at the same time. For example, when single DCI scheduling of multiple cells is configured at the same time, the UE may report its ability to support FG3-2. The UE capability is transmitted in an RRC message (e.g., reported on the RRC layer), and the network also transmits the FG configuration in an RRC message.

[0119] DCI size calibration When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDSCH / PUSCH simultaneously in different cells, the bit width of each field in the DCI may be different due to different configurations of different cells (e.g., BWP size, etc.). If the DCI sizes are different, the UE may need to try different decoding for each different DCI size. In this case, DCI alignment may need to be performed.

[0120] If a single CC can schedule multiple CCs, and depending on how many CCs it can support and which CCs it can support, the DCI field size may be different. For example, if the scheduling cell (cell 3) can schedule cell 1 or schedule cell 1 and cell 2 at the same time, the DCI used to schedule cell 1 alone may need to have a different size than the DCI used to schedule cell 1 and cell 2 at the same time.

[0121] It may be desirable to ensure that the DCI sizes are the same. Before the UE decodes the DCI, it is not known whether the DCI is for scheduling cell 1 or the DCI is for scheduling cells 1 and 2 together. Instead of having two different DCI sizes, an alternative is to align the DCI sizes so that the UE only needs to try one hypothesis test.

[0122] The DCI size alignment may be determined among multiple scheduling possibilities. One possibility is that a maximum number of sizes are actually required, then the DCI size should be determined based on this maximum scheduling possibility. The size of each DCI field may be determined by the maximum size of the field required in all CCs that can be scheduled simultaneously, and truncation may be applied to the fields for other scheduled cells on the Most Significant Bit (MSB) or Least Significant Bit (LSB). If the gNodeB decides to use a different scheduling possibility, the size may be truncated, as a larger bit width may be truncated on the MSB or LSB, and then the DCI may be used.

[0123] Alternatively, the DCI size may be determined using a reference scheduling possibility. For example, the size of each DCI field may be determined by a reference cell, which may be configured by RRC or may be fixed (e.g., determined by a specification). When the scheduled cell requires the DCI field to have more bits than the reference cell, zero bits may be appended to the field (zero padding) on ​​the MSB or LSB. When the scheduled cell requires the DCI field to have fewer bits than the reference cell, truncation may be applied to the field on the MSB or LSB. There may be some other scheduling options with a larger DCI size than the reference cell, but for those specific cases, zero padding may be performed.

[0124] When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDSCH / PUSCH simultaneously in different cells, the bit width of each field in the DCI may be different due to different configurations of different cells, such as BWP size, so DCI alignment is performed. Any of the following items can be implemented: (1) The DCI field size is determined by the maximum size required by all CCs that can be scheduled simultaneously for each field, and truncation is applied to other scheduled cells (e.g., MSB or LSB); (2) The DCI field size is determined by a reference cell, which can be configured by RRC or is fixed (e.g., specified in the specification), and when the scheduled cell requires more bits than the reference cell, zero bits (zero padding) can be appended on the MSB or LSB, and when the scheduled cell requires fewer bits than the reference cell, truncation can be applied on the MSB or LSB.

[0125] In one example, four different DCI sizes are used: 60 bits, 62 bits, 64 bits, and 66 bits. Instead of trying all four sizes, the UE can be configured to use the 64-bit size as a reference. To schedule a DCI of size 60 bits, 62 bits, or 64 bits, the gNodeB uses a DCI size of 64 bits, so the UE will try 64 bits. If the gNodeB wants to schedule a DCI of size 66 bits, it can use a DCI of size 66 bits. In this case, the UE only needs to monitor DCI sizes of 64 or 66. This approach provides a balance: instead of trying all possible DCI sizes, the DCI sizes are aligned to a subset of DCIs, and more than one DCI size can be allowed to allow for a compromise.

[0126] In the example above, there are four possible schedules. One schedule requires 60 bits, and the other schedules require 62 bits, 64 bits, and 66 bits respectively. The size of the DCI is unknown before the UE decodes it. Therefore, the solution may be that the network has only two choices: 64 bits or 66 bits. In order to schedule a 60-bit size of DCI, the network can use a size of 64 bits by padding some zero bits. If the network wants to schedule a 62-bit size of DCI, it can also use a size of 64 bits by padding some zero bits. By doing some zero padding (e.g., adding some zeros), a size of 64 bits can be used to cover sizes of 60 bits, 62 bits, and 64 bits.

[0127] In this example, if the network wants to schedule a 66-bit DCI, one option for the network is to do truncation. For example, the network can simply truncate the 66 bits to 64 bits, and it can still send a 64-bit DCI. So essentially 64 bits will be used, but there is both a padding solution, and there is also truncation.

[0128] BD and CCE As mentioned above, at each given time, the UE will try multiple different control hypotheses (blind detection), and the UE will also try multiple different channel estimation hypotheses (CCE). The maximum number of control hypotheses and channel estimation hypotheses that the UE is expected to try is limited, and these limits are discussed in Section 10.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213. Fig.10 Tables 10.1-3, 10.1-3A and 10.1-3B are shown to define the maximum number of CCEs for a single serving cell. As mentioned above, for an SCS of 15 kHz, the UE should be able to try up to 44 different control hypotheses in order to detect whether the gNodeB has scheduled a data transmission. Fig.10 As shown in Table 10.1-3, the corresponding number of non-overlapping CCEs is 56.

[0129] When configuring single DCI scheduling for multiple cells, it is desirable that the maximum number of blindly detected and non-overlapping CCEs that the UE is expected to evaluate is less than the number indicated in Section 10.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213. The specific implementation of single DCI scheduling for multiple cells should have certain benefits for the UE. As mentioned above, blind detection for the UE is to provide the gNodeB with scheduling flexibility for multiple users so that the gNodeB can schedule multiple users on multiple cells simultaneously so that they do not conflict (this conflict is called scheduling blocking or TDD blocking).

[0130] However, implementing a single DCI scheduling for multiple cells should significantly reduce the number of DCIs that the gNodeB needs to transmit, and thus the blocking probability should also be reduced. If the blocking probability is reduced, the number of blind detections and non-overlapping CCEs that the UE needs to detect should also be reduced.

[0131] The UE needs to evaluate a large number of blind detected and non-overlapping CCEs because the gNodeB may need a large number of DCIs in order to schedule a large number of users in the cell. However, once a single DCI can achieve multiple purposes, the total number of DCIs will be reduced, thereby also reducing the requirement or need for the UE to detect so many blind detected and non-overlapping CCEs. From the UE's perspective, in order for the UE to benefit from the feature of single DCI scheduling for multiple cells, it should be possible to reduce the maximum number of blind detected and non-overlapping CCEs that the UE is expected to evaluate.

[0132] Alternatively, the UE may report a new table or one or more new values ​​to the gNodeB. For example, the UE may indicate that when a single DCI schedule for multiple cells is configured, the maximum number of blind detection and non-overlapping CCEs that can be expected to be evaluated is reduced (e.g., from 44 and 56 to 30 and 36, respectively). Reducing the number of transmissions and blind detection evaluations that the UE needs to make should also benefit the UE by requiring less power consumption.

[0133] When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDSCH / PUSCHs simultaneously in different cells, the BD and CCE of each scheduled cell are calculated based on the scheduled cell SCS according to the BD (blind detection) and non-overlapping CCE (control channel element). For the maximum number of BD / CCE that the UE can handle, any of the following items can be implemented: (1) reuse the number specified in the specification (for example, in Section 10.1 of 3GPP TS38.213); (2) specify a new number in the specification, which can be less than the currently specified number; or (3) the UE can report a new BD and CCE for each SCS, and the reported number can be less than the number currently specified in the specification.

[0134] Overbooking . Even though the maximum number of control hypotheses and channel estimation hypotheses that a UE is expected to try is limited, the gNodeB may still configure a larger number of control hypotheses and / or channel estimation hypotheses for the UE, which is called oversubscription. For example, an oversubscribed gNodeB may configure 52 PDCCH candidates when the limit is only 44. But when the UE actually decodes, it may skip some detections. The gNodeB is only allowed to perform oversubscription on the primary cell, so oversubscription is not allowed on the secondary cell.

[0135] Oversubscription is allowed because the gNodeB may have to schedule many different users so that the control configuration should be shared between all these users. The gNodeB can configure more than the maximum number of blind detections for a UE so that a larger number of blind detections can be shared between more than one user, which provides the gNodeB with some scheduling flexibility.

[0136] When configuring a single DCI scheduling for multiple cells, once the DCI has scheduled multiple cells, the gNodeB can use much fewer DCIs to complete the same scheduling. As the number of DCIs decreases, the need for oversubscription should also decrease, so that when configuring a single DCI scheduling for multiple cells, oversubscription is no longer required.

[0137] When a single DCI is allowed to schedule multiple PDSCH / PUSCHs simultaneously in different cells, with respect to overbooking, any of the following alternatives can be implemented: (1) overbooking is applied to the PCell scheduling itself with or without any accompanying cells, (2) overbooking is applied only to the PCell scheduling itself without any accompanying cells, or (3) overbooking is applied to any scheduling cell configured to schedule the PCell.

[0138] Under the first alternative, oversubscription is still allowed, but only for the PCell. Because the PCell can now schedule itself, it can also schedule some other cell at the same time. It may be desirable to allow oversubscription on the PCell even when the PCell schedules multiple cells. Under the third alternative, the constraints on oversubscription of the PCell may be relaxed so that oversubscription can apply to any cell that schedules the PCell.

[0139] Fig.11 An operational flow / algorithm structure 1100 according to some embodiments is illustrated. The operational flow / algorithm structure 1100 may be performed or implemented by an access node (such as, for example, a base station or access node 108, 208, 210, or 1400); or a component thereof (e.g., baseband processor 1404A).

[0140] The operational flow / algorithm structure 1100 may include, at 1104, configuring a user equipment (UE) to perform a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring operation using an advanced feature set.

[0141] The operational flow / algorithm structure 1100 may also include, at 1108, transmitting a first downlink control information (DCI) message scheduling only one cell to the user equipment.

[0142] The operational flow / algorithm structure 1100 may also include, at 1112, configuring the UE to perform a second PDCCH monitoring operation using the basic feature set.

[0143] The operational flow / algorithm structure 1100 may also include, at 1116, transmitting a second DCI message scheduling multiple cells to the user equipment.

[0144] Fig.12A receiving component 1200 of a device according to some embodiments is illustrated. The device may be a UE 104 or a serving cell 112, 114, 212, 214, 216, or 218. The receiving component 1200 may include a first antenna panel, panel 1 1204, and a second antenna panel, panel 2 1208. Each antenna panel may include a plurality of antenna elements.

[0145] The antenna panels may be coupled to respective analog beamforming (BF) components. For example, panel 11204 may be coupled to analog BF component 1212, and panel 2 1208 may be coupled to analog BF component 1216.

[0146] The analog BF components may be coupled to one or more radio frequency (RF) chains. For example, the analog BF components 1212 may be coupled to one or more RF chains 1220, and the analog BF components 1216 may be coupled to one or more RF chains 1224. The RF chains may amplify the received analog RF signal, down-convert the RF signal to baseband, and convert the analog baseband signal to a digital baseband signal that may be provided to the digital BF components 1228. The digital BF components 1228 may provide the baseband (BB signal) for further BB processing.

[0147] In various embodiments, control circuitry, which may reside in a baseband processor, may provide BF weights to analog / digital BF components to provide receive beams at corresponding antenna panels. These BF weights may be determined by the control circuitry based on received reference signals and corresponding QCL / TCI information as described herein. In some embodiments, the BF weights may be phase shift values ​​provided to a phase shifter of analog BF components 1212 or complex weights provided to digital BF components 1228. In some embodiments, the BF components and antenna panels may operate together to provide a dynamically phased array capable of steering a beam in a desired direction.

[0148] In various embodiments, beamforming may include analog beamforming, purely digital beamforming, or hybrid analog-digital beamforming.Digital beamforming may utilize separate RF chains corresponding to antenna elements, respectively.

[0149] Although beamforming component 1200 describes receive beamforming, other embodiments may include a beamforming component that performs transmit beamforming in a similar manner.

[0150] Fig.13 UE 1300 according to some embodiments is illustrated. UE 1300 may be similar to Figure 1 and Figure 2 UE 104 and is substantially interchangeable therewith.

[0151] UE 1300 can be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as, for example, a mobile phone, a computer, a tablet, an industrial wireless sensor (e.g., microphone, carbon dioxide sensor, pressure sensor, humidity sensor, thermometer, motion sensor, accelerometer, laser scanner, fluid level sensor, inventory sensor, voltage / current meter, actuator, etc.), video monitoring / surveillance equipment (e.g., camera, camcorder, etc.), a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch), or a loose IoT device.

[0152] UE 1300 may include a processor 1304, RF interface circuitry 1308, memory / storage 1312, a user interface 1316, a sensor 1320, a driver circuit 1322, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 1324, antenna structures 1326, and a battery 1328. The components of UE 1300 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), a portion of an integrated circuit, a discrete electronic device or other module, logical component, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. Fig.13 The block diagram of UE 1300 is intended to show a high-level view of some of the components of UE 1300. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0153] Components of UE 1300 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 1332, which may represent any type of interface, input / output, bus (local, system, or extended), transmission line, trace, optical connection, etc. that allows various circuit components (on a common or different chip or chipset) to interact with each other.

[0154] The processor 1304 may include processor circuits such as, for example, a baseband processor circuit (BB) 1304A, a central processor unit circuit (CPU) 1304B, and a graphics processor unit circuit (GPU) 1304C. The processor 1304 may include any type of circuit or processor circuit that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions (such as program codes, software modules, or functional processes from the memory / storage device 1312) to cause the UE 1300 to perform operations as described herein.

[0155] In some embodiments, the baseband processor circuit 1304A can access the communication protocol stack 1336 in the memory / storage device 1312 to communicate through a 3GPP compatible network. Generally speaking, the baseband processor circuit system 1304A can access the communication protocol stack to: perform user plane functions at the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, SDAP layer, and PDU layer; and perform control plane functions at the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, RRC layer, and non-access layer. In some embodiments, the PHY layer operations can be additionally / alternatively performed by components of the RF interface circuit 1308.

[0156] The baseband processor circuitry 1304A may generate or process baseband signals or waveforms that carry information in a 3GPP-compatible network. In some embodiments, the waveforms used for NR may be based on cyclic prefix OFDM ("CP-OFDM") in the uplink or downlink, and discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM ("DFT-S-OFDM") in the uplink.

[0157] The memory / storage 1312 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions (e.g., the communication protocol stack 1336) that may be executed by one or more processors in the processor 1304 to cause the UE 1300 to perform various operations described herein. The memory / storage 1312 includes any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that may be distributed throughout the UE 1300. In some embodiments, some of the memory / storage 1312 may be located on the processor 1304 itself (e.g., L1 cache and L2 cache), while other memory / storage 1312 is located external to the processor 1304 but accessible via a memory interface. The memory / storage 1312 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state memory, or any other type of memory device technology.

[0158] The RF interface circuit 1308 may include a transceiver circuit and a radio frequency front end module (RFEM), which allows the UE 1300 to communicate with other devices through a radio access network. The RF interface circuit 1308 may include various elements arranged in a transmission path or a reception path. These elements may include, for example, switches, mixers, amplifiers, filters, synthesizer circuits, control circuits, etc.

[0159] In the receive path, the RFEM can receive the radiated signal from the air interface via the antenna structure 1326 and continue to filter and amplify the signal (using a low noise amplifier). The signal can be provided to the receiver of the transceiver, which down-converts the RF signal to a baseband signal that is provided to the baseband processor of the processor 1304.

[0160] In the transmit path, the transmitter of the transceiver up-converts the baseband signal received from the baseband processor and provides the RF signal to the RFEM. The RFEM may amplify the RF signal through a power amplifier before the signal is radiated across the air interface via the antenna 1326.

[0161] In various embodiments, the RF interface circuit 1308 can be configured to send / receive signals in a manner compatible with NR access technology.

[0162] Antenna 1326 may include antenna elements to convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and to convert received radio waves into electrical signals. These antenna elements may be arranged into one or more antenna panels. Antenna 1326 may have an antenna panel that is omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof to achieve beamforming and multiple input / multiple output communications. Antenna 1326 may include a microstrip antenna, a printed antenna manufactured on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards, a patch antenna, a phased array antenna, etc. Antenna 1326 may have one or more panels that are designed for a specific frequency band including a band in FR1 or FR2.

[0163] The user interface circuit 1316 includes various input / output (I / O) devices designed to enable a user to interact with the UE 1300. The user interface 1316 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual components for accepting input, including in particular one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual components for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuit may include any number or combination of audio or visual displays, including in particular one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary state indicators, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays "LCDs", LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), where the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. is generated or produced by the operation of the UE 1300.

[0164] Sensors 1320 may include devices, modules, or subsystems that are designed to detect events or changes in their environment and communicate information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit including an accelerometer, gyroscope, or magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system or nanoelectromechanical system including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, or a magnetometer; a level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.); a depth sensor; an ambient light sensor; an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; and the like.

[0165] The driver circuit 1322 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the UE 1300. The driver circuit 1322 may include various drivers to allow other components to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the UE 1300. For example, the driver circuit 1322 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 1320 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 1320, a driver for obtaining an actuator position of an electromechanical component or controlling and allowing access to an electromechanical component, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0166] The PMIC 1324 may manage the power provided to various components of the UE 1300. Specifically, with respect to the processor 1304, the PMIC 1324 may control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion.

[0167] In some embodiments, the PMIC 1324 may control or otherwise be a part of various power saving mechanisms of the UE 1300 including DRX, as discussed herein.

[0168] The battery 1328 can power the UE 1300, but in some examples, the UE 1300 can be installed to be deployed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the power grid. The battery 1328 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some specific implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, the battery 1328 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0169] Fig.14 An access node 1400 (e.g., a base station or gNB) according to some embodiments is illustrated. Access node 1400 may be similar to access nodes 108, 208, or 210 and may be substantially interchangeable therewith.

[0170] Access node 1400 may include a processor 1404 , RF interface circuitry 1408 , core network (CN) interface circuitry 1412 , memory / storage circuitry 1416 , and antenna structures 1426 .

[0171] Components of access node 1400 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 1428 .

[0172] The processor 1404, RF interface circuit 1408, memory / storage circuit 1416 (including communication protocol stack 1410), antenna structure 1426 and interconnect 1428 may be similar to those of reference Fig.13 Like named elements are shown and described.

[0173] The CN interface circuit 1412 may provide connectivity to a core network (e.g., a 5GC using a 5th Generation Core Network (5GC) compatible network interface protocol such as a Carrier Ethernet protocol or some other suitable protocol). Network connectivity may be provided to / from the access node 1400 via optical fiber or wireless backhaul. The CN interface circuit 1412 may include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the CN interface circuit 1412 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0174] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0175] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below in the example section.

[0176] Example

[0177] In the following sections, additional exemplary embodiments are provided.

[0178] Embodiment 1 may include a method of operating a user equipment, the method comprising: performing blind detection on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a downlink control information (DCI) message that schedules a first scheduled cell among a plurality of multi-cells, wherein the first scheduled cell is associated with a plurality of different groups of scheduled cells among the plurality of multi-cells; and with respect to the number of blind detections required for the first scheduled cell, counting the blind detections by the number of the plurality of different groups.

[0179] Embodiment 2 may include a method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the required number of blind detections is indicated by one of the parameters pdcch-BlindDetectionCA, pdcch-BlindDetectionMCG-UE, and pdcch-BlindDetectionSCG-UE.

[0180] Embodiment 3 may include a method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising indicating to a base station at least one maximum number of component carriers (CCs) for which the UE can monitor a number of blind detections per cell of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates.

[0181] Embodiment 4 may include a method according to embodiment 3 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the at least one maximum number includes: a first maximum number of first CCs for which a first downlink control information (DCI) message schedules a single cell; and a second maximum number of second CCs for which a second DCI message schedules multiple cells.

[0182] Embodiment 5 may include a method according to embodiment 4 or some other embodiments herein, wherein at least one of the first maximum number and the second maximum number is indicated by one of the parameters pdcch-BlindDetectionCA, pdcch-BlindDetectionMCG-UE, and pdcch-BlindDetectionSCG-UE.

[0183] Embodiment 6 may include a method for operating a base station, the method comprising: configuring a user equipment (UE) to use an advanced feature group to perform a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring operation; transmitting a first downlink control information (DCI) message that schedules only one cell to the user equipment; configuring the UE to use a basic feature group to perform a second PDCCH monitoring operation; transmitting a second DCI message that schedules multiple cells to the user equipment.

[0184] Embodiment 7 may include a method of operating a user device, the method comprising indicating to a base station a capability to handle advanced physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring concurrently with single downlink control information (DCI) scheduling of multiple component carriers (CCs).

[0185] Embodiment 8 may include a method according to embodiment 6 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the indication comprises transmitting the indication of the capability to the base station via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0186] Embodiment 9 may include a method according to embodiment 6 or some other embodiments herein, wherein: the capability is reported from the UE to the base station using a feature group; and the method includes receiving a configuration for advanced PDCCH monitoring from the base station based on the feature group reported from the UE.

[0187] Embodiment 10 may include a method according to embodiment 9 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the feature group is one of FG3-2, FG3-5a, FG3-5b, FG11-2, FG23-2-1, FG23-6-1, FG23-6-1-1 and FG-23-6-2.

[0188] Embodiment 11 includes a method for operating a base station, the method comprising: transmitting a downlink control information (DCI) message to a user equipment, the DCI message scheduling transmission on each of a plurality of component carriers (CCs), wherein: the DCI message comprises a plurality of fields; and for each of the plurality of fields, a size of the field is a maximum value of the sizes of the field required for each of the plurality of CCs.

[0189] Embodiment 12 may include a method according to embodiment 11 or some other embodiments herein, the method comprising: for at least one of the multiple fields, truncating the value of the field of the CC of the multiple CCs that requires a size smaller than the size of the field.

[0190] Embodiment 13 may include a method for operating a base station, the method comprising: transmitting a downlink control information (DCI) message to a user equipment, the DCI message scheduling transmission on each of a plurality of component carriers (CCs), wherein: the DCI message comprises a plurality of fields; and for each of the plurality of fields, a size of the field is indicated by a reference cell.

[0191] Embodiment 14 may include a method according to embodiment 13 or some other embodiments herein, the method comprising: for at least one of the multiple fields, zero-filling the value of the field of the CC of the multiple CCs that requires a size greater than the size of the field.

[0192] Embodiment 15 includes a method for operating a base station, the method comprising: configuring a first downlink control information (DCI) for monitoring the operation of a user equipment (UE) to a first specified limit; transmitting a first DCI message for scheduling only one cell to the user equipment; configuring a second DCI monitoring operation of the UE to a second specified limit, the second specified limit being lower than the first specified limit; and transmitting a second DCI message for scheduling multiple cells to the user equipment.

[0193] Embodiment 16 may include a method according to embodiment 13 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the second specified limit is based on a blind detection capability reported by the UE.

[0194] Embodiment 17 may include a method according to embodiment 14 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the second specified limit is based on a non-overlapping control channel element (CCE) capability reported by the UE.

[0195] Embodiment 18 may include a method of operating a user equipment, the method comprising: indicating to a base station: a first maximum number of blind detections that the UE can monitor when a single downlink control information (DCI) scheduling of multiple component carriers (CCs) is configured; and a second maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) that the UE can monitor when a single DCI scheduling of multiple CCs is configured.

[0196] Embodiment 19 may include a method according to Embodiment 18 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the first maximum number and the second maximum number correspond to a first numerology.

[0197] Embodiment 20 may include a method of operating a base station, the method comprising transmitting a downlink control information (DCI) message to a user equipment (UE) and on a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the DCI message scheduling transmissions on each of a plurality of component carriers (CCs), and configuring the UE to monitor a first number of blind detections on the PDCCH, wherein the first number exceeds a specified maximum number.

[0198] Embodiment 21 may include a method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: performing blind detection on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a downlink control information (DCI) message that schedules a first scheduled cell among a plurality of multi-cells, wherein the first scheduled cell is associated with a plurality of different groups of scheduled cells among the plurality of multi-cells, and counting the number of blind detections of the first scheduled cell based at least in part on the number of the plurality of different groups.

[0199] Embodiment 22 may include a method according to embodiment 21, the method comprising providing an indication of the number of blind detections to a base station, the number of blind detections being the number of blind detections supported by the UE.

[0200] Embodiment 23 may include a method according to embodiment 22, wherein providing the indication of the number of blind detections includes providing a pdcch-BlindDetectionCA parameter indicating the number of blind detections, a pdcch-BlindDetectionMCG-UE parameter indicating the number of blind detections, or a pdcch-BlindDetectionSCG-UE indicating the number of blind detections.

[0201] Embodiment 24 may include a method according to embodiment 21, wherein counting the blind detection by the number of the multiple different groups includes counting the blind detection as a number of completed blind detections, and the number of completed blind detections is equal to the number of the multiple different groups with respect to the number of blind detections for the first scheduled cell.

[0202] Embodiment 25 may include the method of embodiment 21, the method comprising determining a number of component carriers (CCs) that the UE can support, and providing an indication of the number of CCs to a base station.

[0203] Embodiment 26 may include a method according to embodiment 21, the method comprising receiving a CC configuration indicating one or more CCs to be configured for the UE, determining that the number of the one or more CCs exceeds the number of CCs that the UE can support, and scaling the number of blind detections to be performed for each cell based at least in part on the number of the one or more CCs exceeding the number of CCs that the UE can support.

[0204] Embodiment 27 may include the method of embodiment 21, wherein performing the blind detection comprises monitoring one or more symbols on the PDCCH according to a configured feature group (FG).

[0205] Embodiment 28 may include the method of embodiment 21, the method comprising determining one or more feature groups (FGs) supported by the UE for performing detection on the PDCCH, and providing an indication of the one or more FGs to a base station.

[0206] Embodiment 29 may include a method according to embodiment 21, the method comprising determining a maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) for blind detection and supported by the UE, and providing an indication of the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for blind detection and supported by the UE to a base station.

[0207] Embodiment 30 may include the method of Embodiment 29, wherein providing the indication of blind detection and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs comprises reporting a table indicating blind detection and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs to the base station.

[0208] Embodiment 31 may include a method of operating a base station, the method comprising: receiving an indication of a blind detection capability of a user equipment (UE) from the UE; generating downlink control information (DCI), the DCI comprising a configuration of two or more cells; and providing the DCI to the UE to configure the UE for the two or more cells.

[0209] Embodiment 32 may include a method according to embodiment 31, wherein the indication of blind detection capability includes an indication of a number of blind detections supported by the UE.

[0210] Embodiment 33 may include the method of embodiment 32, wherein the indication of the number of blind detections is received via a pdcch-BlindDetectionCA parameter, a pdcch-BlindDetectionMCG-UE parameter, or a pdcch-BlindDetectionSCG-UE.

[0211] Embodiment 34 may include a method according to embodiment 31, wherein the indication of the blind detection capability includes an indication of the number of component carriers (CCs) that the UE is capable of supporting, wherein the number of the two or more cells used for configuration is at least partially based on the number of CCs that the UE is capable of supporting.

[0212] Embodiment 35 may include a method according to embodiment 31, wherein the indication of the blind detection capability includes an indication of one or more feature groups (FGs) supported by the UE, and wherein the method includes determining the FG of the UE based at least in part on the one or more FGs supported by the UE, wherein the configuration of the two or more cells includes a configuration of the determined FG to be used by the UE.

[0213] Embodiment 36 may include the method of embodiment 31, the method comprising determining a reference cell associated with the UE, wherein the DCI has one or more DCI field sizes determined at least in part based on the reference cell.

[0214] Embodiment 37 may include a method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: determining a maximum number of blind detections that the UE can monitor for multi-component carrier (CC) scheduling via a single downlink control information (DCI); determining a maximum number of non-overlapping channel elements (CCEs) that the UE can monitor for multi-CC scheduling via the single DCI; and providing an indication of the maximum number of blind detections and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs to a base station.

[0215] Embodiment 38 may include a method according to embodiment 37, wherein providing the indication of the maximum number of blind detections and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs includes providing a table indicating the maximum number of blind detections and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs to the base station.

[0216] Embodiment 39 may include the method of embodiment 37, the method comprising determining a number of CCs that the UE can support for multi-CC scheduling by the single DCI, and providing an indication of the number of CCs to the base station.

[0217] Embodiment 40 may include a method according to embodiment 37, the method comprising determining one or more feature groups (FGs) supported by the UE for multi-CC scheduling performed by the single DCI, providing an indication of the one or more FGs to the base station, receiving an indication of the FGs from the base station for configuring the one or more FGs, and performing blind detection based at least in part on the FGs.

[0218] Example 41 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Examples 1-40, or any other method or process described herein.

[0219] Embodiment 42 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1-40 or any other method or process described herein.

[0220] Embodiment 43 may include an apparatus comprising logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1-40 or any other method or process described herein.

[0221] Example 44 may include a method, technique, or process as described or related to any of Examples 1-40, or a portion or component thereof.

[0222] Embodiment 45 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 40.

[0223] Embodiment 46 may include a signal as described or related to any of Embodiments 1-40, or a portion or component thereof.

[0224] Embodiment 47 may include a datagram, information element, packet, frame, segment, PDU or message, or a portion or component thereof, as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 40, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0225] Embodiment 48 may include a signal encoded with data as described or associated with any one of Embodiments 1 to 40, or a portion or component thereof, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0226] Embodiment 49 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, IE, packet, frame, segment, PDU or message as described or associated with any one of Embodiments 1 to 40, or a portion or component thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0227] Embodiment 50 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors will cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 40.

[0228] Embodiment 51 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element causes the processing element to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 40.

[0229] Embodiment 52 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0230] Embodiment 53 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0231] Embodiment 54 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0232] Embodiment 55 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0233] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings or may be obtained from the practice of various embodiments.

[0234] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to include all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a user equipment (UE): performing blind detection on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a downlink control information (DCI) message that schedules a first scheduled cell among a plurality of cells, wherein the first scheduled cell is associated with a plurality of different groups of scheduled cells among the plurality of cells; and With respect to a number of blind detections for the first scheduled cell, the blind detections are counted based at least in part on the number of the plurality of different groups.

2. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the UE to: An indication of the number of blind detections is provided to a base station, the number of blind detections being the number of blind detections supported by the UE.

3. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 2, wherein providing the indication of the number of blind detections includes providing a pdcch-BlindDetectionCA parameter indicating the number of blind detections, a pdcch-BlindDetectionMCG-UE parameter indicating the number of blind detections, or a pdcch-BlindDetectionSCG-UE indicating the number of blind detections.

4. One or more computer-readable media according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, with respect to the number of blind detections for the first scheduled cell, counting the blind detections by the number of the multiple different groups includes counting the blind detections as the number of completed blind detections, and the number of completed blind detections is equal to the number of the multiple different groups.

5. One or more computer-readable media according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the UE to: determining a number of component carriers (CCs) that the UE can support; and An indication of the number of CCs is provided to a base station.

6. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 5, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the UE to: receiving a CC configuration indicating one or more CCs to be configured for the UE; determining that the number of the one or more CCs exceeds the number of CCs that can be supported by the UE; as well as A number of blind detections to be performed per cell is scaled based at least in part on the number of the one or more CCs exceeding the number of CCs that the UE can support.

7. One or more computer-readable media according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein performing the blind detection comprises monitoring one or more symbols on the PDCCH according to a configured feature group (FG).

8. One or more computer-readable media according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the UE to: determining one or more feature groups (FGs) supported by the UE for performing detection on the PDCCH; and An indication of the one or more FGs is provided to a base station.

9. One or more computer-readable media according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the UE to: determining a maximum number of blind detection and non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) supported by the UE; and An indication of blind detection supported by the UE and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs is provided to a base station.

10. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein providing the indication of blind detection and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs comprises reporting a table indicating blind detection and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs to the base station.

11. A method of operating a base station, the method comprising: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), an indication of a blind detection capability for the UE; generating downlink control information (DCI), the DCI comprising a configuration of two or more cells; as well as The DCI is provided to the UE to configure the UE for the two or more cells.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the indication of blind detection capability comprises an indication of a number of blind detections supported by the UE.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the indication of the number of blind detections is received via a pdcch-BlindDetectionCA parameter, a pdcch-BlindDetectionMCG-UE parameter, or a pdcch-BlindDetectionSCG-UE.

14. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the indication of the blind detection capability comprises an indication of the number of component carriers (CCs) that the UE can support, wherein the number of the two or more cells used for configuration is at least partially based on the number of the CCs that the UE can support.

15. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the indication of the blind detection capability comprises an indication of one or more feature groups (FGs) supported by the UE, and wherein the method comprises: A FG for the UE is determined based at least in part on the one or more FGs supported by the UE, wherein the configuration of the two or more cells includes a configuration of the determined FG to be used by the UE.

16. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, comprising: A reference cell associated with the UE is determined, wherein the DCI has one or more DCI field sizes determined at least in part based on the reference cell.

17. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: a memory for storing an indication of a maximum number of blind detections and a maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs); as well as One or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to: determining a maximum number of the blind detections that the UE can monitor for multiple component carrier (CC) scheduling via a single downlink control information (DCI); determining a maximum number of the non-overlapping CCEs that the UE can monitor for multi-CC scheduling via the single DCI; as well as The indication of the maximum number of blind detections and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs is provided to a base station.

18. The UE of claim 17, wherein providing the indication of the maximum number of blind detections and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs comprises providing a table indicating the maximum number of blind detections and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs to the base station.

19. The UE of claim 17 or claim 18, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: determining the number of CCs that the UE can support for multi-CC scheduling through the single DCI; and An indication of the number of CCs is provided to the base station.

20. The UE of claim 17 or claim 18, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: determining one or more feature groups (FGs) supported by the UE for multi-CC scheduling via the single DCI; providing an indication of the one or more FGs to the base station; receiving, from the base station, an indication of an FG from the one or more FGs for configuration; as well as Blind detection is performed based at least in part on the FG.

21. A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: At least one maximum number of component carriers (CCs) for which the UE can monitor a number of per-cell blind detections of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates is indicated to a base station.

22. A method of operating a base station, the method comprising: configuring a user equipment (UE) to perform a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring operation using an advanced feature set; transmitting, to the user equipment, a first downlink control information (DCI) message scheduling only one cell; Configuring the UE to perform a second PDCCH monitoring operation using a basic feature set; A second DCI message scheduling multiple cells is transmitted to the user equipment.

23. A method of operating user equipment, the method comprising: Indicates to a base station the ability to handle advanced Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) monitoring simultaneously with a single Downlink Control Information (DCI) scheduling of multiple component carriers (CCs).

24. A method of operating a base station, the method comprising: transmitting a downlink control information (DCI) message to a user equipment, the DCI message scheduling transmission on each of a plurality of component carriers (CCs), wherein: The DCI message includes a plurality of fields; and For each of the plurality of fields, the size of the field is a maximum value of the sizes of the field required for each CC in the plurality of CCs.

25. A method of operating a base station, the method comprising: transmitting a downlink control information (DCI) message to a user equipment, the DCI message scheduling transmission on each of a plurality of component carriers (CCs), wherein: The DCI message includes a plurality of fields; and For each field of the plurality of fields, a size of the field is indicated by a reference cell.

26. A method of operating a base station, the method comprising: configuring a first downlink control information (DCI) monitoring operation of a user equipment (UE) to a first specified limit; Transmitting a first DCI message scheduling only one cell to the user equipment; configuring a second DCI monitoring operation of the UE to a second specified limit, the second specified limit being lower than the first specified limit; A second DCI message scheduling multiple cells is transmitted to the user equipment.

27. A method of operating user equipment, the method comprising: Instruct the base station: a first maximum number of blind detections that the UE can monitor when a single downlink control information (DCI) scheduling of multiple component carriers (CCs) is configured; as well as A second maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) that the UE can monitor when a single DCI scheduling of multiple CCs is configured.

28. A method of operating a base station, the method comprising: transmitting a downlink control information (DCI) message to a user equipment (UE) and on a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the DCI message scheduling transmissions on each of a plurality of component carriers (CCs); The UE is configured to monitor a first number of blind detections on the PDCCH, wherein the first number exceeds a specified maximum number.

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