Techniques for supporting simultaneous uplink transmissions based on spatial domain multiplexing

Abstract

The application relates to a method for supporting single downlink control information, space division multiplexed simultaneous physical uplink shared channel transmission, and devices and components including apparatuses, systems.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly to techniques for supporting simultaneous uplink transmissions based on spatial domain multiplexing. Background Art

[0002] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specifications (TS) define standards for wireless networks. These TSs describe aspects related to providing Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communications over a radio interface. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0003] Figure 1 A network environment according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0004] Figure 2 Transport block signaling patterns according to some embodiments are illustrated.

[0005] Figure 3 A pre-decoder according to some implementations is illustrated.

[0006] Figure 4 An operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0007] Figure 5 Another operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0008] Figure 6 Another operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0009] Figure 7 User equipment according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0010] Figure 8 A base station according to some embodiments is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0011] The following specific embodiments relate 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, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, and technologies are described for the purpose of illustration rather than limitation, so as to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of various embodiments. However, it is obvious to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that various aspects of various embodiments can be practiced in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the descriptions of various embodiments due to unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrases "A / B" and "A or B" refer to (A), (B), or (A and B); and the phrase "based on A" refers to "based at least in part on A", for example, it can be "based only on A" or it can be "based in part on A".

[0012] The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure.

[0013] The term "circuit" as used herein refers to a part of or including a hardware component configured to provide the described functionality. A hardware component may include an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated or group) or a memory (shared, dedicated or group), 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)) or a digital signal processor (DSP). In some embodiments, a circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the functionality. The term "circuit" may 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 may be referred to as a circuit of a specific type.

[0014] 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).

[0015] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to, is a part of, or includes a circuit that enables 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, and a network interface card.

[0016] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device with radio communication capabilities that can allow a user to access network resources in a communication network. The term "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous with the following 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 or reconfigurable mobile device. 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.

[0017] 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.

[0018] 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 rate, a processor and accelerator load, a hardware time or usage rate, a power supply, an input / output operation, a port or a network socket, a channel / link allocation, a throughput, a memory usage rate, a storage, a network, a database, and an application or a unit of workload. "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, device, or system. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources that can be accessed by a computer device / system 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.

[0019] The term "channel" as used herein refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for conveying 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 transmitted. Additionally, the term "link" as used herein refers to a connection made between two devices for sending and receiving information.

[0020] 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.

[0021] 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.

[0022] The term "network element" as used herein 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, or virtualized network function.

[0023] 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.

[0024] Figure 1 Illustrated is a network environment 100 according to some embodiments. The network environment 100 may include a user equipment 104 and a base station 108. In some embodiments, the base station 108 may provide one or more wireless access cells through which the UE 104 may communicate with a cellular network.

[0025] UE 104 and base station 108 can communicate via an air interface compatible with the fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) or later system standards as provided by 3GPP TS. If base station 108 is deployed in a 5G radio access network (RAN), it may also be referred to as gNB 108.

[0026] The NR uplink supports two MIMO operating modes and up to four transmission layers. The first MIMO operating mode can be a codebook-based uplink, in which the sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set usage is set to "codebook". In this operating mode, the UE 104 can transmit SRS resources using multiple ports. The base station 108 can then schedule the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission by providing a precoding and layer information (PL) field in the DCI to indicate precoding information (e.g., a transmitted precoding matrix indicator (TPMI)) and the number of layers (e.g., a rank indicator (RI)). The base station 108 may also provide an SRS resource indicator (SRI) to select an SRS resource used as a reference for the information conveyed by the PL field.

[0027] The second MIMO operation mode can be a non-codebook based uplink, where the SRS resource set usage is set to "non-codebook". In this operation mode, the UE 104 can measure the channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) and use these measurements to derive precoding weights for the configured SRS resources. This operation mode assumes downlink-uplink channel reciprocity. The UE 104 can then use its calculated precoding weights to send multiple SRS resources from the corresponding multiple ports. The base station 108 can then schedule PUSCH transmissions by providing an SRS resource indicator (SRI) for indicating the SRS resource / port selection (and the precoding matrix for the selected SRS transmission) and multiple layers (e.g., RI).

[0028] UE 104 may include multiple antenna panels, each with an array of antenna elements. As shown, UE 104 has two antenna panels, namely panel 1 and panel 2. UE 104 may use panel 1 and panel 2 to simultaneously transmit uplink signals in a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) manner. As shown, UE 104 transmits PUSCH 1 from panel 1 and PUSCH 2 from panel 2. PUSCH 1 and PUSCH 2 may be transmitted at the same time and at the same frequency.

[0029] The base station 108 may schedule simultaneous PUSCH transmissions in an SDM manner by using a single downlink control information (DCI) or multiple DCIs (multi-DCI). For single-DCI based scheduling, one DCI is used to schedule multiple overlapping simultaneous PUSCH transmissions. For multiple-DCI based scheduling, each overlapping simultaneous PUSCH transmission may be scheduled by a corresponding DCI.

[0030] There are two possible modes for single DCI, SDM-based simultaneous PUSCH transmission. In the first mode, each panel / PUSCH may occupy only non-overlapping PUSCH layers. In this mode, each layer of the MIMO transmission may be precoded differently. For example, consider a MIMO transmission with four layers. In this example, the first mode may be used to transmit two layers from panel 1 and two different layers from panel 2.

[0031] In the second mode, each panel / PUSCH may occupy the same PUSCH layer. This may be similar to a single frequency network where each layer is transmitted using the same beam and completely overlaps each other. The layers may then be coherently combined by the receiver.

[0032] The NR network being developed can support multi-panel simultaneous PUSCH transmission. Various embodiments of the present disclosure describe techniques for supporting single DCI, SDM-based simultaneous PUSCH transmission. Aspects of these embodiments include using two sets of SRI (PL) fields, a single set of SRI (PL) fields, and non-periodic channel state information (AP-CSI) transmission.

[0033] The first aspect described herein may correspond to a single DCI, SDM-based simultaneous PUSCH transmission, wherein the base station configures and uses two sets of SRI (PL) fields in the same DCI to schedule simultaneous PUSCH transmission. As used herein, a set of SRI (PL) fields may indicate only the SRI field (such as for non-codebook based operation) or both the SRI field and the PL field (such as for codebook based operation). A number of options for the first aspect are described below. These options are not mutually exclusive, and various of these options may be used together in some cases.

[0034] In a first option of the first aspect, each SRI(PL) field may correspond to a different antenna panel. For example, the base station 108 may provide one DCI including a first SRI(PL) field and a second SRI(PL) field to the UE 104. The first SRI(PL) field may schedule PUSCH 1 from panel 1, and the second SRI(PL) field may schedule PUSCH 2 from panel 2.

[0035] In a second option of the first aspect, additional signaling may be used to provide an indication of scheduling simultaneous PUSCH transmissions with an SDM transmission scheme as opposed to another simultaneous PUSCH transmission scheme, such as, for example, frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or time division multiplexing (TDM). In one example, the base station 108 may send information in a radio resource control (RRC) signaling to configure the UE 104 with the SDM transmission scheme. In another example, the base station 108 may send a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) to activate the SDM transmission scheme. In some embodiments, the UE 104 may be configured with multiple transmission schemes (predefined or configured by RRC signaling), and the MAC-CE may be used to activate the SDM transmission scheme among the multiple transmission schemes. It may be desirable to activate only one transmission scheme at a particular time. In yet another example, the SDM transmission scheme may be dynamically indicated by a DCI, such as, for example, a DCI for scheduling PUSCH transmissions.

[0036] In a third option of the first aspect, two modes of sending a transport block (TB) are described. According to some embodiments, Figure 2 These two modes are exemplified in FIG.

[0037] A first mode, which may be referred to as TB Mode 1, may include a single TB that is jointly transmitted from both antenna panel 1 and antenna panel 2. In this case, both the first SRI(PL) field and the second SRI(PL) field may be used to schedule TBs from both antenna panels. For example, consider scheduling simultaneous PUSCH transmissions on four layers, where the first two layers are transmitted by antenna panel 1 and the second two layers are transmitted by antenna panel 2. Using TB Mode 1, UE 104 may jointly encode TBs on all four layers, where only one rate matching is performed.

[0038] In a second mode, which may be referred to as TB Mode 2, a single TB may be transmitted independently from each antenna panel. In this case, the first SRI(PL) field may be used to schedule TBs from antenna panel 1 and the second SRI(PL) may be used to schedule TBs from antenna panel 2. Consider the same example as given above, in which simultaneous PUSCH transmissions are scheduled on four layers, with the first two layers transmitted by antenna panel 1 and the second two layers transmitted by antenna panel 2. Using TB Mode 2, the UE 104 may encode the TBs on the first two layers and perform rate matching based on these layers for transmission by antenna panel 1. The UE 104 may encode the TBs on the second two layers separately and perform rate matching based on these layers for transmission by antenna panel 2.

[0039] In TB Mode 2, a single TB may be sent using the same redundancy version (RV) or different RVs from two antenna panels. Figure 2The different RVs of the TB transmitted from antenna panel 1 when RV=0 and the TB transmitted from antenna panel 2 when RV=3 are shown.

[0040] Although the above embodiments describe TB Mode 2 in which the same TB is transmitted from two antenna panels simultaneously, other embodiments may use TB Mode 2 to transmit different TBs from two antenna panels simultaneously.

[0041] The fourth option of the first aspect describes the determination of the TB size for TB Mode 1 and TB Mode 2.

[0042] For TB Mode 1, the TB size may be determined by jointly calculating the total number of available resource elements (REs) / bits from the two antenna panels as scheduled by the first SRI(PL) field / second SRI(PL) field. Consider the example given above where simultaneous PUSCH transmissions are scheduled on four layers evenly distributed between the two antenna panels. In this example, the TB size may be based on the total number of REs available in all four layers.

[0043] For TB mode 2, UE 104 may first calculate the total number of available REs / bits from the first panel. This may be based on the first SRI (PL) field. Then, UE 104 may assume the same TB size for the second antenna panel. Consider the example given above, where simultaneous PUSCH transmissions are scheduled on four layers evenly distributed between two antenna panels. In this example, UE 104 may calculate the total number of available REs on the first two layers. Then, UE 104 may use this number for encoding TBs on the first two layers for transmission by antenna panel 1 and for encoding TBs on the last two layers for transmission by antenna panel 2. In another example, different numbers of layers may be scheduled for different panels (e.g., panel 1 is scheduled using two layers and panel 2 is scheduled using one layer). In this example, since there is one TB, the TB size may be determined based on one antenna panel. If antenna panel 1 is selected, the TB size will be determined based on two layers. Then, for the second antenna panel, since it has only one layer, there may be fewer available REs. Therefore, the UE will perform rate matching to fit the TB to the second antenna panel.

[0044] The fifth option of the first aspect describes the determination of the RV to be used when scheduling simultaneous PUSCH transmissions for TB mode 2. The UE 104 may determine a first RV (RV_1) to be used for PUSCH transmissions from antenna panel 1 based on the RV field of the DCI that schedules the PUSCH transmissions. Then, the UE 104 may determine a second RV (RV_2) to be used for PUSCH transmissions from antenna panel 2 based on RV_1.

[0045] In some embodiments, RV_2 may be determined based on an RV offset (RV_offset), which may be predefined or configured by RRC signaling from the base station 108. For example, the second RV may be determined as follows:

[0046] RV_2=(RV_1+RV_offset)mod 4.

[0047] In other embodiments, the association between RV_1 and RV_2 may be predefined or configured by the base station 108. For example, information for configuring the RV association as provided in Table 1 may be provided to the UE 104.

[0048] RV_1 0 2 3 1 RV_2 2 3 1 0

[0049] Table 1

[0050] Based on Table 1, if the RV field sets the RV for the first panel to 0, the UE 104 can determine that the RV for the second panel is 2, if the RV field sets the RV for the second panel to 2, the UE 104 can determine that the RV for the second panel is 3, and so on.

[0051] The sixth option of the first aspect describes a Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS) to Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) port mapping. The PTRS to DMRS port mapping may be used to tell the UE 104 which layer should be used for PTRS transmission.

[0052] PTRS can be transmitted by two antenna ports. If each SRI(PL) field schedules ≤2 PUSCH layers, a two-bit PTRS-DMRS association field can be used to provide layers from the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel for the two PTRS ports. For example, the first bit of the PTRS-DMRS association field can be used to indicate which layer from the first antenna panel is to be used for the first PTRS port, and the second bit of the PTRS-DMRS association field can be used to indicate which layer from the second antenna panel is to be used for the second PTRS port. The first bit can be the most significant bit (MSB) or the least significant bit (LSB), and the second bit can be the LSB or the MSB.

[0053] If each SRI(PL) field schedules >2 PUSCH layers, two PTRS-DMRS association fields may be used to provide layers from the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel for two PTRS ports. Each PTRS-DMRS association field may be a two-bit field. The two bits of the first PTRS-DMRS association field may be used to indicate which layer from the first antenna panel is to be used for the first PTRS port, and the two bits of the second PTRS-DMRS association field may be used to indicate which layer from the second antenna panel is to be used for the second PTRS port.

[0054] A second aspect of the present disclosure corresponds to single DCI, SDM-based simultaneous PUSCH transmissions, where the base station 108 configures and uses a set of SRI (PL) fields in the same DCI to schedule simultaneous PUSCH transmissions. A number of options for the second aspect are described below. These options are not mutually exclusive, and various options in these options may be used together in some cases.

[0055] The first option of the second aspect may correspond to non-codebook PUSCH operation.

[0056] In some embodiments, a single SRS resource set with usage = "non-codebook" may be configured. The SRS resources may be statically divided between the two antenna panels. For example, assuming two SRS resources per panel, panel 1 may be associated with SRS resources 1 and 2, and antenna panel 2 may be associated with SRS resources 3 and 4. However, other associations may be provided.

[0057] Statically partitioning different SRS resources into different panels can provide the base station 108 with information about the pre-coded SRS resources transmitted by the UE 104 in non-codebook based operation. The base station 108 can then set a single SRI in a manner that instructs the UE 104 to transmit a specific number of layers from a specific antenna panel.

[0058] A single SRI may be set based on SRI tables available to both UE 104 and base station 108. The SRI table may be predefined or configured by base station 108. An example of an SRI table is shown in Table 2 below.

[0059] SRI Selected SRS 0 (1) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (1,2) 5 (3,4) 6 (1,3,4) 7 (2,3,4) 8 (1,2,3) 9 (1,2,4) 10 (1,2,3,4)

[0060] Table 2

[0061] Thus, base station 108 may set the SRI field to a value of "6", for example, to indicate that UE 104 is to use one layer from antenna panel 1 (corresponding to SRS resource 1) and two layers from antenna panel 2 (corresponding to SRS resources 3 and 4).

[0062] In some embodiments, multiple SRS resource sets (e.g., two SRS resource sets) with usage = "non-codebook" may be configured. In these embodiments, the SRS resource set with the smaller index may be mapped to the first antenna panel, and the SRS resource set with the larger index may be mapped to the second antenna panel. The base station 108 may use a single SRI that is mapped to select SRS resources from the first SRS resource set or the second SRS resource set in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect to Table 2.

[0063] A second option of the second aspect may correspond to codebook PUSCH operation. In some embodiments, only partial codebooks or non-coherent codebooks may be allowed. In these embodiments, it may be assumed that there is no coherence between antenna panels, although coherence may exist within a particular antenna panel. Thus, a single layer may be sent from either the first antenna panel or the second antenna panel, but not both.

[0064] Operation that allows only partial codebooks or non-coherent codebooks can be enabled by defining a PUSCH layer to panel mapping. In some cases, the mapping can be that even PUSCH ports (e.g., port 0 and port 2) are mapped to the first antenna panel, and odd PUSCH ports (e.g., port 1 and port 3) are mapped to the second antenna panel.

[0065] Figure 3 The partial pre-decoder or non-coherent pre-decoder that can be used according to some embodiments is illustrated. Specifically, Figure 3 A first predecoder 300 and a second predecoder 304 are included. For the first predecoder 300 or the second predecoder 304, even lines (eg, port 0 and port 2) may be transmitted from a first antenna panel, and odd lines (eg, port 1 and port 3) may be transmitted from a second antenna panel.

[0066] Each column of the pre-decoders 300 and 304 may correspond to a respective transmit layer, and each row of the pre-decoders 300 and 304 may correspond to a respective transmit port.

[0067] According to the PUSCH layer-to-panel mapping defined above, ports 0 and 2 correspond to antenna panel 1, while ports 1 and 3 correspond to antenna panel 2.

[0068] Referring to the first pre-decoder 300, assuming that the non-zero values ​​are in the first row (corresponding to port 0) and the third row (corresponding to port 2), the first two layers are mapped to the first antenna panel. Assuming that their non-zero values ​​are in the second row (corresponding to port 1) and the fourth row (corresponding to port 3), the latter two layers are mapped to the second antenna panel.

[0069] The second pre-decoder 304 may be similar to the first pre-decoder, except that the non-zero values ​​of port 2 and port 3 are 90 degrees phase rotated compared to the corresponding values ​​of the first pre-decoder.

[0070] In other embodiments, coherent codebooks may be allowed. In these embodiments, the UE 104 may report whether it supports coherent transmission between different panels. The report may be in a UE capability report provided when establishing a connection with the base station 104 or later.

[0071] When coherent transmission is configured across two antenna panels, layer-to-panel mapping may not be required since each layer can be transmitted from both panels simultaneously.

[0072] In addition to providing data in a transport block, a simultaneous PUSCH transmission may also include uplink control information (UCI), such as an AP-CSI report triggered by a CSI request field in the DCI that schedules the PUSCH transmission. A third aspect of the present disclosure relates to a single DCI, SDM-based simultaneous PUSCH transmission when the network uses a single DCI to schedule simultaneous PUSCH transmissions using AP-CSI reports.

[0073] The AP-CSI report may be sent jointly from the two panels when the TBs are jointly encoded from the two panels as discussed above with respect to TB Mode 1. For example, if the AP-CSI report has 1001 bits, these 1001 bits may be encoded onto REs available from the layers sent by the two antenna panels.

[0074] As discussed above with respect to TB Mode 2, when a single TB is sent from two antenna panels using independent coding (and possibly RV), there may be two options for sending AP-CSI reports.

[0075] In a first option, AP-CSI may be sent from only one antenna panel (antenna panel 1 or antenna panel 2, but not both).

[0076] In a second option, the AP-CSI may be independently encoded for transmission from the two antenna panels. This may be accomplished in one of two ways.

[0077] In a first approach for independently encoding AP-CSI for transmission by two panels, the AP-CSI report may be divided into two parts. Each part may have substantially the same number of bits, with each of the parts being transmitted from a different antenna panel. For example, if the AP-CSI report has 1001 bits, a first part including 500 bits may be transmitted from antenna panel 1, and a second part including the remaining 501 bits may be transmitted from antenna panel 2.

[0078] UCI omission may be necessary in the case where the layers of the first panel or the layers of the second panel cannot support their respective parts. In this embodiment, UCI omission can be performed independently for each panel. For example, if the number of bits available for AP-CSI transmission by the layers of the first panel is less than 500, the first part can be reduced accordingly. Similarly, if the number of bits available for AP-CSI transmission by the layers of the second panel is less than 501, the second part can be reduced accordingly.

[0079] In a second approach for independently encoding AP-CSI for transmission by two panels, the same AP-CSI report may be transmitted from both panels. For example, 1001 bits of an AP-CSI report may be encoded onto the layers of antenna panel 1 for transmission and may be encoded onto the layers of antenna panel 2 separately for transmission.

[0080] UCI omission for this implementation may be provided using one of the following options.

[0081] In a first option, the current carrying capacity of both panels may be considered, and UCI omission may be performed on the AP-CSI report to ensure that the UCI size limit is not exceeded for either panel. For example, if the first panel can support 800 bits and the second panel can support 600 bits, UCI omission may be performed based on 600 bits. In this way, both antenna panels may send the same AP-CSI report.

[0082] In a second option, the ampacity of only one of the panels (e.g., antenna panel 1 or antenna panel 2) may be considered. In the above scenario where the first panel may support 800 bits and the second panel may support 600 bits and the ampacity is based on the first panel, the second antenna panel may not be able to carry AP-CSI reports. Instead, AP-CSI reports may be sent only from the layers on the first antenna panel.

[0083] Figure 4 An operational flow / algorithm structure 400 according to some embodiments is included. The operational flow / algorithm structure 400 may be performed or implemented by a device (such as, for example, UE 104 or UE 700) or a component thereof (eg, processor 704).

[0084] The operational flow / algorithm structure 400 may include, at 404, receiving a single DCI for scheduling simultaneous PUSCH transmissions in an SDM manner. In some embodiments, the single DCI may include one or more first indicator fields corresponding to the first PUSCH transmission and one or more second indicator fields corresponding to the second PUSCH transmission. In other embodiments, the single DCI may include one or more first indicator fields corresponding to both the first PUSCH transmission and the second PUSCH transmission. The indicator field may be an SRI (PL) field that provides information about SRS resources, TPMI, or the number of layers to be used with the various PUSCH transmissions.

[0085] In some implementations, the UE may receive a control signal from the base station indicating that simultaneous PUSCH transmission is scheduled in an SDM manner. The control signal may be an RRC signal, MAC-CE or DCI.

[0086] Upon receiving a single DCI, the UE may encode the TB for the first PUSCH transmission / second PUSCH transmission. The TB may be encoded on multiple layers distributed across the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel of the UE. In this case, the total number of available resource elements from multiple layers may be used to determine the TB size used to encode the TB.

[0087] In some embodiments, TBs may be encoded separately on layers associated with separate antenna panels. For example, if the first and second layers are associated with the first antenna panel, and the third and fourth layers are associated with the second antenna panel, the TBs may be encoded on the first / second layers, and the TBs may be encoded separately on the third / fourth layers. The UE may determine the TB size based on the total number of available resource elements from the layers associated with the first panel.

[0088] The TB may be encoded on the layers of the first panel and on the layers of the second panel using the same or different RVs. In some embodiments, the first RV for encoding on the layers of the first panel may be signaled by the MCS field, and the second RV for encoding on the layers of the second panel may be determined based on a predefined offset from the first RV or a predefined association with the first RV.

[0089] In some embodiments, a single DCI may include one or more PTRS-DMRS association fields. If the first indicator field / second indicator field each schedules two or fewer PUSCH layers, one PTRS-DMRS association field may be used, wherein one of the bits is used to indicate which PUSCH layer from the first antenna panel is to be used for the first PTRS port, and the other bit is used to indicate which PUSCH layer from the second antenna panel is to be used for the second PTRS port. If at least one of the first indicator field / second indicator field schedules more than two PUSCH layers, two two-bit PTRS-DMRS association fields may be used. Two bits from the first PTRS-DMRS association field may be used to indicate which PUSCH layer from the first antenna panel is to be used for the first PTRS port, and two bits from the first PTRS-DMRS association field may be used to indicate which PUSCH layer from the second antenna panel is to be used for the second PTRS port.

[0090] Embodiments of using one or more first indicator fields (eg, one SRI field and optionally one PL field) to schedule both the first PUSCH transmission and the second PUSCH transmission may correspond to both non-codebook based PUSCH operation and codebook based PUSCH operation.

[0091] For non-codebook based PUSCH operation, certain SRS resources may be associated with certain antenna panels. For example, the first SRS resource and the second SRS resource may be associated with the first antenna panel, while the third SRS resource and the fourth SRS resource may be associated with the second antenna panel. The base station may signal the SRI corresponding to one or more of the SRS resources, and the UE will know the panel to be used for uplink transmission based on the SRS resource-panel association.

[0092] In some embodiments, for codebook-based PUSCH operation, the UE and the base station may use a partially coherent codebook or a non-coherent codebook. The PUSCH layer to panel mapping may be predefined or otherwise configured. For example, even antenna ports may belong to a first antenna panel, while odd antenna ports may belong to a second panel. The base station may then select a predecoder from the codebook that may be used to predecode the PUSCH layer mapped to the even or odd antenna ports of the appropriate antenna panel. The selected predecoder may be signaled by the TPMI indicated by the PL field.

[0093] The operational flow / algorithm structure 400 may also include transmitting simultaneous PUSCH transmissions in an SDM manner at 408. These transmissions may be based on the encoding operations described elsewhere herein.

[0094] Figure 5An operational flow / algorithm structure 500 according to some embodiments is included. The operational flow / algorithm structure 500 may be performed or implemented by a device (such as, for example, base station 108 or base station 800) or a component thereof (eg, processor 804).

[0095] The operation flow / algorithm structure 500 may include: at 504, sending a single DCI to schedule simultaneous PUSCH transmission in an SDM manner. The single DCI may be generated by a base station and sent to a UE. The single DCI may be similar to the above with respect to Figure 4 and those single DCIs described elsewhere herein. In some implementations, a single DCI may also trigger an AP-CSI report to be sent along with a simultaneous PUSCH transmission.

[0096] The operational flow / algorithm structure 500 may also include receiving a simultaneous PUSCH transmission in an SDM manner at 508. In some embodiments, the base station may also receive an AP-CSI report with a simultaneous PUSCH transmission.

[0097] Figure 6 An operational flow / algorithm structure 600 according to some embodiments is included. The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may be performed or implemented by a device (such as, for example, UE 104 or UE 700) or a component thereof (eg, processor 704).

[0098] The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may include, at 604, receiving a single DCI to schedule simultaneous PUSCH transmissions in an SDM manner with AP-CSI reporting. The single DCI may be similar to the above with respect to Figure 4 and those single DCIs described elsewhere herein. In this embodiment, the single DCI may also trigger an AP-CSI report to be transmitted along with the PUSCH transmission.

[0099] The AP-CSI report may be encoded for transmission from one or both antenna panels of a UE.

[0100] In some embodiments, when TBs are transmitted using TB Mode 1, AP-CSI reports may be transmitted jointly from two antenna panels. For example, the AP-CSI reports may be encoded on multiple layers extending between the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel.

[0101] In some embodiments, when TB mode 2 is used to send TBs, AP-CSI reports may be sent from only one panel (eg, antenna panel 1 or antenna panel 2).

[0102] In other embodiments, when TB mode 2 is used to send TBs, AP-CSI reports may be sent from both panels.

[0103] A first method of sending an AP-CSI report from two panels may be accomplished by encoding a first portion of the AP-CSI report onto a layer to be sent by a first antenna port and encoding a second portion of the AP-CSI report onto a layer to be sent by a second antenna port. The first portion and the second portion may be different portions. UCI omission may be performed independently for each panel. For example, the UE may determine a first number of resource elements available for the first portion of the AP-CSI report from a layer to be sent from a first antenna panel, and may adjust the size of the first portion if necessary. For example, if the first portion is larger than the number of available resource elements, UCI omission may be performed to reduce the size of the first portion. Similar processing may be performed with respect to the second portion on a layer to be sent from a second antenna panel.

[0104] A second method of sending AP-CSI reports from two panels may be accomplished by encoding the AP-CSI reports separately onto layers to be sent by separate panels. For example, the AP-CSI report may be encoded onto a layer to be sent by a first panel and may be separately encoded onto a layer to be sent by a second panel.

[0105] For the purpose of omitting UCI, two panels may be considered or one panel may be considered. For example, if two panels are considered, the UE may determine which layers in the first panel or the second panel have fewer resource elements available for AP-CSI reporting. The UE may then adjust the size of the AP-CSI report based on the fewer resource elements to ensure that the UCI size limit is not exceeded for either panel. If only one panel is considered, the AP-CSI size may be determined based on the number of resource elements available for AP-CSI reporting on the layers of that panel. If the layers of the other panels can also accommodate the AP-CSI report, it may also be transmitted on the other panels. If not, it may be discarded from the other panel.

[0106] The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may also include encoding the AP-CSI report for transmission from one or both panels, at 608. The AP-CSI report may be transmitted in an SDM manner with simultaneous PUSCH transmissions.

[0107] Figure 7 An example UE 700 according to some embodiments is illustrated. The UE 700 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., a microphone, a carbon dioxide sensor, a pressure sensor, a humidity sensor, a thermometer, a motion sensor, an accelerometer, a laser scanner, a fluid level sensor, an inventory sensor, a voltage / current meter, or an actuator), a video surveillance / monitoring device (e.g., a camera), a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch), or an Internet of Things (IoT) device.

[0108] UE 700 may include a processor 704, an RF interface circuit 708, a memory / storage 712, a user interface 716, a sensor 720, a driver circuit 722, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 724, an antenna structure 726, and a battery 728. The components of UE 700 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), a portion of an integrated circuit, a discrete electronic device or other module, logic device, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. Figure 7 The block diagram of UE 700 is intended to show a high-level view of some of the components of UE 700. 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.

[0109] Components of UE 700 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 732, which may represent any type of interface, input / output, bus (local, system, or extension), transmission line, trace, optical connection, etc., which allows various circuit components (on a common or different chip or chipset) to interact with each other.

[0110] The processor 704 may include processor circuits such as, for example, a baseband processor circuit (BB) 704A, a central processor unit circuit (CPU) 704B, and a graphics processor unit circuit (GPU) 704C. The processor 704 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 712) to cause the UE 700 to perform operations as described herein.

[0111] In some embodiments, the baseband processor circuit 704A can access the communication protocol stack 736 in the memory / storage device 712 to communicate through a 3GPP compatible network. In general, the baseband processor circuit 704A 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 708.

[0112] The baseband processor circuit 704A 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.

[0113] The memory / storage device 712 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions (e.g., communication protocol stack 736) that can be executed by one or more processors in the processor 704 to enable the UE 700 to perform various operations described herein. The memory / storage device 712 includes any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that can be distributed throughout the UE 700. In some embodiments, some of the memory / storage devices 712 may be located on the processor 704 itself (e.g., L1 cache and L2 cache), while other memory / storage devices 712 are located outside the processor 704, but can be accessed via a memory interface. The memory / storage device 712 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.

[0114] The RF interface circuit 708 may include a transceiver circuit and a radio frequency front end module (RFEM), which allows the UE 700 to communicate with other devices through a radio access network. The RF interface circuit 708 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.

[0115] In the receive path, the RFEM may receive the radiated signal from the air interface via the antenna structure 726 and continue to filter and amplify the signal (using a low noise amplifier). The signal may be provided to the transceiver's receiver, which down-converts the RF signal to a baseband signal that is provided to the baseband processor of the processor 704.

[0116] 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 726.

[0117] In various embodiments, the RF interface circuit 708 may be configured to send / receive signals in a manner compatible with NR or other access technologies.

[0118] Antenna 726 may include antenna elements to convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and convert received radio waves into electrical signals. These antenna elements may be arranged into one or more antenna panels. Antenna 726 may have an antenna panel that is omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof to achieve beamforming and multiple-input multiple-output communications. Antenna 726 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 726 may have one or more panels that are designed for a specific frequency band included in a band in FR1 or FR2.

[0119] The user interface circuit 716 includes various input / output (I / O) devices designed to enable a user to interact with the UE 700. The user interface 716 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual components for accepting input, and in particular includes one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touch pad, 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, in particular including 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 700.

[0120] Sensor 720 may include a device, module, or subsystem whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and to send 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, three-axis gyroscope, or magnetometer; a liquid 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.

[0121] The driver circuit 722 may include software and hardware elements for controlling a specific device embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the UE 700. The driver circuit 722 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 700. For example, the driver circuit 722 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 720 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 720, 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, or an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0122] The PMIC 724 may manage the power provided to various components of the UE 700. Specifically, with respect to the processor 704, the PMIC 724 may control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion.

[0123] In some embodiments, the PMIC 724 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the UE 700. For example, if the platform UE is in the RRC_Connected state, in which the platform is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, then after a period of inactivity, the platform may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the UE 700 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the UE 700 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which it is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The UE 700 enters a very low power state and performs paging, in which it wakes up again periodically to listen to the network, and then powers off again. The UE 700 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for a time exceeding the paging interval (from a few seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered down. Any data transmitted during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0124] The battery 728 can power the UE 700, but in some examples, the UE 700 can be installed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the power grid. The battery 728 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 implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, the battery 728 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0125] Figure 8 An example base station 800 is illustrated in accordance with some embodiments. Base station 800 may include a processor 804, RF interface circuitry 808, core network (CN) interface circuitry 812, memory / storage circuitry 816, and antenna structures 826.

[0126] The components of base station 800 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 828 .

[0127] The processor 804, RF interface circuit 808, memory / storage circuit 816 (including communication protocol stack 810), antenna structure 826 and interconnect 828 may be similar to those with respect to Figure 7 Like named elements are shown and described.

[0128] The CN interface circuit 812 may provide connectivity for 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 base station 800 via optical fiber or wireless backhaul. The CN interface circuit 812 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 812 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0129] It is well known 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.

[0130] 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 circuit associated with the UE, base station, or network element described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples shown in the example section below.

[0131] Example

[0132] In the following sections, additional exemplary embodiments are provided.

[0133] Embodiment 1 includes a method for operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a single downlink control information (DCI) from a base station for scheduling simultaneous physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions in a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) manner; transmitting the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions using a first antenna panel and a second antenna panel based on the single DCI, wherein: the single DCI includes one or more first indicator fields corresponding to a first PUSCH transmission in the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions, and one or more second indicator fields corresponding to a second PUSCH transmission in the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions, the one or more first indicator fields including: a first sounding reference signal resource indicator (SRI) field; or the first SRS field and a first precoding and layer information (PL) field; and the one or more second indicator fields including: a second SRI field; or the second SRI field and a second PL field.

[0134] Embodiment 2 includes a method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein the one or more first indicator fields are used to schedule the first PUSCH transmission from the first antenna panel, and the one or more second indicator fields are used to schedule the second PUSCH transmission from the second antenna panel.

[0135] Embodiment 3 includes the method according to embodiment 1 or any other embodiment of the present invention, and the method further includes: receiving a control signal from the base station for indicating that the simultaneous PUSCH transmission is scheduled in the SDM manner, wherein the control signal is a radio resource control (RRC) signal, a medium access control-control element or a DCI signal.

[0136] Embodiment 4 includes a method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein the simultaneous PUSCH transmission will carry a transport block (TB), and the method further includes: encoding the TB onto multiple layers, wherein a first layer of the multiple layers will be sent from the first antenna panel, and a second layer of the multiple layers will be sent from the second antenna panel.

[0137] Embodiment 5 includes a method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein the method further includes: calculating a total number of available resource elements from the multiple layers; determining a TB size based on the total number of available resource elements; and encoding the TB onto the multiple layers based on the TB size.

[0138] Embodiment 6 includes a method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein the simultaneous PUSCH transmission will carry a transport block (TB), and the method further includes: encoding a first instance of the TB onto one or more layers to be transmitted from the first antenna panel; and encoding a second instance of the TB onto at least one layer to be transmitted from the second antenna panel.

[0139] Embodiment 7 includes a method according to embodiment 6 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein the method further includes: calculating the total number of available resource elements from the one or more layers to be sent from the first antenna panel; determining a TB size based on the total number of available resource elements; encoding the first instance of the TB to the one or more layers to be sent from the first antenna panel based on the TB size; and encoding the second instance of the TB to at least one layer to be sent from the second antenna panel based on the TB size.

[0140] Embodiment 8 includes the method according to embodiment 6 or some other embodiment herein, the method comprising: encoding the first instance of the TB using a first redundancy version; and encoding the second instance of the TB using a second redundancy version.

[0141] Embodiment 9 includes the method according to embodiment 8 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein the method further includes: determining the first redundant version based on the redundant version scheme field; and determining the second redundant version based on a predefined offset from the first redundant version or a predefined association with the first redundant version.

[0142] Embodiment 10 includes the method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment of the present invention, and the method further includes: determining that the one or more first indicator fields schedule two or less PUSCH layers; determining that the one or more second indicator fields schedule two or less PUSCH layers; determining which PUSCH layer from the first antenna panel will be used for the first PTRS port based on the first bit of the phase tracking reference signal (PTRS)-demodulation reference signal (DMRS) association field; and determining which PUSCH layer from the second antenna panel will be used for the second PTRS port based on the second bit of the PTRS-DMRS association field.

[0143] Embodiment 11 includes the method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment of the present invention, and the method further includes: determining that the one or more first indicator fields or the one or more second indicator fields schedule more than two PUSCH layers; determining which PUSCH layer from the first antenna panel will be used for the first PTRS port based on two bits of the first phase tracking reference signal (PTRS)-demodulation reference signal (DMRS) association field; and determining which PUSCH layer from the second antenna panel will be used for the second PTRS port based on two bits of the second PTRS-DMRS association field.

[0144] Embodiment 12 includes a method for operating a base station, the method comprising: generating a single downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling simultaneous physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions in a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) manner; sending the single DCI to a user equipment (UE); and receiving simultaneous PUSCH transmissions sent from a first antenna panel and a second antenna panel from the UE based on the single DCI, wherein: the single DCI includes one or more first indicator fields corresponding to a first PUSCH transmission in the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions, and one or more second indicator fields corresponding to a second PUSCH transmission in the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions, the one or more first indicator fields including: a first sounding reference signal resource indicator (SRI) field; or the first SRS field and a first precoding and layer information (PL) field; and the one or more second indicator fields include: a second SRI field; or the second SRI field and a second PL field.

[0145] Embodiment 13 includes a method according to embodiment 12 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein the one or more first indicator fields are used to schedule the first PUSCH transmission from the first antenna panel, and the one or more second indicator fields are used to schedule the second PUSCH transmission from the second antenna panel.

[0146] Embodiment 14 includes the method according to embodiment 12 or some other embodiment of the present invention, and the method further includes: sending a control signal to the UE to indicate that the simultaneous PUSCH transmission is scheduled in the SDM manner, wherein the control signal is a radio resource control (RRC) signal, a medium access control-control element or a DCI signal.

[0147] Embodiment 15 includes a method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a single downlink control information (DCI) from a base station for scheduling simultaneous physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions in a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) manner; and transmitting the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions using a first antenna panel and a second antenna panel based on the single DCI, wherein: the single DCI includes one or more indicator fields corresponding to a first PUSCH transmission and a second PUSCH transmission of the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions, the one or more indicator fields including: a sounding reference signal resource indicator (SRI) field; or the SRS field and a precoding and layer information (PL) field.

[0148] Embodiment 16 includes a method according to embodiment 15 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein the method further includes: determining a first sounding reference signal (SRS) resource and a second SRS resource associated with the first antenna panel; determining a third SRS resource and a fourth SRS resource associated with the second antenna panel; and selecting one or more SRS resources from the first SRS resource, the second SRS resource, the third SRS resource, and the fourth SRS resource based on the SRI field.

[0149] Embodiment 17 includes a method according to embodiment 16 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein the method further includes: receiving information for configuring a single SRS resource set with non-codebook usage to include the first SRS resource, the second SRS resource, the third SRS resource and the fourth SRS resource; or receiving information for configuring a first SRS resource set and a second SRS resource set with non-codebook usage, wherein the first SRS resource set includes the first SRS resource and the second SRS resource, and the second SRS resource set includes the third SRS resource and the fourth SRS resource.

[0150] Embodiment 18 includes the method according to embodiment 15 or any other embodiment herein, the method further comprising: sending an indication to the base station whether the UE supports coherent transmission between the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel.

[0151] Embodiment 19 includes a method according to embodiment 15 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein the one or more indicator fields include the SRS field and the PL field, the UE is configured with a partially coherent or non-coherent codebook, and the method further includes: determining a transmit precoding matrix indicator (TPMI) based on the PL field; accessing a predecoder from the codebook based on the TPMI; and using the predecoder to precode one or more layers of the multiple layers on the even antenna ports mapped to the first antenna panel, and precoding the remaining layers of the multiple layers on the odd antenna ports mapped to the second antenna panel.

[0152] Embodiment 20 includes a method comprising: receiving a single downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling simultaneous physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions in a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) manner, the single DCI including a channel state information (CSI) request field for triggering a non-periodic CSI (AP-CSI) report; and encoding the AP-CSI report for transmission from one antenna panel of the UE or from two antenna panels of the UE.

[0153] Embodiment 21 includes a method according to embodiment 20 or some other embodiment herein, wherein encoding the AP-CSI report includes encoding the AP-CSI report for transmission from two antenna panels, and the method further includes: encoding the AP-CSI report onto multiple layers, wherein a first layer of the multiple layers is to be transmitted from a first antenna panel of the two antenna panels, and a second layer of the multiple layers is to be transmitted from a second antenna panel of the two antenna panels.

[0154] Embodiment 22 includes a method according to embodiment 20 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein encoding the AP-CSI report includes encoding the AP-CSI report for transmission from two antenna panels, and the method further includes: encoding a first portion of the AP-CSI report onto one or more layers to be transmitted from a first antenna panel of the two antenna panels; and encoding a second portion of the AP-CSI report onto at least one layer to be transmitted from a second antenna panel of the two antenna panels.

[0155] Embodiment 23 includes a method according to embodiment 22 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the method further includes: determining a first number of resource elements available for the AP-CSI report from the one or more layers to be sent from the first antenna panel; adjusting the size of the first part of the AP-CSI report based on the first number of resource elements; determining a second number of resource elements available for the AP-CSI report from the at least one layer to be sent from the second antenna panel; and adjusting the size of the second part of the AP-CSI report based on the second number of resource elements.

[0156] Embodiment 24 includes a method according to embodiment 20 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein encoding the AP-CSI report includes encoding the AP-CSI report for transmission from two antenna panels, and the method further includes: encoding the AP-CSI report onto one or more layers to be transmitted from a first antenna panel of the two antenna panels; and encoding the AP-CSI report onto at least one layer to be transmitted from a second antenna panel of the two antenna panels.

[0157] Embodiment 25 includes a method according to embodiment 24 or any other embodiment of the present invention, wherein the method further includes: determining a first number of resource elements available for the AP-CSI report from the one or more layers to be sent from the first antenna panel; determining a second number of resource elements available for the AP-CSI report from the at least one layer to be sent from the second antenna panel, wherein the second number is greater than the first number; and adjusting the size of the AP-CSI report based on the first number of resource elements.

[0158] Embodiment 26 includes a method according to embodiment 20 or some other embodiment herein, the method further comprising: determining a first number of resource elements available for the AP-CSI report from one or more layers to be sent from a first antenna panel; determining a size of the AP-CSI report based on the first number of resource elements; encoding the AP-CSI report having the determined size onto the one or more layers to be sent from the first antenna panel; determining a second number of resource elements available for the AP-CSI report from at least one layer to be sent from a second antenna panel; determining that the second number of resource elements is sufficient to accommodate the determined size; and based on the determination that the second number of resource elements is sufficient to accommodate the determined size, encoding the AP-CSI report having the determined size onto at least one layer to be sent from the second antenna panel.

[0159] Embodiment 27 may include an apparatus comprising components for performing one or more elements of a method as described or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 26, or any other method or process described herein.

[0160] Embodiment 28 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 26 or any other method or process described herein.

[0161] Embodiment 29 may include a device comprising logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 26, or any other method or process described herein.

[0162] Embodiment 30 may include a method, technique or process as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 26, or a portion or part thereof.

[0163] Embodiment 31 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 part thereof, as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 26.

[0164] Embodiment 32 may include a signal as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 26, or a portion or part thereof.

[0165] Embodiment 33 may include a datagram, information element, packet, frame, segment, PDU or message, or a portion or part thereof, as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 26, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0166] Embodiment 34 may include a signal encoded with data as described or associated with any one of Embodiments 1 to 26, or a portion or part thereof, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0167] Embodiment 35 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 26, or a portion or part thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0168] Embodiment 36 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, described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 26.

[0169] Embodiment 37 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element will cause the processing element to perform a method, technique or process, or part thereof, as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 26.

[0170] Embodiment 38 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0171] Embodiment 39 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0172] Embodiment 40 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0173] Embodiment 41 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0174] 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. In view of the above teachings, modifications and variations are possible or can be obtained from the practice of various embodiments.

[0175] 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. A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving from a base station a single downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling simultaneous physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions in a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) manner; as well as transmitting the simultaneous PUSCH transmission using a first antenna panel and a second antenna panel based on the single DCI, in: The single DCI includes one or more first indicator fields corresponding to a first PUSCH transmission in the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions, and one or more second indicator fields corresponding to a second PUSCH transmission in the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions, The one or more first indicator fields include: a first sounding reference signal resource indicator (SRI) field; or the first SRS field and a first precoding and layer information (PL) field; and The one or more second indicator fields include: a second SRI field; or the second SRI field and a second PL field.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first indicator fields are used to schedule the first PUSCH transmission from the first antenna panel, and the one or more second indicator fields are used to schedule the second PUSCH transmission from the second antenna panel.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving a control signal from the base station for instructing to schedule the simultaneous PUSCH transmission in the SDM manner, The control signal is a radio resource control (RRC) signal, a medium access control-control element or a DCI signal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions are to carry transport blocks (TBs), and the method further comprises: encoding the TB onto a plurality of layers, wherein a first layer of the plurality of layers is to be transmitted from the first antenna panel and a second layer of the plurality of layers is to be transmitted from the second antenna panel; calculating a total number of available resource elements from the plurality of layers; determining a TB size based on the total number of the available resource elements; as well as The TB is encoded onto the plurality of layers based on the TB size.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions are to carry transport blocks (TBs), and the method further comprises: T encoding a first instance of the TB onto one or more layers to be transmitted from the first antenna panel; as well as A second instance of the TB is encoded onto at least one layer to be transmitted from the second antenna panel.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: calculating a total number of available resource elements from the one or more layers to be transmitted from the first antenna panel; determining a TB size based on the total number of the available resource elements; encoding the first instance of the TB onto the one or more layers to be transmitted from the first antenna panel based on the TB size; as well as The second instance of the TB is encoded based on the TB size onto at least one layer to be transmitted from the second antenna panel.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: encoding the first instance of the TB using a first redundancy version; encoding the second instance of the TB using a second redundancy version; determining the first redundancy version based on a redundancy version scheme field; as well as The second redundancy version is determined based on a predefined offset from the first redundancy version or a predefined association with the first redundancy version.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining that the one or more first indicator fields schedule two or fewer PUSCH layers; determining that the one or more second indicator fields schedule two or fewer PUSCH layers; determining which PUSCH layer from the first antenna panel is to be used for a first PTRS port based on a first bit of a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS)-demodulation reference signal (DMRS) association field; as well as Based on a second bit of the PTRS-DMRS association field, it is determined which PUSCH layer from the second antenna panel is to be used for a second PTRS port.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining that the one or more first indicator fields or the one or more second indicator fields schedule more than two PUSCH layers; determining which PUSCH layer from the first antenna panel is to be used for a first PTRS port based on two bits of a first phase tracking reference signal (PTRS)-demodulation reference signal (DMRS) association field; as well as Based on the two bits of the second PTRS-DMRS association field, it is determined which PUSCH layer from the second antenna panel is to be used for the second PTRS port.

10. A method of operating a base station, the method comprising: generating a single downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling simultaneous physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions in a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) manner; sending the single DCI to a user equipment (UE); as well as receiving, from the UE, simultaneous PUSCH transmissions transmitted from a first antenna panel and a second antenna panel based on the single DCI, in: The single DCI includes one or more first indicator fields corresponding to a first PUSCH transmission in the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions, and one or more second indicator fields corresponding to a second PUSCH transmission in the simultaneous PUSCH transmissions, The one or more first indicator fields include: a first sounding reference signal resource indicator (SRI) field; or the first SRS field and a first precoding and layer information (PL) field; and The one or more second indicator fields include: a second SRI field; or the second SRI field and a second PL field.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more first indicator fields are used to schedule the first PUSCH transmission from the first antenna panel, and the one or more second indicator fields are used to schedule the second PUSCH transmission from the second antenna panel.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: sending a control signal to the UE for instructing the simultaneous PUSCH transmission to be scheduled in the SDM manner, The control signal is a radio resource control (RRC) signal, a medium access control-control element or a DCI signal.

13. A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving from a base station a single downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling simultaneous physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions in a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) manner; as well as transmitting the simultaneous PUSCH transmission using a first antenna panel and a second antenna panel based on the single DCI, in: The single DCI includes one or more indicator fields corresponding to a first PUSCH transmission and a second PUSCH transmission of the simultaneous PUSCH transmission, The one or more indicator fields include: a sounding reference signal resource indicator (SRI) field; or the SRS field and a precoding and layer information (PL) field.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: determining a first sounding reference signal (SRS) resource and a second SRS resource associated with the first antenna panel; determining a third SRS resource and a fourth SRS resource associated with the second antenna panel; as well as One or more SRS resources are selected from among the first SRS resource, the second SRS resource, the third SRS resource, and the fourth SRS resource based on the SRI field.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising: receiving information for configuring a single SRS resource set with non-codebook usage to include the first SRS resource, the second SRS resource, the third SRS resource, and the fourth SRS resource; or Information for configuring a first SRS resource set and a second SRS resource set with non-codebook usage is received, wherein the first SRS resource set includes the first SRS resource and the second SRS resource, and the second SRS resource set includes the third SRS resource and the fourth SRS resource.

16. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: An indication is sent to the base station as to whether the UE supports coherent transmission between the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more indicator fields include the SRS field and the PL field, the UE is configured with a partially coherent or non-coherent codebook, and the method further comprises: determining a transmit precoding matrix indicator (TPMI) based on the PL field; accessing a pre-decoder from the codebook based on the TPMI; as well as One or more layers of the plurality of layers are pre-coded on even-numbered antenna ports mapped to the first antenna panel using the pre-decoder, and the remaining layers of the plurality of layers are pre-coded on odd-numbered antenna ports mapped to the second antenna panel.

18. A method comprising: receiving a single downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling simultaneous physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions in a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) manner, the single DCI including a channel state information (CSI) request field for triggering an aperiodic CSI (AP-CSI) report; as well as The AP-CSI report is encoded for transmission from one antenna panel of the UE or from two antenna panels of the UE.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein encoding the AP-CSI report comprises encoding the AP-CSI report for transmission from two antenna panels, and the method further comprises: The AP-CSI report is encoded onto a plurality of layers, wherein a first layer of the plurality of layers is to be transmitted from a first antenna panel of the two antenna panels and a second layer of the plurality of layers is to be transmitted from a second antenna panel of the two antenna panels.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein encoding the AP-CSI report comprises encoding the AP-CSI report for transmission from two antenna panels, and the method further comprises: encoding a first portion of the AP-CSI report onto one or more layers to be transmitted from a first antenna panel of the two antenna panels; as well as A second portion of the AP-CSI report is encoded onto at least one layer to be transmitted from a second antenna panel of the two antenna panels.

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