Method for indicating spectrum extension

Abstract

An apparatus may be configured to: obtain a configuration, wherein the configuration includes at least two or more expansion factors; receiving at least one indication of at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme comprising at least one code rate; and determining at least one of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication. An apparatus may be configured to: transmit a configuration including two or more expansion factors to a user equipment; and transmitting to the user equipment at least one indication of the at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme comprising the at least one code rate.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The exemplary and non-limiting embodiments relate generally to spectrum extension, and more particularly to implicit signaling of spectrum extension. Background Art

[0002] In network communications, it is known to define a plurality of spectrum spreading factors. Summary of the invention

[0003] The following summary is for illustration only. It is not intended to limit the scope of the claims.

[0004] According to one aspect, a device includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the device to at least: obtain a configuration, wherein the configuration includes at least two or more expansion factors; receive at least one indication of the following items: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determine at least one expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0005] According to one aspect, a method includes: obtaining a configuration using a user equipment, wherein the configuration includes at least two or more expansion factors; receiving at least one indication of the following items: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determining at least one expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0006] According to one aspect, an apparatus includes components for performing the following items: obtaining a configuration, wherein the configuration includes at least two or more expansion factors; receiving at least one indication of the following items: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determining at least one expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0007] According to one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium includes program instructions stored thereon, the program instructions being used to perform at least the following: obtaining a configuration, wherein the configuration includes at least two or more expansion factors; receiving at least one indication of the following: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determining at least one expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0008] According to one aspect, an apparatus includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the apparatus to at least: send a configuration including two or more expansion factors to a user equipment; and send at least one indication of the following items to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0009] According to one aspect, a method includes: sending, by a network node, a configuration including two or more spreading factors to a user equipment; and sending, to the user equipment, at least one indication of: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0010] According to one aspect, an apparatus includes components for performing the following items: sending a configuration including two or more expansion factors to a user equipment; and sending at least one indication of the following items to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0011] According to one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium includes program instructions stored thereon, the program instructions being used to perform at least the following items: causing a configuration including two or more expansion factors to be sent to a user equipment; and causing at least one indication of the following items to be sent to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0012] According to some aspects, the subject matter of the independent claims is provided. Some further aspects are defined in the dependent claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The above aspects and other features are explained in the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0014] Figure 1 is a block diagram of one possible non-limiting example system in which example embodiments may be practiced;

[0015] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating features as described herein;

[0016] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating features as described herein;

[0017] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating features as described herein;

[0018] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating features as described herein;

[0019] Figure 6is a flow chart illustrating the steps as described herein; and

[0020] Figure 7 is a flow chart illustrating the steps as described herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The following abbreviations that may appear in the specification and / or drawings are defined as follows:

[0022] 3GPP: Third Generation Partnership Project

[0023] 5G: Fifth Generation

[0024] 5GC: 5G core network

[0025] 6G: Sixth Generation

[0026] ACLR: Adjacent Channel Leakage Rate

[0027] AMF: Access and Mobility Management Function

[0028] BPSK: Binary Phase Shift Keying

[0029] BWP: Bandwidth Part

[0030] CDM: Code Division Multiplexing

[0031] CM: Cubic Metrics

[0032] CP-OFDM: Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0033] CR: bit rate

[0034] cRAN: Cloud Radio Access Network

[0035] CU: Central Unit

[0036] DFT-s-OFDM: Discrete Fourier Transform Spread Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0037] DMRS: Demodulation Reference Signal

[0038] DU: Distributed Unit

[0039] eNB (or eNodeB): Evolved Node B (e.g., LTE base station)

[0040] EN-DC: E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0041] en-gNB or en-gNB: A node that provides NR user plane and control plane protocol termination towards the UE and acts as a secondary node in EN-DC

[0042] E-UTRA: Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access, also known as LTE radio access technology

[0043] EVM: Error Vector Magnitude

[0044] FDE: Frequency Domain Equalizer

[0045] FDSS: Frequency Domain Spectral Shaping

[0046] FFT: Fast Fourier Transform

[0047] FR1: Frequency Range 1

[0048] gNB (or gNodeB): a base station for 5G / NR, i.e., a node that provides NR user plane and control plane protocol termination towards the UE and is connected to the 5GC via the NG interface

[0049] IAB: Integrated Access and Backhaul

[0050] IBE: In-Band Emission

[0051] I / F: Interface

[0052] IFFT: Inverse Fast Fourier Transform

[0053] L1: Layer 1

[0054] LTE: Long Term Evolution

[0055] MAC: Media Access Control

[0056] MCS: Modulation Coding Scheme

[0057] MME: Mobility Management Entity

[0058] MMSE: Minimum Mean Square Error

[0059] MPR: Maximum Power Reduction

[0060] MT: Mobile Terminal

[0061] MU-MIMO: Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output

[0062] ng or NG: New Generation

[0063] ng-eNB or NG-eNB: Next Generation eNB

[0064] NR: New Radio

[0065] N / W or NW: Network

[0066] OCC: Orthogonal Cover Code

[0067] O-RAN: Open Radio Access Network

[0068] PAPR: Peak to Average Power Ratio

[0069] PDCP: Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0070] PHY: Physical layer

[0071] PRB: Physical Resource Block

[0072] PRT: Peak Reduction Tone

[0073] PSK: Phase Shift Keying

[0074] PUSCH: Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0075] QPSK: Quadrature Phase Shift Keying

[0076] RA: Resource Allocation

[0077] RAN: Radio Access Network

[0078] RB: Resource Block

[0079] RE: Resource Element

[0080] RF: Radio Frequency

[0081] RIV: Resource Indicator Value

[0082] RLC: Radio Link Control

[0083] RRC: Radio Resource Control

[0084] RRH: Remote Radio Head

[0085] RS: Reference signal

[0086] RU: Radio Unit

[0087] Rx: Receiver

[0088] SDAP: Service Data Adaptation Protocol

[0089] SE: Spectral Efficiency

[0090] SEM: Spectral Efficiency Mask

[0091] SGW: Serving Gateway

[0092] SMF: Session Management Function

[0093] TR: Tone Retention

[0094] Tx: Transmitter

[0095] UE: User Equipment (e.g., wireless device, typically a mobile device)

[0096] UL: Uplink

[0097] UPF: User Plane Function

[0098] VNR: Virtualized Network Functions

[0099] ZC: Zadoff-Chu

[0100] Steering Figure 1 , which shows a block diagram of one possible and non-limiting example in which the example may be practiced. A user equipment (UE) 110, a radio access network (RAN) node 170, and (multiple) network elements 190 are shown. Figure 1 In the example of , user equipment (UE) 110 wirelessly communicates with wireless network 100. UE is a wireless device that can access wireless network 100. UE 110 includes one or more processors 120, one or more memories 125, and one or more transceivers 130 interconnected by one or more buses 127. Each transceiver in one or more transceivers 130 includes a receiver Rx 132 and a transmitter Tx 133. One or more buses 127 can be address, data, or control buses, and can include any interconnection mechanism, such as a series of lines on a motherboard or integrated circuit, optical fiber, or other optical communication devices. "Circuit" can include dedicated hardware or hardware associated with software executable thereon. One or more transceivers 130 are connected to one or more antennas 128. One or more memories 125 include computer program code 123. UE 110 includes module 140, module 140 includes one or both of parts 140-1 and / or 140-2, and module 140 can be implemented in a variety of ways. The module 140 may be implemented in hardware as a module 140-1, such as being implemented as part of one or more processors 120. The module 140-1 may also be implemented as an integrated circuit or by other hardware such as a programmable gate array. In another example, the module 140 may be implemented as a module 140-2, which is implemented as a computer program code 123 and is executed by one or more processors 120. For example, one or more memories 125 and the computer program code 123 may be configured to, together with the one or more processors 120, cause the user equipment 110 to perform one or more of the operations described herein. The UE 110 communicates with the RAN node 170 via a wireless link 111.

[0101] In this example, the RAN node 170 is a base station that provides access to the wireless network 100 by a wireless device, such as the UE 110. The RAN node 170 may be, for example, a base station for 5G, also referred to as New Radio (NR), and / or 5G Advanced (i.e., NR Rel-18 and beyond) and / or 6G. In 5G, the RAN node 170 may be a NG-RAN node, which is defined as a gNB or ng-eNB. A gNB is a node that provides NR user plane and control plane protocol termination towards the UE and is connected to the 5GC (e.g., network element(s) 190) via an NG interface. An ng-eNB is a node that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol termination towards the UE and is connected to the 5GC via an NG interface. The NG-RAN node may include multiple gNBs, which may also include a central unit (CU) (gNB-CU) 196 and (multiple) distributed units (DU) (gNB-DU), with DU 195 being shown. Note that a DU may include or be coupled to and control a radio unit (RU). The gNB-CU is a logical node that hosts the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP protocols of a gNB, or the RRC and PDCP protocols of an en-gNB that controls the operation of one or more gNB-DUs. The gNB-CU terminates the F1 interface connected to the gNB-DU. The F1 interface is shown as reference numeral 198, although reference numeral 198 also shows a link between a remote element of the RAN node 170 and a centralized element of the RAN node 170, such as a link between a gNB-CU 196 and a gNB-DU 195. The gNB-DU is a logical node that hosts the RLC, MAC, and PHY layers of a gNB or en-gNB, and its operation is controlled in part by the gNB-CU. One gNB-CU supports one or more cells. One cell is supported by only one gNB-DU. The gNB-DU terminates the F1 interface 198 connected to the gNB-CU. Note that the DU 195 is considered to include the transceiver 160, e.g., as part of the RU, but some examples in this regard may have the transceiver 160 as part of a separate RU, e.g., under the control of and connected to the DU 195. The RAN node 170 may also be an eNB (evolved NodeB) base station for LTE (Long Term Evolution), or any other suitable base station, access point, access node, or node.

[0102] The RAN node 170 includes one or more processors 152, one or more memories 155, one or more network interfaces (N / WI / F) 161, and one or more transceivers 160 interconnected by one or more buses 157. Each of the one or more transceivers 160 includes a receiver Rx 162 and a transmitter Tx 163. The one or more transceivers 160 are connected to one or more antennas 158. The one or more memories 155 include computer program code 153. The CU 196 may include (multiple) processors 152, memories 155, and network interfaces 161. Note that the DU 195 may also contain its own memory / memory and (multiple) processors, and / or other hardware, but these are not shown.

[0103] The RAN node 170 includes a module 150, which includes one or both of the parts 150-1 and / or 150-2, and the module 150 can be implemented in a variety of ways. The module 150 can be implemented in hardware as the module 150-1, such as being implemented as part of one or more processors 152. The module 150-1 can also be implemented as an integrated circuit, or by other hardware such as a programmable gate array. In another example, the module 150 can be implemented as a module 150-2, which is implemented as a computer program code 153 and executed by one or more processors 152. For example, one or more memories 155 and the computer program code 153 are configured to, together with the one or more processors 152, cause the RAN node 170 to perform one or more of the operations described herein. Note that the functionality of the module 150 can be distributed, such as being distributed between the DU 195 and the CU 196, or implemented solely in the DU 195.

[0104] One or more network interfaces 161 communicate over a network, such as via link 176 and link 131. Two or more gNBs 170 may communicate using, for example, link 176. Link 176 may be wired or wireless or both, and may implement, for example, an Xn interface for 5G, an X2 interface for LTE, or other suitable interfaces for other standards.

[0105] The one or more buses 157 may be address, data, or control buses, and may include any interconnection mechanism, such as a series of wires on a motherboard or integrated circuit, optical fiber, or other optical communication device, wireless channel, etc. For example, the one or more transceivers 160 may be implemented as a remote radio head (RRH) 195 for LTE or a distributed unit (DU) 195 for a gNB implementation for 5G, where other elements of the RAN node 170 may be physically located at a different location from the RRH / DU, and the one or more buses 157 may be partially implemented as, for example, fiber optic cables or other suitable network connections for connecting other elements of the RAN node 170 (e.g., central unit (CU), gNB-CU) to the RRH / DU 195. Reference numeral 198 also indicates these (multiple) suitable network links.

[0106] Additionally and / or alternatively, the functions of UE 110 and RAN node 170 may be performed by (multiple) units configured to support integrated access and backhaul (IAB). For example, a mobile terminal (MT) portion of an IAB node may perform UE functions, while a distributed unit (DU) portion of an IAB node may perform DU functions.

[0107] Note that the descriptions herein indicate that a "cell" performs a function, but it should be clear that the device that forms the cell can perform the function. The cell constitutes part of a base station. That is, each base station can have multiple cells. For example, a single carrier frequency and associated bandwidth can have three cells, each covering one-third of a 360-degree area, so the coverage area of ​​a single base station covers an approximate ellipse or circle. In addition, each cell can correspond to a single carrier, and a base station can use multiple carriers. So if each carrier has 3 120-degree cells and there are 2 carriers, the base station has a total of 6 cells.

[0108] The wireless network 100 may include one or more network elements 190, which may include core network functions and provide connectivity to other networks such as telephone networks and / or data communication networks (e.g., the Internet) via one or more links 181. Such core network functions for 5G may include (multiple) access and mobility management functions (AMFs), and / or (multiple) user plane functions (UPFs), and / or (multiple) session management functions (SMFs). Such core network functions for LTE may include MME (mobility management entity) / SGW (serving gateway) functions. These are merely illustrative functions that may be supported by (multiple) network elements 190, and note that both 5G and LTE functions may be supported. The RAN node 170 is coupled to the network element 190 via a link 131. The link 131 may be implemented as, for example, an NG interface for 5G, or an S1 interface for LTE, or other suitable interfaces for other standards. The network element 190 includes one or more processors 175, one or more memories 171, and one or more network interfaces (N / WI / F) 180 interconnected by one or more buses 185. The one or more memories 171 include computer program code 173. The one or more memories 171 and the computer program code 173 are configured to work with the one or more processors 175 to cause the network element 190 to perform one or more operations.

[0109] The wireless network 100 can implement network virtualization, which is a process of combining hardware and software network resources and network functions into a single software-based management entity or virtual network. Network virtualization involves platform virtualization, which is often used in conjunction with resource virtualization. Network virtualization is divided into external network virtualization or internal network virtualization, where external network virtualization combines many networks or network parts into virtual units, and internal network virtualization provides network-like functions for software containers on a single system. For example, a network can be deployed in a remote cloud, where virtualized network functions (VNFs) run on, for example, data center servers. For example, network core functions and / or (multiple) radio access networks (e.g., CloudRAN, O-RAN, edge cloud) can be virtualized. Note that the virtualized entities generated by network virtualization are still implemented to some extent using hardware such as processors 152 or 175 and memories 155 and 171, and such virtualized entities also produce technical effects.

[0110] It may also be noted that the operations of the example embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed by multiple cooperating devices (eg, cRAN).

[0111] Computer readable memories 125, 155, and 171 may be of any type suitable for the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory, and removable memory. Computer readable memories 125, 155, and 171 may be components for performing storage functions. Processors 120, 152, and 175 may be of any type suitable for the local technical environment and may include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture. Processors 120, 152, and 175 may be components for performing functions such as control of UE 110, RAN node 170, and other functions described herein.

[0112] In general, various example embodiments of user device 110 may include, but are not limited to, a cellular telephone with wireless communication capabilities (such as a smart phone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA)), a portable computer with wireless communication capabilities, an image capture device with wireless communication capabilities (such as a digital camera), a gaming device with wireless communication capabilities, a music storage and playback device with wireless communication capabilities, an Internet device allowing wireless Internet access and browsing, a tablet computer with wireless communication capabilities, and a portable unit or terminal incorporating a combination of such functionality.

[0113] Therefore, having introduced a suitable but non-limiting technical context for practicing example embodiments of the present disclosure, the example embodiments will now be described in more detail.

[0114] Features described herein are generally related to coverage. Good coverage is critical for cellular networks; coverage enhancement is considered in NR Rel-18. Features described herein may relate to coverage enhancement, the technical effect of which is to enable higher UE transmit power by reducing the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of the signal. In particular, features described herein may relate to spectrum extension (SE) for frequency domain spectrum shaping (FDSS) and tone preservation (TR), and more specifically to efficient control of extension.

[0115] Features described herein may be related to 5G NR waveforms. Modulation symbols and / or reference signals are converted to a waveform as a baseband signal before being mixed into the radio frequency (RF) and transmitted over the air interface. In 5G NR, two waveforms are specified, including: cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) applicable to both uplink and downlink; and discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) applicable only to the uplink. However, although example embodiments of the present disclosure are discussed for the UL, this is not restrictive; example embodiments of the present disclosure may be applicable to DL scenarios.

[0116] DFT-s-OFDM only supports a single transmission layer per user (rank = 1), while CP-OFDM can support more than one layer (rank ≥ 1). This means that CP-OFDM can provide higher throughput and capacity than DFT-s-OFDM. In contrast, the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of DFT-s-OFDM is lower than its counterpart, which allows DFT-s-OFDM to be used at higher transmit powers and thereby provide better coverage. For example, in NR (e.g., power level 3), the maximum power reduction of DFT-s-OFDM is 1.5-2dB smaller than that of QPSK-modulated CP-OFDM (the actual value depends on the resource block allocation). This means that the guaranteed maximum Tx power of the UE is increased by 1.5-2dB.

[0117] DFT-s-OFDM is generated by adding a transform precoding block before the processing block for generating CP-OFDM. In fact, the transform precoding block is a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block that converts a time domain signal into a frequency domain signal.

[0118] The features described herein may be related to frequency domain spectral shaping (FDSS) with and without spectrum spreading. Although DFT-s-OFDM already provides lower PAPR compared to its CP-OFDM counterpart, 5G NR Release 15 (Rel-15) also introduces frequency domain spectral shaping (FDSS), which is used to further reduce the PAPR and / or lower cubic metric (CM) of pi / 2-BPSK modulation. This requires further reduction of the maximum power reduction (MPR) and thereby increase the maximum transmit power to achieve coverage enhancement.

[0119] Spectrum shaping can be applied with or without spectrum spreading. Currently, NR Rel_18 is considering the introduction of FDSS functionality with spectrum spreading. Figure 2A block diagram of an NR UL transmitter with frequency domain spectrum shaping and spectrum spreading chain is illustrated in . The modulation symbol (205) may be input to the S / P (210). The output of the S / P (210) may be provided to an M-point discrete Fourier transform (DFT) (215). The output of the M-point DFT (215) may be provided to a symmetric spreading module (220). It may be noted that this is not limiting; the spreading and / or spreading module may alternatively be a cyclic spreading and / or spreading module, or a cyclic shift plus symmetric spreading and / or spreading module. In the present disclosure, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that references to one type of spreading and / or spreading module may be replaced with another type of spreading and / or spreading module.

[0120] The output of the symmetric spreading module (220) may be provided to the FDSS (225). In spectrum shaping, the transition band intervals may be weighted by the FDSS function before being mapped to the IFFT input. It may be noted that the transition band intervals may be mapped to new positions (i.e., 255, 260). FDSS with spectrum spreading has additional spreading blocks, which may result in redundant bands (see R1-050702, "DFT-spread OFDM with pulse shaping filters in the frequency domain in the Evolved UTRA uplink", NTT DoCoMo, NEC, Sharp).

[0121] The output of the FDSS (225) may be provided to an N-point inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) (230). The output of the N-point IFFT (230) may be provided to a P / S (235). The output of the P / S (235) may be provided to a module to add a cyclic prefix (240) to generate a Tx signal (245).

[0122] exist Figure 2 In the embodiment of the present invention, spectrum extension is described by the following parameters. The in-band size refers to the occupied resource elements (REs) after the DFT block (215): M (250). The excess band size refers to the amount of REs used for spectrum extension (i.e., QM). The total allocated size (i.e., in-band size + excess band size) refers to the occupied REs after the symmetric extension block (220): Q (265). The amount of extension can be represented by an extension factor α: α = ((QM)) / Q (i.e., excess band size / total allocated size).

[0123] Spectrum spreading can provide several advantages. First, it can reduce PAPR because the effective pulses have a larger time interval. Second, it can reduce the inter-symbol interference that increases when FDSS is introduced. Finally, since the extra band is also data, the gNB receiver may or may not use it. If it is used, it can provide further frequency diversity.

[0124] The shaping function without spectrum spreading is a trade-off between demodulation performance and Tx power gain (e.g., see R1-1709002, on spectrum shaping of uplink Pi / 2BPSK using DFT-S-OFDM, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell; R4-1714191, further link results of p / 2BPSK DFT-S-OFDM waveform using spectrum shaping and MMSE receiver; R1-1705060, performance evaluation of Pi / 2BPSK using FDSS; R4-1710213, on detection performance of Pi / 2-BPSK DFT-S-OFDM using transparent shaping). At the same time, shaping with spectrum spreading is a trade-off between spectrum efficiency and Tx power gain (e.g., see R1-050702, "DFT spread OFDM with pulse shaping filter in frequency domain in Evolved UTRA uplink", NTT DoCoMo, NEC, Sharp). In Rel-15, FDSS was applied to DFT-s-OFDM without spectrum spreading and only for pi / 2-BPSK modulation. In the Rel-17 Coverage Enhancement Study Project, it has been pointed out that the gain of applying FDSS to higher-order modulation techniques (such as QPSK) is lower than the gain of applying FDSS to pi / 2-BPSK (see R1-2008703, Discussion on Methods and Solutions for NR PUSCH Coverage Enhancement, Nokia, Nokia Shanghai Bell). Given that Rel-18 hopes to drastically improve UL coverage, enhancements to other higher-order modulation techniques (especially QPSK) should also be considered; FDSS with spectrum spreading is a candidate solution.

[0125] Features described herein may be related to tone retention (TR). Tone retention is another technique for PAPR reduction. With this technique, signals in a subset of available subcarriers are carefully designed to eliminate peaks in the (original) waveform, thereby reducing the PAPR of the waveform. These subcarriers are called peak reduction tones (PRTs) (also called peak removal signals). In order to maintain the error vector magnitude (EVM), there is no overlap between the PRT and the subcarriers used to send data. Tone retention was proposed as a candidate solution for coverage enhancement in the Rel-17 study project (see R1-2008626, Potential Coverage Enhancement Techniques for Qualcomm PUSCH), and is also considered as a PAPR reduction technique in Rel-18. Excess frequency band portions (or any RE in the total allocation including excess frequency bands) can be used for PRT.

[0126] Features described herein may be related to maximum power reduction (MPR) and inner, outer, and edge resource block (RB) allocations. The UE may reduce its maximum output power based on, for example, the modulation order and the RB allocation. The amount of maximum output power reduction is limited by a standardized maximum power reduction (MPR) value. As an example of an MPR value, an MPR table (Table 1) for power class 3 UEs on frequency range 1 is shown below (see TS 38.101-1, "NR; User Equipment (UE) Radio Transmission and Reception; Part 1: Range 1 Independent").

[0127]

[0128]

[0129]

[0130] Table 1

[0131] It can be noted that separate MPR values ​​are given for edge, outer and inner RB allocations. In TS38.101-1, these values ​​are defined as follows:

[0132] "...where the following parameters are defined to specify the valid RBs for external and internal RB allocations

[0133] Allocation range:

[0134] NRB is the maximum value for a given channel bandwidth and subcarrier spacing as defined in Table 5.3.2-1

[0135] RB number. Start,Low =max(1,floor(L CRB / 2))

[0136] Where max() represents the maximum value of all variables, and floor(x) is the largest integer less than or equal to x.

[0137] RB Start,High =NRB-RB Start,Low -L CRB

[0138] RB allocation is internal RB allocation if the following conditions are met

[0139] RB Start,Low ≤RB Start ≤RB Start,High ,and

[0140] L CRB ≤ceil(N RB / 2)

[0141] where ceil(x) is the smallest integer greater than or equal to x.

[0142] Edge RB allocation refers to RB allocation in which RBs are allocated at the lowermost or uppermost edge of a channel of LCRB≤2 RBs.

[0143] RB allocations are outer RB allocations of all other allocations that are not inner RB allocations or edge RB allocations..."

[0144] The features described in this article can be related to the spectral flatness requirements of FDSS with spectrum spreading. The current NR specification supports FDSS without pi / 2BPSK spectrum spreading. The exact FDSS functionality is not defined in the standard, but performance requirements are specified to define the boundary conditions of the implementation. Therefore, the standard allows vendors to do their own implementation and performance optimization, and tries to guarantee system performance through minimum requirements related to spectral flatness, in-band / out-of-band emissions, and EVM.

[0145] In an example embodiment of the present disclosure, EVM equalizer flatness may be used to set UE Tx spectrum flatness requirements for pi / 2-BPSK with spectrum / spectral shaping. The peak-to-peak variation of the EVM equalizer coefficients contained within the frequency range of the uplink allocation is not allowed to exceed the limits defined in the (multiple) NR specifications. When spectrum shaping is used for pi / 2-BPSK (without spectrum spreading), the spectrum flatness requirement may be defined for two frequency ranges that divide the allocation into two equal-sized parts. Now referring to Figure 3 , which illustrates an example of a limitation of the EVM equalizer spectrum flatness requirement with a maximum allowed variation, and the related parameters X1 (320) and X2 (330) (see TS 38.101). In TS 38.101-1, the following values ​​are given for the parameters X (310), X1 (320) and X2 (330) for setting the minimum UE Tx spectrum flatness requirement for the pi / 2-BSPK spectrum shaping waveform: X1 = -6dB, X2 = -14dB, and X (in MHz) is equal to 25% of the physical resource block (PRB) allocation bandwidth.

[0146] In one example embodiment, when considering Rel-18 scenarios, the spectral flatness requirements defined for pi / 2BPSK (in Rel-17) may need to be updated to cover the Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) scenario with shaping and spreading. In one example embodiment, the current ranges defined for pi / 2BPSK may be applied as is to the total allocation (in-band + excess band). In another example embodiment, the first and second ranges may define the EVM equalizer spectral flatness requirements similarly to Rel-17 (i.e., for in-band only). This may be achieved by three parameters similar to X, X1, and X2. In addition, a third range corresponding to the EVM equalizer spectral flatness requirements may be introduced for the excess band. This may be defined by a fourth parameter X3. The third range may have more relaxed requirements since the excess band does not primarily carry (non-redundant) information but may be a partial copy of some in-band subcarriers (frequency domain REs) that may or may not be used at the gNB receiver.

[0147] Features described herein may be related to resource indication values ​​in the context of resource allocation (RA) type 1. Resource indication value (RIV) is related to frequency domain resource allocation type 1, which is the only RA type that can be used with DFT-s-OFDM. In this type, resources are allocated to one or more consecutive RBs. In this case, RIV is a value indicating RB_Start and the number of consecutive RBs within a particular bandwidth part (i.e., LRBs), and is calculated as follows:

[0148] if but

[0149]

[0150] otherwise

[0151]

[0152] The following agreements have been reached in RAN1#110b-e:

[0153] “…the following design aspects of Frequency Domain Spectral Shaping for Spectral Extension (FDSS-SE) were considered when studying the MPR / PAR reduction enhancements in Release 18:

[0154] The spectrum extension size is expressed in integer units of RB.

[0155] Both DMRS and data symbols undergo spectrum shaping

[0156] FFS:

[0157] Which spreading factor(s) to consider, where the spreading factor (α) is given by the spectrum spreading size / total allocation size.

[0158] The influence of shaping filter on the performance of FDSS-SE

[0159] How to use the existing ZC sequence DMRS or PUSCH low PAPR DMRS (FG

[0160] 16-6c) Extending the DMRS sequence to spectrum expansion

[0161] How is the expansion size determined..."

[0162] Example embodiments of the present disclosure may relate to how to determine spreading factor(s), where spreading factor (a) is given by spectrum spreading size / total allocation size.

[0163] (Multiple) potential expansion factors were studied by simulation, where the 'optimal' expansion factor may depend on many aspects, such as allocation size and / or allocation location. Therefore, it can be expected that multiple expansion factors may have to be supported based on many different factors, and efficient signaling may be required to accommodate different situations without introducing additional DCI overhead (e.g., implicit signaling). In addition, the case of no expansion can be regarded as an expansion factor, α=0. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may have the technical effect of providing efficient signaling for multiple expansion factors.

[0164] Features described herein may relate to (multiple) signaling methods for multiple extension factors. (Multiple) NR specifications may define / support multiple extension factors. RRC may be used to configure one or more extension factors. In one signaling method, only RRC may be used to configure the extension factor. The DCI may select between "No_ext" and "Ext". In another signaling method, RRC and DCI may be used. For example, RRC may be used to configure more than one extension factor. For example, RRC may configure valid extension sizes (e.g., a, b, c). The number of valid extension sizes may define the number of indicator bits required in the DCI. For example, the DCI may contain, for example, 2 indicator bits (four states). The gNB may select one of four states for the current Tx: 0: no extension; 1: extension factor a; 2: extension factor b; or 3: extension factor c.

[0165] The above signaling assumes that multiple extension factors can be configured via RRC signaling, and the extension can be indicated in the DCI, resulting in 1 bit of additional overhead if one extension factor is supported, and at least 2 bits of additional overhead if multiple extension factors are supported. This may complicate the acceptance of this approach by 3GPP NR as arguments may be raised regarding its inefficiency. In this case, a more efficient indication of the extension size may be required to maximize the probability of acceptance in 3GPP.

[0166] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may have the technical effect of providing efficient spectrum extension dynamic signaling without introducing additional overhead in the DCI, which may be considered as implicit signaling. The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may also have the technical effect of providing a method for supporting multiple extension factors on top of explicit signaling. In an exemplary embodiment, an explicit indication (such as a bit in a MAC CE or DCI) may indicate extension on / off.

[0167] In an example embodiment, the UE may be configured with at least a first spreading factor and one or more additional spreading factors. For example, the configuration may be performed by the gNB via RRC signaling. In an example embodiment, the spreading factor may be bound to a spectral flatness requirement such that different spreading factors may be bound to different spectral flatness requirements. Based on this, the gNB may implicitly drive the UE's FDSS filter selection based on the configured and indicated spreading factors. This may allow the gNB to select a more appropriate Tx filter to decode the received signal and may optimize the net gain (=Tx gain-Rx loss) of FDSS with spectral spreading.

[0168] In one example, the UE may be configured with a first spreading factor (e.g., α=0.25) and a second spreading factor (e.g., α=0.125 or α=0.375), and the first spreading factor may be used as a default spreading factor. These factors may be defined based on spectrum flatness requirements. The default spreading factor (α=0.25) may follow the current spectrum flatness requirements defined for pi / 2 BPSK (e.g., Figure 3 As shown, the maximum attenuation of Range1 is -6dB and the maximum attenuation of Range2 is -14). In an example embodiment, this fixed value can be used. The second expansion factor (e.g., α=0.125) can be operated according to the second spectral flatness requirement to support only less aggressive filters (maximum attenuation of Range1 is -3dB and maximum attenuation of Range2 is -7). The actual parameter values ​​(X1, X2, X) can vary from scenario to scenario.

[0169] In an example embodiment, the UE may be configured with one or more areas / ranges of allocation size, where rules for applying a first expansion factor or other expansion factors may apply. For example, the area / range may be indicated by appropriate L_RBmin and L_RBmax values, which may provide a minimum allocation size and a maximum allocation size, respectively. When more than one area / range is configured, multiple L_RBmin and L_RBmax values ​​may be configured (i.e., one for each area). For example, in the case of L_RBmin=10 and L_RBmax=100, if the indicated allocation size is between these values ​​(i.e., within the allocation range), the UE may follow the implicit extension size indication. In other allocations, there may be no applicable expansion factor, or some other fixed extension. In another example, the range of allocation sizes may simply indicate that, before the allocation size L_RBthreshold, the UE may use extension 1, and above the threshold, the UE may use extension 2. Alternatively, there may be multiple thresholds.

[0170] In an example embodiment, a (configured) UE may receive a scheduling DCI (or other signaling) that includes at least one of the following items: frequency domain resource allocation, and / or code rate, and / or modulation coding scheme (MCS). The MCS index may relate to both modulation and code rate. For example, the MCS may include at least one code rate. For example, the code rate may be determined based on the MCS. In an example embodiment, the scheduling DCI may also include a separate bit indication for extension on / off. This may provide partially implicit signaling. Alternatively, the extension on / off indication may be processed as an extension factor (α=0). This may provide fully implicit signaling; for example, the scheduling DCI may not include a bit for extension, and the extension determination may instead be performed based on at least one of the FDRA and / or MCS / CR, as described more fully below. In an example embodiment, the DCI may be used by the UE to select spectrum extension for the (current) transmission. In the present disclosure, "current transmission" may be regarded as a transmission triggered by the (scheduling) DCI.

[0171] In an example embodiment, the UE may follow an implicit signaling rule to select a spreading factor from a plurality of spreading factors that are applicable only to a particular region of code rates and / or a particular allocation. For example, the UE may consider at least one spreading factor that is applicable to a particular code rate region, and at least one spreading factor that applies to a particular allocation. For example, the spreading factor may depend on the code rate. However, this is not a limitation; spreading factors that depend on (multiple) other variables besides QPSK are possible.

[0172] For example, if the indicated code rate is between the minimum code rate and the maximum code rate (i.e., within the code range), the UE may follow the implicit extension size indication. In other code rate ranges, there may be no applicable extension factor, or some other fixed extension. In another example, the code rate range may simply indicate that before a code rate value threshold, the UE may use extension 1, and above the threshold, the UE may use extension 2. Alternatively, there may be multiple thresholds.

[0173] In an example embodiment, the UE may determine whether to apply the first extension factor or any (multiple) other extension factors based on at least one of the frequency domain resource allocation and / or the code rate / MCS (optionally, further based on the extension on / off indication). For example, the determination may be performed based on the RIV value (or equivalently, RB_start, BWP size, and / or allocation size).

[0174] In an example embodiment, two spreading factors may be configured to the UE. If the RIV corresponds to an even RB_start (e.g., an even starting resource block), then a first spreading factor may apply, and if the RIV corresponds to an odd RB_start (e.g., an odd starting resource block), then a second spreading factor may apply (e.g., see Figure 4 For example, if the UE receives a DCI including RIV=i, which may correspond to RB_start=0 (i.e., an even number), a first expansion factor (e.g., 0.25) may be applied, and if the UE receives a DCI including RIV=i+1, which may correspond to RBC_start=1 (an odd number), a second expansion factor (e.g., 0.125) may be applied. In this non-limiting example, there may be a 25% expansion for RIV=i and a 12.5% ​​expansion for RIV=i+1.

[0175] In another example embodiment, N spreading factors may be configured for the UE, numbered from 1 to N. If the RIV corresponds to RB_start, such that mod(RB start , N)+1=n, then the Nth spreading factor may be applied. It may be noted that this expression may only be valid for a specific number of spreading factors. For example, if the factors are numbered from 1 to N, then if the RIV corresponds to RB_start such that mod(RB_start, N)+1=n, then the Nth spreading factor may indeed be applied. However, if the N spreading factors are numbered from 0 to N-1, then if the RIV corresponds to RB_start such that mod(RB_start, N)=n, then the Nth spreading factor may be applied. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that there are various options for associating spreading factors with RIVs.

[0176] It can be noted that if the N extension factors are numbered from 0 to N-1, then if the RIV corresponds to RB_start, such that mod(RB start , N)=n, then the Nth extension factor may be applied. For example, if the UE receives a DCI including RIV=i, then when mod(i,N)=0, the first extension factor may be applied, and when mod(i,N)=1, the second extension factor may be applied, and so on.

[0177] In another example embodiment, if the RIV corresponds to a specific allocation region, a specific expansion factor may be applied. The specific allocation region may be represented by the pair of values ​​RB_start and L RBs In other words, the RB region may be configured via RRC through RB_start_low (or RB_start_high) and / or the allocation size. RB_start_low may indicate the minimum starting RB for allocation.

[0178] In another example embodiment, the RIV (or alternatively, the allocation size L RBs ) region may implicitly specify applicable spreading factors based on one or more thresholds that are bound / related / associated with (e.g., two or more) configured spreading factors. For example, the spreading factor may depend on the allocation size (and / or location). The thresholds may be defined by (multiple) specifications or may be configured via RRC signaling. N-1 thresholds may be specified / configured for N spreading factors. For example, let γ i is the i-th threshold, where i∈[0,N-2]. RBs )≤γ 0 , the first expansion factor can be applied. If N = 2, for RIV (or L RBs )>γ 0 , a second expansion factor can be applied. If N>2, for γ 1 >RIV(or L RBs )>γ 0 , a second expansion factor can be applied, for γ 2 >RIV(or L RBs )>γ 1 , a third expansion factor may be applied, and so on. These examples are not limiting; other associations between RIV and thresholds may be used.

[0179] In another example embodiment, the determined extension factor may depend on the allocation size, such that the extension size or the size of one side of the extension for a symmetric allocation is, for example, an integer multiple of a PRB or an integer multiple of half a PRB.

[0180] In another example embodiment, the relationship (eg, dependency relationship) between the spreading factor and the allocation size and / or RB_start may be configured using a bitmap transmitted via RRC signaling.

[0181] In another example embodiment, if two spreading factors are configured and use of the first spreading factor or the second spreading factor results in a PRB allocation outside the current bandwidth part (BWP), the minimum spreading factor of the first spreading factor and the second spreading factor may be applied. The UE may bypass any dynamic signaling from the NW regarding which spreading factor to use in favor of the spreading factor determined according to the example embodiment.

[0182] In another example embodiment, if the determined extension according to the first extension factor and the second extension factor results in a PRB allocation with some PRBs outside the current BWP, the determined extension may be truncated to the edge of the BWP.

[0183] In another example embodiment, if, when decoding the RIV, the UE evaluates that no configured spreading factor results in a PRB allocation such that all allocated PRBs are within the current BWP, the UE may interpret this as a configuration / indication to disable spreading of this FDSS transmission.

[0184] In an example embodiment, the UE may be configured with one or more regions of code rate in which the rule for applying two or more expansion factors is applicable. In an example embodiment, different expansion factors may be applicable to different code rate regions (e.g., a first expansion factor may be applicable to a first code rate region, a second expansion factor may be applicable to a second code rate region, and so on). In an example embodiment, the first code rate region may not overlap (i.e., not overlap) with the second code rate region. The maximum code rate may be configured to provide an upper limit for the rule. In an example embodiment, an indicated code rate greater than the maximum configured code rate may correspond to a determination of an expansion factor α=0. For example, the UE may determine the expansion factor α=0 in response to specific signaling (e.g., implicit signaling) that may be considered an error condition.

[0185] In another example embodiment, the UE may be configured with multiple regions of code rates. Each code rate region may be individually configured with two or more expansion factors. When the UE receives a PUSCH allocation with a code rate, when determining the expansion factor to be applied, the expansion factor value configured for the corresponding code rate region may be used (according to the above-mentioned embodiment using the RIV value (or RB_start, BWP size, and / or allocation size)). A region may be indicated by a minimum code rate and a maximum code rate. The technical effect of the example embodiments of the present disclosure may be to allow a higher code rate to be achieved using a smaller expansion factor.

[0186] In an example embodiment, a combination of a code rate size and an allocation size can be used to determine a scaling factor. For example, if the allocation size is X, one code rate can be associated with a first scaling, while if the allocation size is Y, the same code rate can be associated with a second scaling factor.

[0187] In an example embodiment, both the RB allocation (or RIV) and the MCS / CR can contribute to determining a scaling factor of one of the one or more configured scaling factors.

[0188] In an example embodiment, there can be three configured scaling factors. If LRBs < thresholdRB and CR < thresholdCR, the first scaling factor can apply. If LRBs ≥ thresholdRB and CR < thresholdCR, the second scaling factor can apply. If CR ≥ threshold 2, the third scaling factor can apply.

[0189] In an example embodiment, the UE can apply the determined scaling factor to the PUSCH.

[0190] Now referring to Figure 4 , an example of RIV-based scaling factor determination based on even / odd values is illustrated. In this example, only two scaling factors can be configured. However, this example is not restrictive; any number of scaling factors can be configured. For example, three or more configured scaling factors can be designed according to the same principle (e.g., using as many colors as the number of configured scaling factors (plus one, i.e., the case without spectral spreading).

[0191] In Figure 4 's example, the RIV can be used as an implicit indicator; for illustrative purposes, a table is used to depict the configurations provided by the UE. In this example, the BWP size is 14. The first column (410) shows the starting PRB. The first row (420) shows the allocation size (note that for simplicity, allocations not applicable to DFT-s-OFDM are included, even though they are not considered in practice. This does not change the principle shown in the table.). An allocation region is configured to apply multiple scaling factor values based on rules, and its boundaries are set to L_RBmin = 4 (430), L_RBmax = 10 (440). The light gray region maps to the configuration without spectral spreading. The dark gray region maps to the configuration using the first scaling factor. The white region maps to the configuration using the second scaling factor. An RIV that results in an even RB_start within the region (430 to 440) or alternatively mod(RB start, 2) = 0 may indicate the use of the first configured spreading factor (dark grey). RIVs that produce odd RB_starts in the region (430 to 440) may use the second spreading (white). Thus, the gNB may indicate the used spreading value (410) by a small offset of RB_start.

[0192] Reference now Figure 5 , illustrates an example of RIV-based expansion factor determination based on a RIV threshold. Figure 5 In the example of , the RIV can be used as an implicit indicator; for illustrative purposes, a table is used to depict the configuration provided by the UE. In this example, the BWP size is 14. The first column (510) shows the starting PRB. The first row (520) shows the allocation size (note that for simplicity, allocations that are not applicable to DFT-s-OFDM are included, even though they will not be considered in practice. This does not change the principles shown in the table.). An allocation region is configured for applying multiple expansion factor values ​​based on rules, and its boundaries are set to L_RBmin=4(530), L_RBmax=10(540). The light gray area is mapped to a configuration without spectrum expansion. The dark gray area is mapped to a configuration using the first expansion factor. The white area is mapped to a configuration using the second expansion factor. RIVs greater than a threshold (69) can use the second expansion (white). RIVs less than or equal to the threshold can use the first expansion (dark gray). Therefore, based on the RIV value, the expansion size can be implicitly indicated; the expansion factor can depend on the allocation size.

[0193] In the example embodiment, it can be optionally assumed that the case of no spreading factor can be configured / indicated by NW (i.e., gray area). An example in which no transmission with spectrum spreading (i.e., no light gray area) can be configured / indicated can be designed according to the same principle; in other words, as many colors as the number of configured spreading factors used can be used (plus one, i.e., no spectrum spreading case).

[0194] Figure 6 Potential steps of an example method 600 are illustrated. The example method 600 may include obtaining a configuration, wherein the configuration includes at least two or more spreading factors (610); receiving at least one indication of at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme including at least one code rate (620); and determining at least one spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors based at least in part on the at least one indication (630). The example method 600 may be performed, for example, using a UE. The "at least one spreading factor" may include a first spreading factor or a second spreading factor, etc.

[0195] Figure 7Potential steps of an example method 700 are illustrated. The example method 700 may include: sending a configuration including two or more spreading factors to a user equipment (710); and sending at least one indication of the following items to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme including at least one code rate (720). The example method 700 may be performed, for example, using a base station, a gNB, a network node, etc.

[0196] According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may include: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: obtain a configuration, wherein the configuration may include at least two or more expansion factors; receive at least one indication of: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determine at least one expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0197] The example apparatus may be further configured to receive scheduling downlink control information, wherein the scheduling downlink control information may include at least one indication.

[0198] The configuration may be acquired via radio resource control signaling.

[0199] The two or more expansion factors may include at least a default expansion factor.

[0200] The two or more spreading factors may include at least a zero spreading factor, wherein the zero spreading factor may be configured to indicate that spectrum spreading is not to be applied.

[0201] The at least one indication may also include an indication of whether an expansion factor is to be applied.

[0202] Determining at least one of two or more extension factors may include the example apparatus being further configured to determine at least one extension factor based at least in part on at least one of: an indication of whether extension applies to a physical uplink shared channel message, a resource indication value, a size of a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an allocation size of a physical uplink shared channel message, a starting resource block within the bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of allocation sizes within the bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of at least one code rate, or a maximum code rate.

[0203] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a first spectral flatness requirement, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a second spectral flatness requirement, wherein the first expansion factor may be at least partially different from the second expansion factor, wherein the first spectral flatness requirement may be at least partially different from the second spectral flatness requirement.

[0204] At least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on an allocation size within a bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message.

[0205] At least one expansion factor can be determined at least in part based on one of the following items: a determination that the resource indication value corresponds to an even starting resource block of the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message, a determination that the resource indication value corresponds to an odd starting resource block of the bandwidth portion of the physical shared channel message, or a determination whether the resource indication value is an odd number or an even number.

[0206] The at least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on a determination that the at least one spreading factor corresponds to: a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and a number of spreading factors in the two or more spreading factors plus one, wherein the two or more spreading factors are numbered starting from one.

[0207] At least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on a determination that the at least one spreading factor corresponds to a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and a number of spreading factors in two or more spreading factors, wherein the two or more spreading factors are numbered starting from zero.

[0208] At least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on a resource indication value, wherein the resource indication value may correspond to an allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein the allocation region may correspond to the at least one determined spreading factor.

[0209] At least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on at least one code rate, wherein the at least one code rate may correspond to a code rate range, wherein the code rate range may correspond to the at least one determined spreading factor.

[0210] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a first allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a second allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein the first expansion factor may be at least partially different from the second expansion factor, and wherein the first allocation region may be at least partially different from the second allocation region.

[0211] At least one expansion factor may be determined based at least in part on at least one allocation size threshold, wherein a first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with an allocation size greater than the at least one allocation size threshold, and wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with an allocation size less than the at least one allocation size threshold.

[0212] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be determined to result in an allocation of physical resource blocks outside of the current bandwidth portion, wherein at least one of the determined expansion factors may include a second expansion factor based at least in part on a determination that a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is less than the first expansion factor.

[0213] The example apparatus may be further configured to truncate the at least one determined spreading factor based at least in part on a determination that the at least one determined spreading factor results in a physical resource block allocation having at least one physical resource block outside of the current bandwidth portion.

[0214] The example apparatus may be further configured to apply the at least one determined spreading factor to a physical uplink shared channel message.

[0215] The example apparatus may also be configured to send a physical uplink shared channel message.

[0216] The example apparatus may be further configured to receive at least one message based at least in part on the at least one determined spreading factor.

[0217] At least one determined spreading factor may indicate that spectral spreading is not to be applied.

[0218] According to one aspect, an example method may be provided, the example method comprising: obtaining a configuration using a user device, wherein the configuration may include at least two or more extension factors; receiving at least one indication of: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determining at least one extension factor of the two or more extension factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0219] The example method may also include receiving scheduling downlink control information, wherein the scheduling downlink control information may include at least at least one indication.

[0220] The configuration may be acquired via radio resource control signaling.

[0221] The two or more expansion factors may include at least a default expansion factor.

[0222] The two or more spreading factors may include at least a zero spreading factor, wherein the zero spreading factor may be configured to indicate that spectrum spreading is not to be applied.

[0223] The at least one indication may also include an indication of whether an expansion factor is to be applied.

[0224] Determination of at least one of the two or more extension factors may include determining at least one extension factor based at least in part on at least one of the following items: an indication of whether extension is applicable to a physical uplink shared channel message, a resource indication value, a size of a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an allocation size of a physical uplink shared channel message, a starting resource block within the bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of allocation sizes within the bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of at least one code rate, or a maximum code rate.

[0225] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a first spectral flatness requirement, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a second spectral flatness requirement, wherein the first expansion factor may be at least partially different from the second expansion factor, wherein the first spectral flatness requirement may be at least partially different from the second spectral flatness requirement.

[0226] At least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on an allocation size within a bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message.

[0227] At least one expansion factor can be determined at least in part based on one of the following items: a determination that the resource indication value corresponds to an even starting resource block of the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message, a determination that the resource indication value corresponds to an odd starting resource block of the bandwidth portion of the physical shared channel message, or a determination whether the resource indication value is an odd number or an even number.

[0228] The at least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on a determination that the at least one spreading factor corresponds to: a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and a number of spreading factors in the two or more spreading factors plus one, wherein the two or more spreading factors are numbered starting from one.

[0229] At least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on a determination that the at least one spreading factor corresponds to a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and a number of spreading factors in two or more spreading factors, wherein the two or more spreading factors are numbered starting from zero.

[0230] At least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on a resource indication value, wherein the resource indication value may correspond to an allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein the allocation region may correspond to the at least one determined spreading factor.

[0231] At least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on at least one code rate, wherein the at least one code rate may correspond to a code rate range, wherein the code rate range may correspond to the at least one determined spreading factor.

[0232] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a first allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a second allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein the first expansion factor may be at least partially different from the second expansion factor, and wherein the first allocation region may be at least partially different from the second allocation region.

[0233] At least one expansion factor may be determined based at least in part on at least one allocation size threshold, wherein a first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with an allocation size greater than the at least one allocation size threshold, and wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with an allocation size less than the at least one allocation size threshold.

[0234] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be determined to result in an allocation of physical resource blocks outside of the current bandwidth portion, wherein at least one of the determined expansion factors may include a second expansion factor based at least in part on a determination that a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is less than the first expansion factor.

[0235] The example method may also include truncating the at least one determined spreading factor based at least in part on a determination that the at least one determined spreading factor results in a physical resource block allocation having at least one physical resource block outside of the current bandwidth portion.

[0236] The example method may also include applying the at least one determined spreading factor to a physical uplink shared channel message.

[0237] The example method may also include sending a physical uplink shared channel message.

[0238] The example method may also include receiving at least one message based at least in part on the at least one determined spreading factor.

[0239] At least one determined spreading factor may indicate that spectral spreading is not to be applied.

[0240] According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may include: a circuit system configured to execute obtaining a configuration using a user equipment, wherein the configuration may include at least two or more expansion factors; a circuit system configured to execute receiving at least one indication of the following items: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and a circuit system configured to execute determining at least one expansion factor of two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0241] According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may include: a processing circuit system; a memory circuit system including computer program code, the memory circuit system and the computer program code being configured to, together with the processing circuit system, enable the apparatus to: obtain a configuration, wherein the configuration may include at least two or more expansion factors; receive at least one indication of: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determine at least one expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0242] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware circuit implementations only (such as implementations in analog and / or digital circuitry only) and (b) combinations of hardware circuitry and software, such as, as applicable: (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry with software / firmware, and (ii) any portion of hardware processor(s) (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(s) with software that work together to enable a device (such as a mobile phone or server) to perform various functions), and (iii) hardware circuitry and / or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or portions of microprocessor(s) that require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but may not be present when software is not required for operation. This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of the term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also encompasses implementations of hardware circuitry or processor(s) or portions of hardware circuitry or processing and their accompanying software and / or firmware. For example, and if applicable to a particular claim element, the term circuitry would also cover a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or networking equipment.

[0243] According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may include components for performing the following items: obtaining a configuration, wherein the configuration may include at least two or more expansion factors; receiving at least one indication of the following items: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determining at least one expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0244] The component may also be configured to perform: receiving scheduling downlink control information, wherein the scheduling downlink control information may at least include at least one indication.

[0245] The configuration may be acquired via radio resource control signaling.

[0246] The two or more expansion factors may include at least a default expansion factor.

[0247] The two or more spreading factors may include at least a zero spreading factor, wherein the zero spreading factor may be configured to indicate that spectrum spreading is not to be applied.

[0248] The at least one indication may also include an indication of whether an expansion factor is to be applied.

[0249] Being configured to perform determining at least one of two or more extension factors may include a component configured to determine at least one extension factor based at least in part on at least one of the following items: an indication of whether extension is applicable to a physical uplink shared channel message, a resource indication value, a size of a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an allocation size of a physical uplink shared channel message, a starting resource block within the bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of allocation sizes within the bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of at least one code rate, or a maximum code rate.

[0250] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a first spectral flatness requirement, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a second spectral flatness requirement, wherein the first expansion factor may be at least partially different from the second expansion factor, wherein the first spectral flatness requirement may be at least partially different from the second spectral flatness requirement.

[0251] At least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on an allocation size within a bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message.

[0252] At least one expansion factor can be determined at least in part based on one of the following items: a determination that the resource indication value corresponds to an even starting resource block of the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message, a determination that the resource indication value corresponds to an odd starting resource block of the bandwidth portion of the physical shared channel message, or a determination whether the resource indication value is an odd number or an even number.

[0253] The at least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on a determination that the at least one spreading factor corresponds to: a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and a number of spreading factors in the two or more spreading factors plus one, wherein the two or more spreading factors are numbered starting from one.

[0254] At least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on a determination that the at least one spreading factor corresponds to a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and a number of spreading factors in two or more spreading factors, wherein the two or more spreading factors are numbered starting from zero.

[0255] At least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on a resource indication value, wherein the resource indication value may correspond to an allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein the allocation region may correspond to the at least one determined spreading factor.

[0256] At least one spreading factor may be determined based at least in part on at least one code rate, wherein the at least one code rate may correspond to a code rate range, wherein the code rate range may correspond to the at least one determined spreading factor.

[0257] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a first allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a second allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein the first expansion factor may be at least partially different from the second expansion factor, and wherein the first allocation region may be at least partially different from the second allocation region.

[0258] At least one expansion factor may be determined based at least in part on at least one allocation size threshold, wherein a first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with an allocation size greater than the at least one allocation size threshold, and wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with an allocation size less than the at least one allocation size threshold.

[0259] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be determined to result in an allocation of physical resource blocks outside of the current bandwidth portion, wherein at least one of the determined expansion factors may include a second expansion factor based at least in part on a determination that a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is less than the first expansion factor.

[0260] The component may be further configured to perform: based at least in part on a determination that the at least one determined spreading factor results in a physical resource block allocation having at least one physical resource block outside of the current bandwidth portion, truncating the at least one determined spreading factor.

[0261] The component may also be configured to perform: applying the at least one determined spreading factor to a physical uplink shared channel message.

[0262] The component may also be configured to perform: sending a physical uplink shared channel message.

[0263] The components may also be configured to perform: receiving at least one message based at least in part on the at least one determined spreading factor.

[0264] At least one determined spreading factor may indicate that spectral spreading is not to be applied.

[0265] Processors, memory, and / or example algorithms (which may be encoded as instructions, programs, or codes) may be provided as example components for providing or causing the performance of operations.

[0266] According to an example embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium includes instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: cause acquisition of a configuration, wherein the configuration may include at least two or more expansion factors; cause reception of at least one indication of: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determine at least one expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0267] According to an example embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium includes program instructions stored thereon, the program instructions being used to perform at least the following: enabling acquisition of a configuration, wherein the configuration may include at least two or more expansion factors; enabling reception of at least one indication of the following: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determining at least one expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0268] According to another example embodiment, a machine-readable, non-transitory program storage device may be provided, the device tangibly embodying machine-executable instructions for performing operations, the operations comprising: enabling acquisition of a configuration, wherein the configuration may include at least two or more expansion factors; enabling reception of at least one indication of: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determining at least one expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0269] According to another example embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium includes instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following items: cause acquisition of a configuration, wherein the configuration may include at least two or more extension factors; cause reception of at least one indication of the following items: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determine at least one of the two or more extension factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0270] A computer-implemented system includes: at least one processor and at least one non-volatile memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the system to perform at least the following items: obtaining a configuration, wherein the configuration may include at least two or more expansion factors; receiving at least one indication of the following items: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme including at least one code rate; and determining at least one expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0271] A computer-implemented system includes: components for enabling acquisition of a configuration, wherein the configuration may include at least two or more expansion factors; components for enabling reception of at least one indication of: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate; and components for determining at least one expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors based at least in part on the at least one indication.

[0272] According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may include: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: send a configuration including two or more expansion factors to a user equipment; and send at least one indication of the following items to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0273] The example apparatus may also be configured to: send scheduling downlink control information to the user equipment, wherein the scheduling downlink control information may at least include at least one indication.

[0274] The configuration may be sent via radio resource control signaling.

[0275] The two or more expansion factors may include at least a default expansion factor.

[0276] The two or more spreading factors may include at least a zero spreading factor, wherein the zero spreading factor may be configured to indicate that spectrum spreading is not to be applied.

[0277] The at least one indication may also include an indication of whether an expansion factor is to be applied.

[0278] The example apparatus may also be configured to send to a user equipment an indication of at least one of: whether an extension is applicable to a physical uplink shared channel message, a resource indication value, the size of a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an allocation size of a physical uplink shared channel message, a starting resource block within the bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of allocation sizes within the bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of at least one code rate, or a maximum code rate.

[0279] The example apparatus may also be configured to determine two or more expansion factors.

[0280] In response to two or more spreading factors used at a user equipment, wherein a first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a first spectral flatness requirement, wherein a second spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a second spectral flatness requirement, wherein the first spreading factor may be at least partially different from the second spreading factor, and wherein the first spectral flatness requirement may be at least partially different from the second spectral flatness requirement.

[0281] In response to two or more spreading factors used at the user equipment, a first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a resource indication value corresponding to an even starting resource block of a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, and a second spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a resource indication value corresponding to an odd starting resource block of the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message.

[0282] A first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors used at the user equipment may be associated with a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and the number of spreading factors of the two or more spreading factors plus one, wherein the two or more spreading factors are numbered from one.

[0283] A first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and a number of spreading factors of the two or more spreading factors, wherein the two or more spreading factors are numbered starting from zero.

[0284] A first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a resource indication value, where the resource indication value may correspond to an allocation region within a bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message.

[0285] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a first allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a second allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein the first expansion factor may be at least partially different from the second expansion factor, and wherein the first allocation region may be at least partially different from the second allocation region.

[0286] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with an allocation size greater than at least one allocation size threshold, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with an allocation size less than the at least one allocation size threshold.

[0287] A first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may indicate that spectral spreading is not to be applied.

[0288] According to one aspect, an example method may be provided, the example method comprising: utilizing a network node to send a configuration comprising two or more expansion factors to a user equipment; and sending at least one indication of the following items to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme comprising at least one code rate.

[0289] The example method may also include sending scheduling downlink control information to the user equipment, wherein the scheduling downlink control information may include at least one indication.

[0290] The configuration may be sent via radio resource control signaling.

[0291] The two or more expansion factors may include at least a default expansion factor.

[0292] The two or more spreading factors may include at least a zero spreading factor, wherein the zero spreading factor may be configured to indicate that spectrum spreading is not to be applied.

[0293] The at least one indication may also include an indication of whether an expansion factor is to be applied.

[0294] The example method may also include sending to a user equipment an indication of at least one of: whether an extension is applicable to a physical uplink shared channel message, a resource indication value, a size of a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an allocation size of a physical uplink shared channel message, a starting resource block within the bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of allocation sizes within the bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of at least one code rate, or a maximum code rate.

[0295] The example method may also include determining two or more expansion factors.

[0296] In response to two or more spreading factors used at a user equipment, wherein a first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a first spectral flatness requirement, wherein a second spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a second spectral flatness requirement, wherein the first spreading factor may be at least partially different from the second spreading factor, and wherein the first spectral flatness requirement may be at least partially different from the second spectral flatness requirement.

[0297] In response to two or more spreading factors used at the user equipment, a first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a resource indication value corresponding to an even starting resource block of a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, and a second spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a resource indication value corresponding to an odd starting resource block of the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message.

[0298] A first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors used at the user equipment may be associated with a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and the number of spreading factors of the two or more spreading factors plus one, wherein the two or more spreading factors are numbered from one.

[0299] A first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and a number of spreading factors of the two or more spreading factors, wherein the two or more spreading factors are numbered starting from zero.

[0300] A first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a resource indication value, where the resource indication value may correspond to an allocation region within a bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message.

[0301] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a first allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a second allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein the first expansion factor may be at least partially different from the second expansion factor, and wherein the first allocation region may be at least partially different from the second allocation region.

[0302] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with an allocation size greater than at least one allocation size threshold, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with an allocation size less than the at least one allocation size threshold.

[0303] A first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may indicate that spectral spreading is not to be applied.

[0304] According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may include: a circuit system configured to execute sending a configuration including two or more expansion factors to a user equipment; and a circuit system configured to execute sending at least one indication of the following items to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0305] According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may include: a processing circuit system; a memory circuit system including computer program code, the memory circuit system and the computer program code being configured, together with the processing circuit system, to enable the apparatus to: send a configuration including two or more expansion factors to a user equipment; and send at least one indication of the following items to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0306] According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may include components for performing the following items: sending a configuration including two or more expansion factors to a user equipment; and sending at least one indication of the following items to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0307] The component may also be configured to perform: sending scheduling downlink control information to the user equipment, wherein the scheduling downlink control information may at least include at least one indication.

[0308] The configuration may be sent via radio resource control signaling.

[0309] The two or more expansion factors may include at least a default expansion factor.

[0310] The two or more spreading factors may include at least a zero spreading factor, wherein the zero spreading factor may be configured to indicate that spectrum spreading is not to be applied.

[0311] The at least one indication may also include an indication of whether an expansion factor is to be applied.

[0312] The component may also be configured to perform: sending an indication of at least one of the following items to the user equipment: whether the extension is applicable to the physical uplink shared channel message, a resource indication value, the size of the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message, the allocation size of the physical uplink shared channel message, the starting resource block within the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of allocation sizes within the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of at least one code rate, or a maximum code rate.

[0313] The component may also be configured to perform: determining two or more expansion factors.

[0314] In response to two or more spreading factors used at a user equipment, wherein a first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a first spectral flatness requirement, wherein a second spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a second spectral flatness requirement, wherein the first spreading factor may be at least partially different from the second spreading factor, and wherein the first spectral flatness requirement may be at least partially different from the second spectral flatness requirement.

[0315] In response to two or more spreading factors used at the user equipment, a first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a resource indication value corresponding to an even starting resource block of a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, and a second spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a resource indication value corresponding to an odd starting resource block of the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message.

[0316] A first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors used at the user equipment may be associated with a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and the number of spreading factors of the two or more spreading factors plus one, wherein the two or more spreading factors are numbered from one.

[0317] A first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and a number of spreading factors of the two or more spreading factors, wherein the two or more spreading factors are numbered starting from zero.

[0318] A first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may be associated with a resource indication value, where the resource indication value may correspond to an allocation region within a bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message.

[0319] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a first allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with a second allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein the first expansion factor may be at least partially different from the second expansion factor, and wherein the first allocation region may be at least partially different from the second allocation region.

[0320] A first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with an allocation size greater than at least one allocation size threshold, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors may be associated with an allocation size less than the at least one allocation size threshold.

[0321] A first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors may indicate that spectral spreading is not to be applied.

[0322] According to an exemplary embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium includes instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: cause a configuration including two or more expansion factors to be sent to a user equipment; and cause at least one indication of the following items to be sent to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0323] According to an exemplary embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium includes program instructions stored thereon, the program instructions being used to perform at least the following items: causing a configuration including two or more expansion factors to be sent to a user equipment; and causing at least one indication of the following items to be sent to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0324] According to another example embodiment, a machine-readable, non-volatile program storage device may be provided, the device tangibly embodying machine-executable instructions for performing operations, the operations comprising: causing a configuration including two or more expansion factors to be sent to a user device; and causing at least one indication of the following items to be sent to the user device: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0325] According to another example embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium includes instructions, which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following items: cause a configuration including two or more expansion factors to be sent to a user equipment; and cause at least one indication of the following items to be sent to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0326] A computer-implemented system includes: at least one processor and at least one non-volatile memory storing instructions, and when the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, the system performs at least the following items: causing a configuration including two or more expansion factors to be sent to a user equipment; and causing at least one indication of the following items to be sent to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0327] A computer-implemented system includes: components for causing a configuration including two or more expansion factors to be sent to a user equipment; and components for causing at least one indication of the following items to be sent to the user equipment: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme including at least one code rate.

[0328] The term "non-transitory" as used herein is a restriction on the medium itself (ie, tangible, not a signal), not on the persistence of data storage (eg, RAM vs. ROM).

[0329] It should be understood that the above description is illustrative only. Those skilled in the art may design various alternatives and modifications. For example, the features described in the various dependent claims may be combined with each other in any suitable (multiple) combination. In addition, the features from the above-mentioned different embodiments may be selectively combined into new embodiments. Therefore, this specification is intended to include all such alternatives, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A device comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: Obtaining a configuration, wherein the configuration includes at least two or more expansion factors; Receive at least one indication of: at least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme, including at least one code rate; and At least one spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors is determined based at least in part on the at least one indication.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory stores the instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: Scheduling downlink control information is received, wherein the scheduling downlink control information includes at least the at least one indication.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the configuration is acquired via radio resource control signaling. 4 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the two or more expansion factors include at least a default expansion factor.

5. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the two or more extension factors include at least a zero extension factor, wherein the zero extension factor is configured to indicate that spectrum extension is not to be applied.

6. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the at least one indication further comprises: An indication of whether the expansion factor will be applied.

7. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the determining the at least one spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors comprises: The at least one memory stores the instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to: The at least one expansion factor is determined based at least in part on at least one of: An indication of whether the extension applies to the Physical Uplink Shared Channel message, Resource indicator value, the size of the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message, an allocation size of the physical uplink shared channel message, a starting resource block within said bandwidth portion of said physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of allocation sizes within said bandwidth portion of said physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of said at least one code rate, or Maximum bit rate.

8. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a first expansion factor among the two or more expansion factors is associated with a first spectral flatness requirement, wherein a second expansion factor among the two or more expansion factors is associated with a second spectral flatness requirement, wherein the first expansion factor is at least partially different from the second expansion factor, and wherein the first spectral flatness requirement is at least partially different from the second spectral flatness requirement.

9. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the at least one spreading factor is determined based at least in part on an allocation size within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message.

10. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the at least one expansion factor is determined based at least in part on one of: The resource indication value corresponds to determination of an even starting resource block of the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message, The resource indication value corresponds to a determination of an odd starting resource block of the bandwidth portion of the physical shared channel message, or The resource indication value is determined to be an odd number or an even number.

11. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the at least one spreading factor is determined based at least in part on a determination that the at least one spreading factor corresponds to: a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and a number of spreading factors in the two or more spreading factors plus one, The two or more extension factors are numbered starting from one.

12. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the at least one spreading factor is determined based at least in part on a determination that the at least one spreading factor corresponds to: a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to the resource indication value and a number of spreading factors in the two or more spreading factors, The two or more extension factors are numbered starting from zero.

13. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the at least one expansion factor is determined at least in part based on a resource indication value, wherein the resource indication value corresponds to an allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein the allocation region corresponds to at least one determined expansion factor.

14. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the at least one spreading factor is determined at least in part based on the at least one code rate, wherein the at least one code rate corresponds to a code rate range, wherein the code rate range corresponds to the at least one determined spreading factor.

15. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is associated with a first allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is associated with a second allocation region within the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message, wherein the first expansion factor is at least partially different from the second expansion factor, and wherein the first allocation region is at least partially different from the second allocation region.

16. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the at least one expansion factor is determined at least in part based on at least one allocation size threshold, wherein a first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is associated with an allocation size greater than the at least one allocation size threshold, and wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is associated with an allocation size less than the at least one allocation size threshold.

17. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is determined to result in a physical resource block allocation outside the current bandwidth portion, wherein at least one of the determined expansion factors includes a second expansion factor based at least in part on a determination that a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is less than the first expansion factor.

18. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein the at least one memory stores the instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: Based at least in part on a determination that the at least one determined spreading factor results in a physical resource block allocation having at least one physical resource block outside of a current bandwidth portion, the at least one determined spreading factor is truncated.

19. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the at least one memory stores the instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: The at least one determined spreading factor is applied to a physical uplink shared channel message.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one memory stores the instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: The physical uplink shared channel message is sent.

21. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the at least one memory stores the instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: At least one message is received based at least in part on the at least one determined spreading factor.

22. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 21, wherein the at least one determined spreading factor indicates that spectrum spreading is not to be applied.

23. A method comprising: Acquiring, using a user device, a configuration, wherein the configuration includes at least two or more spreading factors; Receive at least one indication of: At least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme, including at least one code rate; and At least one spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors is determined based at least in part on the at least one indication.

24. An apparatus comprising means for performing: Obtaining a configuration, wherein the configuration includes at least two or more expansion factors; Receive at least one indication of: At least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme, including at least one code rate; and At least one spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors is determined based at least in part on the at least one indication.

25. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon, the program instructions being configured to perform at least the following: causing acquisition of a configuration, wherein the configuration comprises at least two or more expansion factors; causing receipt of an indication of at least one of the following: At least one frequency domain resource allocation, or at least one modulation and coding scheme, including at least one code rate; and At least one spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors is determined based at least in part on the at least one indication.

26. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: sending a configuration including two or more spreading factors to a user equipment; and Sending to the user equipment at least one indication of: At least one frequency domain resource allocation, or At least one modulation and coding scheme, including at least one code rate.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one memory stores the instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: Sending scheduling downlink control information to the user equipment, wherein the scheduling downlink control information at least includes the at least one indication.

28. The apparatus of claim 26 or 27, wherein the configuration is sent via radio resource control signaling.

29. The apparatus of any one of claims 26 to 28, wherein the two or more spreading factors include at least a default spreading factor.

30. The apparatus according to any one of claims 26 to 29, wherein the two or more extension factors include at least a zero extension factor, wherein the zero extension factor is configured to indicate that spectrum extension is not to be applied.

31. The apparatus of any one of claims 26 to 30, wherein the at least one indication further comprises: An indication of whether the expansion factor will be applied.

32. The apparatus according to any one of claims 26 to 31, wherein the at least one memory stores the instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: Sending an indication of at least one of the following items to the user equipment: Whether the extension applies to physical uplink shared channel messages, Resource indicator value, the size of the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message, an allocation size of the physical uplink shared channel message, a starting resource block within said bandwidth portion of said physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of allocation sizes within said bandwidth portion of said physical uplink shared channel message, an indication of one or more ranges of said at least one code rate, or Maximum bit rate.

33. The apparatus according to any one of claims 26 to 32, wherein the at least one memory stores the instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: The two or more expansion factors are determined.

34. An apparatus according to any one of claims 26 to 33, in response to the two or more extension factors used at the user equipment, wherein a first extension factor of the two or more extension factors is associated with a first spectral flatness requirement, wherein a second extension factor of the two or more extension factors is associated with a second spectral flatness requirement, wherein the first extension factor is at least partially different from the second extension factor, and wherein the first spectral flatness requirement is at least partially different from the second spectral flatness requirement.

35. An apparatus according to any one of claims 26 to 34, in response to the two or more extension factors used at the user equipment, wherein a first extension factor of the two or more extension factors is associated with a resource indication value corresponding to an even starting resource block of a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, and wherein a second extension factor of the two or more extension factors is associated with a resource indication value corresponding to an odd starting resource block of a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message.

36. The apparatus according to any one of claims 26 to 35, wherein a first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors used at the user equipment is associated with a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to a resource indication value and a number of spreading factors of the two or more spreading factors plus one, The two or more extension factors are numbered starting from one.

37. The apparatus according to any one of claims 26 to 35, wherein a first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors is associated with a difference between a starting resource block corresponding to a resource indication value and a number of spreading factors of the two or more spreading factors, The two or more extension factors are numbered starting from zero.

38. An apparatus according to any one of claims 26 to 37, wherein a first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors is associated with a resource indication value, wherein the resource indication value corresponds to an allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message.

39. An apparatus according to any one of claims 26 to 38, wherein a first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is associated with a first allocation region within a bandwidth portion of a physical uplink shared channel message, wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is associated with a second allocation region within the bandwidth portion of the physical uplink shared channel message, wherein the first expansion factor is at least partially different from the second expansion factor, and wherein the first allocation region is at least partially different from the second allocation region.

40. An apparatus according to any one of claims 26 to 39, wherein a first expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is associated with an allocation size greater than at least one allocation size threshold, and wherein a second expansion factor of the two or more expansion factors is associated with an allocation size less than the at least one allocation size threshold.

41. The apparatus of any one of claims 26 to 40, wherein a first spreading factor of the two or more spreading factors indicates that spectrum spreading is not to be applied.

42. A method comprising: sending, by a network node, a configuration including two or more spreading factors to a user equipment; as well as Sending to the user equipment at least one indication of: At least one frequency domain resource allocation, or At least one modulation and coding scheme, including at least one code rate.

43. An apparatus comprising means for performing: sending a configuration including two or more spreading factors to a user equipment; and Sending to the user equipment at least one indication of: At least one frequency domain resource allocation, or At least one modulation and coding scheme, including at least one code rate.

44. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon, the program instructions being configured to perform at least the following: causing a configuration comprising two or more spreading factors to be sent to a user equipment; and causing at least one indication of the following items to be sent to the user equipment: At least one frequency domain resource allocation, or At least one modulation and coding scheme, including at least one code rate.

Images