Terminal device, network device and method for indicating use of transmission opportunities

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a solution for indicating use of transmission opportunities. In a solution according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a terminal device includes a processor and a transceiver coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to: determine a transmission opportunity (TO) group associated with one or more configuration authorization (CG) configurations; and sending, via the transceiver, indication information to a network device, the indication information indicating a usage state of at least one TO in the TO group. In this way, the terminal device can indicate the usage state of the TO to the network device, so that the network device can adjust subsequent resource allocation to avoid waste of unused TO, thereby improving communication performance and saving signaling overhead.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of communications, and in particular, to a terminal device, a network device, and a method for indicating the use of a transmission opportunity. Background Art

[0002] Extended Reality (XR) technologies create virtual and immersive environments through Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR) technologies, or integrate these virtual scenarios and features with the real world to enhance the user experience in the real world. Low latency, high reliability, low power consumption, and high capacity are key service requirements for emerging XR applications. The fifth-generation New Radio (5G NR), as a new global wireless standard following 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks, aims to support XR applications that, together with cloud computing technologies, require high throughput and low latency, and have large and variable packet sizes.

[0003] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 15 (Rel-15) and Release 16 (Rel-16) introduced some features that are the basis for specific enhancements to XR. In addition, during Release 17 (Rel-17), traffic models and evaluation methods for XR were discussed. At the 3GPP Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network Working Group 1 (RAN1) meeting #111, for Release 18 (Rel-18), candidate enhancement technologies for XR capacity improvement were discussed. Additionally, more objectives were studied to specify the changes required for Configuration Grant (CG) enhancements. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Generally speaking, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for indicating the use of a transmission opportunity.

[0005] In a first aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor and a transceiver coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to: determine a Transmission Opportunity (TO) group associated with one or more Configuration Grant (CG) configurations; and send, via the transceiver, indication information to a network device, the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group.

[0006] In a second aspect, a network device is provided. The network device includes a processor and a transceiver coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to: determine, via the processor, a Transmission Opportunity (TO) group associated with one or more Configuration Grant (CG) configurations; and receive, via the transceiver, indication information from a terminal device, the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group.

[0007] In a third aspect, a method performed by a terminal device is provided. The method includes: determining a set of transmission opportunities (TOs) associated with one or more configured grant (CG) configurations; and sending indication information to a network device, the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the set of TOs.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, a method performed by a network device is provided. The method includes: determining a set of transmission opportunities (TOs) associated with one or more configured grant (CG) configurations; and receiving indication information from a terminal device, the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the set of TOs.

[0009] In a fifth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided. Instructions are stored thereon. When the instructions are executed on at least one processor of a device, the device is caused to perform the method of the third aspect.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided. Instructions are stored thereon. When the instructions are executed on at least one processor of a device, the device is caused to perform the method of the fourth aspect.

[0011] It should be understood that the summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become readily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Some embodiments will now be described with reference to the drawings, in which:

[0013] Figure 1 An example communication system in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented is shown;

[0014] Figure 2 A signaling diagram of a communication process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0015] Figure 3A A schematic diagram of determining a set of TOs from multiple configured grant (CG) configurations based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0016] Figure 3B Another schematic diagram of determining a set of TOs from a single configured grant (CG) configuration based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0017] Figure 3C Another schematic diagram of determining a set of TOs from multiple configured grant (CG) configurations based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0018] Figure 3D Another schematic diagram shows the determination of the TO group from a single configuration CG configuration based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] Figure 3E A further schematic diagram shows the determination of the TO group from multiple configuration CG configurations based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] Figure 3F Another schematic diagram shows the determination of the TO group from a single configuration CG configuration based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0021] Figure 3G Another schematic diagram shows the determination of the TO group based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0022] Figure 4A A schematic diagram shows the indexing of TO according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0023] Figure 4B A schematic diagram shows the determination of the TO group from multiple configuration CG configurations based on a predefined or indicated number of TOs according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0024] Figure 4C Another schematic diagram shows the determination of the TO group from multiple CG configurations of a plurality of configurations based on a predefined or indicated number of TOs according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0025] Figure 4D Another schematic diagram shows the determination of the TO group based on a predefined or indicated number of TOs according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0026] Figure 5 A flowchart shows an example method implemented at a terminal device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0027] Figure 6 A flowchart shows an example method implemented at a network device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0028] Figure 7 A simplified block diagram shows a device suitable for implementing the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0029] In all the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements. Detailed Description of the Invention

[0030] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described only for illustrative purposes and are helpful for those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without implying any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. The present disclosure described herein can be implemented in various ways other than those described below. In the following description and claims, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains.

[0031] References in the present disclosure to "one embodiment", "example embodiment", "embodiment", etc. indicate that the embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not necessarily every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Additionally, these phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it should be considered within the knowledge of those skilled in the art to combine such feature, structure, or characteristic with other embodiments, whether or not explicitly described.

[0032] It should be understood that although terms such as "first" and "second" etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element can be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element can be referred to as a first element, without departing from the scope of the embodiment. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms. In some examples, a value, process, or device is referred to as "best", "lowest", "highest", "minimum", "maximum", etc. It will be understood that such descriptions are intended to indicate that a selection among a multitude of available functions can be made, and such a selection does not necessarily have to be better, smaller, higher, or superior to other selections.

[0033] The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit the embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are also intended to include the plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that the terms "comprises", "comprising", "has", "having", "includes", "including", and / or "containing" when used herein specify the presence of the stated feature, element, component, etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof. For example, the term "comprises" and its variants should be understood as open-ended terms, meaning "including but not limited to". The term "based on" should be understood as "at least partially based on". The terms "one embodiment" and "embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment". The term "another embodiment" should be understood as "at least one other embodiment". Other explicit or implicit definitions may be included below.

[0034] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that complies with any suitable communication standard, such as 5G NR, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. In addition, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network can be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including but not limited to the first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G) communication protocol, and / or any other protocol known currently or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems. Given the rapid development of communication, of course, there will also be future types of communication technologies and systems, by using which the present disclosure can be embodied. This should not be regarded as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to the above systems only.

[0035] As used herein, the term "network device" generally refers to a node in a communication network through which a terminal device can access the network and receive services therefrom. The network device can refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, Node B (NodeB or NB), radio access network (RAN) node, evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), NR NB (also known as gNB), remote radio unit (RRU), radio head (RH), infrastructure device for V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communication, transmission and reception point (TRP), reception point (RP), remote radio head (RRH), relay, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, low-power node (such as femto BS, pico BS), and so on, depending on the terms and technologies applied.

[0036] As used herein, the term "terminal device" generally refers to any terminal device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), end-user device, subscriber station (SS), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), portable subscriber station, mobile station (MS), or access terminal (AT). Terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, Internet Protocol voice (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablet computers, wearable terminal devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices (such as digital cameras), game terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded equipment (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless client equipment (CPE), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, UAVs, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgical devices), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in the context of an industrial and / or automation processing chain), consumer electronic devices, devices operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment", and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0037] As described above, more objectives are studied to specify the changes required for CG enhancements in Rel-18. Physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions can be dynamically scheduled by an uplink (UL) grant in downlink control information (DCI), or PUSCH transmissions can correspond to CG type 1 or type 2 without a dynamic grant. The UE will be configured with one or more CG configurations by the (one or more) network devices, and the CG configuration indicates the CG type of CG type 1 or CG type 2, and the period of the CG configuration.

[0038] To meet the requirements for high throughput, low latency, large packet sizes, and variable packet sizes, 3GPP has decided to configure multiple transmission opportunities (TOs) for the UE within the period of a single CG configuration for CG PUSCH transmissions. The UE can send (one or more) XR packets in all or part of the configured TOs immediately after the arrival of the TO in the CG PUSCH transmission.

[0039] The inventors have found that since the UE may not occupy or use all the configured transmission opportunities (TOs), the number of TOs not occupied or used by the UE may be smaller than the number of all configured TOs. This means that some unused or wasted TOs are configured in the configured grant (CG) configuration. However, the network device cannot know the actual size of the XR packet, nor can it know whether the configured TOs will be used by the UE and the number of TOs that have been used. Therefore, further research is needed on the signaling mechanism for the TOs configured in the CG configuration. In addition, the inventors have found that it would be beneficial for the UE to indicate to the network device the unoccupied or unused TOs that have been configured in the CG configuration. In addition, the network device can reallocate the unused TOs to other UEs or other services, which can improve the resource utilization rate of the entire wireless system.

[0040] In view of the above findings of the inventors and to solve the problems in the traditional solutions, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for indicating the use of transmission opportunities. For example, both the terminal device and the network device can determine a set of transmission opportunities (TOs) associated with one or more configured grant (CG) configurations in the same way. The terminal device can also send indication information to the network device, and the indication information indicates the use status of at least one TO in the TO set. In response to receiving the indication information indicating the use status of at least one TO in the TO set from the terminal device, the network device can know the use status of the TOs and can further reallocate the unused TOs for other UEs or other services, or reallocate all the TOs including the used TOs or unused TOs to achieve a more optimized signaling design. Through the solution of the present disclosure, a signaling mechanism can be introduced, which allows the terminal device to indicate the use status of the TOs to the network device, enabling the network device to adjust subsequent resource allocation to avoid wasting unused TOs, thereby improving the performance of communication. The specific design of the format of the indication information in the present disclosure helps to save signaling overhead. For example, by using a limited number of bits to indicate the use of TOs associated with one or more CG configurations. The principle and implementation of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0041] Figure 1 An exemplary communication system 100 in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented is shown. The communication network 100 includes a network device 110 and a terminal device 120. The network device 110 can provide services to the terminal device 120.

[0042] In system 100, it is assumed that the terminal device 120 is within the coverage of the network device 110. In some examples, the link from the network device 110 to the terminal device 120 is referred to as the downlink (DL), and the link from the terminal device 120 to the network device 110 is referred to as the uplink (UL). In the downlink, the network device 110 is the transmitting (TX) device (or transmitter), and the terminal device 120 is the receiving (RX) device (or receiver). In the uplink, the terminal device 120 is the transmitting TX device (or transmitter), and the network device 110 is the RX device (or receiver). In some embodiments, the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 may communicate via a direct link / channel. The DL may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). The UL may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). As used herein, the term "channel" may refer to a carrier or a portion of a carrier consisting of a set of contiguous resource blocks (RBs) on which a channel access procedure is performed in a shared spectrum.

[0043] Communication in system 100, such as communication between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120, may be implemented according to any suitable communication protocol(s), including but not limited to cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), and fifth generation (5G), etc., wireless local area network communication protocols (such as those of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, etc.), and / or any other protocol(s) known currently or to be developed in the future. Additionally, the communication may utilize any suitable wireless communication technology, including but not limited to: code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), and / or any other technology known currently or to be developed in the future.

[0044] Embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to any suitable scenario. For example, embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented at a reduced-capability NR device. Alternatively, embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in one of the following: NR multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), NR sidelink enhancements, NR systems with frequencies higher than 52.6 GHz, extended NR operations up to 71 GHz, narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) / enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) over non-terrestrial networks (NTN), NTN, UE power saving enhancements, NR coverage enhancements, NB-IoT, and LTE-MTC, integrated access and backhaul (IAB), NR multicast and broadcast services, or enhancements over multi-radio dual connectivity.

[0045] It should be understood that Figure 1 the number of devices shown therein (i.e., network device 110 and terminal device 120), as well as their connection relationships and types, are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitations. System 100 may include any suitable number of devices suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0046] Further referring to Figure 2 , Figure 2 a signaling diagram of a communication process 200 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For the purpose of discussion, process 200 will be described with reference to Figure 1 . Process 200 may involve network device 110 and terminal device 120.

[0047] Network device 110 sends 210 one or more CG configurations 212 associated with at least one TO to terminal device 120. On the other side of the communication, terminal device 120 receives 214 one or more CG configurations 212. In some example embodiments, one or more CG configurations 212 are used for PUSCH transmission, and each CG configuration in the one or more CG configurations may specify the CG type, period, and at least one TO of each CG configuration.

[0048] In some example embodiments, the CG type may indicate CG type 1, where the uplink grant is provided by a higher layer parameter in radio resource control (RRC) and is stored as a configured uplink grant, or the CG type may indicate CG type 2, where the uplink grant is provided by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and is stored or cleared as a configured uplink grant based on signaling indicating activation or deactivation of the configured uplink grant. In some examples, CG type 1 PUSCH transmission is semi-statically configured to operate without detecting a UL grant in DCI after receiving a higher layer parameter of configuredGrantConfig including rrc-ConfiguredUplinkGrant. CG type 2 PUSCH transmission is semi-persistently scheduled by a valid active UL grant in DCI after receiving a higher layer parameter configuredGrantConfig that does not include rrc-ConfiguredUplinkGrant.

[0049] In some example embodiments, the period may indicate a specific duration of CG PUSCH transmission. In some examples, for 15 kHz, the period may be {1 / 7 ms, 0.5 ms, 1 ms, ……, 320 ms, 640 ms}, for 30 kHz, the period may be 0.5×{1 / 7 ms, 0.5 ms, 1 ms, ……, 1280 ms}, and for 60 kHz, the period may be 0.25×{1 / 7 ms, 0.5 ms, 1 ms, ……, 2560 ms}. In some examples, different CG configurations may have the same period or different periods. It should be understood that the period can be any value, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

[0050] In some example embodiments, the TO may refer to a data channel that can be used for user data transmission (e.g., CG PUSCH transmission). For example, configuring the TO may occupy multiple time units, where the time unit may be ms, s, symbol, time slot, subframe, frame, etc. In some examples, a specific number of TOs may be configured in the CG configuration or be within the period of the CG configuration. It should be understood that the specific number of TOs can be any positive integer, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

[0051] As Figure 2As shown, the terminal device 120 can determine 220 a TO group associated with one or more CG configurations 212. On the other side of the communication, the network device 110 can correspondingly determine 224 a TO group associated with one or more CG configurations 212. The terminal 120 can send 230 indication information 232 to the network device 110, and the indication information indicates the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group. On the other side of the communication, the network device 110 can receive 234 indication information 232 from the terminal device 120, and the indication information indicates the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group. In the present disclosure, the usage status of a TO can indicate whether the TO is used or not used by the terminal device 120, for example, for user data transmission for XR services. In some example embodiments, the indication information can be sent in one or more uplink control information (UCI) messages. It should be understood that the present disclosure does not limit the transmission method of the indication information.

[0052] The terminal 120 can send 240 an uplink transmission 242 to the network device 110. In some examples, the uplink transmission 242 can be a CG PUSCH (or UL-SCH) in at least one TO, which means that the at least one TO is used or occupied by the uplink transmission 242 of the terminal device 120. On the other side of the communication, the network device 110 receives 244 the uplink transmission 242.

[0053] The network device 110 can send one or more additional CG configurations to the terminal device 120. In some examples, the network device 110 can determine one or more additional CG configurations based on the indication information 232 received from the terminal device 120. It should be understood that the transmission of one or more additional CG configurations can be before the transmission 240, after the transmission 240, or overlapping with the transmission 240, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

[0054] In some example embodiments, in the determination 220, the terminal device 120 can determine the TO group based on a time domain window. In some examples, the terminal device 120 can determine a plurality of configured TOs associated with one or more configured CG configurations 212, and the TO group is the configured TOs located within the time domain window.

[0055] Figure 3AFIG. 310 is a schematic diagram showing the determination of a TO group from multiple configured CG configurations based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, network device 110 sends two CG configurations, CG1 and CG2, to terminal device 120, where CG1 provides two TOs in a single period P1 of CG1, and CG2 provides eight TOs in a single period P2 of CG2. In the case where the length of the time domain window is equal to P2 and the starting position of the time domain window is time T1, terminal device 120 determines the TO group associated with CG1 and CG2, in other words, the TO group that correspondingly includes the (multiple) TOs from CG1 and the (multiple) TOs from CG2. The determined TO group has a total of 12 TOs, including 4 TOs from CG1 and 8 TOs from CG2, within a single time domain window. For example, as Figure 3A shown in the first time domain window 311 and the second time domain window 312.

[0056] Figure 3B FIG. 320 is another schematic diagram showing the determination of a TO group from a single configured CG configuration based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, network device 110 sends CG configuration CG1 to terminal device 120, where CG1 provides two TOs within a single period P1 of CG1. In the case where the length of the time domain window is twice that of P1 and the starting position of the time domain window is time T1, terminal device 120 determines the TO group associated with CG1, in other words, the TO group that includes the (multiple) TOs from CG1. The TO group determined within a single time domain window (such as the first time domain window 321 and the second time domain window 322) has a total of four TOs, all of which are from CG1. For example Figure 3B shown in the first time domain window 321 and the second time domain window 322.

[0057] In some examples, if a configured TO among multiple configured TOs spans a time domain window and the next time domain window, then this configured TO will be counted in one of the time domain window and the next time domain window; or any configured TO among multiple configured TOs is located within a single time domain window. Specifically, terminal device 120 can be configured with multiple TOs, and terminal device 120 does not expect the start symbol of a TO to be in one time domain window, but expects the end symbol of the TO to be in another time domain window. For example, if the start symbol of a configured TO is in one time domain window and the end symbol of this configured TO is in another time domain window, then this TO is counted in the time domain window of the start symbol or the end symbol.

[0058] Figure 3CFIG. 330 shows another schematic diagram of determining a TO group from multiple configured CG configurations based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, network device 110 sends two CG configurations, CG1 and CG2, to terminal device 120, where CG1 provides two TOs within a single period P1 of CG1, and CG2 provides eight TOs within a single period P2 of CG2. In the case where the length of the time domain window is equal to P2 and the starting position of the time domain window is time T1, terminal device 120 determines the TO group associated with CG1 and CG2, in other words, the TO group correspondingly including the (multiple) TOs from CG1 and the (multiple) TOs from CG2. In Figure 3C the case where the last TO 333 of the TOs from CG1 straddles the first time domain window 331 and the second time domain window 332, the last TO 333 is counted into the time domain window 331. Thus, the TO group determined within the time domain window 331 has a total of eleven TOs, including three TOs from CG1 and eight TOs from CG2.

[0059] Figure 3D FIG. 340 shows another schematic diagram of determining a TO group from a single configured CG configuration based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, network device 110 sends CG configuration CG1 to terminal device 120, where CG1 provides two TOs within a single period P1 of CG1. In the case where the starting position of the time domain window is time T1, terminal device 120 determines the TO group associated with CG1, in other words, the TO group including the (multiple) TOs from CG1. In Figure 3D the case where the last TO 333 of the TOs from CG1 straddles the first time domain window 331 and the second time domain window 332, the last TO 333 is counted into the time domain window 331. Thus, the TO group determined within the time domain window 331 has a total of three TOs, all of which are from CG1.

[0060] In some examples, the terminal device 120 may send indication information that indicates the usage status of the (one or more) valid TOs in the TO group; or if the TO is invalid, send indication information that indicates that the TO is not used; or determine that the TO group includes only the (one or more) valid TOs; where the TO is invalid if it overlaps with a common downlink symbol, a dedicated downlink symbol, or a symbol for a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB). For example, the common downlink symbol may be a downlink symbol configured by the time division duplex common downlink symbol configuration indicated by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, the dedicated downlink symbol may be a downlink symbol configured by the time division duplex common downlink symbol configuration indicated by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, and the symbol for receiving the SS / PBCH block indicated by ssb-PositionsInBurst in System Information Block Type 1 (SIB1) or ssb-PositionsInBurst in ServingCellConfigCommon.

[0061] Figure 3E FIG. 350 shows another schematic diagram of determining a TO group from multiple configured CG configurations based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the network device 110 sends two CG configurations CG1 and CG2 to the terminal device 120, where CG1 provides two TOs in a single period P1 of CG1, and CG2 provides eight TOs in a single period P2 of CG2. In the case where the length of the time domain window is equal to P2 and the start of the time domain window is positioned at time T1, the terminal device 120 determines the TO group associated with CG1 and CG2, in other words, the TO group that correspondingly includes the (multiple) TOs from CG1 and the (multiple) TOs from CG2. In Figure 3E this case, in the first time domain 341, the second and third TOs from CG1 and the third to fifth TOs from CG2 overlap with the common / dedicated downlink symbol or SSB. Therefore, the TO group determined within the time domain window 351 has a total of seven TOs, including three TOs from CG1 and five TOs from CG2.

[0062] Figure 3FAnother schematic diagram 360 of determining a TO group from a single configured CG configuration based on a time domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For example, the network device 110 sends a CG configuration CG1 to the terminal device 120, where CG1 provides two TOs in a single period P1 of CG1. In the case where the length of the time domain window is equal to twice P1 and the starting position of the time domain window is time T1, the terminal device 120 determines a TO group associated with CG1, in other words, a TO group including the (multiple) TOs from CG1. In Figure 3F the case where, the second TO from CG1 in the first time domain 341 overlaps with a common / dedicated downlink symbol or SSB. Therefore, there are a total of three TOs in the TO group determined within a single time domain window, and all these TOs are from CG1.

[0063] In some examples, the length of the time domain window is based on the periods associated with one or more CG configurations 212. In some examples, the length of the time domain window is equal to: (1-1) the period of a CG configuration among one or more CG configurations; (1-2) the period of a single CG configuration, with which the TO group is associated; (1-3) the maximum period among one or more CG configurations; or (1-4) the maximum period of a group among multiple groups divided from one or more CG configurations, where each group among the multiple groups includes at least one CG configuration from one or more CG configurations. In some examples, the terminal device 120 can identify multiple CG configurations among one or more CG configurations in the same group based on at least one of a CG configuration index or a group index. In some examples, the length of the time domain window is separately indicated by the network device 110 from the periods of the CG configurations. In some examples, the length of the time domain window can be in time units such as ms, s, symbol, time slot, subframe, frame, etc.

[0064] In some examples, the time domain window is based on the time domain position of indication information. In some examples, the starting position of the time domain window is: the time domain position of the Nth time unit after the starting position or the ending position of the indication information, where N is a positive integer. For example, if the indication information is sent in symbol #n and N is 1, the starting symbol in the time domain is symbol #n+1. For another example, if the indication information is sent in symbol #n and N is X, the starting symbol in the time domain is symbol #n+X.

[0065] In some examples, the time-domain window is the time-domain window among multiple time-domain windows in which the indication information is transmitted. In some examples, the multiple time-domain windows are consecutive in the time domain, and the start location of the earliest time-domain window among the multiple time-domain windows is one of the following: (2-1) the location specified by the network device; (2-2) a predefined location; (2-3) the start location of the earliest period or the earliest TO of one or more CG configurations; or (2-4) the start location of the earliest period or the earliest TO of a group among multiple groups divided from all one or more CG configurations, where each group among the multiple groups includes at least one CG configuration from one or more CG configurations. For example, in the above case (2-2), the start location of the earliest time-domain window can be defined as the sequence of symbol 0 in slot 0 of subframe 0 in frame 0 in the 3GPP specification. For example, in the above case (2-3) or (2-4), if four CG configurations CG1, CG2, CG3, and CG4 are provided, and the earliest TO of CG1 is in slot #2, the earliest TO of CG2 is in slot #1, the earliest TO of CG3 is in slot #4, and the earliest TO of CG4 is in slot #5, then the start symbol of the earliest time-domain window is the start symbol of slot #1.

[0066] Figure 3G FIG. 370 shows another schematic diagram of determining a TO group based on a time-domain window according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the network device 110 sends two CG configurations CG1 and CG2 to the terminal device 120, where CG1 provides two TOs in a single period P1 of CG1, and CG2 provides eight TOs in a single period P2 of CG2. The length of the time-domain window is equal to P2, the start location of the earliest time-domain window among the multiple time-domain windows is determined based on any of the embodiments in (2-1) to (2-3) above, and the multiple time-domain windows are consecutive in the time domain. The indication information is transmitted within the second time-domain window 372. In such a case, the terminal device 120 correspondingly determines the TO groups associated with CG1 and CG2 within the second time-domain window 372. Therefore, the total number of TOs in the determined TO groups is twelve, including four TOs from CG1 within the second time-domain window 372 and eight TOs from CG2 within the second time-domain window 372.

[0067] In some example embodiments, in determination 220, the terminal device 120 may determine a TO group based on the predefined or indicated number of TOs. In some examples, the terminal device 120 may determine multiple configured TOs associated with one or more CG configurations, and the multiple configured TOs are indexed in a predefined order. In some examples, the predefined order includes at least one of the following: (3-1) an increasing order of the start position or the end position in the time domain; (3-2) an increasing order of the CG configuration indices of one or more CG configurations; (3-3) an increasing order of the length of the TO; or (3-4) an increasing order of the frequency domain resource block indices of the TO. It should be understood that the order of these indexed TOs is for illustration but does not imply any limitation, and these orders may also be combined in any order and any number.

[0068] Figure 4A FIG. 410 is a schematic diagram showing indexed TOs according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the network device 110 sends two CG configurations CG1 and CG2 to the terminal device 120, where CG1 provides two TOs in a single period P1 of CG1, and CG2 provides four TOs in a single period P2 of CG2. The TOs in CG1 and CG2 are indexed in an increasing order of the start position in the time domain, and are indexed in an increasing order of the CG configuration index for the same start position. In some examples, the position can be in time units such as ms, s, symbol, time slot, subframe, frame, etc.

[0069] In some examples, the earliest TO in the TO group is based on the time domain position where the indication information is sent. In some examples, the earliest TO in the TO group is one of the following: (4-1) the Nth time unit after the time domain position where the indication information is sent, where N is a positive integer; or (4-2) the earliest TO after the Nth time unit after the time domain position where the indication information is sent, where N is a positive integer. For example, in the above case (4-1), if the indication information is sent in symbol #n and N is 1, the earliest TO in the TO group is symbol #n + 1, and if the indication information is sent in symbol #n and N is X, the earliest TO in the TO group is symbol #n + X. For another example, in the above case (4-2), if the indication information is sent in TO #n and N is 1, the earliest TO in the TO group is TO #n + 1, and if the indication information is sent in TO #n and N is X, the earliest TO in the TO group is TO #n + X.

[0070] Figure 4BFIG. 420 shows a schematic diagram of determining a TO group from multiple configuration CG configurations based on a predefined or indicated number of TOs according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the network device 110 sends two CG configurations CG1 and CG2 to the terminal device 120, where CG1 provides two TOs in a single period P1 of CG1, and CG2 provides four TOs in a single period P2 of CG2. In the case where the predefined or specified number of TOs is eight, and the earliest TO of the earliest TO group is time T2, which is after the T1 time domain position where the indication information 232-1 is sent based on the above (4-1), the terminal device 120 determines a first TO group associated with CG1 and CG2, in other words, a TO group that correspondingly includes the (multiple) TOs from CG1 and the (multiple) TOs from CG2. The determined TO group has a total of eight TOs, including the first eight TOs from CG1 and CG2 starting from time T2. Then, in the case where the second TO in the second TO group is time T3b, which is after the time domain position in T3a where the next indication information 232-2 is sent, the terminal device 120 determines a second TO group associated with CG1 and CG2, in other words, a TO group that correspondingly includes the (multiple) TOs from CG1 and the (multiple) TOs from CG2. The determined TO group has a total of eight TOs, including the second eight TOs from CG1 and CG2 starting from time T3b.

[0071] Figure 4C FIG. 430 shows another schematic diagram of determining a TO group from multiple configuration CG configurations based on a predefined or indicated number of TOs according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the network device 110 sends two CG configurations CG1 and CG2 to the terminal device 120, where CG1 provides two TOs in a single period P1 of CG1, and CG2 provides four TOs in a single period P2 of CG2. In the case where the predefined or specified number of TOs is eight and the earliest TO in the earliest TO group is TO#10, which is the earliest TO after the time domain position where the indication information is sent based on the above (4-2), the terminal device 120 determines a first TO group associated with CG1 and CG2, in other words, a TO group that correspondingly includes the (multiple) TOs from CG1 and the (multiple) TOs from CG2. The determined TO group has a total of eight TOs, including the first eight TOs from CG1 and CG2 starting from time TO#10.

[0072] In some examples, the TO group is the TO group in which the indication information is sent among a plurality of consecutive TO groups. In some examples, the earliest TO of the earliest TO group among the plurality of consecutive TO groups is one of the following: (5-1) the TO specified by the network device; (5-2) a predefined TO; (5-3) the earliest TO in one or more CG configurations; or (5-4) the earliest TO of a group among a plurality of groups divided from all one or more CG configurations, each group among the plurality of groups including at least one CG configuration from one or more CG configurations. For example, in the above case (5-2), the earliest TO of the earliest TO group can be defined as the sequence of symbol 0 in time slot 0 of subframe 0 in frame 0 in the 3GPP specification. For example, in the above cases (5-3) or (5-4), if four CG configurations CG1, CG2, CG3, and CG4 are provided, and the earliest TO of CG1 is in time slot #2, and the earliest TO of CG2 is in time slot #1, the earliest TO of CG3 is in time slot #4, and the earliest TO of CG4 is in time slot #5, then the earliest TO in the earliest TO group is the earliest TO #1.

[0073] Figure 4D FIG. 440 shows another schematic diagram for determining a TO group based on the number of predefined or specified TOs according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the network device 110 sends two CG configurations CG1 and CG2 to the terminal device 120, where CG1 provides two TOs in a single period P1 of CG1, and CG2 provides four TOs in a single period P2 of CG2. The number of predefined or specified TOs is eight, and the earliest TO of the earliest TO group among the plurality of consecutive TO groups is determined based on any of the above embodiments (5-1) to (5-4). The indication information is sent at TO #8. In such a case, the terminal device 120 correspondingly determines the TO groups associated with CG1 and CG2 from the TO group where TO #8 is located. Therefore, the determined TO groups are eight TOs from TO #1 to TO #8.

[0074] In some examples, the terminal device 120 may send indication information that indicates the usage status of the (one or more) valid TOs in the TO group; or if the TO is invalid, send indication information indicating that the TO is not used; or determine that the TO group includes only the (one or more) valid TOs; where if the TO overlaps with a common downlink symbol, a dedicated downlink symbol, or a symbol for a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB), the TO is invalid. For example, the common downlink symbol may be a downlink symbol configured by the time division duplex common downlink symbol indicated by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, the dedicated downlink symbol may be a downlink symbol configured by the time division duplex common downlink symbol indicated by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, and the symbol for receiving the SS / PBCH block indicated by ssb-PositionsInBurst in System Information Block type 1 (SIB1) or ssb-PositionsInBurst in ServingCellConfigCommon.

[0075] In some exemplary embodiments, as a first embodiment of the number of bits of the indication information, the number of bits of the indication information is specified by the network device 110. For example, the network device can specify that the number of bits of the indication information is 4 bits.

[0076] In some examples, as a second embodiment of the number of bits of the indication information, the number of bits of the indication information is based on a set of values configured by the network device, where each value indicates the number of unused TOs. In some examples, if the number of values in the set of values is N, the number of bits of the indication information may be For example, if a set of eight values {1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 16} is configured, the number of bits of the indication information is 3 bits, for example, by determining based on In some examples, the set of values includes at least one negative value that indicates the required number of TOs or indicates a shortage of TOs. For example, if a set of eight values {-1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 16} is configured, the number of bits of the indication information is 3, for example, by determining where the negative value K indicates that |K| TOs are required or indicates a shortage of resources for user data transmission. For example, the negative value K of -1 indicates that 1 TO is required or indicates a shortage of resources for user data transmission.

[0077] In some example embodiments, as a third embodiment of the number of bits of the indication information, the number of bits of the indication information is based on the number of TOs in the TO group. For example, if the number of TOs is M, the number of bits of the indication information can be As a fourth embodiment of the number of bits of the indication information, the number of bits of the indication information is based on the maximum number of TOs in all time domain windows. For example, if the number of TOs in the first time domain window and other time windows is M1, the number of TOs in the second time window is M2, and M2 is larger than M1, the number of bits of the indication information is

[0078] In some exemplary embodiments, as a fifth embodiment of the number of bits of the indication information, the number of bits of the indication information is based on the number of remaining TOs after the information indication in the TO group. In some examples, if the number of remaining TOs after the information indication in the TO group is N, the number of bits of the indication information can be For example, if the number of TOs in a single time window is 8, and the indication information is sent in the fourth time window, the number of bits of the indication information is 2. For example, by determination.

[0079] In some example embodiments, the indication information can be based on any one of the first to fifth embodiments of the number of bits of the indication information as described above, specifying a numerical value K, where the numerical value K specifies the usage status of the first K TOs or the last K TOs in the TO group, and K is a positive integer. In some examples, the numerical value of K is represented by the number of bits of the indication information. For example, for the case where Figure 3A the total number of TOs in a single time domain window shown is twelve, the number of bits of the indication information is based on the number of TOs in the TO group being 4, and the numerical value of K is 4 to specify the usage status (unused or used) of the first K TOs or the last K TOs in the TO group. In some examples, if the number of bits of the indication information is not sufficient to specify all TOs, all TOs can be divided into multiple subgroups, each subgroup specifying the same usage status, and the indication information specifies the usage status for each subgroup of the multiple subgroups.

[0080] In some example embodiments, based on the first, third, or fourth embodiment of the number of bits of the indication information as described above, the indication information can be a bitmap, and each bit in the bitmap specifies the usage status of a TO or a subgroup of TOs in the TO group. In some examples, the TO group can be divided into N TO subgroups, and each bit has a one-to-one mapping with one of the N TO subgroups.

[0081] As a non - limiting example of determining N TO subgroups, the TO group in a single time - domain window can be evenly divided into N subgroups. For example, if the total number of TOs in the TO group is M, then there can be TOs in the first to the (N - 1)th subgroups, and there can be TOs in the Nth subgroup.

[0082] As a non - limiting example of determining N TO subgroups, the TO group in a single time - domain window can be divided into N subgroups through the following steps 0 to 2 based on whether there is an overlap between TO groups, where the value of N is determined based on the number of TOs and the results of the following steps 0 to 2.

[0083] Step 0: Sum the M TOs as the TO group;

[0084] Step 1: Among the M TOs, find the first TO with the smallest last OFDM symbol. The TOs with a starting symbol less than or equal to the smallest last OFDM symbol (a symbol overlapping with the first TO, including the first TO) belong to the TO subgroup; and

[0085] Step 2: Assume the remaining TOs as the M TOs and execute Step 1 until all TOs in the M TOs are sub - grouped.

[0086] In such a case, the number of bits is equal to N, and this number of bits indicates the number of subgroups.

[0087] In some example embodiments, the indication information can indicate the start index and the end index of the TO based on any one of the third to fifth embodiments of the number of bits of the indication information as described above, to indicate the usage status of the TOs from the start index to the end index of the TO. For example, if the start index of the TO is TO#i and the end index is TO#j, the indication information can indicate that the TOs from TO#i to TO#j are not used. Alternatively, the indication information indicates the start index and the number of TOs to indicate the usage status of the TOs starting from the start index and having that number of TOs. For example, if the start index of the TO is TO#i and the number of TOs is X, the indication information can indicate that the TOs from TO#i to TO#+X are not used. In some example embodiments, if the number of remaining or maximum TOs is M, the number of bits can be based on the value.

[0088] In some example embodiments, the indication information may include a plurality of fields, each field in the plurality of fields corresponding to each of one or more CG configurations and indicating the usage status of the TOs in the corresponding CG configuration. For example, the number of bits for each field may be determined by replacing the indication information with fields and replacing the TO group with the TO group associated with the CG configuration corresponding to the field, based on the first, third to fifth embodiments of the number of bits of the indication information as described above. In some examples, the fields in the indication information correspond to the increasing order of the CG configuration indices. For example, in the case shown in Figure 3A where there are two CG configurations, CG1 and CG2, and four TOs from CG1 and eight TOs from CG2 within a single time domain window, the number of fields can be 2. By determining based on the number of TOs from CG1 in the TO group, the number of bits for the field corresponding to CG1 is 2, and by determining based on the number of TOs from CG2 in the TO group, the number of bits for the field corresponding to CG2 is 3. Thus, the fields in the indication information correspond to the order of CG1 first and then CG2, the total number of bits of the indication information is 5, and the first 2 bits are used to indicate the TOs from CG1, and the next 3 bits are used to indicate the TOs from CG2.

[0089] In some examples, based on the first embodiment of the number of bits of the indication information as described above, the indication information may include a plurality of fields, each field in the plurality of fields corresponding to each of one or more CG configurations and indicating the usage status of the TOs in the corresponding CG configuration. If the number of bits is M and there are N CG configurations, then there can be M / N bits for each CG configuration. It should be noted that for the first CG to the (N - 1)th CG, there can be bits, and for the last CG there can be bits. For example, if the number of bits for one CG is not sufficient to indicate the usage of the TOs for that CG configuration, the TOs can be divided into multiple subgroups based on the embodiments as described above in this disclosure. For example, in the case shown in Figure 3A where there are two CG configurations, CG1 and CG2, and four TOs from CG1 and eight TOs from CG2 within a single time domain window. If the number of bits of the indication information is 8 bits, then there can be 4 bits for each CG configuration. If the usage status of the TOs is indicated by a bitmap and 4 bits are not sufficient for the indication of CG2, the eight TOs for CG2 can be divided into 4 subgroups, and 1 bit is used in the subgroup to indicate the usage status of the TOs.

[0090] In some examples, the TOs are indexed in a predefined order, and the predefined order includes at least one of the following: (6-1) an increasing order of a starting position or an ending position in a time domain; (6-2) an increasing order of CG configuration indexes of one or more CG configurations; (6-3) an increasing order of lengths of the TOs; or (6-4) an increasing order of frequency domain resource block indexes of the TOs. It should be understood that these orders of the indexed TOs are for examples and do not imply any limitations, and these orders can also be combined in any order and any number.

[0091] Figure 5 A flowchart of an example method implemented at a terminal device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For the purpose of discussion, method 500 will be described Figure 1 from the perspective of the terminal device 120.

[0092] At block 510, the terminal device 120 determines a set of TOs associated with one or more CG configurations. At block 520, the terminal device 120 sends indication information to the network device 110, and the indication information indicates a usage status of at least one TO in the set of TOs.

[0093] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 120 determines the set of TOs based on a time domain window. In some example embodiments, the terminal device 120 determines a plurality of configured TOs associated with one or more configured CG configurations, where the set of TOs is the configured TOs located within the time domain window.

[0094] In some example embodiments, if a configured TO among the plurality of configured TOs spans a time domain window and the next time domain window, then the configured TO will be counted into one of the time domain window and the next time domain window; or any of the configured TOs among the plurality of configured TOs is located within a single time domain window. In some example embodiments, the length of the time domain window is based on a period associated with one or more CG configurations.

[0095] In some example embodiments, the length of the time domain window is equal to: a period of one CG configuration among one or more CG configurations; a period of a single CG configuration, where the set of TOs is associated with the single CG configuration; a maximum period among one or more CG configurations; or a maximum period in one of a plurality of groups divided from one or more CG configurations, and each of the plurality of groups includes at least one CG configuration from one or more CG configurations. In some example embodiments, the terminal device 120 identifies a plurality of CG configurations among one or more CG configurations in the same group among a plurality of groups based on at least one of a CG configuration index or a group index.

[0096] In some example embodiments, the length of the time domain window is separately specified by the period of the network device 110 and the CG configuration. In some example embodiments, the time domain window is based on the time domain position of the indication information. In some example embodiments, the starting position of the time domain window is: the time domain position of the Nth time unit after the starting position or the ending position of the indication information, where N is a positive integer.

[0097] In some example embodiments, the time domain window is the time domain window in which the indication information is sent among multiple time domain windows. In some example embodiments, the multiple time domain windows are continuous in the time domain, and the starting position of the earliest time domain window among the multiple time domain windows is one of the following: the position specified by the network device; a predefined position; the starting position of the earliest period or the earliest TO of one or more CG configurations; or the starting position of the earliest period or the earliest TO of a group among multiple groups divided from all CG configurations of one or more CG configurations, where each group among the multiple groups includes at least one CG configuration from one or more CG configurations.

[0098] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 120 determines the TO group based on the number of predefined or specified TOs. In some example embodiments, the earliest TO in the TO group is based on the time domain position in which the indication information is sent. In some example embodiments, the earliest TO in the TO group is one of the following: the Nth time unit after the time domain position in which the indication information is sent, where N is a positive integer; or the earliest TO after the Nth time unit after the time domain position in which the indication information is sent, where N is a positive integer.

[0099] In some example embodiments, the TO group is the TO group in which the indication information is sent among multiple consecutive TO groups. In some example embodiments, the earliest TO in the earliest TO group among the multiple consecutive TO groups is one of the following: the TO specified by the network device; a predefined TO; the earliest TO of one or more CG configurations; or the earliest TO of a group among multiple groups divided from all CG configurations of one or more CG configurations, where each group among the multiple groups includes at least one CG configuration from one or more CG configurations.

[0100] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 120 determines multiple configured TOs associated with one or more CG configurations, and the multiple configured TOs are indexed in a predefined order.

[0101] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 120 transmits indication information that indicates the usage status of the (one or more) valid TOs in the TO group; or if the TO is invalid, transmits indication information that indicates that the TO is not used; or determines that the TO group includes only the (one or more) valid TOs, where the TO is invalid if it overlaps with a common downlink symbol, a dedicated downlink symbol, or a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block.

[0102] In some example embodiments, the number of bits of the indication information is specified by the network device. In some example embodiments, the number of bits of the indication information is based on a set of values configured by the network device, where the values indicate the number of unused TOs.

[0103] In some example embodiments, the set of values includes at least one negative value that indicates the required number of TOs or indicates a shortage of TOs.

[0104] In some example embodiments, the number of bits of the indication information is based on one of the following: the number of TOs in the TO group; or the maximum number of TOs in all time domain windows.

[0105] In some example embodiments, the number of bits of the indication information is based on the number of remaining TOs in the TO group after the information indication.

[0106] In some example embodiments, the indication information that indicates the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group includes: indicating a number K, where the number K indicates the usage status of the first K TOs or the last K TOs in the TO group, where K is a positive integer and the value of K is represented by the number of bits of the indication information.

[0107] In some exemplary embodiments, the indication information that indicates the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group includes: the indication information is a bit map, and each bit in the bit map indicates the usage status of a TO or a subgroup of the TOs in the TO group.

[0108] In some example embodiments, the indication information that indicates the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group includes: indication information that indicates the start index of the TO and the end index of the TO to indicate the usage status of the TOs from the start index of the TO to the end index of the TO; or indication information that indicates the start index of the TO and the number of TOs to indicate the usage status of the TOs starting from the start index of the TO and having that number of TOs.

[0109] In some example embodiments, the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group includes: indication information including a plurality of fields, each field in the plurality of fields corresponding to each CG configuration in one or more CG configurations, and indicating the usage status of the TO in the corresponding CG configuration. In some example embodiments, the fields in the indication information correspond to the increasing order of the CG configuration indices.

[0110] In some example embodiments, the TOs are indexed in a predefined order, and the predefined order includes at least one of the following: the increasing order of the starting position or the ending position in the time domain; the increasing order of the CG configuration indices of one or more CG configurations; the increasing order of the length of the TO; or the increasing order of the frequency domain resource block indices of the TO.

[0111] Figure 6 A flowchart of an example method implemented at a network device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For the purpose of discussion, method 600 will be described from Figure 1 the perspective of the terminal device 110.

[0112] At block 610, the network device 110 determines a TO group associated with one or more CG configurations. At block 620, the network device 110 receives indication information from the terminal device, the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group.

[0113] In some example embodiments, the network device 110 configures a time domain window for the terminal 120 such that the terminal device 120 determines a plurality of configured TOs associated with one or more configured CG configurations, where the TO group is the configured TOs located within the time domain window.

[0114] In some example embodiments, if a configured TO among the plurality of configured TOs spans the time domain window and the next time domain window, the configured TO is counted in one of the time domain window and the next time domain window; or any of the plurality of configured TOs is located within a single time domain window. In some example embodiments, the length of the time domain window is based on a period associated with one or more CG configurations.

[0115] In some example embodiments, the length of the time domain window is equal to: the period of one CG configuration among one or more CG configurations; the period of a single CG configuration, the TO group being associated with the single CG configuration; the maximum period among one or more CG configurations; or the maximum period in one of the plurality of groups divided from one or more CG configurations, each of the plurality of groups including at least one CG configuration from one or more CG configurations. In some example embodiments, it is used to determine that a plurality of CG configurations among one or more CG configurations are in the same group based on at least one of the CG configuration index or the group index.

[0116] In some example embodiments, the length of the time domain window is separately indicated by the period of the network device 110 and the CG configuration. In some example embodiments, the time domain window is based on the time domain position of the indication information. In some example embodiments, the starting position of the time domain window is: the time domain position of the Nth time unit after the starting position or the ending position of the indication information, where N is a positive integer.

[0117] In some example embodiments, the time domain window is the time domain window in which the indication information is transmitted among a plurality of time domain windows. In some example embodiments, the plurality of time domain windows are continuous in the time domain, and the starting position of the earliest time domain window among the plurality of time domain windows is one of the following: the position indicated by the network device; a predefined position; the starting position of the earliest period or the earliest TO of one or more CG configurations; or the starting position of the earliest period or the earliest TO of a group among a plurality of groups divided from one or more CG configurations, where each group among the plurality of groups includes at least one CG configuration from one or more CG configurations.

[0118] In some example embodiments, the network device 110 configures a plurality of TOs for the terminal device 120 to determine a TO group. In some example embodiments, the earliest TO in the TO group is based on the time domain position in which the indication information is transmitted. In some example embodiments, the earliest TO in the TO group is one of the following: the Nth time unit after the time domain position in which the indication information is transmitted, where N is a positive integer; or the earliest TO after the Nth time unit after the time domain position in which the indication information is transmitted, where N is a positive integer.

[0119] In some example embodiments, the TO group is the TO group in which the indication information is transmitted among a plurality of consecutive TO groups. In some example embodiments, the earliest TO in the earliest TO group among the plurality of consecutive TO groups is the TO indicated by the network device 120.

[0120] In some example embodiments, a plurality of configured TOs are associated with one or more CG configurations and are indexed in a predefined order.

[0121] In some example embodiments, the network device 110 receives indication information from the terminal device 120, where the indication information indicates the usage status of the valid TO(s) in the TO group; or if the TO is invalid, receives indication information that indicates that the TO is not used; or is notified that the TO group only includes the valid TO(s), where the TO is invalid if it overlaps with a common downlink symbol, a dedicated downlink symbol, or a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block.

[0122] In some example embodiments, the number of bits of the indication information is specified by a network device. In some example embodiments, the number of bits of the indication information is based on a set of values configured by the network device, where the values specify the number of unused TOs.

[0123] In some example embodiments, the set of values includes at least one negative value, which specifies the necessary number of TOs or indicates a shortage of TOs.

[0124] In some example embodiments, the number of bits of the indication information is based on one of the following: the number of TOs in a TO group; or the maximum number of TOs in all time domain windows.

[0125] In some example embodiments, the number of bits of the indication information is based on the number of remaining TOs in the TO group after the information indication.

[0126] In some example embodiments, the indication information specifying the usage status of at least one TO in a TO group includes: specifying a number K, where the number K indicates the usage status of the first K TOs or the last K TOs in the TO group, where K is a positive integer and the value of K is represented by the number of bits of the indication information.

[0127] In some example embodiments, the indication information specifying the usage status of at least one TO in a TO group includes: the indication information is a bitmap, and each bit of the bitmap specifies the usage status of a TO or a subgroup of the TO in the TO group.

[0128] In some example embodiments, the indication information specifying the usage status of at least one TO in a TO group includes: indication information specifying the start index and the end index of the TO to specify the usage status of the TOs from the start index to the end index of the TO; or indication information specifying the start index and the number of TOs of the TO to specify the usage status of the TOs starting from the start index and having that number of TOs.

[0129] In some example embodiments, the indication information specifying the usage status of at least one TO in a TO group includes: indication information including a plurality of fields, each field in the plurality of fields corresponds to each CG configuration in one or more CG configurations, and specifies the usage status of the TOs in the corresponding CG configuration. In some example embodiments, the fields in the indication information correspond to the increasing order of the CG configuration indices.

[0130] In some example embodiments, the TOs are indexed in a predefined order, and the predefined order includes at least one of the following: the increasing order of the start position or the end position in the time domain; the increasing order of the CG configuration indices of one or more CG configurations; the increasing order of the lengths of the TOs; or the increasing order of the frequency domain resource block indices of the TOs.

[0131] Figure 7 shows a simplified block diagram of a device 700 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 700 can be considered as another exemplary implementation of the terminal device 120 and the network device 110 as shown in Figure 1 . Thus, the device 700 can be implemented at the terminal device 120 or the network device 110, or at least as a part thereof.

[0132] As shown in the figure, the device 700 includes: a processor 710, a memory 720 coupled to the processor 710, a suitable transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) 740 coupled to the processor 710, and a communication interface coupled to the TX / RX 740. The memory 710 stores at least a part of the program 730. The TX / RX 740 is used for two-way communication. The TX / RX 740 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, but in fact, the access nodes mentioned in the present disclosure may have several antennas. The communication interface can represent any interface required for communicating with other network elements, such as the X2 interface for two-way communication between eNBs, the S1 interface for communication between the mobility management entity (MME) / serving gateway (S-GW) and the eNB, the Un interface for communication between the eNB and the relay node (RN), or the Uu interface for communication between the eNB and the terminal device.

[0133] The program 730 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 710, enable the device 700 to operate according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, as described herein with reference to Figures 1 to 6 . The embodiments herein can be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 710 of the device 700, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 710 can be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. In addition, the combination of the processor 710 and the memory 720 can form a processing component 750 suitable for implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0134] The memory 720 can be of any type suitable for the local technical network and can be implemented using any suitable data storage technology as a non-limiting example, such as a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, semiconductor-based storage devices, magnetic storage devices and systems, optical storage devices and systems, fixed memory, and removable memory. Although only one memory 720 is shown in the device 700, there can be several physically distinct memory modules in the device 700. The processor 710 can be of any type suitable for the local technical network and can include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of the following: 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. The device 700 can have multiple processors, such as an application-specific integrated circuit chip that is subordinate to a clock synchronized with the main processor in time.

[0135] In summary, embodiments of the present disclosure can provide the following solutions.

[0136] Clause 1. A terminal device, comprising: a processor; a transceiver coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to: determine a set of transmission opportunities (TOs) associated with one or more configuration grant (CG) configurations; and send indication information via the transceiver to a network device, the indication information specifying the usage status of at least one TO in the TO set.

[0137] Clause 2. The terminal device according to Clause 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine the TO set based on a time-domain window.

[0138] Clause 3. The terminal device according to Clause 2, wherein the processor is configured to:

[0139] determine a plurality of configured TOs associated with one or more CG configurations, wherein the TO set is the configured TOs located within the time-domain window.

[0140] Clause 4. The terminal device according to Clause 3, if the configured TO in the plurality of configured TOs straddles the time-domain window and the next time-domain window, the configured TO is counted in one of the time-domain window and the next time-domain window; or any configured TO in the plurality of configured TOs is located within a single time-domain window.

[0141] Clause 5. The terminal device according to Clause 2, wherein the length of the time-domain window is based on a period associated with one or more CG configurations.

[0142] Clause 6. The terminal device according to Clause 5, wherein the length of the time domain window is equal to: the period of one of the one or more CG configurations; the period of a single CG configuration, where the TO group is associated with the single CG configuration; the maximum period among the one or more CG configurations; or the maximum period in one of the multiple groups divided from the one or more CG configurations, each of the multiple groups including at least one CG configuration from the one or more CG configurations.

[0143] Clause 7. The terminal device according to Clause 6, wherein the processor is further configured to: identify, based on at least one of a CG configuration index or a group index, that multiple CG configurations among the one or more CG configurations are in the same group among the multiple groups.

[0144] Clause 8. The terminal device according to Clause 2 or 3, wherein the length of the time domain window is separately specified by the network device and the period of the CG configuration.

[0145] Clause 9. The terminal device according to Clause 2, wherein the time domain window is based on the time domain position of the indication information.

[0146] Clause 10. The terminal device according to Clause 9, wherein the starting position of the time domain window is: the time domain position of the Nth time unit after the starting position or the ending position of the indication information, where N is a positive integer.

[0147] Clause 11. The terminal device according to Clause 9, wherein the time domain window is the time domain window in which the indication information is transmitted among the multiple time domain windows.

[0148] Clause 12. The terminal device according to Clause 11, wherein the multiple time domain windows are continuous in the time domain, and the starting position of the earliest time domain window among the multiple time domain windows is one of the following: the position specified by the network device; a predefined position; the starting position of the earliest period or the earliest TO of the one or more CG configurations; or the starting position of the earliest period or the earliest TO of one of the multiple groups divided from all the CG configurations of the one or more CG configurations, each of the multiple groups including at least one CG configuration from the one or more CG configurations.

[0149] Clause 13. The terminal device according to Clause 11, wherein the processor is configured to determine the TO group based on the number of predefined or specified TOs.

[0150] Clause 14. The terminal device according to any one of Clause 13, wherein the earliest TO in the TO group is based on the time domain position in which the indication information is transmitted.

[0151] Clause 15. The terminal device according to Clause 14, wherein the earliest TO in the TO group is one of the following: the Nth time unit after the time domain position where the indication information is sent, where N is a positive integer; or the earliest TO after the Nth time unit after the time domain position where the indication information is sent, where N is a positive integer.

[0152] Clause 16. The terminal device according to Clause 14, wherein the TO group is the TO group in which the indication information is sent among multiple consecutive TO groups.

[0153] Clause 17. The terminal device according to Clause 16, wherein the earliest TO of the earliest TO group among multiple consecutive TO groups is one of the following: the TO specified by the network device; a predefined TO; the earliest TO configured by one or more CGs; or the earliest TO of one of the multiple groups divided from all CG configurations of one or more CGs, and each group of the multiple groups includes at least one CG configuration from one or more CG configurations.

[0154] Clause 18. The terminal device according to any one of Clause 13, wherein the processor is configured to: determine multiple configured TOs associated with one or more CG configurations, and the multiple configured TOs are indexed in a predefined order.

[0155] Clause 19. The terminal device according to Clause 1, wherein the processor is configured to: send indication information that indicates the usage status of the (one or more) valid TOs in the TO group; if the TO is invalid, send indication information that indicates that the TO is not used; or determine that the TO group includes only the (one or more) valid TOs; wherein if the TO overlaps with a common downlink symbol, a dedicated downlink symbol, or a symbol for a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block, the TO is invalid.

[0156] Clause 20. The terminal device according to Clause 1, wherein the number of bits of the indication information is specified by the network device.

[0157] Clause 21. The terminal device according to Clause 20, wherein the number of bits of the indication information is based on a set of values configured by the network device, and the value specifies the number of unused TOs.

[0158] Clause 22. The terminal device according to Clause 21, wherein the set of values includes at least one negative value, and the negative value specifies the number of necessary TOs or indicates a shortage of TOs.

[0159] Clause 23. The terminal device according to Clause 1, wherein the number of bits of the indication information is based on one of the following: the number of TOs in the TO group; or the maximum number of TOs in all time domain windows.

[0160] Clause 24. The terminal device according to Clause 1, wherein the number of bits of the indication information is based on the number of remaining TOs after the indication of the information in the TO group.

[0161] Clause 25. The terminal device according to any one of Clauses 20 to 24, wherein the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group includes: an indication number K, the number K indicating the usage status of the first K TOs or the last K TOs in the TO group, where K is a positive integer, and the value of K is represented by the number of bits of the indication information.

[0162] Clause 26. The terminal device according to Clause 20 or 23, wherein the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group includes: the indication information is a bitmap, and each bit of the bitmap indicates the usage status of a TO or a subgroup of the TO in the TO group.

[0163] Clause 27. The terminal device according to Clause 23 or 24, wherein the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group includes: indication information indicating the start index of the TO and the end index of the TO to indicate the usage status of the TOs from the start index of the TO to the end index of the TO; or indication information indicating the start index of the TO and the number of TOs to indicate the usage status of the TOs starting from the start index of the TO and having that number of TOs.

[0164] Clause 28. The terminal device according to Clause 20, wherein the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group includes: indication information including a plurality of fields, each field in the plurality of fields corresponding to each of one or more CG configurations and indicating the usage status of the TOs in the corresponding CG configuration.

[0165] Clause 29. For the terminal device according to Clause 28, the fields in the indication information correspond to the increasing order of the CG configuration indices.

[0166] Clause 30. The terminal device according to any one of Clauses 13 to 19 or 25 to 29, wherein the TOs are indexed in a predefined order, and the predefined order includes at least one of the following: the increasing order of the start position or the end position in the time domain; the increasing order of the CG configuration indices of one or more CG configurations; the increasing order of the length of the TO; or the increasing order of the frequency domain resource block indices of the TO.

[0167] Clause 31. A network device, comprising: a processor; and a transceiver coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to: determine, via the processor, a transmission opportunity (TO) group associated with one or more configuration grants (CG) configurations; and receive, via the transceiver, indication information from a terminal device, the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group.

[0168] Clause 32. A method performed by a terminal device, comprising: determining a set of transmission opportunities (TOs) associated with one or more configured grants (CG) configurations; and sending indication information to a network device, the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO set.

[0169] Clause 33. A method performed by a network device, comprising: determining a set of transmission opportunities (TOs) associated with one or more configured grants (CG) configurations; and receiving indication information from a terminal device, the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO set.

[0170] Clause 34. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed on at least one processor of a device, cause the device to perform the method according to Clause 32.

[0171] Clause 35. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed on at least one processor of a device, cause the device to perform the method according to Clause 33.

[0172] Through the solution of the present disclosure, a signaling mechanism can be introduced, which allows a terminal device to indicate the usage status of TOs to a network device, enabling the network device to adjust subsequent resource allocation to avoid waste of unused TOs, thereby improving the performance of communication. The specific design of the format of the indication information in the present disclosure helps to save signaling overhead, for example, by using a limited number of bits to indicate the usage of TOs associated with one or more CG configurations.

[0173] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in hardware or a specific circuit, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects can be implemented in hardware, while other aspects can be implemented in firmware or software, which can be executed by a controller, a microprocessor, or other computing devices. Although the various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described in the form of block diagrams, flowcharts, or other graphical representations, it should be understood that, by way of non-limiting example, the blocks, devices, systems, technologies, or methods described herein can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, a specific circuit or logic, general hardware or a controller, or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0174] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product, which is tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions (such as those included in program modules), and these computer-executable instructions are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform the processes or methods described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. The functions of program modules can be combined or split among different program modules as needed in various embodiments. The machine-executable instructions for program modules can be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, program modules can be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0175] The program code for performing the methods of the present disclosure can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes can be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device, such that when the program codes are executed by the processor or controller, the functions / operations specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram are implemented. The program code can be executed entirely on the machine, partially on the machine (as a stand-alone software package), partially on the machine and partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0176] The above program code can be embodied in a machine-readable medium, which can be any tangible medium that contains or stores a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium can be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. The machine-readable medium can include, but is not limited to, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, apparatus, or devices, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the machine-readable storage medium include an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0177] Moreover, although the operations are described in a particular order, this should not be construed as requiring that the operations must be performed in the particular order or sequence shown, or that all of the operations shown be performed to achieve the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although several specific implementation details are included in the foregoing discussion, these implementation details should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented separately in multiple embodiments or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0178] Although the present disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the above specific features and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A terminal device, comprising: a processor; and a transceiver coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to: determine a set of transmission opportunities (TOs) associated with one or more configured grant (CG) configurations; and send indication information to a network device via the transceiver, the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO set.

2. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine the TO set based on a time domain window.

3. The terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to: determine a plurality of configured TOs associated with the one or more configured grant (CG) configurations, wherein the TO set is the configured TOs within the time domain window.

4. The terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the length of the time domain window is based on a period associated with the one or more CG configurations.

5. The terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the time domain window is based on the time domain position of the indication information.

6. The terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the starting position of the time domain window is: the time domain position of the Nth time unit after the starting position or the ending position of the indication information, where N is a positive integer.

7. The terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the time domain window is the time domain window in which the indication information is sent among a plurality of time domain windows.

8. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: send indication information indicating the usage status of the valid TO(s) in the TO set; if the TO is invalid, send indication information indicating that the TO is not used; or determine that the TO set includes only the valid TO(s); wherein if the TO overlaps with a common downlink symbol, a dedicated downlink symbol, or a symbol for a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block, the TO is invalid.

9. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the number of bits of the indication information is specified by the network device.

10. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the number of bits of the indication information is based on one of the following: the number of TOs in the TO set; or the maximum number of TOs in all the time domain windows.

11. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the number of bits of the indication information is based on the number of remaining TOs after the information indication in the TO set.

12. The terminal device according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO set includes: the indication information indicating the starting index of the TO and the ending index of the TO to indicate the usage status of the TOs from the starting index of the TO to the ending index of the TO; or the indication information indicating the starting index of the TO and the number of TOs to indicate the usage status of the TOs starting from the starting index of the TO and having the number of TOs.

13. The terminal device according to claim 9, wherein the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group includes: The indication information including a plurality of fields, each field in the plurality of fields corresponding to each of the one or more CG configurations and indicating the usage status of the TO in the corresponding CG configuration.

14. A network device, comprising: A processor; And A transceiver coupled to the processor, Wherein the processor is configured to: Determine, via the processor, a transmission opportunity (TO) group associated with one or more configuration grants (CG) configurations; and Receive, via the transceiver, indication information from the terminal device, the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group.

15. A method performed by a terminal device, comprising: Determine a transmission opportunity (TO) group associated with one or more configuration grants (CG) configurations; and And Send indication information to a network device, the indication information indicating the usage status of at least one TO in the TO group.

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