Multiplexing uplink control information indicating unused configuration grant resources

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) is configured to: receive CG configuration information including a configuration grant (CG) period of a plurality of physical uplink shared channel (multi-PUSCH) occasions for data transmission; determining, by a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE, at least one unused PUSCH occasion of a plurality of CG PUSCH occasions of the CG cycle, wherein the unused PUSCH occasion indicates that the UE does not have any data to transmit in the unused PUSCH occasion; generating, by the MAC entity of the UE, information identifying at least one of the unused CG PUSCH occasions; providing, by the MAC entity, the information to a physical layer or the UE; and initiating a PUSCH transmission in one of the CG PUSCH occasions, wherein the PUSCH transmission includes the information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly to multiplexing uplink control information indicating unused configuration grant resources. Background Art

[0002] Fifth Generation (5G) New Radio (NR) networks may support Extended Reality (XR) services. Due to the periodic nature of XR traffic, the network may use Configuration Grants (CGs) for resource allocation. Certain characteristics of XR traffic (such as, but not limited to, late packet arrivals due to jitter and time-varying packet sizes) may create scenarios where resources of the CG allocated to XR traffic are not used. The UE may indicate to the network that CG physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources are not used so that the network may reallocate these resources to the UE or to other UEs, e.g., when a UE does not use all PUSCHs within a CG period with more than one PUSCH, the UE may use Uplink Control Information (UCI) to transmit an indication to inform the network. However, the manner in which this UCI is transmitted should be defined. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Some exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a user equipment (UE). The method includes: receiving a configuration grant (CG) period including multiple physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) opportunities for data transmission; determining, by a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE, at least one unused PUSCH opportunity among the multiple CG PUSCH opportunities of the CG period, wherein the unused PUSCH opportunity indicates that the UE has no data to transmit in the unused PUSCH opportunity; generating, by the MAC entity of the UE, information identifying at least one of the unused CG PUSCH opportunities; providing, by the MAC entity, the information to a physical layer or the UE; and initiating a PUSCH transmission in one of the CG PUSCH opportunities, wherein the PUSCH transmission includes the information.

[0004] Other exemplary embodiments relate to a user equipment (UE) having: a transceiver configured to communicate with a network; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to: receive CG configuration information of a configuration grant (CG) period including multiple physical uplink shared channel (multi-PUSCH) opportunities for data transmission; determine, by a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE, at least one unused PUSCH opportunity among the multiple CG PUSCH opportunities of the CG period, wherein the unused PUSCH opportunity indicates that the UE has no data to be sent in the unused PUSCH opportunity; generate, by the MAC entity of the UE, information identifying at least one of the unused CG PUSCH opportunities; provide, by the MAC entity, the information to a physical layer or the UE; and initiate a PUSCH transmission in one of the CG PUSCH opportunities, wherein the PUSCH transmission includes the information. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005] Figure 1 Exemplary network arrangements are shown according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0006] Figure 2 An exemplary user equipment (UE) is shown in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

[0007] Figure 3 An exemplary base station is shown in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

[0008] Figure 4 An exemplary scenario for time-varying packet sizes is shown, according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0009] Figure 5 Example techniques for resource selection for UCI multiplexing according to various example embodiments are shown.

[0010] Figure 6 Example techniques for implementing UCI multiplexing when no data is available are shown according to various example embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0011] The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and associated drawings, in which like elements are provided with like reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments introduce techniques for handling unused configuration grant (CG) resources indicated in dynamic uplink control information (UCI). In one aspect, the exemplary embodiments relate to user equipment (UE) resource selection for UCI multiplexing. As will be described in more detail below, some of the exemplary techniques described herein may configure the user equipment (UE) to select specific physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources within the CG period for UCI multiplexing. In another aspect, the exemplary embodiments relate to MAC handling of unused CG resources. As will be described in more detail below, some of the exemplary techniques described herein may enable the MAC entity to model unused transmissions based on legacy UL skipping or suppression of delivery of grants to HARQ entities. In another aspect, the exemplary embodiments relate to implementing UCI multiplexing in the absence of user data. As will be described in more detail below, some of the exemplary techniques described herein may enable a UE to transmit UCI to a network (e.g., a base station) to notify the network of unused CG resources, thereby allowing the network to reallocate the resources for any other purpose (e.g., to other UEs). On the other hand, exemplary embodiments relate to selecting alternative resources or UCI multiplexing resources. As will be described in more detail below, some of the exemplary techniques described herein may enable a UE to select alternative resources to send information. In another aspect, exemplary embodiments relate to applying prioritization rules based on UCI multiplexing. As will be described in more detail below, some of the exemplary techniques described herein may enable a UE to ensure that a PUSCH with UCI indicating unused CG resources is never deprioritized.

[0012] The exemplary embodiments are described with reference to a UE. However, reference to a UE is provided for illustrative purposes only. The exemplary embodiments may be used with any electronic component that can establish a connection with a network and is configured with hardware, software, and / or firmware for exchanging information and data with the network. Therefore, as used herein, a UE is intended to represent any suitable type of electronic component.

[0013] Example embodiments are also described with reference to a 5G NR network supporting extended reality (XR). Those skilled in the art will understand that XR is an umbrella term for different types of reality and may generally refer to a combined real and virtual environment and associated human-computer interactions generated through computer technology and wearable devices. To provide some examples, the term XR may encompass augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR). While the example embodiments are described with reference to XR, it should be understood that the example embodiments may be applied to multiple configuration grant (CG) PUSCH transmission mechanisms and dynamic indication of unused CG PUSCH resources that may be implemented by the UE to improve resource efficiency. That is, the example embodiments are not limited to scenarios where the UE participates in XR operations.

[0014] XR services can utilize multiple data streams in the uplink and / or downlink. For example, in the downlink, there may be a video stream, an audio stream, and / or a data stream. In the uplink, there may be a control stream and / or a posture stream. From a physical channel perspective, there may be a different control channel and shared channel for each stream, or multiple streams may share a single control channel and / or shared channel. In some configurations, each stream may have different quality of service (QoS) requirements (e.g., block error rate (BLER) requirements, latency requirements, etc.).

[0015] For XR, data payloads are typically cyclical. For example, video frame rates can be 60, 90, or 120 frames per second. The network can obtain auxiliary information related to the characteristics of XR services and use this auxiliary information to perform resource allocation for XR services. Due to the cyclical nature of XR services, the network can use the configuration grant (CG) resource allocation method for resource allocation.

[0016] XR services may have characteristics such as quasi-periodic packet arrival rates due to random jitter and packet sizes that may vary over time. In order to account for these types of characteristics, the network may configure multiple CG PUSCH transmission opportunities in a period of a single CG configuration. However, when a UE is configured with multiple CG PUSCHs in a single CG configuration, the UE may identify the number of CG PUSCHs that the UE does not intend to use. Therefore, the UE may dynamically indicate unused CG PUSCH opportunities by transmitting an indication based on UCI to inform the network of the unused PUSCHs for each CG period. The network may then allocate the resources of the unused PUSCH to other UEs and thereby improve resource efficiency. However, for UEs to transmit indications, the UE may multiplex the UCI into one CG PUSCH using the CG-UCI mechanism.

[0017] The exemplary embodiments introduce techniques for dynamically handling uplink control information (UCI) indicating unused CG resources using a configuration grant (CG)-UCI mechanism. According to some aspects, the exemplary embodiments introduce techniques for a UE to select PUSCH resources within a CG period for UCI multiplexing. In another aspect, the exemplary embodiments introduce techniques for a medium access control (MAC) layer to handle transmission opportunities of CG resources that are declared as unused. According to other aspects, the exemplary embodiments introduce techniques for a UE to transmit UCI to a network in the absence of a PUSCH intended to be transmitted by the UE. Each of these exemplary techniques is described in more detail below. The exemplary techniques introduced herein may be used independently of each other, in conjunction with other currently implemented mechanisms for UCI multiplexing, in conjunction with future specific implementations of mechanisms for UCI multiplexing, or independently of other mechanisms related to UCI multiplexing.

[0018] In addition, the exemplary embodiments introduce techniques for a UE to concurrently handle multiple traffic flows with different latency requirements. The exemplary embodiments will be described in more detail below.

[0019] Figure 1 An exemplary network arrangement 100 according to various exemplary embodiments is shown. The exemplary network arrangement 100 includes a UE 110. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the UE 110 can be any type of electronic component configured to communicate via a network, such as a mobile phone, tablet computer, desktop computer, smartphone, phablet, embedded device, wearable device (e.g., head-mounted display (HMD), AR glasses, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc. It should also be understood that an actual network arrangement can include any number of UEs used by any number of users. Therefore, the example of a single UE 110 is provided for illustrative purposes only.

[0020] UE 110 can be configured to communicate with one or more networks. In the example of network configuration 100, the network with which UE 110 can wirelessly communicate is a 5G NR radio access network (RAN) 120. However, UE 110 can also communicate with other types of networks (e.g., 5G cloud RAN, next-generation RAN (NG-RAN), long-term evolution (LTE) RAN, traditional cellular networks, wireless local area networks (WLAN), etc.), and UE 110 can also communicate with networks via wired connections. According to the exemplary embodiment, UE 110 can establish a connection with at least 5G NR RAN 120. Therefore, UE 110 can have a 5G NR chipset to communicate with NR RAN 120.

[0021] The 5G NR RAN 120 may be part of a cellular network that may be deployed by a network operator, such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc. The 5G NR RAN 120 may include, for example, cells or base stations (Node B, eNodeB, HeNB, eNB, gNB, gNodeB, macro cell, micro cell, small cell, femto cell, etc.) configured to transmit and receive traffic from UEs equipped with an appropriate cellular chipset.

[0022] In network arrangement 100, UE 110 may connect to 5G NR-RAN 120 via gNB 120A. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any association procedure may be performed to connect UE 110 to 5G NR-RAN 120. For example, as described above, 5G NR-RAN 120 may be associated with a particular cellular provider for which UE 110 and / or its user has protocol and credential information (e.g., stored on a SIM card). Upon detecting the presence of 5G NR-RAN 120, UE 110 may send corresponding credential information to associate with 5G NR-RAN 120. More specifically, UE 110 may associate with a particular base station (e.g., gNB 120A). However, as described above, reference to 5G NR-RAN 120 is for illustrative purposes only, and any suitable type of RAN may be used.

[0023] Network arrangement 100 also includes a cellular core network 130, the Internet 140, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) 150, and a network services backbone 160. Cellular core network 130 can be considered an interconnected collection of components that manage the operation and traffic of the cellular network. Cellular core network 130 also manages traffic flowing between the cellular network and the Internet 140. IMS 150 can generally be described as an architecture for delivering multimedia services to UE 110 using IP protocols. IMS 150 can communicate with cellular core network 130 and the Internet 140 to provide multimedia services to UE 110. Network services backbone 160 communicates directly or indirectly with the Internet 140 and cellular core network 130. Network services backbone 160 can generally be described as a collection of components (e.g., servers, network storage arrangements, etc.) that implement a suite of services that can be used to extend the functionality of UE 110 in communicating with various networks.

[0024] Figure 2 An exemplary UE 110 is shown according to various exemplary embodiments. The UE 110 will refer to Figure 1100. The UE 110 may include a processor 205, a memory arrangement 210, a display device 215, an input / output (I / O) device 220, a transceiver 225, and other components 230. The other components 230 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a power supply, a data acquisition device, a port for electrically connecting the UE 110 to other electronic devices, and the like.

[0025] The processor 205 may be configured to execute multiple engines of the UE 110. For example, the engines may include a UCI multiplexing engine 235. The UCI multiplexing engine 235 may perform various operations for multiplexing UCI into CG PUSCH resources and other related techniques described herein. The operations may include, but are not limited to, receiving multi-PUSCH CG configuration information, identifying unused CG PUSCH resources in a CG period, processing unused PUSCHs in a multi-PUSCH CG period using MAC, handling multi-PUSCH CGs without any data, and sending UCI on PUSCH data that may be deprioritized.

[0026] The engine 235 referenced above as an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 205 is provided for illustrative purposes only. The functionality associated with the engine 235 may also be represented as a separate, integrated component of the UE 110, or may be a modular component coupled to the UE 110, such as an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include input circuitry for receiving signals and processing circuitry for processing signals and other information. The engine may also be embodied as a single application or multiple separate applications. Furthermore, in some UEs, the functionality described with respect to the processor 205 is split between two or more processors, such as a baseband processor and an application processor. The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of the UE.

[0027] Memory arrangement 210 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by UE 110. Display device 215 may be a hardware component configured to display data to a user, while I / O device 220 may be a hardware component that enables the user to enter input. Display device 215 and I / O device 220 may be separate components or may be integrated together (such as a touch screen). Transceiver 225 may be a hardware component configured to establish a connection with 5G NR-RAN 120 and / or any other suitable type of network. Thus, transceiver 225 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., a set of contiguous frequencies).

[0028] Figure 3An exemplary base station 300 is shown in accordance with various exemplary embodiments. Base station 300 may represent any access node (e.g., gNB 120A, etc.) that UE 110 may use to establish a connection and manage network operations.

[0029] Base station 300 may include a processor 305, a memory arrangement 310, input / output (I / O) devices 315, a transceiver 320, and other components 325. Other components 325 may include, for example, a battery, data acquisition devices, ports for electrically connecting base station 300 to other electronic devices, and the like.

[0030] The processor 305 may be configured to execute multiple engines of the base station 300. For example, the engines may include a multi-CG PUSCH resource allocation engine 330. The multi-CG PUSCH resource allocation engine 330 may perform various operations for configuring multiple CG PUSCH opportunities within a period of a single CG PUSCH configuration for a UE, as well as other related techniques described herein. The operations may include, but are not limited to, allocating unused PUSCH resources to other UEs.

[0031] The description of engine 330 as an application (e.g., a program) executed by processor 305 is merely exemplary. The functionality associated with engine 330 may also be represented as a separate, integrated component of base station 300, or may be a modular component coupled to base station 300, such as an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include input circuitry for receiving signals and processing circuitry for processing signals and other information. Furthermore, in some base stations, the functionality described for processor 305 is split across multiple processors (e.g., a baseband processor, an application processor, etc.). The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of a base station.

[0032] Memory 310 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by base station 300. I / O device 315 may be a hardware component or port that enables a user to interact with base station 300. Transceiver 320 may be a hardware component configured to exchange data with UE 110 and any other UEs in system 100. Transceiver 320 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., a set of contiguous frequencies). Thus, transceiver 320 may include one or more components (e.g., radios) to enable data exchange with various networks and UEs.

[0033] As described above, the exemplary embodiment introduces techniques related to UE 110 selecting PUSCH resources within the CG period for UCI reuse. Figure 4An example scenario is described in [ 15 ] where UE 110 may receive multiple CG PUSCH opportunities within a period of a single CG PUSCH configuration to accommodate periodic traffic with different packet sizes. While the example embodiments are described with reference to these aspects of XR traffic, it should be understood that the example techniques introduced herein are not limited to these characteristics of XR traffic or even to scenarios in which UE 110 participates in XR operations.

[0034] Figure 4 An exemplary scenario 400 for time-varying size is shown according to various exemplary embodiments. Figure 1 An exemplary network arrangement 100 of Figure 2 UE 110 and Figure 3 The exemplary scenario 400 is described with reference to the base station 300.

[0035] Scenario 400 includes a first CG 405 with multiple PUSCHs per cycle, a second CG 410 with multiple PUSCHs per cycle, a third CG 415 with multiple PUSCHs per cycle, and a fourth CG 420 with multiple PUSCHs per cycle. In an exemplary embodiment, the first CG 405, the second CG 410, the third CG 415, and the fourth CG 420 are separated by a CG periodicity 425.

[0036] In scenario 400, the base station 300 configures the first CG 405, the second CG 410, the third CG 415, and the fourth CG 420 to have multiple PUSCHs per CG periodicity 425 for the UE 110 to accommodate XR services (e.g., audio, video, etc.) with different packet sizes. Each CG 405, 410, 415, and 420 may include multiple PUSCHs with different HARQ PIDs to accommodate the services. In some embodiments, when the UE 110 receives multiple CG opportunities (e.g., the first CG 405), the UE 110 may not utilize all PUSCHs within the first CG 405. Therefore, the UE 110 may transmit an indication indicating unused resources to the base station 300 based on UCI. The information conveyed by the indication may be determined / generated by the MAC layer. For example, the MAC layer may determine which PUSCHs will not be used based on the amount of buffered data, and the MAC layer may further provide / deliver information to the PHY layer for UCI transmission. The manner in which UCI is transmitted to base station 300 will be described in various exemplary embodiments described in greater detail below.

[0037] As described above, the exemplary embodiments introduce techniques for dynamically indicating unused CG resources in multiple PUSCH CG opportunities, as will be described in more detail below.

[0038] Figure 5Example techniques for resource selection for UCI multiplexing according to various example embodiments are shown. Figure 1 An exemplary network arrangement 100 of Figure 2 UE 110, Figure 3 The example technique 500 is described with reference to the base station 300 and the scenario 400.

[0039] Figure 5 Two exemplary techniques 505 and 510 are shown. In 505, UE 110 receives multiple PUSCH resources in CGs 515, 520, and 525 from base station 300. In an exemplary embodiment, UE 110 may identify PUSCH resources within the CG period that UE 110 does not intend to use. UE 110 may implement a technique for selecting PUSCH resources within the CG period for UCI multiplexing to alert the network to unused resources within the CG period. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that UCI is not limited to transmitting information about unused resources and may also include other types of information.

[0040] Thus, in example 505, UE 110 may implement a technique for multiplexing UCI into the last PUSCH that UE 110 may utilize within a CG period. For example, in CG period 515, UE 110 may transmit data only on the first and second PUSCHs within CG period 515, while the third and fourth PUSCHs within CG period 515 remain unused. Thus, UE 110 may multiplex UCI 530 with the last PUSCH that transmits data to the network. For example, in CG period 515, UE 110 may multiplex UCI 530 with the second PUSCH because it is the last PUSCH that UE 110 may use for UL data within CG period 515. In another example of CG period 520, UE 110 may transmit data only on the first PUSCH of CG period 520, which is then considered the last PUSCH of CG period 520 in which UE 110 may transmit data. Thus, UE 110 may multiplex UCI 535 with the first PUSCH in CG period 520. To complete the example, UE 110 may multiplex UCI 540 with the third PUSCH in CG period 525 because the third PUSCH is the last PUSCH of CG period 525 in which UE 110 may transmit data. Thus, in this example 505, UE 110 may be configured to multiplex UCI with the last PUSCH of CG periods 530, 535, and 540 in which UE 110 may transmit data.

[0041] In the example of 510, UE 110 may implement a technique for multiplexing UCI on the k-th PUSCH of a multi-PUSCH CG period, where k may be fixed or configured on a specific PUSCH within the CG period. In some exemplary embodiments, UE 110 may select the first PUSCH, the second PUSCH, the third PUSCH, etc. as the k-th PUSCH to multiplex UCI. As shown in example 510, for CG periods 545, 550, and 555 (e.g., a multi-PUSCH CG period), UE 110 may select the first PUSCH to multiplex UCI within the multi-PUSCH CG period. Therefore, in this scenario, UE 110 may implement a technique for always multiplexing UCI onto the first PUSCH within the multi-PUSCH CG period, as shown by UCI 560, 565, and 570. In other exemplary embodiments, UE 110 may set other PUSCHs within the multi-PUSCH CG period that are carrying data as the k-th PUSCH to multiplex UCI. For example, UE 110 may know that at least two PUSCH resources will be used for each CG period of a multiple PUSCH CG period, and thus UE 110 may dynamically configure the kth PUSCH as the second PUSCH.

[0042] UE 110 may be preconfigured by the network to perform operations as shown in example 505 (e.g., multiplexing UCI with the last PUSCH that transmits data to the network) or operations as shown in example 510 (e.g., multiplexing UCI on the kth PUSCH of a multi-PUSCH CG period). This preconfiguration may be signaled to UE 110 via, for example, radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a MAC control element (MAC CE), or the like.

[0043] The exemplary embodiments also introduce other techniques for dynamically handling unused CG resources in multiple PUSCH CG opportunities. In another aspect, the exemplary embodiments introduce techniques for the medium access control (MAC) layer to handle transmit opportunities of CG resources that are declared as unused by the UE 110. As described above, after the UE 110 may have declared the PUSCH within the multiple PUSCH CG period as "unused", the UE 110 may transmit corresponding UCI to the network indicating that the PUSCH is unused. However, after transmitting the corresponding UCI, the UE 110 may implement techniques for configuring the MAC layer to handle or model the unused transmit opportunities within the multiple PUSCH CG period.

[0044] As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the MAC layer may be responsible for various operations related to hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) for transmissions on PUSCH resources granted by the CG. Even though the UE 110 may not perform transmissions on these PUSCH resources, the MAC layer may still perform certain HARQ operations because these PUSCH resources have been allocated to the UE 110. Therefore, the exemplary embodiment provides a way to handle unused CG resources in the MAC layer.

[0045] In some exemplary embodiments, UE 110 may implement an uplink (UL) skipping mechanism. For example, UE 110 may configure the MAC layer to still deliver unused transmit opportunities to the HARQ entity for further processing. Even though a transmit opportunity may be unused, UE 110 may configure the MAC layer to always deliver the transmit opportunity to the HARQ entity. However, during this transmission, no MAC PDU is generated for the transmit opportunity. For example, whether the PUSCH has been declared unused may be a new condition for UE 110 to determine whether a MAC PDU should be generated for the PUSCH.

[0046] These exemplary embodiments may be encoded in a specification (e.g., a 3GPP standard). An exemplary way of expressing these exemplary embodiments in the specification may be as follows: The MAC entity will: 1> If the MAC entity is configured with enhancedSkipUplinkTxDynamic with a value of true and the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is addressed to the C-RNTI, or if the MAC entity is configured with enhancedSkipUplinkTxConfigured with a value of true and the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is a configured uplink grant: 2> if there is no UCI to be multiplexed on this PUSCH transmission, as specified in TS 38.213 [6]; and 2> if there is no aperiodic CSI transmission request for this PUSCH, as specified in TS 38.212 [9]; and 2> if the MAC PDU includes zero MAC SDUs; and 2> If the MAC PDU includes only periodic BSRs and no data is available for any LCG, or the MAC PDU includes only padding BSRs: 3> Do not generate MAC PDU for HARQ entity.

[0047] 1> else if the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is a configured uplink grant including multiple PUSCHs: 2> If this PUSCH is indicated as unused: 3> Do not generate MAC PDU for HARQ entity.

[0048] In other exemplary embodiments, the UE 110 may implement techniques that enable the MAC entity to suppress the delivery of unused transmit opportunities to the HARQ entity. For example, the MAC entity may treat a PUSCH that is declared as unused as a deactivated configuration grant. That is, in these exemplary embodiments, the UE 110 may configure the MAC layer to treat the transmit opportunity as a "deactivated" CG. Thus, when the transmit opportunity is unused, the MAC layer may not deliver the CG and associated HARQ information to the HARQ entity. However, although the CG may be deactivated for the transmit opportunity, the resources in the subsequent CG cycle may be activated. That is, the UE 110 may suspend the declared unused resources for only one CG cycle and activate the resources in the subsequent CG cycle. As another example, the MAC entity may treat the unused transmit opportunity as a configuration grant with a HARQ process whose associated configuration grant timer is running. Thus, when the transmit opportunity is unused, the MAC layer may not deliver the CG and associated HARQ information to the HARQ entity. Alternatively, the MAC entity may treat the unused transmit opportunity as a deprioritized uplink grant.

[0049] These exemplary embodiments may be encoded in a specification (e.g., a 3GPP standard). An exemplary way of expressing these exemplary embodiments in the specification may be as follows: For each serving cell and each configured uplink grant, if it is configured and activated, and not indicated as unused, the MAC entity shall: 1> if the MAC entity is configured with lch-based Prioritization and the PUSCH duration of the configured uplink grant does not overlap with the PUSCH duration of the uplink grant received in the random access response or with the PUSCH duration of the uplink grant addressed to the Temporary C-RNTI or with the PUSCH duration of the MSGA payload for this serving cell; or 1> If the MAC entity is not configured with lch-based Prioritization and the PUSCH duration of the configured uplink grant does not overlap with the PUSCH duration of the uplink grant received on the PDCCH or in the random access response or the PUSCH duration of the MSGA payload for this serving cell: 2> Set the HARQ process ID to the HARQ process ID associated with this PUSCH duration; 2> If for the corresponding HARQ process, configuredGrantTimer is not running and cg-RetransmissionTimer is not configured and cg-SDT-RetransmissionTimer is not configured (i.e., new transmission), and the PUSCH is not indicated as unused: 3> Consider the NDI bit of the corresponding HARQ process that has been switched; 3> Deliver the configured uplink grant and associated HARQ information to the HARQ entity.

[0050] Again, UE 110 may be pre-configured by the network to handle unused CG resources in the MAC layer according to the above exemplary embodiments, such as an uplink (UL) skipping mechanism or suppressing delivery of unused transmit opportunities to the HARQ entity. This pre-configuration may be signaled to UE 110 via, for example, radio resource control (RRC) signaling, MAC control elements (MAC CEs), etc.

[0051] According to some example embodiments, techniques are described for implementing UCI multiplexing on PUSCH of grant periods of a multiple PUSCH configuration without any user data. Figure 6 Example techniques for implementing UCI multiplexing on PUSCH without any user data according to various example embodiments are shown. Figure 1 An exemplary network arrangement 100 of Figure 2 UE 110, Figure 3 Example technique 600 is described with reference to base station 300 and scenario 400.

[0052] Figure 6 Two exemplary scenarios 605 and 610 are shown. In 605, the UE 110 may receive a CG with multiple PUSCHs 615 and 620 in each CG period from the network. In an exemplary embodiment, the UE 110 may identify that the multiple PUSCHs in the CG periods 615 and 620 in the scenario 605 do not have data to be sent in any PUSCH. Although there may be no data available for the CG with multiple PUSCHs, the UE 110 may still implement a technique for transmitting UCI that notifies the base station 300 of unused CG resources in the CG period to allow the base station 300 to allocate resources to other UEs. In order for the UE 110 to multiplex the UCI, the UE 110 may generate a "dummy MAC PDU" for the PUSCH in the CG period that may be selected to carry the UCI. The dummy MAC PDU may be considered to be a MAC PDU without user data.

[0053] In other exemplary embodiments, UE 110 may transmit UCI on resources that do not belong to the CG (such as PUCCH resources or another PUSCH not associated with the CG). However, in such cases, the UCI may also include an indication for identifying the CG involved.

[0054] As shown in 610, UE 110 may generate a dummy MAC PDU on the first PUSCH in 625 and multiplex UCI onto the PUSCH. That is, although there may be no data in the buffer that can use the PUSCH, UE 110 may still implement this technique to allow the PHY layer to perform UCI multiplexing on the PUSCH.

[0055] Can be used in a series of steps Figure 6 Scenario 610 further describes an exemplary embodiment. Prior to performing the steps, UE 110 may implement a technique for always selecting a first PUSCH for UCI multiplexing regardless of whether there is available data in the buffer that can utilize such PUSCH. In a first step, UE 110 may determine that there is no uplink data to be sent on a multi-PUSCH CG (e.g., see Figure 6 Scenario 605). In a second step, UE 110 may configure the MAC layer to generate a MAC PDU for the first PUSCH (e.g., without any user data) and deliver the MAC PDU to the PHY layer. In a third step, the MAC may also provide the PHY layer with information about unused CG resources. Therefore, in a fourth step, the PHY layer may perform transmission of the first PUSCH with the dummy PDU and additionally perform UCI multiplexing to include the information about unused CG resources obtained in the third step. In addition, in this step, UE 110 may choose not to start a configuration grant timer for this PUSCH transmission.

[0056] Finally, in the fifth step, the MAC layer may also consider the remaining PUSCHs in the multi-PUSCH CG period as "unused" because a dummy MAC PDU is generated only for the first PUSCH. For example, these remaining unused PUSCHs may be processed according to the above-described exemplary embodiments regarding the MAC layer and HARQ entity. Therefore, in the exemplary embodiment, even though there may be no data to be transmitted, the MAC layer may still generate a MAC PDU entity so that the PHY layer can multiplex UCI with the MAC PDU.

[0057] In other exemplary embodiments, techniques for selecting alternative resources for UCI multiplexing are introduced. In an exemplary embodiment, the PUSCH carrying UCI may be deprioritized. Therefore, UE 110 may need to select alternative resources to transmit UCI.

[0058] For example, the MAC layer may identify which CG resources (e.g., within a CG period) will not be used. Once the resources are identified, the MAC layer may provide such information to the PHY layer and instruct the PHY layer to send information via UCI. The PHY layer may multiplex the UCI with the PUSCH of multiple PUSCH CGs along with the MAC PDU for the PUSCH (e.g., according to the exemplary embodiment described above). However, if the PUSCH resources selected by the UE 110 are deprioritized, the network will not receive the UCI because the PUSCH resources may not be fully transmitted due to the deprioritization. Therefore, the UE 110 may select another resource to transmit the UCI, for example, the MAC layer may communicate with the PHY layer to deliver the UCI based on the updated information.

[0059] In the first example, UCI may be multiplexed with a different PUSCH in the same CG period (e.g., the next PUSCH containing data). However, if there is no data available for transmission on the next PUSCH, UE 110 may generate a dummy PDU as described in the above example and multiplex the UCI on the PUSCH with the dummy PDU. As a result, the network will receive information about unused PUSCH resources.

[0060] In a second example, UE 110 may generate a MAC Control Element (MAC CE) including information about unused PUSCHs and transmit the MAC CE in subsequent PUSCH resources in the same CG period. In this example, information about unused PUSCH resources is conveyed using a MAC CE rather than UCI. Again, even if UE 110 does not intend to use the subsequent PUSCH for data transmission, the MAC may generate a dummy MAC PDU to convey the MAC CE. Thus, the network receives information about unused PUSCH resources.

[0061] In a third example, UE 110 may multiplex UCI with prioritized granted PUSCH (eg, deprioritize PUSCH transmissions of CG grants that were originally scheduled to carry UCI). Thus, the network will receive information about unused PUSCH resources.

[0062] In a fourth example, UE 110 may again generate a MAC CE including information about unused PUSCH resources and transmit the MAC CE in a prioritized granted PUSCH (e.g., a PUSCH transmission that deprioritizes a CG granted PUSCH transmission originally scheduled to carry UCI). In this example, information about unused PUSCH resources is conveyed using a MAC CE rather than UCI. Therefore, the network receives information about unused PUSCH resources.

[0063] In a fifth example, UE 110 may send information as standard UCI on physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources.

[0064] In some exemplary embodiments, prioritization rules may be introduced to ensure that PUSCH carrying UCI indicating unused CG resources is not deprioritized, for example, the problems described above regarding deprioritization will not occur.

[0065] In one example, a prioritization rule within the UE may be defined such that a PUSCH carrying UCI indicating unused CG resources may be set to the highest priority. The UE 110 may implement this rule regardless of the granted MAC PDU content (e.g., LCH priority) and / or L1 (i.e., physical layer) priority. For example, the granted priority may be determined by whether UCI associated with the identification of unused CG resources is multiplexed into its PUSCH.

[0066] In another example, different PUSCHs within a multi-PUSCH CG period may have different preset priority levels, which may be a fixed pattern or a configurable pattern. Thus, for example, the first PUSCH may always be set to have a high priority, while the remaining PUSCHs within the same multi-PUSCH CG period may have a lower priority. Additionally, the UE 110 may be allowed to multiplex only UCI indicating unused CG resources into a PUSCH with a high priority to ensure that the PUSCH is never deprioritized. Thus, following the above example, the UE 110 may be allowed to multiplex only UCI indicating unused CG resources into the first PUSCH of a multi-PUSCH CG period.

[0067] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the exemplary embodiments described above can be implemented with any suitable software configuration or hardware configuration or combination thereof. Exemplary hardware platforms for implementing the exemplary embodiments may include, for example, Intel x86-based platforms with compatible operating systems, Windows OS, Mac platforms and MAC OS, mobile devices with operating systems such as iOS, Android, etc. The exemplary embodiments of the above-described methods may be embodied as a program comprising lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which, when compiled, can be executed on a processor or microprocessor.

[0068] Although this application describes various embodiments, each having different features in various combinations, those skilled in the art will understand that any feature of one embodiment may be combined with features of other embodiments in any manner that is not expressly disavowed or that is not functionally or logically inconsistent with the operation of the device or the stated function of the disclosed embodiment.

[0069] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0070] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the present disclosure without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosure covers modifications and variations of the present disclosure as long as they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a configuration grant (CG) period of multiple physical uplink shared channel (multi-PUSCH) opportunities for data transmission including CG configuration information; determining, by a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE, at least one unused PUSCH opportunity among the plurality of CG PUSCH opportunities of the CG period, wherein the unused PUSCH opportunity indicates that the UE does not have any data to be sent in the unused PUSCH opportunity; generating, by the MAC entity of the UE, information identifying the at least one unused PUSCH opportunity among the unused CG PUSCH opportunities; The MAC entity provides the information to the physical layer or the UE; and A PUSCH transmission is initiated in one of the CG PUSCH opportunities, wherein the PUSCH transmission includes the information.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The PUSCH transmission is sent in the one of the CG PUSCH opportunities. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information is included in uplink control information (UCI).

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the PUSCH transmission including the UCI is the last PUSCH opportunity with PUSCH transmission with data within the CG period.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the PUSCH transmission including the UCI is configured in a fixed one CG PUSCH opportunity among the multiple CG PUSCH opportunities in the CG cycle.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: delivering, by a medium access control (MAC) layer of the UE, a transmission opportunity and associated HARQ information to a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity of the UE; as well as A determination is made by the UE whether to generate a MAC protocol data unit (PDU) for the transmission opportunity based at least on the transmission opportunity corresponding to the unused CG PUSCH opportunity. 7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a medium access control (MAC) layer of the UE refrains from delivering the unused CG PUSCH opportunities and associated hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information to a HARQ entity of the UE.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the MAC entity of the UE determines the at least one unused PUSCH opportunity among the multiple CG PUSCH opportunities of the CG period based at least on the amount of user data buffered in at least one logical channel of the UE.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unused CG PUSCH opportunity comprises a plurality of unused CG PUSCH opportunities, wherein the PUSCH transmission including the UCI is scheduled for one of the unused CG PUSCH opportunities, the method further comprising: A MAC PDU is generated that does not include user data for the one of the unused CG PUSCH opportunities and the UCI is multiplexed with the MAC PDU of the one of the unused CG PUSCH opportunities for the PUSCH transmission.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a configuration grant timer is not started for the PUSCH transmission.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PUSCH transmission is deprioritized by a higher priority grant.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: The information is provided in a PUSCH transmission of the higher priority grant.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: generating a medium access control element (MAC CE) including the information; as well as The MAC CE is sent in a PUSCH transmission of the higher priority grant.

14. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: The information is sent in a PUSCH transmission in a subsequent PUSCH opportunity of the CG period.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the subsequent PUSCH opportunity of the CG period is an unused CGPUSCH opportunity, the method further comprising: The subsequent PUSCH opportunity based on the CG period is used to send the information to update the information; as well as A MAC PDU is generated that does not include user data for the subsequent PUSCH opportunity, wherein the updated information is provided in the MAC PDU that does not include user data.

16. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: generating a medium access control element (MAC CE) including the information; and The MAC CE is sent in a subsequent PUSCH opportunity of the CG period.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the subsequent PUSCH opportunity of the CG period is an unused CGPUSCH opportunity, the method further comprising: A MAC PDU not including user data for the subsequent PUSCH opportunity is generated, wherein the MAC CE is sent using the MAC PDU not including user data.

18. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: The information is sent in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the PUSCH transmission with the information is assigned the highest priority relative to any other PUSCH transmission.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein each PUSCH opportunity of the CG period comprises a preset priority level, wherein the PUSCH transmission is configured for a PUSCH opportunity having a highest priority level.

Images