Terminal device, base station device, control method, and program for efficient transmission of uplink control information

Abstract

A terminal device receives, from a base station device, an instruction to transmit user data to the base station device using a first transport block and a second transport block in parallel, and receives information for the terminal device to determine which of the first transport block and the second transport block uplink control information (UCI), which is to be transmitted together with the user data, should be multiplexed. When an instruction is received from the base station device, the base station device determines which of the first transport block and the second transport block the UCI and the user data should be multiplexed on the basis of the received information, and generates the first transport block and the second transport block by multiplexing the user data and the UCI in the transport block determined to be multiplexed with the UCI and transmits the first transport block and the second transport block to the base station device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a transmission control technology for uplink control information. Background Art

[0002] The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP (registered trademark)) Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Fifth Generation (5G) standards specify that uplink control information (UCI) used to control communications be transmitted from a terminal device to a base station device. This control information is transmitted via the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). When UCI is transmitted via the PUSCH, it is multiplexed with the transport block of the Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) and transmitted (see Non-Patent Document 1).

[0003] The PUSCH can be composed of multiple (two) transport blocks. That is, the terminal device can send two transport blocks in parallel. At this time, UCI is sent in at least one of the two transport blocks. In LTE, in the transport block with a higher modulation and coding scheme (MCS) among the two transport blocks constituting the PUSCH, the block channel quality indication (CQI) and precoding matrix indication (PMI) are multiplexed. In addition, HARQ-ACK and rank indication (RI) are dispersed on both sides of the two transport blocks and multiplexed.

[0004] Prior art literature

[0005] Non-patent literature

[0006] Non-Patent Document 1: 3GPP (registered trademark) TS 36.212, V17.1.0, March 2022 Summary of the Invention

[0007] Problems to be solved by the invention

[0008] 5G is expected to provide a variety of communication services with different requirements, such as high-speed, high-capacity communications and ultra-reliable, low-latency communications (URLLC). In 5G, even if the PUSCH can be composed of two or more transport blocks, assuming that the UCI for each communication service is still transmitted in the same manner as LTE, this will not meet the communication service requirements.

[0009] Means used to solve problems

[0010] The present invention provides a technology for efficiently transmitting uplink control information.

[0011] A terminal device based on one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a receiving unit, which receives an indication from a base station device to send user data to the base station device using a first transmission block and a second transmission block in parallel, and receives information for the terminal device to determine in which of the first transmission block and the second transmission block uplink control information, i.e., UCI, to be sent together with the user data should be multiplexed; a determining unit, which, upon receiving the indication from the base station device, determines in which of the first transmission block and the second transmission block the UCI and the user data should be multiplexed based on the received information; and a sending unit, which generates the first transmission block and the second transmission block and sends them to the base station device by multiplexing the user data and the UCI in the transmission block determined to be the one in which the UCI should be multiplexed.

[0012] A base station device according to one embodiment of the present invention has a sending unit that sends an instruction to a terminal device to send user data to the base station device using a first transmission block and a second transmission block in parallel, and sends information for the terminal device to determine in which of the first transmission block and the second transmission block uplink control information, i.e., UCI, to be sent together with the user data should be multiplexed.

[0013] Effects of the Invention

[0014] According to the present invention, uplink control information can be efficiently transmitted.

[0015] Other features and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present invention.

[0017] Figure 1 This is a diagram showing a configuration example of a wireless communication system.

[0018] Figure 2 This is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the device.

[0019] Figure 3 This is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a terminal device.

[0020] Figure 4 This is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a base station apparatus.

[0021] Figure 5 This is an example of a processing flow when a terminal device autonomously multiplexes UCI transport blocks.

[0022] Figure 6 This is an example of a processing flow in which the base station apparatus provides the terminal apparatus with information on a basis for determining a transport block for multiplexing the UCI.

[0023] Figure 7 This is an example of a processing flow in which the base station apparatus provides the terminal apparatus with information specifying a transport block for which HARQ-ACK is to be multiplexed.

[0024] Figure 8 This is an example of a processing flow in which the base station apparatus provides the terminal apparatus with information specifying a transport block on which CSI is to be multiplexed. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] The following embodiments are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the inventions described herein. Furthermore, not all combinations of features described in the embodiments are essential to the invention. Any combination of two or more of the multiple features described in the embodiments may be used. Identical or similar components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and duplicate descriptions are omitted.

[0026] (System Configuration)

[0027] Figure 1 An example of the configuration of a wireless communication system involved in this embodiment is shown. The wireless communication system is, for example, a fifth generation (5G) cellular communication system, configured to include a terminal device 101 and a base station device 102. Between the terminal device 101 and the base station device 102, multiple antennas can be used to form multiple data streams (not shown). In addition, the terminal device 101 and the base station device 102 can use the multiple data streams to communicate in parallel with multiple (for example, two) uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) transmission blocks. Below, for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that a maximum of two transmission blocks are communicated in parallel, but the following discussion can also be applied when three or more transmission blocks are communicated in parallel. Figure 1 This example shows a case where the terminal apparatus 101 generates and transmits two transport blocks 111 and 112 for transmitting user data. These transport blocks are mapped to the physical uplink control channel (PUSCH) and transmitted to the base station apparatus 102 via multiple data streams formed using multiple antennas.

[0028] In order to control communication based on the base station apparatus 102, the terminal apparatus 101 sends uplink control information (UCI) including measurement results of the wireless environment, confirmation responses indicating the reception results of user data, etc. to the base station apparatus 102. For example, UCI is used to notify the base station apparatus 102 of channel state information (CSI) and confirmation responses (HARQ-ACK) of hybrid automatic repeat requests. The UCI is notified to the base station apparatus 102 via the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Here, when UCI is sent via the PUSCH, UCI is multiplexed with user data in the transport block. Here, as described above, the terminal apparatus 101 is capable of sending multiple transport blocks in parallel. Therefore, UCI is multiplexed in at least any one of the multiple transport blocks and is sent.

[0029] Here, in the long term evolution technology (LTE), the terminal device is configured to be able to send two transport blocks in parallel, and the channel quality indication (CQI) and precoding matrix indication (PMI) as part of the CSI are multiplexed in the transport block using the modulation and coding method (MCS) with a high communication rate (communication speed) in the two transport blocks. In addition, the rank indication (RI) contained in the HARQ-ACK and CSI is dispersed in each of the two transport blocks and multiplexed. It is assumed that when such an LTE method is directly applied to 5G, it cannot meet the communication requirements. In fact, it is assumed that various communication services such as high-speed and large-capacity communication and ultra-high reliability and low delay communication (URLLC) are provided in 5G, and the communication requirements for UCI may be different for each of these communication services. For example, for high-reliability communication, it is particularly important that the HARQ-ACK is reliably transmitted to the base station device 102. Therefore, for example, even if a low communication rate MCS is used, it is best to send UCI in a transport block with a low bit error rate. However, it is assumed that in the LTE method, for example, the HARQ-ACK used for high-reliability communication is multiplexed on the target transport block with a high bit error rate. Furthermore, for example, when information related to multiple carriers needs to be transmitted through carrier aggregation (CA), the amount of CQI and PMI information increases. Furthermore, the amount of CQI and PMI information may also increase due to measurement settings, etc. In this case, for example, when the transport block size is small, the ratio of the amount of CQI and PMI data within the transport block to the amount of user data increases, and frequency utilization efficiency may decrease. Specifically, when the amount of UCI data increases, it may be preferable to multiplex UCI into the larger transport block, for example. On the other hand, in the LTE method described above, the transport block into which such UCI should be multiplexed cannot be selected, and communication efficiency may decrease.

[0030] In view of such a situation, this embodiment provides a method of multiplexing UCI into an appropriate transport block when multiple transport blocks are transmitted in parallel.

[0031] In one example, the terminal device 101 can determine which of the multiple transport blocks to multiplex the UCI based on the priority of the UCI. In addition, for example, the priority of the UCI can be determined based on the priority index of the UCI. In one example, a high priority (for example, priority = 1) is assigned to the UCI that requires high reliability. In addition, a low priority (for example, priority = 0) is assigned to the UCI with relatively low reliability. For example, the priority of the HARQ-ACK sent by the uplink is determined based on the priority of the downlink data, which is the object of the confirmation response. For example, the downlink control information (DCI) sent when the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is sent includes a priority indicator. The value of the priority indicator can dynamically determine the priority of the PDSCH and the corresponding HARQ-ACK. That is, in the case of a DCI in which the value of the priority indicator is set to "1", the PDSCH and HARQ-ACK corresponding to the DCI are processed according to high priority. In addition, in the case of a DCI in which the value of the priority indication has been sent and is set to "0", the PDSCH and HARQ-ACK corresponding to the DCI are processed with low priority. In this way, different priorities can be assigned to HARQ-ACK according to the priority of the corresponding PDSCH. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the terminal device 101 determines the priority of HARQ-ACK separately, and can decide which transport block to multiplex based on the determined priority. In addition, in the case of non-periodic CSI reporting, the content that should be reported as CSI in the standard is classified into two parts. That is, the first part includes RI, CSI-RS resource indication, and CQI relative to the first codeword, and the second part includes PMI, layer indication, and CQI relative to the second codeword. Moreover, the terminal device 101 of the present embodiment, for example, regards the first part as high-priority information and the second part as low-priority information, and can decide the transport blocks to be multiplexed separately. In addition, in the case of semi-persistent CSI reporting, for example, the priority can also be determined based on the value of the priority indication indicated in the DCI used to validate the reporting of the CSI. That is, when the value of the priority indication is set to "1" and the semi-persistent CSI reporting is validated, the subsequent periodic CSI reports are processed as high priority. In addition, the content of the report at this time is determined in advance by the setting of the radio resource control (RRC) layer. In addition, in this case, the same priority can be assigned to all report contents. In this way, in the past, it was determined that the transmission blocks of information such as CSI and HARQ-ACK would be multiplexed according to the type of information, but in this embodiment, even the same type of information can be multiplexed in other transmission blocks for information with different priorities.

[0032] The terminal device 101 can, for example, multiplex high-priority UCI into a transport block using an MCS corresponding to a relatively high communication rate. It is assumed that an MCS with a high communication rate is used when the wireless quality is relatively good. Therefore, it is possible to multiplex high-priority UCI into a transport block using an MCS corresponding to a relatively high communication rate, thereby transmitting the UCI through high-reliability communication with such high wireless quality. In addition, the terminal device 101 can, for example, multiplex high-priority UCI into a transport block on the side with a lower target bit error rate when a target bit error rate is set for each transport block. For example, it is assumed that a first transport block is used to carry URLLC traffic, and a second transport block is used to carry traffic different from URLLC such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), and the target bit error rate of the first transport block is lower than the target bit error rate of the second transport block. Therefore, high-priority UCI is multiplexed into the first transport block, and low-priority UCI can be multiplexed into the second transport block. Thus, uplink transmission is performed taking into account the priority of UCI, and a reduction in the bit error rate of high-priority UCI can be prevented.

[0033] In addition, when the MCS and target bit error rate of two transport blocks are the same, the UCI with higher priority can be multiplexed in the transport block with the smaller transport block number. In addition, the UCI with lower priority can also be multiplexed in the same transport block as the UCI with higher priority, for example, when the total number of bits of the UCI with higher priority and the UCI with lower priority is less than a predetermined value. Here, for example, the predetermined value can be calculated by multiplying the size of the transport block in which the UCI with higher priority is multiplexed by a predetermined ratio. That is, in the transport block in which the UCI with higher priority is multiplexed, the UCI with lower priority can also be multiplexed within the range of fully ensuring the capacity for transmitting user data. As a result, the terminal device 101 can transmit the UCI with higher priority with high reliability or high efficiency while improving the reliability and efficiency of the UCI with lower priority.

[0034] Furthermore, while the above description describes an example of determining the transport blocks in which high-priority UCI should be multiplexed based on the MCS used in each transport block and the target bit error rate for each transport block, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, based on the radio quality of each transport block, high-priority UCI can be multiplexed with transport blocks with high radio quality. In one example, if some of multiple transport blocks are not properly received by base station apparatus 102, terminal apparatus 101 retransmits these transport blocks. In this case, to reliably ensure successful retransmission of these transport blocks, terminal apparatus 101 assumes that, even if radio quality is good, it transmits these transport blocks using an MCS with a lower communication rate than other transport blocks. In this case, terminal apparatus 101 can multiplex high-priority UCI with transport blocks using an MCS with a relatively low communication rate. In other words, assuming that the bit error rate is lowered by using an MCS with a relatively low communication rate, UCI requiring high reliability can be transmitted even in these transport blocks with a low bit error rate. Furthermore, the terminal apparatus 101 can determine an assumed bit error rate by combining radio quality and MCS, for example, and multiplex high-priority UCI into a transport block having a low bit error rate.

[0035] As described above, the terminal apparatus 101 can autonomously determine in which transport block to multiplex the UCI to be transmitted based on the priority of the UCI to be transmitted. Furthermore, the base station apparatus 102 can notify the terminal apparatus 101 of criteria for selecting a transport block to multiplex the UCI to be transmitted.

[0036] For example, the base station apparatus 102 sends information to the terminal apparatus 101, such as information that enables the terminal apparatus 101 to determine the relationship between the priority of the UCI and the transport block on which the UCI should be multiplexed. The base station apparatus 102 sends such information, for example, through an RRC message. For example, the base station apparatus 102 notifies the terminal apparatus 101 of information indicating the selection criteria (for example, the level of MCS, the level of the target bit error rate, etc.) for the transport blocks to be multiplexed according to each priority. In addition, only information that enables the selection of the transport block on which the UCI with a high priority (for example, priority = 1) should be multiplexed may be notified to the terminal apparatus 101, and information related to the UCI with a low priority may not be notified. For example, information that the high-priority UCI should be multiplexed in the transport block using the MCS of the one with a higher communication rate among the two transport blocks is notified from the base station apparatus 102 to the terminal apparatus 101. Then, if the transport block using the MCS with the higher communication rate in which the high-priority UCI is multiplexed has sufficient available capacity to transmit the low-priority UCI, at least a portion of the low-priority UCI can be multiplexed in the transport block. Furthermore, if the size of the low-priority UCI exceeds the available capacity of the transport block using the MCS with the higher communication rate in which the high-priority UCI is multiplexed, it can be multiplexed in the other transport block. Furthermore, the low-priority UCI may always be multiplexed in the other transport block. Furthermore, if the total number of bits (size) of the low-priority UCI and the high-priority UCI is less than a predetermined value, the high-priority UCI and the low-priority UCI may be multiplexed in the transport block in which the high-priority UCI is multiplexed. If the total number of bits (size) of the low-priority UCI and the high-priority UCI is not less than the predetermined value, the high-priority UCI and the low-priority UCI may be multiplexed in separate transport blocks. The base station apparatus 102 can notify the terminal apparatus 101 whether the low-priority UCI should be unconditionally multiplexed with the high-priority UCI in a different transport block, or whether it can be multiplexed in the same transport block as the high-priority UCI when multiplexing is possible. In addition, the base station apparatus 102 can also dynamically change the relationship between the priority of the UCI and the transport block to be multiplexed. In this case, the base station apparatus 102 can, for example, send a separate message to the terminal apparatus 101 according to the necessary changes. In addition, the base station apparatus 102 can also periodically notify the terminal apparatus 101 of information indicating the relationship between the priority of the UCI and the transport block to be multiplexed.

[0037] In this manner, base station apparatus 102 notifies terminal apparatus 101 of an indicator for determining which transport block to multiplex UCI into, enabling UCI to be multiplexed into appropriate transport blocks under the control of base station apparatus 102. Furthermore, by performing dynamic control, base station apparatus 102 can cause terminal apparatus 101 to efficiently transmit UCI in response to changes in communication conditions and changes in communication policies.

[0038] In the above example, the base station apparatus 102 can send information such as the transport block in which the UCI is multiplexed to the terminal apparatus 101 based on the priority of the UCI, and the terminal apparatus 101 determines the processing of the transport block in which the UCI should be multiplexed based on such information for each UCI. In contrast, the base station apparatus 102 can also send to the terminal apparatus 101 designated information that directly specifies which transport block each UCI should be multiplexed. In this case, the terminal apparatus 101 multiplexes the designated UCI into the transport block specified from the base station apparatus 102. For example, when the base station apparatus 102 sends downlink user data (PDSCH), it notifies the terminal apparatus 101 of information indicating the transport block in which the HARQ-ACK related to the user data is multiplexed. For example, this notification can be performed using DCI. For example, the DCI sent along with the transmission of the PDSCH notifies the terminal apparatus 101 of information indicating which transport block the HARQ-ACK related to the PDSCH should be multiplexed. Thereafter, the base station apparatus 102 transmits an uplink grant for transmitting user data in two transport blocks to the terminal apparatus 101. The terminal apparatus 101 generates user data to be transmitted in the two transport blocks respectively according to the uplink grant, multiplexes the HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH received first with the user data transmitted via the transport block specified by the DCI, and generates two transport blocks. The terminal apparatus 101 then performs predetermined processing such as modulation and mapping to the physical layer on the two generated transport blocks, and transmits them to the base station apparatus 102 using the radio resources (frequency and time resources) specified by the uplink grant. In addition, not only in the case of HARQ-ACK, but also in the case of CSI reporting, the base station apparatus 102 can similarly notify the terminal apparatus 101 of information specifying the transport block in which the CSI is multiplexed. For example, the base station apparatus 102 can notify the terminal apparatus 101 of a request for CSI reporting and information indicating in which of the two transport blocks the CSI should be multiplexed in the uplink grant for user data in the two transport blocks. The terminal apparatus 101 generates user data to be transmitted in two transport blocks, multiplexes CSI with the user data to be transmitted in the transport block specified by the DCI, and generates two transport blocks. The terminal apparatus 101 then performs predetermined processing on the two generated transport blocks and transmits them to the base station apparatus 102 using the radio resources specified by the uplink grant.

[0039] In this way, by explicitly notifying the base station apparatus 102 of information indicating in which transport block the UCI should be multiplexed, the base station apparatus 102 can reliably transmit the UCI in the determined transport block.

[0040] (Device Configuration)

[0041] Next, the device configuration will be described. Figure 2 An example of the hardware configuration of the base station device and the terminal device of the present embodiment is shown. In one example, the base station device and the terminal device are configured to include a processor 201, ROM 202, RAM 203, a storage device 204, and a communication circuit 205. The processor 201 is a computer configured to include one or more processing circuits such as a general-purpose CPU (Central Processing Unit) and an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). It reads and executes programs stored in the ROM 202 and the storage device 204, thereby executing the overall processing of the device and the above-mentioned processing. The ROM 202 is a read-only memory that stores information such as programs and various parameters related to the processing performed by the base station device and the terminal device. The RAM 203 functions as a workspace when the processor 201 executes the program. In addition, the RAM 203 is a random access memory that stores temporary information. The storage device 204 is composed of, for example, a detachable external storage device. The communication circuit 205 is composed of, for example, circuits for wireless communications of 5G and subsequent standards. In addition, in Figure 2 In the figure, although one communication circuit 205 is shown, the base station device and the terminal device can also have more than two communication circuits. For example, the base station device and the terminal device can have wireless communication circuits for 5G and its subsequent standards, and antennas shared by these circuits. In addition, the base station device and the terminal device can also have antennas suitable for each standard. In addition, the base station device can also have a wired communication circuit used when communicating with other base station devices and nodes of the core network. In addition, the terminal device can also have a communication circuit based on a wireless communication standard other than a cellular communication standard such as a wireless local area network (LAN) and Bluetooth (registered trademark). In addition, the base station device and the terminal device can have a separate communication circuit 205 for each of the multiple frequency bandwidths that can be used, or can have a communication circuit 205 that is shared for at least a part of these frequency bandwidths.

[0042] Figure 3 The following describes an example of the functional configuration of the terminal device 101. The terminal device 101 includes, for example, a multiplexing target determination unit 301, a transport block generation unit 302, and a wireless communication unit 303. Figure 3 Only functions particularly relevant to this embodiment are shown, and illustrations of various other functions that the terminal device 101 can have are omitted. For example, the terminal device 101 naturally has other functions that are generally possessed by terminal devices based on 5G and its subsequent standards. Figure 3 The functional blocks are summarized and each functional block can be realized in an integrated manner or subdivided. Figure 3Each function can be implemented, for example, by the processor 201 executing a program stored in the ROM 202 or the storage device 204, or by a processor within the communication circuit 205 executing predetermined software. The details of the processing performed by each functional unit and the above details are omitted here, and only the general functions are described in summary.

[0043] The multiplexing object determination unit 301 determines in which of the multiple transmission blocks the UCI to be sent by the terminal device 101 is multiplexed. For example, the multiplexing object determination unit 301 confirms the priority of the information sent as UCI and determines the priority of each information to be sent. Then, the multiplexing object determination unit 301 determines in which transmission block the information is to be multiplexed based on the priority. For example, the multiplexing object determination unit 301 can decide to multiplex high-priority information into a transmission block using an MCS with a relatively high communication rate, and decide to multiplex low-priority information into a transmission block using an MCS with a relatively low communication rate. In addition, as described above, the multiplexing object determination unit 301 can decide to multiplex at least either high-priority information or low-priority information into the same transmission block. In addition, the priority of other UCIs and the corresponding relationship between the transmission blocks in which the UCI should be multiplexed can be modified as described above. For example, the multiplexing object determination unit 301 can decide to multiplex UCI with high priority in transmission blocks using MCS with low communication rate and transmission blocks with low target bit error rate.

[0044] Furthermore, the multiplexing object determination unit 301 determines in which transport block the information to be transmitted as UCI is to be multiplexed based on information from the base station apparatus 102. For example, the base station apparatus 102 can notify, based on the priority of each UCI, information regarding the selection criteria for the transport block in which the UCI should be multiplexed. In this case, the multiplexing object determination unit 301 determines the priority of each piece of information to be transmitted as UCI, and based on the determination result and the selection criteria information received from the base station apparatus 102, determines the transport block in which the information should be multiplexed. Furthermore, when receiving designation information from the base station apparatus that explicitly indicates the transport block in which the UCI should be multiplexed, the multiplexing object determination unit 301 determines the transport block in which the UCI should be multiplexed based on this information.

[0045] The transport block generation unit 302 transmits the transport block to be transmitted to the base station apparatus 102. For example, if DCI indicating parallel transmission of two transport blocks is received from the base station apparatus 102, the two transport blocks are generated in parallel. In this case, the transport block generation unit 302 multiplexes the UCI with the transport block determined by the multiplexing target determination unit 301 to multiplex the UCI, thereby generating a transport block. The wireless communication unit 303 transmits the generated transport block to the base station apparatus 102. For example, the wireless communication unit 303 maps the generated transport block to the wireless resource specified by the base station apparatus 102 and transmits it to the base station apparatus 102.

[0046] Figure 4 The following describes an example of a functional configuration of the base station apparatus 102. The base station apparatus 102 includes, for example, a multiplexing target determination unit 401 and a target information notification unit 402. Figure 4 An example of a configuration in which the base station apparatus 102 specifies, to the terminal apparatus 101 , a transport block in which UCI should be multiplexed will be described. Figure 4 Only functions particularly relevant to this embodiment are shown, and illustration of various other functions that the base station apparatus 102 can have is omitted. For example, the base station apparatus 102 naturally has other functions that a base station apparatus based on 5G and its subsequent standards generally has. Figure 4 The functional blocks are schematically represented, and each functional block can be implemented in an integrated manner or in a subdivided manner. Figure 4 Each function can be implemented, for example, by the processor 201 executing a program stored in the ROM 202 or the storage device 204, or by a processor within the communication circuit 205 executing predetermined software. Details of the processing performed by each functional unit and the above details are not described here, and only a general description of their general functions is given.

[0047] The multiplexing target determination unit 401 determines a criterion that allows at least the terminal device 101 to identify the transport block in which the UCI to be multiplexed should be transmitted from the terminal device 101. Furthermore, the multiplexing target determination unit 401 can explicitly determine the transport block in which the UCI should be multiplexed for UCI to be transmitted by the terminal device 101. The information notification unit 402 notifies the terminal device 101 of information that allows the terminal device 101 to identify the transport block in which the UCI should be multiplexed.

[0048] (Processing Flow)

[0049] Figure 5An example of a processing flow for determining the transport block in which the terminal device 101 autonomously multiplexes UCI is shown. In this process, first, the terminal device 101 receives an indication (uplink grant) from the base station device 102 that two transport blocks are to be sent in parallel (S501). In addition, when the terminal device 101 receives an indication to send only one transport block, it multiplexes all the generated UCI into the transport block. On the other hand, when two transport blocks are to be sent in parallel and when UCI needs to be sent, the terminal device 101 decides in which transport block to multiplex the UCI. For example, when high-priority UCI has been generated ("Yes" in S502), the terminal device 101 multiplexes the UCI into a transport block using an MCS with a high communication rate (S503). In addition, this is an example, and as described above, for example, high-priority UCI can be multiplexed into a transport block using an MCS with a low communication rate (high error tolerance), or high-priority UCI can be multiplexed into a transport block with a low target bit error rate. In addition, when low-priority UCI has been generated ("Yes" in S504), the terminal device 101 decides which transport block to multiplex the UCI into (S505). For example, when the sum of the sizes of the low-priority UCI and the high-priority UCI does not exceed a predetermined value, the terminal device 101 can also multiplex the low-priority UCI into the transport block multiplexing the high-priority UCI. In addition, the terminal device 101 multiplexes a part of the low-priority UCI into the transport block multiplexing the high-priority UCI, and multiplexes the remaining part of the low-priority UCI into, for example, a transport block using an MCS with a low communication rate. In addition, the terminal device 101 can multiplex all of the low-priority UCI into a transport block using an MCS with a low communication rate. Thereafter, the terminal device 101 generates and transmits a PUSCH containing the transport block generated in this way (S506).

[0050] In this way, when the terminal device 101 receives an instruction to transmit an uplink signal using two transport blocks and has UCI to transmit, it can multiplex the UCI onto a transport block selected based on the priority of the UCI and transmit it. In this step, for example, when high-priority UCI should be transmitted reliably, the selection criteria are set so that the high-priority UCI is multiplexed onto a transport block using a high-communication rate MCS (i.e., assuming good wireless quality) or a transport block with a low target bit error rate. By appropriately setting the selection criteria for the transport block multiplexing high-priority UCI according to this step, it is possible to improve the success rate of UCI transmission to the base station device 102, for example, and to efficiently transmit the UCI.

[0051] Figure 6An example of a process flow in which base station apparatus 102 notifies terminal apparatus 101 of reference information used by terminal apparatus 101 to determine transport blocks for multiplexing UCI is described below. In this process, base station apparatus 102 notifies terminal apparatus 101 of information on a reference for selecting transport blocks for multiplexing UCI, based on the priority index of each UCI (S601).

[0052] exist Figure 6 In this example, as an example of this reference information, information regarding the relationship between the priority of UCI and the MCS used in the transport block in which the UCI should be multiplexed is shown, which is notified from base station apparatus 102 to terminal apparatus 101. For example, base station apparatus 102 notifies terminal apparatus 101 of information indicating that higher-priority UCI should be multiplexed in the first transport block, which uses a higher-rate MCS, of the two transport blocks. In this case, terminal apparatus 101 can be notified of information indicating that lower-priority UCI should be multiplexed in the second transport block, which uses a lower-rate MCS, of the two transport blocks. Furthermore, terminal apparatus 101 can be notified of information indicating that at least a portion of the lower-priority UCI should be multiplexed in the first transport block. In this case, terminal apparatus 101 can be notified of information regarding the size of UCI permitted for multiplexing in the first transport block. Terminal apparatus 101 multiplexes the lower-priority UCI within the permitted size range in the first transport block and multiplexes the lower-priority UCI exceeding the permitted size range in the second transport block. In addition, when the total size of high-priority UCI and low-priority UCI is less than a predetermined value, the terminal device 101 can be notified that all of these UCIs should be multiplexed in the first transmission block. In this case, the predetermined value can be notified from the base station device 102 to the terminal device 101. When the total size of high-priority UCI and low-priority UCI exceeds the predetermined value, the terminal device 101 can multiplex the high-priority UCI in the first transmission block and multiplex the low-priority UCI in the second transmission block. That is, even if the size of the high-priority UCI is sufficiently small and there is still remaining capacity in the first transmission block to multiplex the low-priority UCI, when the total size of the high-priority UCI and low-priority UCI exceeds the predetermined value, the terminal device 101 can multiplex all of the low-priority UCI in the second transmission block.

[0053] Thereafter, the base station apparatus 102 transmits an instruction to the terminal apparatus 101 to transmit the PUSCH using two transport blocks in parallel (S602). Then, upon receiving the instruction to transmit the PUSCH using two transport blocks, the terminal apparatus 101 determines the priority of the UCI to be transmitted, and based on the priority and the information received in S601, multiplexes the UCI in at least one of the two transport blocks (S603). The terminal apparatus 101 can, for example, Figure 5 The UCI is multiplexed in this manner. However, in S503 and S505, the criteria provided by the base station apparatus 102 in S601 are used as the selection criteria for the transport block in which the UCI is multiplexed. Then, the terminal apparatus 101 transmits an uplink signal to the base station apparatus 102 using the two transport blocks in which the UCI is multiplexed (S604).

[0054] In this way, the base station device 102 provides a selection criterion for the transport block in which the UCI should be multiplexed, so that the terminal device 101 can multiplex the UCI into an appropriate transport block based on the priority of the UCI and send it. For example, in a case where the amount of data of the high-priority UCI is large, the selection criterion can be determined by multiplexing the UCI into a transport block using an MCS with a high communication rate (i.e., assuming good wireless quality). In addition, in order to ensure that the high-priority UCI is transmitted reliably, the selection criterion can be set by multiplexing the high-priority UCI into a transport block with a low target bit error rate. According to such steps, the selection criterion for the transport block in which the high-priority UCI is multiplexed can be appropriately set on the network side, and the terminal device 101 can efficiently send the UCI via an appropriate transport block according to the situation.

[0055] Figure 7 as well as Figure 8 An example of a processing flow in which the base station apparatus 102 notifies the terminal apparatus 101 of information that explicitly indicates the transport block in which the UCI is multiplexed is shown. Figure 7 An example of a case where HARQ-ACK is transmitted as UCI is shown. On the other hand, Figure 8 An example of a case where CSI is transmitted as UCI is shown. Figure 7, the base station apparatus 102 sends downlink data (PDSCH) to the terminal apparatus 101 (S701). At this time, in addition to the information on the wireless resources used for the transmission of the downlink data via the control signal (PDCCH) sent accompanying the PDSCH, the terminal apparatus 101 is notified of information indicating which transport block the HARQ-ACK for the downlink data should be multiplexed on to represent. Thereafter, the base station apparatus 102 sends an uplink grant for transmitting user data using an uplink of two transport blocks to the terminal apparatus 101 (S702). The terminal apparatus 101 generates user data to be transmitted in two transport blocks respectively, and multiplexes the HARQ-ACK related to the downlink data received in S701 on the user data (S703). At this time, the terminal apparatus 101 multiplexes the HARQ-ACK in the transport block specified from the base station apparatus 102. Then, the terminal apparatus 101 sends the two generated transport blocks to the base station apparatus 102 (S704).

[0056] exist Figure 8 In the example, when base station apparatus 102 transmits uplink user data using two transport blocks, it transmits an uplink grant requesting the transmission of CSI to terminal apparatus 101 (S801). At this time, information indicating which transport block the CSI should be multiplexed into is notified to terminal apparatus 101. Terminal apparatus 101 generates user data to be transmitted in two transport blocks, respectively, and multiplexes the CSI obtained by separately measuring radio quality onto the user data (S802). Terminal apparatus 101 then transmits the two generated transport blocks to base station apparatus 102 (S803).

[0057] In this way, the base station apparatus 102 clearly specifies the transport block in which the UCI should be multiplexed, so that the terminal apparatus 101 can multiplex the UCI into an appropriate transport block and transmit it. Here, the base station apparatus 102, for example, determines the priority of the UCI to be transmitted by the terminal apparatus 101, and decides which transport block to multiplex the UCI into based on the priority. For example, in order to reliably transmit high-priority UCI, the base station apparatus 102 can determine a transport block with a low target bit error rate as the transport block in which the high-priority UCI is multiplexed. According to such a procedure, the transport block in which the high-priority UCI is multiplexed can be appropriately set on the network side, and the terminal apparatus 101 can efficiently transmit the UCI via an appropriate transport block according to the situation.

[0058] As described above, this embodiment enables efficient transmission of uplink control information, thereby contributing to Goal 9 of the United Nations-led Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): "Develop resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization, and expand innovation."

[0059] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

[0060] This application claims priority based on Japanese patent application No. 2023-022585 filed on February 16, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Claims

1. A terminal device, wherein: The terminal device has: a receiving unit that receives, from the base station apparatus, an instruction to transmit user data to the base station apparatus using a first transport block and a second transport block in parallel, and receives information for the terminal apparatus to determine in which of the first transport block and the second transport block uplink control information (UCI) transmitted together with the user data should be multiplexed; a determining unit configured to, upon receiving the instruction from the base station apparatus, determine, based on the received information, in which of the first transport block and the second transport block the UCI should be multiplexed with user data; as well as A transmitting unit generates the first transport block and the second transport block by multiplexing user data and the UCI in a transport block determined to be one in which the UCI should be multiplexed, and transmits the generated first and second transport blocks to the base station apparatus.

2. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein The information used by the terminal device to determine in which of the first transport block and the second transport block the UCI should be multiplexed is reference information used by the terminal device to decide in which of the first transport block and the second transport block the UCI should be multiplexed based on the priority of the UCI. The determining unit determines a priority of the UCI, and determines, based on the priority and the reference information, in which of the first transport block and the second transport block the UCI should be multiplexed with user data.

3. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein The information used by the terminal device to determine in which of the first transport block and the second transport block the UCI should be multiplexed is: designation information designating the transport block in which the UCI should be multiplexed, The determining unit determines, from among the first transport block and the second transport block, the transport block specified by the specifying information as a transport block for multiplexing the UCI.

4. The terminal device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein: The UCI is associated with a first priority or a second priority lower than the first priority, The first transport block is configured to use a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) having a higher communication rate than the communication rate of the second transport block, or to set a target bit error rate lower than the target bit error rate of the second transport block, or the first transport block is a transport block for ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), and the second transport block is a transport block for communication different from the URLLC. The information used by the terminal device to determine in which of the first and second transport blocks the UCI should be multiplexed is information that, when the UCI is associated with the first priority, causes the determination unit to determine to multiplex the UCI into the first transport block. The terminal device according to claim 4 , wherein: The information used by the terminal device to determine in which of the first and second transport blocks the UCI should be multiplexed is further information causing the determination unit to determine to multiplex the UCI associated with the second priority in the second transport block. The terminal device according to claim 4 , wherein: The information used by the terminal device to determine in which of the first transmission block and the second transmission block the UCI should be multiplexed is further the following information: causing the determination unit to determine to multiplex a portion of the UCI associated with the second priority into the first transmission block and to multiplex the remaining portion of the UCI associated with the second priority into the second transmission block.

7. The terminal device according to claim 4, wherein: The information used by the terminal device to determine in which of the first transmission block and the second transmission block the UCI should be multiplexed is further the following information: the determination unit is determined to, when the total size of the UCI associated with the first priority and the UCI associated with the second priority is less than a predetermined value, multiplex the UCI associated with the second priority into the first transmission block; and when the total size of the UCI associated with the first priority and the UCI associated with the second priority exceeds a predetermined value, multiplex the UCI associated with the second priority into the second transmission block.

8. A base station device, wherein: The base station device has a sending unit that sends an instruction to the terminal device to send user data to the base station device using a first transmission block and a second transmission block in parallel, and sends information for the terminal device to determine in which of the first transmission block and the second transmission block uplink control information, i.e., UCI, sent together with the user data should be multiplexed.

9. The base station apparatus according to claim 8, wherein: The information used by the terminal device to determine into which of the first and second transport blocks the UCI should be multiplexed is reference information used by the terminal device to decide into which of the first and second transport blocks the UCI should be multiplexed based on the priority of the UCI.

10. The base station apparatus according to claim 8, wherein: The information used by the terminal device to determine into which of the first transport block and the second transport block the UCI should be multiplexed is designation information designating the transport block into which the UCI should be multiplexed.

11. The base station apparatus according to claim 9 or 10, wherein: The UCI is associated with a first priority or a second priority lower than the first priority, The first transport block is configured to use a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) having a higher communication rate than the communication rate of the second transport block, or to set a target bit error rate lower than the target bit error rate of the second transport block, or the first transport block is a transport block for ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), and the second transport block is a transport block for communication different from the URLLC. The information for the terminal device to determine in which of the first transport block and the second transport block the UCI should be multiplexed is information causing the terminal device to determine to multiplex the UCI into the first transport block when the UCI is associated with the first priority.

12. The base station apparatus according to claim 11, wherein: The information for the terminal device to determine in which of the first transport block and the second transport block the UCI should be multiplexed is further information causing the terminal device to determine to multiplex the UCI associated with the second priority in the second transport block.

13. The base station apparatus according to claim 11, wherein: The information used by the terminal device to determine in which of the first transmission block and the second transmission block the UCI should be multiplexed is further the following information: enabling the terminal device to determine to multiplex a portion of the UCI associated with the second priority into the first transmission block, and to multiplex the remaining portion of the UCI associated with the second priority into the second transmission block. The base station apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein: The information used by the terminal device to determine in which of the first transmission block and the second transmission block the UCI should be multiplexed is further the following information: the terminal device is determined to, when the total size of the UCI associated with the first priority and the UCI associated with the second priority is less than a predetermined value, multiplex the UCI associated with the second priority into the first transmission block; and when the total size of the UCI associated with the first priority and the UCI associated with the second priority exceeds a predetermined value, multiplex the UCI associated with the second priority into the second transmission block.

15. A control method, which is executed by a terminal device, wherein: The control method comprises: receiving, from a base station apparatus, an instruction to transmit user data to the base station apparatus using a first transport block and a second transport block in parallel, and receiving information for the terminal apparatus to determine in which of the first transport block and the second transport block uplink control information (UCI) transmitted together with the user data should be multiplexed; When the instruction is received from the base station apparatus, determining, based on the received information, in which of the first transport block and the second transport block the UCI should be multiplexed with user data; as well as The first transport block and the second transport block are generated by multiplexing user data and the UCI in the transport block determined to be where the UCI should be multiplexed, and are transmitted to the base station apparatus.

16. A control method, executed by a base station device, wherein: The control method includes: sending an instruction to a terminal device to send user data to the base station device using a first transmission block and a second transmission block in parallel, and sending information for the terminal device to determine in which of the first transmission block and the second transmission block uplink control information, i.e., UCI, sent together with the user data should be multiplexed.

17. A program, wherein The program is for causing a computer included in a terminal device to execute the control method according to claim 15 .

18. A program, wherein The program is for causing a computer included in a base station apparatus to execute the control method according to claim 16 .

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