HARQ for source coding and decoding

Abstract

Because the HARQ method realized by combining channel coding and decoding does not fully utilize the characteristics of information source coding and decoding, the HARQ method may not achieve the optimal performance. For example, for a HARQ method, whether source encoding and decoding are not important, and whether some parts of compressed bits output from a source encoder have a higher priority level, for example, a higher importance level for successful source decoding is not considered. In some embodiments, a HARQ method for source coding and decoding is provided. The HARQ method for source coding and decoding can be carried out together with channel coding and decoding and can also be carried out independently. A first set of source coded bits may be transmitted in a first transmission (e.g., an initial transmission), and a second set of source coded bits may be transmitted in a second transmission (e.g., a retransmission) according to feedback. The feedback may be a source decoding result indication.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to source coding in the physical layer of a digital communication system, e.g., source coding in the physical layer of a wireless communication system. BACKGROUND

[0002] In a digital communication system, information bits that need to be transmitted over a channel to a receiving device can be source coded in the physical layer. Source coding is a technique of compression by bit encoding that uses fewer bits than the original representation. Source coding is also referred to as data compression or bit rate reduction. Source coding as referred to herein is mainly source coding in the physical layer, which can exist independently from compression techniques that can or can not be applied in higher layers of the network (e.g., application layer).

[0003] Subsequently, the source coded bits (i.e., compressed bits) can be decompressed by source decoding. For example, information bits can be source coded by a transmitting device, transmitted over a channel, received by a receiving device, and source decoded by the receiving device. The process of source coding / decoding can be referred to as source coding and decoding. One known exemplary implementation of source coding and decoding is the Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) algorithm.

[0004] Compression by source coding can be lossless compression or lossy compression. Lossless compression is a compression technique where no information is lost in the compression process, provided that no errors are introduced when the compressed bits are transmitted over the channel. For example, a lossless compression algorithm can reduce the number of information bits by recognizing and eliminating statistical redundant information. Lossy compression is a compression technique where part of the original information is lost in the compression process and cannot be recovered upon decompression. For example, unnecessary or less important information can be discarded during source coding. Both lossless and lossy source coding and decoding methods are known.

[0005] In addition to source coding, channel coding can also be implemented to apply forward error correction, i.e., to add redundant information (e.g., parity bits) so that the receiving device tries to correct errors introduced in the transmission process. For example, a channel coder can perform channel coding to apply forward error correction, e.g., map L bits to (L+P) bits, where P is a redundant bit in the form of a parity bit, after source coding but before modulation. The channel coded bits are transmitted over the channel to the receiving device. During transmission, errors can be introduced. The receiving device performs channel decoding, where at least some of the parity bits are used to correct one or more errors introduced in the transmission process. The process of channel coding / decoding can be referred to as channel coding and decoding. One known exemplary implementation of channel coding and decoding is low-density parity-check (LDPC) coding and decoding.

[0006] Wireless communication systems typically implement digital communication. Electronic devices such as user equipment (UE) communicate wirelessly with a network through one or more transmit-and-receive points (TRPs). A transport block (TB) includes information bits, e.g., data and / or control information, that need to be transmitted over a wireless channel. Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) is a method that attempts to correct errors by implementing channel coding, but if the receiving device is unable to correct all errors, a retransmission is made. The HARQ method provides a framework for managing retransmissions such that the transmitting device knows when a retransmission is needed, and the receiving device knows whether a received data packet is an initial transmission or a retransmission, and if a retransmission, the receiving device knows which TB the retransmission relates to, and so on. For example, the HARQ method can operate in such a way that if a retransmission is needed, the receiving device will return a negative acknowledgement (NACK), and the retransmission can be associated with a particular TB using a HARQ process ID.

[0007] In current systems, e.g., as described above, HARQ is implemented in conjunction with channel coding. SUMMARY

[0008] The HARQ method implemented in conjunction with channel coding can not achieve optimal performance because it does not take advantage of the characteristics of source coding. For example, it does not matter to the HARQ method whether or not source coding is performed, let alone whether or not some parts of the compressed bits output from the source encoder have a higher priority level, e.g., a higher level of importance / significance, for successful source decoding at the receiving device. For example, assume that a transport block (TB) is compressed by a source encoder, resulting in an output of L source coded bits, which are composed of k parts of bits L1 to Lk. Each part can be a block of source coded bits. One of the blocks, e.g., block L1, can have a higher priority than the other blocks, e.g., in terms of the ability of the receiving device to successfully perform source decoding. However, the HARQ retransmission does not take this into account, e.g., when performing the retransmission, the more important block is not intentionally given priority over the less important blocks.

[0009] In some embodiments herein, a HARQ method for source coding is provided. The HARQ method for source coding can be performed without channel coding, or with channel coding such as forward error correction (FEC), depending on the embodiment. In some embodiments, a receiving device determines whether one or more compressed bit blocks need to be retransmitted, and if so, prioritizes retransmission of blocks with higher retransmission priority. In one example, for each compressed bit block output by a source encoder, a transmitting device computes a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value and adds the value to the block. For each received block, a receiving device uses the CRC value to detect whether the received block is in error. If multiple blocks are in error, the receiving device prioritizes retransmission of blocks with higher retransmission priority. In another example, as an alternative or in addition to using CRC values to detect errors, a receiving device can perform source decoding and determine an amount of distortion in information represented by the decompressed bits. The location and / or amount of distortion can indicate that certain blocks were received in error, and thus the receiving device prioritizes retransmission of blocks with higher retransmission priority.

[0010] In some embodiments, no forward error correction can be performed, e.g., only source coding can be performed, and CRC values can be used to detect errors in source coded bits. However, in other embodiments, channel coding can additionally be performed to apply forward error correction to source coded bits, in which case one or more retransmissions managed by the HARQ method can include retransmission of redundant bits (e.g., parity bits) generated by the forward error correction coding.

[0011] In some embodiments, a method performed by a device can include source encoding information to obtain source coded bits. The method can further include transmitting a first set of the source coded bits in a first transmission, where the first set includes some or all of the source coded bits. The method can further include receiving a source decoding result indication. In response to receiving the source decoding result indication, the method can further include transmitting a second set of the source coded bits in a second transmission, where the second set includes some or all of the source coded bits. In some embodiments, a method performed by a device can include receiving a first set of source coded bits in a first transmission. The method can further include transmitting a source decoding result indication based on the first set of source coded bits received in the first transmission. The method can further include subsequently receiving a second set of source coded bits in a second transmission.

[0012] In some embodiments, the second set of source coded bits can include only a subset of the source coded bits sent in the first transmission. For example, multiple portions / blocks of source coded bits can be included in a first transmission, a second transmission can include only higher priority portions / blocks, e.g., a second transmission can omit a portion of source coded bits that are of lower priority, e.g., less important to source decoding. In some embodiments, forward error correction channel coding can be performed to generate parity bits, a first set of the parity bits can be included in the first transmission, a second set of the parity bits can be included in the second transmission. In some such embodiments, forward error correction channel coding can be performed on all of the source coded bits to generate the parity bits, the first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits being different subsets of the parity bits, respectively. In other such embodiments, forward error correction channel coding can be performed on the source coded bits included in the first transmission to generate a first set of parity bits, forward error correction channel coding can be performed on the source coded bits included in the second transmission to generate a second set of parity bits, respectively.

[0013] Technical advantages of some embodiments include applying HARQ retransmission to source coding, which can result in more optimized HARQ processes in terms of reducing errors and / or reducing the number of retransmissions. In some embodiments, bandwidth can be conserved by focusing retransmissions on the most important blocks of compressed bits.

[0014] Corresponding devices for performing the methods outlined herein are also disclosed.

[0015] According to an aspect of the application, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, wherein the computer readable storage medium stores instructions which, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, enable the apparatus to perform the method described above. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0016] Various embodiments are described herein with reference to the following drawings.

[0017] Figure 1 is a simplified schematic illustration of a communication system provided by an example;

[0018] Figure 2 shows another example of a communication system;

[0019] Figure 3One example of an electronic device (ED), a terrestrial transmit and receive point (T-TRP), and a non-terrestrial transmit and receive point (NT-TRP) is shown;

[0020] Figure 4 Exemplary units or modules in a device are shown;

[0021] Figure 5 Communication between a transmitting device and a receiving device is shown, provided by some embodiments;

[0022] Figure 6 One example of a circular buffer storing systematic bits and parity bits output by channel encoding is shown;

[0023] Figure 7 A method performed by a transmitting device and a receiving device is shown, provided by some embodiments;

[0024] Figure 8 And Figure 9 An example of transmitting source coded bits is shown, provided by some embodiments;

[0025] Figure 10 And Figure 11 Source compression versions (SCVs) and code redundancy versions (CRVs) for multiple transmissions are shown, provided by some embodiments;

[0026] Figures 12 to 15 An exemplary source codec retransmission protocol is shown;

[0027] Figure 16 One exemplary way in which SCVs can be mapped to different blocks of source coded bits is shown;

[0028] Figure 17 Different exemplary SCV sizes are shown;

[0029] Figure 18 One exemplary method of implementing compression rate (CpR) retransmission is shown;

[0030] Figure 19 A system architecture for wireless communication is shown, provided by some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] For illustrative purposes, specific example embodiments are explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0032] The methods described herein can be performed in a communication system that implements wireless communication, but this is not a requirement. Thus, an example communication system that includes wireless communication is first described below.

[0033] Example communication system and devices

[0034] Reference Figure 1 , Figure 1 is a simplified schematic illustration of a communication system 100. The communication system 100 includes a radio access network (RAN) 120. The radio access network 120 can be a next generation (e.g., sixth generation (6G) or beyond) radio access network, or a legacy (e.g., 5G, 4G, 3G, or 2G) radio access network. One or more communication electronic devices (EDs) 110a-110j (generally referred to as 110) can be interconnected or connected to one or more network nodes (170a and 170b, generally referred to as 170) in the radio access network 120. A core network 130 can be part of the communication system and can be dependent or independent of the radio access technology used in the communication system 100. In addition, the communication system 100 includes a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 140, the Internet 150, and other networks 160.

[0035] Figure 2 An example communication system 100 is shown. In general, the communication system 100 enables multiple wireless or wired units to communicate with each other or to communicate with other electronic devices. The communication system 100 can have the goal of providing voice, data, video, and / or text content, among other content, through broadcast, multicast, and unicast, among other techniques. The communication system 100 can operate through the sharing of resources, such as bandwidth in a carrier frequency spectrum, among its constituent units. The communication system 100 can include a terrestrial communication system and / or a non-terrestrial communication system. The communication system 100 can provide a wide variety of communication services and applications (e.g., earth monitoring, remote sensing, passive sensing and positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and mobility, etc.). The communication system 100 can provide a high level of availability and robustness through the joint operation of a terrestrial communication system and a non-terrestrial communication system. For example, the integration of a non-terrestrial communication system (or components thereof) into a terrestrial communication system can result in a heterogeneous network that includes multiple tiers. The heterogeneous network can achieve better overall performance compared to legacy communication networks through efficient multi-link joint operation, more flexible function sharing, and faster physical layer link switching between the terrestrial network and the non-terrestrial network.

[0036] The ground communication system and the non-terrestrial communication system can be subsystems in a communication system. In the illustrated example, the communication system 100 includes electronic devices (EDs) 110a-110d (generally referred to as EDs 110), radio access networks (RANs) 120a and 120b, a non-terrestrial communication network 120c (which can also be a RAN or a part of a RAN), a core network 130, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 140, the Internet 150, and other networks 160. The RANs 120a and 120b include respective base stations (BSs) 170a and 170b, which can be generally referred to as terrestrial transmit and receive points (T-TRPs) 170a and 170b. The non-terrestrial communication network 120c includes an access node 120c, which can be generally referred to as a non-terrestrial transmit and receive point (NT-TRP) 172.

[0037] Alternatively or additionally, any of the EDs 110 can be configured to connect with, access, or communicate with any other T-TRPs 170a and 170b, the NT-TRP 172, the Internet 150, the core network 130, the PSTN 140, the other networks 160, or any combination of the above. In some examples, the ED 110a can be configured to perform uplink and / or downlink transmissions with the T-TRP 170a via an interface 190a. In some examples, the EDs 110a, 110b, and 110d can also be configured to directly communicate with each other via one or more sidelink air interfaces 190b. In some examples, the ED 110d can be configured to perform uplink and / or downlink transmissions with the NT-TRP 172 via an interface 190c.

[0038] The air interfaces 190a and 190b can use similar communication techniques, for example, any suitable wireless access technique. For example, the communication system 100 can implement one or more channel access methods in the air interfaces 190a and 190b, for example, code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA). The air interfaces 190a and 190b can utilize other high-dimensional signal spaces, which can include combinations of orthogonal and / or non-orthogonal dimensions.

[0039] The air interface 190c can enable communication between the ED 110d and one or more NT-TRPs 172 over a wireless link or a simple link. In some examples, the link is a dedicated connection for unicast transmission, a connection for broadcast transmission, or a connection between a group of EDs and one or more NT-TRPs for groupcast transmission.

[0040] The RANs 120a and 120b are in communication with the core network 130 to provide the EDs 110a, 110b, and 110c with access to various services, such as voice, data, and other services. The RANs 120a and 120b and / or the core network 130 can be in direct or indirect communication with one or more other RANs (not shown) that can or can not be of the same

[0041] Figure 3Another example of an ED 110, base station 170 (e.g., 170a and / or 170b) is shown, hereinafter referred to as T-TRP 170 and NT-TRP 172. The ED 110 is used to connect people, objects, machines, etc. The ED 110 can be widely used in various scenarios, such as cellular communication, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X), peer-to-peer (P2P), machine-to-machine (M2M), machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, autonomous driving, remote medical treatment, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, unmanned aerial vehicle, robot, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and mobility, etc.

[0042] Each ED 110 represents any suitable end user device for wireless operation, and can include (or can be referred to as) a user equipment / device (UE), a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a cellular phone, a station (STA), a machine type communication (MTC) device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a computer, a tablet, a wireless sensor, a consumer electronics device, a smartbook, a vehicle, a car, a truck, a bus, a train, or an IoT device, an industrial device, or a means for communicating (e.g., a communication module, a modem, or a chip), etc. Next generation ED 110 can be referred to using other terms. Each ED 110 connected to the T-TRP 170 and / or the NT-TRP 172 can be dynamically or semi-statically activated (i.e., established, activated, or enabled), deactivated (i.e., released, deactivated, or disabled), and / or configured in response to one or more of connection availability and connection necessity.

[0043] The ED 110 includes a transmitter 201 and a receiver 203 coupled to one or more antennas 204. Only one antenna 204 is shown in the figure. Alternatively, one, some or all of the antennas can be panels. The transmitter 201 and receiver 203 can be integrated, e.g., as a transceiver. The transmitter (or transceiver) is used to modulate data or other content for transmission by at least one antenna 204 or network interface controller (NIC). The receiver (or transceiver) is used to demodulate data or other content received by at least one antenna 204. Each transceiver includes any suitable structure for generating a signal for wireless or wired transmission and / or for processing a signal received via wireless or wired transmission. Each antenna 204 includes any suitable structure for transmitting and / or receiving wireless or wired signals.

[0044] The ED 110 includes at least one memory 208. The memory 208 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by the ED 110. For example, the memory 208 could store software

[0045] The ED 110 can also include one or more input / output devices (not shown) or interfaces (e.g., wired interfaces to the Internet 150 in FIG. 1). The input / output devices support interaction Figure 1 with users or other devices, systems, or networks. Each input / output device includes any suitable structure for providing information to or from a user, such as a speaker, microphone, keypad, keyboard, display, or touch screen, including network interface communications.

[0046] ED 110 also includes processor 210 for performing operations related to preparing uplink transmissions to be sent to NT-TRPs 172 and / or T-TRPs 170, operations related to processing downlink transmissions received from NT-TRPs 172 and / or T-TRPs 170, and operations related to processing sidelink transmissions sent to and from other EDs 110. The processing operations related to preparing uplink transmissions to be sent can include operations such as encoding, modulation, transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. The processing operations related to processing downlink transmissions can include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulation, and decoding of received symbols. According to embodiments, downlink transmissions can be received by receiver 203 using receive beamforming, and processor 210 can extract signaling from the downlink transmissions (e.g., by detecting and / or decoding signaling). One example of signaling can be reference signals transmitted by NT-TRPs 172 and / or T-TRPs 170. In some embodiments, processor 276 implements transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming according to beam direction indications (e.g., beam angle information (BAI)) received from T-TRPs 170. In some embodiments, processor 210 can perform operations related to network access (e.g., initial access) and / or downlink synchronization, such as operations related to detecting synchronization sequences, decoding and acquiring system information, and the like. In some embodiments, processor 210 can perform channel estimation using reference signals received from NT-TRPs 172 and / or T-TRPs 170 and the like.

[0047] Processor 210 can be part of transmitter 201 and / or part of receiver 203, but not shown in the figure. Memory 208 can be part of processor 210, but not shown in the figure.

[0048] Processor 210, processing components in transmitter 201, and processing components in receiver 203 can be implemented by the same or different one or more processors respectively, which are used to execute instructions stored in a memory (e.g., memory 208). Alternatively, some or all of processor 210, processing components in transmitter 201, and processing components in receiver 203 can be implemented using a special-purpose circuitry such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a graphical processing unit (GPU), or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

[0049] T-TRP 170 can be referred to using other names in some implementations, such as a base station, a base transceiver station (BTS), a wireless base station, a network node, a network equipment, a network-side device, a transmission / reception node, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNode B or eNB), a home eNode B, a next generation Node B (gNB), a transmission point (TP), a site controller, an access point (AP) or a wireless router, a relay, a ground node, a ground network equipment, or a ground base station, a baseband unit (BBU), a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), a remote radio head (RRH), a central unit (CU), a distribute unit (DU), a positioning node, etc. T-TRP 170 can be a macro BS, a pico BS, a relay node, a donor node, etc. or a combination thereof. T-TRP 170 can refer to the above devices or to an apparatus (e.g., a communication module, a modem, or a chip) in the above devices.

[0050] In some embodiments, various parts of T-TRP 170 can be distributed. For example, some of the modules in T-TRP 170 can be remote from a device that houses the antennas of T-TRP 170 and can be coupled to the device that houses the antennas through a communication link (not shown) that is sometimes referred to as front-haul (e.g., common public radio interface (CPRI)). Thus, in some embodiments, the term “T-TRP 170” can also refer to network-side modules that perform processing operations such as determining the location of ED 110, resource allocation (scheduling), message generation, and encoding / decoding, which are not necessarily part of the device that houses the antennas of T-TRP 170. These modules can also be coupled to other T-TRPs. In some embodiments, T-TRP 170 can actually be multiple T-TRPs that operate together to serve ED 110 through coordinated multipoint transmission, etc.

[0051] The T-TRP 170 includes at least one transmitter 252 and at least one receiver 254 coupled to one or more antennas 256. Only one antenna 256 is shown in the figure. Alternatively, one, some or all of the antennas can be panels. The transmitter 252 and receiver 254 can be integrated as a transceiver. The T-TRP 170 also includes a processor 260 for performing operations related to preparing downlink transmissions to the ED 110, processing uplink transmissions received from the ED 110, preparing backhaul transmissions to the NT-TRP 172, and processing transmissions received from the NT-TRP 172 over the backhaul. The processing operations related to preparing a downlink or backhaul transmission can include operations such as encoding, modulation, precoding (e.g., MIMO precoding), transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. The processing operations related to processing received transmissions on the uplink or backhaul can include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulation, and decoding of received symbols. The processor 260 can also perform operations related to network access (e.g., initial access) and / or downlink synchronization, such as generating content of a synchronization signal block (SSB), generating system information, and so on. In some embodiments, the processor 260 also generates beam direction indications, such as BAI, that the scheduler 253 can schedule for transmission. The processor 260 performs other network-side processing operations that can be described herein, such as determining a location of the ED 110, determining a location to deploy the NT-TRP 172, and so on. In some embodiments, the processor 260 can generate signaling to configure one or more parameters of the ED 110 and / or one or more parameters of the NT-TRP 172, and so on. Any signaling generated by the processor 260 is transmitted by the transmitter 252. It is noted that “signaling” used herein can alternatively be referred to as control signaling. Dynamic signaling can be transmitted in a control channel such as a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), while static or semi-static higher layer signaling can be included in a data packet transmitted in a data channel such as a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0052] The scheduler 253 can be coupled to the processor 260. The scheduler 253 can be included within the T-TRP 170 or can operate separately from the T-TRP 170. The scheduler 253 can schedule uplink, downlink, and / or backhaul transmissions, including issuing scheduling grants and / or configuring grant-free (“configured grant”) resources. The T-TRP 170 also includes memory 258 for storing information and data. The memory 258 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by the T-TRP 170. For example, the memory 258 can store software

[0053] The processor 260 can be part of the transmitter 252 and / or the receiver 254, but is not shown in the figure. Further, the processor 260 can implement the scheduler 253, but is not shown in the figure. The memory 258 can be part of the processor 260, but is not shown in the figure.

[0054] The processor 260, the scheduler 253, processing components in the transmitter 252, and processing components in the receiver 254 can each be implemented by the same or different one or more processors that execute instructions stored in memory (e.g., the memory 258). Alternatively, some or all of the processor 260, the scheduler 253, processing components in the transmitter 252, and processing components in the receiver 254 can be implemented using special-purpose circuitry, such as FPGA, GPU, or ASIC.

[0055] While the NT-TRP 172 is shown as a drone, this is merely an example. The NT-TRP 172 can be implemented using any suitable non-terrestrial form. Moreover, the NT-TRP 172 can use other names such as non-terrestrial node, non-terrestrial network device, or non-terrestrial base station in some implementations. The NT-TRP 172 includes a transmitter 272 and a receiver 274 coupled to one or more antennas 280. Only one antenna 280 is shown in the figure. Alternatively, one, some or all of the antennas can be panels. The transmitter 272 and receiver 274 can be integrated as a transceiver. The NT-TRP 172 also includes a processor 276 for performing operations related to preparing downlink transmissions to the ED 110, processing uplink transmissions received from the ED 110, preparing backhaul transmissions to the T-TRP 170, and processing transmissions received over the backhaul from the T-TRP 170. The processing operations related to preparing transmissions of downlink or backhaul transmissions can include operations such as encoding, modulation, precoding (e.g., MIMO precoding), transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. The processing operations related to processing received transmissions on the uplink or backhaul can include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulation, and decoding of received symbols. In some embodiments, the processor 276 implements transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming in accordance with beam direction information (e.g., BAI) received from the T-TRP 170. In some embodiments, the processor 276 can generate signaling to configure one or more parameters of the ED 110, and so on. In some embodiments, the NT-TRP 172 implements physical layer processing but not higher layer functionality, e.g., functionality in the medium access control (MAC) layer or the radio link control (RLC) layer. Since this is merely an example, the NT-TRP 172 can also implement higher layer functionality in addition to physical layer processing.

[0056] The NT-TRP 172 also includes a memory 278 for storing information and data. The processor 276 can be part of the transmitter 272 and / or part of the receiver 274, but is not shown in the figure. The memory 278 can be part of the processor 276, but is not shown in the figure.

[0057] The processor 276, processing components in the transmitter 272, and processing components in the receiver 274 can be implemented by the same or different one or more processors respectively, which are used to execute instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the memory 278). Alternatively, some or all of the processor 276, processing components in the transmitter 272, and processing components in the receiver 274 can be implemented using a programmed FPGA, GPU, or ASIC, etc. special-purpose circuit. In some embodiments, the NT-TRP 172 can actually be multiple NT-TRPs that work together to serve the ED 110 by means of coordinated multipoint transmission, etc.

[0058] It is noted that “TRP” as used herein can refer to a T-TRP or an NT-TRP.

[0059] The T-TRP 170, the NT-TRP 172, and / or the ED 110 can include other components, but these components are omitted for clarity.

[0060] One or more steps of the example methods provided herein can be performed by Figure 4 corresponding units or modules provided by the apparatus. Figure 4 Example units or modules in the apparatus (e.g., in the ED 110, in the T-TRP 170, or in the NT-TRP 172) are shown. For example, operations can be controlled by an operating system module. As another example, signals can be transmitted by a transmitting unit or module. Signals can be received by a receiving unit or module. Signals can be processed by a processing unit or module. Some operations / steps can be performed by an artificial intelligence (AI) module or a machine learning (ML) module. The corresponding units or modules can be implemented using hardware, one or more components executing software, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more of the units or modules can be an integrated circuit such as a programmed FPGA, GPU, or ASIC. It is understood that if these modules are implemented using software for execution by a processor, the modules can be retrieved by the processor as needed, individually or collectively, for processing in one or more instances, and the modules themselves can include instructions for further deployment and instantiation.

[0061] Other details about the ED 110, the T-TRP 170, and the NT-TRP 172 are known to those skilled in the art. Therefore, these details are omitted here.

[0062] Control information is mentioned herein. Control information can sometimes be referred to as control signaling or signaling. In some cases, control information can be dynamically transmitted, e.g., in a physical layer control channel such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). One example of dynamically indicated control information is information sent in physical layer control signaling, e.g., uplink control information (UCI) sent in a PUCCH or downlink control information (DCI) sent in a PDCCH. Dynamic indication can be an indication in a low layer, e.g., physical layer / Layer 1 signaling, rather than an indication in a high layer (e.g., not an indication in RRC signaling or in a MAC CE). Semi-static indication can be an indication in semi-static signaling. Semi-static signaling used herein can refer to non-dynamic signaling, e.g., high layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) and / or a MAC CE. Dynamic signaling used herein can refer to dynamic signaling, e.g., physical layer control signaling sent in a physical layer, e.g., DCI sent in a PDCCH or UCI sent in a PUCCH.

[0063] Figure 5 Some embodiments provide a transmitting device 352 to communicate with a receiving device 372. The term “transmitting device” is used for ease of explanation and refers to a device that source encodes and transmits information in the examples explained herein. The term “receiving device” is used for ease of explanation and refers to a device that receives source encoded bits from a transmitting device in the examples explained herein. The transmitting device 352 can still receive communications, e.g., feedback from the receiving device 372. The receiving device 372 can still transmit communications, e.g., feedback. For example, the receiving device 372 can send back source decoding result indications to the transmitting device 352, which can prompt the transmitting device 352 to retransmit some or all of the source encoded bits.

[0064] In some embodiments, the transmitting device 352 can be a network device such as a T-TRP or an NT-TRP, and the receiving device 372 can be an electronic device (ED) such as a UE. However, this is not a necessity. For example, it can be the other way around, e.g., the transmitting device 352 can be an ED such as a UE, and the receiving device 372 can be a network device such as a T-TRP or an NT-TRP. As another example, the transmitting device 352 and the receiving device 372 can be the same type of entities, e.g., two UEs or two TRPs communicating with each other. In some scenarios, the transmitting device 352 and the receiving device 372 can be two entities communicating through a wired channel. The transmitting device 352 and the receiving device 372 can be part of a communication system. The communication system can be or include a wireless communication system, e.g., the communication system 100 described above.

[0065] The transmitting device 352 includes a processor 360 that directly or indirectly implements or controls the operations of the transmitting device 352 described herein. For example, the processor 360 can perform the source coding and generating forward error correction parity bits described herein. The transmitting device 352 also includes a memory 362 to store information, e.g., to store the source coded bits (e.g., compressed system bits) and parity bits discussed herein. For example, the memory 362 can implement the circular buffer described herein. The processor 360 can be implemented by a general purpose processor executing instructions stored in a memory, e.g., in the memory 362. Alternatively, the processor 360 can be implemented using an application specific integrated circuit, a GPU, or a FPGA, among others.

[0066] The transmitting device 352 also includes a transmitter 354 to prepare and transmit transmissions to the receiving device 372 over the channel 390. For example, the transmitter 354 can be implemented by a baseband processor and a transmit chain including a digital-to-analog convertor (DAC), an up-converter, a power amplifier, and one or more antennas or panels. The processing components in the transmitter 354, e.g., part or all of the baseband processor, can be implemented by the processor 360. The transmitting device 352 also includes a receiver 356 to receive transmissions from the receiving device 372 over the channel 390. For example, the receiver can be implemented by a receive chain and a baseband processor including one or more antennas or panels, a filter, a down-converter, and an analog-to-digital convertor (ADC). The processing components in the receiver 356, e.g., part or all of the baseband processor, can be implemented by the processor 360.

[0067] If the transmitting device 352 is a T-TRP 170, the processor 360 can be or include the processor 260 and can implement the scheduler 253, the memory 362 can be or include the memory 258, the transmitter 354 can be or include the transmitter 252, and the receiver 356 can be or include the receiver 254. If the transmitting device 352 is an NT-TRP 172, the processor 360 can be or include the processor 276, the memory 362 can be or include the memory 278, the transmitter 354 can be or include the transmitter 272, and the receiver 356 can be or include the receiver 274. If the transmitting device 352 is an ED 110, the processor 360 can be or include the processor 210, the memory 362 can be or include the memory 208, the transmitter 354 can be or include the transmitter 201, and the receiver 356 can be or include the receiver 203.

[0068] The receiving device 372 includes a processor 380 that directly or indirectly implements or controls the operations of the receiving device 372 described herein. For example, the processor 380 can perform the source and / or channel decoding methods described herein and generate a source decoding result indication. The receiving device 372 also includes a memory 382 to store information, e.g., to store partial channel and source decoded bits for HARQ combining. One example of HARQ combining is soft combining, e.g., Chase combining or incremental redundancy (e.g., incremental redundancy decoding). The processor 380 can be implemented by a general purpose processor executing instructions stored in memory, e.g., in the memory 382. Alternatively, the processor 380 can be implemented using an ASIC, GPU, or FPGA, among other special purpose integrated circuits.

[0069] The receiving device 372 also includes a transmitter 374 to prepare and transmit transmissions to the transmitting device 352 over the channel 390. For example, the transmitter 374 can be implemented by a baseband processor and a transmit chain including a DAC, an upconverter, a power amplifier, and one or more antennas or panels. The processing components in the transmitter 374 (e.g., some or all of a baseband processor) can be implemented by the processor 380. The receiving device 372 also includes a receiver 376 to receive transmissions from the transmitting device 352 over the channel 390. For example, the receiver can be implemented by a receive chain and a baseband processor including one or more antennas or panels, filters, a downconverter, and an ADC. The processing components in the receiver 376 (e.g., some or all of a baseband processor) can be implemented by the processor 380.

[0070] If the receiving device 372 is a T-TRP 170, the processor 380 can be or include the processor 260 and can implement the scheduler 253, the memory 382 can be or include the memory 258, the transmitter 374 can be or include the transmitter 252, and the receiver 376 can be or include the receiver 254. If the receiving device 372 is an NT-TRP 172, the processor 380 can be or include the processor 276, the memory 382 can be or include the memory 278, the transmitter 374 can be or include the transmitter 272, and the receiver 376 can be or include the receiver 274. If the receiving device 372 is an ED 110, the processor 380 can be or include the processor 210, the memory 382 can be or include the memory 208, the transmitter 374 can be or include the transmitter 201, and the receiver 376 can be or include the receiver 203.

[0071] In the embodiments explained herein, it is assumed that the transmitting device 352 transmits information to the receiving device 372, so the transmitting device 352 performs encoding operations, while the receiving device 372 performs decoding operations and feedback. For example, as shown by the dashed box 392, the processor 360 in the transmitting device 352 at least source encodes, and possibly channel encodes as well. If both source encoding and channel encoding are performed, it can be joint source-channel encoding. The output is modulated and transmitted by the transmitter 354 over the channel 390 to the receiving device 372. The receiver 376 of the receiving device 372 receives the transmission and demodulates it, and the processor 380 performs channel decoding (if applicable) and source decoding 396. The source decoding result indication feedback 398 can be transmitted by the transmitter 374 to the transmitting device 352 over the channel 390 (e.g., over a feedback channel) and received by the receiver 356. The feedback 398 can trigger the transmitting device 352 to transmit a retransmission. For example, if the feedback is a source decoding result indication that at least a higher priority portion of the source encoded bits needs to be retransmitted (e.g., because there is an error in the CRC checked bits and / or there is distortion in the source decoded bits), the transmitting device 352 can transmit a retransmission of at least the higher priority source encoded bits.

[0072] HARQ for source codec

[0073] As described above, the conventional HARQ method is limited to channel coding. The underlying traffic (e.g., TBs) that needs to be transmitted is transparent to the HARQ method. For example, the transmitting device 352 has information to transmit to the receiving device 372. The information can be referred to as traffic. The information can include data and / or control information. The information can be in the form of TBs. The transmitting device 352 source encodes the information to obtain source encoded bits. The source encoded bits are the output of applying a source encoding algorithm, e.g., the output of the LZW algorithm. The transmitting device 352 then channel encodes the source encoded bits to output channel encoded bits. For example, LDPC encoding can be performed to implement forward error correction (FEC) encoding and generate the channel encoded bits. The channel encoded bits can include systematic bits and parity bits. The systematic bits are the original source encoded bits output by the source encoding. The parity bits are the redundant bits generated by the channel encoding algorithm for channel decoding. The transmitting device 352 can divide the channel encoded bits into different sets, which can overlap each other. Each set can belong to a different redundancy version (RV). Some RVs can include more parity bits than other RVs. Each RV is identified by an RV index, e.g., RV 0, RV 1, RV 2,....

[0074] Figure 6 One example of a circular buffer 425 in the memory 362 of the transmitting device 352 is shown, which stores the systematic bits and parity bits output by the channel encoding. The systematic bits are shown as cross-hatched, while the remaining bits in the circular buffer 425 (i.e., the bits in the white portion of the circular buffer 425) are parity bits. In this example, the transmitting device 352 does not transmit all the bits in a transmission, but rather transmits the bits corresponding to a respective RV in a given transmission. The term “transmission” as used herein can refer to an initial transmission or a retransmission.

[0075] There are four RVs in this example. RV0 is the set of bits from the start of the RV0 arrow to the end point 400. RV1 is the set of bits from the start of the RV1 arrow to the end point 401. RV2 is the set of bits from the start of the RV2 arrow to the end point 402. RV3 is the set of bits from the start of the RV3 arrow to the end point 403. At runtime, the transmitting device 352 first transmits the bits of RV0 in an initial transmission. If the channel decoding fails, the transmitting device 352 then transmits the bits of RV2 in a first retransmission. If the channel decoding still fails, the transmitting device 352 then transmits the bits of RV3 in a second retransmission. If the channel decoding still fails, the transmitting device 352 then transmits the bits of RV1 in a third and final retransmission. The receiving device 372 receives the initial transmission, and the processor 380 in the receiving device 372 performs channel decoding. If the channel decoding fails, e.g., a CRC check fails, the receiving device 372 can send a HARQ feedback in the form of a NACK to the transmitting device 352 indicating that the channel decoding failed. Alternatively, a failure to receive an ACK within a certain time period can be considered a NACK, and vice versa. That is, a failure to send feedback from the receiving end can be considered an ACK or a NACK to reduce signaling overhead, which can depend on a predefinition or configuration. The first retransmission (including the bits of RV2) is received, and channel decoding is performed again. If the channel decoding again fails, an indication is sent to the transmitting device 352 (e.g., by a NACK), the second retransmission (including the bits of RV3) is received, and channel decoding is performed again. If the channel decoding again fails, an indication is sent to the transmitting device 352 (e.g., by a NACK), the third retransmission (including the bits of RV1) is received, and channel decoding is performed again. The channel decoding can implement HARQ combining, e.g., soft combining in the form of incremental redundancy (IR), where the bits of the received RVs are combined with the bits of one or more previously received RVs. In alternative embodiments, the channel decoding can implement soft combining in the form of chase combining, i.e., the initial transmission and one or more retransmissions can repeat the same modulated coded signal for one data packet.

[0076] Since the information is transparent to the HARQ entity, the receiving device 372 considers the systematic bits and the parity bits to be of equal importance to the channel decoding of the receiving device 372, but a transmission including the systematic bits or a majority of the systematic bits (e.g., RV0 in Figure 6 may have a self-decoding capability. The initial transmission in IR HARQ can include the systematic bits and a portion of the parity bits (e.g., RV0 in Figure 6 , and upon decoding failure, the redundant version of the incremental information can come from the parity bits not included in the initial transmission (e.g., RV1 in Figure 6The parity check bits can be the same as the parity check bits in the initial transmission (e.g., RV2). Different RVs (e.g., RV3, RV1, etc.) can be used for further retransmissions, sending different portions of the systematic bits and / or parity check bits.

[0077] The HARQ methods described above do not take into account source coding information, e.g., characteristics of the source coded bits, which can make certain portions (e.g., blocks) of the source coded bits more important (e.g., at least for source decoding) than other portions of the source coded bits. For example, certain portions of the source coded bits can be more important, or even critical, for correct source decoding. In this sense, the HARQ methods treat the source coding information as transparent, and thus do not use the specific source coding information to enable potentially more efficient transmission and source decoding during the HARQ retransmission operations.

[0078] The embodiments below provide a HARQ protocol for source coding, which can or can not be implemented with FEC channel coding. While the protocol is referred to as "HARQ" or "HARQ for source coding," not all embodiments necessarily have to be HARQ, e.g., no correction attempt necessarily has to be made prior to feedback. The term "HARQ" is used, however, because the methods can be considered as HARQ-like methods, i.e., providing feedback to the transmitting device 352 in the form of an indication of source decoding results to prompt retransmission. The retransmission is of source coded bits, possibly a subset of the source coded bits in the initial transmission, e.g., possibly only retransmitting source coded bits of higher priority, while possibly increasing or enhancing FEC protection. This can increase the probability of successfully receiving the more important source coded bits needed for source decoding and / or can reduce transmission overhead (e.g., if fewer source coded bits are retransmitted and / or fewer times of retransmission are needed).

[0079] Figure 7 A method performed by the transmitting device 352 and the receiving device 372 is shown, some embodiments providing the method.

[0080] In step 432, the transmitting device 352 source encodes the information to obtain source coded bits.

[0081] In step 434, the transmitting device 352 transmits a first set of the source coded bits in a first transmission. The first set of the source coded bits includes some or all of the source coded bits generated in step 432.

[0082] In step 436, the receiving device 372 receives the first set of source encoded bits in the first transmission. In step 438, the receiving device 372 transmits a source decoding result indication based on the first set of source encoded bits received in the first transmission. Exemplary methods for the receiving device 372 to determine the source decoding result indication will be explained later. The source decoding result indication can also be referred to as feedback. In one variant, the transmitted feedback is not necessarily a source decoding result indication, for example, a NACK can be transmitted in the case where it is unclear whether the NACK is due to a channel decoding failure, a source decoding failure, or both channel decoding and source decoding failures.

[0083] In step 440, the transmitting device 352 receives the source decoding result indication. In response to receiving the source decoding result indication, in step 442, the transmitting device 352 transmits a second set of source encoded bits in a second transmission. The second set of source encoded bits includes some or all of the source encoded bits generated in step 432.

[0084] In step 444, the receiving device 372 receives the second set of source encoded bits in the second transmission.

[0085] The first transmission can be an initial transmission, and the second transmission can be a retransmission, but it is also possible that both the first transmission and the second transmission are retransmissions (e.g., a first retransmission and a second retransmission).

[0086] The source encoding in step 432 compresses the information to generate the source encoded bits. The source encoding can be performed in the physical layer. According to embodiments, the source encoding can be based on a source compression method that performs lossless compression or lossy compression. In some embodiments, the source compression method implements one of the following: Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) or principal component analysis (PCA) or integer multiwavelet transform (IMWT) or compression with reversible embedded wavelets (CREW) or discrete cosine transform (DCT).

[0087] In some embodiments, the source coding in step 432 encodes information originating from higher network layers. Regardless of whether a separate compression method exists at the higher network layers, source coding may still be performed at the physical layer or elsewhere. In some embodiments, source coding can be applied to information generated locally and / or at lower network layers. For example, future applications or use cases (e.g., 6G wireless communication) may involve information (e.g., traffic) generated through sensing or artificial intelligence (AI) that supports and / or requires real-time or physical source coding and decoding and transmission (possibly combined with channel coding and decoding). Exemplary scenarios may include sensing data / image transmission for network control, local AI data / model transmission, extended reality (XR) and virtual reality (VR) services based on quality of service (QoS), etc. Information associated with these scenarios can be source-coded.

[0088] The second set of source-coded bits transmitted in step 444 may be the same as or different from the first set of source-coded bits transmitted in step 434. In some embodiments, the second set of source-coded bits includes only a subset of the source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission. For example, Figure 8 An example of transmitting source-coded bits provided in some embodiments is shown. Transmitting device 352 has information 452 to send to receiving device 372. Encoding 394 is performed, including at least source coding 454, to obtain source-coded bits. The source-coded bits are compressed, and therefore may also be referred to as source-compressed bits. In the example shown, the source-coded bits are L bits consisting of k (k>1) distinct parts. These parts may be referred to as blocks or source-compressed blocks. The terms "part" and "block" are used interchangeably herein. There are k blocks L1 to Lk, as shown in dashed box 456. Blocks L1 to Lk include all or a subset of the source-coded bits. In some embodiments, one, part, or all of blocks L1 to Lk may be associated with the source-coded bit stream. Optionally, channel coding 458 is performed after source coding 454, for example, generating FEC parity bits, and therefore channel coding 458 is indicated by dashed lines in the figure. In one example, Figure 7 The first transmission in step 434 may include all source-coded bits (blocks L1 to Lk), while Figure 7 The second transmission in step 442 may include only a subset of the source-coded bits, for example, only block L1. For example, a source decoding result indication from receiving device 372 may indicate that at least block L1 should be retransmitted because block L1 has a higher priority for source decoding, and so on.

[0089] returnFigure 7 Upon receiving the source decoding result indication, for example, in response to receiving the source decoding result indication, a second transmission carrying a second set of source-coded bits is sent in step 442. The source decoding result indication depends on the specific implementation. Several examples are included in this document.

[0090] In some embodiments, receiving device 372 receives a first set of source-coded bits in step 436 and uses these bits for source decoding. Upon completion of source decoding, the amount of distortion in the source-decoded bits is measured. The source decoding result indication may depend on the source decoding distortion. In one example, the source decoding result indication may be a value representing the amount of distortion, which transmitting device 352 can use to determine whether it is necessary to retransmit the source-coded bits in a second transmission. In another example, the source decoding result indication may depend on a distortion threshold. For example, if the distortion measured in the source-decoded bits exceeds a specific distortion threshold, a negative acknowledgment (NACK) is sent from receiving device 372 to transmitting device 352, prompting receiving device 372 to perform a second transmission in step 442. The NACK pertains to the source decoding result, not to a NACK related to channel decoding. NACK is an example of a source decoding result indication.

[0091] Receiver 372 can use any known method for measuring distortion to measure the distortion in the source decoded bits. The distortion metric can be a mathematical quantity describing how close the source decoding result is to the original result before source encoding. For example, the source information encoded in step 432 may include a portion known to both transmitting device 352 and receiving device 372, referred to as a pilot. The pilot may include a first set of source encoded bits transmitted in step 434 and received in step 436. Receiver 372 can perform source decoding and then compare the source decoded pilot with the known original pilot to determine the distortion level. In some embodiments, lossy compression with distortion is implemented at the encoding end, which may result in a trade-off between transmission rate and distortion. In one embodiment, the codeword set in the source code-decoding space can be defined or configured to achieve compression within a certain distortion range (mapped to the codeword closest to the lossless compression point). Therefore, in receiver 372, the source decoding process can use the codeword set in the code-decoding space to estimate the distortion level. Under error-free channel transmission (e.g., due to FEC), the distortion of lossy compression is the same at the source encoder and source decoder. However, under error-prone channel transmission (i.e., one or more uncorrected errors introduced during transmission), the distortion differs between the source encoder and source decoder. Therefore, reporting the distortion (or an indication depending on the distortion threshold) back to the transmitting device 352 can provide information to prompt the second transmission in step 442 and / or provide an indication of which source-coded bits should be sent or retransmitted in the second transmission in step 442. In some implementations, the distortion measurement may not show the full picture, and therefore can be combined with CRC detection for better feedback, especially under real channel conditions. For example, due to channel errors, the amount of distortion estimated in the receiving device 372 may be less than the lossless distortion caused by encoding in the transmitting device 352, indicating that some portions of the compressed bits are affected by detection / decoding errors that may be captured by CRC.

[0092] The above explains an example of a source decoding result indication that depends on the source decoding distortion. Alternatively or additionally, at least one cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value can be included in the first transmission sent in step 434 and received in step 436, and the source decoding result indication can be at least partially based on a CRC check using the CRC value. A CRC value is a checksum calculated before transmission for a set of bits or blocks of bits, calculated based on the remainder of a polynomial division of the contents of those bits. A subsequent CRC check repeatedly calculates the checksum against the received contents; if the calculated checksum does not match the received checksum, the CRC check fails. That is, there is an error in the bits. This can be considered a detection / decoding failure (in this context, "detection" and "decoding" are used interchangeably). In one example, transmitting device 352 calculates a CRC value using a first set of source-coded bits and includes the CRC value in the first transmission sent in step 434. In step 436, receiving device 372 receives the first set of source-coded bits and the CRC value. Receiving device 372 performs a CRC check using the CRC value. If the CRC check fails, the receiving device 372 sends feedback in step 438, such as NACK, which indicates the source decoding result. In another example, the sending device 352 sends a corresponding CRC value for each of the multiple portions of the source-coded bits sent in the first transmission. For example, portions L1 to Lk (called blocks) may be sent in the first transmission (e.g., ...). Figure 8(As shown in the example). Each block L1 to Lk may include a corresponding CRC value calculated based on the source-coded bits in that block. The source decoding result indication may at least indicate that the decoding of a particular block failed according to the CRC check using the corresponding CRC value corresponding to that particular block. For example, the receiving device 372 may perform a CRC check on each received block L1 to Lk and provide feedback to the sending device 352 indicating which blocks failed the CRC check. An indication that a portion / block failed to decode according to the CRC check is an example of a source decoding result indication. It should be noted that in the example above, the CRC check is performed on the received source-coded bits, not the corresponding source-decoded bits. However, this is still a source decoding result indication because it indicates that there is an error in the bits that were source-decoded. The error still exists when the source decoding is complete. In some embodiments, in addition to calculating a CRC value for each portion / block of source-coded bits, a single CRC value may also be calculated for all transmitted bits. For example, all blocks L1 to Lk transmitted in the first transmission may be used to calculate a CRC value, which is also transmitted and used for CRC check. If the CRC check fails, feedback (e.g., NACK) is sent back from the receiving device 372 as an indication of the source decoding result. In addition to any of the CRC embodiments described above, the CRC value can also be calculated using information prior to source encoding in step 432, and this CRC value is included as part of the information and also source-encoded. After source decoding is performed by the receiving device 372, a CRC check is performed using the CRC value. If the CRC check fails, feedback (e.g., NACK) can be sent as an indication of the source decoding result.

[0093] In some embodiments, under lossless compression, if the first transmission sent in step 434 includes CRC protection using one or more CRC values, then upon receiving the first transmission in step 436, the receiving device 372 may first check the CRC. If it fails, it sends feedback (e.g., NACK) to the sending device 352 as an indication of the source decoding result. In some embodiments, under lossy compression, CRC checking may be optional. Regardless of whether CRC checking is included, it may be necessary to estimate the distortion of the first transmission after source decoding and report feedback accordingly. For example, if the distortion in the source decoding bits is too high, NACK is sent as an indication of the source decoding result. In some embodiments, if there is no CRC protection, the first transmission received in step 436 is source decoded, and the distortion of the source decoding bits is estimated. If the distortion is too high, an indication of the source decoding result is reported, e.g., NACK. In some embodiments, if lossy compression is implemented, distortion within a certain threshold range can be tolerated in the source decoding bits, while for lossless compression, distortion may be completely intolerable or only minimal distortion may be tolerated.

[0094] In some embodiments, Figure 7 The method may include performing FEC channel coding to generate parity bits. A first set of parity bits may be transmitted in a first transmission, and a second set of parity bits may be transmitted in a second transmission. For example, Figure 9 It shows Figure 8 In one variant, blocks L1, L2...Lk undergo channel coding 458 to obtain N bits. As shown in dashed box 460, the N bits include the original L source-coded bits, called system bits, and P redundant bits, called parity bits. In some embodiments, blocks L1 to Lk can all include CRC values, which can be used by receiving device 372 to determine whether any blocks still contain errors after FEC using the received parity bits. Feedback indicating that one or more blocks have errors can be a source decoding result indication.

[0095] In step 434, a first set of parity bits may be sent in the first transmission, and in step 442, a second set of parity bits may be sent in the second transmission. Generally, the first set of parity bits may be the same as or different from the second set of parity bits.

[0096] exist Figure 7 In some embodiments of the method, when implementing FEC, all source bits can be encoded (e.g., Figure 9 All L bits in the code are used for FEC channel coding to generate parity bits (e.g., ...). Figure 9 (All P bits in the parity bit set). Then, the first set of parity bits sent in the first transmission in step 434 and the second set of parity bits sent in the second transmission in step 442 can each be different subsets of the parity bits. (To be continued later...) Figure 10 Describe an example in which different code redundancy versions (CRVs) exist, but this example is not restrictive. For example, it is not necessary to have different source compression versions (SCVs) and CRVs and / or it is not necessary to have different blocks of L bits with different priority levels.

[0097] exist Figure 7In some embodiments of the method, when FEC is implemented, the source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission are subjected to FEC channel coding to generate a first set of parity bits transmitted in the first transmission, also in step 434. The source-coded bits transmitted in the second transmission are then subjected to FEC channel coding to generate a second set of parity bits transmitted in the second transmission, also in step 442. (This will be discussed later.) Figure 11 Describe an example where there are different CRVs, each CRV corresponding to the FEC encoding of a different block of source-coded bits. However, this example is not restrictive; for example, different blocks of L bits do not necessarily need to have different priority levels.

[0098] exist Figure 7 In some embodiments of the method, when implementing FEC, the number of parity bits transmitted in the first and / or second transmissions may vary according to at least one of the following: (i) allocation of time-frequency resources, (ii) channel coding rate, or (iii) modulation scheme. For example, time-frequency resources may be allocated to transmit source coding bits and parity bits (e.g., in...). Figure 7 (The first transmission or the second transmission is sent in the middle). The allocated time-frequency resources are first used to send source coding bits, and the remaining allocated time-frequency resources are then used to send parity bits, wherein the number of parity bits sent depends on the amount of remaining allocated time-frequency resources under a particular channel coding rate and / or modulation scheme (e.g., given MCS).

[0099] exist Figure 7 In some embodiments of the method, the source-coded bits comprise multiple parts. These parts may be referred to as blocks. An example is the previously introduced... Figure 8 and Figure 9 That is, L source-coded bits comprise k blocks. The k blocks are shown as non-overlapping, but in general, different blocks may partially overlap. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, each block L1 to Lk can be individually CRC protected by a corresponding CRC value, which is included as part of the block. Thus, in some embodiments, the receiving device 372 can provide more specific feedback on which block(s) are found to be erroneous.

[0100] In some embodiments, at least two blocks may have different priority levels, but this is not mandatory. For example, at least two blocks may have different transmission priority levels, where at least two blocks may have different importance to the source decoding role, so that in the case of limited transmission resources, the higher-priority block will be transmitted in the limited transmission resources or may use the limited transmission resources. In some embodiments, blocks L1 to Lk may each have different priority levels. In some cases, source-coded bits can be divided into blocks according to their priority, where the number of blocks is equal to the number of priority levels. For example, if only "high-priority" source-coded bits and "normal-priority" source-coded bits exist, there may be two blocks (k=2): one block including all high-priority source-coded bits (e.g., L1) and another block including all normal-priority source-coded bits (e.g., L2). In some embodiments, the network can configure different priority levels for different blocks using dynamic signaling (e.g., DCI) or semi-static signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) via TRP. In some embodiments, different priority levels may correspond to different priority levels for initial transmission and / or retransmission. For example, a higher-priority block may be the block that should be given priority for retransmission.

[0101] In some embodiments, different priority levels may be associated with different levels of importance for source decoding. For example, a high-priority block may carry bits that are important or even essential for source decoding. Here are some exemplary implementations where source coding 454 generates source-coded bits, including at least one high-priority portion / block:

[0102] The Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW) algorithm, where the source coding output includes an initialization table required for source coding and decoding, can be used as an initialization table for source decoding of the remaining blocks L2 through Lk. Therefore, block L1 has a higher priority. Figure 7 In some embodiments of the method, source coding implements LZW coding, and specific portions / blocks of higher-priority source coding bits include bits representing all or part of the code table used for source decoding.

[0103] The reversible embedded wavelet (CREW) compression algorithm uses source-coded bits including the transform reference signal r(n) and detail signal d(n) required for decoding. The importance of r(n) and d(n) for decoding may differ. In one example, r(n) and / or d(n) are included in source block L1, which is required for decoding the remaining blocks L2 to Lk. Therefore, block L1 has a higher priority. Figure 7In some embodiments of the method, source coding implements CREW, and a specific portion / block with a higher priority includes bits representing the reference signal r(n).

[0104] • Principal component analysis (PCA) algorithm, in which there exist eigenvectors arranged in descending order of importance and energy compression information for decoding. The energy compression information can be included in blocks of higher importance, such as L1. Therefore, in Figure 7 In some embodiments of the method, source coding implements PCA, and a particular portion / block with a higher priority includes bits representing one or more feature vectors, each feature vector having an associated larger feature value.

[0105] • Discrete cosine transform (DCT) algorithms, for example, are used for image / video compression, where different source coding blocks have different energy / information, and therefore some blocks (e.g., L1) may have higher importance. Therefore, in Figure 7 In some embodiments of the method, source coding implements DCT, where a specific portion / block with a higher priority includes bits of compressed data points with higher energy.

[0106] • Integer multiwavelet transform (IMWT) algorithms, for example, for image compression, where,

[0107] Higher-priority blocks can represent specific sub-bands. Therefore, in Figure 7 In some embodiments of the method, source coding implements IMWT, where a specific portion / block with a higher priority includes bits representing a specific subband.

[0108] In one example, block L1 is the highest priority block because it contains the most important information for source decoding; for example, block L1 could be the initialization table in an LZW coding scheme. L2 might be the second highest priority block, L3 might be the third highest priority block, and so on, with Lk being the lowest priority block. Higher priority blocks (e.g., block L1) may contain more important information for source decoding, and if receiving device 372 detects an error in such a higher priority block, it may be transmitted with a higher priority than lower priority blocks (e.g., block Lk). For example, L1 might play a more important role in source decoding than other blocks L2...L3 (e.g., as shown in LZW, CREW), or L1 might contain energy compression information (i.e., more information) important for decoding (e.g., as shown in PCA, DCT). Receiving device 372 can detect an error in a block if a CRC checksum indicating an error is used, such as by using the CRC value associated with the block. Feedback indicating this error sent to transmitting device 352 is an example of source decoding result indication.

[0109] In some embodiments, Figure 7The first transmission in the method includes a portion or all of the source-coded bits / blocks, and the source decoding result indicates at least that the specific portion transmitted in the first transmission failed to decode. For example, NACK may accompany, be, or include feedback indicating which different portions failed to decode, and / or NACK may at least indicate that the specific portion failed to decode. It should be noted that "NACK" as used herein can be a binary indication (e.g., a single bit value indicating failure, such as a single ACK / NACK bit, where one value of the bit is NACK). Alternatively, NACK may be or include information related to the failure, such as an indication of which different portions failed to decode. When a specific portion fails to decode, that specific portion can be retransmitted in a second transmission. The specific portion may have a higher priority than one or more other portions. The second transmission may only include a subset of the portions transmitted in the first transmission. Here is an example. Blocks L1 to Lk are transmitted in the first transmission. The source decoding result indicates that at least L1 failed to decode. A "decoding" failure can be channel decoding, source decoding, or a combination of both. For example, block L1 might fail the CRC check, indicating one or more errors in block L1, thus requiring source decoding of the erroneous block. In this case, source decoding can be considered a failure, especially with lossless compression. Alternatively, block L1 might be capable of source decoding, but distortion in the source-decoded bits indicates that at least block L1 has failed. In either case, a NACK can be sent back to the transmitting device 352, indicating that at least block L1 has failed; NACK is an example of a source decoding result indication. In response, L1 is retransmitted in a second transmission. Block L1 may have a higher priority than other blocks. In this example, the "specific part" that failed decoding is block L1, which is retransmitted in the second transmission. Block L1 has a higher priority than other blocks, and the second transmission only includes a subset of the portion sent in the first transmission, because only L1 is sent in the second transmission, while the first transmission includes all blocks L1 to Lk. The following section combines... Figures 12 to 15 To explain other examples, where L1 to Lk are sent in the initial transmission ( Figure 7 (An example of the first transmission in the process), only L1 is sent in the retransmission ( Figure 7 (An example of the second transmission in the process).

[0110] In some embodiments, source compression versions (SCVs) can be used for Figure 7 The first and second transmissions, if FEC channel coding is performed, may simultaneously use a code-redundancy version (CRV).

[0111] A CRV is a set (possibly a subset) of parity bits generated through FEC channel coding. Each CRV can be defined to have a starting position within the larger set of parity bits. The CRV length (expressed as the number of parity bits in the CRV) may be fixed or may vary depending on the time-frequency resources allocated for transmission, the coding rate, and / or the modulation scheme (e.g., link-adaptive MCS value). In some embodiments, for example, in conjunction with... Figure 10 In one example, FEC can be performed on all source-coded bits to generate parity bits, and each CRV can correspond to a specific set or subset of parity bits. In other embodiments, for example, as described below... Figure 11 In the example, CRV can correspond to the parity bit generated by applying FEC to a specific SCV.

[0112] The source-coded bits (SCV) can be all or a subset of the source-coded bits, each version defining a start position and bit length to determine the source-coded bits to be transmitted by the transmitting device 352 in the transmission. In some embodiments, an SCV is associated with one or more portions / blocks L1 to Lk. In some embodiments, incremental information and / or diversity information may be retransmitted to the receiving device 372 along with at least one of the SCV and CRV upon receiving feedback indicating detection failure from the receiving device 372, and / or upon receiving a scheduling signaling message (e.g., a scheduling grant from the TRP). In some embodiments, for unlicensed transmissions, an initial SCV version and a retransmitted SCV version may be predefined for K repeated (K>1) transmissions without waiting for feedback for each transmission, or for up to K repeated (K>1) transmissions until an ACK feedback is received from the receiving device 372.

[0113] In some embodiments, an SCV may include or be associated with one or more blocks (or one or more segments of L bits) consisting of L source-coded bits. In some embodiments, a HARQ method (or a HARQ-like method) may manage a specific SCV and parity bit redundancy version (e.g., CRV) for transmission / retransmission. In some embodiments, feedback may be based on one or both of the following: source decoding results, e.g., reporting or feedback of detection failure of one or more blocks to the transmitter; and / or channel decoding results. In some embodiments, it may be... Figure 7 The first transport in the method is predefined or configured with a default SCV.

[0114] Figure 10Some embodiments of SCV and CRV for multiple transmissions are shown. Transmitting device 352 has information to send to receiving device 372. The information is compressed using source coding to obtain L source-coded bits. These L source-coded bits can be compressed transport blocks (TBs), for example, carrying traffic such as text or images, measurement reports, sensing data, AI data, or parameters. The L source-coded bits output through source coding consist of three parts, referred to as blocks: L1, L2, and L3. Figure 10 It can be regarded as Figure 9 This is a continuation of the example, where k = 3. k = 3 is just an example. k can also be any other integer value greater than 1. L compressed bits are encoded 458 by the FEC channel to obtain N bits (as system bits) and P parity bits, consisting of three blocks L1, L2, and L3. The three blocks L1, L2, and L3 are stored in a first circular buffer 502, for example, in the memory 362 of the transmitting device 352. Four SCVs are associated with the circular buffer 502: SCV0 consists of all blocks L1, L2, and L3; SCV1 consists of block L1; SCV2 consists of block L2; and SCV3 consists of block L3. Each SCV is defined / configured with a starting position in the circular buffer 502, the length of which covers the source-coded bits belonging to that SCV in the buffer 502. If blocks have different priority levels (e.g., different importance for source decoding), a transmission priority can be defined / configured for at least one SCV associated with the corresponding block, wherein the SCV includes at least the corresponding block (or a portion thereof). Figure 10 In the example, we assume that the three blocks have different priority levels, corresponding to different importance for decoding, where L1 has the highest priority and L3 has the lowest priority.

[0115] The P parity bits are stored in the second circular buffer 504, for example, in the memory 362 of the transmitting device 352. Four CRVs are associated with the circular buffer 504: CRV0 consists of a first subset of the P parity bits; CRV1 consists of a second subset of the P parity bits; CRV2 consists of a third subset of the P parity bits; and CRV3 consists of a fourth subset of the P parity bits. Since the P parity bits are generated from all L source-coded bits (i.e., all L bits are input into the FEC channel coding 458 to generate the P parity bits), each parity bit provides the same protection for every source-coded bit. Each CRV represents a subset of the parity bits, and different CRVs represent incremental parity bits.

[0116] Transmitting device 352 uses defined SCVs and CRVs to attempt to transmit information more reliably via HARQ-like feedback based on the SCVs and CRVs, while potentially improving spectral efficiency using fewer transmission resources (e.g., on time-varying channels). Each transmission may consist of an SCV and / or a CRV. In one embodiment, each block L1 through L3 includes its own CRC value for block-by-block CRC checking on receiving device 372 to determine which blocks were successfully decoded and which failed. In some embodiments, the initial transmission and one or more retransmissions may be implemented as follows:

[0117] The initial transmission via channel 390 to receiving device 372 includes SCV0 (all L compressed bits) and CRV0 (the first subset of parity bits). The initial transmission can be... Figure 7 The first transmission in step 434, etc.

[0118] If the CRC check of block L1 fails, feedback may be sent to the transmitting device 352. This feedback is... Figure 7 An example of the source decoding result indication mentioned in the method.

[0119] In response to received feedback, transmitting device 352 can send a retransmission including SCV1 and CRV1. Even if other blocks fail their respective CRC checks, the retransmitted bits only include SCV1, because the SCV1 bits correspond to L1, and L1 has the highest priority. By sending fewer bits in the retransmission (e.g., only including SCV1 and CRV1, without additionally including SCV2), transmission resources can be saved. Retransmissions can be... Figure 7 The second transmission in step 442, etc.

[0120] If the CRC check of block L1 succeeds but the CRC check of block L2 fails, a retransmission including SCV2 and CRV2 is sent. Even if the CRC check of block L3 also fails, the retransmitted bits only include SCV2, because the SCV2 bits correspond to L2, and L2 has a higher priority than L3. By sending fewer bits in the retransmission (e.g., only including SCV2 and CRV2, without additional SCV3), transmission resources can be saved.

[0121] • If the CRC check of block L1 or L2 succeeds, but the CRC check of block L3 fails, a retransmission including SCV3 and CRV3 is sent. The SCV3 bit corresponds to L3.

[0122] In the above method, since retransmissions of bits associated with higher-priority blocks are prioritized, source decoding of that block can be improved. For example, if block L1 fails the CRC check in receiving device 372, a retransmission consisting of SCV1+CRV1 is sent, even if other blocks L2 and / or L3 also fail their respective CRC checks. Incremental redundancy (IR) channel decoding can be performed. Specifically, once SCV1+CRV1 is received in the retransmission, the bits in L1 from the initial transmission can be combined with the same L1 bits from SCV1 (e.g., added to it) (e.g., to obtain a 3dB gain in SNR for L1 bits), and the parity bits of CRV1 are complementary to the bits of the already received CRV0, thus providing more parity bits and increasing the probability of successful channel decoding of L1. If L1 successfully performs channel decoding, L1 passes the CRC check and is error-free during source decoding.

[0123] exist Figure 10In the example shown, the circular buffer 504 storing parity bits defines four CRVs, each covering a different subset of bits. The start point of each CRV in buffer 504 is defined / configured, but the end point of each CRV (i.e., the bit length of each CRV) varies depending on the allocation of time-frequency resources and / or the channel coding rate and / or modulation scheme. For example, the time-frequency resources allocated for transmission are first used by the SCVs (whose lengths are defined and configured), and then the remaining allocated time-frequency resources are used by the corresponding CRVs, whose bit lengths may vary to achieve rate matching of the allocated time-frequency resources under a given channel coding rate and / or modulation scheme. For example, if a retransmission includes SCV1+CRV1, then all SCV1 is sent, but the end point of CRV1 (i.e., how many parity bits are included in CRV1) is a function of the remaining allocated resources, taking into account the coding rate and / or modulation scheme. CRV1 may have only a few bits or many bits. More generally, for any CRVi (i = 0, 1, ...) in any embodiment with CRVs, the start position of the CRV can be configured or predefined, but its bit length (or end position) can be a function of the remaining allocated resources, taking into account the coding rate and / or modulation scheme. In cases where time-frequency resources are limited, only a portion of the SCV may be transmitted and / or the corresponding CRV may not be transmitted. In other embodiments, each CRV may be of fixed length and correspond to a respective subset of parity bits. When a CRV needs to be transmitted, the entire CRV length is transmitted. In embodiments where each CRV includes a corresponding non-overlapping subset of parity bits, a circular buffer is not required; for example, the bits of each CRV may simply be stored in memory. More generally, for any embodiment showing a circular buffer herein, an alternative implementation may not actually use a circular buffer.

[0124] exist Figure 10 In this context, each CRV is a distinct subset of P parity bits output by FEC channel coding of L compressed bits. Figure 11 In the variant shown, each CRV is actually a partial or partial parity bit output by FEC channel coding of the corresponding SCV. For example, CRV0 is all or part of the parity bits output by FEC channel coding of SCV0, CRV1 is all or part of the parity bits output by FEC channel coding of SCV1, CRV2 is all or part of the parity bits output by FEC channel coding of SCV2, and CRV3 is all or part of the parity bits output by FEC channel coding of SCV3. This can provide stronger protection for individual blocks, for example, when retransmitting blocks with higher retransmission priority. For example, if SCV0+CRV0 is in the initial transmission (e.g., Figure 7SCV1+CRV1 is sent in the first transmission, and the CRC check of block L1 fails, causing a retransmission of SCV1+CRV1 to be required (e.g., in the first transmission). Figure 7 In the second transmission, the parity bit of CRV1 is dedicated to protecting block L1, thereby increasing the probability of successful CRC check of block L1 and ensuring error-free decoding of L1 at the source. In some embodiments, the coding rates of CRV1, CRV2, and / or CRV3 are all lower than that of CRV0 (more redundant information) to further improve the probability of successful decoding during retransmission. Since CRVs are independent sets of bits, they do not need to be stored in a circular buffer, but can be stored in a regular buffer or other allocated areas of memory 362.

[0125] In some embodiments, the initial transmission and one or more retransmissions can be as follows: Figure 11 Implementation shown:

[0126] The initial transmission via channel 390 to receiving device 372 includes SCV0 (all L compressed bits) and CRV0 (parity check bits obtained by FEC encoding of SCV0). The initial transmission can be... Figure 7 The first transmission in step 434, etc.

[0127] If the CRC check of block L1 fails, feedback may be sent to the transmitting device 352. This feedback is... Figure 7 An example of the source decoding result indication mentioned in the method.

[0128] In response to the received feedback, the transmitting device 352 can send a retransmission including SCV1 and CRV1. Even if other source blocks fail their respective CRC checks, the retransmitted bits only include SCV1, because the SCV1 bits correspond to L1, and L1 is the highest priority.

[0129] CRV1 is a parity bit obtained by FEC encoding SCV1. By sending fewer bits in retransmissions (e.g., only including SCV1 and CRV1, without additional SCV2), transmission resources can be saved. Sending the parity bit directly based on SCV1 may provide better protection for SCV1. Retransmissions can be... Figure 7 The second transmission in step 442, etc.

[0130] If the CRC check of block L1 succeeds but the CRC check of block L2 fails, a retransmission including SCV2 and CRV2 is sent. Even if the CRC check of block L3 also fails, the retransmitted bits only include SCV2, because the SCV2 bits correspond to L2, and L2 has a higher priority than L3. CRV2 is the parity bit obtained by FEC encoding SCV2. By sending fewer bits in the retransmission (e.g., only including SCV2 and CRV2, without additional SCV3), transmission resources can be saved. By sending the parity bit directly according to SCV2, SCV2 may be better protected.

[0131] • If the CRC check of block L1 or L2 succeeds, but the CRC check of block L3 fails, a retransmission including SCV3 and CRV3 is sent. The SCV3 bit corresponds to L3.

[0132] Incremental redundancy (IR) channel decoding is possible. For example, once SCV1+CRV1 is received in a retransmission, the bits in L1 from the initial transmission can be combined with the same L1 bits from SCV1 (e.g., added to them) (e.g., to obtain a 3dB gain in SNR for the L1 bits), while the parity bits of CRV1 are complementary to the bits of the already received CRV0, thus providing more parity bits and increasing the probability of successful channel decoding by L1. If L1 successfully decodes the channel, then L1 passes the CRC check and is error-free during source decoding.

[0133] and Figure 10 Similar examples exist, in combination Figure 11 In the illustrated embodiment, the bit length of each CRV varies depending on the allocated time-frequency resources, taking into account the channel coding rate and / or modulation scheme. The time-frequency resources allocated for transmission are first used by the SCV (whose length is defined and configured), and then the remaining allocated time-frequency resources are used by the corresponding CRV, whose bit length may vary continuously to achieve rate matching of the allocated time-frequency resources under a given channel coding rate and / or modulation scheme. When the SRV performs FEC channel coding to generate a specific number of parity bits, the CRV may be a subset of the parity bits that match the available time-frequency transmission resources under a given channel coding rate and / or modulation scheme. In cases where allocated time-frequency resources are limited, only a portion of the SCVs may be transmitted and / or the corresponding CRVs may not be transmitted.

[0134] Figure 12 It shows the use of Figure 10 or Figure 11 This is an exemplary source codec retransmission protocol for SCV and CRV as defined in [the original text]. Figure 12In the example, lossless source encoding and decoding are assumed, and the transmitting device 352 is a TRP and the receiving device 372 is a UE. Table 552 provides options for indicating the source decoding result. The transmitting device 352 and the receiving device 372 are aware of the values ​​in Table 552 in advance; for example, these values ​​are predefined or preconfigured. In this example, the indication is based on the CRC checksum for each source-coded bit block. If a block passes the CRC checksum after channel decoding, the detection is considered successful, meaning that the block had no errors during source decoding. If a block fails the CRC checksum after channel decoding, the detection of that block is considered failed because the block has one or more errors, which means that using that block for source decoding would result in errors / distortion. Table 552 has four options: 00 indicates that all blocks were detected successfully; 01 indicates that only block L1 failed; 10 indicates that all blocks except L1 failed; and 11 indicates that both block L1 and other blocks failed. Block L1 has a higher priority in source decoding, so retransmitted block L1 is given priority. In this example, transmitting device 352 has TB to send to receiving device 372. After source coding, TB becomes source-coded bits consisting of three blocks L1 to L3. The initial transmission includes SCV0+CRV0. Receiving device 372 performs FEC using CRV0, and then performs CRC checks on the received blocks L1 to L3 respectively. L1 and one or more other blocks fail the CRC check. Therefore, receiving device 372 sends a NACK with a value of 11 to transmitting device 352. In response, the transmitting device sends SCV1+CRV1. Receiving device 372 receives SCV1+CRV1 and uses HARQ soft combining, e.g., incremental redundancy (IR), to attempt channel decoding of L1, possibly again decoding other blocks that failed the CRC check. Channel decoding of L1 is successful, meaning the CRC check of L1 is successful. The failure to detect other blocks that failed the CRC check is not unexpected, as retransmissions are concentrated on L1. Receiving device 372 sends a NACK with a value of 10. In response, the transmitting device sends SCV2+CRV2. This provides sufficient redundancy for successful channel decoding of the remaining blocks, for example, using IR decoding. CRC checks of all blocks pass. An ACK is sent, and simultaneously, the transmitting device 352 releases the TB from its HARQ buffer.

[0135] exist Figure 12 In the example, Figure 12 The initial transmission is Figure 7 An example of the first transmission (step 434) of the method, Figure 12 The first pass is Figure 7 An example of the second transmission (step 442) in the method. NACK(11) is an example of the source decoding result indication. Alternatively,Figure 12 The first and second passes in the process can be Figure 7 Examples of the first and second transmissions in the data, in which NACK(10) could be an example of the source decoding result indication.

[0136] Figure 13 yes Figure 12 A variant of this, where lossy compression is implemented instead of lossless compression. After the first retransmission, receiving device 372 successfully performs channel decoding on the high-priority block L1. The CRC check of L1 passes. Therefore, source decoding will continue even if the CRC check of one or more other blocks fails. There must be distortion in the source-decoded bits, at least because some of the received source-coded blocks had transmission errors. However, since the amount of distortion in the source-decoded bits is at an acceptable level (e.g., below a threshold), an ACK is sent back to transmitting device 352.

[0137] exist Figure 12 and Figure 13 In this example, it is not necessary to determine detection / decoding failure by CRC checksums of blocks L1 to L3. Alternatively (or additionally), the following method can be used: after FEC, the block is source-decoded, the distortion in the source-decoded bits is determined, and a mapping exists between the distortion in different portions of the source-decoded bits and the block, allowing the receiving device 372 to determine which blocks are associated with detection failure.

[0138] Figure 14 It shows the use of Figure 10 or Figure 11 Another exemplary source codec retransmission protocol for SCV and CRV as defined in [the document / reference]. Figure 14 In the example, lossless source encoding / decoding is assumed, and it is also assumed that transmitting device 352 is the UE and receiving device 372 is the TRP; therefore, the TRP's feedback may be a DCI. Transmitting device 352 has TBs to transmit, so it sends a scheduling request (SR) and / or a buffers status report (BSR) to the receiving device 372, indicating that it has TBs to transmit. The receiving device authorizes or activates resources (e.g., time-frequency resources) for the initial transmission and any retransmissions. A DCI is sent to transmitting device 352 to indicate or activate resource authorization, and also indicates which SCV and CRV to use. The remainder of the method is consistent with... Figure 12 The above is the same, and combined with the above text Figure 12 The interpretations and variations discussed also apply. Figure 14 In this context, DCI does not necessarily need to use and send the values ​​in Table 552 (although it can). DCI can explicitly indicate the SCV and CRV to be used, which is...Figure 14 The situation is shown. Figure 15 It is a variant of lossy compression, combined with Figure 13 The notes and variations discussed also apply. Figure 15 .

[0139] exist Figures 8 to 15 In variations, portions / blocks of source-coded bits may not have distinguished priorities; for example, each source-coded bit (or block of bits) may contribute the same information to source decoding and / or channel decoding. The lengths of SCV1 to SCV3 may be equal or unequal. In some such embodiments, the L portions / blocks may be divided into three non-overlapping sets, each set mapping to a corresponding one of SCV1 to SCV3. Each block may have a corresponding CRC value to identify detection failures for each block. If a single block fails to detect, the SCV corresponding to that block is retransmitted; for example, if L1 fails, the retransmission includes SCV1. If the detection of two or more blocks fails, the method for selecting an SCV may be: (1) random (e.g., if L1 and L2 fail, randomly select SCV1 or SCV2 for retransmission); and / or (2) based on previous retransmission history, such that each SCV has an equal chance of transmission (e.g., if L1 and L2 fail, if SCV1 has already been retransmitted, select SCV2 for retransmission instead of SCV1); and / or (3) if necessary, transmit multiple SCVs while reducing the number of CRV bits (e.g., if L1 and L2 fail, retransmit SCV1 and SCV2 to reduce or eliminate CRV bits, provided that the allocated time-frequency resources are sufficient to transmit SCV1 and SCV2 simultaneously). In some embodiments, the above options (1) to (3) may be configured by the network via higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). In some embodiments, the selection of one of these options may be indicated by the network dynamically (e.g., in DCI) or semi-statically (e.g., in higher-layer signaling such as RRC signaling). In some embodiments, the selection rule can be configured for RRC based on specific conditions such as service type or application type. In some embodiments, the initial transmission includes SCV0 and CRV0, wherein SCV0 includes all source-coded bits for transmission so that the receiving device 372 receiving the initial transmission can self-decode. Upon receiving the initial transmission, the receiving device 372 can perform channel decoding and source decoding. If decoding fails, one or more blocks may be detected as erroneous, thus requiring retransmission, i.e., sending the SCV associated with the erroneous block. SCV can be selected for retransmission as described above. (The above is combined with...) Figures 10 to 15 The remaining interpretations may still apply in cases involving blocks of the same priority level; for example, CRV can be interpreted as follows: Figure 10 or Figure 11The definitions shown are valid, and the length of each CRV may depend on the available allocated time-frequency transmission resources, taking into account the coding rate and / or modulation scheme. In cases of limited allocated time-frequency resources, only a portion of the SCVs may be transmitted and / or the corresponding CRVs may not be transmitted.

[0140] In conjunction with the above Figures 10 to 15 In examples of its variant interpretations, only three parts / blocks L1 to L3 of the source-coded bits exist. Generally, there may be k blocks, where k is a natural number greater than 1. Furthermore, in conjunction with the above... Figures 10 to 15 In the example provided, each SCV1 through SCV3 has bits equal to the bits of the corresponding different blocks; for example, the bits of SCV1 are the bits of block L1. Alternatively, an SCV may include only a portion of the bits of a block (e.g., SCV1 may include only a portion of the bits of L1), or an SCV may include the bits of a block plus a portion of the bits of other blocks (e.g., SCV1 may include all the bits of L1 and a portion of the bits of L2), or an SCV may include the bits of multiple blocks (e.g., SCV1 may include all the bits of L1 and L2). Figure 16 This illustrates an exemplary way in which SCVs can be mapped to different source-coded bit blocks, where there are k blocks. It should be noted that some SCV indices may map to multiple blocks. Figure 16 In the mapping, block L1 may have the highest priority, while block Lk may have the lowest priority. Alternatively, even if all blocks have the same priority—for example, L bits have equal (or indistinguishable) importance—they are still divided into blocks to define distinct subsets of the L bits corresponding to different SCVs. Figure 16 The mapping may still apply.

[0141] In conjunction with the above Figures 8 to 15 In examples of its variants, a block of L source-coded bits or L source-coded bits may include additional information, such as a header and / or soft source information, such as prior source information, and / or edge source distortion information / acceptable thresholds, etc. In one embodiment, a header may be present in the transmission to indicate the length / position of L1, L2…Lk to the receiving device 372, wherein the header may indicate the context type and length, similar to a MAC subheader. In embodiments where different blocks have different priority levels, the header of each block may include flags indicating the block priority (e.g., two priorities: L for low priority, H for high priority). Alternatively or concurrently, the block priorities may be ordered (e.g., descending order), for example, if block L1 has the highest priority, it is placed first.

[0142] exist Figure 7In some embodiments of the method, the source decoding result indication includes an indication of which bits of the source-coded bits were transmitted in the second transmission. Combined with... Figures 12 to 15 Specific examples illustrate this point. For instance, the NACK / ACK indication bits fed back from the receiving device are an example of source decoding result indication, explicitly or indirectly indicating which source-coded bits should be sent in the retransmission. Figure 7 In some embodiments of the method, the indication of which bits in the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission includes an indication of the SCV used for the second transmission. For example, in Figure 12 and Figure 13 middle, Figure 7 The first transmission can be Figure 12 or Figure 13 The initial transmission, Figure 7 The second transmission can be Figure 12 or Figure 13 The first pass. Figure 12 or Figure 13 The NACK(11) instruction sent in the middle is that SCV1 will send it in the second transmission (i.e. Figure 12 or Figure 13 The instruction sent in the first retransmission. NACK(11) is an indirect instruction because it does not explicitly indicate SCV1, but both the transmitting device 352 and the receiving device 372 know that SCV1 should be sent in response to NACK(11). For example, in Figure 14 and Figure 15 middle, Figure 7 The first transmission can be Figure 14 or Figure 15 The initial transmission, Figure 7 The second transmission can be Figure 14 or Figure 15 The first retransmission. The DCI (NACK / SCV1, CRV1) instruction explicitly indicates that the first retransmission should use SCV1.

[0143] In some embodiments, the SCV may exist independently of the CRV. Figure 7 The first transmission in the method may include source-coded bits corresponding to a specific SCV, and the source decoding result indication may explicitly or indirectly indicate the SCV used in the second transmission.

[0144] exist Figure 7In some embodiments of the method, the feedback sent in step 438, including an indication of the source decoding result, may include one or two feedback messages, such as one or two NACKs (or ACKs). If an ACK / NACK is sent, the ACK may indicate successful source decoding, while the NACK may be an indication of the source decoding result for a second transmission. For example, a NACK may be sent because there is too much distortion in the source decoded bits and / or because one or more blocks of received source-coded bits fail the CRC check, indicating that there is an error in the bits during source decoding (e.g., in lossless compression, this indicates source decoding failure because erroneous blocks are being decompressed through source decoding). In embodiments where two feedback messages exist, one may be for channel encoding / decoding and the other may be for source encoding / decoding. For example, Figure 7 Step 438 may include an ACK or NACK indicating whether channel decoding failed, for example, based on a failed CRC check after channel decoding. Figure 7 Step 438 may also include an ACK or NACK indicating whether source decoding failed, for example, based on a distortion measure in the source decoded bits. (Described later) Figure 18 This illustrates an example where source decoding and channel decoding have separate ACK / NACK feedback.

[0145] In some embodiments, in response to receiving a NACK indicating at least one of source decoding failure or channel decoding failure, the following steps are performed: Figure 7 The second transmission in step 442. For example, NACK can indicate source decoding failure (e.g., due to excessive distortion), which may trigger the second transmission. Alternatively, NACK can indicate channel decoding failure (e.g., due to CRC check failure), which may trigger the second transmission. Or, NACK can indicate source and / or channel decoding failure (e.g., not indicating which one failed, but at least one failed, and if a joint channel-source decoding algorithm is used, it may not even be possible to explicitly indicate which one failed), which may trigger the second transmission.

[0146] In combination Figures 8 to 15 Discussion Figure 7 In a specific example of the method, the L source-coded bits comprise multiple parts / blocks, for example, L1 to L3. In a variant, the source-coded bits may or may not include multiple parts / blocks; if the source-coded bits include multiple parts / blocks, the different parts / blocks may or may not have different priority levels. In any case, the SCV can be defined as a subset of the source-coded bits, each bit having a different starting position, and the length of the SCV can be defined by a compression ratio value, called the compression ratio (“CpR”). The transmitting device 352 can receive an indication of the CpR, which determines the transmission (e.g., in...)Figure 7 In the first and / or second transmission, a specific number of bits for a particular SCV needs to be sent. For example, Figure 17 Different exemplary SCV sizes are shown. Information is source-coded 454 in transmitting device 352 to obtain L source-coded bits, for example, such as... Figure 7 As shown in step 432, the L source-coded bits can be stored in a circular buffer. Each SCV is a distinct subset of the L source-coded bits, with a predefined or pre-configured starting point. CpR defines the length of each SCV and may also define the starting point of one or more SCVs (or, the start of each SCV can be fixed, only requiring CpR to define the length). Figure 17 An example of k=3 SCVs is shown. The shaded area shows a subset of the L source-coded bits included in each SCV for each CpR, with four exemplary CpRs shown: 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7. FEC channel coding may also be performed to define the corresponding CRV, for example, as... Figure 10 or Figure 11 The method for generating CRVs is described in the text. For example, each CRV can be a subset of parity bits generated by FEC channel coding of L bits (e.g., ...). Figure 10 (as shown), or each CRV can be a parity bit generated by FEC channel coding of the corresponding SCV (as shown). Figure 11 As shown), SCV can be defined as a function of CpR, such as Figure 17 As shown. Figures 12 to 15 The exemplary method can be applied to, for example, Figure 17 The generated SCV shown may not correspond one-to-one with the source coded bit blocks (e.g., L1 to L3 may not be explicitly defined). In some embodiments within the context of wireless communication systems, the CpR may be defined as part of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), for example, not only for link adaptation but also for compression rate adaptation. For example, transmitting device 352 is a UE, and receiving device 372 is a TRP. The TRP does not transmit instructions indicating that the MCS is used for transmission (e.g., for...). Figure 7 Instead of transmitting the MCS value for the first and / or second transmission, the transmission sends modulation, CpR, and coding scheme (MCCS) values ​​that are mapped to a specific modulation rate, CpR, and coding rate to be used for the transmission (e.g., for the first and / or second transmission). An exemplary MCCS table is shown below:

[0147] MCCS value Modulation Coding rate CpR 0 BPSK 0.5 0.5 1 BPSK 0.5 1.0 2 QPSK 0.75 0.5 …… …… …… ……

[0148] In some embodiments, multiple versions of the MCCS table (including different values) can be generated, each table being associated with a different channel quality metric (e.g., bit error rate or block error rate), and one particular table can be used.

[0149] Figure 18 An exemplary method for implementing CpR retransmission is shown. Figure 18 In this method, the transmitting device 352 is a TRP, and the receiving device 372 is a UE. The TRP performs source coding to generate L source-coded bits. For the initial transmission, a subset of the L source-coded bits, defined by SCV0 and a specific CpR (referred to as "CpR3"), is selected. FEC channel coding is performed using a specific coding rate (CR) (referred to as "CR5") to obtain CRV0. In step 602, SCV0 and CRV0 are transmitted in the initial transmission. Figure 18 In the example, the UE sends feedback related to channel decoding and source decoding, respectively. In one implementation, channel decoding failure can be determined as follows: a CRC value is calculated for the transmitted system bits, and if the CRC check using the CRC value fails after FEC channel decoding with parity bits, the channel decoding is considered to have failed. In another implementation, source decoding failure can be determined as follows: after channel decoding, source-coded bits are source-decoded. The distortion in the source-decoded bits is compared to a distortion threshold; if the distortion is too high (e.g., exceeding the threshold), source decoding failure can be determined. Alternatively or additionally, a CRC value can be included in the information before source encoding; if the CRC check fails after source decoding, source decoding failure can be determined.

[0150] exist Figure 18In this example, assume the UE fails to successfully perform channel decoding and source decoding on the initial transmission sent in step 602. Therefore, in step 604, the UE sends back a NACK indicating channel decoding failure (referred to as "channel-NACK"), and also sends back a NACK indicating source decoding failure (referred to as "source-NACK"). In response, TRP selects a subset of L bits corresponding to SCV1 with the same compression rate as CpR3. The generated / selected parity bit is CRV1, but with a lower coding rate "CR4" to provide more robust channel decoding performance. SCV1 and CRV1 are sent in step 606. The UE performs HARQ merging channel decoding (e.g., incremental redundancy), merging SCV0 with SCV1. In this example, assume channel decoding is successful, but source decoding still fails. Therefore, in step 608, the UE sends back an indication of successful channel decoding ("channel-ACK") and a source-NACK. In response, TRP selects a new SCV0 as L bits defined using a lower compression rate "CpR5", which means more source-coded bits compared to the SCV0 defined by CpR3. The corresponding CRV0 is obtained using a lower coding rate CR4. SCV0 and CRV0 are transmitted in step 610. Channel decoding and source decoding are successful, therefore ACKs (channel-ACK and source-ACK) are sent for each decoding step in step 612.

[0151] exist Figure 18 In this method, it can be considered that the link adaptation was performed because the coding rate of the second transmission changed. Alternatively, it can be considered that the compression adaptation was performed because the compression rate of the third transmission changed. The transmission in step 602 is... Figure 7 An example of the first transmission of the method, the transmission in step 606 is Figure 7 This is an example of the second transmission of the method, and the feedback in step 604 is an example of the indication of the source decoding result.

[0152] Combination Figure 17 and Figure 18 The example of CpR described can be implemented as follows Figure 7 It is part of the method. For example, more generally, Figure 7 The method may include receiving a compression ratio value, which is used to configure in Figure 7 The number of source-coded bits to be transmitted in at least one of the first or second transmissions. Different compression rate values ​​(CpR) indicate different subset sizes of the source-coded bits to be transmitted. SCV can define the starting point of the subset.

[0153] exist Figure 7In some embodiments of the method, the source decoding result indication includes an indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission, and this indication is based on the processing of artificial intelligence (AI) data. For example, AI data can be transmitted from a transmitting device 352 (e.g., a UE) to a receiving device 372 (e.g., a TRP). Some or all of the AI ​​data may be compressed, and / or the AI ​​data may be transmitted along with compressed non-AI data. The compressed bits may be in… Figure 7 The source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission in step 434. In one example, the AI ​​data is training data used to train an AI model, such as a machine learning (ML) model like a neural network (NN). The AI ​​data may consist of different parts / blocks with different priorities; for example, key parameters of the AI ​​model may be more important than other secondary data used to supplement or refine the model. The received AI data may need to be processed, and the processing may find that some data needs to be sent or retransmitted; for example, additional training data may need to be sent or retransmitted to bring the model training to convergence. Source decoding may fail for some key training data and / or parameters, which can be measured by CRC checksums and / or failures associated with decompressed data, such as training failing to converge. The source decoding result indication can indicate what needs to be retransmitted. In some embodiments, the feedback (i.e., the source decoding result indication) may not be just NACK, but may be one or more bits, thus providing a more meaningful indication of what needs to be sent in the second transmission; for example, the feedback may have a stronger semantic nature.

[0154] In any embodiment of channel coding and decoding described herein, channel coding and decoding can be performed separately from source coding and decoding, or joint source channel coding (JSCC) can be implemented. JSCC can improve performance, for example, at a bit error rate (BER) of 10. –4 At the same time, compared with the standalone joint source-channel coding and decoding, the joint LDPC source coding and decoding and LDPC channel coding and decoding can achieve a gain of about 2.3dB.

[0155] Various signaling interactions can be implemented to support any of the embodiments described herein. Examples may include:

[0156] • Signaling used to configure / define the priority of blocks and / or SCVs, for example, indicating that block L1 has the highest priority, indicating that higher-priority SCVs are helpful for joint channel source decoding, etc.

[0157] • The JSCC two-level transport version can be indicated via DCI signaling, for example, by indicating: SCV and / or CRV and / or HARQ process number and

[0158] / or new data indicator and / or source compression ratio

[0159] • ACK / NACK feedback, which may include a separate ACK / NACK for channel decoding and / or source decoding (e.g., a 1-bit source ACK / NACK or feedback providing more information about source decoding failure). This could be... Figure 7 The source decoding result is indicated in the text.

[0160] Some additional embodiments will be described in detail below in the context of wireless communication. Figure 19 A system architecture for wireless communication is illustrated using some embodiments. Information from logical channels (e.g., common control channel (CCCH), dedicated traffic channel (DTCH), and / or dedicated control channel (DCCH)) is multiplexed and inserted into medium access control (MAC) packet data units (PDUs). These MAC PDUs are used for transmission in an uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) or a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH). Information is transmitted in the form of transport blocks (TBs). In the physical sublayer, each TB undergoes source encoding / decoding as described herein (e.g., in...). Figure 7In step 432), source-coded bits are generated, for example, L bits mentioned herein, which can be divided into parts / blocks L1 to Lk. Channel coding / decoding is first applied, possibly in conjunction with source coding, followed by modulation and transmission over physical channels such as the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) or Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). The enhanced HARQ entity can control the feedback / retransmission of the different source-coded bits mentioned herein. For example, the HARQ entity can implement a framework for managing retransmissions, enabling the transmitting device to know when source-coded bits need to be retransmitted, and enabling the receiving device to know whether the received data packet is an initial transmission or a retransmission, and if it is a retransmission, which TB the retransmission is associated with, etc. The HARQ entity can manage MAC PDU fragmentation / reassembly, transport block buffering and processing, source-coded bits and channel-coded bits, and manage redundant information transmission. Optionally, source coding and / or channel coding can be adapted based on channel quality feedback (e.g., based on channel quality indicator (CQI) values). For example, if the CQI value indicates good channel quality, high compression rate source coding (e.g., fewer source coding bits) and / or high coding rate (less redundant information) can be implemented, and vice versa if the CQI value indicates low channel quality. In addition to modifying the normal link adaptation of the MCS, channel-aware source coding (e.g., changing the compression strength of the source coding) can also be implemented. When CQI values ​​are not used, other channel metrics or measures, such as bit error rate or packet error rate, can be used to adapt the source coding. Source coding adaptation can be implicit (e.g., correlation adaptation based on channel quality metrics) or explicit (e.g., controlled by the network via explicit messages).

[0161] The L source-coded bits output through source coding can be called a source data packet. In some embodiments, different source data packets can be multiplexed within the same TB. If a TB includes multiple source data packets, each source data packet (consisting of compressed bits) in the TB can have a header associated with each source data packet, which indicates the source data packet number and may also indicate other information such as compression indicators (e.g., CpR). In some embodiments, signaling such as DCI can indicate the source distribution in the TB, for example, whether the TB has one or more traffic data packets and / or the corresponding traffic type and / or traffic ratio, which may be required or necessary for the receiver to perform joint source channel decoding. In some embodiments, in addition to the conventional HARQ ACK / NACK feedback for channel decoding, the UE also reports ACK / NACK for source decoding, which may include reporting the source data packet number and the ACK / NACK status corresponding to that source data packet number.

[0162] In some embodiments, if the TB carries one or more complete source packets, the DCI may include indications of: a source process number (e.g., an indication of a source ID, where the source packet is assigned to a source process); and / or a source compression scheme (e.g., an indication of CpR); and / or a compression version; and / or a new source indicator (e.g., a bit that indicates new source data if it is flipped compared to a previously received transmission).

[0163] In some embodiments, source packets may be transmitted over several TBs, in which case the DCI may include indications of the following: source process number (e.g., indicating source ID, where the source packet is assigned to a source process); and / or segmentation information (e.g., indicating whether a TB includes a complete packet, or a first / last / intermediate segment); and / or segment offset (e.g., indicating the position of the current segment in the packet); and / or source compression scheme (e.g., indicating CpR); and / or compression version; and / or a new source indicator (e.g., a bit that indicates new source data if it is flipped compared to a previously received transmission).

[0164] Some embodiments offer the following advantages. In current HARQ implementations, the HARQ method is limited to channel coding and decoding. The underlying traffic (e.g., TB) that needs to be transmitted is transparent to the HARQ method. Conversely, in some embodiments described herein, source coding and decoding alone, source coding and decoding combined with channel coding and decoding, or a combination of source and channel coding and decoding, can be performed in conjunction with a HARQ process that includes one or more features of source coding and decoding, for example, where the HARQ process intentionally prioritizes retransmission of more important blocks output from the source encoder. If channel coding and decoding are also implemented, the HARQ process can be referred to as a “two-stage” (or “two-level”) HARQ process because it operates at both the channel coding and decoding and source coding and decoding levels. Feedback methods can be referred to as two-stage HARQ methods. Future applications or use cases (e.g., 6G wireless communication) may involve information (e.g., traffic) generated through sensing or artificial intelligence (AI) that supports and / or requires real-time or physical source coding and decoding and transmission, combined with channel coding and decoding. Exemplary scenarios may include the transmission of perceived data / images for network control, local AI data / model transmission, and extended reality (XR) and virtual reality (VR) services based on quality of service (QoS). In these scenarios or use cases, the network can utilize source and channel coding / decoding (and possibly JSCC) to attempt to optimize source coding using unconstructed redundancy and channel coding / decoding using constructed redundancy to achieve more efficient transmission over different channels. Source coding information may include different portions of source-coded (compressed) bits with different importance for source decoding. Therefore, source coding information may be used to improve transmission efficiency, specifically by ensuring that certain source-coded bits are more important for source decoding and thus may need to be correctly sent to the receiver with higher priority, or by retransmitting specific erroneous source-coded bits (or blocks) reported (or fed back) by the receiver. In this sense, the source coding / decoding information that needs to be channel-coded and transmitted is no longer transparent to the sender. Conversely, the transmitter, knowing both the source coding information and the associated channel coding and decoding information, can implement more efficient initial transmission and / or retransmission methods under constantly changing channel conditions. These methods can be implemented through source-channel two-stage HARQ operations, and embodiments of these methods are described in this paper.

[0165] In some embodiments, when implementing JSCC, the source coding / decoding process may generate or obtain (e.g., extract / derive) different characteristics with varying importance to source decoding. HARQ methods may leverage these differentiated characteristics to enhance joint source-channel decoding (JSCD). For example, retransmissions may prioritize more important source-coded bits or blocks while attempting to reduce air link resource usage; or retransmissions may prioritize reported erroneous source-coded bits or blocks to improve source and channel decoding. That is, in some embodiments, a two-stage HARQ method is disclosed that utilizes source and channel coding / decoding information from HARQ operations to improve transmission efficiency and optimize JSCD. In some embodiments, the two-stage HARQ method prioritizes transmitting higher-importance source-coded blocks rather than lower-importance ones, attempting to achieve more efficient source decoding, thereby achieving JSCD. Two-stage HARQ can utilize source context awareness to perform more efficient transmission, improving JSCD and / or spectral efficiency.

[0166] Figure 7 The method is executed by two devices. Each device may include at least one processor and a memory storing processor-executable instructions, which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the device to perform... Figure 7 The method steps are described in the text. The device can be a component in the UE or network device, for example, controlling the device to perform... Figure 7 The method steps in the paper describe the integrated circuit chip. Figure 7 Many variations thereof. All such variations and examples are under consideration. For example, any exemplary method for source coding disclosed herein may be combined with any source decoding result indication disclosed herein. As another example, SCV and / or CRV for the first and second transmissions may be combined with any source coding method or any source decoding method or any type of source decoding result indication disclosed herein.

[0167] In addition to and consistent with the description above, the following examples are provided.

[0168] Example 1: A method performed by a device includes: source encoding information to obtain source-coded bits; transmitting a first set of the source-coded bits in a first transmission, wherein the first set includes some or all of the source-coded bits; receiving a source decoding result indication; and in response to receiving the source decoding result indication: transmitting a second set of the source-coded bits in a second transmission, wherein the second set includes some or all of the source-coded bits.

[0169] Example 2: According to the method described in Example 1, wherein the second set of the source-coded bits is different from the first set of the source-coded bits.

[0170] Example 3: According to the method described in Example 2, the second set of the source-coded bits includes only a subset of the source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission.

[0171] Example 4: The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 3, wherein the source coding compresses the information at the physical layer to generate the source-coded bits.

[0172] Example 5: According to the method described in Example 4, the source coding is based on a source compression method that performs lossless or lossy compression.

[0173] Example 6: According to the method described in Example 5, wherein the source compression method implements one of the following: Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW), principal component analysis (PCA), integer multiwavelet transform (IMWT), compression with reversible embedded wavelets (CREW), or discrete cosine transform (DCT).

[0174] Example 7: The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 6 further includes: performing forward error correction channel coding to generate parity bits, wherein a first set of parity bits is transmitted in the first transmission, and a second set of parity bits is transmitted in the second transmission.

[0175] Example 8: According to the method described in Example 7, forward error correction channel coding is performed on all the source coding bits to generate the parity bits, wherein the first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits are different subsets of the parity bits.

[0176] Example 9: According to the method in Example 7, the source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission are subjected to forward error correction channel coding to generate the first set of parity bits; and the source-coded bits transmitted in the second transmission are subjected to forward error correction channel coding to generate the second set of parity bits.

[0177] Example 10: The method according to any one of Examples 7 to 9, wherein the number of parity bits transmitted depends on at least one of the following: (i) allocation of time-frequency resources, (ii) channel coding rate, or (iii) modulation scheme.

[0178] Example 11: The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 10 further includes: including at least one cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value in the first transmission, the source decoding result indicating at least in part based on a CRC check using the CRC value.

[0179] Example 12: The method according to Example 11 includes: sending a corresponding CRC value for each of a plurality of portions of the source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission; the source decoding result indicates at least that the specific portion failed to decode according to a CRC check using the corresponding CRC value corresponding to the specific portion.

[0180] Example 13: The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 12, wherein the source decoding result indication depends on the source decoding distortion.

[0181] Example 14: The method described in Example 13, wherein the source decoding result indication depends on a distortion threshold.

[0182] Example 15: The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 14, wherein the source decoding result indication includes an indication of which bits of the source encoded bits were transmitted in the second transmission.

[0183] Example 16: According to the method of Example 15, wherein the indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission includes: an indication of the source compression version (SCV) for the second transmission.

[0184] Example 17: The method according to Example 15, wherein the indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission is based on the processing of artificial intelligence (AI) data.

[0185] Example 18: The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 17, wherein the source-coded bits comprise a plurality of different portions, at least two of which have different priority levels.

[0186] Example 19: According to the method of Example 18, wherein the first transmission includes part or all of the portion, and the source decoding result indicates at least that a specific portion transmitted in the first transmission failed to be decoded, and the specific portion is retransmitted in the second transmission.

[0187] Example 20: The method according to Example 19, wherein the specific portion has a higher priority than one or more other portions.

[0188] Example 21: The method according to Example 19 or 20, wherein the second transmission includes only a subset of the portion sent in the first transmission.

[0189] Example 22: The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 21, wherein the second transmission is performed in response to receiving a negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating at least one of source decoding failure or channel decoding failure.

[0190] Example 23: The method according to any one of Examples 1 to 22, further comprising: receiving a compression ratio value, wherein the compression ratio value is used to configure the number of source-coded bits to be transmitted in at least one of the first transmission or the second transmission.

[0191] Example 24: An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and a memory storing processor-executable instructions, wherein, when executed by the at least one processor, the processor causes the apparatus to perform the following operations: source-encode information to obtain source-coded bits; transmit a first set of the source-coded bits in a first transmission, wherein the first set includes some or all of the source-coded bits; receive a source decoding result indication; and, in response to receiving the source decoding result indication, transmit a second set of the source-coded bits in a second transmission, wherein the second set includes some or all of the source-coded bits.

[0192] Example 25: The device according to Example 24, wherein the second set of the source-coded bits is different from the first set of the source-coded bits.

[0193] Example 26: The device according to Example 25, wherein the second set of the source-coded bits includes only a subset of the source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission.

[0194] Example 27: The device according to any one of Examples 24 to 26, wherein the source coding compresses the information at the physical layer to generate the source-coded bits.

[0195] Example 28: The device according to Example 27, wherein the source coding is based on a source compression method that performs lossless or lossy compression.

[0196] Example 29: The device according to Example 28, wherein the source compression method implements one of the following: Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW), principal component analysis (PCA), integer multiwavelet transform (IMWT), compression with reversible embedded wavelets (CREW), or discrete cosine transform (DCT).

[0197] Example 30: According to any one of Examples 24 to 29, the device is further caused to perform the following operations: perform forward error correction channel coding to generate parity bits, a first set of parity bits being transmitted in the first transmission, and a second set of parity bits being transmitted in the second transmission.

[0198] Example 31: The device according to Example 30, wherein forward error correction channel coding is performed on all the source coding bits to generate the parity bits, wherein the first set of the parity bits and the second set of the parity bits are different subsets of the parity bits.

[0199] Example 32: The device according to Example 30, wherein the source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission are subjected to forward error correction channel coding to generate a first set of parity bits; and the source-coded bits transmitted in the second transmission are subjected to forward error correction channel coding to generate a second set of parity bits.

[0200] Example 33: The device according to any one of Examples 30 to 32, wherein the number of parity bits transmitted depends on at least one of the following: (i) the allocation of time-frequency resources, (ii) the channel coding rate, or (iii) the modulation scheme.

[0201] Example 34: According to any one of Examples 24 to 33, the device is further made to perform the following operation: include at least one cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value in the first transmission, the source decoding result indicating at least in part based on a CRC check using the CRC value.

[0202] Example 35: The device according to Example 34, wherein the device is configured to perform the following operations: send a corresponding CRC value for each of a plurality of portions of the source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission; the source decoding result indicates at least that the decoding of the particular portion failed according to a CRC check using the corresponding CRC value corresponding to the particular portion.

[0203] Example 36: The device according to any one of Examples 24 to 35, wherein the source decoding result indication depends on the source decoding distortion.

[0204] Example 37: The device according to Example 36, wherein the source decoding result indication depends on a distortion threshold.

[0205] Example 38: The device according to any one of Examples 24 to 37, wherein the source decoding result indication includes an indication of which bits of the source encoded bits were transmitted in the second transmission.

[0206] Example 39: The device according to Example 38, wherein the indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission includes: an indication of the source compression version (SCV) for the second transmission.

[0207] Example 40: The device according to Example 38, wherein the indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission is based on the processing of artificial intelligence (AI) data.

[0208] Example 41: The device according to any one of Examples 24 to 40, wherein the source-coded bits comprise a plurality of different portions, at least two of which have different priority levels.

[0209] Example 42: The device according to Example 41, wherein the first transmission includes part or all of the portion, and the source decoding result indicates at least that a specific portion transmitted in the first transmission failed to be decoded, and the specific portion is retransmitted in the second transmission.

[0210] Example 43: The device according to Example 42, wherein the particular part has a higher priority than one or more other parts.

[0211] Example 44: The device according to Example 42 or 43, wherein the second transmission includes only a subset of the portion sent in the first transmission.

[0212] Example 45: The device according to any one of Examples 24 to 44, wherein the second transmission is performed in response to receiving a negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating at least one of source decoding failure or channel decoding failure.

[0213] Example 46: According to any one of Examples 24 to 45, the device is further made to perform the following operation: receive a compression ratio value, wherein the compression ratio value is used to configure the number of source-coded bits to be transmitted in at least one of the first transmission or the second transmission.

[0214] Example 47: A method performed by a device, comprising: receiving a first set of source-coded bits in a first transmission; sending a source decoding result indication based on the first set of source-coded bits received in the first transmission; and subsequently receiving a second set of source-coded bits in a second transmission.

[0215] Example 48: The method according to Example 47, wherein the second set of source-coded bits is different from the first set of source-coded bits.

[0216] Example 49: The method according to Example 48, wherein the second set of source-coded bits includes only a subset of the source-coded bits received in the first transmission.

[0217] Example 50: The method according to any one of Examples 47 to 49, wherein the source-coded bits represent information compressed in the physical layer.

[0218] Example 51: The method according to Example 50, wherein the compression is lossless compression or lossy compression.

[0219] Example 52: According to the method of Example 51, wherein the compression implements one of the following: Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW) or principal component analysis (PCA) or integer multiwavelet transform (IMWT) or compression with reversible embedded wavelets (CREW) or discrete cosine transform (DCT).

[0220] Example 53: The method according to any one of Examples 47 to 52 further includes: receiving a first set of parity bits in the first transmission; and receiving a second set of parity bits in the second transmission, wherein the first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits are used for forward error correction.

[0221] Example 54: According to the method described in Example 53, wherein the first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits are different subsets of parity bits output by forward error correction channel coding of the source coding bits.

[0222] Example 55: According to the method of Example 53, wherein the first set of parity bits is output by performing forward error correction channel coding on the first set of source-coded bits received in the first transmission, and the second set of parity bits is output by performing forward error correction channel coding on the second set of source-coded bits received in the second transmission.

[0223] Example 56: The method according to any one of Examples 53 to 55, wherein the number of received parity bits depends on at least one of: (i) the allocation of time-frequency resources, (ii) the channel coding rate, or (iii) the modulation scheme.

[0224] Example 57: The method according to any one of Examples 47 to 56, wherein the first transmission includes at least one cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value, and the source decoding result indicates at least in part based on a CRC check using the CRC value.

[0225] Example 58: The method according to Example 57 includes: receiving a corresponding CRC value for each of a plurality of portions of source-coded bits received in the first transmission; the source decoding result indicates at least that the specific portion failed to decode according to a CRC check using the corresponding CRC value corresponding to the specific portion.

[0226] Example 59: The method according to any one of Examples 47 to 58, wherein the source decoding result indication depends on the source decoding distortion.

[0227] Example 60: The method according to Example 59, wherein the source decoding result indication depends on a distortion threshold.

[0228] Example 61: The method according to any one of Examples 47 to 60, wherein the source decoding result indication includes an indication of which bits of the source encoded bits were transmitted in the second transmission.

[0229] Example 62: According to the method of Example 61, the indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission includes: an indication of the source compression version (SCV) for the second transmission.

[0230] Example 63: The method according to Example 61, wherein the indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission is based on the processing of artificial intelligence (AI) data.

[0231] Example 64: The method according to any one of Examples 47 to 63, wherein the source-coded bits received in the first transmission comprise a plurality of different portions, at least two of which have different priority levels.

[0232] Example 65: According to the method of Example 64, wherein the source decoding result indicates at least that a specific portion received in the first transmission failed to be decoded, and the specific portion is subsequently received in the second transmission.

[0233] Example 66: The method according to Example 65, wherein the specific portion has a higher priority than one or more other portions.

[0234] Example 67: The method according to any one of Examples 64 to 66, wherein the second transmission includes only a subset of the portion received in the first transmission.

[0235] Example 68: The method according to any one of Examples 47 to 67, wherein the second transmission is received in response to sending a negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating at least one of source decoding failure or channel decoding failure.

[0236] Example 69: An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and a memory storing processor-executable instructions, wherein, when executed by the at least one processor, the processor causes the apparatus to perform the following operations: receiving a first set of source-coded bits in a first transmission; transmitting a source decoding result indication based on the first set of source-coded bits received in the first transmission; and subsequently receiving a second set of source-coded bits in a second transmission.

[0237] Example 70: The device according to Example 69, wherein the second set of source-coded bits is different from the first set of source-coded bits.

[0238] Example 71: The device according to Example 70, wherein the second set of source-coded bits includes only a subset of the source-coded bits received in the first transmission.

[0239] Example 72: The device according to any one of Examples 69 to 71, wherein the source-coded bits represent information compressed in the physical layer.

[0240] Example 73: The device according to Example 72, wherein the compression is lossless compression or lossy compression.

[0241] Example 74: The device according to Example 73 is characterized in that the compression implements one of the following: Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW) or principal component analysis (PCA) or integer multiwavelet transform (IMWT) or compression with reversible embedded wavelets (CREW) or discrete cosine transform (DCT).

[0242] Example 75: The device according to any one of Examples 69 to 74, wherein the device is further caused to perform the following operations: receiving a first set of parity bits in the first transmission; receiving a second set of parity bits in the second transmission, wherein the first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits are used for forward error correction.

[0243] Example 76: The device according to Example 75, wherein the first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits are different subsets of parity bits output by forward error correction channel coding of the source coding bits.

[0244] Example 77: The device according to Example 75, wherein the first set of parity bits is output by forward error correction channel coding of the first set of source-coded bits received in the first transmission, and the second set of parity bits is output by forward error correction channel coding of the second set of source-coded bits received in the second transmission.

[0245] Example 78: The device according to any one of Examples 75 to 77, wherein the number of received parity bits depends on at least one of: (i) the allocation of time-frequency resources, (ii) the channel coding rate, or (iii) the modulation scheme.

[0246] Example 79: The device according to any one of Examples 69 to 78, wherein the first transmission includes at least one cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value, and the source decoding result indicates at least in part based on a CRC check using the CRC value.

[0247] Example 80: The device according to Example 79, wherein the device is configured to perform the following operations: receive a corresponding CRC value for each of a plurality of portions of source-coded bits received in the first transmission; the source decoding result indicates at least that the decoding of the particular portion failed according to a CRC check using the corresponding CRC value corresponding to the particular portion.

[0248] Example 81: The device according to any one of Examples 69 to 80, wherein the source decoding result indication depends on the source decoding distortion.

[0249] Example 82: The device according to Example 81, wherein the source decoding result indication depends on a distortion threshold.

[0250] Example 83: The device according to any one of Examples 69 to 82, wherein the source decoding result indication includes an indication of which bits of the source encoded bits were transmitted in the second transmission.

[0251] Example 84: The device according to Example 83, wherein the indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission includes: an indication of the source compression version (SCV) for the second transmission.

[0252] Example 85: The device according to Example 83, wherein the indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission is based on the processing of artificial intelligence (AI) data.

[0253] Example 86: According to any one of Examples 69 to 85, the source-coded bits received in the first transmission comprise a plurality of different portions, at least two of which have different priority levels.

[0254] Example 87: The device according to Example 86, wherein the source decoding result indicates at least that a specific portion received in the first transmission failed to be decoded, and the specific portion is subsequently received in the second transmission.

[0255] Example 88: The device according to Example 87, wherein the particular part has a higher priority than one or more other parts.

[0256] Example 89: The device according to any one of Examples 86 to 88, wherein the second transmission includes only a subset of the portion received in the first transmission.

[0257] Example 90: The device according to any one of Examples 69 to 89, wherein the second transmission is received in response to sending a negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating at least one of source decoding failure or channel decoding failure.

[0258] It is important to note that the expression "at least one of A or B" used in this document is interchangeable with the expression "A and / or B". This expression refers to a list in which A or B or A and B can be selected. Similarly, the expression "at least one of A, B, or C" used in this document is interchangeable with "A and / or B and / or C" or "A, B, and / or C". This expression refers to a list in which the following can be selected: A or B or C, or A and B, or A and C, or B and C, or all of A, B, and C. The same principle applies to longer lists with the same format.

[0259] While the invention has been described with reference to specific features and embodiments thereof, various modifications and combinations may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The specification and drawings are therefore to be considered only as illustrations of some embodiments of the invention as defined in the appended claims, and any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents covering the scope of the invention are contemplated. Therefore, although the invention and its advantages have been described in detail, various changes, substitutions, and alterations may be made without departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims. Furthermore, the scope of this application is not limited to the specific embodiments of the processes, machines, articles of manufacture, material components, modules, methods, and steps described in the specification. Those skilled in the art will readily understand from the disclosure of the invention that existing or soon-to-be-developed processes, machines, products, material components, modules, methods, or steps that perform substantially the same functions as the corresponding embodiments described herein, or are capable of achieving substantially the same results as the embodiments, can be used according to the invention. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to include such processes, machines, articles of manufacture, material components, components, methods, or steps within their scope.

[0260] Furthermore, any module, component, or device executing instructions illustrated herein may include or otherwise access one or more non-transitory computer / processor-readable storage media to store information, such as computer / processor-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and / or other data. A non-exhaustive list of examples of non-transitory computer / processor-readable storage media includes magnetic tape cassettes, magnetic tape, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, compact disc-only memory (CD-ROM), digital video disc or digital versatile disc (DVD), and Blu-ray disc. TM Optical discs or other optical storage devices; volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology; random-access memory (RAM); read-only memory (ROM); electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM); flash memory or other storage technologies. Any of these non-transitory computer / processor-readable storage media may be part of a device or accessible or connected to a device. Any application or module described herein may be implemented using computer / processor-readable / executable instructions that may be stored or otherwise preserved by these non-transitory computer / processor-readable storage media.

Claims

1. A method performed by a device, characterized in that, include: Source coding is performed on the information to obtain source-coded bits; In a first transmission, a first set of the source-coded bits is transmitted, wherein the first set includes some or all of the source-coded bits; Receive source decoding result indication; In response to receiving the source decoding result indication: a second set of the source encoded bits is transmitted in a second transmission, wherein the second set includes some or all of the source encoded bits.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The second set of source-coded bits is different from the first set of source-coded bits.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The second set of source-coded bits includes only a subset of the source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The source coding compresses the information at the physical layer to generate the source-coded bits.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The source coding is based on a source compression method that performs lossless or lossy compression.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The source compression method implements one of the following: Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW), principal component analysis (PCA), integer multi-wavelet transform (IMWT), invertible embedded wavelet compression (CREW), or discrete cosine transform (DCT).

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, Also includes: Forward error correction channel coding is performed to generate parity bits, a first set of parity bits is transmitted in the first transmission, and a second set of parity bits is transmitted in the second transmission.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, Forward error correction channel coding is performed on all the source coding bits to generate the parity bits, wherein the first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits are different subsets of the parity bits.

9. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission are subjected to forward error correction channel coding to generate the first set of parity bits; The source-coded bits transmitted in the second transmission are respectively subjected to forward error correction channel coding to generate the second set of parity bits.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that, The number of parity bits transmitted depends on at least one of the following: (i) the allocation of time-frequency resources, (ii) the channel coding rate, or (iii) the modulation scheme.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that, Also includes: At least one Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) value is included in the first transmission, and the source decoding result indicates at least in part based on a CRC check using the CRC value.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, include: A corresponding CRC value is sent for each of the plurality of portions of the source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission; the source decoding result indicates at least that the decoding of the particular portion failed according to a CRC check using the corresponding CRC value corresponding to the particular portion.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that, The source decoding result indicates that the source decoding distortion is dependent on the source decoding distortion.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The source decoding result indicates that the distortion threshold is required.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that, The source decoding result indication includes an indication of which bits of the source encoded bits were transmitted in the second transmission.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission includes an indication of the source compression version (SCV) used for the second transmission.

17. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission is based on the processing of artificial intelligence (AI) data.

18. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, characterized in that, The source-coded bits comprise multiple distinct parts, with at least two of these parts having different priority levels.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, The first transmission includes some or all of the aforementioned portion, and the source decoding result indicates at least that a specific portion transmitted in the first transmission failed to be decoded, and that the specific portion is retransmitted in the second transmission.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The specific part has a higher priority than one or more other parts.

21. The method according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that, The second transmission includes only a subset of the portion sent in the first transmission.

22. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 21, characterized in that, The second transmission is performed in response to receiving a negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating at least one of source decoding failure or channel decoding failure.

23. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 22, characterized in that, Also includes: Receive a compression ratio value, wherein the compression ratio value is used to configure the number of source-coded bits to be transmitted in at least one of the first transmission or the second transmission.

24. A device, characterized in that, include: At least one processor; A memory storing processor-executable instructions, wherein, when executed by the at least one processor, the processor-executable instructions cause the device to perform the following operations: Source coding is performed on the information to obtain source-coded bits; In a first transmission, a first set of the source-coded bits is transmitted, wherein the first set includes some or all of the source-coded bits; Receive source decoding result indication; In response to receiving the source decoding result indication: a second set of the source encoded bits is transmitted in a second transmission, wherein the second set includes some or all of the source encoded bits.

25. The device according to claim 24, characterized in that, The second set of source-coded bits is different from the first set of source-coded bits.

26. The device according to claim 25, characterized in that, The second set of source-coded bits includes only a subset of the source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission.

27. The device according to any one of claims 24 to 26, characterized in that, The source coding compresses the information at the physical layer to generate the source-coded bits.

28. The device according to claim 27, characterized in that, The source coding is based on a source compression method that performs lossless or lossy compression.

29. The device according to claim 28, characterized in that, The source compression method implements one of the following: Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW), principal component analysis (PCA), integer multi-wavelet transform (IMWT), invertible embedded wavelet compression (CREW), or discrete cosine transform (DCT).

30. The device according to any one of claims 24 to 29, characterized in that, It also causes the device to perform the following operations: perform forward error correction channel coding to generate parity bits, a first set of parity bits being transmitted in the first transmission, and a second set of parity bits being transmitted in the second transmission.

31. The device according to claim 30, characterized in that, Forward error correction channel coding is performed on all the source coding bits to generate the parity bits, wherein the first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits are different subsets of the parity bits.

32. The device according to claim 30, characterized in that, The source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission are subjected to forward error correction channel coding to generate the first set of parity bits; The source-coded bits transmitted in the second transmission are respectively subjected to forward error correction channel coding to generate the second set of parity bits.

33. The device according to any one of claims 30 to 32, characterized in that, The number of parity bits transmitted depends on at least one of the following: (i) the allocation of time-frequency resources, (ii) the channel coding rate, or (iii) the modulation scheme.

34. The device according to any one of claims 24 to 33, characterized in that, It also causes the device to perform the following operations: include at least one Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) value in the first transmission, the source decoding result indicating at least in part based on a CRC check using the CRC value.

35. The device according to claim 34, characterized in that, The device performs the following operations: sending a corresponding CRC value for each of the plurality of portions of the source-coded bits transmitted in the first transmission; the source decoding result indicates at least that the specific portion failed to decode according to a CRC check using the corresponding CRC value corresponding to the specific portion.

36. The device according to any one of claims 24 to 35, characterized in that, The source decoding result indicates that the source decoding distortion is dependent on the source decoding distortion.

37. The device according to claim 36, characterized in that, The source decoding result indicates that the distortion threshold is required.

38. The device according to any one of claims 24 to 37, characterized in that, The source decoding result indication includes an indication of which bits of the source encoded bits were transmitted in the second transmission.

39. The device according to claim 38, characterized in that, The indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission includes an indication of the source compression version (SCV) used for the second transmission.

40. The device according to claim 38, characterized in that, The indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission is based on the processing of artificial intelligence (AI) data.

41. The device according to any one of claims 24 to 40, characterized in that, The source-coded bits comprise multiple distinct parts, with at least two of these parts having different priority levels.

42. The device according to claim 41, characterized in that, The first transmission includes some or all of the aforementioned portion, and the source decoding result indicates at least that a specific portion transmitted in the first transmission failed to be decoded, and that the specific portion is retransmitted in the second transmission.

43. The device according to claim 42, characterized in that, The specific part has a higher priority than one or more other parts.

44. The device according to claim 42 or 43, characterized in that, The second transmission includes only a subset of the portion sent in the first transmission.

45. The device according to any one of claims 24 to 44, characterized in that, The second transmission is performed in response to receiving a negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating at least one of source decoding failure or channel decoding failure.

46. ​​The device according to any one of claims 24 to 45, characterized in that, It also causes the device to perform the following operations: receiving a compression ratio value, wherein the compression ratio value is used to configure the number of source-coded bits to be transmitted in at least one of the first transmission or the second transmission.

47. A method performed by a device, characterized in that, include: Receive the first set of source-coded bits in the first transmission; Based on the first set of source-coded bits received in the first transmission, a source decoding result indication is sent; Subsequently, a second set of source-coded bits is received in the second transmission.

48. The method according to claim 47, characterized in that, The second set of source-coded bits is different from the first set of source-coded bits.

49. The method according to claim 48, characterized in that, The second set of source-coded bits includes only a subset of the source-coded bits received in the first transmission.

50. The method according to any one of claims 47 to 49, characterized in that, The source-coded bits represent information compressed at the physical layer.

51. The method according to claim 50, characterized in that, The compression is either lossless compression or lossy compression.

52. The method according to claim 51, characterized in that, The compression implements one of the following: Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW), principal component analysis (PCA), integer multi-wavelet transform (IMWT), invertible embedded wavelet compression (CREW), or discrete cosine transform (DCT).

53. The method according to any one of claims 47 to 52, characterized in that, Also includes: In the first transmission, a first set of parity bits is received; In the second transmission, a second set of parity bits is received, wherein... The first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits are used for forward error correction.

54. The method according to claim 53, characterized in that, The first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits are different subsets of parity bits output by forward error correction channel coding of the source coding bits.

55. The method according to claim 53, characterized in that, The first set of parity bits is output by performing forward error correction channel coding on the first set of source-coded bits received in the first transmission, and the second set of parity bits is output by performing forward error correction channel coding on the second set of source-coded bits received in the second transmission.

56. The method according to any one of claims 53 to 55, characterized in that, The number of received parity bits depends on at least one of the following: (i) the allocation of time-frequency resources, (ii) the channel coding rate, or (iii) the modulation scheme.

57. The method according to any one of claims 47 to 56, characterized in that, The first transmission includes at least one Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) value, and the source decoding result indicates at least in part based on a CRC check using the CRC value.

58. The method according to claim 57, characterized in that, include: For each of the plurality of portions of the source-coded bits received in the first transmission, a corresponding CRC value is received; the source decoding result indicates at least that the decoding of the particular portion failed according to a CRC check using the corresponding CRC value corresponding to the particular portion.

59. The method according to any one of claims 47 to 58, characterized in that, The source decoding result indicates that the source decoding distortion is dependent on the source decoding distortion.

60. The method according to claim 59, characterized in that, The source decoding result indicates that the distortion threshold is required.

61. The method according to any one of claims 47 to 60, characterized in that, The source decoding result indication includes an indication of which bits of the source encoded bits were transmitted in the second transmission.

62. The method according to claim 61, characterized in that, The indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission includes an indication of the source compression version (SCV) used for the second transmission.

63. The method according to claim 61, characterized in that, The indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission is based on the processing of artificial intelligence (AI) data.

64. The method according to any one of claims 47 to 63, characterized in that, The source-coded bits received in the first transmission comprise multiple distinct parts, at least two of which have different priority levels.

65. The method according to claim 64, characterized in that, The source decoding result indicates at least that a specific portion received in the first transmission failed to be decoded, and that specific portion was subsequently received in the second transmission.

66. The method according to claim 65, characterized in that, The specific part has a higher priority than one or more other parts.

67. The method according to any one of claims 64 to 66, characterized in that, The second transmission includes only a subset of the portion received in the first transmission.

68. The method according to any one of claims 47 to 67, characterized in that, The second transmission is received in response to a negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating at least one of source decoding failure or channel decoding failure.

69. A device, characterized in that, include: At least one processor; A memory storing processor-executable instructions, wherein, when executed by the at least one processor, the processor-executable instructions cause the device to perform the following operations: Receive the first set of source-coded bits in the first transmission; Based on the first set of source-coded bits received in the first transmission, a source decoding result indication is sent; Subsequently, a second set of source-coded bits is received in the second transmission.

70. The device according to claim 69, characterized in that, The second set of source-coded bits is different from the first set of source-coded bits.

71. The device according to claim 70, characterized in that, The second set of source-coded bits includes only a subset of the source-coded bits received in the first transmission.

72. The device according to any one of claims 69 to 71, characterized in that, The source-coded bits represent information compressed at the physical layer.

73. The device according to claim 72, characterized in that, The compression is either lossless compression or lossy compression.

74. The device according to claim 73, characterized in that, The compression implements one of the following: Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW), principal component analysis (PCA), integer multi-wavelet transform (IMWT), invertible embedded wavelet compression (CREW), or discrete cosine transform (DCT).

75. The device according to any one of claims 69 to 74, characterized in that, It also causes the device to perform the following operations: In the first transmission, a first set of parity bits is received; In the second transmission, a second set of parity bits is received, wherein... The first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits are used for forward error correction.

76. The device according to claim 75, characterized in that, The first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits are different subsets of parity bits output by forward error correction channel coding of the source coding bits.

77. The device according to claim 75, characterized in that, The first set of parity bits is output by performing forward error correction channel coding on the first set of source-coded bits received in the first transmission, and the second set of parity bits is output by performing forward error correction channel coding on the second set of source-coded bits received in the second transmission.

78. The device according to any one of claims 75 to 77, characterized in that, The number of received parity bits depends on at least one of the following: (i) the allocation of time-frequency resources, (ii) the channel coding rate, or (iii) the modulation scheme.

79. The device according to any one of claims 69 to 78, characterized in that, The first transmission includes at least one Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) value, and the source decoding result indicates at least in part based on a CRC check using the CRC value.

80. The device according to claim 79, characterized in that, The device performs the following operations: receiving a corresponding CRC value for each of a plurality of portions of source-coded bits received in the first transmission; the source decoding result indicates at least that the decoding of the particular portion failed according to a CRC check using the corresponding CRC value corresponding to the particular portion.

81. The device according to any one of claims 69 to 80, characterized in that, The source decoding result indicates that the source decoding distortion is dependent on the source decoding distortion.

82. The device according to claim 81, characterized in that, The source decoding result indicates that the distortion threshold is required.

83. The device according to any one of claims 69 to 82, characterized in that, The source decoding result indication includes an indication of which bits of the source encoded bits were transmitted in the second transmission.

84. The device according to claim 83, characterized in that, The indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission includes an indication of the source compression version (SCV) used for the second transmission.

85. The device according to claim 83, characterized in that, The indication of which bits of the source-coded bits are transmitted in the second transmission is based on the processing of artificial intelligence (AI) data.

86. The device according to any one of claims 69 to 85, characterized in that, The source-coded bits received in the first transmission comprise multiple distinct parts, at least two of which have different priority levels.

87. The device according to claim 86, characterized in that, The source decoding result indicates at least that a specific portion received in the first transmission failed to be decoded, and that specific portion was subsequently received in the second transmission.

88. The device according to claim 87, characterized in that, The specific part has a higher priority than one or more other parts.

89. The device according to any one of claims 86 to 88, characterized in that, The second transmission includes only a subset of the portion received in the first transmission.

90. The device according to any one of claims 69 to 89, characterized in that, The second transmission is received in response to a negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating at least one of source decoding failure or channel decoding failure.

91. A computer-readable medium, characterized in that, Includes instructions, wherein, when executed by a processor of a handheld device, the instructions cause the handheld device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 23 or 47 to 68.

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