Apparatus, method and computer program

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to apparatuses, methods, and computer programs. An apparatus is provided that comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to receive, from a network entity, first information, the first information relating to at least one scheduled data transmission in a number of slots; receive, from the network entity, the at least one scheduled data transmission; and provide, to the network entity, feedback information relating to the at least one scheduled data transmission, wherein the feedback information comprises an indication of the number of slots for which the first information has been received. n n ​​

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various embodiments of this disclosure generally relate to methods, apparatus, and computer programs, and particularly, but not limited to, providing missed PDCCH feedback to access nodes to achieve improved link adaptation and adaptive retransmission. Background Technology

[0002] A communication system can be viewed as a facility that enables communication sessions between two or more communication devices, or provides communication devices with access to a network. Mobile or wireless communication networks are an example of communication networks. Communication devices may be served by application servers.

[0003] Mobile or wireless communication networks can operate according to standards such as those provided by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) or ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute). Examples of mobile or wireless communication networks operating according to 3GPP standards are often referred to as 4G (fourth generation) networks, 5G (fifth generation) networks, 5G Advanced networks, and 6G networks. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Some embodiments of this disclosure will be described with reference to certain aspects. These aspects are not intended to indicate key or essential features of the various exemplary embodiments of this disclosure, nor are they intended to limit its scope. Other features, aspects, and elements will be readily understood by those skilled in the art in light of this disclosure. For example, it should be understood that other aspects can be provided by combination of any two or more aspects described herein.

[0005] In a first aspect, a method is provided, the method comprising: receiving first information from a network entity, the first information relating to at least one scheduled data transmission from the network entity; determining, based on the first information, that a control channel transmission for scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received; and providing feedback information to the network entity relating to at least one scheduled data transmission, the feedback information including an indication that the control channel transmission has not yet been received, wherein the indication includes a third state other than a first acknowledgment (ACK) state or a second non-acknowledgment (NACK) state.

[0006] The first information may indicate the count of downlink data transmissions from a network entity to be confirmed by the device, and wherein determining that a control channel transmission has not yet been received includes determining that the count is discontinuous.

[0007] The first piece of information may include downlink control information.

[0008] Feedback information may include Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) information.

[0009] The indication of the third state may include bits.

[0010] Feedback information can be provided for n time slots, and can include: time slot 1 to ( n -1) Indications of the first, second, and third states of the time slot, and the... n Indication of the first or second state of a time slot.

[0011] Feedback information can be provided for one or more transport blocks per time slot.

[0012] Feedback information can be provided for one or more component carriers.

[0013] In a second aspect, a method is provided, the method comprising: providing first information to a user equipment, the first information relating to at least one scheduled data transmission from a device; and receiving feedback information from the user equipment relating to at least one scheduled data transmission, the feedback information including an indication that a control channel transmission scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received, wherein the indication includes a third state in addition to a first acknowledgment (ACK) state or a second non-acknowledgment (NACK) state.

[0014] The first information can indicate the count of downlink data transmissions from network entities that the device needs to verify.

[0015] The first piece of information may include downlink control information.

[0016] Feedback information may include Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) information.

[0017] The indication of the third state may include bits.

[0018] Feedback information can be provided for n time slots, and can include time slots 1 through ( ). n -1) Indications of the first, second, and third states of the time slot, and the... n Indication of the first or second state of a time slot.

[0019] Feedback information can be provided for n time slots, and can include an indication of the number of bits in the feedback information, and the method can include: determining, based on the indication of the number of bits, the bit in the nth time slot. n The control channel transmission of the data scheduled for transmission in the time slot has not yet been received.

[0020] The method may include: receiving an indication of the number of bits in a Media Access Control (MAC) control element on a physical uplink shared channel.

[0021] The method may include: receiving an indication of the number of bits at the physical layer.

[0022] Feedback information can be provided for one or more transport blocks per time slot.

[0023] Feedback information can be provided for one or more component carriers.

[0024] Feedback information may include bits, where L is for the first time slot to the ( n -1) Possible combinations of indications for the first, second, and third states of a time slot, and the... n The sum of possible combinations of indications of the first or second state of the time slot.

[0025] In a third aspect, a method is provided, the method comprising: receiving first information from a network entity, the first information being compared with information received from the network entity. n The process involves: associating at least one scheduled data transmission in a time slot with the first information; determining, based on the first information, that a control channel transmission scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received; and providing feedback information to the network entity, the feedback information including a feedback index. p Feedback Index p Corresponding to: for the first time slot to the ( n -1) An indication of the first acknowledgment (ACK) state, the second non-acknowledgment (NACK) state, or the third state of at least one transmission block in each time slot, and an indication of the first acknowledgment (NACK) state for the transmission block in each time slot. n An indication of the first or second state of at least one transport block in the time slot, and a third state indicating that the control channel transmission for scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received.

[0026] index p It can represent the period from the first time slot to the ( ). n -1) The only possible combination of the first, second, and third states of the time slot, and the... n Possible combinations of indications of the first or second state of a time slot.

[0027] In a fourth aspect, a method is provided, the method comprising: providing first information to a user equipment, the first information being related to information from the device. n Related to at least one scheduled data transmission in a time slot; and receiving feedback information from the user equipment, the feedback information including a feedback index. p Feedback Index p Corresponding to: for the first time slot to the ( n -1) Indication of the first acknowledgment (ACK) state, the second non-acknowledgment (NACK) state, or the third state of at least one transmission block in each time slot, and the... nAn indication of a first or second state in at least one transport block of a time slot, and a third state indicating that a control channel transmission scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received.

[0028] index p It can represent the period from the first time slot to the ( ). n -1) The only possible combination of the indications of the first, second and third states of the time slot, and the possible combination of the indications of the first or second state of the nth time slot.

[0029] In a fifth aspect, a method is provided, the method comprising: receiving first information from a network entity, the first information being... n The process involves: relating to at least one scheduled data transmission in a time slot; receiving at least one scheduled data transmission from a network entity; and providing feedback information to the network entity related to at least one scheduled data transmission, wherein the feedback information includes first information regarding what it has already received. n An indication of the number of time slots.

[0030] The method may include providing feedback information related to at least one scheduled data transmission in a Media Access Control (MAC) CE control element on a physical uplink shared channel, wherein a field of the MAC CE includes an indication of the number of bits in the feedback information.

[0031] Feedback information may include bits, of which L It is for the first time slot to the ( n -1) Possible combinations of the indications for the first ACK state, the second NACK state, and the third state of the time slot, and the... n The sum of possible combinations of indications for the first or second state of the time slot, with the third state indicating that the control channel transmission for scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received.

[0032] The first information may include control channel transmissions that schedule at least one data transmission.

[0033] In a sixth aspect, a method is provided, the method comprising: providing first information to a user equipment, the first information being... n The system is associated with at least one scheduled data transmission from the device in a time slot; provides at least one scheduled data transmission to the user equipment; and receives feedback information from the user equipment related to at least one scheduled data transmission, wherein the feedback information includes first information regarding what it has already received. n An indication of the number of time slots; and information based on what has been received. n The indication of the number of time slots determines the number of slots in the first time slot. nThe control channel transmission for scheduling data transmission in the last one or more consecutive time slots of a time slot has not yet been received.

[0034] In a seventh aspect, an apparatus is provided, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the apparatus to perform at least the method according to the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect, or the sixth aspect.

[0035] In an eighth aspect, a method is provided, comprising components for performing the method according to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth aspect.

[0036] In a ninth aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions is provided, wherein when executed by at least one processor of a device, the instructions cause the device to perform a method according to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth aspect.

[0037] In a tenth aspect, a computer program including instructions is provided that, when executed by a device, causes the device to perform at least the method according to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth aspect.

[0038] Some embodiments of the present invention are defined in the dependent claims.

[0039] Many different aspects have been described above. As previously stated, it should be understood that other aspects can be provided by combining any two or more of the above (or other aspects in this disclosure).

[0040] Various other aspects are also described in the following detailed description and claims. Attached Figure Description

[0041] Some embodiments will be described by way of non-limiting and illustrative examples only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0042] Figure 1 An example of a communication network to which the examples disclosed herein can be applied is shown;

[0043] Figure 2 The signaling flow between the gNB and the UE over time is shown;

[0044] Figure 3 A flowchart based on the example method is shown;

[0045] Figure 4 A flowchart based on the example method is shown;

[0046] Figure 5 The signaling flow between the gNB and the UE over time is shown;

[0047] Figure 6 The bit table required for feedback and the bit table required for optimizing feedback are shown.

[0048] Figure 7 The bit table required for feedback and the bit table required for optimizing feedback are shown.

[0049] Figure 8 A flowchart based on the example method is shown;

[0050] Figure 9 A flowchart based on the example method is shown;

[0051] Figure 10 A table showing possible combinations of c-DAI=2 and #TB=2 per time slot is provided.

[0052] Figure 11 A flowchart based on the example method is shown;

[0053] Figure 12 A flowchart of the method based on the example is shown; and

[0054] Figure 13 An example of the device is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0055] The following embodiments are provided by way of non-limiting and illustrative example. Although the specification may refer to "a," "an," or "some" embodiments in several places in the text, this does not necessarily mean that each reference is for the same embodiment or that a particular feature applies only to a single embodiment. Individual features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is intended that such feature, structure, or characteristic can be applied in conjunction with other embodiments (whether explicitly described or not).

[0056] It should be understood that although the terms "first," "second," etc., may be used in this document to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another.

[0057] For the purposes of this disclosure, the phrases "at least one of A or B", "at least one of A and B", and "A and / or B" refer to (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of this disclosure, the phrases "A, B, and / or C" refer to (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B, and C).

[0058] As used herein, the term “or” means non-exclusive “or” unless otherwise stated (e.g., “otherwise” or “or in alternatives”).

[0059] As used herein, unless explicitly stated otherwise, performing a feature, step, or function "in response to A" does not mean that the feature, step, or function is performed immediately after "A" occurs, because one or more intermediate features, steps, or functions may be performed (at least partially) between the occurrence of the feature, step, or function and "A". Similarly, performing a feature, step, or function "based on A" does not mean that the feature, step, or function is performed solely based on "A", because in addition to "A", the feature, step, or function may be further based on one or more other features, steps, or functions.

[0060] The embodiments described herein can be implemented in communication networks such as any of the following radio access technologies (RATs): WiMAX, GSM (2G), GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System based on Basic Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) (UMTS, 3G), High-Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), LTE, LTE Advanced and Enhanced LTE (eLTE), 5G (also known as NR), or any future RAT, such as 6G. Furthermore, communication within the communication network can utilize any suitable wireless communication technology, including but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and / or Discrete Fourier Transform Spread Spectrum OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM).

[0061] As used herein, the term "network device" or "network node" refers to a node in a communication network through which user equipment can access the network and / or through which the node is configured to control wireless communication within a cell and manage wireless resources within the cell. A network node or network device may be referred to as a base station (BS), access point (AP), or access node. Depending on the technology applied, a network device may be, for example, a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also known as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Headend (RH), a Remote Radio Headend (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low-power node, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-terrestrial network equipment (such as satellite network equipment, low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, and geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites), or an airborne network equipment.

[0062] Furthermore, in the context of split radio access networks (RANs), network devices can refer to a centralized unit (CU) and / or a distributed unit (DU) of a base station. The interface between the CU and the DU can be referred to as the F1 interface in NR. In a split RAN architecture, node operations can be performed at least partially in a central / centralized unit (CU) (e.g., a server, host, or node) that is operationally coupled to a DU (e.g., a radio headend / node). A CU can control one or more DUs to at least act as a transmit / receive (Tx / Rx) node. In some embodiments, a DU may include, for example, a Radio Link Control (RLC), Media Access Control (MAC) layer, and a Physical (PHY) layer, while the CU may include layers above the RLC layer, such as the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Resource Control (RRC), and Internet Protocol (IP) layer. Other functional splitting is also possible. In practice, any processing task can be performed in a CU or a DU, and the boundary of responsibility transfer between the CU and the DU can depend on the applied implementation.

[0063] The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device that can be configured to perform wireless communication. For example, a terminal device may be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), or mobile station (MS). Terminal devices can include mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones, Voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable terminal devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices (such as digital cameras), gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, USB dongles, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head-mounted displays (HMDs), automobiles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in the context of industrial and / or automated processing chains), consumer electronics devices, devices operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and so on.

[0064] As used herein, the term "resource" can refer to radio resources in the time domain, frequency domain, spatial domain, and / or code domain. Some examples of resources may include, for example, physical resource blocks (PRBs), radio frames, subframes, time slots, subbands, frequency regions, subcarriers, beams, etc. The terms "transmission" and / or "reception" can refer to wireless transmission and / or reception over radio resources via a radio propagation channel.

[0065] Figure 1The illustration shows an example of a communication network to which the examples disclosed herein can be applied. The communication network, or cellular communication network, may include a network node 110 configured to provide one or more cells, such as cell 100, and a network node 112 configured to provide one or more other cells, such as cell 102. For example, each cell may be a macrocell, microcell, femtocell, or picocell. A cell may define the coverage area or service area of ​​a corresponding access node.

[0066] Network nodes (110, 112) can be configured to provide radio access to a communication network to user equipment (UE) 120 (one or more UEs). Radio access may include downlink (DL) communication from network nodes (110, 112) to UE 120 and uplink (UL) communication from UE 120 to network nodes (110, 112). Examples of uplink channels may include a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) for transmitting control information and a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) for transmitting data to the network. Examples of downlink channels may include a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) for transmitting control information and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) for transmitting data to the user equipment.

[0067] Multiple UEs (120, 122) can exist in this system. Each of the multiple UEs can be served by the same or different network nodes (110, 112). UEs can be configured with dual connectivity (DC), where a UE (e.g., UE 120) can be connected to multiple network nodes (110, 112). UEs (120, 122) can communicate with each other when a device-to-device (D2D) communication interface is established between them via a so-called sidelink (SL). For example, this D2D communication can be referred to as machine-to-machine, peer-to-peer (P2P) communication, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication.

[0068] In a communication network with multiple network nodes, these nodes can connect to each other via interfaces. For example, the LTE specification refers to this interface as the X2 interface. The interface between an LTE node and a 5G node, or between two 5G nodes, can be called the Xn interface.

[0069] Network nodes 110 and 112 can also be connected to the core network 116 of the communication network via another interface. The LTE specification designates the core network as an Evolved Packet Core (EPC), and the core network can include multiple entities (e.g., Mobility Management Entity (MME) and gateway nodes). The MME can handle the mobility of terminal devices in a tracking area comprising multiple cells and handle signaling connections between the terminal devices and the core network. Gateway nodes can handle data routing within the core network and data routing to / from terminal devices. The 5G specification designates the core network as a 5G Core (5GC). For example, the 5GC can include Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMF) and User Plane Functions / Gateways (UPF), among other functions. The AMF can handle the termination of Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling, NAS encryption and integrity protection, registration management, connection management, mobility management, access authentication and authorization, and security context management. For example, UPF nodes can support packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, and Quality of Service (QoS) processing.

[0070] Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) is a feedback mechanism in which the receiver sends a retransmission request if an error is detected in the received data. Hybrid ARQ (HARQ) is a wireless protocol that uses a combination of Forward Error Correction (FEC) and ARQ at the MAC layer to provide feedback information. FEC involves adding redundant bits to the raw data to allow error detection and correction at the receiver.

[0071] In NR, the UE indicates the success or failure of decoding DL packets received on the PDSCH by sending feedback information (i.e., HARQ acknowledgment (ACK) / non-acknowledgment (NACK)). The HARQ mechanism for PUSCH transmissions is slightly different, and there is no explicit feedback for uplink (UL) PUSCH packets.

[0072] In the DL HARQ framework, the HARQ process number is indicated in the DL Control Information (DCI) transmitted on the PDCCH as part of the DL allocation. Data transmission on the PDCCH in units of transport blocks (TBs) is associated with the HARQ process number. After a decoding attempt, the UE calculates and verifies the correctness of the checksum of the received transport block. If an error is detected at the UE, a non-acknowledgment (NACK) will be indicated on the PUCCH (or PUSCH); otherwise, an ACK will be indicated.

[0073] Parameters are defined k 1 (PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator on DCI, and configured via RRC) dl-DataToUL-ACK (Value set). k1 specifies when the UE must send a HARQ acknowledgment for the corresponding PDSCH transport block. In TDD, because DL and UL transports alternate, the timing of UL transports is time-constrained, and the timing of DL and UL transports is typically... tdd-UL-DL-Configuration RRC information elements are predetermined. Therefore, by multiplexing feedback information, multiple DL transport blocks and code block groups (CBGs) received in multiple time slots and possibly multiple carriers (serving cells) will be jointly acknowledged as a single HARQ-ACK message in a single UL transmission. The HARQ codebook format specifies how feedback information is multiplexed into a single HARQ-ACK message at both the UE and gNB, and how this single HARQ-ACK message is interpreted.

[0074] CBG refers to a mechanism in HARQ operations where a large TB is divided into several code blocks, and each code block is encoded individually. The code blocks of a TB are grouped into code block groups, and each CBG can be individually identified as having been received correctly or incorrectly. Therefore, retransmitting a TB that was not correctly decoded avoids retransmitting a correctly decoded CBG; instead, only the CBG containing the code block that failed to decode is retransmitted.

[0075] When the gNB schedules the UE to receive the PDSCH, the corresponding HARQ-ACK bits (one or more bits in the case of CBG transmission or multi-codeword MIMO transmission) are added to the subsequently sent HARQ-ACK message. For PDSCHs not scheduled by the gNB, no HARQ-ACK bits are added to the HARQ-ACK message. For example, if time slots N and N+2 each carry PDSCHs to the UE, but there is no PDSCH in time slot N+1, the HARQ-ACK message sent back to the network by the UE will not contain any bits from time slot N+1. This approach can cause problems if the gNB does attempt to schedule the PDSCH in time slot N+1, but the PDCCH that scheduled the PDSCH is lost (PDCCH DTX), and the UE cannot distinguish whether the PDSCH was not received because the PDCCH was not sent, or whether it was sent but not correctly decoded. The Downlink Allocation Index (DAI) can be used to address this issue.

[0076] The downlink allocation indicator (C-DAI) counter in the DCI indicates the number of DL transmissions awaiting acknowledgment. The UE uses the C-DAI to determine if any PDCCHs have been missed. For a PDCCH corresponding to a PDSCH transmission that the UE has not yet successfully decoded, the UE sets NACK to the corresponding HARQ feedback bit. Note that in this document, we will refer to such missed PDCCHs as discontinuous transmissions (DTX).

[0077] The 3GPP HARQ framework allocates one bit per carrier per codeword (or CBG, if CBG-based HARQ feedback is configured) to indicate ACK / NACK for each scheduled time slot (in principle, per scheduled PDSCH, but in practice, there are 1 or 0 PDSCHs per time slot, where 1 PDSCH consists of 2 codewords if the number of scheduled MIMO layers is >4). The DAI value in the DCI on the PDCCH indicates the total count of DL allocations sent so far that the UE should report its ACK / NACK. For example, if DAI is 3, the UE sends ACK / NACK for the DL allocations received in the most recent 3 time slots that have not yet been acknowledged (assuming no surround). The counter DAI prevents ACK / NACK binding errors in the feedback bits.

[0078] Figure 2 An example of DL allocation in 4 time slots is shown, with each time slot specifying a HARQ process ID. h x , DAI value, d x and k 1, of which each k 1 x The value directs the HARQ A / N report for scheduling PDSCH to the same time slot, "Bundled HARQ A / N Report". HARQ acknowledgments for the four time slots are sent in a single UL time slot, which contains bundled reports for all four DL transmissions.

[0079] If a DL DCI reception is missed at the UE (PDCCH DTX), the DAI in the next DL DCI can indicate the problem. When the UE sees a missed DCI from the DAI value of its correctly received next DCI, the UE sends a NACK for the unreceived DCI. The UE cannot use this method to determine if the last DCI was missed.

[0080] After receiving a HARQ acknowledgment for a DL transmission including the DTX case, the gNB cannot determine whether the received NACK was due to unsuccessful PDSCH decoding or PDCCH DTX. Assuming a NACK for a failed PDSCH decoding is received, the gNB can use the next redundancy version (RV) to schedule adaptive retransmissions of packets. The gNB can use the reserved modulation and coding scheme (MCS) to schedule retransmissions, but in the case of DTX, the UE may be unable to decode the retransmitted packets because it did not receive the initial transmission DCI for the same packets.

[0081] If the gNB assumes that NACK refers to a failed PDSCH, it can schedule an adaptive HARQ retransmission with the next redundant version (RV) for the corresponding packet in sequence. However, if the UE does not receive the DCI corresponding to the initial transmission, it cannot decode the adaptive retransmission using the reserved MCS because the adaptive retransmission does not contain Transport Block Size (TBS) information, which was never received in previous transmission attempts, since it was the PDCCH that failed, not the PDSCH. This can lead to many wasted retransmissions. Similarly, even if the gNB schedules retransmissions with an explicit indication of TBS, it will typically automatically use a non-self-decoding RV, resulting in a need for retransmission before the TB has any chance of being correctly decoded.

[0082] When the UE does not receive the initial transmission DCI, the UE can choose to report an ACK for the undecoded RV=2 retransmission with the MCS preserved (because the UE knows that requesting a retransmission will be futile when the gNB assumes the UE has the TBS size determined based on the first DCI that was never received). Due to the lack of the initial transmission DCI, the UE cannot decode the RV=2 retransmission, but it can report an ACK to the gNB instead of a NACK for the retransmission. This forces the MAC TB to be discarded and recovery to occur through higher-layer mechanisms. This leads the gNB to believe that the MAC TB has been successfully received by the UE, when the UE has not actually received the packet. In this situation, packet delays may increase while waiting for higher-layer recovery.

[0083] An adjustment based on received bundled HARQ ACK / NACK / DTX Outer Loop Link Adaptive (OLLA) updates has been proposed. In this proposal, if a PUCCH DTX is detected, it is assumed to be due to a PDCCH DTX. In response to an Ack / Nack or DTX, an "increment" or "decrement" value is applied to adjust the target PDCCH block error rate (BLER) to a target range of 1%. However, this only applies to cases where all DCIs that would otherwise be reported as missed in the same HARQ-ACK message are not sent (from the UE's perspective, this corresponds to the case where it has not scheduled any data).

[0084] Another observed issue is that when the UE does not listen to the PDCCH during RRC reconfiguration, resulting in the UE not responding to the UL grant for approximately 40-50 ms, the gNB detects multiple DTXs at the start of the call. In this situation, the PDCCH Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) offset drops significantly and does not recover until the end of the call. This affects PDCCH Link Adaptation (LA) and may lead to multiple retransmissions.

[0085] In the discussed method, PDCCH DTX determination is based on PUCCH DTX detection. It is assumed that DTX occurs when the UE does not respond. DTX processing is left to the UE and gNB to implement independently. If the UE sends an ACK to prematurely end the retransmission process, this could lead to a misunderstanding of the HARQ ACK received at the gNB. In another scenario, if the gNB is unaware of the DTX, it can attempt adaptive retransmission, which may delay packet delivery.

[0086] Assuming PDSCH decoding fails, the gNB can perform PDSCH link adaptation in response to NACK, while the actual problem may lie with the PDCCH. This could lead to conservative future DL MCS allocation. It could cause unnecessary MCS degradation, resulting in suboptimal performance. Furthermore, since PDCCH reception is considered successful, PDCCH link adaptation is not performed. This could lead to incorrect PDCCH OLLA updates. Due to the strict target BLER of PDCCH (typically 1%), the cost difference between successful and erroneous PDCCH reception is significant, making such errors potentially very expensive for PDCCH.

[0087] The following aims to address the suboptimal PDCCH and PDSCH LA problem by explicitly distinguishing PDCCH DTX and PDSCH decoding failures in the HARQ-ACK codebook sent from the UE to the gNB. This reduces the increase in feedback bit overhead due to additional information.

[0088] Figure 3 A flowchart illustrating a method according to an example is shown. This method can be performed at a device. The device can be a user device, include a user device, or be included within a user device.

[0089] At 301, the method includes: receiving first information from a network entity, the first information relating to at least one scheduled data transmission from the network entity.

[0090] At 302, the method includes: determining, based on first information, that a control channel transmission for scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received.

[0091] At 303, the method includes: providing feedback information to a network entity in relation to at least one scheduled data transmission, the feedback information including an indication that a control channel transmission has not yet been received, wherein the indication includes a third state in addition to a first acknowledgment (ACK) state or a second unacknowledgment (NACK) state.

[0092] Figure 4A flowchart illustrating a method according to an example is shown. This method can be performed at a device. The device can be a network entity, include a network entity, or be included in a network entity. The network entity can be an access node, such as a gNB.

[0093] At 401, the method includes: providing first information to a user equipment, the first information relating to at least one scheduled data transmission from a network device.

[0094] At 402, the method includes: receiving feedback information from a user equipment related to at least one scheduled data transmission, the feedback information including an indication that a control channel transmission scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received, wherein the indication includes a third state in addition to a first acknowledgment (ACK) state or a second unacknowledgment (NACK) state.

[0095] refer to Figure 3 and Figure 4 The described method resolves the feedback ambiguity in the PDCCH DTX case by including an additional state (i.e., a third state) in the HARQ feedback, besides HARQ ACK / NACK, to indicate DTX. This eliminates the ambiguity between PDSCH decoding failure and PDCCH DTX in the feedback information and allows the gNB to handle it appropriately.

[0096] By explicitly indicating DTX in the feedback message, the gNB can appropriately perform PDCCH link adaptation. This prevents the penalty on PDSCH transmissions from being penalized by performing unnecessary link adaptation due to misinterpretation of NACK. Adaptive retransmission using a reserved MCS can be used by being able to distinguish between DTX and NACK. Feedback overhead is optimized to reduce total feedback bits.

[0097] The first information may include DCI. Feedback information may include HARQ information. Feedback information may be provided for one or more TBs per time slot. Feedback information may be provided for one or more component carriers and / or CBGs.

[0098] The first piece of information (e.g., DCI) can indicate the count of downlink data transmissions from a network entity that the device (e.g., DAI) needs to acknowledge. Determining that a control channel transmission has not yet been received may include determining that the count is discontinuous.

[0099] Figure 5 HARQ feedback is shown. ACK, NACK, DTX Examples of the use of the three states of}

[0100] exist Figure 5 In the middle, the UE did not receive t 2 and t DCI at 3 locations, butd The DAI in section 4 includes a counter indicating a total of four DL DCIs sent, whose HARQ feedback will be bundled. In this case, according to the current specification, it is assumed that the HARQ process... h The received packet 1 was successfully decoded, but the HARQ process... h If decoding of a 4-bit PDSCH packet fails, the UE will return 4 bits as a response. ADDN , where D represents state DTX.

[0101] Increased feedback overhead can be overcome by avoiding unnecessary retransmissions, using adaptive retransmissions, and improving link adaptation.

[0102] Explicit feedback allows the gNB to determine whether the reception error occurred in the PDCCH or PDSCH, enabling better retransmission decisions and updates to the PDSCH and PDCCH LA as needed. If the gNB receives fault information caused by a PDCCH DTX, it can perform link adaptation of the PDCCH to suit the current channel conditions. Furthermore, adaptive retransmission can be performed using an RV (rather than the DTX transmission) adjacent to an earlier transmission (or as a new transmission).

[0103] The indication of the third state may include bits.

[0104] For example, to support DTX reporting, the number of HARQ ACK / NACK states is increased to allow these three states to report DTX for the scheduled DCI and ACK / NACK for each scheduled TB. If ACK / NACK information can be fed back using only 1 bit (1 / 0), adding one or more states for DTX (missed scheduled DCI) may increase HARQ feedback overhead, for example, in the case of one scheduled DCI for each scheduled PDSCH.

[0105] One approach for HARQ status indication is to use 2 bits for HARQ ACK / NACK / DTX feedback for each transport block in each time slot to be acknowledged. For example, if the DAI counter is 2 and the DTX indication bit is enabled, the HARQ feedback information could be... Figure 6 Any value shown in the table on the left. This requires a total of 4 bits, with each HARQ process using 2 bits to indicate one of the 3 possible states. In this example, ACK is represented by 01, NACK by 00, and DTX by 10.

[0106] Feedback information can be provided for n time slots, and includes indications of the first, second, and third states for time slots 1 through (n-1), as well as the... nIndication of the first or second state of a time slot.

[0107] For example, it is impossible to detect the last HARQ DTX at the UE based on DAI, therefore the state corresponding to D can be deleted as the state of the last HARQ transmission. Figure 6 As shown in the table on the right, 3 bits can be used instead of 4 bits to support the reduced number of states (6).

[0108] Feedback information may include bits, of which L It is for the first time slot to ( n -1) Possible combinations of indications for the first, second, and third states of the time slot, and the... n The sum of possible combinations of indications of the first or second state of the time slot.

[0109] The following algorithms can be used to optimize the reduction of feedback bits, including ACK, NACK, and DTX.

[0110] The sum of all possible combinations of ACK / NACK and DTX for component carriers L for

[0111] in d l It contains the information used to communicate DTX. l A set of time slots. If Then the first j The time slot is represented by DTX, where D l ={ d l : d l It is the possible combination of l time slots that DTX wants to convey.} Notice ; l =0、……、 n -1, in n The key is to confirm the number of time slots for DL ​​data scheduling. It is the first i The number of TBs in a time slot.

[0112] The total number of feedback bits required for the total possible combinations of HARQ ACK / NACK / DTX can be determined as follows: .

[0113] The UE can give instructions based on the scheduling information available at the UE. That is, the number of time slots to be confirmed. n And the number of TBs per scheduling slot. The above feedback combination can be divided into two parts: the A / N combination of all slots / TBs and the feedback of DTX in slots other than the nth slot. In other words, the indication of the first, second and third states of slots 1 to (n-1), and the indication of the second or first state of slot n.

[0114] Optimization of other values ​​for the counter DAI can be derived based on the total size of the feedback table and the maximum number of feedback indices required to report each HARQ state combination. For 1 TB (DAI=1) in one time slot, the HARQ feedback state can be... Therefore, one bit is sufficient. The absence of feedback is enough to determine the PDCCH DTX.

[0115] For DAI=3 and 1TB per time slot, the traditional method would use 6 bits, that is, 2 bits per HARQ ACK / NACK / DTX, such as... Figure 9 As shown in the table on the left. In the optimized method, since the total number of HARQ feedback states is 27, 5 bits can be used for processing. By removing the D from the last HARQ transmission, the number of states can be further reduced to 18, but 5 bits are still required, as shown in the table on the left. Figure 7 As shown in the table on the right.

[0116] For four transport blocks, noting that the total number of HARQ states is 81, we can reduce the number of bits to 7 by using only 7 bits (instead of 8). Further reducing the number of states by removing the D from the last HARQ transport brings the total to 54, meaning only 6 bits are needed.

[0117] Figure 8 A flowchart illustrating a method according to an example is shown. The apparatus may be a user device, include a user device, or be included in a user device.

[0118] In 801, the method includes: receiving first information from a network entity, the first information being compared with information from the network entity. n It is related to at least one scheduled data transmission in each time slot.

[0119] In 802, the method includes: determining, based on first information, that a control channel transmission for scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received.

[0120] In 803, the method includes: providing feedback information to network entities, the feedback information including a feedback index. p Feedback Index pCorresponding to: for the first time slot to the ( n -1) An indication of the first acknowledgment (ACK) state, the second non-acknowledgment (NACK) state, or the third state of at least one transmission block in each time slot, and an indication of the first acknowledgment (NACK) state for the transmission block in each time slot. n An indication of the first or second state of at least one transport block in the time slot, and a third state indicating that the control channel transmission for scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received.

[0121] Figure 9 A flowchart illustrating a method according to an example is shown. The apparatus may be a network entity, include a network entity, or be included in a network entity.

[0122] In 901, the method includes: providing first information to a user equipment, the first information being related to information from the device. n It is related to at least one scheduled data transmission in each time slot.

[0123] In 902, the method includes: receiving feedback information from a user equipment, the feedback information including a feedback index. p Feedback Index p Corresponding to: for the first time slot to the ( n -1) Indication of the first acknowledgment (ACK) state, the second non-acknowledgment (NACK) state, or the third state of at least one transmission block in each time slot, and the... n An indication of a first or second state in at least one transport block of a time slot, and a third state indicating that a control channel transmission scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received.

[0124] index p It can represent the period from the first time slot to the ( ). n -1) The only possible combination of the first, second, and third states of the time slot, and the... n Possible combinations of indications of the first or second state of a time slot.

[0125] The algorithm for determining the feedback index based on ACK / NACK / DTX is as follows, where ACK is 1 and NACK is 0.

[0126] The feedback bit field consists of a binary vector. This indicates that we assume... b 1 is the most significant bit (MSB). It is the least significant bit (LSB). The feedback bit field is initialized to a zero vector, i.e. This means all NACKs. The feedback index is initialized to... p =0.

[0127] The UE sets the A / N feedback to each time slot / TB according to the rules given below.

[0128] The index only corresponds to A / N and not DTX. For Combinations with A / N require Use one bit to confirm the previous All scheduling slots / TB corresponding to each index. Feedback Index p Incrementing from 0 to And its binary equivalent is interpreted as from of arrive A / N combination of positions.

[0129] The index corresponds to A / N and has DTX, for Each combination, adding DTX cases

[0130] for l =1、……、 n -1

[0131] Get the DTX for placement The combination (the DTX slot mode is shown on the next slide)

[0132] For DTX time slot combinations Continuously arrange the remaining time slots and generate from 0 to The number, and its binary equivalent is interpreted as of arrive A / N combination of positions.

[0133] Feedback index from p Incrementing by +1 to Each of the A / N combinations defined above has a specific combination.

[0134] Note that the DTX position is assumed to be... D l The combinations are predefined in a specific order in the above algorithm to ensure that the feedback index is interpreted in the same way at both the UE and gNB. The modes used to set the DTX slots are as follows:

[0135] Within each time slot l The combination of DTX time slots is sorted according to the lexicographical order of its elements in ascending order. from n Select from -1 time slot l The total method for each DTX time slot location is... for l =1、……、 n -1 Create a dictionary-ordered selection of DTX time slot locations Different combinations The selected combination l The locations of the DTX time slots are listed as follows ,in s 1. s 2, ... It is the DTX timeslot number. s 1< s 2<……< s l For each combination of choices D l , feedback index p from p Incrementing by +1 to

[0136] To handle feedback from multiple transport blocks per time slot, as well as feedback from multiple such time slots with optimized feedback bit counts, we need to generalize the method for determining the feedback table, extending the interpretation of the feedback index to multiple time slots and TBs and / or carriers. The total number of time slots to be confirmed is determined based on the carrier counter DAI.

[0137] According to the 6G proposal, the number of TB per time slot for MIMO scheduling can be... Note that the DAI counter does not increment with the number of TBs per time slot, and ACK / NACK is fed back for each TB. The PDCCH DTX determined for a time slot applies to all TBs transmitted in that time slot. If the UE misses the last... k For any TB, there will be no DCI (the UE cannot determine this due to the lack of any further DAI). k Feedback for each time slot. Table 1 provides several examples of ACK / NACK feedback with DTX information, and calculates the total combination of feedback and the number of bits required. Table 1 Figure 10 The DCI was shown in two time slots ( n =2) and the mode for defining HARQ feedback values ​​in the case of 2 TB per time slot. The first 16 combinations are used to fill 4 TBs (2) in ascending order. 4 ACK / NACK. The next four combinations are used for DTX in the first time slot, followed by 2 TB (2 2 ACK / NACK in the last DCI slot The required number of feedback bits is from n -1 = Select from 5 time slots l Example of a combination of 3 time slots from n -1 = Select from 5 time slots l The total method for 3 DTX time slot positions is: Combinations generated in ascending lexicographical order are This indicates the slot position that is set to DTX. for , The complete table of feedback index and ACK / NACK / DTX for each time slot is shown in Table 2. Table 2

[0138] If the UE misses the PDCCH in the last one or more consecutive time slots within a time slot mapped to the same UL time slot used for sending acknowledgments, the UE cannot determine that it missed the PDCCH because it did not acquire that information as part of the counter DAI. Therefore, the gNB cannot determine whether it missed the PDCCH and how much of the last PDCCH was missed based on the ACK / NACK feedback. However, the number of feedback bits can be transmitted by the UE, which can then be used at the gNB to detect the PDCCH DTX of the last one or more consecutive time slots, as in the case mentioned below.

[0139] The length of the feedback bits can be used to determine the number of scheduled time slots for which the UE has successfully received its DCI. For example, refer to... Figure 4 The method described herein, when providing feedback information for n time slots, the feedback information includes an indication of the number of bits, may include: determining, based on the indication of the number of bits, that a control channel transmission of a data transmission scheduled in the nth time slot has not yet been received.

[0140] For example, the UE indicates the number of feedback bits, and the gNB detects a mismatch between the feedback size and the total DL TB it expects to acknowledge. This mismatch is most likely due to the last (or last consecutive) DL-allocated DTX in the same UL slot mapped to the A / N. Even so, the gNB L1 receiver can perform hypothesis testing to determine the number of bits transmitted by the UE, which allows the gNB to determine the state of one or more last DL-authorized DTXs that the UE may have missed.

[0141] The number of bits can be received at the physical layer.

[0142] When HARQ feedback is transmitted via puncturing or multiplexing on the PHY layer, PUCCH, or PUSCH, it is decoded by the L1 receiver at the gNB based on information provided by MAC layer 2 (L2).

[0143] L2 is based on scheduling n Each time slot is used to send a decoding request for the feedback bits, but the UE will only receive < n Each time slot creates feedback bits, excluding one or more possible time slots where the UE did not receive the PDCCH. Based on hypothesis testing, the gNB receiver can determine the number of bits sent by the UE and the corresponding bit fields. Using this information, the gNB can then determine whether the UE missed one or more last PDCCH messages.

[0144] The number of bits can be received in the Media Access Control (MAC) control element on the physical uplink shared channel.

[0145] Figure 11 A flowchart of a method according to an example embodiment is shown. The method can be performed at a device. The device may include a UE, is a UE, or be included in a UE.

[0146] In 1101, the method includes: receiving first information from a network entity, the first information being... n It is related to at least one scheduled data transmission in each time slot.

[0147] In 1102, the method includes: receiving at least one scheduled data transmission from a network entity. In 1103, the method includes: providing feedback information to the network entity related to the at least one scheduled data transmission, wherein the feedback information includes first information regarding that it has been received. n An indication of the number of time slots.

[0148] Figure 12 A flowchart of a method according to an example embodiment is shown.

[0149] At 1201, the method includes: providing first information to the user equipment, the first information being... n It relates to at least one scheduled data transmission from the device in each time slot.

[0150] At 1202, the method includes: providing at least one scheduled data transmission to the user equipment.

[0151] At 1203, the method includes: receiving feedback information from a user equipment related to at least one scheduled data transmission, wherein the feedback information includes first information that has been received. n An indication of the number of time slots.

[0152] At 1204, the method includes: based on information that has been received n The indication of the number of time slots determines the number of slots in the first time slot. n The control channel transmission for scheduling data transmission in the last one or more consecutive time slots of a time slot has not yet been received.

[0153] refer to Figure 11 The described method may include providing feedback information related to at least one scheduled data transmission in a Media Access Control (MAC) CE element on a physical uplink shared channel, wherein a field of the MAC CE includes an indication of the number of bits in the feedback information. If HARQ feedback is transmitted on the PUSCH as a MAC-CE (MAC control element), the UE may indicate the length of the feedback bits as dynamic size information.

[0154] Feedback information may include bits, of which L It is for the first time slot to the ( n -1) Possible combinations of the indications for the first ACK state, the second NACK state, and the third state of the time slot, and the... n The sum of possible combinations of indications for the first or second state of the time slot, with the third state indicating that the control channel transmission for scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received.

[0155] In both of the above cases, if there is a mismatch between the transmission slot and the feedback information, the gNB can determine which grants were not received at the UE (perform DTX).

[0156] refer to Figures 3 to 12 The described method can be applied to all types of HARQ codebooks (CBs), such as Type 1, Type 2 CBs, etc. A similar solution can also be applied to carrier aggregation (CA).

[0157] Figure 13 A block diagram of apparatus 10 is shown by way of example. For example, apparatus 10 includes at least one processor 12 and at least one memory 14 storing instructions 15, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause apparatus 10 to perform at least one or more methods (or portions thereof) disclosed herein, and any embodiment (or corresponding portions thereof). In the example, at least one memory and instructions (e.g., computer program code, software) are configured, together with at least one processor, to cause apparatus 10 to perform one or more methods (or portions thereof) disclosed herein, and any embodiment (or corresponding portions thereof).

[0158] The processor 12 may include, or be configured as, one or more circuit systems configured to perform various stages of the method according to the embodiments described herein.

[0159] As used herein, the term "circuit system" can mean one or more or all of the following: (a) a hardware circuit implementation only, such as an implementation only in analog and / or digital circuit systems; and (b) a combination of hardware circuits and software, such as, as applicable: (i) a combination of (multiple) analog and / or digital hardware circuits with software / firmware; and (ii) any portion of (multiple) hardware processors having software (including (multiple) digital signal processors), software, and (multiple) memories, which together function to enable a device (such as a user equipment) to perform various functions; and (c) (multiple) hardware circuits and / or (multiple) processors that require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, such as (multiple) microprocessors or portions of (multiple) microprocessors, but where the software may be absent when it is not required to operate. This definition of circuit system applies to all uses of the term herein, including in any claim. As another example, as used herein, the term circuit system also covers an implementation of hardware circuits or processors (or multiple processors) or a portion of hardware circuits or processors and their accompanying software and / or firmware. The term "circuit system" also covers (for example and if applicable to certain claim elements) baseband integrated circuits or processor integrated circuits for mobile devices, or similar integrated circuits in servers, cellular network devices or other computing or networking devices.

[0160] The memory 14 can be implemented using any suitable data storage technology. The memory may include a database for storing data. For example, the memory 14 may be at least partially located outside the device 10, but may be accessible by the device 10.

[0161] Instruction 15 may be included in a computer-readable medium or a non-transitory computer-readable medium. As used herein, the term “non-transitory” refers to a limitation on the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not tactile) rather than a limitation on the persistence of data storage (e.g., random access memory (RAM) versus read-only memory (ROM).

[0162] For example, device 10 is a terminal device such as a UE. As another example, the device is included in such a terminal device, for example, as a chipset configured to control the terminal device. Device 10 may be made, configured, or include functions for at least performing... Figure 3 , Figure 8 and / or Figure 11 The methods and / or components of any one or more embodiments described herein.

[0163] As another example, device 10 is a network entity. In another embodiment, the device is included in such a network entity, for example, a chipset configured to control the network entity. Device 10 may be made, configured, or include functions for at least performing... Figure 4 , Figure 9 and / or Figure 12 The methods and / or components of any one or more embodiments described herein.

[0164] The device may include one or more entities of any protocol layer, such as a MAC entity, RRC entity, RLC entity, PDCP entity, or PHY entity. In some embodiments, the entity is configured to at least perform Figure 4 , Figure 9 and Figure 11 The method and / or any one or more embodiments of the described embodiments.

[0165] Device 10 includes a wireless interface 16. The wireless interface 16 can provide communication capabilities to device 10. The wireless interface 16 may include a receiver configured to receive information according to at least one cellular or non-cellular standard. The wireless interface 16 may include a transmitter configured to transmit information according to at least one cellular or non-cellular standard. The receiver may include more than one receiver. The transmitter may include more than one transmitter. The wireless interface 16 may include a transceiver configured to receive and transmit information according to at least one cellular or non-cellular standard. The transceiver may include more than one transceiver.

[0166] Device 10 may include a user interface 18, which includes at least one of, for example, a keypad, microphone, touch display, monitor, speaker, etc. User interface 18 can be used by a user to control the device. User interface 18 may be external to device 10. For example, device 10 may be connected to another device, such as a computer, via a wireless or wired connection, and device 10 may be controlled by a user via the computer.

[0167] In one embodiment, at least some of the processes described herein may be performed by means including components for performing at least some of the described processes. Components for performing the method steps disclosed herein may include software and / or hardware components of means 10. For example, at least one processor 12, memory 14, and computer program code form components for performing one or more methods (or portions thereof) disclosed herein, and any embodiment (or corresponding portions thereof). As used herein, the term “component” will be interpreted in the singular, i.e., meaning a single element; or in the plural, i.e., meaning a combination of single elements. Therefore, the term “component for [performing A, B, C]” should be interpreted to encompass means having only one component for performing A, B, and C, or means having separate components for performing A, B, and C, or means having partially or completely overlapping components for performing A, B, and C. Furthermore, the terms "components for performing A, components for performing B, and components for performing C" will be interpreted to cover means in which only one component is used to perform A, B, or C, or means in which a single component is used to perform A, B, and C, or means in which partially or completely overlapping components are used to perform A, B, and C.

[0168] Although this disclosure has been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings and non-limiting and illustrative examples, it will be apparent that the scope of this disclosure is not limited thereto, and that it can be modified in many different ways. As technology advances, those skilled in the art will understand how this disclosure can be further implemented and / or modified in various ways. Furthermore, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can, but need not, be combined with other embodiments described herein in various ways.

Claims

1. An apparatus for communication, comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions, said instructions, when executed by said at least one processor, causing the apparatus to at least: Receive first information from the network entity, the first information and... n It is related to at least one scheduled data transmission in each time slot; Receive the at least one scheduled data transmission from the network entity; as well as Provide feedback information to the network entity related to the at least one scheduled data transmission, wherein the feedback information includes the first information regarding the data transmission it has received. n An indication of the number of time slots.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to: provide feedback information related to the at least one scheduled data transmission in a Media Access Control (MAC) CE control element on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel, and wherein a field of the MAC CE includes an indication of the number of bits in the feedback information.

3. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the feedback information includes bits, of which L It is for the first time slot to the ( n -1) Possible combinations of the indications for the first ACK state, the second NACK state, and the third state of the time slot, and the... n The sum of possible combinations of indications of the first or second state of the time slot, the third state indicating that the control channel transmission for scheduling at least one additional data transmission has not yet been received.

4. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the first information includes control channel transmission for scheduling the at least one data transmission.

5. An apparatus for communication, comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions, said instructions, when executed by said at least one processor, causing the apparatus to perform at least the following: Provide first information to the user equipment, the first information and n It relates to at least one scheduled data transmission from the device in each time slot; Provide the user equipment with the at least one scheduled data transmission; Receive feedback information related to the at least one scheduled data transmission from the user equipment, wherein the feedback information includes the first information regarding the data transmission that has been received. n An indication of the number of time slots; as well as Based on the information that it has already received n The indication of the time slot determines the first time slot. n The control channel transmission for scheduling data transmission in the last one or more consecutive time slots of a time slot has not yet been received.

6. A method for communication, comprising: Receive first information from the network entity, the first information and... n It is related to at least one scheduled data transmission in each time slot; Receive the at least one scheduled data transmission from the network entity; as well as Provide feedback information to the network entity related to the at least one scheduled data transmission, wherein the feedback information includes the first information regarding the data transmission it has received. n An indication of the number of time slots.

7. A method for communication, comprising at a device: Provide first information to the user equipment, the first information and n It relates to at least one scheduled data transmission from the device in each time slot; Provide the user equipment with the at least one scheduled data transmission; Receive feedback information related to the at least one scheduled data transmission from the user equipment, wherein the feedback information includes the first information regarding the data transmission that has been received. n An indication of the number of time slots; as well as Based on the information that it has already received n The indication of the time slot determines that in the n The control channel transmission for scheduling data transmission in the last one or more consecutive time slots of a time slot has not yet been received.

8. A communication apparatus comprising components for: Receive first information from the network entity, the first information and... n It is related to at least one scheduled data transmission in each time slot; Receive the at least one scheduled data transmission from the network entity; as well as Provide feedback information to the network entity related to the at least one scheduled data transmission, wherein the feedback information includes the first information regarding the data transmission it has received. n An indication of the number of time slots.

9. A communication apparatus comprising components for: Provide first information to the user equipment, the first information and n It relates to at least one scheduled data transmission from the device in each time slot; Provide the user equipment with the at least one scheduled data transmission; Receive feedback information related to the at least one scheduled data transmission from the user equipment, wherein the feedback information includes the first information regarding the data transmission that has been received. n An indication of the number of time slots; as well as Based on the information that it has already received n The indication of the number of time slots determines the number of time slots in the first time slot. n The control channel transmission for scheduling data transmission in the last one or more consecutive time slots of a time slot has not yet been received.

10. A computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform: Receive first information from the network entity, the first information and... n It is related to at least one scheduled data transmission in each time slot; Receive the at least one scheduled data transmission from the network entity; as well as Provide feedback information to the network entity related to the at least one scheduled data transmission, wherein the feedback information includes the first information regarding the data transmission it has received. n An indication of the number of time slots.

11. A computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform: Provide first information to the user equipment, the first information and n It relates to at least one scheduled data transmission from the device in each time slot; Provide the user equipment with the at least one scheduled data transmission; Receive feedback information related to the at least one scheduled data transmission from the user equipment, wherein the feedback information includes the first information regarding the data transmission that has been received. n An indication of the number of time slots; as well as Based on the information that it has already received n The indication of the number of time slots determines the number of time slots in the first time slot. n The control channel transmission for scheduling data transmission in the last one or more consecutive time slots of a time slot has not yet been received.

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