Frequency domain resource allocation granularity

Abstract

A first apparatus receives 410, from a second apparatus, an indication of a pre-determined common frequency domain resource allocation (c FDRA) granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-

Description

FIELDS

[0001] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) granularity. BACKGROUND

[0002] In an ongoing third-generation partnership project (3GPP) radio access network 4 (RAN4) work item, advanced receivers for downlink (DL) multi user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) are being studied. The advanced receivers for DL MU-MIMO will use reduced complexity Maximum Likelihood (R-ML) receivers like sphere detector, QR Decomposition based M-algorithm (QRD-M), QR decomposition based Maximum Likelihood Detector (QRML-D), or linear receivers like the enhanced interference rejection combining (E-IRC) receiver for cancellation of interference from co-scheduled user equipment (UEs) MIMO layers. Co-scheduled UEs are allocated overlapping time domain resource allocation (TDRA) and FDRA resources in the same slot as the target UE. SUMMARY

[0003] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: receive, from a second apparatus, an indication of a pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; and in accordance with a determination that information of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus is received from the second apparatus, perform a blind detection of modulation order (MO) and demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports across the first apparatus and the at least one coscheduled terminal device based on the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.

[0004] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to: determine a pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; and transmit, to the first apparatus, an indication of the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.

[0005] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, at a first apparatus from a second apparatus, an indication of a pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; and in accordance with a determination that information of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus is received from the second apparatus, performing a blind detection of MO and DMRS ports across the first apparatus and the at least one co-scheduled terminal device based on the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.

[0006] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: determining, at a second apparatus, a pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; and transmitting, to the first apparatus, an indication of the predetermined common FDRA granularity.

[0007] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a second apparatus, an indication of a pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; and means for in accordance with a determination that information of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus is received from the second apparatus, performing a blind detection of MO and DMRS ports across the first apparatus and the at least one co-scheduled terminal device based on the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.

[0008] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for determining a pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; and means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, an indication of the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.

[0009] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

[0010] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0012] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0013] FIG. 2 illustrates an example where higher granularity than Resource block group (RBG) is possible in terms of number of Precoding resource Group (PRG);

[0014] FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling flow of frequency domain resource allocation granularity according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0015] FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0016] FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] FIG. 6 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0018] FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0019] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0021] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0022] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[0023] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”..., etc. in front of noun(s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun(s). For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0024] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0025] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0026] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0027] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry) and (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable): (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and (c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0028] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) 5 accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0029] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network 10 following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-loT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any 15 suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0030] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0031] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0032] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and / or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0033] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment 100, a plurality of devices such as a terminal device 110-1, ... and a terminal device 110-2 can communicate with a network device 120. As used herein, the terminal device 110-1 and the terminal device 110-2 can be individually referred to as a “terminal device 110”, or collectively referred to as “terminal devices 110”.

[0034] In some example embodiments, DL MU-MIMO is supported by the network device 120. For example, the terminal device 110-1 and the terminal device 110-2 are co-scheduled or paired. For the purpose of discussion, in the following description, the terminal device 110-1 may be referred to as a target terminal device, a paired UE, or a target UE, while the terminal device 110-2 may be referred to as a co-scheduled terminal device, a paired UE, or co-scheduled UE.

[0035] In some example embodiments, a link from the network device 120 to the terminal device 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL), and a link from the terminal device 110 to the network device 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the network device 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the terminal device 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver). In UL, the terminal device 110 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the network device 120 is a RX device (or a receiver).

[0036] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising 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 Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0037] As briefly mentioned, advanced receivers for DL MU-MIMO are proposed. Co-scheduled UEs are allocated overlapping TDRA and FDRA resources in the same slot as the target UE. These advanced receivers need interference parameters to enable channel estimation and cancelation or suppression of interference. These parameters include the FDRA, TDRA, DMRS ports, physical resource block (PRB) bundling size, Modulation order of the co-scheduled, i.e., interfering, UEs.

[0038] In some mechanisms, the target UE may assume a lot of these parameters to be same as its own in a practical deployment, while some of these parameters need to be blindly detected (BD), and some will be provided using Network assistance (NWA) 5 signaling. These parameters are also captured in Table 1 below, which may refer to a standard such as technical report (TR) 38.878. Table 1 Information RAN4 Default assumption (If N / A, how could be obtained by the UE) Signalling if RAN4 default assumption not valid The DMRS port information for the co-scheduled UE N / A (Obtained by UE blind detection) N / A PRB bundling size for the coscheduled UE Frequency domain resource allocation for the co-UE within each PRG of the target UE For the target and any co-scheduled UEs in different CDM groups and with the same DMRS sequence, the target UE assumes the precoding and resource allocation of the coscheduled UE are the same in the PRG-level grid configured to the target UE when PRG=2 or 4. Introduce dedicated RRC signalling to indicate whether the default assumptions valid or not DMRS power boosting for the co-scheduled UE Same as target UE Introduce dedicated RRC signalling to indicate whether the default assumptions valid or not Time domain resource allocation information of the co-scheduled UE Same as target UE Introduce dedicated RRC signalling to indicate whether the default assumptions valid or not Frequency domain resource allocation for the co-UE across different PRGs of the target UE: N / A (Obtained by UE blind detection) N / A CSI-RS location of co-scheduled UE (Only required for R-ML) UE assumes the target PDSCH is not overlapped with the CSI-RS of the co-scheduled UE No RRC signalling is needed Modulation order of co-scheduled UE N / A Obtained by DCI based network assistance information or UE blind detection

[0039] As can be seen that the target UE needs to blindly detect DMRS ports and FDRA of the co-scheduled UE, while NWA signaling will be provided for the Modulation order (MO). For MO there is a limited number of bits allocated in the 5 downlink control information (DCI) which can provide the exact MO only for the basic case of all PRG / PRB having interference have the same MO. The blind detection of DMRS ports, FDRA needs to be performed with granularity of as small as 2 or 4 PRBs. This is because of the highlighted default assumption from Table 1 which states that precoding and resource allocation of co-scheduled UE are the same in PRG level grid 5 configured to the target UE when PRG is 2 or 4 PRB.

[0040] In some mechanisms, the latest status on the expected blind detection performance and the NWA when it comes to DMRS ports and FDRA detection is captured. Table 2 below shows status of NWA signaling and UE capability for DMRS ports and FDRA detection. 10 Table 2 Potential finer UE capability definitions UE Capability for maximum number of DMRS ports detected o There is no UE capability introduced for # of DMRS ports to detect. o The UE is expected to detect up to 4 ports. It’s up to UE implementation which ports are detected. o Discussion is limited to RI5 DMRS configurations. o FFS on NWA to inform the UE on potential co-scheduled ports. Frequency domain resource allocation type for the co-UE and the target UE • Candidate options: - Option 1: Introduce signaling to indicate if RBG size of the target and co-scheduled UE are the same when resource allocation Type 0 is used for target UE. - Option 2: Introduce dedicated RRC signalling to indicate whether the resource allocation type of co-scheduled UE is same as target UE. - Option 3: Not to have assumption on the frequency domain resource allocation type for the co-scheduled UE.

[0041] A UE is expected to detect up to 4 DMRS ports according to its implementation with PRG granularity. However, for Type 0 allocation if the UE is signaled that all co-UEs are using the same RBG size as its own then the UE can improve its detection performance when the RBG size is greater than PRG size.

[0042] As seen from Table 2, a UE is expected to detect up to 4 ports with release (Rei) 15 DMRS configurations. With these configurations up to 8 ports using Type 1 DMRS and up to 12 ports with Type 2 are possible. Furthermore, with Rei 18 DMRS configurations this number goes all the way up to 24 ports. The limitation of 4 ports for blind detection is because of the limited number of resources and time available to detect the DMRS ports with PRG granularity.

[0043] Next, signaling that the RBG size of all co-UEs is same as that of the target UE will only help when RBG size is greater than PRG size and when all co-scheduled UEs are using Type 0 FDRA allocation. Using Type 0 FDRA allocation with same RBG size for all paired UEs is not efficient from scheduling perspective and for many UE pairs not feasible. This is because the RBG size is dependent on the bandwidth part size configured for each individual UE.

[0044] FIG. 2 illustrates an example 200 where higher granularity than RBG is possible. One example of 3 UEs with different RBG configurations can be seen in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 also shows that indicting a number for the minimum common #PRGs would still be possible, hence supporting UE performance gain for blind detection of FDRA and Modulation Order.

[0045] As briefly described, the target UE will need to perform blind FDRA detection on PRG level for all PRGs in the target UE allocation to ensure it has detected all possible co-located UEs which might interfere. With the knowledge of a larger granularity (like RGB) the UE can optimize its detection in different ways based on measured signal to noise ratio (SNR): - low SNR: with low SNR it is harder for the UE to detect co-scheduled UEs, however with the knowledge of several PRGs combined it can average the detection across all PRGs and provide a more reliable detection even if one or more PRGs might differ from the majority. - high SNR: with high SNR, the UE will have high reliability on the FDRA detection for one PRG meaning the UE does not have to test the remaining PRGs which it knows are grouped together. Additionally, if the target UE does not know the modulation order of the co-schedules UEs, also it can assume same modulations for all remaining PRGs, hence only need to do blind detection of MO for one PRG in the group.

[0046] Some mechanisms to align all co-scheduled UEs on RGB size may mitigate this issue. However, it will highly restrict the network (NW) scheduler to only coschedule UEs which complies to having the same RGB size.

[0047] In order to solve at least part of the above problems or other potential problems, according to the present solution on FDRA granularity. In the solution, a first apparatus (such as a terminal device or a target UE) receives, from a second apparatus (such as a network device or a network schedular), an indication of a pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus. If information of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus is received from the second apparatus, the first apparatus performs a blind detection of modulation order (MO) and demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports across the first apparatus and the at least one co-scheduled terminal device based on the pre-determined common FDRA granularity. In this way, the second apparatus such as the network may signal the minimum FDRA granularity between co-scheduled terminal devices. It enables more flexibility for the network scheduler while still providing assistance to the terminal devices.

[0048] Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0049] FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling flow of FDRA granularity according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The signaling flow 300 involves the first apparatus 310 and a second apparatus 320. In the following, for the purpose of discussion, some example embodiments will be described with the first apparatus 310 being implemented as the terminal device 110 in FIG. 1, and the second apparatus 320 being implemented as the network device 120 in FIG. 1. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

[0050] In operation, the second apparatus 320 determines (340) a pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus 310 and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus 310. For example, the first apparatus 310 and the at least one co-scheduled terminal device may be co-scheduled over same and / or overlapping time and frequency resources.

[0051] In some example embodiments, the pre-determined common FDRA granularity may be the greatest common divisor (GCD) between FDRA sizes and starting positions across the first apparatus 310 and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus.

[0052] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 310 may transmit (330) capability information to the second apparatus 320. The second apparatus 320 may receive (335) the capability information. The capability information may indicate capability of the first apparatus 310 for advanced receiver for MU-MIMO. For example, the capability information may be referred to as UE capability information. In response to receiving (335) the capability information, the second apparatus 320 may determine (340) the pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus 310.

[0053] The second apparatus 320 transmits (345), to the first apparatus 310, an indication of the pre-determined common FDRA granularity. The first apparatus 310 receives (350) the indication. By way of example, the indication may be transmitted (345) / received (350) via a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, downlink control information (DCI), a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or any other suitable message or signaling. In the following description, some example embodiments will be described with the indication being transmitted via the RRC signaling such as RRC reconfiguration message. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 310 may store (355) the pre-determined common FDRA granularity for future use.

[0054] In some example embodiments, the common FRDA granularity may be specified as number of physical resource block (PRB), or as number of precoding resource group (PRG), or as size of RBG.

[0055] In an example embodiment, the common FRDA granularity (also referred to as a minimum granularity) may be specified as one of the RBG sizes when all coscheduled UEs and target UE are using Type 0 FDRA allocation and aligned on RBG level. In this case it is the minimum RBG size used among all the co-scheduled UEs. Existing enumeration for RBG size may be used for this information element.

[0056] In another example embodiment, the common FRDA granularity (also referred to as a minimum granularity) may be in number of PRGs when Type 1 FDRA allocation is used for all co-scheduled UEs and target UE or in case Type 0 is used but alignment is not on RBG level. Hence the starting PRG number and number of PRGs allocated for the target and all co-scheduled UEs may be dividable with the given granularity.

[0057] It is to be understood that in case of mixed Type 0 and Type 1 allocations between target and co-scheduled UEs same applies as the case of only Type 1 paired UEs.

[0058] By introducing the signalling (such as RRC, MAC-CE, DCI), the co-scheduled UE or the target UE can be informed about the minimum FDRA granularity the target UE will see from co-scheduled UEs.

[0059] By using the signalling to inform UE about the alignment on the finer granularity of PRG level effectively, it makes such solution also useful in case RBG alignment is not possible. The exact content of the signalling may be decided hence not included here. If the signalling matches.

[0060] With these embodiments, it can enhance the UE performance by introducing additional signalling from the network, which will inform the UE if the network has secured FDRA granularity for co-scheduled UEs.

[0061] To enable secure higher performance for the UEs in FDRA detection of any co-scheduled UEs, signalling may be provided where the NW may inform the UE if the granularity of the number of assigned PRBs across the target UE and co-scheduled UEs are the same and what the granularity is.

[0062] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 320 may transmit (360) information of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus 310 to the first apparatus 310. The first apparatus 310 may receive (365) the information. By way of example, the information may be transmitted (360) or received (365) via RRC, DCI, MAC CE, or any other suitable message or signaling. In the following description, some example embodiments will be described with the information being transmitted via the DCI.

[0063] If the information is received (365) from the second apparatus 320, the first apparatus 310 performs (370) a blind detection of MO and DMRS ports across the first apparatus 310 and the at least one co-scheduled terminal device based on the predetermined common FDRA granularity.

[0064] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 310 may determine one or more PRGs available for the blind detection of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus 310 of the FDRA based on pre-determined common FDRA granularity. If an SIR exceeds a threshold level, the first apparatus 310 may perform (370) the blind detection of the MO and DMRS ports based on only one PRG from the one or more PRGs. Alternatively, or in addition, in some example embodiments, if the SNR does not exceed the threshold level, the first apparatus 310 may perform (370) the blind detection of the MO and DMRS ports based on the one or more PRGs.

[0065] Based on the new signalling the first apparatus 310 may be able to, in high SNR scenarios, rely on down to one PRG for FDRA detection and assume the remaining PRGs in the aligned group have interference and same modulation order. This will help to improve power consumption and efficiency.

[0066] The present solution provides more flexibility to the signalling, so it is possible for the NW to signal the pre-determined FDRA granularity such as lowest number of grouped PRGs between all co-scheduled UEs. Hereby it enables more flexibility for the NW scheduler while still providing assistance to the UEs.

[0067] FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an example method 400 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 400 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 310 in FIG. 3.

[0068] At block 410, the first apparatus 310 receives, from a second apparatus, an indication of a pre-determined common frequency domain resource allocation, FDRA, granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus.

[0069] At block 420, in accordance with a determination that information of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus is received from the second apparatus, the first apparatus 310 performs a blind detection of modulation order, MO, and demodulation reference signal, DMRS, ports across the first apparatus and the at least one co-scheduled terminal device based on the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.

[0070] In some example embodiments, the pre-determined common FDRA granularity is the greatest common divisor (GCD) between FDRA sizes and starting positions across the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus.

[0071] In some example embodiments, the common FRDA granularity is specified as number of physical resource block, PRB, or as number of precoding resource group, PRG, or as size of resource block group, RBG.

[0072] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus and the at least one co scheduled terminal device are co-scheduled over same and / or overlapping time and frequency resources.

[0073] In some example embodiments, the method 400 further comprises: receiving the indication from the second apparatus via at least one of the following: a radio resource control, RRC, signaling, a downlink control information, DCI, or a medium access control-control element, MAC-CE.

[0074] In some example embodiments, the method 400 further comprises: determining one or more precoding resource groups, PRGs available for the blind detection of the at least one co-scheduled UE of the first apparatus of the FDRA based on pre-determined common FDRA granularity; and in accordance with a determination that a signal noise ratio, SNR exceeds a threshold level, performing the blind detection of the MO and DMRS ports based on only one PRG from the one or more PRGs.

[0075] In some example embodiments, the method 400 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the SNR does not exceed the threshold level, performing the blind detection of the MO and DMRS ports based on the one or more PRGs.

[0076] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0077] FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method 500 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 320 in FIG. 3.

[0078] At block 510, the second apparatus 320 determines a pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus.

[0079] At block 520, the second apparatus 320 transmits, to the first apparatus, an indication of the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.

[0080] In some example embodiments, the pre-determined common FDRA granularity is the greatest common divisor (GCD) between FDRA sizes and starting positions across the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus.

[0081] In some example embodiments, the common FRDA granularity is specified as number of physical resource block, PRB, or as number of precoding resource group, PRG, or as size of resource block group, RBG.

[0082] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus and the at least one coscheduled terminal device are co-scheduled over same and / or overlapping time and frequency resources.

[0083] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: transmitting the indication via at least one of the following: a radio resource control, RRC, signaling, a downlink control information, DCI, or a medium access controlcontrol element, MAC-CE.

[0084] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, information of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus is received from the second apparatus.

[0085] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0086] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 400 (for example, the first apparatus 310 in FIG. 3) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 400. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 310 in FIG. 3.

[0087] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a second apparatus, an indication of a pre-determined common frequency domain resource allocation, FDRA, granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; and means for in accordance with a determination that information of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus is received from the second apparatus, performing a blind detection of modulation order, MO, and demodulation reference signal, DMRS, ports across the first apparatus and the at least one co-scheduled terminal device based on the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.

[0088] In some example embodiments, the pre-determined common FDRA granularity is the greatest common divisor (GCD) between FDRA sizes and starting positions across the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus.

[0089] In some example embodiments, the common FRDA granularity is specified as number of physical resource block, PRB, or as number of precoding resource group, PRG, or as size of resource block group, RBG.

[0090] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus and the at least one coscheduled terminal device are co-scheduled over same and / or overlapping time and frequency resources.

[0091] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving the indication from the second apparatus via at least one of the following: a radio resource control, RRC, signaling, a downlink control information, DCI, or a medium access control-control element, MAC-CE.

[0092] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining one or more PRGs available for the blind detection of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus of the FDRA based on predetermined common FDRA granularity; and means for in accordance with a determination that a signal noise ratio, SNR exceeds a threshold level, performing the blind detection of the MO and DMRS ports based on only one PRG from the one or more PRGs.

[0093] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the SNR does not exceed the threshold level, performing the blind detection of the MO and DMRS ports based on the one or more PRGs.

[0094] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0095] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 400 or the first apparatus 310. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the first apparatus.

[0096] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 500 (for example, the second apparatus 320 in FIG. 3) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 500. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 320 in FIG. 3.

[0097] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for determining a pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; and means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, an indication of the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.

[0098] In some example embodiments, the pre-determined common FDRA granularity is the greatest common divisor (GCD) between FDRA sizes and starting positions across the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus.

[0099] In some example embodiments, the common FRDA granularity is specified as number of physical resource block, PRB, or as number of precoding resource group, PRG, or as size of resource block group, RBG.

[0100] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus and the at least one coscheduled terminal device are co-scheduled over same and / or overlapping time and frequency resources.

[0101] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting the indication via at least one of the following: a radio resource control, RRC, signaling, a downlink control information, DCI, or a medium access control-control element, MAC-CE.

[0102] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, information of the at least one coscheduled terminal device of the first apparatus is received from the second apparatus.

[0103] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0104] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 500 or the second apparatus 320. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the second apparatus.

[0105] FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 600 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the terminal device 110 or the network deice 120 in FIG. 1, or the first apparatus 310 or the second apparatus 320 as shown in FIG. 3. As shown, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processor 610, and one or more communication modules 640 coupled to the processor 610.

[0106] The communication module 640 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 640 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 640 may include at least one antenna.

[0107] The processor 610 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 600 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0108] The memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 624, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memories that will not last in the powerdown duration.

[0109] A computer program 630 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 610. The instructions of the program 630 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 630 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 624. The processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 630 into the RAM 622.

[0110] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 630 so that the device 600 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 3 to FIG. 5. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0111] In some example embodiments, the program 630 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 600 (such as in the memory 620) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 600. The device 600 may load the program 630 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 622 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0112] FIG. 7 shows an example of the computer readable medium 700 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 700 has the program 630 stored thereon.

[0113] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0114] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0115] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0116] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0117] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0118] Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be 5 advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a 10 single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0119] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present 15 disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A first apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to:receive, from a second apparatus, an indication of a pre-determined common frequency domain resource allocation, FDRA, granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; andin accordance with a determination that information of the at least one coscheduled terminal device of the first apparatus is received from the second apparatus, perform a blind detection of modulation order, MO, and demodulation reference signal, DMRS, ports across the first apparatus and the at least one co-scheduled terminal device based on the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pre-determined common FDRA granularity is the greatest common divisor (GCD) between FDRA sizes and starting positions across the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus.

3. The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the common FRDA granularity is specified as number of physical resource block, PRB, or as number of precoding resource group, PRG, or as size of resource block group, RBG.

4. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-3, wherein the first apparatus and the at least one co-scheduled terminal device are co-scheduled over same and / or overlapping time and frequency resources.

5. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: receive the indication from the second apparatus via at least one of the following: a radio resource control, RRC, signaling, a downlink control information, DCI, ora medium access control-control element, MAC-CE.

6. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-5, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:determine one or more precoding resource groups, PRGs available for the blind detection of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus of the FDRA based on pre-determined common FDRA granularity; andin accordance with a determination that a signal noise ratio, SNR exceeds a threshold level, perform the blind detection of the MO and DMRS ports based on only one PRG from the one or more PRGs.

7. The first apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:in accordance with a determination that the SNR does not exceed the threshold level, perform the blind detection of the MO and DMRS ports based on the one or more PRGs.

8. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-7, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

9. A second apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to:determine a pre-determined common frequency domain resource allocation, FDRA, granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; andtransmit, to the first apparatus, an indication of the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.

10. The second apparatus of claim 9, wherein the pre-determined common FDRA granularity is the greatest common divisor (GCD) between FDRA sizes and starting positions across the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus.

11. The second apparatus of claim 9 or 10, wherein the common FRDA granularity is specified as number of physical resource block, PRB, or as number of precoding resource group, PRG, or as size of resource block group, RBG.

12. The second apparatus of any of claims 9-11, wherein the first apparatus and the at least one co-scheduled terminal device are co-scheduled over same and / or overlapping timeand frequency resources.

13. The second apparatus of any of claims 9-12, wherein the second apparatus is caused to:transmit the indication via at least one of the following:a radio resource control, RRC, signaling,a downlink control information, DCI, ora medium access control-control element, MAC-CE.

14. The second apparatus of any of claims 9-13, wherein the second apparatus is caused to:transmit, to the first apparatus, information of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus is received from the second apparatus.

15. The second apparatus of any of claims 9-14, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

16. A method comprising:receiving, at a first apparatus from a second apparatus, an indication of a predetermined common frequency domain resource allocation, FDRA, granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; andin accordance with a determination that information of the at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus is received from the second apparatus, performing a blind detection of modulation order, MO, and demodulation reference signal, DMRS, ports across the first apparatus and the at least one co-scheduled terminal device based on the predetermined common FDRA granularity.

17. A method comprising:determining, at a second apparatus, a pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; and transmitting, to the first apparatus, an indication of the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.

18. A first apparatus comprising:means for receiving, from a second apparatus, an indication of a pre-determined common frequency domain resource allocation, FDRA, granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; andmeans for in accordance with a determination that information of the at least one co-5 scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus is received from the second apparatus, performing a blind detection of modulation order, MO, and demodulation reference signal, DMRS, ports across the first apparatus and the at least one co-scheduled terminal device based on the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.10 19. A second apparatus comprising:means for determining a pre-determined common FDRA granularity for the first apparatus and at least one co-scheduled terminal device of the first apparatus; andmeans for transmitting, to the first apparatus, an indication of the pre-determined common FDRA granularity.1520. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of any of clam 16 or the method of claim 17.

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