Method, apparatus, and system for enhanced uplink data transmission with configured grant

Abstract

To provide a method, an apparatus and a system for enhanced uplink data transmission with configured grant (CG).SOLUTION: A WTRU may receive information associated with one or more CGs, select a first CG corresponding to a first CG configuration, and transmit a transport block (TB) using resources associated with the first CG at a CG opportunity associated with the first CG. In response to transmitting the TB, the WTRU may start a CG timer for the first CG and receive a HARQ ACK indication in downlink feedback information (DFI) of downlink control information (DCI) indicating a HARQ-ACK feedback value and associated with a HARQ PID. After receiving the HARQ ACK indication, when the HARQ-ACK feedback value is equal to ACK, the WTRU may stop the CG timer and flush a HARQ buffer associated with the HARQ PID.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 840,499, filed April 30, 2019, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 885,565, filed August 12, 2019, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE The embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to wireless communications, such as methods, apparatus and systems for enhanced uplink (UL) data transmission over configured grants. [Background technology]

[0003] The Listen Before Talk (LBT) mechanism can be used for channel access (CA) in unlicensed frequency bands. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Methods, apparatuses, and systems are disclosed. In a representative method, a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) may receive information associated with one or more configured grants (CGs), select a first CG corresponding to a first CG configuration, and transmit a transport block (TB) using resources associated with the first CG at a CG opportunity associated with the first CG. In response to transmitting the TB, the WTRU may start a CG timer for the first CG and receive a HARQ Acknowledgement (ACK) indication indicating a HARQ-ACK feedback value and associated with a HARQ Process ID (PID) in a downlink feedback information (DFI) of a downlink control information (DCI). In this representative method, after receiving the HARQ ACK indication, on the condition that the HARQ-ACK feedback value is equal to the ACK, the WTRU may stop the CG timer and flush a HARQ buffer associated with the HARQ PID. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0005] A more detailed understanding may be had from the following detailed description, given by way of example in conjunction with the drawings attached hereto, in which: The drawings in the specification are examples. As such, the drawings and detailed description should not be considered limiting, and other equally effective examples may be possible. Moreover, like reference numerals in the drawings refer to like elements. [Figure 1A] FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating an example communication system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. [Figure 1B] 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Figure 1C] FIG. 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example radio access network (RAN) and an example core network (CN) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Figure 1D] FIG. 1B is a system diagram illustrating a further exemplary RAN and a further exemplary CN that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Diagram 2] A figure illustrating an example of a configured grant (CG) retransmission timer when switching between CGs. [Diagram 3] 13 illustrates an example of updating a CG timer based on downlink feedback information (DFI) reception and CG selection. [Figure 4] 1 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for transmitting a transport block. [Diagram 5] 11 is a flow diagram illustrating another exemplary procedure for transmitting a PDU. [Figure 6] 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a further representative procedure for transmitting a transport block. [Figure 7] 1 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary procedure for COT sharing. [Figure 8] 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an additional representative procedure for transmitting a transport block. [Figure 9]1 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary transmission procedure using allocated / reallocated UL power. [Figure 10] 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a still further representative procedure for transmitting a transport block. [Figure 11] 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary transmission procedure using a calculated transmit power allocation. [Figure 12] 1 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for changing redundancy versions. [Figure 13] 1 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for modifying a CG opportunity. [Figure 14] 1 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for selecting a CG configuration, a CG opportunity, and / or a CG resource. [Figure 15] 1 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for CG transmission. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0006] 1A illustrates an example communication system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The communication system 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcasts, etc., to multiple wireless users. The communication system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communication system 100 may employ one or more channel access schemes, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), Zero-Tailed Unique Word DFT Spread OFDM (ZT-UW-DFT-S-OFDM), Unique Word OFDM (UW-OFDM), Resource Block Filtered OFDM, Filter Bank Multi-Carrier (FBMC), etc.

[0007] 1A, the communications system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a RAN 104 / 113, a CN 106 / 115, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, although it will be understood that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a wireless environment. For example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, all of which may be referred to as “stations” and / or “STAs,” may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals and may include user equipment (UE), mobile stations, fixed or mobile subscriber units, subscription-based units, pagers, cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, laptops, notebooks, personal computers, wireless sensors, hotspots or Mi-Fi devices, IoT devices, watches or other wearables, head mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, 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 electronic devices, devices operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d may all be referred to interchangeably as UEs.

[0008] The communication system 100 may also include a base station 114a and / or a base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106 / 115, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. For example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a Node B, an eNodeB (eNB), a Home Node B (HNB), a Home eNodeB (HeNB), a gNB, a New Radio (NR) Node B, a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, etc. Although the base stations 114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it will be understood that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

[0009] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104 / 113, which may also include other base stations and / or network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relay nodes, etc. The base station 114a and / or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as cells (not shown). These frequencies may be in a licensed spectrum, an unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide coverage for wireless services in a particular geographic area, which may be relatively fixed or may change over time. A cell may be further divided into cell sectors. For example, a cell associated with the base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one transceiver for each sector of the cell. In one embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell. For example, beamforming may be used to transmit and / or receive signals in desired spatial directions.

[0010] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0011] More specifically, as noted above, the communication system 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, etc. For example, the base stations 114a and WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in the RAN 104 / 113 may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 115 / 116 / 117 using Wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High Speed ​​Downlink (DL) Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High Speed ​​UL Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0012] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or LTE Advanced (LTE-A) and / or LTE Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0013] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as New Radio (NR) radio access, which may establish the air interface 116 using NR.

[0014] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE and NR radio access together, for example, using a dual connectivity (DC) principle. Thus, the air interface utilized by the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions sent to and from multiple types of base stations (e.g., eNBs and gNBs).

[0015] In other embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a wireless technology such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity (WiFi)), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), or the like.

[0016] The base station 114b in FIG. 1A may be, for example, a wireless router, a Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB, or an access point, and may utilize any suitable RAT to facilitate wireless connectivity in a local area, such as a workplace, a home, a vehicle, a premises, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a road, etc. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology, such as IEEE 802.11, to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology, such as IEEE 802.15, to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR, etc.) to establish a picocell or femtocell. 1A, the base station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not need to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106 / 115.

[0017] The RAN 104 / 113 may be in communication with the CN 106 / 115, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, application, and / or VoIP services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. The data may have varying quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as different throughput requirements, latency requirements, error resilience requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, etc. The CN 106 / 115 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location services, prepaid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and / or perform high level security functions, such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1A, it will be understood that the RAN 104 / 113 and / or the CN 106 / 115 may be in direct or indirect communication with other RANs employing the same RAT as the RAN 104 / 113 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104 / 113, which may utilize NR radio technology, the CN 106 / 115 may also be in communication with another RAN (not shown) that employs GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or WiFi radio technology.

[0018] The CN 106 / 115 may also act as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include a circuit-switched telephone network providing plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as TCP, UDP, and / or IP in the TCP / IP Internet protocol suite. The networks 112 may include wired and / or wireless communication networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs that may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 / 113 or a different RAT.

[0019] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in FIG. 1A may be configured to communicate with a base station 114a, which may employ a cellular-based wireless technology, and with a base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 wireless technology.

[0020] Figure 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in Figure 1B, the WTRU 102 may include, among other things, a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit / receive element 122, a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display / touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a GPS chipset 136, and / or other peripherals 138. It will be understood that the WTRU 102 may comprise any subcombination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0021] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors associated with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) circuit, other types of integrated circuits (ICs), a state machine, etc. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit / receive element 122. Although FIG. 1B depicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it will be understood that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip.

[0022] The transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a base station (e.g., base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and / or receive RF signals. In one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an emitter / detector configured to transmit and / or receive, for example, IR, UV, or visible light signals. In yet another embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive both RF and light signals. It will be understood that the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0023] 1B depicts the transmit / receive element 122 as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive elements 122. More particularly, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

[0024] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate signals to be transmitted by the transmit / receive element 122 and to demodulate signals received by the transmit / receive element 122. As mentioned above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers to enable the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as, for example, NR and IEEE 802.11.

[0025] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to and may receive user input data from the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128. Additionally, the processor 118 may access information and store data in any type of suitable memory, such as non-removable memory 130 and / or removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include RAM, ROM, a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a SIM card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, or the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information and store data in memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or home computer (not shown).

[0026] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134 and may be configured to distribute and / or control the power to other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, etc.

[0027] The processor 118 may also be coupled to a GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding a current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to or instead of information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information over the air interface 116 from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) and / or determine its location based on the timing of signals received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be understood that the WTRU 102 may obtain location information by way of any suitable location determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0028] The processor 118 may also be coupled to other peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and / or hardware modules that provide additional features, functions, and / or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (for photos and / or videos), a universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands-free headset, a Bluetooth module, a frequency modulation (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, a virtual reality and / or augmented reality (VR / AR) device, an activity tracker, and / or the like. The peripherals 138 may include one or more sensors, which may be one or more of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a Hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an orientation sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor, a geolocation sensor, an altimeter, a light sensor, a touch sensor, a magnetometer, a barometer, a gesture sensor, a biometric sensor, and / or a humidity sensor.

[0029] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be in operative communication with various peripherals 138, such as one or more accelerometers, one or more gyroscopes, a USB port, other communications interfaces / ports, a display and / or any other visual / audio indicators for implementing the representative embodiments disclosed herein.

[0030] The WTRU 102 may include a full-duplex radio where transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe for both the UL (e.g., for transmission) and DL (e.g., for reception)) may be parallel and / or simultaneous. The full-duplex radio may include an interference management unit 139 to reduce and / or substantially eliminate self-interference either through hardware (e.g., chokes) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or processor 118). In an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex radio for transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe for either the UL (e.g., for transmission) or DL ​​(e.g., for reception).

[0031] 1C is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106, according to one embodiment. As mentioned above, the RAN 104 may employ E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0032] The RAN 104 may include eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c, although it will be understood that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNodeBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may each comprise one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNodeB 160a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to and / or receive wireless signals from the WTRU 102a.

[0033] Each of the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and / or DL, etc. As shown in FIG 1C, the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with each other via an X2 interface.

[0034] 1C may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, a Serving Gateway (SGW) 164, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (or PGW) 166. Although each of the above elements is shown as part of the CN 106, it will be understood that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0035] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may act as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, activating / deactivating bearers, selecting a particular serving gateway during initial attachment of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, etc. The MME 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies such as GSM and / or WCDMA.

[0036] The SGW 164 may be connected to each of the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to and from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions such as anchoring the user plane during handover between eNodeBs, triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, managing and storing the context of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, etc.

[0037] The SGW 164 may be connected to a PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0038] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and traditional fixed communication devices. For example, the CN 106 may include or communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. Additionally, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0039] Although the WTRU is depicted in FIGS. 1A-1D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in some representative embodiments such a terminal may use a wired communications interface with the communications network (e.g., temporarily or permanently).

[0040] In an exemplary embodiment, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0041] A WLAN in infrastructure basic service set (BSS) mode has an access point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have access or an interface to a distribution system (DS) or another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic to and / or from the BSS. Originating traffic to the STA may arrive through the AP and be sent to the STA. Traffic originating from the STA to a destination outside the BSS may be sent to the AP and delivered to the respective destination. Traffic between STAs in the BSS may be sent through the AP, e.g., a source STA may send traffic to the AP, which in turn may deliver the traffic to the destination STA. Traffic between STAs in the BSS may be considered or referred to as peer-to-peer traffic. Peer-to-peer traffic may be sent (e.g., directly) between the source and destination STAs using a direct link setup (DLS). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use 802.11e DLS or 802.11z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and STAs within or using the IBSS (e.g., all STAs) may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS communication mode is sometimes referred to herein as an "ad-hoc" communication mode.

[0042] When using 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operation, the AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel may be a fixed width (e.g., 20 MHz wide bandwidth) or a width dynamically set via signaling. The primary channel may be an operating channel of the BSS and may be used by STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, a carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) scheme may be implemented, for example, in an 802.11 system. With CSMA / CA, STAs (e.g., all STAs), including the AP, may sense the primary channel. If the primary channel is sensed / detected by a particular STA and / or determined to be busy, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit on a particular BSS at any time.

[0043] High throughput (HT) STAs may use 40 MHz wide channels for communication, for example, via combining a primary 20 MHz channel with adjacent or non-adjacent 20 MHz channels to form a 40 MHz wide channel.

[0044] A Very High Throughput (VHT) STA can support 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and / or 160 MHz wide channels. 40 MHz and / or 80 MHz channels can be formed by combining contiguous 20 MHz channels. A 160 MHz channel can be formed by combining eight contiguous 20 MHz channels or by combining two non-contiguous 80 MHz channels, the latter sometimes referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, the data can be passed through a segment parser after channel encoding, which can split the data into two streams. Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) processing, and time domain processing can be performed on each stream separately. The streams can be mapped onto two 80 MHz channels, and the data can be transmitted by the transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the above operations for the 80+80 configuration can be reversed, and the combined data can be transmitted to the medium access control (MAC).

[0045] Sub-1 GHz operation modes are supported by 802.11af and 802.11ah. In 802.11af and 802.11ah, the channel operating bandwidth and carriers are reduced relative to those used in 802.11n and 802.11ac. 802.11af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.11ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.11ah can support meter type control / machine type communication, such as MTC devices in macro coverage areas. MTC devices may have limited capabilities, including specific functions, for example, support (e.g., support only) of specific and / or limited bandwidths. MTC devices may include batteries with battery life above a threshold (e.g., maintain a very long battery life).

[0046] A WLAN system may support multiple channels and channel bandwidths, such as 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11af, and 802.11ah, including a channel that may be designated as a primary channel. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the maximum common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be set and / or limited by the STA from among all STAs operating in the BSS that support the smallest bandwidth operating mode. In an 802.11ah example, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide for STAs (e.g., MTC type devices) that support (e.g., only support) the 1 MHz mode, even if the AP and other STAs in the BSS support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz, and / or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and / or network allocation vector (NAV) setting may depend on the status of the primary channel. For example, if the primary channel is busy because a STA (that only supports a 1 MHz mode of operation) is transmitting to the AP, the entire available frequency band may be considered busy even though most of the frequency band may remain idle and available for use.

[0047] In the United States, the available frequency bands available for use with 802.11ah are 902MHz to 928MHz. In South Korea, the available frequency bands are 917.5MHz to 923.5MHz. In Japan, the available frequency bands are 916.5MHz to 927.5MHz. The total available bandwidth for 802.11ah is 6MHz to 26MHz depending on the country code.

[0048] 1D is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 113 and the CN 115, according to one embodiment. As mentioned above, the RAN 113 may employ NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 113 may also be in communication with the CN 115.

[0049] The RAN 113 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c, although it will be understood that the RAN 113 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, the gNBs 180a, 108b may utilize beamforming to transmit and / or receive signals to and from the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c. Thus, for example, the gNB 180a may use multiple antennas to transmit and / or receive wireless signals to and from the WTRU 102a. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on an unlicensed spectrum, and the remaining component carriers may be on a licensed spectrum. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement coordinated multipoint (CoMP) technology. For example, the WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from the gNBs 180a and 180b (and / or 180c).

[0050] The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with a scalable numerology. For example, the OFDM symbol spacing and / or OFDM subcarrier spacing may vary for different transmissions, different cells, and / or different portions of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using subframes or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of different or scalable lengths (e.g., absolute times of different lengths that include and / or last for different numbers of OFDM symbols).

[0051] The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in a standalone configuration and / or a non-standalone configuration. In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c without accessing any other RAN (e.g., eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c, etc.). In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may utilize one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c as mobility anchor points. In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using signals in unlicensed bands. In a non-standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate / connect with a gNB 180a, 180b, 180c while also communicating / connecting with another RAN, such as an eNodeB 160a, 160b, 160c. For example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement the DC principle to communicate with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c and one or more eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c at approximately the same time. In a non-standalone configuration, the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may act as a mobility anchor for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may provide additional coverage and / or throughput for serving the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0052] Each of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and / or DL, support for network slicing, dual connectivity, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data to User Plane Functions (UPFs) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information to Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMFs) 182a, 182b, etc. As shown in FIG. 1D, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with each other via an Xn interface.

[0053] 1D may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and possibly a Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b. Although each of the above elements is shown as part of the CN 115, it will be understood that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0054] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N2 interface and function as a control node. For example, the AMF 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, supporting network slicing (e.g., handling different protocol data unit (PDU) sessions with different requirements), selecting a particular SMF 183a, 183b, managing registration areas, terminating NAS signaling, mobility management, etc. Network slicing may be used by the AMF 182a, 182b to customize the CN support of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c based on the type of service being utilized by the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. Different network slices may be established for different use cases, for example, services relying on ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced massive mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for machine type communications (MTC) access, etc. The AMF 182 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 113 and other RANs (not shown) that use other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and / or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi.

[0055] The SMFs 183a, 183b may be connected to the AMFs 182a, 182b in the CN 115 via an N11 interface. The SMFs 183a, 183b may also be connected to the UPFs 184a, 184b in the CN 115 via an N4 interface. The SMFs 183a, 183b may select and control the UPFs 184a, 184b and configure the routing of traffic through the UPFs 184a, 184b. The SMFs 183a, 183b may perform other functions such as managing and assigning UE IP addresses (e.g., WTRU IP addresses), managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing DL data notification, etc. The PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP-based, Ethernet-based, etc.

[0056] The UPFs 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N3 interface, which provides the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, and facilitates communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPFs 184, 184b may perform other functions, such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering DL packets, providing a mobility anchor, etc.

[0057] The CN 115 may facilitate communication with other networks. For example, the CN 115 may include or communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that acts as an interface between the CN 115 and the PSTN 108. Additionally, the CN 115 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. In an embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to local data networks (DNs) 185a, 185b through the UPFs 184a, 184b via an N3 interface to the UPFs 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between the UPFs 184a, 184b and the DNs 185a, 185b.

[0058] 1A-1D and the corresponding description thereof, one or more or all of the functions described herein with respect to one or more of the WTRUs 102a-d, base stations 114a-b, eNodeBs 160a-c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNBs 180a-c, AMFs 182a-b, UPFs 184a-b, SMFs 183a-b, DNs 185a-b, and / or any other devices described herein may be performed by one or more emulation devices (not shown). The emulation devices may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more or all of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation devices may be used to test other devices and / or to simulate network and / or WTRU functions.

[0059] The emulation device may be designed to implement one or more tests of other devices in a lab environment and / or an operator network environment. For example, one or more emulation devices may be fully or partially implemented and / or deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network to implement one or more or all of the functions to test other devices in the communication network. One or more emulation devices may be temporarily implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network to implement one or more or all of the functions. The emulation device may be directly coupled to another device for testing purposes and / or may perform the tests using wireless communication.

[0060] The emulation device(s) may also perform one or more functions, including all functions, without being implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. For example, the emulation device(s) may be utilized in a test scenario in a test lab and / or in a non-deployed (e.g., test) wired and / or wireless communication network to implement testing of one or more components. The emulation device(s) may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and / or wireless communication via RF circuitry (which may, for example, include one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation device to transmit and / or receive data.

[0061] In some cases, LBT may be (e.g., is typically) commanded regardless of whether the channel is occupied or not. In other cases, immediate transmission after a short switching gap may be applied.

[0062] In certain representative embodiments, a channel may be a contiguous interval of a frequency band, while in other representative embodiments, a channel may be multiple non-contiguous intervals of one or more frequency bands. In the context of unlicensed frequency bands, a channel may be a spectral resource that is determined by LBT mechanisms / operations to be available for communication.

[0063] For frame-based systems, the LBT may be characterized by a clear channel assessment (CCA) time (e.g., in the range of ~20 μs), a channel occupancy time (COT) (e.g., minimum 1 ms, maximum 10 ms), an idle period (e.g., minimum 5% of COT), a fixed frame period (e.g., equal to COT + idle period), a short control signaling transmission time (e.g., maximum duty cycle of 5% within a 50 ms observation period), and / or a CCA energy detection threshold.

[0064] For load-based systems (e.g., the transmit / receive structure may not be fixed in time), the LBT may be characterized, for example, by a number N corresponding to the number of clear idle slots in the extended CCA, instead of a fixed frame period. N may be selected (e.g., randomly selected) within a range.

[0065] For unlicensed spectrum, there may be multiple categories (e.g., two categories) of CCA for UL and / or DL. In the first category, a node may sense the channel for N slot time lengths, where N is a value (e.g., a random value) selected from a range of allowed values ​​(sometimes referred to below as contention window (CW)). The size of the CW and / or adjustments to the CW may depend on a channel access priority (CAP). In a licensed assisted access (LAA) mode, the WTRU 102 may operate using CA on at least one carrier on the licensed spectrum. In a further enhanced licensed assisted access (FeLAA) mode, the WTRU 102 may transmit autonomously using autonomous UL (AUL) transmission on preconfigured active UL semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) resources for which hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback (e.g., explicit HARQ feedback) may be provided via the DFI.

[0066] New Radio (NR) systems may support flexible transmission time lengths within a slot and / or "configured grant" type-1 for UL transmission. For example, the network (e.g., a network entity) may semi-statically configure the UL grant, and the WTRU 102 may autonomously use the configured UL grant without Layer 1 (L1) (e.g., physical layer) indication and / or activation. Configured grant type-2 may be similar to configured grant type-1, and L1 indication / activation may be considered. NR systems may support DL SPS resources (and / or DL ​​configured grants) that are used per DL transport block (TB) and / or that the WTRU 102 may receive DL data on an active DL CG without any necessary scheduling.

[0067] An NR system may support UL and DL services with different QoS requirements, including traffic with varying latency and / or reliability requirements, within a single WTRU 102. NR may support time-sensitive communications and / or networking, including deterministic and / or non-deterministic time-sensitive networking (TSN) traffic patterns and / or flows, which may be used (e.g., prevalent) in factory automation settings using licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum, for example.

[0068] NR-based operation using unlicensed spectrum can include initial access operation, scheduling / HARQ, and / or mobility operation, along with coexistence operation with LTE-LAA and other currently operating radio access technologies (RATs). Deployment scenarios can include standalone NR-based operation, dual connectivity operation (e.g., E-UTRA NR dual connectivity (EN-DC) with at least one carrier operating according to the LTE RAT, or NR DC with at least two sets of one or more carriers operating according to the NR RAT, and / or different carrier aggregation variants (e.g., including different combinations of zero or more carriers of each of LTE and / or NR RAT)). NR-U can support CG transmissions, as well as code block group (CBG)-based transmissions for CG.

[0069] The terms "LBT configuration" and / or "LBT parameters" may be used generally to encompass at least one or more of CAP Class (CAPC), LBT Category, Congestion Window Size, CCA, and / or other parameters used to determine whether the WTRU 102 can acquire a channel or transmit a UL signal on a channel. The term "highest priority CAPC" is generally synonymous with the lowest CAPC number and / or lowest CAPC. The term "UL LBT failure" generally implies that the WTRU 102 was not able to acquire a channel for a UL transmission attempt after the CCA portion of the LBT procedure, which may be determined, for example, based on receiving an "indication of LBT failure" or "indication of LBT failure" from the physical layer, among other determination actions. The opposite may apply when the term "UL LBT success" is used. For example, the term "UL LBT success" generally implies that the WTRU 102 was able to acquire a channel for a UL transmission attempt after, for example, the CCA portion of the LBT procedure.

[0070] The terms "AUL timer," "CG retransmission timer," and "AUL retransmission timer" may be used interchangeably. The terms "LBT sub-band" and "LBT bandwidth" may be used interchangeably.

[0071] In a further enhanced authorization assisted access (FeLAA) system, the WTRU 102 cannot generate a retransmission until the AUL timer expires and no HARQ feedback is received or a negative ACK (NACK) is received in the DFI. For an NR unlicensed (NR-U) system, the WTRU 102 may maintain an AUL timer or a retransmission timer in addition to or instead of a legacy timer (e.g., NR-R15 CG timer) to control retransmissions in an active CG. The AUL timer may be started when a TB is transmitted in a CG and may be stopped upon receiving HARQ feedback in a downlink feedback information (DFI) and / or upon receiving a dynamic grant (DG) for the same HARQ process. When the AUL timer expires, the WTRU 102 may determine (e.g., may assume) that there is a NACK for a previously transmitted TB in the CG and that the WTRU 102 is permitted to attempt another transmission or retransmission in an active configured grant with the same HARQ process ID (HARQ PID).

[0072] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may stop the CG timer and toggle the new data indicator (NDI) upon receiving a HARQ ACK in the downlink feedback information (DFI) for the applicable HARQ process ID (PID).

[0073] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may update the CG timer value for the applicable HARQ PID according to the periodicity of the CG opportunity selected for retransmission.

[0074] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may back off for a period of time prior to selecting the first available CG opportunity, depending on receiving an indication from the selected CG and / or gNB 180.

[0075] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may increment the RV only after a successful LBT transmission or retransmission on the CG.

[0076] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may select or reselect different CG resources on different sub-bands for retransmission or for transmission retries after several LBT failures.

[0077] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may calculate several transmit power allocations (TPAs) and may apply one TPA depending on the outcome of the LBT on different uplinks and / or uplink subbands where the LBT or CCA was successful.

[0078] In certain representative embodiments, upon receiving an indication from the gNB 180, the WTRU 102 may determine that an upcoming CG opportunity is to be conditionally added or shifted.

[0079] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may conditionally consider a subset of CG opportunities, CG configurations, and / or CG resources, if applicable, based on the outcome of the LBT, the jitter delay until the next CG opportunity or opportunities, and / or the receipt of a DL signal or lack of such receipt of a DL signal, e.g., based on a timer expiration. The jitter delay is, for example, the time delay between data arrival (e.g., at a data buffer) and the next transmission opportunity.

[0080] In certain representative embodiments, methods, apparatus, and systems may be implemented to include CG-UCI in a CG transmission. For example, such embodiments may include determining a resource to map the CG-UCI to and / or multiplexing the CG-UCI, UCI, and data on one or more CG resources.

[0081] In NR-U, the WTRU 102 may be configured with multiple CGs on a given bandwidth portion (BWP), a subset or all of which may be active simultaneously. Depending on the outcome of the LBT, a subset of the active CGs may be used at a given time.

[0082] In certain representative embodiments, methods, apparatus, systems, and / or procedures may be implemented for generating transmissions or retransmissions in a CG in an NR-U context, e.g., to provide predictable WTRU behavior. The methods, apparatus, systems, and / or procedures may consider and / or affect, for example, the impact of (1) LBT and transmission timing on resource selection, 2) redundancy version (RV) selection, (3) CAPC selection, (4) HARQ PID selection, (5) power allocation, and / or (6) one or more retransmission timers, among others.

[0083] Typical procedure for retransmission in CG Typical conditions for generating retransmissions in CG The WTRU 102 may maintain a CG timer (e.g., a legacy NR-R15 CG timer), for example, for each active HARQ PID used for AUL. The CG timer may be maintained in addition to or instead of the AUL timer. Upon receiving a DG on a HARQ PID used for a pending CG retransmission, the WTRU 102 may restart one or more CG timers and stop the AUL timer. In FeLAA, the AUL timer may be configured in subframes (units of ms), e.g., the CG timer in NR-R15 may be configured in units of the number of CG periodicities. For NR-U systems, the AUL timer may expire while the CG timer may still be running, or vice versa (e.g., depending on the selected CG periodicity), which may cause undesirable consequences if the CG timer is not properly maintained when the AUL timer expires.

[0084] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating CG retransmission timers upon switching between CGs. With reference to FIG. 2, an RRC configuration may include an AUL timer set to a first period (e.g., 1 ms), a first CG timer for CG1 set to, for example, one period (e.g., one periodicity), and a second CG timer for CG2 set to, for example, six periods (e.g., six periodicities). For example, the WTRU 102 may send an initial transmission on CG1 and may start the AUL and CG timers. The next CG opportunity may occur after the CG timer expires. The WTRU 102 may select CG2 for retransmission and may update the CG timer to a different number of elapsed periods (e.g., two elapsed periods). The WTRU 102 may successfully send a retransmission at the next CG opportunity. The WTRU 102 may receive an acknowledgment (ACK) over or at the DFI. In this example, the CG timer may continue to run and the WTRU 102 may not be able to use subsequent CG opportunities for new transmissions.

[0085] For example, when the AUL timer expires and the WTRU 102 selects a CG opportunity with a CG that has a different periodicity than the one chosen for the previous transmission or retransmission, the WTRU 102 may toggle the New Data Indicator (NDI) (e.g., inadvertently toggle) and flush the buffer for the HARQ PID for which the TB is waiting if the CG timer is not properly updated according to the selected CG. On the other hand, if the WTRU 102 keeps the CG timer running even if the retransmission is successful (e.g., an ACK is received with a DFI) with a CG that has a shorter periodicity, the WTRU 102 may miss using the upcoming CG opportunity for a new transmission until the CG timer expires.

[0086] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may retransmit on any active CG opportunity after the AUL timer for the HARQ process used to transmit the initial TB expires.

[0087] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for updating a CG timer based on DFI reception and / or CG selection.

[0088] With reference to FIG. 3, the RRC configuration may include an AUL timer set to a first period (e.g., 1 ms), a first CG timer for CG1 set to, for example, one period (e.g., one periodicity), and a second CG timer for CG2 set to, for example, six periods (e.g., six periodicities). For example, the WTRU 102 may send an initial transmission on CG1 and may start the AUL and CG timers. The next CG opportunity may occur after the CG timer expires. The WTRU 102 may select CG2 for retransmission and may update the CG timer to a different number of elapsed periods (e.g., two elapsed periods). For example, the WTRU 102 may send a retransmission successfully at the next CG opportunity. The WTRU 102 may receive an acknowledgement (ACK) via or at the DFI. In this example, during the period between the ACK and the subsequent CG opportunity, the WTRU 102 may stop the CG timer and toggle a new data indicator (NDI) for the HARQ PID. The WTRU 102 may use the subsequent CG opportunity for a new transmission.

[0089] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may implement at least one of the following (e.g., operations / procedures, methods, and / or principles) for transmission or retransmission in a CG (e.g., to ensure efficiency of configured CG resources): (1) For TB, upon receiving a HARQ acknowledgment (ACK) in the DFI, the WTRU 102 may stop the CG timer for the applicable HARQ PID; (2) Upon receiving a HARQ ACK in the DFI for the TB, the WTRU 102 may toggle NDI for the applicable HARQ PID, or may toggle NDI prior to or at the next CG opportunity occurring after the ACK for the TB is received on the applicable HARQ PID; (3) When selecting a HARQ PID for an initial transmission in CG from the HARQ PID pool configured for AUL / CG transmission, the WTRU 102: (i) a dynamic grant is received, and / or (ii) The transmission of another TB is pending (e.g., because NDI may not yet be toggled, because HARQ ACK feedback may not yet be received for the HARQ PID, and / or because the HARQ buffer of the identified process may not be empty). The HARQ PID can be eliminated.

[0090] If the AUL timer has expired and the CG timer is running, and the WTRU 102 selects a CG opportunity for a retransmission with an active CG different from that used for the previous transmission or transmissions or retransmissions, the WTRU 102: (1) Restarting the AUL timer after a transmission or retransmission on a CG opportunity where the LBT was successful. (2) Perform a CG timer value update for the applicable HARQ PID according to the periodicity of the selected CG (e.g., as shown in FIG. 3, if the WTRU 102 switches to CG2 to perform retransmission upon expiration of the AUL timer, the WTRU 102 may update the CG timer to 2 periods); (3) not toggling the NDI until an ACK is received in the DFI for the HARQ PID (e.g., if the CG timer expires or has expired upon updating the CG timer value according to the newly selected CG periodicity and / or if no ACK has been received for a pending TB); and / or (4) Perform a transformation of the configured value for the CG timer according to the CG for which the PDU was transmitted or retransmitted (e.g., the WTRU 102 may scale the configured value for the CG timer by one or more factors (e.g., the period of the selected CG and / or the period of the CG for which the timer was started, among others). At least one of the following can be performed.

[0091] Representative procedures for dealing with conflicts between or within the CG and DG In NR-U, the WTRU 102 may select (e.g., autonomously select) a HARQ PID from a configured PID pool for CG transmission. Even if the network may simultaneously issue a DG on the same HARQ PID, the WTRU 102 may select a PID on which the AUL timer is stopped or not running for the purpose of retransmission or new transmission on the CG. Downlink control information (DCI) to schedule the DG may be received either (1) before the AUL transmission, (2) after the WTRU 102 selects a HARQ PID for the CG, and / or (3) after the transmission has started on the CG (e.g., shortly after). Exemplary procedures for the WTRU 102 to handle such conflicts may be defined and implemented as disclosed herein.

[0092] For example, the WTRU 102 may determine a HARQ PID conflict based on any of the following: (1) the WTRU 102 selects a HARQ PID for a PDU for transmission or retransmission in a CG and receives a DG on the same HARQ PID, (2) the WTRU 102 receives a DG that overlaps with a CG in terms of resources in the time and / or frequency domain, and / or (3) the WTRU 102 receives a DG on a HARQ PID configured for AUL / CG transmission.

[0093] If the WTRU 102 determines a HARQ PID conflict and the NDI for the DG is toggled, the WTRU 102 may ignore the toggling of the NDI and may keep the PDUs in the HARQ buffer for the identified HARQ PID. The WTRU 102 may further consider and / or determine the transport block size (TBS) of the DG compared to the TBS of the CG and / or whether the transport blocks overlap in time and / or frequency. For example, the WTRU 102 may ignore the toggling of the NDI if the TBS(DG) is the same or larger than the TBS(CG) and / or if the two grants overlap.

[0094] When the WTRU 102 receives a DG with a HARQ PID configured for a CG transmission with the AUL timer running, and another CG opportunity occurs for which the same HARQ PID is applicable before the start of the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for the DG, the WTRU 102 may prioritize selection of the DG over the CG for retransmission (e.g., if NDI was not toggled, e.g., as part of the HARQ information provided for the DG).

[0095] Representative procedure for backoff prior to retransmission in CG Given that when the channel is busy for an extended length of time, a large number of WTRUs 102 may be transmitting (e.g., may need to transmit) pending data simultaneously, there may be a higher probability of CG collisions when the channel becomes available again. In a high channel loading / inter-WTRU blocking scenario, the WTRU 102 may implement a backoff prior to selecting the first available CG opportunity.

[0096] The WTRU 102 may be configured to start a back-off timer (1) when an LBT for a CG transmission fails, (2) after several LBTs for a CG transmission fail, and / or (3) when the channel becomes available. The back-off may be achieved by (1) starting an AUL timer or a CG timer for the applicable CG, or (2) starting another back-off timer. For example, the WTRU 102 may condition the start of the timer to the channel load and / or the priority of the data on the channel. For example, the WTRU 102 may start the CG timer and / or the AUL timer when an LBT for a PUSCH transmission on a CG opportunity fails, e.g., when a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) or a channel occupancy (CO) measured on a channel for which CG is configured is above a certain threshold. In another example, the WTRU 102 may start the back-off timer, the CG timer, and / or the AUL timer when the highest priority data included in the PDU is of a priority less than a configured threshold. The WTRU 102 may maintain one or more backoff timers per CG resource, or per LBT sub-band, or per carrier.

[0097] When the back-off timer expires or stops, the WTRU 102 may transmit or retransmit the PUSCH on a CG opportunity. The back-off timer value may be configured by higher or upper layer signaling. When the back-off timer starts, the WTRU 102 may apply the configured value to the back-off timer, or may start the back-off timer with a random value uniformly distributed between 0 and the configured value. In another example, back-off timer adaptation may be used. In such a case, the back-off timer value may depend on the back-off timer previously used for the CG resources and an additional time value that may be added or removed.

[0098] The WTRU 102 may be configured with a back-off value for each logical channel (LCH), and the WTRU 102 may apply a back-off to one or more new transmissions according to the largest back-off value configured for the LCHs multiplexed on the PDU.

[0099] The WTRU 102 may stop the back-off timer (e.g., the CG timer and / or the AUL timer) after the WTRU 102 receives a trigger signal from the gNB 180, possibly on the same channel as the CG. For example, the WTRU 102 may stop the back-off timer upon receiving a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) or a preamble signal from the gNB 180 (e.g., on the same channel for which the CG is configured). In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may stop the back-off timer after the WTRU 102 receives an indication from the gNB 180 that the WTRU 102 may determine from explicit DCI and / or MAC CE signaling, or may implicitly determine from reception of DL signals and / or channels prior to the CG opportunity. The gNB 180 may indicate to the WTRU 102 to start its back-off timer via a DL indication (e.g., an implicit or explicit indication), such as a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC CE) and / or a DCI. The WTRU 102 may receive an indication from the gNB 180 indicating a backoff for CG transmission or retransmission for a period of time or for a number of upcoming CG opportunities. For example, the WTRU 102 may be pre-configured with an initial backoff period, either in absolute time or number of CG periods, and the WTRU 102 may start the configured backoff period after receiving a backoff indication from the gNB 180. The backoff indication for the WTRU 102 may be applicable to a specific CG or a specific sub-band. For example, if the WTRU 102 receives a specific backoff indication on the same sub-band or where the sub-band and / or CG is explicitly indicated, the WTRU 102 may start a backoff on a specific sub-band and / or CG. In another example, if the WTRU 102 does not receive an expected or periodic DL trigger signal prior to (or within or after) the start of a CG opportunity or a subset of CG opportunities, the WTRU 102 may start a backoff timer (e.g., a CG timer and / or an AUL timer, among others).

[0100] Representative Procedure for Redundancy Version (RV) Selection for Transmission in CG In a legacy FeLAA LTE system, the WTRU 102 may select the RV (e.g., by itself) and signal that part of the uplink control information (UCI) in the AUL transmission or retransmission. Unlike turbo codes, low density parity check (LDPC) codes can accommodate more systematic bits in the first and last RV. Random RV selection may not work in LTE / FeLAA AUL, but also in NR-U. If the WTRU 102 kept incrementing the RV for every transmission attempt, regardless of the outcome of the LBT, the gNB 180 may not benefit from a soft-combining perspective if a retransmission is received with the same RV. In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may select the RV according to a preconfigured or predetermined behavior, e.g., to improve the outcome for the soft-combining operation.

[0101] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may increment the RV conditional on a successful LBT for a previous transmission or retransmission. For example, the WTRU 102 may increment the RV after (e.g., only after) a transmission or retransmission with a successful LBT at the CG. In other representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may be configured with a sequence and / or pattern for selecting an RV for a transmission or retransmission at the applicable CG. For example, when the WTRU 102 is configured with an RV sequence for a repetition at the CG, the WTRU 102 may increment the RV per the configured sequence if the LBT is successful for the transmission of the given repetition.

[0102] After the WTRU 102 switches to a different active CG on a different subband, a different LBT bandwidth, a different BWP, and / or a different UL carrier, the WTRU 102 may reset the RV for retransmissions to 1 (or an initial or preconfigured value).

[0103] Representative procedure for CG retransmission on different LBT channels In certain embodiments, the WTRU 102 may be configured with multiple CG configurations such that each CG may be in a different sub-band and / or different carrier. In one exemplary embodiment, the WTRU 102 may be configured to autonomously select a CG from a set of configured CGs for an initial transmission of a transport block (TB) and use the same CG resource for a subsequent retransmission / repetition of the initially transmitted TB. In another exemplary embodiment, for the same TB, the WTRU 102 may be capable or configured to select or reselect different CG resources in different sub-bands for retransmission / repetition based on, among other things, any of the following triggers: (1) the number of channel access failures (e.g., LBT failures) exceeds a threshold (e.g., channel access failures may occur while attempting / repeating retransmissions of the same transport block using an initially selected CG. In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may select a CG resource within a subband for transmitting the TB. The channel access procedure may be successful in the initial transmission, but during the retransmissions / repetitions, the WTRU 102 may fail to access the channel N times, where N exceeds a configured threshold. The WTRU 102 may be semi-statically or statically configured with N, or may be dynamically configured with N. In one exemplary embodiment, the WTRU 102 may be configured with a counter to count the number of failed channel accesses. The WTRU 102 may reset the counter after successfully accessing the channel. In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may keep the counter running after successfully accessing the channel, and may reselect a different CG when the counter reaches N); (2) The number of channel access failures (i.e., LBT failures) in a sub-band exceeds a configured threshold (e.g., the WTRU 102 may be semi-statically, statically, or dynamically configured with a maximum number of attempts. In one exemplary embodiment, the WTRU 102 may be configured with a counter to count the number of failed channel accesses in a sub-band. The WTRU 102 may reset the counter after successfully accessing a channel. In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may keep the counter running after successfully accessing a channel and may select or reselect a different CG when the counter reaches a maximum number. In some embodiments, the WTRU 102 may consider (e.g., only consider) the number of channel access failures that occur while attempting transmission of some UL signals in a sub-band. For example, the WTRU 102 may consider any of the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), physical random access channel (PRACH), and / or PUSCH carrying UCI signals (e.g., only the PUCCH, PRACH, and / or PUSCH carrying UCI signals). In some embodiments, the WTRU 102 may consider the number of channel access failures that occur while attempting all UL signals in a sub-band), (3) detection of systematic / persistent / consistent LBT failures at the MAC layer (e.g., the WTRU MAC may detect consistent LBT failures in a typical procedure, and the WTRU 102 may select and / or switch to another active (1) sub-band, (2) BWP, and / or (3) carrier to perform the next transmission or retransmission); (4) The time that has elapsed (e.g., since the first time that the WTRU 102 attempted to access the channel for an initial transmission) exceeds a configured or predetermined threshold; (5) The time that has elapsed (e.g., since the first time that the WTRU 102 attempts to access the channel for retransmission) exceeds a configured or predetermined threshold; (6) The measured RSSI or CO for each subband exceeds a configured or predetermined threshold (e.g., the WTRU 102 may be configured to measure the RSSI for each subband and / or the WTRU 102 may be configured to measure the RSSI for each subband prior to initiating a channel access procedure on that subband. The WTRU 102 may determine that the measured RSSI on the subband on which the last transmission or retransmission was attempted exceeds a configured threshold and may select a different subband. In certain embodiments, if the measured RSSI on that subband, BWP, and / or carrier is less than the configured threshold, the WTRU 102 may select a different active subband, BWP, and / or carrier to perform the next transmission or retransmission); (7) the CG periodicity used for the initial transmission of the TB is above a configured or predetermined threshold (e.g., the WTRU 102 may be configured with two CG configurations: a first configuration with a first periodicity (e.g., a relatively large periodicity at or above the first threshold) and a second configuration with a second periodicity (e.g., a relatively small periodicity below the first threshold). At the time of the first transmission, the first configuration (e.g., only the first CG configuration) may be available, and the second CG configuration is not available until the next appropriate time (e.g., the next period, next time frame, and / or next slot). The WTRU 102 may select the first configuration and may reselect the second configuration for retransmission in the next slot); (8) A large number (e.g., above a configured or predetermined threshold) of missing HARQ-ACK feedbacks and / or a large number of NACKs are received for one or more previous transmissions or one or more previous retransmissions within a configured time window (e.g., the WTRU 102 may select CG resources in a sub-band and transmit the TB and one or more retransmissions). The WTRU 102 may start a timer to count the number of NACKs and / or missing HARQ-ACK feedbacks over the configured time window. After the timer expires, the WTRU 102 may determine that the number of missing HARQ-ACK feedbacks and / or the number of NACKs is above a configured or predetermined threshold, and the WTRU 102 may select or reselect a different CG in a different sub-band, for example); and / or (9) Based on logical channel prioritization (LCP) parameters (e.g., if the data included in the PDU may be mapped to a grant and / or the grant complies with LCP mapping constraints configured for the LCH included in the PDU, among other things), for example, the WTRU 102 may select a different active CG to perform a next transmission or retransmission.

[0104] Representative procedure for CAPC selection for transmission in CG In FeLAA, the WTRU 102 may select the lowest channel access priority class from among those configured for the LCH in a PDU. Applying the same rule for NR-U may force the WTRU 102 to group data of the same priority (or CAPC) in the same PDU.

[0105] In certain embodiments, the WTRU 102 may exclude certain LCHs in an LCP during PDU construction if, among other things, any of the following are met: (1) Priority (LCH)≦threshold, and / or a higher priority LCH maps to the grant (in one example, the priority threshold may be indicated for each grant and / or may be determined by the WTRU 102 from the scheduling resources or physical characteristics of the grant itself); (2) CAPC priority (LCH)≦threshold and another LCH of a configured higher priority CAPC maps to the grant (in one example, the WTRU 102 can determine the threshold based on whether the PDU includes a subset of MAC CEs and / or higher priority MAC CEs. The RRC can configure the mapping between a subset of MAC CEs and the CAPC); (3) Radio Resource Control (RRC) (1) possible exclusion (e.g., even if a subset of LCHs are subject to LCP constraints) and / or (2) configuration of a subset of LCHs for multiplexing with LCHs of similar or higher CAPC priority (e.g., RRC may configure all or a subset of LCHs carrying SRBs to be multiplexed with LCHs of the same CAPC or higher priority CAPC). In an LCP procedure, the WTRU 102 may multiplex (e.g., may only multiplex) LCHs configured with a CAPC priority that is equal to or higher than the CAPC priority configured for the LCH carrying the SRB included in the PDU, and may exclude other LCHs configured with a lower CAPC priority. In another example, when and / or if the PDU includes an LCH carrying an SRB, the WTRU 102 may include (e.g., may only include) LCHs configured with the same or higher LCP priority, (4) Number of LBT failures ≧ a threshold configured by, for example, RRC; (5) the number (or percentage) of excluded LCH bits that would map to a grant ≤ threshold, (6) The ratio of the bits of the excluded LCH that would map to the grant / {the bits of the TBS or the bits that map to the grant from the non-excluded LCH} ≦ threshold (7) the number (or percentage) of non-precluded LCH bits that would map to a grant ≥ threshold, and / or (8) The ratio of bits of non-precluded LCH that map to grant / {bits from TBS or precluded LCH that map to grant} ≧ a threshold.

[0106] In other representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may dynamically determine the CAPC and / or exclude data transmission from certain LCHs based on, among other things, any of the following: (1) A timer expires and / or the time that has elapsed since the initial transmission occurs is greater than a configured or predetermined threshold (e.g., the WTRU 102 may increment the CAPC priority if the time that has elapsed since the PDU construction or initial transmission is greater than a configured threshold); (2) The priority of the highest priority LCH in the MAC PDU does not meet a threshold requirement (e.g., if the data in the PDU has an LCP priority lower than a certain configured or pre-defined priority and / or the number of data bits is lower than a configured or pre-defined threshold, the WTRU 102 may apply the highest priority CAPC (or the lowest configured CAPC number); (3) the number of padding bits and / or the TBS is greater than or equal to a configured or predetermined threshold (e.g., if the number of data bits is less than a configured threshold, the WTRU 102 may apply a lower priority CAPC, and / or if the number of data bits is less than or equal to a configured threshold or if the number of padding bits is greater than or equal to a configured threshold, the WTRU 102 may apply UL skipping on a CG opportunity); (4) the number of transmissions and / or retransmissions exceeds a configured or predetermined threshold (e.g., the WTRU 102 may change the CAP used based on the number of retransmission attempts or LBT failures); and / or (5) Receipt of a muting indication or LBT configuration change, for example, from the gNB 180 (e.g., the gNB 180 may determine that some WTRUs 102 or LCHs are unduly increasing load and / or CO). The WTRU 102 may receive a muting indication (or LBT configuration change) for a UL transmission (e.g., some or all UL transmissions), a subset of transmissions, a subset of UL channels, a subset of LCHs, and / or a subset of UL resources. The muting indication or LBT configuration change indication may remain in effect (i) until indicated otherwise, (ii) until scheduled by a dynamic grant, and / or (iii) until a period of time has elapsed (which may be configured by RRC or may be indicated dynamically).

[0107] Representative Procedures for Transmit Power Allocation and Power Control The WTRU 102 may be configured with multiple unlicensed carriers. The WTRU 102 may have CG resources on a plurality of those carriers. In some instances, the WTRU 102 may have transmissions on multiple unlicensed carriers. For example, the WTRU 102 may transmit multiple PUSCHs on multiple CG resources on different carriers, e.g., simultaneously, or the WTRU 102 may transmit at least one PUSCH in the CG on one unlicensed carrier and at least one PUSCH in the DG on one (e.g., one other) unlicensed carrier, e.g., simultaneously.

[0108] When transmitting simultaneously on multiple carriers, the WTRU 102 may determine the transmit power on each carrier as a function of at least the total number of simultaneous UL transmissions.

[0109] In certain embodiments, the total power available to be used by the WTRU 102 for simultaneous UL transmissions (e.g., all of the simultaneous UL transmissions) may be fixed (e.g., at a maximum value (e.g., Pcmax)). Because interference may not be a significant factor in unlicensed operation, it is contemplated that the transmit power of each PUSCH may be maximized. In such an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may allocate power for each PUSCH, e.g., to achieve a maximum total power. For example, the WTRU 102 may determine the power of each PUSCH based on the allocation rules described herein. In some cases, the PUSCH transmit power may have a limit (e.g., to achieve regulatory requirements). For example, the WTRU 102 may assign or re-assign any unused power to other PUSCH transmissions, to other carriers, and / or to LBT sub-bands.

[0110] In a procedure where the WTRU 102 may have a maximum total transmit power that may be shared by all simultaneous transmissions, the WTRU 102 may determine the amount of power to allocate to each PUSCH transmission based on any of the following: (1) Equal sharing of power (e.g., the WTRU 102 may divide the total maximum transmit power for PUSCH transmissions (e.g., equally for all PUSCH transmissions); (2) Weighted sharing of power (e.g., each PUSCH can use a weighted share of power). The maximum transmit power may be shared among the PUSCH transmissions (e.g., all of the PUSCH transmissions), and the ratio for the weighted share used by the PUSCH may depend on any of the following: (i) The type of grant (e.g., DG or CG), which may, for example, allow the CG to use a larger shared share of transmit power (possibly to ensure robustness on shared CG resources); (ii) one or more parameters of the grant, e.g., a frequency allocation (including the number of LBT subbands that the allocation spans), a modulation coding scheme (MCS), a TBS, a subcarrier spacing (SCS), etc.; (iii) The LBT type or parameters used for the carrier, e.g., the LBT type or parameters used to access the carrier for transmission (e.g., depending on the parameters of the LBT (e.g., energy detection (ED) threshold, contention window size (CWS), CAPC, etc.) or the LBT type (e.g., CAT2 or CAT4), the WTRU 102 may determine a weighted share of the power allocation for the PUSCH, and the WTRU 102 may use different weights. For example, the WTRU 102 may use higher power for a carrier using an LBT with higher (or lower) access priority); (iv) the LCH that is mapped to the grant (e.g., based on the LCH priority of the LCH, the WTRU 102 can determine the appropriate power allocation weight); (v) CO measurements (e.g., based on CO or RSSI measurements, the WTRU 102 can adapt its transmission power allocation weights); (vi) the interlacing used for a transmission (e.g., the interlacing parameters (e.g., the number of PRBs used for a transmission and / or the number of unused PRBs) or the number of interlaces used can determine the power allocation sharing weight of the transmission); (vii) In particular, whether the transmission is an original transmission or a retransmission; and / or (viii) Whether a previous transmission attempt for the transport block failed due to an LBT failure.

[0111] The WTRU 102 may acquire (e.g., successfully acquire) a subset of carriers for which the WTRU 102 has a DG or for which the WTRU 102 intends to use CG resources at any given moment. In such a case, for the carriers that had an LBT failure, the WTRU 102 is not expected to or does not perform a UL transmission. The WTRU 102 may reallocate a portion or all of the power calculated for a transmission on the carrier where the LBT failed to at least one other transmission on one or more carriers where the LBT was successful. For example, the WTRU 102 may have two simultaneous transmissions occurring at two CGs on two different carriers. The LBT may be successful on the first carrier and may fail on the second carrier. In such a case, the power allocated for the transmission on the second carrier may be reallocated to the transmission on the first carrier.

[0112] The WTRU 102 may pre-determine multiple power allocation values ​​for each PUSCH based on different LBT acquisition outcomes, for example, to facilitate WTRU processing. For example, a WTRU 102 with two transmissions may pre-determine three transmission states, each with a different power allocation value for the two transmissions (e.g., when both LBTs are successful (P1a, P2a), when only the LBT for the first transmission is successful (P1b, 0), and when only the LBT for the second transmission is successful (0, P2b)). For example, to reduce the total number of pre-allocated values ​​to be calculated considering all possible LBT outcome combinations, if the WTRU 102 has n simultaneous transmissions scheduled, the WTRU 102 may calculate n values ​​for each PUSCH transmission. Depending on the number of successful LBTs, the WTRU 102 may select one of the calculated n values.

[0113] The gNB 180 may indicate to the WTRU 102 that the gNB 180 is sharing a COT (e.g., obtained before the start of a PUSCH for a CG resource (or any UL resource)). For example, the gNB 180 may indicate to the WTRU 102 that the gNB 180 is sharing a COT along with the remaining time before a maximum COT (MCOT) is reached. The WTRU 102 may determine the COT sharing implicitly and / or explicitly.

[0114] The WTRU 102 may determine the COT sharing (e.g., switch from DL to UL) based on explicit signaling from the gNB 180. For example, the WTRU 102 may receive information via any of: (1) a MAC CE, (2) a DCI, (3) a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and / or (4) a broadcasted transmission indicating the remaining time in the MCOT, possibly along with LBT configuration parameters and / or applicable active CG configurations (or UL resources). The WTRU 102 may determine the COT sharing (switch from DL to UL) after receiving an indication in the DCI, properties of the DCI, or properties of the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) resources.

[0115] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may determine the COT sharing (e.g., switch from DL to UL) based on an implicit indication from the gNB 180. For example, the WTRU 102 may receive a channel acquisition signal (or trigger), such as a DM-RS or preamble, at the end of a DL transmission to indicate to the WTRU 102 the end of the DL leg of the acquired COT and possibly implicit LBT configuration parameters that may be estimated for the UL. In another example, the WTRU 102 may determine that the COT is shared based on receiving a DL data transmission that ends within a certain time gap from the start of the PUSCH at the first CG opportunity. For example, the WTRU 102 may be configured with DL SPS resources that can end within a short time gap from the start of the PUSCH at the first CG opportunity, such that a short time gap can permit (e.g., is acceptable to permit) COT sharing between the gNB 180 and the WTRU 102. The WTRU 102 may implicitly determine the remaining time in the COT based on the start of the first PDSCH received on the DL SPS resource.

[0116] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may indicate to the gNB 180 that the gNB 180 is sharing the COT that it has acquired for purposes of transmitting in the CG. The WTRU 102 may signal to the gNB 180 that it has no more data to transmit during the remaining COT. For example, the WTRU 102 may indicate the COT sharing to the gNB along with the remaining time before the MCOT is reached. Such an indication may be indicated implicitly or explicitly. For example, the WTRU 102 may include a MAC CE indicating the remaining time in the MCOT.

[0117] Aperiodic UL or DL ​​CG may be useful in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. In unlicensed spectrum, the time when the channel becomes available may not be aligned with the next CG opportunity, thus yielding the channel to other technologies. By the time the CG opportunity starts, the channel is no longer available. When the WTRU 102 transmits or receives time-sensitive communication (TSC) traffic, the traffic pattern periodicity may not align with the periodicity of the SPS and / or CG resources. For example, TSC message periodicity due to a non-integer multiple of the NR-supported CG / SPS periodicity may cause undesirable (1) delays for a subset of latency-critical messages and / or (2) additional buffering (e.g., for jittered messages that do not align with an upcoming CG opportunity).

[0118] In certain embodiments, the WTRU 102 may receive DL signaling or indication indicating that the next one or more CG opportunities are to be shifted by a period of time, a number of symbols, and / or a number of slots. The WTRU 102 may receive the DL signaling or indication via DCI, in a DCI field, in a MAC CE, and / or may determine the indication from a PDCCH property. The WTRU 102 may be pre-configured with one or more conditional time shifts from which the WTRU 102 may select according to an indicated shift or shift index. For example, the WTRU 102 may be pre-configured by RRC or higher layers with several time shifts, and the WTRU 102 may shift the upcoming CG opportunity by the applicable shift indicated by the gNB 180. The WTRU 102 may attempt to transmit on the shifted UL CG opportunity and / or may attempt to receive DL data on the shifted DL CG opportunity. The WTRU 102 may be configured or indicated to apply the shift for some upcoming CG opportunity, a period of time, and / or once every Nth CG opportunity, whereby N may be signaled or pre-configured.

[0119] In certain embodiments, the WTRU 102 may be configured or defined to conditionally consider a subset of CG opportunities, CG configurations, and / or CG resources based on the outcome of the LBT or based on the delay (e.g., jitter delay) to the next CG opportunity or opportunities.

[0120] The WTRU 102 may be configured or defined to consider a set of CG opportunities and / or CG configurations as one or more conditional CG opportunities as applicable for certain conditions. For example, if the WTRU 102 receives a DL signal prior to some CG and is not scheduled to receive any DL TB in a non-conditional CG opportunity, the WTRU 102 may skip monitoring the next N CG opportunities and / or may skip the set of additional / conditional CG opportunities. The value of N may be configured by higher layers and is at least 1. In another example, if the WTRU receives a DL signal, a trigger signal, or a DRS signal prior to or during a non-conditional CG opportunity, the WTRU 102 may monitor the N upcoming CG opportunities or the set of conditional / additional CG opportunities.

[0121] In an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may consider another conditional CG to be active if it has not received DL scheduling, discovery reference signals (DRS) (e.g., synchronization signals), wake-up signaling, channel acquisition signals, and / or trigger DL signals prior to the start of a given CG resource or conditional CG opportunity.

[0122] In certain representative embodiments, if the jitter delay between the TSC message arrival time and the upcoming CG opportunity of the active CG configuration is greater than or equal to a time threshold, the WTRU 102 may consider (or determine) another CG to be active. The time threshold may be pre-configured and / or pre-determined based on the period of the applicable CG configuration. The WTRU 102 may determine the TSC arrival time (1) based on a TSN traffic pattern provided by the core network (e.g., a network entity), (2) determined within the WTRU 102, and / or (3) according to an arrival instant in a WTRU buffer. The WTRU 102 may be configured with a pattern to switch to another active CG once every Nth CG opportunity, and if M≧1 CG opportunity, the WTRU 102 may switch back to the original CG opportunity, whereby the values ​​of N and M may be configured by RRC.

[0123] In certain representative embodiments, when a WTRU 102 is configured with discontinuous reception (DRX), DRX is active, and CG is configured such that a subset of CG opportunities do not overlap with the On Duration, the WTRU 102 may autonomously wake up to transmit on CG opportunities that are not aligned with the On Duration. The WTRU 102 may record such behavior as: (1) The delay between the message arrival time and the next on-time length, (2) the length of time since the PDU was constructed; and / or (3) Number of retransmissions for LBT failures and / or MAC PDUs The condition can be any of the following:

[0124] When UL data is transmitted, the WTRU 102 may start or restart the DRX inactivity timer, and the DRX-HARQ-RTT-TimerUL, even if the CG opportunity is not aligned with the on-time length.

[0125] Depending on the channel sparsity and / or traffic arrival patterns, a dynamic indication of additional CG opportunities may be beneficial. In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may receive dynamic signaling and / or indications that may indicate one or more additional / conditional CG opportunities or removal of one or more CG opportunities, which may potentially be valid for a period of time or several periods. For example, the WTRU 102 may receive signaling in the DCI or via the MAC CE that may indicate one or more additional or conditional CG opportunities. The WTRU 102 may be pre-configured with resource configurations of such additional CG opportunities and / or the length of time (or dynamic indications thereof) during which such additional opportunities are considered valid. For example, the RRC may configure a given CG configuration with a normal period of 2 slots and may configure additional / conditional CG opportunities offset by {x, y, or z} symbols.

[0126] The WTRU 102 may indicate the scheduling assistance information portion of the MAC PDU for UL traffic. For example, the WTRU 102 may report any of the following: (1) the time difference between the message arrival time and the CG opportunity, (2) the preferred CG configuration, (3) the preferred sub-band and / or BWP, (4) one or more channel measurements, (5) traffic periodicity, (6) the time difference between the message arrival time and the core network configured traffic arrival pattern, and / or (7) the need for an additional conditional SPS opportunity before the next CG opportunity for one or more active CGs.

[0127] In certain embodiments, the WTRU 102 may increase or decrease the CG periodicity by a preconfigured or indicated factor upon receiving a dynamic indication from the gNB 180. For example, the WTRU 102 may receive a DL MAC CE indicating to scale a given CG periodicity by a factor of two, possibly for a period of time preconfigured or indicated in the MAC CE portion. The WTRU 102 may consider and / or configure additional CG opportunities as a result of the scaling as conditional or additional opportunities, as described herein.

[0128] Typical procedure for UCI in CG transmission In the case of a CG transmission, the WTRU 102 may include a CG-UCI. The CG-UCI may enable the gNB and / or the access point, for example, to properly decode the CG. For example, the CG-UCI may include, among others, any of the following: (1) WTRU-ID, (2) transport block size (TBS), (3) resource allocation (e.g., the CG may be comprised of one or more sets of possible resources and the CG-UCI may indicate which resources, which set of resources, or which set of resources are used (e.g., actually used). In certain examples, the CG may enable transmission on multiple interlaces and the CG-UCI may indicate the one or more interlaces used by the WTRU 102), (4) modulation and coding scheme (MCS), (5) number of antenna ports, (6) precoding matrix, (7) type of LBT used to acquire the channel, which may indicate the LBT category and / or CAPC used, (8) transmit configuration indication (TCI) state, which may include quasi-colocation assumptions, (9) one or more beams used for transmission, which may include analog and / or digital (e.g., transmit precoding matrix indicator (TPMI)) beam information, (10) transmission priority, which may include reliability and / or latency requirements, and / or (11) CBG related information.

[0129] The UCI may be mapped onto the resources of the CG. The network may require and / or require the CG-UCI prior to demodulation of the CG data. In certain representative embodiments, the CG-UCI may be mapped to resources earlier in the CG slot than the resources of the CG. In certain examples, the CG-UCI may be mapped to the first symbol or to a set of first or early slot symbols, e.g., without a DM-RS. In other examples, the CG-UCI location within the CG slot may be located at any fixed or configurable location within the CG slot.

[0130] In certain examples, the CG-UCI may be mapped to a resource (e.g., a symbol) closest to the DM-RS. In certain examples, the CG-UCI may be repeated in different resources of the CG, which may improve CG-UCI robustness.

[0131] In certain examples, the CG-UCI may be mapped to a fixed physical resource block (PRB) or set of PRBs, for example, within an interlace (eg, each interlace).

[0132] Representative Procedures for Multiplexing CG-UCI, UCI, and Data The WTRU 102 may have a fixed number of resources for CG-UCI (e.g., set aside for CG-UCI). The number of resources may depend on the coding of the CG-UCI. In some examples, the number of resources for CG-UCI may also be fixed and the coding of the CG-UCI may be fixed, e.g., to provide robustness (e.g., more robustness).

[0133] The resources available for data in the CG resource may depend on the total number of acquired resources and the number of resources used for CG-UCI, which may be fixed.

[0134] The WTRU 102 may be configured with a beta offset value for data in the CG resource. The beta offset can ensure, for example, that a minimum amount of resources can be reserved for the CG-UCI. The WTRU 102 can determine the TBS of the data to be transmitted in the CG resource as a function of, among other things, any of the following: (1) the beta offset for the data (e.g., the beta offset value may be (i) semi-statically configured, (ii) selected by the WTRU 102 (e.g., from a set of possible values), and / or (iii) included in the CG-UCI, (2) the size of the CG-UCI, (3) the time length of the CG resource, and the timing of channel acquisition), (4) the resource allocation (e.g., the number of interlaces used), (5) the beta offset for the CG-UCI, and / or (6) the selected MCS.

[0135] In certain examples, the CG-UCI may not be required in all CG resources. For example, the CG-UCI may be applicable to multiple CG transmissions. Depending on whether the WTRU 102 transmits the CG-UCI, the WTRU 102 may rate match and / or puncture data around the CG-UCI in the CG resources.

[0136] In certain examples, the WTRU 102 may multiplex UCI in CG resources. The UCI may include SR, HARQ, and / or CSI feedback. When multiplexing UCI in CG, the WTRU 102 may reuse Rel. 15 multiplexing of UCI and data for resources not used for CG-UCI. In some examples, the WTRU 102 may first determine the amount of resources reserved for CG-UCI. The WTRU 102 may determine the remaining resources to be used for data and / or for normal UCI. The WTRU 102 may calculate the amount of resources for UCI using beta offset values ​​for SR, HARQ, and / or CSI.

[0137] In certain examples, the WTRU 102 may multiplex the CG-UCI with normal UCI, map the combined UCI to slot resources, and determine the excess resources to be used for data transmission. The CG-UCI may be considered the highest priority of all UCIs, and the CG-UCI cannot be dropped from a CG transmission.

[0138] In some examples, the CG-UCI may be concatenated with one or more types of UCI. For example, the CG-UCI may be concatenated with a HARQ UCI. The WTRU 102 may determine resources for the CG-UCI+HARQ UCI using a beta offset value applicable to the concatenated UCI.

[0139] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for transmitting a transport block.

[0140] 4, an exemplary procedure 400 may include the WTRU 102 receiving LCH information for at least a first and a second LCH, at block 410. The LCH information may include, for example, a logical channel priority (LCP) and / or a channel access priority class (CAPC) for some or each of at least the first and second LCHs. At block 420, the WTRU 102 may determine to transmit a transport block (TB) including a packet data unit (PDU). At block 430, the WTRU 102 may determine to include data from the first LCH in the PDU based on the LCP of the first LCH. At block 440, the WTRU 102 may generate a PDU. For example, the PDU may include (1) data from the first LCH, or (2) data from the first LCH and data from the second LCH. Selection of the PDU content may be based on a comparison of (i) a threshold, or (ii) the CAPC of the second LCH to the CAPC of the first LCH. At block 450, the WTRU 102 may transmit a TB including the generated PDU.

[0141] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may determine whether to include data from the second LCH in a PDU based on whether the CAPC of the second LCH is equal to or exceeds the CAPC of the first LCH.

[0142] In certain representative embodiments, the first LCH may have a CAPC constraint, and the generation and / or content selection of the PDU may be further based on the LCH constraint.

[0143] In certain representative embodiments, the threshold (eg, the CAPC threshold) may be either: (1) a signaled threshold; or (2) a pre-established threshold.

[0144] In certain representative embodiments, the first LCH may have CAPC constraints, provided that the first LCH is carrying priority data / signaling (e.g., URLLC information / signaling and / or signaling radio bearers (SRBs), among others).

[0145] In certain representative embodiments, the generated PDU may include data from the second LCH, provided that the CAPC of the second LCH is greater than or equal to the CAPC of the first LCH.

[0146] In certain representative embodiments, the generated PDU may not include data from the second LCH, provided that the CAPC of the second LCH is less than the CAPC of the first LCH (e.g., the PDU may include only data corresponding to a CAPC greater than that of the first LCH).

[0147] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating another exemplary procedure for transmitting a PDU.

[0148] 5, an exemplary procedure 500 may include the WTRU 102 determining whether a first LCH having data to be sent in a packet data unit (PDU) has a channel access priority class (CAPC) constraint at block 510. Provided that the first LCH has a CAPC constraint, the WTRU 102 may determine whether to multiplex data from the first LCH with data from the one or more additional LCHs based on the CAPC of the first LCH and some or each of the one or more additional LCHs at block 520. At block 530, the WTRU 102 may selectively multiplex data from the first and additional LCHs in the PDU according to the CAPC rules. At block 540, the WTRU 102 may transmit the PDU.

[0149] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may receive LCH information for multiple LCHs. For example, the LCH information may include a logical channel priority (LCP) and / or a channel access priority class (CAPC) for some or each of the multiple LCHs.

[0150] In certain representative embodiments, the CAPC rules may include any of the following: (1) a comparison of the CAPC of a second LCH of the one or more additional LCHs to a CAPC threshold, (2) a comparison of the CAPC of the second LCH to the CAPC of the first LCH, and / or (3) a comparison of whether the CAPC of the second LCH is equal to or exceeds the CAPC of the first LCH.

[0151] In certain representative embodiments, the CAPC threshold may be either (1) a signaled threshold or (2) a pre-established threshold.

[0152] In certain representative embodiments, the first LCH may have CAPC constraints, provided that the first LCH is carrying priority data / signaling (e.g., URLLC data / signaling and / or signaling radio bearers (SRBs), among others).

[0153] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may selectively multiplex data from the first and additional LCHs, whereby data from the second LCH is multiplexed in a PDU, provided that the CAPC of the second LCH is greater than or equal to the CAPC of the first LCH.

[0154] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may selectively multiplex data from the first and additional LCHs, such that data from the second LCH is not multiplexed in the PDU provided that the CAPC of the second LCH is less than the CAPC of the first LCH (e.g., only data corresponding to or exceeding the CAPC corresponding to the first LCH is multiplexed into the PDU).

[0155] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a further representative procedure for transmitting a transport block.

[0156] 6, an exemplary procedure 600 may include the WTRU 102 receiving, at block 610, information associated with one or more configured grants (CGs). At block 620, the WTRU 102 may select a first CG corresponding to the first CG configuration. At block 630, the WTRU 102 may transmit a transport block (TB) at a CG opportunity associated with the first CG using resources associated with the first CG. At block 640, the WTRU 102 may start a CG timer for the first CG in response to transmitting the TB. At block 650, the WTRU 102 may receive a HARQ acknowledgement (ACK) indication in a downlink feedback information (DFI) of a downlink control information (DCI) indicating a HARQ-ACK feedback value and associated with a HARQ process ID (PID). At block 660, after receiving the HARQ ACK indication, the WTRU 102 may (1) stop the CG timer, and / or (2) flush the HARQ buffer associated with the HARQ PID, and / or (3) toggle the NDI for the corresponding HARQ process, provided that the HARQ-ACK feedback value is equal to the ACK.

[0157] In certain representative embodiments, after expiration of the CG timer, the WTRU 102 may select another CG opportunity corresponding to the first CG configuration or another CG configuration, and may retransmit the TB at the selected CG opportunity using resources associated with the selected CG.

[0158] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may adjust the values ​​of the CG timer and / or the CG retransmission timer based on parameters of the selected CG configuration.

[0159] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for COT sharing.

[0160] 7, an exemplary procedure 700 may include the WTRU 102 obtaining a channel occupation time (COT) associated with a configured grant (CG) at block 710. At block 720, the WTRU 102 may determine the remaining time of the COT. At block 730, the WTRU 102 may send information to a network entity that uses the CG during the COT indicating that the WTRU is sharing a COT with the network entity and the remaining time of the shared COT. At block 740, the WTRU 102 may send a message including either data or control signaling.

[0161] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may receive, via a network entity, another message during the remaining time of the COT shared according to the information sent by the WTRU 102 .

[0162] FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an additional representative procedure for transmitting a transport block.

[0163] 8, an exemplary procedure 800 may include the WTRU 102 determining whether the LBT was successful using a listen-before-talk (LBT) operation at block 810. On the condition that the LBT was successful, at block 820, the WTRU 102 may (1) transmit or retransmit a transport block (TB) using a first configured grant (CG) using resources associated with the first CG, and / or (2) increment a redundancy version (RV) for a next transmission or retransmission using the first CG or an additional CG. On the condition that the LBT was not successful, at block 830, the WTRU 102 may (1) skip the transmission or retransmission of the TB, and / or (2) maintain the RV for a next transmission or retransmission using the first CG or an additional CG.

[0164] FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary transmission procedure using allocated / reallocated UL power.

[0165] Referring to FIG. 9, an exemplary procedure 900 may include, at block 910, the WTRU 102 receiving configured grant (CG) information including at least a first CG and a second CG.

[0166] At block 920, the WTRU 102 may use listen-before-talk (LBT) to determine whether one or more of the multiple channels associated with the received CG are clear for transmission as a determination result. At block 930, the WTRU 102 may allocate or reallocate uplink power associated with the CG according to the determination result. At block 940, the WTRU 102 may transmit or retransmit over the one or more channels that are clear associated with the CG using the allocated or reallocated uplink power.

[0167] In certain representative embodiments, allocating or reallocating uplink power may include increasing or newly providing uplink power for transmission or retransmission on a component carrier (CC) of the multiple CCs, provided that an LBT has failed on at least one CC of the multiple CCs used by the WTRU 102 in the carrier aggregation mode.

[0168] FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a still further representative procedure for transmitting a transport block.

[0169] 10, an exemplary procedure 1000 may include the WTRU 102 transmitting a transport block (TB) in a CG opportunity associated with a first configured grant (CG) using resources associated with the first CG, at block 1010. The WTRU 102 may retransmit the TB in a CG opportunity associated with a second CG using resources associated with the second CG, at block 1020. The WTRU 102 may toggle a new data indicator (NDI) to a further CG opportunity associated with the second CG or prior to the further CG opportunity after an acknowledgement (ACK) is received. The WTRU 102 may transmit a new TB in a further CG opportunity associated with the second CG using resources associated with the second CG, at block 1040.

[0170] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may receive CG information including a first CG and a second CG.

[0171] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may determine that the first timer has expired and / or may configure the WTRU 102 to retransmit using a second CG resource and a CG opportunity associated with the second CG after the first timer has expired.

[0172] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may receive downlink feedback information (DFI) after the transmission or retransmission of the TB, the DFI including an acknowledgement (ACK) of the successful transmission or retransmission of the TB. As an example, the WTRU 102 may toggle the NDI according to the ACK included in the received DFI.

[0173] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may stop a second timer associated with the second CG according to the ACK included in the received DFI.

[0174] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may update the value of the CG timer associated with the selected CG for retransmission of the TB for the applicable HARQ PID according to the periodicity for transmission or retransmission associated with the selected CG.

[0175] In certain representative embodiments, each of the CG opportunities associated with the first and second CGs and the further CG opportunity may be selected as either (1) the next CG opportunity after a triggering event, or (2) the first available CG opportunity after a backoff period has ended.

[0176] In certain representative embodiments, the triggering event may be an indication received from a network entity.

[0177] In certain representative embodiments, for retransmission, the WTRU 102 may select a second CG associated with any of the following resources: (1) a different sub-band, (2) a different listen-before-talk (LBT) bandwidth, (3) a different bandwidth portion (BWP), and / or (4) a different uplink carrier.

[0178] As disclosed herein, the first and second timers may be any of a CG timer and / or a retransmission timer.

[0179] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary transmission procedure using the calculated transmit power allocation.

[0180] 11, an exemplary procedure 1100 may include the WTRU 102 receiving configured grant (CG) information including at least a first CG and a second CG, at block 1110. At block 1120, the WTRU 102 may use listen-before-talk (LBT) to determine whether one or more channels of a plurality of channels associated with the received CG are clear for transmission as a determination result. At block 1130, the WTRU 102 may calculate a transmit power allocation associated with the CG according to the determination result. At block 1140, the WTRU 102 may transmit or retransmit over the one or more channels that are clear associated with the CG using the calculated transmit power allocation.

[0181] FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for changing the redundancy version.

[0182] 12, an exemplary procedure 1200 may include the WTRU 102 determining that the channel is clear for transmission using a listen-before-talk (LBT) operation, at block 1210. The WTRU 102 may transmit or retransmit a transport block (TB) using resources associated with the first CG, using a first configured grant (CG), at block 1220. The WTRU 102 may receive an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative ACK (NACK) for the transmission or retransmission of the TB, at block 1230. At block 1240, the WTRU 102 may change a redundancy version (RV) associated with the retransmission of the TB for a next transmission or retransmission using the first CG or a further CG, provided that the WTRU 102 performed a previous transmission or retransmission for which the LBT was successful.

[0183] In certain representative embodiments, modifying the RV may include any of incrementing the RV value, decrementing the RV value, resetting the RV value, and / or selecting an RV value based on a sequence or pattern.

[0184] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may select an additional CG associated with any of the following resources: (1) a different sub-band, (2) a different Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) bandwidth, (3) a different Bandwidth Portion (BWP), and / or (4) a different uplink carrier. For example, changing a redundancy version (RV) associated with a transmission or retransmission of a TB for a next transmission or retransmission using the additional CG may include resetting the RV value to a predetermined value.

[0185] FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for modifying a CG opportunity.

[0186] 13, an exemplary procedure 1300 may include the WTRU 102 receiving modification information indicating modification of one or more configured grant (CG) opportunities, at block 1310. Based on the received modification information, at block 1320, the WTRU 102 may either (1) add one or more CG opportunities, (2) shift one or more upcoming CG opportunities in time and / or frequency, and / or (3) remove one or more CG opportunities.

[0187] FIG. 14 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for selection of CG configurations, CG opportunities, and / or CG resources.

[0188] 14, an exemplary procedure 1400 may include the WTRU 102 receiving or acquiring, at block 1410, multiple configured grant (CG) configurations associated with multiple CG opportunities and multiple CG resources. At block 1420, the WTRU 102 may use listen-before-talk (LBT) to determine whether one or more of the multiple channels associated with the received CG are clear for transmission as an LBT decision result. At block 1430, the WTRU 102 may select a subset of the CG configurations, CG opportunities, and / or CG resources based on the LBT decision result, a jitter delay until one or more next CG opportunities, and / or receipt or lack of receipt of a downlink signal.

[0189] FIG. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for CG transmission.

[0190] 15, an exemplary procedure 1500 may include the WTRU 102 receiving a configured grant for uplink resources (CG) from a network entity, at block 1510. The WTRU 102 may map CG uplink control information CG-UCI and data to uplink resources for CG transmission, for a slot, at block 1520. The WTRU 102 may send a CG transmission to the network entity, at block 1530. The uplink resources associated with the CG-UCI may be transmitted prior to the uplink resources associated with the data.

[0191] In certain representative embodiments, the CG-UCI may be mapped to uplink resources adjacent and / or closest to one or more demodulation reference signals (DM-RS).

[0192] In certain representative embodiments, the CG-UCI may be repeated in different uplink resources of the CG transmission.

[0193] In certain representative embodiments, the CG-UCI may be mapped to (1) a fixed physical resource block (PRB) and / or (2) a set of PRBs within an interlace.

[0194] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may obtain and / or set an offset value to indicate the amount of resources reserved for the CG-UCI in the CG.

[0195] In certain representative embodiments, based on the offset value, the WTRU 102 may determine an amount of uplink resources reserved for CG-UCI, for data, and / or for normal UCI.

[0196] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU 102 may multiplex the CG-UCI with normal UCI. For example, the mapping of the CG-UCI may include mapping the multiplexed CG-UCI and normal UCI to uplink resources of a slot. As another example, the WTRU 102 may map data to the remaining uplink resources for CG transmission.

[0197] The systems and methods for processing data according to the exemplary embodiments may be performed by one or more processors executing a sequence of instructions contained in a memory device. Such instructions may be read into the memory device from another computer-readable medium, such as a secondary data storage device. Execution of the sequence of instructions contained in the memory device causes the processor to operate, for example, as described above. In alternative embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the invention.

[0198] Although features and elements are described above in certain combinations, one skilled in the art will appreciate that each feature or element may be used alone or in any combination with the other features and elements. Additionally, the methods described herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware embodied in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), registers, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

[0199] Further, in the above embodiments, processing platforms, computing systems, controllers, and other devices including processors are described. These devices may include at least one central processing unit (CPU) and memory. In accordance with the practices of those skilled in the art of computer programming, references to acts and symbolic representations of operations or instructions may be performed by various CPUs and memories. Such acts and operations or instructions may be referred to as being "executed," "executed by a computer," or "executed by a CPU."

[0200] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the acts and symbolically represented operations or instructions include the manipulation of electrical signals by a CPU. The electrical system represents the data bits which may cause the resulting transformation or reduction of the electrical signals and the maintenance of the data bits in memory locations within a memory system, thereby reconfiguring or altering the operation of the CPU and other processing of the signals. The memory locations in which the data bits are maintained are physical locations that have specific electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic properties that correspond to or represent the data bits. It should be understood that representative embodiments are not limited to the above platforms or CPUs, and that other platforms and CPUs may support the provided methods.

[0201] The data bits may also be maintained on computer readable media including magnetic disks, optical disks, and other volatile (e.g., random access memory (RAM)) or non-volatile (e.g., read only memory (ROM)) CPU readable mass storage systems. The computer readable media may include cooperative or interconnected computer readable media that reside exclusively on a processing system or that are distributed among multiple interconnected processing systems that may be local or remote to the processing system. It will be appreciated that representative embodiments are not limited to the above memories and that other platforms and memories may support the described methods.

[0202] In an example embodiment, any of the operations, processes, etc. described herein may be implemented as computer readable instructions stored on a computer readable medium. The computer readable instructions may be executed by a processor of a mobile unit, a network element, and / or any other computing device.

[0203] There is little difference between hardware and software implementations of aspects of a system. The use of hardware or software is generally (though not always, the choice between hardware and software may be significant in certain contexts) a design choice that represents a trade-off between cost and efficiency. There may be a variety of media (e.g., hardware, software, and / or firmware) in which the processes and / or systems and / or other techniques described herein may be effected, and the preferred media may vary depending on the context in which the processes and / or systems and / or other techniques are deployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may select a primarily hardware and / or firmware media. If flexibility is paramount, the implementer may select a primarily software implementation. Alternatively, the implementer may select some combination of hardware, software, and / or firmware.

[0204] The foregoing detailed description illustrates various embodiments of devices and / or processes by using block diagrams, flow charts, and / or examples. To the extent that such block diagrams, flow charts, and / or examples include one or more functions and / or operations, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that each function and / or operation in such block diagrams, flow charts, or examples, individually and / or collectively, can be implemented by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. Suitable processors include, for example, general-purpose processors, special-purpose processors, conventional processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors associated with a DSP core, controllers, microcontrollers, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application specific standard products (ASSPs), field programmable gate array (FPGA) circuits, other types of integrated circuits (ICs), and / or state machines.

[0205] Although features and elements are described above in certain combinations, one skilled in the art will understand that each feature or element can be used alone or in any combination with other features and elements. The present disclosure should not be limited with respect to the specific embodiments described in this application, which are intended as examples of various aspects. As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, many modifications and variations can be made without departing from its spirit and scope. No element, act, or instruction used in the description of this application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless expressly provided as such. In addition to those enumerated herein, functionally equivalent methods and apparatuses within the scope of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Such modifications and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. The present disclosure should be limited only by the terms of the appended claims, and the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is understood that this disclosure is not limited to any particular method or system.

[0206] It should also be understood that the terms used herein are for the purpose of describing certain aspects only and are not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the terms "station" and its abbreviation "STA", "user equipment" and its abbreviation "UE" when referred to herein, may mean (i) a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), as described below, (ii) any of several embodiments of a WTRU, as described below, (iii) a wireless-enabled and / or wired-enabled (e.g., tetherable) device configured with some or all of the structure and functionality of a WTRU, as described below, (iv) a wireless-enabled and / or wired-enabled device configured with less than all of the structure and functionality of a WTRU, as described below, or (v) the like. Details of an exemplary WTRU that may represent any UE listed herein are provided below with respect to Figures 1A-1D.

[0207] In certain representative embodiments, some portions of the subject matter described herein may be implemented via application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), and / or other integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art will understand that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented in whole or in part within an integrated circuit as one or more computer programs (e.g., multiple programs running on one or more computer systems) running on one or more computers, as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or virtually any combination thereof, and that designing circuitry and / or writing code for software and / or firmware is within the skill of those skilled in the art in light of this disclosure. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein may be distributed as program products in various forms, and that the exemplary embodiments of the subject matter described herein apply regardless of the particular type of signal-bearing medium used to actually perform the distribution. Examples of signal bearing media include, but are not limited to, recordable type media such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, CDs, DVDs, digital tape, computer memory, and transmission type media such as digital and / or analog communications media (e.g., fiber optic cables, wave guides, wired communications links, wireless communications links, etc.).

[0208] The subject matter described herein may depict different components that are included in or connected with different other components. It should be understood that such depicted architectures are merely examples, and that in fact many other architectures that achieve the same functionality may be implemented. In a conceptual sense, an arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively "associated" such that the desired functionality can be achieved. Thus, any two components herein that are combined to achieve a particular functionality may be considered to be "associated" with each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, regardless of the architecture or intermediate components. Similarly, any two components so associated may also be considered to be "operably connected" or "operably coupled" with each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components that may be so associated may also be considered to be "operably coupled" with each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably coupleable include, but are not limited to, physically coupleable and / or physically interacting components, and / or wirelessly interacting and / or wirelessly interacting components, and / or logically interacting and / or logically interacting components.

[0209] With respect to the use of virtually any plural and / or singular term herein, one of ordinary skill in the art can translate from plural to singular and / or from singular to plural as appropriate to the context and / or application. For clarity, various singular / plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein.

[0210] In general, the terms used herein, and particularly in the appended claims (e.g., the appended claims), are generally intended as "open" terms (e.g., the term "including" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," the term "having" should be interpreted as "having at least," the term "including" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," etc.). Where a particular number of introduced claim recitations are intended, such intent will be expressly set forth in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation, it will be further understood by those skilled in the art that no such intent exists. For example, where only one item is intended, the term "single" or similar language may be used. However, use of such phrases should not be construed to mean that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite article "a" or "an" limits a particular claim that includes such introduced claim recitation to embodiments that include only one such recitation. The same claim may include the introductory phrase "one or more" or "at least one" and an indefinite article such as "a" or "an" (e.g., "a" and / or "an" should be interpreted as "at least one" or "one or more"). This also applies to the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. Furthermore, even if a specific number of introduced claims is explicitly recited, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the literal recitation of "two recitations" without other qualifiers means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, when a rule similar to "at least one of A, B, C, etc." is used, such a configuration is generally intended in the sense that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand the practice (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, and C" includes, but is not limited to, systems of A only, B only, C only, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B, C together, etc.).When a convention similar to "at least one of A, B, or C, etc." is used, such a configuration is generally intended in the sense that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, or C" includes, but is not limited to, systems of A only, B only, C only, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B, C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that virtually all disjunctive words and / or phrases presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibility of including one of the terms, either term, or both terms. For example, the phrase "A or B" would be understood to include the possibilities of "A" or "B" or "A and B." Additionally, as used herein, the term "any of" following a listing of items and / or categories of items is intended to include "any of," "any combination," "any more than one," and / or "any combination of more than one" of the items and / or categories of items, individually or in combination with other items and / or items from other categories. Additionally, as used herein, the term "set" or "group" is intended to include any number of items, including zero. Additionally, as used herein, the term "number" is intended to include any number, including zero.

[0211] Furthermore, when features or aspects of the disclosure are described in terms of a Markush group, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individual members or subgroups of members of the Markush group.

[0212] As will be understood by those skilled in the art, for all purposes, including with respect to providing a written description, all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subranges and combinations of subranges thereof. Any range listed can be easily recognized as being sufficiently descriptive to allow the same range to be divided into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, tenths, etc. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein can be easily broken down into a lower third, middle third, and upper third, etc. As will also be understood by those skilled in the art, all language such as "up to," "at least," "greater than," "less than," etc. refers to a range that includes the recited numbers and can then be broken down into subranges as described above. Finally, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, a range includes individual members. Thus, for example, a group having 1 to 3 cells refers to a group having 1, 2, or 3 cells. Similarly, a group having 1 to 5 cells refers to a group having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells, etc.

[0213] Moreover, the claims should not be construed as limited to the order or elements provided unless stated to that effect. Moreover, use of the term "means for" in the claims is intended to invoke 35 U.S.C. 112, paragraph 6 or means-plus-function claim format, and claims without the term "means for" are not so intended.

[0214] A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio transmit / receive unit (WTRU), user equipment (UE), terminal, base station, mobility management entity (MME) or evolved packet core (EPC) or radio frequency transceiver for use in any host computer. The WTRU may be used in combination with modules implemented in hardware and / or software including software defined radios (SDRs), as well as cameras, video camera modules, videophones, speakerphones, vibration devices, speakers, microphones, television transceivers, hands-free headsets, keyboards, Bluetooth modules, frequency modulation (FM) radio units, near field communications (NFC) modules, liquid crystal display (LCD) display units, organic light emitting diode (OLED) display units, digital music players, media players, video game player modules, Internet browsers, and / or wireless local area network (WLAN) or ultra-wideband (UWB) modules.

[0215] Although the invention has been described with respect to a communications system, it is contemplated that the system may be implemented in software on a microprocessor / general purpose computer (not shown). In particular embodiments, one or more of the functions of the various components may be implemented in software controlling a general purpose computer.

[0216] Although the invention has been illustrated and described herein with reference to specific embodiments, it is not intended to limit the invention to the details shown, but rather various changes in details may be made within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims without departing from the invention.

[0217] Throughout this disclosure, those skilled in the art will understand that certain representative embodiments may be used in the alternative or in combination with other representative embodiments.

[0218] Although features and elements are described above in certain combinations, one skilled in the art will understand that each feature or element may be used alone or in any combination with the other features and elements. Furthermore, the methods described herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware embodied in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), registers, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in conjunction with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

[0219] Further, in the above embodiments, processing platforms, computing systems, controllers, and other devices including processors are described. These devices may include at least one central processing unit (CPU) and memory. In accordance with the practices of those skilled in the art of computer programming, references to acts and symbolic representations of operations or instructions may be performed by various CPUs and memories. Such acts and operations or instructions may be referred to as being "executed," "executed by a computer," or "executed by a CPU."

[0220] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the acts and symbolically represented operations or instructions include the manipulation of electrical signals by the CPU. The electrical system represents the data bits which may cause the transformation or reduction of the resulting electrical signals and the maintenance of the data bits in memory locations within the memory system, thereby reconfiguring or altering the operation of the CPU and other processing of the signals. The memory locations in which the data bits are maintained are physical locations that have particular electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic properties that correspond to or represent the data bits.

[0221] The data bits may also be maintained on computer readable media including magnetic disks, optical disks, and other volatile (e.g., random access memory (RAM)) or non-volatile (e.g., read only memory (ROM)) CPU readable mass storage systems. The computer readable media may include cooperative or interconnected computer readable media that reside exclusively on a processing system or that are distributed among multiple interconnected processing systems that may be local or remote to the processing system. It will be appreciated that representative embodiments are not limited to the above memories and that other platforms and memories may support the described methods.

[0222] Suitable processors include, for example, a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an application specific standard product (ASSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) circuit, other types of integrated circuits (ICs), and / or state machines.

[0223] Although the invention has been described with respect to a communications system, it is contemplated that the system may be implemented in software on a microprocessor / general purpose computer (not shown). In particular embodiments, one or more of the functions of the various components may be implemented in software controlling a general purpose computer.

[0224] Although the invention has been illustrated and described herein with reference to specific embodiments, it is not intended to limit the invention to the details shown, but rather various changes in details may be made within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims without departing from the invention.

Claims

1. 1. A method performed by a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), comprising: transmitting a transport block (TB) associated with a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process using a first CG resource of at least one configured grant (CG), the first CG resource being associated with the HARQ process; starting a timer associated with the HARQ process and a retransmission timer associated with the HARQ process; receiving HARQ feedback information associated with the HARQ process, the received HARQ feedback information being associated with the TB; stopping the retransmission timer associated with the HARQ process based on receiving the HARQ feedback information; retransmitting the TB using second CG resources of the at least one CG on condition that the retransmission timer associated with the HARQ process is stopped; A method for providing the above.

2. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: retransmitting the TB using a third CG resource on condition that the retransmission timer associated with the HARQ process is stopped while the timer associated with the HARQ process is running.

3. determining a number of HARQ processes associated with a CG resource; maintaining a timer and a retransmission timer for each of the plurality of HARQ processes; The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

4. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein a timer and a retransmission timer for a first HARQ process of the plurality of HARQ processes is different from a timer and a retransmission timer for a second HARQ process of the plurality of HARQ processes.

5. A wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) including a processor, a transmitter, a receiver, and a memory, transmitting a transport block (TB) associated with a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process using a first CG resource of at least one configured grant (CG), the first CG resource being associated with the HARQ process; starting a timer associated with the HARQ process and a retransmission timer associated with the HARQ process; receiving HARQ feedback information associated with the HARQ process, the received HARQ feedback information being associated with the TB; stopping the retransmission timer associated with the HARQ process based on receiving the HARQ feedback information; retransmitting the TB using second CG resources of the at least one CG on condition that the retransmission timer associated with the HARQ process is stopped; The WTRU is configured to:

6. 6. The WTRU of claim 5, further configured to: retransmit the TB using a third CG resource, on condition that the retransmission timer associated with the HARQ process is stopped while the timer associated with the HARQ process is running.

7. determining a number of HARQ processes associated with a CG resource; maintaining a timer and a retransmission timer for each of the plurality of HARQ processes; The WTRU of claim 5 , further configured to:

8. The WTRU of claim 7 , wherein a timer and a retransmission timer for a first HARQ process of the plurality of HARQ processes is different from a timer and a retransmission timer for a second HARQ process of the plurality of HARQ processes.

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