User equipment, scheduling node, method for user equipment, and method for scheduling node - Patents.com

Abstract

For example, the communication device is a user equipment (UE) comprising a circuit and a transceiver. The circuit is configured to (a) obtain from a control signaling a notification indicating a change in a setting of a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration configured for the UE, the resource configuration being a configured grant (CG) setting, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) setting, or a scheduling request (SR) setting, the control signaling being a downlink control signaling (DCI), and / or the notification indicating the change being a notification of an effective time, the effective time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration is effective after activation of the resource configuration, and (b) modify the setting of the transmission opportunity by applying the notified change. The transceiver may be configured to receive the control signaling and to receive or transmit a transmission using any one of the transmission opportunities of the modified configuration.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the transmission and reception of signals in communication systems, such as 3GPP communication systems, and in particular to methods and apparatus for such transmission and reception. [Background technology]

[0002] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is working on technical specifications for next-generation cellular technology, also known as 5th generation (5G), including New Radio (NR) Radio Access Technology (RAT) operating in the frequency range up to 100 GHz. NR is the successor to technologies represented by Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A).

[0003] In systems such as LTE and NR, further improvements and options may facilitate efficient operation of the communication system and certain devices associated with the communication system. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0004] [Non-Patent Document 1] 3GPP TS 38.300 [Non-Patent Document 2] 3GPP TS 38.211 [Non-Patent Document 3] ITU-R M.2083 [Non-Patent Document 4] TR 38.913 [Non-Patent Document 5] TS 23.501 v16.1.0 [Non-Patent Document 6] TS 38.212 [Non-Patent Document 7] 3GPP TS 38.321 [Non-Patent Document 8] 3GPP TS 38.213 [Non-Patent Document 9] 3GPP TS 38.331 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] One feature of some non-limiting exemplary embodiments is to promote efficient resource usage, especially in scenarios involving periodic traffic. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In one embodiment, the technology disclosed herein features an apparatus (e.g., user equipment), comprising a transceiver and circuitry, which, in operation, (a) obtains from control signaling a notification indicating a change in a setting of a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration configured for a user equipment (UE), (i) the resource configuration is a configured grant (CG) setting, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) setting, or a scheduling request (SR) setting, (ii) the control signaling is a downlink control signaling (DCI), and / or the notification indicating the change is a notification of a validity time, the validity time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration is valid after activation of the resource configuration, and (b) modifies the setting of the transmission opportunity by applying the notified change. In operation, the transceiver receives the control signaling and receives or transmits a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of the modified configuration.

[0007] It should be noted that the general or specific embodiments may be implemented as a system, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, a storage medium, or any selective combination thereof.

[0008] Further advantages and benefits of an embodiment of the present disclosure will become apparent from the specification and drawings, in which such advantages and / or benefits are provided by some of the embodiments and features described in the specification and drawings, respectively, but not necessarily all of which are provided to obtain one or more identical features. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] The following exemplary embodiments are explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an example architecture of a 3GPP NR system. [Diagram 2] Schematic diagram showing functional separation between NG-RAN and 5GC [Diagram 3] Sequence diagram of RRC connection setup / reconfiguration procedure [Figure 4] Schematic diagram showing the usage scenarios for Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC), and Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) [Diagram 5] Block diagram illustrating an exemplary 5G system architecture for non-roaming [Figure 6] A diagram showing the relationship between bandwidth parts, control resource sets (CORESETS), search spaces, search space sets, and PDCCH candidates. [Figure 7] A diagram showing an example time domain structure for a communication system such as 5G NR, including radio frames, subframes, slots, and OFDM symbols at various subcarrier spacings. [Figure 8]FIG. 1 illustrates the signaling overhead in case of the use of scheduling requests by the UE in dynamic scheduling of uplink resources for XR traffic transmission. [Figure 9] Diagram showing overprovisioning of CG uplink resources for UEs transmitting XR traffic [Figure 10] A diagram illustrating overprovisioning of SPS downlink resources for a UE receiving XR traffic. [Figure 11] A block diagram showing a communication system including user equipment and a base station, and the structure of the user equipment and the base station. [Figure 12] A block diagram showing the functional configuration of a processing circuit on the user device side. [Figure 13] Block diagram showing the functional configuration of the processing circuit on the base station side [Figure 14] A flow chart illustrating exemplary steps performed by a network node and by a user equipment. [Figure 15] Diagram showing overhead reduction by using group-based DCI to reconfigure each resource setting in a configuration group [Figure 16] Diagram showing overhead reduction by configuring the UE with the maximum number of enabled configuration groups [Figure 17] FIG. 1 illustrates reducing overhead by setting resource settings with validity times. [Figure 18] FIG. 1 illustrates reducing overhead by linking two resource settings so that when one resource setting is disabled, the other is enabled. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] <5G NR system architecture and protocol stack> 3GPP continues to work on the next release of fifth-generation cellular technology (also known simply as "5G"), which includes the development of New Radio Access Technology (NR) that will operate in the frequency range up to 100 GHz. The first version of the 5G standard was completed in late 2017, allowing for the prototyping and commercial deployment of 5G NR-compliant smartphones.

[0011] In particular, the system architecture as a whole assumes a Next Generation-Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) comprising gNBs. The gNBs provide UE-side termination of NG radio access user plane (SDAP / PDCP / RLC / MAC / PHY) and control plane (RRC) protocols. The gNBs are connected to each other by an Xn interface. The gNBs are also connected to a Next Generation Core (NGC) by a Next Generation (NG) interface, more specifically to an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) (e.g., a specific core entity performing AMF) by an NG-C interface, and to a User Plane Function (UPF) (e.g., a specific core entity performing UPF) by an NG-U interface. The NG-RAN architecture is shown in FIG. 1 (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1, Version 15.6.0, Section 4).

[0012] The NR user plane protocol stack (see, for example, Section 4.4.1 of 3GPP) includes a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) sublayer (see, for example, Section 6.4 of 3GPP), a Radio Link Control (RLC) sublayer (see, for example, Section 6.3 of 3GPP), and a Medium Access Control (MAC) sublayer (see, for example, Section 6.2 of 3GPP). A new Access Stratum (AS) sublayer (Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP)) is introduced on top of the PDCP (see, for example, Section 6.5 of 3GPP). A control plane protocol stack is also defined for NR (see, for example, Section 4.4.2 of 3GPP). An overview of Layer 2 functions is given in Section 6 of 3GPP. The functions of the PDCP, RLC, and MAC sublayers are listed in Sections 6.4, 6.3, and 6.2 of 3GPP, respectively. The functions of the RRC layer are listed in section 7 of non-patent document 1.

[0013] For example, the Medium-Access-Control layer handles logical channel multiplexing and scheduling and scheduling-related functions, including handling various numerologies.

[0014] For example, the physical layer (PHY) is responsible for coding, PHY HARQ processing, modulation, multi-antenna processing, and mapping of signals to appropriate physical time-frequency resources. The physical layer also handles mapping of transport channels to physical channels. The physical layer provides services to the MAC layer in the form of transport channels. A physical channel corresponds to a set of time-frequency resources used for the transmission of a particular transport channel, and each transport channel is mapped to a corresponding physical channel. For example, the physical channels include the uplink physical channels PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel), PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel), and PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel), and the downlink physical channels PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel), PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel), and PBCH (Physical Broadcast Channel).

[0015] NR use cases / deployment scenarios may include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC), and massive machine-type communications (mMTC), with diverse requirements in terms of data rates, latency, and coverage. For example, eMBB is expected to support peak data rates (20 Gbps in downlink and 10 Gbps in uplink) and effective (user-experienced) data rates that are about three times higher than those offered by IMT-Advanced. On the other hand, for URLLC, more stringent requirements are imposed on ultra-low latency (0.5 ms for user plane latency on UL and DL, respectively) and high reliability (1-10-5 within 1 ms). Finally, mMTC may require preferably high connection density (1,000,000 devices / km2 in urban environments), wide coverage in adverse environments, and extremely long battery life (15 years) for low-cost devices.

[0016] Therefore, OFDM numerology (e.g., subcarrier spacing, OFDM symbol length, cyclic prefix (CP) length, number of symbols per scheduling interval) suitable for one use case may not be valid for other use cases. For example, low latency services may preferably require a shorter symbol length (and therefore a larger subcarrier spacing) and / or fewer symbols per scheduling interval (also called TTI) than mMTC services. Furthermore, deployment scenarios with large channel delay spreads may preferably require a longer CP length than scenarios with small delay spreads. Subcarrier spacing should be optimized accordingly to maintain similar CP overhead. NR supports one or more subcarrier spacing values. Thus, currently, subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz... are considered. The symbol length Tu and subcarrier spacing Δf are directly related by the formula Δf=1 / Tu. Similar to LTE systems, the term "resource element" can be used to mean the smallest resource unit consisting of one subcarrier for the length of one OFDM / SC-FDMA symbol.

[0017] In the new radio system 5G-NR, for each numerology and each carrier, a resource grid of subcarriers and OFDM symbols is defined for the uplink and downlink, respectively. Each element of the resource grid is called a resource element and is identified based on a frequency index in the frequency domain and a symbol position in the time domain (see Non-Patent Document 2, version 16.2.0 (e.g., section 4)). For example, downlink transmission and uplink transmission are configured in frames with a duration of 10 ms. Each frame consists of 10 subframes, each of which has a duration of 1 ms. In a 5G NR implementation, the number of consecutive OFDM symbols per subframe depends on the subcarrier spacing setting. For example, for a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, a subframe has 14 OFDM symbols (similar to an LTE-compliant implementation, assuming a normal cyclic prefix). On the other hand, for a subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, a subframe has two slots, each of which comprises 14 OFDM symbols.

[0018] NR supports several different types of subcarrier spacing, labeled by the parameter μ, compared to LTE numerology (subcarrier spacing and symbol length) (in LTE, there is only 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, which corresponds to μ=0 in NR). The types of NR numerology are summarized in 3GPP TS 2011-01-13, ed. 15.7.0.

[0019] <Functional separation between NG-RAN and 5GC in 5G NR> Figure 2 shows the functional separation between NG-RAN and 5GC. The logical node of NG-RAN is gNB or ng-eNB. 5GC has logical nodes AMF, UPF, and SMF.

[0020] In particular, the gNB and ng-eNB host the following main functions: - Radio Resource Management functions such as Radio Bearer Control, Radio Admission Control, Connection Mobility Control, dynamic allocation (scheduling) of resources to UEs in both uplink and downlink; - IP header compression, encryption, and integrity protection of data; - Selection of an AMF at UE attach time if routing to the AMF cannot be determined from information provided by the UE; - Routing of user plane data towards the UPF; - Routing of control plane information towards AMF; - Connection setup and release; - Scheduling and sending paging messages; - Scheduling and transmission of system broadcast information (sourced from AMF or Operation, Admission, Maintenance Function (OAM)); - Setting up measurements and reporting of measurements for mobility and scheduling; - Transport level packet marking in the uplink; - Session management; - Support for network slicing; - QoS flow management and mapping to data radio bearers; - Support for UEs in RRC_INACTIVE state; - Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message delivery function; - Sharing of radio access networks; - Dual connectivity; - Close cooperation between NR and E-UTRA.

[0021] The Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) hosts the following main functions: - Termination of Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signalling; - NAS signaling security; - Access Stratum (AS) security control; - 3GPP Core Network (CN) inter-node signalling for mobility between access networks; - Reachability to idle mode UEs (including control and execution of paging retransmissions); - Managing the registration area; - Support for intra-system and inter-system mobility; - Access authentication; - Access authorization including roaming privilege checks; - Mobility management control (subscription and policies); - Support for network slicing; - Select the Session Management Function (SMF).

[0022] Additionally, the User Plane Function (UPF) hosts the following main functions: - Anchor points for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (if applicable); - External PDU (Protocol Data Unit) Session Points for interconnection with data networks; - Packet routing and forwarding; - Packet inspection and policy rule enforcement for the user plane part; - Traffic usage reporting; - an uplink classifier that supports routing of traffic flows to the data network; - Branching Point for supporting multi-homed PDU sessions; - QoS processing for the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement); - Verification of uplink traffic (mapping to the QoS flow of the SDF); - Downlink packet buffering and trigger function for downlink data notification.

[0023] Finally, the Session Management Function (SMF) hosts the following main functions: - Session management; - IP address allocation and management for the UE; - Selection and control of the UPF; - Traffic steering setting function in the User Plane Function (UPF) for routing traffic to the appropriate destination; - Policy enforcement and QoS for the control plane; - Notification of downlink data.

[0024] <Procedures for RRC connection setup and reconfiguration> Figure 3 shows some of the interactions between the UE, gNB, and AMF (5GC entity) in the NAS part when the UE transitions from RRC_IDLE to RRC_CONNECTED (see Non-Patent Document 1, version 15.6.0).

[0025] RRC is a higher layer signaling (protocol) used for the configuration of the UE and the gNB. In particular, with this transition, the AMF prepares UE context data (which includes, for example, PDU session context, security keys, UE Radio Capability, UE Security Capabilities, etc.) and sends it to the gNB with an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST. The gNB then activates AS security together with the UE. This is done by the gNB sending a SecurityModeCommand message to the UE, and the UE responding with a SecurityModeComplete message to the gNB. The gNB then reconfigures to set up Signaling Radio Bearer 2 (SRB2) and Data Radio Bearer (DRB) by sending an RRCReconfiguration message to the UE and receiving an RRCReconfigurationComplete from the UE. For signaling-only connections, the steps related to RRCReconfiguration are omitted since SRB2 and DRB are not set up. Finally, the gNB informs the AMF that the setup procedure is complete with an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP RESPONSE.

[0026] Therefore, the present disclosure provides an entity (e.g., AMF, SMF, etc.) of a 5th Generation Core (5GC), comprising: a control circuit that operatively establishes a Next Generation (NG) connection with a gNodeB; and a transmitter that operatively transmits an initial context setup message to the gNodeB via the NG connection so that a signaling radio bearer between the gNodeB and a User Equipment (UE) is set up. Specifically, the gNodeB transmits Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling including a resource allocation configuration information element (IE) to the UE via the signaling radio bearer. Then, the UE transmits in uplink or receives in downlink based on the resource allocation configuration.

[0027] <IMT usage scenarios after 2020> Figure 4 shows some of the use cases for 5G NR. The 3rd generation partnership project new radio (3GPP NR) considers three use cases that were envisioned by IMT-2020 to support a wide variety of services and applications. The first phase of specifications for enhanced mobile-broadband (eMBB) has been completed. Current and future work includes standardization for ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) and massive machine-type communications (mMTC), in addition to expanding support for eMBB. Figure 4 shows some examples of expected usage scenarios for IMT beyond 2020 (see, for example, Figure 2 in Non-Patent Document 3).

[0028] URLLC use cases have stringent requirements for performance such as throughput, latency, and availability, and are envisioned as one of the enablers of future applications such as wireless control of industrial production or manufacturing processes, remote medical surgery, automation of power transmission and distribution in smart grids, and road safety. URLLC's ultra-high reliability is supported by identifying technologies that meet the requirements set by NR URLLC in Release 15. Key requirements for NR URLLC in Release 15 include a target user plane latency of 0.5 ms in UL (uplink) and 0.5 ms in DL (downlink). A typical URLLC requirement for a single packet transmission is a block error rate (BLER) of 1E-5 for a packet size of 32 bytes with a user plane latency of 1 ms.

[0029] From a physical layer perspective, reliability can be improved in many possible ways. Current room for reliability improvement includes defining a separate CQI table for URLLC, more compact DCI formats, repeated transmission of PDCCH, etc. However, this room can be expanded to achieve ultra-high reliability as NR (with respect to the key requirements of NR URLLC) becomes more stable and more developed. Specific use cases for NR URLLC in Release 15 include augmented reality / virtual reality (AR / VR), e-health, e-safety, and mission-critical applications.

[0030] Also, technology extensions targeted by NR URLLC aim to improve latency and reliability. Technology extensions for improving latency include configurable numerology, non-slot-based scheduling with flexible mapping, grant-free (configured grant) uplink, repeated transmissions at slot level in data channel, and pre-emption in downlink. Pre-emption means that a transmission for which resources have already been allocated is stopped and the already allocated resources are used for other transmissions with lower latency / higher priority requirements that are requested later. Thus, a transmission that was already allowed is preempted by a later transmission. Pre-emption is applicable regardless of the specific service type. For example, a transmission of service type A (URLLC) can be preempted by a transmission of service type B (eMBB, etc.). Technology extensions for improving reliability include dedicated CQI / MCS tables for a target BLER of 1E-5.

[0031] The use case of mMTC (massive machine type communication) is characterized by a very large number of connected devices that typically transmit relatively small amounts of data that are not sensitive to delays. The devices are required to be low cost and have a very long battery life. From an NR perspective, the use of very narrow bandwidth portions is one solution that saves power from the UE's perspective and allows for a long battery life.

[0032] As mentioned above, the scope of reliability improvement in NR is expected to be broader. One of the key requirements for all cases, especially for URLLC and mMTC, is high or ultra-high reliability. Several mechanisms can improve reliability from a radio perspective and a network perspective. In general, there are two to three key areas that can help improve reliability. These areas include compact control channel information, data channel / control channel repetition, and diversity with respect to frequency, time, and / or spatial domains. These areas are generally applicable to reliability improvement regardless of the specific communication scenario.

[0033] Further use cases with more stringent requirements are envisaged for NR URLLC, such as factory automation, transportation, and power distribution. The stringent requirements include high reliability (10 -6 level of reliability), high availability, packet size up to 256 bytes, time synchronization up to a few μs (depending on the use case, the value can be 1 μs or a few μs depending on the frequency range and short latency in the range of 0.5 ms to 1 ms (in particular, a latency of 0.5 ms on the targeted user plane).

[0034] Furthermore, for NR URLLC, several technical extensions may be available from the perspective of the physical layer. These technical extensions include the extension of the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) related to compact DCI, the repeated transmission of PDCCH, and the increased monitoring of PDCCH. In addition, the extension of UCI (Uplink Control Information) is related to the extension of enhanced HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) and CSI feedback. There may also be an extension of PUSCH related to mini-slot level hopping, and an extension of retransmission / repeated transmission. The term "mini-slot" refers to a Transmission Time Interval (TTI) that contains fewer symbols than a slot (a slot has 14 symbols).

[0035] <QoS Control> The 5G Quality of Service (QoS) model is based on QoS flows and supports both QoS flows that require a guaranteed flow bit rate (GBR (Granteed Bit Rate) QoS flows) and QoS flows that do not require a guaranteed flow bit rate (non-GBR QoS flows). Therefore, at the NAS level, a QoS flow is the finest-grained QoS differentiation in a PDU session. A QoS flow is identified within a PDU session by a QoS Flow ID (QFI) that is carried in an encapsulation header via the NG-U interface.

[0036] For each UE, the 5GC establishes one or more PDU sessions. For each UE, the NG-RAN establishes at least one Data Radio Bearer (DRB) for the PDU session, e.g. as shown above with reference to Fig. 3. Additional DRBs for the QoS flows of the PDU session can be configured later (when it is up to the NG-RAN). The NG-RAN maps packets belonging to different PDU sessions to different DRBs. The NAS level packet filters in the UE and the 5GC associate UL and DL packets with QoS flows, whereas the AS level mapping rules in the UE and the NG-RAN associate UL and DL QoS flows with DRBs.

[0037] Figure 5 shows a non-roaming reference architecture for 5G NR (see Section 4.23 of Non-Patent Document 5). An Application Function (AF) (e.g., an external application server hosting 5G services as illustrated in Figure 4) interacts with the 3GPP core network to support the provision of services, e.g., application influence on traffic routing, access to a Network Exposure Function (NEF), or interacting with a policy framework for policy control (e.g., QoS control) (see Policy Control Function (PCF)). Based on the operator's deployment, an Application Function that is considered trusted by the operator can interact directly with the relevant Network Function. An Application Function that is not permitted by the operator to directly access a Network Function interacts with the relevant Network Function using an external release framework via the NEF.

[0038] Figure 5 further illustrates further functional units of the 5G architecture: Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF), Network Repository Function (NRF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), and Data Network (DN, e.g., operator-provided services, Internet access, or third-party services). All or part of the core network functions and application services may be deployed and run in a cloud computing environment.

[0039] Therefore, the present disclosure provides an application server (e.g., an AF in a 5G architecture) that includes a transmitter that, in operation, transmits a request including QoS requirements for at least one of a URLLC service, an eMBB service, and an mMTC service to at least one of 5GC functions (e.g., NEF, AMF, SMF, PCF, UPF, etc.) to establish a PDU session including a radio bearer between a gNodeB and a UE according to the QoS requirements, and a control circuit that, in operation, performs a service using the established PDU session.

[0040] <Uplink / Downlink / Sidelink> The present disclosure may be applied to any of the uplink, downlink, and sidelink.

[0041] For example, the present disclosure may be applied to the uplink PUSCH, PUCCH, and PRACH, the downlink PDSCH, PDCCH, and PBCH, and the sidelink PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel), PSCCH (Physical Sidelink Control Channel), and PSBCH (Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel).

[0042] The PDCCH, PDSCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH are examples of a downlink control channel, a downlink data channel, an uplink data channel, and an uplink control channel, respectively. The PSCCH and PSSCH are examples of a sidelink control channel and a sidelink data channel, respectively. The PBCH and PSBCH are examples of a broadcast channel, and the PRACH is an example of a random access channel.

[0043] <Data Channel / Control Channel> The present disclosure may be applied to both data channels and control channels. The channels in the present disclosure may be replaced with data channels including PDSCH, PUSCH, and PSSCH, and / or control channels including PDCCH, PUCCH, PBCH, PSCCH, and PSBCH.

[0044] <Reference signal> In this disclosure, a reference signal is a signal known to both a base station and a mobile station, and each reference signal may be referred to as a reference signal (RS) or a pilot signal. A reference signal may be any of a DMRS, a Channel State Information - Reference Signal (CSI-RS), a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS), a Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS), a Cell-specific Reference Signal (CRS), and a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).

[0045] <time interval> In the present disclosure, the time resource unit is not limited to one or a combination of slots and symbols, and may be a time resource unit such as a frame, a superframe, a subframe, a slot, a subslot of a time slot, a minislot, or a symbol, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (SC-FDMA) symbol, or other time resource unit. The number of symbols included in one slot is not limited to the number of symbols exemplified in the above-mentioned embodiment, and may be other numbers of symbols.

[0046] <Frequency band> The present disclosure may apply to both licensed and unlicensed bands.

[0047] <Communication> The present disclosure may be applied to any of communication between a base station and a terminal (Uu link communication), communication between terminals (sidelink communication), and V2X (Vehicle to Everything) communication. The channels in the present disclosure may be rephrased as PSCCH, PSSCH, physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH), PSBCH, PDCCH, PUCCH, PDSCH, PUSCH, and PBCH.

[0048] The present disclosure can also be applied to a terrestrial network or a non-terrestrial network (NTN) using a satellite or a high altitude pseudo satellite (HAPS). The present disclosure can also be applied to a terrestrial network with a large cell size and a large delay compared to a symbol length or a slot length, such as an ultra-wideband transmission network.

[0049] <Antenna port> An antenna port refers to a logical antenna (antenna group) formed from one or more physical antennas. That is, an antenna port does not necessarily refer to one physical antenna, but may refer to an array antenna consisting of multiple antennas. For example, the number of physical antennas constituting an antenna port is not defined, and instead, an antenna port is defined as the smallest unit that a terminal is allowed to transmit a reference signal. An antenna port may also be defined as the smallest unit for multiplication of a precoding vector weighting.

[0050] <Downlink control channel monitoring, PDCCH, DCI> Many of the functions performed by a UE include monitoring a downlink control channel (e.g., the PDCCH, see 3GPP TS 2013-011066, version 15.6.0, section 5.2.3) for example to receive specific control information or data intended for the UE.

[0051] Below is a non-exhaustive list of such features: - Paging message monitoring function, - System information acquisition function, - signalling supervision operation in discontinuous reception (DRX) functionality; - inactivity monitoring operation in the discontinuous reception (DRX) function; - receiving a random access response in a random access function; - Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer reordering function

[0052] As described above, the PDCCH is monitored by the UE to identify and receive information intended for the UE, such as control information and user traffic (e.g., DCI on the PDCCH, user data on the PDSCH indicated by the PDCCH).

[0053] The control information in the downlink (which can be called Downlink Control Information, DCI) has the same purpose in 5G NR as DCI in LTE, i.e. it is a set of special control information for scheduling, for example, a downlink data channel (e.g. PDSCH) or an uplink data channel (e.g. PUSCH). Many different DCI formats are already defined for 5G NR (see 3GPP TS 2013-010321, ed. 15.6.0, section 7.3.1).

[0054] These DCI formats represent the predefined formats that the respective information is formed and transmitted in. In particular, DCI formats 0_1 and 1_1 are used for scheduling PUSCH and PDSCH in one cell, respectively.

[0055] The PDCCH monitoring in each of these functions serves a specific purpose and is therefore initiated for that purpose. PDCCH monitoring is typically controlled at least based on a timer operated by the UE. The timer has the purpose of controlling the PDCCH monitoring, for example to limit the maximum length of time that the UE monitors the PDCCH. For example, the UE does not need to monitor the PDCCH indefinitely and can stop monitoring after a certain time so as to conserve power.

[0056] As mentioned above, one of the purposes of DCI in PDCCH is to dynamically schedule resources in the downlink or uplink, or in the sidelink. In particular, several formats of DCI are provided to convey notification of resources assigned to a data channel for a particular user (resource allocation, RA). A resource allocation may include specification of resources in the frequency domain and / or the time domain.

[0057] <Physical resource block> The term "physical resource block" (PRB) usually refers to the smallest allocable resource unit available for the transmission of (user) data. In LTE and NR, a PRB has a predefined number (e.g., 12) of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and a predefined number of symbols (e.g., 14 OFDM symbols in LTE) in the time domain.

[0058] <BWP:bandwidth part> NR systems support much wider channel bandwidths (e.g., hundreds of MHz) than LTE's 20 MHz. LTE also supports wideband communication through carrier aggregation (CA) of component carriers up to 20 MHz. By defining wider channel bandwidths in NR, frequency resources can be dynamically allocated through scheduling, which can be more efficient and flexible than the carrier aggregation operation of LTE, where activation / deactivation is based on MAC control elements. Having a single wideband carrier also has the advantage of reduced control overhead, since only a single control signaling is required (carrier aggregation requires separate control signaling for each aggregated carrier).

[0059] Additionally, like LTE, NR may support aggregation of multiple carriers via carrier aggregation or dual connectivity.

[0060] Since UEs do not always require high data rates, the use of a wide bandwidth may result in higher idle power consumption, both in terms of RF and baseband signal processing. In this regard, the newly developed bandwidth portion concept for NR provides a means to operate UEs with a bandwidth smaller than the configured channel bandwidth, providing an energy-efficient solution while supporting wideband operation, which benefits these low-end terminals that cannot access the entire bandwidth for NR.

[0061] A Bandwidth Part (BWP) is a subset of the total cell bandwidth of a cell (e.g., the location and number of contiguous physical resource blocks (PRBs)). Bandwidth parts may be defined separately for uplink and downlink. Furthermore, each bandwidth part may be associated with a specific OFDM numerology (e.g., subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix). For example, Bandwidth Adaptation is achieved by configuring a BWP in the UE and informing the UE which of the configured BWPs is the currently active BWP.

[0062] Exemplarily, in 5G NR, a specific BWP is configured only for a UE in an RRC_Connected state. For example, other than an initial BWP (e.g., one each for UL and DL), a BWP only exists for a UE in a connected state. To support initial data exchange between the UE and the network, for example, during the process of moving the UE from an RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state to an RRC_CONNECTED state, an initial DL BWP and an initial UL BWP are configured in the minimum system information.

[0063] A UE may have more than one BWP defined (e.g., up to four BWPs per serving cell, as currently defined for NR), but a UE has only one active DL BWP at a time.

[0064] For details on BWP operation, see section 5.15 of Non-Patent Document 7.

[0065] Switching between configured BWPs can be realized in various ways. The operation of the bandwidth portion in the uplink and downlink is defined in 3GPP TS 2013-01036, version 16.8.0, section 5.15 in a 5G NR compliant implementation. The BWP can be switched, for example, by the downlink control information (DCI) (e.g., using the bandwidth portion indicator in DCI format 0_1 ​​(UL grant) and DCI format 1_1 (DL schedule)), by using the BWP inactivity timer, by using RRC signaling, by the MAC entity itself at the start of the random access procedure. For a primary cell (PCell), the initial BWP is the BWP used for initial access, and the default BWP is the initial BWP unless another initial BWP is explicitly configured. For a secondary cell (SCell), the initial BWP is always explicitly configured and a default BWP can also be configured. When a default BWP is configured for a serving cell, the active BWP switches to the default BWP when the inactivity timer associated with that cell expires.

[0066] Some DCI formats (such as formats 0_0 and 1_0) do not include a BWP ID, while other DCI formats (such as formats 0_1, 0_2, 1_1, and 1_2) allow the number of bits for the BWP ID to be configurable by the RRC, which may be 0, 1, or 2 bits.

[0067] FIG. 6 shows a scenario in which three different BWPs are set: BWP1 with a frequency bandwidth of 40 MHz and a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, BWP2 with a bandwidth of 10 MHz and a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, and BWP3 with a bandwidth of 20 MHz and a subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz.

[0068] The different BWPs can be configured, for example, using appropriate information elements of the RRC protocol. A carrier bandwidth portion is a contiguous set of physical resource blocks selected from a contiguous subset of common resource blocks of a given numerology (u) in a given carrier.

[0069] According to an exemplary 5G NR compatible implementation in line with, for example, version 16.8.0 of 3GPP TS 2010-010666, different RRCReconfiguration information elements may be used.

[0070] <Control signal> In the present disclosure, the downlink control signal (information) according to the present disclosure may be a signal (information) transmitted via a PDCCH of a physical layer, or may be a signal (information) transmitted via a MAC Control Element (CE) of a higher layer or an RRC. The downlink control signal may be a predefined signal (information).

[0071] The uplink control signal (information) according to the present disclosure may be a signal (information) transmitted via a PUCCH of a physical layer, or may be a signal (information) transmitted via a MAC CE of a higher layer or an RRC. Also, the uplink control signal may be a predefined signal (information). The uplink control signal may be uplink control information (UCI), first stage sidelink control information (SCI), or second stage SCI.

[0072] <Control information: Search space set> PDCCH monitoring is performed by the UE to identify and receive information intended for the UE, such as control information and user traffic (eg, DCI on the PDCCH and user data on the PDSCH indicated by the PDCCH).

[0073] The control information in the downlink (which can be referred to as, for example, Downlink Control Information (DCI)) has essentially the same purpose in 5G NR as DCI in LTE, i.e. it is a special set of control information for scheduling, for example, a downlink data channel (e.g., PDSCH) or an uplink data channel (e.g., PUSCH). In an exemplary implementation according to 5G NR, there are several different DCI formats already defined (see 3GPP TS 2013-010321, v17.1.0, section 7.3.1). The following table provides an overview:

[0074] [Table 1]

[0075] In 5G NR, the PDCCH is transmitted in a radio resource region called the control resource set (CORESET). In LTE, the concept of CORESET does not explicitly exist. Instead, the PDCCH in LTE uses the entire carrier bandwidth in the first 1-3 OFDM symbols (4 in the narrowest case). In contrast, the CORESET in NR can occur anywhere in the slot and anywhere in the frequency range of the carrier, except that the UE is not supposed to process the CORESET outside the active bandwidth portion (BWP).

[0076] Therefore, the UE performs PDCCH monitoring operations as specified in 3GPP TS 2.0, e.g., version 17.1.0, clauses 10 and 11. In the exemplary specification, the UE monitors a set of PDCCH candidates that are specified as a PDCCH search space set. The search space set can be a Common Search Space (CSS) or a UE-specific Search Space (USS).

[0077] As exemplarily defined in Section 10.1 of Non-Patent Document 8, the UE: - the Type0-PDCCH CSS set by pdcch-ConfigSIB1 in MIB or searchSpaceSIB1 in PDCCH-ConfigCommon or searchSpaceZero in PDCCH-ConfigCommon for the DCI format with CRC scrambled by SI-RNTI on the primary cell of the MCG; - the Type0A-PDCCH CSS set by the searchSpaceOtherSystemlnformation of PDCCH-ConfigCommon for the DCI format with CRC scrambled by SI-RNTI on the primary cell of the MCG; - the Type1-PDCCH CSS set by the ra-SearchSpace in PDCCH-ConfigCommon for DCI formats with CRC scrambled by RA-RNTI, MsgB-RNTI, or TC-RNTI on the primary cell; - the Type2-PDCCH CSS set by the pagingSearch Space in PDCCH-ConfigCommon for DCI formats with CRC scrambled by P-RNTI on the primary cell of the MCG; - a Type3-PDCCH CSS set by SearchSpace in PDCCH-Config with searchSpaceType=common for DCI formats with CRC scrambled by INT-RNTI, SFI-RNTI, TPC-PUSCH-RNTI, TPC-PUCCH-RNTI, TPC-SRS-RNTI, or CI-RNTI and, for the primary cell only, by C-RNTI, MCS-C-RNTI, CS-RNTI, or PS-RNTI; - a USS set configured by SearchSpace in PDCCH-Config with searchSpaceType=ue-Specific for a DCI format with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI, MCS-C-RNTI, SP-CSI-RNTI, CS-RNTI, SL-RNTI, SL-CS-RNTI, or SL semi-persistent scheduling V-RNTI The PDCCH candidate is monitored in one or more of the sets of CSSs and USSs such as:

[0078] A search space set is monitored in one or more CORESETs in an active DL BWP for each activated serving cell configured for PDCCH monitoring with the corresponding search space set, where monitoring implies decoding each PDCCH candidate according to the monitored DCI format.

[0079] Conceptually, Figure 6 shows an exemplary relationship between bandwidth portions, CORESETs, search spaces, search space sets, and PDCCH candidates that a UE may monitor. As is evident from Figure 6, one CORESET is shown per BWP, but there can be more than one. Each CORESET can have several search spaces of one or more PDCCH candidates of a particular aggregation level (e.g., mAL2, 4, or 8). These search spaces can be grouped into search space sets, such as shared SS sets and UE-specific SS sets.

[0080] <Time domain in 5G NR> In the time domain, transmissions in 5G NR are organized into frames of length 10 ms, each of which is divided into 10 equally sized subframes of length 1 ms. The subframes are divided into one or more slots of 14 OFDM symbols each. The time length of the slots in milliseconds depends on the numerology. Thus, for example, for a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, an NR slot has an identical structure to an LTE subframe with a normal cyclic prefix. A subframe in 5G NR serves as a numerology-independent time reference, which is especially useful when multiple numerologies are mixed on the same carrier, while a slot is a typical dynamic scheduling unit. This frame structure on which 3GPP 5G NR communication is based is exemplarily shown in Figure 7.

[0081] 5G NR offers multiple slot formats, where the slot format indicates how each symbol in a slot is used. The slot format defines which symbols in a particular slot are used for uplink and which symbols are used for downlink. In LTE TDD, if a subframe (corresponding to a slot in NR) is configured for DL ​​or UL, all symbols in that subframe must be used as DL or UL. However, in NR, each of the symbols in a slot can be configured differently as DL or UL. There are also flexible symbols that can be configured as DL or UL. In an exemplary 5G NR-compliant implementation, the gNB uses a slot format indicator (SFI) to inform the UE of the slot format to be used (see also 3GPP TS 2013-010301, Sec. 16.7.0, Sec. 11.1.1). For example, the slot format indicator includes an index value associated with the slot format (e.g., in the form of a table).

[0082] <Uplink control information and Scheduling Request (SR) in 5G NR> Downlink control information is carried by the PDCCH (see above), whereas uplink control information (UCI) can be transmitted on the PUCCH or PUSCH depending on the situation. Uplink control information can be channel state information (CSI), ACK / NACK information, and scheduling requests. Not all of these need to be carried in one PUCCH transmission. For example, CSI may be carried alone, ACK / NACK may be carried alone, SR may be carried alone, or CSI and ACK / NACK may be carried together in the PUCCH.

[0083] There are several different PUCCH formats that can be used to transmit UCI, and currently there are five PUCCH formats, 0 through 4. Of these, two formats, 0 and 2, are sometimes called short PUCCH formats, since they occupy a maximum of two OFDM symbols. Often, the last one or two OFDM symbols of a slot are used for PUCCH transmission, e.g., to transmit a hybrid ARQ acknowledgement (ACK / NACK) for a downlink data transmission.

[0084] Formats 1, 3 and 4 are sometimes called long PUCCH formats because they occupy between 4 and 14 OFDM symbols. The reason for having a longer duration than the previous two formats is coverage. If a duration of one or two OFDM symbols does not provide enough received energy for reliable reception, a longer duration is needed and one of the long PUCCH formats can be used.

[0085] The PUCCH format to use can be determined based on, for example, how many bits of UCI to transmit and how many symbols (PUCCH duration) are available, as shown exemplarily in the following table (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 2, Version 17.1.0, Section 6.3.2):

[0086] The UCI can be transmitted on the PUCCH flexibly in the time and frequency domains using specially allocated radio resources, e.g., PUCCH resource sets. A maximum of four sets of PUCCH resources can be configured in the UE, and the PUCCH resource sets are associated with PUCCH resource set indexes. In particular, a PUCCH resource set includes at least four PUCCH resource configurations, each of which includes the PUCCH format to be used and all transmission parameters required for that format. Such resource configuration can be done by various information elements of the RRC protocol layer, such as the PUCCH-Config information element (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 2013-01036, version 16.7.0, section 6.3.2).

[0087] As mentioned above, a UE may be configured with up to four PUCCH resource sets, each corresponding to a particular range of UCI feedback to transmit. For example, PUCCH resource set 0 may handle up to 2 bits of UCI payload and therefore only includes PUCCH formats 0 and 1, while the remaining PUCCH resource sets may include any PUCCH format other than formats 0 and 1.

[0088] The current reporting of UCI on PUCCH is defined in 3GPP TS 2.0, e.g., version 17.1.0, section 9.2.

[0089] The PUCCH resource may include one or more of the following parameters:

[0090] PUCCH resource index Index of the first PRB (Physical Resource Block) before frequency hopping and without frequency hopping Index of the first PRB after frequency hopping Notification of intra-slot frequency hopping PUCCH format setting PUCCH resources are assigned by the gNB differently for each UE. The UE uses the preconfigured PUCCH resources without coordination with the gNB. Assigning different PUCCH resources to the UE ensures that the UEs can use these resources simultaneously without colliding or interfering with each other.

[0091] The transmission of scheduling requests using PUCCH is defined in 3GPP TS 2.0, e.g., v17.1.0, section 9.2.4. Specific parameters are configured in the UE to determine the scheduling request radio resources used for the transmission of a scheduling request (SR). For example, a periodicity and offset are defined for SR transmission and are used to determine the slot and / or frame number for the SR transmission opportunity based on the configured PUCCH resource set.

[0092] In this respect, the configuration of such SR resources may be performed by different information elements at the RRC protocol layer, such as the SchedulingRequestConfig and SchedulingRequestResourceConfig information elements (see, for example, 3GPP TS 2010-010521, version 16.7.0, section 6.3.2).

[0093] Briefly, a scheduling request is basically a flag issued by a user equipment to request uplink resources from the uplink scheduler of the base station. Since the device requesting the resources does not have PUSCH resources available, the scheduling request is transmitted on the PUCCH using a PUCCH resource that is preconfigured and periodically reoccurs exclusively for the UE. The serving base station can then allocate radio resources to the user equipment.

[0094] Unlike LTE, 5G NR supports the configuration of multiple scheduling requests from one device. A logical channel can be mapped to zero or more scheduling request configurations. This provides the gNB with information that the device has data waiting to be transmitted, as well as the type of data that is waiting to be transmitted. This information can be useful for the gNB to take into account the different traffic types that 5G NR is designed to support. For example, the gNB may want to schedule the user equipment for transmission of latency-critical information but not for transmission of non-latency-critical information.

[0095] Each device can be assigned a dedicated PUCCH scheduling request resource with a periodicity ranging from every 2 OFDM symbols to support latency critical services to every 80 ms for low overhead. Only one scheduling request can be transmitted at a given time, i.e. in case of multiple logical channels with data to transmit, one exemplary action is to trigger the scheduling request corresponding to the highest priority logical channel. Until a grant is received from the gNB, requests can only be made in the following repeated resources, up to a configurable upper limit. It is also possible to configure an inhibit timer that controls how often a scheduling request can be transmitted. In case of multiple scheduling request resources, both of these configurations are done per scheduling request resource.

[0096] <SPS in downlink and configured grant in uplink> In the downlink, the gNB can dynamically allocate resources to the UE via the C-RNTI on the PDCCH (e.g., see DCI above). Similarly, in the uplink, the gNB can dynamically allocate resources to the UE via the C-RNTI on the PDCCH (e.g., see DCI above). In addition to dynamically allocating downlink and uplink resources, scheduling extensions are also provided in 5G NR, where resource allocation can be implemented in 5G NR based on semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) in the downlink and configured grant (CG) in the uplink.

[0097] In the downlink, the semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) feature adopted in 5G NR is a further development of the SPS adopted in the previous communication system LTE and can be applied to both the uplink and downlink. Furthermore, in LTE, SPS configuration is generally dedicated to a single device. If that device does not require the assigned periodic resources (e.g., data is transmitted only in case of a specific event such as a collision warning), the SPS resources not used by the UE are wasted.

[0098] According to an exemplary 5G NR compliant implementation, the RRC defines the relevant parameters of the SPS. To configure the downlink semi-persistent transmission, the RRC information element SPS-Config is defined in, for example, version 16.7.0 of 3GPP TS 21.2006.02.22.0. For example, the RRC defines the periodicity of the configured downlink allocation, the number of HARQ processes, the MCS, etc.

[0099] DL SPS supports various periodicities, e.g., common to all subcarrier spacings (SCS), or dependent on the subcarrier spacing. An example of the periodicity when dependent on the SCS, as currently defined in Non-Patent Document 9, is shown below: For 15KHz SCS: {1,2,3,...,640}ms For 30KHz SCS: 0.5×{1,2,3,...,1280}ms For 60KHz SCS: 0.25×{1,2,3,...,2560}ms For 120KHz SCS: 0.125×{1,2,3,...,5120}ms

[0100] A UE may have several (e.g. up to 8) active configured downlink allocations for one BWP of a serving cell. If multiple are configured, then: - The network decides which of these configured downlink allocations are active at a time (including all allocations). - Each configured downlink assignment is activated individually using a DCI command, and deactivation of a configured downlink assignment is done using a DCI command, which can deactivate a single configured downlink assignment or a collective deactivation of multiple configured downlink assignments.

[0101] The PDCCH addressed to the CS-RNTI can signal and activate the configured downlink allocation, while the PDCCH addressed to the CS-RNTI can indicate that the downlink allocation can be implicitly reused until deactivated according to an RRC defined periodicity. If necessary, retransmissions are scheduled explicitly, e.g. on the PDCCH.

[0102] SPS is particularly useful for periodic downlink data transmissions, such as Voice over IP (VoIP) services: the base station configures SPS radio resources, and the UE can use these periodic radio resources without using an additional scheduling request procedure.

[0103] Uplink data transmission typically requires resources to be requested by the UE, followed by a packed scheduling decision and resource allocation at the scheduler (e.g., base station). This allocation cycle introduces additional delay and signaling. The delay in radio resource allocation between the UE and the base station can be avoided by allowing the UE to use radio resources without requesting them from the base station in advance. This can be implemented by the so-called Configured Grant (CG).

[0104] Furthermore, by using configured grants, multiple devices (UEs) may be allowed to share periodic radio resources (which facilitates reducing waste of periodic radio resources compared to LTE SPS). On the other hand, it is also possible for the gNB to define periodic radio resources in such a way that they are not shared or are not shared completely among multiple UEs. The gNB assigns configured grant radio resources to one or more UEs, and the UEs randomly utilize these periodic radio resources when they need to transmit data (e.g., small data). By using CGs, the network can eliminate packet transmission delays caused by a specific scheduling request procedure that must otherwise be performed before data can be transmitted. This may also improve the utilization of the assigned periodic radio resources.

[0105] In 3GPP Release 16 and Release 17, two types of grant-free configuration schemes are supported: Type 1 and Type 2 (see 3GPP RFC3236, e.g., v. 16.8.0, section 10.3). According to this exemplary implementation of 3GPP RFC3236, using Type 1 CG, the RRC provides the uplink configured grant, including, e.g., its periodicity, directly to the UE.

[0106] In type 2 configured grant, RRC defines the periodicity of uplink configured grant and PDCCH message addressed to UE's CS-RNTI signals uplink configured grant to activate or deactivate. PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI indicates that uplink grant can be implicitly reused according to the periodicity defined by RRC until it is deactivated. In other words, additional L1 signaling (e.g. PDCCH) is introduced and uplink is semi-persistently scheduled by RRC-based uplink grant that is activated / deactivated by (de)activation DCI. RRC provides higher layer parameters for CG configuration.

[0107] In either case, according to an exemplary 3GPP implementation, the RRC provides the grant configuration to the UE through a higher layer parameter called ConfiguredGrantConfig (see 3GPP TS 2010-01011, Section 16.7.0, Section 6.3.2 “Radio resource control information elements”).

[0108] The resource configuration of the CG may include, for example, physical resources in the time domain and / or frequency domain, and / or reference signal (RS) parameters. The configuration parameters may further include a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and / or a repetition number and / or a cycle period and / or a transport block size.

[0109] Retransmissions other than repetition are assigned explicitly via the PDCCH or by setting a retransmission timer.

[0110] For UL CG, different periodicities are supported and can depend on the subcarrier spacing. An example of a periodicity currently defined in 3GPP TS 2.0, depending on the SCS, is given below:

[0111] For 15KHz SCS: multiples of 1ms to 640ms, or multiples of 2 symbols (1 / 7ms), or multiples of 7 symbols (0.5ms) For 30KHz SCS: Multiples of 1 / 2ms to 640ms, or multiples of 2 symbols (1 / 14ms), or multiples of 7 symbols (0.25ms) XR - Extended Reality in Release 18 A 3GPP study item concerns extended reality (XR) in RAN 1 and RAN 2. The objective is to provide efficient communication for augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR) and cloud gaming. In particular, technologies for XR are being studied, for example to address XR service characteristics such as periodicity, multiple flows, jitter, latency, reliability, etc. The considered XR applications require high data rates in downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) and have relatively tight packet delay budgets (PDB).

[0112] Furthermore, some XR applications operate on devices with limited energy sources, such as wearable glasses or portable devices. Therefore, energy efficiency is an important concern.

[0113] In XR applications, various data traffics including video streams are used. Video frames are very large and have various sizes. Video frames arrive through a time window and are characterized as quasi-periodic. Furthermore, the period of the time window is non-integer with respect to radio frames / slots / symbols. · Packet size: In the case of a high-definition video stream, the compressed frame size of an 8K video is about 1 Mbit. Therefore, the packet size becomes large. · Various sizes: The frame size may vary depending on the I-frame or P-frame / B-frame. · Period: Video streams generally generate 60 / 90 / 120 FPS, corresponding to periods of 16.667 ms, 11.111 ms, and 8.333 ms respectively. · Jitter: Frame packets arrive at the gNB / UE through a time window of [-4, 4] ms or more. · Delay budget: The delay budget for delivering XR packets can be stringent, for example, 10 ms in ARA / R and 15 ms in cloud gaming.

[0114] <Enhancement of UE Power Saving for NR> User experience is critical for the success of 5G / NR, not only in terms of perceived data rates and latency, but also in terms of UE power consumption. Therefore, enhancing UE power saving is crucial for the success of 5G / NR. Rel-16 specifies several useful power saving schemes, including power saving signaling / DCI as an extension of connected mode DRX (cDRX), additional adaptation for the maximum number of MIMO layers, cross-slot scheduling as an extension of SCell dormant operation and BWP framework, RRM mitigation on power consumption in idle / inactive modes, and UE assistance information.

[0115] In Rel-17, additional extensions are needed to address open issues in Rel-16, including idle / inactive mode power consumption in NR SA deployments taking into account both eMBB UEs and Reduced Capability NR devices, connected mode power consumption in FR2 deployments, etc. One specific example is to consider and specify extensions to the Rel-16 DCI based power saving adaptation during DRX active time in active BWP, including reduced PDCCH monitoring when C-DRX is configured (RAN1).

[0116] Another power saving study item is related to XR specific power saving in RAN1 and RAN2. In particular, power saving techniques for extended reality (XR) are being considered, including techniques to address XR service characteristics such as periodicity, multiple flows, jitter, latency, reliability, etc. One technique could be related to enhanced PDCCH monitoring. Further study items related to XR are related to XR specific capacity improvement in RAN1 and RAN2, including consideration of mechanisms to provide more efficient resource allocation and scheduling for XR service characteristics such as periodicity, multiple flows, jitter, latency, reliability, etc. Techniques could be related to SPS and CG extensions, as well as dynamic scheduling / grant extensions.

[0117] Energy savings that can be achieved in the UE include: UE-specific BWP adaptation and use of dormant SCells (using DCI format 0_1 ​​(for UL) and DCI format 1_1 (for DL)) UE or UE group specific time domain adaptation with DRX and time domain adaptation using DCI format 2_6 Indication of UE group specific CSI-RS / TRS availability for IDLE / INACTIVE UEs via DCI format 2_7 and paging · DCI-based PDCCH monitoring adaptation with PDCCH skipping and Search Space Set Group (SSSG) switching This includes mechanisms such as:

[0118] <Further improvements> Above we have briefly presented considerations for XR. However, current 5G NR releases cannot efficiently support XR traffic, e.g., video streams, due to, for example, non-integer periodicity of video packets, variable packet arrival times, and large and variable packet sizes.

[0119] The UE may use dynamic scheduling for XR traffic. In an example for the uplink, a scheduling request is first transmitted from the UE to the base station to request uplink resources. The base station may then transmit on an appropriate downlink control channel (e.g., PDCCH) a dynamic uplink grant to the UE to be used for transmitting the uplink XR traffic. In the downlink, the base station may transmit on an appropriate downlink control channel (e.g., PDCCH) a downlink resource assignment indicating the downlink resources the base station will use to transmit the downlink XR traffic. Thus, using dynamic scheduling for XR traffic increases signaling overhead and requires the UE to monitor PDCCH opportunities more frequently, resulting in higher UE power consumption. It also increases the network power consumption for DL ​​and UL grants and corresponding PDCCH transmissions.

[0120] Figure 8 illustrates a solution based on dynamic scheduling of the uplink. In particular, Figure 8 illustrates an exemplary scenario, according to which the UE has no periodic CG resources available in the uplink and must request uplink resources using a scheduling request. In this regard, the UE has a scheduling request configuration with periodic uplink resources for sending the scheduling request via an uplink control channel, e.g., PUCCH. The SR resource is exemplarily assumed to have a period of 4 ms. A 60 fps video stream is assumed, so that a video frame is generated every 1 / 60=16.6666 ms. The video frames are generated through a jitter window of 8 ms at the UE side. Figure 8 illustrates a situation in which four video frames arrive at different times within the respective jitter windows.

[0121] As can be seen from Figure 8, when a video frame arrives within the jitter window, the UE will use the next SR uplink opportunity to send a scheduling request to the base station. After the base station receives the scheduling request, it can dynamically grant the UE appropriate uplink resources and send a corresponding uplink grant (denoted as DCI in Figure 8) to the UE. The UE can then use the granted uplink resources to transmit the video frame to the base station at the appropriate time.

[0122] Unused periodic SR uplink resources are shown as empty boxes, periodic SR uplink resources used for SR transmission are shown as striped boxes, and further striped boxes indicate dynamically allocated uplink resources for transmitting video frames.

[0123] To avoid dynamic scheduling for XR traffic, periodically configured resources such as SPS or CG may be used to deliver XR data. This is achieved by reserving periodic resources for transmission of periodic traffic (e.g., XR traffic). This reduces signaling overhead and provides higher reliability since there is no need to transmit DCI to inform of individual scheduling resources. For example, semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) and / or configured grants (CG) as described above may be used to transmit periodic traffic in DL and UL, respectively. A UE may be configured with multiple SPS and CG configurations. However, since current 5G NR supports only integer periods expressed in radio frames / slots / symbols for SPS and CG configurations, such an approach requires excessive resource reservation, which may lead to resource and power inefficiencies and a reduced number of devices that can be supported.

[0124] As an alternative to the SR scenario of FIG. 8, an exemplary scenario that avoids dynamic scheduling is shown in FIG. 9. For ease of explanation and understanding, the same assumptions as in FIG. 8 are made, with a jitter window of 8 ms and a periodicity of CG uplink resources of 4 ms. FIG. 9 illustrates over-provisioning of CG uplink resources to a UE for transmitting a 60 fps video stream in the uplink. The UE knows, at least for its application, when the jitter window occurs. FIG. 9 illustrates how four video frames arrive at different times within their respective jitter windows and are then transmitted by available CG uplink resources within and outside the jitter window. Unused CG uplink resources are shown as empty boxes, while CG uplink resources used for transmitting video frames are shown as striped boxes.

[0125] As is clear from Fig. 9, it is assumed here for illustrative purposes that there is only one active CG configuration with a period of 4 ms. The period of the CG uplink resource (4 ms) and the period of the video frame (16.6666 ms) do not match, and the generation of the CG uplink resource shifts relative to the jitter window in which the video frames are generated.

[0126] To avoid long latency, sufficient opportunity is provided for UE to transmit video frames as soon as possible. In this example, a configured uplink grant with a period of 4 ms is assumed. Overprovisioning of CG resources as shown in Figure 9 can achieve low latency, but at the expense of low resource utilization.

[0127] Furthermore, FIG. 10 shows that SPS downlink resources are over-provisioned so that the UE can receive the video stream (again at 60 fps). For ease of illustration and explanation, we make the same assumptions as in FIG. 9, including a jitter window of 8 ms and a periodicity of SPS downlink resources of 4 ms. FIG. 10 shows the arrival of frames 1-4 at the base station. From the UE's perspective, the UE does not necessarily know the location of the jitter window, nor does it know when the video frames are generated at the base station. Rather, the UE periodically monitors all periodic downlink resources according to the illustrated SPS configuration, and can receive the XR video frames 1-4 shown in FIG. 10. As is evident from FIG. 10, the video frames arrive (e.g., are generated) at the base station within the jitter window, but may be transmitted by the base station outside the jitter window.

[0128] However, XR and video streams are just a specific example scenario in which the above drawbacks exist. Other scenarios exist. Thus, the present invention and its solutions do not apply only to XR and video streams.

[0129] <Embodiment> The inventors have identified the possibility of providing an improved procedure to enable one or more of the above mentioned disadvantages to be avoided. The present invention relates to different solutions and variants for such an improved paging procedure. The present disclosure therefore provides techniques to increase the efficiency of resource usage, especially in scenarios involving periodic traffic such as XR traffic. In particular, techniques are disclosed for more efficiently supporting non-integer periods.

[0130] The present disclosure provides, inter alia, a scheduling device, a corresponding method for the scheduling device, user equipment, a corresponding method for the user equipment, a communication system including the scheduling device and user equipment, and an integrated circuit that, in operation, controls processes for the scheduling device / user equipment to perform the respective methods.

[0131] <Terminology> In the following, UEs, base stations, and procedures for new radio access technologies envisioned in 5G mobile communication systems (although they can also be used in LTE mobile communication systems) are described. Various implementations and variations are also described. The following disclosure is facilitated by, and may be based, for example, at least in part on, the discussion and discoveries above.

[0132] Generally, it should be noted that many assumptions are made herein so that the principles underlying the present disclosure can be explained in a clear and understandable manner. However, it should be understood that these assumptions are merely examples made herein for the purpose of explanation, and are not necessarily essential to the invention, and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles described in the following disclosure and claims can be applied to different scenarios and in ways not explicitly described herein.

[0133] Furthermore, although the specific terminology used in the context of new radio access technologies for upcoming communication systems has not yet been fully determined or may eventually change, some of the terms such as procedures, entities, layers, etc. used below are closely related to the terms used in LTE / LTE-A systems or in the current 3GPP 5G standardization. Thus, the terms may change in the future, but without affecting the functionality of the embodiments. Therefore, it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that the embodiments and their scope of protection are not limited to the specific terms used illustratively herein due to the absence of newer or finally agreed terminology, but should be understood more broadly in terms of the functions and concepts underlying the functions and principles of the present disclosure.

[0134] <Device> A terminal or user terminal or user device or mobile station or mobile node is called user equipment (UE) in LTE and NR. A user equipment may be a mobile device or communication device, such as a wireless telephone, a smartphone, a tablet computer, or a universal serial bus (USB) stick with user equipment functionality. However, the term mobile device is not limited thereto, and in general, a repeater may also have such mobile device functionality, and a mobile device may act as a repeater. For example, a terminal is a physical entity (physical node) in a communication network. Furthermore, a communication device may be any machine-type communication device, such as an IoT device, etc. A node may have several functional entities. A functional entity refers to a software or hardware module that realizes and / or provides a given set of functions to the same node or other nodes or other functional entities of a network. A node may have one or more interfaces that attach the node to a communication facility or medium over which the node can communicate. Similarly, a network entity may have logical interfaces that attach the functional entity to a communication facility or medium over which the functional entity may communicate with other functional entities or corresponding nodes.

[0135] <Base station> In the present disclosure, the base station may be, for example, a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), a cluster head, an access point, a Remote Radio Head (RRH), an eNodeB (eNB), a gNodeB (gNB), a Base Station (BS), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a base unit, or a gateway. Also, in sidelink communication, a terminal may be used instead of a base station. The base station may be a relay device that relays communication between an upper node and a terminal. The base station may be a roadside unit. The base station may be, for example, a scheduling node or a network node that forms part of a network for providing services to terminals. In particular, the base station may provide wireless access to terminals. The communication between terminals and base stations is generally standardized and may be defined by different layers such as PHY, MAC, and RRC. In LTE and NR, the air interface protocol stack includes a physical layer, a medium access layer (MAC), and an upper layer. The control plane is provided with a radio resource control protocol, which is an upper layer protocol. Through RRC, the base station can control the configuration of the terminals, and the terminals can communicate with the base station to perform control tasks such as establishing and modifying connections and bearers, measurements, and other functions. The term used in LTE is eNB (or eNodeB), and the term currently used in 5G NR is gNB. The term base station or radio base station here refers to a physical entity in a communication network. Similar to a mobile station, a base station may have several functional entities. A functional entity refers to a software or hardware module that realizes and / or provides a given set of functions to other functional entities of the same or other nodes or networks. The physical entity performs several control tasks for the communication device, including one or more of scheduling and configuration. It should be noted that the base station functions and the communication device functions may also be integrated in a single device.For example, a mobile terminal may also implement the functionality of a base station for other terminals. The term used in LTE is eNB (or eNodeB), and the term currently used in 5G NR is gNB. In particular, the base station may be a gNB in ​​a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) NR system.

[0136] As mentioned above, the present disclosure provides a base station and a user equipment. The present disclosure further provides a system including a scheduled device and a scheduling device, and corresponding methods and programs. An example of such a communication system is shown in FIG. 11. The communication system 1100 may be a wireless communication system according to 5G technical specifications, in particular an NR communication system. However, the present disclosure is not limited to a 3GPP NR terrestrial network (TN), and may also be applied to other wireless systems or cellular systems, such as NTN.

[0137] FIG. 11 shows a general simplified exemplary block diagram of a communication device 1110 (here assumed to be an UE for illustrative purposes) and a scheduling device 1160 (here assumed to be located in a base station, e.g., an LTE eNB (or also called ng-eNB) or a gNB in ​​5G NR for illustrative purposes). However, typically, the scheduling device may be a terminal in the case of a sidelink connection between two terminals. Furthermore, in particular with regard to URLLC, eMBB, and mMTC use cases, the communication device 1110 may be a sensor device, a wearable device, or a connected vehicle, or a controller of an automated machine in an industrial factory. Furthermore, the communication device 1110 may be capable of acting as a relay between a base station and other communication devices (e.g., the present disclosure is not limited to a communication "terminal" or a user "terminal"). As shown in FIG. 11, the communication device 1110 and the scheduling device 1160 (eNB / gNB) can communicate with each other over a (radio) physical channel 1150 using their respective transceivers 1120 (UE side) and 1170 (base station side). The scheduling device 1160 and the terminal 1110 together form a communication system 1100. The communication system 1100 may further include other entities than those shown in FIG 1. The communication between the communication device (UE) and the scheduling device (base station) is typically standardized and may be defined by various layers such as PHY, MAC, RRC, etc. (see background description above).

[0138] As shown in FIG. 11 (left side), the communication device comprises a transceiver and a circuit (or processing circuit), and the scheduling device comprises a transceiver and a (processing) circuit. The transceiver may include functions as a receiver and a transmitter. In other words, in this disclosure, the term "transceiver" is used for hardware and software components that enable the communication device or the base station to transmit and / or receive wireless signals, respectively, over a wireless channel. Thus, the transceiver corresponds to a receiver, a transmitter, or a combination of a receiver and a transmitter. Typically, it is assumed that the base station and the communication device can both transmit and receive wireless signals. However, for some applications, especially eMBB, mMTC, and URLLC (smart home, smart city, industrial automation, etc.), it may be the case that a device such as a sensor only receives signals. Furthermore, the term "circuit" includes a processing circuit formed by one or more processors or processing units, etc. The transmitter may be responsible for performing the process of transmission and other processes related thereto. The receiver can be responsible for performing the process of reception and other processes related thereto, such as monitoring the channel. The circuit (or processing circuit) may be one or more hardware such as one or more processors or any LSI. Between the transceiver and the processing circuit, there is an input / output point (or node), and the processing circuit, in operation, can control the transceiver, i.e., control the receiver and / or the transmitter, and exchange receive / transmit data. The transceiver may include an RF front, including one or more antennas, amplifiers, radio frequency (RF) modulators / demodulators, etc., as the transmitter and receiver. The processing circuit may perform control tasks such as transmitting user data and control data provided by the processing circuit by controlling the transceiver, and / or receiving user data and control data that are further processed by the processing circuit. The processing circuit may also be responsible for performing other processes such as judging, determining, calculating, measuring, etc.

[0139] According to an exemplary embodiment, a communications device 1110 (e.g., a UE) is provided as illustratively shown in FIG. 11. The communications device 1110 includes a transceiver 1120 and a circuit (or processing circuit) 1130. The circuit 1130, in operation, changes a configuration of a transmission opportunity by (i) obtaining (e.g., extracting and / or parsing) a configuration change notification from a control signaling and (ii) applying the notified change. The transceiver, in operation, (i) receives the control signaling and (ii) receives or transmits one or more transmissions using one or more transmission opportunities of the changed configuration.

[0140] As noted above, the circuitry 1130 may implement functions beyond the obtaining and modifying described above, for example, it may also control the transceiver 1120 to receive control signaling and / or receive or transmit data. The circuitry 1130 includes a transmit opportunity circuit 1135 configured to perform the obtaining and modifying. The configuration may be provided by hardware adaptation and / or software.

[0141] 12 shows an exemplary functional configuration of the transmission opportunity circuit 1135. In particular, the transmission opportunity circuit 1135 includes a setting change notification acquisition circuit 1210 that acquires a setting change notification from a control signaling, and a setting change circuit 1220 that applies the notified setting change to the transmission opportunity (or changes the setting of the transmission opportunity according to the setting change notification). It should be noted that the transmission opportunity circuit 1135 may implement more functions, for example, since it may also be responsible for determining new transmission opportunities (in addition to changing already-set transmission opportunities).

[0142] Corresponding to the communication device as described above, a communication method executed by the communication device is provided. As shown in Fig. 14, the method includes: (i) a step S1440 of receiving control signaling, (ii) a step S1450 of obtaining a configuration change notification from the control signaling, (iii) a step S1460 of applying the notified change to change a configuration of a transmission opportunity, and (iv) a step S1470 of receiving or transmitting a transmission using one (or more) of the transmission opportunities of the changed configuration.

[0143] On the right side of FIG. 11, a scheduling device 1160 is provided as another exemplary embodiment. The scheduling device 1160 comprises a transceiver 1170 and a circuit 1180 (or processing circuit). The circuit 1180 determines, during operation, a change in a setting of transmission opportunities of a resource configuration and generates a control signaling including a notification indicating the change. The transceiver 1170, during operation, (i) transmits the control signaling and (ii) receives or transmits a transmission using one (or more) of the transmission opportunities of the changed configuration. It should be noted that the circuit 1180 may implement more than the above-mentioned determining and generating functions, since the transceiver 1170 may further control, for example, to transmit the control signaling and / or to receive or transmit data. Thus, the circuit 1180 is considered to illustratively include a transmission opportunity circuit 1185 configured to perform the aforementioned determining and generating. The configuration may be provided by hardware adaptation and / or software.

[0144] An exemplary functional configuration of the transmit opportunity circuit 1185 is shown in FIG. 13. In particular, the transmit opportunity circuit 1185 may include a configuration change determination circuit 1310 that determines a configuration change, and a control signaling generation circuit 1330 that generates control signaling indicating the configuration change (e.g., by including a configuration change notification). The scheduling circuit 1135 may be responsible for determining new transmit opportunities (as well as determining whether or how to change already configured transmit opportunities), for example, and may also implement further functions.

[0145] Further, corresponding to the scheduling device described above, a communication method executed by the scheduling device is provided. As shown in Fig. 14, the method includes: (i) a step S1400 of determining a configuration change of a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration, (ii) a step S1410 of generating control signaling including a notification indicating the change, (iii) a step S1420 of transmitting the control signaling, and (iv) a step S1430 of transmitting (or receiving) using one (or more) of the transmission opportunities of the changed configuration.

[0146] Furthermore, it should be noted that since the present disclosure is related to resource usage and scheduling, both entities, the scheduled device (typically a communication device / transceiver device) and the scheduling device (typically a network node), are involved. In the following detailed description, unless expressly stated or the context indicates, the details and embodiments apply to (and may be implemented by) the communication device, the scheduling device (or scheduling node), and the method, respectively. It should be further noted that any of the steps / operations described below may be performed or controlled by the circuit 1130 (UE side) and / or the circuit 1180 (base station side). Furthermore, the receiving and transmitting steps may be performed by (e.g., by being controlled by) the transceiver unit 1120 (UE side) and / or the transceiver circuit 1170 (base station side) (e.g., by being controlled by the respective circuit).

[0147] <Transmission Opportunity> First, note that the term "transmission opportunity" is not limited to a particular direction of transmission (uplink / downlink / sidelink). In other words, a transmission opportunity can be (for a given device) an opportunity to receive or transmit data (e.g., control signaling, as is typically done for SR, and / or payload, as is typically done for CG / SPS). Thus, the UE and the scheduling device can receive or transmit data in steps S1470 and S1430, respectively (one is receiving and the other is transmitting, when communicating with each other). What is important is that in the case of SR, the transmission opportunity is used to request uplink resources. In other words, the transmission opportunity used for transmitting periodic traffic is used to transmit control information / signaling of the periodic traffic, not data of the periodic traffic.

[0148] Moreover, a transmission opportunity usually refers to a time-frequency resource reserved for each transmission and reception, which each device may use (or, more precisely, should monitor, in the case of reception). In general, a transmission opportunity corresponds to a resource of a resource configuration.

[0149] Moreover, as indicated by the term "opportunity," a transmission opportunity may not actually be used for transmission. In particular, typically some (e.g., one or more) of the transmission opportunities are used, but not necessarily all. For example, as described above with respect to XR traffic, the next transmission may not be ready when a particular transmission opportunity occurs, and a later transmission opportunity within the same jitter window may be used. When a transmission opportunity is an opportunity to receive a transmission, the transmission opportunity corresponds to a time-frequency resource where the transmission may be received and is monitored accordingly.

[0150] <Resource settings> In general, the term "resource configuration" refers to a number of time-frequency resources configured in the communication device 1110. The UE may consider the resource configuration configured if the UE knows the resources of the resource configuration (e.g., the parameters of the pattern underlying the resources of the resource configuration are known to the UE). In general, the UE may be configured with the resource configuration via a control signaling received from a scheduling device. This may be the same control signaling including the configuration change notification or may be another control signaling. Such control signaling includes the notification of the resources (e.g., time-frequency resources) of the resource configuration. In particular, the control signaling including the configuration change notification may be an RRC signaling including the notification of the resource configuration and / or including a notification indicating in particular the resources of the resource configuration. For example, if the resource configuration is a CG configuration, an SPS configuration, or an SR configuration, the control signaling including the configuration change notification may be an RRC that configures the CG configuration, the SPS configuration, or the SR configuration, respectively. This applies in particular if the configuration change notification is a validity time notification (described further below), in which case the validity times of the resources and transmission opportunities of the resource configuration are set together. In other words, the validity time may be set by the RRC as part of the SPS / CG / CG configuration (the configuration to which the validity time applies).

[0151] The resources of a resource configuration (i.e., the resources that the resource configuration specifies) may be given as a certain pattern that repeats in the time domain. For example, the resources may be uniformly spaced in the time domain. That is, two resources that are directly consecutive in the time domain may be separated by the same time interval, so that the resources may be specified by one time reference point, a common length / duration of all resources, and the same time interval (some of these three parameters may be predefined and thus no explicit signaling may be required when configuring the resource configuration in the UE). For example, the resource configuration may be a CG configuration, an SPS configuration, or an SR configuration. In other words, the resources of a resource configuration may be resources of a CG configuration, resources of an SPS configuration, or resources of an SR configuration.

[0152] It should be noted that the resources of a resource configuration may correspond to respective transmission opportunities. These are also referred to herein as transmission opportunities of the resource configuration. If the resources of a resource configuration correspond to transmission opportunities, the resources are assigned to the UE and the UE will monitor these resources since (i) the UE may use these resources to transmit data or control information (e.g., a scheduling request in case of an SR configuration) or (ii) the UE may receive a transmission on these resources.

[0153] However, the resources (all, some, or none) specified / defined by a resource configuration may not correspond to a respective transmission opportunity. For example, a resource configuration may be disabled such that none of the resources correspond to a transmission opportunity. While a resource configuration or a corresponding transmission opportunity is disabled, the UE may maintain the resource configuration, which allows for quick activation of the corresponding transmission opportunity.

[0154] <Control signaling> In general, the control signaling including the configuration change notification may be a downlink control signaling (DCI), a radio resource control (RRC) message, or some different control signaling.

[0155] <Change settings> The term "configuration change" refers to a change in the configuration of a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration (i.e., a change in said transmission opportunity). A configuration change therefore includes, but is not limited to, a change in the resources of a resource configuration. As already explained above, the resources of a resource configuration do not necessarily correspond to a transmission opportunity, for example, when resources and / or the entire resource configuration are disabled. Thus, a change in the configuration of a transmission opportunity may also occur when resources / transmission opportunities are enabled or disabled. Thus, a configuration change is typically defined as: (i) configured resources (e.g., by changing resource parameters); and / or (ii) Enabling / Disabling Resource Settings may be also possible.

[0156] <Settings change notification> The term "configuration change notification" refers to a notification indicating a change in the configuration of transmission opportunities, i.e., a notification indicating a change in the transmission opportunities of a resource configuration. Thus, a "configuration of transmission opportunities" refers to a plurality of transmission opportunities, which may be changed by (a) changing the resources of the transmission opportunities and / or (b) removing / adding transmission opportunities by enabling / disabling resources of the resource configuration (thus adding / removing transmission opportunities corresponding to the enabled / disabled resources from the plurality of transmission opportunities by enabling / disabling them). In general, a configuration change notification may be: (i) changing resources in your resource settings; (ii) Enabling / disabling resource settings; and / or (iii) Notification of Effective Time may be also possible.

[0157] In other words, with respect to (ii) and (iii), the configuration change notification may be a notification of a change in the activation state of a resource configuration.

[0158] With respect to the case where the configuration change notification is a notification of a validity time (point (iii) above), it should be noted that such a notification is also a notification of an enabling / disabling of a resource configuration (point (ii) above). However, point (ii) above refers to a notification of enabling or disabling a resource configuration (e.g., in direct response to the configuration change notification). As will be further discussed below, the change indicated by the validity time is a change (i.e., a disablement) of a transmission opportunity after the validity time has elapsed (after each enablement). In other words, the notification of the validity time indicates that the transmission opportunity is changed (i.e., disabled) if the validity time has elapsed from the enablement. In other words, the notification validity time, in the case of an enablement, changes the transmission opportunity with respect to the transmission opportunity that the UE would have had without the indicated validity time.

[0159] Further, it should be noted that the setting change notification may not be a notification of a change in the validity time (but may be a notification of a change in the validity time). The setting change notification may be a default setting for the validity time.

[0160] Secondly, therefore, in the above cases (i) and (iii), it should first be noted that the configuration change notification by itself (or alone) does not typically change the transmission opportunity of the UE. More specifically, in these cases, the transmission opportunity typically changes only when the resource configuration is active / enabled. Only together with the activation of the resource configuration does a change in the validity time and / or resources lead to a change in the transmission opportunity.

[0161] Thus, a "transmission opportunity for a changed configuration" is a transmission opportunity that (i) corresponds to a resource that is changed according to a configuration change notification (if the configuration change notification does not indicate a change in the resource, then the resource is not changed) and (ii) is within the validity time since the last activation (if the validity time is set by the configuration change notification or other signaling).

[0162] <Configuration change notification-resource change> As already mentioned above, in general, a configuration change notification may be a notification of a change in a resource of a resource configuration. (i) the values ​​of the parameters of the resource configuration; (ii) a time offset applied to the resource in the resource configuration; and (iii) a frequency offset applied to the resources of the resource configuration; (iv) changing the resource periodicity of your configuration; and / or (v) Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index (e.g., the MCS index used to transmit using the resources and transmission opportunities of the resource configuration) The notification may be.

[0163] The UE (e.g., its circuit 1130) then obtains this notification from the control signaling; Update the configuration parameters to the notified values, Apply a time offset to resources in your configuration, Apply a frequency offset to the resources in the configuration, Update the resource period of the configuration, and / or The MCS index of the configuration is updated to the notified MCS index, and the transmission opportunity is changed by changing the resource of the configuration, respectively.

[0164] More specifically, a time offset is applied to the resources of the resource configuration. For example, the time offset is applied to the resources by adding an offset (positive or negative) to the time of each resource of the resource configuration. Furthermore, a frequency offset is applied to the resources of the resource configuration. For example, the frequency offset is applied to each resource of the resource configuration by adding an offset (positive or negative). For example, a positive / negative time allocation offset (e.g., slot / minislot / symbol) and / or a positive / negative frequency offset (e.g., RE) may be signaled by control signaling and applied by the UE to an existing allocation offset for the SPS / CG / SR configuration. In other words, a positive / negative frequency offset (e.g., RE) may be applied to an existing frequency domain allocation for the SPS / CG / SR configuration. The new MCS index indicated by the configuration change notification may, for example, replace the existing (i.e., current) MCS of the SPS / CG configuration.

[0165] <Notification of cycle change> In general, a resource configuration may have a certain periodicity. Specifically, for example, in a CG / SPS / SR configuration, the resources of a resource configuration may have a certain periodicity. For example, each two consecutive resources (e.g., directly consecutive resources) of a resource configuration may be separated (in the time domain) by an identical time distance. Such a time distance may be, for example, the time between the start times of two consecutive resources, the time from the end time of the first resource to the start time of the second resource (the first resource and the second resource in the time order), or the time between two end times of resources. In other words, resources may be equally or uniformly spaced in the time domain. Thus, resources may be specified (e.g., completely) by one time point and said time distance in the time domain. More specifically, usually, a time instance (and / or a notified transmission time) for a resource may be given according to t+n*x. where n={0,1,2,..}, where "*" indicates multiplication, t is an offset value in the time domain to change the start of the resource, e.g., from the start of a frame, x is the "co-time distance" by which the resources are separated, and n is a label for time-ordered resources, i.e., the (n+1)th resource time is t+n*x. Thus, the values ​​of t and / or x can be signaled by control signaling that configures the resource configuration. The units of t and / or x (slots, ms, frames, etc.) may also be signaled, pre-defined, or both.

[0166] Thus, a notification of a change in the period or frequency of occurrence of a resource configuration may be a notification of a change in the time between two resources of a resource configuration. For example, the notification may be a notification of a new value of a variable x that is used to determine a resource from a particular time. The notification may also be a notification of the number of transmissions in a time interval (e.g., the number of transmissions per second).

[0167] <Changing Transmission Opportunity (S1470) and Generating Signaling (S1410)> Regarding the determination of the transmission opportunity by the scheduling device in step S1400 and the change of the transmission opportunity by the UE according to the configuration change notification in step S1460, it should be noted that, since the UE and the scheduling device both form a communication system, usually both steps will have the same result (i.e., the same transmission opportunity). In other words, both devices should be aware of the same transmission opportunity.

[0168] However, the UE's decision may differ in several respects from the scheduling device's decision. First, the decision by the scheduling device is the step where the transmission opportunity is set (e.g. it is determined whether and / or how the transmission opportunity should be modified), whereas the UE generally only infers the transmission opportunity determined or modified by the scheduling device. Second, the scheduling device's decision may therefore take into account other / additional parameters such as available resources, quality of service, requests from the UE, received channel state information, traffic load, battery status of the UE, etc. Some of these parameters (usually not all) may be known to the UE or signaled via a transmission by the UE to the scheduling device.

[0169] In particular, the scheduling device tries to optimize all these parameters and find the most suitable transmission opportunity based on all of them. Thus, in general, the scheduling device is the one that determines the transmission opportunity in its decision, while the UE usually only determines / infers the transmission opportunity set by the base station. The changes applied by the UE are based on the control signaling that the UE obtained in step S1450.

[0170] In general, the method according to the present disclosure applies to the UE side and the base station side (network node, scheduling device) since the result of the UE's change S1460 should have the same result as the scheduling device's decision. However, the specific configuration change notification disclosed herein relates to the base station in a different way. That is, the base station must generate control signaling (step S1410) so that the UE can determine the intended / correct transmission opportunity based on the generated control signaling. Thus, the generated control signaling should enable the UE to determine the correct transmission opportunity. In other words, the determination of the transmission opportunity by the UE directly corresponds to the generation of the control signaling by the scheduling device.

[0171] <settings group> In general, a UE may be configured with one or more configuration groups. As already explained above, a UE may be configured with several SPS / CG / SR configurations (e.g., by RRC). More specifically, the term "configuration group" refers to multiple resource configurations that are grouped or linked together. In other words, each configuration group includes multiple resource configurations. The resource configurations of a particular configuration are generally of the same type, e.g., all CG configurations, all SPS configurations, or all SR configurations.

[0172] The configuration group may be configured, for example, via RRC, DCI, and / or other control signaling. Such control signaling for configuring one or more configuration groups for a UE is referred to as "configuration group control signaling." In general, the configuration group control signaling includes a notification indicating which resource configurations are included in a configuration group of resource configurations. Thus, the UE can obtain such notification from the configuration group control signaling. In general, the configuration group control signaling may be a control signaling different from (i) the control signaling for configuring the resource configuration and / or (ii) the control signaling for indicating a configuration change. However, the present invention is not limited to a particular scenario. Two or more of these control signaling notifications may be part of the same control signaling notification.

[0173] The configuration group control signaling may also indicate (e.g., include a notification indicating) that a change in the configuration of a transmission opportunity of one (any one) of the resource configurations of the configuration group should also be applied to the transmission opportunities of the other resource configurations of the configuration group. In other words, the configuration group control signaling may indicate that a change in the members of the configuration group is applied to each member of the configuration group.

[0174] For example, the UE may receive control signaling indicating (i) which (already configured) resource configurations form a configuration group and / or (ii) which particular resource configurations form a configuration group (i.e., identifying the configuration group). There may also be control signaling to add and / or remove resource configurations from a configuration group. Several resource configurations (e.g., SPS configuration, CG configuration, SR configuration) can be linked to each other by applying them to the same configuration group.

[0175] A configuration group allows the same configuration change to be applied to multiple resource configurations at once (e.g., all configurations in the same group) without the need to indicate the configuration change separately for each resource configuration in the configuration group. In other words, when a configuration parameter of one of the SPS / CG / SR is changed, the change also applies to other linked SPS / CG / SR configurations (i.e., the change applies to each resource configuration in the same configuration group). In this case, a DCI may be sent to reconfigure multiple SPS / CG / SR configurations simultaneously. This signaling type may be faster or have less delay than other signaling types. Such DCI (also referred to herein as "group-based DCI") may include, for example, (i) the value of a parameter of the configuration, (ii) a positive or negative time allocation offset (e.g., slot / minislot / symbol), (iii) a positive or negative frequency offset, (iv) a change in the periodicity of the resources of the configuration, and / or (v) a notification of a new MCS index. These SPS / CG / SR group-based new parameters may be applied to a group of SPS / CG / SR configurations. As further described in relation to Figure 15 below, the time offset may be used, for example, to compensate for drift between the CG resources and the jitter window of non-integer periodic traffic, and has the advantage of reducing signaling overhead compared to individual DCIs per resource configuration or configuration group.

[0176] In general, the control signaling indicating a configuration change may indicate that the configuration change notification applies to each resource configuration in a configuration group of resource configurations. In other words, the control signaling may indicate whether it is a group signaling, for example, whether the DCI is a group DCI that applies to each resource configuration in a configuration group of resource configurations explicitly indicated by the DCI). The control signaling indicating a configuration may also generally include a notification of a group ID of the configuration group to which the configuration change applies. This may be especially the case when a resource configuration is included in multiple (i.e., one or more) configuration groups.

[0177] More specifically, when the configuration change notification indicates a change of a transmission opportunity of a specific resource configuration, the change may also be applied (by the UE at S1460 during the change) to the settings of transmission opportunities of other resource configurations of the group. "Other resource configurations" refers to resource configurations other than the above specific resource configuration in the configuration group. In other words, the notified change is applied to each setting of transmission opportunities in the group of the specific resource configuration (explicitly indicated resource configuration). Thus, according to the configuration change notification, the transmission opportunity of each resource configuration in the configuration group is changed.

[0178] Furthermore, in general, a resource configuration may be part of (i.e., included in) multiple configuration groups. In such a case, the configuration change notification may include one or more notifications of the configuration groups to which the configuration change notification applies. The UE then applies the changed configuration to each resource configuration included in at least one of the notified configuration groups.

[0179] FIG. 15 shows an example of reducing overhead when using configuration groups and group-based DCI. For example, a UE has three different CG configurations, CG1, CG2, and CG3, for a 60 fps video stream (corresponding to a period of 50 / 3 ms=16.66667 ms). Each CG configuration has a period of 16 ms. Row (a) of FIG. 15 shows frames arriving over a jitter window of 8 ms at the UE side. Due to the non-integer period of the video stream (average period 1 / 60 fps ≈ 16.6666 ms), the video stream and CG resources have different periods, resulting in a relative drift between the CG resources and the jitter window. In this case, without configuration groups, the CG configurations need to be reconfigured by sending individual DCIs, as shown in row (b) of FIG. 15. In the case of row (c) of FIG. 15, with configuration groups, three CG configurations are reconfigured simultaneously using group-based DCI. Here, the transmitted DCI is used to adjust the time offset of the CG configurations.

[0180] <Settings change notification - Enabling / disabling resource settings> As mentioned above, the configuration change notification may generally be (or may include) a notification for enabling or disabling a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration. More specifically, if the configuration change notification is a notification indicating enabling a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration, the UE may enable a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration in the configuration group of the resource configuration. Also, (ii) if the notification indicating the change is a notification indicating disabling a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration, the UE may disable a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration in the configuration group of the resource configuration. "Disabling" or "release" means that the corresponding transmission opportunity is no longer used by the UE (or, for example, in the case of SPS, is no longer monitored by the UE). Thus, the transmission opportunity is disabled and is no longer a transmission opportunity (i.e., is disabled). Thus, "enabling" means that the resources of the resource configuration are enabled and the UE is able to use them (or, for example, in the case of SPS, is required to monitor them). Thus, the resources of the enabled resource configuration thereby correspond to a transmission opportunity. Furthermore, it should be noted that there may be a predefined / configured / indicated duration between the receipt of signaling informing of the enablement / disablement and the moment the enablement / disablement applies.

[0181] It should be noted that notifications indicating to enable or disable a transmission opportunity may generally be used without a configuration group, however, as mentioned above, it may be particularly advantageous to group, for example, several SPS / CG / SR configurations and transmit a group DCI to enable / disable a group of SPS / CG / SR configurations (i.e., each SPS / CG / SR configuration).

[0182] For the case where the configuration is included in one or more configuration groups, as described above, the configuration change notification may indicate the configuration group to which the configuration is applied to the UE. If the configuration change notification is a notification to enable a transmission opportunity, the UE (i) enables a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration in the notified configuration group, and (ii) does not enable a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration that is not included in the notified configuration group. In other words, the UE can only enable a resource configuration in the notified configuration group. Therefore, in such a case, if the configuration change notification is a notification to disable a transmission opportunity, the UE can (i) disable a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration in the notified configuration group, and (ii) not disable a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration that is not included in the notified configuration group.

[0183] <Automatic Disable> In general, a UE may be configured to keep at most one of the resource configurations active at a time (i.e., at any given time, e.g., until the configuration is cancelled). When such a UE receives a notification indicating that a particular resource configuration is to be activated, it may activate the particular resource configuration and disable the other resource configurations. For example, the DCI may activate one of the SPS / CG / SR configurations and deactivate the remaining SPS / CG / SR configurations. However, the invention is not so limited, and in general, a UE may be configured to have only one active resource configuration at a given time (this number may be one, but may also be an integer greater than one). Then, when the UE receives a notification to activate one or more resource configurations, the UE activates these notified one or more resource configurations and disables the other resource configurations such that the maximum number of configured active resource configurations is not exceeded. The disabled resource configuration may, for example, be the resource configuration that has been active the longest among the currently active resource configurations.

[0184] Furthermore, if a configuration group is configured for the UE, the UE may be configured to keep resource configurations of at most one of the configured configuration groups active at a given time. Alternatively, if a configuration group is configured for the UE, the UE may be configured to keep resource configurations of at most one specific subset of the configured configuration groups active at a given time. In such a case, when the UE receives a notification to enable a transmission opportunity for a resource configuration (i.e., a configuration change notification is a notification to enable a transmission opportunity for the resource configuration), the UE may disable transmission opportunities for resource configurations that are not included in the configuration group of the resource configuration. Also, the UE enables transmission opportunities for resource configurations in the configuration group of the notified resource configuration (if the transmission opportunity is not already enabled).

[0185] For cases where the resource configuration may be part of one or more configuration groups, the configuration change notification may indicate to the UE the configuration group to be applied, and if the configuration change notification is an activation notification, the UE may: (i) enabling a resource configuration transmission opportunity in the notified configuration group; (ii) Disable transmission opportunities for resource configurations that are not included in the specified configuration group.

[0186] In other words, if a resource setting belongs to multiple groups, only the resource setting in one group will be enabled, and the resource settings in the other groups may be disabled.

[0187] Furthermore, when a UE is configured with configuration groups, the UE may also be configured to keep only a certain number of configuration groups active at a given time (which may be one or an integer greater than one). Then, when the UE receives a notification to activate one or more configuration groups, the UE (i) activates the resource configurations of these notified configuration groups or groups (if they are not already active) and (ii) disables the resource configurations of other configuration groups so that the configured maximum number of active configuration groups is not exceeded. The resource configurations that are disabled may be, for example, the configuration group that has been active for the longest time among the currently active configuration groups. When a configuration group is disabled, typically only the resource configurations of that configuration group that are not included in other remaining active configuration groups are disabled.

[0188] The advantage of automatic disabling is explained with reference to Fig. 16. In the example of Fig. 16, it is assumed that a UE is configured with four CG settings, called CG1 to CG4, for a 60 fps video stream. The CG settings are grouped as follows:

[0189] CG Group 1: {CG1, CG2, CG3} CG Group 2: {CG2, CG3, CG4} CG Group 3: {CG3, CG4, CG1} CG Group 4: {CG4, CG1, CG2} In other words, the UE is configured with four configured groups, denoted as CG group 1 to CG group 4. At the start of this exemplary embodiment, it is assumed that the only active group is CG group 1.

[0190] Row (a) of Figure 16 shows frame arrival within the jitter window at the UE side. As shown in rows (b) and (c) of Figure 16, at frame 2, resource setting CG1 starts to drift out of the jitter window. Furthermore, resource setting CG4 is approaching the jitter window. Therefore, the base station sends signaling to enable resource setting CG4 and disable resource setting CG1.

[0191] Row (b) of Figure 16 shows a conventional DCI transmission for enabling / disabling CG settings without automatic disabling and without the use of groups. As can be seen, two DCIs are sent, one to enable CG4 (i.e., DCI1) and one to disable CG1 (i.e., DCI2).

[0192] In line (c) of FIG. 16, it is further assumed that the UE is configured to keep only one (maximum one) of the four configuration groups active at a given time. In other words, the UE is configured to have a single active CG group at a time. Thus, when the DCI indicates an active CG group (i.e., when activating a group), all CG configuration members of this CG group are activated, while the remaining CG configurations are released (i.e., automatic deactivation is used). When the UE receives a notification to activate a configuration group, it deactivates all configuration groups except the one it activates. Thus, in FIG. 16, the base station sends signaling, e.g., DCI, to activate CG group 4 (and thus CG4 configuration 4, which is part of CG group 4) and disable CG group 1 (which includes CG4 configuration 1). In this way, one DCI (i.e., DCI3) is sent to enable CG group #2, and CG2, CG3, and CG4 are enabled. Furthermore, DCI3 deactivates CG1 (without further signaling). The advantage of group-based configuration and auto-disabling is the reduction of signaling overhead.

[0193] It should be noted that signaling overhead is further reduced by having the UE configure a maximum of three of the four resource configurations as active and instructing the UE to activate CG4 on DCI3. To avoid exceeding this maximum of three valid resource configurations, the UE may disable resource configuration CG1 (alternatively, using the link described below) since CG1 has been the longest valid of the resource configurations.

[0194] <Settings change notification - validity period> As already mentioned above, in general, the transmission opportunity may be changed based on the validity time. Therefore, the configuration change notification may be a notification of the validity time. The validity time may be configured as part of the SPS / CG / SR configuration via RRC or signaled via DCI, for example. In other words, the control signaling indicating the validity time may be DCI or RRC signaling. In general, the validity time may be defined or signaled for a (one) resource configuration or a group of resource configurations.

[0195] It should be noted that the terms "validity time", "validity timer", or "validity period" refer to the duration during which a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration is valid, for example, after activation of the resource configuration. In other words, the validity time indicates or corresponds to the period during which the resources of the resource configuration are valid after activation. For example, the validity time can be defined for an SPS / CG / SR configuration or a group thereof to indicate the period during which the SPS / CG / SR resources are valid after activation. More specifically, when the UE receives an activation control signaling (i.e., control signaling indicating activation of a resource configuration or a group of resource configurations, which may be a configuration change notification indicating activation as described above), the UE (i.e., its circuitry) (i) obtaining notification to activate a resource configuration (or a group of resource configurations) from an activation control signaling; (ii) It may enable transmission opportunities for resource configuration within a time interval of a length corresponding to the validity time.

[0196] In other words, the validity time may prevent the activation of transmission opportunities for a resource configuration that are not within the validity time from the start of the activation, and thus only transmission opportunities that are within the interval given by the activation and validity time are activated.

[0197] The validity time may be indicated or given as the number of transmission opportunities provided to the UE per activation of the resource configuration. In other words, the validity period may be indicated as the number of resource opportunities that the activation of the resource configuration provides to the UE. In general, the validity time may also be given / specified / indicated as a duration, although the invention is not limited thereto. For example, the validity period may be indicated in time units (e.g., milliseconds, frames, slots, minislots, symbols).

[0198] The validity time may be signaled together with the activation control signaling or may be a separate signaling. In other words, a notification of a configuration change may include both (i) a notification to activate a resource configuration or a group of resource configurations and (ii) a notification of a validity time corresponding to this activation. Such a combined or joint notification may increase flexibility since different validity times can be easily signaled for each activation.

[0199] The use of validity times can avoid the need for sending explicit release DCI signals, as will be further explained with reference to Figure 17. More specifically, row (a) of Figure 17 shows frame arrivals of a 60 fps video stream over a jitter window at the UE side.

[0200] As shown in row (b) of FIG. 17, to carry a 60 fps video stream, the UE receives four DCIs (DCI1 to DCI4), each of which enables a resource configuration of CG1 to CG4. Each of these DCIs enables a respective CG configuration and includes a notification of a respective active occasion (AO). The AO is the number of active CG resource occasions (i.e., the number of transmission opportunities enabled by the respective DCI). More specifically, DCI1 enables resource configuration CG1 for 2 transmission opportunities, DCI2 enables resource configuration CG2 for 10 transmission opportunities, DCI3 enables resource configuration CG3 for 18 transmission opportunities, and DCI4 enables resource configuration CG4 for 18 transmission opportunities. Also, as shown in row (b), CG1 is released after two opportunities because the AO of CG1 is indicated as 2. In this way, we avoid sending an additional DCI to release resources for CG1, which may not be needed anymore because it drifts out of the jitter window after frame 1. For CG2, AO=10. Therefore, CG2 is released after 10 resource opportunities.

[0201] <Resource settings link> A resource setting for which a validity time is defined can additionally be linked to other resource settings (i.e. resource settings different from the aforementioned resource setting for which a validity time is defined). When the validity time of the first setting expires, the associated resource setting is released, while the second (linked) resource setting is activated.

[0202] More specifically, the UE may receive signaling referred to as "resource configuration link control signaling." The resource configuration link control signaling may (but is not necessarily) part of the control signaling indicating the validity time and / or the control signaling enabling the resource configuration. The resource configuration link control signaling includes a notification indicating that when a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration is disabled, a transmission opportunity of another resource configuration is enabled. Thus, the UE enables a transmission opportunity of another resource configuration after a time interval during which a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration is valid.

[0203] Note that the second resource configuration may also have a validity time, so that not all transmission opportunities of the second resource configuration after the validity period of the first resource configuration are necessarily enabled.

[0204] The second resource configuration may be linked to a resource configuration. The resource configuration to which the second resource configuration is linked may be the first resource configuration. Alternatively, a larger cycle of three or more resource configurations may be configured, where finally the first resource configuration is reactivated and the cycle is repeated. Furthermore, it is also possible to link configuration groups together. For example, there may be four configuration groups with (same or different) validity times, where the first group may be linked to the second group, the second group may be linked to the third group, the third group may be linked to the fourth group, and the fourth group may be linked to the first group. If the first configuration group is valid and its validity time expires, the first group is disabled (automatically / without further signaling) and the second configuration group is enabled. Then, the second group's validity time expires, the second group is enabled, the third group is enabled, the expiration of the first group enables the fourth group, and after its timer expires the first group is enabled again, repeating the cycle of four configuration groups.

[0205] Linking of resource configurations may eliminate the need to send explicit enable and / or release DCI signals. Figure 18 shows the advantage of linking of CG configurations for carrying 60 fps video streams. More specifically, CG1 is configured with an effective time of two effective occasions. Furthermore, CG1 is linked to CG4. Therefore, CG1 is released after two occasions. Then, CG4 is enabled.

[0206] Hardware and Software Implementations of the Disclosure The present disclosure can be realized by software, hardware, or software in cooperation with hardware. Each functional block used in the description of the above embodiment may be realized partially or entirely as an LSI, which is an integrated circuit, and each process described in the above embodiment may be controlled partially or entirely by one LSI or a combination of LSIs. The LSI may be composed of individual chips, or may be composed of one chip to include some or all of the functional blocks. The LSI may have input and output of data. Depending on the degree of integration, the LSI may be called an IC, a system LSI, a super LSI, or an ultra LSI. The method of integration is not limited to LSI, and may be realized by a dedicated circuit, a general-purpose processor, or a dedicated processor. In addition, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) that can be programmed after LSI manufacture, or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connections and settings of circuit cells inside the LSI may be used. The present disclosure may be realized as digital processing or analog processing. Furthermore, if a new integrated circuit technology that can replace LSI appears due to the progress of semiconductor technology or a derivative technology, it is possible to integrate the functional blocks using that technology. The application of biotechnology is also a possibility.

[0207] The present disclosure may be implemented in any type of apparatus, device, or system having a communication capability (collectively referred to as communication apparatus).

[0208] A communications device may include a radio transceiver (transmitter / receiver) and processing / control circuitry. The radio transceiver may include a receiver and a transmitter, or both as functions. The radio transceiver (transmitter, receiver) may include a Radio Frequency (RF) module and one or more antennas. The RF module may include an amplifier, an RF modulator / demodulator, or the like.

[0209] Non-limiting examples of communication devices include telephones (e.g., cell phones, smartphones, etc.), tablets, personal computers (PCs) (e.g., laptops, desktops, notebooks, etc.), cameras (e.g., digital still / video cameras), digital players (e.g., digital audio / video players), wearable devices (e.g., wearable cameras, smart watches, tracking devices, etc.), game consoles, digital book readers, telehealth and telemedicine devices, communication-enabled vehicles or mobile conveyances (e.g., cars, airplanes, boats, etc.), and combinations of the above devices.

[0210] Communications Equipment is not limited to portable or mobile, but also includes non-portable or fixed equipment, devices and systems of any kind, such as smart home devices (appliances, lighting, smart meters or metering devices, control panels, etc.), vending machines and any other "Things" that may be present on an Internet of Things (IoT) network.

[0211] Communications include data communications via cellular systems, wireless LAN systems, communications satellite systems, etc., as well as data communications via combinations of these.

[0212] A communications apparatus also includes devices, such as controllers and sensors, connected or coupled to a communications device that performs the communications functions described in this disclosure, such as controllers and sensors that generate control and data signals used by the communications device to perform the communications functions of the communications apparatus.

[0213] The communication device also includes infrastructure facilities, such as base stations, access points, and any other devices, devices, and systems that communicate with or control the above-mentioned non-limiting various devices. Furthermore, various embodiments may also be implemented by software modules. These software modules are executed by a processor or directly in hardware. A combination of software modules and hardware implementation is also possible. The software modules may be stored in any type of computer-readable storage medium. In particular, according to another implementation, a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium is provided. The recording medium stores a program that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform steps of the method according to the present disclosure.

[0214] By way of non-limiting example, such computer-readable storage media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, flash memory, or any other medium that may be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is referred to as a computer-readable medium, as appropriate. For example, if instructions are transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of the medium. However, it should be understood that computer-readable storage media and data storage media do not include connections, carrier waves, signals, or other transitory media, but instead cover non-transitory tangible storage media. As used herein, a disk includes a compact disk (CD), a laser disk, an optical disk, a digital versatile disc (DVD), a floppy disk, and a Blu-ray disk, where a "disk" typically reproduces data magnetically, while a "disc" reproduces data optically with a laser. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0215] It should further be noted that individual features of the different embodiments may be the subject of other embodiments individually or in any combination. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present disclosure set forth in the specific embodiments may be subject to various changes and / or modifications without departing from the concept or scope of the invention as broadly described. The embodiments described herein are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

[0216] Further aspects According to a first aspect, a user equipment (UE) is provided, comprising a circuit and a transceiver unit, the circuit being operable, in operation, to (a) obtain from a control signaling a notification indicating a change in a setting of a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration configured in the user equipment (UE), (i) the resource configuration being a configured grant (CG) setting, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) setting, or a scheduling request (SR) setting, (ii) the control signaling being a downlink control signaling (DCI), and / or the notification indicating the change being a notification of a validity time, the validity time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration is valid after activation of the resource configuration, and (b) modify the setting of the transmission opportunity by applying the notified change. The transceiver unit is operable, in operation, to receive the control signaling and to receive or transmit a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of the modified configuration.

[0217] According to a second aspect provided in addition to the first aspect, the UE is configured with one or more configuration groups, each of the configuration groups including a plurality of resource configurations, each of the resource configurations being a CG configuration, an SPS configuration, or an SR configuration, the resource configuration being part of a configuration group of the one or more configuration groups, and the circuitry, in operation, performs the change by also applying the notified change to a configuration of a transmission opportunity of another resource configuration of the configuration group, the other resource configuration being a resource configuration other than the resource configuration of the configuration group.

[0218] According to a third aspect provided in addition to the second aspect, the transceiver unit, when operated, receives configuration group control signaling, and the circuit, when operated, obtains from the configuration group control signaling a notification indicating which resource configurations are included in the configuration group of the resource configuration.

[0219] According to a fourth aspect provided in addition to the third aspect, the notification indicating which resource configurations are included in the configuration group of resource configurations (e.g., further) indicates that a change in the configuration of the transmission opportunity for one of the plurality of resource configurations of the configuration group is applied to transmission opportunities of the other resource configurations of the configuration group, or the circuit, in operation, obtains a notification from the control signaling indicating that the notification of the change is applied to each resource configuration in the configuration group of the resource configuration.

[0220] According to a fifth aspect provided in addition to one of the first to fourth aspects, the control signaling is a DCI, and the notification indicating the change indicates (i) values ​​of parameters of the configuration, (ii) a time offset to be applied to resources of the configuration, (iii) a frequency offset to be applied to resources of the configuration, (iv) a change in period of resources of the configuration, and / or (v) a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index. Further, the circuit, in operation, when changing the configuration of the transmission opportunity, changes the transmission opportunity by changing resources of the configuration by (i) updating parameters of the configuration to the notified values, (ii) applying the time offset to resources of the configuration, (iii) applying the frequency offset to resources of the configuration, (iv) updating the period of resources of the configuration, and / or (v) updating an MCS index of the configuration to the notified MCS index.

[0221] According to a sixth aspect provided in addition to the second or third aspect, the control signaling is a DCI, and the notification indicating the change is a notification to enable or disable a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration. Further, in operation, the circuitry, upon changing the setting of the transmission opportunity, (i) enables a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration in the configuration group of the resource configuration if the notification indicating the change is a notification to enable a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration, and (ii) disables a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration in the configuration group of the resource configuration if the notification indicating the change is a notification to disable a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration.

[0222] According to a seventh aspect provided in addition to the sixth aspect, the UE is configured to keep resource configurations of up to one configuration group of the plurality of configuration groups enabled at a time, and the circuit, when operating, disables transmission opportunities for resource configurations not included in the configuration group of the resource configuration if the notification indicating the change is a notification to enable transmission opportunities for the resource configuration.

[0223] According to an eighth aspect provided in addition to the sixth aspect, the resource configuration is part of two or more of the plurality of configuration groups. Further, the circuitry, in operation, From the control signaling, as part of a notification indicating a change in the resource configuration, a notification of one of the configuration groups to which the notification indicating the change applies, the notified one configuration group being one of the configuration groups of which the resource configuration is a part. Furthermore, when the circuit is operated, in a change in a configuration of a transmission opportunity, if the notification indicating the change is a notification to enable a transmission opportunity of the notified one configuration group, (i) a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration in the notified one configuration group is enabled, and (ii) a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration not included in the notified one configuration group is not enabled, and if the notification indicating the change is a notification to disable a transmission opportunity of the notified one configuration group, (i) a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration in the notified one configuration group is disabled, and (ii) a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration not included in the notified one configuration group is not disabled.

[0224] According to a ninth aspect provided in addition to the sixth aspect, the UE is configured to keep resource configurations of up to one configuration group of the plurality of configuration groups enabled at a time, and the circuit, when operating, disables transmission opportunities of resource configurations not included in the configuration group of the resource configuration if the notification indicating the change is a notification to enable the transmission opportunity of the notified one configuration group.

[0225] According to a tenth aspect provided in addition to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the control signaling is DCI or Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, the notification indicating the change is the notification of the validity time, the transceiver unit receives an activation control signaling in operation, and the circuit, in operation, (i) obtains a notification to activate the resource setting from the activation control signaling, and (ii) activates a transmission opportunity for the resource setting within a time interval having a length corresponding to the validity time.

[0226] According to an eleventh aspect provided in addition to the tenth aspect, the UE is configured with a plurality of resource settings, each resource setting being a CG setting, an SPS setting, or an SR setting, the plurality of resource settings including the resource setting, the transceiver unit receives resource setting link control signaling in operation, the circuit obtains a notification from the resource setting link control signaling in operation indicating that a transmission opportunity for another resource setting is enabled when a transmission opportunity for the resource setting is disabled, the other resource setting being a resource setting other than the resource setting among the plurality of resource settings, and the circuit in operation enables a transmission opportunity for the other resource setting after the time interval in which a transmission opportunity for the resource setting is valid.

[0227] According to a twelfth aspect provided in addition to the tenth or eleventh aspects, the control signaling is the RRC signaling, and the circuit, in operation, configures the resource configuration in the UE by obtaining a notification from the RRC signaling indicating a resource for the resource configuration.

[0228] According to a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a method for a user equipment (UE), comprising: (i) receiving a control signaling; (ii) obtaining from the control signaling a notification indicating a change of a setting of a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration configured in the user equipment (UE), where (a) the resource configuration is a configured grant (CG) configuration, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration, or a scheduling request (SR) configuration, (b) the control signaling is a downlink control signaling (DCI), and / or the notification indicating the change is a notification of a validity time, the validity time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration is valid after activation of the resource configuration; (iii) modifying the setting of the transmission opportunity by applying the notified change; and (iv) receiving or transmitting a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of the modified configuration.

[0229] According to a fourteenth aspect, a scheduling device is provided. The scheduling device comprises a circuit and a transceiver. In operation, the circuit (i) determines a change in a setting of transmission opportunities of a resource configuration, and (ii) generates control signaling including a notification indicating the change, where (a) the resource configuration is a configured grant (CG) setting, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) setting, or a scheduling request (SR) setting, and (b) the control signaling is a downlink control signaling (DCI), and / or the notification indicating the change is a notification of a validity time, the validity time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration is valid after activation of the resource configuration. In operation, the transceiver (i) transmits the control signaling, and (ii) receives or transmits a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of the changed configuration.

[0230] According to a fifteenth aspect, there is provided a method for a scheduling device, comprising: (i) determining a change in a setting of transmission opportunities of a resource configuration, (ii) generating control signaling including a notification indicating the change, where (a) the resource configuration is a configured grant (CG) setting, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) setting, or a scheduling request (SR) setting, (b) the control signaling is a downlink control signaling (DCI), and / or the notification indicating the change is a notification of a validity time, the validity time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration is valid after activation of the resource configuration, (iii) transmitting the control signaling, and (iv) receiving or transmitting a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of the changed setting.

[0231] With respect to the method according to the thirteenth aspect, a further aspect is provided which corresponds to steps operatively performed by a UE of any of the first to twelfth aspects above.

[0232] With respect to the scheduling device of the fourteenth aspect, further aspects are provided that include circuitry operated by any one of the above network nodes (in particular, an aspect in which the circuitry of the scheduling device generates and the transceiver unit transmits control signaling including any one of the above notifications).

[0233] With respect to the method of the fifteenth aspect, further aspects are provided which correspond to steps performed in operation by any of the network nodes described above (in particular, aspects including the step of generating and transmitting control signaling including any one of the notifications described above).

[0234] According to a sixteenth aspect, there is provided a program stored on a (non-transitory) storage medium, the program comprising code instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment, causes the one or more processors to operate to perform the steps of any of the methods described above.

[0235] According to a seventeenth aspect, an integrated circuit is provided, comprising a processing circuit and an interface with a (possibly external) transceiver. The processing circuit is configured (by hardware and / or software) to: (a) obtain from a control signaling a notification indicating a change of a setting of transmission opportunities of a resource configuration configured in a user equipment (UE), (i) the resource configuration is a configured grant (CG) setting, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) setting, or a scheduling request (SR) setting, (ii) the control signaling is a downlink control signaling (DCI), and / or the notification indicating the change is a notification of a validity time, the validity time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration is valid after activation of the resource configuration, and (b) modify the setting of the transmission opportunity by applying the notified change. The processing circuit may receive the control signaling through an interface to a transmitter and receive or transmit a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of the modified configuration.

[0236] According to an eighteenth aspect, an integrated circuit is provided, comprising a processing circuit and an interface with a (possibly external) transceiver. The processing circuit may, by means of hardware and / or software, (i) determine a change in a setting of transmission opportunities of a resource configuration and (ii) generate a control signaling including a notification of said change, (a) the resource configuration being a configured grant (CG) setting, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) setting or a scheduling request (SR) setting, (b) the control signaling being a downlink control signaling (DCI), and / or the notification indicating said change being a notification of a validity time, the validity time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity of said resource configuration is valid after activation of said resource configuration. The processing circuit may, via an interface to a transmitter, (i) transmit said control signaling and (ii) receive or transmit a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of said changed configuration.

[0237] In summary, some exemplary embodiments relate to a communication device, a base station, and respective methods of the communication device and the base station. For example, the communication device is a user equipment (UE) comprising a circuit and a transceiver. The circuit is configured to (a) obtain from a control signaling a notification indicating a change of a setting of a transmission opportunity of a resource setting configured for the UE, (i) the resource setting is a configured grant (CG) setting, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) setting, or a scheduling request (SR) setting, (ii) the control signaling is a downlink control signaling (DCI), and / or the notification indicating the change is a notification of an effective time, the effective time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity of the resource setting is effective after activation of the resource setting, and (b) modify the setting of the transmission opportunity by applying the notified change. The transceiver may be configured to receive the control signaling and to receive or transmit a transmission using the transmission opportunity of the modified setting.

Claims

1. During operation, Obtaining from the control signaling a notification indicating a change in a transmission opportunity setting of a resource setting configured in the communication device; The resource configuration is a configured grant (CG) configuration, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration, or a scheduling request (SR) configuration; the control signaling is a Downlink control signaling (DCI) and / or the notification indicating the change is a notification of a validity time, the validity time being a duration during which a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration is valid after activation of the resource configuration; and a circuit for modifying the setting of the transmit opportunity by applying the notified change; and During operation, receiving said control signaling; a transceiver for receiving or transmitting a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of the changed setting; A communication device comprising:

2. One or more configuration groups are configured in the communication device, and each of the one or more configuration groups includes a plurality of resource configurations, and each of the plurality of resource configurations is a CG configuration, an SPS configuration, or an SR configuration, and the resource configuration is a part of a configuration group among the one or more configuration groups; the circuitry, in operation, applies the notified change to a transmission opportunity configuration of another resource configuration of the configuration group, the other resource configuration being a resource configuration other than the resource configuration of the configuration group. The communication device according to claim 1 .

3. The transceiver unit, in operation, receives configuration group control signaling; and wherein, during operation, the circuitry obtains from the configuration group control signaling an indication of which resource configurations are included in the configuration group of resource configurations. The communication device according to claim 2 .

4. The notification indicating which resource configurations are included in the configuration group of resource configurations indicates that a change in the configuration of the transmission opportunity for one of the plurality of resource configurations of the configuration group is applied to the transmission opportunities of the other resource configurations of the configuration group; or and wherein, in operation, the circuitry obtains from the control signaling a notification indicating that the notification of the change applies to each resource configuration within the configuration group of the resource configuration. The communication device according to claim 3.

5. The control signaling is a DCI, and the notification indicating the change comprises: the values ​​of the parameters of said configuration; A time offset to be applied to the resources of said configuration; a frequency offset to be applied to the resources of said configuration; Changing the period of the resources of said configuration, and / or Notification of a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index; In operation, when changing the setting of the transmit opportunity, the circuitry updating the parameters of the configuration to the notified values; applying the time offset to resources of the configuration; applying the frequency offset to resources of the configuration; updating the period of the configured resources; and / or Update the configured MCS index to the notified MCS index; Varying the transmission opportunity by modifying resources of the configuration; The communication device according to claim 1 .

6. the control signaling is a DCI, and the notification indicating the change is a notification for enabling or disabling a transmission opportunity of the resource configuration; The circuitry, in operation, in changing the setting of the transmit opportunities, comprises: If the notification indicating the change is a notification to enable a transmission opportunity for the resource configuration, enabling a transmission opportunity for the resource configuration in the configuration group of the resource configuration; If the notification indicating the change is a notification for disabling a transmission opportunity for the resource configuration, disabling a transmission opportunity for the resource configuration in the configuration group of the resource configuration. A communication device according to claim 2 or 3.

7. the communications device is configured to keep resource configurations of up to one of the plurality of configuration groups enabled at a time; When the notification indicating the change is a notification to enable a transmission opportunity for the resource configuration, the circuitry, in operation, disables a transmission opportunity for a resource configuration that is not included in the configuration group of the resource configuration. The communication device according to claim 6.

8. the resource configuration is part of two or more configuration groups of the plurality of configuration groups; The circuit, in operation, obtaining from the control signaling, as part of a notification indicating a change in the resource configuration, a notification of one of the plurality of configuration groups to which the notification indicating the change applies, the notified one configuration group being one of the plurality of configuration groups of which the resource configuration is part; The circuit, in operation, in changing the setting of the transmit opportunity, When the notification indicating the change is a notification to enable a transmission opportunity for the notified one setting group, Enabling a transmission opportunity for a resource configuration in the notified one configuration group; not enabling a transmission opportunity for a resource configuration that is not included in the notified one configuration group; When the notification indicating the change is a notification for invalidating a transmission opportunity of the notified one setting group, Disabling a transmission opportunity for a resource configuration in the notified one configuration group; not invalidating transmission opportunities for resource configurations that are not included in the notified one configuration group; The communication device according to claim 6.

9. the communications device is configured to keep resource configurations of up to one of the plurality of configuration groups enabled at a time; When the notification indicating the change is a notification to enable the transmission opportunity of the notified one configuration group, the circuit disables a transmission opportunity of a resource configuration that is not included in the configuration group of the resource configuration. The communication device according to claim 8.

10. The control signaling is DCI or Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, the notification indicating the change is the notification of the effective time; The transceiver unit, in operation, receives enabling control signaling; The circuit, in operation, Obtaining a notification to activate the resource configuration from the activation control signaling; Enabling a transmission opportunity for the resource configuration within a time interval of a length corresponding to the validity time; The communication device according to claim 1 .

11. A plurality of resource configurations are configured in the communication device, each of which is a CG configuration, an SPS configuration, or an SR configuration, and the plurality of resource configurations include the resource configuration; The transceiver unit receives resource configuration link control signaling during operation; In operation, the circuitry obtains a notification from the resource configuration link control signaling indicating that a transmission opportunity for another resource configuration is enabled when a transmission opportunity for the resource configuration is disabled, the other resource configuration being a resource configuration other than the resource configuration of the plurality of resource configurations; the circuitry, in operation, enables a transmission opportunity for the other resource configuration after the time interval during which a transmission opportunity for the resource configuration is valid. The communication device according to claim 10.

12. the control signaling is RRC signaling; The circuitry, in operation, configures the resource configuration in the communication device by obtaining a notification indicating resources of the resource configuration from the RRC signaling. A communication device according to claim 10 or 11.

13. receiving control signaling; obtaining, from the control signaling, a notification indicating a change in a transmission opportunity setting of a resource setting configured in the communication device, The resource configuration is a configured grant (CG) configuration, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration, or a scheduling request (SR) configuration; obtaining said control signaling is a downlink control signaling (DCI) and / or said indication of said change is an indication of a validity time, said validity time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity of said resource configuration is valid after activation of said resource configuration; modifying the setting of the transmission opportunity by applying the notified change; receiving or transmitting a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of the changed configuration; 23. A method for a communication device comprising:

14. During operation, Decide to change the resource settings send opportunity settings, a circuit for generating control signaling including a notification indicative of the change, The resource configuration is a configured grant (CG) configuration, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration, or a scheduling request (SR) configuration; the control signaling is a downlink control signaling (DCI) and / or the notification indicating the change is a notification of a validity time, the validity time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity for the resource configuration is valid after activation of the resource configuration; and During operation, Transmitting the control signaling; a transceiver for receiving or transmitting a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of the changed setting; A scheduling device comprising:

15. determining a change in a resource configuration transmission opportunity setting; generating control signaling including a notification indicating the change; The resource configuration is a configured grant (CG) configuration, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration, or a scheduling request (SR) configuration; generating said control signaling being a downlink control signaling (DCI) and / or said indication of said change being an indication of a validity time, said validity time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity for said resource configuration is valid after activation of said resource configuration; transmitting said control signaling; receiving or transmitting a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of the changed configuration; 23. A method for a scheduling device comprising:

16. 1. An integrated circuit which, in operation, controls the processing of a communications device, said processing comprising: receiving control signaling; obtaining, from the control signaling, a notification indicating a change in a transmission opportunity setting of a resource setting configured in the communication device, The resource configuration is a configured grant (CG) configuration, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration, or a scheduling request (SR) configuration; obtaining said control signaling is a downlink control signaling (DCI) and / or said indication of said change is an indication of a validity time, said validity time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity of said resource configuration is valid after activation of said resource configuration; modifying the setting of the transmission opportunity by applying the notified change; receiving or transmitting a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of the changed configuration; 4. An integrated circuit comprising:

17. An integrated circuit which, in operation, controls the processing of a scheduling device, said processing comprising: determining a change in a resource configuration transmission opportunity setting; generating control signaling including a notification indicating the change; The resource configuration is a configured grant (CG) configuration, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration, or a scheduling request (SR) configuration; generating said control signaling being a downlink control signaling (DCI) and / or said indication of said change being an indication of a validity time, said validity time being a duration for which a transmission opportunity for said resource configuration is valid after activation of said resource configuration; transmitting said control signaling; receiving or transmitting a transmission using one of the transmission opportunities of the changed configuration; 4. An integrated circuit comprising:

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