Reporting of configured permit opportunities

Abstract

Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to reporting configured grant (CG) opportunities. A terminal device obtains information regarding criteria for reporting whether at least one CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device. Based on a determination that the criteria are met, the terminal device transmits an indication of whether at least one CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device to a network device. A solution for reporting CG opportunities as provided in exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure can ensure that the indication of unused CG resources can be reused by the network, and can ensure that the resources are not reused and the UE can change the indication from canceled to active.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] Various exemplary embodiments relate generally to the field of communications, and more particularly to terminal devices, network devices, methods, apparatus, and computer-readable storage media for reporting configured grant (CG) opportunities. [Background technology]

[0002] Extended reality (XR) refers to all real and virtual mixed environments and related human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables. Augmented reality encompasses representative forms such as augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR), as well as interpolated versions. One characteristic of XR-related video traffic in the uplink (UL) is non-integer periodicity (e.g., 16.67 ms for 60 frames per second).

[0003] Scheduling in the UL can be achieved by employing CG. For CG-based scheduling, parameters are configured via Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages. The actual uplink grants can be configured via RRC or provided via the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). Summary of the Invention

[0004] Generally, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide a terminal device, a network device, a method, an apparatus, and a computer-readable storage medium for reporting unused configured grant (CG) opportunities. Specifically, the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure can ensure that an indication of unused CG resources can be reused by the network, and can ensure that the resources are not reused and the UE can change the indication from canceled to active.

[0005] In a first aspect, a terminal device is provided, the terminal device comprising: one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors configured to cause the terminal device to obtain information related to criteria for reporting whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device; and, based on a determination that the criteria are met, send to a network device an indication of whether the at least one CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device.

[0006] In a second aspect, a network device is provided, the network device comprising: one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors configured to cause the network device to determine information related to criteria for a terminal device to report whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device; and to transmit information related to the criteria to the terminal device.

[0007] In a third aspect, a method is provided that may include, at a terminal device, obtaining information regarding criteria for reporting whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device, and, based on determining that the criteria are met, sending to a network device an indication of whether the at least one CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, a method is provided, which may include, in a network device, determining information regarding criteria for a terminal device to report whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device, and transmitting the information regarding the criteria to the terminal device.

[0009] In a fifth aspect, an apparatus is provided, the apparatus may include: means for obtaining, at a terminal device, information regarding criteria for reporting whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device; and means for transmitting, to a network device, an indication of whether the at least one CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device based on a determination that the criteria are met.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, an apparatus is provided, which may include: means, in a network device, for determining information regarding a criterion for a terminal device to report whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device; and means for transmitting information regarding the criterion to the terminal device.

[0011] In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform a method according to at least the third or fourth aspect.

[0012] In an eighth aspect, a computer program is provided comprising instructions that, when executed by the device, cause the device to perform the steps of obtaining information regarding criteria for reporting whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by a terminal device, and, based on a determination that the criteria are met, sending to a network device an indication of whether at least one CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device.

[0013] In a ninth aspect, a computer program is provided comprising instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the steps of determining information regarding criteria for the terminal device to report whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device, and transmitting the information regarding the criteria to the terminal device.

[0014] In a tenth aspect, a terminal device is provided, the terminal device being configured to obtain information regarding criteria for reporting whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device, and a transmitting circuit configured to transmit, to a network device, an indication of whether the at least one CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device based on a determination that the criteria is satisfied.

[0015] In an eleventh aspect, a network device is provided, the network device comprising: a determining circuit configured to determine information regarding a criterion for a terminal device to report whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device; and a transmitting circuit configured to transmit the information regarding the criterion to the terminal device.

[0016] It should be understood that this Summary of the Invention section is not intended to identify key or essential features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will be readily apparent from the following description.

[0017] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network environment in which exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. [Figure 2A] FIG. 10 illustrates an example signaling process for reporting CG opportunities, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 2B] 1 illustrates another example signaling process for reporting CG opportunities, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] 10A-10C illustrate example configurations and operations of unused resources with minimum instruction offsets in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 4]FIG. 10 illustrates an example timeline of a pointing procedure with a minimum pointing offset, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 5] FIG. 1 illustrates an example flowchart of a method implemented in a terminal device, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 illustrates an example flowchart of a method implemented in a network device, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 is an exemplary simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for practicing embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram of an exemplary computer-readable medium according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0019] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numbers represent the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are provided for illustrative purposes only, to assist those skilled in the art in understanding and practicing the present disclosure, but do not imply any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

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

[0022] References in this disclosure to "one embodiment," "embodiment," "exemplary embodiment," etc. indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not all embodiments need include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, it is submitted that when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with one embodiment, it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments, whether or not explicitly described.

[0023] While the terms "first," "second," and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, it should be understood that these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element can be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element can be referred to as a first element, without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0024] The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Furthermore, it will be understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "has," "having," "includes," and / or "including," when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof. As used herein, in "at least one of " and "at least one of ," and similar phrases, when a list of two or more elements is connected by "and" or "or," means at least one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all of the elements.

[0025] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) Hardware-only circuit implementation (e.g., implementation in analog and / or digital circuits only) (b) A combination of hardware circuitry and software (where applicable). (i) Combinations of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry with software / firmware (ii) Any piece of software (including a digital signal processor), software, and hardware processor with memory that cooperate to cause a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions. (c) In hardware circuits and / or processors, such as a microprocessor or portion of a microprocessor that requires software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but the software may not be present when not required for operation.

[0026] This definition of circuit applies to all uses of the term in this application, including any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuit also encompasses simply a hardware circuit or processor (or processors), or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor, as well as its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware implementations. The term circuit also encompasses, for example, a baseband or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or network device, if applicable to certain claim elements.

[0027] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network conforming to any suitable communication standard, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), or Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT). Furthermore, communications between terminal devices and network devices in a communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including, but not limited to, third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth-generation (5G) communication protocols, and / or beyond. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. Given the rapid development of communications, there will naturally be future types of communication technologies and systems in which the present disclosure may be embodied. This should not be understood as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned systems.

[0028] As used herein, the term "network equipment" refers to a node in a communication network through which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom, depending on the applicable terminology and technology. A network equipment may refer to a base station (BS) or access point (AP), e.g., a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, a low-power node such as a femto, pico, etc.

[0029] The term "terminal" refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example and not limitation, a terminal may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile station (MS), or access terminal (AT). Terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones, voice-over-IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable terminal devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminals such as digital cameras, gaming terminals, music storage and playback devices, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop mounted devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer premises equipment (CPEs), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearables, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in industrial and / or automated processing chain contexts), consumer electronics devices, commercially operated devices, relay nodes, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. In the following description, the terms “terminal device,” “communications device,” “terminal,” “user equipment,” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0030] As used herein, the terms "resource," "transmission resource," "resource block," "physical resource block" (PRB), "uplink (UL) resource," or "downlink (DL) resource" may refer to any resource for performing communication, e.g., communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as resources in the time domain, resources in the frequency domain, resources in the spatial domain, resources in the code domain, resources in a combination of multiple domains, or any other resource that enables communication. Hereinafter, resources in the time domain (such as subframes) are used as examples of transmission resources to describe some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be noted that the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0031] As mentioned above, the main XR-related video traffic characteristics in the UL according to TR 38.838 can be summarized as follows: 1) non-integer periodicity (e.g., 16.67 ms for 60 fps), 2) PDB requirement is 30 ms as a baseline, with options of 10 ms and 15 ms, and 3) video frame size variation (following a truncated Gaussian distribution with an average of 20.8 kByte at 60 fps and 10 Mbit / s).

[0032] In addition to video in UL, attitude / control information can be transmitted according to Technical Report (TR) 38.838, which has the following main characteristics: 1) 4 ms periodicity, 2) strict PDB requirement (10 ms), 3) 100 byte frame size.

[0033] The main characteristics of NR Rel-16 UL CG with respect to CG are: 1) UL radio resources are configured for the UE to transmit one transport block with regular time periodicity, 2) periodicity is: 2, 7, n*14 symbols, where the range of n depends on the configured SCS, 3) up to 12 configured grant configurations per Bandwidth Part (BWP) (configured through RRC signaling).

[0034] The CG extensions mentioned above, approved for specification work in RAN#98, are motivated by the large and variable video size in the UL, which often requires multiple slots to be transmitted. In some XR applications, such as Augmented Reality per TR 38.838, there can be different traffic in the UL. The different traffic is: (i) attitude / control every 4 ms, and (ii) video every 16.67 ms at 60 fps. The attitude / control PDB is equal to 10 ms, and the UL video PDB is 30 ms, with options of 10, 15 ms.

[0035] One of the enhancements being considered for the specification work is dynamic indication of unused CG opportunities. This is especially needed when video is transmitted using CG resources and one video frame is carried over multiple UL slots with multiple UL CG PUSCH opportunities. In that case, multiple CG opportunities (slots) are assumed per CG period. However, due to variable video frame sizes, not all CG opportunities are used in one period. To improve resource utilization, the UE can indicate that some CG opportunities are unused. In that case, the gNB can distribute the released resources to other users.

[0036] The purpose of the UE indication of unused CG opportunities is to allow the network to reuse those resources (to another UE or the same UE for retransmissions or transmissions of other data with different LCP restrictions).To allow reuse of unused but authorized CG resources for a particular UE, two timelines need to be met:

[0037] One of the two timelines that needs to be met is that the network must have enough time to reschedule unused CG resources (based on the UE report), and the other of the two timelines that needs to be met is that a UE selected to reuse unused resources left by another UE must have enough time to transmit its data on the UL, including at least the PUSCH preparation time.

[0038] This means that first, upon receiving an indication of unused resources from a UE (or multiple UEs), the network scheduler must decide how to reallocate the unused resources indicated by one or more UEs. This delay depends on the network implementation (and possibly load).

[0039] Second, the reallocation of unused UL resources must take into account UE processing time to allow the UE (to which the resources are allocated) enough time to encode / form the PUSCH to be transmitted. For example, Section 6.4 of TS38.214 specifies UE processing time-related requirements. When scheduling a UE, the slot offset K2, the starting position of the PUSCH allocation within the slot (set by S and L in the "time domain resource allocation" of the scheduling DCI), and the timing advance must be set to take into account such that the first symbol of the PUSCH is not earlier than symbol L2, where L2 is the symbol T at which the cyclic prefix (CP) starts after the end of the DCI scheduling the PUSCH. proc2 It is defined as T proc2 is defined as follows:

number

[0040] where: - N2 is based on μ in Tables 6.4-1 and 6.4-2 in TS 38.214 for UE processing capabilities 1 and 2, respectively, where μ is the maximum T proc,2 (μ DL ,μ UL ), and μ DL corresponds to the downlink subcarrier spacing over which the PDCCH carrying the DCI scheduling the PUSCH is transmitted, and μ UL corresponds to the subcarrier spacing of the uplink channel on which the PUSCH is transmitted, and κ is defined in Section 4.1 of [4, TS38.211]. - For operation with shared spectrum channel access, T ext is calculated according to [4,TS38.211], otherwise T ext =0. - if the first symbol of a PUSCH allocation consists of only DM-RS, 2,1 = 0, otherwise d 2,1 =1. - In case the UE is configured with multiple active component carriers, the first uplink symbol in the PUSCH allocation further includes the effect of the timing difference between the component carriers as given in [11, TS38.133]. - If a scheduling DCI triggers a BWP switch, d 2,2 is equal to the switching time defined in [11,TS38.133], otherwise d 2,2 =0. - If a PUSCH with a higher priority index overlaps with a PUCCH with a lower priority index, d2 for the PUSCH with a higher priority index is set to be reported by the UE, otherwise d2=0. - For a UE supporting capability 2 on a given cell, the processing time due to UE processing capability 2 applies if the higher layer parameter processingType2Enabled in PUSCH-ServingCellConfig is configured for the cell and is set to "enable". - If the PUSCH indicated by the DCI overlaps with one or more PUCCH channels, the transport block shall be multiplexed according to the procedure of clause 9.2.5 of [6, TS38.213], otherwise the transport block shall be transmitted on the PUSCH indicated by the DCI. - If an uplink switching gap is triggered as defined in clause 6.1.6, T switch is equal to the switching gap duration, and for a UE configured with the higher layer parameter uplinkTxSwitchingOption set to "dualUL" for uplink carrier aggregation, μ UL =min(μ UL,carrier1 ,μ UL,carrier2 ), otherwise, T switch =0.

[0041] Therefore, the present disclosure proposes a solution for reporting CG opportunities. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a terminal device obtains information regarding criteria for reporting whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device. Based on a determination that the criteria are met, the terminal device sends an indication to a network device of whether at least one CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device. It is understood that the above procedural steps can function together, partially together, or independently of each other, in the operational flow described in the next section.

[0042] The solution for reporting CG opportunities as provided in the present disclosure introduces a prohibition duration / time to ensure that a UE is permitted or enabled to report unused CG opportunities only when there is sufficient time to allow for rescheduling. The solution can ensure that the indication of unused CG resources can be reused by the network and / or can ensure that the resources are not reused and the UE can change the indication from canceled to active. The principles and some example embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0043] For illustrative purposes, the principles and exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure for reporting CG opportunities are described below with reference to Figures 1 to 8. However, it should be noted that these embodiments are provided to enable those skilled in the art to understand the inventive concepts of the present disclosure and implement the solutions proposed herein, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application in any way.

[0044] 1, which illustrates an exemplary network environment 100A in which exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The network environment 100, which may be part of a communications network, includes a terminal device 110 and a network device 120.

[0045] 1, terminal device 110 may also be referred to as user equipment 110 or UE 110. Network device 120 may also be referred to as gNB 120. In some exemplary embodiments, network device 120 may configure terminal device 110 with UL CG resources. Network device 120 may also configure rules for UE reporting of unused / used CG opportunities, e.g., the starting symbol of the unused / used resource is at least equal to a minimum offset after the last symbol of the resource for UL reporting.

[0046] In some exemplary embodiments, upon finding that some of the configured CG opportunities are unused, terminal device 110 reports the unused CG opportunities if the timeline conditions are met (assuming a timeline is configured or specified), otherwise terminal device 110 does not send an indication.

[0047]

[0023] Reference is made to Figure 2A, which illustrates an example signaling process 200A for reporting CG opportunities, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 2A, terminal device 110 obtains information regarding criteria for reporting whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by terminal device 110 (202). Based on a determination that the criteria are met (204), terminal device 110 transmits an indication 210 to network device 120 of whether at least one CG opportunity should be used by terminal device 110 (206). Network device 120 receives indication 210 from terminal device 110 (208).

[0048] In some demonstrative embodiments, terminal device 110 can obtain information regarding criteria for reporting whether multiple CG opportunities should be used by terminal device 110.

[0049] 2B, which illustrates an example signaling process 200B for reporting CG opportunities, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2B, network device 120 determines (212) information regarding criteria 218 for terminal device 110 to report whether at least one CG opportunity should be used by terminal device 110. Network device 120 transmits (216) the information regarding criteria 218 to terminal device 110. Terminal device 110 receives (214) the information regarding criteria 218.

[0050] In some exemplary embodiments, the criteria 208 may comprise a CG opportunity that is at least one CG opportunity that is greater than or equal to a first time offset after the last symbol of the uplink (UL) channel carrying the indication 216 is allowed to be indicated as unused. In some exemplary embodiments, the criteria 208 may comprise the closest CG opportunity after that that is the first CG opportunity that is allowed to be indicated as used or unused, where the second time offset may be part of the indication 216. In some exemplary embodiments, the criteria 208 may include a third time offset that conveys when a change in the indication 216 is not allowed, e.g., if the time between the indication and the indicated opportunity is less than a particular time offset, then a change in the indication is not allowed.

[0051] 2A or 2B, a solution for reporting CG opportunities can be provided. Thus, a prohibition duration / time is provided to ensure that the UE is permitted or enabled to report unused / used CG opportunities only when there is sufficient time to allow for rescheduling. The implementation of the solution can ensure that the indication of unused CG resources can be reused by the network, and can ensure that the resources are not reused, allowing the UE to change the indication from canceled to active.

[0052]

[0033] Reference is now made to Figure 3, which illustrates an example configuration and operation 300 of unused resources with a minimum indication offset, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the example configuration and operation 300 of Figure 3 may be considered an example of the signaling process 200A of Figure 2A or the signaling process 200B of Figure 2B. Accordingly, the UE 302 of Figure 3 is an example of the terminal device 110 of Figure 2A or Figure 2B. The gNB 304 of Figure 3 is an example of the network device 120 of Figure 2A or Figure 2B.

[0053] In some demonstrative embodiments, the UE 302 and the gNB 304 may be connected 306. The gNB 304 may transmit 310 a configuration 312 of a CG and an indication 313 of unused resources along with a minimum indication time (Ioff) 315. The UE 302 may receive 308 the configuration 312 and the indication 313 along with Ioff 315.

[0054] In some exemplary embodiments, the UE 302 may transmit data 318 on the assigned CG resources (314). The UE 302 may evaluate (320) the need for subsequent CG resources that occurs after Ioff 315. In some exemplary embodiments, the evaluation of the need for subsequent CG resources may occur continuously or may be triggered by, for example, UL data buffer conditions. In some exemplary embodiments, the evaluation of the need for subsequent CG resources may occur before the first data transmission, i.e., the evaluation (320) may occur before transmission (314).

[0055] In some example embodiments, if the UE 302 determines, based on the UL data buffer, that it does not need the CG opportunity that comes after Ioff 315, the UE 302 may send an indication to the network that the CG opportunity is unused (322).

[0056] In some exemplary embodiments, if the UE 302 determines that it may need a CG opportunity occurring after Ioff 315, the UE 302 may not transmit an indication. In some exemplary embodiments, if the UE 302 determines that it may need a CG opportunity occurring after Ioff 315, the UE 302 may transmit an indication indicating that CG resources are used or needed after Ioff 315 (324); for an indication of unused resources (e.g., reported in the UCI), the UE 302 may only indicate resources that are at least equal to or greater than a minimum offset after the last symbol of the UL channel carrying the indication.

[0057] In some demonstrative embodiments, the gNB 304 may configure a minimum offset, which may be part of the CG indication of used / unused resources to define the start of the CG indication, e.g., as the nearest scheduled CG opportunity after the minimum offset being the first opportunity that may be indicated by the UE 110 to the gNB 120 as used / unused.

[0058] In some demonstrative embodiments, the gNB 304 may configure a minimum offset, after which a previous indication from the UE 110 may not be changed, or may change the previous indication from canceled to used, for example. The minimum offset may then define a rule for the gNB 304 when it may begin using resources for another UE or for other purposes.

[0059] In some exemplary embodiments, the gNB 304 may determine a minimum offset for the indication of unused resources that accounts for (network) scheduling decision processing delay. In some exemplary embodiments, the gNB 304 may determine a minimum offset for the indication of unused resources that accounts for available scheduling opportunities (SSset configuration and DL slot pattern). In some exemplary embodiments, the gNB 304 may determine a minimum offset for the indication of unused resources, where the minimum offset may depend on the subcarrier spacing of the BWP of the unused CG resources. The minimum offset may be configured per BWP or per SCS, or may be scaled by the UE based on the SCS. In some exemplary embodiments, the gNB 304 may determine a minimum offset for the indication of unused resources that accounts for time division duplex (TDD) radio frame configuration (in the case of a TDD system).

[0060] In some exemplary embodiments, the gNB 304 may determine a minimum offset for indicating unused / used resources that takes into account a minimum offset Ioff, which may depend on the processing capabilities of active UEs belonging to the same cell (where the processing timeline may be determined based on a group of UEs, e.g., worst-case or best-case capabilities). The minimum offset may be dynamically updated according to the status of the UEs. In some exemplary embodiments, the gNB 304 may determine a minimum offset for indicating unused resources, and the minimum indication time offset may be evaluated as a function of the time difference between CG resources (present, future), CG opportunity (last symbol of the current CG opportunity, first symbol of the evaluated CG opportunity) or slot timing (current (UL) slot vs. next slot of the evaluated CG resource) of multiple CG resources.

[0061] In some demonstrative embodiments, the gNB 304 may determine a minimum offset for the indication of unused / used resources, where the minimum indication offset may be determined as the minimum number of DL slots between the UL slot carrying the indication and the UL slot of the CG resource. The minimum offset may be predefined based on the maximum or minimum UE processing time for the SCS and / or the structure of the TDD radio frame and UL slot pattern without network configuration (for TDD systems).

[0062] In some demonstrative embodiments, it may be possible for the gNB 304 to always request the UE 302 to report unused resources, so that the gNB 304 may not need to detect data over allocated resources and the UE 302 may skip UL transmission.

[0063] In some exemplary embodiments, the UE 302 may be provided by the gNB 304 with a configuration of a minimum indicated time offset as part of the configuration of CG resources, enabling the indication of unused / used resources. Based on the UL data buffer and / or expected UL traffic characteristics (e.g., size, periodicity, packet delay budget, reliability requirements, priority), the UE 302 may determine whether it requires CG resources that occur at least a certain amount of time units (e.g., symbols or slots) after the end of the UL symbol / slot / transmission that carries the indication of unused resources. The UE 302 may also evaluate whether the resources in Ioff are sufficient to carry the data in the buffer. The amount of time units may be a time offset indicated by the gNB 304, or may be pre-configured according to the processing time for the SCS and TDD frame structure, or may be specified in the standard. If the UE 302 determines that the granted resources after the time offset are not needed, the UE 302 may provide an indication to the NW, for example, by piggybacking UCI along with the UL data transmission.

[0064] In some exemplary embodiments, the gNB 304 may define the closest scheduled CG opportunity after which the minimum offset may be the first opportunity that may be indicated by the UE 302 to the gNB 304 as used / unused.

[0065] Reference is made to FIG. 4, which illustrates an example timeline 400 of a pointing procedure with a minimum pointing offset, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0066] In some example embodiments, for data in UL buffer 402, an evaluation of the unused resource indication for indications in CG1.1-CG1.3 may be required, as shown in block 420. For data in UL buffer 404, an evaluation of the need for CGs after minimum indication offset 414 for CG1.4 may not be required, as shown in block 422.

[0067] In some exemplary embodiments, for CG1.2, UCI may be piggybacked onto CG1.2 (PUSCH), for example, to indicate that CG1.4 may not be needed, as shown in block 424. For data in the UL buffer 406, evaluation of the need for CGs after the minimum indicated offset 416 for CG1.5 may not be needed, as shown in block 426. For CG1.3, UCI may be piggybacked onto CG1.3 (PUSCH), for example, to indicate that CG1.5 may not be needed, as shown in block 428.

[0068] In some exemplary embodiments, a network (such as the gNB 304 in FIG. 3) may identify multiple categories of UEs according to their processing capabilities and determine multiple minimum time offsets, one time offset for each UE capability. The network may indicate the time offsets of its capabilities to the UE. Unused CG resources indicated by the UE may be reallocated by the network to UEs belonging to the same capability or a capability with a UE having a shorter time offset. In some exemplary embodiments, the network (such as the gNB 304 in FIG. 3) may determine the same minimum time offset applicable to all UEs in a cell, regardless of UE capabilities.

[0069] As an example, unused resources of UEs belonging to capability 2 may be reallocated to UEs belonging to capability 1 and capability 2 (except for the UE that indicated the unused resources).

[0070] In some exemplary embodiments, the network may configure a minimum offset Ioff after which a previous instruction from the UE cannot be changed, e.g., changing the previous instruction from cancel to activate. In that case, the minimum offset may define a rule for the gNB when it may start using resources for another UE.

[0071] In some exemplary embodiments, the UE may transmit an indication 110. For indication "110," 1 may be for the second (CG1.2), 1 may be for the third (CG1.3), and 0 may be for the fourth (CG1.4) UL, with 1 representing a used slot and 0 representing an unused slot. If the UE needs a fourth UL for some reason, the time between the UCI conveying the change and the slot being changed from a canceled slot to a used slot shall be greater than the minimum offset. In some exemplary embodiments, the UE may also indicate whether further CGs are not needed for a certain duration.

[0072] Reference is now made to Figure 5, which is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary flowchart of a method 500 implemented in a terminal device in accordance with some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0073] At 502, terminal device 110 obtains information regarding criteria for reporting whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by terminal device 110. At 504, based on determining that the criteria are met, terminal device 110 transmits to network device 120 an indication of whether at least one CG opportunity should be used by terminal device 110.

[0074] In some exemplary embodiments, the criteria may include at least one of a CG opportunity of at least one CG opportunity that is a first time offset or greater after the last symbol of the uplink (UL) channel carrying the indication is permitted to be indicated as unused, a closest CG opportunity after which a second time offset is the first CG opportunity that is permitted to be indicated as used or unused, and a third time offset at which the indication is not permitted to be changed.

[0075] In some demonstrative embodiments, at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset may be determined based on at least one of an instruction from the network device 120, a scheduling decision processing delay of the network device 120, available scheduling opportunities, a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the bandwidth portion (BWP) of the unused CG resource, the processing capability of the terminal device 110, the processing capability of active terminal devices belonging to the cell, a time difference between CG resources, CG opportunities of multiple CG resources, or a function of slot timing, a minimum number of downlink (DL) slots between the UL slot carrying the instruction and the UL slot of at least one CG resource, or a maximum or minimum processing time of the terminal device 110 for the SCS, or a structure of a time division duplex (TDD) radio frame and UL slot pattern without network device configuration.

[0076] In some demonstrative embodiments, at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset may be configured per BWP, per SCS, or may be scaled by terminal device 110 based on an SCS.

[0077] In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 110 may evaluate the need for a CG opportunity based on at least one of a UL data buffer or UL traffic characteristics based on a determination that the criteria for a CG opportunity are met.

[0078] In some demonstrative embodiments, terminal device 110 may transmit the instruction by at least one of transmitting an instruction to indicate that at least one CG opportunity will not be used by terminal device 110 based on determining that terminal device 110 does not require at least one CG opportunity, or transmitting an instruction to indicate that a CG opportunity should be used by terminal device 110 based on determining that terminal device 110 requires a CG opportunity.

[0079] In some exemplary embodiments, the evaluation of the need for at least a CG opportunity may be performed continuously or may be triggered by UL data buffer conditions. In some exemplary embodiments, at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset may apply to a terminal device capability, and terminal device 110 may belong to the terminal device capability.

[0080] In some demonstrative embodiments, at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset may be applied to multiple terminal devices served by the network device.

[0081] In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 110 may be a first terminal device, and the terminal device capability may be a terminal device first capability. In some exemplary embodiments, an unused CG opportunity indicated by the first terminal device may be rescheduled by network device 120 to a second terminal device. In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device may belong to the terminal device's first capability or a terminal device's second capability that has a shorter time offset than the terminal device's first capability.

[0082] In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 110 may obtain information regarding the criteria by receiving information regarding the criteria from network device 120. In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 110 may skip sending the instruction to network device 120 based on determining that the criteria are not met.

[0083] In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 110 may determine the first CG opportunity that meets the criteria as the first CG opportunity, and terminal device 110 may send an instruction to network device 120 indicating that the first CG opportunity should be used by terminal device 110.

[0084] Reference is now made to Figure 6, which is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method 600 implemented in a network device according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0085] At 602, network device 120 determines information regarding criteria for terminal device 110 to report whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by terminal device 110. At 604, network device 130 transmits information regarding the criteria to terminal device 110.

[0086] In some exemplary embodiments, the criteria may include at least one of a CG opportunity of at least one CG opportunity greater than or equal to a first time offset after the last symbol of the uplink (UL) channel carrying the indication is permitted to be indicated as unused, a second time offset, or the nearest CG opportunity after the first CG opportunity permitted to be indicated as unused. The second time offset may be part of the indication, or may be a third time offset at which the indication is not permitted to be changed.

[0087] In some demonstrative embodiments, at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset may be determined based on at least one of an instruction from the network device 120, a scheduling decision processing delay of the network device 120, available scheduling opportunities, a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the bandwidth portion (BWP) of the unused CG resource, the processing capability of the terminal device 110, the processing capability of active terminal devices belonging to the cell, a time difference between CG resources, CG opportunities of multiple CG resources, or a function of slot timing, a minimum number of downlink (DL) slots between the UL slot carrying the instruction and the UL slot of at least one CG resource, or a maximum processing time of the terminal device 110 for the SCS, or a structure of a time division duplex (TDD) radio frame and UL slot pattern without network device configuration.

[0088] In some demonstrative embodiments, at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset may be configured per BWP, per SCS, or may be scaled by terminal device 110 based on an SCS.

[0089] In some exemplary embodiments, network device 120 may determine information regarding the criteria by identifying the capabilities of terminal device 110 based on the processing capabilities of the terminal device. Terminal device 110 may belong to the capabilities of terminal device 110, and network device 120 may determine information regarding the criteria by determining information regarding the criteria regarding the capabilities of the terminal device.

[0090] In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 110 may be a first terminal device. In some exemplary embodiments, network device 120 may receive an indication from the first terminal device that a CG opportunity should not be used by the first terminal device and reschedules the CG opportunity to a second terminal device.

[0091] In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 110 may be a first terminal device, and the terminal device capability may be a first terminal device capability. In some exemplary embodiments, a second terminal device may belong to the first terminal device capability or a second terminal device capability that has a shorter time offset than the first terminal device capability.

[0092] By implementing methods 500 and 600, an inhibit duration / time is introduced to ensure that the UE is only allowed / permitted to report unused CG opportunities when there is enough time to allow for rescheduling. The method can ensure that the indication of unused CG resources can be reused by the network and can ensure that the resources are not reused and the UE can change the indication from Canceled to Active.

[0093] In some demonstrative embodiments, a terminal device capable of performing method 500 may comprise means for performing each step of method 500. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuit or a software module.

[0094] In some exemplary embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for obtaining information about criteria for reporting whether a configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device, and means for, based on a determination that the criteria are met, sending to a network device an indication of whether the CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device.

[0095] In some demonstrative embodiments, the criteria may include at least one of a CG opportunity of at least one CG opportunity that is greater than or equal to a first time offset after the last symbol of the uplink (UL) channel carrying the indication is permitted to be indicated as unused, the closest CG opportunity after which a second time offset that is part of the indication is permitted to be indicated as used or unused, or a third time offset at which the second time offset is not permitted for the indication to be changed.

[0096] In some exemplary embodiments, the means for determining a criterion comprises means for determining at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset, wherein the determination is based on at least one of an instruction from a network device, a scheduling decision processing delay of the network device, available scheduling opportunities, a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of a bandwidth portion (BWP) of unused CG resources, a terminal device processing capability, an active terminal device processing capability belonging to a cell, a time difference between CG resources, CG opportunities of a plurality of CG resources, or a function of slot timing, a minimum number of downlink (DL) slots between a UL slot carrying the instruction and a UL slot of at least one CG resource, or a maximum terminal device processing time for SCS, or a time division duplex (TDD) radio frame and UL slot pattern structure without network device configuration.

[0097] In some demonstrative embodiments, the apparatus may comprise means for configuring at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset scaled by a terminal device per BWP, per SCS, or based on an SCS.

[0098] In some demonstrative embodiments, the apparatus may comprise means for, based on a determination that criteria are met for a CG opportunity, evaluating the need for a CG opportunity based on at least one of an UL data buffer or an UL traffic characteristic.

[0099] In some demonstrative embodiments, the means for transmitting the instruction may comprise means for transmitting the instruction by at least one of: transmitting an instruction to indicate that the CG opportunity will not be used by the terminal device based on determining that the terminal device does not need the CG opportunity; or transmitting an instruction to indicate that the CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device based on determining that the terminal device needs the CG opportunity.

[0100] In some exemplary embodiments, the means for evaluating the need for a CG opportunity may comprise means for continuously performing the evaluation of the need for a CG opportunity or means for triggering the evaluation of the need for a CG opportunity by a UL data buffer status.

[0101] In some exemplary embodiments, the apparatus may comprise means for applying at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset to a capability of a terminal device. In some exemplary embodiments, the terminal device may belong to a capability of the terminal device.

[0102] In some exemplary embodiments, the terminal device may be a first terminal device, and the capability of the terminal device may be a first capability of the terminal device. In some exemplary embodiments, the device may comprise means for rescheduling unused CG opportunities indicated by the first terminal device by a network device to a second terminal device. In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device may belong to the first capability of the terminal device or a second capability of the terminal device that has a shorter time offset than the first capability of the terminal device.

[0103] In some exemplary embodiments, the means for obtaining information regarding the criteria may comprise means for obtaining information regarding the criteria by receiving information regarding the criteria from the network device. In some exemplary embodiments, the device may comprise means for skipping sending the instruction to the network device based on determining that the criteria is not met.

[0104] In some demonstrative embodiments, the apparatus may comprise means for determining a first CG opportunity that meets criteria as a first CG opportunity, and means for transmitting an indication to a network device indicating that the first CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device.

[0105] In some exemplary embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps in some exemplary embodiments of method 500. In some exemplary embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor and at least one memory containing computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to cause, with the at least one processor, performance of the apparatus.

[0106] In some exemplary embodiments, a network device capable of performing method 600 may comprise means for performing each step of method 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuit or a software module.

[0107] In some demonstrative embodiments, the apparatus may comprise means for determining information regarding criteria for a terminal device to report whether a configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device, and means for transmitting information regarding the criteria to the terminal device.

[0108] In some demonstrative embodiments, the criteria may include at least one of a CG opportunity of at least one CG opportunity that is greater than or equal to a first time offset after the last symbol of the uplink (UL) channel carrying the indication is allowed to be indicated as unused, the closest CG opportunity after which a second time offset that is part of the indication is the first CG opportunity that is allowed to be indicated as used or unused, and a third time offset at which the indication is not allowed to be changed.

[0109] In some exemplary embodiments, the means for determining information related to the reference comprises means for determining at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset, wherein the determination is based on at least one of an instruction from a network device, a scheduling decision processing delay of the network device, available scheduling opportunities, a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of a bandwidth portion (BWP) of unused CG resources, a terminal device processing capability, an active terminal device processing capability belonging to a cell, a time difference between CG resources, CG opportunities of a plurality of CG resources, or a function of slot timing, a minimum number of downlink (DL) slots between a UL slot carrying the instruction and a UL slot of at least one CG resource, or a maximum terminal device processing time for SCS, or a structure of a time division duplex (TDD) radio frame and UL slot pattern without network device configuration.

[0110] In some demonstrative embodiments, the apparatus may comprise means for configuring at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset scaled by a terminal device per BWP, per SCS, or based on an SCS.

[0111] In some demonstrative embodiments, the means for determining information regarding the criteria may comprise means for identifying capabilities of the terminal device based on processing capabilities of the terminal device, the terminal device belonging to the capabilities of the terminal device and comprising means for determining information regarding the criteria of the capabilities of the terminal device.

[0112] In some demonstrative embodiments, at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset may be applied to multiple terminal devices served by the network device.

[0113] In some exemplary embodiments, the terminal device may be a first terminal device. In some exemplary embodiments, the apparatus may comprise means for receiving an indication from the first terminal device that a CG opportunity should not be used by the first terminal device, and means for rescheduling the CG opportunity to a second terminal device.

[0114] In some exemplary embodiments, the terminal device may be a first terminal device, and the terminal device capability may be a first terminal device capability. In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device may belong to the first terminal device capability or a second terminal device capability that has a shorter time offset than the first terminal device capability.

[0115] In some exemplary embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps in some exemplary embodiments of method 600. In some exemplary embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor and at least one memory containing computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to cause, with the at least one processor, performance of the apparatus.

[0116]

[0047] Reference is now made to Fig. 7, which illustrates an exemplary simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for practicing embodiments of the present disclosure. Apparatus 700 may be provided to implement a communications apparatus, such as terminal apparatus 110 as shown in Fig. 1. As shown, apparatus 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 740 that may be coupled to processors 710, and one or more communications modules 740 that may be coupled to processors 710.

[0117] The communication module 740 is for two-way communication. The communication module 740 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface necessary for communication with other network elements, for example, the communication interface may be a wireless or wired, or software-based interface for communication to other network elements.

[0118] The processor 710 may be of any type suitable for a local technology network and may include, by way of non-limiting example, one or more of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 700 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are time-slaved to a clock that synchronizes the main processor.

[0119] The memory 720 can include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 724, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disks, compact disks (CDs), digital video disks (DVDs), and other magnetic and / or optical storage. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memories that do not persist during power-down durations.

[0120] The computer program 730 includes computer-executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 710. The program 730 may be stored in ROM 724. The processor 710 may load the program 730 into RAM 722 to perform any suitable actions and processes.

[0121] The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by a program such that the apparatus 700 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure, such as those discussed with reference to Figures 2A to 6. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

[0122] In some exemplary embodiments, the program 730 may be tangibly contained in a computer-readable medium, which may be included in the device 700 (such as memory 720) or other storage accessible by the device 700. The device 700 may load the program 730 from the computer-readable medium into RAM 722 for execution. The computer-readable medium may include any type of tangible non-volatile storage, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. Figure 8 shows an example of a computer-readable medium 800 in the form of a CD or DVD. The computer-readable medium has the program 730 stored thereon.

[0123] In general, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. While some aspects may be implemented in hardware, other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it should be understood that the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in, by way of non-limiting example, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller, or other computing device, or some combination thereof.

[0124] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, that execute on a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform method 500 or 600, as described above with reference to FIG. 5 or FIG. 6. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split among program modules as desired in various embodiments. The machine-executable instructions for the program modules may be executed in local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, the program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0125] Program codes for carrying out the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, so that when executed by the processor or controller, the program code implements the functions / acts specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams. The program code may run entirely on the machine, partially on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partially on the machine, partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0126] In the context of the present disclosure, computer program code or associated data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus, or processor to perform the various processes and operations as described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer-readable media, etc.

[0127] The computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device, or apparatus, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of computer-readable storage media include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof. As used herein, the term "non-transitory" refers to the medium itself (i.e., tangible rather than signal), as opposed to a data storage persistence (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0128] Furthermore, while operations are shown in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring such operations to be performed in the particular order shown, or in sequential order, or that all of the shown operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some situations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, while some specific implementation details are included in the above description, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Some features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

[0129] Although the present disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure, as defined by the appended claims, is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. at least one processor; at least one memory for storing instructions; A terminal device comprising: The instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to: obtaining information regarding criteria for reporting whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by said terminal device; and transmitting to a network device, based on a determination that the criteria are met, an indication of whether the at least one CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device. Terminal device.

2. The criteria are: CG opportunities of the at least one CG opportunity that are greater than or equal to a first time offset after a last symbol of an uplink (UL) channel carrying the indication are permitted to be indicated as unused; the nearest CG opportunity after a second time offset that is part of said indication is the first CG opportunity that is permitted to be indicated as used or unused; or the indication is not allowed to be changed after a third time offset; The terminal device of claim 1 , comprising at least one of:

3. At least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset is an instruction from the network device; a scheduling decision processing delay of the network device; available scheduling opportunities, Subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the bandwidth portion (BWP) of the unused CG resource; the processing capacity of the terminal device; the processing capacity of the active terminal devices belonging to the cell; a function of the time difference between CG resources, the CG opportunities of multiple CG resources, or the timing of slots; a minimum number of downlink (DL) slots between the UL slot carrying the indication and the UL slot of the at least one CG resource; the maximum processing time of the terminal device for the SCS, or the structure of a time division duplex (TDD) radio frame and UL slot pattern without network device configuration; The terminal device according to claim 2 , wherein the determination is based on at least one of:

4. 4. The terminal device of claim 2, wherein at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset is configured per BWP, per SCS, or scaled by the terminal device based on an SCS.

5. The terminal device further evaluating the need for the at least one CG opportunity based on at least one of an UL data buffer or an UL traffic characteristic based on a determination that the criteria are met for the at least one CG opportunity. The terminal device according to claim 1 .

6. The terminal device transmitting the indication to indicate that the at least one CG opportunity will not be used by the terminal device based on determining that the terminal device does not need the at least one CG opportunity; or transmitting the indication to indicate that the at least one CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device based on determining that the terminal device requires at least one CG opportunity; The terminal device according to claim 5 , wherein the instruction is transmitted by at least one of the following methods.

7. The terminal device according to claim 5 , wherein the evaluation of the need for the at least one CG opportunity is performed continuously or is triggered by an UL data buffer status.

8. 3. The terminal device of claim 2, wherein at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset is applied to a capability of the terminal device, and the terminal device belongs to a capability of the terminal device.

9. The terminal device of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset is applied to a plurality of terminal devices served by the network device.

10. the terminal device is a first terminal device, and the capability of the terminal device is a first capability of the terminal device; the unused CG opportunity indicated by the first terminal device is rescheduled by the network device to a second terminal device; the second terminal device belongs to the first capability of the terminal device or a second capability of the terminal device having a time offset shorter than the first capability of the terminal device; The terminal device according to claim 8.

11. The terminal device according to claim 1 , wherein the terminal device obtains information about the criteria by receiving information about the criteria from the network device.

12. The terminal device of claim 1 , further comprising: upon determining that the criteria are not met, skipping sending the instruction to the network device.

13. The terminal device further determining a first CG opportunity that meets the criteria as the first CG opportunity; sending an indication to the network device indicating that the first CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device; The terminal device according to claim 1 .

14. at least one processor; at least one memory for storing instructions; A network device comprising: The instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the network device to at least: determining information regarding criteria for the terminal device to report whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device; transmitting information about the criteria to the terminal device; A network device that performs the above.

15. The criteria are: the at least one CG opportunity that is greater than or equal to a first time offset after a last symbol of an uplink (UL) channel carrying the indication is permitted to be indicated as unused; the nearest CG opportunity after the second time offset that is part of the indication is the first CG opportunity that is permitted to be indicated as used or unused; or the indication is not allowed to be changed after a third time offset; 15. The network device of claim 14, comprising at least one of:

16. At least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset is an instruction from the network device; a scheduling decision processing delay of the network device; available scheduling opportunities, Subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the bandwidth portion (BWP) of the unused CG resource; the processing capacity of the terminal device; the processing capacity of the active terminal devices belonging to the cell; a function of the time difference between CG resources, the CG opportunities of multiple CG resources, or the timing of slots; a minimum number of downlink (DL) slots between the UL slot carrying the indication and the UL slot of the at least one CG resource; the maximum processing time of the terminal device for the SCS, or the structure of a time division duplex (TDD) radio frame and UL slot pattern without network device configuration; The network device of claim 15, wherein the determination is based on at least one of:

17. 16. The network device of claim 15, wherein at least one of the first time offset, the second time offset, or the third time offset is configured per BWP, per SCS, or scaled by the terminal device based on an SCS.

18. The network device comprises: identifying a capability of the terminal device based on a processing capability of the terminal device, the terminal device belonging to the capability of the terminal device; determining said criteria for the capabilities of said terminal device; The network device according to claim 14 , wherein the criteria are determined by:

19. obtaining, in a terminal device, information regarding criteria for reporting whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by said terminal device; based on a determination that the criteria are met, sending to a network device an indication of whether the at least one CG opportunity should be used by the terminal device; A method comprising:

20. determining, in the network device, information regarding criteria for the terminal device to report whether at least one configured grant (CG) opportunity should be used by the terminal device; transmitting said information regarding said criteria to said terminal device; A method comprising:

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