Method for feedback configuration, terminal device, network device, and computer-readable medium - Patents.com

Abstract

An embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a solution for feedback configuration regarding channel transmission between a network device and multiple terminal devices. In a method for communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a terminal device receives control information from the network device. The control information is used to schedule shared channel transmissions common to multiple terminal devices including the terminal device. Then, the terminal device determines a feedback configuration based on the control information. The feedback configuration indicates whether feedback regarding the shared channel transmission is enabled or disabled. Thereafter, the terminal device performs communication with the network device based on the feedback configuration. In this way, the feedback function can be flexibly enabled or disabled, thereby achieving a good trade-off between transmission reliability and resource overhead, thereby improving communication performance.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] TECHNICAL FIELD Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a method, terminal device, network device, and computer-readable medium for feedback configuration. [Background technology]

[0002] 5G New Radio (NR) is the fifth generation of mobile networks. 5G NR is the new global wireless standard after 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. 5G enables a new kind of network that is designed to connect virtually everyone and everything together, including machines, objects, and devices. 5G wireless technology is intended to deliver higher multi-Gbps peak data speeds, ultra-low latency, higher reliability, massive network capacity, improved availability, and a more uniform user experience to more users. Higher performance and improved efficiency will enable new user experiences and connect new industries.

[0003] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 17 (Rel-17) Work Item Description (WID) for NR Multicast and Broadcast Services includes various objectives. One of the objectives is to specify the basic functionality of the Radio Access Network (RAN) for broadcast / multicast for UEs in RRC_CONNECTED state. At the same time, further objectives are considered to specify the changes required to improve the reliability of the broadcast / multicast services. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0004] [Non-Patent Document 1] 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 17 (Rel-17) Work Item Description (WID) for NR Multicast and Broadcast Services [Non-Patent Document 2] TS 38.212 Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] Generally, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for feedback configuration for channel transmissions, particularly multicast or broadcast transmissions, between a network device and multiple terminal devices.

[0006] In a first aspect, a method is provided that is performed by a terminal device. The method includes receiving control information from a network device for scheduling a shared channel transmission common to a plurality of terminal devices including the terminal device. The method also includes determining a feedback configuration indicating whether feedback on the shared channel transmission is enabled or disabled based on the control information. The method further includes performing communication with the network device based on the feedback configuration.

[0007] In a second aspect, a method is provided that is performed by a network device. The method includes determining a feedback configuration indicating whether feedback on a shared channel transmission is enabled or disabled, the shared channel transmission being common to a plurality of terminal devices. The method also includes generating control information for scheduling the shared channel transmission and indicating the feedback configuration. The method further includes transmitting the control information to at least one of the plurality of terminal devices.

[0008] In a third aspect, there is provided a terminal device, the terminal device including a processor and a memory storing instructions, the memory and the instructions, together with the processor, configured to cause the terminal device to perform the method of the first aspect.

[0009] In a fourth aspect, a network device is provided, the network device including a processor and a memory storing instructions, the memory and the instructions, together with the processor, configured to cause the network device to perform the method of the second aspect.

[0010] In a fifth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided having stored thereon instructions which, when executed on at least one processor of a device, cause the device to perform the method of the first aspect.

[0011] In a sixth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided having stored thereon instructions which, when executed on at least one processor of a device, cause the device to perform the method of the second aspect.

[0012] It should be understood that the Summary 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 become readily apparent through the following description.

[0013] Some embodiments are described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1A] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication environment in which some embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. [Figure 1B] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication environment in which some embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. [Figure 1C]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication environment in which some embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 illustrates an example communication process between a network device and a terminal device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Diagram 3] 1 illustrates an example structure of control information in which a feedback timing indicator is reused to indicate a feedback configuration, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] 1 illustrates an example structure of control information in which a feedback resource indicator is reused to indicate a feedback configuration, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 5A] FIG. 13 illustrates an example structure of control information in which a dedicated field is used to indicate a feedback configuration, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 5B] FIG. 2 illustrates an example structure of a dedicated field according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] 1 is a flow diagram of an example method for communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] 1 is a flow diagram of another example method for communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numbers represent the same or similar elements.

[0016] The principle of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to some embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described for illustrative purposes only, without implying any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure, to help those skilled in the art understand and implement the present disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various ways other than the methods described below. In the following description and claims, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure belongs.

[0017] References in this disclosure to "one embodiment," "an exemplary embodiment," "an embodiment," and the like indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment is required to include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is believed to be within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments, whether or not explicitly described.

[0018] Although the terms "first" and "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 could be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element could be referred to as a first element, without departing from the scope of the embodiments. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed items. In some instances, a value, procedure, or device is referred to as "best," "lowest," "highest," "minimum," "maximum," and the like. It will be understood that such descriptions are intended to indicate that a selection may be made from among many functional alternatives used, and that such a selection is not necessarily better, less, higher, or otherwise preferred than other selections.

[0019] The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit the embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises", "comprising", "has", "having", "includes", and / or "including", as used herein, specify the presence of the mentioned features, elements, components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof. For example, the term "includes" and variations thereof should be read as open terms meaning "includes, but is not limited to". The term "based on" should be read as "based at least in part on". The terms "one embodiment" and "an embodiment" should be read as "at least one embodiment." The term "another embodiment" should be read as "at least one other embodiment." Other definitions, both explicit and implicit, may be included below.

[0020] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network conforming to any suitable communication standard, such as 5G NR, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. Furthermore, communication between terminal devices and network devices in a communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation of communication protocols, including but not limited to first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols either currently known or developed in the future. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. Given the rapid development of communication, there will also be future types of communication technologies and systems in which the present disclosure may be embodied. The term "communications network" should not be construed to limit the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned systems.

[0021] As used herein, the term "network device" generally refers to a node in a communication network through which a terminal device can access the network and receive services therefrom. A network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), e.g., depending on the terminology and technology applied, a Node B (NodeB or NB), a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), a NR NB (also called gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), an infrastructure device for V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communications, a transmission and reception point (TRP), a reception point (RP), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a femto BS, a pico BS, or other low-power node.

[0022] As used herein, the term "terminal device" generally refers to any end device capable of wireless communication. By way of example and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), end user device, subscriber station (SS), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), 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 terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), Internet of Things (loT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery devices), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in connection with an industrial and / or automated processing chain), consumer electronics devices, devices operating in commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communications device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0023] As mentioned above, the purpose of Rel-17 WID is to specify the necessary changes to improve the reliability of broadcast / multicast services. The inventors discover that the reliability of such broadcast / multicast services can be improved by uplink feedback from the UE. More specifically, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) Acknowledgement (ACK) feedback from the UE corresponding to downlink multicast or broadcast transmissions may be essential for multicast or broadcast services to meet Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, e.g., reliability requirements.

[0024] Furthermore, it is advantageous that the level of reliability may be based on the requirements of the application / service provided by the Multicast and Broadcast Service (MBS). In MBS communication, a Group-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (G-RNTI) may be introduced for MBS so that the UE can distinguish the Downlink Control Information (DCI) that schedules the MBS Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) from the DCI that schedules the unicast PDSCH. In particular, the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of the DCI that schedules the MBS PDSCH may be scrambled by the G-RNTI, and the scheduled MBS PDSCH may be scrambled by the G-RNTI.

[0025] In the RAN1#102-e meeting, the following agreements were made regarding HARQ-ACK feedback: For RRC_CONNECTED UEs, HARQ-ACK feedback can be supported for multicast and additional evaluation to justify this may not be required. Detailed HARQ-ACK feedback solutions, e.g., ACK / NACK based solutions, NACK only based solutions, etc., are for further study. It is also for further study whether HARQ-ACK feedback can be optionally disabled and / or enabled.

[0026] Regarding HARQ-ACK feedback for a PDSCH carrying a multicast service, there may be two options, which may also be referred to as feedback transmission schemes below. The first option (also referred to as option 1 or first feedback transmission scheme) may be referred to as group NACK transmission, where if the PDSCH is successfully received, the UE does not send HARQ-ACK feedback to the gNB, while if the PDSCH is not successfully received, the UE sends a NACK to the gNB, and a group of UEs share the same resource for sending the NACK. The second option (also referred to as option 2 or second feedback transmission scheme) may be referred to as UE-specific ACK / NACK transmission, where if the PDSCH is successfully received, the UE sends an ACK to the gNB, while if the PDSCH is not successfully received, the UE sends a NACK to the gNB, and each UE is provided with a UE-specific physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for the UE to send the ACK / NACK to the gNB.

[0027] Through research and analysis on conventional solutions, the inventors find that it is advantageous to allow a network device (e.g., gNB) and a terminal device (e.g., UE) communicating with the network device to flexibly enable or disable a feedback function for transmission from the network device to the terminal device. For example, it is advantageous for the network device to enable or disable HARQ-ACK feedback based on the service reliability requirement of the communication. More specifically, when the service reliability requirement of a multicast or broadcast service between the network device and the terminal device is relatively high, it is better to enable the feedback function to guarantee the reliability requirement. Instead, when the service reliability requirement is relatively low, it is better to disable the feedback function to reduce resource overhead.

[0028] Furthermore, the inventor finds that the above-mentioned first option can minimize the overhead of HARQ-ACK feedback, but the gNB cannot distinguish which UE has transmitted a NACK in the shared PUCCH resource. In contrast, the above-mentioned second option requires less standardization effort and allows the gNB to distinguish ACK or NACK for each UE at the expense of reserving UE-specific PUCCH resources, improving the reliability of PDSCH transmission. However, when a large number of UEs are receiving multicast or broadcast transmissions, if a UE-specific PUCCH resource is configured for each UE for HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to the multicast or broadcast transmission, too many PUCCH resources will be consumed. In this case, it makes sense to adopt the group-based NACK transmission defined in the first option. Therefore, the inventor finds that it is further advantageous to enable the network device and the terminal device to flexibly switch between different feedback transmission schemes such as the above-mentioned first and second options.

[0029] In view of the above findings by the inventors and to solve the problems in the conventional solutions, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for feedback configuration for channel transmission, particularly multicast or broadcast transmission, between a network device and multiple terminal devices. For example, the network device may indicate the feedback configuration in the control information, and the terminal device can determine the feedback configuration from the control information, whereby the network device can inform the terminal device whether the feedback function is enabled or disabled. In some embodiments, if the feedback function is enabled by the network device, the feedback configuration may be used by the network device to further indicate the feedback transmission scheme to the terminal device.

[0030] In particular, in the solution of the present disclosure, a network device may determine a feedback configuration. The feedback configuration may indicate whether feedback on a shared channel transmission is enabled or disabled. The shared channel transmission is common to a plurality of terminal devices. Then, the network device may generate control information for scheduling the shared channel transmission and indicating the feedback configuration. Then, the network device may transmit the control information to one or more of the plurality of terminal devices. At a terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices, the terminal device may receive the control information from the network device. Then, the terminal device may determine a feedback configuration based on the control information. Thereafter, the terminal device may perform communication with the network device based on the feedback configuration.

[0031] The solution of the present disclosure may introduce a switching mechanism that allows a network device and multiple terminal devices to enable or disable feedback on shared channel transmission. In this way, the network device and multiple terminal devices can flexibly switch between enabling and disabling feedback functions (e.g., HARQ-ACK feedback) to reach a good trade-off between transmission reliability and resource overhead, thereby improving the performance of communication between the network device and multiple terminal devices. The principles and implementations of the embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the figures.

[0032] Example Environment 1A to 1C each show a schematic diagram of a communication environment 100 in which some embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1A, the communication environment 100, which may also be referred to as a communication network 100 or a communication system 100, includes a network device 110 serving terminal devices 120-1 to 120-N located in a cell 102 of the network device 110. In the following, the terminal devices 120-1 to 120-N may be collectively referred to as terminal devices 120 for simplicity. The network device 110 may perform communication with one or more of the terminal devices 120 for transmission of data, control information, etc.

[0033] A transmission from the network device 110 to the terminal device 120 may be referred to as a downlink transmission, and a communication channel for a downlink transmission may be referred to as a downlink channel. In contrast, a transmission from the terminal device 120 to the network device 110 may be referred to as an uplink transmission, and a communication channel for an uplink transmission may be referred to as an uplink channel. Furthermore, two or more of the terminal devices 120 may perform sidelink transmissions to each other via a device-to-device (D2D) channel, which may also be referred to as a sidelink channel.

[0034] In some embodiments, the communication between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 can be a multicast or broadcast communication. In other words, the network device 110 can provide the terminal device 120 with a multicast or broadcast service, such as a multicast and broadcast service (MBS) defined in 5G NR. In a multicast or broadcast communication, the network device 110 can transmit a shared channel transmission common to the terminal devices 120, i.e., the shared channel transmission may be intended for all of the terminal devices 120. As used herein, a shared channel may refer to a communication channel between a network device and a terminal device for carrying communication data and sometimes also control information for communication between the network device and the terminal device. In some embodiments, the shared channel may be various PDSCHs defined in the 3GPP specifications. For example, the shared channel transmission common to the terminal devices 120 may be a transmission of an MBS PDSCH defined in 5G NR. More broadly, a shared channel as used herein may refer to any communication channel between two communication devices, as appropriate.

[0035] In order to transmit the shared channel transmission to the terminal device 120 in a more reliable manner, the network device 110 may determine a feedback configuration 105 regarding the shared channel transmission. For example, the feedback configuration 105 may indicate whether a feedback function is enabled or disabled regarding the shared channel transmission. If the feedback function is enabled, the terminal device 120 may need to provide feedback to the network device 110 of whether the shared channel transmission is successfully received by the terminal device 120. If the feedback function is disabled, the terminal device 120 may not need to provide such feedback regarding the shared channel transmission.

[0036] As another exemplary content of the feedback configuration 105, when the feedback function is enabled, the feedback configuration 105 may also indicate a feedback transmission scheme for the terminal device 120 to transmit feedback to the network device 110. For example, the feedback transmission scheme may be the first feedback transmission scheme or the second feedback transmission scheme as described above. In other embodiments, the feedback transmission scheme may be any scheme for transmitting feedback, either currently known or developed in the future. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the first and second feedback transmission schemes refer to the group NACK transmission scheme and the UE-specific ACK / NACK transmission scheme, respectively, but each of the first and second feedback transmission schemes used herein may be a feedback transmission scheme other than the group NACK transmission scheme and the UE-specific ACK / NACK transmission scheme. Furthermore, in addition to feedback enable / disable and feedback transmission scheme, the feedback configuration 105 may also indicate other configuration parameters and settings of the feedback function.

[0037] As further shown in FIG. 1A, after determining the feedback configuration 105, the network device 110 may transmit control information 115 to the terminal device 120. In some embodiments, the control information 115 is configured by the network device 110 to schedule the shared channel transmission to be transmitted to the terminal device 120. In other words, the control information 115 includes scheduling information of the shared channel transmission. The control information 115 is also configured by the network device 110 to indicate the feedback configuration 105 determined by the network device 110 in addition to its scheduling function. In some embodiments, the control information 115 may be DCI defined in 3GPP specifications, e.g., TS 38.212. More broadly, the control information 115 can be any information for a control function, either currently known or developed in the future.

[0038] FIG. 1B illustrates an exemplary scenario of the communication environment 100 following the exemplary scenario illustrated in FIG. 1A. In the exemplary scenario of FIG. 1B, based on the received control information 115, the terminal device 120 has already determined and knows the scheduling information of the shared channel transmission 125 performed by the network device 110 and the feedback configuration 105 regarding the shared channel transmission 125. In such an exemplary scenario, the network device 110 may now transmit the shared channel transmission 125 to the terminal device 120, and the terminal device 120 may receive the shared channel transmission 125 based on the scheduling information of the control information 115. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the shared channel transmission 125 may be a transmission of a multicast and broadcast service (MBS) PDSCH defined in 5G NR. More broadly, the shared channel transmission 125 may be any channel transmission, either currently known or developed in the future.

[0039] FIG. 1C illustrates an example scenario of the communication environment 100 following the example scenario illustrated in FIG. 1B. In the example scenario of FIG. 1C, the terminal device 120 may transmit feedback 135 regarding the shared channel transmission 125 to the network device 110 based on the feedback configuration 105. For example, if the feedback configuration 105 indicates that the feedback function is disabled, the terminal device 120 may receive the shared channel transmission 125 without providing feedback 135. As another example, if the feedback configuration 105 indicates that the feedback function is enabled and also indicates a feedback transmission scheme, the terminal device 120 may generate and transmit the feedback 135 according to the feedback transmission scheme. For example, the terminal device 120 may provide the feedback 135 based on a first or second feedback transmission scheme as described herein. In some embodiments, the feedback 135 may be HARQ-ACK feedback regarding a multicast and broadcast service (MBS) PDSCH defined in 5G NR. More broadly, feedback 135 may be any other feedback information either now known or developed in the future.

[0040] Although the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 are described in the communication environment 100 of Figures 1A-1C, the embodiments of the present disclosure may be similarly applicable to any other suitable communication devices communicating with each other. That is, the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the example scenarios of Figures 1A-1C. In this regard, it is noted that while the network device 110 is generally depicted as a base station and the terminal device 120 is generally depicted as a mobile phone in Figures 1A-1C, these depictions are merely examples that do not imply any limitation. In other embodiments, the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 may be any other communication device, for example, any other wireless communication device.

[0041] It should be understood that the particular numbers of various communication devices, the particular numbers of various communication links, and the particular numbers of other elements shown in Figures 1A-1C are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. Communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of communication devices, any suitable number of communication links, and any suitable number of other elements adapted to implement embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, it will be understood that there may be various wireless and wired communications (if desired) between all of the communication devices.

[0042] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any suitable communications protocol, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), and fifth generation (5G) cellular communications protocols, NR-U, etc., wireless local network communications protocols, such as the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, and / or any other protocols now known or developed in the future. Furthermore, communications may utilize any suitable wireless communications technology, including, but not limited to, code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), and / or any other technology now known or developed in the future.

[0043] Example Process 2 illustrates an example communication process 200 between a network device 110 and a terminal device 120-1, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Although the example communication process 200 is depicted as being performed between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120-1, it should be understood that the example communication process 200 may be similarly performed between the network device 110 and any other of the terminal devices 120. For purposes of discussion, the example communication process 200 is described with reference to FIGS. 1A-1C. However, it will be understood that the example communication process 200 may be similarly applicable to other communication scenarios in which two devices may communicate with each other.

[0044] 2, for the purpose of transmitting the shared channel transmission 125 to the terminal device 120, the network device 110 may determine (210) a feedback configuration 105 regarding the shared channel transmission 125. As described above, the feedback configuration 105 may indicate to the terminal device 120 whether the feedback 135 regarding the shared channel transmission 125 is enabled or disabled. Thus, before transmitting the shared channel transmission 125, the network device 110 may determine whether the feedback 135 regarding the shared channel transmission 125 should be enabled or disabled. Disabling the feedback 135 may mean that the terminal device 120 can receive the shared channel transmission 125 without providing the feedback 135 regarding the shared channel transmission 125. On the other hand, enabling the feedback 135 may mean that the terminal device 120 needs to provide the feedback 135 regarding the shared channel transmission 125, at least depending on, for example, some situations in which the terminal device 120 fails to successfully receive the shared channel transmission 125.

[0045] In some embodiments, the network device 110 may determine whether to enable or disable the feedback 135 based on a service reliability requirement. For example, if the service reliability requirement associated with the shared channel transmission 125 is relatively high, the network device 110 may enable the feedback 135 to improve the reliability of the shared channel transmission 125. Alternatively, if the service reliability requirement associated with the shared channel transmission 125 is relatively low, the network device 110 may alternatively disable the feedback 135 to save transmission resources and power of the terminal device 120. More specifically, if the service reliability requirement is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold requirement, the network device 110 may enable the feedback 135. If the service reliability requirement is lower than the predetermined threshold requirement, the network device 110 may disable the feedback 135. In some other embodiments, the network device 110 may determine whether to enable or disable the feedback 135 based on other possible factors related to communication between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120, such as the battery capacity of the terminal device 120, the received signal quality of the terminal device 120, etc.

[0046] 2, after determining 210 the feedback configuration 105, the network device 110 may generate 220 control information 115 for the shared channel transmission 125. As described, the control information 115 is configured by the network device 110 for both scheduling the shared channel transmission 125 and indicating the feedback configuration 105 for the shared channel transmission 125. In other words, the control information 115 including the scheduling information for the shared channel transmission 125 may be reused to indicate the feedback configuration 105 for the shared channel transmission 125. Thus, it is noted that for scheduling purposes, the control information 115 may include various scheduling information fields for scheduling the shared channel transmission 125.

[0047] For example, in some embodiments, the control information 115 may be in a DCI format defined in a 3GPP specification, such as TS 38.212. In some such embodiments, the control information 115 may include one or more of the following fields or information: a DCI format identifier, a frequency domain resource allocation, a random access preamble index, a UL / SUL indicator, a SS / PBCH index, a PRACH mask index, a time domain resource allocation, a VRB to PRB mapping, a modulation and coding scheme, a new data indicator, a redundancy version, a HARQ process number, a downlink allocation index, a TPC command for a scheduled PUCCH, a PUCCH resource indicator, a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator, and a reserved bit. Definitions and further details of these fields may be found in the 3GPP specifications. In some other embodiments, the control information 115 may be other DCIs having different formats defined in the 3GPP specifications. More broadly, the control information 115 may be any control information for a scheduling function, either currently known or developed in the future.

[0048] In general, there may be various ways for the network device 110 to indicate the feedback configuration 105 in the control information 115. For example, since the control information 115 may include various scheduling information fields for the scheduling function, the network device 110 may reuse a scheduling information field in the control information 115 to either explicitly or implicitly indicate the feedback configuration 105. Alternatively or additionally, in addition to these scheduling information fields, the network device 110 may create a dedicated field in the control information 115 and employ a dedicated field to explicitly indicate the feedback configuration 105. Several embodiments of different ways for the network device 110 to indicate the feedback configuration 105 in the control information 115 are further described below with reference to Figures 3-5.

[0049] After generating (220) the control information 115, the network device 110 may transmit (230) the control information 115 to one or more of the terminal devices 120. That is, in some embodiments, the control information 115 may be transmitted to all of the terminal devices 120 in a multicast or broadcast manner. However, in some other embodiments, the network device 110 may transmit the control information 115 to only a portion of the terminal devices 120 or to only one of the terminal devices 120. For example, the control information 115 can be transmitted separately to different groups of the terminal devices 120 or to individual terminal devices of the terminal devices 120. Without loss of generality, FIG. 2 depicts the network device 110 transmitting (230) the control information 115 to the terminal device 120-1.

[0050] Thus, from the perspective of the receiver of the control information 115, the terminal device 120-1 may receive the control information 115 from the network device 110 (240). Since the network device 110 indicated the feedback configuration 105 in the control information 115, the terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback configuration 105 based on the received control information 115 (250). For example, from the control information 115, the terminal device 120-1 may determine whether the feedback 135 regarding the shared channel transmission 125 is enabled or disabled by the network device 110. It should be understood that the terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback configuration 105 based on the control information 115 (250) in different ways corresponding to the various ways in which the network device 110 indicates the feedback configuration 105 in the control information 115. Several embodiments of various ways for the terminal device 120-1 to determine the feedback configuration 105 based on the control information 115 (250) are further described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.

[0051] After determining 250 the feedback configuration 105, the terminal device 120-1 may perform 260 communication with the network device 110 based on the feedback configuration 105. For example, if the feedback configuration 105 indicates that feedback 135 is disabled by the network device 110, the terminal device 120-1 may receive the shared channel transmission 125 without transmitting feedback 135 to the network device 110. In this manner, resources for transmitting the feedback 135 may be saved, thereby reducing resource overhead in communication between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120. In this case, communication between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120-1 may include the shared channel transmission 125 from the network device 110 to the terminal device 120-1.

[0052] On the other hand, if feedback configuration 105 indicates that feedback 135 is enabled by network device 110, terminal device 120-1 may need to transmit feedback 135 to network device 110. In this situation, communication between network device 110 and terminal device 120-1 may include a shared channel transmission 125 from network device 110 to terminal device 120-1 and a transmission of feedback 135 from terminal device 120-1 to network device 110.

[0053] From the perspective of the communication partner, the network device 110 may also perform (270) communication with the terminal device 120-1 based on the feedback configuration 105. For example, if the feedback 135 is disabled by the network device 110, the network device 110 may transmit the shared channel transmission 125 to the terminal device 120 without receiving the feedback 135 from the terminal device 120, including the terminal device 120-1. On the other hand, if the feedback 135 is enabled by the network device 110, the network device 110 may need to receive the feedback 135 from the terminal device 120, including the terminal device 120-1.

[0054] In some embodiments, if the network device 110 determines that the feedback 135 should be enabled, the network device 110 may further determine a feedback transmission scheme for the terminal device 120 to transmit the feedback 135. Then, the network device 110 may configure the control information 125 to also indicate the feedback transmission scheme. On the terminal device 120-1 side, if the terminal device 120-1 determines from the control information 125 that the feedback 135 is enabled, the terminal device 120-1 may further determine the feedback transmission scheme from the control information 125. Then, the terminal device 120-1 may transmit the feedback 135 to the network device 110 based on the feedback transmission scheme.

[0055] Through the exemplary communication process 200, a mechanism may be introduced that allows the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 to enable or disable feedback in their communication and dynamically switch between different feedback transmission schemes, for example, the first option and the second option mentioned above. In this way, the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 can flexibly enable or disable the feedback function and flexibly adjust the feedback transmission scheme according to the actual communication scenario to realize a good trade-off between the reliability of transmission and the overhead of resources, thereby improving the performance of the communication between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120.

[0056] As mentioned above, there may be various ways for the network device 110 to indicate the feedback configuration 105 in the control information 115. Thus, the terminal device 120-1 may determine 250 the feedback configuration 105 from the control information 115 in different ways corresponding to the various ways for the network device 110 to indicate the feedback configuration 105 in the control information 115. In some embodiments, the network device 110 may reuse the scheduling information field of the control information 115 to either explicitly or implicitly indicate the feedback configuration 105.

[0057] For example, a feedback timing indicator in the control information 115 for indicating the timing of the feedback 135 may also be reused to indicate the feedback configuration 105. In other words, enabling or disabling of the feedback 135 may be based on a newly designed feedback timing indicator compared to a normal feedback timing indicator only for indicating the timing of the feedback 135. In this way, both the feedback configuration 105 and the feedback timing may be indicated by the same feedback timing indicator, thereby reducing the signaling overhead of the control information 115. Such an embodiment is further described below with reference to FIG.

[0058] 3 illustrates an example structure 300 of control information 115 in which a feedback timing indicator 310 is reused to indicate a feedback configuration 105, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the control information 115 of the example structure 300 may include the feedback timing indicator 310, other fields 320 before the feedback timing indicator 310, and other fields 330 after the feedback timing indicator 310. It should be understood that the particular location of the feedback timing indicator 310 is merely an example that does not imply any limitation. In other embodiments, the feedback timing indicator 310 may be located at the beginning or end of the control information 115.

[0059] In some embodiments, the control information 115 of the example structure 300 may be in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the feedback timing indicator 310 may be a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator in the DCI format. A definition and further details of the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator may be found in the 3GPP specifications. More broadly, in some other embodiments, the feedback timing indicator 310 may be any indicator, either currently known or developed in the future, for indicating the timing of feedback.

[0060] 2 and 3, in order to reuse the feedback timing indicator 310 in the control information 115 to indicate the determined (210) feedback configuration 105, the network device 110 may set the feedback timing indicator 310 to indicate the feedback configuration 105 when generating (220) the control information 115. Correspondingly, upon receiving (240) the control information 115, the terminal device 120-1 may determine (250) the feedback configuration 105 based on the feedback timing indicator 310 in the control information 115.

[0061] In some embodiments, the network device 110 may implicitly indicate the feedback configuration 105 using the feedback timing indicator 310. In this manner, the network device 110 does not need to predefine or predetermine a value for the feedback timing indicator 310 to indicate enabling or disabling of the feedback 135, thereby reducing the implementation complexity of the network device 110 and the terminal device 120.

[0062] More specifically, if the network device 110 determines that the feedback 135 should be disabled, the network device 110 may set the feedback timing indicator 310 to have a value indicative of an inapplicable feedback timing value. In other words, the terminal device 120 cannot determine an applicable feedback timing value from the feedback timing indicator 310 and therefore cannot transmit the feedback 135 to the network device 110. Thus, the terminal device 120 may implicitly determine that the feedback 135 is disabled by the network device 110. On the other hand, if the network device 110 determines that the feedback 135 should be enabled, the network device 110 may alternatively set the feedback timing indicator 310 to have a value indicative of an applicable feedback timing value. In other words, the terminal device 120 may determine an applicable feedback timing value from the feedback timing indicator 310 and therefore can transmit the feedback 135 to the network device 110. Thus, the terminal device 120 may implicitly determine that the feedback 135 is enabled by the network device 110.

[0063] In some embodiments, the feedback timing indicator 310 may be a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, the network device 110 may configure a set of HARQ-ACK feedback timing values ​​via radio resource control (RRC) signaling for the terminal device 120-1 to determine the HARQ-ACK feedback timing corresponding to the MBS PDSCH transmission. A non-numeric or negative value (e.g., "-1") may be configured in the set of HARQ-ACK feedback timing values ​​for the network device 110 to disable HARQ-ACK feedback for the MBS PDSCH transmission to implicitly indicate the disablement of feedback 135.

[0064] If network device 110 determines to disable HARQ-ACK feedback for MBS PDSCH transmissions, network device 110 may indicate a non-numeric or negative value by setting a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator in the DCI format to a non-numeric or negative index in the set of HARQ-ACK feedback timing values. If network device 110 determines to enable HARQ-ACK feedback for MBS PDSCH transmissions, network device 110 may indicate a numeric value by setting a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator in the DCI format to a numeric index in the set of HARQ-ACK feedback timing values.

[0065] Table 1 below shows an example of an implicit indication of enabling or disabling of feedback 135 using the feedback timing indicator 310. In some embodiments, Table 1 may be configured by the network device 110 for terminal device 120-1 via RRC signaling.

[0066] [Table 1]

[0067] In the example shown in Table 1 above, it is assumed that the feedback timing indicator 310 includes three bits and can therefore have eight values ​​"000" to "111". For each of the terminal devices 120 (e.g., terminal device 120-1), each of the eight values ​​may indicate a feedback timing value for the terminal device 120-1 to transmit feedback 135 to the network device 110. It should be understood that the specific number of bits, specific feedback timing values, and specific mappings shown in Table 1 are for illustrative purposes only, without implying any limitation. In other embodiments, the feedback timing indicator 310 can have any number of bits, any inapplicable or applicable feedback timing values, and any mapping to enabling or disabling of feedback 135.

[0068] As shown in Table 1, to disable feedback 135, network device 110 may configure the value “000” of feedback timing indicator 310 to indicate an inapplicable feedback timing value (e.g., −1). That is, based on the value “000” of feedback timing indicator 310, terminal device 120-1 may be unable to determine a valid feedback timing value for transmitting feedback 135, and thus may implicitly determine that feedback 135 is disabled by network device 110.

[0069] In contrast, as further shown in Table 1, to enable feedback 135, network device 110 may configure the value "001" of feedback timing indicator 310 to indicate an applicable feedback timing value. That is, based on the value "001" of feedback timing indicator 310, terminal device 120-1 may determine a valid feedback timing value for transmitting feedback 135, and thus may implicitly determine that feedback 135 is enabled by network device 110. Similarly, by setting values ​​"010" to "111" to indicate different feedback timing values, network device 110 may configure values ​​"010" to "111" to implicitly indicate to terminal device 120-1 that feedback 135 is enabled.

[0070] Upon receiving the control information 115 including the feedback timing indicator 310, if the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback timing indicator 310 has a value indicating an inapplicable feedback timing value, the terminal device 120-1 may implicitly determine that the feedback configuration 105 indicates a disabling of the feedback 135. If the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback timing indicator 310 has a value indicating an applicable feedback timing value, the terminal device 120-1 may implicitly determine that the feedback configuration 105 indicates an enabling of the feedback 135.

[0071] In some embodiments, the feedback timing indicator 310 may be a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator of a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, upon receipt of a DCI format for scheduling the MBS PDSCH transmission, if a non-numeric or negative value is indicated by the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator, the terminal device 120-1 may determine disabling of HARQ-ACK feedback for the PDSCH and may not transmit HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to the MBS PDSCH transmission. If a numeric value is indicated by the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator, the terminal device 120-1 may determine enabling of HARQ-ACK feedback for the PDSCH and transmit HARQ-ACK feedback in a slot having an offset of the indicated numeric value relative to the slot in which the DCI format is received.

[0072] Instead of the implicit manner described above, the network device 110 may explicitly indicate the feedback configuration 105 using the feedback timing indicator 310. Thus, enabling or disabling of the feedback 135 may be indicated and determined in a simple and straightforward manner, thereby simplifying the operation of the network device 110 to configure the feedback timing indicator 310 to indicate enabling or disabling of the feedback 135, and also simplifying the operation of the terminal device 120 to decide to enable or disable the feedback 135 based on the feedback timing indicator 310.

[0073] More specifically, if the network device 110 determines that the feedback 135 should be disabled, the network device 110 may set the feedback timing indicator 310 to have a predetermined value, the predetermined value configured to indicate the disabling of the feedback 135. On the other hand, if the network device 110 determines that the feedback 135 should be enabled, the network device 110 may alternatively set the feedback timing indicator 310 to have a value different from the predetermined value, the predetermined value configured to indicate the enabling of the feedback 135.

[0074] In some embodiments, the feedback timing indicator 310 may be a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, one code point of the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator may be reserved to indicate enabling or disabling of HARQ-ACK feedback for the MBS PDSCH. In this case, the set of HARQ-ACK feedback timing values ​​may not include non-numeric or negative values.

[0075] Table 2 below shows an example of an explicit indication of enabling or disabling of feedback 135 using the feedback timing indicator 310. In some embodiments, Table 2 may be configured by the network device 110 for terminal device 120-1 via RRC signaling.

[0076] [Table 2]

[0077] In the example shown in Table 2 above, it is assumed that the feedback timing indicator 310 includes three bits and can therefore have eight values ​​"000" to "111". For each of the terminal devices 120 (e.g., terminal device 120-1), each of the eight values ​​can indicate a feedback timing value for the terminal device 120-1 to transmit feedback 135 to the network device 110. It should be understood that the specific number of bits and the specific mapping shown in Table 2 are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. In other embodiments, the feedback timing indicator 310 can have any number of bits and any mapping to enabling or disabling of feedback 135.

[0078] As shown in Table 2, the network device 110 may configure the value "111" to be a predetermined value to indicate disabling of the feedback 135. Thus, to disable the feedback 135, the network device 110 may configure the feedback timing indicator 310 to have the predetermined value 111. In contrast, as further shown in Table 2, to enable the feedback 135, the network device 110 may configure the feedback timing indicator 310 to have a value different from the predetermined value 111, e.g., one of the values ​​"000" to "110."

[0079] Upon receiving the control information 115 including the feedback timing indicator 310, if the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback timing indicator 310 has a predetermined value (e.g., “111”), the terminal device 120-1 may explicitly determine that the feedback configuration 105 indicates a disablement of the feedback 135. If the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback timing indicator 310 has a value different from the predetermined value (e.g., one of the values ​​“000” to “110”), the terminal device 120-1 may explicitly determine that the feedback configuration 105 indicates an enablement of the feedback 135.

[0080] In some embodiments, the feedback timing indicator 310 may be a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, if a reserved code point (e.g., "111") of the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator is indicated by the DCI format, the terminal device 120-1 may determine to disable HARQ-ACK feedback for the PDSCH. If a code point other than the reserved code point (e.g., one of the values ​​"000" to "110") of the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator is indicated by the DCI format, the terminal device 120-1 may determine to enable HARQ-ACK feedback for the PDSCH.

[0081] Instead of reusing the feedback timing indicator 310 to indicate the feedback configuration 105, the feedback resource indicator in the control information 115 for indicating the resource for transmitting the feedback 135 can be reused to also indicate the feedback configuration 105. In other words, enabling or disabling the feedback 135 can be based on a newly designed feedback resource indicator compared to a normal feedback resource indicator only for indicating the resource for transmitting the feedback 135. In this way, both the feedback configuration 105 and the resource for transmitting the feedback 135 can be indicated by the same feedback resource indicator, thereby reducing the signaling overhead of the control information 115. Such an embodiment will be further described below with reference to FIG. 4.

[0082] 4 illustrates an example structure 400 of control information 115 in which a feedback resource indicator 410 is reused to indicate a feedback configuration 105, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the control information 115 of the example structure 400 may include the feedback resource indicator 410, other fields 420 before the feedback resource indicator 410, and other fields 430 after the feedback resource indicator 410. It should be understood that the particular location of the feedback resource indicator 410 is merely an example that does not imply any limitation. In other embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 may be located at the beginning or end of the control information 115.

[0083] In some embodiments, the control information 115 of the example structure 400 may be in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the feedback resource indicator 410 may be a PUCCH resource indicator in the DCI format. A definition and further details of the PUCCH resource indicator may be found in the 3GPP specifications. More broadly, in some other embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 may be any indicator, either currently known or developed in the future, for indicating a resource for transmitting feedback.

[0084] 2 and 4, in order to reuse the feedback resource indicator 410 in the control information 115 to indicate the determined (210) feedback configuration 105, the network device 110 may set the feedback resource indicator 410 to indicate the feedback configuration 105 when generating (220) the control information 115. Correspondingly, upon receiving (240) the control information 115, the terminal device 120-1 may determine (250) the feedback configuration 105 based on the feedback resource indicator 410 in the control information 115.

[0085] In some embodiments, the network device 110 may implicitly indicate the feedback configuration 105 using the feedback resource indicator 410. In this manner, the network device 110 does not need to predefine or predetermine a value for the feedback resource indicator 410 to indicate enabling or disabling of the feedback 135, thereby reducing the implementation complexity of the network device 110 and the terminal device 120.

[0086] More specifically, if the network device 110 determines that the feedback 135 should be disabled, the network device 110 may set the feedback resource indicator 410 to have a value indicative of an inapplicable resource. In other words, the terminal device 120 cannot determine an applicable resource from the feedback resource indicator 410 and therefore cannot send the feedback 135 to the network device 110. Thus, the terminal device 120 may implicitly determine that the feedback 135 is disabled by the network device 110. On the other hand, if the network device 110 determines that the feedback 135 should be enabled, the network device 110 may alternatively set the feedback resource indicator 410 to have a value indicative of an applicable resource. In other words, the terminal device 120 may determine an applicable resource from the feedback resource indicator 410 and therefore can send the feedback 135 to the network device 110. Thus, the terminal device 120 may implicitly determine that the feedback 135 is enabled by the network device 110.

[0087] In some embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 may be a PUCCH resource indicator in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, the set of PUCCH resources may be configured by RRC signaling and may include non-applicable PUCCH resources for disabling HARQ-ACK feedback. For PUCCH resources for which terminal device 120-1 is configured to transmit HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to an MBS PDSCH transmission, the non-applicable PUCCH resources may be configured by network device 110 to disable HARQ-ACK feedback for the MBS PDSCH transmission. For example, the inapplicable PUCCH resource may be configured with only a PUCCH resource index without other parameters, or with inapplicable frequency domain resource information (e.g., setting the starting PRB index to a negative value or setting the number of PRBs to zero or a negative value), or with inapplicable time domain resource information (e.g., setting the starting symbol index to a negative value or setting the number of symbols to zero or a negative value), or with inapplicable code domain resource information (e.g., setting the cyclic shift index and / or the OCC index to a negative value). Based on such possible configurations, terminal device 120-1 may not identify a valid PUCCH resource for transmitting HARQ-ACK feedback.

[0088] If network device 110 determines to disable HARQ-ACK feedback for MBS PDSCH transmission, network device 110 may indicate inapplicable PUCCH resources by setting a PUCCH resource indicator in DCI format to an index of the inapplicable PUCCH resource in the set of PUCCH resources. If network device 110 determines to enable HARQ-ACK feedback for MBS PDSCH transmission, network device 110 may indicate applicable PUCCH resources by setting a PUCCH resource indicator in DCI format to an index of the applicable PUCCH resource in the set of PUCCH resources.

[0089] Table 3 below shows an example of an implicit indication of enabling or disabling of feedback 135 using the feedback resource indicator 410. In some embodiments, Table 3 may be configured by network device 110 for terminal device 120-1 via RRC signaling.

[0090] [Table 3]

[0091] In the example shown in Table 3 above, it is assumed that the feedback resource indicator 410 includes three bits and can therefore have eight values ​​"000" to "111". For each of the terminal devices 120 (e.g., terminal device 120-1), each of the eight values ​​may indicate a resource for the terminal device 120-1 to transmit feedback 135 to the network device 110. It should be understood that the specific number of bits, specific feedback resources, and specific mappings shown in Table 3 are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. In other embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 can have any number of bits, any inapplicable or applicable feedback resources, and any mapping to enabling or disabling of feedback 135.

[0092] As shown in Table 3, to disable feedback 135, network device 110 may configure the value of feedback resource indicator 410 to be “000” to indicate an inapplicable resource. That is, based on the value of feedback resource indicator 410 being “000”, terminal device 120-1 may be unable to determine a valid resource for transmitting feedback 135, and thus may implicitly determine that feedback 135 is disabled by network device 110.

[0093] In contrast, as further shown in Table 3, to enable feedback 135, network device 110 may configure the value "001" of feedback resource indicator 410 to indicate applicable resources. That is, based on the value "001" of feedback resource indicator 410, terminal device 120-1 may determine valid resources for transmitting feedback 135, and thus may implicitly determine that feedback 135 is enabled by network device 110. Similarly, by setting values ​​"010" to "111" to indicate different applicable resources, network device 110 may configure values ​​"010" to "111" to implicitly indicate to terminal device 120-1 that feedback 135 is enabled.

[0094] Upon receiving the control information 115 including the feedback resource indicator 410, if the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback resource indicator 410 has a value indicating an inapplicable resource, the terminal device 120-1 may implicitly determine that the feedback configuration 105 indicates a disablement of the feedback 135. If the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback resource indicator 410 has a value indicating an applicable resource, the terminal device 120-1 may implicitly determine that the feedback configuration 105 indicates an enablement of the feedback 135.

[0095] In some embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 may be a PUCCH resource indicator in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, upon receipt of the DCI format for scheduling the MBS PDSCH, if an inapplicable PUCCH resource is indicated, the terminal device 120-1 may not transmit HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to the MBS PDSCH. If one applicable PUCCH resource is indicated, the terminal device 120-1 may transmit HARQ-ACK feedback in the PUCCH resource.

[0096] Instead of the implicit manner described above, the network device 110 may explicitly indicate the feedback configuration 105 using the feedback resource indicator 410. Thus, enabling or disabling of the feedback 135 may be indicated and determined in a simple and straightforward manner, thereby simplifying the operation of the network device 110 to configure the feedback resource indicator 410 to indicate enabling or disabling of the feedback 135, and also simplifying the operation of the terminal device 120 to determine enabling or disabling of the feedback 135 based on the feedback resource indicator 410.

[0097] More specifically, if the network device 110 determines that feedback 135 should be disabled, the network device 110 may set the feedback resource indicator 410 to have a predetermined value, the predetermined value configured to indicate the disabling of feedback 135. On the other hand, if the network device 110 determines that feedback 135 should be enabled, the network device 110 may alternatively set the feedback resource indicator 410 to have a value different from the predetermined value, the predetermined value configured to indicate the enabling of feedback 135.

[0098] In some embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 may be a PUCCH resource indicator in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, one code point of the PUCCH resource indicator may be reserved to indicate enabling or disabling of HARQ-ACK feedback for the MBS PDSCH. In this case, the set of PUCCH resources may not include inapplicable PUCCH resources.

[0099] Table 4 below shows an example of an explicit indication of enabling or disabling of feedback 135 using feedback resource indicator 410. In some embodiments, Table 4 may be configured by network device 110 for terminal device 120-1 via RRC signaling.

[0100] [Table 4]

[0101] In the example shown in Table 4 above, it is assumed that the feedback resource indicator 410 includes three bits and can therefore have eight values ​​"000" to "111". For each of the terminal devices 120 (e.g., terminal device 120-1), each of the eight values ​​can indicate a resource for the terminal device 120-1 to transmit feedback 135 to the network device 110. It should be understood that the specific number of bits and the specific mapping shown in Table 4 are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. In other embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 can have any number of bits and any mapping to enabling or disabling of feedback 135.

[0102] As shown in Table 4, the network device 110 may configure the value "111" to be a predetermined value to indicate disabling of the feedback 135. Thus, to disable the feedback 135, the network device 110 may configure the feedback resource indicator 410 to have the predetermined value 111. In contrast, as further shown in Table 4, to enable the feedback 135, the network device 110 may configure the feedback resource indicator 410 to have a value different from the predetermined value 111, e.g., one of the values ​​"000" to "110."

[0103] Upon receiving the control information 115 including the feedback resource indicator 410, if the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback resource indicator 410 has a predefined value (e.g., “111”), the terminal device 120-1 may explicitly determine that the feedback configuration 105 indicates a disablement of the feedback 135. If the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback resource indicator 410 has a value different from the predefined value (e.g., one of the values ​​“000” to “110”), the terminal device 120-1 may explicitly determine that the feedback configuration 105 indicates an enablement of the feedback 135.

[0104] In some embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 may be a PUCCH resource indicator in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, if a reserved code point (e.g., "111") of the PUCCH resource indicator is indicated by the DCI format, the terminal device 120-1 may determine to disable HARQ-ACK feedback for the PDSCH. If a code point other than the reserved code point (e.g., one of the values ​​"000" to "110") of the PUCCH resource indicator is indicated by the DCI format, the terminal device 120-1 may determine to enable HARQ-ACK feedback for the PDSCH.

[0105] Above, some embodiments are described in which the scheduling information field of the control information 115 is reused to indicate the feedback configuration 105. In the following, some embodiments are described with reference to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B in which a dedicated field of the control information 115 is used to indicate the feedback configuration 105. In other words, the dedicated field is specially designed and configured to indicate the feedback configuration 105. For example, the enabling or disabling of the feedback 135 may be based on a newly introduced field (or bit) of the control information 115. In this way, the enabling or disabling of the feedback 135 is indicated and determined in a simple and straightforward manner by the dedicated field, thereby simplifying the operation of the network device 110 to indicate the enabling or disabling of the feedback 135, and also simplifying the operation of the terminal device 120 to determine the enabling or disabling of the feedback 135. Such an embodiment is further described below with reference to FIG. 5A.

[0106] 5A illustrates an example information structure 500 of the control information 115 in which a dedicated field 510 is used to indicate the feedback configuration 105, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 5A, the control information 115 of the example structure 500 may include the dedicated field 510, other fields 520 before the dedicated field 510, and other fields 530 after the dedicated field 510. It should be understood that the particular location of the dedicated field 510 is merely an example that does not imply any limitation. In other embodiments, the dedicated field 510 may be located at the beginning or end of the control information 115.

[0107] 2 and 5A, to use a dedicated field 510 in the control information 115 to indicate the determined (210) feedback configuration 105, the network device 110 may set the dedicated field 510 to indicate the feedback configuration 105 when generating (220) the control information 115. Correspondingly, upon receiving (240) the control information 115, the terminal device 120-1 may determine (250) the feedback configuration 105 based on the dedicated field 510 in the control information 115.

[0108] In some embodiments, enabling or disabling of feedback 135 may be indicated by one bit in a dedicated field 510. In this way, signaling overhead for indicating enabling or disabling of feedback 135 may be minimized. Such an embodiment is further described below with reference to FIG. 5B.

[0109] 5B illustrates an example structure of the dedicated field 510 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 5B, the dedicated field 510 of the example structure may include a first bit 512 to indicate whether the feedback 135 is enabled or disabled. In some embodiments, the dedicated field 510 of the example structure may also include a second bit 514 to indicate another setting of the feedback 135. It should be understood that the particular location of the first bit 512 is merely an example that does not imply any limitation. In other embodiments, the first bit 512 may be located after the second bit 514. In some further embodiments, the dedicated field 510 of the example structure may have an additional bit to indicate an additional setting of the feedback 135.

[0110] When setting the dedicated field 510 to indicate enabling or disabling of the feedback 135, if the network device 110 determines that the feedback 135 should be disabled, the network device 110 may set the first bit 512 of the dedicated field 510 to have a first value, e.g., one of "0" and "1". The first value is configured to indicate disabling of the feedback 135. On the other hand, if the network device 110 determines that the feedback 135 should be enabled, the network device 110 may set the first bit 512 to have a second value, e.g., the other one of "0" and "1". The second value is configured to indicate enabling of the feedback 135.

[0111] At the receiving end of the control information 115 including the dedicated field 510, if the terminal device 120-1 determines that the first bit 512 of the dedicated field 510 has a first value, the terminal device 120-1 may explicitly determine that the feedback configuration 105 indicates a disablement of the feedback 135. If the terminal device 120-1 determines that the first bit 512 has a second value, the terminal device 120-1 may explicitly determine that the feedback configuration 105 indicates an enablement of the feedback 135.

[0112] In some embodiments, the control information 115 of the example structure 500 may be in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, a bit in the DCI format that schedules the MBS PDSCH may be introduced to enable or disable HARQ-ACK feedback for the MBS PDSCH transmission. For example, a bit "1" may indicate that the terminal device 120-1 transmits HARQ-ACK feedback, while a bit "0" may indicate that the terminal device 120-1 does not transmit HARQ-ACK feedback, or vice versa.

[0113] At the receiving side of the DCI format, the terminal device 120-1 may determine enabling or disabling of HARQ-ACK feedback for the PDSCH based on a bit of the DCI format. For example, upon receiving a DCI format for scheduling the MBS PDSCH, if the bit indicates that HARQ-ACK feedback for the MBS PDSCH is disabled, the UE may not transmit HARQ-ACK feedback. If the bit indicates that HARQ-ACK feedback for the MBS PDSCH is enabled, the UE may transmit HARQ-ACK feedback.

[0114] Instead of using one bit of the dedicated field 510 to indicate whether the feedback 135 is enabled or disabled, a predefined value of the entire dedicated field 510 may be used to indicate the disablement of the feedback 135. In other words, if the dedicated field 510 has a predefined value, it means that the feedback 135 is disabled. Otherwise, if the dedicated field 510 has a value different from the predefined value, it means that the feedback 135 is enabled. In this way, the enablement or disablement of the feedback 135 is jointly coded together with other feedback configuration information indicated by the dedicated field 510, thereby minimizing the bit overhead of the entire dedicated field 510. For example, the enablement or disablement of the feedback 135 and an indication of the feedback transmission scheme can be jointly coded in the dedicated field 510, which will be further described hereinafter.

[0115] More specifically, if the network device 110 determines that the feedback 135 should be disabled, the network device 110 may set the dedicated field 510 to have a predefined value, the predefined value configured to indicate the disabled feedback 135. On the other hand, if the network device 110 determines that the feedback 135 should be enabled, the network device 110 may set the dedicated field 510 to have a value different from the predefined value, the value different from the predefined value configured to indicate the enabled feedback 135.

[0116] Table 5 below shows an example of an explicit indication of enabling or disabling of feedback 135 using an entire dedicated field 510. In some embodiments, Table 5 may be configured by network device 110 for terminal device 120-1 via RRC signaling.

[0117] [Table 5]

[0118] In the example shown in Table 5 above, it is assumed that the dedicated field 510 includes two bits and can therefore have four values, "00" to "11". As shown in Table 5, the network device 110 can configure the value "11" to be a predefined value to indicate disabling of the feedback 135. Thus, to disable the feedback 135, the network device 110 can configure the dedicated field 510 to have the predefined value 11.

[0119] In contrast, as further shown in Table 5, to enable feedback 135, the network device 110 can configure the dedicated field 510 to have a value different from the predetermined value 11, for example, one of the values ​​"00" to "10". It is further noted that the various values ​​"00" to "10" indicating the enablement of feedback 135 can be further used to indicate other aspects of the feedback configuration 105. It should be understood that the specific number of bits and the specific mapping shown in Table 5 are for illustrative purposes only, without implying any limitation. In other embodiments, the dedicated field 510 can have any number of bits and any mapping to enablement or disablement of feedback 135.

[0120] At the receiving end of the control information 115 including the dedicated field 510, if the terminal device 120-1 determines that the dedicated field 510 in the control information 115 has a predefined value (e.g., "11"), the terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration 105 indicates a disablement of the feedback 135. Alternatively, if the terminal device 120-1 determines that the dedicated field 510 in the control information 115 has a value different from the predefined value (e.g., one of the values ​​"00" to "10"), the terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration 105 indicates an enablement of the feedback 135.

[0121] Above, some embodiments are described in which the feedback configuration 105 indicates whether the feedback 135 is enabled or disabled. Below, some other embodiments are described in which the feedback configuration 105 can also indicate other configurations of the feedback 135. For example, if the feedback 135 is enabled, the feedback configuration 105 can further indicate a feedback transmission scheme for the terminal device 120 to transmit the feedback 135 to the network device 110. For example, the feedback transmission scheme can be the first feedback transmission scheme or the second feedback transmission scheme, as described above. More broadly, the feedback transmission scheme can be any scheme for transmitting feedback, either currently known or developed in the future.

[0122] In some embodiments, referring back to FIG. 2, when determining 210 the feedback configuration 105, if the network device 110 determines that the feedback 135 should be enabled, the network device 110 may further determine a feedback transmission scheme based on the number of terminal devices 120. For example, if the number of terminal devices 120 is relatively small, it is better to adopt the second feedback transmission scheme, otherwise it is better to adopt the first feedback transmission scheme. Additionally or alternatively, if the resource overhead for transmitting the feedback 135 is acceptable, it is better to adopt the second feedback transmission scheme, otherwise it is better to adopt the first feedback transmission scheme. Additionally or alternatively, if the reliability requirement of the shared channel transmission 125 is relatively high, it is better to adopt the second feedback transmission scheme, otherwise it is better to adopt the first feedback transmission scheme. Therefore, the network device 110 can flexibly adjust the feedback transmission scheme based on the number of terminal devices 120 (e.g., UEs in connected mode) or other possible factors to reach a good trade-off between transmission reliability and resource overhead.

[0123] After determining the feedback transmission scheme, the network device 110 may configure the feedback configuration 105 to indicate the feedback transmission scheme. Thus, enabling or disabling of the feedback 135 and the feedback transmission scheme are indicated together in the feedback configuration 105, which may simplify indicating multiple feedback settings of the feedback 135 in the feedback configuration 105 and further determining multiple feedback settings of the feedback 135 within the feedback configuration 105.

[0124] There may be various ways for the network device 110 to indicate the feedback transmission scheme in the control information 115. For example, the feedback timing indicator 310, the feedback resource indicator 410, or a dedicated field 510 in the control information 115 may be used to indicate the feedback transmission scheme. Thus, upon receiving the control information 115, the terminal device 120-1 can determine the feedback transmission scheme from the control information 115 in different ways corresponding to the various ways for the network device 110 to indicate the feedback transmission scheme in the control information 115. Some embodiments of the different ways for the network device 110 to indicate the feedback transmission scheme in the control information 115 and the corresponding ways for the terminal device 120-1 to determine the feedback transmission scheme from the control information 115 will be further described hereinafter with reference to Figures 3 to 5.

[0125] 2, in some embodiments, when performing (260) communication based on the feedback configuration 105, if the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback configuration 105 indicates enabling of the feedback 135, the terminal device 120-1 may further determine a feedback transmission scheme indicated by the feedback configuration 105. Then, the terminal device 120-1 may transmit the feedback 135 to the network device 110 based on the feedback transmission scheme. Thus, the terminal device 120-1 may transmit the feedback 135 in a manner indicated by the network device 110, thereby achieving a good trade-off between the reliability of the transmission and the resource overhead.

[0126] In some embodiments, the feedback transmission scheme indicated by the feedback configuration 105 may be a first feedback transmission scheme, for example, a group NACK transmission scheme. Then, the terminal device 120-1 may transmit the feedback 135 to the network device 110 according to the group NACK transmission scheme. For example, if the terminal device 120-1 fails to receive the shared channel transmission 125, the terminal device 120-1 may transmit a negative feedback (e.g., a NACK) to the network device 110 using resources common to the terminal devices 120. On the other hand, if the terminal device 120-1 successfully receives the shared channel transmission 125, the terminal device 120-1 may not transmit the feedback 135 (e.g., an ACK) to the network device 110. In this way, the terminal device 120-1 can only transmit a negative feedback using common resources when the reception of the shared channel transmission 125 is unsuccessful, and the transmission of a positive feedback is avoided, thereby reducing the resource overhead for transmitting the feedback 135.

[0127] In some embodiments, the feedback transmission scheme indicated by the feedback configuration 105 may be a second feedback transmission scheme, for example, a UE-specific ACK / NACK transmission scheme. The terminal device 120-1 may then transmit the feedback 135 to the network device 110 according to the UE-specific ACK / NACK transmission scheme. For example, if the terminal device 120-1 successfully receives the shared channel transmission 125, the terminal device 120-1 may transmit a positive feedback (e.g., an ACK) to the network device 110 using resources specific to the terminal device 120-1. If the terminal device 120-1 fails to receive the shared channel transmission 125, the terminal device 120-1 may transmit a negative feedback (e.g., a NACK) to the network device 110 using resources specific to the terminal device 120-1. In this way, the reliability of the shared channel transmission 125 may be maximized.

[0128] As mentioned above, there may be various ways for the network device 110 to indicate the feedback transmission scheme in the control information 115. Thus, the terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback transmission scheme from the control information 115 in different ways corresponding to the various ways for the network device 110 to indicate the feedback configuration 105 in the control information 115. Such embodiments are further described below with reference to Figures 3 to 5.

[0129] 3, as an exemplary way to indicate the feedback transmission scheme, the control information 115 has an exemplary information structure 300, and the feedback configuration 105 is indicated by a feedback timing indicator 310 in the control information 115. Thus, the feedback timing indicator 310 in the control information 115 can be reused to indicate the feedback transmission scheme as well. In other words, the dynamic switching between different feedback transmission schemes can be based on a newly designed feedback timing indicator compared to the normal feedback timing indicator only for indicating the timing of the feedback 135.

[0130] In this case, to configure the feedback configuration 105 (indicated by the feedback timing indicator 310) to indicate a feedback transmission scheme, the network device 110 may configure a predefined association between an index of the feedback timing value and the feedback transmission scheme. In this way, each of the indices of the feedback timing value may indicate both a feedback timing value and a corresponding feedback transmission scheme, and thus a dedicated indication for the feedback transmission scheme may be avoided, thereby reducing the signaling overhead of the control information 115. Table 6 below shows an example of such an association between an index of the feedback timing value and the feedback transmission scheme. In some embodiments, Table 6 may be configured by the network device 110 for the terminal device 120-1 via RRC signaling.

[0131] [Table 6]

[0132] In the example of Table 6 above, it is assumed that the feedback timing indicator 310 includes 3 bits and can therefore have eight values ​​"000" to "111". Different values ​​of the feedback timing indicator 310 may be mapped to various indices of different feedback timing values. As shown in Table 6, each applicable timing value index is associated with a feedback transmission scheme. For example, each numerical HARQ-ACK feedback timing value included in a set of HARQ-ACK feedback timing values ​​is associated with a HARQ-ACK feedback option. In this way, the network device 110 can explicitly indicate a feedback transmission scheme by setting the value of the feedback timing indicator 310 to indicate the corresponding index of the applicable timing value.

[0133] For example, according to Table 6, the network device 110 may determine an index of the feedback timing value based on a predefined association between an index of the feedback timing value and a feedback transmission scheme. The network device 110 may then set the feedback timing indicator 310 to indicate the index of the feedback timing value. In some embodiments, the feedback timing indicator 310 may be a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, a set of HARQ-ACK feedback timing values ​​may be configured with additional information regarding option 1 or option 2 to the terminal device 120-1 to dynamically indicate either option 1 or option 2 for HARQ-ACK feedback for the MBS PDSCH transmission.

[0134] At the receiving end of the control information 115, the terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback configuration 105 based on the feedback timing indicator 310 in the control information 115, where the feedback configuration 105 indicates the enablement of the feedback 135. In this case, the terminal device 120-1 may determine an index of the feedback timing value from the feedback timing indicator 310. Then, the terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback transmission scheme based on a predefined association between the index of the feedback timing value and the feedback transmission scheme. For example, in Table 6 above, if the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback timing indicator 310 indicates an index 4 of the feedback timing value, the terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback transmission scheme is the first feedback transmission scheme.

[0135] In some embodiments, the feedback timing indicator 310 may be a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator of a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, the HARQ-ACK feedback option may be determined based on a HARQ-ACK feedback option associated with a numerical HARQ-ACK feedback timing value indicated by the DCI format. More specifically, upon reception of one DCI format for scheduling the MBS PDSCH, if a numerical value is indicated by the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator of the DCI format, the terminal device 120 may employ a HARQ-ACK feedback option associated with the numerical value and transmit a HARQ-ACK based on the indicated option in a slot with the indicated numerical offset relative to the slot in which the DCI format is received.

[0136] It should be understood that the specific number of bits, the specific feedback timing values, the specific indexes, and the specific mappings shown in Table 6 are for illustrative purposes only without implying any limitations. In other embodiments, the feedback timing indicator 310 can have any number of bits, any inapplicable or applicable feedback timing values, any indexes, and any mapping to enabling or disabling of feedback 135. Furthermore, it is noted that there may be the same applicable timing values ​​with different indexes that are mapped to different feedback transmission schemes. For example, in Table 6 above, indexes 2 and 3 may both be mapped to applicable timing value "+2" but mapped to different feedback transmission schemes. Similarly, indexes 4 and 5 may both be mapped to applicable timing value "+3" but mapped to different feedback transmission schemes. Furthermore, indexes 6 and 7 may both be mapped to applicable timing value "+4" but mapped to different feedback transmission schemes.

[0137] As another exemplary way to indicate the feedback transmission scheme, referring again to Fig. 4, the control information 115 has an exemplary information structure 400, and the feedback configuration 105 is indicated by a feedback resource indicator 410 in the control information 115. Thus, the feedback resource indicator 410 in the control information 115 may be reused to indicate the feedback transmission scheme as well. In other words, the dynamic switching between different feedback transmission schemes may be based on a newly designed feedback resource indicator compared to a normal feedback resource indicator only for indicating resources for transmitting the feedback 135.

[0138] In this case, to configure the feedback configuration 105 (indicated by the feedback resource indicator 410) to indicate the feedback transmission scheme, the network device 110 may configure a predefined association between feedback resource indexes and the feedback transmission scheme. In this way, each of the feedback resource indexes may indicate both a feedback resource and a corresponding feedback transmission scheme, and thus a dedicated indication for the feedback transmission scheme may be avoided, thereby reducing the signaling overhead of the control information 115. Table 7 below shows an example of such an association between feedback resource indexes and feedback transmission schemes. In some embodiments, Table 7 may be configured by the network device 110 for the terminal device 120-1 via RRC signaling.

[0139] [Table 7]

[0140] In the example of Table 7 above, it is assumed that the feedback resource indicator 410 includes 3 bits and can therefore have eight values ​​"000" to "111". Different values ​​of the feedback resource indicator 410 may be mapped to various indices of different feedback resources. As shown in Table 7, an index of each applicable resource is associated with a feedback transmission scheme. For example, each applicable PUCCH resource in a set of PUCCH resources is configured with an associated HARQ-ACK feedback option. In this way, the network device 110 can explicitly indicate a feedback transmission scheme by setting a value of the feedback resource indicator 410 to indicate a corresponding index of an applicable feedback resource.

[0141] For example, according to Table 7, the network device 110 may determine the index of the feedback resource based on a predefined association between the index of the feedback resource and the feedback transmission scheme. The network device 110 may then set the feedback resource indicator 410 to indicate the index of the feedback resource. In some embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 may be a PUCCH resource indicator in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, to dynamically indicate either option 1 or option 2 for HARQ-ACK feedback for the MBS PDSCH transmission, each of the set of applicable PUCCH resources may be configured with additional information regarding option 1 or option 2 to the terminal device 120-1. For example, an element regarding either option 1 or option 2 may be included in the PUCCH resource configured by RRC.

[0142] At the receiving end of the control information 115, the terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback configuration 105 based on the feedback resource indicator 410 in the control information 115, where the feedback configuration 105 indicates the enablement of the feedback 135. In this case, the terminal device 120-1 may determine an index of a resource for the feedback 135 from the feedback resource indicator 410. Then, the terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback transmission scheme based on a predefined association between the index of the resource and the feedback transmission scheme. For example, in Table 7 above, if the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback resource indicator 410 indicates feedback resource index 4, the terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback transmission scheme is the first feedback transmission scheme.

[0143] In some embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 may be a PUCCH resource indicator in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, the HARQ-ACK feedback option may be determined based on the HARQ-ACK feedback option associated with the applicable PUCCH resource indicated by the DCI format. More specifically, upon receipt of the DCI for scheduling the MBS PDSCH, if one applicable PUCCH resource is indicated, the terminal device 120-1 may employ the HARQ-ACK feedback option specified with the applicable PUCCH resource.

[0144] It should be understood that the specific number of bits, specific feedback resources, specific indexes, and specific mappings shown in Table 7 are for illustrative purposes only without implying any limitations. In other embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 can have any number of bits, any inapplicable or applicable feedback resource, any index, and any mapping to enabling or disabling of feedback 135. Furthermore, it is noted that there may be the same applicable resource with different indexes that are mapped to different feedback transmission schemes.

[0145] Instead of the above explicit way for the feedback resource indicator 410 to indicate the feedback transmission scheme, the feedback resource indicator 410 may indicate the feedback transmission scheme in an implicit way. In particular, in some embodiments, the terminal device 120 uses a common resource to transmit the feedback 135 in a first feedback transmission scheme, while the terminal device 120 uses a respective UE-specific resource to transmit the feedback 135 in a second feedback transmission scheme. For example, the first feedback transmission scheme may be a group NACK transmission scheme (i.e., option 1), and the second feedback transmission scheme may be a UE-specific ACK / NACK transmission scheme (i.e., option 2).

[0146] For option 1, group-common PUCCH resources for NACK-only transmissions are configured for a group of UEs by UE-dedicated RRC signaling and shared by the group of UEs. Since each PUCCH resource is defined with a unique PUCCH resource index, such group-common PUCCH resources are defined with the same index for each UE of the group. For example, when configuring group-common PUCCH resources for each UE, the gNB configures the same index 0 of the resource for each UE. For option 2, UE-specific PUCCH resources for either ACK or NACK transmissions are configured by UE-dedicated RRC signaling. For one UE, the PUCCH resource index for option 2 may be defined to be the same or different from the PUCCH resource index of other UEs in the same group.

[0147] It can be seen that in these embodiments, the first and second feedback transmission schemes may be distinguished by whether a common resource is to be used by the terminal device 120. In this case, to configure the feedback configuration 105 (indicated by the feedback resource indicator 410) to indicate the first feedback transmission scheme, the network device 110 may configure the feedback resource indicator 410 to indicate a common resource for the terminal device 120 to transmit the feedback 135. To configure the feedback configuration 105 (indicated by the feedback resource indicator 410) to indicate the second feedback transmission scheme, the network device 110 may configure the feedback resource indicator 410 to indicate a resource other than the common resource. In this way, one of the first and second feedback transmission schemes may be implicitly indicated by the feedback resource indicator 410, and thus a dedicated indication for the feedback transmission scheme may be avoided, thereby reducing the signaling overhead of the control information 115. Table 8 below shows an example of such an implicit indication of the feedback transmission scheme using the feedback resource indicator. In some embodiments, Table 8 may be configured by network device 110 for terminal device 120-1 via RRC signaling.

[0148] [Table 8]

[0149] In the example of Table 8 above, it is assumed that the feedback resource indicator 410 includes 3 bits and can therefore have eight values ​​"000" to "111". As shown in Table 8, different values ​​of the feedback resource indicator 410 can be mapped to common resources or UE-specific resources. The common resources implicitly indicate a first feedback transmission scheme, and the UE-specific resources indicate a second feedback transmission scheme. In an embodiment of an MBS service in 5G NR, a set of PUCCH resources may be configured with the same index between each set of PUCCH resources of each UE of the multiple UEs and may include a common PUCCH resource shared by the multiple UEs. In this way, the network device 110 can implicitly indicate the feedback transmission scheme by setting the value of the feedback resource indicator 410 to indicate a common resource or a UE-specific resource. For example, according to Table 8, the network device 110 may set the feedback resource indicator 410 to indicate the common resource of the terminal device 120 based on the feedback transmission scheme, more specifically, when the feedback transmission scheme is the first feedback transmission.

[0150] At the receiving side of the control information 115, the terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback configuration 105 based on the feedback resource indicator 410 in the control information 115, where the feedback configuration 105 indicates the enablement of the feedback 135. In this case, the terminal device 120-1 may determine whether the feedback resource indicator 410 indicates a common resource for the terminal device 120 to transmit the feedback 135 regarding the shared channel transmission 125. Then, the terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback transmission scheme based on the result of the determination. For example, in Table 8 above, if the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback resource indicator 410 indicates a common resource, the terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback transmission scheme is the first feedback transmission scheme. Otherwise, if the terminal device 120-1 determines that the feedback resource indicator 410 indicates a UE-specific resource, the terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback transmission scheme is the second feedback transmission scheme.

[0151] In some embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 may be a PUCCH resource indicator in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, if the DCI format indicates a common PUCCH resource, the terminal device 120-1 may decide to employ option 1. If the DCI format indicates an applicable PUCCH resource other than the common PUCCH resource, the terminal device 120-1 may decide to employ option 2.

[0152] More specifically, if the PUCCH resource indicator in the DCI format scheduling the MBS PDSCH indicates an index of a PUCCH resource common to the group, for example, index 0, it suggests to the terminal devices 120 that HARQ-ACK feedback option 1 should be adopted, and then each of the terminal devices 120 may transmit a NACK on PUCCH resource 0 if the MBS PDSCH is not successfully decoded by the terminal device. Otherwise, if the MBS PDSCH is successfully decoded by the terminal device, the terminal device does not transmit anything on PUCCH resource 0. If the PUCCH resource indicator in the DCI format scheduling the MBS PDSCH indicates a PUCCH resource index other than PUCCH resource 0, it suggests to the terminal devices 120 that HARQ-ACK feedback option 2 is adopted, and then each terminal device may transmit a respective ACK or NACK corresponding to the MBS PDSCH on a set of UE-specific PUCCH resources indicated by the PUCCH resource index.

[0153] It should be understood that the specific number of bits, feedback resources, and mappings shown in Table 8 are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitations. In other embodiments, the feedback resource indicator 410 can have any number of bits, any shared or UE-specific feedback resource, and any mapping to enabling or disabling of feedback 135.

[0154] 5A, as a further exemplary method for indicating the feedback transmission scheme, the control information 115 has an exemplary information structure 500, and the feedback configuration 105 is to be indicated by a dedicated field 510 in the control information 115. Thus, the dedicated field 510 in the control information 115 may be used to indicate the feedback transmission scheme as well. In other words, the dynamic switching between different feedback transmission schemes may be based on a newly introduced field (or bit) in the control information 115 compared to the normal DCI for scheduling the shared channel transmission 125.

[0155] For example, referring to FIG. 5B, a first bit 512 of a dedicated field 510 in the control information 115 indicates whether the feedback 135 is enabled or disabled. In this case, to configure the feedback configuration 105 (indicated by the dedicated field 510) to indicate a feedback transmission scheme, the network device 110 can set a second bit 514 of the dedicated field 510 to indicate the feedback transmission scheme. In this way, the signaling overhead for indicating one of the two feedback transmission schemes can be minimized. For example, one of the values ​​"0" and "1" of the second bit 514 can be used to indicate a first feedback transmission scheme, and the other of the values ​​"0" and "1" of the second bit 514 can be used to indicate a second feedback transmission scheme. It should be understood that if more than two feedback transmission schemes are available, the second bit 514 can be extended to have more than one bit to indicate a particular feedback transmission scheme from the three or more feedback transmission schemes.

[0156] In some embodiments, the control information 115 may be in a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, to dynamically indicate either option 1 or option 2 of HARQ-ACK feedback for the MBS PDSCH transmission, one bit is introduced to indicate enabling or disabling of HARQ-ACK feedback, and another bit in the DCI scheduling the MBS PDSCH is introduced to indicate HARQ-ACK feedback option 1 or option 2 for the MBS PDSCH. For example, a bit "0" indicates the terminal device 120 to employ HARQ-ACK feedback option 1, while a bit "1" indicates the terminal device 120 to employ HARQ-ACK feedback option 2, or vice versa.

[0157] At the receiving end of the control information 115, the terminal device 120-1 may determine whether feedback is enabled or disabled based on the first bit 512 of the dedicated field 510 in the control information 115. In this case, the terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback transmission scheme based on the second bit 514 of the dedicated field 510. In some embodiments, the control information 115 may be a DCI format defined in the 3GPP specifications, and the shared channel transmission 125 may be an MBS PDSCH transmission. In these embodiments, the terminal device 120-1 may determine the HARQ-ACK feedback option based on the second bit of the DCI format. Upon receiving the DCI format for scheduling the MBS PDSCH, if HARQ-ACK feedback for the MBS PDSCH is enabled, the terminal device 120 may further check a bit to indicate option 1 or option 2 for transmitting the corresponding HARQ-ACK feedback.

[0158] In some embodiments, instead of being indicated separately in the dedicated field 510, the first bit 512 and the second bit 514 of the dedicated field 510 shown in FIG. 5B may be jointly coded as different values ​​across the dedicated field 510 in the control information 115. In this way, an indication of one of the first and second feedback transmission schemes may be jointly coded together with enabling or disabling of feedback 135 using the entire dedicated field 510, thereby minimizing the bit overhead across the dedicated field 510. Table 9 below shows an example of an explicit indication of the feedback transmission scheme using the entire dedicated field 510. In some embodiments, Table 9 may be configured by the network device 110 for the terminal device 120-1 via RRC signaling.

[0159] [Table 9]

[0160] In the example of Table 9 above, it is assumed that the dedicated field 510 includes two bits and can therefore have four values ​​"00" to "11". As shown in Table 9, different values ​​of the dedicated field 510 may be mapped to different configurations of the feedback 135. For example, a first value "00" of the dedicated field 510 may indicate a first feedback transmission scheme, a second value "01" of the dedicated field 510 may indicate a second feedback transmission scheme, a third value "10" of the dedicated field 510 may indicate disabling of the feedback 135, and a fourth value "11" may be reserved. In this way, the network device 110 can explicitly indicate a feedback transmission scheme by setting the value of the dedicated field 510.

[0161] For example, according to Table 9, the network device 110 may indicate the disablement of the feedback 135 by a predetermined value (e.g., “10”) of the dedicated field 510 in the control information 115. Also, the network device 110 may set a value (e.g., “00” or “01”) of the dedicated field 510 different from the predetermined value to indicate a feedback transmission scheme. At the receiving side of the control information 115, it is assumed that the predetermined value (e.g., “10”) of the dedicated field 510 in the control information 115 indicates that the feedback 135 is disabled. Then, the terminal device 120-1 can determine the feedback transmission scheme based on the value (e.g., “00” or “01”) of the dedicated field 510 different from the predetermined value.

[0162] It should be understood that the specific number of bits and the specific mapping shown in Table 9 are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. In other embodiments, the dedicated field 510 can have any number of bits and any mapping to different configurations of the feedback 135.

[0163] Exemplary Methods FIG. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary method 600 for communication, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the exemplary method 600 may be implemented in a device in a communication network, such as the terminal device 120-1 illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1C. Additionally or alternatively, the exemplary method 600 may be implemented in other devices illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1C. In some other embodiments, the exemplary method 600 may be implemented in a device not illustrated in FIG. 1. Furthermore, it should be understood that the exemplary method 600 may include additional blocks not illustrated and / or omit some blocks illustrated, and the scope of the disclosure is not limited in this respect. For purposes of discussion, the exemplary method 600 is described from the perspective of the terminal device 120-1 with reference to FIGS. 1A-1C.

[0164] In block 610, the terminal device 120-1 receives control information from the network device 110 for scheduling a shared channel transmission common to multiple terminal devices 120 including the terminal device 120-1. In block 620, the terminal device 120-1 determines a feedback configuration indicating whether feedback regarding the shared channel transmission is enabled or disabled based on the control information. In block 630, the terminal device 120-1 performs communication with the network device 110 based on the feedback configuration.

[0165] In some embodiments, terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback configuration based on a feedback timing indicator in the control information.

[0166] In some embodiments, when determining a feedback configuration based on the feedback timing indicator, if the feedback timing indicator has a value indicating an inapplicable feedback timing value, terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, whereas if the feedback timing indicator has a value indicating an applicable feedback timing value, terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled.

[0167] In some embodiments, when determining a feedback configuration based on a feedback timing indicator, if the feedback timing indicator has a predetermined value, terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, whereas if the feedback timing indicator has a value different from the predetermined value, terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled.

[0168] In some embodiments, when determining the feedback configuration, terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback configuration based on a feedback resource indicator in the control information.

[0169] In some embodiments, when determining a feedback configuration based on the feedback resource indicator, if the feedback resource indicator has a value indicating an inapplicable resource, terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, whereas if the feedback resource indicator has a value indicating an applicable resource, terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled.

[0170] In some embodiments, when determining a feedback configuration based on the feedback resource indicator, if the feedback resource indicator has a predetermined value, terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, whereas if the feedback resource indicator has a value different from the predetermined value, terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled.

[0171] In some embodiments, when determining the feedback configuration, terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback configuration based on a dedicated field in the control information.

[0172] In some embodiments, when determining the feedback configuration based on the dedicated field, if a first bit of the dedicated field has a first value, terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, whereas if the first bit has a second value, terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled.

[0173] In some embodiments, when determining the feedback configuration based on the dedicated field, if the dedicated field has a predetermined value, terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, whereas if the dedicated field has a value different from the predetermined value, terminal device 120-1 may determine that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled.

[0174] In some embodiments, when performing communications based on the feedback configuration, if the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, terminal device 120-1 may receive shared channel transmissions without sending feedback to network device 110.

[0175] In some embodiments, when performing communication based on the feedback configuration, if the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled, terminal device 120-1 may determine a feedback transmission scheme indicated by the feedback configuration and may send feedback to network device 110 based on the feedback transmission scheme.

[0176] In some embodiments, the feedback configuration is determined based on a feedback timing indicator in the control information, and when the terminal device 120-1 determines the feedback transmission scheme, the terminal device 120-1 may determine a feedback timing value index from the feedback timing indicator and may determine the feedback transmission scheme based on a predetermined association between the feedback timing value index and the feedback transmission scheme.

[0177] In some embodiments, the feedback configuration is determined based on a feedback resource indicator in the control information, and when the terminal device 120-1 determines the feedback transmission scheme, the terminal device 120-1 may determine an index of a resource for feedback from the feedback resource indicator and may determine the feedback transmission scheme based on a predetermined association between the index of the resource and the feedback transmission scheme.

[0178] In some embodiments, the feedback configuration is determined based on a feedback resource indicator in the control information, and when the terminal device 120-1 determines the feedback transmission scheme, the terminal device 120-1 can determine whether the feedback resource indicator indicates a common resource for multiple terminal devices 120 to transmit feedback regarding the shared channel transmission, and can determine the feedback transmission scheme based on the result of the determination.

[0179] In some embodiments, a first bit of a dedicated field in the control information indicates whether feedback is enabled or disabled, and when the terminal device 120-1 determines the feedback transmission scheme, the terminal device 120-1 can determine the feedback transmission scheme based on a second bit of the dedicated field.

[0180] In some embodiments, a predetermined value of a dedicated field in the control information indicates that feedback is disabled, and when the terminal device 120-1 determines a feedback transmission scheme, the terminal device 120-1 may determine the feedback transmission scheme based on a value of the dedicated field that differs from the predetermined value.

[0181] In some embodiments, when sending feedback to network device 110, if terminal device 120-1 fails to receive a shared channel transmission, terminal device 120-1 may send negative feedback to network device 110 using resources common to multiple terminal devices 120.

[0182] In some embodiments, when sending feedback to network device 110, if the shared channel transmission is successfully received by terminal device 120-1, terminal device 120-1 may send positive feedback to network device 110 using resources specific to terminal device 120-1. On the other hand, if terminal device 120-1 fails to receive the shared channel transmission, terminal device 120-1 may send negative feedback to network device 110 using resources specific to terminal device 120-1.

[0183] FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of another exemplary method 700 for communication, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the exemplary method 700 may be implemented in a device in a communication network, such as the network device 110 illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1C. Additionally or alternatively, the exemplary method 700 may be implemented in other devices illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1C. In some other embodiments, the exemplary method 700 may be implemented in a device not illustrated in FIG. 1. Furthermore, it should be understood that the exemplary method 700 may include additional blocks not illustrated and / or omit some blocks illustrated, and the scope of the disclosure is not limited in this respect. For purposes of discussion, the exemplary method 700 is described from the perspective of the network device 110 with reference to FIGS. 1A-1C.

[0184] At block 710, the network device 110 determines a feedback configuration indicating whether feedback for a shared channel transmission is enabled or disabled, the shared channel transmission being common to multiple terminal devices 120. At block 720, the network device 110 generates control information for scheduling the shared channel transmission and indicating the feedback configuration. At block 730, the network device 110 transmits the control information to at least one of the multiple terminal devices 120.

[0185] In some embodiments, when generating the control information, the network device 110 may set a feedback timing indicator in the control information to indicate the feedback configuration.

[0186] In some embodiments, when setting the feedback timing indicator, if feedback is to be disabled, the network device 110 may set the feedback timing indicator to have a value indicative of an inapplicable feedback timing value, whereas if feedback is to be enabled, the network device 110 may set the feedback timing indicator to have a value indicative of an applicable feedback timing value.

[0187] In some embodiments, when setting the feedback timing indicator, if feedback is to be disabled, the network device 110 may set the feedback timing indicator to have a predetermined value, whereas if feedback is to be enabled, the network device 110 may set the feedback timing indicator to have a value different from the predetermined value.

[0188] In some embodiments, when generating the control information, the network device 110 may set a feedback resource indicator in the control information to indicate the feedback configuration.

[0189] In some embodiments, when setting the feedback resource indicator, if feedback is to be disabled, the network device 110 may set the feedback resource indicator to have a value indicative of an inapplicable resource, whereas if feedback is to be enabled, the network device 110 may set the feedback resource indicator to have a value indicative of an applicable resource.

[0190] In some embodiments, when setting the feedback resource indicator, if feedback is to be disabled, the network device 110 may set the feedback resource indicator to have a predetermined value, whereas if feedback is to be enabled, the network device 110 may set the feedback resource indicator to have a value different from the predetermined value.

[0191] In some embodiments, when generating the control information, the network device 110 may set a dedicated field in the control information to indicate the feedback configuration.

[0192] In some embodiments, when setting the dedicated field, if feedback is to be disabled, the network device 110 may set a first bit of the dedicated field to have a first value, whereas if feedback is to be enabled, the network device 110 may set the first bit to have a second value.

[0193] In some embodiments, when setting the dedicated field, if feedback is to be disabled, network device 110 may set the dedicated field to have a predetermined value, whereas if feedback is to be enabled, network device 110 may set the dedicated field to have a value different from the predetermined value.

[0194] In some embodiments, when determining the feedback configuration, the network device 110 may determine whether to enable or disable feedback based on service reliability requirements.

[0195] In some embodiments, when determining the feedback configuration, if feedback should be enabled, the network device 110 may determine a feedback transmission scheme for the multiple terminal devices 120 to send feedback to the network device 110 based on the number of multiple terminal devices 120, and may configure the feedback configuration to indicate the feedback transmission scheme.

[0196] In some embodiments, the feedback configuration will be indicated by a feedback timing indicator in the control information, and when the network device 110 configures the feedback configuration to indicate the feedback transmission scheme, the network device 110 may determine an index of the feedback timing value based on a pre-defined association between an index of the feedback timing value and the feedback transmission scheme, and may set the feedback timing indicator to indicate the index of the feedback timing value.

[0197] In some embodiments, the feedback configuration will be indicated by a feedback resource indicator in the control information, and when the network device 110 configures the feedback configuration to indicate the feedback transmission scheme, the network device 110 may determine an index of the feedback resource based on a pre-defined association between an index of the feedback resource and the feedback transmission scheme, and may set the feedback resource indicator to indicate the index of the feedback resource.

[0198] In some embodiments, the feedback configuration will be indicated by a feedback resource indicator in the control information, and when the network device 110 configures the feedback configuration to indicate the feedback transmission scheme, the network device 110 may set the feedback resource indicator to indicate common resources for multiple terminal devices 120 to transmit feedback based on the feedback transmission scheme.

[0199] In some embodiments, whether feedback is enabled or disabled will be indicated by a first bit of a dedicated field in the control information, and when the network device 110 configures the feedback configuration to indicate the feedback transmission scheme, the network device 110 may set a second bit of the dedicated field to indicate the feedback transmission scheme.

[0200] In some embodiments, feedback being disabled will be indicated by a predefined value of a dedicated field in the control information, and when the network device 110 configures the feedback configuration to indicate the feedback transmission scheme, the network device 110 may set the value of the dedicated field different from the predefined value to indicate the feedback transmission scheme.

[0201] Exemplary Apparatus 8 is a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 800 (also referred to as device 800) suitable for implementing an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus 800 may be considered a further example implementation of the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 shown in FIG. 1A to FIG. 1C. Thus, the apparatus 800 may be implemented in the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 or as at least a part of the network device 110 and the terminal device 120.

[0202] As shown, the apparatus 800 includes a processor 810, a memory 820 coupled to the processor 810, a suitable transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) 840 coupled to the processor 810, and a communication interface coupled to the TX / RX 840. The memory 810 stores at least a portion of a program 830. The TX / RX 840 is for bidirectional communication. The TX / RX 840 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, although in practice, the access nodes referred to in this application may have multiple antennas. The communication interface may represent any interface required for communication with other network elements, such as an X2 interface for bidirectional communication between eNBs, an S1 interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) / Serving Gateway (S-GW) and an eNB, an Un interface for communication between an eNB and a Relay Node (RN), or an Uu interface for communication between an eNB and a terminal device.

[0203] The program 830 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 810, enable the device 800 to operate according to the embodiments of the present disclosure as discussed herein. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 810 of the device 800, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 810 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the combination of the processor 810 and the memory 810 may form a processing means 850 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0204] The memory 810 may be of any type suitable for a local technical network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as, by way of non-limiting example, non-transitory computer-readable storage media, semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. Although only one memory 810 is shown in the device 800, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in the device 800. The processor 810 may be of any type suitable for a local technical 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 800 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are slaved in time to a clock that synchronizes the main processor.

[0205] In some embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the exemplary method 600 (e.g., terminal device 120-1) may include means for performing each step of the exemplary 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.

[0206] In some embodiments, the apparatus includes means for receiving control information from a network device for scheduling shared channel transmissions common to a plurality of terminal devices including a terminal device. The apparatus also includes means for determining a feedback configuration indicating whether feedback regarding the shared channel transmissions is enabled or disabled based on the control information. The apparatus further includes means for performing communication with the network device based on the feedback configuration.

[0207] In some embodiments, the means for determining the feedback configuration includes means for determining the feedback configuration based on a feedback timing indicator in the control information.

[0208] In some embodiments, the means for determining a feedback configuration based on the feedback timing indicator includes means for determining, in response to a determination that the feedback timing indicator has a value indicative of an inapplicable feedback timing value, that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, and means for determining, in response to a determination that the feedback timing indicator has a value indicative of an applicable feedback timing value, that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled.

[0209] In some embodiments, the means for determining a feedback configuration based on the feedback timing indicator includes means for determining, in response to a determination that the feedback timing indicator has a predetermined value, that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, and means for determining, in response to a determination that the feedback timing indicator has a value different from the predetermined value, that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled.

[0210] In some embodiments, the means for determining the feedback configuration includes means for determining the feedback configuration based on a feedback resource indicator in the control information.

[0211] In some embodiments, the means for determining a feedback configuration based on the feedback resource indicator includes means for determining, in response to a determination that the feedback resource indicator has a value indicating an inapplicable resource, that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, and means for determining, in response to a determination that the feedback resource indicator has a value indicating an applicable resource, that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled.

[0212] In some embodiments, the means for determining a feedback configuration based on the feedback resource indicator includes means for determining, in response to a determination that the feedback resource indicator has a predetermined value, that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, and means for determining, in response to a determination that the feedback resource indicator has a value different from the predetermined value, that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled.

[0213] In some embodiments, the means for determining the feedback configuration includes means for determining the feedback configuration based on a dedicated field in the control information.

[0214] In some embodiments, the means for determining a feedback configuration based on the dedicated field includes means for determining, in response to a determination that a first bit of the dedicated field has a first value, that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, and means for determining, in response to a determination that the first bit has a second value, that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled.

[0215] In some embodiments, the means for determining a feedback configuration based on the dedicated field includes means for determining, in response to a determination that the dedicated field has a predetermined value, that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled, and means for determining, in response to a determination that the dedicated field has a value different from the predetermined value, that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled.

[0216] In some embodiments, the means for performing communications based on the feedback configuration includes means for receiving a shared channel transmission without sending feedback to the network device in response to a determination that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is disabled.

[0217] In some embodiments, the means for performing communication based on the feedback configuration includes means for, in response to a determination that the feedback configuration indicates that feedback is enabled, determining a feedback transmission scheme indicated by the feedback configuration and transmitting feedback to the network device based on the feedback transmission scheme.

[0218] In some embodiments, the feedback configuration is determined based on a feedback timing indicator in the control information, and the means for determining the feedback transmission scheme includes means for determining an index of a feedback timing value from the feedback timing indicator, and means for determining the feedback transmission scheme based on a pre-defined association between the index of the feedback timing value and the feedback transmission scheme.

[0219] In some embodiments, the feedback configuration is determined based on a feedback resource indicator in the control information, and the means for determining the feedback transmission scheme includes means for determining an index of a resource for feedback from the feedback resource indicator, and means for determining the feedback transmission scheme based on a predefined association between the resource index and the feedback transmission scheme.

[0220] In some embodiments, the feedback configuration is determined based on a feedback resource indicator in the control information, and the means for determining the feedback transmission scheme includes means for determining whether the feedback resource indicator indicates common resources for a plurality of terminal devices to transmit feedback regarding the shared channel transmission, and means for determining the feedback transmission scheme based on a result of the determination.

[0221] In some embodiments, a first bit of a dedicated field in the control information indicates whether feedback is enabled or disabled, and the means for determining the feedback transmission scheme includes means for determining the feedback transmission scheme based on a second bit of the dedicated field.

[0222] In some embodiments, a pre-defined value of a dedicated field in the control information indicates that feedback is disabled, and the means for determining a feedback transmission scheme includes means for determining the feedback transmission scheme based on a value of the dedicated field differing from the pre-defined value.

[0223] In some embodiments, the means for transmitting feedback to the network device includes means for transmitting negative feedback to the network device using resources common to the multiple terminal devices in response to determining that the terminal device fails to receive the shared channel transmission.

[0224] In some embodiments, the means for transmitting feedback to the network device includes means for transmitting positive feedback to the network device using resources specific to the terminal device in response to a determination that the shared channel transmission is successfully received by the terminal device, and means for transmitting negative feedback to the network device using resources specific to the terminal device in response to a determination that the terminal device fails to receive the shared channel transmission.

[0225] In some embodiments, the apparatus further includes means for performing other steps of some embodiments of exemplary method 600. In some embodiments, the means includes at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured, together with the at least one processor, to cause execution of exemplary method 600.

[0226] In some embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., network device 110) capable of performing the exemplary method 700 may include means for performing each step of the exemplary method 700. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuit or a software module.

[0227] In some embodiments, the apparatus includes means for determining a feedback configuration indicating whether feedback for a shared channel transmission is enabled or disabled, the shared channel transmission being common to a plurality of terminal devices. The apparatus also includes means for generating control information for scheduling the shared channel transmission and indicating the feedback configuration. The apparatus further includes means for transmitting the control information to at least one of the plurality of terminal devices.

[0228] In some embodiments, the means for generating the control information includes means for setting a feedback timing indicator within the control information to indicate the feedback configuration.

[0229] In some embodiments, the means for setting the feedback timing indicator includes means for, in response to a determination that feedback should be disabled, setting the feedback timing indicator to have a value indicative of an inapplicable feedback timing value, and means for, in response to a determination that feedback should be enabled, setting the feedback timing indicator to have a value indicative of an applicable feedback timing value.

[0230] In some embodiments, the means for setting the feedback timing indicator includes means for setting the feedback timing indicator to have a predetermined value in response to a determination that feedback should be disabled, and means for setting the feedback timing indicator to have a value different from the predetermined value in response to a determination that feedback should be enabled.

[0231] In some embodiments, the means for generating the control information includes means for setting a feedback resource indicator within the control information to indicate the feedback configuration.

[0232] In some embodiments, the means for setting the feedback resource indicator includes means for, in response to a determination that feedback should be disabled, setting the feedback resource indicator to have a value indicative of an inapplicable resource, and means for, in response to a determination that feedback should be enabled, setting the feedback resource indicator to have a value indicative of an applicable resource.

[0233] In some embodiments, the means for setting the feedback resource indicator includes means for setting the feedback resource indicator to have a predetermined value in response to a determination that feedback should be disabled, and means for setting the feedback resource indicator to have a value different from the predetermined value in response to a determination that feedback should be enabled.

[0234] In some embodiments, the means for generating the control information includes means for setting a dedicated field in the control information to indicate the feedback configuration.

[0235] In some embodiments, the means for setting the dedicated field includes means for setting a first bit of the dedicated field to have a first value in response to a determination that feedback should be disabled, and means for setting the first bit of the dedicated field to have a second value in response to a determination that feedback should be enabled.

[0236] In some embodiments, the means for setting the dedicated field includes means for setting the dedicated field to have a predetermined value in response to a determination that feedback should be disabled, and means for setting the dedicated field to have a value different from the predetermined value in response to a determination that feedback should be enabled.

[0237] In some embodiments, the means for determining a feedback configuration includes means for determining whether to enable or disable feedback based on a service reliability requirement.

[0238] In some embodiments, the means for determining a feedback configuration further includes means for determining, in response to determining that feedback should be enabled, a feedback transmission scheme for the plurality of terminal devices to transmit feedback to the network device based on a number of the plurality of terminal devices, and means for configuring the feedback configuration to indicate the feedback transmission scheme.

[0239] In some embodiments, the feedback configuration will be indicated by a feedback timing indicator in the control information, and the means for configuring the feedback configuration to indicate the feedback transmission scheme include means for determining an index of the feedback timing value based on a predefined association between an index of the feedback timing value and the feedback transmission scheme, and means for setting the feedback timing indicator to indicate the index of the feedback timing value.

[0240] In some embodiments, the feedback configuration will be indicated by a feedback resource indicator in the control information, and the means for configuring the feedback configuration to indicate the feedback transmission scheme include means for determining an index of the feedback resource based on a predefined association between an index of the feedback resource and the feedback transmission scheme, and means for setting the feedback resource indicator to indicate the index of the feedback resource.

[0241] In some embodiments, the feedback configuration will be indicated by a feedback resource indicator in the control information, and the means for configuring the feedback configuration to indicate the feedback transmission scheme includes means for setting the feedback resource indicator to indicate common resources for the multiple terminal devices to transmit feedback based on the feedback transmission scheme.

[0242] In some embodiments, whether feedback is enabled or disabled will be indicated by a first bit of a dedicated field in the control information, and the means for configuring the feedback configuration to indicate the feedback transmission scheme includes means for setting a second bit of the dedicated field to indicate the feedback transmission scheme.

[0243] In some embodiments, feedback being disabled will be indicated by a predefined value of a dedicated field in the control information, and the means for configuring the feedback configuration to indicate the feedback transmission scheme includes means for setting a value of the dedicated field different from the predefined value to indicate the feedback transmission scheme.

[0244] In some embodiments, the apparatus further includes means for performing other steps of some embodiments of exemplary method 700. In some embodiments, the means includes at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured, together with the at least one processor, to cause execution of exemplary method 700.

[0245] In general, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while 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 have been illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow diagrams, or using any other pictorial representations, it will be understood that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in, by way of non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuits or logic, general-purpose hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or any combination thereof.

[0246] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as computer-executable instructions included in program modules, which are executed on a target real or virtual processor device to perform the above-described process or method. 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 divided among program modules as desired in various embodiments. The machine-executable instructions of 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.

[0247] 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 such that, when the program codes are executed by the processor or controller, they cause the functions / operations defined in the flow charts and / or block diagrams to be performed. The program codes may be executed entirely on the machine, partially on the machine as a standalone software package, partially on the machine and partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0248] The program code may be embodied on a machine-readable medium, which may be any tangible medium that may contain or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination thereof. More specific examples of machine-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 disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0249] Furthermore, although 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 operations shown be performed to achieve a desired result. In certain situations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, while some specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be considered as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to certain embodiments. Certain 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.

[0250] Although the present disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or method acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure as defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0251] 100 Communication environment, communication network, communication system 102 Cells 105 Feedback Configuration 110 Network Devices 115 Control Information 120, 120-1 to 120-N Terminal Devices 125 Shared Channel Transmission 135 Feedback 200 Communication Processes 300 Structure 310 Feedback Timing Indicator 320 Other Fields 330 Other Fields 400 Structure 410 Feedback Resource Indicator 420 Other Fields 430 Other Fields 500 Information Structure 510 Dedicated Field 512 1st bit 514 second bit 520 Other Fields 530 Other Fields 600 ways 700 methods 800 Equipment, Devices 810 Processor 820 Memory 830 Programs 840 Transmitter (TX) and Receiver (RX)

Claims

1. 1. A method performed by a terminal device, comprising: receiving control information from a network device for scheduling a shared channel transmission common to a plurality of terminal devices including the terminal device; determining a feedback configuration based on the control information, the feedback configuration indicating whether feedback regarding the shared channel transmission is enabled or disabled; performing communication with the network device based on the feedback configuration; performing the communication based on the feedback configuration; in response to determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is enabled, determining a feedback transmission scheme indicated by the feedback configuration; and transmitting the feedback to the network device based on the feedback transmission scheme.

2. determining the feedback configuration comprises: The method of claim 1 , comprising determining the feedback configuration based on a feedback timing indicator, a feedback resource indicator, or a dedicated field in the control information.

3. Determining the feedback configuration based on the feedback timing indicator comprises: (i) in response to determining that the feedback timing indicator has a value indicative of an inapplicable feedback timing value, determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is disabled; and in response to determining that the feedback timing indicator has a value indicative of an applicable feedback timing value, determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is enabled; or (ii) in response to determining that the feedback timing indicator has a predetermined value, determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is disabled; and 3. The method of claim 2, comprising one of: determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is enabled in response to determining that the feedback timing indicator has a value different from the predetermined value.

4. Determining the feedback configuration based on the feedback resource indicator comprises the following (i) and (ii): (i) in response to determining that the feedback resource indicator has a value indicating an inapplicable resource, determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is disabled; and in response to determining that the feedback resource indicator has a value indicative of an applicable resource, determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is enabled; or (ii) in response to determining that the feedback resource indicator has a predetermined value, determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is disabled; and 3. The method of claim 2, comprising one of: determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is enabled in response to determining that the feedback resource indicator has a value different from the predetermined value.

5. Determining the feedback configuration based on the dedicated field comprises: (i) in response to determining that a first bit of the dedicated field has a first value, determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is disabled; and determining, in response to determining that the first bit has a second value, that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is enabled; or (ii) in response to determining that the dedicated field has a predetermined value, determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is disabled; and 3. The method of claim 2, comprising one of: determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is enabled in response to a determination that the dedicated field has a value different from the predetermined value.

6. performing the communication based on the feedback configuration; 2. The method of claim 1, comprising, in response to determining that the feedback configuration indicates that the feedback is disabled, receiving the shared channel transmission without sending the feedback to the network device.

7. determining the feedback configuration based on a feedback timing indicator in the control information; and determining the feedback transmission scheme. determining an index of a feedback timing value from the feedback timing indicator; The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining the feedback transmission scheme based on a predefined association between the index of the feedback timing value and the feedback transmission scheme.

8. The feedback configuration is determined based on a feedback resource indicator in the control information, and determining the feedback transmission scheme. determining an index of a resource for the feedback from the feedback resource indicator; and determining the feedback transmission scheme based on a predefined association between the index of the resource and the feedback transmission scheme.

9. The feedback configuration is determined based on a feedback resource indicator in the control information, and determining the feedback transmission scheme. determining whether the feedback resource indicator indicates common resources for the plurality of terminal devices to transmit feedback regarding the shared channel transmission; and determining the feedback transmission scheme based on a result of the determination.

10. a first bit of a dedicated field in the control information indicating whether the feedback is enabled or disabled and determining the feedback transmission scheme; The method of claim 1 , comprising determining the feedback transmission scheme based on a second bit of the dedicated field.

11. a predetermined value of a dedicated field in the control information indicates that the feedback is disabled, and determining the feedback transmission manner; The method of claim 1 , comprising determining the feedback transmission scheme based on a value of the dedicated field that differs from the predetermined value.

12. transmitting the feedback to the network device; 2. The method of claim 1, comprising, in response to determining that the terminal device fails to receive the shared channel transmission, transmitting negative feedback to the network device using resources common to the plurality of terminal devices.

13. transmitting the feedback to the network device; In response to determining that the shared channel transmission is successfully received by the terminal device, transmitting positive feedback to the network device using resources specific to the terminal device; and transmitting negative feedback to the network device using the resources specific to the terminal device in response to determining that the terminal device fails to receive the shared channel transmission.

14. A terminal device, comprising: A processor; and a memory for storing instructions. A terminal device, wherein the memory and the instructions, together with the processor, are configured to cause the terminal device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 13.

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